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Explosive Found in NYC Cemetery; Mission to Save Aid Worker; Here Comes the Son; Favre Accused of Sexting; Students Drugged at Party; Countdown to Election Day; Freezing Foreclosure Sales

Aired October 11, 2010 - 16:02   ET

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

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: And on that note, top of the hour, here we go. I want to welcome the men, the women, watching us right now on American forces network around the world. We're going to hit you fast this hour. See if you can keep up with me. Let's go.

First up, we got the breaking news out of New York. Here's what we know, a bag of military grade explosives found in the east village cemetery. Now, apparently, the explosives, they want (ph) actually wired to blow up, so the bomb squad did take that bag away, but a groundskeeper apparently dug up the explosives sometime last year and just left them aside. Here is the New York police commissioner, Ray Kelly, just a short time again describing a note that was found nearby.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RAY KELLY, NYPD COMMISSIONER: Initially discovered or dug up in May or June of 2009. Written on the sidewalk around down the street here apparently in chalk is a statement that says, I really hope one of you find this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Huh. Now, we don't know right now if that note is, in fact, connected to the explosives, of course, making phone calls. We'll keep you up to date on that one.

Also, now, the British aid worker who died during a mission to rescue her from kidnappers in Afghanistan may have been killed by a grenade from by U.S. forces. NATO and British officials had said Linda Norgrove was killed by her captors, but today, the British Prime Minister, David Cameron, said those statements were probably wrong. General David Petraeus, the top commander in Afghanistan right now saying he will begin an investigation into the failed rescue attempt.

Also, President Obama wants to see some major upgrades. I'm talking roads, railways, airports across the country here. In fact, to see this whole group of many men he met earlier today with the White House -- at the white house with a group of mayors, governors, and transportation officials.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're not just talking new and restored roads and bridges and dams and levees, but we're also talking a smart electric grid and the high-speed Internet and rail lines required for America to compete in the 21st century economy. We're talking about investments with impacts both immediate and lasting.

Tens of thousands of projects employing hundreds of thousands of workers are already under way across America. We're improving 40,000 miles of road and rebuilding water and sewer systems. We're implementing a smarter, more stable, more secure electric grid across 46 states that will increase access to renewable sources of energy and cut costs for customers.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Across 46 states in (ph) the president. You heard him pushing his $50 billion infrastructure initiative which he says can create a lot of jobs especially for workers in the construction field.

And he's not running for office per se, but he seems to be the go-to guy. Here he is where Democrats who are. Earlier today, former president, Bill Clinton, was in Lexington, Kentucky stomping for Jack Conway. Conway is running for Senate. Mr. Clinton has his stops today in Morgantown, West Virginia and Syracuse, New York.

Mexican police tell us they are looking now for two suspects in the case of that missing American man, David Hartley. The suspects are brothers who a Mexican government official says are, quote, "well known to this area." Tiffany Hartley, the wife, told police that her husband was shot during that sightseeing trip last month on Falcon Lake which you know got lake straddles U.S. and Texas. David Hartley, his body has not yet been found. The U.S. and Mexican police still investigating that one.

And get out from behind the wheel. The folks at Google will help. This is too cool. Check this out. This is a car. It drives itself. Jetsons, here we go. The company has been test driving these things, apparently, for a couple of months. In fact, in a blog post, Google's founder say their goal is to help prevent accidents, produce carbon emissions and free up people's time. Hey, more time to text and surf the web, huh?

And ever wonder what would happen if a big rock smashed into your house. Well, now you know. Look at this, Billings, Montana. The guy who owns this house was home when this boulder hit his house. He wasn't hurt, thank goodness. Rain over the summer loosened up the rocks and tumble down over the weekend. Yikes.

Have you heard today about this man, Brett Favre. He is at the center of this alleged sexting scandal, accused of sending racey pictures and some voice mails to a woman who worked for the New York Jets. And now, the league is officially coming forward. They're investigating. But is the quarterback being treated differently? We're going to talk about that. That's ahead. Also, we don't know too much about Kim Jong-un, but the U.S. believes he is next in line to take over all of North Korea. So, is the country in the middle of a transition of power? Hmm, stay right there. Coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: All right. A lot of you were tweeting about Brett Favre today. The NFL now officially investigating. It's at the center of this sexting scandal, allegedly sending this young woman some texts, some racy pictures. So, we're going to talk a little bit more about that with the columnist, Steven A. Smith. In fact, let's take a look, Robert. Let's roll over the Tweeter board because you're tweeting me. You're tweeting sports columnist, Steven A. Smith. I want to read a couple of this.

