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GOP Candidates Speak Next Hour; California Town Cuts Traffic Tickets Issued by 84 Percent; More Colleges Go Smoke-Free; Murdoch Sells London Headquarters; Postal Service on Brink of Default; Man Sues Co-Workers for Lotto Winnings; College Football Back in Full Swing; Libya Documents Embarrass China; GOP Freedom Forum; Rick Perry Skipping Forum; Romney Courting Tea Party; Labor Day Deals; GM's Sub- Compact "Sonic"; Bush Firsthand Account of 9/11

Aired September 05, 2011 - 14:00   ET

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

TED ROWLANDS, CNN ANCHOR: We just heard the president in Detroit talking about jobs.

In an hour, we will hear from the other side. If you are running for president, then the election is barely 14 months away. Well, Labor Day is not a day off. One hour from now, GOP contenders Newt Gingrich, Herman Cain, Ron Paul, Michele Bachmann, and Mitt Romney will take part in what's called the Palmetto Freedom Forum hosted by South Carolina Senator Jim DeMint. Texas Governor Rick Perry was planning to take part, but decided to rush home to deal with the wildfires in state instead.

You can see the forum live, start to finish, right here on CNN.

Right now our deputy political director, Paul Steinhauser, joins us from Columbia, the Palmetto State capital, to set the stage.

Paul, the Perry camp says duty trumps politics. Obviously, people get that, but we also heard the governor may take part via phone or broadband. What's the latest on his participation?

PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN DEPUTY POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Yes, the campaign was trying to see if they could make that happen, that he would take part from back in Austin, Texas. But we're told by Senator DeMint and by other organizers of this event that that won't be happening.

Governor Perry was here in South Carolina last night, and he had an event this morning in Conway, South Carolina, a town hall that was also scheduled. But after that, he headed back to Texas to deal with those raging wildfires.

Take a listen to what he said though at the earlier event this morning. Actually, we don't have that sound, but he was talking about praying for rain back home in Texas.

And listen, this is an important forum. But as you mentioned, Ted, while this is very important, politics is trumped, of course, by conditions when residents in your home state could be in danger of a catastrophe, a fire like that.

ROWLANDS: Absolutely.

STEINHAUSER: So, Rick Perry not taking part in this forum, yes.

ROWLANDS: Now, a forum and a debate, two different things. I guess, technically, they're not supposed to attack each other. What do you expect to hear today?

STEINHAUSER: Yes, I saw Senator DeMint this morning at breakfast, and he was telling me about the format here. You're going to see all of the five remaining candidates on stage at the top, but then it's one at a time, and each candidates will get about 20 minutes of questioning from Senator DeMint and two others.

And one of the reasons this is so important -- OK, two reasons, Ted. First of all, this is South Carolina, the first southern state to vote in the primary caucus calendar, so a very important state. But let's talk about Senator DeMint, the two-term Republican from right here in South Carolina.

Ted, he is very influential, very popular among Tea Party --

ROWLANDS: It looks like we lost Paul there, but you can look forward to the beginning of the forum at the top of the hour. You can see it live here. John King anchoring our coverage on CNN at the top of the hour.

Well, it is not a tropical storm anymore. It's not even technically tropical. But what's left of Lee is not to be taken lightly.

More than a day after coming ashore in Louisiana, it's still a ferocious rainmaker, and flash flood watches and warnings are in effect from Mississippi to Maine. Parts of the Southeast could pick up six or more inches of rain tomorrow and today, which could mean more scenes like these.

This is Jefferson Parish, just south of New Orleans, after some 11 inches of rain made worse by a tidal surge from the South. One person was killed in Mississippi when floodwaters washed away a vehicle.

A Texas wildfire has claimed the lives of a mother and her 18-month- old child. Flames engulfed their mobile home near Gladewater, in the eastern part of the state. That blaze was one of 35 fires burning across Texas.

The biggest one is in Bastrop County, near Austin. It has destroyed 300 homes and threatened about a thousand others. About 5,000 people have been evacuated.

This has been the worst fire season in Texas history. Three-and-a- half million acres have burned since November.

A newly released 9/11 video surfaced nearly 10 years after the attacks took place. This video shows smoke from United Airlines Flight 93, which crashed near Shanksville, Pennsylvania. It was made by a man who lived about two-and-a-half miles away.

