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Drill Reaches Chilean Miners Trapped 2,300 Feet Underground; Negative Ads Begin to Proliferate In Some Midterm Campaigns; New Senate Report Indicates Military Incompetence and Corruption In Afghanistan; Sarah Palin Hints She May Be Considering a Run For President in 2012

Aired October 09, 2010 - 10:00   ET

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

T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everybody. It's 10:00 Eastern time here in Atlanta, Georgia, where I sit. I'm T.J. Holmes. We are following a breaking story out of Chile this morning. The folks are celebrating. Let me show and tell you why.

At the site where 33 miners have been trapped since August the 5th, some two months these guys have been down there underground some 2,300 feet below, but it just a couple of hours ago rescuers were finally able to cut through. They've been drilling literally a 2,300 foot hole down to the mine where the men have been trapped.

They finally broke through. That is a milestone. That's a big deal for this rescue. Again, about a half mile down, and just because they broke through it doesn't mean guys would immediately start coming up.

This is earlier as well. We saw hugs. We saw music. We saw people waving Chilean flags. We also have new video of trucks arriving as part of this rescue effort. These trucks are carrying the casing that may have to be used to try to reinforce that tunnel that's been dug.

If they have to use the casing it could still be another ten days before they start bringing miners up. I don't know. They haven't made the decision if they'll use it. But still, they have it on site.

A moment ago we spoke with the president of the drilling company that had a major breakthrough this morning. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RAUL LYON, VICE PRESIDENT, GEOTECH: Our partners, associates from the U.S. have been helpful. Then just the team, the team plan every day, plan "a." plan "b." plan "c." We had many problems along the way. We were stuck in the hole several times. We wanted to make progress. And we had patience. We have patience and we solve the problems as they come along.

(END VIDEO CLIP) HOLMES: Patrick Oppmann has been at the scene for us this morning. He was there when the celebration essentially broke out. Patrick is on the line with us. Patrick, hello to you once again. Yes, there was celebration that broke out today, but still, this is just the next phase of the rescue.

PATRICK OPPMANN, CNN ALL PLATFORM JOURNALIST: That's absolutely correct. And it's a very important phase. This is something they've been trying to do now for over a month, drill down to these men, and they've had a very difficult time doing it, throwing three drills at this problem.

You heard the president say there were certain days where they could not breakthrough this hard Chilean mountain rock, but that's what they did at 8:01 this morning. The drill team broke through. And we heard as much celebration among the drillers as with the family members.

The miners, we've been told, are taking this very calm. They're somewhat serene. They're preparing for what comes next. What comes next is going to be as difficult an ordeal as they've already gone through.

Once the hole is properly prepared, the rescue capsule will be sent down. Two initial rescue workers, one is described as an expert mine rescue personnel person who will go down with a Chilean special forces Navy member. And they'll essentially start this rescue. They'll start sending up the men one at a time.

Initially the healthiest most technically capable men will go up. If there are hang-ups, those are the miners who can work through it. Once they get in the comfort level, they have four or five men up, then they'll send the men with the worst health problems. There's some suffering from diabetes, some suffering from claustrophobia.

Then finally it comes down to the shift foreman. He's asked to be the last man, essentially the captain of the ship. He's asked officials to go up last and be the final of the 33 miners to leave this mine after so many days underground.

HOLMES: Patrick, we appreciate you. We've been checking in with you all morning.

Also, our Karl Penhaul is at the drilling site as well. He's going to be joining us live as well. Karl has been on the story for quite some time. He will talk about the emotions that people have had to deal with there as well.

Our Sanjay Gupta has been helping me out this morning as well, talking about what these men will have to deal with. Sanjay, good morning to you again. Sanjay is not ready for me right now.

But again, to our viewers, we have been talking about the physical conditions that these men are going to have to deal with. They've been down there underground 2,300 feet. To give you an idea how far that is. That's two empire state buildings down is where they've been for the past two months.

So there's a lot of concern about their physical condition. They've been getting medical supplies and food. They had a video hookup, as you can see on the right. They were able to talk to family members and see them as well.

