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American Morning
New Polls Today Show an Election There for the Taking; Democrats Take Center Stage Monday When They Open Their Presidential Convention
Aired July 23, 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.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning.
Three days before the Democrats convene in Boston, that race a dead heat. New polls today show an election there for the taking for either side.
Also a challenge to change...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We do believe we are safer today there we were on 9/11, but we are not safe.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
Will the President endorse the recommendations of that commission? This morning we ask a special assistant on homeland security.
And from Utah, friends of Lori and Mark Hacking shocked by a web of lies. A strange disappearance getting even stranger on this AMERICAN MORNING.
ANNOUNCER: From the CNN Broadcast Center in New York, this is AMERICAN MORNING with Bill Hemmer and Soledad O'Brien.
HEMMER: All right. Good morning. It's Friday here in New York City -- 7 a.m. and good morning. Soledad is out.
Heidi Collins, good morning to you.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning.
HEMMER: We had a busy show yesterday.
Check out the news poll numbers were looking at today. Several sources already today showing an extremely tight election. And of all 50 states, perhaps three are now emerging as the difference makers. We'll look at the numbers including those states, see if either side has an advantage there any moment.
COLLINS: Also, you have heard a lot about what the 9/11 report says about U.S. intelligence agencies. What about changes now recommended for the military? We'll look at what could be on the horizon for special ops. HEMMER: Also on a much lighter note today, "90-Second Pop" a bit later this hour, talking about the actor from "CSI." He was fired for a contract dispute. Now he says he really wants his job back. And it was an interesting excuse for missing the first day of work. We'll look at that later.
COLLINS: Jack is here now, though.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: You mean it wasn't about wanting more money?
HEMMER: Imagine that.
COLLINS: Maybe not.
CAFFERTY: So the 9/11 commission report comes out. They make a lot of recommendations after 20 months on things that this country needs to do to make us all safer for being murdered by terrorists. But congress says it can do anything about any of this until next year. They're just too busy.
It's just unbelievable. We'll get into that in a minute.
HEMMER: All right, Jack. Thanks for that.
COLLINS: Thanks, Jack.
HEMMER: New poll numbers, first off this morning, showing that race for the White House a virtual dead heat.
The latest CNN-"USA Today" Gallup poll numbers showing Senator John Kerry leading President Bush 47 to 46 percent. Ralph Nader checks in at 4 percent.
In a two-way race, Senator Kerry leads the president by 2 percentage points. And it's not just the only poll indicating how tight this race is.
CNN political analyst Ron Brownstein, also political correspondent for the "L.A. Times" with us here in D.C.
Ron, good morning to you.
RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Good morning, Bill.
HEMMER: Your poll numbers interesting too.
On the board, Kerry with a 2-point advantage over George Bush. They start up on Monday in Boston. What does John Kerry have to do to change these numbers?
BROWNSTEIN: A 2-point advantage in your poll, a 2-point advantage in our poll, a 2-point advantage in two other poles that have been released in the last 48 hours.
What John Kerry has to do, above all, is fill in his profile for the many Americans to whom he is still just a vague presence.
What's intriguing about our survey is it finds that there is an audience for change that is larger than the vote that John Kerry is now receiving. We had the race, as you say, as a 2-point advantage for him.
On the other hand, we had a majority of the country saying that America was on the wrong track. We had a narrow majority saying the war in Iraq was a mistake. By about 2-1 we had people saying that President Bush's economic policies have done more to hurt the economy than help it. And perhaps most dramatically we had almost 60 percent of voters saying that we needed to set out on a new direction.
All of that suggests there is an audience out there willing to consider a change in direction, a new president, but John Kerry has to convince them he can deliver that change.
We still find a third of Americans, Bill, even after all of these months of campaigning and all of these millions of dollars of ads -- a third of Americans say they don't know enough about John Kerry to know whether he'd be a better president than George Bush.
HEMMER: Let's put our focus on two states, battleground states for certain, Pennsylvania and the state of Florida.
On the screen again you can see in Pennsylvania John Kerry leads George Bush. In Florida it is a 1-point advantage for the president.
What do you see here?
BROWNSTEIN: Well, both of these are critical states because they are the top of the target list for each side.
Pennsylvania is the largest state that Al Gore won in 2000 that President Bush is putting the most focus on. Florida along with Ohio are the large states that Bush won in 2000 that is at the top of the target list for John Kerry.
Florida is a surprise to me. It remains neck and neck just as it was in 2000, not only in our poll but in others. After 2002 when the Republicans blew out the Democrats, I thought that it was going to tilt a little more toward President Bush, also in part because the economy is doing so well there. But it remains very close.
Pennsylvania looks like tougher terrain right now for President Bush, in many ways similar to Ohio, although Ohio isn't quite as Democratic. The problem for President Bush -- people in Pennsylvania aren't nearly as optimistic about the economy as they are in Florida. Pennsylvania has lost jobs under his presidency. Florida has gained almost 300,000.
HEMMER: Go back to your first answer. You touched on another number from your polling now. Fifty-nine percent of those surveyed says the country needs a new direction -- 59 percent. Why aren't these numbers breaking more in favor of Senator Kerry?
BROWNSTEIN: Well, I mean, that is really the critical challenge that he faces.
In part it's because, simply because he is not that well known. He remains a vague presence to many people. He really hasn't been in the spotlight, as we have talked about, many times over the past four months. Events have dominated, overshadowed the campaign.
We still have a third of Americans saying they don't know him well enough to decide how good a president he'd be. In fact, you can say that one critical group that will decide this electorate -- election -- we have one-sixth, fully one-sixth of the electorate in our poll say they want a new direction, but they aren't, they don't know enough about Kerry yet to decide whether he'd be a good president.
