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CNN Newsnight Aaron Brown

Hurricane Jeanne on Track to Hit Florida; Bush, Kerry on the Campaign Trail

Aired September 24, 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.


MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Hello again from Atlanta. I'm Miles O'Brien in for Aaron Brown.
It is another Friday night under a huge storm cloud. A killer hurricane once again seems destined for the shores of Florida. Homes are boarded up, thousands evacuating, nerves on edge. You are sadly familiar with the story by now.

Jeanne could very well become the fourth hurricane this season to batter the Sunshine State. Yes, that's still the slogan. It would be the first time that has happened since they started keeping track in 1851.

But tonight, as we consider all the misery, destruction and suffering we've seen and perhaps have yet to endure in the U.S., let's not forget some places that get less of our attention where poverty and isolation conspire to compound the tragedy of these storms.

All the advance warnings in the world meant nothing to the people of Gonaives, Haiti. They are closer to Miami than the folks are in Washington and yet they are unfortunately washed away a world away.

In Florida there is a sense of exasperation and resignation as Jeanne homes in and that's where we begin the whip. CNN's John Zarrella is in West Palm Beach, Florida tonight as worried residents tackle on of the most difficult problems the waiting, John a headline please.

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN MIAMI BUREAU CHIEF: Miles, maddening, frustrating, filled with anxiety, no matter what words you choose they fit how Floridians feel tonight as they prepare for yet another assault from yet another hurricane -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: Thank you, John, back to you in a moment.

In Haiti, where Hurricane Jeanne tore through the country not even as a hurricane is CNN's Karl Penhaul, Karl a headline please.

KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The death toll continues to rise but the main worry here now is how to get emergency aid to the survivors fast before they either starve or go on the riot -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: And here with us tonight in Atlanta, one of CNN's top flight weather experts Orelon Sidney, Orelon what is the latest? ORELON SIDNEY, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, the latest is that the storm is expected to make a very close path to Florida and then perhaps parallel the coast for about 48 hours.

Looking at some of the rainfall accumulations, you can see as much as six inches in some of the heavier spots around West Palm Beach, northward to Fort Pierce. Of course we'll take a look at the track in just a few moments -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: Thanks a lot, Orelon, a lot more ahead on the weather in a moment.

Also, we will get to other matters as well. Both President Bush and Senator Kerry were out once again on the campaign trail, the issue Iraq, the question is, is it the real war on terror?

And, I'll take you along in a private plane that now carries tourists who can experience weightlessness and finally know what real astronauts often feel. Should we call it mal de space (ph), all that of course and more ahead tonight?

But we begin in Florida where the phrase hurricane fatigue has taken on new meaning. There's no precise word on just where Hurricane Jeanne will hit but one thing is certain. Floridians are wondering how they can face one hurricane after another.

CNN's John Zarrella is there for us tonight.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ZARRELLA (voice-over): Tobi Howell stands watch over a pile of burning debris left over from Hurricane Frances three weeks ago. There's another stack out on the street. With Jeanne knocking at the door, Tobi decided to burn it rather than risk watching it go airborne.

TOBI HOWELL, PALM CITY RESIDENT: People have pieces of their roof, you know, stacks of roof shingles and roof, you know, the metal sheets and the flashing that goes around the side and there's big stacks of lumber and cuttings everywhere, so it could be really dangerous.

ZARRELLA: The Howells live in Palm City near Stewart, Florida. The eye of Hurricane Frances came right over them. They lost power for more than a week. Now they're boarding up again.

So is Paul Pelletier. He took his down after Frances too.

PAUL PELLETIER, PALM CITY RESIDENT: When you come back and you see all the mess and the boards on the wall you're just anxious to get back to a normal life and maybe having these things off of the windows may have been part of that you know.

ZARRELLA: Pelletier lost part of a patio roof during Frances. Instead of finishing cleaning up now he's boarding up and wondering whether life in Florida is worth the stress. PELLETIER: I'm hoping, you know, two, three months maybe next summer by then we'll be happy to be here again but, no, right now it's -- it makes you think about Flagstaff and anywhere but here.

ZARRELLA: Just about everywhere on Florida's east coast it's deja vu. Cars are stuck in gas lines. In West Palm Beach, homes and businesses are going through the ritual too.

Reminders of Frances, broken signs and downed trees are still everywhere and before the weekend is out yet another storm will likely leave its mark somewhere in Florida.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ZARRELLA: Now all day here in West Palm Beach the gas lines have been long. They ran out of fuel here about three o'clock, got another delivery about 8:00 p.m., been steady business all night. It's thinned out a little bit now but no doubt they'll be filling up once again in the morning.

The shelters will open here in Palm Beach County at 8:00 a.m. tomorrow morning. Up the coast the Kennedy Space Center is buttoning up. The Patrick Air Force Base is taking all precautions. Once again, Miles as you know, all along the Florida east coast they are preparing for another hit -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: You know there are a lot of people along that coast too who still haven't seen an insurance adjuster from the previous storms. This is going to be a real mess sorting this out.

ZARRELLA: Yes, no question about it. It's a terrible mess and people are still, as you saw, cleaning up. They haven't all seen insurance adjusters and people that want to evacuate and say go inland to hotels are having a tough time finding hotels because many of the victims from Hurricane Frances who don't have places to live are still in those hotels.

So it's a very difficult situation that they're facing here in Florida, certainly just as difficult as it's been since -- for Charley and Frances and Ivan and now once again here we go with Jeanne -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: CNN's John Zarrella in West Palm Beach thank you.

Everyone in the path of the storm watching closely of course, as you'd imagine. CNN'S Orelon Sidney is as well. She joins us here tonight -- Orelon.

SIDNEY: Thanks a lot.

The very latest with the storm is that the intensity has been holding throughout the day, still about 100 miles an hour. It is interesting in some of the later satellite pictures, though, that western side looks like it's kind of trying to open up there but we'll have to see what happens at the eleven o'clock advisory. These are the latest coordinates then as of the last advisory at eight o'clock, 355 miles east of the southeast Florida coast moving to the west at 12 miles an hour, still a Category 2 storm, potential that we could see some strengthening.

We'll see some fluctuations in strength between now and the time it makes a close approach to the east coast. We have tropical storm watches from Anclote Key southward down to Seven Mile Bridge, hurricane warning in effect for the northwestern Bahamas islands from Florida City northward to St. Augustine and then north of St. Augustine to Altamaha (ph) Sound in Georgia. We have a hurricane watch in effect.

This is what the track looks like so far now. We're looking at about 2:00 p.m. tomorrow afternoon the storm affecting the northern portion of the Bahamas and then heading on towards the coast.

But look at how it parallels the coast all the way through Tuesday. It looks like the closest approach, at least at this point, may be Melbourne. But, look, either side of that, several hundred miles, especially as you head out in time. We'll certainly be keeping an eye on that -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: All right, check back with you later, Orelon. Thank you very much.

Nowhere has Hurricane Jeanne hit harder so far than the destitute nation of Haiti. The number of dead continues to grow.

The damage to an already devastated island nation is enormous and it's hard to believe but the worst may yet to come, CNN's Karl Penhaul in Haiti with this account.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)]

PENHAUL (voice-over): It survived the storm. It lost loved one and their homes have been destroyed. Now they're hungry and thirsty. Hours of waiting under blazing sun, scuffles to get a place in line, no guarantee of filling their bellies tonight.

"The water took all our stuff. We can't stand it anymore" she says.

Hunger, frustration, desperation an explosion waiting to happen, soldiers from the United Nations forces which have been brought in to restore political stability fire into the air and lob teargas canisters. They fear a riot is about to erupt and people are getting crushed.

(on camera): The crowds have pulled back for now but the Argentinean troops here know it's going to be a battle to maintain law and order. They also think somebody in the crowd may have a gun.

(voice-over): (UNINTELLIGIBLE) call urgently to comrades on rooftops to try and identify armed gang members among the hungry.

"I think gangs want to take advantage and loot the food and provoke riots to discredit the aid effort," he says.

Tempers fray even among the lucky ones who manage to receive their food rations. These women almost came to blows as they try to (UNINTELLIGIBLE) food in a small bucket.

CECILY BRYANT, ASST. COUNTRY DIR., CAMPT INTL.: At the moment it's really very difficult to assess exactly what the impact has been, how profound it's been. I mean most of these families down here have very little anyway and so this is kind of pushing them right over the edge with having something like this happen to them again.

PENHAUL: A short drive away from the chaos of the food handout, parts of Gonaives are still under water. Residents try to push mud out of the church that's now their shelter.

Like thousands of other, Timan Gosious' (ph) home was destroyed. Some of the neighbors were among the more than 1,200 who died. She escaped with her two children.

"We haven't eaten," she says. She's one of 700 people crammed in the church. She says she's received no food aid and is surviving on scraps.

Back at the food distribution center, aid workers say Haitian authorities have done nothing to help the needy. Shortages of drinking water are fueling fears of the outbreak of disease, as if the survivors of Tropical Storm Jeanne don't have enough misery to contend with.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PENHAUL: As night began to fall here in Gonaives, we saw an aid convoy roll in. That was backed by United Nations troops. They're putting all this aid now under armed guards. The big fear is that looters could try and steal some of this much needed aid -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: Karl, on that troubling note, how much more assistance do they need there?

