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Insurgents Invaded a Russian Middle School; RNC Day Three Speakers; 19-yr.-old Arrested for NYC Officer Assault

Aired September 01, 2004 - 13:00   ET

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

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


KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Hostage situation: Are militants threatening to blow up a Russian school filled with children and adults? We're going to have a live report from the scene.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Hurricane Frances: Florida bracing for yet another devastating blow. We are tracking the storm for you.

PHILLIPS: Crossing party lines: His own state party calls him Zigzag Zell. But at the RNC, he's the Democrat Republicans love to love.

We're live from the convention floor.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OFFICER BLAIN EIBEN, AUSTIN POLICE: The true hero in this is the baby. She was alone, cold, in the dark, hadn't eaten for five days.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: An amazing fight for survival. We'll tell you that baby's tale in just a little bit.

From the CNN Center in Atlanta, I'm Miles O'Brien.

PHILLIPS: And I'm Kyra Phillips. CNN's LIVE FROM starts right now.

O'BRIEN: It's now been 12 nightmarish hours since heavily armed terrorists, apparently Chechen insurgents, invaded a Russian middle school with at least 100 children, teachers, and parents inside. The attack interrupted a ceremony marking the first day of school in the town of Beslan, near the Chechen border.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED BOY (through translator): We were standing there and they began shooting. We thought it was one of the parents shooting. Then these guys ran out, these Chechens, surrounded us and began shooting in the air. Then we started to run away. We saw two people. They didn't say anything. They just shouted at us. We didn't understand.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: We have reports of at least four people dead, and the militants are threatening to kill many more. We'll have a live report from CNN's Ryan Chilcote in just a few moments.

PHILLIPS: Well, it's keynote night at the RNC, but the speaker is a D, as in Democrat -- at least on paper. It's also VP nomination night, which means a speech from the least popular figure on the Republican or Democratic tickets.

The theme is "Land of Opportunity," and this is our opportunity to bring you CNN's Bob Franken in Madison Square Garden. He's always looking for a good opportunity. Hi, Bob.

BOB FRANKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello. Zell Miller is the D who has antagonized his fellow Ds a lot lately. So, he's come here to speak to the Rs. The Rs, of course, the Republicans. He was the keynote speaker -- the senator from Georgia was keynote speaker for the Democrats 12 years ago, nominated President Bill Clinton.

Here he is now on the other side of the fence. That's been a drift of his for quite some time. And he's preceding the Vice President, Dick Cheney. Dick Cheney will make his acceptance speech tonight, will talk about the economy, will talk about the international scene.

This is the man who, four years ago, was the bright spot on the ticket in the minds of many, the experienced person who was going to help George W. Bush fill in the gaps.

Now, it is Cheney who has become extremely controversial for a number of reasons, but not so much in this hall. He should expect thunderous applause as he makes his speech tonight and sets the stage for the president tomorrow to accept his nomination -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Bob, the protesters that got in, we saw the video not too long ago, apparently got pretty close to Dick Cheney. First of all, how did they get in, and what's going on? Is the Secret Service going nuts?

FRANKEN: Well, first of all, no matter how much security you have out here -- and of course, we all know that this is pretty much penitentiary-like security around here -- no matter how much you have, you can't protect every inch, and the protesters have found different ways to penetrate it. We had the event last night. We had the event today, where some people got into the hall.

Five were arrested. They were in the process of taking off their clothes, heading toward where the White House Chief of Staff Andy Card was speaking. So, no matter how much security you have, there's always somebody who's going to be able to figure out a way around it.

PHILLIPS: All right, Bob Franken live from the RNC there. We'll check in with you. Thanks so much. And tonight from New York, of course, CNN's primetime convention coverage kicks off at 7:00 Eastern with Anderson Cooper, Wolf Blitzer, and Larry King. VP Dick Cheney takes the podium about 10:00 Eastern, 7:00 Pacific, followed by "NEWSNIGHT WITH AARON BROWN" and a special midnight edition of "LARRY KING LIVE." O'BRIEN: It's getting pretty crowded at Pier 57. That's a three-story, block long warehouse where the NYPD is temporarily holding protesters who allegedly get disorderly, or worse, on the fringes of the RNC. This fracas happened a little more than an hour ago on the convention floor itself.

CNN's Deborah Feyerick is watching all the marching and shouting, and sitting and scuffling, and she's got her hands full. Hello, Deborah.

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, Miles. Well, there certainly is a lot to watch. First of all, the breach of security this morning when those five demonstrators somehow made it onto the floor of the convention hall.

They were holding up signs, they were yelling slogans, chanting about the fight against AIDS. They tried taking their clothes off, but security intervened pretty quickly, and they were dragged off, all five of them arrested for trespassing.

Now, of course, is an investigation into how these five actually managed to get onto the floor and whether their credentials were valid. First thing this morning, it was a little different, seeing a very peaceful protest along Broadway, stretching from Wall Street all the way up to the Empire State Building, near the convention site.

Demonstrators formed a huge line, what organizers called the world's longest unemployment line. The goal was to call attention to the more than eight million Americans who are out of work. All of the demonstrators holding up pink slips, saying, "You're one pink slip away from joining this line."

