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Countdown To Election Day; School Official to Reign After Rant

Aired October 29, 2010 - 10:00   ET

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

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: It is 10:00 a.m. in the East, 7:00 a.m. in the West, good morning. I'm Suzanne Malveaux, in for Kyra Phillips. Here's what we are talking about this hour. Shots have been fired at the Marine Corps Museum outside Washington. Fortunately no injuries. It's the second shooting at the museum.

The TSA is rolling out new pat down procedures. Many airline passengers won't see changes, but critics say that these new checks are invasive.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CLINT MCCANCE, POSTED ANTI-GAY RANT: All I can do now is extend my apologies for my poor speech.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: Clint McCance is the Arkansas school board official who posted an anti-gay rant on his Facebook page. He apologizes and says he is going to step down.

Well, only four days until the midterm elections and we are unraveling - this is a new case of political intrigue and it's all happening in Florida. The Republican nominee there is leading, the three-way race for U.S. Senate race, and that could help the GOP take control of Congress. So the Democrats, of course, are scrambling. Now there are reports that former President Bill Clinton is asking his fellow Democrat, Kendrick Meek, to quit the race. Meek would then throw his support behind the independent candidate and possibly keep the seat out of Republican hands.

Earlier on CNN's AMERICAN MORNING, we heard from Kendrick Meek.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KENDRICK MEEK (D), FLORIDA SENATE CANDIDATE: He never asked me to get out of the race, I never told him that I was getting out of the race, but it seems to be a part of the Crist strategy, feeling a pathway to victory, is for me to sell out on the people of the state of Florida. I'm not in that that business. I'm not going to do it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: Former President Bill Clinton says, yes, he did talk with Meek about ending his bid for the U.S. Senate, but he's refusing to give any details about those discussions. Our CNN's Susan Candiotti, she caught up with President Clinton at a campaign event and she got these exclusive comments.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Did you ask him to drop out though?

BILL CLINTON, FMR. U.S. PRESIDENT: No, we're friends, we had a conversation, it's personal, he should - he can tell you whatever he wants to tell you about it. I have no business talking about it, and neither does anybody else. I don't know what the source of it is.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX: All of this leads to the bigger question, has the White House played a role in all of this? Our senior White House correspondent Ed Henry is at his post with the very latest. Ed, tell us about what the White House is saying? How much did they know about this situation? And what was the role that they played?

ED HENRY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, when you talk to senior Democrats, they say the White House was fully aware of what was going on, the back and forth between the former president as well as Kendrick Meek but they insists that the White House was not driving this. They were not lobbying Kendrick Meek to get out. They're being very careful about that. Because you'll remember, the White House was burned at least once before especially in the Joe Sestak situation in Pennsylvania where, again, they recruited in that case Bill Clinton to try to get Sestak to get out of a Democratic primary in Pennsylvania against then incumbent Senator Arlen Specter.

Specter ended up losing. Sestak stayed in the race. There was a lot of blowback for the White House. So this time they tried to steer clear of it. But they were in the loop. They knew it was going on, though I'm told that specifically the president, the current president, President Obama was not aware of what the former President Bill Clinton was doing, that White House officials, Democratic officials, in general, deliberately did not loop President Obama in, because they did not want him involved in what is obviously some pretty messy backroom politics, Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: Obviously, looking for some political cover.

I want to ask, the White House is thinking on this that even if Meek had dropped out of the race, it's not even clear really that Charlie Crist would have even received those votes, right? To get that kind of support?

HENRY: You're right. I mean, Charlie Crist's whole problem here is the fact that he's a former Republican, still the current governor, but now an independent running for Senate. He's upset a lot of conservatives. There are many Democrats like Kendrick Meek who are saying, "look, he's not a real Democrat, certainly even though he's running as an independent. He's not somebody Democrats should throw their support behind." We got conservatives saying "he's no longer a Republican," so he's been sort of caught in the middle here.

So you're right. It's not clear that if Kendrick Meek got out, his supporters would magically flock to the independent candidate. I will note however that there are senior Democrats now telling me this morning that they're hopeful that while this is sort of a kamikaze strategy, that may really blow back on the Democratic Party, they're so desperate to get this Florida Senate seat, because of the rest of the electoral map that there's some hope in Democratic Party circles that Kendrick Meek is at about 15 percent of the polls will go under 10 percent, or go even lower and at least some of that support will go to Charlie Crist and will propel him to victory.