PENHAUL: They're going to need a great deal according to United Nations and other independent organization officials here. They say it's really the sheer scale of this disaster that has swamped any relief effort. An estimated 300,000 people are in need of emergency aid and also shelter. The prime need though is that clean drinking water -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: Karl Penhaul, in Haiti thank you very much.

Two hundred years ago, Haiti declared its independence from France. It remains the poorest nation in this hemisphere and throughout its turbulent history has endured catastrophe after calamity, some manmade, others the work of nature, nature's wrath made worse by man's failings.

Most recently, November, 1963, flooding claimed the lives of 500; September 1966, Hurricane Lilly kills almost 500; August, 1980 300 die, Hurricane Alan; November, 1994, Hurricane Gordon more than 1,000 people killed; May, 2004, just five months ago, floods claimed the lives of more than 2,600, all that in Haiti.

It was hot and heavy on the campaign trail today as Senator John Kerry and President Bush traded barbs over the war in Iraq and the war on terror. Suddenly, it appears to be a one issue race and this time it's not the economy, stupid.

We have two reports, John King with the president and Candy Crowley with the Democratic challenger.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SR. POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The idea is to recalibrate the fall debate, separate the war on Iraq from the war on terror.

SEN. JOHN KERRY (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This president took his eye off the real war on terror, which is against al Qaeda, against Osama bin Laden, against terrorists in 60 countries and he invaded a nation where there weren't any terrorists but there are today.

CROWLEY: Argue everywhere and repeatedly that the president has failed at both.

KERRY: The president's misjudgment, miscalculation and mismanagement of the war in Iraq all make the war on terror harder to win.

CROWLEY: Having spent the better part of two years explaining his own position on Iraq, John Kerry spent this past week trying to fight his way to better field position, which is to say offense on the ground and in the air.

ANNOUNCER: Americans are being kidnapped, held hostage, even beheaded. Over 1,000 American soldiers have died and George Bush has no plan to get us out of Iraq.

CROWLEY: Kerry counterweights his often acid rhetoric with four- point and seven-point plans but his ace remains the claim he can work better with allies.

KERRY: I have news for President Bush. Just because you can't do something doesn't mean it can't be done.

CROWLEY: Though the president enjoys a wide lead when it comes to handling the war on Iraq and terrorism, Kerry strategists believe this week of sustained criticism and focus has put the Bush campaign on defense, said one top Kerry aide "The president is answering us."

(on camera): The optimism inside the Kerry campaign is as real as it is premature. Some Kerry strategists believe come November they may look back and see this as the week that was, though it's certainly too early to know if it is.

Candy Crowley, CNN, Philadelphia. (END VIDEOTAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN KING, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): On the Wisconsin side of Lake Michigan a big crowd and a tougher line of attack. The president says his Democratic opponent is too indecisive to be commander-in-chief.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: You cannot lead if you don't know where you want to lead. You cannot lead if you don't know what you believe. You cannot lead if you -- if you get blown around by the political winds.

KING: Interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi was at the White House Thursday and Senator Kerry says both he and the president were far too optimistic in their assessments of Iraq's political and security situation. At two stops in Wisconsin, the president suggested such talk undermines the mission.

BUSH: You can't lead this country if your ally in Iraq feels like you question his credibility. The message ought to be to the Iraqi people we support you.

KING: Here at Racine, the unemployment rate is 11.4 percent but Iraq is as much as issue as the economy. Angie Vail voted for Mr. Bush four years ago but is waiting for the debates before deciding this time around.

ANGIE VAIL: I'm not real comfortable with the war situation. There are people in my life that have been touched by the war and that is something that concerns me. So, you know, you just -- I want to keep my options open until I go into that booth.

KING: Vada Evans is a 20-year military veteran looking for work, a Democrat and a war opponent who nonetheless thinks his candidate should change the subject if he wants to win.

VADA EVANS: I still think that Kerry needs to get off the war. He needs to start focusing on what he's going to do for this country.

KING: Dan Mouw is a Republican, father of a Marine who served in Afghanistan and Iraq and certain Mr. Bush made the right call.

DAN MOUW: Saddam Hussein is somebody that we needed to take out. We had a -- the world is going to be a better place without him and the United States is going to be a better and safer place in the long run.

KING: The more pointed debate about the war is certain to continue. The topic for next week's first presidential debate is foreign policy and homeland security.

(on camera): The president already has taken part in several mock debates with a few more planned this weekend at his Texas ranch. Mr. Bush's preparations also include listening to audio tapes of Senator Kerry's speeches, statements and new conferences. We're told Mr. Bush sometimes listens during his campaign travels and even while exercising at the White House gym.

John King CNN Racine, Wisconsin.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: Later tonight on NEWSNIGHT, Jeff Greenfield continues his conversation with you, the voters, on the issues that affect you most.

And ride 'em cowboy, not so fast partner. This cowgirl is making a name for herself out west.

From CNN Center in Atlanta this is NEWSNIGHT.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: The new government of Iraq pled its case today before a skeptical audience. Speaking to the U.N. General Assembly, Iraqi Interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi asked world governments to put aside the differences over the invasion and support upcoming elections. He also called for a reduction of Iraq's massive foreign debt, much of it inherited from the regime of Saddam Hussein.

In Baghdad, a man once thought to be a strong competitor for leadership in the new Iraq, Ahmed Chalabi, was cleared of counterfeiting charges, the judge citing a lack of evidence.

A rocket blasted into a busy Baghdad street Friday killing four, wounding more than a dozen, an Iraqi police station 100 yards away thought to have been the intended target.

In Fallujah, U.S. Marines once again pounded militant positions with artillery and air strikes. And, finally, more kidnappings, six Egyptian technicians working for the Iraqi mobile phone company were kidnapped from their offices, two in Baghdad and four at a remote location.

Well, you don't often get a chance to talk with someone who's been held hostage in Iraq and return to tell the tale. Scott Taylor is a reporter for a Canadian military magazine who was captured, handed off from group to group in Iraq and then released.

His companion, a Turkish journalist, has been telling her tale today on CNN and now Scott Taylor talks about what happened the days and nights of horrible uncertainty and his release with Aaron Brown.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

AARON BROWN, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Scott, let's just sort of lay out as briefly as you can the circumstances under which you were kidnapped.

SCOTT TAYLOR, FORMER HOSTAGE: It was more of an accidental capture than it was a kidnapping. I went into the northwest city of Tal Afar (ph), a city which I had been in previously in June. I had been in there once before. I knew I had some contacts there.

And when I heard that the fighting was erupting in that area and that the Americans were about to make a big push, myself and a Turkish journalist went there hoping to get inside, get into a fairly house, a place where I'd been before and to be able to cover it from a, I mean close but not dangerous site and that never happened.

I got to the edge of town. When I saw that there was a police checkpoint still being manned by the American-paid Iraqi police force, I felt again that the Americans must still have a pretty good presence there. It must be not as dangerous as they were saying.

I approached these police. There was at least a dozen of them, asked for directions to my contact's home. They were very cooperative and, of course, there's no language problem because the Turkish journalist spoke their dialect. These are Turkomans and they instructed me to get into a car, me and her to get into a car, which contained four gunmen sitting next to the checkpoint.

I assumed it was some sort of Special Forces unit of the police. Little did I know that, in fact, these were a group of Ansar al-Islam guerrillas or mujahiddin and they obviously were working in complete collaboration with the American-paid Iraqi Police.

BROWN: So, you get in the car and you see these four masked people and you still think you're OK. At what point did you realize you weren't?

TAYLOR: Well, as we began driving through the city, I realized that, I mean, the mujahiddin were in complete control. I mean guys with RPGs were all over the place. At that time, they expected an American attack at any moment. Everyone knew it was coming.

The city has mostly been evacuated of civilians. Some 200,000 had fled. And I still thought, well even if these are the resistance, because the police obviously were making no attempt to interfere with these soldiers and they were being waved to by the mujahiddin, they obviously knew them.

I still thought well they're probably going to drop me off at this friend's house. There didn't seem to be any animosity. Only when they took us to another house and the door closed behind us, our cameras were stripped from us and we were instructed that we, in fact, were being kept as spies, being held as spies and we'd be interrogated. Then it became very serious.

BROWN: And now we begin a period of about four days, right?

TAYLOR: Yes. This was I called it five days in hell but it was on again off again. At times it was actually quite relaxed.

BROWN: And did you have any sense that you had any control over the situation?

TAYLOR: As I said, there was moments when I felt that I wouldn't be killed or that I might actually get out of this thing alive, keeping in mind that the second night when the American attack did come in they killed a lot of mujahiddin.

They killed about 50 and injured another 120. They hit them really, really hard and we were in there during that period in one of the mujahiddin strongholds, very scary at that time and, of course, what happened was all of the identification and cameras and stuff that had been taken from us were destroyed, as was the man who had interrogated us originally and agreed at that point to let us go.

He was killed, so here we were with no identification, once again back to square one dealing with a very hostile mujahiddin that simply didn't want to be having the nuisance, if you will, of foreign journalists/spies or even just the fact that I happen to be Christian. They accused me of being a Jew and a spy for Mossad, so it kept going up and down.

At times you'd feel relieved and then, of course, even right to the very end when they transferred me from group to group, sometimes saying I'd be set free, I was tortured at one point by a group calling themselves the pupils. These were Arabs, religious students in Mosul.