First, Tina says, I really think that's a situation between Favre and his wife. Everybody else needs to back out. We're going to make that point a little later. I'll ask Steven about that.

Also, if Favre were T.O., Vick, Ochocinco, this scandal will be covered 24/7. Why is it being played down in the media? It's a good question.

One more -- I find it interesting that this all came to light as Favre was face the Jets after two years. Vikings taking on the Jets tonight. We'll talk about that. We'll talk about why. We're talking about it today, and is it really our business? Lots of questions. We'll do that in just a bit.

Meantime, is it official here? The youngest son of North Korea's leader appearing at this massive military parade not too far from his father. So, do you know Kim Jong-un? You heard the name? Who is he? And might he be next in line to take control? That is next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: OK. The Soviet Union is long since gone. China opened its doors. Even Cuba is acting a little less bit less repressive these days, but they don't need dictators the way they used to. Or did they?

You may have guessed correctly that this is North Korea, one of the world's last true dictatorships. And the country can throw one heck of a good parade, as you can see. Look at these pictures. You might get the impression this is a world class power house. It's not. Keep in mind, much of the world is sending food to North Korea to keep these people from starving. The country suffers wide spread poverty, chronic supply shortages, its infrastructure, its buildings crumbling.

So, appearances aside, it's not working. Hold that thought back, though, because here comes the news. Take a look at this young man with me. This is the man who -- this is the elder -- this is Kim Jong-il, 69 years old. He's real. His days on earth are numbered. At this big parade, Kim Jong-il unveiled his heir apparent, the younger son, no surprise, it's his son. That's the only way to do it. In fact, here's a brief history lesson.

This Kim Il Sung, North Korea's founder. He was known as "The Great Leader." He led Korea for 45 years from its founding till his death, that was in 1994 at which time he was named "Eternal Leader."

Now his son, the current leader, Kim Jong-il. He was anointed "The Dear Leader" and now has the title "Supreme Leader" and he is commander of the army.

And now take a look at his son, Kim Jong-un. Recently promoted to four-star general even though it's still unclear if he's ever worn a military uniform. We believe he's in his early 20s, maybe late 20s. And as we said, he's the newly unveiled heir apparent.

Important to note here, North Korea has developed weapons and has missiles to launch them. Not big fans of us, Americans.

Joining me now to talk North Korea and it's succession, John Park, senior research associate for the Center of Conflict Analysis and Prevention. So, John, as we watch the pomp and circumstance of the parades, we look at the heir apparent, Kim Jong-un, and we think he's in his 20s and we think he's a general, what do you know about him?

JOHN PARK, CENTER FOR CONFLICT ANALYSIS & PREVENTION (NE ASIA): Well, it's correct, what you pointed out. He's in fact a four-star general and we know that because the Worker's Party of Korea convened their party conference September 28th and in addition to the four-star general appointment, Kim Jong-un, the third son of Kim Jong-il, also received the title of vice chairman of the party's Central Military Commission.

These are not frivolous titles by any means, but it's important to bear in mind though, with respect to the four-star general title, the North Korean economy is heavily militarized. The key components of the economy that runs well is run by state trading companies affiliated to the military. So one way to look at it his four-star general appointment is he's ahead and soon to be the leader of some of these very important and large things state trading companies in North Korea.

BALDWIN: Head and soon to be the leader.

Let's pause for a second, I want to play this sound. This is North Korean expert Gordon Chang.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GORDON CHANG, "NUCLEAR SHOWDOWN: NORTH KOREA TAKE ON THE WORLD": There have been four suspicious deaths of senior officials since April. One of them is a -- was a principal supporter of Kim Jong-un. This indicates that there are real problems in Pyongyang despite the show of solidarity and unity, and we need to see how this plays out in the year or so ahead. And if Kim Jong-il passes from the scene quickly, I don't think Kim Jong-un will have had time to consolidate his power and he needs to do that if he's going to survive. (END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: So he mentions, you heard him, "suspicious deaths", yet you sort of juxtapose that with the pomp and circumstance and the parades and everybody looking unified.

