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Miners' Rescue Imminent; Book Whizzed by President's Head; Defending the Deficit; Foreclosures Frozen; Medical Marijuana Going to the Ballots in Four States; Which Browser is Right For You?; 200 New Species Discovered in Papua, New Guinea

Aired October 11, 2010 - 13:00   ET

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

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Beautifully there, Zain. Thank you. CNN NEWSROOM continues right now with Ali Velshi. Ali, with your business contact, maybe you could book us passage.

ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: I have to say, do you wonder how assignments get given out to networks sometimes? Great assignment.

Tony, great to see you. Have a great afternoon. Tony Harris will be back tomorrow and I'm Ali Velshi. Here's what I've got on the run down this afternoon.

A very close call on the campaign trail. A flying object wheezes right by the president's head. We'll show you the video of that.

Medical marijuana, it's on the ballot. Is it really the best medicine for certain ailments? We'll ask the doctor.

And potentially dangerous mistakes recorded by air traffic controllers, up 51 percent in the past year. How worried should we be? We'll talk about that.

But first, the saga of those 33 trapped miners may soon be coming to a triumphant end. Rescuers in Northern Chile are expected to begin a risky and dangerous operation to pull the miners to the surface on Wednesday or Thursday.

Their ordeal of surviving a mile and a half underground for more than two months has captivated the entire world. It's certainly us here at CNN. One of final pieces of the rescue plan was put in place today with the installation of steel tubing to reinforce the top 295 feet of the rescue shaft.

That's the rescue shaft there on the right. You can see the men on the bottom. The steel tubing was placed there because the rock and dirt are more likely to come loose and fall on the rescue capsule at that point.

The diagram we're going to show you will refresh your memory on how the miners became trapped. It happened on August 5th during a partial cave-in, which took place sort of in the middle there, the miners couldn't get out so they went deeper into the mine, where they found a living-room size chamber. And they have been there ever since. A couple guys have been running around between there and where the cave has been for exercise. A lifeline shaft was eventually opened to them. Now, that's the little narrow shaft you can see just to the right of that -- those windy tunnels.

That's been used to funnel food, water, medicine and other supplies to the miners, but it's really about that big. At the same time, workers began drilling the rescue shaft, which you see on the right there.

And after weeks and weeks of drilling, victory on Saturday that's when the rescue shaft broke through to the miners who are at the bottom there. Now, celebrations erupted in the miners' chamber and above ground.

Family members have been camped from day one anxiously waiting for the day their loved ones will come to the surface. Let me show you, this animation will show how the rescue operation is supposed to work.

The rescue capsule, dubbed "phoenix" will be lowered to the miners. Keep in mind, the capsule is only 21 inches in diameter, one miner at a time. They have been monitoring these guys to get them to come down in weight so they can fit into this thing.

One miner at a time will be lifted to the surface. The journey expected to take under 20 minutes. As it's pulled upward, the capsule is expected to rotate 350 degrees, some 10 or 12 times in the entire process.

Let's get a little more information on this, because it's going to be fascinate to go watch. It happened after all this time waiting and digging. We're going to want it to happen correctly.

Patrick Oppmann is there at the San Jose mine. Patrick, tell us about this. First of all, why is it rotating, why couldn't they make it bigger for the miners who might have been bigger in size? Tell us about some of these details.

PATRICK OPPMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the miners, unfortunately, Ali, had to get smaller, many of them, to fit in this capsule. We're told some of them lost as much as 20 pounds.

If there has ever been a reason to go on a diet, these men had it. Every inch that has to be drilled here takes so much time. So they drilled what they call the biggest hole possible to fit in this capsule, which is a tight fit for all these men.

It will be extremely clause tree phobic for men who already surrendered through very claustrophobic conditions. This rescue is going to take place right over my shoulder, that site of plan B drilling site.

We saw that drill leave here just a while ago, Ali, got a hero's welcome as it was pulled on this mine. They removed that drill because now it's -- it was over the mine shaft hole, and that's -- it will be the hole, the entrance to this mine.

This morning, we're told they already lowered down that phoenix capsule, most of the way down and the men in a test, they say it went off without a hitch. They said not even dust, much less rocks fell down the mine shaft.

So they're feeling very, very confident. We saw these celebrations break out on Saturday, really amazing, heartfelt celebrations both by the miners' families and rescue workers, and within short order, the rescue workers were back to work.

