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Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees

A Study of Sexual Behavior of Americans; Presidential Candidates Hunt for Normal Guy Image

Aired October 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, I'm Anderson Cooper in New York.
Breaking news out of a St. Louis. A factory shooting, reports of casualties,

360 starts now.

A surprise storm in the Sierra Madres traps more than a dozen hikers. Two are dead, found still tied to their ropes. What's happened to the rest? We'll have the latest.

A massive typhoon leaves more than 60 dead and hundreds injured in Japan. Forecasters say another storm is on its way.

John Kerry hunts for votes while hunting geese, but the NRA says that dog won't hunt. President Bush hammers Kerry's health care plan.

Fidel Castro stakes a tumble, literally. How his fall was seen inside the box.

Are you scared of flying? Millions are. Tonight, how virtual therapy may help you once and for all face your fear.

And who do you think is more satisfied in bed, Republicans or Democrats? A new poll about sex in America has some surprising results.

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

COOPER: And good evening again.

We begin tonight with some late-breaking news.

With details still sketchy about a gunmen at a conveyor belt factory in St. Louis who seems to have opened fire during a shift change, it is unclear at this point whether anyone has been injured or killed. Reports are still very sketchy.

You are looking right now at aerial images of the factory. According to the Associated Press, shotgun-toting police have cordoned off the area, keeping reporters and the curious away. This has been going on now for some hours. According to at least one witness, the gunman seems actually to have stepped out into the parking lot to reload before reentering the factory. Another witness tells the Associated Press he had a gunshot, he heard a gunshot, then, "Boom," in his words, "another."

We'll have more on this late story, this late-breaking story later on this evening. Again, as we said, reports are still very sketchy. You can see the police there. They have cordoned off the area. A lot of cars.

The Associated Press saying the police are carrying shotguns in some cases, trying to keep reporters away, trying to keep any of the curious away. The situation very fluid. At this point it's not clear what is happening inside that building. We'll update you as soon as we know.

Another story still developing at this hour, just a short time ago we learned that nearly two dozen hikers missing in the Sierra Nevada mountains have been found alive. All were caught by a sudden and deadly blizzard that threatened to turn Yosemite National Park into an icy graveyard. Two climbers were found literally frozen in their tracks. Late today, 23 hikers were still unaccounted for, but now rescue crews have found 22 of them. One hiker right now remains missing.

CNN's Rusty Dornin is there. Rusty, what's the latest?

RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Anderson, it was amazing, the number of groups that were scattered all over the Sierra Nevada that were caught by surprise by this ferocious storm. Many of them were experienced campers. They were well prepared. And search and rescue teams say it was day of dramatic successes.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DORNIN (voice-over): Across the Sierra Nevada, time was critical. The weather, postcard perfect for rescuers. At Yosemite's El Capitan, these climbers braved the blizzard this week, hanging on ropes, huddled on the face of the granite monolith. Under warm, sunny skies, they are trying to climb out on their own.

The only way to reach stranded climbers here is to fly a helicopter to the top and rapell rescuers down the face. Here you see them retrieving the bodies of a Japanese couple who froze to death.

Dave Turner had to be rescued Wednesday after 17 days on El Capitan. He says anyone hit by this freezing wet storm would have a tough time continuing.

DAVE TURNER, RESCUED HIKER: Can't dry out, and so you just get immobile. You can't really move. If you attempt to just climb your way out, the situation can get much worse.

DORNIN: Across the Sierra to the southeast, four hikers rescued by a helicopter. Well prepared, they hunkered down for four days. But when the skies cleared, the snow was so deep they couldn't go anywhere.

JEFF PEACOCK, RESCUED HIKER: It took us, I don't know, 20 minutes to walk 100 yards. And we were so exhausted we could barely move.

DORNIN: His 73-year-old father says he and his son both imagined the worst.

TOM PEACOCK, RESCUED HIKER: Have all kinds of dreams about what's going to happen if you don't make it, what happens to your family.

DOUG SCHNEIDER, RESCUED HIKER: And when we heard the chopper come over, we just ran out, grabbed all our mirrors and red signal flares, and waved them in.

DORNIN: This couple and their dog also waved in the rescuers. Missing since Monday, they were picked up in yet another part of the Sierra.

And on a final happy note, four hikers from a Santa Cruz winemaking family can toast their rescuers for finding them in the snows above Shaver Lake. For the families, it's been a rough couple days. When Mac Jefferson was rescued, he was suffering chest pains and was hypothermic. To see him walking out of that helicopter was a special gift on a special day to his wife.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Fifty-seventh birthday, (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DORNIN: You're looking at the search and rescue helicopter that just moments ago brought down the bodies of the two Japanese climbers.

Now, there are four climbers that said they didn't want to be rescued. Apparently they changed their minds. Two of them, they brought down a little while ago. The other two, they say, just asked to be rescued too late. They're going to spend the night on the face of El Capitan. They're about 600 from the top. And they'll have to be rescued tomorrow, Anderson.

COOPER: So Rusty, just so I have this right, there are two people still now on this mountain who are going to be need to, need to be rescued tomorrow?

DORNIN: Yes. They were climbing out. In fact, you saw it in my piece there, you saw people climbing out. It was such a warm, beautiful day. But apparently they got too exhausted. They asked very late in the day to be rescued, and they just can't get the crews up there right now, it's too late in the day. So they're going to have to go in tomorrow.

There's no danger or anything for them. Apparently they're well equipped. They've got enough to keep warm.

COOPER: All right, Rusty Dornin, thanks very much, from Yosemite.

Americans need no reminding of the terrible damage that wind and water and snow, in that case, can do, certainly not after Charley and Frances and Ivan and Jeanne.

But we (UNINTELLIGIBLE) -- we meet -- we may need reminding that ours isn't the only country to be punished by these kind of storms. Take a look at this. In the Pacific, they're called typhoons, of course, and in Japan a typhoon named Takage (ph) has been turning the world upside down.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER (voice-over): There are places in Japan now that look like the model train set of a very wrathful child, enormous boats thrown on their sides, the cars they were transporting flung off like tiles or somehow still clinging to their decks.

Driving has been dangerous business if the cars worked at all. Elderly citizens on a bus tour found themselves trapped on all sides by rising floodwaters. Rescue crews were called in, and many were airlifted to safety.

Pedestrians didn't fare much better. Many were literally knocked off their feet.

Some houses seeming almost ready to float away, while mudslides have consumed hillside residences and remain a threat.

Sixty-five people have died so far in the wake of Typhoon Takage. Dozens are still missing, and more than 200 are reported injured. Thousands have been forced to flee.

Takage's death toll is the highest in a decade and a half, and authorities they expect it to rise.

It was a brief visit. The storm is already on its way east into the Pacific. But in this tiny nation entirely surrounded by water, these storms have a serious physical and psychological effect. And in what now seems to be a global standard, there's no rest for the weary. Forecasters say another typhoon is on its way.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: Well, we continue to follow that story, and the breaking story out of St. Louis of a shooting in a factory. We'll have an update later on 360.

Right now. though, a story out of Washington. Spies, you know, mostly don't come in from the cold, ever. They stay outside somewhere in the shadows even after they retire, which is what makes David Ensor's recent talk with Jim Pavitt, the man who ran CIA operations for five years, truly remarkable. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) DAVID ENSOR, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): He has hung up his cloak and dagger, and now the CIA's longtime spymaster is speaking out, defending his beleaguered agency and warning that there could be major terrorism in the U.S. around the election.

JAMES PAVITT, FORMER CIA DEPUTY DIRECTOR FOR OPERATIONS: I think the prospects of that are very high. They're going to come get us again. Now, whether it's going to be in the next two weeks before the election, I can't predict. Frankly, I don't think anyone can predict. But I do believe the threat is as genuine today as it was when I left CIA in early August of this year.

ENSOR (on camera): Was there evidence at that time to suggest a particular interest in attacking the United States prior to the election.

PAVITT: Absolutely, absolutely. I think there was both chatter about that, and I think there was some information that suggested they would come at us against targets which were important, New York City, Washington, D.C., other major capitals.

ENSOR: Does the United States have spies inside the senior leadership of al Qaeda?

PAVITT: I'm not going to comment on a question that could simply make collecting intelligence more difficult.

ENSOR: Johnny Walker Lindh, an American, got into the Taliban, and he got into -- he claims -- a meeting where Osama bin Laden was present. If he could do that, why couldn't the CIA do that?

PAVITT: The honest answer is, we did have people like that, but what we didn't have was someone who sat next to Osama bin Laden and knew exactly what he was going to do.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ENSOR: Asked why he decided to come out of the shadows, Pavitt said there's hardly anyone, in his belief, speaking out for the CIA, which has taken a battering over 9/11 and Iraq. Pavitt notes that many of the successes of the last few years must remain secret, but he says he wants to speak up for America's unsung heroes, Anderson.

COOPER: All right, fascinating. David Ensor, thanks.

Police take full responsibility for a celebration death in Boston. That tops our look at what's happening cross-country.

Twenty-one-year-old college student who was injured last night during baseball victory celebrations has died. Police say the young woman was hit in the eye by a police beanbag that was fired as officers tried to disperse a rowdy crowd that gathered around Fenway Park. Now, the crowd was celebrating, of course, the Boston Red Sox defeat of their rivals, the New York Yankees, to advance to the World Series. We're going to have more details on this death later in a live report.

St. Louis, Missouri, now, there are live pictures of Busch Stadium, where game seven of baseball's National League championship series will take place in just about an hour. St. Louis Cardinals tied up the series against the Houston Astros last night. Winner tonight will face Boston in the World Series.

West Palm Beach, Florida, now, conservative commentator Rush Limbaugh appeals. Limbaugh is challenging a court ruling that would allow prosecutors to look at his medical records as they examine his use of painkillers. Limbaugh says investigators violated his privacy when they raided doctors' offices last year.

