Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Presidential Candidates on Last Lap of Campaigns; Election Concerns: Voter Registration Fraud; Market Ups & Downs; Dressing Palin

Aired October 23, 2008 - 12:00   ET

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

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Hello again, everyone. I'm Tony Harris. And here are the headlines from CNN for Thursday, October 23rd.
Phony names and potentially phony voters. Accusations of trying to steal an election. We have opened the CNN voter hotline to help track any problems.

Alan Greenspan labels it a "once-in-a-century credit tsunami." Former federal economic regulators being peppered with questions on Capitol Hill.

And in southern California, a wildfire burning near multimillion- dollar homes and just a few miles from one of the world's richest depositories of art, the Getty Museum.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

The presidential candidates on the last lap of their campaigns just 12 days before the big election. Barack Obama about to start a rally in Indiana. John McCain focused on Florida.

We have got you covered with the best political team on television.

Let's check in first with the Obama camp. A big rally getting under way right now in Indianapolis. Then he is off to visit his sick grandmother in Hawaii.

Our Jessica Yellin is at that Indianapolis rally.

Jessica, good to see you.

JESSICA YELLIN, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Tony. Good to see you.

Barack Obama about to take the stage here. And we are told he's going to have a new line in this speech, hitting hard on his economic theme.

He will in particular go after comments John McCain made to our own Wolf Blitzer in an interview. John McCain told Wolf that he believes taxes should be cut for all corporations in America.

Well, Barack Obama is going to go after that comment, saying that he believes it's a peculiar argument, that the best way to stop companies from shipping jobs overseas, quoting what Obama is going to say, is to give more tax cuts to companies that ship jobs overseas. More tax cuts for job outsourcers, that's what Senator McCain proposed as his answer to outsourcing.

What we are seeing, Tony, is a consistency for Obama, regularly and quickly responding to every attack he hears from John McCain's campaign. They're doing everything they can to avoid being swift- boated at the end of this election cycle, to avoid the trap John Kerry fell into of not responding quickly enough to attacks and seeing that they start to gain traction.

As you know, some polls showed John McCain closing in. It depends where you look. They want to be vigilant. Barack Obama says it's not time to get comfortable, or as he put it, not time to get cocky -- Tony.

HARRIS: That's for sure.

Jessica, thank you.

We're going to get everyone back to Indianapolis in just a couple of moments, when Barack Obama takes the stage.

To John McCain's campaign now. Fighting for Florida today, the Republican candidate kicking things off with a morning rally in Ormond Beach. He is riding the Straight Talk Express across the battleground state today. McCain launching what he calls the "Joe the Plumber Tour" to stress he's for the little guy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R-AZ), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You have the same dream that "Joe the Plumber" has. They now own their own businesses and, combined, employ hundreds of workers because they've been successful.

Obama wants to spread the wealth around. Senator Obama wants to spread it around. That means fewer jobs at their businesses and fewer jobs here in Florida.

You know, this week we learned that Senator Obama is concerned that his plan for wealth redistribution is seen at welfare. So he just added a work requirement. Twelve days to go -- 13 days to go in this election, he changed his tax plan, because the American people had learned the truth about it and they didn't like it. It's another example that he'll say anything to get elected.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: McCain's campaign has been raising concerns, as you know, about voter registration fraud involving the group ACORN. Our Chris Lawrence talks to one of the few people ever convicted of such a crime.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In 2006, this man helped register nearly 2,000 voters for ACORN, but you couldn't find a one of them who actually existed.

CLIFTON MITCHELL, CONVICTED OF VOTER REGISTRATION FRAUD: I regret it. I paid the price for it.

LAWRENCE: Clifton Mitchell spent nearly three months in jail last year, one of the few people ever convicted of voter registration fraud.

MITCHELL: I needed money. I need to support my family. And I was new to the area. That was the only job I had.

LAWRENCE: Mitchell says ACORN threatened to close his office if his teem didn't meet its quota. So behind the back of their supervisor...

MITCHELL: We came up with the idea, let's make fraudulent calls (ph).

LAWRENCE: ... they took addresses from homeless shelters, faked the birthdays, and used baby name books to create new voters.

MITCHELL: We used the newspaper every day. Every day I would go to the library and get a newspaper. I had one guy who would go to the phone book. Everyone had different methods.

LAWRENCE: ACORN was fined and ordered to improve its oversight. Senator John McCain's campaign has accused the group of trying to rig the election for Democrats.

(on camera): Are we talking about fake people actually showing up to vote?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You look at some of the names, Mickey Mouse, Dr. Seuss. Mickey Mouse only votes in Disneyland. He's not going to show up at a critical precinct in West Virginia or North Carolina.

