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American Morning

Looking at the Health of the Presidential Candidates; '90- Second Pop'

Aired September 29, 2004 - 09:30   ET

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

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


HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Just about half past the hour now on this AMERICAN MORNING. And we are just a few minutes away from what could be a pivotal moment in space exploration. This is SpaceShipOne. It's about to takeoff on a mission that could pave the way to ordinary people leaving the Earth. Miles O'Brien is standing by in the Mojave Desert to bring us up to speed, if you will on that.
Those are live pictures now.

HEMMER: You like the idea, don't you?

COLLINS: Yes.

HEMMER: Of going to space.

COLLINS: Yes.

HEMMER: Why not?

COLLINS: I got to know who's piloting the thing, but...

HEMMER: That's right. Also in a moment, Sanjay's back, looking at the health of President Bush and John Kerry. Both men appear to be in great shape, age 58, age 60. What do the medical records do? Do they back that up. Sanjay looks at the balance between privacy and what the public needs to know in this election cycle, 34 days and counting to the 2nd of November.

COLLINS: It's coming close.

We want check on the stories now in the news with Rick Sanchez this morning.

Rick, some new information?

RICK SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Heidi. We're trying to nail down this information coming in all morning long about Ken Bigley, but it involves another network, so we're trying to work through it. There is brand new information, as Heidi just alluded to, on the story that we've been following for you on British hostage Ken Bigley, being held by Islamic militants, as you may know.

Moments ago, he appeared on a video clip on Al Jazeera television. Bigley's brother has been telling us throughout the course of the morning here at CNN that he has received an e-mail suggesting that Islamic militants will release his brother. However, on this video clip, Bigley himself says only that his captors, this is a direct quote, "do not wish to kill him." He also asks Prime Minister Tony Blair to meet the militants' demands. There is no comment at this point yet from -- on this video from British government officials. It's a brand new story. And as we continue to get information, we will share it with you.

Meanwhile, another hostage has been released. CNN producer Riad Ali is free this morning after 24 hours in custody. Ali was released yesterday and turned over to Palestinian police. He says he was held by an offshoot of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement, but the group denying they had anything to do with it. Why he was abducted, by the way, is still not known.

Californians are picking up after a magnitude-six earthquake. It hit between Los Angeles and Sacramento yesterday morning in an area known as California's earthquake capital. Video by surveillance captured the shakes, about 160 aftershocks followed, but no injuries or major damage was reported.

That's the very latest. Heidi, Bill, we'll continue to work that for you.

HEMMER: Will do. Thank you, Rick. And if the Peterson trial needs anything else, how about the earthquake, delaying the proceedings yesterday.

SANCHEZ: The judge tells everybody to go out for a little while, and they took a little break.

HEMMER: That's right. Thank you, Rick.

I want to get back to campaign 20004. Both presidential candidates conditions heading to Florida later today, ahead of tomorrow's debate. In a "New York Times" editorial today called "How to Debate George Bush," Al Gore tells John Kerry what to expect in their confrontations. "My advice," quoting now, "to John Kerry is simple, be prepared for the toughest debates of your career. While George Bush's campaign has made lowering expectations into a high art form, the record is clear, he's a skilled debater who uses the format to his advantage. There is no reason to expect any less this time around. Again, today in the "Times."

On the Republican side, Republican Senator John McCain advising President Bush on what he should expect from Senator John Kerry.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: He is up against a very accomplished debater. No one believed that he would be able to do as well as he did when he was in debates with then-Governor Weld.

Also I think the that president has got to remember that he's the president, and that's one of his great strengths and coming into this debate, and he can't be baited into some kind of lowering or diminishment of that status.

And finally, I think the president will probably hear some of his own words.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HEMMER: John McCain on with Paula last night here on CNN.