Stay with CNN all week for special coverage leading up to the 10th anniversary of 9/11.

Just moments ago, President Obama wrapped up his annual Labor Day speech in Detroit. In remarks you saw here on CNN just a few minutes ago, the president talked about his economic policies. He told the Motor City crowd that his controversial decision to bail out GM and Chrysler worked.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We've got roads and bridges across this country that need rebuilding. We've got private companies with the equipment and the manpower to do the building. We've got more than one million unemployed construction workers ready to get dirty right now.

There is work to be done, and there are workers ready to do it. Laborers on board, business on board. We just need Congress to get on board. Let's put America back to work.

(APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROWLANDS: Today's speech was a bit of a preview for his big jobs speech before Congress on Thursday.

Well, up next, why one police chief is slamming the brakes on traffic tickets. That's right, he's cut citations by 84 percent.

Stay with us. We'll have that coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROWLANDS: OK. Be honest. Have you ever got a speeding ticket that you just couldn't believe? Maybe you were driving just over the speed limit on a sunny day, you were the only person out on the road.

Well, one small city just north of Sacramento, California, hears you. Sort of.

Roseville police think traffic citations are overused, and this year alone, they have cut the number of traffic citations by 84 percent not to recklessly let residents speed, but to focus on what they call commonsense to ensure long-term public safety. Is it working? Well, traffic accidents have dropped eight percent in the last seven months.

Roseville Police Chief Daniel Hahn joins us now from California.

Thanks so much for your time there, Chief.

Very interesting idea. I guess the first question, do you have time to talk to my local police chief? This sounds great.

CHIEF DANIEL HAHN, ROSEVILLE, CALIFORNIA, POLICE: Yes, thank you for having me.

ROWLANDS: What are you trying to accomplish here?

HAHN: Well, I mean, our job is to improve the quality of life in our city. And traffic one of those issues. And so our officers and staff are tasked with problem solving.

So the only solution to the problem of traffic is not just traffic citations. We have many ways to solve that, working with traffic engineers, doing safety campaigns in the schools and with parents. So any number of things that officers have the opportunity to be innovative with.

ROWLANDS: Have you changed any of the actual rules of traffic, and are you letting things go? I mean, an officer sees someone speed by, are they still pulling them over?

HAHN: No. We still write tickets. So when you deserve a ticket, you get a ticket. But, you know, when you are innovative, that takes you away from just writing tickets.

So, for example, if there's illegal U-turns being done somewhere, can we work with traffic engineers to raise center medians and say that permanently solves that problem without having an officer sitting on an intersection or stretch of street to solve that problem? So, we are focused on solving the actual problem, which is people being injured, cars being damaged, property being damaged, as opposed to how many traffic citation an officer actually writes every day.

ROWLANDS: And this is freeing up your officers to go and do other things. What are they doing now that they weren't able to do because they were writing tickets?

HAHN: Well, they do all sorts of things. They've been giving much more school presentations. For example, we just had a traffic issue on a small residential street where semi-trucks are driving down just the other day. So one of the things besides just enforcement, we go to the businesses that those semi-trucks might be going to and start talking to them to solve the problem, get them better routes to that business that are legal routes, and also smaller trucks so we don't have cars run into or people injured by them driving down a very small residential street.

ROWLANDS: Now, it seems to me that you guys set up speed traps to try to catch people speeding so you can make money to offset what's happening across the country in terms of municipalities. Are you getting any heat from city hall on this? Obviously, you're not pulling in as much cash from writing citations.

HAHN: Yes. I don't want our officers thinking one bit about money. Their main focus has to be on problem-solving.

And fortunately, we have a great city council that that's their concern also. They're concerned about the safety in our city, and the city manager, the same thing. So I haven't received one single bit of heat about finances.

As a matter of fact, I don't know how much money we will have not brought in that we would have brought in last year either. That's not our concern. I don't want that to be on our officers' mind at all.

ROWLANDS: Are you getting any interest from other cities, people interested in doing the same thing? Because I know a lot of the members of the public would be very interested in other cities doing this. Any feedback?

HAHN: Well, since the story has been running, I've been getting a little bit of feedback. And most of it is positive, especially in our town.

People like the fact that the traffic accidents have gone down eight percent, that the officers are able to be innovative and find new and better and long-term ways to solving the traffic issues we have in our city. So it's been pretty positive all the way around.

