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Democratic National Convention -- Day Four; Flooding in Texas; Watch-Listed Woman Caught At U.S. Border; NYC Security For RNC; Saudi Anti-Insurgency Plan Under Attack.

Aired July 29, 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.


FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Presidential pressure -- what can John Kerry say to convince undecided and unsatisfied voters that he's the real deal? New views of the Scott Peterson trial. His lawyers file a new motion for a mistrial. We'll take you live to the California courthouse this hour.
Report rush -- is the push to implement the 9/11 anti-terror recommendations moving a little too fast? And who says money can't buy happiness? A new report suggests cash could be key to putting a smile on your face. From the CNN Center in Atlanta, I'm Fredricka Whitfield, in for Miles O'Brien.

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Kyra Phillips. This hour of CNN's LIVE FROM starts right now.

WHITFIELD: We begin this hour with a finale and a starting point -- a culmination, way station, and milestone. It's a speech roughly eight hours away from now, and it's expected to last about an hour long, in which the Democratic nominee for president will try to win the hearts and minds far beyond the DNC in the FleetCenter.

CNN's Bob Franken looks ahead for us now.

BOB FRANKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Carole King, Fredricka, is still singing "You've Got a Friend." And I guess we can make that an appropriate song. John Kerry's going to be among friends here tonight, 4,000 plus of his closest friends. These are not the people to whom he will really be speaking. He is speaking to the nation outside the FleetCenter.

He was here earlier in the day doing the ritual walk through the audio check, through checking out the hall kind of thing, which is really about getting some video so the news networks have something to put on the air until the speech this evening.

The mandate for the speech this evening is to try and sell himself, get pass the image of him as a loop, tell his life story, try and convince the voters that because of his entire life and his qualifications, he is the man who can better lead the United States.

And of course, he's going to be taking that message out to try and unseat George W. Bush. He is not the only speaker tonight. There are some other notables too. Among them are going to be two of the people who tried to run for the Democratic nomination against him, and they were not successful. Joe Lieberman is going to be speaking, along with Wes Clark. Also, Madeline Albright was here, the former secretary of state. She was here for her own audio check earlier this morning. She just took a look at her podium. She, by the way, speaks at a different podium. She clowned around a little bit, which is really what oftentimes goes on in these sessions.

That podium, by the way, you should know, goes in and out of the stage. So when she left, all of the sudden, the stage opened up and down it went. And presumably, it will be back up for her at her height. She's not anywhere near as tall as John Kerry, believe me. Anyway, it will be up there for her when she makes her speech this evening. In case you're interested, she is scheduled to speak about 8:40.

But she's being upstaged, of course, tonight. The main event of this entire convention occurs at 10:08. It's supposed to be about an hour of John Kerry trying to tell the nation he is the man who is supposed to lead the nation, as I said. That happens this evening. As you can see, our list of people there -- Albright, Wesley Clark, Joe Lieberman, and then John Kerry.

His running mate John Edwards spoke last night. Now it's his turn. It is a do or die speech for him. It's one of the most important speeches he's ever made. It's the one that's going to get him started, or cause him to stumble, as he goes out on the campaign trail -- Fredricka

WHITFIELD: Bob Franken in the FleetCenter, thanks very much.

Well, CNN's prime-time coverage of the DNC begins tonight at 7:00 Eastern with Anderson Cooper, Wolf Blitzer, Larry King, and dozens of CNN correspondents and guests live from Boston.

And then, the night's main event, John Kerry, speaks to the crowd at 10:08 Eastern, as Bob just explained to us, 7:08 Pacific, followed by "NEWSNIGHT" and a bonus "LARRY KING LIVE" at midnight, all right here on CNN -- Kyra

PHILLIPS: Well, assuming no one can be all things to all voters, what does John Kerry need to be, and to whom, to guarantee an edge in November? CNN political analyst Carlos Watson has given that some thought. We're going to talk about it. Carlos, great to see you.

CARLOS WATSON, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: How're you doing?

PHILLIPS: All right, we've got the undecided voters, the new voters -- let's start with the undecided. A lot of people talking about the undecided voters, but let's talk about what John Kerry needs to say to suck these guys and gals in.

WATSON: Well, first of all, we should say that that group is smaller than it was four years ago. Four years ago at this time, maybe one out of three voters were undecided. Now, some surveys show only one out of five, so there's a smaller group.

What could he talk about? Certainly, he'll talk about foreign policy. But look for him maybe to take an interesting turn on it.

Instead of simply talking about Iraq, listen to him to say that four years from now, who knows what the major issues will be, and the reason to elect me is because of my judgment in the arena of foreign policy, and not only because of my policy as it relates to Iraq or as it relates to Al Qaeda. So certainly expect to hear more on that.

Also, Kyra, when it comes to job creation, he said that he'll create 10 million new jobs, and obviously, he'll highlight the fact that over the last three-and-a-half years, the Bush administration has seen a decrease in a million jobs. But look for more specifics in how he'll actually produce those 10 million jobs.

And last but not least, a couple things you may hear about include healthcare. John Kerry's talked a lot about his $650 billion program, how it would cover almost every uninsured child as well as a number of uninsured adults, as well as ultimately cut down costs even for those 250 million Americans who do have healthcare.

Expect to hear more details on that as well, particularly as he tries to persuade undecided voters.

PHILLIPS: All right, we know he's talked so much about veterans healthcare too. Let's talk about those new voters. Education -- do you think, specifically, college education?

WATSON: I do, because while we heard a lot about K through 12 education from the Bush Administration, particularly as it related to No Child Left Behind, one of the things that John Kerry's been trumpeting as he reaches, for example, for more Latino votes, is more community college and more four year college opportunity.

