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Deadly Snowstorm Hammered The Northeast This Weekend; Governor Rick Perry will Join Four Debates in November; A suicide attack in Kabul, Afghanistan today; Flood in Thailand worsen and deadliest in decades

Aired October 30, 2011 - 18:00   ET

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

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: This hour in the CNN NEWSROOM:

Trying to stay warm and trying to get home. An early snowstorm leaves millions without power and thousands more stranded.

"Occupy Seattle," what's it like to spend the weekend with those camping for a cause? You are looking at all of those pictures on the screen.

And sweet victory in St. Louis -- the Cardinals celebrating there World Series championship with a parade right through the city streets.

(MUSIC)

LEMON: But we're going to start with this, this hour.

I'm Don Lemon. Thank you for joining us. More "Occupy" protesters are taking up space in jail cells. Dozen of arrests in the last 36 hours.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We got you. We got you, you hear me?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Their message -- fighting corporate corruption -- maybe getting lost in the mayhem. These scenes from Austin, Texas that you are looking at. Police there say they took in 38 people who refused to leave city hall. Portland and Denver saw the same story. Protesters refused to move out so police say they have to move in.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(INAUDIBLE)

CROWD: Let them go! Let them go! Let them go!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Well, these clashes played in a park in northwest Portland. Two dozen people were arrested there by police in riot gear.

And in Denver, occupiers show off their wounds from pepper balls in a faceoff at the city civic center.

(VIDEO CLIP PLAYS)

LEMON: Denver police are saying they were forced to fire. They ended up making 20 arrests on Saturday night. In total, more than 80 arrests of protesters who say police used too much force.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Only thing that happened is they asked us to take a tent down. Some kid was standing too close to them. They just started attacking everybody, spraying people with mace, arresting them. We did nothing. This is supposed to be a peaceful protest and they're attacking us like we're in a third world country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: But officers say they give protesters multiple chances to follow the rules.

You know what, though? Not all the occupy events this weekend ended with arrest and police in riot gear.

CNN's Patrick Oppmann live in Seattle for us.

So, Patrick, you followed protesters there overnight. You are finding they are developing a real culture of their own.

PATRICK OPPMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's absolutely true, Don. Just look here behind me -- hundreds of protesters camping on this quad at a community college. None of this was here yesterday. The protesters were in a downtown park like where many other parts of the country. Police told them they need to leave.

So, they marched here and occupied this quad, setting up tents, bathrooms, kitchens -- you name it. They really created a little community here.

The school administration initially said they weren't welcome here and then back down. So, basically, as long as they don't wear out the welcome, they are here. They said that police have let them be for the time being. They are not confident, though, that will remain the case.

They got a legal committee that's headed by a law student who can't pay his bar fee. So, he is teaching people how to protest. How to defy police without getting into some those altercations we saw. And they created an iPhone app, Don, in case they are arrested. They can hit one button and it will ping all those friends and families, let them know they need to be bailed out, Don.

LEMON: So, folks there are connected. I think all of the occupiers are connected there on social media. They had their cell phones. So the people there, are they aware -- I want to ask you this -- are they aware of what happened to their fellow demonstrators in other cities?

OPPMANN: Well, I was here last night, Don. We were following the arrests in Portland, what took place in Austin, Colorado. A lot of these protesters move back and forth. They have friends. They have been inspired by people in some of those other communities.

You know, we're on the other side of the coast from Wall Street, from Manhattan, but the sentiment feels just as strong here perhaps as anywhere else in the country. People say they were planning on staying in this park, come what may for weeks and months to come, Don.

LEMON: Patrick Oppmann, appreciate your reporting. Thank you.

And make sure you join me later when we get a frontline perspective of the occupy dilemma. City officials who support the right to protest but can't ignore the simple laws of curfews and permits.

Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed is going to speak with us live at 10:00 Eastern. He actually closed the park and he kicked some of the occupiers out. We're going to talk to him.

In the meantime, a tragic story out of Africa features what could be a dramatic twist involving an American citizen. Reports from Somalia say two suicide bombers launched an attack Saturday in Mogadishu. It is unclear how many people were killed or injured. But a Web site associated with the al-Shabaab Islamist movement, which is linked to al Qaeda, says of the bombers was an American of Somali descent.

