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Bush Visits Uribe; Kurt Busch on Winning NASCAR Title

Aired November 22, 2004 - 13:33   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: "Now in the News," Iraq's interim prime minister is urging national unity when the country goes to the polls on January 30th. Ayad Allawi called for cooperation rather than more violence and he says the U.S.-led operation in Falluja has broken the back of the insurgents.
Iran says it's suspended its controversial nuclear enrichment program today but it may not matter. Iran already has converted tons of raw uranium into gas that could be used to make nuclear fuel or nuclear weapons. Iran insists its program is peaceful.

A crushing debt load is forcing Donald Trump's casino empire to file for bankruptcy protection. The action follows months of negotiations with bond holders. Analysts say that Trump's New Jersey casino operation has been hurt by tough new competition.

There is ultra-tight security on land, sea and in the air as President Bush visits Colombia. He's meeting with the Colombian president on an island off the coast, with the drug war topping the agenda. CNN's Dana Bash is traveling with the president -- Dana.

DANA BASH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Kyra. White House officials say President Bush was invited here by his host, the president, Alvaro Uribe, and it was done during a congratulatory phone call to Mr. Bush on his re-election.

Now, Uribe is one of the few leaders in this part of the world who supported the president in the war on Iraq. But as you mentioned, the war on drugs certainly tops the agenda here and the $3 billion in U.S. aid that the U.S. has given Colombia in a program called Plan Colombia. That is something that the two men are going to talk about. That was a program started under President Clinton and the issue is whether or not it will continue after it expires next year.

Now, as you mentioned, security is incredibly tight here. Essentially -- this country has essentially been involved in a four- decade old civil war and the president is only going to be on the ground for about four hours. But local estimates are that 15,000 Colombian security forces have been deployed. You can see U.S. Navy commandos in the water with -- in rubber boats. They were awaiting Air Force One and are there and will be there as the president has his visit here in Cartagena.

Now, this is the second stop for Mr. Bush in South America. The first, of course, was over the weekend at the APEC summit in Santiago, Chile. And it was there he got the news that an intelligence bill he says he supported and actually made some calls on to get passed from Chile actually was stalled.

And in a press conference with his host in Chile, Mr. Bush was asked whether or not he thought his defense secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, was involved in stalling that bill, as even some Republicans say, because they think he was trying to prevent the purse strings on intelligence from leaving his authority.

Mr. Bush did not answer that question directly, but did say that he was not happy, but not giving up.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It was very clear I wanted the bill passed. I talked to key members of the House, as did my vice president. And we'll continue working with them and hopefully we can get a bill done. I saw the speakers (ph) today said the matter wasn't complete, it wasn't over, it wasn't final, that we have a chance to get a bill. Therefore, when I get home, I'm looking forward to working it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: Certainly a disappointing outcome for a president who said just a few weeks ago that he has political capital that he earned and intends to use it. Now having trouble with those in his own party to get things he says he wants passed to actually get passed.

And this is in addition to something that Mr. Bush brought up over the weekend, a renewed pledge to pass immigration reform, that is, his plan that he announced about a year ago to give temporary legal status to illegal workers. That is one other thing, Kyra, that many conservatives in his own party do not like and say they're going to fight him on -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Dana Bash live from Colombia, thanks so much.

And President Bush says that he's disappointed that Congress failed to send him on a bill on -- or send him, rather, on a bill of intelligence reform, that plan to overhaul the nation's 15 spy agencies and follow the reform plan of the 9/11 committee was blocked by some conservative members of Congress over the weekend.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TIMOTHY ROEMER, 9/11 COMMISSION MEMBER: Congress and the White House failed over the weekend to provide the political leadership to get this bill before the American people. And the American people, I hope, and the 9/11 families, I hope, will be angered by this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Congress may take action next month if and when it reconvenes.

One other note on spying. A provision that would have allowed Congress new snooping powers into Americans' tax returns appears to be dead. The provision was part of an omnibus spending bill and Republican Congressman Ernest Istook says that snooping was never the intent. His sub-committee is in charge of IRS oversight. A Senate staffer found the provision in the bill.

