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Lou Dobbs Tonight

Hurricane Ike Expected to hit Texas Coast; Political Storm; Education Crisis

Aired September 12, 2008 - 19:00   ET

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

LOU DOBBS, HOST: Wolf, thank you. Tonight there are two storms raging in this country. Hurricane Ike, a storm like we've not seen since Katrina three years ago, perhaps more powerful. And a political storm like we've never seen in presidential politics.
Tonight, Hurricane Ike is charging toward the Texas and Louisiana coastline. It's expected to make landfall within hours. Our meteorologists say the storm will bring certain death to people who have refused to evacuate from Galveston island.

And a political storm on the campaign trail as Senator Obama has launched aggressive new attack ads against Senator McCain. Will Senator Obama's aggression lift his sagging poll numbers or will it alienate Independent voters? Three of the best political analysts in this country join me to give us their assessment.

And our public education system is in crisis. In fact, it's failed an entire generation of our students. But neither presidential candidate has offered a clear plan, a clear urgent plan to address what is nothing less than a national crisis. Tonight, we talk with some of the most respected and innovative thinkers on public education from a school that proves success is possible if we hold elected officials, administrators and teachers accountable. All of that, all the day's news and much more from our Independent convention with our Independent perspective, straight ahead here tonight.

ANNOUNCER: This is a special edition, "The Lou Dobbs Independent Convention": news, debate and opinion for Friday, September 12th. Live from the Freedom High School in South Riding, Virginia, home of the Freedom Eagles, Lou Dobbs.

(APPLAUSE)

DOBBS: Good evening, everybody. Good evening. Good evening. Welcome to our final session of our Independent convention. And what could be more appropriate than to come to you from Freedom High School. But first we have a very important story to report to you.

Hurricane Ike, it is a gigantic storm now. It is in fact encompassing much of the entire Gulf. It is barreling toward the Texas and Louisiana coastline right now. The massive hurricane is expected to make landfall near Galveston, Texas, by early tomorrow morning.

Officials are bracing for what they say will be a certain disaster. Hurricane Ike is about 600 miles across. That's about the same size as Hurricane Katrina, a hurricane that killed more than 1,800 people three years ago.

This category two storm is now pushing huge waves over sea defenses built along the Texas coast. Ike has sustained winds of 105 miles an hour and gusts of 125 miles an hour as it moves further in toward the coast. Coastal surges are now moving up to 20 feet above normal tide levels.

The surges could flood much of Galveston Island as the hurricane roars across the coast. Massive waves are expected to batter much of the Texas and Louisiana coast tonight and tomorrow morning. We have extensive coverage here tonight.

Gary Tuchman is in Galveston. Sean Callebs is in Houston. And Chad Myers, our meteorologist, is in the CNN Hurricane Headquarters. We begin tonight with Gary Tuchman in Galveston where Hurricane Ike is bringing rain and where rain is now beginning to fall heavily. Gary?

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well Lou, this street that I'm standing on we won't be standing on for much longer. And I doubt it will be here tomorrow, at least in the condition it's in right now. This is Seawall Boulevard.

This is the beachfront road in Galveston, Texas and Hurricane Ike is about 130 miles behind us to the East. This is expected to be its bull's-eye location, an unbelievably dire warning that we received from the National Weather Service last night. And that warning was we've never seen anything like this for any hurricane that anyone who lives in a one-family house that's only one or two stories tall near this beach, if they don't heed the warning to evacuate may face certain death.

Those are words we haven't heard before. And if that doesn't scare you out of here, nothing will. The fact is I've gone throughout Galveston today. Most of the streets do seem to be abandoned but there are still people here. There is a mandatory evacuation order in effect, not a big surprise there.

Usually when we hear about mandatory evacuation orders, we're told listen, we don't force people to leave, but we won't protect them if they don't leave. Here in Galveston County, they're saying, if you don't leave, you're liable to be arrested, put in jail and fined $2,000. But the fact is people still here remain.

A curfew is in effect. It just started raining within the last hour. But for many hours, the water has been coming over this seawall. This seawall though is 17 feet high. Last night, there was a 17-foot drop to the water and there's about 100 yards of beach. Now the beach is completely gone. It's been gone for hours and the water is coming over the seawall and much of this street that we're standing on is flooded. The portion we're on right now is not flooded, but it certainly will be soon. Galveston is about to get hit. Lou?

