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Fed Expected to Cut Rates Again; Campaigns Continue to Push Their Agendas; Florida's "No Match" Law; Sarah Palin on Energy in Toledo, Ohio
Aired October 29, 2008 - 09:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Candidates close in. The vote, six days away. The rallies live here today. Plus, a look at their plans for teaching your kids.
And super bounce, behind the historic gain on Wall Street. And the meeting today that could send stocks even higher.
It's Wednesday, October 29th. I'm Heidi Collins. You are in the CNN NEWSROOM.
Don't be surprised if you run into a presidential candidate these final frantic days of campaigning.
Senator John McCain starts off in Florida today. We should hear from him coming up next hour. And then later he will head on to Ohio.
That is where his running mate, Governor Sarah Palin, is beginning her day. She's scheduled to speak in just a few minutes from now. Then later she will move on to Indiana before winding up in Missouri.
The Democrats, meanwhile, stay focused on key southern states. Senator Barack Obama flying from Virginia to North Carolina before meeting up with his running mate, Senator Joe Biden, in Florida today.
Obama also hitting the airwaves tonight. Taking a gamble with a half- hour ad buy on three of the four major networks and several cable ones.
CNN's Suzanne Malveaux has that.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Barack Obama often says on the campaign trail he tells parents, be better parents, turn off the TV sets, but obviously he did not mean that until after the election.
He is going to be blitzing the airwaves tonight. This 30-minute infomercial, $1 million per network. Obviously, a multimillion dollar effort to get his message across.
We are told that he's going be sitting at a kitchen table talking to four different families. They're going to be talking about their own economic struggles, their hard times. He is going to be offering some solutions. What his kind of administration would look like, how he would handle their problem, their issues. He is also going to be addressing the American people directly, looking into the camera, talking about how he and Michelle, what they've learned over the last 20 months on the campaign trail about the American people and what they're looking for in the next administration.
And he's going to tell a personal story about his own mother, how she died of breast cancer and how she struggled to deal with insurance companies getting the kind of coverage in her final days.
It's a story that he often tells on the campaign trail, but some voters, obviously, not aware of it. And a way, really, for him to link, to be intimate with the American people, without the filter of the media and the pundits.
This is their intention. They certainly hope that he's going to be able to get across his message, but to do it in a much more intimate way. That is going to be happening this evening, prime time.
He's also going to cut in a live event from Florida to talk directly to the American people.
Suzanne Malveaux, CNN, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: Hear what John McCain thinks of the Obama ad right afterward on "LARRY KING LIVE." That will come your way 9:00 p.m. Eastern, 6:00 Pacific, right here on CNN.
The presidential election, as you know now, six days and counting. For John McCain, time is running out to gain ground in battleground states. This morning, as we mentioned, he is in Florida, a former Republican stronghold that is now a must-win state for him.
CNN's Ed Henry explains.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ED HENRY, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice over): John McCain and Sarah Palin on the same stage for the first time since sniping broke out among their advisors. So McCain quickly tried to diffuse the tension.
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: By the way, when two mavericks join up, we don't agree on everything, but that's a lot of fun.
HENRY: But it's hardly fun to be trailing in so many battleground states with a week to go. Optimistic McCain advisers are sketching a scenario where they can reach 260 electoral votes, 10 short of victory, by holding traditional Republican states like North Carolina, where he campaigned Tuesday.
Then McCain has two possible paths to victory. One, carry Pennsylvania, where he launched a heavy assault on Barack Obama's economic plan.
MCCAIN: He favors higher taxes on investment for, quote, "fairness." There's nothing fairness about driving our economy into the ground.
Senator Obama is running to be redistributionist in chief. I'm running to be commander in chief.
HENRY: But the latest CNN Poll of Polls in Pennsylvania shows Obama is still up 10 points over McCain, with 6 percent undecided.
Without Pennsylvania, the second path to victory would be a combo of smaller states, like Nevada, New Hampshire, and Iowa. However, McCain is down in all three states -- seven in Nevada, 11 in New Hampshire, 12 in Iowa -- according to the latest CNN Poll of Polls.
STEPHEN HAYES, THE WEEKLY STANDARD: It's going to be very difficult for him to claw his way back, if you're just talking about doing the electoral math. So, you know, it makes sense to concentrate your resources, try to pull off something dramatic in Pennsylvania and hold the Republican state.
HENRY: But nothing is guaranteed in usually reliable Republican states, as McCain found in North Carolina. The senator's vehicle got a flat, so he had to jump into a new one.
(On camera): The senator is now in Florida and then on to Ohio, two more must-wins for McCain.
Ed Henry, CNN, Coral Gables, Florida.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: Candidates logging the miles through the battleground states. Pollsters finding out what voters there think. New surveys, new results coming up at the bottom of the hour right here on CNN.
