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Lou Dobbs Tonight

Florida Begins Massive Cleanup Effort; Insurgents Kill Seven U.S. Marines

Aired September 06, 2004 - 18:00   ET

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

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


KITTY PILGRIM, CNN ANCHOR: Tonight, Tropical Storm Frances plows into the Florida Panhandle as the rest of the state begins a massive cleanup operation.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LT. GOV. TONI JENNINGS, FLORIDA: It is probably the largest storm we've ever had. It's engulfed the entire state.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PILGRIM: We'll have the very latest on the recovery effort. The mayor of West Palm Beach, one of the worst effected communities, is my guest.

President Clinton has quadruple bypass surgery. Doctors say the surgery was a success.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He is recovering normally at this point. So I think right now everything looks straightforward.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PILGRIM: A bloody day in Iraq. Insurgents kill seven U.S. Marines. It was the worst attack on American troops in months.

Back to Basics: Senator John Kerry focuses on domestic issues as he tries to win back the initiative from President Bush.

And on this Labor Day, we celebrate the men and women who make this country work.

ANNOUNCER: This is LOU DOBBS TONIGHT for Monday, September 6. Here now for an hour of news, debate and opinion, sitting in for Lou Dobbs, who is on vacation, is Kitty Pilgrim.

PILGRIM: Good evening.

Tonight, Tropical Storm Frances still packs a powerful punch, even though it's been downgraded from a hurricane. Frances today slammed into the Florida Panhandle about 20 miles south of Tallahassee. The storm left a trail of devastation across the rest of the state. At least six people were killed. Insured losses could be as high as $10 billion. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PILGRIM (voice-over): In Frances' wake, devastating flooding and damage.

JENNINGS: It's engulfed the entire state. Fifty-seven of our 67 counties have been impacted by loss of power alone. So what we're doing is working our way through restoration.

PILGRIM: More than three million people remain without power.

COLLEEN CASTILLE, FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION: The massive number of outages that we have will have us probably working for up do two weeks to restore electricity.

PILGRIM: Seventy-thousand people are still staying in nearly 300 shelters. Officials are urging those residents not to return home until they are told it is safe.

THADDEUS COHEN, SECURITY DEPARTMENT OF COMMUNITY AFFAIRS: We know that it's antsy, that you're nervous, you want to get back and see your property.

But, clearly, it's important for us to be able to keep the roads open and clear so that our emergency workers will have an opportunity to go out there and do their job.

PILGRIM: Those emergency workers and National Guardsmen are bringing in food, water and medical supplies.

Governor Jeb Bush traveled to several counties visiting emergency operation centers, shelters and damaged areas.

Early estimates place the cost of Hurricane Frances between $2 billion to $10 billion in insured losses. Uninsured damage could be just as high.

MIKE BROWN, DIRECTOR, FEMA: The estimates are just going to be through the roof, if there is a roof out there for it to go through, because there's just been so much water and wind associated with this storm, and it's been moving so slowly that I'm very concerned about getting into the middle part of the state, into the rural areas where the flooding's going to be an incredible hazard.

PILGRIM: The brand-new marina in Fort Pierce is a total loss. One resident was devastated when he saw the damage.

BILL MULLHERN, FORT PIERCE RESIDENT: I feel really bad for our neighbors. There were a fair amount of live-aboards here, and, from what I understand, some of them simply had the minimal liability coverage, and, basically, they're out of a place to live right now.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PILGRIM: The Kennedy Space Center suffered the worst storm damage in its history. NASA officials will tour that site tomorrow. Well, another powerful hurricane tonight is charging across the Atlantic toward the Caribbean Islands. Weather experts say Hurricane Ivan could eventually strike Florida, but those experts say it's too early to tell for sure. Hurricane Ivan is the fourth major hurricane this summer.

Tropical Storm Frances today swept across the Florida Panhandle. High winds, heavy rain.

Tom Foreman joins us live from Carrabelle.

Tom, what are the conditions there like now?

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kitty, the conditions here right now are a little tiny bit of rain, a little bit of breeze, not bad at all, considering what could have come here. And many people here are breathing sighs of relief. They've looked at all the damage in the rest of the state, and they realize how bad it could have been here.

Now, that said, there are many people here who fled the rest of the state who are now going to want to head back, and one of the things they're being cautioned against is how much danger still remains. The fact is all of those power lines down all over that state -- some of them are hot, some of them are not, but the fact is people don't know.

They're blocking roads. Areas are submerged. The power crews have to be able to work. There are people with power trucks coming from all over the South going in there to do the work. Authorities are asking people to stay away to let them get the job done.

Now one related note about this: The number of fatalities related to the storm are relatively small considering how huge the storm was, but something quite unusual happened.

The former son-in-law and a grandson of the much-loved Florida State University football coach, Bobby Bowden, here -- those two people, his former son-in-law and a grandson, were killed in a car crash on one of the rain-slicked roads here when they slid into a utility truck here to do some of the work.

Just two of the fatalities in this terrible, terrible storm, which many people here say, because it lingered so long and because it did such spotty damage here and there and here and there, not focused in just one area, is one of the strangest storms they've ever seen in this state -- Kitty.

PILGRIM: Tom, what's the biggest concern for authorities right now?

FOREMAN: I think the biggest concern for authorities right now is trying to keep people away until they can fix things, and that's hard to do because people want to go home.

They are worried, just as that official said a moment ago, about their property, their pets, their homes, their boats, their cars. They want to get back and see what they're like. But just as it took some time to get all these people out of the state, it's going to take a lot of time to get them all back home.

The authorities are begging these people to please stay put for a day or two more, stay in a hotel somewhere, eat at a restaurant somewhere, and then...

PILGRIM: All right. Thanks very -- thanks very much. And -- well, at least you can stay dry.

We'll have much more on Tropical Storm Frances coming up in the broadcast.

Let's turn to Iraq now. The deadliest attack on American forces in months took place today. Seven Marines were killed in a suicide bombing in Fallujah, and Walt Rodgers has that report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WALT RODGERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: With this latest tragedy, the number of U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq is now nudging right up around 1,000 since the war began.

Seven U.S. Marines killed, three Iraqi National Guardsmen -- at least -- killed, traveling on a highway just north of Fallujah. Fallujah in the Sunni triangle is a volcano of hatred toward the United States. Suddenly, a driver pulled up along as if to pass the military vehicles. He detonated a huge explosion, again killing the seven Marines.

That's the largest single number of Americans killed in a single incident since last May 2. It again underlines the fact that the guerrillas and the insurgents in Iraq are operating rather freely in a target-rich environment.

Still, the commander of theater operations here, General John Abizaid, denies that the Americans are losing the fight in Iraq.

GEN. JOHN ABIZAID, COMMANDER, U.S. CENTRAL COMMAND: The truth of the matter is that we've been fighting in this part of the world now for nearly three years, and we haven't lost a single military engagement at the platoon level and above anywhere ever. And so it's difficult for me to give any credence to the notion that we're losing militarily because we're not and we can't be defeated militarily.

RODGERS: The difficulty,, of course, for the Americans is that a single incident like this can create the perception that the Americans are stumbling in Iraq. Seven Marines killed, a reporter kidnapped, contract workers having their throats slit, others being held hostages. It is the perception here which shapes reality as much as the facts on the ground.

Walter Rodgers, CNN, Baghdad.

(END VIDEOTAPE) PILGRIM: Russia today marked the first day of mourning for hundreds of children and adults killed in a siege on a Russian school. More than 100 of the victims were buried today in Beslan. Hundreds more are still missing.

Matthew Chance reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In a field set aside for the dead, the people of Beslan are burying their children in utter grief. Some families, shocked by their loss, have still to find their loved ones. Others must bid theirs farewell at the grave. Those with the strength to speak breathe contempt for the killers who did this. Few can explain it.

"We pray for the souls of the innocents who were killed by the terrorists in Beslan," says the priest. "May they rest in peace."

So many have been robbed of all joy.

Murat (ph) has a daughter no more, killed, he told me, with all her schoolmates. He invited us to join the mourners at his home. We walked into bedlam. Around the coffin, the grief is fever-pitched. Alana (ph) was just 15 and a bright student. In her wake, the chaos of despair is overwhelming. She'll be missed.

"As parents, we should die before our kids, but I have seen my daughter's death," says Murat (ph). "Now our home feels cold. There are many homes like this in Beslan now."

And this is where the innocent life was lost. School No. 1 is now a burned-out ruin on public view, its playground littered with painful reminders of the hostage siege.

Survivors like Zara (ph) and her two grandchildren speak of the cruelty suffered at the hands of their captors.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): They never gave us any water. The kids couldn't bear it. For days, they screamed of thirst. Some even drank their own urine or poured it on themselves to cool down. Others just cried for help.

CHANCE: Help that never came and arrived too late for the hundreds now being laid to rest.

(on camera): This has already been declared a day of official mourning across Russia, but it's clear from the misery in these fields outside Beslan that the wounds will take far longer to heal here.

One bereaved father told me that even the loss of a single child is enough to be called a tragedy. This, he said, is beyond words.

Matthew Chance, CNN, Beslan in southern Russia.

(END VIDEOTAPE) PILGRIM: Still to come, recovering from Hurricane Frances. West Palm Beach, Florida, was one of the worst-hit areas, and Mayor Lois Frankel will join us.

And then new poll numbers tonight days after the Republican Convention wraps up in New York. It's good news for one candidate, and we'll tell you who.

And former President Clinton recovers from major heart surgery. We'll have a live report on Bill Clinton's condition from outside his hospital.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PILGRIM: More now on the devastation of Hurricane Frances. The storm dumped more than a foot of rain along Florida's East Coast, causing extensive flooding, of course. One of the worst effected communities is West Palm Beach.

And joining me now is the mayor of West Palm Beach, Lois Frankel.

Thanks very much for joining us on, I'm sure, very, very little sleep and a lot of anxiety.

Mayor Frankel, what are you worried about most going forward here?

