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Developing America's Workforce; Terror Alert for Americans; Watching Your Credit Score; The Sad Outcome of Bullying in America; One California Church Trying to Integrate

Aired October 04, 2010 - 11:00   ET

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

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Drew, good to see you. Have a good day, sir.

Good morning everyone. Live from Studio 7 at CNN world headquarters, the big stories today, Monday, October 4th.

A vague but worrisome caution for Americans in Europe. Intelligence points to a possible terror strike on tourist hot spots.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You only live once. I mean, what are you going to do? I can't let these people terrorize me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: A father on a mission to save someone else's child. He lost his own to bullying. Now he wants government to make it a crime.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was responsible for my son's safety.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: And good morning, everyone. I'm Tony Harris.

Those stories and your comments right here, right now in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Your job, the nation's economy, the focus today for President Obama. The president's Economic Recovery Advisory Board meets with him three hours from now in the State Dining room.

Let's bring in our senior White House correspondent, Ed Henry.

Ed, as always, good to see you.

What's the agenda for today's meeting?

ED HENRY, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is an outside group of economic advisers not on the White House staff, by and large. And you've got the outside chiefs at GE and Caterpillar. You also have graybeards like the former Fed chairman, Paul Volcker. So it's supposed to be sort of a breath of fresh air, some outside advice, maybe give the president some new ideas. He meets with them every few months or so.

And specifically, what they want to do today is focus on the long term. White House officials say there is going to be a lot of discussion about education, specifically working with community colleges, because they keep hearing from the private sector, as his administration tries to create jobs, that they need more highly- skilled workers to compete in the global economy.

So the president is going to be laying out a new initiative. Basically, it's going to be looking at how to link up community colleges with corporate America. It's going to be talking about focusing, making sure every state has at least one high-impact partnership with these community colleges.

The president also urging the private sector to work with community colleges to help achieve a goal he laid out recently of having an additional five million community college degrees by 2020. All leading up to Tuesday's first-ever White House summit on community colleges. It's going to be run in part by Dr. Jill Biden. Of course, Joe Biden's wife, who is a community college professor. The president will also be at that event on Tuesday when they do that summit.

What's interesting, though, of course, is this is all long-term important stuff, but not about short-term job growth. And I think this is an acknowledgment in part by the White House of the political reality of the situation.

Congress has gone home. They're out campaigning, lawmakers in both parties. So none of the president's sort of tax cut initiatives, some of the infrastructure spending that he laid out a few weeks ago with a big fanfare, none of that is going to be dealt with before the election. If anything, it will be done after the election, a lame duck session of Congress, or next year -- Tony.

HARRIS: That's right.

All right. Our senior White House correspondent, Ed Henry, for us.

Ed, good to see you. Thank you.

HENRY: Good to see you.

HARRIS: Let's bring in our Money team now for a closer look at the president's economic challenges.

Joining me from New York, CNN Chief Business Correspondent Ali Velshi, and our Christine Romans.

For both of you, first of all, it's good to see you together again.

ALI VELSHI, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: And you. It's good to be together.

HARRIS: How about that?

HARRIS: Let's start with Christine, because I've missed you so.

If you were in the room today, leading this meeting of this advisory board, what would top your agenda?

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Retraining. Ali and I were just talking about this, how you get an economy that is moving much more quickly away from what people can do and what people expect than we would like to see.

We've got a lot of people out of work, Tony. We've got a real problem here with a big chunk of society that hasn't prepared by (ph) our education system, that doesn't have a job waiting for it on the other end, and we don't know how long that big chunk of society is going to be left out. It's about safety nets. But beyond safety nets, it's got to be about retraining and finding people a place in the labor market.

HARRIS: Yes.

So, Ali, what do you want to hear from this roundtable of smart people? The ideas -- what do you want to hear?

VELSHI: Well, there are a couple of things that are going on that are important here.

