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CNN Live Today

Death Toll Rises in Northern Japan's Earthquakes; Powell Calling on China for Help with North Korea; Vote or Drop the Class; The Youth Vote.

Aired October 25, 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.


DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: It's coming up on 31 minutes past the half hour. Good morning, once again. I'm Daryn Kagan.
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Rick Sanchez. And here's what's happening right now in the news.

President Bush is blitzing more battleground states. In about two hours, he appears in Colorado, a state he narrowly won four years ago. Terrorism is going to be his main topic. He's also going to visit the State of Iowa before ending the day in Wisconsin.

Democratic challenger John Kerry today has new criticism of the Bush administration, its handling of the war in Iraq -- 380 tons of explosives that are missing from a facility south of Baghdad. That site was supposed to be under U.S. Control after the invasion began. Senator Kerry says the White House should have made the discovery public when it was informed about a month ago.

First stage of juror screening begins today in the murder trial of actor Robert Blake. Lawyers are going to question a pool of up to 1,800 prospective jurors and eliminate those who can cite personal or professional reasons for not serving on the trial. Blake is accused of killing his wife Bonnie Lee Bakley. He says he is innocent.

Just within the last hour, the FBI released its annual crime report. It shows that violent crime fell about three percent last year compared to the year before. The numbers are down, and even more dramatic 25 percent from 1994. Murder was the only violent crime to increase in about -- since 2003. It's up about 1.7 percent in all.

KAGAN: And now for the latest on those missing explosives. U.N. nuclear weapons experts are worried that 380 tons of missing explosives could reach insurgents in Iraq or terrorists across the Middle East. Iraqi officials reported that conventional explosives were missing from a weapons storage site about 30 miles from Baghdad. Officials don't know how long the bomb-making material has been gone. The explosives were under their control of the U.N. Nuclear Watchdog Agency until the U.S. invaded Iraq.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MELISSA FLEMING, IAEA SPOKESWOMAN: We were watching the stuff, because it has a potential use in a nuclear explosive device. It's also used in conventional military for ammunition, for example. But of course, the most immediate concern, given the security climate in Iraq, is that these explosives -- and this is a real massive quantity of explosives -- could have reached the hands of insurgents and could be used with deadly force and consequences against people in Iraq and elsewhere.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: The explosives could be used in car bombs or even to detonate nuclear warheads.

SANCHEZ: The death toll from this weekend's earthquakes in northern Japan has risen to 25, with more than 1,200 others injured. CNN's Atika Shubert reports on the widespread damage there.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Residents in Niigata returned to their homes on Sunday, assessing the destruction left behind by a series of powerful earthquakes. Local authorities say more than 80 houses collapsed into rubble. More than 100 others were partially destroyed, standing shakily on cracked foundations.

SHIZUKO YAMADA, SHOP OWNER (through translator): After the first earthquake, I ran to my shop. Then the next one hit, and I was clinging to a pillar. I ran out with nothing in my hands. All I have left is what am I wearing now.

SHUBERT: One residential area was swept away in a river of mud. Authorities say recent typhoons had loosened the earth in the area. The powerful tremors that followed easily triggered a landslide.

Roads near the epicenter buckled and cracked open, bucking several cars off the road with drivers still inside. Ruptured water mains and blackouts plagued several towns, affecting hospitals where many of the injured were being treated. Japan's military was called out to supply emergency food and water to those residents now without homes.

This year, Japan has already suffered through its worst typhoon season on record -- now, a string of powerful earthquakes. Residents can do little more than pick up the pieces hope there are no more natural disasters in store.

Atika Shubert, CNN, Tokyo.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: And now to Secretary of State Colin Powell, who is calling on China to use its influence to get North Korea back to the bargaining table. Powell made his plea during talks in Beijing yesterday. The secretary of state is claiming North Korea for holding up the resumption of six-nation talks aimed at ending the country's nuclear program.

Our senior Asia correspondent Mike Chinoy joins us now from Beijing on videophone. Mike, hello.

MIKE CHINOY, CNN SR. ASIA CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Daryn.

