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Countdown to Election; PhD's Working as Janitors; New Species Debuted by World Wildlife Federation; CNN Equals Politics Update; Sanjay Gupta to Testify Before Senate Today on "Toxic America"

Aired October 26, 2010 - 10:00   ET

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

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Top of the hour. See you tomorrow, Tony.

All right.

10:00 a.m. on the East Coast. 7:00 a.m. out west. I'm Kyra Phillips. Here's some of the stories that got us talking on the CNN NEWSROOM today. Much of the midwest could be hammered by a historic wind storm. Thunderstorms already blamed for damage in St. Louis, Missouri. We're going to take a look at that threat, also, possible tornadoes.

And new allegations about Justice Clarence Thomas.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LARRY KING, CNN HOST: You told "The Washington Post" that Justice Thomas was obsessed by porn. Elaborate on that.

LILLIAN MCEWEN, JUSTICE THOMAS FMR. GIRLFRIEND: I suppose I would call it a fetish or a hobby. It was on that kind of a level. It was something that was very important to him. Something that he talked about.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: A former girlfriend breaks her 19-year silence. Hear for yourself what she has to say.

And "Back to the Future, stars of the iconic '80s flick get together to celebrate. Can you believe it's been 25 years? Where's the (INAUDIBLE) capacitor to our time machine.

Let's get right to the storm blasting the midwest right now. Rob Marciano right now, we are looking at this building damaged by the high winds this morning. It looks like the bricks were knocked off the top, and you can see over there, on to the street below. Tornado warnings, right? Are out there for a large central section of the country?

ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Very much so. Indiana right now is just getting peppered with tornado warnings, and I can't quite honestly even keep up with them. They're coming out faster than I can even keep up with them. But I'll illustrate them for you here graphically and we'll just kind of all slowly get through this together.

Central Indiana, right now, there it is. That's the swath of thunderstorms that's moving to the east very rapidly, powered by an incredible jet stream that is just fueling this entire storm system. So everywhere you see a pink polygon, that is where we are experiencing a tornado warning, meaning that as radar has indicated there is potential of a tornado touching down. We may not have that actually happening, but it's a dangerous situation nonetheless.

Indianapolis, Indiana, you are one of the cities, obviously a big city, that is under a tornado warning right now, at least the southern part of that city, and right now there's a live shot for you. WRTV is our affiliate out that way showing you that it's definitely raining heavily, and you got thunder and lightning and definitely has some gusty winds, if not a rain-wrapped tornado down to your south.

As we move map a little bit farther to the north, up towards Lake Michigan, we're certainly experiencing some heavy thunderstorms here, Racine County across Wisconsin saw some heavy action. Here's a live shot for you from Wisconsin where some of that damage is being reported. WISN is our affiliate out that way. Notice the debris on the ground and it's still flying around. So the storm is well past.

This camera can't be held steady because the issue with the storm is once the front goes through, you're danger is not over because once the front goes through, and then kind of the mother load of this thing kicks in. And that's when we get into the straight-line winds behind the system or at least associated with below right there. And that's where we're going to see winds here anywhere from 40 to 60- mile-an-hour wind gusts.

And we're not just talking two, three hours after the front goes through. This is going to be 12, 18 hours beginning now right through tonight. If you didn't get damage from the thunderstorms that rolled through, you can easily get wind damage from the back side of this system. Also on the back side, snow across North Dakota. We're already seeing some of that in Bismarck right now. Not going to be tremendous amount but it's going to be blowing sideways. And that's going to be the main issues.

Again, that powerful jet stream pushing this from - rapidly to the east Indiana, southern parts of Michigan, and then eventually western parts of Ohio later on this morning and this afternoon under a high risk of seeing thunderstorms that could drop tornadoes. And we're seeing that right now. Northeast should stay out of the danger zone with this, but midwest and the lower Great Lakes certainly getting it right now. Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right. We need i-reports, I'm being told. We got the great i-report video from yesterday that went all over the country. What do we need? Any specific areas? Or-

MARCIANO: If you live in the danger zone, wait until the danger passes -

PHILLIPS: Yes. MARCIANO: Before you go out and take your pictures. But if you are experiencing any sort of damage, and the thunderstorms roll through, once they do, get out there and snap some pictures and some video and we'll put them on the air.

PHILLIPS: Great. Need those I-reports. Thanks, Rob.

MARCIANO: You bet.

PHILLIPS: One week from today, Americans go to the polls in the midterm elections. The clock is ticking, and the stakes are rising. The balance of power in Washington could change hands. One of the most watched race is the battle for the Senate seat in Pennsylvania. Republican Pat Toomey versus Democratic Joe Sestak but other names are also looming large like Obama, Reid and Pelosi.

