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Awaiting the Debate; SpaceShipOne Flies to Space, Lands Safely; Mount St. Helens Stirs
Aired September 29, 2004 - 13:59 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: They're rested, rehearsed and, according to aides, raring to go. A day before their mano-a-mano in Miami, presidential candidates George W. Bush and John Kerry appear to have a lot in common. Besides the aforementioned, both men through their spin machines allege they've got the other guy right where they want him.
We've got Suzanne Malveaux at the White House with all the details -- Suzanne.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kyra, the Bush campaign knows this is a critical 24 to 48 hours for the president. He is traveling to Lake Wales area of Florida to survey the latest hurricane damage from Hurricane Jeanne. This is the central part of Florida, a fast-growing swing area, and could be critical for a Bush win.
Now, this would make it the fourth visit for the president to that state in some six weeks. As you know, Florida pounded by hurricanes Charley, Frances, Ivan and Jeanne. President Bush, we expect, as he has done before, will stand side by side with his brother, Jeb Bush, the governor of Florida, and talk about the promises of federal aid. So far, President Bush requesting up to $12 billion.
Now, Democrats are crying foul, saying this is all about politics, it is opportunism. Republicans, as well as Bush campaign, saying the president is simply doing his job. And the question still remains, a lot of speculation over how that's going to have an impact over voter turnout, as well as the election results.
In the meantime, of course, Kyra, both sides readying for that debate. President Bush will be traveling to Miami, but his campaign releasing this little booklet here, this little black book earlier today, taking on Kerry in a number of positions.
They say he is inconsistent when it comes to 10 different issues. One example is on Iraq.
Inside the booklet it says, "Issue Iraq, your current position, the removal of Saddam Hussein has left America less secure." It goes on to say, "Your record, you voted for the wrong war in the wrong place at wrong time. Now you say the war you voted for made us less safe."
And then goes on to say, "Your attacks pretend like no other position you have ever taken matters. Nobody knows what you really believe anyway."
The Kerry camp, of course, firing back. I spoke with them as well. This say this is simply the latest gimmick in the Bush campaign.
They said earlier today that "The Bush campaign continues to stretch the limits of truth, twisting Kerry's positions. This is disingenuous and false. Kerry gave Bush the authorization to go to war, but has been critical of the way Bush used that authority. John Kerry has been saying the same thing from the beginning. George Bush abused his authority."
They go on to say, "This book is a metaphor for the way Bush governs through gimmicks and misleading rhetoric to cover up his wrong choices."
And Kyra, you can bet that the Kerry campaign, as well, is going to come up with their own release, criticizing President Bush on his policies -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Suzanne Malveaux, live from the White House. Thanks -- Drew.
DREW GRIFFIN, CNN ANCHOR: Well, Senator Kerry is keeping to himself for one more day, but his aides are sharing a page or two from his playbook as well. In those Wisconsin cram sessions, we're told the emphasis has been on persuadability and brevity.
Kerry aide and former Clinton press secretary Joe Lockhart tells CNN debates aren't won by the most knowledgeable debater but my the most persuasive. Lockhart says Bush has succeeded on that front time and time again.
That backhanded compliment by Democrat Joe Lockhart all part of the spin game. It works in little league, it works on Wall Street as well, and it works in presidential politics. Talk up the other guy while minimizing expectations of your own candidate's performance.
Here's CNN's Bill Schneider.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SR. POLITICAL ANALYST (voice-over): In a debate, unlike an election, you don't necessarily have to win. You have to do better than expected. Both campaigns are trying to lower expectations for their candidate. Even the late night talk show hosts have gotten into the act.
JAY LENO, HOST, "THE TONIGHT SHOW": Well, Kerry tried to lower expectations of himself. He said Bush has never lost a debate and he is a formidable opponent. And then Bush lowered expectations of himself when he said, hey, what does formidable mean?
(LAUGHTER)
LENO: You know. So, you see, they're trying to lower... SCHNEIDER: It means what Republicans are saying about John Kerry.
STUART STEVENS, REPUBLICAN MEDIA CONSULTANT: John Kerry is very, very experienced. He was a prosecutor, he's a trained lawyer.
SCHNEIDER: The debate gives Kerry an opportunity to turn the campaign into a referendum on Bush's record, particularly on Iraq.
SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The debate now is whether or not you have a plan to win and whether or not you are facing the realities on the ground in Iraq.
SCHNEIDER: Right now, a narrow majority of voters believes President Bush does have a clear plan in Iraq, despite continuing attacks. By better than two to one, voters don't think Kerry does, despite his widely publicized four-point plan for Iraq. Kerry has one more chance to turn the perceptions around in this week's debate on world affairs.
The Bush campaign is doing its part to build up expectations for Kerry. Of course, he's a good debater, they say. That's his job.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's what senators do. They stand on the floor of the Senate and they debate.
SCHNEIDER: But Kerry's people point out that word affairs is the centerpiece of Bush's re-election campaign.
CHAD CLANTON, KERRY CAMPAIGN SPOKESMAN: Obviously, this is a foreign policy debate. So it's something that the Bush painted to start with, it's George Bush's strong suit.
SCHNEIDER: Four years ago, voters did not have high expectations for Bush in the debates with Al Gore. But things have changed. This year, expectations for Bush are higher.
Why? Well, duh! He's the president of the United States.
Bill Schneider, CNN, Dallas.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GRIFFIN: And we are not finished debating about the debate. A little later this hour, "CROSSFIRE" co-hosts Paul Begala and Tucker Carlson are going to weigh in. That's always lively. At 2:30 Eastern we'll have it.
So stay with us.
PHILLIPS: Well, other news "Across America" now.
America's pastime back in the Beltway? It's not official yet, but it looks like the Montreal Expos will be no more and Washington, D.C., will have a team again for the first time since the Nixon administration. Mixed feelings from capital residents, many of whom balk at the Major League price tag to bring in the team.
