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Was Sarah Palin's Speech Game-Changer?; Issue of Working Mothers Front and Center; Japan's Occupational Hazard

Aired September 04, 2008 - 14:00   ET

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

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Good afternoon. Welcome.
From the CNN Election Center in New York, I'm Soledad O'Brien.

As we continue our coverage of the 2008 Republican convention in St. Paul, Minnesota, you're looking inside the hall where right now they're getting ready for tonight's big acceptance speech. Senator John McCain is expected shortly for a walk through before he delivers that speech, and he's got a pretty tough job tonight trying to maintain all the excitement after a night that featured one speaker after another laying into the Democrats and finishing up with his running mate Sarah Palin's case for electing a Republican ticket this fall.

So we're looking back and we're looking forward with CNN contributors Alex Castellanos and Dana Milbank. Alex is a GOP strategist. Dana is a national political correspondent for "The Washington Post."

Nice to see you both.

Dana, we'll begin with you. Some people have called this speech last night by Sarah Palin a game-changer. It changes the whole thing. Is that true?

DANA MILBANK, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Well, certainly here around the arena it has changed everything. You know, the question is, how can John McCain possibly follow that? Maybe he'll want to bring the Palin kids on the stage and pat their hair down with saliva or something like what occurred last night.

So I think what happened is there was so much of a buildup to the Palin thing, so much criticism in advance. And when she came through very strongly, it did transform things here. We'll have to wait a few days to see if the rest of America agrees with that.

O'BRIEN: Yes. Alex, that's kind of the $64,000 question, isn't it? Because clearly you could see and hear from the cheers that the speech was being very well delivered to the faithful. But at the end of the day, it's that 12 percent-plus of people who are undecided that Sarah Palin and John McCain are going for.

How do you think the Republican Party needs to grab those folks now?

ALEX CASTELLANOS, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Well, I think, you know, in addition to your basic conservative message that you heard last night from Governor Palin, I think what Republicans or the McCain campaign would tell you is that you heard something new. You heard a change message and you heard a message of bottom-up change.

Now, Barack Obama, in this campaign -- as a matter of fact at the Democratic convention -- said this campaign started with a simple idea, change begins from the bottom up. Well, that was a bottom-up story last night. You know, a local -- an exceptional American from an unexceptional place can rise up and kind of take on the big boys, and in her state, you know, stand up to big oil companies, grab a hold of a budget, reform government.

What you're going to see the McCain campaign do is take that message, she's changed Alaska, and it's going to become the sphere of their campaign -- we're going to change Washington. And that's how they're going to go after not just the conservative base, but they're going to go after that swing Independent voter who thinks, you know, Washington is messed up, and maybe if we fix that place, this country can get on track again.

O'BRIEN: Is there a risk in that strategy, Alex? Because Washington -- I mean, the Republicans have been running it for the last eight years, and by doing sort of blistering attacks, you're kind of taking out your own team, right?

CASTELLANOS: You know what? That's one of the things I think that Republicans have to have the courage to do if they're going to succeed here.

They have to admit that, look, they've kind of violated their own principles here. The Republicans are not supposed to be the big government party. They're not supposed to be the big spending party. They're not supposed to be the Washington insiders.

And they have got to say, you know what? We lost our way.

The Palin pick kind of gets right back to the Republicans and it reinvigorates them. I remember who we're supposed to be now, that's why the party is so excited. But, yes, and I think that actual separates McCain/Palin from the administration and from George Bush.

O'BRIEN: Interesting.

What do you think was not in that speech, Dana? People who criticized the speech felt like it was very low on any details, maybe outside a little bit of talking about energy policy.

MILBANK: Well, that's true, and that's certainly been the Democrats' line of response today, no talk about really the economy, no talk about the middle class. You know, for Palin's purposes, she probably achieved what she needed to do in terms of introducing herself, but as Alex was discussing there, there is sort of a logical disconnect that the Republicans are asking the country to accept now that we sort of bollixed this up over the last eight years and that's exactly why we're the right people to come in and fix the whole thing. So, given those circumstances, they're doing about as well as they can do.