Here's Jim Acosta in Philly with a closer look. Jim.

JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Kyra. You know, the polls in this race have really see-sawed back and forth. A few weeks ago, it looked like Toomey had this race in the bag, and last week Joe Sestak seemed to surge ahead in the polls just a little bit, and then today there's a new poll showing Pat Toomey back in the lead.

And all of this is critically important because it's going to be very difficult for the Republicans to seize control of the Senate if they can't win Pennsylvania. So the here stakes, the political stakes, not the cheese steaks, couldn't be higher.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you very much, guys.

ACOSTA (voice-over): Well come to suspense-vylvania where the race for the U.S. senate is too close to call and the candidates are getting personal. Former Republican Congressman Pat Toomey labels his opponent, current Democratic congressman, Joe Sestak, a rubber stamp for his party on votes for the stimulus and health care reform.

REP. JOE SESTAK (D), PENNSYLVANIA SENATE CANDIDATE: He voted 1,400 times with Nancy Pelosi. That's 1,200 more than I did.

ACOSTA (on camera): You're saying she's more like Nancy Pelosi than you are?

SESTAK: He's such a San Francisco liberal.

ACOSTA (voice-over): In nearly the same breath, Sestak compares Toomey to Republican Christine O'Donnell who is running for the Senate in neighboring Delaware. Toomey, Sestak notes has also spoken at Tea Party rallies.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What is happening in Washington today is an unprecedented and frightening lurch to the left.

ACOSTA: Toomey argues he also has the backing of GOP moderates. (on camera): Would you be a Tea Party senator -

PAT TOOMEY (R), PENNSYLVANIA SENATE CANDIDATE: I'm delighted to have their support and I'm delighted I have the support that I have from Rudy Giuliani and Tom Ridge.

ACOSTA (voice-over): This past president of the pro-business group, Club for Growth, Toomey once pushed for privatizing social security in a "National Review" editorial entitled "Personal Accounts or Bust."

TOOMEY: It's in my book, so there's plenty of information about my thoughts about how we make our big entitlement programs viable for future generations.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's the last question.

ACOSTA: As Toomey walked away and up walked Karlene Novotny, a voter with a life-threatening Staph infection, carries this bag of antibiotics attached to her chest where ever she. She worries about Toomey's plans to repeal health care reform.

KARLENE NOVOTNY, PENNSYLVANIA VOTER: I like Mr. Toomey's platform but I'm concerned about the insurance and the well being of our health care system for the future.

ACOSTA: There were also unscripted moments for Sestak, like this glass shop owner who had to cut his staff by half.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have four people working for us. We used to have 10.

ACOSTA: A reminder of the recession on Sestak's watch.

(on camera): And what would you say though to those independents, undecided voters out there who would say, you know, we gave the Democrats a chance for two years, and you blew it?

SESTAK: I would say the Democratic Party took necessary steps, but, you know what, the party didn't do at all well, and I bucked it.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ACOSTA: Now, Joe Sestak has another unique take on how to draw the distinction on the economy. He has an ad out right now showing him cleaning up after his dog, drawing the analogy that this is what the Democrats are doing when it comes to the economy. Putting that aside, both of the candidates in this race, Kyra, are trying to sound lie independents.

Joe Sestak, when I asked him yesterday about Harry Reid, should he continue on as Senate majority leader, Joe Sestak said he wasn't sure about that and as for Pat Toomey, as you saw on that piece, is talking about his endorsements from folks like Rudy Giuliani and Tom Ridge, the former governor of Pennsylvania here. Both of those gentlemen moderates, not really talking about the fact that just last week Sarah Palin endorsed him in this race. Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Jim Acosta live from Philly. Jim, thanks.

And in Florida, nominees for the governor race, (INAUDIBLE) in a showdown seen right here on CNN last night. One ugly moment came when Alex Sink was shown a text message during a break in the televised debate. That's in violation of the rules. Rick Scott notified the CNN official who confiscated cell phone.

After the debate, the sink campaign announced that the adviser who sent the message has been removed from the campaign.

Now, there have been really two contentious issues in this race. Who should the voters trust and who is more in touch with the public? Both candidates are millionaires, and neither scored any points with this exchange.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What's the minimum wage in Florida, Mr. Scott?

RICK SCOTT, SENATE CANDIDATE: It's 7.55.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is that right?

ALEX SINK, SENATE CANDIDATE: Yes.

SCOTT: 7.25, close.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Well, there's a lot of talk about this empty chair. President Obama's even in Rhode Island yesterday. That's' because it was assigned to a fellow Democrat who had earlier told the media that the president could shove it. (INAUDIBLE) was furious that the Mr. Obama didn't endorse him in the governor's race. The president is friends with his Republican opponent, and a spokesperson for Caprio said he was not disinvited for his remarks. He simply decided to campaign elsewhere.