Still at large, a man who opened fire inside a home day-care center yesterday near Detroit. A 3-year-old girl was killed. Two adult women are in critical condition. So far, no lead on the gunman's identity or his motive.
And we're not sure everyone has exhaled yet. But central California hasn't stopped shaking since yesterday's 6.0 magnitude earthquake. Seismologists have recorded more than 200 after shocks.
That quake struck directly on the San Andreas fault. There was no significant damage reported and no injuries.
Also rumbling today, Mount St. Helens. Experts watching a recent spike in volcanic activity say a lava dome in the mountain's crater is growing. That could or could not be cause for concern, but given this mountain's history, those living in the shadow pay close attention when it stirs.
Bruce Sussman of CNN affiliate KGW reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRUCE SUSSMAN, REPORTER, KGW: Since the swarm of quakes started here on Mount St. Helens, more than 4,500 quakes have been recorded, and almost all of them have been exclusively in the crater right around the lava dome, which if we zoom in here, it's that little bulge of rock in the center of this crater. It's about 900 feet high, that lava dome is. And underneath there is where all the quakes have been taking place.
We had a record 1,400 quakes in a single day. The quake activities continue to increase. And we've seen an increase in the amount of dust blowing around in and around the crater. Scientists say that's probably from rocks and boulders rolling down the slopes of the crater as the quakes shake things loose.
So at this point here on Mount St. Helens, the cause of these quakes still a complete mystery. Geologists not sure what it is. They say it's possible it could be magma or some sort of volcanic gases shaking things loose and creating a lot of pressure inside the mountain. And they also say there is still a possibility of a small eruption here on Mount St. Helens at any time inside the crater.
Reporting from Mount St. Helens, Bruce Sussman, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Now we want to take you straight to Mount St. Helens, where geologists are talking about that very issue. Let's listen in.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Soon we'll go to Seth and Steve to talk about the reasons for this. What we're still anticipating is something in the range of an explosion, small to moderate explosion, that could affect the crater floors, the flanks of the volcanoes and perhaps up to a couple of kilometers outwards from the volcano. This could also send ash up into the air that could be carried for tens of miles down wind. And the concern there is for the ash and aviation safety issues.
At this point, we're seeing that there is a heightened possibility of an eruption. We're not guaranteeing you an eruption. So -- so that's where we are at this moment.
And I'd like to turn it now to Seth Moran to talk about what has been happening at Mount St. Helens and the reasons for the increase of the alert today.
SETH MORAN, SEISMOLOGIST: OK. What I have over here to my left is a...
PHILLIPS: You're listening to geologists there at Mount St. Helens from the USGS, holding a news conference right now. A small to moderate explosion took place there at Mount St. Helens. It does heighten the possibility of an eruption, according to one geologist.
As you know, we've been following this for the past few days, and that is the volcanic dome within the crater of Mount St. Helens has been moving about an inch and a half just overnight. There was increased activity within the past week or so. The most activity was in the past 24 hours.
So now seismologists are actually recording the swarms of the earthquake activity from the volcano. And that activity has now increased. Therefore, geologists paying close attention to possibly an eruption there at Mount St. Helens. We're continuing to follow that story and let you know more as soon as we get it.
Meanwhile, going back to Saudi Arabia, after three years as a suspected enemy combatant, Yaser Hamdi makes a deal to walk. Nic Robertson is live from Riyadh.
Sunshine State students skipped school in September. The unexpected impact of a quartet of hurricanes.
And Prince Harry passes along royal rugby tips to the wee ones and gets raves. LIVE FROM's got the team spirit right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(WEATHER REPORT)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: All right. So it may have been one of the ugliest flights into space ever, but who cares? What matters is that a private firm set out to send its own flying machine into space, and today they're all smiles.
Miles O'Brien right in the middle of a victory celebration in Mojave, California.
Miles, I got to tell you, Melvill is probably pretty excited right now, still.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN SPACE CORRESPONDENT: Well, yes, there's excitement. And like all good test pilots, there's also a lot of time sort of going over what happened.
Take a look at some live pictures. Here comes the team right now from Burt Rutan's scaled composites. The pilot, Mike Melvill, is among them. Burt Rutan in there, the designer and builder of the spacecraft.
They're just about to begin a news conference which we'll be watching closely for you. We expect to hear from them and have a better sense of what we saw about three-and-a-half hours ago. It really was a spectacular flight.
There you see Mike Melvill taking his hat off right there, walking out. Burt Rutan behind him, on their way to that news conference. We'll hear from them in just a little bit.
But they're clearly happy people. But also, as good engineers would be, they're going through that flight very carefully to understand what happened, what didn't happen, and what they should do next as to when they should try that second attempt, which they had said earlier was no earlier than Monday August 4.
Here's what happened about three-and-a-half hours ago. High above the high desert in Mojave, California, SpaceShipOne on its way toward the very edges of space began rolling and rolling, and then rolling some more, 40, perhaps 50 rolls. We'll get an exact number for you in just a little bit.
This was after Mike Melvill had fired that rocket for quite some time, at least 35, 40 seconds. And he had reached the point where the atmosphere was extremely thin, and the craft would have been under the control not of the flaps or control surfaces on it, but little thrusters which are designed to control the craft while it is in space.
The interesting thing is we all kind of held our breath down here and wondered if everything was going OK there because this was not a planned flight. He wasn't planning on doing an aerobatic arrival to space.
He got back down on the ground, he said, "That was fun. I took a few pictures. It was great. I might have stepped on the rudder a little too hard."
Typical ah shucks, right stuff kind of stuff. But nevertheless, they want to know thoroughly why that SpaceShipOne rolled just as it did.