One is that the president is involving corporate America, which is actually in relatively better health than the economy as a whole. And he's involved in community colleges to deal with retraining people.

So Christine and I talk about this a lot. What you have in this country is a whole lot of people unemployed because their skills are not suited to the world that we've got now. Some of them are construction workers and some of them are manufacturing workers.

What you also have is an economy that is growing and needs workers in alternative energy, in engineering, in accounting, in teaching, in things like that. And we need a way to figure out how to get this pile of people who are unemployed into this pile where there is demand. And we don't actually have a system for that, Tony.

It sounds reasonable, but it means you and me looking up and seeing where the jobs are in demand, and then going to some kind of community college or even a university course and training for it. That doesn't exist, so I think that's where the discussion is starting, to say that in addition to the immediate needs, as Christine said, of a social net of dealing with the people who are out of work, what are we doing for our longer term?

But as Christine also mentions, it's not just this conversation. We have to deal with immigration and we have to deal with long-term education. Are we bringing kids through the public school and the high school system in a way that feeds the science and technology and education and mathematics disciplines that we're going to need to fill jobs for in the future? HARRIS: Yes.

Jump in here, Christine. I think I sense that you want to add to this.

ROMANS: Well, I do, because this is such a big, important question, Tony. And we don't have any margin for error here. We can't get it wrong.

This is now the time to seize, to match this up, or we're going to have millions, tens of millions of people, left behind with what the economy looks like on the other side when the recovery really takes hold. I mean, there are some who argue that we have an education system that is still built for a time when you had people who could graduate at 18 from high school and get a great factory job.

VELSHI: Right. And that doesn't exist anymore.

ROMANS: A great factory job that would eventually pay them $60,000 or $70,000 --

VELSHI: You could have joined the police department, you could have joined the fire department. You can't do that kind of stuff anymore. You need further education for everything right now.

And that's the problem, because, you know, Tony, when you look at this economy, not everybody is suffering. There are a lot of people who are in jobs. You have a whole segment of society that's suffering.

HARRIS: Absolutely.

VELSHI: And you stand in danger of having a whole new group of people graduating from high school not ready to compete. So this is a major and serious problem.

It should be noted, though, as Ed said, the president is talking to companies, major companies like Gap, McDonald's. They're all in the room this afternoon.

ROMANS: Hey, Tony, I want to bring one thing up.

HARRIS: Sure.

ROMANS: The very top of "The Wall Street Journal," "Companies in the U.S. are rebounding quickly from the recession and posting near- historic results, the result of aggressive retooling during the recession."

Companies are coming out the other side of it. But where has that left the people, the people who used to work at those companies and the people who vote in November? Don't forget about that.

HARRIS: That's terrific. It's good to see you guys back together again.

Christine, welcome back. I know you have been back a few days now, but it's the first time I've had an opportunity to say welcome back.

It's good to see you both.

And Christine, we'll see you in a couple minutes.

ROMANS: Thanks, Tony.

HARRIS: Thanks, Ali.

ROMANS: OK. Bye.

(NEWSBREAK)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: You know, they're not saying don't go, but the government is alerting Americans in Europe to keep their eyes open. U.S. troops told not to wear uniforms off base. There are indications al Qaeda may try to hit hotels, restaurants and transportation hubs, what are known as soft targets.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm probably more cautious and I look around a little more, maybe. But we always try to be cautious. I refuse to let terrorists do what they think they're doing, which is to terrorize me.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What can one do about it? You go, you try to be as safe as possible. Even here, there could be a bomb scare here.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If you took it to heart, you wouldn't ever leave the house. So, I mean, for travelers, I would be worried (INAUDIBLE) worried. But, you know, I think everybody is going to have to live with it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: So, intelligence officials say an al Qaeda cell with links to 9/11 hijacker Mohammed Atta is at the heart of the terror alert. Sources tell CNN the group based in Hamburg, Germany, traveled to Pakistan's tribal regions for training.

