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CNN Live Saturday
Breakthrough In Alzheimer's Research Helps In Diagnosis, Treatment; Boston Becomes Fortress As Democratic Delegates Enter City; Al Qaeda Threatens Australia, Italy
Aired July 24, 2004 - 18:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, I'm Carol Lin. "CNN LIVE SATURDAY" is just ahead, but first, here's what's happening now in the news.
Boston is welcoming Democrats who want to take over the White House from George W. Bush. Delegates are already checking in for the Democratic National Convention, which starts Monday.
Computer hackers are using an Osama bin Laden suicide hoax to get into computers. They've been sending false messages saying CNN has photographic evidence Osama bin Laden has committed suicide. Now, if you get an e-mail saying we do and you can open a file to see it, do not open the file. It's a Trojan horse virus that will give hackers control of your computer.
Lance Armstrong is one day away from making it six Tour de France wins in a row. He finished today's 34-mile time trial for a comfortable 61 seconds ahead of Jan Ullrich and that gives the Texan a massive 6:38 lead in the overall standings. Tomorrow's final stage is a 100-mile sprint to the Champs Elysee in Paris. Keeping you informed, CNN, the most trusted name in news.
Good evening, I'm Carol Lin and welcome to CNN LIVE SATURDAY. Ahead in the next hour, some are calling it a summer of discontent, protests, shout outs and vandalism. Yasser Arafat is facing unprecedented opposition among his own people. John Vause takes the pulse on the streets.
Also, just look at these pictures. They are helping doctors unlock the mystery of Alzheimer's. Later in the hour, one of the foremost experts, the doctor who treated Ronald Reagan, will join me to talk about it.
But right now, we begin with super security in Boston. The Democratic National Convention does not start until Monday though the city is already crammed with police officers and barricades. CNN national correspondent Bob Franken joins us from Boston.
Bob, how difficult is it actually to navigate around the city right now?
BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, so far so good. Unless, of course, you're somebody who wants to come into Boston during the convention hours on the highway that's the main artery and takes you right by the Fleet Center, then you're not going to have an easy time at all. They're shutting it down. In fact, they're asking that starting next week, people who are in Boston who don't have business at the convention, stay away. So the outsiders are going to be taken away.
You talk about super security. Well, it's based on super insecurity. There of course is a concern that the threats of an attack against the United States might come during this highly-visible Democratic National Convention, so they have really begun to shut the city down. Wherever you look, there are security forces: state police, local police, federal authorities. You see National Guard military police around. There's just a massive security presence and that's just what you see. All kinds of surveillance. Overhead, there are fighter jets in the skies to try and prevent an attack from the sky. Underneath in the subways, they're doing random searches of bags. Everybody has had the watch word "be patient" because it is going to be laborious.
There was an extensive sweep and inspection inch by inch of the Fleet Center where the convention is going to be held. It took several hours. In fact, it went overnight. Then there was a long, slow line to get back into the facility where everybody could start up again trying to plan for a convention that, if things go well, will be the starting off point for the Democratic ticket as it goes out to try and face the Republican ticket if things go well -- Carol.
LIN: All right. Thanks very much, some dramatic pictures you sent in that we're watching during the report. Bob Franken, thank you.
John Kerry was campaigning in Iowa. John Edwards was in Wisconsin. It's the long road to Boston, but the focus is on those key swing states. CNN's Frank Buckley is traveling with Senator Kerry.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FRANK BUCKLEY, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Senator John Kerry continued his pre-convention tour today in the hotly contested battleground state of Iowa. Vice President Al Gore won this state in 2000, but barely over Republican George W. Bush. Vice President Al Gore winning by 4,144 votes in 2000. This state also gave John Kerry life during the Democratic primary season. He came into Iowa as a candidate who is down in the polls and he came out number one among the Democrats.
SEN. JOHN KERRY (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And I'll say it again and I'll say it again and I'll say it again. I love Iowa!
BUCKLEY: John Kerry's upbeat tone part of an ongoing shift by the candidate to move away from criticizing the policies of incumbent president George W. Bush and toward talking about himself in a more optimistic tone, leading up to the Democratic National Convention.
KERRY: John Edwards and I are determined that we are going to be champions for the middle class. BUCKLEY: Also campaigning in the Midwest, Senator John Edwards, the vice presidential candidate. He was in Wisconsin, also another of the hotly contested states.
Meanwhile, polls continue to show this is a very tight race across the U.S., "Time" magazine, the latest to indicate that. Tomorrow, John Kerry continues his pre-convention tour, going to the state of Ohio. After that, he'll be going to the state of Florida and then Virginia and Pennsylvania before finally arriving in Massachusetts on Wednesday and accepting his party's nomination on Thursday in Boston.
Frank Buckley, CNN, Sioux City, Iowa.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LIN: Well, obviously, no point in the president trying to distract from the Democrat's convention. He's staying out of the spotlight and staying at his ranch. But he is working, at least working the air waves. The president said in his radio address today, that the White House will look closely at the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We have already put into action many of the steps now recommended by the commission. And we will carefully examine all the commission's ideas on how we can improve our ongoing efforts to protect America, and to prevent another attack.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
LIN: And one of those actions that the president is taking, his chief of staff is now in charge of coordinating that task force -- that project.
And now a warning reportedly from militants linked to Osama bin Laden. In a message posted on an Islamic Web site, they are threatening Australia and Italy with violence unless they pull their troops out of Iraq. The first part of the warning threatens to turn Australia -- quote -- "into a bloodbath." To Italy, the message warns -- quote -- "you will have columns of car bombs shaking your cities." The message was signed by a group identifying itself as the Islamic Unification, the al Qaeda organization in Europe.
Well, we do like to use metaphors, war metaphors when it comes to covering politics, but the Iraq war, the battleground, is still all too real. And now it looks like the insurgents are changing their tactics and kidnapping Iraqi civilians. This time, the unfortunate man is the chief of an Iraqi construction company.
Now, in other news, Iraq's interim prime minister today urged Egypt not to give in to the kidnappers. Negotiators are still trying to free an Egyptian diplomat.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
AYAD ALLAWI, IRAQI INTERIM PRIME MINISTER: The only way for -- to deal with the arrests is to prevent the justice and to close ranks. And this is where we hope that Egypt and the Egyptian government will act accordingly.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LIN: Seven truck drivers from Kenya, India and Egypt are also being held by insurgents. Negotiators who have spoken with their kidnappers are encouraged since the kidnappers did extend the deadline.
And another U.S. Marine died from his wounds after a battle in the Al Anbar Province. Nine hundred and seven U.S. troops have now died since the conflict began.
Onto the north of Baghdad, insurgents are targeting the very thing that helps Iraqis rebuild. They hit another oil pipeline. Dramatic pictures there.
I'm going to stay in the Middle East but this time I'm going to show you a remarkable turn of events for Yasser Arafat, the symbol and the leader of the Palestinian struggle. Despite kidnappings and protests in the street, despite his prime minister resigning not once, but twice, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat insists there is no crisis in his government. But even as he said that today, chaos continued to sweep through Gaza. Palestinians burned down a police station near Gaza City. Others seized the governor's office in Khan Yunis for a short time. Now, thousands of Palestinians are demanding security reforms, and an end to what they see as corruption in Arafat's government.
CNN's John Vause wanted to hear for himself what the Palestinians are saying about Arafat, a man they never dare criticize in public.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): From within his own Fatah Party, a new young leadership is demanding the old guard stand aside, accusing them of lining their pockets, employing family and friends at the expense of an impoverished population. They're rebelling what they call here the mobportunists, the leaders of the Palestine Liberation Organization who were exiled to the Tunisian capital until the Oslo Peace Agreement of 1993.
Arafat and his men made a triumphant return to Gaza and the West Bank. But in the 10 years that followed, the average Palestinian has seen little improvement in their daily lives despite billions of dollars in aid flowing to the Palestinian Authority. Samir Jubar began driving a taxi in Gaza around the same time Arafat returned.
SAMIR JUBAR, GAZA TAXI DRIVER (through translator): We didn't see any open millions pouring into Gaza. The only thing that charged was the construction of some new roads. VAUSE: Abu Qusai is one of the leaders of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, a militant group with links to fatah. He was born and bred in Gaza and is one of those behind the recent surge in violence.
ABU QUSAI, AL AQSA MARTYRS BRIGADE: There is a small sector of the Palestinian society that is benefiting and there is a large sector of the refugees that are completely impoverished and there is not a single plan the authorities rectified the situation.
VAUSE: It's a power struggle within Arafat's own political backyard.
ERAN LEHRMAN, ISRAELI MILITARY ANALYST: What we are seeing is a subtle shift of power away from the Tunisian old guard that Arafat brought with him, the corrupt people who have been robbing the Palestinian people, doing to others, who are probably no less corrupt, but enjoy a degree of local legitimacy.
VAUSE: Fatah, Arafat's party, has been losing support in recent years to the militant groups, especially Hamas. And now with Israel preparing to withdraw completely by next year, the race is on to see who will emerge as the strong man of Gaza.
(on camera): Through all of this, for now at least, it appears that Yasser Arafat has emerged virtually unscathed. No one is calling for his resignation and even those who have been protesting and rioting in recent days, say it is those around their president who are corrupt and must go. To many, he is still seen as a father of Palestine and the only one who can deliver real reform.