Now, there was an arrest. We want to bring you up to date in the beating of that detective yesterday. A 19-year-old from Manhattan was actually picked up. He was spotted at another demonstration, wearing the exact same clothes. Police arrested him and charged him with assaulting an officer. Last night's demonstrations did get out of hand. Many of the protesters did not go to the free-speech zone, instead having sit-ins, die-ins.

They went limp when police tried to arrest them. The police commissioner says there have been 1,500 arrests, most of them disorderly conduct, and many of them not from New York.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COMM. RAYMOND KELLY, NYPD: Many of those arrested are from out of town and veterans of other demonstrations, and cities with much smaller police departments. In the past, a few get arrested, and most get away, after breaking the law. Here, they are being surprised by the fact that the opposite holds true.

Most of the lawbreakers will be apprehended, and only the "law- abiding," quote, that get away.

(END VIDEO CLIP) FEYERICK: There's going to be a large demonstration later this afternoon between four and eight. You may be able to see a big screen behind me. That's the area of the free-speech zone. Labor unions coming out to protest against the Republican Party and the administration's policies -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: And Deborah, looking back at that incident that led to that arrest you were just talking about, a lot of the officers there were not in riot gear. Some of the more recent stuff, I see a lot more people wearing helmets. Are they geared up a little differently for what may lie ahead?

FEYERICK: We don't know whether there was an actual shift in police policy, where police notifying all of the patrol cops that they should be wearing those hard helmets. But a number of the injuries that were sustained by police officers were, in fact, because bottles were thrown at them.

So, some of them are taking more precautions, and we do see a lot of them carrying around their bags in which they carry the gear, including those helmets.

O'BRIEN: All right, Deborah Feyerick watching the protesters for us. You stay safe as well. Thanks very much. Get complete coverage of the Republican Convention anytime, cnn.com/americavotes is the place. It includes a schedule of events, CNN's convention blog, interactive guides to the convention areas, and a whole lot more.

PHILLIPS: Conventional expectations are for opposing candidates to all but surrender the political stage for four days every four years. But if you've been watching CNN, you saw John Kerry give a speech today to the American Legion Convention in the volunteer state, Tennessee.

Two days after President Bush addressed the same group, three days into the Republican Convention, Vietnam vet Kerry took offense at the Bush approach to the war in Iraq.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: So, when the president says we have the same position on Iraq, I have to respectfully disagree. Our differences could not be plainer, and I have set them out consistently.

When it comes to Iraq, it's not that I would have done one thing differently, I would have done almost everything differently.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Well, on a related note, Kerry is due to get a one-on- one intelligence briefing today from the acting head of the CIA. Democratic VP nominee John Edwards got the same briefing yesterday, in keeping with longstanding traditions.

O'BRIEN: Now, back to that terrifying school standoff in Russia. We don't have all the details because it's sort of unfolding as we speak, but we know at least 15 attackers, some reportedly wired with explosives, are holding scores of children and teenagers hostages, and making outlandish threats and demands.

It's happening almost within shouting distance of the Chechen border, and CNN's Ryan Chilcote is watching it all right now from our Moscow bureau. What do we know, Ryan?

RYAN CHILCOTE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Miles, well, it was the first day of school here in Russia, and that's exactly why students, their parents, and teachers have gathered in front of this school to celebrate the beginning of the school year. That's when, as you said, at least 15 armed men and women, many of them wearing, according to Russian officials, suicide belts -- those belts with explosives attached to them -- that's when they seized the school.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED BOY (through translator): It began by shooting. We were standing by the gates. There was a song playing, and we stood there. Then I saw three people with automatic weapons running out. I at first through it was a joke, but then they started shooting in the air. We ran away. They came from the side of the railway line.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHILCOTE: All right, well, Russian officials believe that there are between 300 and 400 hostages still in that school, about half of them, Miles, between the ages of seven and 17. This was a Russian school -- an elementary school plus a high school, going through the 11th grade. The hostage takers have warned the Russian authorities outside the school not to try and storm that building.

They say that they will blow it up with all of the hostages inside if the Russians attempt to storm the building to free those hostages. They are also saying that they will kill 50 children for every hostage taker that is killed, if the Russians open fire on any of the hostage takers.

There's already been quite a bit of sporadic fire. We understand that at least four people have been killed since this story began this morning here, another 10 wounded.

Now, in the last couple of hours, the Russians demanded a meeting of the U.N. Security Council. They have gotten it. That will begin in about four hours. And already, the Secretary General of the Security Council, Kofi Annan, is condemning this attack and calling on the hostage takers to release the children -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: Ryan, this has got to strike fear in the hearts of many Russians, especially when you hearken back to October of 2002, the Chechen seizure of that theater, right, in Moscow. Ultimately, nerve gas pumped in there. Many of the hostages died in the course of all of that.

Have the Russians indicated any sort of change of tactics, or are they going to be as aggressive with this particular event?

CHILCOTE: Well, so far, what they're saying is that they are not engaged in any kind of police or military actions right now. I think it's fair to say that even if they were, or if they were planning on, they wouldn't let us know about that. They have pushed many of the journalists that are on the scene very far away from the school, and they've actually locked the entire region down.

