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Severe Weather Update; Political Recap; Mortgage Rescue

Aired September 06, 2008 - 12:00   ET

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

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN NEWS ANCHOR: What's the "uh-oh," T.J.? I didn't get that T.J. what's the "uh-oh you're really in it now?"
HOLMES: Well, you got the home, you got the mortgage, you already got bills, you've got the stuff, your new wife is yelling at you.

WHITFIELD: Oh my gosh! (INAUDIBLE)

(LAUGHTER)

You're building the foundation. They're feeling good it. Don't be pooh-poohing it, T.J.

HOLMES: Sorry.

WESTHOVEN: Yeah. I'm a newlywed, it's great.

WHITFIELD: There will be no yelling in that house.

All right, y'all have a great day.

All right, we're going to shift gears from that very happy ending there to talk about the reality of double trouble. All along the East Coast and even south Florida in the Caribbean, as well, Tropical Storm Hanna is hitting the east coast while Hurricane Ike threatens south Florida and the Gulf.

Let's take a look at what Hanna is doing. New pictures in from Raleigh, North Carolina, and as we do that, CNN's meteorologist Karen Maginnis is tracking Hanna and Ike.

Just talk a look, right there. We're talking about a lot of water that has been associated with Hanna. And you know what, I guess the good thing is, it's not bringing the kind of surge that traditionally may come with the tropical storm or even hurricane, right?

KAREN MAGINNIS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: We're not really looking at anything extreme across this area, but now we're looking at extreme delays across that I-95 corridor. Take a look at this, at New York's airport, JFK LaGuardia, these days four hours and five minute ground delays. Meaning, if you're going into JFK, well, they're not going to let you in there so you're just going to sit on the ground at your origination airport.

Also Newark reporting some delays, less than an hour, in Philadelphia, I just saw some of their reports and they're saying we've got fog, we've got mist, the wind is picking up just a little bit. But with Hanna, Hanna's still hanging in there as a tropical storm moving rapidly off toward the north and northeast. They're saying near Washington, D.C. around 4:00.

I think that's way too late for Hanna because it has increased in speed and the faster it moves, the more likely it's going to arrive there in the next couple of hours, anyway. And then for New York City, they're already seeing foggy conditions, reduced visibility, that's the stability. That's why they've got those very lengthy ground delays.

There still is a tornado watch out until 1:00 this afternoon, but they keep shaving off of that watch box, so the threat really does lessen. Also the rip currents, very powerful along coastal sections of North Carolina, but also into South Carolina as well, but still if you look some the Web sites they've got live pictures of people with their surfboards trying to catch some of those waves, very dangerous, but nonetheless, not unexpected either.

All right, we're going to take Hanna up through that I-95 corridor. There's a big tennis championship that's going on around New York City and they're saying that they could change some the venues, they could change some of the times of the venues, as well.

Let's talk about Ike. Here is Ike, this is a water vapor imagery. This is Hanna, right here. Now, Ike is a Category 2. It's lost a little bit of its strength, but it's moving very closely to the Turks and Caicos. As a result, its lost a little bit of its steam, but don't hold your breath because it looks like as it still encounters the. 80-plus-degree water, that's latent heat, and that's just the kind of thing that you saw systems really like to possess, it's going to move across the southern Bahamas, maybe move right across Cuba and then re-emerge into the Gulf of Mexico as a Category 2 and then increasing as a Category 3. Category 3 being at 115 miles-an-hour.

I want to show you one of the other items that we have for you. This is one of those spaghetti models. Here is Ike, and it looks like the computer models from the National Hurricane Center are in pretty good agreement as to what's going to happen with Ike and that is we bring it across the southern Bahamas, move to the Florida straits, maybe a glancing blow for the Florida Keys, maybe it'll move right over the Florida Keys, but right now most of the models are saying right across Cuba, then in the Gulf of Mexico and from there, we don't have computer models, they're printed out, as to what's going to what's going tol happen then, but this is one that's going to be very interesting over the next three to five days to seven days out.

WHITFIELD: Yeah, it is interesting, because it's so ominous. Hard to tell what Ike will do and that's how these hurricanes are, but wouldn't there be nice some big wall that would just emerge somewhere before it were to be able to hit any of those, I guess, land masses or islands before making any damage?

MAGINNIS: Yeah, but there's nothing that's going to slow it down. There's nothing in its way to slow it down.

WHITFIELD: Yeah, and that hot water does not help. MAGINNIS: No.

