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Hurricane Ike Sets Sights on Texas Coast; Pentagon's Top Brass Heads to the Hill; Candidates Stump in Virginia

Aired September 10, 2008 - 10:00   ET

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

HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: This hour the Pentagon's top brass heads to Capitol Hill. Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Joint Chiefs chairman Michael Mullen go before the House Armed Services Committee. They are expected to talk about how to shift troops out of Iraq without sacrificing security gains.
They'll also talk about Afghanistan. Mullen expected to warn the U.S. is running out of time for success there.

So we'll have more on what they are going to say coming up in just a few moments.

Meanwhile, President Bush scheduled to meet with his Iraqi counterpart this afternoon, Iraqi president, Jalal Talabani, heads to the Oval Office.

CNN's Brianna Keilar is at the White House now with more on this.

So what are they expected to talk about here, Brianna?

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Heidi, the White House has expected one of the things they're going to be talking about is the stalled provincial election law which governs local elections in Iraq.

And because it has been delayed, it has actually pushed off elections in Iraq to the beginning of next year at the earliest. So that's one thing they may talk about. President Talabani in the U.S. where he's recovering from heart surgery. He'll be meeting with President Bush in the Oval Office this afternoon.

And this meeting coming on the heels of the president's announcement yesterday that he plans to pull 8,000 U.S. troops out of Iraq and not replace them and then move 4500 extra troops to Afghanistan.

Now the pulling of troops from Iraq happened between now and February. So you see here a shifting away -- a shifting of emphasis away from Iraq and toward Afghanistan. A senior administration official, in fact, saying that those extra 4,500 troops to Afghanistan really just the beginning, that we'll be seeing more.

And also back to the Iraq front, that senior administration official also saying the coalition of nations that are allied with the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq that we're going to see that dramatically increase, whittle down to just a handful of nations at the discretion of the Iraqi government.

As you may know, there are currently dozens of nations allied with the U.S. coalition. And with that drop in violence, then the Iraqi government would be free to concentrate on political and economic priorities in Iraq. That according to that senior administration official.

And that's really something that we're seeing in line with this discussion President Bush is supposed to have with President Talabani, because, again, the White House saying that they're going to be discussing the decrease in violence and basically the to-do list before the Iraqi parliament -- Heidi.

COLLINS: Yes. It is a to-do list, that's for sure.

All right, Brianna Keilar, we sure do appreciate the update on that.

Want to get to this now. Devastation in Iran, a strong 6.1 magnitude quake hit the southern part of the country. A local report says 200 villages were flattened. At least three people reported dead, more than 20 hurt.

The jolt was felt across the Persian Gulf. Hundreds poured into the streets in Dubai.

Hurricane Ike in the Gulf and on the move this morning. It's likely to grow a lot stronger as it barrels toward a likely landfall in Texas by the end of the week. Its path littered now with misery and destruction.

Ike killed at least 80 people across the Caribbean. Thousands of homes were damaged or destroyed and millions of people evacuated.

Let's look now at where Ike is likely headed. CNN meteorologist Jacqui Jeras is covering all the angles for us. She is in the Weather Center now and has the very latest.

Hey, Jacqui.

JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Hey, Heidi. And hello, everybody.

We're watching Ike intensify, as we speak. It's moving over some very warm waters. You know, maximum sustained winds, 85 miles per hour, gusting to 105.

But take a look at that central part of the storm and all that bright purple there. So we're watching the storm begin to ramp up. And I think it's very likely we're going to see a category two, certainly, possibly, even as early as 11:00 advisory and eventually making its way towards a Category 3.

It's moving northwesterly. Expected to shift a little more west- northwesterly in the next 12 hours or so. Feeling the impact here all across the Florida Keys and across much of central and southern parts of Florida with strong, gusty winds. Wind gusts at Key West right now already at 31 miles per hour. So we're going to continue to watch the wind and the waves affect the lower keys, in particular, throughout much of the day today.

And then the storm will start to pull away and you'll watch for things to begin to improve just a little bit.

Let's talk a little bit about that forecast track as it moves over the very warm waters. We'll watch it intensify a little bit and then probably hold a little steadier as we get closer towards the Texas coastline.

