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Obama's New Economic Push; Almost 300 Killed in Turkey Quake; Family Asks for Gadhafi's Body; 53 Bodies Found in Libyan Hotel; Dangers of BPA During Pregnancy

Aired October 24, 2011 - 11:00   ET

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

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: Live from Studio 7, I'm Suzanne Malveaux. I want to get you up to speed for Monday, October 24th.

Well, the screams of trapped earthquake survivors pierced through the wreckage in eastern Turkey. Rescuers are using heavy machinery, shovels, even their bare hands to try to reach them. This is a day after a magnitude 7.2 quake shook the town of Ercis and Van. Officials say more than 230 people have been killed. Almost 1,000 buildings have collapsed. People left homeless are dealing now with freezing temperatures.

In North Africa today Tunisians are counting millions of votes by hand. Now the results of parliamentary elections are expected tomorrow. And Tunisia was the first country to overthrow its dictator in what became the Arab Spring. Well, 80 percent of registered voters turned out. Can you believe that? Many faced some long waits.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: And you waited three hours to cast your ballot?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Something like three-and-a-half hours. But we didn't feel it. I mean it was like five minutes because we were very, very happy to be inside there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: Well worth it for many of those folks. Tunisia's new parliament is going to write a new constitution, decide on a system of government.

Well, the United States ambassador to Syria is now back in Washington today because of threats against his personal safety. Ambassador Robert Ford angered the Syrian regime by voicing support for anti- government protesters.

Well, the U.S. says that Ford could return, but officials say that Syria must first stop inciting violence against the ambassador.

Monsoon flood waters have reached one of Bangkok's two main airports. The airport is home to Thailand's flood relief operations which may now have to move to another location. Thousands of evacuees are already leaving a university gym because it's under water. And central Bangkok remains relatively dry, however. Officials are trying to divert high water to the sea by opening flood gates on dams and canals.

Well, we've got new developments in the case of a missing Kansas City baby. Surveillance video from a gas station shows a man emerging from a wooded area the night that Lisa Irwin vanished from her home.

Now three people have told police they saw a man in a white T-shirt carrying a baby. They say it was odd because of the late hour, because the baby was wearing only a diaper. It was 45 degrees outside.

Lisa Irwin's parents claimed an intruder took their baby almost three weeks ago.

Chinese media say that two drivers who ran over a toddler have been arrested. You remember this story. It's just tragic. The 2-year-old known as Yuyu lingered in critical condition for a week before she died. Now in the minutes after she was hit surveillance video showed 18 people passing this little girl before someone finally stopped to help.

The biography of the late Steve Jobs is on sale today. Author Walter Isaacson describes Apple's co-founder as a man who demanded perfection. When he didn't get it, well, Isaacson says that Jobs could be kind of harsh.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WALTER ISAACSON, AUTHOR, "STEVE JOBS": He was very petulant, he was very brittle. He could be very, very mean to people at times. And whether it was to a waitress in a restaurant, or to a guy who had stayed up all night coding, he could just really -- just go at them and say, you're doing this all wrong. It's horrible.

And you'd say, why did you do that? Why weren't you nicer? And he'd say, I really want to be with people who demand perfection. And this is who I am.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: Walter Isaacson talks with our Piers Morgan about Steve Jobs. See the interview on Wednesday, that is 9:00 Eastern on CNN.

Well, comedian Will Ferrell, he was honored for his humor, right? And then what does he do? Drops the award on stage, causing it to shatter. The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts awarded him the prestigious Mark Twain Prize for American Humor.

Ferrell was recognized for his spot-on impression, you may remember, the -- of President George W. Bush on "SNL."

Well, the jobs plan in Congress is stalled so President Obama is turning to new proposals that don't even require approval from lawmakers. Now the president, who's on his way out west, is going to outline his latest efforts to boost the economy and one of his new initiatives is designed to help more homeowners refinance their mortgages and avoid foreclosure.

Want to bring in our own Karina Huber, she's at the New York Stock Exchange.

So, Karina, this is an interesting strategy here that the president is trying to do. He's really trying to bypass Congress to get some things done. What's the plan?

KARINA HUBER, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. And Suzanne, of course, you know housing is one of the big thorns in our side right now. So we really need to get that sorted before the economy can really get kick started. So what he's doing is he's hoping to loosen an existing housing program called HARP, which stands for Home Affordable Refinance Program.

And the idea is to expand -- to get more (INAUDIBLE) into cheaper loans, get them to refinance. And you know with a 30-year fixed rate at around 4 percent, that's very low right now. It is a great time to refinance.

