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American Morning
Hurricane Ivan Moves Through Gulf of Mexico; Demise of Federal Assault Weapons Ban Fueling Political Debate
Aired September 14, 2004 - 08:00 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.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Hurricane Ivan loses some of its punch as it roars past Cuba, but not much. The category four storm now heading toward the U.S. coast.
A murderous day in Iraq. Forty-seven people killed in Baghdad, 12 dead in Ba'qubah and more than 100 wounded in a series of attacks.
And it's September at the ball park when relief pitchers go nuts. A wild brawl between players and fans on this AMERICAN MORNING.
ANNOUNCER: From the CNN broadcast center in New York, this is AMERICAN MORNING with Bill Hemmer and Soledad O'Brien.
COLLINS: Good morning, everybody.
I'm Heidi Collins.
Soledad is still at home with her little baby boys.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: And Let me tell you what, they are as cute as the day is long.
COLLINS: I know.
HEMMER: I got to see them last night so, hope they're resting, or trying to, anyway.
COLLINS: I hope the mom and dad are resting, too, yes.
HEMMER: That's exactly right.
Some of the other headlines this hour.
President Bush and Senator Kerry back out on the campaign trail again today. We will check in in a moment on the campaigns as we steam toward November 2.
COLLINS: Also, Sanjay Gupta is going to be us talking about potentially deadly blood clots that can come from sitting on long airplane flights. Apparently there are some steps passengers, of course, can take to protect themselves. Get up and move around a bit, that's for sure.
HEMMER: Also, Jack Cafferty back -- good morning.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Put your feet up in the air. HEMMER: Yes? That's one.
CAFFERTY: Coming up in the "Cafferty File," how to put time stuck in traffic to good use.
And we'll tell you about a new ban on sex in California, but it's not what you think.
HEMMER: It never is.
CAFFERTY: Not even close.
HEMMER: Thank you, Jack.
The top stories at the top of the hour now with Daryn Kagan in the CNN Center.
And significant news yet again out of Iraq -- hey, Daryn.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Bill, good morning.
A bloody morning, in fact, in Iraq. Gunmen in Ba'qubah attacked a police minibus this morning. These images are just coming into us here at CNN. At least 12 officers were killed. Earlier, insurgents launched a car bomb attack on a police station in Baghdad. Crews are now on the scene there. At least 47 people were killed. More than 100 others are wounded.
There's a new plan this morning to make, to actually try to make Iraq safer. Sources say the Bush administration will ask Congress today for permission to shift nearly $3.5 billion of Iraqi aid away from reconstruction. Instead, that money would be used for security needs and to stimulate Iraq's economic growth.
Here in the U.S. about two hours from now, hearings will begin for the nomination of Porter Goss as the new CIA chief. Goss is an ex-CIA operative and retiring Republican congressman from Florida. He is President Bush's choice for the job. Some critics question whether the 65-year-old Goss might be too close to the agency to carry out widespread reforms.
From the world of education, the United States is falling behind other countries in having a high school educated public. In fact, the U.S. now ranks tenth in a new comparison of 30 industrialized countries. A new study shows that high school completion rates in countries like Norway and the Czech Republic rose faster than here in the U.S. That report relies mostly on data from 2002 and 2001.
Back to you in New York.
COLLINS: All right, Daryn, thanks so much for that.
Hurricane Ivan has its sights set on the United States Gulf Coast. Its winds weakening just a little bit in the last hour, making it a strong category four hurricane. Ivan spent much of yesterday pounding the western tip of Cuba, damaging homes and businesses there, and ruining livelihoods.
Here's a look at the latest images of Ivan right now as he moves through the Gulf of Mexico. The hurricane has maximum sustained winds of nearly 155 miles per hour, with much stronger gusts. Ivan will likely make U.S. landfall somewhere between New Orleans and Florida's western panhandle late Wednesday or early Thursday morning. Ivan is already to blame for more than 60 deaths in the Caribbean.
In Panama City Beach, they're expecting Ivan the Terrible to be just that when the hurricane comes ashore some time tomorrow night or early Thursday.
Russell Markert manages a beachside bar and restaurant called Sharky's.
He joins us now.
We're looking at that surf behind you there.
How are you feeling about things as you look around and feel what it's like outside today?
RUSSELL MARKERT, MANAGER OF SHARKY'S: Well, it's kind of concerning. But we've still got a ways off before it hits, so there's plenty of time.
COLLINS: What sort of preparations are you taking, though?
MARKERT: Pretty much common sense. Taking off all the beach chairs, etc., anything from the beach area up to the restaurant perimeter and then from there clearing the decks -- tables, chairs. And then after that, items like stage lighting, TVs, computers, any kind of signs, memorabilia, checking loose boards, the roofing, the works. This is a pretty serious storm so we're taking it pretty seriously.
COLLINS: Yes, boy, that's for sure. And you sound like you have experience, in fact, I know you do, back in 1995, with hurricane Opal. Sharky's was hit. I think you have some photographs.
Can you show us those and tell us a little bit about that experience for you?
MARKERT: Right. Well, I wasn't here for Opal. I went through a couple of hurricanes early 60s, Cleo and Dora down in south Florida, and I went through Gilbert and Alicia in Texas. But Opal did some pretty serious damage all up and down this coast here. And people remember it. We've obviously got Andrew in mind, as well. So it's a storm to be taken pretty seriously.
COLLINS: Absolutely.
