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Oil Services Giant Halliburton Under More Scrutiny; 'Daily Dose'

Aired October 29, 2004 - 11:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: Oil services giant Halliburton, once again, under more scrutiny. The FBI has opened an inquiry into whether a subsidiary of the company was unfairly awarded lucrative contracts in Iraq in a no-bid scenario.
Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr joining us now with some of the details on this unfolding story.

Hi, Barbara.

BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Rick.

Well, the FBI has made a formal request to interview the top contracting officer at the Army Corps of Engineers about her allegations that a Halliburton subsidiary was awarded a no-bid contract inappropriately, a contract that was worth billions of dollars. Law enforcement sources tell CNN that the interview has not yet taken place, but that several documents related to this no-bid contract have been gathered up by federal investigators.

Sources say all of this relates to Halliburton as a company, and it's Kellogg Brown root subsidiary, not to the White House, and not to Vice President Cheney, who, of course, headed the company for some years before becoming vice president. All of this now in its very early stages. The Army official, according to sources, has told the government she wants whistle-blower status for her testimony about what she believes went on there. And according to "Time" magazine, the allegations center around a $7 billion, five-year, no bid contract for services related to the Kuwait-Iraq area, a contract that awarded just before the war began -- Rick.

SANCHEZ: This person was a civilian, Barbara, correct? What did she say happened when she brought some of her complaints to some of the officials that she worked with?

STARR: Well, according, again, to "Time" magazine, which has reported much of the detail about the story, the woman says that her professional position as the top contracting officer at the Army Corps of Engineers, which, of course, is responsible for all of this activity, was, shall we say, put in jeopardy. So she wants to talk about it. She wants to tell what she knows. Federal law enforcement officials say this is all now in their bailiwick. They are looking into it. When someone makes an allegation, they are obligated to look into it, and that is what they are doing -- Rick.

SANCHEZ: Barbara Starr, joining us with the latest from the Pentagon on that story.

Thank you, Barbara.

It is down to the final four. Just four days left until the presidential election. Both President Bush and Senator John Kerry are making the final push to rally their supporters and persuade the remaining undecided voters. And here is where the race stands in our Poll of Polls: an average of six national polls has President Bush ahead by three points, 49 percent, to senator John Kerry's 46 percent. This report has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percent.

We heard from President Bush in the last hour, live from New Hampshire now. Let's listen in to Orlando Florida, and Senator John Kerry.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

(APPLAUSE)

SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And that's just abroad.

At home, George Bush looks at lost jobs, falling wages and rising costs, and he tells struggling middle-class families that everything is just fine. Well, that's because, for the powerful and the well- connected friends he spent the last four years fighting for, it really is the best economy of a lifetime. And now he's asking you to give him another four years so that he can keep giving those friends the same old special treatment they've gotten for the last four years.

Well, that does not have to be our future. That may be George Bush's record, but it doesn't have to be America's future. And if we do our work, it won't be. In four days, you can choose a fresh start for America.

(APPLAUSE)

In four days, in four days, you could choose a president who will defend America and fight for the middle class.

(APPLAUSE)

And if you give me the chance, I will be that president who does both at the same time.

(APPLAUSE)

In this -- this is the choice that we face this Tuesday. In this election, the safety of the American people is on the ballot. Our troops in Iraq are doing an absolutely heroic job. They are the best trained, most extraordinary courageous troops we've ever seen.

The problem is our commander in chief is not doing his job. And the president tells us, every day here this president tells us that in Iraq, quite, the strategy is succeeding. The vice president tells us that the war is, quote, a remarkable success story. But every day, every day on our TV screens, every day in the newspapers, you read the reality, and you can see the hard truths of Iraq. We see the consequences, the consequences of this president's decision to rush to war without a plan to win the peace, the loss of over 1,100 of our treasure, our young brave men and women in uniform. The cost of $225 billion that could have gone to our cities, to our schools, to our kids, to our health care. Now billions more yet to be demanded.

