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Highlights From Delaware Senate Debate; Foreclosures on the Rise; Countdown to Election Day; Four States Debate Legalizing Medical Marijuana; Obama's Town Hall Meeting Gets Hollywood Treatment; Unemployment Numbers On the Rise; Hurricane Bonnie Downgraded to Tropical Storm; 7 NATO Troops Killed in Afghanistan Today; Buy vs. Rent; Emotional End to Miner Nightmare

Aired October 14, 2010 - 10:59   ET

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

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Live from Studio 7 at CNN world headquarters, the big stories on this Thursday, October 14th.

Everybody on the campaign trail. The Democrats' control of Congress on the line. The White House rolls out its secret weapon for the sprint to November 2nd.

America's foreclosure crisis gets even worse. A record number of families lost their homes as the bank this summer came in to foreclose.

Chile beaming with pride today. All 33 of the miners are above ground and in the hospital for medical checks.

Good morning, everyone. I'm Tony Harris.

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

The critical, crucial midterm elections now just 19 days away, and we are your political headquarters. As the candidates take on issues affecting you like the economy and health care, in the Delaware Senate race Republican candidate and Tea Party favorite Christine O'Donnell squared off against Democrat Chris Coons.

Here are some of the highlights from last night starting with exchange over health care reform.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRISTINE O'DONNELL (R), DELAWARE SENATE CANDIDATE: Uncle Sam has no business coming in the examination room, coming in between you and your doctor. And that's exactly what this --

(CROSSTALK)

CHRIS COONS (D), DELAWARE SENATE CANDIDATE: Christine, give some concrete example of how -- that's a great slogan, and you toss it around everywhere you go. But how does this bill actually put Uncle Sam in the examination room --

O'DONNELL: It dictates what kind of --

COONS: And if so, why did the organization that fights for and represents America's nurses, America's seniors, America's hospitals and America's doctors all endorse and support this bill?

O'DONNELL: And many of those branches on the state level, including here in Delaware, have said that we don't support what the national office has done. It gives the government the ability to say what kind of treatment a doctor can and can't do, what kind it will fund.

COONS: So they jokingly called me a bearded Marxist. If you take five minutes and read the article, it's clear on the face of it, it was a joke. Despite that, my opponent and lots of folks in the right-wing media have endlessly spun this. I am not now nor have I ever been anything but a clean shaven capitalist.

(LAUGHTER)

O'DONNELL: Well, I would stand to disagree, because, first of all, if you're saying what I said on a comedy show is relevant to this election, then, absolutely, you writing an article -- forget the "bearded Marxist" comment. You writing an article saying that you learned your beliefs from an articulate, intelligent Marxist professor, and that's what made you become a Democrat, that should send chills up the spine of every Delaware voter, because then if you compare that statement to your policies --

COONS: If it were true, I would agree. It's not accurate and it's not true.

NANCY KARIBJANIAN, CO-MODERATOR: What opinions of late that have come from our high court do you most object to?

O'DONNELL: Oh, gosh. Give me a specific one. I'm sorry.

KARIBJANIAN: Actually, I can't, because I need you to tell me which ones you object to.

O'DONNELL: I'm very sorry. Right off the top of my head, I know that there are a lot. But I'll put it up on my Web site.

COONS: There's been lots of discussion in the national media about things my opponent has said or done that I frankly think are a distraction from the core issues that Delawareans ask about, ask both of us about.

What would you do in Washington?

O'DONNELL: You're just jealous that you weren't on "Saturday Night Live."

COONS: I'm dying to see who's going to play me.

(END VIDEO CLIP) HARRIS: The Delaware debate making headlines locally and around the country, to be sure. And voters are weighing in with their thoughts on how the candidates performed.

Where's Josh? Josh is here tracking local reaction to the debate.

Good morning, Josh.

JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Where else is Josh? Hey, Tony. Take a look at this right here.

Now, what we wanted to do before we look at the broad national implications was see what people inside Delaware are saying. After all, this is a Delaware race, and people are concerned about state issues there.

