Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
An In-Depth Look at Sarah Palin; Casey Anthony out of Jail Again; Tropical Storm Hanna Soaking Eastern United States
Aired September 06, 2008 - 22:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: Why are people now fighting mad over Caylee? Her mother, Casey, bonds out of jail again. And chloroform.
Is Obama feeling a pinch from a Palin bounce? Tonight, a new poll.
The symbolism of flags discarded at the Democratic convention. Who done it and who's mad?
Sportscaster Sarah Palin may not have captivated audiences nationwide, but politician Sarah Palin, no doubt, has. Tonight, an in-depth look at Sarah Palin. Will she help or hurt John McCain?
Two big storms. Expect from us big storm coverage. The news starts now.
Hello again, everybody. I'm Rick Sanchez. Man, are we busy tonight. And here we go. This is your world I want to introduce you to. Ready? This is where we're going to do twitter.com/ricksanchezcnn. See that big plasma over there. Let me move it around a little bit so you could see the questions. All right.
These are people who have been commenting thus far. These are the number of people who we are going be talking to us or following us tonight -- 6,428. We're also going to be on Facebook and on MySpace. So, this is your world. This is how you connect to us and we're going to be connecting to you -- about what?
Well, look at the people fighting at the case of Caylee Anthony. This is a story that's going on there in Orlando, as a matter of fact. And so far, people have been trying to figure out what's going on with this story. Here's what it is.
It has a lot to do with the fact that -- that's the screen you see right there in the middle -- has a lot to do with the fact that the mom has been released from jail and something about chloroform.
There you see the storms on the top. That is Ike at the bottom. That's the big one, folks. Sarah's way up. We're looking at this from outer space. But apparently Ike is heading for the southern part of Florida. Could be a real problem. We're going to be on top of that.
And then, of course, Sarah Palin, America's hottest governor. We're going to be talking about a poll of polls that we have just released that says whether or not there is a Palin bounce tonight. We'll give that to you.
I want to show you the reason now -- first of all, that many people believe that Sarah Palin shot the Republican ticket into the stratosphere. They thought it will happen that way, has it? All right. First of all, here it is as it happened in St. Paul. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. SARAH PALIN (R), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I had the privilege of living most of my life in a small town. I was just your average hockey mom and signed up for the PTA.
I love those hockey moms. You know, they say the difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull? Lipstick.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: All right. So what's the effect? Here it is. This is our poll of polls. I'm looking at it here in front of me. Taken September 1 through September 4th. We should note, by the way, that this is the poll -- most of it was taken before that speech that you saw right there, to be fair. It indicates that American voters are supporting Barack Obama by 45 percent, McCain 42 percent. And look at the "unsures". That's a big number. That is 13 percent.
All right. Let me go down here now. And let's go ahead and ask the question that I want to know from many of you. The question tonight -- and I'm going to write it down here as I go is, "Why not a bigger bounce for McCain by Palin?" That's the question that I would expect that many of you will probably want to chime in on. So I'll expect that. I'm going to hit send. And here we go. That's the update for the day.
If you haven't seen it, I want you to take a look now who Sarah Palin was before she became Sarah Palin the politician. She was a sportscaster. Brace yourself. This is the 1980's big hair alert. A local news station in Anchorage. Timeline, 1987. Roll it, Roger.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PALIN: Anyway, the battle for Seattle continued this weekend. The NCAA tournament is finally down to four teams. Two decided yesterday, two this afternoon. Yesterday from the west regional final, the haul moves on.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: That was the 1980s, folks. Yes, I know. You should see my tapes. Better yet, don't. All right. Now I want to take you to July. There's a small but growing buzz growing in the air at that time about Palin as a possible V.P. candidate. She's asked about it. And here's what she says. It's a curious answer considering that she's now vying to be the vice president. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PALIN: As for that V.P. talk all the time, I tell you, I still can't answer that question until somebody answers for me, what is it exactly that the V.P does every day? I'm used to be a very productive and working real hard in administration. We want to make sure that that V.P. slot would be a fruitful type of position especially for Alaskans and for the things that we're trying to accomplish up here for the rest of the U.S. before I can even start addressing that question.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: You can almost hear that question being asked at the vice presidential debates, can't you? All right. Let's cut to the chase now. Here's what people really want to know. As a sportscaster, turned PTA mom, turned mayor of a town with really fewer people than some high schools in this country, and finally the governor of a state with the third smallest number of people in it, is she ready to step in as the leader of the Western world? Does she have the tools, the chops, as some would say? Here's CNN's Randi Kaye.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Here in Alaska, the weather can be unpredictable, the terrain rugged, and the politics downright nasty. Many here are looking to blame the state's first female governor, Sarah Palin.
KAYE (voice-over): She's Alaska's most popular governor and she prides herself on playing tough.
PALIN: They say the difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull? Lipstick.
KAYE: Some Alaskan lawmakers say this hockey mom turned governor is a pit bull -- bold, outspoken, gutsy. But critics say she's also stubborn and so aggressive she will step on anyone in her way. Political analysts refer to the body count of Palin's rivals.