(voice-over): I speak with Abu Rami (ph), a fruit seller in Gaza's busy marketplace and asked him straight out, is Arafat corrupt.
"No," he insisted, "all but Arafat."
But many are waiting to see if Yasser Arafat can implement the kind of reforms his people are demanding and still keep his grip on power.
John Vause, CNN, Gaza.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LIN: News here in the United States, the mother of a missing Utah woman stands behind her son-in-law.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
THELMA SOARES, LORI HACKING'S MOTHER: I said, Mark, don't you know that I love you just because you're Mark and because the way you have treated Lori all these years?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LIN: A live report from Salt Lake City on today's developments. That's straight ahead. And still to come, the strides being made in the fight against Alzheimer's. We're going to tell you why there may be growing hope for future patients.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LIN: Well, it looks like the woman accusing Kobe Bryant of rape is going to have her sex life open to the public or at least a portion of it. A judge ruled that jurors can hear evidence about her sexual activity during the three days before her rape exam where evidence was collected. The judge ruled that Colorado's Rape Shield Law, which protects victim's sexual history, does not apply in this case because the court wants to determine her credibility.
Now, we move on to Utah where a desperate search is underway to find a missing pregnant woman. It sounds eerily like the disappearance of Laci Peterson, but this case has its own bizarre twist. Our Ted Rowlands is in Salt Lake City with more details.
Ted, we've already had the husband in a psychiatric ward. We now have the pregnant woman missing and the in-laws are disputing whether they support him or not.
TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it's just changing day by day as you might imagine. There's a lot of emotion involved in this, Carol. Today, dozens of volunteers again went out looking for any sign of Lori Hacking that they could find. Family members, meanwhile, also took part in the search as they waited to hear any news.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ROWLANDS (voice-over): Six days and there's still no sign of 27- year-old Lori Hacking. As volunteers continue to search, unanswered questions about her husband's story remain. Mark Hacking reported his wife missing Monday morning at 10:49. Police say before he called, he was at this Salt Lake City store buying a new mattress. According to the store manager, Hacking's credit card transaction was recorded at 10:23. Originally, Hacking told police he spent the morning searching for his wife. Today, police acknowledged that it has been difficult to figure out what Mark Hacking may be lying about.
DET. DWAYNE BAIRD, SALT LAKE CITY POLICE: It probably would be better to go the other direction, what is it that is real there as opposed to what is deceptive.
ROWLANDS: Police say they searched this landfill after a neighbor of Hacking's reported finding some suspicious residue in a trash can. Police cautioned people not to read too much into what appears to be a reddish stain on a box spring that was seized from the Hacking's apartment.
BAIRD: You know I can't say for certain what it was. I'll tell you, I saw it for the first time on the video myself and I stopped the video as I was watching it again. And it didn't appear to be on the box spring itself, to me. It appeared to be on whatever the packing material was. ROWLANDS: This morning, family members continued to publicly support Mark Hacking and made another plea for volunteers to help them search for Lori.
SOARES: She's my only daughter. Please, help us find her one way or another.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROWLANDS: That, of course, Lori Hacking's mother. She and Lori Hacking's father visited Mark Hacking in the hospital today where he continues to get psychiatric care. For the first time publicly, Lori's father said that he is going to -- quote "draw the line at some point" to get answers out of Mark Hacking and all of the discrepancies that have come out over the past week -- Carol.
LIN: Ted, what are the -- what are some of the most tangible or logical scenarios or clues that investigators are getting? I know they're getting tips from all over.
ROWLANDS: Yes, and they are pursuing those tips accordingly. A lot of people have come forward and said that they thought they saw Lori Hacking in the park where her husband said she was most likely jogging when she disappeared. They've investigated those.
According to a family member, the most compelling clue was a report of a woman actually being attacked in that park. Police are hesitant to comment on any of the specifics though. They say they are doing their job and pursuing all leads, including the possibility that Mark Hacking was involved.
LIN: All right, thanks very much, Ted.
Scanning now for answers to Alzheimer's.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. STEVE DEKOSKY, UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH: It does provide what is, you know, an absolutely vital baseline from which to say, this drug works or this drug doesn't.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LIN: From new imaging systems to new prescriptions, I'm going to talk with the former doctor of the late Ronald Reagan about the latest medical advancements.
And still to come, the recommendations are in on how to better protect America from terrorists. But will they happen and will they even work? I'm going to talk to two experts in the field.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LIN: Let's open up on these amazing pictures just out of Fort Collins, Colorado courtesy of our affiliate, KMGH. That is a plane crash. It's a twin engine Beechcraft that took off from Fort Collins airport was en route to Omaha, Nebraska when it crashed into this neighborhood. No one on the ground was killed, but the two people on board that plane were. Obviously, an investigation going on. Firefighters had to come out to the scene to put the fire out because the jet fuel caught fire on that street.
Well, there are an estimated 4.5 million people with Alzheimer's in the United States. It stands alone as a dramatic statistic but it's so much more when you consider the loss for that that many families who watch helplessly as their loved ones fade away. But there are remarkable developments, offering hope. At this week's International Alzheimer's Conference, researchers and doctors showed they can actually watch how the disease physically progresses. CNN medical correspondent Holly Firfer explains.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HOLLY FIRFER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Richard Johnson painted these paintings but he can hardly remember.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is the...
FERFER: He lost the memory of creating his art to Alzheimer's disease.
LILIANE JOHNSON, WIFE OF ALZHEIMER'S PATIENT: The longer I knew him, from the time we were married, the more I fell in love with him. And I just -- I got to know this person who developed, and all of that is gone.
FIRFER: Researchers were interested in seeing exactly what was going on in Richard's brain so they even rolled him in a study testing a new imaging system that allowed them to follow a radioactive tracer through his brain to see the plaque that has built up around the nerve cells. This build up of amyloid plaque you see here light up in red and yellow damages those nerve cells so they can't talk to each other, interrupting the transfer of information through the brain. By looking at that plaque, researchers hope to be able to scan the brain while testing new drugs.
DEKOSKY: But it does provide what is an absolutely vital baseline from which to say this drug works or this drug doesn't.
FIRFER: Researchers say this is the first time they've been able to see the disease in a living brain. They add this could also eventually be used for diagnosing Alzheimer's and distinguishing it from other forms of dementia.
DEKOSKY: We wouldn't have to spend years looking at people over time to see if they stopped or declined. We'd simply be able to give the medications, look for what we hope would be a more quick decline in the amyloid in the brain, and say OK, we're having the desired effect.
FIRFER: Although this is a breakthrough in diagnosis and imaging, researchers say it will be a few years before they're able to routinely use this tool on Alzheimer's patients, but it's too late for Richard.
L. JOHNSON: Come on, you handsome dude.
FIFER: Lillian will have to put Richard in a nursing home soon but she says she hopes his involvement with this research may help someone else the way he has helped her.
L. JOHNSON: He gives me grace. I am going to miss that so much. He's helped me become more than I ever thought I could.
FIRFER: Holly Ferfer, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LIN: For many of us, Ronald Reagan put Alzheimer's on the map, giving the disease a human face. Tonight, I have the pleasure of bring you one of the former president's doctors who treated him at the Mayo Clinic. Dr. Ron Petersen is in Baltimore, Maryland.
Dr. Petersen, thanks for being here.
DR. RON PETERSEN, MAYO CLINIC: Thank you.
LIN: Tell -- give us a framework of some of the developments that are happening and how -- on a scale of how remarkable they really are. For example, in these meetings in Philly all week, there's been discussion coming out about something called mild cognitive impairment. What is that and why is it important?
PETERSEN: Well, mild cognitive impairment represents a transitional state between what we feel is the forgetfulness of normal aging and the signs of very early Alzheimer's disease. So in Philadelphia at the International Conference on Alzheimer's disease this past week, there was a study reported on a treatment for mild cognitive impairment.
LIN: So you can catch it early, theoretically?
PETERSEN: Exactly. I think we'd like to be able to catch this disease process as early as possible to try to prevent the damage that's ultimately done with Alzheimer's disease. So this study this past week reported on a drug that is used for Alzheimer's disease treatment, except now we were attempting to use it in people with mild cognitive impairment. And in fact, the drug did indicate that it could reduce the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease for the first 18 months of the three-year study.
LIN: So what does that mean? If somebody was showing some of this impairment early on, by taking this drug would you maintain yourself at that level? Would you improve and be cured? What is the prognosis then?
PETERSEN: It indicated that we could maintain people at the level of mild cognitive impairment and prevent their developing Alzheimer's disease for up to about 18 months or so, at least reduce their risk over that time period. And while this certainly wasn't a cure, because at that point in time all of the people seem to converge so that the treatment didn't last beyond that affect, it gives us hope that we can now intervene at this earlier stage in the disease, and perhaps have an effect at preventing the disease ultimately.
LIN: What ever happened to the Alzheimer's vaccine that was the big hype not so long ago?
