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Author Predicts Hispanics May Decide the Next U.S. President; Interview With Max Cleland; Former Preemie Now a Teen; Drunken Bear

Aired August 19, 2004 - 11:30   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.


DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Senator John Kerry is launching a two- front counterattack today in response to an ad challenging his record of valor in Vietnam.
Our senior political correspondent Candy Crowley is in Washington with the campaign headlines. Candy, good morning.

CANDY CROWLEY, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, Daryn.

After suggesting he would stay above the fray over his service record, Senator Kerry is personally fighting back. In Boston this morning, he said the so-called Swift Boat Veterans for Truth ad falsely accuses him of lying about his war record, and he pointed a finger of blame squarely at President Bush.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN KERRY, (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: But here's what you really need to know about them: They're funded by hundreds of thousands of dollars from a Republican contributor out of Texas. They're a front for the Bush campaign.

And the fact that the president won't denounce what they're up to tells you everything that you need to know, he wants them to do his dirty work.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CROWLEY: The Kerry campaign also was ruling out a new ad featuring veteran Jim Rassmann, who says Kerry risked his own life to save his in Vietnam.

The White House said President Bush deplores all soft money ads, but he has not specifically condemned the Swift Boat spot. The Bush campaign issued a statement a short while ago saying Kerry knows his statements today are false.

Meantime, a published report questions claims by one of the veterans in the anti-Kerry ad. Larry Thurlow, who commanded a swift boat alongside Kerry's, has disputed claims that Kerry's boat came under fire during an operation that earned both men the Bronze Star. But "The Washington Post" obtained Vietnam-era military records quoting Thurlow as saying, "all units came under fire that day," which would, of course, include Kerry's boat.

The Bush administration might be warming to a proposal to allow cheaper, imported prescription drugs from Canada and other countries. Under increasing pressure from lawmakers in border states, the president now says the idea would make sense if the safety of the drugs can be assured. Critics contend most of the drugs in question are actually made by U.S. manufacturers and then exported to Canada and other countries.

Senator Jon Corzine of New Jersey says he won't press for a special election to replace Governor Jim McGreevey, who plans to resign November 15th. But Corzine is remaining on standby to run if McGreevey decides to step down before September 3rd. That's the 60- day deadline for placing a special election on the November ballot. Corzine's possible candidacy was knocked about after McGreevey announced he's stepping down because of an affair with a man.

Well, we here at CNN have been focusing on the race for the White House. Battles are raging in key Congressional districts across the country. We will check in with the heads of the two House campaign committees.

Plus, the president's wife has been hitting the campaign trail more and more lately, and she seems to be liked by both Republicans and Democrats. We'll take a closer look at First Lady Laura Bush when I go "INSIDE POLITICS" at 3:30 p.m. Eastern.

But right now, we want to go back to Daryn in New York.

KAGAN: All right, Candy. Look forward to seeing more of you later today. Meanwhile, we're going to keep the political discussion going.

Presidential candidates aggressively courting Latinos -- and with good reason: They are the largest minority in the United States, about 40 million at last count. In his latest book, "The Latino Wave," Jorge Ramos predicts Hispanics may decide the next president of the United States.

You know his face -- Jorge Ramos -- from his day job as chief anchor for the Spanish-language network Univision, he joins us from our Miami bureau this morning. Jorge, good morning.

JORGE RAMOS, AUTHOR, "THE LATINO WAVE": Good morning. Great to be here.

KAGAN: I think last I saw you, we were walking through a lobby in Kuwait. So, good to see...

RAMOS: We were somewhere in between Kuwait and Iraq. Yes, quite a different scenario right now.

KAGAN: Somewhere over there. Yes, good to see you.

Different battleground now.

RAMOS: Absolutely.

KAGAN: Let's talk -- fascinating topic for your latest book. The Latino vote, is there such a thing with so many Latinos here in the U.S. as a Latino block -- I have to think that a Latino who's Cuban in Miami has a completely different agenda than a Salvadoran immigrant in southern California.

RAMOS: Absolutely. It's a very diverse group, but what's so interesting is that this election could be decided by these non- monolithic (ph) group. The scenario is more (INAUDIBLE) like this: The country is divided politically between Kerry and Bush, polarized by the war.

So, we have seven to eight million Hispanic voters that will go to the poll on November the 2nd. And with this scenario, these Hispanic voters are concentrated in many battleground states -- among them, Florida, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, and Nevada. So, it is quite probable that Latinos will decide this election as they did in the 2000 election.

