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WikiLeaks Posts Secret War Documents; Countdown to Election Day; Words of Wisdom from Women; Cholera Outbreak in Haiti; Learning About Oprah's Roots; Bad Typo on Ballot

Aired October 23, 2010 - 11:00   ET

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

T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Hello there, everybody on this Saturday, October 23rd. I'm glad you could be here. I'm T.J. Holmes.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Suzanne Malveaux.

The Web site WikiLeaks is calling it the largest classified military leak in history. Thousands of secret war documents published online for everyone to see. We're going to tell you what's in them and how the Pentagon is responding.

HOLMES: Also, Haiti right now, still trying to deal with the cleanup and the relief from the disaster of the earthquake earlier this year. Now, a cholera outbreak, it's happening right now. And you'll find out what's being done to try to contain it.

MALVEAUX: And in the U.S., a political marathon turns into a sprint now with just ten -- ten days, rather, left until Election Day. Both parties are using star power to get out the vote.

HOLMES: And first, let's get back to this story about nearly 400,000 classified military documents on the Iraq war now laid out in full public view.

MALVEAUX: The whistle-blower Web site WikiLeaks published the leaked documents saying they reveal hidden truths about the war. Among the revelations in a massive trove of documents, details about civilian deaths; WikiLeaks claims 15,000 of those deaths were never even publicly documented before.

HOLMES: Now, WikiLeaks' most explosive claim involved the circumstances surrounding some of the civilian deaths. In an interview with our Atika Shubert, WikiLeaks Chief Julian Assange leveled this charge.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JULIAN ASSANGE, WIKILEAKS EDITOR: I think we can make even a stronger statement in these documents, that there is very strong evidence, compelling evidence, of war crimes having been committed by coalition forces and having been committed by Iraqi government forces in this material.

(END VIDEO CLIP) HOLMES: All right. Our Atika Shubert who did that interview joins me now live from London. And to our viewers, Atika, maybe they couldn't make out exactly what he was saying but he is accusing the U.S. and coalition forces of war crimes. What does he base that on?

ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, there's several cases he's talking about but one of the most specific examples is that of a helicopter gunship that apparently fired on militants that were trying to surrender. In the -- in the log, it appears there is a record where the -- where the people in the helicopter basically seemed to acknowledge that the militants are attempting to surrender but then they are given advice that it is, quote, "impossible to surrender to an airship", and they are given permission to engage, and they fire upon these militants.

That's one very specific example of that.

And WikiLeaks brought that case to human rights lawyers and those lawyers identified it as a war crime. So that's just one example. But WikiLeaks says there is a lot of information here in these logs, and they do expect to see more questionable incidents like these to come up in the future.

HOLMES: Yes, a lot of stuff in 400,000 documents. And it was something maybe a lot of people weren't expecting to see, but information about those three American hikers that were detained in Iran.

SHUBERT: That's right. This is an interesting story here. Remember that this is information that's raw data, really coming from the field by U.S. soldiers on the front lines of the war. But in this particular case, what appears to be happening is that certainly from the U.S. point of view, in these records is that these hikers were clearly on the Iraqi side of the border, distinctly inside Iraqi territory. And the conclusion, from these records, is that Iran somehow went over the border to capture the hikers.

So this is a very serious allegation. It's the conclusion that comes from these records but again, this is raw intelligence, raw data that's coming from the field. So you do have to take that into account.

HOLMES: All right, Atika Shubert for us in London. Atika, we appreciate you this morning.

MALVEAUX: Military officials are none too pleased with the release of all these documents.

Our Pentagon correspondent Chris Lawrence has been going over them. And Chris, this is a lot to sift through, but we've seen a lot of this -- obviously a very large amount of information. What strikes you as being important?

CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think one of the things is that, you know, in talking about the success in Iraq, one of the things that was pointed to was ending some of the abuses that went on under Saddam Hussein's regime and yet looking at these documents, there -- there seems to be almost a systemic pattern of abuse committed by Iraqi officials over the last seven years.

I asked the Pentagon spokesman about that specifically one instance just last December in which American forces were given a videotape of Iraqi forces apparently executing one of their prisoners.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LAWRENCE: The Iraq war has been looked at as President Bush's war. A lot of these, as you say, having been done in the past and yet a lot of the information in these documents is fairly recent.

For example, an incident just last December, well into President Obama's administration, of the Iraqi Army executing prisoners, a video of which was passed on to U.S. forces, and in their reports it stated no investigation necessary. How -- how can you explain that?

