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Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees

Edwards' Exit Leads to Bush vs. Kerry; Same-Sex Marriage: Coast-to-Coast Controversy

Aired March 03, 2004 - 19:00   ET

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

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


(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON COOPER, HOST (voice-over): The race is on: Bush versus Kerry. New ads unveiled, and the search for a VP begins.

Baby lost and found. The woman accused of kidnapping a 10-day- old baby and staging her death makes a startling claim.

Our special series, "Addiction in America": tonight, addicted to sex. Men and women seeking pleasure, finding pain.

Martha's fate now in the hands of the jury. We'll have the latest.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: Live, from the CNN Broadcast Center in New York, this is ANDERSON COOPER 360.

COOPER: Good evening. Welcome to 360.

Up first tonight, Kerry versus Bush. That battle began hours ago. John Edwards dropped out of the presidential race. And now John Kerry is focusing his fight on one man, President Bush, who is wasting no time in launching his own offensive.

CNN national correspondent Kelly Wallace is covering Edwards' exit and Kerry's campaign strategy. And in Washington, senior White House correspondent John King gives us a look into Mr. Bush's battle plan.

We begin tonight with Kelly Wallace in Raleigh, North Carolina -- Kelly.

KELLY WALLACE, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Anderson, if there were a job application for the vice presidency, you can say that John Edwards filled one out today when he got out of the race. A few hours earlier, he went before a jam-packed gymnasium here in Raleigh at the high school where his late son, Wade, attended before he was tragically killed in a car accident. There, the Senator talking about his campaign, the achievements he thought he and his supporters made. But then he also heaped enormous praise on John Kerry, saying he will everything to get that John into the White House.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) SEN. JOHN EDWARDS (D-NC), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Today, I decided to suspend my campaign for the presidency of the United States. But I want to say a word about a man who is a friend of mine, somebody who I believe has great strength and great courage, my friend, Senator John Kerry, somebody who has fought for and will continue to fight for the things that all of us believe in, more jobs, better health care, cleaner air, water, a safer world.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALLACE: And one of the things John Edwards will start doing as soon as he can for John Kerry, raising lots of money. Anderson, John Kerry has to raise a lot of cash to compete with President Bush's more than $100 million war chest -- Anderson.

COOPER: And that war chest has to be spent before conventions this summer. Kelly, who else is on the short list for the Democratic VP spot?

WALLACE: Well, let's break it into categories. You have your former presidential candidates, Dick Gephardt and retired General Wesley Clark. You have governors, Bill Richardson and Janet Napolitano. And then you have your wildcards, like Republican Senator John McCain of Arizona and also Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York, although Senator Clinton telling Lou Dobbs tonight she doesn't think she would be offered this job, and she doesn't think she would accept it -- Anderson.

COOPER: All right. Kelly Wallace, live from Raleigh. Thanks, Kelly.

The Bush camp, of course, wasting no time taking on John Kerry. This afternoon, the Bush-Cheney '04 team unveiled its first TV ads, which begin airing in selected cities tomorrow.

CNN senior White House correspondent John King has a preview.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN KING, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A new day in the campaign, and an immediate effort to suggest the incumbent is the right man for the challenges still ahead.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I know exactly where I want to lead this country. I know what we need to do to make the world more free and more peaceful. I know what we need to do to make sure every person has a chance at realizing the American dream.

KING: The first ads of the Bush-Cheney re-election campaign portray a president forced to deal with recession, then terrorism. Images of September 11 meant to remind voters of the first term's biggest test.

Mr. Bush talked of a spirited race and then called to congratulate Senator Kerry Tuesday night. And by early Wednesday, the president's allies opened the effort to paint the Massachusetts Democrat as an elitist liberal bent on raising taxes.

REP. TOM DELAY (R), MAJORITY LEADER: He's either insincere about his new spending, dishonest about his new taxes, uninterested in the deficit, or they just didn't teach him arithmetic at the European boarding school he went to.

KING: The president trails Senator Kerry in national polls. His immediate short-term goal is to revitalize his standing now that the Democratic campaign is all but over.

ED GILLESPIE, RNC CHAIRMAN: Understand that the Democratic candidates in their primaries have aired $17 million in attack ads against the president over the course of the past six months.

KING: Mr. Bush is upbeat about his chances, but sees Senator Kerry as a tenacious foe, crediting him with fighting back when it looked like he would fall early in the Democratic race.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KING: But in studying the senator's record, and his campaign statements, the president believes he can make this contrast in the weeks and months ahead: that he is a decisive leader and that Senator Kerry is indecisive, someone who zigs and zags on major issues, and someone who often gives meandering answers when asked about major challenges. That will be the fight in the coming weeks -- Anderson.

COOPER: All right. John King at the White House. Thanks, John.

In Iraq, right now, calls for calm after thousands mourn the victims of the latest bomb attacks. Iraqi Shiite leaders are urging followers not to turn to civil war after at least 169 people were killed yesterday, when suicide bombers targeted worshipers in Baghdad's holiest Shiite mosque and in Karbala.

The U.S. military says intelligence links the attacks to this man, Abu Musab al Zarqawi, who is suspected of having ties to al Qaeda. Now, you may remember just two weeks ago coalition officials released a letter that they say was written by Zarqawi when he reportedly laid out a blueprint for terror aimed at Shiites. Now, today in London, an Arabic newspaper said it received this letter allegedly from al Qaeda denying responsibility for the attacks and instead blaming them on U.S. forces.

This just in from Haiti. A state of emergency has now been declared in the island nation. The decision came from the country's prime minister just moments ago. At this hour, hundreds of U.S. Marines are in Haiti, with hundreds more expected to arrive by Sunday.

CNN's Lucia Newman has the latest from Port-au-Prince.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LUCIA NEWMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): How fast things change in Haiti. Wednesday morning, it was the U.S. Marines who were calling the shots at the very same place where the day before Haitian insurgents had set up their headquarters and declared themselves in command of the streets. So was almost everyone else when rebel commander Guy Philippe announced he and his men were laying down their weapons. Trying to save face, he explained his about-face.

GUY PHILIPPE, REBEL COMMANDER: This morning I had a meeting with the general here, the American general, and he assures that his troops will take care of the people's security.

NEWMAN: Philippe says he and his men, now no longer so visible, are awaiting orders from Haiti's interim president to hand in their weapons. Intense pressure from Washington apparently having forced his hand.

The Marines patrol downtown, while just a few blocks away, Haitian police were fired on and shot back. It is not clear by whom, but armed rebels loyal to Haiti's former president are still at large. And the power vacuum left by Aristide's departure is making Haiti more unstable by the day, with the former opposition demanding a new prime minister and government be named immediately.

CHARLES BAKER, DEMOCRATIC PLATFORM: When you're being attacked, nothing is ever fast enough. Go downtown and see the chaos and the pillage. And, I mean, we have lost over $100 million.

NEWMAN (on camera): If you ask most Haitians what's the most urgent thing right now, they will say security. The responsibility for that now falls squarely on the soldiers of the U.S. Marines and other international peacekeepers, a daunting task at that.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NEWMAN: And to make the situation still murkier, the still prime minister Yvon Neptune, who was appointed by President Aristide, has announced, as you mentioned, a state of emergency and the creation of a special commission to oversee security here, Anderson. At the same time, the CARICOM nations, the Association of Caribbean Countries, say they will not send peacekeepers here to protest the way they say that President Aristide was obliged to leave office -- Anderson.

COOPER: Lucia, they say there is a state of emergency. What exactly does that mean? Are there actually Haitian police out on the streets in Port-au-Prince?

NEWMAN: You know, it is just not clear what is going to happen now, because as the prime minister was saying that he was declaring a state of emergency, the interim president announced that he had fired the head of the police who answers to the prime minister and who had answered to the former president, and named a new head of police who was trained in the United States and who, until now, had been in charge of the Coast Guard -- Anderson.

COOPER: All right. A very confusing and fast-moving situation. Lucia Newman in Port-au-Prince. Thanks, Lucia.

The same-sex marriage debate is spreading coast to coast. About an hour ago, the mayor of New Paltz, New York, small town, pled not guilty to charges of solemnizing gay weddings without a marriage license. Earlier today, New York's attorney general urged a halt to all same-sex weddings, and that today are being welcomed in Portland, Oregon.

CNN's Miguel Marquez reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It is becoming a familiar sight, hundreds of gay and lesbian couples lining up for a marriage license, this time in Portland, Oregon.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It feels like history. I mean, it has never happened before. And it's just a pretty powerful thing.

MARQUEZ: Portland's (UNINTELLIGIBLE) County attorney opened the doors to gay marriage after two county commissioners asked her to look into whether same-sex marriage was protected by the Oregon Constitution. The state's governor says he's not so sure the county attorney is right, and has asked the state attorney general to decide the question.

GOV. TED KULONGOSKI (D), OREGON: I just want to find out, first of all, of whether, in fact, this is legal or not.

MARQUEZ: Also deciding the question, should gays be allowed to marry, another New York town. This time Nyack, north of New York City. Its mayor says he will start issuing marriage licenses next week, but the state's attorney general says, even though the Constitution may allow it, that doesn't make gay marriage legal.

ELIOT SPITZER, NEW YORK ATTORNEY GENERAL: It is my recommendation and my counsel that city and town clerks not issue licenses to same-sex couples.

MARQUEZ: In Georgia, the question before the state legislature, a constitutional amendment barring gay marriage. Although the Senate gave its OK, Georgia's lower House rejected the amendment but plans to reconsider.

REP. TYRONE BROOKS (D), GEORGIA: I do not support a constitutional amendment, because I really believe the Constitution of our state and our nation should be about expanding our rights rather than limiting our rights.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MARQUEZ: And now, though marriage licenses of same-sex couples began in San Francisco, it has since spread to New Mexico, granting licenses, New York, and certainly here in Portland. It is still going on tonight.

