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CNN Newsnight Aaron Brown

Judge In Kobe Bryant Case Has Decided To Unseal Some Court Documents; President Bush Unrolls Healthy Forest Initiative, Enviornmental Protests Ensue; Still No Motive In West Virginia Sniper Case

Aired August 21, 2003 - 22:00   ET

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

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


DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Good evening everyone. As Larry mentioned, Aaron is off tonight.
We begin in Eagle County where the judge there, Frederick Gannett, has a tough job. He, of course, the Colorado judge in the Kobe Bryant case. He has to strike an extremely delicate balance. There's the public right to know and the defendant's right to a fair trial.

Today, the judge issued a decision that went to the heart of those competing interests, whether to unseal the documents in the case. That is where the whip begins tonight and Gary Tuchman is on that from Eagle, Colorado, Gary our first headline of the night please.

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Daryn, the judge tells us it was an easy decision his decision to unseal some of the court files but don't expect to learn much when we get those files -- Daryn.

KAGAN: And we will hear from you in just a moment.

Now, though, to the Middle East and the continuing fallout after the suicide bombing in Jerusalem on Tuesday. Michael Holmes has the latest for us. He is using a videophone from Gaza, Michael a headline from you.

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Daryn, we find ourselves at a very grisly scene in Gaza City this day after being at an equally grisly scene, more grisly scene in West Jerusalem just two days ago. One thing led to another. The question now what next - Daryn?

KAGAN: Next for us is one of the most notorious figures from Saddam Hussein's regime. He is now in U.S. custody. Ben Wedeman has that tonight. Ben is in Baghdad with our next headline.

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Daryn, that figure is Ali Hassan al-Majid a member of Saddam's inner circle and known simply to most Iraqis as Chemical Ali.

KAGAN: Thanks to all you gentlemen.

Long lines and short tempers in Phoenix, Arizona, a city and its people desperate for gasoline. Ed Lavandera has the latest headline on that one for us - Ed.

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Daryn. Well, you might describe what's been going on in the Phoenix area this week as hunting season. With only about half of the gas stations in this area able to sell gas, drivers are on the hunt for fuel and that means we've seen some pretty amazing things this week - Daryn.

KAGAN: Looking forward to more from Phoenix, back with all of you in just a moment.

Also coming up tonight on NEWSNIGHT, the latest from West Virginia and that string of shootings. All three people killed in separate crimes but by the same gun.

The brightest light in Detroit during last week's blackout turns out to be the city's youngest mayor ever. We're going to have a chance to talk with Kwame Kilpatrick, known as Detroit's hip-hop mayor.

And, in the time what they call BHD, before Howard Dean, it was this Democratic candidate who had all the buzz, North Carolina Senator John Edwards, so how does it feel to be left back? Our Jeff Greenfield hit the road with the candidate in New Hampshire.

We're going to being the hour with the case of Kobe Bryant. The judge in the case has made it clear from the beginning that he would do everything he could to prevent this trial from becoming a bigger circus than it already is.

Today he made that clear once again allowing the release of some of what the media wanted but hardly enough to fuel a lot more screaming headlines. Let's go back to our Gary Tuchman who is in Eagle, Colorado, Gary good evening.

TUCHMAN: Daryn, hello to you.

And this is the 16-page order released by the judge and it does say that some of the files should be unsealed. Now, at first blush from a legal standpoint it sounds like the news media attorneys had a partial victory because they wanted the information unsealed. It also sounds like prosecutors and defense attorneys get a partial victory because they wanted information to stay sealed.

But from a realistic standpoint this is a significant defeat for the news media's attorneys because the news media's attorneys are getting information that is in the form of an arrest warrant; however, the arrest warrant only contains information that we already know and that you already know.

For example, it contains the date of the alleged crime. It contains the bond that Kobe Bryant got and it also contains the date of the arrest and very little else.

A hearing was held on July 31st where the judge heard from all the attorneys in this matter. What is not being released is the affidavits from the arrest warrant. The affidavits have information about the specific allegations the prosecution has against Kobe Bryant. The judge says for Kobe Bryant to get a fair trial that will not be released.

Now, the news media attorneys say they are "very disappointed in the judge's decision." They say the public has the right to know much of the information that is in the affidavits. They are saying they are considering whether to appeal or not. They are consulting with their clients before making that decision. Their clients include CNN.

We can tell you that we don't have the papers that have been unsealed in our hands yet because the judge says he won't release them for at least ten days to give everyone a chance to appeal. The prosecution is saying they're weighing a decision whether to appeal. Defense attorneys are not commenting on whether they will appeal.

Either way we will hear more information exactly seven weeks from today. October 9th is the date of the scheduled preliminary hearing when the prosecution will have to lay out some of that evidence that is currently sealed in order for the judge to determine if there is enough evidence, probable cause, to have a trial.

And finally, one related news note, very disturbing, a 22-year- old Iowa man has been arrested and charged with threatening the life of the alleged victim in the Kobe Bryant case. John William Roach was arrested in Iowa City.

FBI officials say he phoned the alleged victim, threatened to maim her, threatened to kill her. He will be arraigned in a federal court. He faces the possibility of up to five years in prison - Daryn.

KAGAN: Well, that is just so disappointing that it has come to that in Colorado and Iowa. Let's get back to this judge's decision now, Gary, just for a moment. When he made this announcement or the court made the announcement of what will be released did the judge give any reasoning behind what was being released and what wasn't or was it just simply said this is what you're going to get?

TUCHMAN: Well, that's why this is a defeat for the news media because he basically said I will release information that's sealed that you already know and, therefore, it can't harm Kobe Bryant's right to a fair trial. Information that I feel can harm his right to a fair trial I'm going to keep sealed.

But the news media attorneys stress there is much information in this affidavit that is public information that in no way will harm his right to a fair trial and that they believe the judge should give the jury system a little more credibility.

He thinks they should be -- the judge is saying that the fact is that the jury can handle hearing this information and the fact that it will all stay sealed is not particularly fair.

KAGAN: As you said, October 9th we will hear a lot more. Gary Tuchman in Eagle, Colorado thank you for that. We move on now to another judge. When we last heard from Judge Roy Moore, the Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court he was defiant. He stood firmly behind a statue of the Ten Commandments in his courthouse, never mind what a federal judge and the Supreme Court had to say about that. Well tonight, the judge is still defiant even after his own colleagues today joined the chorus saying enough already.

Here now is our David Mattingly.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's solid granite, two and a half tons in weight, and the heart of a mountain of impassioned controversy.

JUDGE ROY MOORE, CHIEF JUSTICE, ALABAMA SUPREME COURT: Let me assure you the fight to defend our constitutional rights to acknowledge God must and will continue.

MATTINGLY: Defying a federal deadline, Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore refused to give up his fight to keep his monument to the Ten Commandments on public display this after his fellow Supreme Court justices, all eight of them, ordered it removed by the building manager.

BILL PRYOR, ALABAMA ATTORNEY GENERAL: They have been faithful to the rule of law. The rule of law means that no person, including the chief justice of Alabama, is above the law.

MATTINGLY: Alabama Attorney General Bill Pryor, a recent Moore supporter praised the justices for their ruling hoping it will be enough to save the state from hefty federal fines. In the meantime, plaintiffs in the case say they will continue to push for contempt charges against Moore and his removal from the bench.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's really a disgrace to the bench and I think he's going to go down in history as one of the most shameful figures in Alabama politics.

MATTINGLY (on camera): Die hard Moore supporters continue their vigil locked outside the Justice Building keeping an eye on the monument now from a distance and wondering, as everyone is here, where and when the monument might be moved.

David Mattingly, CNN, Montgomery, Alabama.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: And Chief Justice Moore will have more to say. You can see him tomorrow morning on "AMERICAN MORNING." He'll be appearing at 8:30 a.m. Eastern time.

On now into the investigation into a string of shootings in West Virginia. Today brought word from the crime lab that the same weapon was used in all three shootings and now there are questions about a reported shooting last night. Could that one be a fourth?

The latest from Jeanne Meserve.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The first shooting of Gary Carrier, Jr. at a Charleston convenience store August 10 now officially linked with the other two by a ballistics report.

CHIEF JERRY PAULEY, CHARLESTON POLICE: It does positively link the three bullets together. They all three came from the same weapon.

MESERVE: That weapon a .22 caliber rifle. The motive is still a mystery. One theory has lost some luster. The probe of the Carrier shooting has turned up no drug link.

Meanwhile, law enforcement investigated whether there was a fourth shooting late Wednesday at a convenience store in nearby Dunbar. A 16-year-old girl told her mother and police a bullet whizzed by her.

SARA, VICTIM'S MOTHER: She said it hit the building and it went right by her head.

MESERVE: The girl also said she saw a maroon truck and other witnesses seem to corroborate her story. A short time later a short distance away a speeding dark truck was chased unsuccessfully by a sheriff's deputy. But after investigators searched the convenience store area it was unclear whether shots ever were fired.

CHIEF PHIL MORRIS, KANAWHA CO. SHERIFF'S DEPT.: Our crime lab people checked that building and checked the car that was setting there and the pumps and we could find where no bullet hit anything.

MESERVE: Investigators put out yet another animation of a dark Ford F-150 truck like the one they're looking for and Chief Pauley says a composite drawing is in the works of a man seen in the vicinity of one of the shootings.

(on camera): But residents near one of the shooting scenes have questions about the investigation. One man who lives only doors away and was home the night of the shooting says he has yet to be interviewed by investigators.

Jeanne Meserve, CNN, Charleston, West Virginia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: Still a lot more ahead on NEWSNIGHT.