There are a lot of Republicans laughing at that strategy, Suzanne. Nevertheless, I think it shows how desperate, how defensive some Democrats are right now to try to get every single Senate seat they can. Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: All right. Thank you, Ed. The Senate race in Florida is not the only campaign that has featured former President Bill Clinton. He's been a big draw across the south, and in fact, has made more than 100 campaign appearances so far. In fact, he seems to be getting more popular even as Democrats shy away from the current occupant of the White House.

Well, our CNN congressional correspondent Brianna Keilar - she's in Little Rock, Arkansas, the one-time power base of the former president. Brianna, good to see you. Tell us why the Democrats are relying so heavily right now on President Bill Clinton.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, they certainly are, Suzanne. I think if you were to plot all of the different places that he has been to stump it would look like one of those crazy airline route maps. But the main reason is that he is someone, I mean, of course, he has the charisma to stump for Democrats, but he can go places where President Obama cannot go, where President Obama is a liability for some Democrats.

We followed him in West Virginia as he campaigned for Governor Manchin there. He's been here in Arkansas campaigning for the embattled incumbent Democratic senator Blanche Lincoln. And you know, one of the things that you notice here just watching TV in Arkansas, there's an ad running where Blanche Lincoln is standing next to President Obama, and it kind of says do you really need to say anything more than that?

One political reporter here in town said that's basically like poison here in Arkansas, and so Clinton is someone who reminds the Democratic base of a time where things were more prosperous under a Democrat. And that's why you've been seeing him all over, Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: And Democrats are having problems in the south though, aren't they? Even though Clinton's home state, Arkansas, can you tell us about that?

KEILAR: Yes, they are having problems in the south. That's because you look at where the really tough races are this cycle. And it's the moderate and the conservative Democrats that are having such a difficult time that could be seeing significant losses next week. A lot of them are here in the south, and if you look just at the congressional races in Arkansas, which is kind of - this is a really interesting place politically compared to other southern states.

You have people like Blanche Lincoln who are really kind of a throwback to the pre-civil rights era, a white southern Democrat. If you look at just the congressional seats here, two senators, both Democrats, three of the four House members Democrats, and yet just in this election, Blanche Lincoln, one senator and then two of these four seats, two of the four seats, they are democratically held, they could go to Republicans. So you're looking at this potential shift, and then that sort of begs the question, when you have someone like Bill Clinton campaigning, how much does it really help? Well, it doesn't hurt, but maybe it doesn't help nearly enough what they need here in Arkansas.

MALVEAUX: All right. Brianna, thank you so much.

I want to go to some breaking news that we're learning about now. This is at the Philadelphia airport. An incident - this is coming from the Philadelphia fire chief. We're looking at pictures now here from WPVI, our affiliate there, you can see a plane on the runway. We're not sure if that's the plane involved in this incident.

But we understand from the fire department that there's an incident involving two airplanes. It was called in at 9:22 this morning. The department's hazardous materials units responded. They got on the scene about five minutes afterwards. Two people were evacuated from a plane, and are currently waiting for these units to investigate the situation, what is taking place, could be a cargo plane, we're not sure at this point.

We don't know what kind of material is on that plane, but we do know that hazmat teams have been called to the scene involving some plane with hazardous material, potential hazardous material that is either on the plane or in the area. So as soon as we get more information about this, we will bring it to you, but clearly they're trying to figure out what is taking place there at Philadelphia International Airport on that runway involving potentially two planes and hazardous material.

On to other news. We want to check out this tornado caught in the act. This is surveillance video from Chattanooga, Tennessee. You can see the twister sweep in - whoa - pick up a couple construction trailers, and then fling them into the Tennessee River. Fortunately no one was hurt. This happened on Tuesday when a massive and violent weather system slammed the south and the midwest. Unbelievable, you see the power of the wind and what it can do.

I want to go over to our meteorologist, Rob Marciano, to take a look at what to expect today and Halloween, if you're going to be busting out a costume this weekend.

ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, exactly. In fact, thankfully we won't have weather like what you just showed. (INAUDIBLE) this week really affecting just about everybody, especially east of the Rocky Mountains. And that thing finally has wound down. What's winding up now, believe it or not? This is tropical storm, Sherri, and it's heading to the northwest, towards the U.S. but you know, it's the time of the year where you just got these monster jet, strong jet stream typically plus the water is real cold there.

