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CNN Live Saturday

Blizzard Begins To Move Into New York, Pennsylvania; Interview with Zainab Al-Suwaij

Aired January 22, 2005 - 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.


RANDE KAYE, CNN ANCHOR: The search to weed out insurgents as Iraq prepares for elections. CNN's Christiane Amanpour is in Baghdad with the story. It's January 22, 2005. You're watching CNN LIVE SATURDAY.
From CNN's global headquarters in Atlanta, I'm Rande Kaye in tonight for Carol Lin. Oh, the weather outside is frightful. If you live in the Northeast, that may be an understatement this weekend. A huge winter storm is promising to bury parts of the region under more than a foot of snow. Here's what it looks like right now on radar. New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg is already calling it potentially life threatening. So much snow is falling in the Big Apple that some landmarks are barely visible from just a few blocks away. New Yorkers have been lining up at grocery stores for supplies.

Chicago is already covered in the white stuff and more is on the way. Lake effect snowfall could add five more inches to what's already on the ground.

And it's a big sports weekend in Philadelphia, but the winter weather means footballs and snowballs will be thrown in the City of Brotherly Love.

We have complete coverage of the storm for you. CNN's Chad Myers is in Philadelphia. Our Alina Cho is in New York and Gary Nuremberg is in Washington. Let's start with Chad in Philly. How are things looking there?

CHAD MYERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Rande, I know you miss this. I know you came from Minnesota and this is right up your alley. But I'll tell you what I've been living in Atlanta a little too long. It's getting deep out here. In fact, two hours ago we had six inches and now we're well up into the eight inch range at least. And as I measure here, yes, about eight and a half. That means it's been coming down about an inch an hour for the past hour or so. Now it's starting to really pile up on some of the roadways. It's getting thick. It's getting heavy. It's getting hard to drive in. There's ruts now on the roadways and you have to stay in the ruts. If you get out of the ruts, then actually your car gets stuck. And even one of our four-wheel drives -- and the Eagle fans are happy here -- one of the four-wheel drives actually was stuck just a little bit ago. We had to kind of rock it back and forth to get it out.

The entire area now though -- we showed you the radar a little bit -- about to get into what's called a dry slot. And this is when the air from the Midwest and the upper Midwest -- dry air gets gulped into the system. We talk about getting dry air gulped into hurricanes sometimes. The dry air gets gulped into the system and the dry air is now coming right over Philadelphia. That dry air is not going to make it up to New York City. It's not going to make it up to Boston. Let me tell you, Boston, you are in for one heck of a storm, maybe 15 to 20 inches before it stops on top of what you already have now.

We are maybe going to see two to four more from what we have now because we are in the middle of that driest air. Then we get a little bit more wet air tomorrow in the wraparound. But that entire area of heaviest stuff has now slid up to the north. What we're going to get here and for the game tomorrow, Falcons and Eagles, we are going to have winds at 30 to 35 miles per hour. And you saw this snow, there's nothing to it, nothing to it at all. It's going to blowing around. I'll tell you we're going to have drifts three to four feet on the way to the game. They are doing a phenomenal job of clearing the stands and clearing the stadium. But when the wind picks up, I'm afraid that's a futile effort.

Rande, back to you.

KAYE: Wow! That stadium does look like it has some work still to be done there. Lots of dedicated fans are going to fill that place tomorrow. That's for sure.

MYERS: Yes.

KAYE: All right, Chad, thank you.

There are big preparations for the storm in the Big Apple. Officials aren't taking any chances with what they call a very dangerous situation. The mayor has even activated his Emergency Operations Center. CNN's Alina Cho joins us now from New York.

ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Rande, the snow has been falling for about six hours in New York City and it is really piling up. It's safe to say about half a foot has fallen on the city already, with much more on the way. Mayor Michael Bloomberg's advice is stay inside, but some people are braving the elements. Others are stocking up and a few are getting out of town.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHO (voice-over): Dick Kay is headed to Atlanta, leaving his wife to shovel the driveway.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Someone's got to do it and that's why I'm leaving, so I don't have to.

CHO: He's one of the lucky ones. Hundreds of flights have been canceled at New York's La Guardia Airport, with delays reported at JFK and Newark as well. For those staying in town, stocking up on food and water seemed to be a popular way to spend the day. Among those braving the checkout lines, native New Yorker Karen Friedman.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm acting like a fool, like everybody else, assuming that I need to go shopping when I know I probably have enough food in the house to last a month.

CHO: Dave Silverman's buying a day's worth of food, says people are overreacting.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's going to be an afternoon in the snow. It's no big deal.

MAYOR MICHAEL BLOOMBERG, NEW YORK CITY: This really is a dangerous storm. And I don't think you should take it lightly.

CHO: New York's mayor, Michael Bloomberg, spent Saturday morning visiting sanitation workers. The city's 1,800 salt trucks, snowplows and snowmelters are out in force.

BLOOMBERG: We're going to take care of this city regardless of the cost. And then Monday morning, I'll have to worry about how to pay for it.

CHO: For visitors, the snow was an excuse to get out and do some sight seeing. And at times, Times Square looked like a weekday, except for the slow moving taxis and a delivery truck that wasn't making any deliveries. Dick Kay doesn't care. He's got a message for his wife about the driveway.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Maureen, it better be finished by the time I get home.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHO: By the time it's all over, which should be about noontime tomorrow, the city should get between 14 and 20 inches of snow. Now, by Monday morning, Mayor Michael Bloomberg says all 6,300 miles of streets and highways here in the city should be plowed. And that means everyone, he says, should be able to get to work, get to school or even go shopping. It'll just take a little bit of patience.

KAYE: All right, thank you. Alina Cho live for us tonight.

The nation's capital is also bracing for more snow. CNN's Gary Nuremberg joins us now from Washington where Gary, you have been out in the thick of it all day.

GARY NUREMBERG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Rande, I guess you could say we're now in the calm between the storms. It snowed about four inches on the ground. But the forecasters say overnight we're going to get more, perhaps as many as 10 total. There's a winter storm warning for Washington until 7:00 tomorrow morning. The city has declared a snow emergency. That means you get towed and pay a $250 fine if you park in the wrong place. And the city is trying to deal with this now with about 200 trucks on the road.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NUREMBERG (voice-over): Snowplow drivers got a break because the snow fell on a weekend cutting substantially the number of cars on D.C. roads. The weather didn't deter tourists who made the snow part of their plans.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We try to do all our outside stuff yesterday, so we could do all the museums and inside today.

NUREMBERG: They weren't alone. The National Air and Space Museum was busy with tourists who couldn't see national landmarks like the Jefferson Memorial, unless they were standing nearly on top of them. The new World War II Memorial drew picture takers to the unusual snowy vista. Kids from Florida made snow angels on the National Mall.

(on camera): Your butt is now completely covered in snow. Was it worth it?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, because you can't do this in Florida.

NUREMBERG (voice-over): Asked if it's smart to leave Florida for this...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Just as smart as the people that come down to Florida during hurricane season.

NUREMBERG: Imagine running in this stuff. She did, six miles in an hour.

(on camera): How come you're not slipping down and hurting yourself?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There's no ice. It's good traction on the snow, actually. It's very dry snow.

NUREMBERG (voice-over): For this visitor from Costa Rica...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is my first time I see snow in my life because I - well, because in Costa Rica we don't have the snow.

NUREMBERG: In Washington Saturday, we did.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NUREMBERG: Well, there's a bit of understatement. You know this could have been worse. If the snow had struck 48 hours earlier, it would have found 200,000 people here on the National Mall watching George W. Bush's inaugural parade. Everyone here, Rande, is breathing a sigh of relief that that didn't happen.

KAYE: I bet. All right, Gary. Thank you. Let's take a closer look at the storm and see where it's headed next. Meteorologist Jacqui Jeras joins from us now from the weather center.

Hello, Jacqui.

JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLGIST: Hi Rande. Hello everyone. The storm has been moving very rapidly throughout the afternoon and evening hours, bringing the heavy snow across parts of upstate New York throughout Massachusetts, into Rhode Island, Connecticut, extending down through to Jersey. But things are going to be changing here very shortly. We have a new area of low pressure developing off here off the Delmarva region.

We heard Chad Myers talking about the dry slot. There you can see it very easily on radar where we have none of the returns, where you just see green, nothing's coming down there. Washington, D.C. has been receiving a very nice break and Philadelphia will get in on that action.

Why aren't you going to see the break over here into New York City and on up towards Boston? Well, this whole area of snow is going to be making its way northward as our low pressure storm system develops offshore and rides on up to the north and to the east, bringing in all that moisture from the Atlantic. You can see now in the Boston radar, it started out nice throughout much of the day but about 3:00 the snow started.

Providence, you're getting in on a very heavy snow band right now. Let's take a look at a live picture from the Providence area. Visibility is down to a quarter of a mile right now. Temperature is 16 degrees. Providence, you're under a blizzard warning until 6:00 tomorrow. Winds will be gusting, we think, late tonight and into early tomorrow, up to 50 miles per hour. Temperatures will then be falling tomorrow afternoon with wind chills well below the zero mark. Heavy snow, 18 to 28 inches total can be expected in Providence. That can also be expected into the Boston area.

