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Jerry Sandusky Sentenced Today; Mitt Romney's Post-Debate Boost; Interview with "Glamour" Editor in Chief Cindy Lieve; Big Jump; The Fiscal Cliff and 401Ks; Deadline to Register to Vote Approaching; 13,000 May Be at Risk of Meningitis; Lawyers Appeal Tennessee Voter I.D. Law

Aired October 09, 2012 - 11:00   ET

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

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Of course, we'll keep you posted.

Thanks for joining me today. I'm Carol Costello. "CNN Newsroom" continues right now with Ashleigh Banfield.

ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, ANCHOR, "CNN NEWSROOM": Thank you so much, Carol.

It's 11:00 on the East Coast. It's 8:00 on the West Coast and here's where we begin.

Two things were very clear even before we learned the sentence for Jerry Sandusky. That 68-year-old former Penn State assistant football coach is walking towards the rest of his life in prison and, his conviction notwithstanding on 45 counts of sexually abusing children, he still insists that he, Jerry Sandusky, the man behind the glass, is the victim.

This sentence was almost a formality. Thirty to 60 years behind bars, that's what the judge said. Much more compelling though, the words that were spoken today and I don't necessarily mean just from Jerry Sandusky.

CNN's Jason Carroll was inside the courtroom. He's just come out to join us.

All right, so play out for me exactly what happened in that courtroom where our cameras weren't allowed.

JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it was a courtroom filled with emotion, beginning, first of all, with the victims who came to address the court, who spoke about the pain and the anguish that they suffered over many, many years at the hands of Jerry Sandusky.

Victim number six, that is a young man identified as victim number six, he stood. He addressed the court. He said, quote, "That night you told me you were the tickle monster so you could touch my 11-year- old body. I realize just how much you manipulated me."

When he said this, though, he did not look at Jerry Sandusky who was seated just to his right. He looked directly straight in front of him at Judge Cleland as he addressed the court.

After him, we then heard from victim number five, another young man. He stood up and said -- and cried as he said it. He said, "The sentence will never erase what he did to me. It will never make me whole. He must pay for his crimes. Take into account the tears, the pain and the private anguish."

That's what he told the judge just before he sat down.

And then victim number four stood up and, throughout the entire proceeding, throughout the entire court case, out of all the victims, to me, he seemed to be the most feisty.

He did not cry when he stood and addressed the court. He did look at Jerry Sandusky not once, not twice, but several times as he read from his statement, and he said, "I won't -- I don't know if I can ever forgive you. I don't know I can ever forgive you." And so then he sat down.

And then we heard from the man himself. We heard from Jerry Sandusky. When he stood up, he was still wearing, of course, his red uniform from the correctional facility. He said, "Others can make me out to be a monster, but you can't take away my heart. I did not do these disgusting things."

He went on to say, "I feel the need to talk not for fear or for arrogance, but from my heart. I'm filled with emotion and determination. I did not, once again, do these disgusting things."

And then he referred to a football reference and talked about his wife, Dottie. Dottie was seated to his right in the courtroom and, in fact, when he walked into the courtroom, the first thing he did was he looked over, he waved at her, smiled at her.

And the family smiled back at him. His children, E.J., Jeff and Kara were also seated there. He said, "I told Dottie," as he was telling and reading his statement -- he spoke for about 13 minutes -- "We are in the fourth quarter. You definitely find out who your friends are, who will stand by you. I like to believe they know me the most. They are standing by me."

And then, Ashleigh, for the first time, Jerry Sandusky himself became emotional. He raised his voice. He choked up with tears and he said, "We're going to smile." And I have to tell you why he said that. It's because he was criticized not just by the prosecutor, Joe McGettigan, but by some of the victims themselves for smiling his way through the court case.

Smiling today and he cried when he said this. He said, "We are going to smile and laugh. We are going to smile and laugh because that's who we are. We smile through the pain."

So these are just some of the things that were said just before Judge Cleland issued his sentence.

Ashleigh? BANFIELD: And, Jason, just so we're aware of the actual functioning now of the process, we've been looking at some pictures of Jerry Sandusky, now not in yellow prison garb, but instead in crimson prison garb and getting back into a cruiser, presumably to head back to where he was before.

But he's got some processing ahead. Exactly what's going the happen today from the moment he left the courthouse till the moment he ends up in the state prison where he's supposed to serve out the rest of his life.

CARROLL: Well, he'll go back for 10 days or so while he's processed where he is now. Then he will be transferred to, I guess what we could call, a transitional facility, for lack of a better term, and there -- he could be there for a period of time, 30 days, 60 days while he receives more evaluations before he's finally transferred on to his permanent prison facility which will be somewhere, obviously, here in the state of Pennsylvania.

