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CNN Live Today
Republican Convention; RNC Online; Healthy Chocolate?; Candid Camera; Israeli Bus Bombings
Aired August 31, 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: I'm Daryn Kagan in Atlanta. Let's check what's happening in the news for this August 31.
Attackers struck two buses in the southern Israeli town of Beer Sheva today. At least 15 people were killed. It's the first major attack inside Israel in nearly six months.
A Nepalese official confirmed that Iraqi militants have killed 12 Nepalese hostages. A Web site associated with a radical Islamic group shows gruesome footage of a masked man apparently beheading one of the hostages. In other footage, the other 11 hostages are shot at close range. It's the largest mass killing of captives in Iraq.
The state of Virginia is in a state of emergency this morning because of flooding from Tropical Storm Gaston. The high water sent cars floating down flooded streets and trapped some people inside of homes and buildings. The National Weather Service received reports of 10 to 14 inches of rain in the Richmond area.
Want to go live to New York City, day two of the Republican National Convention. We're looking at live pictures from Madison Square Garden where things are quiet this morning. That wasn't, however, the case last night.
There was a Sinatra serenade of "New York, New York" and speeches by former Mayor Rudy Giuliani and Senator John McCain revved up the crowd. Both Giuliani and McCain praising President Bush as a tested and rock solid leader, to borrow some of their words. They portrayed Democrat John Kerry as indecisive with no clear visions.
Tonight, First Lady Laura Bush and California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger take to the podium. The first lady will share personal insights and stories about President Bush's leadership. This will be Governor Schwarzenegger's biggest hurrah into the national spotlight since becoming governor last year.
The theme of the convention tonight will focus on compassion, as Republicans reach out to moderates and swing voters.
Our national correspondent Bob Franken joins us from Madison Square Garden with a preview of what we can expect on this Wednesday night.
Good morning -- Tuesday night.
BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning. KAGAN: Hello. Tuesday night.
FRANKEN: Good morning.
And the preview is, prediction here, the Republican Party will come out for compassion. Now I'm going to spare you any of the movie cliches, Daryn. Main speaker, probably the featured speaker tonight, Arnold Schwarzenegger. This time a year ago, he was a governor want to be, now he's a featured performer at the Republican National Convention. The subject of some of this debate within the party because his positions are regarded by many much more liberal than positions of the party's conservative majority, that at least the view of the conservatives.
He's going to be speaking tonight, as will the president's wife, First Lady Laura Bush. She's going to be doing something similar to the wife of the Democratic candidate. She's going to present a more personal view.
Now, everything is not sweetness and light at this convention. We had quite an encounter last night. Michael Moore, the moviemaker with the brutally anti-war, anti-Iraq war point of view, "9/11 -- Fahrenheit 9/11." I'm trying to say this properly. In any case, Michael Moore was here as a columnist for "USA Today," and he was in the hall and, in fact, was being really taunting of the Republicans. And that brought a strong response, strong response from John McCain.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: Our choice wasn't between a benign status quo in the bloodshed of war. It was between war and a graver threat. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise.
(APPLAUSE)
MCCAIN: Not our political opponents, not, and certainly not, and certainly not a disingenuous filmmaker who would have us believe...
(APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FRANKEN: As I said, the featured speaker tonight is probably Arnold Schwarzenegger. And when the evening terminates, we'll get on to the vice president's speech tomorrow. Couldn't resist that.
KAGAN: Well, yes, you got your one "Terminator" pun in there.
Bob Franken, thank you for that.
Well Michael Moore did respond to the jab by Senator McCain. The "Fahrenheit 9/11" director says Republicans are using McCain and others to put on a compassionate face.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) MICHAEL MOORE, DIRECTOR, "FAHRENHEIT 9/11": Well I think it's important that the Republicans put up people like Giuliani and McCain and Arnold Schwarzenegger because that kind of Republican more closely resembles what the American people are like, as opposed to the people who now sit in the White House.
The majority of Americans believe in women's rights. The majority of Americans want stronger environmental laws. The majority of Americans don't believe in discriminating against gays and lesbians.
And so you have, you know, a gay-loving Rudy Giuliani. You've got a gun-hating Michael Bloomberg. And you've got an abortion rights-loving Arnold Schwarzenegger. And they are smart enough to know that that's where the American people are at. And if they hope to stay in there, they've got to at least try to pretend that they are like the majority.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MCCAIN: I regret a little bit that it seems to be such a center of focus. It was just a throwaway line. My message is that -- frankly is the other way, that we're all Americans and the real enemy are those who want to destroy us. And we should be working more together and lower the partisanship and the very bitter environment that we have now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAGAN: Well, the rough and tumble of presidential politics enters another cycle during this convention.
