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Countdown to Election Day; Pentagon Changing Policy on Homosexuals?; Joe Miller on Immigration: If East Germany Could Do It, We Could Do It; The Hispanic Vote

Aired October 19, 2010 - 16:00   ET

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

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: And with that, we go to the top of the hour. And I want to welcome the men, the women watching us right now all around the world on American Forces Network. Hello to you. I'm going to hit you fast and furious this hour. See if you can keep up with me.

First we have that breaking story out of Washington. The fact now is that the Pentagon has advised recruiting commands on "Don't Ask, Don't Tell". They can now accept openly gay and lesbian recruit candidates, given -- remember, last week, the federal judge, her decision that had barred the military from expelling openly gay service members, that from a Pentagon spokeswoman.

Also, the nation's most closely watched Senate race, we were just talking about this, reaching a boiling point today, 11 days to the midterms. The Democrat in the race here, talking Nevada, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, he is expected to respond. Wolf just confirmed this, expected to respond to the latest controversy in that hard-fought campaign.

But to take you back here, this all started with this ad from the candidate backed by the Tea Party movement, Republican Sharron Angle. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NARRATOR: Illegals sneaking across our border putting Americans' public and jobs at risk. And what does Harry Reid do? He comes out opposed to Arizona's tough new immigration law.

Nevada families struggling with the nation's highest unemployment. Harry Reid, he votes to give special tax breaks to illegal aliens and to give illegals Social Security benefits, even for the time they were here illegally.

Harry Reid, the best friend an illegal alien ever had.

SHARRON ANGLE (R), NEVADA SENATORIAL CANDIDATE: I'm Sharron Angle, and I approve this message.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: So, Sharron Angle approved that message. Things got a little more heated over the weekend after Sharron Angle spoke with this group of students, this Hispanic student union at a high school in Las Vegas.

She was asked regarding that particular ad to explain the images, images that show what appear to be dark-skinned men crossing the border. She started out saying she's not sure all of those are Latinos, those that we saw in her own ad. Listen to what she told the students next.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHARRON ANGLE (R), NEVADA SENATORIAL CANDIDATE: So, that's what we want, is a secure and sovereign nation. And, you know, I don't -- I don't know that all of you are Latino. Some of you look a little more Asian to me. I don't know that.

What we know about -- what we know about ourselves is that we are a melting pot in this country. My -- my grandchildren are evidence of that. I'm evidence of that. I have been called the first Asian legislator in our Nevada State Assembly.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: As we mentioned, this thing could get even hotter. We're waiting any moment now. We should be hearing from Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, and he will indeed address the comments from Sharron Angle over the weekend. We will of course will bring that to you live. You won't want to miss that.

Also, if you take Tylenol caplets, listen up. Johnson & Johnson is recalling some Tylenol eight-hour caplets. So, specifically, I'm talking about 50-count bottles with the lot number BCM-155. You can find that lot number on the side of the bottle label. Recall comes after complaints about some kind of moldy, musty odor.

The company says -- quote -- "The risk of adverse medical events is remote." The recall is the 13th for Johnson & Johnson in barely a year, prompting a congressional inquiry.

Next, need your airline boarding pass? Well, starting November 1, your reservation must include a little bit more personal information. This is the final phase of the TSA Secure Flight program. You will have to provide your birth date, your gender, your full name as it appears on a government I.D., like your passport or your driver's license.

TSA says it will make the watch list more accurate, keeping those on the no-fly list off of our planes. Others could face extra screening, they say. But what about unknown terrorists not on any of those no-fly lists? TSA admits that's secure -- that's surely a flight shortcoming.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN PISTOLE, TRANSPORTATION SECURITY ADMINISTRATION ADMINISTRATOR: It's only as good as the terror watch list. The question is, is it the best available information we have? Yes, I believe it is. Is it a perfect system? No. (END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Next, Steven Slater. You know the name. He became a household name after his infamous resignation. Remember the emergency slide? JetBlue flight attendant. Well, here he was after cursing out a passenger on the plane's speaker system and hopped on that slide, exited out of the plane. Slater landed himself now into a mental health program.

