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CNN Live Today
Military Operation Strikes Suspected Terror Hideouts in Fallujah; Suicide Bomber Kills Civilian in Baghdad; G8 Members Discuss Iran's Nuclear Ambitions
Aired October 15, 2004 - 10:00 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 CO-ANCHOR: Good news here in Atlanta. I did not scare you off by Day 1.
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN CO-ANCHOR: No. I had a blast.
KAGAN: That's good!
SANCHEZ: My mother called and said that boy, she's just wonderful.
KAGAN: Oh!
SANCHEZ: I really like her.
KAGAN: Thank you.
SANCHEZ: That's important.
KAGAN: Mutual admiration from my mother to you, as well. So we'll get our mothers together, Mrs. Sanchez and Mrs. Kagan.
SANCHEZ: They can probably do a good newscast themselves.
KAGAN: They probably could.
SANCHEZ: All right, here we go. Suspected terror hideouts in Fallujah are again under fire today by U.S. and Iraqi forces. Military operations in the city have been going on now for some time, but were ratcheted up after yesterday's bomb attacks inside Baghdad's Green Zone. U.S. military officials say the current operations are laying the groundwork for an eventual assault to retake the city.
There was also another attack in Baghdad today. This is a suicide bomb attack, as it's being described to us. It's blamed on the -- it's blamed for the killing of one civilian and wounding nine police officers.
European officials are in Washington today to discuss what to do about Iran's nuclear program. It's hoped that a combination of sanctions and incentives will persuade Iran to abandon its uranium enrichment program. Iran insists its nuclear program is there only to create electrical power and not weapons.
And in the Middle East, Israeli forces are pulling back to less populated areas in Gaza, coinciding with the start of the Holy Month of Ramadan. Israel's defense ministry says its soldiers will remain in Gaza for now, but not interfere with Palestinians who are observing the religious holiday.
And it's time to say good morning from the CNN headquarters in Atlanta, I'm Rick Sanchez.
Good morning, Rick Sanchez.
And good morning to all of you. I'm Daryn Kagan.
Eighteen days until the election. Incredible. And it's going so fast. Senator John Kerry is playing off some of the post-debate momentum, as he hits key battleground states. Kerry travels from Iowa to Wisconsin this morning.
Our Ed Henry is in Milwaukee to cover the senator.
Ed, good morning.
ED HENRY, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Daryn. That's right; aides to John Kerry say there's a little extra bounce to his step right now. He feels he connected with the public in those debates and that he came out looking presidential. That's translating into a sharper, more aggressive candidate out here on the road.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(APPLAUSE)
HENRY (voice-over): Claiming victory in all three debates, a beaming John Kerry came to Las Vegas to court a key voting block, senior citizens.
SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And I hope you won't mind, however, if I hold off retirement for a few more years. There's one last job...
(CHEERING)
KERRY: There's one last job that I plan to take up this January.
HENRY: This crowd ate up Kerry's feisty attacks on President Bush's record.
KERRY: He can spin until he's dizzy. But at the end of the day, who -- who does he think the American people are going to believe? George Bush or their own eyes?
HENRY: The candidate got so wound up, he couldn't resist a poke about Iraq, even as he focused on domestic matters.
KERRY: And the truth is that, after doing nothing to really lower the cost of prescription drugs for you, the president is now telling you that he solved the problem. Right. And those weapons of mass destruction are going to be found any day now. HENRY: Kerry mocked the president for stopping in Vegas, but skipping the AARP conference. The president sent the first lady, instead.
Mr. Bush continued to jab at Kerry with a line from boxing legend Joe Louis.
GEORGE W. BUSH (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: He can run from his record, but he cannot hide.
(CHEERING)
HENRY: Kerry fired back that the taunt reminded him of another heavyweight clash between George Foreman and Muhammad Ali.
KERRY: George Foreman threw punch after punch. And Ali kind of stepped back and said to Foreman during this, to George Foreman he said, "George, is that all you got?"
(LAUGHTER)
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HENRY: And John Kerry is going to come out swinging again here in Milwaukee on another domestic issue, the economy. He's going to focus on his plan to create higher-paying jobs. Then he's going to launch a bus tour across the state with some members of the U.S. Women's Soccer Team. The bottom line here is that there are 10 electoral votes at stake in Wisconsin. Al Gore had the state in 2000. Kerry wants to make sure it stays in the Democratic columns -- Daryn.
KAGAN: And when you look at the travel schedules for these two men, for John Kerry and George Bush, looks like they had the same travel agent. What gives with that -- Ed?
HENRY: That's right. You have a dwindling number of battlegrounds. At one point there were 17 or 18 of them. Now there are about nine or 10. And Ohio and Florida are the two biggest perhaps, Pennsylvania as well. The Bush camp still hoping that they can take that away from the Democrats.
There are some states like Nevada where John Kerry was yesterday, he's hoping to wrest away from George W. Bush as well as Colorado. But the bottom line, you're going to see both of these candidates going repeatedly to: Ohio, Florida, Wisconsin and Iowa. States like that. Dwindling number of battlegrounds -- Daryn.