The FBI has not confirmed the report. A Somali diplomat at the United Nations tells our affiliate WCCO that the suspect was from Minneapolis and identified him as Abdel Ism Ali (ph). He also says al-Shabaab enjoys support from some elements of the Somali community in Minneapolis.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OMAR JAMAL, SOMALI DIPLOMAT: As far as -- you know, he left here in 2008, November the 4th -- I think right before the election or after the election of Obama -- and he got married. He was militant on the street fighting. And it is another, he engaged in combat with Somali government. There's sympathizers and support and basically I think one can cause (INAUDIBLE) as the second half of al-Shabaab to Nairobi and Birmingham, England.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: U.S. officials say at least 20 young men, most of them Somali Americans, have travelled from Minneapolis area to Somalia in recent years to train with al-Shabaab.

The death toll is now official from that suicide bomb attack in Afghanistan on Saturday -- nine Americans died, five civilians, and four U.S. troops. The blasts also claimed the lives of two British civilians, a Kosovo national, and a Canadian soldier. Four Afghans were also killed when a car packed with explosives struck an armor bus in Kabul. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack. Syria's president meanwhile warns his country will turn into another Afghanistan if the West dares to intervene. Speaking to Britain's "Sunday Telegraph," Bashar al-Assad defended his army, saying it is only fighting terrorists. But this video appears to show soldiers brutally beating suspects in their custody. CNN can't confirm the authenticity of the video. New video also seems to show the scars of shelling in the western city Homs. Opposition activists say 11 people were killed as the military pounded that city on Saturday.

LEMON: Hello, winter. The Northeast gets blasted with an early snowstorm and more than 4 million people are now without power. Hundreds of passengers trapped on planes for hours at a time due to the storm. Isn't there a law in place to keep that from happening? Live reports from across the snow-covered area, two minutes away.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANNOUNCER: You're watching CNN, your severe weather headquarters.

LEMON: As you look at the pictures we're about to show you, I want to remind you that it is October, at least for another day. A freak snowstorm overwhelmed the Northeast. We have been reporting on it here at CNN.

Lack of electricity is widespread from Maryland to Maine, a total of more than 4 million customers are without power, almost half of them in Pennsylvania.

In Connecticut now, the governor warns that anyone who doesn't have power should prepare to be without it for, quote, "a prolonged period of time" -- a long time.

The storm is blamed for at least five deaths, including two fatalities near Philadelphia that temporarily shut down Interstate 95.

Air travel along the Eastern Seaboard was a nightmare. That's an understatement. JetBlue said passengers stranded overnight in Hartford, Connecticut, with food -- or without food, I should say, or water will be refunded their tickets and receive a free round-trip airfare.

So, we got it all covered for you. We've got Chad Meyers. He is in York, Pennsylvania. We've got Susan Candiotti. She is in New York. And our Jacqui Jeras is here in the CNN weather center.

We're going to check in with Jacqui and Susan in just moments.

To the ground now and our Chad Myers. He's been in the middle of this unusual weather event in York, Pennsylvania.

Chad, I spoke to you yesterday. It was snowing. Now the cleanup begins. Power outages, looks like it's -- there are going to be, there are going to be for a while without power.

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: They are. Probably another three days for some of the areas that only maybe have one line down to one house. They've been putting up the lines that maybe attached to 100 houses, kind of a triage unit where they want to do the most good they can do with the amount of time.

This tree lined street was a mess earlier today. I'm telling you, every tree, every branch was son some power line because of this -- very heavy snow that came down yesterday. Now, that's been gone, it's been done now for almost 24 hours. But that heavy snow, that's the damage that it did as it weighed down on the branches. The branches brought the power lines down and, finally, now, the people here have their power back.

Now, there were other problems, not only with power. Let's take you to Philadelphia, go to Bristol Township. A 30-car pileup happened. This is not far from Philadelphia. I-95, a car on I-95 left the highway and ended up on the turnpike road below it. Two people in this crash died with 30 cars piling up. That was 3:00 in the morning here. That's like 15 hours ago or so.

Take you to another, I guess, area of inconsistency and inconvenience could be all the way in Palmer, Massachusetts. This is an Amtrak train that was heading from Chicago to Boston, 48 people on board. There was a rock slide caused by the snowstorm on the way of the tracks. They had to shut down train down. They had power, they had food and they had free drink.

So, I guess that's probably -- if you are going to do anything, at least get caught on a train that has plenty of power.

So, people here, though, in Pennsylvania finally getting some power back. We talked to the people in this house right here, I can see one light on in the house. Those are the Rosenblatts (ph). They are happy. They haven't had power for 36 hours. Now, the house is at least warming up. It was getting quite cold in there.

