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Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees
Terrorists in Baghdad Claim Second American Victim; President Bush Address U.N. General Assembly; Is the Kerry Campaign Connected to CBS Document Debacle?; Martha Stewart Gets October Prison Date
Aired September 21, 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.
ANDERSON COOPER, HOST: Good evening from New York. I'm Anderson Cooper.
President Bush sells his Iraq strategy to the world while terrorists there claim another victim.
360 starts now.
Another American hostage believed murdered in Iraq. But why is hunting the terrorists responsible turning out to be so hard?
What's the strategy behind Bush at the U.N. and Kerry on "Regis"? Tonight, we go 360 with campaign spokesmen on the race, the debates, and the war in Iraq.
What was the Kerry campaign's connection to CBS and the source who lied? New allegations and new fallout from the "60 Minutes" mistake.
Martha Stewart gets an October prison date. We'll have the latest on where she might go and how hard her time may be.
The lead detective in the Scott Peterson case on the stand and on tape. Tonight, hear the confrontation between cops and Peterson about Laci's whereabouts.
And our special series, Marriage and Divorce in America. Tonight, the battle over kids.
ANNOUNCER: Live from the CNN Broadcast Center in New York, this is ANDERSON COOPER 360.
COOPER: And good evening to you.
There's a sickening sense of deja vu tonight, another sickening display of savagery, the apparent murder of American hostage Paul Hensley.
He was 48 years old. He lived in Atlanta. That is his picture. Earlier, his wife had begged for his life, but, of course, that doesn't matter to the men who did this. They have already killed more than two dozen others, men of all nationalities and religions, Turks, Sikhs, Pakistanis, and Bulgarians. They were oil workers and truck drivers, laundry workers. In Iraq now, everyone is a target. There'll be a video of this killing too, and like the others, we will not show it to you, since that gives the terrorists what they want most from all this, publicity. That's our position.
For the latest developments on Hensley's murder, however, and what we know about who's responsible, we turn to senior international correspondent Walt Rodgers, live in Baghdad. Walter?
WALTER RODGERS, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Anderson.
This time the Islamist militants issued a statement saying, quote, "Thank God the lions of Taweed (ph) and jihad have slaughtered another American hostage." From the tone and tenor of their statement, it was very clear these militant Muslims see themselves at a -- involved in a religious war against the United States in particular.
The statement, by the way, did not mention Hensley by name, but he was indeed the only remaining American hostage in this particular trio. He was 48 years old, from the state of Georgia. One other hostage remains alive in this particular group, that is Kenneth Bigley. He's a Briton, 62 years old. The Islamist militants are threatening to execute him as well.
But interestingly, they are not setting a 24-hour deadline again against him. Recall, this blood lust and bloodletting began with the Muslim militants on Monday, when they killed the first American in the group, Eugene Armstrong. They then released a grisly videotape. They're promising another, Anderson.
COOPER: No doubt another, and again, we will not show it. Walter Rodgers, thanks very much for that.
The situation in Iraq has been the focal point of President Bush's addresses to the United Nations General Assembly for the last two years. In 2002, the president made the case for war. Then last year, he was defending the decision to go to war, neither of which was well received.
This year, today, the reception wasn't dramatically better. The day did include some warmth, however, between Mr. Bush and another visitor to New York, this one from Baghdad.
Senior White House correspondent John King has that.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN KING, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The president's embrace of Iraq's prime minister included a remarkable public rebuke of a classified CIA assessment warning of possible civil war.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: They were just guessing as to what the conditions might be like. The Iraqi citizens are defying the pessimistic predictions. The Iraqi citizens are headed toward free elections.
KING: Six weeks to election day here at home, Mr. Bush deflected a question about GOP critics of his Iraq policy, saying the Republicans raising those questions still preferred him over Democrat John Kerry.
BUSH: My opponent has taken so many different positions on Iraq that his statements are hardly credible at all.
KING: Mr. Bush posed for the cameras with Kofi Annan just days after the U.N. secretary general labeled Iraq war illegal. As he opened this year's General Assembly, Mr. Annan was less pointed, but again critical.
KOFI ANNAN, UNITED NATIONS SECRETARY GENERAL: Every nation that proclaims a rule of law at home must respect it abroad.
KING: Mr. Bush followed soon after, and defended his decision to go to war, though it was clear most in the audience did not agree. And while voicing optimism about Iraq's future, the president was more candid about political and security problems in both Afghanistan and Iraq than he tends to be in more upbeat campaign speeches.
BUSH: But these difficulties will not shake our conviction that the future of Afghanistan and Iraq is a future of liberty. The proper response to difficulty is not to retreat, it is to prevail.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: John King joins us.
Now, John, has the relationship changed between President Bush and Kofi Annan?
KING: Yes. Early on, the administration believed Kofi Annan would help try to bring focus and urgency to the Security Council. They have lost faith in that in the bureaucracy of the United Nations, if you will, and a bit in him personally. And then his remark in that BBC interview recently, where he called the Iraq war illegal, this, after the Security Council endorsed the postwar planning in Iraq, infuriated the White House.
And they believe the U.N. must get in and help with the elections, and that security is not an excuse. they say the U.N.'s mission is not to go into only safe places around the world...
COOPER: (UNINTELLIGIBLE)...
KING: ... (UNINTELLIGIBLE) it needs to get people in there to help.
COOPER: That's what the U.N. has been saying, that it's too dangerous to go, to go, to send their people in at this point.
KING: Yes, and what's the point of sending in an urgent election missions in someplace that's safe? the White House would argue. COOPER: It's a good question. All right, John King, thanks very much.
KING: (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
COOPER: John Kerry started off the day on the "Regis and Kelly" show trying to reach female voters who've been flocking to President Bush lately. But after the light stuff was over, Kerry went back to, back in front of the cameras, back on message, back on Iraq.
Senior political correspondent Candy Crowley is on the Kerry campaign trail.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): President Bush addressed the U.N. General Assembly Tuesday, inspiring Senator John Kerry's first news conference in almost seven weeks.
SEN. JOHN KERRY, DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: The president of the United States stood before a stony-faced body and barely talked about the realities at all of Iraq. After lecturing them, instead of leading them to understand how we are all together with a stake in the outcome of Iraq...
CROWLEY: In a speech Monday, Kerry had urged President Bush to use the gathering of world leaders in New York to reach out for help in Iraq.
BUSH: The U.N. And its member nations must respond to Prime Minister Allawi's request and do more to help build an Iraq that is secure, democratic, federal, and free.
CROWLEY: That, Kerry complained, is not what he had in mind.
KERRY: You don't just stand up in front of folks, in the midst of a -- sort of running through all the issues speech, and pretend that that's the way you lead people to the table.
CROWLEY: The Kerry campaign thinks it's on to something. The senator's acid review of the state of war in Iraq got blanket coverage and rave reviews from fellow Democrats.
Still, even as he goes alpha male on the stump, Kerry is tending to his softer side, yucking it up on Letterman, for the show's highest-rated season opener since 1993.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "LATE NIGHT WITH DAVID LETTERMAN," CBS)
KERRY: Eliminate all income taxes. Just ask Teresa to cover the whole damn thing.
DAVID LETTERMAN, HOST: Yeah!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CROWLEY: And dropping by for a little "Regis and Kelly" in the morning.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "REGIS AND KELLY," ABC)
KERRY: For any undecided voter in America, Regis...
REGIS PHILBIN, HOST: Yes?
KERRY: ... I have five words for them.
PHILBIN: And?
KERRY: Secretary of state, Regis Philbin.
PHILBIN: Ohhh!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CROWLEY: Still to come, a chat with Dr. Phil.
Candy Crowley, CNN, Jacksonville, Florida.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Secretary Philbin, hm.
We're going to talk with Kerry campaign spokesman Chad Clanton (ph) and Bush campaign spokeswoman Jennifer Miller Wise (ph) a bit later on 360.
If Dan Rather was hoping his on-air apology yesterday would put out the fire from the memogate scandal, he was wrong. If anything, the story seems to be heating up.
After admitting mistakes were made in its report on President Bush's service in the National Guard, CBS today went one step further. The network said it arranged a conversation between this man, the guy who provided the disputed documents, and Kerry's campaign adviser, Joe Lockhart. Lockhart talked about what was said in that call on "AMERICAN MORNING" with Bill Hemmer.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "AMERICAN MORNING")
JOE LOCKHART, KERRY CAMPAIGN ADVISER: The content of the discussion was, he had some strong feelings about the way the Kerry campaign had responded to the swift boat attack, the -- Senator Kerry's record in Vietnam, and, you know, the smear campaign that was going on against him. He believed that we should have responded more forcefully. You know, I listened respectfully, I told him I thought it was good advice, and that was the end of the conversation.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Said he didn't talk about documents. Republicans, as one might expect, aren't buying that explanation.
ED GILLESPIE, REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN: The question to the Kerry campaign is, what did they know and when did they know it? And the Kerry campaign and the DNC both, of course, have made a character-based critique, which is Boston talk for character assassination, the new strategy of the campaign.
And it was based on, it seems increasingly clear, it was based on these, release of these documents. Whether they knew them to be false or not, I don't know. It's possible they didn't know they were false. But they obviously knew about them in advance and based a whole campaign strategy around them that has now been discredited...
COOPER: Well, there is more to this story than just Dan Rather, of course. There are plenty of people behind the camera who were deeply involved in the reporting of the story, as with any story. A quick news note now on the producer, 48-year-old Mary Mapes, that's her name. She spent five years investigating President Bush's National Guard history. She's been with CBS since 1989. One of the last stories she's produced for "60 Minutes" was its expose on the abuses at the Abu Ghraib prison.
Today's buzz is this. What do you think? Overall, how do you view the TV news media, liberal, conservative, or balanced? Log on to CNN.com/360. Cast your vote. We'll have the results at the end of the program tonight.
In other news, an Amber alert for a 13-year-old girl believed to be with a known sex offender tops our look at what's going on cross- country.
Crawfordville, Florida, the search for Brianna Schultheis (ph), she's, police suspect she ran away with a 31-year-old guy named Raymond Lewis (ph). He used to do odd jobs at her house. He was fired when Brianna's mom learned he was a registered sex offender. Tonight, police are following a possible lead that Lewis may have taken the teen on a Greyhound bus to Atlanta.