KAYE (on camera): Are people afraid of her? Were legislators, lawmakers afraid of her?
LYDA GREEN (R), PRESIDENT, ALASKA STATE SENATE: I got that feeling that they were somewhat intimidated.
KAYE (voice-over): Like Governor Palin, Alaska's Senate President Lyda Green is a Republican. And yet Green decided not to run for another term because of differences with the governor. She admits Palin may be charming, but says she governs like a one-way street. Disagree with her and you're done. She takes it personally.
State representative Les Gara, a Democrat, says Palin sees things in black and white and is more interested in press coverage than policy. LES GARA(D), ALASKA STATE HOUSE: She's not the kind of leader who rolls up her sleeves and says, these are the policies that matter and this is how it should be crafted. She tends to leave that to other people.
KAYE: Gara believes Palin is exaggerating her accomplishments. At the convention, Palin implied she got construction started on a natural gas pipeline here.
PALIN: We began a nearly $40 billion natural gas pipeline to help lead America to energy independence.
KAYE: In fact, the pipeline has been approved but won't be built until maybe 2018, if ever. Many here do credit Palin for shaking up the entrenched old boys' network and for taking on leaders of her own party over abuse of power. She passed ethics reform after an FBI fund-raising probe of Alaskan legislators, although lawmakers from both parties say reform had been in the works long before Palin took office.
KAYE (on camera): Is she the one who saved Alaska from corruption?
GARA: That would be a huge stretch.
KAYE (voice-over): Republican pollster Marc Hellenthal says Palin has done well for the state.
MARC HELLENTHAL, ALASKA POLLSTER: She's a beacon of ethics, a symbol of ethics in an atmosphere of corruption. She symbolizes hope that our elected officials aren't all on the take.
KAYE: Which may explain her rock star rating.
KAYE (on camera): Sarah Palin's poll numbers are the highest Alaskans have ever seen, nearly 80 percent, proving, nearly two years into her term, the honeymoon is far from over. Pollsters say it's because she took on the oil industry and revamped the tax code bringing billions of dollars to Alaska.
(voice-over): The self-proclaimed fiscal conservative is putting money back in Alaskans' pockets. Rich in oil and gas, Alaska is benefiting from the rise in energy prices and enjoying a $5 billion surplus. So, Palin is giving $1200 back to every resident to help with rising fuel and heating costs. And she's taking on big oil, increasing taxes on oil companies by more than a billion dollars.
HELLENTHAL: Up here, from a public perspective, she deserves the nickname "Saint Sarah."
KAYE: But does she? Palin is under an ethics investigation. Did she abuse power by firing the state's public safety commissioner after he refused to dismiss her former brother-in-law, a state trooper she accused of threatening her family? And where did she really stand on the infamous "bridge to nowhere," a $330 million project, a symbol of Alaska's dependence on federal handouts? PALIN: I told the Congress thanks but no thanks for that "bridge to nowhere." If our state wanted to build a bridge, we would build it ourselves.
KAYE (on camera): She takes credit for having killed the "bridge to nowhere" project. Is that fair?
GREEN: That was after she supported it in her campaign.
KAYE (voice-over): And Green says even though the bridge project was canceled, the federal money was not, but directed to other Alaska projects. Come Election Day, how much will her record matter? Well, here in Alaska, many predict voters will choose style over substance.
(on camera): Does her style do well among Alaskans?
HELLENTHAL: She's a blunt, no nonsense person and that does incredibly well up here.
KAYE (on camera): Another accomplishment Sarah Palin has been touting is the sale of the governor's jet on eBay. She talked about it at the convention. Well, that wasn't the whole story. She did put the jet up for sale on eBay, but it didn't sell. It did sell just about eight months later. An Alaskan businessman bought it for $2.1 million, about $600,000 less than it was valued at.
Well, John McCain at one of his most recent campaign stops in Wisconsin was touting that as one of her accomplishments as well, saying she sold the jet on eBay for a profit. Well, that sounds good, but it's not true.
Randi Kaye, CNN, Anchorage, Alaska.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SANCHEZ: And we asked the question why no bounce? Already, we're getting a whole lot of response. Let's go over to our twitter board. Look at this. It says, "Palin gave a great speech and has a record of change but she won't be the executive. She would draw more votes than McCain, though." Ann More says, "I think the kind of people who would be swept away just by Sarah's personality, family, et cetera, aren't serious voters anyway."
And then Miles O'Brien says, "Hey, Biden wasn't a bounce maker either, was he?" That's right, Mr. Miles O'Brien. In fact, we asked this very same question two weeks ago of the Biden bounce or lack thereof and it was very similar to what we're reporting tonight.
Also this, it's an issue that's chased Sarah Palin from Alaska to the national stage. Did she abuse her power as governor to pursue a personal family vendetta?
