Return to Transcripts main page
Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees
Nuclear North Korea; Who's Kim?; Foley Fallout; Internet Safety; Make or Break Race?; Lottery Scam; World Leaders, Fashion Crisis
Aired October 10, 2006 - 23:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: ... earthquake about 150 miles northeast of Tokyo.
Still, nerves seem very much on edge tonight as the world grapples with a notion of a nuclear North Korea. And that is not all. Pyongyang is already making nuclear threats.
For more on that and all the other latest developments from the region, we turn to CNN's Dan Rivers in Seoul, South Korea -- Dan.
DAN RIVERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's right. Nerves were jangled here, Anderson, after that earthquake earlier this morning. It measured, according the U.S. Geological Survey, 5.8 on the Richter scale, some way off Tokyo, deep under sea.
But for a while they thought that North Korea had carried out a second nuclear test.
Now, there is a lot of speculation that that may happen, that this test, if it was nuclear earlier on in the week on Monday, may not be the only one, that it may be a series. It's certainly got people very concerned here -- Anderson.
COOPER: How is this playing there? I imagine this is a huge story in South Korea?
RIVERS: It is a massive story here. It's really called into question the policies of the government here. They have long had a policy called the sunshine policy, to engage the North Koreans. And that's involved sending humanitarian aid over the border. It's involved, would you believe it, tourists going to some parts of North Korea. A whole load of measures to try and engage with the North Koreans.
All of that now seems to have fallen flat on its back with a lot of people here blaming the government for getting them into this situation, parallels could be drawn, some are saying, with appeasements even, in the 30s between Britain and Germany.
And now, today, there's news that a big consignment of cement that was supposed to be sent over the boarder to help with rebuilding after flooding, that's been stopped now, 4,000 tons of cement. That's not going over the border. This may be the beginning of the end of any sort of collaboration or aid packages going from south to north -- Anderson. COOPER: Tricky times. Dan Rivers, at a tense moment in a hair trigger location. Dan, thanks.
Given the nuclear jitters some perspective might help, as CNN's Tom Foreman reports now. If North Korea does in fact have a nuclear arsenal, it is comparatively tiny.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Take a look at North Korea's neighbor, South Korea, of course, Japan over here, but also some of the big nuclear powers in the world. Russia, up north with 20,000 nukes; China down here, with only about 400, but the capability of producing a whole lot more quickly.
Across Europe you find the other big players in the nuclear stage. France with about 350; United Kingdom, with about 200 nuclear warheads; and the United States, with 10,000 nuclear warheads and an extraordinary capability through the military to deliver them to wherever the United States might want to put them.
Then, you come to the next layer of nuclear nations. Israel is one of those. Israel always refuses to either confirm or deny its nuclear capability, but intelligence analysts say they probably have 100 to 200 nuclear warheads there. And the most recent arrivals, Pakistan over here with about 30 to 50 or at least the capability of making that many. India, about the same, 40 to 90.
And now you come to the tier of the wannabe nations, the third tier. That includes places like Libya, Iraq, Iran, nations that have made noise, have tried to develop such weapons. In some cases they've given it up, in other cases still being watched very closely. That's where North Korea fits.
But here's the big difference. This is what worries people. North Korea is a very poor country of about 23 million people. And we do know this historically, North Korea sells its weapons systems. That's the big worry for the entire world. That you'll have a supplier, a company that can make it, willing to sell to the highest bidder.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: That was CNN's Tom Foreman. It's fair to say the North Koreans have really done nothing to reassure anyone about their intentions. It's a closed society, the last old fashioned, hard-lined communist dictatorship on the planet. A surreal place, to say the least with a huge army and a broken economy; and some say a megalomaniac for a leader, or a deer leader, as they say.
CNN's John Roberts reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): To the West, he is the tyrannical ruler of a rogue state. But in North Korea, Kim Jong-il is known as dear leader, a man who legend has it was born in a mountain cabin under a bright star in a double rainbow.
But as with many things in North Korea, the party line and reality are often harshly divided.
Western analysts say, there was no cabin, no star, and no rainbow. In fact, they believe, Kim Jong-il was born in the Soviet Union in 1941. His father was living there in exile while Japan occupied the Korean peninsula.
Following Word War II, Kim and his father returned to a Korea divided by geography and ideology. Kim Il-sung ruled a closed communist northern state. And in the 1950s, waged a war of reunification with the Democratic south.
The attempt failed, but Kim Il-sung ruled another four decades, until his death in 1994, when the younger Kim took the reigns of power.
To many observers, Kim Jong-il is a buffoon, a playboy, a drunkard. But in reality, he is a crafty and brutal strongman who tolerates no opposition.