Straight ahead on LIVE FROM, he lives fast and drives fast. And he won this weekend. NASCAR racer Kurt Busch straight ahead.

Also, on a much more serious note, five are dead and now police are asking what happened in the woods of Wisconsin?

Plus, a little less pain at the pump. The gas price drop and what it means for you.

Also later, marking a sad milestone. The assassination of JFK. A look back at a life cut short.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well, if you're not a NASCAR fan, chances are that you probably haven't heard of Kurt Busch. But this weekend the 26-year- old driver made history, winning the closest NASCAR cup title race ever. Busch overcame a number of obstacles, including a broken wheel, just to clinch that championship. Kurt Busch joins us now live from Charlotte, North Carolina, to talk about his incredible win.

Hi, Kurt.

KURT BUSCH, NASCAR CHAMPION: Hello, how are you?

PHILLIPS: Good. Good to see you. Well, I guess take us back to lap 93. You started having a few issues with your tires.

BUSCH: Yeah. We literally had the wheels falling off the racecar. Something we've never actually had as a problem. The center section of the wheel broke away from the rim and it was a problem that we were just surprised by. And then, of course, the repercussions from that, it developed into another problem. But luckily, it was all early enough in the race for us to overcome those problems and get back to the front.

PHILLIPS: Well, you had you pretty good pit strategy and you obviously remained focused. But how did you do that? Because that's -- a lot of the time, most of the time, I guess, when you have tire issues, it can be very detrimental to where you stand.

BUSCH: You want everything to go perfect, especially on the final race, when every dollar and every point is out on the line, you want to have things go your way. And it just was a testament to what our team did this whole season. With one problem, we were able to overcame that, one race track to next. Our team just had a perfect approach to this new style of points, with a regular season -- we had a great regular season, winning some races, and then with the playoff series, opening it up with a win at Loudon, New Hampshire, and sitting on the pole and finishing fifth at the last race gave us this championship. PHILLIPS: You know, that's a really good point. Looking at NASCAR's playoff style format -- this new format -- and also this point system and here, this race for you, I mean, 8 points. That's so tight. Overall, you think it's good for the sport, these changes that are going on? Obviously it's good for you.

BUSCH: I had never seen a bigger smile on the president of NASCAR, Mike Helton, with the way he reacted to it -- to the challenge that was facing us drivers and at the end of the day, when he handed the new Nextel Cup trophy to my hands. It was unbelievable the amount of weight that came with that trophy, as well as the amount of weight that we had to overcome throughout the season to challenge the other drivers to be at our best at every race, and to make sure that we didn't have any problem that developed into a bigger problem.

PHILLIPS: All right. Well, we've seen the video. We've seen the win. We saw what you went through over the weekend. Let's get personal. Dad's been a big influence in your life. I mean, this is someone you have looked up to for a number of years. He's a racer himself. Right?

BUSCH: From the word go. He started the year I was born and I surround myself with older, wiser gentlemen around racecars because they have that racer mentality. They know how to fix anything, they know how to work on it and the direction that a team needs to go. My father taught me everything I needed to know at a grass-roots level. And then once I was engaged with this race team at Roush Racing, they taught me tremendous amount as well as off-track things. And so that's what's created me and who I am today, with being able to just uphold the different challenges and everything that comes away as a driver and as well as the media side of it and, of course, the sponsor side.

PHILLIPS: All right, two other people that have made impact on you. President Bush. What was it like meeting him at Daytona?

BUSCH: It was a wonderful opportunity to meet the president. He was shaking hands with some of the drivers and I walked up to introduce myself. I said Mr. President, my name is Kurt Busch. And he looks at me and he says, son, how do you spell it? And I says, well, I'm like the beer. And he says, oh, you're one of those rich Busches. And I said, no, no, I'm not related. It was a great time that we got to spend together.

PHILLIPS: That's classic. The president and the beer. All right, and finally, we got to ask you this. We see you -- you know, all these pictures of you and Eva Bryan. What's the deal? When are you going to pop the question? She's with you at all the races.