KAGAN: Been listening in to Senator John Kerry at a rally in Orlando, Florida. At the same time, President Bush has been appearing in New Hampshire. The race, the final push for those electoral votes taking place over these next four days. New Hampshire, by the way, four electoral votes, and Florida, big cache of 27 electoral votes.

Well, we bring that up because the Electoral College is a favorite whipping board during almost every presidential election, especially like in this time, when the race is close. But when the Electoral College trumps the popular vote, expect to hear a lot of folks, usually the losers, demanding to get rid of it. Well, don't hold your breath on that.

John Fortier of the American Enterprise Institute in Washington joins us to explain, well, part of how it works. We don't have time for a whole civic lesson here, but why it isn't going away.

Good morning.

JOHN FORTIER, AMERICAN ENTERPRISE INST.: Good morning. Thanks for having me.

KAGAN: This is what I'm fascinated with. All the different combinations that come up where you have a tie, 269 electoral votes for candidate. It can happen on Tuesday.

FORTIER: Sure it can. I'll give you my favorite scenario. Kerry wins in New Hampshire, where he is, where we just heard from, and Ohio; Bush wins in Wisconsin and New Mexico. All very close states, it could go that way. We end up 269-269. It ends up going to Congress to decide the president and vice president of the United States.

KAGAN: And at which point -- and of course, it would be the new Congress, the new House of Representatives, but it would most likely be a Republican House, in which case, President Bush would get a second term.

FORTIER: Right, the House votes by delegation, but it would likely be a Republican house, but you could have a Democratic Senate, in which case you could end up with a Bush-Edwards presidency for the next four years.

KAGAN: Oh, that would be fun. That would give us something to talk about.

Electoral College -- why is it still here? FORTIER: Well, we've had it since the beginning, and it's very hard to change. It requires a constitutional amendment to really change it. And for the most part, it's worked well. We had in 2000, the popular vote go the opposite way of the Electoral College vote, but the time before it had happened was 1888. So unless it's just very, very close, it's not likely to happen.

KAGAN: Well, you're seeing little cracks in the system. I want to focus on Colorado right now, because Colorado right now, their amendment on their ballot, to not do a winner take all, to do it proportional so you could split up the nine electoral votes coming out of Colorado.

FORTIER: Right, 48 states now are winner-take-all system. You win by one vote in California, you get all 54 electoral votes. Colorado wants to change it, so effectively, it will go from a 9-0 state to a 5-4 split.

The problem is they're doing it on the same ballot as the presidential election. We don't know, or voters don't know going into the booth, which way it will be decided. And if it really comes down to that, the swing of 9-0 versus 5-4 making the difference, I think we'll see litigation, the Bush v. Kerry case of 2004, like we saw Bush v. Gore in 2000.

KAGAN: So what do you think is going to be the most fascinating story coming out of the Electoral College on Tuesday?

FORTIER: Well, there's another one, the question of a faithless elector. Mostly, the elector vote the way they're supposed to vote. But occasionally, someone votes the other way. And a West Virginia elector is saying that instead of voting for Bush, as he's pledged to do, that he might vote for Kerry or vote for someone else. If it really is that close, and comes down to this one elector, this one person could end up throwing the election one way or the other.

KAGAN: We have already seen some things happen. We will be watching it.

John Fortier, I'm sure you will, too, from the American Enterprise Institute. Thank you.

FORTIER: Thank you.

SANCHEZ: Can you imagine if the thing ends up tied, and then one elector decides, you know what, I'm not going to do what I'm supposed to do, I'm going to just do what I want to do.

KAGAN: Following their heart, and giving us a heck of a story.

SANCHEZ: It would be a heck of a story.

The eyes have it, and they can continue to have it if you undergo a procedure that millions are looking into these days.

KAGAN: Your "Daily Dose" of health news is next. And later, remembering to set your clock back this weekend, it's a lot easier when you have literally hundreds of clocks to work with. You're going to meet a man with a lot of time on his hands.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: In today's "Daily Dose," we're looking at wrinkles and the latest trend for getting rid of them without submitting to an entire facelift. Always a little curious why they would ask me to do this. But, hey, the advice is here.