Springfield, Illinois, now, an arrest in yesterday's fatal shooting of a security guard outside the state capitol there. The suspect, Derek Potts (ph), was nabbed today knocking on doors not far from the scene. Police say the 24-year-old may have used a stolen gun in the shooting. But at this point, the motive remains a mystery.
Nationwide, air travelers, Big Brother may be watching you. The Transportation Security Administration will order domestic airlines to turn over passenger information. Now, the TSA wants to test a system that will compare passenger names to terrorist watch lists.
And in Eagle, Colorado, Kobe Bryant's lawyers want evidence from his rape case kept secret. But the prosecutor is joining news organizations in asking that the information be made public. Bryant's lawyers object, saying there is, quote, "highly sensitive and embarrassing information." The DA dropped the criminal case, of course, earlier this month. Bryant still faces a civil suit.
That's a quick look at what's happening tonight cross-country.
360 next, Martha Stewart's date with a prison cell. The judge granted her wish today, picks a time to lock her up.
Also tonight, a nation under water, hundreds dead, and a path of devastation across Haiti. It is unbelievable what has happened there. We're going to have the latest on this tropical storm nightmare.
And inside the campaign playbooks, how the candidates tried to score with you today.
All that is ahead.
First, let's take a look at your picks, the most popular stories on CNN.com right now.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARTHA STEWART: I suppose the best word to use for this very harsh and difficult decision is finality, and my intense desire and need to put this nightmare behind me, both personally and...
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: That was Martha Stewart last week, when she asked to be put in prison. Today, she's one step closer actually to getting her wish. This afternoon, a judge ordered Stewart to surrender, and she set a deadline for the home maven to enter the Big House.
CNN's Allan Chernoff has the full story in justice served.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN FINANCIAL NEWS (voice-over): Martha Stewart asked for it, and Judge Miriam Cedarbaum has now granted the request, ordering Stewart to surrender to prison authorities by October 8. Which prison is the question now dominating Martha Stewart's future.
STEWART: I know I have a very tough five months ahead of me. But I understand too that I will get through those months knowing that I have the ability to return to my productive and normal life.
CHERNOFF: Stewart is facing five months in prison for lying to federal investigators about her sale of ImClone stock. Judge Cedarbaum recommended she be sent to one of her two choices, minimum securities in either Danbury, Connecticut, or Coleman, Florida. But the decision is up to the Bureau of Prisons.
The Danbury Prison Camp, which is currently accepting inmates, is filled with drug offenders and inmates convicted of fraud and bribery. Martha Stewart would have to wear a khaki uniform and work for 12 cents an hour. Potential jobs include mowing the lawn and cleaning the kitchen.
PROF. ZELMA HENRIQUES, JOHN JAY COLLEGE: She will be treated, I would say, the way, you know, a typical offender is treated. And Danbury is not a terrible, terrible place or a difficult place. She will experience a typical prison routine.
CHERNOFF (on camera): Last week, Martha Stewart said she hoped to be out in time to plant her spring garden. That now appears likely. Perhaps most pleased, though, by the latest developments are shareholders in Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia. They celebrated the prospect of Ms. Stewart doing her time by driving the stock up 12 percent Tuesday.
Allan Chernoff, CNN FINANCIAL NEWS, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Well, Martha Stewart has asked to serve her sentence near her Connecticut home. Here's a quick fast fact for you. She wants go to the Danbury Federal Correctional Institution. That's where Leona Helmsley, G. Gordon Liddy, and Sun Myung Moon have all served time.
Some have called it Club Fed, but it is really anything but luxurious. Certainly no high-thread-count sheets. Prisoners use military-style linens and sleep in bunk beds. Also, no decorating the concrete walls. Danbury allows only four photographs in prison lockers.
The death toll from tropical storm Jeanne surges to more than 600 people in Haiti. That tops our look at what's going around in the uplink.
In Gunaives (ph), rescue crews are wading through up to six feet of water in some parts of the town, and they're expected to find even more victims who drowned or were buried in mud when the storm hit. Aid workers say their top priority right now are distributing food and medical supplies and trying to prevent looting. It is a mess.
In Tehran, Iran, nuclear ambitions. President Mohammad Katami boldly announces Iran will push on with its nuclear program, in direct defiance of U.N. demands. Katami used a military parade as a backdrop to announce Iran has started turning uranium into gas for enrichment. The IAEA is warning Iran to stop or risk action from the U.N. Security Council.
And in Jerusalem, smart bombs wanted. Israeli security sources say the U.S. plans to sell Israel $139 million worth of air-launched bombs, including 500 bunker-busters. Those sources point out the bombs could potentially hit Iran's underground nuclear lab. Now, the sale is not expected to go through until after November election.
That is a quick look at what's happening around the globe in the uplink.
360 next, Scott Peterson confronted by police. You're going to hear for yourself what he told the lead detective when asked to confess to murder.
Plus, do either candidate really have a plan for Iraq tonight? We go 360 with each campaign to see what, if anything, they are proposing to change the facts on the ground.
Also a little later tonight, sharing custody. Parents trying to go 50-50 with kids. But does it do more harm than good to the kids? Part of our special series, State of the Union.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Well, my -- most trials take a few days or a couple of weeks. The Scott Peterson murder trial is now stretching across seasons. It started in the spring, and with fall beginning tomorrow, prosecutors are still putting witnesses on the stand.
Today, the lead detective testified for a second day. And the jury heard recordings of conversations that he had with Scott Peterson.
CNN's Ted Rowlands covers all angles from the court tonight.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Jurors were riveted, and at least one wept as Scott Peterson talked about his relationship with his wife during a television interview played in court.
Lead detective Craig Grogan spent a second day on the stand detailing the case against Scott Peterson. Grogan testified he thought Peterson was involved from the beginning, and more than a month after Laci Peterson was reported missing, he confronted Scott Peterson on the phone about it.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
CRAIG GROGAN, LEAD DETECTIVE: I mean, you and I both know what happened to Laci.
SCOTT PETERSON: Do you know what happened to her?
GROGAN: We both do.
PETERSON: Craig, I need to know what happened to her. Are you telling me you know what happened to her?
GROGAN: Scott, I mean, let's be serious with one another.
PETERSON: Craig, tell me what -- you know what happened to her. Do you know where she is?
GROGAN: Well, I know where we're looking for her. And...
PETERSON: Where?
GROGAN: ... and I think we're probably going to find her over there in the bay.
PETERSON: Oh... GROGAN: It's a matter of time.
PETERSON: ... Craig, you -- I had nothing to do with Laci's disappearance. Unreal. OK, yeah, I'm going to go.
GROGAN: Scott, what I'm offering you is an opportunity here to end all of this nonsense.
PETERSON: I'm going to find her, Craig.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
ROWLANDS: The prosecution also played videotapes of Peterson talking to the media, including this interview with Diane Sawyer, where he lies about telling the police that he was having an affair.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DIANE SAWYER, ABC NEWS: Did you tell police?
PETERSON: Told the police immediately.
SAWYER: When?
PETERSON: That was the first night we were together, the police, I spent with the police.
SAWYER: You told them about her?
PETERSON: Yes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROWLANDS: Grogan is expected to be on the stand for the rest of this week. The prosecution is winding down. They expect to be done with their portion of the case by the end of the following week, Anderson.
COOPER: Ted, thanks for that.
Like to cover all the angles on 360. So weighing in, justice served tonight, Court TV anchor Lisa Bloom, and from Miami, criminal defense attorney Jayne Weintraub. Good to see both of you.
Lisa, let me start off with you. How damaging was it that, you know, they heard Scott Peterson talking to the police, and then saw that Diane Sawyer interview where he alleged that he had told the police right away about Amber Frey when in fact he hadn't?
LISA BLOOM, COURT TV ANCHOR: It was a smart move by the prosecution, because Scott Peterson is so convincing when he lies. I mean, he's talking to Grogan and saying, If you know, tell me. You think, Gee, he sounds like an innocent man. Then immediately, you see him with Diane Sawyer lying, saying that he told the police immediately about the affair with Amber Frey. We know that's not true.
COOPER: Jayne, a lie does not a murder make, does it?
JAYNE WEINTRAUB, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: And that has to do with him committing a murder? How? I mean, that has nothing to do with him committing a murder. Yes, he lied to Diane Sawyer about having an affair. That is a far cry from proving that he's a murderer. I mean, this rogue cop, inexperienced homicide detective, calls him on the telephone and tries to elicit a confession?
COOPER: Well, but (UNINTELLIGIBLE)...
BLOOM: (UNINTELLIGIBLE)...
WEINTRAUB: Come on, how inexperienced is this cop?
BLOOM: But look at what else we heard in court today. We hear about, they're putting together all the lying about the fishing trip, not about Amber Frey. They took the wrong kind of tackle, freshwater for a saltwater fishing trip...
(CROSSTALK)
BLOOM: ... wait a second, let me finish. And he lied and said it was an impromptu fishing trip. He had a four-day-old license. You know, there's lie after lie...
WEINTRAUB: (UNINTELLIGIBLE)...
BLOOM: ... and it's not just about...
WEINTRAUB: ... (UNINTELLIGIBLE)...
BLOOM: ... Amber Frey, it's about the facts of December 24.
COOPER: Wait, let me have, Jayne, you say he's a rogue cop. I mean, there were, like, weren't there, like, 90 detectives working on this case? I mean, there were a large number of police working on this. Why are -- I know the defense is trying to paint him, I guess, as, as, you know, sort of some, a guy with a vendetta, certainly a defense we've heard before. Why do you say he's a rogue cop?
WEINTRAUB: Well, I say it because after trying over 100 murder cases, it's pretty rare to think that a (UNINTELLIGIBLE) and as a prosecutor a homicide detective would call the suspect and tell him on the phone.
I mean, those are the kind of conversations you want to have face-to-face with a suspect if you're a cop. Those are the kind of conversations that as a prosecutor, you counsel your lead homicide detective, Listen, I want you to get him in that room, heart-to-heart, I want you to not feed him, I want you to get him distraught.
BLOOM: But Scott Peterson...
WEINTRAUB: Show him the victim... BLOOM: ... was not going to crack...
WEINTRAUB: ... show whatever you want...
BLOOM: ... I mean, it's clear by this point...
WEINTRAUB: ... you will listen...
BLOOM: ... he's sticking to his story that he didn't do it. Doesn't matter whether he's face to face or over the phone. He wasn't going to concede anything.
