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Live From...
Ashcroft Under the Knife; Haitian Counsel to Appoint Prime Minister; Primaries to Test New Voting Machines; Kerry, Bush Pull Out the Stops
Aired March 09, 2004 - 13:00 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.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: From intensive care to the operating room, Attorney General John Ashcroft in surgery right now.
American Marines huddled up in Haiti's violence. A live briefing from the Pentagon this hour.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: My opponent clearly has strong beliefs. They just don't last very long.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Let me tell you something, Mr. Cheney. Let me tell you something, Mr. President. Bad, rushed decisions kill too.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Oh, boy. Campaign 2004 gets ugly. Just how nasty will it get?
And if you want more of your MTV, you might have to ditch the dish. A satellite TV provider pulls the plug on some popular networks.
From the CNN center in Atlanta, I'm Kyra Phillips. Miles will join me a little later. CNN's LIVE FROM starts right now.
Up first this hour, Operation Gallbladder. Five days after John Ashcroft sped to the E.R. with gallstone pancreatitis, the A.G.'s in the O.R., having his gallbladder removed.
The operation started about an hour ago and should end, we're told, about an hour from now.
Ashcroft's procedure is being called preventive, not emergency. Designed to keep the painful and sometimes serious pancreas situation from recurring.
Joining me now with more details and insights is Dr. Marcia Cohen, medical correspondent for our sister network Headline News. Good to see you.
MARCIA COHEN, HEADLINE NEWS MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good to see you.
PHILLIPS: Let's talk about the procedure and what exactly they're going to do.
COHEN: Well, actually, they may do two procedures.
The first procedure they're going to do is what we call laparoscopic removal of the gallbladder. And what that means is you put an instrument that looks almost like a periscope into a very small opening in your abdomen.
As you can see right over here on the screen, you put a little plastic bag around the gallbladder and you remove it.
What's wonderful about this procedure is that it goes quickly. It doesn't cause a lot of pain and patients heal well.
But his second problem that he has is that his pancreas is inflamed. And that they have to look at.
So what they'll do is going to take that periscope again, and they're going to look at the pancreas. If there's any part of that pancreas that looks as though it's very unhealthy, even dead, they will have to open him up, you know, right through the belly, and take out that sick part of the pancreas.
That makes it a much more difficult -- I don't want to say more difficult, but it means that his recovery time is going to be longer. And you know, it's a more difficult type of procedure to do.
So I think we have to hear what's going to happen, you know, if they look around and the pancreas is fine, great, out, take out the gallbladder. And that is the treatment for gallstone pancreatitis.
PHILLIPS: And if, indeed, there is a diseased pancreas, or part of it is diseased, why does it need to be taken out? Like, what could the effects be?
COHEN: Well, let's make an analogy. If you've ever seen like a gangrene toe, you know you can't fix it. You have to cut it off, because it's dead tissue.
And that's sort of the analogy of the pancreas. If there's part of that tissue that's dead, you can't revive it. It can get infected, and it can really make him very sick. So you have to get rid of it.
PHILLIPS: So explain to us how the gallstone situation ties in with pancreatitis.
COHEN: OK. Well, what happens is a lot of us make gallstones, but very few of us actually get this problem of gallstone pancreatitis. And what happens is you have your gallbladder, which puts out these stones through a duct. And that duct actually hits into the duct from the pancreas. So the two come right together.
And that stone can actually block the duct of the pancreas so that all the enzymes and fluids that are put out by the pancreas are pushed back into the pancreas and not allowed to get out. That causes inflammation of the pancreas and can even cause destruction of some of the tissue.
PHILLIPS: And quickly, when all is said and done, this is a normal procedure, correct?
COHEN: This is a normal procedure. All they're going to do is take out his gallbladder laparoscopically. He actually will probably be up walking around in 24 hours, have very little pain. And he should have a quick recovery.
PHILLIPS: Dr. Marcia Cohen, thanks very much.
COHEN: You're welcome.
PHILLIPS: A day after Haiti swore in a new president, it could get a new prime minister. So-called council of sages is contemplating candidates, at the same time facing an upsurge of chaos and violence on the streets of Port-au-Prince.
For the second time in two days, U.S. Marines have had a hand in that blood shed. We get latest now from CNN's Harris Whitbeck in the capital -- Harris.
HARRIS WHITBECK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Kyra.
The U.S. military has confirmed the incident in which U.S. Marines fired upon a car that was approaching a checkpoint. They say the car was approaching it too quickly and refused to stop, what it was ordered to do.
So one Haitian, a taxi driver, was killed, and another person in the car was wounded.
Now, there is still a lot of instability around the streets of Port-au-Prince, particularly in the area around the industrial park, which is near Port-au-Prince international airport.
There was a lot of looting there yesterday. And Marines have taken control of that installation and are trying to keep it under control.
Now, former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide yesterday from the Central African Republic addressed the press, and he sent a message to his supporters here in Port-au-Prince.
He told them that they should continue with what he called "acts of peaceful resistance." And that call sparked a rebuke from the U.S. State Department. OK. I guess we don't have that. Anyway, Richard Boucher, State Department spokesman, was saying that Mr. Aristide should contain himself and should let Haiti not think so much about the past and start thinking towards the future.
And Haiti's political future very much in question today. A council of sages, that you mentioned, Kyra, is meeting. They're supposed to announce the name of a new prime minister.