They're not letting anyone into this Russian region whatsoever, in or out. So, the whole area is in lockdown. Now, if the past is any kind of indication of how the Russian president, the Russian government plans on dealing with this situation, then it is likely that they will eventually try to storm the school. That is what the Russian president has done in the past.

He has built his entire political career on antiterrorism, on the slogan of not giving into the demands of hostage takers. So, the idea that he would, of course, as the hostage takers are demanding, withdraw all of Russia's troops in Chechnya is, at least in most analysts here in Moscow, absurd -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: All right, it's a sobering thought. Ryan Chilcote watching it for us in Moscow. Thank you -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Is Frances on a collision course with Florida?

ORELON SIDNEY, METEOROLOGIST: I'm Orelon Sidney from the CNN Weather Center. And this is where Frances is located now, about 700 miles away from the eastern coast of the United States. We'll take a look at the strength and the track in just a moment.

PHILLIPS: Got milk? Well, this guy does. And what he does with it? Well, let's just say it brought back memories of our elementary school lunchrooms. We're milking it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: Fearing the worst, thousands of people in the path of Hurricane Frances boarding up and stocking up. The dangerous Category 4 storm closing in on the Bahamas, and the Turks and Caicos Islands. Forecasters warn Frances could intensify and become a Category 5 storm before it hits the U.S.

Landfall likely in Florida, where people are still recovering from Hurricane Charley, and they are stocking up on supplies as we speak.

Our Orelon Sidney is tracking the hurricane from the CNN Weather Center and has the latest for us -- Orelon.

SIDNEY: Miles, thanks a lot. The storm now, as you said, still Category 4 with winds of 140 miles an hour. It's held there since this morning's advisory. The next full advisory will come in at 5:00 p.m. Eastern time. And we'll certainly, then, see whether or not the storm continues to hold itself together. Looks like some of the convection may be dying off a little bit on that western side. But when it gets to be this strong, you can see fluctuations in wind speed. We expect to see that over the next two or three days.

Currently now, 735 miles east-southeast of the east coast of Florida -- 21.7 north, 69.8 west -- moving west-northwest at 16.

The track -- at least the latest track is a little bit to the left of some of the previous tracks. We did previously see the storm taking more of a northward turn; now it looks like it may continue a little bit more to the west-northwest.

Already now starting to affect the southern portion of the Bahamas with tropical storm force winds. Hurricane warnings are in effect for the southern and the central portion of the Bahamas for today and tonight. The northern Bahamas will probably be included later on this afternoon, and I expect to start to see watches issued along the U.S. coast as early as tonight.

Here's what we think may be happening now. There's your current location and speed. We think our storm will continue tracking a little bit to the north of west, but it may manage to hold itself on a more westward course and head somewhere along the Florida east coast. But look at the cone of possibility here -- all the way from Key West northward to almost Savannah, Georgia.

So, if you're anywhere in this area, you need to be prepared for the landfall of a dangerous, at least Category 4, storm. Again, there's a potential that the storm's intensity could fluctuate over the next 72 hours, but we're expecting it to make landfall somewhere early Saturday morning -- as early as Saturday morning across the U.S. east coast -- again, Florida all the way up to, I'd say, the Georgia/South Carolina border, you should be concerned about this -- Miles?

O'BRIEN: Orelon, what do those computer models say about the possibility of Frances strengthening to Category 5, which is the most powerful of storms?

SIDNEY: Well, it's certainly not out of the question. As I was saying before, when a storm gets to be this big, a lot of times it starts to create its own little environment.

And what'll happen, too, is what are called eyewall replacement cycles. You'll get the eye of the storm to sort of drop out, and then another eye will start to contract. So, you may see the wind speed decrease a little bit, and then increase again as that eye -- the second eye contracts.

Hurricane Lili did that last year off the coast of Louisiana. When I left at midnight, the winds were 144 miles an hour. When I came back in at 6:00 a.m., the winds were down to like 100 miles an hour. It was going through an eyewall replacement cycle. So, that type of cycling we will be seeing as this storm continues toward the U.S. O'BRIEN: And let's just underscore one point before we get away here -- and we learned this lesson with Charley. We focused an awful lot on one specific landfall location. Really, this is anywhere along that east coast -- you should be paying close attention.

SIDNEY: That's exactly right. If you are inside that cone of possibility -- again from Key West, I'd say, all the way up at least to the South Carolina/Georgia border -- you should be prepared any time of year for a potential hurricane.

And you should certainly prepare for this one, because a storm this strong can do lots of damage. And if you wait too long, you're going to get yourself stuck -- trying to get your house boarded up, trying to get supplies -- when you need to be going to a shelter or evacuating certain areas.

This is not a storm to play with. This is extremely strong. At 156 miles an hour, this would become a Category 5 storm -- not something to play with, Miles.

O'BRIEN: Orelon Sidney, getting ready to burn the midnight oil in the Weather Center. Thanks much.

SIDNEY: You're welcome.

PHILLIPS: Well, they're burning the midnight oil in New York. The buzz at the Republican National Convention this evening is a keynote speech by Democratic Senator Zell Miller and Vice President Dick Cheney. But last night, it was the First Lady and the "Governator," Arnold Schwarzenegger, who definitely pumped up the crowd.