WEINTRAUB: But Lisa, that's what's important. He denied it. So he denied it immediately, and that you discount. I'll tell you what's important. What's important is, a cop getting on a witness stand like he did today and having the audacity to testify under oath, Well, we think he sanitized the house, that's why there was no physical evidence. If Geragos didn't object and make a move, a motion for a mistrial, I'm shocked.
BLOOM: Well, we know...
(CROSSTALK)
BLOOM: ... came home and did his laundry and took a shower. What he didn't do, what came out in court today, was, he didn't clean the warehouse. And that's where there's suspicious cement dust there.
And, you know, Anderson, this is a circumstantial case. The defense can pick apart every little aspect of the case. But when it's all put together in closing argument, maybe in the winter, maybe next spring, sometime in the distant future, though, when it's all put together, there very well could be a conviction against Scott Peterson because there's so much circumstantial evidence.
WEINTRAUB: But there's no evidence that it proves that Scott murdered his wife or the baby, there's just no evidence that connects Scott.
BLOOM: He predicted her death...
WEINTRAUB: (UNINTELLIGIBLE)...
BLOOM: ... two weeks before it happened. He lied...
WEINTRAUB: ... (UNINTELLIGIBLE)...
BLOOM: ... and said he was golfing on the day that he was fishing, on the day that she went missing.
WEINTRAUB: And (UNINTELLIGIBLE)...
BLOOM: He says he went...
(CROSSTALK)
BLOOM: ... fishing of the day. He had the license four days before, Jayne.
WEINTRAUB: And that means...
(CROSSTALK)
BLOOM: ... time to go through it all. But that's why the trial has been so long. There's a lot of little pieces of evidence, they're going to all...
WEINTRAUB: No.
BLOOM: ... be put together in closing argument.
WEINTRAUB: The trial's been so long because the prosecutors have spent so much time wasting their time trying to anticipate the defense, and trying to put up witnesses that the defense is going to put up, and trying to discount them, that they are taking preemptive strikes, and they're ruining their own case.
BLOOM: This prosecution can't win.
COOPER: All right. We're going to have to leave it there.
WEINTRAUB: Nor should it.
COOPER: All right. We'll see. Jayne Weintraub, good to talk to you, as always.
WEINTRAUB: Thank you, Anderson.
COOPER: Although I really didn't talk very much. Lisa Bloom as well, thank you very much.
BLOOM: We still like you.
COOPER: All right.
What's the strategy behind Bush at the U.N. and Kerry on "Regis"? Tonight, we go 360 with campaign spokesmen on the race, the debates, and the war in Iraq.
And our special series, Marriage and Divorce in America. Tonight, the battle over kids.
360 continues.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: 360 next, the campaign playbook. An inside look at the candidates' strategy for winning you over.
First, let's take a look at tonight's "Reset," the top stories.
In Washington, a Senate panel approves Congressman Porter Goss to head up the CIA. President Bush's nominee breezed through the Senate intelligence committee by a vote of 12-4 and the full Senate could take up the vote later this week.
America's major cigarette makers are on trial. The government opened its $280 billion, billion with a "b" lawsuit against industry giants today accusing them of lying about the dangers of smoking. It is the federal government's biggest racketeering case in history. The companies deny any wrongdoing.
The Fed raises interest rates again for the third time this year. The Federal Reserve boosted rates a quarter percentage point to 1.75 percent. Lending rates are still at their lowest levels in 40 years.
Also in Washington, a crackdown on video voyeurs. The House has approved legislation making it a crime to secretly tape or photograph people for raunchy purposes. We really weren't sure (UNINTELLIGIBLE) video to show you during this so we're just showing you people wandering around on the street. That includes taping anyone naked or in their underwear without their consent. Now you can see why we didn't know what to show you. The Senate's expected to approve the bill which guarantees heavy fines and prison time for violators.
Well, today, of course, Iraq remained front and center in the presidential race. At the U.N., President Bush vowed to stay the course in Iraq, Senator John Kerry stayed the course attacking the president's handling of the war. For all the talk about Iraq by both candidates, specifics on what each man plans to do on the ground there seem pretty hard to come by.
Tonight I'm joined by spokespersons for each campaign, Chad Clanton of the Kerry camp. He's in Washington. And Jennifer Millerwise of the Bush campaign is in Arlington, Virginia. It's their first time on our program and we welcome you both.
Chad, let me show you a little bit about what President Bush said at the U.N. today and then I want you to respond to it. Let's show this clip.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Today, the Iraqi and Afghan people are on the path to democracy and freedom. The governments that are rising will pose no threat to others. Instead of harboring terrorists, they're fighting terrorist groups. And this progress is good for the long-term security of all of us.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Chad, do you argue with that?
CHAD CLANTON, KERRY CAMPAIGN SPOKESMAN: Yes. I think the president missed a big opportunity today at the U.N. He had a chance to level with not only the American people but the people at the U.N. about the seriousness of the situation in Iraq. And once again he didn't do that.
COOPER: When you say level, what should he have done? CLANTON: Well, he should have come clean and talked about the violence there, the deteriorating situation. Just last week, he got a report from the CIA saying the situation there was much bleaker than his rosy campaign speeches have reflected. I think there's a lot of people that saw the president today, they have seen him on the campaign trail and they think, look, if you give us another one of these rosy optimistic speeches I will throw my boot through the TV. It's not the reality we're seeing every night on TV, in the newspaper and it's time for the president to tell the truth so we can fix the situation. There's still hope.
COOPER: Jennifer, what about that? Is the president looking at this through -- with rose-colored glasses?
JENNIFER MILLERWISE, BUSH CAMPAIGN SPOKESWOMAN: You know, the president's looking at this very realistically. Today, he had the benefit of meeting with Prime Minister Allawi. The two of them have been working hand in hand in making sure that we have democracy moving forward in Iraq.
It was just a few months ago -- this is a country that was being run by a brutal dictator . So they do have a tough road ahead and they are working hard together.
But what I think was really the stunning thing that we saw today was when John Kerry was unable to answer whether or not he believes a war which he voted in favor of, is illegal. Anderson, what kind of a message does that send to our troops in the field? What kind of a message does that send to their families here, not to mention our enemies and our allies.
COOPER: OK. You've both gotten your spin points in. I want to try to get to, though, some specifics about what each of your candidates would actually do differently. I've yet to really hear what some solutions are. Chad, does John Kerry have any solutions for on the ground in Iraq?
CLANTON: Absolutely. He has a very clear plan. It starts with telling the truth. George Bush continues to mislead people about the situation there. John Kerry knows what it's like on the battlefield, he'll tell the truth, as commander-in-chief. Number two, he wants to get our allies on board. It's wrong for the United States to be bearing 90 percent...
COOPER: But how is that going to happen? Jacques Chirac says France isn't going to get there and Spain is already trying to tell everyone else to leave.
CLANTON: Let me tell you how it would happen if John Kerry were at the U.N. today, he would have huddled up with those world leaders and gotten them on board. We would have cut a deal. George Bush didn't even try. It was frustrating. This is the kind of thing...
COOPER: All right. So you say John Kerry is going to cut some kind of a deal. Jennifer, what about it? Is a deal possible? MILLERWISE: I'd be interested to hear what kind of a deal John Kerry is going to cut. You know, the fact is every time he talks about our allies, he tends to denigrate them, he calls them our phony allies...
CLANTON: Not true.
MILLERWISE: Oh, he's said -- he's called them phony.
(CROSSTALK)
COOPER: Jennifer, let's talk about your candidate. Jennifer, your candidate, I mean, he's got a couple of options, I guess, increase the troops, stay the course now or pull out. What's he going to do?
MILLERWISE: What this president's going to do is he's going to stay committed to fighting this fight, to winning this war. We have to stay with the Iraqi people.
COOPER: Do you think you're winning the war right now?
MILLERWISE: I do. I think we are. I think we're a heck of a lot safer now.
CLANTON: How can you say that?
MILLERWISE: Because, Chad, we're a lot safer unlike your candidate who actually took both positions today when he said that we were safer...
(CROSSTALK)
COOPER: Jennifer, aren't there more cities now in insurgent or terrorist hands than there were three months ago?
MILLERWISE: The fact is that there are certainly a group of international terrorists who are in Baghdad, who are in Iraq right now, who are fighting against our troops and fighting against the Iraqi people and our other allies. The facts are that John Kerry is sending the wrong messages to these terrorists. He's saying that he'll pull our troops (UNINTELLIGIBLE). We have to stay resolute, we have to win this war.
(CROSSTALK)
CLANTON: Let me say one thing. When the American people hear George Bush say we need to stay the course in Iraq, they pray to God he's not telling the truth. They know the mission is deteriorating in Iraq, they know it's time for a new president and a new strategy and that's exactly what John Kerry is going to give them in November.
COOPER: All right. We're going to leave it there. Chad Clinton, Jennifer Millerwise, I appreciate you joining us. What I heard is Bush is going to stay the course and I heard that Kerry is going to huddle and get allies. MILLERWISE: Whatever is the issue of the day...
COOPER: We'll leave it there.
CLANTON: Kerry can do it, George Bush can't. That's the bottom line.
COOPER: With 42 days to go until the general election, President Bush and Senator Kerry are racing around the country, quite often coming close to bumping into each other. They're both in New York today. The planning to carry off a campaign is really as elaborate as an NFL playbook. Since today we couldn't get Chris Berman to figure it for us, we did the next best thing, we got CNN political editor, John Mercurio to give us this edition of our campaign playbook.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN MERCURIO, CNN POLITICAL EDITOR, (voice over): George Bush and John Kerry kicked off today's contest by walking into their own private lion's dens, talking to different groups of people who don't really like them very much right now.
Bush's campaign playbook took him between the tackles to the United Nations, an international body that Republicans treat more like a bunch of foreign tourists. Bush wasn't talking to them anyway, he was talking to the swing voters in TV land who love it when presidents act like world leaders. He was there for the picture, not applause.
SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Let's switch the topic.
MERCURIO: John Kerry's campaign playbook was on its different page, a different chapter, actually. Kerry is having trouble these days with women. Voters, that is, so the senator dished with Regis Philbin and Kelly Ripa this morning about, among other things, who would play him in the movie of his life.
KELLY RIPA, CO-HOST, "LIVE WITH REGIS AND KELLY": Harrison Ford.
KERRY: There you go.
RIPA: Harrison Ford, everybody.
REGIS PHILBIN, CO-HOST, "LIVE WITH REGIS AND KELLY": He liked that.