DOBBS: Gary, just how many people there are refusing to heed these dire warnings? How many have decided to stay put and if you can figure it out, why? TUCHMAN: Yeah, you know every hurricane we cover we ask people why they don't leave. There's a combination of reasons. Sometimes it's thrill-seekers, sometimes they don't pay attention to the news media. You just never know.

But I will tell you one thing. If they don't know in this case, Houston television is on 24 hours a day. It's all they're talking about, the hurricane, the radio stations are on. Power is out in a lot of places but it's still on here. So if people don't know, then they're not paying attention.

DOBBS: Gary, thank you very much. Gary in Galveston, Texas. Be very careful and get out of there. Governor Bobby Jindal of Louisiana tonight made a last-minute appeal to coastal residents in his state to evacuate. Some of the residents there are also refusing to leave.

Some of the levees in southern Louisiana have already been breached and that's causing flooding in some areas already, even though the storm, as Gary Tuchman just reported, lies well off the coast. Crews are trying to repair those levees before the full force of Hurricane Ike strikes.

Coast Guard and military helicopters have already rescued more than 60 people stranded by this storm. Some people were lifted from trucks in flooded areas along the Texas coastline. One official told CNN as many as 37,000 people may eventually need to be rescued.

The military has more than 40 of its search and rescue helicopters on standby in the region. The Coast Guard today also unable to rescue 22 crew members on a stranded freighter southeast of Galveston. Now directly in the path of that storm.

The freighter's engines failed early this morning and the ship has been adrift ever since. Coast Guard helicopters tried to rescue the crew, but the wind conditions and rain conditions simply proved too dangerous. A salvage tug will try to reach the freighter tomorrow.

Coast Guard officials believe that the ship will be safe and the crew will be safe until they can conduct a rescue operation. It is simply too dangerous to attempt that operation now.

The very latest now on where Hurricane Ike is now, where it is headed. CNN's severe weather expert, Chad Myers joins me now. He's at the CNN Hurricane Headquarters. Chad, tell us about this monster storm.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well in the last five minutes since you've been on the air it got bigger. It's up to 110 miles per hour now, not 105. The reason, it has an eye now. And the eye is getting smaller. And just like an ice skater dancing on the ice with arms out going slowly, you bring those arms in and that skater goes much faster.

You get a smaller and smaller eye, you get a faster and faster hurricane. Now it's still the same over here. It's just the middle, it's just the eye wall that's getting faster. But this is going to be a storm surge disaster for a lot of people.

I can't use any other word because that's just what it's going to be. You put 20 feet of water into the Galveston Bay, into the ship channel and then 20 feet of water over Galveston Island all the way out here near Bolivar Peninsula, all of that's going to be inundated, the water's going right over the top and right into the ship channel.

Ship channel is only about five feet, 10 feet deep in most places. That water is going to bubble up. It is going to go all the way up to Baytown. Could be a 30-foot storm surge in some spots. That's not out of the question and there's a lot of materials, there's boating, there's refineries, there's all kinds of industrial things there on that ship channel that we are going to see lots of damage tonight.

Then it moves over Houston with 95-mile-per-hour winds tonight and tomorrow morning. Ninety-five-mile-per-hour winds are going to knock out a lot of glass in all those big buildings and take off a lot of rooms in Houston, probably make hundreds of thousands, if not millions of people without power. Lou?

DOBBS: Chad, that is sobering indeed. Chad Myers, our meteorologist will rejoin us here in the broadcast and keep us up-to- date on Hurricane Ike and its progress toward the coast of Texas and Louisiana. Thank you, Chad.

As many as a million people in southern Texas have already evacuated their homes, many of them after mandatory evacuation orders. Those people include residents of Galveston and low-lying areas near Houston. But many other people are staying in their homes in Houston, bracing for the arrival of Hurricane Ike.

The hurricane could cause extensive damage to the city of Houston. Houston is this nation's fourth largest city. High winds will batter the city and the region, and the winds, as Chad Myers just reported, could reach more than 100 miles an hour. Tonight, Houston's mayor has ordered a dusk-to-dawn curfew in some parts of the city. Sean Callebs has the report for us now from Houston. Sean?

SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Lou, the warnings have been coming regularly, they have been blunt. They have been stern. Telling people if you live in a mandatory evacuation zone, then get out of town or you risk losing your life.

It doesn't get any more serious. If you look over my shoulder, you can see Interstate 45. That is really the main feeder road that comes up from Galveston and all the areas in between where people are evacuating. Not a lot of traffic on the interstate right now and the city believes that's a good sign.