MAYOR LOIS FRANKEL, WEST PALM BEACH: Well, really just cleaning up. We've been moving all the tree debris and getting the power back. I think that's the biggest complaint we're getting now, is electricity is out, and so what worries me -- concerns me is the loss of business income and -- for people who can't open their businesses, can't get to work.

So that's probably the biggest concern. The trees are going to grow back, and people are going to -- you know, they're going to be a little hot in their homes, but we're going to get by.

PILGRIM: Yes. You know, Governor Jeb Bush surveyed the damage yesterday, said it was a little too earlier to tell how bad it was. Can you tell now?

FRANKEL: Well, we have damage assessment teams that are actually going house to house, building to building. It's going to take us about a month. What we're finding is just a lot of little things that are going to add up, and I'm going to guess that the cost of this hurricane will be billions and billions of dollars in the whole area.

I know in our city alone, we know it's going to run -- it will be close to $2 billion. Again, just small hits here and there, but it adds up when you have so many residents and so many people living in a small area.

PILGRIM: You mentioned the cost to businesses having to be closed. When might you resume normal life? The school year is probably thrown off kilter, too. FRANKEL: Well, we have electricity back in -- partially in different parts of the county. We're fortunate in West Palm Beach. Part of our popular business district called CityPlace is now open. The movie's running. There's air-conditioning. The restaurants are open, and so is the local supermarket.

But there are still areas in our city and in the county with no electricity, and I think there's something like four million or six million Floridians right now that have no electricity.

PILGRIM: What's the status on the roads? Are they closed? Are they open? Are you encouraging people to come back?

FRANKEL: The roads have still been quite dangerous. We have finally in our area gotten most of the big trees off of the roads, but we have no traffic lights.

So what we're going to do in our city tomorrow is we will have stop signs placed at all the major intersections and we will have traffic officers directing traffic so that at least it's going to be a little bit safer.

But, right now, we like -- we have curfews in effect from 8 -- from 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.

PILGRIM: We had some incidents of looting in other areas. Have you seen any?

FRANKEL: We made a few arrests last night for people who were breaking curfew and a couple who were trying to break into some buildings, but, for the most part, we've had very, very calm evenings here, and people are obeying the law and working together, pitching in to get their yards and their houses cleaned up.

PILGRIM: What's your advice to everyone as they move back?

FRANKEL: As they come back? Well, first of all, come back into town very carefully because the lights are down. There's still a lot of debris on the ground. We want people to get their storm shutters off the windows. We have heard that there may be another hurricane coming our way, and it's dangerous to have all of the shutters on your windows. So we want the people to at least take the storm shutters off their bedroom, so, in case of an emergency, they can get out.

Other than that, this is a very, very vibrant community. It was a vibrant community before the hurricane, and we're going to be a vibrant community after the hurricane. It's just another challenge, but we'll meet it. We'll meet it.

PILGRIM: Will you get a rest before you start to worry about Ivan that's coming up, or are you already worried?

FRANKEL: I don't think we're going to get a rest because Ivan is around the corner, but, hopefully, it's going to become a tropical storm in the Gulf, but, if not, I guess we've had some good practice the last couple weeks. PILGRIM: I would say so. I'm not sure "good" is quite the word, but, anyway, you've survived it quite well. Thanks very much for joining us.

Mayor Lois Frankel.

Thank you.

Still to come, former President Clinton undergoes hours of surgery on his heart, and we'll have the latest on his condition next.

And then new polls reveal whether President Bush won a bounce following the Republican Convention, and we'll have reports from the campaign trail and analysis from our political panel.

And then Hurricane Frances makes its second landfall on Florida. We'll have the latest on the storm and the new hurricane threat to Florida. The director of the National Hurricane Center Max Mayfield is our guest.

That and a great deal more. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANNOUNCER: LOU DOBBS TONIGHT continues with more news, debate and opinion. Here now, Kitty Pilgrim.

PILGRIM: President Clinton is recovering tonight after successful quadruple bypass surgery on his heart. Now the president is resting tonight at New York Presbyterian Hospital here in Manhattan, and Adaora Udoji joins us now from the hospital -- Adaora.

ADAORA UDOJI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Kitty.

In fact, the doctor said after surgery today that President Clinton was awake. He was still sedated at that time with a breathing tube, but they described a very successful quadruple bypass operation, saying they found significant blockage in his arteries.

They also said that Senator Hillary Clinton, his wife, and Chelsea, their daughter, had been with the president constantly the past couple of days. They were in the waiting room as he waited for sur -- the operation. They were there during the operation.

A hospital spokesman, Herbert Pardes, read a statement from Chelsea and Senator Clinton where they thanked God and the hospital for what they called great care Clinton was getting.

And let's just hear a little bit more from Mr. Pardes.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. HERBERT PARDES, PRESIDENT & CEO, NEW YORK PRESBYTERIAN: "These past few days have been quite an emotional roller coaster for us. As so many families know, open-heart surgery, though increasingly common, is a very serious procedure. That is why we are so grateful to the people of this hospital and so many others around the country and the world who have been giving us their prayers and support."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

UDOJI: Again, that was a statement from Hillary Clinton and Chelsea Clinton, talking about their ordeal they've been going through the past five days.

Doctors are optimistic. They give Bill Clinton, the former president, a good prognosis. One of the lead surgeons, Dr. Allan Schwartz, describes it this way.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. ALLAN SCHWARTZ, CARDIOLOGIST: The first part of the recovery he's well into. The president is awake, and, over the course of the next several hours, we hope to get the tube that assisted his breathing out. He'll spend a period of time in a closely monitored area, an intensive care unit. He will then be progressively ambulated and continue his recuperation at home.

At home, he'll have a schedule of exercise that will gradually increase, and he will gradually resume an entirely normal physical exercise and work schedule.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

UDOJI: As for tonight, President Clinton is expected to spend the night in the intensive care unit and then, if all goes well, to be moved to a general care unit in the next day or so.

As you just heard the medical team saying, they believe he'll be in the hospital for the next couple of days -- four or five days they are expecting at this point -- and they are -- his prognosis is a full recovery within two to three months, Kitty.

I mean, they also noted that the -- President Clinton is in good shape, him losing weight in the last couple of months and talking about a very vigorous exercise regime, of course, going to help in his recovery -- Kitty.

PILGRIM: Adaora, the doctors today talked about the outpouring of support for the former president. What's it been like?

UDOJI: No doubt. Here's something actually interesting. On Friday, initially when President Clinton was admitted into the hospital here, Senator Clinton came out Friday afternoon and gave a statement thanking all of those, the public for the tremendous amount of support that had been coming in phone calls and notes.

But, at that time, she said there wasn't going to be another update, but not only did they release a statement yesterday, but again today. They have apparently been incredibly moved by a tremendous outpouring of support. In fact, one aide saying that they had gotten over 30,000 e-mails of good wishes from people all over the country and all over the world -- Kitty.

PILGRIM: All right. Thanks very much.

Adaora Udoji.

Thanks, Adaora.

Well, President Bush is campaigning today in a battleground state along with Senator Kerry. The president is in Missouri, which he won by a narrow margin four years ago.

White House Correspondent Suzanne Malveaux is live in Poplar Bluff, Missouri, with the report -- Suzanne.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kitty, just a quick update when it comes to hurricanes. We have learned that the president is going to be traveling to Florida on Wednesday to actually survey some of the damage there.

He also comes armed with a letter that he sent to House Speaker Denny Hastert, asking Congress to approve $2 billion in emergency supplemental funding to help those who have suffered from those hurricanes, also, of course, keeping a close eye, getting briefings on Ivan, which is on its way. We're also told the president is going to request additional funding in the days to come.

Now, as you had mentioned, he is here in Missouri. This is a very important state for the president. He faces a very big challenge here, second only to Michigan. Statistics show that Missouri has lost the most number of jobs -- 23,000 jobs from June to July. That is from the Bureau of Labor and Statistics.

It is a drop of 2 percent, showing that the state has seen no growth in jobs this year overall. Of course, to be fair, those numbers wildly fluctuate from month to month, showing dramatic increases as well as losses.

Also, a very important figure to note, an "L.A. Times" Missouri poll taken between August 21 to 24, showing that Missouri voters continue to give Mr. Bush low marks on the economy, 45 percent approving of his performance to 49 percent disapproving.

Now the president's strategy here, of course, is to emphasize the numbers that work for him. Labor Department numbers came out on Friday that say 144,000 jobs created in August nationwide, also looking at an uptick of those numbers for June and July of 60,000 jobs created.

And, of course, the president today outlining his economic plan, specifically talking about reforming the tax code, making those tax cuts permanent, and, of course, giving businesses the kind of support that they need to grow -- Kitty.

PILGRIM: All right. Thanks very much.

Suzanne Malveaux.

Well, like President Bush, Senator John Kerry is also campaigning in battleground states, and it comes as the Kerry campaign is retooling its message for the final push of this campaign.

Ed Henry reports from Canonsburg, Pennsylvania.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ED HENRY, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It was back to basics for John Kerry, who zeroed in on domestic issues, especially jobs on a Labor Day swing through three battleground states.

SEN. JOHN F. KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: If you want four more years of your wages falling, if you want four more years of Social Security trust funds being raided in order to give tax cuts to the wealthiest people in America, then you should go vote for George Bush.

HENRY: That's music to the ears of senior Democrats who are grumbling that Kerry has spent too much time on national security, which enabled President Bush to surge ahead in the polls. But, as he spoke from a front porch in Pennsylvania, Kerry was repeatedly heckled by Bush supporters.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Flip flop! Flip Flop!

HENRY: Kerry stayed on message, even as one protester mocked the wealthy senator's claim that he will fight for average Americans.

KERRY: He's right. I'm privileged. My tax burden went down, and I don't think that's right. I think your tax burden ought to go down.

HENRY: The domestic push is being made on the heels of a Saturday night phone call between Kerry and Bill Clinton. Sources tell CNN that from his hospital bed, the former president counseled Kerry on shifting the talk from Vietnam to bread-and-butter issues.

Add to that a slew of Clinton veterans like Joe Lockhart, who have joined the campaign at a time of continued restructuring, but Kerry aides are downplaying the significance of the Clinton phone call and say he's not swooping in to save the day.