And look at the cone now, really, pretty much encompasses all of Texas and excluding the Eastern Gulf at this time. The timing of this storm in terms of landfall will likely take place late Friday or early Saturday. But Ike will very likely be a major hurricane at that time, and that's what we need to certainly prepare for.

The hurricane hunters are flying into the storm as we speak and getting samples of conditions in the Gulf of Mexico because we don't have any weather observations out there. So we'll get a better handle on this storm from that.

And our own CNN Rob Marciano -- he is going to give us a great explanation, Heidi. You would want to stick around for this at the bottom of the hour...

COLLINS: Yes.

JERAS: ... about what the hurricane hunters do, what kind of airplanes they fly, and just how helpful this is in getting this data.

COLLINS: Yes, that's going to be really interesting. He's working on that right now.

So, Jacqui, we sure do appreciate it. We'll stay in contact with you about the progress here of Ike.

JERAS: Sure.

COLLINS: Thanks, Jacqui.

In Texas, want to let you know, emergency officials are advising people with special medical needs to pack up and get out now. Preparations are also under way for a larger scale evacuation.

We get the details from Carolyn Campbell of CNN's Houston affiliate, KHOU.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CAROLYN CAMPBELL, CNN AFFILIATE KHOU REPORTER: Cleaning the roadways is routine, but the routine becomes much more important when a hurricane threatens. After the massive backups during the Hurricane Rita evacuation, the state decided to add what are call evacu-lanes.

GREGORY RANFT, TEXAS DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION: Which are basically shoulders most of the time, but when we do have to implement the evacu-lane, then we'll put traffic into that shoulder lane.

CAMPBELL: But shoulders tend to collect debris, so they have to be cleared.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So that people don't end up getting -- flat tires or run over objects that, you know, aren't good for their cars.

CAMPBELL: And unlike during Hurricane Gustav when construction stuck evacuees from Louisiana on I-10, the state says getting out of harm's way will be smoother because any road work will be canceled.

RANFT: This is our in ground storage tank.

CAMPBELL: Ted (INAUDIBLE) says stockpiling fuel is another important preparation to keep traffic moving. Right now the state is filling up its fleet of courtesy trucks.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And they'll give a gallon or so of gas to stranded vehicles or motorists that are out of gas so they can get down to the next filling station. They also have the capability of jumping batteries, fixing flats.

JOHN CURRY, COURTESY TRUCK DRIVER: We're going to run into a lot of situations, injuries, people overheating.

CAMPBELL: John Curry is a courtesy truck driver who helped dozens of stranded motor rifts during Hurricane Rita.

CURRY: I think they learned their lesson and we're going to be a lot more prepared this time.

CAMPBELL: Although they don't know yet if Hurricane Ike will test they're evacuation plans, they believe they'll score a whole lot better than they did during Hurricane Rita.

Carolyn Campbell, 11 News.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COLLINS: When the weather becomes the news, remember to send us your iReports. Just go to iReport.com or type ireport@CNN.com right into your cell phone. But please stay safe.

Barack Obama taking his message of change to northern Virginia this hour -- Norfolk, Virginia to be exact. There's a live shot for you. He's holding a rally at a high school there.

Obama's campaign is dismissing criticism from the John McCain camp over an Obama comment about -- quote -- "lipstick on a pig." I'm sure you've heard about. McCain's campaign says the remark was an offensive reference to GOP VP contender Sarah Palin. The Obama campaign says he wasn't talking about Palin.

The Sarah Palin factor in northern Virginia today. John McCain and his popular running mate are in Fairfax, Virginia for a late- morning rally at a local park there.

It's the last campaign stop for the Republican duo before Palin returns to Alaska and then sets out on her own.

Small-state with big voting power. Later in the hour we're going to be taking a closer look at the battleground state of Ohio. Pretty important in all of this.

Woman running for the highest office. On the other side of the globe. But some say she might not be the right woman for the job.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Trying to take it back. Attorneys for Senator Larry Craig are in Minneapolis appeals court today. They're trying to get Craig's disorderly conduct charge wiped off the books.

Senator Craig pled guilty after the now infamous bathroom stall incident at the Minneapolis airport. Craig tried to withdraw the plea later, but the judge refused. Now an appeals court is expected to decide.

