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Iran to Release U.S. Hiker; Tea Party Rallies; San Bruno Neighborhood Up in Flames; Hurricane Igor Getting Stronger; Going Negative

Aired September 12, 2010 - 14:00   ET

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

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Will this be the day Iran finally frees an America hiker? We're waiting and watching.

And three days after that deadly natural gas explosion in San Bruno, California, residents return to their devastated neighborhood. We'll have a live report during the 4:00 p.m. Eastern hour.

And then at 5:00 Eastern, modern-day slavery in the United States. We'll have the shocking results of a seven-year investigation.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

We're waiting to see if Iran is going to release detained U.S. hiker Sarah Shourd. Shourd is one of three American hikers arrested in Iran more than a year ago and accused of spying.

Late last week, Iran announced Shourd would be released, then said she wouldn't. But there's new hope today.

Reza Sayah fills us in on this latest back and forth.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

REZA SAYAH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Another waffle by the Iranian government. After initially saying jailed U.S. hiker Sarah Shourd would be released, then saying she wouldn't be released, Iranian officials are now saying she can be released in exchange for $500,000 in bail money.

The announcement coming on Sunday. A senior prosecutor in Tehran saying Iran is offering to release Sarah Shourd because of a medical condition she's suffering from.

We spoke to the hiker's lawyer. He said he met with the hikers earlier on Sunday.

What's remarkable is that this is the first time the lawyer has met with his clients ever since he was hired to represent them back in 2009. The lawyer telling CNN all three appear to be in good condition. He said Sarah Shourd was happy, although her wish is to see her fellow hikers released as well.

Since Tehran and Washington don't have diplomatic relations, the Swiss Embassy in Tehran is going to play the role of mediator in this matter. It's very likely Sarah Shourd's family will deliver the money to Swiss officials and then the Swiss Embassy in Tehran will transfer the money to the judiciary in Iran, and that's when the release will take place.

As far as the other two hikers, Shane Bauer and Joshua Fattal, the senior prosecutor in Tehran saying they're not going anywhere. He also said on Sunday there is enough evidence that shows they were spying for the U.S. when they allegedly crossed into Iranian territory in July of 2009. Spying a serious crime in Iran, one that carries the possible death penalty.

So the ordeal far from over for those two individuals, but good news for Sarah Shourd if Iranian officials don't change their mind once again. Analysts say the waffling over the past few days is evidence of deep divisions within the Iranian government that emerged after the disputed elections of June, 2009.

Reza Sayah, CNN, Islamabad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: And reaction now from White House adviser David Axelrod, who appeared on the Sunday morning talk shows. He said he'll believe Iran when he sees a freed hiker.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID AXELROD, SR. WHITE HOUSE ADVISER: We're hopeful and we're encouraged by this news, but there have been starts and stops in this before, and until that actually happens, you know, we're on a wait- and-see basis.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: A representative for the mothers of the hikers said that they are not yet making any public comments.

Right now growing concern out in the Atlantic. Hurricane Igor is getting stronger and could be a major hurricane by tomorrow.

Jacqui Jeras is tracking the storm for us.

(WEATHER REPORT)

WHITFIELD: All right. Meantime now, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer says he is confident that Democrats will hold on to the House in November. But speaking today on CNN's "STATE OF THE UNION," the Democratic leader conceded his party will most likely suffer a setback come Election Day.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. STENY HOYER (D), MAJORITY LEADER: We're going to lose seats, probably. I think that's undoubtedly historically --

CANDY CROWLEY, HOST, "STATE OF THE UNION": Twenty-four, 34? HOYER: I'm not going to speculate on a number, Candy, but we're going to hold the House. As you said, I've been to 20 candidates, 11 states over the last two-and-a-half weeks. Our candidates are feeling good, and what's going to happen is people are going to compare not the perfect, but the alternatives, as Joe Biden likes to say, they're not going to compare us with the almighty, they're going to compare us with the alternative, an alternative that wants to go back to the exact same Bush policies.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right. Meantime, right on the steps of Capitol Hill, or in the shadows of Capitol Hill, in the nation's capital, Tea Party activists are holding rallies there and elsewhere across the country. It's an effort to actually energize the base as we all get closer to the fall elections.