Let's go back to the maps now and I want to show you where a low pressure system is expected to be for tomorrow. And you can see our winds rotate counterclockwise around areas of low pressure. So we have this continuous feed of moisture coming in off of the Atlantic and that comes in on the shoreline. And it all falls as snow with that cold air in place. The heaviest amounts then will be on the coastline. The farther in the interior you get, the lesser the totals will be. Most of this storm system will be over and done with by tomorrow.

And Rande, a little question, people want to know why am I having a blizzard and why are people down into Philadelphia not in the blizzard warning? This is the technical definition of a blizzard. You have to have low temperature, winds of 35 miles per hour or greater and visibility less than a quarter of a mile for at least three hours or more. So folks in Philadelphia down to D.C. not technically a blizzard. You've got to get those strong winds in there -- Rande.

KAYE: OK, Jacqui Jeras, thank you very much.

And count on CNN for complete coverage of the looming East Coast blizzard. Live reports continue today and start again tomorrow morning at 7:00 Eastern.

It was 32 years ago today, the U.S. Supreme Court legalized abortion. Decades after Roe vs. Wade, abortion remains a highly emotional and politically charged issue. A point made clear on this anniversary by both abortion rights supporters and opponents in Washington.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You're making a very bold statement today. We're just trying to educate the people. You can believe what you want to believe. I can't force you to change your mind. But what I can do is talk to those who aren't sure and, you know, plead my heart to those who are going into this forced or scared.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Holy Mary, mother of God, prayer for our sinners now and at the hour of our death, Amen.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When I think that what you see every week being out here is so many women who come in, who have made a tough choice for themselves of have made what can be a simple choice for themselves, to come in and have an abortion. And that, for them is a right that they're free to exercise under our Constitution. So I'm just helping them exercise their rights.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's not going to stop us from what we're doing because I mean it could become illegal. People still want to get abortions but the legal issue of it is not going to solve it. We need to change the hearts and minds of the people.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I believe there can be a lot of dialogue and discussion around this issue. But when it comes here, it's partially about abortion, yes, but it's partially about women just getting health care services that they need.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAYE: As Election Day in Iraq nears, the violence only grows. Straight ahead tonight, on the ground with U.S. troops as they attempt the daunting task of securing ahead of the voting.

Plus, he laid out his vision for the nation and the world, but everyone's not convinced. What's President Bush's biggest challenge ahead? You might be surprised.

And it's a winter wonderland for some, a winter whiteout for others. Later, the sights and sounds of today's snow storm.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: We're following several developments out of Iraq. Chinese embassy officials tell CNN that eight Chinese workers taken hostage have been freed. The men's captors put out this video of their apparent release today. On the video, one of the kidnappers said they let the men go after China advised its citizens not to travel to Iraq.

At least 12 members of a wedding party were killed in a suicide attack south of Baghdad. A suicide bomber drove an ambulance into a crowd of Shiite Muslims. It ignited into a ball of flames. Shiites have repeatedly come under attack in the run-up to the election.

An Iraqi civilian was killed by a road side bomb today in Aldura (ph). The bomb exploded as a U.S. military patrol passed by. Three people including a U.S. soldier were wounded.

News around the world now. Experts meeting in Japan want to minimize the risk posed by natural disasters. At today's closing session of the U.N.'s World Conference on Disaster Reduction, participants called on nations to invest in disaster plans. Delegates also pledged to create a tsunami warning system in the Indian Ocean.

In Vietnam, World Health officials confirm a 42-year-old man is suffering from the bird flu. The man's older brother died from it earlier this month. The young man was caring for him, raising concerns about human-to-human transmission. Health officials also say a family meal consisting of raw duck may have led to poultry to human transmission.

Preparations are under way in Ukraine for the inauguration of President-elect Viktor Yushchenko. President Bush telephoned Yushchenko today congratulating him on his victory. Secretary of State Colin Powell is expected to be there when Yushchenko is sworn in tomorrow.

Still ahead tonight, faces of fear. A photographer on the front lines in Iraq captured it all on film.

Plus, all eyes on the election. Iraq votes in just eight days and several Iraqi-Americans will be taking part. I'll speak with one of them tonight.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: Every week we bring you the more personal stories from the front lines. Today our report contains graphic images that maybe disturbing, especially for children.

Almost every day the fighting in Iraq claims more lives. Often the victims are civilians and sometimes their deaths are the result of a misunderstanding. A photographer captured one recent tragedy involving an Iraqi family. The horror of it produced an unusually quick apology from the U.S. military. CNN Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It was just after 6:00 p.m. Tuesday, already getting dark, past curfew when U.S. troops fired shots at this car in the northern Iraqi town of Tulafar. The U.S. military says the soldiers on foot patrol were alert for suicide car bombs. The photographer who took these pictures watched as the tragedy unfolded.

CHRIS HONDROS, STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER, GETTY IMAGES: I realized that some shots were going to get fired because I know -- I mean, I can know -- I knew that their car would have a hard time seeing these camouflaged soldiers. So I sort of scooted off to the side outside of anybody's line of fire. And the car was approaching. I could hear it. STARR: In moments, it was a nightmare on the street, an Iraqi man and his wife in the front seat killed by U.S. gunfire. Six terrified children emerged from the back seat. One slightly wounded. Blood everywhere. A small boy bewildered at what he has just seen.

HONDROS: And the soldiers, when they realized what was going on, they very professionally and empathetically swept into action. The kids are immediately -- medics came over to immediately try to assess what injuries the children had.

STARR: Soldiers upset as well as they tried to help the children. They took them to a nearby hospital. A U.S. military spokesman in Baghdad says there was no intention to harm innocent civilians. He says, "While the pictures are heart-wrenching, they also go to show in the moments immediately following, soldiers went from trying to protect their patrol to rendering comfort and assistance to the children suffering a tragic loss."

The military spokesman says procedures were followed. There were hand signals to the driver, warning shots fired, and then shots to disable the vehicle. And then shots that were fatal. No one may ever know if the Iraqi driver didn't see the soldiers, didn't understand the order to stop, or if there was panic. But with five car bomb attacks in Iraq in the last three weeks against patrols in checkpoints, security concerns are at an all time high. Still, the human tragedy.

HONDROS: I remember the captain was adamant about making sure the children were all in a room when the two bodies of the adults were brought in to the morgue in the hospital. And they didn't -- he specifically said that he didn't want the children to see anymore.

STARR: The orphaned children now in the custody of the oldest teenager. The military may compensate the family, but the faces of this war show their agony. One small Iraqi girl sits at the feet of U.S. soldiers waiting for someone to tell her what happens now.

Barbara Starr, CNN, the Pentagon.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAYE: Those in the nation's Midwest might have a little cabin fever already. Those in the Northeast should start preparing for it. Ahead, the latest on the snowstorm blanketing much of the nation.

Plus, President Bush's battles. What's ahead in his second term? Our Bill Schneider has some surprising answers.

And a first for Iraqi's in the U.S., voting in a Democratic election. A little later I'll speak with one who has just returned from Iraq.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: Welcome back. The big story now in the news is the weather. A massive winter storm is moving out of the Midwest and has the northeast squarely in its sights. The National Weather Service has issued a blizzard warning for New York City northward to Boston. The forecast calls for bitterly cold temperatures, high winds and up to two feet of snow. And now for the latest on the storm, we turn to CNN meteorologist Jacqui Jeras.

Hello once again, Jacqui.

JERAS: Hi Rande. You just mentioned New York City. They are in the thick of it right now. In fact, a very heavy snow band is pushing through the area and we could see snow fall rates of around an inch per hour. Locally, heavier amounts, believe it or not, are going to be possible tonight across the Northeast tonight, maybe as many as three inches per hour.

Our storm system here pulling out of the Northeast, but a new one developing and making its way up the coast and we call that one a Nor'easter. And that's why some of the heavy snow amounts are going to be way up there in the feet rather than in inches.

It is winding down across the Midwest. But with the cold air moving across the lake waters, we're getting some lake effect snow showers still going on across the Chicago area. Milwaukee has been seeing a couple flurries here and there. But the wind and the cold then will be the big story for you across much of the upper Midwest. Snowfall totals so far, Milwaukee, 13 inches, a foot in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Lansing, Michigan around 11 inches, also 11 inches in Chicago, and Minneapolis had about 6 inches of snowfall.

You see in the live picture -- now I want to show you out of New York City with that heavy snow coming down at this time, if we could go to that. There you can see it. You have visibility down to a quarter of a mile or less. Winds are gusting about 20 miles per hour. You got to get those winds up to 35 miles per hour for three hours or longer for this to be technically a blizzard, but we are anticipating those stronger winds to be moving in along with the heavy snow. That's probably some time after 10:00 for tonight. The worst of it will be in the overnight hours and winding down then by the noon hour, we think, in New York City.

So here's your forecast across the Northeast through your Sunday: heaviest snow amounts will be into the coastal areas, especially out into the Cape. We're expecting maybe up to one, two, maybe three inches of snowfall out there. About 18 to 30 around the Boston area and 10 to 20 as you head down towards Philadelphia. The farther you go in the interior, the lesser the amounts will be. But even if you don't get the heavy snow at your house, you will be feeling the effects of the wind and the cold. The good news is, it will be over and done with and it's happening on a weekend -- Rande.

KAYE: That is good news. Thank you, Jacqui.

Well, from the weather forecast to the political forecast. George W. Bush was sworn in for his second term as president this week. Joining us now for a look ahead at the challenges facing President Bush is CNN's senior political analyst Bill Schneider.

