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American Morning

Ron Reagan to Have Prime-Time Speaking Role at Democratic Convention

Aired July 12, 2004 - 07:00   ET

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

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


ANNOUNCER: From the CNN Broadcast Center in New York, this is AMERICAN MORNING with Soledad O'Brien and Bill Hemmer.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, that was the abbreviated version of our open. Right?

Good morning, everybody. I'm Heidi Collins. Bill and Soledad are both off this week, and Anderson Cooper and I are here to get you through the next three hours.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: And good to be here.

The presidential campaign top of the news again this morning with another busy day of campaigning coming up. We're going to look at where the candidates are going today and also get the latest poll numbers which came out over the weekend.

COLLINS: Also we're going to be talking to a journalist who put together one of the most comprehensive reports yet on the Abu Ghraib prison scandal in combing through thousands of pages of classified material. We're going to look at what he found and what could be at the root of the abuse problem.

COOPER: Yes, it's an interesting report.

Also "90-Second Pop" coming up a little bit later. Things going from bad to worse for Courtney Love. Could it get any worse? Apparently so. Handcuffed and taken to a hospital over the weekend -- details of what happened are starting to become clearer, and we will get to that ahead.

COLLINS: Jack Cafferty joining us now. You are a big fan.

JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Who are you people?

COLLINS: Who are you?

CAFFERTY: And where are the people I'm used to working with?

I saw the movie "Anchorman" over the weekend and words can not describe what a dog turkey it is.

COOPER: Oh no.

CAFFERTY: It's awful. COOPER: I like Will Ferrell.

CAFFERTY: I like Will Ferrell, too. This movie is terrible. Anyway, I've been wanting to say that since Saturday when I got rooked into paying nine bucks or whatever and wasn't having to sit through this thing.

A lot of issues confronting the voters. We'll see if we can sort out the one that might be crivi -- critical or pivotal -- or if you try to put those words together -- crivitol, in deciding the outcome of the election.

COLLINS: All right, Jack. We will look forward to that, indeed.

CAFFERTY: Me too.

COOPER: Crivitol.

COLLINS: Thank you.

COOPER: Crivitol report from Jack Cafferty this morning.

After nearly a week of campaigning together, Senators John Kerry and John Edwards head out on their own this week. Senator Kerry is attending a series of events today in Boston. Meanwhile some Democrats are touting one of the major gets for this month's convention. National correspondent Kelly Wallace is here with more. An interesting get it is.

KELLY WALLACE, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It is, Anderson because it's Ron Reagan. He will have a prime-time speaking role at the Democratic Convention to talk about how he believes stem cell research can find cures to diseases such as Alzheimer's, which claimed the life of his father, the former president, last month. The question now is, is this a blow to the GOP?

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WALLACE (voice-over): A senior Kerry adviser says Ron Reagan's decision to speak at the Democratic Convention will have "big appeal" to Independents. Reagan has been an outspoken critic of President Bush on many issues, including his decision to limit federal funding of stem cell research.

RON REAGAN, FORMER PRESIDENT REAGAN'S SON: They are playing politics with it, and it's shameful. It is shameful.

WALLACE: A Bush-Cheney campaign official said it was not surprising that a "committed liberal would speak at the Democratic Convention." And added that Georgia's Democratic Senator Zell Miller will speak at the Republican convention.

SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Will you let me borrow John Edwards for at least four years?

WALLACE: After wrapping up their proving they get along tour in John Edwards' home state of North Carolina, Saturday, team Kerry- Edwards separates this week launching what aides are calling the front porch tour, focusing on hometown values with Edwards traveling solo to Iowa, Illinois, Louisiana, Texas, California, Florida and North Carolina.

One question both men were repeatedly asked this weekend, if they regretted their votes on the Iraq war resolution after the release of a Senate report which found the CIA's judgments on Iraq's weapons deeply flawed.

Pressed on CBS' "60 Minutes," Kerry eventually said, "Well, I don't regret my vote. And I believe based on the information that we had, it was the correct vote."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALLACE: And another vote that the two Senators are likely to cast is a vote against a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage, which the Senate is taking up this week.

Anderson, the two Senators say they oppose gay marriage supporting civil unions instead. But they believe this is a matter for the states to decide.

COOPER: It has surprised some people though that this issue is being sort of pushed to a vote at this time. I mean, that is sort of a recent development.

WALLACE: Certainly. The Democrats will say they think this is in part -- Republicans pushing it in part to sort of satisfy conservatives, energize them, motivate them because it will be a very important base for George Bush in his re-election in November.

COOPER: Bringing people out to the polls.

WALLACE: Absolutely.

COOPER: All right. Kelly Wallace, thanks.

WALLACE: Sure.

COOPER: Heidi.

COLLINS: Today President Bush is make his tenth trip to Tennessee, where he'll be highlighting the war on terrorism. For more on that now we go to the White House and Elaine Quijano this morning. Elaine, good morning to you.

ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Heidi.

President Bush is set to deliver a speech that White House officials are calling significant. The president will visit the Oak Ridge National laboratory in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. That is where materials from Libya are being stored, materials that have been gathered as a result of the agreement by Libya to dismantle its weapons of mass destruction. Now a senior administration official says that the president's speech will consist of several parts, holding up Libya as an example of a country that under President Bush's watch and in the wake of the Iraq war felt the pressure to dismantle its weapons of mass destruction.