Shannon Travis is at the Washington rally.

And so, Shannon, it looks like a pretty sizeable turnout behind you just, what, 50 days or so away from those midterm elections? What is the strategy here?

SHANNON TRAVIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The strategy is "Remember in November." That's the phrase that they are using, these activists are using at this rally, for this rally, to rally these conservative activists to come out and vote in support of their candidates in the midterm elections, which you just said is only a few weeks away.

They're also hoping for a lot of turnout, and the Delaware Senate race, if anyone has been following this race, they know that Christine O'Donnell is the Republican. She's the pick of the Tea Party. There is a Republican congressman named Mike Castle who is the pick of the Republican establishment. They are basically going at it, Republican versus Republican.

The O'Donnell campaign likens it to Republican cannibalism. Essentially, the state Republican Party has filed a complaint with the FTC alleging wrongdoing, illegal communications between the Tea Party Express and Christine O'Donnell. In response, the O'Donnell campaign is saying that Republicans are trying to eat their own.

Some people feel that Republicans, that Christine O'Donnell, the more conservative of the two candidates, would be an easier target, an easier person to beat for the Democrat, but the Tea Party Express and other Tea Party activists are working hard to push her over the victory line, and that's part of what today is about. Also eyeing the midterm elections.

WHITFIELD: So they're working -- as you say, the Tea Party movement is working very hard to make sure that Christine O'Donnell kind of clinches that seat. Working hard in terms of money as well.

How much money is she gaining from that movement?

TRAVIS: Yes, that's a really good question. The Tea Party Express has spent at least $200,000. They're saying that in the closing days -- again, the primary is on Tuesday -- they're vowing to spend whatever else it takes.

It's not unlike the strategy that they've used in Nevada, in support of Sharron Angle; in Colorado, in support of Ken Buck; and in Kentucky, in support of Rand Paul. So they're hoping that the strategy -- also, don't forget, Joe Miller just won the Alaska GOP primary.

So it's not unlike what they've done in other races. They're hoping to close the deal with Christine O'Donnell in Delaware as well.

WHITFIELD: And so, Shannon, real quick, we've seen a lot of Tea Party movement rallies within the past year. Can you give me an idea of how this one looks similar or perhaps different from those in the past? I see clearly people have up signs, they have American flags, but in the past we've seen a lot of anti-Obama administration kind of placards and messages. Are we seeing that this time?

TRAVIS: Absolutely, you're seeing a lot of that now. I mean, that's one common thread of a lot of these rallies, is that there is an anti- Democratic fervor.

Not a lot of people in love with President Obama. But they're also taking direct aim at Republicans, Fredricka.

I spoke with Brendan Steinhauser. He's a key director at FreedomWorks, and he basically was on stage and told me that Republicans should also be worried. Anybody considered too moderate or too liberal a Republican, that they're also in the political crosshairs.

WHITFIELD: Shannon Travis, thanks so much. We'll see you again, answering this question for us based on the rally participation: Does the Tea Party want to actually merge with the Republican Party? We'll be focusing on that in the 4:00 Eastern hour, when we see Shannon Travis one more time for the nation's capital.

In the meantime, the Tea Party has tapped into voter frustration, but the public is largely divided on its opinion of the movement. Thirty- six percent have favorable views, 40 percent unfavorable, and nearly one in four Americans simply aren't sure.

One big question facing this new political movement is whether these Tea Party contenders are too conservative to beat their Democratic opponents. It's a question that has dogged Sharron Angle, who is trying to oust the most powerful Democrat in the Senate.

CNN's Jim Acosta spoke with her.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SHARRON ANGLE (R), NEVADA SENATORIAL CANDIDATE: We're going to take our government back --

JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Sharron Angle just might be the Tea Party's biggest gamble yet. A conservative former state lawmaker in Nevada and grandmother who doesn't mind hopping on the back of a Harley, Angle also has a tendency to shoot from the lip.

ANGLE: He's been waterboarding our economy for over a year now.

