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CNN Newsnight Aaron Brown

Fear Tactics Prevalent in Presidential Election; Controversy Over Government Officials Receiving Flu Shots

Aired October 20, 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.
We've told hundreds of stories out of Iraq in the last year and a half. There have been stories of great courage and great sorrow, stories of battles won and strategic successes and failures, stories of innocent deaths and great hardships, hundreds of them.

Tonight, a bit later in the program, we'll tell you another one you've not heard before we are reasonably certain. In Iraq, among the mostly Muslim population, lives a small band of Jews. Mostly they are old. Mostly they are poor. Mostly they have nothing.

The story we will tell you tonight is of their rescue and rescue is the right word. It is a story that shows what one person can accomplish, which really is the larger story, the message.

So, we'll do the news of the day because that's what we do, but beyond the headline tonight there is a memorable tale, more memorable even than the seventh game of a baseball series. That comes up later.

We start the program and the whip in a purple state or is it pink, Wisconsin, heavily in play, heavily courted, John King our Senior White House Correspondent is there tonight so, John, a headline.

JOHN KING, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Aaron, it's nighttime now but drive through farm country, the colors are changing. It is quite spectacular, this one of those blue states the president hopes to turn red -- Aaron.

BROWN: John, thank you.

Next the Kerry forces and CNN's Candy Crowley in Pittsburgh and here's Candy's headline.

CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SR. POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: John Kerry says the president is stubborn and out of touch with reality and that was just for starters -- Aaron.

BROWN: Candy.

And finally the day in Iraq, more air strikes and another busy day ahead for CNN's Karl Penhaul so, Karl, a headline from you.

KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Warplanes try to grind down the resistance in Fallujah ahead of a possible all out strike. Meanwhile, in Baghdad, the wait goes on for kidnapped aid worker Margaret Hassan -- Aaron.

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

Also out of Iraq tonight, as we said at the top, a truly remarkable story, one woman's quest to save a small group of Jews who lived in that country to save them to bring them home.

Plus, part three in our issue series. Tonight, the candidates talk about the economy.

And later, our own leading indicator brought to you by a rooster who made the trip south with us this week, all that and more in the hour ahead.

We begin tonight in the Midwest with President Bush and Senator Kerry, their running mates and children and spouses and dogs for all we know, all of them going over much the same ground looking for precisely the same thing an edge where it counts, Ohio, Minnesota, Western Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, going after rural voters, African American voters, even Amish voters understanding that putting together the right combination in the right places will likely be the key to winning a very close election.

So, as always two reports, same place tonight starting with John King traveling with the president.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KING (voice-over): First stop Iowa, his opponent a little more than an hour up the road, the president eager to set them much farther apart.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Iraq is no diversion but a central commitment in the war on terror.

KING: Mr. Bush seized on a recent quote from a senior Kerry foreign policy adviser suggesting the term "war on terror" is a metaphor comparable to the war on poverty.

BUSH: Confusing food programs with terrorist killings reveals a fundamental misunderstanding of the war we face and that is very dangerous thinking.

KING: The president's stops were in a trio of states that were shaded blue when the votes were counted four years ago. Mr. Bush lost Iowa by just 4,144 votes, Wisconsin by 5,708. In Minnesota, the margin was larger 58,607 votes. Combined the three states offer 27 electoral votes. Iowa and Wisconsin are within reach for Mr. Bush in places where he stresses opposition to abortion and gay marriage.

BUSH: We stand for a culture of life in which every person matters and every being counts. We stand for marriage and family which are the foundations of our society.

KING: Rural and small town America does tend to be more conservative but values are only part of the president's appeal.

DR. RICK FARMER, PROFESSOR, UNIVERSITY OF AKRON: It has something to do with his kind of common man way. People feel that they can relate to him. He's from Texas so he sounds a little bit like they sound and John Kerry seems like he's from Boston and doesn't really relate to them very well.

KING: Minnesota is the long shot of the three states Mr. Bush visited Wednesday, this absentee ballot drive at the Minneapolis Airport part of the Bush effort to engineer and upset or at least force Senator Kerry to work harder.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KING: And as the president campaigned here the White House moved quickly to try to head off another potential Iraq controversy. The conservative minister Pat Robertson says he met with the president just before the war and Mr. Bush confidently predicted there would be no major U.S. casualties. Senior Bush aides including one, Carl Rove, who was in the room for that meeting, say the president said no such thing and that Reverend Robertson must have misunderstood -- Aaron.

BROWN: So, actually I think Reverend Robertson said that on CNN last night.

KING: Right.

BROWN: Their only explanation for this then is a simple misunderstanding?

KING: They say in every meeting public or private the president always talks about war brings sacrifice, war does bring casualties and the way Pat Robertson described it the president was confident even cocky about it.

The White House says that never happened but they moved so quickly today, Aaron, to try to tamp this down they obviously understand that if that impression took hold, especially again here we are in rural America, one-third of the casualties rural Americans in Iraq, they moved quickly to try to try to tamp that down right away.

BROWN: John, thank you very much, back on the airplane for you, John King our Senior White House Correspondent.

Senator Kerry starts the day early tomorrow outside Youngstown, Ohio, heads on to Columbus then closes out the day in Minneapolis, the goal being a heavy turnout in urban areas, especially among African American voters who support him by a wide margin but not fair to say with the same fervor as they did Bill Clinton.

Mr. Clinton, by the way, will campaign for Mr. Kerry in Pennsylvania early next week, at least that's the plan, not that the Senator was on his own today, not by any means.

Covering Senator Kerry tonight CNN's Candy Crowley.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CROWLEY (voice-over): Retired military behind him, flags to the side, it was billed as a speech on the war in Iraq and terrorism. It was intended as a full scale assault on the commander-in-chief.

KERRY: You know the president says he's a leader. Well, Mr. President, look behind you. There's hardly anyone there.

CROWLEY: With the calendar closing in, John Kerry is looking at a 20 point deficit on the leadership question who is stronger, more decisive? He needs to break that down.

KERRY: The president keeps saying how certain he is about things but you can't just be always certain and frequently wrong. It doesn't make sense.

CROWLEY: The Senator spent nearly an hour in Waterloo, Iowa recycling policy positions looking to whittle down the president's advantage on terrorism and Iraq.

KERRY: Our troops are the best trained, best led forces in the world and they have been doing their job honorably and bravely and the problem -- the problem is the commander-in-chief has not been doing his.

CROWLEY: Kerry accused the president of miscalculating, misjudging and bungling just about everything, including the decision to deny reconstruction contracts to countries that did not support the war.

KERRY: I mean that's almost like a schoolyard decision, you know. You learn more in elementary school and high school than they seem to have applied in the conduct of this war.

CROWLEY: His alternative plans and the thrust of Kerry's complaints are not new but the criticisms are more detailed now, the words more slicing and sharply condescending. It's getting personal out here.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CROWLEY: Kerry aides believe the few voters who are left undecided and maybe even some soft Bush voters are merely looking for an excuse to abandon the president. So, over the final days of this campaign, Kerry will be doing a mix of venues, those that make him look presidential as he reaches out to swing voters and rallies like this one which stir up the base.

Candy Crowley, CNN, Pittsburgh.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Picking up now on the question of turnout. There were more allegations today of dirty tricks surrounding voter registration. A number of workers hired to sign up voters in Western Pennsylvania say they were told, told to avoid registering Democrats. They spoke to the "Pittsburgh Post-Gazette." The canvassers work for a consulting firm, the firm of Sproul & Associates out of Phoenix, Arizona, a firm that was hired by the Republican National Committee. A spokesman for the RNC confirms the connection with Sproul, denies the workers' allegation.

They're not the only allegations out there by the way on either side, a quick rundown tonight from CNN's Dan Lothian.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAN LOTHIAN, CNN BOSTON BUREAU CHIEF (voice-over): On Election Day, former Marine Russ Dove will be dressed just like he was during the primary, all black, U.S. Constitution Enforcement stamped on his back and his chest.

RUSS DOVE, TIA NEWS: It's not my intent to scare away anybody.

LOTHIAN: A private citizen patrolling polling places across Tucson with no authority just a presence, he says, to keep fraudulent voters like illegal immigrants away.

DOVE: The only people it's going to affect are those who are knowingly breaking the law.

