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Egyptian Captive Released Amid Ransom Speculation; Democratic National Convention Day Two; Democratic Game Plan; Updates In Lori Hacking Case; Whale Attacks Trainer

Aired July 27, 2004 - 14:00 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.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Freedom for a hostage, but is his release actually making it more dangerous for others in Iraq?
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: John Kerry's former rivals ready to rev up support. Day two of the Democratic Convention. We're live from Boston.

O'BRIEN: Body slam from a killer whale: A trainer getting his treatment lives to tell about it. As a matter of fact, he's able to talk this hour on LIVE FROM.

PHILLIPS: And a deli owner has thousands of reasons to be happy: Oprah loves his chicken salad sandwich. From the CNN Center in Atlanta, I'm Kyra Phillips.

O'BRIEN: And I'm Miles O'Brien. We're making chicken salad today on this hour of CNN's LIVE FROM. Stay with us.

PHILLIPS: Up first this hour, cash for captives in Iraq. Well, that's the story from well-placed sources in Baghdad concerning a kidnapped Egyptian diplomat who was freed last night safe and sound after four days in the hands of the Lions of God Brigade. Cairo denies paying ransom, insisting the envoy was freed, quote, "under the umbrella of good relations."

And to confuse matters further, well, a video clip on Al-Jazeera claims that the captors were offered money, big money, but turned it down. For clarification, we turn to CNN's Matthew Chance in the Iraqi capital.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, one Egyptian diplomat has been set free, but at what price? Well, according to security sources we've spoken to here in Baghdad, that price was hundreds of thousands of dollars paid in cash to this previously unknown group calling themselves the Lions of God, a brigade.

Now, the Egyptian government has denied paying any sort of ransom, but we've had this confirmed from two separate sources -- Iraqi sources saying that a ransom was paid. But key to this is that the Egyptians, they say, did not roll back on any of the security commitments that they promised the new Iraqi government that they would undertake. Of course, the hostage takers have said that was the reason they'd taken this Egyptian hostage in the first place. Nevertheless, a great deal of concern about the message paying these hostages actually sends, first of all, to the hostage takers -- a good deal of concern this may actually encourage the hostage takers to take more victims, to undertake more kidnappings of foreigners here in the Iraqi capital and elsewhere in the country.

But also, it sends a message to the Iraqi interim government as well. It's been calling very strongly for all the countries with nationals and companies here in Iraq not to bow to the demands of the kidnappers. But it seems, on this occasion, Egypt has done just that.

Matthew Chance, CNN, Baghdad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: It's keynote night at the DNC, but the young up-and- comer who will be giving the big speech will have to share the front pages and the highlight reels with the likes of Howard Dean, Ron Reagan, and Teresa Heinz Kerry.

CNN's Bob Franken drops a few more big Democratic names for us, live now from the floor of the convention. Good to see you, Bob.

BOB FRANKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And what could be more Democratic than the name Reagan? Oh, yes, Ron Reagan, he is speaking, of course, as we all know. The son of the late president is going to be speaking to the convention this evening, speaking out on behalf of stem cell research.

Ron Reagan was here just a little while ago, was checking out things on the floor. You can see he's there with Senator Edward Kennedy, who's another of the speakers this evening. We're also going to have -- Teresa Heinz Kerry is going to be speaking. She will be shoved out onto the podium, presumably, to make her speech this evening.

Probably the most fiery speech of the evening award will go to Howard Dean, one would expect. He is among the speakers on this lineup tonight. But all of them are going to have quite a bit of trouble overcoming, playing up, having more of an impact than Bill and Hillary Clinton did last night.

President Clinton, of course, many people feel, would overshadow John Kerry. But he said he was not there to overshadow, but to support John Kerry.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL CLINTON, FMR. PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: After three conventions as a candidate or a president, tonight I come to you as a citizen, returning to the role that I have played for most of my life -- as a foot soldier in our fight for the future, as we nominate in Boston a true New England patriot for president.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FRANKEN: Well, the foot soldier has marched off the stage now, and we gave you the lineup for tonight. Tomorrow, John Edwards and his family will be the ones in the main spotlight. And then, on Thursday, it's John Kerry, before all the Democratic soldiers march out of Boston and off to the war of the political campaign -- Miles?

O'BRIEN: All right, Bob Franken, I have the rundown here. It's about 17 pages, and I've been going through it. And I, of course, I know you will be taking notes and watching every speech assiduously.

And I'm curious, help me as a viewing guide, because I'm just not as good a viewer. I have a very short attention span, as you well know.

FRANKEN: First, I want to look up the word assiduously.

O'BRIEN: Well, yes, we'll do that later. But if you could tell me which ones I should be watching -- what are the key ones? Obviously, Ron Reagan's a big one. Howard Dean -- want to see if he melts down or something. But he'll probably be well chastened, I suppose. Who else?

FRANKEN: Well, I'll tell you, the one probably to watch is Senator Edward Kennedy. I mean, the Democrats are just sentimental so-and-sos, we all know that, and Senator Kennedy is going to be representing the long, true, proud tradition of the Democratic Party.

He's, of course, somebody who could be expected to deliver a stem-winder -- you can look that one up too after we're done. And of course, everybody's going to be interested to see how well Teresa Heinz Kerry does.