Is it safe to say that things are quite perhaps as unified in nuclear-armed North Korea as they may like it to appear?

PARK: That's correct. As Gordon points out, there has to be this process going forward and a powers consolidation. But what we do know right now is that, more or less, Kim Jong-un's uncle and aunt, Jang Soong-taek and Kim Kyong-Hui, will be forming something of a cocoon. And this is a very important cocoon in which Kim Jong-un is supposed to be groomed for leadership, trained for the job as it were.

So we're not going immediately into a period where Kim Jong-un would be running the country. And the idea is that through this grooming process he would also receive help from Chinese counterparts, not on an individual basis but a party-to-party, the Communist Party of China helping out the Worker's Party of Korea.

And this is in many respects institution building, and this is a process that we'll see more of and a deepening relationship in the coming years.

BALDWIN: And, John, if we look at the pictures, and we have them up, the pictures of this parade, the goose stepping, the formations, the appearance of the military might, it's an impressive show. But at the same time, when you consider the poverty of this country, the hardship, how do they seem to manage to keep everyone on the same page?

PARK: Right, defectors are basically saying that if you look at the situation in North Korea, after Kim Jong-il came to power after the death of his father, Kim Il-Sung, in 1994, the North Korean economy essentially became a two-tiered economy.

One, the general economy, the difficulties that we're all very aware of, food problems, food and security issues being quite chronic.

But the other is the development of the royal palace economy, and these are essentially where the state trading companies are affiliated either to the military or the party operate. And it's this is this palace economy that's operating and really interacting quite closely with Chinese interlocketers (ph), Chinese companies that are doing a lot of the business in cooperation with these state trading companies. Normal transactions, as many, I think, in these types of commercial arrangements would know.

But this is the situation where it will be very interesting to know where Kim Jong-un, when he is ready for leadership, will take over this two-tier economy.

BALDWIN: Kim Jong-un, it's a name we're all learning today. John Park, my thanks to you. There are new worries about the housing market as major banks put a freeze on foreclosure sales. So what's the underlying concern here? I'm going to talk to my friend Poppy Harlow about that. That is coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Back on this Favre story. We tweeted out -- "Is the media treating the Favre sexting scandal differently than previous player scandals?" Oh, boy, is my Twitter account on fire. To let's roll on over to the Twitter board.

Tony (ph) says, "Yes. This is a double standard by the media in so many ways. Sad when the media can make some players villains and others heroes."

Let's get to another one, Jonathan (ph) tweets and says, "Just a lot more media coverage than it should have. It's because it's Favre."

One more, Patrick (ph) tweets, "Every pro athlete is just a grossly overpaid spoiled brat that never gets true justice served." Ouch.

One more. We have a fourth, guys. Raider (ph) says, "Of course, it's Favre. Look at the circus that was the Big Ben scandal? Not one day went by without talking about it."

All excellent points. We will mesh that all in with my conversation with Steven A. Smith, sports columnist. We'll go there in just a couple of minutes. Should be a pretty interesting conversation.

Also, Gloria Borger standing by with some brand new information crossing the CNNPolitics.com Desk. Of course, "CNN Equals Politics," your Political Ticker is next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Twenty-two days until election day and CNN has you covered with all of the latest political news with "The Best Political Team on Television." And amongst the group, Gloria Borger, she's at the CNNPolitics.com Desk.

Gloria, good to see you.

GLORIA BORGER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: How you doing? Good to see you.

BALDWIN: I'm doing well. Happy Monday. What's do you have today? What's crossing?

BORGER: Well, we've got Florida, Florida, Florida. You remember the battleground state, always important in the presidential elections. Just as important in this midterm election. And there's a rematch for a House seat there that's bringing in the big guns today. We've got President Barack Obama. They're raising money at a fundraiser at the Miami home of a former NBA star, Alonzo Mourning. He's raising money for Ron Klein, the Democrat.

John Boehner, the man who would be speaker, is also in Florida today. He's campaigning for Klein's opponent, Alan West, who lost the seat two years ago. So it's kind of a grudge match going on there and you've got Obama and Boehner out in it too.