So we're not terribly concerned about this one, although Bermuda, I think you'll get a taste of it. Nothing more than tropical storm forced winds with this as it recurves out to sea. All right. Across the northeast, a little bit of rain. This maybe a sprinkle or two, as this reinforcing shot of cool air comes across the Hudson. And that may create some sprinkles further up (INAUDIBLE) you go, the more you'll see in the way of steady rainfall.

But once that's through, we're going to look for some dry air. Some rains across parts of the west, San Francisco to Seattle. Missed the game last night, but now beginning to infiltrate parts of Napa Valley and that will begin to thicken the rain shield across San Francisco and especially sink down to southern California briefly.

The rest of the country, very chilly, at least at night. During the day, sun is still pretty strong this time of the year. It's relatively warm, rebounds nicely. 66 for the high in Kansas City.

And for you trick-or-treaters on Sunday, I think most will enjoy fairly dry weather, Suzanne, including some flying pumpkins. Temperatures north of the Mason-Dixon line, it will be seasonably chilly in the 40s. Have yourself a good Halloween?

MALVEAUX: Rob, what you going to be for Halloween?

MARCIANO: It's top secret information, I'll share it with you on Monday.

MALVEAUX: OK.

MARCIANO: It's all about the kids, really. As long as I have plenty of candy to handout on Sunday night. That's what I'm concerned about.

MALVEAUX: Yes, don't steal the candies from the kids.

MARCIANO: I'm already into it. I'm already into it.

MALVEAUX: All right. Thank you.

MARCIANO: See you.

MALVEAUX: Well, naming the twins, Celine Dion reveals the names of her new baby boys and who she named them after. That's next in our entertainment report.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: Conan, Celine Dion and Kid Rock creating a lot of buzz for the entertainment world today. Katie Caperton, the entertainment editor for CNN.com is here with the latest. Katie is catching me up on all the entertainment news. Again, I feel like such an idiot. All right. Tell us about Kid Rock - he's got some strong feelings about Steven Tyler's career choices? What's that story?

KATIE CAPERTON, CNN.COM ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR: Yes, strong words. Kid Rock is never known to mince words, I guess, you could say but he gave an interview to "Entertainment Weekly," that's going to be in our next issue hitting newsstands next week and he said "Steven Tyler - obviously joining "American Idol" as one of the new hosts, one of the judges along with Jennifer Lopez, he this is the stupidest thing he's ever done for his career. He says "you know what, this guys is a rock icon. He's a legend, what is he doing on a reality show? And you know, I've got to say, the buzz out there, the fans, people on Twitter, they kind of agree with him. At first, the kind of agree with him.

MALVEAUX: They do.

CAPERTON: First I thought it was a sour grapes, but it's kind of weird to see him up there on "American Idol." I guess we'll find out when season 10 starts in January.

MALVEAUX: We'll see how that plays out for him.

And how about Conan O'Brien, I mean, everybody is waiting around for the big opening? When is that going to happen?

CAPERTON: November 8th. The official launch date. He's going to be TBS, 11:00 on November 8th. If you can't wait, until then, he's going to have a live stream on Monday night. This is sort of a soft launch, if you will. He has a live stream, a 24-hour live stream in his offices last week that had dancing taco, (INAUDIBLE) lessons, so we don't really know what's going to be on those live stream, they're calling it "Show's Heroes." We don't really know what it is but it will be good, no matter what.

MALVEAUX: (INAUDIBLE) Tell us about see Celine Dion, congratulations to her, she had twin boys.

CAPERTON: Yes, they're twin boys.

MALVEAUX: I understand they now, she's figured out the names.

CAPERTON: Yes. She had twin boys last week. And they're home, everyone's happy and healthy. She announced the names today. One of the boys is Eddy, after Eddy Marion, who is one of her producers, from her first five albums and Nelson, from Nelson Mandela. They met when she was kicking up her tour a few years ago in South Africa and she was so impressed that she named one of her babies after Nelson Mandela. If you're thinking if you're the guy Eddy, up there with Nelson Mandela -

MALVEAUX: Talk about sibling rivalry, you know.

CAPERTON: Yes. MALVEAUX: Expectations here.

CAPERTON: Yes.

MALVEAUX: It could get competitive.

CAPERTON: Well, congratulations to them.