So, I've just told you that basically you should watch the whole evening assiduously.

O'BRIEN: Thank you very much, Roget (sic).

And we will spend some time looking up, and we'll get back and we'll have a little word talk, a little word fest later. Monsieur Franken, thank you.

All right. And of course, really the best way to watch is just to keep it on CNN. CNN's prime time coverage of the DNC begins at 7 Eastern, and we start off with Anderson Cooper, Wolf Blitzer, Larry King, all the biggies here at CNN, plus dozens of CNN correspondents in and outside the Fleet Center, Bob Franken among them.

Teresa Heinz Kerry speaks at 10:00 Eastern, followed by "NEWSNIGHT." Larry King wraps up the night at midnight. If you keep it here, you won't miss a thing -- Kyra?

PHILLIPS: Well, getting closer to Boston. Presumed Democrat presidential nominee John Kerry is expected to make his way to Bean Town tomorrow. Today, he's campaigning at the world's largest naval base in Norfolk, Virginia. There, Kerry played up his naval experience on a platform of security and strength. He also called for the 9/11 Commission to stay on the job to make sure its recommendations are carried out.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You can't treat the Commission's report as something that you hope will go away. You can't treat the Commission's report as something that sort of represents a threat to America that will go away, because this threat won't go away. And the recommendations of the Commission make sense, and they should be implemented now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Well, after resting his voice at home in North Carolina, the other half of the John-John ticket is now heading to Boston. John Edwards and his wife Elizabeth are expected to arrive today. Weeks of nonstop campaigning have left Edwards with some tired tonsils, but his raspy voice is apparently getting better, so he'll be able to deliver his acceptance speech tomorrow.

O'BRIEN: Standing her ground on that "shove it" remark -- Teresa Heinz Kerry is defending a comment she made to an editorial writer of a right wing newspaper in Pennsylvania, which you saw all day long here yesterday.

Well, she sat down with "AMERICAN MORNING'S" Bill Hemmer and explained why she has no regrets.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL HEMMER, CNN, ANCHOR: Take me back to Sunday night. Do you regret telling that reporter to "shove it?"

TERESA HEINZ KERRY, WIFE OF SEN. JOHN KERRY: No -- no. I respect reporters and I respect anyone who does a job well. I don't, like anybody else, want to be trapped or be misrepresented intentionally by someone. That's what happened, and I defended myself.

HEMMER: The quote I have is that you said, "un-American traits."

HEINZ KERRY: No, "un-Pennsylvanian."

HEMMER: OK, back up a little bit then -- "We need to turn back some of the creeping un-Pennsylvanian..."

HEINZ KERRY: Traits...

HEMMER: "... and sometimes, un-American traits that are creeping into some of our politics."

HEINZ KERRY: Correct. HEMMER: Is that the way you remember it?

HEINZ KERRY: And that's absolutely correct. I would say that again.

HEMMER: And what did the reporter say to you then?

HEINZ KERRY: "Un-American activities," which has a very different connotation. It's a political connotation, McCarthy implications, which I would not use unless it was very specific. And I would use it if it was correct, but that's not what I was talking about.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Well, two presidents and a former VP are a tough act to follow. Tonight's key speaker, Barack Obama, is not nearly as well known, but we can talk about what he's going to bring to the party.

Our political analyst, Carlos Watson, is in New York, dissecting the Democrats' game plan. Now, this is a man you talked about a long time ago, and you told all of us to keep our eyes on him.

CARLOS WATSON, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: We called it, Kyra. We called it here first.

PHILLIPS: I've got to give you full credit. Well, let's talk about the fact that he's going to be the keynote speaker. Why do you think he was selected? It's such a big night. And how's he going to resonate with everybody?

WATSON: Clearly, Kyra, he wants to show a young face and begin to introduce what you might start calling, if he's elected, Kerry Democrats. Clinton took that opportunity to introduce a whole new kind of new Democrat, if you will, in 1992, and Kerry wants the same opportunity.

And Obama's the kind of guy who, in terms of policy and in terms of maybe a more low key style, might reflect Kerry a little bit better than maybe even he would Clinton.

PHILLIPS: And you also pointed out that this is not someone just directed at African-American voters, or to get African-American voters more involved in the political process. I mean, yes, he is black, obviously, but he reaches out to everybody.

WATSON: Yes, and actually, fairly impressive that in a crowded field during the primaries, he won north of 50 percent, running against several millionaires in what is obviously a predominantly white state in Illinois.

And at the moment, it looks like he's getting not only good support within the Democratic Party, but some of the polls are showing growing support within the Republican Party in Illinois.

And it makes a lot of people think that ultimately, not only may he be elected, but he might ultimately be a very effective Senator, someone who could reach across the aisle on issues like immigration, issues like the deficit, issues like social security reform, which have often been stymied by partisan divides.

PHILLIPS: All right, you and I always seem to sort of turn the curve a bit, going to something a little more different, a little unique. I was asking you about this hip-hop summit in Boston. You said, "Well, Kyra, music goes all the way back to the 1800s when it comes to elections."

So let's educate our viewers here and take them back a little bit to the 1800s, and then how music has played a part in drawing certain voters into the crowd.

