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Campaigning For the Female Vote; Video of Aide Hostage Released; Boston Police Accept Responsibility in Fan's Death

Aired October 22, 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.


(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RICK SNELGROVE, VICTORIA'S FATHER: What happened to her should not happen to any American citizen going to any type of game.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: An out of control victory celebration, a young woman dies, and Boston police take full responsibility. We'll go in-depth on this this hour.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Plea from an aide worker kidnapped in Iraq. An Arabic station, Al-Jazeera, airs the video. We're live from Baghdad.

O'BRIEN: Senator Kerry courts women while President Bush breaks out of the wolf pack. We are live from the campaign trail.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BEVERLY MITCHELL, HOMEOWNER: She decorated. She hung picture, family portraits.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: The ultimate home invasion -- a woman returns from vacation to find someone else has moved in.

From the CNN Center in Atlanta, I'm Fredricka Whitfield in for Kyra Phillips.

O'BRIEN: And I'm Miles O'Brien. CNN's LIVE FROM starts right now.

It is W-day for the Kerry campaign, Wisconsin, women and western states that voted Bush in 2000. W, meanwhile, minds the golden triangle of swing states, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Florida. Yet, somehow, 10 days out from the election, neither man can distance himself from the other guy in the only landscape that really matters. Check out this new poll from the Associated Press. Kerry leads Bush among likely voters 49 to 46, but there's that three percentage point potential margin of error which you should consider.

CNN's poll of polls which averages a number of recent samplings puts Bush on top, 48 to 46, lots of numbers to think about there. Talk about covering ground. Kerry today is courting a group that as recently as four years ago was a faithful, Democratic voter base, but he's also heading deep into GOP territory, Nevada today, Colorado tomorrow.

CNN's Kelly Wallace weighs in from Milwaukee with the latest from there -- Kelly?

KELLY WALLACE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Miles, you of course know how powerful women can be. Well, they're so powerful they can really decide this election because according to a survey conducted by the Pew Research Center earlier this month, 62 percent of those voters still undecided are women. And so, the Kerry campaign very much trying to reach out to these undecided voters, these women voters.

Senator Kerry just wrapped up a speech here on the campus of the University of Wisconsin in Milwaukee and he had a little Kennedy star power on hand. Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg introducing Senator John Kerry saying he will be good for women and good for families that these issues are very important. The senator in his speech very much criticizing the Bush administration and promising equal pay for women and also raising the minimum wage.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: No matter how tough it gets, no one in the White House seems to be listening. The women I meet, they don't expect the government to do their jobs for them. But they do want leaders who are on their side as they try to do their jobs. They want somebody to be able to empower them to facilitate, to be able to make the playing field fair. And what I hear today ...

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALLACE: And part of the outreach by Senator Kerry is because looking at the polls, Senator Kerry has anywhere according to our CNN/"USA Today"/Gallup poll a six-point lead with women voters over President Bush. "The New York Times" poll has them with a lead of about 10 points, but another survey, "Newsweek" showing him behind President Bush with women.

The reason this is so key is because Democrats traditionally doing better with women voters than Republicans. In fact, Al Gore had an 11-point advantage with women voters over George W. Bush in 2000. So that is key. Also Miles, as you said, the senator heading west to Nevada and Colorado, definitely GOP territory, but two battleground states that went for George W. Bush in 2000, the Kerry campaign hoping to turn those around this time around - Miles?

O'BRIEN: Kelly, what are the chances of that, though? That's real Republican country. Time is short. Is the candidate wasting his time?

WALLACE: Well, no. Again, if you look at the polls and the polls show it very tight in Nevada and also showing Colorado possibly tight which is surprised, George W. Bush winning that state comfortably I believe, by more than eight points in 2000. So, they think based on the growth of these states, a large Hispanic population, concerns about jobs, concerns about Iraq, that they have a fighting chance in both states and as you see President Bush spending a lot of time in Nevada and Colorado. So, clearly, they still think these states are competitive as well.

O'BRIEN: All right. An unlikely battleground, Kelly Wallace, thank you very much. Fredricka?

WHITFIELD: All right. Thanks, Miles.

Bush on is on the ultimate battleground blitz today, Pennsylvania in the morning, Ohio at midday, Florida by night. They're all up for grabs, each offering a minimum of 20 electoral votes and the pundits tell us whoever wins two out of three of those states will win the election. Want some more numbers? Well, this is Bush's 41st visit to Pennsylvania as president. His 40th visit took place yesterday and in his rally this morning in Wilkes-Barre, Bush enumerated the differences between himself and his opponent.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: You've had a chance to see both of us in action, to measure our consistency, our resolve, our values and our ability to lead. This election comes down to five clear choices for the American families, five choices on issues of great consequence: Your family security, your budget, your quality of life, your retirement and the bedrock values that are so critical to our families and our future.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: The running mates are running on opposite sides of the country. John Edwards is apparently trying to speak to every undecided Florida voter personally. He's hitting three Florida cities today, two more tomorrow. Dick Cheney has a rally in Minnesota under his belt and plans to preside at a town hall in Iowa later this hour.

And s if all that weren't enough, there's another new attack ad today and we do mean attack. Here now to sink his teeth into all the day's headline, CNN political analyst Carlos Watson. Good to see you.

