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Rumsfeld Acknowledges Security in Iraq Has Gone Downhill; Homeland Security, Foreign Policy Focus of Tonight's Debate

Aired September 30, 2004 - 10:30   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.


CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: New homeland security measures are going into effect today at international airports around the United States. For the first time, visitors from 27 countries will be fingerprinted and photographed as part of a tightening screening process. Until now, citizens of such allied countries as England, Australia, France and Japan haven't been required to undergo such screening. But right now, their information will be checked against terror watchlists.
At least one of two Italian women who were held hostage in Iraq will hold a news conference today to talk about her ordeal. Simona Parre (ph) and Simonetta Toretta (ph) were freed on Tuesday after being held for three weeks. They said the kidnappers treated them well, and even apologized before freeing them.

And in Providence, Rhode Island, the Roger Williams Park Zoo has opened a butterfly garden to remember victims of last year's night club fire. As you might recall, 100 people died there, and more than 200 others were injured in the blaze which was ignited by a rock band's pyrotechnics.

Well, billions of dollars ear marked for construction projects in Iraq will instead now go toward fighting the insurgency. Congress has approved diverting $3.5 billion to improving security in that country. Now that money comes from a big pot of $18.4 billion for reconstructing last November. But less than a billion of that money has been spent so far on Iraq's rebuilding.

In the meantime, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld acknowledges that security in Iraq has gone downhill. And that echoes recent comments by Secretary of State Colin Powell.

CNN Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr has more on Donald Rumsfeld's candid remarks today in a radio interview.

Barbara, we're used to the defense secretary being candid, but certainly not about admitting what sounds like a mistake.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Carol, the secretary has been very sober in his recent public comments about the situation in Iraq indeed. And in a radio interview that he recently conducted, he said and acknowledged that the violence and attacks in Iraq, in his words, are, quote, "getting worse," and he expects it to grow, as he has said in the past, as the elections approach in January and as the insurgents try to stop progress.

Now the administration continues to say that many parts of Iraq are relatively peaceful.

But new statistics are showing, indeed, that September is wrapping up as a very deadly month. A senior military official in the region says it was the high highest month on record of car bomb attacks, that there was a surge in car bombs, in kidnappings, over 30 of those type of attacks in the month of September.

Assessments from senior U.S. military officials are that U.S. and Iraqi troops have killed or captured over 100 associates of Abu Musab Al Zarqawi, the leader of some of those foreign fighters, and they have killed six of 10 of his closest associates.

But again, a very deadly month in September. At the peak, there were about 90 attacks a day. Now they think they're down to about 50.

In that radio interview, I must tell you, the secretary also publicly talked about his effort to see if they can reduce the tour of duty for soldiers in Iraq. He says he's asking the Army to take a look at it, whether they can reduce that one-year tour, maybe even cut it in half by sometime next year. But he's also cautious, telling the troops not to get their hopes up just yet -- Carol.

LIN: Thanks very much, Barbara Starr, live at the Pentagon.

Meantime, from the Justice Department, Attorney General John Ashcroft says an appeal is likely after a federal judge struck down a key provision in the Patriot Act. That judge ruled that it's unconstitutional for the FBI to secretly search Internet and phone records. The injunction is delayed 90 days to give the government time to appeal. The Patriot Act is due to expire next year, unless it's renewed by Congress.

Meantime, homeland security and foreign policy will be the focus of tonight's presidential debate.

Here's's CNN's national security correspondent David Ensor with a look at what we can expect.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID ENSOR, CNN NATL. SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: The war, that has so far cost well over 1,000 American lives, guarantees drama in the first presidential debate.

SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Invading Iraq has created a crisis of historic proportions. And if we do not change course, there is the prospect of a war with no end in sight.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Incredibly this week, my opponent said he would prefer the dictatorship of Saddam Hussein to the situation in Iraq today.

ENSOR: Mr. Bush will present Kerry as waffling on Iraq, because he voted to give authority for war, and then became a critic of the way it's been conducted. Senator Kerry will argue Bush took his eye off the target, America's real enemy, Osama bin Laden. JAMES LINDSEY, COUNCIL OF FOREIGN RELATIONS: I think you see in President Bush someone who's deeply skeptical of international institutions, who believes in what he calls coalitions of the willing, that if we lead, others will follow. Senator Kerry is a man who thinks that that's simply not enough, that we need to work with others, because the problems are beyond our capacity to be able to solve on our own.

