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CNN Live Today
New Gallup Poll Has Bush Up in Fla.; Rehnquist Tracheotomy Has Some Oncologists Concerned
Aired October 26, 2004 - 11:28 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.
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: That would be you. Surprise.
SANCHEZ: I had my doubts as well. Welcome back, everyone. It's 28 minutes past the hour. I'm Rick Sanchez.
KAGAN: And that would make me Daryn Kagan. Let's take a look at what is happening "Now in the News."
So many voters to reach, so little time. Just seven days until Election Day. President Bush and Senator John Kerry are both stumping in states that they hope will tip the scales in their respective favors. President Bush is in Wisconsin before heading to Iowa. And Senator Kerry is crisscrossing four states, Wisconsin, Nevada, New Mexico, before overnighting in Sioux City, Iowa.
Pilot error caused the crash of American Airlines Flight 587. That is now the conclusion from federal aviation officials. The plane went down shortly after takeoff from New York in 2001 after the tail broke off. Two hundred and sixty-five people died. Investigators say the co-pilot's response when the plane hit turbulence was unnecessary and aggressive. And they say American Airlines improperly trained its pilots in using the plane's rudder.
The U.S. military says its latest air strike in Falluja has killed an associate of militant leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. But a Falluja resident said there was no one in the four houses that were destroyed. U.S. forces are trying to retake the town, which is still called a hot bed of terrorist activity.
At least 78 people are dead after a protest in southern Thailand. Police used force to try to break up the demonstration which caused a stampede. Many of the victims in the tightly packed crowd suffocated. The protest followed the arrests of six people accused of selling their guns to Muslim militants.
SANCHEZ: And what a different a week will make or will it? Seven days to go until the 2004 election. All seems up for grabs, local, state races and, of course, the American presidency. Who's up and who's down in the polls? Well, here to help us try and break this down a little bit is CNN senior political analyst Bill Schneider, joining us from Washington.
Hey Bill, how are you?
WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SR. POLITICAL ANALYST: OK, Rick.
SANCHEZ: Let's start with the Sunshine State, which happens to be my hometown. I understand that President Bush got some welcome news yesterday there, about 7:00 this poll came out and it is the CNN/"USA"/Gallup poll showing the president with a 51 to 43 lead.
SCHNEIDER: That's right. That poll in Florida looks pretty good for the president. But there are some other polls in Florida that make it look a little bit closer. In fact, there are five polls that have come out in Florida in the last couple of days and many of them do show a closer race.
One of them, ours shows Bush ahead, two of the polls show Kerry ahead by single digits, one by 3, one by just 1 point.
SANCHEZ: As a matter of fact...
SCHNEIDER: And two shows...
SANCHEZ: We have that one. That's what we're calling the "poll of polls," right, where it's the aggregate of many polls.
SCHNEIDER: That's right. If you average those five polls you get Bush 47, Kerry 46. And that is about as close as you can you get. Which means it's going to be a cliff-hanger, yet again, in your home state.
SANCHEZ: How does that happen, Bill? A bunch of people are watching us right now and they're probably scratching their heads thinking, these guys are telling me that on the one hand the president has a 7- or 8-point lead, and on the other hand he's basically tied. How can that happen?
SCHNEIDER: Well, because each poll takes a sample. And it's like taking a sample of water from a river. You can sample one place, you can sample another place and get slightly different results to see if the water is pure.
The sensible thing to do is look at the variety of polls, what you just saw, the poll of polls, and see what they average out to. And they average out to a close race. That's the number I would keep an eye on. That's the number that's probably most reliable, but unfortunately it doesn't tell you very much except it's going to be close.
SANCHEZ: Yes, just like it was before. Let's go to the national scene now, and this is again the CNN/Gallup poll has Mr. Bush at 51, Mr. Kerry at 46.
SCHNEIDER: Yes. That's a 5-point lead. There's another poll that shows a 5-point lead, the "TIME" magazine poll. Among registered voters, you can see here on the right side, that is if 100 percent, everybody who is registered votes, and boy, would that be a show, then it would be a closer race. Bush is ahead of Kerry by only 2 points which is really too close to call. By the way, both of those results are within the margin of error. So even nationally while Bush has a slightly -- 5 points in our poll, it's still very, very close.
SANCHEZ: Let me just ask you, before we go to the "L.A. Times" poll, which is also making news on this day, about this whole registered and likely voter scenario, because we're being told by both parties that they registered so many more new people, could these numbers that we're looking at, that the pollsters are checking, be a little bit different than what we will get on Election Day?