O'BRIEN: At the end of the day you have the speech by Senator John McCain, and he now has a high bar that has been set for him by Senator Palin. Everybody knows that he's not great on a teleprompter, he much prefers the town hall meeting thing.

Is there any risks here for him, or do you think that this is going to be an easy slam-dunk tonight, Alex?

CASTELLANOS: You know, I don't think it's -- following a speech like that last night, I think something that was so successful, is going to be tough for anybody. And in all frankness, Senator McCain is not known for his oratory.

He's a guy who has told his story more in deeds and the events that have marked his life than his words. I can't remember a great John McCain speech. So I think it's tough.

The good news for him is he's known. Sarah Palin was not known. She had to deliver a speech last night that introduced herself to the American people.

Senator McCain has to remind people who he is. He does need to get out there and say, you know, this is where this country would be going under a McCain/Palin administration. So we have got to hear some of that.

O'BRIEN: Alex Castellanos and Dana Milbank with me this afternoon.

Nice to see you guys. Thanks. Appreciate it.

Coming up next, Sarah Palin, working mother. And are women held to a double standard? We'll talk about that right after these messages.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: There she is, Sarah Palin, hugging her husband and her family last night. Mother of five, her story and her sudden rise putting the issue of working mothers front and center.

Here to talk about that is Carol Evans. She's the CEO of Working Mother Media.

Nice to see you, Carol, as always.

You know, I've got to tell you, this issue has really spurred some of the most hostile conversations that I have had in a long time and crazy e-mails, not only questions about is she qualified and is that sexist, but the question of can a woman who has fife children, or as some people put it, that many children, actually pull of a big job?

Have you been surprised by the nature of the debate?

CAROL EVANS, CEO, WORKING MOTHER MEDIA: Yes, the debate is raging on workingmother.com, and our bloggers and our readers are on both sides of this equation too, Soledad. It is quite a fierce debate, with many working mothers saying she should have put family first and said -- and taken a past at this exact time with her newborn.

O'BRIEN: So explain that to me. So, to me, I can understand a guy with no kids. I mean, as a mother of four, a man who has no children, I can understand that perspective.

EVANS: Yes.

O'BRIEN: But how could women who have children and are working, so by definition are doing what the governor is doing, how can they say that she should put her family first and not go for the VP job? I don't quite get that. What do they say?

EVANS: I don't either, Soledad. It's a really good question, because a lot of our readers are also blogging to us, saying that, thank goodness there's a working mother taking center stage in the national political scene.

So we're hearing both sides. But I think some of the hesitation has to do with how difficult mothers themselves know that this task can be and how little support there is. I mean, there's very little support for working mothers on a national basis. You know? And that's one of the reasons why we're so excited about companies who step forward and really do something for working mothers, where there's a lot of national legislation that's lagging.

O'BRIEN: Let me play for you a little clip...

EVANS: Sure.

O'BRIEN: ... of what Rudy Giuliani said last night in his pretty tough speech. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RUDY GIULIANI (R), FMR. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: How dare they question whether Sarah Palin has enough time to spend with her children and be vice president? How dare they do that?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: Is that a fair point, or do you think it's also a fair point for these working mothers to -- who I guess would know how difficult that is -- to throw that in to the mix? What do you think?

EVANS: Well, from what I can see, this is not split Democrat and Republican. There are many Republican working mothers who are questioning this as well. And there are many Democrat working mothers who are supporting her right to run for vice president and her right to be ambitious, and to accept an extraordinary offer like this to step into this spot.

But I think there is no doubt that generally speaking, working mothers feel very strongly that a working mother could be not just vice president, but could be president of this country. And they may feel that there are some overwhelming circumstances involved with this because of the special needs child, because of the number of children.

I don't think you would find these same debates if this woman had two or three children, and maybe even if one of them wasn't a brand newborn baby, but working mothers are very excited also about Governor Palin stepping up and showing that we can do this. And many working mothers felt that we should have had the chance to prove this with Hillary Clinton.