Finally, something to cheer about on Wall Street. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up, way up, in fact, yesterday. The final figure? A staggering 889.35 points. It's the second-biggest one-day point gain in history.
The reason, investors are optimistic the Feds will announce another big rate cut today. So we, of course, are waiting for that, and where will the markets head, what would an interest rate mean to you exactly.
Here to walk us through all of it, CNN's Christine Romans.
Yes, boy, that was huge, obviously, yesterday.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It really was. You know there's only a handful of few times, really, that you've seen the percentage gain like that on the Dow.
I think it was the sixth biggest percentage gain ever. And one of my colleagues just pointed out, Heidi, that you've had back-to-back gains for the Dow. That was the first back-to-back gain in about a month. So it has been hard to put two winning days together.
And gosh, what a winning day it was. Up almost 11 percent. And so what has been a very cruel and unusual month of October, at least that cruelty was blunted a little bit yesterday.
Look at the wild ride the Dow has taken this month. You'd be forgiven for hardly remembering that 900-point rally a couple of weeks ago, right? The Dow started the month at 10,831 and finished yesterday just above 9,000 with just that incredible, powerful rally.
But year to date, you still have damage in the major stock averages, about a third of the value of stocks gone this year, at least on paper. And that's something that's still going to hurt. Even with that big rally yesterday, you still have stocks for the year down pretty sharply.
Now what are we looking forward to this afternoon? Well, we're looking for that Fed meeting. The Fed, remember, had that emergency rate cut October 8th? This is a planned meeting today, two-day meeting.
The Fed is expected to cut interest rates again. Right now they stand at about 1.5 percent. This is the Fed fund's target. It's a rate that the Fed targets, a short-term rate. The prime rate stands at 4.5 percent.
Why does a Fed rate cut matter? Well, in theory, this is what it's supposed to do -- it's supposed to make money cheaper to borrow. That allows businesses to expand and hire, more people can save on lower rates, if consumers are able to spend more. That's a textbook reason why you lower interest rates.
We've been lowering interest rates throughout the year really as the Fed has tried to get ahead of this economic weakness, Heidi...
COLLINS: Yes.
ROMANS: ... and put concerns about inflation behind it -- Heidi?
COLLINS: All right, well, we will be watching all of that very closely.
ROMANS: Sure.
COLLINS: Thank you so much.
ROMANS: You're welcome.
COLLINS: Christine Romans, appreciate it.
We may be in for a long winter. People in the northeast already dealing with this. New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, cleaning up from the season's first wintry blast. Time to get out the salt truck and snow shovels a little earlier than usual maybe.
The mountains got more than a foot of snow. See now, I love that, and I guess people think I'm probably crazy, but I really do love those shots, I mean, as long as everybody is careful, of course, on the roads and nobody gets hurt.
ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Uh-huh.
COLLINS: Love the snow, Rob Marciano.
MARCIANO: And it helps me here, you know, that in Atlanta you rarely have to deal that stuff, you know?
COLLINS: Yes, but I get very excited it snows here, just once about every 10 years or so?
MARCIANO: Yes, well, we'll get a little bit. We'll get a little bit, don't worry.
(WEATHER REPORT)
COLLINS: Yes. Actually broke out the winter jacket for this morning. Good deal.
MARCIANO: Yes.
COLLINS: So, you know, yes.
MARCIANO: It's a nice jacket. We'd like to see you.
COLLINS: Thank you very much.
All right, Rob, we'll check in a little bit later on.
MARCIANO: You bet. Sound good.
COLLINS: Their plans for your kids. How the candidates want to change education, coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: "10 Issues, 10 Days," countdown to the presidential election. So far this week, we've looked at the candidates' stands on the economy, taxes, energy, and health care.
Today, we are going to be turning to education. In fact, let's take a moment now to look at both candidates' education plans.
Senator Barack Obama would increase early childhood education funding. Senator John McCain emphasizes virtual schools and online education.
On No Child Left Behind, Obama says the goal is on target, but the program has significant flaws. McCain voted for it in the Senate and says it's just the beginning of education reform.
Obama wants to expand mentoring programs and give scholarships to teachers. McCain favors bonuses for teachers who boost students' performance. He also wants extra funding for states that recruit teachers near the top of their graduating class.
Obama favors a $4,000 tuition tax credit. He also wants to expand Pell grants and lower interest rates on college loans. McCain wants to simplify tax benefits and consolidate the government's financial aid program.
Obama says math and science should be a national priority. His service scholarships would be for four years of undergraduate or two years of graduate teacher education. In return, teachers would spend at least four years in a high-need location or field.
McCain favors charter schools and home-schooling. And he would give up to $4,000 to low-income students for online classes or ACT-SAT prep courses.
Later this hour we're going to be talking with former Colorado governor Roy Roemer. He was also superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District. His thoughts on how the next president should boost education. That will be coming your way 30 minutes from now.