KAGAN: You make a good point. We're not just talking numbers. It's not just a who and a how many, but a where. And I think we have a map or a graphic to show some of those battleground states and how it might play out. There you go.

So, especially looking in the west there, Jorge -- Nevada, Colorado, Arizona, and New Mexico -- how do you expect the Latino vote to play out there?

RAMOS: Overall, Latinos tend to vote more for the Democratic party than for the Republican party. The last poll that I saw said that John Kerry is going to win, no question about it, the Hispanic vote. It's going to be about 60 percent for Kerry, about 30 percent for President George W. Bush.

What's interesting is that since Ronald Reagan, every Republican candidate who gets more than 30 percent of the Hispanic vote wins the White House. So, the challenge for John Kerry in the states we mentioned -- Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico -- that, by the way, was won by 366 votes in the year 2000 -- the challenge for John Kerry is to get more than the 67 percent that Al Gore got in the year 2000, and that is quite a challenge.

KAGAN: So, you mean, you watch what these candidates do -- as a non-Latino, I almost laugh when they start their speeches with, you know, Hola, or trying to speak a few token words of Spanish.

Do Latino voters appreciate that, or do they find that patronizing?

RAMOS: No, no, they do appreciate that. The last poll that I saw says that about 60 percent of all Hispanic voters tend to respond positively to the fact that candidates are trying to speak Spanish.

But let me put it this way: If we were to put President Bush and John Kerry in the same room speaking Spanish, they wouldn't understand each other, but they're making an effort. And it is important.

But more than that, it's truly an unprecedented effort when it come to spending money, they're going to be spending much more money -- the candidates, Republican and Democratic party -- on other organizations than ever before.

And third, and this is very important, they are addressing some of the specific concerns of the Hispanic community -- among them, immigration and Cuba. But they have to do much more in addressing other issues like jobs, education, and healthcare in order to truly deserve the Hispanic vote.

KAGAN: Interesting to watch. Jorge Ramos, Univision, and the new book is called "The Latino Wave." Thanks for stopping by.

RAMOS: Thank you.

KAGAN: We'll see you on the road.

RAMOS: All right.

KAGAN: Thank you.

Want to get back to the John Kerry issue and his Vietnam war record and Republicans trying to attack that. It could be politically risky, especially when many believe that military documentation appears to verify Kerry's account.

Former Senator Max Cleland is also a Vietnam vet. He is also an advisor to the Kerry campaign, joining me this morning from campaign headquarters in Washington.

Senator, good morning. Thanks for being here with us.

SEN. MAX CLELAND, KERRY-EDWARDS CAMPAIGN ADVISOR: Good morning.

KAGAN: Well, I think we might be having some audio problems. I'll say good morning one more time to the senator. Senator?

CLELAND: Well, good morning to you and all of you in Atlanta and...

KAGAN: We're going to have to work on that. The problem's on our end, not on your end. Sit tight, senator. We'll be with you in just a moment.

And we will take a break. We'll figure out how we can get the senator's mike working. And we'll be back after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: OK. We want to go and try take two with former Senator Max Cleland.

Joining me from Washington, D.C. and the Kerry campaign as an advisor and former senator and Vietnam vet, joining me this morning.

Senator, good morning.

CLELAND: Good morning.

KAGAN: And I should say I'm told that America could hear you before the break but I couldn't. So I'm glad we got everything plugged in the way it's supposed to be.

CLELAND: Well, it's like the Falcon offense, false start, five- yard penalty, and we replay the down.

KAGAN: You got football on the brain, like a good southerner, Senator.

Here to talk politics and talk about these ads that have been critical of Senator John Kerry's service in Vietnam, especially the swift boat and how he earned his bronze star.

Let me ask you on a personal level, have you gone face-to-face with Senator Kerry and asked him about his service, and are you comfortable with his explanation of how he earned all his awards?

CLELAND: Absolutely no question about that. I served with him for six years in the United States Senate. We went face-to-face and person-to-person many times, about war, and about peace, about the struggle of war, about the struggle to keep this country safer and really put together a military that's equipped to do the job and one that's committed to do the job, allowed to do the job.

Now, John Kerry gets great insight out of his service in Vietnam about what it takes to be stronger in the world and more respected.

But here's the deal. This is all about George Bush. This is the way George Bush conducts his elections against his opponents, he smears them.

