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CNN Newsnight Aaron Brown

Bin Laden's Associate Turns Himself In; Will Ditka Run for Illinois Senate Seat?; AIDS Conference in Bangkok

Aired July 13, 2004 - 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 everyone.
Terrorism and AIDS would seem to exist on opposite ends of the spectrum, two killers, dismal but different, one murdering in a flash of headline grabbing attention, the other doing its work slowly, steadily out of the public eye.

In fact, the two have much in common. You might even look at them as the twin horsemen of the modern age, festering in tyranny and ignorance, spreading globally by airliner, the first known case of AIDS a flight attendant.

And if both AIDS and terrorism derive much of their sustenance from the global village, then maybe, just maybe, there's hope. The same forces that bring countries close enough together to be infected by either contagion can also speed their eradication.

Communication, openness, understanding that we're all in this together can be powerful disinfectants if we decide to use them and both AIDS and terror are on the menu tonight.

We start off with terror. The whip begins in London, CNN's Nic Robertson reporting the story of an associate of bin Laden who's come in from the cold, Nic a headline.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Aaron, Khaled al-Harbi is the closest associate of Osama bin Laden to turn himself in so far. The question is does he have any information that could lead to the capture of the al Qaeda leader -- Aaron?

BROWN: Nic, thank you.

On to politics, Chicago, sex and football wow, CNN's Chris Lawrence with the headline -- Chris.

CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Aaron, less than four months until the election and Illinois Republicans still don't have a quarterback for their Senate bid. Now some say calling coach Mike Ditka off the bench is their last best hope.

BROWN: Chris, thank you.

Finally, Bangkok and AIDS, half a world from us and a world away from where the story was not so long ago, CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta on call for us tonight on the videophone, so Sanjay a headline from you tonight.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Aaron, it's been 20 years since the first AIDS conference. A lot has changed but a lot more has stayed the same. Then and now where is AIDS, from Bangkok.

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

Also coming up on the program tonight the debate over gay marriage stalls in the Senate but not the fight over political advantage.

Mob violence in a troubled Milwaukee neighborhood, it has happened again, what does it say about the city and us?

And he is the unsung hero of NEWSNIGHT working day after day, night after night, OK we're overselling this a bit but the rooster stops by with your morning papers, all that and more in the hour ahead.

We begin tonight with the picture of an ailing man in a wheelchair rolling across an airport tarmac, not the biggest fish but not a small fry either. He was, after all, big enough to have a meal and, as it turned out, a movie with Osama bin Laden himself. So, why did he turn himself in?

CNN's Nic Robertson begins our reporting from London.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROBERTSON (voice-over): Too sick to walk and, according to Saudi officials, in urgent need of medical treatment, Khaled al-Harbi ends years in exile returning to Saudi Arabia, the closest associate of Osama bin Laden to turn himself in so far taking advantage of a Saudi offer of leniency.

KHALED AL-HARBI, OSAMA BIN LADEN ASSOCIATE (through translator): I called the embassy and we felt that we were welcome that we were among family. Thank God for this blessing. Undoubtedly, any logical man would thank God and should take advantage of this opportunity.

ROBERTSON: Seen here in late 2001 congratulating Osama bin Laden on the September the 11th attacks, al-Harbi is described by Saudi officials as a stand by cleric for the al Qaeda leader, someone who could provide religious justifications for al Qaeda's actions.

Although he fought alongside Osama bin Laden against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s, U.S. officials consider al- Harbi, now an invalid, to be an extremist rather than a fighter but one who may yet yield critical information.

PRINCE TURKI AL-FAISAL, SAUDI AMBASSADOR TO U.K.: He's probably accompanied bin Laden on many of his journeys inside Afghanistan and he can give good information on that aspect of bin Laden's life.

(END VIDEOTAPE) ROBERTSON: Well, before that interrogation begins, Saudi officials say the first stop for al-Harbi will be hospital and despite the fact that he is not linked to any crimes in Saudi Arabia, they say he's unlikely to be released before any civil actions against him, actions relating to his incitement to cause terrorism, before any civil actions relating to that have been dealt with -- Aaron.

BROWN: Well now, that actually raises two questions for me. Let me get to the first one first. Do we have any idea when he last saw bin Laden?

ROBERTSON: Absolutely no indication whatsoever.

BROWN: OK.

ROBERTSON: From that tape that was released in December, 2001, none.

BROWN: OK. On the other question, this is all presumably part of the Saudi amnesty and, if it is an amnesty, how can there be charges brought against him?

ROBERTSON: Well, Saudis have said that anyone with blood on their hands, that is somebody who's been involved in a crime, will have to stand religious trial, trial under Sharia law.

That means that any family members of victims, victims of killings or, in this case, people whose relatives who have been incited to acts of terrorism or suffer through acts of terrorism, perhaps incited by al-Harbi, anyone who, any family member who has suffered by this person's actions is entitled to seek their day in court and to get the justice that they feel is fitting.

In this case, under Sharia law, if somebody has killed somebody the family members of the people, the person who has been killed, have the right to demand the death penalty, so in that way it's not an amnesty for all -- Aaron.

BROWN: No, it is an amnesty with an asterisk. Thank you, Nic, Nic Robertson who's in London tonight.

On to Iraq where a group believed to be led by Musab al-Zarqawi has killed another hostage. The Bulgarian government is now confirming that a man reported executed today by Al-Jazeera was one of the two Bulgarians taken late last month. The captors now threaten to kill his compatriot within the next 24 hours unless their demands are met.

As for the truck driver from the Philippines, he too faces execution unless Filipino troops leave Iraq and tonight they are leaving.

From the State Department here's CNN's Andrea Koppel.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN STATE DEPARTMENT CORRESPONDENT: With the fate of Philippine truck driver Angelo de la Cruz hanging in the balance, the Bush administration expressed concern over a decision by the Philippine government to begin withdrawing its troops from Iraq weeks ahead of schedule.

RICHARD BOUCHER, STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESMAN: No. Our policy is not to negotiate or provide benefits to terrorists. We think that sort of -- that can send the wrong signal and that's why we're disappointed to see statements like this.

KOPPEL: This statement, made on an Arab satellite TV network, came from a senior Philippine official who announced that about 50 non-combat members of the armed forces and police would pull out of Iraq as soon as possible, a key demand of Islamic militants holding de la Cruz hostage.

Close allies in the war on terrorism, usually in lock step, U.S. officials say they were surprised by the Philippine government's sudden concession to the kidnappers. The Philippine force was already scheduled to leave Iraq August 20 and U.S. officials say President Gloria Arroyo had just assured Secretary of State Powell on Sunday the Philippines would hold the course until then.

(on camera): While the loss of 51 Filipino humanitarian forces in Iraq will have little, if any, impact on U.S. operations there, privately U.S. officials worry that the withdrawal under pressure sets a dangerous precedent in Iraq and signals to terrorists that their hostage taking strategy is working.

Andrea Koppel, CNN at the State Department.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: The truth be told the Republican leadership in the Senate knew it never had the votes for a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage and perhaps civil unions too, though the language of the amendment itself was somewhat confusing.

Now it is unlikely there will ever be a vote this year on the amendment itself, which is not to say the politics of the issue are over, reporting for us tonight CNN's Ed Henry.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ED HENRY, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Republicans thought they could score political points by forcing Senator John Kerry to vote against a ban on gay marriage right on the eve of the Democratic National Convention but Democrats have turned the tables.

SEN. TOM DASCHLE (D), MINORITY LEADER: The Republicans find themselves in an embarrassing position. They cannot agree among themselves as to what form the amendment relating to gay marriage or the marriage amendment ought to take. HENRY: Republicans always knew they would not get the 67 votes needed to change the Constitution but they were left red-faced when it became clear they would fall short of a simple majority, which would have at least let them claim a partial victory, so now they're pushing to vote on a second version of the amendment.

SEN. BILL FRIST (R), MAJORITY LEADER: We don't want to just have one vote and the Democrats just want to have one vote and then skedaddle and, no, we want to very thoughtfully debate a constitutional amendment which is serious business.

HENRY: But Democrats are vowing to block other versions and they're stepping up their attacks.

SEN. FRANK LAUTENBERG (D), NEW JERSEY: I've come to an unfortunate conclusion about why we're doing this amendment. Gay bashing, plain and simple, that's what this is about.

SEN. RICK SANTORUM (R), PENNSYLVANIA: You can say, "I'm a hater," but I would argue I'm a lover. I'm a lover of traditional families and children who deserve the right to have a mother and a father.

HENRY (on camera): Senate Republicans are vowing to push ahead with the vote on Wednesday but the debate has become so tangled that it will be a procedural vote not a straight up or down vote on the actual ban. As a result, Senators John Kerry and John Edwards are planning to skip it.

Ed Henry, CNN, Capitol Hill.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: With us tonight in Washington, two-thirds of our political Brown table, as it is now known. Hey, it's television, we have to call these things something. John Harwood, political editor of "The Wall Street Journal," and Nina Easton of "The Boston Globe," and we're glad to have you both with us.

Nina, this all turned, this gay marriage thing did turn into something of a fizzle, didn't it?

NINA EASTON, "THE BOSTON GLOBE": The Republicans, a lot of Republican strategists thought this was going to be a no-brainer. You go in. You embarrass the Democrats over an issue that a large segment of the American public is frankly uncomfortable with and, not only that, you embarrass the presidential candidate John Kerry, who doesn't actually support gay marriage. He supports civil unions in the state that is at the forefront of gay marriage.