Washington, D.C., now, Einstein, he was right. Scientists report that warped satellite orbits prove an important aspect of Albert Einstein's theory of relativity. They say the warping shows that the earth is twisting the fabric of space and time as it rotates. Not sure how much (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

That's a look at stories cross-country tonight.

Are you ready for the 360 challenge? Later in the program, going to ask you three questions that test your knowledge of today's news. Now, if you watched the program closely, you should be able to get them all right. If you're the first to e-mail us all three correct answers, we'll send you a 360 T-shirt. Stay tuned, challenge is coming up.

Also tonight, hunting for votes on the campaign trail. Bush and Kerry going the distance to win the White House. This race is getting close. We're covering all the angles tonight.

Plus, the rise and fall, literally, of Fidel Castro. Take a look at how that happened and what it means.

And, well, birds do it, bees do it, but how about Americans? Cynthia McFadden from ABC shares the result of a new sex survey. Find out what's really going on behind closed doors and underneath those sheets. Some remarkable answers, actually.

First, let's take a look at your picks, the most popular stories right now on CNN.com.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: Turn to politics now, and CNN's latest poll of polls. An average of 11 major surveys shows a closing of the gap between the candidates over the past 24 hours, Bush 48 percent, Kerry 46. Yesterday's poll had Bush at 49 percent, Kerry 45 percent, all within the margin of error.

So what's the gift on the 12th day of Christmas, lords a-leaping, I think it was? I don't know about the lords, but with the election 12 days away, the candidates certainly are leaping from place to place and doing other odd things as well.

For instance, campaigning involves shooting the breeze. Today, for Senator Kerry, it involved shooting geese.

Senior political correspondent Candy Crowley reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): An early morning in rural Ohio, a gaggle of geese, and a gun-toting John Kerry. The Democratic candidate bagged a goose Thursday morning. Wednesday night, he let the cameras in to watch him watch the Red Sox game. All part of an effort to show voters what advisers call John Kerry, the guy.

SEN. JOHN KERRY, DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Everybody got one.

CROWLEY: The idea is to persuade voters wondering about John Kerry that he is, A, a normal guy, and, B, won't take their guns away. Democrats have long felt the rural vote is theirs if they could convince gun owners they are not after their guns.

DICK CHENEY, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I understand he bought a new camouflage jacket for the occasion, which did make me wonder how regularly he does go goose hunting.

CROWLEY: For the record, his campaign says the senator borrowed the camouflage. Anyway, by the time Kerry got to Columbus, he had ditched the camo for a serious suit and a speech on scientific and technological innovation.

KERRY: But if George Bush had been president during other periods of American history, he would have sided with the candle lobby against electricity. He would have been with the buggy makers against the cars, and the typewriter companies against the computers.

CROWLEY: This was not about electricity or computers, but about embryonic stem cell research, a subject infused with a human side by Dana Reeve's first public appearance since her husband's death.

DANA REEVE, CHRISTOPHER REEVE'S WIDOW: And I am here today because John Kerry, like Christopher Reeve, believes in keeping our hope alive.

CROWLEY: George Bush has funded limited embryonic stem cell research. John Kerry says he'll lift the restrictions.

KERRY: It's wrong to tell scientists that they can't cross the frontiers of new knowledge. It's wrong morally and it's wrong economically.

CROWLEY: As much as the morning hunt was about rural male voters, the afternoon was about women, a voting block that has traditionally been more Democrat than Republican, but has yet to fully warm up to John Kerry.

Candy Crowley, CNN, Columbus, Ohio.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: Well, you know, the old saying on the campaign trail, better to shoot geese than to be a sitting duck.

Anyway, on now to the president's campaign, and a report from senior White House correspondent John King.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN KING, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The background is part of the message. The president's goal, to heal a major campaign weakness.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: When it comes to health care, Senator Kerry's prescription is bigger government with higher costs. My reforms will lower costs and give more control and choices to the American people.

KING: Five million Americans have lost health coverage during the Bush presidency, and Senator Kerry has a big advantage on the issue, a problem for Mr. Bush in places like the Philadelphia suburbs critical to victory in Pennsylvania.

In appealing for a second look, Mr. Bush said his approach would limit the government's role, but make health care more accessible and affordable by, among other things, expanding tax-free medical savings accounts, allowing small businesses to pool together to buy coverage, and setting limits on medical malpractice awards.

BUSH: He has voted 10 times against medical liability reform during his Senate career. This year, when the Senate considered bills to protect OB-GYNs and trauma physicians, Senator Kerry opposed them.

KING: The Catholic vote is also a target. And Mr. Bush met with Cardinal Justin Regali (ph), Philadelphia's Roman Catholic archbishop, and among the church leaders who say Catholics have a duty to vote for candidates who share the Vatican's opposition to abortion. It's a delicate balance. Supporting social conservatives is critical, yet can hurt Republicans in the moderate suburbs.

WILLIAM GREEN, GOP MEDIA ADVISER: Where he needs to be in the Philadelphia suburbs is primarily on the economy and not so much the social issues. The social issues play here in western Pennsylvania and the central part of the state.

KING: Republican polling shows Mr. Bush down a few points in Pennsylvania.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KING: Now, like abortion, guns plays one way here in the Philadelphia suburbs, very differently in the central and western part of the state, so perhaps no surprise that while here in those suburbs, no mention of the episode. But when Mr. Bush made it to that rally in Hershey, he mocked Senator Kerry's morning hunting trip, saying that even in camouflage, his opponent can't hide from his liberal record, Anderson.

COOPER: A lot of mocking going on. All right, John King, thanks for that.

The big unknown this election is how many young people actually come out and vote. Here's a quick news note that might give us some answers. A new Harvard University study polled undergraduates around the country suggests that turnout among the young may be very high indeed. Eighty-four percent of the students polled say they intend to cast a ballot.

For whom will the ballots be cast? Fifty-two percent of undergraduates from around the country favored Senator Kerry, 39 percent President Bush, and 8 percent remain undecided.

Well, a U.S. soldier is sentenced for abusing inmates at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison. And that tops our look at what's happening around the globe in the uplink.

Baghdad, Iraq, now, Staff Sergeant Ivan "Chip" Frederick will spend eight years in prison after pleading guilty to five counts in a plea deal. His lawyer says the sentence is excessive and he'll try to get it reduced.

Santa Clara, Cuba, now, President Fidel Castro takes a nasty fall. Ouch. And gosh, did this hurt? Castro is dealing with a broken knee and arm and likely a red face. Later on 360, a look at that tumble and other world leaders what it means inside the box.

Barcelona, Spain, now, riot police clash with protesters. Check this out. Tires set on fire, bottles and stones thrown. About 100 squatters are trying to stop the demolition of a social center they've been living in for eight years. Now, amazingly, no reports of arrests or injuries, for that matter.

In London, a British royal in a scuffle. There it is. Prince Harry shoves a member of the papparazzi outside a nightclub. I think that's him there in the red hair on the left. Of course, those not involved couldn't resist taking snapshots. That's what they do. Royal aides say the fight started when Harry tried to push a camera out of the way, but the photographer, who got a cut lip, says he did nothing to provoke the prince. And it goes on and on.

That's tonight's uplink.

360 next, are you afraid to fly? Do you ever get the jitters every time you step on the plane or refuse to even board, perhaps? For confronting the things that scare you most, part of our special series, Facing Your Fears. You can overcome them.

Also tonight, baseball playoffs, a death. The Boston police accept full responsibility for a fan celebration turned deadly. We have the latest on this developing story.

Also a little later tonight, could Laci Peterson's baby have died five days after she disappeared? That's what the defense is claiming. Covering all the angles. Be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "FRENCH KISS")

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Kate, you can do this.

MEG RYAN, ACTRESS: I can't (UNINTELLIGIBLE). (UNINTELLIGIBLE) on an airplane.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What do you think you're doing?

RYAN: Let me out! Let me out of here! I don't want to die! No!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Yikes. That was a scene from the movie "French Kiss," in which Meg Ryan's character tries to overcome her fear of flying. Didn't really seem to work there.

Chances are, you know someone who has that fear. (UNINTELLIGIBLE) it's amazing, an estimated one in six Americans are actually afraid to get on an airplane.

There is hope, however, thanks to a number of treatments. One, of course, is virtual reality.

CNN's Jeanne Moos gave it a try for our special series, Facing Your Fears. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For some, flying seems heavenly. But for others, it's like preparing to join the dearly departed. We sit rigid as dummies, analyzing every engine noise, waiting for impact, watching for wings to ignite, imagining flopping around tethered to a fireball. Yikes.

(on camera): I don't think I've been on a plane for a decade.

(voice-over): Which means the only thing I'll take off on is a virtual reality flight.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Move your head a little bit. You can look out the window.

MOOS (on camera): Oh, yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You can see you're on the runway.

MOOS (voice-over): Here at Cornell-New York Presbyterian Hospital in a nondescript office, psychologist Joanne Defreedy (ph) asks questions like, Did I stop flying because of a bad experience that made me fear for my life? (on camera): No. Never thought I was going to die.

I do things when I'm on the plane like, I tiptoe to the back. You know, I want to go easy on the airplane, like my weight is going to make some kind of difference. It's nuts.

(voice-over): For 15 years at CNN, I flew when absolutely necessary -- to China, for instance.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MOOS: Here at the Great Wall, you don't have to walk a mile for a camel.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MOOS (voice-over): I'd rather take a camel than a jet.

Finally I stopped flying altogether, though I still managed to ride in a balloon and go up in a blimp.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Try it.

MOOS (on camera): I am not going to fly this thing.

Whoa, hey, hey, I don't want to drive anymore.