LAWRENCE (voice-over): Law professor Eric Schnapper says if anyone should be upset it's ACORN.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The victims of this are the people who paid these workers $8 an hour to go out and find legitimate voters, and they didn't get their $8 worth. They put down phony names.

LAWRENCE: Schnapper (ph) says threats of criminal prosecution may scare some groups into closing voter registration drives and keep some voters away from the polls.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That really does affect the outcome of the election.

LAWRENCE: ACORN has just released a new video to fight to fight what it calls efforts to suppress voter turnout. And for his part, Mitchell says his team never intended to steal an election. MITCHELL: They're just trying to keep a job.

LAWRENCE (on camera): A nonpartisan group at NYU Law School reviewed voter fraud cases across the country. It found that most were caused by technical glitches and clerical errors, and a person was more likely to be struck by lightning than impersonate another voter at the polls.

Chris Lawrence, CNN, Seattle.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: You know, we keep hearing concerns about problems at the polls. Voters are already lining up to cast early ballots. Our political editor Mark Preston has set up a voter hotline, and he will join me live here later in the hour to talk about polling problems he's hearing about.

And let's take you now to Indianapolis. Barack Obama holding a campaign event in Indianapolis. He is on the stage now. Let's listen in.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D-IL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: What an unbelievable crowd. Thank you so much. Thank you! Thank you!

Especially thank you way back there. Thank you!

(APPLAUSE)

And thanks for all the folks up here, because they got here early.

(APPLAUSE)

I am so sorry that we're running a little bit late. We usually try to get here on time, and I hope everybody's -- fortunately, we have a lot of people all bunched up next to each other, which keeps each other warm. That's good. That's important.

Please give Andrea Mooney a big round of applause for the wonderful introduction.

I want to thank Brigadier General Jay Stewart Goodwin for hosting us here at the American Legion Mall.

Give all our veterans a big round of applause.

(APPLAUSE)

We are grateful to them and the great work that the American Legion does.

Our next attorney general of Indiana, Linda Pence, give her a big round of applause. (APPLAUSE)

The next governor of Indiana, Jill Long Thompson, give her a big round of applause.

(APPLAUSE)

The next fourth district congressman, Nels Ackerson. Give Nels a big round of applause.

(APPLAUSE)

I want to thank a great friend and longtime supporter, Congressman Baron Hill.

Your Congress here in Indianapolis, Congressman Andre Carson.

(APPLAUSE)

I want to thank one of the first families of Indiana. They have been such great friends, such extraordinary advocates on behalf of working people here in the state. I am proud to call them my friends, Senators Evan Bayh and Birch Bayh. Give them a big round of applause.

(APPLAUSE)

And finally, I want everybody to know there is early vote here in Indiana. So I want everybody who is able and willing to go vote today. If not today, then vote tomorrow. Saturday's going to be open.

The point is, is that you can vote now. It's easy to do. All you've got to do is to go to your clerk's office or a satellite location. If you don't know where to go, go on our Web site, www.voteforchange.com.

But I tell you, voting early, that way if your car breaks down on Election Day, you know, if something happens, you have already cast your ballot. You'll feel good about yourself. You'll walk a little taller, having voted early.

So go out there.

(APPLAUSE)

Now, Indiana, it's fitting that we meet today on the Mall of the American Legion, surrounded by monuments to our nation's heroes, because on this day 25 years ago, the Marine barracks in Beirut were bombed. Two hundred forty-one Americans laid down their lives for this country and for the peace they were there to protect.

So we revere their service, and we honor their sacrifice. And we keep their families in our prayers. We will never forget them.

Indiana, in just 12 days, you have the chance to elect your next president. You'll have the chance to bring the change we need to Washington. You'll have the chance to select the next commander in chief and make sure that we are using our military wisely.

That's the good news. But we're going to have to work. We're going have to struggle. We're going to have to fight for every single one of those 12 days to move our country in a new direction.

It's not going to be easy, but I'm hopeful about the outcome. We were thrilled this weekend when a great American statesman, General Colin Powell, joined our cause.

(APPLAUSE)

But we cannot let up, and we won't, because one of the things we know is that change never comes without a fight. In the final days of the campaign, the say anything, do anything politics it often takes over. We've seen it before. We're seeing it again right now -- some of the ugly phone calls, the misleading mail and TV ads, the careless, outrageous comments, all aimed at keeping up from working together, all aimed at stopping change.

But what we need now is not misleading charges or divisive attacks. What we need is honest leadership. What we need is real change. What we need is a commitment to middle class families. What we need is to fix our health care system and our energy system, and make our schools work for every young child in America. And that's why I'm running for president of the United States.