BUSCH: She's been a magnificent girlfriend through all of this stress, through this time of turmoil and just our lives coming together and being able to be one and go through all of these troubles and of course, relish in the victory that we had yesterday. It could be this year, could be next year. I've got to test her a little bit more just to find out.

PHILLIPS: Hey, you better hold on to her. You can have an attitude now and then, Kurt.

BUSCH: I know it. So I should back it down and just get the deal sealed.

PHILLIPS: There you go. Humble yourself there. She's a good woman.

BUSCH: I will. I'll take that advice.

PHILLIPS: Oh, very good. Well, congratulations on your win. We'll be following you. And thanks for your time today, Kurt.

BUSCH: Thank you very much. I appreciate it.

PHILLIPS: Well, straight ahead, a number of stories that we're working on, specifically the authorities in Wisconsin saying that they're pretty stunned by a hunting dispute that turned into a fatal shooting. A man is accused of killing five hunters and wounding three others. The sheriff spoke with reporters earlier today.

(START VIDEO CLIP)

TOM RICHIE, BARRON COUNTY SHERIFF: This incident has certainly caused a sense of disarray, disbelief in our community. All eight of the victims, including the five deceased, are residents of Barron County. They are all very well known and well respected members of our community. In regards to the investigation, as mentioned, the Sawyer County Sheriff's Department is responsible for that. Barron County has assisted and has offered any possible resources to them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: The suspect accused of shooting the men is in custody now. We expect to hear more from Wisconsin sheriffs at the top of the hour.

Straight ahead -- what's got Senator Ted Kennedy so furious with the makers of a computer game?

RHONDA SCHAFFLER, CNN FINANCIAL CORRESPONDENT: And I'm Rhonda Schaffler in New York. Hitting the road for the holiday? You'll get a break filling up the tank. I'll have that story and a check of today's markets. So don't go anywhere.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Despicable. That's how a spokesperson for Senator Ted Kennedy is describing a new video game that recreates the assassination of President Kennedy. The British makers of "JFK Reloaded" defend the game, they say it's educational since it allows players to debunk conspiracy theories about the president's death. The game is being released today, the 41st anniversary of JFK's assassination in Texas.

Well, November 22, 1963, remains one of most memorable and grim days in American history. On this anniversary, CNN's Bruce Morton takes a good look back at JFK's legacy.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRUCE MORTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): What kind of a politician was he? A very, very good one. Running for president in 1960, he was running uphill.

ROBERT DALLEK, HISTORIAN: After all, he was going to be the youngest man ever elected to the White House. And he had to overcome the barrier of being the first Catholic elected president.

MORTON: Primaries mattered less back then, party leaders chose many delegates but Kennedy had to go to West Virginia to prove a Catholic could carry a heavily Protestant state.

JOHN F. KENNEDY, FMR. PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I am sure that here in this state of West Virginia no one believes that I'd be a candidate for the presidency if I didn't think I could meet my oath of office.

MORTON: In other words, he wouldn't take orders from Rome. He won West Virginia, won the White House. He was not one of those eastern liberals.

MARK SHIELDS, "THE CAPITAL GANG": What he brought to it more than any passion was sort of a sort of cool rationality. And in that sense, he was a remarkably detached politician from the emotions and passions of the tribal Irish.

MORTON: He needed the rationality, the cool, the (UNINTELLIGIBLE) tried to bully him, Kennedy saw the Berlin Wall go up, (UNINTELLIGIBLE) World War III, and made a speech there which inspired the besieged city.

KENNEDY: It's been unbelievable.

MORTON: Khrushchev installed Soviet missiles in Cuba, Kennedy resisting calls to invade or bomb brokered a compromise. Khrushchev withdrew the missiles. The U.S. was (UNINTELLIGIBLE) into the Soviet Union. Dealing with Congress though, he had a real problem. It was Democratic, but...

DALLEK: As a legislative politician, he was up against something he couldn't overcome, a coalition of conservative Republicans and southern Democrats who wouldn't give the time of day, so to speak to civil rights or Medicare or federal aid, to education.

MORTON: A few victories, a tax cut on the toughest issue, he was stuck.

SHIELDS: Kennedy on the greatest issue the great moral issue of his time, was late.