Of course, it wasn't too long after that dramatic arrival to space -- and they did, in fact, according to the radar imagery did make it -- nice smooth landing here at Mojave's space port now. Two flights have come out of here. The first one, SpaceShipOne, same pilot back in June. Now the key is the clock is ticking now on two weeks. They have two weeks to do this again. Whether it's with or without a roll is the issue, but nevertheless, they want to try this flight again. If they're successful in flying this vehicle within the two-week time frame, they win a $10 million privately-funded cash purse. The Ansari X Prize it's called.
It's designed to spur interest in civilians going to space. Mike Melvill is the first civilian to fly himself to space, and he's done it twice now successfully. And savoring that moment, that victory lap down the taxi way there in Mojave, where thousands of people turned out in the wee hours this morning to witness what we just saw.
We'll hear from the team very shortly in the press conference, and we'll report back to you on what they have to say, give you as much information as we can about what happened during that flight. And perhaps more important, Kyra, when they're going to try again.
PHILLIPS: All right. I see them lining up there, Miles. As soon as they go -- or take to the podium, we'll take that newsroom live. We'll check back in with you, hear from Melvill, talk about the other designers and, of course, the $10 million on the line.
Thanks Miles -- Drew.
GRIFFIN: Switching gears, he was held for three years without charges, labeled an "enemy combatant." Today, Yaser Hamdi on the verge of being released. The deal calls for him to renounce his U.S. citizenship, return to where he grew up, which is Saudi Arabia.
Hamdi's father is there waiting for him. He just spoke to our senior international correspondent, Nic Robertson, in Riyadh.
And Nice, there must be a lot of jubilation there, but this man is hardly free. Free from captivity, maybe but there are a lot of rules that go along with this.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Indeed, Drew, there are a lot of rules. It is expected -- Yaser Hamdi was expected to be here in Saudi Arabia or to leave the United States at least by the 30th of September. That's according to the documents that his lawyer signed, and that's according to the district court in the eastern district of Virginia.
But what is happening is deadlines are coming -- or prospective dates of Yaser's arrival here in Saudi Arabia have been coming and going. And I talked to his father a little earlier. His father said, first of all, they've been told to expect his son Mondays. On Monday, he was told that the weather was bad, and that's why his flight couldn't take off.
Late on Monday, he was told to expect his son Wednesday. Then he said the situation now -- and it's Wednesday evening here in Riyadh -- he said, from what he understands at the moment, there are some administrative details being worked out. He does expect his son to come back soon. His son, when he gets here, will have to renounce his U.S. citizenship, will not be allowed to leave Saudi Arabia for five years, will not be allowed to travel to the United States for 10 years, must inform Saudi authorities if he's contacted by members of al Qaeda or any other jihadi groups, and must renounce any ties he has with jihadi groups, the Taliban or al Qaeda.
For the family, though, this, they say -- this is a very tough, tense and disappointing period for them.
GRIFFIN: And what will his life be like?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: More than three years, and everybody was happy to hear this news. And the telephone was ringing almost day and night, you know? Feeling very happy that Yaser is coming back.
And if you know about this today, it was announced, you know? They were not secret. And all of a sudden, you know -- it is a lot of stress on me, my wife, my kids and my brothers, my sisters, my uncle. I mean, the whole family.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTSON: Well, the Hamdi family are planning a very big celebration when Yaser Hamdi gets back home. They've always maintained that he was innocent. And in the documents that Yaser and his lawyer signed in the United States, he maintained that he was never an enemy combatant, never a member of the Taliban, never affiliated with al Qaeda -- Drew.
GRIFFIN: Nic Robertson in Riyadh. Thank you, Nic.
PHILLIPS: Well, as we head into tomorrow night's debate, the dos and don'ts for Bush, Kerry and media. The whole shebang caught in the "CROSSFIRE," a little polite political discussion, maybe with Paul and Tucker coming up. Yes, right.
It's getting hot under the collar over raising -- rising oil prices, rather. You might want to stay that way this winter if you get our drift.
And then there's Rhonda.
RHONDA SCHAFFLER, CNN SR. BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Kyra, perhaps some we know want to switch jobs because of hectic commutes. I'm going to tell you the companies that offer the best commuter benefits.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Much of central and eastern Pennsylvania is under floodwaters brought by the remnants of Hurricane Jeanne. Nearly a foot of water is covering a major traffic artery in Philadelphia causing airport delays, rapid transit closures, and filling the basements of low-lying houses. One flood-related death reported in Philadelphia. A woman was swept beneath a truck by the rising water.
Frustration and fatigue are setting in, in storm-ravaged Florida. Hurricane victims have start the daunting task of cleaning up from Jeanne. For some people, this is the fourth time they're dealing with damage and flooding, no power, no phones. Florida's top insurance regulator believes that Jeanne added another $6 billion in insured losses to the $12 billion in estimated damage from the previous storms.
Well, the hurricanes have created a logistical nightmare for schools. Sara Wilcox, the superintendent of schools in hard hit Martin County, Florida, joins me now on the phone to talk about what students are doing and what they can expect when it comes back to going back to school, hopefully.
Dr. Wilcox, I've been reading that all schools in 45 of Florida's 67 counties have been closed, K-12. Tell me what you're doing right now with the kids that don't have a school to go to.
SARA WILCOX, SUPERINTENDENT, MARTIN COUNTY, FLORIDA: Well, we will be out of school, our schools will be closed the rest of this week. And we're hoping to return on Monday. We're working very hard to get our schools open on Monday.
We have over 400 people who are here in Martin County to help our custodial and maintenance staff to get all of the work done to ensure that the schools open. We still, however, have four schools without power.
The power is coming back on. On Monday, only a third of our schools had power. Yesterday, 70 percent and today 80 percent. So slowly power is being restored and, of course, that is essential for us to be able to get our schools cleaned up and ready to go.
We can move into the schools that have had water intrusion, and that's almost all of our schools have been impacted in some way by water. And we can go in and remove the wet materials, the carpet, the wall board and all of the wet materials. But we really need that power to get them dried up and get our students back in school. And of course, we'll be looking at how can we make up these days.
