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Jackson's Doctor On Trial; Seeking Full Exoneration; Captured After 41 Years On The Lam; Michael Jackson's Dr. On Trial; Immigration Official Arrested; Bad Cantaloupes Kill 13 people; Seven Arrested In SAT Scandal; Losing Trust In Washington; Captured, After 41 Years on the Lam; Immigration Official Arrested; Florida Zeroes in on Primary Date; U.S. to Deem Haqqani A Terrorist Group; Engineers Check Monument Damage; Rooney Giving Up "60 Minutes" Gig; President's Back to School Speech; Chasing Chris Christie; Severed Heads Dumped at School; Paramilitary Group Surfaces in Mexico; New Iowa GOP Polling

Aired September 28, 2011 - 13:00   ET

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

RANDI KAYE, CNN ANCHOR: Hi there, Fred. Thank you.

As the prosecution builds its case against Michael Jackson's live-in physician, it's not just focusing on what Conrad Murray did or didn't do before Jackson died, but what he did or didn't do afterward.

So today, we expect to hear from Jackson's personal assistant on Dr. Murray's response to finding Jackson lifeless on June 25, 2009, after a long and sleepless night. As you know, if you've been watching CNN, Murray's accused of causing Jackson's death by giving him a surgical anesthetic to treat insomnia.

The defense says Murray was trying to wean Jackson off the anesthetic, but Jackson was his own worst enemy. First on the stand this morning was the head of the production company that was staging Jackson's upcoming concert series in London. Prosecutors want to show that Jackson was up to the challenge of performing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DEBORAH BRAZIL, PROSECUTING ATTORNEY, MICHAEL JACKSON TRIAL: What was your overall impression of Mr. Jackson's performance at rehearsal on June 23, 2009?

PAUL GONGAWARE, CO-CEO, AEG LIVE CONCERTS WEST: I thought he was strong.

BRAZIL: Did Mr. Jackson appear to be excited and full of energy when he was performing?

GONGAWARE: Yes. Yes, he did.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAYE: Yesterday, we heard a lot about the pressures of preparing for 50 concerts when the original plan was 10. We also heard from Jackson, like we'd never heard him before.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Once again, Michael Jackson had the world's attention. This time, though, he was wasted, slurring his words. Listen to this recording by Jackson's personal physician, Dr. Conrad Murray, made six weeks before his death.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

MICHAEL JACKSON, SINGER/SONGWRITER: When people leave my show, I want them to say, I've never seen nothing like this in my life.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

(END VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (voice-over): Prosecutor David Walgren says Jackson was drugged up and that Dr. Murray was not only aware of his addiction, but continued to the feed it, by supplying and administering drugs that eventually killed the pop star.

DAVID WALGREN, PROSECUTING ATTORNEY: It was Dr. Murray's repeated incompetent and unskilled acts that led to Mr. Jackson's death on June 25, 2009.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Prosecutors continue to hammer Murray's so- called gross negligence, leaving the room while Jackson was hooked up to a Propofol I.V., calling the pop star's bodyguard when he stopped breathing instead of 911, and urging him to hide the drugs and vials in the room. And this bombshell, prosecutor Walgren told the jury, as paramedics fought to save Jackson's life, Dr. Murray held back a critical piece of information, that he had given Michael Jackson Propofol, the powerful anesthetic.

WALGREN: They were told Lorazepam and Conrad Murray never once mentioned the administration of Propofol.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Then it was defense attorney Ed Chernoff's turn. He said there was nothing that the Dr. Murray could have done to prevent Jackson's death, because Jackson died at his own hand, taking more Propofol without Murray's knowing.

ED CHERNOFF, LEAD DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Michael Jackson swallowed up to eight pills on his own, without telling his doctor, without permission from his doctor. And when Dr. Murray gave him the 25 milligrams and Dr. Murray left the room, Michael Jackson self- administered a dose -- an additional dose of Propofol, and it killed him. And it killed him like that, and there was no way to save him.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: As Conrad Murray listened, he wiped away tears. The defense portrayed him as a good doctor, a friend to Michael Jackson, a friend trying to wean him off Propofol.

CHERNOFF: The evidence is not going to show you that Michael Jackson died when Dr. Murray gave him Propofol for sleep. What the evidence is going to show you is that Michael Jackson died when Dr. Murray stopped. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Leaving Michael Jackson, according to the defense, to take the drug himself. Later in the day, prosecutors called their first witness, Kenny Ortega, the director and choreographer behind Jackson's "This Is It" tour. Prosecutors attempted to establish Jackson appeared in good health. They played this rehearsal clip in court.

CHERNOFF: What was his demeanor? What was his condition on Tuesday, June 23rd?