GEOFF MORRELL, PENTAGON SPOKESMAN: Chris, again, I'm not going to sit here and speak to you about classified documents on national television. It just would not be appropriate of me to do so.

But I would reiterate to you that it has always been our policy, in accordance to international law, for us to report up the chain of command any incidents we were to witness that -- that involved the mistreatment of -- of Iraqis and Iraqi prisoners. And that information, I am sure, would then have been passed on to Iraqi authorities, given that we're dealing with a sovereign country here, then to figure out how to enforce discipline and change that kind of behavior in their ranks.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAWRENCE: All right, this release of the Iraq documents has a different effect on U.S. forces than the Afghanistan one just a few months ago in that Afghanistan's got 100,000 U.S. troops there involved in active combat operations almost every day; Iraq, less than half that number and they have really pulled back to -- to more of a noncombat role.

So the release probably affects the troops in Iraq a lot less. But the Pentagon says the real danger could come down the road with -- with other nations, other enemies down the road, in that it could reveal some of the tactics and ways that U.S. forces operate and some of the ways in which they cultivate their sources -- Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: And Chris, something else I want to ask you about when it comes to the role of Iran I know in covering President Bush you got a lot of flak about talking about Iran's role in Iraq causing trouble. What do we know? Do we have new information about that?

LAWRENCE: Yes, very much so. You know, a -- a lot of people said that President Bush exaggerated Iran's role in order to support his -- his sort of "get tough" policy, as you know from covering the White House. But these documents really show a longstanding role of Iran aggressively meddling in the affairs of Iraq. Some of the allegations are that Iran trained some Iraqi insurgents to assassinate Iraqi leaders, that Iraqi insurgents went to Iran to learn how to become snipers.

One incident even shows U.S. forces engaging the Iranians. They were on patrol, they say they were ambushed. Take a look at what the field report says. It says "The Iranians to the northwest of the column started to engage the patrol. The entire column was under fire and returned fire as they conducted U-turns to try to leave the area."

That report goes on to say that the patrol took fire from the Iranians almost all the way back to their checkpoint well inside the Iraqi border -- Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: All right. Chris, thank you so much.

LAWRENCE: Yes.

HOLMES: We turn to Afghanistan now where several militants were killed today when they attacked a U.N. compound. This happened in Herat, this is in western Afghanistan. Local authorities said the militants were wearing suicide vests. The U.N. said it's trying to get more information about what happen. Herat has not experiences some of the high levels of violence that have plagues other parts of Afghanistan.

MALVEAUX: To politics now where there are just ten days left until Election Day. Now, this is a critical midterm election. Over the next ten days, you expect candidates to be working overtime, especially in some of those tighter races that are across the country. I want to show you a map here, a few of the big events today.

In Nevada, Harry Reid is fresh off a campaign stop with President Barack Obama. The president is in Minnesota today to support Democratic gubernatorial Candidate Mark Dayton. Meanwhile, Florida Republican Senate candidate Marco Rubio welcomes, yes, Sarah Palin, to Orlando.

The Tea Party-backed Rubio leads the polls in the three-way race for Florida senator. And you can see all three duke it out -- maybe they won't duke it out, but maybe they will -- in the CNN debate that is live on "STATE OF THE UNION" with Candy Crawly that is tomorrow morning at 9:00 a.m. Eastern. You don't want to miss that one.

HOLMES: Well, the Minnesota stop you just heard Suzanne talk about for the president, that's going to be end of a four-day, five- state campaign tour. But -- does the president really resonate with voters this time around?

Well, take a look at a new CNN poll of polls about his approval rating. Split down in the middle, with an approval rating 47 percent; disapproval rating at around 48 percent; also held pretty steady during this campaign season. And here's another number we want you to check out though, it's our standard generic ballot. Democrat or Republican, 50 percent of likely voters say they'll be voting Republican. Actually up two points from earlier this month.

Well, nowhere, I guess, is the straight Democrat versus Republican sentiment stronger than, yes, Nevada. That is Harry Reid's race. He is neck-and-neck with Tea Party favorite Sharron Angle. And that's why the president was there last night to tell people in his view at least, there is a clear choice.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We've got a choice between the policies that got us into this mess and the policies that are helping to get us out of this mess. And it's a choice between the past and the future, between falling backwards and moving forward, a choice between hope and fear. I don't know about you, but I want to move forward.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: Well, the closer it gets to Election Day you can bet they're going to see a lot more political ads.

HOLMES: Yes a lot of them coming from these so-called third party groups. We're taking a look at some of them.

Josh Levs is going to be along to show one that is getting a lot of attention.