Well, you do live in the area, though, obviously.
MARKERT: Yes.
COLLINS: What are your thoughts about evacuating? Are you going to go?
MARKERT: It depends. My apartment is about seven miles away from the restaurant and it's already been ordered into evacuation. So we'll see. If it comes ashore a three or below, as projected, then I'm going to ride it out. But if it stays a four or a five, I'm out of here.
COLLINS: How did you come up with that determination? How are you going to know what it really feels like?
MARKERT: Just listening to the local reports. I mean we've got the radios, etc. So we're going to monitor it right up until the end. We've got about 36 hours, maybe 38 hours, before landfall. So, Sharky's has been there for 18 years and we want it to be there for a while longer. And if I can be there to affect any kind of repairs needed, then I'll hang out. But a category four and five, when you're getting up above 140 miles an hour, it's nothing to mess with.
COLLINS: All right, well, hopefully we'll check in with you and see how you weathered the storm.
We certainly wish you the best of luck.
Russell Markert, manager of Sharky's, thanks so much this morning.
MARKERT: Thank you, Heidi.
HEMMER: It could be a very different scene there in 48 hours.
Chad Myers at the CNN Center watching things now -- Chad, you have the newest coordinates, right, out seven minutes ago.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes.
HEMMER: What do you have?
MYERS: Actually, we had them a little bit ago, as well. The storm has obviously shifted to the northwest, but now it's down to a category four. And I say that with a little bit of enthusiasm, because now it's 155, 155 miles per hour and 156 is the threshold to get to a category five. So it's right there. Don't let this, don't let that fool you.
Here is the eye of the storm right here. Here is Cancun. Here's Cuba. The storm did move right over the western side of Cuba last night, now easier to see the eye fall here and the eye wall now in much better shape than it was just a couple of hours ago.
Here are the very latest -- 23.1, 86.1; winds at 155 and a category four, again, category five is one mile per hour stronger.
There's the storm. Hurricane warnings down here where the storm obviously still is, Cancun down to Havana. But then that hurricane watch all the way from Morgan City right to St. Mark's, including Panama City, Pensacola. And New Orleans, you cannot let your guard down on this one. I know we've been talking about all these spots here in Florida, but the storm is headed right to you. In fact, it has to turn to the right to miss you. If it doesn't turn, then you are obviously in the eye wall.
The forecast is for that turn, but this thing has not acted responsibly the entire time. It's gone left when it was supposed to go right and vice versa. So we have to keep watching Ivan as far west as Morgan City, Louisiana.
HEMMER: Hey, Chad, a quick question for you.
MYERS: Sure, Bill.
HEMMER: Before you were just talking about the storm surge, what, Opal, was 17 feet, waves higher than that.
Is the storm surge more of a threat on the Gulf Coast than it is on the Atlantic side?
MYERS: It is because of the way this storm is going to be making landfall. The storms that we had were kind of glancing blows. They came in at an angle then they turned. Charley came in at an angle and then it went straight across at that big diagonal.
This thing is going to come right smack onshore and so all of the water that's piling up under Ivan will come right onshore, either right in Biloxi, Mobile, right into Pensacola. And all those folks know that storm surge in the Gulf is serious. The water is a little shallower and so are the bays. When that water comes up, it comes up in a really big hurry -- Bill.
HEMMER: Yes, and based on history, too, it's the biggest killer, too, that storm surge.
MYERS: Yes.
HEMMER: Chad, thanks.
MYERS: You're welcome.
HEMMER: Talk to you again in about 30 minutes.
MYERS: All right.
HEMMER: All right -- Heidi.
COLLINS: Now to Italy, where lava has been flowing from the Mt. Etna volcano on the island of Sicily. On Sunday, glowing chunks of lava were seen shooting high into the sky. Luckily, though, no humans are at risk. Mt. Etna is Europe's most active volcano. Its last major eruption was nearly two years ago.
There has also been volcanic activity this week in Japan, Indonesia and the Philippines. Hmmm, I wonder what's going on there.
HEMMER: We saw that on videotape, too. COLLINS: Yes.
Still to come this morning, a family feud may be brewing in the Scott Peterson trial. Why Peterson's parents had to have a police escort into the courtroom yesterday.
HEMMER: Also in a moment, seeing Oprah may be the next best thing to winning the lottery. An unbelievable giveaway yesterday. We'll have it for you.
COLLINS: And President Bush embarks on a 17-state campaign blitz. But could a key issue come back to haunt him? We'll talk to the Bush campaign manager ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: The demise of a decade-long federal assault weapons ban is fueling the political debate. The moratorium expired without action from Congress or President Bush, providing plenty of campaign ammunition for his Democratic opponent.
Frank Buckley live now in Milwaukee this morning with the Kerry campaign -- Frank, good morning.
FRANK BUCKLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Heidi.
President Bush had said he was willing to sign an extension of the assault weapons ban, but he did very little to prod the Republican Congress to do something about it. And yesterday, Senator John Kerry jumped all over that.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
BUCKLEY (voice-over): Senator John Kerry said the death of the assault weapons ban will make it easier for terrorists to obtain them and he blamed the president for allowing the law to expire.
SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: So when it became time to lead, when it became time to stand up and ask America to do what was right, George Bush's powerful friends in the gun lobby asked him to look the other way and he couldn't resist and he said sure.