But he's not smearing John Kerry this time. He's smearing the United States Navy. The Navy records have stood for 35 years, authenticating and documenting in great detail not only the superiors of John Kerry in authenticating his heroism, but the crewmates themselves, and now Jim Rassmann.

Jim Rassmann actually put him in for a silver star, not the bronze star (INAUDIBLE) for valor, but the silver start. For what? Saving Jim Rassmann's life. So ask Jim Rassmann. Ask those crewmates that served with John Kerry under the maximum fire that he was exposed to. And you' get a different story than you get from those funded by George Bush.

KAGAN: Do you think it was a mistake -- not a mistake, but perhaps an error in judgment by the Kerry campaign to put so much focus on the war record perhaps trying to take attention away from the senator's record in the Senate, that has focused so much attention on this and perhaps has taken away more serious discussion of issues that are of more importance to Americans?

CLELAND: Well, what has happened here is that America wants an authentic commander in chief. They want somebody who understands war. You know, George Bush avoided the war of his generation, John Kerry volunteered. And he volunteered to lead, and he did so with extraordinary courage and heroism. And he brought his boat back to port safely and his crew home alive. That is the kind of commander in chief we need.

And really, the Bush campaign wants to smear that record, but it's intact, it's stood intact in naval archives and Navy records for 35 years. It's not going to be besmirched by this crowd.

Now, John McCain was the subject of a George Bush smear campaign in South Carolina in 2002, the last presidential race.

KAGAN: Well, actually, Senator, if you'd let me jump in a second, I'd actually to have your own personal insight, because I know, as someone who lives in Georgia, what happened to you in 2002. There were ads that were run that questioned your patriotism.

CLELAND: Yes, sure.

KAGAN: No matter what your politics are, what people's politics are, I know there are people that were offended by the suggestion that somebody who literally gave to his country during his service could be questioned of his patriotism.

CLELAND: Absolutely. That's why John McCain has felt this blow before. I felt it. And John Kerry's feeling it now. And we're speaking out.

And John McCain, a wonderful Republican and our fellow Vietnam veteran, knows there are some things more important than politics. And that is, you don't question the honor and patriotism of a fellow American, especially when they served under combat with great distinction.

And John McCain has called these ads dishonest and dishonorable, and they are. And he's called upon the president of the United States to disavow them, but George Bush will not, and that is dishonorable right there.

KAGAN: All right. And we will work on getting more comments from the Republicans out there.

Former Senator Max Cleland, thanks for your time today, sir. Always nice to see you.

CLELAND: Thank you.

KAGAN: Thank you.

Well, we are going to move on to some medical news here, some incredible medical news.

She beat the odds to become a medical marvel. The smallest surviving baby is now an honor student entering high school. Medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen is here to talk about her story, also the challenges facing other premature babies in our "Daily Dose" of health news. Elizabeth, good morning.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Daryn.

Madeline Mann weighed just 9 ounces when she was born. That's right, just a little over half a pound. And now, there she is, and that's the hand of the neonatologist who took care of her.

Today she is 15 years old, and her doctors are writing in the "New England Journal of Medicine" about her amazing progress. She is doing great. That's actually other preemies who you're seeing there. Madeline is doing great. She weighs 60 pounds, which indeed is small for a 15-year-old. It's about half the weight most of her friends would be.

She has a touch of asthma. Her eyesight needs correcting, but academically, she is in the 83rd percent of her class. She clearly defied the odds. She defied the odds just by surviving, and she defied the odds by surviving without any major problems.

She doesn't have the cerebral palsy that's often typical of those little tiny preemies later in life. She doesn't have neurological problems. She doesn't have any severe breathing problems. So she has defied the odds in many ways -- Daryn.

KAGAN: And let's go right to the beginning when she defied the odds. I mean, 9.9 ounces, we're talking less than a can of soda, first of all. Why did she survive when other preemies don't at that weight.

COHEN: Right,when many other preemies don't. The survival rates of that at a weight like that are small. First of all, she's female. She has that going for her. Girls simply do better as premature babies than boys do.

Secondly, another thing she had going for her is that her gestational age was not all that low. She was born at around 26 weeks, and 25-weekers, 24-weekers, 23-weekers, they survive, so that although she was tiny, she wasn't as young as some other premature babies.

Also, the reason she was born early has something to do with it. Her mother had preeclampsia, which is where the blood pressure, the mom's blood pressure goes way up, and so the baby had to be delivered.