(APPLAUSE)

AUDIENCE: Obama! Obama! Obama! Obama! Obama!

OBAMA: Now more than ever, now more than ever, this campaign has to be about the problems facing the American people, because this is a moment of great uncertainty for America. We're facing the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. The Dow plummeted again yesterday, threatening job security and retirement security and economic security for millions of ordinary Americans.

Indiana lost 4,500 manufacturing jobs in September alone. Just today we learned that more and more Americans are filing for unemployment. Home values are falling. Foreclosures are rising. Wages are shrinking. And the cost of health care and tuition have never been higher.

That's what this election is about, because John McCain and I have real differences about how to get us out of this economic mess. You see, Senator McCain thinks the economic policies of George W. Bush were just right for America. In the Senate, he's voted with George Bush 90 percent of the time.

He said earlier this year that we've made great progress over the last eight years. And while Senator McCain says now that he's different from George Bush, you sure couldn't tell by the policies he's proposing.

Just yesterday John McCain strongly defended the Bush policy of lavishing tax cuts or corporations, including those that shift American jobs overseas. He made kind of a strange argument that the best way to stop companies from shipping jobs overseas is to give more tax cuts to companies that are shipping jobs overseas.

More tax cuts for jobs outsourcing, that's what Senator McCain proposed as his answer to outsourcing. He said that's "simple, fundamental economics."

Well, Indiana, my opponent may call that fundamental economics, but we know that's just another name for Wall Street first, Main Street last. That's the kind of economic philosophy we've had for the past eight years, and that's fundamentally wrong.

(APPLAUSE)

If Senator McCain wants to defend tax breaks for companies that ship jobs overseas, that's his choice, but I say let's end tax cuts for companies that shift jobs overseas. Give them to companies that are investing right here in Indiana, right here in the United States of America.

If he wants to defend free trade agreements designed to protect the profits of big corporations and a trade policy that let's countries like China tilt the playing field against our workers, that's up to him. But I say we need a trade policy that protects the dreams of hard-working Americans.

(APPLAUSE)

If he wants to defend a tax code that's more than 10,000 pages long, filled with loopholes written in by corporate lobbyists like the ones running his campaign, he's got every right. He has every right to defend offshore tax havens that let companies avoid paying taxes here in America, but I say it's time to close corporate loopholes, shut offshore tax havens, and restore balance and fairness to our tax code.

(APPLAUSE)

You know, there's a building in the Cayman Islands that's supposedly houses 18,000 corporations. Think about that. That's either the biggest building or the biggest tax scam in the world. I think we know which one it is.

That's the system my opponent defends. That's the system he wants to preserve. He wants to keep on putting corporations ahead of workers.

I see some folks here, sheet metal workers. I heard your interview this morning. You guys sounded great.

I see some carpenters up here. "Carpenters for Obama."

Who -- I see some teachers out here for America. I see teamsters for America.

Who's looking out for steel workers? Who's fighting for carpenters? Who's fighting for teachers? Who's fighting for teamsters?

That's the president I want to be.

(APPLAUSE)

So let me tell you something, Indiana. We've tried it John McCain's way. We've tried it George Bush's way. And we're here to say, enough is enough. We can't afford four more years of their fundamental economics. That's why I'm running for president of the United States, to get economics that works for you.

You see, we have a different notion of fundamental economics. Where I come from, there's nothing more fundamental than a good-paying job. There's nothing more fundamental than being able to pay your health care bills, put your children through college, or retire with dignity and security and respect. There's nothing more fundamental than the American dream, and that's the dream we can reclaim if you stand with me on November 4th.

(APPLAUSE)

I know we can do this, Indiana. I know we can steer ourselves out of this crisis, because I believe in you. I believe in the American people.

We're the United States of America. We're a nation that's faced down war and depression, great challenges and great threats. And at each and every moment we have always risen to meet these challenges. Not as Democrats or Republicans, but as Americans, with resolve and with confidence and with that fundamental belief that here in America our destiny is not written for us, it's written by us.

We decide our futures. That's who we are.

HARRIS: There you have Barack Obama in Indianapolis right now. His last campaign stop for a couple of days as he goes to visit his ailing grandmother in Hawaii.

Obama talking about his economic plans. Speaking of which, former Fed chairman Alan Greenspan is answering some pretty tough questions on Capitol Hill today about what happened to the economy on his watch.

We're back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Allan Greenspan on Capitol Hill today. The former Federal Reserve chairman is calling this global economic crisis a "once-in-a-lifetime credit tsunami."