Also look for the president to talk about the broader war on terrorism and the campaign to stop the proliferation of WMDs. And in light of that scathing Senate intelligence report, the president will talk about the continuing need to fight threats here at home and abroad and also remind people of what the administration sees as successes -- that there is better sharing of intelligence now than before and that law enforcement, the FBI, now has a changed mission focused on fighting the war on terrorism.

Now that senior administration official also says that the president will mention several countries as examples of progress in fighting the war on terror, also mentioning specifically Saudi Arabia as an example of a country in which al Qaeda was operating without much resistance three years ago but now is seen as an enemy of the kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

The president, as you said, campaigning in that state -- or making a visit to that state -- the 10th time he has done so since taking office, a state that he narrowly won back in 2000 by just 3 percentage points -- Heidi?

COLLINS: It was a narrow margin.

All right. Elaine Quijano, thanks so much this morning.

Senators Kerry and Edwards are getting a lot of face time in the media since joining forces. The Democratic duo gracing the covers of both "Time" and "Newsweek." But are they getting a bounce in the polls?

CNN political analyst Carlos Watson joining us now from Miami to dissect the latest numbers.

Carlos, nice to see you. Thanks for being here.

CARLOS WATSON, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Good to see you. Good morning.

COLLINS: Let's go ahead and start with those "Newsweek" numbers.

We are looking at Kerry and Edwards ahead of Bush-Cheney now. You see it there are on the screen: 51 percent for Kerry-Edwards, 45 percent for Bush-Cheney.

Is this the bump that John Kerry was hoping to get once he announced Edwards, or are Democrats really gaining momentum here?

WATSON: It's the real Edwards bounce. They are now up by six points and maybe more significantly, Heidi, the last several times that you've seen John Kerry up, it still was within the margin of error. But this six-point lead now puts him outside of the margin of error.

And two other big things -- one, there is another bounce probably coming up with the Democratic convention. So he could end July up by double digits. And then secondly, we may start to see some bounces not only in national polls but in individual state polls.

You heard Kelly Wallace say earlier that we'll see both the candidates go off in different arenas including states like North Carolina and Florida, which are toss-up states. So start to look at those state polls as well.

COLLINS: Right. But you talk about these bounces and you wonder, you know, is it a bounce and then it goes back down or is it a bounce and then it stays. I mean, how do you know?

WATSON: We won't know for several weeks. But I think this is a bounce that will probably stay. I think they'll enjoy at least a strong single-digit lead going into early August if not a double-digit lead coming out of their convention.

President Bush, one of his key strategists, Matthew Dowd (ph) has said that he expects as much as a 15 point lead. And that would not be unusual. Remember that the last Massachusetts nominee, Michael Dukakis, ended his convention with a 17 point lead. So it wouldn't be unusual to see the numbers keep heading north.

COLLINS: All right. Well, let's talk about this other "Newsweek" poll -- very interesting.

It shows that if President Bush were to add Secretary of State Colin Powell to the ticket, Bush-Powell would beat Kerry-Edwards 53 to 44 percent. Any chance that the president would dump Cheney at this point?

WATSON: Unusual but that's got to be tempting, huh?. That's a Shaq-like bounce, if you will. I'm here in Miami where Shaq just got traded. But got to mention Shaquille O'Neill's name.

That's a 15-point swing from being down six points to up by nine, and it certainly would tempt you to take a look. The last time we saw an incumbent president trade in his vice president was 1976 when Gerald Ford replaced Nelson Rockefeller with Bob Dole.

But it's unlikely that we'll see that this time. In 1992, there was similar pressure on President Bush's father to replace Dan Quayle. That didn't happen. I think it's really unlikely to happen this time.

COLLINS: OK. And staying on the topic of -- excuse me -- Dick Cheney.

Lynne Cheney talking about same-sex marriage now suggested that states should have the final say over same-sex marriage. This is a little bit at odds with vice president Cheney.

How big of an issue, Carlos, is this going to be -- same-sex marriage -- in this upcoming election? WATSON: Well, make no mistake about it. For Christian conservatives, it's a very important issue. It's an issue that energizes in a state like Oregon, for example. In a span of just five weeks, a quarter of a million voters signed a petition to put that -- put the opportunity to ban same-sex marriage on this fall's ballot. So it's a very important issue.

Seven states have already put it on their ballots. Another half dozen states are looking at it. But it's a tough issue, as you were saying, for the Republican Party because while President Bush has supported a ban on same-sex marriage, people like Lynne and Dick Cheney whose daughter is openly gay.

COLLINS: Right.

WATSON: It's a very personal issue not just a political one. So it could be tough and a little difficult to predict.

COLLINS: All right. Carlos, the last thing I want to ask you about, "USA Today" front page there is reporting that the Kerry campaign actually running twice as many TV ads now as Bush-Cheney in these 17 different battleground states that we are talking about. That is certainly a bit of a surprise, isn't it? That's not what analysts said was going to be happening.

WATSON: It's not what people were predicting three months ago. And in fact if you add what the Kerry campaign has spent and what some of the liberal groups have put together, it's almost double what -- 82 percent more to be exact -- the number of ads that you've seen from the Bush campaign.

But stay tuned because remember that if the Kerry campaign accepts the $75 million in public money, they've got that money to spend over three months so they'll have far fewer ads to put out than will Bush-Cheney that will have $75 million to spend over two months. So while right now Kerry's got more ads, in the final couple months, it could be reversed.

COLLINS: All right. We will continue to watch that. Carlos Watson, thanks so much this morning. We appreciate it.

WATSON: Great to see you.

COLLINS: You too.