So, the first thing we're taking a look at here is a couple of the major newspapers that are right there inside Delaware. And in these headlines you're not seeing anything tremendously analytical, not about major gaffes, not about major problems. Pretty much straight up from "The News Journal." "Face to face on national TV, Senate hopefuls slug it out."

And over here, from "Delaware State News," "O'Donnell, Coons duel at UD," over at the university.

Now, let's take a look if we step outside of Delaware at what a couple other major papers are saying. This is interesting.

A quote from "The Newark Post" is talking about O'Donnell being a no show as there was a debate over health care at the Delaware State Chamber debate, the summit Coons brought up during the debate.

You know, there had been a separate debate. She had not chosen to take part in that one.

"The New York Times" has an interesting line here: "With O'Donnell as foil, Democrat plays it safe." That's how they're viewing it.

Now, we wanted to hear directly from Delaware voters, and we did. Our Kiran Chetry was right there. Take a look at what some voters told us.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I actually don't plan on voting for either candidate. I just feel like Christine O'Donnell doesn't really answer any questions. She goes very circular on things. And I just feel like Chris Coons has been kind of condescending. And I don't get a good feeling from either candidate, to be perfectly honest.

KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: So you're going to sit it out, or you're going to write in somebody?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm going to write in someone.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think she's just, like, mean. She's just saying mean things, and she's not answering questions. And I don't think she's doing a great job tonight.

CHETRY: You were happy with her performance tonight?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. I think she did well. You know?

And you're in a difficult -- again, it's a very experienced Delaware person, whatever. So she held her own.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEVS: Now, it's interesting. There's a poll up online that I want to zoom way into over here. It's from DelawareOnline.com, and it's from "The News Journal."

And they're asking people who happen to go on the Web site -- so it's obviously totally not scientific -- who won the debate. Chris Coons is currently getting two-thirds. Two-thirds of the people saying Chris Coons won.

Now, it might not be scientific, but I can tell you, candidates care a lot about this kind of thing.

HARRIS: Yes, they do.

LEVS: When you have a major Web site like DelawareOnline from "The News Journal" that is asking people that kind of word of mouth, that kind of pulse as to what people are feeling, that plays out a lot.

And I'll tell you one more thing. I'll read you some quote from DelawareOnline while we look at pictures here of people on both sides who are really vociferous.

I find this interesting, Tony. "The News Journal," in their reporting -- I'm looking at the quotes here -- they are saying that a lot of people inside Delaware were surprised that it didn't get more contested, didn't get more heated. In fact, they go so far as to say that some people were expecting a real slug-fest and felt that -- not disappointed, but just felt surprised that they actually did not get one.

HARRIS: Yes.

LEVS: So, there are you go, a little look at what people are saying today.

We encourage you to keep those things coming. Send us an iReport. If you're a Delaware voter, we'd love to hear from you.

HARRIS: (INAUDIBLE) for a little civility.

All right, Josh. Thank you. CNN's Wolf Blitzer was a moderator in the Delaware debate and he joins us from Washington.

Wolf, good morning to you.

You were in the middle of all of this. You asked, as you promised you would, very specific questions. You wanted specific ideas, for example, on job creation.

Here's how the candidates answered your very specific question, and then I've got one for you.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COONS: I think the voters of Delaware should trust this Democrat because of my combination of experience working in the private sector and working with the private sector, hands-on work helping one of Delaware's most innovative companies expand and grow jobs, and concrete and engaged work as county executive, working with our Chamber of Commerce, our business roundtable, the Committee of 100, lots of groups who represent businesses large and small to effectively grow the economy.

I've also presented as a candidate for the Senate concrete and real ideas. They're on my Web site, but I look forward for the chance to go over them in some detail tonight.

I would advocate for a research and development tax credit and expanded our new tax credit that's combined with a new manufacturing tax credit, that advocates for companies that invent things here and make them here getting an extra incentive. I also think we need to change the crazy tax policy in Washington that gives an incentive to American companies to shut down operations here and ship jobs overseas.