In 2000, some six million Latinos voted, and there's a hope that this year, maybe as many as seven, maybe seven-and-a-half million will vote. And John Kerry is hoping that two-thirds or more of those voters will vote for him, maybe giving him an edge in important states like Arizona and Nevada. So I think you'll hear a lot about education, but not just about K through 12. You'll hear about college.

The other thing I think that you can end up hearing more about is about the minimum wage. John Kerry has said that he wants to raise the minimum wage from $5.15 an hour to about $7 an hour, and in doing so, raise some seven million people out of poverty. About a third of those people who benefit from a minimum wage increase are African- Americans or Hispanics. And again, John Kerry may be hoping to increase their turnout in 2004.

PHILLIPS: Well, it's interesting you bring up Latinos, because yesterday, of course, we heard from the Black Caucus, Reverend Al Sharpton stepping up as one of the key speakers last night. Hearing a lot about the black vote, but let's just talk about the Latino vote for a minute. You think there might be more of a focus in the final day here?

WATSON: I do, because, you know, there's certainly -- well, by the way, Kyra, remember when Teresa Heinz Kerry began part of her speech in Spanish.

PHILLIPS: Five languages, every language she speaks, yeah. You're right.

WATSON: Italian, lots of languages.

PHILLIPS: Very impressive, yeah.

WATSON: And remember, Bill Richardson has been the convention chairman, so there's been a big presence there. But as Bill Richardson and others have said, there are a number of states in which the Hispanic vote will be important, not only out west, meaning Arizona, Nevada, and Colorado, but even, for example, there's a recent poll out in New Jersey that shows the president closing there.

And to the extent that John Kerry hopes to hold onto New Jersey, as Democrats have in the last several elections, they'll need a strong Hispanic turnout. And obviously, Florida -- Florida's a place where, last time, the Hispanic vote, the turnout actually lagged both African-American and non-Hispanic white. And this time around, there's hope that there will be an increase.

Republicans think that could help them. Democrats think that could help them. We'll see who it actually ultimately benefits.

PHILLIPS: All right, CNN political analyst Carlos Watson, thanks so much. Hey, Carlos, before I get into this next shameless plug, will you join us on the radio again tonight?

WATSON: Only if you're super nice.

PHILLIPS: And you know I will. OK, I'll send the flowers, everything else that you expect from me.

WATSON: All the good stuff, all the good stuff.

PHILLIPS: All right, I'll be calling you in a few hours. Carlos Watson, thank you so much.

And so, if you are away from your TV tonight, you can still hear the DNC coverage and Carlos Watson. He'll be our star analyst tonight. CNN Radio's John Lisk and I will be anchoring for CNN Radio -- more than 2,000 affiliates in the U.S. and overseas.

You can stay up to the minute almost anywhere. But if you don't have a radio handy, don't worry about it. Log onto CNN.com to hear and see all the prime time action on the CNN Radio Web stream -- Fred

WHITFIELD: All right, well, it's not his town and it's not his party, but Rudy Giuliani is still a VIP at the DNC, and CNN caught up with him on CNN's "AMERICAN MORNING." The former New York mayor weighed in with Republican charges that Kerry can't make up his mind.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RUDY GIULIANI, (R), FORMER NEW YORK MAYOR: What I do see is a senator who, when he was asked about whether he voted for the $87 billion appropriation to support the war in Iraq and to support our troops, said, "First, I voted for it before I voted against it." I think that tells you a lot about the way in which somebody operates.

I think President Bush, on the other hand, announced his purpose of destroying, to the best that we can, global terrorism, saying that it would take four or five years to do it, and sticking with it when it's been popular and sticking with it when it's been unpopular, which is really the sign of a really true leader.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Giuliani says he can't wait until the GOP takes Gotham August 30th.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GIULIANI: It'll be very different, because we have a record to run on, a record that we're not going to run away from, but a record that we're going to run on. I think what you have here is a convention that's running away from these two very, very liberal records, this record of being very inconsistent about the war on terrorism.

Instead, what you're going to see in New York is a political party that has its differences, like all political parties do, but who's very, very proud of the record that President George Bush has created, not just with regard to the war terrorism, but reducing taxes, reviving our economy, bringing our economy back when we've had some real difficulties.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: The Republican Convention runs from August 30th to September 2nd in Madison Square Garden -- Kyra

PHILLIPS: Flooded out and bracing for more -- central Texas gets slammed with flash flooding. We're on it live right after a break. Preparing for the Republicans -- New York City drills for a possible terror attack at the upcoming GOP convention. We've got the pictures.

And I promise we'll have audio by the time we get to the Peterson trial and Ted Rowlands. In addition, live pictures now courtesy our affiliate WYFF -- sudden rainstorm in Greenville, South Carolina. Take a look at this. It's prompted some evacuations, causing forecasters to worry about a damn that might unearth. We're going to have more from Greenville, South Carolina right after a break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Live pictures once again via our affiliate WYFF. It's obviously the news chopper that's capturing pictures. We'll see if it pans off. We're going to roll tape until we can get a better live picture for you, actually.

This is taped turnaround now from Greenville, South Carolina. There was a sudden rainstorm that happened this morning, flooding parts of Greenville and prompting some evacuations and causing many of the forecasters to worry about a dam that might break. It's starting to unearth and it's a major concern right now. About three inches of rain since the storms began.

Heavy rain still falling, we are told, north and east of Greenville. Emergency officials are worried that situation might get worse. You can see the evacuations here taking place -- residents and also drivers being picked up by rescue boats and rafts, and taken to some of the shelters in nearby areas where the Red Cross has set up.