KERRY: This is the most overblown this. I've talked to President Clinton many times over the last months, and people are, frankly, creating fiction out of something that doesn't exist. Our campaign, I think, is very much on track.

HENRY: Before heading to Ohio, Kerry continued beating the drum on the domestic front at a rally with coal miners in West Virginia.

KERRY: Health-care costs are going through the roof for every family in America. The surplus that he was left has been completely wiped away. Our alliances around the world with other countries that we rely on to help us have been shredded and left in tatters around the globe.

HENRY (on camera): Despite the new poll numbers, Kerry is feeling confident. He's privately telling the staff that this feels like 1996 all over again. That's when Kerry fell behind Republican Bill Weld in a titanic Senate reelection battle. With is back against the wall, Kerry cranked it up a notch and pulled out a victory.

Ed Henry, CNN, Canonsburg, Pennsylvania.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PILGRIM: Now the vice presidential candidates also campaigned in the Midwest today, and both of them made stops in Minnesota. Vice President Dick Cheney touted President Bush's tax cuts at a town hall meeting in Minneapolis, and Senator John Edwards spoke at a Labor Day rally in St. Paul, and he pushed the Democrat plan to create jobs.

Well, joining us now for more on jobs and the post-convention polls and a look at the next eight weeks of the campaign, we're joined by Senior Political Analyst Bill Schneider from Washington and, here in New York, Marcus Mabry, senior editor at "Newsweek."

And thanks very much for joining us, both, gentlemen.

Let's go first to this poll, which is very interesting and actually backs up a poll that came out on Friday that gives President Bush a substantial lead.

And let's take a look at the numbers. And we have Bush at 54 and Kerry at 43. Bill, what do you make of that?

SCHNEIDER: Well, it's a majority for Bush, which is important. He's crossed that threshold. He's the incumbent president. The election is a referendum, or it's supposed to be a referendum on him. Do Americans want to rehire him or do they want to fire him, the way they did his father?

When he goes above 50 percent, he can breathe easier, because that means finally a majority of voters are saying, "Yes, we think we want to rehire him." But he's not safe, because he had to be substantially above 50 percent to feel safe.

PILGRIM: Substantially, we're at 54. We did probably get a post-convention bounce. Marcus?

MARCUS MABRY, "NEWSWEEK": Absolutely. According to the "Newsweek" poll, actually, the president enjoyed a 13-point bounce.

That compares to the "Newsweek" poll of a mini-bounce, a baby bounce we talked of, for John Kerry after his convention, where he only got a four-point bounce, which is in the statistical margin of error. So in fact, the president did far better than John Kerry.

What's interesting here, though, is to remember the reason we call it a bounce is because it goes up and it comes down again. And so the numbers -- our poll, which was conducted on Thursday and Friday, immediately, the last day of the Republican National Convention and the day after the Republican convention means that we're probably seeing a peak of reaction. The polls that will come out later in the week will probably put the race closer to a 50-50 point, as we've seen it all year long. But it is important to mention, as Bill said, for the first time a candidate has broached the 50 percent mark and that's got to give the president and his people some bit of confidence, although I don't expect those numbers to hold up to that kind of a lead.

PILGRIM: Or in fact broken through. We'll see if they're sustainable.

But what's this -- and I'll turn to Bill on this. What does this say about how each convention was handled, Bill? Is there something to be taken away from that?

SCHNEIDER: Well, look, the Democrat convention was all about Vietnam. The Republican convention was all about 9/11, but to the voters, the No. 1 issue is the economy. And neither convention really addressed that issue.

John Kerry is starting to address that issue, because he understands, or he has been given to understand by someone named Bill Clinton, that the only way he's going to win this election is by stressing the domestic agenda.

He will never, never beat Bush on national security, and he can't win the election if it becomes a referendum on Kerry. It has to be a referendum on Bush, and it has to be focused on domestic issues like the economy and health care.

PILGRIM: Well, let's look -- Bill, let's look at some of these numbers. And in fact they just came out. We have the economy, Bush at 49, Kerry at 43; terrorism and the homeland, 60 percent for Bush, 32 percent for Kerry; and Iraq, 55 percent for Bush, 37 percent for Kerry.

So on some of the big issues, we do have President Bush leading by a substantial margin -- Marcus.

MABRY: I think what's most incredible coming out of the Republican convention, which really shows the convention did exactly what it had to do, with far more discipline than the Democrats.

And all four nights, you saw two basic messages. No. 1, John Kerry is weak; No. 2, President Bush is strong. And that was it every single night.

The Democrats, as Bill said, did a much better job of laying out Kerry's biography, and in doing so, they hoped to say, "This guy led the nation in Vietnam, can lead the nation now" and erase what was a credibility gap on the issues of leadership and dealing with national security issues.

Well, they did that, briefly after their convention, they were tied on that. The incredible thing coming out of the Republican convention is on all these issues, like the economy now, Bush actually has a lead. Those numbers, as it were, flip-flopped from what was the case after the Democratic convention, where Kerry had the lead. Even on issues like healthcare, John Kerry now leads by two points. Coming out of his convention he led by 23 points.

Even on issues like jobs, foreign competition, the president now leads by one point. John Kerry, that was one of his big issues. He led by 17 points after his convention. The Democrats have clearly lost the train here, and they have a lot to do in a short period of time. I'm not saying it's not doable. It clearly is. Again these numbers will, I think, readjust and come down to earth, but they have a lot to do in a short period of time.

PILGRIM: We just discussed all the issues. Let's talk about something that's extremely squishy, personally likable. And that's an interesting statistic. Bush stands at 67 percent and Kerry at 59 percent.

Bill, this personally likable, how important is this?

SCHNEIDER: It's very important. Americans have to like a president to vote for him. That was one of Al Gore's problems. They agreed with Al Gore on a lot of issues. They thought the economy was doing very well in 2000, but they didn't like him that much. They liked Bush.

You know, you can say Gore won the debates on points, but they liked Bush better. And he got -- in the end, he won the electoral college.

But likeability is crucial. When Clinton got in trouble, there were all those Clinton haters out there who despised him. Then Clinton would give a speech to the country, and voters would look at him and they'd say, "You know, I can't hate this guy. I don't even understand how others can hate this guy. He's a very likable guy."

Bush did the same thing last week in New York. The streets were filled with Bush haters, but there were a lot of viewers who watched President Bush's speech and said, "He's a very likable guy. I simply can't hate him."

PILGRIM: Let me turn to something that's -- that's probably very important going forward for the next eight weeks. And that's the support of former President Clinton.

Now, he spoke to Kerry over the weekend, reportedly -- reportedly urging him on Iraq and jobs and to press some of these hard issues. However, his doctors today said he may be sidelined for a few weeks in this very important campaign period.

Marcus, how do you assess the sort of removal of Clinton from Kerry's side at this time?

MABRY: I think it will make a difference, but I think what we're looking at, and this is just based on average prognoses after these kids of bypass surgeries, for this month Bill Clinton is out of it. However, the second half of October, when this thing is really coming down to the finish line, I think Bill Clinton will be back in it. And Bill Clinton is the kind of guy where you can imagine him actually in a wheelchair wheeling himself through Iowa and Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia.

And so, you know, I don't think that's going to make a huge difference. I think what is going to make a difference is the fact that so many of Clinton's brain trust, as it were, has now joined to help out Kerry and enlarged the Kerry circle.

I think that's going to make a difference, because they're going to make sure the Kerry campaign is disciplined in a way we haven't seen before. And that, No. 1, reminds the American people that this is what George Bush has done for four years, not what we saw at the convention.

And secondly, finally gives the American people a reason to vote for John Kerry, which they haven't had yet.

PILGRIM: All right. Bill, you get the last word. Next eight weeks going forward, what do you expect?

SCHNEIDER: I expect a very tough race. I think it will get closer, as Marcus has indicated. In fact our poll that just came out today polled people entirely after the convention and shows a seven- point lead for Bush and just a two-point bounce, and so the bounce is already coming down.

I think this race is going to be extremely close. Bush enters it with -- as the slight favorite, but frankly it will all come down to the debates. There may be two; there may be three, plus one vice presidential debate. That's where the swing voters are going to watch the candidates, equal footing, not a convention, not a produced show, but a debate. And that's where a lot of them in the end will make up their minds.

PILGRIM: That will be very interesting. Thanks very much for joining us tonight, Bill Schneider and Marcus Mabry. Thanks, gentlemen.

And that does bring us to the topic of tonight's poll with two months to go still in the president campaign, have you already made up your mind about who you will vote for? Yes or no?

Cast your vote at CNN.com/Lou. And we'll bring you the results later in the broadcast.

Let's take a look at some of your thoughts on the issue of exporting America. Now, Susan of Seattle, Washington, writes, "As more and more Americans lose their jobs, the big corporations may want to rethink their outsourcing plans. Who in America will be left to purchase their products?"

Lee of Fitchburg, Massachusetts: "There are a number of important unintended consequences of outsourcing besides the loss of jobs. Important things we once made for ourselves are now imported, giving rise to fraudulent manufacturing. We have lost control of patent and copyright protections. Worse, who is to control one's credit card numbers and personal information once it hits a call center in India or Mexico?"

We love hearing from you. Send us your thoughts at LouDobbs@CNN.com. Please send your name and address, because we are sending a copy of Lou's new book, "Exporting America," to everyone who sends us an e-mail that is read on this broadcast.

Coming up next, Frances still battering parts of Florida tonight as millions of people begin a massive recovery effort. Max Mayfield of the National Hurricane Center and Marty Evans, president and CEO of the American Red Cross will join us.

Also ahead, wildfires rip through northern California, burning thousands of acres and threatening hundreds of homes. We'll have that story.

And "America Works," a Labor Day tribute to the Americans who make this country truly extraordinary.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PILGRIM: The southeastern United States is bracing for more heavy rain from Tropical Storm Frances as it moves inland.

And joining me now for the very latest on the storm is Max Mayfield, director of the National Hurricane Center in Miami.

Max, thanks for joining us.

