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NATO Chopper Down In Afghanistan; Arizona Stirs Up Immigration Debate; Next Round In Voter I.D. Fight; Dallas To Spray For Mosquitoes; Judge Postpones Hasan Trial Over Beard; Gunfire Erupts Between South African Police and Mine Strikers; Romney Explains His Medicare Plan Versus Obama's

Aired August 16, 2012 - 13:00   ET

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

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Suzanne Malveaux. This hour in the CNN NEWSROOM, we are focusing on American troops killed in a helicopter crash in Afghanistan. And we're also focusing on the renewed immigration showdown between the Arizona's governor and the president. And we are looking at the fight to stop the spread of West Nile virus which has now killed more than two dozen Americans. Let's get straight to it.

A NATO Black Hawk helicopter crashed earlier today, killing 11 people. Now, seven of them are U.S. service members. This was in southern Afghanistan. This is just northeast of Kandahar. I want to bring in our Chris Lawrence at the Pentagon to talk a little bit about what do we know, Chris, now?

CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Suzanne, the Taliban are claiming that they shot down this Blackhawk helicopter outside in the Kandahar province. The U.S. and NATO officials say they will not confirm that just yet, but it was about this time last year when the Taliban did take down a Chinook, a larger transport aircraft, and killed 30 American troops, most of them U.S. Navy SEALs. This area where this happened, I've been bedded (ph) with American troops there. It's a Taliban hot bed where they have planted roadside bombs, and tag (ph) police checkpoints. In fact, that's the reason they use the helicopters so much is to avoid those bombs on the ground.

Now, this incident is really just the latest in a very deadly week for American troops. Earlier this week, three Marines were shot dead on their own base by an Afghan worker. And right before that, three special operations forces were killed by an Afghan policeman who they were going to meet. These kinds of crimes where so-called allies are killing Americans, that's caught the attention of the White House.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAY CARNEY, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Whenever there is a so- called green on blue incident, it is concerning and the fact that there have been the number of incidents that you mentioned is deeply concerning. It is also important to put it in perspective and then, more broadly, the president's policy in Afghanistan was after his review predicated on the principle that our goal, our principle goal for being there, is to go after Al Qaeda, to eliminate Al Qaeda and those who threaten the United States from the AfPak region.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAWRENCE: This has been an especially violent month for the American men and women serving in Afghanistan, 19 Americans had already been killed this month, and that was before the seven who died on the Black Hawk crash -- Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: Chris, is there any concern from the Pentagon in light of the fact that you're going to have more U.S. troops leaving within a relatively short period of time that is this is just going to escalate?

LAWRENCE: Well, if you listen to what the president's strategy is, and the military strategy, to train more Afghan troops, you would say, well, the troops that will be left will be working even closer with their Afghan counterparts doing more training missions. So, I think the idea of this green on blue attack and Americans being vulnerable next to the very people they are training and trying to help, that is concerning. And even military commanders have admitted it has a really, really devastating effect on morale in some cases.

MALVEAUX: Absolutely. That is the mission, of course, for them to train the Afghans to get up to speed to protect their own country and that has been a real challenge. Thank you, Chris, really appreciate it.

LAWRENCE: Yes.

MALVEAUX: Heated battle over immigration rights, well, it just got a lot hotter. We are talking about Arizona Governor Jan Brewer once again taking on the Obama administration. She is pushing back hard on the president's executive order that gives children of legal immigrants the chance to work in the United States for two years without having to worry about being deported. Well, just hours after that went into effect, Governor Brewer issued her own executive order telling state agencies to deny benefits to applicants. She says it's too much of a financial burden. Well, that has now prompted protesters to hit the streets. This is how one woman summed up Brewer's decision.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What Jan Brewer did today, it's bullying. She's bullying the voiceless. She's bullying children that they can't defend themselves. And she is bullying immigrant youth that don't have a voice.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: Miguel Marquez, he is joining us from outside the offices of an organization that is advocating for immigration rights in Los Angeles. And, first of all, Miguel, the president's new policy, it does not guarantee public benefits to these applicants, so what is at stake here? MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, at stake here in California, I don't think they are going to have the same problem as Arizona. And it's not entirely clear what is at stake in Arizona at the moment. The deferred action actually does give federal status to many of these individuals who will eventually be granted deferred action so they may qualify just like anyone who has a work visa or other types of visas to get driver's license, to get benefits, and it's not clear whether or not the Arizona action taken by the governor there will have an effect. I will tell you, it hasn't deterred things here in Los Angeles at all.