The problem has been if you don't have enough equity in your home you don't qualify under Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac rules. Well, now you'll be able to refinance even if you're under water which means you owe more in your home that it's actually worth.

But before we get too excited, some critics are questioning how many people will be actually -- actually able to meet all the other qualifications -- Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: And Karina, the president also helping out grads as well deal with college loans and the debt about that. Tell us a little bit about what he's trying to do.

HUBER: Well, we are expecting that announcement on Wednesday. We don't have many details right now but what we are hearing from senior administration officials is that the president will announce a plan to help graduates with their student loans.

Now the College Board says the average college grad has between $20 and $25,000 of debt. And that really depends on whether you go to a public or a private school. That's why we see the big range.

Now the president is obviously trying to do what he can do for the economy and his reelection without Congress right now -- Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: Karina, give us a sense of the market, how the stocks are doing today?

SHUBER: Well, we're seeing a nice little rally. We've got the NASDAQ up by more than 1 percent. Actually hovering near 2 percent. The other indices are also in positive territory.

A couple of reasons, we've got some nice earnings report coming out of Caterpillar. That stock is popping up more than 5 percent.

We're also seeing that investors today are putting their concerns about the European debt crisis on the back burner for right as we don't have many details yet as to what they -- what they're planning to tackle the crisis. We'll get more details on Wednesday.

We're also looking forward to some economic reports coming out of the U.S., namely GDP growth for the third quarter. That's coming around Thursday. It's looking a little bit better that we initially anticipated. So another cause to be optimist on Wall Street today -- Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: All right. We like that. Thank you, Karina.

Here's a rundown of some of the stories ahead. First, more than 230 people have died in the earthquake that hit Turkey. We'll have the latest on the frantic search for survivors now.

And then it rained baseball size hail in Oklahoma. Let's take a look at that. Real storm damage, as well.

Plus, Moammar Gadhafi's body has been on display for the Libyan people and for around the world. Well, his family, they've seen enough. They're demanding his body now.

And protecting your daughter from BPA. Now it is a chemical used to make plastics. And a new study now says it can be a toxic effect during pregnancy. Why it affects girls and what you need to look out for.

Also, Martha Stewart has got a new book and so does her daughter. But that book doesn't make her look so good. Martha Stewart, she's joining us live this hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: It's a race against time right now to save lives in eastern Turkey. Rescuers are using machinery, shovels, even their bare hands in a desperate search for survivors of yesterday's earthquake.

Our Diana Magnay, she's been in Ercis, that is near the epicenter of the 7.2 magnitude quake. She joins us now by phone.

Diana, set the scene for us here, if you would. Are rescuers still trying to find survivors in the rubble?

I think we've lost Diana.

Diana, can you hear us?

Diana's gone. I guess we'll -- we're going to get back to Diana as soon as we can go ahead and establish that signal.

Want to move on. Well, you know, I want to give you a point if you want to help those devastated by the earthquake in Turkey, you can visit our "Impact Your World" page. That is at CNN.com/impact. They need a lot of help. We're going to get Diana as soon as we can.

Checking stories our affiliates are covering. Police are warning people in Florida's Indian River County to be on the look out for these guys. They escaped from a jail early this morning. One was about to be sentenced for murder. The other was facing a murder charge.

Also want you to check out the video from Oklahoma. Folks got a pounding this weekend. Hail rained down on the central part of the state breaking windshields as well as forcing drivers to take cover. In some cases the hail was is the size of baseball. Yes, you've got to take a look at that. Thousands lost electricity during that storm.

And in Texas last night, former President George W. Bush threw out the first pitch to the Texas Rangers owner. Nolan Ryan in Game Four of the World Series. But you this? Well, Ryan missed it. It was apparently hilarious to the guy you saw there. Rangers coach Ron Washington caught laughing hysterically. The Rangers beat the St. Louis Cardinals to tie the series at two games apiece.

Moammar Gadhafi's family has a message for Libya's intern government to hand over his body. The spectacle over Gadhafi's corpse in a live report from Libya.

But first, here's a quote we couldn't resist sharing with you. It is, "Women, like men, are human beings. Women are different from men in form because they are females."

Find out who said that, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: All right. So I shared this quote with you. "Women, like men, are human beings. Women are different from men in form because they are females."

Who said it? That's right. Moammar Gadhafi. Back in the '70s Gadhafi wrote a green book with his thoughts and everything from politics to his views on women. Very interesting.