So, they thought this was going to be a no-brainer but, in fact, even Republicans didn't want to get into discussing sexuality on the floor of the Senate. They didn't like the idea of amending the Constitution over this. It was uncomfortable. People didn't go to the debate and it fizzled. BROWN: Now, John, I sense here that in some respects we're looking at this wrong that the way to look at this issue is actually look at it from the state perspective.

Out in Oregon, you're going to have an initiative that will almost certainly be on the ballot. I think there will be one in Ohio, maybe other places too, so the political power of the amendment is not necessarily dead.

JOHN HARWOOD, "THE WALL STREET JOURNAL": Well, that could be, Aaron, but there is no evidence right now that large swaths of the American public are highly energized or interested in this issue.

In fact, you had a pretty strong rebuke today on the floor from John McCain for President Bush's position. You know, John McCain is the president's new buddy, starring in his TV ads, which were aired by the Republicans right after the selection of John Edwards as the running mate and what John McCain said was basically this is a waste of time until a lot more Americans are a lot energized about this issue.

You have activists on the left and on the right who do feel strongly about this, want to push it to a vote but it's plain that the support for two-thirds for an constitutional amendment nationally is not there and in most states it's not there either.

BROWN: I'm not sure that -- go ahead.

EASTON: I think what came off today was that Republicans, a large part of the Republican Party is not comfortable talking about this issue.

HARWOOD: A dozen Republicans, Nina, were prepared to vote with the Democrats on the more severe form of the amendment proposed by Wayne Allard, the Senator from Colorado, and you have Republicans now not wanting a vote because they're fearing that the defeat would be so lopsided that it would set back the cause.

And so now we're still stuck in this filibuster situation but Democrats clearly are in a much stronger position than they thought they were going to be a couple of months ago.

EASTON: And we're going to see a defeat on the procedural vote tomorrow I think.

BROWN: All right, then since we know how that's going to play out let's move to bigger stuff here, Iraq, and two questions really. One is the president at this point is still having to defend the war and I can't imagine the president thought he would have to be defending the war at this point and has John Kerry found his voice on this in a way that will work for him? And, Nina, why don't you start us off?

EASTON: Well, I think it was clear this week that George Bush is definitely trying to go on the offensive to defend his policy, not only in the Iraq War where he said it wasn't just a question of weapons of mass destruction. I frankly thought that it was -- he didn't make his case vigorously enough. There was a little bit too much defensiveness to it.

The other thing that came out today is this large defense of the Patriot Act. John Ashcroft released a report today trying to show a number of both charges and convictions against individuals charged on terrorist activities. So, the administration is clearly trying to go on the offense about this and trying to put John Kerry on the defense.

BROWN: John, has the president found or has Mr. Kerry, Senator Kerry found his voice on Iraq?

HARWOOD: Well, Senator Kerry has a little bit of a problem to deal with himself. He did, after all, vote for the war, relying to a considerable degree on some of the same bad intelligence that the president used to justify the war. That makes it somewhat more difficult for him than it would be for somebody like Howard Dean to draw a bright line with the president's policy.

And he also was sort of on both sides of this $87 billion funding request, which produced a memorable sound byte that the president's used in advertisements effectively to portray him as a flip-flopper.

However, you wipe all that away, who owns this war? This is George W. Bush's war and, if the American public decides that it was a mistake, that it was fought on false premises, that it was a waste of resources not worth it to enhance the security of the American people, it's George W. Bush who is going to pay the price for that.

BROWN: Let me throw out one more idea here before the clock kills us. I was talking to quite a conservative columnist yesterday and he was making the argument that the Bush campaign knows it has some serious problems.

And the evidence he saw was that the president was campaigning in districts in counties that he had won, that he was still trying to sew up areas that he had won four years ago. I noticed today he was on the Upper Peninsula in Michigan, an area that is very strongly supportive of him by and large. At this point, mid summer, do you think the president has problems, Nina?

EASTON: The president has big problems. There's a lot of passion in this race and it's around George Bush and I do think there's a lot of -- he's got problems with military families. He's got problems with people in and around the military. There have been a number of senior diplomats and senior military, retired senior military leaders who have come out questioning his presidency over this.

He does have severe problems over this, so I think this is going to be a question that he's going to come over time and time again and I do think the vote at the end of the day is going to be an up or down on George Bush and less over John Kerry.

BROWN: John, last word. HARWOOD: Aaron, he does have big problems but you can't count out George W. Bush at this point. He's hanging in, in a race against John Kerry. Some of the larger dynamics are working in John Kerry's favor but George W. Bush has been underestimated in every step of his political career.

There's still the possibility that he can get some of the benefits of a strong economy kicking in, in the fall, if he can show that the transition of power in Iraq has been somewhat successful, diminished the violence and exposure for U.S. troops.

BROWN: Nina and John it's good to see you both. We'll get all three together next time. It's good to have the two of you. Thank you.

HARWOOD: Thanks, Aaron.

BROWN: Ahead on the program tonight, then and now, what's changed 19 years after the very first International AIDS Conference? Sanjay Gupta joins us from Bangkok.

And, is he Da Candidate for Da Job? Former Chicago Bears Coach Mike Ditka ponders a run for Da U.S. Senate.

This is NEWSNIGHT from New York.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: A year ago it was SARS. A generation ago it was AIDS. We don't expect diseases to develop in our lifetime. We expect to cure them. That is part of what made the birth of AIDS so shocking. So was the certain death of those early days, combined with what we knew about those infected and all we didn't know back then.

Today in Bangkok for the 15th time, the world has gathered to share what has been learned but back in 1981 we simply had a devastating illness and little more.

Here's Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. LAWRENCE ALTMAN, "NEW YORK TIMES" CHIEF SCIENCE WRITER: When I wrote the earliest, if not the first story about AIDS in 1981, I didn't have an inkling that AIDS would be the huge -- one of the worst epidemics in history but by '85, there was concern.

GUPTA (voice-over): In 1985, 12,000 had died. Now over 20 million have died three-quarters of them in Sub-Saharan Africa. Slowly, too slow for most, scientists started to get a handle on the virus and the disease. Robert Gallo in the United States and Luke Montagnier in France independently identified how AIDS developed.

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, NATL. INSTITUTES OF HEALTH: Probably the most important scientific development that was discussed at the 1985 meeting was the confirmation that HIV, the virus, was indeed the cause of AIDS.

GUPTA: Another watershed moment, that same year for the first time a blood test for HIV became available. The blood could be screened, a patient could be screened but still nothing could be done about it.

ALTMAN: It was a fatal diagnosis. There were -- it was a disease considered to be 100 percent fatal.

FAUCI: We didn't know anything about treatment. We just started to have experimental drugs, the first one being AZT.

GUPTA: Then, there was only one experimental medication. Now, there are over 20 drug regimens that attack and suppress the virus. Then, the lifespan of those with AIDS was on average ten years. Now, about one in seven people with AIDS gets treatment that can give them a normal lifespan.

ALTMAN: There was far more optimism about a vaccine back at that time. There were promises that there would be a vaccine in a year or two.

GUPTA: Back in 1985, people often called AIDS the gay plague. Now, helped by activists as well as celebrities, even a princess, there's greater understanding and sympathy.

Still, in many countries, AIDS continues to carry a stigma, a scarlet A, and worldwide the number of AIDS patients continues to rise while the hope for a cure has all but vanished.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GUPTA: And the face of AIDS has changed as well, Aaron. There's a feminization of AIDS. More women than men for the first time have AIDS, also the number of younger people growing, an entire generation growing up, Aaron, that has never known a world without AIDS -- Aaron.

BROWN: Why now more women than men?

GUPTA: Well, there's a couple of different reasons. You're seeing different trends in countries, a lot more sex workers, prostitution, also an increase in the number of women using IV drugs as well.

At first this disease certainly affected men more but as women are engaging in more of those high risk activities you're starting to see a shift, 58 percent now -- Aaron.

BROWN: What's the big news so far out of the conference? Is there a big buzz this year about something?

GUPTA: You know, it's interesting these conferences really aren't so much about science anymore. They're much more about the activism. We're not going to hear about a vaccine anytime soon, certainly not here. The big buzz really has to do with funding, $15 billion from the United States. Where is that money going to go? What sort of programs? Is it going to go towards abstinence only programs or is it going to go towards condom programs? What is the clash between morality and the money? That's the big question and that's the big buzz -- Aaron.

BROWN: Not to be too simplistic here but why doesn't it just go for medication?

GUPTA: Well, you know, when you talk about AIDS you talk about prevention and you talk about treatment. Certainly, we mentioned in the piece only about one in seven people are actually getting the treatment that does work pretty well and that's the focus of a lot of groups.

But the best sort of strategy they find is actually to prevent it in the first place, getting people screened, getting them into programs, all that sort of stuff. That's not happening nearly enough. Is it going to be abstinence or is it going to be condom programs? That's a big focus as well.

BROWN: Sanjay, good to have you with us. It's been a while. Thank you, Sanjay Gupta who is in Bangkok tonight.

GUPTA: Thanks, Aaron.

BROWN: Ahead on the program it's a major new problem for the U.S. Army in Iraq one much more serious than it might seem. There aren't enough truck drivers. We'll tell you about that.