I was turned over to them on the Friday, tortured by them and, again, released to another group under the promise of being set free and then again handcuffed to a bed and being told I would be beheaded later that night.

So, I spent a good six, seven hours chained hand and foot to a bed blindfolded waiting to be executed and still don't really know what it was that changed their minds or why it was I was set free.

BROWN: Just a couple of other things. These various groups that at one point or another in the ordeal held you, what is it that they had in common and perhaps more interestingly what is it that separated them?

TAYLOR: This was the interesting part, I mean seeing it, I mean, as a military reporter, someone who's been in Iraq 20 times, I mean I've gone in and a lot of things, the divisions that I mean I began to believe existed, I mean certainly between various factions like the Turkomans and the Arabs, I mean there is dissent amongst those groups. In the north there's a potential for civil war.

At this level though, at the fundamentalist level, these guys were extreme fundamentalists, they seemed to all work together. There was, I mean between the Arab and the Turkoman there was no division and there was also at one point a group of ex-Ba'athist officials that came to take, I guess to take a look at whether they were going to take us or barter for us.

So, there seemed to be an awful lot of cooperation. The only thing bonding them it seems is their collective hatred for the occupying coalition forces. And the police force, I must point out again, I mean at all times when we passed through into Mosul, et cetera, made no attempt to intervene, actually welcomed these guys, gave them cigarettes, banged on the roof of the cars as we drove through and could easily see that we were being kept either handcuffed or tied up in the back seat. So, again, the police are very much cooperating in any collusion with these guys throughout the whole north of Iraq.

BROWN: Was there an apparent chain of command?

TAYLOR: In the fighting unit, I mean there was certainly the leader, the emir, but beyond him, I mean as a soldier I couldn't see any sort of rank division like we'd have sergeants and lieutenants, et cetera, hierarchy.

Once the emir was killed there was a bit of a power vacuum and natural leaders would emerge and have their say but there was no real structure whereby somebody stepped up. They had to actually elect a new emir or leader during those couple of day.

So, there was a bit of a vacuum, particularly for this Turkoman chapter of the Ansar al-Islam. They see themselves as brothers and, of course, these guys they were the real McCoy.

In the fighting against the American helicopter gunships, I mean these guys were cheering when their fellow mujahiddin were killed and they would send up the cheer of Al-Akbar because yet another soldier had gone to heaven.

These guys were not like previously going into Iraq when you get Ba'ath Party officials saying how they are going to eat the Americans and you defend Saddam to the death and, of course, that never happened. These guys they really mean it. They're fighting for their religion and believe me I mean they're prepared to die.

BROWN: And how is it that you are still alive would you say?

TAYLOR: I know that there was some interference or intervention on the part of the Turkish government. I don't know at what level. I know that there was certainly an awful lot of people looking for me. I've been in, as I said, the northern region quite a bit. I've got a lot of contacts with the various Iraqi Turkoman factions.

I've just finished writing a book about the Turkomans of Iraq, so I know a lot of these individuals. They were planning for my arrival but somehow we slipped through the cracks and got taken by this group.

So, people were looking for me. I know phone calls were made between my release and when I could get to a phone and even my wife was notified by the Turkish government that I was safe long before I could have possibly, you know, gotten word to her.

So, somebody was in contact. The captors were in contact with both the Turkomans and I guess Turkish officials, so somebody did intervene and I just thank God they did.

BROWN: Scott, you're an experienced guy, tough guy. You've been in a lot of difficult places over a long period of time. Nevertheless, given the experience you had and given particularly the events of this week, the beheadings, the hostages, how do you see it all?

TAYLOR: I know personally I won't be going back. I know, I mean I've been covering it, seeing the situation deteriorating. I still felt that, you know, I had a good sense for what was happening but for me to have made a mistake of this magnitude like I did, I never saw it coming that the police were involved with the resistance. I just thank God that I managed to get out and I mean at this point now it's almost too dangerous for anybody to be in there and I won't be going back.

BROWN: Under any circumstance we're always pleased to see guests under these particular circumstances. We're especially pleased that you made it out and we look forward to talking to you again. Thanks for you time.

TAYLOR: Take care.

BROWN: Thank you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: With the election five or so weeks away, naturally, every vote and every voters counts.

And so, too, does the work of the CNN senior analyst Jeff Greenfield, who has been to almost as many battlefield states as President Bush and Senator Kerry. Tonight, his conversation continues with to voters from the very important state of Pennsylvania.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEFF GREENFIELD, CNN SR. ANALYST (voice-over): It's in the air, on campuses, on the football field. Fall has come to Pennsylvania and so has President Bush.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Do you want there to be jobs in Pennsylvania?

GREENFIELD: For the 36th time of his presidency. Kerry was here today.

SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Right here in Philadelphia.

GREENFIELD: That's 15 times since Super Tuesday alone. We've come back, too, to Lehigh University in the heart of the Lehigh Valley, a battleground region in the evenly divided Keystone State. These voters were evenly divided four years ago and were all undecided when we first spoke with them last June.

(on camera): Anybody make up their minds yet?

(voice-over): And now?

GUILLERMO LOPEZ, PENNSYLVANIA VOTER: We had an incredible opportunity for this nation to be united. GREENFIELD (voice-over): Retired steelworker Guillermo Lopez, a Gore voter in 2000, was leaning to Kerry. It's what Bush did not do that sealed the deal.

LOPEZ: I've never seen us more divided than ever before from a place where we were so united.

GREENFIELD (on camera): So when the president says we're safer now, this is part the war on terror?

GLENN KERN, PENNSYLVANIA VOTER: I don't believe we are.

GREENFIELD (voice-over): Gore voter Jeff Kern, a draftsman, say the war in Iraq and our position in the world is the key to his vote for Kerry.

KERN: I feel that we have lost of lot of respect in the world. And maybe with electing another person in office, maybe some of the country is going to come back.

GREENFIELD (on camera): Teacher Pam Miers also voted for Gore back in 2000, but she's decided to switch, the only one of our voters who has definitely decided to do that.

PAM MIERS, PENNSYLVANIA VOTER: I just feel that the president is doing a nice job of leading our country. He seems like he's a strong leader. He doesn't waiver. He stands up there and tells you exactly how he feels. And I think he's a believable, credible man.

GREENFIELD: And John Kerry?

MIERS: I just don't have a connection with him at all, not at all. I don't -- he's just bores me.

GREENFIELD: Nurse Kate Hauk is sticking with President Bush, despite her reservations.

KATE HAUK, PENNSYLVANIA VOTER: Kerry hasn't given me enough to vote for him at this point. I don't like what the president has been doing, but so far, Kerry has missed his shot.

GREENFIELD: You hear a fair amount of that sentiment in the Lehigh Valley, according to Glenn Kranzley, who runs the editorial page of "The Morning Call."

GLENN KRANZLEY, EDITOR, "THE MORNING CALL": We do hear people say I'm not sure I know what Kerry wants to do. I'm not sure what he wants to do in Iraq. I don't even know what he wants to do for the domestic economy.

GREENFIELD: On the other hand, microfilm technician Jim Altenbach, a Gore voter four years ago, has seen about enough of Bush.

JIM ALTENBACH, PENNSYLVANIA VOTER: I always see a smirk on President Bush's face, it seems like. He is either not sure of what he's saying or he's cocky about what he's saying. GREENFIELD: He says he's a likely Kerry voter. And as they did in early summer, our Pennsylvanians agree with the chiropractor Jeff Wack that it would be great to have another choice.

JEFF WACK, PENNSYLVANIA VOTER: Drives me nuts. I don't really like either of these guys, because they are politicians. I don't like politicians that are career politicians that have no other need but to serve themselves and their party.

GREENFIELD: And if you're looking for a single word to describe the mood of these voters, look again.

ALTENBACH: I'm looking hopeful.

HAUK: I'm pessimistic.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm hopeful, but scared.

MIERS: I'm pessimistic.

KERN: I'm kind of hopeful and optimistic.

LOPEZ: I think it's going to matter.

WACK: Anxious to have it done with.

GREENFIELD: Jeff Greenfield, CNN, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: Still to come on NEWSNIGHT, we'll get an update on Hurricane Jeanne and we'll look at someone else who is taking the country by storm.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: The government of Sudan faces pressure now wherever it looks. Its apparent complicity with Arab rebels bent on ethnic cleansing leaves it with very little credibility as it offers the world repeated denials. Conveying that message in face of growing skepticism is the job of one man, a seasoned diplomat who plies his trade at the United Nations.

And that's where CNN's Richard Roth does his job as well.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BUSH: At this hour, the world is witnessing terrible suffering and horrible crimes in the Darfur region of Sudan.

RICHARD ROTH, CNN SENIOR U.N. CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It wasn't a great start to the week, but Sudan's foreign minister, Mustafa Osman, didn't pull a Khrushchev and start pounding the table.

MUSTAFA OSMAN, SUDANESE FOREIGN MINISTER: President Bush is the president of the world or he's president of the international -- of the United States?

ROTH: But he did pound the U.N. pavement, mounting a defense. First stop, global broadcaster BBC.

OSMAN: Is it live?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's not live. It's being recorded.

ROTH: But in immediate demand by other reporters. Talk of genocide does wonders for media interest.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Ten minutes. Let's have five.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We need more than that.

OSMAN: If part of the media is not fair, then we'll get another one which is fair. That's why Sudan is open for the media.