Elizabeth Cohen, looking young and lovely.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: As do you.

KAGAN: What do you know about a facelift? Come on.

COHEN: Well, I just read about them; I don't actually get them, and I wouldn't recommend that you get one either. You just look fabulous, but more and more people our age -- I won't say what our age is, but under 60. That's safe.

KAGAN: That's safe, right.

COHEN: Yes, more and more people who are in their 30s and their 40s and their 50s don't want to get that entire facelift. They just want to do a little bit of a lift, hoping to get a lot of mileage out of just a little bit of surgery.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COHEN (voice-over): Forty-five-year-old Laura Coco wasn't quite ready for a facelift, but she was ready for an eyelift.

LAURA COCO, PATIENT: I felt it was time. I was getting to a point where'd I'd look in the mirror and I'm like I look tired, even though I wasn't.

DR. Z. PAUL LORENC, PLASTIC SURGEON: Open your eyes. Look at your nose.

COHEN: Tightening up sagging skin above and below the eyes is now one of the most popular cosmetic surgeries. Eyelifts are being marketed as a pick-me-up for body and soul that's less invasive than doing the whole face.

LORENC: I think the eyes are the window of the soul. And it's true, (AUDIO GAP). When you meet someone, when you shake their hand, you look at their eyes.

COHEN: In addition to the eyelift, Laura plastic surgeon, Dr. Paul Lorenc, did laser resurfacing under her eyes to help get rid of wrinkles. The procedures took an hour-and-a-half in Dr. Lorenc's office. And then, Laura spent another hour in the office recovering, and then she went home. She visited the doctor four days later.

LORENC: You're still a little swollen...

COHEN: Right.

LORENC: ... which is normal on day four.

COHEN: The pink under her eyes is from the laser. Some wonder why are people in their 40s, or even younger, having plastic surgery?

LYNNE LUCIANO, SOCIAL HISTORIAN: And if we're targeting people to start worrying in their 20s about their faces and their frown lines, where is this going to go in 10 or 20 years? Where does it stop?

COHEN: Laura doesn't know when her plastic surgery will stop and says she's considering other procedures for the future.

COCO: I'm not looking to change myself, just take a few years off.

COHEN: And she hopes that a bit of scalpel work around her eyes was a step in that direction.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COHEN: It takes about six weeks to recover from an eyelift, and as for cost, the surgeon fees alone are about $2,500. That doesn't even count anesthesia, the cost for the clinic or the hospital. So financial recovery may take a little longer than six weeks.

KAGAN: I always find these stories fascinating and yet depressing, all at the same time. The risks involved here, besides the cost to your pocketbook.

COHEN: There are some risks here, real physical, medical risks, and sometimes people forget that when they're watching the makeover shows. For example, there could be infection. There could be bruising under the skin. That's called a hematoma. Also, for that laser work that you found, if the surgeon doesn't do it quite right, there could be burning. So the risks aren't huge, but they definitely are there.

KAGAN: All right, Elizabeth Cohen, thank you for that.

We're going to talk about turning the clock back in a different way.

Rick has that.

SANCHEZ: And a whole lot more. As a matter of fact, we've and also got something else, some new information that's coming into us now. We have just been informed by the Pentagon that they are going to be holding a briefing. It is scheduled for noon Eastern Time, a briefing where, we understand, they'll address the Al Qa Qaa situation and the 380 tons of weapons that have been missing. We're also told that, among the people who will speak at that briefing is a soldier from the 3rd Infantry. You may recall it was the 3rd Infantry that first arrived there at Al Qa Qaa according to reports. So once again, a briefing from the Pentagon on that Al Qa Qaa situation. We will continue to follow it.

So you think remembering to set your clock back this past weekend is a pain? Coming up, we're going to introduce you to a guy who probably wants to have a few words with you. He is 86-year-old Frank Murphy.

