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Twenty-Six People Confirmed Dead in Bombings at Resort in Sinai; Up for Grabs?

Aired October 08, 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: A major earthquake in the Philippines. We know now it measured a magnitude of 6.4. The earthquake rocked the capital of Manila. There are no immediate reports of injuries or damage. Reports say the quake caused high-rise buildings to sway and knocked out power in some areas.
Israel is pointing to Al Qaeda this morning in the bombings at resort in Sinai. Twenty-six people are confirmed dead, dozens more are still missing.

Our Ben Wedeman is in Taba, Egypt with the latest -- Ben.

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Daryn, Israeli and Egyptian rescue workers spent most of the day today try to go through the rubble, look for survivors, but it appears they only came up with the dead.

We saw as they were in fact digging out intently in one corner, where they did find a body; it was the body, it appears, of a child.

Now, as they were digging and looking for survivors, we were watching as hundreds, perhaps thousands of Israeli tourists were fleeing the Sinai. More than 15,000 of them people had come here for a Jewish holiday, but once news of the bombing here spread in the Sinai, they, most of them, in fact, left the area.

Now, we have heard from Israeli officials that they do believe that some Al Qaeda cell or network was involved in these bombings. There's been, until now, no claim of responsibility. The Egyptian government also saying that they will do their best to track down what they describe as these terrorists. There were unconfirmed reports this morning that 10 individuals had been arrested for possible connections with the bombing, but at this point there's no further word on their whereabouts or whether the investigation has gone any further -- Daryn.

KAGAN: ... in Taba, thank you for that.

An early morning bomb in Paris. The explosion wounded 10 people outside the Indonesian embassy. Windows shattered around the upscale neighborhood, which sits on the Sen (ph).

And the day before historic elects in Afghanistan, two rockets were launched in Kabul. One exploded several hundred yards from U.N. peacekeeping headquarters, not too far from the U.S. embassy. If you're doing that thing where you count down on the calendar, Election Day is now 25 days away, and it appears that the race for the White House is getting even tighter. We've been talking today about the new jobs report, showing weaker growth last month than expected. It seems a safe bet President Bush and Senator Kerry will be talking about those figures in their debate tonight.

Our political editor John Mercurio joins us from the debate site in st. Louis. John, good morning.

JOHN MERCURIO, CNN POL. EDITOR: Good morning. How are you.

KAGAN: I'm doing great. Let's see how those jobs numbers are doing and talk about how you each candidate will spin this latest information?

MERCURIO: Well, right, I mean, literally minutes after the numbers came out, both campaigns were already spinning, both campaigns already had conference calls this afternoon trying to spin their numbers. The Bush campaign saying that this is a strong sign of a positive trend, that Senator Kerry and his plans for tax increases and increased regulation would only hinder a growing economy.

Now the Kerry campaign came out, Gene Sperling, a former economic adviser to President Clinton, saying that President Bush face the electorate for the first time in 72 years, a president facing the electorate with a net job loss.

KAGAN: All right, let's talk about tonight's format, which is going to be different than...

MERCURIO: Sorry, I'm losing you.

KAGAN: Can you hear us?

You know what, we're going to work on getting John back, because he has a lot of good information, so we'll redial up John Mercurio.

Meanwhile, there are blue states, red states and there are the states that get the most attention from presidential candidates. Those are the ones that are up for grabs.

National correspondent Kelly Wallace takes a look at the shifting nature of the battleground states.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And I know the president will join me in welcoming all of Florida to this debate.

KELLY WALLACE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): It was no accident the first presidential debate was in Florida, the first and only vice presidential face-off in Ohio, and the last two presidential showdowns in Missouri and Arizona. All four states had been considered battlegrounds by both campaigns just a few months ago, but things have changed. GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Wait until you get to Phoenix!

WALLACE: A CNN analysis of the latest polling shows Arizona likely going for President Bush and Missouri leaning the president's way. The Kerry campaign is no longer running TV ads in either place.

KERRY: I'm John Kerry and I approve this message.