Clearly filling in his profile for those voters, convincing them that they can deliver, he can deliver a better chance of a good economy and a more effective foreign policy from their point of view is his principal task at the convention and in the weeks ahead.
Those doubts are still out there even though, as this poll suggests, there is a -- there is an opening. There is a door open. Voters are willing to consider a change.
HEMMER: See you in Boston, Ron. Thanks.
Ron Brownstein.
BROWNSTEIN: Thank you, Bill.
HEMMER: Heidi?
COLLINS: The Democrats take center stage Monday when they open their presidential nominating convention in Boston. And they'll be going after those much sought after undecided votes.
Kelly Wallace is live in Boston this morning to give us a little bit more on that. Good morning, Kelly.
KELLY WALLACE, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Heidi.
The stakes are certainly high for Boston, hosting its first-ever national political convention, but the stakes highest for the presumptive Democratic nominee who will be giving the biggest speech of his political life in the FleetCenter behind me, hoping to win over the small number of voters who could decide this election.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WALLACE (voice-over): Racing against the clock to transform the home of Boston Celtics and Bruins in to center stage for the Democratic team -- while the party's quarterback, John Kerry and his running mate John Edwards begin a pre-convention cross-country blitz in Colorado where Kerry was born.
Yesterday, Senator Kerry reacting to the September 11th report said President Bush has not done enough since the attacks to keep America safe.
SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We must do better. And there's an urgency to our doing better. We have to act now.
WALLACE: But Senator Kerry still trails President Bush significantly when likely voters are asked, who would do a better job handling terrorism?
In the latest CNN-"USA Today" Gallup poll, 56 percent chose the president, 38 percent backed Mr. Kerry.
And the poll also showed this race a virtual dead heat. With 83 percent saying they've made up their minds, only 17 percent said they could still switch.
And so the Senator heads into his convention hoping to introduce himself to those crucial swing voters, while Kerry's opponents say they won't see the entire city to the Democrats.
JIM DYKE, REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE: We're going to be here to make sure that people actually know John Kerry's real record, or at least to the best of our abilities, given that we're sort of swimming upstream here in Boston.
WALLACE: And this not so warm welcome directly across the street from the FleetCenter.
The Halftime Pizzeria, one of several businesses inside a strict security zone, deciding to close down convention week.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WALLACE: This being the first political convention since the September 11th attacks, so we are seeing unprecedented security procedures. At this point in time, though, according to a bulletin that went out yesterday from the FBI, department of homeland security, no credible or specific intelligence that terrorists are planning an attack against the Democratic national convention.
Although law enforcement sources do tell CNN they have a credible threat that a hometown group or individual could be planning an attack against the media covering the convention -- Heidi?
COLLINS: Yes, Kelly what more can you tell us about that? These are possibly media vans?
WALLACE: That's what it appears, according to these law enforcement sources talking to some of my colleagues, that the apparent target of this would be media vans.
Again though, the big picture here is that there's no real credible or specific intelligence that terrorists are planning an attack. You do have this sort of hometown group or individual, some credible threat for the media. There is unprecedented security for the media as well. We will all be having to follow certain procedures, going through magnetometers, showing I.D. to protect the media as well as the delegates coming here, Heidi.
COLLINS: All right. Of course we'll keep our finger on that one as well as all of the other security. Thanks so much.
Kelly Wallace from Boston this morning.
And AMERICAN MORNING will be live from the Democratic convention in Boston. That will begin Monday at 7 a.m. Eastern.
HEMMER: Back to that 9/11 commission report now -- the final report recommending dramatic changes across numerous levels of government. It also tries to answer the question, what went wrong before the attacks?
Our senior White House correspondent John King on that this morning.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN KING, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Could it have been prevented? The 9/11 commission report did not answer that nagging question with certainty, but its account of what went wrong details stunning failures.
THOMAS KEAN (R), 9/11 COMMISSION CO-CHAIRMAN: This was a failure of policy, management, capability and above all a failure of imagination.
KING: December 1998, President Clinton received a highly classified briefing with this headline, "Bin laden preparing to hijack U.S. aircraft and other attacks."
The commission concludes had that warning been shared across the government, it might have brought more attention to the need for permanent changes in domestic airport and airline security procedures. Many of the mistakes are well-known now.
Two of the hijackers were suspected terrorists but were not placed on watch lists that would ask barred them from entering the United States. The FBI new Zacarias Moussaoui was in the states for flight training and suspected a possible hijacking.
The CIA knew al Qaeda planned a spectacular attack, soon, possibly involving airplanes. But the FBI didn't pass on all it knew. The dots never connected.
JAMES THOMPSON (R), 9/11 COMMISSION MEMBER: Could that have prevented 911? We don't know, but that failure is there.
KING: All the more striking, because in 1999, worried about millennium attacks the government had pumped together to confront al Qaeda threats. Information about terrorism flowed widely and abundantly. The flow from the FBI was particularly remarkable because the FBI, at other times, shared almost no information.
Attacks were thwarted. The nation celebrated peacefully. And, the report says, the government relaxed. Counterterrorism went back to being a secret preserve. So secret, the commission says presidents Clinton and Bush were not given the full picture of al Qaeda's capabilities and hatred.
BOB KERREY (D), 9/11 COMMISSION MEMBER: How in God's name are you supposed to imagine a threat if the facts are being withheld from you?
KING: In the summer of 2001, CIA Director George Tenet warned the system was blinking red, al Qaeda was poised to strike.
The acting head of the FBI arranged a national conference call but did not task field offices to try to determine whether any plots were being considered within the United States.
And while Tenet was raising alarms, not everyone was convinced. Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz questioned the reporting.
Lots of specifics about what went wrong but a more cautious approach on the question of who's to blame?