Also, Pennsylvania, another battleground state. And we've got Arlen Specter back on the campaign trail for his former opponent, Joe Sestak. Remember, Specter lost to Sestak in a primary that was quite tough. Specter had been a Republican, became a Democrat because he thought this might be a year for Democrats to win. He may be revisiting that.

But in any case, the two haven't been really close of late. But he's heading back to the state to campaign for Sestak. It's clear that they hope that Arlen Specter, a former Republican, can bring out moderate voters.

Now, we also have a new CNN poll out today which is very interesting for both parties. Shows you what kind of an anti- incumbent year it is. The pullout this afternoon shows that by a two- to-one margin, voters don't approve of the job members of Congress are doing in either party.

Take a look at this -- 34 percent of the voters approve the job the Democrat leaders are doing. 31 percent of the people approve of the job Republican leaders are doing. What that means is no matter who wins, you better watch out because the public is angry and wants to get something done, Brooke.

BALDWIN: Good point. If you're incumbent this year, it's not a done deal. Not at all.

BORGER: That's right.

BALDWIN: Gloria Borger.

BORGER: Thank you.

BALDWIN: Just a heads up, another political update for you next hour. Always get the latest political news, go to CNNPolitics.com. Hop on Twitter @PoliticalTicker.

And now this --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All the girls were puking everywhere, girls were outside like on their back. And people were so drunk they didn't know what to do.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BALDWIN: What is she talking about? Have you heard about this story? Twelve people rush to the hospital from this off-campus college party. Why? That's the big question today. Why? There were questions about whether somebody might have spiked their drinks, but with what? That's coming up.

Also, just a couple of hours from now, Brett Favre scheduled to take on the Jets in New York. So you have Vikings, Jets, huge game. Why is this an interesting night to be doing this? Because he's being accused of sending racy pictures to a former Jets employee. It trending big time on the Internet. We're going to talk about it next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: OK, what is trending today. It's what all the Americans are talking about today. "Monday Night Football" of course and tonight, you have the Jets and the Vikings. Huge game, but if you don't follow football.

If you don't follow the NFL, there is certainly enough chatter about a couple of the game's biggest names to fill the sports pages and maybe the gossip pages as well.

That's right, this guy right there, Vikings QB, this Brett Favre, one of the guys a lot of people are talking about. Google his name, you'll see what I mean.

So we had a short time ago, the veteran QB apologized for his teammates for what he calls a quote/unquote, "a distraction." Now everyone else calls it a sex scandal, sexting scandal that involves suggestive text messages even suggestive photographs of Favre allegedly sent to a woman.

By the way, this is all from a couple of years ago, but it's coming to light right now. Now he's confirming NFL is officially investigating those reports and they're listening to some of the voice mails and they've seen some of these pictures.

Steven A. Smith, former ESPN anchor and radio analyst is here to tell me how much of a distraction this thing really is for Favre and his Vikings.

So Stephen, let's just -- before we can get this conversation going, I think it's just worth it if people don't know the story. They're not on the Internet today. Let's play the voicemail, allegedly the voice of Brett Favre.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Jenn, it's not a setup. Just got done with practice. Got meetings here for a couple more hours, then I'm going back to the just chill. So send me a text because I'll be in the building for a couple of hours. But,-- come over tonight - I know (inaudible) came up and asked you for your number or gave you my number. But I understand. Send me a text. I'd love to see you tonight. All right, talk to you later. Bye. (END AUDIO CLIP)

BALDWIN: All right, Stephen. How credible -- you're talking to the sports sources. How credible do you think these voice mails and photographs allegedly sent by Favre are?

STEPHEN A. SMITH, RADIO ANALYST: That's a two-part answer. It sounds just like him. Let me be clear about that.

It definitely sounds a lot like him, but there's room for plausible deniability. There are imitative around all the time. If I were him I would certainly - if I was in his position, I would certainly deny it.

I would say, hey, it wasn't me. I'd steal a line from Eddie Murphy in comics standard -- hey, it wasn't me.

BALDWIN: What about this woman? She -- you read the articles, she isn't complaining. She and Favre don't work together. This is all from a couple of years ago.

This alleged contact happened several years ago. So some people are saying, you know, if this is even Favre, yes this is inappropriate. But why is it our business and I say our as in Americans.