I have to tell you, it was also very interesting to hear from Judge Cleland himself who said this was a tragedy, a story not just about boys being abused, but about real betrayal.

He said not just betrayal of the psyche, not just betrayal of the heart, but of the soul and that's what he said before he sentenced Sandusky to a minimum of 30 years in jail.

And he also made it very clear to the court, Ashleigh, that the law allowed him to sentence him to hundreds of years if he wanted, but he told the court, I feel as though that's too abstract and that's why he wanted to sentence him to something that he said that he could actually realize and take to heart.

BANFIELD: Well, the judge in the Madoff case didn't think 150 years was abstract, but everyone's entitled this opinion.

Jason Carroll, we'll see you as the coverage continues for the more than likely appeal in this case. In Bellefonte, Pennsylvania, Jason Carroll reporting for us live outside of the courthouse.

And in the legal briefs, obviously, what comes now is the question why. Why the numbers, why the statements, why, why, why, and how did it play out the way it did?

Paul Callan is the one who knows most about this. So, first off, when I saw 30 to 60 years I thought, Madoff, that sounds low. A hundred- and-fifty years for Madoff, a minimum of 30 for this man.

Granted, he's 68, but is that what this was about? Is it the fact that he was 68 that the judge decided not to go consecutive with the hundreds of years he could have lambasted him with?

PAUL CALLAN, CNN LEGAL CONTRIBUTOR: Well, I think the judge is looking at the appellate court which is going to be reviewing the case and I think he didn't want to look like he was being overly vindictive. When you hand down a sentence of 400 years, you usually think of that for somebody who's committed a murder or, you know, or multiple murders or serial killings.

BANFIELD: Well, raping a series of children among people's purview is akin to murder and isn't that exactly what sometimes sentences are supposed to do -- give a message that society abhors this behavior?

CALLAN: I would never try to argue with you on this, Ashleigh, because I will lose, because you're absolutely right about that.

BANFIELD: It's a passionate story on ...

CALLAN: However, if you're a judge sitting at this -- in this case and you're saying to yourself, they're going to be looking at this transcript. They're going to be reviewing. I don't want to look overly vindictive.

I'm going to give him 30 to 60 years. That's probably going to ensure that he will die in jail. Justice is probably done.

I'm sure the judge wrestled with this. He could have given him 400 years, but ...

BANFIELD: Here's the other thing, Paul. A lot of times they say, you get this massive sentencing range and it's up to the judge and a lot of what it comes down to is the message, but also what is this former defendant, now felon, going to say to me when he makes his comment?

Is he going to seek mercy? Is he going to apologize and take responsibility for his actions? Not only did he not do that in court, listen to the tape that he released on the eve of sentencing from his jail cell, once again blaming the victims and not himself. Have a listen.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

JERRY SANDUSKY, FORMER PENN STATE ASSISTANT FOOTBALL COACH: They can take away my life, they can make me out as a monster, they can treat me as a monster, but they can't take away my heart.

In my heart, I know I did not do these alleged disgusting acts. My wife has been my only sex partner and that was after marriage.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

BANFIELD: All right, so that's one of the excerpts from the tape. There's another excerpt, like I said, blaming the victims and in no uncertain terms essentially saying this was all about vindictive behavior and money. Let's listen to that.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

JERRY SANDUSKY, FORMER PENN STATE ASSISTANT FOOTBALL COACH: Over and over, I ask why. Why didn't we have a fair opportunity to prepare for trial? Why have so many people suffered as a result of false allegations? What's the purpose?

(END AUDIO CLIP)

BANFIELD: OK, so here's a judge facing down a guy who on the eve of this procedure, of this process, is effectively blaming the judge for messing up his case and, yet, this judge could have tacked on so much more and by some accounts went easy on him.

CALLAN: Well, it's -- you know, the judge was very, very restrained. I mean, not only did Sandusky say this stuff, but he leaked it to a college radio station the night before sentencing, essentially criticizing the judge, attacking the victims, not saying I'm sorry for this, not trying to show a reason for a lower sentence, but, in fact, you know, asking for a higher sentence

BANFIELD: OK, I've got 30 seconds left, but you've got to tell me about the two appellate issues that Mr. Sandusky could raise to continue this court effort.

CALLAN: Well, there are two big ones and I'll throw a smaller third one on the side. One, he can say that there was a rush to judgment here.

He was indicted first in November, then in December of 2011. This case was on trial by June of 2012.

BANFIELD: Very quick.

CALLAN: That's the rocket docket.