WATSON: Very popular thing with political parties and politicians, going back to the 1800s, were songs, which were almost slogans -- "Tippecanoe and Tyler, too." Lots of different songs. I won't sing here on the air, although you and I have sung before together off the air.

PHILLIPS: You do a good James Brown, I'll just say that for the record.

WATSON: I do feel good, that's true. But more recently, 1960, Jack Kennedy used Frank Sinatra and the Rat Pack and others. In 1972, Richard Nixon won the support of Sammy Davis, Jr., so yet another brand of music. Go back to the '80s, and remember, Ronald Reagan would have people like Lee Greenwood, the country singer, perform at different events.

And obviously now, as hip-hop has become, if you will, the new rock and roll, the new mainstream music, particularly for younger people, it makes sense that John Kerry and the Democrats, and maybe, ultimately, President Bush and the Republicans, might welcome stars like Outkast, and P. Diddy, and others into politics.

PHILLIPS: All your favorites, in addition to Frank Sinatra.

WATSON: In addition -- and Sam Cooke, and Sam Cooke.

PHILLIPS: Can't forget Sam Cooke, I'm with you, all right. You mentioned the younger people. Let's talk about the youth vote; let's talk about the senior vote -- Kerry not doing so well.

WATSON: Actually, Kerry's doing well, doing better, if you will, among younger voters, kind of 18 to 30, and voters over the age of 65, at the moment. Some of the more recent polls are a little bit behind the president, in between.

In 2000, some 18 million young voters between the ages of 18 and 30 voted. And there's a move afoot, led by the hip-hop community, to increase that number by two to three million.

In fact, some believe that part of Bill Clinton's big win in 1992 was by increasing the turnout among young voters by going on shows like MTV and others, and being more youth-friendly. So, we'll see whether or not that works for Kerry.

The senior vote, another important vote -- we haven't talked a lot about social security and about Medicare, two programs, by the way, Kyra, which will have major financial issues as soon as 2019, so not that far off. And both are issues which haven't been addressed yet, so they become issues in the last several weeks of the campaign.

PHILLIPS: Political Analyst Carlos Watson, have a good time there in Beantown. Thanks so much, Carlos.

WATSON: Take care, see you soon.

PHILLIPS: All right, well, if you're away from your TV, you can still hear the DNC coverage. I'll be anchoring for CNN Radio along with CNN Radio's John Lisk, 400 affiliates in the U.S. and overseas. Also, check this out: You can log onto cnn.com now and hear and see all the prime-time action on the new CNN radio Web stream.

O'BRIEN: All right, so how do I find out where to hear you, Kyra?

PHILLIPS: You want me to repeat that again?

O'BRIEN: Yes, no, no, how do I find out? What station is it here in Atlanta and all that stuff? Can you go through the 400 affiliates?

PHILLIPS: You want me to do that right now?

O'BRIEN: Yes, if you don't mind.

PHILLIPS: OK, I'll start right now. I'll see you in about, let's see, 32 minutes.

O'BRIEN: All right, just check your local listings, as they say, right?

PHILLIPS: There you go, that's the easiest way.

O'BRIEN: All right, thank you, Kyra. The tourists at SeaWorld at first thought it was part of the act. But when this killer whale kept slamming the trainer over and over, they finally said, you know, maybe this isn't -- something has gone wrong. We'll talk with that trainer after a break. We're glad to tell you he can still talk.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KIMBERLY OSIAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: For the first time in eight days, volunteer search efforts have come to a halt in the case of missing Utah jogger Lori Hacking. I'm Kimberly Osias live in Salt Lake. Details just ahead.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: And it's just a few moments from now -- we expect to hear from the Attorney General, John Ashcroft. He's going to announce some indictments against a major Islamic charity, or at least they claim to be a charity. We'll bring that to you as it happens.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: A new twist to tell you about in the case of Lori Hacking, the pregnant Utah woman whose husband reported her missing last week. Now, co-workers have come forward with reports the 27- year-old woman fled her office in tears the Friday before she disappeared.

CNN's Kimberly Osias joining us now. We should remind our viewers, of course, of the tangled web of lies which her husband Mark had woven. So, let's put it all together, Kimberly.

OSIAS: Well, Miles, that is not why search efforts have stopped today. The family says it is not because of the calls. In fact, they say that Lori -- they still assert that she didn't know anything about those calls. But this is the first time in eight days that the family of both Lori and Mark Hacking have stopped search efforts.

This place is command central, where we are -- was very, very busy up until today. They say they want to take a more technical approach. Starting tomorrow, they want to use ATVs and also helicopters. They also say they've been very worried about volunteer safety. Last evening, police searched an area landfill for the second time in as many days, revisiting it this time under a cloud of darkness.

They used cadaver dogs. They say, actually, by being there at night, it is cooler for the dogs, and they're able to work longer. But that is not, however, why a family spokesperson said that the search efforts were called off.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SCOTT DUNAWAY, HACKING FAMILY SPOKESMAN: In some of these areas where the search may need to take place, we need more specialized teams, people with ATVs, maybe aerial searches, those sorts of things, where volunteers just will not be quite as useful.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

OSIAS: The Hacking family has retained local criminal attorney Gil Athay. They retained him on Thursday evening. Since then, Mr. Athay says he has been to visit Mark Hacking in the psychiatric facility where he has been undergoing treatment every day.