It's 11 minutes past the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Well, that graphic and the dramatic music should let you know well this is serious stuff we're talking about here, the midterm elections. Ten days from now control of Congress up for grabs. Also the states are up for grabs right now, at least 37 of them are going to be choosing governors, also 37 Senate seats are up for grabs, and of course, the entire House, 435 seats there.

MALVEAUX: And one of those is in Annandale, Virginia just outside of Washington. That's where our CNN deputy political director Paul Steinhauser is there for us this morning. And Paul, why are we talking about a House race that some believe might be inconsequential?

PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN DEPUTY POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Actually, this race is really going to matter. We're -- as you mentioned Suzanne we're in Annandale. It's the annual fall parade and festival. We've got some people coming by just now. It's been going on for about an hour. A very beautiful, festive day here and both of the candidates in this race in Virginia's 11th Congressional District are marching in this race.

I want to introduce you to both. (INAUDIBLE) our cameraman, I've got both of them here. Here's Gerry Connolly, he is a freshman Democrat, first-term Congressman, and his opponent right here, is Keith Fimian, he's the Republican nominee. Fimian ran against him two years ago. Connolly won with about 55 percent of the vote.

Connolly is being attacked by Fimian because Connolly is voted pretty much lock-step with President Barack Obama and with Nancy Pelosi and the House leadership, and that is a big part of the issue here in this campaign.

We spoke to Connolly a few minutes ago. He said he's taking nothing for granted. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. GERALD CONNOLLY (D), VIRGINIA: We're working our tails off right up until the first vote is cast and maybe even after that, too. You take nothing for granted. You take no one for granted. I believe that hard work and hopefully the passion for public service I bring to this job is going to pay off on November 2nd. I'm confident it will.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STEINHAUSER: You know, what's interesting about this district, as you mentioned, Suzanne, we're just outside of Washington, D.C., a lot of federal workers here, federal contractors. You know there's a big anti-government feeling across the country, anti-Washington feeling. Really not so much at play here because so many of the people in this district work in Washington.

And why is this race important? Because Republicans feel if they can win here, they feel they can win back the House of Representatives -- Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: And that, obviously Paul, would be a very big deal. Thank you so much, Paul. Appreciate it.

Another way that this political season is different from many of the others is that there is a heck of a lot of money that is going into what is called third-party ads.

HOLMES: Yes, Josh Levs taking a look at some of these ads; and again, a lot of attention being paid to something that usually doesn't get a lot of attention this time around -- Josh.

JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it's a big change this time around. Hey there guys.

We're going to take a look at one of the latest ads that just hit the airwaves.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why do great nations fail?

The ancient Greeks, the Roman Empire, the British Empire and the United States of America -- (END VIDEO CLIP)

LEVS: He goes on to say the United States of America is one of the nations that fell, this takes in the year 2030, with this supposed to be a Chinese professor.

Skip ahead to the end. And let's watch who this ad is from.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Of course, we owned most of their debt, so now they work for us.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You can change the future. You have to. Join Citizens Against Government Waste.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEVS: Citizens Against Government Waste -- now this is a group that you're familiar with. We've talked to you about them. They're behind that pig book that we talk to you about once a year when they look at pork barrel spending. They are -- they declare themselves to be a nonpartisan, non for profit out there.

And they're far from the only third-party group that is focusing on the national debt this year. Here's another ad a lot of you have seen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Washington is spending, and spending. We're $13 trillion in debt; almost the size of the nation's economy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEVS: This is from a group called Public Notice and they talk about their Web site bankruptingAmerica.org. And they're focusing on this same issue, the idea that Congress has been digging a hole and that the nation's government has been digging a hole in the way it's spending and getting us into a place where we won't be able to work our way out.

Now, our expert on political advertisements told me this is extremely unusual. He's Evan Tracy of Campaign Media Analysis Group. In fact, he said this election is a whole, new story.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

EVAN TRACY, CAMPAIGN MEDIA ANALYSIS GROUP: The national debt has been a losing issue for candidates going back to the 1990s. In this election, because people have experienced debt on a personal basis through the foreclosure crisis, through the crash on Wall Street and even things like Greece in the backdrop. These messages are going to help in these elections. They're going to help the candidates that are really positioning against government spending.

So yes, these groups are going to have an impact. They're helping, again, just reinforcing these macro themes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEVS: So now that debt has been striking so many people, the nation's debt is becoming a bigger concern to a lot of people. He also told me that third party ad money's flying around this year, probably as a result of a Supreme Court decision we told you about. Citizens United versus the Federal Election Commission which ultimately allowed corporations to put funds at a much bigger rate into political campaigns and take partisan positions in campaigns.