We are out in front of Chirla, the largest immigrants community organization in the state. And there is a massive line already around the corner, several hundred people in it. They have the bull horn out here to kind of give out information. They're starting to try to give out -- get this more organized in giving out tickets and cards and dates that people can come back in order to get into workshops here and fill out their applications. The entire process just getting going. Applications are being filled out. They'll be submitted to DHS in the -- or to citizenship and immigration services in the weeks ahead, and then it will be months before those applications are actually acted on.

So, even in the Arizona situation, there are several months, and I've talked to the ACLU in Arizona, and they are considering legal action but they are not entirely sure whether they have to until someone goes in to get their driver's license and is denied, or if they can take legal action now and get Jan Brewer's -- Governor Brewer's order reversed or whether or not it will have any real meaning in this. I can -- I can tell you that the school system in Arizona, the board of regents there, did issue a statement today saying that immigrants in this status would not be eligible for in- state tuition. They are not eligible now. They there figuring out whether or not other -- whether -- if they get the federal status, if they would actually have to grant them in-state tuition. So, that's the sort of situation we are deal dealing right now.

MALVEAUX: And, Miguel, so far, we have not heard from other governors around the country saying that they would do the same. This is only for Arizona, is that right? Or are others following suit?

MARQUEZ: At the moment, this is only for Arizona. I can certainly see a case where this may be -- come into play in other states, but I think people will be watching to see what happens in Arizona and where this goes. I mean, Governor Brewer believes this is backdoor amnesty, and she has said that from the very beginning and wants to make a very strong public statement about this. It will be interesting to see in the hours and the days ahead whether she, through local law enforcement --

MALVEAUX: Right.

MARQUEZ: -- tries to stop people from --

MALVEAUX: Right.

MARQUEZ: -- signing up for these for deferred action -- Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: OK, Miguel, thank you. Appreciate it.

So, is it about preventing voter fraud or suppressing the voting rights? That is really the central question over the fight in Pennsylvania's new voter I.D. law. Well, today, that fight moves to the State Supreme Court, and the groups challenging the law say that they are going to appeal a judge's decision to let it go into effect. The battle in Pennsylvania is part of a larger fight playing out across the country. That story from Joe Johns.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Pennsylvania court ruling is another skirmish in the country's emotional battle over voting rights this election year. More than a dozen states have passed new voting rights laws, including the one in the swing state of Pennsylvania which is requiring people to show photo I.D. in order to vote. Opponents went to court to try to block the law saying it could disenfranchise up to 100,000 people, especially minorities and older or sick voters, who are more likely not to have acceptable photo identification. People like 93-year-old Viviette Applewhite, one of the lead plaintiffs in the case.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VIVIETTE APPLEWHITE, LEAD PLAINTIFF: And I just think that's terrible, because there's so many people that don't have I.D., and they are not going to be able to vote.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JOHNS: Republican commonwealth judge Robert Simpson ruled that the opponents trying to keep the law from being enforced did not establish that disenfranchisement of voters was immediate or inevitable. In Harrisburg, the legislator who wrote the law said this enfranchisement was never intended.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DARYL METCALFE (R), PENNSYLVANIA STATE HOUSE: The only people it disenfranchises are those individuals who were trying to perpetrate election fraud.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JOHNS: But the commonwealth of Pennsylvania acknowledges that it would not be able to prove a lot of voter fraud in court even if it tried. Pennsylvania is also the state where a top GOP legislator recently seemed to suggest the voter law would help Republicans win back the White House this fall.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE TURZAI (R), MAJORITY LEADER, PENNSYLVANIA STATE HOUSE: Voter I.D., which is going to allow Governor Romney to win the state of Pennsylvania, done.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JOHNS: Opponents say, it just shows something other than fraud motivated the legislation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NICOLE AUSTIN HILLERY, BRENNAN CENTER FOR JUSTICE: In the past decade that they have found only about 10 instances of in-person voter fraud and those were mostly instances where people were simply confused and didn't know what the rules were in their area.