Mark Hacking is considered not a suspect in the case, but he's considered a person of interest. However, he is the only person of interest in this case. No charges have been filed yet.

Yesterday, crime technicians removed several bottles outside the Dumpster where Mark Hacking worked. They also took some cotton swabs of that area, as well.

Reports have surfaced that Lori Hacking may have been tipped off to her husband's web of lies as early as Friday. Some co-workers say they saw her absolutely dissolve in tears and left work very early.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MELISSA SUGDEN, LORI HACKING'S CO-WORKER: I saw her come across the skywalk, and I said, "Hey, look, there's Lori." And Jen says, "Wow, it looks like she's crying," and I said, "Yes."

So, she came up the skywalk, and I go, "Hey, Lori. What's up?" And she usually talks to me, because we vent about everything all the time, and she just said nothing, and she walked away.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

OSIAS: Police classify this as a missing person case under very suspicious circumstances. They're still waiting for the results of forensics tests to come in. They say, of course, in a case of this magnitude and publicity that they need to be very, very careful. They say the earliest that those tests could come back would be Friday -- Miles?

O'BRIEN: Now, Kimberly, they're not calling Mark Hacking a suspect -- not using that word. They're calling him a person of interest, whatever that means. I don't believe that is a legal term. Is that just part of their deliberation and caution in this investigation?

OSIAS: You know, I think, you know, I don't want to give a lot of conjecture, but you know, that may in fact be a euphemism. I did ask to sort of push on that a little bit to Detective Baird, and he said, "Well, of course, there's nobody else that is a person of interest in this case." That is where their efforts seemingly have been focused, Miles.

O'BRIEN: All right, CNN's Kimberly Osias, thank you very much -- Kyra?

PHILLIPS: Other news across America now. In Santa Maria, California, attorneys for Michael Jackson in court today. They're asking the judge to delay Jackson's trial on child molestation charges from September to sometime in 2005.

In Orlando, Florida, when the garbage truck and passenger bus collided, a pickup truck was caught in the crossfire. Although the bus driver and several passengers are in the hospital, the pickup driver walked away from the entire thing.

And in Santa Monica, California, a $10 million race is on. The prize goes to the first team that builds, launches, and lands a vehicle that can carry a pilot and two passengers into sub-orbital space. Burt Rutan announced today he's entering his SpaceShipOne into formal competition.

He now has a 60-day waiting period before making the official attempt. SpaceShipOne must make two successful flights within two weeks to claim the jackpot.

Miles is entering in his idea, too.

O'BRIEN: Well, I think they need some passengers, so I'm just volunteering right now. Burt, if you're listening, I'm ready.

All right. Well, it's the video of the day. A killer whale gets a little wild during his performance. We'll have more on that ahead on LIVE FROM. It's a whale of a program, don't you think? Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Test one, two -- test one, two --- mike check, mike check. You might need a few lights too, don't you think? Max Cleland getting ready. Actually, it's a sound check, we are told, for the big talk tonight at the DNC. We'll be following it.

O'BRIEN: That's a pretty cool podium they have. It rises and lowers to accommodate someone like Max, who uses a wheelchair, of course. That's cool.

In San Antonio, a thriller with a killer, as a frisky killer whale almost turned a routine performance at SeaWorld into an or- catastrophe. Jenny Davis reporting tank-side from our affiliate KSAT with a whale of a tale.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JENNY DAVIS, KSAT REPORTER (voice-over): It was towards the end of Friday's show at SeaWorld when Ky, the killer whale, started to do his own thing.

STEVE AIBEL, WHALE TRAINER: It looked like Ky lost a little bit of focus.

DAVIS: Steve Aibel has trained with Ky for the last 10 years, and what happened next even caught this veteran off guard.

AIBEL: Seventeen years of training with animals, and I have never had an experience like that.

DAVIS: At first, it seemed like part of the show, but then Ky began diving right over Steve. The killer whale wouldn't let up. As soon as Steve could come up for air, he was slammed back underwater.

AIBEL: What I kept saying, what I kept telling myself the entire time I was in the water was, "You have to look for the right things that he's doing."

DAVIS: As trainers rushed to the side of the tank, there was little they could do.

AIBEL: No, no, I wasn't frightened.

DAVIS: What probably seemed like a show that would never end finally did. And even a somewhat stunned audience was thankful for that. AIBEL: I think that by being calm throughout the process, that helped to calm him down.

DAVIS: He credits patience and excellent training for getting through the situation. Trainers aren't exactly sure why it happened, but say Ky's near the age of breeding, which could have caused erratic behavior. Meantime, it's back to business for both.

AIBEL: Did he apologize? He squeaks a lot.

DAVIS: Jenny Davis, KSAT 12 News.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Amazing. OK, we're waiting to talk to the trainer. He's underwater right now. We're trying to work it all out.

O'BRIEN: So, he's unable, if you know what I mean.

PHILLIPS: Oh.

O'BRIEN: But he'll be able soon...

PHILLIPS: Mr. Aibel, give us a call.

