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Monster Storms Across Midwest; Is Barack Obama a One-Term President?; Ford Racks Up $1.7 Billion; Iraqi Courts Sentence Tariq Aziz to Death; The Most Frustrating Cube Ever

Aired October 26, 2010 - 13:00   ET

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

ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: Lots to get to today. I'm Ali Velshi.

For the next two hours today and every weekday I'm going to guide you through the maze of information coming your way. Together, we're going to learn what's gone on at home and around the world. You'll get access to the folks who can best explain what it means today and the impact beyond today. We'll showcase the best ideas in innovation, philanthropy and public education.

My mission is to help you figure out how what's going on in your world fits into your life.

Let's get started.

Here's what's on the rundown.

A giant storm system is spinning through the Midwest right now, packing everything from blizzards to tornados and near hurricane-force winds. We're watching its every move.

Ford Motor Company is on a roll, making big profits and gaining a bigger share of the U.S. car market. CEO Alan Mulally is here to talk about the remarkable comeback and what we can learn from it.

And we will also meet the man behind the cube. There it is. Look at it on the right. Rubik's cube, 30 years ever frustration and fascination with a pop culture, an engineering icon, Mr. Rubik, will join me today.

Let's get right to the severe weather.

A massive storm system is slamming the Midwest right now. Chicago's O'Hare Airport has cancelled flights. St. Louis, there are reports of two buildings knocked down. Multiple tornadoes reported, tens of thousands of people have lost power in Illinois and Wisconsin.

Chad Myers at the severe weather center in Atlanta.

What's the latest, Chad? What have you got?

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: We have storms moving through Cincinnati, into Detroit, and all the way down into Mississippi. And it's going to be a blizzard night in North Dakota. This is a giant storm. This is probably the second lowest pressure ever recorded in the U.S., at least since we've been recording, obviously. Maybe 1,000 years ago, there could have been a bigger storm. We wouldn't know. But this is bigger than the storm that capsized the Edmund Fitzgerald by a significant amount, and the pressure that was just recorded in northern Minnesota was equal to a minimal category 3 hurricane pressure had this storm been over the water.

So, yes, big time damage possible. Not storm surge and things associated with a hurricane, but wind knocking down trees, also storms that could be tornadoes.

Let me show you what Cincinnati looks like right now.

WLWT -- the storm has been moving through Cincinnati all afternoon long, especially northern Kentucky seeing the storms as well, and some of these are having tornado warnings across the Midwest, all the way from about Leelanau County and north of Brighton, Michigan, all the way south through and east of the Ohio River into northern Ohio. I can't see much there from that pick color it.

But let's go up to WXYZ, my old affiliate there. As the storm system has been spinning, there was tornado warning earlier, very close to Dundee, and now this is still moving up your way.

I'm not saying that it's going to be large tornadoes. Ali, this is not an F-3, F-4, F-5 tornado day. This is a day that the storms race so quickly, 70 miles per hour, that even if the storm makes a 20 mile- per-hour wind, you could get wind gusts to 67 or 80 miles per hour just with one single thunderstorm. And that could be equal to a small tornado.

So, some of these tornado warnings are issued for squall line or lines of weather that could produce tornado-like damage. This is a big day. And it's going to continue all the way down south, down towards Nashville.

We have tornado warnings now all the way here on our latest map. Let me show you this because rarely do I ever get to show you 1,000 miles of weather. All the way from Michigan --

VELSHI: Wow.

MYERS: -- and the latest tornado watch is all the way down into central Mississippi, and then back out here, what I was telling you, there's the snow. This is the cold, the low pressure here, the cold on this side, the warm and cold clashing on this side -- a big time storm.

This would make bigger storms, bigger tornadoes I think if it had been in the springtime. Luckily, it's a fall storm and not a spring storm -- Ali.

VELSHI: A lot of people in Chicago reporting power outages, on the east side of Lake Michigan, reports of big waves coming in. A lot of stuff, Chad. You'll stay on top of that. That is quite a weather system.

MYERS: I certainly will.

VELSHI: Let's actually go to --

MYERS: There you go.

VELSHI: Let's pop into Wisconsin for a minute and see what the situation is there with our affiliate WISN. Mike Anderson is there.

There are some reports of some pretty bad damage out there. What are you seeing?

MIKE ANDERSON, WISN REPORTER: All right. Ali, right at the moment, we are seeing and feeling exactly what our meteorologists and the National Weather Service said we would feel, and we are under a high wind warning until at least maybe tomorrow and into Thursday. We are feeling that right now.