O'BRIEN: Do you think that this would not be a discussion at all if in fact she were not a working mother, but a working father?

EVANS: Oh, I don't think anyone could say a word. I guarantee, Soledad, nobody would be talking about this...

O'BRIEN: Even with five kids? Even with a disabled child, special needs child?

EVANS: Even with a newborn, even with a special needs child. No.

O'BRIEN: Even with a daughter who's pregnant? None of that? It wouldn't matter?

EVANS: No. Maybe the daughter -- maybe. But I don't think so.

I think none of this would come up. And I'm really proud of the Republicans for stepping forward and supporting this working mother in this new role, but I don't think anybody would question this if she were a man.

In fact, you know, when have you seen anybody question a man's ability to handle any job? This comes up in business all the time. Can she be a CEO because she has children? Oh, her children are newborns. Can she take that assignment?

O'BRIEN: But look at your poll, which was, I get it, unscientific, kind of an informal poll.

EVANS: Yes, very unscientific.

O'BRIEN: But people -- a majority of people said no, she should not run for vice president given her family situation. And your readership are women who work.

EVANS: Yes, all of them are career women.

O'BRIEN: Did your jaw hit the ground with that?

EVANS: It did, my jaw hit the ground, but I understand. They are feeling it internally, they're feeling it like, could I have stepped up to that position?

Many working mothers have special needs children, many working mothers go back to work when their children are 3 months old because that's what this country allows and that's the norm. So I think they're feeling like, could I have done this?

Now, there are 66 percent of our readers in a much more scientific poll who said that they feel very ambitious about their careers, so, you know, they feel that right to be ambitious. They may not feel like that particular job could step into the highest job in the country is something that they would feel comfortable with. And they also may be registering feelings that she's not ready, that she hasn't proved herself over an 18-month slug-out like other candidates have.

O'BRIEN: It is going to be an interesting race to watch, I tell you, as this issues comes up. This is the most hostile ex-mail I have ever gotten is about this issue. Interesting.

EVANS: I know. It's really amazing. I'm excited to watch it, but I'm also excited to see a working mother front and center. And it's 24 years since Geraldine Ferraro, and it's about time.

O'BRIEN: Carol Evans.

Nice to see you as always, Carol. Thanks, from "Working Mother" magazine. Appreciate it.

EVANS: Thanks, Soledad.

O'BRIEN: More convention coverage is coming to you in just about 15 minutes and throughout the day as well.

In New York, I'm Soledad O'Brien, at the CNN Election Center.

Back to Atlanta and CNN NEWSROOM after our break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Just checking all of this. We're checking it right here in the CNN severe weather center.

All work and no play can be deadly in Japan. There's a term for working one's self to death, and many families torn apart by the loss of a breadwinner. We'll get one family's story.

Hello, everyone. I'm Don Lemon, live here in the CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Well, you know what? The southeast coast looks like the next storm front.

Tropical Storm Hanna is drenching the Bahamas today and could become a hurricane before it strikes somewhere along the Carolinas. Then there's Ike, already a Category 4. Where it might hit, well, it is anyone's guess. Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas have already activated emergency centers. The surf's already kicking up. And folks on the coast, they are getting read.

Hanna left miles of misery in Haiti. Thousands of people are homeless, at least 61 people are dead.

Well, how soon could these storms hit here? That's a good question.

(WEATHER REPORT)

LEMON: OK. "I lied under oath." With those words, Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick pleaded guilty to felony charges, bringing a seven-month sex and misconduct scandal to an end. He'll spend four months in jail and give up his job effective two weeks from today. He also will pay $1 million in fines and spend five years on probation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. Kilpatrick, you understand that by pleading guilty, that you're going to give up certain constitutional rights, and one is the right to be tried a jury. You understand that, sir?

MAYOR KWAME KILPATRICK (D), DETROIT: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're also giving up the right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty. Do you understand that?

KILPATRICK: I think I gave that up a long time ago, Your Honor. Yes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: That was a final parting shot from him.

Just yesterday, Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm opened hearings to remove Kilpatrick from office.