MALVEAUX: Yes, congratulations to the family. it's great news. We want you to see this. You got to brace yourself for this because I'm such a huge fan of "The Sound of Music, the movie." And Oprah and her cast had them on her show yesterday. It was the first time that Julie Andrews, Christopher Plummer and the seven kids appeared together in decades. Now, you might not be able to watch the movie again without thinking of Captain VonTrapp and the oldest daughter, Liesl, remember her? Partying in a hotel room. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OPRAH WINFREY, HOST: Tell me this, you weren't exactly 16 going on 17 when you did that, were you?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No.

WINFREY: How old with were you?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was 21. But the best part is I got to stay in the hotel with Christopher Plummer, because I was an adult.

CHRISTOPHER PLUMMER, ACTOR: What room were you in?

Clear that up right away.

WINFREY: Did you learn anything from him?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, I learned how to drink.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: OK. Liesl (ph) admitted she had a crush on her screen father, Christopher Plummer, back when they were filming. The "Sound of Music" hit 45 years ago. I mean, I don't want to think about that, 45 years ago.

CAPERTON: Can you imagine we would be talking about this right now?

(CROSSTALK)

CAPERTON: They were fun, though. Everybody was talking about it. It's just so great to see them all together again.

MALVEAUX: Yes. Hopefully somebody tivo'd that because I got to see that.

CAPERTON: You can come over and watch it. MALVEAUX: Absolutely, I will. Every time "The Sound of Music" is on, I've got to see it. No matter how many times.

CAPERTON: You're not alone in that.

MALVEAUX: OK. Thanks. Thanks, Katie.

CAPERTON: Thank you.

MALVEAUX: We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: The school board official in Arkansas who posted an anti-gay rant on his Facebook page says he's going to step down. The story is a story that's really changed over the last 24 hours. It was just yesterday that we showed you Clint McCance's post. It was full of slurs, he showed no sympathy for the gay students across the country who have committed suicide this year.

He said he wanted all gays to kill themselves, and he is glad gay people give each other AIDS and die. That's his words, and that he would disown his children if they were gay, but that they won't be gay because of their, "solid Christian beliefs." Last night McCance went on "Anderson Cooper 360" to explain.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON COOPER, HOST "AC 360": You sound like a bully yourself. I mean, calling, you know, calling people fags and queers those are the words of a bully.

CLINT MCCANCE, POSTED ANTI-GAY RANT: I was - like I said, I used some really strong language that, you know - and it wasn't correct, and it was - it was too emotional. I don't - I've got two children myself, and I love them dearly. I've got a wife who I love dearly. I don't agree with bullying in any shape, form or fashion. I don't agree with it for any children. And you know, the words I used were unfortunate and I should have picked different ones, but it can't be taken back. All I can do now is extend my apologies for my poor speech.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX: McCance said later in that interview, that he would resign, his elected position with Midland School District in Arkansas and now, in his Facebook post, McCance disparaged the bullied gay students who recently killed themselves. One of those kids was Asher Brown of Houston. School bullies thought he was gay and tormented him so much that he shot himself in the head. He was 13 years old. Anderson Cooper talked to Asher's parents last night about McCance's rant and then the apology.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: When you heard him using those words in reference to you son, David, on that Facebook page, I can't even imagine what went through your heart and your head.

DAVID TRUONG, SON COMMITTED SUICIDE: I'm trying to remain calm right now, Anderson. Anger, sadness, frustration, confusion, it was all going through my head. But there's one thing I want to say to Clint also, that's very important. I want to ask him a question. God offers something unconditionally to everyone, believers and non- believers, you know what that is, Clint? It's unconditional love. By that definition, you're not a good Christian. Do not dare bring Christianity and call yourself a good Christian into this. Once again, I will pray for you.

AMY TRUONG, SON COMMITTED SUICIDE: One of the things that I would like to the feeling that came from those words. He dehumanized our children. He made a point of disparaging them in death in the same way that they were hurt in life, and added insult to injury. This has been one of the most horrific things anyone could possibly imagine losing a child to this bullying and in this manner, than taking their own life, and for someone who has no idea of the facts or anything related to these children's individual stories, to slander them further - and especially a school board member - this proves the culture that we, David and I, and the other families are trying to change within the public school system, that this does not continue.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX: McCance said that he has gotten angry phone calls, e- mails and death threats and that he sent his wife and kids out of state for their own safety.

