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Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees
Sex & Murder; Record Oil Prices; Doctor Clams Up; America Votes 2008: Who's Ahead; Fallen Prophet
Aired November 20, 2007 - 23:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JOHN KING, CNN ANCHOR: Plus, Donda West and her plastic surgeon's remarkable appearance and disappearance a bit earlier tonight on "LARRY KING LIVE."
Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "LARRY KING LIVE")
LARRY KING, HOST, "LARRY KING LIVE": Don't you want to speak out?
DR. JAN ADAMS, PLASTIC SURGEON: No.
KING: You don't want to?
ADAMS: No. I do not.
L. KING: All right. But you came here to speak out.
ADAMS: That's correct. But I'm going to honor their wishes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
J. KING: A doctor in a tough spot. We will dig deeper into why.
All that, plus holiday pain and the pump and on the road.
We begin, though, with new developments, the release of a key suspect tonight in the case of Amanda Knox. She's a college student from Seattle behind bars in the Italian town of Perugia. She got there, police say, after spending a night in a cloud of hashish smoke, a tangle of would-be sex partners, a flurry of violence, and ultimately a sea of blood.
More on how they think it all went down from CNN's Jennifer Eccleston.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JENNIFER ECCLESTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Amanda Knox's MySpace page tells of her love of things Italian. Italian police tell a depraved tale of sex, drugs, brutality, and murder inside an apartment just north of Rome. Two conflicting pictures of the exchange student from Seattle.
ANTONELLA NEGRI, TEACHER OF AMANDA KNOX: I changed my mind. I thought maybe she has two lives.
ECCLESTON: That's one of Knox's teachers, Antonella Negri. She says the American was a good student and well liked. But there was a darker side to her, one that came out on her blog, where she posed with a machine gun and called herself Foxy Knoxy, one that police say led to a night of debauchery and then her roommate's murder.
(on camera): On November 2 at this quaint hillside villa, just steps away from the university where both students attended, Meredith Kercher's lifeless body was found half-naked lying in a pool of blood with a stab wound on her neck.
(voice-over): A judge's report found she died fighting off a sexual assault involving not only her American roommate, but Amanda Knox's Italian boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, and Patrick Lumumba, a bar owner from the Congo.
The report said Knox and Sollecito had smoked hash that evening, then went to her house in search of Kercher and a new sexual experience. The judge said Lumumba was there, too, seeking Knox's help in persuading Kercher to have sex with him. But Kercher fought back and died trying.
Amanda Knox told police Lumumba had killed Kercher. And then she told her mother she wasn't even there. Lumumba says he wasn't either. He's been released for now for lack of evidence. Knox, Lumumba, and Sollecito all maintain their innocence. Now a fourth suspect has emerged.
RUDY HERMANN GUEDE, AFRICAN IMMIGRANT: Count Dracula.
ECCLESTON: He is Rudy Hermann Guede, an African immigrant, joking here in a YouTube video posted nine months ago. Police say they found traces of Guede's DNA, as well as a bloody fingerprint, at the murder scene. He's in custody in Germany awaiting extradition.
Every twist in this bizarre case has captivated the European media.
BEPPE SEVERGNINI, COLUMNIST: It's a perfect plot for the perfect murder story. The sad and dramatic thing, this is not a murder story out of a book. It really happened.
ECCLESTON: When Amanda Knox blogged a few weeks ago, she said she was in one of her happiest places in life. She was. And her roommate was alive.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
J. KING: And Jennifer Eccleston joins us now from Rome.
Jennifer, a bizarre case with so many twists and turns. Let's start with the latest one. The fourth suspect, Rudy Hermann Guede, sounds like some pretty damning evidence against him, no?
ECCLESTON (on camera): Absolutely. Police say they matched a bloody fingerprint on a pillow that was found underneath Meredith Kercher's body to his prints that were already on file. He has a criminal record here in Italy. And they say they also found his feces in the bathroom in the apartment of Amanda Kercher (sic) and Meredith Cox (sic). They say this DNA evidence puts Guede firmly at the scene of the crime that night.
J. KING: And that other suspect you mentioned, Patrick Lumumba, also in the headlines today, his release from jail. Under new Italian law, they could hold a suspect for up to a year without formal charges. So, why let him out?
ECCLESTON: Yes.
Police also say they lacked forensic evidence to keep him in jail. But he is still, John, very much a suspect. As you mentioned, suspects in criminal cases in Italy can be held in jail for up to a year while the investigation continues without formal charges being lodged.
But they are subject to review. The defense can say to the prosecution we need to see the evidence you have to continue to keep our client in prison. They did that this week. And the prosecution just didn't have enough to keep him there.
J. KING: And, as you noted in your report there, Amanda Knox's story seems to be changing or evolving, especially about where she was on the night in question. What do the people in Perugia think of her story?
ECCLESTON: I think they were willing to give her the benefit of the doubt in the beginning.
But the fact that she's changed that story now several times is very much working against her. She claims in one of the versions to have actually been in the apartment in the villa and heard the screams of a dying Meredith Kercher. And that didn't help her one iota here.
She's being portrayed as being cold-hearted, as emotionless. And people here say they simply do not empathize with her at all. So, it's not a favorable impression of the American.