The other shoe drops, Israel strikes back for Tuesday's deadly suicide bombing.

And still not enough gas in Arizona. The pump lines just keep getting longer and the tempers a lot shorter.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: There is news to talk about from the Middle East tonight. More violence today, growing pressure as well on Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas. Much of it comes from his own side. A headline today put it simply. It said, "Who's in Charge, Abbas or Hamas"?

After Israel's latest reprisal today it is a very good question. We get more now from Michael Holmes.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES (voice-over): Death on the streets of Gaza City, an Israeli response to a suicide bombing just days earlier. The day had started with some promises from the spokesman for the Palestinian Security Chief Mohammed Dahlan.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Eventually the two groups, Hamas and Islamic Jihad, will have a choice either to exist as political parties, purely political parties, or disappear.

HOLMES: A promise to crack down as Zanamiri (ph) said action would commence within a day or so against the military wings of Hamas and Islamic Jihad. Minutes later Israeli missiles strike. We were barely half a mile away and arrived at the scene within minutes.

Three, perhaps more, missiles from Apache helicopters crashing into a white station wagon, inside a senior Hamas official, Ishmail Abu Shanab. He and two bodyguards killed immediately in the burning wreck their bodies charred beyond recognition. Twelve bystanders injured, two critically, according to hospital spokesmen.

Abu Shanab who received a Master's degree in engineering from the University of Colorado was seen more as a politician than a militant, a moderate in the context of Hamas politics, someone who helped negotiate the Hamas ceasefire.

Israel argues there's no fundamental difference between members of Hamas' political and military wings. Both, they say, plan terror attacks on Israelis. At Shifa Hospital where Abu Shanab's body was taken, crowds chanted slogans criticizing the Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: And of course, Daryn, the ceasefire as it was is now well and truly over. Hamas, Islamic Jihad, the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade all pulling out of that ceasefire which was meant to run right through September and already there has been some action.

In Gaza, there were rockets and mortars fired into Israel and also into a settlement block (UNINTELLIGIBLE) just south of our position here in Gaza City. Now, also, there was a large demonstration here this evening, probably 10,000 people in bulk. Tomorrow will be the funeral for Ismail Abu Shanab. It's going to be a large funeral and it won't be just a funeral. We expect that it will be more than just mourning. It will be a big demonstration for Hamas and a show of strength by Hamas. There could be upwards of 100,000 people or more on the streets in a few hours at that funeral - Daryn.

KAGAN: And CNN will be covering that. Michael Holmes from Gaza thank you for that.

Let's get some perspective now from Stephen Cohen. He's the founder of the Institute of Middle East Peace and Development. He is close to many of the players in the region and an old friend of this program NEWSNIGHT and he is joining us from Cairo this evening and it's very early in the morning there. We appreciate you being up in the middle of the night with us, Mr. Cohen, thank you so much.

DR. STEPHEN COHEN, INSTITUTE FOR MIDDLE EAST PEACE AND DEVELOPMENT: It's good to be with you especially on these very difficult times when everything that was hoped for about the possibility of a renewal of Middle East peace talks is now very much in question.

And, the whole experiment on the United States working with the Palestinians to bring about the new Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas, Abu Mazen, that experiment is very much in question right now as Abu Mazen is under great challenge from both Palestinians and Israelis.

And, the question is can the situation as it has existed over the last few months continue or is there going to be some significant change in the political structure of Palestinian-Israeli relations and of Palestinian leadership?

KAGAN: Let's talk about what happened.

COHEN: This is a very difficult moment.

KAGAN: Absolutely and we have a very difficult delay with our discussion this evening so bear with me if I step on you a little bit.

I want to talk about what happened her on this particular day. The Palestinians said we needed a few days. We were about to go in and go in after some - pick up some of the militants, pick up some of the illegal weapons. We just needed some time. The Israelis said we gave you two days. We ran out of patience. We had to act.

COHEN: Well, I'm afraid that that distinction between the Israeli perspective and the Palestinian perspective is always what we're going to have in these situations because what had happened was that Israelis and Palestinians had finally this month started to talk seriously about the fact that the status quo they had in the last couple of months was simply not tenable.

It was simply not tenable for the Israelis that there was no significant diminution in the capacity of Hamas and Islamic Jihad to engage in these kinds of terrorist attacks and there was no significant diminution in the capability of the Palestinians to undermine fundamental Israeli security.

And, as long as that was the case there was great pressure on Abu Mazen and on his colleague and assistant Mohammed Dahlan to engage in some kind of serious attempt to arrest, apprehend, and otherwise halt activities of Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

KAGAN: Do we have a cup of water for you there? Mr. Cohen do we have a cup of water there for you in Cairo?

COHEN: I'm afraid we have the Nile River but I don't see a cup of water.

KAGAN: OK, are you OK with our one minute left or should we let you go?

COHEN: No, we're fine, we're fine.

KAGAN: OK, let me just ask you this one question in terms of where does...

COHEN: What I want to say to you...

KAGAN: ...Mahmoud Abbas go from here? It's as if he has to pick who he wants to be legitimate with? Does he want to be legitimate with the U.S. and Israel or does he want to be legitimate with his own people? He seems to be in a very difficult position as of tonight.

COHEN: There's no way, yes, but there's no way for Mahmoud Abbas to be legitimate with one of them and not with the other and maintain his position for any period of time.

He's going to have to find a way to be legitimate with both and that means that either he's going to have to find a way to engage Hamas in political participation in the leadership of the Palestinian Authority, which is something that he is very reluctant to do and Dahlan is very reluctant to do and therefore put them inside the tent and therefore take responsibility for the situation.

Or, he's going to have to confront them and in order to do that he's going to have to get Israeli cooperation so that in confronting them he is able to show the Palestinian people that confronting them is going to produce significant results for them of a kind that they haven't been able to get in a situation in which Hamas and Islamic Jihad were free to engage in the kinds of terrorist attacks that we've seen in the last few days.

KAGAN: Yes, well it is a very difficult...

COHEN: And that is the dilemma that...

KAGAN: Absolutely, a very, very difficult dilemma.

COHEN: ...I think that all three parties are going to have to face.

KAGAN: Yes, challenges that people up to this point...

COHEN: The United States, the Palestinians, and the Israelis.

KAGAN: Challenges that all the sides have not been able - I'm sorry, Mr. Cohen, we're going to lose our time here on the satellite. That's why I'm jumping in here.

I want to thank you for your time in Cairo. We will let you go and hopefully we'll be able to get you a cup of water there. Thank you for getting up. It's right in the middle of the night there in Cairo, Stephen Cohen joining us.

Coming up on NEWSNIGHT, supposedly killed by coalition bombs, now captured and in U.S. custody, where was Chemical Ali hiding? A live report from Baghdad coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: Well, if you remember back during the war when the man known as Chemical Ali was presumed dead in a coalition strike there was actually a certain amount of regret that he wasn't taken alive. Few were closer to Saddam Hussein and nearly no one had more knowledge about Iraqi weapons of mass destruction.

There would have been a lot to learn from him and now there is that chance once again because apparently Chemical Ali was not killed in the bombing last spring but he was captured this week and today the military shared that news.

Here's the story from Ben Wedeman.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WEDEMAN (voice-over): Brutality is his hallmark. Ali Hassan al- Majid was Saddam's cousin and seen as his ultimate hatchet man. He didn't hesitate to show his direct involvement in leading the suppression of the Shiite rebellion in southern Iraq after the first Gulf War.

In the last 1980s, he oversaw Saddam's war against the Kurds, a campaign that left more than 1,000 Kurds dead and drove many more from their homes. During the campaign Iraqi forces dropped poison gas on the Kurdish village of Halabja (ph) killing 5,000 people and earning him the nickname Chemical Ali. Two years later he became military governor of Kuwait after the Iraqi invasion. Now, American forces have him in custody, one of the most prominent members of Saddam's inner circle to be taken alive.

"Put him in a cage" this man told us. "People can pay a dollar to see a war criminal and the money can go to his victims."

This soft drink vendor's solution is much simpler. "Tear him limb from limb." Dropped by one of Baghdad's video disc shops and you can see footage of some of Ali Hassan al-Majid's exploits pulled from the rubble of the old regime including less violent scenes of Chemical Ali in the company of gypsy dancers.

For many Iraqis he came to symbolize how far the old regime would go to hold onto power and his capture, the final chapter in a career built upon brutality.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WEDEMAN: And the other main story here in Baghdad that is Tuesday's bombing of the U.N. Headquarters here in the Iraqi capital, the first claim of responsibility has come for that bombing that from the Armed Vanguard of Mohammed's Second Army, which sent a statement to the Al Aribiya Arabic satellite news channel -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Ben Wedeman in Baghdad thank you for the latest on that.

Well, it is fair to say that between Iraq and the Middle East roadmap President Bush has a lot on his plate. He also has domestic considerations as well, politics in addition to that.

Mr. Bush it turns out is in Oregon tonight. There was $1 million fundraiser and there also was a pretty big environmental protest there and questions about the Middle East, a lot to talk about.

For that let's bring in our Suzanne Malveaux who has a little bit on all of that tonight and we tracked her down in Oregon as well, Suzanne good evening.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, good evening Daryn.

President Bush making several stops in Oregon for fundraising as well as addressing his environmental policy. It was early in the day he flew over a national forest devastated by those wildfires.

The president took the opportunity to push for his healthy forest initiative. It's a plan to try to think out the underbrush and forest to prevent them from becoming vulnerable to wildfires. There are some environmental (UNINTELLIGIBLE) protesters we saw today who are against that plan. They say it only supports the logging industry.