Well, the Senate seat in Florida is up for grabs. But how many candidates are in the race? That's the question this morning. There are many questions surrounding whether political pressure was used to try to get one of the candidates to drop out.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: The U.S. economy is showing some growth, but the pace is still kind of weak. Our Poppy Harlow of CNN Money.com is live with us in New York with the latest numbers. Poppy, what are we seeing today?

POPPY HARLOW, CNNMONEY.COM: You know, I think this is good, this is not great. I mean, the economy is clearly turned around. Here's where we were. We were losing, we're not growing, in 2008. We are growing. The last quarter, the first reading we got this morning two percent growth, that's exactly what economists wanted. It's a bit better than what we saw last quarter. I think the good news out of this report, Suzanne, is that consumers are spending, households across America picking up their spending, they're buying more cars, they're buying more big ticketed items. What this does is it lessens, it abates the notion that we're falling into a double-dip recession.

At the same point, you have economists saying our recovery is still really stuck in second gear. We grew 2 percent, but in the '90s when we had some healthy growth in this country, we were growing an average rate of about 3.5 percent. Now what makes this up is mainly you, the consumer. Two-thirds of this reading is what you spend on all sorts of items. Another part is what the government spends, and the third part of it is what companies do. Infrastructure building. Building factories, manufacturing, et cetera.

So, all those three things play into growth. This is better than last quarter. But let's keep in mind. This is the first reading. We'll get two more revisions of this gross domestic product reading. And what we have seen over the last year, the three past quarters is that, every time we get a revision, this number get a little weaker, a little weaker, a little weaker. So, this is a big question, as you know, Suzanne, heading into the midterm elections next week.

MALVEAUX: And Poppy, obviously, you mentioned the elections that we're going to see just four days away. There's also a Fed meeting that's going to take place. How does the GDP factor into all this?

HARLOW: This is huge. The market is just a little up a bit now, relatively flat. The sense was will this number be as expected or better than expected? Because it was as expected and not very strong, this likely means, according to almost any expert you talk to that when the Federal Reserve meets on Tuesday and Wednesday, they'll have to decide to pump hundreds of billions into the economy, try to again stimulate the economy.

We've had stimulus time and time again. We've had -- had rates as low as it can be, so what we'll see next week is some major action taken by the Federal Reserve to try to prop up this economy. We'll get that news on Wednesday afternoon right, Suzanne, after those critical midterm elections.

MALVEAUX: All right. Thank you so much. We'll be watching, Poppy.

Well, here's a look at some of the other stories that have us talking this hour. More shots were fired at the National Museum of the Marine corps overnight in Triangle, Virginia. There were no injuries reported, but it's the second attack on the museum in recent days.

And TSA is phasing in new pat-down procedures at airports across the country. Not everybody is happy about this. Some say that the touching is too invasive.

And you probably know about this week's rash of tornadoes. But you got to look at this video, unbelievable. This twister, so powerful it picked up several trailers as a construction site in Tennessee.

More on a developing story in Florida where a nasty Senate race could have national implications. Now, the Republican nominee there is leading the three-way race for U.S. Senate. And that could help the GOP take control of Congress. So, the Democrats, of course, are scrambling. There are now reports that former president Bill Clinton is asking his fellow Democrat, Kendrick Meek, to quit the race. Meek would then throw in his support behind the independent candidate and possibly keep the seat out of Republican hands. The story is kicking up issues of power-brokering, back-room deals, and even race. Our Jamie Harrison, he's a Democratic strategist. He's a partner with the Podesta Group. Cheri Jacobus, who is a Republican strategist, a columnist for "The Hill."

Thanks for joining us. Obviously, this is a huge story with huge implications. I want to start with you, Jamie. You hear these reports about these back-room deals, and the reports about Meek dropping out. Now, is it going to hurt if Florida voters if they go to the polls if this happens?

JAMIE HARRISON, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Suzanne, I lost you there.

MALVEAUX: Oh, I'm sorry. We'll take -- go to Sherry then -

HARRISON: Oh, go ahead.

MALVEAUX: -- Sherry, and then we'll come back to you.

HARRISON: OK.

MALVEAUX: The reports that there's something -- the Republican candidate Marco Rubio will be able to use this to his advantage as we approach election day. Is that true? Does Marco Rubio stand to gain in this controversy?

CHERI JACOBUS, COLUMNIST, "THE HILL" : I don't think he needs to, quote, use it to his advantage, but yes, I think he would gain from it. But he's already doing quite well. What this does is, obviously, provides a problem for Democrats, with only a few days left before people go to the polls. It's a very sticky situation.