PHILLIPS: That was my next question, is how far behind are the students? Will they have to do another semester, even another year? Or will it not be that bad? And will there be extra tutoring provided, or how will you do the workload?
WILCOX: Well, it definitely won't be another year, but we want to make sure that our students receive a quality education this year, the same that they received in the past. We have eight days to make up with hurricanes Charley and Frances, and we had developed our schedule.
Our governor has waived three days, so we had -- we had five days in our new schedule to make up. But now our problem is that, if we go back to school on Monday, we will have an additional six days to make up, which is a total of 14.
So we're in the process of talking with teachers and with principals and parents about how to incorporate those additional six days in the calendar. And of course, we want to try to move all of those into our first semester for obvious reasons. With our -- especially our secondary students who are taking semester exams and have...
PHILLIPS: Dr. Wilcox...
WILCOX: Yes?
PHILLIPS: ... I hate to cut you off. I apologize. Superintendent there in Martin County. I'm sorry. I promise we'll follow up with you.
But meanwhile, we've got to take to you Mojave, California, where there's a victory celebration going on. You'll know this test pilot well. He's got his eye on the X Prize, and coming close to winning that money.
MIKE MELVILL, SPACESHIPONE PILOT: ... perfect, solid, slows down very gradually, comfortable ride. A lot of -- you can hear a lot of noise because it's a -- you know, you're going Mach three. So there's a lot of wind blowing.
But you know, that's like, what, 3,400 feet per second compared to a rifle bullet at about 2,700 feet per second. So you're really moving -- moving down the road.
But it's incredibly comfortable. This time was the third time I'd flown it with power, the 10th time I'd flown the airplane, flown in the airplane, anyway. And this time it just seemed -- I think we were just -- I was better mentally prepared. I was better physically prepared.
We did an enormous amount of sim training, extra training (INAUDIBLE), which we turned into a little simulator. But it was well worth it because this was -- it was a comfortable, easy flight. I mean, the flight was -- for me it was great.
You know, I came off the hooks, started the engine. The engine start up just like clockwork. Started pulling back on the stick and trimming a little bit, and the airplane just went straight up.
I mean, I couldn't believe how straight it was going. Last time, I was all over the sky. And most of that was my own fault. I hate to say that, but I actually made a mistake there.
I got into it on the (INAUDIBLE) system, and I got into a PIO. And all of that rolling that you might have seen on the last flight was entirely me and not the vehicle. This time, you didn't see any of that because I figured out the problem and fixed it.
So it made a very nice straight trajectory to the top. And at the top we got a little bit of rolling motion going, but I think it looks good for the crowd if you can roll at the top of the climb.
(LAUGHTER)
MELVILL: I think we did about 20 turns and roll, and there were some pretty high rates there. But again, Burt's designed a system that allowed me to stop the rates.
You know, I turned on the reaction jets and I stopped the rates. I brought it to a complete standstill in space. I even had time to pick up a still camera and take some pictures out of the window, and then prepare the airplane for the descent, and come back in, and made a descent landing.
And thank heavens for good weather today. It was great.
So I hope you all enjoyed it. I sure enjoyed the ride. And I'd be happy to answer questions if anybody's got any.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE)?
MELVILL: OK. No, this is not going to affect the second attempt at all. The vehicle is ready to go. It won't won't take us but a day or two to put it together.
I don't think I made a mistake. Bear in mind, we haven't been able to look closely at the data. We took a real quick look at it, and none of us are positive what caused that. It's possible that I stepped on a rudder when I shouldn't have. When you get older, you can do things like that. And we'll have to look and see what that was.
It was at no time any worry for me. I knew the rates could be handled, and I was very glad to see that I passed the altitude. And I waited just a little bit longer to get a little altitude in hand.
And then, I shut it down 11 seconds early, I had 11 more seconds of burn, I could have gone to 360,000 feet today. But I didn't think it was worth taking that kind of risk, because we've got a second flight to do. It's better to get the altitude, bring it back clean and undamaged, and -- but we have lots of performance. If everybody thought we didn't have the performance, they are wrong about that.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE)?
MELVILL: Yes. Well, you know, part of it is the speed. I mean, you're going at a tremendous speed. And if you put any kind of a roll input into it, it's going to wrap up very fast. But the roll rate was very controllable. I stopped the roll rate just using the normal controls of the airplane.
I'm not sure what kicked it off, but I'm sure that when we know what it is, we'll tell everybody what it was. It probably was something I did. I mean, it was last time. I didn't think it was me last time. But boy, when we looked at the data, there it was, big as life. So, I'm inclined to believe it was probably something I did, but I never felt uncomfortable. And I think it actually helped us. We were spin stabilized, and we managed to keep the trajectory going on key. You know, we were perfectly on course, and I'm very, very pleased with how it went.
PHILLIPS: Mike Melvill -- eye still on the X Prize there. The pilot saying he came off the hooks, the engine started up, he pulled back on the stick, and he went straight up. What we may remember is that corkscrew; 30 times he said he rolled.
But he was able to control that roll rate, even saying he had 11 more seconds of burn. All pilots know you probably wanted to finish off that 11 seconds. It's tempting, but he wanted to be safe. He wanted to have a clean flight. He knew he had another flight in this competition come tomorrow, so he brought it down for a nice landing, gliding right onto the runway.
Once again, Mike Melvill, eyes on the prize there, $10 million as we continue to follow these private firms, these civilians setting out to create their own flying machine and get them into space. He reached space. We continue to follow up tomorrow as the competition continues. Our Miles O'Brien, of course, in Mojave, California -- Drew?
GRIFFIN: Stocks not exactly shooting into outer space today, but they're up a little bit, as we're checking Wall Street this hour -- up seven and a fraction.