If you are a student right now, though, or have ever been a student, you probably have some thoughts to share. We'd love to hear them. Go ahead and sent those thoughts to ireport.com is the place to go.
Declining home prices, rising foreclosure rates. Tomorrow we'll home- in on the housing crisis as we keep breaking down the issues that matter to you most. The problems and the plans. "10 Issues in 10 Days," only right here on CNN.
ACORN fighting back this morning. The nationwide voter rights group is releasing a 30-second TV commercial aimed at John McCain. The group is accusing the McCain campaign as trying to suppress the votes.
They're also unveiling lawsuits over what they call voter-suppression activity. ACORN is the subject of state and federal investigations now looking at voter registration fraud.
Voter problems, well, we have asked you to help us this election season by telling us where you are seeing early voting issues.
In fact, CNN's Josh Levs is joining us with now with more on just one of those stories.
Hey there, Josh.
JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Heidi, get this, we've had more than 15,000 calls now to that CNN voter hotline.
COLLINS: Wow.
LEVS: It's incredible. I want to tell you a little bit about what one voter said. I'm going to read to you part of his quote here. This just came in yesterday. He says his mom went to vote and he was with her. She went to punch the selection for Obama and what happened was it flipped over to McCain. He says, you know what, they need to do something about this. They need to separate the names, he says, and put them apart.
And this is the kind of thing we're hearing. He says, you know, pretty much side by side instead of stacked on top of each other because he said this issue needs to be addressed.
Here's what I want to do. I want to show everyone what he's talking about and I know as well as anyone, because I use a touch-screen computer here all the time. Let's zoom in. We wrote about this at CNN Political Ticker.
This right here, let's zoom on this photo. This is what a lot of people are doing with this touch-screen machine, this voting system. Now people are trying to click on one candidate, but what's happening is it's registering as being a vote for a different candidate.
And it has to do with the way that this works. Sometimes the pressure is felt on a different part of the screen. So we -- I have to tell you, there are millions of people around the country who are using this kind of system and this is the kind of concern that we're hearing in general from other people in other parts of the country.
Obviously, something to be watching out for. But we spoke with this county that deals specifically with this caller's problem. And here's what we were told, so you don't think it's too big.
They tell us that 40,000 early voters have come through by Saturday night and about a half a dozen total complaint calls about touch- screen machines. And I want us to keep that in mind because it puts them in context.
The clerk also said that when poll workers say there are problems with machines, election -- officials go right away and they recalibrate them to get them fixed. Also this is summary screen, before you finish, you can press the button and say, yes, that's what I meant. If anything's wrong, you can go back and change it.
But I'll tell you, Heidi, we are hearing these kinds of things. We're keeping a very close eye on these kinds of problems. We encourage everyone, obviously, if you have regularities or things that you think might be irregularities in the election process, let us know.
COLLINS: Yes. And this is something that has been coming up for a while. I mean we've been talking about it for a while here. And every time I look at that little tiny screen and where you're supposed to touch, there's such a small space, too, you know, in between the different candidate of choice.
I just wondered if there's talk about possibly changing the machines? I mean is it too late...
LEVS: Yes.
COLLINS: ... in order to avoid this, I mean, really?
LEVS: It's a little too late for this election. But I'll tell you, I mean, you're exactly right, those screens are so small. And look at this thing compared to me, right? I have problems on this screen sometimes. So you can imagine if there's a little tiny screen how it happens.
The county clerk we spoke with there said she's been in touch with the manufacturer, actually, about redesigning the screens or where the names go on the screens, and also that company, we spoke with them.
And basically, they're not aware of situations where in the end the machines failed to work as they were meant to but was in the future. At this point, all we know is we got to wait and see what's done for future elections. Not this one, Heidi.
COLLINS: Well, OK. All right.
LEVS: Yes.
COLLINS: CNN's Josh Levs.
Thanks so much for that, Josh.
LEVS: Thanks a lot.
COLLINS: CNN is keeping them honest. In fact, if you have trouble at the polls you can call the CNN viewer -- or excuse me, voter hotline. Help us track the problems and we will report the trouble in real time.
That number at the bottom of your screen there, 1-877-462-6608. We are keeping them honest all the way through the election and beyond.
Some undecided voters have actually decided on a candidate but they don't even know it yet. Breaking down the undecided brain with our own Dr. Sanjay Gupta.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Our latest Poll of Polls finds 6 percent of Americans are still undecided in the presidential race.
So what are you waiting for?
Here's what some of you told us when we asked you yesterday. Let's go to this one first from Francois, Lutz, Florida, says this, "I am still troubled by Barack Obama's friendships with Reverend Wright, Louis Farrakhan, Bill Ayers, and convicted felon Tony Rezko. I agree Obama is a great candidate but these ties make me uneasy. I am on the edge but will have to go with the devil I know in John McCain."
