Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsnight Aaron Brown

Gore Endorses Dean; Criticism Over New Medicare Changes; Janklow to Step Down as Member of House of Representatives

Aired December 08, 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.


AARON BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Good evening again.
Al Gore has decided to play king maker and a lot of old friends can't be very happy. Gore's decision to endorse Governor Howard Dean, a story CNN broke this afternoon, raises lots of questions to be sure, why Dean, why now, to name just two.

And here's another we probably can't answer tonight. Will such an endorsement matter? Does Mr. Gore still have clout? Can he move Democratic voters, many of whom wish he were running and believe he won the election three years ago?

Politics and a lot of it top the program and begin the whip and the whip begins with CNN's Kelly Wallace who is with the Dean campaign here in New York, Kelly a headline.

KELLY WALLACE, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Aaron, it's a bit noisy here, a musical event for Howard Dean who will be speaking a bit later. The news expected from Al Gore on Tuesday stunning the political world, including as you said some of the Democratic presidential candidates, most observers believing now that Dean will go into Iowa and New Hampshire with even more momentum -- Aaron.

BROWN: Kelly, thank you. We'll get to you at the top tonight.

More on this and another big development, politically, of the day, CNN's Senior White House Correspondent John King working both stories, John a headline.

JOHN KING, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Aaron, we're told Al Gore decided to do this because he does not want the Democratic campaign to be a protracted one.

Here at the White House they think this helps Howard Dean but they also say they can't worry about who will be running against this president just yet. So when he signed that big Medicare legislation into law today, Mr. Bush looking ahead to the issues he believes will help in the next campaign.

BROWN: Deftly done, John, thank you.

On to Fort Benning, Georgia and the case of chaplain John Yee, CNN's Bob Franken with the watch, a headline Bob.

BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: And, Aaron, it's a case that involves accusations of adultery, pornography and the mishandling of classified material and charges that they shouldn't all be here together (unintelligible).

BROWN: Bob, thank you.

And finally the Pentagon and the forgotten war CNN's Jamie McIntyre on that for us tonight, Jamie a headline from you.

JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SR. PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Aaron, as the U.S. is planning to mount a major new offensive in Afghanistan a strike, an air strike on Saturday is raising troubling questions. Nine children were killed. The question is to what extent is the U.S. living up to its pledge to do everything humanly possible to avoid unintended civilian casualties -- Aaron.

BROWN: Jamie, thank you. We'll get back to you and the rest shortly.

Also ahead on the program tonight, let me see if I have this straight. The college football team that's ranked number one in both the major polls will not play for the national championship because? We'll try and sort this out for you as opposed to making sense of it.

Then, Segment 7, we head to Alcorn State where traditionally African American student body is seeing an influx of Russians.

And the big finale tonight comes complete with a rooster who is paper trained, more or less, morning papers, all that and more in the hour ahead.

We begin with the campaign for the White House past and present. That former Vermont Governor Howard Dean has been the frontrunner is hardly news. The new poll out today has him eight points ahead nationally. His lead in New Hampshire if those polls are to be believed is enormous.

But when CNN reported this afternoon that former Vice President Al Gore, who if nothing else can say he received more votes in a losing campaign than George W. Bush did in a winning one, when we reported that Gore would endorse Dr. Dean the possibility of the race shifting seemed real.

At best it was hugely disappointing news to several long time Gore friends, including his running mate Senator Joe Lieberman. We have a series of reports tonight beginning with CNN's Kelly Wallace.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HOWARD DEAN (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And the next president of the United States is going to be a Democrat and you'll all be welcome to the inauguration (unintelligible).

WALLACE (voice-over): A pumped up Howard Dean getting the nod from 23 New York City lawmakers Monday about to get perhaps the biggest boost yet of his candidacy, former Vice President Al Gore, the man Democrats hoped would beat George W. Bush in 2000 expected to endorse Dean Tuesday. Political analysts say Gore is making the move now weeks before the kickoff contests in Iowa and New Hampshire to have the most impact.

JOSEPH MERCURIO, POLITICAL CONSULTANT: He understand that if the Democrats are going to win to have any chance they have to give the nominee of the party a long time to raise money and campaign and get known with the voters.

WALLACE: The nod comes as the former Vermont governor increases his lead over the eight other Democratic presidential candidates according to the latest CNN-USA Today Gallup poll with the support of 25 percent of registered Democrats. In second place retired General Wesley Clark who tried to shrug off the Gore news in an interview Monday night.

WESLEY CLARK (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I don't pay any attention to endorsements unless they're for me.

WALLACE: Senator Joseph Lieberman conceded he did not even receive a heads-up from his former running mate.

SEN. JOSEPH LIEBERMAN (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I was surprised but I am more determined than ever to continue to fight for what's right for my party and my country.

WALLACE: The Gephardt team currently locked in a tight and tough fight with Dean in Iowa said: "Dick Gephardt fought side-by-side with Al Gore to pass the Clinton economic plan, pass the assault weapons ban and defend against Republican attacks on Medicare and affirmative action. On each of these issues, Howard Dean was on the wrong side."

Senator John Kerry in a statement said he respected Gore but then questioned Gore's relevance saying: "The election is about the future, not about the past."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALLACE: And back again at a somewhat noisy Dean campaign rally here, Dean has long been viewed as an outsider of the Democratic Party establishment and some political observers believe that Gore's expected endorsement could signal to the party faithful that they should get on the Dean bandwagon making him even tougher to beat in the months ahead -- Aaron.

BROWN: Kelly, we're going to leave it at that. There's no -- we're not going to compete with the band. Thank you very much, Kelly Wallace who's in New York with the Dean campaign.

Our Senior Analyst Jeff Greenfield is here. So is our Senior Political Reporter Candy Crowley who's in Boston tonight. Quickly to both of you, Jeff first, are you surprised?

JEFF GREENFIELD, CNN SENIOR ANALYST: Yes for a lot of reasons not the least of which is that not so long ago I think Al Gore was raising some private real questions about Dean's electability even to the point where some people were suggesting Gore was thinking maybe it wasn't too late but, yes, I'm surprised.

BROWN: And, Candy, are you surprised?

CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SR. POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Sure. You know it's one of those things that when it happens you think, oh well, you know this makes sense but, yes, when it first happened I was surprised not for the same reasons that Jeff is.

Because, you know, we are talking about people that have known John Kerry for quite some time, including his running mate in 2000 and Richard Gephardt and John Kerry, not close friends of Al Gore's and that's what surprised me most was I didn't think that he would do this to them.

BROWN: I'm fascinated by the timing of it all, Jeff.

GREENFIELD: Well, if you are a conspiratorialist and I have heard an amazing number of people inside this thinking this is all about 2008. Gore is setting him up with Dean supporters. He wants to show that he's a populous. He's an outsider. If you are a conspiratorialist this is all about the Clintons. You have to take a beat here. You know Hillary was...

BROWN: Isn't it always?

GREENFIELD: Well, because the Hillary is the 2008 go likely and if Al Gore wants to be relevant he has to get on the side of the people who are most active and isn't it interesting that Hillary was on all -- was on three network news shows on Sunday and now Al Gore wants a piece of this.

I take some of this with a grain of salt but if you want a kind of weird inside the Beltway, inside the political world analysis of the timing that's that the more likely explanation is that if Gore wants to be relevant this is a much more powerful endorsement now than say it would be after the New Hampshire primary.

BROWN: Candy, how much help is this for Governor Dean would you guess?

CROWLEY: You know does it bring him any more votes? I don't know. At this point, I mean let's remember that since the 2000 election Al Gore has come out for single payer health insurance. He has come out against the Patriot Act. He's come out, I mean he's taken some very sort of left of center positions. He's no longer that DLC candidate that ran at least in the first part of this campaign.

So, in a lot of ways the people in the primary who are already inclined to go with Dean, you know, I don't know that this makes that much difference. Having said that if you talk to any of these campaigns tonight they say look I mean we are now giving Dean media coverage that he couldn't possibly buy. This gives, this keeps him going. It begins to look like a juggernaut. It's all about, you know, pushing it forward looking like they can't stop you and Gore adds to that.

BROWN: Jeff.

GREENFIELD: I think there's a substantive part of this. I think it was always Howard Dean's biggest problem to avoid the fate of Gary Hart the first time he ran in '84, not the famous (unintelligible).

BROWN: Right.

GREENFIELD: When he won a bunch of primaries and then was painted as this weird guy who wasn't a real Democrat, didn't relate to labor, African Americans and the base and you can see Dick Gephardt already trying to paint Dean as outside. He's not a real Democrat. He's somehow weird.

Al Gore, who was -- is as of now, you know, Mr. Insider, the guy who had all the unions back in 2000, strong support in the African American community it is as they used to say no accident that the formal endorsement is supposed to take place eight o'clock tomorrow, where, in Harlem.

It was a way to signal the more traditional Democrats this is not some strange (unintelligible) Ben & Jerry's Vermont commune guy, you know, listening to Grateful Dead tapes. He's a real Democrat and I think that's where it helps substantively.

BROWN: Candy, we'll let both of you at this one. The knock on, among the knocks on Governor Dean is that in the end he's George McGovern for a different century that he is essentially not electable. Does this in any way, will this in any way change that perception among those even in the Democratic Party who might have it?