WALLACE: So keeping in mind the ever-changing political landscape, get your pens ready. Here are some of the states up for grabs. Those we already mentioned, Florida and Ohio, and also Pennsylvania. But Colorado? That's right. A state Mr. Bush won by more than 8 points in 2000, a state where Senator Kerry prepared for tonight's debate.

KERRY: Well, obviously I'd like to win all of Colorado's electoral votes.

WALLACE: And a state where the race is neck-and-neck, according to the latest CNN/"USA Today"/Gallup poll.

SEN. JOHN EDWARDS (D-NC), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We should have used the resources that we had.

WALLACE: And then there is New York, which explains why Senator Edwards was there yesterday. Recent polls show the race tightening in a state the Democrats easily won four years ago.

Where else is it too close to call?

BUSH: Help is on the way!

WALLACE: Other states Mr. Bush won in 2000: New Hampshire, West Virginia, Nevada. And other states Al Gore won: Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin and New Mexico.

And so just about a dozen states now considered the most competitive battlegrounds, the places the campaigns are devoting most of their resources, knowing these states could play the biggest role on Election Day.

Kelly Wallace, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: All right. We have redialed up John Mercurio in St. Louis.

John, how are we doing now?

MERCURIO: We're back. I can hear you.

KAGAN: See you don't get away from this show that easily.

MERCURIO: I'm, sorry, say that again. KAGAN: Let's get right to the question.

I was picking your brain about the format for tonight.

MERCURIO: Yes. There's been a lot of conversation, a lot of questions about the format. This is the only townhall debate that the two of them are going to face.

There's been a lot of confusion I think among people about exactly how the audience was chosen. It's going to be about 140 people sitting in this audience. The Gallup organization interviewed extensively these people. What they're trying to find are uncommitted voters, people who may be leaning towards President Bush or leaning towards John Kerry, but haven't decided that they're committed to them, and they could be persuaded or swayed by what they hear tonight. They're going to be the ones asking question. The moderator, Charles Gibson, from ABC News will be picking them and asking them to come up to stage.

The questions have been prescreened. We know what we're going to be hearing, or at least Mr. Gibson does. So there's some degree of scriptedness to this, but also a lot of unpredictability.

KAGAN: And the candidates are allowed to walk around?

MERCURIO: The candidates are allowed to leave their -- they have swivel chairs that they're going to be sitting in. They're allowed to leave those chairs, pick up a microphone and walk up to the audience.

Now this is a format that President Bush is very good at. You've seen him in his campaign events, most of those events by invitation only, largely scripted, but he's very effective at sort of connected with people, so he has a slight advantage going into that format, I think.

KAGAN: All right, John Mercurio. Thank you.

MERCURIO: Thank you.

KAGAN: Looking forward to the debate tonight.

MERCURIO: Well, when you're buying tuna, the redder, the better, right? Well, not so fast. Some important information next in your daily dose of health news.

And later, they are back, poking fun of politics once again. It's the boys from Jibjab. See their latest creation, coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: The chairman of the Senate Finance Committee says the FDA silenced one of its veteran experts who recently tried to sound the alarm over Vioxx. The doctor told senators yesterday he was ostracized by the agency for his conclusions after reviewing tens of thousands of patient records. Vioxx was voluntary pulled off the market last week because of an increased risk of stroke and heart attack among some patients.

CNN medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta with some food for thought for sushi lovers. The tuna on display at your local sushi bar may look fresh -- chances are, though, it has been treated with carbon monoxide to give it a more appetizing appearance. That fresh appearance is deceptive because it can mask possible toxins in older fish.

To get your "Daily Dose" of health news online, log onto 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.

Up next, a name synonymous with the sea. Find out why, in the middle of so much important work, Jean-Michel Cousteau is lending his experience to a movie you might not expect.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: Most of the damage that we have seen from the string of recent hurricanes has been to man-made structures on land. But nature's own handiwork beneath the waves has also taken a severe beating.

Jean-Michel Cousteau, founder of the Ocean Futures Society, is here to talk about the impact of those storms of the coral reefs of the Caribbean, as well as some other projects. You're always up to something when you stop by.

