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President Obama on "The Daily Show"; 20-Year-Old Female Police Chief; MGM Bankruptcy Expected; Donating your Body after Death; Sampling Voters Appetites; 305 Dead in Haiti's Cholera Outbreak; Puerto Rico Rocks the Vote

Aired October 28, 2010 - 13:00   ET

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

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: I know. We are officially taking over. Watch out everyone.

Thanks, Suzanne. I'll talk to you soon.

Hi, everybody. No, Ali Velshi did not grow hair. I am Kate Bolduan in for Ali Velshi for at least a portion of today. And here's a look on the rundown. Let's take a look at it all.

Tapping into the minds of voters. Five crucial days before the election. Our Don Lemon is live in Michigan. We'll be talking to him.

And thousands sick and hundreds dead from a cholera outbreak in Haiti. Our Chief Medical Correspondent, Sanjay Gupta, is on the ground in Port-au-Prince. We'll check in with him.

Plus, how can you forget this family? I keep talking about it. I almost have dreams of them sometimes. Balloon boy ring a bell? Well, dad is back trying to strike it rich. The product he's pushing he's hoping you will buy.

He's described his own show as "fake news" but nowadays Jon Stewart and "The Daily Show" makes news and I am a big fan. We've got the rally to restore sanity this weekend and he's just landed the VIP of all VIP guests maybe in the world. President Barack Obama spending half an hour with Stewart last night.

Check out his intro.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JON STEWART, HOST, "THE DAILY SHOW": Please join me in welcoming the President of the United States, Barack Obama.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

STEWART: Does that happen to you wherever you go? Is that just a wild -- because when you guys go to work, do people typically applaud? It's a nice feeling.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It was a wonderful welcome. It does not happen, for example, when I go to the Republic Caucus Meeting.

STEWART: I see.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Much more to see and analyze from the president's appearance last night. And Keith Dominick is here to help. He's got a longer list of titles than I know how to handle.

So, he's got both politics and comedy (INAUDIBLE) to face as CNN's new program "WHAT A WEEK" correspondence for "JOHN KING USA" and just by the way you also have the show -- political show STAND UP WITH PETE DOMINICK on Sirius XM and just a little side note. You did warm up for both Jon Stewart and The Colbert Report.

PETE DOMINICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I did warm-up for "The Colbert Report" for five years up until CNN snatched me in March for "JOHN KING USA." I started at 'The Daily Show" and did at least a year on that show. So, yes, I know a lot of those guys. I call them friends and --

BOLDUAN: You're incredible to be talking about this topic.

DOMINICK: I think so. I'm a comedian and I do a political show three hours a day on the radio. So, yes, let's go.

BOLDUAN: Let's do it. Well, first off, I want to get to a sound bite which I think is a little interesting. The first time maybe anyone has ever called President Obama "dude" in public.

Do we have that guys?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: In fairness, Larry Summers did a heck of a job trying to figure out how to --

STEWART: You don't want to use that phrase, dude.

OBAMA: Pun intended.

STEWART: All right.

DOMINICK: Well, to be fair, Larry King once called President Roosevelt "dude", but that was not caught on tape anywhere. But, hey, to be the president that's got to be a little weird -- everybody calls you Mr. President probably outside his family. So, it's going to be weird for him to hear too. But the heck of a job comment -- whoops.

BOLDUAN: For a second, I thought he literally slipped up and then I started thinking maybe he intended and then I kind of went back and thought, I don't think he meant to say that.

DOMINICK: No, I don't think so either. That's going to make some headlines. BOLDUAN: So, also a little interesting I that it seemed a little less funny than I thought it was going to be. It went pretty serious. I mean, Jon Stewart, kind of took it to him.

DOMINICK: Yes, he did. But that's, you know, just the media I feel has this so wrong. They think everything -- they're supposed to decide who Jon Stewart is and what The Daily Show is. Not so. Jon and The Daily Show decide and we the viewers decide. Jon's a really funny guy. But we comedians like to take serious issues and serious people and do serious interviews and slide a little funny in to keep sometimes boring but important issues interesting to the viewer and important. And Jon Stewart is talking to the president. Talks about the president every night. He wants to ask him the questions he wants to ask. And he made some jokes. He made plenty of jokes.

BOLDUAN: He did make plenty of jokes.

DOMINICK: He called him "dude.