BANFIELD: So, too fast, number one.

CALLAN: Too fast. He didn't get to prepare.

BANFIELD: Number two?

CALLAN: Number two is a very interesting one. The prosecutor in his summation said -- referred to the Bob Costas interview and I don't know if you remember, but there was this pregnant pause when Costas said to him, are you -- did you ever sexually abuse any of these boys?

And, instead of answering right away, saying, "Are you kidding? I'm innocent," there was this painful silence for 15 seconds and then Sandusky said, "Well, sexual attracted? I love them, but I'm not sexually attracted to them."

In his summation, the prosecutor said, an innocent man would have denied that he was guilty. He would have said I'm not a pedophile and now they're saying that's a violation of his Fifth Amendment right to remain silent.

BANFIELD: That's prong two. I've only got five seconds here. What's the third prong?

CALLAN: Incompetence of counsel. He's going to fire Amendola and his attorneys. He's going to bring in new attorneys and the first argument they're going to make is he had incompetent trial counsel.

BANFIELD: That's usually the Hail Mary at the very end of the process.

CALLAN: Well, that's what you're going to see happen in this case, I reasonably sure.

BANFIELD: I think you're coming back to discuss this as we continue through this awful process.

Paul Callan, thanks are for the insight and the perspective. I do appreciate it.

And we're going to go to break. When we come back, Mitt Romney, wow, what a week. We'll tell you by the numbers.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BANFIELD: Mitt Romney riding high a week after the Colorado debate. Want you to take a look at some new numbers and there you go. A new poll of likely voters shows the Republican presidential candidate has edged ahead of President Obama and the numbers say it clearly, 49 percent to 45 percent.

CNN's political editor Paul Steinhauser joins me live now from Washington as he does almost daily with a numbers story, but I want you to put this one in perspective. Is this a huge deal 28 days until election day?

PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN POLITICAL EDITOR: That's right, four weeks to go until the election, and let's go back to the Pew poll number because it is interesting. It really does suggest, Ashleigh that Mitt Romney got a bounce out of the debate last Wednesday in Denver, Colorado.

Let's go to those numbers again on the left. You can see the new numbers. These were the new poll from Pew and it indicates Romney with a four-point advantage, within the sampling error, but look at their September numbers there, an eight-point advantage for the president.

But wait a minute. Let's go to Gallup. This is Gallup's daily tracking poll. It came out yesterday afternoon. This is of registered voters. It was conducted both before and after the debate and you can see the president with a five-point advantage.

So, it is interesting, two different polls, two different stories here. We're going to see a couple more national polls today, as well, to get a sense of how much of a bounce Romney got from the debate.

But, Ashleigh, I always say this. The battle for the White House is a battle for states and their electoral votes. Go to this brand new poll out of Michigan. This is Epic MRA, Michigan, of course, the state where Mitt Romney was born.

Take a look at these numbers if we have them. There you go. Look at the president's advantage in Michigan. It was ten points back in September. That was the lead.

Now, it's just down to three, which is within the sampling error. We've got a lot of polls coming out over the next few days to analyze, Ashleigh.

BANFIELD: Tat looks like a lot more numbers -- a lot more people came into it than dropped out of it or changed because there's only a wee difference between Obama's slide, but a massive difference between Romney's gain.

STEINHAUSER: Yeah, it was the undecided voters. They really dropped in Michigan according to that survey.

BANFIELD: OK, thank you. Paul Steinhauser, nice to see you.

Don't forget, everybody. Tune into the big debate, Thursday 7:00 Eastern. It's the vice presidential debate. It's not Sarah Palin this time around, but it's going to be just as good. It's Joe.

Vice President Joe Biden and Congressman Paul Ryan, I always love these debates. I think you do, too, because, you know, I think 60 million-or-some-odd of you watched the presidential debate last week.

And then the other big news on the campaign trail, the new numbers on how women voters are leaning. Things are changing. They went for Obama in record numbers back in 2008 and, in September, it was pretty much a lot of the same. The president had an 18-point lead among likely women voters in the Pew Research poll.

Bum-bum-bum, things changed dramatically, folks. Take a peek. Just one month from election day and, as Paul Steinhauser likes to say, it's all knotted up. All knotted up. Pretty much a virtual tie, right there.

So, why is this such a big deal? It's a big deal because it's about math. There are about 10 million more women voters this election cycle than men and joining me now to talk about the women and the election is no finer a guest on this topic than the "Glamour" magazine editor-in-chief, Cindy Leive.

And, by the way, what timing that you would be here. You had a chance in this issue to sit down one-on-one with President Obama and you got to really focus on the women issue. He's aware, clearly ...