CROWLEY: Look, certainly it helps but let's face it what Howard Dean needs more than anything else, Al Gore or anything, is to be seen as someone who can beat George Bush. I think Al Gore has clearly made the determination that Howard Dean can beat George Bush and that's why he endorsed him.

Now whether or not this does anything for Al Gore, I don't see it. I don't see any 2008 implications but it certainly does put Howard Dean next to a conventional politician. That helps but he was already on his way. I think this was, you know, Gore's ahead of the cusp but not by much.

BROWN: Jeff.

GREENFIELD: One the campaigns after giving their official statement sent me a background statement saying this proves how unelectable Dean is because Gore is endorsing him knowing he's going to lose again with that five years from now.

I think the problem for Howard Dean is to convince not Democrats so much as the folks who are not, like I said he is a solid, okay on national security, understands their values. I think it's been very intriguing. I watched Dean's speech at the Florida Democratic Convention.

He is speaking general election rhetoric already so at least he understand what his problem may be. I don't think this gets him very far on that dilemma. That's going to have to wait to see how he campaigns in the weeks ahead and should he be the nominee then.

I mean certainly we've been hearing for a long time the Republicans can't wait to run against Howard Dean. Let's see if they feel that way in six or seven months if he'd be the nominee.

BROWN: It seems like a good time to bring in our Senior White House Correspondent then John King who's at the White House tonight. Are they still chomping at the bit on Howard Dean? I know they can't, you know, they can't hold a briefing and say we're chomping at the bit for Howard Dean but are they?

KING: It depends on who you ask, Aaron. If you look at this from a liberal conservative view they do think they can run a McGovern campaign or Dukakis campaign against Howard Dean on several key issues. They think that just the fact that he's from the northeast makes him unpalatable to some in the south.

They think they can call him a liberal on issues such as health care, on issues such as gay civil unions, but they also say look this president was a governor. Bill Clinton was a governor. Ronald Reagan was a governor and Howard Dean was a governor.

Governors do bring an experience and a toughness to the table and they do believe if he can rally the Democratic base and turn out those voters if you have a close, competitive election it could be tough.

BROWN: Even some reporting on this this afternoon was this something that seemed in the works for the last week, ten days, or is it something that just happened?

KING: Al Gore is not someone, and you were exploring this just now with Candy and Jeff, he has many political associates. It is pretty fair I think to say Al Gore does not have a lot of political friends so it's hard to piece some of this together.

But I am told tonight that this conversation started actually a couple of months back. You'll remember Al Gore virtually disappeared. Then he came out and he gave a speech to a liberal group called Moveon.org. He's been active with them since.

After that first speech we are told that Howard Dean called him and said nice speech. I liked your ideas. I like where you're going. I'd like to stay in touch. We should talk more and that began this dialogue.

How they came to the actual decision for an endorsement, don't have all of those nuts and bolts yet but I am told by a source very close to the former vice president that he always planned to endorse and he views this as "an impact moment."

BROWN: On the other side of the coin, the president today got himself an issue if you will that he can run on from his perspective a positive issue, Medicare. KING: They think so and look where Al Gore and Howard Dean are going tomorrow. They're going to the state of Iowa. It has a fast growing elderly population. It is a small state but one of the battlegrounds in presidential politics.

In this Medicare issue, as they wait here at the White House to find out who the opponent will be, they think this issue, this legislation now the law of the land helps them very much when it comes to the issues terrain.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KING (voice-over): This signing ushers in major changes to the Medicare program including a new prescription drug benefit and this sign says it all when it comes to how a Republican president seeking reelection hopes to benefit on an issue long associated with the Democrats.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We kept our promise and found a way to get the job done.

KING: The measure creates a new Medicare prescription drug benefit in 2006, provides for drug discount cards during the two year transition, carries a $400 billion ten year price tag and allows private insurers to compete for Medicare patients.

BUSH: Medicare is a great achievement of a compassionate government and it is a basic trust we honor.

KING: Some Democrats support the changes but the party's presidential hopefuls rushed to criticize the measure. Former Vermont Governor Howard Dean called it a "boondoggle that prohibits the government from negotiating lower drug prices."

North Carolina Senator John Edwards says the legislation "surrenders Medicare to the drug companies and HMOs."

And Massachusetts Senator John Kerry called it a "$139 billion holiday gift for big insurance companies and drug companies and a raw deal for American seniors."

The elderly vote is critical in the coming campaign and the Medicare changes are getting mixed early reviews. Forty-six percent of seniors favor the new drug benefit, 39 percent oppose it and only 38 percent of those age 65 and over support the other changes in Medicare while 44 percent oppose them.

Nearly six in ten seniors think the new law benefits drug companies and nearly half worry it is too complicated. The White House will try to ease those concerns with a series of town halls across the country.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KING: And it is hardly just the Democrats complaining. Many conservative allies of this White House called this bill big government at its worst. They say the final price tag will be tens of billions of dollars more than advertised.

So, Aaron, as the president tries to make the case that this is good legislation there's plenty of criticism from both sides and this new polling data just out today do appear to show that some of these complaints, especially from the Democrats are starting to take hold.

BROWN: I think this is really interesting. I was just looking at one of the morning papers that we'll get to later, the Detroit paper. One of the headlines in the Detroit paper tomorrow morning is "Medicare Choices Inundate Seniors. Government Faces Difficult Task in Explaining Options." This is, we're at one of those moments where it seems to me on paper you've got a great breakthrough but the devil is in the details.

KING: They need to explain this. They understand that here and that is why as they explained even all the new pieces, all the very complicated pieces, one thing this White House will stress over and over and over again is that this is a voluntary program.

If you want to stay put in Medicare as you have known it for 38 years, stay put. You don't have to change. That is one of the ways they hope to calm down the fears, if you will, from a political standpoint.

BROWN: John, thank you very much, busy day for you, John King at the White House tonight.

One other political note, this one from the intersection of lawmakers and the law, Congressman Bill Janklow says he will resign his seat in the House of Representatives. The South Dakota Republican announced his intention in a letter to the House Speaker Dennis Hastert.

He'll step down on the 20th of January the day he is sentenced for second degree manslaughter, a jury convicting him today for running a stop sign and killing a motorcyclist. The Congressman, who has a long history of speeding, now faces up to ten years in prison.

Ahead on NEWSNIGHT, was he a spy or simply a cad? An Army chaplain who was supposedly arrested as a spy faces charges of adultery. We'll talk with his lawyer.

And later, the mystery science of picking a national football champion is the system broken?

From New York this is NEWSNIGHT.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: When James Yee was taken into custody just about three months ago it was in connection with an espionage investigation at the Guantanamo Bay Detention Center. Today, Chaplain Yee had his first day in court, not as an alleged spy, nothing quite so damaging, well not to his country at least.

Here's CNN's Bob Franken. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FRANKEN (voice-over): Captain James Yee made it a point to bring his family as he began the Article 32 hearing. That's the military's version of a preliminary hearing to determine if he must face court martial for charges that range from mishandling classified documents to adultery. They fall far short of the spying accusations reportedly being considered. Still, said his lawyer the damage had been done.

EUGENE FIDELL, YEE'S LAWYER: I don't know how you can un-ring the bell on something like that. It was extremely unfair and I think to some extent that explains why we're here today on these completely inconsequential charges.

FRANKEN: Navy Lieutenant Karen Wallace was the first witness. As Captain Yee's wife and 4-year-old daughter watched, Lieutenant Wallace testified she had a sexual relationship with Yee that lasted from July until September. That's when Yee was arrested at the Jacksonville, Florida airport shortly after antagonizing some of his Guantanamo officers by expressing sympathy for the detainees.

Customs inspector Sean Rafferty (ph) testified by speaker phone he stopped Captain Yee after a tip from naval authorities that Yee was carrying classified material. Rafferty said he found lists with information about detainees and interrogators as well as information on Syria. Yee's lawyer pointed out he was working on a paper on Syria for his graduate studies.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FRANKEN: The presiding judge, called an investigating officer, will next decide whether this case goes forward or whether he accepts the argument of Yee's attorney who says these are trumped up charges leveled against the Muslim chaplain who was merely complaining about the treatment of the detainees -- Aaron.

BROWN: Any timetable on a decision on whether to bind him over for a court martial?

FRANKEN: Actually it's kind of vague. It's not even determined how long this hearing goes. Then the presiding judge takes whatever time he needs to do a written recommendation to the commanding general. It's the commanding general who will decide based on that recommendation or whatever predisposition he has whether to go forward. So it's a very, very vague process with no timetable.

BROWN: Bob, thank you very much, Bob Franken.

As we said, this all began with accusations not simply of espionage but that perhaps there was at Guantanamo an enormous and dangerous espionage ring, a number of people charged and held.

We heard a few moments ago from Eugene Fidell who is Captain Yee's attorney and he joins us now from Fort Benning. Thank you for joining us. I'm looking for a little context here. Compare a charge of treason or espionage with a charge of mishandling classified documents.

FIDELL: Well I think, Aaron, you've answered your own question there. There is no comparison. There are a lot of classified document issues that come up every single day in the military and throughout the federal government.

They're really a dime a dozen and anyone who's been a military lawyer and I think as you know I was in Coast Guard going all that far back these things happen all the time and typically they're handled not with a court martial or an Article 32 investigation.

