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Terror Plot Thwarted; Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear; 1,200 New Species Discovered; Security is Concern Number One; President Obama's Three-State Swing for Dems; Rally Wrapped in Humor
Aired October 30, 2010 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Now, security officials worldwide on alert this morning. They are giving a higher level of scrutiny to packages coming from Yemen; also passengers coming from Yemen because two suspicious packages were intercepted yesterday in Dubai and also in Great Britain.
Both of them were coming from Yemen, and now we are being told both are showing signs of al Qaeda. The packages were on cargo planes bound for the U.S. The British Home Secretary says the device uncovered there was, quote, "viable and could have exploded on board an aircraft". Britain is now reviewing its security procedures for cargo flights.
Airports meanwhile, redoubling their efforts in the screening of packages, passengers, baggage. And shipping companies like UPS and DHL have been asked to stop transporting cargo from Yemen at least through Monday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We will continue to pursue additional protective measures for as long as it takes to ensure the safety and security of our citizens.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Our homeland security correspondent Jeanne Meserve in Washington for us this morning has been following this investigation. I guess, what -- what are we finding -- finding out this morning? Here we are 24, 48 hours even into this investigation?
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: And T.J. officials are saying no new threats, no new packages of concern have been found. Really a lot of effort being put into the investigation to figure out how this bomb was constructed, who might have made it, if there may be more of them.
Here's a bit of what the Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano had to say this morning.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JANET NAPOLITANO, HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: There's certainly an ongoing investigation and in addition to the two packages that we had specific information about, we have put in place enhanced protections for cargo and passengers emanating from Yemen and making sure that we identify particularly all packages that are coming from there.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MESERVE: Of course, the big news about this device coming out of Britain this morning. Officials there saying that this device was viable, that it could have exploded, and the target may have been an aircraft.
Meanwhile, in this country, security is the big emphasis. Officials have said they are not only looking more carefully at any packages that may be coming out of Yemen, but they are also beefing up other cargo security and they are beefing up passenger security, so if you are at an airport this morning, you may see a little bit more in terms of screening, in terms of police presence, in terms of bomb- sniffing canines.
Back to you, T.J.
HOLMES: All right, Jeanne Meserve for us, following this investigation this morning. Jeanne, we appreciate you as always.
Meanwhile, we're going to get more of an inside look at this investigation. Tom Fuentes is a former special agent with the FBI. He's been involved with a number of such cases.
Tom, good morning to you. I want to ask first about what we saw the Home Secretary, you just heard from the home secretary over in the U.K. saying that possibly these things were meant to blow up or at least that one was meant to blow up on a plane and maybe bring down a cargo plane.
What -- what do you think about what we are hearing now at the U.K.?
TOM FUENTES, FORMER FBI ASSISTANT DIRECTOR: Well, that's possible, T.J. It should be noted that there was a blog from the "New York Daily News" about a week ago citing an article in a -- in a Jihadi magazine called "Inspire".
HOLMES: Yes.
FUENTES: And this magazine has been created by some Samir Khan an American who went to Yemen and joined up. And a great deal has been made about Anwar al Awlaki, a U.S. citizen becoming a member of AQAP. But Samir Kahn, a -- a young man, created this magazine.
And there was an article recently written by one of the commanders of AQAP, named Uthman Al-Ghamidi. And in that article he talked about being captured in 2002 and having a -- a trip by cargo plane which took 24 hours transporting him to Guantanamo Bay, and then in the article cites that he was tortured when he was there.
Now, he was later released to go to Saudi Arabia and -- and now has made his way to Yemen and is one of the commanders of AQAP there. So it's interesting that in this article in "Inspire" magazine he repeatedly mentions the fact of having been transported by a U.S. cargo plane.
HOLMES: All right, how do we -- or I say, we -- the investigators how do you start to I guess trace backwards now and figure out who may have sent these packages? We know about simple investigative techniques, trying to brush them down for prints. And sometimes if these things were meant to explode, maybe somebody wasn't so careful about leaving any kind of signature behind.
But how does that go and how important will the Saudis now be in this investigation?
FUENTES: Well, first of all, the packages are tracked through the tracking mechanism that -- that sophisticated shippers like UPS and FedEx and others would have. When you send a package yourself, you can go online and submit your e-mail address to be notified each step of the way of that package, including being notified as soon as the bar code is scanned that delivery has been made.
So that tracking mechanism, the electronic trail has been used already. And that's what enabled the locating of the packages yesterday that you have and the continued search for packages that are en route to determine which plane they are on, when they are going to land, which station they are at, when they are transferred to ground shipping, when they are taken, put on the truck to be delivered to the final destination.