They believe that a lot of people did listen to mandatory evacuations and got out of town ahead of the punishing wind and rain that Ike is going to bring. Now they're concerned about a number of issues. One, the shipping channel pawns it's way right into Houston, concerned that Ike could come right up this way and swamp an enormous area. That's the reason a million people, a million people are being uprooted. Secondly, police and ambulances say they will not come out and answer emergency calls once the winds get 55 miles an hour or greater. And also, authorities want people off the interstates before tropical storm force winds begin punishing this area.

And that could be coming rather soon. So the big concern here, the mandatory evacuations, people say you can't stress how serious this storm is. But at this point, it doesn't appear to be the nightmare that Hurricane Rita was three years ago. Lou?

DOBBS: Sean, thank you. Sean Callebs reporting from Houston. And of course he'll be reporting from Houston throughout the evening. We'll have more on Hurricane Ike later in this broadcast and you can be certain we will have much more for you throughout the evening here on CNN.

Be sure you stay with us through the evening, through the entire weekend for that matter for complete coverage of Hurricane Ike and its impact on the Gulf Coast and beyond.

Turning now to the political storm on the campaign trail, the Obama campaign today launched its sharpest attack so far against Senator McCain. A new Obama ad mocking McCain as old-fashioned and out of touch. The Obama ad, a new effort to win the support of Independent voters, those Independent voters, by the way, in recent polls showing they've been shifting toward McCain. Candy Crowley has our report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SR. POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The grace of unity on 9/11 was gone by daybreak on 9/12, a memo to supporters from the Obama campaign blasted John McCain for gutter politics, charging him with smears, lies and cynical attempts to distract from the issues. This was followed by word of a couple of new ads, one designed to show McCain as out of touch.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE, CAMPAIGN COMMERCIAL: He admits he still doesn't know how to use a computer, can't send an e-mail. Still doesn't understand the economy.

CROWLEY: Obama took up the theme on the campaign trail in New Hampshire, quoting John McCain who said "it's easy in Washington to become divorced from everyday problems".

SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D-IL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Maybe from where he and George Bush sit, maybe things do look fundamentally sound. Maybe they don't see what's taking place. Maybe they're that out of touch. But I do see what's going on and so do you.

CROWLEY: Still at the same forum, Obama praising the work of mayors also questioned his day job.

OBAMA: The mayors have some of the toughest jobs in the country because that's where the rubber hits the road. We act (ph) in the Senate...

CROWLEY: The Obama campaign is calling this the first day of the rest of the campaign and is promising to respond with speed and ferocity to any assaults, yet another pledge to calm fretful Democrats worried that Obama is not tough enough for hardball.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So for those of us that have given you our support and more importantly our money, when and how are you going to start fighting back against attack ads and the smear campaign?

OBAMA: I have to tell you our ads have been pretty tough. I know there are a lot of Democrats and some Independents and some Republicans who really want change, who start getting nervous because they've seen this movie before, every four years.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CROWLEY: The question, of course, is whether this is working. A little unofficial poll here, Lou, as they await Barack Obama to come here to Concord, some of those who heard him this morning in Dover leading operatives here in Concord for the Democrats said, you know what? He got roughed up, meaning McCain got roughed up, more on "The View" today than he did by Obama. As you know, there was a rather contentious exchange on the program, "The View" between Obama and the women moderators there, so they think actually here that "The View" did a better job of roughing up McCain (INAUDIBLE) Barack Obama.

DOBBS: Candy, I understand Senator Obama right now is more than an hour late. That's not going to be particularly helpful -- or is it part of the new campaign strategy that he's adopting from former President Bill Clinton who had a pension for lateness?

CROWLEY: It kind of takes a little bit of the steam out of the crowd because they've been standing for about two hours now, so a number of good things that he's been doing some interviews and some other things.

DOBBS: All right, Candy. Thanks a lot. Candy Crowley reporting. We'll be of course following the campaign throughout and tonight we're keeping a very close eye on Hurricane Ike. We will be reporting throughout this hour, throughout this evening on CNN.

Tonight, we're also examining the crisis in our public school system and we'll be telling you what these presidential candidates are saying and not saying about our public education crisis as we continue with our Independent convention tonight live from the Freedom High School here in South Riding, Virginia.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

DOBBS: We've been reporting here for years on the failure of this nation's public education system, its failure to meet the needs of many of our children and much of our country's future. As Bill Tucker now reports, neither Senator Barack Obama nor Senator John McCain have laid out a clear plan of any kind to ensure a quality education for our nation's young people in the midst of a crisis. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BILL TUCKER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The presidential candidates are talking about education, but what we're hearing are mostly easy, safe platitudes about the importance of education and good, well-paid teachers. The facts about education are ugly.