COOPER: Well, just days after a Senate report condemned flawed intelligence in the lead up to the Iraqi war, two Senators who led the investigation said they are looking into whether the Pentagon knowingly withheld information from the CIA. And both men expressed doubts whether Congress would have voted to go to war had such information been available at the time. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. PAT ROBERTS (R-KS), CHAIRMAN, INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE: The weapons of mass destruction and posing an imminent threat to our national security, that would not have been part of the debate. And I am not sure the votes would have been there to take that kind of military action.

SEN. JAY ROCKEFELLER (D), WEST VIRGINIA: In my judgment, based upon the intelligence, and based upon the various factors that were used to justify the war, we should not -- we should not be there. And we would have saved ourselves all of the problems which we're going to be facing for generations, or at least many of them, had we not done so.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Well in our next hour, we're going to talk with former U.S. chief weapons inspector David Kay about the Senate Intelligence Committee's report -- Heidi.

COLLINS: The head of the NAACP wants its members to help oust President Bush from office. The civil rights group is upset the president declined to attend its convention this week. Some of its leaders spoke out about the president's decision.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think it's very unfortunate that President Bush chose to ignore this convention.

MAYOR JOHN STREET, PHILADELPHIA: I've written and written and written requesting a meeting or an opportunity to talk about pertinent issues. We've written inviting him to come and address us, and we've gotten no response. It's been absolute silence.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: The White House initially said the president had a scheduling conflict. But it also cites "hostile political rhetoric" about the president as a reason.

Democratic presidential hopeful John Kerry will speak at the convention on Thursday.

COOPER: It is 13 minutes past the hour. Right now time for a look at some of today's other news with Daryn Kagan. Hey, Daryn.

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you, Anderson.

The possibility of a terror attack tops our headlines, prompting discussions of a potential election-day delay. That has been discussed within the Bush administration. But Homeland Security officials says that logistical hurdles would make a delay nearly impossible. We'll have more details on this in just a moment.

An American Marine once listed as captured is expected to return to the U.S. within days. Wassef Ali Hassoun was being debriefed at a U.S. military base in Germany. The 24-year-old translator disappeared in Iraq on June 19th and resurfaced in Lebanon. Intelligence experts and psychologists are questioning him about his ordeal. Air travel hitting record highs. According to "USA Today," some major airlines are reporting full flights for the month of June and experts predicting increased demand throughout the summer. Still the airline industry expected to lose about $3 billion this year.

Here in Atlanta, singer Bobby Brown is free after posting $2,000 bond. Brown turned himself in a few hours before a court-imposed deadline. He's accused of hit his wife, singer Whitney Houston, in their suburban Atlanta home.

In May, a judge ruled there's enough evidence for him to stand trial on misdemeanor battery charges. Brown has had a string of legal problems in the past several years.

And finally, "Spider-Man 2" is pulling millions of movie fans into it's webs. It raked in about $46 million bucks this weekend to keep the number one spot at the weekend box office. In just 12 days it made $257 million.

Coming in second, Will Ferrell's comedy "Anchorman: The legend of Ron Burgundy" bringing in $28 million. Anderson, Ron Burgundy would tell you to stay classy.

COOPER: Thanks, Daryn. You know our own Jack Cafferty saw it over the weekend and apparently was not too thrilled with the movie, eh, Jack?

CAFFERTY: It was just awful.

COOPER: Come on. It can't be that bad.

CAFFERTY: I've spent a better part of four decades on the inside of the story line of this movie. It's awful. It's just awful. And the people in the theater, some of them would laugh because they paid nine bucks to see a comedy not because anything funny was going on, on the screen.

COLLINS: Ouch.

COOPER: Oh no.

COLLINS: Oh no.

CAFFERTY: It was terrible. All right. On to other things.

COLLINS: Whatcha got?

CAFFERTY: The election less than four months away. I just ran up the stairs, I'm out of breath.

COOPER: OK. Do you need a minute?

CAFFERTY: No.

The country sharply divided on a number of issues, which include: the economy, is it recovering or is the recovery stalled? The war in Iraq, good idea/colossal blunder? Terrorism, more attacks to come this summer possibly delaying the election itself.

Health care, 40 million plus Americans no health insurance. Prescription drugs at a reasonable cost, we're the only industrialized country without a prescription drug program for its citizens.

Gay marriage, the president wants a constitutional amendment prohibiting it. And the Senate is debating that issue this week. With all the other things I just mentioned going on, their debating gay marriage.

Here's the question -- what will be, do you think, the deciding issue in the upcoming election? AM@cnn.com.

COLLINS: All right. Thank you, Jack.

COOPER: That will be interesting to see.

CAFFERTY: And if you have a chance to like see old black and white reruns of "Dark Shadows" as opposed to going to "Anchorman," "Dark Shadows" would be the choice.

COOPER: Oh man.

CAFFERTY: It's just awful.

COLLINS: I'm sorry that you wasted your time.

COOPER: Sad news that.

CAFFERTY: Just terrible.

COLLINS: That's a long time to waste.

All right. Thanks so much, Jack. We'll see you in a bit.

Meanwhile, Martha Stewart will be sentenced this week for lying about a stock sale after a federal judge refused to give her a new trial because of a witness who lied.

And while those lies may make headlines, it turns out zillions of other lies make up the very fabric of our lives. This morning we begin a week-long series exploring the lies we tell. Who does it and why.

We begin with kids. They are not born fibbers, they're just fast learners.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COLLINS (voice-over): The headlines never end. Swindle, scams and deception at the top. But in America today, could the truth be...