With all of that, the U.S. Senate held its first hearing to consider a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriages. The Senate majority leader, Bill Frist, saying that by granting mirages and not passing that amendment, Americans are gambling with our future -- Anderson.

COOPER: All right. Miguel Marquez, in Portland. Thanks, Miguel.

We're following a number of developing stories right now "Cross Country." Let's take a look.

In New York: Stewart jury deliberates. A dozen jurors in federal court began deliberations today in the obstruction of justice case against Martha Stewart and her former stockbroker. They are deciding whether the domestic diva lied about why she sold her ImClone stock in 2001. A lot more on this later on tonight.

New York: WorldCom plea. Bernard Ebbers told a judge today he was not guilty of committing the biggest corporate fraud in U.S. history. The former CEO of WorldCom is accused of conspiring to cook the corporate books to the tune of $11 billion. He is free on $10 million bail.

Washington: improving economy. Rock-bottom interest rates are fueling spending and investment. And that, according to a report from the Federal Reserve, is keeping the economy moving. The Fed report says consumer spending is up, so is manufacturing.

Cambridge, Massachusetts now: stem cell research. A presidential ban on using federal money for stem cell research didn't stop scientists at Harvard from creating 17 new human embryonic stem cell lines. Harvard is giving other scientists free access to the new stem cell lines which they developed using private money.

Fort Detrick, Maryland: Ebola scare. Army officials now say a civilian researcher was not -- repeat not -- infected with the deadly Ebola Virus. You may remember she accidentally pricked her finger working at the Army's Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases. Dangerous work that. But after a 21-day quarantine, she was released today in good health. And that is certainly good news.

That's a look at stories "Cross Country" tonight.

Kidnapping mystery ahead. A woman who allegedly burned down a house and kidnapped a baby, well, she is now convinced the child is hers despite DNA evidence. The latest twist to an already bizarre case.

Also, sexual addiction. Find out how perpetual pleasure seeking is destroying some lives. It is part of our weeklong series, "Addiction in America."

And a wife found guilty of murder for stabbing her husband 193 times. Prosecutors reenacted it there, you see. Will a claim of domestic abuse help reduce her sentence? We'll take a closer look at that.

Before all that, let's take a look "Inside the Box" at the top stories on tonight's network newscasts.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: A story out of Philadelphia now. An already bizarre tale gets even more mysterious. The woman accused of snatching an infant baby and torching a house to cover it all up, well, she has surrendered. But she still says the girl, now 6 years old, is hers.

CNN's Maria Hinojosa has the latest.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARIA HINOJOSA, CNN URBAN AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Many questions remain about what happened that December night in 1997, when this woman, Carolyn Correa, allegedly set a fire and kidnapped 10-day-old little Delimar in what police call a conspiracy. Her lawyer now says Correa is convinced the child is hers.

JEFFREY ZUCKER, CAROLYN CORREA'S ATTORNEY: I don't know whether she's convinced herself or what the situation is. She reacted as a person who truly believed that this was her child.

HINOJOSA: Police officials say DNA tests have proven that wrong. But neighbors say Correa told them at the time she was pregnant and even looked it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She was pregnant. She had a big belly about six years ago.

HINOJOSA: After the 1997 fire, the infant was declared dead, though no remains were ever found. "I always believed my daughter was alive," she says. Now, six years later, Delimar's real mother, Luz Cuevas, has discovered that her daughter was living with Correa in this New Jersey suburb. Authorities now have Delimar in foster care and have told Cuevas she will see her long lost daughter within a week.

LUZ CUEVAS, MOTHER: I tried for six years, and you tell me you're not going to give me quickly my daughter? (UNINTELLIGIBLE), but you have to try to understand. You know, it is true. It is hard for her, too.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HINOJOSA: You know, Anderson, it becomes more and more intriguing this story. If this woman who allegedly kidnapped the baby was, in fact, pregnant, as her neighbors say, then authorities want to know what happened to that baby.

COOPER: What happened, right.

HINOJOSA: And authorities are looking into, she didn't do this alone. She's charged with conspiracy. So who else was involved here?

So it just really unfolds day by day. But the mother, the biological mother, is just sitting on pins and needles waiting to see her biological child.

COOPER: Yes, I can only imagine. My god. Well, we'll keep following it. Thanks very much, Maria Hinojosa.

We're tracking a number of developing stories for you right now around the globe. Let's take a quick look at the "UpLink."

Limoges, France: time bombs and extortion. The French government admits it is being blackmailed by a terrorist group, a shadowy group calling itself AZF (ph). It's threatening to blow up railway tracks within days unless it is paid $5 million in ransom. French police found a sophisticated bomb near the tracks in the town last month.

Central Gaza: another Israeli air strike. Three Hamas militants were killed when their car was hit by missiles . The Israeli army says the men were planning attacks. Hamas agreed and vows revenge.

Venezuela: escalating violence. Protests broke out after authorities ruled against holding a presidential recall election. Take a look at that. Venezuela's election council says there weren't enough valid signatures on petitions calling for an up-or-down vote on the president, Hugo Chavez.

In France: it is official. Despite global protests and a month of debate, the senate adopts the law banning Islamic headscarves and other religious symbols from public schools. Passed by a vote of, get this, 276-20, and goes into effect in September.

In London: dissing Dasani. Brits are raising jaded eyebrows, as only they can, to Dasani bottled water. Coca-Cola, which bottles the water, very popular here in the United States, admits that it is filtered London tap water. Coke argues the water is pure, treated in a highly sophisticated filtration process. They say it was a process even perfected by NASA. British officials say the term "pure" may be violating labeling guidelines.

And in the West Bank: controversial catwalk. In a strange mix of fashion and politics, what is going on with this? An Israeli design house held a photo shoot in front of Israel's West Bank barrier. The fashion house says the photo shoot was a political statement against building walls to solve conflicts. It said clothes can bring Israeli and Palestinian women together to make peace.

All right. That's a look at tonight's "UpLink."

"Addiction in America." Is it possible to get hooked on sex? We'll talk to one woman who says it practically ruined her life until she got help.

Also tonight, steroids and Major League Baseball. Have some star athletes been juicing? That is our "Midweek Crisis."

And a little bit later on, cracking down on child predators. The FBI recruits a popular TV show to stop pornography, and they want your help.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) COOPER: Tonight, we continue our series, "Addiction in America," and focus on a problem many Americans are embarrassed to admit to, sexual addiction. Like an alcoholic who can't stop drinking, people addicted to sex say they are unable to stop their self-destructive behavior. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER (voice-over): Sexual addiction drove Halle Berry's ex- husband, singer Eric Benet, to seek treatment. It's wrecked marriages and ruins lives. Sexual addiction may be more common than you think.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My family and I lost everything.

COOPER: It's estimated that up to 6 percent of the adult population suffers from sexual addiction. And according to Dr. Doug Weiss, being addicted to sex is very different than simply having a high libido.

DOUG WEISS, PH.D., SEX ADDICTION THERAPIST: Someone with a high libido has a satisfying sex life, can connect during the sexual experience, and is really generally satisfied. A sex addict is someone who uses sex in an object way. They're never satisfied.

JOHN FAETH, RECOVERING SEX ADDICT: On a daily basis, I was thinking about sex all day, every day.

COOPER: John Faeth's constant desire for sex interfered with his ability to sleep, to work, and to be with his family.

FAETH: I finally realized that I had a problem when my wife was in the hospital with our fourth child, and he was having complications, and I was still out carousing or chasing women.

COOPER: He also spent hours looking for sex on the Internet.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Internet is like the crack cocaine of sex addiction.

KIMBER FAETH, HUSBAND RECOVERING SEX ADDICT: I just thought he did it.

COOPER: When John's wife, Kimber, discovered the Web sites he was visiting, she demanded he seek help.

J. FAETH: I was relieved finally that I was caught. I was found out. Because I was tired, I was emotionally just drained, done. Financially, it had pretty much ruined us. And at that time, she said, "It's either get help or get out."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: It's amazing. Well, John Faeth was able to get help after some extensive counseling. He's resumed a relatively normal life with his wife and kids. Like John, our next guess knows firsthand the devastation of sexual addiction. Sue Silverman, she's the author of "Love Sick," a memoir about her addiction. I spoke to Sue. I asked her when she realized she was addicted to the search for sex.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SUE SILVERMAN, AUTHOR, "LOVE SICK": Well, it took years. I mean, after years of affairs, I was really dying, I mean, emotionally and spiritually. I could barely even function anymore. And so it was at that point that I found a therapist who gave me the correct diagnosis.

COOPER: As you look at it now, what do you think is at the core of sexual addiction? I mean, is it an escape? Is it an escape from drudgery, unhappiness, from something?

SILVERMAN: Exactly. For me, sex addiction, it really was -- I used sex as a drug. I mean, it was my drug of choice. And I was using sex to numb the pain of my childhood.

I mean, I became a sex addict because my father sexually molested me as a child. And so because that was so painful, I used sex, as I say, as a drug. And I was really like a sex junkie.

COOPER: You were married at this time. I mean, did your husband have any idea of this double life?

SILVERMAN: I was married. And, no, he did not. But that's really what a sex addiction is. It is leading a double life.

I mean, on the surface, I seemed perfect. But that facade was really just a mask that hid this kind of dark, dangerous world.

COOPER: So, for you, sexual addiction didn't mean having to have sex every day, several times a day with different people?

SILVERMAN: No.

COOPER: I mean, it could have been just once a week?

SILVERMAN: Exactly. I mean, that's a real misconception, is that sex addicts really like sex, or that that's what it's about. But it really is using the sex as a drug.