(voice-over): The goal of virtual reality is to desensitize patients to what scares them.

(on camera): It's the actual hurtling down the runway part that really gets me going.

(voice-over): For eight sessions that cost about $2,100, the therapist puts you in a 3-D world of airplane noises and thunderstorms.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I can do that again and again and again.

MOOS: They even have a virtual reality program for those traumatized by 9/11.

Defreedy says the success rate of virtual reality is about 90 percent, but you have to want to overcome your fear.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Going to Hawaii, to, I don't know, (UNINTELLIGIBLE)...

MOOS (on camera): I could care less. I have no desire...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: ... (UNINTELLIGIBLE)...

MOOS: ... I mean, the plane trip is not...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: ... (UNINTELLIGIBLE)...

MOOS: ... the vacation is not worth the plane trip.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You have no motivation.

MOOS (voice-over): No wonder my progress is slow.

(on camera): So do I get frequent flier miles for this?

(voice-over): Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: Well, clearly, Jeanne does not intend to pursue virtual therapy. She's apparently content to stay on the ground. But for those of you who are interested in conquering your fear of flying, we turn to a doctor who has treated many patients with virtual therapy. Page Anderson, clinical psychologist and assistant professor at Georgia State University joins me from Atlanta.

Page, thanks very much for being with us.

Clearly, Jeanne Moos is kind of a skeptic. She doesn't really care too much about flying. But what is the bottom line for people who want to face this fear? What is the most important thing that -- to just sort of gradually do it?

PAGE ANDERSON, CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGIST, GEORGIA STATE UNIVERSITY: Well, you can do it gradually. You don't have to do it gradually. What's known to be the most effective for treating fears like fear of flying is something called exposure therapy. It's part of cognitive behavioral treatment for a specific phobia.

COOPER: So it's just repeated exposure to it? I mean, a sort of gradual, you don't plunge right in?

ANDERSON: Well, you can plunge right in. But most people who are phobic are pretty reluctant to plunge right in, and they find it more palatable to face their fear gradually.

COOPER: What is it about the computer that, the virtual reality, that seems to help?

ANDERSON: Well, in order to overcome your fear, you have to face it. And as a client of mine once said, you have to feel it to heal it. And in virtual reality, you're able to take that step, sort of a baby step, in a virtual world.

So to do that, you put on what's called a head-mounted display, which presents you sort of visual information so you can see the plane, you can look around, you can hear the noises, you can hear the captain speaking, you can turbulence underneath your seat...

COOPER: Well, I suppose...

ANDERSON: ... and that helps trigger...

COOPER: Right... ANDERSON: ... the fear memory.

COOPER: ... well, I suppose some people, though, are even too scared to sort of put on the helmet and get into a virtual environment. How do you encourage them to do that?

ANDERSON: Well, people have to be willing to do that, and, I mean, most people who are coming to therapy have made the decision that they want to try to overcome this. But it's kind of tricky, because if someone is phobic, there's part of them, of course, that wants to get over the fear, but none of us like the way anxiety feels. So it's part of the therapist's job to help them feel the anxiety and face the fear.

COOPER: All right. Well, we hope people do that. Page Anderson, appreciate you joining us. Thanks.

ANDERSON: Thank you.

COOPER: Our series, Facing Your Fears, wraps up tomorrow with my own personal phobia. Yes, I got one. It's the fear of cockroaches. Yes, I admit it, and other creepy-crawlies. It's mainly cockroaches, frankly. I don't like the way they sound, I don't like the way they move.

We'll meet a doctor who says he has an almost instant cure. We'll actually see if has any impact on me. Hmm.

360 next, a gunman opens fire in a St. Louis factory. We're going to have the very latest, this breaking story we brought you at the top of the program.

Plus, a baseball playoff death. Find out why the Boston police say they accept full responsibility.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: New developments in a work place shooting and a baseball playoff death, 360 next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: An update on our "Breaking News" we brought you at the top of the news cast. We have a few more details on that suspected gunman at a conveyor belt factory in St. Louis. According to the "Associated Press" the man is a former employee at the factory, which is in an industrial area west of the St. Louis. You're looking at some pictures taken from a helicopter short time ago. It seems now that at least one injured person was taken out of the building and put into an ambulance. Whether that was the gunman himself or a victim is unknown right now. The "Associated Press" says 110 employees that were in the building at the time of the assault were evacuated.

It obviously leaves many questions to be answered. One witness says he heard two shots. Another that he heard five shots and saw people being fired at close range. But if the employees have been evacuated who was the gunman firing at. Many questions still unanswered. We'll tell you more when we can.

Also, an update on a developing story, the deadly baseball celebrations in Boston. Twenty-one-year-old college student was killed last night as fans were toasting the Red Sox victory over the New York Yankees. Boston police are now saying they accept full responsibility.

For the latest on the story we turn to Mike Macklin of affiliate WHDH in Boston.

Mike what's the latest?

MIKE MACKLIN, WHDH: Well, it was a victorious celebration after the Red Sox win over the Yankees in game seven that turned to tragedy as tens of thousands of jubilant Red Sox fans poured into the streets surrounding Fenway Park here in Boston. Boston police in riot gear and on horseback flooded those streets with those students in an attempt to control and disperse them. But some of the students climbed atop the left field wall and the light towers that surround and light up Fenway Park during ball games. Police fired plastic pellets at some students in an effort to get them to come down.

And apparently fired a pellet or pellets into a crowd of students who were on the street, on the sidewalk, alongside that wall. One of those pellets hit a college student, 21-year-old Victoria Snelgrove in the eye. She died from her injuries. A shaken mayor and Boston police commissioner, this afternoon called the people responsible for the rioting and trouble in the streets thugs and hoodlums. But the commissioner took full responsibility for that pellet that struck and killed the student.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KATHLEEN OTOOLE, BOSTON POLICE COMMISSIONER: The Boston police department accepts full responsibility for the death of Victoria Snelgrove, an Emerson student who would have turned 22 next week. I can't imagine the grief that her family is suffering and express my deepest sympathy to them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACKLIN: The commissioner vowing to thoroughly investigate the incident which mars the celebratory atmosphere in the wake of the Red Sox victory over the Yankees, as the Boston Red Sox prepare now to host either Houston or St. Louis, for four games of a seven game World Series here in Boston.

Reporting live from Boston, I'm Mike Macklin, now back to you.

COOPER: Mike, I understand that the mayor, Tommy Nino, is considering banning alcohol sales for -- during the World Series in the areas around the stadium. Any word on that?

MACKLIN: The mayor said he would be meeting with bar owners in the area surrounding Fenway Park tomorrow. He says he wants them to not show World Series games because he says that it's the showing of the World Series games and those bar rooms that attracts a huge crowd. And then when they don't control the drinking and those crowds spill out into the streets, that's where the problems occur. So, he says he's going to be encouraging bar owners not to show the game on the big screen TVs that, of course, many of the bars have and that are the big draw on game days.

COOPER: Yes, that's hard to imagine bars are not going to be showing the World Series on their TVs. But we'll see.

Mike, appreciate you joining us. Thanks.

Back to politics. When Senator Kerry went hunting this morning, (UNINTELLIGIBLE) the camouflage and hauling a 12 gauge shotgun, he may have been aiming at water foul, but of course, the big game this election season are undecided voters. So, to help tip the scales, Kerry is working hard to burnish is regular guy credentials. So is the president for that matter.

In "Raw Politics," sometimes you have to bag a goose to bag a vote.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER (voice-over): Don't tell John Kerry, who went on a wild goose chase early this morning in far eastern Ohio.

KERRY: Everybody got one.

COOPER: After all they got four. But, of course, the senator wasn't really chasing geese. Instead he was hunting, well voters. Especially the nearly half million hunters in Ohio, a key battleground and 60 million gun owners nationwide. That's why last Saturday.

KERRY: Well, now can get me a hunting license here?

COOPER: John Kerry, bought his Ohio hunting license all part of his latest campaign strategy.

WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SR. POLITICAL ANALYST: It's a way of saying I'm one of you. I'm not a liberal Massachusetts elitist who sits around drawing rooms and has deep conversations about policy issues.

COOPER: Last night, like millions of Americans, the Democratic candidate watched baseball and drank beer. The press of course was welcome.

And this month he appeared on the cover of "Field and Stream" magazine along with President Bush, who has for years cultivated the regular guy image with well-crafted photo ops like when he cleared brush in his ranch in 2001. Or during one of his several hunting trips. Yet, the NRA says Kerry is shooting blanks and a few photo ops won't be enough to camouflage what they call his anti-gun record.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: John Kerry, wants you to think he supports the Second Amendment, but the cold hard fact don't lie. COOPER: A recent poll shows Kerry, a life-long gun owner, trailing the president among gun owners by nearly 20 points. Yet his aides say he's not ready to write off this voting block the way Al Gore did in 2000.

KERRY: I am a hunter. I'm a gun owner. I've been a hunter since I was a kid, 12, 13-years-old.

COOPER: Not willing to write them off because in the wild world of "Raw Politics" the hunting season ends on November 2nd.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

360 next, the latest from the Scott Peterson murder trial. The defense goes on the offensive with an expert witness who may be punching holes in the prosecution's main theory.

Also tonight, "Sex in America." A surprising new survey about what's really going on in the bedroom.

Later, Yankee Stadium, where last night the Red Sox pulled off one of the greatest comebacks of all time. Was it fate? We'll find out in "The Nth Degree" ahead.