J. KING: And, Jennifer, you say students there are scared, but not for the reasons you would think. How so?
ECCLESTON: Well, those students that actually wanted to speak to us, it was very hard to get any American student to go on record, to go on camera.
And the reason was pretty simple. They didn't want to give the wrong impression of their experience, their otherwise wonderful experience in this beautiful Italian town, they didn't want to give that wrong impression to their parents, because they feared very much that their parents would think it was too dangerous and would force them to come home. They said they had a few friends that that had happened to, and that they didn't want to give that impression that they weren't getting a good education and that their lives were in jeopardy; that certainly wasn't the case. And they wanted to stay there and finish out their semester or their year -- John.
J. KING: Jennifer Eccleston in Rome for us, tracking a sad and fascinating crime story -- Jennifer, thank you very much.
And now the "Raw Data" on how Italy's murder rate compares to the United States'. In 2004, the most recent figures available, Italy recorded 714 murders. That's a rate of 1.23 killings per 100,000 Italians. By comparison, there was more than 16,000 murders in the United States, for a 5.5 per 100,000 Americans. In other words, the rate is about four-and-a-half times higher here than in Italy.
On now to another big mess on the road home for Thanksgiving, a big expensive mess when it comes to fill her up.
Handling the traffic and weather together, Chad Myers, dealing with soaring oil prices, Ali Velshi. What a pairing.
First, we'll go to Chad -- Chad.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: John, we still have 4,800 planes in the skies over the U.S. right now. That's a number where we probably should be this time of night, maybe 100 or so higher than we should be, because we still have a few delays out there, planes still trying to get in the air, still about 100 planes headed to Chicago, Chicago about an hour and 50 minute delay now. La Guardia delayed at an hour and 40, and also Newark at about an hour and 50 minutes.
So, some of these late flights still getting in, going to -- taking off a little bit late as well. But we're not getting this standstill, just can't move, can't get out of the airport kind of days like I have seen on Thanksgivings and Christmases in the past.
This is a Google map. You can go to Google.com, click on maps up on top. Then click on traffic. And you will be able to see the traffic in about 70 different cities. Here's L.A. If you're on the Santa Monica Freeway, heading from the PCH all the way to the east of the 405, you're going eight miles per hour right now, 8.8 on the traffic.com jam factor.
Something else that happened earlier today around Baltimore, and if you were watching CNN earlier, you saw these pictures, very scary pictures. I want to update you on this. This was the I-95 southbound to about the beltway. Just as you are just getting into the northern fringes of Baltimore, the freeway backed up for three hours -- three hours here on the I-95 stopped because of a fire.
Believe it or not, though, with all that flame and all that fire, two tractor-trailers and two other cars involved, no one injured, but a lot of frayed nerves trying to get from north or southbound there on the I-95 just north of Baltimore. The good news is at least everybody walked away from that mess. You're going to walk away from this mess, too. It's just going to take you some time, because L.A. right now -- if you have somebody coming to town, they're going be late -- John.
J. KING: Chad Myers keeping track of all of it for us, Chad, thanks so much.
MYERS: You're welcome.
J. KING: So, oil hit another high today, flirting with the $100 a barrel mark. That's the big number, but chances are you're more concerned with another one, how much it will cost at the pump this year and a bit farther down the road.
CNN's market watcher extraordinaire Ali Velshi is crunching the numbers for us and joins us now.
So, millions of Americans hitting the roads. Oil is getting up $100 a barrel. What does it mean at the price at the pump? Gas going up by the time you wake up tomorrow?
ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely.
More than 30 million people are hitting the road tomorrow to go home, to go somewhere for Thanksgiving. They're going more than 50 miles. Now, we have seen gas prices go up. Right now we're looking at $3.09 a gallon on average across the United States. But if you're in California, where Chad was just showing you, you're paying upwards of $3.40.
We know those prices are going up. The highest price we have paid for a gallon of gasoline was back in May, national average of $3.23. We already know that, surpassing that number. But, tomorrow, when all those people are on the road, you can expect that there's no better excuse for a gas station to raise their rates than that. There are going to be lineups at gas stations, and you're going to see those prices go up.
So, I don't know what you can do about it. You can wait until this show is over and then go fill up the tank tonight and maybe beat the gas station attendant. But you're absolutely going to feel this in your pump within 24 hours.
J. KING: Not so optimistic. Let's pitch it down a little beyond 24 hours. Gas already up a whopping 86 cents from last year. Where we going?
VELSHI: This is not supposed to be the time of year when gas prices are at records. We're supposed to get that in spring. So, if you take history, it goes higher by the time we get to spring and enter the summer driving season. So, this is a very worrisome development.
Nobody really thinks gas should be -- oil should be at 100 bucks a barrel. So, nobody thinks gas should be around $3.10 or $3.15. But it's here right now. And if nothing changes -- you know, the price of gas is based on what oil costs and supply and demand. Oil is high and demand is very high right now. So, there's no recipe for relief in the price of gasoline right now.
J. KING: Break out the bicycle.
VELSHI: No kidding. I know you're visiting from out of town. Maybe we will get to keep you a little longer.
J. KING: I'm going to walk back to Washington.
Ali Velshi, thanks so much for joining us tonight.
And just ahead, Larry King joins us with his take on Dr. Adams' walkout tonight, a remarkable moment on "LARRY KING LIVE."