Here to help us dissect all of this, political analyst Carlos Watson. We're catching him -- you've moved, you're no longer at the diner. Now you've moved into the convention hall.
CARLOS WATSON, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: We had breakfast. It was time to move on. Didn't go to the lunch (ph).
KAGAN: Time to move. Dine and dash. Hope you tipped well.
WATSON: You bet.
KAGAN: Let's talk about this veteran's vote, because we are focused, the American Legion having their national convention. We just saw President Bush speak live. Senator John Kerry will speak there tomorrow. Who is leading the edge here in going for the veteran's vote -- Carlos?
WATSON: You know over the last month, particularly after the Swift Boat veterans controversy, a recent poll showed President Bush opening up a nearly 20-point lead among veterans. Which obviously has had a ripple impact in a number of states, or at least so we believe, including states like Wisconsin and Pennsylvania where recent polls show the president doing better than he was doing a month ago.
But with that said, Daryn, I think one of the interesting things to watch is whether or not there is a boomerang, whether or not these band aids with the purple heart do take on a life of their own and ultimately become something that hurt the president. Whether or not some of these Blogs and even some of the liberal talk radio and some of the liberal voices, like Michael Moore, begin to redirect the attention away from John Kerry's war record and on to the president's.
I think this is a conversation that's going to swing back and forth several times. And I think it will ultimately have its climax, frankly, in the first, second and maybe even third debate.
KAGAN: With all due respect to the veterans and their service to this country, put this question in context, why and how important is the veterans' vote?
WATSON: Twenty-six and a half million veterans, certainly more people in the families of veterans and certain states, like Virginia and Tennessee, particularly some of those border states, they're very key. Certainly Al Gore won the popular vote without winning veterans, so you know that's obviously very possible to do.
But in a post-9/11 era, they are also symbolically important. They speak to security and national security has obviously been rated as the most important issue in this election with almost 4 out of 10 voters seeing some form of that is going to be their key deciding factor.
KAGAN: And then just real quickly, something we talked about in the last hour as well, John Kerry speaking in front of the American Legion National Convention tomorrow. But we usually don't see the candidate of the opposite party coming out and making appearances during the other party's convention week.
WATSON: This could be as important a speech for John Kerry as he'll have over the next couple of weeks, Daryn. I mean there's no two ways about it. The last several weeks he's lost momentum. We're in the middle of the Republican Convention. This will be an unusual opportunity for him to really to kind of change the vector, if you will, of the momentum in this campaign, maybe move some things back towards him.
I expect two things to watch. One, I expect a very personal and heart-felt defense of his record in Vietnam. And two, I actually expect to hear some policy. I expect to hear him talk not only about Iraq, but expect to hear him talk about Iran, expect to hear him talk about North Korea and some other things. So I expect a very hard- hitting speech that, if it succeeds, could be when we look back a couple of months from now may be one of the most important speeches in this election.
KAGAN: All right. Carlos Watson at Madison Square Garden, thank you for both hours.
WATSON: Good to see you. KAGAN: Well New York City's former mayor was not the only buzz on the RNC floor last night but was also the buzz online.
AOL, America Online's Regina Lewis joining us from Madison Square Garden with more on that.
Regina, good morning.
REGINA LEWIS, AOL ONLINE ADVISER: Good morning -- Daryn.
KAGAN: Let's look at the former mayor. Pretty hot online?
LEWIS: Very, to say the least. Coming into last night, online polls had him as the most anticipated speaker of the week. Coming out of last night, instant polls taken while he was speaking say that he's the guy people would most like to see on the ticket for president in 2008.
Now he took the gloves off, as has been widely reported, and those hard-hitting sound bites really resonate with the online crowd. It's very analogous to conservative talk radio. The harder you swing, the bigger the reaction.
I checked in with some guys on the front lines who say night over night, DNC versus RNC, the RNC had a bigger first night. Kind of interesting to see those numbers. They expect them to be very big, perhaps record breaking today as people take advantage of high-speed access at work to get the specifics and the on-demand version of this speech, which really was very powerful.
KAGAN: Interesting. And what about camera phones, how are they playing into this convention?