Now, most of the severe flooding happened just west of the city, where several roads, including parts of the State Highway 253 and 153, if you're familiar with those numbers, were completely underwater. Emergency workers had to rescue some of the people from cars that were stalled by the high water. At least 10 people were evacuated.

You saw a couple of the rescue boats there. And you can see here where the water has actually come over those parts of the highway, like we mentioned, 253 and 153, and cars having to divert and turn around, and move away from those threatened areas.

We're going to continue to follow the flooding in Greenville, South Carolina. More now to Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right, thanks, Kyra. Similar pictures and worse, actually, in Texas. A foot of rain in the Dallas area prompted evacuations and calls for help. More than a dozen people had to be rescued from homes and cars there.

CNN's Ed Lavandera joins us from the Dallas suburb of Lancaster, one of the hardest hit areas -- Ed.

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Fredricka. Well, in one night, almost 13 inches of rain fell in this area. We're on a bridge here in Lancaster, and it's been shutdown temporarily as engineers have started to come in. They're checking it out, because overnight, the water was up over this bridge, and now it's receded, as most of the creeks in this area have done so overnight or in the last few hours.

The water here has dropped about 30 feet. You can see what the water rushing by has left behind. In fact, over here in the woods, there's a pickup truck that was kind of rushed down water over here, there's a boat that also did the same. There's just a lot of debris, a lot of cleanup that we're seeing throughout the city.

Some 200 homes are underwater here in Lancaster or have been affected by this flooding. And we understand that in about an hour or so, city officials will be meeting to kind of gather exactly what kind of -- to start putting the preliminary damage assessments as to what has happened here overnight.

But as we mentioned, almost 13 inches of rain overnight, caused a lot of flooding. We're told that virtually every creek in this city had flooded over its banks. And so, that's what has caused many of the problems here. Of course, this is a storm that came through here yesterday. This is the southern part of Dallas County, one of the hardest hit areas because of this storm.

We do understand that there's a lot of cleanup process going on. The preliminary damage assessment reports aren't out just yet, but they're also trying to figure out whether or not this will be declared a local disaster area and exactly what that might mean to help clean up the situation here -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: Ed Lavandera, just outside out Dallas and Lancaster, Texas, thanks very much -- Kyra

PHILLIPS: Moving quickly, but moving too fast, the Bush administration is busy working to adopt some or all of the changes suggested by the 9/11 Commission. Presidential approval is expected earlier next week, and now, some people are concerned that that might be rushing things.

CNN congressional correspondent Ed Henry reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ED HENRY, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Unlike most blue ribbon panels, the 9/11 Commission is not going quietly into the night.

ALLAN LICHTMAN, AMERICAN UNIVERSITY: Usually with these kinds of commissions, they drop their report from an airplane and take off. Now, these commissioners have made the report their own. They've not only become reporters. They have become lobbyists.

HENRY: John Kerry has endorsed their blueprint to radically change the nation's intelligence structure. President Bush is considering changes by executive order. At least half a dozen congressional panels are gearing up for hearings and vowing swift legislative action.

SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R), KENTUCKY: The job is now for the president and for the Congress to look at the recommendations and to implement them as rapidly as possible.

HENRY: But some experts warn everyone may be moving too fast because of pressure from the Commission. The former chairman of a presidential commission on terror says hasty reform could create new problems.

JIM GILMORE, FMR. CHMN. PRES. TERROR COMM.: They've created a frazzling, jangling of nerves in the political system, and the result of that is that we may be rushing to some of their proposals that maybe shouldn't be supported.

LICHTMAN: We cannot afford to rush into scrambling our entire intelligence operation.

HENRY: But 9/11 Commissioners point out that many of these changes, such as creating a national director of intelligence, have been studied for years.

RICHARD BEN-VENISTE, 9/11 COMMISSION MEMBER: Congress, with all deliberate speed, must look at our recommendations. And we don't have the luxury of waiting. Some of these recommendations are long overdue.

HENRY: Commissioners also note the government is warning there could be terror attacks before the election. So, they say, there's no time for delay.

BEN-VENISTE: The Islamist terrorist movement, be it Al Qaeda or others, have been known to be patient, entrepreneurial, clever, and willing to study our system to exploit our weaknesses.

HENRY (on camera): Lawmakers may be loath to slow down the momentum of this commission. Its final report is so popular that it's already sold an estimated 350,000 copies in book form. And this past weekend, the Commission's Web site got 50 million hits. Ed Henry, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Well now, to the strange tale of a woman with a mutilated passport. It caught the eye of a Border Patrol agent as she passed through a Texas airport. Further checking revealed possible ties to terrorism. Our Justice Correspondent Kelli Arena picks up the story from there -- Kelli

KELLI ARENA, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Fred, her name is Farida Goolam Mohamed Ahmed. And as you said, investigators continue to look into possible terror ties in her case. She's still being held on charges, including document fraud, illegal entry, and making false statements.

Now, investigators are trying to find out why she was going to board a plane to New York, who she was going to meet there, and why she was carrying more than $7,000 on her, mostly in U.S. currency. Now, there's also the slight possibility that she isn't who her passport says she is, and that too is being checked out.

Now, her name does appear on an FBI watch-list, according to sources, for possible ties to terrorists. Her name apparently came up in investigations of terrorist acts overseas, according to our sources. That's why she's getting the scrutiny that she's getting. But bottom line here is that investigators, at this point, don't know exactly what they're dealing with.

One investigator compared her to the early days of finding alleged terrorist Zacarias Moussaoui. They think that they've got something. They just don't know exactly what it is, Fred.

WHITFIELD: Now, Kelli, is this sending up the red flag of warning signals of some potential security problems out west?