This is all part of this plea deal with prosecutors that Slater made today in New York. What he did was he pleaded guilty on two counts of attempted criminal mischief. After the hearing, Slater gave this statement to reporters.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEVEN SLATER, FORMER JETBLUE FLIGHT ATTENDANT: While the public interest in this case was certainly surprising, unexpected, and encouraging, at the end of the day, I am a grown adult and must accept responsibility for my actions.

Therefore, I'm looking forward to continuing on, moving forward with my life. And I am very grateful to the court for making these arrangements which will allow me to do so.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: That's just a short little sound bite. Guess who got him to talk fully about this whole ordeal? Of course, Larry King. Steven Slater will be on his show October 26. That's 9:00 p.m. Eastern.

Here's another name you know, Brett Favre. He has a whole lot more on his mind today than Sunday night's game. Favre is meeting with NFL vice president of security in Minnesota today to discuss those sexting allegations. This comes amid reports that Favre sent racy voice messages and salacious photos to a former Jets worker a couple of years ago back in 2008.

According to the NFL Web site, Vikings coach Brad Childress says the team has no role in today's meeting. We will stand by for updates for you.

Next, news from the Kremlin. Russia's president is awarding top state honors to the spies recently deported from the U.S. A Kremlin spokeswoman confirms the ceremony took place on Monday. You remember this story, those 11 Russians living and working in the U.S. as sleeper agents.

They were arrested and later returned to Moscow as a part of a spy swap in July.

Next -- wow. Look at this with me. It looks like a close call, a little too close, maybe, to that bridge, right? The Golden Gate. It's not. It's all on purpose. You hear the guy say wow. Wow, indeed. A United Airlines Boeing 747 flew over the Golden Gate Bridge earlier this month to help celebrate Fleet Week, which honors U.S. armed forces.

The Boeing 747 has been a part of Fleet Week for many, many years. Other planes also flew over that bridge, definitely an eye- opener, pretty pictures. The video, of course it's gone viral by now. But it's also created some buzz on a couple of blogs. Some people say this is not -- this is inappropriate for a military show.

But United issued this statement. Here it is, saying the fly-by was conducted as part of a well-publicized air show and with the utmost consideration to the safety of the public and the aircraft.

Well, let's take a look at the closing bell. I'm hearing huge numbers. Look, it's under that 11000 mark, the Dow sinking, ending 165 -- you saw that other number -- 165 points lower. The drop came after the Bank of China surprised investors and raised interest rates. That's meant to control inflation. But the fear is that it will also hurt growth.

One analyst says -- quote -- "It's kind of nerve-racking for the global economy," because China, as you know, has been the key driver of world growth. Also coming into play, disappointing earnings from Apple. Heard about those iPad sales. Also Bank of America, IBM. That is raising fears about the recovery here at home.

I want to go to the other story that was breaking just a couple of minutes ago, news about "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" and the fact that the Pentagon is advising these recruiting commands they can now accept openly gay men and women as recruits in the military.

Want to go to Chris Lawrence, Pentagon correspondent with the latest on this.

Chris, what do you know?

CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Brooke,, apparently the word came down from the Pentagon and went out to these recruiting stations on Friday, basically telling them if a recruit comes in and he or she passes all of the normal tests, but also openly admits that they are gay, then their application should be processed.

Now, the recruiters normally are not allowed to ask if someone is gay or not. What this does is say they can be open about it. They can say, yes, I am gay, and if everything else checks out, then that application would be processed.

But the recruiters are also being told to tell the recruits that they need to manage expectations. In other words, right now, "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" is no longer the law of the land because of the because of the ruling by that federal judge in California.

But the government is going to either appeal to this judge or appeal to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. So the ruling could go away again. So basically recruits would be sort of a -- you know, really leaving it up the fate if they were to come out right now during the recruiting process. BALDWIN: So this is really, Chris, it sounds to me, a delicate period of time. As you mentioned, the administration would potentially be appealing and this could go even to the Supreme Court. But for now, what you're saying is this -- you could be recruited if you are openly gay?

LAWRENCE: Yes.

It makes it tough on both sides, because the Pentagon is sort of enforcing or -- you know, enforcing on the fly a policy that it doesn't expect to be permanent at this time.

And for recruits, at the same time, they're not sure exactly how they should be operating right now. Do you come out and say, I'm openly gay, and run the risk of, you know, this injunction being overturned and all of a sudden being -- you know, starting the process to be processed out?

