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Florida Gubernatorial Candidate Alex Sink Receives Text Message During Debate; Recession Hits Elkhart, Indiana; No Flights Departing O'Hare International Airport; Toxic Chemical Risk To Children; Countdown To Election Day; What's Hot

Aired October 26, 2010 - 12:00   ET

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

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: And here we go. Top of the hour at the CNN NEWSROOM, where anything can happen. Here are some of the people behind today's stories.

People in the Midwest are watching the sky as dangerous storms rip across the region. Chad Myers will have all the latest watches and warnings.

Children are dying of cholera in Haiti. What is being done to provide clean water? Actor and activist Sean Penn has been trying to get them some help.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEAN PENN, ACTOR & ACTIVIST: People have got to say, here's the numbers, here's how fast the infection rate is spreading. And we have got to deal with this like these are our children, and we have to do it right now, because otherwise this is just going to be one more of those great tragedies in human history that we all will have thrown up our hands and said, oh well.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: Boy, I said it last hour, that is a strong statement.

You are online right now. We are, too. Jacqui Jeras is following "What's Hot" -- Jacqui.

JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Hey, Tony.

Superman has a new look. And it just might surprise you. He's hip, he's sexy, and moody. People are checking it out right now on CNN.com.

HARRIS: OK, Jacqui. Thank you.

(WEATHER REPORT)

HARRIS: All right. Let's get to politics right now.

Tempers flare. With just one week until the midterm elections, a liberal activist gets stomped on before a debate in Lexington, Kentucky.

Videos show several men wearing Rand Paul T-shirts ripping a wig off the woman and pushing her to the ground. You see it here. There it is.

One of the men stomps on her shoulder, and his foot, as you can see here, lands on her head. The woman from moveon.org was trying to get a picture designed to embarrass Rand Paul in TV commercials. The Paul campaign calls the incident incredibly unfortunate.

The Democratic candidate for governor of Florida gets caught breaking the rules during a televised debate. During a break in the debate co-sponsored by CNN, a makeup artist shows Democrat Alex Sink a text message right there. Both candidates had agreed that no notes would be allowed. Republican candidate Rick Scott cried foul.

CNN's John King says the Sink campaign later fired the aide who sent the message.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Alex Sink did not want the headline and all the buzz after this debate to be she cheated on the final exam. So, pretty quickly, about an hour after the debate, her campaign released this statement: "One of my campaign advisers admitted he tried to communicate with me during one of the breaks. While he told me it was out of anger with Rick Scott's repeated distortion of the facts, it was a foolish thing to do, it violated a debate agreement, and I immediately removed him from the campaign."

It was that aide, we are told, who sent a text message to the makeup artist. The makeup artist and only the makeup artists were authorized to be on the stage. There were no communications allowed under the agreement negotiated by the two campaigns. And as you saw in that video you played, the makeup artist handed Alex Sink a cell phone, and she looked down and read that message.

This was a very contentious debate. These candidates don't like each other, they don't trust each other. They accused each other of lacking the character to be the next Florida governor. And when Alex Sink's singular central campaign message is that Rick Scott is a cheat, he was a fraud in his business, and you can't trust him to be governor, this was an embarrassing moment, so they tried to deal with it as quickly as possible.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: With the election just seven days away, I've got to tell you, the CNN Election Express is on the road again, listening to your concerns. We love this. CNN's Don Lemon is on the road. He's got a road trip through the Midwest right now, and he's joining us from Elkhart, Indiana.

Don, good to see you. First of all, where you are and what are folks there saying to you? DON LEMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, maybe you should venture a guess. We're in a huge, huge plant, an assembly plant for RVs. Bruce, right here, is putting on the engine cover. This is basically the chassis of those big RVs and then buses like you see like the CNN Election Express.

This is Thor Motor Coach, Tony. It's right in the middle of Elkhart. It's actually in Elkhart proper.

Show them how big this is, Chris (ph).

Look at this -- 200,000 square foot building here. And this is basically the assembly line.

And you know when we talk about the economy, this place, Elkhart, Indiana, was really hit by the economy. It had the highest unemployment rate at one point.

This guy right here is the president and CEO of Thor Motor Coach.

BILL FENECH, PRESIDENT & CEO, THOR MOTOR COACH: Hi Don.

LEMON: Good to see you.

Bill Fenech here.

So, Bill, listen, as any business, you guys have been around since the '80s. A couple of companies merged together. Let's walk through here and show them what they're doing. A couple of companies merged together.

You've had to lay off people like many businesses, and you said that breaks your heart.