Now, Daryn as you know, the president not only focused on the domestic policy but, of course, one of the biggest challenges to his foreign policy as well the impact of these twin terrorist attacks in Israel as well as Iraq.

Earlier today Secretary Powell met with U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan to talk about strategy. When it comes to Iraq there is a shift in U.S. policy, at least the way they see this.

Now the White House says that it is open to perhaps introducing another U.N. Security Council resolution that would give political cover to countries that have been reluctant to send in troops, to send in aid inside of Iraq but Secretary Powell also making it very clear that any type of peacekeeping force would remain under U.S. control.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COLIN POWELL, SECRETARY OF STATE: I think anybody making the contribution, a military contribution, sending their young men and women into harm's way want them to be under solid, responsible, competent military leadership of the kind that is being provided by the coalition and the military component of the coalition under General Abizaid's command.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX: So, Daryn, it has become quite apparent that the administration really is trying to reach out to these countries to get additional support inside of Iraq at a time, of course, when it is most dangerous and most difficult -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Well, speaking of reaching out in a dangerous situation what about what is happening in the Middle East between the Israelis and the Palestinians, any comment from the White House today on that situation?

MALVEAUX: Well, as a matter of fact, Secretary Powell came out and said that, yes, he wants Palestinian Leader Mahmoud Abbas to try to dismantle these terrorist organizations that that is critical. Abbas says that he needs, of course, the support of the Palestinian security forces and he needs that from Palestinian Leader Yasser Arafat.

Well, it is extraordinary and perhaps even ironic what has happened but today the one man that the administration tried to isolate and marginalize in the Middle East peace process is now taking center stage. Secretary Powell publicly asking for Arafat's assistance to hand over those Palestinian security forces.

Obviously, Daryn, you know what kind of situation they're in. They say that Arafat is an obstacle but perhaps now he can also be of some assistance, some help in moving this process forward -- Daryn.

MALVEAUX: Oh, no.

(LAUGHTER)

KAGAN: Yes, a little different scenery. Thank you for that report. Appreciate it.

MALVEAUX: Absolutely.

KAGAN: Still to come on NEWSNIGHT: He was a bright spot on a dark night, how one of the youngest mayors in the country led his city back into light.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: There is nothing like a crisis to create a true leader. Detroit's young mayor always had the style. But during last week's blackout, he proved that he had substance, too, to get his city through its darkest hours, literally its darkest hours.

More now from CNN's Jeff Flock.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEFF FLOCK, CNN CHICAGO BUREAU CHIEF (voice-over): Calm.

KWAME KILPATRICK (D), MAYOR OF DETROIT: Police headquarters is up.

FLOCK: Confident.

KILPATRICK: Parents, your children are fine!

FLOCK: Reassuring.

KILPATRICK: Detroit is the model of the nation. This was the calmest city out of all the cities.

FLOCK: No black eye in a blackout in Detroit. And some say it's thanks to the man they call the hip-hop mayor.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I thought he handled it very well.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He did a marvelous job.

FLOCK: Kwame Kilpatrick, Democrat, elected at 31 the youngest mayor in Detroit history, favors flashy suits, single diamond earring, and a well-thrown party.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He's a little...

FLOCK: Not everyone's idea a big-city mayor.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Street-wise.

FLOCK: Indeed, actor Chris Rock modeled his unlikely presidential candidate character in the movie "Head of State" after Kilpatrick.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "HEAD OF STATE")

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: Vote Mays Gilliam for president.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FLOCK: Like the movie character, those who know Kilpatrick say he's fun, hip, and not afraid to speak his mind.

(on camera): Is that how he really is?

LLOYD JACKSON, WJR: That's how he really is.

FLOCK (voice-over): Lloyd Jackson does a monthly ask-the-mayor radio show with Kilpatrick on WJR?

JACKSON: Yes, he's young, he's youthful. But it's that youthful exuberance that's making the city grow and move and go forward.

FLOCK: But just a few weeks ago, Kilpatrick was a little too young and flashy for some.

KILPATRICK: It never happened.

FLOCK: Defending himself against allegations he threw too wild a bash here at a mayoral mansion with naked women.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can we ask you a couple questions.

FLOCK: This Republican state attorney general investigated.

KILPATRICK: We need to move forward.

FLOCK: And said it amounted to little more than urban legend.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You're doing a great job!

FLOCK: Even his detractors agree he did that in the blackout. Kilpatrick had submitted the first big-city emergency plan to Washington after September 11.

(on camera): That meant that city services here were ready for disaster, like here at the 911 center, where they took more emergency calls in one eight-hour shift than they normally take in an entire day.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Is she conscious, breathing and alert?

FLOCK (voice-over): Emergency command up and running within 45 minute. There were fewer arrests than regular nights.

KILPATRICK: CNN and other outlets had banners going across that talked about potential looting in the city of Detroit. It was never going to happen.

FLOCK: Kilpatrick is married with three children and has a mother in Congress. Known for straight talk, he once begged off a live interview on CNN because he had to baby-sit and openly gave himself a failing grade on bringing people together.

(on camera): So why are you hard on yourself?

KILPATRICK: Because I'm a mayor.

FLOCK (voice-over): A mayor who just passed his big test with the best of grades.

I'm Jeff Flock, CNN, in Detroit.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: And from Detroit tonight, we have the mayor himself, Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick.

Mr. Mayor, thanks for being with us.

KILPATRICK: Hey, it's good to be here.

KAGAN: It was exactly one week ago right now. Your city was in the dark. New York City was in the dark. Much of the U.S. was in the dark. Any thoughts a week later?

KILPATRICK: My thoughts are, the city's up and running. We wanted to get the city up and running as fast as we possibly could.

As you said in your piece, we had our emergency operations center up and going in 45 minutes. Our police officers were out on the street, directing attention traffic in major discretions in 15 to 20 minutes after the blackout.

My thoughts, we had buses running. We were picking up trash. We never stopped the operational functions and processes in the city of Detroit. And my job is to keep that going, keep the lights on, keep the trash picked up, keep the city clean and keep children safe and seniors safe. And we did that even throughout the blackout.

KAGAN: And the citizens behaved, too. Let's not forget the everyday people who kicked into that.

Let's be honest, Mr. Mayor. America expected less of Detroit.

KILPATRICK: Yes.

We've had a 30-year, 40-year stigma attached to our town. We hadn't closed a hotel deal since 1987. We've closed seven in one year. We're building 4,400 houses. We have Major League Baseball All-Star Game, Super Bowl, Final Four. But still, people expect bad things to happen. We have a 30 percent, nearly 30 percent, drop in our homicide rate, double-digit decline in overall crime in the city of Detroit.

But the citizens here continue to step up and stand up to the mantle of leadership. I mean, 60,000 people came out for Motor City Makeover, which is a volunteer effort to clean up our city; 15,000 people came up for our after-school fair and signed up. There's so much dynamism in our city at this time. But we need to tell the rest of the world about it. That's why I am thankful to be on television right now.

KAGAN: Well, we appreciate having you here.

There's also a lot of conversation about you, Mr. Mayor. You are a colorful figure, let's say. There's the hip-hop image that we heard in Jeff Flock's piece. There's the earring. There's some people, even Johnnie Cochran, coming out and saying that he doesn't like the people you have around you, that you're giving too many jobs to friends and family and you need to clean up your entourage a little bit. What would you say to that criticism?

KILPATRICK: It was a bandwagon comment. I know Johnnie Cochran very well. He doesn't know anybody around me, not one single person. You don't close the amount of deals that we've closed with bad people around me. We have the best, I believe, the best Cabinet, the best directors and deputies that have ever been assembled in this city's history. All the different operational processes -- our buses are running on time for the first time in 30 years. Our parks are being cut every 10 days, 391 of them.

We had to negotiate 48 bargaining units, because all the contracts had expired when I walked into office. You don't have bad people around you and get all these things done.

(CROSSTALK)

KAGAN: Let me ask you this about since you have walked into office. Would you say at least -- and, of course, you do have political experience coming in here, but your first gig as mayor. Would you say you are learning as you go and you are getting better?

KILPATRICK: I think it's a little -- yes, absolutely. We are getting better every day.

I don't care how old you are or how much experience you have had. I was the leader of the statehouse. I was the youngest and first African-American ever to be elected to be leader of our statehouse in its 175-year history. My mother was elected to the statehouse when I was 8 years old. I was managing campaigns by the time I was 13. I'm not a political neophyte. I have been in this for 25 years. And I'm only 33 years old.

KAGAN: You're in the family business, safe to say.

KILPATRICK: This is the family business, public service.

Dr. King said, service is the rent we pay for the space we occupy. I truly believe that. Now, people talk me because they love doing it. I do try to look nice every day. I do wear a diamond earring. But, at the same time, I get things done. And this administration, the citizens of this city, are stepping up in tremendous ways. And we're ready for the world.

KAGAN: Well, congratulations for that. As you said, the world coming there. In 2006, you have the Super Bowl. If you can turn around the Detroit Lions, Mr. Mayor, you truly will have the magic touch.

(LAUGHTER)

KILPATRICK: Well, we got Steve Mariucci. Mooch is here. We're on the way.

KAGAN: That you do. Things are looking up.

KILPATRICK: Hey, thanks a lot.

KAGAN: Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick joining us from Detroit tonight, appreciate your time. Well, still to come on NEWSNIGHT: a check of the headlines making news across the globe and riding along on the road to the White House. Once a big favorite, now hidden in the shadows, what one candidate is doing to get votes.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: Let's check a few stories now from around the world.