Now, remember, this leaves 40,000 in this area without power. Many of them are checking into area hotels tonight to keep the kids warm because you don't want to be 35 to 40 degrees in the house and little kids trying to stay warm, Don.

LEMON: Right you are, and go in for now and get warm until we come back to you in a little bit, Chad.

But Jacqui Jeras is here, she's being a mom, she's saying, tell Chad to put son some gloves, OK?

(LAUGHTER)

MYERS: It's not cold.

LEMON: It's not cold.

JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: No, but he was touching snow.

LEMON: All right. Chad, we'll talk to you in a little bit. Thank you for that update. A lot of stranded air passengers are trying to get moving again. CNN's Susan Candiotti is covering that for us in New York. She was out in the cold today. Now, she's in the warm studio to report back to us.

Susan, nine hours on a snow bound plane without food or water. It must have been unbearable.

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I mean, how awful. Who of us would want to go through that situation? But that's exactly what happened in Hartford, Connecticut.

JetBlue says 23 flights were diverted there from various airports. Only six of those flights were JetBlues. Nevertheless, people were stuck on the tarmac for eight and nine hours. No food, no water -- they couldn't even get bathrooms to work. They were overfilled.

But people did have their cell phones working and they started to call people on the outside to tell them what was going on. The bathroom was an especially ugly situation. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They are totally filled. Nobody can go in them anymore. You just have to the hold it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Power is going in and out. Bathrooms are locked. People are quite upset.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CANDIOTTI: Now, JetBlue did issue an apology and is offering refunds and free vouchers. But the thing is there is an airline passengers' Bill of Rights that is in effect, a rule implemented by the Department of Transportation. And within two hours, if you are stranded on a tarmac, airlines are supposed to give you -- make sure you have food, water and clean those bathrooms. It didn't happen here.

DOT tells us tonight it has opened an investigation.

LEMON: Oh, really? And that's just -- that's all they have said. They have opened an investigation to see what happened and if everyone abided by those rules.

CANDIOTTI: That's right.

LEMON: Yes.

CANDIOTTI: That's right, Don. And they said, since this rule went into effect last year, they have virtually eliminated, says the DOT, these kinds of delays. That's why they want to get to the bottom of what happened over the weekend.

LEMON: Susan, thank you. Appreciate your reporting.

Jacqui Jeras now -- joins me now in the studio, our meteorologist here.

Jacqui, we saw Richard Roth on that plane at last check. I think he was trying to get a bus and that's just indicative of what people are going through across the country. And we have to remember, people did lose their lives. Being stranded, that's an inconvenience.

JERAS: Right.

LEMON: But you know? People losing their lives, it's just awful.

JERAS: And the storm is going to continue to impact the area, at least for another couple of days and real concerned about the snowfall accumulation as people head out to their homes to work tomorrow morning, that we might start to see a lot of people run in to things like. Yes, trees over the roadways. So, we're going to have to use a lot of caution.

This is an iReport from Benjamin Sanchez from Newburg, New York. He says he's been without power since 4:00 yesterday. So, still waiting to the get that back on.

The snowfall is so impressive. I mean, this was a record-setting storm, unprecedented really in some areas. We had more snow ever in October for places like New York City. This was really an unusual storm for this the time of the year.

Take a look at where the brunt of all of this came in, across parts of eastern Pennsylvania, into western Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, and into parts of Upstate New York. That was where we saw the one foot type totals.

And some of you exceeded that by quite a bit. Take a look at the big winner, so to speak there. Jaffrey, New Hampshire, 31.4 inches. We had almost 31 in Plainfield, Massachusetts. Look at that, West Milford, New Jersey, a 19 inches of snowfall. Take a look at West Hartford, almost a foot for you. Newark 5.2. Just shy of three in Central Park, but that was the record, like I said. And Philadelphia coming in with 0.3 inches of snow.

That snow impacting Halloween for some people.

Don, Worcester, Massachusetts, they had just shy of 15 inches of snowfall there and they decided that it's just too risky for trick or treat. So, they decided to postpone it until Thursday when temperatures are expected to be in the 60s. They said better safe than sorry, kids. Sorry, put the costumes away for another couple of days. Kind of a bummer for those, folks, but kind of agree, you know, if you have that many limbs down, a lot of people without power.

Go ahead and put it off for a couple of days.

Now, the rest of the country -- what can you expect for your Halloween and your trick or treating? Well, pretty good overall weather-wise. We expect a lot of rain across parts of south Florida. You guys have been dealing with that already. So, more of that and you might have to have the umbrella. But the rest of the country is pretty quiet and temperature-wise, a lot of 40s and 50s, which isn't terrible. You might have to wear, you know, some extra clothes underneath your costume, but hopefully no parkas to have to wear over them.