KENNY ORTEGA, PROSECUTION WITNESS: He entered into rehearsal full of energy, full of desire to work, full of enthusiasm, and it was a different Michael.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Two days later, Michael Jackson was dead.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAYE: Joining me now to make sense of what we've heard in court today is Ellen Garofalo, a defense attorney from one of L.A.'s biggest firm. Ellen, thanks for coming on the show. I want to ask you first, what do you make of the prosecution's case so far?

All right. It doesn't seem like Ellen can hear me very well there, so we'll get her hooked up and fix that for you. But in the meantime, let's take a look at some other big stories that are developing right now, shall we? Oh, no, let's try again one more time. Ellen? Ellen, do you hear me?

ELLEN GAROFALO, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: I hear you now, I didn't hear you before.

KAYE: Ellen?

GAROFALO: Yes, I hear you now.

KAYE: Ellen, can you hear -- all right. I'm going to go on to some other news and we'll get that fixed up. Let's take a look at some other stories that are developing right now. The head of immigration and customs enforcement for south Florida has been arrested on child pornography charges. The justice department says that Anthony Mangione is charged with transportation of child porn, receipt of child porn, and possession of child porn. If convicted, he could face up to 20 years in prison. Mangione has reportedly been leave from his job at ICE.

At least 13 deaths are now blamed on the serious tainted cantaloupes and the deadliest outbreak of a food borne illness in more than a decade. In addition to the deaths, health officials say at least 72 people have become sick from eating tainted cantaloupes. The deaths and illnesses have been reported in 18 states from California to Maryland. Investigators say the source of the outbreak appears to be Jensen Farms in the Rocky Ford region of Colorado. The CDC says Listeria can cause fever, muscle aches, diarrhea, and other gastrointestinal symptoms. An alleged SAT cheating scam uncovered on Long Island. The Nassau County district attorney's office says 19-year-old Sam Eshaghoff was paid as much as $2,500 to take the college entrance exam for six students at great neck north high school. He faces felony fraud charges and could face up to four years in prison if convicted. The six students accused of paying him to take the test are all minors and face misdemeanor charges. The D.A.'s office says rumors about the alleged cheating led to an investigation and found the six students' SAT scores were much better than their grade point averages. Authorities are looking into whether other schools and more students might even be involved.

All this week, CNN is taking an in-depth look at why our government is so broken. And according to a new CNN, ORC poll, the number of American who is trust Washington is at an all-time low, just 15 percent trust the government in Washington, that's down from 73 percent back in 1958. And when asked how often can you trust the government in Washington? Take a look here, 77 percent said only some of the time, eight percent say never, just two percent say just about always.

All right. We are going to return to the Conrad Murray trial next, and the defense says their client did not give Michael Jackson the fatal dose of Propofol. They say that he actually drank it himself, along with at least eight other pills. Do they have a case? Dr. Sanjay Gupta joins us next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: The defense's argument in the Conrad Murray trial centers on two specific drugs that when mixed, they say, created a perfect storm that actually killed Michael Jackson. Now, those two drugs, Propofol and Lorazepam. Murray's attorneys contend Jackson drank the Propofol the night that he died and swallowed along with it eight pills of the sedative Lorazepam, both without Dr. Murray's knowledge, his personal physician. The prosecution, meanwhile, insists that it was Murray who recklessly administered Jackson a lethal dose of Propofol, and that and that alone is what killed him.

Joining me now to discuss this case us CNN's Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta. So, this is really something. We have so much to talk about. But really, I mean, the autopsy said that he died from acute Propofol intoxication. And then you hear what the defense is now trying to say, that maybe he might have drank this.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Right.

KAYE: So, what do you make of it?

DR. GUPTA: Well, first of all, one thing about Propofol, as you've heard now, is that it enters the body quickly and it leaves the body quickly. And that makes it very hard to test for after some time has passed, even a short amount of time has passed. So, making the diagnosis of acute Propofol intoxication is hard. You can test hair, you can test other tissues to see if Propofol was in the body, but it's hard to figure out exactly how much at any given time. What they're sort of focusing on now is they said that there was some isn't the stomach.

When you drink Propofol, it's very different than injecting it in your bloodstream, as you might imagine. It takes longer for it to absorb and the impact overall is going to be less than injecting it directly. But if you combine it with other sedatives, which we do in the hospital, by the way, all the time, but it's usually when a patient has a breathing tube in and is monitored, but we do combine it with other things. You do -- it does have a synergistic effect, it can, you know, start making a person's breathing capacity start to go down.

KAYE: So, let's talk about some of those combinations, say it was combined with Lorazepam.