So it's really a very, you know, questionable time right now on both sides.

BALDWIN: And, Chris, if you can just quickly, final question, explain some of the concerns. We heard from the president saying, yes, he wants to repeal "Don't Ask, Don't Tell", but perhaps the timing right now, as we're in the midst of this war in Afghanistan, really may not be the most timely at the moment. Explain the concerns.

LAWRENCE: Yes, it's interesting in the fact, Brooke, you have got really the Obama administration going to court to fight for a policy for which it doesn't want.

What it is saying is that the heads of the military, Defense Secretary Robert Gates, the head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, had said, yes, we think "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" should be repealed, but in an orderly way. They want to wait until they get some of the feedback from some of the surveys that they sent out to a lot of the soldiers, Marines, airmen, sailors.

They want to get those opinions back. And they want to have this in a more orderly way. But, on the other hand, you have got a lot of people who say, you know, they don't think "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" should be repealed at all. There are some soldiers and Marines who don't want it repealed. And then you have got people who say, the Obama administration is moving way too slowly on this, that they were not able to push this through Congress.

And so they're saying they should just let the courts just take their course.

BALDWIN: Chris Lawrence, I appreciate the hustle and trying to explain both sides of this story on "Don't Ask, Don't Tell". Thanks for the report there from the Pentagon.

Also, want to take you to Alaska. Senate candidate Joe Miller, he is offering his solution to immigration, saying we could learn a lot from the East Germans. That's right. You heard me, the East Germans, the guys who gave us the Berlin Wall. We will let the Tea Party-backed candidate speak for himself. You don't want to miss that. That's next.

Also, Mel Gibson, he's best known, lately, right, for his anger issues, more so than perhaps his acting. But he could be on the verge of a comeback, could be. Let's wait and see.

Also, we're about 20 minutes away from a speech by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. He's expected to talk about Sharron Angle's controversial remarks to those Hispanic students over the weekend. What does he have to say now? We're going to bring it to you live when it gets under way.

Stay here. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: You can say it's been something of a rough week for Joe Miller. He's the Republican Alaskan candidate backed by the Tea Party movement, and his private security guards came into question when they handcuffed the editor of an Alaska magazine website. That happened Sunday after a Miller town hall in Anchorage.

Now here's what we hear from the editor. The editor says, look, he was trying to ask Miller if he was disciplined for an ethics violation when he was working part time as a lawyer for a borough in Fairbanks.

Miller has refused to answer questions about his borough work. That is until last night when he fessed up -- sort of -- to CNN's John King. Now Miller didn't provide details, but he did admit he was disciplined.

Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN KING, HOST, "JOHN KING USA": You said this happened on your lunch hour. Were you disciplined for doing something on your lunch hour that maybe you thought was right but that the mayor or somebody else thought was wrong, was a violation?

JOE MILLER (R), ALASKA SENATE CANDIDATE: John, I'll admit, I'm a man of many flaws. I'm not going to Not going to sit back and say that I've conducted my life perfectly.

I will tell you that anything I've done that is not right has been accounted for. It's been taken care of and I move on. I learn from mistakes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: So that's one story, but have you heard about this? At Sunday's town hall, Miller was asked, what would he do to stop illegal immigration? Here's his answer. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MILLER: Any other solution fails if you don't cut off the flow. Any you know, right now, I served my country, I was a West Point Cadet. During my time at West Point, I actually spent time at the Fulda Gap. That's the 11th ACR (Armored Cavalry Regiment) when the wall was still up between East and West Germany.

And you know, East Germany was very, very able to reduce the flow. Now obviously there were other things that were involved but we have the capacity of a great nation to obviously secure our border. If East Germany could do it, we could do it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: East Germany. The Berlin wall. Other things involved. Weren't guards posted at the Berlin wall and given machine guns and orders to shoot to kill East Germans trying to leave?

I want you to take a look at this, the man with just one arm -- look at this, this is amazing -- can hit this unbelievable drive. So how good is he? You've got to see this. That's ahead.