And, yes, we did have a tornado touch down here about a quarter to 8:00 this morning, and you are seeing the results of that. They're calling it an F-1 with winds about 86 to 110 miles per hour. And doing some, quite a bit of damage over there -- to power lines, to trees -- and then you will also see some damage.

I don't know how much you can see, just beyond those trees and downed power lines, there's a company called the Case Company, makes tractor, tractor parts. Two of their 600 employees from the first shift were taken to the hospital this morning with injuries. One person was injured on the inside. One was standing out in the parking lot and received some injuries. They're in the hospital as we understand. A couple of hours ago, they were still there -- injuries, though, non- life threatening.

And directly behind me right back here, this is, by the way, is in Racine County, about 30 miles south of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, at Highway 11 and Oaks Road. You see utility trucks behind me trying to get the power restored to the many people. We had 7,000 people out here to in southeastern Wisconsin without power this morning, 1,300 of them in this area.

The police chief and the fire department told us a few minutes ago it will be probably at least tomorrow before they can get this road back open, Highway 11 and Oaks Road here, in Mount Pleasant, Wisconsin, just about 30 miles, as I said, south of Milwaukee.

So, we'll be under this high wind warning, and advisory, at least through tomorrow and maybe into Thursday -- Ali.

VELSHI: Now, the good news is where you are, not too far from Lake Michigan, the wind's going that way. The storm's moving east. So, the other side of Lake Michigan has the danger of the big waves.

You're getting the wind pushing to the lake, is that correct?

ANDERSON: Well, that's what I understand. I'm not a meteorologist, Ali, but I'll take your word for it. You may have be a little closer to the instruments than I am standing out here. I've been out here pretty much all morning.

We started out the day, I was in Waukesha County, west of where we are now.

VELSHI: Yes.

ANDERSON: And we had wind and rain, and we thought the rain was going to be our big issue, but it's turned out it's the wind. And the wind, again, will be with us for another couple of days here in southeastern Wisconsin.

VELSHI: Mike, good to talk to you. Thanks very much. Mike Anderson is with our affiliate WISN in Wisconsin. He's just off the edge of Lake Michigan right now.

Hey, President Obama facing a possible Republican landslide and sinking popularity ratings. You'd think this is really bad for him, but is his future really as bleak as some pundits say? I'm going to give you some historical perspective on this which surprised me. So, it's likely to surprise you.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: When the dust settles from the midterm elections, don't be surprised if you start hearing these questions: will President Obama try to work with what may be a very -- what very well may be a Republican-controlled House? Who knows? Maybe even the Senate. And will he have the power, the influence and support to run for a second term as president?

Now, some Republicans and perhaps a few Democrats may have already written him off, but consider this new poll from the Pew Research Center. They do excellent work. And this is interesting.

Compared to other recent presidents at midterm election time, it may not be as dire as it seems. The same question was asked to all of these different recent presidents as about the same time in their -- in their tenure of their first term, about halfway through the first term, ranging from August through December. President Obama, 47 percent of respondents said -- would you like to see him run for re- election, 47 percent say "yes."

Well, look at Bill Clinton. Two years into his first term, the number was lower, 44 percent. More people wanted to see him not run.

George W. Bush was at 53 percent -- six points higher than the president is now.

Ronald Reagan was at 36 percent in favor of re-election bid. Fifty- one percent had said at this point, two years in, that one term was enough.

And in 1978, 50 percent wanted Jimmy Carter to run, 38 percent believed it was time for him to go back to his home in Plains, Georgia.

Ronald Reagan, by the way, ended up getting a landslide in the second term.

It you've been keeping up with President Obama's schedule at late, he's hopscotching around the country, you'd think he was running for re-election right now. Considering what's at stake, no wonder he's been hard on the campaign trail.

Right now, we're going to look beyond the midterms. If the Republicans gain control of the House of Representatives, what is Mr. Obama going to do? Is he going to try and reach out and work with them, or is he going to take a more combative role?

And then what happens in 2012? Will he have enough support inside and outside Washington to run for re-election?

Joining us with his always keen insight, our senior White House correspondent, giving us a treat. It's a little early for him, but, Ed Henry is joining us from his perch at the White House.

Ed, this president -- I mean, first-of-all, are we writing him off too early with all of this stuff about his negative ratings in the polls?

ED HENRY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: I mean, absolutely. I mean, I think the thing that White House aides would circle on the graphic you just had on that wall would be the 53 percent number. It was not W. Bush's, it was H.W. Bush, it was the first President Bush.

VELSHI: I'm sorry. You're right. That's right.