But that testiness is nothing compared to this incident just before the Senate debate in Kentucky. This is a worker for the liberal group move on.org getting roughed up outside the forum. She's getting stomped on by a man wearing a Rand Paul for Senate t-shirt. Lexington Police are investigating, they say all of the people who scuffled with the woman could face charges.

Going "Back to the Future" again. Break out the flux capacitor and gas up the Delorean. The franchise is celebrating it's 25th anniversary and its stars are spilling secrets from the set.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: All right. Rob Marciano, what's going on with that severe weather? MARCIANO: We want to give you a couple of spots where we've gotten reports of damage and potentially tornado touchdowns. These have yet to be confirmed but nonetheless, these are tornado reports that have been coming into the CNN Severe Weather Center. Two just south of Chicago, and (INAUDIBLE) is one of them and (INAUDIBLE) is the other. Those did damage, and then Racine, this one up the west shoreline from Chicago to Milwaukee. We got folks that are hustling that way. That may very well have been the one most likely to have been a tornado.

And then one down across parts of western Kentucky, Coldwater, Kentucky. Four unconfirmed reports right now of tornadoes, and we have just begun this severe weather outbreak that right now is really inundating much of Indiana and this is all moving quickly east- northeast, anywhere from 40 to 70 miles per hour. So these storms are moving very quickly, powered by a very powerful jet stream.

Tornado watch in effect for much of western Ohio until at least 4:00, and these may be moving further to the east. The storm is intensifying behind it, way back north and west of Minneapolis. A very rare storm. We get them this time of the year, but this is a very, very powerful one. Kyra?

PHILLIPS: All right. Thanks, Rob.

MARCIANO: You bet.

PHILLIPS: All right. We remember this movie, right?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Watch this, watch this.

What did I tell you! 88 miles per hour!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: A blast from the past as we go "Back to the Future." It's been 25 years since Marty Mcfly hopped in that Delorean and hit the gas, giving us one of the most memorable movies of the '80s, and now the cast is getting back together for the release of the "Back to the Future" trilogy on DVD.

MICHAEL J. FOX, ACTOR "MARTY MCFLY": The irony of this movie about time is that it's been timeless and it's been a real privilege to be a part of it.

CHRISTOPHER LLOYD, ACTOR "DR. EMMETT BROWN": If you think about re-experiencing this after 25 years, it's just kind of unique and wonderful to see more and more audience seeing the film and feeling about it the way they did when they saw it 25 years ago.

LEA THOMPSON, ACTRESS "LORRAINE BAINES": It's so profound to be here with all of this hoopla from 25 years ago and know that it means so much to so many people. So many young people still seeing it for the first time. HUEY LEWIS, MUSICIAN: It means I'm getting old, because it's hard to believe it's 25 years. None of us knew 25 years ago that we'd be here and this would be sort of a phenomenon.

FOX: This is kind of the second time lightning struck me. The first time was with "Family Ties" and then to have the experience of being part of "Back to the Future" was too much to ask for.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Well, the DVD collection is packed with all sorts of revelations, including this one, the movie was almost called "Space Man from Pluto."

It's a bird, it's a plane, it's the brand-new Superman. Meet the new man of steel. It's part of a new graphic novel retelling the original super hero story. Sure, some things never change, like his jet black hair and his buff bod, but gone are Clark Kent's nerdy glasses and that trademark clean cut look. Before "Superman" got a new look, Wonder Woman got a makeover. Remember this? More leggings for her.

Flashback to the opening day of what was called - what was it called -"engineering the eighth wonder of the world," and that opening day was October 26th, 1825, celebrated in picture, song and utility. There we go. Cue the music.

New York's Erie Canal opened linking the lake of the same name to that of the Hudson River and opening the future settlements of the Appalachians and beyond.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

PHILLIPS: All right. Rob Marciano, once again, checking in with this monster of a storm, wondering if it's going to last. Where are these pictures coming from?

MARCIANO: Give me a monitor, somewhere in the studio -

PHILLIPS: Wisconsin. Where in Wisconsin? Do we know?

MARCIANO: Extreme southeast Wisconsin -

PHILLIPS: Mt. Pleasant.

MARCIANO: It's likely in Racine County, which is where we had reports of severe weather earlier, damage reports obviously. The National Weather Service actually sending a survey team rapidly out there to see if indeed it was a tornado. We had unconfirmed reports that there was a tornado touchdown there. If not, I mean, just the straight line winds that this storm is producing is enough to take down trees and power lines and we certainly seen that. We've seen a number of roof collapses as well.