All the latest campaign news is at your fingertips. Just go to CNNpolitics.com. We also have analysis from the best political team on television. It's all right there at CNNpolitics.com. So check that out.

There are serious questions surrounding the health of Kim Jong-Il this morning. Intelligence officials tell CNN the North Korean leader may have suffered a stroke. North Korea denies there's anything wrong with the man called "the dear leader."

One government official says reports of Kim Il's health is a conspiracy.

Kim Jong-Il hasn't been seen in public for several weeks and missed the country's 60th anniversary parade that happened yesterday.

Trying to crack Japan's iron ceiling. One woman vying to become the country's first ever woman prime minister. But she faces an uphill battle with just over a week to go before the important first vote.

CNN's Kyung Lah has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KYUNG LAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): That is the sound of history being written. Yuriko Koike is now the first woman to seek Japan's highest political office -- prime minister, a bold move in a nation whose politics looks like this, all men.

Among Japan's national representatives, only 12 percent are women. Tougher odds, says Koike, than what faced her political sisters across the sea -- Senator Clinton's bid for the presidency and Governor Sarah Palin's now a vice presidential bid.

GOV. SARAH PALIN (R), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Hillary Clinton left 18 million cracks in the highest part of glass ceiling in America.

YURIKO KOIKE, LDP PARTY CANDIDATE: Compared to the U.S. glass ceiling, Japanese one is not a glass, but iron steel.

LAH: Koike has an uphill climb.

Frontrunner and the ruling party's secretary general, Taro Aso, leads the poll. Koike, who, as defense minister once famously called herself "Madam Sushi," is running on shaking up Japan's social and economic policies and grapple with historically birth rate and an aging work force.

(on camera): Koike says a woman is best poised to set Japan's social agenda. But women's groups say she is the wrong woman with a record of failure or no record at all on these issues.

PROF. NORIKO HAMA, DOSHISHA UNIVERSITY: I'm not -- certainly not excited, but this is, I suppose, part of the world's -- again, it's better than nothing. Hopefully the next time around we will get a person with greater integrity.

LAH: But even those who don't support Koike credit her with making this first step and easing the path for the next candidate.

KOIKE: Now I've climbed up to the ceiling and looking for the open sky from now on. So let us see how many cracks I'm going to get.

LAH (on camera): But iron is very hard. How do you break through iron?

KOIKE: Maybe I will use burning fire.

LAH (voice over): She laughs, but knows this trail-blazing fight will be a tough one.

Kyung Lah, CNN, Tokyo.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COLLINS: Some big changes coming to your credit card, and you're probably not going to like them.

CNN's Gerry Willis has what you need to know.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Let's go ahead and take a look at the big board now. New York Stock Exchange, Dow Jones Industrial Average to the positive by about 43 points or so.

We will continue to watch those numbers and see if there's any effects. All this news about Lehman Brothers. We'll talk more about that with Susan Lisovicz coming up in just a little bit.

Issue No. 1 as you know, the economy. And one of the most pressing pocket book issues is the cost of energy. Falling oil prices have prompted OPEC to reduce its oil production. Earlier this morning OPEC oil ministers agreed to trim overall output by more than 500,000 barrels a day.

So what does that mean?

Well, the president of the cartel says we'll probably see oil prices continue to fall.

Meanwhile, across the nation gas prices are up. According to AAA the national average has climbed more than a penny and a half a gallon since yesterday. Today's price now almost $3.67 a gallon, that's a drop, though, of more than 14 cents a gallon compared to one month ago.

But still on the topic of your money, Democrats want to push a second stimulus package through Congress. The idea, get people back to work by funneling $50 billion into rebuilding the nation's infrastructure.

The White House isn't interested and neither are Republicans. They say offshore gas and oil drilling is a better way to boost the economy.

Your credit card terms may be getting a makeover for the worst, thanks to the ailing economy, a tight credit market and banking woes. Credit card issuers are increasing fees or slashing risk.

Personal finance editor Gerri Willis is joining us now with what you need to know on this.

Hey there, Gerri. What are some of the trends that we're seeing out there?