RICHARD NIXON, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, 1969-1974: I had no prior knowledge.

COLLINS: ... that lying comes easily to most of us. BILL CLINTON, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, 1993-2000: I did not have sexual relations.

COLLINS: One recent study concluded the majority of people told at least three lies during every 10 minutes of conversation.

DR. MICHAEL LEWIS, ROBERT WOOD JOHNSON MEDICAL SCHOOL: All people everywhere do it. It keeps the social fabric connected.

COLLINS: According to Dr. Lewis, innocent little white lies, not the lies that hurt people or cheat them out of money, may be something that we are programmed to tell at an early age to help protect ourselves from punishment and protect the feelings of others.

LEWIS: How many of us would say to our arthritic grandmothers who have knitted us a sweater that we really don't like the color, and we really don't like the style and we wish you wouldn't ever knit us another sweater.

In fact, there was a movie called "Liar, Liar," when, in fact, the truth was told and it was a disaster.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE, "LIAR LIAR": Everybody has been real nice.

JIM CARREY, ACTOR, "LIAR, LIAR": Well, that's because you have big...

COLLINS: Dr. Lewis' studies show that 65 percent of children by the age two and a half lie and lie well. He performed a set of experiments for our camera. So meet the newest group of potential perjurers.

The kids were told not to peek at a toy placed behind their back. Dr. Lewis watched on a hidden camera. Would they tell the truth when asked if they looked?

Three and a half year old Rowan peeked before the tester even left the room.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Did you peek? Don't peek.

COLLINS: Olivia age three and a half tried hard not to look, but it doesn't seem to be working.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm back. Did you peek?

OLIVIA: No.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No? OK.

LEWIS: They quickly learn that not telling the truth means that they won't get punished. What we tell the parents all the time is, look they are going to lie. That doesn't mean that they should get off the hook.

COLLINS: Dr. Lewis' advice? Focus on the offense not the lie they told to cover it up.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COLLINS: Parents, don't despair. Dr. Lewis' studies show that the kids who are most likely to lie are the ones with higher IQs. Tomorrow on our series lying continues with a look at whether one needs to lie to get ahead in business.

COOPER: If you have a higher IQ you lie more? That's interesting.

COLLINS: Apparently.

COOPER: For kids at least. All right.

Well, a wildfire in south Florida forced the shutdown of a major highway near Miami. The flames on the edge of the Everglades burned hundreds of acres of dry grass and trees.

Thick smoke shut down 10 miles of Florida's turnpike for a few hours yesterday. The intense blaze almost reached the highway sending billowing clouds of smoke hundreds of feet into the air. So far the wildfire has consumed 6,800 acres.

(WEATHER BREAK)

COLLINS: Still to come this morning -- what's is a company to do when it wants money back from its old business. Andy Serwer is going to be "Minding Your Business" on that.

COOPER: Also ahead, more on the possibility of putting off the election in case of a terror attack. Why it would take more than an act of Congress to get it done.

COLLINS: And the pressure of the U.S. Olympic doping scandal might be taking a toll. We'll tell you about that next on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: MCI headed back to court trying to scrounge up hundreds of millions of dollars in loans from one man. And with that and a market preview, Andy Serwer joins us to mind your business.

So, somebody wants some money back here?

ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Yes, and they deserve it. Now MCI, the company formerly known at WorldCom, of course, is looking for hundreds of millions of dollars from Bernie Ebbers, the former CEO of the company and for good reason.

Bernie Ebbers borrowed $400 million from this company.

COLLINS: Is that all?

SERWER: That's absurd. I mean, usually companies lend a few million bucks for a guy to buy a house. This is just totally out of control. This is high 90's stuff.

They've recovered about $70 million. They're looking for, you know, $300 plus. And basically they've been working in cooperation with him. And this is actually a move simply to preserve their legal rights.

So far, this process has actually been a friendly one, if you can imagine between the company -- He had that giant ranch up in Canada. He sold that. So piece by piece they are trying to get tens of millions of dollars back.

COOPER: So, wait. We can all ask our companies to loan us a couple of million dollars for a house?

SERWER: Well, you could try.

COLLINS: Just a couple of million.

SERWER: You have to be a CEO.

COOPER: I'd like to see that e-mail.

SERWER: Yes.

Let's talk about the markets quickly. On Friday, we had a bit of a reprieve. Been kind of a rocky few sessions. Stocks are up a bit as you can see here on Friday. This morning, futures look mixed. Techs actually look a little bit soft. So, we'll be tracking that for you today.

COLLINS: OK. Thank you so much.

SERWER: You're welcome.

COLLINS: We appreciate it. We'll see you in a bit.

COOPER: Some of the nation's most high-profile track athletes failed to make the Olympic team over the weekend. World record holder Tim Montgomery finished seventh in yesterday's men's 100 meter final.

Montgomery has been accused of using steroids and other performance enhancing drugs. The 100 was his only chance to make the Olympic team.

And on Saturday, Montgomery's girlfriend Marion Jones came in fifth in the women's 100 meter. She is being investigated in the ongoing track and field drug scandal.

Jones still could make the team, she's also competing in the 200 meters as well as in the long jump.

COLLINS: Yes. And the gal who won it was like her best time ever in her entire life. So, she had a very good race. So, we'll be following that one, I'm sure, as the Olympics come closer.

Meanwhile, still to come this morning -- it is time to kick off your work week with a dose of "90-Second Pop."

Rocker Courtney Love sends her 40th birthday in handcuffs and in the hospital.