HENRY: November of 1990 was at 53 percent saying at that time, we'd like to see him run for re-election. Then he loses within two years. Complete reversal.

And so, the bottom line is that two years out, we are still a lifetime away. And so, what they're feeling inside the White House is that bouncing out of these midterms, they will not say this on the record, but they realize it's likely they're going to lose control of the House. They are very confident they're going to hold on to the Senate.

And that's why we're seeing the president go to some key states this coming weekend. He's going to hit Connecticut. He's going to hit Pennsylvania, some big Senate battle there's; Illinois, his home of Chicago.

And they think they're setting up a firewall and they're going to hold on to the Senate, they're going to hold on to some key governorships.

But if you want to know whether or not this president is thinking ahead at all, 2012? Just look what he's doing on Sunday, he's going to Ohio. There's a Senate race that's pretty much already lost. There's a governor's race that's very close.

But he's got to be thinking that Ohio in 2012 is going -- is obviously going to be one of the key swing states. It was one of these states that put him over the top in 2008. And he's got to have it in 2012.

And so, the Republicans, the day after the election, will be thinking about 2012, this White House is going to be thinking at least a little about 2012 the day after these midterms.

VELSHI: Well, what will that govern them to do differently in Washington? This is -- as we know -- the most partisan Congress that has been around in half a century. You know, because you've worked in Congress.

Here's the thing, Ed -- a lot of people have said the Republicans were the party of no. They didn't come up with alternatives. But the reality is, partisanship is a really bipartisan activity.

What is the White House doing to do, or do they care? Will they want this to be a less partisan Congress?

HENRY: It's a good question. They say they do care. They say they want to reach out.

But then, I think both sides talk a good game on this frankly and don't always follow up. I mean, yesterday's "New York Times," I think had a story about how it took the president 15, 16 months or something like that to have Mitch McConnell, the Senate Republican leader, over here for a one-on-one chat, even though there's been a lot of talk here on this side of Pennsylvania Avenue about reaching out to Republicans, et cetera.

On the flip side, on the Hill, the Republicans say, well, we'll try to meet the president half way on something, but he's not moderate enough on spending and all of these other things. But, from day one, they've been all about trying to beat him down, and now, you've got the White House jumping on the fact, in private, that there was this story in "National Journal" magazine where Mitch McConnell is apparently quoted saying that he wants to make sure that President Obama is a one-term president.

So, again, everybody can talk a good game about working together. But if you want this president to be a one-termer -- that means you're probably not going to work with him.

So, I think both sides are going to have to change rhetoric.

VELSHI: Right.

HENRY: But more importantly, their action on November 3rd, the day after these midterms. Because it's one thing to say you're going to work together. It's going to take a lot more than that for both sides to actually come together.

VELSHI: Ed, by my seeing you here, am I still seeing you in your normal slot? "The Stakeout"?

HENRY: Yes, you know, you got me out of bed early to do this, you know? So, yes, I'll still be around.

VELSHI: A little sleep in your eye there.

HENRY: Yes.

VELSHI: Thank you, my friend. Ed Henry, our senior White House correspondent, always a pleasure to see you.

By the way, you're looking Velshi-esque today

HENRY: Yes.

VELSHI: -- with three different types of stripes going on in your outfit. Yes, kind of like you raided my closet.

HENRY: That was for you.

VELSHI: All right, Ed, catch you in a little while.

HENRY: (INAUDIBLE) I was not in your closet.

VELSHI: Absolutely right. Ed is not in the closet.

It might be hard to imagine a car company making record profit right now, but Ford did just that. And, by the way, it's the sixth time in a row that that company has reported a quarterly profit, $1.7 billion to be precise. I've got the CEO of Ford standing by to talk about how they did it and what they're going to make sure that they never see those dark days again.

Stay with me.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: Well, it's hard to call any car company a real success story these days, but you might be able to make a case for Ford. In 2006, after a devastating year, the company laid off 30,000 workers and Henry Ford's great grandson, William Ford Jr. stepped aside, brought in Alan Mulally to turn things around.

Mulally had built his own reputation as an engineer at Boeing where he ran the company's commercial airplane division, the planes we all fly on. He turned that around even in the face of strong competition from Europe's Airbus.

Now, Ford took its hits early and it borrowed heavily, allowing it to escape the bankruptcy that befell General Motors and Chrysler, and allowing Ford to avoid taking any government money. It also helped Ford weather the high gas prices and the lack of credit that sent car buyers ducking for cover, certainly not buying new cars. But it steadily built its global sales on the backs of cars that have been popular with critics and with buyers.