DR. GUPTA: Yes.

KAYE: If that's true, he did take these eight pills of Lorazepam.

DR. GUPTA: Yes. That's a drug known as Ativan. It's a pretty commonly prescribed drug. If I gave you one or two milligrams, you'd be asleep for probably the next 11 hours, roughly. So,it's a powerful thing, and they're talking about eight two-milligram tablets, they say. It is a lot. Now, again, you know, why he would have that much, and why -- if he took it himself or if Dr. Murray gave it to him, who knows, but it's a lot for any given individual. And then adding, again, the Propofol, you're sort of giving it that synergistic effect.

KAYE: Right. And then there's the -- also the suggestion, certainly from the prosecution, that the paramedics said that they had found Demerol in his system as well. And Dr. Murray and the defense have said, well, they didn't know he was on Demerol. What kind of combination would that be? The Demerol and the Propofol.

DR. GUPTA: The Ativan is an anti-anxiety medication. Propofol is a medication used for general anesthesia. Demerol is a pain medication, a narcotic, similar to morphine. The thing about Demerol and Ativan is that they're going to have slightly longer half-lives than Propofol. Propofol is in and out, for sure, but unless he'd been taken Demerol over the last few days, it would be unlikely to still be in his bloodstream.

So, if this was something they found in his blood, and he was taking it, and Dr. Murray didn't know about that, then that's obviously a pertinent fact. The other thing about Demerol is that when someone is starting to come off of Demerol, one of the side effects is insomnia. People have an incredibly hard time sleeping when they're coming off Demerol. I think this is something I'm hearing from the defense as well that this wasn't just a guy who had trouble sleeping every now and then, he just could not fall asleep at all, and they were sort of pointing to the fact that maybe it was this Demerol that was exacerbating that.

KAYE: Right. And if -- we know that Dr. Murray did leave the room. What's unclear, really, is for how long a period of time. How risky is that -- I mean, you've worked with Propofol in the hospital, to leave someone unattended?

DR. GUPTA: It is incredibly risky. And I think that's one point where it seems everybody seems to agree, doctors, certainly the anesthesiologists, you just don't do that. First of all, doing it outside the hospital, doing it outside an intensive care unit or O.R. is very unusual, I hadn't heard of that happening. So, in the first place, that's unusual. Second of all, you want to have lots of monitoring equipment, you know, measuring someone's oxygenization, having breathing tubes on the standby, having a cardiac resuscitation system, a defibrillator, all of that standing by in case there's a problem.

But the key is that someone has to be monitoring the patient. It is sort of, you know, basic sedation 101. It's the first thing we're taught if you're ever giving a medication like this. So even two minutes, I don't know -- and you saw the piece yesterday that we had, you see how quickly this stuff works.

KAYE: Oh, yes. Yes.

GUPTA: Two minutes is a very long time in a situation like this.

KAYE: Right.

All right, Sanjay, thanks for coming out.

GUPTA: Absolutely.

KAYE: I know we're going to check in with you later and hopefully that jack-hammering will stop.

GUPTA: Yes, I was going to --

KAYE: I tried to call it off for your shot here, but --

GUPTA: They're already expanding the court maybe.

KAYE: Yes, I don't know what they're doing, but, unfortunately, it's continuing.

All right, Sanjay, thanks.

And, of course, be sure to catch more of Dr. Gupta's analysis of the Conrad Murray trial this Saturday and Sunday morning 7:30 Eastern right here on CNN.

Cleared of rape, but still listed as a sex offender. One man's uphill battle after 27 years in prison. He'll tell us his incredible story right after this break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: We've been watching -- keeping a very close eye here on the Conrad Murray trial in the case of the death of Michael Jackson. And joining me now to make sense of what we've heard so far in court today and yesterday is Ellyn Garofalo, a defense attorney from one of L.A.'s biggest firms.

Ellyn, thank you for coming on the show.

ELLYN GAROFALO, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Thank you for having me.

KAYE: Let's talk first about what you make of the prosecution's case so far. They're talking quite a bit about Propofol. Really trying to make Dr. Murray look as he's -- as though he's an incompetent doctor.

GAROFALO: I think the prosecution so far has been very successful in focusing their case on the key issue, whether Michael Jackson would be alive but for what Conrad Murray did or did not do on the night of the 25th of June, and whether the use of Propofol itself, in a home setting, is reckless to the extent that it becomes criminal conduct. The prosecution has been very good about keeping their witnesses and their evidence so far focused on those important issues and not becoming distracted by a lot of the more circus elements around Michael Jackson.