ACOSTA: With rhetoric like that, Angle came out of nowhere and snatched up the endorsements of Tea Party leaders including Sarah Palin and won the Republican nomination in the race for U.S. Senate. Her next opponent, the GOP's prime target.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'd just like to see him go away.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Actually, I'd like to dump him.

ACOSTA: One of the most powerful Democrats in Washington, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.

(on camera): Will you be a Tea Party senator in the Senate if you get in there?

ANGLE: I don't know exactly what that means. I'll be a mainstream senator. How's that?

ACOSTA (voice-over): But Democrats say Angle is far from mainstream, pointing to her past calls to dramatically reduce the size of the federal government by getting rid of the Departments of Education and Energy, the EPA and the IRS. She's also made some white-hot comments on talk radio.

ANGLE: If this Congress keeps going the way it is, people are really looking toward those Second Amendment remedies and saying, my goodness, what can we do to turn this country around? And I'll tell you, the first thing we need to do is take Harry Reid out.

ACOSTA (on camera): What was all that about?

ANGLE: Those are not the issues that people are really concerned about. They're concerned about our homes, our economy, our jobs. That's what they're concerned about.

ACOSTA (voice-over): In another interview, she agreed there are domestic enemies in the government.

BILL MANDERS, "THE BILL MANDERS SHOW": We have home-born, homegrown enemies in our system. And I for one think we have some of those enemies in our own -- in the walls of the Senate and the Congress.

ANGLE: Yes, I think you're right, Bill.

ACOSTA (on camera): Do you feel there are domestic enemies in the Congress.

ANGLE: The larger focus of that conversation was what has happened domestically here in our country for the last 18 months.

ACOSTA: Do you feel that the president or Harry Reid are enemies of the state?

ANGLE: I don't think anybody mentioned any names during that -- during that conversation and, of course, those were my --

ACOSTA: Was there a policy that you're talking about?

ANGLE: Those weren't my words.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANGLE: We need to phase Medicare and social security out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA (voice-over): Angle's comments on social security now star in Reid's ads. She accuses Reid of taking her out of context.

ANGLE: As you speak, as per conversationally speaking, sometimes when you pick out words they're not the best words that you could have used.

ACOSTA: But many in her own party worry Angle is a risky bet. A recent poll found 71 percent of Nevada Republicans prefer a different candidate. Good thing for Angle says Las Vegas political columnist, Reid is just as unpopular.

ON RALSTON, "LAS VEGAS SUN": Harry Reid is the most negatively viewed person in this state and there's a hardened opposition to him. I mean I think that Sharron Angle could be arrested on a felony tomorrow and she'd still get 40 percent of the vote.

ACOSTA: We also caught up with Senator Reid who stands by his ads that paint Angle as extreme.

(on camera): She says that a lot of what she said was taken out of context. What is your response to that?

SEN. HARRY REID (D), MAJORITY LEADER: It's a little hard to take out of context when somebody says they want to phase out social security, get rid of Medicare. Her words are what she is. My words is what I am. So I don't think you run from what you say and what you do.

ACOSTA (voice-over): A political wild card in the Tea Party's rise to power, Sharron Angle has two more months to convince voters to deal her in.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: All right. More on the Tea Party movement. Well, they say that they are a grassroots movement, but who actually provides the seed money? A New York writer has been looking into that very topic and we'll be talking to her in just a few minutes on her discoveries made.

And remains found in the rubble. The death toll may be rising in the neighborhood explosion in California. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Residents of a San Bruno, California, neighborhood will be escorted back home today. The neighborhood was devastated by a natural gas explosion and fire on Thursday, but people in the actual burn zone won't be among those going back. Also, the coroner's office is examining new remains found just last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERT FOUCRAULT, SAN MATEO COUNTY CORONER: We have found remains at a location, and we are in the process of conducting forensic tests.

QUESTION: How many bodies do you have so far from this disaster?

FOUCRAULT: We have four bodies. Three of them have been positively identified. We're working on the fourth. And as far as the remains that have been located, we're in the process of doing forensic tests.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: And they hope to have more information available on those remains later on today, in fact. We'll of course keep you posted.

Our Ted Rowlands is in San Bruno, and he has more now on the blast investigation.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Surveillance video from inside Lunardi's grocery store a quarter mile from the explosion shows the power of the blast and then chaos.