Hi, Frank. He's taken it upon himself to adjust a whole lot of clocks. We'll tell you how many. He's a great guest. We can't wait to talk to him.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: Welcome back to CNN LIVE TODAY. I'm Rick Sanchez. Daylight Savings Time ends for most of us this Sunday at 2:00 a.m. Did you get that? We'll tell you again. It means setting your clocks and your watches back an hour. Back an hour. Giving you an extra hour of sleep.

For most people, it only takes a few minutes, right, to get their clocks and their watches in sync. Frank Murphy, I want to introduce you to this fellow. He spends considerably more time than the rest of us. For the past 36 years, he has been a volunteer at the Mystic Seaport Museum in Mystic, Connecticut, a great place, where he sets, winds, and tweaks more than 100 timepieces.

Man, have you got your work cut out for you, are you ready for the task?

FRANK MURPHY, VOLUNTEER: Yes, sir.

SANCHEZ: Now I wonder, it's hard enough for most of us to do one, is there a special technique that you use to do something like this?

MURPHY: It's simple after all these years. It's just great fun walking around the seaport, turning them back.

SANCHEZ: Do they keep adding more and more, or did you go in knowing that there were going to be more than 100 to begin with? We're looking at some great video of you, by the way, now, wearing a wonderful hat.

MURPHY: Oh, that...

SANCHEZ: Did they add a lot of them over time?

MURPHY: No. , they haven't. It's about the same as it was. And we have pretty much what you would have in a normal home, rather than some spectacular thing.

SANCHEZ: Now, how do you make sure that they're all synchronized? I'm watching you now, and you're tuning them by hand. How do you make sure that they're all just right? MURPHY: Well, I cheat.

SANCHEZ: What do you mean by that?

MURPHY: I use an electric watch.

SANCHEZ: Oh, so you set them all to one particular watch, not any other combination?

MURPHY: That's right.

SANCHEZ: How did you get started doing this, I wonder?

MURPHY: How did I start?

SANCHEZ: Yes.

MURPHY: Well, it has been a hobby for years and years. And I -- a friend of mine suggested I go to the seaport and repair the clocks there. And so I've been doing it and having a great time with it, doing it.

SANCHEZ: Yes. We should tell our viewers that you don't get paid for this. is something you do because you are a clock hobbyist, which is an official term, right?

MURPHY: Well, yes. And I'm actually what's called a volunteer. And I've been a volunteer for a long time. I was on the staff for a little while, but I thought, this is no fun. And so I became -- went back to being a volunteer. And I've been having a great time. It's an absolutely wonderful place to be. And the people there are just so nice.

SANCHEZ: Tell us about the Mystic Seaport, a lot of folks who are listening to you now from all over the country, they probably haven't heard of it. But those of us who have been in the Northeast have at least driven by it. Seems impressive. What is it?

MURPHY: Well, it's a collection of sea vessels or ocean vessels, and all types of boats or ships. And just great fun. And it's a place that you can go and learn things at.

SANCHEZ: That sounds great. Frank Murphy, you are a good guest. Thanks so much for being with us and sharing your experience. All of us appreciate what you do especially the fact that it's volunteer work.

MURPHY: Well, I appreciate being able to be there.

SANCHEZ: Thanks so much. Thanks for having (ph) on, Mr. Murphy.

MURPHY: I thank you. And enjoy your day.

SANCHEZ: And by the way, just in case you missed the top of that interview, it's a reminder once again, we told you we'd say it again, right, set your clock back one hour on Sunday at 2:00 a.m. KAGAN: Spring up, fall back.

SANCHEZ: There you go.

KAGAN: There you go.

SANCHEZ: I knew you'd have it down.

(WEATHER REPORT)

SANCHEZ: Thanks, everybody, for being with us as well.

I'm Rick Sanchez.

KAGAN: And I'm Daryn Kagan.

A big week for us next week.

SANCHEZ: To say the least.