And the top talker in Iraq for the military is back home, an interview with General Kimmitt as well, take a break first.

Around the world this is NEWSNIGHT.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: In the modern American way of warfare ground combat and air support are indivisible. The Air Force is supposed to help the Army and most of the time it does and right now in Iraq it is again, not with pilots though, with drivers in trucks.

From the Pentagon CNN's Jamie McIntyre.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SR. PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Barely a day goes by in Iraq when a convoy isn't attacked, often with deadly results. On Sunday, Staff Sergeant Dustin Peters was killed when a roadside bomb hit his Army convoy but Peters was not an Army sergeant. He was in the Air Force.

Since January, more than 500 airmen have been pressed into service to fill a gap created when civilian contractors began to refuse the dangerous job of driving Iraq's roads. Last week, the Army conceded it simply failed to anticipate the insurgent attacks would be as persistent and effective and cause a critical shortage of truck drivers.

GEN. RICHARD CODY, ARMY VICE CHIEF OF STAFF: That put a stress on the combat service support troops, in particular heavy equipment drivers, engineer units and we had to keep more truck drivers over there because the level of violence was such you could get the (unintelligible) and the civilian contractors to do some of that stuff.

MCINTYRE: The Army admits it's stretched thin and last month called up some 5,600 members of the individual ready reserve, soldiers who have finished their active duty requirement but are still on the hook for reserve duty.

Tapping the manpower of the other services offers an alternative. On its recruiting Web site, goarmy.com, the Army is pushing a first ever program called Operation Blue to Green. The idea is to lure Air Force and Navy personnel nearing the end of their service commitment to serve three more years in the Army.

(on camera): Both the Air Force and the Navy are planning to downsize over the next several years by a combined total of 28,000 troops. Meantime, the Army wants to add 30,000 troops at least in the short term. The question is how many sailors and airmen are going to want to transfer to the Army if Iraq remains a hazardous duty assignment?

Jamie McIntyre, CNN, the Pentagon.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: A moment now to reflect on a general you might have come to know, even though he's neither especially high-ranking nor even remotely outspoken. That said he's almost certainly the most highly quoted general since Patton.

Again from the Pentagon, here's CNN's Barbara Starr.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIG. GEN. MARK KIMMITT, U.S. DEPUTY CHIEF OF OPERATIONS: You're the one that got me into all this, remember?

STARR (voice-over): Still in the desert uniform the world came to know, Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt has the mixed feelings of any soldier coming home.

KIMMITT: First of all, it is all always great to be home. But, frankly, you always feel a little guilty because you know that you have got so many of your soldiers still over there. You know that you're safe.

STARR: Kimmitt now reflects on his dealings with Iraqi reporters, getting their first taste of freedom of the press. QUESTION (through translator): What kind of assurance do we have that these conditions won't be repeated?

STARR: His toughest moment, the prison abuse scandal, his own feelings showing.

KIMMITT: Am I going to apologize for those soldiers? Hell, no. They did wrong.

The hardest part was to explain to them rationally, unemotionally, that what we saw in those photos was absolutely wrong.

STARR: Tough times in the Baghdad briefings.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): We did not feel that he was precise in relaying information. Sometimes, we have confirmed information, tangible. And when we asked Kimmitt, we were surprised to find that he did not know.

STARR: Behind the scenes, unexpected moments. By the end of his tour, Al-Jazeera journalists have their picture taken alongside the American general. The Iraqi press throws him a going-away party. Did the Bush administration try to influence what he said?

KIMMITT: Remarkably, no. I was concerned about that before I headed over when I was picked for the job that there would be a certain amount of plays called from the sidelines. None of that at all.

STARR: Kimmitt says he will melt away from public view now. But his biggest fan remains watchful.

KIMMITT: My mom, who is 83 now and who is house-ridden, would always watch the press conferences. And she would tell me that she'd be worried about me if she did not see me on TV some time that day. So any time that I was not on television, I knew I had to call my mom just to let her know that everything was OK.

STARR: Barbara Starr, CNN, the Pentagon.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: So it's not just my mom.

Still to come on NEWSNIGHT, vigilante justice in Milwaukee.

A break first. From New York, this is NEWSNIGHT.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: I've been so wrong on that "Jeopardy" story for two weeks now.

In a neighborhood in Milwaukee tonight, there isn't much to smile about. In truth, there never really is. The drug dealers still deal. The kids still run the gauntlet on their way to school. And a lot of people in the neighborhood go without the necessities of life. A lot of children go without fathers. And people say they're simply not getting the protection they need from police, all of which explains why the neighborhood on Milwaukee's north side resembles many poor neighborhoods around the country.

It does not explain this, why on at least three occasions, twice in the last three weeks, mob violence has become the order of the day.

From Milwaukee tonight, CNN's Keith Oppenheim.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KEITH OPPENHEIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Police say 14- year-old Tyrone Douglas (ph) was attacked here by 20 people, beaten until he was unconscious.

CARMEN MOJICA, FRANCISCAN PEACEMAKERS: And when I looked over, I saw this kid laying on the ground. One of our volunteers had seen somebody hit this kid over the head.

OPPENHEIM: So far, no one has been arrested. Days earlier, a 54-year-old schizophrenic died after being attacked by 10 young men. Two years earlier, a 36-year-old man was bludgeoned to death by a gang of youths.

SGT. KENNETH HARRIS, MILWAUKEE POLICE: We want people to know that Milwaukee is a very safe city, and that these things are anomalies that have occurred in terms of crime.

OPPENHEIM: However uncommon, all the incidents happened in this same community known in the neighborhood as Little Beirut.

(on camera): And according to community activists who minister here, there's a list of reasons why, drug trafficking, unemployment, teenage pregnancy and perhaps, most of all, a profound sense of neglect, specifically that parents in many cases don't teach their kids to control or deal with anger.

KEVIN INGRAM, MILWAUKEE YMCA BOARD MEMBER: Our kids do not see enough positive adults.

OPPENHEIM (voice-over): Other adults who are trying to make a difference are the Franciscan Peacemakers, street ministers who say they see fights escalate often.

SISTER MARY KAY, FRANCISCAN PEACEMAKERS: Someone feels like they've been offended, then it's, I'll get my brother and I'll get this one and that, you know, and to get you. So it's, I won't do it alone, but I'll get others to come help me.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're pretty much saturating the area.

OPPENHEIM: Police say they Have stepped up patrols, but some residents are skeptical.

DONALD TUCKER, MILWAUKEE RESIDENT: Now, the whole little clique is now to come with a stick or something and like a bunch of heathen dogs or pack of dogs or something.

OPPENHEIM: And after so many years of poverty here, there's skepticism that a culture of violence in the neighborhood will stop anytime soon.

Keith Oppenheim, CNN, Milwaukee.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: In the wake of a sex scandal that, fairly or not, drove the Republican candidate for the Illinois U.S. Senate race out of the race, it seems oddly fitting that the man being talked about to replace him is a pitch man for a drug that promises to get men back in the game, if you know what.

But, like the drug, politics isn't for the faint of heart, which is why, for the moment at least, Mike Ditka, once and forever coach Ditka, is still on the sidelines.

We're joined from Chicago by Chris Lawrence.

Chris, good evening.

What's the coach up to here?

CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, in his own words, Aaron, coach Mike Ditka has said he would be excited about the possibility of running. He has not gone on record yet, won't commit to anything. But a lot of the party leaders say he is their last and best hope.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MIKE DITKA, FORMER NFL COACH: There's no no and there's no yes.

LAWRENCE (voice-over): In the last few days, Mike Ditka has become a coveted free agent, with some trying to coax the old coach into politics.

TOM PENCE, DRAFTDITKA.COM: At this point, the Republican Party in the state of Illinois, we don't have a lot of options. We've got to find somebody to run for Senate.

LAWRENCE: Tom Pence is part of a movement called DraftDitka.com designed to promote Ditka for state party chairman and now adapted to support him for the Senate.

DITKA: If I want the opportunity, I'll run. I'm not afraid to get beat at anything..

LAWRENCE: That alone would distinguish him from other Republicans who haven't exactly been rushing into this race.

DON ROSE, POLITICAL ANALYST: They are in a way clutching at straws. LAWRENCE: Political analyst Don Rose says Democratic candidate Barack Obama was up 20 points on Republican Jack Ryan and that was before the sexual details of Ryan's divorce became public. When Ryan dropped out, House Speaker Dennis Hastert called Illinois State Senator Steve Rauschenberger the best man to replace him. But then Rauschenberger refused to run.

Republicans are now considering about 10 people, but none with the name recognition of Mike Ditka.

PENCE: The more people I talk to, the more they tell me, he's our only chance to win at this point.

LAWRENCE: On the street, reaction to Ditka's potential candidacy ranging from outright shock.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is it a joke? Is this for real?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Is it for real?

LAWRENCE: To genuine support.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't know how he's going to do in politics, but he'd surely would win the vote of the people, I think.

LAWRENCE: But some say a Ditka on the ticket has its own dangers.

ROSE: If he has got a Republican banner and he makes some cockeyed statement that he would make and get a lot of laughs out of at his bar, he could do some damage nationally.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LAWRENCE: On the other hand, Republicans wouldn't have to spend much money to tell people who Mike Ditka is, especially important with less than four months until the election. Party leaders expect to make a decision within the next week or so -- Aaron.