But because the blood pressure goes up, it sort of sends the baby a little bit. It chalks them a bit, and it makes their lungs develop more quickly. So preeclampsia not -- it's a terrible illness, but it does make the babies mature more quickly in the womb.

KAGAN: All right, let's talk timeline here, 15 years ago, this girl's 15 years old now, how much better are babies, just preemies in general, doing now than they were 15 years ago?

COHEN: Survival rates have gone up in the past 15 years since Madeline was born then. Most of it has to do with better treatment for those tiny little lungs. For example, Madeline didn't have surfactants. Surfactants are chemicals that go into the lungs and soften them up. Preemie lungs are so brittle that they just can't work right all the time. Also moms are now given steroids. She got them, too.

But more and more, moms are now given steroids when they're about to deliver, and that helps the baby survive. And thirdly, there are better ventilators, there are just better machines than there were 30 years -- 15 years ago to help these babies breathe better.

KAGAN: All right, you know a little thing or two about babies coming early, but we'll talk...

COHEN: I definitely do.

KAGAN: Three healthy girls at home.

COHEN: That's right. Thank God. That's right.

KAGAN: Elizabeth Cohen, thank you for that.

COHEN: Thanks.

Well, we just couldn't resist showing you these pictures, bear on a bender. What eventually led this bear to his downfall, and the authorities. That's coming up when CNN LIVE TODAY returns.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(STOCK MARKET REPORT)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: For the discriminating brewan (ph), and only Rainier brand beer will do, apparently. No Busch, please. This black bear was discovered sound asleep in a Washington State campground. Around him, about three cases worth of beer cans.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He did try one of the Busch beer, didn't like it, put it down, and when the back to drinking the Rainier, and drank all the Rainier that were on the table.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: Discriminating bear. Well, the bear returned the next day so that wildlife officials baited a trap with a couple cans. They used Rainier. They were smart. It did the trick. The bear was then removed to a remote location and released. However, he did not get one for the road.

All right, keeping this on animal beat here keep your paws off the table, unless you're dining at New York's newest eatery.

Our Jeanne Moos checks out the menu.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Oh, waiter! There's a cat on my table!

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK, Calvin. This is "What's the Catch?"

MOOS: The catch is that you can open a cat cafe, but you can't force them to eat.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mommy brought you all of the way here and you don't want to eat?

MOOS: You'd be annoyed, too, if you couldn't read the menu, which featured items like Filet Meow for cats and its counterpart, Beef on Baguette for humans.

There were cats on the red carpet, cats in chi-chi bags and cat paraphernalia for sale all over the place.

RICHARD THOMPSON, CEO, MEOW MIX: There's 83 million cats in America, and they have nowhere to go.

MOOS (on camera): Cats don't want to go out of the house.

THOMPSON: I disagree with that.

MOOS (voice-over): So the CEO of Meow Mix set up a temporary cat cafe on New York's Fifth Avenue.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think it's the dumbest thing I've ever seen. I really do.

MOOS: Meow Mix calls it experimental. The company hopes to franchise the cafes in cities around the world.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nice big smile.

MOOS: Forget the smile, we want to hear Eartha Kitt growl.

EARTHA KITT, ACTRESS: Growl!

MOOS (on camera): Do you ever get sick of making the cat noise?

KITT: No. Everybody knows it's Eartha Kitt when they hear "growl."

MOOS: Give me a good one.

KITT: Growl! It keeps me alive.

MOOS (voice-over): The cats all survive the cafe experience, though one kitty was injured when he poked his eye on a menu.

Humans passed the time playing hair ball toss.

(on camera): You know, there already is a Meow Mix. THOMPSON: Yes, but that's the wrong Meow Mix, and they are in violation of my trademark, but we love those people, too.

MOOS (voice-over): Those people at Meow Mix, one of New York's best-known lesbian bars.

THOMPSON: Well, I go down there and I go to the bar from time to time. I have a few drinks.

MOOS (on camera): Cool cat!

(voice-over): But recently, the lesbian Meow Mix closed down, a bad omen perhaps for the feline Meow Mix?

KITT: Growl! See? It was...

MOOS (on camera): Maybe you're too realistic.

(voice-over): From the looks of it, you might need a doggy bag at the cat cafe.

Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(WEATHER BREAK)

KAGAN: And that's going to do it for me, at least for this morning. I'm Daryn Kagan. I'm going to fill in for Aaron Brown, 10:00 p.m. Eastern tonight. I hope you'll join me.