SMITH: Well, I would be one of those people. I think it's absolutely none of our business. I think it's much ado about nothing. I think it's absolutely ridiculous that there is an investigation ongoing.

I do understand and it has been explained to me why there is an investigation that's ongoing. The NFL, the National Football League, always does a tremendous job of protecting itself and its brand.

You certainly don't want to open yourself up to forms of litigation. You want to protect yourselves by any and all means necessary and that's exactly what they're doing so we understand it.

But that doesn't make it any less ridiculous and a complete waste of our time. The fact is, is that Brett Favre assuming that allegedly there's some truth to these allegations that have been levied against him.

The fact is Brett Favre tried to get some. It's that simple. He's a married man. He tried to cheat on his wife and get with somebody else. That's with Mrs. Favre to deal with. That's not for us for deal with.

But when you consider the fact that 15 percent to 20 percent of marriages in this country had begin in the work place. When you consider the fact that 62 percent of men according to the research that I've done, talking about 62 percent of men affairs take place - affairs takes place in the work place.

BALDWIN: But, Stephen, I have to jump in because -- SMITH: Forty six percent of women. Come on.

BALDWIN: I have to jump in, though, because we're playing what we think is Favre's voice on this voice mail. The whole other part of the story are the pictures that we definitely can't show on television. It is scandalous.

SMITH: I'm sorry.

BALDWIN: It's wrong. It could be perceived as harassment if it's him.

SMITH: If it's him, but we don't know that. There was no picture attached to this and more importantly than anything else, these pictures, assuming that they are -- that they are authentic, took place two years ago. What the hell is the procrastination all about? Took you two years.

BALDWIN: Recently, there was the TV Azteca, the reporter in the Jet -- in the locker room. And some people had quickly jumped to her defense saying there was some harassment happening in the locker room and on the sidelines.

So if some people may say, you know, this young woman, she's not coming forward. She's not screaming harassment, but other people need to -- other people need to come to her defense. Do you see that side of it?

SMITH: Let's go -- let's go on a case-by-case basis. I'm not condoning sexual harassment. I'm not condoning somebody being stalked. I'm not condoning inappropriate behavior in the work place or anything like that.

But the reason I threw out those statistics to you is because a lot of things are consensual. Who knows -- this is a woman. I'm not trying to cast any spurges on Miss Sterger because we don't know her background or anything like that. I want to make sure I'm very, very clear.

But in the interest of fairness, let's be real about something here. You're a girl that's in pinups and Maxim magazine and Playboy, et cetera, et cetera.

Is it plausible, is it possible that you may have hooked up with Brett Favre before he was a grandfather and you came to the conclusion that you're upset because things didn't work out. We don't know.

BALDWIN: We don't know.

SMITH: But Brett Favre's name is raked through the coals right now. I'm critical of him, but not with this.

BALDWIN: Let's talk about that because some people even some of these NFL players were saying, hey, if it were Ochocinco, if you were the whole big Ben controversy in the last couple of months, it would be a totally different issue. But this is Brett Favre who's never been found guilty of anything like this in terms of a personal, you know, conduct policy in the NFL in the 19 years he's been playing. Some of the other players saying this isn't fair.

SMITH: It's not fair, but not for the reasons that they pointed out. We're not going to go to the issue of race. I certainly wouldn't hesitate to do so if it were apropos and if it was called for.

In this particular situation, I don't think it's the issue right here. I think it's the issue of people trying to put the microscope on the lives of athletes, men, multimillionaires and the issue of privilege and how it's allegedly exploiting it.

When, in fact, this is a microcosm of society. This is no different from what goes on with an accountant, a lawyer, somebody in the Fortune 500 company, Wall Street, et cetera. Who knows, the bottom line is, we don't know.

BALDWIN: I'm getting you fired up today I think.

SMITH: I'm always fired up.

BALDWIN: Let me bring this point up. The thing is this whole thing broke a week ago. Let's be totally transparent. We see it touching because the NFL is now officially investigating. But as for Brett Favre, he has yet to comment publicly on this whole thing so --

SMITH: He shouldn't.

BALDWIN: He shouldn't, why?

SMITH: Because he doesn't owe anybody an explanation but Mrs. Favre. That's it. Mrs. Favre is the one he went -- he stood up on the altar and swore that he would be --

BALDWIN: Till death do us part.

