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President Obama Campaigns on 'The Daily Show'; Correlation Between Elections and Stock Market; Videos People are Talking About; What's Not Happening in Haiti; The Foreclosure Mess in Atlanta; Michelle Obama's Approval Rating
Aired October 28, 2010 - 10:59 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: Live from Studio 7 at CNN world headquarters, the big stories for Thursday, October 28th.
President Obama is stepping out but staying on message. With just five days left to the midterms, the president making the rounds on comedy TV and gospel radio.
Plus, Haiti's deadly cholera epidemic is spreading still. Desperately needed aid gets stuck in red tape. Our Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta goes looking for answers.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: I don't understand how all of these organizations could have supplies and hundreds of people still died. And you would say, what?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, again, we have given away to everyone who has come here to ask for supplies.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: And what's wrong with this picture? Well, just take a look at it. There is nobody behind the wheel. "What's Hot."
Good morning, everyone. I'm Suzanne Malveaux, in for Tony Harris.
Those stories and your comments right here, right now in the CNN NEWSROOM.
Just five days until the midterm elections with Democrats facing a serious challenge from Republicans. President Obama takes his campaign to Comedy Central. He was the guest on "The Daily Show" with Jon Stewart last night. One of the lighter moments came when the president defended his economic adviser, Larry Summers.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And in fairness, Larry Summers did a heck of a job trying to figure out --
JON STEWART, HOST, "THE DAILY SHOW": You don't want to use that phrase, dude. (LAUGHTER)
OBAMA: Pun intended.
STEWART: All right.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: I want to bring in my colleague at the White House, Ed Henry.
You know, Ed, we know the president sometimes can be kind of funny, but he was pretty serious last night, too. He made some interesting points. Obviously, it's getting real close to the midterms, and he feels like he has to hit home some of those issues.
ED HENRY, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I think you're right, Suzanne. He's walking a fine line.
I mean, he wants to show he's a regular guy, and taking from Jon Stewart some of the abuse, with "dude" and whatnot. He's been accused of being aloof, not emoting well. So, it doesn't hurt him necessarily to be seen as more an average guy. But he also, you're right, wanted to make some serious points.
And the whole purpose of going on the shows, just as when he went on "The View" recently and was to reach out to female voters, some people raised their eyebrows. And they're doing it again now, saying, why is he on with a comedian?
Well, he wanted to reach out to young voters, some of the people maybe who voted for the first time for him in 2008, might be thinking about sitting on the sidelines in 2010, in part because they might be disillusioned. And Jon Stewart sort of went after him on those points. You know, are you living up to the promises, to the hype of 2008?
And you're right, the president was serious and pushed back.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: We have passed historic health reform, historic financial regulatory reform. We have done things that some folks don't even know about.
STEWART: What have you done that we don't know about?
(LAUGHTER)
OBAMA: Well --
STEWART: Are you planning a surprise party for us filled with jobs and health care?
(END VIDEO CLIP) HENRY: Now, you played the clip about "heck of a job," harkening back to the days of Brownie and Katrina. To borrow another phrase from the Bush administration, they feel here, "Mission Accomplished." It wasn't perfect, but on the other hand, it was good, they believe here at the White House. Put the president out there, let him go back and forth with Jon Stewart, maybe show a lighter side, but also make those serious points heading into the election -- Suzanne.
MALVEAUX: All right.
Ed Henry.
Thank you so much, Ed.
Of course the economy is the big issue in the elections, and there is a direct correlation between the midterms and the markets. Alison Kosik is going to explain that. She's going to join us live from the New York Stock Exchange in just a few minutes.
And for the latest political news, you know where to go. It's CNNPolitics.com.
(NEWSBREAK)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MALVEAUX: Few Americans are filing for first-time jobless benefits. The Labor Department reports today that the number fell to 434,000 last week. Now, that is down 21,000 from the previous week, and better than expected. It is the third straight decline, and the lowest level since early July.
Now, the economy was just one of the big issues during President Obama's appearance last night on "The Daily Show" with Jon Stewart. The president defends his record.
Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STEWART: So, in some respects, I get your frustration with this idea that, well, jeez, are you never satisfied? But, again, the expectation, I think, was audacity, going in there and really rooting out a corrupt system. Ad so the sense is, has reality of what hit you in the face when you first stepped in caused you to back down from some of the more visionary things, like bringing a guy like Larry Summers --
OBAMA: First of all, if you look at how we have handled this financial crisis --
STEWART: Right?
OBAMA: -- if you had told me two years ago that we're going to be able to stabilize the system, stabilize the stock market, stabilize the economy and, by the way, at the end of this thing, it will cost less than one percent of GDP, where the S&L crisis cost us 2.5 percent of our entire economy, a much smaller crisis, I'd say we'll take that, because we saved taxpayers a whole lot of money.
(APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: Well, everybody is watching to see what happens to the makeup of Washington next week. And, of course, Wall Street is also paying very close attention. That is because there is a direct correlation between elections and the stock market.
Alison Kosik is on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange with details.
Alison, are these two related?
ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: They really are, Suzanne, because what happens on Election Day directly affects what happens right here on Wall Street, so much so that if you go back in history and you look at how things have progressed, you'll see that in the year following a midterm election, stocks have really done pretty well. In fact, markets have really made gains in every year following the midterms of an elected president since 1939.
So, what does this mean for you? It means that we could see a gain next year.
I want to show you something to kind of broaden out the picture here from the "Stock Traders Almanac." It shows what the S&P 500 returns looked like in the year after midterm elections, and you're seeing sizeable gains here, anywhere from 9 to 34 percent. And that's because when a president is in office the first two years, the president tries to push through the real tough legislation, the stuff that not everybody agrees on. With President Obama, it was clearly health care legislation and financial reform.
Now, the year after a midterm is the president's third year, and that's when the president really tries to kind of build a bridge, make everybody happy, and he tends to try to make more compromises and maybe even push through more business-friendly policies. And that's something that Wall Street likes, and that's why we could see a nice rally after the midterm elections -- Suzanne.
MALVEAUX: Alison, does the party factor into the stock market? Does it matter if the Republicans take control of the House and the Senate?
KOSIK: You know, what's funny is conventional wisdom tells us that gridlock really maintains the status quo. But others say this is -- that gridlock is really good for the markets, that analysts say the division of power is good, because what it winds up doing is breeding compromise.
It pushes legislators to the middle, and what you often get is legislation that's suitable for everyone, including right here, investors. And investors do like those business-friendly policies. (STOCK MARKET REPORT)
MALVEAUX: All right. Alison Kosik, thank you so much for joining us.
The housing market is just one reason that the economic recovery is not taking off. Now, did homeowners get caught in the foreclosure red tape? Well, we're getting to the foundation of the crisis, at the bottom of this.
One woman is telling her story. That, 20 minutes ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MALVEAUX: We are talking just five days left until the midterm elections. And with time running out, the president chose an unusual place to make one of his last stands in the campaign season. That being Comedy Central.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: Let me say this about members of Congress.
STEWART: Are you going to curse?
OBAMA: No, I'm not going to curse.
(LAUGHTER)
OBAMA: I know a lot of folks feel frustrated about Congress, how it operates, the bickering, the weird rules, the filibusters, all of that stuff. But the fact is that there are a bunch of folks who, during the course of this year, took really tough votes that they knew were bad politics because they thought they were the right things to do.
(APPLAUSE)
OBAMA: There are a whole bunch of Democrats, guys like Tom Perriello in Virginia, or John Boccieri in Ohio, or Betsy Markey in Colorado, who are basically in Republican districts. They won in the big surge that we had in 2008. They knew it was going to be a tough battle, that these are generally pretty conservative districts, and, yet, still went ahead and did what they thought was right.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: Pete Dominick, contributor to "JOHN KING USA" and host of CNN's "What the Week Has," a unique perspective on all things regarding "The Daily Show." Before coming to CNN, he was the warm-up act for Jon Stewart, and he joins us now.
Hi, Pete. Good to see you.