While President Bush is busy preparing for that debate, his mother, Barbara, along with twin daughters, Jen and Barbara, campaigning in the battleground state of New Hampshire yesterday. But where's Grandpa George, the question was asked? The always outgoing Jenna joked about how he is helping out his son.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JENNA BUSH, PRESIDENT'S DAUGHTER: Our grandfather's also contributing. He occasionally gives a few speeches about dad. But mainly he spends his time yelling at the television screen when he sees -- when he sees unfair stories on the news. We keep telling him they can't hear what he's saying, but he insists that it's helping.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HEMMER: For the president's part, later in the week, he stumps in New Hampshire. That comes on Friday -- Heidi.

COLLINS: This morning, in part three of his special series on America's first patient, Dr. Sanjay Gupta conducts a thorough examination of the two major presidential candidates.

Sanjay's joining us now from the CNN Center with more on this.

Sanjay, good morning.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Heidi.

Today we're looking at the health of President Bush and Democratic challenger John Kerry. By all accounts, they're both in good shape. But it's also true neither one has actually released much in the way of health information. Could that be an issue? Well, we did some exclusive polling to help us find out.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GUPTA (voice-over): It shouldn't come as a surprise that President Bush and Democratic challenger John Kerry are athletic. Americans like leaders who exude good health. In an exclusive CNN/Gallup poll, 96 percent say the health of the president is important or very important to his ability to be a good president.

Americans also think the president should have an annual physical examination; 84 percent say this is a good idea. And 79 percent say the president should undergo an annual mental exam, for conditions such as depression or Alzheimer's. But there is no requirement.

A White House spokesman says, President Bush remains in great shape. But his busy schedule and the presidential campaign means his annual physical, usually conducted in August, will have to wait until after the election. Following an early diagnosis, John Kerry had surgery for prostate cancer last year. A total success, his doctors said.

SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I am as fit and as healthy, if not more so, than any 60-year-old in the country.

GUPTA: 92 percent in our polls say, they are not concerned Kerry had cancer. And there isn't much public pressure for either man to release more details.

Americans may want a healthy commander in chief, but 61 percent say the president has the same rights as other citizens to keep medical records private, compared with just 38 percent in favor of releasing all information that might affect his ability to serve.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

And all of the White House doctors we spoke with said the physician does have a responsibility to tell the truth.

On another note, in 1992, presidential candidate Paul Tsongas wasn't completely honest when he said that his cancer was cured, because he'd already had a reoccurrence in the type of cancer called lymphoma. Tsongas actually died in January of 1996. Had he won, he would have been significantly debilitated for most of his term -- Heidi.

COLLINS: Such an interesting topic, how much of it is really our business. So is it a problem, do you think, that we don't know more?

GUPTA: There's absolutely no reason to think that either President Bush or John Kerry has any physical problems that would hinder their being president. It's also worth pointing out, though, medical records and checkups don't often tell the whole story. President Clinton's doctors said he never showed signs of heart problems, and then suddenly last month, he had to undergo a quadruple- bypass operation. So it's really a combination of things -- Heidi.

COLLINS: Yes, that was certainly a surprise.

All right, well, what do you have coming up tomorrow?

GUPTA: Tomorrow we're going to look at just how common it is for serious illness to strike the Oval Office, and look at some reasons as to why that is. Also you can catch the full primetime special. It's called "The First Patient." That's going to be Sunday night at 9:00 p.m. Eastern -- Heidi.

COLLINS: All right, Sanjay. We're looking forward to that. It's going to be a good one.

GUPTA: Me, too. Thanks.

COLLINS: Thanks so much, Sanjay.

And for more on presidential health, you can always log on to CNN.com/firstpatient.

(WEATHER REPORT)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: SpaceShipOne ready for takeoff, at least a few minutes from now. It is a leading space race that's supposed to open the way for commercial space travel.

Miles O'Brien is there, live now from Mojave Desert in California.

Any action on the runway, so to speak?

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, yes. We're on the runway. We're waiting. It's little chilly here still in desert before the sun comes up, and perhaps more importantly for the story we're talking about, quite a bit windy. There is a slight delay now. SpaceShipOne is out and fueled. They're kind of topping off the tanks right now. White Knight is also fueled and ready.

But there as you see this picture of the Mojave Airport. In the distance, some mothballed airliners there. This is the airplane graveyard as well. And some members of the media in the foreground.