WOLF BLITZER, CO-MODERATOR: Well, what, specifically, Ms. O'Donnell, would you do specifically to create jobs?

O'DONNELL: Well, what I think the best thing the government can do to get our economy back on real economic recovery is to get out of the way of the small business owner and to get out of the way of the entrepreneur, and the way you do that is to make sure these tax hikes don't come in January. You begin to roll back some of the regulation that's forced them to close their doors.

A couple of things that I'm proposing. And number one, a temporary two-year tax holiday on the capital gains tax to give investors the money they need to reinvest in business, to permanently eliminate the death tax. That's not only an unjust bill because we've paid taxes while we saved it, but it will also create 1.5 million new jobs.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: Wolf Blitzer, you talk to people all the time, people in politics and people in corporate life, about what needs to be done right now to spur some job growth in this country. Were you satisfied with the answers? And beyond that, was there enough time and flexibility in the format to get even more detailed specifics from the candidates on job creation?

BLITZER: Well, there were restrictions in terms of the format that was agreed upon. As you know, two minutes for the initial response from one of the candidates, one minute for the other candidate to rebut, and then four minutes to open it up into a dialogue, into a discussion. So there were restrictions, how deep you can go, how much can you badger and can you press and try to get an answer.

On that specific question, though, I think on the substantive issues, what would you do specifically to start creating some jobs, they came up, both of them, with some specific ideas. You might agree, for example, with Christine O'Donnell, eliminate what she calls the death tax, the estate tax, meaning no taxes on any estates left to heirs or whatever, and she says that would create jobs. You could agree with her or disagree with here, but there she is giving a specific proposal.

The tax credits that Chris Coons is recommending for research and development, for trying to discourage American companies from investing overseas and creating jobs overseas, that's a specific proposal. So on that specific question, I think they both came up with some good answers.

HARRIS: OK. Wolf, if you would, give us the back-story on the question you asked of Christine O'Donnell on her view of evolution, and then I want to play her answer.

BLITZER: You want me to listen to the Q&A first, or why I asked that question?

HARRIS: Yes. I want the back-story. I know the question comes from something from her past. I believe it was 1998. And set that up, and then I want to roll her response.

BLITZER: Right. OK. Good.

Look, if you're a United States senator, one of the most important things you have to do is vote on the makeup of the United States Supreme Court. The nine justices of the Supreme Court make decisions that affect our lives for decades, sometimes forever, if the decision is not reversed.

And so I thought it was important to get a sense of where these two candidates stand on some of these important social issues. And years ago, back in the late 1990s, she said that evolution was a myth, and I wanted to give her a chance to explain what she meant by that. Does she still believe evolution is a myth?

And let's play the clip and see how she responded to that.

HARRIS: Perfect.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

O'DONNELL: I believe that the local -- I was talking about what a local school taught, and that should be taught -- that should be decided in the local community. But please let me respond to what he just said.

BLITZER: We'll let you respond, but answer the question. Do you believe evolution is a myth?

O'DONNELL: Local schools should make that decision. And I made that remark based on --

BLITZER: But what do you believe?

O'DONNELL: What I believe is irrelevant.

BLITZER: Why is it irrelevant? Voters want to know.

O'DONNELL: Because what I will support in Washington, D.C., is the ability for the local school system to decide what is taught in their classrooms.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: Wolf, did she answer your question?

BLITZER: No, she didn't answer my specific question, but as I said, I thought there was a limit to how many times I could go back and say, answer the question, answer the question. I think the viewers and the voters of Delaware get the point. She didn't want to specifically answer that question.

What she did say, which I think is important, she believes that creationism, this whole concept, anti-evolution, should be taught in schools as well if local school boards want that to be taught. And so we got something out of her on that point. But on the specific statement she made years ago that evolution is a myth, she refused to say it was or was not. She just said let the local school boards decide whether creationism or evolution or both should be taught.

HARRIS: OK. Let's spend a little more time on this, Wolf, because I thought it was a fascinating debate last night.