ENSOR: The first debate will be about foreign policy issues, but experts says, for the voters, the specific policies are not the point.

LINDSEY: What they're really going to want to come to grips with is to look at the debates and look at the two candidates is, at the end of the day, who do I trust the future of my country? And so the foreign policy issues become a way of thinking about leadership.

ENSOR (on camera): So while the two candidates debate the issues, from Iraq, to trade deficits to North Korean nuclear weapons, the voters will likely focus less on the details, more on that all- important factor, someone to trust.

David Ensor, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: Of course, CNN is your election headquarters, because our special live coverage of tonight's first presidential debate begins promptly at 7:00 p.m. Eastern. Tune in 4:00 p.m. if you're on the West Coast.

Meantime, roaring back to life, experts and residents can only wait and see what happens while some curiosity seekers are taking a closer look at Mount St. Helens.

Isn't that right, Kim?

KIMBERLY OSIAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's exactly right, Carol. I mean, it's hard to believe that I'm actually standing in front of anything, much less Mount St. Helens. After two and a half decades of relative calm, she's rumbling again. I'll tell you all about it, just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(STOCK MARKET UPDATE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: Let's take a look at some other stories making news coast to coast this time.

A pitcher for the Cleveland Indians is hospitalized after being shot in the leg. A team spokesman says a bullet was fired into the team bus and grazed one player before hitting Kyle Denney. Police don't know if the bus was the intended target. Now the team says Denney wasn't seriously injured, and he had just pitched the Indians to a 5-2 win over Kansas City.

Mail delivery has been stopped now in a Shreveport, Louisiana, neighborhood because of an ongoing gun violence battle between two groups. The Postal Service says one of its carriers narrowly avoided being shot. Not long after that, a 5-year-old girl was shot by a bullet that came through her bedroom window.

And the FBI is investigating the apparent firing of a laser beam into the cockpit of a Delta Airlines plane. That incident happened last week as the plane was preparing to land in Salt Lake City. A pilot says he suffered an eye injury from the laser beam. The flight did land safely, and the pilot's injury is expected to heal.

At Mount St. Helens, both tensions and the likelihood of an eruption are climbing. Rumbling is growing more intense, and scientists warn it could be building to an eruption, perhaps within the next few days.

CNN's Kimberly Osias joins me from Mount St. Helens National Park with the very latest from there.

Kimberly, what can you see there, because it just looks like a cloudy day right now?

OSIAS: It sure does. You can't see a whole heck of a lot, Carol. Believe it or not, behind this very, very thick curtain of fog sits Mount St. Helens, and she is rumbling again. Why exactly? Scientists still don't know, but we are at an orange alert level. That is just right under the red. The red, of course, meaning that volcanic activity is very imminent. So they're watching her activity very, very closely, and they're sort of trying to puzzle out some very conflicting evidence that they are looking at right now, trying to suss through it.

In fact, just yesterday they went up in choppers, they had to wait until all this fog cleared, and they looked at Co2 and So2 gas- emission levels.

Now what that is indicative of is any kind of magma that is moving underneath the dome. That would be hot new earth. Now, the dome has risen about an inch and a half recently, and that is, of course, concerning to scientists. But you juxtapose that with the fact that they didn't get any kind of statistically significant gas result. So that is good news. But that -- comparing or contrasting that, rather, with the fact that there is just a swarm of volcanic activity of recent. There have been 1,000 to 2,000, in fact, that they have recorded at the University of Washington, and just yesterday, there were about three to four earthquakes a minute, mostly very shallow, but some measuring about 2 to 2.8 on the Richter Scale.

Now tourists, or a lot of people that are here, that taking advantage of this geological activity of unrest, and looking at it as an educational opportunity.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's pretty neat. I'm a little apprehensive, obviously, but you know, they'd probably give us fair warning if something, you know, were to happen, and we wouldn't be here right now. But, you know, if something does happen, it would be kind of neat to say you were there a couple days or weeks before something actually blew. So, yes, pretty neat stuff.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

OSIAS: Now, the activities that we have seen, there has been nothing like it since 1986, really for the most part, pretty quiet.