BOLDUAN: Jon, right there. Game, set, match. What did you think of the president's performance? Wolf Blitzer just said the other day, he said, one thing that I learned (INAUDIBLE) The Daily Show, he said try not to be funny. Don't try to out funny the comedian.

DOMINICK: Well, I think the president's a really funny guy. He think he's proven that over and over at correspondence dinners and those performances, but off-the cuff. And at the beginning, (INAUDIBLE) beginning of the interview the president was really funny. When I think a funny person as a comedian I think someone's funny not when someone scripts a joke for you and it's performed. But when you can off-the-cuff, you know, deliver a joke. And at the beginning, the president made a joke off-the-cuff and, you know, it was a good one. That's not easy to do in the moment under the lights even when you're the president.

So, most of the interview wasn't funny and you have a sneaky suspicion as political advisors like, Mr. President don't be funny on Comedy Central. And (INAUDIBLE)

BOLDUAN: So you had to have that conversation with the president.

DOMINICK: Yes, but who knows?

BOLDUAN: OK, let's take a listen to another -- it was a pretty smart exchange having to do with healthcare.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEWART: You ran with such, if I may, audacity. So much of what you said was great leaders lead in a time of opportunity. We're the ones we're looking for. Yet, legislatively, it is felt timid at times that I'm not even sure at times what you want out of a healthcare bill.

OBAMA: And this is -- Jon, I love your show, but

STEWART: (INAUDIBLE) interview.

OBAMA: --but this is something where, you know, I have a profound disagreement with you and -- I don't want to lump you in with a lot of other (INAUDIBLE) but this notion -- no, no, look this notion that healthcare was timid. You've got 30 million people who are going to get health insurance as a consequence of this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: I think you kind of felt the hair thicken up in the back

DOMINICK: Well, I didn't.

BOLDUAN: OK, sorry. I did. I'm very (INAUDIBLE)

DOMINICK: Well, you know, that's -- Jon Stewart knows his stuff. He understands his issues.

BOLDUAN: Right. Oh, he's very smart.

DOMINICK: To be fair, this is the guy who took out Jim Cramer. This is the guy -- he makes a lot of news when he talks to important people. And we comedians -- I won't speak for Jon -- we see ourselves as maybe a little different. Maybe we can ask any question we want and we should, you know. I think everybody -- I think you should -- I think everybody in the media should ask any question.

This whole deference to the office to the president, not necessarily. I think criticizing from the left healthcare didn't go far enough. But, to be fair, the president defends himself on that.

BOLDUAN: (INAUDIBLE) time to do that.

DOMINICK: He did. He did.

BOLDUAN: We don't have much more time for usual. But, let's quick talk about this weekend.

DOMINICK: Yes, yes, we're both there.

BOLDUAN: We're both going to be there. A lot of people are saying (INAUDIBLE) because they don't know what to expect. Is it going to be political? Is it going to be satire? What do you --

DOMINICK: Well, I worked The Colbert Report for five years, like we said and at The Daily Show for a long time where I got my start and these guys, Jon Stewart and Steven Colbert, are the masters of mystery.

I was at The Colbert Report on Tuesday warming up the audience. None of the staff -- and they're all coming -- there's a huge party -- I'll get you in. None of the staff knows what's going to happen. Nobody knows who's performing. BOLDUAN: Really?

DOMINICK: No, not even -- they keep that stuff quiet and we don't know. But there's going to be a lot of people (INAUDIBLE) buses coming from all over -- we'll see how many and we'll see what they say. But they never -- do they ever disappoint Colbert and Jon Stewart? Not yet. We'll see.

BOLDUAN: We'll see. We'll both be there. It will be fun.

All right. We'll talk to you in another hour.

DOMINICK: All right, yes.

BOLDUAN: Thanks so much, Pete.

DOMINICK: Can I run away now?

BOLDUAN: You can run away. We've already gone off the track. No one else would take the job. This is very interesting. They saw it as a death warrant. No one, that is, except a 20-year-old mother. Now the police chief of a small town in the heart of Mexico's drug war. Her amazing story plus a live interview with the top DEA official who knows about the challenges she's facing.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BOLDUAN: Now a story of a courageous young woman facing deadly odds. What would you do if you lived in a small town, your police chief is beheaded by drug gangs, and his head is placed at the door of the police station. Making matters even worse, no one will take over the job of police chief.