MORTON: That of course was civil rights. He introduced a bill in the summer of 1963. SHIELDS: As an Irish Catholic I cried out of appreciation, gratitude and respect for his raising civil rights to that level of an issue.

MORTON: But he died. It was left for Lyndon Johnson to bully the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the 1965 Voting Rights Act through Congress while warning friends it would lose the Democrats the south for a generation. It did. The south today is the most Republican part of the country. Could Kennedy have stemmed the losses had he run again? We don't know. But he was a very skillful politician. Bruce Morton, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Good news ahead of that long Thanksgiving drive. Prices at pump might not be as bad as you thought. Rhonda Schaffler joins us live from the New York Stock Exchange. What's up with that, Rhonda?

(STOCK MARKET REPORT)

PHILLIPS: Coming up in the second hour of LIVE FROM, live pictures out of Wisconsin right now. Asking the question, why did a Wisconsin hunter end up fatally shooting five people. We are moments away from a news conference. Once we get our cameras in order.

Also, the fight that no one can stop talking about, the Pistons and the Pacers and the hoop hell in Detroit. Who is to blame? I'm going to speak to a former NBA player. LIVE FROM's hour of power begins right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Why did a Wisconsin hunter end up fatally shooting five people? We're moments away from a news conference with investigators in Washington -- or in Wisconsin, rather.

Also live this hour, a follow-up to the dust-up in Detroit. The Indiana Pacers coach along with the president of basketball operations, Larry Bird. We'll have a live news conference.

President Bush live in Colombia on his way back from international talks. We expect him to participate in a live news conference later this hour.

From the CNN center in Atlanta, I'm Kyra Phillips. Miles is off today. A busy hour of CNN's LIVE FROM starts right now.

Up first this hour, hoops, punches, and videotape were awaiting not one but two news conferences on that basketbrawl at the end of a Pacers/Pistons game last Friday near Detroit. We're going to go to them as soon as each starts. And here's another look at the melee. A Michigan prosecutor says that fans, players, and other team personnel could face criminal charges for their roles in this brawl. The NBA has already suspended several of the players.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com


Aired November 22, 2004 - 13:33   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS: "Now in the News," Iraq's interim prime minister is urging national unity when the country goes to the polls on January 30th. Ayad Allawi called for cooperation rather than more violence and he says the U.S.-led operation in Falluja has broken the back of the insurgents.
Iran says it's suspended its controversial nuclear enrichment program today but it may not matter. Iran already has converted tons of raw uranium into gas that could be used to make nuclear fuel or nuclear weapons. Iran insists its program is peaceful.

A crushing debt load is forcing Donald Trump's casino empire to file for bankruptcy protection. The action follows months of negotiations with bond holders. Analysts say that Trump's New Jersey casino operation has been hurt by tough new competition.

There is ultra-tight security on land, sea and in the air as President Bush visits Colombia. He's meeting with the Colombian president on an island off the coast, with the drug war topping the agenda. CNN's Dana Bash is traveling with the president -- Dana.

DANA BASH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Kyra. White House officials say President Bush was invited here by his host, the president, Alvaro Uribe, and it was done during a congratulatory phone call to Mr. Bush on his re-election.

Now, Uribe is one of the few leaders in this part of the world who supported the president in the war on Iraq. But as you mentioned, the war on drugs certainly tops the agenda here and the $3 billion in U.S. aid that the U.S. has given Colombia in a program called Plan Colombia. That is something that the two men are going to talk about. That was a program started under President Clinton and the issue is whether or not it will continue after it expires next year.

Now, as you mentioned, security is incredibly tight here. Essentially -- this country has essentially been involved in a four- decade old civil war and the president is only going to be on the ground for about four hours. But local estimates are that 15,000 Colombian security forces have been deployed. You can see U.S. Navy commandos in the water with -- in rubber boats. They were awaiting Air Force One and are there and will be there as the president has his visit here in Cartagena.

Now, this is the second stop for Mr. Bush in South America. The first, of course, was over the weekend at the APEC summit in Santiago, Chile. And it was there he got the news that an intelligence bill he says he supported and actually made some calls on to get passed from Chile actually was stalled.