Now, scientists do say even if there is an eruption, it will be nothing like 1980, of course; 57 people were killed in that volcanic eruption. It would be mostly ash and steam and some very large rocks going about several miles, is what they're saying. Now the area is still open to tourism. A lot of trails are open. A couple very close to the crater have been shut down. And for hikers, 4,800 feet and above, no luck, they've got to stop that activity for awhile -- Carol.

LIN: You bet. But what an exciting time for you to be there. Thanks, Kimberly.

OSIAS: Thank you.

LIN: Looking forward to your reporting, just in case something happens.

Of course You can read more on Mount St. Helens at our continually updated Web site. That address is CNN.com. All right.

And moving on here, using laughter as a political weapon, poking fun at the candidates. "Avenue Q." Yes, those guys, they're going to join me straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: If you're in New York City around 1:00 today, you might want to head over to 46th and Broadway, because the cast of the Tony Award-winning musical "Avenue Q" is going to perform a bit of political street theater in honor of tonight's presidential debate. It's called "Avenue Q and A." And actors Jennifer Barnhart and Rick Lyon, and the candidates -- a pleasure to have both of you -- are with us from New York with a preview of today's performance, which by the way is free.

JENNIFER BARNHART, "AVENUE Q": Indeed. Indeed.

RICK LYON, "AVENUE Q": Yes, right on the street where anybody can access it. We're all about access.

LIN: Access yes, access and an open and Democratic process.

If I could speak briefly with the candidates, President Bush.

BARNHART: Of course. LIN: Senator Kerry, It's a big night for both of you.

I'm wondering President Bush how do you plan an distinguishing yourself at tonight's debate?

LYON: Well, I'm going to do what I always do. I'm going to speak the plain truth, the real truth and the factual truth, that's what I do. And I'm never repetitive or redundant.

LIN: Never. All right, well, fair enough.

Senator Kerry, how do you plan to counter that?

BARNHART: Well, I'm going to speak to the common man. I'm going to speak to every man in America, and focus on the issues that count to the majority of the people in our heartland, and the middle class, and try to cover as many bases as I can.

LIN: As many bases.

And I hope you'll be speaking to the women, as well, Senator Kerry.

BARNHART: Absolutely, absolutely. I feel very close to my feminine side, and yes, I'm very sympathetic to women's voice.

LIN: Well, it's good to see that President Bush is on board with that.

Jennifer, Rick, I'm wondering, how did you -- did you study the candidates' mannerism, Jennifer. I mean, what is it about Senator Kerry that you like to bring out?

BARNHART: Well, what I wish I could do, is I wish I could do this, but because I can't bend my fingers so well, I can't do this, because he does it a lot.

LYON: He learned that from Bill Clinton, I think.

BARNHART: Yes, I can't do fist, because he does fists in the air a lot, but I do this a lot.

LIN: There you go.

And President Bush, Rick?

LYON: Well, you've got to face it, President Bush is an easy guy to lampoon. He's only a couple of notches below Ross Perot on the extremity meter. But he's just -- he speaks in very plain English. He speaks in short, concise phrases. That's what he does.

Actually I did my research. I looked at his personal Web site georgewbush.com and looked at a bunch of audio and video clips on there. That way my research.

BARNHART: I did the same thing, actually. LIN: I think you certainly have the president's turn of the head.

LYON: Oh, thank you.

LIN: That quick turn of the head.

Senator Kerry, I'm just wondering, in tonight's debate, what do you think you'd like to bring out as the most pressing issue that the country is facing right now?

BARNHART: Well, I'm hoping to bring us out of this morass that we're in in Iraq, because I know it's very deeply concerning to me. And, what?

LYON: Well, you know, whatever, you know. You just keep talking.

BARNHART: Well, anyway. I'm hoping to cut this runaway spending and curb the deficit so that the next generation won't have to spend tomorrow paying back what we are spending today.

LIN: Oh, dear. I think I just heard President Bush sigh, perhaps a cue from Al Gore's debate in 2000.

LYON: Well, you know. Well, you know, with this guy, you never really know what you're going to get. You know, let's face it. Here, I brought a prop, I brought a visual aid here.

BARNHART: What did you bring?

LYON: This is the theme of my opponent's campaign right here. He's a flip-flopper. And I'm just -- here, here, this is for you, John.

BARNHART: Thank you so, so much.

LYON: Excellent.