And later, a different kind of polling number, the kind that can stop even a front-runner like Hillary Clinton cold. As we will show you, it's all about one word: trust.
Plus, a congressional quitter, honest.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
J. KING (voice-over): He could have kept the job for as long as he wanted it. So, why this?
REP. DENNIS HASTERT (R), ILLINOIS: The time has come for me to make my last speech from this podium.
J. KING: Why is one of the most powerful men in Washington stepping down early? And what is it costing taxpayers to replace him? We're "Keeping them Honest."
Later, Kanye West's mom laid to rest. Her plastic surgeon on "LARRY KING LIVE," then off "LARRY KING LIVE."
L. KING: All right. I thought you came here to speak out.
ADAMS: That's correct. But I'm going to honor their wishes.
J. KING: What happened and what's at stake -- only on 360.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
J. KING (on camera): Donda West, the mother of rapper Kanye West, was laid to rest today in her hometown, Oklahoma City. She died last week, shortly after having cosmetic surgery.
The official cause of death won't be made until the toxicology tests are completed. But the Los Angeles coroner has said that she apparently died from surgical complications.
Tonight, on "LARRY KING LIVE" -- and you will hear Larry tell it himself shortly -- the surgeon who operated on West was supposed to give his first on-camera interview since her death. That's what Dr. Jan Adams agreed to, anyway. But when he got to the studio, he changed his mind, saying that Donda West's family had served him with cease-and-desist order.
Larry's take next.
First, let's take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "LARRY KING LIVE")
L. KING: And we now welcome to "LARRY KING LIVE" Dr. Jan Adams, the plastic surgeon who performed plastic surgery on the late Donda West.
And I understand you want to say something.
ADAMS: Yes, Larry.
What I really want to say is, I want to thank you for this opportunity. Basically, I had come here to talk about things in the press that aren't accurate about me.
But I have a tremendous amount of love and respect for the West family. And they have asked me not to go on. And I have said from the very beginning I don't have a side in this. They are my side.
And so, I'm going to respect their wishes. And I'm going to apologize to you, because I think I'm taking up your airtime, but I will not be on the show and I will not discuss any of that. I'm going to honor their wishes, OK?
L. KING: Meaning you won't answer any questions about anything?
ADAMS: None. None.
L. KING: All right. Then how will -- will you ever answer questions? I mean, what -- where does this go?
ADAMS: Well, I will talk with them.
L. KING: I'm not mentioning Mrs. West.
ADAMS: I will talk with them. When they're comfortable, then I will be comfortable. If they're never comfortable, then I will never be comfortable. They are what's important to me. I said that from the start. And that's what I will continue to honor.
L. KING: Then just a few things having to nothing to do with them.
Don't you want to speak out?
ADAMS: No.
KING: You don't want to?
ADAMS: No. I do not.
L. KING: All right. But you came here to speak out.
ADAMS: That's correct. But I'm going to honor their wishes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
J. KING: It would take us until Christmas or beyond to list Larry King's achievements, but that was a first. In 50 years of broadcasting, he's never had a guest agree to go on the show, then change his mind while on the set.
Larry joins me now.
Larry, a remarkable moment. What goes through your mind when you see your guest suddenly deciding, I'm leaving?
LARRY KING, HOST OF "LARRY KING": Well, I knew there was trouble, John, because about eight minutes before the show, he called me aside. I got off the set.
And he said, listen, I got this letter from the family. I'm here with my lawyer and we're deciding what to do.
And then I said, I got to go on.
So, I went on. We had a panel of journalists. And then they told me, he's going on. I said, whoopee. He's going on. OK. So, we lost eight minutes with the journalists. And they were very informative.
And then he sat down, and you saw the rest.
J. KING: So, this came at the last minute, the warning from the family?
L. KING: Very last minute. Now, he got that letter apparently late today. He got a fax, he said, sent to him at CNN.
We didn't know what it was about. A cease-and-desist order, a family can't issue a cease-and-desist order. They can request, please don't talk.
And I don't know why he wouldn't talk about things other than Donda West. In other words, he could have talked about the DUIs and the accusations and malpractice suits, which, to me, would have resolved a lot of things, as he said.
So, in honoring their wishes, I'm not sure that their wishes were to not talk about anything. It was kind of weird. And then the whole -- the whole show got -- and then we have criminal lawyers calling in, executive producer calling in. My -- Sanjay Gupta came on. And he added a lot, I think, of information.
But it was some hour. J. KING: But did you get a sense when you had his lawyer on, that that's their worry, that -- that they're worried about where this case could go, whether the family might be looking at legal options against him, and he's just decided...
L. KING: You know, John, I didn't get any sense from the lawyer. He's a civil lawyer.
It felt like it was the first time ever on television. And Dr. Adams wanted him to go on. And so he went on. He was uncomfortable, I felt. I mean, he answered the questions as best he could.
It's not against the law for a doctor to talk about a patient. It may be against the common practice, not against the law. So, he could have talked about anything. So, I think that civil attorney was in difficult territories. It was a weird show.
J. KING: Well, take me -- take me behind the curtain, if you will.
What goes through your mind when you're sitting there, you start this conversation, and all of a sudden, your guest starts getting up and ripping out his piece? And, yet, you were cool as a cucumber. Well, how about if we talk about this? How about if we talk about that?