In the meantime, I leave you in excellent hands. Wolf Blitzer takes over from Washington, D.C.

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 August 19, 2004 - 11:30   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Senator John Kerry is launching a two- front counterattack today in response to an ad challenging his record of valor in Vietnam.
Our senior political correspondent Candy Crowley is in Washington with the campaign headlines. Candy, good morning.

CANDY CROWLEY, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, Daryn.

After suggesting he would stay above the fray over his service record, Senator Kerry is personally fighting back. In Boston this morning, he said the so-called Swift Boat Veterans for Truth ad falsely accuses him of lying about his war record, and he pointed a finger of blame squarely at President Bush.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN KERRY, (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: But here's what you really need to know about them: They're funded by hundreds of thousands of dollars from a Republican contributor out of Texas. They're a front for the Bush campaign.

And the fact that the president won't denounce what they're up to tells you everything that you need to know, he wants them to do his dirty work.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CROWLEY: The Kerry campaign also was ruling out a new ad featuring veteran Jim Rassmann, who says Kerry risked his own life to save his in Vietnam.

The White House said President Bush deplores all soft money ads, but he has not specifically condemned the Swift Boat spot. The Bush campaign issued a statement a short while ago saying Kerry knows his statements today are false.

Meantime, a published report questions claims by one of the veterans in the anti-Kerry ad. Larry Thurlow, who commanded a swift boat alongside Kerry's, has disputed claims that Kerry's boat came under fire during an operation that earned both men the Bronze Star. But "The Washington Post" obtained Vietnam-era military records quoting Thurlow as saying, "all units came under fire that day," which would, of course, include Kerry's boat.

The Bush administration might be warming to a proposal to allow cheaper, imported prescription drugs from Canada and other countries. Under increasing pressure from lawmakers in border states, the president now says the idea would make sense if the safety of the drugs can be assured. Critics contend most of the drugs in question are actually made by U.S. manufacturers and then exported to Canada and other countries.

Senator Jon Corzine of New Jersey says he won't press for a special election to replace Governor Jim McGreevey, who plans to resign November 15th. But Corzine is remaining on standby to run if McGreevey decides to step down before September 3rd. That's the 60- day deadline for placing a special election on the November ballot. Corzine's possible candidacy was knocked about after McGreevey announced he's stepping down because of an affair with a man.

Well, we here at CNN have been focusing on the race for the White House. Battles are raging in key Congressional districts across the country. We will check in with the heads of the two House campaign committees.

Plus, the president's wife has been hitting the campaign trail more and more lately, and she seems to be liked by both Republicans and Democrats. We'll take a closer look at First Lady Laura Bush when I go "INSIDE POLITICS" at 3:30 p.m. Eastern.

But right now, we want to go back to Daryn in New York.

KAGAN: All right, Candy. Look forward to seeing more of you later today. Meanwhile, we're going to keep the political discussion going.

Presidential candidates aggressively courting Latinos -- and with good reason: They are the largest minority in the United States, about 40 million at last count. In his latest book, "The Latino Wave," Jorge Ramos predicts Hispanics may decide the next president of the United States.

You know his face -- Jorge Ramos -- from his day job as chief anchor for the Spanish-language network Univision, he joins us from our Miami bureau this morning. Jorge, good morning.

JORGE RAMOS, AUTHOR, "THE LATINO WAVE": Good morning. Great to be here.

KAGAN: I think last I saw you, we were walking through a lobby in Kuwait. So, good to see...

RAMOS: We were somewhere in between Kuwait and Iraq. Yes, quite a different scenario right now.

KAGAN: Somewhere over there. Yes, good to see you.

Different battleground now.

RAMOS: Absolutely.

KAGAN: Let's talk -- fascinating topic for your latest book. The Latino vote, is there such a thing with so many Latinos here in the U.S. as a Latino block -- I have to think that a Latino who's Cuban in Miami has a completely different agenda than a Salvadoran immigrant in southern California.

RAMOS: Absolutely. It's a very diverse group, but what's so interesting is that this election could be decided by these non- monolithic (ph) group. The scenario is more (INAUDIBLE) like this: The country is divided politically between Kerry and Bush, polarized by the war.

So, we have seven to eight million Hispanic voters that will go to the poll on November the 2nd. And with this scenario, these Hispanic voters are concentrated in many battleground states -- among them, Florida, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, and Nevada. So, it is quite probable that Latinos will decide this election as they did in the 2000 election.