PETE DOMINICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Suzanne.
That's right, CNN stole me from Comedy Central.
MALVEAUX: Good steal. That's a good move on our part, yes.
DOMINICK: I'm happy to be here. But I did -- I warmed up the audience at "The Colbert Report" on Tuesday. So I'm still inside. I'm still spying.
MALVEAUX: You're in the mix. Yes, that's good. That's what we need. We want those spies.
DOMINICK: Yes.
MALVEAUX: Now, you know, I saw the president, and there were moments where, obviously, he could have been funnier, but he seemed lighter than normal. You know, you have been with Jon Stewart, kind of behind the scenes.
DOMINICK: Yes.
MALVEAUX: What does he do to prepare for someone like this, when he's taking on the president?
DOMINICK: Well, I've never been in the room for preparing for an interview. But I have been at the show. I warmed up the audience at "The Dally Show," too, over 300 times, and I know Jon and I know the whole staff.
And I heard what they do is they get in a yoga studio surrounded by an Aqua Buddha bong. No.
He gets his advisers and a few of his most trusted producers, of course, and they work it out. How should we play this?
You can tell that he does that with a Bill O'Reilly or another big guest like that. But they work on the interviews just like you do and everybody does with our team. But they put a lot of work in that. Where, if any, are the jokes?
I think Jon picked the jokes out of kind of what the president said last night, but I want to flip it back to you, because I want to speculate. I know that you cover the White House.
MALVEAUX: Oh, no.
DOMINICK: Does the president have advisers, his political advisers, coming up to him and going, "Mr. President, don't be funny on Comedy Contrail's 'The Daily Show.'" And does the president go, "Well, look, I've got some jokes"?
MALVEAUX: I think I'm funny.
DOMINICK: "I think we should. Knock, knock." You know what I mean? But he's a funny guy. The president's a really funny guy.
MALVEAUX: But, you know, I think he's a funny guy and he's got funny writers as well.
DOMINICK: Yes, sure. MALVEAUX: He's got a team of writers who help him out with all this stuff. And we have seen him at dinners, and he does these kinds of things, where he tells the jokes. He's got great timing, great delivery.
But for Jon Stewart, he went after the president on the economic issues, those type of things. When he prepares, does Jon Stewart think, OK, I have got to be deferential here, it's the president of the United States, or it doesn't really matter because I'm here, I'm doing this interview?
DOMINICK: Jon Stewart does interviews of a lot of different people, right? Congressmen, authors, experts, and now the president. He asks tough, serious questions to all of his guests and puts in a little comedy.
I do that on my radio show. I'm a comedian with a political radio show. It makes the interview a little more entertaining, keeps it moving, and it's good. So, I think he asks the tough questions because he thinks it's part of his job.
MALVEAUX: All right. Pete, great to see you in person.
DOMINICK: You, too, Suzanne. Thank you for having me.
MALVEAUX: All right. Thanks. Appreciate it.
DOMINICK: All right.
MALVEAUX: And Michelle Barack Obama, she is on the campaign trail as well. Laura Bush, she is also back in the public eye.
We're going to take a look at politics first lady style.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(WEATHER REPORT)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MALVEAUX: OK. So we asked you before the break, which of these 70- something celebs has a new workout video: Nancy Sinatra, Raquel Welch, Jane Fonda or Sophia Loren? And the answer is -- want to guess -- Jane Fonda.
This spectacularly in-shape baby boomer came out with her first set of workout videos -- now, this was back in the '80s. I wanted to show you a little bit of this clip.
She looks just as good as she did back then. Can you believe that? That's amazing.
Go, Jane.
There you go, the one who started it all back in the day.
JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Love it. Oh, man. She still looks fantastic.
(CROSSTALK)
LEVS: It brings you back to the '80s. My sister used to do those. I remember she was like the aerobics queen throughout that whole decade.
MALVEAUX: I had the leg warmers, the whole bit.
LEVS: See? You're bringing me back. Yes.
MALVEAUX: There's a lot of videos out there. We're going to bring you the very best.