JEAN-MICHEL COUSTEAU, FOUNDER, OCEAN FUTURES SOCIETY: Well, there's a lot going on, but the coral reefs are really the silent victims. And nature has a lot of strength and can recover, provided you give it a chance.

KAGAN: Right. And that's what I have to think when I first heard about the hurricanes coming in. This is Mother Nature's work. There's a sense of her reclaiming her own, and that this is the cycle it's supposed to work.

So, why is it different for the coral reefs this time around?

COUSTEAU: Well, it's not different, but we have had such an impact on coral reefs that if you have a dead reef, it cannot recover. It's already dead. And the protection that reefs offer, for particularly the coastlines of many of the island nations and our own coastlines, is crumbling and little by little goes away.

So, it's really a major concern for those nations and those people living along the coastline.

KAGAN: What needs to be done, besides letting...

COUSTEAU: Stop using the ocean as a garbage can, that's what needs to be done. All the fertilizers, the insecticides, the heavy metals that we put -- the things we don't see are affecting coral reefs and any waters around the planet. So, that additional stress that we put upon them does not allow them to recover. KAGAN: We will be watching that.

I want to talk about some other projects you're working on. You've got kind of a movie career, a movie filmography that is developing here. We saw you on the "Finding Nemo" DVD...

COUSTEAU: That's right.

KAGAN: ... and now "SpongeBob Squarepants?"

COUSTEAU: "SpongeBob Squarepants," that's right.

KAGAN: And what are you doing with "SpongeBob?"

COUSTEAU: Well, you know, "SpongeBob" is introducing all kinds of characters.

KAGAN: And he's underwater, so you've got to like him already.

COUSTEAU: That's right. And the major show -- feature film coming out on the 19th of November, and millions of kids -- tens of millions of kids and their parents are going, they're sneaking in. And they are going to go and watch this film. And we give them a chance to go from the characters of the movie into the real creatures, whether they are plankton or crabs or sponges or the frogfish or the divers.

So, we are looking forward to this great opportunity to reach out to the young people.

KAGAN: So, will we see you in the movie or on the DVD, or what are you going to do?

COUSTEAU: We'll be on the DVD, not the movie.

KAGAN: OK, the DVD.

COUSTEAU: In the DVD. And I'll be there with young people, and we're going to explore.

KAGAN: OK. Well, I will look for that with my nephews, because I know we enjoyed watching you on the DVD of "Finding Nemo."

COUSTEAU: Very different than "Finding Nemo," but I'm looking forward to it.

KAGAN: OK. We'll look for that.

Now, meanwhile, when you were here last time, you were talking about the gray whales and how that was going to be your next big project. What's happening with the whales?

COUSTEAU: Well, we just finished the expedition. We just came back from Alaska, and we're dealing with the marine mammal -- the whale that has the longest migration on the planet, 10,000 miles roundtrip. And because that particular whale is hugging the coast, and we're doing this for public broadcasting under the leadership of KQED in San Francisco, I really want to show what the obstacle course of these animals are, whether they are man-made obstacles or they are nature obstacle course. And -- such as the attack of gray whales by orcas, or killer whales, that will separate the babies from the mother and ultimately kill the baby for their food.

KAGAN: Some incredible pictures. Our time today is short, so when this is closer to going to air, you'll have to stop by again and tell us more...

COUSTEAU: I'd love to do it.

KAGAN: ... about the gray whales. Jean-Michel Cousteau, thank you for stopping by.

COUSTEAU: You're very welcome.

KAGAN: For coming on land for us for at least a few minutes.

COUSTEAU: Thank you.

KAGAN: Appreciate it. Thank you so much.

Other news to get to today, and that is the Labor Department releasing those new numbers this morning on job growth. And the report was weaker than economists were expecting. The number of jobs added in August was revised to 128,000, down from 144,000. Employers adding 96,000 jobs in September. Economists were predicting 150,000 new jobs. The nation's unemployment rate held steady at 5.4 percent.

Both the Bush and Kerry campaigns are putting their spin on the new job numbers. Last hour, I had a chance to talk with Commerce Secretary Don Evans to get the Bush administration's reaction.