ROWLANDS: All right. Police Chief Daniel Hahn in Roseville, California.

Lead foots, make your way out West. You may not get a ticket.

Thanks, Chief. Appreciate it.

Well, smoking on public property is legal, but that's not the case for a growing number of college kids at public schools. Why is that? We'll explain in a couple minutes.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROWLANDS: It's a growing movement catching on around public universities, smoke-free campuses. The University of Kentucky is just one of more than 500 college campuses that have gone 100 percent tobacco-free.

That's pretty significant when you consider these numbers. According to the CDC, cigarette smoking is the leading cause of preventable deaths in the United States. We're talking about one in every five deaths each year.

Take a look at this map from the CDC. You can see Kentucky had one of the highest smoking rates, at 25.6 percent. These rates are based on the most current numbers from 2009, but that was the same year the University of Kentucky turned smoke-free. Since then, an increasing number of students and faculty have reached out for help.

Ellen Hahn is the director of the University of Kentucky's tobacco- free policy. She joins us now via Skype.

Ellen, since your university went smoke-free, a lot of other college campuses have jumped on the bandwagon. How successful has the program been?

ELLEN HAHN, DIRECTOR, UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY'S TOBACCO-FREE POLICY: Well, good afternoon, Ted. It's been actually really successful. It's been a journey, and it's certainly a process, and we're continuing to work hard. But it's been really successful.

We've had buy-ins from all across campus. Of course our board of trustees voted to be tobacco-free prior to the time that we went in November of 2008. The medical center went, and then the whole campus went in November of 2009.

ROWLANDS: So there's not a spot that you can smoke every 100 yards or so? You have just eliminated smoking from the entire campus. How do you police it?

HAHN: Well, it's a great question. We've created a climate, an environment in which compliance is just accepted.

We still have hotspots where people smoke and use tobacco products, but by and large, we've really had amazing success. And what we've learned is that if you go tobacco-free, you need to have a comprehensive policy that covers all parts of your campus. Otherwise, it's too confusing for people.

So we don't have smoking areas. You have to go off campus to use tobacco.

ROWLANDS: But what about people that just are visiting the campus?

HAHN: The same applies. Everybody on our campus, whether they're faculty, staff, students, vendors, contractors, visitors, parents, they're all expected to comply with our policy.

ROWLANDS: People would say maybe this is a public university, there should be some area, some public area for me to smoke. I'm a smoker, and you're discriminating against my right to smoke if I attend your university or even work at your university.

HAHN: Well, look, Ted, this is a public health problem. And as you said earlier, Kentucky leads the nation in tobacco use. So we have an incredible health and economic burden.

We spend over $1.7 billion a year treating sick smokers in our state. So the board of trustees decided to do something courageous to change business as usual in our university and say, look, this is a public health problem, we are not discriminating against tobacco users. In fact, our whole attitude is, let's help tobacco users quit, as well as when you're on our campus, we provide nicotine replacement at very low cost so that you can maintain your cravings and feel comfortable while you're on our campus.

ROWLANDS: All right. Ellen Hahn, from the University of Kentucky, leading the way, a smoke-free campus, has been since 2009. Many campuses across the country joining Kentucky.

Thanks, Ellen. Appreciate your time.

HAHN: Thank you. ROWLANDS: This is the worst wildfire season in Texas history. And what's left of Tropical Storm Lee just made things worse.

We'll have a live report coming up after the break. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROWLANDS: President Obama just wrapped up his annual Labor Day speech in Detroit. In remarks you saw here on CNN just a short time ago, he gave the crowd a preview of the jobs address he'll give later this week.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: I don't want to give everything away right here, because I want you all to tune in on Thursday, but I'll give you just a little bit.

We've got roads and bridges across this country that need rebuilding. We've got private companies with the equipment and the manpower to do the building. We've got more than one million unemployed construction workers ready to get dirty right now.

There is work to be done and there are workers ready to do it. Laborers on board, business is on board. We just need Congress to get on board.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROWLANDS: The president talks to a joint session of Congress about jobs and the economy, of course, on Thursday night.

Well, President Obama isn't the only one out talking jobs today. GOP candidates are canvassing the country at a number of Labor Day events.