SCHNEIDER: Well, we show you two figures. One is likely voters, which is the polling organization's estimate of who's mostly likely to vote, based not just who has voted in the past, but also on indications of interest and intention to vote this time.
So it is up to date. And most pollsters estimate that turnout will go up this year, somewhere in the mid-50 percent of those who are of voting age.
Now the registered voters is everybody who says they're registered to vote. That would be 100 percent turnout of registered voters. We haven't seen that. The highest turnout we've seen in the last 50 years was a little over 60 percent of the voting age population in 1960 when we had a hot race between Kennedy and Nixon. It has never reached that level since then.
So we know the turnout will be higher than usual. And we show you that number, the likely voters, but we also show what you would happen if every single registered voter showed up at the polls. Ain't going to happen but it indicates the higher the turnout the closer the race is likely to be between Bush and Kerry.
SANCHEZ: Well, here's what's interesting. Oftentimes we see that the registered voters and the likely voters are very different. But here we have a case in "The L.A. Times" poll, let's go ahead and put that up so the folks at home can see it, where you're getting the same measurement on both sides. Look at registered and look at likely, 47/47 and 48/48. What do you say to that?
SCHNEIDER: What I say to that is that likely voters are getting energized and mobilized according to this poll. They're probably getting a high turnout, estimating a high turnout of likely voters, which is looking exactly like the tie among registered voters.
Look, every one of these polls is basically indicating same thing, a close race. I can't say it any better than that, a close race. Anyone who knows what's going to happen next Tuesday is grossly misinformed.
SANCHEZ: Thank you so much, Bill Schneider, we appreciate you bringing us that insight. We'll talk to you again, my friend.
SCHNEIDER: OK.
SANCHEZ: There you have it. Daryn, over to you.
KAGAN: Right. From polls to pundits in this heated campaign season, many radio personalities have gone from spinning records to spinning red hot political rhetoric.
Here's CNN's Richard Quest.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LYNN CULLEN, WPTT RADIO, PITTSBURGH: Suck it up, America.
MIKE PINTEK, KDKA RADIO, PITTSBURGH: Who do these people think they are for crying out loud?
RICHARD QUEST, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): From the left and from the right, the airwaves in America are humming.
CULLEN: It's getting wild and woolly.
QUEST: And the temperature is rising.
PINTEK: So just sit down and shut up.
QUEST: Radio talk jocks have been filling their shows with political vitriol for months.
PINTEK: The difference is George Bush knows how to deal with it.
CULLEN: He has squandered so much, our money, our blood, our...
QUEST: Lynn Cullen makes no bones about where she stands.
CULLEN: I'm Lynn Cullen, I'm liberal, I'll talk to you.
QUEST: It takes a brave person to challenge these talk hosts.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Four more years. That's all I have got to say.
CULLEN: Four more years? Three more months, buddy boy.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why don't you quit interrupting and let me finish.
PINTEK: I'm not, I'm just asking -- I'm trying to clarify what you said.
QUEST: While all of this hot air makes for good radio ding dong.
CULLEN: OK, OK.
PINTEK: Oh, I see.
QUEST: Overall, there are more conservative hosts than liberals in America.
PINTEK: Liberal hosts don't make it in this country for a couple of reasons. Number one, they're not entertaining. Number two, they see the worlds in shades of gray. If you are generally conservative, you see it black and white. QUEST (on camera): The life blood of talk radio has always been politics, punch and passion. But in election 2004, even the talk radio pundits agree it's different. This time it's personal.
CULLEN: If Daffy Duck runs against Bush, Daffy Duck is my guy.
PINTEK: It's my personal feeling that he should be re-elected. And I'm going to do whatever I can to try to get him elected.
QUEST (voice-over): With so much political spin, even Lynn Cullen agrees that people like her might be doing more harm than good.
CULLEN: In my sober moments, I think I am part of something that is not constructive.
QUEST: Long detailed debate doesn't make for good radio listening.
CULLEN: You should be ashamed.
PINTEK: No, it's not, no, it's not, and you know that.
QUEST: And a good listen is what this is all about.
PINTEK: That's true, as a matter of fact.
QUEST: Richard Quest, CNN, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KAGAN: Well, here's a good platform. If he were running for president, he might propose more beer for everyone. Homer Simpson of the television show "The Simpson's" is the number one presidential pick among British television fans. Homer was the overwhelming favorite in a "Radio Times" magazine poll on which American TV character should be the next president. He beat out Josiah Bartlet, that's Martin Sheen on NBC's "The West Wing," Dr. Frasier Crane on NBC's "Frasier" came in third.