PETERSEN: You're quite right. About four, five years ago, there was a great deal of attention paid to a vaccine for Alzheimer's disease. And, in fact, it worked very well in the animal model for Alzheimer's disease and it was forwarded into the clinic. So it actually launched a human study on a vaccine therapy for Alzheimer's disease. Unfortunately, that study was halted prematurely because of some inflammatory side effects. However, the individuals who did receive the vaccine were followed throughout the rest of the study and there was a suggestion that perhaps those who were able to mount an antibody, meaning a chemical in the blood...
LIN: Right.
PETERSEN: ...from the vaccine actually did somewhat better over the course of the study than those individuals who were unable to mount the antibody.
LIN: Dr. Petersen, if this were 10 years ago when Ronald Reagan was first diagnosed, and these -- all the new drugs and the new therapies, the new scans, were actually in place, would it have made a difference for him or someone like him at that stage?
PETERSEN: Well, we hope that the point we're at how in 2004 versus where we were in 1994 is going to bode well for individuals who have, say, mild cognitive impairment or Alzheimer's disease or the very earliest signs at this point in time. I think the field has marched forward to a significant extent. And there are -- there is a bill in front of Congress right now that is proposing to double the federal funding for Alzheimer's disease research.
This bill is sponsored by the Alzheimer's Association, the National Institute on Aging, and is the Ronald Reagan Alzheimer's Breakthrough Act of 2004. And I think it's very important that we're at the point now where all of this work is converging such that we will be able to, perhaps, apply some of these imaging techniques you talked about at the outset, the work on mild cognitive impairment...
LIN: Terrific.
PETERSEN: ...bringing new drugs brought to the forefront such that we'll be able to hopefully prevent the disease...
LIN: That's wonderful.
PETERSEN: ...rather than just treat it.
LIN: And wouldn't it be great if that actually happened in our lifetimes. Thank you very much...
PETERSEN: You're welcome.
LIN: ...Dr. Petersen.
Well, CNN is taking a deeper look at Alzheimer's. CNN's medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta looks at the most cutting edge treatments tomorrow on "HOUSE CALL." That airs Sunday morning at 8:30 Eastern.
Well, some drug addicts trying to get clean often face an added temptation, drug pushers right outside their rehab clinics. Now Capitol Hill is preparing to tackle the problem. We're going to show you how.
And searching for solutions to protect the homeland -- does this week's 9/11 Commission report go far enough?
And still ahead, John Kerry's relationship with voters in his home state. I'm going to talk with a "Time" magazine reporter about what the Bay State thinks of the man who wants to be president. You may be surprised.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LIN: Right now, a quick look at who's happening in the news. DNC delegates are arriving in Boston for the start of their convention on Monday. Security is tight.
Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat denies the Palestinian Authority is in a crisis. He reshuffled key positions in his government following violent protests by young Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
A federal investigation into Republican Senator Richard Shelby, a Senate Ethics Committee is trying to determine whether he leaked classified information linked to 9/11 and al Qaeda. A separate investigation by the FBI is also underway.
Keeping you informed, CNN, the most trusted name in news.
Lawmakers hope to make quick work of the findings of the 9/11 report. Both the House and the Senate will hold a rare round of hearings on intelligence reform in August, their traditional time to break. Now this comes after the 9-11 Commission warned that the U.S. remains vulnerable to another deadly terror strike by al Qaeda. Among the recommendations, creating a national counterterrorism center, naming a cabinet level national intelligence director and increasing congressional oversight abilities.
Recommendations are one thing. Action is surely another especially in Washington. Andrew Apostolou and Lawrence Korb join me now from Washington. Andrew is the director of research for the Foundation for the Defense of Democracy. He's an expert on Iraq and the Middle East. And Lawrence is a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress. He's an expert and author on several national security issues.
Good to see both of you.
LAWRENCE KORB, CENTER FOR AMERICAN PROGRESS: Nice to be with you.
ANDREW APOSTOLOU, FOUNDATION FOR DEFENSE OF DEMOCRACIES: Thanks very much.
LIN: Andrew, let me begin with you. You have actually met with members of an al Qaeda cell, managed to interview them. And I'm wondering with this the 9-11 report available at the local Barnes and Noble and online -- let's say they get a hold of this report. Let's say Osama bin Laden gets a hold of this report. Is there anything in this report that scares them, makes them nervous that their next attack is going to be foiled?
APOSTOLOU: Well, they're going to be reading this very carefully for two reasons. First of all, they're going to be wanting to anticipate your future security posture. They're going to want to see how they can get around that. And secondly, they're going to read with great interest the results of your interrogations of people like Khalid Sheik Mohammed and they want to see how much you actually really got out of him and whether or not he spilled the beans. And that's why I have to say I was very, very surprised at the extreme level of detail that we sometimes had in terms of interrogation reports. Intelligence has an aspect to it called secrecy and I think sometimes there's information that shouldn't be out in the public domain. But they will read this.
LIN: It still remains to be seen how the recommendations actually play out. But is there anything in there that will make them nervous, that will convince them that they cannot strike here in the United States?
APOSTULOU: No, nothing will make them that nervous because they're determined. However, I think, for example, that on page 390, there's a very, very solid proposal to have minimum standards, federal minimum standards for identification. That's a good idea. If you have multiple nonforgible I.D.s, it becomes much more difficult. If you have a single I.D., it becomes easier. So that's the sort of thing that's going to make them nervous.
LIN: Lawrence, I'm wondering if you have a comment on this, any thoughts?
KORB: Well, I think we're an open society, which is both our strength and weakness. And so, therefore I'm glad that the 9/11 Commission laid it out so the American people can put this behind us and take the appropriate action to go ahead. I think the commission set the right tone. We can't sit around and wait, you know, for Congress to take its sweet time or the administration to put in these changes. They need to be done. They need to be done right away because as they pointed out, the only one really in charge of bringing everything together right now is the president and he's got other things to do. He needs somebody sitting in the White House, sitting at his cabinet meetings who really can tell him the whole state of play when it comes to what we know... LIN: Well, it's supposed to be Andrew Card. It's supposed to be Andrew Card, his chief of staff. Larry, let me specifically ask you then, and benefit from your experience working in government, I mean how fast can this government work? The 9/11 Commission has said you need to do something quickly by October 1 or we're really going to rattle some public cages. What system, systemically do you think realistically can happen before the November election that will keep America safe?
KORB: Well, I don't think anything will happen before the November election because you're going to create a new position and have the law to define exactly what those standards are. But I think the president can issue an executive order and say I am going to put the DCI, the director of central intelligence, temporarily in charge of everything because people forget that the -- John McLaughlin and previously George Tenant was not just head of the CIA, they were director of central intelligence. And we have not had a director of central intelligence empowered since the Carter administration when President Carter issued an executive order and said this person is in charge. And I think the president can do that. And if he doesn't, then he's going to be the only one trying to bring this together and he simply can't do it because he just doesn't have the time.
LIN: Andrew, first and foremost what do you think needs to be done? Two chapters of 35 different recommendations.
APOSTULOU: Well, I think actually the proposal for the national terrorism center; counterterrorism center is possibly a big mistake because you will end up creating a 16th intelligence agency. You already have 15. What you should be doing is forcing your intelligence agencies to develop a culture in which they pool their intelligence...
LIN: Isn't that homeland security?
APOSTULOU: ...the same way it happens in Britain.
LIN: Isn't that homeland security?
APOSTULOU: Well, no. No, you need something like the JIC where you pool intelligence. And also, you need something like JTAC, which in the U.K. has worked very well, the Joint Terrorism -- it's the Joint Terrorism Analysis Center. It's under MI-5 but it includes analysts from all the security agencies. It works 24 hours a day and there's a cult from Britain of intelligence pooling. We've had intelligence pooling since 1936. You need to knock heads together. That's why having one person in charge could be a good idea but having a 16th agency could be a very bad idea.
LIN: Andrew, how optimistic are you that something will get done and by when do you think it absolutely must be done?
APOSTULOU: Well, it's better to do it right than to do it quickly. And I think something will be done, but Congress needs to discuss this and you, the American people, need to discuss this and you need to vote on it. I mean you have an election in November. This is way forward.
LIN: Larry, is the fact that there is an election in November more indicative that something will be done than not?
KORB: I think so because all of the people standing for re- election in the Congress and in Senate and of course, in the presidential election, are going to have to take a stand on this. And given the concerns of the families of the victims of 9/11, they're going to force them to say something. In fact, remember, the president didn't even want to have this commission. It was only pressure from the families that led to people like Senators McCain and Lieberman forcing this. So I think they're going to have to take a stand and I would suspect that something is going to be done right after the election.
LIN: Lawrence Korb, let's hope so. Thank you very much. Andrew Apostulou, good to see you.
APOSTULOU: Thank you very much.
LIN: You wouldn't think that the very place you go to kick a drug addiction is the very place drug dealers look for new customers. Sean Callebs takes a look now at what's happening in rehab clinics that are now filled with temptation.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TYRONE PATTERSON, MODEL TREATMENT: And sell drugs to outpatients. It's a natural thing.
SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): From his perch at a rehab center called Model Treatment, Tyrone Patterson says it's like wolves go after sheep. The predators, dealers who feed on addicts, people leaving the center trying to stay clean.
PATTERSON: Most of the drug dealers know what time we open and they know what time we close, so they just sit here and wait and prey. Prey on folks.