KAGAN: Election, and lots of coverage. Our Wolf Blitzer is taking over from Washington, D.C. We'll see him in just a bit.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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Aired October 29, 2004 - 11:30   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: Oil services giant Halliburton, once again, under more scrutiny. The FBI has opened an inquiry into whether a subsidiary of the company was unfairly awarded lucrative contracts in Iraq in a no-bid scenario.
Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr joining us now with some of the details on this unfolding story.

Hi, Barbara.

BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Rick.

Well, the FBI has made a formal request to interview the top contracting officer at the Army Corps of Engineers about her allegations that a Halliburton subsidiary was awarded a no-bid contract inappropriately, a contract that was worth billions of dollars. Law enforcement sources tell CNN that the interview has not yet taken place, but that several documents related to this no-bid contract have been gathered up by federal investigators.

Sources say all of this relates to Halliburton as a company, and it's Kellogg Brown root subsidiary, not to the White House, and not to Vice President Cheney, who, of course, headed the company for some years before becoming vice president. All of this now in its very early stages. The Army official, according to sources, has told the government she wants whistle-blower status for her testimony about what she believes went on there. And according to "Time" magazine, the allegations center around a $7 billion, five-year, no bid contract for services related to the Kuwait-Iraq area, a contract that awarded just before the war began -- Rick.

SANCHEZ: This person was a civilian, Barbara, correct? What did she say happened when she brought some of her complaints to some of the officials that she worked with?

STARR: Well, according, again, to "Time" magazine, which has reported much of the detail about the story, the woman says that her professional position as the top contracting officer at the Army Corps of Engineers, which, of course, is responsible for all of this activity, was, shall we say, put in jeopardy. So she wants to talk about it. She wants to tell what she knows. Federal law enforcement officials say this is all now in their bailiwick. They are looking into it. When someone makes an allegation, they are obligated to look into it, and that is what they are doing -- Rick.

SANCHEZ: Barbara Starr, joining us with the latest from the Pentagon on that story.

Thank you, Barbara.

It is down to the final four. Just four days left until the presidential election. Both President Bush and Senator John Kerry are making the final push to rally their supporters and persuade the remaining undecided voters. And here is where the race stands in our Poll of Polls: an average of six national polls has President Bush ahead by three points, 49 percent, to senator John Kerry's 46 percent. This report has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percent.

We heard from President Bush in the last hour, live from New Hampshire now. Let's listen in to Orlando Florida, and Senator John Kerry.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

(APPLAUSE)

SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And that's just abroad.

At home, George Bush looks at lost jobs, falling wages and rising costs, and he tells struggling middle-class families that everything is just fine. Well, that's because, for the powerful and the well- connected friends he spent the last four years fighting for, it really is the best economy of a lifetime. And now he's asking you to give him another four years so that he can keep giving those friends the same old special treatment they've gotten for the last four years.

Well, that does not have to be our future. That may be George Bush's record, but it doesn't have to be America's future. And if we do our work, it won't be. In four days, you can choose a fresh start for America.

(APPLAUSE)

In four days, in four days, you could choose a president who will defend America and fight for the middle class.

(APPLAUSE)

And if you give me the chance, I will be that president who does both at the same time.

(APPLAUSE)

In this -- this is the choice that we face this Tuesday. In this election, the safety of the American people is on the ballot. Our troops in Iraq are doing an absolutely heroic job. They are the best trained, most extraordinary courageous troops we've ever seen.

The problem is our commander in chief is not doing his job. And the president tells us, every day here this president tells us that in Iraq, quite, the strategy is succeeding. The vice president tells us that the war is, quote, a remarkable success story. But every day, every day on our TV screens, every day in the newspapers, you read the reality, and you can see the hard truths of Iraq. We see the consequences, the consequences of this president's decision to rush to war without a plan to win the peace, the loss of over 1,100 of our treasure, our young brave men and women in uniform. The cost of $225 billion that could have gone to our cities, to our schools, to our kids, to our health care. Now billions more yet to be demanded.