FENECH: Oh, yes. It was awful. I mean, it was tough to do.

You know, friends were being laid off. You know, the first cut was kind of easy. It was kind of the fat. After that, it was the muscle, and we had to cut into muscle it got so bad. So, yes, it was terribly hard.

LEMON: Yes. And that's what people are thinking about as they go into -- you and I have been talking about this -- as they go into the voting booths on Tuesday. They're talking about the economy, whether they have a job or not. And this is sort of reflective of what is happening here.

Are people talking thereabout? Do you think that's what's on people's minds?

FENECH: Oh, I think the economy is on everybody's mind. And I think we're doing better than we were obviously two years ago. We're employing more and our numbers are up, but there are a lot of people still unemployed. Elkhart County still has the highest level of unemployment in the state, and there's still more to go, but I think we're on the right track. LEMON: Yes.

As we look here at the assembly line, what they do, Tony, they come here -- show them those tracks, Chris (ph). That's part of the assembly line. It's not automated. These things are too big to automate here, so they take those and they push them down physically and they get them out the door.

It's amazing here. They get a number of these things out the door every day.

Start to finish about what, seven days?

FENECH: Yes, it's about seven days through the process. We're building five units a day right now, and there's plants -- we have two other plants, each running about five units a day. So right now we're running about 15 (ph) units a day.

LEMON: So listen, the president came here to Elkhart, Indiana, to tout the stimulus plan. So, for you, what do you think? Has the stimulus helped you at all?

FENECH: It's hard to say whether it specifically helped, but our business is better than it was two years ago, at the bottom of the recession. So something was done that helped us, so I'm going to say there was some help. It's hard to say specifically. LEMON: Yes.

And with that all in mind, you're going to be heading into the voting booth on Tuesday thinking about that and who you should vote for, like everyone else, Tony. And that's why we're here taking this tour of the Midwest.

Hey, Tony, look --

HARRIS: Yes, sir?

LEMON: Look, I mean, this is a working plant. Look at this. This is amazing.

HARRIS: Love it. Love it.

LEMON: Hey, let's walk out the door, Chris (ph), and show them the weather out there.

Hey, can we talk to you about some weather?

HARRIS: Yes, absolutely. Please.

LEMON: Yes. Well, listen, as soon as we got here -- because I don't know if you saw earlier, we were out with Kyra, on with Kyra, and we were at an RV place. And then we moved over to this particular plant here. And man, the weather started coming through. The tornado sirens went off in the town.

And I don't know if you can see the video there. Every single worker in this plant -- how many do you think you have here today?

FENECH: We have about a couple hundred over here, 700 for all Thor Motor Coach.

LEMON: Everyone had to get into the safe place here, including us. A guy came in, the shift manager, and said, "Get into the safe place."

So, for a couple of minutes we had to get in. It was a bit of a scary moment.

And then after that, we're all back here. And here we are, we're all safe and sound, and there you go.

People heading into the voting booths on Tuesday, even though the weather's bad. Let's hope it's better Tuesday for Election Day -- Tony.

HARRIS: That's terrific. And Don, we can see the pants being blown, we can see your shirt being blown. So you're still getting the winds associated with this massive system that is moving through the Midwest and the South.

What's your next stop?

LEMON: My next stop, we're going to Michigan after this.

HARRIS: OK.

LEMON: And on -- Michigan, Ohio, Illinois, all in the Midwest. And as you can see, there are the clouds. There are the trees. A little bit darker earlier, more ominous. Better now, though, as you said.

HARRIS: Terrific stuff, Don. Good walk-and-talk. We love that. Appreciate it. Thank you, sir.

Still to come in the CNN NEWSROOM, the ex-girlfriend of Justice Clarence Thomas speaking out about their relationship and a whole lot more.

First, though, our "Random Moment" in 90 seconds. What does it take to win an ugly dance contest?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: OK. Time now for our "Random Moment of the Day."

Fred Astaire they are not. Four high school students in Berlin took first prize in the Ugly Dance World Cup near Hamburg this weekend. Take a look.

That's pretty ugly. That's down right atrocious. Yes.

Got to tell you, haven't seen dancing that bad since, let's see, Ali Velshi got on the floor at the CNN Christmas party last year. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: We're trying to get you the latest information. Maybe we can throw up some tower cams as well, too. Maybe we have something in the Chicago area just to give you a sense of what's happening here with this storm that you can see behind me here.

I mean, this is just a magilla of a storm. Haven't used that word in a long time. Just a massive storm, right, in the Midwest and stretching down into the Southeast as well.