CALLEBS: Betty, who asked that her full name not be used, is fighting a heroin habit.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you.
CALLEBS: Every day before work, she gulps down methadone to fight withdrawal symptoms.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: See you tomorrow.
CALLEBS: She then runs the gauntlet of outstretched hands, offering heroin, Oxycontin and other narcotics. A measure is now floating around Congress calling for stiffer punishment for selling drugs outside rehab centers. Detectives Rock Garrett and Scott Brown have a combined 27 years on the force, much of that time trying to get dealers off the streets.
(on camera): How frustrating is it for you guys?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's just a revolving door.
CALLEBS (voice-over): These cops like the federal proposal. They say a similar law punishing dealers selling in school zones has had an impact.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, it makes a difference because with enhanced penalty, it's more likely that the guy is going to do more time in jail if he gets caught again.
CALLEBS: They say, however, stiffer penalties can pale to the lucrative drug trade. Brown and Garrett call this restaurant adjacent to the rehab clinic, McPharmacy, a favorite for the usual suspects pedaling pills and powder.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They sit in there for hours and hours, sipping on a cup of coffee, waiting for customers to come in and approach them. So they have ideal conditions.
CALLEBS: The powerful cancer pain killer, Oxycontin, is the drug of choice.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Commonly, you see the 80 milligram Oxycontin, for one pill, sells for $40 apiece.
CALLEBS: Police say it's not uncommon for dealers to sell 300 pills in a day. That's $12,000. Tyrone Patterson watches dealers get arrested all the time. He says tougher prison penalties for these dealers may give his clients a fighting chance at a drug-free life.
PATTERSON: They discover that they do -- they can make a difference in their own life, that they can change, that they -- that their life could be different than what it is today and that's what we try to give them, hope.
CALLEBS: And hope for a life free of constant temptation.
Sean Callebs, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LIN: Getting to know candidate John Kerry. What does the presidential hopeful have to do to warm up his relationship with voters? I'm going to talk with "Time" magazine reporter Amanda Ripley.
Plus, the curse of the Bambino has haunted Fenway Park for decades. So can a baseball superstition spook the race for the White House?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LIN: Next week's Democratic National Convention is Senator John Kerry's big chance to tell the American people just who he is and give them a reason to vote for him. So what kind of street cred does Kerry have in his hometown of Boston? "Time" magazine staff writer Amanda Ripley has been following the Kerry campaign. She's in our Washington bureau.
Amanda, you title your...
AMANDA RIPLEY, STAFF WRITER, "TIME" MAGAZINE: Hi.
LIN: Hi there. You title your article "The Not So Favorite Son." It might be surprising to people who know that he, John Kerry, was elected four times as senator to Massachusetts. What's not to like?
RIPLEY: You know, it was surprising how many people we talked to, even people who have voted for him and will vote for him again. He just doesn't occupy any place in their hearts, it appears. In fact, he's very unlike your typical Massachusetts politician. You know he's guarded. He's serious. He considers himself something of a statesman and he's not particularly fun to hang out with at a bar. And you know in Massachusetts, politicians' careers have actually been made in bars. So this is -- this is -- it's kind of a mystery.
LIN: A veteran political reporter actually told that you that he's the kind of guy who looks like every day he put on shoes which are a little too tight.
RIPLEY: Right, exactly.
LIN: So what do the folks say about John Kerry? I mean how do they describe him?
RIPLEY: You know, many people, they start out talking sort of, they so from lukewarm to actual negative energy. And then by the time you're done talking to them, they will come around and say, "You know, although we don't particularly love the guy, he has learned from his mistakes. Here, he has definitely improved." And that's, you know -- he definitely -- that there seems to be a lot of evidence for that. Massachusetts has taught him quite a bit.
LIN: Yes, the Kerry campaign is no longer specifically about -- taking a line from John Edwards' primary campaign of the two Americas. But still they like to infer that George W. Bush, coming from a wealthy family with all his oil connections, does not -- people in America -- he doesn't relate to people in America. And I'm wondering, what people told you about John Kerry and the fact that he married a very wealthy woman, whether he has the touch or at least intellectually does he have the touch? Does he understand what people really go through?
RIPLEY: You know, when he started in politics in Massachusetts, he was not nearly as wealthy as he is now. That said, he's always had, you know even after years of knowing him as a senator, he has always had this aura of this patrician aura. And he's not very good at downplaying it. When he came to Lowell, Massachusetts, which is a suburb of Boston in 1972, to make -- to run his first race for Congress, you know, the unemployment was at 12 percent. And he and his first wife bought one of the nicest houses in town. And he brought in a lot of campaign donations from Hollywood and Fifth Avenue. And he just seems to be a little tone deaf on this particular issue.
LIN: You know some of our polling shows that -- well, first of all, that the race between Kerry and Bush is neck and neck, within two percentage points. There is a body of people, some 30 percent of the people who were polled who say, you know, we don't know him well enough to make a decision right now. John Kerry has a chance to reintroduce himself to the American public at the Democratic convention. What you have learned in Massachusetts, how does that translate to the problems, the challenges or even the success that he may have in the general election?
RIPLEY: There is only one way that Kerry has ever created a positive narrative for himself in Massachusetts from what I can tell and that was the Vietnam narrative. The other ones never really stuck. The people end up remembering the default; imperfect stereotypes of you know rich patrician or antiwar hippie carpet bagger. So the only one that really seemed to resonate with people was hey, this is a rich kid who could have avoided service and he went to Vietnam anyway. You know that was a long time ago. I don't know if he can pull that off this time.
LIN: We'll see. Thanks very much, Amanda.
RIPLEY: My pleasure.
LIN: Stay with CNN, your election 2004 campaign headquarters. Tomorrow night, starting at 7:00 Eastern "PEOPLE IN THE NEWS" profiles John Edwards and Teresa Heinz Kerry. "CNN PRESENTS, JOHN KERRY: BORN TO RUN." Larry King is live from the Fleet Center. And Wolf Blitzer and Judy Woodruff host an America Votes 2004 special.
This year's Democratic convention city is home to one of sports most infamous curses. But what does the curse of the Bambino have to do with John Kerry's presidential race? Bruce Morton goes in search of an answer. Plus, Kerry's running mate learns you can't compete with cute kids, cheese heads.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LIN: Dueling cheese heads. They're stealing the show in Milwaukee. Yes, those are John Edwards' kids and they started head butting each other today with those foam heads. They're the symbol of the Packers' pride. The vice presidential hopeful was laughing so hard he actually had to stop in the middle of his speech. Kids always steal the show.
Well, all eyes are on Boston for Monday's start of the Democratic National Convention. And the track record of the city's baseball team leaves some wondering if the town is jinxed. CNN national correspondent Bruce Morton reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRUCE MORTON, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is Fenway Park in Boston, home of the Red Sox, a fine park, a fine team some years, but they are cursed, know. They haven't won the World Series since 1918. Maybe it's the curse of the Bambino on the Sox and a fit of misjudgment, rivaling those notions about Saddam's weapons of mass destruction, traded a pitcher named Babe Ruth to the hated New York Yankees. Decades of humiliation followed.
Chicago's Wrigley Field is, of course, the home of the Cubs. They have an even worse, or at least longer, curse, not having won the World Series since 1908 before Wrigley even opened. That curse may -- it's hard to be certain of things -- may have been extended in 1945 by the club's refusal to seat a popular tavern owner's pet goat at a game. Others insist the goat wasn't much of a fan anyway. But Billy Goat's Grill prospered for years in Chicago, often having better seasons than the Cubs.
The question now is with the Democrats assembling here, does the curse carry over into presidential politics? In Chicago, it clearly doesn't. Democratic nominees from Franklin Roosevelt to Bill Clinton have held their conventions in Chicago and won. But here, I mean Kerry's been to Fenway, on the field maybe it's something in the air you breathe there. Maybe not.
Some shrewd political operatives here worry about another curse, the Michael Dukakis voodoo nose dive. The last Democratic nominee from Massachusetts in 1988 was Dukakis who blew a 17-point lead and lost. Are the Democrats inviting him to their convention? Hail no. He lives here and there is a party for him, I'm told, but it's not even in Boston. It's in a neighboring jurisdiction.
(on camera): The guessing here is that the Dukakis curse may trouble Kerry or try to. But the curse that haunts the Red Sox in this very Democratic city is probably a very Democratic curse and will leave him alone.
Bruce Morton, CNN, at Fenway.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LIN: That's all the time we have for this hour. Coming up next is "THE CAPITAL GANG." Then at 8:00 Eastern,"CNN PRESENTS" looks at the rise and fall of Howard Dean's presidential campaign. And at 9:00, Larry King, Larry's guest tonight is domestic diva and convicted felon, Martha Stewart. And then at 10:00 Eastern on "CNN SATURDAY NIGHT," there's unprecedented security at the DNC and among my guests, one of the men in charge of keeping delegates safe.
But right now, Mark Shields is with us to tell us what the gang has and there he is at the Fleet Center -- Mark.
MARK SHIELDS, "THE CAPITAL GANG": Carol, "THE CAPITAL GANG" from the floor of the Fleet Center in Boston will preview the Democratic National Convention, look at the current state of the Kerry-Bush race and judge the political fallout from the 9/11 report. All that and much more right here next on CNN.