And that Nevada Senate race has been heating up, getting hotter, about to get even hotter. This is between Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Tea Party-backed Sharron Angle. We're standing by for Reid's campaign speech. What will the Senate's most powerful man have to say about Angle's most controversial new comments over the weekend to the group of Hispanic students? We'll bring it to you live. You know we will, because we're CNN. Stay there.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: We've talked a lot about the high impact of TV ads in this midterm election cycle, and on "PARKER/SPITZER", they tapped into the mind of the person that creates them for a living. Listen to Fred Davis, the Republican behind Christine O'Donnell's "I am not a witch" spot.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FRED DAVIS, REPUBLICAN AD-MAKER: I think what he exactly needs to say is something he'd never say. So I'm safe in letting the cat out of the bag.

I think -- and compare this to Christine O'Donnell a little bit. I think Barack Obama needs to sit down and look America in the face -- and his first words would not be "I'm not a witch," his first words would be, "I was wrong."

Now, you and I know he's not going to say that. So I'm safe saying that. It would be something like, "I was wrong and I somehow put my issue agenda ahead of yours. That stops today. I'm going to put Obamacare on hold. I'm going to put cap and trade on hold. I'm not going to ask the Senators Kyl and McConnell and Cornyn up to the Oval Office. I'm going to go to their house. I'm going to knock on their door tonight. And if they don't answer the door, I'm going to go back tomorrow night and I'm going to keep going, America, until we put aside republican and Democrat and we develop an America's agenda that puts you back to work. And then we'll get back to where I wanted to go all along."

I don't think that will happen, but I think that's what he could do to dramatically reverse that.

ELIOT SPITZER, CO-HOST, "PARKER/SPITZER": Is there any way that Barack Obama can change the narrative in the next two weeks?

DAVIS: On the path he's on now, I don't think so, Eliot. You watched what I watched. I watched him on television last night. There's an ad we did called "Morning in America" that I think fits what America is thinking right now.

Nobody hates Barack Obama. I don't hate Barack Obama. I think he got off on the wrong track. I think he overreached. I think he -- I don't know, thought he had a mandate that wasn't really there or missed the bigness of what was wrong with our economy. But he's out there still blaming George W. Bush.

KATHLEEN PARKER, CO-HOST, "PARKER/SPITZER": And attacking Boehner.

DAVIS: Here's a major league spending -- attacking Boehner. He's doing things that I thought were kind of pitiful.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: "PARKER/SPITZER" airs weeknights at 8:00 Eastern right here on CNN. And tonight, they will be speaking to the man who was once President Obama's green jobs advisor, Van Jones.

Coming up, we're talking Mel Gibson. He's a guy a lot of people say, you know what, got some anger management issues. Could he launch a career comeback? Try appearing in a sequel to one of the most successful comedies of all time? Details coming up in "trending."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: I want to remind all of you, right now we are waiting, any moment now, we could see Harry Reid step out. This is his "Get Out and Vote" rally, but we have confirmed he will most definitely be addressing his opponent, Tea Party-backed Sharron Angle's controversial comments to those Hispanic students in high school over the weekend. You will not want to miss that. This race is getting hotter and hotter in Nevada. We'll bring that to you live.

Let's talk about another race or let's call it a twist on a race. You remember Christine O'Donnell's "I'm not a witch" ad? We just heard from the guy who came up with it. Well, if you thought that was the end of it, you've got to see this.

(VIDEO CLIP) BALDWIN: Oh, man. Artists the Gregory Brothers, jazzed up the now famous O'Donnell ad. They auto tune Christine O'Donnell's voice and laid down background music. So maybe this second incarnation of the campaign spot will add a little bit of levity to an otherwise very serious race up in Delaware.

Also, you've got to see this. Some people refuse to bow to limitations. Bobby Baca has played competitive golf six years now. He plays, as you can see, he's just got the right arm swinging through, but he still drives it ball an amazing 280 yards. Can we say fore! The 47-year-old even travelled to Wales to play for the U.S. team in the Fightmaster Cup Challenge. Maybe he can give me a lesson or two. How is that for inspiring?

Also, you got to see this. A father-son team created this absolutely out of this world science project. They put this video camera and an iPhone into a protected packaging. They tied it to a weather balloon. You can see the video. They just let it float on up.

The camera recorded the journey, of course, and captured this amazing footage just from a camera on an iPhone. Topped out at 19 miles or about 100,000 feet. Here they are. The balloon burst and the package came down about 30 miles from liftoff. The kid's kind of excited, I guess. The father and son found the package thanks to the iPhone's GPS capability. I love that story.