They're handled with a reprimand or somebody gets chewed out. Maybe they have a nasty letter put in their file or maybe somebody does something to their security clearance but they don't find themselves in an Article 32 investigation possibly headed to a general court martial.

BROWN: One more question on this subject. When the government, when the Army inadvertently dropped off at your office classified material would that technically be mishandling of classified information? If so, has anyone been charged in that?

FIDELL: You're absolutely right, Aaron. Actually it's even worse than that. They didn't drop it off at my office. They put it through the mail slot at my suburban Washington home and I've been wondering just how long it's going to be before the prosecutors get charged with something like that and I hope they're doing a good, solid investigation so the guilty parties can be brought to book.

BROWN: On the adultery, there's no -- it seems to me you've got a legitimate problem, legal problem there because his lover took the witness stand and said yes there was a sexual relationship. So I think the question is how often is adultery prosecuted in this way?

FIDELL: Leave it to the military to use the military justice system to prosecute crimes of adultery against anybody. It's totally ridiculous in the year 2003 with all the crises facing our country and with all the really substantial challenges that the military has to face that any energy whatever would be expended on this. I think it's a complete waste of the taxpayers' time and money to pursue adultery charges in the military in this or any case like it. It's ridiculous.

BROWN: Look at the end at the day I think the question people are going to ask is at one point he was suspected of treason. Now we're down to something quite different. What is going on here?

FIDELL: I think it's one of those situations, Aaron, where it's very easy to set things in motion and it's very difficult sometimes or so it seems to bring them into a landing.

I think somebody has to grasp the nettle, somebody in a position of responsibility and say look this is not a sound use of resources. We have so many much more important things pressing for our attention. Somebody in responsibility has to say that's enough. We're shutting it down. Let's move on.

BROWN: Think that will happen?

FIDELL: I'm ever an optimist. I hope that enlightenment will come. You know Justice Frankfurter once said something like wisdom so often never comes at all. When it comes late we shouldn't turn it away just for that reason.

BROWN: We'll leave it on that note. Thanks for your time tonight, counselor. Good luck to you. Thank you, sir.

A few more items making news around the country, first the sniper trial, a psychologist testified today that Lee Boyd Malvo told him he was the lookout not the shooter in the killing of FBI analyst Linda Franklin.

That contradicts a taped confession by Mr. Malvo saying he did shoot her. The psychologist said Malvo, 17 at the time of the shootings, 18 now, was trying to protect John Muhammad his much older partner in crime.

Police in North Dakota said today they have no plans to give up looking for 22-year-old Dru Sjodin despite a pause in the search, snow and cold that hampered the effort some. It's been 16 days now since the young woman disappeared from a shopping mall in Grand Forks.

In Oklahoma City, almost nine years after a truck bomb ripped through the Murrah Federal Office Building its replacement opened today about a block from the blast site.

The new building, which has not yet been named, is three and a half stories tall, state of the art security, including shatterproof windows. Eleven federal agencies plan to move in over the next few months.

Coming up on NEWSNIGHT an update from other war where a new round of attacks proves that Afghanistan is anything but over. This is NEWSNIGHT on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: There was a time when the war terror was the war in Afghanistan. That's where the al Qaeda leadership lived, where the Taliban ruled. Afghanistan lost the battle for public attention when the buildup to the war with Iraq began. And now it rarely gets a mention. But it does tonight, in part because of a large American operation called Operation Avalanche and in part because of nine dead children.

Here's CNN's Jamie McIntyre.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN MILITARY AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The U.S. military claims it was an accident of war. Blood, shoes and toys litter the ground of the mountain village in eastern Afghanistan, cratered by the powerful guns of U.S. A-10 attack jets that, Saturday, went after a man the U.S. says was a known terrorist. Nine children, seven boys and two girls were killed by mistake in the airstrike, along with a man who may or may not have been the intended target.

LT. COL. BRYAN HILFERTY, COALITION SPOKESMAN: Even with our best efforts, with our very stringent rules of engagement, with doing the best we could to make sure that only this person was injured or killed, unfortunately, other nice, innocent bystanders were injured.

MCINTYRE: The U.S. military has appointed a commission to investigate the deaths, which raise questions about the appropriateness of using A-10 tank-killer jets against a single person and the quality of the intelligence that indicated he was alone in an isolated, rural area.

Pentagon sources say the U.S. still believes it got the right man, a Taliban holdout who had killed two foreign contractors. But local villagers insist, all the victims were innocent. "These innocent children, they didn't have any weapons with them," said this man, who is head of the village. "And none of their relatives were part of al Qaeda," he added.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai was said to be profoundly shocked by the tragedy. And U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan issued a warning read by a spokesman.

FRED ECKHARD, U.N. SPOKESMAN: "The fight against terrorism cannot be won at the expense of innocent lives."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MCINTYRE: And the tragic incident underscores that, while Iraq continues to grab the headlines, the war against insurgents in Afghanistan is far from over either.

In fact, the United States is now launching a major offensive, the biggest since the end of major combat there; 2,000 U.S. soldiers will be scouring the area along the border with Pakistan, looking for Taliban and al Qaeda holdouts, before they can hunker down for the winter. The operation's name, as you said, Operation Avalanche -- Aaron.

BROWN: How many American soldiers are in Afghanistan?

MCINTYRE: About -- roughly about 11,700, in that neighborhood.

BROWN: And, if you add the NATO component, the international troops that are there, what do we get up to?

MCINTYRE: Well, there's about, I think it's 5,700 NATO troops. They're mostly just providing security. And the U.S. troops are mostly engaged in the hunt for Taliban and al Qaeda, along with some Afghan national army as well.

BROWN: Jamie, thank you very much -- Jamie McIntyre at the Pentagon tonight. On to other business, the "MONEYLINE Roundup," which begins tonight with Ozzy Osbourne -- really, now-- who, along with his family -- here's the business connection -- made tens of millions of dollars for MTV. Had to be there. He's in pretty rough shape, in any case, after crashing an off-road motor bike on the grounds of his British estate, broken ribs, vertebrae, collarbone. Doctors performed emergency surgery to lift the collarbone, which may have cut off blood flow to one of his arms. Not a good day there.

The House today approved a bill banning a variety of unsolicited e-mail, spam, in other words, at least the kind that uses false return addresses, which a good chunk of it does. Spammers under the bill could face a jail time. The Senate has already approved its version of the bill.

The Federal Reserve meets tomorrow, all eyes on Greenspan and company and what they'll do with interest rates. Wall Street expecting the Central Bank to keep interest rates where they are now, in light of a sluggish job report and low inflation. The announcement comes at 2:15, complete reporting here on CNN and on CNNfn as well. The markets today up, the Dow flirting with 10000 and finishing the day at an 18-month high.

Still to come on the program: mystery science theater, sort of -- a look at the mystery of course the controversy of picking a college football champion.

Around the world, this is NEWSNIGHT.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: We are loathe to call this a sports story. We don't do sports stories. Think of it as a technology-run-amuck story instead.

Five years ago, deciding which college football team was No. 1 was turned over to computers. And, of course, everything has gotten more complicated since, which, in a nutshell, is why USC, Southern Cal, the team ranked first in the country by the coaches and the news media, will not be playing in the national championship game next month.

Here's CNN's Josie Burke.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOSIE BURKE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): College football wanted to avoid events like the split national title in 1997. That year, undefeated Michigan was crowned national champion in one poll and undefeated Nebraska got the title in the other.

The BCS was supposed to fix all that by using a formula that consists of four basic factors: number of losses, average rating in the AP and coaches poll, seven different computer rankings, and the strength of schedule. The BCS system worked, to a point. Then came Saturday, when the only unbeaten, Oklahoma, was pounded by Kansas State. That left three teams with one loss, the Sooners, USC and LSU. NICK SABAN, LSU HEAD FOOTBALL COACH: I know a lot of quality people have worked long and hard to try to make the system as good as it could be. But I think, whether it was us, Kansas State, whoever the culprits, the system was exposed a little bit this year, for whatever reasons.

BURKE: The BCS computer and the two national polls returned drastically different results. The coaches poll and the media poll both ranked USC No. 1, LSU No. 2 and Oklahoma No. 3. In the BCS rankings, Oklahoma remained No. 1. And, largely because of strength of schedule, LSU moved into the two slot, with USC third. That left the Trojans, the top team in the country according to both polls, out of the BCS title game.

PETE CARROLL, USC HEAD COACH: I've been kind of talking about it all year with the thought that this can occur, yes. And it's a system. It's organized outside of really the playing field. And so, it could happen.

BURKE: Now, chances are high the championship will be split again. The system designed to reduce controversy only continues to generate it.

Josie Burke, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: So tonight, we ask, is being No. 1 today less or more than the sum of its parts? Put another way, is the college bowl system broken?

For answers, we go to Craig James, who is a college football analyst for ABC Sports. And he joins us from Dallas tonight.

It's nice to see you.

Who's the best team in the country, by the way?

(LAUGHTER)

CRAIG JAMES, COLLEGE FOOTBALL ANALYST: It depends on which fans you're asking out there. I can't -- each team deserves to be No. 1. And when you look at the overall system that these coaches have talked about, it is the strength of schedule. And that's what's hurt USC, the perception that the Pac-10 is not as strong. And in the system we use, Aaron, that's what got them.