And in a press conference with his host in Chile, Mr. Bush was asked whether or not he thought his defense secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, was involved in stalling that bill, as even some Republicans say, because they think he was trying to prevent the purse strings on intelligence from leaving his authority.

Mr. Bush did not answer that question directly, but did say that he was not happy, but not giving up.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It was very clear I wanted the bill passed. I talked to key members of the House, as did my vice president. And we'll continue working with them and hopefully we can get a bill done. I saw the speakers (ph) today said the matter wasn't complete, it wasn't over, it wasn't final, that we have a chance to get a bill. Therefore, when I get home, I'm looking forward to working it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: Certainly a disappointing outcome for a president who said just a few weeks ago that he has political capital that he earned and intends to use it. Now having trouble with those in his own party to get things he says he wants passed to actually get passed.

And this is in addition to something that Mr. Bush brought up over the weekend, a renewed pledge to pass immigration reform, that is, his plan that he announced about a year ago to give temporary legal status to illegal workers. That is one other thing, Kyra, that many conservatives in his own party do not like and say they're going to fight him on -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Dana Bash live from Colombia, thanks so much.

And President Bush says that he's disappointed that Congress failed to send him on a bill on -- or send him, rather, on a bill of intelligence reform, that plan to overhaul the nation's 15 spy agencies and follow the reform plan of the 9/11 committee was blocked by some conservative members of Congress over the weekend.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TIMOTHY ROEMER, 9/11 COMMISSION MEMBER: Congress and the White House failed over the weekend to provide the political leadership to get this bill before the American people. And the American people, I hope, and the 9/11 families, I hope, will be angered by this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Congress may take action next month if and when it reconvenes.

One other note on spying. A provision that would have allowed Congress new snooping powers into Americans' tax returns appears to be dead. The provision was part of an omnibus spending bill and Republican Congressman Ernest Istook says that snooping was never the intent. His sub-committee is in charge of IRS oversight. A Senate staffer found the provision in the bill.

Straight ahead on LIVE FROM, he lives fast and drives fast. And he won this weekend. NASCAR racer Kurt Busch straight ahead.

Also, on a much more serious note, five are dead and now police are asking what happened in the woods of Wisconsin?

Plus, a little less pain at the pump. The gas price drop and what it means for you.

Also later, marking a sad milestone. The assassination of JFK. A look back at a life cut short.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well, if you're not a NASCAR fan, chances are that you probably haven't heard of Kurt Busch. But this weekend the 26-year- old driver made history, winning the closest NASCAR cup title race ever. Busch overcame a number of obstacles, including a broken wheel, just to clinch that championship. Kurt Busch joins us now live from Charlotte, North Carolina, to talk about his incredible win.

Hi, Kurt.

KURT BUSCH, NASCAR CHAMPION: Hello, how are you?

PHILLIPS: Good. Good to see you. Well, I guess take us back to lap 93. You started having a few issues with your tires.

BUSCH: Yeah. We literally had the wheels falling off the racecar. Something we've never actually had as a problem. The center section of the wheel broke away from the rim and it was a problem that we were just surprised by. And then, of course, the repercussions from that, it developed into another problem. But luckily, it was all early enough in the race for us to overcome those problems and get back to the front.

PHILLIPS: Well, you had you pretty good pit strategy and you obviously remained focused. But how did you do that? Because that's -- a lot of the time, most of the time, I guess, when you have tire issues, it can be very detrimental to where you stand.

BUSCH: You want everything to go perfect, especially on the final race, when every dollar and every point is out on the line, you want to have things go your way. And it just was a testament to what our team did this whole season. With one problem, we were able to overcame that, one race track to next. Our team just had a perfect approach to this new style of points, with a regular season -- we had a great regular season, winning some races, and then with the playoff series, opening it up with a win at Loudon, New Hampshire, and sitting on the pole and finishing fifth at the last race gave us this championship. PHILLIPS: You know, that's a really good point. Looking at NASCAR's playoff style format -- this new format -- and also this point system and here, this race for you, I mean, 8 points. That's so tight. Overall, you think it's good for the sport, these changes that are going on? Obviously it's good for you.