MAX MAYFIELD, NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER: Thank you.

PILGRIM: You know, we've seen our reporters standing around in the sunshine, a little light rain, not a lot, but yet Frances is still packing quite a punch in other areas.

MAYFIELD: And Kitty, the story is just not all over. If you look at the radar picture here, the center is just passing west of Thomasville, Georgia, but you see all these rain bands over the northern portion of the Florida peninsula and much of Georgia. This is going to be rainfall all through the week as it spread up the Appalachians.

PILGRIM: And how dangerous is this to people? I mean, it is tropical storm. It's still very serious, isn't it, Max?

MAYFIELD: I can tell you how people will lose their lives here over the next few days. They'll probably have some loss of life from the carbon monoxide poisoning, people operating generators who lost power in Florida.

There will be some traffic accidents because those stoplights have -- you know, are not working. There will be some fires. People who don't have power will light candles; they'll blow over. And there's almost always some loss of life with that, including Hurricane Charley. The chainsaw accident that you have after most hurricanes.

And then very importantly, and this is something where the media can really help us, is with the inland freshwater flooding. We've done a study at the National Hurricane Center, and going back to 1970, we found that most people actually lose their lives from the inland freshwater flooding.

The NOAA natural weather service has a program that says, "Turn around, don't drown." If you're driving in a car and you come across a flooded out roadway, just don't go there. Turn around and go back.

PILGRIM: Don't four-wheel through it, just be sensible. That's what you're saying.

Let's talk about another storm that's shaping up. I know this storm that's shaping up, and I know you have some data on Ivan. Tell us a little bit about this.

MAYFIELD: Well, Hurricane Ivan is a Category 2 hurricane. It's out here east of the Caribbean right now. By Friday, it will be somewhere over eastern Cuba, and then we'll have to see whether it stays south of Cuba or turns up to the north.

Anytime you have hurricane in the southeast of the United States in the peak of the hurricane season, we need to pay very close attention.

PILGRIM: Max, you've watched this as a career. Are these coming very rapidly in succession, unusually so?

MAYFIELD: It is very unusual, especially if Ivan ends up threatening the state of Florida. That doesn't happen very often. You'd have to go back to 1964. We had Cleo, Dora and Isabel, three Category two hurricanes that stayed within about six weeks or six or eight weeks.

KAGAN: All right. I know you'll keep your eye on Ivan. Thanks very much for your very good advice on the continuing storm.

SCHNEIDER: Thank you.

MAYFIELD: Thank you. Max Mayfield.

PILGRIM: On the west coast tonight, firefighters in California wine country are battling a wildfire that's grown to nearly 12,000 acres.

Firefighters have made some progress since the fire started on Friday, but high winds and low humidity are working against them. Authorities have already evacuated 40 homes. Two hundred homes, five businesses are threatened by the fire.

Well, in honor of Labor Day, an outsourcing cartoon that simply needs no explanation. "Today's Labor Day cartoon has been outsourced to India," it says, and this cartoon comes from Jeff Darcy and the "Cleveland Plain Dealer." A reminder now to vote in tonight's poll: "With two months still to go in the presidential campaign, have you made up your mind about who you will vote for?" Yes or no? Cast your vote at CNN.COM/Lou. And we'll bring you the results a bit later in the broadcast.

Still ahead, it's no holiday for residents of Florida. A massive relief effort is under way in the wake of Hurricane Frances. Marty Evans, president and CEO of the American Red Cross, is my guest.

And "American Works." On Labor Day we honor the hard-working individuals who keep this country strong.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PILGRIM: Hurricane Frances is now a tropical storm battering the Florida Panhandle. The storm raced across the Florida peninsula yesterday, leaving a trail of destruction in its wake.

And tonight a massive recovery effort is under way. It is the largest effort in the history of the Red Cross.

Joining us by telephone tonight from Melbourne, Florida, is Marty Evans, president and CEO of the American Red Cross.

Thanks for taking the time. I know you're very busy, but we do have a couple questions we'd like to ask you, Marty. What is the status of the rescue and recovery efforts right now?

MARTY EVANS, PRESIDENT/CEO, AMERICAN RED CROSS: Well, we're transitioning from the evacuation effort and opening shelters as -- as they're needed in communities. Each community has different needs. And so we're providing the sheltering support.

We're also moving in additional Red Crossers. We'll have a total of nearly 4,000 in the state in the next day or so. We're bringing in massive quantities of food, cleanup kits. Personal hygiene items, and setting up an operation that will take care of the immediate needs of food and shelter and some clothing, and then help people begin the transition. That's the most important thing to look ahead to, is the transition back to their regular lives.

PILGRIM: Any deficiencies you're facing at this point?

EVANS: Our biggest need and the way that the American public can help is by making a financial contribution. Kitty, we are not a government organization, and so we depend on the American public to provide the funding to make those contributions that will help us do our relief.

It's easy to do. They can go online at RedCross.org or they can call 1-800-HELP-NOW. And I would also add that the business community have been wonderful partners to us in this work.

PILGRIM: Marty, you may have another situation if another tropical storm comes up. We're looking at Ivan that may hit maybe in the next week and by next weekend. How -- You probably are very stretched right now. How will you stretch these resources even further?

EVANS: Well, the good news is that we have over 800 Red Cross chapters across the country. And every single day of the year, they're responding to community disasters, whether they're house fires or floods, that sort of thing.

So people are getting training, if you will, in this disaster response business. And so our strategy would be to tap those resources.

We already have Red Crossers from all 50 states, or 49 states coming into Florida. We'll continue to tap those resources and also recruit local volunteers. The wonderful thing about a disaster, if there is an up side, is that the community comes together and people who have never volunteered before show up and say, Put me to work." And happily, the Red Cross can do that.

PILGRIM: What is your biggest worry about the well-being of the people you're caring for right now? Water or food? What?

EVANS: One of the biggest worries is that people whose homes have not been destroyed are very reluctant to leave their homes. And so we -- we find -- and the conditions down here it's in the 90s; the humidity is high. And the population being occasionally a little older, they sometimes gel malnourished. They get dehydrated. They're trying to clean up. They're maybe overdoing it.

And so the Red Cross volunteers fan out, neighborhood by neighborhood, house by house, to call on people and make sure that they're doing OK. We run our Red Cross emergency response vehicles through neighborhoods with feed, with water, so that we're taking the relief to the people where they really need it.

PILGRIM: We very much applaud your efforts. And thanks for taking the time to speak with us this evening. Marty Evans of the Red Cross. Thank you.

EVANS: Thanks, Kitty.

PILGRIM: Still ahead, "America Works," the men and women who make this country work. We'll introduce you to some of the remarkable Americans who really run this country.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PILGRIM: Tonight, on this Labor Day, we celebrate the hard- working men and women who really make this country work. And in our featured series, "America Works," we introduce you to just a few of the people who do ordinary jobs in an extraordinary way.

Bill Tucker has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BILL TUCKER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Labor leader Lane Kirkland (ph) once said, if work were such a good thing, surely the rich would have kept it to themselves. But who says work has to be drudgery?

PAUL BARNES, TRUCK DRIVER: Two-8-9-9.

The trucking industry has been very good to me, very good. Not -- I'm never going to be rich, but I don't expect to be. But I live comfortable; I do what I want to do. I'm not living day to day, and my life is very good. I'm very happy.

TUCKER: Speaking of quality, George the lifeguard has a gig that's hard to beat.

GEORGE MUNNICH, LIFEGUARD: It's so soothing when you're in there, swimming.

TUCKER: If that all sounds too soothing, there's a roller coaster on Coney Island to maintain.

GERRY MENDITO, ROLLER COASTER MAINTENANCE TECHNICIAN: The track has to be walked start to finish. All the seats are taken out. Everything is checked underneath and put back together. And then we send it for a test run.

TUCKER: And not all offices are created equal. One person's recreation is another person's office. And some of us, roughly five percent, according to the Census Bureau, work more than one job.

JIM SPRINGER, PARK RANGER: I'm an avalanche forecaster for the local ski area, and also for the forest service as an avalanche technician.

TUCKER: But regardless of what we do, we talk a great of pride in our work.

BUD CORBIN, CHEF: I was nominated for a special award. It was the American Professional Chefs Association, and they awarded -- it was the first award that they award, and it was a Silver Spoon Award. And I feel very proud of that.

BRADLEY WISEMAN, FURNITURE MAKER: I take a lot of pride in what I do, because I personally own some of the furniture that's made here.

PEGGY WRANOVSKI, WAITRESS: I love the people I work with. And all the people that come in here it's nice. I do like it. I don't think I'd be here for 20 years. I mean, I came in for a part-time job one night, filled out my application, and 20 years later I'm still here, you know.

TUCKER (on camera): Ah, work, nothing tops it, except maybe the feeling of a hard day's work done. That's a wrap for me.

Bill Tucker, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PILGRIM: Let's look at some of your thoughts. Dan of Illinois says, "The American dream of studying hard, getting good grades and moving on to get a good job is no longer an opportunity that is offered by this country. Too many people with advanced degrees are out of work and have been out of work for a long, long time.

R. Robb (ph) of Bartonville, Illinois, on the middle class squeeze: "There should be laws preventing companies from saying they can't afford the pensions they promised. It should also be forbidden for our government to stop people from getting prescription drugs from Canada. When is Congress going to wake up? They don't rule this country, the corporations do."

We love to hear from you. Send us your thoughts: LouDobbs@CNN.com.

Still ahead, the results of tonight's poll and a preview of what's ahead tomorrow.

First, a reminder to look at our web site for the complete list of companies we have confirmed to be exporting America: CNN.com/Lou.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PILGRIM: Now the results of tonight's poll. Ninety-six percent of you said you have already made up your mind about who you will vote for in the presidential election. Four percent said you have not.

Thanks for joining us tonight. Please join us tomorrow. Todd Buckholz is the author of "Bringing the Jobs Home: How the Left Created the Outsourcing Crisis and How we Can Fix It."

And taking back America. Workers across the country rally against outsourcing. John Sweeney of the AFL-CIO will be our guest.