CINDY LEIVE, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, "GLAMOUR": Yes.

BANFIELD: ... of how important this sector is.

LEIVE: Yes, I mean, the fact that he sat down with us shows that he knows that there are more women eligible to vote this time around than men and he knows how much those women's vote mattered to him in 2008.

BANFIELD: So, when you did the interview, did you feel like it was platitude upon platitudes that interviews can always be or did you feel like you really made some ground here? LEIVE: No, I felt like he really spoke to the issues that our readers care about and we had done a major poll, looking at, you know, if you're a young woman in the United States, what are you voting on the basis of this time around?

So, first and foremost, jobs and the economy, no surprise there, as it is for every American, but number two, healthcare and when you ask women who support President Obama why they do so, the number one reason that they cite is healthcare.

Those who support Governor Romney were more likely to say that it was because of his position that the government should spend less or that the government should be smaller.

BANFIELD: And reproductive rights.

LEIVE: And reproductive rights. And that, by the way, primarily for young women is about birth control and that's really not for them a bedroom issue. It's more of a bank-account issue.

BANFIELD: So, can I ask you, when I was reading through the -- I got the transcript. I was reading through the unedited transcript and I was -- I have to say I was really kind of shocked that he went into the contraception issue and talked about his daughters.

LEIVE: Absolutely and I had the opportunity to interview him in 2008 and he did the same thing.

I mean, he really does personalize health issues and, when he's talking about women's issues, he references his mother's own struggles with ovarian cancer and, yes, as you say, we're talking about contraception ...

BANFIELD: It's kind of weird to have a dad talk about his teenage daughters when it comes to the national issue of contraception.

LEIVE: It is. I mean, it's one of those things that some candidates are comfortable with and others are not.

I think the point that he was trying to make in bringing up Sasha and Malia was not to politicize his relationship with them, one hopes, but really to say that if they make the right choices later in life, it's not going to be because the government has legislated them to do so.

It's going to be because of the backing that they've gotten and the support they've gotten from their parents.

BANFIELD: I didn't get the sense that he was being awkward about it or politicizing it, but that he definitely wanted to put forth his message of women's health. I mean, he seemed to pound that pretty frequently during the interview.

LEIVE: I think he knows that it's something that matters, particularly to young women. I mean, if you're a young, healthy American woman, one of the biggest issues that you have is paying for your birth control every month and that goes across political lines. BANFIELD: We break down unemployment numbers all the time, but this was one way we hadn't broken it down or at least one way I hadn't seen it. It might just be because I fell asleep that day. I don't know.

But I was astounded to see we're at 7.8 percent, nationally, the national unemployment rate. But that breaks down to 7.3 percent adult men out of work, 7 percent adult women.

Why does that account for the lower number? Because the teenager number brings that unemployment rate up to 7.8 percent, but the 7 percent adult women, while that's lower than men, he's still got a problem with women out of work.

LEIVE: He does. And, if you look at the raw numbers, at the time I interviewed him, there were three-quarters of a million more unemployed women than there were in this country at the beginning of his presidency.

Most of the losses right now are, as you know, in the public sector. I mean, there are a lot of parts of the economy that women tend to be clustered in, if you're thinking about teaching jobs and government jobs that have been hard hit.

So, that's a challenge that whoever is the next president is going to have to deal with.

BANFIELD: I have to wrap it up, but not without saying, where's the interview with Mitt Romney?

LEIVE: Well, you'll have to ask Governor Romney that. We would love to sit down with him.

We had the opportunity to talk to Obama and Senator John McCain in 2008.

BANFIELD: What did he say?

LEIVE: He told us that, because of scheduling issues, he couldn't sit down with us, but listen. There's a month till the election.

BANFIELD: Can you get the issue out fast enough?

LEIVE: That's why we have the Glamour.com, Ashleigh.

BANFIELD: (INAUDIBLE) and you have CNN. You get him back to do the interview.

It's nice to see you again.

LEIVE: Thank you.

BANFIELD: We get to see each other every so often at functions out in the city, but it's nice to talk to you.

LEIVE: Nice to see you.

BANFIELD: Cindy Leive, editor-in-chief, "Glamour" magazine. It's on the stands now, so make sure you take a look.

And, remember, for more politic coverage, as well, with the analysis, you can check out CNN.com/politics.

I want to quickly take a look at the stock market and find out what's happening there. We're down about 94 and some.

Our Christine Romans is going to talk to me a little bit later on with regard to your finances, but p.s., something even more important, how the stock market is playing a critical role in what you think about the presidential election versus Congress and whether you're going to re-elect someone to go back to the Hill.