Let's go now to Washington, where a sentencing hearing begins this hour for former high-profile lobbyist Jack Abramoff. He pleaded guilty two years ago to bribing lawmakers. Since then, he's been helping investigators, providing some of the evidence that sent a congressman and a deputy interior secretary to prison. Because of that, prosecutors are recommending a relatively light sentence of less than four years. Abramoff already is serving a six-year sentence for fraud in connection with the purchase of a Florida casino.

Well, sometimes working yourself to death isn't a figure of speech. In Japan, the family of a young man who died last year is considering suing his former employer. He is claiming hundreds of hours of unpaid overtime was an "occupational hazard" -- that's a quote -- of fatal proportions.

Here's CNN's Kyung Lah with the story. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KYUNG LAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Takayuki Maezawa was the sort of man dedicated to his family. So much so in trying to keep his job, the Japanese government says the 32-year-old worked himself to death.

"I asked myself, can there even be such a thing," says Maezawa's mother, "to feel this much sadness?"

The Labor Standards Bureau says Takayuki Maezawa died of koroshi (ph), which means death by overwork. He was a manager at Skylark restaurant Saitama, just outside of Tokyo. His mother and sister who he financially supported called it a demanding, unrelenting job.

Maezawa's mother kept track of his hours, logging 173 hours of overtime in July of last year, 214 in August, and 238 hours of overtime in September, rarely ever taking a day off. According to Maezawa's family records, that averages to working 7:00 a.m. to 2:00 a.m. every single day for three months.

Last October, Maezawa collapsed inside the restaurant and died days later in the hospital of a brain hemorrhage. "His work killed him," says Maezawa's sister. "I just can't believe it. He died way too early."

The National Union of General Workers Tokyo Tobu says Maezawa's case represents a group of people who pay the heaviest price in a tight economy. "Maezawa didn't know when the company might cut his contract," says Mitsuteru Suda. The union says Tokyo's 20-and-30- year-olds often are part-time short-term employees. Japan's lifetime employment no longer in place for new workers.

(on camera): Koroshi has long been a problem in Japan, where the average worker uses less than half of his or her paid holidays, and unlogged overtime is seen as a commitment to your job. The economy, say labor unions, means that the working poor work under even longer and tougher conditions.

(voice-over): Skylark had another employee die of koroshi four years ago and says, since then, the company implemented prevention programs such as monitoring hours and annual employee health checks. In a statement, the company expressed condolences to Maezawa's family but disputed the family's 200 hours of overtime a month figures.

Skylark said based on its records, "It is not our understanding Mr. Maezawa worked such long hours." The Maezawas say they'll fight Skylark in court if necessary.

"I don't want anyone else to ever feel this pain. I hope by sharing our story, more and more people will bring up their stories and take action."

It is too late for their lost son and brother. Message to the working class, even in these economic times, it is better to lose a job than lose a life. Kyung Lah, CNN, Saitama, Japan.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: And more sad news to report to you. The man who took Charlie Brown from the comic strips to television and the big screen, well, he has passed away. Bill Melendez won Emmys and a Peabody in his almost 70-year career as an animator.

He's best known for collaborating with "Peanuts" creator Charles Schulz. Melendez animated "A Charlie Brown Christmas" for TV in 1965, and it still wouldn't have been Christmas without it. You know that? Everybody watches that every year.

Many other shows and specials followed that. Melendez also did the voice of Snoopy. He sped up recordings of his voice to create Snoopy's howls, his sighs and sobs. And before working for "Peanuts," as it were, Melendez was a Disney animator on such classics as "Bambi" and "Fantasia."

He is survived by his wife of 68 years, two sons, six grandchildren, and 11 great grandchildren. Bill Melendez was 91 years old.

May he rest in peace.

OK. So imagine this -- no television, no Internet, no air- conditioning for weeks on end, and it is hot down there, trust me, and humid. That could be the case for a lot of people who got hammered by Hurricane Gustav.

The fourth and final day of the Republican National Convention. Tonight's main event, John McCain's presidential nomination acceptance speech.