We'll be right back after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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Aired September 29, 2004 - 13:59 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: They're rested, rehearsed and, according to aides, raring to go. A day before their mano-a-mano in Miami, presidential candidates George W. Bush and John Kerry appear to have a lot in common. Besides the aforementioned, both men through their spin machines allege they've got the other guy right where they want him.
We've got Suzanne Malveaux at the White House with all the details -- Suzanne.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kyra, the Bush campaign knows this is a critical 24 to 48 hours for the president. He is traveling to Lake Wales area of Florida to survey the latest hurricane damage from Hurricane Jeanne. This is the central part of Florida, a fast-growing swing area, and could be critical for a Bush win.
Now, this would make it the fourth visit for the president to that state in some six weeks. As you know, Florida pounded by hurricanes Charley, Frances, Ivan and Jeanne. President Bush, we expect, as he has done before, will stand side by side with his brother, Jeb Bush, the governor of Florida, and talk about the promises of federal aid. So far, President Bush requesting up to $12 billion.
Now, Democrats are crying foul, saying this is all about politics, it is opportunism. Republicans, as well as Bush campaign, saying the president is simply doing his job. And the question still remains, a lot of speculation over how that's going to have an impact over voter turnout, as well as the election results.
In the meantime, of course, Kyra, both sides readying for that debate. President Bush will be traveling to Miami, but his campaign releasing this little booklet here, this little black book earlier today, taking on Kerry in a number of positions.
They say he is inconsistent when it comes to 10 different issues. One example is on Iraq.
Inside the booklet it says, "Issue Iraq, your current position, the removal of Saddam Hussein has left America less secure." It goes on to say, "Your record, you voted for the wrong war in the wrong place at wrong time. Now you say the war you voted for made us less safe."
And then goes on to say, "Your attacks pretend like no other position you have ever taken matters. Nobody knows what you really believe anyway."
The Kerry camp, of course, firing back. I spoke with them as well. This say this is simply the latest gimmick in the Bush campaign.
They said earlier today that "The Bush campaign continues to stretch the limits of truth, twisting Kerry's positions. This is disingenuous and false. Kerry gave Bush the authorization to go to war, but has been critical of the way Bush used that authority. John Kerry has been saying the same thing from the beginning. George Bush abused his authority."
They go on to say, "This book is a metaphor for the way Bush governs through gimmicks and misleading rhetoric to cover up his wrong choices."
And Kyra, you can bet that the Kerry campaign, as well, is going to come up with their own release, criticizing President Bush on his policies -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Suzanne Malveaux, live from the White House. Thanks -- Drew.
DREW GRIFFIN, CNN ANCHOR: Well, Senator Kerry is keeping to himself for one more day, but his aides are sharing a page or two from his playbook as well. In those Wisconsin cram sessions, we're told the emphasis has been on persuadability and brevity.
Kerry aide and former Clinton press secretary Joe Lockhart tells CNN debates aren't won by the most knowledgeable debater but my the most persuasive. Lockhart says Bush has succeeded on that front time and time again.
That backhanded compliment by Democrat Joe Lockhart all part of the spin game. It works in little league, it works on Wall Street as well, and it works in presidential politics. Talk up the other guy while minimizing expectations of your own candidate's performance.
Here's CNN's Bill Schneider.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SR. POLITICAL ANALYST (voice-over): In a debate, unlike an election, you don't necessarily have to win. You have to do better than expected. Both campaigns are trying to lower expectations for their candidate. Even the late night talk show hosts have gotten into the act.
JAY LENO, HOST, "THE TONIGHT SHOW": Well, Kerry tried to lower expectations of himself. He said Bush has never lost a debate and he is a formidable opponent. And then Bush lowered expectations of himself when he said, hey, what does formidable mean?
(LAUGHTER)
LENO: You know. So, you see, they're trying to lower... SCHNEIDER: It means what Republicans are saying about John Kerry.
STUART STEVENS, REPUBLICAN MEDIA CONSULTANT: John Kerry is very, very experienced. He was a prosecutor, he's a trained lawyer.
SCHNEIDER: The debate gives Kerry an opportunity to turn the campaign into a referendum on Bush's record, particularly on Iraq.
SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The debate now is whether or not you have a plan to win and whether or not you are facing the realities on the ground in Iraq.
SCHNEIDER: Right now, a narrow majority of voters believes President Bush does have a clear plan in Iraq, despite continuing attacks. By better than two to one, voters don't think Kerry does, despite his widely publicized four-point plan for Iraq. Kerry has one more chance to turn the perceptions around in this week's debate on world affairs.
The Bush campaign is doing its part to build up expectations for Kerry. Of course, he's a good debater, they say. That's his job.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's what senators do. They stand on the floor of the Senate and they debate.
SCHNEIDER: But Kerry's people point out that word affairs is the centerpiece of Bush's re-election campaign.
CHAD CLANTON, KERRY CAMPAIGN SPOKESMAN: Obviously, this is a foreign policy debate. So it's something that the Bush painted to start with, it's George Bush's strong suit.
SCHNEIDER: Four years ago, voters did not have high expectations for Bush in the debates with Al Gore. But things have changed. This year, expectations for Bush are higher.
Why? Well, duh! He's the president of the United States.
Bill Schneider, CNN, Dallas.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GRIFFIN: And we are not finished debating about the debate. A little later this hour, "CROSSFIRE" co-hosts Paul Begala and Tucker Carlson are going to weigh in. That's always lively. At 2:30 Eastern we'll have it.
So stay with us.
PHILLIPS: Well, other news "Across America" now.
America's pastime back in the Beltway? It's not official yet, but it looks like the Montreal Expos will be no more and Washington, D.C., will have a team again for the first time since the Nixon administration. Mixed feelings from capital residents, many of whom balk at the Major League price tag to bring in the team.