These pictures, taken by hidden cameras and smuggled across the border show North Korea is a country of immense hardship, starvation, and death. A nation where loudspeakers blare constant propaganda. Where life is cheap. And the dead paid no heed. Where homeless hungry children steal to survive. And pickpockets thrive.
There are an estimated 200,000 political prisoners in North Korea, many held in dreaded concentration camps.
The sign over this camp's entrance reads, give up your life for the sake of our dear leader, Kim Jong-il.
In North Korea, the ultimate offense is to make contact with the outside world. Public executions, mandatory viewing for both children and adults are a way to drive the point home.
The accused quickly become the condemned. An old fashioned firing squad. No mercy for the mutiness.
Diplomats who have served in North Korea describe Kim Jong-il as vain and paranoid, a reckless megalomaniac willing to take enormous risks to achieve the international respect he believes he and his nation deserve. Gambling that the double threat of nuclear weapons and long-range missiles will be the muscle he needs to win that respect.
John Roberts, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(BEGIN BREAKING NEWS)
COOPER: And we have some late breaking news from a South Korean news agency. Reports that South Korea's military joint chiefs are telling the country's defense minister to check the army's readiness for nuclear war.
(END BREAKING NEWS)
Now another inside look at North Korea. When Mike Chinoy was with CNN, he enjoyed unparalleled access to the country, more than a dozen trips to the hermit kingdom over the years. Right now he's with a think tank, the Pacific Council on International Policy. We spoke earlier tonight.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: You know, Mike, President Bush talks about not tolerating a nuclear North Korea. But in terms of his options, there's nothing -- I mean, he doesn't have a lot of options.
MIKE CHINOY, PACIFIC COUNCIL ON INTERNATIONAL POLICY: There really aren't very many good options. The military option is really problematic.
COOPER: Because, I mean, they could easily wipe out Seoul, they could just send rockets raining down on Seoul.
CHINOY: Well, the North Koreans have over 10,000 artillery pieces that could hit Seoul within an hour of any fighting getting under way.
Moreover, the U.S. doesn't really know where North Korea keeps the nukes, where the weapons grade plutonium is, where the secret uranium facility is. So what would you attack? And the North Koreans do have this capability to hit back and they've got missiles that could hit South Korea and Japan.
COOPER: So it's not like Israel hitting the Iraqi facility years ago, not sort of a one-strike capability thing. So what are the options, if military's off the table?
CHINOY: Well, if military's off the table, then the talk now is about sanctions; and here, too, there are lots of problems. North Korea's already facing a lot of sanctions from the U.S. on the financial front. There's talk about trying to ratchet those up, about cutting off North Korea's travel connection with the rest of the world, curbing travel of North Korean diplomats.
But you know, this is a country that's been so isolated for so long, and its natural instinct under outside pressure is to hunker down and tough it out. Clearly, Kim Jong-il's made a calculation that he can weather this pressure and tough it out, and in the end, emerge as a nuclear state.
COOPER: Also, one of the ideas of sanctions is sort of trying to get the population to rise up. But, I mean, this is a country where you know, they don't care if a million people die of famine or more. They're willing to take that -- to take that price.
CHINOY: That's absolutely true. In the mid '90s nearly 2 million people died of famine and it did not impact the regime at all. And then there's the flip side, which makes it even more complicated, if it did lead to collapse or implosion, who would control North Korea's nukes? What would happen to the refugees? Who would have to move in to take order? So, wants to tolerate a nuclear North Korea. But the options are very, very difficult. And there's not agreement on what to do about it among the U.S., the Chinese, the South Koreans and the Japanese.
COOPER: Is there an understanding of what a North Korea would look like without, you know, Kim Jong-il?
CHINOY: Well, I think at the moment, the odds of a sort of bottom-up uprising are very, very small. It's much more likely if this pressure becomes really acute, that it would intensify cracks in the elite. But we don't know that for sure.
The North Koreans have amazed everybody by surviving years after all the other communist nations collapsed. And I think unless the Chinese and the South Koreans go in a very big way to ratchet that pressure up, the North Koreans may well be able to hang on more or less intact.
COOPER: Are they willing to give up their nuclear program? I mean, they say they want these one-on-one talks. They want to eliminate this talk of regime change, you know, that the U.S. has been using?
CHINOY: The honest answer is we don't really know. That's been their consistent line, that in a one-on-one negotiation, for the right price, they would put everything on the table.
The fact is so far they haven't really been tested because the diplomatic process hasn't gone far enough for them to be tested. And the other question mark is, even if this might have been true two or three years ago, now that they've tested this bomb, now that they've made it public to their own people as well as the international community, it's an issue of national pride. And with the military so dominant in North Korea, it's not at all clear, even for a very generous deal of the kind they're not going to be offered by Washington that they'd agree at this stage to give it up.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: That was Mike Chinoy, formerly of CNN. And there's one place where the North Korean nuclear threat is perhaps the greatest, the demilitarized zone, the DMZ, a no man's land where two nations, two armies, North and South, look each other in the eye, waiting for the other guy to blink. We'll take you there.