LEWIS: Well they have a very big role on the streets. There is no shortage of them. There's actually something called moport.org. All you have to do is have a cell phone with a camera to post your pictures on this site. And we're seeing lots of them from various demonstrations.
This whole trend has even caused the police commissioner to coin a new phrase, he calls them pop-up demonstrations. The idea that I can just send a text message to you and all of my friends and we can organize on the fly. So while we might not see big numbers, as we did on Sunday, there's going to be a lot of small things happening throughout the city. They expect that trend to continue and we'll watch it.
KAGAN: Very interesting, Regina Lewis with AOL. Regina, thank you. Enjoy the convention.
LEWIS: Sure.
KAGAN: Coming up next, it's the news chocoholics have been waiting for, a look at the possible benefits of almost everyone's favorite seductive sweet. That is coming up next in our "Daily Dose" of health news. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAGAN: Yes, chocolate lovers, this one is for you. A new study shedding light on how chocolate might help keep your blood vessels healthy.
Our medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen is here with details in our "Daily Dose" of health news. Love this story.
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Right, and you've got to love this story.
KAGAN: I enjoy the chocolate.
COHEN: Absolutely.
KAGAN: Yes.
COHEN: Everyone does or most everyone does. And this is one of many studies that shows that chocolate might actually be good for your heart.
What researchers in Greece did was they gave chocolate to 17 people and then they had days where they gave them fake chocolate. And this was all the kind of dark chocolate that you're seeing now. Then they did ultrasounds on their arteries.
And what they found was that the days where they ate the dark chocolate, their arteries were more flexible, which is a good thing. And so that led them to conclude that possibly chocolate could be good for your heart.
And I have to tell -- this is sad news for many people, this doesn't really work with milk chocolate. You get these good heart results with dark chocolate. Something about the dairy and the milk counteracts the good effects.
KAGAN: I do enjoy the dark chocolate.
COHEN: Really? I prefer milk chocolate. It's just dark is too much. So I was sort of sad.
KAGAN: So what is actually happening here, do they think, of why it's working?
COHEN: What they think is that there are or what they know is that there are antioxidants in chocolate and that those antioxidants actually make those arteries more flexible. And it's very interesting, because that's also what you find with wine. So there's a connection there between chocolate and wine.
KAGAN: So does that mean the next doctor's visit we're going to hear you need to be eating more chocolate?
COHEN: No, you won't.
KAGAN: Darn.
COHEN: Darn it, I know. And the reason for that is that chocolate is full of calories. And so if you ate lots of chocolate, then, you know it's very likely that you're going to get fat. And if you get very heavy, that's going to counteract any of the good benefits of those antioxidants. So not going to happen.
KAGAN: So being too heavy counters the good stuff for your heart, I guess?
COHEN: With the flexibility of the arteries.
KAGAN: That will be fun.
COHEN: Absolutely.
KAGAN: It will be fun. OK, well thanks for letting us dream for a moment.
COHEN: Thanks. That's right, for a moment.
KAGAN: We were going -- exactly. Not so close.
You can get your "Daily Dose" of health news online. Log on to our Web site. You'll find the latest medical news, a health library and information on diet and fitness. The address is CNN.com/health.
We are taking a break and we're back after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAGAN: Something is making the financial markets a little bit cranky today. Let's check in with Fred Katayama who could put a positive spin on it perhaps.
Fred, good morning.
FRED KATAYAMA, CNN FINANCIAL NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Daryn, maybe you need some chocolate.
KAGAN: That's it. It would make everything better.
KATAYAMA: That's a fantasy.
(STOCK MARKET REPORT)
KATAYAMA: Daryn, we'll see if you can help turn that place around the way you did the attendance for the Washington Redskins.
KAGAN: Well, if he can hire Joe Gibbs to coach Six Flags as well,...
KATAYAMA: That's one way (ph).
KAGAN: ... get a lot of people there as well.
KATAYAMA: Yes.
KAGAN: Fred, thank you for that.
Coming up next, it is Jeanne's town, the delegates are just visiting. Jeanne Moos takes her own special look at the convention. That's coming up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAGAN: Republicans apparently aren't all starch and pinstripes.
Our Jeanne Moos puts delegates and others on candid camera.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Minicam in hand, here's looking through the lighter side of the lens. It's definitely the Republicans' show. But the protesters tried to steal it with antics like dressing up as elephants.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are withdrawing our image from the Republican Party.