Ed Henry in Wisconsin. Thank you for that.
Tune in to CNN's Paula Zahn "NOW" for an interview with John Kerry. Candy Crowley will be doing that for us. That's tonight at 8:00 p.m. Eastern.
SANCHEZ: All right. I think you mentioned that the senator was in Iowa and Wisconsin, right?
KAGAN: Yes.
SANCHEZ: Well, guess where the president is going to be today?
KAGAN: LET me guess.
SANCHEZ: You've got one but the other two don't count. Yes, that's right. He's going to be in Iowa and Wisconsin, as well. The president is actually covering about the same ground as his rival, heading to Iowa and Wisconsin from the West Coast. We'll have that, as well.
CNN's Suzanne Malveaux is in Medford, Oregon first, to bring us the very latest on this.
Hi, Suzanne.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, hello, Rick. As you know, of course, as this campaign heats up as well as the protests, this is something that the president, of course, realizes, it was late last night, it was along the motorcade route. And this is what had happened on one side of the street there were supporters chanting four more years. On the other side, it was three more weeks. They blocked the motorcade route. That is when we saw police who actually fired pepper into the crowd, using paintball guns. A couple of those protesters were arrested.
For the most part it was peaceful. However, President Bush continues to project optimism along the campaign trail. It was a rare move yesterday. That is when the president, in an effort to do damage control, to take the focus off of this talk of 3 and 0 Kerry debate win, President Bush went back to the press cabin aboard Air Force 1 to try to spin those debates.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BUSH: The debate phase of the campaign is over, and now it's a sprint to the finish. And the good news is I'm not going to be sprinting alone. I'll be -- have a lot of support from people, like Senator McCain and the Governor Lingle.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: Now, the Bush camp strategy, of course, the next couple of weeks, the final weeks is to emphasize his strengths, to play down the shortcomings, as well as to put those debates behind.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BUSH: In the last few years the American people have gotten to know me.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're my hero!
BUSH: They know my blunt way of speaking. I get that from mom.
(CHEERING) (APPLAUSE)
BUSH: They know I sometimes mangle the English language.
(LAUGHTER)
BUSH: I get that from dad.
(LAUGHTER)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: So, Rick, expect the Bush campaign to emphasize those qualities like leadership, like likability, trustworthiness. Those are the types of things that they are really emphasizing here. And as you'd mentioned before, of course, the president hitting Iowa and Wisconsin today. And ground zero of election 2000 this weekend, West Palm beach, Florida -- Rick.
SANCHEZ: You know, I'm thinking as I'm watching the president react to the fact, he pokes fun at himself about the way he sometimes doesn't handle the language all that well. Have you seen more of this since his debate performances?
MALVEAUX: Well, on occasion he actually does that. He does self-deprecating humor. But yes, we are seeing more of that. And it really is an indication here of part of their strategy. Which is to show these are the things that we see voters like in the president: likability, trustworthiness, the type of things where he has a sense of humor. that he's close to people. That he's really -- plays well with the crowds.
They believe that it's these types of settings where he is really going to shine. They want to put the debates behind him. And they say if he goes ahead forward, just shows his personality as himself that he will do well.
SANCHEZ: Suzanne Malveaux following that story for us out of Oregon. We thank you, Suzanne. We'll talk to you later -- Daryn.
KAGAN: And now to Iraq. For days U.S. forces have pounded suspected terrorist targets in the city of Fallujah. Now that campaign has intensified.
Our senior international correspondent Brent Sadler is monitoring the situation. He is live from Baghdad.
Brent, hello.
BRENT SADLER, CNN SR. INT'L. CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Daryn. Good morning. A strong U.S.-led military push against Fallujah. That stronghold west of the Iraqi capital, about 30 miles away. It began during the hours of darkness, with U.S. artillery and warplanes pounding suspected insurgent sites. Targeting, according to U.S. officials, weapons, storage sites, safe houses and terror training facilities. This is a combined operation involving two U.S. infantry battalions. One from the Marines, and one from the U.S. Army, working with Iraqi Special Forces, supported by U.S. warplanes, and helicopter gun ships. However, this is not the start of a much-anticipated, wide-scale air and ground assault to break the insurgent grip of Fallujah.
This is a security operation that could set the tone of things to come. Particularly after repeated blunt warnings from Iraq's interim government authorities here that insurgent groups within Fallujah should break away from terror suspect, Abu Musab al Zarqawi and his allies, or face the military consequences.
Now it is U.S. troops who've been doing most of the fighting. Taking that fight to the very heart of the rebel stronghold. They've not pushed inside the city of Fallujah itself. But they have destroyed some illegal checkpoints outside the city. And U.S. forces have assumed some responsibility for control of those checkpoints outside the city of Fallujah.
That's the latest from here -- Daryn.
KAGAN: And what about Ramadan? What kind of effect could that have, you would hope, potentially calming things down. It doesn't appear to be the case however, Brent.