I'm going to take you live to Turkey now where the search is under way for survivors of yesterday's earthquake.

Our Diana Magnay has been in Ercis, that is near the epicenter of the 7.2 magnitude quake. She's joining us on the phone.

Diana, first of all, can you hear us? Are we connected?

DIANA MAGNAY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (via phone): I can.

MALVEAUX: OK. Great. Good to have you back here. Give us a sense of what's happening on the ground. Are rescuers still hoping to find survivors in the rubble?

MAGNAY: Yes, they are. Rescuers are searching those piles of rubbish -- rubble under flood lights because, of course, night has fallen. So the challenge has become that much more difficult.

Very, very cold at night, around freezing. And obviously much more difficult to see for a good 24 hours after the earthquake. And a cold obviously makes it much more difficult for those who survived as you can't return to their homes that their homes don't exist anymore or they are too scared to go back to their homes because of continuing aftershock.

And there have been two big tent cities set up near where I was and near the town of Van, which is the other major town struck by this earthquake.

And those tent cities really (INAUDIBLE) and there you can get warm food, warm blankets, warm heaters for these cold nights. Many people spent last night out in the freezing cold. Those who can't back in their homes either sleep in their cars of just standing around by a fire just watching and waiting to see if friends and relatives are pulled out of the rubble.

MALVEAUX: OK.

MAGNAY: Today their situation is slightly better.

MALVEAUX: All right. Diana Magnay, thank you so much for joining us.

To find out if you can help those devastated by the earthquake in Turkey, you can visit our "Impact Our World" page at CNN.com/impact.

Well, Moammar Gadhafi's family is demanding that his body be returned to them so he can be buried according to Islamic tradition. Autopsy results confirmed that Gadhafi died from a gunshot wound to the head. And crowds are still lining up to view his corpse.

Well, Dan Rivers is joining us live from Misrata.

Dan, tell us about this phenomenon that's taking place. There's a lot of curiosity. Are these lines still long today? Are people still trying to get in to see him to make sure he's dead?

DAN RIVERS, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Suzanne, well, the last of the people that were queuing up have already gone in and have been trickling out over the last 30 minutes or so. And I think now that is it. They're not allowing anyone else in, they say, to view the body of Moammar Gadhafi.

I assume that means that, therefore, they are thinking about burying him at some point or disposing of the body in some way where they hand it over to his family or the Gadhafi tribe or something else. We don't know. But certainly now there was a long line of about 50 or so people. Now that's gone. People were allowed in. They're trickling back out. And I get the impression that's it. They're not going to allow anyone else in.

MALVEAUX: Dan, I know the scene is rather macabre, but you know we're looking at pictures here of people with mask on their face. I'm assuming that the body is not in good shape and that there is no effort to preserve it at this point? That people are just coming in and seeing it as is?

RIVERS: Actually, it's in a refrigerated sort of storage room. This is a kind of market here, so I think it's in some sort of either meat locker or cold storage for vegetables here. So it's being preserved in that sense. You can clearly see now that they have done an autopsy on the body. You can see the stitches across the top of the body.

But you know, this is still not terribly dignified way of dealing with a human being. And as much as he was reviled by many people here, the entity did say that they would treat his body with dignity, that he would be buried in accordance with traditions here, with Muslim traditions.

That's not happened yet. And I think the longer this goes on the more awkward this is for them. And the more embarrassing, frankly, this is for them.

MALVEAUX: You're not -- yes, you're not kidding there. Have they responded in any way to the family, the Gadhafi family says, OK, we would like the body now? I mean are they waiting for something or -- what's going on?

RIVERS: It's really difficult to know. I mean the first thing on the ground here, it's incredibly difficult to get through to anyone in the NTC on the phone because a lot of them were over in Benghazi. They're traveling back now after the liberation was proclaimed. So a lot of them in transit. A lot of people aren't answering their phones.

And even the ones that we have got through to aren't really saying much in terms of what's going to happen. I think they wanted this to be done in secrecy but then, on the other hand, they've let hundreds of people queue up here and see the body.

The people that we talked to said they came here because they --- you know, they wanted to see for themselves --

MALVEAUX: Right.

RIVERS: -- with their own eyes that he was definitely dead. And some of them out of morbid curiosity, frankly, that they just never seen him before in real life and they wanted to see him before he was buried.

MALVEAUX: All right. Dan Rivers, thank you very much, appreciate it.