CARLOS WATSON, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Good to see you.

WHITFIELD: All right. We're talking about the latest, a wolf attack. A lot of these attacks striking fear whether it be about terrorism or whether it be about the flu and the shortage of the vaccines. Can this get any more visceral with just 10 more days to go?

WATSON: Actually, believe it or not, it can. What's so interesting about this Fredricka is not only the ads and we'll probably see, just between now and election day, we'll probably $200 million in additional money spent on this campaign. But here's what's significant. As tough as the ads are on TV, they're even tougher in direct mail and on these phone calls. You've got flyers going around Iowa, Ohio and other places that even - that are much more raw than what you're seeing on television.

WHITFIELD: And the sad thing is, so many voters really don't know what the truth is. They're getting confused, the lines are blurred.

WATSON: You know, you see in some polls, 80 percent of voters in at least one poll said that the candidates have very different positions which, by the way is not always true. In some places, they're actually fairly close, but that's much more polarized. And so voters being able to discern what the difference is on health care, taxes, the economy, it's a little bit harder this time.

WHITFIELD: The battleground states, Ohio, Florida, Pennsylvania, vital. The next president has to win two out of those three. So what does it mean for the strategy of these two candidates? Do they both feel pretty confident about that two out of three number?

WATSON: All three of those are tight, but here's what's so interesting to me. Both of these guys this time around have Florida alternative strategies. The last time we all talked about Florida and this time we're talking about Florida, but the reality is the president could afford to lose Florida this time and still win the election. How does he do that?

He does it by picking up three Midwestern states. Wisconsin, Iowa and Minnesota combined have 28 electoral votes and so he can replace Florida's 27 electoral votes and do that. Alternatively, John Kerry could not pick up Florida, but if he were to win Ohio and hold all the states that Al Gore won, he could win the election. So there are some alternative strategies on both sides to still winning this election even without Florida.

WHITFIELD: Which is interesting because a Republican president can't win without Ohio.

WATSON: Or at least that's (INAUDIBLE) You know what is so interesting about this election is so much about common wisdom has gone by the side. I mean, traditionally the candidate who raised the most money by January 1st, which is usually a nominee of the power, Howard Dean wasn't the nominee for the Democrats, right.

Traditionally, a president who's below 50 percent in approval ratings can't possibly be in a competitive flight. But the president's been below 50 percent in his approval number, this late in the campaign and is still neck and neck in this race.

WHITFIELD: Wow! Let's talk about your show this weekend, "OFF TOPIC."

WATSON: Yes!

WHITFIELD: You've got three very interesting characters, Heidi Klum, Shaquille O'Neal, Barack Obama. You're not really talking politics with all of them, but surprisingly you are talking politics with Shaquille O'Neal.

WATSON: I am. The big guy, Shaq, the daddy, all 7'1" of him is going to run for office. I was surprised.

WHITFIELD: Where and when and what office?

WATSON: Guess what you have to do. You've got to watch "OFF TOPIC" this Sunday, 10:00 p.m. Eastern or 1:00 a.m. Eastern and you'll find out. But I was surprised. I learned at last a couple of things. One that Shaq's going to run for office. Two, did you know he's in graduate school?

WHITFIELD: No.

WATSON: I didn't know either.

WHITFIELD: Well, I know he had just, within the past couple of years had received a degree, an undergraduate.

WATSON: from LSU, but now he's gone back to graduate school. You don't think of that. It's a part of the idea of the show whether we're talking to basketball legend Shaquille O'Neal or political star Barack Obama from Illinois or model Heidi Klum is to talk to them about something different, something you wouldn't normally expect, so Heidi Klum on business and she, by the way, runs a very complex global multimillion business and you'll hear more about it.

WHITFIELD: Is this the jewelry?

WATSON: Not just jewelry, candy, shoes, clothing.

WHITFIELD: Really?

WATSON: And it's a very diversified business and sometimes you think that's just a shell. She's not really running it. I was with her for four hours. She's running that business.

WHITFIELD: Impressive.

WATSON: Everything you think a model is or your stereotypes, they're going to be destroyed when you see this conversation.

WHITFIELD: I've seen an interview with her. She's a smart lady.

WATSON: And she's fun, too.

WHITFIELD: Oh, good and Barack Obama, talk a little bit about politics. But what's interesting, his opponent, Alan Keyes, apparently his name and image didn't appear on these Republican mailings that went out recently. The Republicans are saying oops, we didn't mean it intentionally, but what's to make of that?

WATSON: It's just more trouble for the Republicans in Illinois in the Senate race. Remember, their candidate dropped out amid some scandals and they took a while to find a replacement. They thought they were going to have a great replacement in the former Chicago Bears coach Mike Ditka, but he decided not to do it and Alan Keyes, who was living in Maryland, swung over to Illinois to run. So it's been a tough situation for them. WHITFIELD: All right. Carlos Watson. Thanks so much. "OFF TOPIC," this weekend, time to catch it.

WATSON: 10:00 p.m. Eastern, or 1:00 a.m. Eastern if you're an insomniac. Tune in.

WHITFIELD: Or watch both.

WATSON: Please, please, please. Good to see you.

WHITFIELD: All right. Thanks a lot, Carlos. Good to see you, too. Miles?