The men have gotten cigarettes down there. Right now they're getting coaching about how to deal with the media when they come out. But all those concerns give way to the mental concerns, what it's like, what you go through in an exercise like that. How strong you have to be to deal with something like that. So that is another concern for them as well.

For the most part we do know they're in decent physical condition right now. They made sure the men watched their weight and stayed strong because they need to be thin enough to fit in the capsule. It's just wide enough to essentially put your body in. They get in the capsule and have to ride up some 15 minutes.

This is a good illustration of it. This is plan A, plan B, plan C. It gets to them there. They drilled a large enough hole. They're going to end explosives down. The miners are going to rig up the end of it to blow a hole for the capsule to get through the last part of it.

So still a lot of work, a lot of dangerous work that needs to be done. But still, a milestone today. A big breakthrough, a literal breakthrough to the mine were the men are.

I believe I heard you correctly that we do have our Karl Penhaul live on the scene for us. Hello to you, Karl. You've been covering the story for quite some time. You've seen the moods and the emotions change. Tell me about the mood and the emotion we saw two hours ago.

KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, in that time we've been here, T.J., it's been inevitable that we made friends. We made friends with the families here that are waiting for their miner husbands and brothers to come home. Families erupted into cheers.

Then a few moments later that the breakthrough had come, that the final countdown was beginning. Then there were a lot of tears, a lot of hugs with family members.

I just want to introduce you to Lila Ramirez. She's the wife of the oldest miner down there, Mario Gomez. He's the most veteran, most experienced miner down there. I wanted to show you the face of Mario. It's important to put faces with faces.

This is Mario Gomez, 63 years old, the most veteran miner down there. This is face that goes with Mario Gomez. This is underground. This is on the surface. And what Lila has here, if she'll permit me, is a letter.

Remember, the miners for 17 days, nobody knew if they were dead or alive. They were trapped underground. The rescue workers were beginning to write them off, saying they must be dead by now. The families held on.

When that drill finally reached where they were after day 17, attached was ha message saying we're well, we're in the refuge all 33. But there was a second message attached to drill from Mario Gomez to the wife. It's beaten up because it was wet. It's got holes because it was attached to the drill bit.

But let me tell you what it said. This was written on August 22nd, T.J., and it says, "Dear Lila, I'm well, thanks to god. I hope to be out soon. Have patience and have faith. We will be together again." Then towards the end he signs off, "When I come out we're going live happily ever after."

The breakthrough has come, and Mario Gomez and his 32 colleagues down in that mine have held strong, and they're keeping firm their promise. And now the breakthrough has come, maybe in a few hours, maybe in two or three days, but what it means is that Lila Ramirez and little Leila will all be together again.

And it's not just great news for this family, but this story is repeating itself across 32 more families today. There have been hugs. There have been tears.

But above all we can't forget the 33 miners there who fought for 65 days now. It's been a life and death struggle. Never forget that. And Mario Gomez and the other 32 are fulfilling that promise. "Thanks to god we're well," he says. "Have patience and faith. We will be home soon." And that's what's going to happen, T.J.

HOLMES: Well, Karl Penhaul, I appreciate you bringing that to us as a reminder of what's happening. We've been talking about how complicates and risky this procedure has been, how much time it would take. Again, we have 33 families down there who have been dealing with something.

So Karl, thank you for bringing that to us. Again, folks, yes, this is happening in Chile. This is far away, and 33 miners that most of us will never know and never meet in our lives. But at the same time, a lot of people here in this country and around the world are watching this and seeing this as a case study in a lot of ways.

They're doing things there, and Americans have contributed to the rescue effort. And they have done this. And so people will watch this and later on we're going to learn things from what happened here that could help in mining disasters down the road. But it's almost inevitable others are going to happen. So a lot of people are keeping an eye on this for a lot of reasons.