We're back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BANFIELD: He is part Evel Knievel, part John Glenn, and a wee bit of Christopher Columbus, you might say, exploring territory and pushing physical limits to a place no man has ever gone before.

His name is Felix Baumgartner. There he is and, if you don't know him, you should. Here he is, practicing for a jump, a jump from the edge of the stratosphere.

He's going to attempt today to become the first person to break the sound barrier with his body and to jump from no place that anyone has ever jumped before.

Our meteorologist, Chad Myers, is so excited and CNN's Brian Todd, also excited, both on this story for us.

I want to start with you, Brian Todd, in Roswell, New Mexico. We've had a delay this morning because of some weather concerns, but I'm hearing that the balloon is now officially being unloaded, unfolded. I think that might be telling.

And, while you can maybe update me on the process, could you also tell me, apart from the thrill of all of this, is there a big legitimate reason that we can all benefit from with this jump?

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, there is, Ashleigh. Going to get into that in just a second, but let's start with the news right now.

You said it right. They are unfolding -- unloading the balloon and unfolding it now. That is a very positive sign that weather conditions are favorable for a launch.

It's not a definite "go" yet, but once they unload it and unfold it, they can't really put it back in the box and store it. They've got to use it. That will take about an hour. It started about 20 minutes ago.

And then they have to inflate the balloon. That takes another hour. So, once that inflates and the capsule's attached, then they'll start their ascent.'

That could be, could be, at about 1:00 p.m. Eastern time today. It will take about two-and-a-half-to-three hours for them to get to the jump-off point. That means that if Felix Baumgartner is going to go and jump that it will be probably at about 4:00 p.m. Eastern time, possibly a little bit earlier.

There's a diagram that we've been able to access from Red Bull Stratos that kind of shows you this balloon. It's fascinating. It's about 55-stories high and that's about the equivalent of the Statue of Liberty, maybe a little taller than the Statue of Liberty, so it gives you an idea of how massive this balloon is and how high it extends.

Now, as far as the science, Ashleigh, yes, what they're trying to see is just what the human body does when it travels the speed of sound. If the speed of sound has any affect on the body when it's just traveling in a spacesuit. That's never been done before. Felix Baumgartner is about to do that.

Another thing they're going to measure here is how this high-pressure suit holds up through all of this. And, if it does hold up and it is not compromised in any way, this could be the next generation of spacesuit.

So, those are the technological advances that they hope to be able to make here with this mission.

You know, just a few months ago I talked to Felix Baumgartner about this and with all of its inherent risks and there are many, I asked him a key question. Is he afraid of dying on his mission? Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FELIX BAUMGARTNER, STRATOSPHERE JUMPER: Well, dying has always been part of my life. You know, as a base jumper, you always face death on every base jump and, therefore, it is important that you do your homework because you need confidence.

You have to have confidence in your team, in your skills and yourself and you always hope that you're not going to die. It might happen, but I'm going to put everything out there to make sure it's not going to happen.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TODD: And Felix Baumgartner has a top team of aerospace scientists and others working behind him. They're working out of this building right here, mission control, a temporary structure set up, but it is very sophisticated in there, a lot of science, a lot of technology at work.

It's been planned down the "T," Ashleigh, so it looks like now conditions are favorable for a launch. We could see that history- making jump this afternoon. BANFIELD: I just think it's great that there is this suborbital bailout science that we will get from this, as well, so his sheer will and fortitude could benefit the rest of our space program.

Brian, stand by for minute because I know that weather has been the issue today. Chad Myers has been watching this very carefully.

Chad, just take me to Roswell for a moment. I think I had heard something along the lines of just a couple miles per hour of wind and this thing is scuttled, right?

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Right. It's really because this balloon is so large. When this balloon gets up into space at 23 miles high, it will fill six Madison Square Gardens of volume.

BANFIELD: Whoa.

MYERS: So, that gives you an idea of how much helium is in this thing. And when the balloon goes up -- I'm just going to drop it here. I was going to draw something else here.

But, when the balloon goes up, if there's wind at the top of the balloon blowing it down range 50 feet high, they'll never be able to catch up because Felix'll be down here and the balloon will just keep blowing and blowing and blowing away.

And if this balloon touches the ground at all, it's completely trashed. This thing is three-thousand ...

BANFIELD: It's like thinner than a sandwich bag, right? It's just so thin.

MYERS: Yeah, exactly, but it weighs 3,000 pounds, so, yes, it is thin, but it is so huge it still weighs an awful lot of poundage here.