And then Casey Anthony is out of jail for a second time. Still, though, no one knows what happened to her missing daughter. And then a fight breaks out. We're going to show you that fight in just a little bit, outside her house. Stay with us. We'll be right back. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: All right. Let's get to another part of this story, a story that you've heard about, but you haven't heard this part of it. Suffice it to say that there is no love lost between Sarah Palin and her former brother-in-law. It goes further. Palin is accused of using her political clout as governor not to get the brother-in-law fired but to punish the man who wouldn't fire her brother-in-law, because she wanted him fired.
Tonight, her brother-in-law is talking about this controversy, but only to our Special Investigations Unit correspondent Drew Griffin.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DREW GRIFFIN, SPECIAL INVESTIGATIONS UNIT CORRESPONDENT (on camera): This is an ugly divorce which has blown up into a statewide scandal here in Alaska and is now turning into a national media feeding frenzy involving presidential politics. Trooper Mike Wooten has been offered $30,000 by a tabloid. The Obama campaign has called his union. But he's chosen to speak only with CNN. He says he wants to go on record to set his record straight.
GRIFFIN (voice-over): The real story is not a good one for the trooper at the center of it.
MIKE WOOTEN, ALASKA STATE TROOPER: It's definitely not very easy. It creates a lot of stress, that's for sure.
GRIFFIN: Mike Wooten was married to Sarah Palin's sister Molly for four years. Their marriage ended bitterly in 2005. There has been constant battling over custody of their two children. And it is in the acrimonious divorce proceedings that private details of trooper Mike Wooten's life have become public and are now part of a state investigation.
(on camera): Was there ever good times with you and -- I mean, at one point you were a member of that family?
WOOTEN: You're absolutely right. I was a member of that family. And I have some very cherished memories of those times. There was a lot of good times. I don't wish any ill will on any of them. I absolutely don't. I made mistakes, I was punished. I moved on from those. I've grown and learned from them.
GRIFFIN (on camera): The headlines about you -- tasered the stepson when you were a taser officer, shot a moose illegally, two separate incidents where somebody saw you drinking in a car driving. True?
WOOTEN: Well, let me -- let me take those one at a time and explain those to you. GRIFFIN (voice-over): So he did. Yes, he admits, he did taser his stepson, but he believes he did it safely. And the boy wanted it done, he says. WOOTEN: He was asking about it. And, you know, it wasn't -- I didn't shoot him with a taser -- with a live, you know, an actual live cartridge and shoot him with the probes and, you know, that kind of situation that some people have made this out to be. That's not the case at all. It was a -- it was a training aid that he was hooked up to, just little clips. And the -- you know, the taser was activated for less than a second, which would be less than what you would get if you touched an electric fence. And, you know, it was as safe as I could possibly make it. GRIFFIN (on camera): Looking back, was it dumb? WOOTEN: Yes, it was. Absolutely. And, you know, like I stated before, I'm not perfect. I've made mistakes and I've learned from those mistakes. And not the best decision I've ever made. Absolutely not. GRIFFIN (voice-over): He admits he killed a moose illegally, a significant infraction in Alaska. But even though Wooten was a state trooper at the time, he says he didn't know his actions were illegal.
Drinking in cars?
WOOTEN: No.
GRIFFIN (on camera): Didn't happen?
WOOTEN: Didn't happen.
GRIFFIN: Those witnesses -- lying?
WOOTEN: I don't know why they would say that. It didn't happen.
GRIFFIN (voice-over): In 2006, a trooper investigation upheld several of the allegations against Wooten including the taser incident, the shooting of the moose and the use of alcohol while driving a patrol vehicle. Nearly two years before she became governor, Sarah Palin told police that she had listened on the phone as trooper Wooten raged at her sister and threatened to kill her father.
(on camera): Did you threaten to kill your father-in-law?
WOOTEN: No, I did not.
GRIFFIN: You didn't say you were going to put a f-ing bullet in his head?
WOOTEN: No, I did not.
GRIFFIN: So, those people that say they heard that are lying?
WOOTEN: I didn't threaten him and I've never threatened anyone, for that matter.
GRIFFIN (voice-over): Wooten would not discuss the Palin family or speak directly about them. His marriage to Molly McCann was his third. Since then, the 36-year-old trooper has married and divorced yet again.
(on camera): I'm going to ask you a personal question. Have you had trouble with women in your life? Handling relationships -- has that been a problem?
WOOTEN: There's been issues, yes.
GRIFFIN (on camera): The issues, including a long list of reprimands as a state trooper, eventually landed trooper Mike Wooten on suspension for five days. He was not fired. His boss, though, was. And that is where the legal trouble begins for Alaska's Governor Sarah Palin.
GRIFFIN (voice-over): The allegation is that when Palin became governor, she used her power to try to get her ex-brother-in-law fired. Why? Records show the governor believed he was a dangerous state trooper. But others have alleged she just wanted to settle a family score.
Her representatives have maintained as has she that she did not do anything illegal and, since becoming governor, did not try to use her position to get trooper Wooten fired. What was an ugly family divorce exploded in the public arena when the state's Public Safety Commissioner Walter Monegan was fired by Governor Palin.