This is what happened in a very small town in the heart of Mexico's drug war. But in this case, a very brave 20-year-old mother is now the police chief. Her town isn't far from El Paso, Texas, in the Juarez Valley, often referred to as the Valley of Death.

Listen to what Mariso Garcia (ph) says about her new job and it's very dangerous.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you know how to shoot a gun?

GARCIA: No.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Have you ever shot a gun?

GARCIA: No.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you afraid of the drug traffickers? Are you afraid of the drug cartel?

GARCIA (through translator): I have fear. I am afraid for my security, but this is natural for the chief of police. Yes, I am afraid, but we're very focused on prevention.

BOLDUAN: Garcia is a university student and the mother of a seven-month-old son. Before she took on her new job, her town of about 8,000 had been without a police chief for nearly 18 months. As you heard her say, she doesn't have a gun, she doesn't even know how to shoot on. In fact, her entire department has only two pistols. The department's only vehicle has been shot up by drug gangs. The gangs also have used the department's front door for target practice.

Terrifying. So, why did she take this job? Listen to her answer to that question.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GARCIA (through translator): Well, at the beginning I didn't think about the risks of becoming a police chief. But I wanted the job because of my young son. It's part of my dream to establish the calm and create the peace. I don't care about my age. I care more about what's in my heart. That's why I'm doing it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Those are incredibly brave words. Does she really know what she's up against, though? Joining us to talk about that and the broad implications of her story, here with me, Raphael Garcia, CNN Senior Latin Affairs, Editor. And in Washington, Anthony Placido, he's the Chief of Intelligence for the Drug Enforcement Administration.

Thanks for joining me both.

But, Raphael, let's first talk about no one else would take this job.

RAPHAEL GARCIA: We spoke with her last week and that was the first question that I had. And her answer was the mayor of my town came to me with a very interesting proposal. He's always known that I am very concerned about the community and he wanted somebody to take that position.

She has never fired a gun, like she said. She has very little experience. She's a criminology student. But the proposal was take the job and you are going to act more as a community policing chief, not a sheriff in the traditional sense of the word.

BOLDUAN: That's what I wanted to ask you about. It's not exactly -- it's not the traditional police chief. Explain that a little more. Then what is her role?

GARCIA: What she told us is that she is going to be a liaison for the community. She is going to go there, talk to the community, see what their needs are, but if anything major happens, she's not going to be the one facing the cartels. It's actually going to be the state police who are going to bring their resources -- they have the weapons and the resources to truly face the cartels. And listen she has the force of 13 police officers, nine are women. And so she's doing this more from the community perspective, not so much the law enforcement side of (INAUDIBLE).

BOLDUAN: Interesting. Well, let's talk about the law enforcement side and bring in Anthony Placido in Washington. Thank you so much, Mr. Placido for joining us.

From your perspective, especially talking about this region, what kind of challenges is she facing?

ANTHONY PLACIDO, CHIEF OF INTELLIGENCE, DEA: Well, good afternoon, Kate. Unfortunately, the new chief will face enormous challenges. Those challenges stem from drug trafficking and transnational organized crime, but they translate to a sense of lawlessness throughout much of the state that she will be working in.

BOLDUAN: In terms of -- I know we are talking about, you know, the Juarez region of northern Mexico, but is there any support that they DEA -- the U.S. law enforcement can offer to her to try to help her succeed in this very dangerous job she's taken on.

PLACIDO: Well, the United States government and the Obama administration are working very closely with the government of Mexico under an initiative to help break the power and impunity of these cartels, to help restore the rule of law in Mexico and build stronger, resilient communities, among other things.

But I have to say in candor that the job that we have ahead of us is enormous and just providing the kind of assistance that we need to our federal counterparts taxes the resources of the U.S. government.

When you get below that to state police organizations and ultimately to a small municipal organization like Marisol will be heading, it will be very difficult for us to provide the kind of support that she really needs.

BOLDUAN: Real quickly, because I know we're running out of time a little bit, this role that she has is kind of more of a kind of a community police, community development, if you will.

What do you think of that new role that the mayor kind of proposed to her instead of being the traditional police chief in the sense of the word?

PLACIDO: Well, I think it's -- it's very innovative and we certainly credit the mayor and the new chief with patriotism, courage and initiative.

But I think that the role of community policing is going to be very difficult to succeed at unless and until they can break the power impunity of these criminal organizations that are largely operating as autonomous entities within that area.

And the state has really got to bring them under control before you're going to have solid community policing in any part of that region.