We're going to bring in Sanjay Gupta, who I've been talking to as well. Sanjay, I talk about other people watching this are going to learn from it, learn how to maybe better rescue these guys, how to better keep things like this from happening in the future. But we can also learn how the human body and mind can deal with conditions like this down the road.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: No question. This is an unprecedented situation for a lot of the reasons, T.J., that you've been talking ability. As a result they are writing a book in terms of how to deal with these sorts of rescues.

By doing things that may seem minor, people may forget, but they're paying attention to here. If I had to characterize the nature of the planning is they really want to leave no stone unturned. From thinking about minor skin infections to offering inoculations and vaccines when people reach the surface -- they haven't been exposed to germs for two months now, so the common cold could be a disaster, for example. They're getting flu shots. Things like that are important.

Protecting the eyes -- the eyes suddenly starting to constrict in response to sunlight can be damaging to the eyes. It can be damaging to the back of the eye as well, so those sorts of things.

But the more important issues. The atmospheric pressure change -- could there be damage to the internal organs? They've been given 20 percent oxygen. But there's going to be a change overall for them. All of that is going to be very important.

And all these various planning stages, you're right. They're going to learn a lot and hopefully it will all go flawlessly.

HOLMES: We certainly hope so, Sanjay. We appreciate you hopping in front of the camera this morning. We may get a chance to chat with you more. I certainly want to talk about the mental state of these men as well. Sanjay, good to see you as always. Thank you very much.

We will continue our coverage of the trapped miners as we get it. We continue to get trickles of it. In we're also going to talk more about the fragile mental state of the men.

Also, 24 days from Election Day, can we call it heated yet? Things are getting dirty?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Here's the kicker -- Reid actually voted to use taxpayer dollars to pay for Viagra for convicted child molesters and sex offenders. What else do you need to know about Harry Reid?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Wow! Who is running these negative ads? Do they really work? Show you some that will have you scratching your head. It's 14 minutes past the hour. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Again, we continue to monitor the developments. And it has been a morning of developments, a major development, I should say, with those trapped miners in Chile. The rescuers have made it to the men in the mine. They had to drill down some 2,300 feet, creating a shaft wide enough to put in a capsule in that the men will get in and bring them up to the surface. So a big milestone moment in this rescue effort but the danger continues and more rescuing needs to be done because now the men will not start coming up until Tuesday at the earliest. They want to make sure it's safe to bring them up. So still, a lot more can happen, but again, a major milestone in the miner story.

Always major developments in politics in this country. A lot at stake over the next 24 days. That's all we have left until midterm elections. One of the most watched election cycles we have seen in a long time, it's just getting downright dirty.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

Quote But here's the kicker. Reid voted to use taxpayer dollars to pay for Viagra for convicted child molesters and sex offenders. What else could you ever need to know about Harry Reid?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Voters going to buy into this nastiness, you think? Brian Todd looking at the increasingly bitter tone of campaign advertisers.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Conversation that was never meant to be heard publicly. Jerry Brown, Democrat running for California governor, talking with aides about support Whitman may get from police unions.

JERRY BROWN, (D) CALIFORNIA GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE: They know Whitman will give them -- will cut a deal, but I won't. What about saying that? She's a whore.

TODD: It's not clear who made the "whore" comment. The Brown campaign later apologized. That conversation was inadvertently taped.

But other special attacks in campaign acts are proliferating on the air.

TODD: Darrell West of the Brookings Institution has written a well known book called "Air Wars" about campaign ads. He says this year, unlike in previous election cycles, candidates are just not holding back on vicious personal attacks with their opponents. We'll go over the ads with him now.

CARL PALADINO, (R) NEW YORK GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE: When somebody went after my 10-year-old daughter, I got angry.

TODD: New York gubernatorial hopeful Carl Paladino rails on the media for tracking his young daughter, then for reports about his extramarital affair. Then the kill shot on the sex life of Andrew Cuomo.

PALADINO: Andrew's prowess is legendary.

TODD: You ever seen anything like that in an ad, talking about someone's prowess?

DARRELL WEST, BROOKINGS INSTITUTION: This is such a cheap shot it's hard to imagine voters will be affected positively by this. They'll view this as unfair, going beyond the grounds of fair play.