We'll have continuing coverage.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: Welcome back, everybody. You're watching the CNN Election Center. Reporting from New York, I'm Soledad O'Brien.

And what you're seeing on your screen there is continuing coverage of the Republicans in St. Paul, Minnesota. In just a few minutes, in that hall in fact, we're expecting to see John McCain on the floor doing his walk through, checking the mic, looking at the prompter, kind of getting a sense of where he's going to be delivering his speech this evening. He will have a different view tonight. It may be slightly louder as well -- just a little -- as he accepts the nomination that eluded him eight years ago. You can expect to hear cheering and screaming.

Tonight's theme: Country First. A bevy of Olympic athletes will say the Pledge of Allegiance. They're going to show a Sarah Palin video. Cindy McCain is going to speak and then the moment that John McCain has been working for for so long. With me, once again, to talk about all that, as well as the Sarah Palin fireworks last night, CNN contributors Hilary Rosen and Leslie Sanchez. A Democrat, Republican, respectively.

Nice to see you back again, ladies.

Give me an assessment of how it's gone, for both the Democrats and the Republicans. And, take off your Democrat hat and your Republican hat. Do you think both of them have done better than expected, worse than expected, how are they teed as we look to the week ahead?

HILARY ROSEN, CNN POLITICAL CONTRIBUTOR: I think conventions are a little bit like Super Bowls, only both teams are never on the field at the same time. So everybody plays -- last week the Democrats were on offense and the Republicans were trying to lob a few things in there. And this week, the Republicans are offense.

Frankly, I think both sides are doing pretty well. Democrats, I think, got what we needed out of last week's convention. I think Republicans are doing pretty well. They had a good night last night with Sarah Palin. And I expect they're going to have a good night tonight with John McCain. You know, the issue is what happens next week. But I think probably both parties, if folks are honest, would say, scored some hits.

LESLIE SANCHEZ, CNN POLITICAL CONTRIBUTOR: Very much so. You think about the slow start of the Democratic convention, people were complaining, where's the red meat? I said I wasn't going to use that phrase any more. But that will be my last time -- I promise, I promise.

(CROSSTALK)

SANCHEZ: But they were looking at -- they were very critical. Can Michelle Obama -- step up to the plate, introduced her family. Can they do all these things?

I think you heard some really compelling speeches on the Republican side. What Sarah Palin did was bring this back to a 50/50 election. It energized the base in a way -- even if you look at Cindy McCain, she actually looked excited. I have been getting calls from so many Republican women who are now like, OK, I'm ready to go volunteer. And this may actually, if people are thinking of transforming an election where you have massive turnout which you expected from the Democratic side, but you're now going to start to see it from the Republican side, beyond the evangelicals, but also just the middle class voters, those conservative Democrats.

O'BRIEN: Do you run the risk of alienating the middle class voters, and everybody else, by the appeal to the conservative Christians in the choice of Palin and also in -- just sort of some of the things that she has said in her strong Christian faith. Is that a risk? Because John McCain, he was -- what did he say? Agents of intolerance -- and then he kind of had the big makeup and everybody hugged in 2006. But there was a big rift and that's why everybody's been very cool to him. So -- what Carl talked about earlier is sort of the embrace of the right, is there a risk to that strategy?

Leslie, why don't you start.

SANCHEZ: I think -- is it an embrace to the right, or is it an embrace of values that are pretty much shared values. This is a country -- a God believing country -- this is a country where people do appreciate and expect there to be a faith element there. Not so much that they talk about, but that they're guided by it. You know, you would hear it a lot with President Bush, especially after 9/11, people said I feel comfort that he's a God-fearing man. I would hear that on the road when I worked for him. I think in that sense it gives people comfort. People want to know that that's there.

But aside from that, they're looking at other things. They're going to look at what Hilary was saying, what's the direction, how are you going to change the course of this country, continue to keep us prosperous and strong, and is this the right ticket?

And in that case, these two conventions did a very good job of contrasting the differences.