SADLER: That's one of the strategies here, to hit the insurgent hotbed of activity in Fallujah very hard. There has been widespread warnings from both the U.S. military and the Iraqi interim authorities that the start of Ramadan could herald a repeat of what we saw here last year. The devastating wave of terror attacks.
Part and parcel of this offensive is to cut out, to reduce, to erode Zarqawi's network, to pressure the nationalist insurgents in Fallujah, and to head off a repeat of last year's Ramadan attacks.
KAGAN: Brent Sadler in Baghdad. Thank you.
SANCHEZ: Poland, a country named by President Bush in a recent debate as one of our key allies in Iraq, faces a crisis of confidence today. Nearly three out of every four Poles want their troops pulled out of Iraq. And the prime minister is promising to do just that. He says he hopes to have them all out by next spring. If the prime minister loses today's vote of confidence, though, in parliament, it could jeopardize his leadership. He is expected to survive, we're told, but just barely.
KAGAN: We're going to focus on politics here in the U.S. In a bit the race too register voters. But is the push to the polls clouded by fraud? That's ahead.
SANCHEZ: Also could your boss be Dr. Evil?
KAGAN: You just started here, Rick. So be careful. '
(LAUGHTER) SANCHEZ: I can't say that yet. Somebody wrote is, I promise.
Gerri Willis has today's "Top 5 Tips" on how to handle a bully for a boss.
KAGAN: Oh, no.
SANCHEZ: And this.
(BEGIN "TEAM AMERICA" CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The world is on the brink of disaster and the only thing standing between order and chaos is us.
(END "TEAM AMERICA" CLIP)
KAGAN: It is already causing a stir in the political world. Mr. Moviefone is here with a review of "Team America." It is not P.C. We'll tell you that right now.
It's all ahead on CNN LIVE TODAY.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: And welcome back to CNN LIVE TODAY. In other news making -- in other stories making news from "Coast to Coast," a pilot and copilot were the only people aboard a small, passenger jet that crashed yesterday in a residential area of Jefferson City, Missouri. There's no word yet on their fate. No one else was on board, we understand. It's a Pinnacle Airline jet. It was en route from Arkansas to Minnesota.
KAGAN: Let's go to the Pacific Northwest. Crews are now in the process of trying to clean up a 1,000-gallon mess in Puget Sound. The source of the oil spill remains a mystery. Authorities say the slick stretches from Tacoma to some nearby islands.
SANCHEZ: Well, here's a story that combines two things you don't normally put together. Marriage and heart surgery. In Detroit, Steve Dulca (ph) -- there he is, lost his heart Tiedry Jacaboni (ph) they got married, the two.
KAGAN: Aw.
SANCHEZ: Then he rushed off to the hospital to get a new one. As in a new heart. As in a transplant. It happened that fast because during the ceremony, Dulca was told that a donor heart had suddenly become available.
KAGAN: Sorry, honey, got to go. Yes.
(LAUGHTER)
KAGAN: To Puerto Rico now. Not exactly smooth sailing, speaking of hearts, for newlyweds Tiger Woods and his new bride Ellen. The honeymooning couple were kicked out of San Juan Harbor because the Coast Guard had not been alerted that their mega-yacht was coming into port. The vessel was stopped. And when fuel and the Coast Guard boarded it, it conducted an armed security sweep. Before it was escorted back out to sea, Woods could face a $32,000 fine.
SANCHEZ: That happens all the time with my mega-yacht.
ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes. Your mega-yacht.
KAGAN: Where did your take your wife on her honeymoon -- on your honeymoon?
MARCIANO: Stratford upon Avon, to see "Romeo and Juliette" performed right there.
KAGAN: See there's romantic.
MARCIANO: He's all romantic.
KAGAN: And you? You guys?
MARCIANO: We went to Jamaica, just down the road apiece.
KAGAN: Good choices. I'm surrounded by romantics.
MARCIANO: The lesson here though is when you lose your No. 1 status as No. 1 golfer in the world you don't get special privileges.
KAGAN: Park your mega-yacht someplace else.
MARCIANO: You guys saw your breath here in Atlanta. Definitely a sign of change in the air.
KAGAN: Exactly -- speak for your own breath.
(LAUGHTER)
KAGAN: We brushed this morning.
MARCIANO: I didn't say what it smelled like.
KAGAN: OK.
SANCHEZ: Did you catch the football game last night?
MARCIANO: Yes. Your Canes pulled it off.
SANCHEZ: Can you believe that? We're getting killed!
KAGAN: And they came through. Won by three I think in the end?
SANCHEZ: If they would have won by half, it would have been miraculous.
MARCIANO: National championship hopes still there though.
KAGAN: Go Canes. SANCHEZ: Speaking of spokes, here we go. Yankees Red Sox rivalry resumes with Game 3 of the American League playoff in Boston tonight.
KAGAN: As Rob was telling us. Now last night the St. Louis Cardinals took a 2 to none lead over Houston on the National League road to the World Series.
SANCHEZ: Scott Rolen hit two homers, we understand, for the Cardinals to lead them to a 6 to 4 win. This is a good baseball team, these Cardinals.