O'BRIEN: Overseas this hour, a heart rending plea from the charity worker being held hostage in Iraq. CNN's Karl Penhaul joining us live from Baghdad with more on that. Carl?

KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Miles. This is certainly very disturbing video that we've seen broadcast on the Arabic language broadcaster Al-Jazeera. It's of Margaret Hassan. She's a British Iraqi national, the country director for Iraq for the aid organization Care International.

In this video, she says, "Please, please help me." She directs a plea to the British people telling them to call on British Prime Minister Tony Blair to pull his troops out of Iraq. She also calls on the British people to tell Tony Blair not to let him send British troops any closer to Baghdad.

All of this together with the timing of Hassan's kidnap which was on Tuesday, makes it seem as if this kidnapping is very closely linked to Britain's decision to redeploy a battalion of Scottish troops closer to Baghdad in order that U.S. Marines can then ready themselves for possible assault on Falluja.

Margaret Hassan, in this video also warns that if Tony Blair doesn't pull his troops out or if he allows them in fact to come closer to Baghdad, then she may die in the same way as the British engineer Kenneth Bigley died. As we know two weeks ago, Ken Bigley was beheaded by the al Zarqawi terrorist network. It's not clear though Miles at this stage who are the kidnappers behind Margaret Hassan's kidnapping.

O'BRIEN: Karl, obviously terrible concerns here. Has the British government responded in any way?

PENHAUL: So far, the British government hasn't responded. The last we heard from the British government was yesterday when British defense minister Jeff Boon stood before parliament and made the formal announcement that about 850 men of the black watch battalion would be sent just south of Baghdad. He gave no timings of that.

We have heard from the British government expressions of sympathy at Hassan's kidnapping. They have said including Prime Minister Blair has said that he will do everything in his power to secure her release, but what is the mystery here? Why Margaret Hassan? She's a woman that also has Iraqi citizenship, dedicated more than half her life to aid work here. Miles?

O'BRIEN: Tragic story. All right. Karl Penhaul, thank you very much.

Elsewhere in Iraq today, more air strikes in Falluja. A military spokesman says U.S. troops saw weapons being moved from one building to another overnight and they took out both buildings, they say. No word on casualties however.

In Mosul, Iraqi National Guard troops came under grenade, small arms and mortar fire today when they raided a mosque. The mosque was thought to be a sanctuary for bomb makers. U.S. troops reportedly not involved in that operation.

And just north of Baghdad near Baquba, children once again in the crossfire when insurgents ambushed a U.S. patrol. No GIs hurt, but at least 10 civilians were. Two of them are reportedly children.

WHITFIELD: Use of less than lethal force has legal results when Boston police try to disperse a group of baseball fans. Could the death have been prevented?

To the rescue, some hikers trapped for days by a blizzard tell their amazing stories and Ann Coulter makes a move to the left and a dash to the right to dodges a flying dessert and caught on tape. An explanation served up later on LIVE FROM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Jubilation in Boston dampened a bit by the news of a tragic event following the Red Sox game seven win over New York. Police trying to disperse crowds of celebrating fans fired plastic balls containing pepper spray, one of which struck a 21-year-old woman in the eye. She later died.

Amateur video here obtained by CNN that you're watching right now shows the scene amid the estimated 80,000 people packed into the area around Fenway Park. Boston's police department takes full responsibility for the death of Victoria Snelgrove. Small comfort, if any, for the young woman's grieving family.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SNELGROVE: What happened to her should not happen to any American citizen going to any type of game no matter what. She loved the Red Sox. She went in to celebrate with friends. She was a bystander. She was out of the way, but she still got shot.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: Just breaks your heart. The pepper spray used in that crowd control situation in Boston is what police call a less lethal weapon. It's one of many developed as an alternate to the last resort, of course, using their service revolver or service weapon. It's not a new tactic and it draws a lot of controversy frequently.

CNN's law enforcement analyst Mike Brooks here to tell us more about this.

Mike, first, I know you've been on the phone with the folks in Boston and there was a statement which came out from the superintendent and it's just a heart-wrenching statement. It's unusual I think even for a police statement to show the pain really that the police department is going through.

MIKE BROOKS, LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: It's very unusual. It's very unusual that the department will come out and just take total responsibility even before the investigation starts. The officer has been placed on administrative leave as is the normal procedure and they are now investigating exactly what happened. They're going to look at every piece of video. They're going to interview every witness that was there to find out exactly what happened and why this had to happen.

O'BRIEN: All right. So basically what we're talking about here, we have from the web site of the company that produces this particular device, a couple of illustrations for us to give us a sense of what this particular weapon is. Less lethal is what this is called. It looks like a lethal thing just looking at it. But why don't you explain. It's really glorified paintball, isn't it?

BROOKS: It really is. This particular system as the commissioner called it a less lethal system, but again less lethal, we used to call it non lethal. Now, it's less lethal because anything under certain circumstances can be lethal. This particular - it's called the FN .303. It's by FNHERSTAL, Fabrique Nationale. Some people may be familiar with -- and you see it has a little disk and in this disk, it's a little magazine and it's a round magazine. Right behind you see the (INAUDIBLE) there. It holds 15 projectiles. You can use paint. You can use an impact projectile but this is the kind of projectile that's used, not very big, a paint pellet.