WILLIAM BUSHAW, PDK GALLUP POLL: The sound bites that we normally hear in political campaigns are no longer working in public education that Americans recognize that simple solutions probably aren't the answer.

TUCKER: One-third of students don't graduate. Nearly half of black and Hispanic high school students don't graduate. Out of 30 countries, American high school students rank 25th in math, 21st in science, 15th in reading. The scope of the problem goes beyond paying teachers more or simply spending more money on education.

GASTON CAPERTON, THE COLLEGE BOARD: You have to demand more from parents. You have to demand more from students. Education is hard work, and when you demand from students and parents, then students and parents should demand the same thing back from the schools.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TUCKER: And one of the biggest obstacles to overcome of course is the endless debate in the education community of federal versus state. And Lou, this is serious. We're in danger of failing an entire generation. Educators that I've spoken with say we are now looking at a group of children who will have less of an education than their parents. Lou?

DOBBS: And that is one reason that we say clearly and unequivocally, this is a crisis and it requires urgent, urgent action on the part of our political leaders and our government. Thank you very much, Bill Tucker.

Well joining me now are two, in my opinion, two of the heroes in this fight to improve our schools, two educators who are on the front lines. And they have demonstrated success and they've done so against very sizable odds. Sharon Johnson is the principal of Withrow University High School in Cincinnati, Ohio. Sharon, good to have you with us.

(CROSSTALK)

DOBBS: A great honor to have you.

SHARON JOHNSON, PRINCIPAL, WITHROW UNIVERSITY HIGH SCHOOL: Thank you.

DOBBS: And Truett Abbott, the principal of Warren County Middle School in Warren County, Georgia with us. Truett, good to have you here.

Well let's start with the first issue and that is accountability. We hear the nonsense and some of the just sort of oversimplified answers about teachers unions, school pay, teacher pay, what about the issue, first and foremost of accountability within the school system? Sharon?

JOHNSON: Well, in Cincinnati at Withrow University High School, we work very hard to hold everyone accountable. We hold the students accountable. We hold parents accountable. We hold the union accountable. We hold the teachers accountable and we hold the community accountable.

We are working to hold everyone accountable because we are all making a difference at the school. We are working to sustain excellence at our school. Excellence, to us, means is that a school where you would want your own child to be.

DOBBS: Right.

JOHNSON: How accountable are you when you say, I want my child in the best school? We are working to say, listen, we want our children to succeed. We do whatever we need to do to make that happen for our children.

DOBBS: Truett?

TRUETT ABBOTT, PRINCIPAL, WARREN COUNTY MIDDLE SCHOOL: I feel the same way that she does. And it's very important to have the teachers involved and raising their own standards. We have a new standards-based curriculum in the state of Georgia that's raised our standards from a very low standard in the state to a very high standard. I think there's many states out there that could improve by making a harder curriculum.

DOBBS: I think it may surprise people to find out that Georgia has some of the most -- has one of the most rigorous curricula in the country.

ABBOTT: It does now. We've implemented it over the last three years. It's been very difficult. We've had a lot of learning to do. But we have come along with it and we have our students actually sustaining the performance on that curriculum.

DOBBS: What about the issue of uniforms in public schools? Does it work?

JOHNSON: Well, it's working. We like uniform at Withrow because we notice that it alleviates distraction. It does away with biases. We don't know the haves and the have-nots. They're all looking just alike and it helps them to focus more on the teaching of the instruction in the classroom. And it helps them to have a sense of belonging, a sense of...

DOBBS: Identifying...

JOHNSON: Identifying, yes, absolutely.

DOBBS: Your thoughts, Truett? ABBOTT: Well I think that's a good thing to have in many places. We don't have that in our county, but we do have a strong discipline procedure and a dress code that we carry out, so...

DOBBS: And you're not being sued by the ACLU or somebody?

ABBOTT: No, no, not so far.

DOBBS: Well that's one of the issues because I've heard more educators talk about the importance of discipline in the school, the size of the classroom as well as who's in that classroom teaching. You've both turned around your schools. To what do you -- what is the center -- the central change that you made that you think was most important to the children studying in your schools?