We've got Karen Pride on the phone with us. She's the spokesperson for Chicago Aviation.

And Karen, we just want a general idea what the air space around Chicago is like. How many flights are able to get in and get out of your airports there?

KAREN PRIDE, SPOKESPERSON, CHICAGO AVIATION: Well, O'Hare International airlines have cancelled over 300 flights for the day, and they've got delays averaging about 30 minutes for flights in and out of the airport. The 300 flights, if you're familiar with our weather in the winter, 300 is not that many, actually. And the airlines have done that -- a lot of those flights cancelled preemptively to avoid people coming to the airport only to find that the flights were cancelled.

At Midway International, we've just got a handful of cancellations, and some airlines are reporting delays of 30 minutes or more for flights in and out of the airport.

HARRIS: So, at the height of it, maybe you can give us a sense of just how bad it was. You know, your own experience of what the weather conditions were like earlier this morning.

We're taking a look now at a tower cam. I don't know if that's Lake Shore or not, but it looks pretty clear right now. But take us back a few hours. And at the height of this, as the storm was passing through, how bad was it?

PRIDE: Well, it was pretty bad. I was actually at Midway International, seeing off a group of 95 World War II veterans who are going to Washington, D.C., for an honor flight to see the memorial there, and we were unsure as to whether or not their flight was going to even take off.

And it started raining so heavily, that it obscured -- you couldn't even see out the window. You couldn't see anything out of the windows.

Ten minutes later it was clear. I'm out at O'Hare now, at my office, and there's blue skies peeking through the clouds.

It is windy. I think that right now the winds are about 30 to 40 miles per hour. But, you know, it was bad for a little bit about an hour or so in the morning, but -- HARRIS: Yes.

PRIDE: -- everything's back to normal. Well, I shouldn't say to normal operations, but they're catching up. And, you know, people should just go to their Web site, check on the flights, and find out if the they're going to be able to travel today.

HARRIS: Yes. That's good advice. Karen, appreciate it. Thank you.

PRIDE: You're welcome.

HARRIS: Let's see -- that's the line of storms that you can see right here now, and we've got warnings and watches all over the place. We'll check back in with Chad Myers in just a couple of minutes here.

Got to tell you, no one can forget the devastation in Haiti after the January 12th earthquake. Almost a quarter million people died under the rubble. More than 1.6 million left homeless. And for weeks, all eyes were on Haiti.

But then here we are, 10 months later. And as our attention fades, a quiet killer is still ravaging the people of Haiti.

The earthquake wiped out much of Haiti's infrastructure, including the clean water supply. Now at least 259 people have died in a cholera outbreak. The U.N. fears tens of thousands could become infected.

Actor and activist Sean Penn told our Anderson Cooper the key to gaining control of the fast-moving outbreak in Haiti is as simple as pure water.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEAN PENN, ACTOR & ACTIVIST: One of the things that people have to understand -- they say, well, don't use the water, the water is contaminated. The only way that people will pay attention to that is if clean water is provided. So, whether that's through filtration systems or trucked-in water, this is going to be the essential element -- water, water, water.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: CNN's Paula Newton reports part of the challenge is convincing Haitians the water that they have used for generations is now making them sick.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAULA NEWTON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: And I want to you take a look now at this little boy who's in the water. He's been swimming in the water for some time since we've been here.

He has his hands in his mouth. He's clearly taking water in. And yet, this is a river that is most likely contaminated with cholera.

(voice-over): Here, this little boy washes out his food bowl in river water and is served his meal with water still clinging to his food. Every bite could now potentially make him very sick.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: So, of course Haiti still needs your help. Just go to CNN.com/impact to find out how you can do your part.

Just yet another reason for you to quit smoking. It increases the risks of Alzheimer's Disease, according to a new study.

Let's bring in our senior medical correspondent, Elizabeth Cohen. She's joining us now from Miami.

Elizabeth, this study found that heavy smokers were most at risk. So how much were they smoking?

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SR. MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Oh, you know what? These folks were smoke quite a bit who had this huge increase in the risk of Alzheimer's. But I'll tell you, Tony, you don't really have to smoke all that much to have a somewhat increased risk. Let's take a look at the numbers and you'll see exactly what I mean.

In this study of tens of thousands of people, what they found is that the folks who smoked two packs of cigarettes a day had a 150 percent increased risk of getting Alzheimer's. But even if you just smoked half a pack a day, you still had an increased risk, although not quite that much.

And, you know, I think this is interesting, because I think people get it, that smoking increases your risk of lung cancer, or having a heart attack or something like that. But now to put it together with a brain disease, hopefully that will encourage even more people to quit.