Joining us to talk about those speeches, Lisa Caputo, former press secretary to Hillary Rodham Clinton, and former U.S. Congressman and CNN contributor, Bob Barr. We're all not getting very much sleep. I'm slurring all my words. But let's get right down to Arnold Schwarzenegger.

During this speech, when he said this specific name, I had to stop and sort of -- what did he just say? And I want to play a sound bite from this when he was talking about the Nixon-Humphrey presidential race.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER (R), CALIFORNIA: Listening to Nixon speak sounded more like a breath of fresh air. I said to my friend, I said, "What party is he?" My friend said, "He's a Republican." I said, "Then I am a Republican." And I have been a Republican ever since.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Richard Nixon? Lisa, did this shock you?

LISA CAPUTO, FMR. HILLARY CLINTON AIDE: I was stunned. I have to believe that the Bush-Cheney operatives did not want to hear Richard Nixon's name invoked during their convention. To the Republican Party's credit, it has been a very well organized convention, but why invoke the name Nixon, which one equates with secrecy and political corruption?

That just calls to mind Halliburton and all the other dirty deeds that have gone on during this administration that the public wants, certainly, Vice President Cheney to come clean on. They think, the majority of them, that he ought to address his Halliburton connections.

PHILLIPS: Bob, what do you think? What was the strategy here? Do you think this was something that he really -- it was just something that happened to him and it moved him, and it got him into politics, and he told scriptwriters or whomever, "I'm going with it, no matter what you say?"

BOB BARR, FMR. U.S CONGRESSMAN: Well, of course, the Democrats are really green with envy because they don't have an Arnold Schwarzenegger. They've got Michael Moore out there and so forth. Arnold could have gotten up there and said, you know, Dagwood Bumstead instead of Richard Nixon and he would have gotten cheers. That was not really the point of the speech.

The point of the speech was that here is a man, very closely associated with Hollywood, who is a tremendous international star in his own right, who is the governor of the most populous state in the nation, and he is endorsing and supporting George W. Bush. That's the real story here. That's the impact of this.

And you know, Lisa and the other Democratic operatives can nit pick here and there, but the fact of the matter is they didn't have an Arnold Schwarzenegger at their convention. We do, and he is going to make great gains for Mr. Bush.

PHILLIPS: All right, let's talk about Laura Bush, the other keynote speaker. Lisa, you were press secretary to Hillary Rodham Clinton. How did Laura Bush do? Do you think she was well coached, do you think she was well prepared? How did she come across?

CAPUTO: Well, I think that Mrs. Bush, you know, did a fine job last night. I think she did certainly what she needed to do. I think it was an excellent political usage of the First Lady, if you will. Quite frankly, it was strategic on the Republican Party's part because Governor Schwarzenegger and the First Lady are indeed more popular today than the president and the vice president.

So, to Congressman Barr's point, the Democrats don't need an Arnold Schwarzenegger. We have a very sound candidate in our president and vice presidential candidate.

PHILLIPS: Bob, do you agree?

BARR: Well, I certainly agree that Laura Bush did a very fine job. She did what a First Lady or the wife of a candidate for president is supposed to do, and that is to sort of be the calming influence, talk to families, talk to women. And she did a very, very good job. She did it with class. It wasn't a sort of in-your-face thing.

And that was her job as a First Lady. That's how she's comported herself over the last four years, and that was very consistent with that, and I think lays the groundwork for a very solid performance by the First Lady during the last couple of months of this campaign.

PHILLIPS: All right, we've got to talk about Zell Miller, the Democrat that Republicans love to love. Lisa, what do you think the strategy is here? Is this a smart move, or is this just a little more confusing?

CAPUTO: Well, this is complicated, I think, all the way around. I mean, certainly, Zell Miller was somebody who spoke at the '92 convention, campaigned actively for Bill Clinton, was involved in Al Gore's race for the presidency in 2000, was helped elected to the Senate by two well known folks, James Carville and Paul Begala.

And so, clearly, this is hurtful for Democrats, and in fact, as the Democrats are quick to point out, Zell Miller has connections to the tobacco industry, going to work for Philip Morris. And so, I think, you know, this is a strategic use, quite honestly, of Zell Miller by the Republican Party, just the way the Democrats worked to cater toward Jim Jeffords when he switched parties to become an independent.

PHILLIPS: Bob, his own state party calls him zigzag Zell. I mean, can he be taken seriously?

BARR: Mr. Miller is going to be taken, has been taken very, very seriously. A lot of people listen to him. He has a message and a delivery that resonates in heartland America, and he will, in fact, appeal to a lot of Democrats who believe also that the Kerry-Edwards ticket is just far too liberal for them, even though they may have voted Democrat in the past.

And I think it will make, especially in a tight race, which this is going to be, a difference. Maybe it may be only one percentage point, but as we know from the last cycle, that can make all the difference in the world.

PHILLIPS: Bob Barr, Lisa Caputo, we'll see you guys tomorrow. Thanks so much.

CAPUTO: Thanks.

BARR: OK.

PHILLIPS: Counting the cost of Hurricane Frances before it even hits the U.S. mainland. Why some number crunchers are fearing the worst.