And a fantasy is totally part of that drug. It is very much as powerful as the sex act itself.

COOPER: Well, Sue, there are going to be some people who will listen to this, or hear this and say, I don't quite understand. I mean, you -- at the height of your addiction, you say you were having sex once a week outside of your marriage. How was it an addiction?

SILVERMAN: It was an addiction because I was obsessing about these men all the time. They were much more real to me, than, say, my husband or my job. The fantasies that were in my head were much more powerful than anything in kind of that day world that I lived in. I would go through a period of withdrawal when all I needed was to have another man want me. And as soon as another man wanted me then I would get high and I would feel great.

COOPER: So recovery, which you did enter and have succeeded in, recovery for you meant what?

SILVERMAN: First of all, of course I had to stop acting out with these men. I mean, that's the first step. And then, also, I had to be in a group with other women.

You know, kind of like the 12-step groups. And also finding spirituality, which for me happened to be my writing.

COOPER: So you can have a relationship, a healthy sexual relationship that doesn't go into addiction?

SILVERMAN: Exactly. For me, I'm sexually sober right now. And what that means to me is having sex in a healthy, emotionally committed relationship.

COOPER: Well Sue, I'm glad you were able to get help. I'm glad you were able to write about it. We appreciate you being on the program. Sue Silverman, thanks.

SILVERMAN: Thank you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: So could you be addicted to sex? Here is a quick test to take. If you can answer "yes" to any of the following questions, doctors say you may have a problem.

Have you promised to stop having sex with someone other than your partner but can't? Has your sexual behavior taken you places you wouldn't normally go? Has your work or relationships suffered? And finally, would you be ashamed if people knew of your behavior?

Well, our series, "Addiction in America" continues on Thursday, with a look at those who say they are addicted to the Internet, search for an escape online. We'll show you the warning signs.

And on Friday, strung out on heroin. We'll introduce you to some young addicts desperate to overcome their habits.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER (voice-over): Martha's fate now in the hands of the jury. Could she really go to jail?

And major league cheating? A crisis in camp as baseball gets set to start its season.

(END VIDEOTAPE) (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: Time now for the "Reset." Tonight's top stories. Port- au-Prince. Haiti. Just moments ago the prime minister of the island nation declared a state of emergency. The announcement comes a day after the rebel leader (UNINTELLIGIBLE) threatened to arrest him and put him on trial for mass murder.

Raleigh, North Carolina. John Edwards is officially out of the Democratic presidential race. The senator today urged his cheering supporters to join him in doing everything possible to help John Kerry win the White House. Some of those supporters waved Kerry-Edwards signs.

Phoenix, Arizona. Police report rounding up nearly 200 illegal immigrants crammed inside one upscale home. Today's drop house, that raid was the sixth in the last two weeks. Drop houses are where smugglers drop off illegal immigrants to wait for transportation.

Washington. Same-sex ed. The Education Department plans to change its Title IX enforcement to give local public school districts more freedom to set up single-sex classrooms in schools. Advocates say the approach improves student achievement and discipline. Critics say it prepares student poorly for real life in the adult world.

In Mendocino County, California, the first county in the nation to ban genetically modified crops and animals. Voters approved the prohibition yesterday. Biotech foes contend the technology hasn't been tested enough to make sure it isn't harmful to health or to the environment.

In Philadelphia now. Walt Disney chairman and CEO Michael Eisner may be wishing on a star to keep his job. Preliminary figures from the company's annual meeting of shareholders show 43 percent of them want him out. That's no Mickey Mouse. That's a look at the "Reset."

In Texas, a verdict in a bizarre murder case. A woman found guilty of stabbing her husband 193 times after prosecutors recreated the crime for the jury. CNN's Ed Lavandera reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We, the jury, find the defendant, Susan Lucille Wright guilty of murder.

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Susan Wright did not flinch at the verdict. It took less than six hours for a Houston jury to decide that when Wright stabbed her husband 193 times, it was murder, not self-defense. Her own testimony was not enough to convince jurors.

SUSAN WRIGHT, DEFENDANT: He told me that if I ever left him, that he would kill me. He kicked me repeatedly in the chest and punched me in the back of the head. I couldn't stop because he was going to kill me. I couldn't stop. LAVANDERA: Defense attorneys argue Wright's husband Jeffrey Wright was abusive and that he attacked his wife first the night of the murder. They say Susan Wright feared for her life.

NEAL DAVIS, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: She did what was necessary to protect her own life and the lives of her children.

LAVANDERA: Prosecutors say Wright, a former topless dancer, lured her husband to their bedroom for a night of passion. The scene was recreated in the courtroom using the couple's bloody bed and neck ties.

KELLY SIEGLER, PROSECUTOR: If I'm sitting on top of you and holding a knife, move your hands like you're trying to get me. That's all you can move. She turned that bedroom into a torture chamber. She turned that bed into a butcher block.

LAVANDERA: Susan Wright sobbed as prosecutors detailed the stabbings and how she buried the body in the yard.

LAVANDERA (on camera): The jury must now decide Susan Wright's punishment. She faces anywhere between probation and up to life in prison. Ed Lavandera, CNN, Dallas.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: The case has drawn a lot of attention in part because of the tactics of the prosecutors. In "Justice Served" tonight, Andrew Tilghman joins us from Houston, Texas. He has been following the trial from the very beginning as reporter for the "Houston Chronicle" and our 360 legal analyst Kimberly Guilfoyle Newsom joins me here in New York. Kimberly, that prosecution recreation, how important was it to their case?

KIMBERLY GUILFOYLE NEWSOM, 360 LEGAL ANALYST: I think it was pivotal. It was huge. The evidence here was very overwhelming in terms of 193 stab wounds. But how was the jury going to get the image? I'm sure it is seared in their minds, that female prosecutor straddling her colleague who is tied helplessly to the bed. The case was a defense of self defense. How do you rebut that when he is helpless, tied to the bed?

COOPER: And we're watching the prosecutor do it here in the court. Andrew, were you stunned by this?

ANDREW TILGHMAN, REPORTER, "HOUSTON CHRONICLE": Well, they brought the bed into the courtroom a few minutes before they brought the jury out. You know, it was certainly a surprise. I think most of the jurors were listening real close as Kelly went through her demonstration, her theory on the crime.

COOPER: Susan Wright cried through a lot of this trial. Andrew, she did not cry today at the reaction of the verdict. Your take on that. Surprised?

TILGHMAN: Yes. That was a surprise to a lot of people. She had been very emotional throughout the whole trial, both on the witness stand and at the defense table. When the judge read the verdict, she didn't blink. It was just a completely emotionless stare.

COOPER: Kimberly, let's talk more about the reenactment. Some would say it could be grounds for an appeal. Certainly, you'd think they'll challenge it on that.

GUILFOYLE NEWSOM: It's one thing to present your theory and argument to the jury, your version of what happened but this was inflammatory and over the top. I don't think anyone can say with a straight face that this wasn't prejudicial to the defendant in this case. This was their rendition of what happened. They laid the whole thing out for the jury. I think the jury bought it hook, line, sinker that this is exactly what happened.

COOPER: And Susan Wright did testify in her own defense. How did she do on the stand? Do you think the jury just didn't buy her?

TILGHMAN: Well, I mean, she was very believable when she talked about a lot of things, when she talked about her husband being this kind of cocaine crazed abusive jerk. I think she came across very well. Her problem was, when she began to talk about January 13 and the struggle with the knife. I just don't think she ever really was able to explain how she was somehow overpowering this man who weighed 100 pounds more than she did.

COOPER: Let's talk about sentencing. She could get anywhere from probation to life in prison. How important is the fact that she claimed domestic abuse going to be in the sentencing?

GUILFOYLE NEWSOM: I think it's the only chance she has basically to have this jury feel some sympathy for her that could mitigate in her favor so they don't basically throw the book at her. There was a history of domestic violence, there was drug abuse on his part. But again, there seems to be a pretty defenseless crime in terms of the savagery, the viciousness in which it was carried out and dumping his body afterwards face down into a hole in the ground that he had dug to put a fountain in their backyard.

COOPER: Andrew, what do you think the jury will find?

TILGHMAN: I don't know. This is Texas. This is Harris county. Jurors tend to be pretty conservative. I think they will have a tough time getting out of there without a big prison sentence.

COOPER: Thank you very much.

Fascinating case.

Now to politics and the race for the White House. John Kerry launches his search for a running mate. Those interested must like long hours, heavy travel and have political experience. There are plenty of contenders. That is typical raw politics.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) SEN. JOHN EDWARDS (D-NC), FMR. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Today I've decided to suspend my campaign for the presidency of the United States.

COOPER (voice-over): Call it super Wednesday. The race for the Democratic presidential nomination might be over, but the dance for the VP slot has just begun and today, contenders hit the dance floor.

EDWARDS: The truth of the matter is that John Kerry has what it takes right here to be president of the United States. I, for one, intend to do everything in my power to make him the next president of the United States.

COOPER: In John Edwards' concession speech today, the subtext was clear. Also today, Hillary Clinton broke her silence on Japanese TV. She endorsed, you guessed it, John Kerry. She also gave a major speech in D.C. And went on CNN tonight where she addressed the issue directly.

SEN. HILLARY CLINTON (D), NEW YORK: I don't think I would ever be offered and don't think I would accept.

COOPER: And one-time presidential candidate Bob Graham was looking very chummy today with John Kerry campaigning in Florida.

BOB GRAHAM (D-FL), FMR. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Kerry, Kerry, Kerry! Friends, you're about to get the real deal.