LEMON: As you said that about Worcester, I was just getting the official notice from the city there. Safety doesn't take a holiday. Halloween tomorrow night will put families and our youth in harm's way as they negotiate piles of snow and downed limbs and on and on and on.

So they are right. They're right. It should be postponed. Too bad, though. Too bad.

JERAS: Yes. They will still have it.

LEMON: Number two holiday besides Christmas for kids, Halloween.

JERAS: Oh, yes?

LEMON: Halloween. Yes. I think it's number two, Halloween.

JERAS: Candy and costumes -- how can you go wrong?

LEMON: Yes. And I think it's only in spending, you know, for gifts and presents and that sort of thing.

JERAS: Right. Decorating your house.

LEMON: Decorating your house. Yes.

Thank you, Jacqui. We'll check back with you. Appreciate it.

JERAS: OK.

LEMON: We're gong to talk politics when we come back on CNN. Herman Cain is doing well in the polls, but pundits say he can't win. Why not? Two minutes away.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: All right. Let's talk some politics now.

Herman Cain rising in the polls, running neck and neck with Mitt Romney in the race for the Republican presidential nomination. The Obama campaign officials -- well, they often criticize Romney but you won't hear them mention Herman Cain much. Is it time for them to take him seriously -- is our question.

Let's talk about it with Will Cain and L.Z. Granderson, a contributor to CNN.com and a senior writer at ESPN.

Thank you, guys, for joining me.

So, Will, I realize, the last time I was here -- I said I have to give you the last word because L.Z. got the last word last time, OK?

WILL CAIN, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: I don't even know what we were with talking about.

LEMON: So, Will, what do you say? Why doesn't the Obama team ever really talk about Herman Cain?

CAIN: The strategy makes sense to me. I mean, you sit there and you talk about Mitt Romney and you talk about the fact that he has no principles, if you are an Obama administration strategist. And it works both ways -- you tear down the most likely opponent to your second term and you ignore the man who you hope is your opponent going into the second term. I think it makes perfect sense. They'd love for Herman Cain to be the nominee. Why start tearing him down now?

LEMON: Let's hear from Herman Cain. Let's hear what he said yesterday, talking about the media's response to his rise in the polls.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HERMAN CAIN (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Let me tell you what the polls are saying, they demonstrated with that Florida straw poll. They demonstrated with a bunch of other straw polls. The national polls are starting to demonstrate these two basic facts. First, the voice of the people is more powerful than the voice of the media.

(APPLAUSE)

CAIN: The people are going to elect the next president.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: OK. So he's saying the media doesn't give him fair play. So, L.Z., I'm going to ask you about that and follow up on my question to Will. Why doesn't the Obama campaign really -- or do they take Herman Cain seriously?

L.Z. GRANDERSON, CNN.COM CONTRIBUTOR: I don't think they take Herman Cain very seriously because they really feel that Mitt Romney is going to be the opponent. And I definitely agree with Will in terms of the strategy if they are really thinking that far in advance in regards to Herman Cain. I mean, he says so many things that you just know independents aren't going to go for. It just doesn't seem why invest that much energy, you know, trying to, you know, address him, because he's going to be able to be diffused by his own comments.

LEMON: But, L.Z., as we have seen over the last -- especially the last two years, I mean, everything is in play now. You never know. This isn't the same old campaign that used to happen.

GRANDERSON: That's very true. I mean, anything is possible. And trust me, if there is anybody other than maybe Michele Bachmann that President Obama wants to see would be Herman Cain because he is so vulnerable in so many areas.

You know what? He might slip through. Let's go crazy and say he gets the nomination, right, from the GOP. I just have a very hard time believing that when he is sitting across from President Obama, he's going to be nuance sophisticated enough to debate him and to prove his point to the general population. I just don't see it happening.

LEMON: Yes. You know, it's sometimes to be sort of the underdog or to be underestimated really can work in your favor.

But let's move -- can you imagine an Obama versus Cain ticket? Oh, we'll try to talk about that in the next segment.

GRANDERSON: Black folks will go crazy.

LEMON: Yes, I was going to ask you. I heard someone say on the radio the other day, if that happens, racism is officially over. They were doing it tongue and cheek.

But let's -- if we have time in our next segment, we're going to talk about that. So, don't go anywhere.