Well, North Korea is a big problem for the Bush administration. The North Koreans, while the president has been in office, have declared themselves a nuclear power and are widely believed to have enough weapons-grade plutonium for anywhere from six to eight nuclear bombs now.

That's given John Kerry ammunition to attack Mr. Bush. He's accused him of mishandling the issue and has vowed to open direct negotiations with North Korea if he's elected. Mr. Bush says that would be a big mistake.

But now, the North Koreans are refusing to return to the six- nation talks here in Beijing that the administration has been counting on as the forum to resolve the North Korea nuclear crisis. So, Secretary of State Powell spent a lot of time during his meetings here in Beijing on Monday trying to get Chinese leaders to agree to put more pressure on North Korea to return to those talks.

But it's not going to be so easy. Shortly before he left Beijing, I sat down with Secretary Powell and I asked him this question: With the United States likely to have either a new president-elect in a matter of days or a re-elected Bush administration with some significant changes likely in its foreign policy team, including Powell's own likely departure, why would the North Koreans be interested in returning to the talks until it's clear to them how American North Korean policy might change?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COLIN POWELL, U.S. SECY. OF STATE: I don't think they're going to see that much change. First of all, I'm reasonably confident that they'll be facing four more years of President Bush administration.

And President Bush certainly isn't waiting for the election to change his policy. His policy is very clear and firm. We're going to salve this through the six-party framework. And even though some of the other side have said they will immediately enter into dialogue, I'm not sure that they would find that to be the right thing to do.

The North Koreans would be rubbing their hands at the opportunity to be rewarded for bad behavior. And I think any American president would not leap at that opportunity.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHINOY: Daryn, that dig at Senator Kerry underscoring the domestic component of the Powell trip here. The secretary of state trying to make clear to Americans that the Bush administration remains committed to achieving a diplomatic solution to the North Korean nuclear crisis -- Daryn?

KAGAN: Mike, it also sounds, though, like the secretary of state was a little evasive in your alluding to that he might not stick around if the Bush administration comes back for a second term. Any more information on that?

CHINOY: No more information. There's a lot of speculation that the secretary of state might leave, that there will be some reshuffle of the foreign policy team around President Bush. Although, he's been very coy about his intentions, but you do hear a lot of talk about that, a lot of speculation that might well happen at some point early on in the second Bush term if the president is re-elected -- Daryn?

KAGAN: Mike Chinoy from Beijing, China. Thank you.

SANCHEZ: Another scenario would be if Kerry gets elected and he asks him to stay on? Wouldn't that be interesting?

KAGAN: You know, with eight days until the election, just about anything seems possible at this point

SANCHEZ: Anything that will get you votes if you could throw it out there, right?

It's a class assignment that seems pretty easy -- no reading, no writing, no studying, just head to the polls. Find out why there was an objection.

KAGAN: Really? All right. Plus a look at how one governor is going the extra mile -- or miles -- trying to protect residents in his state against the flu virus.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: We welcome you back, and we want to talk to you about -- talk to you, I got a little southern accent. Must have been the trip home.

KAGAN: You've been here all of a week and y'all starting to talk like we talk around here.

SANCHEZ: This is Atlanta, right? Well, Rhonda Schaffler is standing by now. She's going to tell us what's going on in the world of business.

KAGAN: She's fixin' to do that for us. Hey, Rhonda.

(STOCK MARKET UPDATE)

KAGAN: All right, Rhonda, thank you for that.

To health news now, Illinois' governor is asking the FDA to approve a shipment of flu vaccines from overseas. Illinois has worked out a deal to buy at least 30,000 flu vaccinations from some British wholesalers. The vaccines would go to nursing home residents across Illinois.

The state and the vaccine wholesalers previously worked out on a program offering residents access to affordable prescription drugs from Britain and Canada. SANCHEZ: It's an unusual class requirement at one particular university. Still to come, students being forced to vote. So, why or how did the assignment change? We'll tell you.