And today we're seeing that they have put in a lining that's thick steel. The mine shaft walls and rescue capsule, they will build a platform and get down to work either late Tuesday or early Wednesday.

They will get down to the serious, serious work of bringing these men out, one at a time, even in the final moments, Ali, of rescuing these men, it will be an ordeal for them. They will suffer to the very last of this, get to the family members.

But as you can imagine, they are willing to go through a little bit more hell to get back up to the surface and be with their loved ones.

VELSHI: No kidding, Patrick, and we'll watch it very, very carefully along with you. Patrick Oppmann in Chile. We will be following this very closely as it happens.

All right, he's already been called a loose cannon, now Carl Paladino, the remarkable Republican candidate for New York candidate for governor, is being blasted again.

This time, for some comments on homosexuality. A chunk of yesterday's speech and today's defense of it is our sound effect this hour.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CARL PALADINO, (R) NEW YORK GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE: Don't misquote me as wanting to hurt homosexual people in any way. That would be a dastardly lie.

My approach is live and let live. I just think my children and your children will be much better off and much more successful getting married and raising a family.

And I don't want them to be brainwashed into thinking that homosexuality is an equally valid or successful option. It isn't.

That remark has to do with schooling children. My feelings on homosexuality are unequivocal. I have absolutely no problem with it whatsoever.

My only reservation is marriage. That's the only reservation I have. I have a lot of homosexuals working in my organization. (END VIDEO CLIP)

VELSHI: That was Carl Paladino on the "Today" show. That's not really what he said because in both of those conversations, Paladino slammed his opponent, Democrat Andrew Cuomo, for bringing his kids to a gay pride parade.

Paladino, who just said, you heard him say, he has no problem with homosexuality, except for marriage, called the behavior at those parades disgusting.

In response, the Cuomo campaign accused him of a stunning homophobia and a glaring disregard for basic equality. All of this coming on the heels of a brutal anti gay crime in New York City and a string of suicides after anti gay bullying.

OK, you expect angry words to start flying this close to an election, but not entire books. Wait until you see President Obama's close call on the campaign trail. We've got it on video, and I'll show it to you next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: You know why we have that serious music there? Because this is serious, 22 days left until election day. Angry words are not the only thing flying back and forth. Take a very close look at this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VELSHI (voice-over): All right. You may not see it here. So here's the slow motion. Look at that, right behind the president's head, it's like a UFO, but it's actually a book flying right behind the president's head.

It was thrown from the crowd at a Philadelphia rally, whizzing right behind the president. Talk about a close call. It doesn't look like he noticed it. As far as we can tell, he didn't see it.

So far as we know, we don't know who threw it, and definitely no word on what the book was. Nobody was hurt. It could be a scary moment, though.

Joining us to talk about this and more importantly the president's 11th hour push to fire up unenthusiastic Democratic voters ahead of the midterm election is Gloria Borger, our senior political analyst.

Gloria, first of all, that was a strange scene.

GLORIA BORGER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: It was.

VELSHI: Unclear what that was, whether somebody out of excitement threw something or trying to get to the president. Anything -- you make anything of that?

BORGER: Yu know, at this point, because we don't know whether someone threw it or whether it was dropped or whether someone meant to toss it at the president, you know, I mean -- if somebody meant to throw a book at the president, it's just some kind of cook, which the secret service has to be prepared for, and they are.

And they're probably going over that tape that you just showed over and over again to figure out how they could prevent that from ever happening again. But I wouldn't read too much into it.

VELSHI: OK, no pun intended. Let's talk about the election. The president was out -- that was in Philadelphia. He's out there talking to people, and in -- that is to help some Democrats who are running for office. If this wasn't a referendum about the president, it's certainly going to look like one for the next 22 days?

BORGER: You know, they're kind of dammed if they do and dammed if they don't, Ali. On the one hand, they want this to be hand to hand combat in every congressional race.

They believe they've got better candidate, they've got enough money. And they believe that their good candidates can run against their candidates, and eke out and keep control of the house.

On the other hand, they want to make this a choice election. Between the Republicans who they say would go, go back and the Democrats. Well, who would take you forward then Barack Obama. He's still popular of this country and so you know, who better to make that case than Barack Obama?

He's still popular in some areas of this country, so you know, in a way, they have to risk nationalizing the election, because o because o because of if their voters don't turn out, Ali, then they're really going to have trouble keeping the house, so they've got to do it.