But one of the things you have to consider also Miles, is under normal conditions, normal temperatures it's probably fairly soft, but it's little bit colder up there and the colder it gets, the harder it's going to get also. These usually break upon impact. They'll shoot it at the person and it will open up with OC spray, oleoresin (INAUDIBLE) which is basically cayenne pepper, very, very strong.

O'BRIEN: Pepper spray.

BROOKS: Pepper spray, that's it and it will saturate the person that shot it with pepper spray. Now this very unfortunate fatality because it hit the girl in the eye and that's again, less than lethal and that's not supposed to happen.

O'BRIEN: So the way it's supposed to be it's supposed to hit the body, the torso, let's say. That person would certainly know it happened. It would be quite a shock and trauma. There you see this device being used there.

BROOKS: Right.

O'BRIEN: This is, we believe perhaps, at moment of the firing. BROOKS: Very, very similar gun. This is the kind of gun the Boston police is using. Other departments are using the same kind of delivery system. Now it's also delivered by compressed air, just like the paint pellet guns that people go and pay for to go to a little -- out in the country and have war games if you will, but it is a paint pellet gun, travels about 85 to 90 meters per second. You can fire off 15 of these pellets in about three seconds.

O'BRIEN: And just quickly, looking at what happened in Washington for the recent IMF meetings, different sort of device which has less potential lethal impact, right?

BROOKS: D.C. has gotten rid of all projectiles that they shoot into a crowd. Also, I was with the metropolitan police for 26 years. I was on the special operations division, civil disturbance unit and we used to have hand thrown grenades that we used. But here you have -- they're getting rid of the hand thrown and what they're using are large canisters of OC spray that are pressurized like a fire extinguisher that shoot 30 to 40 feet.

I also talked to someone in New York City today. We look at the championships that New York City has won. We've never seen anything like this. We'll go back to the Super Bowl last year, earlier this year I should say, and Boston where there was one death there, not police involved. There was one death here after celebration. I ask why does this happen? Why doesn't this happy in New York City where you have so many people and officers?

I was told by a former commander there that what they do is they bring the horses in. They bring in large amounts of officers with a show of force and that all of a sudden, it will take the fight out of a crowd and they also were looking at delivery systems like this, but they don't use any projectiles that are fired into the crowd either. They also use the pressurized OC canisters.

O'BRIEN: Interesting, so there's a little bit of technology there and a little bit of tactics.

BROOKS: Absolutely.

O'BRIEN: Maybe just a show of force means more than firing a weapon of any kind.

BROOKS: I'm sure. I'm sure this will be looked at also by the Boston police department as their investigation continues.

O'BRIEN: Thank you, Mike Brooks, appreciate it, tragic story there.

All right, well, up next on LIVE FROM.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What's going to happen if you don't make it? What happens to your family?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: Camping trip nightmare. Hikers trapped by a deadly blizzard talk about surviving their ordeal. Later on LIVE FROM, command performance. Comedian Jamie Foxx wows the critics and tells me what it's like to meet and portray the late great Ray Charles. LIVE FROM interview.

Next week, big changes.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Well, not a good week for hiking in Yosemite National Park. An unseasonably early and severe storm caught several climbers by surprise in the Sierra Nevada. Nineteen very relieved people rescued today but not every story in these mountains ended so well.

Rusty Dornin is in Yosemite National Park.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Across the Sierra Nevada, time was critical -- the weather postcard perfect for rescuers. At Yosemite's El Capitan, these climbers braved the blizzard this week, hanging on ropes huddled on the face of the granite monolith. Under warm, sunny skies, they are trying to climb out on their own. The only way to reach stranded climbers here is to fly a helicopter to the top and rappel rescuers down the base.

Here you see them retrieving the bodies of a Japanese couple who froze to death. Later, the bodies were brought down the mountain. Apparently, the couple was trapped near a waterfall that was getting them wetter and wetter as temperatures dropped.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You are just colder and colder and with no shelter they were at the wrong place at the wrong time without the proper equipment.

DORNIN: Across the Sierra to the southeast, four hikers rescued by a helicopter well-prepared they hunkered down for four days, but when the skies cleared, the snow was so deep they couldn't go anywhere.

JEFF PEACOCK, RESCUED HIKER: It took us, I don't know, 20 minutes to walk a hundred yards and we were so exhausted we could barely move.

DORNIN: His 73-year-old father says he and his son both imagined the worse.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You have all kinds of dreams about what's going on happen if you don't make it. What happens to your family.

PEACOCK: And when we heard the chopper come over, we just ran out and grabbed all our mirrors and red signal flares and waved them in. DORNIN: This couple and their dog also waved in the rescuers. Missing since Monday, they were picked up in yet another part of the Sierra.

On another happy note, four hikers from a Santa Cruz wine-making family can toast their rescuers for finding them in the snows above Shaver Lake.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: One hiker, an Arizona man, is still missing in the Sierra Nevadas. Searchers hope the favorable weather conditions hold until he's found.

O'BRIEN: Well investors are loving Google today and why not?

WHITFIELD: They love Google a lot sometimes. Apparently it's done pretty good for itself. Let's get the details from Rhonda Schaffler at the New York Stock Exchange. Hello, Rhonda.