BROWN: So you're not making the argument that they picked the wrong two teams. It seems to me you're making the argument that they picked two very good teams, and one other very good team has to play Michigan.

JAMES: Absolutely. There's no way that the way we're working, under the system we're within right now, could have won out in this scenario. And USC happened to be the team that was chosen to go out and play in the Rose Bowl. Now, Pete Carroll, their coach, is doing the right thing. He's saying all the right things, diplomatically, that his team has a chance, which they do, to win the AP vote. So it will be really two titles that we will have this year. And so the fans will just have to deal with it.

BROWN: Well, television will love that.

Why is there not -- I mean, the obvious solution is what they do in every other sport. Why not have a playoff in football, have a couple of bowl games be semifinal games, and then have one big TV blowout for the whole thing?

JAMES: We've been hoping for that for a long time. And it will be a long time before we get to a true playoff structure in college football.

But I believe that there is so much pressure on the BCS right now, these big schools that really are bringing in all the money, for them to have change, change for the smaller schools, the mid-level conference schools, so they can become part of it, as well as, after the traditional bowl games are played, maybe one more game, Aaron. That's all we have to do, is just create one more bowl game, where the winner of the Rose Bowl plays the winner of the Sugar Bowl and we've got a true national champion.

BROWN: Well, why has that not happened?

JAMES: I think it hasn't happened because the conference commissioners and the presidents of these schools have been really happy and content with what has happened so far.

But this five-year little schedule they have had with the BCS, this is a major flaw in the system. They say they'll get together in the spring and they'll talk about it. There will be change. There will be change in the air now because of the non-BCS schools and because of the fans. The fans want to have change.

BROWN: Only some -- this is yet another example where I don't know anything. Are only some schools in the BCS?

JAMES: Well, there's a big school system out there. They call it the BCS schools. There are six major conferences.

And those conference champions really make up the majority of what we have. The non-BCS schools, those mid-level conference schools and the non-big guys, they have to fight and hope for their way into this. But strength of schedule and all the other things that go into this formula usually keep them from ever having a real shot at it. Cinderella was TCU this year. TCU got beat late in the year and so they got knocked out of the dance.

BROWN: But there was a lot of talk, when TCU was undefeated, I think, that this was going to cause an enormous problem for the bowl selection and all of that, because they were not considered a football powerhouse, but they were a very good football team.

JAMES: They are a very good football team.

But the truth is, the way that we're working under right now, they don't have the same demands week in and week out that an SEC school does or that a Big 12 school, Big 10 school. So these BCS guys, they really do have a tougher schedule. Now, the fans have been looking for something to scream about since September.

BROWN: Yes.

JAMES: Every year, we want to have controversy. And right now, we have got a pretty good case of it.

BROWN: Now, the answer to all of this, it seems to me is, if Michigan wins, then everyone can be quiet and it doesn't matter anymore, right?

JAMES: That's exactly right. And Pete Carroll needs to be worried about that, because the Michigan Wolverines are a very good football team.

BROWN: They are, indeed.

It's nice to have you with us. Thank you.

JAMES: Thank you, Aaron.

BROWN: Craig James from Dallas tonight.

Ahead on NEWSNIGHT: strange faces in strange places. What are the Russians doing in what was an all-black school in the South?

Around the world, this is NEWSNIGHT.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: By definition, you can't predict unintended consequences. But sometimes, they achieve what the best-laid plans have not. This would seem to be one of those times. In Russia, a student was looking for a college education he couldn't afford. And, in Mississippi, a university was shopping for standout tennis players. They found each other, which was enough to begin a migration which is transforming the school.

Here is CNN's Bruce Burkhardt.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let me show you how we're going to do step by step, OK?

BRUCE BURKHARDT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): An economics class at Alcorn State University, an historically black college in a remote corner of Southwest Mississippi. It might not be the place one would expect to find Setmana Ismalova (ph) or Raman Lavachkin (ph) or many other white faces, for that matter.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But, initially, it was a cultural shock, because, as you may know, Russia is 99.99 percent white.

BURKHARDT: Devon Dilco (ph) is studying journalism here, works in the campus TV station. He's one of about 30 Russians now on campus, a migration that started back in 1998.

TONY DODGEN, ALCORN UNIVERSITY TENNIS COACH: Let's get it rolling, guys.

BURKHARDT: It seems tennis coach Anthony Dodgen was looking to upgrade his team.

DODGEN: Let's go, girls.

BURKHARDT: So he recruited a Russian tennis player who has since graduated. But others followed.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's my home city.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's near the Ukraine.

BURKHARDT: Voronezh, Russia, it's where all the Russians here come from, including Nikolai Gudivich (ph). After that first tennis player, word spread in Voronezh of this university in America where one could get a full scholarship.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My parents, like, couldn't afford to pay off like all the tuition and everything. They could basically only pay for my ticket from Moscow to here.

BURKHARDT: It all started with tennis, but it fit in nicely with Alcorn's game plan to diversify their campus and break down the racial divide.

CLINTON BRISTOW, PRESIDENT, ALCORN STATE UNIVERSITY: The racial divide stops at the borders of the United States. And so international students do not see race as an issue. They're more concerned about: What do I get from an experience?

BURKHARDT (on camera): When you were over in Russia and you were a high school girl, did you know anything about Mississippi?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tom Sawyer and the Mississippi river.

BURKHARDT (voice-over): Eugenia Murkulova (ph), after graduating, was hired by the school to work in university relations. She was one of the pioneers, the second one to arrive here, and eventually traded in her Russian accent for a Southern one.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: One of the things I learned about was sororities and fraternities. I decided to join one. And that was one of the best experiences of my life.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was surprised when Eugenia, she pledged, well, a traditionally black sorority. It was a big thing on campus.

BURKHARDT (on camera): But real diversity, diversity beyond a handful of Russian and other international students, will be dependent upon whether or not white Mississippians starting showing up here.

(voice-over): And that is starting to happen. Five years ago, there were 102 American white students enrolled, today, more than twice that, 287, though most of those are at branch campuses in Vicksburg and Natchez.

BRISTOW: The plus is that an international person has helped to lessen racial differences locally.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Interaction with all those people made me a lot more educated people-wise.

BURKHARDT: People-wise, Alcorn State has moved to the head of the class.

Bruce Burkhardt, CNN, Alcorn State, Mississippi.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Morning papers after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(ROOSTER CROWING)

BROWN: And after a long weekend of not knowing what other people were reading in their morning papers, it's time to check those papers from around the country and around the world. Okeydokey, here we go.

"The Richmond Times-Dispatch," I like the headline. "Right and Wrong an Illusion. Psychologist Who Met Malvo Says Teen's Disorder Limited His Moral Judgment." The sniper case. The Dean-Gore endorsement story is on the front page. And their big story, "No Shots Today." Flu hitting children hard in Virginia, or I guess around the country, because it's an Associated Press story. That's "The Richmond Times-Dispatch."

"The Oregonian," somebody wrote me the other day. He said, how come you don't have "The Oregonian" anymore? Because they hadn't been sending it. But they did today. It's a good story, too. "Fatally Flawed. Child Care System Proves Little Protection For Its Most Vulnerable and Little Deterrent For Those Who Harm Them." Yet another state with problems in its child welfare system. This is a series of reports called "The Place Where Children Die" in "The Oregonian," which is a pretty good newspaper out West.

"The Philadelphia Inquirer." It's a good piece of reporting here. "Pollution Citations Plummet Under Bush. Records Show Declines From Previous Administrations. The Head of EPA Says His Agency is Getting Results By Working Smarter," so says "The Philadelphia Inquirer" in a front-page story tomorrow.

How we doing on time?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 1:05.

BROWN: Thank you.

"The Times Herald-Record" in Upstate New York. That would be the Catskills edition, not to be confused with other editions of this fine paper. "Deadly Flu Complications For Kids Send Parents on Vaccine Search, But Local Doctors Say, 'We're All Out.'" That's the headline. And there's a guy getting a shot. So what's he getting a shot of if they're all out? I can't explain that.

"The Washington Times" leads with Medicare and a headline that seems to me suggests the editors are a little troubled by it all. "Estimates on Medicare Hit $2 Trillion. Prescription Drug Benefit Promises Huge Cost," a front-page story. And there was one other story I liked. But I don't remember what it was.

"The Boston Herald." "Dean Gets Gore Nod," a political story in a political town.

"The Detroit News." "Chrysler Fights to Reclaim Its Minivan Crown." I like the story, because I didn't know there was a problem there.

"The Chicago Sun-Times," what happened to it? It's here somewhere. There it is. The weather tomorrow in Chicago is "waterlogged," 46 degrees. That's the "Sun-Times" headline.

We'll wrap up the day's top story in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Before we go, a quick update of our top story, a big day for Howard Dean. The Democratic presidential contender reportedly will get the endorsement of former Vice President Al Gore tomorrow morning, 8:00. Said one Democratic consultant tonight, it means the party insiders can relax. Governor Dean has been knighted by the ultimate insider. This, he said, is game, set and match.

Dr. Dean's opponents might beg to differ, but, no matter how you look at it, it is no small thing.

On NEWSNIGHT tomorrow: pictures of the difficulties of life in Iraq and some triumphs as well from inside Iraqi hospitals. That's tomorrow on NEWSNIGHT

"LOU DOBBS TONIGHT" is next.

Good night for all of us.