BUCKLEY: Kerry was joined by Sarah Brady, the wife of former Ronald Reagan press secretary James Brady, who was wounded and paralyzed during the assassination attempt on President Reagan in 1981.
SARAH BRADY, GUN CONTROL ACTIVIST: George W. Bush, shame on you for making this decision.
BUCKLEY: Senator Kerry, appearing before the National Police Officers Association, which endorsed him, also argued that President Bush was being disingenuous in claiming he would have signed an extension of the weapons ban if Congress had only approved it.
KERRY: Well, why didn't you ask, Mr. President? Why didn't you fight for it? Why didn't you push for it?
BUCKLEY: It is an issue with potential resonance among swing voters. Two thirds of Americans supported the extension of the ban, according to the recent University of Pennsylvania Annenberg Election Survey.
For Senator Kerry, it provided an opportunity to try to make the case that America would be safer if he was the president.
KERRY: Today, George Bush chose to make the job of terrorists easier and make the job of America's police officers harder and that's just plain wrong.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
BUCKLEY: Scott McClellan, the White House spokesman, said these were false attacks from Senator John Kerry given the president's stated willingness to sign the extension of the ban. He also said the president was committed to reducing gun violence. He cited as evidence of that a 68 percent increase in gun crime prosecutions during the Bush administration.
Now, today Senator Kerry hopes to once again put President Bush on the defensive, this time on the issue of health care. We are at a senior citizens center in Milwaukee, where today Senator Kerry will talk about the effects of rising health care costs, specifically on seniors. He calls this the senior squeeze. He'll be talking about that here in Milwaukee and later also in Toledo, Ohio -- Heidi.
COLLINS: Oh, boy, talk about battleground states.
Do you think, Frank, that John Kerry can win the election, then, without winning Wisconsin?
BUCKLEY: Well, the conventional wisdom suggests that it'll be very difficult for Senator Kerry to win without Wisconsin. In 2000, Al Gore won here by the slimmest of margins, 5,708 votes. Democrats, this state has gone Democrat five out of the last seven presidential elections. So it'll be awfully tough. But the flip side is that if Senator Kerry picks up an Ohio or picks up a Florida, that that would offset Wisconsin.
So it's still too close to call -- Heidi.
COLLINS: Yes. Polls from earlier this morning showing John Kerry has got some work to do in that state, for sure.
Frank Buckley, thanks so much -- Bill.
HEMMER: Marc Racicot is the chairman of the Bush-Cheney reelection campaign.
He's my guest now live at the campaign headquarters in Arlington, Virginia.
Welcome back. Good morning, Governor.
MARC RACICOT, CHAIRMAN, BUSH-CHENEY 2004: Good morning.
HEMMER: Take the issue of the assault weapons ban that Senator Kerry just raised. He says that it now allows terrorists, it makes their job easier.
What does the Bush campaign say on that?
RACICOT: Well, that's substantially ignoring the facts of the matter, Bill. The bottom line is this president has committed an unprecedented amount of resources to gun violence efforts, to abate gun violence in this country. We have a 68 percent increase, as a result of billions -- or a billion dollars being committed to this effort, a 68 percent increase in the number of convictions. We have a 30-year low in the violent crime victimization rate as a consequence of that. Youth violence is down, the lowest it's been in 22 years.
This president has been very concerned about gun violence. You noted his position earlier in your broadcast on the ban itself.
So this is an effort that Senator Kerry is undertaking, I think, to invent an issue where there isn't one. Simply, the president's record is to the contrary.
HEMMER: Let me, if I could, I apologize for the interruption, let me just go back to Senator Kerry's words from the piece from Frank Buckley.
"Why didn't you ask for it, Mr. President? Why didn't you push for it?"
RACICOT: Well, you know, Senator Kerry is a member of Congress. And, of course, Senator Kerry has, as a matter of province of his office, the ability to introduce and carry through and follow through with legislation at any point in time. I don't think we saw Senator Kerry involved in this particular debate at all until yesterday. And so the president's position has been clear from the very beginning in reference to the ban. And he's also been very, very clear in allocating resources, unprecedented amounts of resources, to reducing gun violence. And his efforts have been very, very successful.
HEMMER: But did the White House push for an extension or not?
RACICOT: I think that the bottom line is the president said all along that if the ban passed Congress, he would certainly endorse it and support it.
HEMMER: Christopher Shays, a Republican congressman, said this, on the screen for our viewers: "My leadership is playing Russian roulette with this issue. There will be, without question, a horrific crime committed with an assault weapon, then every member of Congress is going to ask themselves where were they on this issue."
Do you fear that Christopher Shays' words may come true to reality?
RACICOT: Well, you know, I do not because I think that there's been an unbelievable amount of attention and effort on behalf of the administration to the issue of gun violence in this country. You know, interestingly, Bill, just recall for your own memory how much discussion of this issue has there been? While the administration has been working very effectively to address this with programming and funding and gun prosecutions, a 68 percent increase in the number of gun prosecutions over the course of the time that the president has been in office.
Since the last administration, you ask yourself for a moment whoever has talked about this issue until yesterday? Only the administration has been focused on this issue until yesterday.
HEMMER: Let's move away from this issue for a moment.
A story in the "Washington Post" this morning talking about the agenda laid out during the Republican convention here in New York. It says, "The price tag on this would be in excess of $3 trillion. This," the article points out, "that the White House has accused John Kerry of spending proposals in excess of $2 trillion."
The number of $3 trillion, does that sound right to you?