TODD: Cuomo's response, a statement saying of Paladino, New Yorkers know he's unfit to be governor with his smears and total lack of substance.

TODD (on camera): Some political experts argue that it does work. Going negative is effective.

WEST: Going negative works in the sense of raising the negatives of your opponent. But if voters turn out and people stay home, you may lose support from people who otherwise might have cast votes for you.

TODD (voice-over): No one is insulated. Right-wing commentator Rush Limbaugh levels this broadside on President Obama during this radio show.

RUSH LIMBAUGH, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: He's a jackass. He's an economic illiterate, an economic ignoramus.

TODD (on camera): Does it reflect a certain mentality on the campaign trail and the political discourse overall this year?

WEST: It reflects a mentality of mean-spiritedness. People are not focusing on the issues. They're insulting the opposition.

TODD (voice-over): Why is the nastiness at such heightened levels right now? Darrell West says a few factors are unique to this year. Candidates and commentators sense the voter anger out there and want to tap into it. They realize the stakes are high for the balance of power this year.

And he says candidates sense the media is not doing as much fact checking on their ads and public statement. They don't think they'll be held accountable.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: We just saw that Brian Todd piece. Campaigns getting heated, got some nasty attack ads. We're used to seeing that. Deputy political director Paul Steinhauser joins us now from Pennsylvania. He's breaking down the negative ads. That's not a job I envy you to have. These can be downright ugly. Which one you want to start with?

PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN DEPUTY POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Let me start with West Virginia. We're here in Pennsylvania, the driver, the captain of the express brought us up here today. Right next door in West Virginia, there was a big controversy this week. National Republicans put out an ad there showed a bunch of guys in plaid shirts, country looking, talking about the candidates on the Democratic side and criticizing him. Those people weren't real West Virginians, they were actors. But the casting company that put the commercial together asked for "hickey type people." That raised a lot of controversy this week. Even little things like that can get you in trouble.

The ad wars so crucial, both sides raising big bucks to get out the major ads in the closing weeks of the campaign.

HOLMES: Is that really going to play into it? Are the folks of West Virginia seeing past it and understanding what this ad was about, or is this really going to play some kind of significant role in the campaign there?

STEINHAUSER: This is a close race for a seat that's been in Democratic hands for over 50 years. It was a distraction for the Republicans. Right now they have a good shot at winning the seat back. It was a distraction they didn't need. It was probably more of a national story.

But you're right, at the end of the day the big issues like the economy are more important than a little controversy of an ad.

HOLMES: Usually about everything you say you can back up with a poll.

(LAUGHTER)

STEINHAUSER: Yes, I can, you're right. So let's look at these brand new numbers. We have brand new CNN national survey. Right off the bat I want to show you this. This is called a generic ballot. This is the standard question, would you vote for the generic Democrat or Republican in your congressional district? Check it out -- 52 percent for the Republicans, 45 percent for the Democrats. That's a seven-point advantage for the Republicans.

It's down slightly from about two or three weeks ago, but still, Republicans in the driver's seat according to our survey.

Let's go one step further and dig deeper. Independent voters, they're so crucial. They swung for the Democrats in 2006 and 2008. You can see right here, they are going for the Republicans by a two to one advantage according to our poll.

And one last number -- enthusiasm, you can here by this poll number, it seems like Republican voters are much more enthusiastic about casting ballots in the midterm elections than Democrats now. That's the Democrats' dilemma, T.J.

HOLMES: They say if you lose the independent and your people are not eve enthusiastic, that could spell trouble. We appreciate you as always, buddy. Talk to you again here soon.

STEINHAUSER: You got it, man.

HOLMES: All right, 24 minutes past the hour. Have you seen these pictures? This deadly toxic sludge that has been taking out lives in addition to property as you see in these pictures. This is happening in Hungary where a whole village has had to be evacuated because they fear another deadly toxic mudslide is on the way.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: We're coming up on the bottom of the hour now. Here are some of the stories that are making headlines.