Josh, tell us what you're showing, these hot videos, "What's Hot" right now.
LEVS: We've got a bunch of hot videos for you, but we're starting off with one.
I always feel bad for people like this, but people watch it millions of times. Take a look at this.
This is one of these videos that gets shared. Watch what's about to happen.
This guy goes to a convenience store. It's so clean, right, he just doesn't see the glass door. He hits it so hard, he actually cracked it.
MALVEAUX: He busted it.
LEVS: Like, the door itself actually got a giant crack. Now everybody is forwarding that to everybody else. Fortunately, you can't tell who he is, so I think he spared the public shame.
MALVEAUX: Yes.
LEVS: But to spare me from more, let's move on.
All right. Check this out. A car just arrives at the Shanghai World Expo, right? Not so interesting, except that there is no one driving it.
It's the first driverless van. It completed the longest-ever trip by an unmanned vehicle, more than 8,000 miles. It's a little less impressive when you find out that it's been driving since July.
MALVEAUX: Now, who is that guy in the back seat? Is he remotely controlling this thing, or is he a passenger?
LEVS: Right. I was wondering that, too. Here's what they did.
They have these two engineers that rode in the van, and they were there just in case there were problems. Right? So, if there was a toll booth that they needed to deal with, or if they wanted to avoid a sticky situation. MALVEAUX: Or a car runs into a crowd, something like that.
LEVS: Yes. If something dangerous could have happened, this group called VisLab that's behind it, and the created it, and it has a whole bunch of infrared cameras on it.
And the people behind it -- it's funded, in part, by this group in Europe that is saying that this technology might ultimately help save lives, because the idea is, can you equip cars with cameras that can help them go down the road while avoiding obstacles, while avoiding other cars? And if other cars have that, you can remove some of the driver error and cars might avoid each other.
So, this could be the beginning of something really exciting, funded largely by the European Research Council. The idea is, can you take some of this technology and put it into real cars and save lives?
MALVEAUX: When is this coming out? Do they know when this is actually --
LEVS: Well, that's just a prototype. We've got a lot farther to go. Google is talking about its own car, so there's a lot more.
Before it gets to us, I'm guessing a decade. But at least they're working on it at all. That's something.
MALVEAUX: Hey, I would be interested in it. It would be pretty cool, I think.
LEVS: I would be all over it.
Folks, if you're watching, I want to be the first one to ride in that.
All right. Now, finally, a cute video, but also kind of impressive. The newest rapper is a 7-year-old kid.
Let's listen.
(MUSIC)
LEVS: This is MattyB. Let's keep him going.
He's singing this rap song actually by Willo Smith. And he's excited about starting his career in the music industry, through his music videos on YouTube.
So, this is his parody, his remix of a song by Willo Smith. And it has more than a million views already on YouTube.
MALVEAUX: It's really cute.
LEVS: MattyB raps. A little, new, budding rap star there.
MALVEAUX: OK. Are you going to put that on your iPod?
(LAUGHTER) LEVS: Oh, man.
MALVEAUX: Getting ready for big time?
LEVS: Now I feel guilty, like I have to go actually download that one.
MALVEAUX: Now you do. Now you do, because you might hear from MattyB.
LEVS: Well, everything -- one thing I can do for you. Everything I just showed you I will put at Facebook and Twitter. Does that count? Is that good enough?
MALVEAUX: Yes, that's good. Yes. I mean, plenty of publicity for this kid.
LEVS: All right.. You can find the links for yourself at my Facebook. Yes, add to that million he has got going there already.
MALVEAUX: Love it. Thanks, Josh.
LEVS: All right. See you.
MALVEAUX: Well, getting at the foundation of the foreclosure crisis.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Each one is like a small phonebook. You know, it's literally like a total failure of public policy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: That failure affects hundreds of thousands of homeowners. And we're going to meet one of them.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MALVEAUX: President Obama is keeping up his media push and making an appeal to African-American voters. In an interview on gospel singer Yolanda Adams' radio show this morning, the president urged black voters to turn out to the polls on Tuesday.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This midterm determines whether we're going to be able to continue that progress forward because the other side, frankly, has said that they don't want to do any of that. All they want are tax cuts for the wealthy. That's been their main economic agenda item. And no matter how hard I work, if I don't have some support from Congress in the House and Senate, then I can't do everything that needs to be done to put people back to work and to help revitalize our communities.