Still at large, a man who opened fire inside a home day-care center yesterday near Detroit. A 3-year-old girl was killed. Two adult women are in critical condition. So far, no lead on the gunman's identity or his motive.
And we're not sure everyone has exhaled yet. But central California hasn't stopped shaking since yesterday's 6.0 magnitude earthquake. Seismologists have recorded more than 200 after shocks.
That quake struck directly on the San Andreas fault. There was no significant damage reported and no injuries.
Also rumbling today, Mount St. Helens. Experts watching a recent spike in volcanic activity say a lava dome in the mountain's crater is growing. That could or could not be cause for concern, but given this mountain's history, those living in the shadow pay close attention when it stirs.
Bruce Sussman of CNN affiliate KGW reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRUCE SUSSMAN, REPORTER, KGW: Since the swarm of quakes started here on Mount St. Helens, more than 4,500 quakes have been recorded, and almost all of them have been exclusively in the crater right around the lava dome, which if we zoom in here, it's that little bulge of rock in the center of this crater. It's about 900 feet high, that lava dome is. And underneath there is where all the quakes have been taking place.
We had a record 1,400 quakes in a single day. The quake activities continue to increase. And we've seen an increase in the amount of dust blowing around in and around the crater. Scientists say that's probably from rocks and boulders rolling down the slopes of the crater as the quakes shake things loose.
So at this point here on Mount St. Helens, the cause of these quakes still a complete mystery. Geologists not sure what it is. They say it's possible it could be magma or some sort of volcanic gases shaking things loose and creating a lot of pressure inside the mountain. And they also say there is still a possibility of a small eruption here on Mount St. Helens at any time inside the crater.
Reporting from Mount St. Helens, Bruce Sussman, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Now we want to take you straight to Mount St. Helens, where geologists are talking about that very issue. Let's listen in.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Soon we'll go to Seth and Steve to talk about the reasons for this. What we're still anticipating is something in the range of an explosion, small to moderate explosion, that could affect the crater floors, the flanks of the volcanoes and perhaps up to a couple of kilometers outwards from the volcano. This could also send ash up into the air that could be carried for tens of miles down wind. And the concern there is for the ash and aviation safety issues.
At this point, we're seeing that there is a heightened possibility of an eruption. We're not guaranteeing you an eruption. So -- so that's where we are at this moment.
And I'd like to turn it now to Seth Moran to talk about what has been happening at Mount St. Helens and the reasons for the increase of the alert today.
SETH MORAN, SEISMOLOGIST: OK. What I have over here to my left is a...
PHILLIPS: You're listening to geologists there at Mount St. Helens from the USGS, holding a news conference right now. A small to moderate explosion took place there at Mount St. Helens. It does heighten the possibility of an eruption, according to one geologist.
As you know, we've been following this for the past few days, and that is the volcanic dome within the crater of Mount St. Helens has been moving about an inch and a half just overnight. There was increased activity within the past week or so. The most activity was in the past 24 hours.
So now seismologists are actually recording the swarms of the earthquake activity from the volcano. And that activity has now increased. Therefore, geologists paying close attention to possibly an eruption there at Mount St. Helens. We're continuing to follow that story and let you know more as soon as we get it.
Meanwhile, going back to Saudi Arabia, after three years as a suspected enemy combatant, Yaser Hamdi makes a deal to walk. Nic Robertson is live from Riyadh.
Sunshine State students skipped school in September. The unexpected impact of a quartet of hurricanes.
And Prince Harry passes along royal rugby tips to the wee ones and gets raves. LIVE FROM's got the team spirit right after this.
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(WEATHER REPORT)
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PHILLIPS: All right. So it may have been one of the ugliest flights into space ever, but who cares? What matters is that a private firm set out to send its own flying machine into space, and today they're all smiles.
Miles O'Brien right in the middle of a victory celebration in Mojave, California.
Miles, I got to tell you, Melvill is probably pretty excited right now, still.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN SPACE CORRESPONDENT: Well, yes, there's excitement. And like all good test pilots, there's also a lot of time sort of going over what happened.
Take a look at some live pictures. Here comes the team right now from Burt Rutan's scaled composites. The pilot, Mike Melvill, is among them. Burt Rutan in there, the designer and builder of the spacecraft.
They're just about to begin a news conference which we'll be watching closely for you. We expect to hear from them and have a better sense of what we saw about three-and-a-half hours ago. It really was a spectacular flight.
There you see Mike Melvill taking his hat off right there, walking out. Burt Rutan behind him, on their way to that news conference. We'll hear from them in just a little bit.
But they're clearly happy people. But also, as good engineers would be, they're going through that flight very carefully to understand what happened, what didn't happen, and what they should do next as to when they should try that second attempt, which they had said earlier was no earlier than Monday August 4.
Here's what happened about three-and-a-half hours ago. High above the high desert in Mojave, California, SpaceShipOne on its way toward the very edges of space began rolling and rolling, and then rolling some more, 40, perhaps 50 rolls. We'll get an exact number for you in just a little bit.
This was after Mike Melvill had fired that rocket for quite some time, at least 35, 40 seconds. And he had reached the point where the atmosphere was extremely thin, and the craft would have been under the control not of the flaps or control surfaces on it, but little thrusters which are designed to control the craft while it is in space.
The interesting thing is we all kind of held our breath down here and wondered if everything was going OK there because this was not a planned flight. He wasn't planning on doing an aerobatic arrival to space.
He got back down on the ground, he said, "That was fun. I took a few pictures. It was great. I might have stepped on the rudder a little too hard."
Typical ah shucks, right stuff kind of stuff. But nevertheless, they want to know thoroughly why that SpaceShipOne rolled just as it did.