(on camera) The commission says it would be wrong to single out one person or one government agency for blame, but that a number of senior government officials, including the congress and the two most recent presidents share the responsibility.
John King, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HEMMER: In our next hour here, we'll talk about that report with 9/11 commission member Bob Kerrey. He is in our studios here in the 8 a.m. Eastern hour -- Heidi?
COLLINS: President Bush has said he welcomes the 9/11 commission report, but he has not said he welcomes all of its suggestions.
Fran Townsend is the assistant to the president for homeland security. She is with us this morning from the White House.
Good morning to you, Ms. Townsend. Thanks again for being with us.
FRAN TOWNSEND, PRES. ASST. HOMELAND SECURITY: Good morning, Heidi.
COLLINS: The big question, of course, is what happens next? Talk about exactly what the president is supportive of and what he is not supportive of with regard to these recommendations?
TOWNSEND: You know, Amy, the report was issued yesterday, and so we're going through it. White House staff and various agencies within the administration are pouring through it. The fact is, by and large this is -- we view the commission's report as making the case for the administrations current approach to counterterrorism. Many of the policies and recommendations that are in the commission's report are already either in full force or in the process of being fully implemented.
In particular, we're going to have to look at the recommendations for an intelligence czar. But the fact is, this president is a reformer.
He undertook the most comprehensive reorganization of federal government since 1947. He has said he's committed to further intelligence reform. He's already begun increasing the intelligence agency's budgets. And I think you can expect to see a decision and some action fairly quickly.
COLLINS: All right. Well, talking about blame now -- of course, the panel did not assign blame. But the chairman of the 9/11 commission, Tom Kean actually said that both presidents, meaning Clinton and Bush shared some of that blame, if you will, that they could have done more.
Does the president think that he could have done more?
TOWNSEND: The answer, Heidi is when we're assigning blame, we ought to be assigning it to Osama bin Laden and the al Qaeda network. The fact is, there is -- there were deep institutional flaws. That's what the commission said. I think that's right. The president thinks that's right. And we've already undertaken many reforms to fix that.
The terrorist threat integration center now brings all of that information in to one place so we can understand the threats. The president had received 35 briefings on al Qaeda threats mostly focused overseas. It was his focus on the homeland when he received, and in response to that interest, that the 36th presidential daily briefing on al Qaeda focused on the homeland.
The president understands the threat. The president's undertaking reforms to fix the deep institutional failings with things like the transformation of the FBI, the terrorist threat screening center and aviation security measures that are already in place.
COLLINS: All right. Well, as I'm sure you're aware, after the report, which the Democratic challenger John Kerry did seem to point the finger in his direction, President Bush's direction, a little bit more directly.
If you will just listen to this, he said, "Unfortunately this administration has had an ongoing war between the state department, the defense department, the White House. People have been at odds. Everybody knows it. They'll deny it, but everybody does know. And the fact is, that it has created a struggle that has delayed our ability to move forward."
Is that true?
TOWNSEND: That's absolutely untrue.
You know, I have to tell you, I work with those agencies. I help to coordinate them on these specific issues. And I will tell you on no -- unlike any other issue, the agencies have come together to make these reforms.
You know, the president has taken three years and instituted many of the recommendations that, as the report points out, were the result of neglect and weakness over the course of more than 10 years, and both Republican and Democratic administrations.
COLLINS: Fran Townsend, assistant to the president for homeland security. We certainly appreciate your time this morning. Thank you.
TOWNSEND: Thank you.
HEMMER: Fifteen minutes past the hour.
First check into the headlines now with Fredricka Whitfield. Good morning to you at the CNN Center.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning on this Friday, Bill.
The military says a roadside bomb has killed two U.S. soldiers and injured a third in Iraq. The bomb ripped through a military convoy in the city of Samarra north of Baghdad.
And in Fallujah, U.S.-led forces conducted a precision strike on about a dozen suspects with ties to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. It's unclear if any of the militants were killed or wounded.
In Afghanistan, there are reports that as many as four American soldiers may have been seriously wounded in a car bomb blast. The attack took place on a U.S. convoy on a road between Kandahar and a base on the outskirts of the city. Violence in the country is on the increase ahead of the planned October elections.
In California, jurors in the Scott Peterson double murder case were removed from the courtroom during a heated debate over a strand of hair. Lawyers argued yesterday about the admissibility of the hair apparently found with a pair of pliers on Peterson's boat.
The court is in recess today. More testimony expected on Monday.
There's been a reversal in the Kobe Bryant sexual assault case. The judge now says findings from a physical exam of Bryant hours after he was first accused will be allowed to be used at trial.
That reverses an earlier decision which would have suppressed those results. The reversal came after Bryant's defense filed notice that it would introduce the evidence.
And finally, the former husband of U.S. Olympian Marion Jones is claiming she used banned performance-enhancing drugs. The San Francisco chronicle quotes C.J. Hunter as saying Jones was using the drugs when she won five medals at the 2000 Sydney Olympics. Hunter also claims to have personally injected Jones with banned substances.
Jones, who will compete in Athens next month, has denied ever using drugs.
Bill, back to you.
HEMMER: That could get nasty for both of them.
Thanks, Fredricka.
Mark Hacking still has the support of his missing wife's family despite the lies he told about going to medical school. Hundreds of people now searching the area around a Salt Lake City park since Monday, that's when Hacking first reported his wife Lori was missing.
For us this morning here's Kimberly Osias back in Salt Lake.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KIMBERLY OSIAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): To friends, 27- year-old Lori Hacking seemed to have it all: a business career of her own, a baby on the way and a loving husband who said he was following family footsteps and heading to medical school.
REBECCA CARROLL, FRIEND OF MISSING JOGGER: She had no idea. We had no idea. It's just -- it's so hard to believe that -- how could he pull that off for all of this time?