COOPER: Of course, none of them uttered the words vice president. And all deny any interest in the job. Nevertheless, on this super Wednesday, the day John Kerry officially kicks off his search for a VP, there they all were, in the sunshine and the spot light, maybe coincidence or maybe raw politics.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: The FBI on the offensive. The target: suspected child pornographer on the Internet. We're going to take you inside the operation.

And Martha Stewart's fate now in the hands of the jury. We'll talk about the deliberations of the fate of the domestic diva, just ahead.

Plus, baseball stars in a big league scandal. That is our midweek crisis. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: Send us an email anytime, cnn.com/360.

The FBI wants your help. They are turning to TV and the Internet to get it. In a new crackdown against child pornography, the feds say they hope they will identify predators by taking them public. Kelli Arena explains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KELLI ARENA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): FBI special agent Stacy Bradley was working a particularly gruesome child pornography case when she repeatedly came across photos of children being abused by the same predators.

STACEY BRADLEY, FBI SPECIAL AGENT: I used to take those images of bank robberies and put them on the news media. Why can't I do that with these guys?

ARENA: Now she can. There are thousands of pictures of children being exploited. Their abuser's faces are also being shown. The FBI isolates the most recent photos to be sure the victims are still children. For suspects who cannot be identified, agents work on getting so-called John Doe indictments, then, publish pictures of the suspects. So far, photos of three men have been published on the FBI's Web site and on "America's Most Wanted."

JOHN WALSH, HOST "AMERICA'S MOST WANTED": Keep getting them. You get the indictments, we'll put them on the air. We'll take them down. You put them in jail.

ARENA: Two of the men are already in custody. The effort is part of the FBI's innocent images program. Agents there spend hours on the Internet posing as young girls to snare pornographers.

They are even coached by actual teenagers. Here we see agents tackling a multiple choice quiz.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: D, playing the eyes (ph). My mom likes her, but I don't.

ARENA: That, too, was one of Bradley's ideas.

BRADLEY: I want to keep every child as safe as my own.

ARENA: Kelli Arena, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: A remarkable case.

I want to talk more about the Martha Stewart trial. It is in the hands of the jury. The 12 jurors in U.S. district court in New York began deliberating the charges against Stewart and her former stockbroker Peter Bacanovic this afternoon.

"Celebrity Justice" correspondent, Carolina Buia, has been in the court room throughout the trial and she joins me now. Thanks for being with us.

You were watching Stewart and Bacanovic, today. Did they appear nervous?

CAROLINA BUIA, CELEBRITY JUSTICE: As a matter of fact, Peter Bacanovic maintained his poker face throughout, as he has through the whole trial, but Martha Stewart the past couple of days, she's looking confident, more at ease. And actually the two talked for the first time in court, they spent about five minutes talking to each other. I'm not sure what was said. Peter Bacanovic's lawyer was also with them.

Her sister told me yesterday that Martha Stewart is feeling very good, especially after closing arguments.

COOPER: Now, I don't quite understand. The judge dismissed the alternate jurors, because there were a lot of alternate jurors for this case. But then the jury asked for the alternate jurors to come back. Why was that?

BUIA: Well, they've been together for five weeks. They've all bonded together. They wanted to have one last hoorah, one more lunch together. But the judge said, you know what, you can have lunch together. I will agree to this. But you cannot start your deliberations until after lunch and after the alternate jurors have gone home.

COOPER: Let's talk about the charges, Four charges against Martha Stewart, five against Peter Bacanovic, different charges. What options does the jury have?

BUIA: You know, some charges are the same, but you have to consider them separately for each defendant. As the judge said, guilt or innocence is personal. So you could see, perhaps, Martha Stewart, she could be charged on some counts. Peter Bacanovic may be charged on different counts. One might be found guilty, one could go completely scott free.

COOPER: You were watching the closing arguments Stewart's attorney made. And you said, he was very persuasive in his closing arguments.

BUIA: He was, by far, one of the most convincing closing arguments that I've seen covered various legal trials.

COOPER: Of any trial.

BUIA: He was deceptively simple and, yet, he meticulously laid out his case. I believe that the jury was enthralled by him.

COOPER: He even used some terms or phrases that the prosecutors had used and he sort of turned them around on their heads.

BUIA: Yes. He said, no, no, no, they weren't tripping over their lies. In fact, they just have different stories because they never conspired with each other. There was no conspiracy going on. They are smart people.

COOPER: Interesting. All right, Carolina Buia, we'll continue to follow it. Thanks very much.

With opening day just four weeks away, the talk in Major League Baseball now has turned from A-rod to steroids. A report in the "San Francisco Chronicle" says, three major league players were given steroids by a personal trainer who has now been indicted along with the lab that made the drug by a federal grand jury.

It is a "Midweek Crisis" that baseball simply does not need.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: Baseball has battled these charges before. But this time, three of the game's highest paid, highest profile players are accused of pumping up their performances with steroids.

The report says Giants leftfielder, Barry Bonds, Yankees first baseman, Jason Giambi and outfielder Gary Sheffield received the drugs from Greg Anderson, Bonds' personal trainer. All three say, they never touched steroids.

Bonds, Giambi and Sheffield are some of the league's premiere power players. Let's check the states, Bonds hit 45 home runs last season, Giambi had 41 and Sheffield who with the Atlanta Braves hit 39 home runs. They have all volunteered to take drug tests, but the sport's drug policy says players can be tested once a year during the season.

The crisis for these three stars is personal. But it is also a crisis for baseball, threatening to turn off fans already complaining of high ticket prices. Hall of famer Hank Aaron, the man whose all time home run record Barry Bonds is chasing, says he hopes the steroid stories just ain't so.

HANK AARON, HALL OF FAME BASEBALL PLAYER: I hope all of this is something that we all dreamed about and it will be passed over.

COOPER: Baseball's commissioner has banned all personal trainers from clubhouses along with lawyers, agents and other hangers on. Moves unlikely to end this midweek crisis anytime soon.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: Well, coming up, smoking is a no-no in many cities, bars and restaurants. Here is a high-class alternative at one location. Jeanne Moos takes us inside the smoker's mobile speak easy.

Also tonight in "The Current," Justin Timberlake. He can sing, he can dance, but can he act? We'll find out. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: All right. Time for the "Pop News Current." See what's going on out there. Let's take a look. ABC is banking on Stephen King to bring in viewers with his miniseries "Kingdom Hospital." Executives hope it will bring horror back to TV. Though, frankly, we thought horror had already been brought back to TV by Paris Hilton.

Justin Timberlake is said to be hard at work preparing for his movie role. The spokesman says it's the singer's first acting attempt. Critics, however, express surprise. They said the look of surprise Timberlake gave at the Super Bowl was worthy of an Oscar.

And Dick Clark is being accused of age discrimination by a producer who claims that TV icon passed him up for a job. The man says Clark even called him "a dinosaur." Dinosaurs, of course, the creatures that roamed the Earth 150 million years ago, 10 years after Dick Clark started "American Bandstand."

And desperate smokers call for desperate measures. That is why a recently opened Manhattan restaurant found a novel way to get around anti-smoking laws.

Our Jeanne Moos reports and inhales.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Talk about a perfect match. Smokers in a limo, a smoker's speak easy on wheels, though it never goes anyplace.

(on camera): This is the most politically incorrect vehicle on the planet.

(voice-over): If you think limos are something stars get out of, imagine one that smokers get into.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm sorry. We're like smoking in front of your face.

MOOS (on camera): I don't care.

(voice-over): Every night the smoking limo sits outside DavidBurke and Donatella's restaurant where New York City's anti- smoking laws mean you can't even have a cigarette with that martini.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Puff your brains out, baby. Hi.

MOOS: The restaurant spends over 1,000 bucks a week to have this stretch Ford Excursion parked outside. Seats 24 smokers.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's nice to do it in style.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Not feel like a smoker.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I feel like a loser standing outside.

MOOS: No more freezing. Even non-smokers can't resist.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't smoke. But this is wild. I'll take it up.

MOOS: Complete with lava lamps and music. Sometimes what's burning is passion rather than cigarettes. Ask Owen the driver.

OWEN CHAMBERS, LIMOUSINE DRIVER: And she had her dress over her head.

DAVID BURKE, CO-OWNER, DAVIDBURKE & DONATELLA: I was, like, hello. It's a smoking limo.

MOOS: He's David Burke the chef. She's co-owner, Donatella. The two plan to park a smoking horse and buggy outside the restaurant come spring, and maybe even a cigarette boat come August.

BURKE: Leave it on a trailer, little steps (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

MOOS: The smoking limo even comes supplied with gum and breath mints. Come on, baby. Light my limo.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're all (UNINTELLIGIBLE) nicotine out here.

MOOS: Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: Excuse me.

So are you on one of those high protein, no carbs diet? Well, how do you feel? We'll take the Atkins diet to "The Nth Degree" when we come back.

And tomorrow, our special series, "Addiction in America," looks at those who say they're addicted to the Internet. Be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: Tonight, taking that old saying, "you are what you eat," to "The Nth Degree."

Several researchers at MIT say that the Atkins diet can make you glum. Apparently, carbohydrates, the very thing you're supposed to stay away from on Atkins, help the body produce serotonin, and serotonin regulates mood. In other words, this is a plate full of happy. This is a chunk of grim. Fresh-baked smiles. Flash-frozen frowns. Eggs for breakfast, fish for lunch, meat for dinner, maybe some cheese for desert. Then the next day, cheese for breakfast, eggs for lunch, fish for dinner and meat for desert. Protein, protein, protein, protein. Never a little rice to put some spring in your step or a crust of bread to put hope in your heart and a twinkle in your eye.

Here is a word of advice for you: Ravioli.

To be fair about this, the Atkins Institute people say the MIT researchers are all wrong. You can be happy and thin is what they say. But you know what? They seem pretty testy about it.

Thanks for watching, I'm Anderson Cooper.