VELSHI: So let me ask you this, then. Are there two lists right now, the lists of people who are in trouble who would really like President Obama to bring his magic into their districts, versus the other list of Democrats in close races who are proud of the fact they didn't support health care or want to talk about the fact they didn't support health care, didn't like the stimulus. You know, those who want to distance themselves from this administration?

BORGER: Yes and there's plenty of folks who want to distance themselves. And what Barack Obama can do right now is raise money for people and that's what he's trying to do. But think of it this way, Ali. You've got 49 House Democrats who won in districts that John McCain carried.

VELSHI: Right.

BORGER: Think about that. I don't think many of those folks are going to want Barack 0bama to come in. You know, they're the more moderates, they've got to establish their independence.

So, you know, there are like a handful of Democrats who are even running on their votes for health care reform. They're mostly running away from the president. This is nothing new. You know, you see this in midterm elections all the time. You know, each man for himself, right?

VELSHI: Does the president being out there, historically, make a big difference? I guess you're right. It helps with raising money.

SUSPECT: Yes. It can. And it depends. If it's a presidential year, absolutely, but right now, what the president can do for Democrats is get their voters out there.

You know, the danger here, though, Ali s kind of interesting voters who want to. Independent voters who went for Barack Obama handed him the presidential election last time around. You know, by almost a 2 to 1 margin. They don't like him very much anymore. They disapprove of him.

So if he goes out there to rally the Democratic base, the question is what does that do to independent voters? Do they take a look at it and say, that's what got me so mad in the first place, this guy can't fix the problems?

Or do they listen to him and say, you know, maybe things are going to turn around and get better. So it's those voters that are really up for grabs right now. And they don't seem to like the Democrats.

VELSHI: And that's a tricky one for the president, because he can't -- we're all over it, so he can't be giving different messages, depending where he goes. Gloria, good to see you as always. Correspondent Gloria Borger.

Well, Republicans have been attacking the (Obama administration for deficit spending. We know that, but on CNN's "PARKER SPITZER" Friday night. Economist Paul Krugman defended the deficit. He says it is an essential step in reviving the economy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You're a big fan of deficit spending. You say to get something we have to spend more, but for the average American at home who may already be in debt, the idea of spending when you don't have money doesn't make a whole lot of sense. Can you explain why that's a good economic model?

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Yes. It's not at all times, right? When the economy has recovered, once we're back at a point where we have a self-sustaining expansion, when businesses are spending because they're using their capacity, then you actually want to try and pay down the debt.

Certainly stop borrowing so much. But right now, nobody wants to spend. Businesses don't want to spend, consumers don't want to spend. And the economy is deeply depressed. And the only player out there who can get this economy moving is the government. So now is the time for the government to go ahead and borrow, spend, get this economy moving, and then be responsible and then pull back, but only after we've got this thing going.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

VELSHI: Tonight at 8:00, Elliot says Wall Street betrayed the middle class. Kathleen wants to know why. So don't miss CNN's newest show, "Parker Spitzer" tonight 8 p.m. Eastern.

Thousands of foreclosure proceedings have been frozen across the country, while paperwork gets checked and double checked. What does that mean for homeowners, what does it mean for the banks, what does it mean for your money? Christine Romans on the other side of this break with a very clear, simple.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: You probably have been following this story. Several banks have frozen foreclosures across the country. Last week Bank of America said it would freeze proceedings in all 50 states at this point.

There's going to be some fallout, some good, some bad, but first you have to understand what's going on. Christine Romans has been on the story. We have talked about it a few times here, but once again new news came out and got a little confusing again. So set the stage for us, Christine.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, HOST, "YOUR MONEY": It's interesting that it's confusing, Ali, because here's the bottom line. The beginning of that process is continuing. Yes, and there's been a mess for about three years now. And the messy paperwork on the end, on the way in, is being matched by messy paperwork on the way out.

You have heard of this robosigning, in 23 states where you have to go through a court to have a foreclosure sold, a house foreclosed on and sold, they found that many of these processors at the banks had been just signing foreclosure documents without reviewing the loan, and the paperwork along the way.

Thousands and thousands of these loans, Ali, had just been signed off on, when the paperwork hadn't been scrutinized. So now Bank of America in all 50 states is going to stops foreclosure sales.

That's the very last part of foreclosure process, and they're going to review double-check, triple-check everything, just to make sure they haven't made a mistake.

VELSHI: It does not mean that foreclosures are stopping on the front end, so if you're 90 days delinquent and the bank decides to move in to take your house, the beginning of the process is still continuing.