Now, the terror alert raises the obvious question here: What can Americans in Europe, both civilian and military, do about it all?

Let's bring in our homeland security correspondent, Jeanne Meserve.

Jeanne, good to see you.

My understanding is that one of the members of this group is in custody and is said to be cooperating with U.S. authorities?

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. His name, Tony, is Ahmed Sidiqi. He's a German citizen of Afghan descent. He was arrested in Afghanistan in July, and western intelligence officials say he is the source of some of this intelligence information that has them so concerned.

According to German intelligence, in early 2009, Sidiqi and 10 others left Hamburg for the tribal areas of Afghanistan where they joined a jihadist group. Sidiqi has told interrogators that one member of the group was to be a foot soldier in the plot, others were helping to plan it.

The plot of course having to do with multiple attacks against sites in Europe. This is one of several threads of threat information currently being followed. It is the accumulation of intelligence that led the U.S. to issue this travel alert this weekend, urging Americans to take precautions when traveling in Europe.

Also, as you mentioned, U.S. troops in Europe were put under a curfew Friday night, were told not to wear uniforms off their base. The FBI and Department of Homeland Security have sent a bulletin to domestic law enforcement. It says there is no indication that a threat is directed specifically at the United States, but nonetheless urges them to be vigilant. In addition, a Homeland Security official says that briefings are being given to the private sector, including hotels and commercial properties, about this current threat -- Tony.

HARRIS: OK, Jeanne. Appreciate it. Thank you.

Your credit score too low, and you might not be able to make that big purchase. We will show you how to improve it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: So, a new report is out about your credit score. What does it mean for your bottom line and your ability to get a loan?

Christine Romans is back with us from New York with details and some tips.

Christine, where do you want to start here?

ROMANS: I want to start with, Tony, this scary news that a third of Americans cannot afford to get a mortgage because their credit scores are under 620. They were unable -- a third of people were unable to even get one quote on a home loan. They don't even qualify for a mortgage. This is new data from Zillow Marketplace.

The good news out of that report, about 47 percent of consumers have good credit with scores of 720 or higher. So you've got a big chunk of people who cannot even afford to borrow money, can't even get a quote on a home.

Take a look at this, Tony. The number of people who have a credit score above 720, they qualify for the lowest interest rates, and they're most likely to get a loan. But still, too many people shut out. The economy can't really prosper when so many people can't borrow money.

HARRIS: So, Christine, when you look at this number, especially in this economy, break that down. What is it going to get and take, really, to get yourself a good loan?

ROMANS: Well, besides having a decent credit score, Greg McBride, the senior financial analyst at BankRate.com, he always tells us, Tony, you've got to break it down for consumers like this: anything above 700, you're good to borrow money; 740 and higher, you can borrow at the very lowest interest rates.

Remember, the higher the credit score, the less you're going to pay in interest. That's important. Below 680, it's going to be more expensive, or you're simply going to have trouble borrowing.

The other factors that go into getting a good loan have to do with how much you can put down as a down payment, your proof of income, a lot of other things. But that credit score is incredibly important. Money in the bank, and proof that you can pay.

HARRIS: So, if you've got a low score right now, part of your message to us is that we shouldn't obsess about it.

ROMANS: I think too many people, Tony, get all caught up in the number, the number, the number. If you aren't going to borrow money for six months to a year, the most important thing for you to do is to pay your bills on time, pay the minimums, check your payment history, check annualcreditreport.com, the free one the government allows you to have. See the payment history, make sure there is not a mistake on there. Fix it.

What the credit agencies want to know, is your credit maxed out? Keep your balances low. That will help. The length of your credit history is still important.

Don't go out there opening all these new store cards, especially if you're having trouble with your credit score. You don't need all that credit that's so hard to get -- easy to get trapped up in. And the types of credit you're using.