SANCHEZ: Political power brokers, whether real or imagined, are all targets for late night comedians, like Jon Stewart. "The Daily Show" is must-see TV for many politicians and political junkies alike. The reason, Stewart is said to be an equal opportunity comedic offender.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM "THE DAILY SHOW WITH JON STEWART")
JON STEWART, HOST: But for those who believe that this administration's disconnect with reality stems from its failure to listen what they consider unfriendly viewpoints, it gets a little worse. They don't actually speak to them either.
DICK CHENEY, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The Iraqis I've talked to, virtually to a man all reiterate that gratitude they feel to the United States for what we did.
STEWART: Really? Have you talked to the ones with the bombs, because they seem mad?
(LAUGHTER)
STEWART: The Democratic spin machine was also in high gear. Bill Clinton back on his feet after a triple bypass operation talked with Diane Sawyer, it was a much anticipated return of the master politician of the answer to how to put Kerry over the top.
DIANE SAWYER, HOST, "GOOD MORNING AMERICA": What's the thing that John Kerry has to do between now and the election?
WILLIAM JEFFERSON CLINTON, FMR. PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I don't think he should look for a silver bullet.
STEWART: That's an excellent point. That would only work against, say, a werewolf.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(LAUGHTER)
KAGAN: How do you think the former president looked out there in Philadelphia yesterday?
SANCHEZ: Very thin, very thin and very pale, I thought as a matter of fact.
KAGAN: But you know, he got in front of that crowd and I think that's probably for him the best medicine.
SANCHEZ: Absolutely. In fact, he said that. He said, I couldn't think of anything else that could be better for my heart than this, despite what the doctors may say.
Well, it seems like George Bush and John Kerry are everywhere as the campaign winds to a close.
KAGAN: And on Halloween night they really will be everywhere. Jeanne Moos looks at the face-off coming up.
Coming up next, the details about what's ailing the Supreme Court's chief justice. It's a form of cancer that affects thousands of Americans. Your "Daily Dose" of health news is just ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAGAN: Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich says that state officials have found an additional 200,000 doses of the flu vaccine in Europe. He's seeking FDA approval to buy that vaccine. Yesterday, the governor said his administration had found 62,000 doses of flu vaccine through a British wholesaler. Problems with a plant in Britain cut the supply of flu vaccine in the U.S. in nearly half this year.
SANCHEZ: Thyroid cancer hits more than 23,000 Americans each year. But its discovery in the chief justice of the Supreme Court makes it suddenly international news.
Eighty-year-old William Rehnquist is in recovery. He's vowing to be back at work just nine days after undergoing a tracheotomy. CNN medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen looks at the disease and these questions that seem to surround it.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Supreme Court has revealed little about Chief Justice William Rehnquist's condition. The press release from the court doesn't indicate what type of thyroid cancer he has or if it spread to other parts of his body. It simply says that the chief justice "underwent a tracheotomy" on Saturday in connection with the recent diagnosis of thyroid cancer.
The fact that he had a tracheotomy has some oncologists we spoke with concerned that the cancer might be especially serious.
DR. KENNETH BURMAN, WASHINGTON HOSPITAL CENTER: If someone is going to have a tracheotomy, then that implies that the tumor is around the trachea and is somehow impinging something regarding the flow of the breath through the trachea.
COHEN: In a tracheotomy, a hole is cut in the trachea, or windpipe, and a tube is inserted to allow the patient to breathe. Normally, thyroid patients don't need tracheotomies. Doctors perform them if the cancer has spread from the thyroid to the trachea, or if the cancer in some other way has interfered with breathing.
In the overwhelming majority of cases, thyroid cancer is highly treatable, usually just with surgery to remove all or part of the thyroid. There's one rare type of thyroid cancer called anaplastic thyroid cancer which is difficult, if not impossible, to treat.
And no matter what type of thyroid cancer it is, it's more difficult to treat the older someone gets.
Elizabeth Cohen, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SANCHEZ: To get your "Daily Dose" of health news online, all you've got to do is log onto our Web site. You'll find the latest medical news, health library, and information on diet and fitness, which so many of us need from time to time, right there at cnn...
KAGAN: Dot-com/health.
SANCHEZ: ... .com/health.
KAGAN: A couple more weeks, you'll be saying that in your sleep. Cnn.com/health.