Watch closely. At first, people stop what they're doing. Then a few seconds later, the doors are literally pushed in by the force of the explosion. Frantic customers are seen running from one of the exits while others tried desperately to get out of the store.

One of the victims, 20-year-old Jessica Morales, worked at this very store. Jessica's friend, Dayna Hernandez, showed us Jessica's Facebook page, which today is filled with condolence messages. According to Dayna, Jessica's boyfriend who is hospitalized with third-degree burns was with Jessica when she died.

DAYNA HERNANDEZ, FRIEND OF VICTIM: He tried to go back in and save her, but he couldn't do anything because the fire, I guess, was getting there.

ROWLANDS: At least four people lost their lives in this tragedy, and cadaver dogs are being used to search for the missing. But because of the intensity of the blast it is possible, investigators say, the missing, if they were killed, may never be found.

Meanwhile, pressure is building for answers as to exactly what could have caused this explosion. SEN. BARBARA BOXER (D), CALIFORNIA: Many questions must be answered by all of us whose job it is to protect our people. What was the cause of this blast, of course, first and foremost? Were there reports that there were odors escaping from the pipeline? If there were those reports what actions took place in response to those complaints?

Does danger lie in similar pipelines in populated areas. Is there enough monitoring going on?

ROWLANDS: The local gas company, PG&E says they are scouring through records to verify reports that people smelled gas in the days before the explosion. More than 1,000 showed up to a community meeting and many of them demanding answers as to when they'd be able to get back into their homes and if their neighborhood is truly safe.

(on camera): The National Transportation Safety Board is the lead agency in the investigation. At this point, they have not come to any conclusions and they warn that it could take months before a cause is determined.

Ted Rowlands, CNN, San Bruno, California.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Firefighters in Colorado hope to have a destructive wildfire under control in the next couple of days. The Four Mile Canyon Fire ripped through several subdivisions near Boulder. At least 160 homes have been destroyed. The fire started Monday and evacuees still have not been allowed back in to that area.

And what started out as a threat from a small-time Florida preacher has turned into anti-American protests around the world. Well, today, those protests turned deadly.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(NEWSBREAK)

WHITFIELD: And more fallout from a Florida's pastor call to burn Korans. He canceled those plans, but that hasn't stopped the protests around the world. In Afghanistan, two protesters were killed in a demonstration that drew hundreds.

Atia Abawi reports from Kabul.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ATIA ABAWI, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: At least two people have been killed on a third day of protests here in Afghanistan against a Florida pastor and his planned Koran burning. Although the burning did not take place, the damage has already been done.

This time it took place in Logar province, the province just south of the capital province of Kabul in a district called Baraki Barak. The spokesperson for the governor there says that around 600 people gathered around the office of the district governor and wanted to burn it down.

That's when the Afghan national security forces came in to try to tame the crowd. Instead, shooting into it, killing those two and injuring at least four others. And although the burning did not take place, it seems as though this Florida pastor played straight into the hands of the insurgency because the insurgents here in Afghanistan will use this to continue to recruit Muslims and Afghans for many months to come.

Atia Abawi, CNN, Kabul.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Plans for a new Islamic centers across this country have sparked intense criticism and outrage. Well, now we want to show you a very different story.

One Tennessee church is choosing to welcome their new Muslim neighbors. Jamel Major from our Memphis affiliate WMC reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JAMEL MAJOR, REPORTER, WMC, TENNESSEE (voice-over): These words say it all.

STEVE STONE, PASTOR, HEARTSONG CHURCH: Once we put up the sign, probably within three days people from the Memphis Islamic Center contacted us and they were overwhelmed with emotion that we would be so welcoming.

MAJOR: Steve Stone, pastor of Heartsong Church, says when he heard about plans for the multimillion-dollar Memphis Islamic Center complex being built near his church, he knew he had to react.

STONE: I don't know a lot about Islam, and I didn't know -- I only knew one fellow who is a Muslim. And so, you know, I knew it was going to be a learning process for me, but we follow Jesus and he tells us to love our neighbors.

