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O.J. Simpson Found Guilty in Robbery and Kidnapping Trial; Many Economists Say We Won't See the Bailout's Positive Changes for Several Months; Europe is Happy, Says Banks will Lend Again; CNN Looks at the V.P. Debate; Is This a Good Time to Buy a Cheap Home?

Aired October 04, 2008 - 10:00   ET

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

T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: It happened in Vegas. Now, O.J. Simpson may be the one to stay in Vegas. He is waking up in a jail cell this morning. He could be there for the rest of his life.
ALINA CHO, CNN ANCHOR: The bailout bill, signed, sealed and delivered. What does it mean to you? We are getting some great e- mails on this. We are going to talk to folks at a Main Street festival in suburban Atlanta, too.

From the CNN center, you are in the CNN NEWSROOM. It's Saturday, October 4th, 2008.

Good morning, everybody. I'm Alina Cho. Betty has the morning off.

HOLMES: And hello to you all. I'm T.J. Holmes. 8:00 a.m. here in Atlanta. 7:00 a.m. in Las Vegas and that's where we start.

O.J. Simpson, college football star, Heisman Trophy winner, hall of fame football player, now facing the possibility of spending the rest of his life in prison.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We, the jury, in the above entitled case, find the defendant, Orenthal James Simpson, as follows. Count one, conspiracy to commit a crime, guilty. Count two, conspiracy to commit kidnapping...

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: The jury went on to find him Simpson guilty on 12 felony counts in his kidnapping and robbery trial in Las Vegas. The judge revoked bail. Simpson was cuffed and taken away.

CNN's Ted Rowlands has been on this story for us from Vegas. He joins us now. Been with us all morning. It's been early out there, but my goodness, what a night of developments. This verdict came in pretty late last night.

TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, T.J. The jurors deliberated for 13 hours before coming to this verdict. And the verdict came exactly 13 years to the day that Simpson was acquitted by a Los Angeles jury. This time, however, in Las Vegas, he was found guilty on all counts.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We, the jury, in the above entitled case find the defendant, Orenthal James Simpson, guilty.

ROWLANDS (voice over): With friends and family crying in the courtroom seats behind him, O.J. Simpson listened as the 12 guilty verdicts against him were read in court.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Guilty.

ROWLANDS: Jury of nine women and three men worked well into the night deliberating arriving at a verdict after 13 hours.

JACKIE GLASS, CLARK COUNTY DISTRICT COURT: Remanded to custody right now.

ROWLANDS: Following the verdict, Simpson was handcuffed and taken into custody. Simpson, who's 61 years old, could spend the rest of his life in jail. The most serious guilty verdict was for first- degree kidnapping which carries a possible life sentence, a charge his attorneys say doesn't fit the crime.

GABE GRASSO, SIMPSON ATTORNEY: Had O.J. walked into the bank of America with an AK-47 and duct taped -- and duct taped all the tellers and stuck them in the safe, OK, and stole that million dollars, he'd be charged with the same exact thing he is charged with here.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Guilty.

ROWLANDS: Also guilty on all 12 charges was Simpson's co- defendant Clarence Stewart.

BRENT BRYSON, STEWART ATTORNEY: The fact that Mr. Simpson was sitting across the table, there is no doubt in my mind he was extremely prejudicial.

ROWLANDS: Jurors left the courthouse without talking to reporters. Simpson's sister, who was overwhelmed with grief, was taken out in a wheelchair.

The verdicts came exactly 13 years to the day that Simpson was found not guilty of double murder in California.

YALE GALANTER, SIMPSON ATTORNEY: 13 years ago, 13 hours of deliberation and, you know, it's eerie. It really is. It's eerie. You know I don't know what to think of it just yet. But it's -- it's either a very strange coincidence or somebody is sending us a really powerful message.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROWLANDS: And this morning, O.J. Simpson is in the Clark County Detention Center. He will stay there, T.J., until December 5th when he is sentenced by Judge Glass. HOLMES: And Ted -- before we let you go, that sentencing, what could he be looking at here? We talk about the possibility of spending his life in prison. What kind of sentence is he really looking at here?

ROWLANDS: Well, the most severe charge is the first-degree kidnapping. And that has a minimum sentence of 15 years in prison. That's the minimum. This is a judge that is known for harsh sentences.

You add up the 11 -- the other 11, including an armed robbery charge and you're talking most likely, at least 20 years, maybe more. And he's a 61-year-old man. So you do the math.