All right. Where is this storm now or where is the line of storms? Right now, slicing through central Indiana and moving rapidly to the east. Some of these individual cells are moving east northeast at over 50 miles an hour. So this is a serious situation. And some of these storms not only pack a punch but potentially might have some rotation in them as far as a tornado that may drop from the sky.

Indianapolis, downtown Indianapolis, you are out of it from now. You're certainly going to see some gusty winds but the roughest weather now has moved toward your east. The newest counties that are under a tornado warning, Bartholomew, Johnson and Shelby county and then down to the south, northwestern Kentucky, you are getting a pretty good east of Paducah, this is all rolling towards Bowling Green and Owensboro.

So that's what we're seeing right now. I want to show you some of the actual reports that we had earlier, from Missouri and St. Louis, 62-mile-an-hour wind gusts, Salem, Illinois, seeing 60-mile-an- hour wind gusts. And this is where we have the tornado watch that's in effect for western parts of Ohio, the back side of this again, we'll see snow across parts of North Dakota but we're going to see 40 to 60-mile-an-hour wind gusts, potentially higher than that in spots especially across parts of Minnesota and northern Wisconsin for a good 12 to 18 hours out there. So again, if you got a camera and there's some damage in your area, Certainly (INAUDIBLE) get out there and snap a photo for us and send it to i-reports.com. And we'll put them on the air. This is going to be not a short lived event. Very, very large and powerful storm system that is continuing to deepen or strengthen as it moves northeast towards Canada. Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Thanks, Rob.

MARCIANO: You bet.

PHILLIPS: We like to take you across the country to see all of the sights, you know, things that you don't see every day like a buffalo lounging in a pool in Georgia. If this were Florida, it's be an alligator but apparently Georgia is Bison territory.

Earlier the home owner had noticed a couple of holes in the pool cover and pulled it back and found a cow. It's another watering hole for her. Anyway, police rescued her, only for her owner put her down later. It seems she has a history of getting out and the owner was afraid she might hurt somebody.

And straight out of (INAUDIBLE) check out this gas station in Virginia. Just like the one from the "Andy Griffin Show." The only thing missing is goober and goomer to come out and tore her up and wash the windshield. The guy who created this place is clearly a huge fan of the show and an antiques collector. No charge to visit but unfortunately you can't get gas for 30 cents a gallon there, either.

Call it the zoological jackpot, the Amazon rain forest, home to 1,200 previously unknown animal species. We got you a sneak peek, some exotic critters that you've never seen before.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Weather folks working hard as we're tracking the severe storm across the country and those tornadoes that are popping up as well. We're going to tell you the areas where you need to be careful of this morning and this afternoon.

Also, stock market opening bell rang just about an hour ago. There you go Dow industrials up just barely, just a smidge.

We're talking about overqualified. Things that a college education doesn't take you very far as it used to. Especially in today's economy. The Bureau of Labor Statistics actually says that 5,000 people working as janitors in this country have doctorate degrees. Business correspondent Stephanie Elam joining us form New York.

Steph, 5,000 people with doctorates working as janitors. I mean, it's pretty mind boggling to see that and also the other folks with higher degrees working as waitresses and other jobs as well. A whole bunch of them.

Yes, I mean -

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: A whole bunch of them. I mean, can you imagine? In fact, over qualified is not even a strong enough word, I don't think, Kyra, if you have someone with a doctorate degree who is doing this. You're right and that alone you got 17 million Americans who are doing jobs that they are way overqualified for. This is coming to us from the (INAUDIBLE) of Higher Education.

But if you think about it, for some people, some kind of job may just be better than no kind of job, right? The idea of coming out of school and then going ahead and getting a job where you can get a job. So you got 317,000 people who are waiting tables who also have doctorate degrees, 80,000 are bartenders and 18,000 are parking lot attendants. So you got a lot of people out there who may know a little bit about "E=mc2" or maybe (INAUDIBLE) but doing jobs that you may just need a high school degree to do.

PHILLIPS: Well, and I know that some people say, is it even worth it to get a college degree? I mean, I would say, heck, yes, because when things start turning around, there's more jobs available. You want to be ready and have the degree, right?

ELAM: Right.

PHILLIPS: But other people advising in a different way?

ELAM: I think - you see people here are saying "you know what, the return on this investment into college may be just not worth it for a lot of people, especially if they're going to go ahead and get the degree to make mom and dad happy and then they go off and they, you know, start weaving baskets that they sell for a lot of money. You know, you hear these stories about people doing their own thing.