ABBOTT: The most important change early on was to get the class sizes down so that we have around 17 children in a classroom at the present time. Recently, we have tried to reduce the gender gap and reduced it from about 28 points to five points between boys and girls and...

DOBBS: And when you say the gender gap...

(CROSSTALK)

ABBOTT: ... same gender classes.

DOBBS: A lot of people don't know what you mean. You try to even out the boys and girls?

ABBOTT: Well, in our system, the scores on the tests, when you average them out, the boys were making a lot lower than the girls. And this is true basically across the country.

DOBBS: Sharon?

JOHNSON: I think the most important thing that we've done to make a significant difference is studying the data and look where our children were and look to what we have to do to get them where they need to be. I think that studying the data has made a significant difference in improving our school and having serious, committed teachers and dedicated to want to make sure our children...

DOBBS: Well I know they've got a serious committed principal in both you and in Abbott and we thank you both for being here.

JOHNSON: Thank you.

DOBBS: When I say these two are heroes in our public school system, they've taken schools to new levels. They establish excellence in schools that were suffering mightily and again our thanks and our commendation. Thank you very much for being here...

ABBOTT: Thank you.

JOHNSON: Thank you. DOBBS: Our poll tonight: Have you heard either Senator Obama or Senator McCain articulate a clear strategy to dramatically improve public education? Yes or no? We'd like to hear from you. You can vote. Cast your vote at loudobbs.com. We'll have the results here later in this broadcast.

Up next, more solutions to our education crisis, an Independent perspective on the presidential race as well. I'll be joined by three of the best political analysts in the country.

And tonight, we're watching closely as Hurricane Ike moves in to batter the Texas and Louisiana coast, mandatory evacuations ordered. Tens of thousands have, however, stayed behind. We'll have the very latest for you throughout this broadcast as we continue from South Riding, Virginia. Stay with us.

(APPLAUSE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(MUSIC)

DOBBS: I'm joined now by three leading authorities on education to discuss solutions to this nation's education crisis. Yes, there are solutions. They're just not being acted upon nationally.

Christopher Swanson is the research director at "Education Week", the director of Editorial Projects and Education Research Center. Great to have you with us. And Susan Neuman, former U.S. assistant secretary for elementary and secondary education under President Bush, also an architect of the "No Child Left Behind" program. And Professor Pedro Noguera, from the Steinhart School of Education (ph) at New York University. Great to have you with us.

Let's begin first with the fact that as we talk about "no child left behind", as we talk about the crisis in our country, and one in which both black and Hispanic students are dropping out of high school at a rate of about 50 percent. How in the world has there not been an urgent, urgent, critical response by the federal government, by state governments and the entire education committee to what is a disaster in the making for so many of our students?

SUSAN NEUMAN, FMR ASST SECY FOR EDUCATION: Well, clearly No Child Left Behind was designed to address that issue. And I think we've learned a lot of lessons. One of the issues we've learned is accountability is incredibly very important. But one of the things we've not recognized well enough is that we need to teach more than basic skills. Our curriculum is too low level for many of our children. We need to up the ante and make school more interesting for more children.

I think the other lesson we've learned is you can't blame teachers and then expect them to teach and teach well. We've got to get the red tape out of teaching. We've got to allow teachers to do what they do well, which is to interact with their children and we've got to test higher level skills than we have in the past. DOBBS: Do you agree, Chris?

CHRISTOPHER SWANSON, RESEARCH DIR, EDUCATION WEEK: I think I agree with a lot of that. I would also add to what Susan said that if it wasn't for No Child Left Behind and the fact that it at least does at least put graduation on the table, we wouldn't know there was a crisis. And before No Child Left Behind, we weren't looking at graduation rates at all.

DOBBS: May I interject, here. Chris, you and your group should also take some great credit, and a number of other Independent studies on graduation rates, because if it were up to state education departments around the country, we wouldn't know what's going on in these schools because they have put out -- I'm not saying all -- but many, if not most, have put out graduation rates that are absolutely pure fiction and fiction on the high side, not the low side.

SWANSON: I would agree with that. And I think that the federal law has brought us this far, so far, but we have so far to go in the past five years, according to our analysis, graduation rates have inched up. You know, they're, right now, at about 71 percent, but we are only increasing by two-thirds of a percentage point every year. We want to get from where we are not to where we need to be, unless we do something dramatically different, and we can look to our political leadership and our education leadership for solutions, hopefully, you know, it's going to take something very dramatic it to really turn things around.