A handful of the Republican presidential hopefuls are in Columbia, South Carolina, for the Palmetto Freedom Forum which is being hosted by South Carolina Senator Jim DeMint. Mitt Romney, Michele Bachmann, Herman Cain, Newt Gingrich, and Ron Paul are all expected to go head to head. That, in less than an hour.

Texas Governor Rick Perry backed out of the forum this morning after appearing at a town hall in South Carolina. Perry is returning instead to Texas to deal with the wildfires, but he may participate remotely.

Be sure to join our John King for live coverage of the presidential forum in South Carolina. We'll bring it to you, all starting at 3:00 Eastern Time.

Honda is recalling nearly a million cars worldwide to fix an electrical problem and a software glitch. This affects 936,000 cars, to be exact.

Honda says it will have to replace the master switch for the power windows to cars in its Fit and CR-V lines. It is also recalling cars from its CR-Z compact hybrid line that have manual transmissions. A software bug could cause the car to go in the opposite direction, so the car may roll backwards when the transmission is in forward gear. No injuries have been recorded because of either of these problems as of yet.

Two deaths are reported in Texas because of the wildfires. A mother and her 18-month-old child were killed when flames engulfed their mobile home near Gladewater, in eastern Texas. The biggest fire is in Bastrop County, near Austin.

That is where our Chris Welch is at this hour in the thick of it, every month.

Chris, give us the latest here. I can see the wind is still blowing there, and that of course is the major problem here, because it's pushing these fires everywhere.

CHRIS WELCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Oh, absolutely. It's still blowing. It's picking up.

We got some pretty strong gusts once in a while. I've had to hold on to my hat a few times.

I'll give you another look. I know we've been looking at this all day.

This sky just continues to look pretty ominous. We've been seeing this -- this would be to the east. We are between Austin and Bastrop -- well, in Bastrop, but these fires are just to the east of us.

And we're also just starting to see some plumes to the west of us now. So we're kind of in the middle of several fires here.

Officials say there's a handful here, more than a dozen across the state right now. And those two deaths that you referred to, those came from the eastern part of the state, in a completely separate area of fires.

This is a very, very severe drought that this state has been in. This dry season, the fire season, has been going on since last November. Usually it tones down in the spring when the rains come.

Well, they've been having -- they've been going through a very severe drought. And so conditions did not improve as they were hoping, as they were expecting. Now residents are dealing with this.

We've got 300 homes destroyed. We've got 5,000 people evacuated. They expect that number to go up -- both of those numbers to go up after today.

We're waiting for more information. We'll actually be -- we hope to be getting some new video from inside the fire zone from later this afternoon as well.

So, a press conference earlier today. Officials urging residents to basically try and keep their hopes up and do what they can to not totally give up.

ROWLANDS: That huge plume of smoke behind you looks like it's right on you. How far away are you right now from that fire that we see in the background?

WELCH: Well, we're about three miles from what you're seeing there. And that's really about as close as they're letting the majority of the media get. They're not letting media in, they're not letting residents in, but they have let a pool crew, a pool video camera at one of the networks, go in, get some video.

They've been going in with emergency crews. They're obviously accompanied, they're protected. We hope to be getting that video back this afternoon within a short period of time, but we don't know exactly when that will be back. That will be, I imagine, the best pictures that we've seen all day from the inside of the fire.

ROWLANDS: Yes. And pictures, obviously, a lot of the folks that have been evacuated will be eager to see, because 300-plus homes have been destroyed. But a lot of the people who have been evacuated don't know whether or not their homes are still standing.

WELCH: Exactly. That's what people here are worried about.

They're just kind of sitting here putting their heads in their hands, thinking, what are we going do? They've got their pets, they picked up their computers, the things that they could remember to grab, important documents, put it in their car and got out.

They really had no time to prepare for this. Some of them looked in the sky, saw a dark cloud, thought, this is not necessarily a storm, I don't think this is a storm.

They started to call around. After they got through to 911, 911 told them, you've got to get out now, you don't have any time to waste.

ROWLANDS: All right.

Chris Welch, thanks for joining us live from Texas, where those fires continue to burn.

Well, every month a group of co-workers pitched in $5 for the Lotto, but one man was out sick, and boy, did he ever miss out. Now he is suing. It is an incredible story. We'll have it for you coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROWLANDS: Checking the headlines and other news you may have missed.