BOLDUAN: Absolutely. Bottom line, it sounds like she has many more challenges ahead of her. All right, with the DEA, Anthony Placido. Thank you so much for joining us. Rafael, as always, thank you so much

A major Hollywood studio may be forced into bankruptcy and the ripple effect could wipe out a beloved movie franchise. That's next in your money.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BOLDUAN: That was from MGM's "Gold Finger." The most famous Bond movie of all time and one of my favorites, James Bond is the biggest franchise of the MGM Motion Picture house. All of it's on hold and .007's future isn't looking pretty though. Some say there may never be another Bond.

MGM, the golden child studio of Hollywood's golden age may file Chapter 11 bankruptcy as early as Sunday. You probably remember that famous lion roaring at the start of every MGM movie. I know I do.

Let me tell you though a little bit more about MGM and its red carpet past. The studio is 86 years old and is responsible for a lot of America's most famous movies. "Gone with the Wind," Wizard of Oz," Gold Finger, of course, "Poltergeist" just to name a few.

But the sputtering economy has dulled the glitz and glam of this iconic Hollywood darling. MGM is about $4 billion in the red, but its troubles aren't really new. For starters, MGM's real value is in its library of thousands of past blockbusters.

The royalties received go to creating new movies. But when no one's using all of their -- using all their old films, there's no money really to make the new stuff. MGM's fate really boils down to a few factors.

Its leadership has changed hands a lot over the past 40 years. The rise of movie downloads on the web and on phones has resulted in less revenue for MGM. Add to that our current financial crisis and that doesn't make for a good combination at all.

A producer puts it this way. MGM was standing, looking over a grave already. The financial crisis gave them the last push in. Now, there are two likely scenarios for the movie house that they are facing.

One, it'll get bought. Bought out and broken up, which will probably mean an end to the franchise -- to franchises like James Bond.

The other option is that someone will buy MGM whole and try to restore it. We'll be following the story to see if MGM's lion will continue to have its roar.

Next, got a lot coming up. Next, 10 uses for your body after you die. You'll want to hear a little bit more about this one with Elizabeth Cohen, coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BOLDUAN: Donating your body after death is probably not as the top of your charity list, but senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen is here to tell us 10 ways it could benefit others in the spirit of Halloween. We all are interested in giving to charity, but this is a little bit different. Tell us about it.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: This is a little bit different. We started thinking because of the spirit of the season, seeing all those skeletons hanging around, what can you do to help other people after you die?

So we started thinking, well, some things are relatively obvious or should be obvious people should know about. You can be an organ donor. You can donate tissues such as your corneas and other kinds of tissues to help people. What a lot of people don't know is you don't have to wait to get your licensed renewed.

People think that's the time. You go online, print out this little card and just sign it. You keep it in your wallet. That's good enough. I'm going to give you one. I know you and I are both organ donors. We can sign these and keep these in our wallets.

BOLDUAN: Two forms. What if you want to go beyond donating your organs? Is there another cause to help mankind in this manner?

COHEN: I didn't really know if there was or wasn't. Once we started this research, I was overwhelmed. We find nine other uses for your body after death. You can donate your organs and tissue and you can do other things.

For example, did you know that you can donate your body parts to something called the muter museum, which is in Philadelphia, and they have on display all sorts of body parts and their use for education for people who just happen to walk in.

In addition, they're used for researchers. They come in. This gentleman here, he works at the museum. He's already donated his hips. He had to have his hips replaced.

So those are his real hips in those glass jars. He's given them to the museum. In addition, when he passes away he says they can take anything they want and people can learn from them.

BOLDUAN: It's partly research, right?

COHEN: Partly research and partly just whoever pays the price of admission.

BOLDUAN: Seems like there's a museum for everything.

COHEN: There is a museum or you know, the Body Worlds exhibit. Have you heard of that? You can do that, too. You can offer up our body for plastination (ph).

BOLDUAN: What if you don't want your body on display, but you also want to contribute? What can you do?

COHEN: You can do that too. So for example, you could donate your body to be dissected by first-year medical students. They're going to learn what they're doing, right? You don't want them practicing on real people.

You can also donate your body to be used by what some people affectionately call body brokers. These folks will take your body and give it to researchers who need it or people who need the parts to help patients, you know, that kind of thing.

BOLDUAN: Is there money in this or is this purely charity?