In just a minute, we're going to play some comments from Herman Cain that's sure to get everyone's attention. Cain was asked this morning about his past remarks that Planned Parenthood has located its clinics in black neighborhoods to kill black children. We're going to show his answer and get Will and L.Z.'s response when we come right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: All right. We're back right now with Will Cain and L.Z. Granderson, CNN and ESPN writer there.

OK. So, listen, guys, let's stay with the topic of Herman Cain and talk about two sensitive issues he addressed today: race and abortion. Here's an exchange Cain had this morning on CBS.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, CBS/"FACE THE NATION")

BOB SCHIEFFER, CBS HOST: You said it was not Planned Parenthood, it was really "planned genocide" because you said Planned Parenthood was trying to put all these centers into the black communities because they wanted to kill black babies

CAIN: Yes.

SCHIEFFER: -- where they were born. Do you still stand by that?

CAIN: I still stand by that.

SCHIEFFER: Do you have any proof it was the objective of Planned Parenthood?

CAIN: If people go back and look at the history and look at Margaret Sanger's own words, that's exactly where that came from. Look up the history.

So, if you go back and look at the history, secondly, look at where most of them were built. Seventy-five percent of those facilities were built in the black community.

(END VIDEO CLIP) LEMON: Will, I know you want to take time to discuss this. You said you can't do it in 30 seconds. And I agree with you. Some provocative comments there. And Planned Parenthood has denied these types of claims many times.

You got some thoughts. What's your reaction?

CAIN: Well, I can't ascribe motivations to an 80-year-old institution and thousands of employees that have worked for Planned Parenthood. But that's for others to do. But I can give you facts.

And the facts are, somewhat like Herman Cain suggested there, Margaret Sanger, the founder of Planned Parenthood, was connected to eugenics movement. Eugenics was an idea that you can breed a better society, that the unfit and feebleminded should be encouraged and sometimes forced through sterilization not to reproduce. And they openly discussed racist concepts like feebleminded people were overly concentrated in black communities.

Now, move forward, Planned Parenthood embraces abortion -- a concept that Margaret Sanger did not embrace. And today, we have a world where black women are five times more likely to have abortions than white women. And while blacks make up 12 percent of the U.S. population, they make up 35 percent of the abortions.

Whatever you feel about the statistics I just said probably is colored by how you feel about abortions -- whether or not you think it's a health procedure or killing innocent children. But those are the facts.

LEMON: L.Z.?

GRANDERSON: I think this epitomizes the reason why I really don't like Herman Cain. You know, this is a very nuance, very detailed sort of conversation to be having. And for him to just drop bombs like that to try to generate an emotional response just isn't responsible. Yes, Sanger was part of the eugenics movement, as Will Cain has said. But Sanger also was praised by Dr. King and was also praised by W.E.B. Du Bois in terms of the efforts in trying to help women take control of their reproductive health.

So, I think that in order to have this conversation, we need to, as he suggests, look at the entire history and not just going Wikipedia - and grab quotes off of there. The story is more detailed than that.

LEMON: OK. OK. We'll end that part there.

Let's talk about this a little bit. And I don't want to give a short shrift, but I have been hearing a lot about this on-line, on radio. I was listening to a radio show last week and it said, what happens in an Obama versus Cain in 2012, if that happens. And they said if Cain runs against Obama and Samuel L. Jackson is the highest-grossing movie star of all times, racism is officially over, L.Z.

(LAUGHTER) GRANDERSON: It is the over simplification of how we look at racism today, that part will be over. But racism, as a concept being over is ridiculous. We haven't even begun to talk about the racism in terms of internalized racism. Racism with minorities against whites, racism other than just black and white like Latinos and whites and Latinos and blacks. There's a lot of nuances when it comes to the conversation of racism. And to boil it down to, hey, we've got two black guys running for the White House, that's just really simple.

LEMON: Well, it is really simple but it would be interesting. It would be interesting.

WILL CAIN, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Right. Right. I was going to say it can't be overlooked. We have to admit we are moving forward in this world and this country, and that race issues, while not gone, are moving to the periphery. If two men -- first of all, we have one man sitting in the White House who is a black man. If two men are you're candidates for president that says something very remarkable about our society.

LEMON: About the progress we have made.

Thank you very much.

Will, you got the last word this time. I hope you're happy. We like to be fair here.

CAIN: Thank goodness. Thank you.

(LAUGHTER)

LEMON: Thank you, Will.

Thank you, L.Z.

We'll see you next week.

GRANDERSON: Next time, have something to say.

(LAUGHTER)

LEMON: All right, thanks, guys.

CAIN: Oh!