ARENA: Well, no, it's not. I mean, this case is very isolated right now, as far as we can tell -- no source indicating that she's revealed anything or that anything has come up in investigations regarding any possible plot that she may or may not have been involved with. But there are some concerns very separate from this individual that, we're told, was prompted by new threat information that came in regarding two states, California and New Mexico.

The information is described as unsubstantiated and uncorroborated, meaning that it came from one source, so it doesn't rise to any level of specificity or credibility, for that matter. There's no mention of location, or time, or method of an attack. But state and local officials there have been told to remain vigilant, as we have heard consistently throughout the nation for months now.

WHITFIELD: Kelli Arena from Washington, thanks very much -- Kyra

PHILLIPS: A Saudi initiative for a coalition of the willing. As Colin Powell meets with Iraq's prime minister, will Arab and Muslim troops secure that country? New video from inside the Scott Peterson trial -- a new motion to dismiss the charges. We're live from the courthouse...

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: The NYPD conducting a CRV. It's a sight you may catch if you're in the Big Apple. It's what officials call a critical response vehicle deployment, or in laymen's terms, a big show of force involving lots of police cars.

CNN's Deborah Feyerick caught up with one of these counter- terrorism drills.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's one of those things that stop people mid-step -- a show of force so strong, the same, anxious question comes to everyone's mind: what the heck is going on?

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: It's a drill in preparation for the RNC next month.

FEYERICK: The drill is a new part of the NYPD's counter- terrorism strategy, a strategy Inspector Vincent DeMarino says is as much to reassure the public as it is to scare away the bad guys.

INSPECTOR VINCENT DEMARINO, NYPD: What we're asking officers to do is to go out there and interact with the public. Go out there and get out of the car and walk around, and walk up and down, and go into the buildings, talk to security managers, go into the subways, talk to people.

FEYERICK: Several times a week, police from each of the city's 76 precincts hook up with elite counter-terror units. More than 100 police flooding high target locations, a surge called CRV for critical response vehicles. On Monday, it was news organizations, including CNN's New York headquarters; before that, Wall Street.

DEMARINO: I tell you, I don't look at it as a highly vulnerable area. I look at it as a highly protected area.

FEYERICK: Every officer is specially trained in counter- terrorism. Every drill has meaning.

DEMARINO: Nothing here is guesswork. Everything that the NYPD does is based on intelligence that's fed through NYPD's own intelligence division and from other local and federal law enforcement agencies.

FEYERICK: All of it with a simple yet critical goal...

DEMARINO: The best terrorist incident is the one that never happens.

FEYERICK: Debra Ferrick, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: In Iraq, fighting in Fallujah -- we have these exclusive pictures now. U.S. military officials say the International Forces Checkpoint came under mortar or rocket fire. The First Main Expeditionary Force was manning the checkpoint and returned fire. No word yet on any casualties.

WHITFIELD: A Saudi plan to help ease insurgency violence in Iraq is already under attack. An Islamist militant group is threatening to attack any Muslim nations that send troops to Iraq. Despite threats, Secretary of State Colin Powell and Iraq's interim prime minister today welcomed the Saudi plan. CNN's Elise Labott reports from Jeddah.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ELISE LABOTT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Could Arab and Muslim troops be the answer to curbing the Iraqi insurgency? Iraq's prime minister said yes, and called on the Islamic world to close ranks against extremists.

AYAD ALLAWI, IRAQI PRIME MINISTER: This is a fight...

LABOTT: U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell was cautious, but said the Saudi initiative to send those troops could be helpful.

COLIN POWELL, SECY. OF STATE: These are preliminary ideas that the Saudis have given to us. They share the ideas with the prime minister, with us, with Secretary General Annan, and we welcome the Saudi ideas, and we'll be examining them in the days ahead.

LABOTT: This week in Europe and the Middle East, Powell asked coalition countries to stay the course in Iraq and called on more countries to join the effort. Already, five members have left the coalition in the face of continued violence and kidnapping in Iraq.

During his tour of the Arab world, and in letters to Muslim nations, Allawi asked for troops from countries which do not border Iraq. Allawi said some have indicated a willingness to sign on. Iraqi officials tell CNN the troops should be on the ground to provide balance to a broader multinational force and should not replace the coalition.

Saudi officials say they have already approached the U.N. and Arab and Muslim states. Arab sources say those countries include Pakistan, Indonesia, and Morocco -- all countries which Iraq's prime minister has requested troops, but which have balked at U.S. requests in the past.

Officials say among the principals discussed in those consultations to entice those countries to sign on, the troops must be invited by the Iraqi government, they should be under U.N. command, and the troops sent would replace a comparable number of coalition forces.

POWELL: The Saudis have indicated some conditions that would have to be met as they see it with respect to chain of command arrangements with respect to what the troops would be doing, whether it's an offset to existing coalition troops here in the country.

So, there are many questions that have to be answered.

LABOTT: But those conditions could be attractive to the Muslim world where public opinion has been against sending troops, as part of what is still perceived as an American occupation. U.S. officials say those forces would not replace the coalition, but could reduce the number of coalition troops as security is restored in Iraq.

The senior foreign policy advisor to Crown Prince Abdullah said the Saudis and all Muslim nations want to help the Iraqi people, but, he added, the move would stablize Iraq and its border with the Kingdom.

In the past, Saudi officials have voiced concerns, insurgents and weapons are crossing that border to fight their battle against the Saudi government.

(on camera): Allawi said he accepted an invitation from President Bush to visit the White House in the not-too-distant future. He said he would travel to the region first to secure good relations.