JOHNS (on camera): So, this is about voter suppression in your view?

HILLERY: In my view, and the view of the Brennan Center, this is about keeping certain voters from the polls.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JOHNS (voice-over): The Justice Department now is studying the Pennsylvania law which Metcalf, the author of the law, claims is a waste of time.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

METCALFE: Well, I think it's a fishing expedition where they're really overreaching. They've demanded documents that -- from us through, our Department of Transportation, demanded information that many Pennsylvanians would object to.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JOHNS (on camera): Lawyers for the opponents of the Pennsylvania law will be asking for an expedited appeal. They say the lower court should have applied a strict standard of review to the government action in this case, but the court didn't do that. Joe Johns, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX: Here is what we are working on for this hour.

(voice-over): The government says the U.S. is going through the worst outbreak of West Nile virus in 13 years. Hundreds of people have been infected and more than two dozen killed. So, how concerned should you be when you see a mosquito? We'll separate fact from fiction.

Some Democrats and even Republican Sarah Palin are suggesting President Obama dump Joe Biden from his presidential ticket and replace him with Hillary Clinton.

And Elvis fans descend on Graceland for the 35th anniversary of his death. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: A pair of twin engine planes are going to be flying over parts of Dallas tonight spraying pesticides to kill mosquitoes carrying West Nile virus. Now, the mayor declared state of emergency after the virus killed more than a dozen people. Now, according to the CDC, there have been more cases of West Nile reported so far this year than any year since the disease was first detected. Now, about half those cases have been in Texas. It's an unusually warm winter that might be to blame.

I want to bring in Elizabeth Cohen here. The Center for Disease Control Prevention reports almost 700 or so cases of West Nile so far. Why is it so much worse this go around?

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, you mentioned the warm winter that we had and then, you know, this summer has been so hot and so dry. And apparently, this is a -- that's a great combination for breeding mosquitoes. And so, I want to show you a number that's really pretty incredible. If you look at the number of cases this year, you mentioned 693, compare that to the average for the previous 10 years at this point in the summer, to 77. That's a lot more cases this year than last and previous years.

MALVEAUX: That's a huge, huge difference. How would you know if you have symptoms? How would you know that you're experiencing this disease?

COHEN: Well, what's interesting is that most people that are infected don't even know it. They don't get sick, it is not a big deal, it's fine. Like 80 percent of the people who get infected don't know it, and it's not a problem. But for the other 20 percent, you get the flu-like symptoms. You might get a rash as well. And it is only for 1 of 150 people that it really gets dangerous where it actually can enter the brain and the spinal cord. It is mostly older people and the very young and people with immune problems.

MALVEAUX: So, how would you prevent this if you are one of the folks walking around and saying, God, you know, could I be in danger here?

COHEN: Right, no one wants to be sick. And so there are really simple things to do. And just remember the four D's. And the first is bug repellent with DEET, look in the ingredients. And other one is dress in long sleeves and long pants. Also be most weary at dusk and dawn, because that is when the mosquitoes like to come out to party. And also, drain any standing water. You know, like people have like a kiddie pool, and people fill it up with water and the kids play? Drain it afterwards, because that water is a breeding ground for mosquitoes.

MALVEAUX: OK. And finally, the aerial spraying that we saw, and we are listening and we are hearing about these planes going overhead, people think about their pets and dogs or cats. Are they in danger? Is there any kind of health risk to this spraying that is taking place? COHEN: Well, you never want to spray if you don't have to. But when you talk about 26 deaths, that is the reason for spraying. And so, the spraying has -- the spray been approved by the EPA for residential areas. They're using a relatively low dose. And actually the spraying is relatively common. I mean, we are talking about it a lot now, but really, it is done quite often.

MALVEAUX: All right. Elizabeth, I want to be careful now that I'm outside.

COHEN: Yes, cover those arms and the legs when you go outside.

MALVEAUX: OK. Thank you, Elizabeth.

COHEN: All right.

MALVEAUX: So, did you know that the Romney/Ryan presidential ticket is making history? No Protestant Christian on the ticket. So we will talk about why it matters up next.