And later, John Walsh on the Foley page scandal. For the host of "America's Most Wanted," it goes beyond just outrage. For him, it is personal, when 360 continues.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: It's a soldier on duty in a place where, no joking, World War III might one day begin. That is how much of a powder keg the strip of land separating North and South Korea has been over the years and especially so today. Five North Koreans crossed a line there over the weekend. South Koreans fired 40 warning shots. They call it a demilitarized zone, but in fact it is precisely the opposite.
Here's Martin Savidge.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): South Korean soldiers prepare for battle in the DMZ. It is a fight where the only weapon is a pair of eyes. And the only thing shot is a glance.
(On camera): The DMZ stretches 150 miles, separating North and South. But nowhere else do the two sides come as close as they do here, in Panmunjong, literally separated only by inches -- 16 inches of concrete.
(Voice-over): Soldiers who serve on the southern side are hand picked to be imposing. The minimum height for Americans is six feet. South Koreans must be at least 5'8, that's two inches taller than average in their country.
South Korean guards stand in a martial arts stance, their bodies only half exposed to the north, making them less of a target.
Across the way, the North Korean soldiers are said to be the best fed in a nation that has suffered years of famine. But a number of them still look gaunt and drawn. They often stand sideways, facing each other.
MAJOR JOHN RING, JOINT SECURITY BATTALION: The reason for that is, if one of those soldiers decides he wants to defect, the other soldier's duty is to shoot that soldier and prevent him from defecting.
SAVIDGE: Tensions rise during official meetings on the DMZ, as more guards come out. North Koreans soldiers occupy a nearby building which American soldiers have called the monkey house, referring to how the guards inside peek out.
U.S. officers suspect the building houses heavy weapons, which are outlawed under DMZ rules.
Looking for possible violations of the armistice is a favorite pastime of both sides here. Cameras sprout almost everywhere, adding eyes that never blink.
The weather may change, but not the dangerous game. American soldiers bring their own level of psychological warfare. Unlike the South Koreans, they prefer not to wear sunglasses to hide their eyes. They don't wear raincoats in the rain or winter coats in the snow, believing that projects weakness.
RING: It's almost a demonstration of your mental and physical toughness always out here.
SAVIDGE: Whether the American tactic earns North Korean respect isn't clear. But U.S. soldiers believe they have earned something else.
RING: I'd say that they hate us. You can see it in their eyes when they look at us.
SAVIDGE: At Panmunjong if looks could kill, the body count on both sides would be high.
Martin Savidge, CNN, in the DMZ.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: A fascinating place.
While the world scrambles to contain North Korea's nuclear ambitions, the Republicans are scrambling to contain a whole different kind of fallout here at home.
Coming up, we'll look at one of the tightest races in Florida where the Foley factor is being felt.
And the Foley scandal's bringing even more attention to the problem of online sexual predators. We're going to talk to the host of "America's Most Wanted," John Walsh, about ways to keep the kids safe while they're on their computers, and also find out why the scandal has hit him personally, when 360 continues.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: There it is, the CNN Election Express, bus traveling across America. You can hop on board to get information on the November races and express your political views. The custom-made machine, I'm told, is heading to Las Vegas later this week. It's going to visit several other cities up until election date. You can get an update on the political match-ups at CNN.com/politics.
With just 28 days until the November elections, we turn our attention tonight to one of Florida's tightest Congressional races. For months Iraq, social security, taxes have dominated the campaign, but now all of that seems to have taken a backseat to the Mark Foley sex scandal.
Florida is, of course, Foley's home state, and polls show that he's likely a liability for fellow Republicans, especially for the incumbent in the Congressional district right next door to Foley's.
CNN's Gary Tuchman reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In the Florida Congressional district, next to the one that was represented by Mark Foley, there is a heightened sensitivity to the scandal. The issue came up at a debate in Broward County, Florida. Clay Shaw, a loyal Republican, is a 13-term incumbent running for re- election.
REP. E. CLAY SHAW (R), FLORIDA: This whole thing is being politicized. Let me talk -- just a minute -- may I please have the time put back on the clock because of the rudeness of some of the people in this auditorium.
TUCHMAN: Shaw would get that extra time. But first he heard from his opponent, Democratic State Senator Ron Klein, who talked about Dennis Hastert, speaker of the House who has been feeling the heat.
RON KLEIN (D), CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE: Mr. Shaw and I seem to disagree on the fact of whether Mr. Hastert has done the right thing. He believes he does, I don't think he has. I think he should take more responsibility and resign from his position because I think enough information was there to cause him to resign.