So -- so that tracking mechanism tells you all of the routing while it's en route. What you may not know is the correct identity of the person that went in to the original shipping office --
HOLMES: Yes.
FUENTES: -- and -- and essentially mailed the package.
Now, we had a -- a long-term investigation in the United States, you may recall, resulting in the mid '90s in the arrest of Ted Kaczynski, the Unabomber. Kaczynski, handmade small bombs, packaged them and wrapped them and sent them by U.S. Mail in many of the cases and when the recipient opened the package, many were killed, many were severely wounded.
So the mailing of an explosive device obviously or the shipping internationally of an explosive device is -- is not going to be that difficult, frankly.
HOLMES: Well, last thing here, Tom, and again, back -- to get to the point about the U.K. Home Secretary saying, in fact, it may have been meant, this package, to blow up on a cargo plane.
Tell me I guess what would be the point of that? To show you can do it, it would certainly strike fear, but it doesn't seem like it would get the maximum death count, if you will, for terrorists. FUENTES: Well, it certainly wouldn't in and of itself other than the flight crew that are in the plane. But -- but just the idea that they can attack aviation, they can attack our economy, if you will. These companies ship millions of packages every single day all over the world, and if you disrupt that, if you cause them to either stop shipping like we have this suspension of activity out of Yemen, this could happen from other countries in the future.
Just the disruption of the economy, if you will, or of the business of the cargo industry, and as I said, if one of the motives is that someone like Ghamidi resented his treatment while -- while being shipped to Guantanamo Bay or anywhere else claiming it was a cargo plane, that could be a motive for wanting to get back at cargo planes.
HOLMES: All right.
FUENTES: But again you don't know in this case specifically. It could have gone off on a plane. There was -- there was talk also in some of the research indicating that the device was cell phone triggered.
So, again, using the tracking mechanisms, if the device was going to be delivered to synagogues in Chicago --
HOLMES: Yes.
FUENTES: -- the individual who and -- or the conspirators in that case would know by Internet whether, you know, when that device or that package was on the truck for final delivery that day.
HOLMES: Yes.
FUENTES: And as soon as that -- as soon as the delivery person scans by bar code the package and it goes into the system as package delivered --
HOLMES: Yes.
FUENTES: -- then they would know, ok, detonate it now.
HOLMES: Yes.
FUENTES: The person at the synagogue has -- has the package probably in hand and it's time to do it.
HOLMES: That's a scary thought but a good point to make there. Tom Fuentes, we appreciate you, as always. Thanks so much.
FUENTES: Thank you T.J.
HOLMES: All right, as you know, Election Day is just three days away now. Most voters have their minds on the economy on jobs, but now they have their mind on terrorism.
Let's bring in CNN's deputy political director Paul Steinhauser who is joining me this morning from Charleston, West Virginia.
Paul, it's kind of late in the game right now, only three days away. But is it possible voters can take this into the voting booth with them?
PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN DEPUTY POLITICAL DIRECTOR: It could -- it could happen, T.J. And as you mentioned, though, it has not been a big issue so far in the campaign. Take a look at this, our recent CNN Opinion Research Corporation National Poll.
Look up there right at the top, the most important issue for your vote, obviously the economy; 49 percent of people saying that. Jobs, unemployment is so important with Americans. Where is terrorism? Pretty far down; three percent.
But as you said, with a lot of media coverage these next couple of days and yesterday as well, it could play a larger role, slightly larger role with Americans when they vote.
Right now, our polling could -- take a look at next graph -- our polling suggests that Republicans have a 12 point advantage on the issue of terrorism. When we asked would the U.S. move in the right direction on terrorism; 56 percent said yes -- 58 percent says if the Republicans control Congress; that drops to 46 percent on terrorism if the Democrats control Congress.
T.J., Republicans traditionally have had a higher number, have done better on the issue of terrorism than Democrats with the American voters.
HOLMES: All right, and the president is not on a ballot right now, but at least his name is not but a lot of people would still argue yes, he is on the ballot in some ways. But how is his popularity holding up right now?
STEINHAUSER: Now, you're absolutely right. Republicans are trying to frame these elections as a referendum on Barack Obama. What the president has done, his agenda especially the economy.
Check this out. Our most recent brand new yesterday CNN Poll of Polls, we took the most four most recent national polls on the presidential -- the president's approval rating and averaged them out.
And this is interesting. For the first time in a while, more people say they approve of how he's handling his duties, 48 percent, and less people, 45 percent, say they disapprove. So that's the first time we've seen the approval slightly higher than the disapproval -- T.J.