LOTHIAN (on camera): What Dove sees as a mission to protect the Constitution his critics see as an effort to suppress the votes of law-abiding citizens.

(voice-over): Because he looks like a law enforcement officer.

JUDITH BROWNE, THE ADVANCEMENT PROJECT: If you live in a community that has a hostile relationship of law enforcement this intimidation is real fear for people.

LOTHIAN: The Advancement Project is monitoring some nine mostly battleground states where there have been allegations of voter suppression, Republicans and Democrats pointing fingers at each other.

From the fight in Florida over incomplete registration forms and questionable activities to relocating polling places in Pennsylvania, both said to potentially impact the African American vote, even though officials in Pennsylvania say there's no proof of that.

MARION MEDALIS, LACKAWANNA COUNTY ELECTION DIR.: I wouldn't say it was done in a manner to hurt any of the voters.

LOTHIAN: Senator John Kerry has made dire warnings part of his appeal to blacks.

KERRY: We're not going to allow one million African Americans to be disenfranchised.

LOTHIAN: This flyer sent out in Missouri by a Democratic-aligned group takes it to another level using what some say is a racially charged image to warn of suppression by the Bush administration. ROBERT TRATMAN, REPUBLICAN NATL. COMMITTEE SR. ADVISOR: Which is completely, completely false.

LOTHIAN: Republicans call the attacks desperation.

TRATMAN: The Democratic National Committee and the Kerry-Edwards campaign have resorted to boldface untruths to try to scare African Americans.

LOTHIAN: Back in Arizona where teams are preparing for Election Day, state officials will be monitoring polling places closely.

JAN BREWER, ARIZONA SECRETARY OF STATE: There will not be any toleration of any kind of voter intimidation.

LOTHIAN: Even as Ross Dove prepares to make a stand with this image.

Dan Lothian, CNN, Phoenix.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: We spoke at the top of the program about finding the edge in a very close campaign. There are subtle and not so subtle ways of going about it. Years ago, National Lampoon the magazine put on an album on the cover, a cocker spaniel with a gun to its head. "Buy this album" the caption read "or we'll shoot this dog." Is it any better in the campaign? Has it ever been?

Here's our senior analyst Jeff Greenfield.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.

JEFF GREENFIELD, CNN SR. ANALYST (voice-over): It's one of the most famous lines from any American president, FDR, speaking at the depths of the Depression. Today...

BUSH: My opponent has a...

KERRY: Those are his words.

GREENFIELD: Well, if you believe the candidates and the campaigns the only thing we have to fear is a terrorist attack, a military draft, sick and hungry old folks or crushing big government taxes and regulations.

(on camera): Now, fear has always been a great political motivator but what is so striking about this latest round of scare tactics is that both sides are charging their opponents with positions they simply haven't taken.

KERRY: You know what his January surprise is for next year? He said -- he said, and I quote him, "We're going to move quickly to privatize Social Security."

GREENFIELD (voice-over): Now, Bush says he's never used that word but more to the point he says his idea would apply only to younger workers not to seniors at or near retirement. Now, listen to Kerry describe its impact on seniors.

KERRY: Except at $500 a month less for food, for clothing, for the occasional gift for a grandchild.

GREENFIELD: Or take the question of a military draft. Here's what the president said in the St. Louis debate.

BUSH: We're not going to have a draft so long as I'm the president.

GREENFIELD: But last week Kerry warned at a newspaper interview that there was great potential for the draft because the American military was over extended. And some of his supporters have been less than shy in raising the same question. Now, as for the president's campaign its number one charge is that Senator Kerry is weak on security. Here's what Senator Kerry said in the St. Louis debate.

KERRY: I will never cede the authority of our country or our security to any other nation. I'll never give a veto over American security to any other entity.

GREENFIELD: And here's what the president said on Monday in New Jersey.

BUSH: As far as I can tell it comes down to this. Before we act to defend ourselves he thinks we need permission from foreign capitals.

GREENFIELD: And this campaign ad makes the argument explicit. You may want a change but the idea of change is just too scary.

ANNOUNCER: John Kerry and his liberal allies are they a risk we can afford to take today?

GREENFIELD: In fact, the appeal to fear has even caught the attention of the late night comics.

DAVID LETTERMAN: Both candidates now are using fear tactics and, you know, my fear, honest to God my fear is that one of them will get elected.

GREENFIELD (on camera): Why is this tactic so prevalent? Maybe it's just more proof that both campaigns think their best shot is to keep the focus on the other guy. Of course, Halloween is less than two weeks away.

Jeff Greenfield, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Still ahead on the program tonight, politics continues. This time the issue is the flu.

And later, another busy and difficult day in Iraq.

From Atlanta this is NEWSNIGHT.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Every health story is also an economic story and usually much more as well and so it is with the flu vaccine shortage. The problem has become a matter of politics in the final days of the presidential campaign.

It's raising all sorts of questions about the oversight and manufacturing of vaccines and also about privilege and access to healthcare. It turns out that not everyone is waiting in line for flu shots, not your Congressman and Senator, not on Capitol Hill.

Here's CNN's Ed Henry.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ED HENRY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): While average citizens are struggling to find a flu shot and face inflated prices members of Congress have been easily getting the vaccine for free. The Senator Majority Leader Dr. Bill Frist denied lawmakers are getting special treatment.

SEN. BILL FRIST, (R) MAJORITY LEADER: Absolutely not. The guidelines are clear.

HENRY: Before the shortage Frist sent a letter to his 99 colleagues suggesting they get the vaccine. Frist says politicians shake so many hands and kiss so many babies they could spread the flu. Frist now says it's up to individuals to follow CDC guidelines which say the vaccine should go to the elderly, very young, pregnant women and people with chronic illnesses.

FRIST: As soon as the shortage was made aware then people looked at the new guidelines and that decision should be made by them and healthcare personnel and their physician.

HENRY: The attending physician of the Capitol is suggesting otherwise. Dr. John Eisold is telling lawmakers, congressional staff and police officers they should still get the vaccine even if they're young and healthy but President Bush today said lawmakers shouldn't be getting the vaccine telling Reuters "I think if they're able-bodied, I don't think they ought to. I am not going to take the flu shot."

With lawmakers landing scarce flu shots, not to mention some federal and state prison inmates also getting the vaccine, health officials understand why people are outraged.

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, NATL. INSTITUTES OF HEALTH: It's just natural human nature.

HENRY: The CDC has rationed over 20 million flu shots to do a better job of getting the vaccine to those who need it most.

I don't think it's going to be completely solving the problem but it's going to go a long way to making sure that those 22 million doses are distributed in a much more equitable manner than just randomly distributed.

HENRY (on camera): Vice President Cheney confirmed that he got a flu shot because of his heart condition. The Kerry camp immediately slammed the White House for urging Americans to keep calm while the vice president got a vaccine, confirming just how political this controversy has become.

Ed Henry, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: A couple of other notes tonight. Condoleezza Rice is on the road giving speeches, normally not a big deal that except she's giving the talks in swing states two weeks before the election. A cynic might say the president's national security adviser is engaging in a bit of campaigning for her boss. Oh, those cynics.

According to "The Washington Post" by the time November 2nd rolls around Dr. Rice will have given a total of nine speeches all in heavily contested states. That's more than any other national security adviser before her. Naturally the Kerry camp thinks she shouldn't be giving these talks while the White House says it's simply part of her job.

It's all in the timing for women who take hormones it seems. Two years ago a federal study called the Women's Health Initiative found that women who take hormones after menopause run a greater risk of getting heart disease but a new and closer look at the findings also show that if taken before menopause, those same hormones found in birth control pills actually protect against heart disease and stroke and do not increase the risk of breast cancer.

Simpler things to understand a tornado touched down in (UNINTELLIGIBLE) County, Florida. The funnel cloud dropped down during a heavy thunderstorm, some buildings damaged, a couple cars flipped over but no reports thankfully of any injuries.

Coming up on the program tonight we go back to Iraq where the search continues for the head of an international humanitarian organization.

Also tonight, rescuing the Jewish population of the country the extraordinary woman who made it her missing, a break first.

Around the world this is NEWSNIGHT.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: It still catches our eye when we see that one of the casualties is a woman. I don't know how many women have died over there. We should find that out. As the candidates blast each other over who would do a better job in Iraq, the fact remains that the war slogs on and will for some time to come. Today, fortunately no American soldiers died though eleven were hurt in a pair of car bomb attacks in Samarra. One child did die in those attacks.