Then the next from Carol in Missouri, "I haven't decided because I don't feel I have a decent choice. I am a Democrat but might have voted for McCain -- but his choice of Palin stopped that. McCain is too old and she is totally inadequate." The last is from Curtis here now, "I am waiting until election day to decide because a lot of news will be coming out in these last days that has been withheld by the media."
Interesting point. But could there be another reason some of you are still on the fence?
Well, our chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta has been exploring that. So, this is really interesting to me. We talked about it a little bit in the NEWSROOM. We were saying, are these the same people that have trouble ordering at a restaurant? You know, they can't decide on the menu.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Picking out a tie, my wife picked this one this morning.
COLLINS: Oh yes? Yes.
GUPTA: The answer may lie deep in our brains. And I think this is very interesting. Neuroscientists from Princeton tried to figure out why are people still undecided. And they sort of broadly broke it down into two groups.
They said there's a group of people who simply are gathering more evidence before they commit to one side or the other. And there's another group of people who had decided in some way but they truly themselves don't know what the decision is yet. The brain knows but they emotionally don't know.
The way this typically works. Take a look at this image. This is the part of the brain over here, the parietal lobe area, where evidence is typically gathered.
COLLINS: OK.
GUPTA: Some people need a little bit of evidence before they commit. Some people need a lot more evidence. They're sort of gathering evidence like acorns and takes a lot more before the brain is activated or triggered to somehow commit. So it just takes a longer process.
But, again, there is that other group of people who simply know. They've gathered the evidence but emotionally they haven't come to terms with it.
There's another third group, which I find really fascinating. This is a group of people who are absolutely convinced they know for whom they're going to vote when they go to vote. But, in fact, when they get there, they don't vote for that person, they vote for somebody else.
So their brain has made the decision...
COLLINS: They are flip-floppers.
GUPTA: ... but emotionally they have -- they think they're voting in a different direction. The brain tells them when they actually pull the lever, they're going this way instead.
So, polling, undecideds, all this is fascinating. The brain is a tricky place and these polls don't make a lot of -- don't mean a lot at this point.
COLLINS: Yes, which is very interesting, because you never really know until it's all over and it's all said and done and this is just one of the areas that we haven't really explored that much. So I'm glad you did it.
If the undecided voter, though, actually is decided deep down, as you say, I mean, is there a better way to poll that particular person? Different questions to ask, maybe?
GUPTA: Well, you know, Sam Wong, who's the guy who wrote this paper about this, he sort of explored that as well.
The typical question that you get in the poll of polls is, you know, if the election were held today, who would you vote for, Senator Obama or Senator McCain? That's sort of the typical question.
COLLINS: Right.
GUPTA: He says you need to ask more open-ended questions instead. Those types of questions make a difference. Who do you think understands your problems better? Are you more concerned about the economy or terrorism? Which candidate has the better temperament?
These are more open-ended questions and might give the poller a better sense of where the persons are leaning.
COLLINS: OK, well, we've also talked about this other thing that in terms of the Bradley effect where people say they're going to vote for the black candidate and then they do the exact opposite when they go to the voting booth.
I mean, is the brain also responsible for that kind of switch?
GUPTA: It could be. It certainly could be. And it may be sort of unbeknownst to anybody involved. Keep in mind the pollers are often anonymous, so you know, to sort of portray yourself in one position as not being a racist, for example, and may not make a lot of sense.
But you don't know who's polling you. And they don't really know you, so there's not really a relationship there.
COLLINS: Sure.
GUPTA: But the brain, again, can sort of be tricky. You may have already decided you are or you're not going to vote for somebody, but when you get to the polling booth, all of a sudden the decision is made, your brain just activates and it may be different than what you thought all along.
COLLINS: You neurosurgeons. You know the brain is a complicated thing. GUPTA: I find it fascinating.
COLLINS: It is.
GUPTA: Right here. Right here.
COLLINS: It is. This is unbelievable.
GUPTA: That's where the decisions get made.
COLLINS: What's it called again? One more time.
GUPTA: That's the parietal cortex area. That's where you gather a lot of evidence as probably happening in your brain right now.
COLLINS: Parietal cortex area. It's all full right now.
GUPTA: Probably.
COLLINS: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, appreciate it. Thank you.
GUPTA: Thank you.
COLLINS: Building on momentum in the market. That would be great, huh? Wall Street closed nearly 900 points higher yesterday. It reopens in just a couple minutes.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: After suffering days of massive losses, stocks finally rallied yesterday, and in a big way. The U.S. stock market gained $1 trillion in value. But it is a new day and much will depend on the Federal Reserve.
Susan Lisovicz is at the New York Stock Exchange with a look at what to expect if that's even possible to tell us what to expect, Susan. Good morning.
SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning. Well, the opening bell is ringing, and we're off. It will be a tough act to follow, no question about it, Heidi. And this is a Fed decision day which typically is a volatile day in ordinary times.
These are not ordinary times.
The Dow jumped nearly 900 points yesterday. Still, it was only the fifth gain this month and in a sign of the extreme volatility, two of those gains this month, the biggest ever. The big question today is, can it carry over? Well, we've not seen back-to-back gains in over a month.
The story of the day, Federal Reserve at about 2:15 Eastern Time, the Central Bank expected to announce a half-point rate cut, bringing the benchmark rates down to 1 percent, which we last saw in a post-9/11 economy. This amid more signs that the economy is in a deep downturn. Tomorrow, we're expecting to learn whether the economy actually shrank in the third quarter, which is one of the most common barometers, the GDP, to determine whether the economy is actually in a recession.
Today, more job cuts. Qwest Communications cuts 1200 positions and more than three percent of its workforce before the end of the year. The company also posted more than 90 percent drop in quarterly results. Qwest shares are down six percent.
Also cutting jobs, automotive company Tenneco Enterprise, rent-a-car, newspaper publishers, Gannett, and Time Ink, one of our sister companies at CNN, but some good news, an unexpected increase in big- ticket items helped to boost sentiment. The report actually showed some resilience in the manufacturing sector, but we're not seeing some resilience for the blue chips which are down right now about a third of a percent. The Nasdaq is down about three-quarters of a percent in the first minute of trading.
And, Heidi, oil is up nearly four bucks. But still under $67 a barrel. We've seen crude's huge decline translates into deep discounts at the pump. AAA says gas prices dropped four cents overnight. Their 42nd consecutive decrease. The national average now stands at $2.58 a gallon. Remember, we were looking at over $4 a gallon.
COLLINS: Oh yes, and where we are, we were just trying to find the gas. Never mind how much it was because...
LISOVICZ: That's true.
COLLINS: ...because we were going to pay no matter what. Yes. All right, Susan Lisovicz, we're watching all of that. Thank you.
LISOVICZ: You're welcome.
COLLINS: So six more hectic days of campaigning. Senator John McCain has to beef up Republican support in Florida and Ohio today. His running mate, Governor Sarah Palin, goes from Ohio to Indiana. She'll end up in Missouri. Senator Barack Obama flies from Virginia to North Carolina, and on to Florida. There, he'll team up with his running mate, Senator Joe Biden, to rally the Democrats.
The candidates' travel plans illustrating their strategy for the final few days. They spent a lot of time in the key battleground states. I kind of knew this was going to happen. CNN deputy political director Paul Steinhauser joining us live this morning from Washington with some new numbers in all of this.
Hi, there, Paul.
PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN DEPUTY POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Good morning, Heidi. You're right. They are showing a lot of love in these battleground states today. They are showing a lot of love to Florida. They'll both going to be there, McCain and Obama.
So, let's take a look at Florida. Our latest Poll of Polls in the state, that's where we average the latest surveys there, and you see according to our Poll of Polls, it suggests that Obama has a 4-point lead. So, it's still pretty tight in Florida. Six percent undecided. This is one of those states that George Bush won four years ago. He won it by five points. It's one of the states that John McCain needs to take if he wants to win the White House.
How about Ohio? You mentioned, that's where Sarah Palin is today. And that's where John McCain will spend the next two days. And you could see from our latest poll of polls there, we just put it out this morning. It suggests and indicates that Obama has an eight-point lead with about 8 percent of voters still at this late date, six days left still undecided.
And Indiana. You also mentioned that one. That's where Palin will be later today and tomorrow. This state hasn't voted for a Democrat in a presidential election since 1964. McCain, according to our Poll of Polls, he's ahead, but not by very much. So once again, the theme here is McCain is defending these red states. These states George Bush took four years ago. These states John McCain needs to carry this time around.
Heidi, we're going to have a lot of new polls, brand new CNN Opinion Research Corporation and "Time" magazine polls coming out later this afternoon. So, we'll have a fresh look later today and tomorrow at the race for the White House.
COLLINS: All right, and it is -- it is getting down to the wire, isn't it?
STEINHAUSER: Yes, ma'am.
COLLINS: Paul Steinhauser, we sure do appreciate it. Thanks.
Let's talk about this now, because it is certainly an issue for many people. Early voting state of emergency, in fact, declared in Florida. Republican Governor Charlie Crist now ordering polling places to stay open 12 hours a day instead of 8. Polls will also be open 12 hours on Saturday and Sunday. That's the last two days of early voting. More than 1 million Floridians have cast their ballots already.
Early voting has ended, though, in Louisiana. The state says almost 10 percent of registered voters cast ballots during the one-week early-voting period. Some early voters waited in line for up to six hours to get in under the deadline.