HOLMES: Right. Again, our Ted Rowlands for us on the story this morning.

Ted, we appreciate you.

Our CNN senior legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin was actually covering O.J.'s double murder trial back in 1995, was in the courtroom when that verdict was read. We talked to him this morning about this Simpson verdict.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN SENIOR LEGAL POLITICAL ANALYST: This case always seemed like a close case for the prosecution. This was a fight over some dubious property involving dubious people. And the one really bad fact for O.J. Simpson in this case was that at least some of the people in that room with him had guns.

And the question was, did O.J. authorize or ask them to bring guns? The jury said yes but this did not seem like a slam-dunk case for the prosecution.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Even though there on some of the video, it doesn't appear that Simpson was very emotional when the verdict was read. His attorney, however, says that he was extremely upset and emotional after those verdicts.

CHO: And we want to go now to President Bush's weekly radio address. Let's listen.

(BEGIN AUDIO TAPE)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Good morning. This week, Congress passed a bipartisan rescue package to address the instability in America's financial system.

This was a difficult vote for many members of the House and Senate. But voting for it was the right choice for America's economy and for taxpayers like you. I appreciate their efforts to help stop the crisis in our financial markets from spreading to our entire economy. And I appreciate their willingness to work across party lines in the midst of an election season.

The legislation Congress passed provides the necessary tools to address the underlying problem in our financial system. The root of this problem is that, as assets that banks hold have lost value, their ability to provide credit has been restricted, making it more difficult for businesses and consumers to obtain affordable loans.

Without decisive action, this credit crunch threatens to harm our entire economy. With this legislation, the federal government can help banks and other financial institutions resume lending.

This will allow them to continue providing the capital that is essential to creating jobs, financing college educations, and helping American families meet their daily needs.

Though the $700 billion dedicate today this plan is a large amount, the final cost to taxpayers will actually be much lower. Many of the assets that the government will be purchasing still have significant underlying value.

As time passes, they will likely go up in price and this means that the government should eventually be able to recoup much, if not all, of the original expenditure.

These packages will also increase the safety of American's personal finances. For 75 years, the FDIC has provided insurance for savings accounts, checking accounts and certificates of deposits. A similar insurance program is in effect for deposits in credit unions. And since these programs were instituted, no one has ever lost a penny on an insured deposit.

The rescue package expands this protection by temporarily increasing the amount insured by the federal government in banks and credit unions from $100,000 to $250,000. These steps should reassure Americans, especially small business owners that their money is safe and it should restore confidence in the health of our banking system.

In addition to addressing the immediate needs of our financial system, this package will also help to spur America's long-term economic growth. This week, we learned that our nation lost more jobs in September. Under these circumstances, it is essential for the government to reduce the burdens on workers and business owners.

And that is why the rescue package includes relief from the alternative minimum tax, which would otherwise increase taxes for 26 million taxpayers by an average of $2,200. And that is why it includes tax relief for businesses which can use these savings to hire new employees and finance new investment.

By taking all these steps, we can begin to put our economy on the road to recovery. While these efforts will be effective, they will also take time to implement. My administration will move as quickly as possible. But the benefits of this package will not all be felt immediately.

The federal government will undertake this rescue plan at a careful and deliberate pace to ensure that your tax dollars are spent wisely. I know many of you listening this morning are anxious about the state of our economy and what it means for your personal finances.

I am confident that the implementation of this relief package can begin to address those concerns. I am confident by getting our markets moving we will help unleash the key to our continued economic success, the entrepreneurial spirit of the American people.

Thank you for listening.

(END AUDIO TAPE)

CHO: And that was President Bush in his weekly radio address from Crawford, Texas.

The president applauding Congress for passing in short order that $700 billion bailout bill. Of course, it took a couple of days the first time it did not pass the House.

Right now, we have our CNN correspondents all over this bailout story. Our Jeanne Meserve with the president in Crawford, Texas near the ranch, and Catherine Callaway in suburban Atlanta for reaction on Main Street.

But we want to begin with Jeanne in Crawford. Jeanne, good morning.

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Alina. Of course, a sigh of relief from the White House. The president had a lot on the line here. He lobbied very hard for this bill calling three dozen members of Congress.

His efforts, along with those of Barack Obama and John McCain, and congressional leaders, eventually did pay off with the passage of this bill yesterday. So, yes, a sigh of relief from them in that respect. That's why he signed that bill so very quickly within about two hours of its passage yesterday.