Also in a moment, today's "360 Challenge," how closely have you been following today's news. Find out ahead. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: Time now for today's "360 Challenge." Be the first to answer all three questions correctly and we'll send you a 360 T-shirt. Two hikers were killed and others were stranded when a blizzard hit what National Park? Looking for the name of the National Park. What's therapy we featured for people afraid to fly? And finally, what's the last name of the president or el Presidente who fell last night on live television. Take the challenge, log on to CNN.com/360. Click on the answer link. If you answer first, you'll get the shirt. And we'll also announce last night's challenge winner coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: In "Justice Served" tonight, the Scott Peterson murder trial. Today, the jury heard a defense witness say that Laci Peterson's fetus died a week after she vanished. Of course, if they can prove that or even raise reasonable doubts about it, that would be a big blow to the prosecution's case. And what may be the difference of a couple days, could play a big part when the verdict is read. CNN's Kimberly Osias has today's developments.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KIMBERLY OSIAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A medical expert testifying in the Scott Peterson murder trial today said the fetus carried by Laci Peterson could not have died earlier than December 29, 5 days after the mother-to-be was reported missing. Dr. Charles March, an obstetrician, based his findings on bone measurements, Laci Peterson's last ultrasound and an early home pregnancy test.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The underlying premise for all this medical testimony is that the child was abducted by someone who then killed the child sometime around December 29 and, obviously, killed the mother and then somehow framed Scott Peterson. That's quite a leap of faith.

OSIAS: But since this double murder case is based largely on circumstantial evidence, it will ultimately boil down to how jurors react to all the expert testimony they're hearing. Relatives on both sides have been present during the months of testimony. Today's was especially poignant.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's very much a two-edge sword. You know, you hear facts like that, that outline the date that our sister-in-law and nephew were killed is not fun information to hear, but at the same time it shows that Scott's innocent.

OSIAS: Also on the stand today, Ricardo Cardova, a neighbor of the Petersons and currently a superior court judge. He testified that a suspicious person went door to door in that neighborhood asking for money the night before Laci Peterson disappeared. He said this was a pattern for burglars.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

OSIAS: Tomorrow, court will be dark, however Judge Alfred Delucchi assured jurors that things would continue on as planned. Witness testimony is slated to wrap up by the end of next week, however, for deliberations, this jury will be sequestered -- Anderson.

COOPER: Kimberly Osias, thanks very much.

360 next, Sex in America. Who do you think is more satisfied? Republicans or Democrats? Some surprises in a new survey.

Also tonight, Fidel Castro's nasty tumble. World leaders falling hard. We'll take that "Inside the Box."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: Those are some of the interesting findings of a new ABC poll. In tonight's "Current," talking about sex. Unless you're Paris Hilton or Pamela Anderson, your activity in the bedroom is usually says private. A new poll by ABC News "Primetime Live" exposes some pretty intimate secrets. However, how often do most Americans have sex, or how many partners have most of us had? The answers may surprise you.

Earlier, I talked about the study with Primtime Live co-anchor Cynthia McFadden.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: So, you polled about 1,500 people on the phone. I mean if I got a call, someone called me asking me for sexual information, I wouldn't answer, but people were very willing to answer?

CYNTHIA MCFADDEN, ABC NEWS ANCHOR: Surprisingly willing to answer. This was done by the same people that do our economic polling, our election polling, that was a scientific sample. You know, when ABC Polls for elections, we get about 50 percent cooperation which is high. For this sex survey, it was 92 percent cooperation.

COOPER: 92 percent of people you called were willing to do it.

MCFADDEN: Amazingly. I bet neither one of us would have taken the time.

COOPER: Absolutely, I would have like thought it was a crank call.

MCFADDEN: Exactly.

COOPER: What surprised you most?

MCFADDEN: Well, one of the things that surprised me most was that the people in the country who are having the most sex aren't those swinging singles we all suspect are, if you watch television, but married people.

COOPER: Married people have more sex than the single people?

MCFADDEN: That's right. And the numbers are really interesting. Married, or in a committed relationship, 74 percent of them have sex once a week. In single population, it's only 33 percent. Which is pretty interesting.

And you know what is interesting about, that it doesn't matter whether you have kids or not. Little kids, I think we all suspect it may be a disincentive to having sexual relations, not at all. The numbers don't support that.

COOPER: In terms of sex on the first date, how many people had done that?

MCFADDEN: Sex on the first date, 29 percent.

COOPER: I was surprised to read that sort of politics seem to come into play, somehow, the breakdown between Republicans and Democrats.

MCFADDEN: Well, this is a very controversial part of the study because the study reveals that Republicans say they are more satisfied with their sex lives than Democrats by quite a margin, 56 percent to Democrat's 47 percent. Now, our pollsters want...

COOPER: You know that we're going to start getting e-mails from Democrats right now.

MCFADDEN: I can hear them coming in. One of the things that our pollsters wanted us to point out was this may have to do with more facts than with party affiliation because more women are Democrats and women tend to be less satisfied than men. So that may have something to do with it.

COOPER: OK. That leads us to our next subject which is something I rarely say on television, orgasm. What did you find out about the frequency of it between men and women?

MCFADDEN: Men who say they always have an orgasm are 74 percent, women who say they always have an orgasm, 30 percent. Now, faking it, men who say they have faked an orgasm, 11 percent of the population, women, what do you think?

COOPER: I...

MCFADDEN: Faking it?

COOPER: I have no idea.

MCFADDEN: Women who had faked an orgasm, 48 percent of women said they have faked an orgasm.

COOPER: You asked people to categorize themselves as sexually adventurous or sexually traditional.

MCFADDEN: Americans that describe themselves as sexually traditional, 55 percent. You know, it's an interesting question, because many said, 29 percent said that they were traditional, but they'd like it if their partner were more adventuresome.

COOPER: That's interesting. But also, talking about adventuresome you looked at how many people had threesomes.

MCFADDEN: We did. 14 percent of the people we talked to said they had participated in a threesome.

COOPER: And the number of people who watch adult movies or have watched adult films with their partner.

MCFADDEN: 30 percent.

COOPER: That's high.

MCFADDEN: That's high. But we tried to look at all -- to slice this subject as -- in as many ways as we could and I think it's an interesting snapshot look at the American public and what at least these 1,500 scientifically selected people say we do.

COOPER: It's fascinating. I'll be watching it tonight.

MCFADDEN: You'll be watching? Promise?

COOPER: I promise.

MCFADDEN: I'll call you tomorrow.

COOPER: I'll be Tivoing it as well so I can rewatch it. MCFADDEN: We'll call you in the morning.

COOPER: Fair enough. Thanks, Cynthia.

That will be on ABC at 10:00 tonight.

It finally happened, the fall of Fidel Castro, not the way most of us were expecting perhaps. The Cuban leader did step down, shown live on television. But he didn't just step down, he tripped and then he tumbled, falling from grace, something no politician likes to do inside the box. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER (voice-over): The normally feisty Fidel Castro finished up his speech in front of a crowd 30,000 and then fell flat on his face as he left the stage. Unfortunately for him it was all caught on camera. Unfortunate because the fall fueled speculation that the 78- year-old leader may be showing signs of weakness. Of course Castro's not the first politico to stumble in front of the unblinking eye of the press.

President Gerald Ford's trip on the steps of Air Force One in 1975 turned him into a running gag for comedian Chevy Chase on "Saturday Night Live."

In May, President Bush was skimming along on his Segway scooter until he came to a somewhat ungraceful stop.

Then there's Bill Daily (ph), the man appointed by President Clinton to the post of commerce secretary in 1996. He was obviously overcome. He returned unhurt to a round of applause.

Presidential candidates try to project the proper image in front of the cameras. Just doesn't always work. Take Bob Dole's 1996 California rally when a railing gave way and sent the then 70-year-old sprawling. He bruised his eye, his ankle and his ego, but he kept his sense of humor.

BOB DOLE, FMR. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And I think I just earned my third Purple Heart going over the rail.

COOPER: And in 2000, Republican Gary Bower (ph) tried to wow the crowd with his pancake flipping skills. But wait, yes, he returned to the stage unbloodied and unbowed his spatula intact.

It's not the fall. To fall is human. No one wants to do it in front of the cameras, in front of the world at the moment when you're trying to look masterful inside the box.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: 360 next, bizarre fate on the baseball diamond. Possible in this year's World Series. Take that to the Nth Degree ahead.

Next a 360 challenge, another look. Have you been paying attention?

Two hikers were killed when a blizzard hit what national park?

What's the therapy we featured tonight for people afraid to fly?

What's the last name of the president who fell on live television? E-mail us with the answers. We'll send you a T-shirt.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: Time for the answers to today's 360 challenge. Number one, two hikers were killed and others were stranded when a blizzard hit what national park? The answer Yosemite. What's the therapy we featured for people afraid to fly? Virtual. And finally, what's the last name of the president or el presidente who fell last night on live television? Castro. The first person to answer all three questions correctly will be sent a 360 T-shirt. Tune in to find out if you're the one. Last night's winner, Farshid Arman of Lafayette, California. A T-shirt is on the way. Congratulations.

Another 360 challenge and another chance to win tomorrow.

Tonight taking secret signs to the Nth Degree. This is really too bizarre. After the doings this evening at Bush stadium we'll know for a fact whether and brace yourselves for the chilling strangeness of this, the very same two states Texas and Massachusetts will be competing in the World Series and for the presidency of the United States of America. Holy Cow, huh! This sort of thing is very important to believers in a occult signs of all sorts. Horoscope readers, crystal ball consulters, tarot card dealers, magnetic bracelet wearers, burners of incense sticks, carriers of charms, and rabbit's feet and crystal pyramids.

And really such an outcome would be very very meaningful because well, there are 50 states hereabouts and surely it couldn't be just a coincidence that of them all the same two came to be involved both in the series and the presidency. I mean, there's simply no question at all that we're talking fate here or kismet or nonsense or something.

And if the Cardinals win tonight? Well, wasn't Dick Gephardt once in the running for the Democratic nomination and isn't he from Missouri, too? You don't really believe these things are accidents, do you? Come on.