So, what's going to happen and how can we get to the speed of sound? Because everybody says, well, wait a minute, if you're a skydiver, you only go about 100 miles per hour then you slow down because there's air.

BANFIELD: Terminal velocity.

MYERS: That's why Felix -- exactly. That's why Felix has to go so high because he wants to get out of the air. So, for a while, he'll be falling through, basically, space, no air whatsoever. That's how he'll get above 600 miles per hour.

When he gets into the 40,000-foot range, he will certainly slow down and then he'll be able to pull the chute at about 5,000 feet.

They are getting ready. I'm watching the tweets from their Twitter feed. They are just literally minute-by-minute on the Twitter feet. He's now getting into his pressurized suit because they've already unloaded the balloon.

BANFIELD: This is a total nerd alert and I just love this. And, not only that, but your diagram, if anybody thought it was upside down, he is doing this head first, which is just awesome.

Chad, stand by. Thank you for that.

Chad Myers and Brian Todd, both watching this live for us, so we'll keep our live cameras. We're going to continue to stay on the story and keep everybody posted throughout the day on what happens.

A quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BANFIELD: We've got a big election coming and Christine Romans knocks on my door telling me something may be afoot that might be bigger than the Obama/Romney race. And it is?

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: The fiscal cliff and the congressional elections that are going to be so important.

BANFIELD: Congress, not the president.

ROMANS: That's right. You have seen such a good run for stocks. I want to look at the S&P 500 this year up 14 percent so far. S&P 500 critical for your 401K because the stock portion of your 401K is more likely to be mirrored in the S&P 500. A broad gauge. We were worried about the fiscal cliff and the earnings in summer and spring. Everyone said now is the time to bail out of stocks. It's just been going up.

BANFIELD: This was the first time we started to panic about the fiscal cliff.

ROMANS: But the stock market has kept going up since then. We know a "CNN Money" survey of investment managers, they say they expect the stock market will end probably about exactly there at the end of the year. So we have stalled here. Most investment managers think we have stalled right here because of all the other big issues we have.

BANFIELD: What is the actual number, when you ask these investment manager managers what matters more to them?

ROMANS: They're worried about the face a fiscal cliff. They say congressional outcome in November matters more than the presidential race. Isn't that interesting?

BANFIELD: And look, optics are everything. Who is going to be the leader of the free world, but truly the fiscal cliff will matter more to your 401K, to my 401K, to the stock market in general.

ROMANS: Because Congress has to fit that fiscal cliff. And the fiscal cliff, it is huge spending cuts. So hundreds of government programs will be cut dramatically. And it's massive, massive tax increases. The average family maybe making $50,000 a year, your taxes would go up $3,500. That would hurt. That would mean millions of jobs lost and probably a recession. BANFIELD: $3,500 you don't invest in the stock market.

ROMANS: This is why it's incredibly critical to the economy overall. Congress holds the key. Almost everyone thinks they're going to fix it in time. It will be an 11th-hour fix and no one knows how they will fix it. That's what keeps the uncertainty going.

BANFIELD: With 30 seconds left, John Boehner, speaker of the House, made some poignant comments with regard to who should be making an effort.

ROMANS: Yes, to "Politico." He said he doesn't think a lame-duck Congress should be doing it. They shouldn't be doing big bills like this. The others say the only way you can get it done is if you don't have the risk of losing their jobs on the other side.

(CROSSTALK)

BANFIELD: -- of being fired.

ROMANS: Right.

BANFIELD: There's a good thing to being fired.

(LAUGHTER)

Christine Romans, thank you.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BANFIELD: If you haven't paid a lick of attention to the presidential race to this point, it is definitely time to start. I know Election Day is just four weeks away, but maybe more to the point, early voting is under way in a lot of states.

But maybe most to the point, the deadline for voter registration is today in some states. I want you to take a peek at this map because if your state where you live is in yellow and you are not yet registered, get with the program. If your state is not yellow, you may still have some time or, in fact, it may be too late. You can go to canivote.org and find out if you're still OK for registration because if you don don't do it and the registration date passes you're sitting on the sidelines and watching everybody else have all the fun, but more importantly, dictate who your next leader will be.

CNN's Wolf Blitzer joins me live with the state of the race 28 days out.

Wolf, before we talk about that, I definitely want to give you big props for a very important interview you have coming up on "Sit Room." Do you want to do a quick tease?