OSIAS: Lori's best friend, Rebecca Carroll, says Mark Hacking told Lori that he had graduated from college and was going on to med school, but all of that was lie after lie. She says the pair even visited several North Carolina campuses.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Along 11th avenue -- 11th avenue is, you know, the jogging route that goes...
OSIAS: Carroll and dozens of other volunteers continue to search today where Lori was last seen heading out for a run just before dawn Monday. Police have seized both of the couples' cars as well as a dumpster and some bedding.
At this point, there are no suspects in the case, but police are calling Mark Hacking a person of interest and have questioned him several times.
DET. DWAYNE BAIRD, SALT LAKE CITY POLICE: We have to look at everything that he's told us with some speculation; but, you know, we want to reserve judgment at this point.
OSIAS: As for Mark Hacking's whereabouts, family members say he's under a doctor's care in a local psychiatric hospital.
DOUGLAS HACKING, MARK HACKING'S FATHER: He wishes he could be out here going door to door, beating the brush and whatever he could do. He's just so incapacitated with his grieving that he's just not able to be here. OSIAS: They say he would never do anything to hurt his now missing wife.
Kimberly Osias, CNN, Salt Lake City.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HEMMER: Coming up in a few minutes here on AMERICAN MORNING much more on this. We'll talk with a very close friend of the missing jogger, a coworker, a fellow jogger herself, someone who knows the daily routine for the Hacking family. We'll have that for you.
COLLINS: Time now for the "Cafferty File" and "Question of the Day."
CAFFERTY: Good morning. Thank you.
The 9/11 commission report is out, so what happens next? Well, apparently nothing.
Congress says it just won't be able to address the recommendations of this report until some time next year. No time left this year. Legislative agenda's already full.
Excuse me? Full of what? What agenda could possibly take precedence over acting on recommendations that might help prevent terrorists from murdering us?
And who sets the agenda? Why, congress does, of course. When they wanted to stop everything a few weeks ago and debate a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage, no problem. Everything else was put aside and they took that up.
And you can be sure they'll be plenty of time for recess and breaks and, of course, all-important campaigning for their re- election. But no time to act on the 9/11 report until next year? Absolutely outrageous.
Here's the question. What's should congress do about the 9/11 report and its recommendations?
am@CNN.com.
Unbelievable.
COLLINS: All right, Jack. Thanks so much for that.
CAFFERTY: All right.
COLLINS: We're going to check the forecast now. Chad Myers is standing by at the CNN Center with the very latest for us.
Hi, Chad. Happy Friday to you.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Happy Friday to you, too, Heidi.
(WEATHER BREAK)
MYERS: Heidi, back to you.
COLLINS: OK. Maybe it's the other shore that some of us are going to, though. So we're good. Thanks, Chad.
Still to come, yesterday it was eBay. And today it's another popular Web company that's expected to have a rough ride on Wall Street. We're "Minding Your Business."
HEMMER: Also more on that 9/11 report -- there could be some major changes ahead for the U.S. military. Barbara Starr is tracking that in a moment.
COLLINS: Plus, we'll talk to a close friend of Lori Hacking and ask her about some of the bizarre developments regarding the missing woman's husband.
It's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: Welcome back, everyone. Twenty-five minutes past the hour.
Microsoft in the spotlight again today.
Plus are Amazon share holders in for a rough ride?
Carrie Lee has it all at the Nasdaq, working for Andy today "Minding Your Business."
Good morning.
CARRIE LEE, CNN FINANCIAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Bill. Good morning to you.
Well remember earlier this week, Microsoft said it was going to give back $75 billion in cash, giving that back to shareholders? Well now we're getting an idea of how much that's going to cost the company.
Last night after the close of trading, Microsoft reported its fourth quarter results beating the street expectations on sales, up 15 percent but missing profit estimates by a penny.
And the company is lowering its profit forecast for this year, in part because of that massive dividend and stock buyback plan announced earlier. So Microsoft stock was lower by about 2 percent in the after hours session and looks like the stock could see some pressure today.
Also amazon.com missing the profit estimate as well on Wall Street for the second quarter as well as for the full year. Amazon did see stronger sales, aggressive pricing, free shipping incentives helping things there. But still, weakness in this report causing amazon.com stock to lose ground by about 5 percent last night. So looks like both of these companies could put some pressure on techs today.
We did see a little bit of buying at the close of trading yesterday. The Dow up 4 percent. The Nasdaq up about 14. But looks like we will see stocks under water, at least in the early going this morning.
Bill, technology issues looking especially weak. That's the latest. Back to you.
HEMMER: All right. We will watch. Thanks, Carrie. Two hours from the open there.
Buy some shares in Lance Armstrong. He didn't just win the latest stage of the tour, he blew away the competition with an absolutely stunning push at the finish.
Armstrong now in a position to win a record-breaking sixth Tour de France, three stages left. They say it might be his last. Who knows? We'll find out after, well -- well after Sunday when the race is complete.
Yesterday with a mile left and 127-mile stage, he tapped one of his teammates on the shoulder, said, you want to win this thing? Go for it. I'll let you.
Well, he took off. The Germans caught him with about one-third of a mile left, Lance Armstrong puts down the sunglasses takes a sip of water and just buckles down.
COLLINS: He goes -- I mean it's just -- he's totally in control. It's unbelievable.
HEMMER: Catches him by half a tire at the finish line. Unbelievable. Go, Lance.
COLLINS: It's not about the bike, remember.
HEMMER: Not about the bike.
COLLINS: All right. Still to come this morning -- T.G.I.F. It's time for "90-Second Pop."
Smart move or big, fat risk? Kirstie Alley is back with a show called "Fat Actress."
Plus Halle Berry reborn as a cat and Matt Damon just plain Bourne-again. It's "Catwoman" verses "The Bourne Supremacy" in "90- Second Pop."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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Aired July 23, 2004 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning.