SANCHEZ: Well, dollar days in Cuba. Fidel Castro is going to make it a whole lot more difficult for people who want to use U.S. dollars in his country, henceforth. We'll tell you what he's doing.
KAGAN: And that, plus business news is next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAGAN: The buck stops here, at least in Cuba. President Fidel Castro is ending circulation of the American currency on November 8th. So, as of next month, residents and visitors will have to spend locally-printed convertible pesos. Cubans and tourists alike will still be allowed to hold dollars, but they can only spend them after exchanging for pesos with a 10 percent surcharge. That move is said to be in response to tightened American sanctions against Cuba.
President Castro is telling Cubans to ask relatives abroad to send them euros, British sterling, or Swiss francs instead of dollars.
SANCHEZ: It's time to go over to Mary Snow and find out what's going on with the markets on this day. Hi, Mary.
(STOCK MARKET UPDATE)
SANCHEZ: All right. Thanks a lot, Mary. Appreciate it.
KAGAN: Coming up next, a real face-off. Turns out George W. Bush and John Kerry will battle for supremacy two days before the election on Halloween night.
SANCHEZ: We'll bring that to you, with or without the masks, when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAGAN: What do George Bush, John Kerry, and Spider-Man all have in common? There's a good chance they're going to show up at your house this week. And while two are looking for votes, one is just looking for some candy.
Our Jeanne Moos reports there is just no masking the fact that Election Day is just around the corner.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Why just vote for one of them when you can actually be one of them? That devil Bush or that scary Kerry.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Kerry's got a great face for a mask, you know, because he's a little like -- well, like Lurch.
MOOS: The question at buycostumes.com is which candidate's mask is ahead? Bush has been leading, and they say that over the past six presidential elections, the candidate with the best-selling mask has ended up winning the real race.
But here at Halloween Adventure in New York...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The more unpopular you are, the more the mask sell.
MOOS: New York mask buyers tend to lampoon the president. They even improvise, adding a Pinocchio nose. And then there was the Pennsylvania bank robber who wore a Bush mask.
JAY LENO, HOST, "THE TONIGHT SHOW": You know, it wasn't actually George Bush, because apparently the guy had an exit strategy to get out of the bank.
MOOS: The Bush bank robber got away with the cash like a scene out of "Point Break."
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Break away! Keep your hand where I can see them.
PATRICK SWAYZE, ACTOR: We are the ex-presidents.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm not a crook.
MOOS: Richard Nixon's mask has legs, so does Bill Clinton's.
(on camera): What is with the wig?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: First black president.
MOOS: Oh, look at Arnold. Wow.
(voice-over): We had to go to a store called Abracadabra to find Colin Powell and Condi Rice. New this year -- Al Sharpton.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Something called up for 300 Al Sharpton yesterday.
MOOS (on camera): Why would they want 300 Al Sharptons?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't know. We were trying to figure it out.
MOOS (voice-over): The Bush mask left behind by the Pennsylvania robber was made by Cesar.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a French company. It's called the Cesar...
MOOS (on camera): There's some irony there. French company that's making the Bush mask?
(voice-over): Both the Kerry mask...
(on camera): Who am I?
(voice-over): ... and the Bush mask...
(on camera): Now who am I? Who am I?
(voice-over): ... were equally effective at scaring kids. And while you can buy a Laura Bush mask, we couldn't find a Teresa Heinz Kerry one.
After the Bush/Gore standoff last election, they came out with a two-faced mask. But loser beware, Al Gore is on sale and gathering dust.
As we lurch toward Election Day, the Bush mask is ahead by a nose, a long one.
Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SANCHEZ: What are you going to do with 300 Al Sharpton masks? That's what I want to know. That's going to be one whale of a party, I bet.
KAGAN: Such a deal.
Let's check in with Jill Brown. She's looking at weather -- Jill?
(WEATHER REPORT)
KAGAN: Great. Thank you.
SANCHEZ: Hope it doesn't rain tonight, because -- you don't want a World Series to be sloppy and wet like that. That'd be horrible.
KAGAN: ... call it off.
SANCHEZ: All right. That'd be better. Just call it off rather than stop it every two innings like they sometimes do.
KAGAN: I'll get Bud Selig on the phone so you can advise him on that as soon as we're done. In fact, we are done for the day.
SANCHEZ: We are, indeed.
KAGAN: Yeah. I'm Daryn Kagan.
SANCHEZ: And I'm Rick Sanchez. Let's send things out now to Wolf Blitzer...