ROMANS: Yes and there is sort of a time-out on the very back end of this whole process, meaning the sheriff isn't going to padlock the front door, and the house isn't going to be sold at auction or sold to someone else with -- right away.

There's going to be this time-out here and what is that going to mean for the housing market? Some people say that means it's going give some people some breathing room to catch up on their payments. I don't know, Ali, these are people in the very final stages of the foreclosure process. They probably haven't paid for a long time.

In some cases, these are thousands and thousands of thousands that are sitting empty. So if you're sitting next to that house that's sitting empty, you still could have an eyesore in your enabled for a while longer.

If you're trying to buy that house, at a foreclosure sale and you were ready to pounce this week, you're going to be able to buy. There are a lot of questions of what this means for the housing market.

You know, you've got a lot of bad loans, and I would say bad supply that's got to get worked through this market. And housing -- the housing market will not recover until this happens. This is a big pause in any kind of recovery in housing.

VELSHI: I'm just looking on the screen here. We're talking about 5 million loans that are delinquent or in some stage of foreclosure?

ROMANS: You know, Ali, this story affects probably more people than any other story I'm going to tell but today or tomorrow, because there are 5 million people who are in some stage of foreclosure.

VELSHI: As you said, that affects all the rest of us. That -- you've got nothing to do with it, but looking to sell home, refinance a home and nothing to do with foreclosure and affects if you you're looking to buy a home.

ROMANS: Most people agree, there are hundreds of thousands people right now this foreclosure -- this foreclosure freeze is going to affect, just because of the foreclosure. Then it's hundreds of thousands more beyond that who are affected because it's your neighborhood, because you are trying to buy that house. You're trying to buy a house in -- you know, you're trying to buy a house next door. You know, it's very -- it's been such a mess the last few years. Don't you think that the messiness on the back end is matched only by the messiness on the front end?

VELSHI: Absolutely right. And I just wish it had been handled better. You and I talked about this in 2008 about how maybe the banks could do a better job of this at the front end, including trying to keep some people in their homes, not because it's a charitable thing to do, but because we were going to face this mess on this end.

ROMANS: You know, Ali, if you are in your house right now and you think, you know what, they have screwed it up so bad I'm not going to pay my payment next month, I would really caution you. Don't get yourself in trouble because the paperwork has been messed up and the courts end or the bank's end.

VELSHI: They'll fix it up eventually.

ROMANS: Yes, I mean, I think -- you don't want to be part of this mess. Try to stay out of it. VELSHI: I agree. OK, Christine, good to see you. Christine, by the way, an author of a great new book called "Smart is the New Rich" and we are talking a lot about some of the fantastic stuff in that book.

Christine and I talk every single day, seven days a week, and you can snoop in on our conversation by joining us on "YOUR MONEY," Saturday at 1:00 p.m. Eastern, Sunday at 3:00 p.m. Eastern.

OK, let me give you a check on top stories now, the Nobel Prize for economics going to two Americans and a Brit for their research on frictions or obstacles to market trade.

The Nobel committee says their advances help us understand ways in which unemployment, job vacancies and wages are affected by regulation and economic policy. I'm glad somebody understands that.

The U.S. commander in Afghanistan, by the way, David Petraeus will be investigating a botched rescue raid that's left a British hostage dead. She may have been killed by a grenade thrown by American forces trying to rescue her. It was first reported that the British aid worker was killed by her Taliban captors.>

And so far, so good. On preps to save those 33 Chilean miners trapped for over two months now, a test of rescue pod went flawlessly overnight. Crews are shooting to start the actual rescue operation as early as Wednesday. We'll get an update in just a few minutes from our Patrick Oppmann who is on the scene.

Was the movie "Reef Madness" true, does pot make you crazy and does it really help with pain? We have a medical doctor coming up after the break to answer your questions.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: We are 22 days from Election Day. Medical marijuana is on the ballot in several states across the country, California, Oregon, South Dakota and Arizona.

This week on CNN, we're bringing you all sides of this debate. Pot is used in several states across the country to treat ailments like arthritis, cancer, chronic pain, fibromyalgia, glaucoma, multiple sclerosis and nausea.

But is it really an alternative to traditional medicine? My traditional medicine, I mean sort of mainstream accepted medicine. Dr. Melvin Sterling is a medical doctor, a pain medicine specialist and a professor at the University of California.