Coming up next, "PAULA ZAHN NOW."

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com




Coast-to-Coast Controversy>


Aired March 3, 2004 - 19:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON COOPER, HOST (voice-over): The race is on: Bush versus Kerry. New ads unveiled, and the search for a VP begins.

Baby lost and found. The woman accused of kidnapping a 10-day- old baby and staging her death makes a startling claim.

Our special series, "Addiction in America": tonight, addicted to sex. Men and women seeking pleasure, finding pain.

Martha's fate now in the hands of the jury. We'll have the latest.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: Live, from the CNN Broadcast Center in New York, this is ANDERSON COOPER 360.

COOPER: Good evening. Welcome to 360.

Up first tonight, Kerry versus Bush. That battle began hours ago. John Edwards dropped out of the presidential race. And now John Kerry is focusing his fight on one man, President Bush, who is wasting no time in launching his own offensive.

CNN national correspondent Kelly Wallace is covering Edwards' exit and Kerry's campaign strategy. And in Washington, senior White House correspondent John King gives us a look into Mr. Bush's battle plan.

We begin tonight with Kelly Wallace in Raleigh, North Carolina -- Kelly.

KELLY WALLACE, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Anderson, if there were a job application for the vice presidency, you can say that John Edwards filled one out today when he got out of the race. A few hours earlier, he went before a jam-packed gymnasium here in Raleigh at the high school where his late son, Wade, attended before he was tragically killed in a car accident. There, the Senator talking about his campaign, the achievements he thought he and his supporters made. But then he also heaped enormous praise on John Kerry, saying he will everything to get that John into the White House.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) SEN. JOHN EDWARDS (D-NC), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Today, I decided to suspend my campaign for the presidency of the United States. But I want to say a word about a man who is a friend of mine, somebody who I believe has great strength and great courage, my friend, Senator John Kerry, somebody who has fought for and will continue to fight for the things that all of us believe in, more jobs, better health care, cleaner air, water, a safer world.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALLACE: And one of the things John Edwards will start doing as soon as he can for John Kerry, raising lots of money. Anderson, John Kerry has to raise a lot of cash to compete with President Bush's more than $100 million war chest -- Anderson.

COOPER: And that war chest has to be spent before conventions this summer. Kelly, who else is on the short list for the Democratic VP spot?

WALLACE: Well, let's break it into categories. You have your former presidential candidates, Dick Gephardt and retired General Wesley Clark. You have governors, Bill Richardson and Janet Napolitano. And then you have your wildcards, like Republican Senator John McCain of Arizona and also Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York, although Senator Clinton telling Lou Dobbs tonight she doesn't think she would be offered this job, and she doesn't think she would accept it -- Anderson.

COOPER: All right. Kelly Wallace, live from Raleigh. Thanks, Kelly.

The Bush camp, of course, wasting no time taking on John Kerry. This afternoon, the Bush-Cheney '04 team unveiled its first TV ads, which begin airing in selected cities tomorrow.

CNN senior White House correspondent John King has a preview.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN KING, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A new day in the campaign, and an immediate effort to suggest the incumbent is the right man for the challenges still ahead.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I know exactly where I want to lead this country. I know what we need to do to make the world more free and more peaceful. I know what we need to do to make sure every person has a chance at realizing the American dream.

KING: The first ads of the Bush-Cheney re-election campaign portray a president forced to deal with recession, then terrorism. Images of September 11 meant to remind voters of the first term's biggest test.

Mr. Bush talked of a spirited race and then called to congratulate Senator Kerry Tuesday night. And by early Wednesday, the president's allies opened the effort to paint the Massachusetts Democrat as an elitist liberal bent on raising taxes.

REP. TOM DELAY (R), MAJORITY LEADER: He's either insincere about his new spending, dishonest about his new taxes, uninterested in the deficit, or they just didn't teach him arithmetic at the European boarding school he went to.

KING: The president trails Senator Kerry in national polls. His immediate short-term goal is to revitalize his standing now that the Democratic campaign is all but over.

ED GILLESPIE, RNC CHAIRMAN: Understand that the Democratic candidates in their primaries have aired $17 million in attack ads against the president over the course of the past six months.

KING: Mr. Bush is upbeat about his chances, but sees Senator Kerry as a tenacious foe, crediting him with fighting back when it looked like he would fall early in the Democratic race.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KING: But in studying the senator's record, and his campaign statements, the president believes he can make this contrast in the weeks and months ahead: that he is a decisive leader and that Senator Kerry is indecisive, someone who zigs and zags on major issues, and someone who often gives meandering answers when asked about major challenges. That will be the fight in the coming weeks -- Anderson.

COOPER: All right. John King at the White House. Thanks, John.

In Iraq, right now, calls for calm after thousands mourn the victims of the latest bomb attacks. Iraqi Shiite leaders are urging followers not to turn to civil war after at least 169 people were killed yesterday, when suicide bombers targeted worshipers in Baghdad's holiest Shiite mosque and in Karbala.

The U.S. military says intelligence links the attacks to this man, Abu Musab al Zarqawi, who is suspected of having ties to al Qaeda. Now, you may remember just two weeks ago coalition officials released a letter that they say was written by Zarqawi when he reportedly laid out a blueprint for terror aimed at Shiites. Now, today in London, an Arabic newspaper said it received this letter allegedly from al Qaeda denying responsibility for the attacks and instead blaming them on U.S. forces.

This just in from Haiti. A state of emergency has now been declared in the island nation. The decision came from the country's prime minister just moments ago. At this hour, hundreds of U.S. Marines are in Haiti, with hundreds more expected to arrive by Sunday.

CNN's Lucia Newman has the latest from Port-au-Prince.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LUCIA NEWMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): How fast things change in Haiti. Wednesday morning, it was the U.S. Marines who were calling the shots at the very same place where the day before Haitian insurgents had set up their headquarters and declared themselves in command of the streets. So was almost everyone else when rebel commander Guy Philippe announced he and his men were laying down their weapons. Trying to save face, he explained his about-face.

GUY PHILIPPE, REBEL COMMANDER: This morning I had a meeting with the general here, the American general, and he assures that his troops will take care of the people's security.

NEWMAN: Philippe says he and his men, now no longer so visible, are awaiting orders from Haiti's interim president to hand in their weapons. Intense pressure from Washington apparently having forced his hand.

The Marines patrol downtown, while just a few blocks away, Haitian police were fired on and shot back. It is not clear by whom, but armed rebels loyal to Haiti's former president are still at large. And the power vacuum left by Aristide's departure is making Haiti more unstable by the day, with the former opposition demanding a new prime minister and government be named immediately.

CHARLES BAKER, DEMOCRATIC PLATFORM: When you're being attacked, nothing is ever fast enough. Go downtown and see the chaos and the pillage. And, I mean, we have lost over $100 million.

NEWMAN (on camera): If you ask most Haitians what's the most urgent thing right now, they will say security. The responsibility for that now falls squarely on the soldiers of the U.S. Marines and other international peacekeepers, a daunting task at that.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NEWMAN: And to make the situation still murkier, the still prime minister Yvon Neptune, who was appointed by President Aristide, has announced, as you mentioned, a state of emergency and the creation of a special commission to oversee security here, Anderson. At the same time, the CARICOM nations, the Association of Caribbean Countries, say they will not send peacekeepers here to protest the way they say that President Aristide was obliged to leave office -- Anderson.

COOPER: Lucia, they say there is a state of emergency. What exactly does that mean? Are there actually Haitian police out on the streets in Port-au-Prince?

NEWMAN: You know, it is just not clear what is going to happen now, because as the prime minister was saying that he was declaring a state of emergency, the interim president announced that he had fired the head of the police who answers to the prime minister and who had answered to the former president, and named a new head of police who was trained in the United States and who, until now, had been in charge of the Coast Guard -- Anderson.

COOPER: All right. A very confusing and fast-moving situation. Lucia Newman in Port-au-Prince. Thanks, Lucia.

The same-sex marriage debate is spreading coast to coast. About an hour ago, the mayor of New Paltz, New York, small town, pled not guilty to charges of solemnizing gay weddings without a marriage license. Earlier today, New York's attorney general urged a halt to all same-sex weddings, and that today are being welcomed in Portland, Oregon.

CNN's Miguel Marquez reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It is becoming a familiar sight, hundreds of gay and lesbian couples lining up for a marriage license, this time in Portland, Oregon.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It feels like history. I mean, it has never happened before. And it's just a pretty powerful thing.

MARQUEZ: Portland's (UNINTELLIGIBLE) County attorney opened the doors to gay marriage after two county commissioners asked her to look into whether same-sex marriage was protected by the Oregon Constitution. The state's governor says he's not so sure the county attorney is right, and has asked the state attorney general to decide the question.

GOV. TED KULONGOSKI (D), OREGON: I just want to find out, first of all, of whether, in fact, this is legal or not.

MARQUEZ: Also deciding the question, should gays be allowed to marry, another New York town. This time Nyack, north of New York City. Its mayor says he will start issuing marriage licenses next week, but the state's attorney general says, even though the Constitution may allow it, that doesn't make gay marriage legal.

ELIOT SPITZER, NEW YORK ATTORNEY GENERAL: It is my recommendation and my counsel that city and town clerks not issue licenses to same-sex couples.

MARQUEZ: In Georgia, the question before the state legislature, a constitutional amendment barring gay marriage. Although the Senate gave its OK, Georgia's lower House rejected the amendment but plans to reconsider.

REP. TYRONE BROOKS (D), GEORGIA: I do not support a constitutional amendment, because I really believe the Constitution of our state and our nation should be about expanding our rights rather than limiting our rights.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MARQUEZ: And now, though marriage licenses of same-sex couples began in San Francisco, it has since spread to New Mexico, granting licenses, New York, and certainly here in Portland. It is still going on tonight.