KAGAN: The Cardinals.
SANCHEZ: Yes! Game 3 is going to be in Houston Saturday. The Yankees get all the headlines, but that might be the best team in baseball.
KAGAN: Roger Clemens takes the mound tomorrow for the Astros. "The Rocket."
SANCHEZ: He could lose one there.
KAGAN: Oh! Ouch. Ouch. Ouch. Send your e-mails to Rick Sanchez.
SANCHEZ: Taking heat. Where you won't see Michael Moore's controversial film "Fahrenheit 9/11" this fall.
KAGAN: And so you say you're having problems with the boss. Gerri Willis, this is not something personal, is it?
(LAUGHTER)
GERRI WILLIS, CNNFN PERSONAL FINANCE EDITOR: No, no, no.
KAGAN: No! On the record.
WILLIS: It has nothing to do with me!
No. But people out there, you need to know whether your boss' behavior is just bad or abusive. We'll tell you all about it and what to do.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: Yes, this morning we're offering up some help for those of you who have some boss issues. We're not talking about Hugo here, by the way. We're talking about the big guy. What do you do if you work for somebody who is a bully?
CNNFN personal finance editor Gerri Willis is here to handle today's "Top Five Tips."
Hi, Gerri. Good morning. WILLIS: Hey, Rick. Good to see you. You know, it's no big secret that there are abusive bosses out there. We went to some New Yorkers to talk to them about their problems with bosses.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My boss screams and yells and cusses and swears at me. When I talk to him about it, he denies it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They sort of pound on you. They make you have these quotas that are sometimes unreasonable. They push a little bit too far.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I had one abusive boss. I guess he was very condescending. You know, everything was basically never good enough.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't know if abusive was the word. But she was mean. She was just sort of mean. And you know, like really treated me like I was stupid. Like I didn't know what I was doing.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I used to work for somebody who basically didn't want me to network with anybody in the company. She kept me in my cubicle all the time. And if I did try to talk to other people, she would basically give me the third degree.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let's just say he's very demanding. And he expects perfection every day.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why don't I hire you, then?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's a good point. This is my boss.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WILLIS: So Tip No. 1: you've got to identify the behavior. You know what we're talking about. There's the constant critic. Somebody who sort of makes fun of you in front of everybody else. The two- headed snakes who are nice to you but say nasty things behind your back. And of course there are the control freaks who want to control everything you're doing -- Guys.
SANCHEZ: I imagine then after you identify it, you've got to make sure you don't take it lying down. You've got to do something about it.
WILLIS: Absolutely. The worst thing you can do is nothing at all. The best approach, be direct, say what you think, but you know, in a nice way.
If you've got the constant critic crawling up your back say hey, I don't think name-calling is a way to solve this problem. It's not getting the job done. How do we do a better job? Bottom line, be direct, have clear communication.
SANCHEZ: Companies keep files on employees. Is it a good idea for an employee to keep a file on his boss or her boss? WILLIS: Well, Rick what's good for the goose is good for the gander. That's absolutely true. Take notes for two reasons. No. 1, sometimes it's hard to see patterns unless you actually have it down in black and white. So once you start doing that, you'll start understanding the behavior better. Second, if you need to go to H.R. to complain if the problem is that serious, you want to have those details in writing. And certainly if you file a lawsuit you'll need the details.
SANCHEZ: What's the difference between bullying too much, just at the line, underneath? Where -- how do you know when to make a decision?
WILLIS: Well, the irony here, what's so interesting is the people who get bullied are often the best workers, the most productive people because they pose the biggest threat to bosses. So if your find that your health is declining because of the behavior, you're having to take days off, maybe your productivity is down, could be a sign the abusiveness is too much.
SANCHEZ: I guess in the end you have to control the situation. Right? I mean you have to be in control of your environment.
WILLIS: That's right. If you decide. If you decide hey, I've had enough I'm leaving, you still have to explain this next time you sit down to an interview. You'll have to say why what happened happened. Keep it simple. Make sure you don't go into the details. Just say that you had a disagreement over how things should be done that was long-standing.
And secondly, get a recommendation from somebody else at that company. Certainly don't give that abusive boss' name to the new person you want to hire you -- Guys.
SANCHEZ: Appreciate it: Gerri Willis with the very latest on that.
WILLIS: Thank you.
SANCHEZ: Boy, I'll tell you, saw you over there taking notes.
(LAUGHTER)
SANCHEZ: That was very revealing.
KAGAN: Dear boss. Thank you for my new partner. Keep it in the file.
SANCHEZ: For now.
KAGAN: For now. Stay tuned. Well, you're still here. That's good news.
You know, there's this thing going on in the election. They're trying to look for who's going to be the boss at the White House.
SANCHEZ: Yes. I understand.
KAGAN: Heard a thing about that or two?
SANCHEZ: Either a guy from Texas or a guy from Massachusetts, right?
KAGAN: Something like that. We're talking about rocking the vote. What the Republicans want taken off the Rock the Vote Web site.