KAGAN: Wolf?
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks very much, Daryn.
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 26, 2004 - 11:28 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: That would be you. Surprise.
SANCHEZ: I had my doubts as well. Welcome back, everyone. It's 28 minutes past the hour. I'm Rick Sanchez.
KAGAN: And that would make me Daryn Kagan. Let's take a look at what is happening "Now in the News."
So many voters to reach, so little time. Just seven days until Election Day. President Bush and Senator John Kerry are both stumping in states that they hope will tip the scales in their respective favors. President Bush is in Wisconsin before heading to Iowa. And Senator Kerry is crisscrossing four states, Wisconsin, Nevada, New Mexico, before overnighting in Sioux City, Iowa.
Pilot error caused the crash of American Airlines Flight 587. That is now the conclusion from federal aviation officials. The plane went down shortly after takeoff from New York in 2001 after the tail broke off. Two hundred and sixty-five people died. Investigators say the co-pilot's response when the plane hit turbulence was unnecessary and aggressive. And they say American Airlines improperly trained its pilots in using the plane's rudder.
The U.S. military says its latest air strike in Falluja has killed an associate of militant leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. But a Falluja resident said there was no one in the four houses that were destroyed. U.S. forces are trying to retake the town, which is still called a hot bed of terrorist activity.
At least 78 people are dead after a protest in southern Thailand. Police used force to try to break up the demonstration which caused a stampede. Many of the victims in the tightly packed crowd suffocated. The protest followed the arrests of six people accused of selling their guns to Muslim militants.
SANCHEZ: And what a different a week will make or will it? Seven days to go until the 2004 election. All seems up for grabs, local, state races and, of course, the American presidency. Who's up and who's down in the polls? Well, here to help us try and break this down a little bit is CNN senior political analyst Bill Schneider, joining us from Washington.
Hey Bill, how are you?
WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SR. POLITICAL ANALYST: OK, Rick.
SANCHEZ: Let's start with the Sunshine State, which happens to be my hometown. I understand that President Bush got some welcome news yesterday there, about 7:00 this poll came out and it is the CNN/"USA"/Gallup poll showing the president with a 51 to 43 lead.
SCHNEIDER: That's right. That poll in Florida looks pretty good for the president. But there are some other polls in Florida that make it look a little bit closer. In fact, there are five polls that have come out in Florida in the last couple of days and many of them do show a closer race.
One of them, ours shows Bush ahead, two of the polls show Kerry ahead by single digits, one by 3, one by just 1 point.
SANCHEZ: As a matter of fact...
SCHNEIDER: And two shows...
SANCHEZ: We have that one. That's what we're calling the "poll of polls," right, where it's the aggregate of many polls.
SCHNEIDER: That's right. If you average those five polls you get Bush 47, Kerry 46. And that is about as close as you can you get. Which means it's going to be a cliff-hanger, yet again, in your home state.
SANCHEZ: How does that happen, Bill? A bunch of people are watching us right now and they're probably scratching their heads thinking, these guys are telling me that on the one hand the president has a 7- or 8-point lead, and on the other hand he's basically tied. How can that happen?
SCHNEIDER: Well, because each poll takes a sample. And it's like taking a sample of water from a river. You can sample one place, you can sample another place and get slightly different results to see if the water is pure.
The sensible thing to do is look at the variety of polls, what you just saw, the poll of polls, and see what they average out to. And they average out to a close race. That's the number I would keep an eye on. That's the number that's probably most reliable, but unfortunately it doesn't tell you very much except it's going to be close.
SANCHEZ: Yes, just like it was before. Let's go to the national scene now, and this is again the CNN/Gallup poll has Mr. Bush at 51, Mr. Kerry at 46.
SCHNEIDER: Yes. That's a 5-point lead. There's another poll that shows a 5-point lead, the "TIME" magazine poll. Among registered voters, you can see here on the right side, that is if 100 percent, everybody who is registered votes, and boy, would that be a show, then it would be a closer race. Bush is ahead of Kerry by only 2 points which is really too close to call. By the way, both of those results are within the margin of error. So even nationally while Bush has a slightly -- 5 points in our poll, it's still very, very close.
SANCHEZ: Let me just ask you, before we go to the "L.A. Times" poll, which is also making news on this day, about this whole registered and likely voter scenario, because we're being told by both parties that they registered so many more new people, could these numbers that we're looking at, that the pollsters are checking, be a little bit different than what we will get on Election Day?