Human rights group reports that a disturbing discovery in Libya, the bodies of 53 people believed to be Gadhafi supporters. Well, Human Rights Watch says it found these bodies at a hotel in Sirte yesterday and the group says that some of them had their hands tied behind their backs when they were shot. And the group is now calling for Libya's interim government to investigate.

I want to bring in our national security contributor Fran Townsend. Fran, she's a member of the CIA external advisory committee, and in May of 2010 she visited high-ranking Libyan officials at the invitation of the Libyan government. So, Fran, discovering that you've got more than 50 bodies of these Gadhafi loyalists, I mean clearly there were firefights that were going on but this does not look like a good start, right, for a country that's supposedly transitioning to a time of peace in the rule of law.

What do you make of seeing that scene?

FRAN TOWNSEND, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CONTRIBUTOR: You know, Suzanne, it is a very dismal start, frankly. And this is not the first country we've seen this sort of grizzly, gruesome finding. And we went through periods in Iraq when we found this.

And so, look, if the National Transitional Council wants to have a fresh start and wants to be better than the dictator and oppressor they've overthrown in Gadhafi, then they need to start exercising their power and the writ of government across and treating all citizens equally, including those who were Gadhafi loyalists.

The goal here ought to be by the NTC to bring them into the government, to make them feel safe and secure. That they have voices that will be heard in a democratic society. And they're going to have to find a way to sort of move fast the history of differences and divides and violence.

MALVEAUX: Do you -- does it worry you at all in light of the some of the tribal and ethic tensions inside this country that you could see a period of civil conflict as this new government tries to settle in?

TOWNSEND: I think we have to expect it. This is part of the messy democratic process that is almost inevitable, in my mind. But the NTC can actually truncate that, right? They are in a position to exercise Democratic powers now. I am concerned, you know, we've seen that there is a temporary constitution that will be based on Sharia, that permits multiple wives.

And there are all sorts of troubling sort of signs. But I the sooner that the NTC establishes a process towards elections, and sort of establishing the rule of law in civil institutions there, the better off they're going to be and frankly the better off the Libyan people are going to be.

MALVEAUX: And Fran, why do you find it disturbing that they are considering Islamic Sharia law as the basis for their own legislative system? Do you think that that can co-exist within a thriving democracy, or no?

TOWNSEND: Well, I do -- look, it's not that Sharia itself that is the concern. It's whether or not they will be true to their word, a moderate Muslim society. Whether or not there is Sharia is less troubling to me than who are those who hold power inside the government.

We've seen the rise of extremists like Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt. We'll see in terms of the outcome of Tunisia. And so the chaos provides an opportunity for those who are undermine a democratic system and so the more quickly it sorts out, where all voices are equally heard, and there's a democratic process that is transparent and fully participatory --

MALVEAUX: Right.

TOWNSEND: -- the better off you're going to be and undermine those who would try to -- you know, undermine the system.

MALVEAUX: And Fran, finally, when you see those pictures of the Libyans lined up there to take a look at Gadhafi's body and the family says, OK, enough is enough, what do you think the transitional government should do at this point? Does it concern you at all that they're kind of at a standstill over what's going to happen here?

TOWNSEND: Yes, I mean, I think, you know, it's so abhorrent to us in the West that there's been in process at all. But I think we have to be a little bit forgiving about there were 42 years where Gadhafi tortured and you know oppressed his own people that people want to know and see the body and know he's dead is somewhat understandable.

But this gruesome grizzly process now needs to be over. And the NTC needs to work with those in Misrata to make sure that the body is turned over to the family and they're permitted to give him an appropriate burial.

MALVEAUX: All right. Fran Townsend, thank you very much, Fran.

TOWNSEND: Thanks, Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: Expectant moms, you've got to listen up here. There's a new study that says you better watch out for what you're eating and drinking. Expect that. But scientists say that the chemical BPA could do a great deal of harm to your unborn child.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: Here's a rundown of some of the stories ahead.

Up next, a new study finds an exposure to BPA, a chemical used to make plastic, can be harmful to your unborn daughter.

Then Tunisia led the revolution against -- change the landscape, rather, of the Arab world. Well, how it led the region again this weekend with the nation's first free elections.

And later, Martha Stewart's daughter has a new book. And she suggests she wasn't a great mother. So why is Martha encouraging people to read and buy it? We're going to ask her when she joins us live in about 15 minutes.

Well, the chemical BPA can be found in everything from water bottles to cans of peas. And now a new study in "The Journal Pediatrics" finds that girls exposed to higher doses of BPA before they're born had worse behavior problems by the time they were 3 than those who were not exposed. Our senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen here to explain.