Remnants of Tropical Storm Lee are still making trouble more than a day after coming ashore in Louisiana. It has prompted a flash flood emergency in Mississippi and flood watches as far north as New England, where it's already very wet.

President Obama visited the town of Paterson and Wayne, New Jersey, yesterday, where he met with residents hit by flooding spawned by last week's Hurricane Irene.

The physician accused in Michael Jackson's death is seeking a delay in his upcoming trial and asking for an appeals court to consider sequestering the jury or get cameras out of the courtroom. If you remember, back in August, a judge denied Conrad Murray's initial request to sequester jurors. His lawyers are comparing the media attention he'll get to the Casey Anthony trial, and they argue he won't get a fair trial if the jury is not isolated.

Opening statements are set for September 27th.

Now for the latest in the hacking scandal surrounding Rupert Murdoch's News International. The media mogul is now selling his flagship building in London's Wapping district as investigators continue to look over their work in terms of the eavesdropping with police in Breberry (ph). The move also follows the closure of the tabloid newspaper "News of the World," staff for the "Sun Times" and "Sunday Times" will move to another location in east London.

The U.S. postal service may be close to default. The agency will not be able to pay a $5.5 billion payment to a retiree healthcare trust fund due this month.

Postal officials assure us if the agency defaults, mail, payroll or statements and suppliers will not be disrupted. A congressional committee will hold a hearing about the situation tomorrow.

Get this. Not having 15 bucks cost an Ohio man $2 million. Edward Harriston is suing his co-workers at Kraft made for allegedly denying him a share of the $99 million mega millions jackpot that they won on August 5th.

Harriston claims he contributed five bucks a month to the lottery pool with his 22 co-workers, but they claimed he failed to pay up in June, July and August. Harriston is suing for $2 million.

In sports, college football got back in the swing of things this weekend in the PAC 10 SEC showdown. Oregon struggled against LSU's defense most of the night and the 40-27 LSU victory over Oregon has fans wondering if the poor display by the Ducks will be a recurring theme over the next few weeks.

Moving over the big 12, Oklahoma charged out of the gate with an impressive 47-14 victory over Tulsa. Another game making headlines, a high scoring battle between Baylor and TCU, a nail biter 50-48 upset win for Baylor in the final moments of Saturday's game.

Did China sell arms to Libya during the final days of the Gadhafi regime? We'll tell you about some documents that have surfaced in Tripoli right after the break. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROWLANDS: Now to "Globe Trekking" and some intriguing documents that have turned up in Libya. They suggest that China may have sold arms to Libya during the waning days of Moammar Gadhafi's rule despite a U.N. ban.

Ben Wedeman is in Tripoli. Ben, you've seen the documents. What do they say?

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Here are the documents found by a reporter for the "Daily Globe" and mail of Canada in the trash in Tripoli. What it is, is a trip report by a retired colonel of the Libyan army who was dispatched to Beijing with a long shopping list of weapons and ammunition including 150 million bullets that the Libyans wanted to buy from Chinese state arms manufacturers.

Now, this trip took place in the middle of the July. It is not clear and the Chinese are saying they did not sign any contracts, even though they acknowledge the visit did take place. The idea was for Libya to pay the Chinese and the Chinese would transfer the weapons to Algeria.

But as long as the money was paid, the Algerians would transfer those identical weapons and types, though not the ones -- specific ones the Libyans were buying from Algeria to Libya thereby getting around the sea embargo placed by the U.N. on Libya several months ago.

Libyan officials, the new officials that are now in charge in Tripoli say that this is going to make a big difference when it comes to handing out reconstruction contracts. They say they're not going out for Chinese. Ted --

ROWLANDS: Is there any indication, Ben, that these documents would not be authentic? You're looking at them. Is it your gut that these are the real deal?

WEDEMAN: Yes. The NTC, the Transitional National Council officials have seen these documents and they say they are, in fact, the real deal and it has sort of details that you can trace.

Flights from Tunis to Frankfort to Beijing, dates and times and what not so it does appear by all accounts that this is, as they say here, the real deal.

ROWLANDS: But no indication that any weapons were actually sold by china at this point?

WEDEMAN: Relating to this specific deal, no. However, officials here in Tripoli are saying that throughout the fighting, they were surprised at all the weapons that Gadhafi seemed to have. The ammunition and all of its -- much of it that they were able to get their hands on, they say was brand new, still in the boxes and clearly coming from China.