Palin's comment has maintained that Monegan was fired because he wasn't moving fast enough on the initiatives she wanted for the department. Monegan says otherwise.
VOICE OF WALTER MONEGAN, FMR. ALASKA PUBLIC SAFETY COMMISSIONER: I believe I was fired because I did not fire Mike Wooten.
GRIFFIN (voice-over): And yet he also says he was never told to fire Wooten.
MEG STAPLETON, FMR. AIDE TO GOV. PALIN: She had nothing to do with the pressure to fire Monegan over Wooten. That is absolutely ridiculous and absurd.
GRIFFIN: But records reveal that staff in her administration, as well as her husband, contacted the Public Safety Commission about Mike Wooten some 20 times since Palin became governor.
VOICE OF MONEGAN: In my heart of hearts, the Governor I think did allow her personal feelings to get involved in her professional responsibilities and she ventured where she should not have ventured into, into a personnel matter that involved an immediate family member of hers.
GRIFFIN (on camera): The state legislative investigation is expected to be over with by the middle of next month, just weeks before the presidential election in November.
Drew Griffin, CNN, Anchorage, Alaska.
(END VIDEOTAPE) SANCHEZ: Well done story and we're already getting reactions to that story. But we asked earlier why no preliminary bounce from Sarah Palin for John McCain. Here's one that came in just a little while ago. "As you mentioned, the poll was taken before her speech. I think it will have a bigger bounce than the poll stated."
Now, let's go up to Antonio Starr. Antonio Starr has an interesting response. He says, "Watch because of the gimmick factor." "Palin is," he goes on to say, "the new dancing baby." Remember the ad?
All right. Now, where is Caylee Anthony? There's another question, one they're asking not only in Florida but all over the country. It's a question that still hasn't been answered. But her mother is free for the second time tonight. What is going on? And why are people fighting in front of their house?
And then Tropical Storm Hanna is soaking the eastern United States. I know. If you're watching us tonight from Boston, Connecticut, New York, all the way up the Eastern Seaboard, we know what you're going through. We've been looking at the pictures. We've got I-reports coming in. In fact, send them if you have some.
The real concern now, though, is further out to sea. You see, there's something called Hurricane Mike -- pardon me, Hurricane Ike. I misspoke. It's massive. In fact, it's back to being a Category 4 and it could be heading for the southern part of the state of Florida. That's why we've got Jacqui Jeras following it for us. We'll be all over it in just a little bit. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: Where does she go from here? The next 60 days, say insiders, are crucial. And some say that's especially true for women. Watching her every move. This is different. This could be historic. We're going to speak with two of them. Our conversation about vice presidential hopeful Sarah Palin continues in just a couple of minutes.
Talk about a story that's just captivating people's attention. This is Casey Anthony, out of jail once again. She's the mom, by the way. Not to be confused with Caylee. It remains to be seen for how long, though. First, take a look at this.
These are people fighting outside the house. This is what this has come to. It's almost like a circus-like atmosphere has developed. This is a house in Orlando. Protesters are out there. They're getting in fistfights with neighbors. And that's not all. Police now say that they've turned up a handgun in the home where Anthony is staying, which would be a violation of her release.
But the thing most people care about is where is Anthony's 3- year-old daughter Caylee? I mean, that's what really this all comes down to. She's been missing now since June. Seems like the entire country wants to know where she is. Why is the mother being so secretive? If your child were missing, wouldn't you be saying everything you possibly could to help authorities find her? Wouldn't you be given your whereabouts, every cousin, every relative's name? I mean, we're being joined by one of the best now -- CNN's security analyst Mike Brooks, who's been looking into this.
What -- and now I understand, before we get started on all of that, what's going on with the chloroform?
MIKE BROOKS, CNN SECURITY ANALYST: They found significant -- results from the FBI lab came back and they said they found significant traces of chloroform in the trunk of Casey Anthony's car.
SANCHEZ: Why would that be important?
BROOKS: Well -- OK. What we found so far in the trunk of her car? They say there was human decomposition in the trunk. They found some hair that they believe is Caylee's with some decomposition of the hair. Now we find chloroform.
SANCHEZ: My goodness! Sounds like a trifecta.
BROOKS: You know what? There's evidence that keeps mounting and mounting and mounting, Rick, but why have chloroform? There's no reason that she should have any chloroform in the trunk of her car.
SANCHEZ: How long did it take this woman to report to police that her daughter was missing?
BROOKS: Well, she said that on June 9th she dropped her daughter off at a baby-sitter's house, OK?
SANCHEZ: Right.
BROOKS: So -- but then on June 15th, her -- Cindy, her grandmother, had taken Caylee to an old folks' home to visit a relative. And that's the last time that Grandmother Cindy ever saw her alive. Now, let me just say --
SANCHEZ: Yes.