Now former Clinton Labor Secretary Alexis Herman is an adviser to the Kerry/Edwards campaign, and she is joining me from Mobile, Alabama.

Madam secretary, good morning. Thanks for being here with us.

ALEXIS HERMAN, KERRY-EDWARDS CAMPAIGN ADVISER: Good morning, and Thanks for inviting me.

KAGAN: Give us your take on the new job numbers, please.

HERMAN: Well, obviously, this report now confirms that President Bush will be the first president in 70 years not to have created a single new job for America's workers, and I think what's more, the fact that we had more than 200,000 who dropped out of the labor report for this series, tells us that the number discourage workers, it's even higher. And therefore, the unemployment rate actually would have gone up if you had all of the discouraged workers also counted.

KAGAN: President Bush has said on a number of opportunities that what is happening is the recovery of an economy that was already on the slide when it was handed off to him and his administration back in 2000 -- or 2001. What do you say to that?

HERMAN: Well, you know, the reality is, after September 11, the president's own economic advisers gave us their new projections for the economy. They said they were going to create on average, 300 jobs a month, that the economy would rebound. Instead, the president is still running a jobs deficit of 1.7 million jobs.

But let's not forget just in historical context, we're had wars, natural disasters, we've had other things that have certainly shaken our economy, and yet, all of those other presidents managed to create jobs. President Bush has not.

KAGAN: And finally in the last hour when I was talking to Don Evans, he, again, believes this is a economy that's on the recovery and says the last thing this economy needs are higher taxes, which he says is what Senator Kerry would bring if he was president, and also more regulation on industry. What do you say to that?

HERMAN: Senator Kerry has a very strong economic plan to get our economy moving again, to create jobs. He has said he's going to actually roll back the Bush tax cuts, that were the taxes that were passed for the wealthiest Americans. He's going to make sure that we support the middle class, that we have middle-class tax cuts and those working to get into the middle class.

And more importantly, he's also put forth a very strong health plan that is going to get at the out-of-control costs of health care today and the rising numbers of Americans today who don't have health coverage. We know that the rise in cost in health care has also been a big depressor in terms of creating jobs in terms of what average workers can afford and certainly even employers today.

So I certainly disagree with what Secretary Evans has said. Senator Kerry has a strong plan to cut taxes for the middle class, and to make sure that we're going to create jobs for the future. He believes that we can do better. Not only in terms it of this month's report, but for the entire record of this administration.

KAGAN: Let me just...

HERMAN: Where we've lost jobs.

KAGAN: Our time is short. I just want to wrap with a similar type of question I asked Don Evans, that is, going into tonight's debate, any advise for your candidate? Some have suggested the townhall format, which is more casual, more people-friendly, is not as friendly to Senator Kerry. What would you say to that?

HERMAN: I think senator Kerry is going to be honest and truthful with the American people tonight. I think he's going to be very thoughtful in his responses. This is someone who connects with ordinary Americans, who understands the reality of what is really taking place today, with job loss, with rising cost in health care. I think that they are looking for a real change for a real plan for our future. John Kerry's going to speak to those needs, those issues tonight. I think that he will be terrific.

KAGAN: A lot of Americans will be watching.

Alexis Herman, thank you for your time today.

HERMAN: Thank you.

KAGAN: Well, guess who is back?

(MUSIC)

We are going to wrap up the with week with a giggle. The guys at Jibjab are once again seeing the funny side of politics. We will show it to you, coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(WEATHER REPORT)

KAGAN: The boys at Jibjab are at it again. You might recall that Gregg and Evan Spiridellis are the evil geniuses behind the political satire "This Land," which poked wicked fun, equally, at George Bush and John Kerry. Well, they have a new one. it's even more irrelevant than the first. Here it is.

(MUSIC)

KAGAN: OK. If you want to see the entire thing go to jibjab.com. They'll hook you up. However, it's going to cost you a few bucks to download this time.

All right, that's going to do it for me. Have a good week. I'm Daryn Kagan. I'll see you right back here on Monday.