WHITFIELD: All right, thanks so much, Karen. We'll check back in with you. And of course, before Ike, let's talk a little bit more about Hanna as a tropical storm. We saw the water that it brought. There's a little bit of it, it also brought some pretty sizable waves too, particularly to North Carolina's Oak Island. The island's Ocean Crest Pier, right there, just take a look at those waves, gosh, threatening the kind of damage that that pier actually saw nine years ago when Tropical Storm Floyd destroyed it. Well, CNN's meteorologist Reynolds Wolf gives us another look at Riceville Beach this go round.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, I'm coming to you from Riceville Beach where at that time we're getting some great wave action right here along the coast leftover from Hanna. Hanna continues to march its way to the north, leaving behind just grave conditions. A little windy, but not bad.

The people of Riceville were certainly prepared, so were the people of Wilmington. Take a look at this video, that who shows the city hall, you see the sign up there saying that they're of course prepared for that tropical storm warning. They were boarding up their homes, boarding up their businesses, doing what it takes, as they say from the strong winds and that heavy rainfall.

And now rain did materialize, it was quite heavy at times. The heaviest rainfall was actually back into the interior of the state, back near the Raleigh-Durham area, but here we had some strong winds and wind gusts topping 67 miles-per-hour, but it has begun to subside a little bit and now we can anticipate that things will get much better. Right now looks like just your average day of the beach. Just waving to some kids over here, we've got the family that's walking by. A lot of people down here enjoying the sand and the sun.

And the problem is although this storm is moving out, we've another huge storm that's still in the Atlantic. We're talking about Ike. Ike is a major hurricane, could possibly affect the Bahamas, maybe even parts of South of Florida, the Florida Keys and then maybe even moving into the Gulf as we get into next week. So that is certainly a tremendous concern and one that we're going to watch. But again, we're at Riceville Beach, it is the sun, it is the surf, is the wind, and a beautiful day here.

Again, Reynolds Wolf, CNN, Riceville Beach, North Carolina.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: All right, that was Hanna, seemingly, pretty gentle right there along the North Carolina coast. Reynolds' having a little fun there. Let's talk about Ike now and the threat to south Florida, in particular. Just take a look right now, at is the preparations that are being made for what really could be a nasty storm named Ike. Stores have brought in extra shipments of plywood, gas cans, flashlights and batteries and people are scooping them up. Vacationers are already packing up and leaving the Florida Keys, perhaps the most vulnerable to south Florida. State and local officials warn that Ike could turn into a huge headache very soon. CNN's Susan Roesgen is there already.

SUSAN ROESGEN, CNN NEWS CORRESPONDENT: What -- you're at Key Largo at the top of the long string of Keys, there, actually what you're seeing here Fredricka is northbound, this is the artery, the main lifeline for the Florida Keys, 100 miles of islands connected by little bridges. That's the way to Miami, that is the way to safety. You can look at the traffic here this afternoon. I would say, Fredricka, it's about what you would see on maybe a Sunday afternoon or a Sunday early evening when normally tourists would be going back and people from Miami would be going back to Miami. But no, this is Saturday afternoon, and these are primarily tourists, visitors, because they are under a mandatory evacuation.

You know here in the Keys, the emergency folks always evacuate the tourists first, they need to get them off and a lot of the hotels aren't even closing, maybe, until 11:00 or Noon, check-out time, so we're likely to see much more traffic along this line in the next few hours. Tomorrow, starting at 9:00 in the morning, locals are under a mandatory evacuation, even though the track office seems to be putting less danger in the Keys. The big problem that people here always worry about, Fredricka is the storm surge. You can see this is flat territory. There's no sea wall, there's no barrier, no brake for a storm surge, so it isn't the wind or the water that folks might worry about here from Ike, it's the storm surge that could be two times as high as I am tall, 12 to 14 feet.

Now, they're not expecting that at this moment, they do think that Ike is going to a more southerly route, that would that spare most of the Keys. But still, Florida governor Crist says it's just too early to know what in hurricane might do.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV CHARLES CRIST (R), FLORIDA: I said you know, these storms have a mind of their own. There are no rules. So, what we have to do is be prepared and be smart and be vigilant and alert and make sure that we're following where these storms are going so that we can adapt, adjust, and survive. That's the most important thing that we can do and remain calm.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROESGEN: Now, here in Key Largo, we're at a gas station, because you always find people gassing up to keep going, of course people much farther south, Fredericka, in the Key West area, they've got to have the gas to make it up this far. Again, it's a fairly orderly, but a steady stream of traffic coming, a lot of campers and boats, and in the Bahamas, the British government is already trying to get British nationals out the Bahamas by the plane because the Bahamas may get more than we do here.