HOLMES: And last thing here, you are in West Virginia. Some people consider the Republicans taking back over the House a foregone conclusion. But a lot of mystery now still surrounding the Senate and if the Republicans will be able to take that back and one of the critical contests is right where you are.
STEINHAUSER: Oh you are so right. The Republicans need a net gain of ten seats on the Senate to win back the Chamber. If they do it, they've got to do it right here in West Virginia. A seat that's been on Democrats hands for over 50 years.
Right behind me a pavilion, a park along the river here. Later today we're going to see Sarah Palin. That's a pretty big name, a pretty big story. She is going to be here. She will be teaming up with Ted Nugent, a rock star and a conservative activist. And they're going to be teaming up the Republican Senate nominee here, John Raese.
We are seeing some other big names like John McCain, recently, Rudy Giuliani coming. So a lot of top name Republicans coming here to West Virginia to try to win back this seat.
There Raese is running against Joe Manchin. Popular, two-term Democratic governor and he has had some big names here like Bill Clinton. But Manchin has been running against the White House in a way, against President Barack Obama and some of the Democrats agenda in Washington -- T.J.
HOLMES: All right, Paul Steinhauser, it's good to see you as always buddy. Thank you so much. And we'll stick with the political theme now of sorts.
There's a rally happening in Washington D.C. on this weekend before the midterm elections. But this one is not being put on by candidates or political parties. Comedians right now are commanding the stage.
We will take you to the rally to restore sanity and/or fear. That's coming up.
It's 11 minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Well, 14 minutes past the hour.
Washington D.C., gearing up for something right now. We are trying to figure it out. Jon Stewart, Steven Colbert, of course stars of "Comedy Central" hosting what they are billing as the "Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear".
Our Kate Bolduan is there keeping her sanity so far this morning. Kate, we are still trying to understand, what is this thing?
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It seems that the rally and the people attending here, it seems it's a little harder to define than many of the rallies that we have covered. And look, we've covered, I have covered a lot of rallies especially this election season, Democratic rallies, Republican rallies, Tea Party rallies, the very big rally to restore honor by Glenn Beck, the Ninth Club Rally.
And that's really is what is bringing us here today especially because of the timing of this rally. It is on the weekend right before the very critical midterm elections and this is a very critical weekend for many get out the vote efforts. But still, this rally seems a little bit hard to define. We actually got into the crowd and spoke to several people about what brought them here today. Listen here to one guy who we talked to from Providence, Rhode Island.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TYLER, FROM PROVIDENCE: I'm here today for the sole fact that people just need to calm down about issues. It doesn't exactly matter who you are voting for to me. I think just be sane about it and the more you scream about something, the less you know about a topic.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BOLDUAN: We have seen a lot of different people in this crowd, young, I would never call them old, but older people of all different ages here. And look, Jon Stewart and Steven Colbert, they making a living off of mocking politicians and the media. And many have asked, especially because of the timing of this rally, are these comedians moving from comedy into political activism.
Jon Stewart has insisted, he told our Larry King that this is not a political rally. There are many politically-minded people here that care very much about politics and the midterm elections that are here. But as far as the two men that are in charge of organizing this thing, they say that this is not about politics. This is about, well, we will all have to wait and see, sounds like it --
HOLMES: All right. Kate Bolduan on the case for us. Lot of people still trying to figure this one out. Kate, thank you so much. We will check in with you again also in about 25 minutes.
We are going to get a different view of this rally. CNN's host of what the week, Pete Dominique down in the crowd talking to more people about what's happening there today. We will check in with him.
And the political viewer favorites returning to our air today, CNN's "BALLOT BOWL" begins at 1:00 p.m. Eastern time. You are hearing directly from the candidates, also hearing from President Obama, hearing from former governor Sarah Palin in their own words as we count down to the midterm elections with the "Best Political Team on Television".
Also coming up, a recall you need to know about. Another batch of cholesterol-busting drugs have been recalled. Details when we come back.
It's 17 minutes past the hour. Stay here.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Twenty minutes past the hour now; taking a look at some of the stories making headlines.
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano telling CNN the latest foiled terror plot has all the hallmarks of al Qaeda. Two cargo planes bound for the U.S. were stopped and searched in the U.K. and Dubai late Thursday and early Friday. Explosives were found on both planes. Security officials around the world are in heightened alert today on the lookout for possibly more packages with explosives.
Well, Pfizer right now is winding its recall of the popular cholesterol-lowering drug Lipitor. The drug maker is recalling about 38,000 bottles of 40 milligram tablets because of a foul odor coming from the packages. Pfizer says there's no big health risk because of this smell. It's the second recall this year of Lipitor because of these odor-related problems. You can go to cnn.com for complete information about this recall.