Three days before the Democrats convene in Boston, that race a dead heat. New polls today show an election there for the taking for either side.
Also a challenge to change...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We do believe we are safer today there we were on 9/11, but we are not safe.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
Will the President endorse the recommendations of that commission? This morning we ask a special assistant on homeland security.
And from Utah, friends of Lori and Mark Hacking shocked by a web of lies. A strange disappearance getting even stranger on this AMERICAN MORNING.
ANNOUNCER: From the CNN Broadcast Center in New York, this is AMERICAN MORNING with Bill Hemmer and Soledad O'Brien.
HEMMER: All right. Good morning. It's Friday here in New York City -- 7 a.m. and good morning. Soledad is out.
Heidi Collins, good morning to you.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning.
HEMMER: We had a busy show yesterday.
Check out the news poll numbers were looking at today. Several sources already today showing an extremely tight election. And of all 50 states, perhaps three are now emerging as the difference makers. We'll look at the numbers including those states, see if either side has an advantage there any moment.
COLLINS: Also, you have heard a lot about what the 9/11 report says about U.S. intelligence agencies. What about changes now recommended for the military? We'll look at what could be on the horizon for special ops. HEMMER: Also on a much lighter note today, "90-Second Pop" a bit later this hour, talking about the actor from "CSI." He was fired for a contract dispute. Now he says he really wants his job back. And it was an interesting excuse for missing the first day of work. We'll look at that later.
COLLINS: Jack is here now, though.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: You mean it wasn't about wanting more money?
HEMMER: Imagine that.
COLLINS: Maybe not.
CAFFERTY: So the 9/11 commission report comes out. They make a lot of recommendations after 20 months on things that this country needs to do to make us all safer for being murdered by terrorists. But congress says it can do anything about any of this until next year. They're just too busy.
It's just unbelievable. We'll get into that in a minute.
HEMMER: All right, Jack. Thanks for that.
COLLINS: Thanks, Jack.
HEMMER: New poll numbers, first off this morning, showing that race for the White House a virtual dead heat.
The latest CNN-"USA Today" Gallup poll numbers showing Senator John Kerry leading President Bush 47 to 46 percent. Ralph Nader checks in at 4 percent.
In a two-way race, Senator Kerry leads the president by 2 percentage points. And it's not just the only poll indicating how tight this race is.
CNN political analyst Ron Brownstein, also political correspondent for the "L.A. Times" with us here in D.C.
Ron, good morning to you.
RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Good morning, Bill.
HEMMER: Your poll numbers interesting too.
On the board, Kerry with a 2-point advantage over George Bush. They start up on Monday in Boston. What does John Kerry have to do to change these numbers?
BROWNSTEIN: A 2-point advantage in your poll, a 2-point advantage in our poll, a 2-point advantage in two other poles that have been released in the last 48 hours.
What John Kerry has to do, above all, is fill in his profile for the many Americans to whom he is still just a vague presence.
What's intriguing about our survey is it finds that there is an audience for change that is larger than the vote that John Kerry is now receiving. We had the race, as you say, as a 2-point advantage for him.
On the other hand, we had a majority of the country saying that America was on the wrong track. We had a narrow majority saying the war in Iraq was a mistake. By about 2-1 we had people saying that President Bush's economic policies have done more to hurt the economy than help it. And perhaps most dramatically we had almost 60 percent of voters saying that we needed to set out on a new direction.
All of that suggests there is an audience out there willing to consider a change in direction, a new president, but John Kerry has to convince them he can deliver that change.
We still find a third of Americans, Bill, even after all of these months of campaigning and all of these millions of dollars of ads -- a third of Americans say they don't know enough about John Kerry to know whether he'd be a better president than George Bush.
HEMMER: Let's put our focus on two states, battleground states for certain, Pennsylvania and the state of Florida.
On the screen again you can see in Pennsylvania John Kerry leads George Bush. In Florida it is a 1-point advantage for the president.
What do you see here?
BROWNSTEIN: Well, both of these are critical states because they are the top of the target list for each side.
Pennsylvania is the largest state that Al Gore won in 2000 that President Bush is putting the most focus on. Florida along with Ohio are the large states that Bush won in 2000 that is at the top of the target list for John Kerry.
Florida is a surprise to me. It remains neck and neck just as it was in 2000, not only in our poll but in others. After 2002 when the Republicans blew out the Democrats, I thought that it was going to tilt a little more toward President Bush, also in part because the economy is doing so well there. But it remains very close.
Pennsylvania looks like tougher terrain right now for President Bush, in many ways similar to Ohio, although Ohio isn't quite as Democratic. The problem for President Bush -- people in Pennsylvania aren't nearly as optimistic about the economy as they are in Florida. Pennsylvania has lost jobs under his presidency. Florida has gained almost 300,000.
HEMMER: Go back to your first answer. You touched on another number from your polling now. Fifty-nine percent of those surveyed says the country needs a new direction -- 59 percent. Why aren't these numbers breaking more in favor of Senator Kerry?
BROWNSTEIN: Well, I mean, that is really the critical challenge that he faces.
In part it's because, simply because he is not that well known. He remains a vague presence to many people. He really hasn't been in the spotlight, as we have talked about, many times over the past four months. Events have dominated, overshadowed the campaign.
We still have a third of Americans saying they don't know him well enough to decide how good a president he'd be. In fact, you can say that one critical group that will decide this electorate -- election -- we have one-sixth, fully one-sixth of the electorate in our poll say they want a new direction, but they aren't, they don't know enough about Kerry yet to decide whether he'd be a good president.
Clearly filling in his profile for those voters, convincing them that they can deliver, he can deliver a better chance of a good economy and a more effective foreign policy from their point of view is his principal task at the convention and in the weeks ahead.