We can tell you also, Fredricka, that at Key West, at the Key West Airport, they're going to stop all commercial flights tomorrow night at 7:00 and have only general flights for chartered airplane, private airplanes after that -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: Wow, OK, lots of preparations being made there in south Florida and all of that is very good as our General Russel Honore will be joining us a little bit later on in the hour, as well, Susan, and he's going to talk about preparedness and the folks in the Gulf, your old stomping grounds, need to really be learning from what the folks in south Florida are doing right now, to take heed, so he'll be joining us a little bit later. Susan, thanks so much for keeping us posted there from south Florida for now.

Meantime, let's talk about the banking industry and mortgages, the mortgage meltdown coming up. Hitting lenders, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, pretty hard, that hugely surprising. Well, the government come to the rescue of those two mortgage giants.

And back on the campaign trail, the convention behind them, the candidates take their messages directly now to the people.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

A financial earthquake for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. A number of sources and reports say the federal government will take over the mortgage giants. A Rescue could happen as early as tomorrow. Fannie and Freddie are crucial players in the mortgage market. Well, together, they hold or back, almost half the nation's mortgages worth more than $5 trillion. Any rescue would cost taxpayers untold billions. Fannie and Freddie shareholders could lose just about everything.

So just five weeks ago, President Bush signed a law to give the permission to bail out the companies. The thinking, at the time, with the federal government behind the companies, the markets would settle down. Well that hasn't happened. So, joining me by phone, CNN personal finance editor, Gerri Willis.

So Gerri, what does this mean that the government may potential rescue Freddie and Fannie Mac (SIC). What does conservatorship mean?

GERRI WILLIS, CNN PERSONAL FINANCE EDITOR: Well Fredricka, this is essentially the government take over these two companies. The private sector equivalent would be that they go into chapter 11 bankruptcy. But here what's going to happen, because these two enties have such strong ties to the government and because they're so critical, frankly, to the mortgage market, they're going to -- the government will take these two companies over to make the changes they need to make.

There's expected to be exchanges at executive level among many other things and of course, as you mention, injecting these two companies with capital, with money, which likely will come from taxpayers.

Why now? Look, these two companies have suffered $12 billion in losses since last summer, alone. Their share prices have tank period. And as you know, reporting on this network for some time now the mortgage market is in disarray, there's a credit crunch on, so I think the federal government feels like you know, we have to do something to make sure that the mortgage markets can function.

WHITFIELD: And so do we have any idea how much this bailout would cost the federal government? And that in comparison with what some people say would be tens of billions of dollars lost, if the federal government did not bail out Freddie and Fannie?

WILLIS: Well, I think that's an open question at this point. And before they even get to taxpayer dollars, there is the question of subordinated debt holders. These are people who have invested in Fannie May and Freddie Mac. They are at risk of losing their money first, then we get into the taxpayer dollars, but certainly, taxpayers will be on the hook here for billions of dollars to shore up these two companies.

So why bother if it's going to be so expensive? Well, the operations of the mortgage market is critical to consumers, not just to Wall Street, but to consumers who want to buy homes, who want to maintain homes. That market has to work, really, for the economy to function, you know, very well.

WHITFIELD: Yeah, I got the feeling as if Freddie and Fannie can't make it and then you have to wonder about the vulnerability of the other lenders.

WILLIS: Absolutely and well, as you know, the housing market has been in disarray. We've seen you know, declines, obviously, in housing prices. We've had record numbers of foreclosures. So you know, this is an attempt to try to stabilize the credit markets. Sources telling me today that it's going to do nothing immediately to stabilize the housing market, which is another entity altogether.

WHITFIELD: All right, Gerri Willis, thank you so much, I appreciate it.

WILLIS: My pleasure.

WHITFIELD: So, Freddie and Fannie are one thing, and how about this, the 11th bank failure of the year to report now. Federal regulators are now in control of Silver State in Nevada. All deposits are in the hands of Nevada State Bank of Las Vegas. Everyone's money is insured up to $100,000 per account. Roughly 500 Silver State depositors exceed tad limit, however. They stand to lose $20 million. The bank's failure blamed on bad commercial real estate and land development loans.

Boeing workers are on the picket lines this hour after two days of talks now. The workers rejected a financial package that included among other things raises over three years totally 11 percent of current pay.

Well, negotiations stalled over job security and healthcare benefits. The walkout will delay delivery of the fuel-efficient 787 Dreamliner jets well in demand by so many airlines. Boeing could lose an estimated $100 million a day.

Well, the party is over and new numbers are in. So, who are voters saying should be the next president of the United States?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Presidential politics now, both candidates on common ground today addressing an AARP convention before heading out on the trail. Republican John McCain is expected to appear shortly, then he and running mate, Sarah Palin, head for rallies in the battleground states of Colorado and New Mexico.