The wind has been approaching 20 knots, and it's in the direct of the runway, which is a good thing, because you don't want to have a strong crosswind. Pilots are concerned with that always, especially when you're talking about SpaceShipOne, which is, after all, a glider in a dead stick landing.

In any case, before they will launch rules call for something less than 20 knots of wind, and then for landing of the SpaceShipOne, they can only accept about 15 knots. It's right on the bubble right now. As a result, they're taking their time as they prepare, doing their radio checks.

The pilot Mike Melville, I'm told, while under a fair amount of pressure here to do what he has to do today to put this first attempt at going to space for the X-Prize in the books is apparently taking it all in stride. We're waiting for that taxi to occur. We'll keep you posted. We're listening very closely to radios on what the weather and specifically, Heidi, the wind will bring us on this first X-Prize attempt.

COLLINS: All right, wind shear obviously a concern there. Hopefully not what happened at Kitty Hawk 100th year celebration of flight that we saw there. .

O'BRIEN: Well, there sure won't be a mud puddle, I'll tell you that much.

COLLINS: That's true. They were airborne, though, like .8 seconds.

O'BRIEN: Yes. COLLINS: All right, Miles, we'll touch back with you a little bit later on. Thanks so much.

HEMMER: If we can get a break here, about 18 minutes before the hour. In a moment, there are reports that indicate that Star Jones wedding and planning has gotten out of hand.

COLLINS: You think?

HEMMER: That's what the reports say. We'll check in, "90-Second Pop" on the nuptials, in a moment here on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HEMMER: Right out of Hoboken. Any day is a good day when you start it with Frank. "90-Second Pop" on a Wednesday. Say hello this morning to humorist Andy Borowitz.

Andy, good morning to you.

ANDY BOROWITZ, HUMORIST: Good morning.

HEMMER: Author of "The Borowitz Report: The Big Book of Shockers," not to be confused with "shock and awe." Sarah Bernard, contributing editor for "New York" magazine here today.

Sarah, nice to see you.

SARAH BERNARD, CONTRIBUTING EDITOR, "NEW YORK" MAGAZINE: Nice to see you.

HEMMER: And B.J. Sigesmund. Good morning, B.J. Staff editor for "US Weekly."

B.J. SIGESMUND, STAFF EDITOR, "US WEEKLY": Good morning.

HEMMER: Nice to have all three of you. Three great topics, by the way.

Star Jones is getting married. Reports say she's a bride-zilla.

SIGESMUND: Absolutely.

HEMMER: Are the reports true?

BERNARD: Focus groups, everyone says.

SIGESMUND: Like all brides are bride-zillas. She has taken something small and personal and turned it into an oversized event. It started with the proposal, which happened on live television at the NBA All-Star game in front of millions of people. Then she has been documenting everything about this marriage on StarNow.com, talking about it endlessly on "The View" and on her red carpet special.

HEMMER: So she's smart. Good PR, right? This is what I read: 6 makeup artists, 8 hairstylists, 10 mani-pedi stations...

SIGESMUND: Yes.

HEMMER: ... which I did not know before this segment, by the way.

BERNARD: I love hearing you say mani-pedi.

HEMMER: It sounds like AMERICAN MORNING, doesn't it?

SIGESMUND: Exactly. Well, what's come to light is that she wants to do this beauty spa the day of her marriage, the day of her wedding, with her closest friends. And she is selling event sponsorships to this event for $4,500...

BOROWITZ: Oh!

SIGESMUND: ... which she says are great promotional opportunities and great press.

BERNARD: I don't know if anyone has taken them up on that, though. I mean, that's where she really crossed the line. It's one thing to talk about yourself. I don't know about the Web site. But actually trying to get sponsors for your own wedding, I mean...

BOROWITZ: I don't know.

SIGESMUND: You can also...

BOROWITZ: It's really making me re-think the way I redid my bar mitzvah.

HEMMER: I've got $4,500, you mentioned, for an event sponsors, 1,500 to be a product sponsor.

SIGESMUND: Yes.