DOBBS: Well, we just talked to two principals, Pedro, Sharon Johnson and Truett Abbott, who, I mean, they took two schools that were disasters and turned them around and I don't mean over a 10-year period, no offense to No Child Left Behind, but they did it right now. That's what every American wants for every kid. We can't continue to leave half of our black students, half of our Hispanic students behind every single year.

(APPLAUSE)

PROF PEDRO NOGUERA, NEW YORK UNIVERSITY: With schools like those two principals lead are showing us is it can be done. The problem is not the kids. Are there school like that? Yes, in Schiller Park, IL, Lincoln Middle School, another turnaround school. It's happening across the country. The problem is that we have raised standards, what we expect of schools, but we haven't provided the resources. And there are a lot of schools out there that simply don't have the resources to meet student needs.

DOBBS: From each of you, the one thing that schools could do to start delivering quality public education -- Pedro.

NOGUERA: The one thing they could do is to find ways to address the whole child, not just focus on preparation for a test, but look at the need for art, music, theater, athletics, all that makes a well- rounded individual. We have focused so narrowly on test preparation that we have bored kids right out of school.

(APPLAUSE)

SWANSON: A good education is really the engine of our nation, and it's stalled. Young adults have no more education than older adults. If we really need to graduate students from high school ready for the 21st century, they need to see, while they're in high school, what's their plan look like, I think, especially for children from families that don't have a history of college education, they need help, they need individual plans, they need to have good academy work, they need to see that what they're doing now has implications for the future in how you get from point A to point B to point C.

DOBBS: Susan, you get the last word.

NEUMAN: But, I think one of the things that we look at, as we look at dropout rate and we look at high school, but really the issue is early education. If we could do one thing in our country that makes a difference, it would be to help and get children get involved in early education right at the very beginning.

DOBBS: The question is, which we haven't time to answer, then why in the world haven't we been doining it?

Susan, thank you very much, Susan Neuman we appreciate it. Christopher Swanson, thank you. And Pedro Noguera. Pedro, thank you very much.

(APPLAUSE)

DOBBS: Up next, what's ahead for this presidential campaign? I'll be joined by three of the best political analysts in the country. We'll be back with more coverage of Hurricane Ike, from Freedom High School in South Riding, Virginia.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANNOUNCER: Welcome back to the Lou Dobbs Independent Convention, news, debate, and opinion, live from the Freedom High School in South Riding, Virginia, home of the Freedom Eagles. Here again, Mr. Independent, Lou Dobbs.

DOBBS: Welcome back. We're at the Freedom High School, here in South Riding, Virginia. You can see, it's pretty clear, there's no shortage of spirit and commitment here on the part of these young people.

(APPLAUSE)

You know, we're focusing tonight, we've been to schools with lots of problems around this country, tonight we thought it would be illuminating, exhilarating, even, to be in a school that is working. And also a great place to focus on what senators Obama and McCain are saying they'll do to fix our public education which is broken in so many parts of this country.

But first, we want to bring you the very latest on Hurricane Ike as it progresses and it is now charging toward the Texas and Louisiana coasts. Over just the past hour, Hurricane Ike has strengthened; sustained winds are now over 110-miles-an-hour. The National Hurricane Center says the storm is likely to become a Category 3 hurricane by the time it makes landfall late tonight or early tomorrow morning.

This means an excess of more than 111-mile-an-hour winds and the storm is now looking as though it will come ashore near Galveston, Texas. And over just the past few minutes, heavy rain has begun to fall on the island. Storm surges have been taking place and those surges, which have not reached maximum height, still could flood much of the island when Hurricane Ike strikes.

We'll have complete coverage of this hurricane throughout this broadcast tonight and throughout the weekend, here on CNN.

Well more now on the crisis in public education, our public school system, the presidential campaign and why our elected officials aren't being held accountable, including the two men who want to be president of the United States representing both the Republican and the Democratic parties.

Joining me now, three of the best political analysts anywhere, all CNN contributors: Michael Goodwin, Pulitzer Prize winning journalist for the "New York Daily News."

Michael, good to have you here.

Robert Zimmerman, Democratic national committeeman, and Barack Obama supporter. And Ed Rollins, Republican strategist, former White House political director and former chairman of the Mike Huckabee campaign.

Gentlemen, thanks for being here.

Let's start with this education crisis first and foremost. Why is it, with a clear crisis in public education that with less than two months to go until November 4, that neither of these candidates have laid out an urgent response to what is clearly a crisis in public education --- Robert?