We begin in Liberia with a new man in charge. Rebel factions and remaining government officials today agreed to name Gyude Bryant as the interim leader. Mr. Bryant is a businessman. He is said to be low-key. He said his job will be to heal his country's pain. And there is plenty of that. He'll take control in October when interim President Moses Blah steps down.

A large earthquake hit Southern New Zealand. It measured 7.1 on the Richter scale and lasted for close to half a minute. So far, no injuries are reported, but a number of buildings and power lines have been damaged.

And Canada's prime minister today promised to push ahead with legislation to legalize gay marriage, this despite concerns within his own party about their chances of winning reelection if a gay marriage law passes. Prime Minister Jean Chretien says that he recognizes the concerns, but says voters have bigger issues to consider, namely the economy, which he says is good.

And now to more stories from around the U.S. tonight, beginning with the California recall race and a key endorsement for the lieutenant governor, Cruz Bustamante. Bustamante picked up support from the state's 33 congressional Democrats. They were careful not to completely undercut Governor Gray Davis, but they were also pragmatic in backing Bustamante as the legitimate successor should the governor lose in the recall election.

And federal prosecutors announced indictments today in the 1996 incident where two civilian planes were shot down over the Florida Straits. A Cuban general and two fighter pilots were indicted. The four men aboard the planes were killed, but justice may be a long time in coming. The accused are in Cuba. And extradition is impossible, since, of course, there are no diplomatic relations existing between the U.S. and Cuba.

Ahead on NEWSNIGHT: running on empty in Arizona, still not enough gas, leaving people there fuming. We are going live to Phoenix just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: We want to check in now on Phoenix, Arizona. They are very short on gas there, a gas truck driver there telling a local paper he is actually being stalked. He says, as soon as he gets off the freeway, he has a trail of cars following him to the next gas station. Drivers there are drastically short on gas, patience running a little bit low as well. Let's get the latest now on any relief in sight. And Ed Lavandera has that for us from Phoenix tonight.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): John Afshar might as well be selling liquid gold. He started the day with 9,000 gallons of gasoline. And time is running out to buy it.

JOHN AFSHAR, GAS STATION OWNER: Right now, we have about 500 gallons.

LAVANDERA (on camera): Which will last you how long?

AFSHAR: Might be it's going to be -- the way it is, it might be half an hour or so. This one is out just a few minutes ago.

LAVANDERA (voice-over): Twelve hundred customers on this day, but not everyone will leave with a full tank.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just need a couple gallons so I can get home.

LAVANDERA: Sell gas and people will come in swarms. They've been pushing their cars. They've waited in long lines to pay more than $2 a gallon.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There's nothing I can really do. I just shut up and pump.

LAVANDERA (on camera): There are two pipelines that bring gas into the Phoenix area. One of those lines ruptured in late July, which has left about half of the gas stations in this city unable to sell gas. But the owners of that pipeline say it should be fixed by the end of this coming weekend.

(voice-over): To help relieve the gas shortage, more trucks are being used to haul in gasoline. And regulations have been eased temporarily, so that gas stations don't have to use a specially mandated blend of environmentally friendly gasoline. That's bringing more gas to the pumps and allowing more stations to reopen.

GOV. JANET NAPOLITANO (D), ARIZONA: Getting order out of chaos, we have taken a number of steps to increase the supply of gasoline in the valley. People are being really good about carpooling and watching their driving habits.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It won't work.

LAVANDERA: The gas shortage reached a fever pitch earlier this week. Someone cut the gas lines and siphoned gas from these child care busses. Tempers flared when some prices reached almost $4 a gallon.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How come the Union 76 station on 35th and Peoria is selling gas for $1.89 a gallon and you guys are asking $3.99? Same gas, same service stations. What's the difference? UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I've never had so much excitement pumping gas.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We get used to things just being normal and always running the way they do and smoothly. And then, when there is a disruption in service, we have such a zero tolerance for it.

AFSHAR: I am out of gasoline.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You are?

AFSHAR: OK, that's it. I have to close it and go home.

LAVANDERA (on camera): That's it?

AFSHAR: That's it.

LAVANDERA (voice-over): At John Afshar's gas station, the pumps have run dry. He'll hope for another gas delivery tomorrow, so he can reopen. But for those people running on empty, the lack of gasoline is fueling the fires of frustration.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They're all out of gas.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LAVANDERA: So there are some gas stations here in Phoenix that are able to sell gasoline at this point. But that company says the pipeline will not be fixed until some time late this weekend. And even after it's fixed, officials here are saying that it will take quite some time before things return to normal, and, more importantly, that those prices start dropping again, so people, again, being urged to carpool and just monitor how much time they spend on the road -- Daryn.

KAGAN: And I know from my many friends in Phoenix, they are doing just that.

Ed, I want to ask you about this lifting of restrictions, as you mentioned in your piece, on the cleaner burning gas. I know, from having lived in Arizona for over five years, that the smog in Phoenix is a big problem. You have the summer heat and the smog. That is not a good combination.

LAVANDERA: Well, there's an EPA standard that says -- what they call the Phoenix blend of gasoline that is sold here during the summer months. Those restrictions were lifted in the time being, so they could just bring in conventional gasoline. And that is supposed to help the problem here for the next couple of weeks.

KAGAN: Probably take whatever they could get to keep their cars moving in the valley of the sun.

Ed Lavandera from KTVK in Phoenix, thank you for that.

Still ahead on NEWSNIGHT: road-tripping with the candidate as they stump their way across the primary states.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: On to politics now.

North Carolina Senator John Edwards has a lot of work to do. He needs to recapture some of the buzz surrounding fellow Democratic candidate Howard Dean. That means New Hampshire voters will be seeing a lot of Edwards in the coming months. As he said to one of them this week, "I am glad to be back, and I'll be back and back and back."

CNN's Jeff Greenfield is back. And he spent the day with the candidate.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: How are you, sir?

JEFF GREENFIELD, CNN SR. ANALYST (voice-over): Presidential politics in New Hampshire has always been a winter sport. But as New Hampshire has steadily moved its primary up from March to February and now to January to protect its first-in-the-nation position, its citizens are now accustomed to seeing would-be presidents.

SEN. JOHN EDWARDS (D-NC), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Nice to meet you. I am running for president. I'm a Democrat running for president.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK.

GREENFIELD: Like North Carolina Senator John Edwards.

EDWARDS: Nice to meet you.

GREENFIELD: Long before the winter snows or even the autumn leaves start to fall.

(on camera): But though the sun is warm and the air is hot, a twist in next year's political calendar, along with the sudden surge of a one-time long shot, have combined to make the political climate for Senator Edwards a bit chilly.

(voice-over): Still in his first term in the U.S. Senate, the 50-year-old Edwards brings clear assets to the race: youthful good looks -- too youthful, some have suggested.

EDWARDS: We need to export American products, not American jobs.

GREENFIELD: A compelling speaking style shaped by his years as a trial lawyer, and a populist message in which his own humble origins play a key part.

EDWARDS: I come from a family of hard-working people.

My grandparents, my grandmother... My grandmother was actually from a father of sharecroppers in South Carolina.

My father worked in a mill all his life.

GREENFIELD (on camera): So, what does that tell me about how you'd be president?

EDWARDS: It doesn't answer the question of whether or I can or should be president. What it does is show both authenticity and credibility on the things that I want to do for the country.

GREENFIELD (voice-over): As an attractive figure from a culturally conservative red state, Edwards had hoped to claim the fresh-role that has dominated recent presidential politics, except...

(APPLAUSE)

GREENFIELD: Except that Howard Dean has so far caught the lightning in the bottle. The former Vermont governor...

HOWARD DEAN (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We have got send George Bush out of there. He is wrecking the country.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

GREENFIELD: ... with his blunt-spoken message about President Bush and his Democratic rivals, has become the central narrative in the campaign so far. And, as Dean has taken the limelight...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We are so proud to be part of this campaign.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Excuse me. Are you running for office?

EDWARDS: I am running for president.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: President of what?

EDWARDS: Of the United States.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You are kidding me?

EDWARDS: No, I'm not.

GREENFIELD: Edwards has yet to escape the shadows.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "THE TONIGHT SHOW WITH JAY LENO")

JAY LENO, HOST: Howard Dean is on the cover of both "TIME" and "Newsweek." And presidential candidate John Edwards is on the side of a milk carton.

(LAUGHTER)

(END VIDEO CLIP) GREENFIELD: Dean, who grew up in Park Avenue affluence, says that background is no bar to his ability to connect with voters.

DEAN: I do that by talking about people's issues. I do that the way I was a doctor, by understanding what people need in order to get their lives in better shape.

GREENFIELD: Edwards, meanwhile, is facing a bleak demonstration of the fact that, in politics, as in comedy, timing is everything. His Senate seat is up next year. And a recent "New York Times" story suggests the possibility of going back to that race may be weighing on him.

EDWARDS: You read a story like that, your reaction is, how could that be the way people see things? I am so 110 percent, emotionally psychologically, physically, committed to this task. It is driving me every minute of every day.

GREENFIELD (on camera): So, between now and January, says Edwards, he will hold 100 town hall meetings here. Of course, his rivals, who know what those events did for John McCain, plan much of the same kind of events.

For Edwards, breaking away from this Democratic pack is going to be as tricky as it is critical.

Jeff Greenfield, CNN, Manchester, New Hampshire.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: And that is the end of our meeting for this evening.

I'm Daryn Kagan. Aaron Brown is taking tomorrow off as well, so I'll be right here with you.

Have a great day. And I'll see you at 10:00 p.m. Eastern.