These are the next steps to be taken as the political vacuum is filled here and as efforts are made to bring about a little bit of political stability, which is really what is missing here. That political instability is directly affecting the situation on the street -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Harris Whitbeck, live from Port-au-Prince. Thanks, Harris.
Death to John Allen Muhammad. As expected, a judge in Virginia today upheld a jury's recommendation that the D.C. area sniper face the ultimate punishment.
Muhammad was convicted last November of killing Dean Harold Myers at a gas station the previous October. His execution is scheduled for this October. But appeals will almost surely push that far into the future.
Muhammad's accomplice/prodigy is due to be sentenced tomorrow. Lee Boyd Malvo faces life in prison for killing Linda Franklin in a shopping center parking lot.
Oddly, Malvo's prosecutor sides with Muhammad's defenders, claiming that the teenager acted independently and not under the older man's control.
For more on the duo's exploits, alleged and otherwise, you can log on to CNN.com anytime.
Elsewhere in America this hour, soccer moms, NASCAR dads, why not chess club teens or mall rat minors? Some grown-ups in the California legislature want to give 16-year-olds half a vote and 14-year-olds a quarter vote in state elections.
They call it training wheels for citizenship, though one opponent calls it the nuttiest idea he's ever heard.
And if you've never heard of Paul Winfield, you probably still know his work. Over the decades, Winfield starred in movies, TV series, TV movies, even Broadway.
And if that sounds like a eulogy, well, it is. On Sunday, Paul Winfield died of a heart attack. He was 62 year old.
And what might the future hold for all of us? That's part of what the Senate Armed Services Committee want to hold from CIA Director George Tenet. Tenet is forecasting long-range security threats while still on the hot seat for perceived intelligence failures, pre-9/11 and pre-Iraq war.
Later this hour, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld takes on the press corps. A Pentagon news briefing starts at 1:30 p.m. Eastern, just about 23 minutes from now. You can see it live, right here on CNN.
And in the race for the White House, it's only March and the nasty tones starting up. Why is the presidential campaign getting this ugly this early?
JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm John Zarrella in Broward County, Florida. How low will it go? The Democrats aren't turning out in large numbers for the primary.
PHILLIPS: And it's a dollar a lot of Americans just don't seem to want in their pocket. But the U.S. Mint may be making some changes to try to buck that trend.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Four states hugging the Gulf Coast are holding primaries today. Four hundred sixty-five delegates are at stake as voters in Florida, Mississippi, cast ballots.
Turnout is expected to be light. But John Kerry, the candidate must assume -- most assume will be the Democratic nominee is expected to do well across the board.
Extra scrutiny is being cast on the primary in Florida. It is expected to be a battleground state when John Kerry and President Bush go head to head in the fall.
New voting machines were intended to erase the fear of hanging chads there, or did they? Some people are concerned the technology could raise some new problems.
Our John Zarrella, live in Plantation, Florida. Oh, boy. Problems, again, huh, John?
ZARRELLA: I tell you, Kyra, no problems to report in this particular primary. But with voter turnout so low -- and I know it's an exaggeration to say this, but Senator Kerry may get more delegates in Florida than voters that turn out to vote for him today. It has really light here, voting across the state considered very light.
No technical problems, but this is not a good litmus test for these machines you see behind me. Fifteen counties in Florida now of the 67 counties have electronic voting machines like these, similar to these. The rest of the counties, using another form of voting machine.
But everybody's gone away from those punch screen ballots. None of those ballots any more. We're not going to have hanging chads like we had four years ago.
But these electronic machines are still creating some issues, some controversy. A couple of years ago, the machines, when they first started to be used here in Florida, they didn't come online in time. Poll workers weren't equipped to handle those problems, didn't know what to do, and there wasn't enough technical support.
You know, today, we had one little minor incident here, where a woman came in and voted, but then she forgot to punch the vote button and the poll workers had to go chase her down and get her back here to go ahead and cast her ballot by punching the vote button.
So we believe, at least state officials, election officials, believe that the worst is behind them, that there shouldn't be any major problems here.
But, remember, many, many other states around the country and county are going to be using these electronic machines for the first time come November. So there could be problems other where -- other places.
One of the issues here is that these new machines don't have a printer. There's no paper trail to actually tell, if there are problems, what voter intent was. And the head of the Democratic Party here in Florida says we really need to focus on finding a printing system, a way to come up with a paper trail.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SCOTT MADDOX, FLORIDA DEMOCRATIC PARTY: I think we ought to have a voter verifiable paper trail to give voters confidence in the machines they're voting on.
But absent that, we just need to go out and vote, go out and vote in large numbers. If we don't want what happened in 2000 to happen again.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ZARRELLA: Now, no matter what happened in 2000, clearly this is going to be a battleground state. Democrats, Republicans split just about down the middle, 50/50. Both sides saying it's a tossup.
Senator Kerry wrapped up his Florida swing this morning in Tampa, at a sandwich shop in West Tampa, where he met with a lot of likely voters. And then he flew on to Chicago.
But there is no doubt that both Senator Kerry and President Bush will be spending a tremendous amount of time during the next eight months in Florida, because it is pivotal.
It's considered to be the largest state left that is up for grabs. Twenty-seven very large electoral votes that could make the difference in who was the president, once again, come November -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: All right, John. Just curious: this new technology behind you, you know, we can't really see inside there. We kind of see them behind you. But is it quick and easy? Can you kind of give us a little explainer?