LIN: Well, it's good to see the candidates can share.

I didn't know, for example, President Bush, Senator Kerry, that you both actually sing.

LYON: Yes.

BARNHART: We do.

LYON: Well, actually, that's very exciting. We're going to be making our singing and dancing Broadway debut right on this political rally we're having out in Times Square, live at 1:00.

BARNHART: Shall we give them a sample?

LYON: A little bit, sure. Why not?

BARNHART: All right, here we go.

LYON: There's a song. see, this is all about getting out the vote, and one of our favorite songs is about getting out and voting. It's called "Vote Your Heart."

BARNHART: Yes, it goes a little something like this.

BARNHART & LYON (singing): Vote your heart, look inside and see what's there.

LYON: Nice.

BARNHART & LYON (singing): Vote your heart, deep down you really care.

BARNHART: So it's all about getting educated about the issues, look deep inside, see how you feel about it, and get out there and vote America!

LYON: Excellent. Couldn't have said it better myself.

LIN: Thank you very much senator, thank you very much Mr. President.

Jennifer, Rick, have a great time this afternoon.

LYON: Thank you very much.

BARNHART: Thank you very much.

LYON: Thanks for having us here.

LIN: And we'll see how the candidates compare tonight, live on CNN.

LYON: Yes, this is about as pleasant as we'll ever be to each other.

LIN: We're enjoying the moment. Thank you.

And stay with CNN for extensive coverage of that debate tonight. Anderson Cooper, Paula Zahn, Wolf Blitzer and CNN's election team are going to kick off our primetime coverage at 7:00 Eastern, 4:00 Pacific. I'm back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: In Japan, the death toll from a tropical storm is rising as search crews dig through mud and debris that washed down a mountainside. At least 19 people are confirmed dead and several are missing. The storm had been a typhoon before spending much of its fury on Okinawa. And 10,000 people have been chased from their homes into shelters.

(WEATHER REPORT) In the next hour of CNN LIVE TODAY, how the immigrant roots of one man played a role in his vision for the World Trade Center reconstruction.

And can you live in one state and vote in another? That question is being buzzed about on the Web. I'm going to talk about that and other hop topics people are clicking on to.

The second hour of CNN LIVE TODAY begins right now.

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 September 30, 2004 - 10:30   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: New homeland security measures are going into effect today at international airports around the United States. For the first time, visitors from 27 countries will be fingerprinted and photographed as part of a tightening screening process. Until now, citizens of such allied countries as England, Australia, France and Japan haven't been required to undergo such screening. But right now, their information will be checked against terror watchlists.
At least one of two Italian women who were held hostage in Iraq will hold a news conference today to talk about her ordeal. Simona Parre (ph) and Simonetta Toretta (ph) were freed on Tuesday after being held for three weeks. They said the kidnappers treated them well, and even apologized before freeing them.

And in Providence, Rhode Island, the Roger Williams Park Zoo has opened a butterfly garden to remember victims of last year's night club fire. As you might recall, 100 people died there, and more than 200 others were injured in the blaze which was ignited by a rock band's pyrotechnics.

Well, billions of dollars ear marked for construction projects in Iraq will instead now go toward fighting the insurgency. Congress has approved diverting $3.5 billion to improving security in that country. Now that money comes from a big pot of $18.4 billion for reconstructing last November. But less than a billion of that money has been spent so far on Iraq's rebuilding.

In the meantime, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld acknowledges that security in Iraq has gone downhill. And that echoes recent comments by Secretary of State Colin Powell.

CNN Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr has more on Donald Rumsfeld's candid remarks today in a radio interview.

Barbara, we're used to the defense secretary being candid, but certainly not about admitting what sounds like a mistake.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Carol, the secretary has been very sober in his recent public comments about the situation in Iraq indeed. And in a radio interview that he recently conducted, he said and acknowledged that the violence and attacks in Iraq, in his words, are, quote, "getting worse," and he expects it to grow, as he has said in the past, as the elections approach in January and as the insurgents try to stop progress.

Now the administration continues to say that many parts of Iraq are relatively peaceful.

But new statistics are showing, indeed, that September is wrapping up as a very deadly month. A senior military official in the region says it was the high highest month on record of car bomb attacks, that there was a surge in car bombs, in kidnappings, over 30 of those type of attacks in the month of September.