And he also said that there's actually a partisan tilt. When we look at the ads I just showed you, especially focused on issues like the debt, what you see is a lot of Republicans are putting money into that because ultimately they believe it plays against the current presidency.

This time around, we're seeing that a lot of Republicans, he says, are willing to put their money forward. Last couple of elections they didn't think they'd get that much out of it. This time Republicans see an opportunity; a lot more Republicans opening their wallets, putting money out there whereas democrats holding back a little bit, not putting as much money into third party ads.

I would love to know what third party ads you're hearing, third party ads you're seeing and if they're influencing your votes. Take a look there, Facebook and Twitter, JoshLevsCNN throughout this morning. We have been having this conversation. Join in.

And Suzanne and T.J., I have been looking at these numbers, millions and millions of dollars pouring in for some of these third party ad buys. We can expect a lot more in the remaining days to that Election Day.

MALVEAUX: Unbelievable amount of money.

You might recall, T.J., two years ago, beginning the campaign, we kicked off "Ballot Bowl". I was in the freezing cold in Iowa.

HOLMES: It's been a nicer weather this time around for "Ballot Bowl", though.

MALVEAUX: It's back. "Ballot Bowl" is back.

This is all about hearing what the candidates, President Obama and former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin are saying about the races, the issues. "Ballot Bowl airs today from 3:00 until 6:00 Eastern with "The Best Political Team on Television".

Well, they are tops in their fields and all women. I sat down with some of them at the "Fortune Magazine" summit to get their take on breaking through the glass ceiling and much, much more.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Twenty-four minutes past the hour. Taking a look now at some of the stories making headlines. In Haiti, seems like another tragedy after another. A cholera outbreak now has killed about 200 people, and it's spreading. This outbreak comes after recent, heavy rains as Haiti still tries to recover from January's major earthquake. Going to be talking about the cholera outbreak there with a U.N. aid worker in Haiti.

Also today in Juarez, Mexico, another horrific crime -- gunmen opened fire on a house where there was a party taking place last night. Eleven people killed there, 7 others at least wounded; the victims, all young people. No word on a motive just yet. Juarez is the epicenter of Mexico's battle against drug gangs.

And in California, a deadly shark attack. A 19-year-old college student killed in the surf near Vandenberg Air Force Base. He was boogie boarding with a friend when the shark bit off his left leg. Three beaches in the area are now closed for the next few days -- Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: Well, they are the movers and shakers from the White House to the boardrooms and the catwalk. They're offering up words of wisdom on all hot topics. "Fortune Magazine" held a women's summit in Washington recently and I had a chance to sit down with some of the most powerful women in the world to get their opinions on business, politics, how to break through the glass ceiling.

It's all a part of our series women who rule the world.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX (voice-over): They are mothers.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My passion is, I have to say, my kids.

MALVEAUX: Models.

TYRA BANKS, MODEL: They were like, oh, you can never be a successful model because you're a black girl.

MALVEAUX: Media moguls and movers and shakers.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I rule the company with my head, heart, and hands.

MALVEAUX: Women who rule the world.

(on camera): What do you rule?

KAY KRILL, CEO, ANN TAYLOR: I rule Ann Taylor.

INDRA NOOYI, CEO PEPSICO: I run PepsiCo.

KATHLEEN SEBELIUS, HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES SECRETARY: I am the Secretary of Health and Human Services.

DEBRA LEE, CEO, BET: I rule BET Networks. MELODY BARNES, DIRECTOR, WHITE HOUSE DOMESTIC POLICY: Right now probably just my household and even my husband would probably question that.

MALVEAUX (voice-over): We sat down with some of "Fortune Magazine's" 50 most powerful women and featured speakers, many of them CEOs to get their take on the big issues, starting with any words of wisdom for President Obama.

(on camera): What do you think about the Obama administration's economic policies? Is it good for big business like yours?

KRILL: The health care reform is going to be tough for a lot of big businesses.

LEE: This administration needs to do a lot more and understand business a little bit more and I think with Larry Summers leaving and some of the other turnover in the White House, maybe this is the opportunity to get more business leaders involved in the discussion.

MALVEAUX: Getting into the discussion has meant figuring out how to punch through the glass ceiling.

ANDREA JUNG, CEO AVON: I think, I think slightly differently but I think I think differently than other women, not just other men.

BARNES: Knowing your subject matter, being the expert.

NOOYI: I bring a lot of emotion to work. I look at all of my employees in PepsiCo as members of my family.