Those doubts are still out there even though, as this poll suggests, there is a -- there is an opening. There is a door open. Voters are willing to consider a change.
HEMMER: See you in Boston, Ron. Thanks.
Ron Brownstein.
BROWNSTEIN: Thank you, Bill.
HEMMER: Heidi?
COLLINS: The Democrats take center stage Monday when they open their presidential nominating convention in Boston. And they'll be going after those much sought after undecided votes.
Kelly Wallace is live in Boston this morning to give us a little bit more on that. Good morning, Kelly.
KELLY WALLACE, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Heidi.
The stakes are certainly high for Boston, hosting its first-ever national political convention, but the stakes highest for the presumptive Democratic nominee who will be giving the biggest speech of his political life in the FleetCenter behind me, hoping to win over the small number of voters who could decide this election.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WALLACE (voice-over): Racing against the clock to transform the home of Boston Celtics and Bruins in to center stage for the Democratic team -- while the party's quarterback, John Kerry and his running mate John Edwards begin a pre-convention cross-country blitz in Colorado where Kerry was born.
Yesterday, Senator Kerry reacting to the September 11th report said President Bush has not done enough since the attacks to keep America safe.
SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We must do better. And there's an urgency to our doing better. We have to act now.
WALLACE: But Senator Kerry still trails President Bush significantly when likely voters are asked, who would do a better job handling terrorism?
In the latest CNN-"USA Today" Gallup poll, 56 percent chose the president, 38 percent backed Mr. Kerry.
And the poll also showed this race a virtual dead heat. With 83 percent saying they've made up their minds, only 17 percent said they could still switch.
And so the Senator heads into his convention hoping to introduce himself to those crucial swing voters, while Kerry's opponents say they won't see the entire city to the Democrats.
JIM DYKE, REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE: We're going to be here to make sure that people actually know John Kerry's real record, or at least to the best of our abilities, given that we're sort of swimming upstream here in Boston.
WALLACE: And this not so warm welcome directly across the street from the FleetCenter.
The Halftime Pizzeria, one of several businesses inside a strict security zone, deciding to close down convention week.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WALLACE: This being the first political convention since the September 11th attacks, so we are seeing unprecedented security procedures. At this point in time, though, according to a bulletin that went out yesterday from the FBI, department of homeland security, no credible or specific intelligence that terrorists are planning an attack against the Democratic national convention.
Although law enforcement sources do tell CNN they have a credible threat that a hometown group or individual could be planning an attack against the media covering the convention -- Heidi?
COLLINS: Yes, Kelly what more can you tell us about that? These are possibly media vans?
WALLACE: That's what it appears, according to these law enforcement sources talking to some of my colleagues, that the apparent target of this would be media vans.
Again though, the big picture here is that there's no real credible or specific intelligence that terrorists are planning an attack. You do have this sort of hometown group or individual, some credible threat for the media. There is unprecedented security for the media as well. We will all be having to follow certain procedures, going through magnetometers, showing I.D. to protect the media as well as the delegates coming here, Heidi.
COLLINS: All right. Of course we'll keep our finger on that one as well as all of the other security. Thanks so much.
Kelly Wallace from Boston this morning.
And AMERICAN MORNING will be live from the Democratic convention in Boston. That will begin Monday at 7 a.m. Eastern.
HEMMER: Back to that 9/11 commission report now -- the final report recommending dramatic changes across numerous levels of government. It also tries to answer the question, what went wrong before the attacks?
Our senior White House correspondent John King on that this morning.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN KING, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Could it have been prevented? The 9/11 commission report did not answer that nagging question with certainty, but its account of what went wrong details stunning failures.
THOMAS KEAN (R), 9/11 COMMISSION CO-CHAIRMAN: This was a failure of policy, management, capability and above all a failure of imagination.
KING: December 1998, President Clinton received a highly classified briefing with this headline, "Bin laden preparing to hijack U.S. aircraft and other attacks."
The commission concludes had that warning been shared across the government, it might have brought more attention to the need for permanent changes in domestic airport and airline security procedures. Many of the mistakes are well-known now.
Two of the hijackers were suspected terrorists but were not placed on watch lists that would ask barred them from entering the United States. The FBI new Zacarias Moussaoui was in the states for flight training and suspected a possible hijacking.
The CIA knew al Qaeda planned a spectacular attack, soon, possibly involving airplanes. But the FBI didn't pass on all it knew. The dots never connected.
JAMES THOMPSON (R), 9/11 COMMISSION MEMBER: Could that have prevented 911? We don't know, but that failure is there.
KING: All the more striking, because in 1999, worried about millennium attacks the government had pumped together to confront al Qaeda threats. Information about terrorism flowed widely and abundantly. The flow from the FBI was particularly remarkable because the FBI, at other times, shared almost no information.
Attacks were thwarted. The nation celebrated peacefully. And, the report says, the government relaxed. Counterterrorism went back to being a secret preserve. So secret, the commission says presidents Clinton and Bush were not given the full picture of al Qaeda's capabilities and hatred.
BOB KERREY (D), 9/11 COMMISSION MEMBER: How in God's name are you supposed to imagine a threat if the facts are being withheld from you?
KING: In the summer of 2001, CIA Director George Tenet warned the system was blinking red, al Qaeda was poised to strike.
The acting head of the FBI arranged a national conference call but did not task field offices to try to determine whether any plots were being considered within the United States.
And while Tenet was raising alarms, not everyone was convinced. Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz questioned the reporting.
Lots of specifics about what went wrong but a more cautious approach on the question of who's to blame?
(on camera) The commission says it would be wrong to single out one person or one government agency for blame, but that a number of senior government officials, including the congress and the two most recent presidents share the responsibility.