COHEN: You don't get paid for donating your body or body parts. But what can happen is some of these places will pay to get your body from the place of death to the processing facility.

They will also pay them for the cremation after they've done whatever it is they want to do with you. So that doesn't sound like much, but actually, that can save your family a whole lot of money. This is relatively new that these places will sort of help you out financially.

BOLDUAN: Who knew?

COHEN: Who knew?

BOLDUAN: You can even help after death.

COHEN: It's good to be helpful all the time.

BOLDUAN: I think a lot of people are going -- do we have to talk about this right now? It is important. Sign your organ donor card, right?

COHEN: It is important to know, here's a pen.

BOLDUAN: I'll get to it in the break. For more uses for your body after you die, you can check out Elizabeth's Empowered Patient column. It's awesome. I read it. It's on our website, cnn.com/health.

If we need to remind you, we will one more time because it's that important. We're down to the final five days before mid-term elections. CNN's Don Lemon serves up some voter sentiment, live from a diner outside Detroit, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

***30 (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BOLDUAN: All week we've been rolling through the Midwest, my area of hometown. Ahead of mid-term elections, with just five days to go, most of us, I'm sure you probably are, are probably full up to about here with attack ads and supposedly candid candidates. At this point, we want to hear from the voters and that's what CNN's Don Lemon is doing. He's making his way through Michigan in a diner near Detroit.

I'm going to be in the "D" for Thanksgiving, Don. So what are you hearing out there?

DON LEMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Then you know Madison Heights, Kate. That's where we are. We're at Leo's Country Oven. It's an amazing, amazing diner. We love it.

Hey, listen, I'm sitting here talking to Mike (ph). This is his designated seat, he comes in almost every day. But Mike came up to me and you said, hey, Don, I want to talk to you because I have some concerns.

MIKE, DINER PATRON: Yes. My concerns are, I think what the country really needs is inspiration. Instead of talking about how scary and how bad the other guy is, talk about solutions to the problems that we have today.

LEMON: Rather than sniping and talking about that guy is bad, that guy is bad.

MIKE: Exactly, yes.

LEMON: Jobs, too, your big concern?

MIKE: Of course.

LEMON: Mike, thank you, appreciate it. We're going to let you get back to your lunch.

Let's go back here. Let's talk to the owner. The owner is Leo. Leo is back here in the kitchen. Come on. Follow us through here.

Leo, how you doing, man? You're back here working. Sorry to interrupt you.

Listen, providing jobs, you said that's the biggest concern for people here in Michigan.

LEO, OWNER, LEO'S COUNTRY OVER: Of course.

LEMON: You want to keep all of these employees.

LEO: Of course.

LEMON: You've suffered a bit of a turndown with the economy.

LEO: A little bit. But I always have a little bit of work overflow. So it's not that bad.

LEMON: What are people saying as they come in? Do you hear them talking about the election on Tuesday?

LEO: Mostly people are concerned about the jobs for the future and the next generation.

LEMON: That seems to be the theme here. Go back to work. Thank you, sir. We appreciate your hospitality here and the good food. We've been getting some great food here.

I want to talk to, Kate, some older voters. Because they are -- really have some insight on what's going on with the country. Especially my friend here, Cybil (ph), there she is, and then there's Ayn (ph), we've been hanging out for a little bit. They've been giving me an earful as well.

You said that you have -- you've already voted, right?

CYBIL, DINER PATRON: Oh, yes. And I've built 50 years on AD (ph) in the city. I've retired this year.

LEMON: How old are you?

CYBIL: Eighty-eight.

LEMON: You worked until you were 88?

CYBIL: Yes.

LEMON: You've seen it all.

CYBIL: I came through Hoover and Roosevelt and all through it. Now, the three important things -- the thing important to me in my city, of course, is education. The three important things that has happened in my lifetime was Social Security, the civil rights bill, and hopefully, this medical bill that we're fighting for. They happen to be -- I don't know if I should say this -- they all happened to be Democrats that worked on them.

LEMON: You can say whatever you want.

CYBIL: It was all Democrats. No Bush. No Republican ever tackled these big issues.

LEMON: You said you've been through it when it was really bad, and this isn't bad.

CYBIL: Oh, I came from -- it was worse in my day and age.

LEMON: Ayn, and you going into the election, what's on your mind?

AYN, DINER PATRON: Oh, there's a lot on my mind.

The first thing I'd like to do is kick most of the politicians out of the scene. They're not working with each other. The American people deserve better than that.