Now, we don't know for sure whether those weapons were legitimately bought by Libya before the beginning of this uprising or they were smuggled into the country after the start of hostilities. Ted --

ROWLANDS: All right, thanks, Ben Wedeman live for us in Tripoli.

Checking some top stories now. There were clashes outside the trial of ousted Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in Cairo. At least 22 people were arrested, 26 people injured, including 14 police officers. The trial resumed today after a recess of nearly three weeks. Mubarak was wheeled into court on a gurney.

Also in court today, American college student Amanda Knox, her lawyers are trying to get an Italian court to overturn her 2007 murder conviction. They said the DNA evidence used to reach that verdict was inconclusive. Prosecutors today asked that the judge consider admitting new evidence that could strengthen the case against Knox.

There's word that a senior al Qaeda leader may have been arrested in Pakistan. The leader is said to have been close to Osama Bin Laden. He's suspected of directing attacks against the U.S., Europe and Australia. Pakistani authorities say they made the arrest with the help of the United States or at least with the United States' cooperation.

GOP hopefuls are gathering in South Carolina right now getting ready for the presidential forum at the top of the hour. We'll go there live from our preview with John King after the break. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROWLANDS: It's 20 minutes from now, the GOP candidates or most of them will begin a presidential forum in South Carolina. You can watch it here live and hosting our coverage for that is John King who joins us from South Carolina, and gives us a bit of a preview here.

John, as we know, Rick Perry no longer going to be there. Good decision by him to get back to Texas?

JOHN KING, HOST, "JOHN KING USA": Well, you know, Ted it could hurt him a bit in the sense that he's a front-runner status here in South Carolina. They like to say in South Carolina, Iowa, and New Hampshire, win in the field in the South Carolina Republican primary picks Republican nominees.

They have a pretty good history of that if you look back. But look, he's the governor of Texas. His state has a severe wildfire problem right now. It is the right call if you're the chief executive of your home state to get back.

South Carolina primary still more than five months away so he could have bolstered his standing here today, but his staff says it's a no brainer. Your state is in trouble as the chief executive. You got to go home.

ROWLANDS: Mitt Romney originally said no thank you to the invitation here. He's changed his mind. Is this part of a new strategy for the campaign?

KING: It is part of a new strategy. In part, it's because of Governor Perry's energy in the field. Governor Perry's emergence as Mitt Romney's competition if not already the man ahead of Mitt Romney is potentially the Republican front-runner. Governor Romney wanted to run as more of a centrist candidate to avoid the ideological right, excuse the breezy necessary in South Carolina this afternoon. But with Governor Perry in the race, Governor Perry making a big impression already in Iowa, a big impression already here in South Carolina, the Romney campaign realized the dynamics had changed.

So they want to say, we might not be a Tea Party favorite, but we can appeal to Tea Party voters. So Romney knows in the end he has the money and he has the organization. It will come down to Mitt Romney and one or two other candidates. Maybe Governor Perry, Mitt Romney, and one or two other candidates.

Governor Romney realizing now with the changing dynamics of the field, he needs to broaden his appeal across the bases of the Republican Party. Not to win all of the Tea Party votes to prove though that he can get enough of them if necessary in a state like South Carolina.

ROWLANDS: All right. Before we let you go quickly, Sarah Palin not attending there because, of course, she hasn't announced at all. How does her non-decision enter into this conversation?

KING: Well, she is the subject of conversation. Whether it's in Iowa, where she was over the weekend or New Hampshire where she is today. She's not here in South Carolina for this event, but everybody you talk to at any campaign says if she runs, she would have a big impact.

She has a secure base in the conservative Republican Party. If you talk to people like Governor Jon Huntsman. He's not invited to this forum today, the former Utah Governor. Romney's campaign strategist to a bit lesser degree, but still they say they would welcome Sarah Palin because they think it would divide the right.

And provide an opening for more of a centrist to the right candidate not a far right candidate. But everybody knows Sarah Palin has an active base of support. She would have an immediate impact on the race.