RACICOT: No, it doesn't sound right to me. Of course, the proposals have not been scored. I mean some of these things are incredibly speculative. The president is committed to reducing the deficit, as he has said, over the course of five years. He intends to live with that commitment and is committed to that particular effort. The bottom line is some of these proposals that have been scored by the newspaper, in essence, it was an analysis piece that was done, I think are yet subject to scrutiny. And you'll see the cost of these quantified at a time when they actually become proposals.
But this notion that somehow we're going to explode the deficit is just absolutely wrong. The president remains committed to his effort to reduce it by -- over the next five years.
HEMMER: If it's not $3 trillion, then, what is it closer to, if you can't get exacts?
RACICOT: Well, think about -- first of all, you have to compare it to what it is that Senator Kerry is talking about with his health care plan. His health care plan yesterday was scored by an independent group as a $1.5 trillion over the next 10 years. And that, of course, doesn't take into account the fact that it's going to lead toward a government run system that tells you what you can buy in terms of prescriptions or what kinds of services you can secure.
The president wanted to proceed forward on medical liability reform that would save as much as $108 billion a year. That's a trillion dollars over 10 years.
And his proposals that he has focused upon, with association health care plans and tax credits for businesses that encourage small employers to secure coverage for their employees, you're talking about something that is substantially less and can be, I think, addressed within the budget, as the president has indicated.
So the fact is that Senator Kerry's proposals explode the budget way beyond what has ever been discussed about the president's.
HEMMER: All right. We have to leave it there. But clearly we have a lot more to talk about, and 50 days or thereabouts to do it in.
Thank you, Marc Racicot.
RACICOT: I look forward to it.
Thank you.
HEMMER: All right, thank you -- Heidi.
COLLINS: First Lady Laura Bush is speaking out about documents used in a CBS report questioning whether President Bush fulfilled his National Guard service. Some experts have questioned the authenticity of the documents and the first lady voiced her own opinion in a radio interview yesterday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM RADIO IOWA)
LAURA BUSH, FIRST LADY OF THE UNITED STATES: You know, they probably are altered and they probably are forgeries. And I think that's terrible, really. I think it's a terrible -- I mean that's actually one of the risks that you take when you run for public office or when you're in the public eye for any reason. And that's -- obviously a lot of things are said about you that aren't true. And that's the drawback. That's the one thing that's not great about serving in public office.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: The "Washington Post" today says an expert used in the original CBS report only authenticated the signature on the documents, not the documents themselves. CBS News is standing by its story and critics who believe the documents are forged have pointed out the use of superscripts and proportional spacing in the documents. But in its broadcast last night, CBS cited an expert who said such technology did exist in 1972, when the documents would have been made.
HEMMER: About 24 minutes past the hour.
Paging the good doctor in a moment. Here Sanjay is back. What can you do to prevent a painful and potentially deadly side effect of flying coach? Back in a moment on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Jack is back now with the Question of the Day once again.
CAFFERTY: Thank you, Heidi. Texas Ranger relief pitcher and idiot Frank Francisco got into an altercation with some Oakland As fans last night. They were talking a little trash in the ninth inning, probably had a taste. He picked up a folding chair, threw it into the stands, hit a guy in the head, broke a woman's nose. This is very mature.
So we're asking this morning what should happen to the baseball player who threw the chair into the stands?
John writes from Oxford: "The fans are no longer there to enjoy a ball game. They're nasty, rude, obscene and so are their children. When I ask them to stop swearing in front of my kids, I get threatened. I bet you dollars to donuts the fans had been drinking beer for the entire game."
Megan in Akron, Ohio: "He should be charged with assault and battery, suspended from the game with no pay while he serves jail time."
Mike writes: "What would happen to the fan who threw a chair from the stands and hit a player? The penalty should be the same whichever direction the chair flies. Being an athlete doesn't put you above the law and it's time these players realize they're just like the rest of us, only they have higher paying jobs."
And with that in mind, Paul writes this in Pennsylvania: "Today's excessively overpaid, pampered athletes no longer seem to appreciate the fact that the fans pay their salaries. Fortunately, the player didn't seriously injure the woman by smacking her with his wallet."
And Don -- not bad.
And Don in Roanoke, Virginia: "Baseball will be very stern with the chair thrower. They'll make him put it back where he found it. He has to learn to throw verbal chairs, as Jack does. Besides, it's the first strike this guy's thrown in weeks."
Tough. A tough crowd.
HEMMER: Tough, tough, tough stuff.
Remember the guy the last way -- the Chicago White Sox game last year, remember? The father and son...
CAFFERTY: When they ran on the field?
HEMMER: Yes, jumped the wall there and started pounding on the guy.
CAFFERTY: Yes. Oh, that's right, and beat up the first base coach or something.
HEMMER: Oh my gosh.
COLLINS: Not cool, either. CAFFERTY: They ought to quit serving booze at these things. That'd go a long way toward stopping this stuff.
HEMMER: The seventh inning rule, right?
CAFFERTY: I mean that doesn't excuse the player throwing a chair. But I mean the fans do get liquored up and get a little obnoxious.
HEMMER: A little bit.
CAFFERTY: Yes.
HEMMER: Thank you, Jack.
In a moment here, bracing for Ivan yet again. We'll tell you where it's headed and talk to the mayor of one city that might be right there in the line of this storm.
Also, an apparent family feud in the Scott Peterson case leads to a new seating arrangement inside the courtroom.