But the main -- my main concern are the jobs and, of course, education. If you don't educate the people, you're not going to have -- the employers aren't going to have the jobs to fill. They won't be able to fill the jobs they have for them.

But multinational corporations are my biggest beef and that -- the tax structure that they were allowed to work under. And President Obama has tried to tackle that, but it keeps getting filibustered.

LEMON; And you can see, we're talking to all these people. We have been around this entire diner. People coming in just to talk to us. And some people, we're just sort of asking them what they want to hear about.

You can see, Kate, these people are very plugged into the issues and they know what's going on. And as you heard most of them say, they don't care about the negative ads, they want to know about jobs and security in the country.

We're going to continue our tour here, so we're hanging out. Tomorrow, Cleveland. When you come here, when you come to the big "D" as you say, come check out Leo's Country Oven. Some great folks here and some great food, Kate.

BOLDUAN: We absolutely will. It's been a brutal few years for the economy in Detroit, I can only imagine that it is playing big in this election. But we will watch and listen as you are getting an earful from voters. So keep it up, Don. Thank you so much, man.

LEMON: All right, thank you.

BOLDUAN: And as we countdown to election day, CNN is bringing you an unprecedented documentary, "BOILING POINT: INSIDE THE TEA PARTY." See who and what makes up this political movement. It airs this Saturday and Sunday at 8:00 p.m. Eastern right here on CNN.

And a tough story, people dying of cholera. Warehouses full of medicine. Why is this happening in Haiti? Dr. Sanjay Gupta joins us live, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BOLDUAN: Checking "Top Stories" now.

Help is now slowly reaching remote villages in Indonesia flattened by Monday's powerful earthquake and tsunami. At least 343 people died, another 340 are missing. In the meantime, Mount Merapi continues to erupt. It's already killed more than 30 people.

And protesters are pushing for the resignation of a school board member who posted anti-gay comments on Facebook. Apparently, Clint McCannes (ph), VP of an Arkansas School District, wrote on his page he wants gays to commit suicide, repeatedly using anti-gay slogans. Because McCannes is an elected official, they state's Department of Education cannot discipline him directly, but have condemned his comments.

Also, in L.A., L.A. Laker Ron Artest is raffling his NBA championship ring. Listen up, he announced the move on "LARRY KING LIVE" last night. Artest saying counseling helped him turn around his life and now he plans to give the proceeds to charity that provides mental health counseling to kids who otherwise can't afford it.

Time for "Globe Trekking" now. Destination, Haiti. The death toll from that cholera outbreak, shown in red on our map, has climbed to more than 300. CNN's chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, joins me now by the phone from the capital, Port-au-Prince.

Sanjay, I was just taking a look at some comments about the outbreak so far. An official with the Pan American Health Organization said that they're seeing very rapid, very explosive outbreak with a very steep academic learning curve.

What does this mean on the ground? What are you seeing?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (via telephone): Well, you know, for a period of time, you saw, obviously, the increase in numbers last week and then there seemed to be some sort of plateauing of the numbers if you looked at them closely.

But what they're referring to and what people are very concerned about here on the ground is that about a week, two weeks after the initial outbreak, you can get a sudden resurgence of cases. The reason being, Kate, that a lot of people can carry around this bacteria in their bodies and not even know that they're sick. They don't become sick. They are carriers and they can unwittingly sort of put this bacteria in lots of different places around the country.

They never even know that they're doing it, but as a result, all of a sudden you start to see clusters of outbreaks in all these different areas around the country. The numbers obviously would be much higher exponentially so.

So that's -- that's sort of what they're preparing for. They have a lot of supplies that they're getting into the country. A lot of them are being kept in warehouses and they're saying that they're planning to distribute them should an outbreak like that become evident.

BOLDUAN: And correct me if I'm wrong, of course, Sanjay, but it sounds like some of the most frustrating parts about the fact that this outbreak is continuing is that cholera isn't necessarily hard to fight or cure, for a lack of a better term.

So what needs to be done? If the supplies are in the warehouses, why the wait to get them out to the people?

GUPTA: You're absolutely right. I mean, it is very frustrating. This is one of those diseases, Kate, where if you treat it, the person lives and does just fine, and if you don't, they have a very high chance of dying from it. So you don't see many things like that in medicine.