HARRIS: Yes. But why would smoking increase your chances of getting Alzheimer's Disease? Do we know?

COHEN: You know, they're not exactly sure, but they think what it might have to do with, what it might be, is that smoking damages the arteries in the brain, and that might make you more likely to get Alzheimer's Disease. It also increases your blood pressure, and that also might make you more likely to get Alzheimer's. There may be several reasons, actually.

HARRIS: Yes. And in addition to not smoking, what else can you do to avoid Alzheimer's Disease?

COHEN: All right. There's not much can you do. So, quitting smoking is the first thing you should think of. And here are some other things that you ought to be doing.

You should eat a diet that is low in fat and cholesterol. That's been shown to decrease your risk. Also, keep socially active, keep mentally active. Give your brain a workout, basically.

HARRIS: There you go.

COHEN: And also give your body a workout, because you want that blood flowing to your brain, and the more physical exercise you do, you're keeping those arteries open.

HARRIS: Love it, Elizabeth. Appreciate it. Thank you.

COHEN: Thanks.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: The battle for control of Congress is in the final rounds. The midterm elections are just seven days away. Wow. Republicans hope to take the reins of power away from the Democrats.

Deputy Political Director Paul Steinhauser joining us now for a look at how things are actually shaping up.

Paul, good to see you.

Let's do this -- let's start with the House.

PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN DEPUTY POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Let's start with the House, Tony. And let's take look at this. How many seats do the Republicans need to win back to control the chamber? A net gain of 39 seats. That's what the Republicans need in the House of Representatives.

It sounds like a lot. But you know what? The top nonpartisan political handicappers say about 100 races are in play right now, and the vast majority of those are Democratic-held seats.

Check this out. Our latest CNN Poll of Polls of the generic ballot, that's that standard question, "Would you vote for the generic Democrat or Republican in your district?" And look, an eight-point advantage, 50-42 percent for the Republicans. You know, that's pretty close to what the Democrats had, their advantage in '06, when they won back Congress, and what the Republicans had in '94, when they stormed back and won Congress.

Tony, is there going to be a wave in the House? Here's one way to look.

There's a lot of seats we're keep an eye on. Here's one. John Dingell, congressman from Michigan, he's been in the chamber for many, many decades.

Look at this. He was with Bill Clinton on Sunday, just two days ago. You know what? John Dingell is in trouble. If he loses, boy, that could be a wave election. So keep an eye on that race -- Tony.

HARRIS: Wow. That is very good. Paul, what about the Senate?

STEINHAUSER: In the Senate, you know what? The Republicans only need 10 seats. Right?

It sounds a lot less than the House, but that's a taller order right now. Ten seats is what the Republicans need to win back a net gain of 10, to win back the chamber.

It's tougher. And even Republicans admit it. And the top political handicappers say, you know what? The Republicans will probably win anywhere from six to eight. Ten is not out of the realm of possibility, but it is more difficult.

If they do it, it will probably come down to the West, Tony. And there are three races in particular.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid in Nevada fighting for his political life against Sharron Angle, the Republican nominee and Tea Party-backed candidate. We'll keep an eye on that.

Also, Barbara Boxer, the senator from California, a Democrat fighting for her political life against Carly Fiorina. And Washington State, Patty Murray, another three-term senator there fighting for her political life against Dino Rossi. All three of those, the polls close late. It could come down to one of those three states -- Tony.

HARRIS: Wow. OK.

Will we have a final answer Tuesday night?

STEINHAUSER: I'd like to say yes, but we may not. Remember, just four years, when the Democrats won back control of the Senate, we didn't find out until two days later, when Virginia -- when we finally got the results in Virginia and Senator Allen lost to Senator Webb. So this thing could go into overtime. Election Day may not end on Election Day -- Tony.

HARRIS: Wow. Good stuff, Paul. Appreciate it. Thank you, sir.

How about this story? Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas back in the spotlight. This time it's because of what his former girlfriend is saying. Last week, Thomas' wife made news when she demanded an apology from his sexual harassment accuser, Anita Hill.

Now, last night on CNN's "LARRY KING LIVE," Thomas' ex-girlfriend broke her silence about their relationship. She says he had an affinity for racy videos.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

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

LILLIAN MCEWEN, FMR. GIRLFRIEND OF JUSTICE CLARENCE THOMAS: 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. But to me it was boring, and I was uninterested in it, so I didn't --

KING: Why did you stay with him then?

MCEWEN: I didn't pay much attention to him when he talked about the porn.