BUSCH: I had never seen a bigger smile on the president of NASCAR, Mike Helton, with the way he reacted to it -- to the challenge that was facing us drivers and at the end of the day, when he handed the new Nextel Cup trophy to my hands. It was unbelievable the amount of weight that came with that trophy, as well as the amount of weight that we had to overcome throughout the season to challenge the other drivers to be at our best at every race, and to make sure that we didn't have any problem that developed into a bigger problem.

PHILLIPS: All right. Well, we've seen the video. We've seen the win. We saw what you went through over the weekend. Let's get personal. Dad's been a big influence in your life. I mean, this is someone you have looked up to for a number of years. He's a racer himself. Right?

BUSCH: From the word go. He started the year I was born and I surround myself with older, wiser gentlemen around racecars because they have that racer mentality. They know how to fix anything, they know how to work on it and the direction that a team needs to go. My father taught me everything I needed to know at a grass-roots level. And then once I was engaged with this race team at Roush Racing, they taught me tremendous amount as well as off-track things. And so that's what's created me and who I am today, with being able to just uphold the different challenges and everything that comes away as a driver and as well as the media side of it and, of course, the sponsor side.

PHILLIPS: All right, two other people that have made impact on you. President Bush. What was it like meeting him at Daytona?

BUSCH: It was a wonderful opportunity to meet the president. He was shaking hands with some of the drivers and I walked up to introduce myself. I said Mr. President, my name is Kurt Busch. And he looks at me and he says, son, how do you spell it? And I says, well, I'm like the beer. And he says, oh, you're one of those rich Busches. And I said, no, no, I'm not related. It was a great time that we got to spend together.

PHILLIPS: That's classic. The president and the beer. All right, and finally, we got to ask you this. We see you -- you know, all these pictures of you and Eva Bryan. What's the deal? When are you going to pop the question? She's with you at all the races.

BUSCH: She's been a magnificent girlfriend through all of this stress, through this time of turmoil and just our lives coming together and being able to be one and go through all of these troubles and of course, relish in the victory that we had yesterday. It could be this year, could be next year. I've got to test her a little bit more just to find out.

PHILLIPS: Hey, you better hold on to her. You can have an attitude now and then, Kurt.

BUSCH: I know it. So I should back it down and just get the deal sealed.

PHILLIPS: There you go. Humble yourself there. She's a good woman.

BUSCH: I will. I'll take that advice.

PHILLIPS: Oh, very good. Well, congratulations on your win. We'll be following you. And thanks for your time today, Kurt.

BUSCH: Thank you very much. I appreciate it.

PHILLIPS: Well, straight ahead, a number of stories that we're working on, specifically the authorities in Wisconsin saying that they're pretty stunned by a hunting dispute that turned into a fatal shooting. A man is accused of killing five hunters and wounding three others. The sheriff spoke with reporters earlier today.

(START VIDEO CLIP)

TOM RICHIE, BARRON COUNTY SHERIFF: This incident has certainly caused a sense of disarray, disbelief in our community. All eight of the victims, including the five deceased, are residents of Barron County. They are all very well known and well respected members of our community. In regards to the investigation, as mentioned, the Sawyer County Sheriff's Department is responsible for that. Barron County has assisted and has offered any possible resources to them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: The suspect accused of shooting the men is in custody now. We expect to hear more from Wisconsin sheriffs at the top of the hour.

Straight ahead -- what's got Senator Ted Kennedy so furious with the makers of a computer game?

RHONDA SCHAFFLER, CNN FINANCIAL CORRESPONDENT: And I'm Rhonda Schaffler in New York. Hitting the road for the holiday? You'll get a break filling up the tank. I'll have that story and a check of today's markets. So don't go anywhere.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Despicable. That's how a spokesperson for Senator Ted Kennedy is describing a new video game that recreates the assassination of President Kennedy. The British makers of "JFK Reloaded" defend the game, they say it's educational since it allows players to debunk conspiracy theories about the president's death. The game is being released today, the 41st anniversary of JFK's assassination in Texas.