But the president realizes he still has a very big problem here. And I think that's why you heard what you did in his address today. There are large numbers of people in this country who really object to this legislation, who still see it as a bailout for the fat cats on Wall Street.

That is why you hear the president stressing over and over again what it means to individual Americans, that it will affect their -- the possibilities of their getting credit, that it will protect their bank accounts, that it will indeed limit the pay of those corporate leaders, an effort there to try and sway the American public to realize that this really has an impact on them.

The other thing is that, clearly, we are not out of the woods. You saw the stock market after the passage of this bill yesterday wonder around and then end down. You saw the credit market not open up significantly and you have these job figures yesterday that were just startling, 159,000 jobs lost last month.

And so the White House realizes very much that it's not yet out of the woods. That's why it's continuing to stress that this is not a magic bullet, that there's a lot further to go here.

Alina, back to you.

CHO: Jeanne, you're absolutely right. The Dow losing 818 points just this week. 760,000 jobs lost this year, 159,000, as you mentioned, just in September.

Jeanne, thank you. Live for us in Crawford, Texas.

We want to go now to Catherine Callaway, live in Norcross, Georgia for a look at how Main Street is reaction -- reacting to all of this.

Hey, Katherine, good morning to you.

CATHERINE CALLAWAY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning. Yes, we are in main street USA. We're in Norcross, Georgia, a town of about 8,000 people. And there's a big arts festival going on here today.

We've been talking about people about how they feel about the plan, asking them, and you know, Alina, we've been getting a lot of mixed reactions. Some people still frustrated that we're in this situation in the first place.

But, also, a little confusion on exactly what finally passed the Senate and the House, because there were so many variations of the bill.

This is Wende Lynn. She's working here at the Norcross arts festival.

You were talking to me a little bit earlier about how you feel about the plan. We just heard the president say that he's hoping this will instill confidence in the financial industry.

How do you feel about that?

WENDE LYNN, NORCROSS ARTS FESTIVAL: You know no one is crazy about this bailout. I mean this is a situation that should not have happened. But it did happen. So, at this point, all we can do is support it and go forward with it.

This is -- it's a terrible situation. I don't -- you know 50 percent of the population invested in the stock market, we can't sit back and do nothing. So we have to support it. We have to be positive and go forward and believe that it is going to turn things around.

CALLAWAY: Do you feel like the -- small business owners have been addressed in this, because they seem to be some of the hardest hit people and not able to get loans right now to keep those businesses going?

LYNN: I think that's what concerns me the most. I don't see -- and at least, at least from what I can gather from the media, certainly, I haven't had time to delve into this 100-page document or mostly 100-page document, but I don't see where it is going to immediately impact the small business owners that are trying to get loans to make their payroll and expand their businesses.

CALLAWAY: All right, Wende, thank you very much.

LYNN: Thank you.

CALLAWAY: Alina, I don't know how much time we have left. Can we talk with a couple of other people?

CHO: You can talk with one other person. How about that?

CALLAWAY: All right, let's do that. Let's do that. Let's see if we can find -- do we know if -- is Richard here? Richard?

RICHARD MONDS, OLD TIMES CONCESSIONS: Yes.

CALLAWAY: Richard owns this establishment here, the Old Times Concession here and they are selling about anything you could want to eat at the festival.

Richard, how do you feel about the plan?

MONDS: Well, I'd rather them do something than nothing. So I don't know. It's too early to tell what I feel about it. But at least they're trying. I just want something done so.

CALLAWAY: Is there anything that concerns you about what wasn't included in the measure?

MONDS: No, because I really don't understand it that well so -- but at least if it will free up the cash and have more cash flow, that's the key. I mean, with small businesses, we have to have cash flow.

CALLAWAY: All right, Richard, thank you so much.

Alina, like I said, there is a lot of mixed reaction here. Most people feel a little confused on exactly what plan -- the final plan included. But mixed reaction here on main street.

CHO: 100-plus pages in the bailout bill. It is hard to understand.

Catherine Callaway, getting reaction from Main Street. Very, very important especially when you consider those constituents, those voters, call their congressmen and women and that affects how they vote in the halls of Congress as we saw this week.

Catherine Callaway, live in Norcross, Georgia -- Catherine, thank you. T.J.? HOLMES: All right, Alina, well, of course, home prices have been going down. A lot of people think maybe this is a good time to jump into the market, buy a new house.