MERCURIO: His strategy is nothing new. Al Gore and George Bush wanted women in 2000 so they kissed the ring of Oprah, but only Bush, you'll recall, kissed her cheek.
(on camera): Both guys emerged unscathed, no cuts or bruises here, neither stumbled badly but Kerry more than Bush is playing defense here, talking to people who should already be on his team.
So the play of the day, we think, goes to Bush. He's far from the end zone but definitely has the ball. John Mercurio, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: All right, more "Play Book" tomorrow.
360 next, when love and marriage leads to a divorce, kids get caught in the middle. We are going to talk to some of the them about their heartache and some choices about what maybe best for them. Part of our special series. Also more politics ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MERYL STREEP, ACTOR: I want my son.
DUSTIN HOFFMAN, ACTOR: You can't have him.
STREEP: Don't get defensive. Don't try to bully me.
HOFFMAN: I'm not getting defensive. Who walked out of the house 15 months ago?
STREEP: I don't care. I am still his mother.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Man, that movie seems ages ago. We have come a long way since "Kramer vs. Kramer," as far as the roles of divorced mothers and fathers go. Experts estimate that about a quarter of all divorced parents now share parenting. But how should ex's, who couldn't get agree on anything while they were married, function as a team, that's the question.
Tonight in part two of our series, "State of the Union" married and divorced in American. Kids get candid about splitting time with their divorced moms and dad's. Jason Bellini reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ASHLEY: One time, when my dad came over to the house, what happened is that, it was (UNINTELLIGIBLE) his weekend with me and he was bring me back. And my mom told me to go watch a movie. Then I came back out, my dad grabbed me, and they both started pulling on my arms and started fighting.
JASON BELLINI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Really, and you were there in the middle.
ASHLEY: Yes, because they were pulling on my arms and it hurt.
BELLINI: They're sometimes literally pulled in different directions by feuding parents. This is where they come to tell their stories and to find strength. The national Family Resiliency Center. JUSTIN: Slowly but surely my father had stopped coming around and to the point where he just doesn't come around anymore. We haven't talked to him or got a birthday card or anything for years now.
BELLINI: For years?
JUSTIN: Uh-huh.
BELLINI: And he was a real part of your life before the divorce?
JUSTIN: Yes. He was like assistant coach to the baseball team, and led the Boy Scout meeting and stuff when I was in Boy Scouts. And so -- that was the worst part of all the things that happened during the divorce was him not being around anymore.
DOUG: Our parents started fighting more after the divorce. I remember one -- one night, the middle of the night waking up and hearing my mom screaming to my dad on the phone, fighting about something, probably money. They fight about money a lot.
BELLINI: Risa Garon, runs the program designed help the children of messy divorces help one another.
RISA GARON, DIRECTOR NATL. FAMILY RESILIENCY CTR.: The damage that results from a badly handled divorce can be forever, there are permanent scars. The research shows that, children of divorce, when they don't get the support they need when there are on going conflict between parents, are significantly more prone to clinical depression that increases with age, that doesn't decrease.
BELLINI: There may be some parents watching this. Do any of you guys have advice for parents making going through divorce who have children going through divorce?
What should they do to make it easier for the children?
AUSTIN: Just make it so -- like your child doesn't have to hear the fighting.
BELLINI (voice-over): Perhaps it's true all unhappy families are unhappy in their own way. The goal is for children to learn to cope in their own way.
Jason Bellini, Columbia, Maryland.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Some divorced parents choose to split custody right down the middle, 50/50. It's a rising trend, but the question is does it work?
Joining me now is psychologist, Elizabeth Thayer, co-author of the book, the "Co-Parenting Survival Guide," founder of the group P.E.A.C.E. which stands for Parents Equally Allied and Co-parenting Effectively. Thanks for joining us. ELIZABETH THAYER, AUTHOR, PSYCHOLOGIST: Thank you for having me.
COOPER: Fifty/fifty, I mean, sounds reasonable. You say though, often for kids it doesn't work, why?
THAYER: Sometimes it's very difficult for parents. A lot of these parents are so seriously addicted to their conflict, that they just can't let it go. So, they've become more damaging to the children in the 50/50 custody. But there is a way to do this. There's a way to teach parents. We set up all these shared custody situations and what we didn't do is set up programs for people to learn the tools and techniques and structures.
COOPER: So, what do you tell parents trying to do that 50/50 split?
THAYER: We try to parents, first of all, there's actually some hope. They can learn to work together. And what we've try to get them to do is to have a business relationship around the children. So, we teach them techniques to transition the kids, to go to special events, to talk to one another decently and civilly.
One technique we use is to set up a weekly parenting phone call, which has a standard agenda, a standard time, and the parents talk to one another on that basis out of earshot of the children, like on that tape so the children aren't exposed to any conflict.
COOPER: Lot of times it's the kids, though, I mean, they kind of are expecting their parents to some how get back together.
THAYER: Right.
COOPER: What do you hear from kids?
What is it they really want out of this?
THAYER: Kids want go back to being kids. And they want a seamless situation. They just want to be able to love both parents, have permission to do that. Go back and forth between to both parents. I don't know if that they really expect their parents to get back together, but what we can reunite is a family. The marriage ended, the divorce ended that family, but a new family unit is now forming.
COOPER: If they can't at least be friends, at least be business partners.
THAYER: They can be business partners, and they can do more than that. There was one case that we had, where a child was in a school play, parents went to see that, sat on either side of the other child. Child gets to come down and see the parents, doesn't have to go to either side of the auditorium doing that. Walks outs holding hands of both parents going I glad you guys are friends again. That's what they want.
COOPER: All right, some hope. Elizabeth Thayer, thanks very much.
THAYER: Thank you.
COOPER: Well, our series, "State of the Union," marriage and divorce in America continues tomorrow with marriage sabbaticals. Some people feel like taking a break, it's a controversial idea that might just save a relationship.
Thursday, not tonight honey or the next, we're taking a look at sexless marriages.
And Friday, sex lives and secret lives, coping when a spouse comes out.
And that's all this week on 360.
But coming up next, the presidential debate. Bush and Kerry agree to three of them. We've got the ground rules ahead. What you will see and won't see in "Raw Politics."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Well, after hearing all the hype and the spin and the propaganda, we're finally going to get the meat and potatoes a week from Thursday when the top -- when the two top presidential candidates, free of TelePrompTers and wild partisan crowds, will actually meet face-to-face, mano-a-mano, to debate the issues. Won't that be nice.
The Bush and Kerry camps have agreed to three presidential debates and one vice presidential debate.
Now, the format's familiar, but this year the candidates are going to have to follow some different rules as they get into the "Raw Politics."
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER (voice-over): Here are some of the moments you're not likely to see in the 2004 presidential debates. You won't catch any candidate sighing, or taking a peek at his watch.
This time around, the two camps have banned side or cut-away shots of the candidate who is not speaking. Candidates won't be able to walk up to each other, or roam around all over the set. This year, they will be confined to designated areas.
And in 2004, you're not likely to see a third guy. No other candidate has been invited so far. Unlike family members, who will be in the audience, but you won't see them on TV. That's now forbidden.
And forget direct questioning, like during the senatorial debate. The only questions candidates can ask have to be, quote, "rhetorical."
All this is the result of weeks of political haggling, and is contained in this 32-page, 6,000-word memo. It covers everything, from the pens candidates can use to the chairs they'll sit on, to the answers' length or the time cues sound.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The three and a half minutes is up. New question.
COOPER: Everything has been agreed upon.
WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SR. POLITICAL ANALYST: In a debate, viewers push the restart button for the campaign and clear the screen and look at the two candidates afresh, and both candidates want to be seen as absolutely equal in standing.
COOPER: And they want to avoid looking awkward, like being too short for a tall chair, or having a five o'clock shadow like Richard Nixon in 1960. That's why this time around, both candidates will bring their own makeup artists. Making up the rules to make yourself look good, that's "Raw Politics."
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Well, it's not all politics tonight. I want to give you something to smile about. So let's check on some pop news in tonight's "Current."
The original "Star Wars" trilogy is out on DVD today. And it features plenty of amazing extras, I'm told, including behind-the- scenes footage and some outtakes. If only it included commentary by Chewbacca.
That would be what it would sound like. Chewbacca.
A production company is looking for some thieves, really. For a new TV show, Lion Television wants burglars to break into homes and then tell the homeowners about their mistakes. Casting calls -- I'm not kidding. Casting calls are going out in Los Angeles and New York. Now, we think if the show is a hit, the spin-off potential, I mean, it's huge. "Who Wants to Shoot my Dad?" That could be done. Or "The Littlest Stalker." Or "The Apprentice Mugger." Fox -- it might work.
Fox may be taking the next season of "The Simple Life" to Washington. Yes, seems Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie may find themselves working as interns. I will now pause to allow you time to insert your own joke right here.
OK. Time's up. 360 next, the creator of the AK-47 takes a shot with vodka, takes the new idea of branding to "The Nth Degree."
First, today's "Buzz." What do you think, overall, how do you view the TV news media? Liberal, conservative or balanced? Log on to cnn.com/360, cast your vote. We love to hear from you. Results when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Here is the buzz. The majority of you, 56 percent, say the media is conservative. Certainly not a scientific poll, but it is the buzz. Thanks for voting. Tonight, taking branding to "The Nth Degree."
A lot of people are chuckling, but we say why not? If fashion designers can put their name on sunglasses and shampoo, why can't the world's best known maker of automatic weapons branch out as well?
That's what the Russian inventor, Mikhail Kalashnikov, is doing. He's putting that good name of his, which now graces the famous AK-47 assault rifle that has been such a boon to human beings everywhere, on something else altogether -- vodka.
Yeah, yeah, now you can shoot or drink yourself to death with a Kalashnikov product. Never mind the wise cracks, you don't think others in Mr. Kalashnikov's line of work are paying attention to this? You don't think we can look forward to, oh, Smith & Wesson wine cooler? The cooler that will stop you in your tracks. Uzi gin -- the shot drunk around the world. Winchester Semiautomatic single malt -- the whiskey that pours itself. How about Chateau Lockheed Martin Cabernet Sauvignon, from the maker of the F-16 and the Hellfire missile?
And then, for Joe Sixpack, Glock -- beer for straight shooters.
Anyway, turnabout is fair play. There's already a malt liquor called Colt 45, and Coors has all along been calling its brew the Silver Bullet.