More evidence of that this morning. Jobless benefit claims are up.

CNN's Allan Chernoff is in New York.

And Allan, are we hearing anything positive from Alan Greenspan?

ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN SR. CORRESPONDENT: Not very much. When he talks about a once-in-a-century credit tsunami, he's talking about the lending freeze that has sent the financial world into crisis.

As you see, the hearing is continuing as we speak. And Greenspan says we are facing huge problems here, but he's not exactly taking full blame for them.

During his 18 and a half years as chairman of the Federal Reserve, he argued for deregulation of the financial markets. In fact, when this report came out in 1994 from the General Accounting Office -- let's see if we can have a look over there -- it says, "Financial derivatives, actions need to protect the financial system." This warned -- this report warned about the problems facing the financial system as a result of the proliferation of all sorts of derivatives, and those included those mortgage-backed securities that are now really at the base of the problem we're confronting right now.

Greenspan, in response to that report, said, don't worry about it, the banks are regulating their own risks. Well, this morning he conceded, you know, that didn't happen this time around. He said he was stunned that it didn't happen. And he said the fault for this crisis right now lies not with him, but with the banks, major investors, and credit rating agencies. He said they're to blame.

Let's have a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALAN GREENSPAN, FMR. FEDERAL RESERVE CHAIRMAN: The consequent surge in global demand for U.S. subprime securities by banks, hedge and pension funds, supported by unrealistically positive rating designations by credit agencies, was, in my judgment, the core of the problem.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHERNOFF: He's saying basically that banks and major investors just became too greedy, believing that they could profit for no end by buying and then selling these mortgage-backed securities. He says that market is pretty much finished for now.

All the subprime, all those lousy mortgages that were packaged and cooled and then sold off to investors, he said forget about that business for a long, long time. But he says we do need to have some help from people who don't have serious income, who don't have major income. We need to provide help so that homeowners can hold on to their homes.

HARRIS: Yes. All right, Allan. Appreciate it. Thank you.

Allan Chernoff in New York for us.

You know, we keep on hearing about who's up and who's down in all of these polls, but how much can you really trust the results? Do they really reflect Americans' thoughts? And will people vote that way on Election Day?

Joining me now from Washington is Mark Blumenthal. He is the editor and publisher of pollster.com, a nonpartisan Web site that publishes poll results daily.

Mark, good to see you. Thanks for your time.

I can't wait to have this conversation with you, because I am deeply skeptical about these polls. We'll get to that in a moment.

But let's start with the CNN current Poll of Polls. It takes several national polls into account, as you know. It shows Barack Obama leading John McCain by seven points. Obama has 50 percent. Senator John McCain has 43 percent. And 7 percent are undecided.

Mark, first of all, give me your take. Pollster.com, how does Pollster.com see the race right now?

MARK BLUMENTHAL, EDITOR, POLLSTER.COM: Well, we see it about the same way as the CNN Poll of Polls, I believe. Our mashed up national average is just over seven points in Obama's favor right now.

HARRIS: OK. How confident are you that the current polling results reflect where this presidential race is right now?

BLUMENTHAL: Well, if we take a look at history, pretty much for the last 30 years, if you look at -- if do you what we just did and take an average of the final national polls, at least the ones we'll see in about a week, and compare it to the result, they've been about as accurate as you would expect, given the margin of error associated with the polls. So looking backwards that way, they've been pretty accurate. On the other hand, we had this experience 10 months ago in New Hampshire...

HARRIS: OK, great.

BLUMENTHAL: ... where things didn't work out so well.

HARRIS: Yes. I have to ask you, what happened with New Hampshire?

BLUMENTHAL: Well, I'm not sure I have the bottom-line answer. There are a number of things...

HARRIS: Well, we should set it up. Barack Obama went into the New Hampshire primary with what seemed to be a pretty sizable lead, according to the polls, and it didn't turn out that way. Hillary Clinton won the primary in New Hampshire.

BLUMENTHAL: Right. And there were, I think, about a dozen polls that had Obama fairly comfortably ahead in most cases.

HARRIS: So what happened?

BLUMENTHAL: Well, there are a lot of things that were unique about the New Hampshire primary. It was primary. Most of the voters there liked actually all three candidates that were front-running at that point. And there was a lot happening over the last weekend, and it may have been that a lot of minds changed. It may have been that the people who were interviewed for the surveys had a slightly different take than those who didn't.

HARRIS: You know what? The polling environment has changed for folks who do what do you. To what extent has telephone poll accuracy been impacted by the fact that more and more people are using cell phones...

BLUMENTHAL: Right.

HARRIS: ... my big beef here, and disconnecting their landlines?