BANKS: Defying people telling me that I couldn't do. It's been like that throughout my entire career and it used to frustrate me. And now it excites me.

MALVEAUX: The excitement comes from following their passion. For some it was instilled early in life.

SEBELIUS: My dad ran for office when I was 5 and I grew up thinking that's what people did. They went to door-to-door, put up yard signs.

MALVEAUX (on camera): You sold cupcakes for McGovern?

BARNES: I did. I did. I was about 8 years old and my parents were always very active in the community.

MALVEAUX (voice-over): For others it was a hard-earned struggle to be on top.

BANKS: I was very strategic in figuring out how to break through. And I was like, just be yourself. Also being myself had to do with gaining a little weight.

MALVEAUX: As mothers and wives, balancing professional success with family life means sacrificing. SEBELIUS: We've been married for 35 years and we're sort of now in a commuter marriage.

KRILL: I try to leave there by 5:00 or 5:30 at night because I really want to have dinner with my boys.

MALVEAUX: So any advice to young women today?

SEBELIUS: I think women have to be willing to take a few more risks.

BANKS: To not be ashamed of the dreams, not be ashamed to want to be the best.

MALVEAUX: One thing they all have in common is they love what they do.

NOOYI: To me, you know, they never see you and I think it's true for all today, work is life and life is work and we actually love it. I love my job.

MALVEAUX: If your job is hanging out with P. Diddy, what do you do for fun?

LEE: That's a good question. I guess my job is fun. You know, I enjoy it.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX: It's one of those things that they all share in common. They have the passion for what they do. They love their work. And they encourage other people to -- especially young women, don't shrink, get out there, ask for what you want, work for what you want, but speak up.

HOLMES: Well, most of the women I know don't have a problem speaking up.

MALVEAUX: You're surrounded by a lot of outspoken women.

HOLMES: I'm surrounded by them. And successful and beautiful women, as well -- very beautiful, eclectic group of women you got a chance to interview. I lobbied for that story but they wouldn't let me do it.

MALVEAUX: They might have let you in. There were a few guys around there.

HOLMES: Oprah Winfrey wasn't in that particular room, I don't think.

MALVEAUX: No, she wasn't.

HOLMES: Even though clearly she deserves to be -- one of the most famous in the world. She though comes from very humble beginnings. The town she comes from down in the Deep South. Have you even heard of this town?

MALVEAUX: What's the town called?

HOLMES: Gee, I can't even pronounce it.

MALVEAUX: We're going to find out though.

HOLMES: We're going to -- we'll take you there at the bottom of the hour. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Coming up on 33 minutes past the hour.

Want to turn to Haiti, where hospitals are overflowing from a fast-moving cholera outbreak. The waterborne illness killed 200 people in a region north of Port-au-Prince. More than 2,600 cases have been reported.

I spoke earlier with a United Nations humanitarian aid worker in Haiti.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

IMOGENE WALL, U.N. HUMANITARIAN AFFAIRS: I think we're looking at possibly a crisis that's going to last several weeks. We don't believe we're at the peak of the epidemic yet. This is an extreme situation. The most important thing is to do our best to contain it.

Part of the problem here is that Haiti is -- this is not an endemic disease to Haiti. The last case was in 1960. There is very little resilience among the population. There is also very little expertise in the medical profession here about how to handle this.

One of the most important things right now isolation of patients and isolation of those suspected. So, we've got two units going up in the hospital in (INAUDIBLE), which is center of the outbreak at the moment, and support going to the clinic so they can actually manage the case load effectively and try to contain this.

HOLMES: And ma'am, try to put in context for us that caseload you speak of. Just how many are coming out to get treatment at how many places by how many physicians or other health care providers right now?

WALL: Well, the health facility in (INAUDIBLE), which is the area where this outbreak is centered, which is not an area primarily affected by the earthquake, is extremely rudimentary. The hospitals do have sufficient supplies to cope for the next three days, so that gives us a little bit of time to get them the replenishments they need.

We have the materials in country to get them -- to get there to cope with this. There's a logistical problem. Some areas are flooded because it's the rainy season. But we are moving equipment and personnel into the area as fast as we possibly can.

Cholera is treatable. One of most basic things you can do is just get fluids into people. So, a huge part of this (INAUDIBLE), but if they recognize the symptoms early enough, and they can get safe water and all rehydration shots (ph) into their family members who appear to be suffering, they can recover themselves. So we are doing a huge push (ph) also to empower the population to actually recognize and manage themselves this illness.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: Now, a big part of the task right now is trying to keep the cholera contained in the area where it is. They don't want it certainly to spread down to Port-au-Prince, the capital, because, of course, the country is still trying to bounce back from January's catastrophic earthquake, and they are a lot of tent cities, people still essentially homeless that are out there in a lot of those camps. They don't want it to spread.