With all of that, the U.S. Senate held its first hearing to consider a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriages. The Senate majority leader, Bill Frist, saying that by granting mirages and not passing that amendment, Americans are gambling with our future -- Anderson.

COOPER: All right. Miguel Marquez, in Portland. Thanks, Miguel.

We're following a number of developing stories right now "Cross Country." Let's take a look.

In New York: Stewart jury deliberates. A dozen jurors in federal court began deliberations today in the obstruction of justice case against Martha Stewart and her former stockbroker. They are deciding whether the domestic diva lied about why she sold her ImClone stock in 2001. A lot more on this later on tonight.

New York: WorldCom plea. Bernard Ebbers told a judge today he was not guilty of committing the biggest corporate fraud in U.S. history. The former CEO of WorldCom is accused of conspiring to cook the corporate books to the tune of $11 billion. He is free on $10 million bail.

Washington: improving economy. Rock-bottom interest rates are fueling spending and investment. And that, according to a report from the Federal Reserve, is keeping the economy moving. The Fed report says consumer spending is up, so is manufacturing.

Cambridge, Massachusetts now: stem cell research. A presidential ban on using federal money for stem cell research didn't stop scientists at Harvard from creating 17 new human embryonic stem cell lines. Harvard is giving other scientists free access to the new stem cell lines which they developed using private money.

Fort Detrick, Maryland: Ebola scare. Army officials now say a civilian researcher was not -- repeat not -- infected with the deadly Ebola Virus. You may remember she accidentally pricked her finger working at the Army's Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases. Dangerous work that. But after a 21-day quarantine, she was released today in good health. And that is certainly good news.

That's a look at stories "Cross Country" tonight.

Kidnapping mystery ahead. A woman who allegedly burned down a house and kidnapped a baby, well, she is now convinced the child is hers despite DNA evidence. The latest twist to an already bizarre case.

Also, sexual addiction. Find out how perpetual pleasure seeking is destroying some lives. It is part of our weeklong series, "Addiction in America."

And a wife found guilty of murder for stabbing her husband 193 times. Prosecutors reenacted it there, you see. Will a claim of domestic abuse help reduce her sentence? We'll take a closer look at that.

Before all that, let's take a look "Inside the Box" at the top stories on tonight's network newscasts.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: A story out of Philadelphia now. An already bizarre tale gets even more mysterious. The woman accused of snatching an infant baby and torching a house to cover it all up, well, she has surrendered. But she still says the girl, now 6 years old, is hers.

CNN's Maria Hinojosa has the latest.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARIA HINOJOSA, CNN URBAN AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Many questions remain about what happened that December night in 1997, when this woman, Carolyn Correa, allegedly set a fire and kidnapped 10-day-old little Delimar in what police call a conspiracy. Her lawyer now says Correa is convinced the child is hers.

JEFFREY ZUCKER, CAROLYN CORREA'S ATTORNEY: I don't know whether she's convinced herself or what the situation is. She reacted as a person who truly believed that this was her child.

HINOJOSA: Police officials say DNA tests have proven that wrong. But neighbors say Correa told them at the time she was pregnant and even looked it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She was pregnant. She had a big belly about six years ago.

HINOJOSA: After the 1997 fire, the infant was declared dead, though no remains were ever found. "I always believed my daughter was alive," she says. Now, six years later, Delimar's real mother, Luz Cuevas, has discovered that her daughter was living with Correa in this New Jersey suburb. Authorities now have Delimar in foster care and have told Cuevas she will see her long lost daughter within a week.

LUZ CUEVAS, MOTHER: I tried for six years, and you tell me you're not going to give me quickly my daughter? (UNINTELLIGIBLE), but you have to try to understand. You know, it is true. It is hard for her, too.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HINOJOSA: You know, Anderson, it becomes more and more intriguing this story. If this woman who allegedly kidnapped the baby was, in fact, pregnant, as her neighbors say, then authorities want to know what happened to that baby.

COOPER: What happened, right.

HINOJOSA: And authorities are looking into, she didn't do this alone. She's charged with conspiracy. So who else was involved here?

So it just really unfolds day by day. But the mother, the biological mother, is just sitting on pins and needles waiting to see her biological child.

COOPER: Yes, I can only imagine. My god. Well, we'll keep following it. Thanks very much, Maria Hinojosa.

We're tracking a number of developing stories for you right now around the globe. Let's take a quick look at the "UpLink."

Limoges, France: time bombs and extortion. The French government admits it is being blackmailed by a terrorist group, a shadowy group calling itself AZF (ph). It's threatening to blow up railway tracks within days unless it is paid $5 million in ransom. French police found a sophisticated bomb near the tracks in the town last month.

Central Gaza: another Israeli air strike. Three Hamas militants were killed when their car was hit by missiles . The Israeli army says the men were planning attacks. Hamas agreed and vows revenge.

Venezuela: escalating violence. Protests broke out after authorities ruled against holding a presidential recall election. Take a look at that. Venezuela's election council says there weren't enough valid signatures on petitions calling for an up-or-down vote on the president, Hugo Chavez.

In France: it is official. Despite global protests and a month of debate, the senate adopts the law banning Islamic headscarves and other religious symbols from public schools. Passed by a vote of, get this, 276-20, and goes into effect in September.

In London: dissing Dasani. Brits are raising jaded eyebrows, as only they can, to Dasani bottled water. Coca-Cola, which bottles the water, very popular here in the United States, admits that it is filtered London tap water. Coke argues the water is pure, treated in a highly sophisticated filtration process. They say it was a process even perfected by NASA. British officials say the term "pure" may be violating labeling guidelines.

And in the West Bank: controversial catwalk. In a strange mix of fashion and politics, what is going on with this? An Israeli design house held a photo shoot in front of Israel's West Bank barrier. The fashion house says the photo shoot was a political statement against building walls to solve conflicts. It said clothes can bring Israeli and Palestinian women together to make peace.

All right. That's a look at tonight's "UpLink."

"Addiction in America." Is it possible to get hooked on sex? We'll talk to one woman who says it practically ruined her life until she got help.

Also tonight, steroids and Major League Baseball. Have some star athletes been juicing? That is our "Midweek Crisis."

And a little bit later on, cracking down on child predators. The FBI recruits a popular TV show to stop pornography, and they want your help.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) COOPER: Tonight, we continue our series, "Addiction in America," and focus on a problem many Americans are embarrassed to admit to, sexual addiction. Like an alcoholic who can't stop drinking, people addicted to sex say they are unable to stop their self-destructive behavior. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER (voice-over): Sexual addiction drove Halle Berry's ex- husband, singer Eric Benet, to seek treatment. It's wrecked marriages and ruins lives. Sexual addiction may be more common than you think.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My family and I lost everything.

COOPER: It's estimated that up to 6 percent of the adult population suffers from sexual addiction. And according to Dr. Doug Weiss, being addicted to sex is very different than simply having a high libido.

DOUG WEISS, PH.D., SEX ADDICTION THERAPIST: Someone with a high libido has a satisfying sex life, can connect during the sexual experience, and is really generally satisfied. A sex addict is someone who uses sex in an object way. They're never satisfied.

JOHN FAETH, RECOVERING SEX ADDICT: On a daily basis, I was thinking about sex all day, every day.

COOPER: John Faeth's constant desire for sex interfered with his ability to sleep, to work, and to be with his family.

FAETH: I finally realized that I had a problem when my wife was in the hospital with our fourth child, and he was having complications, and I was still out carousing or chasing women.

COOPER: He also spent hours looking for sex on the Internet.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Internet is like the crack cocaine of sex addiction.

KIMBER FAETH, HUSBAND RECOVERING SEX ADDICT: I just thought he did it.

COOPER: When John's wife, Kimber, discovered the Web sites he was visiting, she demanded he seek help.

J. FAETH: I was relieved finally that I was caught. I was found out. Because I was tired, I was emotionally just drained, done. Financially, it had pretty much ruined us. And at that time, she said, "It's either get help or get out."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: It's amazing. Well, John Faeth was able to get help after some extensive counseling. He's resumed a relatively normal life with his wife and kids. Like John, our next guess knows firsthand the devastation of sexual addiction. Sue Silverman, she's the author of "Love Sick," a memoir about her addiction. I spoke to Sue. I asked her when she realized she was addicted to the search for sex.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SUE SILVERMAN, AUTHOR, "LOVE SICK": Well, it took years. I mean, after years of affairs, I was really dying, I mean, emotionally and spiritually. I could barely even function anymore. And so it was at that point that I found a therapist who gave me the correct diagnosis.

COOPER: As you look at it now, what do you think is at the core of sexual addiction? I mean, is it an escape? Is it an escape from drudgery, unhappiness, from something?

SILVERMAN: Exactly. For me, sex addiction, it really was -- I used sex as a drug. I mean, it was my drug of choice. And I was using sex to numb the pain of my childhood.

I mean, I became a sex addict because my father sexually molested me as a child. And so because that was so painful, I used sex, as I say, as a drug. And I was really like a sex junkie.

COOPER: You were married at this time. I mean, did your husband have any idea of this double life?

SILVERMAN: I was married. And, no, he did not. But that's really what a sex addiction is. It is leading a double life.

I mean, on the surface, I seemed perfect. But that facade was really just a mask that hid this kind of dark, dangerous world.

COOPER: So, for you, sexual addiction didn't mean having to have sex every day, several times a day with different people?

SILVERMAN: No.

COOPER: I mean, it could have been just once a week?

SILVERMAN: Exactly. I mean, that's a real misconception, is that sex addicts really like sex, or that that's what it's about. But it really is using the sex as a drug.