ROTH: But Sudan has not been completely open to cameras, restricting the media in Darfur.

OSMAN: How are you? Good to see you. Thanks.

ROTH: A European Union envoy who wants a genocide investigation, but then a diplomatic allay.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Our minister, we're waiting for him.

ROTH: A meeting with the Irish, postgame report. Darfur is in the top three on the U.N. buzz list.

OSMAN: Iraq, Palestine, Darfur.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Every meeting.

OSMAN: Every meeting.

ROTH: Despite 50,000 dead and a million homeless, the Sudanese foreign minister is not shunned. Make talk not war is the U.N. way.

OSMAN: Hello. Good to see you. Thank you very much.

ROTH: After noodling with Norway, the Sudanese foreign minister got to see Khrushchev himself in the U.N. lobby. Sudan would not be want to be lumped into President Bush's axis of evil, but he ran into Iran's foreign minister, who has a nuclear problem.

(on camera): Both of your countries seem to not be so popular -- hello, Mr. Minister -- how are you? -- with the United States. What's that? You've acknowledged there's a problem.

OSMAN: Will the U.S. accept that the international committee which is going to investigate in Darfur to go on and investigate in Abu Ghraib?

ROTH (voice-over): Last stop, the lunch buffet, the last straw for the British foreign secretary.

(on camera): Diplomat to diplomat, does he get it or is he someone that's unfortunately not high enough?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's a very distinguished international diplomat, but even the most distinguished international diplomat doesn't have the whole of his society in his hands, nor should he.

ROTH (voice-over): Richard Roth, CNN, United Nations.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: Ahead on NEWSNIGHT, an update on Hurricane Jeanne. Also, the ride of your life, it costs about $3,000. You have got to have the right stuff. It's worth it, though.

This is NEWSNIGHT.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: In Mojave, California, tonight, they're getting ready, hoping to write another chapter in space history. Next Wednesday, a tiny spacecraft built by civilians, flown by one, will try for a return to space, and then, if all goes well, another attempt a week later. If they succeed in reaching space twice within two weeks, they'll win a $10 million cash purse known as the Ansari X Prize.

Now, recently, I went to great lengths and heights to catch up with the high-flying space entrepreneur who sees the X Prize as our ticket to ride some day.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN (voice-over): After years of hard work, Peter Diamandis, is seeing some big dreams take flight. With newly minted blessings from the FAA, the company he heads, Zero G Corporation, is now peddling trips aboard a modified, well-padded 727 that flies a roller- coaster pattern, offering brief spurts of weightlessness for a couple dozen hardy souls.

(on camera): Are you making money or are you just having fun?

PETER DIAMANDIS, PRESIDENT, X PRIZE FOUNDATION: Both. Both. We do both.

(CROSSTALK)

DIAMANDIS: Get ready. Straight forward.

O'BRIEN (voice-over): It's a right-stuff moment for the rest of us for about $3,000.

(on camera): When Diamandis did his business plan, he figured there would be about two flights booked in the first month. So far, he's got 20. O'BRIEN (voice-over): Diamandis believes there are tens of thousands of people who would pay for the chance to moon-walk, tumble, spin, and, in some cases, lose breakfast this way.

But for Diamandis, these flights are just a small piece of a puzzle as big as the stars, a puzzle he spent most of his life trying to solve, how to open up the high frontier to entrepreneurs.

DIAMANDIS: My whole reason for being right now is to make the engine, not the government, but economics, you know, profitable business.

O'BRIEN: And that's what led him to create the Ansari X Prize nearly 10 years ago. It's a $10 million privately funded purse for the first civilian team to fly a three-seat vehicle to space and back twice in as many weeks. Over the years, a few dozen teams joined the competition with varying degrees of success.

DIAMANDIS: We need a new generation. And that's only going to come when there's enough profit being made that there's drive, there's competition. Enough of the cooperation stuff. Let's get some good old competition and drive us up there.

DENNIS TITO, FIRST SPACE TOURIST: It's going to take decades for this industry to develop.

O'BRIEN: Dennis Tito is the world's first space tourist; 3 1/2 years ago, he paid the Russians $20 million to visit the International Space Station. Since then, only one other space tourist has floated in his wake. Tito is now focused on the earthly concerns of his investment company. Is he bullish on space as a business?

TITO: Well, it's a sector that I'd be bullish on 50 or 100 years from now.

O'BRIEN: It's a long way from weightless flight and suborbital hops to a Hilton on the moon. But Diamandis says his embryonic industry is headed in the right direction.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: And the answer is, no, I did not get sick.

Still ahead on NEWSNIGHT, a young woman who excels at going in circles, a champion "On the Rise." I wonder how she would like it weightless.

From the CNN Center, this is NEWSNIGHT.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: Our "On the Rise" segment tonight is a love story about a young woman named Brittany Pozzi, who is passionate and passionately in love with two things., her horses and a particular subset of rodeo called barrel racing. Get set for a thrilling ride.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRITTANY POZZI, BARREL RACER: My name is Brittany Pozzi and I'm a professional barrel racer.

The rodeo is the biggest facet of my life. I've loved horses ever since I was little. I begged for a horse forever. We started this out having a couple horses. We rode. And then we decided we'd go to the little local rodeos. And I really just -- I loved it through high school, through college and now at a professional level.

These are a few saddles that I've won. This rodeo, I won about $15,000 at and this one I won $20,000. This is the buckle that I won for winning the rookie of the year. Last year was my first year not considering me as a rookie. I was, along with Charmayne James, the only person to ever come into the national finals in No. 1 as a rookie.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're very proud of her. It gets a little bit tough when she's on the road worrying and wondering about her. But it seems like it all works out.

POZZI: Bye-bye.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Bye, Brittany.

POZZI: When I'm on the road, I'm with my friend Laura (ph) usually. And we just haul from rodeo to rodeo.

I don't think I could even count how many towns I went to. If you drew a line down the middle of the United States and went west, I went to every state on the western side of the United States.

Going to the finals, you have 100 rodeos and you get points going to these tour rodeos and those are really important to make to qualify for the national finals.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Here comes Brittany Pozzi, a little lady from down the road in Victoria, Texas.

POZZI: I just want to make finals again this year. That's my goal.

The competition itself is really intense. It's a bunch of women out there and that can be a dangerous thing sometimes. I do feel a lot of pressure because people are looking at you and seeing if you're maybe just a one-hit wonder or if you can actually keep going with it.

The thing that makes it all click together and it just be wonderful is winning. It's an amazing feeling when you're alone with your horse and everything clicks. You know you're going to win. You know it's a good run. It's an undescribable feeling.

This is my life all the time and I love it, just going out there and doing my deal, whether I win first or fifth, just going out there and knowing that I did really good. And that's what keeps me going down the road. (END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: And good luck to her.

We'll have an update on Hurricane Jeanne after a short break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: All right, we have time for one more check on Hurricane Jeanne.

Let's go to the Weather Center and Orelon Sidney -- Orelon.

ORELON SIDNEY, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Thanks a lot.

The 11:00 update is in. The storm now 315 miles east of the southeast Florida coast. The winds have been holding all day at 100 miles an hour. And it has moved steadily westward the past six hours or so at about 12 miles an hour, still Category 2. The latest forecast track does bring it up in speed to a Category 3 by 8:00 p.m. tomorrow night.

And then it looks like somewhere in the early morning hours, 3:00, 4:00, 5:00 in the morning, it makes landfall in central Florida, heads up through the Florida Peninsula and then parallels the coast, becoming a tropical storm by Monday and then shooting off to the north and east. Remember, though, there's large error or possibility on either side of this line. So don't pay attention to the line so much as this area of possibility.

Did want to show you something interesting, too. Never before has Florida been impacted by four hurricanes in one season. The last time they had this much, they had three back in 1964, two Category 2 storms, Dora and Cleo, and Hurricane Isabel, a Category 3 -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: Now, Orelon, that track that is predicted for Hurricane Jeanne, that's unusual, isn't it? Typically, storms don't come ashore, powerful storms don't come ashore that part of Florida and Georgia.

SIDNEY: Well, that's true. And actually now, looking at the statistics, I'm not even expecting it to be a Category 3 at landfall. It could happen.

But look at this, major U.S. landfalling hurricanes from 1899 to 1996, there has never been a major hurricane, Category 3 or greater, to make landfall on the eastern coast of Florida north of Palm Beach. The farthest north was Palm Beach in 1949. You have to go northward into South Carolina before you find another landfalling hurricane in those years. And, in fact, we took a look out past 1996, even up to 2003. We have no major landfalling hurricanes in that area. Found that fascinating.

O'BRIEN: And you're going to tell me a little bit about the recipe for making those predictions. SIDNEY: Yes, well, there's all kinds of recipes for making predictions about the tropics, but there's a lot of if-then scenarios. You get actually a little handbook sometimes when you work for the Weather Service, with, if this happens, then that happens.

Let me explain this a little bit to you. There's an area of the Atlantic from 25 degrees north latitude, 60 degrees west longitude that's called the benchmark. And, generally, if a the tropical cyclone comes to the south and west of that benchmark line, it has about a 75 percent chance, 73 percent chance of making landfall on the Eastern U.S. Coast or passing within 200 miles of that. That is very interesting.

O'BRIEN: All right, got it to leave it there. Out of time, Orelon Sidney.

