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Brett Favre Under Fire; Chilean Miners Nearing Freedom; Ohio Congressional Candidate Iott Discusses Alleged Ties to Nazi Party; Marijuana Legalization Measures on Ballots in Four States; Polls Show Tea Party Members Very Enthusiastic About Upcoming Election
Aired October 11, 2010 - 14:58 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Candidates backed by the Tea Party movement are under fire. One guy is lashing out against gays, another is seen in pictures dressed up as a Nazi. He will be joining me live, I'll have some tough questions for him.
I'm Brooke Baldwin. The news is now.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(voice-over): So who goes up first? The decisions are being made right now in Chile as 33 trapped miners count down the hours till freedom. So why are rescuers fearing breakouts of panic and loneliness?
Did Brett Favre send raunchy pictures and voicemails to a New York Jets employee? The NFL is looking into it. He's in New York tonight where he's expected to face the Jets. So what's he saying?
Twelve people rushed to the hospital, their drinks believed to have been spiked.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All the girls were puking everywhere. Girls were outside on their back.
BALDWIN: Was it the date rape drug and do the symptoms back that up? That mystery is unfolding.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BALDWIN: Hi, everyone. I'm Brooke Baldwin. Welcome to CNN NEWSROOM. This Monday already shaping up to be a busy, busy news day, including this.
We want to begin the hour with breaking news, the story out of Manhattan. Take a look at these -- we will take a look at some pictures momentarily here, but basically what we know is NYPD have found some sort of military-grade explosive bricks in a garbage bag in a cemetery in the Lower East Side.
We have been listening to Police Commissioner Ray Kelly. We have Allan Chernoff, our own, standing by in New York to just walk me through what it is, Allan, that police have found in this cemetery and what does the police commission just come out and say? ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: Right.
Well, it's eight bricks now. The NYPD has corrected the information. Eight bricks of military-grade explosive, C-Now, 4. Let's note it was not wired to go off. The commissioner gave some very interesting information. He said that it seems that these bricks were actually dug up last spring and had been laying around in the cemetery, it appears, for well over a year.
But, this morning, a person in the cemetery, a caretaker, noticed it, called the police. The bomb squad showed up, but, again, no threat and apparently no immediate danger to anyone.
This cemetery in New York's East Village on Second Street and Second Avenue near the rear of the cemetery, but certainly a very bizarre finding there, C4 military explosives just sitting in an old cemetery in New York City -- Brooke.
BALDWIN: And, Allan, it obviously begs a question and you may not have the answer, but it begs the question how in the world did these military-grade, what did you say, nine bricks now land in a cemetery?
Is there any kind of military outpost nearby, or do we just not know yet?
Stand by, actually.
CHERNOFF: Yes, we -- we don't know.
BALDWIN: What we're looking at right now, before you answer me, I just heard, what we're looking at, these I believe are the bricks. Ray Kelly, the police commissioner, held these pictures up during the news conference that just ended.
So, Allan, if you can just pick up where I'm leaving off, that being do we know how these got there?
CHERNOFF: Yes, absolutely, that is the big question. That is what the police department detectives are going to be working on. And, no, there are no military installations immediately in Manhattan.
Of course, there are surrounding New York City, but none actually in Manhattan. So, of course, how did this all happen? It seems that there's going to be a long backstory to all of this, if indeed these were dug up last year, so quite a bizarre situation.
(LAUGHTER)
CHERNOFF: But, again, no one in danger, no threat. And these were not wired to explode. They apparently could not explode simply on their own.
BALDWIN: Bizarre indeed.
And ,Allan, one final question, and then we will go, made all of us sort of sit up and listen a little closer when we heard the commissioner explain how there was a note left signed by Jesus Christ. Is that correct?
CHERNOFF: Right.
The connection there, we're not quite sure whether there -- indeed there is a connection. But, at the same time, today, a note found by a police car saying: "I sure hope you find these," signed "Jesus Christ."
Now, we're not certain that note is specifically referring to the explosives that were found in a black garbage bag --
BALDWIN: Got it.
CHERNOFF: -- a plastic garbage bag. Maybe that note was just some kind of crazy note written for the police on -- on the actual police car.
So, we --
BALDWIN: Right. We don't know.
CHERNOFF: -- we don't know for sure that there's a connection between the two.
BALDWIN: We don't know. But, Allan, obviously a lot of dots to be connected. If you're able to connect any of them in the next two hours, do me a favor, hop back in front of that camera and we will get you on live.
Allan Chernoff, thank you --
CHERNOFF: Thank you.
BALDWIN: -- for the latest there in Manhattan.
Meantime, this is the story you have and I have been talking about for weeks and weeks here. It's hard enough to -- to wrap your head around being trapped for months a half-mile underground.