KING: He just talked? Did he bring home films?

MCEWEN: I wouldn't watch them.

KING: Did he watch them?

MCEWEN: Yes.

KING: And he'd want to talk to you about them and you were -- in other words, for want of a better word, it was kind of kinky, right?

MCEWEN: It was not unusual for a man his age to concentrate on pornography, especially if he had not been exposed to it when he was very young. So I really thought nothing of it.

KING: Did he fantasize?

MCEWEN: Yes.

KING: Did you enable him there? Did you participate in the fantasies?

MCEWEN: Yes.

KING: Because you cared for him?

MCEWEN: Yes, because we had a sexual relationship. That's part of it.

KING: And that part you liked?

MCEWEN: Yes. It was just the porn that was something I was indifferent to. I just didn't care. I didn't disapprove of it. I just didn't care.

KING: Did you think it weird?

MCEWEN: No, I didn't.

KING: A guy wants to be a Supreme Court judge is into this. You didn't think it was weird?

MCEWEN: No. I assumed, frankly, that many Supreme Court justices watch porn and enjoy porn. I mean, it's very popular on the Internet. That's why most people use their computers, is to watch porn. Especially men.

(END VIDEO CLIP) HARRIS: Oh, my. OK.

As we go to break, come up with your answer to this question: Who do you think people are Googling the most right now? Is it Lady Gaga; B., California gubernatorial candidate Jerry Brown; C., Paul the Psychic Octopus; or D., Josh Levs? Who do you think a member of this particular show team is going to Google in this next break?

Roll the video.

(MUSIC)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: So, who did you pick as the most Googled today? Your choices again, Lady Gaga, California gubernatorial candidate Jerry Brown, Paul the psychic octopus, and of course, Josh Levs. Drum roll, please.

The answer -- Jerry Brown. Why? Makes sense, right? One week until election day. Folks want to know if they should give California's former governor another shot at the seat.

Got to tell you, Josh, is on one of the stories of the day for us. More than 1,200 new species discovered in the Amazon?

JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Uh-huh.

HARRIS: Tell us all about it, josh.

LEVS: Amazing, Tony. I'll take you through some of these guys.

More than 1,200. It works out to a new species being found about every three days. And they're saying that these were found over the last ten years. Let me take you through just some of them. Close it in a little bit.

Take a look at this. This thing is an anaconda, first new species of anaconda found since 1936. Look at this one. A little lizard here. All these found in different parts of the Amazon. This found if Peru a few years ago. Look at this fish. Kind of Nemo- esque, also found in Peru a few years ago.

Now, this thing is so cool. This is a plant. This one is called the Amazon Sun Dew. And you know what it does? It secretes this, like, perfume and attracts all these insects and they gobble them up. Because they can't get any moisture out of the ground. These things are amazing.

This is all from World Wildlife on WWF.

Look at this thing. Just if time for Halloween. They're calling this ant from Mars. A new species of blind subterranean predatory ants. We never knew about these.

These are really cool, too. Pink dolphins. Dolphins, but they have this a pinkish hue out of Bolivia.

HARRIS: Look at that!

LEVS: They're saying that they have their own species, different species from other dolphins we know. I have some video of that; I'll show in a minute.

They found a whole bunch of new species of monkeys out there. This one is called the -- fancy name. But it's Rio Acari Marmaset. And they're learning about their lives.

And what they're saying is that this is an area that is filled with such precious life, and dealing with some difficulties right now. Parts of the Amazon lost to development.

This is something I told you about earlier. Poison dart frog. A completely different color, unlike anything you've ever seen.

One more on the screen here. I love this, just in time for Halloween. The blue fanged tarantula. All of these just popping up now. Let's go a little bit to this video. They've also put out some video. You've got what they're talking about, these giant river otters. These -- look at this.

I mean, these are beautiful animals that we didn't know existed before. And it is amazing to me that with all of the exploring going on right now, we can still discover - there right there. The pink river dolphins. Unlike anything you've seen before.

And they also put out video of the Amazon and are calling this study a Decade of Discovery. So, they found 637 new species of plants. 257 fish --

HARRIS: Ooh, stop taking the trees down. Stop taking the trees down!

LEVS: And this is what they're saying.

HARRIS: Yikes.

LEVS: What they're saying, and these are their words from the report. They say although most of the Amazon region remains fairly undisturbed, the threats to it are rapidly increasing. They say about 17 percent of the Amazon rainforest has been lost to destruction.

So, they're saying this is a reminder of how important it is to hold on to this so that all of these lives can flourish.