That rescue shaft has now punched through to those trapped miners in Chile. There are 33 men down there have been stranded since August 5th. Now a rescue capsule will bring them up to the surface.

This was the first sign, the first word we got that in fact, they had punched through. This has been a long rescue effort, but those are some of the rescue workers and construction workers, the guys who have been working on the drill punched through. But again, still not going to be until Tuesday at the earliest when they start pulling up the first miner.

Also, we'll turn to Hungary now. And take a look at these pictures. Another village is being evacuated for fear of a second wave of this toxic sludge, this toxic red sludge. This is coming out of reservoir at an aluminum plant.

They worry there could be another breach and collapse there to send out more deadly chemicals mixed in with the mud. And seven people have died after the toxic sludge gushed through three villages.

Also in Pakistan today, they say they will reopen the Khyber pass border into Afghanistan. That route had been blocked after a U.S. helicopter strike across the border killed two Pakistan soldiers. The video here is of an attack on NATO fuel tankers last week. U.S. military official say fuel traffic is not expected to resume until tomorrow.

Also, on an economic note, even though we got tough economic numbers about the jobs in the country, we did get some good news on Wall Street. The DOW topped 11,000 to end the week. That's the first time they closed above 11,000 since May.

The market rose despite the weak jobs report that we got. We did find out some 64,000 private sector jobs had been created. But at the same time we still lost a net of 95,000 jobs in September. Also the unemployment rate, it held steady at 9.6 percent.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Well the drillers have finally punched through. They have punched a hole through to those trapped miners in Chile, 33 men. You know the story now. They have been trapped down there about a half mile underground since August 5th.

To give you an idea of that, we talk about 2,300 feet they had to go down. That's about two Empire State Buildings down. Now, yes, this is a big deal, a big step that we saw take place essentially live here on our air this morning, but it doesn't mean they'll pluck them out immediately.

But let me show you the scene a couple hours ago when the drillers made that breakthrough.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: We had people cheering and hugging and sirens were going off. We saw flags waving. Chants were breaking out as well. But again, the officials are saying now the rescue process could begin -- won't begin until Tuesday at the earliest.

Right now they're trying to decide whether or not they need to reinforce the hole they made. They're 2,300 feet down. They're trying to encase that particular hole, that tunnel they were able to dig because they want to make sure it can't collapse anymore. So if they decide they want to put casing down there, this could take another three to ten days before they start bringing the men out.

A few minutes ago we talked to Sanjay Gupta about the physical condition of these men down there. Now I want to ask about the mental condition they may be in. They have been away from their families and their lives essentially. They've also been away from the sun and civilization.

We're going to bring in Dr. Erik Fisher here now, a licensed psychologist to help us understand the fragile mental state these men might be in. Thank you for being here. Sometimes can some people just deal better mentally than others? Will that play into it? Some of them may just be stronger mentally than others.

DR. ERIK FISHER, LICENSED CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGIST: Absolutely, and this has been their job for years. They're used to be in these situations now. But in this prolonged situation, definitely not.

But they predict that about 60 percent of the people should come out of it pretty much unscathed. Half of that, of the remaining, will have some long-term issues. And half of that should come out better for it. There was a story about one guy who has become a writer because of this. He's written poetry and really gotten in touch with his deeper side through this.

HOLMES: And you talk about a certain percentage may have issues. What are we talking about that a small percentage of them may be facing?

FISHER: Some may have serious post-traumatic stress issues. And as much as the miners are having the issues, the families aboveground may share in those psychological issues with them.

Depression is another issue. And the difference I say between those is anxiety based disorders are basically, the core is helpless. Depressive based, the core is hopelessness. They had the miners organized. They kept them working hard. They've been busy. They've had order and structure, which helps in how people perceive trauma.

HOLMES: Now, will that be a key? And maybe the percentages may not work out here because these men have had interaction with families. They've been on a regimen. So is it possible that the numbers you talked about, so many will be OK, some will have issues, is it possible they could debunk the issues because they've been taken care of?