HEMMER: It sounds like a golf tournament.

SIGESMUND: Well, she says she's going to have Oscar-style gift bags. And you can pay $1,500 for the opportunity to put a product in that gift bag.

HEMMER: Jump on it. All right, the next topic, Sarah, "Wife Swap" is the new demented reality show on ABC.

BERNARD: That's right. It starts tonight.

HEMMER: The critics love this thing. What's the premise?

BERNARD: Well, it's actually, as a lot of these reality shows, it came from a British television show of the same name. So, what happens is you have these two family. In this case, it's one city family, one country family. And the moms swap places. It's pretty straightforward. But what's interesting is a lot of people have sort of criticized this idea, saying it's kind of anti-women's lib or something. But I think it's just the opposite.

Tonight's episode, the city mom, who has three nannies to take care of her three kids, goes to three different gyms every day, spends her day beautifying herself probably to all of the places Star Jones wants to go, and she goes to this woman's house, who is a woodcutter in Pennsylvania. And she is made to be, you know, put to work and run this family. And she realizes how hard it is to be a working mom.

HEMMER: Hard maybe. The participants are miserable. Some of the comments: It was the worst 10 days of my life; I wouldn't do it again...

BERNARD: That's the husband...

HEMMER: ... I was absolutely miserable.

SIGESMUND: Yes.

HEMMER: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) have a great time.

BERNARD: That's was the husband of the, you know, the sort of woodworking husband, who had to deal with this city mom coming in and ruining his life.

SIGESMUND: Well, what happened was the husbands actually learned huge lessons in this. The husband in New York City, the guy with money, was told by the wood-chopping wife, I want you home for dinner every night. I don't want you working late. I want you here at the table. And he was, like, I always prioritize work over my kids during the week. That's my priority. And she just did not hear any of that.

BOROWITZ: By the way, MTV is doing a show sort of like this called "pimp my bride."

BERNARD: That would be good.

HEMMER: We've got to run. Thanks. B.J., Sarah, Andy, good to see you -- Heidi.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COLLINS: Thanks, Bill.

Still to come this morning, one of the most storied stadiums in America has a monster of a new name. Maybe it will scare off opposing teams, huh? Andy Serwer's "Minding Your Business" on that.

Also, beautiful, beautiful shot of the Mojave Desert as the sun comes up this morning. We're waiting for SpaceShipOne to take off. A little bit of a delay due to wind. We'll keep you updated on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) HEMMER: Welcome back, everyone. Candlestick Park gets a new name, and it's kind of scary.

But first check early action on Wall Street. Back with Andy, "Minding Your Business." What's happening down on Wall Street?

ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Well, all kinds of stuff happening on Wall Street. The Dow is down. Let's check out the Big Board right now. We can see it down 13 points. Actually Nasdaq up a little bit. Orbitz, as we mentioned, being bought by Cendant (ph). That stock is flying. It's up over $6 to $27.

GDP for the second quarter came out. Stocks not particularly impressed. Economy growing at 3.3 percent, which is OK, but not a barn burner.

Candlestick Park, used to be called 3Com Park. It's got a new name. It's now going to be called Monster park. But it's not what you think. It's not named after monster.com, the naming rights. It's a small company called Monster Cable Products. The Niners play there, not doing very well.

Anyway, monster.com is delighted with this, over the confusion. It's true.

And you probably heard that the Montreal Expos, according to sources, are going to be moving to Washington D.C. Washington, D.C. gets a new baseball team apparently for the first time since 1971 when Richard Nixon was president; 33 years ago, the hapless Senators moved to Texas, you may remember. The Rangers own the Senators' name. So we don't know what the new team's going to be called.

So we decided to come up with a few names of our own. Check them out. How about the Beltway Blowhards? What the D.C. Filibusters? And how about them D.C. Pork Barrels? The mascot possibilities I think are really good. The Washington W's. That would be subject possibly to change possibly in November, sort of like the A's. And then the Washington Ways and Means. Do you think that's going to work?

HEMMER: Keep working on that.