MAJOR: Stone says he hopes that by putting out a welcome mat for Muslims, it will send a strong message to those who may have associated Christians with being anti-Islam.

STONE: People that associate Christians with folks that are afraid of or don't like Muslims, I can't judge those people that are Christian. I just believe to take the name of Christ and to be hateful and do hateful things is a real insult.

MAJOR: To prove his point, Stone says the Heartsong Church congregation is taking its new relationship with members of the Memphis Islamic Center one step further.

STONE: Their facility was not quite finished -- still isn't. Then they came and asked us if they might be able to use our facility for the Ramadan prayers, which we took as a high compliment.

MAJOR: Stone says it's the beginning of a friendship he hopes will inspire others to love their neighbors.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Also, across this country Tea Party activists pride themselves on their independence. But who is paying the bills? We'll look into that.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right, take a look right here at the nation's capitol, a pretty sizeable turnout for the Tea Party Movement.

They're trying to rally the base leading into the last week of primaries before the November 2nd mid-term elections. We'll have much more on the Tea Party rallies taking place in Washington and other parts of the country, coming up.

Meantime, Tea Party activists portray themselves as a grass roots movement, but a new article says that it's largely bankrolled by two billionaire brothers, David and Charles Koch, brothers in their 70s who own some familiar business like Braun, (Dixie Cups) and (Steam Master) Carpet just to name a few.

Jane Mayer wrote the article about the Koch brothers recently for the "New Yorker" magazine and she's joining us right now from Washington. Good to see you.

JANE MAYER: Thanks so much. Great to be with you.

WHITFIELD: OK, so I'm wondering, you know, as you wrote about this article, you didn't get a chance to speak with the Koch brothers, but instead you reached out to a lot of people who were friends of theirs, business associates, people who were particularly pretty big fans of the Koch's, right?

MAYER: Well, certainly some were fans and some were critics. It was a shame, really, that the Koch brothers who were known for being kind of stealthy and secretive didn't take the opportunity to talk to the "New Yorker."

We asked for several months to be able to talk to them, but they actually don't like to give interviews about their political activities much so I spoke with some of their old friends and people who've worked with them over the years.

And really, I mean, I think what we were trying to do was to explain that there was this fascinating fact history that many people don't know to the Tea Party Movement.

WHITFIELD: Meaning, while these two brothers have not necessarily said publicly that they are big backers of the Tea Party, they do finance a group that helps train, right, help prepare people for these Tea Party Movement gatherings, correct?

MAYER: Yes, actually, David Koch, the two brothers. There's Charles Koch who lives in Wichita, Kansas and David Koch who lives in New York City, and between the two of them, they're worth, I guess, something like $35 billion, which means if you put their fortunes together, they're the third largest fortune in America, really.

And basically what David Koch has said that he has nothing to do with the Tea Party. He's never been asked to fund it and he's never gone to a Tea Party rally. But what he doesn't say and what I was writing about was that he actually founded an organization called "Americans for Prosperity."

And "Americans for Prosperity" itself has been one of the two central professional, political operations organizing the Tea Party. So what "Americans for Prosperity" does is it plans the rallies, it gets the speakers, it buses the protestors to the rallies.

At some point, they were making the placards for the protestors, and it basically provides next-day training also after the rally, so it takes the ordinary American citizen who feels so angry at the government, maybe, or just generally put out by the economy for obvious reasons -- it's been an awful economy -- it takes that anger and channels it in a certain political direction and organizes them kind of toward this kind of Tea Party - this agenda.

Basically what the Kochs have done, and they've been working at this for many, many years, even before the Tea Party Movement is, they've tried to turn Americans against the federal government because they --

WHITFIELD: But you were specifically there at the epicenter of an anti-Obama administration movement, not just government, but you write specifically that even friends are quoted saying that they -- these brothers are very anti-Obama and that is what's helping to fuel this movement.

MAYER: Well, certainly they've funded a lot of stealth attacks on Obama for many, many directions, so many that people in the political world talk about the Koch's organization something called the Kochtopus because it got tentacles in so many directions.