But some people are saying it's not worth it, but you also know people who do go to college make more money than those who don't. So, things can turn around but these people do have a lot of debt as far as student loans that they are taking with them to get these jobs. So, who knows? Maybe they actually like what they are doing, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: What a perfect segueway. Because you and I were talking about these numbers that came out yesterday. And I said, Steph, look at how many people are happy at work and not happy at work. I don't know. Did the numbers surprise you?

ELAM: Actually, they didn't surprise me. I don't know. Let me tell you the numbers, and see what you say. One survey found only 45 percent of people are actually happy at work, and that's the lowest in 22 years. So, if you hear that, that means there are a lot of people out there getting up every morning saying dag nab it, I hate that place. Which is really awful because --

PHILLIPS: You wonder what they're doing. No, it's true. You kind of wonder what kind of work are they doing too, because you're never going to be happy if you're doing something you're not really into.

ELAM: Yes, that's true. And some people may have gone for a safe job. Maybe they decided, you know what? I figure people always have to pay their taxes, so I'm going to be an accountant. But really what they want to be is an architect. You hear about stories like that, but they never make the change.

So, if you are in that situation, there's probably something you need to think about. And (INAUDIBLE) one researcher. He says people think if they're successful, that will make them happy. But he says they have it backwards. He says really, if you're happy, you will be a successful person. So, it's really interesting to think about that.

So, if you take a look, if you raise your happiness, you raise your success, and then you increase your productivity. They say, use your social network. Instead of when you get stressed out, don't shut everybody out, go in your office, close the door and just bang out the script that you're working on or whatever we would do, Kyra. But they're saying talk to everybody. Take breaks, involve other people so you are still connected to your world, and focus on small goals instead of say, maybe, trying to put together an entire novel. Just work on that one chapter.

And also retain the fact that you have to stay positive. Right? We have all seen it. I have done it before, like you start to think about negative thoughts and then you, like, stub your toe. You start hurting yourself. So, they say keep that positivity there.

PHILLIPS: And you're happy. You are always a positive person.

ELAM: I try to be. I mean, it's hard. But you know what? I one of the lucky ones. I love my job. I get to work with people like you, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Aww, the feeling is mutual. Thanks, Steph.

ELAM: Warm fuzzies.

PHILLIPS: We love giving those warm fuzzies. All right. Here are some other stories that got us talking this morning. Monster storms in the Midwest. Right now, we're getting unconfirmed reports of tornadoes touching down in Wisconsin, Illinois and Kentucky. And the National Weather Service sent they sent a team to Racine, Wisconsin to check out a possible touchdown there.

One of Saddam Hussein's top aides facing execution. Tariq Aziz was the face and the voice of the Hussein regime for years. Now the 74-year-old has been sentenced to death in Iraq for crimes against members of rival Shiite political parties.

A baldheaded parrot, a tarantula with blue fangs, a pink dolphin. These are just some of the more than 1,200 new species discovered in the Amazon. New species have been found at the rate of one every three days for the past ten years, according to the World Wildlife Fund.

An unborn baby safe and warm in its mother's womb. If you think it's protected from toxic chemicals, some scientists say think again. Dr. Sanjay Gupta is testifying about the potential dangers today in New Jersey. He's actually going to speak before the Senate Environment and Public Works subcommittee.

He was invited to testify in part because of his documentary on "Toxic America." Here's a closer look at the threat.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONENT (voice-over): Here in the womb, enveloped in darkness and warmth, a baby's life begins in earnest. It is a sacred space, pristine, insulated, more than nine months of safe refuge from the world outside.

(on camera): We imagine a baby sort of nice and safe and tucked away in the womb, impervious to all the assaults that occur on the body.

You say, not so fast?

DR. FREDERICA PERERA, PROFESSOR, COLUMBIA MAILMAN SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH: Not so fast. The placenta is doing its work as well as it can, but it is not a perfect barrier. And many chemicals do pass relatively easily across the placenta.

GUPTA (voice-over): Chemicals in here? Babies are born every day, with not one, not two, but hundreds of toxic substances. In a study by the Environmental Working Group, a nonprofit environmental advocacy organization, an average of 232 chemicals were measured in the cord blood of 10 babies born late last year.

Now, there's no science yet that demonstrate conclusive cause and effect between these mix of toxins our children are born with and particular health problems. But many leading pediatricians believe it is precisely what we do not know that makes this so troubling.