And later, polish up the silver suits. We're getting "Lost in Space" with actress June Lockhart. Find out why the classic TV star is one of NASA's biggest fans. And tomorrow, analysis of Vice President Dick Cheney's convention speech. What impact will it have on the race for the White House?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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Aired September 1, 2004 - 13:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Hostage situation: Are militants threatening to blow up a Russian school filled with children and adults? We're going to have a live report from the scene.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Hurricane Frances: Florida bracing for yet another devastating blow. We are tracking the storm for you.

PHILLIPS: Crossing party lines: His own state party calls him Zigzag Zell. But at the RNC, he's the Democrat Republicans love to love.

We're live from the convention floor.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OFFICER BLAIN EIBEN, AUSTIN POLICE: The true hero in this is the baby. She was alone, cold, in the dark, hadn't eaten for five days.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: An amazing fight for survival. We'll tell you that baby's tale in just a little bit.

From the CNN Center in Atlanta, I'm Miles O'Brien.

PHILLIPS: And I'm Kyra Phillips. CNN's LIVE FROM starts right now.

O'BRIEN: It's now been 12 nightmarish hours since heavily armed terrorists, apparently Chechen insurgents, invaded a Russian middle school with at least 100 children, teachers, and parents inside. The attack interrupted a ceremony marking the first day of school in the town of Beslan, near the Chechen border.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED BOY (through translator): We were standing there and they began shooting. We thought it was one of the parents shooting. Then these guys ran out, these Chechens, surrounded us and began shooting in the air. Then we started to run away. We saw two people. They didn't say anything. They just shouted at us. We didn't understand.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: We have reports of at least four people dead, and the militants are threatening to kill many more. We'll have a live report from CNN's Ryan Chilcote in just a few moments.

PHILLIPS: Well, it's keynote night at the RNC, but the speaker is a D, as in Democrat -- at least on paper. It's also VP nomination night, which means a speech from the least popular figure on the Republican or Democratic tickets.

The theme is "Land of Opportunity," and this is our opportunity to bring you CNN's Bob Franken in Madison Square Garden. He's always looking for a good opportunity. Hi, Bob.

BOB FRANKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello. Zell Miller is the D who has antagonized his fellow Ds a lot lately. So, he's come here to speak to the Rs. The Rs, of course, the Republicans. He was the keynote speaker -- the senator from Georgia was keynote speaker for the Democrats 12 years ago, nominated President Bill Clinton.

Here he is now on the other side of the fence. That's been a drift of his for quite some time. And he's preceding the Vice President, Dick Cheney. Dick Cheney will make his acceptance speech tonight, will talk about the economy, will talk about the international scene.

This is the man who, four years ago, was the bright spot on the ticket in the minds of many, the experienced person who was going to help George W. Bush fill in the gaps.

Now, it is Cheney who has become extremely controversial for a number of reasons, but not so much in this hall. He should expect thunderous applause as he makes his speech tonight and sets the stage for the president tomorrow to accept his nomination -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Bob, the protesters that got in, we saw the video not too long ago, apparently got pretty close to Dick Cheney. First of all, how did they get in, and what's going on? Is the Secret Service going nuts?

FRANKEN: Well, first of all, no matter how much security you have out here -- and of course, we all know that this is pretty much penitentiary-like security around here -- no matter how much you have, you can't protect every inch, and the protesters have found different ways to penetrate it. We had the event last night. We had the event today, where some people got into the hall.

Five were arrested. They were in the process of taking off their clothes, heading toward where the White House Chief of Staff Andy Card was speaking. So, no matter how much security you have, there's always somebody who's going to be able to figure out a way around it.

PHILLIPS: All right, Bob Franken live from the RNC there. We'll check in with you. Thanks so much. And tonight from New York, of course, CNN's primetime convention coverage kicks off at 7:00 Eastern with Anderson Cooper, Wolf Blitzer, and Larry King. VP Dick Cheney takes the podium about 10:00 Eastern, 7:00 Pacific, followed by "NEWSNIGHT WITH AARON BROWN" and a special midnight edition of "LARRY KING LIVE." O'BRIEN: It's getting pretty crowded at Pier 57. That's a three-story, block long warehouse where the NYPD is temporarily holding protesters who allegedly get disorderly, or worse, on the fringes of the RNC. This fracas happened a little more than an hour ago on the convention floor itself.

CNN's Deborah Feyerick is watching all the marching and shouting, and sitting and scuffling, and she's got her hands full. Hello, Deborah.

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, Miles. Well, there certainly is a lot to watch. First of all, the breach of security this morning when those five demonstrators somehow made it onto the floor of the convention hall.

They were holding up signs, they were yelling slogans, chanting about the fight against AIDS. They tried taking their clothes off, but security intervened pretty quickly, and they were dragged off, all five of them arrested for trespassing.

Now, of course, is an investigation into how these five actually managed to get onto the floor and whether their credentials were valid. First thing this morning, it was a little different, seeing a very peaceful protest along Broadway, stretching from Wall Street all the way up to the Empire State Building, near the convention site.

Demonstrators formed a huge line, what organizers called the world's longest unemployment line. The goal was to call attention to the more than eight million Americans who are out of work. All of the demonstrators holding up pink slips, saying, "You're one pink slip away from joining this line."