And a fantasy is totally part of that drug. It is very much as powerful as the sex act itself.

COOPER: Well, Sue, there are going to be some people who will listen to this, or hear this and say, I don't quite understand. I mean, you -- at the height of your addiction, you say you were having sex once a week outside of your marriage. How was it an addiction?

SILVERMAN: It was an addiction because I was obsessing about these men all the time. They were much more real to me, than, say, my husband or my job. The fantasies that were in my head were much more powerful than anything in kind of that day world that I lived in. I would go through a period of withdrawal when all I needed was to have another man want me. And as soon as another man wanted me then I would get high and I would feel great.

COOPER: So recovery, which you did enter and have succeeded in, recovery for you meant what?

SILVERMAN: First of all, of course I had to stop acting out with these men. I mean, that's the first step. And then, also, I had to be in a group with other women.

You know, kind of like the 12-step groups. And also finding spirituality, which for me happened to be my writing.

COOPER: So you can have a relationship, a healthy sexual relationship that doesn't go into addiction?

SILVERMAN: Exactly. For me, I'm sexually sober right now. And what that means to me is having sex in a healthy, emotionally committed relationship.

COOPER: Well Sue, I'm glad you were able to get help. I'm glad you were able to write about it. We appreciate you being on the program. Sue Silverman, thanks.

SILVERMAN: Thank you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: So could you be addicted to sex? Here is a quick test to take. If you can answer "yes" to any of the following questions, doctors say you may have a problem.

Have you promised to stop having sex with someone other than your partner but can't? Has your sexual behavior taken you places you wouldn't normally go? Has your work or relationships suffered? And finally, would you be ashamed if people knew of your behavior?

Well, our series, "Addiction in America" continues on Thursday, with a look at those who say they are addicted to the Internet, search for an escape online. We'll show you the warning signs.

And on Friday, strung out on heroin. We'll introduce you to some young addicts desperate to overcome their habits.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER (voice-over): Martha's fate now in the hands of the jury. Could she really go to jail?

And major league cheating? A crisis in camp as baseball gets set to start its season.

(END VIDEOTAPE) (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: Time now for the "Reset." Tonight's top stories. Port- au-Prince. Haiti. Just moments ago the prime minister of the island nation declared a state of emergency. The announcement comes a day after the rebel leader (UNINTELLIGIBLE) threatened to arrest him and put him on trial for mass murder.

Raleigh, North Carolina. John Edwards is officially out of the Democratic presidential race. The senator today urged his cheering supporters to join him in doing everything possible to help John Kerry win the White House. Some of those supporters waved Kerry-Edwards signs.

Phoenix, Arizona. Police report rounding up nearly 200 illegal immigrants crammed inside one upscale home. Today's drop house, that raid was the sixth in the last two weeks. Drop houses are where smugglers drop off illegal immigrants to wait for transportation.

Washington. Same-sex ed. The Education Department plans to change its Title IX enforcement to give local public school districts more freedom to set up single-sex classrooms in schools. Advocates say the approach improves student achievement and discipline. Critics say it prepares student poorly for real life in the adult world.

In Mendocino County, California, the first county in the nation to ban genetically modified crops and animals. Voters approved the prohibition yesterday. Biotech foes contend the technology hasn't been tested enough to make sure it isn't harmful to health or to the environment.

In Philadelphia now. Walt Disney chairman and CEO Michael Eisner may be wishing on a star to keep his job. Preliminary figures from the company's annual meeting of shareholders show 43 percent of them want him out. That's no Mickey Mouse. That's a look at the "Reset."

In Texas, a verdict in a bizarre murder case. A woman found guilty of stabbing her husband 193 times after prosecutors recreated the crime for the jury. CNN's Ed Lavandera reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We, the jury, find the defendant, Susan Lucille Wright guilty of murder.

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Susan Wright did not flinch at the verdict. It took less than six hours for a Houston jury to decide that when Wright stabbed her husband 193 times, it was murder, not self-defense. Her own testimony was not enough to convince jurors.

SUSAN WRIGHT, DEFENDANT: He told me that if I ever left him, that he would kill me. He kicked me repeatedly in the chest and punched me in the back of the head. I couldn't stop because he was going to kill me. I couldn't stop. LAVANDERA: Defense attorneys argue Wright's husband Jeffrey Wright was abusive and that he attacked his wife first the night of the murder. They say Susan Wright feared for her life.

NEAL DAVIS, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: She did what was necessary to protect her own life and the lives of her children.

LAVANDERA: Prosecutors say Wright, a former topless dancer, lured her husband to their bedroom for a night of passion. The scene was recreated in the courtroom using the couple's bloody bed and neck ties.

KELLY SIEGLER, PROSECUTOR: If I'm sitting on top of you and holding a knife, move your hands like you're trying to get me. That's all you can move. She turned that bedroom into a torture chamber. She turned that bed into a butcher block.

LAVANDERA: Susan Wright sobbed as prosecutors detailed the stabbings and how she buried the body in the yard.

LAVANDERA (on camera): The jury must now decide Susan Wright's punishment. She faces anywhere between probation and up to life in prison. Ed Lavandera, CNN, Dallas.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: The case has drawn a lot of attention in part because of the tactics of the prosecutors. In "Justice Served" tonight, Andrew Tilghman joins us from Houston, Texas. He has been following the trial from the very beginning as reporter for the "Houston Chronicle" and our 360 legal analyst Kimberly Guilfoyle Newsom joins me here in New York. Kimberly, that prosecution recreation, how important was it to their case?

KIMBERLY GUILFOYLE NEWSOM, 360 LEGAL ANALYST: I think it was pivotal. It was huge. The evidence here was very overwhelming in terms of 193 stab wounds. But how was the jury going to get the image? I'm sure it is seared in their minds, that female prosecutor straddling her colleague who is tied helplessly to the bed. The case was a defense of self defense. How do you rebut that when he is helpless, tied to the bed?

COOPER: And we're watching the prosecutor do it here in the court. Andrew, were you stunned by this?

ANDREW TILGHMAN, REPORTER, "HOUSTON CHRONICLE": Well, they brought the bed into the courtroom a few minutes before they brought the jury out. You know, it was certainly a surprise. I think most of the jurors were listening real close as Kelly went through her demonstration, her theory on the crime.

COOPER: Susan Wright cried through a lot of this trial. Andrew, she did not cry today at the reaction of the verdict. Your take on that. Surprised?

TILGHMAN: Yes. That was a surprise to a lot of people. She had been very emotional throughout the whole trial, both on the witness stand and at the defense table. When the judge read the verdict, she didn't blink. It was just a completely emotionless stare.

COOPER: Kimberly, let's talk more about the reenactment. Some would say it could be grounds for an appeal. Certainly, you'd think they'll challenge it on that.

GUILFOYLE NEWSOM: It's one thing to present your theory and argument to the jury, your version of what happened but this was inflammatory and over the top. I don't think anyone can say with a straight face that this wasn't prejudicial to the defendant in this case. This was their rendition of what happened. They laid the whole thing out for the jury. I think the jury bought it hook, line, sinker that this is exactly what happened.

COOPER: And Susan Wright did testify in her own defense. How did she do on the stand? Do you think the jury just didn't buy her?

TILGHMAN: Well, I mean, she was very believable when she talked about a lot of things, when she talked about her husband being this kind of cocaine crazed abusive jerk. I think she came across very well. Her problem was, when she began to talk about January 13 and the struggle with the knife. I just don't think she ever really was able to explain how she was somehow overpowering this man who weighed 100 pounds more than she did.

COOPER: Let's talk about sentencing. She could get anywhere from probation to life in prison. How important is the fact that she claimed domestic abuse going to be in the sentencing?

GUILFOYLE NEWSOM: I think it's the only chance she has basically to have this jury feel some sympathy for her that could mitigate in her favor so they don't basically throw the book at her. There was a history of domestic violence, there was drug abuse on his part. But again, there seems to be a pretty defenseless crime in terms of the savagery, the viciousness in which it was carried out and dumping his body afterwards face down into a hole in the ground that he had dug to put a fountain in their backyard.

COOPER: Andrew, what do you think the jury will find?

TILGHMAN: I don't know. This is Texas. This is Harris county. Jurors tend to be pretty conservative. I think they will have a tough time getting out of there without a big prison sentence.

COOPER: Thank you very much.

Fascinating case.

Now to politics and the race for the White House. John Kerry launches his search for a running mate. Those interested must like long hours, heavy travel and have political experience. There are plenty of contenders. That is typical raw politics.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) SEN. JOHN EDWARDS (D-NC), FMR. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Today I've decided to suspend my campaign for the presidency of the United States.

COOPER (voice-over): Call it super Wednesday. The race for the Democratic presidential nomination might be over, but the dance for the VP slot has just begun and today, contenders hit the dance floor.

EDWARDS: The truth of the matter is that John Kerry has what it takes right here to be president of the United States. I, for one, intend to do everything in my power to make him the next president of the United States.

COOPER: In John Edwards' concession speech today, the subtext was clear. Also today, Hillary Clinton broke her silence on Japanese TV. She endorsed, you guessed it, John Kerry. She also gave a major speech in D.C. And went on CNN tonight where she addressed the issue directly.

SEN. HILLARY CLINTON (D), NEW YORK: I don't think I would ever be offered and don't think I would accept.

COOPER: And one-time presidential candidate Bob Graham was looking very chummy today with John Kerry campaigning in Florida.

BOB GRAHAM (D-FL), FMR. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Kerry, Kerry, Kerry! Friends, you're about to get the real deal.

COOPER: Of course, none of them uttered the words vice president. And all deny any interest in the job. Nevertheless, on this super Wednesday, the day John Kerry officially kicks off his search for a VP, there they all were, in the sunshine and the spot light, maybe coincidence or maybe raw politics.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: The FBI on the offensive. The target: suspected child pornographer on the Internet. We're going to take you inside the operation.