(LAUGHTER)

LEMON: We are just hours away from a new population milestone on our planet. The seven billionth person is about to be born. Where will it happen? Right around the world we are "Globe Trekking" for you, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Welcome back, everyone. A special edition of "Globe Trekking" tonight focuses on a milestone for the world. The seven billionth person is supposed to be born on Monday. That's according to experts that track the global population.

Here with me is international editor, Azadeh Ansari.

It's a big question, Azadeh, can the planet handle -- I guess it will have to handle seven billion people.

AZADEH ANSARI, CNN INTERNATIONAL DESK EDITOR: And, Don, that's the million-dollar question that demographers, social scientists and economists are asking, because when you have exponential growth -- look, just in 13 years, we went from six billion to seven billion, right? So how are you going to feed all these people? Demands on agriculture will increase. Water, which is in short supply in many parts of the world, will be in more demand going forward. This is -- we don't know exactly how this is going to affect the planet, but it is going to be, according to many social scientists, maybe a people versus the planet issue, so.

LEMON: You can bet someone is working with on it and a documentary.

ANSARI: Right.

(LAUGHTER)

LEMON: And all of those things. In the wall-to-wall coverage we had about this internationally, the world's largest family has been discovered.

ANSARI: Right. This is unbelievable. If everyone were to pro-create at the rate this family did, we would have reached the seven billion mark, I would say, decades ago.

(LAUGHTER)

I want to show video, if we can get some video up here, of this family. They are in a tiny village in northeast India. This man has -- it's like 86 children, 35 grand kids, 39 wives.

LEMON: Whoa, whoa, whoa!

ANSARI: Yes, let's back up, right?

LEMON: 86 children?

ANSARI: 86. Here you can see 160 family members in that shot before. But here they are lining up. And that's him right there. Deona (ph), he's the patriarch of the family.

LEMON: He's the guy sitting -- in the wheelchair.

ANSARI: He is. One father. Yes. He's the one in the chair there, shaking hands.

LEMON: He's tired. He should be sitting, 86 kids.

(LAUGHTER) ANSARI: For the full report, you've got in on, don, CNN.com, you can check it out. That's the mansion they live in. It is a four-story mansion. It has 22 bedrooms. Just feeding this family alone is a project in and of itself. But it is again one of the stories that we are highlighting in our wall-to-wall coverage, as you mentioned.

But tomorrow, which is the big day that the U.N. projects that this seven billion mark will be reached, we will have our reporters stationed around world in maternity wards across the world.

LEMON: Ah. All right. I will be watching that.

(LAUGHTER)

There's a cool web site that tracks the world population.

ANSARI: Right. So I want to draw your attention to the screen. The name of the web site is 7billionactions.org. You can go on this sight and look and see what the population will be in 10, 20, 30, years. For example, in 2040, the population is estimated to be at eight billion. And within the next century, they're estimating -- the U.N. is estimating that --

LEMON: Wow.

ANSARI: -- the population will be 10 million.

LEMON: When you go downstairs, will you -- well, I tell them. Let's put this on our blog, cnn.com/don.

(CROSSTALK)

LEMON: We will put a link to that web site on our blog.

Thank you, Azadeh. Good stuff. Appreciate it. Happy Halloween.

ANSARI: You too.

(LAUGHTER)

LEMON: Samuel L. Jackson was just named the highest-grossing actor of all time on the big screen. But right now, he's on stage in a new play that is drawing criticism for its version of history. We'll explain straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: This month, Broadway is offering a compelling view of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. You could say it is from "The Mountaintop." That's the name of the play that features Samuel L. Jackson as the civil rights icon.

I sat down with the start and the director to talk about how the play shows King in a new way.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) LEMON (voice-over): Samuel L. Jackson and Kenny Leon are masters of make belief.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(CROSSTALK)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Leon is a director of stage and TV, honored with Tony, Golden Globe and Emmy nominations, and is the star of this gathering in Atlanta celebrating his induction into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame.

KENNY LEON, DIRECTOR: Thank you.

LEMON: Jackson is a high-decibel film actor, famous for his roles in the "Star Wars" movies, "Iron Man" and his Oscar-winning turn in "Pulp Fiction."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SAMUEL L. JACKSON, ACTOR: All right, tell him it's going to be all right.

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: It's going to be all right.

JACKSON: Promise him.

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: I promise.

JACKSON: (INAUDIBLE).

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Together, the men are taking on real-life history, the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr, in the play called "The Mountaintop."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARTIN LUTHER KING JR., CIVIL RIGHTS ACTIVIST: Because I've been to the mountaintop.