Now, there was an arrest. We want to bring you up to date in the beating of that detective yesterday. A 19-year-old from Manhattan was actually picked up. He was spotted at another demonstration, wearing the exact same clothes. Police arrested him and charged him with assaulting an officer. Last night's demonstrations did get out of hand. Many of the protesters did not go to the free-speech zone, instead having sit-ins, die-ins.

They went limp when police tried to arrest them. The police commissioner says there have been 1,500 arrests, most of them disorderly conduct, and many of them not from New York.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COMM. RAYMOND KELLY, NYPD: Many of those arrested are from out of town and veterans of other demonstrations, and cities with much smaller police departments. In the past, a few get arrested, and most get away, after breaking the law. Here, they are being surprised by the fact that the opposite holds true.

Most of the lawbreakers will be apprehended, and only the "law- abiding," quote, that get away.

(END VIDEO CLIP) FEYERICK: There's going to be a large demonstration later this afternoon between four and eight. You may be able to see a big screen behind me. That's the area of the free-speech zone. Labor unions coming out to protest against the Republican Party and the administration's policies -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: And Deborah, looking back at that incident that led to that arrest you were just talking about, a lot of the officers there were not in riot gear. Some of the more recent stuff, I see a lot more people wearing helmets. Are they geared up a little differently for what may lie ahead?

FEYERICK: We don't know whether there was an actual shift in police policy, where police notifying all of the patrol cops that they should be wearing those hard helmets. But a number of the injuries that were sustained by police officers were, in fact, because bottles were thrown at them.

So, some of them are taking more precautions, and we do see a lot of them carrying around their bags in which they carry the gear, including those helmets.

O'BRIEN: All right, Deborah Feyerick watching the protesters for us. You stay safe as well. Thanks very much. Get complete coverage of the Republican Convention anytime, cnn.com/americavotes is the place. It includes a schedule of events, CNN's convention blog, interactive guides to the convention areas, and a whole lot more.

PHILLIPS: Conventional expectations are for opposing candidates to all but surrender the political stage for four days every four years. But if you've been watching CNN, you saw John Kerry give a speech today to the American Legion Convention in the volunteer state, Tennessee.

Two days after President Bush addressed the same group, three days into the Republican Convention, Vietnam vet Kerry took offense at the Bush approach to the war in Iraq.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: So, when the president says we have the same position on Iraq, I have to respectfully disagree. Our differences could not be plainer, and I have set them out consistently.

When it comes to Iraq, it's not that I would have done one thing differently, I would have done almost everything differently.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Well, on a related note, Kerry is due to get a one-on- one intelligence briefing today from the acting head of the CIA. Democratic VP nominee John Edwards got the same briefing yesterday, in keeping with longstanding traditions.

O'BRIEN: Now, back to that terrifying school standoff in Russia. We don't have all the details because it's sort of unfolding as we speak, but we know at least 15 attackers, some reportedly wired with explosives, are holding scores of children and teenagers hostages, and making outlandish threats and demands.

It's happening almost within shouting distance of the Chechen border, and CNN's Ryan Chilcote is watching it all right now from our Moscow bureau. What do we know, Ryan?

RYAN CHILCOTE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Miles, well, it was the first day of school here in Russia, and that's exactly why students, their parents, and teachers have gathered in front of this school to celebrate the beginning of the school year. That's when, as you said, at least 15 armed men and women, many of them wearing, according to Russian officials, suicide belts -- those belts with explosives attached to them -- that's when they seized the school.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED BOY (through translator): It began by shooting. We were standing by the gates. There was a song playing, and we stood there. Then I saw three people with automatic weapons running out. I at first through it was a joke, but then they started shooting in the air. We ran away. They came from the side of the railway line.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHILCOTE: All right, well, Russian officials believe that there are between 300 and 400 hostages still in that school, about half of them, Miles, between the ages of seven and 17. This was a Russian school -- an elementary school plus a high school, going through the 11th grade. The hostage takers have warned the Russian authorities outside the school not to try and storm that building.

They say that they will blow it up with all of the hostages inside if the Russians attempt to storm the building to free those hostages. They are also saying that they will kill 50 children for every hostage taker that is killed, if the Russians open fire on any of the hostage takers.

There's already been quite a bit of sporadic fire. We understand that at least four people have been killed since this story began this morning here, another 10 wounded.

Now, in the last couple of hours, the Russians demanded a meeting of the U.N. Security Council. They have gotten it. That will begin in about four hours. And already, the Secretary General of the Security Council, Kofi Annan, is condemning this attack and calling on the hostage takers to release the children -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: Ryan, this has got to strike fear in the hearts of many Russians, especially when you hearken back to October of 2002, the Chechen seizure of that theater, right, in Moscow. Ultimately, nerve gas pumped in there. Many of the hostages died in the course of all of that.

Have the Russians indicated any sort of change of tactics, or are they going to be as aggressive with this particular event?

CHILCOTE: Well, so far, what they're saying is that they are not engaged in any kind of police or military actions right now. I think it's fair to say that even if they were, or if they were planning on, they wouldn't let us know about that. They have pushed many of the journalists that are on the scene very far away from the school, and they've actually locked the entire region down.

They're not letting anyone into this Russian region whatsoever, in or out. So, the whole area is in lockdown. Now, if the past is any kind of indication of how the Russian president, the Russian government plans on dealing with this situation, then it is likely that they will eventually try to storm the school. That is what the Russian president has done in the past.