BLUMENTHAL: Right. Well, again, if we look back, with the possible exception of New Hampshire, we haven't seen a consistent erosion of the accuracy of the polls.

HARRIS: Really?

BLUMENTHAL: Yes. Now, the cell phone question is a good one, because it's a relatively new challenge.

HARRIS: Yes.

BLUMENTHAL: This year there are about 15 percent, maybe a little more, of Americans who are only reachable by a cell phone. They don't have a landline at home. That's much bigger than it was four years ago.

The good news is that there are at least a half a dozen national survey organizations that are interviewing voters by cell phone, and they've allowed us to sort of look at the difference. And they're very close. It may be -- I mean, there's sort of suggestive data that says that it maybe, including the cell phones, helped Obama. That not having a cell phone interviewing piece might hurt McCain by a point or two.

HARRIS: But you do concede that there is a portion of the population that isn't being covered. And I'm wondering, do the people who you're not reaching have some kind of race-changing on this election? For example, is there a deep vein of support out there that's not being researched and polled right now for, say, Cynthia McKinney that could reshape this race?

BLUMENTHAL: In terms of cell phones, the evidence we have says it's not a deep vein.

HARRIS: OK.

BLUMENTHAL: It may be a little bit of an effect, but not something that would completely turn the race around, from what we're looking at now.

HARRIS: Mark, good to see you. Thanks for your time.

BLUMENTHAL: All right. Thank you.

HARRIS: I don't know that I have much more confidence, but I'm certainly paying attention, like everyone else.

Mark Blumenthal from Pollster.com.

Thanks for your time.

BLUMENTHAL: Thank you.

(WEATHER REPORT)

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: All right.

HARRIS: All right. And Phillies, up one game to nil, right, in that series so far?

MYERS: I went to bed in the seventh inning. I'm going to have to log on to find out. I lost interest actually a little bit when the Sox went away.

HARRIS: I think it's 3-2 Phillies, up one game to nil. All right, Chad, thanks.

MYERS: You bet.

HARRIS: If you see voting irregularities, we want to know about it. I will talk to the man behind our voter hotline. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: I want to give you a look at the big board. Oh, boy, what has happened here? We've been in positive territory for most of the day. About three hours into the trading day now and you can see we're in a bit of a decline now. We've gone from session highs of over 200 points to now negative territory. The Dow is down 20 points. Perhaps on the jobs report. But we'll check in and get a market check in just a couple of minutes. Carrie Lee for us from the New York Stock Exchange.

You know, lots of Americans are worried about the integrity of the voting process. A CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll shows only 58 percent are confident their votes will be accurately cast and counted. A whopping 42 percent think they won't be. There is a lot less confidence compared to the 2004 election when 72 percent were confident all would be OK. Why is that? CNN set up a voter hot line to screen irregularities. Here's one of those calls.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I voted yesterday and my screen was -- said it's not completed. Which I asked what I supposed to do, the woman who is attended -- that's supposed to help, she said, just push completed. And so I did. So now I just don't know if my vote is accepted or did not accept.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: Joining me now from the Election Express bus in Cincinnati is CNN's political editor Mark Preston, who set up the voter line.

Mark, good to see you.

MARK PRESTON, CNN POLITICAL EDITOR: Hey, Tony. Good to see you. Good to hear from you.

HARRIS: Well, yes, let's start with that phone call, Mark. The caller seems to be worried that her vote didn't actually go through. Are you getting lots of calls like that?

PRESTON: We are, Tony. You know, the hot line has been live for a little bit more than a week. We've received just about 10,000 calls. We expect that call volume to actually increase as we get closer to Election Day. We are in early voting right now. More than half the states right now are in early voting at this time -- Tony.

HARRIS: Are you getting other calls detailing different problems?

PRESTON: Yes, we are. You know, because of early voting and what will be -- what we consider will be a historic election, maybe a historic turnout, a lot of people right now are wondering where their voter registration card is. They want to know where their poll location is. They're getting a little bit antsy because they might have just been newly registered and they don't know where to go. So we're getting a lot of calls on the hotline, really, specifically, asking that question.

And luckily on the hotline, if you call, you can actually be put in touch with your local registers, which is very nice. So the hotline not only serves a purpose to hear some complaints and obviously try to fix some problems, in addition to that, it does get the voter to their local register.

HARRIS: What kind of percentages in terms of voter complaints are you seeing, Mark?

PRESTON: Well, a couple of them right now. About 33 percent of the calls that we're hearing right now, Tony, are primarily from folk whose have not heard from or have not received their voter registration card. The integrity, you know, people are concerned that their vote is not going to count. There's been a lot of stories out there that their vote will not count. So people are calling even before they head to the polls and asking about that.