O'BRIEN: ... it's 1-800-Shamu. All right, some major airlines are reversing course and steering clear of their hubs...

(STOCK MARKET REPORT)

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Aired July 27, 2004 - 14:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Freedom for a hostage, but is his release actually making it more dangerous for others in Iraq?
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: John Kerry's former rivals ready to rev up support. Day two of the Democratic Convention. We're live from Boston.

O'BRIEN: Body slam from a killer whale: A trainer getting his treatment lives to tell about it. As a matter of fact, he's able to talk this hour on LIVE FROM.

PHILLIPS: And a deli owner has thousands of reasons to be happy: Oprah loves his chicken salad sandwich. From the CNN Center in Atlanta, I'm Kyra Phillips.

O'BRIEN: And I'm Miles O'Brien. We're making chicken salad today on this hour of CNN's LIVE FROM. Stay with us.

PHILLIPS: Up first this hour, cash for captives in Iraq. Well, that's the story from well-placed sources in Baghdad concerning a kidnapped Egyptian diplomat who was freed last night safe and sound after four days in the hands of the Lions of God Brigade. Cairo denies paying ransom, insisting the envoy was freed, quote, "under the umbrella of good relations."

And to confuse matters further, well, a video clip on Al-Jazeera claims that the captors were offered money, big money, but turned it down. For clarification, we turn to CNN's Matthew Chance in the Iraqi capital.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, one Egyptian diplomat has been set free, but at what price? Well, according to security sources we've spoken to here in Baghdad, that price was hundreds of thousands of dollars paid in cash to this previously unknown group calling themselves the Lions of God, a brigade.

Now, the Egyptian government has denied paying any sort of ransom, but we've had this confirmed from two separate sources -- Iraqi sources saying that a ransom was paid. But key to this is that the Egyptians, they say, did not roll back on any of the security commitments that they promised the new Iraqi government that they would undertake. Of course, the hostage takers have said that was the reason they'd taken this Egyptian hostage in the first place. Nevertheless, a great deal of concern about the message paying these hostages actually sends, first of all, to the hostage takers -- a good deal of concern this may actually encourage the hostage takers to take more victims, to undertake more kidnappings of foreigners here in the Iraqi capital and elsewhere in the country.

But also, it sends a message to the Iraqi interim government as well. It's been calling very strongly for all the countries with nationals and companies here in Iraq not to bow to the demands of the kidnappers. But it seems, on this occasion, Egypt has done just that.

Matthew Chance, CNN, Baghdad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: It's keynote night at the DNC, but the young up-and- comer who will be giving the big speech will have to share the front pages and the highlight reels with the likes of Howard Dean, Ron Reagan, and Teresa Heinz Kerry.

CNN's Bob Franken drops a few more big Democratic names for us, live now from the floor of the convention. Good to see you, Bob.

BOB FRANKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And what could be more Democratic than the name Reagan? Oh, yes, Ron Reagan, he is speaking, of course, as we all know. The son of the late president is going to be speaking to the convention this evening, speaking out on behalf of stem cell research.

Ron Reagan was here just a little while ago, was checking out things on the floor. You can see he's there with Senator Edward Kennedy, who's another of the speakers this evening. We're also going to have -- Teresa Heinz Kerry is going to be speaking. She will be shoved out onto the podium, presumably, to make her speech this evening.

Probably the most fiery speech of the evening award will go to Howard Dean, one would expect. He is among the speakers on this lineup tonight. But all of them are going to have quite a bit of trouble overcoming, playing up, having more of an impact than Bill and Hillary Clinton did last night.

President Clinton, of course, many people feel, would overshadow John Kerry. But he said he was not there to overshadow, but to support John Kerry.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL CLINTON, FMR. PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: After three conventions as a candidate or a president, tonight I come to you as a citizen, returning to the role that I have played for most of my life -- as a foot soldier in our fight for the future, as we nominate in Boston a true New England patriot for president.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FRANKEN: Well, the foot soldier has marched off the stage now, and we gave you the lineup for tonight. Tomorrow, John Edwards and his family will be the ones in the main spotlight. And then, on Thursday, it's John Kerry, before all the Democratic soldiers march out of Boston and off to the war of the political campaign -- Miles?

O'BRIEN: All right, Bob Franken, I have the rundown here. It's about 17 pages, and I've been going through it. And I, of course, I know you will be taking notes and watching every speech assiduously.

And I'm curious, help me as a viewing guide, because I'm just not as good a viewer. I have a very short attention span, as you well know.

FRANKEN: First, I want to look up the word assiduously.

O'BRIEN: Well, yes, we'll do that later. But if you could tell me which ones I should be watching -- what are the key ones? Obviously, Ron Reagan's a big one. Howard Dean -- want to see if he melts down or something. But he'll probably be well chastened, I suppose. Who else?

FRANKEN: Well, I'll tell you, the one probably to watch is Senator Edward Kennedy. I mean, the Democrats are just sentimental so-and-sos, we all know that, and Senator Kennedy is going to be representing the long, true, proud tradition of the Democratic Party.

He's, of course, somebody who could be expected to deliver a stem-winder -- you can look that one up too after we're done. And of course, everybody's going to be interested to see how well Teresa Heinz Kerry does.