MALVEAUX: We are looking at stormy weather in the nation's midsection. Right now Texas is under the gun. We're going to get the latest from meteorologist Bonnie Schneider.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(WEATHER REPORT)

MALVEAUX: Well, why are thousands of people flocking to a tiny, tiny Mississippi town?

HOLMES: Oprah. Enough said. We'll explain after the break.

MALVEAUX: Enough said.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: About a quarter to the top of the hour now.

Every year thousands of people flock to this tiny little town in Mississippi.

MALVEAUX: That's where Oprah Winfrey was born, and now Kosciusko has been dedicated as a tourist trail in her honor.

HOLMES: Yes. CNN producer Jason Morris (ph) and our photographer Ken Tillis (ph) takes us there.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MAYOR JIMMY COCKROFT, KOSCIUSKO, MISSISSIPPI: I'd like to welcome you to Kosciusko, Mississippi, population of 7,372 people. We are located geographically in the center of the state and proud to be the birthplace of Oprah Winfrey.

TONYA THREAT, V.P., KOSCIUSKO COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT: We are on Oprah Winfrey Road, and we're standing at the site of her first home. She was born here and left when she was 6 years old, and this was the community that she grew up in. And she would walk from this spot, where her house was, to her church, which is just down the road about a quarter of a mile.

COCKROFT: This is the original Buffalo Church where she did face her first audience.

THREAT: When Oprah performed in front of her first audience at the church, it was an Easter recital. And she wore, just as all of the children did at that time, a papier-mache dress. All the little girls had papier-mache dresses that they wore as their costumes.

We have about 30,000 tourists that come through our Visitors and Information Center in a year's time. We have bus tours. And we have four to five bus tours a year, and they all come to Oprah Winfrey Road. We have people that come from within the United States, and then we have international visitors that come here as well.

COCKROFT: This is her gift back to her community. This is Oprah Winfrey Boys and Girls Club. What you see here today, Ms. Winfrey funded 100 percent. Inside you have a gymnasium, you have an art room, a music room, a computer lab. And upstairs you have a teen center.

There is grassroots Mississippi. You can go anywhere in any county in Mississippi and find a spot just like this on a small country road. And to come from this to where Oprah is today, as one of the wealthiest people, and not just women in the world, I think that gives everybody a little encouragement.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: All right. One of my favorite parts of the morning. Let's see that lady there.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Is that because it's the end?

(LAUGHTER)

HOLMES: No.

MALVEAUX: No. It's you.

WHITFIELD: Oh, OK. I like that.

HOLMES: You can show up at 7:00 if you want to. I'd still be happy to see you.

WHITFIELD: OK, good. Well, I'm glad to see you all too.

You've had a good morning?

MALVEAUX: Yes. It was great.

HOLMES: It has been a good morning.

WHITFIELD: OK. Great.

Well, we have got a great day, a long day ahead, beginning with noon Eastern hour, as always, right? And we always like to invite our legal guys because they're so smart and they know everything about all the interesting cases on the docket out there, beginning with a case where two people were tried, convicted and sentenced for the same charges. One being O.J. Simpson in Las Vegas. The other, the co- defendant actually appealed. He gets a new trial.

Why not the same for O.J. Simpson? Our legal guys will delve into that.

HOLMES: I've got to know now. Why not? Why didn't he?

WHITFIELD: You're going to have to listen.

MALVEAUX: But O.J. stays in jail.

WHITFIELD: There's disparities in the case and in their character. He stays in jail. And our legal guys will explain why, why the disparities in character, in the handling of the cases, all that kind of stuff. You can probably presume some stuff.

HOLMES: Character plays in, huh?

WHITFIELD: Yes, character does play into it.

HOLMES: He's got a history, I hear.

WHITFIELD: And prejudicial juries. It's kind of a given, I guess, when it deals with O.J. Simpson. And that's going to be their argument. But you have to listen at the noon hour --

HOLMES: OK. OK.

MALVEAUX: I'm very curious.

WHITFIELD: -- because they're going to give you the better legal vernacular than I. I'm giving you the layman's stuff.

And then, of course, Blackwater, what's going on with the Blackwater case in terms of federal prosecutors? Why is that case falling apart?

And then we're going to talk about a Georgia mother who is suing Tyra Banks. I know you've been featuring her all morning all morning long --

MALVEAUX: Right. What's that about?