Meanwhile, David Bowie has emergency heart surgery. Is it time to call it quits? Stay with us on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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Aired July 12, 2004 - 07:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANNOUNCER: From the CNN Broadcast Center in New York, this is AMERICAN MORNING with Soledad O'Brien and Bill Hemmer.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, that was the abbreviated version of our open. Right?

Good morning, everybody. I'm Heidi Collins. Bill and Soledad are both off this week, and Anderson Cooper and I are here to get you through the next three hours.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: And good to be here.

The presidential campaign top of the news again this morning with another busy day of campaigning coming up. We're going to look at where the candidates are going today and also get the latest poll numbers which came out over the weekend.

COLLINS: Also we're going to be talking to a journalist who put together one of the most comprehensive reports yet on the Abu Ghraib prison scandal in combing through thousands of pages of classified material. We're going to look at what he found and what could be at the root of the abuse problem.

COOPER: Yes, it's an interesting report.

Also "90-Second Pop" coming up a little bit later. Things going from bad to worse for Courtney Love. Could it get any worse? Apparently so. Handcuffed and taken to a hospital over the weekend -- details of what happened are starting to become clearer, and we will get to that ahead.

COLLINS: Jack Cafferty joining us now. You are a big fan.

JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Who are you people?

COLLINS: Who are you?

CAFFERTY: And where are the people I'm used to working with?

I saw the movie "Anchorman" over the weekend and words can not describe what a dog turkey it is.

COOPER: Oh no.

CAFFERTY: It's awful. COOPER: I like Will Ferrell.

CAFFERTY: I like Will Ferrell, too. This movie is terrible. Anyway, I've been wanting to say that since Saturday when I got rooked into paying nine bucks or whatever and wasn't having to sit through this thing.

A lot of issues confronting the voters. We'll see if we can sort out the one that might be crivi -- critical or pivotal -- or if you try to put those words together -- crivitol, in deciding the outcome of the election.

COLLINS: All right, Jack. We will look forward to that, indeed.

CAFFERTY: Me too.

COOPER: Crivitol.

COLLINS: Thank you.

COOPER: Crivitol report from Jack Cafferty this morning.

After nearly a week of campaigning together, Senators John Kerry and John Edwards head out on their own this week. Senator Kerry is attending a series of events today in Boston. Meanwhile some Democrats are touting one of the major gets for this month's convention. National correspondent Kelly Wallace is here with more. An interesting get it is.

KELLY WALLACE, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It is, Anderson because it's Ron Reagan. He will have a prime-time speaking role at the Democratic Convention to talk about how he believes stem cell research can find cures to diseases such as Alzheimer's, which claimed the life of his father, the former president, last month. The question now is, is this a blow to the GOP?

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WALLACE (voice-over): A senior Kerry adviser says Ron Reagan's decision to speak at the Democratic Convention will have "big appeal" to Independents. Reagan has been an outspoken critic of President Bush on many issues, including his decision to limit federal funding of stem cell research.

RON REAGAN, FORMER PRESIDENT REAGAN'S SON: They are playing politics with it, and it's shameful. It is shameful.

WALLACE: A Bush-Cheney campaign official said it was not surprising that a "committed liberal would speak at the Democratic Convention." And added that Georgia's Democratic Senator Zell Miller will speak at the Republican convention.

SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Will you let me borrow John Edwards for at least four years?

WALLACE: After wrapping up their proving they get along tour in John Edwards' home state of North Carolina, Saturday, team Kerry- Edwards separates this week launching what aides are calling the front porch tour, focusing on hometown values with Edwards traveling solo to Iowa, Illinois, Louisiana, Texas, California, Florida and North Carolina.

One question both men were repeatedly asked this weekend, if they regretted their votes on the Iraq war resolution after the release of a Senate report which found the CIA's judgments on Iraq's weapons deeply flawed.

Pressed on CBS' "60 Minutes," Kerry eventually said, "Well, I don't regret my vote. And I believe based on the information that we had, it was the correct vote."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALLACE: And another vote that the two Senators are likely to cast is a vote against a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage, which the Senate is taking up this week.

Anderson, the two Senators say they oppose gay marriage supporting civil unions instead. But they believe this is a matter for the states to decide.

COOPER: It has surprised some people though that this issue is being sort of pushed to a vote at this time. I mean, that is sort of a recent development.

WALLACE: Certainly. The Democrats will say they think this is in part -- Republicans pushing it in part to sort of satisfy conservatives, energize them, motivate them because it will be a very important base for George Bush in his re-election in November.

COOPER: Bringing people out to the polls.

WALLACE: Absolutely.

COOPER: All right. Kelly Wallace, thanks.

WALLACE: Sure.

COOPER: Heidi.

COLLINS: Today President Bush is make his tenth trip to Tennessee, where he'll be highlighting the war on terrorism. For more on that now we go to the White House and Elaine Quijano this morning. Elaine, good morning to you.

ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Heidi.

President Bush is set to deliver a speech that White House officials are calling significant. The president will visit the Oak Ridge National laboratory in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. That is where materials from Libya are being stored, materials that have been gathered as a result of the agreement by Libya to dismantle its weapons of mass destruction. Now a senior administration official says that the president's speech will consist of several parts, holding up Libya as an example of a country that under President Bush's watch and in the wake of the Iraq war felt the pressure to dismantle its weapons of mass destruction.

Also look for the president to talk about the broader war on terrorism and the campaign to stop the proliferation of WMDs. And in light of that scathing Senate intelligence report, the president will talk about the continuing need to fight threats here at home and abroad and also remind people of what the administration sees as successes -- that there is better sharing of intelligence now than before and that law enforcement, the FBI, now has a changed mission focused on fighting the war on terrorism.