KAGAN: You make a good point. We're not just talking numbers. It's not just a who and a how many, but a where. And I think we have a map or a graphic to show some of those battleground states and how it might play out. There you go.

So, especially looking in the west there, Jorge -- Nevada, Colorado, Arizona, and New Mexico -- how do you expect the Latino vote to play out there?

RAMOS: Overall, Latinos tend to vote more for the Democratic party than for the Republican party. The last poll that I saw said that John Kerry is going to win, no question about it, the Hispanic vote. It's going to be about 60 percent for Kerry, about 30 percent for President George W. Bush.

What's interesting is that since Ronald Reagan, every Republican candidate who gets more than 30 percent of the Hispanic vote wins the White House. So, the challenge for John Kerry in the states we mentioned -- Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico -- that, by the way, was won by 366 votes in the year 2000 -- the challenge for John Kerry is to get more than the 67 percent that Al Gore got in the year 2000, and that is quite a challenge.

KAGAN: So, you mean, you watch what these candidates do -- as a non-Latino, I almost laugh when they start their speeches with, you know, Hola, or trying to speak a few token words of Spanish.

Do Latino voters appreciate that, or do they find that patronizing?

RAMOS: No, no, they do appreciate that. The last poll that I saw says that about 60 percent of all Hispanic voters tend to respond positively to the fact that candidates are trying to speak Spanish.

But let me put it this way: If we were to put President Bush and John Kerry in the same room speaking Spanish, they wouldn't understand each other, but they're making an effort. And it is important.

But more than that, it's truly an unprecedented effort when it come to spending money, they're going to be spending much more money -- the candidates, Republican and Democratic party -- on other organizations than ever before.

And third, and this is very important, they are addressing some of the specific concerns of the Hispanic community -- among them, immigration and Cuba. But they have to do much more in addressing other issues like jobs, education, and healthcare in order to truly deserve the Hispanic vote.

KAGAN: Interesting to watch. Jorge Ramos, Univision, and the new book is called "The Latino Wave." Thanks for stopping by.

RAMOS: Thank you.

KAGAN: We'll see you on the road.

RAMOS: All right.

KAGAN: Thank you.

Want to get back to the John Kerry issue and his Vietnam war record and Republicans trying to attack that. It could be politically risky, especially when many believe that military documentation appears to verify Kerry's account.

Former Senator Max Cleland is also a Vietnam vet. He is also an advisor to the Kerry campaign, joining me this morning from campaign headquarters in Washington.

Senator, good morning. Thanks for being here with us.

SEN. MAX CLELAND, KERRY-EDWARDS CAMPAIGN ADVISOR: Good morning.

KAGAN: Well, I think we might be having some audio problems. I'll say good morning one more time to the senator. Senator?

CLELAND: Well, good morning to you and all of you in Atlanta and...

KAGAN: We're going to have to work on that. The problem's on our end, not on your end. Sit tight, senator. We'll be with you in just a moment.

And we will take a break. We'll figure out how we can get the senator's mike working. And we'll be back after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: OK. We want to go and try take two with former Senator Max Cleland.

Joining me from Washington, D.C. and the Kerry campaign as an advisor and former senator and Vietnam vet, joining me this morning.

Senator, good morning.

CLELAND: Good morning.

KAGAN: And I should say I'm told that America could hear you before the break but I couldn't. So I'm glad we got everything plugged in the way it's supposed to be.

CLELAND: Well, it's like the Falcon offense, false start, five- yard penalty, and we replay the down.

KAGAN: You got football on the brain, like a good southerner, Senator.

Here to talk politics and talk about these ads that have been critical of Senator John Kerry's service in Vietnam, especially the swift boat and how he earned his bronze star.

Let me ask you on a personal level, have you gone face-to-face with Senator Kerry and asked him about his service, and are you comfortable with his explanation of how he earned all his awards?

CLELAND: Absolutely no question about that. I served with him for six years in the United States Senate. We went face-to-face and person-to-person many times, about war, and about peace, about the struggle of war, about the struggle to keep this country safer and really put together a military that's equipped to do the job and one that's committed to do the job, allowed to do the job.

Now, John Kerry gets great insight out of his service in Vietnam about what it takes to be stronger in the world and more respected.

But here's the deal. This is all about George Bush. This is the way George Bush conducts his elections against his opponents, he smears them.