These are all the things that make up your credit score. Take a look at all of those, and be careful where you tread if you're going to borrow money.

If you're not going to borrow money in the next six to 12 months, pay your bills on time. Fix mistakes on your credit history. Those are the two most important things you can do.

Somebody at FICO, Tony, once told me that time heals all wounds. If you have a bad credit score, time will heal your credit score if you pay your minimums on time and don't go out there opening up new credit.

HARRIS: Yes, that does make sense. All right, Christine. Good stuff. Thank you.

ROMANS: Bye.

HARRIS: We are welcoming a new set of hosts to CNN. "PARKER/SPITZER" kicks off tonight 8:00 Eastern Time. Here's what they're all about. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ELIOT SPITZER, CO-HOST, "PARKER/SPITZER": Let's take a moment and explain what we're trying to do with this show. When I think about it, the single-most important thing to me is ideas. We may be from the left and right, or right and left, but you know what? We are both tired of hearing the same old talking points night after night.

KATHLEEN PARKER, CO-HOST, "PARKER/SPITZER": Absolutely, Elliot. I'm so tired of being liberal, conservative, left, right, because the truth is, in our morning meeting, for example, you know, some of the things you said made you sound like a conservative.

SPITZER: I got worried when you told me that.

PARKER: Some of the things I said could be construed as or called liberal. Right?

SPITZER: Absolutely.

PARKER: So, you know, I think the bigger point is we're different people, we come at things in a different way. I'm from the South, you're from the North. I'm a journalist, you're a politician.

SPITZER: Not usually said as a compliment, but this time I'm going to take it that way.

PARKER: Yes, absolutely. I mean, as we say in the South, in the nicest possible way, bless your heart.

SPITZER: Yes, I have heard that from my in-laws from North Carolina. When they say it, I'm in deep trouble.

But, you know, Kathleen, the most important thing is every day we get to the office, having though about something we want to talk to the public about, something that is driving us, burning a passion that we want to explain.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: Hear more about this new show when Kathleen Parker and Eliot Spitzer join me live next hour, right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(WEATHER REPORT)

HARRIS: And still to come in the NEWSROOM, a gut-wrenching story of a father's crusade against bullying. He is keeping a promise even though it is too late to help his little boy.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Tragedy uniting a campus. Hundreds of people turned out last night, mourning the death of a Rutgers University freshman most of them didn't even know. Tyler Clementi jumped off the George Washington Bridge to his death. His sexual encounter with another man was streamed online, allegedly by two other classmates.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And the fact that someone -- two people could be so cruel to him, it's just really upsetting.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Four kids around the country in three weeks committed suicide. It's not a Rutgers thing, it's a teenage thing where hate is the American value at this point.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: Tyler Clementi's death is raising awareness of online bullying.

Now, shortly before this case came to light, a CNN/Opinion Research poll asked teenagers if they had ever been ridiculed, humiliated, or verbally or physically threatened by another child either in person or online. Take a look at the results here. Thirty-seven percent said yes, 63 percent no. When asked if they had ever been afraid to go to school because of such actions by another child, only eight percent said yes, 92 percent said no.

Got to tell you, the battle against bullying is a very personal one for a father whose little boy committed suicide.

Our Carol Costello reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Kirk Smalley is on a mission. There he is an honored guest at Oklahoma City's Western Heights High School trying to put a stop to bullying.

KIRK SMALLEY, TY SMALLEY'S FATHER: I have to make a difference. I promised my son on father's day this year I'd stop this from happening to another child.

COSTELLO: For years, Smalley's son, Thank you, struggled with a bully at school.

(on camera): And when you say he was being picked on, how was he being picked on?

SMALLEY: Name calling, Ty was always kind of small. Shove here, push there.

COSTELLO: His father says Ty was a typical kid with typical grades who took the abuse for two years. On the day Ty finally decided to push back physically, he got into trouble. He was suspended from school. For Ty, that was too much to bear. On that day last May, he killed himself. He was 11 years old.