MOOS: And sending aerial messages formed by humans lying end to end in Central Park.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Using their bodies to express liberty.
MOOS: This tearful Statue of Liberty was created by a group called Code Pink. So who is this guy wearing?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, look at the tag, dude. I don't know. What does it say?
MOOS: Compare that with the Texas delegation outfitted from head to booted toe with Bush 2004 stitched into the leather. Their outfits made them targets for protesters.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They said a few of those one syllable words that I don't like to repeat.
MOOS: Inside Madison Square Garden the delegates chanted.
UNIDENTIFIED DELEGATES: Four more years! Four more years!
MOOS: And it felt like it took four years to navigate all the security to get in.
(on camera): Christmas flowers!
(voice-over): Vehicles had to enter the frozen zone through corrals so they'd be penned in while being checked. Sally ports, they call these things.
(on camera): Why is it called a sally port? Who was Sally?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have no idea. I can't confirm or deny any of that.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Isn't there a French word to move or to go sally.
MOOS (voice-over): As in to sally forth. The dictionary defines sally port as a gate in a fortified place for use by troops. And check out what the fire department is using -- the littlest fire engine on its maiden trip, equipped with high pressure hose and cup holders.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It does not come with a ladder, no. It's -- they can...
MOOS (on camera): Not even a stepstool?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nope.
MOOS (voice-over): But all the precautions haven't put a damper on the delegates.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We went over and asked for leis from Hawaii. And we thought we needed to get laid at the convention.
MOOS: She almost sounds like a Democrat.
Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KAGAN: My goodness, check out that laugh.
Jacqui Jeras, I'll tell you one thing they're not talking about in New York City, the weather. I was there yesterday, it is mighty humid for those conventioneers.
JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, it is.
(WEATHER REPORT)
KAGAN: That as the countdown to fall begins. People have had enough.
JERAS: Yes, I know, September is tomorrow.
KAGAN: Excellent.
JERAS: Unbelievable.
KAGAN: We will welcome it in. Thank you so much, Jacqui.
And that's going to do it for me, Daryn Kagan. I will be right back here tomorrow morning.
Wolf Blitzer doing a show, and I think maybe getting a little bit of lunch on the side, has found his way to the CNN Diner in New York City covering the convention. 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 31, 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: I'm Daryn Kagan in Atlanta. Let's check what's happening in the news for this August 31.
Attackers struck two buses in the southern Israeli town of Beer Sheva today. At least 15 people were killed. It's the first major attack inside Israel in nearly six months.
A Nepalese official confirmed that Iraqi militants have killed 12 Nepalese hostages. A Web site associated with a radical Islamic group shows gruesome footage of a masked man apparently beheading one of the hostages. In other footage, the other 11 hostages are shot at close range. It's the largest mass killing of captives in Iraq.
The state of Virginia is in a state of emergency this morning because of flooding from Tropical Storm Gaston. The high water sent cars floating down flooded streets and trapped some people inside of homes and buildings. The National Weather Service received reports of 10 to 14 inches of rain in the Richmond area.
Want to go live to New York City, day two of the Republican National Convention. We're looking at live pictures from Madison Square Garden where things are quiet this morning. That wasn't, however, the case last night.
There was a Sinatra serenade of "New York, New York" and speeches by former Mayor Rudy Giuliani and Senator John McCain revved up the crowd. Both Giuliani and McCain praising President Bush as a tested and rock solid leader, to borrow some of their words. They portrayed Democrat John Kerry as indecisive with no clear visions.
Tonight, First Lady Laura Bush and California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger take to the podium. The first lady will share personal insights and stories about President Bush's leadership. This will be Governor Schwarzenegger's biggest hurrah into the national spotlight since becoming governor last year.
The theme of the convention tonight will focus on compassion, as Republicans reach out to moderates and swing voters.
Our national correspondent Bob Franken joins us from Madison Square Garden with a preview of what we can expect on this Wednesday night.
Good morning -- Tuesday night.
BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning. KAGAN: Hello. Tuesday night.
FRANKEN: Good morning.
And the preview is, prediction here, the Republican Party will come out for compassion. Now I'm going to spare you any of the movie cliches, Daryn. Main speaker, probably the featured speaker tonight, Arnold Schwarzenegger. This time a year ago, he was a governor want to be, now he's a featured performer at the Republican National Convention. The subject of some of this debate within the party because his positions are regarded by many much more liberal than positions of the party's conservative majority, that at least the view of the conservatives.