DR. PHILIP LANDRIGAN, MOUNT SINAI CHILDREN'S ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH CENTER: Eighty percent of the common chemicals in everyday use in this country, we know almost nothing about whether or not they can damage the brains of children, the immune system, the reproductive system, the other developing organs. It's -- it's a -- it's really a terrible mess we have gotten ourselves into. GUPTA: The list of chemicals measured in cord blood is, well, long, PBDEs, flame retardants, in computers, mattresses, furniture, BPA in food cans, bottle tops, hard plastics, PFCs, water repellents, used to make nonstick products, food packaging, carpeting, furniture, phthalates, found in a wide array of products, from children's toys to cosmetics.

But how do they make their way from out here to in here? The answer may be inside this backpack. I began investigating two years ago.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All the air that you're breathing in will be filtered through this device.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: These are adjustable straps.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All right, let's adjust that.

PERERA: It's not a perfect model for the lung, but it is a good indication of what's in the air that the women are breathing and what could potentially be transferred to the fetus.

GUPTA: Dr. Frederica Perera is 12 years into a landmark study at Columbia University's Center for Children's Environmental Health, following hundreds of pregnant women as they navigate these city streets, measuring their exposure to toxic substances, vehicle emissions, pesticides, second-hand smoke.

Each one wears a backpack with a tube that acts like a lung, sucking in the same air that they're breathing. What researchers found was stunning.

PERERA: It surprised me when we analyzed the air samples and found that 100 percent of them had detectable levels of at least one pesticide and the air pollutants that we were interested in, every single one.

GUPTA: One hundred percent had pesticides, pollutants that scientists were testing for, eventually making their way from mom into the womb.

Now, it would be one thing if these chemicals were innocuous. But studies in both animals and humans suggest they may not be.

PERERA: These chemicals can have effects on brain development.

GUPTA: All of that forces us to examine the safety of the safe haven.

MOLLY JONES GRAY, MIDWIFE: I hope this goes well, getting the message out.

GUPTA: Molly Jones Gray cares a lot about maintaining that safe haven.

GRAY: So, you have been feeling good? GUPTA: She's a midwife, and an advocate.

M. GRAY: Mothers-to-be, such as myself at a time, can make many choices to ensure a healthy pregnancy. We can take prenatal vitamins. We can eat a healthy diet. We can avoid cigarettes and alcohol. We can exercise. But, of all the choices that we are able to make, we do not have a choice in this one. We cannot protect our babies from the powerful influence of toxic chemicals on their developing bodies.

I usually say don't put anything on a baby's skin that you wouldn't eat. If you can't recognize any of the ingredients, if you can't pronounce them, probably not a good idea to put on her skin.

GUPTA: Gray knows a lot about pregnancy, a lot about babies, and a lot about miscarriages.

M. GRAY: Losing early pregnancies was -- was really hard to go through.

ZACHERY GRAY, HUSBAND OF MOLLY: To have that ripped away from you, it put you in an emotional state that you can't really describe. And you wonder why. You know? Is it something that I did?

M. GRAY: For us, it led to this huge search into, is there anything that we can do differently? Is there anything that we can do better?

GUPTA: Molly and her husband did everything they could think of. They ate organic. They avoided fish with mercury. When she finally got pregnant with her son Paxton, she had a blood test that found high levels of mercury. That's a heavy metal that can cause brain damage. Paxton, fortunately, is fine.

M. GRAY: Somehow, my son was being exposed to mercury. And that's a weight to carry, because I feel like it's our job as parents to protect them, to care for them, to nurture them, and to keep them out of harm's way.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Well, Sanjay Gupta will talk about his testimony later today on "THE SITUATION ROOM." We are following it live.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(MUSIC PLAYING)

PHILLIPS: All right. Let me look at the list here, a 13-foot anaconda snake, a pink dolphin, a frog that's bright red, just a few of the 1,200 species -- have we ever talked about or seen this before?

JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: No. These are being announced for the first time ever, and they were found in the Amazon - just in the Amazon -- over ten years. And the WWF, the World Wildlife Fund, that's how most people know it -- is showing us these new animals no one ever saw before. Let's start off with this one. This snake right here, this is the first species of anaconda that has been found since 1936. When you see it up close, you can see it's just made out of all these individual parts. And the photos they have of these are pretty amazing.

This is a brand new lizard no one ever seen before. This one was found --

PHILLIPS: Nothing like a new lizard.

(LAUGHTER)

LEVS: Check out this, that's really cool. It's a little bit Nemo-esque. It's a very cool fish. Also found in 2004 inside Peru. And they managed to get these really up close shots. Now, this thing, this is a plant. This thing grabs and can kill insects. They're calling it the Amazon Sun Dew, and because it gets so little nutrition from the ground, it has this ability they say - it lures captors and digests insects using glandular tentacles with sticky secretions. And it emits this perfume --

PHILLIPS: I want to know who these people - oh, the perfume sounds nice. Who are these people who go out looking for this, and how do they know they've come across something that's so unique and rare?