Now that senior administration official also says that the president will mention several countries as examples of progress in fighting the war on terror, also mentioning specifically Saudi Arabia as an example of a country in which al Qaeda was operating without much resistance three years ago but now is seen as an enemy of the kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

The president, as you said, campaigning in that state -- or making a visit to that state -- the 10th time he has done so since taking office, a state that he narrowly won back in 2000 by just 3 percentage points -- Heidi?

COLLINS: It was a narrow margin.

All right. Elaine Quijano, thanks so much this morning.

Senators Kerry and Edwards are getting a lot of face time in the media since joining forces. The Democratic duo gracing the covers of both "Time" and "Newsweek." But are they getting a bounce in the polls?

CNN political analyst Carlos Watson joining us now from Miami to dissect the latest numbers.

Carlos, nice to see you. Thanks for being here.

CARLOS WATSON, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Good to see you. Good morning.

COLLINS: Let's go ahead and start with those "Newsweek" numbers.

We are looking at Kerry and Edwards ahead of Bush-Cheney now. You see it there are on the screen: 51 percent for Kerry-Edwards, 45 percent for Bush-Cheney.

Is this the bump that John Kerry was hoping to get once he announced Edwards, or are Democrats really gaining momentum here?

WATSON: It's the real Edwards bounce. They are now up by six points and maybe more significantly, Heidi, the last several times that you've seen John Kerry up, it still was within the margin of error. But this six-point lead now puts him outside of the margin of error.

And two other big things -- one, there is another bounce probably coming up with the Democratic convention. So he could end July up by double digits. And then secondly, we may start to see some bounces not only in national polls but in individual state polls.

You heard Kelly Wallace say earlier that we'll see both the candidates go off in different arenas including states like North Carolina and Florida, which are toss-up states. So start to look at those state polls as well.

COLLINS: Right. But you talk about these bounces and you wonder, you know, is it a bounce and then it goes back down or is it a bounce and then it stays. I mean, how do you know?

WATSON: We won't know for several weeks. But I think this is a bounce that will probably stay. I think they'll enjoy at least a strong single-digit lead going into early August if not a double-digit lead coming out of their convention.

President Bush, one of his key strategists, Matthew Dowd (ph) has said that he expects as much as a 15 point lead. And that would not be unusual. Remember that the last Massachusetts nominee, Michael Dukakis, ended his convention with a 17 point lead. So it wouldn't be unusual to see the numbers keep heading north.

COLLINS: All right. Well, let's talk about this other "Newsweek" poll -- very interesting.

It shows that if President Bush were to add Secretary of State Colin Powell to the ticket, Bush-Powell would beat Kerry-Edwards 53 to 44 percent. Any chance that the president would dump Cheney at this point?

WATSON: Unusual but that's got to be tempting, huh?. That's a Shaq-like bounce, if you will. I'm here in Miami where Shaq just got traded. But got to mention Shaquille O'Neill's name.

That's a 15-point swing from being down six points to up by nine, and it certainly would tempt you to take a look. The last time we saw an incumbent president trade in his vice president was 1976 when Gerald Ford replaced Nelson Rockefeller with Bob Dole.

But it's unlikely that we'll see that this time. In 1992, there was similar pressure on President Bush's father to replace Dan Quayle. That didn't happen. I think it's really unlikely to happen this time.

COLLINS: OK. And staying on the topic of -- excuse me -- Dick Cheney.

Lynne Cheney talking about same-sex marriage now suggested that states should have the final say over same-sex marriage. This is a little bit at odds with vice president Cheney.

How big of an issue, Carlos, is this going to be -- same-sex marriage -- in this upcoming election? WATSON: Well, make no mistake about it. For Christian conservatives, it's a very important issue. It's an issue that energizes in a state like Oregon, for example. In a span of just five weeks, a quarter of a million voters signed a petition to put that -- put the opportunity to ban same-sex marriage on this fall's ballot. So it's a very important issue.

Seven states have already put it on their ballots. Another half dozen states are looking at it. But it's a tough issue, as you were saying, for the Republican Party because while President Bush has supported a ban on same-sex marriage, people like Lynne and Dick Cheney whose daughter is openly gay.

COLLINS: Right.

WATSON: It's a very personal issue not just a political one. So it could be tough and a little difficult to predict.

COLLINS: All right. Carlos, the last thing I want to ask you about, "USA Today" front page there is reporting that the Kerry campaign actually running twice as many TV ads now as Bush-Cheney in these 17 different battleground states that we are talking about. That is certainly a bit of a surprise, isn't it? That's not what analysts said was going to be happening.

WATSON: It's not what people were predicting three months ago. And in fact if you add what the Kerry campaign has spent and what some of the liberal groups have put together, it's almost double what -- 82 percent more to be exact -- the number of ads that you've seen from the Bush campaign.

But stay tuned because remember that if the Kerry campaign accepts the $75 million in public money, they've got that money to spend over three months so they'll have far fewer ads to put out than will Bush-Cheney that will have $75 million to spend over two months. So while right now Kerry's got more ads, in the final couple months, it could be reversed.

COLLINS: All right. We will continue to watch that. Carlos Watson, thanks so much this morning. We appreciate it.

WATSON: Great to see you.

COLLINS: You too.