So, I've just told you that basically you should watch the whole evening assiduously.

O'BRIEN: Thank you very much, Roget (sic).

And we will spend some time looking up, and we'll get back and we'll have a little word talk, a little word fest later. Monsieur Franken, thank you.

All right. And of course, really the best way to watch is just to keep it on CNN. CNN's prime time coverage of the DNC begins at 7 Eastern, and we start off with Anderson Cooper, Wolf Blitzer, Larry King, all the biggies here at CNN, plus dozens of CNN correspondents in and outside the Fleet Center, Bob Franken among them.

Teresa Heinz Kerry speaks at 10:00 Eastern, followed by "NEWSNIGHT." Larry King wraps up the night at midnight. If you keep it here, you won't miss a thing -- Kyra?

PHILLIPS: Well, getting closer to Boston. Presumed Democrat presidential nominee John Kerry is expected to make his way to Bean Town tomorrow. Today, he's campaigning at the world's largest naval base in Norfolk, Virginia. There, Kerry played up his naval experience on a platform of security and strength. He also called for the 9/11 Commission to stay on the job to make sure its recommendations are carried out.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You can't treat the Commission's report as something that you hope will go away. You can't treat the Commission's report as something that sort of represents a threat to America that will go away, because this threat won't go away. And the recommendations of the Commission make sense, and they should be implemented now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Well, after resting his voice at home in North Carolina, the other half of the John-John ticket is now heading to Boston. John Edwards and his wife Elizabeth are expected to arrive today. Weeks of nonstop campaigning have left Edwards with some tired tonsils, but his raspy voice is apparently getting better, so he'll be able to deliver his acceptance speech tomorrow.

O'BRIEN: Standing her ground on that "shove it" remark -- Teresa Heinz Kerry is defending a comment she made to an editorial writer of a right wing newspaper in Pennsylvania, which you saw all day long here yesterday.

Well, she sat down with "AMERICAN MORNING'S" Bill Hemmer and explained why she has no regrets.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL HEMMER, CNN, ANCHOR: Take me back to Sunday night. Do you regret telling that reporter to "shove it?"

TERESA HEINZ KERRY, WIFE OF SEN. JOHN KERRY: No -- no. I respect reporters and I respect anyone who does a job well. I don't, like anybody else, want to be trapped or be misrepresented intentionally by someone. That's what happened, and I defended myself.

HEMMER: The quote I have is that you said, "un-American traits."

HEINZ KERRY: No, "un-Pennsylvanian."

HEMMER: OK, back up a little bit then -- "We need to turn back some of the creeping un-Pennsylvanian..."

HEINZ KERRY: Traits...

HEMMER: "... and sometimes, un-American traits that are creeping into some of our politics."

HEINZ KERRY: Correct. HEMMER: Is that the way you remember it?

HEINZ KERRY: And that's absolutely correct. I would say that again.

HEMMER: And what did the reporter say to you then?

HEINZ KERRY: "Un-American activities," which has a very different connotation. It's a political connotation, McCarthy implications, which I would not use unless it was very specific. And I would use it if it was correct, but that's not what I was talking about.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Well, two presidents and a former VP are a tough act to follow. Tonight's key speaker, Barack Obama, is not nearly as well known, but we can talk about what he's going to bring to the party.

Our political analyst, Carlos Watson, is in New York, dissecting the Democrats' game plan. Now, this is a man you talked about a long time ago, and you told all of us to keep our eyes on him.

CARLOS WATSON, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: We called it, Kyra. We called it here first.

PHILLIPS: I've got to give you full credit. Well, let's talk about the fact that he's going to be the keynote speaker. Why do you think he was selected? It's such a big night. And how's he going to resonate with everybody?

WATSON: Clearly, Kyra, he wants to show a young face and begin to introduce what you might start calling, if he's elected, Kerry Democrats. Clinton took that opportunity to introduce a whole new kind of new Democrat, if you will, in 1992, and Kerry wants the same opportunity.

And Obama's the kind of guy who, in terms of policy and in terms of maybe a more low key style, might reflect Kerry a little bit better than maybe even he would Clinton.

PHILLIPS: And you also pointed out that this is not someone just directed at African-American voters, or to get African-American voters more involved in the political process. I mean, yes, he is black, obviously, but he reaches out to everybody.

WATSON: Yes, and actually, fairly impressive that in a crowded field during the primaries, he won north of 50 percent, running against several millionaires in what is obviously a predominantly white state in Illinois.

And at the moment, it looks like he's getting not only good support within the Democratic Party, but some of the polls are showing growing support within the Republican Party in Illinois.

And it makes a lot of people think that ultimately, not only may he be elected, but he might ultimately be a very effective Senator, someone who could reach across the aisle on issues like immigration, issues like the deficit, issues like social security reform, which have often been stymied by partisan divides.

PHILLIPS: All right, you and I always seem to sort of turn the curve a bit, going to something a little more different, a little unique. I was asking you about this hip-hop summit in Boston. You said, "Well, Kyra, music goes all the way back to the 1800s when it comes to elections."

So let's educate our viewers here and take them back a little bit to the 1800s, and then how music has played a part in drawing certain voters into the crowd.