You know, it's a tough answer to your question. There is a lot of supplies which have been sitting there for months in these warehouses. Lifesaving supplies that are still sitting there, despite the fact that hundreds of people have died. There's no good way to explain that, I think. If you ask them, what they will say is that we have to always anticipate what may be coming next. So if all of a sudden tomorrow there are thousands of cases in Port-au-Prince, we have to be ready for that as well. That's what they will tell you.

The thing about it, Kate, to your earlier point, is this is not some expensive machinery or really expensive medications. These are the most basic lifesaving supplies that you could think of. It's fluids, it's salt and it's cheap and it's easy to get around and you can get more of it, and I don't know why more of it wasn't distributed.

I think a lot of those deaths that you just reported, the numbers, they could have been prevented in this case because it is such a treatable infection.

BOLDUAN: Such an amazingly hard thing to comprehend, but at the same time, as you've said, they have to prepare for even more if it comes. But we've got eyes and years on the ground and you, Sanjay. So thank you so much, we'll definitely be checking back in with you.

GUPTA: Thanks, Kate.

BOLDUAN: Again, as we count down to election day, a nation where voter turnout is much higher than it is in the U.S. Their approach to getting people to the polls, next.

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BOLDUAN: Every day on this show we, Ali, does a segment called "The Big I." It's all about big ideas and innovations. Today's "Big I" is the vote.

We are five days from the mid-term election, but we've been voting in this country since the 1700s. People fought and died for the right for all women and men to vote, but millions of people still don't get to the polls. That's why we talk about get out the vote efforts all the time.

But the people of Puerto Rico are an exception to that statement. They come out in droves to vote. Look at this graphic we've got. The red line is voter turnout in the United States. The blue line, significantly better, is the voter turnout in Puerto Rico. Why? What are we talking about here?

To walk us through these numbers is the president and founder of the New York City-based nonprofit and nonpartisan organization, National Institute for Latino Policy, Angelo Falcon.

Thanks so much for joining me, Angelo.

ANGELO FALCON, PRESIDENT & FOUNDER, NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR LATINO POLICY: Nice to be here.

BOLDUAN: These are very interesting numbers and there are two major points to talk about here.

First off, let's talk about Puerto Rico. What brings out the voters?

FALCON: Well, Puerto Rico is a commonwealth of the United States. It's part of the United States. What happened was when -- politically over the years, the government decided that it need to mobilize voters in Puerto Rico to legitimize its status.

And so, what happened is that instituted a number of measures that basically promoted the participation of people from all social classes in the political process. So things like making election day a holiday, things like having the government provide funding to the political parties that to do kind of a census type door-to-door voter registration.

Things like that, as well as the fact that in Puerto Rico compared to the United States, historically there's been fewer elections. A major election once every four years where sometimes here it seems like there's an election every week for something.

All those kind of factors, you put them together and they've resulted in a higher rate of voter participation and one that is also not class sensitive. In other words, poor people participate in voting as much as upper-class people in Puerto Rico, which is not the case here in the United States.

BOLDUAN: And that is very fascinating.

Let's talk a little bit about the -- the numbers for Puerto Rico, because it's not all good news. If you looked at the graphic that we showed, there is a decline in the past decade.

FALCON: Exactly.

BOLDUAN: What's the source? What's behind that?

FALCON: Well, ironically, the source is Puerto Rico now beginning to adopt American-style politics. So that the types of measures that they used in the past to mobilize people, now as Puerto Rico becomes more Americanized politically, that is candidate-centered campaigns, the use of all this polling and political consultants.

The impact of technology, you know, the kids playing with Nintendo and people not going out into the street. Because the other thing about Puerto Rican politics is that it's very colorful. You have caravans going through the streets, music. All of this type of thing is going by the wayside now as the effects, as I said, of technology, of Americanization, of the political process takes hold.

And also there are a hell of a lot more elections in Puerto Rico than ever before. Even though Puerto Ricans can't vote for the U.S. president, the political parties, the Democrats and the Republicans, hold primaries in Puerto Rico for the presidential candidates. So all of this stuff is overloading maybe voters in Puerto Rico. So we're dangerously approaching the U.S. patterns of participation, which is not a good sign.

BOLDUAN: Should we call it voter fatigue creep over to Puerto Rico?

Is there anything going on? Are there efforts in Puerto Rico taking place to try to bolster that kind of enthusiasm that they had before to get them to get out the vote so to stop this decline?