The leaders of Arab and Muslim nations, he said, must unify and stand as a group to counter threats to the region. Elise Labott, CNN, Jeddah.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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Aired July 29, 2004 - 14:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Presidential pressure -- what can John Kerry say to convince undecided and unsatisfied voters that he's the real deal? New views of the Scott Peterson trial. His lawyers file a new motion for a mistrial. We'll take you live to the California courthouse this hour.
Report rush -- is the push to implement the 9/11 anti-terror recommendations moving a little too fast? And who says money can't buy happiness? A new report suggests cash could be key to putting a smile on your face. From the CNN Center in Atlanta, I'm Fredricka Whitfield, in for Miles O'Brien.

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Kyra Phillips. This hour of CNN's LIVE FROM starts right now.

WHITFIELD: We begin this hour with a finale and a starting point -- a culmination, way station, and milestone. It's a speech roughly eight hours away from now, and it's expected to last about an hour long, in which the Democratic nominee for president will try to win the hearts and minds far beyond the DNC in the FleetCenter.

CNN's Bob Franken looks ahead for us now.

BOB FRANKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Carole King, Fredricka, is still singing "You've Got a Friend." And I guess we can make that an appropriate song. John Kerry's going to be among friends here tonight, 4,000 plus of his closest friends. These are not the people to whom he will really be speaking. He is speaking to the nation outside the FleetCenter.

He was here earlier in the day doing the ritual walk through the audio check, through checking out the hall kind of thing, which is really about getting some video so the news networks have something to put on the air until the speech this evening.

The mandate for the speech this evening is to try and sell himself, get pass the image of him as a loop, tell his life story, try and convince the voters that because of his entire life and his qualifications, he is the man who can better lead the United States.

And of course, he's going to be taking that message out to try and unseat George W. Bush. He is not the only speaker tonight. There are some other notables too. Among them are going to be two of the people who tried to run for the Democratic nomination against him, and they were not successful. Joe Lieberman is going to be speaking, along with Wes Clark. Also, Madeline Albright was here, the former secretary of state. She was here for her own audio check earlier this morning. She just took a look at her podium. She, by the way, speaks at a different podium. She clowned around a little bit, which is really what oftentimes goes on in these sessions.

That podium, by the way, you should know, goes in and out of the stage. So when she left, all of the sudden, the stage opened up and down it went. And presumably, it will be back up for her at her height. She's not anywhere near as tall as John Kerry, believe me. Anyway, it will be up there for her when she makes her speech this evening. In case you're interested, she is scheduled to speak about 8:40.

But she's being upstaged, of course, tonight. The main event of this entire convention occurs at 10:08. It's supposed to be about an hour of John Kerry trying to tell the nation he is the man who is supposed to lead the nation, as I said. That happens this evening. As you can see, our list of people there -- Albright, Wesley Clark, Joe Lieberman, and then John Kerry.

His running mate John Edwards spoke last night. Now it's his turn. It is a do or die speech for him. It's one of the most important speeches he's ever made. It's the one that's going to get him started, or cause him to stumble, as he goes out on the campaign trail -- Fredricka

WHITFIELD: Bob Franken in the FleetCenter, thanks very much.

Well, CNN's prime-time coverage of the DNC begins tonight at 7:00 Eastern with Anderson Cooper, Wolf Blitzer, Larry King, and dozens of CNN correspondents and guests live from Boston.

And then, the night's main event, John Kerry, speaks to the crowd at 10:08 Eastern, as Bob just explained to us, 7:08 Pacific, followed by "NEWSNIGHT" and a bonus "LARRY KING LIVE" at midnight, all right here on CNN -- Kyra

PHILLIPS: Well, assuming no one can be all things to all voters, what does John Kerry need to be, and to whom, to guarantee an edge in November? CNN political analyst Carlos Watson has given that some thought. We're going to talk about it. Carlos, great to see you.

CARLOS WATSON, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: How're you doing?

PHILLIPS: All right, we've got the undecided voters, the new voters -- let's start with the undecided. A lot of people talking about the undecided voters, but let's talk about what John Kerry needs to say to suck these guys and gals in.

WATSON: Well, first of all, we should say that that group is smaller than it was four years ago. Four years ago at this time, maybe one out of three voters were undecided. Now, some surveys show only one out of five, so there's a smaller group.

What could he talk about? Certainly, he'll talk about foreign policy. But look for him maybe to take an interesting turn on it.

Instead of simply talking about Iraq, listen to him to say that four years from now, who knows what the major issues will be, and the reason to elect me is because of my judgment in the arena of foreign policy, and not only because of my policy as it relates to Iraq or as it relates to Al Qaeda. So certainly expect to hear more on that.

Also, Kyra, when it comes to job creation, he said that he'll create 10 million new jobs, and obviously, he'll highlight the fact that over the last three-and-a-half years, the Bush administration has seen a decrease in a million jobs. But look for more specifics in how he'll actually produce those 10 million jobs.

And last but not least, a couple things you may hear about include healthcare. John Kerry's talked a lot about his $650 billion program, how it would cover almost every uninsured child as well as a number of uninsured adults, as well as ultimately cut down costs even for those 250 million Americans who do have healthcare.

Expect to hear more details on that as well, particularly as he tries to persuade undecided voters.

PHILLIPS: All right, we know he's talked so much about veterans healthcare too. Let's talk about those new voters. Education -- do you think, specifically, college education?

WATSON: I do, because while we heard a lot about K through 12 education from the Bush Administration, particularly as it related to No Child Left Behind, one of the things that John Kerry's been trumpeting as he reaches, for example, for more Latino votes, is more community college and more four year college opportunity.