Well, you may want to think it and rethink it maybe for a while. We'll hear from someone at the "Wall Street Journal" who knows a thing or two about this on why buyers should beware.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: All right, as we know, a lot of Americans having a really tough time with their mortgages right about now. But listen to this. A lot of deals to be had out there maybe with a lot of the falling home prices.

Well, a Chicago woman put in the winning bid for an abandoned house in Saginaw, Michigan. The bid? The winning bid? $1.75. Sure. No, that's not exactly your penthouse exactly or your dream home you want to live in but, still, it's rundown and a bit of a fixer-upper. But still, $1.75.

That winning bidder says she has no intention of moving to Saginaw. The house, it's not really that cheap. The new owner must pay about $850 in back taxes plus the cost of cleaning up that property.

So, Reynolds, you see, and there's -- a lot is going on right now in this interesting housing market. And this is a part of it. We were seeing, as well -- I see you going through your wallet over there.

REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: I -- dude, I am going to put in 20, you can put down 20. And we'll have T.J. land. OK? That's what we're going to do.

No, seriously -- $1.75, that's tragic. That's very, very sad.

HOLMES: A lot of Web sites we were seeing as well are popping up to where people are actually putting their houses online and people are bidding for them. They're really low prices. But that's a fixer- upper but still it's emblematic of a lot we're seeing these days.

And I guess you talk about weather. I'm not here to talk about...

WOLF: No, it's all good, man. A sign of the times. I mean, we all go through this together.

(WEATHER REPORT)

WOLF: That's a look at your forecast. T.J., let's send it back to you.

HOLMES: All right, again, really nice to see that map without some big blob with an eye in it heading toward the U.S. First time in a while, it seems like, we haven't been talking about a hurricane. Reynolds, we appreciate you.

WOLF: Exactly.

HOLMES: And, again, we were just (INAUDIBLE), before I talked to Reynolds there about that house somebody got for $1.75. Again, a lot of people are jumping on what they think are good investments.

Well, we're going to talk to someone from the "Wall Street Journal" about just, in fact, is that a good investment right now. Stay here.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHO: Welcome back. We want to turn now to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. An update for you.

The U.S. led coalition said its force killed a number of insurgents in Afghanistan in just the past 24 hours, including two in the eastern city of Ghazni. Coalition and Afghan forces are carrying out operations there, targeting al Qaeda and the Taliban.

The alleged mastermind behind a series of deadly bombings in Baghdad is dead. The U.S. military says Mahir al-Zubaydi was killed in a coalition raid. He was believed to be the leader of one of a local network of al Qaeda in Iraq. He is blamed for killing hundreds of civilians in the Sadr City area.

The military says he also planned and took part in kidnappings and videotaped beheadings.

HOLMES: Well, it took hours to pry the bodies from the charred and twisted metal. This is in an accident in Montgomery, Alabama. People say -- or rather the police say all seven people who were inside the van die after it collided with a tractor-trailer and it burst into flames.

The van was carrying people who were actually looking for jobs at a prison. The driver of the truck was treated at a hospital and released.

Well, the plane of missing adventurer, Steve Fossett, has been airlifted out of a rugged area in Mammoth Lakes, California. That's where a hiker discovered it earlier this week. More than a year now after Fossett disappeared on a routine, solo flight.

Federal investigators are expected to examine the wreckage next week. Officials are also testing a bone fragment found at the area of the plane to see if it, in fact, belongs to Fossett.

CHO: Well, there's mad and then there's really, really, really mad.

HOLMES: And then there's maybe this guy.

CHO: Crossing the line maybe. HOLMES: A driver...

CHO: What do you think?

HOLMES: ... goes over the top and winds up enrolled in a traffic safety class.

CHO: That's not all of it.

HOLMES: Maybe an anger management class as well.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHO: And welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM on this Saturday morning. I'm Alina Cho along with my friend, T.J. Holmes.

In a developing story we are watching here for you here at CNN, O.J. Simpson facing the possibility of spending the rest of his life behind bars.

HOLMES: Yes. Jury found Simpson guilty of robbing two sports memorabilia dealers at gunpoint in a Las Vegas hotel room last year.

The verdict came exactly 13 years to the day that Simpson was acquitted of double murder in Los Angeles.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GALANTER: In terms of the state's motion to revoke bail, of course, we oppose that. Mr. Simpson is not a flight risk. He's honored every one of his court appearances, always has, has never been late, owns his property in Florida. Truly, no reason to take him into custody pending sentence.