KAGAN: And later, Ashlee Simpson gives a little, well, lip flap on "Saturday Night Live." We'll talk about that.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: A New Jersey college professor assigned her students to vote or drop the class. The students liked the idea, but the professor was forced to change the requirement. Our Jason Carroll has that story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): At a small private university in New Jersey, in an English literature class smaller than most, a controversial assignment from Professor Merrill Skaggs, one that requires her students to vote in the presidential election.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Just the idea of a professor deciding you must vote is just something that rubs students the wrong way.

CARROLL (on camera): How many of you supported the idea of mandatory voting as a course requirement?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I thought it was great, because...

CARROLL: You thought it was great?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah, because she's -- by this requirement, we're either forced to drop the class or to go out and actually research the candidate.

CARROLL: And opposed?

(voice-over): Professor Skaggs' course is Foundations of American Culture. She thought requiring students to vote would help them see the impact of the electoral process on American culture these days. The administration thought otherwise.

THOMAS KEAN, PRES., DREW UNIVERSITY: I think people are uncomfortable with the idea of forcing people to participate in a democracy.

CARROLL: Under pressure from her bosses, she changed the requirement.

PROF. MERRILL SKAGGS, DREW UNIVERSITY: What I'm requiring my students to do is to enter the voting booth. What they do once in that is their private business.

CARROLL (on camera): It's up to them. I see. (voice-over): Mandatory or compulsory voting may sound undemocratic, but it's standard in Australia for all citizens, the same in more than a dozen other Democratic countries. Not showing up can result in fines.

Many students had trouble imagining that kind of a system in the United States.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's just very strange. You have a democracy. You get to choose who you vote for or yet you do not get to choose whether you vote or not.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm American. It's my God-given right to eat Cheerios and not watch the news and not vote if I want to.

CARROLL: Professor Skaggs would like mandatory voting for all U.S. citizens but won't require her students to vote next semester.

(on camera): Why not?

SKAGGS: I'm teaching Henry James next semester. It's not relevant.

CARROLL (voice-over): Back to literature, political lesson learned.

Jason Carroll, CNN, Madison, New Jersey.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: All right. We're we go. Rob Grabow and Dean Robbins would disagree if you were to say to them that young voters are disaffected. The Gonzaga University seniors have put together "What We Think." It's a book. It's essays and poems from college students across the country.

Rob and Dean are joining us now from Seattle. Hey, guys. Thanks for being with us.

ROB GRABOW, "WHAT WE THINK": Hey, Rick.

DEAN ROBBINS, "WHAT WE THINK": Hi, how are you doing?

SANCHEZ: Anybody ever tell you you look alike? Try to do that?

GRABOW: Yeah.

SANCHEZ: Actually, one of you is a Republican, the other one's a Democrat, right?

ROBBINS: Right.

GRABOW: That's right. Right.

ROBBINS: I'm a Republican.

GRABOW: I'm on the left, and I am the liberal.

SANCHEZ: We already have a show like that. So, if you're shilling for that, forget about it.

Let me ask you this, about 30, 40 years in this country since we've seen the majority of young people go out and vote. They did it, I think, only once in the last 30 or 40 years. Do you think it will be different this time around?

GRABOW: I think preliminarily -- we've already found out that it's going to be. I think preregistered voters have, in our demographic, are 87 percent right now. And this is a self poll, but I think it's indicative of the fact that 18 to 24-year-olds are going to turn out record numbers this year. And I think it's pretty remarkable considering that there are 34 million who ultimately have the potential to adjudicate the outcome of the election.

SANCHEZ: Well, Howard Dean said this morning on "AMERICAN MORNING" -- I don't know if you heard him -- but he said, you know what, if young people go out and vote, I think we've got a real good chance of winning. You agree with him, Dean?

ROBBINS: Well, I don't know if I agree with him. I think the message he was trying to send is that our votes do matter. And I think that's the important message. I think it's hard to tell what the outcome would be if we all went out and voted. I think that's impossible.

But I think his message is great.

SANCHEZ: There is a statistic recently that said despite the fact that the Bush administration and George Bush himself has said many times now, there's no way we're going to reinstitute the draft, that there's still a majority of young people who believe it will happen.