And then there are people who haven't received their ballot yet. So there is concern about that as well.

And then it really comes down to the mechanical problem. And this is probably something we will see on Election Day. The machines just aren't working correctly or at least the way they should be. So that's what we're hearing right now from the voter hotline. HARRIS: We know our friends at "TIME" magazine have a story on their web site about potential problems on Election Day. I know you're looking at that as well. And you've ranked it sort of a top three of potential problems on Election Day?

PRESTON: Yes, absolutely. Look, probably the biggest problem is going to be that the polls do not open on time. The poll locations will not actually open when they do. And really the biggest problem we're going to see is long lines. People might have to wait in line for hours to actually vote. We're seeing that already in states such as Florida for the early voting time.

Another big problem is that the infrastructure will break down, Tony. Is that there's not enough of a safety net if the infrastructure -- if machines start to break down or maybe a backup of paper ballots. In addition to that, if they don't prepare for that, where is the safety net? So that's what we're hearing right now from Info Voter Technologies, which is driving our voter hotline.

HARRIS: CNN's political editor, Mark Preston, with us from Cincinnati.

Mark, appreciate it. Thank you.

PRESTON: Thanks, Tony.

HARRIS: You know, we also want to hear from you. If you run into problems at the polls, call the CNN voter hotline. Help us track the problems. And we will report the trouble in realtime. Here's the number, 1-877-462-6608. And we are keeping them honest all wait through the election, and, frankly, beyond.

The Election Day fast approaching. And there are growing concerns about how well the voting process will work. You heard some of that from Mark Preston just a moment ago. A report says several states seem to be illegally removing names from the voter rolls.

CNN's Josh Levs joins me with that story -- Josh.

JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, everybody's jumping on all sorts to angles on this. I mean, Tony, you were just talking about that list that's out there in a major magazine right now. And I'll tell you something. What happened is that earlier this month "The New York Times" published an article right behind me here, "states' actions to block voters appear illegal," set off a whole new wave of concerns.

Here's what I did, because I want you to see the key. I highlighted the lead right here. Look at this. "Tens of thousands of eligible voters in at least six swing states have been removed from the rolls or have been blocked from registering in ways that appear to violated federal law."

There's also an important caveat I'll just show you quickly here. They say "the actions do not seem to be coordinated by one party or the other, nor do they appear to be the result of election officials intentionally breaking rules, but are apparently the result of mistakes."

Let me tell you, there's the basic idea of what happened. States are supposed to purge names of voters from rolls. Let's not forget that. This is important. In fact, a 2002 law designed to fix the voting problems specifically calls on places to purge the names of voters who shouldn't be there any more if they're listed in multiple places, voters who die, examples like that. Those are proper purging. But "The Times" article suggests that states are going too far and making mistakes in how they're doing it and that that means that some supposed who are supposed to be able to vote that day might actually get turned away.

Now "The Times" said those problem exist in swing states, Colorado, Ohio, and Michigan. And investigations are underway. So you can already see some seeds planted there for extreme concerns in a tight race.

But to be fair in what I'm doing here, I want to show you one more thing. This is the Associated Press that weighed in the day after "The New York Times." And I know it's small print on your screen. I'll just tell you quickly. They said election officials quickly lined up to defend the procedures, said they had done nothing wrong.

So what do we know. We know "The New York Times" said that this is a concern. And we know that they're saying, look, we're taking care of this. But in the meantime, you have a lot of people who are a little afraid their votes might not count. And that's another reason why it's so -- but, you know what, let's show it again. Let's show everybody that phone number again.

HARRIS: Sure. Sure.

LEVS: When you see -- whatever you see on Election Day, or even leading up to it, if you have concerns, give us a call right there. It's 1-877-462-6608.

And I'll tell you, Tony, we're going to be reporting on some of the calls, as you know. And our partner, which is Info Voter Technologies, is actually able to help people get in touch with their election boards and find their voting locations, get the kind of information they need so hopefully when you go to the polling place that day you're, you know, prepared and empowered to make sure your vote gets counted.

HARRIS: That's terrific. All right, Josh, appreciate it. Thank you, sir.

LEVS: Thanks, Tony.

HARRIS: And be sure to join us tomorrow when we will examine the issue of race and your vote.

We are checking the web for all of the latest on those fires in southern California. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: A real commuter nightmare. Boy, I'm just seeing these pictures for the first time. The fires in the lower right-hand portion of the screen and then that traffic. The traffic backup was caused by the wildfire burning near Brentwood in Beverly Hills. And about two miles from the Getty Center, here's what that fire looked like overnight. We understand firefighters have now contained the blaze and southbound lanes of I-405 along the San Diego freeway have been reopened. Our Veronica De La Cruz has been tracking the fire online and she joins us now with what she's found.