This morning, Democrat Barack Obama told the AARP there will have to be changes to Social Security if it's to survive the baby boom onslaught. He takes his middle-class message to Middle America today at a rally in Terre Haute, Indiana. Our senior political analyst, Bill Schneider, well, he's on the road as well, riding the "Election Express" along I-94.

Enjoy the scenery behind, there. You're going through western Wisconsin right now, is that right?

BILL SCHNEIDER, CNN SR POLITICAL ANALYST: That's right. We're in Wisconsin. We've left Minnesota. We're going across the Wisconsin, a crucial battleground state, heading for Chicago, which is not a crucial battleground since that's Barack Obama's home state.

WHITFIELD: And so what are folks saying along the way? We heard a little bit of feedback from folks after the convention saying neither one the candidates really hit hard enough on some of the issues, Barack Obama doing a better job than John McCain. And we saw yesterday that John McCain and Sarah Palin were trying to hit on the economy a little bit more, yesterday. Does that suffice for a lot of folks?

SCHNEIDER: That is what a lot of folks are waiting to hear. During the Republican convention, there was a lot of talk about John McCain's background, his record, his character, his heroic military service. But what a lot of voters wanted to sudden what are you going to do about the economic problems that we're facing that are giving us enormous anxiety right now?

Well, what we've heard in radio addresses and some of the speeches yesterday and today is that both candidate, Democrats and Republicans are talking about a new round of economic stimulus plans to do something about the economy, right now, because the voters are very anxious in those figures that came out yesterday showing a higher -- the highest unemployment rate in six years and a very high rate of home foreclosures, those are deeply disturbing to many Americans.

WHITFIELD: OK and you know, Joe Biden has been out there on his own, as the, you know, running mate of Obama. And yesterday when he was in Pennsylvania, he talked about how the silence was deafening, silence from the Republican Party or from McCain and his camp on specific issues about the economy and other matters. Might we be seeing Sarah Palin take out on the trail on her own as opposed to being with her new running mate? Or with John McCain?

SCHNEIDER: (INAUDIBLE) McCain and Palin are together in Colorado Springs, they'll be headed for Albuquerque, which is the capital of -- which is in New Mexico and it is a very important battleground state. So, they're campaigning together right now. But we might -- I think that we can report into see Sarah Palin out on her own and what -- a lot of people are waiting for is for her to face her first press conference where she will have to answer questions from reporters. She's new, she's relatively unknown, there are a lot of questions about her background and as well as her views on the issues, so we're all looking forward to her taking questions from the press and answering those questions on her own. I don't think a press conference has been scheduled yet, but we're expecting one soon.

WHITFIELD: OK, and, Bill, I understand that we have some new poll numbers. Let's take a look at what the they are. And we're talking about the voter's choice for president.

SCHNEIDER: Right, the poll of polls. The three polls that have come out in recent days, they were all done during, not after, but during the Republican convention and they show a close race. It's still a close race. Obama 45 percent is the average of the poll or polls, McCain 42 percent, a three-point margin for Obama, which is barely ahead in each poll that's within the margin of error. So, it continues to look like a very close race.

I can tell you that we're polling over this weekend and I'm sure that other organizations are. So, we'll have some fresh post-convention polls for you on Monday with all of the interviewing done after Sarah Palin and John McCain delivered their widely watched speeches at the Republican convention last week in Saint Paul.

WHITFIELD: OK, we look forward to those new numbers. Enjoy the road and enjoy the view there, Bill. You're getting a chance to really see the country, aren't you?

SCHNEIDER: Sure, we're in Wisconsin -- if we're in Wisconsin, I suppose we have to have bratwurst.

WHITFIELD: Of course, well, you know, well you know, in order to really enjoy your journey, you must follow your stomach. So, always get a good meal. That's what I say.

All right, Bill Schneider, thanks so very much there in western Wisconsin. And soon it a town near you.

All right, well you can hear more from the candidates this weekend with the return, yes indeed, of CNN's BALLOT BOWL. Extended excerpts from the campaign trail, the candidate's unfiltered, in their own words. You don't want to miss it. BALLOT BOWL starting 2:00 p.m. Eastern, today only on CNN.

All right, Hanna, that storm, not as powerful as expected, but the tropical storm did drop a whole lot of rain across North Carolina. And then here comes Ike right on the heels. Why this hurricane could mean big trouble for some coastal residents.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) WHITFIELD: All right, well the economy certainly may be stopping a lot of people from planning a vacation getaway, but Veronica de la Cruz has some tricks to help you to stay on the go for less.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

VERONICA DE LA CRUZ, CNN NEWS CORRESPONDENT (voice over): An affordable vacation may be all about the timing.