KAYE: They've spent a lot of time, both yesterday and today, looking at the rehearsals for the big "This Is It" show and the concert tour coming up. Why is it so important to the prosecution to show that Michael Jackson was doing well and actually strong and vivacious in those final days?

GAROFALO: Well, the prosecution, and both sides are sort of arguing in some ways across purposes. The prosecution is trying to show that Michael Jackson was fine, he was functioning, and but for what Conrad Murray did on the night of the 26th, Michael Jackson would still be alive. That Conrad Murray's conduct was reckless and resulted in the death. None of these other issues, the drug addiction, the alleged drug addiction, his physical condition, contributed significantly to the death. That the death can be pinned on Conrad Murray's conduct alone.

KAYE: So if you were Ed Chernoff, Conrad Murray's defense attorney, what would be your greatest concern at this point given what we've heard so far?

GAROFALO: I think the greatest concern in this case is simply getting beyond the idea that administering Propofol in a home setting without the proper monitoring equipment and without the proper backup --

KAYE: What about the attempts, though, to cover-up and deceive that the prosecution was saying? Not telling the paramedics that he had given Michael Jackson Propofol? I mean not being forthcoming about that?

GAROFALO: It shows consciousness of guilt, but it doesn't really go to the death itself, because Michael Jackson, from all reports, was dead almost instantly, by time Conrad Murray came back into the room. So now the question is, does covering up, does hiding drugs, does failing to make full disclosure show that Conrad Murray knew he did something he shouldn't have done and knew he was responsible for the death. And it's important evidence in that it shows consciousness by Conrad Murray that something was wrong, that he should have behaved differently.

KAYE: All right. Ellyn Garofalo, thank you so much. I'm going to let you get back to watching the proceedings. We're going to talk to you a little bit more next hour.

GAROFALO: Thank you.

KAYE: Thank you.

All right, so what do FBI agents in swimsuits and Richard Nixon have in common? We're going to tell you, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: Just what does it take to clear your name when you've spent 27 years of your life in prison because of mistaken identity? Thomas Haynesworth has actually been asking that question for a very long time. His incredible story is one that we believe has been under covered in the media. As an 18-year-old, Haynesworth was convicted of three rapes in Richmond, Virginia, and sentenced to 84 years in prison. He was paroled in March after DNA proved that he did not commit two of the rapes. There was no DNA from the third case, but both Haynesworth's lawyers and prosecutors agree that circumstantial evidence supports his claim of innocence and implicates a serial rapist now in prison. But Haynesworth is still a registered sex offender and with support of prosecutors and the state's attorney general he is seeking full exoneration.

There appeared to be no argument against this step until July when the Virginia Court of Appeals stepped in and called for additional information. The hearing was yesterday. Thomas Haynesworth joins us now from Richmond.

Thank you so much for coming on the show, Thomas. I'm so sorry to hear what you've been going through. But first, tell me, how did the hearing go and when do you expect a ruling?

THOMAS HAYNESWORTH: The hearing went all right yesterday. It was a 10-panel judge, you know, to hear the case. We were (INAUDIBLE) for 15 minutes. And it went well. And so far, for a decision, we don't know when it will be made.

KAYE: You have no idea when it will be ready?

HAYNESWORTH: They say it takes like nine days, a couple weeks, even might take a couple months. So we have no idea.

KAYE: So how did you get caught up, tell us, in this case of mistaken identity? Just briefly, give us the main details.

HAYNESWORTH: Well, you know, it happened on Sunday mornings, February the 5th, 1984, when I was on my way to the store. And later she seen a person that kind of fit the description. And I was on my way to the store when the police stopped me and they said that I fit the description. And they went and got the lady. She looked at me and she came back and said I was the one. From there I got arrested.

KAYE: What was it like for you, all those years, all those decades in prison, knowing that you were innocent?

HAYNESWORTH: It was hard, difficult, you know? You're in prison for something you didn't do for 27 years. And try and tell anybody you knew you were innocent, nobody believed me, you know. So what I did is I took it upon myself in the law library to study the case, you know, any case that I could look in and kind of get some information there to put in my case. Write The Innocent Project, you know, all the people I could get on board to believe me, you know. And, fortunately, it came through for me.

KAYE: Are you angry?

HAYNESWORTH: Well, you know, I'm not really angry, I just -- I'm kind of frustrated that, you know, 27 years that I missed out, the things that I missed out on in life, you know? You know, none the fault of my own being in a place that you had no part of being -- you know, put yourself in. It's kind of frustrating. It do hurt, though, you know, being in a place you know you should not be for something you didn't do. Somebody's (INAUDIBLE). You know, it kind of hurts.