Of course, it wasn't too long after that dramatic arrival to space -- and they did, in fact, according to the radar imagery did make it -- nice smooth landing here at Mojave's space port now. Two flights have come out of here. The first one, SpaceShipOne, same pilot back in June. Now the key is the clock is ticking now on two weeks. They have two weeks to do this again. Whether it's with or without a roll is the issue, but nevertheless, they want to try this flight again. If they're successful in flying this vehicle within the two-week time frame, they win a $10 million privately-funded cash purse. The Ansari X Prize it's called.
It's designed to spur interest in civilians going to space. Mike Melvill is the first civilian to fly himself to space, and he's done it twice now successfully. And savoring that moment, that victory lap down the taxi way there in Mojave, where thousands of people turned out in the wee hours this morning to witness what we just saw.
We'll hear from the team very shortly in the press conference, and we'll report back to you on what they have to say, give you as much information as we can about what happened during that flight. And perhaps more important, Kyra, when they're going to try again.
PHILLIPS: All right. I see them lining up there, Miles. As soon as they go -- or take to the podium, we'll take that newsroom live. We'll check back in with you, hear from Melvill, talk about the other designers and, of course, the $10 million on the line.
Thanks Miles -- Drew.
GRIFFIN: Switching gears, he was held for three years without charges, labeled an "enemy combatant." Today, Yaser Hamdi on the verge of being released. The deal calls for him to renounce his U.S. citizenship, return to where he grew up, which is Saudi Arabia.
Hamdi's father is there waiting for him. He just spoke to our senior international correspondent, Nic Robertson, in Riyadh.
And Nice, there must be a lot of jubilation there, but this man is hardly free. Free from captivity, maybe but there are a lot of rules that go along with this.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Indeed, Drew, there are a lot of rules. It is expected -- Yaser Hamdi was expected to be here in Saudi Arabia or to leave the United States at least by the 30th of September. That's according to the documents that his lawyer signed, and that's according to the district court in the eastern district of Virginia.
But what is happening is deadlines are coming -- or prospective dates of Yaser's arrival here in Saudi Arabia have been coming and going. And I talked to his father a little earlier. His father said, first of all, they've been told to expect his son Mondays. On Monday, he was told that the weather was bad, and that's why his flight couldn't take off.
Late on Monday, he was told to expect his son Wednesday. Then he said the situation now -- and it's Wednesday evening here in Riyadh -- he said, from what he understands at the moment, there are some administrative details being worked out. He does expect his son to come back soon. His son, when he gets here, will have to renounce his U.S. citizenship, will not be allowed to leave Saudi Arabia for five years, will not be allowed to travel to the United States for 10 years, must inform Saudi authorities if he's contacted by members of al Qaeda or any other jihadi groups, and must renounce any ties he has with jihadi groups, the Taliban or al Qaeda.
For the family, though, this, they say -- this is a very tough, tense and disappointing period for them.
GRIFFIN: And what will his life be like?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: More than three years, and everybody was happy to hear this news. And the telephone was ringing almost day and night, you know? Feeling very happy that Yaser is coming back.
And if you know about this today, it was announced, you know? They were not secret. And all of a sudden, you know -- it is a lot of stress on me, my wife, my kids and my brothers, my sisters, my uncle. I mean, the whole family.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTSON: Well, the Hamdi family are planning a very big celebration when Yaser Hamdi gets back home. They've always maintained that he was innocent. And in the documents that Yaser and his lawyer signed in the United States, he maintained that he was never an enemy combatant, never a member of the Taliban, never affiliated with al Qaeda -- Drew.
GRIFFIN: Nic Robertson in Riyadh. Thank you, Nic.
PHILLIPS: Well, as we head into tomorrow night's debate, the dos and don'ts for Bush, Kerry and media. The whole shebang caught in the "CROSSFIRE," a little polite political discussion, maybe with Paul and Tucker coming up. Yes, right.
It's getting hot under the collar over raising -- rising oil prices, rather. You might want to stay that way this winter if you get our drift.
And then there's Rhonda.
RHONDA SCHAFFLER, CNN SR. BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Kyra, perhaps some we know want to switch jobs because of hectic commutes. I'm going to tell you the companies that offer the best commuter benefits.
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PHILLIPS: Much of central and eastern Pennsylvania is under floodwaters brought by the remnants of Hurricane Jeanne. Nearly a foot of water is covering a major traffic artery in Philadelphia causing airport delays, rapid transit closures, and filling the basements of low-lying houses. One flood-related death reported in Philadelphia. A woman was swept beneath a truck by the rising water.
Frustration and fatigue are setting in, in storm-ravaged Florida. Hurricane victims have start the daunting task of cleaning up from Jeanne. For some people, this is the fourth time they're dealing with damage and flooding, no power, no phones. Florida's top insurance regulator believes that Jeanne added another $6 billion in insured losses to the $12 billion in estimated damage from the previous storms.
Well, the hurricanes have created a logistical nightmare for schools. Sara Wilcox, the superintendent of schools in hard hit Martin County, Florida, joins me now on the phone to talk about what students are doing and what they can expect when it comes back to going back to school, hopefully.
Dr. Wilcox, I've been reading that all schools in 45 of Florida's 67 counties have been closed, K-12. Tell me what you're doing right now with the kids that don't have a school to go to.
SARA WILCOX, SUPERINTENDENT, MARTIN COUNTY, FLORIDA: Well, we will be out of school, our schools will be closed the rest of this week. And we're hoping to return on Monday. We're working very hard to get our schools open on Monday.
We have over 400 people who are here in Martin County to help our custodial and maintenance staff to get all of the work done to ensure that the schools open. We still, however, have four schools without power.
The power is coming back on. On Monday, only a third of our schools had power. Yesterday, 70 percent and today 80 percent. So slowly power is being restored and, of course, that is essential for us to be able to get our schools cleaned up and ready to go.
We can move into the schools that have had water intrusion, and that's almost all of our schools have been impacted in some way by water. And we can go in and remove the wet materials, the carpet, the wall board and all of the wet materials. But we really need that power to get them dried up and get our students back in school. And of course, we'll be looking at how can we make up these days.