And I tell what you, if you haven't spent a lot of time in the Los Angeles area, you just can't imagine what a nightmare it is to have the 405 closed, as it was for a while this morning.

VERONICA DE LA CRUZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: No. You're absolutely right about that. I used to live there. I can vouch for that.

HARRIS: Yes, I know. I know.

DE LA CRUZ: You know, I actually wanted to show you some of our affiliate web sites, what they've been reporting, Tony. We're going to go ahead and start with KTLA's web site.

Like you were just saying, for those of you who live in the area, know the 405 freeway, it is a very busy thoroughfare. Many employees use it to get to work in the morning. The good news is, it has reopened. There are still A few road closures, like you were just saying. And you can, of course, get those road closures online at KTLA.com. They are saying that freeway was shut down for hours. Not pretty, not pretty at this time of the day, you know, when lots of people are trying to get to work.

Also wanted to show you some interesting perspective from a couple of bloggers, Tony. This is from photojournalist Jonathan Alcorn photo blog. He shot a couple images. He says some of the flames were shooting about 50 feet in the air. And he writes, "as I approached the 405 freeway, I traveled that area hundreds of time, it was kind of shocking to see all the fire burning the hillside. It really looks crazy. But very quickly, seeing the firefighters and the helicopters were gaining the upper hand."

Also, Mark Batalla. He said that he passed the fire on the way home from work at about 2:00 in the morning and he blogs, "I finished rounding the curve, past the Getty Center and saw the source of the smoke and ash. The fire was neither small, no anywhere near being burnt out. It was huge. The entire hillside on my left was burning. Much of the brush was already blackened, but flames continued to persist. The area all around me was lit with an orange and yellow tint. I have never been that close to a still raging fire. I rolled down the window and felt the heat radiating into my car."

And, Tony, here's the good news. L.A.'s fire department has been saying that they have been able to extinguish the blaze. A blog right now saying the fire is fully contained. It burned about 100 acres. The cause, of course, is still under investigation. And I also wanted to mention, Tony, for people out there who might Twitter. The LAFD has a Twitter feed.

HARRIS: What is that?

DE LA CRUZ: A micro blogging Web site. And they are actually micro blogging the updates. So that can really come in handy. I mean especially if you live in a place like Los Angeles, you know.

HARRIS: Twitter?

DE LA CRUZ: Twitter, yes. They're micro blocking all of the updates just in case there are wildfires burning in southern California. So again, you'd probably want to be paying attention to, wouldn't you think?

HARRIS: Yes, I think you're right. All right, Veronica, thank you.

DE LA CRUZ: You twitter, don't you, Tony?

HARRIS: I don't even know what the heck it is.

All right, see you tomorrow, Veronica. I'll ask my son later, I guess.

Oil prices have fallen dramatically. What does that mean for our energy fix? We will talk to a trader. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: You know, there's not a whole lot of economic news to cheer about lately, except for the recent plunge in gasoline prices. And oil prices tumbled yesterday to a 16-month low. Good news there. But the cartel that controls 40 percent of the world's crude meets tomorrow and its decision could reverse the downward trend. CNNMoney.com's Poppy Harlow joins us now with a live look, wow, at the oil trading floor in New York.

Hi, Poppy.

POPPY HARLOW, CNNMONEY.COM: Hey there, Tony.

We're going to head right to the NYMEX, where all that crude is traded right here in New York. We're going to bring in Anthony Grisanti. He's a man that makes his money on trading this oil every day. He's the president of GRZ Energy.

Anthony, thanks for being here. I appreciate it.

ANTHONY GRISANTI, PRESIDENT, GRZ ENERGY: Good to be here.

HARLOW: Let's get right to it. You know, everyone's seeing oil prices down 50 percent from the summer. I want to know if you've seen anything like this ever? And is it possible for those prices to go right back up to the $147 we saw in July? GRISANTI: No, I haven't seen anything like this. I've been down here trading this for 20 years. I've never seen two moves like this. The move from $150 to $149 and then back down again.

But, no, I don't actually see these prices. I think we're going to have a hard time reaching $100 again the way the economy's going right now because it's really all based on demand and there is none right now.

HARLOW: Yes, you know, oil now, right, today is below $70 a barrel. Are you talking about a new bottom for oil? A low price? And what that means for the Americans out there who want to know where their gas prices are going to go?