So as we talk about three debates in the next month, this big event here today, Palin's decision also a big factor. By the end of September, we will have a much clearer sense of who is in and who is out. Because of the debates who has the momentum in the Republican race. Ted --

ROWLANDS: All right, John King, we'll see you at the top of the hour. Be sure to join John at 3:00 Eastern for live coverage of the Presidential Freedom Forum in South Carolina hosted by South Carolina Senator Jim DeMint. We'll bring it to you all starting again at 3 p.m. just 15 minutes or so from now.

Up next, the best Labor Day deals and steals. Don't go anywhere. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) ROWLANDS: It's Labor Day, one of the best times of the year to find big summer ending sales online at and at your local stores. But where are the best places to save money today?

It is today's taking the lead. According to CNN Money, now is the time when retailers are stocking up on new appliances and slashing prices on older models. If you've been eyeing a refrigerator or a dishwasher, check out the sales at big box stores like Home Depot and Sears.

The holiday is also known for a good time to buy gas and propane grills for next year. There are, of course, less people barbecuing in the snow. So CNN Money recommends logging on to retailmenot.com and acehardware.com for good deals there.

Seasonal items like lawnmowers, patio furniture and bathing suits are about to be taken off the store shelves. So check out hayneedle.com and target.com to stock up for next year or your next beach vacation.

Finally, you can even save money on wine with the new fall harvest. Good buying opportunities on older bottles of reds, whites and roses. Not up to speeds on that, brandsdeals.com showcases some of the best deals on the web. For the full list, including car deals, visit cnn.com/money.

Sonic, the first sub compact car to be built in America in decades will be competing against models from low-cost labor markets. To make that competition a reality, GM has built the most efficient and automated plant in the company's history. CNN's Casey Wian reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CASEY WIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Brad Glendee was working at a GM plant in Wisconsin that was about to close in 2008. So he moved his family to Michigan and transferred to GM's Orion plant. Before he knew it, the Orion plant shut down too and Glendee was out of work for six months.

BRAD GLENDEE, GM UNIT LEADER: There was a lot of uncertainty at that point. So I just had to keep my fingers crossed and hoped the leadership was making the right decision.

WIAN: One big decision, investing more than $500 million to completely retool the Orion plant to do something that GM hasn't done in more than two decades. Produce a sub compact car in the United States.

STEVE BROCK, ASSISTANT PLANT MANAGER, GM ORION: Chevrolet Sonic hatchback, very sporty and aggressive design not only on the exterior, but also on the interior, very fuel efficient vehicle.

WIAN: The 1,500 Orion employees are back building the Chevrolet Sonic set to hit showrooms this fall.

CARL MONTROSSE, GM TEAM LEADER: I think it's an opportunity for us to show off that our manufacturing system can build anything. We can make it cheap. We can make it good.

WIAN: The plant was completely gutted and redesigned to save half a million square feet of floor space allowing suppliers to operate closer to the assembly line.

BROCK: Just think about going in and taking out everything except for the concrete floor and the roof and then just starting over. That's essentially what we did a year and a half ago.

WIAN: Energy efficiencies will also help loosen the tight profit margin among cars selling for less than $15,000.

PATRICK HONG, EXECUTIVE EDITOR, ROAD AND TRACK: I think it's a risk, but I think it's a calculated risk in the sense that because there's more demands for smaller vehicles.

And Chevrolet, in tradition never had the portfolio extending down that far into smaller cars. So trying to meet consumer demands and looking at the future, diversification away from trucks, I think it's an important step for them.

WIAN: Another cost savings, a controversial agreement with the United Auto Workers tied to the federal government's massive bailout of GM and Chrysler. It's a two-tiered labor agreement permitting workers to be paid $14 to $16 an hour. A bout half of what GM veterans make.

GLENDEE: I think we all had to go through a cultural change between union and the management.

BOB KING, PRESIDENT UNITED AUTO WORKERS UNION: It's a bold gamble by both the UAW and General Motors. It's going to be successful. That's going to be really important for creating more jobs in America.

WIAN (on camera): But that two-tiered wage system remains controversial among some in the UAW. In fact, that very issue is on the table right now in negotiations over a new UAW contract. Those talks are expected to wrap up later this month. Casey Wian, CNN, Orion, Michigan.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROWLANDS: Former President George W. Bush granted just one interview about the moments around September 11th. You don't want to miss this story. It's up next. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROWLANDS: Former President George W. Bush has never really talked about the attacks of 9/11 in candid detail until now. CNN's Becky Anderson gives us a look at the revealing National Geographic documentary and Bush's revelations.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GEORGE W. BUSH, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: September 11th was a monumental day in our nation's history. It was a significant day. It was obviously, it changed my presidency.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Two planes flew into the two towers, a small plane into the north tower.