ZARRELLA: Sure, it's really quick and easy. What happens is when you come in here, and you register and you sign in, then the poll worker will come up with a little -- with a block, a small block that he or she has in their hands.
They bring it over with you. They put that into the machine and then the machine will light up. It doesn't light up until that block goes in there.
And then it lights up, and it comes up. And it says "Spanish, English," you choose whatever language. Here, at least in this county, in Broward, it will say Spanish or English.
You choose the language and then you just run down, touch-screen voting. You punch the screen. And the screen is actually looking up at you from the bottom. The screen is in the bottom.
And you review it. You can view everything, review it. and then it will ask you, are you ready to vote? You say yes, you vote, and away you go -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Sounds easy. All right. We have yet to see how it's going to turn out. John Zarrella, thanks.
Well, look for the race between the president and Kerry to get pretty nasty. Analysts say that the gloves are coming off and the criticisms and comebacks could turn into a slugfest, where both men wind up with black eyes.
CNN political analyst Carlos Watson in Mountain View, California, keeping his eye on the campaigning.
You really think they'll slug it out, Carlos?
CARLOS WATSON, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: I think they will. The president is in one of the toughest situations we've seen an incumbent in the last 30 years.
In fact, if you look at the last four incumbents -- presidents, Kyra, who ran for office, all of them were ahead against their major challenger at this point. And the president stands out as an anomaly who actually is behind in most polls by as much as eight or even 10 points.
So he's in a tough position, and there's no two ways about it. Expect to see him continue to come out fighting.
PHILLIPS: OK. I was really curious if they were going to throw punches at each other, Carlos, but I don't think that's going to happen. I think they're more mature than that.
All right. Why are they attacking each other so hard right now?
WATSON: Couple of reasons. Often, the race for president gets decided not just in October and November, but early on in March, and April, as the -- as the issues of the debate become defined.
And right now, on issues like the economy, education, the environment, the president's polling not just behind John Kerry, but in many cases, voters rate him at below 50 percent approval on those critical issue.
So the president is trying to shift the conversation and question John Kerry's suitability to be president and to be commander in chief, saying that he flip-flops on important issues.
PHILLIPS: All right. Let's take a listen to each one of -- well, one candidate, the president of course. Let's start with John Kerry.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If the president of the United States can find the time to go to a rodeo, he can find the time to do more than one hour in front of a commission that is investigating what happened to America's intelligence.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: All right. Is the slamming going to work?
WATSON: It so far -- for the Democrats it has. You recall that just two months ago, Kyra, that in a head to head match-up, Kerry was down as much as 12 to 15 points against the president. Now he's up, as I said, about eight to 10 points. So a big swing. So it's worked so far.
And by the way, it's worked, as you heard John Kerry do, not just by raising questions about the economy, but also by raising questions about how the president has managed foreign policy and national security. We'll see a lot more of it, I think, in the days ahead.
PHILLIPS: This is what the president had to say. Some interesting little tidbits in this. Let's listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Senator Kerry voted for the Patriot Act, for NAFTA, for the No Child Left Behind Act, and for the use of force in Iraq. Now he opposes the Patriot Act, NAFTA, the No Child Left Behind Act and the liberation of Iraq.
My opponent clearly has strong beliefs. They just don't last very long.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Now, you thinking that everybody got that, that the president's watching Rodney Dangerfield?
WATSON: Well, you've got to give it to the president. He certainly has a sense of humor and always, no matter what, has scored high on the likability rating.
If you remember the Rodney Dangerfield movie from the '80s, "Back to School," the president's line is reminiscent of a line that Rodney Dangerfield used in Sam Kinison's class.
It's also, by the way, reminiscent of a line that his own father used in the Republican primaries in order to defeat Bob Dole in 1988, saying that Dole was a straddler who was on one side of the tax issue then another, on one side of Social Security and then another.
We'll see whether or not that works for the president this time.
PHILLIPS: And you know, we talked about, OK, is it presidential to shred a competitor? But hey, you know, history shows there's a lot of shredding that went on in the past, right?
WATSON: Well be a lot over the years, including obviously FDR's time. But if you go way back 100 years-plus to Grover Cleveland, who had an illegitimate child, there were chants of "Mama, Mama, where's my Pa?"
"In the White House. Ha, ha, ha."
So people over the years have taken lots of swipes at presidents, some deserved, some undeserved. And this is just par for the course. I think it's going to continue to be interesting, if nothing else.
PHILLIPS: And no doubt, especially when you're analyzing it all. Carlos Watson, thanks.
WATSON: Good to see you.
PHILLIPS: All right. CNN will bring you the latest, of course, on today's primaries and the impact of the 2004 race. It's all coming up today on "INSIDE POLITICS" with Judy Woodruff. The action begins 3:30 Eastern, 12:30 Pacific.
Well, if you're on the dish, you may be seeing red. Isn't that right, Jen Rogers?
JEN ROGERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Kyra. Do you want your MTV? Well, there are a lot of people out there that do today, and they are not finding it. I'll tell you why.
PHILLIPS: And O.J. Simpson back in the news, this time accused of stealing. We'll show you who is filing papers against him.
And in a few minutes, Secretary of State Donald Rumsfeld expected to give a live briefing from the Pentagon. Stay with CNN for that. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: I want my MTV, and Comedy Central, VH-1, CBS. That's the cry of some Dish Network customers affected by a nasty dispute over program fees. Millions of customers are doing without some programming today.