And Martha Stewart's fate now in the hands of the jury. We'll talk about the deliberations of the fate of the domestic diva, just ahead.

Plus, baseball stars in a big league scandal. That is our midweek crisis. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: Send us an email anytime, cnn.com/360.

The FBI wants your help. They are turning to TV and the Internet to get it. In a new crackdown against child pornography, the feds say they hope they will identify predators by taking them public. Kelli Arena explains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KELLI ARENA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): FBI special agent Stacy Bradley was working a particularly gruesome child pornography case when she repeatedly came across photos of children being abused by the same predators.

STACEY BRADLEY, FBI SPECIAL AGENT: I used to take those images of bank robberies and put them on the news media. Why can't I do that with these guys?

ARENA: Now she can. There are thousands of pictures of children being exploited. Their abuser's faces are also being shown. The FBI isolates the most recent photos to be sure the victims are still children. For suspects who cannot be identified, agents work on getting so-called John Doe indictments, then, publish pictures of the suspects. So far, photos of three men have been published on the FBI's Web site and on "America's Most Wanted."

JOHN WALSH, HOST "AMERICA'S MOST WANTED": Keep getting them. You get the indictments, we'll put them on the air. We'll take them down. You put them in jail.

ARENA: Two of the men are already in custody. The effort is part of the FBI's innocent images program. Agents there spend hours on the Internet posing as young girls to snare pornographers.

They are even coached by actual teenagers. Here we see agents tackling a multiple choice quiz.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: D, playing the eyes (ph). My mom likes her, but I don't.

ARENA: That, too, was one of Bradley's ideas.

BRADLEY: I want to keep every child as safe as my own.

ARENA: Kelli Arena, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: A remarkable case.

I want to talk more about the Martha Stewart trial. It is in the hands of the jury. The 12 jurors in U.S. district court in New York began deliberating the charges against Stewart and her former stockbroker Peter Bacanovic this afternoon.

"Celebrity Justice" correspondent, Carolina Buia, has been in the court room throughout the trial and she joins me now. Thanks for being with us.

You were watching Stewart and Bacanovic, today. Did they appear nervous?

CAROLINA BUIA, CELEBRITY JUSTICE: As a matter of fact, Peter Bacanovic maintained his poker face throughout, as he has through the whole trial, but Martha Stewart the past couple of days, she's looking confident, more at ease. And actually the two talked for the first time in court, they spent about five minutes talking to each other. I'm not sure what was said. Peter Bacanovic's lawyer was also with them.

Her sister told me yesterday that Martha Stewart is feeling very good, especially after closing arguments.

COOPER: Now, I don't quite understand. The judge dismissed the alternate jurors, because there were a lot of alternate jurors for this case. But then the jury asked for the alternate jurors to come back. Why was that?

BUIA: Well, they've been together for five weeks. They've all bonded together. They wanted to have one last hoorah, one more lunch together. But the judge said, you know what, you can have lunch together. I will agree to this. But you cannot start your deliberations until after lunch and after the alternate jurors have gone home.

COOPER: Let's talk about the charges, Four charges against Martha Stewart, five against Peter Bacanovic, different charges. What options does the jury have?

BUIA: You know, some charges are the same, but you have to consider them separately for each defendant. As the judge said, guilt or innocence is personal. So you could see, perhaps, Martha Stewart, she could be charged on some counts. Peter Bacanovic may be charged on different counts. One might be found guilty, one could go completely scott free.

COOPER: You were watching the closing arguments Stewart's attorney made. And you said, he was very persuasive in his closing arguments.

BUIA: He was, by far, one of the most convincing closing arguments that I've seen covered various legal trials.

COOPER: Of any trial.

BUIA: He was deceptively simple and, yet, he meticulously laid out his case. I believe that the jury was enthralled by him.

COOPER: He even used some terms or phrases that the prosecutors had used and he sort of turned them around on their heads.

BUIA: Yes. He said, no, no, no, they weren't tripping over their lies. In fact, they just have different stories because they never conspired with each other. There was no conspiracy going on. They are smart people.

COOPER: Interesting. All right, Carolina Buia, we'll continue to follow it. Thanks very much.

With opening day just four weeks away, the talk in Major League Baseball now has turned from A-rod to steroids. A report in the "San Francisco Chronicle" says, three major league players were given steroids by a personal trainer who has now been indicted along with the lab that made the drug by a federal grand jury.

It is a "Midweek Crisis" that baseball simply does not need.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: Baseball has battled these charges before. But this time, three of the game's highest paid, highest profile players are accused of pumping up their performances with steroids.

The report says Giants leftfielder, Barry Bonds, Yankees first baseman, Jason Giambi and outfielder Gary Sheffield received the drugs from Greg Anderson, Bonds' personal trainer. All three say, they never touched steroids.

Bonds, Giambi and Sheffield are some of the league's premiere power players. Let's check the states, Bonds hit 45 home runs last season, Giambi had 41 and Sheffield who with the Atlanta Braves hit 39 home runs. They have all volunteered to take drug tests, but the sport's drug policy says players can be tested once a year during the season.

The crisis for these three stars is personal. But it is also a crisis for baseball, threatening to turn off fans already complaining of high ticket prices. Hall of famer Hank Aaron, the man whose all time home run record Barry Bonds is chasing, says he hopes the steroid stories just ain't so.

HANK AARON, HALL OF FAME BASEBALL PLAYER: I hope all of this is something that we all dreamed about and it will be passed over.

COOPER: Baseball's commissioner has banned all personal trainers from clubhouses along with lawyers, agents and other hangers on. Moves unlikely to end this midweek crisis anytime soon.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: Well, coming up, smoking is a no-no in many cities, bars and restaurants. Here is a high-class alternative at one location. Jeanne Moos takes us inside the smoker's mobile speak easy.

Also tonight in "The Current," Justin Timberlake. He can sing, he can dance, but can he act? We'll find out. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: All right. Time for the "Pop News Current." See what's going on out there. Let's take a look. ABC is banking on Stephen King to bring in viewers with his miniseries "Kingdom Hospital." Executives hope it will bring horror back to TV. Though, frankly, we thought horror had already been brought back to TV by Paris Hilton.

Justin Timberlake is said to be hard at work preparing for his movie role. The spokesman says it's the singer's first acting attempt. Critics, however, express surprise. They said the look of surprise Timberlake gave at the Super Bowl was worthy of an Oscar.

And Dick Clark is being accused of age discrimination by a producer who claims that TV icon passed him up for a job. The man says Clark even called him "a dinosaur." Dinosaurs, of course, the creatures that roamed the Earth 150 million years ago, 10 years after Dick Clark started "American Bandstand."

And desperate smokers call for desperate measures. That is why a recently opened Manhattan restaurant found a novel way to get around anti-smoking laws.

Our Jeanne Moos reports and inhales.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Talk about a perfect match. Smokers in a limo, a smoker's speak easy on wheels, though it never goes anyplace.

(on camera): This is the most politically incorrect vehicle on the planet.

(voice-over): If you think limos are something stars get out of, imagine one that smokers get into.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm sorry. We're like smoking in front of your face.

MOOS (on camera): I don't care.

(voice-over): Every night the smoking limo sits outside DavidBurke and Donatella's restaurant where New York City's anti- smoking laws mean you can't even have a cigarette with that martini.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Puff your brains out, baby. Hi.

MOOS: The restaurant spends over 1,000 bucks a week to have this stretch Ford Excursion parked outside. Seats 24 smokers.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's nice to do it in style.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Not feel like a smoker.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I feel like a loser standing outside.

MOOS: No more freezing. Even non-smokers can't resist.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't smoke. But this is wild. I'll take it up.

MOOS: Complete with lava lamps and music. Sometimes what's burning is passion rather than cigarettes. Ask Owen the driver.

OWEN CHAMBERS, LIMOUSINE DRIVER: And she had her dress over her head.

DAVID BURKE, CO-OWNER, DAVIDBURKE & DONATELLA: I was, like, hello. It's a smoking limo.

MOOS: He's David Burke the chef. She's co-owner, Donatella. The two plan to park a smoking horse and buggy outside the restaurant come spring, and maybe even a cigarette boat come August.

BURKE: Leave it on a trailer, little steps (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

MOOS: The smoking limo even comes supplied with gum and breath mints. Come on, baby. Light my limo.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're all (UNINTELLIGIBLE) nicotine out here.

MOOS: Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: Excuse me.

So are you on one of those high protein, no carbs diet? Well, how do you feel? We'll take the Atkins diet to "The Nth Degree" when we come back.

And tomorrow, our special series, "Addiction in America," looks at those who say they're addicted to the Internet. Be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: Tonight, taking that old saying, "you are what you eat," to "The Nth Degree."

Several researchers at MIT say that the Atkins diet can make you glum. Apparently, carbohydrates, the very thing you're supposed to stay away from on Atkins, help the body produce serotonin, and serotonin regulates mood. In other words, this is a plate full of happy. This is a chunk of grim. Fresh-baked smiles. Flash-frozen frowns. Eggs for breakfast, fish for lunch, meat for dinner, maybe some cheese for desert. Then the next day, cheese for breakfast, eggs for lunch, fish for dinner and meat for desert. Protein, protein, protein, protein. Never a little rice to put some spring in your step or a crust of bread to put hope in your heart and a twinkle in your eye.

Here is a word of advice for you: Ravioli.

To be fair about this, the Atkins Institute people say the MIT researchers are all wrong. You can be happy and thin is what they say. But you know what? They seem pretty testy about it.

Thanks for watching, I'm Anderson Cooper.

Coming up next, "PAULA ZAHN NOW."

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