And today, Ford reported record third quarter earnings of $1.7 billion. That's the most that company has ever reported in a third quarter. Ford does continue to pay back the billions of dollars it borrowed to stay afloat, not by the government, by the way. That was private money that it borrowed. And its North American business is still seeing some of the effect of a weak economy, but there are signs of growth all around. Ford Credit was singled out for helping produce some of those record profits.

Alan Mulally, familiar face to all of us. He's the president and CEO of Ford. He is in Detroit now. He joins me now for another of our regular conversations. Alan has been out in front of this thing.

And we appreciate that, Alan, because I think a lot of people were very, very concerned -- even as late as a year ago, Alan, that the -- that the auto companies were still in big trouble. Ford was reporting profits a year ago, but the company's doing well in spite of some changes.

What have you learned and what's different about Ford today?

ALAN MULALLY, PRES. & CEO, FORD MOTOR CO.: Well, I think you really have captured a large portion of it, Ali, and it started clearly with the decisions that we made nearly four years ago when I, you know, chose to come to Ford. And, of course, the big decision was the focus on the Ford brand and divest the other ones.

The next decision was a full family of vehicles in all markets in which we serve, starting with the United States.

The next one was that every new vehicle from Ford would be best in class, in quality, in fuel efficiency, safety and really smart design.

And also, the third one was -- the fourth was, use all of our resources worldwide to bring all of this intellectual capability to the customer. And that's why we're seeing the progress we're making today.

VELSHI: Well, let's talk about this. You've been saying this about Ford quality and being best in class. Now, one of the problems that you have had, and the same as GM, and the same as Chrysler, is that certain car buyers walked away from the American car companies years ago. They didn't like the design. They didn't like the quality.

You have brought that up, and I hear you always telling people to try it out. One of the times that you and I talked, we were with every Ford model you could find and you wanted to drive them and you wanted to prove to me that they were good to drive.

How do you -- how have you done in convincing other people who have walked away and went to Honda and went to Nissan and went to Toyota to come back and try Fords, and that they're competitive and good cars to drive?

MULALLY: Well, this is clearly a very important part of our plan, Ali, as you have mentioned because -- because of our cost structure, we did not make small and medium sized cars in the United States, and actually make them profitably. So, we went to work with all the stakeholders, including the UAW. We have a transformation agreement now where we can make cars in the United States and compete with the best in the world. And now, you're seeing the results of that, because all of those fabulous Ford vehicles that people know and love around the world are bringing those all now to the United States. So, now, the U.S. customers have access to this fabulous family of vehicles, small, medium large, cars, utilities and trucks.

And as you pointed out, every new vehicle is a proof point for Ford on its commitment to quality, the most fuel efficient in its class, of course, the most safe cars, most five-star ratings, and also, the very smart design like SYNC and MyFord.

So, we've used every new vehicle as a proof point that it helped everybody understand that they've got great choices now with Ford and we have -- in the strength of the product line, we have picked up market share now for two consecutive years based on the strength of this product line. So, it's very gratifying to see how the consumers really are coming back to Ford.

VELSHI: Well, Alan, it's good to watch the company, because we've all had a lot of hopes riding on Ford, helping to lead the way out of the morass of the auto industry and the U.S. has been in, and we appreciate that you continue to do that.

Alan Mulally, great to talk to you, as always. Allan Mulally is the CEO of the Ford Motor Company.

MULALLY: Good to see you.

VELSHI: Well, midterm elections exactly one week away, and right up until then, we are checking with American voters. Today, the Election Express rolls into Elkhart, Indiana. That is a name you will know. It's an area that not too long ago led the nation in unemployment. Things are still tough there. We'll talk to Don Lemon in a minute.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: Breaking news in from California. The hotly contested Senate race in California as you know, former HP CEO Carly Fiorina, Republican candidate, she's been hospitalized for treatment of an infection.

Let me tell you what this is about. A year and a half ago, she learned that she had breast cancer, and she received treatment for that, including some ad reconstructive surgery. She does remain cancer-free. However, she has contracted an infection that her team says is consistent with that sort of reconstructive surgery. It's not uncommon is what they've said, or it's typical.

She went to hospital and is receiving antibiotics to treat the infection. It says it will have an impact on her campaign schedule today, but that she is expected to make a quick and full recovery and be back out on the campaign trail.

And in case you thought that might soften some of the rhetoric that you've heard on the campaign, the last line from her campaign is that she looks forward to getting back to her full campaign schedule and to defeating Barbara Boxer on November 2nd.