BROWN: Well, they might have to spend a few dollars explaining what Mike Ditka stands for. Do we have any idea what his politics actually are?

LAWRENCE: Ultra, ultra, ultraconservative. That's in his own words. Mike Ditka basically says he is against abortion, he is a huge patriot. But none of this may matter in the end, Aaron.

This is a town where Ernie Banks, the great Chicago Cubs legend, he couldn't get elected as a Chicago alderman because he ran as a Republican. In this state, political roots run deep.

BROWN: Thank you very much. This will be interesting to watch.

Ahead on NEWSNIGHT, a chapter of the civil rights movement and the newspaper that refused to public the news until now.

And after that, we look ahead at headlines for tomorrow morning's papers.

This is NEWSNIGHT.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: A misty night here in New York City.

Ask newspaper editors and they'll tell you their job is to edit, to decide what to take out what doesn't belong. For years, the editors of "The Herald" and "Leader" in Lexington, Kentucky, decided the struggle for civil rights in their city, the sit-ins and the marches, stuff like that simply wouldn't fit for their news pages. Imagine that for a moment. One of the biggest stories in our lives, one of the most important stories in American history spiked, as we say in the news business.

The two papers have since merged. And now "The Herald-Leader" is reaching back into its past, apologizing and running stories and photos that, until now, never appeared in the paper. Some of them were taken by a young man at the time, a teenager.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PROFESSOR GERALD SMITH, AUTHOR, "LEXINGTON, KENTUCKY": There are about 75 to 100 photographs of the civil rights movement in Lexington, Kentucky, during the 1960s. These photographs include sit-in demonstrations, marches in downtown Lexington, quite a diverse selection of photographs that include both black and white Lexingtonians.

Calvert McCann not only participated in that movement, but also had taken a number of different photographs of the movement. Kentucky has been one of those states that has historically been defined as a border state with a mild racial climate. However, these photographs document people who were very much committed to a cause.

CALVERT MCCANN, PHOTOGRAPHER: Many of the people here, most of them believe that there was no civil rights movement here in Lexington. They were aware of it in other parts of the South. But because the paper didn't cover it, a lot of people just didn't know that there was a civil rights movement here.

This picture was taken in front of the old Phoenix Hotel. We were protesting the hotel's policy of not allowing blacks to eat in the dining room or to enter the hotel. Louis Armstrong arrived to give a concert, and we asked him not to appear at the Phoenix Hotel. But because of his contract, he didn't want to get sued. And so we allowed him to cross the picket.

Some of our members tried to go into the Phoenix hotel. Security ejected them from the hotel, physically ejected them.

SMITH: There's one particular photograph of the marchers marching in downtown Lexington. I think that Calvert must have seen the sort of symbol, the kind of image that was being projected at the time that he took that photograph, which indicated that as this white figure cut out in a cardboard box outfitted in a police uniform pointing in one direction and the marchers marching in the other direction had to be a every powerful symbol for that time.

There's nothing like that visual representation that documents the time, the place, the expressions of the people involved. And so to capture that moment in time, that moment in history, to sort of reflect on the way it was and how it's changed, not only does it stimulate individuals' memories, but it also of course encourages individuals to delve even further into their history.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Lexington dealing with it now. Did you notice how -- there's a lot of things in those pictures to look at, but did you notice how all the men were wearing suits and ties?

Ahead on NEWSNIGHT, it is a beast of a job, but someone's got to do it. NEWSNIGHT's Nissen goes to Broadway. And he may not be on Broadway, but he's still a star of this program, the rooster. Morning papers coming up as well.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: As the curtain rises on another segment seven, Broadway takes a bow, safe tonight in knowing that a strike has been averted. Actors reached a tentative agreement with producers on wages and work rules and outsourcing, all that traditional stuff that any working stiff worries about when he heads to the shop, punches the clock and puts on his furry nose for the night shift.

Here's NEWSNIGHT's Beth Nissen.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BETH NISSEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Steve Blanchard is on his way to work.

STEVE BLANCHARD, ACTOR: I work nights and weekends, and, on occasion, a midweek day.

NISSEN: Six evening performances, two matinees, the standard Broadway work week.

BLANCHARD: Since 1996, I have been in "Beauty and the Beast" on Broadway, and since 1999, I have been the Beast.

NISSEN: Been the Beast for five years, more than 2,000 performances. He clocks in about two hours before curtain, begins the transformation from suburban dad to bearish brute.

BLANCHARD: It takes them about a half hour for makeup right off the bat.

NISSEN: To attach a beastly nose, a prosthetic chin with attached fangs. His face is encased in latex and spirit gum. His head and neck will be covered by a heavy mane. BLANCHARD: It is extremely hot and sweaty. The only things that are really exposed are my cheeks, my eyes, and a little bit of my forehead.

NISSEN: Moving, singing as the Beast involves hard physical labor.

BLANCHARD: In first act, the Beast climbs up this huge, enormous set and sings this big power ballad. Sometimes, hauling a 30-pound costume, you get to the top and you're, let the world be done with me. Physically, it is the most demanding thing I've ever done in my career.

NISSEN: From the orchestra seats, his job looks glamorous, starry, but work on stage can be as repetitive as work on a factory floor.

BLANCHARD: You go to work the exact same time every day and do the exact same thing every day, sit in the same chair every day, get the same makeup put on every day, put the same costume every day and then go out on the same stage and say the exact same lines every single day.

NISSEN: Like millions of conscientious employees, he strives to keep his work fresh. It helps to have occasional changes in co- workers, leading ladies playing the role of Belle. In five years, he's played opposite a carillon of different Belles. And every time the curtain goes up, the audience is new.

BLANCHARD: Because those people change every day, it creates a whole new atmosphere every single day.

NISSEN: Enough people are still coming to "Beauty and the Beast," now in its 10th year, to make the show a Broadway staple. Yet Blanchard says he, like millions of his fellow American workers, knows no job is secure.

BLANCHARD: An actor always knows that any job they have is going to end. One day, it's going to stop. It's going to end. And you go to the next one. In order to be able to work, in order to be able to support your family, to pay the mortgage, you have got to go.

NISSEN: In the meantime, he is grateful to have such a good job, grateful there is still a market for the product he and his co-workers manufacture, a few hours of art and music and magic.

BLANCHARD: That's what we make for the audience. We make a memorable, moving experience.

NISSEN: Beth Nissen, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Morning papers after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) (ROOSTER CROWING)

BROWN: Okeydoke, time to check morning papers from around the country, around the world. So many cool papers, so little time to do them. Here we go.

"Christian Science Monitor" leads with "Continental Divide," a look at America's polarized electorate, the first of five parts, red and blue. Isn't that a cool looking cover in "The Christian Science Monitor"? Chris (ph), give them one more shot there. "Christian Science Monitor" for tomorrow.

"The Washington Times" on a very busy front page, the president out in Michigan today. The story that will catch your eye, I suspect, "Red Cross Suspects U.S. Prisoner Stash, Says Detainees Being Held in Undisclosed Locations." Is that like where the vice president hangs out? Probably not.

"The Des Moines Register" leads politically, sort of, "Cheney Vs. Edwards." They'll both be in the state. But, again, I think the local story that will catch the eye, "War Takes Heavy Toll On Iowa Guard"; 77 percent of the available forces in Iowa, all National Guard troops in Iowa, have been called to active duty. Pretty formidable, huh?

"The Burlington County Times." That's in Burlington County, New Jersey, I'm pretty sure. "Taken By Storm, 760 Driven From Homes. Governor" -- "Governor McGreevey Declares State of Emergency." I didn't realize it rained all day yesterday, but, obviously, in parts of New Jersey, it really rained. That's a mess down there.

"The Atlanta Journal-Constitution." "Stopped Cold" is the headline. "With or Without Performance-Enhancing Drugs, Accused U.S. Stars Hitting Wall in Olympic Trials." It was Marion Jones, among others, all caught up in this BALCO thing. And, anyway, they didn't run very well over the weekend in the time trials.

"The Oregonian" out in Portland, Oregon, leads local, too. "Pile of Matchsticks Goes Up in Inferno" -- you know, we don't use the word inferno nearly enough -- "An Inferno of Unfurnished" -- "Unfinished" -- and probably unfurnished -- "Apartments Threatens Nearby Forest Heights Homes." They've got a heck of a picture there, so why not lead with it? "Same-Sex Marriage Bans Shifts to Politics" also on the front page. That's a big story out in Oregon. There will be an initiative out on the ballot out in Oregon. I think we're going to go out there this early fall, September, maybe, do a program out from there.

"Burt County Plaindealer" in Burt County, Nebraska, leads local. Of course they do. "Poet Morrow (ph) Tops Evening Program. Noted Cowboy Poet Lee Morrow (ph) Will Be On Stage at the City Auditorium." So if you're in the area, stop by. He's very good.

I love this one, "Boston Herald." "Freeloaders Hounds Mega Millions Maid. Grandma on the Run." Remember? She won like $290 million or something last week. And now every insurance salesman and stockbroker in the country is calling her to say hi.

"Chicago Sun-Times" ends it. "Winning Poker Hand Cost Teen His Life." Don't know what the story is, have to read it to find out. "Republicans Warm Up to Senator Ditka. What If He Goes Through With It?" And the weather tomorrow in Chicago is "triumph."