TUCHMAN: Shaw has defended Hastert. But this debate brought a subtle, but significant, shift in his position.
SHAW: If the speaker new about what was happening, he should resign. What he says that he knew about was some exchanges that he found out about just recently and then the bad stuff came out after that.
TUCHMAN: Shaw added any Democrats who knew about it should resign too. The three candidates, which included a Libertarian, talked about Iraq, the environment, high prescription prices. But it was the Foley issue that led to the zinger of the night from the least known of the candidates.
NEIL EVANGELISTA (L), CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE: I think what he did was reprehensible and I think that everyone who condoned it -- in fact, if 80 percent of Congress resigned, I wouldn't be -- I wouldn't be unhappy about it.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Gary, wasn't this a pretty high profile race, even before the Foley scandal erupted?
TUCHMAN (on camera): That's right, Anderson. Both Shaw and Klein are raised more money than any candidates in any Florida House race. It's one of the most expensive House contests in the entire United States.
Shaw has won 13 elections. He's a powerful guy. He's won most of them very handily. But back in the year 2000, he only won by 599 votes. The Democrats have thought, even before the Foley episode, that he might be vulnerable. And right now, Anderson, both sides are saying this appears too close to call.
COOPER: Well, it will be interesting election night. Gary, thanks.
On the list of everything that could go wrong for a political party weeks before a midterm election, you got to say the Foley scandal is right at top of the list.
Earlier I talked about the potential fallout with part of the best political team in the business, CNN's Bill Schneider, Candy Crowley and John King.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: So Candy, since this Foley scandal started, the Democrats seem to feel that they're in a position to take back control of Congress, come November. How many seats are the Republicans actually worried about right now?
CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: About every one of them, certainly in the House. By the estimate of one Republican that I talked to in the House, who in fact is a strategist for his party, they can lose anywhere between 10 and 30 seats. There's obviously a lot of uncertainty out there. It's getting down to that time when we all say it's about turnout, which it is. But they think it could be anywhere between 10 and 30 seats, that's how many seats they're worried about.
COOPER: And how much of that is Foley-related, Candy?
CROWLEY: Well, you know, Foley sort of adds to the ground water that is running against Republicans. It could hurt, I think in a handful of states, particularly if a Republican relies heavily on evangelical, conservative Christian. Certainly it doesn't help Congressman Reynolds up in New York because he's so -- such a central figure in this.
But I think, by and large, we're talking Iraq and the economy, and Foley just doesn't help. And the biggest thing is, it's a distraction. It keeps Republicans from talking about anything else.
COOPER: And John, is the fear that the Foley scandal is going to keep the conservatives, the religious voters, religious conservatives, from getting out and voting?
JOHN KING, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That is the biggest fear, Anderson. Intensity. It's a midterm election, turnout is generally lower anyway than in a presidential year. Some conservatives are already upset at the Republicans over spending issues and the big deficit. Now the question is, if economic conservatives are upset, and now social conservatives are mad about Foley and they stay home, the Republicans will suffer.
Again, if it makes a difference in five or six races, that would add to the Democratic momentum. So Republicans are trying to tell conservatives, look, even if you're mad at us, don't stay home because consider the alternative. A Democratic Congress would make things worse. COOPER: Bill, if the subject is North Korea, is that enough to actually distract people way from Foley or does North Korea not really register?
BILL SCHNEIDER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, North Korea certainly seems a serious threat. And at the very least, it gets the Foley story from monopolizing the front pages.
At the moment, you know, any crisis, it typically helps the president. But keep this in mind, the president's not on the ballot. And even if people suddenly decide they have to support the president because they feel threatened, they're voting for Congress which is a whole different office, a whole different set of offices. And, also, of course, we don't know how serious a threat people see this.
COOPER: You know, John, I heard John McCain today, basically supporting the president a little bit on North Korea, kind of blaming former President Clinton. Is this a sign, (a) that North Korea's about to become a serious campaign issue? And also is that -- are we going to hear more of that, sort of blaming the past administration?
KING: Anytime John McCain can stand with the president, as he did today on North Korea, it helps him, looking ahead to a future presidential run.
But what he did in criticizing the Clinton administration policy, he also said, look, Senator Clinton and any other Democrats who are criticizing the Bush administration now, should remember that the Clinton administration did negotiate with North Korea and North Korea promptly violated that agreement, cheated on it and that is one of the reasons we are where we are today.
So, an opportunity for Senator McCain, not only to stand with President Bush, but to take a direct shot at the woman many think could be his opponent come '08.
COOPER: Candy, does North Korea, does it -- does it cut one way or the other? Does it benefit Democrats more than the Republicans or vice versa?