WATSON: Very popular thing with political parties and politicians, going back to the 1800s, were songs, which were almost slogans -- "Tippecanoe and Tyler, too." Lots of different songs. I won't sing here on the air, although you and I have sung before together off the air.

PHILLIPS: You do a good James Brown, I'll just say that for the record.

WATSON: I do feel good, that's true. But more recently, 1960, Jack Kennedy used Frank Sinatra and the Rat Pack and others. In 1972, Richard Nixon won the support of Sammy Davis, Jr., so yet another brand of music. Go back to the '80s, and remember, Ronald Reagan would have people like Lee Greenwood, the country singer, perform at different events.

And obviously now, as hip-hop has become, if you will, the new rock and roll, the new mainstream music, particularly for younger people, it makes sense that John Kerry and the Democrats, and maybe, ultimately, President Bush and the Republicans, might welcome stars like Outkast, and P. Diddy, and others into politics.

PHILLIPS: All your favorites, in addition to Frank Sinatra.

WATSON: In addition -- and Sam Cooke, and Sam Cooke.

PHILLIPS: Can't forget Sam Cooke, I'm with you, all right. You mentioned the younger people. Let's talk about the youth vote; let's talk about the senior vote -- Kerry not doing so well.

WATSON: Actually, Kerry's doing well, doing better, if you will, among younger voters, kind of 18 to 30, and voters over the age of 65, at the moment. Some of the more recent polls are a little bit behind the president, in between.

In 2000, some 18 million young voters between the ages of 18 and 30 voted. And there's a move afoot, led by the hip-hop community, to increase that number by two to three million.

In fact, some believe that part of Bill Clinton's big win in 1992 was by increasing the turnout among young voters by going on shows like MTV and others, and being more youth-friendly. So, we'll see whether or not that works for Kerry.

The senior vote, another important vote -- we haven't talked a lot about social security and about Medicare, two programs, by the way, Kyra, which will have major financial issues as soon as 2019, so not that far off. And both are issues which haven't been addressed yet, so they become issues in the last several weeks of the campaign.

PHILLIPS: Political Analyst Carlos Watson, have a good time there in Beantown. Thanks so much, Carlos.

WATSON: Take care, see you soon.

PHILLIPS: All right, well, if you're away from your TV, you can still hear the DNC coverage. I'll be anchoring for CNN Radio along with CNN Radio's John Lisk, 400 affiliates in the U.S. and overseas. Also, check this out: You can log onto cnn.com now and hear and see all the prime-time action on the new CNN radio Web stream.

O'BRIEN: All right, so how do I find out where to hear you, Kyra?

PHILLIPS: You want me to repeat that again?

O'BRIEN: Yes, no, no, how do I find out? What station is it here in Atlanta and all that stuff? Can you go through the 400 affiliates?

PHILLIPS: You want me to do that right now?

O'BRIEN: Yes, if you don't mind.

PHILLIPS: OK, I'll start right now. I'll see you in about, let's see, 32 minutes.

O'BRIEN: All right, just check your local listings, as they say, right?

PHILLIPS: There you go, that's the easiest way.

O'BRIEN: All right, thank you, Kyra. The tourists at SeaWorld at first thought it was part of the act. But when this killer whale kept slamming the trainer over and over, they finally said, you know, maybe this isn't -- something has gone wrong. We'll talk with that trainer after a break. We're glad to tell you he can still talk.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KIMBERLY OSIAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: For the first time in eight days, volunteer search efforts have come to a halt in the case of missing Utah jogger Lori Hacking. I'm Kimberly Osias live in Salt Lake. Details just ahead.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: And it's just a few moments from now -- we expect to hear from the Attorney General, John Ashcroft. He's going to announce some indictments against a major Islamic charity, or at least they claim to be a charity. We'll bring that to you as it happens.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: A new twist to tell you about in the case of Lori Hacking, the pregnant Utah woman whose husband reported her missing last week. Now, co-workers have come forward with reports the 27- year-old woman fled her office in tears the Friday before she disappeared.

CNN's Kimberly Osias joining us now. We should remind our viewers, of course, of the tangled web of lies which her husband Mark had woven. So, let's put it all together, Kimberly.

OSIAS: Well, Miles, that is not why search efforts have stopped today. The family says it is not because of the calls. In fact, they say that Lori -- they still assert that she didn't know anything about those calls. But this is the first time in eight days that the family of both Lori and Mark Hacking have stopped search efforts.

This place is command central, where we are -- was very, very busy up until today. They say they want to take a more technical approach. Starting tomorrow, they want to use ATVs and also helicopters. They also say they've been very worried about volunteer safety. Last evening, police searched an area landfill for the second time in as many days, revisiting it this time under a cloud of darkness.

They used cadaver dogs. They say, actually, by being there at night, it is cooler for the dogs, and they're able to work longer. But that is not, however, why a family spokesperson said that the search efforts were called off.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SCOTT DUNAWAY, HACKING FAMILY SPOKESMAN: In some of these areas where the search may need to take place, we need more specialized teams, people with ATVs, maybe aerial searches, those sorts of things, where volunteers just will not be quite as useful.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

OSIAS: The Hacking family has retained local criminal attorney Gil Athay. They retained him on Thursday evening. Since then, Mr. Athay says he has been to visit Mark Hacking in the psychiatric facility where he has been undergoing treatment every day.