You asked for specific ideas on reducing the budget deficit. I've got to tell you, that looked to be a wheelhouse question for Christine O'Donnell. Tea Party-supported candidates, as you know, are all about reducing the deficit.

Here's your question and then her answer.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: I want to get into the deficit right now. You've made the point that the national debt is exploding, the budget deficit is exploding right now. I want some specific, meaningful cuts. If you are elected a senator from Delaware, what would you cut in the federal budget? And don't just say waste, fraud and abuse, because everybody says that. What would you cut specifically?

O'DONNELL: That's a great question, because, first of all, we have got to tackle the deficit and the debt, because our deficit is almost becoming equal to our national GDP. When your deficit -- a country's deficit equals your GDP, that's when your currency collapses, your market collapses. We've got to take drastic measures.

BLITZER: So what would you cut?

O'DONNELL: First of all, cancel the unspent stimulus bill. Second of all, put a freeze on non-discretionary spending. Put a hiring freeze on non-security personnel. And then, of course, when we're talking about cutting government spending, we've got to talk about waste, fraud and abuse.

A recent report came out saying that we spend over $1 billion in Medicare waste, fraud and abuse. We're talking about pharmacies billing for prescriptions given to dead people. We're talking about home health care companies billing for patients who were in the hospital.

Senator Coburn recently put out a report called "School House Pork" that disclosed millions of dollars that were supposed to go to education funding that instead went to special favors.

COONS: Let me get back to the focus of the questions, which is what would you do to tackle the deficit and the debt?

I think we have some very large challenges in front of us. The overwhelming majority of federal spending is made up by defense spending, Medicare, Medicare, Social Security, and interest on the debt.

While the president has proposed and I would seriously consider supporting a freeze on non-defense discretionary spending for three years, which would achieve significant reductions, I have also identified on my Web site a series of reductions that I would support. Some of them are in agriculture price supports, some of them are in federal office space, for example, or hiring, and several of them are in defense programs.

Defense acquisition that the Pentagon itself has already said they no longer need, the C-17 program, for example, or the second given for the F-35. There's a variety of platforms and programs that I think we can simply do away with as we invest in making our defense and our military more modern, more flexible, more responsive to the real threats we face in the modern world, and as we continue to achieve some savings through the BRAC program and other things that have shown a real capacity to save.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: OK. Wolf, let me wrap this segment with this. We are very long in this segment, but I honestly thought it was a fascinating debate and I wanted to spend the extra time on this.

Which of the candidates, in your view, helped their cause the most with this debate and their performance last night?

BLITZER: Probably Christine O'Donnell helped her side a little bit more because the expectations for her were so low. So much publicity about her comment about "I am not a witch," that commercial she put out, other controversial comments she made as a teenager, and later that she talked about on the Bill Maher show. There were really low expectations for her.

And she came across, even though you can disagree with her on a lot of these substantive issues, and sometimes she couldn't or didn't want to answer the specific questions, she didn't come across as just a weirdo or anything like that. She came across as someone who is knowledgeable on a lot of these issues.

She had her talking points. And so she probably helped herself a bit.

He's obviously very intelligent, Chris Coons. He helped himself to a certain degree as well.

He is way ahead in our new CNN/"TIME" magazine poll. He's 19 points ahead with only two-and-a-half weeks to go. That is a huge hurdle for her to overcome.

So he's in the driver's seat right now. She certainly didn't hurt herself last night, I don't think. But she probably helped herself a little bit. We'll see if she helped herself enough to narrow that 19-point gap.

HARRIS: Extended time with Wolf Blitzer this morning.

Appreciate it so much. Thank you, Wolf. Appreciate.

You can get more political coverage with Wolf Blitzer every day in "THE SITUATION ROOM" starting at 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time. And for the latest political news, you know where to go. That's CNNPolitics.com.

New numbers raising new concerns about the housing market. Foreclosures reach record levels.

Christine Romans of our Money team will have details.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: There you have it, CNN prime time.

The foreclosure crisis hits home for even more Americans. Bank repossessions reached a record monthly rate in September, according to RealtyTrac. More than 102,000 homes were taken back by the banks. That's on top of the unfolding debacle over foreclosure documents.