But now imagine the way out has now been cut, and your freedom just days, possibly hours away. Look at this inside the mine and just above. That is what those 33 miners are dealing with today deep beneath the surface of the Chilean desert.
The last we heard -- this is from Chile's minister of mining -- is that those men will have to wait just one more full day here. And also the first of its kind, this is a "one man at a time' rescue mission. It's all set to start we're hearing late tomorrow night, possibly just before dawn on Wednesday.
Of course, CNN has been there basically since the beginning. We're there through the end. And we're there live right now.
I'm going to bring in Patrick Oppmann in just a second here. He's standing by just outside the San Jose Mine. But I want to show you something first. This is the first time we have able to put this on air -- our air right here on CNN.
This is the first pictures of what they're calling the Phoenix. This is a teeny-tiny capsule here 21 inches around, six feet tall. You can see they're putting a guy inside. No, it's not one of the miners. This is one of the emergency crews basically hopped in there just to test it out, test out the fit and the movement within this steel cage.
And just -- just imagine, that is probably the spot where the miners will emerge from the ground when the rescue begins hopefully on Wednesday.
Now that we have seen that, let's go now to Patrick Oppmann, who is live for us in Chile.
And, Patrick, you have been doing an incredible job explaining how this will whole thing go down. And I think, though, when I look at that video of that chamber, it's the first time you visualize just how claustrophobic it must be for these miners.
PATRICK OPPMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And for these men who have already suffered through living through tight quarters, in cramped, in sort of the final ordeal to get in this tiny, tiny capsule.
Not only is it tight spaces, Brooke, but as that capsule goes up, it's going to spin with the gravitational force as it goes up the mine shaft for the men's rescue. It could spin as many as 10 to 12 times. Officials are so nervous about the nausea caused by that spinning, by that tight cramped spaces, they're actually asking the men to -- to -- excuse me -- just lost my microphone there. We're going to put that back on.
Technical problems, Brooke. Let me begin again.
As the --
BALDWIN: Oh, did we lose Patrick Oppmann? First his microphone and now we lost his signal.
Maybe as I keep talking and we can explain, hopefully, he can get in front of the camera. I lost him. Darn it. All right. Well, we will hopefully get him up within the next hour because obviously Chile is a huge story and again we're thinking we may see that first man emerge from the Phoenix -- how appropriate, Phoenix rising from the ashes -- rising from this mine possibly before dawn Wednesday morning.
Meantime, got to move on. A congressional candidate backed by the Tea Party movement has posed as a Nazi soldier in military reenactments. Have you seen these pictures? Now, as you may imagine, he's getting a lot of heat from some of the different sides here. So, how might he respond to this criticism? Let's ask him. He's joining me live just ahead here.
Also, Carl Paladino again getting heat for his words on the campaign trail. This time, it is for what he's saying about gays. You will hear it next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: All right, are you following the New York gubernatorial race at all? New York Republican Carl Paladino, he is now trailing in the polls in his bid to become New York's governor, but the conservative hopeful is also walking back these recent comments about the gay lifestyle.
Here's how it all started. It started with this part of Paladino's remarks -- this was just yesterday -- to a group of Jewish leaders. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CARL PALADINO (R), NEW YORK GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE: We must stop pandering to the pornographers and the perverts who seek to target our children and destroy their lives.
I didn't march in the gay parade this year -- the gay pride parade this year. My opponent did. And that's not the example that we should be showing our children, and certainly not in our schools.
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.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: OK. So you heard his words there. Now, Paladino did make it very clear he meant no ill will toward gays. Here's that part.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PALADINO: And don't misquote me as wanting to hurt homosexual people in any way. It would be a dastardly lie. My approach is, live and let live.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: However, this controversy ratcheted up a couple notches when a copy of his written prepared remarks surfaced soon after.
Now, this transcript provided by CNN affiliate New York 1 included more inflammatory language. Want to read this with you.
It read -- quote -- "There is nothing to be proud of in being a dysfunctional homosexual. That is not how God created us."
Now, Paladino is quick to say he didn't actually write those words. In fact, here is what he told "The Today Show" about that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "THE TODAY SHOW")
PALADINO: I did not say that.
MATT LAUER, CO-HOST, "THE TODAY SHOW": But --
PALADINO: It's unacceptable. That's not --
LAUER: But was that written by a staff member or was that written by the group -- members of the group you were talking to?