SCHNEIDER: Well, we show you two figures. One is likely voters, which is the polling organization's estimate of who's mostly likely to vote, based not just who has voted in the past, but also on indications of interest and intention to vote this time.
So it is up to date. And most pollsters estimate that turnout will go up this year, somewhere in the mid-50 percent of those who are of voting age.
Now the registered voters is everybody who says they're registered to vote. That would be 100 percent turnout of registered voters. We haven't seen that. The highest turnout we've seen in the last 50 years was a little over 60 percent of the voting age population in 1960 when we had a hot race between Kennedy and Nixon. It has never reached that level since then.
So we know the turnout will be higher than usual. And we show you that number, the likely voters, but we also show what you would happen if every single registered voter showed up at the polls. Ain't going to happen but it indicates the higher the turnout the closer the race is likely to be between Bush and Kerry.
SANCHEZ: Well, here's what's interesting. Oftentimes we see that the registered voters and the likely voters are very different. But here we have a case in "The L.A. Times" poll, let's go ahead and put that up so the folks at home can see it, where you're getting the same measurement on both sides. Look at registered and look at likely, 47/47 and 48/48. What do you say to that?
SCHNEIDER: What I say to that is that likely voters are getting energized and mobilized according to this poll. They're probably getting a high turnout, estimating a high turnout of likely voters, which is looking exactly like the tie among registered voters.
Look, every one of these polls is basically indicating same thing, a close race. I can't say it any better than that, a close race. Anyone who knows what's going to happen next Tuesday is grossly misinformed.
SANCHEZ: Thank you so much, Bill Schneider, we appreciate you bringing us that insight. We'll talk to you again, my friend.
SCHNEIDER: OK.
SANCHEZ: There you have it. Daryn, over to you.
KAGAN: Right. From polls to pundits in this heated campaign season, many radio personalities have gone from spinning records to spinning red hot political rhetoric.
Here's CNN's Richard Quest.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LYNN CULLEN, WPTT RADIO, PITTSBURGH: Suck it up, America.
MIKE PINTEK, KDKA RADIO, PITTSBURGH: Who do these people think they are for crying out loud?
RICHARD QUEST, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): From the left and from the right, the airwaves in America are humming.
CULLEN: It's getting wild and woolly.
QUEST: And the temperature is rising.
PINTEK: So just sit down and shut up.
QUEST: Radio talk jocks have been filling their shows with political vitriol for months.
PINTEK: The difference is George Bush knows how to deal with it.
CULLEN: He has squandered so much, our money, our blood, our...
QUEST: Lynn Cullen makes no bones about where she stands.
CULLEN: I'm Lynn Cullen, I'm liberal, I'll talk to you.
QUEST: It takes a brave person to challenge these talk hosts.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Four more years. That's all I have got to say.
CULLEN: Four more years? Three more months, buddy boy.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why don't you quit interrupting and let me finish.
PINTEK: I'm not, I'm just asking -- I'm trying to clarify what you said.
QUEST: While all of this hot air makes for good radio ding dong.
CULLEN: OK, OK.
PINTEK: Oh, I see.
QUEST: Overall, there are more conservative hosts than liberals in America.
PINTEK: Liberal hosts don't make it in this country for a couple of reasons. Number one, they're not entertaining. Number two, they see the worlds in shades of gray. If you are generally conservative, you see it black and white. QUEST (on camera): The life blood of talk radio has always been politics, punch and passion. But in election 2004, even the talk radio pundits agree it's different. This time it's personal.
CULLEN: If Daffy Duck runs against Bush, Daffy Duck is my guy.
PINTEK: It's my personal feeling that he should be re-elected. And I'm going to do whatever I can to try to get him elected.
QUEST (voice-over): With so much political spin, even Lynn Cullen agrees that people like her might be doing more harm than good.
CULLEN: In my sober moments, I think I am part of something that is not constructive.
QUEST: Long detailed debate doesn't make for good radio listening.
CULLEN: You should be ashamed.
PINTEK: No, it's not, no, it's not, and you know that.
QUEST: And a good listen is what this is all about.
PINTEK: That's true, as a matter of fact.
QUEST: Richard Quest, CNN, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KAGAN: Well, here's a good platform. If he were running for president, he might propose more beer for everyone. Homer Simpson of the television show "The Simpson's" is the number one presidential pick among British television fans. Homer was the overwhelming favorite in a "Radio Times" magazine poll on which American TV character should be the next president. He beat out Josiah Bartlet, that's Martin Sheen on NBC's "The West Wing," Dr. Frasier Crane on NBC's "Frasier" came in third.