So we've been hearing a lot about BPA. Give us a sense of, you know, why is this bad and what is it actually in?

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, the researchers who think that there's a problem with BPA, they say the BPA messes with sex hormones like androgens and estrogens. And that's why this study seemed to find that it was the daughters, one gendered and not the other, that have these behavior problems.

So they looked at how much the pregnant mom were ingesting. How much BPA they were getting. They followed their kids until age 3 and the girls were much likely -- much more likely to have behavior problems like ADD and autism and anxiety, problems like that, if their moms got lots of this BPA.

MALVEAUX: And what is -- what do we actually find this in? It's used to make plastic, right?

COHEN: It's used to make plastics. It's been used for many, many decades. And so, we have here a small selection. So, in plastic that you find in food, in plastic like bottles like this, water bottles.

And here's the one that I think people find surprising, Suzanne, which is that tin cans are line with a very thin layer of plastic because you don't want your peas pasting like metal, right?

MALVEAUX: Really. Yes.

COHEN: So that plastic often has BPA in it. Same is true for soda. Soda cans have a very thin lining of plastic and it often has BPA in it.

MALVEAUX: So, how do pregnant moms avoid all of this? I mean, this is -- you know, it's so odd. It can be found on a lot of things.

COHEN: It is. And that's why most of us have BPA somewhere in our system. So, if you're pregnant and you're worried, there are a couple of things you can do.

First of all, you can take a plastic container, turn it over and what you're looking for is a 7. A 7 on the bottom, that recycling number, 7 is more likely to have a BPA in it. And there are a couple of other things that you can do.

You can avoid canned food all together. That's one tactic you can try. You can dispose of BPA container if they have scratches because it's easier for the BPA to leak out if there's a scratch. And that's also why you don't want to microwave plastics with BPA in it because it leaks out. And, then, of course, you can use BPA products.

And for more suggestion, CNN.com/thechart.

And I should add here folks who make the plastics they say BPA is fine, don't worry about it. MALVEAUX: All right. Is it a danger for adults or older children?

COHEN: The concern when researcher have concerns is much more for fetuses and small children, much more so because they're smaller. So, while we get it, there's sort of more body mass here. Really concerned about developing fetuses.

MALVEAUX: OK. Elizabeth, thank you. Thank you very much. We're looking for it.

Well, they were the first in the Arab world to rise up against their own government. Well, now, the people of Tunisia -- they are starting over. We're going to go live to Tunis with the latest on their elections and what it means for democracy and the rest of the region.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: So, the Tunisians were the first people in the Arab world to rise up and chase their dictator out of power. Well, now, as the votes are counted in Tunisia's first free election, people are now rushing to the polls. More than 80 percent of registered voters in the country participated in yesterday's election.

So, with Libya and Egypt about to follow in their footsteps, the world is now looking to Tunisia as an example of what democracy in the Arab world could look like. So, we want to ask and se how things are shaping up.

Our Ivan Watson, he's live in Tunis.

Ivan, there must be an incredible amount of excitement for folks there on the streets. This is their first election in a really long time. Set the scene for us.

IVAN WATSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: First election where there was more than one party really on the ballot in modern living history. And you really felt the emotion yesterday. It's hard for me to capture but there were people who started crying as they talked about how wonderful it felt to choose representatives that they wanted rather than somebody who had been imposed on them.

Instead of one ruling party that was pretty much forced on them, they had choices of more than 60 political parties, thousands of independent candidates. Ballots were huge. There were like 95 choices on there.

And people waited patiently in line, Suzanne, some more than three hours just to get their chance to vote.

International election monitors are really calling this a big success.

MALVEAUX: Wow. Can you imagine? Ninety-five different groups trying to run for office in their country here?

I understand, Ivan, that there is a moderate Islamic political group that seems to be taking the lead. Tell us a little bit about that group. And do we suspect that they're going to be democratic in how they run the country?

WATSON: Well, that's what they say. The party is called the Ennahda was band until the revolution. Its leader lived in exile in London. And it could be described as a moderate Islamist group.

Its leader says democracy and Islam can co-exist. He claims his writings are the inspiration for the ruling moderate Islamist party in Turkey, which has been in power for nine years and it has not taken rights away from women there. It says that it can move forward.

Of course, there are detractors here in Tunisia who campaigned against them, one or two secular parties. And they did not do well according to preliminary results in yesterday's vote.