(END AUDIO CLIP) MALVEAUX: We're going to talk with Yolanda Adams about her interview with President Obama. That is ahead in the next hour of CNN NEWSROOM.
A tidal wave of foreclosures is still sweeping the country. Figures out today from foreclosure marketer RealityTrac (sic). Las Vegas is the hardest hit area. One out of 25 homes had some kind of foreclosure filing in the third quarter. Now, Cape Coral, Florida had the second highest rate, one in 25 homes; followed by three cities in central California. That is Modesto; one in 36; Stockton, one in 39; and Merced, one in 40 homes.
Well, how did we get into this foreclosure mess in the first place? Our CNN's Colleen McEdwards, she talked to a woman in Atlanta, who may lose her home. Here's her story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COLLEEN MCEDWARDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In one Atlanta house, the foundation of this crisis. Eight years ago, its owner decided to refinance. On food stamps and living on a small monthly pension, 80-year-old Janet Harris says she was offered a $108,000 loan with few questions asked. After two years, her rate adjusted, the payments skyrocketed, and she fell behind.
JANET HARRIS, HOMEOWNER: Well, I feel bad. I didn't want to lose my home. I've been here 30 years. So, anybody wouldn't want to lose their home if you have been here 30 years.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is three months of foreclosure listings for the Atlanta area.
MCEDWARDS (on camera): So this is just three months' worth of foreclosures, just in Atlanta?
BILL BRENNAN, ATLANTA LEGAL AID HOME DEFENSE PROGRAM: Each one is like a small phone book. It's literally like a total failure of public policy. How could this have evolved under our government's system in America?
MCEDWARDS: It is shocking.
BRENNAN: Where people are losing so many houses in neighborhoods like this, but in neighborhoods all over the place.
MCEDWARDS (voice-over): Voyeur Bill Brennan helped Janet Harris restructure her loan and keep her home but she's the exception, not the rule.
BRENNAN: She was made a totally unaffordable loan to feed the securitization process, to get those securities sold.
MCEDWARDS (on camera): And here we are, right?
BRENNAN: Here we are. MCEDWARDS (voice-over): Brennan says minority neighborhoods were targeted to feed the beast of mortgage-backed securities. now it's the same neighborhoods suffering high foreclosure rates.
BRENNAN: The very same major banks and investment banks that got us into this mess to begin with, these big national banks in America, are responsible for the foreclosure crisis at the back end, because they have botched the system for the sake of efficiency and saving money. They have put millions of people into foreclosure without doing the documentation correctly.
MCEDWARDS (on camera): So is it that they are cutting corners on the documentation to speed up the foreclosures?
BRENNAN: They're doing it for two reasons. To speed them up for the purpose of saving money for themselves. And that's -- it's really no surprise to us because we saw the predatory practices that they engaged in, at the front end of this crisis. And now at the end of this crisis, where they're taking millions of hopes, they're absolutely not doing it right.
MCEDWARDS (voice-over): The extent of the problem varies from state to state and the foreclosure process varies, too. But in short, the foreclosure mess is about whether banks can use flawed, possibly even fraudulent documentation to repossess homes.
(on camera): Could this foreclosure mess that we're seeing now lead to another level of the banking crisis, do you think? Is that possible?
BRENNAN: I absolutely do believe that. I mean, I believe that the way it's being handled, which is such bad public policy, is opening the door for another round of bank failures. For 20, 30 years now, Congress and the federal regulators and done what the banks want in America. And now we're seeing the results of that. We're paying the price for the federal government letting the banks call the shots.
MCEDWARDS (voice-over): Few banks have admitted to problems with their foreclosures, though some have suspended the process to investigate. Several investigations are underway by the U.S. government and the Federal Reserve. Preliminary results are expected next month.