Christine Romans of our Money team live from New York. Christine, if you would, break down these numbers. And did these foreclosures come in the cities where we're used to seeing big foreclosure numbers? Is that -- yes, OK.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: It did. And it spread as well.

I mean, you look in Nevada, for example, one in every 29 homes in Nevada. One in every 29 homes is in some stage of the foreclosure process. That's from the first notice in the mail that says you are late, to the very end of the line, which is that repossession.

And that big number you showed behind you, 102,000, those were actual bank repossessions. That means the sheriff has come to your house, put a padlock on the front door. Your things have been removed from the home if you're still there.

In many cases, people are long gone out of these houses, I will point out. But that is a very big -- it comes down to about two a minute. We've never seen a situation like that in the housing market in this country, and it shows a lot of pain for a lot of folks.

We're doing some digging on how many people are in trouble here, Tony. You have -- according to the Mortgage Bankers Association, the number of loans that are at least 30 days late but not yet in foreclosure is 4.8 million. So you've got another 4.8 million who are late, but they're not even in this foreclosure process yet. That is a huge chunk of folks who are in a house they can't afford and on the verge of losing it.

Now, RealtyTrac, Tony, says these numbers are likely to go down in the very near term because we have a freeze on foreclosure sales because of this unfolding document crisis in the foreclosure situation, a total fiasco. Fifty states now, their attorneys general are joining in and demanding an investigation, a probe into just what went wrong.

Were some of these mortgage companies rushing through foreclosures, Tony, without reviewing all of the documents as they're supposed to? Was it just shoddy paperwork or was anything illegal going on there? So now you have a great big dose of uncertainty over the housing market just as it was starting to stabilize a little bit. A lot of people concerned about this.

HARRIS: Do we need this foreclosure process to move forward? I know there are all kinds of questions about the robo-signings, but do we need to get this situation stabilized? Do we need to get these homes foreclosed on where people have no reasonable expectation of being able to afford the home that they are in?

ROMANS: Many economists say yes, but not if you are going to be throwing people out of houses illegally, not if there are people who had a chance along the way and they couldn't get out. And that's what we're trying to really get to the bottom of, how many people have been swept into the foreclosure process and are going to lose their home because of shoddy paperwork, or is the shoddy paperwork just a byproduct, if you will, of a process that's been shoddy from the very beginning?

Remember, the mortgage companies were writing mortgages without checking paperwork. Apparently, in some cases, they were foreclosing on properties without doing the proper paperwork as well.

HARRIS: All right, Christine. Appreciate it. See you next hour. Thank you.

ROMANS: Sure.

(NEWSBREAK)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Nineteen days until the midterm election, and both Obamas are out today, trying to rev up Democrats. The president holds a town hall with young voters. The first lady is on the road in Colorado.

Let's talk to Senior White House Correspondent Ed Henry, part of "The Best Political Team on Television."

Ed, we know the first lady is popular across the country. I'll bite on this one, if you will. How popular is the first lady?

ED HENRY, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, she did some early voting today in her home city of Chicago. They started that on Monday. She wants to try to drum up support for Alexi Giannoilias. He's having a hard time locking down Barack Obama's old Senate seat.

But why are they using her so much in Senate races like Illinois? She's very popular.

She's at 65 percent in her approval rating, if you look at our latest polling data. The president, 45 percent approval rating. Maybe he's a little embarrassed, maybe not. A 20-point gap there between he and his spouse.

But in all seriousness, when you talk to her advisers, as I have over the last couple of days, they say, look, they realize that the president has got to take all the responsibility, all the weight of these problems, the financial crisis, et cetera, whereas the first lady can pick and choose a couple of issues like healthy eating, standing up for military families, a couple of initiatives she's really promoted that's very popular. And she doesn't have to deal with sort of the responsibility, the negativity of a lot of the other issues the president has to tackle.

She is so sky high right now that some are wondering, is this a political risk, to send her out so much on the campaign trail, once she gets into the rough and tumble of the political campaigns? But basically they say, look, she's going to have a very positive message.