(COMMERICAL BREAK)

MALVEUAX: New poll suggests that Mitt Romney didn't get much of an immediate bounce from naming Paul Ryan as his running mate. Gallup conducted the tracking poll before and after Romney's announcement that Ryan was his VP choice. The numbers were almost the same. In the four days, 46 percent of registered voters said they supported Romney compared to 45 percent for President Obama. Well, following the announcement, 47 percent chose Romney; 45 percent President Obama. But Gallup says Romney could get a delayed bounce from picking Ryan.

And whether or not they win or not, the Romney/Ryan presidential ticket already making history for religious reasons. Of course, our Josh Levs, he wrote about it in CNN's Belief Blog. He joins us here. This is the first time that there is no Protestant on the ticket. Why is that even significant?

JOSH LEVS, WRITER, CNN BELIEF BLOG: On any major ticket. It is significant because it reflects a huge change about our entire country. If you go back to the founding of America, the Protestant tradition was so fundamental to what U.S. politics was largely about and in some ways, to our founding.

So, what you take a look at here, even if you think back to just Kennedy, right? And not all that long ago, a handful of decades ago, it was a huge deal for him to be Catholic. And there were some people who thought, oh, he might take orders from the Pope and he had to get past the skepticism.

Well, now we have had a realigning of the political and religious intersection in America, and that is what we are seeing in the race more than ever having no Protestant there. What has happened is, in a lot of ways, conservative Catholics and conservative Protestants found each other and built new alliances. While the liberal Catholics and liberal Protestants have found each other. So, really, what all these experts are telling me is that these old divisions of Catholic and Protestant are pretty much gone, and now what you have taking its place are the divisions among conservatives and liberals in the country and they have really allowed those religious differences to go away. Whole new world for politics.

MALVEAUX: Does it matter to the voters what their faith is? That's a loaded question.

LEVS: It is a loaded question because we have some statistics we're going to take a look at here. It matters a little bit. Let's jump to those. I'll tell you about it.

So, first of all, there are some people who are skeptical of a Mormon, but not that many. We have a figure here from Pew Forum who just did a study a few weeks ago. And what they found is that among those people who know that Mitt Romney is Mormon, 60 percent of them are comfortable with him being Mormon.

But here's an even more striking statistic that I know you're going to find interesting. This one is about President Obama, OK? Take a look at this next one. Half of the voters in this country identified President Obama as Christian, only half. And 17 percent of the voters in the country say that President Obama is Muslim. That is about one in six.

MALVEAUX: Why is that? Why does that persist, Josh, do you suppose? Because the president has tried to that it clear and he certainly did in the campaign in 2008. And folks still believe that?

LEVS: So, there are a lot of people who say that are there is nothing more that this president can do to reflect the fact that he is Christian. He goes the church, he talks about it. There are some people who just haven't heard, but there are a lot of people who are aware that he talks about being Christian, who aware about the tradition of going to church, and still just remain convinced that he is on his own a Muslim.

And this is something that the president is up against, because those numbers of people who believe he is a Muslim by far those people say they're not confident, they're not comfortable with him.

There is a little bit of splitting of hairs here that we could talk about, because this is the first major party ticket without a Protestant on it. But there are a couple of things in history I can show that might sort of lay the ground work for this.

MALVEAUX: Okay.

LEVS: One of them goes all the way back to Lincoln's time.

MALVEAUX: Oh, boy.

LEVS: Because nobody really knows what Lincoln's beliefs were, and there are going to be some history buffs out there who will say, yes, I knew it. So Lincoln ran with Andrew Johnson. No one knows exactly what their beliefs were; neither was officially a member of a church at that point. Also more recently, this one is interesting. Richard Nixon was the vice presidential candidate for Dwight Eisenhower. Eisenhower at that time was Jehovah's Witness. Nixon was Quaker, so there are some people out there who are Jehovah's Witness and who are Quaker say that one counts, that one counts. Thing is, Eisenhower became a Presbyterian after he became president.

So there are a few little quirks along the way, but we've never had anything like this that really shows how these things have changed in the country.

MALVEAUX: It's fascinating. Absolutely fascinating.

LEVS: Whole new world for us.

MALVEAUX: Yes. I love the blog. Thank you, Josh.