PALADINO: I'm not quite sure where it came from. I don't know the people that wrote -- that wrote that. But I crossed it out in the car.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: So he says he crossed those two lines out in the car. Paladino also added he wasn't anti-gay. He also said he meant to expose the pain of anti-gay discrimination.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "THE TODAY SHOW")
PALADINO: It's a very, very ugly experience for those that are discriminated against. It's terrible, and it shouldn't be. My feelings on homosexuality are unequivocal. I have absolutely no problem with it whatsoever. My only -- my only reservation is marriage. That's the only reservation I have.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Now, Paladino didn't just stop by "The Today Show" this morning to talk about all of this. He also stopped by "Good Morning America," where, in fact, he talked about how he has gay friends. His nephew is gay. And he said the experience has shown it can be a painful lifestyle.
And while the candidate did walk back Sunday's comments to that Jewish groups, he may have added a bit of fuel to the fire. He criticized his Democratic opponent, Andrew Cuomo, for bringing his daughters to a gay pride parade.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "THE TODAY SHOW")
PALADINO: Young people should not be exposed to that at a young age. They don't understand this. It's a very difficult thing. And exposing them to homosexuality, especially at a gay pride parade -- and I don't know if you have ever been to one, but -- but they -- they wear these little Speedos and they grind against each other. And it's just a terrible thing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Now, Cuomo has most definitely reacted to that. His campaign sharply criticized the Republican candidate's statements and said he was out of touch with voters.
Here's what we have from the Cuomo camp. This is from the spokesman. Here is what they say -- quote -- "Mr. Paladino's statement displays a stunning homophobia and disregard for basic equality. These comments make it clear he is out of the mainstream and unfit to represent New York" -- end quote.
Paladino's controversy comes as New York police have arrested at least eight people in a brutal anti-gay hate crime. A ninth person, we're hearing now this afternoon, is expected to turn himself in within the next couple of hours.
Meantime, when you are running for Congress, most political strategists would say you probably should steer clear of all things Nazi, including full S.S. uniforms. It might not be smart to try them on. But this candidate here not only wore that uniform. He says he's done it for years.
I'm going to talk to him about why he chose to do that next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: Just over this past weekend, Ohio Republicans learned something new about one of their congressional candidates. He has had a habit of dressing up as a Nazi. This is him in the Nazi uniform. He's third from the left. You can count over with me. His name is Rich Iott.
He is running in Ohio's 9th Congressional District. And this Nazi thing, not something he mentions on his Web site. We checked. "The Atlantic Monthly" reports that Iott done this for years, dressed as a member of the Waffen-S.S. and take part in Nazi reenactments.
Republican Rich Iott good enough to join me to get the straight from him here in Toledo.
Mr. Iott, thanks for coming on.
Let's get --
RICH IOTT (R), OHIO CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE: Certainly.
BALDWIN: Straight out of the gate here, sir, let me ask just you, why dress up as a Nazi?
IOTT: Well, you know, for years, going back to my college days, I got involved in historical reenacting doing Civil War. And over the years I have done Civil War and First World War, Second World War, and both sides, Union and Confederate, and -- and been involved on both sides in historical reenactments.
Now, the -- the purpose of historical reenactment is not to glorify war necessarily or the sides. But it's to -- to educate people, to learn about what happened, and to keep those memories alive, so that we don't -- we don't let it happen again.
BALDWIN: Now, let me interrupt you. I understand that part of the reason -- and correct me if I'm wrong -- part of the reason you chose to do this is more of a teaching moment with your son. So, it wasn't just you participating with this group, this weekend group. It was also your son; is that right?
IOTT: That's correct. We -- we did Civil War together and we also did World War II reenactments, historical reenactments together.
BALDWIN: So, has your son dressed up as a Nazi, in addition to you?
IOTT: He's participated as well, yes, both, like I said, in Civil War and in the World War II reenactments.
BALDWIN: Let me ask you this. How do you then explain to your son -- how old was your son when he was dressing up like this?
IOTT: When he first got involved, he was 15.
BALDWIN: So in his teens. And how did you -- in explaining why you would want your son dressing up in Nazi uniform, an S.S. uniform, how did you explain Nazism to him?
IOTT: He's -- he, from an early age, has been interested in history, and because I'm -- I'm very involved in history and in teaching history and in learning more about history, he had always been exposed to it.
And on many, many occasions, we talked about, you know, the horrific things that happened during World War II. And that was absolutely one of the low points of -- I think in -- in human history. It's a tragedy that we don't want to forget. We can't sweep it under the rug. It did indeed happen. If it -- if it is --
IOTT: But he was very -- very much --
BALDWIN: If it is a low point, which I think probably --
IOTT: Right.
BALDWIN: -- many people, many people who know their history would agree with you, was there any --
IOTT: Sure.
BALDWIN: -- ever a point, Mr. Iott, where you said, I think this isn't such a great thing to do?