SANCHEZ: Political power brokers, whether real or imagined, are all targets for late night comedians, like Jon Stewart. "The Daily Show" is must-see TV for many politicians and political junkies alike. The reason, Stewart is said to be an equal opportunity comedic offender.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM "THE DAILY SHOW WITH JON STEWART")
JON STEWART, HOST: But for those who believe that this administration's disconnect with reality stems from its failure to listen what they consider unfriendly viewpoints, it gets a little worse. They don't actually speak to them either.
DICK CHENEY, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The Iraqis I've talked to, virtually to a man all reiterate that gratitude they feel to the United States for what we did.
STEWART: Really? Have you talked to the ones with the bombs, because they seem mad?
(LAUGHTER)
STEWART: The Democratic spin machine was also in high gear. Bill Clinton back on his feet after a triple bypass operation talked with Diane Sawyer, it was a much anticipated return of the master politician of the answer to how to put Kerry over the top.
DIANE SAWYER, HOST, "GOOD MORNING AMERICA": What's the thing that John Kerry has to do between now and the election?
WILLIAM JEFFERSON CLINTON, FMR. PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I don't think he should look for a silver bullet.
STEWART: That's an excellent point. That would only work against, say, a werewolf.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(LAUGHTER)
KAGAN: How do you think the former president looked out there in Philadelphia yesterday?
SANCHEZ: Very thin, very thin and very pale, I thought as a matter of fact.
KAGAN: But you know, he got in front of that crowd and I think that's probably for him the best medicine.
SANCHEZ: Absolutely. In fact, he said that. He said, I couldn't think of anything else that could be better for my heart than this, despite what the doctors may say.
Well, it seems like George Bush and John Kerry are everywhere as the campaign winds to a close.
KAGAN: And on Halloween night they really will be everywhere. Jeanne Moos looks at the face-off coming up.
Coming up next, the details about what's ailing the Supreme Court's chief justice. It's a form of cancer that affects thousands of Americans. Your "Daily Dose" of health news is just ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAGAN: Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich says that state officials have found an additional 200,000 doses of the flu vaccine in Europe. He's seeking FDA approval to buy that vaccine. Yesterday, the governor said his administration had found 62,000 doses of flu vaccine through a British wholesaler. Problems with a plant in Britain cut the supply of flu vaccine in the U.S. in nearly half this year.
SANCHEZ: Thyroid cancer hits more than 23,000 Americans each year. But its discovery in the chief justice of the Supreme Court makes it suddenly international news.
Eighty-year-old William Rehnquist is in recovery. He's vowing to be back at work just nine days after undergoing a tracheotomy. CNN medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen looks at the disease and these questions that seem to surround it.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Supreme Court has revealed little about Chief Justice William Rehnquist's condition. The press release from the court doesn't indicate what type of thyroid cancer he has or if it spread to other parts of his body. It simply says that the chief justice "underwent a tracheotomy" on Saturday in connection with the recent diagnosis of thyroid cancer.
The fact that he had a tracheotomy has some oncologists we spoke with concerned that the cancer might be especially serious.
DR. KENNETH BURMAN, WASHINGTON HOSPITAL CENTER: If someone is going to have a tracheotomy, then that implies that the tumor is around the trachea and is somehow impinging something regarding the flow of the breath through the trachea.
COHEN: In a tracheotomy, a hole is cut in the trachea, or windpipe, and a tube is inserted to allow the patient to breathe. Normally, thyroid patients don't need tracheotomies. Doctors perform them if the cancer has spread from the thyroid to the trachea, or if the cancer in some other way has interfered with breathing.
In the overwhelming majority of cases, thyroid cancer is highly treatable, usually just with surgery to remove all or part of the thyroid. There's one rare type of thyroid cancer called anaplastic thyroid cancer which is difficult, if not impossible, to treat.
And no matter what type of thyroid cancer it is, it's more difficult to treat the older someone gets.
Elizabeth Cohen, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SANCHEZ: To get your "Daily Dose" of health news online, all you've got to do is log onto our Web site. You'll find the latest medical news, health library, and information on diet and fitness, which so many of us need from time to time, right there at cnn...
KAGAN: Dot-com/health.
SANCHEZ: ... .com/health.
KAGAN: A couple more weeks, you'll be saying that in your sleep. Cnn.com/health.