SANCHEZ: Also "Team America" hits the box office. Heard about this one? And scores a reaction in the political world, as well.
This and much more WHEN WE COME BACK)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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Aired October 15, 2004 - 10:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN CO-ANCHOR: Good news here in Atlanta. I did not scare you off by Day 1.
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN CO-ANCHOR: No. I had a blast.
KAGAN: That's good!
SANCHEZ: My mother called and said that boy, she's just wonderful.
KAGAN: Oh!
SANCHEZ: I really like her.
KAGAN: Thank you.
SANCHEZ: That's important.
KAGAN: Mutual admiration from my mother to you, as well. So we'll get our mothers together, Mrs. Sanchez and Mrs. Kagan.
SANCHEZ: They can probably do a good newscast themselves.
KAGAN: They probably could.
SANCHEZ: All right, here we go. Suspected terror hideouts in Fallujah are again under fire today by U.S. and Iraqi forces. Military operations in the city have been going on now for some time, but were ratcheted up after yesterday's bomb attacks inside Baghdad's Green Zone. U.S. military officials say the current operations are laying the groundwork for an eventual assault to retake the city.
There was also another attack in Baghdad today. This is a suicide bomb attack, as it's being described to us. It's blamed on the -- it's blamed for the killing of one civilian and wounding nine police officers.
European officials are in Washington today to discuss what to do about Iran's nuclear program. It's hoped that a combination of sanctions and incentives will persuade Iran to abandon its uranium enrichment program. Iran insists its nuclear program is there only to create electrical power and not weapons.
And in the Middle East, Israeli forces are pulling back to less populated areas in Gaza, coinciding with the start of the Holy Month of Ramadan. Israel's defense ministry says its soldiers will remain in Gaza for now, but not interfere with Palestinians who are observing the religious holiday.
And it's time to say good morning from the CNN headquarters in Atlanta, I'm Rick Sanchez.
Good morning, Rick Sanchez.
And good morning to all of you. I'm Daryn Kagan.
Eighteen days until the election. Incredible. And it's going so fast. Senator John Kerry is playing off some of the post-debate momentum, as he hits key battleground states. Kerry travels from Iowa to Wisconsin this morning.
Our Ed Henry is in Milwaukee to cover the senator.
Ed, good morning.
ED HENRY, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Daryn. That's right; aides to John Kerry say there's a little extra bounce to his step right now. He feels he connected with the public in those debates and that he came out looking presidential. That's translating into a sharper, more aggressive candidate out here on the road.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(APPLAUSE)
HENRY (voice-over): Claiming victory in all three debates, a beaming John Kerry came to Las Vegas to court a key voting block, senior citizens.
SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And I hope you won't mind, however, if I hold off retirement for a few more years. There's one last job...
(CHEERING)
KERRY: There's one last job that I plan to take up this January.
HENRY: This crowd ate up Kerry's feisty attacks on President Bush's record.
KERRY: He can spin until he's dizzy. But at the end of the day, who -- who does he think the American people are going to believe? George Bush or their own eyes?
HENRY: The candidate got so wound up, he couldn't resist a poke about Iraq, even as he focused on domestic matters.
KERRY: And the truth is that, after doing nothing to really lower the cost of prescription drugs for you, the president is now telling you that he solved the problem. Right. And those weapons of mass destruction are going to be found any day now. HENRY: Kerry mocked the president for stopping in Vegas, but skipping the AARP conference. The president sent the first lady, instead.
Mr. Bush continued to jab at Kerry with a line from boxing legend Joe Louis.
GEORGE W. BUSH (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: He can run from his record, but he cannot hide.
(CHEERING)
HENRY: Kerry fired back that the taunt reminded him of another heavyweight clash between George Foreman and Muhammad Ali.
KERRY: George Foreman threw punch after punch. And Ali kind of stepped back and said to Foreman during this, to George Foreman he said, "George, is that all you got?"
(LAUGHTER)
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HENRY: And John Kerry is going to come out swinging again here in Milwaukee on another domestic issue, the economy. He's going to focus on his plan to create higher-paying jobs. Then he's going to launch a bus tour across the state with some members of the U.S. Women's Soccer Team. The bottom line here is that there are 10 electoral votes at stake in Wisconsin. Al Gore had the state in 2000. Kerry wants to make sure it stays in the Democratic columns -- Daryn.
KAGAN: And when you look at the travel schedules for these two men, for John Kerry and George Bush, looks like they had the same travel agent. What gives with that -- Ed?
HENRY: That's right. You have a dwindling number of battlegrounds. At one point there were 17 or 18 of them. Now there are about nine or 10. And Ohio and Florida are the two biggest perhaps, Pennsylvania as well. The Bush camp still hoping that they can take that away from the Democrats.
There are some states like Nevada where John Kerry was yesterday, he's hoping to wrest away from George W. Bush as well as Colorado. But the bottom line, you're going to see both of these candidates going repeatedly to: Ohio, Florida, Wisconsin and Iowa. States like that. Dwindling number of battlegrounds -- Daryn.
Ed Henry in Wisconsin. Thank you for that.