GERRI WILLIS, CNN PERSONAL FINANCE EDITOR: Well, hi there, Heidi.

First up, interest rates on credit cards. They're trickling higher. In addition, fees on balance transfers are going up. Credit lines have been cut. 50 percent in some cases. Rewards cards have more strings. So bad news for consumers.

Card issuers have been increasingly closing out cards if you don't have -- if you haven't been using them frequently enough. So not good news here.

COLLINS: Well, yes. It doesn't sound like very good news. That's for sure. What can the consumer do, though, if they are faced with this kind of situation? We always wonder if we have any recourse.

WILLIS: Well, if you have a credit card, look, don't trash junk mail from your credit card company. It's vital you read everything they send you because the company can change terms and conditions of your card at any time without any reason. And you may get the chance to opt out of a rate or a fee increase.

Now, look, if you find out that your rate has increased or your credit line has been cut, the best thing you can do is complain, call that 800 number. Be sure to speak to the manager. You may have to threaten to leave the credit card company. The credit card company doesn't to lose your business.

The replacement cost for consumers is 200 bucks to the company issuing the card. Don't forget there's a spotlight on the industry right now. You have more leverage than you think.

COLLINS: Yes. And maybe people don't realize that. So it's always worth a try, for sure.

What about another trend that might be out there?

WILLIS: Well, look, even getting a credit card is harder these days and banks are gibing out smaller lines of credit. The new customer is always the riskiest customer. So if you want to get the best credit card deals out there, make sure that you're doing absolutely everything you can to improve your credit score.

You want a card that has no annual fees and a low annual interest rate. Look for a credit card that has a grace period for payments and no charges for balance transfer fees. Make sure you compare credit cards on Web sites like cardratings, bankrate, creditcards.com.

COLLINS: Well, I'm sure Washington is involved, right, in some of those...

WILLIS: Yes, big way.

COLLINS: ... credit card reform and the practices that go on here?

WILLIS: Yes. Look, the Federal Reserve has proposed a list of changes to the way credit card companies operate. Among some of those changes, the elimination of double billing cycles. However, another regulator, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, has since asked the Fed to step away from these changes.

So there's a fighting in Washington over this. Analysts we talk to say it's unlikely all the changes will pass this year. But there could be one or two that go into effect. We will update you, bring you the latest on that. Let you know how the rules on your credit card are changing.

And, of course, if you have any questions, send them to us at "Top Tips" at CNN.com. We love hearing from you.

COLLINS: And I can't believe you said fighting in Washington? No way, we've never heard of that before.

All right, Gerry, appreciate it. Thank you.

WILLIS: My pleasure.

COLLINS: You can follow your fortunes at CNNmoney.com. We've got all the day's market news and numbers, expert analysis and much more. So make sure you check that out.

Presidential politics and the battleground of Ohio. Small town, big stakes, and the volatile issues that could decide the election.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Hurricane Ike swirling through the Gulf of Mexico and sending new ripples of fear crashing on the Gulf Coast. The storm expected to be a Category 3 when it makes landfall at week's end.

Almost all of the Texas coast is now considered at risk of that hit. Texas officials getting buses and shelters lined up and considering possible evacuation orders.

This morning, in fact, (INAUDIBLE) County issued a mandatory evacuation order for its coastal residents.

Let's get the very latest, head over to Jacqui Jeras, who's in the Weather Center, watching all of the action regarding Ike.

Hi, Jacqui.

JERAS: Hey there, Heidi. Yes, we're watching Ike. It's that over the open waters there in the Gulf of Mexico. It's moving over an area where the water is extremely warm.

Now we've been seeing signs of intensification, the hurricane hunters have been flying into the storm. There you can see their present location. They kind of made a little clover leaf type pattern this last go-around.

At their current location right here, the estimated surface wind, 67 miles per hour, just for good measure. But maximum winds at 85 at the very most. Recent advisory at 85 so that's still a Category 1 storm. But I think we're going to find potentially that this is going to be maybe a Category 2 with our next advisory.

If not at 11:00 we'll probably see that as we head into the afternoon hours as we're seeing some good signs of intensification and some of the samplings we've seen from those hurricane hunters, too, showing that those winds may be a little bit stronger than that.