COOPER: Well, just days after a Senate report condemned flawed intelligence in the lead up to the Iraqi war, two Senators who led the investigation said they are looking into whether the Pentagon knowingly withheld information from the CIA. And both men expressed doubts whether Congress would have voted to go to war had such information been available at the time. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. PAT ROBERTS (R-KS), CHAIRMAN, INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE: The weapons of mass destruction and posing an imminent threat to our national security, that would not have been part of the debate. And I am not sure the votes would have been there to take that kind of military action.

SEN. JAY ROCKEFELLER (D), WEST VIRGINIA: In my judgment, based upon the intelligence, and based upon the various factors that were used to justify the war, we should not -- we should not be there. And we would have saved ourselves all of the problems which we're going to be facing for generations, or at least many of them, had we not done so.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Well in our next hour, we're going to talk with former U.S. chief weapons inspector David Kay about the Senate Intelligence Committee's report -- Heidi.

COLLINS: The head of the NAACP wants its members to help oust President Bush from office. The civil rights group is upset the president declined to attend its convention this week. Some of its leaders spoke out about the president's decision.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think it's very unfortunate that President Bush chose to ignore this convention.

MAYOR JOHN STREET, PHILADELPHIA: I've written and written and written requesting a meeting or an opportunity to talk about pertinent issues. We've written inviting him to come and address us, and we've gotten no response. It's been absolute silence.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: The White House initially said the president had a scheduling conflict. But it also cites "hostile political rhetoric" about the president as a reason.

Democratic presidential hopeful John Kerry will speak at the convention on Thursday.

COOPER: It is 13 minutes past the hour. Right now time for a look at some of today's other news with Daryn Kagan. Hey, Daryn.

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you, Anderson.

The possibility of a terror attack tops our headlines, prompting discussions of a potential election-day delay. That has been discussed within the Bush administration. But Homeland Security officials says that logistical hurdles would make a delay nearly impossible. We'll have more details on this in just a moment.

An American Marine once listed as captured is expected to return to the U.S. within days. Wassef Ali Hassoun was being debriefed at a U.S. military base in Germany. The 24-year-old translator disappeared in Iraq on June 19th and resurfaced in Lebanon. Intelligence experts and psychologists are questioning him about his ordeal. Air travel hitting record highs. According to "USA Today," some major airlines are reporting full flights for the month of June and experts predicting increased demand throughout the summer. Still the airline industry expected to lose about $3 billion this year.

Here in Atlanta, singer Bobby Brown is free after posting $2,000 bond. Brown turned himself in a few hours before a court-imposed deadline. He's accused of hit his wife, singer Whitney Houston, in their suburban Atlanta home.

In May, a judge ruled there's enough evidence for him to stand trial on misdemeanor battery charges. Brown has had a string of legal problems in the past several years.

And finally, "Spider-Man 2" is pulling millions of movie fans into it's webs. It raked in about $46 million bucks this weekend to keep the number one spot at the weekend box office. In just 12 days it made $257 million.

Coming in second, Will Ferrell's comedy "Anchorman: The legend of Ron Burgundy" bringing in $28 million. Anderson, Ron Burgundy would tell you to stay classy.

COOPER: Thanks, Daryn. You know our own Jack Cafferty saw it over the weekend and apparently was not too thrilled with the movie, eh, Jack?

CAFFERTY: It was just awful.

COOPER: Come on. It can't be that bad.

CAFFERTY: I've spent a better part of four decades on the inside of the story line of this movie. It's awful. It's just awful. And the people in the theater, some of them would laugh because they paid nine bucks to see a comedy not because anything funny was going on, on the screen.

COLLINS: Ouch.

COOPER: Oh no.

COLLINS: Oh no.

CAFFERTY: It was terrible. All right. On to other things.

COLLINS: Whatcha got?

CAFFERTY: The election less than four months away. I just ran up the stairs, I'm out of breath.

COOPER: OK. Do you need a minute?

CAFFERTY: No.

The country sharply divided on a number of issues, which include: the economy, is it recovering or is the recovery stalled? The war in Iraq, good idea/colossal blunder? Terrorism, more attacks to come this summer possibly delaying the election itself.

Health care, 40 million plus Americans no health insurance. Prescription drugs at a reasonable cost, we're the only industrialized country without a prescription drug program for its citizens.

Gay marriage, the president wants a constitutional amendment prohibiting it. And the Senate is debating that issue this week. With all the other things I just mentioned going on, their debating gay marriage.

Here's the question -- what will be, do you think, the deciding issue in the upcoming election? AM@cnn.com.

COLLINS: All right. Thank you, Jack.

COOPER: That will be interesting to see.

CAFFERTY: And if you have a chance to like see old black and white reruns of "Dark Shadows" as opposed to going to "Anchorman," "Dark Shadows" would be the choice.

COOPER: Oh man.

CAFFERTY: It's just awful.

COLLINS: I'm sorry that you wasted your time.

COOPER: Sad news that.

CAFFERTY: Just terrible.

COLLINS: That's a long time to waste.

All right. Thanks so much, Jack. We'll see you in a bit.

Meanwhile, Martha Stewart will be sentenced this week for lying about a stock sale after a federal judge refused to give her a new trial because of a witness who lied.

And while those lies may make headlines, it turns out zillions of other lies make up the very fabric of our lives. This morning we begin a week-long series exploring the lies we tell. Who does it and why.

We begin with kids. They are not born fibbers, they're just fast learners.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COLLINS (voice-over): The headlines never end. Swindle, scams and deception at the top. But in America today, could the truth be...

RICHARD NIXON, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, 1969-1974: I had no prior knowledge.