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





Documents; President Bush Unrolls Healthy Forest Initiative, Enviornmental Protests Ensue; Still No Motive In West Virginia Sniper Case>


Aired August 21, 2003 - 22:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Good evening everyone. As Larry mentioned, Aaron is off tonight.
We begin in Eagle County where the judge there, Frederick Gannett, has a tough job. He, of course, the Colorado judge in the Kobe Bryant case. He has to strike an extremely delicate balance. There's the public right to know and the defendant's right to a fair trial.

Today, the judge issued a decision that went to the heart of those competing interests, whether to unseal the documents in the case. That is where the whip begins tonight and Gary Tuchman is on that from Eagle, Colorado, Gary our first headline of the night please.

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Daryn, the judge tells us it was an easy decision his decision to unseal some of the court files but don't expect to learn much when we get those files -- Daryn.

KAGAN: And we will hear from you in just a moment.

Now, though, to the Middle East and the continuing fallout after the suicide bombing in Jerusalem on Tuesday. Michael Holmes has the latest for us. He is using a videophone from Gaza, Michael a headline from you.

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Daryn, we find ourselves at a very grisly scene in Gaza City this day after being at an equally grisly scene, more grisly scene in West Jerusalem just two days ago. One thing led to another. The question now what next - Daryn?

KAGAN: Next for us is one of the most notorious figures from Saddam Hussein's regime. He is now in U.S. custody. Ben Wedeman has that tonight. Ben is in Baghdad with our next headline.

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Daryn, that figure is Ali Hassan al-Majid a member of Saddam's inner circle and known simply to most Iraqis as Chemical Ali.

KAGAN: Thanks to all you gentlemen.

Long lines and short tempers in Phoenix, Arizona, a city and its people desperate for gasoline. Ed Lavandera has the latest headline on that one for us - Ed.

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Daryn. Well, you might describe what's been going on in the Phoenix area this week as hunting season. With only about half of the gas stations in this area able to sell gas, drivers are on the hunt for fuel and that means we've seen some pretty amazing things this week - Daryn.

KAGAN: Looking forward to more from Phoenix, back with all of you in just a moment.

Also coming up tonight on NEWSNIGHT, the latest from West Virginia and that string of shootings. All three people killed in separate crimes but by the same gun.

The brightest light in Detroit during last week's blackout turns out to be the city's youngest mayor ever. We're going to have a chance to talk with Kwame Kilpatrick, known as Detroit's hip-hop mayor.

And, in the time what they call BHD, before Howard Dean, it was this Democratic candidate who had all the buzz, North Carolina Senator John Edwards, so how does it feel to be left back? Our Jeff Greenfield hit the road with the candidate in New Hampshire.

We're going to being the hour with the case of Kobe Bryant. The judge in the case has made it clear from the beginning that he would do everything he could to prevent this trial from becoming a bigger circus than it already is.

Today he made that clear once again allowing the release of some of what the media wanted but hardly enough to fuel a lot more screaming headlines. Let's go back to our Gary Tuchman who is in Eagle, Colorado, Gary good evening.

TUCHMAN: Daryn, hello to you.

And this is the 16-page order released by the judge and it does say that some of the files should be unsealed. Now, at first blush from a legal standpoint it sounds like the news media attorneys had a partial victory because they wanted the information unsealed. It also sounds like prosecutors and defense attorneys get a partial victory because they wanted information to stay sealed.

But from a realistic standpoint this is a significant defeat for the news media's attorneys because the news media's attorneys are getting information that is in the form of an arrest warrant; however, the arrest warrant only contains information that we already know and that you already know.

For example, it contains the date of the alleged crime. It contains the bond that Kobe Bryant got and it also contains the date of the arrest and very little else.

A hearing was held on July 31st where the judge heard from all the attorneys in this matter. What is not being released is the affidavits from the arrest warrant. The affidavits have information about the specific allegations the prosecution has against Kobe Bryant. The judge says for Kobe Bryant to get a fair trial that will not be released.

Now, the news media attorneys say they are "very disappointed in the judge's decision." They say the public has the right to know much of the information that is in the affidavits. They are saying they are considering whether to appeal or not. They are consulting with their clients before making that decision. Their clients include CNN.

We can tell you that we don't have the papers that have been unsealed in our hands yet because the judge says he won't release them for at least ten days to give everyone a chance to appeal. The prosecution is saying they're weighing a decision whether to appeal. Defense attorneys are not commenting on whether they will appeal.

Either way we will hear more information exactly seven weeks from today. October 9th is the date of the scheduled preliminary hearing when the prosecution will have to lay out some of that evidence that is currently sealed in order for the judge to determine if there is enough evidence, probable cause, to have a trial.

And finally, one related news note, very disturbing, a 22-year- old Iowa man has been arrested and charged with threatening the life of the alleged victim in the Kobe Bryant case. John William Roach was arrested in Iowa City.

FBI officials say he phoned the alleged victim, threatened to maim her, threatened to kill her. He will be arraigned in a federal court. He faces the possibility of up to five years in prison - Daryn.

KAGAN: Well, that is just so disappointing that it has come to that in Colorado and Iowa. Let's get back to this judge's decision now, Gary, just for a moment. When he made this announcement or the court made the announcement of what will be released did the judge give any reasoning behind what was being released and what wasn't or was it just simply said this is what you're going to get?

TUCHMAN: Well, that's why this is a defeat for the news media because he basically said I will release information that's sealed that you already know and, therefore, it can't harm Kobe Bryant's right to a fair trial. Information that I feel can harm his right to a fair trial I'm going to keep sealed.

But the news media attorneys stress there is much information in this affidavit that is public information that in no way will harm his right to a fair trial and that they believe the judge should give the jury system a little more credibility.

He thinks they should be -- the judge is saying that the fact is that the jury can handle hearing this information and the fact that it will all stay sealed is not particularly fair.

KAGAN: As you said, October 9th we will hear a lot more. Gary Tuchman in Eagle, Colorado thank you for that. We move on now to another judge. When we last heard from Judge Roy Moore, the Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court he was defiant. He stood firmly behind a statue of the Ten Commandments in his courthouse, never mind what a federal judge and the Supreme Court had to say about that. Well tonight, the judge is still defiant even after his own colleagues today joined the chorus saying enough already.

Here now is our David Mattingly.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's solid granite, two and a half tons in weight, and the heart of a mountain of impassioned controversy.

JUDGE ROY MOORE, CHIEF JUSTICE, ALABAMA SUPREME COURT: Let me assure you the fight to defend our constitutional rights to acknowledge God must and will continue.

MATTINGLY: Defying a federal deadline, Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore refused to give up his fight to keep his monument to the Ten Commandments on public display this after his fellow Supreme Court justices, all eight of them, ordered it removed by the building manager.

BILL PRYOR, ALABAMA ATTORNEY GENERAL: They have been faithful to the rule of law. The rule of law means that no person, including the chief justice of Alabama, is above the law.

MATTINGLY: Alabama Attorney General Bill Pryor, a recent Moore supporter praised the justices for their ruling hoping it will be enough to save the state from hefty federal fines. In the meantime, plaintiffs in the case say they will continue to push for contempt charges against Moore and his removal from the bench.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's really a disgrace to the bench and I think he's going to go down in history as one of the most shameful figures in Alabama politics.

MATTINGLY (on camera): Die hard Moore supporters continue their vigil locked outside the Justice Building keeping an eye on the monument now from a distance and wondering, as everyone is here, where and when the monument might be moved.

David Mattingly, CNN, Montgomery, Alabama.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: And Chief Justice Moore will have more to say. You can see him tomorrow morning on "AMERICAN MORNING." He'll be appearing at 8:30 a.m. Eastern time.

On now into the investigation into a string of shootings in West Virginia. Today brought word from the crime lab that the same weapon was used in all three shootings and now there are questions about a reported shooting last night. Could that one be a fourth?

The latest from Jeanne Meserve.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The first shooting of Gary Carrier, Jr. at a Charleston convenience store August 10 now officially linked with the other two by a ballistics report.

CHIEF JERRY PAULEY, CHARLESTON POLICE: It does positively link the three bullets together. They all three came from the same weapon.

MESERVE: That weapon a .22 caliber rifle. The motive is still a mystery. One theory has lost some luster. The probe of the Carrier shooting has turned up no drug link.

Meanwhile, law enforcement investigated whether there was a fourth shooting late Wednesday at a convenience store in nearby Dunbar. A 16-year-old girl told her mother and police a bullet whizzed by her.

SARA, VICTIM'S MOTHER: She said it hit the building and it went right by her head.

MESERVE: The girl also said she saw a maroon truck and other witnesses seem to corroborate her story. A short time later a short distance away a speeding dark truck was chased unsuccessfully by a sheriff's deputy. But after investigators searched the convenience store area it was unclear whether shots ever were fired.

CHIEF PHIL MORRIS, KANAWHA CO. SHERIFF'S DEPT.: Our crime lab people checked that building and checked the car that was setting there and the pumps and we could find where no bullet hit anything.

MESERVE: Investigators put out yet another animation of a dark Ford F-150 truck like the one they're looking for and Chief Pauley says a composite drawing is in the works of a man seen in the vicinity of one of the shootings.

(on camera): But residents near one of the shooting scenes have questions about the investigation. One man who lives only doors away and was home the night of the shooting says he has yet to be interviewed by investigators.

Jeanne Meserve, CNN, Charleston, West Virginia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: Still a lot more ahead on NEWSNIGHT.

The other shoe drops, Israel strikes back for Tuesday's deadly suicide bombing.