We're getting some pretty good winds, too, across the Florida Keys, gusts 30, 40 miles per hour as we get some stronger storms in there. Those winds will increase a little bit and become more gusty. But look at those bands heading all the way up toward Tampa and Sarasota areas. And this will be an issue throughout the day today. Certainly not a good beach day. Threat of rip currents actually on both coasts of Florida. So stay out of the water if you're trying to enjoy some of that beach action today.

We've got a couple of days to go here yet over the open waters of the Gulf of Mexico. And you know, the conditions here are different now than they were during Gustav. We actually have lighter wind sheers, so the winds are not as strong in the gulf to knock this thing down.

So we see nothing but intensification, really, for the next two days. We think at earliest we'll probably start to feel some impact by early Friday morning on Texas's coast with landfall late Friday night or Saturday morning as a Category 3 storm.

So Ike is over those waters, ramping up very likely. And as soon as we get that next advisory, Heidi, we will bring that along to you.

COLLINS: OK. Very good. Thank you, Jacqui.

Quickly want to remind you we are waiting for an event to begin. Senator Barack Obama will be joining that crowd there. The event taking place in Norfolk, Virginia. And just as soon as he gets to the podium, we'll bring you a little bit of that.

Meanwhile, history shows the road to the White House runs straight through Ohio. But this presidential election there are volatile issues dividing the voters.

CNN's chief national correspondent John King takes a closer look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Portsmouth hugs the Ohio river, nestled in the hills and farm land of Appalachia. Small-town and struggling, wondering if the jobs will ever return and whether the old rule that hard times means votes for Democrats will apply this year.

At Scioto County Democratic headquarters, Randy Bashem sees the chance to make history colliding with historical reality. Some on the other end of the phone say they simply aren't ready or willing to vote for a black man.

RANDY BASHEM, SCIOTO COUNTY DEMOCRATIC CHAIRMAN: It basically comes down to that. In Appalachian, it's probably the hardest place in the state of Ohio because the population of the black vote here in southern Ohio is probably 2 percent.

KING: Obama was trounced here in the Democratic primaries. Hillary Clinton won 81 percent of the vote in Scioto County and top Democratic strategists say Obama has yet to fix things.

PETER HART, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: In the primary he didn't connect. He needs to be able to connect with the small town and rural voters. And they're all through out that southern Ohio.

KING (on camera): Recent history suggests winning here in southeast Ohio equals winning the White House. The Democrats have carried this region only three times in the last 10 presidential elections -- 1976, 1992 and 1996.

Those just happened to be the party's only three White House victories in the past 40 years.

(voice over): In Portsmouth's bustling market street cafe, there is a hopeful vibe for Democrats. The younger staff is all for Obama.

Co-owner Mary Race, a loyal Republican, sees a giant generational divide.

MARY RACE, CAFE OWNER: I think the people more of my age seem to be for McCain. But I do feel overall, that there is more Obama people.

KING: But the scene at local Democratic headquarters is telling. An office worker felt compelled to pin a flag on the cardboard of Obama's lapel. The overwhelming issue here is jobs. Yet, just eight weeks to election day, local Democrats are still rebutting rumors their candidate won't wear a flag pin, isn't a Christian, and took his Senate oath on the Koran and not the bible.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have that question all the time. People I talk to in our community still have grave reservations about that.

KING: Many older Democrats like Steve Sturgill, say it's often tough to break through.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's no doubt in my mind that Senator Obama is not a Muslim. He's not a left wing crazy.

KING: Jean Carlson is a Goldwater Republican turned Obama Democrat. She sees the questions about flags and faith as thinly veiled racism.

JEAN CARLSON, OBAMA SUPPORTER: I think it's an undercurrent. I think it's sad, but I think it's still an undercurrent here.

KING: Local Republicans say the race factor is exaggerated and that Obama is just too liberal for these parts. Whatever the reason, Obama's chance to make history could rest on whether he can change perceptions in small towns where change isn't always welcome.

John King, CNN, Portsmouth, Ohio.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COLLINS: You can check out our political ticker for all the latest campaign news, Just log on to CNN.com/politics, your source for all things political.