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CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, I'm Carol Lin. "CNN LIVE SATURDAY" is just ahead, but first, here's what's happening now in the news.
Boston is welcoming Democrats who want to take over the White House from George W. Bush. Delegates are already checking in for the Democratic National Convention, which starts Monday.
Computer hackers are using an Osama bin Laden suicide hoax to get into computers. They've been sending false messages saying CNN has photographic evidence Osama bin Laden has committed suicide. Now, if you get an e-mail saying we do and you can open a file to see it, do not open the file. It's a Trojan horse virus that will give hackers control of your computer.
Lance Armstrong is one day away from making it six Tour de France wins in a row. He finished today's 34-mile time trial for a comfortable 61 seconds ahead of Jan Ullrich and that gives the Texan a massive 6:38 lead in the overall standings. Tomorrow's final stage is a 100-mile sprint to the Champs Elysee in Paris. Keeping you informed, CNN, the most trusted name in news.
Good evening, I'm Carol Lin and welcome to CNN LIVE SATURDAY. Ahead in the next hour, some are calling it a summer of discontent, protests, shout outs and vandalism. Yasser Arafat is facing unprecedented opposition among his own people. John Vause takes the pulse on the streets.
Also, just look at these pictures. They are helping doctors unlock the mystery of Alzheimer's. Later in the hour, one of the foremost experts, the doctor who treated Ronald Reagan, will join me to talk about it.
But right now, we begin with super security in Boston. The Democratic National Convention does not start until Monday though the city is already crammed with police officers and barricades. CNN national correspondent Bob Franken joins us from Boston.
Bob, how difficult is it actually to navigate around the city right now?
BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, so far so good. Unless, of course, you're somebody who wants to come into Boston during the convention hours on the highway that's the main artery and takes you right by the Fleet Center, then you're not going to have an easy time at all. They're shutting it down. In fact, they're asking that starting next week, people who are in Boston who don't have business at the convention, stay away. So the outsiders are going to be taken away.
You talk about super security. Well, it's based on super insecurity. There of course is a concern that the threats of an attack against the United States might come during this highly-visible Democratic National Convention, so they have really begun to shut the city down. Wherever you look, there are security forces: state police, local police, federal authorities. You see National Guard military police around. There's just a massive security presence and that's just what you see. All kinds of surveillance. Overhead, there are fighter jets in the skies to try and prevent an attack from the sky. Underneath in the subways, they're doing random searches of bags. Everybody has had the watch word "be patient" because it is going to be laborious.
There was an extensive sweep and inspection inch by inch of the Fleet Center where the convention is going to be held. It took several hours. In fact, it went overnight. Then there was a long, slow line to get back into the facility where everybody could start up again trying to plan for a convention that, if things go well, will be the starting off point for the Democratic ticket as it goes out to try and face the Republican ticket if things go well -- Carol.
LIN: All right. Thanks very much, some dramatic pictures you sent in that we're watching during the report. Bob Franken, thank you.
John Kerry was campaigning in Iowa. John Edwards was in Wisconsin. It's the long road to Boston, but the focus is on those key swing states. CNN's Frank Buckley is traveling with Senator Kerry.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FRANK BUCKLEY, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Senator John Kerry continued his pre-convention tour today in the hotly contested battleground state of Iowa. Vice President Al Gore won this state in 2000, but barely over Republican George W. Bush. Vice President Al Gore winning by 4,144 votes in 2000. This state also gave John Kerry life during the Democratic primary season. He came into Iowa as a candidate who is down in the polls and he came out number one among the Democrats.
SEN. JOHN KERRY (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And I'll say it again and I'll say it again and I'll say it again. I love Iowa!
BUCKLEY: John Kerry's upbeat tone part of an ongoing shift by the candidate to move away from criticizing the policies of incumbent president George W. Bush and toward talking about himself in a more optimistic tone, leading up to the Democratic National Convention.
KERRY: John Edwards and I are determined that we are going to be champions for the middle class. BUCKLEY: Also campaigning in the Midwest, Senator John Edwards, the vice presidential candidate. He was in Wisconsin, also another of the hotly contested states.
Meanwhile, polls continue to show this is a very tight race across the U.S., "Time" magazine, the latest to indicate that. Tomorrow, John Kerry continues his pre-convention tour, going to the state of Ohio. After that, he'll be going to the state of Florida and then Virginia and Pennsylvania before finally arriving in Massachusetts on Wednesday and accepting his party's nomination on Thursday in Boston.
Frank Buckley, CNN, Sioux City, Iowa.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LIN: Well, obviously, no point in the president trying to distract from the Democrat's convention. He's staying out of the spotlight and staying at his ranch. But he is working, at least working the air waves. The president said in his radio address today, that the White House will look closely at the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We have already put into action many of the steps now recommended by the commission. And we will carefully examine all the commission's ideas on how we can improve our ongoing efforts to protect America, and to prevent another attack.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
LIN: And one of those actions that the president is taking, his chief of staff is now in charge of coordinating that task force -- that project.
And now a warning reportedly from militants linked to Osama bin Laden. In a message posted on an Islamic Web site, they are threatening Australia and Italy with violence unless they pull their troops out of Iraq. The first part of the warning threatens to turn Australia -- quote -- "into a bloodbath." To Italy, the message warns -- quote -- "you will have columns of car bombs shaking your cities." The message was signed by a group identifying itself as the Islamic Unification, the al Qaeda organization in Europe.
Well, we do like to use metaphors, war metaphors when it comes to covering politics, but the Iraq war, the battleground, is still all too real. And now it looks like the insurgents are changing their tactics and kidnapping Iraqi civilians. This time, the unfortunate man is the chief of an Iraqi construction company.
Now, in other news, Iraq's interim prime minister today urged Egypt not to give in to the kidnappers. Negotiators are still trying to free an Egyptian diplomat.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
AYAD ALLAWI, IRAQI INTERIM PRIME MINISTER: The only way for -- to deal with the arrests is to prevent the justice and to close ranks. And this is where we hope that Egypt and the Egyptian government will act accordingly.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LIN: Seven truck drivers from Kenya, India and Egypt are also being held by insurgents. Negotiators who have spoken with their kidnappers are encouraged since the kidnappers did extend the deadline.
And another U.S. Marine died from his wounds after a battle in the Al Anbar Province. Nine hundred and seven U.S. troops have now died since the conflict began.
Onto the north of Baghdad, insurgents are targeting the very thing that helps Iraqis rebuild. They hit another oil pipeline. Dramatic pictures there.
I'm going to stay in the Middle East but this time I'm going to show you a remarkable turn of events for Yasser Arafat, the symbol and the leader of the Palestinian struggle. Despite kidnappings and protests in the street, despite his prime minister resigning not once, but twice, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat insists there is no crisis in his government. But even as he said that today, chaos continued to sweep through Gaza. Palestinians burned down a police station near Gaza City. Others seized the governor's office in Khan Yunis for a short time. Now, thousands of Palestinians are demanding security reforms, and an end to what they see as corruption in Arafat's government.
CNN's John Vause wanted to hear for himself what the Palestinians are saying about Arafat, a man they never dare criticize in public.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): From within his own Fatah Party, a new young leadership is demanding the old guard stand aside, accusing them of lining their pockets, employing family and friends at the expense of an impoverished population. They're rebelling what they call here the mobportunists, the leaders of the Palestine Liberation Organization who were exiled to the Tunisian capital until the Oslo Peace Agreement of 1993.
Arafat and his men made a triumphant return to Gaza and the West Bank. But in the 10 years that followed, the average Palestinian has seen little improvement in their daily lives despite billions of dollars in aid flowing to the Palestinian Authority. Samir Jubar began driving a taxi in Gaza around the same time Arafat returned.
SAMIR JUBAR, GAZA TAXI DRIVER (through translator): We didn't see any open millions pouring into Gaza. The only thing that charged was the construction of some new roads. VAUSE: Abu Qusai is one of the leaders of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, a militant group with links to fatah. He was born and bred in Gaza and is one of those behind the recent surge in violence.
ABU QUSAI, AL AQSA MARTYRS BRIGADE: There is a small sector of the Palestinian society that is benefiting and there is a large sector of the refugees that are completely impoverished and there is not a single plan the authorities rectified the situation.
VAUSE: It's a power struggle within Arafat's own political backyard.
ERAN LEHRMAN, ISRAELI MILITARY ANALYST: What we are seeing is a subtle shift of power away from the Tunisian old guard that Arafat brought with him, the corrupt people who have been robbing the Palestinian people, doing to others, who are probably no less corrupt, but enjoy a degree of local legitimacy.
VAUSE: Fatah, Arafat's party, has been losing support in recent years to the militant groups, especially Hamas. And now with Israel preparing to withdraw completely by next year, the race is on to see who will emerge as the strong man of Gaza.
(on camera): Through all of this, for now at least, it appears that Yasser Arafat has emerged virtually unscathed. No one is calling for his resignation and even those who have been protesting and rioting in recent days, say it is those around their president who are corrupt and must go. To many, he is still seen as a father of Palestine and the only one who can deliver real reform.