CHRIS MCGINNIS, EXPEDIA.COM: If you can time your trip properly and travel during non-peak travel times, you can save 40 percent or 50 percent right off the bat. The cheapest time to fly is mid-week. The key is to travel when business travelers are not traveling.

CRUZ: But the opposite may be true when searching for the best deal on a hotel.

MCGINNIS: Weekends in business travel cities are a lot less expensive. In vacation destinations like Las Vegas or Orlando, you'll find that you'll get the very best deals if you're willing to travel mid-week.

CRUZ: McGinnis also suggests thinking outside of the box when choosing a vacation destination.

MCGINNIS: Consider going somewhere like Arizona. Some of the most beautiful and luxurious spas in the world are in this area.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right, 30 minutes after the hour. Here are three of the stories we're working on in the CNN NEWSROOM. Heavy wind and high wind, power outages, you name it, and a little bit of flooding but no injuries or serious damage reported so far, as Tropical Storm Hanna moved up the East Coast. Hanna made landfall overnight near the border between North and South Carolinas.

And Hurricane Ike, well, that's been downgraded to a Category 2 storm. It's still a hurricane, people. But forecasters expect it to regain strength, perhaps in the next couple of days. Florida residents are already taking precautions, as they should, as the storm moves even closer to them.

And a pretty slow recovery continues in Louisiana. Five days after Hurricane Gustav, even many evacuees have now returned home, half a million power customers are still without service.

Well, CNN meteorologist Karen Maginnis is in the Weather Center keeping a close watch on all of this, particularly on what Hanna is still kind of doing, even though it's not a huge threat, but Ike, remains a pretty big threat.

(WEATHER REPORT) WHITFIELD: Let's take a closer look at some the images of that have been associated with Hanna and Ike. Very different because they are very different storms and especially since one is in the making. Josh Levs has been monitoring all of these images for us to try to make sense of it all for us. Josh?

JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Fred, have you seen this really cool one we're going to go to from NASA?

WHITFIELD: Let's see.

LEVS: It's pretty amazing.

WHITFIELD: That one right there? I haven't seen that.

LEVS: It is here, a still shot behind me. We can focus on it for just a second and basically when you look at it from a different perspective, you see it as really a huge beautiful storm. Let's go to the video though because this is one of the most popular videos that we had on CNN.com yesterday and that's it. That's a view of Ike from the International Space Station.

Now, obviously, from that perspective where it's safe where it is will not hit you, where you're not on the ground in some kind of danger you can see the pattern and these shots are really cool. I'll tell you a little bit about that. We're told this is one of the clearest images they've gotten of a hurricane at the -- or any tropical storm at the NASA -- through NASA at the International Space Station.

You can kind of see it through our perspective moving in that clockwise direction and just so you understand the size, when I looked at the last report that we had from the National Hurricane Center, we've now got the tropical storm-forced winds extending outwards up to about 200 miles. So it gives you a sense of what you're seeing in that video, number one throughout the day yesterday on CNN.

A lot of people looking at it this morning as well. We can go back on this board behind me quickly. I want to see if I can show you one more thing that NASA has put up as well. We've got Scott here with a camera. I'm going to try to press play on this. This is animation that they've made of Ike and what they're trying to do through this is show you how bad the precipitation could be in some places. They are representing the worst areas with red, some other areas with green, kind of closing in on it right there. They're just trying to show that basically a ton of precipitation is expected from this thing, again really powerful image.

All right Fred, before I go, there's one more thing I want to show you. Let's go to a couple of these pics that we were looking at earlier. We have some photographs of some people who are doing this surfing in Hanna and this is from yesterday. Now I want to take this opportunity as we look at these pictures off of the coast of North Carolina to tell you two things. First of all, it is true, a lot of surfers, we heard earlier that thousands of surfers are gathering today along that coastline to do some of this. And I want to take this opportunity right now to warn people, those are professional surfers who are very careful.

If you see this line behind me, this red line goes along the coast right there. See that? This is a rip current telling people don't do it. Don't be crazy. Don't do it. So obviously, we're going to keep an eye on that as well, making sure that nobody gets too crazy. And Fred we'll continue to watch all the images for you.

WHITFIELD: Yeah, you tell the thrill seeker type surfer, don't to it, the waves are too huge, they're like oh let me at it.

LEVS: They were lining up hundreds in some areas this morning. We're already seeing them crowding in.

WHITFIELD: I know, we've all seen that time and time again. As long as it's safe, please be safe out there.

LEVS: Be safe, people.

WHITFIELD: All right, thanks a lot, Josh. Thanks for those warnings, too.

Well a lot of folks along the Florida coast are heeding the warnings and the folks in the Gulf Coast region as well, well, they're keeping a close watch on Ike as well because it could do anything.