In 2000, some six million Latinos voted, and there's a hope that this year, maybe as many as seven, maybe seven-and-a-half million will vote. And John Kerry is hoping that two-thirds or more of those voters will vote for him, maybe giving him an edge in important states like Arizona and Nevada. So I think you'll hear a lot about education, but not just about K through 12. You'll hear about college.

The other thing I think that you can end up hearing more about is about the minimum wage. John Kerry has said that he wants to raise the minimum wage from $5.15 an hour to about $7 an hour, and in doing so, raise some seven million people out of poverty. About a third of those people who benefit from a minimum wage increase are African- Americans or Hispanics. And again, John Kerry may be hoping to increase their turnout in 2004.

PHILLIPS: Well, it's interesting you bring up Latinos, because yesterday, of course, we heard from the Black Caucus, Reverend Al Sharpton stepping up as one of the key speakers last night. Hearing a lot about the black vote, but let's just talk about the Latino vote for a minute. You think there might be more of a focus in the final day here?

WATSON: I do, because, you know, there's certainly -- well, by the way, Kyra, remember when Teresa Heinz Kerry began part of her speech in Spanish.

PHILLIPS: Five languages, every language she speaks, yeah. You're right.

WATSON: Italian, lots of languages.

PHILLIPS: Very impressive, yeah.

WATSON: And remember, Bill Richardson has been the convention chairman, so there's been a big presence there. But as Bill Richardson and others have said, there are a number of states in which the Hispanic vote will be important, not only out west, meaning Arizona, Nevada, and Colorado, but even, for example, there's a recent poll out in New Jersey that shows the president closing there.

And to the extent that John Kerry hopes to hold onto New Jersey, as Democrats have in the last several elections, they'll need a strong Hispanic turnout. And obviously, Florida -- Florida's a place where, last time, the Hispanic vote, the turnout actually lagged both African-American and non-Hispanic white. And this time around, there's hope that there will be an increase.

Republicans think that could help them. Democrats think that could help them. We'll see who it actually ultimately benefits.

PHILLIPS: All right, CNN political analyst Carlos Watson, thanks so much. Hey, Carlos, before I get into this next shameless plug, will you join us on the radio again tonight?

WATSON: Only if you're super nice.

PHILLIPS: And you know I will. OK, I'll send the flowers, everything else that you expect from me.

WATSON: All the good stuff, all the good stuff.

PHILLIPS: All right, I'll be calling you in a few hours. Carlos Watson, thank you so much.

And so, if you are away from your TV tonight, you can still hear the DNC coverage and Carlos Watson. He'll be our star analyst tonight. CNN Radio's John Lisk and I will be anchoring for CNN Radio -- more than 2,000 affiliates in the U.S. and overseas.

You can stay up to the minute almost anywhere. But if you don't have a radio handy, don't worry about it. Log onto CNN.com to hear and see all the prime time action on the CNN Radio Web stream -- Fred

WHITFIELD: All right, well, it's not his town and it's not his party, but Rudy Giuliani is still a VIP at the DNC, and CNN caught up with him on CNN's "AMERICAN MORNING." The former New York mayor weighed in with Republican charges that Kerry can't make up his mind.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RUDY GIULIANI, (R), FORMER NEW YORK MAYOR: What I do see is a senator who, when he was asked about whether he voted for the $87 billion appropriation to support the war in Iraq and to support our troops, said, "First, I voted for it before I voted against it." I think that tells you a lot about the way in which somebody operates.

I think President Bush, on the other hand, announced his purpose of destroying, to the best that we can, global terrorism, saying that it would take four or five years to do it, and sticking with it when it's been popular and sticking with it when it's been unpopular, which is really the sign of a really true leader.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Giuliani says he can't wait until the GOP takes Gotham August 30th.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GIULIANI: It'll be very different, because we have a record to run on, a record that we're not going to run away from, but a record that we're going to run on. I think what you have here is a convention that's running away from these two very, very liberal records, this record of being very inconsistent about the war on terrorism.

Instead, what you're going to see in New York is a political party that has its differences, like all political parties do, but who's very, very proud of the record that President George Bush has created, not just with regard to the war terrorism, but reducing taxes, reviving our economy, bringing our economy back when we've had some real difficulties.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: The Republican Convention runs from August 30th to September 2nd in Madison Square Garden -- Kyra

PHILLIPS: Flooded out and bracing for more -- central Texas gets slammed with flash flooding. We're on it live right after a break. Preparing for the Republicans -- New York City drills for a possible terror attack at the upcoming GOP convention. We've got the pictures.

And I promise we'll have audio by the time we get to the Peterson trial and Ted Rowlands. In addition, live pictures now courtesy our affiliate WYFF -- sudden rainstorm in Greenville, South Carolina. Take a look at this. It's prompted some evacuations, causing forecasters to worry about a damn that might unearth. We're going to have more from Greenville, South Carolina right after a break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Live pictures once again via our affiliate WYFF. It's obviously the news chopper that's capturing pictures. We'll see if it pans off. We're going to roll tape until we can get a better live picture for you, actually.

This is taped turnaround now from Greenville, South Carolina. There was a sudden rainstorm that happened this morning, flooding parts of Greenville and prompting some evacuations and causing many of the forecasters to worry about a dam that might break. It's starting to unearth and it's a major concern right now. About three inches of rain since the storms began.

Heavy rain still falling, we are told, north and east of Greenville. Emergency officials are worried that situation might get worse. You can see the evacuations here taking place -- residents and also drivers being picked up by rescue boats and rafts, and taken to some of the shelters in nearby areas where the Red Cross has set up.