Good evening, Bill.

BILL SCHNEDIER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Hi Rande.

KAYE: Let's get right to it. The domestic challenge, we hear a lot about social security playing a big part in the second term. What other domestic challenge might we hear a lot about?

SCHNEIDER: Immigration. That's an issue that's boiling out there. I've spoken with several members of Congress who say when they go home and meet with their constituents; the issue that keeps coming up is illegal immigrants. They feel flooded and -- you know just overrun with illegal immigrants. They see them, Hispanics mostly but also Asian immigrants and from really all over the world, in their areas and not only creates economic concern but also they worry about terrorists. There have been stories that have come out about suspects and dangerous people taking Hispanic surnames and coming in through Mexico. So there's a lot of concern and members of Congress say -- even Republicans tell me that President Bush's Guest Worker Program just doesn't fly out there with American voters.

KAYE: OK. And now, let's touch on the international challenge. Obviously, the Iraq War dominated his first term as president. What other foreign challenges might we see, international challenges?

SCHNEIDER: Well, everyone is worrying about Iran, about the possibility that they could be developing a nuclear weapon. Stories have come out about the United States monitoring the situation there, and of course, the other country on the axis of evil, North Korea. But here's a surprise, nobody is talking about Latin America. No one is paying any attention to Latin America, but there's a lot of discontent in Latin America. Condoleezza Rice, in her confirmation hearings, talked about Hugo Chavez, the president of Venezuela whom the United States doesn't get along with because he regards Fidel Castro as kind of a hero. There's a lot of discontent with globalization, free trade, free markets, haven't done poor people in Latin America a great deal of good. There could be a lurch to the left. We've seen it in Venezuela. We've seen in Brazil.

And here's something else to keep in mind, Fidel Castro, we have to say, is not going to live forever. And he's in -- I think he's in his 70s now. And he is the longest serving head of government of any country in the world. He came to power on New Year's Day 1959. When he goes, when he leaves power, if he dies, there could be a very unstable situation in Cuba.

KAYE: Bill, what are the risks for a president in his second term?

SCHNEIDER: Well, always the risk of hubris. And certainly the risk came -- caught front and center when the president gave that inaugural speech. Americans listened to that and he talked about not a war on terror but a war on tyranny which is even bigger. And they wonder can we really fight the war? Can the United States achieve its ultimate goal, admirable as it is, of eliminating tyranny all over the world? A lot of critics of President Bush, particularly Democrats and liberals, listened to that inaugural address and they said to themselves, oh, my God, more Iraqs? He didn't say that, but that was on the minds of a lot of listeners.

KAYE: And how about internationally? How would you say the inaugural speech was received around the world?

SCHNEIDER: Not very well. I think that it made very people very nervous because it was bold. It was ambitious. And a lot of people heard the same thing that President Bush's domestic critics heard, that we want to make it the business of the United States to promote democracy. The president argues the war on terror and the war on tyranny are really the same thing because he points out that Democratic countries, free countries don't commit acts of aggression and don't threaten the security of the United States. So if the United States promotes democracy in the world, it'll contribute to America's security. That's a very interesting, provocative, and a lot of people outside the United States, would say arguable proposition. But that seems to be the core of this administration's bold, ambitious, foreign policy and it's a very controversial one to the rest of the world. It makes them very nervous.

KAYE: Too ambitious, would you say?

SCHNEIDER: Well, they think it's too ambitious. But they don't know exactly what it means. And in the last day or so, since the inaugural address, members of the administration have been giving interviews to the press, many of them anonymously, saying no, no, no it isn't some bold, new program. We're not talking about invading other countries and more Iraqs. It was basically a restatement, a repackaging, if you will, of what we've been doing already in Iraq and Afghanistan. So they've been trying to calm the waters a little bit.

KAYE: All right. Our Bill Schneider, as always, good to see you.

SCHNEIDER: Good, Rande.

KAYE: News across America, the nation's capital is in the grips of a punishing winter storm spreading from the Midwest through the Northeast. Winds that could reach up to 50 mile an hour are driving snow that could pile up to two feet.

An 11-year-old boy who police say was taken by a convicted child molester is safely back with his parents in Ocala, Florida. Officials say there's no indication that the youngster was molested. Police found him yesterday as Frederick Fretz disappeared into the North Georgia woods. They're still searching for Fretz.

Friends of 19-year-old Megan Holden held a candlelight vigil last night outside the Wal-mart store where she had worked as a clerk. Police in Tyler, Texas, say the man charged with kidnapping and shooting her to death was a stranger to her.

Now, to the upcoming Iraqi elections. Iraqi exiles are traveling to registration sites across the U.S. for a chance to do something they were never allowed to do under Saddam Hussein's regime, vote. Some say the opportunity to have a voice in Iraq's new destiny is like being reborn. Here's our Miguel Marquez. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It is a celebration of registration. Iraqis from across the western U.S. descending on Southern California, they're registering to vote in the upcoming Iraqi elections.

ADIL RIQABI, IRAQI VOTER (through translator): I feel I'm just born today. I feel I'm a baby right now. I want to dance. I want to have fun. I want to jump in the streets to tell everybody I'm happy.

MARQUEZ: Adil Riqabi and his Kurdish friends flew from Seattle despite the flight and security reminiscent of their homeland; they say the trip was a small price to pay.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We flew only two hours, right? But if we -- if there is no place for us here to vote, we would have fly to Iraq to vote.

MARQUEZ: Riqabi wears an Iraqi flag and walks with a limp. An injury, he says, from the 1980s when Saddam Hussein forced him to fight against Iran.

RIQABI: Thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you.

RIQABI: Thank you.

MARQUEZ: Sahar Ali brought her mother and her daughter to register. Batila Rasol (ph) fled Iraq in 1982 and still hopes to return. Her daughter communicates what Rasul (ph) cannot.

SAHAR ALI, IRAQI VOTER: This is like a dream come true, just like Martin Luther King. I have a dream. This was our dream to one day come and really vote for somebody that we want.

MARQUEZ: But for as easy as the dream is in Southern California, Ali knows her relatives in Iraq face more of a nightmare.

ALI: For them, there's a lot of, you know, talk about whoever enters the voting poll will be sniper shot, whoever attempts to go to vote will be killed.

MARQUEZ: Jafar Qazweeni came with his sister-in-law and her family. The kids wore smiles and ties. It's a big day, the first day of a long recovery for Iraq.

JAFAR QAZWEENI, IRAQI VOTER: My country has been torn by the carnage, by the terrorist acts and by violence and occupation as well.

MARQUEZ (on camera): Registration in five locations nationwide has now been extended through Tuesday and the voting runs Friday through Sunday.

Miguel Marquez, CNN, Los Angeles. (END VIDEOTAPE)

KAYE: While expatriates are euphoric about participating in the political process, there is concern that surging violence in Iraq will scare Iraqis away from the polls. Iraq's interim government has implemented a number of security measures. But are they ready? Zainab Al-Suwaij is with the American Islamic Congress. She returned from Iraq last week and is joining me now live from Boston.

Good evening.

ZAINAB AL-SUWAIJ, AMERICAN ISLAMIC CONGRESS: Good evening.

KAYE: Just recently, in Iraq now, last week, what are your impressions of how things are going there?

AL-SUWAIJ: Well, people are very excited about the election upcoming next week and all of them are preparing for it and trying to choose their nominees. And the people who are running are going around and expanding their publicity around in the area and they're talking to people in the schools and universities and marketplaces and so on, and also putting their pictures and their names around for other people to read it and to be able to elect them. So...

KAYE: Is it your impression...

AL-SUWAIJ: ...it's a very exciting period.

KAYE: Is it your impression that the country is ready for the upcoming election now just eight days away?

AL-SUWAIJ: Well, I think at a certain point this election needed to happen. And I think whether it's eight days or longer, I think the sooner the better. There is also ways for improvement in the future, but at this point, I think it's very important for people to have this election.

KAYE: Did you get the feeling while there, whether speaking with friend or family, that they feel it's safe to go out and vote?

AL-SUWAIJ: Well, there's always the fear of something will happen during the election period. And -- but they are insisting on going and elect and do their -- and vote and do their duty, as they consider it right now.

KAYE: How about -- let's talk about just the logistics of voting. I mean they're closing some of the borders. They're closing streets. There will be a curfew in place. How tough will it be just to simply go out and vote?

AL-SUWAIJ: Well, there are poll centers in every area. Basically, they are using schools to have as the center for people to come and vote. And it's going to be -- I don't think it's going to be that easy, but security is really -- it's been increased in the past 10 days and it will be increasing towards -- once it's closer to the election. And I think people are determined to go and vote and giving the danger that's around them.

KAYE: What is this election, in your opinion mean, to the people there and what does it mean to you?

AL-SUWAIJ: Well, it means a lot. This is the day that all Iraqis dreamt of for so long. And it's a first step towards democracy. And people are very excited, hoping this first step will lead to a stable Democratic Iraq soon.

KAYE: There are some questions, though, still tonight about the monitoring process. If the election results aren't monitored properly, that it might undermine the process and the results. Any thoughts on that?

AL-SUWAIJ: Well, I think right now, given the logistics and what the country is going through, I think people are trying their best. And it's going to reach a certain point that's accepted for Iraqis at least inside the country. So at this point, I think it's -- so far it's great and I think, you know, improvement is on the way.