So to help us all be very prepared and not be too complacent and take anything for granted we've with us CNN contributor and retired army lieutenant general Russel Honore. He knows what it is all about to be prepared and what to do even after the fact. Because we saw a lot of you, especially in the Gulf Coast region in New Orleans in particular, after Katrina.

So now that we're bracing for these storms, let's talk about Ike in particular because that's kind of the one that's really threatening Florida again and the Gulf Coast region. A lot of folks are saying you know what? We just went through Gustav. We did OK. We've gone through now Hanna. We've done OK and so they kind of you know settle down and say you know what? I'm not so worried about Ike. What do you say to folks?

LT. GEN. RUSSEL HONORE (RET.), CNN CONTRIBUTOR: You say two words to the people of Florida. Remember Andrew?

WHITFIELD: Yeah.

HONORE: Remember Charlie and Ivan? Remember the hurricane of 1935? Hurricanes will --

WHITFIELD: Yeah, remember the big ones, the destructive ones.

HONORE: Right, they will destroy when hit landfall and come in contact with people home, they will flood. They will take power out. So the key is the old Red Cross doctrine. Have a plan. Have three days supply of food water. Have an evacuation kit and have yourself a radio or radio -- one of this type, weather radio that has batteries and a hand crank. WHITFIELD: Yes, because when you have no power, after the fact that you decide to stay, and you have no power, you need to stay informed. Find out where can I get ice? Where can I get bottled water? Because these are things that you're going to do without.

HONORE: You know, Florida is a state that spend a lot of time at the government level preparing. Never -- we have no other state that's spend as much time and energy as Florida do because of the frequency of storms. They even have grocery stores in Florida. Some chains have 80 percent of their stores with big generators. So you see what we are faced with Louisiana now, we have to get generators in there to open stores. Florida's done that. Florida's also mandated that gas stations, if you own over five gas stations you have to have a generator. So that alleviates some of the issues we see in Louisiana, where we're having to loan generators to gas operators so people can get gas and get back home.

WHITFIELD: And so these are some of the things to be aware of, be prepared for if you do choose stay. And I know that you and many others are urging folks, you know what? As soon as you hear that the threat is imminent, you need to pay attention and take advantage of the mandatory evacuations. Get out, even the voluntary ones as well. But you know, when we talk about trying to be prepared and the things that you need to have now, that plan, what needs to be part of that plan as you hear about Ike a few hundred miles away encroaching on your space?

HONORE: Yeah, all of the obvious stuff. Prepare your home. Tying down, batting things down, picking up the loose stuff. But the big thing to do is determine when you're going to evacuate. It's not if you're going to evacuate. It's when. It's when the government start telling you, particularly means to the elderly. The elderly, how do you survive?

WHITFIELD: You need a head start.

HONORE: That's right. You need to go earlier because they don't want to be in the situation where they're in an area without power.

WHITFIELD: And perhaps with small kids too and animals, right?

HONORE: Right and disabled. How we help our neighbors and friends and the people in the community that need to go early because they don't want to be caught in 12-hour lines trying to get out of the Keys. Now, here's the issue we face. You T'ed it up earlier about people getting frustrated because they've seen three storms. The issue we do have in Florida is many times only 50 percent of the people evacuate.

For Hurricane Gustav, we had a 90 percent evacuation in Louisiana because the people in Louisiana had going through Katrina.

WHITFIELD: And that was just three years ago.

HONORE: Right.

WHITFIELD: So the memory is fresh.

HONORE: They had gone through a cultural shift. And the cultural preparation that the Florida government worked so hard on, how do we pick that up with our families? That it's -- it's hard to decide to evacuate. We know that. I've done it. My family's done it. But the alternative is to stay in the eye of the storm and then lose your life or be injured. So that is the reality of it. And when the governor of Florida, Governor Crist say, leave Key West, get out of town, they have great accommodations in Florida for people to move to. They've done this many times before. But remember this, there's one road leaving Key West.

WHITFIELD: That's right.

HONORE: And you better leave early.

WHITFIELD: That's right.

HONORE: Absolutely.

WHITFIELD: because it's a real pain to be stuck in traffic.

HONORE: And then in your evacuation kit, you need some cash in there. And any copies of papers and before you leave, lift your items up in your house as high as you can. I mean all of the basic stuff. People say that's common sense. The problem is, their intentions don't translate to actions.

WHITFIELD: And we're going to have you back again at 4:00 Eastern hour in the NEWSROOM because we're going to talk again, particularly a message to the folks who've just gone through Gustav who are in Louisiana who are saying you know what? I don't feel like moving again. So you've got some real clear, concise messages for them and we look forward to that in the 4:00 Eastern hour. Good to see you, lieutenant general Russel Honore.