As you know, Barbara Boxer is the Senate candidate -- is the senator, one of two senators, in California running against Carly Fiorina. We'll keep you posted if there's any new development.

But Carly Fiorina, Republican Senate candidate in California has been hospitalized for treatment of an infection.

OK, let's go Elkhart, Indiana. As we promised you, Don Lemon is touring around the Midwest, getting a pulse of what's going on across the country, how people are feeling with one week to go before the election.

Elkhart, Indiana, as you know, at one point, had the highest unemployment rate in the country. It was the home to the RV industry, at least a very big part of it, in this country, an industry that has seen hard times.

Don, what have you got?

(INAUDIBLE)

VELSHI: All right. I can't here -- unfortunately we can't hear Don. It sounds good, though. He's like he's on top of something. And I'm curious to know what that is.

So, I'm going to work very, very hard. There we go. There we go. Don's back?

Don, we got you?

DON LEMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Can you hear me now?

VELSHI: All right. We're very curious to now -- we're very curious to know, where you are.

LEMON: Lights, camera action?

VELSHI: Yes, we got you.

LEMON: OK, good.

What I was saying to you before when you're talking about Carly Fiorina, you realize what's important, having good health and also being able to provide for your family. So, we're getting, you know, an idea from these folks about what's important. And what they say, Ali, it's not all the sniping and all the -- whatever you call it -- back biting that they're hearing out on the campaign trail and from the -- and from the candidates.

What they want to know, what's going to keep them employed in places like this? This is Thor Motorcoach. It's one of the biggest motor coach companies, RV companies really in the world. They've had a setback and they've said they're doing a little better now.

This gentleman right here, Ali, his name is Bill Murray. He was laid off during the -- how long ago were you laid off?

BILL MURRAY, SALESMAN, THOR MOTORCOACH: Two years ago.

LEMON: Two years ago. What was it like when they came to you, Thor Motor Coach came to you and said, hey, listen, we've got to let you go for a little bit?

MURRAY: I understood it, because I'd been on the other side of that table of layoffs as a manager, and I just took it in stride and figured I'd find a way to come back to work soon.

LEMON: But it's not a good feeling.

MURRAY: No, it's not a good feeling at all.

LEMON: Yes. But you're one of the lucky ones. You got called back to work. Many of people who work in this industry and who work here in Elkhart, as my colleague Ali was saying, had one of the highest unemployment rates in the country. They're still looking for work and they can't find work now.

MURRAY: Right.

LEMON: Yes. So, what -- you're one of the lucky ones, man. Not everyone gets that second chance.

MURRAY: Now, you're right. You're right. But the banks have loosened up. RV style, it's a lifestyle. It's investment in, people want to retire. They want to spend time with their family and their children. It's a great way to do it.

LEMON: So, as you head into the voting booth on Tuesday, what are you going to be thinking about? Is the economy going to be top of mine for you?

MURRAY: Yes, economy will be top of mind.

LEMON: Why so?

MURRAY: Well, because I think that the -- the way that things have went for us is the banks have loosened up, and we hope they loosen up a little bit more --

LEMON: Yes.

MURRAY: -- because people want to buy RVs but they've been having trouble getting them bought by the bank.

LEMON: It's still a luxury item that people buy?

MURRAY: It's a discretionary purchase.

LEMON: Yes, it's discretionary purchase.

But the stimulus at all, did it help do you believe?

MURRAY: I believe -- I'm not -- I'm not an economist, but I think it helped us because the banks loosened up.

LEMON: Yes.

MURRAY: And people were able to get financing.

LEMON: Yes.

And, Ali, you know what -- thank you very much, Bill. You know what people here say when we talk, we talk about what's happening on the campaign trail and what people are saying to each other in the debate, and that they've been nasty and all that. They said they want consistently more than anything. They realize that it's going to take the economy a time to come back, a little bit of a while but they want consistency from the candidates and not necessarily what the last one did and who shot John and all of that stuff.

VELSHI: Yes. You seem to be hearing a lot of that, Don. That seems to be a consistent scene. Heard it in Chicago, too. It's interesting how many respond to negative advertising and how much it works because everybody you're talking to says they don't appreciate it, they don't like it, and they don't like it coming in lieu of actual issue reporting or issue discussions. They'd rather hear the issues than the sniping.

LEMON: Yes. They'd rather hear the issues. And they go home, they talk about it here at work. They talk about it when they go out and they have a drink after work. And then they go home and they see it on the television. At some point they say it becomes overkill.