KAYE: Here in the United States, we get a little red sticker that we wear when we vote that says, "I voted," but apparently during this election, voters will be having their fingers marked, which will actually mark them as voters and possible targets for insurgents. What do you think of that?

Al-SUWAIJ: Well, this is -- marking their fingers, I don't think it's going to be like a tattoo right there on their finger. It's going to be for -- just for a short period of time. And you can wash it and it will go away. But what's really is very important is that how people wanted this election to happen and wanted to be part of it. I think this is very exciting and very promising for the future of Iraq.

KAYE: All right, Zainab Al-Suwaij. Thank you so much for speaking with us tonight.

Al-SUWAIJ: Thank you.

KAYE: Do you ever wonder what your favorite celebrities are like once the cameras are off? CNN's Carlos Watson joins me next for a preview of his special, "Off Topic."

And the winter snow could spell travel trouble. Later, a live report on travel delays in the air.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: Ever wonder what your favorite celebrities act like when the cameras stop rolling? CNN's Carlos Watson finds out when he goes "Off Topic" with several big name celebs. And Carlos is here to tell us about some fascinating facts he found out about three high profile people. It's all revealed in "Off Topic," airing tomorrow night at 10:00 Eastern, but you're going to give us a little preview.

CARLOS WATSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm going to give a little preview.

KAYE: OK, we're anxious.

WATSON: You know there's good stuff on Sunday at 10:00 and we wanted to mix it up a little bit. It's not all politics, not all entertainment, not all sports. We have probably the hottest political celebrity of the moment, Arnold Schwarzenegger. We've got a guy we're calling the new face of religion in America, Crepple Dollar (ph). And then I think coming up, we've got a bite from a woman who is not only the hottest new face on television, but I think she's a long term star. Her name is Eva Longoria from "Desperate Housewives." You know here as Gabriel Solis and she's going to surprise you a little bit. Besides being an actress, documentary filmmaker, comedian, and listen to this clip. You'll be surprised how she started out.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WATSON (voice-over): You said that you were considered the ugly duckling?

EVA LONGORIA, ACTRESS: Oh yes, yes, I was.

WATSON: No, you weren't.

LONGORIA: Yes.

WATSON: Why did they think you were the ugly duckling?

LONGORIA: Well, in my family, my mom is all very light skinned, and all my sisters are very light skinned because they're light hair, light eyes, light skin, and they're Mexicans. But when I came out, I had this full head of black hair and I was really, really dark, and I was called La (UNINTELLIGIBLE), which is the ugly duckling. And it was a very endearing -- I thought it was endearing when they call me that. To this day, I'm like, Mom, seriously, was I adopted? I mean -- because I am nothing like them not only physically but...

WATSON: You really don't look like them?

LONGORIA: No.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAYE: Nothing ugly about her.

WATSON: Wait a story. She's on the cover of "Rolling Stone" this week, "TV Guide," "Life" and "Maxim" and she's saying that she was an ugly duckling.

KAYE: Hard to believe.

WATSON: And guess what she's reading right now?

KAYE: What?

WATSON: "He's Just Not That Into You." KAYE: Oh my...

WATSON: Can you believe that?

KAYE: I'm sure that's never happened to her.

WATSON: It happened to me or she's just not that into you.

KAYE: She wasn't?

WATSON: What can you do? What can you do? But she was really joyful. We got to a different side of her. I think she's a person you'll see for a long time.

And one of the other people we really enjoyed was Arnold, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. You know him as a body builder, you know him maybe as a serious businessman, you know as a successful actor, now he's governor. He's got big policy proposals. But early on, he also wasn't someone who people thought was going to do well. In fact, his own mother had doubts about him. I think we've got a clip here to show you.

KAYE: OK, let's take a look at that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WATSON: Did people tell you, oh, Arnold, that's great, you're going to do well?

GOV. ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER (R), CALIFORNIA: I don't think that there were people there discouraging me, per se, but I think that there was definitely no one around that believed in me. It was my visions and my ideas and my parents would just never understand it and they would just say, well, why don't you get into soccer. And I'd say I'm a soccer play, but I like weightlifting better now. You know I want to be the youngest world champion in body building. Body building? Why body building? What is the matter -- what are all those pictures on your wall here of these naked men all oiled up in little posing trunks? What's going on?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAYE: Naked men all oiled up on the wall.

WATSON: Rande, you've got to love it. We're getting the real skinny. And by the way, Arnold makes his most revealing comment yet on this Constitutional amendment that might allow some foreign-born persons like himself maybe to run for president. So a really good piece tomorrow at 10.

And then our last guest on -- you know, if you've read the "Da Vinci Code" or you've heard about "The Passion of The Christ," or you saw the president's win in the involvement of religion there, you want to understand religion more these days but not just where it's been, where it's going. And the guy to look to is a guy named Crepple Dollar (ph), an Atlanta-based preacher who we're calling the new face of religion in America. I've got his first national television interview tomorrow at 10:00.

KAYE: Of course you do.

WATSON: I had to.

KAYE: You get it all.

WATSON: Along with Arnold and Eva.

KAYE: All right, thank you so much, Carlos Watson.

WATSON: It's good to see you.

KAYE: And to get the full scoop, well, you just tune in to "Off Topic" with Carlos Watson, airing on CNN tomorrow night at 10:00 Eastern Time.

The snowstorm's wreaking havoc on air travel. Straight ahead tonight, will your travel plans be delayed? A report on the closings and cancellations right after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: Those are just some of the images from a major winter storm in the Northeast. As you can imagine, it's having an impact on air travel. Hundreds of flights were delayed or canceled today at key airports. Helping us keep track of the situation is Travelocity's air traffic specialist, Rally Caparas. He joins us now by phone.

Rally, how are you and what is the situation out there at this hour?

RALLY CAPARAS, AIR TRAFFIC SPECIALIST, TRAVELOCITY: Well, Rande, I'm doing much better than a lot of folks that are stranded all over the country this evening. What we're seeing -- and I heard you say hundreds, well, it's in the thousands now. Two thousand five hundred flights or so have been canceled up around the Great Lakes region all the way over to the East Coast, from Boston all the way down into the Washington D.C. metros and even some down in Atlanta, Georgia here. We saw about 100 or so flights canceled earlier because of the snowball effect. We'll call it snowball for lack of a better term today.

And New York City and Boston today, over 1,000 flights canceled already. The snow, the wind, the poor visibility is expected to continue on into tomorrow. Expect hundreds more to be canceled for Sunday morning flights. And it's not going to get much better there until later on tomorrow in -- on Sunday.

Philadelphia is presently closed, Philadelphia International, due to the conditions. And they're scheduled to reopen at 9:00 a.m. Eastern Standard Time, but that all depends on the weather. Visibility is extremely poor there, about an eighth of the mile on the airport surface with about a 100-feet ceiling that you just can't see to land or take off right there. Baltimore, Washington, and Dulles, they saw hundreds of flights canceled. Detroit, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Covington, all saw hundreds of flights canceled, major delays all day, but those airports will see much better conditions and better schedules for tomorrow.

Chicago O'Hare, they canceled 375 flights today. It's just been an incredibly awful day and tomorrow, it doesn't look better for New York, Boston or Philadelphia, Rande.

KAYE: What a mess. Rally Caparas, thanks for the update. We're hoping that it gets better soon.

Some love it, others hate it. Either way, this wicked weather blanketing the Northeast brings with it pictures we don't see often. Up next, some of the best. But first, here's Mark Shields to tell us what's ahead on "THE CAPITAL GANG" -- Mark.

MARK SHIELDS, CO-HOST, "THE CAPITAL GANG": Rande, Pennsylvania governor, Ed Rendell, joins the gang to analyze President Bush's second inaugural address, the confirmation hearings of Condoleezza Rice and where the Democrats are going. We'll also look at the next big crisis country, Iran. All that and much more right here next on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: In case you just joined us, there are winter storm warnings from Wisconsin to New England. Heavy snow, blustery winds and brutally frigid temperatures are sweeping the Midwest and the Northeast. But it's not all bad. Here are some sights and sounds from this wicked winter weather.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What do you think of tubing?

UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: It's awesome. It's -- just when you're going down, you're going super fast.

UNIDIENTIFIED CHILD: It's really fun because the -- all the hills and the bumps, it's really fun to go down.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Trying to get uphill on this weather and the rear wheel will spin out. If you're not in traction, you don't keep your speed, and it's not going to work.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, I love the snow. I just wish I didn't have to be out in it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is Chicago and we can expect this kind of weather. And I think we just, you know, do the best we can and shovel out and keep things moving.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You getting used to this yet or what?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, yes, yes. Well, being in Ohio, you know, a lot of cold weather and a lot of snow, but we deal with it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are you excited about the snow or what do you think?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh no, I've seen enough in my time, so, the previous four months is great.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, it's hard to see, yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, it's tough going. And I guess if I had my choice, I'd rather go back home.

UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: It's radical.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How radical is it?

UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: Unbelievably radical.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What do you like about it?

UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: The speed and the snow in your face.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAYE: Radical, you heard it there.