Well the day's big political stories are coming straight from the campaign trail. That is where Jessica Yellin is, and she will update us with our Political Ticker. That is next.

Also, the latest Sesame Street to go viral. The video to go viral now is this father -- really, it's a pep talk to his daughter about her hair. It's moving, it's trending. We're all over it.

That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Fourteen days and counting before election day. It's time to look at the latest campaign developments. CNN has all your latest political news with The Best Political Team on Television, and that, of course, includes the national political correspondent, Jessica Yellin, who has these details about the new ad from Jerry Brown who wants to be California's new governor.

Jess, I love how you write this story. I read it. How you say, "Move over, Danny Devito!"

JESSICA YELLIN, CNN NATIONAL POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right. I said "move over Danny Devito." Jerry Brown thinks that Arnold Schwarznegger, the governor of California, has another twin and that's Republican candidate Meg Whitman.

This is the latest salvo in an incredibly nasty governor's race. It's a faceoff of who has the snarkier ad. So, in one corner, we have Jerry Brown with this ad that places together sound of Meg Whitman, the Republican candidate for governor saying the identical thing to Arnold Schwarzenegger, the current governor there who was elected on the wave of enthusiasm but now has so disappointed voters, he has a rock-bottom approval rating that is among the lowest in any in the nation. So, Jerry Brown is trying to compare the two. The Meg Whitman campaign hits back, saying, no, no, Jerry Brown is one like Arnold Schwarzenegger.

And ding, ding, ding. In the other corner, Meg Whitman, wouldn't you know it, is out with her own ad today. It says, Brooke, that Jerry Brown is not a figurative but a literal puppet of the unions. Yes, there are strings, and they're all attached to this puppet figure of Jerry Brown. She argues that there have been a ton, millions of union dollars poured into the race. That's true to the race against her. But she's saying they're tied to Jerry Brown, and he is beholden to them. Of course, his campaign says not so. And actually, she's beholden to Wall Street and financial interests. So no he is, no she is. Okay, you get the picture.

Let's move over to Ohio, where I am now. This is the one of the states that was considered the crucial battlegrounds that we're constantly talking about in the 2008 election. It went for President Barack Obama and helped deliver him to the White House. One of the reasons the Democrats believe that happened is because the state's governor, Democrat Ted Strickland, helped organize a formidable operation here. MOre than 300 staffers in the state party, 150 field organizers.

Guess what? The latest polling shows that Strickland is ten points behind the Republican opponent in this race, John Kasich. And if Strickland could lose, that potentially could cost the Democrats the White House. That's one of the things Republicans, at least, are hoping.

And the final story is a real head scratcher for me at least, Brooke. I don't know what you'll think of this. There was an ad running on Univision today, the Spanish-language TV channel, and it told Latino voters not to vote because --

BALDWIN: Why?

YELLIN: -- President Obama didn't follow through on his promise to do immigration reform. They said the only way to teach Democrats a lesson is not to vote for them because they didn't follow through on immigration reform.

BALDWIN: What?

YELLIN: Most folks tend to believe it's better to cast a vote one way or the other to register your disapproval even, right? So, Univision has decided to pull that ad. They say it's not consistent with their values.

BALDWIN: Wow. You're full of good stuff today.

YELLIN: That was a --

BALDWIN: From the field with the Political Ticker. Jessica Yellin, thank you so much.

Also, we're still waiting to hear from Harry Reid. Any minute now, Senate majority leader speaking in Nevada. As soon as we see him, we'll bring it to you live. Quick reminder. The live pictures, we're waiting, we're waiting.

Meantime, you can always get your latest political check at CNNpolitics.com. There on Twitter, that's @politicalticker.

To Hollywood we go. These (INAUDIBLE) ruling the red carpet and for good reason. It turns out after years and years of stereotypical rules, their star power has gone up, way up. That's ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Time now for what you're talking about, what you're tweeting about. Time for "Trending" with Sandra Endo. You have a couple of items on your "Trending" list today. Number one, Mel Gibson trying, hoping to make a comeback.

SANDRA ENDO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. This is trending big time. A little bit of a Hollywood review for you. Mel Gibson trying to pretty much reclaim his career with a hangover. But not the hangover you think. He's in "Hangover 2." That's the sequel to last year's hit comedy movie.