Two weeks ago the U.S. lost an all out offensive to regain control of that city, U.S. warplanes on the attack again in Fallujah as well, so there's much to report.

Here's CNN's Karl Penhaul.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PENHAUL (voice-over): Rescuers pulled bodies from this bomb site after a pre-dawn U.S. air strike on Fallujah. The U.S. military statement said warplanes destroyed two terrorist hideouts used by the al-Zarqawi network.

Army sources say gunmen were spotted outside the buildings just before the raid but the rescuers say these corpses wrapped in blankets are a mother, father and four children. So far that's been impossible to independently verify.

"What did these families and children do to be killed? Was Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in there eating with them? This is unacceptable he says."

An Army spokesman couldn't confirm reports of civilian casualties. In Baghdad, the wait went on for news of kidnapped aid worker Margaret Hassan, a dual British-Iraqi citizen. CARE International, Hassan's organization, said it was suspending all its aid projects in Iraq for the time being.

TAHSEEN ALI HASSAN, HUSBAND (through translator): The kidnapping happened when my wife arrived at her work. Two cars intercepted her from front and back. They attacked her car and pulled out the driver and a companion. Then they took the car and drove away to an unknown location.

PENHAUL: No demands either political or financial have been made so far. Even before this kidnapping most aid organizations pulled out because of safety concerns. Those that remained have been taking a very low profile.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PENHAUL: Margaret Hassan has done more and spent more than half her life in Iraq doing aid work and in an interesting side note today some of the benefactors of that aid staged a protest.

In August last year, Margaret Hassan helped to rebuild a spinal injuries hospital and today some people in wheelchairs staged a small protest calling for her release. That just goes to show that this is impacting on ordinary Iraqis not just Margaret Hassan's colleagues and family -- Aaron. BROWN: That's a fascinating shot there. There's a story that will be in the "International Herald Tribune" tomorrow, I suspect "The New York Times" as well that Sunni, the Sunni population is threatening to boycott the elections if there is an all out attack on Fallujah. Are you picking up any of that?

PENHAUL: Not really at this stage. It's very difficult to get a feel for what's going on across the whole of the country precisely because of the security situation.

Of course what we do know is that there's a great worry on behalf of all Iraqis about the potential for this possible all out assault on Fallujah and the civilian casualties that could cause.

The feeling is that that could erode some of the support for Prime Minister Iyad Allawi if he gives the green light to coalition forces to go in there hard -- Aaron.

BROWN: Karl, thank you, Karl Penhaul.

Karl mentioned something there I think is fair to underscore and we're going to do something on it I think, I hope this week. We're trying to get it together this week that it's become much, much harder, I won't say impossible, but much, much harder for reporters in all news organizations to cover what's going on in the country because it's become so dangerous.

So, a valuable window is closing making it harder for us and in the end harder for you to figure out what's going on but, again, we'll do more on that before the week is out.

Also out of Baghdad today the highest-ranking soldier in the Abu Ghraib Prison scandal pleaded guilty to charges he mistreated prisoners. Staff Sergeant Ivan Frederick told the court martial he threatened a detainee with electrocution and took photographs to send back home. Frederick will be sentenced tomorrow, could get as much as eleven years in the brig.

And the Pentagon has relieved a captain of his command. He was in charge of the Army reservists in Iraq who last week refused to go on what they called a suicide mission. The Pentagon told CNN they lost confidence in the captain's ability to lead. Last week, you'll recall, about 19 Army reservists refused to transport supplies because they said their fuel trucks reportedly didn't have enough armor or any armor. Five of those soldiers have already been transferred.

Still to come on NEWSNIGHT, more from Iraq, a story of inspiration, the story of a woman who believes, if you save a life, you save the world.

And later still, while he clearly has not saved any lives, he has saved the program more than once. The rooster stops by with morning papers.

This is NEWSNIGHT.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Rachel Zelon has been a dreamer her whole life. She joined the Peace Corps a generation ago, one of those people for whom the term do-gooder is and remains the highest compliment. That's one part of the story we're about to tell.

Here is the other: 50 years ago, 500,000 Jews lived in Iraq. A year ago, the best guess is, there were only 35 left, not 35,000, 35 people. Rachel Zelon went to Iraq to find them with the support of the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society of New York. She had only a small number of clues as to their whereabouts. She made up for that with her extraordinary determination.

So this is her story and their stories, the pictures shot by photographer Jeff Luterbach and put together by NEWSNIGHT producer Laura Palmer.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RACHEL ZELON, AID WORKER: I am not a religious person. I am not an observant person. I was born Jewish. And -- but it's just -- it's part of my value system. And the vulnerable people and the small groups of people should not be forgotten. And I knew that they needed us.

BROWN (voice-over): Rachel Zelon arrived in Baghdad with the names of 35 Jews believed to still be in Iraq and a hand-drawn maps to where they lived. The list came from members of the Jewish who had already fled.

ZELON: We went to this home in what was once the Jewish section of Baghdad. We knocked on the door. And this 90-year-old gentleman comes outside. And he is just charming.

He just has these intense blue eyes. And he speaks beautiful English, because he had worked for the British railways in the '50s, until they fired him because he was Jewish. And we went in and we talked with him. And what I saw was this lovely, charming, delightful man who lived in a tiny room that was so hot. It was dark. And it was very dirty because he had cataracts and could barely see.

And he couldn't really wash his own clothing very well, nor could he wash the room. It was just heartbreaking.

BROWN: But not as heartbreaking as some.

ZELON: Regina was 75 years old. And Regina has such terrible curvature of the spine that she literally is bent in half all the time.

And she lived up a steep flight of stairs with no running water. And so, she had a little faucet at the bottom of the stairs. And she'd have to sort of crawl up the stairs and, step by step, move a pail in front of her. During that week, we saw a lot of people and a lot of elderly people in this small community living in very, very poor conditions, with little or no medical care at all. From there, we went to Israel. And I met with the leadership of an important Israel agency. And I said, look, these are the conditions that we found these Jewish people living in. And we need to do something. And there are only two choices. Either we can help them build better lives in Baghdad, which doesn't seem to make sense to anybody, or we can see if, perhaps, they'd like to come and live in Israel. And they were very, very supportive.

BROWN: A week later, Rachel returned to Baghdad to see who in the Jewish community there would like to leave.

ZELON: We went and saw Sasson sat down with him in his little room. And I looked at him. And we were chatting. And he was, hey, you're back so soon. How come you're back?

And I said, look, I've come back because I'm coming to see if there are people in the community that would like to leave and go to Israel. And I said, would you like to go to Israel? And he finally looked at me and he said, I'm 90 years old. And every day, I get weaker. I'm just not that strong. And my heart isn't very good. And I'm afraid that I'll die.

He said, I think it's better if I just stay here. I've been in this room for 19 years. And I think it's just better for me. I'm afraid I won't make it.

And I started to cry. And I looked at him and I said, it will break my heart to leave you, but I understand. That was a Wednesday. And on Friday I just -- I wanted to go visit him. And he came to the gate that day. And he just -- he wasn't right. We became very worried. And he said, no, come inside. And we put cold compresses on his head and on his neck, because he just was burning up.

And I went and had to track down somebody who would finally come. And a couple of hours later, a doctor showed up. And by then, he was just laying on the bed. And he was pretty much out of it. There's no electricity. So, on top of it, it had to be 120-something-degrees in his room. And we were fanning him, taking turns and holding his hand.

So, about 2:00 in the afternoon, he sort of opens his eyes. And I'm sitting there and I'm holding his hand. And he looked at me and he goes, if I go with you, do I need a passport? I looked at him and I said, no, no, you don't need anything. Don't worry.

And he closed his eyes and he went back to sleep. And about an hour later, he opened his eyes again. And he looked at me and he goes, if I go with you, do I have to do any bureaucratic things? I said, no, no, no. I'll handle everything. I promise. You won't have to do a thing. He just closed his eyes and went back to sleep.

So, Sunday morning comes and we're like, OK, let's go see how he is. We were very, very worried that he wasn't going to make it. He was so sick. And he comes to the gate on Sunday morning and he's just his old self. And he opens the gate and looks at me and says, where were you yesterday? I was so worried about you. And I just gave him a big kiss. And I said, oh, I told you I couldn't make it yesterday. I said, but you look better. He goes, oh, I feel fine. I told you I would be five.