(STOCK MARKET UPDATE)

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Aired October 22, 2004 - 13:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RICK SNELGROVE, VICTORIA'S FATHER: What happened to her should not happen to any American citizen going to any type of game.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: An out of control victory celebration, a young woman dies, and Boston police take full responsibility. We'll go in-depth on this this hour.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Plea from an aide worker kidnapped in Iraq. An Arabic station, Al-Jazeera, airs the video. We're live from Baghdad.

O'BRIEN: Senator Kerry courts women while President Bush breaks out of the wolf pack. We are live from the campaign trail.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BEVERLY MITCHELL, HOMEOWNER: She decorated. She hung picture, family portraits.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: The ultimate home invasion -- a woman returns from vacation to find someone else has moved in.

From the CNN Center in Atlanta, I'm Fredricka Whitfield in for Kyra Phillips.

O'BRIEN: And I'm Miles O'Brien. CNN's LIVE FROM starts right now.

It is W-day for the Kerry campaign, Wisconsin, women and western states that voted Bush in 2000. W, meanwhile, minds the golden triangle of swing states, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Florida. Yet, somehow, 10 days out from the election, neither man can distance himself from the other guy in the only landscape that really matters. Check out this new poll from the Associated Press. Kerry leads Bush among likely voters 49 to 46, but there's that three percentage point potential margin of error which you should consider.

CNN's poll of polls which averages a number of recent samplings puts Bush on top, 48 to 46, lots of numbers to think about there. Talk about covering ground. Kerry today is courting a group that as recently as four years ago was a faithful, Democratic voter base, but he's also heading deep into GOP territory, Nevada today, Colorado tomorrow.

CNN's Kelly Wallace weighs in from Milwaukee with the latest from there -- Kelly?

KELLY WALLACE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Miles, you of course know how powerful women can be. Well, they're so powerful they can really decide this election because according to a survey conducted by the Pew Research Center earlier this month, 62 percent of those voters still undecided are women. And so, the Kerry campaign very much trying to reach out to these undecided voters, these women voters.

Senator Kerry just wrapped up a speech here on the campus of the University of Wisconsin in Milwaukee and he had a little Kennedy star power on hand. Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg introducing Senator John Kerry saying he will be good for women and good for families that these issues are very important. The senator in his speech very much criticizing the Bush administration and promising equal pay for women and also raising the minimum wage.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: No matter how tough it gets, no one in the White House seems to be listening. The women I meet, they don't expect the government to do their jobs for them. But they do want leaders who are on their side as they try to do their jobs. They want somebody to be able to empower them to facilitate, to be able to make the playing field fair. And what I hear today ...

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALLACE: And part of the outreach by Senator Kerry is because looking at the polls, Senator Kerry has anywhere according to our CNN/"USA Today"/Gallup poll a six-point lead with women voters over President Bush. "The New York Times" poll has them with a lead of about 10 points, but another survey, "Newsweek" showing him behind President Bush with women.

The reason this is so key is because Democrats traditionally doing better with women voters than Republicans. In fact, Al Gore had an 11-point advantage with women voters over George W. Bush in 2000. So that is key. Also Miles, as you said, the senator heading west to Nevada and Colorado, definitely GOP territory, but two battleground states that went for George W. Bush in 2000, the Kerry campaign hoping to turn those around this time around - Miles?

O'BRIEN: Kelly, what are the chances of that, though? That's real Republican country. Time is short. Is the candidate wasting his time?

WALLACE: Well, no. Again, if you look at the polls and the polls show it very tight in Nevada and also showing Colorado possibly tight which is surprised, George W. Bush winning that state comfortably I believe, by more than eight points in 2000. So, they think based on the growth of these states, a large Hispanic population, concerns about jobs, concerns about Iraq, that they have a fighting chance in both states and as you see President Bush spending a lot of time in Nevada and Colorado. So, clearly, they still think these states are competitive as well.

O'BRIEN: All right. An unlikely battleground, Kelly Wallace, thank you very much. Fredricka?

WHITFIELD: All right. Thanks, Miles.

Bush on is on the ultimate battleground blitz today, Pennsylvania in the morning, Ohio at midday, Florida by night. They're all up for grabs, each offering a minimum of 20 electoral votes and the pundits tell us whoever wins two out of three of those states will win the election. Want some more numbers? Well, this is Bush's 41st visit to Pennsylvania as president. His 40th visit took place yesterday and in his rally this morning in Wilkes-Barre, Bush enumerated the differences between himself and his opponent.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: You've had a chance to see both of us in action, to measure our consistency, our resolve, our values and our ability to lead. This election comes down to five clear choices for the American families, five choices on issues of great consequence: Your family security, your budget, your quality of life, your retirement and the bedrock values that are so critical to our families and our future.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: The running mates are running on opposite sides of the country. John Edwards is apparently trying to speak to every undecided Florida voter personally. He's hitting three Florida cities today, two more tomorrow. Dick Cheney has a rally in Minnesota under his belt and plans to preside at a town hall in Iowa later this hour.

And s if all that weren't enough, there's another new attack ad today and we do mean attack. Here now to sink his teeth into all the day's headline, CNN political analyst Carlos Watson. Good to see you.

CARLOS WATSON, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Good to see you.