COLLINS: ... that lying comes easily to most of us. BILL CLINTON, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, 1993-2000: I did not have sexual relations.

COLLINS: One recent study concluded the majority of people told at least three lies during every 10 minutes of conversation.

DR. MICHAEL LEWIS, ROBERT WOOD JOHNSON MEDICAL SCHOOL: All people everywhere do it. It keeps the social fabric connected.

COLLINS: According to Dr. Lewis, innocent little white lies, not the lies that hurt people or cheat them out of money, may be something that we are programmed to tell at an early age to help protect ourselves from punishment and protect the feelings of others.

LEWIS: How many of us would say to our arthritic grandmothers who have knitted us a sweater that we really don't like the color, and we really don't like the style and we wish you wouldn't ever knit us another sweater.

In fact, there was a movie called "Liar, Liar," when, in fact, the truth was told and it was a disaster.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE, "LIAR LIAR": Everybody has been real nice.

JIM CARREY, ACTOR, "LIAR, LIAR": Well, that's because you have big...

COLLINS: Dr. Lewis' studies show that 65 percent of children by the age two and a half lie and lie well. He performed a set of experiments for our camera. So meet the newest group of potential perjurers.

The kids were told not to peek at a toy placed behind their back. Dr. Lewis watched on a hidden camera. Would they tell the truth when asked if they looked?

Three and a half year old Rowan peeked before the tester even left the room.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Did you peek? Don't peek.

COLLINS: Olivia age three and a half tried hard not to look, but it doesn't seem to be working.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm back. Did you peek?

OLIVIA: No.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No? OK.

LEWIS: They quickly learn that not telling the truth means that they won't get punished. What we tell the parents all the time is, look they are going to lie. That doesn't mean that they should get off the hook.

COLLINS: Dr. Lewis' advice? Focus on the offense not the lie they told to cover it up.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COLLINS: Parents, don't despair. Dr. Lewis' studies show that the kids who are most likely to lie are the ones with higher IQs. Tomorrow on our series lying continues with a look at whether one needs to lie to get ahead in business.

COOPER: If you have a higher IQ you lie more? That's interesting.

COLLINS: Apparently.

COOPER: For kids at least. All right.

Well, a wildfire in south Florida forced the shutdown of a major highway near Miami. The flames on the edge of the Everglades burned hundreds of acres of dry grass and trees.

Thick smoke shut down 10 miles of Florida's turnpike for a few hours yesterday. The intense blaze almost reached the highway sending billowing clouds of smoke hundreds of feet into the air. So far the wildfire has consumed 6,800 acres.

(WEATHER BREAK)

COLLINS: Still to come this morning -- what's is a company to do when it wants money back from its old business. Andy Serwer is going to be "Minding Your Business" on that.

COOPER: Also ahead, more on the possibility of putting off the election in case of a terror attack. Why it would take more than an act of Congress to get it done.

COLLINS: And the pressure of the U.S. Olympic doping scandal might be taking a toll. We'll tell you about that next on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: MCI headed back to court trying to scrounge up hundreds of millions of dollars in loans from one man. And with that and a market preview, Andy Serwer joins us to mind your business.

So, somebody wants some money back here?

ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Yes, and they deserve it. Now MCI, the company formerly known at WorldCom, of course, is looking for hundreds of millions of dollars from Bernie Ebbers, the former CEO of the company and for good reason.

Bernie Ebbers borrowed $400 million from this company.

COLLINS: Is that all?

SERWER: That's absurd. I mean, usually companies lend a few million bucks for a guy to buy a house. This is just totally out of control. This is high 90's stuff.

They've recovered about $70 million. They're looking for, you know, $300 plus. And basically they've been working in cooperation with him. And this is actually a move simply to preserve their legal rights.

So far, this process has actually been a friendly one, if you can imagine between the company -- He had that giant ranch up in Canada. He sold that. So piece by piece they are trying to get tens of millions of dollars back.

COOPER: So, wait. We can all ask our companies to loan us a couple of million dollars for a house?

SERWER: Well, you could try.

COLLINS: Just a couple of million.

SERWER: You have to be a CEO.

COOPER: I'd like to see that e-mail.

SERWER: Yes.

Let's talk about the markets quickly. On Friday, we had a bit of a reprieve. Been kind of a rocky few sessions. Stocks are up a bit as you can see here on Friday. This morning, futures look mixed. Techs actually look a little bit soft. So, we'll be tracking that for you today.

COLLINS: OK. Thank you so much.

SERWER: You're welcome.

COLLINS: We appreciate it. We'll see you in a bit.

COOPER: Some of the nation's most high-profile track athletes failed to make the Olympic team over the weekend. World record holder Tim Montgomery finished seventh in yesterday's men's 100 meter final.

Montgomery has been accused of using steroids and other performance enhancing drugs. The 100 was his only chance to make the Olympic team.

And on Saturday, Montgomery's girlfriend Marion Jones came in fifth in the women's 100 meter. She is being investigated in the ongoing track and field drug scandal.

Jones still could make the team, she's also competing in the 200 meters as well as in the long jump.

COLLINS: Yes. And the gal who won it was like her best time ever in her entire life. So, she had a very good race. So, we'll be following that one, I'm sure, as the Olympics come closer.

Meanwhile, still to come this morning -- it is time to kick off your work week with a dose of "90-Second Pop."

Rocker Courtney Love sends her 40th birthday in handcuffs and in the hospital.

Meanwhile, David Bowie has emergency heart surgery. Is it time to call it quits? Stay with us on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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