BALDWIN: Hilarious.

ENDO: Yes, it was a great movie. Over the last couple of years that Gibson has been in the news, but for his personal life. You remember the recordings of his drunken anti-Semitic rants and the treatment against his girlfriend, and also a very public divorce. He's hoping maybe a cameo appearance in the hit comedy will help him out, Brooke.

BALDWIN: We'll have to wait and see. Trending number two. I've been waiting for this. Everyone is talking about the Sesame Street video. This all comes from a from a writer --

ENDO: This is so cute.

BALDWIN: It's so cute!

ENDO: Yes, we all love this one. This is "Trending" a lot on the Internet as well. The video, that is. A heartwarming story but also encouraging between a father and daughter.

Now, quick back story is, Joey Mazarino, a writer for Sesame Street, noticed that his 5-year-old daughter from Ethiopia was fascinated with straight blond hair instead of her own beautiful black hair. And he wanted to her to know that her hair was beautiful, too. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PUPPET, SEASAME STREET (singing): I love my hair! I love my hair I love it and I have to share! I love my hair, I love my hair! I want to make the world aware I love my hair.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ENDO: There you have it. Yes, natural, corn rolls, bows, whatever you have it. Beautiful hair. And Mazarino told NPR in an interview that he thought it was only a problem that white parents had who had had African-American children. But he realized it was a much bigger issue and of course, a matter of self-esteem for kids out there.

BALDWIN: And leave it to Sesame Street to get that positive message across, which, of course, goes viral now.

Item number three, I was tweeting about this. I got a whole lot of tweets from you last night. This "Wall Street Journal" article, the two words that's tough for some of us to say, I'm sorry.

ENDO: I'm sorry. That's right. The big apology. It's --

BALDWIN: Why is that?

ENDO: So hard for people to say it, right? Get this, according to the article, it's really interesting. A "Trending" article right now. And it's -- it says how we're more likely to apologize to strangers rather than our own loved ones.

So, why is it so hard to apologize to people we love and know? The article explains that we expect people closer to us to have a higher threshold. So, we don't have to say sorry as often.

Now, here's the list of the ultimate apology to win that forgiveness. Remorse, acceptance of responsibility, admission of wrongdoing. And that's just to name a few.

BALDWIN: It's a tough one for some.

ENDO: Yes. Can't get them all sometimes. So, the article also mentioned there may be a gender gap in who says I'm sorry more, men or women. And it says women may say sorry more because they tend to nurture relationships, where men are more egotistical.

But according to the article, they cite this little known study that says, look, both men and women, both apologize maybe the same. But they don't agree on what they did that's bad. So, maybe men don't think it's -- we're saying sorry over --

BALDWIN: I love how the article said, "we don't think women are more sensitive, we know women are more sensitive." So, yes, we say mea culpa more. But maybe we get our feelings hurt a little bit more, as well.

Sandra Endo, excellent "Trending" segment. Thank you, see you tomorrow.

ENDO: Sure.

BALDWIN: Deal.

We're again, standing by. We're waiting, waiting for Senate majority leader. Look at the crowd there. This is Nevada, the campus of UNLV. We're waiting for Harry Reid to start speaking. This is the get-out-and-vote rally. But also will addressing the controversial comments by his opponent, Sharron Angle, over the weekend. We're waiting.

As soon as we see him pop up, we'll bring him to you live. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Perhaps the most hotly contested Senate race this year involves the Senate majority leader himself, Harry Reid. Much has been made of his Republican opponent support from the Tea Party movement.

But Sharron Angle has made plenty of headlines all on her own with comments like the ones we've been telling you about today. I want you to listen to the response Angle gave in a room full of Hispanic students over the weekend when asked about her campaign ad from a couple of weeks ago that showed minorities crossing a border fence. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHARRON ANGLE (R), NEVADA SENATE CANDIDATE: You know, I don't know that all of you are Latino. Some of you look a little more Asian to me. I don't know that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: CNN Shannon Travis is now joining me from the phone from the battleground state of Nevada. And Shannon, I know you're traveling with the Tea Party Express. Working on thsi documentary about this movement for next weekend on CNN. So, given these comments over the weekend from Sharron Angle, what are the devotees, the Tea Party devotees saying about that today?