Is that one of the reasons you think they're going to go out to the polls?

GRABOW: I think that's -- that's a great question. Because when we were putting together this book, we actually got a lot of submissions on that, the draft. I think a lot of people our age will go out to vote in regards to that issue. That is a major concern.

In recent weeks we've heard that that's just a rumor on the Internet, and the Bush campaign has said that's just a rumor on the Internet and doesn't even deserve the credibility to be addressed. But I think it should be addressed. I think it should be discussed even if it isn't a possibility.

SANCHEZ: Why? Because there's so much going on over there, people just feel it's bound to happen?

GRABOW: I think in compiling what we think, right now, of the deaths thus far in Iraq, over half are from our demographic. And so, I think people of our age group definitely have a concern about, you know, this, the war on terrorism and the ongoing war in Iraq.

SANCHEZ: Got you. Now, let's do this. A couple of stories we took out of the newspaper headlines today, I'm going to throw them at you. Tell me how young people are going to be affected or will react to this.

First, Bill Clinton comes out, and he's going to be stumping with John Kerry today.

ROBBINS: Right. I think that's a -- well, Republican speaking, I think he's going to be stealing the spotlight a little bit from John Kerry. I think that the Clintons have done that in the last several years, kind of stolen the spotlight of the Democratic campaign.

SANCHEZ: Rob, to you before we run out of time, so you both get a chance to get in on this.

GRABOW: I think he's one of the craftiest politicians in the history probably of the country, and I think there is a potential that he could overshadow Kerry. But I think he's a tremendous spokesman for the campaign, as well.

SANCHEZ: Three hundred eighty tons of weapons apparently left unguarded. Big controversy today going to be touched by both sides. Young people will react how?

ROBBINS: I think there will again be a growing concern to these weapons and where they came from and such.

SANCHEZ: Will the vote -- will young people blame the Bush administration for this, Dean?

ROBBINS: I don't think so. I think half will, I think half won't.

SANCHEZ: You're a Republican, aren't you? Rob, over to you.

GRABOW: Yeah, I think there's an inclination that the ones who are predisposed to do so will do it, and the ones who aren't probably won't.

SANCHEZ: That's great. Guys, you are wonderful. Thanks so much for being with us. We appreciate it. The book is called "What We Think: Young Voters Speak Out." Rob and Dean, two young fellows there who look alike.

KAGAN: Look alike, but think differently. And they're out there getting people stirred up. So, good for them.

Well, it was a musical malfunction for pop star Ashlee Simpson. Coming up -- how the pop star tried to recover after an embarrassing blooper on live television.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) (MUSIC)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: That's live TV.

KAGAN: Oh, I get it. And it wasn't supposed to be a ventriloquist act, right? No.

SANCHEZ: I guess not. Oh, my goodness.

KAGAN: Bummer.

SANCHEZ: Look at her.

KAGAN: Well, the band played on even as the startled sinker slinked away. She's bumming.

SANCHEZ: Such are the joys of unscripted television as we see here from the NBC "Saturday Night Live." It's kind of funny. Viewers heard musical guest Ashlee Simpson singing, but her lips were like frozen.

KAGAN: Yeah, she was a little surprised. Turns out the glitch caused the wrong song to play. You might think on live television she was actually singing -- perhaps not, though. Critics accusing Simpson of trying to lip-synch have dubbed it a Milli Vanilli moment from a similar incident years ago.

I feel bad for her. She's just a teenager.

SANCHEZ: And she couldn't get out of it. She couldn't find out how to -- I guess she doesn't have much experience on stage.

KAGAN: I don't think she has much experience...

SANCHEZ: In anything!

KAGAN: Is she 19? Is she that old? Sixteen? Whatever, she's young. Twenty, I'm told.

SANCHEZ: Twenty, there you go.

KAGAN: Over the hill.

SANCHEZ: Oh, yeah, right.

KAGAN: Almost as old as Jill Brown.

SANCHEZ: Jill brown standing by with the weather. What a moment. Hi, Jill.