HONORE: Weather radio.

WHITFIELD: And I have mine, thanks to you.

HONORE: It happens to come from the Red Cross.

WHITFIELD: I appreciate it. We're at the ready, ready for anything. All right, thanks a lot.

HONORE: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: All right, well from outrage over officers being cleared after shooting a small town mayor's dog, to a case that has the country wondering what happened to little Caylee Anthony? Our legal guys give us their take on these cases.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: A small town mayor in Maryland is outraged after an investigation clears two deputies who shot and killed his two dogs. Well, it happened in July in a botched drug raid at the mayor's home. The raid itself was a mistake and the mayor and his wife have been cleared of any wrongdoing. So I talked with the mayor yesterday. And he wants a further investigation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR CHEYE CALVO, BERWYN HEIGHTS, MARYLAND: Our hope is that, while we can't get our dogs back and we can't you know undo what was done to us, we can get the story out. Have a full investigation. Not just of our instance but a pattern of incidents that have happened in Prince George's County and hopefully turn that into a positive direction and make some changes so this doesn't happen to other people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Mayor Cheye Calvo there out of Maryland.

So we turn to our legal guys. Avery Friedman is a civil rights attorney and law professor. Good to see you.

AVERY FRIEDMAN, CIVIL RIGHTS ATTORNEY: Hi, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: And Richard Herman is a New York criminal defense attorney and law professor. Good to see you as well.

RICHARD HERMAN, NEW YORK CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Hi.

WHITFIELD: All right, gentlemen, so the mayor has an interesting point here. If it's going to happen to me, then I wonder if it's going to happen to everybody else. And is it just me, Richard, does it seem that whenever a jurisdiction investigates itself, and we're talking about police or sheriff department's et cetera, they never find anything wrong. It's an interesting pattern.

HERMAN: That's kind of interesting there, Fred.

WHITFIELD: And this mayor seemed to underscore that that there is a pattern and that's why he's now turned the feds, the FBI to launch an investigation. What can they find that perhaps the sheriff's department didn't?

HERMAN: Well, they're going to issue subpoenas and they're going to interview people under -- under the federal laws and they're going to come to the truth here. But apparently the county did a sting operation. They didn't notify the local Berwyn Heights division where this was the mayor. And there was an enterprise going on in that area where people were sending drugs to anonymous individuals. The police were monitoring it. They knew the drugs were sent to this house. They came in, they said a no-knock warrant, I don't know how they got that. They broke the door open. They saw two Labrador retrievers there that they said alerted them and started to step towards them, so they felt that they were in harms, they shot dogs. They subdued the mayor.

WHITFIELD: Yes, these two seemingly docile Labradors. Big yes, but Labradors, vicious, not usually? HERMAN: Yeah, they don't look like my Maltese, I will tell you that, those Labradors.

FRIEDMAN: What's happening here, Fredricka, is Mayor Calvo has a legal salvo and they can find it in the doggone constitution under the Fourth Amendment. The fact is that this investigation has more holes in it than a mousse in Wasilla, Alaska. This thing is horrible and I am thrilled that the civil rights division of the Department of Justice is going to look into it because I think the mayor is right. Where you see this kind of consistent misbehavior on the part of law enforcement, you've got to get the Feds in there and that's what's going to happen here.

WHITFIELD: Interesting and I didn't get to ask you about the no-knock warrants and I know, Avery that you felt strong about the no-knock warrant thing. Because we talked about this case before of that happening in Georgia with an elderly woman, but we've got to go on to another subject. So I know we're going to talk about this again, sorry to dangle that carrot.

Let's talk about the Casey Anthony case. This is a 22-year-old mother, rearrested but not because investigators have gotten any closer to finding her missing 3-year-old.

FRIEDMAN: Right.

WHITFIELD: Avery, what's going on here?

FRIEDMAN: Well, I mean she was picked up on some hot checks. That's really nothing to do with anything. But where Richard and I really, strongly disagree, is this has been a great week for law enforcement. They found chloroform, not traces, significant chloroform in the trunk. You have additional human deterioration slowly and surely through the forensics, someone's going to break, Fredricka. We're going to get the bad guys.

WHITFIELD: Well you know, Richard, so many times we have talked about other cases whether it be a murder investigation, homicide, missing persons, et cetera. They're able to go forward with an actual trial even though there is no body.

HERMAN: Circumstantial.

WHITFIELD: So might we be moving in that direction in this case? Wouldn't you feel enough of that circumstantial evidence to move forward on this case?