SANCHEZ: Well, dollar days in Cuba. Fidel Castro is going to make it a whole lot more difficult for people who want to use U.S. dollars in his country, henceforth. We'll tell you what he's doing.
KAGAN: And that, plus business news is next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAGAN: The buck stops here, at least in Cuba. President Fidel Castro is ending circulation of the American currency on November 8th. So, as of next month, residents and visitors will have to spend locally-printed convertible pesos. Cubans and tourists alike will still be allowed to hold dollars, but they can only spend them after exchanging for pesos with a 10 percent surcharge. That move is said to be in response to tightened American sanctions against Cuba.
President Castro is telling Cubans to ask relatives abroad to send them euros, British sterling, or Swiss francs instead of dollars.
SANCHEZ: It's time to go over to Mary Snow and find out what's going on with the markets on this day. Hi, Mary.
(STOCK MARKET UPDATE)
SANCHEZ: All right. Thanks a lot, Mary. Appreciate it.
KAGAN: Coming up next, a real face-off. Turns out George W. Bush and John Kerry will battle for supremacy two days before the election on Halloween night.
SANCHEZ: We'll bring that to you, with or without the masks, when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAGAN: What do George Bush, John Kerry, and Spider-Man all have in common? There's a good chance they're going to show up at your house this week. And while two are looking for votes, one is just looking for some candy.
Our Jeanne Moos reports there is just no masking the fact that Election Day is just around the corner.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Why just vote for one of them when you can actually be one of them? That devil Bush or that scary Kerry.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Kerry's got a great face for a mask, you know, because he's a little like -- well, like Lurch.
MOOS: The question at buycostumes.com is which candidate's mask is ahead? Bush has been leading, and they say that over the past six presidential elections, the candidate with the best-selling mask has ended up winning the real race.
But here at Halloween Adventure in New York...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The more unpopular you are, the more the mask sell.
MOOS: New York mask buyers tend to lampoon the president. They even improvise, adding a Pinocchio nose. And then there was the Pennsylvania bank robber who wore a Bush mask.
JAY LENO, HOST, "THE TONIGHT SHOW": You know, it wasn't actually George Bush, because apparently the guy had an exit strategy to get out of the bank.
MOOS: The Bush bank robber got away with the cash like a scene out of "Point Break."
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Break away! Keep your hand where I can see them.
PATRICK SWAYZE, ACTOR: We are the ex-presidents.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm not a crook.
MOOS: Richard Nixon's mask has legs, so does Bill Clinton's.
(on camera): What is with the wig?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: First black president.
MOOS: Oh, look at Arnold. Wow.
(voice-over): We had to go to a store called Abracadabra to find Colin Powell and Condi Rice. New this year -- Al Sharpton.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Something called up for 300 Al Sharpton yesterday.
MOOS (on camera): Why would they want 300 Al Sharptons?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't know. We were trying to figure it out.
MOOS (voice-over): The Bush mask left behind by the Pennsylvania robber was made by Cesar.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a French company. It's called the Cesar...
MOOS (on camera): There's some irony there. French company that's making the Bush mask?
(voice-over): Both the Kerry mask...
(on camera): Who am I?
(voice-over): ... and the Bush mask...
(on camera): Now who am I? Who am I?
(voice-over): ... were equally effective at scaring kids. And while you can buy a Laura Bush mask, we couldn't find a Teresa Heinz Kerry one.
After the Bush/Gore standoff last election, they came out with a two-faced mask. But loser beware, Al Gore is on sale and gathering dust.
As we lurch toward Election Day, the Bush mask is ahead by a nose, a long one.
Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SANCHEZ: What are you going to do with 300 Al Sharpton masks? That's what I want to know. That's going to be one whale of a party, I bet.
KAGAN: Such a deal.
Let's check in with Jill Brown. She's looking at weather -- Jill?
(WEATHER REPORT)
KAGAN: Great. Thank you.
SANCHEZ: Hope it doesn't rain tonight, because -- you don't want a World Series to be sloppy and wet like that. That'd be horrible.
KAGAN: ... call it off.
SANCHEZ: All right. That'd be better. Just call it off rather than stop it every two innings like they sometimes do.
KAGAN: I'll get Bud Selig on the phone so you can advise him on that as soon as we're done. In fact, we are done for the day.
SANCHEZ: We are, indeed.
KAGAN: Yeah. I'm Daryn Kagan.
SANCHEZ: And I'm Rick Sanchez. Let's send things out now to Wolf Blitzer...
KAGAN: Wolf?
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks very much, Daryn.
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