CROWLEY: I'm sort of at the point where if you look at this poll, these pollings, and you look at them over time, almost anything seems to hurt Republicans. I mean, Bill is perfectly correct that, whenever there's sort of a crisis and people feel threatened, they tend to rally around the president.
But you know, up comes another problem. People keep talking about the -- how everyone sees the country going in the wrong direction, some 60 percent of voters. So this just adds to that. OK, here's another thing. I think it sort of plays in some ways toward Democrats because it just sort of piles on.
COOPER: Bill, do we know how Iraq factors into these upcoming elections?
SCHNEIDER: Iraq is a major issue. Poll after poll shows it's the voters' most serious concern. Three and a half, more than 3-1/2 years, it's lasted longer than World War II. And no end in sight and the violence is getting worse. Yes, absolutely, Iraq is the dominant issue in this election and the main reason, the main reason, why Republicans are in so much trouble.
COOPER: Also John, I mean, it doesn't seem like anything can distract from that kind of bad news that we see coming out of Iraq. I mean, this is the month the administration had talked in the past about bringing home 50,000 troops. It's now one of the bloodiest months of the war.
KING: The administration hoped, despite the violence, that it would be in a position to soon bring home 50,000 maybe 60,000 troops by the end of the year. So no matter what the pictures were out of Iraq, come this time in October, heading into November, the administration hoped they would be countered by pictures of troops coming home as well, getting hugged at the airport, hugged at the docks. Instead, you are in now one of the bloodiest months in Iraq and it's only 10 days into the month of October. There is no prospect for the troops to come home anytime soon. And Bill is dead right. That has the electorate in a very sour mood.
COOPER: John King, Candy Crowley, Bill Schneider, thanks.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Bloody months indeed, 100 Iraqis found dead in the last two days alone in Baghdad.
We're going to have more on the Foley scandal next. Mark Foley helping to draft legislation to protect children. The host of "America's Most Wanted," John Walsh, worked closely with Foley on that bill. We're going to hear what John Walsh now has to say about the Foley scandal, coming up.
Plus, they don't want advice when it comes to running their countries, but man, they could sure use some advice when it comes to fashion. Why some leaders, we think, need a makeover, when 360 continues.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Well, the Mark Foley scandal has more and more parents around the country wondering how they can keep their kids safe from sexual predators on the Internet or IMs.
Ironically, the former Congressman was co-chairman of the Congressional Missing and Exploited Children's Caucus. John Walsh, the host of "America's Most Wanted" and the co-founder of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, worked closely with Foley on legislation to protect children.
He and Julie Clark, the creator of Baby Einstein, teamed up last year to produce a series of child safety DVDs. Their latest DVD, "Internet Safety," was released today. I spoke to the two of them earlier tonight. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: John, first let's talk about Congressman Mark Foley. I mean, he was the co-sponsor of the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006. He stood right behind you when President Bush signed it into law this summer. Did you think just two months later this guy would be resigning after sending sexually explicit messages to a teenager?
JOHN WALSH, HOST OF "AMERICA'S MOST WANTED": I never dreamed it, Anderson. And I think lots of people on both sides of the aisle in the House and the Senate had a lot of respect for Mark Foley. I had worked with him for almost 10 years.
And when his staff called me and said, these e-mails are going to come out, they were completely flabbergasted, heartbroken. And I thought, maybe in the beginning, maybe it's a political trick, it's an election year. And then when the salacious e-mails came out I said, you know, how could this guy be the chairman of the Missing and Exploited Child Conference, caucus in the House and live this double life?
I mean I always say whether it's a priest, a rabbi, whether it's the pope, or a Congressman, you have to be held accountable for what you did.
COOPER: Julie Clark, you and John produced these videos for kids, The Safe Side series. And the latest DVD actually deals with Internet safety. It seems, I mean, basically this is allowing -- -- the Internet, which is an amazing thing, but it does allow pedophiles a direct line to kids online.
JULIE CLARK, "THE SAFE SIDE": It sure does. It lets them right into your living room. And that's why we tell kids, well we give them lots of advice on the video. The video's really meant for parents and kids to talk. So we're trying to get parents to talk to kids. Often parents don't know as much as their kids do about what's happen on the Internet.
But yes, we're letting pedophiles into our family rooms when we go into chat rooms and start talking to people that we don't know.
COOPER: It only proliferates, I mean, with instant messaging, with video phones, with video cameras.
Besides talking, is there other stuff that you recommend parents do to try to keep kids safe?
CLARK: Well, I mean, the best thing you can do is to talk. I mean knowledge is power. So you want to educate your kids as much as you can. You need to have this conversation.
I mean there's a point where, you know, your kids are going to do what they're going to do, but you have to arm them with as much knowledge and information as you can. There's a scene right now on the, you know, from the video that's showing. You could be -- you could think your talking to a really cute young boy and actually be talking to some, you know, much older man who is trying to meet you. It's pretty scary.