He has built his entire political career on antiterrorism, on the slogan of not giving into the demands of hostage takers. So, the idea that he would, of course, as the hostage takers are demanding, withdraw all of Russia's troops in Chechnya is, at least in most analysts here in Moscow, absurd -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: All right, it's a sobering thought. Ryan Chilcote watching it for us in Moscow. Thank you -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Is Frances on a collision course with Florida?

ORELON SIDNEY, METEOROLOGIST: I'm Orelon Sidney from the CNN Weather Center. And this is where Frances is located now, about 700 miles away from the eastern coast of the United States. We'll take a look at the strength and the track in just a moment.

PHILLIPS: Got milk? Well, this guy does. And what he does with it? Well, let's just say it brought back memories of our elementary school lunchrooms. We're milking it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: Fearing the worst, thousands of people in the path of Hurricane Frances boarding up and stocking up. The dangerous Category 4 storm closing in on the Bahamas, and the Turks and Caicos Islands. Forecasters warn Frances could intensify and become a Category 5 storm before it hits the U.S.

Landfall likely in Florida, where people are still recovering from Hurricane Charley, and they are stocking up on supplies as we speak.

Our Orelon Sidney is tracking the hurricane from the CNN Weather Center and has the latest for us -- Orelon.

SIDNEY: Miles, thanks a lot. The storm now, as you said, still Category 4 with winds of 140 miles an hour. It's held there since this morning's advisory. The next full advisory will come in at 5:00 p.m. Eastern time. And we'll certainly, then, see whether or not the storm continues to hold itself together. Looks like some of the convection may be dying off a little bit on that western side. But when it gets to be this strong, you can see fluctuations in wind speed. We expect to see that over the next two or three days.

Currently now, 735 miles east-southeast of the east coast of Florida -- 21.7 north, 69.8 west -- moving west-northwest at 16.

The track -- at least the latest track is a little bit to the left of some of the previous tracks. We did previously see the storm taking more of a northward turn; now it looks like it may continue a little bit more to the west-northwest.

Already now starting to affect the southern portion of the Bahamas with tropical storm force winds. Hurricane warnings are in effect for the southern and the central portion of the Bahamas for today and tonight. The northern Bahamas will probably be included later on this afternoon, and I expect to start to see watches issued along the U.S. coast as early as tonight.

Here's what we think may be happening now. There's your current location and speed. We think our storm will continue tracking a little bit to the north of west, but it may manage to hold itself on a more westward course and head somewhere along the Florida east coast. But look at the cone of possibility here -- all the way from Key West northward to almost Savannah, Georgia.

So, if you're anywhere in this area, you need to be prepared for the landfall of a dangerous, at least Category 4, storm. Again, there's a potential that the storm's intensity could fluctuate over the next 72 hours, but we're expecting it to make landfall somewhere early Saturday morning -- as early as Saturday morning across the U.S. east coast -- again, Florida all the way up to, I'd say, the Georgia/South Carolina border, you should be concerned about this -- Miles?

O'BRIEN: Orelon, what do those computer models say about the possibility of Frances strengthening to Category 5, which is the most powerful of storms?

SIDNEY: Well, it's certainly not out of the question. As I was saying before, when a storm gets to be this big, a lot of times it starts to create its own little environment.

And what'll happen, too, is what are called eyewall replacement cycles. You'll get the eye of the storm to sort of drop out, and then another eye will start to contract. So, you may see the wind speed decrease a little bit, and then increase again as that eye -- the second eye contracts.

Hurricane Lili did that last year off the coast of Louisiana. When I left at midnight, the winds were 144 miles an hour. When I came back in at 6:00 a.m., the winds were down to like 100 miles an hour. It was going through an eyewall replacement cycle. So, that type of cycling we will be seeing as this storm continues toward the U.S. O'BRIEN: And let's just underscore one point before we get away here -- and we learned this lesson with Charley. We focused an awful lot on one specific landfall location. Really, this is anywhere along that east coast -- you should be paying close attention.

SIDNEY: That's exactly right. If you are inside that cone of possibility -- again from Key West, I'd say, all the way up at least to the South Carolina/Georgia border -- you should be prepared any time of year for a potential hurricane.

And you should certainly prepare for this one, because a storm this strong can do lots of damage. And if you wait too long, you're going to get yourself stuck -- trying to get your house boarded up, trying to get supplies -- when you need to be going to a shelter or evacuating certain areas.

This is not a storm to play with. This is extremely strong. At 156 miles an hour, this would become a Category 5 storm -- not something to play with, Miles.

O'BRIEN: Orelon Sidney, getting ready to burn the midnight oil in the Weather Center. Thanks much.

SIDNEY: You're welcome.

PHILLIPS: Well, they're burning the midnight oil in New York. The buzz at the Republican National Convention this evening is a keynote speech by Democratic Senator Zell Miller and Vice President Dick Cheney. But last night, it was the First Lady and the "Governator," Arnold Schwarzenegger, who definitely pumped up the crowd.

Joining us to talk about those speeches, Lisa Caputo, former press secretary to Hillary Rodham Clinton, and former U.S. Congressman and CNN contributor, Bob Barr. We're all not getting very much sleep. I'm slurring all my words. But let's get right down to Arnold Schwarzenegger.