SMITH: He didn't make that vow to me. He didn't make that vow to you. He didn't make that vow to anybody else and it's even more hypocritical that a whole bunch of men out here who are constantly chasing women in and outside of the work place and everywhere else.

I would know because once upon a time I was one of those people, although I didn't sexually harass anybody. The fact is for men to sit up here and act like, my goodness, this is foreign to us. How egregious can this get. My God, what is Brett Favre thinking about --

BALDWIN: You say, Stephen Smith.

SMITH: It's activity of hypocrisy.

BALDWIN: So you say this is between Mr. and Mrs. Favre. This has nothing to do with his conduct. It's not a team issue. It's not an NFL issue. Just between a man and his wife. SMITH: Absolutely right. By the way, because she -- she filed charges against him. Had she said she was sexually harass? You got a different argument.

But the last time I checked, she didn't make any complaints. She just agreed to cooperate with the NFL. This is two years later after deadspin.com printed the story and broke the story to their credit.

This is after all of that transpired. Prior to that, we didn't hear anything about it. by the way, the coincidence -- this comes out the week he's coming to New York City to play the New York Jets on Monday Night Football. You don't notice the coincidence there.

BALDWIN: You say coincidence, I think not. Stephen Smith, got to go. Love how fired up you are. Let's have you on again. Thank you, now this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All the girls were puking everywhere. Girls were outside like on their back. And people were so drunk they didn't know what to do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: A dozen college students rushed to the hospital after being drugged at an off-campus house party. We're going to take it beyond the headlines for a live report. That is next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: We're continuing our new segment calling it "Beyond the Headlines." So every day, we're going to find three of the most interesting stories being reported in your hometown newspapers.

And we'll bring them to the rest of our viewers here on CNN NEWSROOM" and then together, we'll go beyond the headlines for an in depth look at one of the stories that we choose.

So I want to begin with headline number one. Here it is. Bear attack. This is Petoskey, Michigan. This is the news review there. The headline -- bear attack -- so here's what we know.

A local man is attacked by a black bear and three cubs while he was deer hunting over the weekend. He was perched in a tree stand when one of the bears bit him on the leg.

We're told an attack like this is very rare. He was release in the hospital. He will recover. So that -- that is that headline.

Headline number two here. New home -- no money down. This is out of Boston, Massachusetts. This is "The Boston Globe" and it's a state sponsored program for affordable housing. We found this headline kind of ironic because the federal government is now considering a freeze on foreclosure sales nationwide. Buying a home with little or no money down is widely considered to have caused the nation's foreclosure crises. By the way, that report on the foreclosure sales freeze. That is ahead in a couple of minutes.

But finally, our third and favorite most fascinating headline, this is "Students Hospitalized After Being Drugged at a Party." This is Yakima, Washington. This is the "Yakima Herald Republic."

And they're referring to these 12 students here who were at this off-campus party. Eleven of them were women, one was a man, apparently drugged at this party that they had to be hospitalized.

So there were about 50 young adults at the party. The druggings appear to have targeted young women. Like I said, 11 out of the 12 were women, though it's still not clear at this point in time what the drug was.

But for this, we want to go "Beyond the Headlines." And I want to talk to an affiliate reporter, Lindsay Cohen, of our affiliate station KOMO out of Seattle.

And Lindsay, do we know yet at all what the drug was?

LINDSAY COHEN, KOMO-TV REPORTER: That's the big question here today, Brooke. Right now we're waiting on toxicology results, but those could take weeks.

What people here on campus want to know was, what was in the system of all those people who were hospitalized? The fear, of course, is that it could be Rohypnol or roofies, also known as the date rape drug. But police did a thorough search of the home over the weekend, they found no drugs there.

But I spoke with a man today. He works right near where the party took place.

He tells me he ran over to the scene after he saw ambulances driving through town. And what's interesting to note, he also knows a central Washington student who knows some of the people who were at the party, and this is what he was told. There were two colors of cuffs at the party, one for the women and one for the men. So perhaps that's why 11 of these 12 people who got sick were female.

BALDWIN: Two colors of cuffs, one for the women, one for the men. We don't know yet what this drug was, though you're saying it might be roofies. And we don't know who might have spiked this alcohol.