I saw your earlier reports where apparently the White House is saying they knew about this with Bill Clinton going to Meek, asking him to drop out. But they've given the president enough plausible deniability, and basically claiming he's not been in the loop. That's not such a great thing, either. And of course, Bill Clinton did this before in Pennsylvania. Getting involved, trying to get somebody to drop out, as we know.

So, this is an awkward situation. I think what hurts the Democratic party is the fact that everybody seems to be denying this when it's clear that something happened down there. You either -- if you're a Democrat, you support your Democrat nominee or you don't. And it sounds like the Democrats in Washington and the people that pull the strings of power and money aren't supporting their Democratic nominee.

MALVEAUX: Jamie, this is obviously more than an awkward situation. You have the White House obviously saying the president directly was not involved. But there's certainly a perception that the administration threw their own Democratic candidate under the bus. Even if he doesn't drop out at this point, is he damaged goods?

HARRISON: I don't think so. Kendrick is a fighter. He's a good friend of mine and he's a fighter, and I know he'll stay in the race until the end, and he's going to win. Kendrick -- the polls said early on in the primary he was behind the billionaire who's spending millions campaigning against him. And then in the end, Kendrick pulled out a great victory.

So I think, again, the polling this year is so flawed that Kendrick is going to pull it out in the end. He's going to fight under the end, he's going to stick in there. He's done a great job in the debates, and, you know, again all of this is politics. I think it's probably the Crist people putting this out there, but Kendrick's going to stay in this race, and he's going to win it.

MALVEAUX: I guess this is all politics, as you say. It makes some people -- many people across the country quite turned off, disgusted by politics because they see this kind of thing taking place.

I want to talk with Cheri about the weekend rally that we're going to see. Jon Stewart's rally coming up tomorrow. We know that Glenn Beck held a similar one in August. Lots of people showed up. Obviously, got a lot of energy going.

How do you see this playing out for the Democrats this weekend? Do you think they'll be able to energize their base?

JACOBUS: I think it will do a bit for that for them. I think it will be entertaining, certainly, and I'm all for anybody having rallies and democracy and other poeple getting involved when things aren't necessarily orchestrated by the party leadership and the establishment folks here in Washington.

But, you know, this is a comedian. People enjoy him for his comedy as well as somewhat for the politics. It might get some people enthusiastic in the Democratic base, but the thing is people have had a couple years to look at the Obama presidency and the Democratic agenda led by Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi and Congress. They're turned off by it, and if it takes Jon Stewart to get them out to vote, as opposed to the Obama/Reid/Pelosi policies, that would really be something. I think the impact will be very, very, small. But I think it will have some impact, and it will be entertaining. That's all I can say about it.

MALVEAUX: Jaime, it sounds like Cheri is kind of minimizing it, saying it's going to be entertaining. Do you think people are going to come out? Is this going to get people to come out and vote just days before the election, or it's a little too late?

HARRISON: I think not only will it be entertaining, it's going to be effective. Young people watch "The Colbert Report." They watch Jon Stewart. That's where a lot of young folks get their news and sort of their take on politics. And I think you'll hear some of the success stories that came out of this Democratically controlled Congress and that the president worked on these past two years.

And I think it's going to be effective to get folks out and to understand, listen, in order to continue the progress we've made over the past few years, we need to elect Democrats back to a controlling Congress.

MALVEAUX: All right. We'll see how all this plays out. But thank you very much Jaime Harrison and Cheri Jacobus. Appreciate your time.

Well, it's the world's first billion - yes, I said B, billion -- dollar house. This 27-story mansion is over the skies in Mumbai, India. We'll find out what is inside this dream home when we travel across the globe on our "Morning Passport."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: Time now for our scan of our "Morning Passport." CNN International anchor Michael Holmes is here with the latest from across the globe. It's good to see you in person.

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: I know, isn't it weird? We were talking before, we had this sort of live shot. I work at International, and we do live shots all the time and never actually met.

MALVEAUX: We have this TV relationship. Now it's like a real one. Person to person.

HOLMES: Well, there you go. We've got to meet here on the set.

MALVEAUX: Tell us about Korean DMZ. What happened?

HOLMES: Well, of course, you're working all the politics and that. You know the G-20 will go to South Korea soon, a lot of security concerns and everything like that. Of course, today what do you need? A gunfight on the border between North and South Korea.