IOTT: I think that it's an important thing to do, because we need to -- we need to constantly educate people and remind people about the tragedy that happened 70-some years ago.
And a big part of historical reenactment is education. A lot of time is spent talking to the public, setting up exhibits, giving the public a chance to come in, ask questions, and -- and learn -- learn history almost from the ground up.
And it's a -- it's a way to keep the public aware of what -- what happened -- happened and keep it in their minds, so that we don't forget the horrors of that time. BALDWIN: Mr. Iott, I think -- I think -- forgive me for interrupting. I think a lot of people would agree with you that it's incredibly important for us to remember -- to remember our history, particularly a horrific time such as the Holocaust and that part of World War II.
Some people, though, listening to you, may think, well, why not just sit your child down, open up a couple of history books, and explain how the Germans, how the S.S. essentially exterminated six million Jews, instead of actually putting on a uniform and teaching history that way?
IOTT: Because participating in reenactment, historical reenactment, living history, is a much better way to get the message across.
It creates a lot more interest on the part of those people involved and also the people who are -- who are learning. And it's a -- it's a great outreach to -- to the public. We -- we did similar events going into schools, and both as American -- as a Civil War soldier on both sides, going into schools, and doing presentations, saying, hey, this is -- this is what it was like for --
BALDWIN: Uh-huh.
IOTT: -- for the men that participated in that.
BALDWIN: And I think, as part of this historic dialogue, we also have to remember you're running for 9th Congressional Seat here. And Eric Cantor, Republican whip, came out yesterday morning, and essentially he said -- and I want to quote him -- "I would absolutely repudiate that and do not support an individual that would do something like that," referencing you dressing up in S.S. uniform.
It goes on, "You know good and well I don't support anything like that."
So, Mr. Iott, my question is, can you understand how some voters out there may have a little bit of a problem with a candidate who dresses up as a Nazi and takes photographs of it, and seems to enjoy doing so?
IOTT: Well, I think that Representative Cantor did what so many career politicians do, is, he reacted before he had all the facts.
He didn't know the whole story. He didn't understand what historical reenacting is all about or the education side of it. And he just made a decision without all -- without all the facts. That -- my -- my opponent here is cut out of the same cloth.
And those are the people who passed a health care bill before they knew what was in it, the same folks who passed a stimulus bill before it was completely --
(CROSSTALK)
BALDWIN: Mr. Iott, forgive me, I don't want to get into the stimulus or health care.
IOTT: This is --
BALDWIN: Let me ask you, bottom line, do you regret at all -- as you're running for Congress here, do you regret at all dressing up as a Nazi?
IOTT: What I regret is that we're wasting the time talking about this issue, when we should be talking about the real issues that are facing the country today --
BALDWIN: All right.
IOTT: -- the unemployment, the economy, the --
BALDWIN: Got to go.
IOTT: OK.
BALDWIN: Mr. Iott, appreciate you coming on.
IOTT: OK.
BALDWIN: Coming up here: In the political landscape we see each and every day, the color-coding is clear. There are red Republican states or districts, and there are blue Democratic ones, which is why the makers of a new movie want you to think very carefully about this question.
Once the 2010 census is completed, where will your voting district lines be drawn? Stay there.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: Our forefathers proclaimed no taxation without representation, and yet, somehow, over the course of 200-plus years, we have boiled down our political divisions into two colors. Take a look at the map with me.
You have got red. You have got blue. So who has the advantage in any given race? It depends how much gerrymandering has gone into it.
And with Election Day just 22 days away, you will want to hear from the makers of this new documentary. It's produced by a Republican, directed by a Democrat, and, basically, they help to inform all of you, the voting masses.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BILL MUNDELL, EXECUTIVE PRODUCER, "GERRYMANDERING": We all know we have got a problem in this country. Nineteen percent of voters as a whole approve of the job that Congress is doing. Yet, 90 percent of them get reelected year after year after year.
KAREEN WYNTER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): That problem is gerrymandering. It lets elected politicians redraw district maps on the basis of who votes for them and essentially determine the outcome of elections. This November, California voters, like thousands in other states, decide who really should be drawing those maps.
MUNDELL: Reformers basically have a fairly modest agenda. And that is simply to take the politicians out of the process.
WYNTER: (on camera): Like the reformers, Bill Mundell and Jeff Reichert think allowing politicians to hand-pick their constituents is absurd. Their documentary "Gerrymandering" makes their case.
JEFF REICHERT, DIRECTOR, "GERRYMANDERING": If you put a bunch of toddlers in a room, with cookie jars everywhere, and said, "OK, toddlers, I'm going to leave you alone, but don't touch the cookie jars," they're going to touch the cookie jars.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "GERRYMANDERING")
NARRATOR: The United States is the only advanced democracy in the world where politicians directly participate in the districting process.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WYNTER: Professor Frank Gilliam is the dean of UCLA's School of Public Affairs. He spent years teaching about the fierce debate over redistricting reform.