In fact, take a look at what she said yesterday on behalf of Russ Feingold in Wisconsin. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHELLE OBAMA, FIRST LADY: He cannot do this alone. He needs strong leaders like Russ to help him.

(APPLAUSE)

And they all need folks like all of you to make this happen. They can't do this alone.

So we need you to make those phone calls for Russ. We need you to knock on those doors for Russ. And we need you to get everyone you know to vote for Russ.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HENRY: So that's why they think she's going to be a big asset. She's not going to be out there doing negative campaigning. She's going to be promoting her husband's agenda, as well as the candidates that she's pushing.

And it's interesting. I've got a cover story right now on CNN.com about why Democrats think she's an asset. And in my research, I found this quote from the 1950s where Mamie Eisenhower said, "Ike runs the country. I turn the lamb chops."

Kind of interesting, how dramatically it's turned, now that you've got the first lady trying to save her husband's bacon, if you will. Last hour, Kyra Phillips told me I should be asking the first lady next time I see her whether or not she can make lamb chops. I told her I don't think so, because I think we've moved on to a whole other era in this country.

I don't think that's a good idea, Tony. What do you think?

HARRIS: That's not a good idea, Kyra! That's not a good idea.

HENRY: She's setting me up.

HARRIS: All right, Ed. Good to see you. Thank you, sir.

The first nor'easter of the season cranks up today, ready to spread heavy rain, wind. Is anyone mentioning snow? OK, maybe not.

We'll check in with the CNN Severe Weather Center in just a moment.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: CNN is, of course, your hurricane headquarters. Take a look at these pictures here. Oh, I can't make them out as well as I'd like to. But let's get to Bonnie Schneider. She can help us out here.

What are we seeing here, Bonnie?

BONNIE SCHNEIDER, CNN METEOROLOGIST: I can't see them either.

HARRIS: We may have routed up something strange here. But let's get them to you and you can take a look at what's going on.

(CROSSTALK)

SCHNEIDER: So what's we're looking at, there needs to be prep because the storm Paula is now a tropical storm, but it's hammering Cuba. In fact, we can show you a close up look of the radar. This is a pretty cool. Zoom in on this right here. You'll actually see the counterclockwise rotation of the storm in western Cuba, bringing heavy rain.

Look at that one area here when you have red, that means we're seeing some downpours. This is a rugged area of terrain so the risk for mudslides continue even though Paula has weakened to a tropical storm.

Let's take a closer look on a satellite perspective, and you see the wind shear is really what's breaking this down. It's also important to note that the track will take the storm, curving it away from the Florida mainland. However there's still a tropical storm watch for the Florida Keys, and they are picking up some scattered showers and thunderstorms. I can show you that on radar right here.

(WEATHER REPORT)

HARRIS: The battle legalize marijuana. It is on the ballot in four states and people on both sides are fighting mad.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Marijuana is on four state ballots this November. And California voters will decide on Prop 19 which would allow small amounts of marijuana on a person to be legal and taxable. In South Dakota and Arizona, the issue is legalizing marijuana to treat various medical conditions. And in Oregon, where medical marijuana has been legal for some time now. The question before voters, should the sale of medical marijuana be available through dispensaries.

Now, over the next couple of days, CNN NEWSROOM will take a close look at the marijuana argument as it stands today and ask what "yes" votes could mean for Americans in the future. Legalizing marijuana is a battle that rages on. The issue sparked a major debate on CNN's new primetime show "PARKER/SPITZER."

Here's what host, Kathleen Parker says about it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KATHLEEN PARKER, CO-HOST, "PARKER/SPITZER": I've been convinced by people in law enforcement and the judicial system that we can really allocate our resources in much more -- in much better ways than arresting people for simple possession of marijuana. In 2008, for example, in California, there were 60,000 arrests just for simple possession of marijuana. And it seems to me a very huge waste of man power, resources, et cetera, et cetera. There's so many arguments you can make in favor of legalizing it that I really can't come down on the other side.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: Provocative issues and lively debate you don't want to miss. "PARKER/SPITZER" weeknights at 8:00 Eastern, right here on CNN.