BROOKS: Casey has not said one thing to police since day one, when she was reported missing on July 15th, since day one, has not told them anything truthful. Because on June 9th when she allegedly dropped her off at this apartment complex, she took law enforcement there right after she made a report -- on the 16th she took law enforcement there and said, well, this is where I dropped her off to a baby-sitter. And that apartment, Rick, had been vacant for 142 days.
SANCHEZ: You're a cop.
BROOKS: Yes.
SANCHEZ: I mean it's in your blood. You've done it from a local level, a state level and a federal level. So, explain this to me. If there's -- if there's circumstantial evidence --
BROOKS: Right.
SANCHEZ: If there seems to be questions about her whereabouts, if there seems to be now, as we're talking about physical evidence as well, why is it so -- why are we not seeing a formal charge yet or at least being able to keep her in jail?
BROOKS: Right. The only thing she's been charged with is child neglect, making false statements and obstruction of justice.
SANCHEZ: Yes.
BROOKS: That's all she's been charged of -- the first time.
SANCHEZ: That does not a murder case make.
BROOKS: No. She's been charged with theft, you know. But now, they are thinking -- you know, what do we call, baking her a cake. You know, are they moving towards that? I've always said, Rick, that I don't believe, if she was involved in this, that she was acting alone, that there maybe someone else involved in this case.
SANCHEZ: Why do you think this story is so captivating people? Why are -- I mean, I'm looking at attention on this from all over the country.
BROOKS: Oh, it's amazing.
SANCHEZ: What is it?
BROOKS: You know, here you have a seeming beautiful little -- just a beautiful little girl, a mother who has lied to police since day one, a grandmother -- Cindy, who still says that her granddaughter is alive. She thinks she's somewhere in either Texas, Mexico or Puerto Rico. But all the evidence and even the commander, Matt Irwin, says all of the evidence so far leads us to believe that Caylee is deceased.
SANCHEZ: It's got all the characters including the person who doesn't seem to be telling the truth. They're the bad person in all of this, at least in the eyes of many of our viewers.
BROOKS: Right. Right.
SANCHEZ: Thanks a lot.
BROOKS: To be continued.
SANCHEZ: Good to see you again.
BROOKS: Bye.
SANCHEZ: And here's the -- what really is the national sentiment of this story. This story has really taken on unbelievable proportions. It's right here where it says, "So sad. The mother Casey must have been involved and she should be," as you might expect, someone would say, "in jail."
That's what people are thinking, but the story goes on and the wheels of justice aren't necessarily as fast and certainly much more prudent than people's responses.
A pair of storms. Hanna, raining on the northeast, right now bad. And there's a monster coming from behind. It's Hurricane Ike. It's a Category 4 storm. There it is right there. See it just above the Dominican Republic and parts of Haiti? Speaking of Haiti, we've got somebody there. Stay with us. More on the storm and what it could do to Florida, hopefully not, when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: Talk about Tropical Storm Hanna now fading away, and by the time it reached the U.S. It really didn't amount too much. After drenching the Washington, D.C. area, Hanna is now delaying flights and flooding a few highways in the New York City area. It's also leaving behind a trail of downed trees and power lines that stretches all the way back to the Carolinas. But here's what lies ahead.
Get a look at Hurricane Ike. This is from space, by the way. This is a fierce Category 4 storms with winds blowing at 135 miles an hour and gusting even higher. Jacqui Jeras joining us now.
You know, the thing about the storm is, Jacqui, we're talking about the Florida Keys, if it ends up there. And if it does, we're talking about little islands. It's not like you have a place to go. There's no inland on an island.
JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: This is true. I think 18 feet is the highest point in the Florida Keys. And you're talking about the potential of storm surge could be getting close to that. So that would just inundate the Keys. And you know, if you remember Hurricane Wilma in 2005, they had an eight-foot storm surge, and that pretty much inundated the chain there. About 60 percent of the homes had water in them during that time. And that didn't even hit landfall there in the Keys. It was north of that in Cape Romano.
So, Hurricane Ike certainly something we're very concerned about right now. Category 4 storm, 135-mile-per-hour winds. Check out this satellite picture. We're zoomed in here because here's the Turks and Caicos, Grand Turk Island right there. They're getting very close to that eyewall. So could see some major destruction there. It's expected to turn a little more westerly, and then curve on up to the north.
If we do take this northerly track, it will be a stronger storm and hit the Keys. Southerly track, it's going to be moving over Cuba and weaken a little bit. But either way it's like that we think it's going to end up in the Gulf of Mexico and could be very problematic along the northern Gulf Coast late next week.
Rick? SANCHEZ: Yes, yes. And you know, you're looking at that thing and it almost looks like it's heading for New Orleans. And we probably don't even want to talk about that yet.
(CROSSTALK)
JERAS: Not yet. But you need to be prepared.
SANCHEZ: I have a feeling at some point we will be talking about that. Jacqui Jeras, thanks so much. You know, a place that's really gotten hammered by these storms -- I say storms with an "S" at the end -- Haiti. Cap-Haitien has been really bad. And northern Haiti hit by these storms.