COOPER: John, I mean, Mark Foley claims he was molested by a member of the clergy when he was a teenager. Did that ever come up? I mean, it would seem to me that would be the kind of thing he would mention to you in some of your dealings.
WALSH: Absolutely. You know, we have people who work at National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, people who work in law enforcement, that were victims of incest that were molested. You know, the Catholic Church -- and I'm a Roman Catholic -- had lots of problems with pedophile priests, but I don't believe that's an excuse. I know lots of people that were victimized and don't go on to victimize other people.
And I thought over the years that I knew this man. He might say to me, I am driven by the fact that I was molested, but I never really had much social, you know, dialogue with him other than the fact that he seemed to be so driven to help get child protection legislation passed.
And the Adam Walsh Child Protection Bill is a landmark piece of legislation. Lots of people worked on it, James Sensenbrenner, and all kinds of Democrats and Republicans in the Senate, Joe Biden and Arlen Specter and Bill Frist, and you know, wonderful people -- Orrin Hatch wrote it. And I think they all believed that Mark Foley truly was a champion for this type of legislation.
And the most ironic thing, Anderson, is that although he's alleged to have done this a couple of years ago and it wouldn't apply to him, but one of the major components of the Adam Walsh Child Protection Bill is that it makes Internet solicitation of children a federal crime. How ironic is that?
COOPER: John Walsh, appreciate you coming on. Julie Clark, as well. Thank you.
CLARK: Thanks.
WALSH: Thank you, Anderson.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Well, a turn to politics now. He could become the first black Senator elected from the south since the Civil War era. There's a big if, for a Democrat who finds himself in a heated battle against Republican and decades of rule by the GOP. That is next.
And later, it is the lottery where the conmen have all the odds. We're going to show how the promise of a jackpot leads only to misery. We're keeping them honest, when 360 continues.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) COOPER: Over the next four weeks we're going to be bringing you the key races from the campaign trail, making sure to cover all of the angles as we approach the midterm elections.
Tonight, we turn to Tennessee where a brash Democrat is hoping to make history in the South and lead his party to victory nationwide.
CNN's Joe Johns explains.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BOB CORKER (R), TENNESSEE CANDIDATE FOR U.S. SENATE: How are you?
JOE JOHNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is the Republican Candidate Bob Corker, the popular former mayor of Chattanooga.
This is the Democrat, Harold Ford, Jr. He's the congressman from Memphis who, by the way, could become the first African-American Senator from the south since reconstruction.
And today, it's a dead heat. Ford, carefully walking the fine line that's kept him competitive in this southern state.
REP. HAROLD FORD JR. (D), TENNESSEE: I side with President Bush when I think he's right and I go against him when I think he's wrong.
JOHNS: Bob Corker, pushing the notion that he's more in line with Tennessee values than Ford.
CORKER: 88 percent of the time he votes like Ted Kennedy and Hillary Clinton.
JOHNS: Pressures on too. Democratic strategists says if Ford can win here, it means Democrats can win almost anywhere. And for the Republicans, they see Tennessee as a political firewall. If their man Corker wins, Democratic dreams of taking back the Senate go up in smoke.
But to understand these guys, first you have to understand the importance of the seat they're running for. It's currently held by Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, the top Republican in the Senate who decided not run again. His party is loathed to let Ford replace Frist.
SENATOR LAMAR ALEXANDER (R), TENNESSEE: He'll pick up Bill Frist's (UNINTELLIGIBLE), he'll carry it over there and set it down between Hillary Clinton and Ted Kennedy and John Kerry. And he'll make it one vote harder for the United States Senate to do what a majority of Tennesseans (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
JOHNS: And that's the argument in a nutshell. Elect Ford, elect the Democrats. And that doesn't sit well in Republican-leaning Tennessee. So if the seat's such a big deal for the GOP, why is it that Ford is running so strong? Bob corker thinks it's the mood of the country.
CORKER: I think we knew that, just the way things were going in the country, with some of the tough issues that it faced, that there was going to be sort of a pale, if you will, over Washington.
JOHNS: The situation in Iraq, the lobbying scandals and now the Mark Foley mess. All the while Republicans controlled the House and Senate. Ford is not trying to overplay the latest scandal but...
FORD: The way it has helped me is it's allowed people to want to listen again or made people want to listen to me again, and give me a chance to kind of lay out what I want to do. And I mean, I, we don't have a strategy built around their scandalous and their corrupt and their immoral (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
JOHNS: For Corker the problem is how to talk about Foley. At best, its kind of an awkward Tennessee waltz.
CORKER: It's very distasteful what has happened in Washington, but only one of us in this race has been in Washington, has been a part of that. I've been right here in Tennessee.