Assessments from senior U.S. military officials are that U.S. and Iraqi troops have killed or captured over 100 associates of Abu Musab Al Zarqawi, the leader of some of those foreign fighters, and they have killed six of 10 of his closest associates.

But again, a very deadly month in September. At the peak, there were about 90 attacks a day. Now they think they're down to about 50.

In that radio interview, I must tell you, the secretary also publicly talked about his effort to see if they can reduce the tour of duty for soldiers in Iraq. He says he's asking the Army to take a look at it, whether they can reduce that one-year tour, maybe even cut it in half by sometime next year. But he's also cautious, telling the troops not to get their hopes up just yet -- Carol.

LIN: Thanks very much, Barbara Starr, live at the Pentagon.

Meantime, from the Justice Department, Attorney General John Ashcroft says an appeal is likely after a federal judge struck down a key provision in the Patriot Act. That judge ruled that it's unconstitutional for the FBI to secretly search Internet and phone records. The injunction is delayed 90 days to give the government time to appeal. The Patriot Act is due to expire next year, unless it's renewed by Congress.

Meantime, homeland security and foreign policy will be the focus of tonight's presidential debate.

Here's's CNN's national security correspondent David Ensor with a look at what we can expect.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID ENSOR, CNN NATL. SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: The war, that has so far cost well over 1,000 American lives, guarantees drama in the first presidential debate.

SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Invading Iraq has created a crisis of historic proportions. And if we do not change course, there is the prospect of a war with no end in sight.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Incredibly this week, my opponent said he would prefer the dictatorship of Saddam Hussein to the situation in Iraq today.

ENSOR: Mr. Bush will present Kerry as waffling on Iraq, because he voted to give authority for war, and then became a critic of the way it's been conducted. Senator Kerry will argue Bush took his eye off the target, America's real enemy, Osama bin Laden. JAMES LINDSEY, COUNCIL OF FOREIGN RELATIONS: I think you see in President Bush someone who's deeply skeptical of international institutions, who believes in what he calls coalitions of the willing, that if we lead, others will follow. Senator Kerry is a man who thinks that that's simply not enough, that we need to work with others, because the problems are beyond our capacity to be able to solve on our own.

ENSOR: The first debate will be about foreign policy issues, but experts says, for the voters, the specific policies are not the point.

LINDSEY: What they're really going to want to come to grips with is to look at the debates and look at the two candidates is, at the end of the day, who do I trust the future of my country? And so the foreign policy issues become a way of thinking about leadership.

ENSOR (on camera): So while the two candidates debate the issues, from Iraq, to trade deficits to North Korean nuclear weapons, the voters will likely focus less on the details, more on that all- important factor, someone to trust.

David Ensor, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: Of course, CNN is your election headquarters, because our special live coverage of tonight's first presidential debate begins promptly at 7:00 p.m. Eastern. Tune in 4:00 p.m. if you're on the West Coast.

Meantime, roaring back to life, experts and residents can only wait and see what happens while some curiosity seekers are taking a closer look at Mount St. Helens.

Isn't that right, Kim?

KIMBERLY OSIAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's exactly right, Carol. I mean, it's hard to believe that I'm actually standing in front of anything, much less Mount St. Helens. After two and a half decades of relative calm, she's rumbling again. I'll tell you all about it, just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(STOCK MARKET UPDATE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: Let's take a look at some other stories making news coast to coast this time.

A pitcher for the Cleveland Indians is hospitalized after being shot in the leg. A team spokesman says a bullet was fired into the team bus and grazed one player before hitting Kyle Denney. Police don't know if the bus was the intended target. Now the team says Denney wasn't seriously injured, and he had just pitched the Indians to a 5-2 win over Kansas City.

Mail delivery has been stopped now in a Shreveport, Louisiana, neighborhood because of an ongoing gun violence battle between two groups. The Postal Service says one of its carriers narrowly avoided being shot. Not long after that, a 5-year-old girl was shot by a bullet that came through her bedroom window.

And the FBI is investigating the apparent firing of a laser beam into the cockpit of a Delta Airlines plane. That incident happened last week as the plane was preparing to land in Salt Lake City. A pilot says he suffered an eye injury from the laser beam. The flight did land safely, and the pilot's injury is expected to heal.