For now, though, we have tracked him down, not too surprising to find him in St. Louis today.

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 October 8, 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: A major earthquake in the Philippines. We know now it measured a magnitude of 6.4. The earthquake rocked the capital of Manila. There are no immediate reports of injuries or damage. Reports say the quake caused high-rise buildings to sway and knocked out power in some areas.
Israel is pointing to Al Qaeda this morning in the bombings at resort in Sinai. Twenty-six people are confirmed dead, dozens more are still missing.

Our Ben Wedeman is in Taba, Egypt with the latest -- Ben.

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Daryn, Israeli and Egyptian rescue workers spent most of the day today try to go through the rubble, look for survivors, but it appears they only came up with the dead.

We saw as they were in fact digging out intently in one corner, where they did find a body; it was the body, it appears, of a child.

Now, as they were digging and looking for survivors, we were watching as hundreds, perhaps thousands of Israeli tourists were fleeing the Sinai. More than 15,000 of them people had come here for a Jewish holiday, but once news of the bombing here spread in the Sinai, they, most of them, in fact, left the area.

Now, we have heard from Israeli officials that they do believe that some Al Qaeda cell or network was involved in these bombings. There's been, until now, no claim of responsibility. The Egyptian government also saying that they will do their best to track down what they describe as these terrorists. There were unconfirmed reports this morning that 10 individuals had been arrested for possible connections with the bombing, but at this point there's no further word on their whereabouts or whether the investigation has gone any further -- Daryn.

KAGAN: ... in Taba, thank you for that.

An early morning bomb in Paris. The explosion wounded 10 people outside the Indonesian embassy. Windows shattered around the upscale neighborhood, which sits on the Sen (ph).

And the day before historic elects in Afghanistan, two rockets were launched in Kabul. One exploded several hundred yards from U.N. peacekeeping headquarters, not too far from the U.S. embassy. If you're doing that thing where you count down on the calendar, Election Day is now 25 days away, and it appears that the race for the White House is getting even tighter. We've been talking today about the new jobs report, showing weaker growth last month than expected. It seems a safe bet President Bush and Senator Kerry will be talking about those figures in their debate tonight.

Our political editor John Mercurio joins us from the debate site in st. Louis. John, good morning.

JOHN MERCURIO, CNN POL. EDITOR: Good morning. How are you.

KAGAN: I'm doing great. Let's see how those jobs numbers are doing and talk about how you each candidate will spin this latest information?

MERCURIO: Well, right, I mean, literally minutes after the numbers came out, both campaigns were already spinning, both campaigns already had conference calls this afternoon trying to spin their numbers. The Bush campaign saying that this is a strong sign of a positive trend, that Senator Kerry and his plans for tax increases and increased regulation would only hinder a growing economy.

Now the Kerry campaign came out, Gene Sperling, a former economic adviser to President Clinton, saying that President Bush face the electorate for the first time in 72 years, a president facing the electorate with a net job loss.

KAGAN: All right, let's talk about tonight's format, which is going to be different than...

MERCURIO: Sorry, I'm losing you.

KAGAN: Can you hear us?

You know what, we're going to work on getting John back, because he has a lot of good information, so we'll redial up John Mercurio.

Meanwhile, there are blue states, red states and there are the states that get the most attention from presidential candidates. Those are the ones that are up for grabs.

National correspondent Kelly Wallace takes a look at the shifting nature of the battleground states.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And I know the president will join me in welcoming all of Florida to this debate.

KELLY WALLACE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): It was no accident the first presidential debate was in Florida, the first and only vice presidential face-off in Ohio, and the last two presidential showdowns in Missouri and Arizona. All four states had been considered battlegrounds by both campaigns just a few months ago, but things have changed. GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Wait until you get to Phoenix!

WALLACE: A CNN analysis of the latest polling shows Arizona likely going for President Bush and Missouri leaning the president's way. The Kerry campaign is no longer running TV ads in either place.

KERRY: I'm John Kerry and I approve this message.