You know, a lot of that area is topographically speaking, kind of a lot of mountains and a lot of hills. So, that's what's causes these flash floods. Could be hundreds of people dead by the time this is all over. Karl Penhaul is there. He's following this story for us. Now, we understand he can join us live.
Karl, what have you been seeing? What are people going through this devastation that they've been experiencing there?
KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we're on Cap-Haitien, on the northern coast of Haiti right now. One of the reasons we're here is to feel exactly what Hurricane Ike is going to bring this time.
And as you've been saying, it's going to pass somewhat north of the coast of Haiti. But we still expect to feel the tropical storm winds here as well as the rain. And that really, as you mention there, Rick, has been the problem. They had Gustav 10 days ago. They then had Tropical Storm Hanna. And now this Hurricane Ike and the tropical storm winds are set to dump up to 12 inches of rain on the island, we are told.
And that in the City of Gonaives on the coast of Haiti has had a devastating effect in the last week. I've just hung up the phone in fact with one of the Haitian civil protection officials. And he says from the Tropical Storm Hanna, he says 167 Haitians are now confirmed dead. He said many more are missing.
But of course we have heard also in the last few hours much higher figure is coming from local officials in the City of Gonaives. They say up to 500 people may be dead. There's still a lot of water in that city. We haven't been able to get there yet. We're going to try and get there tomorrow. But certainly you got to still see the devastation there. We don't know yet what the full death toll is, Rick.
SANCHEZ: Unbelievable. Karl Penhaul following that story for us there. He is in Cap-Haitien in Haiti. A story that we will no doubt continue to follow. It does look like this storm, though, is at least only going to be brushing at least as far as Ike is concerned, most of Haiti.
We've all seen the devastation that natural disasters can leave. And we've seen people step up and save lives in the aftermath. People like today's CNN hero. I want you to meet here Tom Henderson.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TOM HENDERSON, COMMUNITY CRUSADER: As we speak, around the world there are thousands, sometimes millions of people displaced by disasters and war. There will be no power, no buildings, of course, very little water. So that the whole situation the disaster brings that people have been overwhelmed.
My name is Tom Henderson. I created a product called Shelter Box. It's to help victims of disasters around the world. We're thinking of the whole package -- mosquito nets, blankets, cooking pots and pans, a 10-person tent. The Shelter Box is designed to be small enough so two people can carry it, but it has to be large enough to get enough equipment in for 10 people. It's a simple package of aid delivered to the most needy people in the shortest amount of time.
A huge cyclone struck Myanmar in May of 2008. It was the largest recorded disaster in that country. Millions of people left homeless, over 130,000 people were killed. We were one of the first aid agencies into the country delivering our Shelter Boxes. We want this to last for years to come, not just to get it them through that disaster, but perhaps as a springboard for moving forward.
If people have lost everything, why should they lose their dignity as well? So we were very keen, as well as delivering aid, to give people back their dignity, put them back in control.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SANCHEZ: Coming your way now, some of the responses to the questions swirling around Sarah Palin. And to be blunt, who is more qualified? Is it Palin or is it Obama? Depends on who you ask. All right, I'm going to pose that question to a couple of women who blog about politics. There they are. Ladies, get ready.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All right, sounds good.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: We welcome you back. We've been asking you several questions tonight. One of them about the child, Caylee Anthony in Orlando that's been missing for quite some time. And the mysterious behavior that her mother has been exhibiting all throughout this. Here's the response that we got just a little while ago. This is from Facebook, by the way. You see it right up here.
It says that poor little girl has most likely been dead for a while. And the police are just waiting to gather enough evidence to be sure that the mother gets convicted and not acquitted.
And then we have another Palin response. We've been getting a ton of these tonight. Regarding the Palin for VP, I'm an educated woman in America. My problem with McCain choosing Palin for VP is that he obviously is trying to capitalize on the Hillary factor, which is interesting coming from one of our female viewers tonight.
Well, there's that video of the monitor over my shoulder that we're going to be showing you from time to time. There it is. Roger, go ahead. Take that full if you would. Let's take that video full. That's about 12,000 miniature American flags from the Democratic convention. They were put in these garbage bags presumably to be trashed. A vendor supposedly found them and turned them over to the McCain campaign.
As you might imagine, there are questions about this. Democratic convention organizers are firing back saying the flags were not going to be discarded but instead were snatched to carry out a cheap political stunt. That's what they're saying about the Republicans. Well, obviously, both sides hammering away at each other tonight.
I've been talking to voters, many of them first-time voters, many of them newly energized voters. So this week, I spent some time a Georgia Tech University where a group of college students are studying a class on political strategy. That's what the syllabus says about this class.
They are to study which is the best way to win a campaign politically through strategy. So they shared their thoughts on what John McCain had to do this week as the election or pardon me, the convention roared on to separate himself from George Bush. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: You postulate an interesting theory about John McCain's strategy, which is --
BEN PORTER, FIRST-TIME VOTER: That his campaign is based on fear. I'm not Barack Obama. Barack Obama wants to raise your taxes and I won't do that. If not, I want to help the middle class. I want to bring jobs back to America. He said those things but it's all been couched in this idea that I'm not Barack Obama.