I'm Anderson Cooper. Thanks for watching. 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 October 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, I'm Anderson Cooper in New York.
Breaking news out of a St. Louis. A factory shooting, reports of casualties,

360 starts now.

A surprise storm in the Sierra Madres traps more than a dozen hikers. Two are dead, found still tied to their ropes. What's happened to the rest? We'll have the latest.

A massive typhoon leaves more than 60 dead and hundreds injured in Japan. Forecasters say another storm is on its way.

John Kerry hunts for votes while hunting geese, but the NRA says that dog won't hunt. President Bush hammers Kerry's health care plan.

Fidel Castro stakes a tumble, literally. How his fall was seen inside the box.

Are you scared of flying? Millions are. Tonight, how virtual therapy may help you once and for all face your fear.

And who do you think is more satisfied in bed, Republicans or Democrats? A new poll about sex in America has some surprising results.

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

COOPER: And good evening again.

We begin tonight with some late-breaking news.

With details still sketchy about a gunmen at a conveyor belt factory in St. Louis who seems to have opened fire during a shift change, it is unclear at this point whether anyone has been injured or killed. Reports are still very sketchy.

You are looking right now at aerial images of the factory. According to the Associated Press, shotgun-toting police have cordoned off the area, keeping reporters and the curious away. This has been going on now for some hours. According to at least one witness, the gunman seems actually to have stepped out into the parking lot to reload before reentering the factory. Another witness tells the Associated Press he had a gunshot, he heard a gunshot, then, "Boom," in his words, "another."

We'll have more on this late story, this late-breaking story later on this evening. Again, as we said, reports are still very sketchy. You can see the police there. They have cordoned off the area. A lot of cars.

The Associated Press saying the police are carrying shotguns in some cases, trying to keep reporters away, trying to keep any of the curious away. The situation very fluid. At this point it's not clear what is happening inside that building. We'll update you as soon as we know.

Another story still developing at this hour, just a short time ago we learned that nearly two dozen hikers missing in the Sierra Nevada mountains have been found alive. All were caught by a sudden and deadly blizzard that threatened to turn Yosemite National Park into an icy graveyard. Two climbers were found literally frozen in their tracks. Late today, 23 hikers were still unaccounted for, but now rescue crews have found 22 of them. One hiker right now remains missing.

CNN's Rusty Dornin is there. Rusty, what's the latest?

RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Anderson, it was amazing, the number of groups that were scattered all over the Sierra Nevada that were caught by surprise by this ferocious storm. Many of them were experienced campers. They were well prepared. And search and rescue teams say it was day of dramatic successes.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DORNIN (voice-over): Across the Sierra Nevada, time was critical. The weather, postcard perfect for rescuers. At Yosemite's El Capitan, these climbers braved the blizzard this week, hanging on ropes, huddled on the face of the granite monolith. Under warm, sunny skies, they are trying to climb out on their own.

The only way to reach stranded climbers here is to fly a helicopter to the top and rapell rescuers down the face. Here you see them retrieving the bodies of a Japanese couple who froze to death.

Dave Turner had to be rescued Wednesday after 17 days on El Capitan. He says anyone hit by this freezing wet storm would have a tough time continuing.

DAVE TURNER, RESCUED HIKER: Can't dry out, and so you just get immobile. You can't really move. If you attempt to just climb your way out, the situation can get much worse.

DORNIN: Across the Sierra to the southeast, four hikers rescued by a helicopter. Well prepared, they hunkered down for four days. But when the skies cleared, the snow was so deep they couldn't go anywhere.

JEFF PEACOCK, RESCUED HIKER: It took us, I don't know, 20 minutes to walk 100 yards. And we were so exhausted we could barely move.

DORNIN: His 73-year-old father says he and his son both imagined the worst.

TOM PEACOCK, RESCUED HIKER: Have all kinds of dreams about what's going to happen if you don't make it, what happens to your family.

DOUG SCHNEIDER, RESCUED HIKER: And when we heard the chopper come over, we just ran out, grabbed all our mirrors and red signal flares, and waved them in.

DORNIN: This couple and their dog also waved in the rescuers. Missing since Monday, they were picked up in yet another part of the Sierra.

And on a final happy note, four hikers from a Santa Cruz winemaking family can toast their rescuers for finding them in the snows above Shaver Lake. For the families, it's been a rough couple days. When Mac Jefferson was rescued, he was suffering chest pains and was hypothermic. To see him walking out of that helicopter was a special gift on a special day to his wife.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Fifty-seventh birthday, (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DORNIN: You're looking at the search and rescue helicopter that just moments ago brought down the bodies of the two Japanese climbers.

Now, there are four climbers that said they didn't want to be rescued. Apparently they changed their minds. Two of them, they brought down a little while ago. The other two, they say, just asked to be rescued too late. They're going to spend the night on the face of El Capitan. They're about 600 from the top. And they'll have to be rescued tomorrow, Anderson.

COOPER: So Rusty, just so I have this right, there are two people still now on this mountain who are going to be need to, need to be rescued tomorrow?

DORNIN: Yes. They were climbing out. In fact, you saw it in my piece there, you saw people climbing out. It was such a warm, beautiful day. But apparently they got too exhausted. They asked very late in the day to be rescued, and they just can't get the crews up there right now, it's too late in the day. So they're going to have to go in tomorrow.

There's no danger or anything for them. Apparently they're well equipped. They've got enough to keep warm.

COOPER: All right, Rusty Dornin, thanks very much, from Yosemite.

Americans need no reminding of the terrible damage that wind and water and snow, in that case, can do, certainly not after Charley and Frances and Ivan and Jeanne.

But we (UNINTELLIGIBLE) -- we meet -- we may need reminding that ours isn't the only country to be punished by these kind of storms. Take a look at this. In the Pacific, they're called typhoons, of course, and in Japan a typhoon named Takage (ph) has been turning the world upside down.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER (voice-over): There are places in Japan now that look like the model train set of a very wrathful child, enormous boats thrown on their sides, the cars they were transporting flung off like tiles or somehow still clinging to their decks.

Driving has been dangerous business if the cars worked at all. Elderly citizens on a bus tour found themselves trapped on all sides by rising floodwaters. Rescue crews were called in, and many were airlifted to safety.

Pedestrians didn't fare much better. Many were literally knocked off their feet.

Some houses seeming almost ready to float away, while mudslides have consumed hillside residences and remain a threat.

Sixty-five people have died so far in the wake of Typhoon Takage. Dozens are still missing, and more than 200 are reported injured. Thousands have been forced to flee.

Takage's death toll is the highest in a decade and a half, and authorities they expect it to rise.

It was a brief visit. The storm is already on its way east into the Pacific. But in this tiny nation entirely surrounded by water, these storms have a serious physical and psychological effect. And in what now seems to be a global standard, there's no rest for the weary. Forecasters say another typhoon is on its way.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: Well, we continue to follow that story, and the breaking story out of St. Louis of a shooting in a factory. We'll have an update later on 360.

Right now. though, a story out of Washington. Spies, you know, mostly don't come in from the cold, ever. They stay outside somewhere in the shadows even after they retire, which is what makes David Ensor's recent talk with Jim Pavitt, the man who ran CIA operations for five years, truly remarkable. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) DAVID ENSOR, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): He has hung up his cloak and dagger, and now the CIA's longtime spymaster is speaking out, defending his beleaguered agency and warning that there could be major terrorism in the U.S. around the election.

JAMES PAVITT, FORMER CIA DEPUTY DIRECTOR FOR OPERATIONS: I think the prospects of that are very high. They're going to come get us again. Now, whether it's going to be in the next two weeks before the election, I can't predict. Frankly, I don't think anyone can predict. But I do believe the threat is as genuine today as it was when I left CIA in early August of this year.

ENSOR (on camera): Was there evidence at that time to suggest a particular interest in attacking the United States prior to the election.

PAVITT: Absolutely, absolutely. I think there was both chatter about that, and I think there was some information that suggested they would come at us against targets which were important, New York City, Washington, D.C., other major capitals.

ENSOR: Does the United States have spies inside the senior leadership of al Qaeda?

PAVITT: I'm not going to comment on a question that could simply make collecting intelligence more difficult.

ENSOR: Johnny Walker Lindh, an American, got into the Taliban, and he got into -- he claims -- a meeting where Osama bin Laden was present. If he could do that, why couldn't the CIA do that?

PAVITT: The honest answer is, we did have people like that, but what we didn't have was someone who sat next to Osama bin Laden and knew exactly what he was going to do.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ENSOR: Asked why he decided to come out of the shadows, Pavitt said there's hardly anyone, in his belief, speaking out for the CIA, which has taken a battering over 9/11 and Iraq. Pavitt notes that many of the successes of the last few years must remain secret, but he says he wants to speak up for America's unsung heroes, Anderson.

COOPER: All right, fascinating. David Ensor, thanks.

Police take full responsibility for a celebration death in Boston. That tops our look at what's happening cross-country.

Twenty-one-year-old college student who was injured last night during baseball victory celebrations has died. Police say the young woman was hit in the eye by a police beanbag that was fired as officers tried to disperse a rowdy crowd that gathered around Fenway Park. Now, the crowd was celebrating, of course, the Boston Red Sox defeat of their rivals, the New York Yankees, to advance to the World Series. We're going to have more details on this death later in a live report.

St. Louis, Missouri, now, there are live pictures of Busch Stadium, where game seven of baseball's National League championship series will take place in just about an hour. St. Louis Cardinals tied up the series against the Houston Astros last night. Winner tonight will face Boston in the World Series.

West Palm Beach, Florida, now, conservative commentator Rush Limbaugh appeals. Limbaugh is challenging a court ruling that would allow prosecutors to look at his medical records as they examine his use of painkillers. Limbaugh says investigators violated his privacy when they raided doctors' offices last year.