(CHEERING)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: The play's title comes from King's last speech on April 3rd, 1968, the day before his assassination. The play's settings, the hours after he just spoke these words to hundreds in Memphis.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARTIN LUTHER KING JR, CIVIL RIGHTS ACTIVIST: I've looked over --

(CROSSTALK) KING: And I have seen the promised land.

(CROSSTALK)

KING: I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight --

(SHOUTING)

KING: -- that we, as a people, will get to the promise land.

(APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Jackson played King, tired in his hotel room. Angela Bassett is King's maid. "The Mountaintop" is about their conversation, a fictional take on what King was like when he was away from the podium. And some criticize the play for the way it humanizes the civil rights icon.

(on camera): The play opens, the speech or what have you, that's the last thing you hear. And then he walks in, he takes his shoes off, he smells them. Goes to the bathroom, you hear him peeing.

(CROSSTALK)

LEMON: It is Dr. King.

LEON: I talk to 18 and 19-year-old kids and they say things like, Dr. King, that's the civil rights dude, right. That's disappointing. I want them to come and see the man and hope that they see him as a human and say I want to find out more about him.

LEMON: You play him. And you don't look -- you barely look like yourself in the play.

JACKSON: Oh, that's great. Yes

LEMON: As an actor you like that, right?

JACKSON: Yes.

I always think, when you say Dr. Martin Luther King, the audience has an expectation of something visual when they see somebody portraying Dr. King.

I spent a lot of time digging through archives and finding interviews he did on television, talking about the Vietnam War and other things.

LEMON: Listen to the cadence of his voice.

JACKSON: Yes.

LEMON: And the rhythm of his voice.

And fortunately, I went to Morehouse during a time that there were a lot of people like him still at Morehouse teaching us.

LEMON: What do you mean --

(CROSSTALK)

JACKSON: That sort of as a way of speaking and carrying yourself, that's very southern ministerial and a specific kind of way that leads you to sometimes over enunciate the things that you say, but you still engage.

LEMON: It is metered.

JACKSON: Yes.

LEMON: And measured.

JACKSON: Yes.

LEMON: You think of every word with before you say it?

JACKSON: Exactly.

LEMON: How do you think Dr. King would feel about today, the current situation, the current climate?

JACKSON: Disappointed.

LEMON: The president.

JACKSON: It would be totally disappointing. Young people graduating from college, what is their hope?

LEMON: They can't get a job.

JACKSON: There is no job for them. So what do they hope to do?

LEON: Where we in the country now, where we are politically, where we are socially, the haves have more, the have-nots have less. I think it's time that we hear a work of art speak to that.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: Learn the back story of "The Mountaintop" and what inspired its 29-year-old playwright tonight at 8:00 eastern on our special "CNN Presents."

The program also features how sharks have now become the prey. And a follow-up to the abuse scandal that has been rocking the Catholic Church. All of that, 8:00 p.m. eastern, right here on CNN.

You know, he may just be the biggest draft bust in NFL history. From the playing field to a jail cell in a matter of months. Who is he and where is he now? We are talking to Jon Wertheim from "Sports Illustrated," next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) LEMON: It's almost November, which means it is time for another World Series parade led by Budweiser's Clydesdales. The Cardinals travel through downtown St. Louis, last hour, and right into Busch Stadium for a championship celebration with fans. And yes, even the team's unofficial mascot, the rally squirrel, in attendance there. The Cardinals finished their improbable run Friday night, beating the Texas Rangers for the franchise's 11th World Series title. Look at that. Congratulations to them.

An emotional scene to tell you about at Rutgers University as one of their injured players returned to the football field.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(SHOUTING)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: You might remember Eric LeGrand, number 52. He was paralyzed last October. Saturday, he led Rutgers on the field against West Virginia in a snowstorm. The first time he has been back since the accident left him paralyzed from the neck down. He was hurt making a tackle against Army. And you might remember that Eric LeGrand, Eric LeGrande, because we discussed his story on this program with "Sports Illustrated's" Jon Wertheim.

And Jon Wertheim is back tonight from New York to talk about this week's biggest stories.

Before we go into that, Eric LeGrand, there's the cover this week of "Sports Illustrated," by the way.

Eric LeGrand, amazing and very emotional.

JON WERTHEIM, SENIOR INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER, SPORTS ILLUSTRATED: Oh, I get chills seeing that. Not because it is snowing. Just the greatest guy. I don't know if you saw his quote. He said, "This year, I left tracks from my wheelchair and next year I'm going to leave footprints when I lead the team. So he's doing a little better. You wish him nothing but the best. But this -- you hear the applause and it's -- it's well deserved to say the least.