Do we know how are the young women and the young man? Are they still in the hospital?

COHEN: They were all released from the hospital this weekend. And right now, according to the university, local police, the county sheriff, they're all trying to figure out exactly how these drugs got in to their system. The fear over the weekend, the police chief told us they believe the drinks were spiked. Right now the university also says they're trying to identify the students who were at this party. Some, they say, could be sent to drug or alcohol treatment, others suspended, possibly expelled. Because of that, a lot of the students here don't want to talk about what happened, but --

BALDWIN: That was my next question. How are the students reacting? Exactly.

COHEN: It's a big issue on campus. You know, one of the students told us over the weekend, her firsthand account that people were falling down, laying on their backs right after they had something to drink at the party. But I talked with a couple of the partygoers here today on campus. One of them told me at this point they're just trying to move forward.

They don't want to be associated with this. The party was actually 30 miles from campus. It was a private vacation home. And one of the ways that they're trying to move forward, some of them are actually coordinating a seminar, a program that they want to try to put on next year for the incoming freshmen so that they don't have to go through something like this as well.

BALDWIN: Lindsay Cohen, it's frightening. We heard about it, 12 students possibly drugged in an off-campus party. We had to go "Beyond the Headlines."

Lindsey Cohen, of our affiliate KOMO, thank you for that.

And that is some of the stories making news here "Beyond the Headlines."

Wolf Blitzer is next with a look at what's beyond "THE SITUATION ROOM."

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BALDWIN: Twenty-two days until midterm elections that could shift the balance of power in Congress. And CNN has "The Best Political Team in Television," and they're watching this one particular race very closely.

This is the contest for Joe Biden's old Senate seat. This is Delaware. And what it does is it's pitting Democrat Chris Coons against Tea Party favorite Christine O'Donnell. And the two of them will be squaring off this Wednesday, 7:30, in debate, broadcast here on CNN, moderated by our own Wolf Blitzer.

And so Wolf joining me now from Washington to talk about -- Wolf, how do you -- other than I'm sure seeping in every single detail of this race here, how does one prepare to be a moderator of a debate?

WOLF BLITZER, HOST, "THE SITUATION ROOM": Well, I've done several debates over the years, Brooke, as you know, with other election cycles. It's very hard, because you want to make sure you get the most important issues on the minds of voters, substantive issues, and very often these debates are very carefully negotiated, the rules for the debate between the two campaigns.

For example, in Delaware, the agreement between the Chris Coons and Christine O'Donnell campaigns is that the moderator will ask a question specifically to one of the candidates. That candidate will have two minutes to respond. The other candidate will have a one- minute response to that.

And then there will be four minutes of an open discussion, everyone getting involved and thrashing out the issue, whether it's jobs, the economy, national security, Social Security. Whatever the issues are, it will be a whole segment.

So, if you add that up, that's seven minutes to go through one subject. So you go through, you plan, and you try to make the most of it. But in the end, following 90 minutes without commercial interruption, we hope the voters in Delaware -- indeed, the folks all over the country who will be watching -- will have a better appreciation of the Democratic and the Republican candidates.

BALDWIN: Two minutes, one minutes, four minutes. Got it. And you mentioned a couple of the different possible subjects to be debated. But let's talk about the candidates themselves. You have Chris Coons and Christine O'Donnell, who have been two relatively new names here for this election cycle.

What are you looking to be -- what are you looking from them? And what particular topics do you -- economy or social issues?

BLITZER: I think we're going to try to get through all of the major issues, the economic, domestic policy issues, the national security issues. There are wars continuing in Iraq and Afghanistan. There's a potential source of tension with Iran, with North Korea right now.

We want to get through some of those national security issues as well. And there's no doubt that these are two very different candidates with very different backgrounds. And they'll have different points of view.

We might get into some of those social issues, whether abortion rights for women or gun control or gay marriage and some of those other issues. Those are all on the table.

So, yes, there's a format that's negotiated and agreed upon. But the subject -- the questions are open. And this will take place, by the way, Brooke, at the University of Delaware, so students will also have a chance to stand up and ask these two candidates some questions as well.

So I think it will be a good format, I think it will be interesting television. As you point out, 7:30 p.m. Eastern, Wednesday night, it all begins. Newark, Delaware, at the University of Delaware.