(CROSSTALK)
L. KING: I think that's just experience.
All you can do -- as you know, as a great broadcaster, all you can do is all you can do. The only way you can act is the only way you can act. You do the best you can in the circumstances.
It ain't -- I used to say, nothing has ever happened before that hasn't happened before. In other words, I have had everything happen to me in 50 years, except that.
L. KING: I have had fires in the studio. I have had people fight. I have had people hit each other on the set running for mayor of Miami Beach, punch each other.
But I have never had a guest rip off the mike and walk -- and remain friendly. He stayed until the end. He was there at the end of the show. He was very friendly to me. He took out -- he said he was taking my producer to dinner because she had gone through so much over this.
J. KING: You were gracious enough to say you would come back from a scheduled vacation tomorrow, if he talks to the West family and they would let him come back.
L. KING: Yes.
J. KING: When -- before the show, when you got wind that there could be trouble, obviously, you're trying to negotiate with him, say, hey, you know, your name is being dragged through the mud.
L. KING: But I didn't have time.
What happened was, it's seven minutes to 9:00.
J. KING: Right.
L. KING: And then there was there was a little more minutes to 9:00. Then it was three minutes to 9:00. And, suddenly, they're saying, you got to get on.
And I ran down, and I didn't know who the guests were that were sitting there.
You know what I mean? They had to tell me, this is the lady from "People" magazine. This is the girl from "AMERICAN MORNING." And we had two different guests in Los Angeles. It was really television on the fly.
J. KING: Easier to do on radio, right?
L. KING: Easier to do on radio, you bet.
J. KING: Larry King, it's -- there are surprises in live television, but you handled that one as well as it can be done.
L. KING: Thank you, John. I appreciate your comments. Thank you.
J. KING: Thank you, Larry. You have a happy Thanksgiving.
L. KING: You, too.
J. KING: And -- well, maybe you will be back at work tomorrow night.
L. KING: I may be.
J. KING: If so, we will be watching.
L. KING: I may be. One never knows.
J. KING: We will check in to see. Larry, thank you so much.
Up next, we will dig deeper into what voters really think about Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and the issue of trust.
Also ahead, "What Were They Thinking?" This isn't a Halloween photo and those aren't toy guns. Wait until you hear just who is doing the posing -- when 360 continues.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
J. KING: A feisty day on the campaign trail today, including back and forth between Senators Obama and Clinton. They are of course neck and neck in Iowa. In New Hampshire, some new polling tonight showing Senator Obama narrowing the gap among likely voters, with John Edwards gaining about an inch of ground since September. New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, on the other hand, doubling his support in New Hampshire since then. But that's only part of the picture. There's another piece of data, and it could explain a lot, including why Senator Clinton is playing tougher lately, and perhaps more.
Here to talk about it, David Gergen, adviser to presidents, including Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton. Also with us, former Bill Clinton campaign strategist Hank Sheinkopf.
Gentlemen, I want to start with this dust-up over who has the most experience or the best experience to lead the country in foreign policy. Obama started this, I guess you could say, by saying that his four years overseas when he was age 6 to 10 were the best experience he could think of to make him president of the United States.
Well, Senator Clinton decided today to jump in on that one. And Obama fired back. Let's listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON (D-NY), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: With all due respect, I don't think living in a foreign country between the ages of 6 and 10 is foreign policy experience. I think having the firsthand experience with so many leaders that I have had over the last 15 years equips me to be a president who can start on day one.
SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D-IL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: She went on to make up the point, as some of the Republicans have made, that she's made -- she's met with all these world leaders. And I was wondering which world leader told her to -- that we needed to invade Iraq, because that's not -- that is the conventional thinking that we're going to have to break.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
J. KING: David Gergen, call a strategist in any campaign, they will say Obama saying his living overseas when he was 6, 7, 8, and 9, and 10 prepares him to be president, probably not the smartest thing to say.
But for Senator Clinton to seize on it and whack back would also be a sign that maybe she's a little worried.
DAVID GERGEN, FORMER PRESIDENTIAL ADVISER: Well, I think that's right, John. And I'm surprised she's taking the bait on this.
She's increasingly getting into these one-on-one arguments with Senator Obama. And she's elevating him as -- and making this a two- person race. I don't think that's in her best interests. I'm surprised. And you have got to give credit to Senator Obama. He has been outmaneuvered by her in the debates.
But here in the post-debate and the pre-debate, you know, when they're out in the open field, he's outmaneuvering her sometimes. And he's scoring points doing it.
I do think this, that living overseas obviously when you're 10 does not give you foreign policy experience. But it does give you something I think that is special. I think one of the things that is at the foundation of his campaign is, when you live over in other countries for a while and have come from the kind of diverse background he does, you do get an instinctive understanding for other people's perspectives, non-American perspectives.
You have an empathic ear, if you would, for the views of other nations. And that is something that has been lacking in the White House. And I think it certainly has to be considered by voters.
J. KING: Hank, why at this particular moment does Hillary Clinton want to pick this fight?
HANK SHEINKOPF, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: This is pure politics. When you're in the front, you tend to get tomatoes tossed at you. That's what happened to her.