Stay with CNN all throughout the weekend. Thanks for being with us on NEWSNIGHT.

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 September 24, 2004 - 22:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Hello again from Atlanta. I'm Miles O'Brien in for Aaron Brown.
It is another Friday night under a huge storm cloud. A killer hurricane once again seems destined for the shores of Florida. Homes are boarded up, thousands evacuating, nerves on edge. You are sadly familiar with the story by now.

Jeanne could very well become the fourth hurricane this season to batter the Sunshine State. Yes, that's still the slogan. It would be the first time that has happened since they started keeping track in 1851.

But tonight, as we consider all the misery, destruction and suffering we've seen and perhaps have yet to endure in the U.S., let's not forget some places that get less of our attention where poverty and isolation conspire to compound the tragedy of these storms.

All the advance warnings in the world meant nothing to the people of Gonaives, Haiti. They are closer to Miami than the folks are in Washington and yet they are unfortunately washed away a world away.

In Florida there is a sense of exasperation and resignation as Jeanne homes in and that's where we begin the whip. CNN's John Zarrella is in West Palm Beach, Florida tonight as worried residents tackle on of the most difficult problems the waiting, John a headline please.

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN MIAMI BUREAU CHIEF: Miles, maddening, frustrating, filled with anxiety, no matter what words you choose they fit how Floridians feel tonight as they prepare for yet another assault from yet another hurricane -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: Thank you, John, back to you in a moment.

In Haiti, where Hurricane Jeanne tore through the country not even as a hurricane is CNN's Karl Penhaul, Karl a headline please.

KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The death toll continues to rise but the main worry here now is how to get emergency aid to the survivors fast before they either starve or go on the riot -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: And here with us tonight in Atlanta, one of CNN's top flight weather experts Orelon Sidney, Orelon what is the latest? ORELON SIDNEY, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, the latest is that the storm is expected to make a very close path to Florida and then perhaps parallel the coast for about 48 hours.

Looking at some of the rainfall accumulations, you can see as much as six inches in some of the heavier spots around West Palm Beach, northward to Fort Pierce. Of course we'll take a look at the track in just a few moments -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: Thanks a lot, Orelon, a lot more ahead on the weather in a moment.

Also, we will get to other matters as well. Both President Bush and Senator Kerry were out once again on the campaign trail, the issue Iraq, the question is, is it the real war on terror?

And, I'll take you along in a private plane that now carries tourists who can experience weightlessness and finally know what real astronauts often feel. Should we call it mal de space (ph), all that of course and more ahead tonight?

But we begin in Florida where the phrase hurricane fatigue has taken on new meaning. There's no precise word on just where Hurricane Jeanne will hit but one thing is certain. Floridians are wondering how they can face one hurricane after another.

CNN's John Zarrella is there for us tonight.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ZARRELLA (voice-over): Tobi Howell stands watch over a pile of burning debris left over from Hurricane Frances three weeks ago. There's another stack out on the street. With Jeanne knocking at the door, Tobi decided to burn it rather than risk watching it go airborne.

TOBI HOWELL, PALM CITY RESIDENT: People have pieces of their roof, you know, stacks of roof shingles and roof, you know, the metal sheets and the flashing that goes around the side and there's big stacks of lumber and cuttings everywhere, so it could be really dangerous.

ZARRELLA: The Howells live in Palm City near Stewart, Florida. The eye of Hurricane Frances came right over them. They lost power for more than a week. Now they're boarding up again.

So is Paul Pelletier. He took his down after Frances too.

PAUL PELLETIER, PALM CITY RESIDENT: When you come back and you see all the mess and the boards on the wall you're just anxious to get back to a normal life and maybe having these things off of the windows may have been part of that you know.

ZARRELLA: Pelletier lost part of a patio roof during Frances. Instead of finishing cleaning up now he's boarding up and wondering whether life in Florida is worth the stress. PELLETIER: I'm hoping, you know, two, three months maybe next summer by then we'll be happy to be here again but, no, right now it's -- it makes you think about Flagstaff and anywhere but here.

ZARRELLA: Just about everywhere on Florida's east coast it's deja vu. Cars are stuck in gas lines. In West Palm Beach, homes and businesses are going through the ritual too.

Reminders of Frances, broken signs and downed trees are still everywhere and before the weekend is out yet another storm will likely leave its mark somewhere in Florida.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ZARRELLA: Now all day here in West Palm Beach the gas lines have been long. They ran out of fuel here about three o'clock, got another delivery about 8:00 p.m., been steady business all night. It's thinned out a little bit now but no doubt they'll be filling up once again in the morning.

The shelters will open here in Palm Beach County at 8:00 a.m. tomorrow morning. Up the coast the Kennedy Space Center is buttoning up. The Patrick Air Force Base is taking all precautions. Once again, Miles as you know, all along the Florida east coast they are preparing for another hit -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: You know there are a lot of people along that coast too who still haven't seen an insurance adjuster from the previous storms. This is going to be a real mess sorting this out.

ZARRELLA: Yes, no question about it. It's a terrible mess and people are still, as you saw, cleaning up. They haven't all seen insurance adjusters and people that want to evacuate and say go inland to hotels are having a tough time finding hotels because many of the victims from Hurricane Frances who don't have places to live are still in those hotels.

So it's a very difficult situation that they're facing here in Florida, certainly just as difficult as it's been since -- for Charley and Frances and Ivan and now once again here we go with Jeanne -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: CNN's John Zarrella in West Palm Beach thank you.

Everyone in the path of the storm watching closely of course, as you'd imagine. CNN'S Orelon Sidney is as well. She joins us here tonight -- Orelon.

SIDNEY: Thanks a lot.

The very latest with the storm is that the intensity has been holding throughout the day, still about 100 miles an hour. It is interesting in some of the later satellite pictures, though, that western side looks like it's kind of trying to open up there but we'll have to see what happens at the eleven o'clock advisory. These are the latest coordinates then as of the last advisory at eight o'clock, 355 miles east of the southeast Florida coast moving to the west at 12 miles an hour, still a Category 2 storm, potential that we could see some strengthening.

We'll see some fluctuations in strength between now and the time it makes a close approach to the east coast. We have tropical storm watches from Anclote Key southward down to Seven Mile Bridge, hurricane warning in effect for the northwestern Bahamas islands from Florida City northward to St. Augustine and then north of St. Augustine to Altamaha (ph) Sound in Georgia. We have a hurricane watch in effect.

This is what the track looks like so far now. We're looking at about 2:00 p.m. tomorrow afternoon the storm affecting the northern portion of the Bahamas and then heading on towards the coast.

But look at how it parallels the coast all the way through Tuesday. It looks like the closest approach, at least at this point, may be Melbourne. But, look, either side of that, several hundred miles, especially as you head out in time. We'll certainly be keeping an eye on that -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: All right, check back with you later, Orelon. Thank you very much.

Nowhere has Hurricane Jeanne hit harder so far than the destitute nation of Haiti. The number of dead continues to grow.

The damage to an already devastated island nation is enormous and it's hard to believe but the worst may yet to come, CNN's Karl Penhaul in Haiti with this account.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)]

PENHAUL (voice-over): It survived the storm. It lost loved one and their homes have been destroyed. Now they're hungry and thirsty. Hours of waiting under blazing sun, scuffles to get a place in line, no guarantee of filling their bellies tonight.

"The water took all our stuff. We can't stand it anymore" she says.

Hunger, frustration, desperation an explosion waiting to happen, soldiers from the United Nations forces which have been brought in to restore political stability fire into the air and lob teargas canisters. They fear a riot is about to erupt and people are getting crushed.

(on camera): The crowds have pulled back for now but the Argentinean troops here know it's going to be a battle to maintain law and order. They also think somebody in the crowd may have a gun.

(voice-over): (UNINTELLIGIBLE) call urgently to comrades on rooftops to try and identify armed gang members among the hungry.

"I think gangs want to take advantage and loot the food and provoke riots to discredit the aid effort," he says.

Tempers fray even among the lucky ones who manage to receive their food rations. These women almost came to blows as they try to (UNINTELLIGIBLE) food in a small bucket.

CECILY BRYANT, ASST. COUNTRY DIR., CAMPT INTL.: At the moment it's really very difficult to assess exactly what the impact has been, how profound it's been. I mean most of these families down here have very little anyway and so this is kind of pushing them right over the edge with having something like this happen to them again.

PENHAUL: A short drive away from the chaos of the food handout, parts of Gonaives are still under water. Residents try to push mud out of the church that's now their shelter.

Like thousands of other, Timan Gosious' (ph) home was destroyed. Some of the neighbors were among the more than 1,200 who died. She escaped with her two children.

"We haven't eaten," she says. She's one of 700 people crammed in the church. She says she's received no food aid and is surviving on scraps.

Back at the food distribution center, aid workers say Haitian authorities have done nothing to help the needy. Shortages of drinking water are fueling fears of the outbreak of disease, as if the survivors of Tropical Storm Jeanne don't have enough misery to contend with.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PENHAUL: As night began to fall here in Gonaives, we saw an aid convoy roll in. That was backed by United Nations troops. They're putting all this aid now under armed guards. The big fear is that looters could try and steal some of this much needed aid -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: Karl, on that troubling note, how much more assistance do they need there?