WHITFIELD: -- but this is an interesting case where the mother alleges that her daughter was invited to be a guest on the show without the mother's knowing, was flown to the show.

MALVEAUX: Which show. This is "Top Model"?

WHITFIELD: Yes. And so now, you know, the mother wants to know why.

She's suing for millions of dollars. Parental consent was not involved here. And probably a sticking point had to do with the topic.

It was sex addiction among teenagers. And so the mother, a little set aback about, why didn't I know about this, and why didn't I know my child was getting on a plane and going to New York?

HOLMES: How old is this girl?

WHITFIELD: Fifteen.

HOLMES: Fifteen. Oh my goodness.

WHITFIELD: Yes. So, we're going to talk about both sides because, of course, Tyra Banks' camp has a response to all of that.

What else are we talking about?

Oh, we're also going to talk about diabetes. And right now, one in 10 Americans has diabetes. So, in about 40 years, possibly, one among us three will have it.

HOLMES: Wow.

MALVEAUX: Unbelievable. Why is that?

WHITFIELD: Diet plays a role. Obesity, a big problem in America. Almost half of Americans are struggling with obesity, and that likelihood is to increase.

All that impacting diabetes, our diet, how we take care of ourselves. We're going to have a doctor who is going to be joining us to tell us some of the things that you need to be doing right now to make sure that you don't become one of the seven -- one of the three.

And then speaking of seven, seven deadly sins of money management. You want to take a guess?

MALVEAUX: Spending what you don't have.

WHITFIELD: Spending what you don't have, being envious of something that someone else. You want it.

So envy is one of the sins, being a sloth, maybe not even keeping track of the kind of money that you spend. You don't write it down, whether it be in your checkbook or just document. Big no-nos. We're going to be joined by a money expert who is going to help us kind of eradicate those sins and get your finances on track.

MALVEAUX: Forgive us.

WHITFIELD: And be forgiven.

And, of course, "Ballot Bowl" beginning at 3:00. HOLMES: Yes.

WHITFIELD: Of course, big gubernatorial races, Senate races all from Florida, Nevada, California. We're watching all of it, "Ballot Bowl," 3:00.

MALVEAUX: Great stuff.

WHITFIELD: I'm worn out. Did I get it all in?

HOLMES: I think you did.

(CROSSTALK)

WHITFIELD: They're like, "Wrap. Wrap." I'm like, I've got more.

OK. Go ahead. Take it away. Good to see you guys.

HOLMES: They know this is our favorite part of the show. You take your time, Fredricka.

Well, as she mentioned, we are just 10 days away from those all- important midterm elections. So you want to get caught up with the developing stories on the campaign trail? Here's what we have crossing our "Political Ticker" right now.

The Senate ballot in Washington State getting nasty with a new ad Republicans are calling "trashy." The ad from Democrats targets Republican challenger Dino Rossi, saying he's bad for women. A Republican ad fires back at the incumbent, Patty Murray, linking her to lobbyists.

Also, the second debate in the Pennsylvania Senate race was a lot like the first. Democrat Joe Sestak and Republican Pat Toomey hammered each other on so-called extreme ideas. They also battled over the economy and taxes. They are in a neck-and-neck battle to replace Senator Arlen Specter.

Also, the Florida gubernatorial candidate Rick Scott being praised now by his formal rival in the Republican primary. Bill McCollum says he'll now vote for Scott against the Democrat, Alex Sink. The two face off in a debate Monday, live, right here on CNN. Our John King will moderate that at 7:00 Eastern Time.

And this was a heck of a typo. A political candidate's name misspelled on an absentee ballot.

MALVEAUX: Yes. You love this story, but this was a particularly bad typo. And we're going to tell you all about that next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: Well, if he weren't running for the Illinois governor's office, he might actually laugh about this. HOLMES: Yes. The Green Party candidate is listed as "Rich Whitey" on some ballots. His name is Rich Whitney, though. He's not really laughing about this typo on that ballot.

Last hour, we talked to him about this mistake that made him the lighthearted headline in a hotly-contested race.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RICH WHITNEY, ILLINOIS GREEN PARTY GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE: You have to laugh a little bit. I mean, there is a humorous aspect. I especially like the blogger who wrote that, "You know what? Why don't they just name all the candidates 'Rich Whitey' on the ballot and it would save us all a lot of time?"

(LAUGHTER)

HOLMES: There is something to be said for that?

Have they done enough to correct the problem now in your eyes? Has this been taken care of?