At Mount St. Helens, both tensions and the likelihood of an eruption are climbing. Rumbling is growing more intense, and scientists warn it could be building to an eruption, perhaps within the next few days.

CNN's Kimberly Osias joins me from Mount St. Helens National Park with the very latest from there.

Kimberly, what can you see there, because it just looks like a cloudy day right now?

OSIAS: It sure does. You can't see a whole heck of a lot, Carol. Believe it or not, behind this very, very thick curtain of fog sits Mount St. Helens, and she is rumbling again. Why exactly? Scientists still don't know, but we are at an orange alert level. That is just right under the red. The red, of course, meaning that volcanic activity is very imminent. So they're watching her activity very, very closely, and they're sort of trying to puzzle out some very conflicting evidence that they are looking at right now, trying to suss through it.

In fact, just yesterday they went up in choppers, they had to wait until all this fog cleared, and they looked at Co2 and So2 gas- emission levels.

Now what that is indicative of is any kind of magma that is moving underneath the dome. That would be hot new earth. Now, the dome has risen about an inch and a half recently, and that is, of course, concerning to scientists. But you juxtapose that with the fact that they didn't get any kind of statistically significant gas result. So that is good news. But that -- comparing or contrasting that, rather, with the fact that there is just a swarm of volcanic activity of recent. There have been 1,000 to 2,000, in fact, that they have recorded at the University of Washington, and just yesterday, there were about three to four earthquakes a minute, mostly very shallow, but some measuring about 2 to 2.8 on the Richter Scale.

Now tourists, or a lot of people that are here, that taking advantage of this geological activity of unrest, and looking at it as an educational opportunity.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's pretty neat. I'm a little apprehensive, obviously, but you know, they'd probably give us fair warning if something, you know, were to happen, and we wouldn't be here right now. But, you know, if something does happen, it would be kind of neat to say you were there a couple days or weeks before something actually blew. So, yes, pretty neat stuff.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

OSIAS: Now, the activities that we have seen, there has been nothing like it since 1986, really for the most part, pretty quiet.

Now, scientists do say even if there is an eruption, it will be nothing like 1980, of course; 57 people were killed in that volcanic eruption. It would be mostly ash and steam and some very large rocks going about several miles, is what they're saying. Now the area is still open to tourism. A lot of trails are open. A couple very close to the crater have been shut down. And for hikers, 4,800 feet and above, no luck, they've got to stop that activity for awhile -- Carol.

LIN: You bet. But what an exciting time for you to be there. Thanks, Kimberly.

OSIAS: Thank you.

LIN: Looking forward to your reporting, just in case something happens.

Of course You can read more on Mount St. Helens at our continually updated Web site. That address is CNN.com. All right.

And moving on here, using laughter as a political weapon, poking fun at the candidates. "Avenue Q." Yes, those guys, they're going to join me straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: If you're in New York City around 1:00 today, you might want to head over to 46th and Broadway, because the cast of the Tony Award-winning musical "Avenue Q" is going to perform a bit of political street theater in honor of tonight's presidential debate. It's called "Avenue Q and A." And actors Jennifer Barnhart and Rick Lyon, and the candidates -- a pleasure to have both of you -- are with us from New York with a preview of today's performance, which by the way is free.

JENNIFER BARNHART, "AVENUE Q": Indeed. Indeed.

RICK LYON, "AVENUE Q": Yes, right on the street where anybody can access it. We're all about access.

LIN: Access yes, access and an open and Democratic process.

If I could speak briefly with the candidates, President Bush.

BARNHART: Of course. LIN: Senator Kerry, It's a big night for both of you.

I'm wondering President Bush how do you plan an distinguishing yourself at tonight's debate?

LYON: Well, I'm going to do what I always do. I'm going to speak the plain truth, the real truth and the factual truth, that's what I do. And I'm never repetitive or redundant.

LIN: Never. All right, well, fair enough.

Senator Kerry, how do you plan to counter that?

BARNHART: Well, I'm going to speak to the common man. I'm going to speak to every man in America, and focus on the issues that count to the majority of the people in our heartland, and the middle class, and try to cover as many bases as I can.

LIN: As many bases.

And I hope you'll be speaking to the women, as well, Senator Kerry.

BARNHART: Absolutely, absolutely. I feel very close to my feminine side, and yes, I'm very sympathetic to women's voice.