Scientists hope to get a big bang out of this. A successful first step in unlocking a secret of the universe.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: As we've been telling you all morning long, we're waiting for this event to begin. There you see Senator Barack Obama on the campaign trail in Norfolk, Virginia, today. He's getting ready to address the crowd there. We will bring some portion of that to you, just as soon as he goes to the podium.

(BUSINESS REPORT)

COLLINS: We want to get back now to this event we've been telling you about in Norfolk, Virginia. Senator Barack Obama has taken to the podium.

Let's go ahead and listen in to what he has to say for just a moment here.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: ... And my sister's named Maya. So, we just have some sort of bond, some sort of connection here.

Thank you so much all for being here. I apologize we're running a little bit late. I had a wonderful time visiting with some of the students in this outstanding school. And very proud of them and what they were doing. They were actually putting together a code of conduct that's going to be compiled that will then govern how they treat each other during the course of the school year.

And I was thinking, wouldn't it be great if members of Congress did the same.

(LAUGHTER)

So, we need to send everybody down here and go through their exercise, with big butcher block paper. We'll see if it works.

I am so grateful to all of you that there are some people that I want to acknowledge very briefly. Congressman Bobby Scott does a great job for Virginia's third congressional district.

(APPLAUSE)

Mayor Paul Frame of the city of Norfolk.

(APPLAUSE)

Mayor Molly Ward of the city of Hampton. Where's Molly? Is she still here? she had to take off. All right. I want to acknowledge Dr. William Harvey, president of Hampton University. I don't know if the doctor's still here.

(APPLAUSE) Dr. Steve Jones, the superintendent of Norfolk Public Schools, very proud of you. And principal Ted Dougherty, of Granby High School. Thank you so much.

(APPLAUSE)

Now, we are here to talk about education. But, you know, I'm running for president. So that means that I've got to spend just a brief moment talking a little bit about politics.

Before we begin today, I want to say a few words about the latest made-up controversy by the John McCain campaign. What their campaign has done this morning is the same game that has made people sick and tired of politics in this country. They seize on an innocent remark, try to take it out of context, throw up an outrageous ad because they know that it's cat nip for the news media. Some of you may of -- I assume you guys heard this watching the news.

I'm talking about John McCain's economic policies. I say, this is more of the same, you can put lipstick on a pig, but it's still a pig. And suddenly they say, oh, you must be talking about the governor of Alaska.

(LAUGHTER)

See, it would be funny except, of course, the news media decided that that was the lead story yesterday. They'd much rather have the story -- this McCain campaign would much rather have the story about phony and foolish diversions, than about the future. This happens every election cycle. Every four years this is what we do.

We've got an energy crisis. We have education -- we have an education system that is not working for too many of our children and making us less competitive. We have an economy that is creating hardship for families all across America. We've got two wars going on. Veterans coming home not being cared for. And this is what they want to talk about. This is what they want to spend two out of the last 55 days talking about.

You know who ends up losing at the end of the day? It's not the Democratic candidate, it's not the Republican candidate, it's you. The American people. Because then we go another year or another four years or another eight years, without addressing the issues that matter to you. Enough. I don't care what they say about me. But I love this country too much to let them take over another election with lies and phony outrage and swift boat politics. Enough is enough.

(APPLAUSE)

These are serious times, and they call for a serious debate about where we need to take the nation. We can't take another four years that are like the last eight, where family incomes are going down at the same time as costs of everything are on the rise. Where we keep on spending $10 billion a month in Iraq, at a time when our own infrastructure here at home is crumbling and the Iraqis have a $79 billion surplus that they're not spending. We can't take another four years of the same trickle-down, on- your-own, special-interest-first approach to economics that is killing the middle class in this country. Now, John McCain has supported these policies for the last eight years. He believes in them. And when you scratch the surface, there's not a dime's worth of difference between what he's offering and what we've already got. When he's done giving tax breaks to companies that ship our jobs overseas or $300 billion to the biggest corporations in America, including the oil companies that are already making money hand over fist, the only change you're going to get are some upon pennies in your pocket.

So spare me the phony outrage. Spare me the phony talk about change. We have real problems in this country right now. And the American people are looking to us for answers. Not distractions, not diversions, not manipulations. They want real answers to the real problems that we are facing. That's the kind of debate that I intend to have because that's the kind of debate the American people deserve.