He joins us, Dr. Sterling, thank you for being with us. Give us a short answer. Is marijuana -- we'll explore more in a minute. Is marijuana a legitimate alternative when looking at pain relief?

DR. MELVYN STERLING, PAIN MEDICINE SPECIALIST: Absolutely, it is, but its role is quite limited. There are well-documented studies and medical literature published in peer review journals that show beneficial effect in particularly difficult type of pain called neuropathic pain.

And chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting and loss of appetite in certain clinical situations and in spasticity associated with multiple sclerosis. The data supporting its use in other applications is really quite limited.

VELSHI: So would you say -- I mean, is it -- fair to say it's those applications, or is it a type of pain, meaning is it more useful for people -- who suffer chronic, very serious pain versus occasional not very serious pain?

STERLING: It's most useful in patients who have very severe pain, whether it's chronic or not. It would be appropriate to use it in somebody with severe neuropathic pain due to cancer, but not appropriate to use in somebody with severe, chronic pain due to osteoarthritis, for example.

VELSHI: Let's look at how you would administrator this, or how it would be administered. Part of the issue with legalizing marijuana is this is a class one drug, and if you legalize it, you're legalizing a class one drug.

But you're talking about administering it to patients who can benefit from it in a way that doesn't -- that's more effective than smoking it.

STERLING: The best way that I have seen, and this is supported in published studies, is a spray, sprayed into the mouth, so that it's not smoked and it's absorbed very rapidly.

And used very effectively, but unfortunately, because it's a schedule one drug, that it makes it very difficult to study this here in America. Most of the published studies and the studies done on that particular route of administration have been done in Europe.

VELSHI: Is it sensible, then, to -- I mean, is there a way around that? Is there a way to study this properly and have enough peer reviewed studies out there with a schedule one drug? Can that be done in the United States?

STERLING: Yes, absolutely. The drug needs to be reclassified out of what's called schedule one. Schedule one, the scheduled imposed by the federal government, is for drugs that have -- and I would quote, "no medical application," unquote.

VELSHI: I see.

STERLING: It should be in a different category that does allow studies to go forward.

VELSHI: In your mind, then, knowing what you know, knowing there's more work to be done, but you think there's a benefit, do you encourage people one way or the other in terms of how they're voting on these ballot measures?

STERLING: I would strongly recommend, although I know it's a formidable task for the people of California, to inform themselves of the clear benefit and the clear dangers associated with this drug.

It is not a benign drug. If it's smoked, it brings along with it the pulmonary toxicity associated with smoking anything. And there are some very important psychiatric and psychological problems that accrue to the use of it in a chronic way. People -- there are studies that show that patients, or I should say, users who use this on a regular basis in substantial doses expose themselves to very, very significant psychiatric and psychological problems.

VELSHI: Dr. Melvin Sterling, what you said, I think, can apply to so much of what we're discussing right now. You would encourage people to get informed. Formidable task, though it may be on the importance of the issue. I appreciate you helping us do that a little bit with our viewers. But I do think that anybody who is voting, should take that task upon themselves.

Thanks very much for joining us.

Dr. Melvin Sterling is a pain medicine specialist, Professor of Medicine at University of California, and he's a private practice physician.

All right, if you're already a nervous flier, a new report is not going to help you too much. A huge spike reported in air traffic control errors. We'll take a look at what's behind that when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

Well, as a very frequent flier, this headline caught my eye. USAir traffic controllers record 51 percent rise in operational errors. That's a quote. According to the "Washington Post," there were almost 1,900 incidents regarded last year. The biggest chunk of them, below cruising altitude. In other words, near-misses during takeoffs and landings. The official jargon is, quote, "Loss of separation or proximity events."

The FAA requires planes to be at least three miles apart, horizontally, or 1,000 feet apart in altitude. Three miles apart this way, a thousand feet apart this way. Speaking of the FAA, they're downplaying any 51 percent rise in errors. Why? Because they say more incidents have been reported thanks to better reporting procedures. They've been rolling out a voluntary system, the Air Traffic Safety Action Program or ASTAP, I'm not going to understand why it's voluntary. It's kind of like a whistle blower protection, though.

The idea to let tower controllers report safety problems. Again, isn't that supposed to be the way it happens? In a statement, FAA spokeswoman Tammy Jones says, quote, "We expect ASTAP and other efforts will result in more reporting of incidents."