LIN: Well, it's good to see that President Bush is on board with that.

Jennifer, Rick, I'm wondering, how did you -- did you study the candidates' mannerism, Jennifer. I mean, what is it about Senator Kerry that you like to bring out?

BARNHART: Well, what I wish I could do, is I wish I could do this, but because I can't bend my fingers so well, I can't do this, because he does it a lot.

LYON: He learned that from Bill Clinton, I think.

BARNHART: Yes, I can't do fist, because he does fists in the air a lot, but I do this a lot.

LIN: There you go.

And President Bush, Rick?

LYON: Well, you've got to face it, President Bush is an easy guy to lampoon. He's only a couple of notches below Ross Perot on the extremity meter. But he's just -- he speaks in very plain English. He speaks in short, concise phrases. That's what he does.

Actually I did my research. I looked at his personal Web site georgewbush.com and looked at a bunch of audio and video clips on there. That way my research.

BARNHART: I did the same thing, actually. LIN: I think you certainly have the president's turn of the head.

LYON: Oh, thank you.

LIN: That quick turn of the head.

Senator Kerry, I'm just wondering, in tonight's debate, what do you think you'd like to bring out as the most pressing issue that the country is facing right now?

BARNHART: Well, I'm hoping to bring us out of this morass that we're in in Iraq, because I know it's very deeply concerning to me. And, what?

LYON: Well, you know, whatever, you know. You just keep talking.

BARNHART: Well, anyway. I'm hoping to cut this runaway spending and curb the deficit so that the next generation won't have to spend tomorrow paying back what we are spending today.

LIN: Oh, dear. I think I just heard President Bush sigh, perhaps a cue from Al Gore's debate in 2000.

LYON: Well, you know. Well, you know, with this guy, you never really know what you're going to get. You know, let's face it. Here, I brought a prop, I brought a visual aid here.

BARNHART: What did you bring?

LYON: This is the theme of my opponent's campaign right here. He's a flip-flopper. And I'm just -- here, here, this is for you, John.

BARNHART: Thank you so, so much.

LYON: Excellent.

LIN: Well, it's good to see the candidates can share.

I didn't know, for example, President Bush, Senator Kerry, that you both actually sing.

LYON: Yes.

BARNHART: We do.

LYON: Well, actually, that's very exciting. We're going to be making our singing and dancing Broadway debut right on this political rally we're having out in Times Square, live at 1:00.

BARNHART: Shall we give them a sample?

LYON: A little bit, sure. Why not?

BARNHART: All right, here we go.

LYON: There's a song. see, this is all about getting out the vote, and one of our favorite songs is about getting out and voting. It's called "Vote Your Heart."

BARNHART: Yes, it goes a little something like this.

BARNHART & LYON (singing): Vote your heart, look inside and see what's there.

LYON: Nice.

BARNHART & LYON (singing): Vote your heart, deep down you really care.

BARNHART: So it's all about getting educated about the issues, look deep inside, see how you feel about it, and get out there and vote America!

LYON: Excellent. Couldn't have said it better myself.

LIN: Thank you very much senator, thank you very much Mr. President.

Jennifer, Rick, have a great time this afternoon.

LYON: Thank you very much.

BARNHART: Thank you very much.

LYON: Thanks for having us here.

LIN: And we'll see how the candidates compare tonight, live on CNN.

LYON: Yes, this is about as pleasant as we'll ever be to each other.

LIN: We're enjoying the moment. Thank you.

And stay with CNN for extensive coverage of that debate tonight. Anderson Cooper, Paula Zahn, Wolf Blitzer and CNN's election team are going to kick off our primetime coverage at 7:00 Eastern, 4:00 Pacific. I'm back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: In Japan, the death toll from a tropical storm is rising as search crews dig through mud and debris that washed down a mountainside. At least 19 people are confirmed dead and several are missing. The storm had been a typhoon before spending much of its fury on Okinawa. And 10,000 people have been chased from their homes into shelters.

(WEATHER REPORT) In the next hour of CNN LIVE TODAY, how the immigrant roots of one man played a role in his vision for the World Trade Center reconstruction.

And can you live in one state and vote in another? That question is being buzzed about on the Web. I'm going to talk about that and other hop topics people are clicking on to.

The second hour of CNN LIVE TODAY begins right now.

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