CNN's Jen Rogers has the story now, live from New York.
What's the deal, Jen?
ROGERS: Well, Kyra, you want a lot of things and there are a lot of Dish Network subscribers out there, as well.
If you are a Dish Network subscriber and were planning to watch, say, "The Young and the Restless Today" or "Judging Amy" tonight on CBS, be prepared that instead of your favorite show you may be watching a black screen with a bunch of writing on it.
Yes, it is definitely less riveting than what you may be used to. It is a statement instead of a show.
And that's because early this morning Echostar, which owns the satellite TV service Dish Network, announced that it is pulling 16 of Viacom's owned and operated CBS local stations and 10 of its nationally distributed channels, including MTV, Nickelodeon and Comedy Central.
Now in a statement, Echostar said Viacom's demands for rate increases, and what they called strong-arm tactics, left it with no other choice then to remove the channels.
For its part, Viacom says it is dismayed and disappointed and that it has tried for months to reach an agreement but that Echostar refused to entertain a reasonable proposal or negotiate in earnest.
Now, while this fight have caught consumers by surprise this morning when they turned on the TV, this is a long-running battle between the media giant and satellite provider. While the two have been negotiating, they've also been fighting it out in the court.
Now, a dispute reaching this level is not unprecedented. In 2000, TIME-Warner, parent of CNN and ABC, which is owned by the Walt Disney Company, were in a similar struggle over fees, which resulted in the removal of seven Disney-owned ABC stations, impacting roughly 3.5 cable homes.
Now, a final note here, Kyra. If Echostar keeps CBS off the Dish Network, the move will come at a very tough time for college basketball fans, as March Madness starts next week, and it is aired on CBS. The consolation prize here, each Dish Network customer going without CBS programming will be provided a $1 monthly credit -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: All right, we'll follow it, Jen Rogers, thanks.
Well, dish competitor Direct TV has a problem of a different kind: people who steal the signal and don't pay. Allegedly among them, O.J. Simpson.
The company is suing Simpson for $20,000. According to papers filed in federal court in Miami, his attorney says that Simpson has been a loyal, paying customer for years. (STOCK REPORT)
PHILLIPS: Straight ahead, the papers are signed, now leaders must figure out the transfer of power in a war-torn nation. We've got the latest ahead from Iraq.
Also, tracking a terrorist: new information this afternoon on the effort to smoke out Osama bin Laden.
And heads or tails, details on proposed changes to the American dollar.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Attorney General John Ashcroft undergoing surgery to remove his gallbladder. The operation started at noon. We'll get the first details from his doctors in about half an hour. Ashcroft has been hospitalized in Washington since last week.
Gas prices nearing historic highs. The Energy Department says the average retail price at the pump climbed 2 cents last week to $1.74, about a penny shy of the record. Mainland gas is most expensive in California where it goes from 2 to nearly 3 bucks a gallon.
And we're standing by live at the Pentagon for a news briefing as soon as the Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld steps up to the podium, we will check it out, see what he has to say.
More setbacks for the U.S. in Iraq. An American soldier is killed today in the volatile Sunni Triangle. This happened as more objections are raised over the U.S.-backed interim constitution signed yesterday.
Let's go to CNN's Ben Wedeman. He's live in Baghdad -- Ben.
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Kyra. Well with that interim constitution now signed, the focus of the members of the coalition-appointed governing council turns to the next, and probably far more complicated, phase, and that is the June 30 transfer of sovereignty from the coalition provisional authority to some sort of interim Iraqi government.
And this, despite the very public dissatisfaction that we heard, yet again today, from members -- Shi'ite members of the governing council. They feel the document, that constitution is flawed. But they're going to put those qualms behind for the moment. They say their focus now is for a speedy end to the occupation and a restoration of Iraqi sovereignty.
Now the council will draw up an annex to the constitution, the interim constitution, which will define the form of government that will take over after June 30. And you can be certain that there will be some lively debate over that topic.
But as they talk politics in Baghdad more violence in the rest of the country. In Ba'qubah, a town north of Baghdad, in the so-called Sunni Triangle, one soldier with the 1st Infantry Division was killed by a roadside bomb. This brings to 553 the number of U.S. troops killed in Iraq since the beginning of the war last year. Another soldier was wounded in that incident -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Ben Wedeman, live from Baghdad.
Is Osama bin Laden making a run for the border? New intel suggests he could be. Couriers and safe houses are spraining up around the Afghan border, telling signs of what could be an escape route. Our senior Pentagon correspondent Jamie McIntyre says the new intel coincides with the new hunt for bin Laden.
(INTERRUPTED BY LIVE EVENT)
PHILLIPS: General Peter Pace, also Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, briefing reporters today at the Pentagon. A number of issues. Talking about Haiti, the multi-military force there, a U.N. team also set to come to Haiti, try to quell the looting and violence that's been taking place there.
Also, the Iraqi constitution, the interim constitution, of course, finally being signed after a lot of debate and compromise from all sides. Just now talking about stress in the armed force, programs going forward to help with that.
Also, the question about the U.S. Air Force, under scrutiny now as an internal review takes place after 92 alleged cases of rape were reported to military officials in the Pacific just in the last three years.