FRANK GILLIAM, UCLA SCHOOL OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS: It's plain and simple. The politicians draw the lines to advantage themselves. There's absolutely, positively no doubt about it.
WYNTER: Props 20 and 27 in California take the debate to the voters.
MUNDELL: Proposition 20 extends the good reforms that were passed in 2008 of Proposition 11 to congressional districts. Proposition 27 would seek to roll back even Proposition 11, get rid of the independent commission, before it's actually seated.
This is almost redistricting in 3-D. What has historically been an art form, a bunch of horse-trading amongst members of the state legislature, has turned because of the use of technology, into an exact science.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Guess they never heard of no taxation without representation.
GILLIAM: Legislators claim that they know the districts best. Their argument is: "Look, some pointy-head academic modeling in an office modeling somewhere can't possibly understand that these people are not just numbers. They're not just widgets. All right? These are real people with real concerns, and I know what those real concerns are."
WYNTER: It's an argument Gilliam calls legitimate, in theory, but absent in practice.
GILLIAM: If we saw fairer redistricting, we might buy it. But the altruism seems to be missing.
Kareen Wynter, CNN, Hollywood.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
All right, Google, they have all kinds of smart people working there, lots of ideas, but get a load of this one. They're taking a page from George Jetson. The world's most famous search engine is test-driving self-driving cars. I'm serious -- Details in our next hour.
Meantime, over in Hungary, a major dam is weakening. People there are bracing for a new round of this messy, red, toxic sludge. That is next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: All right, a couple of the top stories we want you on this hour, first being the hole. It's drilled and the rescue capsule tested and ready. Thumbs up to start the one by one mission to bring the 33 miners up to the surface in Chile. You know they have been stuck in the teeny tiny space half a mile underground since early August, so more than two months now.
Here's the plan. We're hearing late tomorrow night maybe early Wednesday morning we expect to see some celebrations, finally relieved faces as the first of the trapped miners emerges from the ground.
We get a signal, Patrick Oppmann in Chile. Patrick, let's begin with where we picked off which is the process of getting these guys in the Phoenix capsule one by one. We're hearing possibly Tuesday night, Wednesday morning.
OPPMANN: Just imagine, Brooke, 48 hours from now we could be watching live pictures of these men emerging from the ground after more than two months in basically what's been a tomb for them.
But getting to that point won't be easy. In fact, it's going to be a very unpleasant ride those last few minutes of their captivity, though again in this very tight Phoenix capsule. Imagine these men have already been living in claustrophobic conditions and have to get in something so much smaller.
They'll rise to the surface. As they are pulled up to the surface, the capsule will turn again and again from the force of being pulled upwards. It could turn 10 to 12 times. Officials are so worried about the nausea it could cause and they're going to put them on a liquid diet to get them to the surface.
And then they'll be able to see their families and doctors and go to hospitals soon thereafter. But it will be quite the ordeal even to the very end. BALDWIN: A liquid diet as they twist and turn all the way until they reach freedom. Patrick, let me ask you this. Since we've seen these guys testing this capsule that appears to work, why the wait? Why not go in right now?
OPPMANN: It's been full steam ahead here since Saturday when they had the breakthrough. They had to put in some metal casing to protect the hole a little bit so rocks from the top of the hole don't fall down and hit the capsule on the way up. They've done that this morning.
Behind me where the plan "b" drill just a few hours ago, they had to take that down and are building a platform. That will be a platform to lower the capsule down to these men and lower two very brave men. One is described as an expert mine rescue and rescues miners in this part of Chile for a living. Another is a Chilean Navy special forces paramedic, obviously somebody very good under pressure and in white-knuckle situations. That's what this is going to be, a very hairy situation. These men appear to be the best for the job, Brooke.
BALDWIN: Incredible. You have an awesome assignment right now. Wish you the best. We'll be talking to you in the coming days. Thank you.
We want to get back to our other top stories. This is what we began the hour with, the situation in New York City. Police say eight of these sticks -- here's the picture police commissioner Ray Kelly held up, these military grade C4 explosives. It was found in Marble Cemetery lower east side here in Manhattan.
A groundskeeper apparently dug these explosive up at some point last year but a volunteer today doing some of the clean-up work found all these bricks of explosives in a garbage bag in the cemetery. He picked up the phone, called police. Crew from the bomb squad came out, took them away from the scene, but police commissioner Ray Kelly say the bricks were not wired to explode.