John King, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HEMMER: In our next hour here, we'll talk about that report with 9/11 commission member Bob Kerrey. He is in our studios here in the 8 a.m. Eastern hour -- Heidi?
COLLINS: President Bush has said he welcomes the 9/11 commission report, but he has not said he welcomes all of its suggestions.
Fran Townsend is the assistant to the president for homeland security. She is with us this morning from the White House.
Good morning to you, Ms. Townsend. Thanks again for being with us.
FRAN TOWNSEND, PRES. ASST. HOMELAND SECURITY: Good morning, Heidi.
COLLINS: The big question, of course, is what happens next? Talk about exactly what the president is supportive of and what he is not supportive of with regard to these recommendations?
TOWNSEND: You know, Amy, the report was issued yesterday, and so we're going through it. White House staff and various agencies within the administration are pouring through it. The fact is, by and large this is -- we view the commission's report as making the case for the administrations current approach to counterterrorism. Many of the policies and recommendations that are in the commission's report are already either in full force or in the process of being fully implemented.
In particular, we're going to have to look at the recommendations for an intelligence czar. But the fact is, this president is a reformer.
He undertook the most comprehensive reorganization of federal government since 1947. He has said he's committed to further intelligence reform. He's already begun increasing the intelligence agency's budgets. And I think you can expect to see a decision and some action fairly quickly.
COLLINS: All right. Well, talking about blame now -- of course, the panel did not assign blame. But the chairman of the 9/11 commission, Tom Kean actually said that both presidents, meaning Clinton and Bush shared some of that blame, if you will, that they could have done more.
Does the president think that he could have done more?
TOWNSEND: The answer, Heidi is when we're assigning blame, we ought to be assigning it to Osama bin Laden and the al Qaeda network. The fact is, there is -- there were deep institutional flaws. That's what the commission said. I think that's right. The president thinks that's right. And we've already undertaken many reforms to fix that.
The terrorist threat integration center now brings all of that information in to one place so we can understand the threats. The president had received 35 briefings on al Qaeda threats mostly focused overseas. It was his focus on the homeland when he received, and in response to that interest, that the 36th presidential daily briefing on al Qaeda focused on the homeland.
The president understands the threat. The president's undertaking reforms to fix the deep institutional failings with things like the transformation of the FBI, the terrorist threat screening center and aviation security measures that are already in place.
COLLINS: All right. Well, as I'm sure you're aware, after the report, which the Democratic challenger John Kerry did seem to point the finger in his direction, President Bush's direction, a little bit more directly.
If you will just listen to this, he said, "Unfortunately this administration has had an ongoing war between the state department, the defense department, the White House. People have been at odds. Everybody knows it. They'll deny it, but everybody does know. And the fact is, that it has created a struggle that has delayed our ability to move forward."
Is that true?
TOWNSEND: That's absolutely untrue.
You know, I have to tell you, I work with those agencies. I help to coordinate them on these specific issues. And I will tell you on no -- unlike any other issue, the agencies have come together to make these reforms.
You know, the president has taken three years and instituted many of the recommendations that, as the report points out, were the result of neglect and weakness over the course of more than 10 years, and both Republican and Democratic administrations.
COLLINS: Fran Townsend, assistant to the president for homeland security. We certainly appreciate your time this morning. Thank you.
TOWNSEND: Thank you.
HEMMER: Fifteen minutes past the hour.
First check into the headlines now with Fredricka Whitfield. Good morning to you at the CNN Center.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning on this Friday, Bill.
The military says a roadside bomb has killed two U.S. soldiers and injured a third in Iraq. The bomb ripped through a military convoy in the city of Samarra north of Baghdad.
And in Fallujah, U.S.-led forces conducted a precision strike on about a dozen suspects with ties to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. It's unclear if any of the militants were killed or wounded.
In Afghanistan, there are reports that as many as four American soldiers may have been seriously wounded in a car bomb blast. The attack took place on a U.S. convoy on a road between Kandahar and a base on the outskirts of the city. Violence in the country is on the increase ahead of the planned October elections.
In California, jurors in the Scott Peterson double murder case were removed from the courtroom during a heated debate over a strand of hair. Lawyers argued yesterday about the admissibility of the hair apparently found with a pair of pliers on Peterson's boat.
The court is in recess today. More testimony expected on Monday.
There's been a reversal in the Kobe Bryant sexual assault case. The judge now says findings from a physical exam of Bryant hours after he was first accused will be allowed to be used at trial.
That reverses an earlier decision which would have suppressed those results. The reversal came after Bryant's defense filed notice that it would introduce the evidence.
And finally, the former husband of U.S. Olympian Marion Jones is claiming she used banned performance-enhancing drugs. The San Francisco chronicle quotes C.J. Hunter as saying Jones was using the drugs when she won five medals at the 2000 Sydney Olympics. Hunter also claims to have personally injected Jones with banned substances.
Jones, who will compete in Athens next month, has denied ever using drugs.
Bill, back to you.
HEMMER: That could get nasty for both of them.
Thanks, Fredricka.
Mark Hacking still has the support of his missing wife's family despite the lies he told about going to medical school. Hundreds of people now searching the area around a Salt Lake City park since Monday, that's when Hacking first reported his wife Lori was missing.
For us this morning here's Kimberly Osias back in Salt Lake.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KIMBERLY OSIAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): To friends, 27- year-old Lori Hacking seemed to have it all: a business career of her own, a baby on the way and a loving husband who said he was following family footsteps and heading to medical school.
REBECCA CARROLL, FRIEND OF MISSING JOGGER: She had no idea. We had no idea. It's just -- it's so hard to believe that -- how could he pull that off for all of this time?