SANCHEZ: Agree? He's talking about your guy. Defend him.
PAT SWELGIN, FIRST-TIME VOTER: Obama I think does also say that he's not Bush, in fact. So, there's a lot of things he say I'm not going to -- I will take care of the middle class as he said he wants to do. And McCain does do a lot of negative campaigning against Obama. And that's one thing I don't like about him. Although I do think that his -- the way he wants to go about running the country is a lot smarter than totally revamping the entire system that...
SANCHEZ: Obama wants to do?
SWELGIN: Yes.
PORTER: If the queen of England were running for president this year, she would run on I'm not George Bush. Anyone would run on I'm not George Bush.
SANCHEZ: Is it smart to be I'm not George Bush right now no matter what candidate, right?
(CROSSTALK)
SANCHEZ: It is? Across the board.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
SANCHEZ: No matter -- whether you're for Obama, McCain or independents?
KRISTIE CHAMPLIN, FIRST-TIME VOTER: I think the status quo can't stay the same. I think America is ready for a change. And especially for McCain, it is very important to separate himself from the Bush administration.
PORTER: Yes, he's trying to separate himself personally from the person of George Bush, you know, even though he voted for him a number of times. But he can't separate himself from the Republican machinery and the Republican base. Because that's where his money and that's where his support is going to come from.
SWELGIN: A lot of the time that Obama says that John McCain is just like George Bush, he's -- I can't think of specific examples but he's had to do it but at least said a few things that would prove otherwise at least a little bit.
SANCHEZ: Nobody in this room right now thinks that John McCain can truly distance himself from George Bush without losing politically?
CHAMPLIN: I think he has to, if he's going -- the polls show that Americans want change. And that's Obama's, you know, major point. But he has to shine a negative light on the Bush administration if he wants to move forward. You know, the biggest issue is the Iraq war. And he can't distance himself on that issue, obviously. But he has to find some way to show that not only is he different as a person, he's going to run the administration differently. He is going to bring some of the changes that Obama had promised.
SANCHEZ: Tell me what would be the powerful statement that would convince Republicans that even though they're disappointed or dislike George Bush, they should vote for John McCain?
ISIDORA ILUONAKHAMHE, FIRST-TIME VOTER: I would state that the current administration has not shine a great light on the Republican Party. And in this case that we should try and revamp the system when John McCain is in office.
SANCHEZ: Has she gone far enough? Has she gone far enough? Is that enough? Will that do it? No.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Incumbent can't run on change.
SANCHEZ: He's not an incumbent. President Bush is an incumbent. PORTER: The Republican -- people with "R" after their name "R". And come November, John McCain will have an "R" after his name on the ballot. So, is that John McCain's biggest problem? You're a McCain supporter.
SWELGIN: I don't think it's the biggest problem. I think that John McCain has separated himself a little bit. I'm talking about it.
SANCHEZ: Has he separated himself enough?
SWELGIN: I think in the points that he really wants to bring himself from, like economics or I guess he wants to eliminate the pork barrel spending or -- and John McCain wants to do that. But George Bush pretty much didn't veto until a couple years into his presidency or whatever it was.
There's a point that he has made in his campaign to say, this is wrong with Washington right now. The spending is out of control. I'm going to fix the spending. Isn't that kind of saying that George Bush administration is going out of control on the spending, I want to change it?
AMECHI OKOH, FIRST-TIME VOTER: He has to talk about his tax cuts. You know, this is fundamental difference between Republican and Democrats. Who is going to give the tax cuts? Who are -- health care, where is this money going to come from?
(CROSSTALK)
SANCHEZ: But how does he distance himself from George Bush. If he talks about tax cuts he's basically back in George Bush's camp.
OKOH: Exactly.
SANCHEZ: You don't think he can do it?
OKOH: I don't think he can do it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: And the responses have been pouring in on our question about Sarah Palin. Let's go to the big board. Look what it says. This is Chuck D. of Pennsylvania. He says "Palin is a good spokesperson for the Republican Party, but she hasn't deviated from the party talking points. Empty shell, he says with an exclamation point.
Look at this one. "Most women I know found her overbearing like the PTA mom in every PTA who drips with self-righteous sarcasm." Some of the comments coming in. There's many, many more. We'll keep checking on them. In the meantime when we come back, hopefully we'll be breaking down the Sarah Palin story with two officials, one from the left, one from the right. Both bloggers. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) SANCHEZ: All right, welcome back. Let's go back to Hurricane Ike, if we possibly can. You see him there on the screen. Go ahead, Roge, if you would and take him full. It's going to go through the Bahamas, there's no doubt. It is now a Category 4 hurricane. The problem is a big part of it looks like it's going to miss most of south Florida but not the Florida Keys. Those parts of Monroe County that stick out there. Just in the Florida straits between the end of Florida or the Everglades and Cuba. The problem is that's an island. It's going to be hard for people to get out. And it's going to be the right quadrant of the storm itself.