UNIDENTIFIED JUDGE: Thank you. That motion is denied. You are both remanded to custody right now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHO: The judge in Simpson's kidnapping and robbery trial banned any mention of his 1995 murder trial. Back then, he was found not guilty of killing his former wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ronald Goldman. Many people called that the trial of the century.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GALANTER: From the beginning, my biggest concern -- and I told you this probably the day after Mr. Simpson was arrested -- was whether or not the jurors would be able to separate their very strong feelings about Mr. Simpson and judge him fairly, equally and honestly.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHO: In this latest case, Simpson's attorney says he will appeal the guilty verdict, though legal watchers, including our own senior analyst, including Jeffrey Toobin, say the verdict is unlikely to be overturned.

HOLMES: The big bailout bill -- and we do mean big, $700 million. It is now the law of the land. President Bush signed that bill yesterday and his signature came not too long after the House approved it. Just minutes ago, the president said in his weekly address that the vote was the right choice, adding that the government will recoup some of those costs. We are not sure how much of that will be recouped. Many economists believe we won't see positive changes for several months.

Our correspondents have been on the story and are on it again this morning. Jim Boulden has a reaction overseas in Europe. Allan Chernoff is in New York.

I'll start with you, Allan. That was the thing there. Nobody knows how soon we might see some relief from this thing. Certainly, it's not going to be instant, but that would be nice.

ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: It would be wonderful if all of the sudden, this were a silver bullet and it could turn the economy and the financial markets around. Unfortunately, it is going to take some time.

To put this whole program into place, the treasury has to organize the program and hire some outside firms that will take care of the auctions that are going to occur to buy off these, called, toxic securities from banks and other investment firms to try to get lending going again. There are a lot of questions that bankers have about this. They are wondering, first of all, what price is the treasury going to be paying for all these toxic securities. That's a very important question.

If the price is too low, well, then there could be complications. If the price is too high, there could be complications. They have to figure out a way to get just right price to get enough bankers to participate without taxpayers taking too much of a hit. They want to have an appropriate price in there.

That is another key question for the bankers. Will everybody be participating? If everybody is, that certainly should help out and maybe they will get the stock market bouncing back again.

The bankers are also wondering, well, with the economy looking so lousy, should I actually even be lending a lot of money? As you know, they have been so hesitant. Economists say this is all about confidence, all about restoring confidence in the economy, in the marketplace.

Let's have a listen to one economist that I spoke with yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PIERRE ELLIS, ECONOMIST, DECISION ECONOMICS: The hope for this program is that the damage will be curtailed, there will be a bottom put on the decline that they are suffering, and as that decline is reached and perceived, then you can begin the process of building confidence again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHERNOFF: Which is going to take a little bit of time. Not only time to get the program up and running, but then time to rebuild that confidence by getting those bad assets off of the books of all of these major banks.

HOLMES: Allan, real quickly here, this is another part of this story. It is going to cost a lot of money to hire these asset management firms and attorneys and whatnot. Isn't this going to cost the taxpayer, the government another pretty penny to pay all these fees to manage this $700 billion?

CHERNOFF: Isn't that annoying. There is no end to the annoyance of all this. It probably will be part of that $700 billion price tag for the whole thing but, yes, the treasury cannot do this on its own. It needs to hire some outside experts to help out, to run some of these auctions, people who are intimately familiar with these very complicated mortgage-backed securities. Those are the pools of mortgages that investors bought, a lot of them subprime mortgages that went bad. That is at the core of this very problem.

HOLMES: My goodness. Allan Chernoff, we appreciate you again this morning. Thank you.

CHO: We want to head to our Jim Boulden now across the pond. It has been said when America sneezes, the world catches a cold. Europe's economy is tied to ours. Those countries are having similar financial problems.

Jim is live in Paris where that key meeting is taking place. Jim, good morning.

JIM BOULDEN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Alina, Europe is pleased that this bill was signed by the president and that it could get, eventually, as Allan was saying, could get the banks to start lending again.

You know, Europe knows it can't do it. They can't let the U.S. do it on its own. Many of the banks here in Europe also bought some of these toxic debts. That's why they are meeting today here in Paris. We have already seen some of the top economic countries here in Europe gather in Paris. They are going to be discussing what kind of coordinated action they should be taking.