We're following all those stories for you. We're going to take a quick break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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Minister; Primaries to Test New Voting Machines; Kerry, Bush Pull Out the Stops>
Aired March 9, 2004 - 13:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: From intensive care to the operating room, Attorney General John Ashcroft in surgery right now.
American Marines huddled up in Haiti's violence. A live briefing from the Pentagon this hour.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: My opponent clearly has strong beliefs. They just don't last very long.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Let me tell you something, Mr. Cheney. Let me tell you something, Mr. President. Bad, rushed decisions kill too.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Oh, boy. Campaign 2004 gets ugly. Just how nasty will it get?
And if you want more of your MTV, you might have to ditch the dish. A satellite TV provider pulls the plug on some popular networks.
From the CNN center in Atlanta, I'm Kyra Phillips. Miles will join me a little later. CNN's LIVE FROM starts right now.
Up first this hour, Operation Gallbladder. Five days after John Ashcroft sped to the E.R. with gallstone pancreatitis, the A.G.'s in the O.R., having his gallbladder removed.
The operation started about an hour ago and should end, we're told, about an hour from now.
Ashcroft's procedure is being called preventive, not emergency. Designed to keep the painful and sometimes serious pancreas situation from recurring.
Joining me now with more details and insights is Dr. Marcia Cohen, medical correspondent for our sister network Headline News. Good to see you.
MARCIA COHEN, HEADLINE NEWS MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good to see you.
PHILLIPS: Let's talk about the procedure and what exactly they're going to do.
COHEN: Well, actually, they may do two procedures.
The first procedure they're going to do is what we call laparoscopic removal of the gallbladder. And what that means is you put an instrument that looks almost like a periscope into a very small opening in your abdomen.
As you can see right over here on the screen, you put a little plastic bag around the gallbladder and you remove it.
What's wonderful about this procedure is that it goes quickly. It doesn't cause a lot of pain and patients heal well.
But his second problem that he has is that his pancreas is inflamed. And that they have to look at.
So what they'll do is going to take that periscope again, and they're going to look at the pancreas. If there's any part of that pancreas that looks as though it's very unhealthy, even dead, they will have to open him up, you know, right through the belly, and take out that sick part of the pancreas.
That makes it a much more difficult -- I don't want to say more difficult, but it means that his recovery time is going to be longer. And you know, it's a more difficult type of procedure to do.
So I think we have to hear what's going to happen, you know, if they look around and the pancreas is fine, great, out, take out the gallbladder. And that is the treatment for gallstone pancreatitis.
PHILLIPS: And if, indeed, there is a diseased pancreas, or part of it is diseased, why does it need to be taken out? Like, what could the effects be?
COHEN: Well, let's make an analogy. If you've ever seen like a gangrene toe, you know you can't fix it. You have to cut it off, because it's dead tissue.
And that's sort of the analogy of the pancreas. If there's part of that tissue that's dead, you can't revive it. It can get infected, and it can really make him very sick. So you have to get rid of it.
PHILLIPS: So explain to us how the gallstone situation ties in with pancreatitis.
COHEN: OK. Well, what happens is a lot of us make gallstones, but very few of us actually get this problem of gallstone pancreatitis. And what happens is you have your gallbladder, which puts out these stones through a duct. And that duct actually hits into the duct from the pancreas. So the two come right together.
And that stone can actually block the duct of the pancreas so that all the enzymes and fluids that are put out by the pancreas are pushed back into the pancreas and not allowed to get out. That causes inflammation of the pancreas and can even cause destruction of some of the tissue.
PHILLIPS: And quickly, when all is said and done, this is a normal procedure, correct?
COHEN: This is a normal procedure. All they're going to do is take out his gallbladder laparoscopically. He actually will probably be up walking around in 24 hours, have very little pain. And he should have a quick recovery.
PHILLIPS: Dr. Marcia Cohen, thanks very much.
COHEN: You're welcome.
PHILLIPS: A day after Haiti swore in a new president, it could get a new prime minister. So-called council of sages is contemplating candidates, at the same time facing an upsurge of chaos and violence on the streets of Port-au-Prince.
For the second time in two days, U.S. Marines have had a hand in that blood shed. We get latest now from CNN's Harris Whitbeck in the capital -- Harris.
HARRIS WHITBECK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Kyra.
The U.S. military has confirmed the incident in which U.S. Marines fired upon a car that was approaching a checkpoint. They say the car was approaching it too quickly and refused to stop, what it was ordered to do.
So one Haitian, a taxi driver, was killed, and another person in the car was wounded.
Now, there is still a lot of instability around the streets of Port-au-Prince, particularly in the area around the industrial park, which is near Port-au-Prince international airport.
There was a lot of looting there yesterday. And Marines have taken control of that installation and are trying to keep it under control.
Now, former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide yesterday from the Central African Republic addressed the press, and he sent a message to his supporters here in Port-au-Prince.
He told them that they should continue with what he called "acts of peaceful resistance." And that call sparked a rebuke from the U.S. State Department. OK. I guess we don't have that. Anyway, Richard Boucher, State Department spokesman, was saying that Mr. Aristide should contain himself and should let Haiti not think so much about the past and start thinking towards the future.
And Haiti's political future very much in question today. A council of sages, that you mentioned, Kyra, is meeting. They're supposed to announce the name of a new prime minister.
These are the next steps to be taken as the political vacuum is filled here and as efforts are made to bring about a little bit of political stability, which is really what is missing here. That political instability is directly affecting the situation on the street -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Harris Whitbeck, live from Port-au-Prince. Thanks, Harris.