HARRIS: That's terrific stuff. Hey, can we rack up that video again as we go to break?

LEVS: You like the dolphins one?

HARRIS: Yes! Yes. It's coming in a second. Let's see it again. That's amazing stuff.

All right. Let's go break. Josh, appreciate it.

LEVS: You got it, Tony.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Time now for the Help Desk where we get answers to your financial questions. Joining me this hour, Amanda Gengler is with "Money" magazine and Gary Schatsky is a financial planner and president of Objective Advice.

So, we're going to get some advice from you guys right now, starting with a question from Wendy in Florida. She writes, "Is it better to take money out of your retirement account to pay off your mortgage, and live mortgage-free in retirement? I owe about $220,000 and I'm not yet halfway in a 20-year mortgage at 5.8 percent." Amanda, what do you think?

AMANDA GENGLER, "MONEY" MAGAZINE: Generally speaking, no. It's common for retirees or someone heading into retirement to want to do that. But the problem, you'll have to pay taxes on that money. So, even be if you pull out, say, $100,000, you might only see about $70,000 of it, and it could bump you up into a higher tax bracket.

ELAM: So, it will be a little more painful there for you.

All right. Our next question is from Anonymous in Illinois. This anonymous person writes, "Federal law enforcement officers have a mandatory retirement at 57. Next year, I will be retiring next year with $220,000 in a retirement savings plan. Should I pay off my HELOC of $150,000 or continue making monthly payments?" Gary? What do you think

GARY SCHATSKY, PRESIDENT, OBJECTIVEADVICE.COM: You probably want to continue making monthly payments and pay it down, but very similar issue. You don't want to be drawing it out of your retirement system, paying tax on it.

Right now, the HELOC is probably costing 3 percent, 3.5 percent home equity line of credit. It's incredibly cheap financing. And they key is, you have to consider taxes when you make these distributions. So, you might use other assets to pay down the HELOC, if you so desire. But taking out that sum of money is almost always not the right move.

ELAM: So, basically, $220,000 was a magic number and also taxes. That's what we've learned about both of these.

All right. The Help Desk is all about getting you answers. Send an e-mail to CNN Help Desk at CNN.com or log on to CNN.com/helpdesk to see more of our financial solutions. You can also pick up the latest issue of "Money" magazine. It's on newsstands right now.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Let's get to you Christine Romans here.

You know, billionaire investor Warren Buffett may have just made his boldest investment, hiring 39-year-old Todd Combs. Have you heard this story? Combs is a little-known hedge fund manager who could end up managing a big chunk of Berkshire Hathaway's portfolio.

Christine Romans joining us from New York now. And we're hearing, Christine, Combs could be Buffett's successor. Are you hearing that, and wrap do we know about this guy?

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: He could be, he could be, he could be, but he has other people he's hand-selected as well. His own succession plan, Warren Buffett, is that maybe he's irreplaceable, and it could take two or three people to run his empire.

But this is getting a lot of attention in investing circles this morning. Todd Combs, a little-known hedge fund manager from Greenwich, Connecticut with some background in financial services. Background in insurance. Managed Castlepoint Capital hedge fund, overseeing there about $4 million. He has an undergradute degree from Florida State University and an MBA from Columbia University in 2002, Columbia tells us. That is, of course, Buffett's alma mater.

Buffett turned 80 this year. He's now 80 years old. And it's not a surprise, I think, he would look for someone so young, if I would say, because he would like to see someone, some people, whoever takes over for him, to be able to run it for a very long time.

It's also a sprawling empire with some complicated, different businesses. So, it wouldn't be surprising if there were more than just one person running it eventually.

But for now, Warren Buffett in a release, he says he's not going anywhere. He's still running the show, but he's handing over a big chunk of the management to this Todd Combs. And there are other people are running big parts -- divisions of his business as well. But everyone watches to see who could poll follow up Warren Buffett. Warren Buffett still looks pretty healthy.

HARRIS: He does! I'll tell you something. And I'm not just name dropping here, but I ran into him a couple weeks ago at the big Nebraska/Texas game, ran into him in Omaha. Literally bumped into him, and he was tripping. We took pictures, everything else, and there's a picture on my Facebook page of me taking his wallet.

So, make of that what you will.

ROMANS: Yes, exactly! And I'm telling you, I bet he didn't have very many dollars in that wallet. Because he is notoriously a frugal guy.

HARRIS: No.

ROMANS: I bet he doesn't walk around carrying hundreds. And, you know, my husband grew up in Omaha. And, you know, you drive right by Warren Buffett's house.