PENHAUL: They're going to need a great deal according to United Nations and other independent organization officials here. They say it's really the sheer scale of this disaster that has swamped any relief effort. An estimated 300,000 people are in need of emergency aid and also shelter. The prime need though is that clean drinking water -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: Karl Penhaul, in Haiti thank you very much.

Two hundred years ago, Haiti declared its independence from France. It remains the poorest nation in this hemisphere and throughout its turbulent history has endured catastrophe after calamity, some manmade, others the work of nature, nature's wrath made worse by man's failings.

Most recently, November, 1963, flooding claimed the lives of 500; September 1966, Hurricane Lilly kills almost 500; August, 1980 300 die, Hurricane Alan; November, 1994, Hurricane Gordon more than 1,000 people killed; May, 2004, just five months ago, floods claimed the lives of more than 2,600, all that in Haiti.

It was hot and heavy on the campaign trail today as Senator John Kerry and President Bush traded barbs over the war in Iraq and the war on terror. Suddenly, it appears to be a one issue race and this time it's not the economy, stupid.

We have two reports, John King with the president and Candy Crowley with the Democratic challenger.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SR. POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The idea is to recalibrate the fall debate, separate the war on Iraq from the war on terror.

SEN. JOHN KERRY (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This president took his eye off the real war on terror, which is against al Qaeda, against Osama bin Laden, against terrorists in 60 countries and he invaded a nation where there weren't any terrorists but there are today.

CROWLEY: Argue everywhere and repeatedly that the president has failed at both.

KERRY: The president's misjudgment, miscalculation and mismanagement of the war in Iraq all make the war on terror harder to win.

CROWLEY: Having spent the better part of two years explaining his own position on Iraq, John Kerry spent this past week trying to fight his way to better field position, which is to say offense on the ground and in the air.

ANNOUNCER: Americans are being kidnapped, held hostage, even beheaded. Over 1,000 American soldiers have died and George Bush has no plan to get us out of Iraq.

CROWLEY: Kerry counterweights his often acid rhetoric with four- point and seven-point plans but his ace remains the claim he can work better with allies.

KERRY: I have news for President Bush. Just because you can't do something doesn't mean it can't be done.

CROWLEY: Though the president enjoys a wide lead when it comes to handling the war on Iraq and terrorism, Kerry strategists believe this week of sustained criticism and focus has put the Bush campaign on defense, said one top Kerry aide "The president is answering us."

(on camera): The optimism inside the Kerry campaign is as real as it is premature. Some Kerry strategists believe come November they may look back and see this as the week that was, though it's certainly too early to know if it is.

Candy Crowley, CNN, Philadelphia. (END VIDEOTAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN KING, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): On the Wisconsin side of Lake Michigan a big crowd and a tougher line of attack. The president says his Democratic opponent is too indecisive to be commander-in-chief.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: You cannot lead if you don't know where you want to lead. You cannot lead if you don't know what you believe. You cannot lead if you -- if you get blown around by the political winds.

KING: Interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi was at the White House Thursday and Senator Kerry says both he and the president were far too optimistic in their assessments of Iraq's political and security situation. At two stops in Wisconsin, the president suggested such talk undermines the mission.

BUSH: You can't lead this country if your ally in Iraq feels like you question his credibility. The message ought to be to the Iraqi people we support you.

KING: Here at Racine, the unemployment rate is 11.4 percent but Iraq is as much as issue as the economy. Angie Vail voted for Mr. Bush four years ago but is waiting for the debates before deciding this time around.

ANGIE VAIL: I'm not real comfortable with the war situation. There are people in my life that have been touched by the war and that is something that concerns me. So, you know, you just -- I want to keep my options open until I go into that booth.

KING: Vada Evans is a 20-year military veteran looking for work, a Democrat and a war opponent who nonetheless thinks his candidate should change the subject if he wants to win.

VADA EVANS: I still think that Kerry needs to get off the war. He needs to start focusing on what he's going to do for this country.

KING: Dan Mouw is a Republican, father of a Marine who served in Afghanistan and Iraq and certain Mr. Bush made the right call.

DAN MOUW: Saddam Hussein is somebody that we needed to take out. We had a -- the world is going to be a better place without him and the United States is going to be a better and safer place in the long run.

KING: The more pointed debate about the war is certain to continue. The topic for next week's first presidential debate is foreign policy and homeland security.

(on camera): The president already has taken part in several mock debates with a few more planned this weekend at his Texas ranch. Mr. Bush's preparations also include listening to audio tapes of Senator Kerry's speeches, statements and new conferences. We're told Mr. Bush sometimes listens during his campaign travels and even while exercising at the White House gym.

John King CNN Racine, Wisconsin.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: Later tonight on NEWSNIGHT, Jeff Greenfield continues his conversation with you, the voters, on the issues that affect you most.

And ride 'em cowboy, not so fast partner. This cowgirl is making a name for herself out west.

From CNN Center in Atlanta this is NEWSNIGHT.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: The new government of Iraq pled its case today before a skeptical audience. Speaking to the U.N. General Assembly, Iraqi Interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi asked world governments to put aside the differences over the invasion and support upcoming elections. He also called for a reduction of Iraq's massive foreign debt, much of it inherited from the regime of Saddam Hussein.

In Baghdad, a man once thought to be a strong competitor for leadership in the new Iraq, Ahmed Chalabi, was cleared of counterfeiting charges, the judge citing a lack of evidence.

A rocket blasted into a busy Baghdad street Friday killing four, wounding more than a dozen, an Iraqi police station 100 yards away thought to have been the intended target.

In Fallujah, U.S. Marines once again pounded militant positions with artillery and air strikes. And, finally, more kidnappings, six Egyptian technicians working for the Iraqi mobile phone company were kidnapped from their offices, two in Baghdad and four at a remote location.

Well, you don't often get a chance to talk with someone who's been held hostage in Iraq and return to tell the tale. Scott Taylor is a reporter for a Canadian military magazine who was captured, handed off from group to group in Iraq and then released.

His companion, a Turkish journalist, has been telling her tale today on CNN and now Scott Taylor talks about what happened the days and nights of horrible uncertainty and his release with Aaron Brown.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

AARON BROWN, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Scott, let's just sort of lay out as briefly as you can the circumstances under which you were kidnapped.

SCOTT TAYLOR, FORMER HOSTAGE: It was more of an accidental capture than it was a kidnapping. I went into the northwest city of Tal Afar (ph), a city which I had been in previously in June. I had been in there once before. I knew I had some contacts there.

And when I heard that the fighting was erupting in that area and that the Americans were about to make a big push, myself and a Turkish journalist went there hoping to get inside, get into a fairly house, a place where I'd been before and to be able to cover it from a, I mean close but not dangerous site and that never happened.

I got to the edge of town. When I saw that there was a police checkpoint still being manned by the American-paid Iraqi police force, I felt again that the Americans must still have a pretty good presence there. It must be not as dangerous as they were saying.

I approached these police. There was at least a dozen of them, asked for directions to my contact's home. They were very cooperative and, of course, there's no language problem because the Turkish journalist spoke their dialect. These are Turkomans and they instructed me to get into a car, me and her to get into a car, which contained four gunmen sitting next to the checkpoint.

I assumed it was some sort of Special Forces unit of the police. Little did I know that, in fact, these were a group of Ansar al-Islam guerrillas or mujahiddin and they obviously were working in complete collaboration with the American-paid Iraqi Police.

BROWN: So, you get in the car and you see these four masked people and you still think you're OK. At what point did you realize you weren't?

TAYLOR: Well, as we began driving through the city, I realized that, I mean, the mujahiddin were in complete control. I mean guys with RPGs were all over the place. At that time, they expected an American attack at any moment. Everyone knew it was coming.

The city has mostly been evacuated of civilians. Some 200,000 had fled. And I still thought, well even if these are the resistance, because the police obviously were making no attempt to interfere with these soldiers and they were being waved to by the mujahiddin, they obviously knew them.

I still thought well they're probably going to drop me off at this friend's house. There didn't seem to be any animosity. Only when they took us to another house and the door closed behind us, our cameras were stripped from us and we were instructed that we, in fact, were being kept as spies, being held as spies and we'd be interrogated. Then it became very serious.

BROWN: And now we begin a period of about four days, right?

TAYLOR: Yes. This was I called it five days in hell but it was on again off again. At times it was actually quite relaxed.

BROWN: And did you have any sense that you had any control over the situation?

TAYLOR: As I said, there was moments when I felt that I wouldn't be killed or that I might actually get out of this thing alive, keeping in mind that the second night when the American attack did come in they killed a lot of mujahiddin.

They killed about 50 and injured another 120. They hit them really, really hard and we were in there during that period in one of the mujahiddin strongholds, very scary at that time and, of course, what happened was all of the identification and cameras and stuff that had been taken from us were destroyed, as was the man who had interrogated us originally and agreed at that point to let us go.

He was killed, so here we were with no identification, once again back to square one dealing with a very hostile mujahiddin that simply didn't want to be having the nuisance, if you will, of foreign journalists/spies or even just the fact that I happen to be Christian. They accused me of being a Jew and a spy for Mossad, so it kept going up and down.

At times you'd feel relieved and then, of course, even right to the very end when they transferred me from group to group, sometimes saying I'd be set free, I was tortured at one point by a group calling themselves the pupils. These were Arabs, religious students in Mosul.

I was turned over to them on the Friday, tortured by them and, again, released to another group under the promise of being set free and then again handcuffed to a bed and being told I would be beheaded later that night.