WALLACE: So keeping in mind the ever-changing political landscape, get your pens ready. Here are some of the states up for grabs. Those we already mentioned, Florida and Ohio, and also Pennsylvania. But Colorado? That's right. A state Mr. Bush won by more than 8 points in 2000, a state where Senator Kerry prepared for tonight's debate.

KERRY: Well, obviously I'd like to win all of Colorado's electoral votes.

WALLACE: And a state where the race is neck-and-neck, according to the latest CNN/"USA Today"/Gallup poll.

SEN. JOHN EDWARDS (D-NC), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We should have used the resources that we had.

WALLACE: And then there is New York, which explains why Senator Edwards was there yesterday. Recent polls show the race tightening in a state the Democrats easily won four years ago.

Where else is it too close to call?

BUSH: Help is on the way!

WALLACE: Other states Mr. Bush won in 2000: New Hampshire, West Virginia, Nevada. And other states Al Gore won: Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin and New Mexico.

And so just about a dozen states now considered the most competitive battlegrounds, the places the campaigns are devoting most of their resources, knowing these states could play the biggest role on Election Day.

Kelly Wallace, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: All right. We have redialed up John Mercurio in St. Louis.

John, how are we doing now?

MERCURIO: We're back. I can hear you.

KAGAN: See you don't get away from this show that easily.

MERCURIO: I'm, sorry, say that again. KAGAN: Let's get right to the question.

I was picking your brain about the format for tonight.

MERCURIO: Yes. There's been a lot of conversation, a lot of questions about the format. This is the only townhall debate that the two of them are going to face.

There's been a lot of confusion I think among people about exactly how the audience was chosen. It's going to be about 140 people sitting in this audience. The Gallup organization interviewed extensively these people. What they're trying to find are uncommitted voters, people who may be leaning towards President Bush or leaning towards John Kerry, but haven't decided that they're committed to them, and they could be persuaded or swayed by what they hear tonight. They're going to be the ones asking question. The moderator, Charles Gibson, from ABC News will be picking them and asking them to come up to stage.

The questions have been prescreened. We know what we're going to be hearing, or at least Mr. Gibson does. So there's some degree of scriptedness to this, but also a lot of unpredictability.

KAGAN: And the candidates are allowed to walk around?

MERCURIO: The candidates are allowed to leave their -- they have swivel chairs that they're going to be sitting in. They're allowed to leave those chairs, pick up a microphone and walk up to the audience.

Now this is a format that President Bush is very good at. You've seen him in his campaign events, most of those events by invitation only, largely scripted, but he's very effective at sort of connected with people, so he has a slight advantage going into that format, I think.

KAGAN: All right, John Mercurio. Thank you.

MERCURIO: Thank you.

KAGAN: Looking forward to the debate tonight.

MERCURIO: Well, when you're buying tuna, the redder, the better, right? Well, not so fast. Some important information next in your daily dose of health news.

And later, they are back, poking fun of politics once again. It's the boys from Jibjab. See their latest creation, coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: The chairman of the Senate Finance Committee says the FDA silenced one of its veteran experts who recently tried to sound the alarm over Vioxx. The doctor told senators yesterday he was ostracized by the agency for his conclusions after reviewing tens of thousands of patient records. Vioxx was voluntary pulled off the market last week because of an increased risk of stroke and heart attack among some patients.

CNN medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta with some food for thought for sushi lovers. The tuna on display at your local sushi bar may look fresh -- chances are, though, it has been treated with carbon monoxide to give it a more appetizing appearance. That fresh appearance is deceptive because it can mask possible toxins in older fish.

To get your "Daily Dose" of health news online, log onto 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.

Up next, a name synonymous with the sea. Find out why, in the middle of so much important work, Jean-Michel Cousteau is lending his experience to a movie you might not expect.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: Most of the damage that we have seen from the string of recent hurricanes has been to man-made structures on land. But nature's own handiwork beneath the waves has also taken a severe beating.

Jean-Michel Cousteau, founder of the Ocean Futures Society, is here to talk about the impact of those storms of the coral reefs of the Caribbean, as well as some other projects. You're always up to something when you stop by.