KAYE: Yes. And I know that you're, obviously, you're still waiting for this exoneration. We know that's so important for you. But you're also trying to get your life together. You have a new job. Tell me about that.

HAYNESWORTH: Yes, you know, I got a new job with the attorney general, you know, working in the mayor room, you know, of (ph) technician, you know. It's very good, you know,. Everybody that supported me, you know, the attorney general office, you know, everybody has been uplifting me, you know, and encourage me to stay strong, you know, and gather whole groups of supportive people.

KAYE: All right. Thomas Haynesworth, please be sure to keep us up to date on your case. We'll be tracking it along with you because, as we said, we think it's been pretty under covered in the media. So we'll keep an eye on it. Thank you.

HAYNESWORTH: All right. Thank you.

KAYE: And now a manhunt that's spanned three continents and four decades is over. George Wright, a convicted killer and airline hijacker who escaped from prison when Richard Nixon was in office and once forced FBI agents to deliver ransom money in -- get this -- only their bathing suits, was arrested in Portugal Monday. CNN's Deborah Feyerick joins me now with this story.

Deb, this sounds like an international crime novel here. How did they catch Wright, after all these years?

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, it was so interesting. U.S. marshals started tracking George Wright about a decade ago. They, you know, blew the dust off the case. They finally got the lead that they needed. Portuguese authorities Monday arrested George Wright in Sintra, Portugal, a charming tourist town just outside Lisbon.

Now, Wright had apparently married a Portuguese woman and with their two kids he was living in Sintra and working as a painter under the alias Jose Luis Jorge dos Santos. Wright was accused of taking part, as you mentioned, of one the most brazen hijackings of the 1970s carried out by members of the Black Liberation Army out of Detroit and dressed as a priest, Wright and four others boarded a Miami-bound Delta flight smuggling a gun inside a hallowed out bible.

Now in Miami, the hijackers ordered FBI agents to deliver $1 million cash, the most ever paid in ransom, for the safe release of about 80 passengers. And the agents had to do it while they were wearing bathing suits.

You can kind of see there, so that the hijackers could see they were unarmed. Now, the plane left for Boston, refueled, and then flew to Algeria, where the hijackers were briefly detained and then set free.

The group taken in by American writer and Black Panther activist Eldridge Cleaver. Wright had been in prison earlier for killing a World War II veteran while robbing a New Jersey gas station.

And he escaped from prison using the warden's car. He'd been serving a 15-30 year sentence, which he will likely have to complete. He's also facing air piracy charges. Right now, though, he's fighting extradition and not expected to be back in court until mid-October. Randi.

KAYE: So, Deb, the FBI just never gave up? After being told to dress in bathing suits, I guess, they weren't going to let this one go.

FEYERICK: That's exactly right. And they had their office in Portugal working on this as well, and they just really couldn't. I mean, you have those images of these FBI agents standing on the tarmac with $1 million in cash in their bathing suits. Not something you shake easily.

KAYE: No, certainly an embarrassment for them. Well, they certainly got their man. Deb Feyerick in New York. Deb, thank you.

Coming up, the U.S. is set to declare another group as a tourist organization. We have the reason behind the move, coming your way next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: It is about half past the hour. Here's a look at some of the stories that you may have missed happening today.

The head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement for South Florida has been arrested on child pornography charges. The Justice Department says that Anthony Mangione is charged with transportation of child porn, receipt of child porn, and possession of child porn. If convicted, he could face up to 20 years in prison. The state of Florida's latest move regarding primary elections just might throw the Republican nominating calendar through a loop. The sunshine state is expected to hold its presidential primary at the end of January, 2012, which would, in turn, move the GOP nominating process a full month earlier than planned.

Florida House Speaker Dean Canon tells CNN that a state commission exploring the option will likely choose January 31st to hold the nominating contest.

The United States may soon designate the Haqqani network as a foreign terrorist organization. The group, which has been linked to al Qaeda, is considered to be a major threat against U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan after several attacks against U.S. forces as well as Afghan civilians. The move has been widely anticipated with one official telling CNN the designation should happen, quote, "fairly soon."

All right. Well, you might think your job is tough. Take a look at this live picture. Imagine having to rappel down the Washington Monument! Whoa! Check it out. These are from Washington. A live picture, as I said.

Engineers are rappelling down the monument today to check for damage from last month's earthquake. Originally, they were scheduled to do the inspections Tuesday, but postponed it until today, citing some bad weather.

Man, just look at that. That's hard for me to even look at. The park service says the interior assessment found the monument structurally sound, so now they're checking out the outside, I guess.