He's going to be speaking tonight, as will the president's wife, First Lady Laura Bush. She's going to be doing something similar to the wife of the Democratic candidate. She's going to present a more personal view.
Now, everything is not sweetness and light at this convention. We had quite an encounter last night. Michael Moore, the moviemaker with the brutally anti-war, anti-Iraq war point of view, "9/11 -- Fahrenheit 9/11." I'm trying to say this properly. In any case, Michael Moore was here as a columnist for "USA Today," and he was in the hall and, in fact, was being really taunting of the Republicans. And that brought a strong response, strong response from John McCain.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: Our choice wasn't between a benign status quo in the bloodshed of war. It was between war and a graver threat. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise.
(APPLAUSE)
MCCAIN: Not our political opponents, not, and certainly not, and certainly not a disingenuous filmmaker who would have us believe...
(APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FRANKEN: As I said, the featured speaker tonight is probably Arnold Schwarzenegger. And when the evening terminates, we'll get on to the vice president's speech tomorrow. Couldn't resist that.
KAGAN: Well, yes, you got your one "Terminator" pun in there.
Bob Franken, thank you for that.
Well Michael Moore did respond to the jab by Senator McCain. The "Fahrenheit 9/11" director says Republicans are using McCain and others to put on a compassionate face.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) MICHAEL MOORE, DIRECTOR, "FAHRENHEIT 9/11": Well I think it's important that the Republicans put up people like Giuliani and McCain and Arnold Schwarzenegger because that kind of Republican more closely resembles what the American people are like, as opposed to the people who now sit in the White House.
The majority of Americans believe in women's rights. The majority of Americans want stronger environmental laws. The majority of Americans don't believe in discriminating against gays and lesbians.
And so you have, you know, a gay-loving Rudy Giuliani. You've got a gun-hating Michael Bloomberg. And you've got an abortion rights-loving Arnold Schwarzenegger. And they are smart enough to know that that's where the American people are at. And if they hope to stay in there, they've got to at least try to pretend that they are like the majority.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MCCAIN: I regret a little bit that it seems to be such a center of focus. It was just a throwaway line. My message is that -- frankly is the other way, that we're all Americans and the real enemy are those who want to destroy us. And we should be working more together and lower the partisanship and the very bitter environment that we have now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAGAN: Well, the rough and tumble of presidential politics enters another cycle during this convention.
Here to help us dissect all of this, political analyst Carlos Watson. We're catching him -- you've moved, you're no longer at the diner. Now you've moved into the convention hall.
CARLOS WATSON, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: We had breakfast. It was time to move on. Didn't go to the lunch (ph).
KAGAN: Time to move. Dine and dash. Hope you tipped well.
WATSON: You bet.
KAGAN: Let's talk about this veteran's vote, because we are focused, the American Legion having their national convention. We just saw President Bush speak live. Senator John Kerry will speak there tomorrow. Who is leading the edge here in going for the veteran's vote -- Carlos?
WATSON: You know over the last month, particularly after the Swift Boat veterans controversy, a recent poll showed President Bush opening up a nearly 20-point lead among veterans. Which obviously has had a ripple impact in a number of states, or at least so we believe, including states like Wisconsin and Pennsylvania where recent polls show the president doing better than he was doing a month ago.
But with that said, Daryn, I think one of the interesting things to watch is whether or not there is a boomerang, whether or not these band aids with the purple heart do take on a life of their own and ultimately become something that hurt the president. Whether or not some of these Blogs and even some of the liberal talk radio and some of the liberal voices, like Michael Moore, begin to redirect the attention away from John Kerry's war record and on to the president's.
I think this is a conversation that's going to swing back and forth several times. And I think it will ultimately have its climax, frankly, in the first, second and maybe even third debate.
KAGAN: With all due respect to the veterans and their service to this country, put this question in context, why and how important is the veterans' vote?
WATSON: Twenty-six and a half million veterans, certainly more people in the families of veterans and certain states, like Virginia and Tennessee, particularly some of those border states, they're very key. Certainly Al Gore won the popular vote without winning veterans, so you know that's obviously very possible to do.
But in a post-9/11 era, they are also symbolically important. They speak to security and national security has obviously been rated as the most important issue in this election with almost 4 out of 10 voters seeing some form of that is going to be their key deciding factor.