JEAN-MICHEL COUSTEAU, FOUNDER, OCEAN FUTURES SOCIETY: Well, there's a lot going on, but the coral reefs are really the silent victims. And nature has a lot of strength and can recover, provided you give it a chance.

KAGAN: Right. And that's what I have to think when I first heard about the hurricanes coming in. This is Mother Nature's work. There's a sense of her reclaiming her own, and that this is the cycle it's supposed to work.

So, why is it different for the coral reefs this time around?

COUSTEAU: Well, it's not different, but we have had such an impact on coral reefs that if you have a dead reef, it cannot recover. It's already dead. And the protection that reefs offer, for particularly the coastlines of many of the island nations and our own coastlines, is crumbling and little by little goes away.

So, it's really a major concern for those nations and those people living along the coastline.

KAGAN: What needs to be done, besides letting...

COUSTEAU: Stop using the ocean as a garbage can, that's what needs to be done. All the fertilizers, the insecticides, the heavy metals that we put -- the things we don't see are affecting coral reefs and any waters around the planet. So, that additional stress that we put upon them does not allow them to recover. KAGAN: We will be watching that.

I want to talk about some other projects you're working on. You've got kind of a movie career, a movie filmography that is developing here. We saw you on the "Finding Nemo" DVD...

COUSTEAU: That's right.

KAGAN: ... and now "SpongeBob Squarepants?"

COUSTEAU: "SpongeBob Squarepants," that's right.

KAGAN: And what are you doing with "SpongeBob?"

COUSTEAU: Well, you know, "SpongeBob" is introducing all kinds of characters.

KAGAN: And he's underwater, so you've got to like him already.

COUSTEAU: That's right. And the major show -- feature film coming out on the 19th of November, and millions of kids -- tens of millions of kids and their parents are going, they're sneaking in. And they are going to go and watch this film. And we give them a chance to go from the characters of the movie into the real creatures, whether they are plankton or crabs or sponges or the frogfish or the divers.

So, we are looking forward to this great opportunity to reach out to the young people.

KAGAN: So, will we see you in the movie or on the DVD, or what are you going to do?

COUSTEAU: We'll be on the DVD, not the movie.

KAGAN: OK, the DVD.

COUSTEAU: In the DVD. And I'll be there with young people, and we're going to explore.

KAGAN: OK. Well, I will look for that with my nephews, because I know we enjoyed watching you on the DVD of "Finding Nemo."

COUSTEAU: Very different than "Finding Nemo," but I'm looking forward to it.

KAGAN: OK. We'll look for that.

Now, meanwhile, when you were here last time, you were talking about the gray whales and how that was going to be your next big project. What's happening with the whales?

COUSTEAU: Well, we just finished the expedition. We just came back from Alaska, and we're dealing with the marine mammal -- the whale that has the longest migration on the planet, 10,000 miles roundtrip. And because that particular whale is hugging the coast, and we're doing this for public broadcasting under the leadership of KQED in San Francisco, I really want to show what the obstacle course of these animals are, whether they are man-made obstacles or they are nature obstacle course. And -- such as the attack of gray whales by orcas, or killer whales, that will separate the babies from the mother and ultimately kill the baby for their food.

KAGAN: Some incredible pictures. Our time today is short, so when this is closer to going to air, you'll have to stop by again and tell us more...

COUSTEAU: I'd love to do it.

KAGAN: ... about the gray whales. Jean-Michel Cousteau, thank you for stopping by.

COUSTEAU: You're very welcome.

KAGAN: For coming on land for us for at least a few minutes.

COUSTEAU: Thank you.

KAGAN: Appreciate it. Thank you so much.

Other news to get to today, and that is the Labor Department releasing those new numbers this morning on job growth. And the report was weaker than economists were expecting. The number of jobs added in August was revised to 128,000, down from 144,000. Employers adding 96,000 jobs in September. Economists were predicting 150,000 new jobs. The nation's unemployment rate held steady at 5.4 percent.

Both the Bush and Kerry campaigns are putting their spin on the new job numbers. Last hour, I had a chance to talk with Commerce Secretary Don Evans to get the Bush administration's reaction.