JOHNS: In other words, he's trying to say, even though Republicans control Congress and Foley is a Congressman, it's not a Republican scandal, but a Congressional scandal. And since my opponent is a Congressman, well, you get it.
While the impact of Foley is not clear yet, one Tennessee political scientist says, Corker may also have something to worry about.
MICHAEL FITZGERALD, UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEE: It is a discouraging thing to have happen. It rocks people back on their heels. It makes them question the extent to which it's worth it anymore to differentiate. And so, I think it may have that. And in a tight race, it wouldn't take that many people out of the Republican base if they just sort of throw their hands up and go, I'm going to stay home.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Joe Johns joins us now. He's with the CNN Election Express, which is in Chattanooga. How is race playing into all of this?
JOHNS (on camera): Well, quite frankly, like a lot of things, Harold ford is downplaying it. It sort of plays with his moderate theme. He's not talking about it much. But if you do ask him about it, he'll basically say, look, the people of Tennessee are not bad people, I've never seen them as bad people, I don't expect them to factor race into the equation. He says he expects them to look at his record, look at what he says and decide on whether he ought to be the Senator from Tennessee, based on that -- Anderson.
COOPER: In terms of his poll numbers, though, does it break along racial lines at all? JOHNS: Well, certainly you have a lot of African-Americans in a place like Nashville where he has certainly very strong support, a place like Memphis.
The question, of course, is how he plays out in the state, how he plays in the conservative parts in the state, and up in the mountains. He says he's gotten quite a good reception, but as you can see, it's neck and neck right now. Just not clear whether that by itself certainly could tip the boat.
COOPER: It will be a historic and a fascinating race either way. Joe, appreciate it. Joe Johns, thanks.
Coming up, on a lighter note, well, what some might call a fashion crisis for some of the world's most repugnant leaders.
But first, Erica Hill, from "HEADLINE NEWS," joins us with a 360 news and business bulletin -- Erica.
ERICA HILL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Anderson, we're learning more tonight about last week's deadly school shooting in Pennsylvania's Amish country. According to 911 transcripts, the gunman open-fired on his 10 hostages just moments after telling the Lancaster County dispatcher to get state troopers off the school property. Now, authorities say that gave them no time to save the girls. Charles Roberts shot and killed five of the young girls, then killed himself.
To Africa's Sahara Desert now, where new research suggests more dust may mean fewer hurricanes. According to the study by the University of Wisconsin at Madison, when there are more dust storms, there are fewer tropical storms.
Meantime, as for this coming winter, the forecast is out on just what it will cost to heat your home. If you use natural gas, some good news. The Energy Department says you're going to save an average of $119 this year. But if you rely on fuel oil, well, news not so good there. You're expected to pay about $90 more this year.
And some money matters now linked to love troubles. You may remember the runway bride from Georgia, who sparked a huge manhunt when she vanished just days before her wedding last year. Well now, Jennifer Wilbanks is suing her ex-fiance for $500,000, asking for what she says is her share of a home her ex bought with money from selling their story. She's also seeking punitive damages. That one, Anderson, I'm sure, we'll be following for a little while.
COOPER: Let's hope not. Erica, thanks.
Thousands of Americans fall victim every year. They're told they're winners. Instead they lose millions. The Canadian lottery scam you need to know about. We're keeping them honest, next on 360.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Well, imagine you just found out that you won thousands of dollars in a lottery. It is great news, but of course, there's a catch. And it is all a con that is costing thousands of Americans millions of dollars every year. The Canadian lottery scam. Tonight, we are keeping them honest.
CNN's Randi Kaye investigates.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Brandi Walstrom, pregnant with her third child, was delighted to open a letter from Canada a few weeks ago.
BRANDI WALSTROM, FRAUD VICTIM: I couldn't believe it. I was like, there's a check in the mail for $4,000, oh my goodness! I'm like, we can go pay bills and stuff.
KAYE: And there was more to come.
WALSTROM: Whooo!
KAYE: The letter said she had won $100,000 in a lottery. First, she had to call a phone number, somewhere near Toronto. Walstrom was told to deposit her check.
WALSTROM: It looked almost like a paycheck.
KAYE: And then wire money to pay Canadian taxes. Never mind she didn't remember entering a lottery in Canada.
WALSTROM: But then again, it was like three years ago. So I don't remember my left foot from three years ago, basically.
KAYE (on camera): The Colorado wife put the check in her bank account and wired $2,500 to Canada.
WALSTROM: No, no, no.
KAYE (voice-over): The next day she learned the check was counterfeit.
WALSTROM: No. I was freaking out. Oh, I was freaking out because I had gotten -- I was like what do you mean it bounced?
KAYE: It's a scam. Canadian conmen tricking Americans into cashing bad checks for them and sending back the money, tens of millions of dollars every year.