And about 15 minutes into our conversation, he looked at me and he said, you know, I would never break your heart. And I sort of looked at him quizzically. And he said, I'm going to come with you to Israel. He said, I realize I really need to be taken care of. And I said, and we will take care of you. I promise.

BROWN: The 35th name on Rachel's list was a rumor, a rumor in Basra. Her name was Salima. But no one knew if she were still alive.

Rumor had it that she had been cared for by a church in Basra, a long and dangerous trip these days from Baghdad. An Iraqi Christian offered to drive them there and help in the search for Salima.

ZELON: It was sort of a very hard decision. There was a window of one day -- and that was Saturday -- where we could make the journey to Basra. And it was 5 1/2 hours. We pull up in front of the first church. And the priest's wife and I were sitting in the back of the car. And she looked at me.

And she said, who are you? And I looked at her. And I was a little taken aback. I wasn't really prepared for that. I mean, just -- she was so direct and so -- who are you? And I said, I'm like Salima and I've come to take her home. And she burst into tears and she said, oh, you're the answer to our prayers.

We drove to an old section of Basra and pull up in front of a house. There was this little tiny old lady. And she invited us in. And we sat down on some stones in this courtyard. And she looked at me. And she said, who are you?

And I looked at her and said, I'm Jewish. And I'm here to take you home. And she said, I thought everyone had forgotten about me. And I said, no. We just couldn't get to you. But now I'm here.

And she said, my nieces and nephew and sisters and brothers, they all went to Israel and they live there. And I wanted to go. But I didn't know how to get there. And I said, we'll take you there.

BROWN: Nine Jews left Baghdad on two charter flights last year in July and November, the departures intense and emotional. At 90, Sasson walked away from everything he had ever known to board an airplane for the first time in his life.

ZELON: Seeing him in his suit, the one suit that he still owned, and seeing Sasson with the belt wrapped around his waist twice because he was so thin, watching him lock the door to his home for the last time and hand the keys over, he was very calm.

I could barely contain the tears. You know, I've been doing this work for 25 years. Baghdad and these people were different than everything. They were so few, but they needed all of us so much. And we just didn't know it. BROWN: Regina, the woman bent in half from the curvature of her spine, walked off the plane in Israel in bare feet. With proper medical care, her health began to rebound immediately.

ZELON: A few months after Sasson got to Israel, I happened to be in Israel again. And I went to visit him in the home for the aged that he was living in. He had put on 20 pounds. And his hair was long. It was so wonderful to see him. And we were sitting there. And we were talking at this table in the home. And, all of a sudden, a telephone starts to ring.

And we're looking around trying to find a telephone. And Sasson reaches into his pocket and pulls out a cell phone and says, hello? And it was just the most wonderful thing. It sort of was like, oh, this really was worthwhile. This -- we did good here.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: You did good there.

And, again, that's the work of news NEWSNIGHT producer Laura Palmer.

And this is NEWSNIGHT.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: When James Carville coined the phrase, it's the economy, stupid, he was underscoring a fundamental truth of politics. Bread- and-butter issues have always counted for a lot in presidential elections, and this year, even in a time of war and fears of terror, it's no different.

So, tonight, we continue our weeklong series on key issues in the campaign, how the candidates differ on them. Tonight, the economy.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN (voice-over): Perhaps this year, with terrorism and war in the equation, it may not be the deciding factor. But in every election, the economy is always at the forefront.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Think about what we've been through as an economy, recession, attack, corporate scandal. And yet the economy is strong and it's getting stronger.

BROWN: President Bush argues that our current economic recovery is due to tax cuts, tax cuts he's pushed through every year he's been in office and is working to make permanent.

To encourage job growth, he favors declaring opportunity zones, where tax credits will go to businesses that create new jobs in depressed areas. He talks about increased funding to prepare workers for the new 21st century jobs and long-term improvements in education sought by the No Child Left Behind act. Bush says mandatory limits on spending and a line-item veto would cut the record federal deficit in half within five years.

SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We can bring back jobs, bring back opportunity, bring back the promise that has kept the hope in the hearts of Americans for so many generations.

BROWN: John Kerry says the Bush tax cuts overwhelmingly benefit corporations and the rich. He says he would repeal cuts for families making more than $200,000 a year, but keep the increased exceptions for children and other benefits for lower- and middle-class families.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Offshore the CEOs.

BROWN: Kerry proposes to close what he calls loopholes in corporate taxes, including tax benefits for companies that send jobs overseas and, with those savings, give most companies in the country a 5 percent income tax cut.

To raise wages and lower unemployment, the Democrats would fund homeland security and transportation projects, give a new job tax credit to manufacturing companies, and raise the minimum wage to $7 an hour. Finally, Kerry proposes to cut the deficit in half in four years, to increase tax revenues, automatic spending cuts and a line- item veto. The nonpartisan Concord Coalition has looked at both plans and scored them about even. Each would raise the deficit by more than $1 trillion over the next decade.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: In the series tomorrow, we put education on the table. The drill the same: What are the candidates proposing? What are the costs? That's tomorrow night on NEWSNIGHT.

Still ahead tonight, morning papers.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(ROOSTER CROWING)

BROWN: Okeydoke, time to check morning papers from around the country and around the world, a full 2 1/2 minutes tonight, I think.

"The International Herald Tribune." We mentioned this earlier. "Sunnis Threaten Election Boycott Over Fallujah Siege." Also on the front page, this will be in tomorrow's "New York Times," too, if you get "The Times," or go get it online, whatever. "Abolishing Iraqi Army, the Fallout," Michael Gordon, the third in Michael's series, which has just been spectacular reporting, I believe.

"Christian Science Monitor" preparing us for the worst outcome imaginable. "Legal War Stirring Over Election 2004, Concerns About Voter Enfranchisement and the System's Integrity Have Lawyers Busy Already." Also that British try to sway Ohio swing voters. A lot of Brits sent letters to Ohioans, urging them to -- you know, we'll figure this out ourselves, OK? It's the one thing we know how to do pretty well. Vote. We just don't do it very well. "Philadelphia Inquirer" leads sports. "Cardinals Survive." That was a pretty dramatic game in Saint Louis, pretty dramatic game going on in New York. And, once again, I would like to mention that the Red Sox are the official team of NEWSNIGHT, for one more day at least.

"The Des Moines Register." "Bush, Kerry Bring Battle Back to Iowa" is -- they lead political. Down in the corner, I know if you can get this, "Decision Quick, Painful in Iowa's Last Capital Case. Fear of Escape Led to '61 Death Penalty." The reason it's on the front age is that Iowans -- a jury in Iowa has sentenced a man to death for the first time since '61. So they're revisiting that.

How we doing on time, guys? Thank you.

"The Washington Times." This is a sort of interesting front-page story, I guess. "Bush Camp Targets Mrs. Kerry for Laura Job Dig." Ms. Heinz Kerry actually said a kind of a dumb thing today and later apologized for it, saying that Mrs. Bush never had a real job, which is not true in any sense. Anyway.

Thirty seconds. OK.

"The Detroit News." "State Loses More Jobs. Jobless Rate Edges Up 6.8 Percent." That's pretty high, isn't it? -- "6,000 Factory Spots Gone." But also on the front page, new poll. "Bush Leads in Michigan, State Still Up For Grab Since President's Support Remains Below Critical 50 Percent."

And we'll end it all, as we do, with "The Chicago Sun-Times." "Man Held in Wife's Hit Kills Himself." Yikes. The weather tomorrow in Chicago...

(CHIMES)

BROWN: Thank you.

"Ray of hope."

Always a ray of hope around here. We'll wrap it up in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: All right, one quick item.

Give me the shot, please. This in the Bronx, New York. That's Yankee Stadium. It is 8-1 Red Sox, unless you're watching a replay, in which case the game is over, except, in baseball, it's never over until it's over. But, if it ends this way and the Red Sox win it, the Red Sox would be the first team in the history of baseball to come back from 3-0 to win a series, and on to the World Series they will go. And then we'll pick a new official team for NEWSNIGHT.

We're all back in New York tomorrow. Well, best friends are going to be at war, I've got to tell you.