And you won't hear him complaining on Sunday nights anymore. Turns out CBS' Andy Rooney is giving up his weekly segment commentary on "60 Minutes." And this Sunday will be his final regular appearance on the show. The 92-year-old has been featured on the show since 1978 and this week will be his 1,097th on the show. Wow.

President Obama is set to deliver his annual back-to- school speech in Washington. We will take you there live next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: President Obama is set to deliver his third annual back- to-school speech at Benjamin Banneker Academic High School in Washington. This is a live picture as they're getting ready for him there.

In the past, the president encouraged students to take responsibility for their education by setting goals and believing in themselves. The speech is being televised live to schools across the country and is also being carried, where else, online.

Our Brianna Keilar joins us live from the White House. So, Brianna, what do we expect to hear from the president today? BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: You know, you're expecting, Randi, to hear a lot more of the encouragement that you've heard in past year. I've read the speech, which as you know, has been controversial in past years.

Because of the way in 2009 it was rolled out by the Department of Education and you ended up having some parents who protested and said they didn't want their kids to have to watch this speech broadcast live in classrooms.

But I've read the speech. It's not a partisan speech. It sort of frames student achievement as patriotic, saying, you are the future of the country and you have to live up to that responsibility.

He'll be encouraging students to work hard, to try different things, to ask questions and be curious. And that, he will tell them, will lead to things like inventing a device that will make the iPad look like a stone tablet, he says, at one point in his remarks.

He's also expected to say, perhaps you will able to invent something to you can power an entire city with wind and the sun. I will say that plug for renewable energy may be the closest thing to any sort of a policy pitch he gives.

And also, of course, he'll be encouraging students to graduate, not only high school, but also to move on to college and to finish through college. And he'll have a message of kind of just keeping at it.

You don't always have to get straight As, but keep at it, plug along, pay attention and really try to, you know, achieve everything that you can and do your best. Randi --

KAYE: That doesn't sound like a bad message. But, still, are some schools purposefully not showing in back-to-school message from the president?

KEILAR: Some schools will not show it. Of course, as I mentioned, not as controversial as it was in 2009, but the controversy stems back to that year, the first year that President Obama did this

And the controversy wasn't his message, because it was ant partisan message in his speech, but it was the rollout. The Department of Education really publicized this address, encouraged schools to run it.

They also, Randi, put out proposed lesson plans that teachers could do. And there was one in particular which was an assignment, a proposed assignment of having students write letters to themselves about how they could help the president.

Well, that didn't sit well with some critics of President Obama's, and so that's where you had teachers or parents calling into school districts, saying they didn't want their students to have to sit through this.

I did speak to a spokeswoman for Collier County schools in Florida, one of the districts that has never run his remarks, and again is making that choice this year. They said that they will give teachers the opportunity to show it at a later date.

But they won't be broadcasting it live and the reason is because they did have objections from parents in past years, Randi.

KAYE: All right. Brianna Keilar at the White House. Brianna, thank you very much.

Coming up, have you heard this? I'm not ready to run. That is what Chris Christie has said time and time again, but if he changes his mind, is it too little, too late? It is fair game and it is next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do it for my daughter, do it for our grandchildren. Do it for our sons. Please, sir, don't -- we need you. Your country needs you to run for president.

GOV. CHRIS CHRISTIE (R), NEW JERSEY: It's extraordinary flattering, but by the same token, that heartfelt message you gave me is also not a reason for me to do it. That reason has to reside inside me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAYE: How many times does a guy have to say no? It's time for fair game, where we go beyond the rumors and the talking points to the heart of politics.

Last night in California, New Jersey Republican Governor Chris Christie again said he is just not ready to make a bid for the White House. He even directed supporters to check out a two-minute video online, highlighting moments like this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRISTIE: There are lots of people who will run just because the opportunity presents itself and I'm not stupid. I see the opportunity. I see it. That's not the reason to run.

And I think all too often, that's why people do run. It's just because they see the opportunity. Well, will I ever get this opportunity again? Let's go! That's not a reason to be president of the United States.

You have to believe in your heart and in your soul and in your mind that you are ready, and I don't believe that about myself right now. So that's why I've said I won't run and you know, I can't imagine that changing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAYE: But rumors of Christie 2012, well, they sure do remain. Let's bring in my guest today, CNN contributor Will Cain, Democratic political consultant, Ed Espinosa, and president of the Network of Enlightened Women, Karin Agness. Thank you to all of you for coming on talk about this.

Let's start with the obvious, shall we and by the way, my apologies for this jack hammering behind me. I hope you all can hear me OK. That's what happens when you do the show live from the streets of Los Angeles.

But here's my question first, should we believe that Chris Christie is really not running? Will, let me start with you.