HARRIS: Oh, yes.

ROMANS: It's just a regular house. He's one of those people that -- there are billionaires, Tony, and I've interviewed people before who are very, very rich, covering business news, and they all say, live at least 30 percent -- show at least 30 percent less than you make.

HARRIS: That's true (ph).

ROMANS: Warren Buffett shows an awful lot less than that.

HARRIS: Yes, I've got the pictures up on the FaceBook page.

Good to see you, Christine. Thank you.

ROMANS: I'll take a look.

HARRIS: Yes. Yes.

And still to come in the NEWSROOM, find out why the Republican Party won't be partying come election night. Our live political update is next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Our chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, testified this morning before the Senate subcommittee on toxic chemicals and children's environment health. It was a field hearing held in Newark at the University of Medicine and Ministry of New Jersey. And Sanjay joining us live now.

Sanjay, great to see you.

First of all, a couple quick ones here. Why were you asked to testify and what did you offer the subcommittee in the way of testimony?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, you know, it's interesting. This was a field hearing on this idea of the interplay between environmental toxins and children's health. And as, Tony, you know, we spent about a year investigating this for CNN for a pair of documentaries that we're doing call "Toxic America." And, you know, Senator Lautenberg, who is the chairman of this committee, had reached out to us after the documentaries aired and said, you know, he felt that it had made an impact and he wanted me to come testify when discussing this idea that the reforming of the laws that govern how safe the chemicals are in our environment is coming up. It's something he's introducing. He wanted me to come talk about some of the findings of our investigation essentially. That was it. I did not come here as a toxicologist. I did not come here as a chemist, but on more as a doctor/reporter and also a father given that so many of these things about children's health specifically, Tony.

HARRIS: Hey, Sanjay, what did you learn about toxicity in America in the course of your reporting that you shared with the senator?

GUPTA: You know, one of the biggest things, and I think an eye- opening thing, is how much we don't know, Tony. I mean you have a certain expectation.

HARRIS: Right, right.

GUPTA: Every day, Tony, you get up, you breathe in the air, you drink the water, whatever it may be, you have a certain expectation those things are safe. And, for the most part, you are right, they are safe. But out of the 80,000 chemicals that are in commerce today, that we're surrounded with, 80,000, only about 200 of them have ever been tested and only five have been ever restricted. So the reality is that we're really dealing with a lot of unknowns here. And what I've learned through the investigation is that what we don't know can come back and be problematic later.

DDT is a good example. They used to spray that stuff everywhere in homes. They used to advertise saying it's absolutely harmless to humans and to children and to pets, I should say. Now it's banned in this country.

Lead. You used to have it in just about every product you could imagine. Now there's no acceptable level of safe lead.

HARRIS: Right.

GUPTA: So what we don't know at a certain time can be problematic down the road.

HARRIS: Hey, before I let you go and while I have you, what are your thoughts on the cholera outbreak in Haiti? And I think I saw a note suggesting that you might be -- I don't want to give anything away if I'm wrong here -- that you might be heading down to Haiti?

GUPTA: That's right. I'm going to be going there shortly. It's a disaster on so many levels. The biggest one, Tony, regarding this cholera outbreak is that this one was easy. This one could have been prevented. People have been talking about this for 10 months now. Giving clean -- I mean people are on their hands and knees, Tony, for a clean glass of water. That's the world which we live in, in certain parts of the world. It's crazy, Tony, that people knew that if we didn't get clean water into some of these areas, you were going to have disease outbreaks.

People die -- I mean 138 people died with 48 hours, Tony, and they died miserable deaths from cholera. And it could have been prevented, it could have been treated easily with clean water, rehydration salts. This is, you know, as much progress as we make in medical technology, we cannot let these things slip. I mean, clean water could have made such a huge difference there.

HARRIS: Hey, and when you get down there, and I know you won't, but don't pull any punches. We've had some conversations about this. If this is an issue for the government, then let's call them out and let's get President Preval and let's hold feet to the fire here. And if it's about NGOs not doing what they should be doing, you've been terrific at calling it as you see it and I look forward to your reporting when you get down to Haiti.

Sanjay, great to see you.

GUPTA: Time means a lot, Tony. Thanks a lot. It means a lot. Thanks for that.

HARRIS: Yes, yes, I can't wait for the reporting.

All right, let's turn to politics now. We are just one week until the midterm election. Election Day. And we are hearing party rules from the GOP. What does that mean? CNN senior congressional correspondent Dana Bash, part of "The Best Political Team On Television," joining us live from New York.

Dana, what are you following? What's crossing now?