LEVS: You got it. Thanks a lot. You've got it.

MALVEAUX: And the suspect accused of shooting a guard at the headquarters of the conservative group Family Research Council is being formally charged in the crime. Now investigators say there are signs that the motive might have been political.

Don't forget that you can watch CNN live on your computer while you're at work. Head to CNN.com/tv.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: President Obama's coming under fire for some former special ops officers over the raid that killed Osama bin Laden. In a Web video, they slam the White House over leaks about the raid. They also accuse the president of taking too much credit for the operation.

Brian Todd is reporting about the accusations and the people behind them.

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Suzanne, this is a very controversial new video online put out by a group called OP-SEC for Operational Security. The group is made up of former Navy SEALs, special operations soldiers, other military officers and intelligence officials. It's really taking President Obama to task for his administration allowing leaks of classified information on top intelligence matters to become public. That controversy raged earlier in the year.

But that video also really slams the president for taking credit for the bin Laden raid. The president has mentioned the raid a lot on the campaign trail. He's taken out a campaign ad with Bill Clinton talking about courage for the operation. In this video, the group really slams the president for taking credit. Here's a clip of it with former Navy SEAL Ben Smith talking about the president.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BEN SMITH, FORMER NAVY SEAL: Mr. President, you did not kill Osama bin Laden, America did. The work that the American military has done killed Osama bin Laden. You did not.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TODD: The Obama campaign is pushing back hard on this new video, saying that the Republicans are resorting to, quote, "swift boat tactics" here. That's a reference to the campaign against John Kerry's military service back in 2004.

And on the charge that the president is taking too much credit for the bin Laden raid, the Obama campaign points out that the commander of that raid, Admiral William McRaven, told CNN's Wolf Blitzer a short time ago that the president did deserve credit. Quote, "At the end of the day, McRaven said, 'Make no mistake about it, it was the president of the United States that shouldered the burden of this operation, that made the hard decision decisions.'" The Obama team pointing to that quote from the commander of the raid on the president taking credit for the operation.

Now, this group OP-SEC claims that it is nonpartisan. But we have dug into that a little bit, and there may be an implication that they are tied to the Republicans. The group - the president of the group, Scott Taylor, who is a former Navy SEAL, he's in the video. He once ran unsuccessfully as a Republican for Congress in Virginia. The group's spokesman worked in a similar capacity for the Bush administration. And we've also found out that this group, OP-SEC, shares office space in Alexandria, Virginia, with two Republican political consulting firms. So there is at least an implication here that the group may be fact be a little bit partisan. Suzanne?

MALVEAUX: Thank you.

If you live in Michigan and you bought a Powerball lottery ticket, it might be your lucky day, because the winning estimate jackpot of $300,000 was sold in the Sunoco gas station. This is the town of LaPerriere. The multimillionaire has not yet been identified. Here are the winning numbers. Take a look: 6, 27, 46, 51, 56 and 21. Eight other ticket holders -- tickets won $1 million with five matching numbers. My number did not come in.

The Air Force trying again to fly at supersonic speeds. This happened yesterday. Tests did not go well at all. Look at this. This is experimental aircraft called the X-51A showing taking off for what they hoped would be a 4,000 miles per hour. But that did not happen. A bad tail fin caused the high-tech aircraft to spin out of control, and into the Pacific. Nobody was on board. And the Air Force has been trying to perfect hypersonic flight for about 50 years with not much success.

And the trial of the man accused of going on a deadly rampage at Fort Hood in Texas is now on hold. A military appeals court stopped Major Nidal Hasan's trial from going ahead, because the judge threatened to have his beard forcibly shaved. Beards are against Army regulations, but Hasan wears one for religious reasons. This has been a point of contention when the judge first ordered Hasan to get rid of it. The judge (ph) has six days to respond to the appeals court. And a man is accused of shooting a security guard at a Family Research Council in Washington. He's being formerly charged today. Witnesses say that man walked into the conservative headquarters and told the security guard, I don't like your politics, and then shot him in the arm. The charges ranged from weapons violations to assault with intent to kill. The shooting happened about seven blocks from the White House.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAY CARNEY, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The president was informed about it from his Homeland Security adviser, John Brennan. And you know, he was very concerned about the victim that -- the person who was shot. And made clear to me, and I convey this to the pool, that he firmly believes that violence of that kind has no place in our society. And this goes to the greater discussion we have had about violence in America, and the need to tackle it on multiple fronts. .