Washington, D.C., now, Einstein, he was right. Scientists report that warped satellite orbits prove an important aspect of Albert Einstein's theory of relativity. They say the warping shows that the earth is twisting the fabric of space and time as it rotates. Not sure how much (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

That's a look at stories cross-country tonight.

Are you ready for the 360 challenge? Later in the program, going to ask you three questions that test your knowledge of today's news. Now, if you watched the program closely, you should be able to get them all right. If you're the first to e-mail us all three correct answers, we'll send you a 360 T-shirt. Stay tuned, challenge is coming up.

Also tonight, hunting for votes on the campaign trail. Bush and Kerry going the distance to win the White House. This race is getting close. We're covering all the angles tonight.

Plus, the rise and fall, literally, of Fidel Castro. Take a look at how that happened and what it means.

And, well, birds do it, bees do it, but how about Americans? Cynthia McFadden from ABC shares the result of a new sex survey. Find out what's really going on behind closed doors and underneath those sheets. Some remarkable answers, actually.

First, let's take a look at your picks, the most popular stories right now on CNN.com.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: Turn to politics now, and CNN's latest poll of polls. An average of 11 major surveys shows a closing of the gap between the candidates over the past 24 hours, Bush 48 percent, Kerry 46. Yesterday's poll had Bush at 49 percent, Kerry 45 percent, all within the margin of error.

So what's the gift on the 12th day of Christmas, lords a-leaping, I think it was? I don't know about the lords, but with the election 12 days away, the candidates certainly are leaping from place to place and doing other odd things as well.

For instance, campaigning involves shooting the breeze. Today, for Senator Kerry, it involved shooting geese.

Senior political correspondent Candy Crowley reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): An early morning in rural Ohio, a gaggle of geese, and a gun-toting John Kerry. The Democratic candidate bagged a goose Thursday morning. Wednesday night, he let the cameras in to watch him watch the Red Sox game. All part of an effort to show voters what advisers call John Kerry, the guy.

SEN. JOHN KERRY, DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Everybody got one.

CROWLEY: The idea is to persuade voters wondering about John Kerry that he is, A, a normal guy, and, B, won't take their guns away. Democrats have long felt the rural vote is theirs if they could convince gun owners they are not after their guns.

DICK CHENEY, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I understand he bought a new camouflage jacket for the occasion, which did make me wonder how regularly he does go goose hunting.

CROWLEY: For the record, his campaign says the senator borrowed the camouflage. Anyway, by the time Kerry got to Columbus, he had ditched the camo for a serious suit and a speech on scientific and technological innovation.

KERRY: But if George Bush had been president during other periods of American history, he would have sided with the candle lobby against electricity. He would have been with the buggy makers against the cars, and the typewriter companies against the computers.

CROWLEY: This was not about electricity or computers, but about embryonic stem cell research, a subject infused with a human side by Dana Reeve's first public appearance since her husband's death.

DANA REEVE, CHRISTOPHER REEVE'S WIDOW: And I am here today because John Kerry, like Christopher Reeve, believes in keeping our hope alive.

CROWLEY: George Bush has funded limited embryonic stem cell research. John Kerry says he'll lift the restrictions.

KERRY: It's wrong to tell scientists that they can't cross the frontiers of new knowledge. It's wrong morally and it's wrong economically.

CROWLEY: As much as the morning hunt was about rural male voters, the afternoon was about women, a voting block that has traditionally been more Democrat than Republican, but has yet to fully warm up to John Kerry.

Candy Crowley, CNN, Columbus, Ohio.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: Well, you know, the old saying on the campaign trail, better to shoot geese than to be a sitting duck.

Anyway, on now to the president's campaign, and a report from senior White House correspondent John King.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN KING, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The background is part of the message. The president's goal, to heal a major campaign weakness.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: When it comes to health care, Senator Kerry's prescription is bigger government with higher costs. My reforms will lower costs and give more control and choices to the American people.

KING: Five million Americans have lost health coverage during the Bush presidency, and Senator Kerry has a big advantage on the issue, a problem for Mr. Bush in places like the Philadelphia suburbs critical to victory in Pennsylvania.

In appealing for a second look, Mr. Bush said his approach would limit the government's role, but make health care more accessible and affordable by, among other things, expanding tax-free medical savings accounts, allowing small businesses to pool together to buy coverage, and setting limits on medical malpractice awards.

BUSH: He has voted 10 times against medical liability reform during his Senate career. This year, when the Senate considered bills to protect OB-GYNs and trauma physicians, Senator Kerry opposed them.

KING: The Catholic vote is also a target. And Mr. Bush met with Cardinal Justin Regali (ph), Philadelphia's Roman Catholic archbishop, and among the church leaders who say Catholics have a duty to vote for candidates who share the Vatican's opposition to abortion. It's a delicate balance. Supporting social conservatives is critical, yet can hurt Republicans in the moderate suburbs.

WILLIAM GREEN, GOP MEDIA ADVISER: Where he needs to be in the Philadelphia suburbs is primarily on the economy and not so much the social issues. The social issues play here in western Pennsylvania and the central part of the state.

KING: Republican polling shows Mr. Bush down a few points in Pennsylvania.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KING: Now, like abortion, guns plays one way here in the Philadelphia suburbs, very differently in the central and western part of the state, so perhaps no surprise that while here in those suburbs, no mention of the episode. But when Mr. Bush made it to that rally in Hershey, he mocked Senator Kerry's morning hunting trip, saying that even in camouflage, his opponent can't hide from his liberal record, Anderson.

COOPER: A lot of mocking going on. All right, John King, thanks for that.

The big unknown this election is how many young people actually come out and vote. Here's a quick news note that might give us some answers. A new Harvard University study polled undergraduates around the country suggests that turnout among the young may be very high indeed. Eighty-four percent of the students polled say they intend to cast a ballot.

For whom will the ballots be cast? Fifty-two percent of undergraduates from around the country favored Senator Kerry, 39 percent President Bush, and 8 percent remain undecided.

Well, a U.S. soldier is sentenced for abusing inmates at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison. And that tops our look at what's happening around the globe in the uplink.

Baghdad, Iraq, now, Staff Sergeant Ivan "Chip" Frederick will spend eight years in prison after pleading guilty to five counts in a plea deal. His lawyer says the sentence is excessive and he'll try to get it reduced.

Santa Clara, Cuba, now, President Fidel Castro takes a nasty fall. Ouch. And gosh, did this hurt? Castro is dealing with a broken knee and arm and likely a red face. Later on 360, a look at that tumble and other world leaders what it means inside the box.

Barcelona, Spain, now, riot police clash with protesters. Check this out. Tires set on fire, bottles and stones thrown. About 100 squatters are trying to stop the demolition of a social center they've been living in for eight years. Now, amazingly, no reports of arrests or injuries, for that matter.

In London, a British royal in a scuffle. There it is. Prince Harry shoves a member of the papparazzi outside a nightclub. I think that's him there in the red hair on the left. Of course, those not involved couldn't resist taking snapshots. That's what they do. Royal aides say the fight started when Harry tried to push a camera out of the way, but the photographer, who got a cut lip, says he did nothing to provoke the prince. And it goes on and on.

That's tonight's uplink.

360 next, are you afraid to fly? Do you ever get the jitters every time you step on the plane or refuse to even board, perhaps? For confronting the things that scare you most, part of our special series, Facing Your Fears. You can overcome them.

Also tonight, baseball playoffs, a death. The Boston police accept full responsibility for a fan celebration turned deadly. We have the latest on this developing story.

Also a little later tonight, could Laci Peterson's baby have died five days after she disappeared? That's what the defense is claiming. Covering all the angles. Be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "FRENCH KISS")

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Kate, you can do this.

MEG RYAN, ACTRESS: I can't (UNINTELLIGIBLE). (UNINTELLIGIBLE) on an airplane.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What do you think you're doing?

RYAN: Let me out! Let me out of here! I don't want to die! No!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Yikes. That was a scene from the movie "French Kiss," in which Meg Ryan's character tries to overcome her fear of flying. Didn't really seem to work there.

Chances are, you know someone who has that fear. (UNINTELLIGIBLE) it's amazing, an estimated one in six Americans are actually afraid to get on an airplane.

There is hope, however, thanks to a number of treatments. One, of course, is virtual reality.

CNN's Jeanne Moos gave it a try for our special series, Facing Your Fears. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For some, flying seems heavenly. But for others, it's like preparing to join the dearly departed. We sit rigid as dummies, analyzing every engine noise, waiting for impact, watching for wings to ignite, imagining flopping around tethered to a fireball. Yikes.

(on camera): I don't think I've been on a plane for a decade.

(voice-over): Which means the only thing I'll take off on is a virtual reality flight.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Move your head a little bit. You can look out the window.

MOOS (on camera): Oh, yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You can see you're on the runway.

MOOS (voice-over): Here at Cornell-New York Presbyterian Hospital in a nondescript office, psychologist Joanne Defreedy (ph) asks questions like, Did I stop flying because of a bad experience that made me fear for my life? (on camera): No. Never thought I was going to die.

I do things when I'm on the plane like, I tiptoe to the back. You know, I want to go easy on the airplane, like my weight is going to make some kind of difference. It's nuts.

(voice-over): For 15 years at CNN, I flew when absolutely necessary -- to China, for instance.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MOOS: Here at the Great Wall, you don't have to walk a mile for a camel.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MOOS (voice-over): I'd rather take a camel than a jet.

Finally I stopped flying altogether, though I still managed to ride in a balloon and go up in a blimp.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Try it.

MOOS (on camera): I am not going to fly this thing.

Whoa, hey, hey, I don't want to drive anymore.

(voice-over): The goal of virtual reality is to desensitize patients to what scares them.

(on camera): It's the actual hurtling down the runway part that really gets me going.