WOLF BLITZER, HOST, THE SITUATION ROOM: We will interview during our 6:00 p.m. eastern hour, live from Ohio, Mitt Romney is going to be joining us. Lots of good questions to ask him in the aftermath of the debate and the aftermath of this bounce that he's received in the polls, so we'll go through a lot of the domestic and national security issues that are on the minds of so many voters out there. There's still a lot of undecided voters, as you well know, and a lot of those undecided voters love CNN because they simply love CNN. So we're getting a lot of questions and a lot of people are tweeting me with their suggested questions, especially from some of those undecided. So I'm reading them, going through them. I will have some good questions for Mitt Romney, 6:00 p.m. eastern.

One other thing that's also very important. At 4:00 p.m. eastern, right when we start, we'll release our brand new CNN/ORC poll in the battleground state of Ohio. Ohio, Ohio, Ohio. No Republican has won the presidency without carrying Ohio, so we're going to see if this bounce that Romney is apparently getting nationally, much more importantly, also plays in Ohio. Those numbers will be released at 4:00 p.m. eastern.

BANFIELD: And just to underscore how important Ohio is, both of the candidates are there today campaigning. So let me talk about polls. Before we get our new one, this Pew poll has had some serious affect on the conversation nationally. It shows Romney surged from eight points hide in mid-September to four points ahead last week. There is some serious celebrating going on amidst Republicans and certainly the Romney camp, but I want you to give me your years and years of coverage and tell me about this roller coaster and with a month to go, does this seem like as big a deal as it is or are we just in a snapshot in time?

BLITZER: We're in a snapshot in time. It's important. I don't want to belittle it by any means. But, remember, before the debate, there were so many folks out there simply assuming President Obama had this thing done, that he was going to get re-elected. They were already planning for that. Then all of a sudden, he had a poor performance at the debate and that pays off. It shows how important these debates are.

There's a vice presidential debate Thursday night. That's going to be important, but there's also two more presidential debates. And just like the numbers can go up, they can go down. We've still got a month to go exactly before this election, so if I were working for Mitt Romney, I wouldn't think this is done by any means. They have to work really, really hard. Same with President Obama. This is going to be tight.

BANFIELD: Well, one thing he's got to be thrilled about, and his camp as well s that his supporters who may have felt somewhat lackluster about it before hand, are starting to show that they really, really, really, and that's what strongly means, they really support him. It's an 11-point jump for him since last month. So voter enthusiasm is something really critical. Polls are one thing. You get a phone call. Getting your butt out of your house, into your car and going to the polls to vote is whole other thing. You need to be enthused.

BLITZER: Right. You need turnout. That's going to be critical in this election. Both of these campaigns, they think they have pretty good -- what they call ground games, getting the voters out either before, a lot of early voting, or on election day, and getting them to show up, getting that enthusiasm is really important. And there's no doubt that Mitt Romney did a lot of good for himself in generating some strong enthusiasm as a result of his powerful performance in that first debate. But the president will have two more opportunities to turn things around. The ground game, getting the vote out is going to be very important.

Pollsters like to say though, one thing we should be watching, those who are still undecided, who tell pollsters they're undecided, usually, usually, not always, but usually, Ashleigh, they break in favor of the challenger as opposed to the incumbent. So those undecideds probably are going to break a little bit more for Romney as opposed to President Obama. So that's something we should be looking forward to see what's going on with those undecideds as well.

BANFIELD: Wolf, great. Thank you. Appreciate that.

I will give you an extra tease for that interview coming up.

Everybody, listen up. Wolf has a live interview with Mitt Romney coming up at 6:00 eastern on CNN.

Wolf, great. Looking forward to it, and I'm also looking forward to the vice presidential debate. Quick tease for the Biden versus Paul Ryan. Vice presidential debate will be right here. We have special coverage starting at 7:00 p.m. eastern time, 4:00 pacific. Make sure you tune in.

Mr. Blitzer, thank you for that.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BANFIELD: A scale of a deadly meningitis outbreak has become extraordinarily troubling. The numbers just keep going up. A CDC spokesman a saying that as many as 13,000 patients in the United States in 23 of the states may have received contaminated steroid injections that are linked to this outbreak. Right now you're looking at the number of people already infected with meningitis, 105 people across these nine states. And already eight people have died because of this.

Senior medical correspondent, Elizabeth Cohen, has been following this very closely.

Elizabeth, I just want you to put some perspective on this for me because a lot of people get very scared when they hear meningitis. This is fungal, not bacterial meningitis. Can you lay out the significant difference?

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: The one big difference and the reason why fungal is less scary is that fungal meningitis is not contagious. It's not spread person to person. So you only would be getting this fungal meningitis in this outbreak if you received one of these back pain shots and you would know if you got one of them.

BANFIELD: You would know if you had one of the shots, but you would also think as an American that we have an FDA and we are all looked after, that drugs are regulated, pharmacies are -- where is the oversight, and how do we get a batch like this going out to this many people?