HERMAN: Well I think in Florida, she's probably the most hated woman in the state of Florida right now. But, I've got to tell you, all of the points Avery just raised, put in addition to that, they did a forensic search on her home personal computer and on that computer they had apparently, they had Casey researching chloroform.

Now, Fred, I know that you go on the computer -- just something that we do every day to research chloroform on our computers but that's not good. That's a little premeditation right there and I tell you -- FRIEDMAN: Sure is.

HERMAN: She's got a big problem. They think they're going to find the body this weekend and I don't know.

WHITFIELD: Really?

HERMAN: Yeah.

WHITFIELD: OK, I know producers telling me, wrap, wrap, wrap but I've got to ask you about Detroit. The mayor, Kwame Kilpatrick. Was that the sentence that you think that was appropriate?

FRIEDMAN: Yeah, absolutely. Mayor hip-hop went to mayor flip-flop. It's the right decision. Trust the lead council, he set up the 30 months. This was a good deal for the mayor.

WHITFIELD: Richard, you're in agreement? Did I hear a yes?

HERMAN: It's an unbelievable deal, 100 days and he's out. It's ridiculous.

FRIEDMAN: 100 percent right.

HERMAN: He knew this was coming. They had the rights on the e-mails. He put his family through hell. He didn't care about Detroit and then he claimed it was racist, the claims against him. It's outrageous. This guy is a buffoon.

FRIEDMAN: He's coming back after the five years though.

WHITFIELD: And he got a seal of kiss from his wife at the end of that.

HERMAN: Unbelievable. Yeah right, what's that about?

WHITFIELD: Holy moly. OK, Richard, Avery, always good to see you.

HERMAN: No surfing this afternoon, Fred, stay out.

WHITFIELD: And I had plans!

FRIEDMAN: I bet you did.

WHITFIELD: All right, good to see you guys.

HERMAN: See you later.

FRIEDMAN: Take care.

WHITFIELD: All right coming up, we're going to talk overseas and take you overseas to Pakistan. The votes are in. Pakistan has a new president. But what does that mean for President Bush's war on terror?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) WHITFIELD: Benazir Bhutto's widow is the new president of Pakistan today. Zardari succeeds Pervez Musharraf who quit last month rather than face impeachment. Zardari easily won the electoral college today. It's made up of lawmakers from the national parliament and four provincial assemblies. Zardari has promised to target al Qaeda and Taliban militants hiding in Pakistan's tribal areas. He also is pledging to give up some of the presidential powers Musharraf added to the office.

A new suicide car bombing in Iraq. It happened at a market in a northern Iraqi town near the Syrian border. At least six people were killed and 50 were wounded. The same market was hit by a suicide attack just last month. Well, today's bombing comes during Ramadan when markets are bustling with holiday shoppers.

Hanna drenched the Carolinas. In this country, Ike threatening Florida. Our severe weather team is watching both storms.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD All right, talk about a surprise, a single-engine plane made this emergency landing on a busy New Jersey Garden State Parkway. This happened just yesterday. Police say the plane lost power after taking off from a nearby airport. Fortunately, no one, not in the plane and not on the ground, no one was hurt.

OK, here's a little spelling lesson for you. N-u-c-l-e-a-r? What does that spell? How do you pronounce that word? Speechwriters at the Republican National Convention apparently weren't take anything chances. CNN's Jeanne Moos has an unconventional moment.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): You could say Sarah Palin went nuclear against the opposition. But at least she got the actual word right.

GOV. SARAH PALIN (R-FL), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Build more nuclear plants.

MOOS: The funny thing is what's on the eagle eye spotted on her teleprompter. And what the Republicans inadvertently left in when they handed out copies of her speech to the press.

PALIN: Terrorist states are seeking nuclear weapons.

MOOS: A little phonetic guide apparently to make sure that Sarah Palin doesn't pull a George Bush.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Nuclear weapons program. Nuclear weapon, covert nuclear weapons program.

MOOS: Actually Palin pronounced it the Bush way at her first national appearance.

PALIN: In preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. MOOS: A pronunciation a tip on Iran may not be a bad idea for the next speech, but nailing nuclear is a good start.

PALIN: And build more nuclear plants.

MOOS: The good news is at least she didn't say "new clear." Building more "new clear" plants almost sounds safer than going nuclear. With the unconventional moment, I'm Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: All right, well you can hear more from the candidates this weekend. We know that you want to. So with the return of CNN'S "BALLOT BOWL," you need to tune in. Extended excerpts from the campaign trail. The candidates unfiltered, in their own words, per usual in the "BALLOT BOWL" that is, starting at 2:00 p.m. Eastern today only on CNN.

Oh, but first you have to tune into "YOUR $$$" and then we'll look at the top stories right after this.