For all of us here, good night from New York. "ANDERSON COOPER: 360" is next.

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 September 6, 2004 - 18:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KITTY PILGRIM, CNN ANCHOR: Tonight, Tropical Storm Frances plows into the Florida Panhandle as the rest of the state begins a massive cleanup operation.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LT. GOV. TONI JENNINGS, FLORIDA: It is probably the largest storm we've ever had. It's engulfed the entire state.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PILGRIM: We'll have the very latest on the recovery effort. The mayor of West Palm Beach, one of the worst effected communities, is my guest.

President Clinton has quadruple bypass surgery. Doctors say the surgery was a success.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He is recovering normally at this point. So I think right now everything looks straightforward.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PILGRIM: A bloody day in Iraq. Insurgents kill seven U.S. Marines. It was the worst attack on American troops in months.

Back to Basics: Senator John Kerry focuses on domestic issues as he tries to win back the initiative from President Bush.

And on this Labor Day, we celebrate the men and women who make this country work.

ANNOUNCER: This is LOU DOBBS TONIGHT for Monday, September 6. Here now for an hour of news, debate and opinion, sitting in for Lou Dobbs, who is on vacation, is Kitty Pilgrim.

PILGRIM: Good evening.

Tonight, Tropical Storm Frances still packs a powerful punch, even though it's been downgraded from a hurricane. Frances today slammed into the Florida Panhandle about 20 miles south of Tallahassee. The storm left a trail of devastation across the rest of the state. At least six people were killed. Insured losses could be as high as $10 billion. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PILGRIM (voice-over): In Frances' wake, devastating flooding and damage.

JENNINGS: It's engulfed the entire state. Fifty-seven of our 67 counties have been impacted by loss of power alone. So what we're doing is working our way through restoration.

PILGRIM: More than three million people remain without power.

COLLEEN CASTILLE, FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION: The massive number of outages that we have will have us probably working for up do two weeks to restore electricity.

PILGRIM: Seventy-thousand people are still staying in nearly 300 shelters. Officials are urging those residents not to return home until they are told it is safe.

THADDEUS COHEN, SECURITY DEPARTMENT OF COMMUNITY AFFAIRS: We know that it's antsy, that you're nervous, you want to get back and see your property.

But, clearly, it's important for us to be able to keep the roads open and clear so that our emergency workers will have an opportunity to go out there and do their job.

PILGRIM: Those emergency workers and National Guardsmen are bringing in food, water and medical supplies.

Governor Jeb Bush traveled to several counties visiting emergency operation centers, shelters and damaged areas.

Early estimates place the cost of Hurricane Frances between $2 billion to $10 billion in insured losses. Uninsured damage could be just as high.

MIKE BROWN, DIRECTOR, FEMA: The estimates are just going to be through the roof, if there is a roof out there for it to go through, because there's just been so much water and wind associated with this storm, and it's been moving so slowly that I'm very concerned about getting into the middle part of the state, into the rural areas where the flooding's going to be an incredible hazard.

PILGRIM: The brand-new marina in Fort Pierce is a total loss. One resident was devastated when he saw the damage.

BILL MULLHERN, FORT PIERCE RESIDENT: I feel really bad for our neighbors. There were a fair amount of live-aboards here, and, from what I understand, some of them simply had the minimal liability coverage, and, basically, they're out of a place to live right now.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PILGRIM: The Kennedy Space Center suffered the worst storm damage in its history. NASA officials will tour that site tomorrow. Well, another powerful hurricane tonight is charging across the Atlantic toward the Caribbean Islands. Weather experts say Hurricane Ivan could eventually strike Florida, but those experts say it's too early to tell for sure. Hurricane Ivan is the fourth major hurricane this summer.

Tropical Storm Frances today swept across the Florida Panhandle. High winds, heavy rain.

Tom Foreman joins us live from Carrabelle.

Tom, what are the conditions there like now?

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kitty, the conditions here right now are a little tiny bit of rain, a little bit of breeze, not bad at all, considering what could have come here. And many people here are breathing sighs of relief. They've looked at all the damage in the rest of the state, and they realize how bad it could have been here.

Now, that said, there are many people here who fled the rest of the state who are now going to want to head back, and one of the things they're being cautioned against is how much danger still remains. The fact is all of those power lines down all over that state -- some of them are hot, some of them are not, but the fact is people don't know.

They're blocking roads. Areas are submerged. The power crews have to be able to work. There are people with power trucks coming from all over the South going in there to do the work. Authorities are asking people to stay away to let them get the job done.

Now one related note about this: The number of fatalities related to the storm are relatively small considering how huge the storm was, but something quite unusual happened.

The former son-in-law and a grandson of the much-loved Florida State University football coach, Bobby Bowden, here -- those two people, his former son-in-law and a grandson, were killed in a car crash on one of the rain-slicked roads here when they slid into a utility truck here to do some of the work.

Just two of the fatalities in this terrible, terrible storm, which many people here say, because it lingered so long and because it did such spotty damage here and there and here and there, not focused in just one area, is one of the strangest storms they've ever seen in this state -- Kitty.

PILGRIM: Tom, what's the biggest concern for authorities right now?

FOREMAN: I think the biggest concern for authorities right now is trying to keep people away until they can fix things, and that's hard to do because people want to go home.

They are worried, just as that official said a moment ago, about their property, their pets, their homes, their boats, their cars. They want to get back and see what they're like. But just as it took some time to get all these people out of the state, it's going to take a lot of time to get them all back home.

The authorities are begging these people to please stay put for a day or two more, stay in a hotel somewhere, eat at a restaurant somewhere, and then...

PILGRIM: All right. Thanks very -- thanks very much. And -- well, at least you can stay dry.

We'll have much more on Tropical Storm Frances coming up in the broadcast.

Let's turn to Iraq now. The deadliest attack on American forces in months took place today. Seven Marines were killed in a suicide bombing in Fallujah, and Walt Rodgers has that report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WALT RODGERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: With this latest tragedy, the number of U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq is now nudging right up around 1,000 since the war began.

Seven U.S. Marines killed, three Iraqi National Guardsmen -- at least -- killed, traveling on a highway just north of Fallujah. Fallujah in the Sunni triangle is a volcano of hatred toward the United States. Suddenly, a driver pulled up along as if to pass the military vehicles. He detonated a huge explosion, again killing the seven Marines.

That's the largest single number of Americans killed in a single incident since last May 2. It again underlines the fact that the guerrillas and the insurgents in Iraq are operating rather freely in a target-rich environment.

Still, the commander of theater operations here, General John Abizaid, denies that the Americans are losing the fight in Iraq.

GEN. JOHN ABIZAID, COMMANDER, U.S. CENTRAL COMMAND: The truth of the matter is that we've been fighting in this part of the world now for nearly three years, and we haven't lost a single military engagement at the platoon level and above anywhere ever. And so it's difficult for me to give any credence to the notion that we're losing militarily because we're not and we can't be defeated militarily.

RODGERS: The difficulty,, of course, for the Americans is that a single incident like this can create the perception that the Americans are stumbling in Iraq. Seven Marines killed, a reporter kidnapped, contract workers having their throats slit, others being held hostages. It is the perception here which shapes reality as much as the facts on the ground.

Walter Rodgers, CNN, Baghdad.

(END VIDEOTAPE) PILGRIM: Russia today marked the first day of mourning for hundreds of children and adults killed in a siege on a Russian school. More than 100 of the victims were buried today in Beslan. Hundreds more are still missing.

Matthew Chance reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In a field set aside for the dead, the people of Beslan are burying their children in utter grief. Some families, shocked by their loss, have still to find their loved ones. Others must bid theirs farewell at the grave. Those with the strength to speak breathe contempt for the killers who did this. Few can explain it.

"We pray for the souls of the innocents who were killed by the terrorists in Beslan," says the priest. "May they rest in peace."

So many have been robbed of all joy.

Murat (ph) has a daughter no more, killed, he told me, with all her schoolmates. He invited us to join the mourners at his home. We walked into bedlam. Around the coffin, the grief is fever-pitched. Alana (ph) was just 15 and a bright student. In her wake, the chaos of despair is overwhelming. She'll be missed.

"As parents, we should die before our kids, but I have seen my daughter's death," says Murat (ph). "Now our home feels cold. There are many homes like this in Beslan now."

And this is where the innocent life was lost. School No. 1 is now a burned-out ruin on public view, its playground littered with painful reminders of the hostage siege.

Survivors like Zara (ph) and her two grandchildren speak of the cruelty suffered at the hands of their captors.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): They never gave us any water. The kids couldn't bear it. For days, they screamed of thirst. Some even drank their own urine or poured it on themselves to cool down. Others just cried for help.

CHANCE: Help that never came and arrived too late for the hundreds now being laid to rest.

(on camera): This has already been declared a day of official mourning across Russia, but it's clear from the misery in these fields outside Beslan that the wounds will take far longer to heal here.

One bereaved father told me that even the loss of a single child is enough to be called a tragedy. This, he said, is beyond words.

Matthew Chance, CNN, Beslan in southern Russia.

(END VIDEOTAPE) PILGRIM: Still to come, recovering from Hurricane Frances. West Palm Beach, Florida, was one of the worst-hit areas, and Mayor Lois Frankel will join us.

And then new poll numbers tonight days after the Republican Convention wraps up in New York. It's good news for one candidate, and we'll tell you who.

And former President Clinton recovers from major heart surgery. We'll have a live report on Bill Clinton's condition from outside his hospital.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PILGRIM: More now on the devastation of Hurricane Frances. The storm dumped more than a foot of rain along Florida's East Coast, causing extensive flooding, of course. One of the worst effected communities is West Palm Beach.

And joining me now is the mayor of West Palm Beach, Lois Frankel.

Thanks very much for joining us on, I'm sure, very, very little sleep and a lot of anxiety.

Mayor Frankel, what are you worried about most going forward here?

MAYOR LOIS FRANKEL, WEST PALM BEACH: Well, really just cleaning up. We've been moving all the tree debris and getting the power back. I think that's the biggest complaint we're getting now, is electricity is out, and so what worries me -- concerns me is the loss of business income and -- for people who can't open their businesses, can't get to work.