Tune in to CNN's Paula Zahn "NOW" for an interview with John Kerry. Candy Crowley will be doing that for us. That's tonight at 8:00 p.m. Eastern.
SANCHEZ: All right. I think you mentioned that the senator was in Iowa and Wisconsin, right?
KAGAN: Yes.
SANCHEZ: Well, guess where the president is going to be today?
KAGAN: LET me guess.
SANCHEZ: You've got one but the other two don't count. Yes, that's right. He's going to be in Iowa and Wisconsin, as well. The president is actually covering about the same ground as his rival, heading to Iowa and Wisconsin from the West Coast. We'll have that, as well.
CNN's Suzanne Malveaux is in Medford, Oregon first, to bring us the very latest on this.
Hi, Suzanne.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, hello, Rick. As you know, of course, as this campaign heats up as well as the protests, this is something that the president, of course, realizes, it was late last night, it was along the motorcade route. And this is what had happened on one side of the street there were supporters chanting four more years. On the other side, it was three more weeks. They blocked the motorcade route. That is when we saw police who actually fired pepper into the crowd, using paintball guns. A couple of those protesters were arrested.
For the most part it was peaceful. However, President Bush continues to project optimism along the campaign trail. It was a rare move yesterday. That is when the president, in an effort to do damage control, to take the focus off of this talk of 3 and 0 Kerry debate win, President Bush went back to the press cabin aboard Air Force 1 to try to spin those debates.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BUSH: The debate phase of the campaign is over, and now it's a sprint to the finish. And the good news is I'm not going to be sprinting alone. I'll be -- have a lot of support from people, like Senator McCain and the Governor Lingle.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: Now, the Bush camp strategy, of course, the next couple of weeks, the final weeks is to emphasize his strengths, to play down the shortcomings, as well as to put those debates behind.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BUSH: In the last few years the American people have gotten to know me.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're my hero!
BUSH: They know my blunt way of speaking. I get that from mom.
(CHEERING) (APPLAUSE)
BUSH: They know I sometimes mangle the English language.
(LAUGHTER)
BUSH: I get that from dad.
(LAUGHTER)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: So, Rick, expect the Bush campaign to emphasize those qualities like leadership, like likability, trustworthiness. Those are the types of things that they are really emphasizing here. And as you'd mentioned before, of course, the president hitting Iowa and Wisconsin today. And ground zero of election 2000 this weekend, West Palm beach, Florida -- Rick.
SANCHEZ: You know, I'm thinking as I'm watching the president react to the fact, he pokes fun at himself about the way he sometimes doesn't handle the language all that well. Have you seen more of this since his debate performances?
MALVEAUX: Well, on occasion he actually does that. He does self-deprecating humor. But yes, we are seeing more of that. And it really is an indication here of part of their strategy. Which is to show these are the things that we see voters like in the president: likability, trustworthiness, the type of things where he has a sense of humor. that he's close to people. That he's really -- plays well with the crowds.
They believe that it's these types of settings where he is really going to shine. They want to put the debates behind him. And they say if he goes ahead forward, just shows his personality as himself that he will do well.
SANCHEZ: Suzanne Malveaux following that story for us out of Oregon. We thank you, Suzanne. We'll talk to you later -- Daryn.
KAGAN: And now to Iraq. For days U.S. forces have pounded suspected terrorist targets in the city of Fallujah. Now that campaign has intensified.
Our senior international correspondent Brent Sadler is monitoring the situation. He is live from Baghdad.
Brent, hello.
BRENT SADLER, CNN SR. INT'L. CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Daryn. Good morning. A strong U.S.-led military push against Fallujah. That stronghold west of the Iraqi capital, about 30 miles away. It began during the hours of darkness, with U.S. artillery and warplanes pounding suspected insurgent sites. Targeting, according to U.S. officials, weapons, storage sites, safe houses and terror training facilities. This is a combined operation involving two U.S. infantry battalions. One from the Marines, and one from the U.S. Army, working with Iraqi Special Forces, supported by U.S. warplanes, and helicopter gun ships. However, this is not the start of a much-anticipated, wide-scale air and ground assault to break the insurgent grip of Fallujah.
This is a security operation that could set the tone of things to come. Particularly after repeated blunt warnings from Iraq's interim government authorities here that insurgent groups within Fallujah should break away from terror suspect, Abu Musab al Zarqawi and his allies, or face the military consequences.
Now it is U.S. troops who've been doing most of the fighting. Taking that fight to the very heart of the rebel stronghold. They've not pushed inside the city of Fallujah itself. But they have destroyed some illegal checkpoints outside the city. And U.S. forces have assumed some responsibility for control of those checkpoints outside the city of Fallujah.
That's the latest from here -- Daryn.
KAGAN: And what about Ramadan? What kind of effect could that have, you would hope, potentially calming things down. It doesn't appear to be the case however, Brent.
SADLER: That's one of the strategies here, to hit the insurgent hotbed of activity in Fallujah very hard. There has been widespread warnings from both the U.S. military and the Iraqi interim authorities that the start of Ramadan could herald a repeat of what we saw here last year. The devastating wave of terror attacks.