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: I want to bring in Sandra Endo, in d. c., covering all of this.

What do we know about the suspect?

SANDRA ENDO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Suzanne, we know that the 28-year-old suspect, Floyd Lee Corkins, is from Virginia. He will be making a court appearance within the hour. He is facing criminal charges, which you mentioned, include a federal guns violation, as well as assault with intent to kill.

According to the criminal complaint, it outlines exactly what the suspect allegedly did. He allegedly bought a 0.9 millimeter handgun from a gun shop in Virginia within the past week. He purchased it legally. He parked his car at the metro station in Virginia and took the metro here into downtown D.C., walked into the Family Resource Council building, and that is when, according to the security guard, he shot without warning. Of course, the security guard suffered a gunshot wound to the arm, but he is in stable condition, and going to be OK.

So clearly, the investigation continues. But also interesting to note, Suzanne, there were 15 Chick-fil-A sandwiches found in the suspect's backpack, and that is something that the investigators are looking into.

MALVEAUX: Why are they looking into that? What does that signify to anybody?

ENDO: Well, when you piece this all together -- and the authorities have not declared a motive yet for the suspect -- but 15 Chick-fil-A sandwiches -- and Chick-fil-A has been in the news recently with the controversy over the leader of Chick-fil-A, the head of the company, staunchly and publicly denouncing same-sex marriage. And we know that Corkins was a volunteer for the LGBT-D.C. community. According to the criminal complaint, I just wanted to note, that his parents describe the son as having strong opinions with respect to those he believes do not treat homosexuals in a fair manner.

Again, police not saying the motive, but you could piece together his mindset as he targeted perhaps the FRC, because they do share a similar stance to Chick-fil-A.

MALVEAUX: When he said he didn't agree with the politics or like their politics, did the police, do investigators have any information about specifically what he is talking about?

ENDO: They are not sure as of now. And they are not releasing any information. We could only go by what the criminal complaint has outlined. And according to those facts, that the shooter allegedly announced that he does not like the politics of this council, the FRC, again being a socially conservative Christian policy organization, again, backing the Chick-fil-A stance on same-sex marriage, and you have a suspect who is volunteering with the LGBT center here in Washington, D.C. So they are trying to piece it together, Suzanne, but according to the police, those are the facts they have filed in the criminal complaint.

MALVEAUX: Sandra, thank you very much. Appreciate it.

Tune into CNN on Sunday at 2:00 p.m. eastern to see how one artist is taking the peaceful sounds of the ukulele to a whole new level.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(MUSIC)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: To me, the ukulele is truly the instrument of peace, because you can't possibly be angry when you are strumming a ukulele. It is very difficult.

(MUSIC)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When you can pick up an instrument and just do that, it is oh, I made that sound just. And you know, that, that thing that just made the room light up or made everyone smile. I just created that, you know. There's a joy in that. And I wish that everyone could feel that.

(MUSIC)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: That is nice.

Well, millions of Americans say they may not vote in the presidential election. That's up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news. MALVEAUX: Tensions in South Africa at a mine have exploded now into gunfire. I want you to listen and see what the kind of video that is coming in right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(GUNFIRE)

(SHOUTING)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: This is from our affiliate, ETV, reporting that at least 18 people were shot. This is a firefight between South African police and miners who were on strike. You can actually see that it is disturbing as some of the people are on the ground there. Reports are saying that the miners opened fire as the armed police in riot gear tried to break up the protest.

I want to bring in Nkepile Mabuse, who is live in Johannesburg to give us a sense of what we are watching here.

This seems extraordinary. You have got people who are there and they look like they have been killed in this firefight. What do we know?

NKEPILE MABUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Look, Suzanne, I can safely say that we haven't seen this kind of response to a protest, a labor dispute, since the apartheid days. Really tragic. It does really appear that excessive force was used here. But I must put it on the record that the police have not released their version of the events. They are not even releasing an official death toll at this stage.

Local media, as you said, reporting that 18 people have been killed. I'm hearing from my sources, you know, numbers ranging from 18 to 30.