A public health scientist behind a Tennessee bill to legalize medical marijuana pays a heavy personal price for the cause.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The one thing I'm thankful for in all of this nightmare is that I've been free to speak up both for the plant and for the people the plant helps.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: And coming up in the noon hour, how this 61-year-old ended up in the middle of the debate over legalization.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Taking a look at top stories now.

Foreclosures on the rise. RealtyTrac say U.S. banks foreclosed and repossessed more than 100,000 homes last month. That's an all time single month high.

The number of Americans filing for first time unemployment benefits is also up. New figures from the Labor Department shows 462,000 initial jobless claims filed last week. That's 13,000 more than the previous week.

And seven NATO troops were killed in Afghanistan today. That brings the number of foreign troops killed in the past two days to 13. The International Security Assistance Force has not announced the nationalities of any of the dead troops, which is in line with their policy.

President Obama's town hall meeting gets the Hollywood treatment. An update on stories hot off the political ticker. That is just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: So are here we go, 19 days until election day. Among the stories on the Political Ticker, a casting call for a town hall? Brianna Keilar, part of "The Best Political Team on Television," joining us now from the Political Desk in Washington.

Brianna, good to see you. What is -- well, what's this story? What's crossing now?

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, this is a pretty interesting story on the Ticker right now. This has to do with President Obama's town hall meeting today, it's sponsored by BET, MTV, and CMT, and as it turns out, there was a casting call calling for audience members. And this actually was found on a website for actors called Black Stage.

So who are they looking for? Pretty general, males and females 18 and above. But this isn't normally how it goes, Tony, as you know. So the White House at this point is really distancing itself from the process, saying you have to check with MTV on this.

Well, CNN, we did check with Viacom, the parent company of MTV, and they said this wasn't characterized as a casting call but at the same time they do say there were 500 people who were basically screened, they had to provide a photo and they had to have interviews. So sounds obviously very much like a casting call.

And then checking on the Ticker right now, if you go to this post right here, you can check out some of the highlights of the Delaware Senate debate last night, of course, one of the most watched I think that we're going to see this election season between the Democrat Chris Coons and the Republican Christine O'Donnell.

We had Chris Coons on CNN earlier today, and he was saying O'Donnell, in his opinion, strayed from the truth when characterizing his records. We should also tell you that the latest poll in this race, CNN Opinion Research Corporation/"Time" poll shows that she is trailing by almost 20 points.

And then also, is it possible that Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour may be instead of possibly pursuing instead of a presidential run, maybe he is going to try to head up the Republican National Committee, which he's done before? It turns out, according to a Barbour insider, that there's cold water being poured all over this, apparently saying that this is not the case.

And this is all in response to a Politico story that says there are a number of pretty big-time Republicans who are going to can Barbour to do this for the good of the party. But from his camp, they're saying no it's not going to happen, Tony.

HARRIS: That was a really nice debate last night. That was firecracker stuff for most of the debate. There's a pretty hot one tonight, right? Sharron Angle and Harry Reid in Nevada. That is tonight, correct?

KEILAR: Yes, and of course, what's so interesting, you know, we talked about the poll numbers with Delaware, it's really not close. Democrats have such an edge.

You're looking at Nevada and you're looking at the Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, the polling there so much closer between these two candidates. So I think this is going to be another one of those debates that is so interesting. HARRIS: I'm going to watch that one. I can't wait for that one.

KEILAR: Me, too.

HARRIS: All right, Brianna, good to see you, thank you. Your next political update in an hour. And for the latest political news, you know where to go, CNNPolitics.com.

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HARRIS: You see Josh there, right? And here's little Josh right here. He's at CNNMoney.com. Let's click and play. CNNMoney.com, your source for financial news. The lead story, Verizon to start selling iPads October 28th, can the iPhone be far behind?

Stop, starting, stop Tony, moving forward. I don't know what you're about to click on. Oh, that's the story.