Colleen McEdwards, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MALVEAUX: Well, instead of getting depressed over her money troubles, an out of work mom decided to get positive. Elaine Kavan (ph) She gave out free hugs yesterday in front of a courthouse in Dade County, Florida. She even put together a team of helpers reaching out on Facebook. She says lots of people need hugs these days.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) MALVEAUX: Almost 300 people have died from cholera in Haiti. More than 4,000 are sick. Many of them can be saved if they get the right treatment in time.
Our CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta went back to Haiti to find out why that's not happening.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): How could this have happened? That's what Julie Santos wants to know.
JULIE SANTOS, MEDICAL RELIEF WORKER: You have someone there, someone here. Let's connect the dots.
GUPTA: She's talking about trying to contain the outbreak of cholera. Hundreds have died, thousands still in need of treatment.
(on camera): This is where you're told to come get supplies. You arrive here, and if there's patients waiting, what happens?
SANTOS: Well, there are patients waiting.
GUPTA: There's patients waiting for these supplies?
SANTOS: Yes, when we were sending them out to the hospitals out in St. Mark.
GUPTA (voice-over): Where patients are literally begging for hydration, clean water, the cheapest of supplies and yet medical relief worker Julie Santos still waits for hours for her paperwork to be approved before she can get the supplies.
(on camera): How can that happen, that all that life-saving supplies could be in there and people, so many people, hundreds of people still died?
SANTOS: I don't know. I mean, I don't understand. I'm -- I'm at a loss, really. I'm trying to figure out why. I can't really get a straight answer.
GUPTA (voice-over): I wanted to try and understand myself. From this warehouse, a World Health Organization facility has a large stockpile supply here in Haiti.
(on camera): What people have been waiting for, for hours outside and days in hospitals is this: pallets of I.V. fluids; Literally life-saving stuff to treat these patients of cholera, thousands of them. But it's not just that pallet. You take a look at this whole warehouse, full, despite what's happening here in Haiti.
CHRISTIAN MORALES, PAN AM HEALTH ORGANIZATION/WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION: If we send everything that we have here today, tomorrow we cannot answer for 800,000 cases in Port-au-Prince.
GUPTA (voice-over): Christian Morales has the enormous task of helping figure out who gets the supplies and when.
(on camera): Explain to me again how you see supplies here from July of this year, which was before the outbreak?
MORALES: Because, why do you want to send it out before the outbreak?
GUPTA: Why wouldn't you want to send it out after the outbreak?
(voice-over): We never did get a good explanation. What we saw was hydration salts, I.V. fluids still sitting in the warehouse.
(on camera): Why didn't it go fast enough?
MORALES: They -- they -- I think in every operation like this, you can do things better. And there's a lot of lessons to be taken from this. And the country needs to be prepared for what is coming, because the likelihood of spreading of this epidemic is very high.
GUPTA (voice-over): That's something we heard over and over. This epidemic is by no means over.
(on camera): The thousands of people who are saved is -- is a great success story. But hundreds of people have died, and they would say, "Look, I don't understand how all these organizations could have supplies, and hundreds of people still died." And you would say what?
MORALES: Well, again, we have given away to everyone who has come here to us for supplies.
GUPTA (voice-over): But not on this day for Julie Santos. Her paperwork was never approved. And no one could ever tell her why not. She leaves the warehouse empty-handed.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MALVEAUX: Taking a look at top stories. The cleanup has begun after a ferocious line of storms brought on tornados and grounded flights, brought down trees and knocked out power from Mississippi to mid-Atlantic states. Some places recorded wind gusts of more than 70 miles an hour.
The University of Notre Dame is holding a special mass for a student who died yesterday when the camera tower he was standing on fell over in strong winds. The 20-year-old junior was filming the football team practice at the time.
Dollar Tree stores are recalling 682,000 battery-powered Halloween lanterns. Those lanterns can overheat causing fire and burn hazards.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MALVEAUX: Only five days to go until the midterm elections. New poll numbers are out in the battle for the Senate. Our own Paul Steinhauser, he's part of the Best Political Team on Television is joining us live from the political desk in Washington. Paul, it's great to see you. Tell us what's crossing right now. Obviously a lot of numbers to sort through. Looking forward to the next five days.
PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN DEPUTY POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Yes, we are. This is exciting and it's coming really down to the wire. And, Suzanne, that's what I want to talk about on the CNN political ticker and right here.
Let's go through these brand new CNN/Time Opinion Research Corporation polls in some crucial states. Let's talk about the Senate battles. And let's start in Nevada.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid battling for a fifth term facing a very tough reelection. Look at these numbers out from CNN and "Time" and ORC -- 49 percent right now of likely voters in Nevada say they support Sharron Angle. She is the Republican challenger. Forty-five percent for Harry Reid, two percent for Scott Ashjian, a third-party candidate. And Nevada, you're allowed to vote for none of the above or none on the ballot. Three percent say they're doing that. Angle's four-point advantage is within the sampling area. So you can basically consider it neck and neck.
Let's move right on to California. Senator Barbara Boxer, three-term Democratic Senator, fighting for her political life. And right now our poll suggests she has a five-point advantage over Carly Fiorina, the Republican challenger, the former CEO of Hewlett Packard. Again, though, that five-point advantage for Boxer within our poll sampling error, so you can consider that basically a statistic tie.
Let's move on to -- where are we going next? Colorado, let's move to the Rocky Mountains. Same thing there, the Democrat, Bennet, Michael Bennet who is named just last year to the seat at 46 percent. Ken Buck, who is the Republican nominee, 47 percent. That is basically deadlocked in Colorado.
Moving on to Pennsylvania. This is the open Senate seat. Arlen Specter, the Democrat, lost in the primary. He lost to Joe Sestak, the Congressman from southeast Pennsylvania, 45 percent. Former Congressman Pat Toomey, at 49 percent. The Republican challenger there, again within the sampling area. Basically all tied up in Pennsylvania.
And I want to show you one other one -- that's Kentucky. Very bitter race in Kentucky. Take a look at these numbers because this is one race where the Republicans have the seat and our polls indicate that in Kentucky right now, Rand Paul, who is backed by people in the Tea Party movement at 50 percent. Jack Conway, the Kentucky Attorney General there, the Democratic nominee at 43 percent. That seven-point margin could fall right around our sampling area.
So, boy, a lot of new numbers. This will come down to Tuesday night, the control of the Senate, Suzanne.
MALVEAUX: Paul, it seems like all these numbers, it's just neck and neck These are some real nail biters. STEINHAUSER: They really are. And, you know, a lot of these races, some of these races actually may not be over on Tuesday night. Remember in 2006, the Democrats didn't win back the Senate until two days later when they won in Virginia. So this may extend past Tuesday night, into Wednesday or Thursday or longer. So stay tuned for that.
MALVEAUX: All right, Paul. We're going to have a long week ahead. Thanks again, Paul.
Your next political update in just an hour. For the latest political news, you know where to go, CNNPolitics.com.
Gospel singer Yolanda Adams, she is wrapping up an interview with President Obama on her radio show and then she talks to me. Next hour in the NEWSROOM.
From drug and alcohol addiction to the World Series, Josh Hamilton's remarkable rise from rock bottom. It is a must see, also in the next hour of CNN NEWSROOM.
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MALVEAUX: The Giants and Rangers meet in game two of the World Series tonight. San Francisco beat Texas, 11 to 7 in game one last night. Ben Reiter from "Sports Illustrated" joins us from San Francisco to talk a little baseball this morning.
Full disclosure, Ben, I am a total nerd. I don't know very much about baseball. But I do understand, I'm not the only newcomer. That after 50 years, it was the Texas Rangers' first-time World Series opener. It seems like a big deal.
BEN REITER, WRITER, "SPORTS ILLUSTRATED": Absolutely, it was. You know, here in San Francisco, they encountered an atmosphere that was absolutely frenetic last night. It was a real party down there by the waterfront. People were dressed up in costumes. They were wearing fake beards in honor of reliever Brian Wilson, panda hats in honor of Pablo Sandoval. After the first inning they brought out Tony Bennett to sing "I Left my Heart in San Francisco," which is something I've never seen during a game, at least after the first inning.