So the way you're supposed to understand this is it doesn't necessarily mean there have been 51 percent more incidents. It just means 51 percent more incidents have been reported. "Which will help us spot problems or trends so we can address them before the accident occurs." That's the end of her quote. Fair enough. Still an average of five operational errors every day, whether more are happening or we're just learning more about them, it is likely to unnerve some travelers.

OK, a risky, dangerous mission. A mile and a half underground. The rescue of those 33 trapped Chilean miners may begin as early as Wednesday. Details in Globe Trekking, coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: Hey, it's time now for Globe Trekking. Let's go to northern Chile. We're going to spend a lot of time there over the course of the next few days to follow the fate of those 33 trapped miners. Their rescue is imminent. They're half a mile underground. A moment ago, by the way, I said they're a mile-and-a-half. It's a half a mile, about 2500 feet.

This rescue could happen as early as Wednesday. It's going to take some time, though to get them all out. They're going to be very, very careful about how they get these guys out. They spent two months underground, they don't want to botch it in the last day.

Patrick Oppmann joins us from the site of the mine right now.

Patrick, what have you got?

PATRICK OPPMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Ali, we're talking about the preparations to get these men out. In these last few minutes or so, we've seen the helicopter doing touch downs and takeoffs, practicing to take many of these men out.

After the (INAUDIBLE), the helicopter will leave from three small helicopter pads. They basically carved out the side of the mountain and take them to a nearby hospital where they'll be checked out, given extensive tests over a period of two or three days, really be checked out for any problems, any possibility of diseases, injuries that they could have suffered in the mine. But getting them to that point, Ali, is going to be such a difficult process involving setting down this rescue capsule, from 2,300 feet underground and plucking them one at a time.

First, though (AUDIO GAP) -- they really have -- really are the heroes here. They will volunteer to go down into the mine shaft, start telling the men which men will go first, sending those men up, helping them get in the rescue capsule and sending them up to the surface. Each man will be sent up in the capsule one at a time. It'll probably take about 20 to 30 minutes per man. It's going to stretch this rescue over a period of hours. Could go longer than a day.

So it will be an ordeal up until the very end, Ali.

VELSHI: But it's got to be exciting.

How are they choosing who comes up first and who comes up last? OPPMANN: It's so interesting because officials have a plan here. This capsule is still relatively untested. They put it down empty today, but it's not the same as putting a live human in it. They're afraid that any number of things can happen here so they want to have the most technically capable men first in that capsule. These are men that if anything nets snagged, anything gets hung up, they'll be able to work through it.

While they will be alone, they will have a live video feed, they'll be able to contact -- communicate with rescuers. They'll have communication systems, oxygen, any number of things, including an escape hatch that'll lower them back down to the mine floor. But they will be alone, as they ascend.

After that, they'll take the 10 or so sickest men, men who are suffering from the severe claustrophobia, hypertension, there's at least one miner who is suffering from diabetes. In the end though, Ali, it'll come down to the men who are the strongest, the toughest men who can watch their colleagues leave without fear that they're being left behind. Eventually it'll come down to one man and we do not yet know who that man will be, the last miner down this mine.

VELSHI: He's going to get an international standing ovation when he makes it out there. That's going to be something to watch. The other 32 men and the rescuers leave and be the last guy. That is going to be a man with great morale fortitude.

Patrick, good to see you. It's going to be an exciting couple days and we pray that it all goes well. Patrick Oppmann for us there in northern Chile.

All right. The New York governor's race is drawing national attention because of a battle over homosexuality. Our political update coming up next. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: One of my favorite parts of the show, there are just 22 days left until the midterm elections. Bill Clinton back on the campaign trail. Time to look at the latest developments in the campaign.

Our two special guys, CNN senior political editor Mark Preston, deputy political director Paul Steinhauser standing by in Washington.

I suppose I should be careful calling you our two special guys, but you are two special friends.

Take it away, guys.

MARK PRESTON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL EDITOR: Hey, Ali, first of all, you said one of my special times during the show. This should be your favorite time.

VELSHI: It is! It definitely is. I love it.

PRESTON: All right. Let us rattle through the headlines before we get yelled at by the bosses.

Carl Paladino, he is the Republican running for governor up in New York. We have been talking about him all day. Of course, he has made those controversial remarks being very critical of gays.

Well, who is Carl Paladino? Well, he's a 64-year-old businessman, he is a devout Catholic, he's a lawyer, and he's a very blunt guy. We have his story up on the CNNPolitics.com page where it actually goes into detail explaining about who Carl Paladino is, this guy who came out of nowhere. He was backed by the Tea Party, and of course, he beat the GOP establishment candidate. I would urge all our viewers to go check this out. A very interesting read from our own Ed Hornick (ph).