COHEN: You know, this one what advocates are telling me is a mess. This medicine was not made by one of the big pharmaceutical companies that you have probably heard of. It was made by a relatively small company called the New England Compounding Center, which, of course, until now, most people hadn't heard of. So compounding pharmacies were set up as almost like mom and pop shops, like if you need a special dose of something that wasn't made on the regular market, this pharmacy would make it for you. It was not intended to be a pharmacy that was shipping out doses of dozens of different medicines all around the country. So they're not regulated in that way. The FDA basically doesn't have the legal authority to really regulate them. They can only do sort of small things here and there. So the states regulate them. Well, the states don't have the manpower or the expertise to be watching over what are basically drug manufacturing facilities and there have been sterility problems in the past. This is not the first time.

BANFIELD: Well, perhaps this will definitely open some eyes in terms of oversight and we'll have some change.

Elizabeth, thanks. Thanks for that update.

COHEN: Thanks.

BANFIELD: Keep an eye on it for us if you would, please.

Also want to let our folks know, as Elizabeth watches this she's got a terrific blog, a great page on "CNN Health" called "The Empowered Patient." All you need to do if you want to find out more information on fungal meningitis including a list of all the facilities with the recalled steroids, go to CNN.com/empoweredpatient. CNN.com/empowered patient.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BANFIELD: So the number much jobs may be on the rise. Unemployment may be falling. But if you're one of the millions and millions of Americans still out of work, it's a bummer. And if you're lucky enough to land a job interview, there are things that you can do at that moment. That's go time.

Alison Kosik knows what the critical things to do are at go time.

Tell me what I need to know.

ALISON KOSIK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So here's what's interesting. You see the little bits of brightness in the job market. You see the unemployment rate dropping to 7.8 percent, lowest unemployment rate since January 2009. So, yes, with the jobless picture getting a little bit better, the big question is, how are you going to ace that interview when you get it and get back to work. So we spoke with Caroline Ceniza-Levine, a career coach, with Six Figure Start, and she says don't wait for the interviewer to ask the right questions. You should go in knowing a few points that you need to make and work them right into your answers. Remember you don't know how long this interview will go, so you need to make sure to get your point across sooner rather than later. Another tip, don't forget to smile. Caroline says most communication is nonverbal. So have a firm handshake, make eye contact, sit up straight, smile. Because it shows the interviewer you're confident and you're interested. And finally, don't forget to ask about the next step. Get a time line and a point of contact. That way you'll know when to check back and keep the conversation going.

BANFIELD: I'm surprised on your list it didn't say watch what you wear. Don't wear a tuxedo, but leave the board shorts behind, too.

KOSIK: And that's kind of obvious, right?

BANFIELD: You would think.

(LAUGHTER)

Alison Kosik, nice to see you live from the New York Stock Exchange.

If you want to hear more, check out CNN/money.com for all the latest financial news from all around the world.

Back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BANFIELD: Just 28 days until Election Day and we're taking an in- depth look at voters in America. Tennessee has one of the strictest I.D. voter laws in the country. It will be put to the test in a couple of weeks. Critics are saying the law prevents scores of people for being naughty. But others say it prevents legitimate people from voting, like Thelma Mitchell. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

THELMA MITCHELL, TENNESSEE RESIDENT: I'm Thelma Mitchell, Nashville, Tennessee. I'm 94 years old.

I never drove. I tried twice to get driving license and couldn't get it. Didn't pass to get them. So I didn't try no more.

Well, when I went to vote, he said you're not from this country. I said sure. I said I worked for the state of Tennessee for 29 years, really 30. And he says but you can't vote because you're not from this country. I get to use my state I.D. card and the letter they sent to me from the state. I think it should be easier to do. I was probably in my late 20s and I've been eager in voting ever since.

I work on the second floor in the capitol. I was just a maid, clean up girl, keeping the desks and stuff clean. But I loved it.

Learn how to speak up for yourself. If you can't make it, keep trying.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: Thelma Mitchell, good for you.

Hey, this goes a lot beyond Tennessee. Make sure you watch CNN's documentary special, "Voters in America, Who Counts." We're running it Sunday, this Sunday, 8:00 p.m. eastern. It's great stuff. Joe Johns did a terrific job, so I encourage you to take a look. It's a huge controversial issue.

Thank you so much for watching this program. It's nice to have you with us.

NEWSROOM INTERNATIONAL continues right now with Victor Blackwell.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to CNN INTERNATIONAL. I'm Victor Blackwell, in for Suzanne Malveaux. We're taking you around the world in 60 minutes.