I mean, they have funded protests against the Obama stimulus, against the bailouts, against the health care policy, against the energy policies. They've basically, if you turn over a rock, you can find Koch money that's pushing against the Obama administration. So -- anyway.

WHITFIELD: OK, well, Jane, you know, I just want to pull a quote. You know, you write and kind of describe what they are all about, and you say that they're long-time libertarians who believe, quote, "in drastically lower personal and corporate taxes, minimal social resources for the needy and much less oversight of industry especially environmental regulation."

These views dovetail with the brothers' corporate interests. Is this consistent do you believe based on people you've talked to who are for or against the Koch brothers and what they're setting out to do?

Is this consistent with the Tea Party movement, the mantra, the message that is being sent?

MAYER: Well, I mean, I think the Tea Party Movement is a very amorphous thing. It represents -- more and more it seems to be kind of aligned with the far right of the Republican Party. But I think it represents all kinds of people who feel frustration right now.

And so what - I think what I've tried to do in this story was fill in the blanks and connect the dots, which show that these two incredibly powerful, wealthy industrialists actually have been pouring money into trying to channel the anger in America into an agenda that's good for their company, among other things.

So you do see sort of the Tea Party protesting things like environmental regulations, which seems kind of strange in some ways. But basically the "Americans for Prosperity" has come out swinging against things like cap and trade policies, against the environmental protection administration in every direction, which is what the Kochs are interested in because they have a history of polluting in a very big way.

And a recent study by the University of Massachusetts describes them as one of the top ten air polluters in the country.

WHITFIELD: So I wonder, Jane, have you heard from the Koch brothers in any way as a result of your article, which is in some ways complimentary. It talks about their rich and in other ways very scathing and critical?

MAYER: You know, not personally and I'm sorry about that. People tell me David Koch is a very charming man and I'm sure Charles Koch is a very smart man. I would have loved to talk to them. But unfortunately, they sort of like to operate behind the curtains.

WHITFIELD: OK. Well, Jane Mayer of the "New Yorker," fascinating article. We did actually pull a quote. This was a response from the Koch industries, a response to your reporting, and it says, quote, "We provided the "New Yorker" with a tremendous amount of information.

In hopes it would enable the publication to produce a balance and accurate portrayal of our company. Unfortunately, that information was largely omitted or ignored resulting in inaccuracy and see misstatements."

Koch industries, this is company being led by the two brothers, David and Charles. Koch industries goes on to say that, "the "New Yorker" accuses the Kochs of being covert in their support of free market.

Koch industries web site along with many other publicly available documents clearly state the philosophies and institutions we support," unquote. Any surprises there?

MAYER: Yes, it's just -- they were so covert they wouldn't answer a single from "The New Yorker" and the information they provided was actually just stuff on their web site. Anyway, you know, they're fascinating characters. They're huge players in American politics. The organization they found is pouring $35 million into the mid-term elections to push their political views and it would be great if they would speak more.

WHITFIELD: Jane Mayer, thanks so much to "The New Yorker." Appreciate your time.

MAYER: Good to be with you.

WHITFIELD: Reading, writing and gunfire drills. Students in Mexico learning survival skills in case bullets fly.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Get used to the word Igor. We started talking about it yesterday, and now we're going to be talking about it a lot more because it's bigger, it's stronger, it's fatter. Jacqui Jeras joining us now.

JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: I thought you were talking about Michael Jackson.

WHITFIELD: Yes, he's bad, too.

JERAS: Yes, anyway, unbelievable. I mean, this thing just intensified like crazy in the last couple of hours, and we literally skipped from a Category 2 and went right to a Category 4.

Now the National Hurricane Center wasn't planning on issuing an advisory on this until 5:00 Eastern time, and they just sent out a special statement because of this rapid intensification and saying that based on satellite imagery and they do some calculations to try and help estimate.

So this is still kind of an estimate. They don't actually have hurricane hunters that are flying into this thing right now, but they thing this is a Category 4 now with winds around 135 miles per hour, so certainly a very powerful, powerful hurricane.

Look at the eye on this thing. This is a huge eye. It's probably about 20 nautical miles wide so that is a very large storm. It's very symmetrical. All signs showing that this thing is intensifying. It could continue to do so, it's moving over very warm waters.