By the way, plenty of responses from you as well. Take a look at this. Let's go to the big board, if we can, Roger. This is from G. Bromberg. He says to Rick Sanchez, "I'm not in the Keys but I'm in Ft. Lauderdale. I'm feeling pretty good about the path of Ike. A lot more than yesterday." That's true. It does look like Ike is going a little more further to the south that we're talking about yesterday, all over it when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: All right. We got them, we got them. The technical problems have been worked out. Hurray. Joanne Bamberger, a contributing editor for the blog for a blogger.com. She writes her own at punditmomblog. That's punditmomblog. On the right, Rachel Campos-Duffy who Governor Palin, is a mother of five. She blogs on parentdish.com. I'm a father of four, by the way. Don't mess with me.
Joann --
RACHEL CAMPOS-DUFFY, PARENTDISH.COM: OK. Won't mess with you, Rick.
SANCHEZ: Joanne, listen, I want to start with you. Let's talk strategy here.
CAMPOS-DUFFY: OK.
SANCHEZ: Sarah Palin knocks it out of the park at the convention, at least certainly according to the base and according to the many people there. Do you make a big deal out of her by going after her or do you just kind of ignore her and put all the spotlight on John McCain? What do you do as a Dem?
JOANNE BAMBERGER, PUNDIMOM BLOG: You can't do either. You can't say as a progressive person looking at this campaign that she knocked it out of the ballpark. I mean, everybody thought she gave a great speech. But you don't ignore her either. I mean, clearly, she's a woman who has accomplished a lot. She's the elected governor of Alaska. But the thing to focus on is the campaign. This is a crucial election for our country. And the thing we need to focus on are the issue. And where does she stand on the issues that are important to people across the country.
SANCHEZ: Well, it depends on where you stand. Rachel, let me bring it in to you now because I'm curious. A lot of people have been talking about her qualifications just like Republicans were questioning Barack Obama's qualifications. Looking at it now, mano-a- mano, who is more qualified, Barack Obama or her, Sarah Palin?
CAMPOS-DUFFY: No -- absolutely, Sarah Palin is more qualified. She has executive experience. And listen, I think this election is about change. And part of the change is bringing somebody who doesn't have all that Washington experience. Somebody who started at the PTA, went to mayor, went to governor. You know, they're saying that this is negative. I think it's a positive in a year like this.
SANCHEZ: But the fact that Barack Obama has been an elected official for 12 years. He's first elected official job, he was a state legislator in a district that has more people in it than the state of Alaska.
CAMPOS-DUFFY: Right. But again Sarah brought up a really great point in her speech, which is what did he do while he was there? He wrote memoirs, he didn't even write a piece of legislation that's very memorable.
SANCHEZ: All right, Joanne --
CAMPOS-DUFFY: So, I think she did a really good job of pointing out his weaknesses. And look, there's a sexist element to all of this.
SANCHEZ: Really? You think so? How -- give me an example of it. Give me one example of sexism.
CAMPOS-DUFFY: I'll tell you two. One, running the state of Alaska is not a small thing. It's a big thing.
(CROSSTALK)
SANCHEZ: It's the third smallest state in the country. If she were a man, they'd say the same thing.
CAMPOS-DUFFY: Joe Biden's state is pretty darn small, too. And I don't hear a lot of talk about that. I think that the other --
SANCHEZ: But he's not the governor. He's a senator. And the chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee.
(CROSSTALK)
BAMBERGER: It is not a question about who has a bigger state or smaller state. I mean, Sarah Palin clearly has a lot of qualifications if you are a very conservative Republican. Then you are going to like Sarah Palin. But trying to compare her to Barack Obama in some way I have to say is apples and oranges.
Palin is a vice presidential candidate, Obama is the presidential candidate. And if we're going to compare the tickets, I think we have to compare the top and then the bottom of the ticket.
SANCHEZ: Can we do this again? Can I get a rain check?
(CROSSTALK)
SANCHEZ: I'm sorry. We had technical problems. And I can go on with you guys for -- well, for infinitum.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And we would love to.
SANCHEZ: Because you're great, you're smart and I'm enjoying the conversation. A little bit of the argument, too. We'll get you back. Sorry. We had technical problems.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you.
SANCHEZ: My producer is saying we've got to wrap. Love you guys. Appreciate it. Coming up, more of what you said. We continue our conversation as well. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: And there we go with lots of responses from you tonight. Interestingly enough. One of the things that a lot of viewers keep coming back to is that discovery of chloroform in the case of Caylee Anthony in Orlando.
This is Watmough. He writes, "Chloroform is really not something that should be showing up in the trunk of a car." Can you believe that? Yes, we got that. And we thank you. Up to 7,195 of you now watching along as you watch this newscast sharing your ideas with us. Well, I'm Rick Sanchez. Thanks so much for being with us. We'll see you again tomorrow, 10 P.