SERWER: Yes, well, we ran out of room on the screen. But anyway, it's going to be interesting. The Rangers could give the name to the Senators. That looks cozy over there.

JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: I was told by the director to move to the left and get closer to Heidi.

SERWER: Snuggles Cafferty.

CAFFERTY: This is as close as I could get on a family show, do you know what I'm saying.

You happy now?

SERWER: Feelin' the love. Feel the love.

CAFFERTY: What should the restrictions be on cell phones in schools, you ask? Well, Peter in Houston says, "Why are we talking about cell phones in schools when the students can't read, or write or think? In every comparison in education with other nations the United States is close to the bottom, but it's at the top when it comes to per capita spending."

Now with that letter in mind, I read the next one. It's from an 11-year-old girl. I'm not going to use her name, because I don't want to embarrass her. She writes, "I'm an 11-year-old girl. I believe we should have right to carry cell phones in school. We have enough sense to turn them off in class."

That's a two-line sentence. It contained two spelling errors and one punctuation error.

Tom in Alma, West Virginia -- "Give it up, Jack. The damn things are here to stay. The Dick Tracey wrist-phone has arrived. I watched them at class-change the other day, and at least one in four whipped them out, probably in a life or death situation of ordering a pizza."

SERWER: Yes, "Fast Times at Ridgemont High."

COLLINS: You just like the shot.

(CROSSTALK)

HEMMER: What a good looking couple.

(CROSSTALK)

COLLINS: We're Collins and Cafferty. It's a show coming your way soon.

SERWER: Rating are soaring. They're soaring.

(CROSSTALK)

COLLINS: Hey, coming up, we are keeping an eye on something else other than this shot, the launch of SpaceShipOne out of the Mojave Desert. Look at that. Beautiful, huh? Provided the weather cooperates, talking about wind here, CNN will have it for you live. It can't have more than 20 knots of wind, or 20 miles per hour, I should say. Coming up in the next hour with Carol Lin on "CNN LIVE TODAY."

But for now, AMERICAN MORNING will be back in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Here now, Aaron Brown with a preview of what's coming up tonight on "NEWSNIGHT."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) AARON BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Thank you, Heidi. We're in San Francisco tonight. On the menu, what critics are saying about Arnold Schwarzenegger the governor. A quick hint, he's never gotten reviews like this for his films. That, plus the take on immigration and how it's reshaping Silicon Valley, "Morning Papers" and of course everything else that makes "NEWSNIGHT" "NEWSNIGHT," and one thing that doesn't, a Pacific sunset. That's CNN tonight on the road, 10:00 p.m. Eastern, 7:00 Pacific -- Heidi.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: All right, Aaron, thanks so much. Lots of sunrises and sunsets on the show today.

HEMMER: That was nice. See you in Miami tomorrow morning. First debate tomorrow night.

COLLINS: Yes, big time.

SERWER: Have fun.

CAFFERTY: It will be interesting. If the networks don't go by the rules, we might get something. But if everybody agrees to this...

HEMMER: In terms of an interesting story.

CAFFERTY: If everybody agrees to this silly thing that Democrats and Republicans came up with, it's going to be like watching paint dry.

HEMMER: Grab your brush.

CAFFERTY: Get down there and stir it up.

HEMMER: Here's Carol Lin at the CNN Center.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com


Aired September 29, 2004 - 09:30   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Just about half past the hour now on this AMERICAN MORNING. And we are just a few minutes away from what could be a pivotal moment in space exploration. This is SpaceShipOne. It's about to takeoff on a mission that could pave the way to ordinary people leaving the Earth. Miles O'Brien is standing by in the Mojave Desert to bring us up to speed, if you will on that.
Those are live pictures now.

HEMMER: You like the idea, don't you?

COLLINS: Yes.

HEMMER: Of going to space.

COLLINS: Yes.

HEMMER: Why not?

COLLINS: I got to know who's piloting the thing, but...

HEMMER: That's right. Also in a moment, Sanjay's back, looking at the health of President Bush and John Kerry. Both men appear to be in great shape, age 58, age 60. What do the medical records do? Do they back that up. Sanjay looks at the balance between privacy and what the public needs to know in this election cycle, 34 days and counting to the 2nd of November.