WHITFIELD: All right. We're talking about the latest, a wolf attack. A lot of these attacks striking fear whether it be about terrorism or whether it be about the flu and the shortage of the vaccines. Can this get any more visceral with just 10 more days to go?

WATSON: Actually, believe it or not, it can. What's so interesting about this Fredricka is not only the ads and we'll probably see, just between now and election day, we'll probably $200 million in additional money spent on this campaign. But here's what's significant. As tough as the ads are on TV, they're even tougher in direct mail and on these phone calls. You've got flyers going around Iowa, Ohio and other places that even - that are much more raw than what you're seeing on television.

WHITFIELD: And the sad thing is, so many voters really don't know what the truth is. They're getting confused, the lines are blurred.

WATSON: You know, you see in some polls, 80 percent of voters in at least one poll said that the candidates have very different positions which, by the way is not always true. In some places, they're actually fairly close, but that's much more polarized. And so voters being able to discern what the difference is on health care, taxes, the economy, it's a little bit harder this time.

WHITFIELD: The battleground states, Ohio, Florida, Pennsylvania, vital. The next president has to win two out of those three. So what does it mean for the strategy of these two candidates? Do they both feel pretty confident about that two out of three number?

WATSON: All three of those are tight, but here's what's so interesting to me. Both of these guys this time around have Florida alternative strategies. The last time we all talked about Florida and this time we're talking about Florida, but the reality is the president could afford to lose Florida this time and still win the election. How does he do that?

He does it by picking up three Midwestern states. Wisconsin, Iowa and Minnesota combined have 28 electoral votes and so he can replace Florida's 27 electoral votes and do that. Alternatively, John Kerry could not pick up Florida, but if he were to win Ohio and hold all the states that Al Gore won, he could win the election. So there are some alternative strategies on both sides to still winning this election even without Florida.

WHITFIELD: Which is interesting because a Republican president can't win without Ohio.

WATSON: Or at least that's (INAUDIBLE) You know what is so interesting about this election is so much about common wisdom has gone by the side. I mean, traditionally the candidate who raised the most money by January 1st, which is usually a nominee of the power, Howard Dean wasn't the nominee for the Democrats, right.

Traditionally, a president who's below 50 percent in approval ratings can't possibly be in a competitive flight. But the president's been below 50 percent in his approval number, this late in the campaign and is still neck and neck in this race.

WHITFIELD: Wow! Let's talk about your show this weekend, "OFF TOPIC."

WATSON: Yes!

WHITFIELD: You've got three very interesting characters, Heidi Klum, Shaquille O'Neal, Barack Obama. You're not really talking politics with all of them, but surprisingly you are talking politics with Shaquille O'Neal.

WATSON: I am. The big guy, Shaq, the daddy, all 7'1" of him is going to run for office. I was surprised.

WHITFIELD: Where and when and what office?

WATSON: Guess what you have to do. You've got to watch "OFF TOPIC" this Sunday, 10:00 p.m. Eastern or 1:00 a.m. Eastern and you'll find out. But I was surprised. I learned at last a couple of things. One that Shaq's going to run for office. Two, did you know he's in graduate school?

WHITFIELD: No.

WATSON: I didn't know either.

WHITFIELD: Well, I know he had just, within the past couple of years had received a degree, an undergraduate.

WATSON: from LSU, but now he's gone back to graduate school. You don't think of that. It's a part of the idea of the show whether we're talking to basketball legend Shaquille O'Neal or political star Barack Obama from Illinois or model Heidi Klum is to talk to them about something different, something you wouldn't normally expect, so Heidi Klum on business and she, by the way, runs a very complex global multimillion business and you'll hear more about it.

WHITFIELD: Is this the jewelry?

WATSON: Not just jewelry, candy, shoes, clothing.

WHITFIELD: Really?

WATSON: And it's a very diversified business and sometimes you think that's just a shell. She's not really running it. I was with her for four hours. She's running that business.

WHITFIELD: Impressive.

WATSON: Everything you think a model is or your stereotypes, they're going to be destroyed when you see this conversation.

WHITFIELD: I've seen an interview with her. She's a smart lady.

WATSON: And she's fun, too.

WHITFIELD: Oh, good and Barack Obama, talk a little bit about politics. But what's interesting, his opponent, Alan Keyes, apparently his name and image didn't appear on these Republican mailings that went out recently. The Republicans are saying oops, we didn't mean it intentionally, but what's to make of that?

WATSON: It's just more trouble for the Republicans in Illinois in the Senate race. Remember, their candidate dropped out amid some scandals and they took a while to find a replacement. They thought they were going to have a great replacement in the former Chicago Bears coach Mike Ditka, but he decided not to do it and Alan Keyes, who was living in Maryland, swung over to Illinois to run. So it's been a tough situation for them. WHITFIELD: All right. Carlos Watson. Thanks so much. "OFF TOPIC," this weekend, time to catch it.

WATSON: 10:00 p.m. Eastern, or 1:00 a.m. Eastern if you're an insomniac. Tune in.

WHITFIELD: Or watch both.

WATSON: Please, please, please. Good to see you.

WHITFIELD: All right. Thanks a lot, Carlos. Good to see you, too. Miles?