She's got to fire back. She's got to hold her ground. And she has got to prove, frankly, that Obama just does not have the experience to be in the White House. That reverses the argument, because he's on the move and she's kind of stalling.
J. KING: I want to look deeper into the polling we have seen in recent days. They show that dead heat, Obama slightly ahead in Iowa, Senator Clinton still ahead by double digits, but her lead shrinking a bit, in New Hampshire. I want to look beneath it, though, at what I say are some fascinating numbers. And let's look at these.
In our CNN/WMUR poll in New Hampshire, which candidate is most honest and trustworthy? Obama scores the best on that one with 27 percent. Senator Clinton way down in fourth place -- 13 percent in New Hampshire view her as most honest and trustworthy.
And let's cross over to Iowa, a "Washington Post"/ABC News poll. And the numbers are strikingly similar. Obama, 31 percent say he is most honest and trustworthy, Senator Clinton coming in at 15 percent. So, Obama beats her two to one on the issue of who is most honest and most trustworthy.
David Gergen, what does that tell you?
GERGEN: I tell you, that's -- that is starting to expose a vulnerability on Mrs. Clinton's part that she cannot let open up very much more.
Those who know her -- I know her -- Hank knows her -- others know her -- know that, at her core, her values are strong. She is principled. But she does have a tendency, on the stump, to sound as if she's trimming her sentences, she's trimming what she is saying to please the particular audience, and being very vague about what she would actually do.
And I think Obama sounds like -- much more straightforward. And that is helping him. And he's tightened the race up a lot in Iowa, as we said last night. He's actually ahead a little bit in Iowa now. And her lead in New Hampshire, in your own polls, is down -- he's -- she's down seven points from the last time you were in the field in New Hampshire.
J. KING: And, so, Hank, how does she deal with the trust issue, the character issue? Every Democrat in the country knows, or at least thinks they know Hillary Clinton. How does she turn that around?
SHEINKOPF: The problem is, too many people know too much about Senator Clinton. And the issue is somewhat different, I think.
Obama has got to make that which is new appear to be experienced, tried, true, tested, and trusted. And he's doing that as best as he can. Senator Clinton's job -- and this is hard, brass-knuckle politics -- is to stop him before he moves any further. And that's what is really going on here.
J. KING: But, Hank, let me follow up on that point. Does it hurt her, though, when the knock on her is that she's the calculated politician? If she's the one on the attack, do people say, well, there it is, another politician?
SHEINKOPF: Here's the problem. The problem is, we're holding her to a different standard.
What is American politics but combat? It's been that way since day one. And I don't need to remind people, or do I, about what Jefferson did to Hamilton is a good start at the beginning of this extraordinary nation.
We play tough. We have always played tough. Why is she being held to a different standard? That's not fair. She has no choice but to play tough. And, if she doesn't play tough and reduce trust down to experience, so there's a balance between her and Obama, this could be a very different race.
GERGEN: I just -- I honestly disagree with some of that, because I think she has to -- occasionally, she has to give a jab and jab back. But it has to be done with subtlety.
This is not what her campaign is mainly about is stopping Obama. Her campaign should be about some larger vision of what America is about. That is what she ought to be spelling out every day.
SHEINKOPF: I'm a tactician. And I'm -- I don't pretend to be a great thinker about this stuff. But I do know you got to stop the opponent before he overtakes you.
J. KING: Six weeks to Iowa, gentlemen. We're going to leave it there for tonight. But, with six weeks to go, and I think a lot of jabbing back and forth, I think we might have time to revisit this theme.
Hank Sheinkopf...
SHEINKOPF: Thank you.
J. KING: ... David Gergen, thank you very much.
GERGEN: Thank you.
J. KING: The Republican candidates face off next week, with Anderson presiding over the second CNN/YouTube debate. It happens next Wednesday, the 28th, 8:00 p.m., Eastern.
Still time to ask the candidates a question. Just go to CNN.com/YouTubedebates.
We're following a number of other developing stories tonight.
Erica Hill joins us with a 360 bulletin.
Hi, Erica.
ERICA HILL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: John, in Iraq, two coalition service members were killed and 12 others wounded in a helicopter crash near Baghdad. The military said initial reports indicate that crash was not the result of enemy fire.
And the Supreme Court setting the stage for a potentially explosive legal showdown leading up to next year's elections. The justices agreeing to decide whether the District of Columbia's ban on handgun ownership is constitutional. A federal appeals court has already ruled the handgun ban is unconstitutional. Critics say that D.C. ban violates the Second Amendment right to bear arms.
And holiday shoppers beware. A consumer advocate says dangerous toys still on the shelves, despite the recall of millions of them. The U.S. Public Interest Research Group points to such potentially deadly hazards as lead poisoning and small parts that kids might choke on.
John, this may be a good Christmas to buy books.
J. KING: Yes. Buy books or stay out of the toy aisle...
HILL: There you go.
J. KING: The stories, it's the domino effect of these stories just leave you shaking your head, saying, "When will this be over?"
HILL: I know. It's scary stuff. Crazy.
It may leave you going, "What Were They Thinking?", as might this next story. Check out these pictures.
Members of Hoboken, New Jersey's SWAT team partying with waitresses at a Hooters in Alabama. That's not really the big issue. It's the fact that these guys let the ladies pose, as you can see there, with their rifles, high-powered weaponry.