Sure, we always have decides want to know, hey, what's going on with this person, what happened to this person? That's natural to sort of want to gossip, a little bit. But when it comes down to real issues, like health -- Carly Fiorina -- perfect example, and having a job, being able to pay your mortgage, that's the real issues. Consistency. Real issues. More important to the people I'm talking to here in the Midwest, Ali.

VELSHI: Don good to see you, as always. Thanks very much, my friend.

Don is indoors. Outdoors in the Midwest, monster storms are slamming that part of the country. Reports of tornadoes touching down. Tens of thousands of people without power. We'll see who's getting hit, right ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: Let's get back to the severe weather that we've got going on in the Midwest of the country. A massive storm system is slamming the Midwest. Multiple tornadoes have been reported. Tens of thousands of people have lost power in Illinois and Wisconsin, including in Chicago.

Chad Myers is at our Severe Weather Center in Atlanta, with the latest. What's going on right now with the storms, Chad?

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, it appears so far nine tornadoes have touched the ground. Now obviously that number will change tomorrow when the weather service goes out and tries to count them to see if maybe one was the same tornado looked at from two different angles. But, you get the idea.

This is a strong squall line that has now reached all the way down into the deep south. From the Midwest, or from the Great Lakes. We still have a tornado north into central Michigan and then all the way back down south, the tornado warnings and tornado watches into Mississippi, Alabama, and eventually I even believe that Georgia will get a watch box and probably charge again into West Virginia. And then another box maybe issued farther to the east. There may be tornado watch boxes, they may be or severe thunderstorm watch boxes. It just depends on how much spin will be in the storms when they get to the new location.

And can you just look. I'm going to advance you here. The very last frame was a brand new watch that just popped up and the great part about this computer is that it will pop it up even before it prints it out. So right there. A brand new tornado watch, and that would include Pittsburg, looks like Erie, Pennsylvania, and also the east side of Cleveland.

Tornado watches don't mean that tornados are on the ground. That means that some storms could spin and storms that spin could produce a tornado. A lot of coulds in there, but at least on a normal day you don't have any of those coulds. That's why that potential tornado watch box is there.

From Covington, this is Ohio, and then all the way back into northern Kentucky, all the way back up here, a couple storms are spinning. That's kind of running towards Columbus, Ohio. And then more pink boxes east of Nashville, north of Columbia. And here back all the way down south. That is Mississippi and Alabama right there. There's Tupelo, there's northern Alabama, with spin to those storms, as well.

Earlier, Ali, you talked all of the delays out of Chicago. Right now I have 111 planes in the air that have left Chicago this afternoon, or this late morning, into the early afternoon. And so planes are getting back in the air and things are getting back to normal. But a lot of stranded travelers are an hour or two behind for sure.

VELSHI: Yes. All right. You keep an eye on it. We'll keep an eye on it together. Chad, thanks very much. Chad Myers, at our Severe Weather Center.

Hey, think back to the Gulf War. Remember Tariq Aziz? He was the public face of Saddam Hussein's regime. Now he's been sentenced to death for crimes against political rivals in Iraq. We'll get an update on that when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: After Saddam Hussein, Tariq Aziz was the most public face of the fallen Iraqi regime. In fact, some people saw him more often than they saw Saddam Hussein. He was the top aide to Saddam Hussein and made most of the international appearances on behalf of the Iraqi government.

One of the most hunted officials in the country, Aziz surrendered to American forces shortly after the invasion of Iraq. He's claimed all along that he was only responsible for Iraq's diplomatic and political relations. Now, despite that claim, he was sentenced to death today by an Iraqi court for crimes against members ever the rival Shiite parties.

CNN's Mohammad Jamjoom is in Iraq.

Mohammed, why was he sentenced to death today? What was he tried for?

MOHAMMED JAMJOOM, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Ali, Aziz was sentenced to death today by Iraq's high tribunal court for his role in this campaign led by Saddam Hussein in the 1980s to eliminate members of religious parties, rival religious parties. This was a campaign in which members of Shiite political parties were targeted, including members of the Dawa Party, that's a party that the prime minister, the current prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki is a member of.

But he hasn't been sentenced just for these crimes. He's been tried four times so far. Just last year he was sentenced to 15 years in prison, a sentence he's currently serving for his role in the execution in 1992 of 42 merchants. So we're trying to find out now if this execution will actually be carried out, that will be.

We're told that there's a period of 10 days by which he can appeal, and 30 days after that in which the court can decide if they will actually accept that appeal -- Ali.

VELSHI: All right. What's the likely outcome to be, Mohammed?