That's all the time we have for this hour. Coming up next "THE CAPITAL GANG," then at 8:00 Easter, Miles O'Brien hosts an hour-long countdown to the top 25 innovations since 1980. And at 9:00, Larry King. Larry's guests tonight, Deepak Chopra and Steven R. Covey. And I'll be back at 10:00 Eastern. The Donald gets married today. And tonight, I've got his personal chef to give us an inside scoop on the wedding.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com


Aired January 22, 2005 - 18:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
RANDE KAYE, CNN ANCHOR: The search to weed out insurgents as Iraq prepares for elections. CNN's Christiane Amanpour is in Baghdad with the story. It's January 22, 2005. You're watching CNN LIVE SATURDAY.
From CNN's global headquarters in Atlanta, I'm Rande Kaye in tonight for Carol Lin. Oh, the weather outside is frightful. If you live in the Northeast, that may be an understatement this weekend. A huge winter storm is promising to bury parts of the region under more than a foot of snow. Here's what it looks like right now on radar. New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg is already calling it potentially life threatening. So much snow is falling in the Big Apple that some landmarks are barely visible from just a few blocks away. New Yorkers have been lining up at grocery stores for supplies.

Chicago is already covered in the white stuff and more is on the way. Lake effect snowfall could add five more inches to what's already on the ground.

And it's a big sports weekend in Philadelphia, but the winter weather means footballs and snowballs will be thrown in the City of Brotherly Love.

We have complete coverage of the storm for you. CNN's Chad Myers is in Philadelphia. Our Alina Cho is in New York and Gary Nuremberg is in Washington. Let's start with Chad in Philly. How are things looking there?

CHAD MYERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Rande, I know you miss this. I know you came from Minnesota and this is right up your alley. But I'll tell you what I've been living in Atlanta a little too long. It's getting deep out here. In fact, two hours ago we had six inches and now we're well up into the eight inch range at least. And as I measure here, yes, about eight and a half. That means it's been coming down about an inch an hour for the past hour or so. Now it's starting to really pile up on some of the roadways. It's getting thick. It's getting heavy. It's getting hard to drive in. There's ruts now on the roadways and you have to stay in the ruts. If you get out of the ruts, then actually your car gets stuck. And even one of our four-wheel drives -- and the Eagle fans are happy here -- one of the four-wheel drives actually was stuck just a little bit ago. We had to kind of rock it back and forth to get it out.

The entire area now though -- we showed you the radar a little bit -- about to get into what's called a dry slot. And this is when the air from the Midwest and the upper Midwest -- dry air gets gulped into the system. We talk about getting dry air gulped into hurricanes sometimes. The dry air gets gulped into the system and the dry air is now coming right over Philadelphia. That dry air is not going to make it up to New York City. It's not going to make it up to Boston. Let me tell you, Boston, you are in for one heck of a storm, maybe 15 to 20 inches before it stops on top of what you already have now.

We are maybe going to see two to four more from what we have now because we are in the middle of that driest air. Then we get a little bit more wet air tomorrow in the wraparound. But that entire area of heaviest stuff has now slid up to the north. What we're going to get here and for the game tomorrow, Falcons and Eagles, we are going to have winds at 30 to 35 miles per hour. And you saw this snow, there's nothing to it, nothing to it at all. It's going to blowing around. I'll tell you we're going to have drifts three to four feet on the way to the game. They are doing a phenomenal job of clearing the stands and clearing the stadium. But when the wind picks up, I'm afraid that's a futile effort.

Rande, back to you.

KAYE: Wow! That stadium does look like it has some work still to be done there. Lots of dedicated fans are going to fill that place tomorrow. That's for sure.

MYERS: Yes.

KAYE: All right, Chad, thank you.

There are big preparations for the storm in the Big Apple. Officials aren't taking any chances with what they call a very dangerous situation. The mayor has even activated his Emergency Operations Center. CNN's Alina Cho joins us now from New York.

ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Rande, the snow has been falling for about six hours in New York City and it is really piling up. It's safe to say about half a foot has fallen on the city already, with much more on the way. Mayor Michael Bloomberg's advice is stay inside, but some people are braving the elements. Others are stocking up and a few are getting out of town.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHO (voice-over): Dick Kay is headed to Atlanta, leaving his wife to shovel the driveway.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Someone's got to do it and that's why I'm leaving, so I don't have to.

CHO: He's one of the lucky ones. Hundreds of flights have been canceled at New York's La Guardia Airport, with delays reported at JFK and Newark as well. For those staying in town, stocking up on food and water seemed to be a popular way to spend the day. Among those braving the checkout lines, native New Yorker Karen Friedman.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm acting like a fool, like everybody else, assuming that I need to go shopping when I know I probably have enough food in the house to last a month.

CHO: Dave Silverman's buying a day's worth of food, says people are overreacting.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's going to be an afternoon in the snow. It's no big deal.

MAYOR MICHAEL BLOOMBERG, NEW YORK CITY: This really is a dangerous storm. And I don't think you should take it lightly.

CHO: New York's mayor, Michael Bloomberg, spent Saturday morning visiting sanitation workers. The city's 1,800 salt trucks, snowplows and snowmelters are out in force.

BLOOMBERG: We're going to take care of this city regardless of the cost. And then Monday morning, I'll have to worry about how to pay for it.

CHO: For visitors, the snow was an excuse to get out and do some sight seeing. And at times, Times Square looked like a weekday, except for the slow moving taxis and a delivery truck that wasn't making any deliveries. Dick Kay doesn't care. He's got a message for his wife about the driveway.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Maureen, it better be finished by the time I get home.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHO: By the time it's all over, which should be about noontime tomorrow, the city should get between 14 and 20 inches of snow. Now, by Monday morning, Mayor Michael Bloomberg says all 6,300 miles of streets and highways here in the city should be plowed. And that means everyone, he says, should be able to get to work, get to school or even go shopping. It'll just take a little bit of patience.

KAYE: All right, thank you. Alina Cho live for us tonight.

The nation's capital is also bracing for more snow. CNN's Gary Nuremberg joins us now from Washington where Gary, you have been out in the thick of it all day.

GARY NUREMBERG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Rande, I guess you could say we're now in the calm between the storms. It snowed about four inches on the ground. But the forecasters say overnight we're going to get more, perhaps as many as 10 total. There's a winter storm warning for Washington until 7:00 tomorrow morning. The city has declared a snow emergency. That means you get towed and pay a $250 fine if you park in the wrong place. And the city is trying to deal with this now with about 200 trucks on the road.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NUREMBERG (voice-over): Snowplow drivers got a break because the snow fell on a weekend cutting substantially the number of cars on D.C. roads. The weather didn't deter tourists who made the snow part of their plans.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We try to do all our outside stuff yesterday, so we could do all the museums and inside today.

NUREMBERG: They weren't alone. The National Air and Space Museum was busy with tourists who couldn't see national landmarks like the Jefferson Memorial, unless they were standing nearly on top of them. The new World War II Memorial drew picture takers to the unusual snowy vista. Kids from Florida made snow angels on the National Mall.

(on camera): Your butt is now completely covered in snow. Was it worth it?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, because you can't do this in Florida.

NUREMBERG (voice-over): Asked if it's smart to leave Florida for this...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Just as smart as the people that come down to Florida during hurricane season.

NUREMBERG: Imagine running in this stuff. She did, six miles in an hour.

(on camera): How come you're not slipping down and hurting yourself?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There's no ice. It's good traction on the snow, actually. It's very dry snow.

NUREMBERG (voice-over): For this visitor from Costa Rica...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is my first time I see snow in my life because I - well, because in Costa Rica we don't have the snow.

NUREMBERG: In Washington Saturday, we did.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NUREMBERG: Well, there's a bit of understatement. You know this could have been worse. If the snow had struck 48 hours earlier, it would have found 200,000 people here on the National Mall watching George W. Bush's inaugural parade. Everyone here, Rande, is breathing a sigh of relief that that didn't happen.

KAYE: I bet. All right, Gary. Thank you. Let's take a closer look at the storm and see where it's headed next. Meteorologist Jacqui Jeras joins from us now from the weather center.

Hello, Jacqui.

JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLGIST: Hi Rande. Hello everyone. The storm has been moving very rapidly throughout the afternoon and evening hours, bringing the heavy snow across parts of upstate New York throughout Massachusetts, into Rhode Island, Connecticut, extending down through to Jersey. But things are going to be changing here very shortly. We have a new area of low pressure developing off here off the Delmarva region.

We heard Chad Myers talking about the dry slot. There you can see it very easily on radar where we have none of the returns, where you just see green, nothing's coming down there. Washington, D.C. has been receiving a very nice break and Philadelphia will get in on that action.

Why aren't you going to see the break over here into New York City and on up towards Boston? Well, this whole area of snow is going to be making its way northward as our low pressure storm system develops offshore and rides on up to the north and to the east, bringing in all that moisture from the Atlantic. You can see now in the Boston radar, it started out nice throughout much of the day but about 3:00 the snow started.

Providence, you're getting in on a very heavy snow band right now. Let's take a look at a live picture from the Providence area. Visibility is down to a quarter of a mile right now. Temperature is 16 degrees. Providence, you're under a blizzard warning until 6:00 tomorrow. Winds will be gusting, we think, late tonight and into early tomorrow, up to 50 miles per hour. Temperatures will then be falling tomorrow afternoon with wind chills well below the zero mark. Heavy snow, 18 to 28 inches total can be expected in Providence. That can also be expected into the Boston area.

Let's go back to the maps now and I want to show you where a low pressure system is expected to be for tomorrow. And you can see our winds rotate counterclockwise around areas of low pressure. So we have this continuous feed of moisture coming in off of the Atlantic and that comes in on the shoreline. And it all falls as snow with that cold air in place. The heaviest amounts then will be on the coastline. The farther in the interior you get, the lesser the totals will be. Most of this storm system will be over and done with by tomorrow.