So that's probably the biggest concern. The trees are going to grow back, and people are going to -- you know, they're going to be a little hot in their homes, but we're going to get by.

PILGRIM: Yes. You know, Governor Jeb Bush surveyed the damage yesterday, said it was a little too earlier to tell how bad it was. Can you tell now?

FRANKEL: Well, we have damage assessment teams that are actually going house to house, building to building. It's going to take us about a month. What we're finding is just a lot of little things that are going to add up, and I'm going to guess that the cost of this hurricane will be billions and billions of dollars in the whole area.

I know in our city alone, we know it's going to run -- it will be close to $2 billion. Again, just small hits here and there, but it adds up when you have so many residents and so many people living in a small area.

PILGRIM: You mentioned the cost to businesses having to be closed. When might you resume normal life? The school year is probably thrown off kilter, too. FRANKEL: Well, we have electricity back in -- partially in different parts of the county. We're fortunate in West Palm Beach. Part of our popular business district called CityPlace is now open. The movie's running. There's air-conditioning. The restaurants are open, and so is the local supermarket.

But there are still areas in our city and in the county with no electricity, and I think there's something like four million or six million Floridians right now that have no electricity.

PILGRIM: What's the status on the roads? Are they closed? Are they open? Are you encouraging people to come back?

FRANKEL: The roads have still been quite dangerous. We have finally in our area gotten most of the big trees off of the roads, but we have no traffic lights.

So what we're going to do in our city tomorrow is we will have stop signs placed at all the major intersections and we will have traffic officers directing traffic so that at least it's going to be a little bit safer.

But, right now, we like -- we have curfews in effect from 8 -- from 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.

PILGRIM: We had some incidents of looting in other areas. Have you seen any?

FRANKEL: We made a few arrests last night for people who were breaking curfew and a couple who were trying to break into some buildings, but, for the most part, we've had very, very calm evenings here, and people are obeying the law and working together, pitching in to get their yards and their houses cleaned up.

PILGRIM: What's your advice to everyone as they move back?

FRANKEL: As they come back? Well, first of all, come back into town very carefully because the lights are down. There's still a lot of debris on the ground. We want people to get their storm shutters off the windows. We have heard that there may be another hurricane coming our way, and it's dangerous to have all of the shutters on your windows. So we want the people to at least take the storm shutters off their bedroom, so, in case of an emergency, they can get out.

Other than that, this is a very, very vibrant community. It was a vibrant community before the hurricane, and we're going to be a vibrant community after the hurricane. It's just another challenge, but we'll meet it. We'll meet it.

PILGRIM: Will you get a rest before you start to worry about Ivan that's coming up, or are you already worried?

FRANKEL: I don't think we're going to get a rest because Ivan is around the corner, but, hopefully, it's going to become a tropical storm in the Gulf, but, if not, I guess we've had some good practice the last couple weeks. PILGRIM: I would say so. I'm not sure "good" is quite the word, but, anyway, you've survived it quite well. Thanks very much for joining us.

Mayor Lois Frankel.

Thank you.

Still to come, former President Clinton undergoes hours of surgery on his heart, and we'll have the latest on his condition next.

And then new polls reveal whether President Bush won a bounce following the Republican Convention, and we'll have reports from the campaign trail and analysis from our political panel.

And then Hurricane Frances makes its second landfall on Florida. We'll have the latest on the storm and the new hurricane threat to Florida. The director of the National Hurricane Center Max Mayfield is our guest.

That and a great deal more. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANNOUNCER: LOU DOBBS TONIGHT continues with more news, debate and opinion. Here now, Kitty Pilgrim.

PILGRIM: President Clinton is recovering tonight after successful quadruple bypass surgery on his heart. Now the president is resting tonight at New York Presbyterian Hospital here in Manhattan, and Adaora Udoji joins us now from the hospital -- Adaora.

ADAORA UDOJI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Kitty.

In fact, the doctor said after surgery today that President Clinton was awake. He was still sedated at that time with a breathing tube, but they described a very successful quadruple bypass operation, saying they found significant blockage in his arteries.

They also said that Senator Hillary Clinton, his wife, and Chelsea, their daughter, had been with the president constantly the past couple of days. They were in the waiting room as he waited for sur -- the operation. They were there during the operation.

A hospital spokesman, Herbert Pardes, read a statement from Chelsea and Senator Clinton where they thanked God and the hospital for what they called great care Clinton was getting.

And let's just hear a little bit more from Mr. Pardes.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. HERBERT PARDES, PRESIDENT & CEO, NEW YORK PRESBYTERIAN: "These past few days have been quite an emotional roller coaster for us. As so many families know, open-heart surgery, though increasingly common, is a very serious procedure. That is why we are so grateful to the people of this hospital and so many others around the country and the world who have been giving us their prayers and support."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

UDOJI: Again, that was a statement from Hillary Clinton and Chelsea Clinton, talking about their ordeal they've been going through the past five days.

Doctors are optimistic. They give Bill Clinton, the former president, a good prognosis. One of the lead surgeons, Dr. Allan Schwartz, describes it this way.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. ALLAN SCHWARTZ, CARDIOLOGIST: The first part of the recovery he's well into. The president is awake, and, over the course of the next several hours, we hope to get the tube that assisted his breathing out. He'll spend a period of time in a closely monitored area, an intensive care unit. He will then be progressively ambulated and continue his recuperation at home.

At home, he'll have a schedule of exercise that will gradually increase, and he will gradually resume an entirely normal physical exercise and work schedule.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

UDOJI: As for tonight, President Clinton is expected to spend the night in the intensive care unit and then, if all goes well, to be moved to a general care unit in the next day or so.

As you just heard the medical team saying, they believe he'll be in the hospital for the next couple of days -- four or five days they are expecting at this point -- and they are -- his prognosis is a full recovery within two to three months, Kitty.

I mean, they also noted that the -- President Clinton is in good shape, him losing weight in the last couple of months and talking about a very vigorous exercise regime, of course, going to help in his recovery -- Kitty.

PILGRIM: Adaora, the doctors today talked about the outpouring of support for the former president. What's it been like?

UDOJI: No doubt. Here's something actually interesting. On Friday, initially when President Clinton was admitted into the hospital here, Senator Clinton came out Friday afternoon and gave a statement thanking all of those, the public for the tremendous amount of support that had been coming in phone calls and notes.

But, at that time, she said there wasn't going to be another update, but not only did they release a statement yesterday, but again today. They have apparently been incredibly moved by a tremendous outpouring of support. In fact, one aide saying that they had gotten over 30,000 e-mails of good wishes from people all over the country and all over the world -- Kitty.

PILGRIM: All right. Thanks very much.

Adaora Udoji.

Thanks, Adaora.

Well, President Bush is campaigning today in a battleground state along with Senator Kerry. The president is in Missouri, which he won by a narrow margin four years ago.

White House Correspondent Suzanne Malveaux is live in Poplar Bluff, Missouri, with the report -- Suzanne.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kitty, just a quick update when it comes to hurricanes. We have learned that the president is going to be traveling to Florida on Wednesday to actually survey some of the damage there.

He also comes armed with a letter that he sent to House Speaker Denny Hastert, asking Congress to approve $2 billion in emergency supplemental funding to help those who have suffered from those hurricanes, also, of course, keeping a close eye, getting briefings on Ivan, which is on its way. We're also told the president is going to request additional funding in the days to come.

Now, as you had mentioned, he is here in Missouri. This is a very important state for the president. He faces a very big challenge here, second only to Michigan. Statistics show that Missouri has lost the most number of jobs -- 23,000 jobs from June to July. That is from the Bureau of Labor and Statistics.

It is a drop of 2 percent, showing that the state has seen no growth in jobs this year overall. Of course, to be fair, those numbers wildly fluctuate from month to month, showing dramatic increases as well as losses.

Also, a very important figure to note, an "L.A. Times" Missouri poll taken between August 21 to 24, showing that Missouri voters continue to give Mr. Bush low marks on the economy, 45 percent approving of his performance to 49 percent disapproving.

Now the president's strategy here, of course, is to emphasize the numbers that work for him. Labor Department numbers came out on Friday that say 144,000 jobs created in August nationwide, also looking at an uptick of those numbers for June and July of 60,000 jobs created.

And, of course, the president today outlining his economic plan, specifically talking about reforming the tax code, making those tax cuts permanent, and, of course, giving businesses the kind of support that they need to grow -- Kitty.

PILGRIM: All right. Thanks very much.

Suzanne Malveaux.

Well, like President Bush, Senator John Kerry is also campaigning in battleground states, and it comes as the Kerry campaign is retooling its message for the final push of this campaign.

Ed Henry reports from Canonsburg, Pennsylvania.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ED HENRY, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It was back to basics for John Kerry, who zeroed in on domestic issues, especially jobs on a Labor Day swing through three battleground states.

SEN. JOHN F. KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: If you want four more years of your wages falling, if you want four more years of Social Security trust funds being raided in order to give tax cuts to the wealthiest people in America, then you should go vote for George Bush.

HENRY: That's music to the ears of senior Democrats who are grumbling that Kerry has spent too much time on national security, which enabled President Bush to surge ahead in the polls. But, as he spoke from a front porch in Pennsylvania, Kerry was repeatedly heckled by Bush supporters.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Flip flop! Flip Flop!

HENRY: Kerry stayed on message, even as one protester mocked the wealthy senator's claim that he will fight for average Americans.

KERRY: He's right. I'm privileged. My tax burden went down, and I don't think that's right. I think your tax burden ought to go down.

HENRY: The domestic push is being made on the heels of a Saturday night phone call between Kerry and Bill Clinton. Sources tell CNN that from his hospital bed, the former president counseled Kerry on shifting the talk from Vietnam to bread-and-butter issues.

Add to that a slew of Clinton veterans like Joe Lockhart, who have joined the campaign at a time of continued restructuring, but Kerry aides are downplaying the significance of the Clinton phone call and say he's not swooping in to save the day.