Also, out in Colorado, fire crews continue to battle fast-moving fire that's burning near Boulder. Fire officials ordered the evacuation of about 1,700 people living in Boulder's western suburbs overnight. They say the fire has burned 144 acres and it's only about 5 percent contained.
Want to turn over to our Bonnie Schneider right now for our forecast. And Bonnie, Tomas wants some attention right now.
BONNIE SCHNEIDER, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Absolutely, T.J. We now have a category one hurricane on our hands. It's number 12 of this hugely active 2010 season. Check out Tomas and you can see the outflow of the thunderstorms really expanding. This has been an explosive storm in terms of rapid intensification.
Right now hurricane warnings are in place for places like St. Vincent, St. Lucia, Martinique all across the western Caribbean because this storm is on the move. Wait until you see how intense Tomas is forecast to get.
It's really incredible because now we are moving into the first week of November and we may have a category three major hurricane on our hands, and this is where it gets really not so good. Look at this. The proximity of the cone of uncertainty stretches over Haiti. Haiti is still suffering more recently from cholera but we had the earthquake in January of this past year. This is the last thing they need right now.
But of course, this is still days away and hopefully the track will improve. But one thing's for sure, it's coming in over warmer waters, so we are going to see intensification with Tomas, now a category one hurricane.
Let's switch gears and I want to show you what it's like where it's not warm. How about Utah? That's where we are getting some wintry weather. We have some pictures to show you of what it's been like out there. And they are celebrating Halloween on skis.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Trick or treat.
(END VIDEO CLIP) SCHNEIDER: That's one scary way to get pelted with snow. That's what we are looking at for the wintry weather out at the ski resorts, people wearing their costumes.
But as we head further to the west, just keep in mind, we're looking at wet weather for southern California. Lots of rain moving into areas south of Los Angeles as well as further inward from San Francisco. And for those of you planning ahead for your trick or treat forecast for tomorrow we have got some beautiful weather for you. A couple of places where there will be some wet area, areas into the northwest like Seattle may see some showers. But cooler temperatures for a good Halloween forecast for Chicago and New York down into the upper 40s -- T.J.
HOLMES: All right. Bonnie Schneider, we appreciate you. We appreciate that little sprinkle of video you had in there as well.
Thanks so much.
Well, a 13-foot snake, a blue fang tarantula, a white predatory spider. Just some of the new species that have been discovered and we're learning about them all as we come up, Josh, on Halloween time right now.
Some of these characters seem appropriate for this time of year.
JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, some of them are appropriate for this time of year. What happened is the WWF, many of us know it as the World Wildlife Fund came out with this list of 1,200 that have been found over ten years. It works out to finding a new species every three days.
And take a look at this first one right here. This is an anaconda. This is the first new anaconda found since 1936, pretty amazing.
You can see other things along here, a little lizard -- they have some really stunning pictures. This picture reminds me of Nemo, this is found in Peru of 2004.
Look at this. I love this plant. This plant secretes a perfume and attracts all these insects like mosquitoes and then it traps them, gobbles them up because it can't get that much moisture at the ground.
All of these are inside the Amazon. Let me show you a few more of these. We were talking about this white subterranean predatory spider. Obviously this is an extreme close-up but if this thing were giant, it would be perfect for Halloween.
A couple more here; pink river dolphins. I'm going to show you a video of this in a minute. These dolphins are a different breed. They're actually a different specious from most dolphins that you ever see. This is out of Bolivia.
A few more pictures here. They found a whole bunch of different types of monkeys. This is a marmoset, fascinating to look at. And what else do we have down here; a bald-headed parrot, a poison dark frog with the red and the blue. You have never seen anything like that before. And finally what T.J. was talking about there, blue- fanged tarantula.
Let's go to some of this video that they have provided to us from the WWF. It's in a report outlined "Amazon Alive, a decade of discoveries". 1999 to 2009 -- it includes 637 plants. You have amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals, all of them in there. And when you take a look at some of these things, we are seeing the pink river dolphins there. This is just a few of these new species.
And they are making a point as well when they issued these videos. They are talking about what's happening with the Amazon. They say most of the Amazon remains undisturbed, but the threats to it are rapidly increasing. In fact, in the next video you will see some of those threats.
They say that during the last 50 years humankind has caused the destruction of at least 17 percent of the Amazon rainforest. And it's huge, an area greater than the size of Venezuela, twice the size of Spain. So when you are talking about that kind of destruction, it's massive.
That's why they put this out to serve as a reminder of what's out there. Certainly, it's something you should check out -- WWF. I have got it all up online for you as well on my Facebook and Twitter pages. Take a look at these pictures and see what you think.