Paul, what do you have?

PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN DEPUTY POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Ali, you just mentioned, let's talk about the former President Bill Clinton. He has truly become the Democrats' go-to guy. Less look at today, this morning, the president was in Lexington, Kentucky, we have video of that. He was campaigning there with the Democrat Senate nominee.

But wait, there's more. He goes on to West Virginia, next stop hour and a half from now, same thing, campaigning with the Democrat Senate nominee in West Virginia. Then he's up to upstate New York, the Syracuse area this evening. He will be campaigning with the democratic member of the House there whose facing a very tough re- election.

Ali, what do these three places have in common, they're all areas with moderate to conservative voters. All areas where Clinton may be arguably more popular than the current president, Barack Obama. All areas where the Democrats want to see former President Clinton. And Ali, later this week, he's all the way across the country campaigning for other Democrats.

Mark, back to you.

PRESTON: You know, Ali, you can't really -- it's kind of a weird win by subtraction. Let me explain this to you very quickly.

Out in West Virginia, Alan Mollohan was a 14-term Democrat, he lost in the primary. Democrats at the time were a little bit frustrated that he had a primary challenger, but in the end, they're very happy now, because the person who won, a gentleman by the name of Mike Oliverio, has a chance of holding on to the seat in West Virginia which, again, tends to trend republican.

Oliverio is a pro-gun rights, pro-life Democrat. He also has been very critical of the health care bill. He is going to take on David McKinley, who is the Republican nominee. But when you talk about perhaps having a win based upon a loss, West Virginia might be one of those states where Democrats actually win, Ali.

VELSHI: All right. And the New York governor's race has not been close. With all this that's going on with Carl Paladino, Andrew Cuomo is still way ahead in New York.

PRESTON: He's way ahead, 14 points, according to the recent CNN Opinion Research Corporation/"Time" poll. As Paul had pointed out earlier in talking about this subject, some polls have it even more. So Andrew Cuomo has a very comfortable lead, Ali, 22 days before election day.

VELSHI: Guys, I love talking to you, because you have all of the details about all of these places. Whenever I've traveled to talk about politics, these are the guys I reach out to say hey, I'm in this state, tell me what I need to know.

Thanks, guys, we'll check in with you in another hour. Our next political update comes in about one hour here on CNN, homes of "The Best Political Team on Television."

OK. What do you like? What do you use on the Internet? Do you use Internet Explorer? Do you use Safari maybe if you're on a Mac? Do you use Firefox? Do you use Google Chrome? What is your favorite Internet web browser, and what about the ones you don't use? We're going to give you the pros and cons of how you surf when we come back.

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VELSHI: I'm going to tell you what this means in a second, but everybody who uses the web goes through a browser to use it. And you may think that the browser you use is the only one out there. For most people that has been Internet Explorer, Microsoft's Internet Explorer. Now if you use Apple, a lot of people use Safari and a lot of you use Mozilla's Firefox. Then there's Google's Chrome, so there are a lot of choices, but usually people stick with what they know or what comes with the computer, what popped up first.

Let me show you this. This blue line is Internet Explorer. Back in September of 2009, a year ago, 60 percent of users use that. That's now dropped to below 50 percent. This line here is Firefox, almost imperceptible but a bit of an increase on this one. And down here you've got Safari, which works -- comes with a lot of Apple devices, but works with that. There are a couple of other ones that are used specifically on a phone and things like that. Chrome is another popular one that's been increasing in popularity because it's put out by Google.

Let's talk to two guys who really, really know about this. Shelly Palmer is the host of "Live Digital" and good friend of our show joining us from New York, and Mario Armstrong is the founder of TechTechBoom, he's live from D.C.

Gentleman, good to see you both. Here you are. Shelly, let's start with you, do you have a preference?

SHELLY PALMER, HOST, "LIVE DIGITAL WITH SHELLY PALMER": You know, I used Firefox almost exclusively because it's extensible and very much universal. A lot of people use IE because it pretty much comes with your Windows device. And everything else, well everything else is just everything else. Chrome is Google's evil empire, although they say they're not evil, they're evil empire take over the world browser and others like Opera and a few others are there, but they're just not important really.