(APPLAUSE)

That is what you deserve and that's what you're going to get for the next 55 days.

So, let's talk about something serious and something real, which is our education system and how our children are going to end up being able to compete in this new global economy. And I often talk about how this is a defining moment in our history. On everything from the economy, to energy independence, to the war in Iraq. The decision we make in the coming years will affect us for generations to come. That's especially true when it comes to education.

And the rising importance of education reflects the new demands of our time. In our global economy -- I was just telling the students that I was meeting with -- companies can take their jobs anywhere where there's an Internet connection. Wherever there's somebody willing to do the work, whether it's Beijing or Bangalore. And that means that children here in Norfolk, they're not just going to be competing against children in Richmond, or children in Fairfax County. They are going to be competing against the entire world.

What matters then isn't what you -- it isn't what you do or where you live, what matters is what you know. When 2/3 of all new jobs require a higher education or advanced training, knowledge is the most valuable skill that you can sell. It's not only a pathway to opportunity, it's a prerequisite. But it's not just that a world class education is essential for workers to compete and win. It's that an educated workforce is essential for America to compete and win. If we want to out compete the world tomorrow, we're going to have to out teach the world today.

(APPLAUSE)

Think about it. If we want to build the cars of the future here in America, knowing that we have to reduce our emissions and our use of foreign oil, we can't afford to see the number of PhDs in engineering climbing in China and South Korea and Japan, even as it's dropping here in the United States. If we want to build a 21st century infrastructure and repair our crumbling roads, we can't afford a future where elementary school kids are only getting an average of 25 minutes of science each day.

(APPLAUSE)

When over 80 percent of the fastest growing jobs require some knowledge in math and science.

(APPLAUSE)

If we want -- must be a science teacher over here.

(LAUGHTER)

If we want to see middle class incomes rising like they did in the 1990s, we can't afford a future where so many Americans are priced out of a college education and millions of jobs go unfilled because Americans don't have the skills to work in them.

And yet year after year, decade after decade, Washington has been stuck in the same old tired debates over education that have crippled our progress and left schools and parents to fend for themselves. Now, there's partisanship and bickering, but there's no understanding that both sides have good ideas that we'll need to implement if we hope to make the changes our children need. And we've fallen further and further behind in the process.

If we're going to make a real and lasting difference for our future, we have to be willing to move beyond the old arguments of the left and the right and take meaningful, practical steps to build an education system worthy of our children and of our future. In the past few weeks -- and my opponents have been talking about the need for change and reform in Washington. But in the nearly three decades he's spent there, he has not done one thing to improve the quality of public education in our country. Not one real law or proposal or initiative, nothing. It has not been a priority for him.

Now he wants to challenge my record. And I'm happy to put my record against John McCain's any day. Because instead of just talking about school choice, I helped pass legislation to double the number of charter schools in Chicago. Instead of talking about the need to provide teachers in undeserved areas, I introduced legislation that signed into law a few weeks ago, that would train and supply high- quality teachers to teach in areas in need. Instead of just talking about how we're going to close the achievement gap, I passed laws expanding access to after school, summer programs and early childhood education.

Students this year in Virginia will see an increase in their Pell Grants because of my work in the Senate.

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So that's my track record. Let's talk about his for a moment. He marched with the ideologues in his party and opposing efforts to hire more teachers, fully fund no child left behind and make college more affordable. He even called for closing the Department of education. Now, I'll admit that closing the Department of Education would be a change.

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But it's not the change we need.

After three decades --

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You can get a sense of where somebody's going by where they've been. Do you really believe after three decades of indifference on education that John McCain is going to take this up as one of his top priorities when he's president. I don't think he gets it. I don't think he understands that our success as a nation depends on our success in education.

And I do get it. That's why last November I laid out a plan to invest in early childhood education, combat our high school dropout rate, put a college degree in the reach of anyone who wants one by making sure that we've got a $4,000 tuition credit available to any middle class student who's willing to serve in their military or their country.

We'll also fix the broken promises of No Child Left Behind. Because while the goals of that law were the right ones, it was wrong to force our teachers, our principals and our schools to make due without the resources they need.