But he's not smearing John Kerry this time. He's smearing the United States Navy. The Navy records have stood for 35 years, authenticating and documenting in great detail not only the superiors of John Kerry in authenticating his heroism, but the crewmates themselves, and now Jim Rassmann.

Jim Rassmann actually put him in for a silver star, not the bronze star (INAUDIBLE) for valor, but the silver start. For what? Saving Jim Rassmann's life. So ask Jim Rassmann. Ask those crewmates that served with John Kerry under the maximum fire that he was exposed to. And you' get a different story than you get from those funded by George Bush.

KAGAN: Do you think it was a mistake -- not a mistake, but perhaps an error in judgment by the Kerry campaign to put so much focus on the war record perhaps trying to take attention away from the senator's record in the Senate, that has focused so much attention on this and perhaps has taken away more serious discussion of issues that are of more importance to Americans?

CLELAND: Well, what has happened here is that America wants an authentic commander in chief. They want somebody who understands war. You know, George Bush avoided the war of his generation, John Kerry volunteered. And he volunteered to lead, and he did so with extraordinary courage and heroism. And he brought his boat back to port safely and his crew home alive. That is the kind of commander in chief we need.

And really, the Bush campaign wants to smear that record, but it's intact, it's stood intact in naval archives and Navy records for 35 years. It's not going to be besmirched by this crowd.

Now, John McCain was the subject of a George Bush smear campaign in South Carolina in 2002, the last presidential race.

KAGAN: Well, actually, Senator, if you'd let me jump in a second, I'd actually to have your own personal insight, because I know, as someone who lives in Georgia, what happened to you in 2002. There were ads that were run that questioned your patriotism.

CLELAND: Yes, sure.

KAGAN: No matter what your politics are, what people's politics are, I know there are people that were offended by the suggestion that somebody who literally gave to his country during his service could be questioned of his patriotism.

CLELAND: Absolutely. That's why John McCain has felt this blow before. I felt it. And John Kerry's feeling it now. And we're speaking out.

And John McCain, a wonderful Republican and our fellow Vietnam veteran, knows there are some things more important than politics. And that is, you don't question the honor and patriotism of a fellow American, especially when they served under combat with great distinction.

And John McCain has called these ads dishonest and dishonorable, and they are. And he's called upon the president of the United States to disavow them, but George Bush will not, and that is dishonorable right there.

KAGAN: All right. And we will work on getting more comments from the Republicans out there.

Former Senator Max Cleland, thanks for your time today, sir. Always nice to see you.

CLELAND: Thank you.

KAGAN: Thank you.

Well, we are going to move on to some medical news here, some incredible medical news.

She beat the odds to become a medical marvel. The smallest surviving baby is now an honor student entering high school. Medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen is here to talk about her story, also the challenges facing other premature babies in our "Daily Dose" of health news. Elizabeth, good morning.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Daryn.

Madeline Mann weighed just 9 ounces when she was born. That's right, just a little over half a pound. And now, there she is, and that's the hand of the neonatologist who took care of her.

Today she is 15 years old, and her doctors are writing in the "New England Journal of Medicine" about her amazing progress. She is doing great. That's actually other preemies who you're seeing there. Madeline is doing great. She weighs 60 pounds, which indeed is small for a 15-year-old. It's about half the weight most of her friends would be.

She has a touch of asthma. Her eyesight needs correcting, but academically, she is in the 83rd percent of her class. She clearly defied the odds. She defied the odds just by surviving, and she defied the odds by surviving without any major problems.

She doesn't have the cerebral palsy that's often typical of those little tiny preemies later in life. She doesn't have neurological problems. She doesn't have any severe breathing problems. So she has defied the odds in many ways -- Daryn.

KAGAN: And let's go right to the beginning when she defied the odds. I mean, 9.9 ounces, we're talking less than a can of soda, first of all. Why did she survive when other preemies don't at that weight.

COHEN: Right,when many other preemies don't. The survival rates of that at a weight like that are small. First of all, she's female. She has that going for her. Girls simply do better as premature babies than boys do.

Secondly, another thing she had going for her is that her gestational age was not all that low. She was born at around 26 weeks, and 25-weekers, 24-weekers, 23-weekers, they survive, so that although she was tiny, she wasn't as young as some other premature babies.

Also, the reason she was born early has something to do with it. Her mother had preeclampsia, which is where the blood pressure, the mom's blood pressure goes way up, and so the baby had to be delivered.

But because the blood pressure goes up, it sort of sends the baby a little bit. It chalks them a bit, and it makes their lungs develop more quickly. So preeclampsia not -- it's a terrible illness, but it does make the babies mature more quickly in the womb.