After that got out, Hoboken's police chief said the photos were embarrassing to the city. The SWAT team was disbanded.
But it didn't end there. Oh, no. There are more racy snapshots of the chief himself on the same trip, but taken in New Orleans with a woman who appears to be flashing, looking for some beads, apparently. Another one shows two women cozying up to the chief, if you will. Yes.
J. KING: And they say that's embarrassing. How do they define humiliating?
HILL: That's a segment for another day, my friend.
J. KING: We shall leave it there for now at that.
Now here's Kiran Chetry with what's coming up tomorrow on "AMERICAN MORNING."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KIRAN CHETRY, CO-HOST, "AMERICAN MORNING": Thanks, John.
Tomorrow, we bring you the most news in the morning, including crunch day for flier frustration. We sent our reporter, Ed Lavandera, on a cross-country adventure, trying to make it to New York by Thanksgiving. And tomorrow, he's live from the airport that has the dubious distinction of having the longest security lines. We're going to show you where, and we're also going to share your travel nightmares and adventures that you tell us about.
That's tomorrow on "AMERICAN MORNING." It all begins at 6 a.m., Eastern.
John, back to you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
J. KING: That Ed Lavandera gets all the holiday cheer.
Up next, will it be the final chapter or just the beginning? Sentencing day for the man who once called himself one of God's messengers. The jury called him guilty of facilitating rape.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
J. KING (voice-over): Prophet and loss. Polygamist leader Warren Jeffs learning his fate.
JAMES L. SHUMATE, FIFTH DISTRICT JUDGE: Five years to life at the Utah State Prison.
J. KING: What next for the polygamist sect, now that their leader is going away for a long, long time? Only on 360.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) J. KING: If Warren Jeffs was hoping for a miracle today, well, he didn't get one. A Utah judge slapped the self-proclaimed prophet and polygamist leader with the maximum sentence for his accomplice to rape conviction.
CNN's Gary Tuchman has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The man on the left side of the table on the lower left of your screen is a living prophet to his followers. But to the state of Utah, he is now a sentenced felon.
JAMES L. SHUMATE, FIFTH DISTRICT JUDGE: It is the sentence of the court that Mr. Warren Steed Jeffs serve five years to life at the Utah state prison.
TUCHMAN: Warren Jeffs, the leader of the largest polygamist sect in North America, received two consecutive sentences of five years to life for the two rape as an accomplice counts against him. It will be up to the Utah Board of Pardons exactly how long he'll be in prison, but seven years is average for this type of crime.
He did not testify during his trial, but on sentencing day, he was given an opportunity to talk.
SHUMATE: Is there anything you'd like to say on your own behalf, sir?
TUCHMAN: His voice almost inaudible, Jeffs said, "No, not right now."
Jeffs was convicted of the charges after arranging the marriage of 14-year-old Elissa Wall to her adult first cousin. Her testimony about her wedding during the trial and pretrial hearings was emotional.
ELISSA WALL, WITNESS: The entire time I was there, I was -- I was crying. And I just -- honestly just wanted to die because I was so scared.
TUCHMAN: Many girls in Jeffs' polygamist communities in several states in British Columbia are believed to have had marriages performed by him. But they were either unwilling or too scared to testify.
Elissa Wall, who's now 21, and whose family is still devote to Jeffs, told us testifying was difficult.
WALL: There was immense amounts of pressure.
TUCHMAN: Today the judge offered her $5,000 from a state victim reparation fund.
WALL: Thank you very much for bringing that to my attention and for offering that to me. But I do not seek restitution, nor would I accept it from him. My restitution is knowing that I spoke the truth.
TUCHMAN: Warren Jeffs himself told his brother in jail videotapes that were released to the news media that he was a wicked man.
WARREN JEFFS, CONVICTED OF ACCOMPLICE TO RAPE: I am not the prophet. I never was the prophet.
TUCHMAN: Jeffs' lawyers say he did renounce those words. Meanwhile, they still denounce the verdict.
WALTER BUGDEN, WARREN JEFFS' ATTORNEY: We don't believe that Mr. Jeffs should have been charged with this crime. We don't believe that marrying people and encouraging them to stay in a marriage makes you an accomplice to rape.
TUCHMAN: But marrying a 14-year-old didn't go over too well with the jury or this judge...
SHUMATE: Thank you everyone. We stand adjourned.
TUCHMAN: ... who gave him the maximum allowable sentence.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
J. KING: Gary Tuchman joins us now.
Gary, you've been tracking this case from the very beginning. What's next for Jeffs?
TUCHMAN (on camera): Well, Jeffs has been staying in a jail, John, that's very close to his headquarters compound in county jail. He'll now immediately be brought to the Utah state prison, which is in Draper, Utah, about 20 miles south of Salt Lake City.
But he's expected to only stay there a short time because the state of Arizona is also planning on putting Jeffs on trial. His headquarters community is a border community in Utah and Arizona. Arizona says it also has the goods. So within a few weeks, it's expected that he'll be transported to Kingman, Arizona, as the county seat in Mohave County. And then a trial will take place there.
One other thing, John. A lot of viewers asked me how many wives does Warren Jeffs have? And what's happening to his wives and his family? It's not exactly known how many wives he has. Even followers of the FLDS religion don't know for sure. Warren Jeffs may not know for sure, because the number is so large.