T.J., I will tell you, there are animals sharing this earth with us. We know nothing about yet. Some of them a little bit scary to look at.
HOLMES: Interesting cast of characters, but still a serious message there underneath as well. Josh, we appreciate you.
At 26 minutes past the hour now. We are going to be talking about the suspected terror plot that's been foiled now. Heightened security around the world. We are heading to the UK after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Bottom of the hour now. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano this morning says those packages that were intercepted in Dubai and the U.K. have "the hallmarks of al Qaeda."
Both contained amounts of explosive material. Both were on cargo planes bound for the U.S. Both originated in Yemen. Cargo workers now being questioned now, and shipping companies like FedEx, UPS and DHL have been asked to stop transporting cargo in Yemen at least through Monday.
The British also revealing their security procedure for cargo flights, and airports everywhere are redoubling their efforts to screen packages, passengers, and baggage.
Our Dan Rivers is at East Midlands Airport outside of London, where one of those packages were found.
Hello to you, Dan. What are you picking up from there?
DAN RIVERS, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, we're building up a picture of how this package was found. It appears it came from an initial intelligence tip from the Saudi government that was passed on, we think, to the British intelligence service, MI6. That's what's being reported here.
They, in turn, then alerted the Americans as they attempted to try and find this package. It was, of course, found at this airport behind me, East Midland's Airport, about seven minutes after it was intercepted. And they opened it and saw there was potentially a bomb in there.
They notified the president. The president was briefed.
Today, the president called the British prime minister, David Cameron, and thanked him for the cooperation of the services involved. So, clearly, it was a big international operation involving the Saudis, the British and the Americans that enabled them to move very quickly to get this package before it was loaded onto the plane heading towards Chicago. Of course, the other package was intercepted in Dubai before it even got anywhere near the U.K. or the U.S.
We have had a meeting today of sort of the emergency committee that's convened in Britain sometimes called COBRA, which stands for Cabinet Office Briefing Room A, the venue where this committee convenes. It was chaired today by the interior minister, the home secretary, Theresa May.
Here's what she had to say about how much more serious this was than initially thought.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
THERESA MAY, U.K. HOME SECRETARY: Our preliminary investigation is now complete. I can confirm that the device was viable and could have exploded. The target may have been an aircraft, and had it detonated, the aircraft could have been brought down. We do not believe that the perpetrators of the attack would have known the location of the device when it was planned to explode.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RIVERS: So you get the impression there that Theresa May, the home secretary, the interior minister here, is saying this could have been -- the plan could have been simply to blow up a plane. It may not have been the terrorists' intention to get this package delivered all the way to the synagogues in Chicago, that this was a viable bomb that could have brought down an airplane in the sky, either somewhere over Britain, possibly, or more likely perhaps over the U.S.
So that, clearly, has made this much more serious than was initially being briefed to us. We were initially told that they didn't think that there was any explosives contained in this device. Later, there was a lot of backpedaling when they admitted that there was a significant quantity of this PETN explosive similar to nitroglycerin.
Now there will obviously be a big focus on the freight cargo system around the world. Already, UPS has said it's suspended its service from Yemen, and the U.K. government has said it will no longer allow any freight to come from Yemen either through or to the United Kingdom.
HOLMES: All right.
Dan Rivers for us with, again, some scary development from the U.K.
Dan, we appreciate you, as always.
I want to turn now to our Ed Henry, our senior White House correspondent, who is traveling and following the president as he makes kind of a last push here heading into these midterm elections.
And Ed, always good to see you, buddy.
ED HENRY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good to see you.
HOLMES: I'll turn to politics here in a second. But is there anything more coming from the president or the administration as we continue to get new developments about this terror plot?
HENRY: Yes, just a tiny bit. I mean, the president continues to be briefed periodically here. He is going to be briefed, we're told by White House aides, throughout the day about the latest on the terror threat.
Specifically, he had a briefing this morning before he left the White House with his principal homeland security adviser, John Brennan, in the Oval Office. Our own Peter Morris (ph) got some pictures of the president being briefed there in the Oval before he got on Marine One to head on here to Philly, where he's going to be doing some campaign events.
But, also, we should note that the president this morning made a couple of important phone calls, one to the prime minister of Britain, David Cameron, to talk about cooperation between the allies. That was critical in snuffing this plot out. And also an important call to King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia. They shared key intelligence, as you've been reporting all morning, that also helped snuff all of this out. That was critical -- T.J.
HOLMES: All right. Now let's turn to politics.
You are there in Philadelphia. The president has precious few days. He has precious little time now.
So why did he think Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, was an important stop for him?
HENRY: You're right, three days to go. The main reason is that I think most of the attention now is really on the U.S. Senate.