Death to John Allen Muhammad. As expected, a judge in Virginia today upheld a jury's recommendation that the D.C. area sniper face the ultimate punishment.
Muhammad was convicted last November of killing Dean Harold Myers at a gas station the previous October. His execution is scheduled for this October. But appeals will almost surely push that far into the future.
Muhammad's accomplice/prodigy is due to be sentenced tomorrow. Lee Boyd Malvo faces life in prison for killing Linda Franklin in a shopping center parking lot.
Oddly, Malvo's prosecutor sides with Muhammad's defenders, claiming that the teenager acted independently and not under the older man's control.
For more on the duo's exploits, alleged and otherwise, you can log on to CNN.com anytime.
Elsewhere in America this hour, soccer moms, NASCAR dads, why not chess club teens or mall rat minors? Some grown-ups in the California legislature want to give 16-year-olds half a vote and 14-year-olds a quarter vote in state elections.
They call it training wheels for citizenship, though one opponent calls it the nuttiest idea he's ever heard.
And if you've never heard of Paul Winfield, you probably still know his work. Over the decades, Winfield starred in movies, TV series, TV movies, even Broadway.
And if that sounds like a eulogy, well, it is. On Sunday, Paul Winfield died of a heart attack. He was 62 year old.
And what might the future hold for all of us? That's part of what the Senate Armed Services Committee want to hold from CIA Director George Tenet. Tenet is forecasting long-range security threats while still on the hot seat for perceived intelligence failures, pre-9/11 and pre-Iraq war.
Later this hour, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld takes on the press corps. A Pentagon news briefing starts at 1:30 p.m. Eastern, just about 23 minutes from now. You can see it live, right here on CNN.
And in the race for the White House, it's only March and the nasty tones starting up. Why is the presidential campaign getting this ugly this early?
JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm John Zarrella in Broward County, Florida. How low will it go? The Democrats aren't turning out in large numbers for the primary.
PHILLIPS: And it's a dollar a lot of Americans just don't seem to want in their pocket. But the U.S. Mint may be making some changes to try to buck that trend.
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PHILLIPS: Four states hugging the Gulf Coast are holding primaries today. Four hundred sixty-five delegates are at stake as voters in Florida, Mississippi, cast ballots.
Turnout is expected to be light. But John Kerry, the candidate must assume -- most assume will be the Democratic nominee is expected to do well across the board.
Extra scrutiny is being cast on the primary in Florida. It is expected to be a battleground state when John Kerry and President Bush go head to head in the fall.
New voting machines were intended to erase the fear of hanging chads there, or did they? Some people are concerned the technology could raise some new problems.
Our John Zarrella, live in Plantation, Florida. Oh, boy. Problems, again, huh, John?
ZARRELLA: I tell you, Kyra, no problems to report in this particular primary. But with voter turnout so low -- and I know it's an exaggeration to say this, but Senator Kerry may get more delegates in Florida than voters that turn out to vote for him today. It has really light here, voting across the state considered very light.
No technical problems, but this is not a good litmus test for these machines you see behind me. Fifteen counties in Florida now of the 67 counties have electronic voting machines like these, similar to these. The rest of the counties, using another form of voting machine.
But everybody's gone away from those punch screen ballots. None of those ballots any more. We're not going to have hanging chads like we had four years ago.
But these electronic machines are still creating some issues, some controversy. A couple of years ago, the machines, when they first started to be used here in Florida, they didn't come online in time. Poll workers weren't equipped to handle those problems, didn't know what to do, and there wasn't enough technical support.
You know, today, we had one little minor incident here, where a woman came in and voted, but then she forgot to punch the vote button and the poll workers had to go chase her down and get her back here to go ahead and cast her ballot by punching the vote button.
So we believe, at least state officials, election officials, believe that the worst is behind them, that there shouldn't be any major problems here.
But, remember, many, many other states around the country and county are going to be using these electronic machines for the first time come November. So there could be problems other where -- other places.
One of the issues here is that these new machines don't have a printer. There's no paper trail to actually tell, if there are problems, what voter intent was. And the head of the Democratic Party here in Florida says we really need to focus on finding a printing system, a way to come up with a paper trail.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SCOTT MADDOX, FLORIDA DEMOCRATIC PARTY: I think we ought to have a voter verifiable paper trail to give voters confidence in the machines they're voting on.
But absent that, we just need to go out and vote, go out and vote in large numbers. If we don't want what happened in 2000 to happen again.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ZARRELLA: Now, no matter what happened in 2000, clearly this is going to be a battleground state. Democrats, Republicans split just about down the middle, 50/50. Both sides saying it's a tossup.
Senator Kerry wrapped up his Florida swing this morning in Tampa, at a sandwich shop in West Tampa, where he met with a lot of likely voters. And then he flew on to Chicago.
But there is no doubt that both Senator Kerry and President Bush will be spending a tremendous amount of time during the next eight months in Florida, because it is pivotal.
It's considered to be the largest state left that is up for grabs. Twenty-seven very large electoral votes that could make the difference in who was the president, once again, come November -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: All right, John. Just curious: this new technology behind you, you know, we can't really see inside there. We kind of see them behind you. But is it quick and easy? Can you kind of give us a little explainer?