KAGAN: And then just real quickly, something we talked about in the last hour as well, John Kerry speaking in front of the American Legion National Convention tomorrow. But we usually don't see the candidate of the opposite party coming out and making appearances during the other party's convention week.
WATSON: This could be as important a speech for John Kerry as he'll have over the next couple of weeks, Daryn. I mean there's no two ways about it. The last several weeks he's lost momentum. We're in the middle of the Republican Convention. This will be an unusual opportunity for him to really to kind of change the vector, if you will, of the momentum in this campaign, maybe move some things back towards him.
I expect two things to watch. One, I expect a very personal and heart-felt defense of his record in Vietnam. And two, I actually expect to hear some policy. I expect to hear him talk not only about Iraq, but expect to hear him talk about Iran, expect to hear him talk about North Korea and some other things. So I expect a very hard- hitting speech that, if it succeeds, could be when we look back a couple of months from now may be one of the most important speeches in this election.
KAGAN: All right. Carlos Watson at Madison Square Garden, thank you for both hours.
WATSON: Good to see you. KAGAN: Well New York City's former mayor was not the only buzz on the RNC floor last night but was also the buzz online.
AOL, America Online's Regina Lewis joining us from Madison Square Garden with more on that.
Regina, good morning.
REGINA LEWIS, AOL ONLINE ADVISER: Good morning -- Daryn.
KAGAN: Let's look at the former mayor. Pretty hot online?
LEWIS: Very, to say the least. Coming into last night, online polls had him as the most anticipated speaker of the week. Coming out of last night, instant polls taken while he was speaking say that he's the guy people would most like to see on the ticket for president in 2008.
Now he took the gloves off, as has been widely reported, and those hard-hitting sound bites really resonate with the online crowd. It's very analogous to conservative talk radio. The harder you swing, the bigger the reaction.
I checked in with some guys on the front lines who say night over night, DNC versus RNC, the RNC had a bigger first night. Kind of interesting to see those numbers. They expect them to be very big, perhaps record breaking today as people take advantage of high-speed access at work to get the specifics and the on-demand version of this speech, which really was very powerful.
KAGAN: Interesting. And what about camera phones, how are they playing into this convention?
LEWIS: Well they have a very big role on the streets. There is no shortage of them. There's actually something called moport.org. All you have to do is have a cell phone with a camera to post your pictures on this site. And we're seeing lots of them from various demonstrations.
This whole trend has even caused the police commissioner to coin a new phrase, he calls them pop-up demonstrations. The idea that I can just send a text message to you and all of my friends and we can organize on the fly. So while we might not see big numbers, as we did on Sunday, there's going to be a lot of small things happening throughout the city. They expect that trend to continue and we'll watch it.
KAGAN: Very interesting, Regina Lewis with AOL. Regina, thank you. Enjoy the convention.
LEWIS: Sure.
KAGAN: Coming up next, it's the news chocoholics have been waiting for, a look at the possible benefits of almost everyone's favorite seductive sweet. That is coming up next in our "Daily Dose" of health news. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAGAN: Yes, chocolate lovers, this one is for you. A new study shedding light on how chocolate might help keep your blood vessels healthy.
Our medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen is here with details in our "Daily Dose" of health news. Love this story.
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Right, and you've got to love this story.
KAGAN: I enjoy the chocolate.
COHEN: Absolutely.
KAGAN: Yes.
COHEN: Everyone does or most everyone does. And this is one of many studies that shows that chocolate might actually be good for your heart.
What researchers in Greece did was they gave chocolate to 17 people and then they had days where they gave them fake chocolate. And this was all the kind of dark chocolate that you're seeing now. Then they did ultrasounds on their arteries.
And what they found was that the days where they ate the dark chocolate, their arteries were more flexible, which is a good thing. And so that led them to conclude that possibly chocolate could be good for your heart.
And I have to tell -- this is sad news for many people, this doesn't really work with milk chocolate. You get these good heart results with dark chocolate. Something about the dairy and the milk counteracts the good effects.
KAGAN: I do enjoy the dark chocolate.
COHEN: Really? I prefer milk chocolate. It's just dark is too much. So I was sort of sad.
KAGAN: So what is actually happening here, do they think, of why it's working?
COHEN: What they think is that there are or what they know is that there are antioxidants in chocolate and that those antioxidants actually make those arteries more flexible. And it's very interesting, because that's also what you find with wine. So there's a connection there between chocolate and wine.