We went looking for the address on the letter Brandi Walstrom got. It's somebody's house here, behind this cemetery in north Toronto.
DET. GARY BRENNAN, TORONTO POLICE: So these people just pick an address out from anywhere.
KAYE: The phone number she called can't be traced. It's a prepaid cell phone.
BRENNAN: Once you look back into who actually owns the phone, it's a ghost, it's a shadow, there's nothing's there.
KAYE: What are the chances of ever finding who's behind the scam?
BRENNAN: It's like nailing Jell-o to a wall. Every time you hit it, it moves.
KAYE: Brandi Walstrom is left owing her bank the lost money.
WALSTROM: I have to pinch pennies just to buy diapers for my son, food. It all goes to them. And my husband goes without lunch because we have to pay this back.
KAYE (on camera): Have you beaten yourself up about this?
WALSTROM: Oh yes. I feel really, really stupid. Because I'm like ashamed to tell people what happened.
KAYE (voice-over): She's not alone.
LAUREEN FRANCE, FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION: You know, these are sweepstakes and lottery scams.
KAYE: This box is full of mailings to just one person. Americans do report $30 million lost to these scams each year. But investigators say, that's only a fraction of the real total lost.
FRANCE: It can easily be 10 times that, easily.
KAYE: That would be $300 million, each of the last three years.
(On camera): So given that, is this a billion dollar business for these people?
BRENNAN: Close to it, yes.
KAYE: A billion dollars?
BRENNAN: Yes.
KAYE (voice-over): Until now, the conmen have been using make lottery names. But see this? The Ontario lottery is real. And crooks are using its letter head. The checks are getting better. This is written on a real bank account with real signatures. Someone stole an original check and cloned it.
FRANCE: And it's easy these days. If you've got, you know, a good computer and a scanner and know a little bit about how these things work, it's not hard to create a counterfeit check that will pass muster.
KAYE: The check Brandi Walstrom got had the address of an escrow firm here in Baltimore. The manager told us one old check was copied and used to scam people out of $700,000 in two months.
(On camera): Two things to help you tell when these letters are fake. In Canada, there are no Canadian taxes to pay on lottery winnings or any other fees. And if you win big, you have to collect in person, here in Canada.
For Brandi Walstrom, an expensive lesson.
WALSTROM: It's going to hurt forever until we get caught up.
KAYE: Randi Kaye, CNN, Toronto.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Well coming up, a far different kind of story. One wears jumpsuits, another goes for the military look. Those wacky rogue leaders and the clothes they wear. What are they thinking? We'll have a look at the fashion emergencies for some heads of state, next on 360.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: A little fun now with some serious people. They can rule with iron fists. Some have limitless amounts of power. But while tyrants like Kim Jong-il make news for what they say and do, we can't help but notice the kind of statements they make with what they're wearing.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER (voice-over): For some leaders fear may always be in style. A good fashion sense, however, is not. And in a world where image is everything, maybe it's time these strongmen were given a makeover.
Let's start with North Korea's Kim Jong-il. This international man of mystery is seldom seen without his jumpsuit, oversized glasses and pompadour. The ensemble isn't exactly flattering. Maybe that's the point.
PATRICK HUGHES, PARSON'S SCHOOL OF DESIGN: It is a, very much a cohesion of ideology that says, form follows power. A form of dress that needs no form of communication in a way, that you immediately know this is the person in charge.
COOPER: The dear leader isn't the only dear leader who likes the simple look. Take Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. He's prone to wearing light colored windbreakers that bring back memories of members only jackets. Remember them?
But for others, nothing says power quite like a uniform. Fidel Castro has been in army fatigues for decades. But recently he was pictured in a snazzy jogging outfit, though not many of us dress up in the hospital.
And while he was ruling Chile, Augusto Pinochet would also wear military garb, usually with a sash and a lot of medals.
Uganda's Idi Amin did the same. So did Manuel Noriega. When the U.S. caught up with him for this mug shot, the toppled Panamanian president could only manage a t- shirt.
Before he was overthrown, Saddam Hussein liked the military look. However, Hussein's style has changed. He now wears a beard at trial and sports sleek, dark suits.
HUGHES: So there is this very interesting sort of corporate almost message that is coming from Saddam. That maybe in a certain sort of way may communicate I represent a time of order.
COOPER: Then there's the eclectic totalitarian, like Omar Khadafi. With his lavish robes and loud colors, Libya's longtime colonel in charge knows how to get attention.
As for the future, maybe Kim Jong-il will start a trend, saying good-bye to the old and letting the spring collections dictate what's hot in some world capitals.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Somehow I don't think so. Thanks for watching 360. I'll see you tomorrow night.
"LARRY KING" is next.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