O'BRIEN: Overseas this hour, a heart rending plea from the charity worker being held hostage in Iraq. CNN's Karl Penhaul joining us live from Baghdad with more on that. Carl?

KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Miles. This is certainly very disturbing video that we've seen broadcast on the Arabic language broadcaster Al-Jazeera. It's of Margaret Hassan. She's a British Iraqi national, the country director for Iraq for the aid organization Care International.

In this video, she says, "Please, please help me." She directs a plea to the British people telling them to call on British Prime Minister Tony Blair to pull his troops out of Iraq. She also calls on the British people to tell Tony Blair not to let him send British troops any closer to Baghdad.

All of this together with the timing of Hassan's kidnap which was on Tuesday, makes it seem as if this kidnapping is very closely linked to Britain's decision to redeploy a battalion of Scottish troops closer to Baghdad in order that U.S. Marines can then ready themselves for possible assault on Falluja.

Margaret Hassan, in this video also warns that if Tony Blair doesn't pull his troops out or if he allows them in fact to come closer to Baghdad, then she may die in the same way as the British engineer Kenneth Bigley died. As we know two weeks ago, Ken Bigley was beheaded by the al Zarqawi terrorist network. It's not clear though Miles at this stage who are the kidnappers behind Margaret Hassan's kidnapping.

O'BRIEN: Karl, obviously terrible concerns here. Has the British government responded in any way?

PENHAUL: So far, the British government hasn't responded. The last we heard from the British government was yesterday when British defense minister Jeff Boon stood before parliament and made the formal announcement that about 850 men of the black watch battalion would be sent just south of Baghdad. He gave no timings of that.

We have heard from the British government expressions of sympathy at Hassan's kidnapping. They have said including Prime Minister Blair has said that he will do everything in his power to secure her release, but what is the mystery here? Why Margaret Hassan? She's a woman that also has Iraqi citizenship, dedicated more than half her life to aid work here. Miles?

O'BRIEN: Tragic story. All right. Karl Penhaul, thank you very much.

Elsewhere in Iraq today, more air strikes in Falluja. A military spokesman says U.S. troops saw weapons being moved from one building to another overnight and they took out both buildings, they say. No word on casualties however.

In Mosul, Iraqi National Guard troops came under grenade, small arms and mortar fire today when they raided a mosque. The mosque was thought to be a sanctuary for bomb makers. U.S. troops reportedly not involved in that operation.

And just north of Baghdad near Baquba, children once again in the crossfire when insurgents ambushed a U.S. patrol. No GIs hurt, but at least 10 civilians were. Two of them are reportedly children.

WHITFIELD: Use of less than lethal force has legal results when Boston police try to disperse a group of baseball fans. Could the death have been prevented?

To the rescue, some hikers trapped for days by a blizzard tell their amazing stories and Ann Coulter makes a move to the left and a dash to the right to dodges a flying dessert and caught on tape. An explanation served up later on LIVE FROM.

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WHITFIELD: Jubilation in Boston dampened a bit by the news of a tragic event following the Red Sox game seven win over New York. Police trying to disperse crowds of celebrating fans fired plastic balls containing pepper spray, one of which struck a 21-year-old woman in the eye. She later died.

Amateur video here obtained by CNN that you're watching right now shows the scene amid the estimated 80,000 people packed into the area around Fenway Park. Boston's police department takes full responsibility for the death of Victoria Snelgrove. Small comfort, if any, for the young woman's grieving family.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SNELGROVE: What happened to her should not happen to any American citizen going to any type of game no matter what. She loved the Red Sox. She went in to celebrate with friends. She was a bystander. She was out of the way, but she still got shot.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: Just breaks your heart. The pepper spray used in that crowd control situation in Boston is what police call a less lethal weapon. It's one of many developed as an alternate to the last resort, of course, using their service revolver or service weapon. It's not a new tactic and it draws a lot of controversy frequently.

CNN's law enforcement analyst Mike Brooks here to tell us more about this.

Mike, first, I know you've been on the phone with the folks in Boston and there was a statement which came out from the superintendent and it's just a heart-wrenching statement. It's unusual I think even for a police statement to show the pain really that the police department is going through.

MIKE BROOKS, LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: It's very unusual. It's very unusual that the department will come out and just take total responsibility even before the investigation starts. The officer has been placed on administrative leave as is the normal procedure and they are now investigating exactly what happened. They're going to look at every piece of video. They're going to interview every witness that was there to find out exactly what happened and why this had to happen.

O'BRIEN: All right. So basically what we're talking about here, we have from the web site of the company that produces this particular device, a couple of illustrations for us to give us a sense of what this particular weapon is. Less lethal is what this is called. It looks like a lethal thing just looking at it. But why don't you explain. It's really glorified paintball, isn't it?

BROOKS: It really is. This particular system as the commissioner called it a less lethal system, but again less lethal, we used to call it non lethal. Now, it's less lethal because anything under certain circumstances can be lethal. This particular - it's called the FN .303. It's by FNHERSTAL, Fabrique Nationale. Some people may be familiar with -- and you see it has a little disk and in this disk, it's a little magazine and it's a round magazine. Right behind you see the (INAUDIBLE) there. It holds 15 projectiles. You can use paint. You can use an impact projectile but this is the kind of projectile that's used, not very big, a paint pellet.