SMALLEY: Ultimately, my son's safety rested in my hands. I was responsible for my son's safety. I don't hold -

COSTELLO: That's a harsh thing to say about yourself. I mean -

SMALLEY: I'm his dad.

COSTELLO: I know but he's out in the world -

SMALLEY: It's my job to protect him. No matter what, no matter where he was, it was my job to protect him.

COSTELLO (voice-over): But how do you protect your child from a bully? Assistant deputy Education secretary Kevin Jennings was appointed by President Obama to keep kids safe at school. Ty's story could have easily been his own.

(on camera): Were you bullied in school?

KEVIN JENNINGS, ASST. DEP. EDUCATION SECRETARY: Like many kids I was bullied very severely when I was in junior high and high school. And the first day of 10th grade, I actually refused to go back to school because I simply wasn't going to go back to a place where I got bullied every day.

COSTELLO (voice-over): Jennings organized the nation's first ever bullying summit. But he admits it's a baby step. Experts can't even agree on how to define bullying. Is it physical, electronic, psychological, nonverbal, or all of the above?

(on camera): When might something happen? When might the federal government act and say these are the guidelines we want to put in place, do it?

JENNINGS: I think that it's taken us a long time to develop a bullying problem and it's going to take us some time to solve it.

COSTELLO (voice-over): It's why there are no federal guidelines schools must follow to deal with bullying. They're on their own. In Smalley's home state of Oklahoma, each school deals with bullying in different ways. It's something else that infuriates Smalley.

SMALLEY: A lot of schools around the country their answer to bullying is they let the victim leave a little bit early. They let them go home early to get a head start on the bully. You're singling this child out. This child is being picked on. You're singling him out now.

COSTELLO: Real solutions will come too late for Ty, but Kirk Smalley is on that mission.

SMALLEY: We've kept this alive through the summer.

COSTELLO: It's why he organizes vigils at the Oklahoma State House. He thinks bullying ought to be a crime and it's why he tries to convince other kids to stand up for the bully.

SMALLEY: Save the fragile self-esteem, save their lives.

COSTELLO: It's his promise to a boy who loved his family, hunting, and the St. Louis Cardinals.

SMALLEY: We haven't done Ty's last load of laundry because it still smells like him. We haven't washed his sheets because I can go in there and lay on his bed and still smell my boy. And you want to learn what bullying and suicide's all about, you talk to the people directly who it affects the most.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: 41 states now have anti bullying laws on the books. Some are effective, some not. That's why it's so important that we get those federal guidelines in place.

And Mr. Smalley, if you are listening, Kevin Jennings, the Deputy Secretary of Education, says thank you for sharing your story, because stories like Ty Smalley's, stories like that, are going to get something done quicker. Because, Tony, as we all know, the government moves very slowly and we need those federal guidelines in place.

HARRIS: Boy, that story breaks your heart.

Hey, Carol, what did the school do here?

COSTELLO: The school says that Mr. Smalley and his wife never complained about Ty being bullied in school. They have no written record. Mr. Smalley disputes that. He said, yes, they did call.

But you know what, when you call a school, who knows who you talk to? who knows if anything is written down. There was no documentation. And that's something else that Mr. Smalley thinks needs to change. He thinks schools ought to be required to document cases of bullying. And when a parent calls in and says, hey, my kid's having a problem, write it down somewhere, so at least the school has a record and they can better deal with it in the years to come.

HARRIS: You know what, I think we'll run that piece certainly if not next hour, we'll run it a few more times this week. That's some strong -- that's a strong story.

Carol, thank you.

COSTELLO: If you want to see more of Mr. Smalley's interview, by the way, it was six minutes long, it's quite powerful. CNN.com/amfix. You can see the whole interview and the takeaway is valuable.

HARRIS: You know what that may be a better -- yes, yes, yes. Maybe we'll do a combination of both.