Voters in Florida concerned about their "No Match" law, possibly leading to thousands of uncounted votes. CNN's Sean Callebs has the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SEAN CALLEBS, CNN GENERAL ASSIGNMENT CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Early voter turnout has been heavy, and many suspect polls could be jammed on November 4th. But a law designed to thwart voter fraud is fueling controversy and possibly legal challenges.
The "No Match" law flags people whose name on their voter registration does not match the name on their driver's license or Social Security card. Concerns are coming in to the CNN voter hotline.
VOICE OF UNIDENTIFIED MALE, EARLY VOTER, TALLAHASSEE, FLORIDA: The main thing I had happen at the voter booth was my ballot was listed as provisional. And it was listed this way, I guess, because I recently moved and my driver's license says one address and my voter's registration card says another address. And so, I think that -- you know, I just want to make sure my vote counts.
CALLEBS: Anyone flagged can still cast a ballot but must provide legal proof of identification within 48 hours. This caller has cleared his discrepancy. So far, about 9,000 people have been affected. Opponents say the law unfairly punishes minorities.
MUSLIMA LEWIS, ACLU: Black voters and Latino voters make up in each group approximately 12 to 14 percent of the registered voters in Florida. However, they make up a full 50 percent of voters caught up in the no match limbo.
CALLEBS: Public hearings to explain the measure had been heated.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm thinking about Asian-Americans. I'm thinking about Latinos.
CALLEBS: Latin names with a tilde or accent mark. Hyphenated names, names with non-traditional spellings. Those, the ACLU argues, are people who will have the most trouble. Election officials say in no way is this an effort to keep votes from being counted.
BUDDY JOHNSON, SUPERVISOR OF ELECTIONS, HILLSBOROUGH CITY: We want to welcome voters and we're going to do everything we can to make sure that there is a match rather than looking for a reason not to match.
CALLEBS: Florida is still hurting from the presidential election debacle eight years ago. Ed Pozzuoli, a GOP attorney, says tougher registration standards are needed to ensure credibility in the system.
ED POZZUOLI, REPUBLICAN PARTY ATTORNEY: So, whatever the result is, whatever -- after we count the votes, whatever the result is people can be confident then that that is the vote that reflects the voters of Florida.
CALLEBS (on camera): About 80 percent of the people affected by the "No Match" law are Democrats. Despite that overwhelming number, right now the Obama camp says the "No Match" law isn't a big concern for them. Sean Callebs, CNN, Miami.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: Check your ballot. You'll find the important state and local issues alongside the presidential candidates. We wanted to bring you a look at some of the issues voters are deciding on Election Day. Look at this now. Our top ten.
Number six on our list comes from Oregon, and it is measure 61. It deals with mandatory prison terms. It would require 36-month sentence for anyone convicted of identity theft. That's identical to the mandated sentence for anyone caught manufacturing meth or heroin.
Californians will decide the fate of farm animals and their living conditions. Proposition 2 calls for certain farm animals to be allowed to stretch their legs or wings for a majority of each day. That would free them from small cages. Animals include cows, hens, and pregnant pigs. Supporters say the measure would stop animal cruelty and promote family farms. Opponents say it will drive up food costs.
Tomorrow, one state moves closer to banning same-sex couples from adopting kids.
Let's take another look at that slushy mess in the northeast. See, I think it's pretty. Winter coming unfashionably early, though. Thousands of people are waking up without electricity this morning after wind and snow knocked down power lines. Several inches on the ground. People are having to readjust to winter driving. Sections of some major highways still closed. Weather advisories still in effect as far north as Vermont.
OK. So, obviously, Rob, you've got to be very careful when snow like that comes down and when you don't have power, it's darn cold.
(WEATHER REPORT)
COLLINS: Stationmaster with a close following. A cat keeps the trains running and tourist taking pictures.
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COLLINS: As we've been telling you with just six days to go until Election Day, the candidates are busy, busy, busy. In fact, we are looking at a live shot now, Toledo, Ohio, where we expect Governor Sarah Palin, Republican vice presidential candidate, to come to the podium. She is going to be talking about energy today. We had thought at the beginning it would be about the economy. But apparently there's been a change. She will be talking about energy. We'll bring that to you just as soon as she takes to the podium.
We are counting down the issues until Election Day. Today, we've been focusing on education. The candidates' plans and what the next president should do. Here to weigh in now, the former Democratic governor of Colorado, Roy Romer. He was also Superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District and is now chairman of the group Strong American Schools. He is joining us from Washington.
Nice to see you, Governor. Appreciate you being here.
ROY ROMER, FORMER SUPERINTENDENT, L.A. UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT: Good to be with you.