We'll see you tomorrow night. Good night. 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 October 20, 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.
We've told hundreds of stories out of Iraq in the last year and a half. There have been stories of great courage and great sorrow, stories of battles won and strategic successes and failures, stories of innocent deaths and great hardships, hundreds of them.

Tonight, a bit later in the program, we'll tell you another one you've not heard before we are reasonably certain. In Iraq, among the mostly Muslim population, lives a small band of Jews. Mostly they are old. Mostly they are poor. Mostly they have nothing.

The story we will tell you tonight is of their rescue and rescue is the right word. It is a story that shows what one person can accomplish, which really is the larger story, the message.

So, we'll do the news of the day because that's what we do, but beyond the headline tonight there is a memorable tale, more memorable even than the seventh game of a baseball series. That comes up later.

We start the program and the whip in a purple state or is it pink, Wisconsin, heavily in play, heavily courted, John King our Senior White House Correspondent is there tonight so, John, a headline.

JOHN KING, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Aaron, it's nighttime now but drive through farm country, the colors are changing. It is quite spectacular, this one of those blue states the president hopes to turn red -- Aaron.

BROWN: John, thank you.

Next the Kerry forces and CNN's Candy Crowley in Pittsburgh and here's Candy's headline.

CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SR. POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: John Kerry says the president is stubborn and out of touch with reality and that was just for starters -- Aaron.

BROWN: Candy.

And finally the day in Iraq, more air strikes and another busy day ahead for CNN's Karl Penhaul so, Karl, a headline from you.

KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Warplanes try to grind down the resistance in Fallujah ahead of a possible all out strike. Meanwhile, in Baghdad, the wait goes on for kidnapped aid worker Margaret Hassan -- Aaron.

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

Also out of Iraq tonight, as we said at the top, a truly remarkable story, one woman's quest to save a small group of Jews who lived in that country to save them to bring them home.

Plus, part three in our issue series. Tonight, the candidates talk about the economy.

And later, our own leading indicator brought to you by a rooster who made the trip south with us this week, all that and more in the hour ahead.

We begin tonight in the Midwest with President Bush and Senator Kerry, their running mates and children and spouses and dogs for all we know, all of them going over much the same ground looking for precisely the same thing an edge where it counts, Ohio, Minnesota, Western Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, going after rural voters, African American voters, even Amish voters understanding that putting together the right combination in the right places will likely be the key to winning a very close election.

So, as always two reports, same place tonight starting with John King traveling with the president.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KING (voice-over): First stop Iowa, his opponent a little more than an hour up the road, the president eager to set them much farther apart.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Iraq is no diversion but a central commitment in the war on terror.

KING: Mr. Bush seized on a recent quote from a senior Kerry foreign policy adviser suggesting the term "war on terror" is a metaphor comparable to the war on poverty.

BUSH: Confusing food programs with terrorist killings reveals a fundamental misunderstanding of the war we face and that is very dangerous thinking.

KING: The president's stops were in a trio of states that were shaded blue when the votes were counted four years ago. Mr. Bush lost Iowa by just 4,144 votes, Wisconsin by 5,708. In Minnesota, the margin was larger 58,607 votes. Combined the three states offer 27 electoral votes. Iowa and Wisconsin are within reach for Mr. Bush in places where he stresses opposition to abortion and gay marriage.

BUSH: We stand for a culture of life in which every person matters and every being counts. We stand for marriage and family which are the foundations of our society.

KING: Rural and small town America does tend to be more conservative but values are only part of the president's appeal.

DR. RICK FARMER, PROFESSOR, UNIVERSITY OF AKRON: It has something to do with his kind of common man way. People feel that they can relate to him. He's from Texas so he sounds a little bit like they sound and John Kerry seems like he's from Boston and doesn't really relate to them very well.

KING: Minnesota is the long shot of the three states Mr. Bush visited Wednesday, this absentee ballot drive at the Minneapolis Airport part of the Bush effort to engineer and upset or at least force Senator Kerry to work harder.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KING: And as the president campaigned here the White House moved quickly to try to head off another potential Iraq controversy. The conservative minister Pat Robertson says he met with the president just before the war and Mr. Bush confidently predicted there would be no major U.S. casualties. Senior Bush aides including one, Carl Rove, who was in the room for that meeting, say the president said no such thing and that Reverend Robertson must have misunderstood -- Aaron.

BROWN: So, actually I think Reverend Robertson said that on CNN last night.

KING: Right.

BROWN: Their only explanation for this then is a simple misunderstanding?

KING: They say in every meeting public or private the president always talks about war brings sacrifice, war does bring casualties and the way Pat Robertson described it the president was confident even cocky about it.

The White House says that never happened but they moved so quickly today, Aaron, to try to tamp this down they obviously understand that if that impression took hold, especially again here we are in rural America, one-third of the casualties rural Americans in Iraq, they moved quickly to try to try to tamp that down right away.

BROWN: John, thank you very much, back on the airplane for you, John King our Senior White House Correspondent.

Senator Kerry starts the day early tomorrow outside Youngstown, Ohio, heads on to Columbus then closes out the day in Minneapolis, the goal being a heavy turnout in urban areas, especially among African American voters who support him by a wide margin but not fair to say with the same fervor as they did Bill Clinton.

Mr. Clinton, by the way, will campaign for Mr. Kerry in Pennsylvania early next week, at least that's the plan, not that the Senator was on his own today, not by any means.

Covering Senator Kerry tonight CNN's Candy Crowley.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CROWLEY (voice-over): Retired military behind him, flags to the side, it was billed as a speech on the war in Iraq and terrorism. It was intended as a full scale assault on the commander-in-chief.

KERRY: You know the president says he's a leader. Well, Mr. President, look behind you. There's hardly anyone there.

CROWLEY: With the calendar closing in, John Kerry is looking at a 20 point deficit on the leadership question who is stronger, more decisive? He needs to break that down.

KERRY: The president keeps saying how certain he is about things but you can't just be always certain and frequently wrong. It doesn't make sense.

CROWLEY: The Senator spent nearly an hour in Waterloo, Iowa recycling policy positions looking to whittle down the president's advantage on terrorism and Iraq.

KERRY: Our troops are the best trained, best led forces in the world and they have been doing their job honorably and bravely and the problem -- the problem is the commander-in-chief has not been doing his.

CROWLEY: Kerry accused the president of miscalculating, misjudging and bungling just about everything, including the decision to deny reconstruction contracts to countries that did not support the war.

KERRY: I mean that's almost like a schoolyard decision, you know. You learn more in elementary school and high school than they seem to have applied in the conduct of this war.

CROWLEY: His alternative plans and the thrust of Kerry's complaints are not new but the criticisms are more detailed now, the words more slicing and sharply condescending. It's getting personal out here.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CROWLEY: Kerry aides believe the few voters who are left undecided and maybe even some soft Bush voters are merely looking for an excuse to abandon the president. So, over the final days of this campaign, Kerry will be doing a mix of venues, those that make him look presidential as he reaches out to swing voters and rallies like this one which stir up the base.

Candy Crowley, CNN, Pittsburgh.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Picking up now on the question of turnout. There were more allegations today of dirty tricks surrounding voter registration. A number of workers hired to sign up voters in Western Pennsylvania say they were told, told to avoid registering Democrats. They spoke to the "Pittsburgh Post-Gazette." The canvassers work for a consulting firm, the firm of Sproul & Associates out of Phoenix, Arizona, a firm that was hired by the Republican National Committee. A spokesman for the RNC confirms the connection with Sproul, denies the workers' allegation.

They're not the only allegations out there by the way on either side, a quick rundown tonight from CNN's Dan Lothian.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAN LOTHIAN, CNN BOSTON BUREAU CHIEF (voice-over): On Election Day, former Marine Russ Dove will be dressed just like he was during the primary, all black, U.S. Constitution Enforcement stamped on his back and his chest.

RUSS DOVE, TIA NEWS: It's not my intent to scare away anybody.

LOTHIAN: A private citizen patrolling polling places across Tucson with no authority just a presence, he says, to keep fraudulent voters like illegal immigrants away.

DOVE: The only people it's going to affect are those who are knowingly breaking the law.

LOTHIAN (on camera): What Dove sees as a mission to protect the Constitution his critics see as an effort to suppress the votes of law-abiding citizens.