We won't be getting any massive bailout plan. There was talk early in the week of some $400 billion pot of money in case we had a European bank fail on a massive scale. That's not going to happen. Britain and Germany said, no way, our taxpayers are not going to pay for that.

What they do want to do is see whether there should be some kind of action on how much guarantees they should give depositors. A funny story, a couple of days ago, Ireland and Greece said, we're going to guarantee all the banks deposits. You saw money starting to leave British banks. You saw money going, flooding into the Ireland banks, even though they were, just a few days before that, teetering on the brink of bankruptcy.

So Britain said, no, come on, you can't do that. We can't guarantee all the money in every single bank account. We have to come up with some sort of plan where we are together on this. That way, it doesn't get any worse.

One of the ideas that Gordon Brown, the prime minister of the U.K. has, is to come up with a smaller fund, something like $20 billion that could be given to small businesses, because they need to get money. If the banks won't lend to them, maybe the governments need to lend to them.

CHO: Interesting, $20 billion. It sounds like a lot of money but not so much when you compare it to $700 billion bailout, I guess not so much.

Jim Boulden, live for us in Paris. Jim, thank you.

HOLMES: Sarah Palin says Barack Obama voted to raise taxes 94 times. She said a lot of other things. So did Joe Biden. Josh Levs has been saying a lot of stuff this morning as well.

JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good job there reporting, T.J.

HOLMES: Everybody is saying a lot. Is anybody out there telling the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?

LEVS: Wouldn't that be cool if they had to take that as a swear before they started a campaign? That would revolutionize my life.

Here's the deal. We are going to have that answer and also this one. Is it accurate to say that 100 million Americans will get no tax relief under John McCain?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHO: Talking about the boss. Bruce Springsteen is using his celebrity power to get swing voters to the polls. We will have more in just a minute.

First, Paul Steinhauser, part of the best political team on TV, is with the "Election Express" in Nashville. It's also where the second presidential debate takes place on Tuesday.

Paul, good morning. Tell me, what are Obama and McCain up to today? How are they preparing for the debate?

PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN DEPUTY POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Barack Obama has a pretty busy weekend campaigning, Alina. He's campaigning today in Virginia and tomorrow in North Carolina as he makes his way here to Tennessee. You will hear him talk a lot about health care and the economy.

John McCain is back at the ranch in Arizona all weekend getting ready for this debate. This will be different than the first presidential debate. This is going to be a town hall format, so you will have questions from Tom Brokaw, the moderator, but also from the independent and undecided voters in the audience -- Alina?

CHO: So obviously, the big news, economy, "Issue Number One," the bailout bill, $700 billion, passed, signed, sealed, delivered by the president. We heard his response in his radio address. How are McCain and Obama responding to the passage of the bailout bill?

STEINHAUSER: I think they are both a little relieved. They both had a lot riding on this because they were calling their fellow lawmakers and their parties on Capitol Hill to make sure they passed this bill. Both are saying this is the beginning and not the end of efforts to fix the economy. Both say that while this is not a perfect plan, it had to be passed. So, I think they are both a little bit relieved that this is done for now.

CHO: I think that's what a lot of voters and constituents are saying as well.

I want to talk about the boss, Paul. Bruce Springsteen, out on the campaign trail. What is he doing?

STEINHAUSER: If you remember, in 2004, he campaigned for John Kerry. He is back at it again, this time for Barack Obama. You will see him today, this afternoon at a big rally in Philadelphia, in Pennsylvania, of course, an important battleground state.

Tomorrow, he is in Ohio. In a week and a half from now, Alina, he is in New York City. He and Billy Joel will be teaming up for a fund-raiser. It's not just those two. It's Jay-Z as well is out there performing and helping out with Barack Obama. A lot of entertainers out there for Barack Obama. Some, of course, as well, for John McCain -- Alina?

CHO: At the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City, right in the center of Manhattan. $10,000 a ticket, I am hearing.

Paul Steinhauser live for us in Nashville. Paul, thank you.

CNN, Tuesday night, Nashville is the battleground as the presidential candidates face off in their second of three debates. Of course, don't miss a minute of the action on CNN, your home for politics.

HOLMES: We'll talk about what we heard on Thursday in the V.P. debate. A lot of numbers being thrown around, election time, certainly the debate. One of the key talking points from the V.P. debate was about the number 94. Josh Levs coming in from our "Truth Squad" to talk about this.