You can see what we call outflow. You can kind of see how we kind of see that layout or that splay out of some of those winds indicating that nice outflow and light wind conditions a lot.

So the track has been updated as well. It really hasn't changed in terms of the direction that we think it's going, but we did update the intensity here. It could get up to 150 miles an hour.

If you get over 155, we're talking about a Category 5 storm. So good news track brings it northerly, but we might get some scrapping of the storm based on its size and intensity certainly over the U.S. Virgin Islands of Puerto Rico.

We'll continue to monitor Igor and keep you up to date throughout the weekend and into next week as well.

WHITFIELD: How ominous. Thank you, Jacqui.

JERAS: Sure.

WHITFIELD: All right, every child has been through one during the school year, the fire drill, right? Well, at one school in Mexico, students are practicing gunfire drills.

They're learning what to do when bullets start flying there. It's just another disturbing sign for Juarez, Mexico's most violent city because of a war among drug cartels. Here's CNN's Rafael Romo.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RAFAEL ROMO, SENIOR LATIN AMERICAN AFFAIRS EDITOR, CNN WORLDWIDE: At the blow of a whistle, children immediately dropped to the ground and covered their heads.

This is not a physical education exercise. For these children in Juarez, the most violent city in Mexico, it's a lesson that may save their lives.

We teach them not to run, says this police officer in charge of the training, who adds that the most important thing is for kids not to panic and start running in all directions.

The security program was created earlier this year after a man was shot to death just outside his school. The school now looks like a military compound with bars all around it and barbed wire over its walls.

This father of a student at that school said the shooting happened during recess when some parents bring snacks to their children and students get out to the playground. Somebody could have been killed by a stray bullet.

This school principal is grateful that so far no children have been killed or wounded despite the frequent violence around schools. It is very unfortunate that our children nowadays have to live in this environment, says this school principal who fully supports the security training program.

There was some controversies surrounding the program when the governor of the state of Chihuahua where Juarez is located said it sent the wrong message.

But school officials say their priority is to keep children safe, and this program may do just that if shooting erupts just outside the classroom. Rafael Romo, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE) WHITFIELD: All right, back to this country. With mid-term elections just weeks away, negative political advertising is getting personal, Democrats, Republicans and their political strategies. That's coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Time for a CNN Equals Politics update. We're keeping you on all the latest headlines on the cnn.com political ticker. First stop, an influx of money in the Republican Senate primary in Delaware, the Tea Party Express is putting as much as $250,000 behind their candidate, Christine O'Donnell. The Republican party's candidate of choice is Mike Castle.

And Republican House Leader John Boehner said he may side with Democrats on their tax plan. He says he'll support the president's plan to extend some Bush era tax cuts if there is no better option.

And be sure to check out the CNN 100. We're taking a closer look inside the top 100 House races heading into the critical mid-term elections. Today is Illinois. It's the Illinois 17th. That race may be a good indicator of how the country could swing.

All right about $73 million has been spent on congressional races so far this year and it's just now beginning to heat up. If you want to know the political strategies for the mid-terms, all you have to do is turn on your television these days. Here now is CNN congressional correspondent, Brianna Keilar.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is congressional candidate John Runyon's house. Nice isn't it? It cost millions.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When it comes to political ads in this election cycle, Democrats are getting personal.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Runyon doesn't call it a house. He tried to call it a farm. Runyon bought one donkey to try to get a tax break by saying he lives on a farm.

KEILAR: Desperate and dishonest. That's what Republican John Runyon's campaign calls this ad by his opponent, John Adler. But many Democrats are following the same strategy, says Evan Tracey, a campaign ad analyst.

EVAN TRACEY, CAMPAIGN MEDIA ANALYSIS GROUP: They're going basically looking for those skeletons. They're looking for things that will disqualify an opponent that they can highlight in their ad so you can at least win by bringing down your opponent.

KEILAR: Or by trying to paint them as extreme like incumbent Florida Democrat Suzanne Kosmas who is using her opponent's own words against her. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sandy Adams says some strange ideas. Can you think what the amendments to the U.S. constitution you think should be repealed?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: 16 and 17, we need to go back to the way our forefathers wanted us to having senator.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: --would take away our right to vote and let Tallahassee politicians pick our senators?