PHILLIPS: That was my next question, is how far behind are the students? Will they have to do another semester, even another year? Or will it not be that bad? And will there be extra tutoring provided, or how will you do the workload?
WILCOX: Well, it definitely won't be another year, but we want to make sure that our students receive a quality education this year, the same that they received in the past. We have eight days to make up with hurricanes Charley and Frances, and we had developed our schedule.
Our governor has waived three days, so we had -- we had five days in our new schedule to make up. But now our problem is that, if we go back to school on Monday, we will have an additional six days to make up, which is a total of 14.
So we're in the process of talking with teachers and with principals and parents about how to incorporate those additional six days in the calendar. And of course, we want to try to move all of those into our first semester for obvious reasons. With our -- especially our secondary students who are taking semester exams and have...
PHILLIPS: Dr. Wilcox...
WILCOX: Yes?
PHILLIPS: ... I hate to cut you off. I apologize. Superintendent there in Martin County. I'm sorry. I promise we'll follow up with you.
But meanwhile, we've got to take to you Mojave, California, where there's a victory celebration going on. You'll know this test pilot well. He's got his eye on the X Prize, and coming close to winning that money.
MIKE MELVILL, SPACESHIPONE PILOT: ... perfect, solid, slows down very gradually, comfortable ride. A lot of -- you can hear a lot of noise because it's a -- you know, you're going Mach three. So there's a lot of wind blowing.
But you know, that's like, what, 3,400 feet per second compared to a rifle bullet at about 2,700 feet per second. So you're really moving -- moving down the road.
But it's incredibly comfortable. This time was the third time I'd flown it with power, the 10th time I'd flown the airplane, flown in the airplane, anyway. And this time it just seemed -- I think we were just -- I was better mentally prepared. I was better physically prepared.
We did an enormous amount of sim training, extra training (INAUDIBLE), which we turned into a little simulator. But it was well worth it because this was -- it was a comfortable, easy flight. I mean, the flight was -- for me it was great.
You know, I came off the hooks, started the engine. The engine start up just like clockwork. Started pulling back on the stick and trimming a little bit, and the airplane just went straight up.
I mean, I couldn't believe how straight it was going. Last time, I was all over the sky. And most of that was my own fault. I hate to say that, but I actually made a mistake there.
I got into it on the (INAUDIBLE) system, and I got into a PIO. And all of that rolling that you might have seen on the last flight was entirely me and not the vehicle. This time, you didn't see any of that because I figured out the problem and fixed it.
So it made a very nice straight trajectory to the top. And at the top we got a little bit of rolling motion going, but I think it looks good for the crowd if you can roll at the top of the climb.
(LAUGHTER)
MELVILL: I think we did about 20 turns and roll, and there were some pretty high rates there. But again, Burt's designed a system that allowed me to stop the rates.
You know, I turned on the reaction jets and I stopped the rates. I brought it to a complete standstill in space. I even had time to pick up a still camera and take some pictures out of the window, and then prepare the airplane for the descent, and come back in, and made a descent landing.
And thank heavens for good weather today. It was great.
So I hope you all enjoyed it. I sure enjoyed the ride. And I'd be happy to answer questions if anybody's got any.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE)?
MELVILL: OK. No, this is not going to affect the second attempt at all. The vehicle is ready to go. It won't won't take us but a day or two to put it together.
I don't think I made a mistake. Bear in mind, we haven't been able to look closely at the data. We took a real quick look at it, and none of us are positive what caused that. It's possible that I stepped on a rudder when I shouldn't have. When you get older, you can do things like that. And we'll have to look and see what that was.
It was at no time any worry for me. I knew the rates could be handled, and I was very glad to see that I passed the altitude. And I waited just a little bit longer to get a little altitude in hand.
And then, I shut it down 11 seconds early, I had 11 more seconds of burn, I could have gone to 360,000 feet today. But I didn't think it was worth taking that kind of risk, because we've got a second flight to do. It's better to get the altitude, bring it back clean and undamaged, and -- but we have lots of performance. If everybody thought we didn't have the performance, they are wrong about that.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE)?
MELVILL: Yes. Well, you know, part of it is the speed. I mean, you're going at a tremendous speed. And if you put any kind of a roll input into it, it's going to wrap up very fast. But the roll rate was very controllable. I stopped the roll rate just using the normal controls of the airplane.
I'm not sure what kicked it off, but I'm sure that when we know what it is, we'll tell everybody what it was. It probably was something I did. I mean, it was last time. I didn't think it was me last time. But boy, when we looked at the data, there it was, big as life. So, I'm inclined to believe it was probably something I did, but I never felt uncomfortable. And I think it actually helped us. We were spin stabilized, and we managed to keep the trajectory going on key. You know, we were perfectly on course, and I'm very, very pleased with how it went.
PHILLIPS: Mike Melvill -- eye still on the X Prize there. The pilot saying he came off the hooks, the engine started up, he pulled back on the stick, and he went straight up. What we may remember is that corkscrew; 30 times he said he rolled.
But he was able to control that roll rate, even saying he had 11 more seconds of burn. All pilots know you probably wanted to finish off that 11 seconds. It's tempting, but he wanted to be safe. He wanted to have a clean flight. He knew he had another flight in this competition come tomorrow, so he brought it down for a nice landing, gliding right onto the runway.
Once again, Mike Melvill, eyes on the prize there, $10 million as we continue to follow these private firms, these civilians setting out to create their own flying machine and get them into space. He reached space. We continue to follow up tomorrow as the competition continues. Our Miles O'Brien, of course, in Mojave, California -- Drew?
GRIFFIN: Stocks not exactly shooting into outer space today, but they're up a little bit, as we're checking Wall Street this hour -- up seven and a fraction.
We'll be right back after this.
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