Also, earth movers and shovels and water hoses -- there is really no other way to clear away Hungary's poisonous mud than to physically dig it up, haul it elsewhere. The toxic industrial waste is now blamed for an eighth death after a wave of this stuff flooded a couple of the small villages last week.
Terrified -- you can imagine, terrified these people they see this wave of muck coming at them, their homes. People in several nations along the Danube here when the news broke this stuff might get into the Danube.
Still officials are nervous at the plant where the initial accident happened. It was an aluminum plant, an earthen dam holding back. Another wave of slush showing signs of weakening. We're watching that. Hopefully nothing else breaks there.
Also, how did marijuana become the hot topic in four big state elections? And I'm not just talking medicinal marijuana here. We're telling you where one state could be on the verge of legalizing pot for recreational uses.
Also, a weekend party took this bizarre turn when several female guests just totally passed out. Spiked drinks are to blame. We're going to take you beyond the headlines for that one. That is ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: All right, 22 days here until the midterm elections, and marijuana on the ballot in four different states. So we're making it a special focus here in the "CNN NEWSROOM." We're taking you behind the debate to talk about the politics and money behind the issue of pot. Watch this report. This is from CNN's Joe Johns.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOE JOHNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Not one, not two, not three, but four states have initiatives on the ballot this fall that would change their marijuana laws in big ways. And one of those initiatives, the one in California, proposition 19 it's called, would pretty much legalize retail sales of the drug for recreational use.
That's right, if the voters go for it, what once was called the gateway drug, the so-called "evil weed" that led to cocaine, heroin, ruined lives, and sent thousands upon thousands to jail, could suddenly after all these years become OK to do for fun in California.
The three other states with pending legislation -- Oregon, South Dakota and Arizona -- are looking to either legalize marijuana for medical purposes or to modify the medical marijuana laws they already have in place.
It turns out coast to coast 14 states and the District of Columbia already allow medical use, which is something a former national anti-drug czar sees as a problem. To him this stuff is like booze and if legalized it will have the same negative effect on society.
JOHN WALTERS, FORMER NATIONAL ANTI-DRUG CZAR: An intoxicant does make people feel euphoric. It's part of the pathway to addiction. That doesn't mean there's medical Jack Daniels or that there's medical meth or medical crack or medical heroin. This is a sham.
JOHNS: OK, so how did we get here anyway, especially considering all the reminders we've had about the evils of marijuana? The old black and white movie "Refer Madness" warning the public about it, or former first lady Nancy Reagan's famous "Just say no" to drugs campaign in the 1980s.
Criminologist Peter Reuter says attitudes have changed even though medical marijuana, though controversial, has become a legal reality.
PETER REUTER, EXPERT, DRUG MARKETS AND DRUG POLICY: It does give an aura of usefulness to this drug which previously in every public presentation by any official agency was always very negative. JOHNS: Use of the drug hasn't exactly skyrocketed recently. But the one thing that has changed is the economy. Money hungry states are looking for new sources of revenue and already wondering whether pot is the next cash crop.
REUTER: Governments certainly, if they become promoters of legalized marijuana, if legislatures start -- it's clearly for -- in most cases would be for revenue reasons.
JOHNS (on camera): Still, some predict legalization in California could cause chaos starting in the courts. Such a state law if passed would clash with federal law, launching a big battle that could end up in the Supreme Court.
JOHNS (voice-over): But at least for now it's all just a pipe dream with a lot of speculation, though the world of drug enforcement could look a lot different when the smoke clears on Election Day.
Joe Johns, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BALDWIN: Let's break this one down just a little bit more. Let's have a bigger conversation here. You heard some of the warnings in Joe's report about the dangers of marijuana, "evil weed" he said. But not everyone thinks the drug is dangerous.
My guest, David Bienenstock, is a senior editor at "High Times" magazine, which is a pot advocacy magazine. David, good to see you. Thanks for hopping on with us. Let's just first begin with your magazine "High Times," supports legalization. I'm sure you have multiple, but give me the top three arguments why you think people should legalize it.
DAVE BEINENSTOCK, WEST COAST EDITOR, "HIGH TIMES": Sure. That's easy. If you believe in a smaller government that's not going to impinge on your freedoms, if you believe that tax dollars should not be spent harassing people using a relatively harmless substance, and if you want to see green jobs in this multibillion dollar economy go to law abiding American citizens instead of Mexican drug cartels. And that's just for starters.
BALDWIN: Let's talk about one of the big arguments, for years and years, that being the fact that marijuana is this gateway drug that sends so many people to jail and the gateway to cocaine and heroin. That is very much a fear for a lot of people out there, a lot of opponents to legalization. What do you say?