COLLINS: Boy, what an incredibly important topic for parents and their children, and certainly, when they think about sending their kids to college in an economy like we are dealing with right now. First tell us about your organization. Strong American Schools. What's it all about? What do you do? ROMER: Strong American Schools is a bipartisan organization funded by two great foundations, the Rode Foundation and the Gates Foundation. Our job is to try to raise the issue of education in both political parties and with both candidates in this election. We want to bring to the attention of the public how critical education is...
COLLINS: Governor, it is critical and I am so sorry to do this to you, but we are going to have to break in the interview. We hope that you can stick around, and go to another governor, Governor Sarah Palin, has taken to the podium. Toledo, Ohio, let's listen in for just a moment.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. SARAH PALIN (R), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: All about our nation's security and our economic prosperity, the opportunities that we have for jobs. And I would encourage you also, get to know more about this company right here, Xunlight. And what you have been able to accomplish here is very inspiring and can be seen, I think, as a role model, even -- you, the organization here, what you've accomplished for others in our great nation in order to allow our nation to become energy secure. So, so happy to get to be with you today. And again, I appreciate that tour.
I'm excited about this. I thank you very much, and for your hospitality, again, doctor, thank you. Good things being said about this corporation, as you're progressing with the solar panels, understanding alternative energy sources so necessary as a piece of the puzzle that we're working on. I know my State of Alaska certainly is working on this. All that we can do to put the pieces together, to allow our nation to become energy secure.
And every day I know that here, especially when there are no cameras around to draw attention to it, this company and others like it are engaged in the great enterprise of energy independence. And what we see here is just a glimpse of much bigger things to come. Solar panels here, solar energy, being tapped into, it's one of many alternative energy sources that is changing our economy for the better. And one day these sources, they're going to change our economy forever.
All who work in pursuit of new and clean energy sources understand that America's energy problems do not go away when oil and gas prices fall. As they have in these recent weeks. Oil today is running at about $64 a barrel. That's less than half of what it was just a couple of months ago. And though this sudden drop in prices sure makes a difference for all of our families and our pocketbooks and for our local community's budgets and our state budgets, the dangers still of our dependence on foreign oil is just as real as it was before this decline in oil and gas prices. It is just as great a threat.
The price of oil is declining largely because of the market's expectation of a broad recession that would lower demand. And that's not a good indicator, perhaps, of things to come. And it should only, though, add to our sense of urgency in gaining energy independence. When our economy recovers and growth once again creates new demand as it will, we could run into the same brick wall of rising oil and gas prices. And now is the time to make sure that that doesn't happen. We have an opportunity right now, seizing this moment, with lower prices to really start tapping into some technology that will allow our nation to be firmly put on that path towards energy independence.
In Washington, we can view this period of lower prices as just one more chance to make excuses, embracing status quo, really doing nothing about it on the energy-security problem that we face. And I think that we have heard enough excuses. And we've been lax for too long. Or, we can view this opportunity as the time to finally confront the problem, and John McCain and I are so committed to confronting and fixing the problem that we face with our reliance on foreign sources of energy.
In reality -- yes.
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In reality, volatile oil prices are just the most immediate consequence when foreign powers control our energy supplies. They're an economic symptom of a strategic problem. And prices will only stabilize when we've reached that great goal of energy security for America. Achieving this objective will require a clean break, not just from the energy policies of the current administration, we've got to go back and realize that it's been 30 years' worth of failed energy policies in Washington. 30 years, where we've had opportunities to become less reliant on foreign sources, and 30 years of failure in that area.
As in other challenges that confront our nation, we must shape events and not simply manage crisis. Let's look back in history and realize and learn from mistakes made in the past. We have that luxury of doing that now, instead of assuming we have to just manage crisis from Washington, D.C. Let's be proactive and take an opportunity like we have today to confront a problem and fix a problem.
We must steer far clear of the errors and false assumptions that have marked the energy policies of nearly 20 congresses and seven presidents. Some tasks will be the work of decades, and some just the work of years. And they all will begin in the next term of our next president. It all begins on November 4th.
Our country is going to go one of two ways with energy policy, leading us towards energy security, relying on the domestic solutions that are in front of us or more and more reliance on foreign sources of energy. November 4th is that time of choosing. We're going to go one of two ways.
For our part, John McCain and I, we're determined to set this country firmly on a path towards energy independence. America has the resources to achieve this vital goal. We certainly have the ingenuity and John McCain and I, if we are elected, we will supply the political will finally to get this done.
In my experience in Alaska, I have seen what American ingenuity can achieve if given a chance. As governor of a huge energy-producing state and as chair of our state's Oil and Gas Conservation Commission and as chair of the nation's Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission, I've also seen how political pressures and special interests and corporate abuses, though, can work against the clear public interest in expanding our domestic energy supplies. I've had to take on some of that. Especially there in Alaska, taken on a good old boy network that had been too controlled by some of those interests.