And still not enough gas in Arizona. The pump lines just keep getting longer and the tempers a lot shorter.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: There is news to talk about from the Middle East tonight. More violence today, growing pressure as well on Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas. Much of it comes from his own side. A headline today put it simply. It said, "Who's in Charge, Abbas or Hamas"?

After Israel's latest reprisal today it is a very good question. We get more now from Michael Holmes.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES (voice-over): Death on the streets of Gaza City, an Israeli response to a suicide bombing just days earlier. The day had started with some promises from the spokesman for the Palestinian Security Chief Mohammed Dahlan.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Eventually the two groups, Hamas and Islamic Jihad, will have a choice either to exist as political parties, purely political parties, or disappear.

HOLMES: A promise to crack down as Zanamiri (ph) said action would commence within a day or so against the military wings of Hamas and Islamic Jihad. Minutes later Israeli missiles strike. We were barely half a mile away and arrived at the scene within minutes.

Three, perhaps more, missiles from Apache helicopters crashing into a white station wagon, inside a senior Hamas official, Ishmail Abu Shanab. He and two bodyguards killed immediately in the burning wreck their bodies charred beyond recognition. Twelve bystanders injured, two critically, according to hospital spokesmen.

Abu Shanab who received a Master's degree in engineering from the University of Colorado was seen more as a politician than a militant, a moderate in the context of Hamas politics, someone who helped negotiate the Hamas ceasefire.

Israel argues there's no fundamental difference between members of Hamas' political and military wings. Both, they say, plan terror attacks on Israelis. At Shifa Hospital where Abu Shanab's body was taken, crowds chanted slogans criticizing the Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: And of course, Daryn, the ceasefire as it was is now well and truly over. Hamas, Islamic Jihad, the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade all pulling out of that ceasefire which was meant to run right through September and already there has been some action.

In Gaza, there were rockets and mortars fired into Israel and also into a settlement block (UNINTELLIGIBLE) just south of our position here in Gaza City. Now, also, there was a large demonstration here this evening, probably 10,000 people in bulk. Tomorrow will be the funeral for Ismail Abu Shanab. It's going to be a large funeral and it won't be just a funeral. We expect that it will be more than just mourning. It will be a big demonstration for Hamas and a show of strength by Hamas. There could be upwards of 100,000 people or more on the streets in a few hours at that funeral - Daryn.

KAGAN: And CNN will be covering that. Michael Holmes from Gaza thank you for that.

Let's get some perspective now from Stephen Cohen. He's the founder of the Institute of Middle East Peace and Development. He is close to many of the players in the region and an old friend of this program NEWSNIGHT and he is joining us from Cairo this evening and it's very early in the morning there. We appreciate you being up in the middle of the night with us, Mr. Cohen, thank you so much.

DR. STEPHEN COHEN, INSTITUTE FOR MIDDLE EAST PEACE AND DEVELOPMENT: It's good to be with you especially on these very difficult times when everything that was hoped for about the possibility of a renewal of Middle East peace talks is now very much in question.

And, the whole experiment on the United States working with the Palestinians to bring about the new Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas, Abu Mazen, that experiment is very much in question right now as Abu Mazen is under great challenge from both Palestinians and Israelis.

And, the question is can the situation as it has existed over the last few months continue or is there going to be some significant change in the political structure of Palestinian-Israeli relations and of Palestinian leadership?

KAGAN: Let's talk about what happened.

COHEN: This is a very difficult moment.

KAGAN: Absolutely and we have a very difficult delay with our discussion this evening so bear with me if I step on you a little bit.

I want to talk about what happened her on this particular day. The Palestinians said we needed a few days. We were about to go in and go in after some - pick up some of the militants, pick up some of the illegal weapons. We just needed some time. The Israelis said we gave you two days. We ran out of patience. We had to act.

COHEN: Well, I'm afraid that that distinction between the Israeli perspective and the Palestinian perspective is always what we're going to have in these situations because what had happened was that Israelis and Palestinians had finally this month started to talk seriously about the fact that the status quo they had in the last couple of months was simply not tenable.

It was simply not tenable for the Israelis that there was no significant diminution in the capacity of Hamas and Islamic Jihad to engage in these kinds of terrorist attacks and there was no significant diminution in the capability of the Palestinians to undermine fundamental Israeli security.

And, as long as that was the case there was great pressure on Abu Mazen and on his colleague and assistant Mohammed Dahlan to engage in some kind of serious attempt to arrest, apprehend, and otherwise halt activities of Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

KAGAN: Do we have a cup of water for you there? Mr. Cohen do we have a cup of water there for you in Cairo?

COHEN: I'm afraid we have the Nile River but I don't see a cup of water.

KAGAN: OK, are you OK with our one minute left or should we let you go?

COHEN: No, we're fine, we're fine.

KAGAN: OK, let me just ask you this one question in terms of where does...

COHEN: What I want to say to you...

KAGAN: ...Mahmoud Abbas go from here? It's as if he has to pick who he wants to be legitimate with? Does he want to be legitimate with the U.S. and Israel or does he want to be legitimate with his own people? He seems to be in a very difficult position as of tonight.

COHEN: There's no way, yes, but there's no way for Mahmoud Abbas to be legitimate with one of them and not with the other and maintain his position for any period of time.

He's going to have to find a way to be legitimate with both and that means that either he's going to have to find a way to engage Hamas in political participation in the leadership of the Palestinian Authority, which is something that he is very reluctant to do and Dahlan is very reluctant to do and therefore put them inside the tent and therefore take responsibility for the situation.

Or, he's going to have to confront them and in order to do that he's going to have to get Israeli cooperation so that in confronting them he is able to show the Palestinian people that confronting them is going to produce significant results for them of a kind that they haven't been able to get in a situation in which Hamas and Islamic Jihad were free to engage in the kinds of terrorist attacks that we've seen in the last few days.

KAGAN: Yes, well it is a very difficult...

COHEN: And that is the dilemma that...

KAGAN: Absolutely, a very, very difficult dilemma.

COHEN: ...I think that all three parties are going to have to face.

KAGAN: Yes, challenges that people up to this point...

COHEN: The United States, the Palestinians, and the Israelis.

KAGAN: Challenges that all the sides have not been able - I'm sorry, Mr. Cohen, we're going to lose our time here on the satellite. That's why I'm jumping in here.

I want to thank you for your time in Cairo. We will let you go and hopefully we'll be able to get you a cup of water there. Thank you for getting up. It's right in the middle of the night there in Cairo, Stephen Cohen joining us.

Coming up on NEWSNIGHT, supposedly killed by coalition bombs, now captured and in U.S. custody, where was Chemical Ali hiding? A live report from Baghdad coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: Well, if you remember back during the war when the man known as Chemical Ali was presumed dead in a coalition strike there was actually a certain amount of regret that he wasn't taken alive. Few were closer to Saddam Hussein and nearly no one had more knowledge about Iraqi weapons of mass destruction.

There would have been a lot to learn from him and now there is that chance once again because apparently Chemical Ali was not killed in the bombing last spring but he was captured this week and today the military shared that news.

Here's the story from Ben Wedeman.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WEDEMAN (voice-over): Brutality is his hallmark. Ali Hassan al- Majid was Saddam's cousin and seen as his ultimate hatchet man. He didn't hesitate to show his direct involvement in leading the suppression of the Shiite rebellion in southern Iraq after the first Gulf War.

In the last 1980s, he oversaw Saddam's war against the Kurds, a campaign that left more than 1,000 Kurds dead and drove many more from their homes. During the campaign Iraqi forces dropped poison gas on the Kurdish village of Halabja (ph) killing 5,000 people and earning him the nickname Chemical Ali. Two years later he became military governor of Kuwait after the Iraqi invasion. Now, American forces have him in custody, one of the most prominent members of Saddam's inner circle to be taken alive.

"Put him in a cage" this man told us. "People can pay a dollar to see a war criminal and the money can go to his victims."

This soft drink vendor's solution is much simpler. "Tear him limb from limb." Dropped by one of Baghdad's video disc shops and you can see footage of some of Ali Hassan al-Majid's exploits pulled from the rubble of the old regime including less violent scenes of Chemical Ali in the company of gypsy dancers.

For many Iraqis he came to symbolize how far the old regime would go to hold onto power and his capture, the final chapter in a career built upon brutality.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WEDEMAN: And the other main story here in Baghdad that is Tuesday's bombing of the U.N. Headquarters here in the Iraqi capital, the first claim of responsibility has come for that bombing that from the Armed Vanguard of Mohammed's Second Army, which sent a statement to the Al Aribiya Arabic satellite news channel -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Ben Wedeman in Baghdad thank you for the latest on that.

Well, it is fair to say that between Iraq and the Middle East roadmap President Bush has a lot on his plate. He also has domestic considerations as well, politics in addition to that.

Mr. Bush it turns out is in Oregon tonight. There was $1 million fundraiser and there also was a pretty big environmental protest there and questions about the Middle East, a lot to talk about.

For that let's bring in our Suzanne Malveaux who has a little bit on all of that tonight and we tracked her down in Oregon as well, Suzanne good evening.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, good evening Daryn.

President Bush making several stops in Oregon for fundraising as well as addressing his environmental policy. It was early in the day he flew over a national forest devastated by those wildfires.

The president took the opportunity to push for his healthy forest initiative. It's a plan to try to think out the underbrush and forest to prevent them from becoming vulnerable to wildfires. There are some environmental (UNINTELLIGIBLE) protesters we saw today who are against that plan. They say it only supports the logging industry.

Now, Daryn as you know, the president not only focused on the domestic policy but, of course, one of the biggest challenges to his foreign policy as well the impact of these twin terrorist attacks in Israel as well as Iraq.