It's believed to be dozens, perhaps as many as 50 or 60. Lots of children. And it's not clear where those wives are right now. We do know some of the wives were married to his father, Rulon Jeffs, who was the prophet before Warren. He passed away.
And we do know at least some of the wives were in a safe house south of Denver. The reason we know that is because one of the FLDS followers was charged with guarding them in that safe house. Those wives, though, we don't know where they are right now.
J. KING: Fascinating stuff, Gary Tuchman. And we'll continue to track this as it moves on. Gary, thanks very much.
Up next, he's calling it quits. Former House Speaker Dennis Hastert, a true Washington heavyweight, leaving office and leaving a huge bill for the taxpayers. We're "Keeping Him Honest," when 360 continues.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
J. KING: He raised $5 million to win an eleventh term in Congress, landing 60 percent of the vote. With numbers like that, Dennis Hastert might have been looking at congressman for life.
But the former speaker of the House is stepping down from Capitol Hill just halfway through his term. Now here's another little detail that might concern the Illinois voters who elected him. Hastert is leaving a huge bill behind.
CNN's Drew Griffin is "Keeping them Honest."
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DREW GRIFFIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Last week...
REP. DENNIS HASTERT (R), ILLINOIS: Madam Speaker...
GRIFFIN: ... he made it official.
HASTERT: After 21 years of serving the people of Illinois in this House, the time has come for me to make my last speech from this podium.
GRIFFIN: That's 21 years, not 22. He's bailing out a year early. Is it his health? No.
HASTERT: Thanks for being here.
GRIFFIN: Is it a personal issue? No. By all accounts, it's his accounts, his own financial accounts. At 65, Dennis Hastert is worried about his future.
Even though he was a shoo-in to be reelected a year ago, he still raised a huge war chest -- $5 million. He gave most of it to help reelect other Republicans and keep majority control. But that didn't work. And now being a Republican in Congress is a lot less fun.
So game over for the former wrestling coach. Some are calling him out for unsportsmanlike conduct.
LEE HOFFER, HASTERT SUPPORTER: You campaign. You make a commitment to the public to serve your term. Unless there's an issue like health, I think you should complete your term.
GRIFFIN: The major newspaper in Hastert's district said the same thing in an editorial.
But Lisa Smith, who covers politics for the "Daily Herald," says Hastert is so loved in this heavily Republican district, there's not much he can't do, even quit.
LISA SMITH, "DAILY HERALD": I think people out here think, you know, he's been a public servant for so long, that if he wants to, you know, ride off into the sunset, he can do that.
GRIFFIN (on camera): But whoa! "Keeping them Honest," maybe the voters here will change their mind about that, right, when they see just how much Hastert's early retirement cantor will cost them.
Illinois will have to put on a special election just to fill the last few months of Hastert's term.
(voice-over): In Illinois, the counties foot the bill for voting, and CNN has been doing its own tally. There are seven counties in Hastert's district. And for each one to conduct a special election, the cost adds up to more than $1 million.
Jack Cunningham runs elections in Kane County. Sharon Holmes runs them in Dekalb. And the surprise resignation means -- surprise -- a huge bill.
SHARON HOLMES, DEKALB COUNTY CLERK: The minimum it would cost for my county would be $75,000. That's a conservative estimate.
GRIFFIN: Is that a lot of money for your county, for your new office?
HOLMES: Yes, it is.
GRIFFIN: Jack Cunningham's estimate for one special election in Kane County is somewhere between $360,000 to $500,000.
JACK CUNNINGHAM, KANE COUNTY CLERK: Counties are strapped, whether the people could know it or not. And we could best use this money for buying the election equipment to make elections more (UNINTELLIGIBLE). So this is definitely -- every cent we spend here could have been money that we use to put more voting booths in the precincts.
GRIFFIN: So what does Hastert have to say about all of this? Nothing, at least, not to us, despite repeated attempts to reach him. We even went to his district office in Octavia, Illinois, on Monday and were told the former speaker wasn't in. He's not only resigning early, but a staff member said he'd already begun his Thanksgiving holiday early.
Drew Griffin, CNN, Batavia, Illinois.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
J. KING: Up next, breaking news of sorts in "Raw Politics" involving Barack Obama and a major star. Also ahead, something no one wants to happen on the way to Grandma's house this Thanksgiving. It's our "Shot of the Day," next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
J. KING: Well, we know she can sell books. But can Oprah sell a presidential candidate? She's already raised millions for the Obama campaign. Now there's word she'll put her mouth at her feet, where that money is, stumping in Iowa and New Hampshire to get out the vote for her candidate.
And here's some more politics for you, "Raw Politics" with -- who else? -- Tom Foreman.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Rudy Giuliani is running for the border, trying to fight his way back up in the polls.
(voice-over): Down in Texas, he's pushing the idea of a high- tech virtual fence to catch border jumpers. He's got to do something. Mitt Romney is pounding him as having been too soft on illegal immigrants while mayor of New York.
Rudy says Romney had his own shortcomings on that front when he was governor of Massachusetts.
Don't blink. The U.S. Senate was gaveled into session for about two minutes, then gaveled right back out again. It was a technical maneuver by the Democrats to keep the White House from making any recess appointments during this holiday week.