(WEATHER REPORT)

SANCHEZ: Thanks a lot, Jill.

KAGAN: And 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 October 25, 2004 - 10:30   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: It's coming up on 31 minutes past the half hour. Good morning, once again. I'm Daryn Kagan.
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Rick Sanchez. And here's what's happening right now in the news.

President Bush is blitzing more battleground states. In about two hours, he appears in Colorado, a state he narrowly won four years ago. Terrorism is going to be his main topic. He's also going to visit the State of Iowa before ending the day in Wisconsin.

Democratic challenger John Kerry today has new criticism of the Bush administration, its handling of the war in Iraq -- 380 tons of explosives that are missing from a facility south of Baghdad. That site was supposed to be under U.S. Control after the invasion began. Senator Kerry says the White House should have made the discovery public when it was informed about a month ago.

First stage of juror screening begins today in the murder trial of actor Robert Blake. Lawyers are going to question a pool of up to 1,800 prospective jurors and eliminate those who can cite personal or professional reasons for not serving on the trial. Blake is accused of killing his wife Bonnie Lee Bakley. He says he is innocent.

Just within the last hour, the FBI released its annual crime report. It shows that violent crime fell about three percent last year compared to the year before. The numbers are down, and even more dramatic 25 percent from 1994. Murder was the only violent crime to increase in about -- since 2003. It's up about 1.7 percent in all.

KAGAN: And now for the latest on those missing explosives. U.N. nuclear weapons experts are worried that 380 tons of missing explosives could reach insurgents in Iraq or terrorists across the Middle East. Iraqi officials reported that conventional explosives were missing from a weapons storage site about 30 miles from Baghdad. Officials don't know how long the bomb-making material has been gone. The explosives were under their control of the U.N. Nuclear Watchdog Agency until the U.S. invaded Iraq.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MELISSA FLEMING, IAEA SPOKESWOMAN: We were watching the stuff, because it has a potential use in a nuclear explosive device. It's also used in conventional military for ammunition, for example. But of course, the most immediate concern, given the security climate in Iraq, is that these explosives -- and this is a real massive quantity of explosives -- could have reached the hands of insurgents and could be used with deadly force and consequences against people in Iraq and elsewhere.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: The explosives could be used in car bombs or even to detonate nuclear warheads.

SANCHEZ: The death toll from this weekend's earthquakes in northern Japan has risen to 25, with more than 1,200 others injured. CNN's Atika Shubert reports on the widespread damage there.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Residents in Niigata returned to their homes on Sunday, assessing the destruction left behind by a series of powerful earthquakes. Local authorities say more than 80 houses collapsed into rubble. More than 100 others were partially destroyed, standing shakily on cracked foundations.

SHIZUKO YAMADA, SHOP OWNER (through translator): After the first earthquake, I ran to my shop. Then the next one hit, and I was clinging to a pillar. I ran out with nothing in my hands. All I have left is what am I wearing now.

SHUBERT: One residential area was swept away in a river of mud. Authorities say recent typhoons had loosened the earth in the area. The powerful tremors that followed easily triggered a landslide.

Roads near the epicenter buckled and cracked open, bucking several cars off the road with drivers still inside. Ruptured water mains and blackouts plagued several towns, affecting hospitals where many of the injured were being treated. Japan's military was called out to supply emergency food and water to those residents now without homes.

This year, Japan has already suffered through its worst typhoon season on record -- now, a string of powerful earthquakes. Residents can do little more than pick up the pieces hope there are no more natural disasters in store.

Atika Shubert, CNN, Tokyo.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: And now to Secretary of State Colin Powell, who is calling on China to use its influence to get North Korea back to the bargaining table. Powell made his plea during talks in Beijing yesterday. The secretary of state is claiming North Korea for holding up the resumption of six-nation talks aimed at ending the country's nuclear program.

Our senior Asia correspondent Mike Chinoy joins us now from Beijing on videophone. Mike, hello.

MIKE CHINOY, CNN SR. ASIA CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Daryn.