GRISANTI: Yes, definitely. I mean the trend is down. Even if OPEC comes in and says we're going to cut 2 million. I don't think it's enough. I think the trend is still down and it's still a sell from there. I think the market needs to wash out probably at about the $50 level again, where we started from. And at that point maybe the economies will start picking up and you'll see more demand.

HARLOW: Let's talk about this a little bit. OPEC, of course, those oil ministers sit on 40 percent of the world's oil and they could cut production at any time. This is an emergency meeting being held in Vienna tomorrow. The expectation, maybe they'll cut one or two million barrels. Why do average Americans care what these guys do?

GRISANTI: Well, as you said, they control 40 percent of the oil that's produced. So the problem is -- or the thing is, if they decide to cut say three or four million, that's taking a lot of oil off the market at that point and you will see higher prices. But when you have that much of a grip or that much of a grasp on the oil, you can play around with it. And definitely they're trying to right now, but I think it's a losing cause at this point.

HARLOW: All right. Well, if we see oil go down, then gas prices will go right with it.

Appreciate your time, Anthony. Thank you.

GRISANTI: Thank you.

HARRIS: Boy, that's pretty fascinating. All right, Poppy, appreciate it. Thank you. That's good stuff.

Looking good on the campaign trail and leaving the snow boots behind. Dressing Palin in high style.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: You know, if you go out looking for votes, like a presidential candidates, you ought to look good, don't you think? Case in point, Sarah Palin. CNN's Jeanne Moos takes this look at a big shopping spree that has Palin looking cool on the campaign trail.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): Sarah Palin before, Sarah Palin after. After what? After her new $150,000 wardrobe.

She spent $75,000 at Neiman Marcus in one trip.

Spent $50,000 at Saks.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, my gosh. That's great. I'll run for VP.

MOOS: Not since her days of evening gown competition has Sarah Palin's wardrobe gotten this much scrutiny. The web site Politico broke this story. Left wing blogs were gleeful, providing slide shows intended to accent high heels, while politicians and TV anchors went out of their way not to seem well healed.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I have on old jeans.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I get my clothes at Dillard's.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Did you sleep in that suit?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I pay for my own.

MOOS: The Republican National Committee says it used donated money, not tax payer funds, to buy Palin's clothes.

BARBARA WALTERS, "THE VIEW": $4,716 on hair and makeup.

JOY BEHAR, "THE VIEW": And that's just lipstick of the pig!

MOOS: On "The View," they laughed about it. Fought about it.

ELIZABETH HASSELBECK, "THE VIEW": Are you looking into Joe Biden's supposed Botox shot.

BEHAR: I don't think Joe the plumber wears Manolo Blahnik.

MOOS: But Sarah the shopper didn't shock celebrity stylist Robert Verdi.

ROBERT VERDI, CELEBRITY STYLIST: Oh, I think it's easy to spend $150,000 in one fell swoop.

MOOS: A single designer suit can cost $3,000 to $6,000. An agent who handles TV news talent told us clothing allowances are often built into contracts.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Never anything close to this. It was in the $10,000 to $15,000 range.

MOOS: Even seven-year-old Piper Palin was seen carrying a $790 Louis Vuitton bag. It may be her mothers. The Obamas have so far avoided embarrassing expenses. Michelle wore a $148 dress on "The View." And though he landed on "GQ," Barack Obama insists his suits are well worn.

OBAMA: I basically buy five of the same suit and then I patch them up.

MOOS: By the way, "Saturday Night Live" wouldn't reveal how much it spends outfitting Tina Fey in matching Palin garb. The McCain campaign says Governor Palin's clothes will eventually be donated to charity.

A Sarah Palin used suit would be a memento.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, no, no.

MOOS: She could save herself some money paying the Sarah Palin dress-up web game. Accessories including hockey helmet and gun. And the next time they chant drill, baby, drill -- fashionistas can chant, shop, baby, shop!

Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: I want a renegotiate on that clothing allowance. Can we make that happen?

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: You know what, I found an even better outfit.

HARRIS: You do?

PHILLIPS: Take a look at this.

HARRIS: What have you got?

PHILLIPS: Uh-huh.

HARRIS: Is this you, Kyra?

PHILLIPS: No, no, here it comes. Here we go. Yes. Barack Obama, Sarah Palin, going to be kicking it up on "Dancing with the Stars." Stay tuned, ladies and gentlemen. She looks pretty good, doesn't she?

HARRIS: That is outstanding. I love it. I love it.

PHILLIPS: How about Barack Obama in the white pants?

HARRIS: It works. Winter white, right?

The next hour of CNN NEWSROOM starts right now with this lady, Kyra Phillips.