It's essentially just about up for grabs. I mean, there is a lot of pessimism in Democratic ranks about losing control of the U.S. House. The attention has really shifted to making sure they at least hold on to the U.S. Senate.
It's going to take a nine-seat shift in order to throw it to the Republicans -- nine, 10 seats. But the bottom line is there is a lot of races that are too close to call, including this one here in Pennsylvania.
So the president will be here in a few minutes with Joe Sestak, the Democratic candidate. He had been down by a lot recently. All of a sudden, he stormed back. It's been close to a dead heat with the Republican, Pat Toomey.
So what the president is doing here at Temple University is meeting with about 1,500 to 2,000 volunteers, folks who, after this little mini rally, will be going out to the neighborhoods around here, trying to knock on doors, literally get people to the polls, make sure folks are actually going to turn out on Tuesday.
And after, this president goes on to Connecticut, another big Senate battle there, ends the night, sleeps in his own bed, in fact, in Chicago. His old Senate seat up for grabs right now, a dead heat between the Democrat and Republican.
That's not something the Democrats wanted. They wanted to lock up the old Obama seat a long time ago, and I think that shows how much Democrats are on the defensive here the final weekend. The president having to spend, as you say, precious time in places that Democrats hoped to wrap these Senate seats up a long time ago -- T.J.
HOLMES: All right. The president sleeping in his own bed this evening, Ed. Who knows the next time you'll get a chance to sleep in your own. But good to see you, as always.
(LAUGHTER)
HENRY: Good point, my friend.
HOLMES: All right. We'll talk to you again soon.
And a political viewer, a favorite out there of our viewers, is returning to our air today. CNN's "BALLOT BOWL" starting at 1:00 Eastern Time.
This is where we let you hear from the candidates themselves. And also, you'll get a chance to hear from the president, the former governor Sarah Palin as well, all in their own words, as we count down. Don't have much more counting to do. Three more days until the midterm elections.
Stay right here with "The Best Political Team" you are going to find anywhere on television. Now, in this last weekend, the last big push until Election Day, another big rally taking place in Washington D.C., on the National Mall. But this isn't being thrown by candidates or political groups. This is being thrown by a couple of comedians.
We'll take there you live. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Well, at 41 minutes past the hour, the president on stop number one of a campaign swing on this last weekend before the midterm elections here at Temple University, trying to rally supporters.
Let's take a quick listen in.
(JOINED IN PROGRESS)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: -- get a decent education. You want a country where nobody is bankrupt because they get sick. You want a country where our seniors can retire with dignity and respect, and Social Security is there not just for this generation, but for future generations.
(APPLAUSE)
You want a country that has the best infrastructure in the world. We used to be number one. We can't have the best rail lines and the best airports built in China or Singapore. They need to be right here in the United States of America.
(APPLAUSE)
We don't want to be falling behind in math and science and technology. We've got to be first in research and development and technology to make sure that the new products and new services are developed right here in the United States.
We want clean energy here. We don't want solar panels and wind turbines and electric cars built in China or Europe. We want them built here in the United States with American workers.
(APPLAUSE)
And so it is absolutely critical that you go out there and you describe your hopes for the future, especially the young people here, because this election is not just going to set the stage for the next two years. This is going to set the stage for the next 10, for the next 20.
And for those of you who were so excited two years ago, I just want to remind you this -- two years ago was not about me. It was about you and it was about this country. And I said then that change was going to be hard. Now we have been involved in some tough fights over the last two years.
HOLMES: All right. Again, just dipping in for a moment, listening to the president there.
He's trying to rally supporters there to actually get out and kind of mobilize them for next Tuesday, to get out and vote, get other people out and vote. But also, he's there to campaign and get some attention for Joe Sestak, the Democrat right now in a tight race against the Republican, Pat Toomey, there in the state of Pennsylvania, trying to keep that seat in Democratic hands.
The president, this is one of three stops he's going to make today. Heading to Connecticut. Also heading to Chicago today. Again, one last-ditch push on this last weekend before the midterms.
Meanwhile, back in Washington, D.C., a huge rally taking place. But a lot of people scratching their heads about what exactly this thing is supposed to be about.
This is the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear that's being put on by Comedy Central's funnymen, Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert.
One of our funny guys is there as well. Pete Dominick is down in the crowd.
Pete, I know it's kind of hard to hear. Just take it away.
PETE DOMINICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I got you, T.J. I got you, T.J.
Now, this is -- it's unbelievable. I can tell you, I warmed up the audiences at "The Colbert Report" and "The Daily Show" for years before CNN stole me to do this job. And it's exciting to be back here in front of the audiences that love these shows so much.