KERRY: This is the most overblown this. I've talked to President Clinton many times over the last months, and people are, frankly, creating fiction out of something that doesn't exist. Our campaign, I think, is very much on track.

HENRY: Before heading to Ohio, Kerry continued beating the drum on the domestic front at a rally with coal miners in West Virginia.

KERRY: Health-care costs are going through the roof for every family in America. The surplus that he was left has been completely wiped away. Our alliances around the world with other countries that we rely on to help us have been shredded and left in tatters around the globe.

HENRY (on camera): Despite the new poll numbers, Kerry is feeling confident. He's privately telling the staff that this feels like 1996 all over again. That's when Kerry fell behind Republican Bill Weld in a titanic Senate reelection battle. With is back against the wall, Kerry cranked it up a notch and pulled out a victory.

Ed Henry, CNN, Canonsburg, Pennsylvania.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PILGRIM: Now the vice presidential candidates also campaigned in the Midwest today, and both of them made stops in Minnesota. Vice President Dick Cheney touted President Bush's tax cuts at a town hall meeting in Minneapolis, and Senator John Edwards spoke at a Labor Day rally in St. Paul, and he pushed the Democrat plan to create jobs.

Well, joining us now for more on jobs and the post-convention polls and a look at the next eight weeks of the campaign, we're joined by Senior Political Analyst Bill Schneider from Washington and, here in New York, Marcus Mabry, senior editor at "Newsweek."

And thanks very much for joining us, both, gentlemen.

Let's go first to this poll, which is very interesting and actually backs up a poll that came out on Friday that gives President Bush a substantial lead.

And let's take a look at the numbers. And we have Bush at 54 and Kerry at 43. Bill, what do you make of that?

SCHNEIDER: Well, it's a majority for Bush, which is important. He's crossed that threshold. He's the incumbent president. The election is a referendum, or it's supposed to be a referendum on him. Do Americans want to rehire him or do they want to fire him, the way they did his father?

When he goes above 50 percent, he can breathe easier, because that means finally a majority of voters are saying, "Yes, we think we want to rehire him." But he's not safe, because he had to be substantially above 50 percent to feel safe.

PILGRIM: Substantially, we're at 54. We did probably get a post-convention bounce. Marcus?

MARCUS MABRY, "NEWSWEEK": Absolutely. According to the "Newsweek" poll, actually, the president enjoyed a 13-point bounce.

That compares to the "Newsweek" poll of a mini-bounce, a baby bounce we talked of, for John Kerry after his convention, where he only got a four-point bounce, which is in the statistical margin of error. So in fact, the president did far better than John Kerry.

What's interesting here, though, is to remember the reason we call it a bounce is because it goes up and it comes down again. And so the numbers -- our poll, which was conducted on Thursday and Friday, immediately, the last day of the Republican National Convention and the day after the Republican convention means that we're probably seeing a peak of reaction. The polls that will come out later in the week will probably put the race closer to a 50-50 point, as we've seen it all year long. But it is important to mention, as Bill said, for the first time a candidate has broached the 50 percent mark and that's got to give the president and his people some bit of confidence, although I don't expect those numbers to hold up to that kind of a lead.

PILGRIM: Or in fact broken through. We'll see if they're sustainable.

But what's this -- and I'll turn to Bill on this. What does this say about how each convention was handled, Bill? Is there something to be taken away from that?

SCHNEIDER: Well, look, the Democrat convention was all about Vietnam. The Republican convention was all about 9/11, but to the voters, the No. 1 issue is the economy. And neither convention really addressed that issue.

John Kerry is starting to address that issue, because he understands, or he has been given to understand by someone named Bill Clinton, that the only way he's going to win this election is by stressing the domestic agenda.

He will never, never beat Bush on national security, and he can't win the election if it becomes a referendum on Kerry. It has to be a referendum on Bush, and it has to be focused on domestic issues like the economy and health care.

PILGRIM: Well, let's look -- Bill, let's look at some of these numbers. And in fact they just came out. We have the economy, Bush at 49, Kerry at 43; terrorism and the homeland, 60 percent for Bush, 32 percent for Kerry; and Iraq, 55 percent for Bush, 37 percent for Kerry.

So on some of the big issues, we do have President Bush leading by a substantial margin -- Marcus.

MABRY: I think what's most incredible coming out of the Republican convention, which really shows the convention did exactly what it had to do, with far more discipline than the Democrats.

And all four nights, you saw two basic messages. No. 1, John Kerry is weak; No. 2, President Bush is strong. And that was it every single night.

The Democrats, as Bill said, did a much better job of laying out Kerry's biography, and in doing so, they hoped to say, "This guy led the nation in Vietnam, can lead the nation now" and erase what was a credibility gap on the issues of leadership and dealing with national security issues.

Well, they did that, briefly after their convention, they were tied on that. The incredible thing coming out of the Republican convention is on all these issues, like the economy now, Bush actually has a lead. Those numbers, as it were, flip-flopped from what was the case after the Democratic convention, where Kerry had the lead. Even on issues like healthcare, John Kerry now leads by two points. Coming out of his convention he led by 23 points.

Even on issues like jobs, foreign competition, the president now leads by one point. John Kerry, that was one of his big issues. He led by 17 points after his convention. The Democrats have clearly lost the train here, and they have a lot to do in a short period of time. I'm not saying it's not doable. It clearly is. Again these numbers will, I think, readjust and come down to earth, but they have a lot to do in a short period of time.

PILGRIM: We just discussed all the issues. Let's talk about something that's extremely squishy, personally likable. And that's an interesting statistic. Bush stands at 67 percent and Kerry at 59 percent.

Bill, this personally likable, how important is this?

SCHNEIDER: It's very important. Americans have to like a president to vote for him. That was one of Al Gore's problems. They agreed with Al Gore on a lot of issues. They thought the economy was doing very well in 2000, but they didn't like him that much. They liked Bush.

You know, you can say Gore won the debates on points, but they liked Bush better. And he got -- in the end, he won the electoral college.

But likeability is crucial. When Clinton got in trouble, there were all those Clinton haters out there who despised him. Then Clinton would give a speech to the country, and voters would look at him and they'd say, "You know, I can't hate this guy. I don't even understand how others can hate this guy. He's a very likable guy."

Bush did the same thing last week in New York. The streets were filled with Bush haters, but there were a lot of viewers who watched President Bush's speech and said, "He's a very likable guy. I simply can't hate him."

PILGRIM: Let me turn to something that's -- that's probably very important going forward for the next eight weeks. And that's the support of former President Clinton.

Now, he spoke to Kerry over the weekend, reportedly -- reportedly urging him on Iraq and jobs and to press some of these hard issues. However, his doctors today said he may be sidelined for a few weeks in this very important campaign period.

Marcus, how do you assess the sort of removal of Clinton from Kerry's side at this time?

MABRY: I think it will make a difference, but I think what we're looking at, and this is just based on average prognoses after these kids of bypass surgeries, for this month Bill Clinton is out of it. However, the second half of October, when this thing is really coming down to the finish line, I think Bill Clinton will be back in it. And Bill Clinton is the kind of guy where you can imagine him actually in a wheelchair wheeling himself through Iowa and Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia.

And so, you know, I don't think that's going to make a huge difference. I think what is going to make a difference is the fact that so many of Clinton's brain trust, as it were, has now joined to help out Kerry and enlarged the Kerry circle.

I think that's going to make a difference, because they're going to make sure the Kerry campaign is disciplined in a way we haven't seen before. And that, No. 1, reminds the American people that this is what George Bush has done for four years, not what we saw at the convention.

And secondly, finally gives the American people a reason to vote for John Kerry, which they haven't had yet.

PILGRIM: All right. Bill, you get the last word. Next eight weeks going forward, what do you expect?

SCHNEIDER: I expect a very tough race. I think it will get closer, as Marcus has indicated. In fact our poll that just came out today polled people entirely after the convention and shows a seven- point lead for Bush and just a two-point bounce, and so the bounce is already coming down.

I think this race is going to be extremely close. Bush enters it with -- as the slight favorite, but frankly it will all come down to the debates. There may be two; there may be three, plus one vice presidential debate. That's where the swing voters are going to watch the candidates, equal footing, not a convention, not a produced show, but a debate. And that's where a lot of them in the end will make up their minds.

PILGRIM: That will be very interesting. Thanks very much for joining us tonight, Bill Schneider and Marcus Mabry. Thanks, gentlemen.

And that does bring us to the topic of tonight's poll with two months to go still in the president campaign, have you already made up your mind about who you will vote for? Yes or no?

Cast your vote at CNN.com/Lou. And we'll bring you the results later in the broadcast.

Let's take a look at some of your thoughts on the issue of exporting America. Now, Susan of Seattle, Washington, writes, "As more and more Americans lose their jobs, the big corporations may want to rethink their outsourcing plans. Who in America will be left to purchase their products?"

Lee of Fitchburg, Massachusetts: "There are a number of important unintended consequences of outsourcing besides the loss of jobs. Important things we once made for ourselves are now imported, giving rise to fraudulent manufacturing. We have lost control of patent and copyright protections. Worse, who is to control one's credit card numbers and personal information once it hits a call center in India or Mexico?"

We love hearing from you. Send us your thoughts at LouDobbs@CNN.com. Please send your name and address, because we are sending a copy of Lou's new book, "Exporting America," to everyone who sends us an e-mail that is read on this broadcast.

Coming up next, Frances still battering parts of Florida tonight as millions of people begin a massive recovery effort. Max Mayfield of the National Hurricane Center and Marty Evans, president and CEO of the American Red Cross will join us.

Also ahead, wildfires rip through northern California, burning thousands of acres and threatening hundreds of homes. We'll have that story.

And "America Works," a Labor Day tribute to the Americans who make this country truly extraordinary.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PILGRIM: The southeastern United States is bracing for more heavy rain from Tropical Storm Frances as it moves inland.

And joining me now for the very latest on the storm is Max Mayfield, director of the National Hurricane Center in Miami.

Max, thanks for joining us.

MAX MAYFIELD, NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER: Thank you.