Now former Clinton Labor Secretary Alexis Herman is an adviser to the Kerry/Edwards campaign, and she is joining me from Mobile, Alabama.

Madam secretary, good morning. Thanks for being here with us.

ALEXIS HERMAN, KERRY-EDWARDS CAMPAIGN ADVISER: Good morning, and Thanks for inviting me.

KAGAN: Give us your take on the new job numbers, please.

HERMAN: Well, obviously, this report now confirms that President Bush will be the first president in 70 years not to have created a single new job for America's workers, and I think what's more, the fact that we had more than 200,000 who dropped out of the labor report for this series, tells us that the number discourage workers, it's even higher. And therefore, the unemployment rate actually would have gone up if you had all of the discouraged workers also counted.

KAGAN: President Bush has said on a number of opportunities that what is happening is the recovery of an economy that was already on the slide when it was handed off to him and his administration back in 2000 -- or 2001. What do you say to that?

HERMAN: Well, you know, the reality is, after September 11, the president's own economic advisers gave us their new projections for the economy. They said they were going to create on average, 300 jobs a month, that the economy would rebound. Instead, the president is still running a jobs deficit of 1.7 million jobs.

But let's not forget just in historical context, we're had wars, natural disasters, we've had other things that have certainly shaken our economy, and yet, all of those other presidents managed to create jobs. President Bush has not.

KAGAN: And finally in the last hour when I was talking to Don Evans, he, again, believes this is a economy that's on the recovery and says the last thing this economy needs are higher taxes, which he says is what Senator Kerry would bring if he was president, and also more regulation on industry. What do you say to that?

HERMAN: Senator Kerry has a very strong economic plan to get our economy moving again, to create jobs. He has said he's going to actually roll back the Bush tax cuts, that were the taxes that were passed for the wealthiest Americans. He's going to make sure that we support the middle class, that we have middle-class tax cuts and those working to get into the middle class.

And more importantly, he's also put forth a very strong health plan that is going to get at the out-of-control costs of health care today and the rising numbers of Americans today who don't have health coverage. We know that the rise in cost in health care has also been a big depressor in terms of creating jobs in terms of what average workers can afford and certainly even employers today.

So I certainly disagree with what Secretary Evans has said. Senator Kerry has a strong plan to cut taxes for the middle class, and to make sure that we're going to create jobs for the future. He believes that we can do better. Not only in terms it of this month's report, but for the entire record of this administration.

KAGAN: Let me just...

HERMAN: Where we've lost jobs.

KAGAN: Our time is short. I just want to wrap with a similar type of question I asked Don Evans, that is, going into tonight's debate, any advise for your candidate? Some have suggested the townhall format, which is more casual, more people-friendly, is not as friendly to Senator Kerry. What would you say to that?

HERMAN: I think senator Kerry is going to be honest and truthful with the American people tonight. I think he's going to be very thoughtful in his responses. This is someone who connects with ordinary Americans, who understands the reality of what is really taking place today, with job loss, with rising cost in health care. I think that they are looking for a real change for a real plan for our future. John Kerry's going to speak to those needs, those issues tonight. I think that he will be terrific.

KAGAN: A lot of Americans will be watching.

Alexis Herman, thank you for your time today.

HERMAN: Thank you.

KAGAN: Well, guess who is back?

(MUSIC)

We are going to wrap up the with week with a giggle. The guys at Jibjab are once again seeing the funny side of politics. We will show it to you, coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(WEATHER REPORT)

KAGAN: The boys at Jibjab are at it again. You might recall that Gregg and Evan Spiridellis are the evil geniuses behind the political satire "This Land," which poked wicked fun, equally, at George Bush and John Kerry. Well, they have a new one. it's even more irrelevant than the first. Here it is.

(MUSIC)

KAGAN: OK. If you want to see the entire thing go to jibjab.com. They'll hook you up. However, it's going to cost you a few bucks to download this time.

All right, that's going to do it for me. Have a good week. I'm Daryn Kagan. I'll see you right back here on Monday.

For now, though, we have tracked him down, not too surprising to find him in St. Louis today.

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