Part and parcel of this offensive is to cut out, to reduce, to erode Zarqawi's network, to pressure the nationalist insurgents in Fallujah, and to head off a repeat of last year's Ramadan attacks.
KAGAN: Brent Sadler in Baghdad. Thank you.
SANCHEZ: Poland, a country named by President Bush in a recent debate as one of our key allies in Iraq, faces a crisis of confidence today. Nearly three out of every four Poles want their troops pulled out of Iraq. And the prime minister is promising to do just that. He says he hopes to have them all out by next spring. If the prime minister loses today's vote of confidence, though, in parliament, it could jeopardize his leadership. He is expected to survive, we're told, but just barely.
KAGAN: We're going to focus on politics here in the U.S. In a bit the race too register voters. But is the push to the polls clouded by fraud? That's ahead.
SANCHEZ: Also could your boss be Dr. Evil?
KAGAN: You just started here, Rick. So be careful. '
(LAUGHTER) SANCHEZ: I can't say that yet. Somebody wrote is, I promise.
Gerri Willis has today's "Top 5 Tips" on how to handle a bully for a boss.
KAGAN: Oh, no.
SANCHEZ: And this.
(BEGIN "TEAM AMERICA" CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The world is on the brink of disaster and the only thing standing between order and chaos is us.
(END "TEAM AMERICA" CLIP)
KAGAN: It is already causing a stir in the political world. Mr. Moviefone is here with a review of "Team America." It is not P.C. We'll tell you that right now.
It's all ahead on CNN LIVE TODAY.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: And welcome back to CNN LIVE TODAY. In other news making -- in other stories making news from "Coast to Coast," a pilot and copilot were the only people aboard a small, passenger jet that crashed yesterday in a residential area of Jefferson City, Missouri. There's no word yet on their fate. No one else was on board, we understand. It's a Pinnacle Airline jet. It was en route from Arkansas to Minnesota.
KAGAN: Let's go to the Pacific Northwest. Crews are now in the process of trying to clean up a 1,000-gallon mess in Puget Sound. The source of the oil spill remains a mystery. Authorities say the slick stretches from Tacoma to some nearby islands.
SANCHEZ: Well, here's a story that combines two things you don't normally put together. Marriage and heart surgery. In Detroit, Steve Dulca (ph) -- there he is, lost his heart Tiedry Jacaboni (ph) they got married, the two.
KAGAN: Aw.
SANCHEZ: Then he rushed off to the hospital to get a new one. As in a new heart. As in a transplant. It happened that fast because during the ceremony, Dulca was told that a donor heart had suddenly become available.
KAGAN: Sorry, honey, got to go. Yes.
(LAUGHTER)
KAGAN: To Puerto Rico now. Not exactly smooth sailing, speaking of hearts, for newlyweds Tiger Woods and his new bride Ellen. The honeymooning couple were kicked out of San Juan Harbor because the Coast Guard had not been alerted that their mega-yacht was coming into port. The vessel was stopped. And when fuel and the Coast Guard boarded it, it conducted an armed security sweep. Before it was escorted back out to sea, Woods could face a $32,000 fine.
SANCHEZ: That happens all the time with my mega-yacht.
ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes. Your mega-yacht.
KAGAN: Where did your take your wife on her honeymoon -- on your honeymoon?
MARCIANO: Stratford upon Avon, to see "Romeo and Juliette" performed right there.
KAGAN: See there's romantic.
MARCIANO: He's all romantic.
KAGAN: And you? You guys?
MARCIANO: We went to Jamaica, just down the road apiece.
KAGAN: Good choices. I'm surrounded by romantics.
MARCIANO: The lesson here though is when you lose your No. 1 status as No. 1 golfer in the world you don't get special privileges.
KAGAN: Park your mega-yacht someplace else.
MARCIANO: You guys saw your breath here in Atlanta. Definitely a sign of change in the air.
KAGAN: Exactly -- speak for your own breath.
(LAUGHTER)
KAGAN: We brushed this morning.
MARCIANO: I didn't say what it smelled like.
KAGAN: OK.
SANCHEZ: Did you catch the football game last night?
MARCIANO: Yes. Your Canes pulled it off.
SANCHEZ: Can you believe that? We're getting killed!
KAGAN: And they came through. Won by three I think in the end?
SANCHEZ: If they would have won by half, it would have been miraculous.
MARCIANO: National championship hopes still there though.
KAGAN: Go Canes. SANCHEZ: Speaking of spokes, here we go. Yankees Red Sox rivalry resumes with Game 3 of the American League playoff in Boston tonight.
KAGAN: As Rob was telling us. Now last night the St. Louis Cardinals took a 2 to none lead over Houston on the National League road to the World Series.
SANCHEZ: Scott Rolen hit two homers, we understand, for the Cardinals to lead them to a 6 to 4 win. This is a good baseball team, these Cardinals.
KAGAN: The Cardinals.