PILGRIM: You know, we've seen our reporters standing around in the sunshine, a little light rain, not a lot, but yet Frances is still packing quite a punch in other areas.

MAYFIELD: And Kitty, the story is just not all over. If you look at the radar picture here, the center is just passing west of Thomasville, Georgia, but you see all these rain bands over the northern portion of the Florida peninsula and much of Georgia. This is going to be rainfall all through the week as it spread up the Appalachians.

PILGRIM: And how dangerous is this to people? I mean, it is tropical storm. It's still very serious, isn't it, Max?

MAYFIELD: I can tell you how people will lose their lives here over the next few days. They'll probably have some loss of life from the carbon monoxide poisoning, people operating generators who lost power in Florida.

There will be some traffic accidents because those stoplights have -- you know, are not working. There will be some fires. People who don't have power will light candles; they'll blow over. And there's almost always some loss of life with that, including Hurricane Charley. The chainsaw accident that you have after most hurricanes.

And then very importantly, and this is something where the media can really help us, is with the inland freshwater flooding. We've done a study at the National Hurricane Center, and going back to 1970, we found that most people actually lose their lives from the inland freshwater flooding.

The NOAA natural weather service has a program that says, "Turn around, don't drown." If you're driving in a car and you come across a flooded out roadway, just don't go there. Turn around and go back.

PILGRIM: Don't four-wheel through it, just be sensible. That's what you're saying.

Let's talk about another storm that's shaping up. I know this storm that's shaping up, and I know you have some data on Ivan. Tell us a little bit about this.

MAYFIELD: Well, Hurricane Ivan is a Category 2 hurricane. It's out here east of the Caribbean right now. By Friday, it will be somewhere over eastern Cuba, and then we'll have to see whether it stays south of Cuba or turns up to the north.

Anytime you have hurricane in the southeast of the United States in the peak of the hurricane season, we need to pay very close attention.

PILGRIM: Max, you've watched this as a career. Are these coming very rapidly in succession, unusually so?

MAYFIELD: It is very unusual, especially if Ivan ends up threatening the state of Florida. That doesn't happen very often. You'd have to go back to 1964. We had Cleo, Dora and Isabel, three Category two hurricanes that stayed within about six weeks or six or eight weeks.

KAGAN: All right. I know you'll keep your eye on Ivan. Thanks very much for your very good advice on the continuing storm.

SCHNEIDER: Thank you.

MAYFIELD: Thank you. Max Mayfield.

PILGRIM: On the west coast tonight, firefighters in California wine country are battling a wildfire that's grown to nearly 12,000 acres.

Firefighters have made some progress since the fire started on Friday, but high winds and low humidity are working against them. Authorities have already evacuated 40 homes. Two hundred homes, five businesses are threatened by the fire.

Well, in honor of Labor Day, an outsourcing cartoon that simply needs no explanation. "Today's Labor Day cartoon has been outsourced to India," it says, and this cartoon comes from Jeff Darcy and the "Cleveland Plain Dealer." A reminder now to vote in tonight's poll: "With two months still to go in the presidential campaign, have you made up your mind about who you will vote for?" Yes or no? Cast your vote at CNN.COM/Lou. And we'll bring you the results a bit later in the broadcast.

Still ahead, it's no holiday for residents of Florida. A massive relief effort is under way in the wake of Hurricane Frances. Marty Evans, president and CEO of the American Red Cross, is my guest.

And "American Works." On Labor Day we honor the hard-working individuals who keep this country strong.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PILGRIM: Hurricane Frances is now a tropical storm battering the Florida Panhandle. The storm raced across the Florida peninsula yesterday, leaving a trail of destruction in its wake.

And tonight a massive recovery effort is under way. It is the largest effort in the history of the Red Cross.

Joining us by telephone tonight from Melbourne, Florida, is Marty Evans, president and CEO of the American Red Cross.

Thanks for taking the time. I know you're very busy, but we do have a couple questions we'd like to ask you, Marty. What is the status of the rescue and recovery efforts right now?

MARTY EVANS, PRESIDENT/CEO, AMERICAN RED CROSS: Well, we're transitioning from the evacuation effort and opening shelters as -- as they're needed in communities. Each community has different needs. And so we're providing the sheltering support.

We're also moving in additional Red Crossers. We'll have a total of nearly 4,000 in the state in the next day or so. We're bringing in massive quantities of food, cleanup kits. Personal hygiene items, and setting up an operation that will take care of the immediate needs of food and shelter and some clothing, and then help people begin the transition. That's the most important thing to look ahead to, is the transition back to their regular lives.

PILGRIM: Any deficiencies you're facing at this point?

EVANS: Our biggest need and the way that the American public can help is by making a financial contribution. Kitty, we are not a government organization, and so we depend on the American public to provide the funding to make those contributions that will help us do our relief.

It's easy to do. They can go online at RedCross.org or they can call 1-800-HELP-NOW. And I would also add that the business community have been wonderful partners to us in this work.

PILGRIM: Marty, you may have another situation if another tropical storm comes up. We're looking at Ivan that may hit maybe in the next week and by next weekend. How -- You probably are very stretched right now. How will you stretch these resources even further?

EVANS: Well, the good news is that we have over 800 Red Cross chapters across the country. And every single day of the year, they're responding to community disasters, whether they're house fires or floods, that sort of thing.

So people are getting training, if you will, in this disaster response business. And so our strategy would be to tap those resources.

We already have Red Crossers from all 50 states, or 49 states coming into Florida. We'll continue to tap those resources and also recruit local volunteers. The wonderful thing about a disaster, if there is an up side, is that the community comes together and people who have never volunteered before show up and say, Put me to work." And happily, the Red Cross can do that.

PILGRIM: What is your biggest worry about the well-being of the people you're caring for right now? Water or food? What?

EVANS: One of the biggest worries is that people whose homes have not been destroyed are very reluctant to leave their homes. And so we -- we find -- and the conditions down here it's in the 90s; the humidity is high. And the population being occasionally a little older, they sometimes gel malnourished. They get dehydrated. They're trying to clean up. They're maybe overdoing it.

And so the Red Cross volunteers fan out, neighborhood by neighborhood, house by house, to call on people and make sure that they're doing OK. We run our Red Cross emergency response vehicles through neighborhoods with feed, with water, so that we're taking the relief to the people where they really need it.

PILGRIM: We very much applaud your efforts. And thanks for taking the time to speak with us this evening. Marty Evans of the Red Cross. Thank you.

EVANS: Thanks, Kitty.

PILGRIM: Still ahead, "America Works," the men and women who make this country work. We'll introduce you to some of the remarkable Americans who really run this country.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PILGRIM: Tonight, on this Labor Day, we celebrate the hard- working men and women who really make this country work. And in our featured series, "America Works," we introduce you to just a few of the people who do ordinary jobs in an extraordinary way.

Bill Tucker has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BILL TUCKER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Labor leader Lane Kirkland (ph) once said, if work were such a good thing, surely the rich would have kept it to themselves. But who says work has to be drudgery?

PAUL BARNES, TRUCK DRIVER: Two-8-9-9.

The trucking industry has been very good to me, very good. Not -- I'm never going to be rich, but I don't expect to be. But I live comfortable; I do what I want to do. I'm not living day to day, and my life is very good. I'm very happy.

TUCKER: Speaking of quality, George the lifeguard has a gig that's hard to beat.

GEORGE MUNNICH, LIFEGUARD: It's so soothing when you're in there, swimming.

TUCKER: If that all sounds too soothing, there's a roller coaster on Coney Island to maintain.

GERRY MENDITO, ROLLER COASTER MAINTENANCE TECHNICIAN: The track has to be walked start to finish. All the seats are taken out. Everything is checked underneath and put back together. And then we send it for a test run.

TUCKER: And not all offices are created equal. One person's recreation is another person's office. And some of us, roughly five percent, according to the Census Bureau, work more than one job.

JIM SPRINGER, PARK RANGER: I'm an avalanche forecaster for the local ski area, and also for the forest service as an avalanche technician.

TUCKER: But regardless of what we do, we talk a great of pride in our work.

BUD CORBIN, CHEF: I was nominated for a special award. It was the American Professional Chefs Association, and they awarded -- it was the first award that they award, and it was a Silver Spoon Award. And I feel very proud of that.

BRADLEY WISEMAN, FURNITURE MAKER: I take a lot of pride in what I do, because I personally own some of the furniture that's made here.

PEGGY WRANOVSKI, WAITRESS: I love the people I work with. And all the people that come in here it's nice. I do like it. I don't think I'd be here for 20 years. I mean, I came in for a part-time job one night, filled out my application, and 20 years later I'm still here, you know.

TUCKER (on camera): Ah, work, nothing tops it, except maybe the feeling of a hard day's work done. That's a wrap for me.

Bill Tucker, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PILGRIM: Let's look at some of your thoughts. Dan of Illinois says, "The American dream of studying hard, getting good grades and moving on to get a good job is no longer an opportunity that is offered by this country. Too many people with advanced degrees are out of work and have been out of work for a long, long time.

R. Robb (ph) of Bartonville, Illinois, on the middle class squeeze: "There should be laws preventing companies from saying they can't afford the pensions they promised. It should also be forbidden for our government to stop people from getting prescription drugs from Canada. When is Congress going to wake up? They don't rule this country, the corporations do."

We love to hear from you. Send us your thoughts: LouDobbs@CNN.com.

Still ahead, the results of tonight's poll and a preview of what's ahead tomorrow.

First, a reminder to look at our web site for the complete list of companies we have confirmed to be exporting America: CNN.com/Lou.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PILGRIM: Now the results of tonight's poll. Ninety-six percent of you said you have already made up your mind about who you will vote for in the presidential election. Four percent said you have not.

Thanks for joining us tonight. Please join us tomorrow. Todd Buckholz is the author of "Bringing the Jobs Home: How the Left Created the Outsourcing Crisis and How we Can Fix It."

And taking back America. Workers across the country rally against outsourcing. John Sweeney of the AFL-CIO will be our guest.

For all of us here, good night from New York. "ANDERSON COOPER: 360" is next.

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