(voice-over): For eight sessions that cost about $2,100, the therapist puts you in a 3-D world of airplane noises and thunderstorms.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I can do that again and again and again.

MOOS: They even have a virtual reality program for those traumatized by 9/11.

Defreedy says the success rate of virtual reality is about 90 percent, but you have to want to overcome your fear.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Going to Hawaii, to, I don't know, (UNINTELLIGIBLE)...

MOOS (on camera): I could care less. I have no desire...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: ... (UNINTELLIGIBLE)...

MOOS: ... I mean, the plane trip is not...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: ... (UNINTELLIGIBLE)...

MOOS: ... the vacation is not worth the plane trip.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You have no motivation.

MOOS (voice-over): No wonder my progress is slow.

(on camera): So do I get frequent flier miles for this?

(voice-over): Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: Well, clearly, Jeanne does not intend to pursue virtual therapy. She's apparently content to stay on the ground. But for those of you who are interested in conquering your fear of flying, we turn to a doctor who has treated many patients with virtual therapy. Page Anderson, clinical psychologist and assistant professor at Georgia State University joins me from Atlanta.

Page, thanks very much for being with us.

Clearly, Jeanne Moos is kind of a skeptic. She doesn't really care too much about flying. But what is the bottom line for people who want to face this fear? What is the most important thing that -- to just sort of gradually do it?

PAGE ANDERSON, CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGIST, GEORGIA STATE UNIVERSITY: Well, you can do it gradually. You don't have to do it gradually. What's known to be the most effective for treating fears like fear of flying is something called exposure therapy. It's part of cognitive behavioral treatment for a specific phobia.

COOPER: So it's just repeated exposure to it? I mean, a sort of gradual, you don't plunge right in?

ANDERSON: Well, you can plunge right in. But most people who are phobic are pretty reluctant to plunge right in, and they find it more palatable to face their fear gradually.

COOPER: What is it about the computer that, the virtual reality, that seems to help?

ANDERSON: Well, in order to overcome your fear, you have to face it. And as a client of mine once said, you have to feel it to heal it. And in virtual reality, you're able to take that step, sort of a baby step, in a virtual world.

So to do that, you put on what's called a head-mounted display, which presents you sort of visual information so you can see the plane, you can look around, you can hear the noises, you can hear the captain speaking, you can turbulence underneath your seat...

COOPER: Well, I suppose...

ANDERSON: ... and that helps trigger...

COOPER: Right... ANDERSON: ... the fear memory.

COOPER: ... well, I suppose some people, though, are even too scared to sort of put on the helmet and get into a virtual environment. How do you encourage them to do that?

ANDERSON: Well, people have to be willing to do that, and, I mean, most people who are coming to therapy have made the decision that they want to try to overcome this. But it's kind of tricky, because if someone is phobic, there's part of them, of course, that wants to get over the fear, but none of us like the way anxiety feels. So it's part of the therapist's job to help them feel the anxiety and face the fear.

COOPER: All right. Well, we hope people do that. Page Anderson, appreciate you joining us. Thanks.

ANDERSON: Thank you.

COOPER: Our series, Facing Your Fears, wraps up tomorrow with my own personal phobia. Yes, I got one. It's the fear of cockroaches. Yes, I admit it, and other creepy-crawlies. It's mainly cockroaches, frankly. I don't like the way they sound, I don't like the way they move.

We'll meet a doctor who says he has an almost instant cure. We'll actually see if has any impact on me. Hmm.

360 next, a gunman opens fire in a St. Louis factory. We're going to have the very latest, this breaking story we brought you at the top of the program.

Plus, a baseball playoff death. Find out why the Boston police say they accept full responsibility.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: New developments in a work place shooting and a baseball playoff death, 360 next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: An update on our "Breaking News" we brought you at the top of the news cast. We have a few more details on that suspected gunman at a conveyor belt factory in St. Louis. According to the "Associated Press" the man is a former employee at the factory, which is in an industrial area west of the St. Louis. You're looking at some pictures taken from a helicopter short time ago. It seems now that at least one injured person was taken out of the building and put into an ambulance. Whether that was the gunman himself or a victim is unknown right now. The "Associated Press" says 110 employees that were in the building at the time of the assault were evacuated.

It obviously leaves many questions to be answered. One witness says he heard two shots. Another that he heard five shots and saw people being fired at close range. But if the employees have been evacuated who was the gunman firing at. Many questions still unanswered. We'll tell you more when we can.

Also, an update on a developing story, the deadly baseball celebrations in Boston. Twenty-one-year-old college student was killed last night as fans were toasting the Red Sox victory over the New York Yankees. Boston police are now saying they accept full responsibility.

For the latest on the story we turn to Mike Macklin of affiliate WHDH in Boston.

Mike what's the latest?

MIKE MACKLIN, WHDH: Well, it was a victorious celebration after the Red Sox win over the Yankees in game seven that turned to tragedy as tens of thousands of jubilant Red Sox fans poured into the streets surrounding Fenway Park here in Boston. Boston police in riot gear and on horseback flooded those streets with those students in an attempt to control and disperse them. But some of the students climbed atop the left field wall and the light towers that surround and light up Fenway Park during ball games. Police fired plastic pellets at some students in an effort to get them to come down.

And apparently fired a pellet or pellets into a crowd of students who were on the street, on the sidewalk, alongside that wall. One of those pellets hit a college student, 21-year-old Victoria Snelgrove in the eye. She died from her injuries. A shaken mayor and Boston police commissioner, this afternoon called the people responsible for the rioting and trouble in the streets thugs and hoodlums. But the commissioner took full responsibility for that pellet that struck and killed the student.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KATHLEEN OTOOLE, BOSTON POLICE COMMISSIONER: The Boston police department accepts full responsibility for the death of Victoria Snelgrove, an Emerson student who would have turned 22 next week. I can't imagine the grief that her family is suffering and express my deepest sympathy to them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACKLIN: The commissioner vowing to thoroughly investigate the incident which mars the celebratory atmosphere in the wake of the Red Sox victory over the Yankees, as the Boston Red Sox prepare now to host either Houston or St. Louis, for four games of a seven game World Series here in Boston.

Reporting live from Boston, I'm Mike Macklin, now back to you.

COOPER: Mike, I understand that the mayor, Tommy Nino, is considering banning alcohol sales for -- during the World Series in the areas around the stadium. Any word on that?

MACKLIN: The mayor said he would be meeting with bar owners in the area surrounding Fenway Park tomorrow. He says he wants them to not show World Series games because he says that it's the showing of the World Series games and those bar rooms that attracts a huge crowd. And then when they don't control the drinking and those crowds spill out into the streets, that's where the problems occur. So, he says he's going to be encouraging bar owners not to show the game on the big screen TVs that, of course, many of the bars have and that are the big draw on game days.

COOPER: Yes, that's hard to imagine bars are not going to be showing the World Series on their TVs. But we'll see.

Mike, appreciate you joining us. Thanks.

Back to politics. When Senator Kerry went hunting this morning, (UNINTELLIGIBLE) the camouflage and hauling a 12 gauge shotgun, he may have been aiming at water foul, but of course, the big game this election season are undecided voters. So, to help tip the scales, Kerry is working hard to burnish is regular guy credentials. So is the president for that matter.

In "Raw Politics," sometimes you have to bag a goose to bag a vote.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER (voice-over): Don't tell John Kerry, who went on a wild goose chase early this morning in far eastern Ohio.

KERRY: Everybody got one.

COOPER: After all they got four. But, of course, the senator wasn't really chasing geese. Instead he was hunting, well voters. Especially the nearly half million hunters in Ohio, a key battleground and 60 million gun owners nationwide. That's why last Saturday.

KERRY: Well, now can get me a hunting license here?

COOPER: John Kerry, bought his Ohio hunting license all part of his latest campaign strategy.

WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SR. POLITICAL ANALYST: It's a way of saying I'm one of you. I'm not a liberal Massachusetts elitist who sits around drawing rooms and has deep conversations about policy issues.

COOPER: Last night, like millions of Americans, the Democratic candidate watched baseball and drank beer. The press of course was welcome.

And this month he appeared on the cover of "Field and Stream" magazine along with President Bush, who has for years cultivated the regular guy image with well-crafted photo ops like when he cleared brush in his ranch in 2001. Or during one of his several hunting trips. Yet, the NRA says Kerry is shooting blanks and a few photo ops won't be enough to camouflage what they call his anti-gun record.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: John Kerry, wants you to think he supports the Second Amendment, but the cold hard fact don't lie. COOPER: A recent poll shows Kerry, a life-long gun owner, trailing the president among gun owners by nearly 20 points. Yet his aides say he's not ready to write off this voting block the way Al Gore did in 2000.

KERRY: I am a hunter. I'm a gun owner. I've been a hunter since I was a kid, 12, 13-years-old.

COOPER: Not willing to write them off because in the wild world of "Raw Politics" the hunting season ends on November 2nd.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

360 next, the latest from the Scott Peterson murder trial. The defense goes on the offensive with an expert witness who may be punching holes in the prosecution's main theory.

Also tonight, "Sex in America." A surprising new survey about what's really going on in the bedroom.

Later, Yankee Stadium, where last night the Red Sox pulled off one of the greatest comebacks of all time. Was it fate? We'll find out in "The Nth Degree" ahead.