That's what happened. Two shots -- this is according to the South Korean news agency. North Koreans fired two shots. South Koreans, of course fired back. And things are pretty tense. Ironically, this happened near where there was heavy fighting during the Korean War. Which of course, is a war that never really ended. There's a truce in place. But there was never a signing of a peace declaration with the Korean War, so technically it's still on.

MALVEAUX: Tell us about what is happening in Indonesia. I mean, we're looking at tremendous pictures of this volcano. What do we know about what's taking place there?

HOLMES: You wouldn't want to be in Indonesia right now. Of course, four days ago they had an earthquake and tsunami. And that killed a whole bunch of people. More than 400 dead, 300 missing. And then you've got Mount Merapi, as you can see there. Still active, still erupting. In fact, over the last day or so, it erupted six times. Three thousand people have been killed. A bunch of others have been wounded. But they've had to move like 10,000 people out of this area. So, poor old Indonesia is a bit troubled at the moment.

MALVEAUX: And Michael, this is going to be our our summer home, right? HOLMES: Oh, yes.

MALVEAUX: Are you looking into buying a second home?

HOLMES: Vacation in Mumbai. I mean, what is your definition of vulgar? To me, this is this place. We've got the pictures here now. This is Mumbai, India. A man people in the U.s. have never heard of probably have built a new pad in his hometown.

Housing crisis? What housing crisis? This is Mukesh Ambani's (ph) house. It's not an office tower. It's a billion-dollar home. The most expensive ever built. Seven years in construction. Check this out. 400,000 square feet, 27 floors. And you need a few people to run this, of course, clean the floors and all that. 600 staff.

It doesn't even look very nice. And guess what? Big family? Not really. Two kids, mother-in-law, and the husband and wife. And parking for 168 cars if you're having a party.

MALVEAUX: What's he going to do with all that space, though?

HOLMES: I have no idea. Ostentatious.

And ironically he's got the views of the ocean. He's also got views right down below some of the worst slums in India. Mumbai is a place that has -- India has 69 billionaires, second to China for billionaires. Tripled since 2008. Half of them live in Mumbai, which as I said, is home to the worst slums in India as well.

So, ostentatious? I think so. Isn't that just gross? Oh, they'll have a housewarming - not invited.

MALVEAUX: Yes, I don't think we'll be invited to that housewarming.

HOLMES: There's supposed to be 1,000 guests coming. But they've got 27 floors -

MALVEAUX: They'll have enough room for them, I'm sure.

All right. Michael, so nice to see you.

HOLMES: Lovely to see you, too. We'll have to do it again.

MALVEAUX: Let's do it. OK.

President Obama heads to a conservative district in Virginia to help a Democrat in a tough fight. We have the latest news from the campaign trail. That coming up in just a few minutes.

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MALVEAUX: We want to bring you some breaking news. An update that we have from our affiliate. That's WPBI. Take a look at some of those photos there. This is at the Philadelphia International Airport. Two UPS flights. One plane - UPS Flight 218, originating from Paris. The second plane, that UPS number, 204 originating from Philadelphia. Investigators have been looking into hazardous materials aboard those planes, dispatched two hazmat crews to the airport, and they have scanned three individuals taking off one of those planes. All three of those individuals have tested negative of any type of radiological material.

Again, investigators and hazmat teams on site there at Philadelphia International Airport. We understand that flights continue to go in and out during this time.

Only four days left until an election that could change the balance of power in Congress. Our Ed Henry is part of the Best Political Team on Television, at the White House with the very latest from the campaign trail. And Ed, obviously, this will reallyimpact whether or not the president can move forward on his agenda. What do you got?

ED HENRY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, you're right, Suzanne. It's a pretty busy day for the president, in fact, as he gets ready to head out on the campaign trail this weekend.

First of all, just next hour or so, he'll be here in the local Beltsville, Maryland, local D.C. area. Going to be at a sheet metal company talking about the economy. That's in part because we just got the new GDP numbers, the gross domestic product for the last quarter. Anemic growth, only about 2 percent. That was widely expected, but it's sort of bad news for Democrats. They were hoping at least a little stronger growth right here on the eve of the elections. The president will be talking about jobs and the economy. Obviously that's been issue number one in this midterm election.