Alaska is one of the most resource-rich places on earth. Yet for many years, our state's oil and gas wealth was the carefully guarded preserve of the political establishment. That good old boy network. And it was rewarded by a few big oil companies through an oil services company that liked things just the way that they were. They didn't want any shaking up. They didn't want anybody to come in and disrupt the good things that they had going there. But it was to the public's detriment what was going on.
And, as you may have seen this week in the new, Alaska's senior senator is not the first man to discover the hazards of getting too close to oiled, moneyed interests with agendas of their own. For the people of Alaska and their representatives, it's been a hard enough time that we have had to persuade Congress even to authorize some of our developments. Start from the beginning of our energy-producing history. Trying to get authorization to construct our original Trans Alaska Oil Pipeline.
When congress finally acted in 1973 to allow for that infrastructure to be built, they approved the pipeline over the "No" votes of a few stars, including Senator Joe Biden. He kicked his career off -- his political career saying no to this piece of infrastructure up in Alaska that has safely flowed 15 billion barrels of U.S. crude into Hungry U.S. markets.
He started his career saying no to that domestic solution, and it's been no ever since. For the next three decades in Alaska then, there had been talk of building our next piece of infrastructure that was so necessary to feed hungry U.S. markets. This would be a gas pipeline to transport cleaner, greener natural gas down to the lower 48.
We have such an abundance of natural gas in Alaska. Geologists show us hundreds of trillions of cubic feet waiting to be tapped on offshore. But all that it ever amounted to up in Alaska and across the U.S. for the plans for this gas line had been talk. Everybody talked about it and planned for it and dreamed about it. There had been articles written about the need for a natural gas pipeline to feed U.S. markets since the '50s.
Ever since I grew up, I remember hearing about this dream for a natural gas pipeline. But all it was was talk. And one of the main obstacles was big oil itself that wanted a pipeline, a gas pipeline even to be built only on their terms. ExxonMobil was one of the participants in that and other companies, also.
They should have been competing to invest in a new means of delivering their product to market. They should have been competing for the right to tap into the hungry markets flowing our resources into those hungry markets and instead, they wanted a higher and higher price than any fair competition would yield. So, they wouldn't build the line.
They were holding out for more billions of dollars in public money. No one in good conscience could pay them what they wanted to build that gas line. And that's how things were left. That's how we found them when I decided to run for governor. There was no progress, no pipeline, no gas revenue for Alaska, no added energy security for America because previously it had been all talk.
So we introduced, when I got elected, we introduced the big oil companies and their lobbyists to a concept of something that evidently they had forgotten, and that's free market competition. They had a monopoly previously on power and on resources. And we broke it. And the result finally is progress on the largest private sector infrastructure project in North America's history. A nearly $40 billion natural gas pipeline to help lead America to energy independence. That's what I've been working on up in Alaska to help all of you, to help the rest of the U.S., energy supplies, safely, ethically, being tapped into, flowing through infrastructure to feed our hungry markets.
So with this gas line, when the last section of pipe is laid and its valves are open, that gas line will lead America one step farther away from reliance on foreign energy. And that pipeline --
(APPLAUSE)
That pipeline will be a lifeline freeing us from more U.S. debt and dependence and the influence of foreign powers that do not have America's interests at heart. And it is so important that more Americans realize what we're up against when we consider our reliance on foreign sources.
What we've done in Alaska, we shook things up in our state capital. And whatever the good old boys are running these days, I know it's not the State of Alaska. And that's the kind of reform that we need, serious reform in Washington, D.C. because the stakes for our country could not be higher. And if we do not transform and reform our government, we're never going to get there. A secure, independent nation when it comes to energy.
Energy security is one of the great questions in this election. Sometimes I think it's no wonder that our opponents don't want to talk a whole lot about this because they don't get it. It doesn't seem that they understand that we have the ingenuity and the domestic solutions right here. They don't want to talk about it.
But it tests our ability to confront and solve hard problems in Washington. Instead of constantly taking the easy way out and just putting the problem off for later. And it brings together so many other issues, also, from the value of our paychecks to our nation's most vital interests abroad.
Americans blame Washington for doing next to nothing about our energy problems. And on that front they are right. The American public is right when they understand that not enough has been done in D.C. to get us off the path that we're on, put us on a better path. Abroad, we see Russia now with designs on a vital pipeline in the caucuses. Wouldn't they love to control entirely that pipeline? Its strategy there is to divide and intimidate our European allies by using energy as a weapon. And there, as elsewhere, we cannot leave ourselves at the mercy of foreign suppliers.
To confront the threat that Iran, too, might seek to cut off nearly 1/5 of the world's oil supplies or that terrorists might strike at vital refining facilities in Saudi Arabia, or to consider that Venezuela might shut off its oil deliveries as Hugo Chavez likes to threaten sometimes, we Americans need to produce more of our own oil and gas. And we can do it because we have it here. God has so richly blessed our land with the supplies that we need.