SHANNON TRAVIS, CNN POLITICAL PRODUCER: Well, as you imagine, Brooke, a lot of Sharron Angle's supporters within the Tea Party movement are basically dismissing this as another tactic from Harry Reid. You know that here in Nevada, virtually every vote will matter. Those two candidates are essentially deadlocked in the polls, and so it will likely be a fight to the finish.

Two Party activists that I've been speaking with are basically saying, hey, this is another tactic from the Harry Reid campaign, what she meant to say was that the country is a melting pot, or what have you, and they're basically making hay of it.

Of course, we have the Sharron Angle campaign, the official statement from them, where spokesman Jared Aggon (ph) says, "This is a low blow from Harry Reid. Sharron is making a point that this country is a melting pot and you cannot judge people based on stereotypes or the way that they look."

As you've been teeing up, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid will come out momentarily, and we're told that he will definitely address this. So we'll have to stand by to see what he says about this.

BALDWIN: We are watching and waiting for Harry Reid, of course fighting to hold on to his Senate seat there in Nevada.

Shannon Travis for us.

Thank you.

Also, another Tea Party movement-backed candidate gets her constitutional rights confused. There she is, Christine O'Donnell. Her gaffe, one of the topics on "THE SITUATION ROOM."

We'll be getting a preview from Wolf Blitzer. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Take a look at this live picture. Here he is. Senator Majority Leader Harry Reid just handed the microphone from two Ultimate Fighting champs, Dana White and Chuck Liddell.

Let's listen to Harry Reid.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

SEN. HARRY REID (D-NV), MAJORITY LEADER: But she's been out, up and around, three surgeries. And she's doing well.

(APPLAUSE)

But that truck was even more powerful than you.

I'm so glad to be here because, you know, I am a frustrated athlete. I wanted to be an athlete, but it was my freshman year in college, I came to the realization I wasn't big enough, fast enough, or good enough. But I'll tell you, Chuck, Dana, I still dream of being an Ultimate fighter.

The first time I went and watched one of Liddell's fights -- in fact, the first time I watched an Ultimate fight, they asked me afterwards, "What did you think of that?" I said, "I liked it. It was just like a fair street fight."

I'm grateful that these two very important people would be endorsing me. I really am very grateful.

Dana White, of course, spent most of his youth here in Las Vegas.

(APPLAUSE)

And the idea of Ultimate Fighting was his. It was his idea. He thought it would really work, ad it has worked. And it's -- BALDWIN: I don't know if you realize, but the Senate majority leader was a boxer back in the day. So just to explain some of the remarks. Again, he was introduced by two gentlemen from the Ultimate Fighting champions. So, just to explain that.

We're going to dip back in when he's talked a little bit more pertinent, perhaps, to the campaign trail and to Sharron Angle's comments over the weekend.

But let's talk to Wolf Blitzer, who is a couple of minutes away, I realize, from "THE SITUATION ROOM."

And Wolf, I know you're also sitting there and you're watching and you're waiting for the comments as well. I thought it was interesting, my conversation with Shannon Travis, who is on the campaign trail, with regard to Sharron Angle's comments over the weekend. You know, I asked him, what are Tea Party devotees making of the comments? And he said, look, they're just dismissing them.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Right. Look, this is a tough, tough race in Nevada right now, and the Senate majority leader could go down. He knows he has two weeks from today to pick things up.

BALDWIN: Wolf, let me interrupt you.

BLITZER: Yes.

BALDWIN: Forgive me.

I hate interrupting Wolf Blitzer, but he's now talking about Sharron Angle. Let's listen.

REID: I guess it was her appearance at Rancho High School that kind of put her back in her bunker.

Now, I've already had two, and this is my third, public event today. I took questions at the first two. I'd be happy to take questions here. The point is, if you can't talk to the media when you're running for the United States Senate, you shouldn't be running for the United States Senate.

(APPLAUSE)

But really, if you had made some of her comments, I think you'd go underground also. Listen to her latest -- running ads on Hispanic television telling people not to vote. She's trying to keep people from voting.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Then we won't vote for her.

(APPLAUSE)

REID: But can you really think of anything less patriotic or more offensive than telling people not to vote?