We'll wrap it up in just a moment.

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


Aired July 13, 2004 - 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 everyone.
Terrorism and AIDS would seem to exist on opposite ends of the spectrum, two killers, dismal but different, one murdering in a flash of headline grabbing attention, the other doing its work slowly, steadily out of the public eye.

In fact, the two have much in common. You might even look at them as the twin horsemen of the modern age, festering in tyranny and ignorance, spreading globally by airliner, the first known case of AIDS a flight attendant.

And if both AIDS and terrorism derive much of their sustenance from the global village, then maybe, just maybe, there's hope. The same forces that bring countries close enough together to be infected by either contagion can also speed their eradication.

Communication, openness, understanding that we're all in this together can be powerful disinfectants if we decide to use them and both AIDS and terror are on the menu tonight.

We start off with terror. The whip begins in London, CNN's Nic Robertson reporting the story of an associate of bin Laden who's come in from the cold, Nic a headline.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Aaron, Khaled al-Harbi is the closest associate of Osama bin Laden to turn himself in so far. The question is does he have any information that could lead to the capture of the al Qaeda leader -- Aaron?

BROWN: Nic, thank you.

On to politics, Chicago, sex and football wow, CNN's Chris Lawrence with the headline -- Chris.

CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Aaron, less than four months until the election and Illinois Republicans still don't have a quarterback for their Senate bid. Now some say calling coach Mike Ditka off the bench is their last best hope.

BROWN: Chris, thank you.

Finally, Bangkok and AIDS, half a world from us and a world away from where the story was not so long ago, CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta on call for us tonight on the videophone, so Sanjay a headline from you tonight.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Aaron, it's been 20 years since the first AIDS conference. A lot has changed but a lot more has stayed the same. Then and now where is AIDS, from Bangkok.

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

Also coming up on the program tonight the debate over gay marriage stalls in the Senate but not the fight over political advantage.

Mob violence in a troubled Milwaukee neighborhood, it has happened again, what does it say about the city and us?

And he is the unsung hero of NEWSNIGHT working day after day, night after night, OK we're overselling this a bit but the rooster stops by with your morning papers, all that and more in the hour ahead.

We begin tonight with the picture of an ailing man in a wheelchair rolling across an airport tarmac, not the biggest fish but not a small fry either. He was, after all, big enough to have a meal and, as it turned out, a movie with Osama bin Laden himself. So, why did he turn himself in?

CNN's Nic Robertson begins our reporting from London.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROBERTSON (voice-over): Too sick to walk and, according to Saudi officials, in urgent need of medical treatment, Khaled al-Harbi ends years in exile returning to Saudi Arabia, the closest associate of Osama bin Laden to turn himself in so far taking advantage of a Saudi offer of leniency.

KHALED AL-HARBI, OSAMA BIN LADEN ASSOCIATE (through translator): I called the embassy and we felt that we were welcome that we were among family. Thank God for this blessing. Undoubtedly, any logical man would thank God and should take advantage of this opportunity.

ROBERTSON: Seen here in late 2001 congratulating Osama bin Laden on the September the 11th attacks, al-Harbi is described by Saudi officials as a stand by cleric for the al Qaeda leader, someone who could provide religious justifications for al Qaeda's actions.

Although he fought alongside Osama bin Laden against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s, U.S. officials consider al- Harbi, now an invalid, to be an extremist rather than a fighter but one who may yet yield critical information.

PRINCE TURKI AL-FAISAL, SAUDI AMBASSADOR TO U.K.: He's probably accompanied bin Laden on many of his journeys inside Afghanistan and he can give good information on that aspect of bin Laden's life.

(END VIDEOTAPE) ROBERTSON: Well, before that interrogation begins, Saudi officials say the first stop for al-Harbi will be hospital and despite the fact that he is not linked to any crimes in Saudi Arabia, they say he's unlikely to be released before any civil actions against him, actions relating to his incitement to cause terrorism, before any civil actions relating to that have been dealt with -- Aaron.

BROWN: Well now, that actually raises two questions for me. Let me get to the first one first. Do we have any idea when he last saw bin Laden?

ROBERTSON: Absolutely no indication whatsoever.

BROWN: OK.

ROBERTSON: From that tape that was released in December, 2001, none.

BROWN: OK. On the other question, this is all presumably part of the Saudi amnesty and, if it is an amnesty, how can there be charges brought against him?

ROBERTSON: Well, Saudis have said that anyone with blood on their hands, that is somebody who's been involved in a crime, will have to stand religious trial, trial under Sharia law.

That means that any family members of victims, victims of killings or, in this case, people whose relatives who have been incited to acts of terrorism or suffer through acts of terrorism, perhaps incited by al-Harbi, anyone who, any family member who has suffered by this person's actions is entitled to seek their day in court and to get the justice that they feel is fitting.

In this case, under Sharia law, if somebody has killed somebody the family members of the people, the person who has been killed, have the right to demand the death penalty, so in that way it's not an amnesty for all -- Aaron.

BROWN: No, it is an amnesty with an asterisk. Thank you, Nic, Nic Robertson who's in London tonight.

On to Iraq where a group believed to be led by Musab al-Zarqawi has killed another hostage. The Bulgarian government is now confirming that a man reported executed today by Al-Jazeera was one of the two Bulgarians taken late last month. The captors now threaten to kill his compatriot within the next 24 hours unless their demands are met.

As for the truck driver from the Philippines, he too faces execution unless Filipino troops leave Iraq and tonight they are leaving.

From the State Department here's CNN's Andrea Koppel.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN STATE DEPARTMENT CORRESPONDENT: With the fate of Philippine truck driver Angelo de la Cruz hanging in the balance, the Bush administration expressed concern over a decision by the Philippine government to begin withdrawing its troops from Iraq weeks ahead of schedule.

RICHARD BOUCHER, STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESMAN: No. Our policy is not to negotiate or provide benefits to terrorists. We think that sort of -- that can send the wrong signal and that's why we're disappointed to see statements like this.

KOPPEL: This statement, made on an Arab satellite TV network, came from a senior Philippine official who announced that about 50 non-combat members of the armed forces and police would pull out of Iraq as soon as possible, a key demand of Islamic militants holding de la Cruz hostage.

Close allies in the war on terrorism, usually in lock step, U.S. officials say they were surprised by the Philippine government's sudden concession to the kidnappers. The Philippine force was already scheduled to leave Iraq August 20 and U.S. officials say President Gloria Arroyo had just assured Secretary of State Powell on Sunday the Philippines would hold the course until then.

(on camera): While the loss of 51 Filipino humanitarian forces in Iraq will have little, if any, impact on U.S. operations there, privately U.S. officials worry that the withdrawal under pressure sets a dangerous precedent in Iraq and signals to terrorists that their hostage taking strategy is working.

Andrea Koppel, CNN at the State Department.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: The truth be told the Republican leadership in the Senate knew it never had the votes for a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage and perhaps civil unions too, though the language of the amendment itself was somewhat confusing.

Now it is unlikely there will ever be a vote this year on the amendment itself, which is not to say the politics of the issue are over, reporting for us tonight CNN's Ed Henry.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ED HENRY, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Republicans thought they could score political points by forcing Senator John Kerry to vote against a ban on gay marriage right on the eve of the Democratic National Convention but Democrats have turned the tables.

SEN. TOM DASCHLE (D), MINORITY LEADER: The Republicans find themselves in an embarrassing position. They cannot agree among themselves as to what form the amendment relating to gay marriage or the marriage amendment ought to take. HENRY: Republicans always knew they would not get the 67 votes needed to change the Constitution but they were left red-faced when it became clear they would fall short of a simple majority, which would have at least let them claim a partial victory, so now they're pushing to vote on a second version of the amendment.

SEN. BILL FRIST (R), MAJORITY LEADER: We don't want to just have one vote and the Democrats just want to have one vote and then skedaddle and, no, we want to very thoughtfully debate a constitutional amendment which is serious business.

HENRY: But Democrats are vowing to block other versions and they're stepping up their attacks.

SEN. FRANK LAUTENBERG (D), NEW JERSEY: I've come to an unfortunate conclusion about why we're doing this amendment. Gay bashing, plain and simple, that's what this is about.

SEN. RICK SANTORUM (R), PENNSYLVANIA: You can say, "I'm a hater," but I would argue I'm a lover. I'm a lover of traditional families and children who deserve the right to have a mother and a father.

HENRY (on camera): Senate Republicans are vowing to push ahead with the vote on Wednesday but the debate has become so tangled that it will be a procedural vote not a straight up or down vote on the actual ban. As a result, Senators John Kerry and John Edwards are planning to skip it.

Ed Henry, CNN, Capitol Hill.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: With us tonight in Washington, two-thirds of our political Brown table, as it is now known. Hey, it's television, we have to call these things something. John Harwood, political editor of "The Wall Street Journal," and Nina Easton of "The Boston Globe," and we're glad to have you both with us.

Nina, this all turned, this gay marriage thing did turn into something of a fizzle, didn't it?

NINA EASTON, "THE BOSTON GLOBE": The Republicans, a lot of Republican strategists thought this was going to be a no-brainer. You go in. You embarrass the Democrats over an issue that a large segment of the American public is frankly uncomfortable with and, not only that, you embarrass the presidential candidate John Kerry, who doesn't actually support gay marriage. He supports civil unions in the state that is at the forefront of gay marriage.