LEMON: Yes, we're wishing him the best as well.

Let's move on and talk about baseball and the World Series. The Cardinals won it all but barely made the playoffs. And they kind of symbolized the entire post-season, didn't they?

WERTHEIM: This is democratic baseball. No, it was a great world series.

(LAUGHTER)

You had hitting and pitching and defense. And, you know, the Rangers came within one strike of winning this thing. And it was great for the Cardinals. You know, unless you're a hard-core St. Louis fan, I think any joy in their title had to be offset a little bit by pity and empathy for Texas. But, no, it was a great World Series.

LEMON: And you hear this about, you know, big-city franchises and the money teams all the time in baseball. So I wonder if their victory disproves critics who say that the big-money teams in baseball have an unfair advantage. The little guys seem to have done pretty well this season.

WERTHEIM: Yes, hey, big spender. You look, the Yankees and Phillies and Red Sox and Dodgers and Angels, all of these big-spending clubs were out in the first round or didn't make the playoffs at all. You have these two middle of the pack teams in terms of payroll put on a great World Series. I think this is good for baseball. And it really shows, if you can find value, you can see a really competitive team. St. Louis' best player, Albert Pujols, is a free agent. And we'll see whether they join the ranks of the big spenders. It'll be interesting in the off season.

LEMON: Let's turn now to football. You spent some time recently with JaMarcus Russell, the number-one pick in the NFL draft back in 2007. He was supposed to be a star, but instead, he's at home in Alabama. Tell us about him.

WERTHEIM: LSU guy, like yourself. Yes, this was the number-one pick in the 2007 draft, and he made some regrettable decisions. The team he drafted, the Raiders, probably made some bad decisions, and this is probably the single biggest washout in professional sports. Number- one pick in the entire NFL draft. Played two seasons and hasn't played in two years now. He's back in Mobile. I ran into him in a barbershop, and I think he's still trying to figure out where it all went wrong and what he's going to do now. But not a happy story.

LEMON: Do you think he can make a comeback? Does he even want to try it?

WERTHEIM: Oh, he definitely wants to try. I think he wants to author a happy ending. He's only 26. He has a strong arm. Physically, he's OK, but he's going to -- his name, his reputation -- he needs to do a lot of work to get back on the radar.

LEMON: This makes me think, Russell's demise, and he may have a comeback. It makes a point about what we are seeing right now. Big names like Peyton Manning and Jason Campbell, they get hurt and suddenly these teams have no plan "B." Where are the decent backup quarterbacks? Is the job really that hard?

WERTHEIM: Yes, that's a good point. I think never has quarterback been this indispensable. If you have a good one, you're in good shape. If you're like the Colts and you lose Peyton Manning, it can torpedo your whole season. As teams scramble to fill that void, I think, to me, it made the absence of JaMarcus Russell all the more pronounced. Here was the number-one quarterback four years ago, nowhere on anyone's radar, and yet teams are desperate to fill that position. It's strange times in football. And if someone had told you four years ago the number-one player in the draft, never mind starter or bench, wouldn't even been in the game, you'd have a hard time believing that. LEMON: Yes. You mentioned LSU. Why'd you do that? Because I got like a little surge. I can't wait until next week for 'Bama and LSU. Who is going to win? Roll, tide, roll, I'm sure some people are saying. But I'm a Tiger.

WERTHEIM: See that -- we'll talk about it next week. This is the de facto championship game, the first weekend in November. No, this will be a great one. I'll say LSU for your benefit.

(LAUGHTER)

But we'll talk about it a week from now.

WERTHEIM: I hear Alabama favored by four in the early line. But we'll going to show them. Go, Tigers. GEAUX (ph). Did you enjoy your time in Baton Rouge, by the way?

(LAUGHTER)

WERTHEIM: Oh, great town. I love Baton Rouge. Yes, that was two weeks ago. That was fun.

LEMON: Yes, that's my hometown.

Thank you, sir. Good seeing you.

Jon Wertheim.

WERTHEIM: Thanks, Don.

LEMON: "Sports Illustrated," and the author of the book "Scorecasting."

Coming up on CNN, if you live in the northeast and you're actually watching us right now, consider yourself lucky. Four million people without power after that early snowstorm. We're live where the cleanup is underway.

Plus, we'll tell you what to expect when you head back to work tomorrow. That is just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)