MALVEAUX: Ivan, are there some folks in Tunisia who are concerned it's going to be difficult in this transition for the rights of women, to make sure that people aren't abused?

WATSON: Absolutely. And it was women most of all who came up and would say you know what, there are things I like about the Ennadha Party but I don't -- I'm worried about them. I'm worried they may impose the veil, the Islamic headscarf on me. So, I'm going to vote for a different party.

It did seem that the party was much more popular among men than among women. And those women who were concerned about whether or not they might lose some of their hard won rights in this country made it clear that they were going to vote for other parties.

MALVEAUX: All right. All eyes on Tunisia, thank you very much, Ivan.

Well, imagine having Martha Stewart as your mother. Sounds great, right? Well, Stewart's daughter, she says she grew up with a glue gun pointed at her head. We're going to talk to Martha Stewart about that, her politics and Martha Stewart's new book.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: The holidays are almost upon us. And we've got the queen of decorating in the house.

Martha Stewart, nice to see you.

I'm somebody who doesn't cook. I don't know how to decorate. So, I really appreciate what you do. You helped define the art of homemaking, entertaining, do-it-yourself projects since the early '80s. Tell us about your new venture, the new special airing tonight, "Martha Stewart's Haunted House."

MARTHA STEWART, HOST, "THE MARTHA STEWART SHOW": Well, we have a wonderful special on the Hallmark Channel this evening at 8:00 p.m. It is a lot of fun.

Halloween has taken on a new importance in the United States. Everyone seems to love it. Halloween sales in the all stores are going crazy. And everybody likes to dress up and, also, be frightfully interesting on Halloween.

So this special is really devoted to helping the homemaker create a haunted house in a garage or in a doorway or entrance hall or wherever you want it. But we give you all the tools and all the creative ideas for creating that haunted house. It's a lot of fun.

MALVEAUX: I got neighbors who have haunted house. Yes, people here take it very seriously.

You also have a book coming out tomorrow, "Martha's Entertaining." It's very much like a sequel, I think, to the book that you made famous three decades ago.

Give us -- give us one nugget from your book. Tell us a little bit about it.

STEWART: Oh, well, this is my newest. It's -- you know, ever since I finished the first entertaining book and wrote 74 other books. This book is the 75th book. It's a large format book with wonderful, wonderful photographs.

And it's all about at-home entertaining with many ideas. And it's actually divided into mornings, afternoons, and evenings. So it's breakfast and brunches, it's lunches and teas and dinners at night, and cocktail parties.

But it's -- I just love it because it has thousands of ideas for you and anybody else who is interested in throwing a party, having a wedding reception, a birthday party -- just a nice dinner party.

MALVEAUX: OK. Well, that's cool.

And now, you know we're going to ask you about another book. It's no surprise to you because you announced it on your own show, your daughter Alexis' book. It's called "Whateverland: Learning to Live Here."

And you said you read the book. You recommend people to buy it.

STEWART: Right.

MALVEAUX: And it's kind of surprising because it's kind of harsh. She goes after you on some occasions and she says, "There was never anything to eat at my house. Other people had food. I had no food. There were ingredients but no prepared food of any kind."

What is behind this?

STEWART: Poor child. It's a parody. It's about just growing up and what -- you know, novelists -- it's more like a novel, I think. I read it as novel, an interesting, funny novel.

I giggled on every single page, actually. I thought, did I really do that ever? Like did I ever turn the lights off and lock the doors on Halloween?

MALVEAUX: Well --

STEWART: And then I remembered, yes, one year I had the flu and I actually did do that one year. And it was kind of fun seeing people come and be -- it wasn't fun but they were disappointed, of course, because I'm usually out there with tons of interesting treats for all the neighborhood kids.

MALVEAUX: Well, that's funny because she writes about it. Yes, you know, she was -- that Halloween was grim. You guys hid and didn't come out and deliver the candy.

So, I'm glad you talk about it because she talks about it in her book.

But in all seriousness -- does it bother you at all, does it concern you as someone who has built her image around homemaking and really serving that she tries to -- she goes after you on that?

STEWART: Well, again, Alexis was on a radio show for five-and-a-half years which was called "Whatever" on Sirius, on the Martha Channel. It was a very funny, hard-hitting, you know, show for -- for probably a demographic that really thinks the same way: young women who really have to cope with everything. Just think of what this world is like right now for most young women.

And Alexis is just parodying whatever comes to mind. She and her co- host Jennifer Hutt wrote about their childhoods -- which were actually quite interesting, I think. But to get a different slant on it is kind of funny.