Earlier today Secretary Powell met with U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan to talk about strategy. When it comes to Iraq there is a shift in U.S. policy, at least the way they see this.

Now the White House says that it is open to perhaps introducing another U.N. Security Council resolution that would give political cover to countries that have been reluctant to send in troops, to send in aid inside of Iraq but Secretary Powell also making it very clear that any type of peacekeeping force would remain under U.S. control.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COLIN POWELL, SECRETARY OF STATE: I think anybody making the contribution, a military contribution, sending their young men and women into harm's way want them to be under solid, responsible, competent military leadership of the kind that is being provided by the coalition and the military component of the coalition under General Abizaid's command.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX: So, Daryn, it has become quite apparent that the administration really is trying to reach out to these countries to get additional support inside of Iraq at a time, of course, when it is most dangerous and most difficult -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Well, speaking of reaching out in a dangerous situation what about what is happening in the Middle East between the Israelis and the Palestinians, any comment from the White House today on that situation?

MALVEAUX: Well, as a matter of fact, Secretary Powell came out and said that, yes, he wants Palestinian Leader Mahmoud Abbas to try to dismantle these terrorist organizations that that is critical. Abbas says that he needs, of course, the support of the Palestinian security forces and he needs that from Palestinian Leader Yasser Arafat.

Well, it is extraordinary and perhaps even ironic what has happened but today the one man that the administration tried to isolate and marginalize in the Middle East peace process is now taking center stage. Secretary Powell publicly asking for Arafat's assistance to hand over those Palestinian security forces.

Obviously, Daryn, you know what kind of situation they're in. They say that Arafat is an obstacle but perhaps now he can also be of some assistance, some help in moving this process forward -- Daryn.

MALVEAUX: Oh, no.

(LAUGHTER)

KAGAN: Yes, a little different scenery. Thank you for that report. Appreciate it.

MALVEAUX: Absolutely.

KAGAN: Still to come on NEWSNIGHT: He was a bright spot on a dark night, how one of the youngest mayors in the country led his city back into light.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: There is nothing like a crisis to create a true leader. Detroit's young mayor always had the style. But during last week's blackout, he proved that he had substance, too, to get his city through its darkest hours, literally its darkest hours.

More now from CNN's Jeff Flock.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEFF FLOCK, CNN CHICAGO BUREAU CHIEF (voice-over): Calm.

KWAME KILPATRICK (D), MAYOR OF DETROIT: Police headquarters is up.

FLOCK: Confident.

KILPATRICK: Parents, your children are fine!

FLOCK: Reassuring.

KILPATRICK: Detroit is the model of the nation. This was the calmest city out of all the cities.

FLOCK: No black eye in a blackout in Detroit. And some say it's thanks to the man they call the hip-hop mayor.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I thought he handled it very well.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He did a marvelous job.

FLOCK: Kwame Kilpatrick, Democrat, elected at 31 the youngest mayor in Detroit history, favors flashy suits, single diamond earring, and a well-thrown party.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He's a little...

FLOCK: Not everyone's idea a big-city mayor.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Street-wise.

FLOCK: Indeed, actor Chris Rock modeled his unlikely presidential candidate character in the movie "Head of State" after Kilpatrick.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "HEAD OF STATE")

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: Vote Mays Gilliam for president.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FLOCK: Like the movie character, those who know Kilpatrick say he's fun, hip, and not afraid to speak his mind.

(on camera): Is that how he really is?

LLOYD JACKSON, WJR: That's how he really is.

FLOCK (voice-over): Lloyd Jackson does a monthly ask-the-mayor radio show with Kilpatrick on WJR?

JACKSON: Yes, he's young, he's youthful. But it's that youthful exuberance that's making the city grow and move and go forward.

FLOCK: But just a few weeks ago, Kilpatrick was a little too young and flashy for some.

KILPATRICK: It never happened.

FLOCK: Defending himself against allegations he threw too wild a bash here at a mayoral mansion with naked women.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can we ask you a couple questions.

FLOCK: This Republican state attorney general investigated.

KILPATRICK: We need to move forward.

FLOCK: And said it amounted to little more than urban legend.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You're doing a great job!

FLOCK: Even his detractors agree he did that in the blackout. Kilpatrick had submitted the first big-city emergency plan to Washington after September 11.

(on camera): That meant that city services here were ready for disaster, like here at the 911 center, where they took more emergency calls in one eight-hour shift than they normally take in an entire day.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Is she conscious, breathing and alert?

FLOCK (voice-over): Emergency command up and running within 45 minute. There were fewer arrests than regular nights.

KILPATRICK: CNN and other outlets had banners going across that talked about potential looting in the city of Detroit. It was never going to happen.

FLOCK: Kilpatrick is married with three children and has a mother in Congress. Known for straight talk, he once begged off a live interview on CNN because he had to baby-sit and openly gave himself a failing grade on bringing people together.

(on camera): So why are you hard on yourself?

KILPATRICK: Because I'm a mayor.

FLOCK (voice-over): A mayor who just passed his big test with the best of grades.

I'm Jeff Flock, CNN, in Detroit.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: And from Detroit tonight, we have the mayor himself, Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick.

Mr. Mayor, thanks for being with us.

KILPATRICK: Hey, it's good to be here.

KAGAN: It was exactly one week ago right now. Your city was in the dark. New York City was in the dark. Much of the U.S. was in the dark. Any thoughts a week later?

KILPATRICK: My thoughts are, the city's up and running. We wanted to get the city up and running as fast as we possibly could.

As you said in your piece, we had our emergency operations center up and going in 45 minutes. Our police officers were out on the street, directing attention traffic in major discretions in 15 to 20 minutes after the blackout.

My thoughts, we had buses running. We were picking up trash. We never stopped the operational functions and processes in the city of Detroit. And my job is to keep that going, keep the lights on, keep the trash picked up, keep the city clean and keep children safe and seniors safe. And we did that even throughout the blackout.

KAGAN: And the citizens behaved, too. Let's not forget the everyday people who kicked into that.

Let's be honest, Mr. Mayor. America expected less of Detroit.

KILPATRICK: Yes.

We've had a 30-year, 40-year stigma attached to our town. We hadn't closed a hotel deal since 1987. We've closed seven in one year. We're building 4,400 houses. We have Major League Baseball All-Star Game, Super Bowl, Final Four. But still, people expect bad things to happen. We have a 30 percent, nearly 30 percent, drop in our homicide rate, double-digit decline in overall crime in the city of Detroit.

But the citizens here continue to step up and stand up to the mantle of leadership. I mean, 60,000 people came out for Motor City Makeover, which is a volunteer effort to clean up our city; 15,000 people came up for our after-school fair and signed up. There's so much dynamism in our city at this time. But we need to tell the rest of the world about it. That's why I am thankful to be on television right now.

KAGAN: Well, we appreciate having you here.

There's also a lot of conversation about you, Mr. Mayor. You are a colorful figure, let's say. There's the hip-hop image that we heard in Jeff Flock's piece. There's the earring. There's some people, even Johnnie Cochran, coming out and saying that he doesn't like the people you have around you, that you're giving too many jobs to friends and family and you need to clean up your entourage a little bit. What would you say to that criticism?

KILPATRICK: It was a bandwagon comment. I know Johnnie Cochran very well. He doesn't know anybody around me, not one single person. You don't close the amount of deals that we've closed with bad people around me. We have the best, I believe, the best Cabinet, the best directors and deputies that have ever been assembled in this city's history. All the different operational processes -- our buses are running on time for the first time in 30 years. Our parks are being cut every 10 days, 391 of them.

We had to negotiate 48 bargaining units, because all the contracts had expired when I walked into office. You don't have bad people around you and get all these things done.

(CROSSTALK)

KAGAN: Let me ask you this about since you have walked into office. Would you say at least -- and, of course, you do have political experience coming in here, but your first gig as mayor. Would you say you are learning as you go and you are getting better?

KILPATRICK: I think it's a little -- yes, absolutely. We are getting better every day.

I don't care how old you are or how much experience you have had. I was the leader of the statehouse. I was the youngest and first African-American ever to be elected to be leader of our statehouse in its 175-year history. My mother was elected to the statehouse when I was 8 years old. I was managing campaigns by the time I was 13. I'm not a political neophyte. I have been in this for 25 years. And I'm only 33 years old.

KAGAN: You're in the family business, safe to say.

KILPATRICK: This is the family business, public service.

Dr. King said, service is the rent we pay for the space we occupy. I truly believe that. Now, people talk me because they love doing it. I do try to look nice every day. I do wear a diamond earring. But, at the same time, I get things done. And this administration, the citizens of this city, are stepping up in tremendous ways. And we're ready for the world.

KAGAN: Well, congratulations for that. As you said, the world coming there. In 2006, you have the Super Bowl. If you can turn around the Detroit Lions, Mr. Mayor, you truly will have the magic touch.

(LAUGHTER)

KILPATRICK: Well, we got Steve Mariucci. Mooch is here. We're on the way.

KAGAN: That you do. Things are looking up.

KILPATRICK: Hey, thanks a lot.

KAGAN: Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick joining us from Detroit tonight, appreciate your time. Well, still to come on NEWSNIGHT: a check of the headlines making news across the globe and riding along on the road to the White House. Once a big favorite, now hidden in the shadows, what one candidate is doing to get votes.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: Let's check a few stories now from around the world.

We begin in Liberia with a new man in charge. Rebel factions and remaining government officials today agreed to name Gyude Bryant as the interim leader. Mr. Bryant is a businessman. He is said to be low-key. He said his job will be to heal his country's pain. And there is plenty of that. He'll take control in October when interim President Moses Blah steps down.