I was at a -- I was up with my volunteers, one of my places today, and a woman came up to me and said, "I'm married to an Iraqi- Jew." And she said, with tears in her eyes, "I'm so glad that we've already had the opportunity to vote for you. That's why my husband came to this country."

So everybody, it's the American thing to do, to vote. How could she possibly not speak out against what they're doing? But she hasn't said a single word.

What she's done, recommended, is despicable. And she should denounce it.

So, are any of you going to be intimidated not to vote?

CROWD: No!

REID: Are any of you going to be intimidated not to vote?

CROWD: No!

REID: Are any of you going to be silenced not to vote?

CROWD: No!

REID: Are you going to vote today?

CROWD: Yes!

BALDWIN: Wolf, I know you're standing by. I know you're listening with me. And Senator Reid is referencing -- I think it's Univision. Correct me if I'm wrong.

But essentially, this message -- they're telling Hispanic voters not to vote. And that's quite a statement given the fact that we're heading into the midterms two weeks away. And really, the Hispanic voter bloc, it's a make-or-break group of voters.

BLITZER: Right. And she got herself into trouble, Sharron Angle, this week by saying to a group of Hispanic voters -- you know, she looked at them -- "A lot of you sort of look Asian to me." And it raised a lot of eyebrows.

What was she talking about? These were Latinos, Hispanic residents of Nevada, citizens there. And she was telling them they looked Asian.

She also suggested that sometimes she thinks of herself -- or at least some have suggested she was Asian as well. It just confused the situation out there.

But the big picture is this -- he's the Senate majority leader. She's the Tea Party favorite. It's very close.

She's slightly ahead in some of the most recent polls. And we'll see how the voter turnout is between now and November 2nd, because it could still go either way. And the stakes clearly are enormous for both sides right now in Nevada. BALDWIN: And we certainly shouldn't be surprised, Wolf, that things get nasty. It's now a sprint to the midterms.

BLITZER: Yes, and she's been going after him, and the Republican National Committee has been going after him. And we discussed this, pointing out that he has a condo at the Ritz-Carlton here in Washington, that he really can't relate to folks in Nevada where there's 14 percent unemployment and the highest foreclosure rate out there.

And she's -- they're using this, the Republicans, the Tea Party movement, she used it in the debate against him the other day very, very effectively. And it could hurt him in this contest. There's no doubt about that.

And his response is simply a low blow and you shouldn't be talking about my money or anything like that. I don't know how effective that response is going to be.

BALDWIN: I know you will have much more on this very heated race in Nevada. Also more on Christine O'Donnell's gaffe earlier today. We won't get into it. I'll just tease the viewers with that.

Wolf Blitzer, I thank you. We'll see you in a couple of minutes.

Meantime, let's take a quick break. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: A couple more minutes for us here in the CNN NEWSROOM. And I want to end with this story that will shock you. It will sicken you just like it shocked and it sickened us when we heard about it early this morning.

The story is about parents of this young woman, early 20s. She's from Georgia. Went through hell, the parents certainly did, in losing their daughter in this horrific car crash back in July.

So how could the story get even worse? It does. Listen to this.

It turns out that a responding firefighter allegedly shot video of the fatal crash with his own personal cell phone, including images of this young woman, Dayna Kempson Schacht, whose body was still on the scene.

The sick part is this -- that firefighter is accused of spreading the video around to his friends, and it wound up on the Internet. Can you only imagine who might have seen that video? That's right, her parents.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LUCRETIA KEMPSON, DAYNA KEMPSON SCHACHT'S MOTHER: It was someone's daughter, someone's mother. She was disrespected by people that we trust to take care of us.

JEFFREY KEMPSON, DAYNA KEMPSON SCHACHT'S FATHER: We want to do whatever it takes to try to make sure that this never happens again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Dana Kempson Schacht was just 23 years of age. That's not all. She was a mother. She had two young children.

As for the county's fire chief, he's confirmed that one of his firefighters did, in fact, use his cell phone, took that video. That firefighter is now on leave while they investigate this story.

But as for Dana's mom and dad, we have invited them to join me right here at CNN to talk about this horrific one-two punch they have endured, how they feel about it, and what they want to do about it moving forward, if they could help write some legislation so that firefighters -- so this never happens again to any other parents.

They will be on tomorrow.

Now "THE SITUATION ROOM," Wolf Blitzer, starts now.