KAGAN: Been listening in to Senator John Kerry at a rally in Orlando, Florida. At the same time, President Bush has been appearing in New Hampshire. The race, the final push for those electoral votes taking place over these next four days. New Hampshire, by the way, four electoral votes, and Florida, big cache of 27 electoral votes.

Well, we bring that up because the Electoral College is a favorite whipping board during almost every presidential election, especially like in this time, when the race is close. But when the Electoral College trumps the popular vote, expect to hear a lot of folks, usually the losers, demanding to get rid of it. Well, don't hold your breath on that.

John Fortier of the American Enterprise Institute in Washington joins us to explain, well, part of how it works. We don't have time for a whole civic lesson here, but why it isn't going away.

Good morning.

JOHN FORTIER, AMERICAN ENTERPRISE INST.: Good morning. Thanks for having me.

KAGAN: This is what I'm fascinated with. All the different combinations that come up where you have a tie, 269 electoral votes for candidate. It can happen on Tuesday.

FORTIER: Sure it can. I'll give you my favorite scenario. Kerry wins in New Hampshire, where he is, where we just heard from, and Ohio; Bush wins in Wisconsin and New Mexico. All very close states, it could go that way. We end up 269-269. It ends up going to Congress to decide the president and vice president of the United States.

KAGAN: And at which point -- and of course, it would be the new Congress, the new House of Representatives, but it would most likely be a Republican House, in which case, President Bush would get a second term.

FORTIER: Right, the House votes by delegation, but it would likely be a Republican house, but you could have a Democratic Senate, in which case you could end up with a Bush-Edwards presidency for the next four years.

KAGAN: Oh, that would be fun. That would give us something to talk about.

Electoral College -- why is it still here? FORTIER: Well, we've had it since the beginning, and it's very hard to change. It requires a constitutional amendment to really change it. And for the most part, it's worked well. We had in 2000, the popular vote go the opposite way of the Electoral College vote, but the time before it had happened was 1888. So unless it's just very, very close, it's not likely to happen.

KAGAN: Well, you're seeing little cracks in the system. I want to focus on Colorado right now, because Colorado right now, their amendment on their ballot, to not do a winner take all, to do it proportional so you could split up the nine electoral votes coming out of Colorado.

FORTIER: Right, 48 states now are winner-take-all system. You win by one vote in California, you get all 54 electoral votes. Colorado wants to change it, so effectively, it will go from a 9-0 state to a 5-4 split.

The problem is they're doing it on the same ballot as the presidential election. We don't know, or voters don't know going into the booth, which way it will be decided. And if it really comes down to that, the swing of 9-0 versus 5-4 making the difference, I think we'll see litigation, the Bush v. Kerry case of 2004, like we saw Bush v. Gore in 2000.

KAGAN: So what do you think is going to be the most fascinating story coming out of the Electoral College on Tuesday?

FORTIER: Well, there's another one, the question of a faithless elector. Mostly, the elector vote the way they're supposed to vote. But occasionally, someone votes the other way. And a West Virginia elector is saying that instead of voting for Bush, as he's pledged to do, that he might vote for Kerry or vote for someone else. If it really is that close, and comes down to this one elector, this one person could end up throwing the election one way or the other.

KAGAN: We have already seen some things happen. We will be watching it.

John Fortier, I'm sure you will, too, from the American Enterprise Institute. Thank you.

FORTIER: Thank you.

SANCHEZ: Can you imagine if the thing ends up tied, and then one elector decides, you know what, I'm not going to do what I'm supposed to do, I'm going to just do what I want to do.

KAGAN: Following their heart, and giving us a heck of a story.

SANCHEZ: It would be a heck of a story.

The eyes have it, and they can continue to have it if you undergo a procedure that millions are looking into these days.

KAGAN: Your "Daily Dose" of health news is next. And later, remembering to set your clock back this weekend, it's a lot easier when you have literally hundreds of clocks to work with. You're going to meet a man with a lot of time on his hands.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: In today's "Daily Dose," we're looking at wrinkles and the latest trend for getting rid of them without submitting to an entire facelift. Always a little curious why they would ask me to do this. But, hey, the advice is here.