OSIAS: Lori's best friend, Rebecca Carroll, says Mark Hacking told Lori that he had graduated from college and was going on to med school, but all of that was lie after lie. She says the pair even visited several North Carolina campuses.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Along 11th avenue -- 11th avenue is, you know, the jogging route that goes...
OSIAS: Carroll and dozens of other volunteers continue to search today where Lori was last seen heading out for a run just before dawn Monday. Police have seized both of the couples' cars as well as a dumpster and some bedding.
At this point, there are no suspects in the case, but police are calling Mark Hacking a person of interest and have questioned him several times.
DET. DWAYNE BAIRD, SALT LAKE CITY POLICE: We have to look at everything that he's told us with some speculation; but, you know, we want to reserve judgment at this point.
OSIAS: As for Mark Hacking's whereabouts, family members say he's under a doctor's care in a local psychiatric hospital.
DOUGLAS HACKING, MARK HACKING'S FATHER: He wishes he could be out here going door to door, beating the brush and whatever he could do. He's just so incapacitated with his grieving that he's just not able to be here. OSIAS: They say he would never do anything to hurt his now missing wife.
Kimberly Osias, CNN, Salt Lake City.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HEMMER: Coming up in a few minutes here on AMERICAN MORNING much more on this. We'll talk with a very close friend of the missing jogger, a coworker, a fellow jogger herself, someone who knows the daily routine for the Hacking family. We'll have that for you.
COLLINS: Time now for the "Cafferty File" and "Question of the Day."
CAFFERTY: Good morning. Thank you.
The 9/11 commission report is out, so what happens next? Well, apparently nothing.
Congress says it just won't be able to address the recommendations of this report until some time next year. No time left this year. Legislative agenda's already full.
Excuse me? Full of what? What agenda could possibly take precedence over acting on recommendations that might help prevent terrorists from murdering us?
And who sets the agenda? Why, congress does, of course. When they wanted to stop everything a few weeks ago and debate a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage, no problem. Everything else was put aside and they took that up.
And you can be sure they'll be plenty of time for recess and breaks and, of course, all-important campaigning for their re- election. But no time to act on the 9/11 report until next year? Absolutely outrageous.
Here's the question. What's should congress do about the 9/11 report and its recommendations?
am@CNN.com.
Unbelievable.
COLLINS: All right, Jack. Thanks so much for that.
CAFFERTY: All right.
COLLINS: We're going to check the forecast now. Chad Myers is standing by at the CNN Center with the very latest for us.
Hi, Chad. Happy Friday to you.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Happy Friday to you, too, Heidi.
(WEATHER BREAK)
MYERS: Heidi, back to you.
COLLINS: OK. Maybe it's the other shore that some of us are going to, though. So we're good. Thanks, Chad.
Still to come, yesterday it was eBay. And today it's another popular Web company that's expected to have a rough ride on Wall Street. We're "Minding Your Business."
HEMMER: Also more on that 9/11 report -- there could be some major changes ahead for the U.S. military. Barbara Starr is tracking that in a moment.
COLLINS: Plus, we'll talk to a close friend of Lori Hacking and ask her about some of the bizarre developments regarding the missing woman's husband.
It's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: Welcome back, everyone. Twenty-five minutes past the hour.
Microsoft in the spotlight again today.
Plus are Amazon share holders in for a rough ride?
Carrie Lee has it all at the Nasdaq, working for Andy today "Minding Your Business."
Good morning.
CARRIE LEE, CNN FINANCIAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Bill. Good morning to you.
Well remember earlier this week, Microsoft said it was going to give back $75 billion in cash, giving that back to shareholders? Well now we're getting an idea of how much that's going to cost the company.
Last night after the close of trading, Microsoft reported its fourth quarter results beating the street expectations on sales, up 15 percent but missing profit estimates by a penny.
And the company is lowering its profit forecast for this year, in part because of that massive dividend and stock buyback plan announced earlier. So Microsoft stock was lower by about 2 percent in the after hours session and looks like the stock could see some pressure today.
Also amazon.com missing the profit estimate as well on Wall Street for the second quarter as well as for the full year. Amazon did see stronger sales, aggressive pricing, free shipping incentives helping things there. But still, weakness in this report causing amazon.com stock to lose ground by about 5 percent last night. So looks like both of these companies could put some pressure on techs today.
We did see a little bit of buying at the close of trading yesterday. The Dow up 4 percent. The Nasdaq up about 14. But looks like we will see stocks under water, at least in the early going this morning.
Bill, technology issues looking especially weak. That's the latest. Back to you.
HEMMER: All right. We will watch. Thanks, Carrie. Two hours from the open there.
Buy some shares in Lance Armstrong. He didn't just win the latest stage of the tour, he blew away the competition with an absolutely stunning push at the finish.
Armstrong now in a position to win a record-breaking sixth Tour de France, three stages left. They say it might be his last. Who knows? We'll find out after, well -- well after Sunday when the race is complete.
Yesterday with a mile left and 127-mile stage, he tapped one of his teammates on the shoulder, said, you want to win this thing? Go for it. I'll let you.
Well, he took off. The Germans caught him with about one-third of a mile left, Lance Armstrong puts down the sunglasses takes a sip of water and just buckles down.
COLLINS: He goes -- I mean it's just -- he's totally in control. It's unbelievable.
HEMMER: Catches him by half a tire at the finish line. Unbelievable. Go, Lance.
COLLINS: It's not about the bike, remember.
HEMMER: Not about the bike.
COLLINS: All right. Still to come this morning -- T.G.I.F. It's time for "90-Second Pop."
Smart move or big, fat risk? Kirstie Alley is back with a show called "Fat Actress."
Plus Halle Berry reborn as a cat and Matt Damon just plain Bourne-again. It's "Catwoman" verses "The Bourne Supremacy" in "90- Second Pop."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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