BALDWIN: Got it. Wolf Blitzer, we'll see you 7:30 Wednesday night. Thank you, sir.

And coming up tomorrow here, we have a couple of things we're working on and we know for sure we'll bring for you tomorrow in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Have you seen this -- we'll call it a documentary. It's "Catfish." Filmmakers behind this movie, they're going to talk to me about how maybe you might change the way you think about social media.

I just saw this last night. I can't stop talking about it.

Also for tomorrow, we're continuing our look at marijuana on the ballot, with a look at the place many marijuana advocates cite when they make their arguments for legalizing pot. I'm talking about Amsterdam. I'll be talking to a retired police officer there. He will share the law enforcement point of view from the Netherlands.

That should be fascinating.

But ahead, is stopping foreclosure sales across the country really a good idea? We're hearing now from the White House weighing in on the issue.

I'm going to tell you why the news may be scaring away some potential homebuyers right now. That's next.

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BALDWIN: We're now finally hearing from the White House when it comes to a possibility of a nationwide moratorium on home foreclosures. They're saying no, not the way to go. But it wants those problems with improper paperwork to be resolved as soon as possible.

You know what I'm talking about. The story's been around here. We found out last week, in fact, that employees at some of the major, major banks may have approved foreclosures without personally reviewing loan files.

I want to talk to Poppy Harlow about this.

And Poppy, first, let's look at the scope of this whole thing. How many states are we talking about where foreclosures are just totally on hold, versus judges, I guess, signing off on these foreclosures?

POPPY HARLOW, CNNMONEY.COM: Yes, whether you need judicial review or not. It's a great question.

First of all, as you said, the story, Brooke, has been going on now for a few weeks. It started with Ally Bank, then JPMorgan, now Bank of America. Let's show people the map here of the whole country, because that question can only be answered by which bank you have your mortgage through.

So, if you're with Bank of America, well, guess what? On Friday they announced they're halting foreclosures in all 50 states across the country. Why? Because of this issue of robo-signing, people at the banks signing off on foreclosure documents without having them all verified before they were signed off on.

When you look at Ally Bank, which is formerly GMAC, or JPMorgan Chase, those are just halted foreclosure sales in 23 states. Now, why is that? Because 23 states in this country demand judicial review. You have to send the paperwork to court, have a judge sign off on it, before someone can get evicted from their home in the foreclosure process.

Twenty-seven states don't have that review. But guess what? The states that don't have that review include Arizona, Nevada, California, Brooke, where you know you have the biggest housing crisis.

BALDWIN: Huge states, yes.

HARLOW: Exactly. So now you have the nation's biggest lender, Bank of America, saying, all right, we're going to take it upon ourselves to halt foreclosures in all 50 states. So it really depends who you bank with and where you live -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: So, it depends on who you bank with, but then it just begs the question, how many people are we talking about? How many loans here would be affected by this?

HARLOW: That's the big question. What we determined here at CNN Money is probably hundreds of thousands.

BALDWIN: Wow.

HARLOW: That's as close as we can get right now. Why do we say this? Let's look at the numbers again.

There's about five million delinquent loans or loans that are in the initial stage of foreclosure in this country. Five million, an astonishing number.

All we know is from JPMorgan Chase. They say 56,000 loans on their books have been affected. Bank of America, Ally Bank have not come out publicly with the numbers. But if you do the math, Bank of America, the biggest lender in the country when it comes to mortgages, probably hundreds of thousands of people affected in all of this -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: Poppy, 30 seconds. What does this mean for people in the midst of this, in the midst of foreclosure?

HARLOW: Yes. I think bottom line, this is probably not going to result on someone who was being foreclosed upon not being foreclosed upon. It may delay the process. Some people say, hey, that's good, people have more time to save their homes.

Bottom line, people aren't really going to want to hear this. This is delaying the inevitable. This is slowing the process of selling foreclosed homes. If you're on a block and you have these foreclosed homes, you don't want them sitting near. This may delay the inevitable.

We'll keep you up to date as more banks may likely jump in here -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: People can always read up about it, and they have all kinds of facts and figures, CNNMoney.com.

HARLOW: Yes.

BALDWIN: Poppy Harlow, I thank you.

Now I send things up to Washington, my colleague Wolf Blitzer.