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





Janklow to Step Down as Member of House of Representatives>


Aired December 8, 2003 - 22:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
AARON BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Good evening again.
Al Gore has decided to play king maker and a lot of old friends can't be very happy. Gore's decision to endorse Governor Howard Dean, a story CNN broke this afternoon, raises lots of questions to be sure, why Dean, why now, to name just two.

And here's another we probably can't answer tonight. Will such an endorsement matter? Does Mr. Gore still have clout? Can he move Democratic voters, many of whom wish he were running and believe he won the election three years ago?

Politics and a lot of it top the program and begin the whip and the whip begins with CNN's Kelly Wallace who is with the Dean campaign here in New York, Kelly a headline.

KELLY WALLACE, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Aaron, it's a bit noisy here, a musical event for Howard Dean who will be speaking a bit later. The news expected from Al Gore on Tuesday stunning the political world, including as you said some of the Democratic presidential candidates, most observers believing now that Dean will go into Iowa and New Hampshire with even more momentum -- Aaron.

BROWN: Kelly, thank you. We'll get to you at the top tonight.

More on this and another big development, politically, of the day, CNN's Senior White House Correspondent John King working both stories, John a headline.

JOHN KING, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Aaron, we're told Al Gore decided to do this because he does not want the Democratic campaign to be a protracted one.

Here at the White House they think this helps Howard Dean but they also say they can't worry about who will be running against this president just yet. So when he signed that big Medicare legislation into law today, Mr. Bush looking ahead to the issues he believes will help in the next campaign.

BROWN: Deftly done, John, thank you.

On to Fort Benning, Georgia and the case of chaplain John Yee, CNN's Bob Franken with the watch, a headline Bob.

BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: And, Aaron, it's a case that involves accusations of adultery, pornography and the mishandling of classified material and charges that they shouldn't all be here together (unintelligible).

BROWN: Bob, thank you.

And finally the Pentagon and the forgotten war CNN's Jamie McIntyre on that for us tonight, Jamie a headline from you.

JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SR. PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Aaron, as the U.S. is planning to mount a major new offensive in Afghanistan a strike, an air strike on Saturday is raising troubling questions. Nine children were killed. The question is to what extent is the U.S. living up to its pledge to do everything humanly possible to avoid unintended civilian casualties -- Aaron.

BROWN: Jamie, thank you. We'll get back to you and the rest shortly.

Also ahead on the program tonight, let me see if I have this straight. The college football team that's ranked number one in both the major polls will not play for the national championship because? We'll try and sort this out for you as opposed to making sense of it.

Then, Segment 7, we head to Alcorn State where traditionally African American student body is seeing an influx of Russians.

And the big finale tonight comes complete with a rooster who is paper trained, more or less, morning papers, all that and more in the hour ahead.

We begin with the campaign for the White House past and present. That former Vermont Governor Howard Dean has been the frontrunner is hardly news. The new poll out today has him eight points ahead nationally. His lead in New Hampshire if those polls are to be believed is enormous.

But when CNN reported this afternoon that former Vice President Al Gore, who if nothing else can say he received more votes in a losing campaign than George W. Bush did in a winning one, when we reported that Gore would endorse Dr. Dean the possibility of the race shifting seemed real.

At best it was hugely disappointing news to several long time Gore friends, including his running mate Senator Joe Lieberman. We have a series of reports tonight beginning with CNN's Kelly Wallace.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HOWARD DEAN (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And the next president of the United States is going to be a Democrat and you'll all be welcome to the inauguration (unintelligible).

WALLACE (voice-over): A pumped up Howard Dean getting the nod from 23 New York City lawmakers Monday about to get perhaps the biggest boost yet of his candidacy, former Vice President Al Gore, the man Democrats hoped would beat George W. Bush in 2000 expected to endorse Dean Tuesday. Political analysts say Gore is making the move now weeks before the kickoff contests in Iowa and New Hampshire to have the most impact.

JOSEPH MERCURIO, POLITICAL CONSULTANT: He understand that if the Democrats are going to win to have any chance they have to give the nominee of the party a long time to raise money and campaign and get known with the voters.

WALLACE: The nod comes as the former Vermont governor increases his lead over the eight other Democratic presidential candidates according to the latest CNN-USA Today Gallup poll with the support of 25 percent of registered Democrats. In second place retired General Wesley Clark who tried to shrug off the Gore news in an interview Monday night.

WESLEY CLARK (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I don't pay any attention to endorsements unless they're for me.

WALLACE: Senator Joseph Lieberman conceded he did not even receive a heads-up from his former running mate.

SEN. JOSEPH LIEBERMAN (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I was surprised but I am more determined than ever to continue to fight for what's right for my party and my country.

WALLACE: The Gephardt team currently locked in a tight and tough fight with Dean in Iowa said: "Dick Gephardt fought side-by-side with Al Gore to pass the Clinton economic plan, pass the assault weapons ban and defend against Republican attacks on Medicare and affirmative action. On each of these issues, Howard Dean was on the wrong side."

Senator John Kerry in a statement said he respected Gore but then questioned Gore's relevance saying: "The election is about the future, not about the past."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALLACE: And back again at a somewhat noisy Dean campaign rally here, Dean has long been viewed as an outsider of the Democratic Party establishment and some political observers believe that Gore's expected endorsement could signal to the party faithful that they should get on the Dean bandwagon making him even tougher to beat in the months ahead -- Aaron.

BROWN: Kelly, we're going to leave it at that. There's no -- we're not going to compete with the band. Thank you very much, Kelly Wallace who's in New York with the Dean campaign.

Our Senior Analyst Jeff Greenfield is here. So is our Senior Political Reporter Candy Crowley who's in Boston tonight. Quickly to both of you, Jeff first, are you surprised?

JEFF GREENFIELD, CNN SENIOR ANALYST: Yes for a lot of reasons not the least of which is that not so long ago I think Al Gore was raising some private real questions about Dean's electability even to the point where some people were suggesting Gore was thinking maybe it wasn't too late but, yes, I'm surprised.

BROWN: And, Candy, are you surprised?

CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SR. POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Sure. You know it's one of those things that when it happens you think, oh well, you know this makes sense but, yes, when it first happened I was surprised not for the same reasons that Jeff is.

Because, you know, we are talking about people that have known John Kerry for quite some time, including his running mate in 2000 and Richard Gephardt and John Kerry, not close friends of Al Gore's and that's what surprised me most was I didn't think that he would do this to them.

BROWN: I'm fascinated by the timing of it all, Jeff.

GREENFIELD: Well, if you are a conspiratorialist and I have heard an amazing number of people inside this thinking this is all about 2008. Gore is setting him up with Dean supporters. He wants to show that he's a populous. He's an outsider. If you are a conspiratorialist this is all about the Clintons. You have to take a beat here. You know Hillary was...

BROWN: Isn't it always?

GREENFIELD: Well, because the Hillary is the 2008 go likely and if Al Gore wants to be relevant he has to get on the side of the people who are most active and isn't it interesting that Hillary was on all -- was on three network news shows on Sunday and now Al Gore wants a piece of this.

I take some of this with a grain of salt but if you want a kind of weird inside the Beltway, inside the political world analysis of the timing that's that the more likely explanation is that if Gore wants to be relevant this is a much more powerful endorsement now than say it would be after the New Hampshire primary.

BROWN: Candy, how much help is this for Governor Dean would you guess?

CROWLEY: You know does it bring him any more votes? I don't know. At this point, I mean let's remember that since the 2000 election Al Gore has come out for single payer health insurance. He has come out against the Patriot Act. He's come out, I mean he's taken some very sort of left of center positions. He's no longer that DLC candidate that ran at least in the first part of this campaign.

So, in a lot of ways the people in the primary who are already inclined to go with Dean, you know, I don't know that this makes that much difference. Having said that if you talk to any of these campaigns tonight they say look I mean we are now giving Dean media coverage that he couldn't possibly buy. This gives, this keeps him going. It begins to look like a juggernaut. It's all about, you know, pushing it forward looking like they can't stop you and Gore adds to that.

BROWN: Jeff.

GREENFIELD: I think there's a substantive part of this. I think it was always Howard Dean's biggest problem to avoid the fate of Gary Hart the first time he ran in '84, not the famous (unintelligible).

BROWN: Right.

GREENFIELD: When he won a bunch of primaries and then was painted as this weird guy who wasn't a real Democrat, didn't relate to labor, African Americans and the base and you can see Dick Gephardt already trying to paint Dean as outside. He's not a real Democrat. He's somehow weird.

Al Gore, who was -- is as of now, you know, Mr. Insider, the guy who had all the unions back in 2000, strong support in the African American community it is as they used to say no accident that the formal endorsement is supposed to take place eight o'clock tomorrow, where, in Harlem.

It was a way to signal the more traditional Democrats this is not some strange (unintelligible) Ben & Jerry's Vermont commune guy, you know, listening to Grateful Dead tapes. He's a real Democrat and I think that's where it helps substantively.

BROWN: Candy, we'll let both of you at this one. The knock on, among the knocks on Governor Dean is that in the end he's George McGovern for a different century that he is essentially not electable. Does this in any way, will this in any way change that perception among those even in the Democratic Party who might have it?