Well, North Korea is a big problem for the Bush administration. The North Koreans, while the president has been in office, have declared themselves a nuclear power and are widely believed to have enough weapons-grade plutonium for anywhere from six to eight nuclear bombs now.

That's given John Kerry ammunition to attack Mr. Bush. He's accused him of mishandling the issue and has vowed to open direct negotiations with North Korea if he's elected. Mr. Bush says that would be a big mistake.

But now, the North Koreans are refusing to return to the six- nation talks here in Beijing that the administration has been counting on as the forum to resolve the North Korea nuclear crisis. So, Secretary of State Powell spent a lot of time during his meetings here in Beijing on Monday trying to get Chinese leaders to agree to put more pressure on North Korea to return to those talks.

But it's not going to be so easy. Shortly before he left Beijing, I sat down with Secretary Powell and I asked him this question: With the United States likely to have either a new president-elect in a matter of days or a re-elected Bush administration with some significant changes likely in its foreign policy team, including Powell's own likely departure, why would the North Koreans be interested in returning to the talks until it's clear to them how American North Korean policy might change?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COLIN POWELL, U.S. SECY. OF STATE: I don't think they're going to see that much change. First of all, I'm reasonably confident that they'll be facing four more years of President Bush administration.

And President Bush certainly isn't waiting for the election to change his policy. His policy is very clear and firm. We're going to salve this through the six-party framework. And even though some of the other side have said they will immediately enter into dialogue, I'm not sure that they would find that to be the right thing to do.

The North Koreans would be rubbing their hands at the opportunity to be rewarded for bad behavior. And I think any American president would not leap at that opportunity.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHINOY: Daryn, that dig at Senator Kerry underscoring the domestic component of the Powell trip here. The secretary of state trying to make clear to Americans that the Bush administration remains committed to achieving a diplomatic solution to the North Korean nuclear crisis -- Daryn?

KAGAN: Mike, it also sounds, though, like the secretary of state was a little evasive in your alluding to that he might not stick around if the Bush administration comes back for a second term. Any more information on that?

CHINOY: No more information. There's a lot of speculation that the secretary of state might leave, that there will be some reshuffle of the foreign policy team around President Bush. Although, he's been very coy about his intentions, but you do hear a lot of talk about that, a lot of speculation that might well happen at some point early on in the second Bush term if the president is re-elected -- Daryn?

KAGAN: Mike Chinoy from Beijing, China. Thank you.

SANCHEZ: Another scenario would be if Kerry gets elected and he asks him to stay on? Wouldn't that be interesting?

KAGAN: You know, with eight days until the election, just about anything seems possible at this point

SANCHEZ: Anything that will get you votes if you could throw it out there, right?

It's a class assignment that seems pretty easy -- no reading, no writing, no studying, just head to the polls. Find out why there was an objection.

KAGAN: Really? All right. Plus a look at how one governor is going the extra mile -- or miles -- trying to protect residents in his state against the flu virus.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: We welcome you back, and we want to talk to you about -- talk to you, I got a little southern accent. Must have been the trip home.

KAGAN: You've been here all of a week and y'all starting to talk like we talk around here.

SANCHEZ: This is Atlanta, right? Well, Rhonda Schaffler is standing by now. She's going to tell us what's going on in the world of business.

KAGAN: She's fixin' to do that for us. Hey, Rhonda.

(STOCK MARKET UPDATE)

KAGAN: All right, Rhonda, thank you for that.

To health news now, Illinois' governor is asking the FDA to approve a shipment of flu vaccines from overseas. Illinois has worked out a deal to buy at least 30,000 flu vaccinations from some British wholesalers. The vaccines would go to nursing home residents across Illinois.

The state and the vaccine wholesalers previously worked out on a program offering residents access to affordable prescription drugs from Britain and Canada. SANCHEZ: It's an unusual class requirement at one particular university. Still to come, students being forced to vote. So, why or how did the assignment change? We'll tell you.