(voice-over): Because he looks like a law enforcement officer.

JUDITH BROWNE, THE ADVANCEMENT PROJECT: If you live in a community that has a hostile relationship of law enforcement this intimidation is real fear for people.

LOTHIAN: The Advancement Project is monitoring some nine mostly battleground states where there have been allegations of voter suppression, Republicans and Democrats pointing fingers at each other.

From the fight in Florida over incomplete registration forms and questionable activities to relocating polling places in Pennsylvania, both said to potentially impact the African American vote, even though officials in Pennsylvania say there's no proof of that.

MARION MEDALIS, LACKAWANNA COUNTY ELECTION DIR.: I wouldn't say it was done in a manner to hurt any of the voters.

LOTHIAN: Senator John Kerry has made dire warnings part of his appeal to blacks.

KERRY: We're not going to allow one million African Americans to be disenfranchised.

LOTHIAN: This flyer sent out in Missouri by a Democratic-aligned group takes it to another level using what some say is a racially charged image to warn of suppression by the Bush administration. ROBERT TRATMAN, REPUBLICAN NATL. COMMITTEE SR. ADVISOR: Which is completely, completely false.

LOTHIAN: Republicans call the attacks desperation.

TRATMAN: The Democratic National Committee and the Kerry-Edwards campaign have resorted to boldface untruths to try to scare African Americans.

LOTHIAN: Back in Arizona where teams are preparing for Election Day, state officials will be monitoring polling places closely.

JAN BREWER, ARIZONA SECRETARY OF STATE: There will not be any toleration of any kind of voter intimidation.

LOTHIAN: Even as Ross Dove prepares to make a stand with this image.

Dan Lothian, CNN, Phoenix.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: We spoke at the top of the program about finding the edge in a very close campaign. There are subtle and not so subtle ways of going about it. Years ago, National Lampoon the magazine put on an album on the cover, a cocker spaniel with a gun to its head. "Buy this album" the caption read "or we'll shoot this dog." Is it any better in the campaign? Has it ever been?

Here's our senior analyst Jeff Greenfield.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.

JEFF GREENFIELD, CNN SR. ANALYST (voice-over): It's one of the most famous lines from any American president, FDR, speaking at the depths of the Depression. Today...

BUSH: My opponent has a...

KERRY: Those are his words.

GREENFIELD: Well, if you believe the candidates and the campaigns the only thing we have to fear is a terrorist attack, a military draft, sick and hungry old folks or crushing big government taxes and regulations.

(on camera): Now, fear has always been a great political motivator but what is so striking about this latest round of scare tactics is that both sides are charging their opponents with positions they simply haven't taken.

KERRY: You know what his January surprise is for next year? He said -- he said, and I quote him, "We're going to move quickly to privatize Social Security."

GREENFIELD (voice-over): Now, Bush says he's never used that word but more to the point he says his idea would apply only to younger workers not to seniors at or near retirement. Now, listen to Kerry describe its impact on seniors.

KERRY: Except at $500 a month less for food, for clothing, for the occasional gift for a grandchild.

GREENFIELD: Or take the question of a military draft. Here's what the president said in the St. Louis debate.

BUSH: We're not going to have a draft so long as I'm the president.

GREENFIELD: But last week Kerry warned at a newspaper interview that there was great potential for the draft because the American military was over extended. And some of his supporters have been less than shy in raising the same question. Now, as for the president's campaign its number one charge is that Senator Kerry is weak on security. Here's what Senator Kerry said in the St. Louis debate.

KERRY: I will never cede the authority of our country or our security to any other nation. I'll never give a veto over American security to any other entity.

GREENFIELD: And here's what the president said on Monday in New Jersey.

BUSH: As far as I can tell it comes down to this. Before we act to defend ourselves he thinks we need permission from foreign capitals.

GREENFIELD: And this campaign ad makes the argument explicit. You may want a change but the idea of change is just too scary.

ANNOUNCER: John Kerry and his liberal allies are they a risk we can afford to take today?

GREENFIELD: In fact, the appeal to fear has even caught the attention of the late night comics.

DAVID LETTERMAN: Both candidates now are using fear tactics and, you know, my fear, honest to God my fear is that one of them will get elected.

GREENFIELD (on camera): Why is this tactic so prevalent? Maybe it's just more proof that both campaigns think their best shot is to keep the focus on the other guy. Of course, Halloween is less than two weeks away.

Jeff Greenfield, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Still ahead on the program tonight, politics continues. This time the issue is the flu.

And later, another busy and difficult day in Iraq.

From Atlanta this is NEWSNIGHT.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Every health story is also an economic story and usually much more as well and so it is with the flu vaccine shortage. The problem has become a matter of politics in the final days of the presidential campaign.

It's raising all sorts of questions about the oversight and manufacturing of vaccines and also about privilege and access to healthcare. It turns out that not everyone is waiting in line for flu shots, not your Congressman and Senator, not on Capitol Hill.

Here's CNN's Ed Henry.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ED HENRY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): While average citizens are struggling to find a flu shot and face inflated prices members of Congress have been easily getting the vaccine for free. The Senator Majority Leader Dr. Bill Frist denied lawmakers are getting special treatment.

SEN. BILL FRIST, (R) MAJORITY LEADER: Absolutely not. The guidelines are clear.

HENRY: Before the shortage Frist sent a letter to his 99 colleagues suggesting they get the vaccine. Frist says politicians shake so many hands and kiss so many babies they could spread the flu. Frist now says it's up to individuals to follow CDC guidelines which say the vaccine should go to the elderly, very young, pregnant women and people with chronic illnesses.

FRIST: As soon as the shortage was made aware then people looked at the new guidelines and that decision should be made by them and healthcare personnel and their physician.

HENRY: The attending physician of the Capitol is suggesting otherwise. Dr. John Eisold is telling lawmakers, congressional staff and police officers they should still get the vaccine even if they're young and healthy but President Bush today said lawmakers shouldn't be getting the vaccine telling Reuters "I think if they're able-bodied, I don't think they ought to. I am not going to take the flu shot."

With lawmakers landing scarce flu shots, not to mention some federal and state prison inmates also getting the vaccine, health officials understand why people are outraged.

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, NATL. INSTITUTES OF HEALTH: It's just natural human nature.

HENRY: The CDC has rationed over 20 million flu shots to do a better job of getting the vaccine to those who need it most.

I don't think it's going to be completely solving the problem but it's going to go a long way to making sure that those 22 million doses are distributed in a much more equitable manner than just randomly distributed.

HENRY (on camera): Vice President Cheney confirmed that he got a flu shot because of his heart condition. The Kerry camp immediately slammed the White House for urging Americans to keep calm while the vice president got a vaccine, confirming just how political this controversy has become.

Ed Henry, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: A couple of other notes tonight. Condoleezza Rice is on the road giving speeches, normally not a big deal that except she's giving the talks in swing states two weeks before the election. A cynic might say the president's national security adviser is engaging in a bit of campaigning for her boss. Oh, those cynics.

According to "The Washington Post" by the time November 2nd rolls around Dr. Rice will have given a total of nine speeches all in heavily contested states. That's more than any other national security adviser before her. Naturally the Kerry camp thinks she shouldn't be giving these talks while the White House says it's simply part of her job.

It's all in the timing for women who take hormones it seems. Two years ago a federal study called the Women's Health Initiative found that women who take hormones after menopause run a greater risk of getting heart disease but a new and closer look at the findings also show that if taken before menopause, those same hormones found in birth control pills actually protect against heart disease and stroke and do not increase the risk of breast cancer.

Simpler things to understand a tornado touched down in (UNINTELLIGIBLE) County, Florida. The funnel cloud dropped down during a heavy thunderstorm, some buildings damaged, a couple cars flipped over but no reports thankfully of any injuries.

Coming up on the program tonight we go back to Iraq where the search continues for the head of an international humanitarian organization.

Also tonight, rescuing the Jewish population of the country the extraordinary woman who made it her missing, a break first.

Around the world this is NEWSNIGHT.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: It still catches our eye when we see that one of the casualties is a woman. I don't know how many women have died over there. We should find that out. As the candidates blast each other over who would do a better job in Iraq, the fact remains that the war slogs on and will for some time to come. Today, fortunately no American soldiers died though eleven were hurt in a pair of car bomb attacks in Samarra. One child did die in those attacks.