CROWLEY: Look, certainly it helps but let's face it what Howard Dean needs more than anything else, Al Gore or anything, is to be seen as someone who can beat George Bush. I think Al Gore has clearly made the determination that Howard Dean can beat George Bush and that's why he endorsed him.

Now whether or not this does anything for Al Gore, I don't see it. I don't see any 2008 implications but it certainly does put Howard Dean next to a conventional politician. That helps but he was already on his way. I think this was, you know, Gore's ahead of the cusp but not by much.

BROWN: Jeff.

GREENFIELD: One the campaigns after giving their official statement sent me a background statement saying this proves how unelectable Dean is because Gore is endorsing him knowing he's going to lose again with that five years from now.

I think the problem for Howard Dean is to convince not Democrats so much as the folks who are not, like I said he is a solid, okay on national security, understands their values. I think it's been very intriguing. I watched Dean's speech at the Florida Democratic Convention.

He is speaking general election rhetoric already so at least he understand what his problem may be. I don't think this gets him very far on that dilemma. That's going to have to wait to see how he campaigns in the weeks ahead and should he be the nominee then.

I mean certainly we've been hearing for a long time the Republicans can't wait to run against Howard Dean. Let's see if they feel that way in six or seven months if he'd be the nominee.

BROWN: It seems like a good time to bring in our Senior White House Correspondent then John King who's at the White House tonight. Are they still chomping at the bit on Howard Dean? I know they can't, you know, they can't hold a briefing and say we're chomping at the bit for Howard Dean but are they?

KING: It depends on who you ask, Aaron. If you look at this from a liberal conservative view they do think they can run a McGovern campaign or Dukakis campaign against Howard Dean on several key issues. They think that just the fact that he's from the northeast makes him unpalatable to some in the south.

They think they can call him a liberal on issues such as health care, on issues such as gay civil unions, but they also say look this president was a governor. Bill Clinton was a governor. Ronald Reagan was a governor and Howard Dean was a governor.

Governors do bring an experience and a toughness to the table and they do believe if he can rally the Democratic base and turn out those voters if you have a close, competitive election it could be tough.

BROWN: Even some reporting on this this afternoon was this something that seemed in the works for the last week, ten days, or is it something that just happened?

KING: Al Gore is not someone, and you were exploring this just now with Candy and Jeff, he has many political associates. It is pretty fair I think to say Al Gore does not have a lot of political friends so it's hard to piece some of this together.

But I am told tonight that this conversation started actually a couple of months back. You'll remember Al Gore virtually disappeared. Then he came out and he gave a speech to a liberal group called Moveon.org. He's been active with them since.

After that first speech we are told that Howard Dean called him and said nice speech. I liked your ideas. I like where you're going. I'd like to stay in touch. We should talk more and that began this dialogue.

How they came to the actual decision for an endorsement, don't have all of those nuts and bolts yet but I am told by a source very close to the former vice president that he always planned to endorse and he views this as "an impact moment."

BROWN: On the other side of the coin, the president today got himself an issue if you will that he can run on from his perspective a positive issue, Medicare. KING: They think so and look where Al Gore and Howard Dean are going tomorrow. They're going to the state of Iowa. It has a fast growing elderly population. It is a small state but one of the battlegrounds in presidential politics.

In this Medicare issue, as they wait here at the White House to find out who the opponent will be, they think this issue, this legislation now the law of the land helps them very much when it comes to the issues terrain.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KING (voice-over): This signing ushers in major changes to the Medicare program including a new prescription drug benefit and this sign says it all when it comes to how a Republican president seeking reelection hopes to benefit on an issue long associated with the Democrats.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We kept our promise and found a way to get the job done.

KING: The measure creates a new Medicare prescription drug benefit in 2006, provides for drug discount cards during the two year transition, carries a $400 billion ten year price tag and allows private insurers to compete for Medicare patients.

BUSH: Medicare is a great achievement of a compassionate government and it is a basic trust we honor.

KING: Some Democrats support the changes but the party's presidential hopefuls rushed to criticize the measure. Former Vermont Governor Howard Dean called it a "boondoggle that prohibits the government from negotiating lower drug prices."

North Carolina Senator John Edwards says the legislation "surrenders Medicare to the drug companies and HMOs."

And Massachusetts Senator John Kerry called it a "$139 billion holiday gift for big insurance companies and drug companies and a raw deal for American seniors."

The elderly vote is critical in the coming campaign and the Medicare changes are getting mixed early reviews. Forty-six percent of seniors favor the new drug benefit, 39 percent oppose it and only 38 percent of those age 65 and over support the other changes in Medicare while 44 percent oppose them.

Nearly six in ten seniors think the new law benefits drug companies and nearly half worry it is too complicated. The White House will try to ease those concerns with a series of town halls across the country.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KING: And it is hardly just the Democrats complaining. Many conservative allies of this White House called this bill big government at its worst. They say the final price tag will be tens of billions of dollars more than advertised.

So, Aaron, as the president tries to make the case that this is good legislation there's plenty of criticism from both sides and this new polling data just out today do appear to show that some of these complaints, especially from the Democrats are starting to take hold.

BROWN: I think this is really interesting. I was just looking at one of the morning papers that we'll get to later, the Detroit paper. One of the headlines in the Detroit paper tomorrow morning is "Medicare Choices Inundate Seniors. Government Faces Difficult Task in Explaining Options." This is, we're at one of those moments where it seems to me on paper you've got a great breakthrough but the devil is in the details.

KING: They need to explain this. They understand that here and that is why as they explained even all the new pieces, all the very complicated pieces, one thing this White House will stress over and over and over again is that this is a voluntary program.

If you want to stay put in Medicare as you have known it for 38 years, stay put. You don't have to change. That is one of the ways they hope to calm down the fears, if you will, from a political standpoint.

BROWN: John, thank you very much, busy day for you, John King at the White House tonight.

One other political note, this one from the intersection of lawmakers and the law, Congressman Bill Janklow says he will resign his seat in the House of Representatives. The South Dakota Republican announced his intention in a letter to the House Speaker Dennis Hastert.

He'll step down on the 20th of January the day he is sentenced for second degree manslaughter, a jury convicting him today for running a stop sign and killing a motorcyclist. The Congressman, who has a long history of speeding, now faces up to ten years in prison.

Ahead on NEWSNIGHT, was he a spy or simply a cad? An Army chaplain who was supposedly arrested as a spy faces charges of adultery. We'll talk with his lawyer.

And later, the mystery science of picking a national football champion is the system broken?

From New York this is NEWSNIGHT.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: When James Yee was taken into custody just about three months ago it was in connection with an espionage investigation at the Guantanamo Bay Detention Center. Today, Chaplain Yee had his first day in court, not as an alleged spy, nothing quite so damaging, well not to his country at least.

Here's CNN's Bob Franken. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FRANKEN (voice-over): Captain James Yee made it a point to bring his family as he began the Article 32 hearing. That's the military's version of a preliminary hearing to determine if he must face court martial for charges that range from mishandling classified documents to adultery. They fall far short of the spying accusations reportedly being considered. Still, said his lawyer the damage had been done.

EUGENE FIDELL, YEE'S LAWYER: I don't know how you can un-ring the bell on something like that. It was extremely unfair and I think to some extent that explains why we're here today on these completely inconsequential charges.

FRANKEN: Navy Lieutenant Karen Wallace was the first witness. As Captain Yee's wife and 4-year-old daughter watched, Lieutenant Wallace testified she had a sexual relationship with Yee that lasted from July until September. That's when Yee was arrested at the Jacksonville, Florida airport shortly after antagonizing some of his Guantanamo officers by expressing sympathy for the detainees.

Customs inspector Sean Rafferty (ph) testified by speaker phone he stopped Captain Yee after a tip from naval authorities that Yee was carrying classified material. Rafferty said he found lists with information about detainees and interrogators as well as information on Syria. Yee's lawyer pointed out he was working on a paper on Syria for his graduate studies.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FRANKEN: The presiding judge, called an investigating officer, will next decide whether this case goes forward or whether he accepts the argument of Yee's attorney who says these are trumped up charges leveled against the Muslim chaplain who was merely complaining about the treatment of the detainees -- Aaron.

BROWN: Any timetable on a decision on whether to bind him over for a court martial?

FRANKEN: Actually it's kind of vague. It's not even determined how long this hearing goes. Then the presiding judge takes whatever time he needs to do a written recommendation to the commanding general. It's the commanding general who will decide based on that recommendation or whatever predisposition he has whether to go forward. So it's a very, very vague process with no timetable.

BROWN: Bob, thank you very much, Bob Franken.

As we said, this all began with accusations not simply of espionage but that perhaps there was at Guantanamo an enormous and dangerous espionage ring, a number of people charged and held.

We heard a few moments ago from Eugene Fidell who is Captain Yee's attorney and he joins us now from Fort Benning. Thank you for joining us. I'm looking for a little context here. Compare a charge of treason or espionage with a charge of mishandling classified documents.

FIDELL: Well I think, Aaron, you've answered your own question there. There is no comparison. There are a lot of classified document issues that come up every single day in the military and throughout the federal government.

They're really a dime a dozen and anyone who's been a military lawyer and I think as you know I was in Coast Guard going all that far back these things happen all the time and typically they're handled not with a court martial or an Article 32 investigation.

They're handled with a reprimand or somebody gets chewed out. Maybe they have a nasty letter put in their file or maybe somebody does something to their security clearance but they don't find themselves in an Article 32 investigation possibly headed to a general court martial.