(voice-over): I speak with Abu Rami (ph), a fruit seller in Gaza's busy marketplace and asked him straight out, is Arafat corrupt.
"No," he insisted, "all but Arafat."
But many are waiting to see if Yasser Arafat can implement the kind of reforms his people are demanding and still keep his grip on power.
John Vause, CNN, Gaza.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LIN: News here in the United States, the mother of a missing Utah woman stands behind her son-in-law.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
THELMA SOARES, LORI HACKING'S MOTHER: I said, Mark, don't you know that I love you just because you're Mark and because the way you have treated Lori all these years?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LIN: A live report from Salt Lake City on today's developments. That's straight ahead. And still to come, the strides being made in the fight against Alzheimer's. We're going to tell you why there may be growing hope for future patients.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LIN: Well, it looks like the woman accusing Kobe Bryant of rape is going to have her sex life open to the public or at least a portion of it. A judge ruled that jurors can hear evidence about her sexual activity during the three days before her rape exam where evidence was collected. The judge ruled that Colorado's Rape Shield Law, which protects victim's sexual history, does not apply in this case because the court wants to determine her credibility.
Now, we move on to Utah where a desperate search is underway to find a missing pregnant woman. It sounds eerily like the disappearance of Laci Peterson, but this case has its own bizarre twist. Our Ted Rowlands is in Salt Lake City with more details.
Ted, we've already had the husband in a psychiatric ward. We now have the pregnant woman missing and the in-laws are disputing whether they support him or not.
TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it's just changing day by day as you might imagine. There's a lot of emotion involved in this, Carol. Today, dozens of volunteers again went out looking for any sign of Lori Hacking that they could find. Family members, meanwhile, also took part in the search as they waited to hear any news.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ROWLANDS (voice-over): Six days and there's still no sign of 27- year-old Lori Hacking. As volunteers continue to search, unanswered questions about her husband's story remain. Mark Hacking reported his wife missing Monday morning at 10:49. Police say before he called, he was at this Salt Lake City store buying a new mattress. According to the store manager, Hacking's credit card transaction was recorded at 10:23. Originally, Hacking told police he spent the morning searching for his wife. Today, police acknowledged that it has been difficult to figure out what Mark Hacking may be lying about.
DET. DWAYNE BAIRD, SALT LAKE CITY POLICE: It probably would be better to go the other direction, what is it that is real there as opposed to what is deceptive.
ROWLANDS: Police say they searched this landfill after a neighbor of Hacking's reported finding some suspicious residue in a trash can. Police cautioned people not to read too much into what appears to be a reddish stain on a box spring that was seized from the Hacking's apartment.
BAIRD: You know I can't say for certain what it was. I'll tell you, I saw it for the first time on the video myself and I stopped the video as I was watching it again. And it didn't appear to be on the box spring itself, to me. It appeared to be on whatever the packing material was. ROWLANDS: This morning, family members continued to publicly support Mark Hacking and made another plea for volunteers to help them search for Lori.
SOARES: She's my only daughter. Please, help us find her one way or another.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROWLANDS: That, of course, Lori Hacking's mother. She and Lori Hacking's father visited Mark Hacking in the hospital today where he continues to get psychiatric care. For the first time publicly, Lori's father said that he is going to -- quote "draw the line at some point" to get answers out of Mark Hacking and all of the discrepancies that have come out over the past week -- Carol.
LIN: Ted, what are the -- what are some of the most tangible or logical scenarios or clues that investigators are getting? I know they're getting tips from all over.
ROWLANDS: Yes, and they are pursuing those tips accordingly. A lot of people have come forward and said that they thought they saw Lori Hacking in the park where her husband said she was most likely jogging when she disappeared. They've investigated those.
According to a family member, the most compelling clue was a report of a woman actually being attacked in that park. Police are hesitant to comment on any of the specifics though. They say they are doing their job and pursuing all leads, including the possibility that Mark Hacking was involved.
LIN: All right, thanks very much, Ted.
Scanning now for answers to Alzheimer's.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. STEVE DEKOSKY, UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH: It does provide what is, you know, an absolutely vital baseline from which to say, this drug works or this drug doesn't.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LIN: From new imaging systems to new prescriptions, I'm going to talk with the former doctor of the late Ronald Reagan about the latest medical advancements.
And still to come, the recommendations are in on how to better protect America from terrorists. But will they happen and will they even work? I'm going to talk to two experts in the field.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LIN: Let's open up on these amazing pictures just out of Fort Collins, Colorado courtesy of our affiliate, KMGH. That is a plane crash. It's a twin engine Beechcraft that took off from Fort Collins airport was en route to Omaha, Nebraska when it crashed into this neighborhood. No one on the ground was killed, but the two people on board that plane were. Obviously, an investigation going on. Firefighters had to come out to the scene to put the fire out because the jet fuel caught fire on that street.
Well, there are an estimated 4.5 million people with Alzheimer's in the United States. It stands alone as a dramatic statistic but it's so much more when you consider the loss for that that many families who watch helplessly as their loved ones fade away. But there are remarkable developments, offering hope. At this week's International Alzheimer's Conference, researchers and doctors showed they can actually watch how the disease physically progresses. CNN medical correspondent Holly Firfer explains.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HOLLY FIRFER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Richard Johnson painted these paintings but he can hardly remember.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is the...
FERFER: He lost the memory of creating his art to Alzheimer's disease.
LILIANE JOHNSON, WIFE OF ALZHEIMER'S PATIENT: The longer I knew him, from the time we were married, the more I fell in love with him. And I just -- I got to know this person who developed, and all of that is gone.
FIRFER: Researchers were interested in seeing exactly what was going on in Richard's brain so they even rolled him in a study testing a new imaging system that allowed them to follow a radioactive tracer through his brain to see the plaque that has built up around the nerve cells. This build up of amyloid plaque you see here light up in red and yellow damages those nerve cells so they can't talk to each other, interrupting the transfer of information through the brain. By looking at that plaque, researchers hope to be able to scan the brain while testing new drugs.
DEKOSKY: But it does provide what is an absolutely vital baseline from which to say this drug works or this drug doesn't.
FIRFER: Researchers say this is the first time they've been able to see the disease in a living brain. They add this could also eventually be used for diagnosing Alzheimer's and distinguishing it from other forms of dementia.
DEKOSKY: We wouldn't have to spend years looking at people over time to see if they stopped or declined. We'd simply be able to give the medications, look for what we hope would be a more quick decline in the amyloid in the brain, and say OK, we're having the desired effect.
FIRFER: Although this is a breakthrough in diagnosis and imaging, researchers say it will be a few years before they're able to routinely use this tool on Alzheimer's patients, but it's too late for Richard.
L. JOHNSON: Come on, you handsome dude.
FIFER: Lillian will have to put Richard in a nursing home soon but she says she hopes his involvement with this research may help someone else the way he has helped her.
L. JOHNSON: He gives me grace. I am going to miss that so much. He's helped me become more than I ever thought I could.
FIRFER: Holly Ferfer, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LIN: For many of us, Ronald Reagan put Alzheimer's on the map, giving the disease a human face. Tonight, I have the pleasure of bring you one of the former president's doctors who treated him at the Mayo Clinic. Dr. Ron Petersen is in Baltimore, Maryland.
Dr. Petersen, thanks for being here.
DR. RON PETERSEN, MAYO CLINIC: Thank you.
LIN: Tell -- give us a framework of some of the developments that are happening and how -- on a scale of how remarkable they really are. For example, in these meetings in Philly all week, there's been discussion coming out about something called mild cognitive impairment. What is that and why is it important?
PETERSEN: Well, mild cognitive impairment represents a transitional state between what we feel is the forgetfulness of normal aging and the signs of very early Alzheimer's disease. So in Philadelphia at the International Conference on Alzheimer's disease this past week, there was a study reported on a treatment for mild cognitive impairment.
LIN: So you can catch it early, theoretically?
PETERSEN: Exactly. I think we'd like to be able to catch this disease process as early as possible to try to prevent the damage that's ultimately done with Alzheimer's disease. So this study this past week reported on a drug that is used for Alzheimer's disease treatment, except now we were attempting to use it in people with mild cognitive impairment. And in fact, the drug did indicate that it could reduce the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease for the first 18 months of the three-year study.
LIN: So what does that mean? If somebody was showing some of this impairment early on, by taking this drug would you maintain yourself at that level? Would you improve and be cured? What is the prognosis then?
PETERSEN: It indicated that we could maintain people at the level of mild cognitive impairment and prevent their developing Alzheimer's disease for up to about 18 months or so, at least reduce their risk over that time period. And while this certainly wasn't a cure, because at that point in time all of the people seem to converge so that the treatment didn't last beyond that affect, it gives us hope that we can now intervene at this earlier stage in the disease, and perhaps have an effect at preventing the disease ultimately.
LIN: What ever happened to the Alzheimer's vaccine that was the big hype not so long ago?
PETERSEN: You're quite right. About four, five years ago, there was a great deal of attention paid to a vaccine for Alzheimer's disease. And, in fact, it worked very well in the animal model for Alzheimer's disease and it was forwarded into the clinic. So it actually launched a human study on a vaccine therapy for Alzheimer's disease. Unfortunately, that study was halted prematurely because of some inflammatory side effects. However, the individuals who did receive the vaccine were followed throughout the rest of the study and there was a suggestion that perhaps those who were able to mount an antibody, meaning a chemical in the blood...