FISHER: It will be a great study in terms of the long-term outcomes in how you deal with situations where you're trapped. When I do work with trauma, trauma is a perception, not necessarily a reality. Two people can experience the same thing and have totally different outcomes based on how they perceive life.

That has to do with their history, temperament, and personality. It has to do with their support system and how they perceive the support system. So all these factors are important. That's why I'm more concerned about the people aboveground because they had to wait around. They didn't know what was going to happen.

HOLMES: Last thing quickly. How important and crucial is it as well that they had each other down there?

FISHER: That's crucial, because you share a common bond with these people, which can be a real benefit. It can also be a liability when they're a reminder of the trauma. The greatest thing to me is how this is such a wonderful event that the world has come around. I think it's really neat this all happened on John Lennon's birthday.

HOLMES: We were going to talk about that a little bit later. We appreciate you coming in this morning, fascinating stuff. Again, a lot of people will learn a lot about what we see happening in Chile because we haven't seen anything like this before. You have mining professors and experts watching this. You have folks like Dr. Fisher. Everybody will study how this plays out.

We have reporters at the mine as well. We'll continue to update you about what's happening throughout the morning. We're at 38 minutes past the hour.

Another story that had a lot of us in shock this morning. Police have captured the man they say opened fire on an elementary school in southern California. That story is just ahead. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Taking a look at the stories making headlines.

We've been watching these pictures all morning of the activity at Camp Hope right outside of where the miners have been trapped for the past two months in Chile. The drillers have finally punched a hole through to the mine where the men are some 2,300 feet down.

So now finally the next phase of this recovery and rescue can begin because now they have a hole to start bringing those men up. Still it's not going to happen immediately. Some time starting Tuesday at the earliest -- it could be another ten days before they start pulling those miners up.

Also we turn to Afghanistan where we have word that a British aid workers who was kidnapped in late September and held captive is now dead. The British foreign secretary says her captors killed her after a rescue attempt.

Also we return to southern California now where, listen to this, two kids, school kids, outside eating lunch end up getting injured because some guy starting shooting. Police say the gunman fired several shots at the school. This is in Carlsbad.

Security workers apparently held the gunman until police got there. He's facing six counts of attempted murder. The kids, six and seven years old, they had minor injuries.

Also a birthday -- John Lennon, former Beatle and rock legend, would have been 70 years old today. But the FBI just confiscated a set of fingerprints that were part of his application for U.S. citizenship. The prints are part of Beatles items to be auctioned during his birthday week.

(WEATHER BREAK)

HOLMES: Congress may have a very insecure feeling about the security companies it hires in Afghanistan. This after a report alleging links between American subcontractors hired to protect U.S. bases and warlords loyal to the Taliban.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: We continue to keep a close, close eye on what has been a morning of developments in Chile. Those 33 miners who have been trapped since August 5th, some two plus months now, they're trapped some 2,300 feet down. To give you an idea, that's about two Empire State Buildings down. They are trapped.

Today a breakthrough -- they made it to the miners. They've drilled a hole to bring the miners up. They've drilled a 21-inch high hole that's going to now be used to bring those the men up. Even though they've been able to breakthrough, that's a significant milestone in this rescue effort. Still they will not start bringing the first miner up until Tuesday at the very earliest.

But it could be another ten days because they're deciding whether or not they are going to use casing in that particular tunnel to reinforce it and make sure nothing else goes wrong. It's still a dangerous process. But we're following those developments for you.

Also Congress wants some answers about a dangerous situation happening in Afghanistan. A report shows some of the security companies the U.S. has hired there are taking huge Pentagon payments. But at the same time, they're aiding the Taliban.

CNN's Pentagon correspondent Chris Lawrence says many of the contracts actually went to warlords.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Security contracting in Afghanistan comes off as some sort of a gangster community in this scathing Senate report. One example, armor group hired a series warlords to guard an air base and gave them code names to hide the identity.

SEN. CARL LEVIN, (D) ARMED SERVICES CHAIRMAN: This is the company's naming of the war lords -- Mr. Pink, Mr. White, Mr. White two.