Elizabeth Cohen, looking young and lovely.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: As do you.

KAGAN: What do you know about a facelift? Come on.

COHEN: Well, I just read about them; I don't actually get them, and I wouldn't recommend that you get one either. You just look fabulous, but more and more people our age -- I won't say what our age is, but under 60. That's safe.

KAGAN: That's safe, right.

COHEN: Yes, more and more people who are in their 30s and their 40s and their 50s don't want to get that entire facelift. They just want to do a little bit of a lift, hoping to get a lot of mileage out of just a little bit of surgery.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COHEN (voice-over): Forty-five-year-old Laura Coco wasn't quite ready for a facelift, but she was ready for an eyelift.

LAURA COCO, PATIENT: I felt it was time. I was getting to a point where'd I'd look in the mirror and I'm like I look tired, even though I wasn't.

DR. Z. PAUL LORENC, PLASTIC SURGEON: Open your eyes. Look at your nose.

COHEN: Tightening up sagging skin above and below the eyes is now one of the most popular cosmetic surgeries. Eyelifts are being marketed as a pick-me-up for body and soul that's less invasive than doing the whole face.

LORENC: I think the eyes are the window of the soul. And it's true, (AUDIO GAP). When you meet someone, when you shake their hand, you look at their eyes.

COHEN: In addition to the eyelift, Laura plastic surgeon, Dr. Paul Lorenc, did laser resurfacing under her eyes to help get rid of wrinkles. The procedures took an hour-and-a-half in Dr. Lorenc's office. And then, Laura spent another hour in the office recovering, and then she went home. She visited the doctor four days later.

LORENC: You're still a little swollen...

COHEN: Right.

LORENC: ... which is normal on day four.

COHEN: The pink under her eyes is from the laser. Some wonder why are people in their 40s, or even younger, having plastic surgery?

LYNNE LUCIANO, SOCIAL HISTORIAN: And if we're targeting people to start worrying in their 20s about their faces and their frown lines, where is this going to go in 10 or 20 years? Where does it stop?

COHEN: Laura doesn't know when her plastic surgery will stop and says she's considering other procedures for the future.

COCO: I'm not looking to change myself, just take a few years off.

COHEN: And she hopes that a bit of scalpel work around her eyes was a step in that direction.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COHEN: It takes about six weeks to recover from an eyelift, and as for cost, the surgeon fees alone are about $2,500. That doesn't even count anesthesia, the cost for the clinic or the hospital. So financial recovery may take a little longer than six weeks.

KAGAN: I always find these stories fascinating and yet depressing, all at the same time. The risks involved here, besides the cost to your pocketbook.

COHEN: There are some risks here, real physical, medical risks, and sometimes people forget that when they're watching the makeover shows. For example, there could be infection. There could be bruising under the skin. That's called a hematoma. Also, for that laser work that you found, if the surgeon doesn't do it quite right, there could be burning. So the risks aren't huge, but they definitely are there.

KAGAN: All right, Elizabeth Cohen, thank you for that.

We're going to talk about turning the clock back in a different way.

Rick has that.

SANCHEZ: And a whole lot more. As a matter of fact, we've and also got something else, some new information that's coming into us now. We have just been informed by the Pentagon that they are going to be holding a briefing. It is scheduled for noon Eastern Time, a briefing where, we understand, they'll address the Al Qa Qaa situation and the 380 tons of weapons that have been missing. We're also told that, among the people who will speak at that briefing is a soldier from the 3rd Infantry. You may recall it was the 3rd Infantry that first arrived there at Al Qa Qaa according to reports. So once again, a briefing from the Pentagon on that Al Qa Qaa situation. We will continue to follow it.

So you think remembering to set your clock back this past weekend is a pain? Coming up, we're going to introduce you to a guy who probably wants to have a few words with you. He is 86-year-old Frank Murphy.

Hi, Frank. He's taken it upon himself to adjust a whole lot of clocks. We'll tell you how many. He's a great guest. We can't wait to talk to him.