Thanks for watching 360. 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
Aired September 21, 2004 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDERSON COOPER, HOST: Good evening from New York. I'm Anderson Cooper.
President Bush sells his Iraq strategy to the world while terrorists there claim another victim.
360 starts now.
Another American hostage believed murdered in Iraq. But why is hunting the terrorists responsible turning out to be so hard?
What's the strategy behind Bush at the U.N. and Kerry on "Regis"? Tonight, we go 360 with campaign spokesmen on the race, the debates, and the war in Iraq.
What was the Kerry campaign's connection to CBS and the source who lied? New allegations and new fallout from the "60 Minutes" mistake.
Martha Stewart gets an October prison date. We'll have the latest on where she might go and how hard her time may be.
The lead detective in the Scott Peterson case on the stand and on tape. Tonight, hear the confrontation between cops and Peterson about Laci's whereabouts.
And our special series, Marriage and Divorce in America. Tonight, the battle over kids.
ANNOUNCER: Live from the CNN Broadcast Center in New York, this is ANDERSON COOPER 360.
COOPER: And good evening to you.
There's a sickening sense of deja vu tonight, another sickening display of savagery, the apparent murder of American hostage Paul Hensley.
He was 48 years old. He lived in Atlanta. That is his picture. Earlier, his wife had begged for his life, but, of course, that doesn't matter to the men who did this. They have already killed more than two dozen others, men of all nationalities and religions, Turks, Sikhs, Pakistanis, and Bulgarians. They were oil workers and truck drivers, laundry workers. In Iraq now, everyone is a target. There'll be a video of this killing too, and like the others, we will not show it to you, since that gives the terrorists what they want most from all this, publicity. That's our position.
For the latest developments on Hensley's murder, however, and what we know about who's responsible, we turn to senior international correspondent Walt Rodgers, live in Baghdad. Walter?
WALTER RODGERS, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Anderson.
This time the Islamist militants issued a statement saying, quote, "Thank God the lions of Taweed (ph) and jihad have slaughtered another American hostage." From the tone and tenor of their statement, it was very clear these militant Muslims see themselves at a -- involved in a religious war against the United States in particular.
The statement, by the way, did not mention Hensley by name, but he was indeed the only remaining American hostage in this particular trio. He was 48 years old, from the state of Georgia. One other hostage remains alive in this particular group, that is Kenneth Bigley. He's a Briton, 62 years old. The Islamist militants are threatening to execute him as well.
But interestingly, they are not setting a 24-hour deadline again against him. Recall, this blood lust and bloodletting began with the Muslim militants on Monday, when they killed the first American in the group, Eugene Armstrong. They then released a grisly videotape. They're promising another, Anderson.
COOPER: No doubt another, and again, we will not show it. Walter Rodgers, thanks very much for that.
The situation in Iraq has been the focal point of President Bush's addresses to the United Nations General Assembly for the last two years. In 2002, the president made the case for war. Then last year, he was defending the decision to go to war, neither of which was well received.
This year, today, the reception wasn't dramatically better. The day did include some warmth, however, between Mr. Bush and another visitor to New York, this one from Baghdad.
Senior White House correspondent John King has that.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN KING, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The president's embrace of Iraq's prime minister included a remarkable public rebuke of a classified CIA assessment warning of possible civil war.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: They were just guessing as to what the conditions might be like. The Iraqi citizens are defying the pessimistic predictions. The Iraqi citizens are headed toward free elections.
KING: Six weeks to election day here at home, Mr. Bush deflected a question about GOP critics of his Iraq policy, saying the Republicans raising those questions still preferred him over Democrat John Kerry.
BUSH: My opponent has taken so many different positions on Iraq that his statements are hardly credible at all.
KING: Mr. Bush posed for the cameras with Kofi Annan just days after the U.N. secretary general labeled Iraq war illegal. As he opened this year's General Assembly, Mr. Annan was less pointed, but again critical.
KOFI ANNAN, UNITED NATIONS SECRETARY GENERAL: Every nation that proclaims a rule of law at home must respect it abroad.
KING: Mr. Bush followed soon after, and defended his decision to go to war, though it was clear most in the audience did not agree. And while voicing optimism about Iraq's future, the president was more candid about political and security problems in both Afghanistan and Iraq than he tends to be in more upbeat campaign speeches.
BUSH: But these difficulties will not shake our conviction that the future of Afghanistan and Iraq is a future of liberty. The proper response to difficulty is not to retreat, it is to prevail.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: John King joins us.
Now, John, has the relationship changed between President Bush and Kofi Annan?
KING: Yes. Early on, the administration believed Kofi Annan would help try to bring focus and urgency to the Security Council. They have lost faith in that in the bureaucracy of the United Nations, if you will, and a bit in him personally. And then his remark in that BBC interview recently, where he called the Iraq war illegal, this, after the Security Council endorsed the postwar planning in Iraq, infuriated the White House.
And they believe the U.N. must get in and help with the elections, and that security is not an excuse. they say the U.N.'s mission is not to go into only safe places around the world...
COOPER: (UNINTELLIGIBLE)...
KING: ... (UNINTELLIGIBLE) it needs to get people in there to help.
COOPER: That's what the U.N. has been saying, that it's too dangerous to go, to go, to send their people in at this point.
KING: Yes, and what's the point of sending in an urgent election missions in someplace that's safe? the White House would argue. COOPER: It's a good question. All right, John King, thanks very much.
KING: (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
COOPER: John Kerry started off the day on the "Regis and Kelly" show trying to reach female voters who've been flocking to President Bush lately. But after the light stuff was over, Kerry went back to, back in front of the cameras, back on message, back on Iraq.
Senior political correspondent Candy Crowley is on the Kerry campaign trail.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): President Bush addressed the U.N. General Assembly Tuesday, inspiring Senator John Kerry's first news conference in almost seven weeks.
SEN. JOHN KERRY, DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: The president of the United States stood before a stony-faced body and barely talked about the realities at all of Iraq. After lecturing them, instead of leading them to understand how we are all together with a stake in the outcome of Iraq...
CROWLEY: In a speech Monday, Kerry had urged President Bush to use the gathering of world leaders in New York to reach out for help in Iraq.
BUSH: The U.N. And its member nations must respond to Prime Minister Allawi's request and do more to help build an Iraq that is secure, democratic, federal, and free.
CROWLEY: That, Kerry complained, is not what he had in mind.
KERRY: You don't just stand up in front of folks, in the midst of a -- sort of running through all the issues speech, and pretend that that's the way you lead people to the table.
CROWLEY: The Kerry campaign thinks it's on to something. The senator's acid review of the state of war in Iraq got blanket coverage and rave reviews from fellow Democrats.
Still, even as he goes alpha male on the stump, Kerry is tending to his softer side, yucking it up on Letterman, for the show's highest-rated season opener since 1993.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "LATE NIGHT WITH DAVID LETTERMAN," CBS)
KERRY: Eliminate all income taxes. Just ask Teresa to cover the whole damn thing.
DAVID LETTERMAN, HOST: Yeah!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CROWLEY: And dropping by for a little "Regis and Kelly" in the morning.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "REGIS AND KELLY," ABC)
KERRY: For any undecided voter in America, Regis...
REGIS PHILBIN, HOST: Yes?
KERRY: ... I have five words for them.
PHILBIN: And?
KERRY: Secretary of state, Regis Philbin.
PHILBIN: Ohhh!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CROWLEY: Still to come, a chat with Dr. Phil.
Candy Crowley, CNN, Jacksonville, Florida.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Secretary Philbin, hm.
We're going to talk with Kerry campaign spokesman Chad Clanton (ph) and Bush campaign spokeswoman Jennifer Miller Wise (ph) a bit later on 360.
If Dan Rather was hoping his on-air apology yesterday would put out the fire from the memogate scandal, he was wrong. If anything, the story seems to be heating up.
After admitting mistakes were made in its report on President Bush's service in the National Guard, CBS today went one step further. The network said it arranged a conversation between this man, the guy who provided the disputed documents, and Kerry's campaign adviser, Joe Lockhart. Lockhart talked about what was said in that call on "AMERICAN MORNING" with Bill Hemmer.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "AMERICAN MORNING")
JOE LOCKHART, KERRY CAMPAIGN ADVISER: The content of the discussion was, he had some strong feelings about the way the Kerry campaign had responded to the swift boat attack, the -- Senator Kerry's record in Vietnam, and, you know, the smear campaign that was going on against him. He believed that we should have responded more forcefully. You know, I listened respectfully, I told him I thought it was good advice, and that was the end of the conversation.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Said he didn't talk about documents. Republicans, as one might expect, aren't buying that explanation.
ED GILLESPIE, REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN: The question to the Kerry campaign is, what did they know and when did they know it? And the Kerry campaign and the DNC both, of course, have made a character-based critique, which is Boston talk for character assassination, the new strategy of the campaign.
And it was based on, it seems increasingly clear, it was based on these, release of these documents. Whether they knew them to be false or not, I don't know. It's possible they didn't know they were false. But they obviously knew about them in advance and based a whole campaign strategy around them that has now been discredited...
COOPER: Well, there is more to this story than just Dan Rather, of course. There are plenty of people behind the camera who were deeply involved in the reporting of the story, as with any story. A quick news note now on the producer, 48-year-old Mary Mapes, that's her name. She spent five years investigating President Bush's National Guard history. She's been with CBS since 1989. One of the last stories she's produced for "60 Minutes" was its expose on the abuses at the Abu Ghraib prison.
Today's buzz is this. What do you think? Overall, how do you view the TV news media, liberal, conservative, or balanced? Log on to CNN.com/360. Cast your vote. We'll have the results at the end of the program tonight.
In other news, an Amber alert for a 13-year-old girl believed to be with a known sex offender tops our look at what's going on cross- country.
Crawfordville, Florida, the search for Brianna Schultheis (ph), she's, police suspect she ran away with a 31-year-old guy named Raymond Lewis (ph). He used to do odd jobs at her house. He was fired when Brianna's mom learned he was a registered sex offender. Tonight, police are following a possible lead that Lewis may have taken the teen on a Greyhound bus to Atlanta.
Springfield, Illinois, now, an arrest in yesterday's fatal shooting of a security guard outside the state capitol there. The suspect, Derek Potts (ph), was nabbed today knocking on doors not far from the scene. Police say the 24-year-old may have used a stolen gun in the shooting. But at this point, the motive remains a mystery.