Well, November 22, 1963, remains one of most memorable and grim days in American history. On this anniversary, CNN's Bruce Morton takes a good look back at JFK's legacy.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRUCE MORTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): What kind of a politician was he? A very, very good one. Running for president in 1960, he was running uphill.

ROBERT DALLEK, HISTORIAN: After all, he was going to be the youngest man ever elected to the White House. And he had to overcome the barrier of being the first Catholic elected president.

MORTON: Primaries mattered less back then, party leaders chose many delegates but Kennedy had to go to West Virginia to prove a Catholic could carry a heavily Protestant state.

JOHN F. KENNEDY, FMR. PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I am sure that here in this state of West Virginia no one believes that I'd be a candidate for the presidency if I didn't think I could meet my oath of office.

MORTON: In other words, he wouldn't take orders from Rome. He won West Virginia, won the White House. He was not one of those eastern liberals.

MARK SHIELDS, "THE CAPITAL GANG": What he brought to it more than any passion was sort of a sort of cool rationality. And in that sense, he was a remarkably detached politician from the emotions and passions of the tribal Irish.

MORTON: He needed the rationality, the cool, the (UNINTELLIGIBLE) tried to bully him, Kennedy saw the Berlin Wall go up, (UNINTELLIGIBLE) World War III, and made a speech there which inspired the besieged city.

KENNEDY: It's been unbelievable.

MORTON: Khrushchev installed Soviet missiles in Cuba, Kennedy resisting calls to invade or bomb brokered a compromise. Khrushchev withdrew the missiles. The U.S. was (UNINTELLIGIBLE) into the Soviet Union. Dealing with Congress though, he had a real problem. It was Democratic, but...

DALLEK: As a legislative politician, he was up against something he couldn't overcome, a coalition of conservative Republicans and southern Democrats who wouldn't give the time of day, so to speak to civil rights or Medicare or federal aid, to education.

MORTON: A few victories, a tax cut on the toughest issue, he was stuck.

SHIELDS: Kennedy on the greatest issue the great moral issue of his time, was late.

MORTON: That of course was civil rights. He introduced a bill in the summer of 1963. SHIELDS: As an Irish Catholic I cried out of appreciation, gratitude and respect for his raising civil rights to that level of an issue.

MORTON: But he died. It was left for Lyndon Johnson to bully the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the 1965 Voting Rights Act through Congress while warning friends it would lose the Democrats the south for a generation. It did. The south today is the most Republican part of the country. Could Kennedy have stemmed the losses had he run again? We don't know. But he was a very skillful politician. Bruce Morton, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Good news ahead of that long Thanksgiving drive. Prices at pump might not be as bad as you thought. Rhonda Schaffler joins us live from the New York Stock Exchange. What's up with that, Rhonda?

(STOCK MARKET REPORT)

PHILLIPS: Coming up in the second hour of LIVE FROM, live pictures out of Wisconsin right now. Asking the question, why did a Wisconsin hunter end up fatally shooting five people. We are moments away from a news conference. Once we get our cameras in order.

Also, the fight that no one can stop talking about, the Pistons and the Pacers and the hoop hell in Detroit. Who is to blame? I'm going to speak to a former NBA player. LIVE FROM's hour of power begins right after this.

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PHILLIPS: Why did a Wisconsin hunter end up fatally shooting five people? We're moments away from a news conference with investigators in Washington -- or in Wisconsin, rather.

Also live this hour, a follow-up to the dust-up in Detroit. The Indiana Pacers coach along with the president of basketball operations, Larry Bird. We'll have a live news conference.

President Bush live in Colombia on his way back from international talks. We expect him to participate in a live news conference later this hour.

From the CNN center in Atlanta, I'm Kyra Phillips. Miles is off today. A busy hour of CNN's LIVE FROM starts right now.

Up first this hour, hoops, punches, and videotape were awaiting not one but two news conferences on that basketbrawl at the end of a Pacers/Pistons game last Friday near Detroit. We're going to go to them as soon as each starts. And here's another look at the melee. A Michigan prosecutor says that fans, players, and other team personnel could face criminal charges for their roles in this brawl. The NBA has already suspended several of the players.

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