Thanks, Carol. Thank you.

COSTELLO: Thank you, Tony.

Bullying in our schools and now online. Why do kids do it? And what stops it? An "ANDERSON COOPER 360" special report you shouldn't miss. It starts tonight at 10:00 Eastern, right here on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: So let's take a look at top stories now.

A travel advisory over terror concerns circulating for Americans in Europe. It warns U.S. citizens to take commonsense safety precautions. The State Department has not asked people to cancel or change any flight or travel plans.

The Supreme Court is back in session with newly sworn in Justice Elena Kagan taking her place on the bench. High profile cases on the docket include free speech rights for anti-gay protesters at Military funerals.

And Rahm Emanuel gets face time with the people of Chicago. He is kicking off his campaign to be their next mayor with a listening tour this morning.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: The world of cancer. Brain cancer in particular, is buzzing a bit because of a study that is expected out later today. It involves a new treatment, a type of vaccine, and when preliminary results were made public in June, the benefits were dramatic.

Now, our chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, has been following this trial for a while. He actually met with patients and doctors nearly two years ago and he says it is pretty remarkable.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I heard you also volunteered to do a spinal tap today.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is Karen Vaneman. She's bracing for another painful procedure. You see, she's got cancer. Brain cancer, a killer tumor called glioblastoma.

(on camera): Glioblastoma -- glioblastoma multiforme GBM, this is -- this typically thought of as the worst type of tumor. Why?

DR. ALLAN FRIEDMAN, DEPARTMENT DIRECTOR, PRESTON ROBERT TISCH BRAIN TUMOR CENTER: Oh, because left untreated, the patient succumbs to the disease very quickly.

GUPTA (voice-over): Even with aggressive treatment, average survival is barely a year.

VANEMAN: Oh good to meet you.

GUPTA (on camera): How are you?

VANEMAN: I'm fine. Thank you.

GUPTA: Are you ok today?

(voice-over): But here at the Preston Robert Tisch Brain Tumor Center Karen found hope, an experimental vaccine. The vaccine has a futuristic name. It's called CDX-110. It uses the body's own immune system to attack tumor cells. It won't work on every GBM patient, just the 40 percent or so whose tumors make one particular protein.

In those patients it goes off like a smart bomb. Now, Karen gets a shot, a painful one, every month. But look at the results. We were able to pay her another visit, a full year later. Remember, most patients don't even live that long.

VANEMAN: It's been about a year and a half. As long as the vaccine works, then I'll be getting the monthly shots. And when it doesn't work, then I'm in trouble.

GUPTA (voice-over): Dr. John Sampson helped develop the experimental treatment.

(on camera): What can we say about this vaccine now? In terms of educating a patient about it, what do you tell them in terms of what it promises?

DR. JOHN SAMPSON, PRESTON ROBERT TISCH BRAIN TUMOR CENTER: We're always careful not to overpromise what something can deliver. And this is still in an experimental stage. But patients are living two to three times longer with the vaccine than we would have expected.

GUPTA (voice-over): Preliminary study results made public in June were slightly less dramatic, but still, on average, compared to standard therapy, the vaccine nearly doubled survival time. As much as six years in some cases with no signs of returning cancer.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN reporting.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: And time now for the latest from the CNNPolitics.com desk. And our senior White House correspondent Ed Henry, part of the Best Political Team on Television, joining us from Washington, D.C.

Ed, great to see you again. What's crossing?

ED HENRY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good to see you, Tony. Here at the White House, the first day the Obama administration that Rahm Emanuel -- first weekday that Rahm Emanuel is not serving as chief of staff. You know, he's out there in Chicago, running for mayor already. Pete Rouse, the interim chief of staff. But, will Rendell be the new Rahm, as in Ed Rendell?