ZARRELLA: Sure, it's really quick and easy. What happens is when you come in here, and you register and you sign in, then the poll worker will come up with a little -- with a block, a small block that he or she has in their hands.
They bring it over with you. They put that into the machine and then the machine will light up. It doesn't light up until that block goes in there.
And then it lights up, and it comes up. And it says "Spanish, English," you choose whatever language. Here, at least in this county, in Broward, it will say Spanish or English.
You choose the language and then you just run down, touch-screen voting. You punch the screen. And the screen is actually looking up at you from the bottom. The screen is in the bottom.
And you review it. You can view everything, review it. and then it will ask you, are you ready to vote? You say yes, you vote, and away you go -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Sounds easy. All right. We have yet to see how it's going to turn out. John Zarrella, thanks.
Well, look for the race between the president and Kerry to get pretty nasty. Analysts say that the gloves are coming off and the criticisms and comebacks could turn into a slugfest, where both men wind up with black eyes.
CNN political analyst Carlos Watson in Mountain View, California, keeping his eye on the campaigning.
You really think they'll slug it out, Carlos?
CARLOS WATSON, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: I think they will. The president is in one of the toughest situations we've seen an incumbent in the last 30 years.
In fact, if you look at the last four incumbents -- presidents, Kyra, who ran for office, all of them were ahead against their major challenger at this point. And the president stands out as an anomaly who actually is behind in most polls by as much as eight or even 10 points.
So he's in a tough position, and there's no two ways about it. Expect to see him continue to come out fighting.
PHILLIPS: OK. I was really curious if they were going to throw punches at each other, Carlos, but I don't think that's going to happen. I think they're more mature than that.
All right. Why are they attacking each other so hard right now?
WATSON: Couple of reasons. Often, the race for president gets decided not just in October and November, but early on in March, and April, as the -- as the issues of the debate become defined.
And right now, on issues like the economy, education, the environment, the president's polling not just behind John Kerry, but in many cases, voters rate him at below 50 percent approval on those critical issue.
So the president is trying to shift the conversation and question John Kerry's suitability to be president and to be commander in chief, saying that he flip-flops on important issues.
PHILLIPS: All right. Let's take a listen to each one of -- well, one candidate, the president of course. Let's start with John Kerry.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If the president of the United States can find the time to go to a rodeo, he can find the time to do more than one hour in front of a commission that is investigating what happened to America's intelligence.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: All right. Is the slamming going to work?
WATSON: It so far -- for the Democrats it has. You recall that just two months ago, Kyra, that in a head to head match-up, Kerry was down as much as 12 to 15 points against the president. Now he's up, as I said, about eight to 10 points. So a big swing. So it's worked so far.
And by the way, it's worked, as you heard John Kerry do, not just by raising questions about the economy, but also by raising questions about how the president has managed foreign policy and national security. We'll see a lot more of it, I think, in the days ahead.
PHILLIPS: This is what the president had to say. Some interesting little tidbits in this. Let's listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Senator Kerry voted for the Patriot Act, for NAFTA, for the No Child Left Behind Act, and for the use of force in Iraq. Now he opposes the Patriot Act, NAFTA, the No Child Left Behind Act and the liberation of Iraq.
My opponent clearly has strong beliefs. They just don't last very long.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Now, you thinking that everybody got that, that the president's watching Rodney Dangerfield?
WATSON: Well, you've got to give it to the president. He certainly has a sense of humor and always, no matter what, has scored high on the likability rating.
If you remember the Rodney Dangerfield movie from the '80s, "Back to School," the president's line is reminiscent of a line that Rodney Dangerfield used in Sam Kinison's class.
It's also, by the way, reminiscent of a line that his own father used in the Republican primaries in order to defeat Bob Dole in 1988, saying that Dole was a straddler who was on one side of the tax issue then another, on one side of Social Security and then another.
We'll see whether or not that works for the president this time.
PHILLIPS: And you know, we talked about, OK, is it presidential to shred a competitor? But hey, you know, history shows there's a lot of shredding that went on in the past, right?
WATSON: Well be a lot over the years, including obviously FDR's time. But if you go way back 100 years-plus to Grover Cleveland, who had an illegitimate child, there were chants of "Mama, Mama, where's my Pa?"
"In the White House. Ha, ha, ha."
So people over the years have taken lots of swipes at presidents, some deserved, some undeserved. And this is just par for the course. I think it's going to continue to be interesting, if nothing else.
PHILLIPS: And no doubt, especially when you're analyzing it all. Carlos Watson, thanks.
WATSON: Good to see you.
PHILLIPS: All right. CNN will bring you the latest, of course, on today's primaries and the impact of the 2004 race. It's all coming up today on "INSIDE POLITICS" with Judy Woodruff. The action begins 3:30 Eastern, 12:30 Pacific.
Well, if you're on the dish, you may be seeing red. Isn't that right, Jen Rogers?
JEN ROGERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Kyra. Do you want your MTV? Well, there are a lot of people out there that do today, and they are not finding it. I'll tell you why.
PHILLIPS: And O.J. Simpson back in the news, this time accused of stealing. We'll show you who is filing papers against him.
And in a few minutes, Secretary of State Donald Rumsfeld expected to give a live briefing from the Pentagon. Stay with CNN for that. We'll be right back.
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PHILLIPS: I want my MTV, and Comedy Central, VH-1, CBS. That's the cry of some Dish Network customers affected by a nasty dispute over program fees. Millions of customers are doing without some programming today.