We'll let you know what's happening there in a moment when we continue.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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Aired September 14, 2004 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Hurricane Ivan loses some of its punch as it roars past Cuba, but not much. The category four storm now heading toward the U.S. coast.
A murderous day in Iraq. Forty-seven people killed in Baghdad, 12 dead in Ba'qubah and more than 100 wounded in a series of attacks.
And it's September at the ball park when relief pitchers go nuts. A wild brawl between players and fans on this AMERICAN MORNING.
ANNOUNCER: From the CNN broadcast center in New York, this is AMERICAN MORNING with Bill Hemmer and Soledad O'Brien.
COLLINS: Good morning, everybody.
I'm Heidi Collins.
Soledad is still at home with her little baby boys.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: And Let me tell you what, they are as cute as the day is long.
COLLINS: I know.
HEMMER: I got to see them last night so, hope they're resting, or trying to, anyway.
COLLINS: I hope the mom and dad are resting, too, yes.
HEMMER: That's exactly right.
Some of the other headlines this hour.
President Bush and Senator Kerry back out on the campaign trail again today. We will check in in a moment on the campaigns as we steam toward November 2.
COLLINS: Also, Sanjay Gupta is going to be us talking about potentially deadly blood clots that can come from sitting on long airplane flights. Apparently there are some steps passengers, of course, can take to protect themselves. Get up and move around a bit, that's for sure.
HEMMER: Also, Jack Cafferty back -- good morning.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Put your feet up in the air. HEMMER: Yes? That's one.
CAFFERTY: Coming up in the "Cafferty File," how to put time stuck in traffic to good use.
And we'll tell you about a new ban on sex in California, but it's not what you think.
HEMMER: It never is.
CAFFERTY: Not even close.
HEMMER: Thank you, Jack.
The top stories at the top of the hour now with Daryn Kagan in the CNN Center.
And significant news yet again out of Iraq -- hey, Daryn.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Bill, good morning.
A bloody morning, in fact, in Iraq. Gunmen in Ba'qubah attacked a police minibus this morning. These images are just coming into us here at CNN. At least 12 officers were killed. Earlier, insurgents launched a car bomb attack on a police station in Baghdad. Crews are now on the scene there. At least 47 people were killed. More than 100 others are wounded.
There's a new plan this morning to make, to actually try to make Iraq safer. Sources say the Bush administration will ask Congress today for permission to shift nearly $3.5 billion of Iraqi aid away from reconstruction. Instead, that money would be used for security needs and to stimulate Iraq's economic growth.
Here in the U.S. about two hours from now, hearings will begin for the nomination of Porter Goss as the new CIA chief. Goss is an ex-CIA operative and retiring Republican congressman from Florida. He is President Bush's choice for the job. Some critics question whether the 65-year-old Goss might be too close to the agency to carry out widespread reforms.
From the world of education, the United States is falling behind other countries in having a high school educated public. In fact, the U.S. now ranks tenth in a new comparison of 30 industrialized countries. A new study shows that high school completion rates in countries like Norway and the Czech Republic rose faster than here in the U.S. That report relies mostly on data from 2002 and 2001.
Back to you in New York.
COLLINS: All right, Daryn, thanks so much for that.
Hurricane Ivan has its sights set on the United States Gulf Coast. Its winds weakening just a little bit in the last hour, making it a strong category four hurricane. Ivan spent much of yesterday pounding the western tip of Cuba, damaging homes and businesses there, and ruining livelihoods.
Here's a look at the latest images of Ivan right now as he moves through the Gulf of Mexico. The hurricane has maximum sustained winds of nearly 155 miles per hour, with much stronger gusts. Ivan will likely make U.S. landfall somewhere between New Orleans and Florida's western panhandle late Wednesday or early Thursday morning. Ivan is already to blame for more than 60 deaths in the Caribbean.
In Panama City Beach, they're expecting Ivan the Terrible to be just that when the hurricane comes ashore some time tomorrow night or early Thursday.
Russell Markert manages a beachside bar and restaurant called Sharky's.
He joins us now.
We're looking at that surf behind you there.
How are you feeling about things as you look around and feel what it's like outside today?
RUSSELL MARKERT, MANAGER OF SHARKY'S: Well, it's kind of concerning. But we've still got a ways off before it hits, so there's plenty of time.
COLLINS: What sort of preparations are you taking, though?
MARKERT: Pretty much common sense. Taking off all the beach chairs, etc., anything from the beach area up to the restaurant perimeter and then from there clearing the decks -- tables, chairs. And then after that, items like stage lighting, TVs, computers, any kind of signs, memorabilia, checking loose boards, the roofing, the works. This is a pretty serious storm so we're taking it pretty seriously.
COLLINS: Yes, boy, that's for sure. And you sound like you have experience, in fact, I know you do, back in 1995, with hurricane Opal. Sharky's was hit. I think you have some photographs.
Can you show us those and tell us a little bit about that experience for you?
MARKERT: Right. Well, I wasn't here for Opal. I went through a couple of hurricanes early 60s, Cleo and Dora down in south Florida, and I went through Gilbert and Alicia in Texas. But Opal did some pretty serious damage all up and down this coast here. And people remember it. We've obviously got Andrew in mind, as well. So it's a storm to be taken pretty seriously.
COLLINS: Absolutely.
Well, you do live in the area, though, obviously.
MARKERT: Yes.