Two weeks ago the U.S. lost an all out offensive to regain control of that city, U.S. warplanes on the attack again in Fallujah as well, so there's much to report.

Here's CNN's Karl Penhaul.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PENHAUL (voice-over): Rescuers pulled bodies from this bomb site after a pre-dawn U.S. air strike on Fallujah. The U.S. military statement said warplanes destroyed two terrorist hideouts used by the al-Zarqawi network.

Army sources say gunmen were spotted outside the buildings just before the raid but the rescuers say these corpses wrapped in blankets are a mother, father and four children. So far that's been impossible to independently verify.

"What did these families and children do to be killed? Was Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in there eating with them? This is unacceptable he says."

An Army spokesman couldn't confirm reports of civilian casualties. In Baghdad, the wait went on for news of kidnapped aid worker Margaret Hassan, a dual British-Iraqi citizen. CARE International, Hassan's organization, said it was suspending all its aid projects in Iraq for the time being.

TAHSEEN ALI HASSAN, HUSBAND (through translator): The kidnapping happened when my wife arrived at her work. Two cars intercepted her from front and back. They attacked her car and pulled out the driver and a companion. Then they took the car and drove away to an unknown location.

PENHAUL: No demands either political or financial have been made so far. Even before this kidnapping most aid organizations pulled out because of safety concerns. Those that remained have been taking a very low profile.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PENHAUL: Margaret Hassan has done more and spent more than half her life in Iraq doing aid work and in an interesting side note today some of the benefactors of that aid staged a protest.

In August last year, Margaret Hassan helped to rebuild a spinal injuries hospital and today some people in wheelchairs staged a small protest calling for her release. That just goes to show that this is impacting on ordinary Iraqis not just Margaret Hassan's colleagues and family -- Aaron. BROWN: That's a fascinating shot there. There's a story that will be in the "International Herald Tribune" tomorrow, I suspect "The New York Times" as well that Sunni, the Sunni population is threatening to boycott the elections if there is an all out attack on Fallujah. Are you picking up any of that?

PENHAUL: Not really at this stage. It's very difficult to get a feel for what's going on across the whole of the country precisely because of the security situation.

Of course what we do know is that there's a great worry on behalf of all Iraqis about the potential for this possible all out assault on Fallujah and the civilian casualties that could cause.

The feeling is that that could erode some of the support for Prime Minister Iyad Allawi if he gives the green light to coalition forces to go in there hard -- Aaron.

BROWN: Karl, thank you, Karl Penhaul.

Karl mentioned something there I think is fair to underscore and we're going to do something on it I think, I hope this week. We're trying to get it together this week that it's become much, much harder, I won't say impossible, but much, much harder for reporters in all news organizations to cover what's going on in the country because it's become so dangerous.

So, a valuable window is closing making it harder for us and in the end harder for you to figure out what's going on but, again, we'll do more on that before the week is out.

Also out of Baghdad today the highest-ranking soldier in the Abu Ghraib Prison scandal pleaded guilty to charges he mistreated prisoners. Staff Sergeant Ivan Frederick told the court martial he threatened a detainee with electrocution and took photographs to send back home. Frederick will be sentenced tomorrow, could get as much as eleven years in the brig.

And the Pentagon has relieved a captain of his command. He was in charge of the Army reservists in Iraq who last week refused to go on what they called a suicide mission. The Pentagon told CNN they lost confidence in the captain's ability to lead. Last week, you'll recall, about 19 Army reservists refused to transport supplies because they said their fuel trucks reportedly didn't have enough armor or any armor. Five of those soldiers have already been transferred.

Still to come on NEWSNIGHT, more from Iraq, a story of inspiration, the story of a woman who believes, if you save a life, you save the world.

And later still, while he clearly has not saved any lives, he has saved the program more than once. The rooster stops by with morning papers.

This is NEWSNIGHT.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Rachel Zelon has been a dreamer her whole life. She joined the Peace Corps a generation ago, one of those people for whom the term do-gooder is and remains the highest compliment. That's one part of the story we're about to tell.

Here is the other: 50 years ago, 500,000 Jews lived in Iraq. A year ago, the best guess is, there were only 35 left, not 35,000, 35 people. Rachel Zelon went to Iraq to find them with the support of the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society of New York. She had only a small number of clues as to their whereabouts. She made up for that with her extraordinary determination.

So this is her story and their stories, the pictures shot by photographer Jeff Luterbach and put together by NEWSNIGHT producer Laura Palmer.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RACHEL ZELON, AID WORKER: I am not a religious person. I am not an observant person. I was born Jewish. And -- but it's just -- it's part of my value system. And the vulnerable people and the small groups of people should not be forgotten. And I knew that they needed us.

BROWN (voice-over): Rachel Zelon arrived in Baghdad with the names of 35 Jews believed to still be in Iraq and a hand-drawn maps to where they lived. The list came from members of the Jewish who had already fled.

ZELON: We went to this home in what was once the Jewish section of Baghdad. We knocked on the door. And this 90-year-old gentleman comes outside. And he is just charming.

He just has these intense blue eyes. And he speaks beautiful English, because he had worked for the British railways in the '50s, until they fired him because he was Jewish. And we went in and we talked with him. And what I saw was this lovely, charming, delightful man who lived in a tiny room that was so hot. It was dark. And it was very dirty because he had cataracts and could barely see.

And he couldn't really wash his own clothing very well, nor could he wash the room. It was just heartbreaking.

BROWN: But not as heartbreaking as some.

ZELON: Regina was 75 years old. And Regina has such terrible curvature of the spine that she literally is bent in half all the time.

And she lived up a steep flight of stairs with no running water. And so, she had a little faucet at the bottom of the stairs. And she'd have to sort of crawl up the stairs and, step by step, move a pail in front of her. During that week, we saw a lot of people and a lot of elderly people in this small community living in very, very poor conditions, with little or no medical care at all. From there, we went to Israel. And I met with the leadership of an important Israel agency. And I said, look, these are the conditions that we found these Jewish people living in. And we need to do something. And there are only two choices. Either we can help them build better lives in Baghdad, which doesn't seem to make sense to anybody, or we can see if, perhaps, they'd like to come and live in Israel. And they were very, very supportive.

BROWN: A week later, Rachel returned to Baghdad to see who in the Jewish community there would like to leave.

ZELON: We went and saw Sasson sat down with him in his little room. And I looked at him. And we were chatting. And he was, hey, you're back so soon. How come you're back?

And I said, look, I've come back because I'm coming to see if there are people in the community that would like to leave and go to Israel. And I said, would you like to go to Israel? And he finally looked at me and he said, I'm 90 years old. And every day, I get weaker. I'm just not that strong. And my heart isn't very good. And I'm afraid that I'll die.

He said, I think it's better if I just stay here. I've been in this room for 19 years. And I think it's just better for me. I'm afraid I won't make it.

And I started to cry. And I looked at him and I said, it will break my heart to leave you, but I understand. That was a Wednesday. And on Friday I just -- I wanted to go visit him. And he came to the gate that day. And he just -- he wasn't right. We became very worried. And he said, no, come inside. And we put cold compresses on his head and on his neck, because he just was burning up.

And I went and had to track down somebody who would finally come. And a couple of hours later, a doctor showed up. And by then, he was just laying on the bed. And he was pretty much out of it. There's no electricity. So, on top of it, it had to be 120-something-degrees in his room. And we were fanning him, taking turns and holding his hand.

So, about 2:00 in the afternoon, he sort of opens his eyes. And I'm sitting there and I'm holding his hand. And he looked at me and he goes, if I go with you, do I need a passport? I looked at him and I said, no, no, you don't need anything. Don't worry.

And he closed his eyes and he went back to sleep. And about an hour later, he opened his eyes again. And he looked at me and he goes, if I go with you, do I have to do any bureaucratic things? I said, no, no, no. I'll handle everything. I promise. You won't have to do a thing. He just closed his eyes and went back to sleep.

So, Sunday morning comes and we're like, OK, let's go see how he is. We were very, very worried that he wasn't going to make it. He was so sick. And he comes to the gate on Sunday morning and he's just his old self. And he opens the gate and looks at me and says, where were you yesterday? I was so worried about you. And I just gave him a big kiss. And I said, oh, I told you I couldn't make it yesterday. I said, but you look better. He goes, oh, I feel fine. I told you I would be five.