Now, most of the severe flooding happened just west of the city, where several roads, including parts of the State Highway 253 and 153, if you're familiar with those numbers, were completely underwater. Emergency workers had to rescue some of the people from cars that were stalled by the high water. At least 10 people were evacuated.

You saw a couple of the rescue boats there. And you can see here where the water has actually come over those parts of the highway, like we mentioned, 253 and 153, and cars having to divert and turn around, and move away from those threatened areas.

We're going to continue to follow the flooding in Greenville, South Carolina. More now to Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right, thanks, Kyra. Similar pictures and worse, actually, in Texas. A foot of rain in the Dallas area prompted evacuations and calls for help. More than a dozen people had to be rescued from homes and cars there.

CNN's Ed Lavandera joins us from the Dallas suburb of Lancaster, one of the hardest hit areas -- Ed.

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Fredricka. Well, in one night, almost 13 inches of rain fell in this area. We're on a bridge here in Lancaster, and it's been shutdown temporarily as engineers have started to come in. They're checking it out, because overnight, the water was up over this bridge, and now it's receded, as most of the creeks in this area have done so overnight or in the last few hours.

The water here has dropped about 30 feet. You can see what the water rushing by has left behind. In fact, over here in the woods, there's a pickup truck that was kind of rushed down water over here, there's a boat that also did the same. There's just a lot of debris, a lot of cleanup that we're seeing throughout the city.

Some 200 homes are underwater here in Lancaster or have been affected by this flooding. And we understand that in about an hour or so, city officials will be meeting to kind of gather exactly what kind of -- to start putting the preliminary damage assessments as to what has happened here overnight.

But as we mentioned, almost 13 inches of rain overnight, caused a lot of flooding. We're told that virtually every creek in this city had flooded over its banks. And so, that's what has caused many of the problems here. Of course, this is a storm that came through here yesterday. This is the southern part of Dallas County, one of the hardest hit areas because of this storm.

We do understand that there's a lot of cleanup process going on. The preliminary damage assessment reports aren't out just yet, but they're also trying to figure out whether or not this will be declared a local disaster area and exactly what that might mean to help clean up the situation here -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: Ed Lavandera, just outside out Dallas and Lancaster, Texas, thanks very much -- Kyra

PHILLIPS: Moving quickly, but moving too fast, the Bush administration is busy working to adopt some or all of the changes suggested by the 9/11 Commission. Presidential approval is expected earlier next week, and now, some people are concerned that that might be rushing things.

CNN congressional correspondent Ed Henry reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ED HENRY, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Unlike most blue ribbon panels, the 9/11 Commission is not going quietly into the night.

ALLAN LICHTMAN, AMERICAN UNIVERSITY: Usually with these kinds of commissions, they drop their report from an airplane and take off. Now, these commissioners have made the report their own. They've not only become reporters. They have become lobbyists.

HENRY: John Kerry has endorsed their blueprint to radically change the nation's intelligence structure. President Bush is considering changes by executive order. At least half a dozen congressional panels are gearing up for hearings and vowing swift legislative action.

SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R), KENTUCKY: The job is now for the president and for the Congress to look at the recommendations and to implement them as rapidly as possible.

HENRY: But some experts warn everyone may be moving too fast because of pressure from the Commission. The former chairman of a presidential commission on terror says hasty reform could create new problems.

JIM GILMORE, FMR. CHMN. PRES. TERROR COMM.: They've created a frazzling, jangling of nerves in the political system, and the result of that is that we may be rushing to some of their proposals that maybe shouldn't be supported.

LICHTMAN: We cannot afford to rush into scrambling our entire intelligence operation.

HENRY: But 9/11 Commissioners point out that many of these changes, such as creating a national director of intelligence, have been studied for years.

RICHARD BEN-VENISTE, 9/11 COMMISSION MEMBER: Congress, with all deliberate speed, must look at our recommendations. And we don't have the luxury of waiting. Some of these recommendations are long overdue.

HENRY: Commissioners also note the government is warning there could be terror attacks before the election. So, they say, there's no time for delay.

BEN-VENISTE: The Islamist terrorist movement, be it Al Qaeda or others, have been known to be patient, entrepreneurial, clever, and willing to study our system to exploit our weaknesses.

HENRY (on camera): Lawmakers may be loath to slow down the momentum of this commission. Its final report is so popular that it's already sold an estimated 350,000 copies in book form. And this past weekend, the Commission's Web site got 50 million hits. Ed Henry, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Well now, to the strange tale of a woman with a mutilated passport. It caught the eye of a Border Patrol agent as she passed through a Texas airport. Further checking revealed possible ties to terrorism. Our Justice Correspondent Kelli Arena picks up the story from there -- Kelli

KELLI ARENA, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Fred, her name is Farida Goolam Mohamed Ahmed. And as you said, investigators continue to look into possible terror ties in her case. She's still being held on charges, including document fraud, illegal entry, and making false statements.

Now, investigators are trying to find out why she was going to board a plane to New York, who she was going to meet there, and why she was carrying more than $7,000 on her, mostly in U.S. currency. Now, there's also the slight possibility that she isn't who her passport says she is, and that too is being checked out.

Now, her name does appear on an FBI watch-list, according to sources, for possible ties to terrorists. Her name apparently came up in investigations of terrorist acts overseas, according to our sources. That's why she's getting the scrutiny that she's getting. But bottom line here is that investigators, at this point, don't know exactly what they're dealing with.

One investigator compared her to the early days of finding alleged terrorist Zacarias Moussaoui. They think that they've got something. They just don't know exactly what it is, Fred.

WHITFIELD: Now, Kelli, is this sending up the red flag of warning signals of some potential security problems out west?