You guys excited to see Colbert and Stewart?
(APPLAUSE)
DOMINICK: Are you ready to meet the greatest American alive, Stephen Colbert?
(APPLAUSE)
DOMINICK: Are you happy?
(APPLAUSE)
DOMINICK: Are you afraid?
UNIDENTIFIED GROUP: No!
DOMINICK: Are you sane?
UNIDENTIFIED GROUP: No!
DOMINICK: Well, T.J., the people are still flowing in. No idea how many people are here, but it is absolutely jammed here on the Mall. Colbert and Stewart will be out in a while, about 15 minutes from now it's scheduled. And these people are excited.
And, you know, I'll just tell you this -- my opinion of the energy is one of excitement. These guys are fans, T.J., of Colbert and Jon Stewart, and they are icons, as we know.
Back to you, T.J. I can hear you if you have got a couple questions.
HOLMES: Well, I certainly have a couple of questions. But people are wondering, is this going to take on a political tone to it? Are the people out there in the crowd, are they from the left or from the right? Is politics in that way at least being talked about?
DOMINICK: Well, it's hard to know. I mean, a lot of people have a lot of signs. I mean, we've got all kinds of signs.
Hand me that sign.
"I wouldn't assume to tell God who he hates." That's a pretty funny one.
"Everything on this sign is spelled correctly."
So T.J., if you want to judge if that's liberal or conservative, that's your call. I don't know.
"Legalize pot." I guess -- "Real patriots can handle a difference of opinion." And "Mr. Tea Party, I pity the fools." That is clearly a libertarian angle right there, T.J.
It's hard to know, man. But as a comedians, I can tell you this -- comedians won't be happy if Jon and Stephen don't take a risk. And the media and the political analysts, they're going to be upset if the comedians do take a risk. So I hope they do -- T.J.
HOLMES: Well, again, you've got a little insight here because you know these guys, and some have accused in the past -- they say Jon Stewart is a little left-leaning, a little liberal. So will this be that kind of a rally? Will he step out like you just said in that kind of a way?
DOMINICK: I assume that he's going to. I assume that Jon will. I assume that Jon will maybe make a comment about perhaps guy marriage, something like that. That's my prediction.
Maybe it will be subtle. Maybe it will be really forthright and strident. I'm not sure. Colbert might do something like that, a little bit more from an ironic angle like he usually does.
It's clear that these guys are much more to the left, but, you know, that's not really what it seems this will be about. I don't think it will be issue-specific.
But, T.J., your question is the question that everybody in the media has been asking, certainly in Washington -- will this be political or not? Well, we can decide at the end.
Are you guys excited?
UNIDENTIFIED GROUP: Yeah!
DOMINICK: Come on! Make some noise!
Hold on. One more question for the crowd, if I can, T.J.
Who here has to go to the bathroom?
UNIDENTIFIED GROUP: Whoo!
DOMINICK: Who here is currently going? Anybody -- yes, sir. Sir.
The crowd here is -- we are shoulder to shoulder, T.J. And so luckily we here at the CNN truck, we have our own bucket of food and supplies, if you will.
HOLMES: All right. Well, good luck fighting over those port-a- potties. I know that was a big point of contention. Didn't know if they'd have enough out there for everybody, or even get them.
Pete, buddy, good to see you. Thanks so much. Glad you got the crowd involved as well.
Our Pete Dominick. We appreciate him.
And tonight we're going to be talking more politics -- or more rallies. You have seen a lot of rallies from the Tea Party and the Tea Party movement. Well, we're taking you inside this movement tonight.
These massive rallies, sometimes angry protesters, sometimes some heated demands directed at elected officials. But there's a lot you haven't seen.
Don't miss CNN's unprecedented documentary. "Boiling Point: Inside the Tea Party" begins tonight, 8:00 Eastern, right here on CNN.
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HOLMES: And as I've always said, one of my favorite parts of the morning.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: That's because it's soon to --
HOLMES: That is not it at all. Fredricka, it is so good to sit here and be able to chat with you.
WHITFIELD: Oh, it's great to see you.
HOLMES: You look fantastic this morning.
WHITFIELD: Oh, thank you. You're so nice. HOLMES: I am.
WHITFIELD: Happy Halloween. Are you excited about Halloween?
HOLMES: No, not really.
WHITFIELD: I love Halloween.
HOLMES: Why?
WHITFIELD: Because I love to see the costumes.
HOLMES: But you don't dress up.
WHITFIELD: Not in an elaborate way, but I've get into it. It's fun. Plus, I've got a 5-year-old who is just totally pumped. He's Iron Man. I am here to save you.
HOLMES: So what are you going to be?