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We also don't need people who think that the only way to teach a child is to spend most of the year preparing him or her to fill in a few bubbles on a standardized test.

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Let's finally help our teachers and principals develop a curriculum and assessments that teach our kids to become more than just good test-takers. We need assessments that can improve achievement by including the kinds of research and scientific investigation and problem-solving that our children need to compete.

We also have to realize that fixing No Child Left Behind alone is not sufficient. Being against No Child Left Behind is not an education policy. So those of us who have been talking about these issues for years, Democrats in particular, we've got to understand, just being against something, that's not sufficient. We've got to be for something. We need a new vision for a 21st century education, one where we aren't just supporting existing schools, but spurring innovation, where we're not just investing more money but demanding more reform and where we expect all of our children, not only to graduate high school, but to graduate college and get a good-paying job.

Now, yesterday I proposed a few ways to bring our schools into the 21st century. I called for a doubling of our investment in charter schools so that students and parents have choices within the public school system because I believe in public schools, even as we give states the tools to hold them accountable. And I talked about how we need to give every teacher the support they need to be successful, but also give every child the assurance that they'll have the teacher they need to be successful. And that means providing teachers with, I believe, higher pay --

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-- it means giving teachers more support.

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Higher pay and more support. It also means making sure that if teachers aren't doing the job and we've given them the training and support and the pay that they need, that they move on, because every child deserves a good teacher.

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Now today I want to focus on a few other parts of my plan to prepare our kids for the 21st century. The first thing I want to talk about is raising expectations for our children. The young people who I met with, they asked me what were the keys for your success. I said -- I started, I think, doing well when I realized that I had to have higher standards for myself than anybody ever would have for me. And that's something that I think we have to instill in all of our children. Because if we want to make sure our kids can compete with those children in China and India, we need to push our children to study harder and to aim higher.

This is something you know about here at Granby with your international baccalaureate program. I'm told "Newsweek" called you one of the top high schools in the country. That's something to be proud of.

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So we need all our schools to challenge their students like you're challenging yours. That's why I reached across the aisle and worked with Republican Senator Jim Demint on a bill that would push high school students to take college level courses and make sure low income neighborhoods and rural communities have access to these courses. And I'll make it the law of the land when I'm president.

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I want to set a goal of increasing the number of high school students taking college level or AP or IB courses by 50 percent by the coming years because I believe that when we challenge our children to succeed, then they will succeed.

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And we want to make sure that the schools have the resources to be able to do that. I also want to bring our schools into the 21st century. Imagine a future where students are motivated because they aren't just learning on black boards but on white boards with digital touch screens, where every student in America is doing what you're doing here in Granby and logging on to telescopes halfway around the world, where every student in a classroom has a laptop at their desk, where they don't just do book reports but design powerpoint presentations, where they don't just write papers but they build Web sites, and where research isn't done just by taking a book out of the library, but e-mailing experts in the field all around the world. That's the kind of future we can build if you stand with me in November...

COLLINS: There you have quite a bit of the speech there by Senator Barack Obama -- not really a speech, I should say, a casual discussion about several different points. You heard him mentioning the lipstick on the pig comment. We will to see if there's more said about that by Senator John McCain and his vice presidential contender Sarah Palin. That event is also coming up, the other side of the coin, if you will -- 11:00 a.m. it's slated for. So there you see it, live shots there. Fairfax, Virginia, is where the senator and the governor will be.

Also, looking forward for the rest of the day, Joe Biden is going to be 3:00 p.m. in Nashua, New Hampshire. So that vice presidential candidate for the Democratic side will be there. And also tonight, way later tonight, Sarah Palin will be in Alaska for her first event alone. So the Republican vice presidential candidate later on tonight.

We'll have all of it for you right here on CNN. For now, a quick break.

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COLLINS: On the left side of your screen, Senator Barack Obama in Norfolk, Virginia. We had a little bit of that earlier today. And coming up, on the right side of your screen, Senator John McCain and his vice presidential nominee, Governor Sarah Palin in Fairfax, Virginia. You can see more of that coming up in just a couple minutes right here on CNN.

CNN NEWSROOM with Tony Harris begins right now.