LEVS: Well, what they do is they have people who are exploring the world for new species all of the time. And whenever they find something new, they have to grab a bunch of them and bring them back and study them. And say, is this new? It is.

This one right here - they're calling it an ant from Mars. This is a new species of blind, subterranean predatory ant.

PHILLIPS: Nothing like a blind predatory ant.

LEVS: This one you're going to like. Pink dolphin. All right? (INAUDIBLE)

(LAUGHTER)

PHILLIPS: What makes them turn pink? Do we know?

LEVS: Well, they actually have found that the species of dolphin in this area, I think it's in Bolivia, it's its own species. So, they don't think it's the same species as other dolphins. And I'll show you some video in a minute. But it has actually has this pinkish hue as it swims around in there.

PHILLIPS: It's breast cancer awareness, that's what they're doing.

(LAUGHTER)

PHILLIPS: They're so sensitive. I love it. Excellent! LEVS: OK. This might scare you a little bit, but it's so cool. They found a whole bunch of new species of monkeys. And this is a marmasek (ph). Can we get way in on the face? I mean, look at this little guy. They found a whole bunch of new species of monkeys in there.

And I'm going to get through a couple more here. This is a really beautiful bird, obviously. You can take a look. A bald headed parrot.

This here, a poison dart frog. Poison dart frog.

PHILLIPS: That's kind of a cool looking frog.

LEVS: It's incredibly cool. I love this little guy.

And one more. We're going to end -- just in time for Halloween, a blue-fanged tarantula. It's got little blue fangs in there.

PHILLIPS: OK, why does it have blue fangs? I want to know.

LEVS: I don't know. All they know - in a lot of these cases, they can study them and say they have had reason to adapt in a certain way, like the plants that can grab insects to get the moisture.

PHILLIPS: I want to know what causes all the color change. Can you investigate that?

LEVS: I will give them a call right now. I'll say, why the blue fangs? And can we get a costume out of this maybe in time for Halloween?

PHILLIPS: I don't know. I want to go back maybe to the predatory blind ant.

LEVS: All right. Let's get back to the predatory blind ant.

PHILLIPS: There we go. Oh, no, actually, the frog! I think I like frog.

LEVS: You want the froggie?

PHILLIPS: Yes. I like the color of the frog.

This is Bauch's (ph) frog right here. You could write a haiku about this.

(LAUGHTER)

PHILLIPS: Oh, my gosh.

LEVS: It is pretty beautiful. This is the world we live in, you know?

PHILLIPS: It's neat stuff, I got to say.

All right, Rob Marciano, we've got some new weather news, apparently?

ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, a couple of things. Hey, Kyra. Hey, Josh.

We want to talk about what's going on across -- we have been focusing on Indiana with all the tornado warnings that have been posted with that line of thunderstorms that has been moving down to the south -- moving to the east rapidly, I mean.

We've gotten a report, of potentially a tornado touching down in Hopkinsville. That's in western parts of Kentucky. West central Kentucky, Christian and Todd Counties. This is the area of concern right in through here. These storms are moving to the east-northeast at about 70 miles an hour. So, that gives you an idea of how strong the steering currents are, the jet stream with this, the upper levels where jets fly. Well over 150 miles an hour, not only driving the system, but some of those winds can come down to the surface. And if we're not under a tornado warning, just the straight-line winds doing some damage.

And then all of these tornado warnings that are fired up in the eastern parts of Indiana now. Again, western parts of Ohio, you're under a tornado watch in effect for central Kentucky - or central Tennessee and northern Alabama now. And this is what we call a PDS watch, which means a particularly dangerous situation, not only just a tornado watch but one where many of the ingredients are coming together for a supercell production, which would mean tornadoes likely in this area as we go through the next several hours.

So, this is the next spot, including Nashville under the gun here through the early afternoon. Kyra?

PHILLIPS: All right. Rob, thanks.

John McCain's running for re-election, but he's spending a lot of time outside of his home state. We're heading to CNNpolitics.com, the desk actually, in D.C. to find out why.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Just one week to go until an election that could change the balance of power in Congress. We're watching all of the races. Deputy political director Paul Steinhauser rolled up his sleeves. He's joining us live in the CNNpolitics.com desk. What you got for us, Paul?

PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN DEPUTY POLITICAL DIRECTOR: I roll them up even extra for you, Kyra, because I know it shows I'm working hard.

PHILLIPS: Proves you're a hard worker.