WILL CAIN, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: You know, Randi, Intrade, which is a site that allows people to bet on future events predicts that Christie has about a 12 percent chance to get into the race.

Now to put that into context, that's less than the likelihood that Sarah Palin will get in. But I have to say, for such a blunt, straight-spoken guy, yesterday's speech in California, I don't think he gave such a blunt, straight-spoken denial of his desire to run for president. That could be wishful thinking on my part and certainly could be that, but I didn't hear no.

KAYE: I didn't hear no either. Karin, what do you think? Is it too late for him to enter?

KARIN AGNESS, FOUNDER AND PRESIDENT, NETWORK OF ENLIGHTENED WOMEN: No, it's not too late for him to enter, but he's got to make the decision in the next month. Because the Florida primary, he's got to register by the end of October.

But I think Will's right. You know, for a guy who speaks so forcefully and has a reputation for being a straight talker, he wasn't quite so straight last night.

KAYE: Ed, one thing that he was saying last night, he might not have been saying no, but he certainly was going after President Obama a bit basically painting him as a bystander in the oval office and really painting him as not much of a leader. What do you make of that and that activity when he's not even a GOP candidate?

ED ESPINOZA, DEMOCRATIC POLITICAL CONSULTANT: Yes, I think it's really ironic that the guy who hasn't been in office that long makes good speeches is suddenly finding himself attacking the president for the same thing that we've attacked -- that the Republicans have attacked him for so long.

Let me go back to whether or not he's going to run. He's said he's not going to run over and over again. He actually doesn't have a month. He has a month to get on the ballot. He'll have to get in this race -- if he got in this race today, he would have 33 days to build an organization, get staff, and get on the ballot in Florida, New Hampshire, South Carolina, and half a dozen other states.

He just doesn't have enough time to run in this primary. A better shot would be for him to run as an independent in the general election. He can sidestep the Tea Party, and he'll have time to build an organization.

KAYE: Let me just share with our viewers a little bit of who Chris Christie really is, just in case everybody isn't as familiar with him as all of you. He's only been governor there in New Jersey for only a little over a year and a half.

Before that, he was the U.S. attorney for New Jersey. He had a pretty good law and order record there. He was in local politics at the county level for a few years before that. Will, what would you say when you look at Chris Christie? What is his appeal? Why do so many people want him to run?

CAIN: Let me say first why people might not want him to run, Randi, because he is not a conservative savior. For those who want purity, and by that, I don't mean logical purity, I mean like populous, base-serving purity, he's not that.

He's pretty open to immigration. He says being in this country without documentation is not a crime. Lou Dobbs on this channel, CNN, said he should resign over that kind of statement.

He said man has caused climate change, but he said he would not back the cap and trade bill. But on the flip side, Randi, he is a staunch fiscal conservative. He stood up to public employee unions.

And I see a logical consistency to individual freedom and liberty, and I see a guy who can articulate that, without pandering. That's what gets me excited about Chris Christie.

KAYE: And Karen, if he does jump in, who does he hurt, who does he help, do you think?

AGNESS: I think, actually, he's going to hurt Governor Perry. I think there's a fair number of people who have jumped on the Governor Perry bandwagon, because they see him as a tough candidate who's going to be tough on fiscal issues and really come out and say what he means. And I think that those are the type of people that are going to jump on the Governor Christie bandwagon really quickly.

KAYE: And do you think, Ed, does this hurt the GOP in your opinion? I mean, does it send a message about maybe folks aren't real thrilled with the current field?

ESPINOZA: Yes, it's like Jon Stewart said, it's like an episode of "American Idol" in reverse. You keep adding people as the season goes on. I would love to see a ten-person debate and how Christie holds up when he's got nine opponents there.

But to go back to the point about Perry, it's going to take a -- National Republicans are about to learn what Democrats here in Texas have known for a while, which is, it's going topic a lot more than a bad poll and a bad debate to stop Rick Perry. KAYE: I've got to give Will the final word on that one. "American Idol" in reverse. Will, I know you've got something up your sleeve on that.

CAIN: You know, all I would say is that I'm not worried about adding more candidates to this field. I want to see more candidates added to this field. I want a satisfactory candidate and Chris Christie or Jeb Bush or Paul Ryan would do that. Until I see it, I'll keep asking for it. It doesn't hurt my party or my ideology at all.

KAYE: All right. Will Cain, Ed Epinosa, Karin Agness, thank you all, appreciate your time. Good discussion.

Coming up, fighting murder with murder. A gruesome twist in Mexico's drug war. We'll have a live report, next.

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KAYE: Mexican drug gangs appear to be stepping up their grizzly threats against school teachers. Five severed human heads were found in a sack yesterday near an elementary school in Acapulco.