KAGAN: So does that mean the next doctor's visit we're going to hear you need to be eating more chocolate?
COHEN: No, you won't.
KAGAN: Darn.
COHEN: Darn it, I know. And the reason for that is that chocolate is full of calories. And so if you ate lots of chocolate, then, you know it's very likely that you're going to get fat. And if you get very heavy, that's going to counteract any of the good benefits of those antioxidants. So not going to happen.
KAGAN: So being too heavy counters the good stuff for your heart, I guess?
COHEN: With the flexibility of the arteries.
KAGAN: That will be fun.
COHEN: Absolutely.
KAGAN: It will be fun. OK, well thanks for letting us dream for a moment.
COHEN: Thanks. That's right, for a moment.
KAGAN: We were going -- exactly. Not so close.
You can get your "Daily Dose" of health news online. Log on to our Web site. You'll find the latest medical news, a health library and information on diet and fitness. The address is CNN.com/health.
We are taking a break and we're back after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAGAN: Something is making the financial markets a little bit cranky today. Let's check in with Fred Katayama who could put a positive spin on it perhaps.
Fred, good morning.
FRED KATAYAMA, CNN FINANCIAL NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Daryn, maybe you need some chocolate.
KAGAN: That's it. It would make everything better.
KATAYAMA: That's a fantasy.
(STOCK MARKET REPORT)
KATAYAMA: Daryn, we'll see if you can help turn that place around the way you did the attendance for the Washington Redskins.
KAGAN: Well, if he can hire Joe Gibbs to coach Six Flags as well,...
KATAYAMA: That's one way (ph).
KAGAN: ... get a lot of people there as well.
KATAYAMA: Yes.
KAGAN: Fred, thank you for that.
Coming up next, it is Jeanne's town, the delegates are just visiting. Jeanne Moos takes her own special look at the convention. That's coming up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAGAN: Republicans apparently aren't all starch and pinstripes.
Our Jeanne Moos puts delegates and others on candid camera.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Minicam in hand, here's looking through the lighter side of the lens. It's definitely the Republicans' show. But the protesters tried to steal it with antics like dressing up as elephants.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are withdrawing our image from the Republican Party.
MOOS: And sending aerial messages formed by humans lying end to end in Central Park.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Using their bodies to express liberty.
MOOS: This tearful Statue of Liberty was created by a group called Code Pink. So who is this guy wearing?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, look at the tag, dude. I don't know. What does it say?
MOOS: Compare that with the Texas delegation outfitted from head to booted toe with Bush 2004 stitched into the leather. Their outfits made them targets for protesters.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They said a few of those one syllable words that I don't like to repeat.
MOOS: Inside Madison Square Garden the delegates chanted.
UNIDENTIFIED DELEGATES: Four more years! Four more years!
MOOS: And it felt like it took four years to navigate all the security to get in.
(on camera): Christmas flowers!
(voice-over): Vehicles had to enter the frozen zone through corrals so they'd be penned in while being checked. Sally ports, they call these things.
(on camera): Why is it called a sally port? Who was Sally?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have no idea. I can't confirm or deny any of that.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Isn't there a French word to move or to go sally.
MOOS (voice-over): As in to sally forth. The dictionary defines sally port as a gate in a fortified place for use by troops. And check out what the fire department is using -- the littlest fire engine on its maiden trip, equipped with high pressure hose and cup holders.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It does not come with a ladder, no. It's -- they can...
MOOS (on camera): Not even a stepstool?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nope.
MOOS (voice-over): But all the precautions haven't put a damper on the delegates.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We went over and asked for leis from Hawaii. And we thought we needed to get laid at the convention.
MOOS: She almost sounds like a Democrat.
Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KAGAN: My goodness, check out that laugh.
Jacqui Jeras, I'll tell you one thing they're not talking about in New York City, the weather. I was there yesterday, it is mighty humid for those conventioneers.
JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, it is.
(WEATHER REPORT)
KAGAN: That as the countdown to fall begins. People have had enough.
JERAS: Yes, I know, September is tomorrow.
KAGAN: Excellent.
JERAS: Unbelievable.
KAGAN: We will welcome it in. Thank you so much, Jacqui.
And that's going to do it for me, Daryn Kagan. I will be right back here tomorrow morning.
Wolf Blitzer doing a show, and I think maybe getting a little bit of lunch on the side, has found his way to the CNN Diner in New York City covering the convention. TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