WHITFIELD: You'll have to see in the noon Eastern hour.
HOLMES: Oh, you will reveal that?
WHITFIELD: Yes, a little bit.
HOLMES: Oh.
WHITFIELD: Yes, because the legal guys and have a tradition, you know.
HOLMES: Oh. OK.
WHITFIELD: Every Halloween we surprise the audience.
HOLMES: You will have the outfit on?
WHITFIELD: Yes.
HOLMES: In the news?
WHITFIELD: Yes.
HOLMES: Oh, Fredricka. That is the best tease ever.
WHITFIELD: And I had no intention of teasing that.
HOLMES: Oh, wow. That should have been a success.
WHITFIELD: I was going to stick to the more important stuff like politics, three days away.
HOLMES: OK. Yes, three days away. Three days.
WHITFIELD: Isn't it extraordinary?
HOLMES: It is.
WHITFIELD: It's been quite the drumbeat leading up to it.
HOLMES: OK. And what's going on in D.C.? We're trying to figure this thing out.
WHITFIELD: People are saying let's lose the insanity, let's be sane.
HOLMES: Or let's be fearful, something -- we can't figure this thing out.
WHITFIELD: OK. Not sure. But we're going to -- I guess we've got a couple players who are offering a little humor to what's become very serious politics.
We know Colbert and we know Jon Stewart are going to be the big headliners there. And we saw a little taste of that Sanity Rally right there just, what, a few minutes ago?
HOLMES: A few minutes away, yes.
WHITFIELD: Well, noon Eastern hour it officially kicks off, and it's also very serious business, of course. So that's why you have got big headliners from President Obama to Clinton to Palin and Steele, who are crisscrossing the country vying for their favorite candidates.
And, of course, we're all hoping that people will have a big turnout on Tuesday, right? Because this is a meaningful midterm election, as they always are.
HOLMES: Even though people don't show up in midterms.
WHITFIELD: People don't. They're very unenthusiastic. But this year just might be different --
HOLMES: We would hope. We would hope.
WHITFIELD: -- just given the pulse of how things have been developing in the past few weeks. Right? I mean, we are at a heightened pitch in terms of the campaigning and beyond.
HOLMES: And how extensively things have been covered this political season.
They're telling us we're running out of time here.
WHITFIELD: I know. We're getting ahead of ourselves. OK. So we're going to talk about that.
And then, of course, our legal guys I mentioned. It's not just about trick-or-treating, but we have got some interesting legal cases involving Anna Nicole Smith.
Even in death, she seems to find a way into center stage of a legal case involving drugs. There were acquittals, there were convictions involving her former attorney and past boyfriend, Howard K. Stern. We're going to delve into that.
And then, what is going on in California? We know big budget problems, so much to the degree that there is a shortage of judges. We're going to explore that and how cases are being handled.
And then next week, big opening in major cities involving a highly-anticipated film, "For Colored Girls." You remember that it was a play on Broadway in the '70s. It involved choreopoems.
Well, now it's on the silver screen. Incredible names -- Whoopi Goldberg, Anika Noni Rose, Kerry Washington, and Kimberly Elise, among them.
I got to sit down with them. I know you're envious. Here's a little bit of what they had to say about the pressure that came with this movie.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: Was there something that you take from this experience that you know will just stay with you?
KERRY WASHINGTON, ACTRESS, "FOR COLORED GIRLS": She actually got gray hairs playing the character, because her body was caught up in the reality of the role she was playing.
KIMBERLY ELISE, ACTRESS, "FOR COLORED GIRLS": It's true. I went with about five gray hairs and came home with 50, seriously, in a matter of weeks. It was that intense, but it was that gratifying, too. And I wear them proudly.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: Oh, they are beautiful, they are bright, they are brilliant, as you can see right there, Kerry Washington and Kimberly Elise. They are my "Face to Face" next weekend. We're going to have a little bit more of it just to kind of give you an idea of the avenues that they took during this interview in the noon Eastern hour.
I know you are super envious, because aren't they gorgeous?
HOLMES: They were in the building, though.
WHITFIELD: They were in the building.
HOLMES: It's one thing if you traveled for that.
WHITFIELD: We intentionally didn't let you know.
HOLMES: Fredricka, they were in the building.
WHITFIELD: Yes. So, a little bit more of them in the noon Eastern hour. And, of course, next weekend you want to tune in for my "Face to Face" with them. HOLMES: Fredricka, this really is one of my favorite parts of the morning. Always good to chat with you.
WHITFIELD: Thanks so much.
HOLMES: She'll be back in just a couple of minutes.
WHITFIELD: Yes.
HOLMES: I'll be back right after the break. Stay here.
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