We have some pictures of the scene where the heads were found. We do have to warn you, of course, that they may be disturbing. No one has claimed responsibility in these cases.

The threats warned that teachers will become targets if they don't pay part of their salaries to the drug gangs. Some schools have closed due to the threats and the lack of security.

In another development, you'll recall a recent story we told you about dozens of bodies dumped in the street near a busy shopping center in Vera Cruz. Now a new paramilitary group appears to be claiming responsibility for the massacre. Rafael Romo reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN SENIOR LATIN AMERICAN AFFAIRS EDITOR (voice- over): Five men dressed in black and wearing masks with one goal in mind, to kill drug traffickers. One of the men speaks for the group saying that their name is Zeta Killers.

Their goal is to exterminate members of the Mexican drug cartel known as "Los Zetas." The video posted on Youtube has been circulating online for the last couple of days, but it's legitimacy is unknown.

The speaker claims that this group is the people's armed wing. He also says that as principal, the group's members are prohibited from committing crimes, including extortion, kidnapping, and theft, and anything that affects the well-being of Mexico and its people.

Reacting to the video, the Mexican Attorney General's Office issued a statement saying that the only way to reach long-lasting security and peace is through the rule of law and the strengthening of our institutions to fight against organized crime is the responsibility of authorities at the three levels of government.

The federal government rejects any action outside the law as a means to protect the fundamental rights of people. The video was released only a week after the bodies of 35 people were dump on a busy highway in Vera Cruz.

Handwritten signs that appear next to the bodies said that victims were members of the "Zetas" cartel and were executed for extorting people in the state of Vera Cruz. The Zeta killers paramilitary group has not claimed responsibility for the massacre.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAYE: Rafael Romo joins us now from Atlanta. Rafael, is there any proof really that this group is to say they claim to be?

ROMO: There's really no proof, Randi, at this time. Nobody really knows who they are or whether they're for real. What is interesting in this case though is that they appear only a few days after the massacre in Vera Cruz saying that they're going after the drug cartel known as "Los Zetas."

So it would be really difficult to come up with that kind of coincidence if they were not for real and that's something that has authorities throughout Mexico very, very worried, Randi.

KAYE: And Rafael, what should we know about this group and other paramilitary groups in Mexico?

ROMO: Well, the fact of the matter is that it's not the first group that appears in a video on Youtube. There were two more in the last year. But this time they seem to be talking about current events, especially the massacre that I told you about.

They seemed to be talking about some of the concerns that people not only in the state of Vera Cruz, but throughout Mexico have that they are just fed up with the crime and they are not going to wait for the government to do something about it.

They are going to take justice into their own hands, so to speak. So that's a new development in this war against drug cartels in Mexico, Randi.

KAYE: Such a disturbing situation there. Rafael, thank you very much.

Well, time is running out to raise campaign cash. Paul Steinhauser will explain right after the break.

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KAYE: Time now to check in with Deputy Political Director Paul Steinhauser. Paul, let's talk about this Iowa GOP polling, some new polling.

PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN DEPUTY POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Yes, brand new today, Randi and this is really interesting. We're talking about Iowa. Remember the caucuses there. It's the first state to vote in the primary caucus calendar.

Check this out. From American Research Group, a brand-new survey just came out today. Look who's on the top, Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor who's making the second bid for the GOP nomination.

Why is that interesting? Because Romney, Randi, really has not been concentrating much on Iowa and the people who have, Michele Bachmann, the representative from Minnesota and Rick Perry, the Texas governor and Ron Paul, the congressman from Texas, they're a little bit lower.

They are bunched all there kind of almost tied for second place in this poll. Interesting numbers here, Randi, as we move towards the primary and caucus season.

KAYE: Yes, and there is one important deadline that I know you want to bring us up to date on this week.

STEINHAUSER: Yes. We're talking about campaign cash. Friday is the deadline. You know, you've seen President Barack Obama, Vice President Biden and just about all those Republican White House hopefuls out this week doing fundraisers, very busy. Why?

Because Friday is the last day to raise money for the third quarter so what does all of this matter? Here is why. When the campaign starts showing us those numbers, how much money they have raised the last three months, we will make a big deal out of it. It's like a barometer like polling.

The more money you raise as a campaign, as a candidate, it shows you're a stronger candidate, a stronger campaign, and more popular. That's why we are pouring through these numbers. They are kind of the gauge of how the campaign and candidates are doing. So another way for us to see what is going on in this battle for the White House, Randi.

KAYE: All right, Paul Steinhauser. Thank you so much for bringing us up to date. Talk to you soon.

STEINHAUSER: Thank you.