COLLINS: What are your thoughts about evacuating? Are you going to go?
MARKERT: It depends. My apartment is about seven miles away from the restaurant and it's already been ordered into evacuation. So we'll see. If it comes ashore a three or below, as projected, then I'm going to ride it out. But if it stays a four or a five, I'm out of here.
COLLINS: How did you come up with that determination? How are you going to know what it really feels like?
MARKERT: Just listening to the local reports. I mean we've got the radios, etc. So we're going to monitor it right up until the end. We've got about 36 hours, maybe 38 hours, before landfall. So, Sharky's has been there for 18 years and we want it to be there for a while longer. And if I can be there to affect any kind of repairs needed, then I'll hang out. But a category four and five, when you're getting up above 140 miles an hour, it's nothing to mess with.
COLLINS: All right, well, hopefully we'll check in with you and see how you weathered the storm.
We certainly wish you the best of luck.
Russell Markert, manager of Sharky's, thanks so much this morning.
MARKERT: Thank you, Heidi.
HEMMER: It could be a very different scene there in 48 hours.
Chad Myers at the CNN Center watching things now -- Chad, you have the newest coordinates, right, out seven minutes ago.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes.
HEMMER: What do you have?
MYERS: Actually, we had them a little bit ago, as well. The storm has obviously shifted to the northwest, but now it's down to a category four. And I say that with a little bit of enthusiasm, because now it's 155, 155 miles per hour and 156 is the threshold to get to a category five. So it's right there. Don't let this, don't let that fool you.
Here is the eye of the storm right here. Here is Cancun. Here's Cuba. The storm did move right over the western side of Cuba last night, now easier to see the eye fall here and the eye wall now in much better shape than it was just a couple of hours ago.
Here are the very latest -- 23.1, 86.1; winds at 155 and a category four, again, category five is one mile per hour stronger.
There's the storm. Hurricane warnings down here where the storm obviously still is, Cancun down to Havana. But then that hurricane watch all the way from Morgan City right to St. Mark's, including Panama City, Pensacola. And New Orleans, you cannot let your guard down on this one. I know we've been talking about all these spots here in Florida, but the storm is headed right to you. In fact, it has to turn to the right to miss you. If it doesn't turn, then you are obviously in the eye wall.
The forecast is for that turn, but this thing has not acted responsibly the entire time. It's gone left when it was supposed to go right and vice versa. So we have to keep watching Ivan as far west as Morgan City, Louisiana.
HEMMER: Hey, Chad, a quick question for you.
MYERS: Sure, Bill.
HEMMER: Before you were just talking about the storm surge, what, Opal, was 17 feet, waves higher than that.
Is the storm surge more of a threat on the Gulf Coast than it is on the Atlantic side?
MYERS: It is because of the way this storm is going to be making landfall. The storms that we had were kind of glancing blows. They came in at an angle then they turned. Charley came in at an angle and then it went straight across at that big diagonal.
This thing is going to come right smack onshore and so all of the water that's piling up under Ivan will come right onshore, either right in Biloxi, Mobile, right into Pensacola. And all those folks know that storm surge in the Gulf is serious. The water is a little shallower and so are the bays. When that water comes up, it comes up in a really big hurry -- Bill.
HEMMER: Yes, and based on history, too, it's the biggest killer, too, that storm surge.
MYERS: Yes.
HEMMER: Chad, thanks.
MYERS: You're welcome.
HEMMER: Talk to you again in about 30 minutes.
MYERS: All right.
HEMMER: All right -- Heidi.
COLLINS: Now to Italy, where lava has been flowing from the Mt. Etna volcano on the island of Sicily. On Sunday, glowing chunks of lava were seen shooting high into the sky. Luckily, though, no humans are at risk. Mt. Etna is Europe's most active volcano. Its last major eruption was nearly two years ago.
There has also been volcanic activity this week in Japan, Indonesia and the Philippines. Hmmm, I wonder what's going on there.
HEMMER: We saw that on videotape, too. COLLINS: Yes.
Still to come this morning, a family feud may be brewing in the Scott Peterson trial. Why Peterson's parents had to have a police escort into the courtroom yesterday.
HEMMER: Also in a moment, seeing Oprah may be the next best thing to winning the lottery. An unbelievable giveaway yesterday. We'll have it for you.
COLLINS: And President Bush embarks on a 17-state campaign blitz. But could a key issue come back to haunt him? We'll talk to the Bush campaign manager ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: The demise of a decade-long federal assault weapons ban is fueling the political debate. The moratorium expired without action from Congress or President Bush, providing plenty of campaign ammunition for his Democratic opponent.
Frank Buckley live now in Milwaukee this morning with the Kerry campaign -- Frank, good morning.
FRANK BUCKLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Heidi.
President Bush had said he was willing to sign an extension of the assault weapons ban, but he did very little to prod the Republican Congress to do something about it. And yesterday, Senator John Kerry jumped all over that.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
BUCKLEY (voice-over): Senator John Kerry said the death of the assault weapons ban will make it easier for terrorists to obtain them and he blamed the president for allowing the law to expire.
SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: So when it became time to lead, when it became time to stand up and ask America to do what was right, George Bush's powerful friends in the gun lobby asked him to look the other way and he couldn't resist and he said sure.
BUCKLEY: Kerry was joined by Sarah Brady, the wife of former Ronald Reagan press secretary James Brady, who was wounded and paralyzed during the assassination attempt on President Reagan in 1981.