Also in a moment, today's "360 Challenge," how closely have you been following today's news. Find out ahead. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: Time now for today's "360 Challenge." Be the first to answer all three questions correctly and we'll send you a 360 T-shirt. Two hikers were killed and others were stranded when a blizzard hit what National Park? Looking for the name of the National Park. What's therapy we featured for people afraid to fly? And finally, what's the last name of the president or el Presidente who fell last night on live television. Take the challenge, log on to CNN.com/360. Click on the answer link. If you answer first, you'll get the shirt. And we'll also announce last night's challenge winner coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: In "Justice Served" tonight, the Scott Peterson murder trial. Today, the jury heard a defense witness say that Laci Peterson's fetus died a week after she vanished. Of course, if they can prove that or even raise reasonable doubts about it, that would be a big blow to the prosecution's case. And what may be the difference of a couple days, could play a big part when the verdict is read. CNN's Kimberly Osias has today's developments.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KIMBERLY OSIAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A medical expert testifying in the Scott Peterson murder trial today said the fetus carried by Laci Peterson could not have died earlier than December 29, 5 days after the mother-to-be was reported missing. Dr. Charles March, an obstetrician, based his findings on bone measurements, Laci Peterson's last ultrasound and an early home pregnancy test.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The underlying premise for all this medical testimony is that the child was abducted by someone who then killed the child sometime around December 29 and, obviously, killed the mother and then somehow framed Scott Peterson. That's quite a leap of faith.

OSIAS: But since this double murder case is based largely on circumstantial evidence, it will ultimately boil down to how jurors react to all the expert testimony they're hearing. Relatives on both sides have been present during the months of testimony. Today's was especially poignant.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's very much a two-edge sword. You know, you hear facts like that, that outline the date that our sister-in-law and nephew were killed is not fun information to hear, but at the same time it shows that Scott's innocent.

OSIAS: Also on the stand today, Ricardo Cardova, a neighbor of the Petersons and currently a superior court judge. He testified that a suspicious person went door to door in that neighborhood asking for money the night before Laci Peterson disappeared. He said this was a pattern for burglars.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

OSIAS: Tomorrow, court will be dark, however Judge Alfred Delucchi assured jurors that things would continue on as planned. Witness testimony is slated to wrap up by the end of next week, however, for deliberations, this jury will be sequestered -- Anderson.

COOPER: Kimberly Osias, thanks very much.

360 next, Sex in America. Who do you think is more satisfied? Republicans or Democrats? Some surprises in a new survey.

Also tonight, Fidel Castro's nasty tumble. World leaders falling hard. We'll take that "Inside the Box."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: Those are some of the interesting findings of a new ABC poll. In tonight's "Current," talking about sex. Unless you're Paris Hilton or Pamela Anderson, your activity in the bedroom is usually says private. A new poll by ABC News "Primetime Live" exposes some pretty intimate secrets. However, how often do most Americans have sex, or how many partners have most of us had? The answers may surprise you.

Earlier, I talked about the study with Primtime Live co-anchor Cynthia McFadden.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: So, you polled about 1,500 people on the phone. I mean if I got a call, someone called me asking me for sexual information, I wouldn't answer, but people were very willing to answer?

CYNTHIA MCFADDEN, ABC NEWS ANCHOR: Surprisingly willing to answer. This was done by the same people that do our economic polling, our election polling, that was a scientific sample. You know, when ABC Polls for elections, we get about 50 percent cooperation which is high. For this sex survey, it was 92 percent cooperation.

COOPER: 92 percent of people you called were willing to do it.

MCFADDEN: Amazingly. I bet neither one of us would have taken the time.

COOPER: Absolutely, I would have like thought it was a crank call.

MCFADDEN: Exactly.

COOPER: What surprised you most?

MCFADDEN: Well, one of the things that surprised me most was that the people in the country who are having the most sex aren't those swinging singles we all suspect are, if you watch television, but married people.

COOPER: Married people have more sex than the single people?

MCFADDEN: That's right. And the numbers are really interesting. Married, or in a committed relationship, 74 percent of them have sex once a week. In single population, it's only 33 percent. Which is pretty interesting.

And you know what is interesting about, that it doesn't matter whether you have kids or not. Little kids, I think we all suspect it may be a disincentive to having sexual relations, not at all. The numbers don't support that.

COOPER: In terms of sex on the first date, how many people had done that?

MCFADDEN: Sex on the first date, 29 percent.

COOPER: I was surprised to read that sort of politics seem to come into play, somehow, the breakdown between Republicans and Democrats.

MCFADDEN: Well, this is a very controversial part of the study because the study reveals that Republicans say they are more satisfied with their sex lives than Democrats by quite a margin, 56 percent to Democrat's 47 percent. Now, our pollsters want...

COOPER: You know that we're going to start getting e-mails from Democrats right now.

MCFADDEN: I can hear them coming in. One of the things that our pollsters wanted us to point out was this may have to do with more facts than with party affiliation because more women are Democrats and women tend to be less satisfied than men. So that may have something to do with it.

COOPER: OK. That leads us to our next subject which is something I rarely say on television, orgasm. What did you find out about the frequency of it between men and women?

MCFADDEN: Men who say they always have an orgasm are 74 percent, women who say they always have an orgasm, 30 percent. Now, faking it, men who say they have faked an orgasm, 11 percent of the population, women, what do you think?

COOPER: I...

MCFADDEN: Faking it?

COOPER: I have no idea.

MCFADDEN: Women who had faked an orgasm, 48 percent of women said they have faked an orgasm.

COOPER: You asked people to categorize themselves as sexually adventurous or sexually traditional.

MCFADDEN: Americans that describe themselves as sexually traditional, 55 percent. You know, it's an interesting question, because many said, 29 percent said that they were traditional, but they'd like it if their partner were more adventuresome.

COOPER: That's interesting. But also, talking about adventuresome you looked at how many people had threesomes.

MCFADDEN: We did. 14 percent of the people we talked to said they had participated in a threesome.

COOPER: And the number of people who watch adult movies or have watched adult films with their partner.

MCFADDEN: 30 percent.

COOPER: That's high.

MCFADDEN: That's high. But we tried to look at all -- to slice this subject as -- in as many ways as we could and I think it's an interesting snapshot look at the American public and what at least these 1,500 scientifically selected people say we do.

COOPER: It's fascinating. I'll be watching it tonight.

MCFADDEN: You'll be watching? Promise?

COOPER: I promise.

MCFADDEN: I'll call you tomorrow.

COOPER: I'll be Tivoing it as well so I can rewatch it. MCFADDEN: We'll call you in the morning.

COOPER: Fair enough. Thanks, Cynthia.

That will be on ABC at 10:00 tonight.

It finally happened, the fall of Fidel Castro, not the way most of us were expecting perhaps. The Cuban leader did step down, shown live on television. But he didn't just step down, he tripped and then he tumbled, falling from grace, something no politician likes to do inside the box. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER (voice-over): The normally feisty Fidel Castro finished up his speech in front of a crowd 30,000 and then fell flat on his face as he left the stage. Unfortunately for him it was all caught on camera. Unfortunate because the fall fueled speculation that the 78- year-old leader may be showing signs of weakness. Of course Castro's not the first politico to stumble in front of the unblinking eye of the press.

President Gerald Ford's trip on the steps of Air Force One in 1975 turned him into a running gag for comedian Chevy Chase on "Saturday Night Live."

In May, President Bush was skimming along on his Segway scooter until he came to a somewhat ungraceful stop.

Then there's Bill Daily (ph), the man appointed by President Clinton to the post of commerce secretary in 1996. He was obviously overcome. He returned unhurt to a round of applause.

Presidential candidates try to project the proper image in front of the cameras. Just doesn't always work. Take Bob Dole's 1996 California rally when a railing gave way and sent the then 70-year-old sprawling. He bruised his eye, his ankle and his ego, but he kept his sense of humor.

BOB DOLE, FMR. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And I think I just earned my third Purple Heart going over the rail.

COOPER: And in 2000, Republican Gary Bower (ph) tried to wow the crowd with his pancake flipping skills. But wait, yes, he returned to the stage unbloodied and unbowed his spatula intact.

It's not the fall. To fall is human. No one wants to do it in front of the cameras, in front of the world at the moment when you're trying to look masterful inside the box.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: 360 next, bizarre fate on the baseball diamond. Possible in this year's World Series. Take that to the Nth Degree ahead.

Next a 360 challenge, another look. Have you been paying attention?

Two hikers were killed when a blizzard hit what national park?

What's the therapy we featured tonight for people afraid to fly?

What's the last name of the president who fell on live television? E-mail us with the answers. We'll send you a T-shirt.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: Time for the answers to today's 360 challenge. Number one, two hikers were killed and others were stranded when a blizzard hit what national park? The answer Yosemite. What's the therapy we featured for people afraid to fly? Virtual. And finally, what's the last name of the president or el presidente who fell last night on live television? Castro. The first person to answer all three questions correctly will be sent a 360 T-shirt. Tune in to find out if you're the one. Last night's winner, Farshid Arman of Lafayette, California. A T-shirt is on the way. Congratulations.

Another 360 challenge and another chance to win tomorrow.

Tonight taking secret signs to the Nth Degree. This is really too bizarre. After the doings this evening at Bush stadium we'll know for a fact whether and brace yourselves for the chilling strangeness of this, the very same two states Texas and Massachusetts will be competing in the World Series and for the presidency of the United States of America. Holy Cow, huh! This sort of thing is very important to believers in a occult signs of all sorts. Horoscope readers, crystal ball consulters, tarot card dealers, magnetic bracelet wearers, burners of incense sticks, carriers of charms, and rabbit's feet and crystal pyramids.

And really such an outcome would be very very meaningful because well, there are 50 states hereabouts and surely it couldn't be just a coincidence that of them all the same two came to be involved both in the series and the presidency. I mean, there's simply no question at all that we're talking fate here or kismet or nonsense or something.

And if the Cardinals win tonight? Well, wasn't Dick Gephardt once in the running for the Democratic nomination and isn't he from Missouri, too? You don't really believe these things are accidents, do you? Come on.

I'm Anderson Cooper. Thanks for watching. Coming up next, "PAULA ZAHN NOW."

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