Barack Obama tells some high school students using drugs and alcohol is a waste of time. He knows because he did it. The "Raw" read: don't be surprised. His frank talk has voters saying that he is much more trustworthy than Hillary Clinton. Maybe that's why her latest ad is all about trust.
Former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan has a tell-all book coming out. It will say that he was misled about how Valerie Plame's secret spy identity was leaked. Misled by Karl Rove, the vice president, and the president himself, among others.
And Mr. Bush has done the annual duty, pardoning a pair of gobblers from a date with the gravy. Their names, May and Flower. Better than the vice president's suggestions.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Lunch and dinner.
FOREMAN (on camera): Interestingly, many presidents have had barnyard pals while in office. Harrison kept a goat. Wilson had sheep on the South Lawn of the White House. Taft kept a cow, of all things.
But only one of them had a pet turkey. And that, strangely enough, is the same president who gave us Thanksgiving as a national holiday, old Honest Abe Lincoln -- John.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
J. KING: Coming up, the "Shot of the Day," a close call with nature. This isn't what a driver wants to see.
But first, Erica Hill, from "HEADLINE NEWS," joins us again with a "360 News and Business Bulletin."
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HILL: John, a potential big breakthrough in stem cell research to tell you about. Scientists here in the U.S. and in Japan have essentially reprogrammed skin cells to the equivalent of embryonic stem cells, which can turn into brain, heart and other tissues. Researchers say this will help them avoid the ethical, religious and political issues of producing human stem cells by cloning embryos.
But there is a catch. The new technique, we're warned, could carry the risk of those cells developing cancer.
The U.N. and World Health Organization say the number of AIDS cases this year has fallen dramatically. Nearly six million fewer cases. That's because, though, they admit some previous estimates were actually inflated.
And federal prosecutors want a judge to order suspended NFL Quarterback Michael Vick to set aside nearly $1 million. That money would cover the cost of caring for the 54 pit bulls found on his property when a dog-fighting operation was busted back in April.
Vick unexpectedly turned himself in yesterday to start his prison term on a dog-fighting charge, although he hasn't been formally sentenced. That's going to happen in three weeks.
Another big name in sports behind bars tonight. Former heavyweight champ Mike Tyson is at the Maricopa County Jail in Phoenix, wearing the jail-issued jumpsuit and what you can't see, the pink underwear. Tyson is serving a one-day sentence for a DUI conviction. A rather famous jail, that Maricopa County Jail, isn't it?
J. KING: I would say, number one, I'm glad we can't see the pink underwear.
HILL: Me, too.
J. KING: And number two, maybe he's in some rivalry with O.J.
HILL: Who knows?
J. KING: Stay right there. Time for our "Shot of the Day," what you might call the Deer Olympics.
That's a deer. Take a close look. A deer jumping over the hood of a car in Missouri. HILL: Oh, my gosh.
J. KING: Deputy's car, to be exact. The high-jumping deer caught on the dashboard cam. We're told the deer wasn't hurt. Look at that.
HILL: That's amazing.
J. KING: The driver was understandably a little surprised. That ever happen to you?
HILL: Yes. No -- no, it never did. But you know, where I grow up -- well, you're a New Englander. You know what this is like. You always had to be careful of deer on the roads. But thankfully, I never really came across one in front of my car. They can do a lot of damage.
J. KING: Believe it or not, you see them a lot of them in Washington, D.C., as well.
HILL: There you go. Yes, just running down there in front of the capital, popping by the White House for tea.
J. KING: That is a pretty agile deer, there. Erica, thanks very much.
HILL: Thanks, John.
J. KING: And a reminder, we want you to send us your "Shot" ideas. If you see some jumping deer or other great video, tell us all about it here at CNN.com/360.
Up next, gridlock nation on the roads and at the airport. Your feedback on the air travel road this holiday week. Wait until you hear how my flight went today. It's "On the Radar," when 360 continues.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
J. KING: Back to holiday travel. I know, Chad Myers laid it all out for us earlier in the program. It could be bad, even ugly. But I was lucky today. Catching a plane from Washington, here to New York. I arrived at the airport at 9:55 and got on the 10:30 flight, even time to spare. And we arrived at the Big Apple just an hour late. It could have been much worse.
I wrote about my travels on the 360 blog.
"On the Radar," Melissa of New Haven, Connecticut, writes: I read a headline the other day that pretty much summed it up for me. It read: Customers Dissatisfied, Airlines Profitable Anyway.
Stephen in Atlanta has a different take. He says: Call me crazy, but I actually enjoy a little downtime once in a while, so airline delays don't bother me. After all, when else am I going to find time to do nothing, or to read a book? Danette of Rockford, Illinois, writes: I hate delayed flights; I usually head to the bar. They should put more diversions in airports. How about a batting cage or bowling alley?
Amen. Not a bad idea, Danette.
While Audrey of St. Louis, Missouri, says: Wow -- 9:55 for a 10:30 flight -- living on the edge John!
Some days, Audrey, I am.
Share your thoughts by going to CNN.com/360 and link to the blog.
That does it for this edition of 360. I'm John King in for Anderson.
For our international viewers, "CNN TODAY" is next. Here in the States, "LARRY KING" is coming up.
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