SARAH BRADY, GUN CONTROL ACTIVIST: George W. Bush, shame on you for making this decision.
BUCKLEY: Senator Kerry, appearing before the National Police Officers Association, which endorsed him, also argued that President Bush was being disingenuous in claiming he would have signed an extension of the weapons ban if Congress had only approved it.
KERRY: Well, why didn't you ask, Mr. President? Why didn't you fight for it? Why didn't you push for it?
BUCKLEY: It is an issue with potential resonance among swing voters. Two thirds of Americans supported the extension of the ban, according to the recent University of Pennsylvania Annenberg Election Survey.
For Senator Kerry, it provided an opportunity to try to make the case that America would be safer if he was the president.
KERRY: Today, George Bush chose to make the job of terrorists easier and make the job of America's police officers harder and that's just plain wrong.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
BUCKLEY: Scott McClellan, the White House spokesman, said these were false attacks from Senator John Kerry given the president's stated willingness to sign the extension of the ban. He also said the president was committed to reducing gun violence. He cited as evidence of that a 68 percent increase in gun crime prosecutions during the Bush administration.
Now, today Senator Kerry hopes to once again put President Bush on the defensive, this time on the issue of health care. We are at a senior citizens center in Milwaukee, where today Senator Kerry will talk about the effects of rising health care costs, specifically on seniors. He calls this the senior squeeze. He'll be talking about that here in Milwaukee and later also in Toledo, Ohio -- Heidi.
COLLINS: Oh, boy, talk about battleground states.
Do you think, Frank, that John Kerry can win the election, then, without winning Wisconsin?
BUCKLEY: Well, the conventional wisdom suggests that it'll be very difficult for Senator Kerry to win without Wisconsin. In 2000, Al Gore won here by the slimmest of margins, 5,708 votes. Democrats, this state has gone Democrat five out of the last seven presidential elections. So it'll be awfully tough. But the flip side is that if Senator Kerry picks up an Ohio or picks up a Florida, that that would offset Wisconsin.
So it's still too close to call -- Heidi.
COLLINS: Yes. Polls from earlier this morning showing John Kerry has got some work to do in that state, for sure.
Frank Buckley, thanks so much -- Bill.
HEMMER: Marc Racicot is the chairman of the Bush-Cheney reelection campaign.
He's my guest now live at the campaign headquarters in Arlington, Virginia.
Welcome back. Good morning, Governor.
MARC RACICOT, CHAIRMAN, BUSH-CHENEY 2004: Good morning.
HEMMER: Take the issue of the assault weapons ban that Senator Kerry just raised. He says that it now allows terrorists, it makes their job easier.
What does the Bush campaign say on that?
RACICOT: Well, that's substantially ignoring the facts of the matter, Bill. The bottom line is this president has committed an unprecedented amount of resources to gun violence efforts, to abate gun violence in this country. We have a 68 percent increase, as a result of billions -- or a billion dollars being committed to this effort, a 68 percent increase in the number of convictions. We have a 30-year low in the violent crime victimization rate as a consequence of that. Youth violence is down, the lowest it's been in 22 years.
This president has been very concerned about gun violence. You noted his position earlier in your broadcast on the ban itself.
So this is an effort that Senator Kerry is undertaking, I think, to invent an issue where there isn't one. Simply, the president's record is to the contrary.
HEMMER: Let me, if I could, I apologize for the interruption, let me just go back to Senator Kerry's words from the piece from Frank Buckley.
"Why didn't you ask for it, Mr. President? Why didn't you push for it?"
RACICOT: Well, you know, Senator Kerry is a member of Congress. And, of course, Senator Kerry has, as a matter of province of his office, the ability to introduce and carry through and follow through with legislation at any point in time. I don't think we saw Senator Kerry involved in this particular debate at all until yesterday. And so the president's position has been clear from the very beginning in reference to the ban. And he's also been very, very clear in allocating resources, unprecedented amounts of resources, to reducing gun violence. And his efforts have been very, very successful.
HEMMER: But did the White House push for an extension or not?
RACICOT: I think that the bottom line is the president said all along that if the ban passed Congress, he would certainly endorse it and support it.
HEMMER: Christopher Shays, a Republican congressman, said this, on the screen for our viewers: "My leadership is playing Russian roulette with this issue. There will be, without question, a horrific crime committed with an assault weapon, then every member of Congress is going to ask themselves where were they on this issue."
Do you fear that Christopher Shays' words may come true to reality?
RACICOT: Well, you know, I do not because I think that there's been an unbelievable amount of attention and effort on behalf of the administration to the issue of gun violence in this country. You know, interestingly, Bill, just recall for your own memory how much discussion of this issue has there been? While the administration has been working very effectively to address this with programming and funding and gun prosecutions, a 68 percent increase in the number of gun prosecutions over the course of the time that the president has been in office.
Since the last administration, you ask yourself for a moment whoever has talked about this issue until yesterday? Only the administration has been focused on this issue until yesterday.
HEMMER: Let's move away from this issue for a moment.
A story in the "Washington Post" this morning talking about the agenda laid out during the Republican convention here in New York. It says, "The price tag on this would be in excess of $3 trillion. This," the article points out, "that the White House has accused John Kerry of spending proposals in excess of $2 trillion."
The number of $3 trillion, does that sound right to you?