KAGAN: All right, let's talk timeline here, 15 years ago, this girl's 15 years old now, how much better are babies, just preemies in general, doing now than they were 15 years ago?

COHEN: Survival rates have gone up in the past 15 years since Madeline was born then. Most of it has to do with better treatment for those tiny little lungs. For example, Madeline didn't have surfactants. Surfactants are chemicals that go into the lungs and soften them up. Preemie lungs are so brittle that they just can't work right all the time. Also moms are now given steroids. She got them, too.

But more and more, moms are now given steroids when they're about to deliver, and that helps the baby survive. And thirdly, there are better ventilators, there are just better machines than there were 30 years -- 15 years ago to help these babies breathe better.

KAGAN: All right, you know a little thing or two about babies coming early, but we'll talk...

COHEN: I definitely do.

KAGAN: Three healthy girls at home.

COHEN: That's right. Thank God. That's right.

KAGAN: Elizabeth Cohen, thank you for that.

COHEN: Thanks.

Well, we just couldn't resist showing you these pictures, bear on a bender. What eventually led this bear to his downfall, and the authorities. That's coming up when CNN LIVE TODAY returns.

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KAGAN: For the discriminating brewan (ph), and only Rainier brand beer will do, apparently. No Busch, please. This black bear was discovered sound asleep in a Washington State campground. Around him, about three cases worth of beer cans.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He did try one of the Busch beer, didn't like it, put it down, and when the back to drinking the Rainier, and drank all the Rainier that were on the table.

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KAGAN: Discriminating bear. Well, the bear returned the next day so that wildlife officials baited a trap with a couple cans. They used Rainier. They were smart. It did the trick. The bear was then removed to a remote location and released. However, he did not get one for the road.

All right, keeping this on animal beat here keep your paws off the table, unless you're dining at New York's newest eatery.

Our Jeanne Moos checks out the menu.

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JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Oh, waiter! There's a cat on my table!

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK, Calvin. This is "What's the Catch?"

MOOS: The catch is that you can open a cat cafe, but you can't force them to eat.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mommy brought you all of the way here and you don't want to eat?

MOOS: You'd be annoyed, too, if you couldn't read the menu, which featured items like Filet Meow for cats and its counterpart, Beef on Baguette for humans.

There were cats on the red carpet, cats in chi-chi bags and cat paraphernalia for sale all over the place.

RICHARD THOMPSON, CEO, MEOW MIX: There's 83 million cats in America, and they have nowhere to go.

MOOS (on camera): Cats don't want to go out of the house.

THOMPSON: I disagree with that.

MOOS (voice-over): So the CEO of Meow Mix set up a temporary cat cafe on New York's Fifth Avenue.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think it's the dumbest thing I've ever seen. I really do.

MOOS: Meow Mix calls it experimental. The company hopes to franchise the cafes in cities around the world.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nice big smile.

MOOS: Forget the smile, we want to hear Eartha Kitt growl.

EARTHA KITT, ACTRESS: Growl!

MOOS (on camera): Do you ever get sick of making the cat noise?

KITT: No. Everybody knows it's Eartha Kitt when they hear "growl."

MOOS: Give me a good one.

KITT: Growl! It keeps me alive.

MOOS (voice-over): The cats all survive the cafe experience, though one kitty was injured when he poked his eye on a menu.

Humans passed the time playing hair ball toss.

(on camera): You know, there already is a Meow Mix. THOMPSON: Yes, but that's the wrong Meow Mix, and they are in violation of my trademark, but we love those people, too.

MOOS (voice-over): Those people at Meow Mix, one of New York's best-known lesbian bars.

THOMPSON: Well, I go down there and I go to the bar from time to time. I have a few drinks.

MOOS (on camera): Cool cat!

(voice-over): But recently, the lesbian Meow Mix closed down, a bad omen perhaps for the feline Meow Mix?

KITT: Growl! See? It was...

MOOS (on camera): Maybe you're too realistic.

(voice-over): From the looks of it, you might need a doggy bag at the cat cafe.

Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.

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KAGAN: And that's going to do it for me, at least for this morning. I'm Daryn Kagan. I'm going to fill in for Aaron Brown, 10:00 p.m. Eastern tonight. I hope you'll join me.

In the meantime, I leave you in excellent hands. Wolf Blitzer takes over from Washington, D.C.

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