ROSEN: I think Democrats, over the next couple of weeks, you're going to see try and put John McCain and Sarah Palin in the box that policy-wise they belong in, which is really much more extreme than the rest of the country. Whether it's on issues of the environment or whether it's on education or health care or the economy, they really are much farther right than the rest of the country. The war as well, this country wants to see an end to this war.

And I think what you're going to have the Republicans do is try and do what they have successfully done in the last couple of elections, which is sort of mush up the issues into this broader values debate, so that they're appealing to the right wing and getting those votes out with their subtle field operation and those messages, but to the broader country, they're trying to project --

O'BRIEN: Is it mushing up the issues or is it talking values to people who clearly care about values? That's really what the Democrats historically have been bashed for which is sort of not being a party of values, which they tried to change this time around.

ROSEN: And I think probably have (ph), but values means something different now. Values means are we focused enough on the economy and on the environment and those other issues that evangelicals have started thinking about? Not just being anti-gay people and being anti-abortion.

Look, this whole election was always going to be about the 6 percent of the people in the middle. John McCain, I think, has successfully energized his base the way the Democrats have already energized their base. So what are those six people in the middle going to care about? Are they going to care about health care?

O'BRIEN: Six percent, not six people.

(CROSSTALK)

O'BRIEN: -- these elections have been very close.

(CROSSTALK)

O'BRIEN: Can you just imagine if it were just down to six people, that would be a terrible movie.

(CROSSTALK)

ROSEN: So what are they going to care about, that's, I think, the key issue here.

SANCHEZ: They're going to go back to experience and people that have a proven record to get it done.

ROSEN: No, they're going care about the economy, and they're going to care about ending the war.

O'BRIEN: The beauty is, you guys get to talk about it on the commercial break. And we get to talk about it through November. How about that?

Ladies, I appreciate it.

When we come back, a question about media bias. Some harsh attacks at the convention last night. We'll talk about those right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. SARAH PALIN (R), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If you're not a member in good standing of the Washington elite, then some in the media consider a candidate unqualified for that reason alone.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GIULIANI: We the people, the citizens of the United States, get to decide our next president. Not the left wing media, not Hollywood celebrities, not anyone else but the people of America.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MITT ROMNEY (R), FMR. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: For decades now, the Washington sun has been rising in the east. You see, Washington has been looking to the Eastern elites, to the editorial pages of the "Times" and the "Post," and to the broadcasters from the coast.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: Wow, well, given that medley of complaints last night, you would hardly imagine that Republicans have held the White House in almost 20 of the last 28 years. But they have. Even so, bashing the media has pretty much been the gift that just keeps giving for politicians of all parties, but especially with Republicans these days. It's been that way ever since Richard Nixon's vice president Spiro Agnew lashed out at what he called the "nattering nabobs of negativism." That was 38 years ago.

So today we turn to one of those nabobs -- forgive me -- Howard Kurtz, host of CNN's "RELIABLE SOURCES" and media writer for the "Washington Post."

Hate to call you a nabob. But that's what you are.

With questions of qualifications of Sarah Palin and questions at issues about motherhood -- came from the campaign, and others, the media is biased against Republicans, against Republican women, and attacking us. Is there merit in that argument?

HOWARD KURTZ, HOST, "RELIABLE SOURCES": Well, Soledad, my self- esteem has taken a little battering this week because from all this criticism. Look, part of what the journalists are doing here is absolutely legitimate -- trying to find out who this person is, what is her record as governor of Alaska, somebody who 99 percent of Americans had never heard of before.

At the same time, I think these attacks are starting to sting a little bit because there have been excesses in coverage. There has been a little bit treating 17-year-old Bristol Palin as if she we were 17-year-old pregnant Jamie Lynn Spears. And there has bee this questioning, which I'm sure maybe has bothered you a little bit about, well, how can Governor Palin be a good mother and at the same time run for national office.

So I sense a little bit of a backlash brewing against our profession and a little bit of a pulling back on behalf of some of the columnists and commentators.