KEILAR (on camera): As Democrats zero in on something negative about their opponents, Republicans are going a different route with their ads, hoping to nationalize elections by blaming Democrats for the bad economy and accusing them of being in lockstep with leaders in Washington.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Joe Donnelly claims he's independent, but he's voted with Nancy Pelosi 88 percent of the time for the Obama-Pelosi health care plan, the Wall Street bailout, even the $80 billion stimulus that failed.

KEILAR: You could put many Democrats who are in tough races in the exact same spot he's in this ad.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right and that's the strategy right now, the president has got low poll numbers, low popularity. He's the head of the Democratic right now so the Republicans are going to attach him to every race they can this fall.

KEILAR (voice-over): In West Virginia rural first district, this Republican ad never even mentions the Democratic opponent.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Enough of record job loss, enough of Barack Obama and Nancy Pelosi? Enough of the attacks on West Virginia jobs? If you had enough, David McKinley for Congress.

KEILAR: Brianna Keilar, CNN, Washington.

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WHITFIELD: A church destroyed on 9/11 still planning to rebuild nine years later. Why the members say they're not getting enough help?

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WHITFIELD: As the debate over the proposed Islamic center near Ground Zero rages on, there is lesser known fight over another place of worship virtually at the same site. Mary Snow has that story.

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MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is the last known image of St. Nicholas moments before the south tower of the World Trade Center collapsed, crushing the church. Leaders of the church were able salvage only a few items.

Along with prayer came a vow to rebuild the small church that was home to about 70 families, but nothing has happened.

(on camera): Nine years later, you look around, you see all this construction. St. Nicholas is nowhere to be found. How hard of a struggle has this been?

PETER DRAKOULIAS, ST. NICOLAS CHURCH EXECUTIVE BOARD: It's been trying, to say the least. There's no doubt about that. I think from day one, we recognized we were a very small piece of a very large puzzle. We still have hope that we will be rebuilt on the same site, but to be honest, at this point in time, it might be frustrating.

SNOW (voice-over): Frustrating says Peter Drakoulias, a board member of St. Nicolas because the church's location is at the Ground Zero site and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey is overseeing construction there.

Rebuilding includes using public money. Years of negotiations have gone nowhere and with so much focus on the proposed Islamic site near Ground Zero, the plight of St. Nicolas has gone virtually unnoticed.

(on camera): Does it bother you that Christians have come out against that community center, but not in support of your church?

DRAKOULIAS: No, the Cordoba house in St. Nicolas are two entirely separate issues.

SNOW (voice-over): Separate issues, yes, but church leaders recently stood with politicians opposed to the Islamic center to draw attention to the stalemate, saying the Port of Authority stopped negotiating.

BISHOP ANDONIOS OF PHASIANE, CHANCELLOR, GREEK ORTHODOX ARCHDIOCESE OF AMERICA: It's unfortunate that it took a controversy over a mosque to bring attention to the St. Nicolas church.

SNOW: But the Port Authority has a very different version of events saying it was St. Nicolas that rejected its offer of a new site for the church.

STEPHEN SIGMUND, PORT AUTHORITY OF NEW YORK AND NEW JERSEY: What the question always was, was whether tens of millions of public dollars should be spent to move the site to a different location on the World Trade Center site to build a church six times the size of the original church. And to make sure that any arrangement for that did not further delay the World Trade Center site.

SNOW: The church says it wasn't demanding so much space.

(on camera): There are people that is this is all about money. What do you say to them?

DRAKOULIAS: If this was all about money and we wanted money, we would have taken deals offered to us decades ago for St. Nicolas and moved somewhere else. It's never been about money.

SNOW: What is it about? DRAKOULIAS: It's about building on or near our original site, the birthright that St. Nicolas has to go back to that site where it was for 85 years prior to 9/11.

SNOW: The Port Authority says the church has always retained the right to rebuild on the original site, but at this point, work would have to begin in 2013 after construction is completed the site.

The church says, it's holding out hope something can be worked out before that.

Mary Snow, CNN, New York.