FALCON: Well, no, not anymore. I mean, what's happening is that there is this kind of process going on where, as I said, they're adopting more and more American-style ways of organizing elections.

And also, there's an increasing crisis as there is in this country, economic crisis in Puerto Rico, which is increasing the cynicism of voters down there. It's a situation where this has been a long-term situation. We've seen this kind of decline in participation in Puerto Rico.

But the case of Puerto Rico, what it does show, however, is that it is possible, if the government wants to do this, to basically develop a system that can get poor people as well as rich people out to the polls. It is possible to do it and the Puerto Rican case demonstrates that possibility.

BOLDUAN: And some conversations going on in the U.S. is should they make voting mandatory? We'll see how that goes.

FALCON: Yes.

BOLDUAN: So, Angelo Falcon, thank you so very much for joining us today. Very interesting.

FALCON: It's my pleasure.

BOLDUAN: And to get all of the information that you need to be an informed voter, head to CNNPolitics.com.

Former President Bush admits he has a favorite toy. We'll discuss that and the latest political stories with a member of our "Best Political Team on Television" next.

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BOLDUAN: It's the homestretch until midterm elections. Just five days left, people, count it down. The balance of power in Congress is on the line. A lot is going on, so there's a lot to talk about. Let's get an update for you on the key political stories developing right now. Senior White House correspondent Ed Henry, part of "The Best Political Team on Television."

Ed, what have you got?

ED HENRY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kate, you're doing a great job.

And it's interesting, because Mike Huckabee is in the news. Our own Peter Hamby (ph) of our CNN Political Unit caught up with him, and he's kind of lashing out at the Democratic National Committee. There's an ABC News report that the DNC was seeking information from the Pentagon on nine prominent Republicans that may run for president down the road, including Huckabee.

Huckabee said since he ran for president last time and was, in his own words, considered an asterisk to some, he calls it flattering that maybe the Democrats are doing some dirt-digging on him. And he basically said this shows, quote, "They know they're going to get wiped out next Tuesday. They wouldn't be looking down the road in two years if they thought they really had any shot at winning these races next week."

Mike Huckabee speaking out. Expect we'll hear a lot more from him and Mitt Romney, some of the other Republican hopefuls November 3rd right after those midterms.

Secondly, President Obama, what is he going to be doing after the election? Just two days after the midterms, he's heading on a big foreign trip. He'll be in India for three days. He's going to be laying a wreath at the tomb of Mahatma Gandhi. There's going to be a state dinner in his honor. A lot of business meetings, but also going to be doing a town hall with Indian youth as well.

So the president, who has not done a lot of foreign travel this year, as he's been trying to tend to domestic needs with this big election coming up, as soon as the election is over, he'll head out of dodge. Maybe some Republicans wondering if that's on purpose. If things turn for the worst for the Democrats, we shall see.

And finally, former President Bush, what's he been up to? He's got a new toy. It's an iPad. His wife revealing some secrets. First lady Laura Bush basically saying that he reads "The Wall Street Journal" app every morning, reads the paper on the iPad as soon as he gets up before the newspaper boys even have a chance to drop it on the front stoop. And that his favorite app is Scrabble. That's the revelation, former President Bush loves Scrabble.

And I've just been wondering, Kate, how many points you get for misunderestimated. If you were to spell that out on the Scrabble board, probably a lot of points, don't you think?

BOLDUAN: Yes, probably a lot of points. However, I don't think it's in the dictionary, remember. So --

HENRY: But maybe somebody would challenge it, that is the problem with it. I'm just throwing it out there.

BOLDUAN: Exactly I once lost a game on the word piny. I don't even know if that's a word.

HENRY: Piny? Is that a word?

BOLDUAN: Exactly. That's what I've been saying for years now. I would challenge it.

HENRY: Is that like an Indiana thing?

BOLDUAN: It might be an Indiana thing. I'll talk to you about that later. We're going to do "Stakeout" in a little while.

HENRY: See you next hour.

BOLDUAN: Sounds good. Thanks, Ed.

As we count down to election day, CNN is bringing you an unprecedented documentary, "BOILING POINT: INSIDE THE TEA PARTY." See who and what makes up this political movement. It airs this Saturday and Sunday at 8:00 p.m. Eastern right here on CNN.

And a hoax involving his son and a balloon grabbed national attention. Now Richard Heene is back, but this time, no balloons, just bears. You heard me right. That's next in "Odds & Ends."

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