Nationwide, air travelers, Big Brother may be watching you. The Transportation Security Administration will order domestic airlines to turn over passenger information. Now, the TSA wants to test a system that will compare passenger names to terrorist watch lists.
And in Eagle, Colorado, Kobe Bryant's lawyers want evidence from his rape case kept secret. But the prosecutor is joining news organizations in asking that the information be made public. Bryant's lawyers object, saying there is, quote, "highly sensitive and embarrassing information." The DA dropped the criminal case, of course, earlier this month. Bryant still faces a civil suit.
That's a quick look at what's happening tonight cross-country.
360 next, Martha Stewart's date with a prison cell. The judge granted her wish today, picks a time to lock her up.
Also tonight, a nation under water, hundreds dead, and a path of devastation across Haiti. It is unbelievable what has happened there. We're going to have the latest on this tropical storm nightmare.
And inside the campaign playbooks, how the candidates tried to score with you today.
All that is ahead.
First, let's take a look at your picks, the most popular stories on CNN.com right now.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARTHA STEWART: I suppose the best word to use for this very harsh and difficult decision is finality, and my intense desire and need to put this nightmare behind me, both personally and...
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: That was Martha Stewart last week, when she asked to be put in prison. Today, she's one step closer actually to getting her wish. This afternoon, a judge ordered Stewart to surrender, and she set a deadline for the home maven to enter the Big House.
CNN's Allan Chernoff has the full story in justice served.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN FINANCIAL NEWS (voice-over): Martha Stewart asked for it, and Judge Miriam Cedarbaum has now granted the request, ordering Stewart to surrender to prison authorities by October 8. Which prison is the question now dominating Martha Stewart's future.
STEWART: I know I have a very tough five months ahead of me. But I understand too that I will get through those months knowing that I have the ability to return to my productive and normal life.
CHERNOFF: Stewart is facing five months in prison for lying to federal investigators about her sale of ImClone stock. Judge Cedarbaum recommended she be sent to one of her two choices, minimum securities in either Danbury, Connecticut, or Coleman, Florida. But the decision is up to the Bureau of Prisons.
The Danbury Prison Camp, which is currently accepting inmates, is filled with drug offenders and inmates convicted of fraud and bribery. Martha Stewart would have to wear a khaki uniform and work for 12 cents an hour. Potential jobs include mowing the lawn and cleaning the kitchen.
PROF. ZELMA HENRIQUES, JOHN JAY COLLEGE: She will be treated, I would say, the way, you know, a typical offender is treated. And Danbury is not a terrible, terrible place or a difficult place. She will experience a typical prison routine.
CHERNOFF (on camera): Last week, Martha Stewart said she hoped to be out in time to plant her spring garden. That now appears likely. Perhaps most pleased, though, by the latest developments are shareholders in Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia. They celebrated the prospect of Ms. Stewart doing her time by driving the stock up 12 percent Tuesday.
Allan Chernoff, CNN FINANCIAL NEWS, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Well, Martha Stewart has asked to serve her sentence near her Connecticut home. Here's a quick fast fact for you. She wants go to the Danbury Federal Correctional Institution. That's where Leona Helmsley, G. Gordon Liddy, and Sun Myung Moon have all served time.
Some have called it Club Fed, but it is really anything but luxurious. Certainly no high-thread-count sheets. Prisoners use military-style linens and sleep in bunk beds. Also, no decorating the concrete walls. Danbury allows only four photographs in prison lockers.
The death toll from tropical storm Jeanne surges to more than 600 people in Haiti. That tops our look at what's going around in the uplink.
In Gunaives (ph), rescue crews are wading through up to six feet of water in some parts of the town, and they're expected to find even more victims who drowned or were buried in mud when the storm hit. Aid workers say their top priority right now are distributing food and medical supplies and trying to prevent looting. It is a mess.
In Tehran, Iran, nuclear ambitions. President Mohammad Katami boldly announces Iran will push on with its nuclear program, in direct defiance of U.N. demands. Katami used a military parade as a backdrop to announce Iran has started turning uranium into gas for enrichment. The IAEA is warning Iran to stop or risk action from the U.N. Security Council.
And in Jerusalem, smart bombs wanted. Israeli security sources say the U.S. plans to sell Israel $139 million worth of air-launched bombs, including 500 bunker-busters. Those sources point out the bombs could potentially hit Iran's underground nuclear lab. Now, the sale is not expected to go through until after November election.
That is a quick look at what's happening around the globe in the uplink.
360 next, Scott Peterson confronted by police. You're going to hear for yourself what he told the lead detective when asked to confess to murder.
Plus, do either candidate really have a plan for Iraq tonight? We go 360 with each campaign to see what, if anything, they are proposing to change the facts on the ground.
Also a little later tonight, sharing custody. Parents trying to go 50-50 with kids. But does it do more harm than good to the kids? Part of our special series, State of the Union.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Well, my -- most trials take a few days or a couple of weeks. The Scott Peterson murder trial is now stretching across seasons. It started in the spring, and with fall beginning tomorrow, prosecutors are still putting witnesses on the stand.
Today, the lead detective testified for a second day. And the jury heard recordings of conversations that he had with Scott Peterson.
CNN's Ted Rowlands covers all angles from the court tonight.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Jurors were riveted, and at least one wept as Scott Peterson talked about his relationship with his wife during a television interview played in court.
Lead detective Craig Grogan spent a second day on the stand detailing the case against Scott Peterson. Grogan testified he thought Peterson was involved from the beginning, and more than a month after Laci Peterson was reported missing, he confronted Scott Peterson on the phone about it.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
CRAIG GROGAN, LEAD DETECTIVE: I mean, you and I both know what happened to Laci.
SCOTT PETERSON: Do you know what happened to her?
GROGAN: We both do.
PETERSON: Craig, I need to know what happened to her. Are you telling me you know what happened to her?
GROGAN: Scott, I mean, let's be serious with one another.
PETERSON: Craig, tell me what -- you know what happened to her. Do you know where she is?
GROGAN: Well, I know where we're looking for her. And...
PETERSON: Where?
GROGAN: ... and I think we're probably going to find her over there in the bay.
PETERSON: Oh... GROGAN: It's a matter of time.
PETERSON: ... Craig, you -- I had nothing to do with Laci's disappearance. Unreal. OK, yeah, I'm going to go.
GROGAN: Scott, what I'm offering you is an opportunity here to end all of this nonsense.
PETERSON: I'm going to find her, Craig.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
ROWLANDS: The prosecution also played videotapes of Peterson talking to the media, including this interview with Diane Sawyer, where he lies about telling the police that he was having an affair.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DIANE SAWYER, ABC NEWS: Did you tell police?
PETERSON: Told the police immediately.
SAWYER: When?
PETERSON: That was the first night we were together, the police, I spent with the police.
SAWYER: You told them about her?
PETERSON: Yes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROWLANDS: Grogan is expected to be on the stand for the rest of this week. The prosecution is winding down. They expect to be done with their portion of the case by the end of the following week, Anderson.
COOPER: Ted, thanks for that.
Like to cover all the angles on 360. So weighing in, justice served tonight, Court TV anchor Lisa Bloom, and from Miami, criminal defense attorney Jayne Weintraub. Good to see both of you.
Lisa, let me start off with you. How damaging was it that, you know, they heard Scott Peterson talking to the police, and then saw that Diane Sawyer interview where he alleged that he had told the police right away about Amber Frey when in fact he hadn't?
LISA BLOOM, COURT TV ANCHOR: It was a smart move by the prosecution, because Scott Peterson is so convincing when he lies. I mean, he's talking to Grogan and saying, If you know, tell me. You think, Gee, he sounds like an innocent man. Then immediately, you see him with Diane Sawyer lying, saying that he told the police immediately about the affair with Amber Frey. We know that's not true.
COOPER: Jayne, a lie does not a murder make, does it?
JAYNE WEINTRAUB, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: And that has to do with him committing a murder? How? I mean, that has nothing to do with him committing a murder. Yes, he lied to Diane Sawyer about having an affair. That is a far cry from proving that he's a murderer. I mean, this rogue cop, inexperienced homicide detective, calls him on the telephone and tries to elicit a confession?
COOPER: Well, but (UNINTELLIGIBLE)...
BLOOM: (UNINTELLIGIBLE)...
WEINTRAUB: Come on, how inexperienced is this cop?
BLOOM: But look at what else we heard in court today. We hear about, they're putting together all the lying about the fishing trip, not about Amber Frey. They took the wrong kind of tackle, freshwater for a saltwater fishing trip...
(CROSSTALK)
BLOOM: ... wait a second, let me finish. And he lied and said it was an impromptu fishing trip. He had a four-day-old license. You know, there's lie after lie...
WEINTRAUB: (UNINTELLIGIBLE)...
BLOOM: ... and it's not just about...
WEINTRAUB: ... (UNINTELLIGIBLE)...
BLOOM: ... Amber Frey, it's about the facts of December 24.
COOPER: Wait, let me have, Jayne, you say he's a rogue cop. I mean, there were, like, weren't there, like, 90 detectives working on this case? I mean, there were a large number of police working on this. Why are -- I know the defense is trying to paint him, I guess, as, as, you know, sort of some, a guy with a vendetta, certainly a defense we've heard before. Why do you say he's a rogue cop?
WEINTRAUB: Well, I say it because after trying over 100 murder cases, it's pretty rare to think that a (UNINTELLIGIBLE) and as a prosecutor a homicide detective would call the suspect and tell him on the phone.
I mean, those are the kind of conversations you want to have face-to-face with a suspect if you're a cop. Those are the kind of conversations that as a prosecutor, you counsel your lead homicide detective, Listen, I want you to get him in that room, heart-to-heart, I want you to not feed him, I want you to get him distraught.
BLOOM: But Scott Peterson...
WEINTRAUB: Show him the victim... BLOOM: ... was not going to crack...
WEINTRAUB: ... show whatever you want...
BLOOM: ... I mean, it's clear by this point...
WEINTRAUB: ... you will listen...
BLOOM: ... he's sticking to his story that he didn't do it. Doesn't matter whether he's face to face or over the phone. He wasn't going to concede anything.
WEINTRAUB: But Lisa, that's what's important. He denied it. So he denied it immediately, and that you discount. I'll tell you what's important. What's important is, a cop getting on a witness stand like he did today and having the audacity to testify under oath, Well, we think he sanitized the house, that's why there was no physical evidence. If Geragos didn't object and make a move, a motion for a mistrial, I'm shocked.