And Rande, a little question, people want to know why am I having a blizzard and why are people down into Philadelphia not in the blizzard warning? This is the technical definition of a blizzard. You have to have low temperature, winds of 35 miles per hour or greater and visibility less than a quarter of a mile for at least three hours or more. So folks in Philadelphia down to D.C. not technically a blizzard. You've got to get those strong winds in there -- Rande.

KAYE: OK, Jacqui Jeras, thank you very much.

And count on CNN for complete coverage of the looming East Coast blizzard. Live reports continue today and start again tomorrow morning at 7:00 Eastern.

It was 32 years ago today, the U.S. Supreme Court legalized abortion. Decades after Roe vs. Wade, abortion remains a highly emotional and politically charged issue. A point made clear on this anniversary by both abortion rights supporters and opponents in Washington.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You're making a very bold statement today. We're just trying to educate the people. You can believe what you want to believe. I can't force you to change your mind. But what I can do is talk to those who aren't sure and, you know, plead my heart to those who are going into this forced or scared.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Holy Mary, mother of God, prayer for our sinners now and at the hour of our death, Amen.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When I think that what you see every week being out here is so many women who come in, who have made a tough choice for themselves of have made what can be a simple choice for themselves, to come in and have an abortion. And that, for them is a right that they're free to exercise under our Constitution. So I'm just helping them exercise their rights.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's not going to stop us from what we're doing because I mean it could become illegal. People still want to get abortions but the legal issue of it is not going to solve it. We need to change the hearts and minds of the people.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I believe there can be a lot of dialogue and discussion around this issue. But when it comes here, it's partially about abortion, yes, but it's partially about women just getting health care services that they need.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAYE: As Election Day in Iraq nears, the violence only grows. Straight ahead tonight, on the ground with U.S. troops as they attempt the daunting task of securing ahead of the voting.

Plus, he laid out his vision for the nation and the world, but everyone's not convinced. What's President Bush's biggest challenge ahead? You might be surprised.

And it's a winter wonderland for some, a winter whiteout for others. Later, the sights and sounds of today's snow storm.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: We're following several developments out of Iraq. Chinese embassy officials tell CNN that eight Chinese workers taken hostage have been freed. The men's captors put out this video of their apparent release today. On the video, one of the kidnappers said they let the men go after China advised its citizens not to travel to Iraq.

At least 12 members of a wedding party were killed in a suicide attack south of Baghdad. A suicide bomber drove an ambulance into a crowd of Shiite Muslims. It ignited into a ball of flames. Shiites have repeatedly come under attack in the run-up to the election.

An Iraqi civilian was killed by a road side bomb today in Aldura (ph). The bomb exploded as a U.S. military patrol passed by. Three people including a U.S. soldier were wounded.

News around the world now. Experts meeting in Japan want to minimize the risk posed by natural disasters. At today's closing session of the U.N.'s World Conference on Disaster Reduction, participants called on nations to invest in disaster plans. Delegates also pledged to create a tsunami warning system in the Indian Ocean.

In Vietnam, World Health officials confirm a 42-year-old man is suffering from the bird flu. The man's older brother died from it earlier this month. The young man was caring for him, raising concerns about human-to-human transmission. Health officials also say a family meal consisting of raw duck may have led to poultry to human transmission.

Preparations are under way in Ukraine for the inauguration of President-elect Viktor Yushchenko. President Bush telephoned Yushchenko today congratulating him on his victory. Secretary of State Colin Powell is expected to be there when Yushchenko is sworn in tomorrow.

Still ahead tonight, faces of fear. A photographer on the front lines in Iraq captured it all on film.

Plus, all eyes on the election. Iraq votes in just eight days and several Iraqi-Americans will be taking part. I'll speak with one of them tonight.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: Every week we bring you the more personal stories from the front lines. Today our report contains graphic images that maybe disturbing, especially for children.

Almost every day the fighting in Iraq claims more lives. Often the victims are civilians and sometimes their deaths are the result of a misunderstanding. A photographer captured one recent tragedy involving an Iraqi family. The horror of it produced an unusually quick apology from the U.S. military. CNN Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It was just after 6:00 p.m. Tuesday, already getting dark, past curfew when U.S. troops fired shots at this car in the northern Iraqi town of Tulafar. The U.S. military says the soldiers on foot patrol were alert for suicide car bombs. The photographer who took these pictures watched as the tragedy unfolded.

CHRIS HONDROS, STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER, GETTY IMAGES: I realized that some shots were going to get fired because I know -- I mean, I can know -- I knew that their car would have a hard time seeing these camouflaged soldiers. So I sort of scooted off to the side outside of anybody's line of fire. And the car was approaching. I could hear it. STARR: In moments, it was a nightmare on the street, an Iraqi man and his wife in the front seat killed by U.S. gunfire. Six terrified children emerged from the back seat. One slightly wounded. Blood everywhere. A small boy bewildered at what he has just seen.

HONDROS: And the soldiers, when they realized what was going on, they very professionally and empathetically swept into action. The kids are immediately -- medics came over to immediately try to assess what injuries the children had.

STARR: Soldiers upset as well as they tried to help the children. They took them to a nearby hospital. A U.S. military spokesman in Baghdad says there was no intention to harm innocent civilians. He says, "While the pictures are heart-wrenching, they also go to show in the moments immediately following, soldiers went from trying to protect their patrol to rendering comfort and assistance to the children suffering a tragic loss."

The military spokesman says procedures were followed. There were hand signals to the driver, warning shots fired, and then shots to disable the vehicle. And then shots that were fatal. No one may ever know if the Iraqi driver didn't see the soldiers, didn't understand the order to stop, or if there was panic. But with five car bomb attacks in Iraq in the last three weeks against patrols in checkpoints, security concerns are at an all time high. Still, the human tragedy.

HONDROS: I remember the captain was adamant about making sure the children were all in a room when the two bodies of the adults were brought in to the morgue in the hospital. And they didn't -- he specifically said that he didn't want the children to see anymore.

STARR: The orphaned children now in the custody of the oldest teenager. The military may compensate the family, but the faces of this war show their agony. One small Iraqi girl sits at the feet of U.S. soldiers waiting for someone to tell her what happens now.

Barbara Starr, CNN, the Pentagon.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAYE: Those in the nation's Midwest might have a little cabin fever already. Those in the Northeast should start preparing for it. Ahead, the latest on the snowstorm blanketing much of the nation.

Plus, President Bush's battles. What's ahead in his second term? Our Bill Schneider has some surprising answers.

And a first for Iraqi's in the U.S., voting in a Democratic election. A little later I'll speak with one who has just returned from Iraq.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: Welcome back. The big story now in the news is the weather. A massive winter storm is moving out of the Midwest and has the northeast squarely in its sights. The National Weather Service has issued a blizzard warning for New York City northward to Boston. The forecast calls for bitterly cold temperatures, high winds and up to two feet of snow. And now for the latest on the storm, we turn to CNN meteorologist Jacqui Jeras.

Hello once again, Jacqui.

JERAS: Hi Rande. You just mentioned New York City. They are in the thick of it right now. In fact, a very heavy snow band is pushing through the area and we could see snow fall rates of around an inch per hour. Locally, heavier amounts, believe it or not, are going to be possible tonight across the Northeast tonight, maybe as many as three inches per hour.

Our storm system here pulling out of the Northeast, but a new one developing and making its way up the coast and we call that one a Nor'easter. And that's why some of the heavy snow amounts are going to be way up there in the feet rather than in inches.

It is winding down across the Midwest. But with the cold air moving across the lake waters, we're getting some lake effect snow showers still going on across the Chicago area. Milwaukee has been seeing a couple flurries here and there. But the wind and the cold then will be the big story for you across much of the upper Midwest. Snowfall totals so far, Milwaukee, 13 inches, a foot in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Lansing, Michigan around 11 inches, also 11 inches in Chicago, and Minneapolis had about 6 inches of snowfall.

You see in the live picture -- now I want to show you out of New York City with that heavy snow coming down at this time, if we could go to that. There you can see it. You have visibility down to a quarter of a mile or less. Winds are gusting about 20 miles per hour. You got to get those winds up to 35 miles per hour for three hours or longer for this to be technically a blizzard, but we are anticipating those stronger winds to be moving in along with the heavy snow. That's probably some time after 10:00 for tonight. The worst of it will be in the overnight hours and winding down then by the noon hour, we think, in New York City.

So here's your forecast across the Northeast through your Sunday: heaviest snow amounts will be into the coastal areas, especially out into the Cape. We're expecting maybe up to one, two, maybe three inches of snowfall out there. About 18 to 30 around the Boston area and 10 to 20 as you head down towards Philadelphia. The farther you go in the interior, the lesser the amounts will be. But even if you don't get the heavy snow at your house, you will be feeling the effects of the wind and the cold. The good news is, it will be over and done with and it's happening on a weekend -- Rande.

KAYE: That is good news. Thank you, Jacqui.

Well, from the weather forecast to the political forecast. George W. Bush was sworn in for his second term as president this week. Joining us now for a look ahead at the challenges facing President Bush is CNN's senior political analyst Bill Schneider.

Good evening, Bill.

BILL SCHNEDIER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Hi Rande.