LIN: Right.
PETERSEN: ...from the vaccine actually did somewhat better over the course of the study than those individuals who were unable to mount the antibody.
LIN: Dr. Petersen, if this were 10 years ago when Ronald Reagan was first diagnosed, and these -- all the new drugs and the new therapies, the new scans, were actually in place, would it have made a difference for him or someone like him at that stage?
PETERSEN: Well, we hope that the point we're at how in 2004 versus where we were in 1994 is going to bode well for individuals who have, say, mild cognitive impairment or Alzheimer's disease or the very earliest signs at this point in time. I think the field has marched forward to a significant extent. And there are -- there is a bill in front of Congress right now that is proposing to double the federal funding for Alzheimer's disease research.
This bill is sponsored by the Alzheimer's Association, the National Institute on Aging, and is the Ronald Reagan Alzheimer's Breakthrough Act of 2004. And I think it's very important that we're at the point now where all of this work is converging such that we will be able to, perhaps, apply some of these imaging techniques you talked about at the outset, the work on mild cognitive impairment...
LIN: Terrific.
PETERSEN: ...bringing new drugs brought to the forefront such that we'll be able to hopefully prevent the disease...
LIN: That's wonderful.
PETERSEN: ...rather than just treat it.
LIN: And wouldn't it be great if that actually happened in our lifetimes. Thank you very much...
PETERSEN: You're welcome.
LIN: ...Dr. Petersen.
Well, CNN is taking a deeper look at Alzheimer's. CNN's medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta looks at the most cutting edge treatments tomorrow on "HOUSE CALL." That airs Sunday morning at 8:30 Eastern.
Well, some drug addicts trying to get clean often face an added temptation, drug pushers right outside their rehab clinics. Now Capitol Hill is preparing to tackle the problem. We're going to show you how.
And searching for solutions to protect the homeland -- does this week's 9/11 Commission report go far enough?
And still ahead, John Kerry's relationship with voters in his home state. I'm going to talk with a "Time" magazine reporter about what the Bay State thinks of the man who wants to be president. You may be surprised.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LIN: Right now, a quick look at who's happening in the news. DNC delegates are arriving in Boston for the start of their convention on Monday. Security is tight.
Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat denies the Palestinian Authority is in a crisis. He reshuffled key positions in his government following violent protests by young Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
A federal investigation into Republican Senator Richard Shelby, a Senate Ethics Committee is trying to determine whether he leaked classified information linked to 9/11 and al Qaeda. A separate investigation by the FBI is also underway.
Keeping you informed, CNN, the most trusted name in news.
Lawmakers hope to make quick work of the findings of the 9/11 report. Both the House and the Senate will hold a rare round of hearings on intelligence reform in August, their traditional time to break. Now this comes after the 9-11 Commission warned that the U.S. remains vulnerable to another deadly terror strike by al Qaeda. Among the recommendations, creating a national counterterrorism center, naming a cabinet level national intelligence director and increasing congressional oversight abilities.
Recommendations are one thing. Action is surely another especially in Washington. Andrew Apostolou and Lawrence Korb join me now from Washington. Andrew is the director of research for the Foundation for the Defense of Democracy. He's an expert on Iraq and the Middle East. And Lawrence is a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress. He's an expert and author on several national security issues.
Good to see both of you.
LAWRENCE KORB, CENTER FOR AMERICAN PROGRESS: Nice to be with you.
ANDREW APOSTOLOU, FOUNDATION FOR DEFENSE OF DEMOCRACIES: Thanks very much.
LIN: Andrew, let me begin with you. You have actually met with members of an al Qaeda cell, managed to interview them. And I'm wondering with this the 9-11 report available at the local Barnes and Noble and online -- let's say they get a hold of this report. Let's say Osama bin Laden gets a hold of this report. Is there anything in this report that scares them, makes them nervous that their next attack is going to be foiled?
APOSTOLOU: Well, they're going to be reading this very carefully for two reasons. First of all, they're going to be wanting to anticipate your future security posture. They're going to want to see how they can get around that. And secondly, they're going to read with great interest the results of your interrogations of people like Khalid Sheik Mohammed and they want to see how much you actually really got out of him and whether or not he spilled the beans. And that's why I have to say I was very, very surprised at the extreme level of detail that we sometimes had in terms of interrogation reports. Intelligence has an aspect to it called secrecy and I think sometimes there's information that shouldn't be out in the public domain. But they will read this.
LIN: It still remains to be seen how the recommendations actually play out. But is there anything in there that will make them nervous, that will convince them that they cannot strike here in the United States?
APOSTULOU: No, nothing will make them that nervous because they're determined. However, I think, for example, that on page 390, there's a very, very solid proposal to have minimum standards, federal minimum standards for identification. That's a good idea. If you have multiple nonforgible I.D.s, it becomes much more difficult. If you have a single I.D., it becomes easier. So that's the sort of thing that's going to make them nervous.
LIN: Lawrence, I'm wondering if you have a comment on this, any thoughts?
KORB: Well, I think we're an open society, which is both our strength and weakness. And so, therefore I'm glad that the 9/11 Commission laid it out so the American people can put this behind us and take the appropriate action to go ahead. I think the commission set the right tone. We can't sit around and wait, you know, for Congress to take its sweet time or the administration to put in these changes. They need to be done. They need to be done right away because as they pointed out, the only one really in charge of bringing everything together right now is the president and he's got other things to do. He needs somebody sitting in the White House, sitting at his cabinet meetings who really can tell him the whole state of play when it comes to what we know... LIN: Well, it's supposed to be Andrew Card. It's supposed to be Andrew Card, his chief of staff. Larry, let me specifically ask you then, and benefit from your experience working in government, I mean how fast can this government work? The 9/11 Commission has said you need to do something quickly by October 1 or we're really going to rattle some public cages. What system, systemically do you think realistically can happen before the November election that will keep America safe?
KORB: Well, I don't think anything will happen before the November election because you're going to create a new position and have the law to define exactly what those standards are. But I think the president can issue an executive order and say I am going to put the DCI, the director of central intelligence, temporarily in charge of everything because people forget that the -- John McLaughlin and previously George Tenant was not just head of the CIA, they were director of central intelligence. And we have not had a director of central intelligence empowered since the Carter administration when President Carter issued an executive order and said this person is in charge. And I think the president can do that. And if he doesn't, then he's going to be the only one trying to bring this together and he simply can't do it because he just doesn't have the time.
LIN: Andrew, first and foremost what do you think needs to be done? Two chapters of 35 different recommendations.
APOSTULOU: Well, I think actually the proposal for the national terrorism center; counterterrorism center is possibly a big mistake because you will end up creating a 16th intelligence agency. You already have 15. What you should be doing is forcing your intelligence agencies to develop a culture in which they pool their intelligence...
LIN: Isn't that homeland security?
APOSTULOU: ...the same way it happens in Britain.
LIN: Isn't that homeland security?
APOSTULOU: Well, no. No, you need something like the JIC where you pool intelligence. And also, you need something like JTAC, which in the U.K. has worked very well, the Joint Terrorism -- it's the Joint Terrorism Analysis Center. It's under MI-5 but it includes analysts from all the security agencies. It works 24 hours a day and there's a cult from Britain of intelligence pooling. We've had intelligence pooling since 1936. You need to knock heads together. That's why having one person in charge could be a good idea but having a 16th agency could be a very bad idea.
LIN: Andrew, how optimistic are you that something will get done and by when do you think it absolutely must be done?
APOSTULOU: Well, it's better to do it right than to do it quickly. And I think something will be done, but Congress needs to discuss this and you, the American people, need to discuss this and you need to vote on it. I mean you have an election in November. This is way forward.
LIN: Larry, is the fact that there is an election in November more indicative that something will be done than not?
KORB: I think so because all of the people standing for re- election in the Congress and in Senate and of course, in the presidential election, are going to have to take a stand on this. And given the concerns of the families of the victims of 9/11, they're going to force them to say something. In fact, remember, the president didn't even want to have this commission. It was only pressure from the families that led to people like Senators McCain and Lieberman forcing this. So I think they're going to have to take a stand and I would suspect that something is going to be done right after the election.
LIN: Lawrence Korb, let's hope so. Thank you very much. Andrew Apostulou, good to see you.
APOSTULOU: Thank you very much.
LIN: You wouldn't think that the very place you go to kick a drug addiction is the very place drug dealers look for new customers. Sean Callebs takes a look now at what's happening in rehab clinics that are now filled with temptation.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TYRONE PATTERSON, MODEL TREATMENT: And sell drugs to outpatients. It's a natural thing.
SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): From his perch at a rehab center called Model Treatment, Tyrone Patterson says it's like wolves go after sheep. The predators, dealers who feed on addicts, people leaving the center trying to stay clean.
PATTERSON: Most of the drug dealers know what time we open and they know what time we close, so they just sit here and wait and prey. Prey on folks.
CALLEBS: Betty, who asked that her full name not be used, is fighting a heroin habit.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you.