O'BRIEN: Well let me ask you a question about the family. Bristol Palin -- Barack Obama said family is off-limits. And then, when they do a photo-op where they all greet Senator McCain, there she is with the boyfriend. And so, in a way, with the, we want our privacy, there's also, here is everybody in a photo-op. And to some people that sends a very conflicting message, the hugs we're looking at there as Senator McCain got off the plane when he landed in the Twin Cities yesterday.

Does bringing your family into the equation, does talking about being a mom, and that's going to be part of your strategy to get voters, does that mean that you get to open up -- that becomes, frankly, that's just now an open question, an open field for everybody?

KURTZ: Yes, that's a perfectly fair point. I would prefer not to see us spending a whole lot of time on the problems of the kids just because their parents are public figures. But, from the very first time she stood before the camera, Sarah Palin defined herself as a hockey mom with five kids. We saw a lot of those kids at last night's speech here in St. Paul. And if she's going to talk about her eldest son going to Iraq, and if she's going to talk about her special needs baby, the one born with Down syndrome, then she is putting them front and center, just as you say. And then I don't think they can be shocked and horrified and cry foul if we try to do some reporting on that family that is perhaps not so much their liking.

But look, this is a calculated strategy. Not just because we heard it from all those speakers last night, Steve Schmidt, who's John McCain's top strategist, told me in an interview that was published yesterday that the level of press scrutiny and the tone of the coverage against the governor of Alaska has been vicious, he said, has been scurrilous and he said that the main stream media were on a mission to destroy Sarah Palin.

Now obviously that's way overstated and obviously this is a partisan for John McCain, trying to brushback the hitters, the heavy hitters, in the main stream press. But again --

O'BRIEN: But let me as a question --

KURTZ: Go ahead.

O'BRIEN: Because you had -- at first from the campaign you got, listen, questioning someone's ability to lead, to govern, and credibility about their resume, basically, is biassed and unfair. Today when I talked to a campaign spokesperson, she said bring on the questions about her experience; we want them. So they kind of have now shifted the tone.

What was not OK two days ago is now suddenly OK. I mean, strategically, I guess that makes sense for them.

KURTZ: Well, I don't see how they could ever claim with a straight face that we shouldn't be asking questions about somebody who has been a governor for 20 months and was a small town mayor before that, and is this person qualified to be vice president and a potential command in chief. But yes, there's new talking, it seems to me, today. Because I'm hearing everywhere, she's got more experience than Barack Obama, she's actually run a state. Look, that's part of the game that they play.

Our job is to ask the questions. But because the candidate is a woman, very unusual as you know, it's the only time this happened on the Republican ticket, and because her family has been dragged into it -- look, they put out the statement on Monday saying that the 17-year- old daughter was pregnant, but they did that because so many journalists, including national journalists, were calling up and saying what about these Internet rumors that the baby isn't really Governor Palin's and it actually belongs to Bristol.

So there's a lot of tension right now on both sides. I don't think we should be deterred, I don't think we should be bullied out of doing our jobs. But I do think we maybe have to be a little more sensitive to those who feel like we're being a little condescending toward the self described hockey mom.

O'BRIEN: Howie Kurtz, it's always nice to have you. Thank you very much. Appreciate it.

We're going to have more convention coverage coming in about 15 minutes and throughout the day too. In New York, I'm Soledad O'Brien at the CNN Election Center.

We'll send it back to Atlanta and CNN NEWSROOM after our break.

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LEMON: Forty-nine past the hour. I'm Don Lemon. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Here are some of the stories we're working on for you today in the NEWSROOM.

A big city mayor agrees to quit after pleading guilty to felony charges in connection with a sex scandal. Detroit mayor, Kwame Kilpatrick, will spend four months in jail, five years on probation and pay $1 million in fines under a plea bargain with prosecutors.

A sentencing hearing is underway for former D.C. lobbyist, Jack Abramoff. Abramoff has been cooperating with investigators since he admitted bribing lawmakers. Because of that, prosecutors have recommended a sentence of less than four years.

The Reverend Jesse Jackson is having tests in a Chicago hospital. Doctors say the veteran civil rights leader is suffering from a stomach inflammation. Jackson says he is feeling better, but isn't sure when he'll be released.