BROWN: One more question on this subject. When the government, when the Army inadvertently dropped off at your office classified material would that technically be mishandling of classified information? If so, has anyone been charged in that?

FIDELL: You're absolutely right, Aaron. Actually it's even worse than that. They didn't drop it off at my office. They put it through the mail slot at my suburban Washington home and I've been wondering just how long it's going to be before the prosecutors get charged with something like that and I hope they're doing a good, solid investigation so the guilty parties can be brought to book.

BROWN: On the adultery, there's no -- it seems to me you've got a legitimate problem, legal problem there because his lover took the witness stand and said yes there was a sexual relationship. So I think the question is how often is adultery prosecuted in this way?

FIDELL: Leave it to the military to use the military justice system to prosecute crimes of adultery against anybody. It's totally ridiculous in the year 2003 with all the crises facing our country and with all the really substantial challenges that the military has to face that any energy whatever would be expended on this. I think it's a complete waste of the taxpayers' time and money to pursue adultery charges in the military in this or any case like it. It's ridiculous.

BROWN: Look at the end at the day I think the question people are going to ask is at one point he was suspected of treason. Now we're down to something quite different. What is going on here?

FIDELL: I think it's one of those situations, Aaron, where it's very easy to set things in motion and it's very difficult sometimes or so it seems to bring them into a landing.

I think somebody has to grasp the nettle, somebody in a position of responsibility and say look this is not a sound use of resources. We have so many much more important things pressing for our attention. Somebody in responsibility has to say that's enough. We're shutting it down. Let's move on.

BROWN: Think that will happen?

FIDELL: I'm ever an optimist. I hope that enlightenment will come. You know Justice Frankfurter once said something like wisdom so often never comes at all. When it comes late we shouldn't turn it away just for that reason.

BROWN: We'll leave it on that note. Thanks for your time tonight, counselor. Good luck to you. Thank you, sir.

A few more items making news around the country, first the sniper trial, a psychologist testified today that Lee Boyd Malvo told him he was the lookout not the shooter in the killing of FBI analyst Linda Franklin.

That contradicts a taped confession by Mr. Malvo saying he did shoot her. The psychologist said Malvo, 17 at the time of the shootings, 18 now, was trying to protect John Muhammad his much older partner in crime.

Police in North Dakota said today they have no plans to give up looking for 22-year-old Dru Sjodin despite a pause in the search, snow and cold that hampered the effort some. It's been 16 days now since the young woman disappeared from a shopping mall in Grand Forks.

In Oklahoma City, almost nine years after a truck bomb ripped through the Murrah Federal Office Building its replacement opened today about a block from the blast site.

The new building, which has not yet been named, is three and a half stories tall, state of the art security, including shatterproof windows. Eleven federal agencies plan to move in over the next few months.

Coming up on NEWSNIGHT an update from other war where a new round of attacks proves that Afghanistan is anything but over. This is NEWSNIGHT on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: There was a time when the war terror was the war in Afghanistan. That's where the al Qaeda leadership lived, where the Taliban ruled. Afghanistan lost the battle for public attention when the buildup to the war with Iraq began. And now it rarely gets a mention. But it does tonight, in part because of a large American operation called Operation Avalanche and in part because of nine dead children.

Here's CNN's Jamie McIntyre.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN MILITARY AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The U.S. military claims it was an accident of war. Blood, shoes and toys litter the ground of the mountain village in eastern Afghanistan, cratered by the powerful guns of U.S. A-10 attack jets that, Saturday, went after a man the U.S. says was a known terrorist. Nine children, seven boys and two girls were killed by mistake in the airstrike, along with a man who may or may not have been the intended target.

LT. COL. BRYAN HILFERTY, COALITION SPOKESMAN: Even with our best efforts, with our very stringent rules of engagement, with doing the best we could to make sure that only this person was injured or killed, unfortunately, other nice, innocent bystanders were injured.

MCINTYRE: The U.S. military has appointed a commission to investigate the deaths, which raise questions about the appropriateness of using A-10 tank-killer jets against a single person and the quality of the intelligence that indicated he was alone in an isolated, rural area.

Pentagon sources say the U.S. still believes it got the right man, a Taliban holdout who had killed two foreign contractors. But local villagers insist, all the victims were innocent. "These innocent children, they didn't have any weapons with them," said this man, who is head of the village. "And none of their relatives were part of al Qaeda," he added.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai was said to be profoundly shocked by the tragedy. And U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan issued a warning read by a spokesman.

FRED ECKHARD, U.N. SPOKESMAN: "The fight against terrorism cannot be won at the expense of innocent lives."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MCINTYRE: And the tragic incident underscores that, while Iraq continues to grab the headlines, the war against insurgents in Afghanistan is far from over either.

In fact, the United States is now launching a major offensive, the biggest since the end of major combat there; 2,000 U.S. soldiers will be scouring the area along the border with Pakistan, looking for Taliban and al Qaeda holdouts, before they can hunker down for the winter. The operation's name, as you said, Operation Avalanche -- Aaron.

BROWN: How many American soldiers are in Afghanistan?

MCINTYRE: About -- roughly about 11,700, in that neighborhood.

BROWN: And, if you add the NATO component, the international troops that are there, what do we get up to?

MCINTYRE: Well, there's about, I think it's 5,700 NATO troops. They're mostly just providing security. And the U.S. troops are mostly engaged in the hunt for Taliban and al Qaeda, along with some Afghan national army as well.

BROWN: Jamie, thank you very much -- Jamie McIntyre at the Pentagon tonight. On to other business, the "MONEYLINE Roundup," which begins tonight with Ozzy Osbourne -- really, now-- who, along with his family -- here's the business connection -- made tens of millions of dollars for MTV. Had to be there. He's in pretty rough shape, in any case, after crashing an off-road motor bike on the grounds of his British estate, broken ribs, vertebrae, collarbone. Doctors performed emergency surgery to lift the collarbone, which may have cut off blood flow to one of his arms. Not a good day there.

The House today approved a bill banning a variety of unsolicited e-mail, spam, in other words, at least the kind that uses false return addresses, which a good chunk of it does. Spammers under the bill could face a jail time. The Senate has already approved its version of the bill.

The Federal Reserve meets tomorrow, all eyes on Greenspan and company and what they'll do with interest rates. Wall Street expecting the Central Bank to keep interest rates where they are now, in light of a sluggish job report and low inflation. The announcement comes at 2:15, complete reporting here on CNN and on CNNfn as well. The markets today up, the Dow flirting with 10000 and finishing the day at an 18-month high.

Still to come on the program: mystery science theater, sort of -- a look at the mystery of course the controversy of picking a college football champion.

Around the world, this is NEWSNIGHT.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: We are loathe to call this a sports story. We don't do sports stories. Think of it as a technology-run-amuck story instead.

Five years ago, deciding which college football team was No. 1 was turned over to computers. And, of course, everything has gotten more complicated since, which, in a nutshell, is why USC, Southern Cal, the team ranked first in the country by the coaches and the news media, will not be playing in the national championship game next month.

Here's CNN's Josie Burke.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOSIE BURKE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): College football wanted to avoid events like the split national title in 1997. That year, undefeated Michigan was crowned national champion in one poll and undefeated Nebraska got the title in the other.

The BCS was supposed to fix all that by using a formula that consists of four basic factors: number of losses, average rating in the AP and coaches poll, seven different computer rankings, and the strength of schedule. The BCS system worked, to a point. Then came Saturday, when the only unbeaten, Oklahoma, was pounded by Kansas State. That left three teams with one loss, the Sooners, USC and LSU. NICK SABAN, LSU HEAD FOOTBALL COACH: I know a lot of quality people have worked long and hard to try to make the system as good as it could be. But I think, whether it was us, Kansas State, whoever the culprits, the system was exposed a little bit this year, for whatever reasons.

BURKE: The BCS computer and the two national polls returned drastically different results. The coaches poll and the media poll both ranked USC No. 1, LSU No. 2 and Oklahoma No. 3. In the BCS rankings, Oklahoma remained No. 1. And, largely because of strength of schedule, LSU moved into the two slot, with USC third. That left the Trojans, the top team in the country according to both polls, out of the BCS title game.

PETE CARROLL, USC HEAD COACH: I've been kind of talking about it all year with the thought that this can occur, yes. And it's a system. It's organized outside of really the playing field. And so, it could happen.

BURKE: Now, chances are high the championship will be split again. The system designed to reduce controversy only continues to generate it.

Josie Burke, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: So tonight, we ask, is being No. 1 today less or more than the sum of its parts? Put another way, is the college bowl system broken?

For answers, we go to Craig James, who is a college football analyst for ABC Sports. And he joins us from Dallas tonight.

It's nice to see you.

Who's the best team in the country, by the way?

(LAUGHTER)

CRAIG JAMES, COLLEGE FOOTBALL ANALYST: It depends on which fans you're asking out there. I can't -- each team deserves to be No. 1. And when you look at the overall system that these coaches have talked about, it is the strength of schedule. And that's what's hurt USC, the perception that the Pac-10 is not as strong. And in the system we use, Aaron, that's what got them.

BROWN: So you're not making the argument that they picked the wrong two teams. It seems to me you're making the argument that they picked two very good teams, and one other very good team has to play Michigan.