MALVEAUX: Absolutely. You have coped with a lot yourself. It's been six years --

STEWART: I'm not going to -- I'm not going to say anything -- no, I'm not going to say anything bad about the book because, really, we were all laughing hysterically when we read it.

MALVEAUX: OK. We'll move on. Tell us a little bit about, it's been six years since you served your 10-month sentence in Virginia. You really didn't skip a beat.

Do you have any reflections now about that time?

STEWART: I thought this was going to be about my beautiful entertaining book and my beautiful Halloween special. You haven't even asked about the Halloween special.

MALVEAUX: Oh, no, we asked in the very beginning. People are interested in all things, Martha. All things. I mean, we want to know -- you talking about your Halloween special. Do you have any -- anything else you want to add?

STEWART: To add? Well, I love -- I'd love to make sure that people check their newspapers and their listings for book signings that are going to occur in the next couple of weeks. I'm traveling to several cities all over the country to talk about my "Entertaining" book. I'm going to Washington. We're going to Dallas and Houston and San Francisco and Los Angeles and Kansas City. So, I'll get to see a lot of the country sort of take the temperature of what's going on in all those cities. It's very interesting to me to see, you know, what's happening out there.

MALVEAUX: And you are a very successful businesswoman. You've also an active Republican.

Weigh in, if you will -- do you like any of the Republican presidential hopefuls that we've seen this go around?

STEWART: Where did you get that? I have always been a registered Democrat.

MALVEAUX: Oh, I have been misinformed.

(LAUGHTER)

MALVEAUX: Well, then, I assume that you're a big Obama fan.

STEWART: Oh, gosh. I always try -- I always try to vote for the very, very smartest, best candidate for an office. So, I'm not party centric, but I must say that I certainly hope that some really good candidates emerge in the next election.

MALVEAUX: All right. Martha Stewart, thank you so much for sharing your special, your book, as well as your insights. We appreciate it.

STEWART: Thanks.

MALVEAUX: Martha Stewart.

Rick Perry picks up a high-profile endorsement in the race for the Republican presidential nomination. Find out who is throwing their support behind the Texas governor in our Political Ticker update, up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: Here's a random story that caught our eye.

You must have seen someone playing Angry Birds, a cell phone game? Well, apparently, even "The New York Times" doesn't want those birds coming after them. They didn't waste any time correcting a recent article about the game in a Steve Jobs book review.

"An earlier version of the article incorrectly stated the premise of 'Angry Birds' -- a popular iPhone game. In the game, slingshots are used to launch birds to destroy pigs and their fortresses, not to shoot down the birds."

So, chalk this one up for victory for the birds.

High-profile endorsement in the Republican race for president. Joe Johns is live from the political desk in Washington. So, Joe, this is kind of big news, don't you think?

JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: I think so, Suzanne. Rick Perry's getting a big endorsement from a well known name in presidential politics. A lot of people have heard the name of Steve Forbes -- businessman, editor, publisher of "Forbes" magazine, well known fiscal conservative, who happened to run for press himself back in 1996 and 2000. And Forbes now is on Rick Perry's side.

The announcement of the Forbes endorsement comes just as Perry is about to make a big announcement to scrap the tax code and replace it with a flat tax -- which is something Forbes happens to know something about. By the way, when Forbes ran for president, a flat tax is what you might call a centerpiece of his campaign. So, he should know, we would think, where the land mines are.

Flat tax proposal of course easy to explain, didn't poll very well. It will be up to Perry to sell it, especially in a place like New Hampshire which has no state income tax. So, probably hear a lot more about flat tax.

MALVEAUX: All right. And I imagine we'll hear more about Mitt Romney getting set for a big primary, right?

JOHNS: Yes. That's for sure. He also has a big endorsement of his own. That would be former three-term New Hampshire Governor John Sununu.

Romney wasted no time getting to Concord after the primary picture cleared up, showed up to file with one of the real power brokers in the state of New Hampshire. Sununu, besides a three-term governor also a former White House chief of staff under Bush 41 -- widely viewed as one of the top Republicans in the state.

Sununu's also had a lot of nice things to say about, for example, Rick Perry -- but in the end decided to go with Romney. It sounds like he is impressed with the Romney organization. Also told the "Los Angeles Times" he likes the way the Romney people handle details which Sununu feels are key to winning the state in a primary, Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: All right, Joe. Thank you.