RACICOT: No, it doesn't sound right to me. Of course, the proposals have not been scored. I mean some of these things are incredibly speculative. The president is committed to reducing the deficit, as he has said, over the course of five years. He intends to live with that commitment and is committed to that particular effort. The bottom line is some of these proposals that have been scored by the newspaper, in essence, it was an analysis piece that was done, I think are yet subject to scrutiny. And you'll see the cost of these quantified at a time when they actually become proposals.
But this notion that somehow we're going to explode the deficit is just absolutely wrong. The president remains committed to his effort to reduce it by -- over the next five years.
HEMMER: If it's not $3 trillion, then, what is it closer to, if you can't get exacts?
RACICOT: Well, think about -- first of all, you have to compare it to what it is that Senator Kerry is talking about with his health care plan. His health care plan yesterday was scored by an independent group as a $1.5 trillion over the next 10 years. And that, of course, doesn't take into account the fact that it's going to lead toward a government run system that tells you what you can buy in terms of prescriptions or what kinds of services you can secure.
The president wanted to proceed forward on medical liability reform that would save as much as $108 billion a year. That's a trillion dollars over 10 years.
And his proposals that he has focused upon, with association health care plans and tax credits for businesses that encourage small employers to secure coverage for their employees, you're talking about something that is substantially less and can be, I think, addressed within the budget, as the president has indicated.
So the fact is that Senator Kerry's proposals explode the budget way beyond what has ever been discussed about the president's.
HEMMER: All right. We have to leave it there. But clearly we have a lot more to talk about, and 50 days or thereabouts to do it in.
Thank you, Marc Racicot.
RACICOT: I look forward to it.
Thank you.
HEMMER: All right, thank you -- Heidi.
COLLINS: First Lady Laura Bush is speaking out about documents used in a CBS report questioning whether President Bush fulfilled his National Guard service. Some experts have questioned the authenticity of the documents and the first lady voiced her own opinion in a radio interview yesterday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM RADIO IOWA)
LAURA BUSH, FIRST LADY OF THE UNITED STATES: You know, they probably are altered and they probably are forgeries. And I think that's terrible, really. I think it's a terrible -- I mean that's actually one of the risks that you take when you run for public office or when you're in the public eye for any reason. And that's -- obviously a lot of things are said about you that aren't true. And that's the drawback. That's the one thing that's not great about serving in public office.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: The "Washington Post" today says an expert used in the original CBS report only authenticated the signature on the documents, not the documents themselves. CBS News is standing by its story and critics who believe the documents are forged have pointed out the use of superscripts and proportional spacing in the documents. But in its broadcast last night, CBS cited an expert who said such technology did exist in 1972, when the documents would have been made.
HEMMER: About 24 minutes past the hour.
Paging the good doctor in a moment. Here Sanjay is back. What can you do to prevent a painful and potentially deadly side effect of flying coach? Back in a moment on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Jack is back now with the Question of the Day once again.
CAFFERTY: Thank you, Heidi. Texas Ranger relief pitcher and idiot Frank Francisco got into an altercation with some Oakland As fans last night. They were talking a little trash in the ninth inning, probably had a taste. He picked up a folding chair, threw it into the stands, hit a guy in the head, broke a woman's nose. This is very mature.
So we're asking this morning what should happen to the baseball player who threw the chair into the stands?
John writes from Oxford: "The fans are no longer there to enjoy a ball game. They're nasty, rude, obscene and so are their children. When I ask them to stop swearing in front of my kids, I get threatened. I bet you dollars to donuts the fans had been drinking beer for the entire game."
Megan in Akron, Ohio: "He should be charged with assault and battery, suspended from the game with no pay while he serves jail time."
Mike writes: "What would happen to the fan who threw a chair from the stands and hit a player? The penalty should be the same whichever direction the chair flies. Being an athlete doesn't put you above the law and it's time these players realize they're just like the rest of us, only they have higher paying jobs."
And with that in mind, Paul writes this in Pennsylvania: "Today's excessively overpaid, pampered athletes no longer seem to appreciate the fact that the fans pay their salaries. Fortunately, the player didn't seriously injure the woman by smacking her with his wallet."
And Don -- not bad.
And Don in Roanoke, Virginia: "Baseball will be very stern with the chair thrower. They'll make him put it back where he found it. He has to learn to throw verbal chairs, as Jack does. Besides, it's the first strike this guy's thrown in weeks."
Tough. A tough crowd.
HEMMER: Tough, tough, tough stuff.
Remember the guy the last way -- the Chicago White Sox game last year, remember? The father and son...
CAFFERTY: When they ran on the field?
HEMMER: Yes, jumped the wall there and started pounding on the guy.
CAFFERTY: Yes. Oh, that's right, and beat up the first base coach or something.
HEMMER: Oh my gosh.
COLLINS: Not cool, either. CAFFERTY: They ought to quit serving booze at these things. That'd go a long way toward stopping this stuff.
HEMMER: The seventh inning rule, right?
CAFFERTY: I mean that doesn't excuse the player throwing a chair. But I mean the fans do get liquored up and get a little obnoxious.
HEMMER: A little bit.
CAFFERTY: Yes.
HEMMER: Thank you, Jack.
In a moment here, bracing for Ivan yet again. We'll tell you where it's headed and talk to the mayor of one city that might be right there in the line of this storm.
Also, an apparent family feud in the Scott Peterson case leads to a new seating arrangement inside the courtroom.
We'll let you know what's happening there in a moment when we continue.
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