COLLINS: It's coming close.

We want check on the stories now in the news with Rick Sanchez this morning.

Rick, some new information?

RICK SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Heidi. We're trying to nail down this information coming in all morning long about Ken Bigley, but it involves another network, so we're trying to work through it. There is brand new information, as Heidi just alluded to, on the story that we've been following for you on British hostage Ken Bigley, being held by Islamic militants, as you may know.

Moments ago, he appeared on a video clip on Al Jazeera television. Bigley's brother has been telling us throughout the course of the morning here at CNN that he has received an e-mail suggesting that Islamic militants will release his brother. However, on this video clip, Bigley himself says only that his captors, this is a direct quote, "do not wish to kill him." He also asks Prime Minister Tony Blair to meet the militants' demands. There is no comment at this point yet from -- on this video from British government officials. It's a brand new story. And as we continue to get information, we will share it with you.

Meanwhile, another hostage has been released. CNN producer Riad Ali is free this morning after 24 hours in custody. Ali was released yesterday and turned over to Palestinian police. He says he was held by an offshoot of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement, but the group denying they had anything to do with it. Why he was abducted, by the way, is still not known.

Californians are picking up after a magnitude-six earthquake. It hit between Los Angeles and Sacramento yesterday morning in an area known as California's earthquake capital. Video by surveillance captured the shakes, about 160 aftershocks followed, but no injuries or major damage was reported.

That's the very latest. Heidi, Bill, we'll continue to work that for you.

HEMMER: Will do. Thank you, Rick. And if the Peterson trial needs anything else, how about the earthquake, delaying the proceedings yesterday.

SANCHEZ: The judge tells everybody to go out for a little while, and they took a little break.

HEMMER: That's right. Thank you, Rick.

I want to get back to campaign 20004. Both presidential candidates conditions heading to Florida later today, ahead of tomorrow's debate. In a "New York Times" editorial today called "How to Debate George Bush," Al Gore tells John Kerry what to expect in their confrontations. "My advice," quoting now, "to John Kerry is simple, be prepared for the toughest debates of your career. While George Bush's campaign has made lowering expectations into a high art form, the record is clear, he's a skilled debater who uses the format to his advantage. There is no reason to expect any less this time around. Again, today in the "Times."

On the Republican side, Republican Senator John McCain advising President Bush on what he should expect from Senator John Kerry.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: He is up against a very accomplished debater. No one believed that he would be able to do as well as he did when he was in debates with then-Governor Weld.

Also I think the that president has got to remember that he's the president, and that's one of his great strengths and coming into this debate, and he can't be baited into some kind of lowering or diminishment of that status.

And finally, I think the president will probably hear some of his own words.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HEMMER: John McCain on with Paula last night here on CNN.

While President Bush is busy preparing for that debate, his mother, Barbara, along with twin daughters, Jen and Barbara, campaigning in the battleground state of New Hampshire yesterday. But where's Grandpa George, the question was asked? The always outgoing Jenna joked about how he is helping out his son.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JENNA BUSH, PRESIDENT'S DAUGHTER: Our grandfather's also contributing. He occasionally gives a few speeches about dad. But mainly he spends his time yelling at the television screen when he sees -- when he sees unfair stories on the news. We keep telling him they can't hear what he's saying, but he insists that it's helping.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HEMMER: For the president's part, later in the week, he stumps in New Hampshire. That comes on Friday -- Heidi.

COLLINS: This morning, in part three of his special series on America's first patient, Dr. Sanjay Gupta conducts a thorough examination of the two major presidential candidates.

Sanjay's joining us now from the CNN Center with more on this.

Sanjay, good morning.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Heidi.

Today we're looking at the health of President Bush and Democratic challenger John Kerry. By all accounts, they're both in good shape. But it's also true neither one has actually released much in the way of health information. Could that be an issue? Well, we did some exclusive polling to help us find out.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GUPTA (voice-over): It shouldn't come as a surprise that President Bush and Democratic challenger John Kerry are athletic. Americans like leaders who exude good health. In an exclusive CNN/Gallup poll, 96 percent say the health of the president is important or very important to his ability to be a good president.