LAWRENCE: Sound familiar? Senator Carl Level said they took it right off Quentin Tarantino's "Reservoir Dogs."

LEVIN: Those warlords were variously implicated in murder and bribery. As a matter of fact, Mr. Pink killed Mr. White one.

LAWRENCE: The Pentagon contracts with security companies which they pay Afghans to guard bases or supply convoys. What did this group buy with American taxpayer dollars?

LEVIN: They were found to possess land mines and large amounts of ammunition and were determined by the U.S. military to be in league with the Taliban.

LAWRENCE: In fact, the report says Mr. White number II was holding a meeting in his home with the Taliban when U.S. troops raided it. The Pentagon says it's now hired 300 percent more personnel to audit contracts in the field.

General David Petraeus has made U.S. commanders in Afghanistan responsible for overseeing contracts in their battlefield. Defense Secretary Robert Gates wrote to Senator Levin "Through the new programs we have implemented, I believe DOD has taken significant steps to benefit our forces on the ground while not providing aid to enemies."

Carl Forsberg was invited to Afghanistan when General Petraeus took over. He's testified about contracting issues and says reform is no quick fix.

CARL FORSBERG, INSTITUTE FOR THE STUDY OF WAR: A lot of the commanders will try to retaliate if we cut off contracts. We have to be willing to accept that that there's a short-term difficulty. But the long-term gain will be tremendous.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: Now, along with the security issue the White House had other challenges this week. A report criticized the administration's handling of the BP oil disaster, specifically, underestimating how much oil leaked into the Gulf of Mexico.

Also new e-mails about the Shirley Sherrod firing surfaced on a misleading video of her work at the Agriculture Department went public. Some in the USDA demanded her bosses fired her. They did, though she hasn't decided whether to return for a different job.

Well, these could possibly be the most watched midterm elections, midterm election campaigns in recent memory. We're 24 days away from Election Day. Want to take a look at what's happening on our Political Ticker.

Deputy Political Director Paul Steinhauser has the duty for us from Pennsylvania. Paul, good morning to you once again. You're in Pennsylvania. Paul Steinhauser is a big name there. But you have other big names coming in.

(LAUGHTER)

STEINHAUSER: Yes, a lot bigger than me, you're right. We are in Pennsylvania. We have the CNN express behind me. We're in Harrisburg. Two big names coming tomorrow in Philadelphia. That's Barack Obama, the president of the United States, and the number two, Joe Biden, the vice president. They're going to be at a rally in Philadelphia tomorrow afternoon.

T.J., the whole idea is for them to try to get energized Democratic voters. We saw the president try to do that in Wisconsin about two weeks ago at a big rally there. They're hoping for similar efforts here.

The Republicans in this state have a very good shot at winning four or five house seats, maybe the Senate seat that's up for grabs and the governor ship. That's why you have the president and vice president coming here to Pennsylvania tomorrow.

Another busy man on the campaign trail for the Democrats, kind of almost like a rock star for the Democrats is the former President Bill Clinton. Let's talk about what he's doing Monday along. He's going to start in Kentucky with the Democrats senate nominee down there. Then he goes to West Virginia. He's going to be with the Democrats Senate nominee there.

Then he goes to New York State to campaign with a congressman near Syracuse. Bill Clinton, very busy on the campaign trail for Democrats.

Finally, let's look ahead to the next election, 2012, the presidency. Let's talk about Sarah Palin. She made these comments the other day. It's new on the CNN Political Ticker. She says "I'll run for president if the American people want me to."

She made those comments to News Max, a conservative news organization, interesting comments. They're sparking a lot of interest, definitely trending online. She's made comments like this before. We're going to keep our eyes on Sarah Palin. We'll see if the former Alaska governor wants to run for the White House in 2012. A lot of people really curious.

That's what we have on the Ticker. T.J., back to you, man.

HOLMES: That's how you do it, just keep people interested. Whet the appetite just a little bit, and she keeps throwing us bones, doesn't she, Paul? We appreciate you, buddy. We'll check in with you again. And again, for the latest political news, CNNPolitics.com.

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