All this really seemed to combine to throw the Rangers off a little bit, especially after the first two innings. They had their ace, Cliff Lee, on the mound. The Giants got to him in a way that he hasn't been gotten to in his postseason career. They ended up running away with this one and won, 11-7, in what has to be classified as a surprise.
MALVEAUX: And Ben, I have to mention the claw and antlers. What's up with this? Tell us what this is. Tell me about it.
REITER: This is something that the Rangers' players and fans do. I guess the claw is this and that's what they do when their team does something good offensively. The Antlers is like this. OK? And this is when they do something that's speed-related. They didn't have many opportunities to do it last night. At least until the late innings when they made it kind of closer than maybe it appeared for most of the game. But we'll probably see more of that stuff once we get back to Texas for game three.
MALVEAUX: It makes it all very entertaining, Ben. And, of course, I have to show you, I mean, this is not baseball, but basketball. There's this crazy fan. We love this video here. The video of the day. I want you to check it out. This guy is dancing, the New York Nets fan.
Take a listen to this.
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ANNOUNCER: All the dancers aren't attractive young ladies. The bench now leads (ph) the Nets bench. All the dancers aren't
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MALVEAUX: Just five days until the midterm elections. First Lady Michelle Obama is using every tool in her arsenal to appeal to female voters on the West Coast. I was out there covering every step of her three-day campaign. One of the stops was the "Ellen DeGeneres Show." She danced her way on set, but she took a much more serious tone during the interview, reflecting the mood of the country.
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MALVEAUX (voice-over): Michelle Obama appears on "Ellen," Thursday. Taking on the critics.
ELLEN DEGENERES, HOST, "THE ELLEN DEGENERES SHOW": How do you deal with it as a family?
MICHELLE OBAMA, FIRST LADY OF THE UNITED STATES: It's part of the job. And that's the good thing about the campaign. It really gets you prepared for all the hard knocks that come along with making really tough decisions.
MALVEAUX: Taking on the bullies.
M. OBAMA: What I tell my kids is that it is their responsibility to not stay silent when they see something like that happen.
MALVEAUX: And with Second Lady Jill Biden imploring Americans to support Military spouses.
JILL BIDEN, SECOND LADY OF THE UNITED STATES: One percent of Americans are serving in the Military but we need 100 percent support of Americans to support our Military.
MALVEAUX: On script. On message. For Michelle Obama, this West Coast campaign swing is all about winning back that critical voting bloc -- Women. As first lady, her popularity rating is 20 points higher than her husband's, which could make her the administration's best hope for saving the president's agenda.
ANITA MCBRIDE, LAURA BUSH'S FORMER CHIEF OF STAFF: The president can't be everywhere. The first lady can't be everywhere. But combined they can cover a lot of territory. So they do have a responsibility, first ladies do, to be a political partner.
MALVEAUX: Former First Lady Laura Bush, like Mrs. Obama, was a reluctant campaigner, more popular than her husband. Now life after the White House has given her the opportunity to soften the Bush legacy with humor. Tuesday, she appeared at the same women's conference as Michelle Obama in California.
LAURA BUSH, FORMER FIRST LADY OF THE UNITED STATES: This is the Laura Bush bobble head doll. I got this from a friend of mine who found it in the gift shop of the Constitutional Center in Philadelphia a few weeks after the election. It was on the clearance shelf.
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When you live in the White House, when you're a bobble head inside a bubble, reality can get a little warped. When you're married to the President of the United States, you don't worry too much about him leaving his wet towels on the floor. But in Dallas, things are different.
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BUSH: Memo to the ex-president. Turmoil in the east team war is no longer than excuse to not pick up your socks.
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MALVEAUX: Laura Bush is now clearly liberated from the White House. But even her campaigning for midterms in 2006 couldn't save the Republicans from losing their majority. Just five days from now, we're going to potentially see the impact of Michelle Obama.