Mark Hacking is considered not a suspect in the case, but he's considered a person of interest. However, he is the only person of interest in this case. No charges have been filed yet.

Yesterday, crime technicians removed several bottles outside the Dumpster where Mark Hacking worked. They also took some cotton swabs of that area, as well.

Reports have surfaced that Lori Hacking may have been tipped off to her husband's web of lies as early as Friday. Some co-workers say they saw her absolutely dissolve in tears and left work very early.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MELISSA SUGDEN, LORI HACKING'S CO-WORKER: I saw her come across the skywalk, and I said, "Hey, look, there's Lori." And Jen says, "Wow, it looks like she's crying," and I said, "Yes."

So, she came up the skywalk, and I go, "Hey, Lori. What's up?" And she usually talks to me, because we vent about everything all the time, and she just said nothing, and she walked away.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

OSIAS: Police classify this as a missing person case under very suspicious circumstances. They're still waiting for the results of forensics tests to come in. They say, of course, in a case of this magnitude and publicity that they need to be very, very careful. They say the earliest that those tests could come back would be Friday -- Miles?

O'BRIEN: Now, Kimberly, they're not calling Mark Hacking a suspect -- not using that word. They're calling him a person of interest, whatever that means. I don't believe that is a legal term. Is that just part of their deliberation and caution in this investigation?

OSIAS: You know, I think, you know, I don't want to give a lot of conjecture, but you know, that may in fact be a euphemism. I did ask to sort of push on that a little bit to Detective Baird, and he said, "Well, of course, there's nobody else that is a person of interest in this case." That is where their efforts seemingly have been focused, Miles.

O'BRIEN: All right, CNN's Kimberly Osias, thank you very much -- Kyra?

PHILLIPS: Other news across America now. In Santa Maria, California, attorneys for Michael Jackson in court today. They're asking the judge to delay Jackson's trial on child molestation charges from September to sometime in 2005.

In Orlando, Florida, when the garbage truck and passenger bus collided, a pickup truck was caught in the crossfire. Although the bus driver and several passengers are in the hospital, the pickup driver walked away from the entire thing.

And in Santa Monica, California, a $10 million race is on. The prize goes to the first team that builds, launches, and lands a vehicle that can carry a pilot and two passengers into sub-orbital space. Burt Rutan announced today he's entering his SpaceShipOne into formal competition.

He now has a 60-day waiting period before making the official attempt. SpaceShipOne must make two successful flights within two weeks to claim the jackpot.

Miles is entering in his idea, too.

O'BRIEN: Well, I think they need some passengers, so I'm just volunteering right now. Burt, if you're listening, I'm ready.

All right. Well, it's the video of the day. A killer whale gets a little wild during his performance. We'll have more on that ahead on LIVE FROM. It's a whale of a program, don't you think? Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Test one, two -- test one, two --- mike check, mike check. You might need a few lights too, don't you think? Max Cleland getting ready. Actually, it's a sound check, we are told, for the big talk tonight at the DNC. We'll be following it.

O'BRIEN: That's a pretty cool podium they have. It rises and lowers to accommodate someone like Max, who uses a wheelchair, of course. That's cool.

In San Antonio, a thriller with a killer, as a frisky killer whale almost turned a routine performance at SeaWorld into an or- catastrophe. Jenny Davis reporting tank-side from our affiliate KSAT with a whale of a tale.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JENNY DAVIS, KSAT REPORTER (voice-over): It was towards the end of Friday's show at SeaWorld when Ky, the killer whale, started to do his own thing.

STEVE AIBEL, WHALE TRAINER: It looked like Ky lost a little bit of focus.

DAVIS: Steve Aibel has trained with Ky for the last 10 years, and what happened next even caught this veteran off guard.

AIBEL: Seventeen years of training with animals, and I have never had an experience like that.

DAVIS: At first, it seemed like part of the show, but then Ky began diving right over Steve. The killer whale wouldn't let up. As soon as Steve could come up for air, he was slammed back underwater.

AIBEL: What I kept saying, what I kept telling myself the entire time I was in the water was, "You have to look for the right things that he's doing."

DAVIS: As trainers rushed to the side of the tank, there was little they could do.

AIBEL: No, no, I wasn't frightened.

DAVIS: What probably seemed like a show that would never end finally did. And even a somewhat stunned audience was thankful for that. AIBEL: I think that by being calm throughout the process, that helped to calm him down.

DAVIS: He credits patience and excellent training for getting through the situation. Trainers aren't exactly sure why it happened, but say Ky's near the age of breeding, which could have caused erratic behavior. Meantime, it's back to business for both.

AIBEL: Did he apologize? He squeaks a lot.

DAVIS: Jenny Davis, KSAT 12 News.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Amazing. OK, we're waiting to talk to the trainer. He's underwater right now. We're trying to work it all out.

O'BRIEN: So, he's unable, if you know what I mean.

PHILLIPS: Oh.

O'BRIEN: But he'll be able soon...

PHILLIPS: Mr. Aibel, give us a call.

O'BRIEN: ... it's 1-800-Shamu. All right, some major airlines are reversing course and steering clear of their hubs...

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