(LAUGHTER)

STEINHAUSER: I'm working hard! Let's talk about the battle for the Senate. The Republicans need ten seats to capture, to win back control of the Senate. One place they thought they could do it was Connecticut where Chris Dodd, longtime Democratic senator, is not running for re- election this year. But brand new poll numbers out this morning from Quinnipiac University among likely voters in Connecticut suggest that the Democratic nominee up there, Richard Blumenthal, longtime attorney general with a 12-point advantage over Linda McMahon. We all know her, the former pro wrestling executive at World Wrestling Entertainment. This race was closer, but new polls, this one included today, suggests that it's getting to be a larger lead for the Democrats.

Another race, high profile race, Ohio governorship. This is a big one. Ted Strickland, Democratic first-term governor battling for re-election. A new poll there suggests he is down six points. Another Quinnipiac University poll. Some other polls have suggested it was a little tighter.

A lot of people keeping an eye on this race because a lot of high-profile people are there, including Barack Obama. The president was there last week; he's going back again on Sunday.

And I'm going to ask Floyd Dartmouth, our cameraman to zoom right in here. You want to know about the latest polls? Where do you go? Right here, the election center, CNN Polling Center at CNNpolitics.com.

And Kyra, tomorrow, tomorrow evening, we'll have five new polls from CNN and "Time" in some crucial, crucial states.

PHILLIPS: Well, John McCain up for re-election this year. But we have seen a lot of him outside of Arizona. What's the deal there?

STEINHAUSER: Yes. Today, John McCain will be not in Arizona, but West Virginia. He's going to be campaigning there, helping out John Raese, the Republican nominee in that really tough, really close West Virginia Senate battle.

So, what's going on here? Because McCain is up for re-election, but you know, after he got rid of the primary opponent, he seems pretty safe right now in the general election. This will be his tenth state just in the last two months, helping out fellow Republicans. He's really becoming almost a man in demand again, a high-profile surrogate for Republicans, and maybe part of this as well is how McCain has moved slightly to the right on some key issues. Kyra?

PHILLIPS: All right, Paul. Thanks so much.

We're going to have your next political update in an hour. And a reminder, for all of the latest political news, go to our Web site CNNpolitics.com.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: There's been lots of tornado warnings, OK, throughout the country. One place is here in Wisconsin. It's not confirmed that a tornado touched down, but you can see what our affiliate out of Milwaukee here is bringing us with regard to the conditions there on the ground.

Also, our Don Lemon is actually working an election piece for you will in Elkhart, Indiana. You saw him just a short time ago, and apparently the sirens started going off there, warnings for severe weather, as he was working on his story.

He's joining us on the phone now. Don, do you know if a tornado touched down in Indiana?

DON LEMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (via phone): Kyra, we're working to confirm that. But I want to tell you, it was a bit of a dramatic moment here. We left the RV park that we talked to you just a short time ago on the air, and we're going to a place where they build the RVs, which is in Elkhart. The southeast of Elkhart city proper.

And when we got here, we heard those sirens going off. I'm sure you can probably hear the wind now because it's picking up. And when we got here, they hustled all of the workers into the safe room, this break room inside the builing and told us to get in there. We all ran and got in there.

But luckily, moments later after they lifted that warning, and we all were able to come out here. I'm standing out here, right outside of the building, looking at the skies. And they're really dark. The clouds are moving in, and the winds are really picking in.

But we are working to confirm whether or not it was a tornado that actually touched down. We were actually en route as this all started to happen, just coming here to this location. It was a bit of a scary moment here for us - for a bit.

PHILLIPS: Yes, no doubt. All right, Don, keep working it for us, we sure appreciate it.

He is working, of course, the elections for us, and now severe weather. Our Rob Marciano tracking all of those tornado warnings, and we'll try to bring you up to date as we get the new information.

Quick break. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(MUSIC PLAYING)

PHILLIPS: Well, every day at this time, we honor the men and women in uniform that have given their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan for us. We call it "Home and Away," and today we're lifting up Sergeant First Class Lance Herman Voegler of Frederick, Maryland. He was killed in Helmand Province, Afghanistan on October 1st, on his 12th tour of duty.

Kristen Moyer went to high school with Lance and wrote to us. She said, "We were never friends, and I doubt he knew I existed. Others from my hometown have been killed in combat, but nothing makes it hit home quite like someone from my high school losing his life. I wish I could tell his family how much my heart breaks for them."

If you would like to honor a fallen hero, here's all you have to do. Go to CNN.com/homeandaway, type in the service member's name in the upper-right hand search field, pull up the profile. Send your thoughts and pictures, and we promise to keep the memory of your hero alive.

That does it for us. We'll be back here tomorrow. Thanks for joining us. Tony Harris now, joining you live from Studio 7. Tony.

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: You have a great day, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: You too.

HARRIS: See you tomorrow.

PHILLIPS: All right.