KAGAN: And later, Ashlee Simpson gives a little, well, lip flap on "Saturday Night Live." We'll talk about that.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: A New Jersey college professor assigned her students to vote or drop the class. The students liked the idea, but the professor was forced to change the requirement. Our Jason Carroll has that story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): At a small private university in New Jersey, in an English literature class smaller than most, a controversial assignment from Professor Merrill Skaggs, one that requires her students to vote in the presidential election.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Just the idea of a professor deciding you must vote is just something that rubs students the wrong way.

CARROLL (on camera): How many of you supported the idea of mandatory voting as a course requirement?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I thought it was great, because...

CARROLL: You thought it was great?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah, because she's -- by this requirement, we're either forced to drop the class or to go out and actually research the candidate.

CARROLL: And opposed?

(voice-over): Professor Skaggs' course is Foundations of American Culture. She thought requiring students to vote would help them see the impact of the electoral process on American culture these days. The administration thought otherwise.

THOMAS KEAN, PRES., DREW UNIVERSITY: I think people are uncomfortable with the idea of forcing people to participate in a democracy.

CARROLL: Under pressure from her bosses, she changed the requirement.

PROF. MERRILL SKAGGS, DREW UNIVERSITY: What I'm requiring my students to do is to enter the voting booth. What they do once in that is their private business.

CARROLL (on camera): It's up to them. I see. (voice-over): Mandatory or compulsory voting may sound undemocratic, but it's standard in Australia for all citizens, the same in more than a dozen other Democratic countries. Not showing up can result in fines.

Many students had trouble imagining that kind of a system in the United States.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's just very strange. You have a democracy. You get to choose who you vote for or yet you do not get to choose whether you vote or not.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm American. It's my God-given right to eat Cheerios and not watch the news and not vote if I want to.

CARROLL: Professor Skaggs would like mandatory voting for all U.S. citizens but won't require her students to vote next semester.

(on camera): Why not?

SKAGGS: I'm teaching Henry James next semester. It's not relevant.

CARROLL (voice-over): Back to literature, political lesson learned.

Jason Carroll, CNN, Madison, New Jersey.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: All right. We're we go. Rob Grabow and Dean Robbins would disagree if you were to say to them that young voters are disaffected. The Gonzaga University seniors have put together "What We Think." It's a book. It's essays and poems from college students across the country.

Rob and Dean are joining us now from Seattle. Hey, guys. Thanks for being with us.

ROB GRABOW, "WHAT WE THINK": Hey, Rick.

DEAN ROBBINS, "WHAT WE THINK": Hi, how are you doing?

SANCHEZ: Anybody ever tell you you look alike? Try to do that?

GRABOW: Yeah.

SANCHEZ: Actually, one of you is a Republican, the other one's a Democrat, right?

ROBBINS: Right.

GRABOW: That's right. Right.

ROBBINS: I'm a Republican.

GRABOW: I'm on the left, and I am the liberal.

SANCHEZ: We already have a show like that. So, if you're shilling for that, forget about it.

Let me ask you this, about 30, 40 years in this country since we've seen the majority of young people go out and vote. They did it, I think, only once in the last 30 or 40 years. Do you think it will be different this time around?

GRABOW: I think preliminarily -- we've already found out that it's going to be. I think preregistered voters have, in our demographic, are 87 percent right now. And this is a self poll, but I think it's indicative of the fact that 18 to 24-year-olds are going to turn out record numbers this year. And I think it's pretty remarkable considering that there are 34 million who ultimately have the potential to adjudicate the outcome of the election.

SANCHEZ: Well, Howard Dean said this morning on "AMERICAN MORNING" -- I don't know if you heard him -- but he said, you know what, if young people go out and vote, I think we've got a real good chance of winning. You agree with him, Dean?

ROBBINS: Well, I don't know if I agree with him. I think the message he was trying to send is that our votes do matter. And I think that's the important message. I think it's hard to tell what the outcome would be if we all went out and voted. I think that's impossible.

But I think his message is great.

SANCHEZ: There is a statistic recently that said despite the fact that the Bush administration and George Bush himself has said many times now, there's no way we're going to reinstitute the draft, that there's still a majority of young people who believe it will happen.

Is that one of the reasons you think they're going to go out to the polls?