JAMJOOM: Well, we're not sure right now. I mean, there's a possibility that he could actually be tried for more crimes. I mean, we've seen this in the past years. We've seen incidents in which these former political figures, people that were with Saddam Hussein's regime, Baathists, have been tried multiple times and even gotten multiple death sentences before it was carried out. So, we're still trying to find that out.

But what's interesting is the mood on the ground here. A lot of people are questioning the timing of the sentence. It came out of the blue. And the reason they're questioning that is because there's been a growing political scandal around the government of Nouri al-Maliki. Al-Maliki was linked to a lot of claims of torture and abuse and these kinds of incidents when these WikiLeaks documents started hitting in the past few days.

Now, because of that, a lot of people here are saying they think that al-Maliki is trying to shift attention away from his government, to deflect criticism. We spoke earlier today to Martin Schulloff (ph). He's a "Guardian Newspaper" journalist. He's the last journalist here to have spoken with Aziz to find out what he was hearing from his sources about the timing of this. Was it coincidental? This is what he had to say.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Tony Blair and the son George Bush. They both lied on purpose and they both destroyed Iraq on purpose.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JAMJOOM: The fact of the matter is, we just don't know yet what exactly is going to happen at this point. There's still a lot of questions. But this really has shocked a lot of the political players here today, and a lot of the citizens. We expect that in the next few days people will be questioning it more and really wondering if Nouri al-Maliki is going respond to more criticism directed at his government, Ali.

VELSHI: Mohammed, good to see you. Thanks very much. Mohammed Jamjoom, joining us from Iraq.

We're nearing the home stretch for this year's midterm elections here in the United States. Coming up next, we're going live to Washington, to see the big stories crossing our political ticker, including why John McCain is in big demand one week out from these midterms.

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VELSHI: OK. We're now just a week away from election day, so we want to get you updated on all the developing stories from the campaign trail. CNN's Wolf Blitzer, part of "The Best Political Team on Television," joins us now from Washington. He'll soon be here in New York, though, to cover the election.

Wolf, I understand Senator John McCain is helping out fellow Republicans even though he's facing his own reelection bid?

WOLF BLITZER, HOST, "THE SITUATION ROOM": Right. He doesn't seem to have much of a problem against his Democratic challenger in Arizona. He did have a little bit of a problem getting the Republican nomination, but he won that and now he can afford to go out, spend some of the money that he's raised, political money, for other candidates, for Republican senatorial candidates, and he's going out state after state after state campaigning for these Republicans.

Some of the recent states he's been to, Carly Fiorina in California, Mark Kirk in Illinois, Kelly Ayotte in New Hampshire. Some of the gubernatorial candidates, Meg Whitman in California, Susana Martinez in New Mexico. He's doing the best he can to help Republicans get elected and it's interesting, he's wanted out there on the campaign trail.

The Republicans like him right now, even though he lost to Barack Obama back in 2008. Maybe in part because in his successful effort to capture the Republican nomination for the Senate in Arizona he moved to the right and a lot of these Republicans, these conservatives, like that a lot.

Let's take a look at some of the polls that are coming in. In Connecticut, tough race right now, but it looks like Richard Blumenthal, the Democrat, is moving up over Linda McMahon, the Republican. Right now, this Quinnipiac University poll has Blumenthal with 53 percent among likely voters in Connecticut to 42 percent for Linda McMahon. The poll sort of consistent with other polls, a recent Suffolk University poll, so it looks like that Democrat in Connecticut is in pretty good shape a week from the election.

In Ohio, it's different for the Democrats. John Kasich, he wants to be the next governor, he's challenging Ted Strickland, whose the incumbent. This new poll showing there's a six-point advantage for Kasich over Strickland, it's a Quinnipiac University poll as well. Forty-nine percent for Kasich, the former congressman, 43 percent for Strickland, also a former congressman who was elected governor in 2006.

For Democrats this is a huge, important state. Ohio's a battleground state in 2012. The president, the vice president, the first lady, Bill Clinton, they've all been to Ohio campaigning for Strickland. Some of them are coming back over this next week. They're anxious to see if Strickland can beat Kasich. The poll, though, show Strickland is behind at least for now, but we'll see if it can tighten up between now and next Tuesday.

Lots happening. Always goes to CNNPolitics.com, Ali, and you'll get all the latest information.

VELSHI: All right, Wolf, we'll be on this for the next week. Thanks very much.

Well it's one of the most frustrating toys ever. This here. OK? It's so addictive that it sold 350 million units worldwide. At one point, one-fifth of the world had tried to solve this Rubik's Cube mystery. Well, you know who've I got? I've got the inventor of the Rubik's Cube sitting next to me today. It is today's "Big I."