BUSH: I went from being a president that was primarily focused on domestic issues to a wartime president. Something I never anticipated nor something I ever wanted to be.

BECKY ANDERSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): We have seen many times George W. Bush's reaction in a Florida classroom to news that America was under attack.

But only now, 10 years later, as a former U.S. president revealed in intimate detail how events unfolded that day. He knew before entering the school that a plane had hit the World Trade Center.

BUSH: First I thought it was a light aircraft and my reaction was, man, either the weather was bad or something extraordinary happened to the pilot.

ANDERSON: But then the second plane hit.

BUSH: In the back of the classroom, there's a full press corps and staffers and some adults. I'm intently listening to the lesson.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: These words that fascinate. Get ready.

BUSH: And I felt a presence behind me. Andy Carr's Massachusetts accent was whispering in my ear, a second plane has hit the second tower. America is under attack.

ANDERSON: The unprecedented interview was secured by journalists and documentarian, Peter Schnall.

PETER SCHNALL, GEORGE W. BUSH DOCUMENTARIAN: We wanted to give the president a chance to speak to those horrific days in September. You know, days that changed his presidencies and we wanted him to do it in a manner that was personal, that was in-depth and that would speak to those events perhaps in a way we haven't heard before.

They agreed to the format. They agreed to the manner in which we would conduct the interview. That would be just one-on-one. The president sitting, you know, right across from me and we would talk for almost five hours over the course of two days.

ANDERSON (on camera): What struck you most about what he said?

SCHNALL: What struck me the most was that during those hours, the days of 9/11, the president was overwhelmed by the events. Overwhelmed in the sense that, certainly in the first few hours of September 11th.

They didn't really know who the enemy was. They didn't know if there were more attacks about to happen. So he spoke about the fact that he was journeying through the fog of war, which I thought was a very interesting and powerful thing for a president to speak about. ANDERSON: Do you think he remains troubled by that period?

SCHNALL: We could see in the interview that the president was very taken by the events of that day. Obviously, it was a day that will forever be the center from which his presidency changed. He was very emotional. He talked a few times about decisions that he had to make.

Remember, now, he's not in Washington. He's literally flying across the country. They are literally running from an unknown enemy and they are having to make decisions at 40,000 feet and in Air Force One.

He talked about some of the decisions he had to make, for example, ordering the Air Force to shoot down commercial planes that had not responded to the FAA demand to land. Those were decisions that he had to make and they troubled him then and I think they still trouble him now.

He talked about the fact that when Flight 93 went down in the fields of Pennsylvania. Remember, now, he's still on Air Force One and the communication was not as good as it was supposed to have been. He talked about that they weren't sure if that plane had gone down because of his order to shoot down commercial planes.

ANDERSON (voice-over): The other key decision that day amounted to what has been a lingering war on terror.

BUSH: Make no mistake. The United States will hunt down and punish those responsible for these cowardly acts.

ANDERSON: That hunt culminated on May 2nd this year with the death of Osama Bin Laden. Coincidentally, it came as Schnall was preparing to interview the president who has never commented on the assassination.

SCHNALL: He told us that he was sitting at a restaurant in Dallas when the secret service told him that President Obama wanted to speak to him. He then learned about the assassination. He said to us, certainly that there was no sense of jubilation, certainly no sense of happiness. If anything, he felt that finally there was a sense of closure.

ANDERSON (on camera): Do you get the sense that the former president, George W. Bush, has any regrets?

SCHNALL: You know, it's an interesting question. We often ask the people that we're interviewing, you know, is there anything you would do again? Is there anything that you regret?

He kind of looked at me and said, I hate that dam question. He did not ever use the word regret. He did not ever say that he would have done anything differently. He did say in the interview quite clearly that he made decisions, decisions that were controversial and they still are controversial.

I mean, being look we're still living through the conflict in Afghanistan and Iraq. Those decisions that they made in September will forever have changed our life and the world today. (END VIDEOTAPE)

ROWLANDS: Now, to John King live from South Carolina at the Republican presidential forum. John?