KAYE: Let's get right to it. The domestic challenge, we hear a lot about social security playing a big part in the second term. What other domestic challenge might we hear a lot about?

SCHNEIDER: Immigration. That's an issue that's boiling out there. I've spoken with several members of Congress who say when they go home and meet with their constituents; the issue that keeps coming up is illegal immigrants. They feel flooded and -- you know just overrun with illegal immigrants. They see them, Hispanics mostly but also Asian immigrants and from really all over the world, in their areas and not only creates economic concern but also they worry about terrorists. There have been stories that have come out about suspects and dangerous people taking Hispanic surnames and coming in through Mexico. So there's a lot of concern and members of Congress say -- even Republicans tell me that President Bush's Guest Worker Program just doesn't fly out there with American voters.

KAYE: OK. And now, let's touch on the international challenge. Obviously, the Iraq War dominated his first term as president. What other foreign challenges might we see, international challenges?

SCHNEIDER: Well, everyone is worrying about Iran, about the possibility that they could be developing a nuclear weapon. Stories have come out about the United States monitoring the situation there, and of course, the other country on the axis of evil, North Korea. But here's a surprise, nobody is talking about Latin America. No one is paying any attention to Latin America, but there's a lot of discontent in Latin America. Condoleezza Rice, in her confirmation hearings, talked about Hugo Chavez, the president of Venezuela whom the United States doesn't get along with because he regards Fidel Castro as kind of a hero. There's a lot of discontent with globalization, free trade, free markets, haven't done poor people in Latin America a great deal of good. There could be a lurch to the left. We've seen it in Venezuela. We've seen in Brazil.

And here's something else to keep in mind, Fidel Castro, we have to say, is not going to live forever. And he's in -- I think he's in his 70s now. And he is the longest serving head of government of any country in the world. He came to power on New Year's Day 1959. When he goes, when he leaves power, if he dies, there could be a very unstable situation in Cuba.

KAYE: Bill, what are the risks for a president in his second term?

SCHNEIDER: Well, always the risk of hubris. And certainly the risk came -- caught front and center when the president gave that inaugural speech. Americans listened to that and he talked about not a war on terror but a war on tyranny which is even bigger. And they wonder can we really fight the war? Can the United States achieve its ultimate goal, admirable as it is, of eliminating tyranny all over the world? A lot of critics of President Bush, particularly Democrats and liberals, listened to that inaugural address and they said to themselves, oh, my God, more Iraqs? He didn't say that, but that was on the minds of a lot of listeners.

KAYE: And how about internationally? How would you say the inaugural speech was received around the world?

SCHNEIDER: Not very well. I think that it made very people very nervous because it was bold. It was ambitious. And a lot of people heard the same thing that President Bush's domestic critics heard, that we want to make it the business of the United States to promote democracy. The president argues the war on terror and the war on tyranny are really the same thing because he points out that Democratic countries, free countries don't commit acts of aggression and don't threaten the security of the United States. So if the United States promotes democracy in the world, it'll contribute to America's security. That's a very interesting, provocative, and a lot of people outside the United States, would say arguable proposition. But that seems to be the core of this administration's bold, ambitious, foreign policy and it's a very controversial one to the rest of the world. It makes them very nervous.

KAYE: Too ambitious, would you say?

SCHNEIDER: Well, they think it's too ambitious. But they don't know exactly what it means. And in the last day or so, since the inaugural address, members of the administration have been giving interviews to the press, many of them anonymously, saying no, no, no it isn't some bold, new program. We're not talking about invading other countries and more Iraqs. It was basically a restatement, a repackaging, if you will, of what we've been doing already in Iraq and Afghanistan. So they've been trying to calm the waters a little bit.

KAYE: All right. Our Bill Schneider, as always, good to see you.

SCHNEIDER: Good, Rande.

KAYE: News across America, the nation's capital is in the grips of a punishing winter storm spreading from the Midwest through the Northeast. Winds that could reach up to 50 mile an hour are driving snow that could pile up to two feet.

An 11-year-old boy who police say was taken by a convicted child molester is safely back with his parents in Ocala, Florida. Officials say there's no indication that the youngster was molested. Police found him yesterday as Frederick Fretz disappeared into the North Georgia woods. They're still searching for Fretz.

Friends of 19-year-old Megan Holden held a candlelight vigil last night outside the Wal-mart store where she had worked as a clerk. Police in Tyler, Texas, say the man charged with kidnapping and shooting her to death was a stranger to her.

Now, to the upcoming Iraqi elections. Iraqi exiles are traveling to registration sites across the U.S. for a chance to do something they were never allowed to do under Saddam Hussein's regime, vote. Some say the opportunity to have a voice in Iraq's new destiny is like being reborn. Here's our Miguel Marquez. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It is a celebration of registration. Iraqis from across the western U.S. descending on Southern California, they're registering to vote in the upcoming Iraqi elections.

ADIL RIQABI, IRAQI VOTER (through translator): I feel I'm just born today. I feel I'm a baby right now. I want to dance. I want to have fun. I want to jump in the streets to tell everybody I'm happy.

MARQUEZ: Adil Riqabi and his Kurdish friends flew from Seattle despite the flight and security reminiscent of their homeland; they say the trip was a small price to pay.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We flew only two hours, right? But if we -- if there is no place for us here to vote, we would have fly to Iraq to vote.

MARQUEZ: Riqabi wears an Iraqi flag and walks with a limp. An injury, he says, from the 1980s when Saddam Hussein forced him to fight against Iran.

RIQABI: Thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you.

RIQABI: Thank you.

MARQUEZ: Sahar Ali brought her mother and her daughter to register. Batila Rasol (ph) fled Iraq in 1982 and still hopes to return. Her daughter communicates what Rasul (ph) cannot.

SAHAR ALI, IRAQI VOTER: This is like a dream come true, just like Martin Luther King. I have a dream. This was our dream to one day come and really vote for somebody that we want.

MARQUEZ: But for as easy as the dream is in Southern California, Ali knows her relatives in Iraq face more of a nightmare.

ALI: For them, there's a lot of, you know, talk about whoever enters the voting poll will be sniper shot, whoever attempts to go to vote will be killed.

MARQUEZ: Jafar Qazweeni came with his sister-in-law and her family. The kids wore smiles and ties. It's a big day, the first day of a long recovery for Iraq.

JAFAR QAZWEENI, IRAQI VOTER: My country has been torn by the carnage, by the terrorist acts and by violence and occupation as well.

MARQUEZ (on camera): Registration in five locations nationwide has now been extended through Tuesday and the voting runs Friday through Sunday.

Miguel Marquez, CNN, Los Angeles. (END VIDEOTAPE)

KAYE: While expatriates are euphoric about participating in the political process, there is concern that surging violence in Iraq will scare Iraqis away from the polls. Iraq's interim government has implemented a number of security measures. But are they ready? Zainab Al-Suwaij is with the American Islamic Congress. She returned from Iraq last week and is joining me now live from Boston.

Good evening.

ZAINAB AL-SUWAIJ, AMERICAN ISLAMIC CONGRESS: Good evening.

KAYE: Just recently, in Iraq now, last week, what are your impressions of how things are going there?

AL-SUWAIJ: Well, people are very excited about the election upcoming next week and all of them are preparing for it and trying to choose their nominees. And the people who are running are going around and expanding their publicity around in the area and they're talking to people in the schools and universities and marketplaces and so on, and also putting their pictures and their names around for other people to read it and to be able to elect them. So...

KAYE: Is it your impression...

AL-SUWAIJ: ...it's a very exciting period.

KAYE: Is it your impression that the country is ready for the upcoming election now just eight days away?

AL-SUWAIJ: Well, I think at a certain point this election needed to happen. And I think whether it's eight days or longer, I think the sooner the better. There is also ways for improvement in the future, but at this point, I think it's very important for people to have this election.

KAYE: Did you get the feeling while there, whether speaking with friend or family, that they feel it's safe to go out and vote?

AL-SUWAIJ: Well, there's always the fear of something will happen during the election period. And -- but they are insisting on going and elect and do their -- and vote and do their duty, as they consider it right now.

KAYE: How about -- let's talk about just the logistics of voting. I mean they're closing some of the borders. They're closing streets. There will be a curfew in place. How tough will it be just to simply go out and vote?

AL-SUWAIJ: Well, there are poll centers in every area. Basically, they are using schools to have as the center for people to come and vote. And it's going to be -- I don't think it's going to be that easy, but security is really -- it's been increased in the past 10 days and it will be increasing towards -- once it's closer to the election. And I think people are determined to go and vote and giving the danger that's around them.

KAYE: What is this election, in your opinion mean, to the people there and what does it mean to you?

AL-SUWAIJ: Well, it means a lot. This is the day that all Iraqis dreamt of for so long. And it's a first step towards democracy. And people are very excited, hoping this first step will lead to a stable Democratic Iraq soon.

KAYE: There are some questions, though, still tonight about the monitoring process. If the election results aren't monitored properly, that it might undermine the process and the results. Any thoughts on that?

AL-SUWAIJ: Well, I think right now, given the logistics and what the country is going through, I think people are trying their best. And it's going to reach a certain point that's accepted for Iraqis at least inside the country. So at this point, I think it's -- so far it's great and I think, you know, improvement is on the way.

KAYE: Here in the United States, we get a little red sticker that we wear when we vote that says, "I voted," but apparently during this election, voters will be having their fingers marked, which will actually mark them as voters and possible targets for insurgents. What do you think of that?