And about 15 minutes into our conversation, he looked at me and he said, you know, I would never break your heart. And I sort of looked at him quizzically. And he said, I'm going to come with you to Israel. He said, I realize I really need to be taken care of. And I said, and we will take care of you. I promise.

BROWN: The 35th name on Rachel's list was a rumor, a rumor in Basra. Her name was Salima. But no one knew if she were still alive.

Rumor had it that she had been cared for by a church in Basra, a long and dangerous trip these days from Baghdad. An Iraqi Christian offered to drive them there and help in the search for Salima.

ZELON: It was sort of a very hard decision. There was a window of one day -- and that was Saturday -- where we could make the journey to Basra. And it was 5 1/2 hours. We pull up in front of the first church. And the priest's wife and I were sitting in the back of the car. And she looked at me.

And she said, who are you? And I looked at her. And I was a little taken aback. I wasn't really prepared for that. I mean, just -- she was so direct and so -- who are you? And I said, I'm like Salima and I've come to take her home. And she burst into tears and she said, oh, you're the answer to our prayers.

We drove to an old section of Basra and pull up in front of a house. There was this little tiny old lady. And she invited us in. And we sat down on some stones in this courtyard. And she looked at me. And she said, who are you?

And I looked at her and said, I'm Jewish. And I'm here to take you home. And she said, I thought everyone had forgotten about me. And I said, no. We just couldn't get to you. But now I'm here.

And she said, my nieces and nephew and sisters and brothers, they all went to Israel and they live there. And I wanted to go. But I didn't know how to get there. And I said, we'll take you there.

BROWN: Nine Jews left Baghdad on two charter flights last year in July and November, the departures intense and emotional. At 90, Sasson walked away from everything he had ever known to board an airplane for the first time in his life.

ZELON: Seeing him in his suit, the one suit that he still owned, and seeing Sasson with the belt wrapped around his waist twice because he was so thin, watching him lock the door to his home for the last time and hand the keys over, he was very calm.

I could barely contain the tears. You know, I've been doing this work for 25 years. Baghdad and these people were different than everything. They were so few, but they needed all of us so much. And we just didn't know it. BROWN: Regina, the woman bent in half from the curvature of her spine, walked off the plane in Israel in bare feet. With proper medical care, her health began to rebound immediately.

ZELON: A few months after Sasson got to Israel, I happened to be in Israel again. And I went to visit him in the home for the aged that he was living in. He had put on 20 pounds. And his hair was long. It was so wonderful to see him. And we were sitting there. And we were talking at this table in the home. And, all of a sudden, a telephone starts to ring.

And we're looking around trying to find a telephone. And Sasson reaches into his pocket and pulls out a cell phone and says, hello? And it was just the most wonderful thing. It sort of was like, oh, this really was worthwhile. This -- we did good here.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: You did good there.

And, again, that's the work of news NEWSNIGHT producer Laura Palmer.

And this is NEWSNIGHT.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: When James Carville coined the phrase, it's the economy, stupid, he was underscoring a fundamental truth of politics. Bread- and-butter issues have always counted for a lot in presidential elections, and this year, even in a time of war and fears of terror, it's no different.

So, tonight, we continue our weeklong series on key issues in the campaign, how the candidates differ on them. Tonight, the economy.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN (voice-over): Perhaps this year, with terrorism and war in the equation, it may not be the deciding factor. But in every election, the economy is always at the forefront.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Think about what we've been through as an economy, recession, attack, corporate scandal. And yet the economy is strong and it's getting stronger.

BROWN: President Bush argues that our current economic recovery is due to tax cuts, tax cuts he's pushed through every year he's been in office and is working to make permanent.

To encourage job growth, he favors declaring opportunity zones, where tax credits will go to businesses that create new jobs in depressed areas. He talks about increased funding to prepare workers for the new 21st century jobs and long-term improvements in education sought by the No Child Left Behind act. Bush says mandatory limits on spending and a line-item veto would cut the record federal deficit in half within five years.

SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We can bring back jobs, bring back opportunity, bring back the promise that has kept the hope in the hearts of Americans for so many generations.

BROWN: John Kerry says the Bush tax cuts overwhelmingly benefit corporations and the rich. He says he would repeal cuts for families making more than $200,000 a year, but keep the increased exceptions for children and other benefits for lower- and middle-class families.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Offshore the CEOs.

BROWN: Kerry proposes to close what he calls loopholes in corporate taxes, including tax benefits for companies that send jobs overseas and, with those savings, give most companies in the country a 5 percent income tax cut.

To raise wages and lower unemployment, the Democrats would fund homeland security and transportation projects, give a new job tax credit to manufacturing companies, and raise the minimum wage to $7 an hour. Finally, Kerry proposes to cut the deficit in half in four years, to increase tax revenues, automatic spending cuts and a line- item veto. The nonpartisan Concord Coalition has looked at both plans and scored them about even. Each would raise the deficit by more than $1 trillion over the next decade.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: In the series tomorrow, we put education on the table. The drill the same: What are the candidates proposing? What are the costs? That's tomorrow night on NEWSNIGHT.

Still ahead tonight, morning papers.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(ROOSTER CROWING)

BROWN: Okeydoke, time to check morning papers from around the country and around the world, a full 2 1/2 minutes tonight, I think.

"The International Herald Tribune." We mentioned this earlier. "Sunnis Threaten Election Boycott Over Fallujah Siege." Also on the front page, this will be in tomorrow's "New York Times," too, if you get "The Times," or go get it online, whatever. "Abolishing Iraqi Army, the Fallout," Michael Gordon, the third in Michael's series, which has just been spectacular reporting, I believe.

"Christian Science Monitor" preparing us for the worst outcome imaginable. "Legal War Stirring Over Election 2004, Concerns About Voter Enfranchisement and the System's Integrity Have Lawyers Busy Already." Also that British try to sway Ohio swing voters. A lot of Brits sent letters to Ohioans, urging them to -- you know, we'll figure this out ourselves, OK? It's the one thing we know how to do pretty well. Vote. We just don't do it very well. "Philadelphia Inquirer" leads sports. "Cardinals Survive." That was a pretty dramatic game in Saint Louis, pretty dramatic game going on in New York. And, once again, I would like to mention that the Red Sox are the official team of NEWSNIGHT, for one more day at least.

"The Des Moines Register." "Bush, Kerry Bring Battle Back to Iowa" is -- they lead political. Down in the corner, I know if you can get this, "Decision Quick, Painful in Iowa's Last Capital Case. Fear of Escape Led to '61 Death Penalty." The reason it's on the front age is that Iowans -- a jury in Iowa has sentenced a man to death for the first time since '61. So they're revisiting that.

How we doing on time, guys? Thank you.

"The Washington Times." This is a sort of interesting front-page story, I guess. "Bush Camp Targets Mrs. Kerry for Laura Job Dig." Ms. Heinz Kerry actually said a kind of a dumb thing today and later apologized for it, saying that Mrs. Bush never had a real job, which is not true in any sense. Anyway.

Thirty seconds. OK.

"The Detroit News." "State Loses More Jobs. Jobless Rate Edges Up 6.8 Percent." That's pretty high, isn't it? -- "6,000 Factory Spots Gone." But also on the front page, new poll. "Bush Leads in Michigan, State Still Up For Grab Since President's Support Remains Below Critical 50 Percent."

And we'll end it all, as we do, with "The Chicago Sun-Times." "Man Held in Wife's Hit Kills Himself." Yikes. The weather tomorrow in Chicago...

(CHIMES)

BROWN: Thank you.

"Ray of hope."

Always a ray of hope around here. We'll wrap it up in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: All right, one quick item.

Give me the shot, please. This in the Bronx, New York. That's Yankee Stadium. It is 8-1 Red Sox, unless you're watching a replay, in which case the game is over, except, in baseball, it's never over until it's over. But, if it ends this way and the Red Sox win it, the Red Sox would be the first team in the history of baseball to come back from 3-0 to win a series, and on to the World Series they will go. And then we'll pick a new official team for NEWSNIGHT.

We're all back in New York tomorrow. Well, best friends are going to be at war, I've got to tell you.

We'll see you tomorrow night. Good night. TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com