Then later this evening, the president will be going to Charlottesville, Virginia. This was a stop that was just added a couple of days ago. Tom Perriello is a freshman House Democrat in some real trouble because as you mentioned, it's a conservative district in Virginia. He's a Democrat that's voted for the stimulus, health care, cap and trade legislation -- really taken some hits from Republicans who have their eyes on taken over this seat as part of their strategy of trying to take control of Congress.

The president has been focused on mostly on trying to save a lot of the big Senate races. That recent big West Coast swing he had. This is one of the few direct campaign events he's doing for a House Democrat. So, we'll keep our eyes closely on that. He'll be speaking roughly about 7:30 p.m. Eastern time.

And finally, while the president is doing his campaigning, there are Republican potential aspirants on 2012 who are out on the trail today. Sarah Palin has been in Alaska. But meanwhile, there are a whole bunch of folks in Ohio. Haley Barbour, the governor of Mississippi. Tim Pawlenty, governor of Minnesota. Potential candidates in 2012. They're in Ohio with the John Kashek, Republican candidate for governor. President and vice president will be in Ohio campaigning for Ted Strickland, the Democrat this weekend, the incumbent.

Bottom line, both parties want to win that governor's race, but also both parties looking at Ohio for 2012, Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: Ed, thank you so much for the very latest. We appreciate that.

Your next political update in just an hour. And a reminder, for all the latest political news, go to our Web site, CNNpolitics.com.

In today's "Making their Mark" we are highlighting some PGA instructors who proved that golf is much, much more than a game. Their program Game On, helps wounded military veterans at the Naval Medical Center in San Diego. Quite simply, Game On gives free golf lessons as a form of rehab.

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MIKE BEUOY, SPINAL CORD INJURY PATIENT: The program gets people out of the hospital if they're still inpatients in the hospital, which is always a good day for that moment in life.

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MALVEAUX: One veteran in the program says that his spirits were lifted just from being able to get out of his wheelchair and swing a club.

We'll be right back.

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MALVEAUX: We want to follow a breaking news story and go straight to our own CNN's Jeanne Meserve, who covers homeland security. I understand you have an update of the situation that's happening at the Philadelphia International Airport, as well as a similar incident that might be going on at Newark Airport. What can you tell us, Jeanne?

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Suzanne. We've gotten a statement from the Transportation Security Administration about these events. Let me read this to you.

"The TSA is aware of and monitoring reports of potentially suspicious items on board cargo flights that landed safely at Newark Liberty and Philadelphia International airports. Out of an abundance of caution, the planes were moved to a remote location where they are being met by law enforcement officials and being swept."

And you can see pictures there of one of the planes being taken to a different part of the airport. This is standard operating procedure. When they think they have a security situation, they remove the plane to a remote area so no other aircraft and terminals are in any danger.

We've asked the TSA for more detail on the suspicious items that might be on board these planes. At this point in time, they're not able to eliminate that. We've been in touch with NORAD to ask if they were involved at all in bringing in these flights in for landing just in case something was known when they flights were in the air. NORAD says it had absolutely nothing to do with this.

So, once against these two flights on the ground. Suspicious items on board. Both of them cargo flights; in both instances, the planes have been isolated. And authorities are looking at the planes more carefully, sweeping them to see what exactly they might be dealing with. Suzanne?

MALVEAUX: Jeanne, thank you very much for the latest update. We'll have a quick break and we'll be back with more news.

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MALVEAUX: Every day at this time, we honor the men and women in uniform who have given their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan for us. We call it "Home and Away." Today, we are lifting up Captain Robert Yllescas (ph) from Lincoln, Nebraska. He died from wounds suffered in a roadside bomb attack in Afghanistan.

His wife Dina wrote us. "When Rob came home from work, his uniform and boots came off and he focused all of his attention on playing with his two little girls and spending quality time with the three of us. The loss of Rob has made a huge hole in our hearts and lives, but fortunately we are blessed with the support of friends and family. Rob believed in serving his country. He understood the risks, and if we did not have soldiers like my husband and all the others, it is scary to know where our country would be today."

If you have a loved one you'll like us to honor, here's all you have to do. Go to CNN.com/homeandaway. Type in your service member's name in the upper-right search and pull up the profile. Send us your thoughts, your pictures, and we'll keep the memory of your hero alive.

And I understand that we are headed to Tony.

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: How are you doing?

HARRIS: If you would, stay close. I need to tap into your White House expertise in just a moment here.