ROBERT ZIMMERMAN, DEMOCRATIC NAT'L COMMITTEEMAN: Lou, you raise a very important point. Both senators McCain and Obama have issued their position papers, but they clearly have not made it a critical feature of their campaign, a critical part of their message. And what's most concerning to me is that we know what works, smaller class sizes work, for example. Focusing on vocational education, focusing on expanded educational opportunities, we know it works, the issue is do we have the federal resolve to do it. No Child Left Behind was a great concept, but they just left the money behind to make the program effective.

(APPLAUSE)

DOBBS: And Michael, everyone has met two principals that turned schools around, Pedro Noguera, Chris Swanson, Susan Neuman, all three have been at the forefront in leading reform in public education, yet there is no urgency attached by our political system to what they're recommending and they know what they're talking about.

MICHAEL GOODWIN, NEW YORK DAILY NEWS: I think, one of the reasons, Lou, is it's one of those problems that is so difficult from a federal level that the candidates don't want to wade into it other than with the platitudes. It's just too complicated for the president to talk about the campaign in a way that doesn't cost them votes as well as get them votes, and so they tend to stay away. We've talked about other subjects like that too: the deficit, the debt, the entitlement spending, anything difficult, the candidates, it doesn't lend itself to an easy sound bite, the candidates tend to shy away from it.

DOBBS: Do you agree, Ed?

ED ROLLINS, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Yes, very much so. First of all, we're very much in a, and whether we should be or shouldn't be, in a poll-driven environment when it comes to campaigns. And the overarchining theme for a long time was the war and obviously it's not quite as prevalent, even though it's still very significant, and then it moves to the economy. The economy is the No. 1 problem in America today and people really want answers on that.

Education, which is very critical, short term and long term, and the federal role is very defined, but should do more, but it's not something the candidates are going to talk about the rest of the way.

DOBBS: I think it's unimaginable that these candidates would not be talking about what is devastating for half of the students who are Hispanic, who are black, who are dropping out of school. It's unacceptable. It is not something that we shouldn't, in the national media, permit them to avoid or to ignore. But then, of course, we, first, in the national media have to avoid ignoring the subject ourselves, wouldn't we?

We're going to be back with our panel, here, in just a moment as our Independent convention continues. The Independent perspective tonight from Freedom High School.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

DOBBS: We're back with our distinguished panel: Michael Goodwin, Robert Zimmerman, and Ed Rollins. Let me turn to you first, Robert. The most recent poll, this is a brand-new poll that's just come out, "Associated Press" going through the presidential contest, the JFK poll with the "Associated Press" showing John McCain with a four-point lead over Barack Obama among likely voters as the choice for president. Let me begin by saying what has happened to that campaign and how likely is it there can be a quick turnaround on the part of the campaign?

ZIMMERMAN: Well, look, the reality is Barack Obama has got to refocus his energy and his message on his race against John McCain and how he is going to rebuild this economy in particular and restore America's role in the world. And that is -- right now, the Republicans are running a very smart strategy. It's a great strategy of distraction. They have... DOBBS: Distraction?

ZIMMERMAN: Distraction. For example, the commercial that they ran that was a completely false charge about Barack Obama and sex education. They have...

DOBBS: What about the campaign ad from the Obama folks talking about John McCain not being able to use a computer? What is that?

ZIMMERMAN: It's based on his statements, I don't think it's an effective ad or a smart strategy, but...

DOBBS: But it's the same sort of nonsense, sort of schoolyard nonsense.

ZIMMERMAN: I think the difference is the McCain campaign...

DOBBS: Not high school schoolyard let me be clear.

ZIMMERMAN: You folks are too smart to fall for that, I might add.

DOBBS: Michael Goodwin?

(LAUGHTER)

GOODWIN: He's running. I think what is interesting, Lou, is the momentum has swung to John McCain and Sarah Palin. Sarah Palin, obviously, making a huge difference in this campaign, attracting Independent voters all over the country. And I think what is somewhat disheartening, frankly, is that Obama is responding to that and they've said it publicly, they've started today with these ads, their campaign manager put out a memorandum today saying we're going to attack McCain over and over, we're going to link him to Bush over and over. He's just a liar...

DOBBS: But, that's what they've been doing.

GOODWIN: Exactly. So, instead of retooling, as Robert suggested, and refocusing, they're going to double-down on negatively. I don't think it's going to work. I don't think it's gotten them very far, now.

DOBBS: How about coming up with an urgent response -- an emergency response as part of the Obama platform and campaign agenda to deal with the deficiency in public education. Wouldn't that be compelling?