And you must remember, Suzanne, that 10 people had already been killed since this violent wage dispute began last weekend. So a really, really worrying situation here in South Africa, and one that the police continue to watch very closely. That area still very tense -- Suzanne?

MALVEAUX: Do we know how this happened? How this was set off like this? Who started shooting first? How did it get to this point?

MABUSE: Well, my understanding, Suzanne, is that the police had been negotiating with these striking miners, who have been for a couple of days now, hours, just yesterday, congregating near a hilltop. And they were wielding machetes and traditional weapons and police believe guns as well. So the police have been negotiating with the miners who refuse to go back to work, for them to lay down the arms and disperse. Of course, the negotiations failed yesterday and today. And my understanding is the police started firing tear gas at these miners, trying to force them to disperse, water cannons. And according to the reporters, the miners retaliated with the live ammunition. And that is what started the clash that you see, this dramatic clash that you have just witnessed -- Suzanne?

MALVEAUX: What were the miners protesting in the first place? How did this come about?

MABUSE: Well, the bottom line is that it is about wages, OK. These miners are demanding a more than double their salaries. They are drill operators who are earning between $300 and $600. They want $1,500 U.S., and the mine management believes that the rivalry between two labor unions also is playing a role here. The dominant labor union, the National Union of Mine Workers, who negotiated the current salaries they are getting, and a new union, which is 12 years old, is promising the miners more, that we can get you more. And this union is very radical. Many people believe they are using these tactics to force the mine to pay these wages that they demand. And the union saying, look, negotiations -- this is not the time to negotiate. We have a two of-year agreement, and we can't negotiate the salaries right now.

Well, that is what you are witnessing here in South Africa. And it is a country where the violence is pervasive, I must point that out.

MALVEAUX: You are saying that you have not seen the reaction from the police since the days of apartheid. What is behind the tension here? Why do you think that we are seeing the level of violence that erupted here today? Because we are looking at the pictures and it is really an extraordinary standoff here, and they are looking completely outgunned. They have dozens and dozens of police standing there opening fire.

MABUSE: Look, Suzanne, the police view these miners as very, very violent individuals. They started this protest last weekend and 10 people were killed. I'm talking about people hacked to death with machetes and two security officers burned alive. Two police officers on Monday also killed very violently with machetes. So that the police look at these men as very, very aggressive human beings.

When I was there yesterday, the police made us stand very, very far from the miners, saying that this crowd is unpredictable. They are heavily armed, and we believe that the two police officers that they killed on Monday, they disarm and they have those pistols with them. So that the violent reaction has a lot to do with the way that the police feel about the miners themselves, that they are dangerous human beings. And I do feel the police have been more aggressive because of the two of their own that were killed earlier in the week.

MALVEAUX: All right, Nkepile Mabuse, thank you so much. Live from Johannesburg.

We want to take a quick break.

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MALVEAUX: A new polls say as many as 90 million Americans probably won't vote in November. That could spell trouble for President Obama because are his supporters. This is a new "USA Today"/Suffolk University poll. 40 percent of people who are registered, but not likely to vote, favor President Obama, compared to 20 percent who favor Mitt Romney. That means that President Obama has to work harder to get the supporters to the polls. Among the reasons that people say they probably won't vote, they say that they are too busy, they are not excited about the candidates, nothing ever gets done, or their vote does not count.

Mitt Romney's bringing out the whiteboard, literally, magic markers to try to explain in the battle with President Obama his plan for Medicare. This is a stop in South Carolina. This happened last hour. Romney trying to draw distinctions between Medicare proposals that he's proposing and the president's.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MITT ROMNEY, (R), FORMER MASSACHUSETTS GOVERNOR & PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: With regards to seniors -- those are people who are today 55 years of age and older, today's seniors, if you will. My plan presents no change. The plan stays the same. No adjustments. No changes. No savings. The president's plan cuts Medicare -- excuse me. Well, let's see, I have to -- there you go -- by $716 billion. Cut.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: All right. I want to bring in CNN political editor, Paul Steinhauser.

Paul, when you see somebody whipping out the whiteboard at the airport --

(LAUGHTER)

-- that is kind of like a last-minute impromptu presentation. What does that say about the importance of Medicare or about changing the subject here?

PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN POLITICAL EDITOR: Well, it is showing you how important the battle of Medicare is. But that is why they called this last-minute new conference with props. As you mentioned, the whiteboard speech. We've sent his full-scale attack my both campaigns since Mitt Romney, on Saturday, named Paul Ryan as his running mate. That $716 billion number that Romney just mentioned, they've been using over and over, saying that the Obama administration is taking the money from Medicare, which is a popular program, and putting it in Obama-care. That's the nickname for the national health care law. Americans are divided on that.

So the politics of what Romney is doing is actually pretty smart, but the Obama campaign says it's just not true. And the president himself says, you know what, I'm the one protecting Medicare, Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan aren't.

Take a listen to the president yesterday on the campaign trail in Iowa.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: They want to turn Medicare into a voucher program.

(SHOUTING)

OBAMA: That means seniors would no longer have the guarantee of Medicare. They'd get a voucher to buy private insurance. And because the voucher wouldn't keep up with costs, the plan authored by Governor Romney's running mate, Congressman Ryan, would force seniors to pay an extra $6,400 a year. And I assume they don't have it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STEINHAUSER: The Romney campaign points out, though, Suzanne, that their plan doesn't affect anybody above 55. And they said for people below 55, you get a choice between classic, traditional Medicare and these new vouchers -- Suzanne?

MALVEAUX: Paul, we can't help ourselves on this one, because we love this topic. The Hillary buzz, heating up again. We were talking about it before, whether or not she'd be thrown onto the ticket.

Now you have Sarah Palin weighing in on this, for the suggestion being to dump Vice President Biden on the ticket in favor of Hillary Clinton. Here's what she said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SARAH PALIN, (R), FORMER ALASKAN GOVERNOR & FORMER VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The strategists there in the Obama campaign have got to look at a diplomatic way of replacing Joe Biden on the ticket with Hillary. And I don't want to throw out that suggestion and have them actually accept the suggestion, because then an Obama/Hillary Clinton ticket would have a darned good chance of winning. But really, Joe Biden really drags down that ticket.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: A darned good chance here. And, Paul, this is what "The New York Times," former editor of "The New York Times," Phil Keller (ph), said about Clinton in a recent interview. He said, "Obviously, it would be exciting to have the first woman vice president and the first woman president, but the thing about Hillary is she's actually qualified to be president, leaving aside the firstness of it all."

We're not seriously thinking any of this is actually going to happen here. But interesting, you have far right and far left both still talking about it.

STEINHAUSER: Yes, John McCain also basically echoing Sarah Palin's comments, saying pretty much the same thing. A lot of this has happened since Vice President Biden's controversial comments the other day. But again, the Obama campaign, the White House says this is not going to happen. Joe Biden remains number two on the ticket. that is not going to change. It's good to talk about, fun to talk about, I guess, but it's not going to happen -- Suzanne?

MALVEAUX: Not going to happen. You're putting your money on it.

STEINHAUSER: Yes.

MALVEAUX: Thanks, Paul.

A new study finds eating egg yolks can accelerate the risk of heart disease almost as much as smoking.

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MALVEAUX: According to a new study, egg yolks can increase heart disease almost as much as smoking. The online study found that eating egg yolks on a regular basis boosts plaque buildup about two-thirds as much as smoking. The lead researcher says the problem is with the yolk, not with the egg. Bottom line, they say stick with egg whites.

And people putting on their blue suede shoes, heading for Memphis today. We'll show you what is happening at Graceland, 35 years after the death of Elvis Presley.

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MALVEAUX: He's always going to be the king of rock 'n' roll. Today is the 35th anniversary of the death of Elvis. He was one of the most popular singers of the 20th century. Such hits as "Hound Dog," "Don't Be Cruel," and "Blue Suede Shoes."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(SINGING)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: Fans love to imitate Elvis. This year, of course, no exception. Thousands went to Graceland to pay tribute to him. Fans got a special treat last night. Elvis' former wife, Priscilla, and daughter, Lisa Marie, made a rare appearance.

CNN NEWSROOM continues with Brooke Baldwin.

Hey, Brooke.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Hey, Suzanne. Thank you so much.