So, they thought this was going to be a no-brainer but, in fact, even Republicans didn't want to get into discussing sexuality on the floor of the Senate. They didn't like the idea of amending the Constitution over this. It was uncomfortable. People didn't go to the debate and it fizzled. BROWN: Now, John, I sense here that in some respects we're looking at this wrong that the way to look at this issue is actually look at it from the state perspective.

Out in Oregon, you're going to have an initiative that will almost certainly be on the ballot. I think there will be one in Ohio, maybe other places too, so the political power of the amendment is not necessarily dead.

JOHN HARWOOD, "THE WALL STREET JOURNAL": Well, that could be, Aaron, but there is no evidence right now that large swaths of the American public are highly energized or interested in this issue.

In fact, you had a pretty strong rebuke today on the floor from John McCain for President Bush's position. You know, John McCain is the president's new buddy, starring in his TV ads, which were aired by the Republicans right after the selection of John Edwards as the running mate and what John McCain said was basically this is a waste of time until a lot more Americans are a lot energized about this issue.

You have activists on the left and on the right who do feel strongly about this, want to push it to a vote but it's plain that the support for two-thirds for an constitutional amendment nationally is not there and in most states it's not there either.

BROWN: I'm not sure that -- go ahead.

EASTON: I think what came off today was that Republicans, a large part of the Republican Party is not comfortable talking about this issue.

HARWOOD: A dozen Republicans, Nina, were prepared to vote with the Democrats on the more severe form of the amendment proposed by Wayne Allard, the Senator from Colorado, and you have Republicans now not wanting a vote because they're fearing that the defeat would be so lopsided that it would set back the cause.

And so now we're still stuck in this filibuster situation but Democrats clearly are in a much stronger position than they thought they were going to be a couple of months ago.

EASTON: And we're going to see a defeat on the procedural vote tomorrow I think.

BROWN: All right, then since we know how that's going to play out let's move to bigger stuff here, Iraq, and two questions really. One is the president at this point is still having to defend the war and I can't imagine the president thought he would have to be defending the war at this point and has John Kerry found his voice on this in a way that will work for him? And, Nina, why don't you start us off?

EASTON: Well, I think it was clear this week that George Bush is definitely trying to go on the offensive to defend his policy, not only in the Iraq War where he said it wasn't just a question of weapons of mass destruction. I frankly thought that it was -- he didn't make his case vigorously enough. There was a little bit too much defensiveness to it.

The other thing that came out today is this large defense of the Patriot Act. John Ashcroft released a report today trying to show a number of both charges and convictions against individuals charged on terrorist activities. So, the administration is clearly trying to go on the offense about this and trying to put John Kerry on the defense.

BROWN: John, has the president found or has Mr. Kerry, Senator Kerry found his voice on Iraq?

HARWOOD: Well, Senator Kerry has a little bit of a problem to deal with himself. He did, after all, vote for the war, relying to a considerable degree on some of the same bad intelligence that the president used to justify the war. That makes it somewhat more difficult for him than it would be for somebody like Howard Dean to draw a bright line with the president's policy.

And he also was sort of on both sides of this $87 billion funding request, which produced a memorable sound byte that the president's used in advertisements effectively to portray him as a flip-flopper.

However, you wipe all that away, who owns this war? This is George W. Bush's war and, if the American public decides that it was a mistake, that it was fought on false premises, that it was a waste of resources not worth it to enhance the security of the American people, it's George W. Bush who is going to pay the price for that.

BROWN: Let me throw out one more idea here before the clock kills us. I was talking to quite a conservative columnist yesterday and he was making the argument that the Bush campaign knows it has some serious problems.

And the evidence he saw was that the president was campaigning in districts in counties that he had won, that he was still trying to sew up areas that he had won four years ago. I noticed today he was on the Upper Peninsula in Michigan, an area that is very strongly supportive of him by and large. At this point, mid summer, do you think the president has problems, Nina?

EASTON: The president has big problems. There's a lot of passion in this race and it's around George Bush and I do think there's a lot of -- he's got problems with military families. He's got problems with people in and around the military. There have been a number of senior diplomats and senior military, retired senior military leaders who have come out questioning his presidency over this.

He does have severe problems over this, so I think this is going to be a question that he's going to come over time and time again and I do think the vote at the end of the day is going to be an up or down on George Bush and less over John Kerry.

BROWN: John, last word. HARWOOD: Aaron, he does have big problems but you can't count out George W. Bush at this point. He's hanging in, in a race against John Kerry. Some of the larger dynamics are working in John Kerry's favor but George W. Bush has been underestimated in every step of his political career.

There's still the possibility that he can get some of the benefits of a strong economy kicking in, in the fall, if he can show that the transition of power in Iraq has been somewhat successful, diminished the violence and exposure for U.S. troops.

BROWN: Nina and John it's good to see you both. We'll get all three together next time. It's good to have the two of you. Thank you.

HARWOOD: Thanks, Aaron.

BROWN: Ahead on the program tonight, then and now, what's changed 19 years after the very first International AIDS Conference? Sanjay Gupta joins us from Bangkok.

And, is he Da Candidate for Da Job? Former Chicago Bears Coach Mike Ditka ponders a run for Da U.S. Senate.

This is NEWSNIGHT from New York.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: A year ago it was SARS. A generation ago it was AIDS. We don't expect diseases to develop in our lifetime. We expect to cure them. That is part of what made the birth of AIDS so shocking. So was the certain death of those early days, combined with what we knew about those infected and all we didn't know back then.

Today in Bangkok for the 15th time, the world has gathered to share what has been learned but back in 1981 we simply had a devastating illness and little more.

Here's Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. LAWRENCE ALTMAN, "NEW YORK TIMES" CHIEF SCIENCE WRITER: When I wrote the earliest, if not the first story about AIDS in 1981, I didn't have an inkling that AIDS would be the huge -- one of the worst epidemics in history but by '85, there was concern.

GUPTA (voice-over): In 1985, 12,000 had died. Now over 20 million have died three-quarters of them in Sub-Saharan Africa. Slowly, too slow for most, scientists started to get a handle on the virus and the disease. Robert Gallo in the United States and Luke Montagnier in France independently identified how AIDS developed.

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, NATL. INSTITUTES OF HEALTH: Probably the most important scientific development that was discussed at the 1985 meeting was the confirmation that HIV, the virus, was indeed the cause of AIDS.

GUPTA: Another watershed moment, that same year for the first time a blood test for HIV became available. The blood could be screened, a patient could be screened but still nothing could be done about it.

ALTMAN: It was a fatal diagnosis. There were -- it was a disease considered to be 100 percent fatal.

FAUCI: We didn't know anything about treatment. We just started to have experimental drugs, the first one being AZT.

GUPTA: Then, there was only one experimental medication. Now, there are over 20 drug regimens that attack and suppress the virus. Then, the lifespan of those with AIDS was on average ten years. Now, about one in seven people with AIDS gets treatment that can give them a normal lifespan.

ALTMAN: There was far more optimism about a vaccine back at that time. There were promises that there would be a vaccine in a year or two.

GUPTA: Back in 1985, people often called AIDS the gay plague. Now, helped by activists as well as celebrities, even a princess, there's greater understanding and sympathy.

Still, in many countries, AIDS continues to carry a stigma, a scarlet A, and worldwide the number of AIDS patients continues to rise while the hope for a cure has all but vanished.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GUPTA: And the face of AIDS has changed as well, Aaron. There's a feminization of AIDS. More women than men for the first time have AIDS, also the number of younger people growing, an entire generation growing up, Aaron, that has never known a world without AIDS -- Aaron.

BROWN: Why now more women than men?

GUPTA: Well, there's a couple of different reasons. You're seeing different trends in countries, a lot more sex workers, prostitution, also an increase in the number of women using IV drugs as well.

At first this disease certainly affected men more but as women are engaging in more of those high risk activities you're starting to see a shift, 58 percent now -- Aaron.

BROWN: What's the big news so far out of the conference? Is there a big buzz this year about something?

GUPTA: You know, it's interesting these conferences really aren't so much about science anymore. They're much more about the activism. We're not going to hear about a vaccine anytime soon, certainly not here. The big buzz really has to do with funding, $15 billion from the United States. Where is that money going to go? What sort of programs? Is it going to go towards abstinence only programs or is it going to go towards condom programs? What is the clash between morality and the money? That's the big question and that's the big buzz -- Aaron.

BROWN: Not to be too simplistic here but why doesn't it just go for medication?

GUPTA: Well, you know, when you talk about AIDS you talk about prevention and you talk about treatment. Certainly, we mentioned in the piece only about one in seven people are actually getting the treatment that does work pretty well and that's the focus of a lot of groups.

But the best sort of strategy they find is actually to prevent it in the first place, getting people screened, getting them into programs, all that sort of stuff. That's not happening nearly enough. Is it going to be abstinence or is it going to be condom programs? That's a big focus as well.

BROWN: Sanjay, good to have you with us. It's been a while. Thank you, Sanjay Gupta who is in Bangkok tonight.

GUPTA: Thanks, Aaron.

BROWN: Ahead on the program it's a major new problem for the U.S. Army in Iraq one much more serious than it might seem. There aren't enough truck drivers. We'll tell you about that.