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SANCHEZ: Welcome back to CNN LIVE TODAY. I'm Rick Sanchez. Daylight Savings Time ends for most of us this Sunday at 2:00 a.m. Did you get that? We'll tell you again. It means setting your clocks and your watches back an hour. Back an hour. Giving you an extra hour of sleep.

For most people, it only takes a few minutes, right, to get their clocks and their watches in sync. Frank Murphy, I want to introduce you to this fellow. He spends considerably more time than the rest of us. For the past 36 years, he has been a volunteer at the Mystic Seaport Museum in Mystic, Connecticut, a great place, where he sets, winds, and tweaks more than 100 timepieces.

Man, have you got your work cut out for you, are you ready for the task?

FRANK MURPHY, VOLUNTEER: Yes, sir.

SANCHEZ: Now I wonder, it's hard enough for most of us to do one, is there a special technique that you use to do something like this?

MURPHY: It's simple after all these years. It's just great fun walking around the seaport, turning them back.

SANCHEZ: Do they keep adding more and more, or did you go in knowing that there were going to be more than 100 to begin with? We're looking at some great video of you, by the way, now, wearing a wonderful hat.

MURPHY: Oh, that...

SANCHEZ: Did they add a lot of them over time?

MURPHY: No. , they haven't. It's about the same as it was. And we have pretty much what you would have in a normal home, rather than some spectacular thing.

SANCHEZ: Now, how do you make sure that they're all synchronized? I'm watching you now, and you're tuning them by hand. How do you make sure that they're all just right? MURPHY: Well, I cheat.

SANCHEZ: What do you mean by that?

MURPHY: I use an electric watch.

SANCHEZ: Oh, so you set them all to one particular watch, not any other combination?

MURPHY: That's right.

SANCHEZ: How did you get started doing this, I wonder?

MURPHY: How did I start?

SANCHEZ: Yes.

MURPHY: Well, it has been a hobby for years and years. And I -- a friend of mine suggested I go to the seaport and repair the clocks there. And so I've been doing it and having a great time with it, doing it.

SANCHEZ: Yes. We should tell our viewers that you don't get paid for this. is something you do because you are a clock hobbyist, which is an official term, right?

MURPHY: Well, yes. And I'm actually what's called a volunteer. And I've been a volunteer for a long time. I was on the staff for a little while, but I thought, this is no fun. And so I became -- went back to being a volunteer. And I've been having a great time. It's an absolutely wonderful place to be. And the people there are just so nice.

SANCHEZ: Tell us about the Mystic Seaport, a lot of folks who are listening to you now from all over the country, they probably haven't heard of it. But those of us who have been in the Northeast have at least driven by it. Seems impressive. What is it?

MURPHY: Well, it's a collection of sea vessels or ocean vessels, and all types of boats or ships. And just great fun. And it's a place that you can go and learn things at.

SANCHEZ: That sounds great. Frank Murphy, you are a good guest. Thanks so much for being with us and sharing your experience. All of us appreciate what you do especially the fact that it's volunteer work.

MURPHY: Well, I appreciate being able to be there.

SANCHEZ: Thanks so much. Thanks for having (ph) on, Mr. Murphy.

MURPHY: I thank you. And enjoy your day.

SANCHEZ: And by the way, just in case you missed the top of that interview, it's a reminder once again, we told you we'd say it again, right, set your clock back one hour on Sunday at 2:00 a.m. KAGAN: Spring up, fall back.

SANCHEZ: There you go.

KAGAN: There you go.

SANCHEZ: I knew you'd have it down.

(WEATHER REPORT)

SANCHEZ: Thanks, everybody, for being with us as well.

I'm Rick Sanchez.

KAGAN: And I'm Daryn Kagan.

A big week for us next week.

SANCHEZ: To say the least.

KAGAN: Election, and lots of coverage. Our Wolf Blitzer is taking over from Washington, D.C. We'll see him in just a bit.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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