WHITNEY: Well, we are told that they have corrected the problem. We haven't had any new reports of problems.

But you know what? It took them the better part of two weeks to fix it. And this does underscore a very serious issue.

We're dealing with machine politics at two levels -- the machine, the notorious Chicago machine, and then there's the little machines, the electronic voting machines, which are run by private, for-profit corporations using proprietary software. It's black box voting. It's a real problem.

HOLMES: And would you say, Mr. Whitney, that this -- are you convinced this was just an honest mistake? Did you ever suggest that possibly, somebody did this intentionally?

WHITNEY: Well, there's no way of knowing it for certain, but you know what? The explanation that we got is that a technician for this private company, Dominion, if that isn't scary enough -- it's the name of the company -- apparently said that, well, they only had so many characters for the name, so they had to take a letter out. And that just happened to be the one that they chose.

I'm not buying that. I am not buying that. This probably cost me votes.

People can go to whitneyforgov.org and see the whole story, but it's still unfolding. And as a matter of fact, I got another -- we just learned yesterday that one of our other candidates had another problem with the voting machines. If you'd like, I can tell you about that real quick.

HOLMES: Well, actually, I want to move on to something else, because there's a couple of other things I certainly want to get in here to you.

WHITNEY: Sure.

HOLMES: And again, I know you've run for governor there in Illinois before, '06. I believe you got around 10 percent. People are familiar with you enough now, but because of this, you be labeled "Rich Whitey" on a ballot, has that in some kind of way helped you out in that you're getting more press than you ever realized?

WHITNEY: Well, that is certainly the silver lining. But it's hard to say how that plays out, because, you know, there is a novelty factor to there, but that doesn't mean people are necessarily going to vote for me as a result of that. I do hope that they take time to look at my Web site and see where I stand on the issues, because that's the real reason, of course, they should vote for me.

HOLMES: That's the real reason there.

Sir, it sounds like they have been able to answer things and deal with it to your satisfaction. I know -- and to explain to our viewers a little bit, the first screen they saw where they could check your name, it did say "Rich Whitney," the correct name.

WHITNEY: That is correct, yes.

HOLMES: But then, when they got to the review screen at the end that say, hey, these were your selections, that's when it said "R. Whitey" or "Rich Whitey."

How much do you really think that possibly could have cost you? Surely people would know they were still -- if they already clicked your name once, they should know on that review screen what they actually had selected.

WHITNEY: Well, after they got to the review screen, or when they got to the review screen, they could change their vote. So, if someone was -- certainly some people were confused by this. And if they thought, ooh, that's not the person I meant to vote for, they could change their vote.

Now, am I saying that there were a lot of people who did this? Probably not. But it also raises questions about the integrity of these voting machines generally. And I think that's a real serious and it's an ongoing issue. Something as important as the integrity of our vote, in my view, should not be left to private for-profit corporations where apparently it was not cost-effective for them to proofread the ballot in a gubernatorial race.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: Now, this mistake was spotted by an early voter, reported to the board of elections, who said the problem wouldn't or couldn't be fixed.

MALVEAUX: So the national attention and the embarrassment forced them to correct this typo in almost 5,000 electronic voting machines. So a real turnaround here.

HOLMES: Yes, one --

MALVEAUX: And the embarrassment forced them to --

HOLMES: Could be Fredricka "Whitefield" if you just add one --

WHITFIELD: It happens all the time, though.

HOLMES: -- little letter.

WHITFIELD: It happens all the time. My name is always misspelled.

HOLMES: Is it, really?

WHITFIELD: Oh, all the time. You know, whether it's misspelled or maybe mispronounced, but mostly misspelled.

HOLMES: What -- how?

WHITFIELD: Whitford --

HOLMES: Oh.

WHITFIELD: -- Whitefield --

MALVEAUX: Sure it, happens. Hey, but we know you're Fred.

WHITFIELD: And that's OK. You've got to have a sense of humor, just like he did.

MALVEAUX: Yes.

HOLMES: You have to. Yes.

WHITFIELD: It's all all right.

HOLMES; He's a good sport.

WHITFIELD: Yes, he was a really good sport about it. Great to see you guys.

(CROSSTALK)

WHITFIELD: And I misspoke earlier, "The Tyra Banks Show," not necessarily the "Top Model" show. But anyway, we're going to delve into that with our legal guys.

MALVEAUX: Good! Want to hear all about it!

WHITFIELD: So pay attention. They've got all the facts. All right, good to see you, guys.

HOLMES: See you, Fredricka.

MALVEAUX: See you, Fred.

WHITFIELD: Thanks so much.