And the top talker in Iraq for the military is back home, an interview with General Kimmitt as well, take a break first.

Around the world this is NEWSNIGHT.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: In the modern American way of warfare ground combat and air support are indivisible. The Air Force is supposed to help the Army and most of the time it does and right now in Iraq it is again, not with pilots though, with drivers in trucks.

From the Pentagon CNN's Jamie McIntyre.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SR. PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Barely a day goes by in Iraq when a convoy isn't attacked, often with deadly results. On Sunday, Staff Sergeant Dustin Peters was killed when a roadside bomb hit his Army convoy but Peters was not an Army sergeant. He was in the Air Force.

Since January, more than 500 airmen have been pressed into service to fill a gap created when civilian contractors began to refuse the dangerous job of driving Iraq's roads. Last week, the Army conceded it simply failed to anticipate the insurgent attacks would be as persistent and effective and cause a critical shortage of truck drivers.

GEN. RICHARD CODY, ARMY VICE CHIEF OF STAFF: That put a stress on the combat service support troops, in particular heavy equipment drivers, engineer units and we had to keep more truck drivers over there because the level of violence was such you could get the (unintelligible) and the civilian contractors to do some of that stuff.

MCINTYRE: The Army admits it's stretched thin and last month called up some 5,600 members of the individual ready reserve, soldiers who have finished their active duty requirement but are still on the hook for reserve duty.

Tapping the manpower of the other services offers an alternative. On its recruiting Web site, goarmy.com, the Army is pushing a first ever program called Operation Blue to Green. The idea is to lure Air Force and Navy personnel nearing the end of their service commitment to serve three more years in the Army.

(on camera): Both the Air Force and the Navy are planning to downsize over the next several years by a combined total of 28,000 troops. Meantime, the Army wants to add 30,000 troops at least in the short term. The question is how many sailors and airmen are going to want to transfer to the Army if Iraq remains a hazardous duty assignment?

Jamie McIntyre, CNN, the Pentagon.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: A moment now to reflect on a general you might have come to know, even though he's neither especially high-ranking nor even remotely outspoken. That said he's almost certainly the most highly quoted general since Patton.

Again from the Pentagon, here's CNN's Barbara Starr.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIG. GEN. MARK KIMMITT, U.S. DEPUTY CHIEF OF OPERATIONS: You're the one that got me into all this, remember?

STARR (voice-over): Still in the desert uniform the world came to know, Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt has the mixed feelings of any soldier coming home.

KIMMITT: First of all, it is all always great to be home. But, frankly, you always feel a little guilty because you know that you have got so many of your soldiers still over there. You know that you're safe.

STARR: Kimmitt now reflects on his dealings with Iraqi reporters, getting their first taste of freedom of the press. QUESTION (through translator): What kind of assurance do we have that these conditions won't be repeated?

STARR: His toughest moment, the prison abuse scandal, his own feelings showing.

KIMMITT: Am I going to apologize for those soldiers? Hell, no. They did wrong.

The hardest part was to explain to them rationally, unemotionally, that what we saw in those photos was absolutely wrong.

STARR: Tough times in the Baghdad briefings.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): We did not feel that he was precise in relaying information. Sometimes, we have confirmed information, tangible. And when we asked Kimmitt, we were surprised to find that he did not know.

STARR: Behind the scenes, unexpected moments. By the end of his tour, Al-Jazeera journalists have their picture taken alongside the American general. The Iraqi press throws him a going-away party. Did the Bush administration try to influence what he said?

KIMMITT: Remarkably, no. I was concerned about that before I headed over when I was picked for the job that there would be a certain amount of plays called from the sidelines. None of that at all.

STARR: Kimmitt says he will melt away from public view now. But his biggest fan remains watchful.

KIMMITT: My mom, who is 83 now and who is house-ridden, would always watch the press conferences. And she would tell me that she'd be worried about me if she did not see me on TV some time that day. So any time that I was not on television, I knew I had to call my mom just to let her know that everything was OK.

STARR: Barbara Starr, CNN, the Pentagon.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: So it's not just my mom.

Still to come on NEWSNIGHT, vigilante justice in Milwaukee.

A break first. From New York, this is NEWSNIGHT.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: I've been so wrong on that "Jeopardy" story for two weeks now.

In a neighborhood in Milwaukee tonight, there isn't much to smile about. In truth, there never really is. The drug dealers still deal. The kids still run the gauntlet on their way to school. And a lot of people in the neighborhood go without the necessities of life. A lot of children go without fathers. And people say they're simply not getting the protection they need from police, all of which explains why the neighborhood on Milwaukee's north side resembles many poor neighborhoods around the country.

It does not explain this, why on at least three occasions, twice in the last three weeks, mob violence has become the order of the day.

From Milwaukee tonight, CNN's Keith Oppenheim.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KEITH OPPENHEIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Police say 14- year-old Tyrone Douglas (ph) was attacked here by 20 people, beaten until he was unconscious.

CARMEN MOJICA, FRANCISCAN PEACEMAKERS: And when I looked over, I saw this kid laying on the ground. One of our volunteers had seen somebody hit this kid over the head.

OPPENHEIM: So far, no one has been arrested. Days earlier, a 54-year-old schizophrenic died after being attacked by 10 young men. Two years earlier, a 36-year-old man was bludgeoned to death by a gang of youths.

SGT. KENNETH HARRIS, MILWAUKEE POLICE: We want people to know that Milwaukee is a very safe city, and that these things are anomalies that have occurred in terms of crime.

OPPENHEIM: However uncommon, all the incidents happened in this same community known in the neighborhood as Little Beirut.

(on camera): And according to community activists who minister here, there's a list of reasons why, drug trafficking, unemployment, teenage pregnancy and perhaps, most of all, a profound sense of neglect, specifically that parents in many cases don't teach their kids to control or deal with anger.

KEVIN INGRAM, MILWAUKEE YMCA BOARD MEMBER: Our kids do not see enough positive adults.

OPPENHEIM (voice-over): Other adults who are trying to make a difference are the Franciscan Peacemakers, street ministers who say they see fights escalate often.

SISTER MARY KAY, FRANCISCAN PEACEMAKERS: Someone feels like they've been offended, then it's, I'll get my brother and I'll get this one and that, you know, and to get you. So it's, I won't do it alone, but I'll get others to come help me.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're pretty much saturating the area.

OPPENHEIM: Police say they Have stepped up patrols, but some residents are skeptical.

DONALD TUCKER, MILWAUKEE RESIDENT: Now, the whole little clique is now to come with a stick or something and like a bunch of heathen dogs or pack of dogs or something.

OPPENHEIM: And after so many years of poverty here, there's skepticism that a culture of violence in the neighborhood will stop anytime soon.

Keith Oppenheim, CNN, Milwaukee.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: In the wake of a sex scandal that, fairly or not, drove the Republican candidate for the Illinois U.S. Senate race out of the race, it seems oddly fitting that the man being talked about to replace him is a pitch man for a drug that promises to get men back in the game, if you know what.

But, like the drug, politics isn't for the faint of heart, which is why, for the moment at least, Mike Ditka, once and forever coach Ditka, is still on the sidelines.

We're joined from Chicago by Chris Lawrence.

Chris, good evening.

What's the coach up to here?

CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, in his own words, Aaron, coach Mike Ditka has said he would be excited about the possibility of running. He has not gone on record yet, won't commit to anything. But a lot of the party leaders say he is their last and best hope.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MIKE DITKA, FORMER NFL COACH: There's no no and there's no yes.

LAWRENCE (voice-over): In the last few days, Mike Ditka has become a coveted free agent, with some trying to coax the old coach into politics.

TOM PENCE, DRAFTDITKA.COM: At this point, the Republican Party in the state of Illinois, we don't have a lot of options. We've got to find somebody to run for Senate.

LAWRENCE: Tom Pence is part of a movement called DraftDitka.com designed to promote Ditka for state party chairman and now adapted to support him for the Senate.

DITKA: If I want the opportunity, I'll run. I'm not afraid to get beat at anything..

LAWRENCE: That alone would distinguish him from other Republicans who haven't exactly been rushing into this race.

DON ROSE, POLITICAL ANALYST: They are in a way clutching at straws. LAWRENCE: Political analyst Don Rose says Democratic candidate Barack Obama was up 20 points on Republican Jack Ryan and that was before the sexual details of Ryan's divorce became public. When Ryan dropped out, House Speaker Dennis Hastert called Illinois State Senator Steve Rauschenberger the best man to replace him. But then Rauschenberger refused to run.

Republicans are now considering about 10 people, but none with the name recognition of Mike Ditka.

PENCE: The more people I talk to, the more they tell me, he's our only chance to win at this point.

LAWRENCE: On the street, reaction to Ditka's potential candidacy ranging from outright shock.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is it a joke? Is this for real?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Is it for real?

LAWRENCE: To genuine support.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't know how he's going to do in politics, but he'd surely would win the vote of the people, I think.

LAWRENCE: But some say a Ditka on the ticket has its own dangers.

ROSE: If he has got a Republican banner and he makes some cockeyed statement that he would make and get a lot of laughs out of at his bar, he could do some damage nationally.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LAWRENCE: On the other hand, Republicans wouldn't have to spend much money to tell people who Mike Ditka is, especially important with less than four months until the election. Party leaders expect to make a decision within the next week or so -- Aaron.