CALLEBS: Every day before work, she gulps down methadone to fight withdrawal symptoms.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: See you tomorrow.
CALLEBS: She then runs the gauntlet of outstretched hands, offering heroin, Oxycontin and other narcotics. A measure is now floating around Congress calling for stiffer punishment for selling drugs outside rehab centers. Detectives Rock Garrett and Scott Brown have a combined 27 years on the force, much of that time trying to get dealers off the streets.
(on camera): How frustrating is it for you guys?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's just a revolving door.
CALLEBS (voice-over): These cops like the federal proposal. They say a similar law punishing dealers selling in school zones has had an impact.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, it makes a difference because with enhanced penalty, it's more likely that the guy is going to do more time in jail if he gets caught again.
CALLEBS: They say, however, stiffer penalties can pale to the lucrative drug trade. Brown and Garrett call this restaurant adjacent to the rehab clinic, McPharmacy, a favorite for the usual suspects pedaling pills and powder.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They sit in there for hours and hours, sipping on a cup of coffee, waiting for customers to come in and approach them. So they have ideal conditions.
CALLEBS: The powerful cancer pain killer, Oxycontin, is the drug of choice.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Commonly, you see the 80 milligram Oxycontin, for one pill, sells for $40 apiece.
CALLEBS: Police say it's not uncommon for dealers to sell 300 pills in a day. That's $12,000. Tyrone Patterson watches dealers get arrested all the time. He says tougher prison penalties for these dealers may give his clients a fighting chance at a drug-free life.
PATTERSON: They discover that they do -- they can make a difference in their own life, that they can change, that they -- that their life could be different than what it is today and that's what we try to give them, hope.
CALLEBS: And hope for a life free of constant temptation.
Sean Callebs, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LIN: Getting to know candidate John Kerry. What does the presidential hopeful have to do to warm up his relationship with voters? I'm going to talk with "Time" magazine reporter Amanda Ripley.
Plus, the curse of the Bambino has haunted Fenway Park for decades. So can a baseball superstition spook the race for the White House?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LIN: Next week's Democratic National Convention is Senator John Kerry's big chance to tell the American people just who he is and give them a reason to vote for him. So what kind of street cred does Kerry have in his hometown of Boston? "Time" magazine staff writer Amanda Ripley has been following the Kerry campaign. She's in our Washington bureau.
Amanda, you title your...
AMANDA RIPLEY, STAFF WRITER, "TIME" MAGAZINE: Hi.
LIN: Hi there. You title your article "The Not So Favorite Son." It might be surprising to people who know that he, John Kerry, was elected four times as senator to Massachusetts. What's not to like?
RIPLEY: You know, it was surprising how many people we talked to, even people who have voted for him and will vote for him again. He just doesn't occupy any place in their hearts, it appears. In fact, he's very unlike your typical Massachusetts politician. You know he's guarded. He's serious. He considers himself something of a statesman and he's not particularly fun to hang out with at a bar. And you know in Massachusetts, politicians' careers have actually been made in bars. So this is -- this is -- it's kind of a mystery.
LIN: A veteran political reporter actually told that you that he's the kind of guy who looks like every day he put on shoes which are a little too tight.
RIPLEY: Right, exactly.
LIN: So what do the folks say about John Kerry? I mean how do they describe him?
RIPLEY: You know, many people, they start out talking sort of, they so from lukewarm to actual negative energy. And then by the time you're done talking to them, they will come around and say, "You know, although we don't particularly love the guy, he has learned from his mistakes. Here, he has definitely improved." And that's, you know -- he definitely -- that there seems to be a lot of evidence for that. Massachusetts has taught him quite a bit.
LIN: Yes, the Kerry campaign is no longer specifically about -- taking a line from John Edwards' primary campaign of the two Americas. But still they like to infer that George W. Bush, coming from a wealthy family with all his oil connections, does not -- people in America -- he doesn't relate to people in America. And I'm wondering, what people told you about John Kerry and the fact that he married a very wealthy woman, whether he has the touch or at least intellectually does he have the touch? Does he understand what people really go through?
RIPLEY: You know, when he started in politics in Massachusetts, he was not nearly as wealthy as he is now. That said, he's always had, you know even after years of knowing him as a senator, he has always had this aura of this patrician aura. And he's not very good at downplaying it. When he came to Lowell, Massachusetts, which is a suburb of Boston in 1972, to make -- to run his first race for Congress, you know, the unemployment was at 12 percent. And he and his first wife bought one of the nicest houses in town. And he brought in a lot of campaign donations from Hollywood and Fifth Avenue. And he just seems to be a little tone deaf on this particular issue.
LIN: You know some of our polling shows that -- well, first of all, that the race between Kerry and Bush is neck and neck, within two percentage points. There is a body of people, some 30 percent of the people who were polled who say, you know, we don't know him well enough to make a decision right now. John Kerry has a chance to reintroduce himself to the American public at the Democratic convention. What you have learned in Massachusetts, how does that translate to the problems, the challenges or even the success that he may have in the general election?
RIPLEY: There is only one way that Kerry has ever created a positive narrative for himself in Massachusetts from what I can tell and that was the Vietnam narrative. The other ones never really stuck. The people end up remembering the default; imperfect stereotypes of you know rich patrician or antiwar hippie carpet bagger. So the only one that really seemed to resonate with people was hey, this is a rich kid who could have avoided service and he went to Vietnam anyway. You know that was a long time ago. I don't know if he can pull that off this time.
LIN: We'll see. Thanks very much, Amanda.
RIPLEY: My pleasure.
LIN: Stay with CNN, your election 2004 campaign headquarters. Tomorrow night, starting at 7:00 Eastern "PEOPLE IN THE NEWS" profiles John Edwards and Teresa Heinz Kerry. "CNN PRESENTS, JOHN KERRY: BORN TO RUN." Larry King is live from the Fleet Center. And Wolf Blitzer and Judy Woodruff host an America Votes 2004 special.
This year's Democratic convention city is home to one of sports most infamous curses. But what does the curse of the Bambino have to do with John Kerry's presidential race? Bruce Morton goes in search of an answer. Plus, Kerry's running mate learns you can't compete with cute kids, cheese heads.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LIN: Dueling cheese heads. They're stealing the show in Milwaukee. Yes, those are John Edwards' kids and they started head butting each other today with those foam heads. They're the symbol of the Packers' pride. The vice presidential hopeful was laughing so hard he actually had to stop in the middle of his speech. Kids always steal the show.
Well, all eyes are on Boston for Monday's start of the Democratic National Convention. And the track record of the city's baseball team leaves some wondering if the town is jinxed. CNN national correspondent Bruce Morton reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRUCE MORTON, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is Fenway Park in Boston, home of the Red Sox, a fine park, a fine team some years, but they are cursed, know. They haven't won the World Series since 1918. Maybe it's the curse of the Bambino on the Sox and a fit of misjudgment, rivaling those notions about Saddam's weapons of mass destruction, traded a pitcher named Babe Ruth to the hated New York Yankees. Decades of humiliation followed.
Chicago's Wrigley Field is, of course, the home of the Cubs. They have an even worse, or at least longer, curse, not having won the World Series since 1908 before Wrigley even opened. That curse may -- it's hard to be certain of things -- may have been extended in 1945 by the club's refusal to seat a popular tavern owner's pet goat at a game. Others insist the goat wasn't much of a fan anyway. But Billy Goat's Grill prospered for years in Chicago, often having better seasons than the Cubs.
The question now is with the Democrats assembling here, does the curse carry over into presidential politics? In Chicago, it clearly doesn't. Democratic nominees from Franklin Roosevelt to Bill Clinton have held their conventions in Chicago and won. But here, I mean Kerry's been to Fenway, on the field maybe it's something in the air you breathe there. Maybe not.
Some shrewd political operatives here worry about another curse, the Michael Dukakis voodoo nose dive. The last Democratic nominee from Massachusetts in 1988 was Dukakis who blew a 17-point lead and lost. Are the Democrats inviting him to their convention? Hail no. He lives here and there is a party for him, I'm told, but it's not even in Boston. It's in a neighboring jurisdiction.
(on camera): The guessing here is that the Dukakis curse may trouble Kerry or try to. But the curse that haunts the Red Sox in this very Democratic city is probably a very Democratic curse and will leave him alone.
Bruce Morton, CNN, at Fenway.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LIN: That's all the time we have for this hour. Coming up next is "THE CAPITAL GANG." Then at 8:00 Eastern,"CNN PRESENTS" looks at the rise and fall of Howard Dean's presidential campaign. And at 9:00, Larry King, Larry's guest tonight is domestic diva and convicted felon, Martha Stewart. And then at 10:00 Eastern on "CNN SATURDAY NIGHT," there's unprecedented security at the DNC and among my guests, one of the men in charge of keeping delegates safe.
But right now, Mark Shields is with us to tell us what the gang has and there he is at the Fleet Center -- Mark.
MARK SHIELDS, "THE CAPITAL GANG": Carol, "THE CAPITAL GANG" from the floor of the Fleet Center in Boston will preview the Democratic National Convention, look at the current state of the Kerry-Bush race and judge the political fallout from the 9/11 report. All that and much more right here next on CNN.
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