GRABOW: I think that's -- that's a great question. Because when we were putting together this book, we actually got a lot of submissions on that, the draft. I think a lot of people our age will go out to vote in regards to that issue. That is a major concern.

In recent weeks we've heard that that's just a rumor on the Internet, and the Bush campaign has said that's just a rumor on the Internet and doesn't even deserve the credibility to be addressed. But I think it should be addressed. I think it should be discussed even if it isn't a possibility.

SANCHEZ: Why? Because there's so much going on over there, people just feel it's bound to happen?

GRABOW: I think in compiling what we think, right now, of the deaths thus far in Iraq, over half are from our demographic. And so, I think people of our age group definitely have a concern about, you know, this, the war on terrorism and the ongoing war in Iraq.

SANCHEZ: Got you. Now, let's do this. A couple of stories we took out of the newspaper headlines today, I'm going to throw them at you. Tell me how young people are going to be affected or will react to this.

First, Bill Clinton comes out, and he's going to be stumping with John Kerry today.

ROBBINS: Right. I think that's a -- well, Republican speaking, I think he's going to be stealing the spotlight a little bit from John Kerry. I think that the Clintons have done that in the last several years, kind of stolen the spotlight of the Democratic campaign.

SANCHEZ: Rob, to you before we run out of time, so you both get a chance to get in on this.

GRABOW: I think he's one of the craftiest politicians in the history probably of the country, and I think there is a potential that he could overshadow Kerry. But I think he's a tremendous spokesman for the campaign, as well.

SANCHEZ: Three hundred eighty tons of weapons apparently left unguarded. Big controversy today going to be touched by both sides. Young people will react how?

ROBBINS: I think there will again be a growing concern to these weapons and where they came from and such.

SANCHEZ: Will the vote -- will young people blame the Bush administration for this, Dean?

ROBBINS: I don't think so. I think half will, I think half won't.

SANCHEZ: You're a Republican, aren't you? Rob, over to you.

GRABOW: Yeah, I think there's an inclination that the ones who are predisposed to do so will do it, and the ones who aren't probably won't.

SANCHEZ: That's great. Guys, you are wonderful. Thanks so much for being with us. We appreciate it. The book is called "What We Think: Young Voters Speak Out." Rob and Dean, two young fellows there who look alike.

KAGAN: Look alike, but think differently. And they're out there getting people stirred up. So, good for them.

Well, it was a musical malfunction for pop star Ashlee Simpson. Coming up -- how the pop star tried to recover after an embarrassing blooper on live television.

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SANCHEZ: That's live TV.

KAGAN: Oh, I get it. And it wasn't supposed to be a ventriloquist act, right? No.

SANCHEZ: I guess not. Oh, my goodness.

KAGAN: Bummer.

SANCHEZ: Look at her.

KAGAN: Well, the band played on even as the startled sinker slinked away. She's bumming.

SANCHEZ: Such are the joys of unscripted television as we see here from the NBC "Saturday Night Live." It's kind of funny. Viewers heard musical guest Ashlee Simpson singing, but her lips were like frozen.

KAGAN: Yeah, she was a little surprised. Turns out the glitch caused the wrong song to play. You might think on live television she was actually singing -- perhaps not, though. Critics accusing Simpson of trying to lip-synch have dubbed it a Milli Vanilli moment from a similar incident years ago.

I feel bad for her. She's just a teenager.

SANCHEZ: And she couldn't get out of it. She couldn't find out how to -- I guess she doesn't have much experience on stage.

KAGAN: I don't think she has much experience...

SANCHEZ: In anything!

KAGAN: Is she 19? Is she that old? Sixteen? Whatever, she's young. Twenty, I'm told.

SANCHEZ: Twenty, there you go.

KAGAN: Over the hill.

SANCHEZ: Oh, yeah, right.

KAGAN: Almost as old as Jill Brown.

SANCHEZ: Jill brown standing by with the weather. What a moment. Hi, Jill.

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SANCHEZ: Thanks a lot, Jill.

KAGAN: And the second hour of CNN LIVE TODAY begins right now.

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