ARENA: Well, no, it's not. I mean, this case is very isolated right now, as far as we can tell -- no source indicating that she's revealed anything or that anything has come up in investigations regarding any possible plot that she may or may not have been involved with. But there are some concerns very separate from this individual that, we're told, was prompted by new threat information that came in regarding two states, California and New Mexico.

The information is described as unsubstantiated and uncorroborated, meaning that it came from one source, so it doesn't rise to any level of specificity or credibility, for that matter. There's no mention of location, or time, or method of an attack. But state and local officials there have been told to remain vigilant, as we have heard consistently throughout the nation for months now.

WHITFIELD: Kelli Arena from Washington, thanks very much -- Kyra

PHILLIPS: A Saudi initiative for a coalition of the willing. As Colin Powell meets with Iraq's prime minister, will Arab and Muslim troops secure that country? New video from inside the Scott Peterson trial -- a new motion to dismiss the charges. We're live from the courthouse...

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: The NYPD conducting a CRV. It's a sight you may catch if you're in the Big Apple. It's what officials call a critical response vehicle deployment, or in laymen's terms, a big show of force involving lots of police cars.

CNN's Deborah Feyerick caught up with one of these counter- terrorism drills.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's one of those things that stop people mid-step -- a show of force so strong, the same, anxious question comes to everyone's mind: what the heck is going on?

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: It's a drill in preparation for the RNC next month.

FEYERICK: The drill is a new part of the NYPD's counter- terrorism strategy, a strategy Inspector Vincent DeMarino says is as much to reassure the public as it is to scare away the bad guys.

INSPECTOR VINCENT DEMARINO, NYPD: What we're asking officers to do is to go out there and interact with the public. Go out there and get out of the car and walk around, and walk up and down, and go into the buildings, talk to security managers, go into the subways, talk to people.

FEYERICK: Several times a week, police from each of the city's 76 precincts hook up with elite counter-terror units. More than 100 police flooding high target locations, a surge called CRV for critical response vehicles. On Monday, it was news organizations, including CNN's New York headquarters; before that, Wall Street.

DEMARINO: I tell you, I don't look at it as a highly vulnerable area. I look at it as a highly protected area.

FEYERICK: Every officer is specially trained in counter- terrorism. Every drill has meaning.

DEMARINO: Nothing here is guesswork. Everything that the NYPD does is based on intelligence that's fed through NYPD's own intelligence division and from other local and federal law enforcement agencies.

FEYERICK: All of it with a simple yet critical goal...

DEMARINO: The best terrorist incident is the one that never happens.

FEYERICK: Debra Ferrick, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: In Iraq, fighting in Fallujah -- we have these exclusive pictures now. U.S. military officials say the International Forces Checkpoint came under mortar or rocket fire. The First Main Expeditionary Force was manning the checkpoint and returned fire. No word yet on any casualties.

WHITFIELD: A Saudi plan to help ease insurgency violence in Iraq is already under attack. An Islamist militant group is threatening to attack any Muslim nations that send troops to Iraq. Despite threats, Secretary of State Colin Powell and Iraq's interim prime minister today welcomed the Saudi plan. CNN's Elise Labott reports from Jeddah.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ELISE LABOTT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Could Arab and Muslim troops be the answer to curbing the Iraqi insurgency? Iraq's prime minister said yes, and called on the Islamic world to close ranks against extremists.

AYAD ALLAWI, IRAQI PRIME MINISTER: This is a fight...

LABOTT: U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell was cautious, but said the Saudi initiative to send those troops could be helpful.

COLIN POWELL, SECY. OF STATE: These are preliminary ideas that the Saudis have given to us. They share the ideas with the prime minister, with us, with Secretary General Annan, and we welcome the Saudi ideas, and we'll be examining them in the days ahead.

LABOTT: This week in Europe and the Middle East, Powell asked coalition countries to stay the course in Iraq and called on more countries to join the effort. Already, five members have left the coalition in the face of continued violence and kidnapping in Iraq.

During his tour of the Arab world, and in letters to Muslim nations, Allawi asked for troops from countries which do not border Iraq. Allawi said some have indicated a willingness to sign on. Iraqi officials tell CNN the troops should be on the ground to provide balance to a broader multinational force and should not replace the coalition.

Saudi officials say they have already approached the U.N. and Arab and Muslim states. Arab sources say those countries include Pakistan, Indonesia, and Morocco -- all countries which Iraq's prime minister has requested troops, but which have balked at U.S. requests in the past.

Officials say among the principals discussed in those consultations to entice those countries to sign on, the troops must be invited by the Iraqi government, they should be under U.N. command, and the troops sent would replace a comparable number of coalition forces.

POWELL: The Saudis have indicated some conditions that would have to be met as they see it with respect to chain of command arrangements with respect to what the troops would be doing, whether it's an offset to existing coalition troops here in the country.

So, there are many questions that have to be answered.

LABOTT: But those conditions could be attractive to the Muslim world where public opinion has been against sending troops, as part of what is still perceived as an American occupation. U.S. officials say those forces would not replace the coalition, but could reduce the number of coalition troops as security is restored in Iraq.

The senior foreign policy advisor to Crown Prince Abdullah said the Saudis and all Muslim nations want to help the Iraqi people, but, he added, the move would stablize Iraq and its border with the Kingdom.

In the past, Saudi officials have voiced concerns, insurgents and weapons are crossing that border to fight their battle against the Saudi government.

(on camera): Allawi said he accepted an invitation from President Bush to visit the White House in the not-too-distant future. He said he would travel to the region first to secure good relations.

The leaders of Arab and Muslim nations, he said, must unify and stand as a group to counter threats to the region. Elise Labott, CNN, Jeddah.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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