Josh, you said that Barack Obama voted 94 times for higher taxes. Now, I know you probably got all kinds of stuff there to explain. I am going to put you on the spot. Is that true or is that not true?

LEVS: We have a ruling for this. It is called misleading. If you had to go with two choices, I would say it is not true. There is a slight difference between misleading and false. Misleading means there is kind of a way to get away with it if you interpret everything in a very specific way.

Let's take a look at what she said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. SARAH PALIN, (R), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Barack had 94 opportunities to side on the people's side and reduce taxes, and 94 times, he voted to increase taxes or not support a tax reduction, 94 times.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEVS: We've looked at this before. Now, when McCain and other Republican officials said that we poured through it, here is the deal. We have a graphic to break it down from you. This comes to us from factcheck.org which broke down what the 94 votes are. It's from the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center.

Here is what they found. Twenty-three votes were against proposed tax cuts. Seven were for measures to lower tax force a lot of people but raise them for a few. Eleven were to increase taxes on people making more than $1 million a year to fund programs like Head Start or veteran's health care. That big number at the bottom, 53, those were for general budget resolutions, which wouldn't change taxes but can be construed as general statements of approval for higher taxes.

When you take a look at all this, we looked at that and came up with our own ruling here that 94, which includes multiple votes on the same measures. So here is our ruling, the big fancy ruling that we have, misleading. That's why because there's kind of a way to interpret it differently. But the truth is, it's misleading if you hear that on its own.

She is not the only one who was at the least misleading about taxes that night. Let's listen to what Joe Biden said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOE BIDEN, (D), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The middle class under John McCain's tax proposals, 100 million families, middle class families, households, to be precise, they got not a single change. They got not a single break in taxes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEVS: That one is just completely off too. That's not even the line they usually use. What they usually say is 100 million Americans would not get relief in the end. That's not the case either.

Let's go to a graphic and I will show you what's going on here. Just look at one plan that John McCain has, which is an independent exemption. They said, hey, 100 million Americans wouldn't be helped. But we spoke with the Tax Policy Center, which the Obama campaign points to. They specifically said that McCain's health plan would be a middle class tax cut and corporate taxes help stop holders and the elderly who have pensions.

The last thing I am going to show you here, we took a look at that claim from Joe Biden and ruled that one to be false because, in the end, there is no way to construe it as 100 million Americans not getting tax relieve, let alone 100 million households, which would be the entire U.S. household population.

You want to see more about this. Go to CNN.com. We have a button at the top, Fact Checks. You can see all this and a lot more, T.J.

HOLMES: You all went the nice route and put false. We can't put lie up there on the screen.

LEVS: You have to be inside his brain to know if he is consciously lying.

HOLMES: OK. That's the difference.

Josh, we appreciate you. Misleading, false and true.

LEVS: Whatever we've got.

HOLMES: All right, thanks, Josh.

That big bailout, we have been talking about that a lot. We were told we had to have it. We don't know for sure if it is going to work. We will find out what you all out there, you viewers, are saying about this big bailout. Stay here.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Many of you know the "Oprah Winfrey Show," know it and know it well. Oftentimes, celebrities are on there talking about lots of things, but the economic crisis, government bailout, not usually the hot topic but it was yesterday.

CNN senior business correspondent -- there he is, the bald and the beautiful one, Ali Velshi. He showed up and gave the audience a quick lesson on what happened.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALI VELSHI, CNN SENIOR BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: So we thought things would be better for us financially year after year.

OPRAH WINFREY, HOST, "OPRAH WINFEY SHOW": We believed.

VELSHI: We believed. We wanted -- the dream was if it's going to get better, I can spend more. The banks encouraged that because if we spent more, they made more money. We all lived a little beyond our means and then a lot beyond our means. And now our country, our people, our banks and our government are all heavily, heavily indebted and the money is running tight.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: We didn't show you the clip there, but Ali Velshi jumped up and down on her couch as well. He told Oprah the country might not like it, but bailing out Wall Street should get money into Main Street. We'll find the clip and try to bring that to you.

LEVS: If anyone of us would do that, it would be Ali Velshi.

CHO: You called him bald and beautiful. You know what Jon Stewart called him, the hairless profit of doom. The hairless profit of doom.

We have gotten hundreds of e-mails on the reaction to bailout, $700 billion bailout. A lot of angry reaction. So what are people saying?

LEVS: People are really angry. We are looking for the balance. We're looking at what we've got. A lot of people are really angry. Let's look at a couple of them right here.