GOODWIN: Well, that's what the public wants. The public wants that, it wants education, it want the economy, all those things. But instead they're going to go on the attack. I don't think it's going to work.

DOBBS: Ed, as you watched Sarah Palin talk with Charlie Gibson of "ABC News," a number of -- it seemed like the left, for the most part, in blogs and columns, said that she did terribly and the right thought she was brilliant. I didn't see either terrible or brilliant. What did you see?

ROLLINS: I saw a very proficient person up against a very trained news man who basically was playing gotcha politics and I thought she did extremely well. You know, at the end of the day, she's created a new phenomenon in American politics. There's an awful lot of women, young and old, who are very, very pleased with her candidacy and a lot of Republicans very pleased with her candidacy. At the end of the day, this is a very, very close election, as close -- for many of these young people here, it's their first election, but at the end of the day, elections go back and forth.

Right now the momentum is with McCain and by Obama saying he's too old is not going to basically make people who are supporting him or senior voters, basically say he's not too old, what we like about him is he's experienced versus this young guy who's very inexperienced.

DOBBS: We're going to let Robert Zimmerman respond to that just vicious attack on Senator Obama's campaign in just a moment. We'll be right back with our panel from here at Freedom High School.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAMPBELL BROWN, CNN NEWS ANCHOR: I'm Campbell Brown in the CNN ELECTION CENTER, we are in breaking news mode tonight. Coming up in a few minutes we'll have live updates from our correspondents as Hurricane Ike closes in on Texas. Galveston and Houston right in its path.

We've also got today's breaking political news. Sarah Palin takes questions again, this time about earmarks and abortion. I'll see you in just a few minutes. LOU DOBBS TONIGHT will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

DOBBS: We're back with our panel, Michael Goodwin, Michael Zimmerman and Ed Rollins. You were about to respond to Mr. Rollins' statements about Governor Palin.

ZIMMERMAN: Let me just point out that I have great respect for Michael Goodwin and for Ed Rollins. I just want to educate them a little bit, periodically.

DOBBS: That was nasty.

GOODWIN: That sounds like a long-winded answer.

ZIMMERMAN: I'll be very brief. Very simply...

DOBBS: You have 10 seconds.

ZIMMERMAN: OK, thank you. Very simply, the good news for the McCain campaign is that every time Sarah Palin can dominate the news cycle, and keep the focus away from Barack Obama and John McCain, that's a good day for John McCain. DOBBS: Then why is Barack Obama and Joe Biden, why are they attacking Sarah Palin? Because all it does is feed into precisely that.

ZIMMERMAN: That's why they've got to reshift the focus on the presidential race between -- on the issues that divide them. The point is, the more we see of Sarah Palin, the more she's like any other politicians, supporting earmarks, hiring lobbyists, supporting that bridge for nowhere, the fact, the record speaks.

DOBBS: Michael Goodwin?

(APPLAUSE)

GOODWIN: My prediction, Lou, coming down the stretch is that we have not heard the last of talk of Hillary Clinton Somehow working her way back onto the ticket.

DOBBS: Really?

GOODWIN: I believe that Joe Biden is going to find that Sarah Palin just has turned this race so far away from the Democrats that Biden is going to look increasingly inadequate.

DOBBS: Well, we've got until -- I guess, then we'll know on October 3 about that, right?

ROLLINS: No vice president's choice in history has ever turned a race around like this one has and Governor Palin, while Barack Obama has been running for president for the last two years instead of voting on the Senate, she's been making the tough decisions the government has to be make and I think people see that. I think at the end of the day, this is now a sprant. It's been a marathon, it's now a spring, either side could win, but I think that McCain's going to win.

DOBBS: OK.

GOODWIN: Yeah, right now, McCain's has clearly got the momentum.

ZIMMERMAN: Let's wait for the debates. This election is just beginning and as long as we can keep the focus...

(APPLAUSE)

DOBBS: Robert Zimmerman, thank you very much, Michael Goodwin, Ed Rollins. Thank you all. I'd still like to recommend that both candidates come up with an urgent plan to remedy public education in this country.

Thank you gentlemen, I appreciate it.

Tonight's poll results, 65 percent of you have not heard either Senator Obama or Senator McCain articulate a clear strategy to dramatically improve public education. There is a reason for that. They have not. We thank you for being with us tonight. Please join us tomorrow. For all of us here, we want to say goodnight from the home of the Freedom Eagles, Freedom High School.