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VELSHI: All right. Today's "Big I" is about the Rubik's Cube and you saw that scene in the movie, but this has got to be one of the biggest things in popular culture ever. One-fifth of humanity, at least -- in fact, more than one-fifth of humanity was anticipated a long time ago -- that in the mid-1980s during the Rubik's craze it was estimated one-fifth of humanity had tried to solve one of these things, probably more than that.

This was invented in 1974 by Erno Rubik who invented it in his hometown of Budapest, Hungary. He's with me right now. The man who invented the Rubik's Cube did it because he was trying to help explain three-dimensional geometry.

And in fact, you didn't invent this with the ability to solve it?

ERNO RUBIK, INVENTOR OF RUBIK'S CUBE: Yes, sure. That's a very independent question. I was interested in about the structure. How can I construct it? So how it works and this was a difficult task.

VELSHI: So what were you trying to do? Were you a teacher? Were you trying to -- ?

RUBIK: Yes, I was teaching at that time, lecturing design and architecture at the university.

VELSHI: And did this achieve what you wanted it to achieve or did it become something entirely different when the world learned about it?

RUBIK: After I made my models and I find the technical solution so simple and easy possible to manufacture at not a high price, it got an idea and tried to sell it and find a manufacturer and later find a trade. And -- but what happened after that, it was a big surprise.

VELSHI: Now, how are you in terms -- how proficient are you with solving the Rubik's Cube?

RUBIK: In the very beginning, it was necessary to demonstrate and my average time was one minute.

VELSHI: OK and there are some people, though, who didn't go at it knowing your design like we saw in the movie. It just became natural. Did that surprise you that some people could just sort take this and say I can make this into this?

RUBIK: Yes. Nobody can do it at once. And so it's something but you can't do it just using trial and error. You need some mathematical background to think about this systematically. But after you learn, then you understand the structure and you can memorize some algorithms, you can do it very fast.

VELSHI: That's right, cause I like memorizing algorithms all the time. Clearly, you and I have -- our minds work differently.

What were you like as a kid? Were you always interested in science and this sort of thing?

RUBIK: I was interested in about puzzles all the time and problem solving. So I think our life is full of problems and this type of task what we have got from a puzzle, it exercises our mind and it's a very enjoyable thing and useful.

VELSHI: You just won the Lifetime Science Education Achievement Award. And then I've got this box in front of me. Tell me what this is. This is called "You Can Do The Rubik's Cube" and comes with a little booklet called "unlock the" -- it allows you to unlock the secret of the Rubik's Cube, which, by the way, has lots of pages of stuff.

I suspect even if I use this guide, my Rubik's Cube is still going to end up like this, but tell me what this is all about.

RUBIK: That's -- you can do the Cube movement. It started a few years ago, but it's going and more than 1,200 schools have participated in the U.S. already. So it's -- the Cube part of education in math, it went into the class. And teachers discover it's a very good example to demonstrate different ideas in science and especially in math, geometry, algebra and group theory.

VELSHI: So there is a relationship between this? In other words, if I can understand the Rubik's Cube, I can learn other concepts in mathematics, science or algebra because of it?

RUBIK: Yes, yes. You can learn -- especially a teacher using it, for example, he can demonstrate a lot of things with it.

VELSHI: How does somebody participate in this? How do students get involved in this -- ?

RUBIK: You can find the website and it tells you how to go further.

VELSHI: And we will link our viewers to the website.

What did you -- did you ever think about what else you could do with this? Is there a chapter two in this for you?

RUBIK: I believe the Cube is going forever because the nature of people is such a type. If you like challenges and the Cube inspires many people around the world in many different areas, in fashion, in design and naturally in the puzzle area as well. So it's generated a group of puzzles already.

VELSHI: All right, the fastest -- you were just talking to me about this -- the fastest ever solved, I think, was 7.08 seconds, according to the -- that's the record that's being held right now.

The first record -- the first time there was a record for this, it was 22.95 seconds and apparently it can be scrambled into 43 quintillion positions. That tells you the different. I didn't even know what a quintillion is, but it sounds like a lot.

Well congratulations. A real honor to meet the person behind Rubik's Cube and congratulations for the honor that you just received.

RUBIK: Thank you very much.

VELSHI: Erno Rubik, the inventor of the Rubik's Cube. And he was just saying, to get more information than you could ever imagine about the You Can Do Rubik's Cube Youth Competition, head to my blog, CNN.com/Ali, we will link you -- there it is, the link's already up -- to the competition.

We're going to take a quick break. I'll be back in just a moment.

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