BLOOM: Well, we know...
(CROSSTALK)
BLOOM: ... came home and did his laundry and took a shower. What he didn't do, what came out in court today, was, he didn't clean the warehouse. And that's where there's suspicious cement dust there.
And, you know, Anderson, this is a circumstantial case. The defense can pick apart every little aspect of the case. But when it's all put together in closing argument, maybe in the winter, maybe next spring, sometime in the distant future, though, when it's all put together, there very well could be a conviction against Scott Peterson because there's so much circumstantial evidence.
WEINTRAUB: But there's no evidence that it proves that Scott murdered his wife or the baby, there's just no evidence that connects Scott.
BLOOM: He predicted her death...
WEINTRAUB: (UNINTELLIGIBLE)...
BLOOM: ... two weeks before it happened. He lied...
WEINTRAUB: ... (UNINTELLIGIBLE)...
BLOOM: ... and said he was golfing on the day that he was fishing, on the day that she went missing.
WEINTRAUB: And (UNINTELLIGIBLE)...
BLOOM: He says he went...
(CROSSTALK)
BLOOM: ... fishing of the day. He had the license four days before, Jayne.
WEINTRAUB: And that means...
(CROSSTALK)
BLOOM: ... time to go through it all. But that's why the trial has been so long. There's a lot of little pieces of evidence, they're going to all...
WEINTRAUB: No.
BLOOM: ... be put together in closing argument.
WEINTRAUB: The trial's been so long because the prosecutors have spent so much time wasting their time trying to anticipate the defense, and trying to put up witnesses that the defense is going to put up, and trying to discount them, that they are taking preemptive strikes, and they're ruining their own case.
BLOOM: This prosecution can't win.
COOPER: All right. We're going to have to leave it there.
WEINTRAUB: Nor should it.
COOPER: All right. We'll see. Jayne Weintraub, good to talk to you, as always.
WEINTRAUB: Thank you, Anderson.
COOPER: Although I really didn't talk very much. Lisa Bloom as well, thank you very much.
BLOOM: We still like you.
COOPER: All right.
What's the strategy behind Bush at the U.N. and Kerry on "Regis"? Tonight, we go 360 with campaign spokesmen on the race, the debates, and the war in Iraq.
And our special series, Marriage and Divorce in America. Tonight, the battle over kids.
360 continues.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: 360 next, the campaign playbook. An inside look at the candidates' strategy for winning you over.
First, let's take a look at tonight's "Reset," the top stories.
In Washington, a Senate panel approves Congressman Porter Goss to head up the CIA. President Bush's nominee breezed through the Senate intelligence committee by a vote of 12-4 and the full Senate could take up the vote later this week.
America's major cigarette makers are on trial. The government opened its $280 billion, billion with a "b" lawsuit against industry giants today accusing them of lying about the dangers of smoking. It is the federal government's biggest racketeering case in history. The companies deny any wrongdoing.
The Fed raises interest rates again for the third time this year. The Federal Reserve boosted rates a quarter percentage point to 1.75 percent. Lending rates are still at their lowest levels in 40 years.
Also in Washington, a crackdown on video voyeurs. The House has approved legislation making it a crime to secretly tape or photograph people for raunchy purposes. We really weren't sure (UNINTELLIGIBLE) video to show you during this so we're just showing you people wandering around on the street. That includes taping anyone naked or in their underwear without their consent. Now you can see why we didn't know what to show you. The Senate's expected to approve the bill which guarantees heavy fines and prison time for violators.
Well, today, of course, Iraq remained front and center in the presidential race. At the U.N., President Bush vowed to stay the course in Iraq, Senator John Kerry stayed the course attacking the president's handling of the war. For all the talk about Iraq by both candidates, specifics on what each man plans to do on the ground there seem pretty hard to come by.
Tonight I'm joined by spokespersons for each campaign, Chad Clanton of the Kerry camp. He's in Washington. And Jennifer Millerwise of the Bush campaign is in Arlington, Virginia. It's their first time on our program and we welcome you both.
Chad, let me show you a little bit about what President Bush said at the U.N. today and then I want you to respond to it. Let's show this clip.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Today, the Iraqi and Afghan people are on the path to democracy and freedom. The governments that are rising will pose no threat to others. Instead of harboring terrorists, they're fighting terrorist groups. And this progress is good for the long-term security of all of us.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Chad, do you argue with that?
CHAD CLANTON, KERRY CAMPAIGN SPOKESMAN: Yes. I think the president missed a big opportunity today at the U.N. He had a chance to level with not only the American people but the people at the U.N. about the seriousness of the situation in Iraq. And once again he didn't do that.
COOPER: When you say level, what should he have done? CLANTON: Well, he should have come clean and talked about the violence there, the deteriorating situation. Just last week, he got a report from the CIA saying the situation there was much bleaker than his rosy campaign speeches have reflected. I think there's a lot of people that saw the president today, they have seen him on the campaign trail and they think, look, if you give us another one of these rosy optimistic speeches I will throw my boot through the TV. It's not the reality we're seeing every night on TV, in the newspaper and it's time for the president to tell the truth so we can fix the situation. There's still hope.
COOPER: Jennifer, what about that? Is the president looking at this through -- with rose-colored glasses?
JENNIFER MILLERWISE, BUSH CAMPAIGN SPOKESWOMAN: You know, the president's looking at this very realistically. Today, he had the benefit of meeting with Prime Minister Allawi. The two of them have been working hand in hand in making sure that we have democracy moving forward in Iraq.
It was just a few months ago -- this is a country that was being run by a brutal dictator . So they do have a tough road ahead and they are working hard together.
But what I think was really the stunning thing that we saw today was when John Kerry was unable to answer whether or not he believes a war which he voted in favor of, is illegal. Anderson, what kind of a message does that send to our troops in the field? What kind of a message does that send to their families here, not to mention our enemies and our allies.
COOPER: OK. You've both gotten your spin points in. I want to try to get to, though, some specifics about what each of your candidates would actually do differently. I've yet to really hear what some solutions are. Chad, does John Kerry have any solutions for on the ground in Iraq?
CLANTON: Absolutely. He has a very clear plan. It starts with telling the truth. George Bush continues to mislead people about the situation there. John Kerry knows what it's like on the battlefield, he'll tell the truth, as commander-in-chief. Number two, he wants to get our allies on board. It's wrong for the United States to be bearing 90 percent...
COOPER: But how is that going to happen? Jacques Chirac says France isn't going to get there and Spain is already trying to tell everyone else to leave.
CLANTON: Let me tell you how it would happen if John Kerry were at the U.N. today, he would have huddled up with those world leaders and gotten them on board. We would have cut a deal. George Bush didn't even try. It was frustrating. This is the kind of thing...
COOPER: All right. So you say John Kerry is going to cut some kind of a deal. Jennifer, what about it? Is a deal possible? MILLERWISE: I'd be interested to hear what kind of a deal John Kerry is going to cut. You know, the fact is every time he talks about our allies, he tends to denigrate them, he calls them our phony allies...
CLANTON: Not true.
MILLERWISE: Oh, he's said -- he's called them phony.
(CROSSTALK)
COOPER: Jennifer, let's talk about your candidate. Jennifer, your candidate, I mean, he's got a couple of options, I guess, increase the troops, stay the course now or pull out. What's he going to do?
MILLERWISE: What this president's going to do is he's going to stay committed to fighting this fight, to winning this war. We have to stay with the Iraqi people.
COOPER: Do you think you're winning the war right now?
MILLERWISE: I do. I think we are. I think we're a heck of a lot safer now.
CLANTON: How can you say that?
MILLERWISE: Because, Chad, we're a lot safer unlike your candidate who actually took both positions today when he said that we were safer...
(CROSSTALK)
COOPER: Jennifer, aren't there more cities now in insurgent or terrorist hands than there were three months ago?
MILLERWISE: The fact is that there are certainly a group of international terrorists who are in Baghdad, who are in Iraq right now, who are fighting against our troops and fighting against the Iraqi people and our other allies. The facts are that John Kerry is sending the wrong messages to these terrorists. He's saying that he'll pull our troops (UNINTELLIGIBLE). We have to stay resolute, we have to win this war.
(CROSSTALK)
CLANTON: Let me say one thing. When the American people hear George Bush say we need to stay the course in Iraq, they pray to God he's not telling the truth. They know the mission is deteriorating in Iraq, they know it's time for a new president and a new strategy and that's exactly what John Kerry is going to give them in November.
COOPER: All right. We're going to leave it there. Chad Clinton, Jennifer Millerwise, I appreciate you joining us. What I heard is Bush is going to stay the course and I heard that Kerry is going to huddle and get allies. MILLERWISE: Whatever is the issue of the day...
COOPER: We'll leave it there.
CLANTON: Kerry can do it, George Bush can't. That's the bottom line.
COOPER: With 42 days to go until the general election, President Bush and Senator Kerry are racing around the country, quite often coming close to bumping into each other. They're both in New York today. The planning to carry off a campaign is really as elaborate as an NFL playbook. Since today we couldn't get Chris Berman to figure it for us, we did the next best thing, we got CNN political editor, John Mercurio to give us this edition of our campaign playbook.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN MERCURIO, CNN POLITICAL EDITOR, (voice over): George Bush and John Kerry kicked off today's contest by walking into their own private lion's dens, talking to different groups of people who don't really like them very much right now.
Bush's campaign playbook took him between the tackles to the United Nations, an international body that Republicans treat more like a bunch of foreign tourists. Bush wasn't talking to them anyway, he was talking to the swing voters in TV land who love it when presidents act like world leaders. He was there for the picture, not applause.
SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Let's switch the topic.
MERCURIO: John Kerry's campaign playbook was on its different page, a different chapter, actually. Kerry is having trouble these days with women. Voters, that is, so the senator dished with Regis Philbin and Kelly Ripa this morning about, among other things, who would play him in the movie of his life.
KELLY RIPA, CO-HOST, "LIVE WITH REGIS AND KELLY": Harrison Ford.
KERRY: There you go.
RIPA: Harrison Ford, everybody.
REGIS PHILBIN, CO-HOST, "LIVE WITH REGIS AND KELLY": He liked that.
MERCURIO: His strategy is nothing new. Al Gore and George Bush wanted women in 2000 so they kissed the ring of Oprah, but only Bush, you'll recall, kissed her cheek.