The Carolinas brace for a possible hurricane. Hanna, now a tropical storm appears to be heading that way and right behind it, extremely dangerous hurricane Ike.

(WEATHER REPORT)

LEMON: No lights, no air conditioning, no TV. Hurricane Gustav was a recipe for misery in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Tens of thousands of people in Louisiana's capital don't have power in the wake of this very big storm that went through and it could be a month, imagine that, before it is back on.

Here's CNN Jeanne Meserve.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Louisiana is in the dark.

(on camera): What's the worst thing about living without power?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I can't blow dry my hair.

MESERVE (voice-over): This man can laugh. He found a rare gas station with electricity to run the pumps. But even here, no credit card transactions. In vast blacked out areas, there are no ATMs, no grocery stores, no pharmacies. In some places no power for water and sewer systems.

GOV. BOBBY JINDAL, LOUISIANA: Restoring power is the No. 1 challenge we continue to face as a state.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you have any idea how many generators you got coming here?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We got 16.

MESERVE: Trucks, crews and equipment have come in from 26 states and D.C. Generators are being brought in to restore power immediately to critical facilities.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hospitals, water treatment facilities, nursing homes.

MESERVE: But until the power is back in communities, evacuees are being urged to stay away. For some, that could mean weeks in shelters.

Only two parishes in the state have full power. And in the storm area, 40 percent of transmission lines are out of service. Restoration rivals the scale and difficulty of Katrina, says the power company. Whether one of the storms lurking in the Atlantic hits here or elsewhere, it could have an impact on Louisiana's recovery.

GEORGE FORESMAN, FMR. HOMELAND SECURITY OFFICIAL: We're going to get to a point, particularly if we see one, two or even three more storm hit, where the amount of resources in terms of people, equipment, transformers, wire, poles. Those types of things are going to really stretch the ability to be able to do a quick, rapid restoration.

MESERVE (on camera): There are worrisome questions about how the lack of power could complicate efforts to get ready for another storm. Would people be able to pump gas to evacuate? Would first responders be able to communicate? Fingers are crossed the storms will go elsewhere.

Jeanne Meserve, CNN, Baton Rouge.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: All right, Jeanne.

(BUSINESS HEADLINES)

LEMON: More grim news surrounding the missing Orlando toddler whose mother is being held in connection with her disappearance. A source tells CNN that FBI tests have found trace amounts of chloroform in the trunk of the car driven by Caylee Anthony's mom. The source also cites evidence suggesting the mother Casey Anthony, used a laptop to research the potentially deadly chemical.

Nancy Grace discussed the new leads with her on sight producer in Orlando.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NATASHA LANCE, PRODUCER: This is the laptop that Casey had said to other people before that she used this for work purposes.

NANCY GRACE, CNN HEADLINE NEWS ANCHOR: Work, work. What work?

I know of three jobs she's lied about. The job at Universal, the job at the Fusion Club and the job at Sports Authority. None of those -- none of that was true. So what was she using the computer for other than to go to web sites about chloroform.

LANCE: She was also using the computer to go on Facebook and MySpace.

GRACE: OK, wait. Forget about that. Was she searching about how to buy it, how to use it, how to create it? What were the searches, Natasha?

LANCE: Those details haven't been released a as of yet, Nancy, but we just know that there's been a history of chloroform searches on the computer.

GRACE: And we know that these searches were discovered on or around July 16, when police seized the laptop, correct?

LANCE: That's correct.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Nancy Grace on Headline News. And prosecutors say a deadline has passed for the mother to accept a partial immunity deal to tell what she knows about Caylee. Well, police have said they fear the little girl is dead, sadly.

They're getting for the big finish at the Republican National Convention. John McCain's presidential nomination acceptance speech. We'll have the very latest from the convention. And we're blogging about the convention, we're twittering about it, as a matter of fact, on twitter.com/donlemonCNN. You can also check us out at MySpace and Facebook. Similar address, we're twittering about that. Also your storm stories, whatever you want to share with us right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

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