But one of the things you have to consider also Miles, is under normal conditions, normal temperatures it's probably fairly soft, but it's little bit colder up there and the colder it gets, the harder it's going to get also. These usually break upon impact. They'll shoot it at the person and it will open up with OC spray, oleoresin (INAUDIBLE) which is basically cayenne pepper, very, very strong.

O'BRIEN: Pepper spray.

BROOKS: Pepper spray, that's it and it will saturate the person that shot it with pepper spray. Now this very unfortunate fatality because it hit the girl in the eye and that's again, less than lethal and that's not supposed to happen.

O'BRIEN: So the way it's supposed to be it's supposed to hit the body, the torso, let's say. That person would certainly know it happened. It would be quite a shock and trauma. There you see this device being used there.

BROOKS: Right.

O'BRIEN: This is, we believe perhaps, at moment of the firing. BROOKS: Very, very similar gun. This is the kind of gun the Boston police is using. Other departments are using the same kind of delivery system. Now it's also delivered by compressed air, just like the paint pellet guns that people go and pay for to go to a little -- out in the country and have war games if you will, but it is a paint pellet gun, travels about 85 to 90 meters per second. You can fire off 15 of these pellets in about three seconds.

O'BRIEN: And just quickly, looking at what happened in Washington for the recent IMF meetings, different sort of device which has less potential lethal impact, right?

BROOKS: D.C. has gotten rid of all projectiles that they shoot into a crowd. Also, I was with the metropolitan police for 26 years. I was on the special operations division, civil disturbance unit and we used to have hand thrown grenades that we used. But here you have -- they're getting rid of the hand thrown and what they're using are large canisters of OC spray that are pressurized like a fire extinguisher that shoot 30 to 40 feet.

I also talked to someone in New York City today. We look at the championships that New York City has won. We've never seen anything like this. We'll go back to the Super Bowl last year, earlier this year I should say, and Boston where there was one death there, not police involved. There was one death here after celebration. I ask why does this happen? Why doesn't this happy in New York City where you have so many people and officers?

I was told by a former commander there that what they do is they bring the horses in. They bring in large amounts of officers with a show of force and that all of a sudden, it will take the fight out of a crowd and they also were looking at delivery systems like this, but they don't use any projectiles that are fired into the crowd either. They also use the pressurized OC canisters.

O'BRIEN: Interesting, so there's a little bit of technology there and a little bit of tactics.

BROOKS: Absolutely.

O'BRIEN: Maybe just a show of force means more than firing a weapon of any kind.

BROOKS: I'm sure. I'm sure this will be looked at also by the Boston police department as their investigation continues.

O'BRIEN: Thank you, Mike Brooks, appreciate it, tragic story there.

All right, well, up next on LIVE FROM.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What's going to happen if you don't make it? What happens to your family?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: Camping trip nightmare. Hikers trapped by a deadly blizzard talk about surviving their ordeal. Later on LIVE FROM, command performance. Comedian Jamie Foxx wows the critics and tells me what it's like to meet and portray the late great Ray Charles. LIVE FROM interview.

Next week, big changes.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Well, not a good week for hiking in Yosemite National Park. An unseasonably early and severe storm caught several climbers by surprise in the Sierra Nevada. Nineteen very relieved people rescued today but not every story in these mountains ended so well.

Rusty Dornin is in Yosemite National Park.

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RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Across the Sierra Nevada, time was critical -- the weather postcard perfect for rescuers. At Yosemite's El Capitan, these climbers braved the blizzard this week, hanging on ropes huddled on the face of the granite monolith. Under warm, sunny skies, they are trying to climb out on their own. The only way to reach stranded climbers here is to fly a helicopter to the top and rappel rescuers down the base.

Here you see them retrieving the bodies of a Japanese couple who froze to death. Later, the bodies were brought down the mountain. Apparently, the couple was trapped near a waterfall that was getting them wetter and wetter as temperatures dropped.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You are just colder and colder and with no shelter they were at the wrong place at the wrong time without the proper equipment.

DORNIN: Across the Sierra to the southeast, four hikers rescued by a helicopter well-prepared they hunkered down for four days, but when the skies cleared, the snow was so deep they couldn't go anywhere.

JEFF PEACOCK, RESCUED HIKER: It took us, I don't know, 20 minutes to walk a hundred yards and we were so exhausted we could barely move.

DORNIN: His 73-year-old father says he and his son both imagined the worse.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You have all kinds of dreams about what's going on happen if you don't make it. What happens to your family.

PEACOCK: And when we heard the chopper come over, we just ran out and grabbed all our mirrors and red signal flares and waved them in. DORNIN: This couple and their dog also waved in the rescuers. Missing since Monday, they were picked up in yet another part of the Sierra.

On another happy note, four hikers from a Santa Cruz wine-making family can toast their rescuers for finding them in the snows above Shaver Lake.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: One hiker, an Arizona man, is still missing in the Sierra Nevadas. Searchers hope the favorable weather conditions hold until he's found.

O'BRIEN: Well investors are loving Google today and why not?

WHITFIELD: They love Google a lot sometimes. Apparently it's done pretty good for itself. Let's get the details from Rhonda Schaffler at the New York Stock Exchange. Hello, Rhonda.

(STOCK MARKET UPDATE)

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