SANCHEZ: Yes! Game 3 is going to be in Houston Saturday. The Yankees get all the headlines, but that might be the best team in baseball.
KAGAN: Roger Clemens takes the mound tomorrow for the Astros. "The Rocket."
SANCHEZ: He could lose one there.
KAGAN: Oh! Ouch. Ouch. Ouch. Send your e-mails to Rick Sanchez.
SANCHEZ: Taking heat. Where you won't see Michael Moore's controversial film "Fahrenheit 9/11" this fall.
KAGAN: And so you say you're having problems with the boss. Gerri Willis, this is not something personal, is it?
(LAUGHTER)
GERRI WILLIS, CNNFN PERSONAL FINANCE EDITOR: No, no, no.
KAGAN: No! On the record.
WILLIS: It has nothing to do with me!
No. But people out there, you need to know whether your boss' behavior is just bad or abusive. We'll tell you all about it and what to do.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: Yes, this morning we're offering up some help for those of you who have some boss issues. We're not talking about Hugo here, by the way. We're talking about the big guy. What do you do if you work for somebody who is a bully?
CNNFN personal finance editor Gerri Willis is here to handle today's "Top Five Tips."
Hi, Gerri. Good morning. WILLIS: Hey, Rick. Good to see you. You know, it's no big secret that there are abusive bosses out there. We went to some New Yorkers to talk to them about their problems with bosses.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My boss screams and yells and cusses and swears at me. When I talk to him about it, he denies it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They sort of pound on you. They make you have these quotas that are sometimes unreasonable. They push a little bit too far.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I had one abusive boss. I guess he was very condescending. You know, everything was basically never good enough.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't know if abusive was the word. But she was mean. She was just sort of mean. And you know, like really treated me like I was stupid. Like I didn't know what I was doing.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I used to work for somebody who basically didn't want me to network with anybody in the company. She kept me in my cubicle all the time. And if I did try to talk to other people, she would basically give me the third degree.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let's just say he's very demanding. And he expects perfection every day.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why don't I hire you, then?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's a good point. This is my boss.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WILLIS: So Tip No. 1: you've got to identify the behavior. You know what we're talking about. There's the constant critic. Somebody who sort of makes fun of you in front of everybody else. The two- headed snakes who are nice to you but say nasty things behind your back. And of course there are the control freaks who want to control everything you're doing -- Guys.
SANCHEZ: I imagine then after you identify it, you've got to make sure you don't take it lying down. You've got to do something about it.
WILLIS: Absolutely. The worst thing you can do is nothing at all. The best approach, be direct, say what you think, but you know, in a nice way.
If you've got the constant critic crawling up your back say hey, I don't think name-calling is a way to solve this problem. It's not getting the job done. How do we do a better job? Bottom line, be direct, have clear communication.
SANCHEZ: Companies keep files on employees. Is it a good idea for an employee to keep a file on his boss or her boss? WILLIS: Well, Rick what's good for the goose is good for the gander. That's absolutely true. Take notes for two reasons. No. 1, sometimes it's hard to see patterns unless you actually have it down in black and white. So once you start doing that, you'll start understanding the behavior better. Second, if you need to go to H.R. to complain if the problem is that serious, you want to have those details in writing. And certainly if you file a lawsuit you'll need the details.
SANCHEZ: What's the difference between bullying too much, just at the line, underneath? Where -- how do you know when to make a decision?
WILLIS: Well, the irony here, what's so interesting is the people who get bullied are often the best workers, the most productive people because they pose the biggest threat to bosses. So if your find that your health is declining because of the behavior, you're having to take days off, maybe your productivity is down, could be a sign the abusiveness is too much.
SANCHEZ: I guess in the end you have to control the situation. Right? I mean you have to be in control of your environment.
WILLIS: That's right. If you decide. If you decide hey, I've had enough I'm leaving, you still have to explain this next time you sit down to an interview. You'll have to say why what happened happened. Keep it simple. Make sure you don't go into the details. Just say that you had a disagreement over how things should be done that was long-standing.
And secondly, get a recommendation from somebody else at that company. Certainly don't give that abusive boss' name to the new person you want to hire you -- Guys.
SANCHEZ: Appreciate it: Gerri Willis with the very latest on that.
WILLIS: Thank you.
SANCHEZ: Boy, I'll tell you, saw you over there taking notes.
(LAUGHTER)
SANCHEZ: That was very revealing.
KAGAN: Dear boss. Thank you for my new partner. Keep it in the file.
SANCHEZ: For now.
KAGAN: For now. Stay tuned. Well, you're still here. That's good news.
You know, there's this thing going on in the election. They're trying to look for who's going to be the boss at the White House.
SANCHEZ: Yes. I understand.
KAGAN: Heard a thing about that or two?
SANCHEZ: Either a guy from Texas or a guy from Massachusetts, right?
KAGAN: Something like that. We're talking about rocking the vote. What the Republicans want taken off the Rock the Vote Web site.
SANCHEZ: Also "Team America" hits the box office. Heard about this one? And scores a reaction in the political world, as well.
This and much more WHEN WE COME BACK)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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