A large earthquake hit Southern New Zealand. It measured 7.1 on the Richter scale and lasted for close to half a minute. So far, no injuries are reported, but a number of buildings and power lines have been damaged.

And Canada's prime minister today promised to push ahead with legislation to legalize gay marriage, this despite concerns within his own party about their chances of winning reelection if a gay marriage law passes. Prime Minister Jean Chretien says that he recognizes the concerns, but says voters have bigger issues to consider, namely the economy, which he says is good.

And now to more stories from around the U.S. tonight, beginning with the California recall race and a key endorsement for the lieutenant governor, Cruz Bustamante. Bustamante picked up support from the state's 33 congressional Democrats. They were careful not to completely undercut Governor Gray Davis, but they were also pragmatic in backing Bustamante as the legitimate successor should the governor lose in the recall election.

And federal prosecutors announced indictments today in the 1996 incident where two civilian planes were shot down over the Florida Straits. A Cuban general and two fighter pilots were indicted. The four men aboard the planes were killed, but justice may be a long time in coming. The accused are in Cuba. And extradition is impossible, since, of course, there are no diplomatic relations existing between the U.S. and Cuba.

Ahead on NEWSNIGHT: running on empty in Arizona, still not enough gas, leaving people there fuming. We are going live to Phoenix just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: We want to check in now on Phoenix, Arizona. They are very short on gas there, a gas truck driver there telling a local paper he is actually being stalked. He says, as soon as he gets off the freeway, he has a trail of cars following him to the next gas station. Drivers there are drastically short on gas, patience running a little bit low as well. Let's get the latest now on any relief in sight. And Ed Lavandera has that for us from Phoenix tonight.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): John Afshar might as well be selling liquid gold. He started the day with 9,000 gallons of gasoline. And time is running out to buy it.

JOHN AFSHAR, GAS STATION OWNER: Right now, we have about 500 gallons.

LAVANDERA (on camera): Which will last you how long?

AFSHAR: Might be it's going to be -- the way it is, it might be half an hour or so. This one is out just a few minutes ago.

LAVANDERA (voice-over): Twelve hundred customers on this day, but not everyone will leave with a full tank.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just need a couple gallons so I can get home.

LAVANDERA: Sell gas and people will come in swarms. They've been pushing their cars. They've waited in long lines to pay more than $2 a gallon.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There's nothing I can really do. I just shut up and pump.

LAVANDERA (on camera): There are two pipelines that bring gas into the Phoenix area. One of those lines ruptured in late July, which has left about half of the gas stations in this city unable to sell gas. But the owners of that pipeline say it should be fixed by the end of this coming weekend.

(voice-over): To help relieve the gas shortage, more trucks are being used to haul in gasoline. And regulations have been eased temporarily, so that gas stations don't have to use a specially mandated blend of environmentally friendly gasoline. That's bringing more gas to the pumps and allowing more stations to reopen.

GOV. JANET NAPOLITANO (D), ARIZONA: Getting order out of chaos, we have taken a number of steps to increase the supply of gasoline in the valley. People are being really good about carpooling and watching their driving habits.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It won't work.

LAVANDERA: The gas shortage reached a fever pitch earlier this week. Someone cut the gas lines and siphoned gas from these child care busses. Tempers flared when some prices reached almost $4 a gallon.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How come the Union 76 station on 35th and Peoria is selling gas for $1.89 a gallon and you guys are asking $3.99? Same gas, same service stations. What's the difference? UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I've never had so much excitement pumping gas.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We get used to things just being normal and always running the way they do and smoothly. And then, when there is a disruption in service, we have such a zero tolerance for it.

AFSHAR: I am out of gasoline.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You are?

AFSHAR: OK, that's it. I have to close it and go home.

LAVANDERA (on camera): That's it?

AFSHAR: That's it.

LAVANDERA (voice-over): At John Afshar's gas station, the pumps have run dry. He'll hope for another gas delivery tomorrow, so he can reopen. But for those people running on empty, the lack of gasoline is fueling the fires of frustration.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They're all out of gas.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LAVANDERA: So there are some gas stations here in Phoenix that are able to sell gasoline at this point. But that company says the pipeline will not be fixed until some time late this weekend. And even after it's fixed, officials here are saying that it will take quite some time before things return to normal, and, more importantly, that those prices start dropping again, so people, again, being urged to carpool and just monitor how much time they spend on the road -- Daryn.

KAGAN: And I know from my many friends in Phoenix, they are doing just that.

Ed, I want to ask you about this lifting of restrictions, as you mentioned in your piece, on the cleaner burning gas. I know, from having lived in Arizona for over five years, that the smog in Phoenix is a big problem. You have the summer heat and the smog. That is not a good combination.

LAVANDERA: Well, there's an EPA standard that says -- what they call the Phoenix blend of gasoline that is sold here during the summer months. Those restrictions were lifted in the time being, so they could just bring in conventional gasoline. And that is supposed to help the problem here for the next couple of weeks.

KAGAN: Probably take whatever they could get to keep their cars moving in the valley of the sun.

Ed Lavandera from KTVK in Phoenix, thank you for that.

Still ahead on NEWSNIGHT: road-tripping with the candidate as they stump their way across the primary states.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: On to politics now.

North Carolina Senator John Edwards has a lot of work to do. He needs to recapture some of the buzz surrounding fellow Democratic candidate Howard Dean. That means New Hampshire voters will be seeing a lot of Edwards in the coming months. As he said to one of them this week, "I am glad to be back, and I'll be back and back and back."

CNN's Jeff Greenfield is back. And he spent the day with the candidate.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: How are you, sir?

JEFF GREENFIELD, CNN SR. ANALYST (voice-over): Presidential politics in New Hampshire has always been a winter sport. But as New Hampshire has steadily moved its primary up from March to February and now to January to protect its first-in-the-nation position, its citizens are now accustomed to seeing would-be presidents.

SEN. JOHN EDWARDS (D-NC), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Nice to meet you. I am running for president. I'm a Democrat running for president.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK.

GREENFIELD: Like North Carolina Senator John Edwards.

EDWARDS: Nice to meet you.

GREENFIELD: Long before the winter snows or even the autumn leaves start to fall.

(on camera): But though the sun is warm and the air is hot, a twist in next year's political calendar, along with the sudden surge of a one-time long shot, have combined to make the political climate for Senator Edwards a bit chilly.

(voice-over): Still in his first term in the U.S. Senate, the 50-year-old Edwards brings clear assets to the race: youthful good looks -- too youthful, some have suggested.

EDWARDS: We need to export American products, not American jobs.

GREENFIELD: A compelling speaking style shaped by his years as a trial lawyer, and a populist message in which his own humble origins play a key part.

EDWARDS: I come from a family of hard-working people.

My grandparents, my grandmother... My grandmother was actually from a father of sharecroppers in South Carolina.

My father worked in a mill all his life.

GREENFIELD (on camera): So, what does that tell me about how you'd be president?

EDWARDS: It doesn't answer the question of whether or I can or should be president. What it does is show both authenticity and credibility on the things that I want to do for the country.

GREENFIELD (voice-over): As an attractive figure from a culturally conservative red state, Edwards had hoped to claim the fresh-role that has dominated recent presidential politics, except...

(APPLAUSE)

GREENFIELD: Except that Howard Dean has so far caught the lightning in the bottle. The former Vermont governor...

HOWARD DEAN (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We have got send George Bush out of there. He is wrecking the country.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

GREENFIELD: ... with his blunt-spoken message about President Bush and his Democratic rivals, has become the central narrative in the campaign so far. And, as Dean has taken the limelight...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We are so proud to be part of this campaign.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Excuse me. Are you running for office?

EDWARDS: I am running for president.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: President of what?

EDWARDS: Of the United States.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You are kidding me?

EDWARDS: No, I'm not.

GREENFIELD: Edwards has yet to escape the shadows.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "THE TONIGHT SHOW WITH JAY LENO")

JAY LENO, HOST: Howard Dean is on the cover of both "TIME" and "Newsweek." And presidential candidate John Edwards is on the side of a milk carton.

(LAUGHTER)

(END VIDEO CLIP) GREENFIELD: Dean, who grew up in Park Avenue affluence, says that background is no bar to his ability to connect with voters.

DEAN: I do that by talking about people's issues. I do that the way I was a doctor, by understanding what people need in order to get their lives in better shape.

GREENFIELD: Edwards, meanwhile, is facing a bleak demonstration of the fact that, in politics, as in comedy, timing is everything. His Senate seat is up next year. And a recent "New York Times" story suggests the possibility of going back to that race may be weighing on him.

EDWARDS: You read a story like that, your reaction is, how could that be the way people see things? I am so 110 percent, emotionally psychologically, physically, committed to this task. It is driving me every minute of every day.

GREENFIELD (on camera): So, between now and January, says Edwards, he will hold 100 town hall meetings here. Of course, his rivals, who know what those events did for John McCain, plan much of the same kind of events.

For Edwards, breaking away from this Democratic pack is going to be as tricky as it is critical.

Jeff Greenfield, CNN, Manchester, New Hampshire.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: And that is the end of our meeting for this evening.

I'm Daryn Kagan. Aaron Brown is taking tomorrow off as well, so I'll be right here with you.

Have a great day. And I'll see you at 10:00 p.m. Eastern.

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





Documents; President Bush Unrolls Healthy Forest Initiative, Enviornmental Protests Ensue; Still No Motive In West Virginia Sniper Case>