So what you want to talk about is not so much IE, Ali, what you want to talk about is which version of IE. Today the question isn't IE 8, it's how many people are still using IE 6 and IE 7 which are less and less compatible with a modern web experience.

VELSHI: But that should be an easily -- look, any of these browsers are generally an easy issue. If you decide after listening to these two guys that you want to try a different one you can do that.

Mario, what's your take on this? How do I make a judgment? I mean, is this entirely personal taste or is there something I should now know about using Firefox versus IE versus Chrome versus Safari?

MARIO ARMSTRONG, FOUNDER, TECHTECHBOOM.COM: Yes, I think it's a great question. I think before in the past people were just used to IE. It came with their computer and especially for those Windows user; Safari would come with Mac. So there really wasn't a need to really look at anything.

But then Firefox came out and they introduced what was called tabbed browsing and it was a new way to kind of surf multiple web pages in one screen. So some of the different browsers now have different features.

They all do the same thing. They all basically allow you to view web pages on the Internet, but you might like Chrome better if you have use other Google applications like I do. I'm a fan of Google Chrome because I use other Google apps and it makes it easy and it's very simple and integrated.

I also love Firefox for its security but also because its open source and that makes it easily customizable. So there are different uses for using different things.

And then lastly, on IE, I use that a lot for testing websites. I know a lot of developers that create websites and like Shelly mentioned, so many people are using IE 6 and older versions of IE, that you still have to make sure that your website, how it's going to look on the --

(CROSSTALK)

VELSHI: So, Shelly, what do you do about that?

PALMER: That's really the problem, Ali.

(CROSSTALK)

PALMER: It's very easy to do. What happens, though, a lot of people browse in the office. They work on business computers given to them by their IT departments. IT departments have been very slow to move up to the later versions of IE.

So when you do a program now, you have to test a lot of different browsers and the biggest problem is people with older browsers can't experience the web like they're supposed to.

To upgrade, it's pretty simple, you just do it. By the way, you need a pretty decent computer to have a pretty decent web experience. And no matter what browser you have, if you don't have a current computer with a fast video card, your experience on the Web isn't going to be that good.

VELSHI: Is that something our viewers should think about, though? If they're running on slightly older computers and they're not ready to buy a new one just yet, is there one of these browsers that's better if your computer isn't a heavyweight?

PALMER: The question about better has to do with the experience you have when you to visit a web page. So the uptick in Safari you saw is the uptick in iPhones because the Macintosh have been a little bit better but not that much better and Safari only works with a Mac. Chrome is very Google-centric and it does work 100 percent with the Google apps.

The big issue you have right now is Firefox is what is known as extensible and IE is what the corporations give you. So it's a dealer's choice.

VELSHI: Mario?

ARMSTRONG: And here's an interesting point, too. With all this browser war that's going on -- and Shelly is right about the office place -- but here's an interesting side note here or footnote, IBM just made an announcement that they're now making all their employees download as a standard the Firefox web browser. So that was a major industry statement, if you will, to kind of say a company like IBM is going to embrace that browser companywide.

VELSHI: Guys, very good. What a pleasure talking to you. You guys know so much about this. Great to have you as our tech friends.

Mario Armstrong and Shelly Palmer, we'll talk to you both soon, OK.

ARMSTRONG: OK, take care.

PALMER: Thank you, Ali.

VELSHI: Two hundred new species were discovered in Papua, New Guinea. We're going to introduce you to some of the creepiest crawlies coming up right after this break.

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VELSHI: All right. Time now for "Odds & Ends."

Today we have new pictures of newly discovered animals. Conservation International released the pictures of 200 newfound species in Papua, New Guinea. Get that, 200 new species.

Let's start with this katydid, it's a new species of mossula. I don't know what mossula is. It has a dark emerald coloration. Looks like a cricket to me. That's never been seen before.

OK. Next, another katydid. Bright green in color this one, that's really bright green. Check out those eyes, only a mother could love. According to Conservation International, this pink-eyed insect likely feeds on flowers of the forests, tall trees.

OK, check out this new frog. Cue the frog. It looks like a frog. Look at the funny looking webs, though. It lives nearly 100 feet above the ground in the canopy. This large bright green frog is more often heard than seen because of where it lives. The males get super loud at night.

Finally, check out this. This thing creeped me out. It's a tub- nosed fruit bat.

This is not a new species. It has still not yet been formally described or named in scientific circles, plus it's just a cool picture of a creepy looking animal.

For more on this, go to my blog, CNN.com/Ali.