DANA BASH, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Tony, you know what the GOP stands for, of course.

HARRIS: Yes, the Grand Old Party.

BASH: Stands for the Grand Old Party, right. Well, guess what? House Republicans are shunning any party-like atmosphere on election night. We reported this first this morning, that House GOP leader John Boehner and other leaders will hold an event election night at a hotel in downtown Washington. The invitation that we obtained asked Republican guests to come in appreciation for making calls and selling the fight. That's what it says.

But GOP sources say they will do their best to keep the atmosphere very low key. I'm told that even if Republican take the majority in the House, the man who would be speaker, John Boehner, has told colleagues and staffers that he want to set a tone that sends a message that Republicans understand that people are angry at Washington, including the Republican establishment.

Next up on the ticker, Tony, it always seems to be the most basic questions that trip up candidates. Well, that's exactly what happened last night in the Florida governor's debate moderated by CNN's own John King. The question was is, what is Florida's minimum wage? The Republican candidate answered it first. Rick Scott said it was $7.55. The Democratic candidate, Alex Sink, said that she agreed. Well, guess what? Florida's minimum wage is $7.25. So neither candidate connected to the working person with that answer.

It was very fiery debate on a number of issues. The candidates really clashed. Everything from taxes, to allegations of fraud. Tony, if you watched that, these are two people who really don't like each other and did not try to hide it at all.

Now, last item on the ticker that I want to bring to you, a brand new ad in West Virginia's Senate race. Democrat Joe Manchin is closing out his campaign -- it's just one week away from Election Day, of course -- by going crazy on his GOP opponent, John Raese. Listen to part of the ad.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN RAESE (R), WEST VIRGINIA SENATORIAL CANDIDATE: We don't need the Department of Education. We need 1,000 laser systems put in the sky. And we need it right now.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: John Raese's ideas are crazy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: Now, Tony, I was down covering that race a couple of weeks ago. John Raese makes no apology for his positions. He says he's felt this way for some time. Now he feels that voter are catching up with him on the feeling that there's too much government in people's lives. John McCain, in fact, is going to be down there campaigning with him to try to beat the sitting Democratic governor in the Senate race to fill the legendary Robert Byrd's seat.

Tony.

HARRIS: That's right. That's right.

All right, Dana, appreciate it. Thank you.

We're back in a moment. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Boy, we have been blasting through the last two hours. Just enough time to get to Jacqui Jeras, one more hit of "What's Hot."

Where -- oh, Taylor Swift.

JACQUI JERAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Oh, yes.

HARRIS: Yes.

JERAS: New album out this week.

HARRIS: Are we still calling them albums? Aren't they CDs? But it's OK to call them albums? OK.

JERAS: I don't know. You know, it's really about the songs, not the (INAUDIBLE) any more, right?

HARRIS: Yes. Yes, I think you're right. I think you're right.

JERAS: Yes. Well, apparently this new album (INAUDIBLE) is being view as a tell-all about her relationships. Word on the street is that the song "Dear John" about John Mayer.

HARRIS: John Mayer. Is that right?

JERAS: Yes. Who has he not wronged, by the way?

HARRIS: (INAUDIBLE).

JERAS: Did I mention that she's 20?

HARRIS: Yes. Yes. Apparently he was 32 and she was 19 at the time of this -- whatever.

JERAS: Yes.

HARRIS: Oh, this is T.I.? He's making news?

JERAS: Yes, other music news. You know, there were charges for drug possession.

HARRIS: That's right.

JERAS: Had a little Ecstasy on him apparently about a month ago. Prosecutors have dropped the charges, but he's going to jail anyway for 11 months because he violated --

HARRIS: For something else?

JERAS: Yes, he violated probation on weapons conviction.

HARRIS: All right. Bad, bad, bad. OK.

JERAS: And last but not least, do you love the Raisinettes?

HARRIS: I do.

JERAS: Yes?

HARRIS: Yes.

JERAS: You a fan?

HARRIS: I'm a big fan. Absolutely.

JERAS: OK. They're having a recall, unfortunately right before Halloween.

HARRIS: OK.

JERAS: Yes. They're concerned that there's some peanuts in there. So people who have allergies need to be concerned about that.

HARRIS: Not for the kids as they're going and trick-or-treating.

All right, Jacqui, good stuff. Terrific.

We're back in a moment. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM. Got to go.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Boy, I am flat out of time. Let's get you to New York. CNN NEWSROOM continues right now with Ali Velshi.

ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: Tony, you have a good afternoon.

HARRIS: You too, sir.