BROWN: Well, they might have to spend a few dollars explaining what Mike Ditka stands for. Do we have any idea what his politics actually are?

LAWRENCE: Ultra, ultra, ultraconservative. That's in his own words. Mike Ditka basically says he is against abortion, he is a huge patriot. But none of this may matter in the end, Aaron.

This is a town where Ernie Banks, the great Chicago Cubs legend, he couldn't get elected as a Chicago alderman because he ran as a Republican. In this state, political roots run deep.

BROWN: Thank you very much. This will be interesting to watch.

Ahead on NEWSNIGHT, a chapter of the civil rights movement and the newspaper that refused to public the news until now.

And after that, we look ahead at headlines for tomorrow morning's papers.

This is NEWSNIGHT.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: A misty night here in New York City.

Ask newspaper editors and they'll tell you their job is to edit, to decide what to take out what doesn't belong. For years, the editors of "The Herald" and "Leader" in Lexington, Kentucky, decided the struggle for civil rights in their city, the sit-ins and the marches, stuff like that simply wouldn't fit for their news pages. Imagine that for a moment. One of the biggest stories in our lives, one of the most important stories in American history spiked, as we say in the news business.

The two papers have since merged. And now "The Herald-Leader" is reaching back into its past, apologizing and running stories and photos that, until now, never appeared in the paper. Some of them were taken by a young man at the time, a teenager.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PROFESSOR GERALD SMITH, AUTHOR, "LEXINGTON, KENTUCKY": There are about 75 to 100 photographs of the civil rights movement in Lexington, Kentucky, during the 1960s. These photographs include sit-in demonstrations, marches in downtown Lexington, quite a diverse selection of photographs that include both black and white Lexingtonians.

Calvert McCann not only participated in that movement, but also had taken a number of different photographs of the movement. Kentucky has been one of those states that has historically been defined as a border state with a mild racial climate. However, these photographs document people who were very much committed to a cause.

CALVERT MCCANN, PHOTOGRAPHER: Many of the people here, most of them believe that there was no civil rights movement here in Lexington. They were aware of it in other parts of the South. But because the paper didn't cover it, a lot of people just didn't know that there was a civil rights movement here.

This picture was taken in front of the old Phoenix Hotel. We were protesting the hotel's policy of not allowing blacks to eat in the dining room or to enter the hotel. Louis Armstrong arrived to give a concert, and we asked him not to appear at the Phoenix Hotel. But because of his contract, he didn't want to get sued. And so we allowed him to cross the picket.

Some of our members tried to go into the Phoenix hotel. Security ejected them from the hotel, physically ejected them.

SMITH: There's one particular photograph of the marchers marching in downtown Lexington. I think that Calvert must have seen the sort of symbol, the kind of image that was being projected at the time that he took that photograph, which indicated that as this white figure cut out in a cardboard box outfitted in a police uniform pointing in one direction and the marchers marching in the other direction had to be a every powerful symbol for that time.

There's nothing like that visual representation that documents the time, the place, the expressions of the people involved. And so to capture that moment in time, that moment in history, to sort of reflect on the way it was and how it's changed, not only does it stimulate individuals' memories, but it also of course encourages individuals to delve even further into their history.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Lexington dealing with it now. Did you notice how -- there's a lot of things in those pictures to look at, but did you notice how all the men were wearing suits and ties?

Ahead on NEWSNIGHT, it is a beast of a job, but someone's got to do it. NEWSNIGHT's Nissen goes to Broadway. And he may not be on Broadway, but he's still a star of this program, the rooster. Morning papers coming up as well.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: As the curtain rises on another segment seven, Broadway takes a bow, safe tonight in knowing that a strike has been averted. Actors reached a tentative agreement with producers on wages and work rules and outsourcing, all that traditional stuff that any working stiff worries about when he heads to the shop, punches the clock and puts on his furry nose for the night shift.

Here's NEWSNIGHT's Beth Nissen.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BETH NISSEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Steve Blanchard is on his way to work.

STEVE BLANCHARD, ACTOR: I work nights and weekends, and, on occasion, a midweek day.

NISSEN: Six evening performances, two matinees, the standard Broadway work week.

BLANCHARD: Since 1996, I have been in "Beauty and the Beast" on Broadway, and since 1999, I have been the Beast.

NISSEN: Been the Beast for five years, more than 2,000 performances. He clocks in about two hours before curtain, begins the transformation from suburban dad to bearish brute.

BLANCHARD: It takes them about a half hour for makeup right off the bat.

NISSEN: To attach a beastly nose, a prosthetic chin with attached fangs. His face is encased in latex and spirit gum. His head and neck will be covered by a heavy mane. BLANCHARD: It is extremely hot and sweaty. The only things that are really exposed are my cheeks, my eyes, and a little bit of my forehead.

NISSEN: Moving, singing as the Beast involves hard physical labor.

BLANCHARD: In first act, the Beast climbs up this huge, enormous set and sings this big power ballad. Sometimes, hauling a 30-pound costume, you get to the top and you're, let the world be done with me. Physically, it is the most demanding thing I've ever done in my career.

NISSEN: From the orchestra seats, his job looks glamorous, starry, but work on stage can be as repetitive as work on a factory floor.

BLANCHARD: You go to work the exact same time every day and do the exact same thing every day, sit in the same chair every day, get the same makeup put on every day, put the same costume every day and then go out on the same stage and say the exact same lines every single day.

NISSEN: Like millions of conscientious employees, he strives to keep his work fresh. It helps to have occasional changes in co- workers, leading ladies playing the role of Belle. In five years, he's played opposite a carillon of different Belles. And every time the curtain goes up, the audience is new.

BLANCHARD: Because those people change every day, it creates a whole new atmosphere every single day.

NISSEN: Enough people are still coming to "Beauty and the Beast," now in its 10th year, to make the show a Broadway staple. Yet Blanchard says he, like millions of his fellow American workers, knows no job is secure.

BLANCHARD: An actor always knows that any job they have is going to end. One day, it's going to stop. It's going to end. And you go to the next one. In order to be able to work, in order to be able to support your family, to pay the mortgage, you have got to go.

NISSEN: In the meantime, he is grateful to have such a good job, grateful there is still a market for the product he and his co-workers manufacture, a few hours of art and music and magic.

BLANCHARD: That's what we make for the audience. We make a memorable, moving experience.

NISSEN: Beth Nissen, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Morning papers after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) (ROOSTER CROWING)

BROWN: Okeydoke, time to check morning papers from around the country, around the world. So many cool papers, so little time to do them. Here we go.

"Christian Science Monitor" leads with "Continental Divide," a look at America's polarized electorate, the first of five parts, red and blue. Isn't that a cool looking cover in "The Christian Science Monitor"? Chris (ph), give them one more shot there. "Christian Science Monitor" for tomorrow.

"The Washington Times" on a very busy front page, the president out in Michigan today. The story that will catch your eye, I suspect, "Red Cross Suspects U.S. Prisoner Stash, Says Detainees Being Held in Undisclosed Locations." Is that like where the vice president hangs out? Probably not.

"The Des Moines Register" leads politically, sort of, "Cheney Vs. Edwards." They'll both be in the state. But, again, I think the local story that will catch the eye, "War Takes Heavy Toll On Iowa Guard"; 77 percent of the available forces in Iowa, all National Guard troops in Iowa, have been called to active duty. Pretty formidable, huh?

"The Burlington County Times." That's in Burlington County, New Jersey, I'm pretty sure. "Taken By Storm, 760 Driven From Homes. Governor" -- "Governor McGreevey Declares State of Emergency." I didn't realize it rained all day yesterday, but, obviously, in parts of New Jersey, it really rained. That's a mess down there.

"The Atlanta Journal-Constitution." "Stopped Cold" is the headline. "With or Without Performance-Enhancing Drugs, Accused U.S. Stars Hitting Wall in Olympic Trials." It was Marion Jones, among others, all caught up in this BALCO thing. And, anyway, they didn't run very well over the weekend in the time trials.

"The Oregonian" out in Portland, Oregon, leads local, too. "Pile of Matchsticks Goes Up in Inferno" -- you know, we don't use the word inferno nearly enough -- "An Inferno of Unfurnished" -- "Unfinished" -- and probably unfurnished -- "Apartments Threatens Nearby Forest Heights Homes." They've got a heck of a picture there, so why not lead with it? "Same-Sex Marriage Bans Shifts to Politics" also on the front page. That's a big story out in Oregon. There will be an initiative out on the ballot out in Oregon. I think we're going to go out there this early fall, September, maybe, do a program out from there.

"Burt County Plaindealer" in Burt County, Nebraska, leads local. Of course they do. "Poet Morrow (ph) Tops Evening Program. Noted Cowboy Poet Lee Morrow (ph) Will Be On Stage at the City Auditorium." So if you're in the area, stop by. He's very good.

I love this one, "Boston Herald." "Freeloaders Hounds Mega Millions Maid. Grandma on the Run." Remember? She won like $290 million or something last week. And now every insurance salesman and stockbroker in the country is calling her to say hi.

"Chicago Sun-Times" ends it. "Winning Poker Hand Cost Teen His Life." Don't know what the story is, have to read it to find out. "Republicans Warm Up to Senator Ditka. What If He Goes Through With It?" And the weather tomorrow in Chicago is "triumph."

We'll wrap it up in just a moment.

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