All right, let's get you to the numbers, Big Board, New York Stock Exchange. We are in negative territory, as you can see here, down 35 points. And the Nasdaq, we clicked away from, but my guess would be it is trending negatively as well.

You know, when it comes to housing, we all know that it is a buyer's market. After all, mortgage rates are at a record low and homes are pretty cheap right now. But believe it or not, there are actually some cities where it makes more sense to rent than buy. Alison Kosik is on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange with details.

And wait a minute, Alison, I just said that rates are at record lows. How can it make more sense in some areas to rent than buy?

ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: It's because home prices are closely related, tony, to the labor market. And the fact of the matter is people tend to move to where the jobs are and when they get there, they buy homes and that demand is what props up those home prices. So, in those cities, it's usually better to rent.

Look, economists go by a rule of thumb. They say that if you're looking at a house and it's 15 times more than the annual rent of a similar property, they say you're better off renting.

Look, I've got some examples for you. Here's a whopper of an example for you. In New York City, the average rent for a two-bedroom condo, $3,700. I know, that's crazy high, but I want to show you the comparison. It would cost you $1.7 million to buy that exact two- bedroom property. So that's why the reason why it's better to rent.

I want to show you other places that are good places to rent. They include Seattle, Fort Worth, Omaha, Sacramento. The common thread here is that the average unemployment rate is lower.

Now as for the best places to buy, take a look at this. Arlington, Texas, the average rent there for a two bedroom, $722 a month, but it costs just $70,000 to buy it. You know we'll find similar stories like that in Fresno, Miami, Mesa, Arizona and Phoenix.

But analysts say when you're considering whether or not to rent or to buy, it's important to consider how long you're going to stay there. If you're looking to stay for two years or less, you're better off renting. But if you're looking to prop yourself in that place and kind of plant yourself there more than two years, go ahead and buy it because at that point, you've put equity in it and it becomes more of an investment -- Tony.

HARRIS: You're absolutely right. That's why you do what you do.

All right, Alison, see you next hour. Thank you.

KOSIK: OK, sounds good.

HARRIS: Housing foreclosures hit a record high in the past three months. We will tell you what states have been hit the hardest and why things continue to be so bad. That's coming up in the next hour of the CNN NEWSROOM.

And what organizations are behind the huge amounts of campaign finance funds going to the candidates this year? In many cases we simply can't tell you. Watch our political team's investigation into hidden financing.

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HARRIS: We are expecting, anticipating an after action -- I guess we can call it that -- an after action news conference at the top of the hour from Chile. We'll get the very latest information perhaps on the condition of the miners and certainly some Q and A about how the operation came off seemingly without a hitch. That's at the top of the hour. We'll bring a bit of that to you right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

We were all enthralled, right, by the rescues of the Chilean miners, 33 men who really seemed doomed a few months ago entombed a half mile into the Earth are now reunited with their families, in many, many cases. And as each man was pulled out, Tom Foreman shows us it was a moment in history for them and for us.

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TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Mario Sepulveda rose out of the Earth, hugged his wife, then embraced his whole country. I was with god and the devil, he said. God won.

The long night ended for the youngest miner, Jimmy Sanchez, 19, for the only foreigner, Bolivian Carlos Mamani, and for Jose Ojeda who wrote the note that told everyone, we're alive.

At 63, Mario Gomez, the oldest, was the first freed in the new dawn. He kissed his wife and prayed. So did others.

Esteban Rojas, trapped with two cousins, asked his wife to renew wedding vows while below. She said yes. Edison Pena led sing-a-longs of Elvis songs underground.

Ariel Ticona's wife had a baby while he was below.

Victor Zamora and his wife are expecting one. I hope this new life ahead of you is happy, the Chilean president told him.

So it went around the clock. And finally, the last man, the leader for all the trapped miners, Luis Urzua. You have been an inspiration, he is told. The country is not the same after this.

Then they sang the Chilean national anthem, a song of hope, unity and strength for people who have shown so much of all three.

Tom Foreman, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)