(on camera): Both guys emerged unscathed, no cuts or bruises here, neither stumbled badly but Kerry more than Bush is playing defense here, talking to people who should already be on his team.
So the play of the day, we think, goes to Bush. He's far from the end zone but definitely has the ball. John Mercurio, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: All right, more "Play Book" tomorrow.
360 next, when love and marriage leads to a divorce, kids get caught in the middle. We are going to talk to some of the them about their heartache and some choices about what maybe best for them. Part of our special series. Also more politics ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MERYL STREEP, ACTOR: I want my son.
DUSTIN HOFFMAN, ACTOR: You can't have him.
STREEP: Don't get defensive. Don't try to bully me.
HOFFMAN: I'm not getting defensive. Who walked out of the house 15 months ago?
STREEP: I don't care. I am still his mother.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Man, that movie seems ages ago. We have come a long way since "Kramer vs. Kramer," as far as the roles of divorced mothers and fathers go. Experts estimate that about a quarter of all divorced parents now share parenting. But how should ex's, who couldn't get agree on anything while they were married, function as a team, that's the question.
Tonight in part two of our series, "State of the Union" married and divorced in American. Kids get candid about splitting time with their divorced moms and dad's. Jason Bellini reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ASHLEY: One time, when my dad came over to the house, what happened is that, it was (UNINTELLIGIBLE) his weekend with me and he was bring me back. And my mom told me to go watch a movie. Then I came back out, my dad grabbed me, and they both started pulling on my arms and started fighting.
JASON BELLINI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Really, and you were there in the middle.
ASHLEY: Yes, because they were pulling on my arms and it hurt.
BELLINI: They're sometimes literally pulled in different directions by feuding parents. This is where they come to tell their stories and to find strength. The national Family Resiliency Center. JUSTIN: Slowly but surely my father had stopped coming around and to the point where he just doesn't come around anymore. We haven't talked to him or got a birthday card or anything for years now.
BELLINI: For years?
JUSTIN: Uh-huh.
BELLINI: And he was a real part of your life before the divorce?
JUSTIN: Yes. He was like assistant coach to the baseball team, and led the Boy Scout meeting and stuff when I was in Boy Scouts. And so -- that was the worst part of all the things that happened during the divorce was him not being around anymore.
DOUG: Our parents started fighting more after the divorce. I remember one -- one night, the middle of the night waking up and hearing my mom screaming to my dad on the phone, fighting about something, probably money. They fight about money a lot.
BELLINI: Risa Garon, runs the program designed help the children of messy divorces help one another.
RISA GARON, DIRECTOR NATL. FAMILY RESILIENCY CTR.: The damage that results from a badly handled divorce can be forever, there are permanent scars. The research shows that, children of divorce, when they don't get the support they need when there are on going conflict between parents, are significantly more prone to clinical depression that increases with age, that doesn't decrease.
BELLINI: There may be some parents watching this. Do any of you guys have advice for parents making going through divorce who have children going through divorce?
What should they do to make it easier for the children?
AUSTIN: Just make it so -- like your child doesn't have to hear the fighting.
BELLINI (voice-over): Perhaps it's true all unhappy families are unhappy in their own way. The goal is for children to learn to cope in their own way.
Jason Bellini, Columbia, Maryland.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Some divorced parents choose to split custody right down the middle, 50/50. It's a rising trend, but the question is does it work?
Joining me now is psychologist, Elizabeth Thayer, co-author of the book, the "Co-Parenting Survival Guide," founder of the group P.E.A.C.E. which stands for Parents Equally Allied and Co-parenting Effectively. Thanks for joining us. ELIZABETH THAYER, AUTHOR, PSYCHOLOGIST: Thank you for having me.
COOPER: Fifty/fifty, I mean, sounds reasonable. You say though, often for kids it doesn't work, why?
THAYER: Sometimes it's very difficult for parents. A lot of these parents are so seriously addicted to their conflict, that they just can't let it go. So, they've become more damaging to the children in the 50/50 custody. But there is a way to do this. There's a way to teach parents. We set up all these shared custody situations and what we didn't do is set up programs for people to learn the tools and techniques and structures.
COOPER: So, what do you tell parents trying to do that 50/50 split?
THAYER: We try to parents, first of all, there's actually some hope. They can learn to work together. And what we've try to get them to do is to have a business relationship around the children. So, we teach them techniques to transition the kids, to go to special events, to talk to one another decently and civilly.
One technique we use is to set up a weekly parenting phone call, which has a standard agenda, a standard time, and the parents talk to one another on that basis out of earshot of the children, like on that tape so the children aren't exposed to any conflict.
COOPER: Lot of times it's the kids, though, I mean, they kind of are expecting their parents to some how get back together.
THAYER: Right.
COOPER: What do you hear from kids?
What is it they really want out of this?
THAYER: Kids want go back to being kids. And they want a seamless situation. They just want to be able to love both parents, have permission to do that. Go back and forth between to both parents. I don't know if that they really expect their parents to get back together, but what we can reunite is a family. The marriage ended, the divorce ended that family, but a new family unit is now forming.
COOPER: If they can't at least be friends, at least be business partners.
THAYER: They can be business partners, and they can do more than that. There was one case that we had, where a child was in a school play, parents went to see that, sat on either side of the other child. Child gets to come down and see the parents, doesn't have to go to either side of the auditorium doing that. Walks outs holding hands of both parents going I glad you guys are friends again. That's what they want.
COOPER: All right, some hope. Elizabeth Thayer, thanks very much.
THAYER: Thank you.
COOPER: Well, our series, "State of the Union," marriage and divorce in America continues tomorrow with marriage sabbaticals. Some people feel like taking a break, it's a controversial idea that might just save a relationship.
Thursday, not tonight honey or the next, we're taking a look at sexless marriages.
And Friday, sex lives and secret lives, coping when a spouse comes out.
And that's all this week on 360.
But coming up next, the presidential debate. Bush and Kerry agree to three of them. We've got the ground rules ahead. What you will see and won't see in "Raw Politics."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Well, after hearing all the hype and the spin and the propaganda, we're finally going to get the meat and potatoes a week from Thursday when the top -- when the two top presidential candidates, free of TelePrompTers and wild partisan crowds, will actually meet face-to-face, mano-a-mano, to debate the issues. Won't that be nice.
The Bush and Kerry camps have agreed to three presidential debates and one vice presidential debate.
Now, the format's familiar, but this year the candidates are going to have to follow some different rules as they get into the "Raw Politics."
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER (voice-over): Here are some of the moments you're not likely to see in the 2004 presidential debates. You won't catch any candidate sighing, or taking a peek at his watch.
This time around, the two camps have banned side or cut-away shots of the candidate who is not speaking. Candidates won't be able to walk up to each other, or roam around all over the set. This year, they will be confined to designated areas.
And in 2004, you're not likely to see a third guy. No other candidate has been invited so far. Unlike family members, who will be in the audience, but you won't see them on TV. That's now forbidden.
And forget direct questioning, like during the senatorial debate. The only questions candidates can ask have to be, quote, "rhetorical."
All this is the result of weeks of political haggling, and is contained in this 32-page, 6,000-word memo. It covers everything, from the pens candidates can use to the chairs they'll sit on, to the answers' length or the time cues sound.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The three and a half minutes is up. New question.
COOPER: Everything has been agreed upon.
WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SR. POLITICAL ANALYST: In a debate, viewers push the restart button for the campaign and clear the screen and look at the two candidates afresh, and both candidates want to be seen as absolutely equal in standing.
COOPER: And they want to avoid looking awkward, like being too short for a tall chair, or having a five o'clock shadow like Richard Nixon in 1960. That's why this time around, both candidates will bring their own makeup artists. Making up the rules to make yourself look good, that's "Raw Politics."
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Well, it's not all politics tonight. I want to give you something to smile about. So let's check on some pop news in tonight's "Current."
The original "Star Wars" trilogy is out on DVD today. And it features plenty of amazing extras, I'm told, including behind-the- scenes footage and some outtakes. If only it included commentary by Chewbacca.
That would be what it would sound like. Chewbacca.
A production company is looking for some thieves, really. For a new TV show, Lion Television wants burglars to break into homes and then tell the homeowners about their mistakes. Casting calls -- I'm not kidding. Casting calls are going out in Los Angeles and New York. Now, we think if the show is a hit, the spin-off potential, I mean, it's huge. "Who Wants to Shoot my Dad?" That could be done. Or "The Littlest Stalker." Or "The Apprentice Mugger." Fox -- it might work.
Fox may be taking the next season of "The Simple Life" to Washington. Yes, seems Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie may find themselves working as interns. I will now pause to allow you time to insert your own joke right here.
OK. Time's up. 360 next, the creator of the AK-47 takes a shot with vodka, takes the new idea of branding to "The Nth Degree."
First, today's "Buzz." What do you think, overall, how do you view the TV news media? Liberal, conservative or balanced? Log on to cnn.com/360, cast your vote. We love to hear from you. Results when we come back.
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COOPER: Here is the buzz. The majority of you, 56 percent, say the media is conservative. Certainly not a scientific poll, but it is the buzz. Thanks for voting. Tonight, taking branding to "The Nth Degree."
A lot of people are chuckling, but we say why not? If fashion designers can put their name on sunglasses and shampoo, why can't the world's best known maker of automatic weapons branch out as well?
That's what the Russian inventor, Mikhail Kalashnikov, is doing. He's putting that good name of his, which now graces the famous AK-47 assault rifle that has been such a boon to human beings everywhere, on something else altogether -- vodka.
Yeah, yeah, now you can shoot or drink yourself to death with a Kalashnikov product. Never mind the wise cracks, you don't think others in Mr. Kalashnikov's line of work are paying attention to this? You don't think we can look forward to, oh, Smith & Wesson wine cooler? The cooler that will stop you in your tracks. Uzi gin -- the shot drunk around the world. Winchester Semiautomatic single malt -- the whiskey that pours itself. How about Chateau Lockheed Martin Cabernet Sauvignon, from the maker of the F-16 and the Hellfire missile?
And then, for Joe Sixpack, Glock -- beer for straight shooters.
Anyway, turnabout is fair play. There's already a malt liquor called Colt 45, and Coors has all along been calling its brew the Silver Bullet.
Thanks for watching 360. I'm Anderson Cooper. Coming up next, "PAULA ZAHN NOW."
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