So, I spent a good six, seven hours chained hand and foot to a bed blindfolded waiting to be executed and still don't really know what it was that changed their minds or why it was I was set free.

BROWN: Just a couple of other things. These various groups that at one point or another in the ordeal held you, what is it that they had in common and perhaps more interestingly what is it that separated them?

TAYLOR: This was the interesting part, I mean seeing it, I mean, as a military reporter, someone who's been in Iraq 20 times, I mean I've gone in and a lot of things, the divisions that I mean I began to believe existed, I mean certainly between various factions like the Turkomans and the Arabs, I mean there is dissent amongst those groups. In the north there's a potential for civil war.

At this level though, at the fundamentalist level, these guys were extreme fundamentalists, they seemed to all work together. There was, I mean between the Arab and the Turkoman there was no division and there was also at one point a group of ex-Ba'athist officials that came to take, I guess to take a look at whether they were going to take us or barter for us.

So, there seemed to be an awful lot of cooperation. The only thing bonding them it seems is their collective hatred for the occupying coalition forces. And the police force, I must point out again, I mean at all times when we passed through into Mosul, et cetera, made no attempt to intervene, actually welcomed these guys, gave them cigarettes, banged on the roof of the cars as we drove through and could easily see that we were being kept either handcuffed or tied up in the back seat. So, again, the police are very much cooperating in any collusion with these guys throughout the whole north of Iraq.

BROWN: Was there an apparent chain of command?

TAYLOR: In the fighting unit, I mean there was certainly the leader, the emir, but beyond him, I mean as a soldier I couldn't see any sort of rank division like we'd have sergeants and lieutenants, et cetera, hierarchy.

Once the emir was killed there was a bit of a power vacuum and natural leaders would emerge and have their say but there was no real structure whereby somebody stepped up. They had to actually elect a new emir or leader during those couple of day.

So, there was a bit of a vacuum, particularly for this Turkoman chapter of the Ansar al-Islam. They see themselves as brothers and, of course, these guys they were the real McCoy.

In the fighting against the American helicopter gunships, I mean these guys were cheering when their fellow mujahiddin were killed and they would send up the cheer of Al-Akbar because yet another soldier had gone to heaven.

These guys were not like previously going into Iraq when you get Ba'ath Party officials saying how they are going to eat the Americans and you defend Saddam to the death and, of course, that never happened. These guys they really mean it. They're fighting for their religion and believe me I mean they're prepared to die.

BROWN: And how is it that you are still alive would you say?

TAYLOR: I know that there was some interference or intervention on the part of the Turkish government. I don't know at what level. I know that there was certainly an awful lot of people looking for me. I've been in, as I said, the northern region quite a bit. I've got a lot of contacts with the various Iraqi Turkoman factions.

I've just finished writing a book about the Turkomans of Iraq, so I know a lot of these individuals. They were planning for my arrival but somehow we slipped through the cracks and got taken by this group.

So, people were looking for me. I know phone calls were made between my release and when I could get to a phone and even my wife was notified by the Turkish government that I was safe long before I could have possibly, you know, gotten word to her.

So, somebody was in contact. The captors were in contact with both the Turkomans and I guess Turkish officials, so somebody did intervene and I just thank God they did.

BROWN: Scott, you're an experienced guy, tough guy. You've been in a lot of difficult places over a long period of time. Nevertheless, given the experience you had and given particularly the events of this week, the beheadings, the hostages, how do you see it all?

TAYLOR: I know personally I won't be going back. I know, I mean I've been covering it, seeing the situation deteriorating. I still felt that, you know, I had a good sense for what was happening but for me to have made a mistake of this magnitude like I did, I never saw it coming that the police were involved with the resistance. I just thank God that I managed to get out and I mean at this point now it's almost too dangerous for anybody to be in there and I won't be going back.

BROWN: Under any circumstance we're always pleased to see guests under these particular circumstances. We're especially pleased that you made it out and we look forward to talking to you again. Thanks for you time.

TAYLOR: Take care.

BROWN: Thank you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: With the election five or so weeks away, naturally, every vote and every voters counts.

And so, too, does the work of the CNN senior analyst Jeff Greenfield, who has been to almost as many battlefield states as President Bush and Senator Kerry. Tonight, his conversation continues with to voters from the very important state of Pennsylvania.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEFF GREENFIELD, CNN SR. ANALYST (voice-over): It's in the air, on campuses, on the football field. Fall has come to Pennsylvania and so has President Bush.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Do you want there to be jobs in Pennsylvania?

GREENFIELD: For the 36th time of his presidency. Kerry was here today.

SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Right here in Philadelphia.

GREENFIELD: That's 15 times since Super Tuesday alone. We've come back, too, to Lehigh University in the heart of the Lehigh Valley, a battleground region in the evenly divided Keystone State. These voters were evenly divided four years ago and were all undecided when we first spoke with them last June.

(on camera): Anybody make up their minds yet?

(voice-over): And now?

GUILLERMO LOPEZ, PENNSYLVANIA VOTER: We had an incredible opportunity for this nation to be united. GREENFIELD (voice-over): Retired steelworker Guillermo Lopez, a Gore voter in 2000, was leaning to Kerry. It's what Bush did not do that sealed the deal.

LOPEZ: I've never seen us more divided than ever before from a place where we were so united.

GREENFIELD (on camera): So when the president says we're safer now, this is part the war on terror?

GLENN KERN, PENNSYLVANIA VOTER: I don't believe we are.

GREENFIELD (voice-over): Gore voter Jeff Kern, a draftsman, say the war in Iraq and our position in the world is the key to his vote for Kerry.

KERN: I feel that we have lost of lot of respect in the world. And maybe with electing another person in office, maybe some of the country is going to come back.

GREENFIELD (on camera): Teacher Pam Miers also voted for Gore back in 2000, but she's decided to switch, the only one of our voters who has definitely decided to do that.

PAM MIERS, PENNSYLVANIA VOTER: I just feel that the president is doing a nice job of leading our country. He seems like he's a strong leader. He doesn't waiver. He stands up there and tells you exactly how he feels. And I think he's a believable, credible man.

GREENFIELD: And John Kerry?

MIERS: I just don't have a connection with him at all, not at all. I don't -- he's just bores me.

GREENFIELD: Nurse Kate Hauk is sticking with President Bush, despite her reservations.

KATE HAUK, PENNSYLVANIA VOTER: Kerry hasn't given me enough to vote for him at this point. I don't like what the president has been doing, but so far, Kerry has missed his shot.

GREENFIELD: You hear a fair amount of that sentiment in the Lehigh Valley, according to Glenn Kranzley, who runs the editorial page of "The Morning Call."

GLENN KRANZLEY, EDITOR, "THE MORNING CALL": We do hear people say I'm not sure I know what Kerry wants to do. I'm not sure what he wants to do in Iraq. I don't even know what he wants to do for the domestic economy.

GREENFIELD: On the other hand, microfilm technician Jim Altenbach, a Gore voter four years ago, has seen about enough of Bush.

JIM ALTENBACH, PENNSYLVANIA VOTER: I always see a smirk on President Bush's face, it seems like. He is either not sure of what he's saying or he's cocky about what he's saying. GREENFIELD: He says he's a likely Kerry voter. And as they did in early summer, our Pennsylvanians agree with the chiropractor Jeff Wack that it would be great to have another choice.

JEFF WACK, PENNSYLVANIA VOTER: Drives me nuts. I don't really like either of these guys, because they are politicians. I don't like politicians that are career politicians that have no other need but to serve themselves and their party.

GREENFIELD: And if you're looking for a single word to describe the mood of these voters, look again.

ALTENBACH: I'm looking hopeful.

HAUK: I'm pessimistic.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm hopeful, but scared.

MIERS: I'm pessimistic.

KERN: I'm kind of hopeful and optimistic.

LOPEZ: I think it's going to matter.

WACK: Anxious to have it done with.

GREENFIELD: Jeff Greenfield, CNN, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: Still to come on NEWSNIGHT, we'll get an update on Hurricane Jeanne and we'll look at someone else who is taking the country by storm.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: The government of Sudan faces pressure now wherever it looks. Its apparent complicity with Arab rebels bent on ethnic cleansing leaves it with very little credibility as it offers the world repeated denials. Conveying that message in face of growing skepticism is the job of one man, a seasoned diplomat who plies his trade at the United Nations.

And that's where CNN's Richard Roth does his job as well.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BUSH: At this hour, the world is witnessing terrible suffering and horrible crimes in the Darfur region of Sudan.

RICHARD ROTH, CNN SENIOR U.N. CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It wasn't a great start to the week, but Sudan's foreign minister, Mustafa Osman, didn't pull a Khrushchev and start pounding the table.

MUSTAFA OSMAN, SUDANESE FOREIGN MINISTER: President Bush is the president of the world or he's president of the international -- of the United States?

ROTH: But he did pound the U.N. pavement, mounting a defense. First stop, global broadcaster BBC.

OSMAN: Is it live?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's not live. It's being recorded.

ROTH: But in immediate demand by other reporters. Talk of genocide does wonders for media interest.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Ten minutes. Let's have five.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We need more than that.

OSMAN: If part of the media is not fair, then we'll get another one which is fair. That's why Sudan is open for the media.

ROTH: But Sudan has not been completely open to cameras, restricting the media in Darfur.