For the latest political news, you know where to go -- CNNPolitics.com.

So, even when the target of your protest is money, it takes money to keep a protest on target. You're about to meet one of the people who handles the cash flow for "Occupy Wall Street." Just don't call him the chief financial officer.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: "Occupy Wall Street" protesters are still camped out in New York after more than a month. It takes money to keep a movement going. And the group has raised a lot of cash now.

Poppy Harlow met one of the people who manages now the money.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

POPPY HARLOW, CNNMONEY.COM: So I think one of the most interesting things about "Occupy Wall Street" is the money. Where is the money coming from?

They have raised about $300,000. Who's funding them? How are they spending the money? Where is it going? How are they not using the big banks?

Does everyone know you around here as the money man?

PETE DUTRO, OCCUPY WALL STREET FINANCE COMMITTEE MEMBER: A lot of people do.

(CHANTING)

HARLOW: You call yourself chief financial officer or something else?

DUTRO: No. There is no chief.

HARLOW: What are things like these days?

DUTRO: It's pretty crazy. I mean, this is really like doing an office job in a mosh pit.

HARLOW: Right here by the food is where you're going to find one of the donation boxes. This little gray box. I just saw someone stick some cash in there.

What's really interesting -- these are all over the park and what "Occupy Wall Street" tells me is that they have gotten to the point where they're getting thousands of dollars of cash donations here in the park every single day.

DUTRO: It's come from all 50 states. The average donation is a bit over $47.

HARLOW: How do you make the decisions on what to spend the money on? Is this a democratic vote? How does it work?

DUTRO: Yes. We have our general assembly.

HARLOW: Tat's made up of how many people?

DUTRO: Everybody here.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I voted yes for us to get a storage facility. I voted on spending the money to get it. I voted for the U-haul for us to go back and forth with our packages.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As far as I'm concerned, they're doing a very good job of providing us with what we really need.

DUTRO: I had a tattoo shop for many years. I helped run a software development company. I went back to school to NYU-Poly. And basically, my concentration is finance.

HARLOW: In terms of where the money is processed that's donated to "Occupy Wall Street," what we found out is that a lot of it is processed through a Washington, D.C. based non-profit called the Alliance for Global Justice.

In terms of the fund-raising, in terms of how you get your money and spend your money, what do you think differentiates you from a big corporation?

DUTRO: First of all, we're by the people, for the people. And we're not trying to make a buck here. We're trying to feed people, trying to get them some medical attention when they need it, trying to clothe the people that come down here. We're not trying to be greedy.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They go to great lengths to be as transparent as possible.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Peace.

CROWD: Peace.

DUTRO: My grandparents were in the civil rights movement. My parents were in the anti-war movement. It's my turn now.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX: Poppy Harlow is with us from New York. So, Poppy, how much money do you think they're actually going to raise?

HARLOW: That's a great question. I asked that, Pete, that -- the guy you saw in the piece -- who's helping run money down there. He said that his belief is that in the next few months, they're going to raise about $1 million. I just check before I got on set here and they had raised about $300,000.

When they were with them last week, it is up to now $400,000. So, it's not out of the question.

In terms of him and his goals, he told me he's going to be down there through the winter -- actually through the 2012 election cycle. And I also asked him what's your end game? Because you've got a lot of end games coming from the protesters down there. For him, he said one of his big goals is to get the money out of politics. He doesn't want to see a lot of corporate money and also just individual money and political campaigns the way he wants to see it is taxpayers funding political campaigns.

I asked him, well, you guys are taking donations from individuals. He said we are not a political movement.

MALVEAUX: Right.

HARLOW: So that's his end game. Expect him down there -- I guess through the election cycle, braving the New York winter -- Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: Well, that is going to be something else.

Does he suspect that this movement is going to get more expensive as it goes on and it drags out through the -- or is carried out, I should say, through the winter, the fall and winter?

HARLOW: That's a good question. He didn't answer that specifically but he does expect it to grow en masse not only in New York but around the country. We've seen that happening. So, yes, it would get more expensive. The question is: how do they stay warm during the winter?

A lot of people down there are sleeping through the night, Suzanne, so it would get more expensive. Their big costs go to medical care and housing. Those tents, the sleeping bags, all their food, interestingly, down there, is all donated. So they don't have to pay for that. But medical attention does cost them, certainly.

MALVEAUX: All right Very interesting.

Poppy Harlow, thanks.

Excellent reporting, as always.

HARLOW: Thanks.

MALVEAUX: Thank you, Poppy.