Al-SUWAIJ: Well, this is -- marking their fingers, I don't think it's going to be like a tattoo right there on their finger. It's going to be for -- just for a short period of time. And you can wash it and it will go away. But what's really is very important is that how people wanted this election to happen and wanted to be part of it. I think this is very exciting and very promising for the future of Iraq.

KAYE: All right, Zainab Al-Suwaij. Thank you so much for speaking with us tonight.

Al-SUWAIJ: Thank you.

KAYE: Do you ever wonder what your favorite celebrities are like once the cameras are off? CNN's Carlos Watson joins me next for a preview of his special, "Off Topic."

And the winter snow could spell travel trouble. Later, a live report on travel delays in the air.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: Ever wonder what your favorite celebrities act like when the cameras stop rolling? CNN's Carlos Watson finds out when he goes "Off Topic" with several big name celebs. And Carlos is here to tell us about some fascinating facts he found out about three high profile people. It's all revealed in "Off Topic," airing tomorrow night at 10:00 Eastern, but you're going to give us a little preview.

CARLOS WATSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm going to give a little preview.

KAYE: OK, we're anxious.

WATSON: You know there's good stuff on Sunday at 10:00 and we wanted to mix it up a little bit. It's not all politics, not all entertainment, not all sports. We have probably the hottest political celebrity of the moment, Arnold Schwarzenegger. We've got a guy we're calling the new face of religion in America, Crepple Dollar (ph). And then I think coming up, we've got a bite from a woman who is not only the hottest new face on television, but I think she's a long term star. Her name is Eva Longoria from "Desperate Housewives." You know here as Gabriel Solis and she's going to surprise you a little bit. Besides being an actress, documentary filmmaker, comedian, and listen to this clip. You'll be surprised how she started out.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WATSON (voice-over): You said that you were considered the ugly duckling?

EVA LONGORIA, ACTRESS: Oh yes, yes, I was.

WATSON: No, you weren't.

LONGORIA: Yes.

WATSON: Why did they think you were the ugly duckling?

LONGORIA: Well, in my family, my mom is all very light skinned, and all my sisters are very light skinned because they're light hair, light eyes, light skin, and they're Mexicans. But when I came out, I had this full head of black hair and I was really, really dark, and I was called La (UNINTELLIGIBLE), which is the ugly duckling. And it was a very endearing -- I thought it was endearing when they call me that. To this day, I'm like, Mom, seriously, was I adopted? I mean -- because I am nothing like them not only physically but...

WATSON: You really don't look like them?

LONGORIA: No.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAYE: Nothing ugly about her.

WATSON: Wait a story. She's on the cover of "Rolling Stone" this week, "TV Guide," "Life" and "Maxim" and she's saying that she was an ugly duckling.

KAYE: Hard to believe.

WATSON: And guess what she's reading right now?

KAYE: What?

WATSON: "He's Just Not That Into You." KAYE: Oh my...

WATSON: Can you believe that?

KAYE: I'm sure that's never happened to her.

WATSON: It happened to me or she's just not that into you.

KAYE: She wasn't?

WATSON: What can you do? What can you do? But she was really joyful. We got to a different side of her. I think she's a person you'll see for a long time.

And one of the other people we really enjoyed was Arnold, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. You know him as a body builder, you know him maybe as a serious businessman, you know as a successful actor, now he's governor. He's got big policy proposals. But early on, he also wasn't someone who people thought was going to do well. In fact, his own mother had doubts about him. I think we've got a clip here to show you.

KAYE: OK, let's take a look at that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WATSON: Did people tell you, oh, Arnold, that's great, you're going to do well?

GOV. ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER (R), CALIFORNIA: I don't think that there were people there discouraging me, per se, but I think that there was definitely no one around that believed in me. It was my visions and my ideas and my parents would just never understand it and they would just say, well, why don't you get into soccer. And I'd say I'm a soccer play, but I like weightlifting better now. You know I want to be the youngest world champion in body building. Body building? Why body building? What is the matter -- what are all those pictures on your wall here of these naked men all oiled up in little posing trunks? What's going on?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAYE: Naked men all oiled up on the wall.

WATSON: Rande, you've got to love it. We're getting the real skinny. And by the way, Arnold makes his most revealing comment yet on this Constitutional amendment that might allow some foreign-born persons like himself maybe to run for president. So a really good piece tomorrow at 10.

And then our last guest on -- you know, if you've read the "Da Vinci Code" or you've heard about "The Passion of The Christ," or you saw the president's win in the involvement of religion there, you want to understand religion more these days but not just where it's been, where it's going. And the guy to look to is a guy named Crepple Dollar (ph), an Atlanta-based preacher who we're calling the new face of religion in America. I've got his first national television interview tomorrow at 10:00.

KAYE: Of course you do.

WATSON: I had to.

KAYE: You get it all.

WATSON: Along with Arnold and Eva.

KAYE: All right, thank you so much, Carlos Watson.

WATSON: It's good to see you.

KAYE: And to get the full scoop, well, you just tune in to "Off Topic" with Carlos Watson, airing on CNN tomorrow night at 10:00 Eastern Time.

The snowstorm's wreaking havoc on air travel. Straight ahead tonight, will your travel plans be delayed? A report on the closings and cancellations right after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: Those are just some of the images from a major winter storm in the Northeast. As you can imagine, it's having an impact on air travel. Hundreds of flights were delayed or canceled today at key airports. Helping us keep track of the situation is Travelocity's air traffic specialist, Rally Caparas. He joins us now by phone.

Rally, how are you and what is the situation out there at this hour?

RALLY CAPARAS, AIR TRAFFIC SPECIALIST, TRAVELOCITY: Well, Rande, I'm doing much better than a lot of folks that are stranded all over the country this evening. What we're seeing -- and I heard you say hundreds, well, it's in the thousands now. Two thousand five hundred flights or so have been canceled up around the Great Lakes region all the way over to the East Coast, from Boston all the way down into the Washington D.C. metros and even some down in Atlanta, Georgia here. We saw about 100 or so flights canceled earlier because of the snowball effect. We'll call it snowball for lack of a better term today.

And New York City and Boston today, over 1,000 flights canceled already. The snow, the wind, the poor visibility is expected to continue on into tomorrow. Expect hundreds more to be canceled for Sunday morning flights. And it's not going to get much better there until later on tomorrow in -- on Sunday.

Philadelphia is presently closed, Philadelphia International, due to the conditions. And they're scheduled to reopen at 9:00 a.m. Eastern Standard Time, but that all depends on the weather. Visibility is extremely poor there, about an eighth of the mile on the airport surface with about a 100-feet ceiling that you just can't see to land or take off right there. Baltimore, Washington, and Dulles, they saw hundreds of flights canceled. Detroit, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Covington, all saw hundreds of flights canceled, major delays all day, but those airports will see much better conditions and better schedules for tomorrow.

Chicago O'Hare, they canceled 375 flights today. It's just been an incredibly awful day and tomorrow, it doesn't look better for New York, Boston or Philadelphia, Rande.

KAYE: What a mess. Rally Caparas, thanks for the update. We're hoping that it gets better soon.

Some love it, others hate it. Either way, this wicked weather blanketing the Northeast brings with it pictures we don't see often. Up next, some of the best. But first, here's Mark Shields to tell us what's ahead on "THE CAPITAL GANG" -- Mark.

MARK SHIELDS, CO-HOST, "THE CAPITAL GANG": Rande, Pennsylvania governor, Ed Rendell, joins the gang to analyze President Bush's second inaugural address, the confirmation hearings of Condoleezza Rice and where the Democrats are going. We'll also look at the next big crisis country, Iran. All that and much more right here next on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: In case you just joined us, there are winter storm warnings from Wisconsin to New England. Heavy snow, blustery winds and brutally frigid temperatures are sweeping the Midwest and the Northeast. But it's not all bad. Here are some sights and sounds from this wicked winter weather.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What do you think of tubing?

UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: It's awesome. It's -- just when you're going down, you're going super fast.

UNIDIENTIFIED CHILD: It's really fun because the -- all the hills and the bumps, it's really fun to go down.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Trying to get uphill on this weather and the rear wheel will spin out. If you're not in traction, you don't keep your speed, and it's not going to work.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, I love the snow. I just wish I didn't have to be out in it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is Chicago and we can expect this kind of weather. And I think we just, you know, do the best we can and shovel out and keep things moving.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You getting used to this yet or what?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, yes, yes. Well, being in Ohio, you know, a lot of cold weather and a lot of snow, but we deal with it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are you excited about the snow or what do you think?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh no, I've seen enough in my time, so, the previous four months is great.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, it's hard to see, yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, it's tough going. And I guess if I had my choice, I'd rather go back home.

UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: It's radical.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How radical is it?

UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: Unbelievably radical.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What do you like about it?

UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: The speed and the snow in your face.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAYE: Radical, you heard it there.

That's all the time we have for this hour. Coming up next "THE CAPITAL GANG," then at 8:00 Easter, Miles O'Brien hosts an hour-long countdown to the top 25 innovations since 1980. And at 9:00, Larry King. Larry's guests tonight, Deepak Chopra and Steven R. Covey. And I'll be back at 10:00 Eastern. The Donald gets married today. And tonight, I've got his personal chef to give us an inside scoop on the wedding.

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