BEINENSTOCK: I say that that's really -- that argument is part of a 70-year propaganda system that the government has been basically telling people lies. That's one of the lies about this substance they've been telling.
And the reason they need to lie about marijuana is because there's no reason and there's no logic underpinning our war on marijuana. At "High Times" for 35 years we've been dedicated to publishing the truth about the substance and letting people make their own decisions.
Our founder, Tom Prasad, is a political activist who started with that idea and we've been fighting that good fight, and we see this is the moment when we're finally going to have a reasonable and rational debate about this subject and we know we're going to win. Once people --
BALDWIN: David, let me just interrupt you for a second. Forgive me, but let's talk about addiction because that is very much so a fact. In fact, I have numbers, and maybe you can react to this. Marijuana is less addictive than alcohol. Some people may not realize that citing federal statistics -- marijuana addictive for nine percent of adults who use it versus 15 percent of adults who use alcohol.
But because marijuana is the mostly widely abused illegal substance in the country, some people are arguing that the dependence on pot, David, would be worse than cocaine, would be worse than heroin, and then legalizing it would be absolutely the wrong thing to do.
BEINENSTOCK: Well, let's look at two substances that are currently legal that we know to be dangerous and that we know to be far more dangerous to people than marijuana, and that's alcohol and tobacco. But we're a reasonable, rational society, and we've realized that the best way to control these substances is by regulating them through the government, not allowing criminals to decide who can have access to them.
By bringing marijuana into the -- by regulating it the same way we regulate alcohol and tobacco, we can control it and we can have a much better relationship to these plants in our society.
BALDWIN: And off the idea of regulation, I think a lot of people would agree with you. Let's take it a step further and say you're an adult and 21 and you can buy alcohol. That alcohol can very easily fall in the hands of a child.
And some people are already worried that if you take prop 19 in California, for instance, where it may -- if voters vote yes, it may be legal to buy one ounce of pot for recreational uses. But a lot of people are worried that that pot would fall into children's hands.
BEINENSTOCK: Well, are these same people advocating that we go back to the prohibition of alcohol, because that's essentially what they're saying? We've tried that. It didn't work. Taste widely acknowledged that it didn't work. I don't ever hear anyone saying let's go back to the good old days of Al Capone when we had our alcohol well regulated.
And that's essentially the same argument they're making. It's a nonsense argument. Unless they're willing to stand up and say we should also prohibit alcohol, really, what they're saying is we should regulate cannabis, and that is the best way to control it and keep it out of the hands of minors.
BALDWIN: Sure. And I think if and when it does cross the ballot and if people vote yes, I think that will be the next conversation many Californians will have.
Dave Bienenstock, thank you for coming on. A lot of points in both directions pro and con. I thank you for coming on to talk to me about that from "High Times" magazine.
BALDWIN: Also, a lot of you tweeting about this. Maybe Brett Favre should have stayed retired. A quarterback made it through 20 years in the NFL without a single sex scandal until now. We have the latest on these allegations he sent a lewd photograph and tawdry voicemails to a former female coworker.
And not exactly the miracle on the Hudson. What happened to cause this plane to end upside down? Look at this. In a canal. What happened? That's next.
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BALDWIN: Republicans have been attacking the Obama administration for deficit spending. You know that. But on CNN's "PARKER/SPITZER" Friday night economist Paul Krugman defended the deficit. He says it's an official step in reviving our economy.
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KATHLEEN PARKER, HOST, "PARKER/SPITZER": You're a big fan of deficit spending. You said to get something, we have to spend more. But for the average American in home who may already be in debt, the idea of spending when you don't have money doesn't make a lot of sense. Can you explain why that's a good economic model?
PAUL KRUGMAN, NOBEL PRIZE WINNING ECONOMIST, COLUMNIST, "NEW YORK TIMES": Now, yes, it's not in all times, right? When the economy has recovered, once we're back at a plan where we have a self-sustaining expansion, when businesses are spending because they're using their capacity, then you actually want to try to pay down the debt, certainly stop borrowing so much.
But right now, nobody wants to spend. Businesses don't want to spend because 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 be responsible and pull back, but only after we got this thing going.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Coming up tonight at 8:00, Eliot says Wall Street betrayed middle class Americans, and Kathleen wants to know why. Don't miss CNN's newest show, "PARKER/SPITZER" tonight.
Coming up here, a man on fire running straight out of an office window. Look at this -- what's going on? How does this end? Wait for it -- we'll be right back.
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BALDWIN: Don't all criminals know by now that everything out there worth stealing is covered by surveillance cameras? The is in Beaverton, Oregon, middle of the night. You've got crook number one -- take a look at what he uses to wrap around this cash machine here. You'll see it. I don't know if it's a big heavy toe strap, a power hose.