JAMES: Absolutely. There's no way that the way we're working, under the system we're within right now, could have won out in this scenario. And USC happened to be the team that was chosen to go out and play in the Rose Bowl. Now, Pete Carroll, their coach, is doing the right thing. He's saying all the right things, diplomatically, that his team has a chance, which they do, to win the AP vote. So it will be really two titles that we will have this year. And so the fans will just have to deal with it.

BROWN: Well, television will love that.

Why is there not -- I mean, the obvious solution is what they do in every other sport. Why not have a playoff in football, have a couple of bowl games be semifinal games, and then have one big TV blowout for the whole thing?

JAMES: We've been hoping for that for a long time. And it will be a long time before we get to a true playoff structure in college football.

But I believe that there is so much pressure on the BCS right now, these big schools that really are bringing in all the money, for them to have change, change for the smaller schools, the mid-level conference schools, so they can become part of it, as well as, after the traditional bowl games are played, maybe one more game, Aaron. That's all we have to do, is just create one more bowl game, where the winner of the Rose Bowl plays the winner of the Sugar Bowl and we've got a true national champion.

BROWN: Well, why has that not happened?

JAMES: I think it hasn't happened because the conference commissioners and the presidents of these schools have been really happy and content with what has happened so far.

But this five-year little schedule they have had with the BCS, this is a major flaw in the system. They say they'll get together in the spring and they'll talk about it. There will be change. There will be change in the air now because of the non-BCS schools and because of the fans. The fans want to have change.

BROWN: Only some -- this is yet another example where I don't know anything. Are only some schools in the BCS?

JAMES: Well, there's a big school system out there. They call it the BCS schools. There are six major conferences.

And those conference champions really make up the majority of what we have. The non-BCS schools, those mid-level conference schools and the non-big guys, they have to fight and hope for their way into this. But strength of schedule and all the other things that go into this formula usually keep them from ever having a real shot at it. Cinderella was TCU this year. TCU got beat late in the year and so they got knocked out of the dance.

BROWN: But there was a lot of talk, when TCU was undefeated, I think, that this was going to cause an enormous problem for the bowl selection and all of that, because they were not considered a football powerhouse, but they were a very good football team.

JAMES: They are a very good football team.

But the truth is, the way that we're working under right now, they don't have the same demands week in and week out that an SEC school does or that a Big 12 school, Big 10 school. So these BCS guys, they really do have a tougher schedule. Now, the fans have been looking for something to scream about since September.

BROWN: Yes.

JAMES: Every year, we want to have controversy. And right now, we have got a pretty good case of it.

BROWN: Now, the answer to all of this, it seems to me is, if Michigan wins, then everyone can be quiet and it doesn't matter anymore, right?

JAMES: That's exactly right. And Pete Carroll needs to be worried about that, because the Michigan Wolverines are a very good football team.

BROWN: They are, indeed.

It's nice to have you with us. Thank you.

JAMES: Thank you, Aaron.

BROWN: Craig James from Dallas tonight.

Ahead on NEWSNIGHT: strange faces in strange places. What are the Russians doing in what was an all-black school in the South?

Around the world, this is NEWSNIGHT.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: By definition, you can't predict unintended consequences. But sometimes, they achieve what the best-laid plans have not. This would seem to be one of those times. In Russia, a student was looking for a college education he couldn't afford. And, in Mississippi, a university was shopping for standout tennis players. They found each other, which was enough to begin a migration which is transforming the school.

Here is CNN's Bruce Burkhardt.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let me show you how we're going to do step by step, OK?

BRUCE BURKHARDT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): An economics class at Alcorn State University, an historically black college in a remote corner of Southwest Mississippi. It might not be the place one would expect to find Setmana Ismalova (ph) or Raman Lavachkin (ph) or many other white faces, for that matter.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But, initially, it was a cultural shock, because, as you may know, Russia is 99.99 percent white.

BURKHARDT: Devon Dilco (ph) is studying journalism here, works in the campus TV station. He's one of about 30 Russians now on campus, a migration that started back in 1998.

TONY DODGEN, ALCORN UNIVERSITY TENNIS COACH: Let's get it rolling, guys.

BURKHARDT: It seems tennis coach Anthony Dodgen was looking to upgrade his team.

DODGEN: Let's go, girls.

BURKHARDT: So he recruited a Russian tennis player who has since graduated. But others followed.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's my home city.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's near the Ukraine.

BURKHARDT: Voronezh, Russia, it's where all the Russians here come from, including Nikolai Gudivich (ph). After that first tennis player, word spread in Voronezh of this university in America where one could get a full scholarship.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My parents, like, couldn't afford to pay off like all the tuition and everything. They could basically only pay for my ticket from Moscow to here.

BURKHARDT: It all started with tennis, but it fit in nicely with Alcorn's game plan to diversify their campus and break down the racial divide.

CLINTON BRISTOW, PRESIDENT, ALCORN STATE UNIVERSITY: The racial divide stops at the borders of the United States. And so international students do not see race as an issue. They're more concerned about: What do I get from an experience?

BURKHARDT (on camera): When you were over in Russia and you were a high school girl, did you know anything about Mississippi?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tom Sawyer and the Mississippi river.

BURKHARDT (voice-over): Eugenia Murkulova (ph), after graduating, was hired by the school to work in university relations. She was one of the pioneers, the second one to arrive here, and eventually traded in her Russian accent for a Southern one.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: One of the things I learned about was sororities and fraternities. I decided to join one. And that was one of the best experiences of my life.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was surprised when Eugenia, she pledged, well, a traditionally black sorority. It was a big thing on campus.

BURKHARDT (on camera): But real diversity, diversity beyond a handful of Russian and other international students, will be dependent upon whether or not white Mississippians starting showing up here.

(voice-over): And that is starting to happen. Five years ago, there were 102 American white students enrolled, today, more than twice that, 287, though most of those are at branch campuses in Vicksburg and Natchez.

BRISTOW: The plus is that an international person has helped to lessen racial differences locally.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Interaction with all those people made me a lot more educated people-wise.

BURKHARDT: People-wise, Alcorn State has moved to the head of the class.

Bruce Burkhardt, CNN, Alcorn State, Mississippi.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Morning papers after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(ROOSTER CROWING)

BROWN: And after a long weekend of not knowing what other people were reading in their morning papers, it's time to check those papers from around the country and around the world. Okeydokey, here we go.

"The Richmond Times-Dispatch," I like the headline. "Right and Wrong an Illusion. Psychologist Who Met Malvo Says Teen's Disorder Limited His Moral Judgment." The sniper case. The Dean-Gore endorsement story is on the front page. And their big story, "No Shots Today." Flu hitting children hard in Virginia, or I guess around the country, because it's an Associated Press story. That's "The Richmond Times-Dispatch."

"The Oregonian," somebody wrote me the other day. He said, how come you don't have "The Oregonian" anymore? Because they hadn't been sending it. But they did today. It's a good story, too. "Fatally Flawed. Child Care System Proves Little Protection For Its Most Vulnerable and Little Deterrent For Those Who Harm Them." Yet another state with problems in its child welfare system. This is a series of reports called "The Place Where Children Die" in "The Oregonian," which is a pretty good newspaper out West.

"The Philadelphia Inquirer." It's a good piece of reporting here. "Pollution Citations Plummet Under Bush. Records Show Declines From Previous Administrations. The Head of EPA Says His Agency is Getting Results By Working Smarter," so says "The Philadelphia Inquirer" in a front-page story tomorrow.

How we doing on time?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 1:05.

BROWN: Thank you.

"The Times Herald-Record" in Upstate New York. That would be the Catskills edition, not to be confused with other editions of this fine paper. "Deadly Flu Complications For Kids Send Parents on Vaccine Search, But Local Doctors Say, 'We're All Out.'" That's the headline. And there's a guy getting a shot. So what's he getting a shot of if they're all out? I can't explain that.

"The Washington Times" leads with Medicare and a headline that seems to me suggests the editors are a little troubled by it all. "Estimates on Medicare Hit $2 Trillion. Prescription Drug Benefit Promises Huge Cost," a front-page story. And there was one other story I liked. But I don't remember what it was.

"The Boston Herald." "Dean Gets Gore Nod," a political story in a political town.

"The Detroit News." "Chrysler Fights to Reclaim Its Minivan Crown." I like the story, because I didn't know there was a problem there.

"The Chicago Sun-Times," what happened to it? It's here somewhere. There it is. The weather tomorrow in Chicago is "waterlogged," 46 degrees. That's the "Sun-Times" headline.

We'll wrap up the day's top story in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Before we go, a quick update of our top story, a big day for Howard Dean. The Democratic presidential contender reportedly will get the endorsement of former Vice President Al Gore tomorrow morning, 8:00. Said one Democratic consultant tonight, it means the party insiders can relax. Governor Dean has been knighted by the ultimate insider. This, he said, is game, set and match.

Dr. Dean's opponents might beg to differ, but, no matter how you look at it, it is no small thing.

On NEWSNIGHT tomorrow: pictures of the difficulties of life in Iraq and some triumphs as well from inside Iraqi hospitals. That's tomorrow on NEWSNIGHT

"LOU DOBBS TONIGHT" is next.

Good night for all of us.

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





Janklow to Step Down as Member of House of Representatives>