During this speech, when he said this specific name, I had to stop and sort of -- what did he just say? And I want to play a sound bite from this when he was talking about the Nixon-Humphrey presidential race.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER (R), CALIFORNIA: Listening to Nixon speak sounded more like a breath of fresh air. I said to my friend, I said, "What party is he?" My friend said, "He's a Republican." I said, "Then I am a Republican." And I have been a Republican ever since.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Richard Nixon? Lisa, did this shock you?

LISA CAPUTO, FMR. HILLARY CLINTON AIDE: I was stunned. I have to believe that the Bush-Cheney operatives did not want to hear Richard Nixon's name invoked during their convention. To the Republican Party's credit, it has been a very well organized convention, but why invoke the name Nixon, which one equates with secrecy and political corruption?

That just calls to mind Halliburton and all the other dirty deeds that have gone on during this administration that the public wants, certainly, Vice President Cheney to come clean on. They think, the majority of them, that he ought to address his Halliburton connections.

PHILLIPS: Bob, what do you think? What was the strategy here? Do you think this was something that he really -- it was just something that happened to him and it moved him, and it got him into politics, and he told scriptwriters or whomever, "I'm going with it, no matter what you say?"

BOB BARR, FMR. U.S CONGRESSMAN: Well, of course, the Democrats are really green with envy because they don't have an Arnold Schwarzenegger. They've got Michael Moore out there and so forth. Arnold could have gotten up there and said, you know, Dagwood Bumstead instead of Richard Nixon and he would have gotten cheers. That was not really the point of the speech.

The point of the speech was that here is a man, very closely associated with Hollywood, who is a tremendous international star in his own right, who is the governor of the most populous state in the nation, and he is endorsing and supporting George W. Bush. That's the real story here. That's the impact of this.

And you know, Lisa and the other Democratic operatives can nit pick here and there, but the fact of the matter is they didn't have an Arnold Schwarzenegger at their convention. We do, and he is going to make great gains for Mr. Bush.

PHILLIPS: All right, let's talk about Laura Bush, the other keynote speaker. Lisa, you were press secretary to Hillary Rodham Clinton. How did Laura Bush do? Do you think she was well coached, do you think she was well prepared? How did she come across?

CAPUTO: Well, I think that Mrs. Bush, you know, did a fine job last night. I think she did certainly what she needed to do. I think it was an excellent political usage of the First Lady, if you will. Quite frankly, it was strategic on the Republican Party's part because Governor Schwarzenegger and the First Lady are indeed more popular today than the president and the vice president.

So, to Congressman Barr's point, the Democrats don't need an Arnold Schwarzenegger. We have a very sound candidate in our president and vice presidential candidate.

PHILLIPS: Bob, do you agree?

BARR: Well, I certainly agree that Laura Bush did a very fine job. She did what a First Lady or the wife of a candidate for president is supposed to do, and that is to sort of be the calming influence, talk to families, talk to women. And she did a very, very good job. She did it with class. It wasn't a sort of in-your-face thing.

And that was her job as a First Lady. That's how she's comported herself over the last four years, and that was very consistent with that, and I think lays the groundwork for a very solid performance by the First Lady during the last couple of months of this campaign.

PHILLIPS: All right, we've got to talk about Zell Miller, the Democrat that Republicans love to love. Lisa, what do you think the strategy is here? Is this a smart move, or is this just a little more confusing?

CAPUTO: Well, this is complicated, I think, all the way around. I mean, certainly, Zell Miller was somebody who spoke at the '92 convention, campaigned actively for Bill Clinton, was involved in Al Gore's race for the presidency in 2000, was helped elected to the Senate by two well known folks, James Carville and Paul Begala.

And so, clearly, this is hurtful for Democrats, and in fact, as the Democrats are quick to point out, Zell Miller has connections to the tobacco industry, going to work for Philip Morris. And so, I think, you know, this is a strategic use, quite honestly, of Zell Miller by the Republican Party, just the way the Democrats worked to cater toward Jim Jeffords when he switched parties to become an independent.

PHILLIPS: Bob, his own state party calls him zigzag Zell. I mean, can he be taken seriously?

BARR: Mr. Miller is going to be taken, has been taken very, very seriously. A lot of people listen to him. He has a message and a delivery that resonates in heartland America, and he will, in fact, appeal to a lot of Democrats who believe also that the Kerry-Edwards ticket is just far too liberal for them, even though they may have voted Democrat in the past.

And I think it will make, especially in a tight race, which this is going to be, a difference. Maybe it may be only one percentage point, but as we know from the last cycle, that can make all the difference in the world.

PHILLIPS: Bob Barr, Lisa Caputo, we'll see you guys tomorrow. Thanks so much.

CAPUTO: Thanks.

BARR: OK.

PHILLIPS: Counting the cost of Hurricane Frances before it even hits the U.S. mainland. Why some number crunchers are fearing the worst.

And later, polish up the silver suits. We're getting "Lost in Space" with actress June Lockhart. Find out why the classic TV star is one of NASA's biggest fans. And tomorrow, analysis of Vice President Dick Cheney's convention speech. What impact will it have on the race for the White House?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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