The outgoing Governor of Pennsylvania told Bloomberg News over the weekend that the White House chief of staff would be the only job in the administration that he would want, that he would take. I've talked to some top Democrats who say they think he could be a strong contender, especially if the president's dealing with a Republican Congress, he is very aggressive and tough. But Rendell, himself, acknowledged the president is unlikely to go outside his small circle of advisers to pick someone like Rendell with the governor saying, quote, "If I were president, I am not sure I would offer Ed Rendell the job. I am a free spirit." So already talking himself down, not sure he's going to get it.

On to West Virginia, some beautiful country there. Our own Dana Bash is chronicling the race where the popular Democratic Governor Joe Manchin was supposed to be somewhat of a shoe-in to replace the late Senator Robert Byrd there. He's now facing stiff resistance, some voters telling Dana, that basically like the governor, very popular there, but they think he might be a rubber stamp for the Democratic agenda. And the governor himself telling Dana he's facing what he thinks is a wave against his party right now, something to watch in a lot of these key Senate battles.

And finally, on to Nevada, where the Republican Party Chairman Michael Steel basically was at a rally on Sunday, trying to help Sharron Angle, the Republican, defeat the Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. There's been a lot of talk in that race that maybe because Angle is a Tea Party favorite that the Republican party establishment is not behind her, and that division may help re-elect Reid. Steele basically said nonsense. In his words, the GOP and the Tea {arty are, quote, "locked hand-in-hand to defeat Reid."

Our all-platform journalist Chris Welch on the ground in Las Vegas. I tell you, I am jealous of Chris. It's been raining in Washington here for a few days now. Oh, to be in the Las Vegas desert right now playing golf or something like that, Tony.

HARRIS: Or where I just returned from, Antigua, in the Caribbean.

HENRY: Lucky you.

HARRIS: Good stuff, good stuff.

All right. Good to see you, sir.

Your next political update in an hour. And for the latest political news, you know where to go, CNNPolitics.com.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BUSINESS HEADLINES)

HARRIS: Speaking of next hour, how do you teach your children the value of money? In the next hour, two economist who also happen to be parents, share their views on raising money-smart kids.

Plus, we talk to CNN's two newest headliners, Kathleen Parker and Eliot Spitzer. Ready to take on news of the day and one another.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Martin Luther King, Jr. once described 11:00 Sunday morning as the most segregated hour in America. Ted Rowlands looks at one African-American church trying to change that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Sunday's service at Christ our Redeemer AME Church in Orange County, California. The church started 12 years ago by Reverend Mark Whitlock, 3,000 strong and growing. Here they practice something many other black churches do not: integration.

REV. MARK WHITLOCK, CHRIST OUR REDEEMER AME: The church is still the most segregated place on Sunday in the United States. Our goal is do what heaven has accomplished. Heaven is fully integrated.

ROWLANDS: African-Americans make up two percent of the population in Orange County, which makes integration here almost essential for growth. But Whitlock argues it should be happening at every church because he says unlike the past, most of the issues that blacks, whites, and everybody else struggle with are all the same.

WHITLOCK: We have problems with our kids, we have problems with bills, we have problems on the job.

ROWLANDS: But not everybody thinks integrating the black church is such a good idea. Michael Reel is the managing former editor of the "Baptist Voice" and co-editor of reelurbannews.com.

MICHAEL REEL, REELURBANNEWS.COM: It's ours. It's the one last place in the world that we have that we can call our own.

WHITLOCK: We have whites on our board. They look different than blacks. Yes. They speak up a little more than blacks. Yes. But that means they feel a sense of freedom, they feel a sense of belonging. If other churches aren't doing it, are they really practicing authentic Christianity? It really is about bringing changes to our community.

ROWLANDS: Ted Rowlands, CNN, Irvine, California.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: Fighting a financial crisis from the pulpit. The black church has fought for civil and human rights and now it is waging a war on debt. "Almighty Debt." A Black in America special coming Thursday, October 21st at 9:0 p.m. Eastern only on CNN.