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CNN Live At Daybreak
NYC Voters Choose Billionaire Businessman to Lead City Through Troubled Times
Aired November 07, 2001 - 07:00 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.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: New York's new mayor -- voters choose a billionaire businessman to lead the city through troubled times. The anthrax attacks -- a top health official says the worst may be over for now. And safeguarding the skies. Find out what else the federal government is doing to improve safety in time for your Thanksgiving holiday travel. And marveling over Magic. The former basketball star surviving and thriving 10 years after a devastating diagnosis.
And good morning, everyone. Thanks so much for joining us this morning, this Wednesday, November 7. From New York, I'm Paula Zahn.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And I'm Miles O'Brien. Thanks for being with us.
ZAHN: We have comprehensive coverage of election 2001 for you this morning. New Yorkers have decided who will replace Rudy. They pick a Republican media mogul. Voters in Virginia decide to put Democrat Mark Warner in the governor's mansion and Democrats pick up another governor's seat with Jim McGreevey's victory in New Jersey. We'll get back to those races in a moment.
O'BRIEN: We'll also be talking money this morning. Ahead this hour, Commerce Secretary Don Evans weighs in on the economy and the latest interest rate cut, how low can it go? And next hour, the charity cash controversy from September 11. Outgoing Red Cross President Bernadine Healy talks about how the agency is handling millions in donations.
ZAHN: Right now it's time to get the latest headlines from Bill Hemmer in Atlanta on war alert -- Bill.
BILL HEMMER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Paula, good morning. Here's what's happening. From media mogul to mayor on election day 2001, New Yorkers have picked Republican Michael Bloomberg to lead the city through its recovery. With help from incumbent Mayor Rudy Giuliani, Bloomberg edged out Democratic challenger Mark Green and told supporters the city would not be defeated.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BLOOMBERG: We suffered a terrible tragedy on September 11 and we are just not going to let the terrorists beat us.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HEMMER: And for his part, Mark Green conceded defeat, congratulate Bloomberg and a call for unity across his city.
Democrats the apparent winners in the two races for governor that were closely watched. In Virginia, it appears Mark Warner will be moving into the governor's mansion there after beating Republican Mark Earley. Also in the State of New Jersey, Democrat Jim McGreevey over Republican Bret Schundler. The governor's post in that state had been in Republican hands for the past eight years running.
Voters in dozens of other American cities picked mayors yesterday. In Cincinnati's battle, a former TV newsman, incumbent Mayor Charlie Luken, the apparent winner now over the challenger, Curtis Fuller, a flip-flop from the primary a few months ago.
In Atlanta, former city official Shirley Franklin has defeated City Council President Robb Pitts. It was close. Franklin won the mayoral race with just over 50 percent of the votes, which is required here in the City of Atlanta.
Federal officials say they cannot rule out the possibility of another anthrax attack, whether by mail or some other means. It has been eight days now since the last anthrax diagnosis. And Anthony Fauci of the National Institutes of Health says, "For this episode, we are out of the woods."
However, in New York investigators still trying to learn how hospital worker Kathy Nguyen was exposed to the anthrax that killed her. Agents are now using subway computer records, trying to trace Nguyen's every step in the last few days of her life.
The federal government hiring more security workers on a temporary basis to oversee the screening being done by private contractors at airports. The FAA says the new employees will be on the job before the Thanksgiving holiday, always a busy time for travel.
Oregon's attorney general promising to fight an order from the U.S. attorney general. John Ashcroft yesterday gave federal drug agents authority to revoke the drug licenses of doctors involved in assisted suicide. Oregon is the only state that allows doctors to help terminally ill patients who choose to die.
From the White House, President Bush this afternoon will meet with his staunchest ally in the current war on terrorism, the British Prime Minister Tony Blair. In an exclusive interview last night here on CNN's LARRY KING, Blair talked about the war and also talked about the vigilance and staying the course.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TONY BLAIR, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: People want very quick results and people are obviously concerned because there is no easy way of fighting a war and taking military action. There's no way that you engage in conflict without difficult and harmful things happening and it's at this point in time that we need to steady people. We need to say look, let's go back and go through the argument again as to why it's happening, why we have to do this, why we have to see it through and why we have to see through what is happening in Afghanistan, not just for the peace of mind of our own citizens, but to free people in Afghanistan from one of the most wretched and despised and oppressive regimes anywhere in the world.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HEMMER: Prime Minister Blair also telling Larry King that he will travel from London to Washington today on a special flight of the British Airways Concorde that we've been watching throughout the morning here.
Also in the world of sports, a cutback coming to baseball's major leagues. The baseball owners decided yesterday to eliminate two teams by next season. They're not saying exactly which ones just yet but the Montreal Expos and the Minnesota Twins, considered the most likely at this point, anyway. According to reports through CNN's Sports Illustrated, baseball downsizing after the World Series. We'll track that.
Another update coming up bottom of the hour, 25 minutes from now. Back to New York now and more with Miles -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: All right, thank you very much, Bill.
In New York there is a new mayor this morning. Michael Bloomberg built a financial empire that bears his name and now he's been chosen to lead the rebuilding of New York City.
CNN's Maria Hinojosa looks at how the tragedy of September 11 influenced the race and its outcome.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARIA HINOJOSA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): After eight years of a Republican in New York's City Hall, the legacy will continue. But Republican billionaire Michael Bloomberg was quick to point out that his tenure won't center on party politics.
BLOOMBERG: Tonight is not about Republicans or Democrats, it's about New Yorkers.
HINOJOSA: At Mark Green's Democratic headquarters, a concession, but also a quick jab about losing to a billionaire.
MARK GREEN (D), NEW YORK MAYORAL CANDIDATE: When a campaign adviser last month told me that no candidate in America had ever won an election being outspent by $45 million, I thought we beat the odds. HINOJOSA: The final sprint of the mayor's race took off back on September 11, the day people thought would have been a routine primary when a predominantly Democratic city was set to choose its Democratic candidate and most likely the next mayor of the city. That Democrat would run against a political unknown, Republican businessman Michael Bloomberg, who would spend millions of his own money on this campaign, making this the city's most expensive election.
BLOOMBERG: My experience in terms of building a company and managing people through economic trying times and providing leadership to 8,000 employees and 200,000 customers is -- makes me qualified to lead this city forward for this period in time.
HINOJOSA: But the terror attacks that morning delayed the primary by two weeks and turned this election upside down. The popularity of Republican Mayor Rudy Giuliani soared as he presided over a city gripped by grief and fear. But Giuliani is barred from running again by term limits and he endorsed Bloomberg. MAYOR RUDY GIULIANI (R), NEW YORK CITY: I'm comfortable with Mike Bloomberg being the next mayor. But whatever the voters choose, it's their choice.
HINOJOSA: In the Democratic primary, voters split along racial lines. Winner Mark Green was accused of playing a race card against Latino candidate Fernando Ferrer from the Bronx. The split left Democrats reeling.
REV. AL SHARPTON: But I do not want to see our communities and our people of good will, including those of all communities that were involved in the Ferrer campaign, told that this is some side issue that is up. We cannot send a signal that we will put our dignity on hold in the name of we must win at any cost.
HINOJOSA (on camera): And what it cost the Democrats was New York's city hall. How Latinos and African-Americans and other New York Democrats will fare under a Bloomberg tenure remains to be seen.
Maria Hinojosa, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
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