The hook it up to this pickup truck where crook number two hits the gas. Will it work? Let's watch together. So they go, they hit the gas apparently -- oh, the strap survives. Machine ripped out of the floor. He goes back inside, muscles this thing, oh, there we go. Get it out the doors, all in clear view of this lovely surveillance video.
Police did find the ATM in the middle of the road a couple of hours later. Apparently these two criminal masterminds did not plan on their score to be so difficult. So, bad news, didn't get it open. Zero money for them. Police are still looking for these guys.
Also, you've got to see this. Small plane pilots say any landing you walk away from is a good landing. So this counts, maybe. Pointon Beach, Florida yesterday. The pilot had some kind of engine trouble, landed in the grassy field upside down in a canal. No one hurt, the plane kind of messed up. The pilot, who was alone, had a pretty good story to tell.
One more, you've got to see this. What do you do when you're leaping out of the skyscraper apparently isn't so exciting anymore. I've got an idea -- set yourself on fire. Smash through a window without a parachute, of course.
We found this dude's fiery leap of faith on a website where you can hire stuntmen for your movies or whatever. Watch him fall. There he goes. Look at all the stories. He lands, watch him with me, on an inflatable bag. He's OK. Hooray for Hollywood. Cool, you've got to admit. But I think I'll keep my feet very much so -- bam, there he goes, a perfect landing. I'll keep my feet on the ground, thank you very much.
And we're counting down to Election Day with "The Best Political Team on Television," Wolf Blitzer is standing by. I don't know what Wolf makes of that. Stay there.
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BALDWIN: We're counting 22 days until election day, and CNN has all your latest political news with "The Best Political Team on Television," including Wolf Blitzer at the CNN.politics.com desk. Wolf, I just have to ask, did you see the guy jumping out the window?
WOLF BLITZER, HOST, "THE SITUATION ROOM": I did.
BALDWIN: What do you make of it? Crazy.
BLITZER: Crazy, but great video. BALDWIN: Good video, right.
BLITZER: If you're a Hollywood stuntman, that's the way to do it, I guess.
BALDWIN: Your past life, right?
BLITZER: No, not going to happen.
BALDWIN: Mr. Politics, the floor is yours.
BLITZER: Thank you very much.
A lot going on as we get closer and closer to Election Day November 20 -- November 2nd, only a few days away right now. And more good news for those who support the Tea Party movement -- a new poll published in "The Washington Post" today says 74 percent of those who believe -- are associated with the Tea Parties, Tea Party supporters, 74 percent say they're enthusiastic about voting on November 2nd.
Contrast that with 57 percent of Republicans in general, 43 percent of Democrats. Most of those tea parties supporters we suspect are going to vote for Republicans. More good news going into this midterm election for Republicans.
Let's go to West Virginia right now. Very popular Governor Joe Manchin. He's the Democratic nominee for the U.S. Senate. He's running against the Republican, John Raese.
Right now, he's also running against several of the policies of other Democrats including the president and the Democratic leadership. He's got a new ad out there in West Virginia. Basically, he's shooting a bullet through cap and trade. The energy proposed energy legislation say he's not going anywhere near that. He also says about the Obama health care plan that the Democrats support.
He says I would repeal the bad parts of Obamacare and take dead aim at cap in trade. So, another Democratic candidate running away from the Democrats to a certain degree in the hopes of getting elected. Contrast that with other Democrats who are doing the same thing across the country, Chris Van Holland. He's the democratic Congressional leader who is in charge of helping Democrats get elected on November 2nd.
He says it's actually a good thing that there is this wide array of Democrats. We're proud of the fact, he says, that we have an ideologically diverse caucus. We have a whole range of different political viewers. What they're talking about is their independence on certain issues. I guess, that's a pretty positive spin. He's trying to put on a lot of all these Democratic candidates out there who are running away from President Obama and the Democratic leadership -- Brooke.
BALDWIN: And Wolf, you're a pretty modest guy, so I'll do this. Let's remind everyone what you get to do on Wednesday night in Delaware. BLITZER: Thank you. we're going to have a big debate in Delaware, the Senate debate. Christine O'Donnell, the Republican nominee versus Chris Coons, the Democratic nominee, 7:30 p.m. eastern. I co-moderate that debate. The Newark, Delaware at the University of Delaware should be lively. Hopefully, it will be informative for the voters out there in Delaware indeed for people all over the country.
BALDWIN: We will be watching, 7:30 Wednesday. This will be an interesting one. Wolf Blitzer, thank you. Also, this heads up to all of you, another political update in about half an hour, and you can always get the latest political news, Political Ticker go to CNNPolitics.com or they tweet so go to @PoliticalTicker.