CNN's Jen Rogers has the story now, live from New York.
What's the deal, Jen?
ROGERS: Well, Kyra, you want a lot of things and there are a lot of Dish Network subscribers out there, as well.
If you are a Dish Network subscriber and were planning to watch, say, "The Young and the Restless Today" or "Judging Amy" tonight on CBS, be prepared that instead of your favorite show you may be watching a black screen with a bunch of writing on it.
Yes, it is definitely less riveting than what you may be used to. It is a statement instead of a show.
And that's because early this morning Echostar, which owns the satellite TV service Dish Network, announced that it is pulling 16 of Viacom's owned and operated CBS local stations and 10 of its nationally distributed channels, including MTV, Nickelodeon and Comedy Central.
Now in a statement, Echostar said Viacom's demands for rate increases, and what they called strong-arm tactics, left it with no other choice then to remove the channels.
For its part, Viacom says it is dismayed and disappointed and that it has tried for months to reach an agreement but that Echostar refused to entertain a reasonable proposal or negotiate in earnest.
Now, while this fight have caught consumers by surprise this morning when they turned on the TV, this is a long-running battle between the media giant and satellite provider. While the two have been negotiating, they've also been fighting it out in the court.
Now, a dispute reaching this level is not unprecedented. In 2000, TIME-Warner, parent of CNN and ABC, which is owned by the Walt Disney Company, were in a similar struggle over fees, which resulted in the removal of seven Disney-owned ABC stations, impacting roughly 3.5 cable homes.
Now, a final note here, Kyra. If Echostar keeps CBS off the Dish Network, the move will come at a very tough time for college basketball fans, as March Madness starts next week, and it is aired on CBS. The consolation prize here, each Dish Network customer going without CBS programming will be provided a $1 monthly credit -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: All right, we'll follow it, Jen Rogers, thanks.
Well, dish competitor Direct TV has a problem of a different kind: people who steal the signal and don't pay. Allegedly among them, O.J. Simpson.
The company is suing Simpson for $20,000. According to papers filed in federal court in Miami, his attorney says that Simpson has been a loyal, paying customer for years. (STOCK REPORT)
PHILLIPS: Straight ahead, the papers are signed, now leaders must figure out the transfer of power in a war-torn nation. We've got the latest ahead from Iraq.
Also, tracking a terrorist: new information this afternoon on the effort to smoke out Osama bin Laden.
And heads or tails, details on proposed changes to the American dollar.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Attorney General John Ashcroft undergoing surgery to remove his gallbladder. The operation started at noon. We'll get the first details from his doctors in about half an hour. Ashcroft has been hospitalized in Washington since last week.
Gas prices nearing historic highs. The Energy Department says the average retail price at the pump climbed 2 cents last week to $1.74, about a penny shy of the record. Mainland gas is most expensive in California where it goes from 2 to nearly 3 bucks a gallon.
And we're standing by live at the Pentagon for a news briefing as soon as the Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld steps up to the podium, we will check it out, see what he has to say.
More setbacks for the U.S. in Iraq. An American soldier is killed today in the volatile Sunni Triangle. This happened as more objections are raised over the U.S.-backed interim constitution signed yesterday.
Let's go to CNN's Ben Wedeman. He's live in Baghdad -- Ben.
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Kyra. Well with that interim constitution now signed, the focus of the members of the coalition-appointed governing council turns to the next, and probably far more complicated, phase, and that is the June 30 transfer of sovereignty from the coalition provisional authority to some sort of interim Iraqi government.
And this, despite the very public dissatisfaction that we heard, yet again today, from members -- Shi'ite members of the governing council. They feel the document, that constitution is flawed. But they're going to put those qualms behind for the moment. They say their focus now is for a speedy end to the occupation and a restoration of Iraqi sovereignty.
Now the council will draw up an annex to the constitution, the interim constitution, which will define the form of government that will take over after June 30. And you can be certain that there will be some lively debate over that topic.
But as they talk politics in Baghdad more violence in the rest of the country. In Ba'qubah, a town north of Baghdad, in the so-called Sunni Triangle, one soldier with the 1st Infantry Division was killed by a roadside bomb. This brings to 553 the number of U.S. troops killed in Iraq since the beginning of the war last year. Another soldier was wounded in that incident -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Ben Wedeman, live from Baghdad.
Is Osama bin Laden making a run for the border? New intel suggests he could be. Couriers and safe houses are spraining up around the Afghan border, telling signs of what could be an escape route. Our senior Pentagon correspondent Jamie McIntyre says the new intel coincides with the new hunt for bin Laden.
(INTERRUPTED BY LIVE EVENT)
PHILLIPS: General Peter Pace, also Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, briefing reporters today at the Pentagon. A number of issues. Talking about Haiti, the multi-military force there, a U.N. team also set to come to Haiti, try to quell the looting and violence that's been taking place there.
Also, the Iraqi constitution, the interim constitution, of course, finally being signed after a lot of debate and compromise from all sides. Just now talking about stress in the armed force, programs going forward to help with that.
Also, the question about the U.S. Air Force, under scrutiny now as an internal review takes place after 92 alleged cases of rape were reported to military officials in the Pacific just in the last three years.
We're following all those stories for you. We're going to take a quick break.
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Minister; Primaries to Test New Voting Machines; Kerry, Bush Pull Out the Stops>