OSMAN: How are you? Good to see you. Thanks.

ROTH: A European Union envoy who wants a genocide investigation, but then a diplomatic allay.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Our minister, we're waiting for him.

ROTH: A meeting with the Irish, postgame report. Darfur is in the top three on the U.N. buzz list.

OSMAN: Iraq, Palestine, Darfur.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Every meeting.

OSMAN: Every meeting.

ROTH: Despite 50,000 dead and a million homeless, the Sudanese foreign minister is not shunned. Make talk not war is the U.N. way.

OSMAN: Hello. Good to see you. Thank you very much.

ROTH: After noodling with Norway, the Sudanese foreign minister got to see Khrushchev himself in the U.N. lobby. Sudan would not be want to be lumped into President Bush's axis of evil, but he ran into Iran's foreign minister, who has a nuclear problem.

(on camera): Both of your countries seem to not be so popular -- hello, Mr. Minister -- how are you? -- with the United States. What's that? You've acknowledged there's a problem.

OSMAN: Will the U.S. accept that the international committee which is going to investigate in Darfur to go on and investigate in Abu Ghraib?

ROTH (voice-over): Last stop, the lunch buffet, the last straw for the British foreign secretary.

(on camera): Diplomat to diplomat, does he get it or is he someone that's unfortunately not high enough?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's a very distinguished international diplomat, but even the most distinguished international diplomat doesn't have the whole of his society in his hands, nor should he.

ROTH (voice-over): Richard Roth, CNN, United Nations.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: Ahead on NEWSNIGHT, an update on Hurricane Jeanne. Also, the ride of your life, it costs about $3,000. You have got to have the right stuff. It's worth it, though.

This is NEWSNIGHT.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: In Mojave, California, tonight, they're getting ready, hoping to write another chapter in space history. Next Wednesday, a tiny spacecraft built by civilians, flown by one, will try for a return to space, and then, if all goes well, another attempt a week later. If they succeed in reaching space twice within two weeks, they'll win a $10 million cash purse known as the Ansari X Prize.

Now, recently, I went to great lengths and heights to catch up with the high-flying space entrepreneur who sees the X Prize as our ticket to ride some day.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN (voice-over): After years of hard work, Peter Diamandis, is seeing some big dreams take flight. With newly minted blessings from the FAA, the company he heads, Zero G Corporation, is now peddling trips aboard a modified, well-padded 727 that flies a roller- coaster pattern, offering brief spurts of weightlessness for a couple dozen hardy souls.

(on camera): Are you making money or are you just having fun?

PETER DIAMANDIS, PRESIDENT, X PRIZE FOUNDATION: Both. Both. We do both.

(CROSSTALK)

DIAMANDIS: Get ready. Straight forward.

O'BRIEN (voice-over): It's a right-stuff moment for the rest of us for about $3,000.

(on camera): When Diamandis did his business plan, he figured there would be about two flights booked in the first month. So far, he's got 20. O'BRIEN (voice-over): Diamandis believes there are tens of thousands of people who would pay for the chance to moon-walk, tumble, spin, and, in some cases, lose breakfast this way.

But for Diamandis, these flights are just a small piece of a puzzle as big as the stars, a puzzle he spent most of his life trying to solve, how to open up the high frontier to entrepreneurs.

DIAMANDIS: My whole reason for being right now is to make the engine, not the government, but economics, you know, profitable business.

O'BRIEN: And that's what led him to create the Ansari X Prize nearly 10 years ago. It's a $10 million privately funded purse for the first civilian team to fly a three-seat vehicle to space and back twice in as many weeks. Over the years, a few dozen teams joined the competition with varying degrees of success.

DIAMANDIS: We need a new generation. And that's only going to come when there's enough profit being made that there's drive, there's competition. Enough of the cooperation stuff. Let's get some good old competition and drive us up there.

DENNIS TITO, FIRST SPACE TOURIST: It's going to take decades for this industry to develop.

O'BRIEN: Dennis Tito is the world's first space tourist; 3 1/2 years ago, he paid the Russians $20 million to visit the International Space Station. Since then, only one other space tourist has floated in his wake. Tito is now focused on the earthly concerns of his investment company. Is he bullish on space as a business?

TITO: Well, it's a sector that I'd be bullish on 50 or 100 years from now.

O'BRIEN: It's a long way from weightless flight and suborbital hops to a Hilton on the moon. But Diamandis says his embryonic industry is headed in the right direction.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: And the answer is, no, I did not get sick.

Still ahead on NEWSNIGHT, a young woman who excels at going in circles, a champion "On the Rise." I wonder how she would like it weightless.

From the CNN Center, this is NEWSNIGHT.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: Our "On the Rise" segment tonight is a love story about a young woman named Brittany Pozzi, who is passionate and passionately in love with two things., her horses and a particular subset of rodeo called barrel racing. Get set for a thrilling ride.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRITTANY POZZI, BARREL RACER: My name is Brittany Pozzi and I'm a professional barrel racer.

The rodeo is the biggest facet of my life. I've loved horses ever since I was little. I begged for a horse forever. We started this out having a couple horses. We rode. And then we decided we'd go to the little local rodeos. And I really just -- I loved it through high school, through college and now at a professional level.

These are a few saddles that I've won. This rodeo, I won about $15,000 at and this one I won $20,000. This is the buckle that I won for winning the rookie of the year. Last year was my first year not considering me as a rookie. I was, along with Charmayne James, the only person to ever come into the national finals in No. 1 as a rookie.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're very proud of her. It gets a little bit tough when she's on the road worrying and wondering about her. But it seems like it all works out.

POZZI: Bye-bye.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Bye, Brittany.

POZZI: When I'm on the road, I'm with my friend Laura (ph) usually. And we just haul from rodeo to rodeo.

I don't think I could even count how many towns I went to. If you drew a line down the middle of the United States and went west, I went to every state on the western side of the United States.

Going to the finals, you have 100 rodeos and you get points going to these tour rodeos and those are really important to make to qualify for the national finals.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Here comes Brittany Pozzi, a little lady from down the road in Victoria, Texas.

POZZI: I just want to make finals again this year. That's my goal.

The competition itself is really intense. It's a bunch of women out there and that can be a dangerous thing sometimes. I do feel a lot of pressure because people are looking at you and seeing if you're maybe just a one-hit wonder or if you can actually keep going with it.

The thing that makes it all click together and it just be wonderful is winning. It's an amazing feeling when you're alone with your horse and everything clicks. You know you're going to win. You know it's a good run. It's an undescribable feeling.

This is my life all the time and I love it, just going out there and doing my deal, whether I win first or fifth, just going out there and knowing that I did really good. And that's what keeps me going down the road. (END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: And good luck to her.

We'll have an update on Hurricane Jeanne after a short break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: All right, we have time for one more check on Hurricane Jeanne.

Let's go to the Weather Center and Orelon Sidney -- Orelon.

ORELON SIDNEY, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Thanks a lot.

The 11:00 update is in. The storm now 315 miles east of the southeast Florida coast. The winds have been holding all day at 100 miles an hour. And it has moved steadily westward the past six hours or so at about 12 miles an hour, still Category 2. The latest forecast track does bring it up in speed to a Category 3 by 8:00 p.m. tomorrow night.

And then it looks like somewhere in the early morning hours, 3:00, 4:00, 5:00 in the morning, it makes landfall in central Florida, heads up through the Florida Peninsula and then parallels the coast, becoming a tropical storm by Monday and then shooting off to the north and east. Remember, though, there's large error or possibility on either side of this line. So don't pay attention to the line so much as this area of possibility.

Did want to show you something interesting, too. Never before has Florida been impacted by four hurricanes in one season. The last time they had this much, they had three back in 1964, two Category 2 storms, Dora and Cleo, and Hurricane Isabel, a Category 3 -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: Now, Orelon, that track that is predicted for Hurricane Jeanne, that's unusual, isn't it? Typically, storms don't come ashore, powerful storms don't come ashore that part of Florida and Georgia.

SIDNEY: Well, that's true. And actually now, looking at the statistics, I'm not even expecting it to be a Category 3 at landfall. It could happen.

But look at this, major U.S. landfalling hurricanes from 1899 to 1996, there has never been a major hurricane, Category 3 or greater, to make landfall on the eastern coast of Florida north of Palm Beach. The farthest north was Palm Beach in 1949. You have to go northward into South Carolina before you find another landfalling hurricane in those years. And, in fact, we took a look out past 1996, even up to 2003. We have no major landfalling hurricanes in that area. Found that fascinating.

O'BRIEN: And you're going to tell me a little bit about the recipe for making those predictions. SIDNEY: Yes, well, there's all kinds of recipes for making predictions about the tropics, but there's a lot of if-then scenarios. You get actually a little handbook sometimes when you work for the Weather Service, with, if this happens, then that happens.

Let me explain this a little bit to you. There's an area of the Atlantic from 25 degrees north latitude, 60 degrees west longitude that's called the benchmark. And, generally, if a the tropical cyclone comes to the south and west of that benchmark line, it has about a 75 percent chance, 73 percent chance of making landfall on the Eastern U.S. Coast or passing within 200 miles of that. That is very interesting.

O'BRIEN: All right, got it to leave it there. Out of time, Orelon Sidney.

Stay with CNN all throughout the weekend. Thanks for being with us on NEWSNIGHT.

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