Let's go to this first one from Bob, one of the many people who has e-mailed us this morning, who said, I want to weigh in on the bailout. Who said to us, "Bailouts do not work ever. You do not need to be an economist to realize this simple truth."

Let's go to the next one from Riley now. We are piecing through these. "I was highly against the bailout until stocks fell over 700 points as soon as it didn't pass."

Another one now from David Feton, "Let them eat pork," he says, "and choke on it in November."

Let's end with this from Karen. "How we feel about the bailout doesn't matter. What we need to start discussing is how we are going to fix this."

Karen is all about looking forward. You can weight in as well, weekends@cnn.com. Guy's we're going to keep sharing them throughout the day. I can't remember the last time we got this kind of response to any question on Saturday.

CHO: I think financial responsibility is probably the answer. Easier said than done, though.

LEVS: It's a really nice concept. It would be really great as we could all come together as a nation and have that.

CHO: Have a kumbaya moment.

LEVS: There you go.

CHO: Josh, thank you.

HOLMES: We want to turn back to this bailout. We want to bring in Brett Arends right now with the "Wall Street Journal," financial columnist for them.

Sir, good morning to you. You saw a story about the woman buying the house for $1.75. I want to talk about this. A lot of people think it is a down time, but some people see that as opportunity. Is this a good time, a good opportunity given all the volatility out there for you to go out and try to seek a home you can get for a dirt cheap price?

BRETT ARENDS, FINANCIAL COLUMNIST, "WALL STREET JOURNAL": Well, there is always volatilities of one form or another. The reality is you have to live somewhere. If you going to wait on everybody else and the market to try and make your decisions -- that's what people were doing in 2003 and 2004 and 2005. They are saying, oh, this is a great time to buy a house, because, quote, "they are going up in value." This meant they were very expensive.

You know, if you find a place that you really like and you can afford it, then there is nothing wrong with buying a home right now. There are opportunities out there. There are certainly opportunities in some of the more harder hit places.

HOLMES: So where should...

ARENDS: You could find an affordable place in Florida.

HOLMES: But where should people be extremely careful right now, though? We should always do your homework. In this particular time, given all that is going on, what should they, in particular, be careful about?

ARENDS: You always have to be careful. You have to be more careful when everyone around you is not being particularly cautious. One of the things that's kind of interesting is, this woman bought this house for $1.75. She can't live in it. In order to live in it, she is going to have to spend $50,000 or something. So, in fact, she hasn't bought a house for $1.75. She has bought a house for $50,000 plus $1.75.

A lot of people didn't do their math when they bought homes during the bubble. It is really important. You have to factor in the running costs. When you buy a home -- a know a lot of people who are down in Florida who will tell me that one of the ways the subprime borrowers got into trouble is that they never factored in the cost of the property taxes, the cost of maintenance or condo fees and so forth.

They just said, well, I can afford the mortgage. You have got to do your math. You may still be in many parts of the country better of renting. There is a sort of cult of ownership. When it comes down to it, you are a business. Cash flow in, cash flow out.

One of the best deals, if it happens to be something you wanted to do, one of the best deals is to rent one of these super luxury condos in Miami. All these luxury condo buildings went up. You can get an absolute deal renting one of these places because the condo flippers can't flip them. They will rent them out at a massive loss. They are subsidizing you to live like a drug lord.

HOLMES: I think we all like Miami and we all like condos. We need to look into that baby.

Brent Arends, we appreciate having you on this morning. This is something on everybody's mind. Like you said, you should always be careful. You should certainly be careful when everybody around you is not. That is a very good piece of information.

Sir, good to see you this morning.

ARENDS: Good to see you.

CHO: Win, lose, or draw, the first and only vice presidential debate of this election, was it a game-changer? How did they do? Our analysis in the next hour. Then, at 12:00 p.m. eastern, jurors deliver a guilty verdict for O.J. Simpson in that robbery and kidnapping trial out of Las Vegas. What's next for the fallen football great? We'll tell you.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Despite the high cost of fuel during these days, there is some things you can still do to stay "On the Go" for your next road trip.

(ON THE GO)

HOLMES: Hello there, everybody. You are in the "CNN NEWSROOM" on this Saturday, the 4th day of October. Thank you for being with us. I'm T.J. Holmes.

CHO: Hi, everybody, I'm Alina Cho. Thanks so much for joining.

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