Americans also think the president should have an annual physical examination; 84 percent say this is a good idea. And 79 percent say the president should undergo an annual mental exam, for conditions such as depression or Alzheimer's. But there is no requirement.

A White House spokesman says, President Bush remains in great shape. But his busy schedule and the presidential campaign means his annual physical, usually conducted in August, will have to wait until after the election. Following an early diagnosis, John Kerry had surgery for prostate cancer last year. A total success, his doctors said.

SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I am as fit and as healthy, if not more so, than any 60-year-old in the country.

GUPTA: 92 percent in our polls say, they are not concerned Kerry had cancer. And there isn't much public pressure for either man to release more details.

Americans may want a healthy commander in chief, but 61 percent say the president has the same rights as other citizens to keep medical records private, compared with just 38 percent in favor of releasing all information that might affect his ability to serve.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

And all of the White House doctors we spoke with said the physician does have a responsibility to tell the truth.

On another note, in 1992, presidential candidate Paul Tsongas wasn't completely honest when he said that his cancer was cured, because he'd already had a reoccurrence in the type of cancer called lymphoma. Tsongas actually died in January of 1996. Had he won, he would have been significantly debilitated for most of his term -- Heidi.

COLLINS: Such an interesting topic, how much of it is really our business. So is it a problem, do you think, that we don't know more?

GUPTA: There's absolutely no reason to think that either President Bush or John Kerry has any physical problems that would hinder their being president. It's also worth pointing out, though, medical records and checkups don't often tell the whole story. President Clinton's doctors said he never showed signs of heart problems, and then suddenly last month, he had to undergo a quadruple- bypass operation. So it's really a combination of things -- Heidi.

COLLINS: Yes, that was certainly a surprise.

All right, well, what do you have coming up tomorrow?

GUPTA: Tomorrow we're going to look at just how common it is for serious illness to strike the Oval Office, and look at some reasons as to why that is. Also you can catch the full primetime special. It's called "The First Patient." That's going to be Sunday night at 9:00 p.m. Eastern -- Heidi.

COLLINS: All right, Sanjay. We're looking forward to that. It's going to be a good one.

GUPTA: Me, too. Thanks.

COLLINS: Thanks so much, Sanjay.

And for more on presidential health, you can always log on to CNN.com/firstpatient.

(WEATHER REPORT)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: SpaceShipOne ready for takeoff, at least a few minutes from now. It is a leading space race that's supposed to open the way for commercial space travel.

Miles O'Brien is there, live now from Mojave Desert in California.

Any action on the runway, so to speak?

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, yes. We're on the runway. We're waiting. It's little chilly here still in desert before the sun comes up, and perhaps more importantly for the story we're talking about, quite a bit windy. There is a slight delay now. SpaceShipOne is out and fueled. They're kind of topping off the tanks right now. White Knight is also fueled and ready.

But there as you see this picture of the Mojave Airport. In the distance, some mothballed airliners there. This is the airplane graveyard as well. And some members of the media in the foreground.

The wind has been approaching 20 knots, and it's in the direct of the runway, which is a good thing, because you don't want to have a strong crosswind. Pilots are concerned with that always, especially when you're talking about SpaceShipOne, which is, after all, a glider in a dead stick landing.

In any case, before they will launch rules call for something less than 20 knots of wind, and then for landing of the SpaceShipOne, they can only accept about 15 knots. It's right on the bubble right now. As a result, they're taking their time as they prepare, doing their radio checks.

The pilot Mike Melville, I'm told, while under a fair amount of pressure here to do what he has to do today to put this first attempt at going to space for the X-Prize in the books is apparently taking it all in stride. We're waiting for that taxi to occur. We'll keep you posted. We're listening very closely to radios on what the weather and specifically, Heidi, the wind will bring us on this first X-Prize attempt.

COLLINS: All right, wind shear obviously a concern there. Hopefully not what happened at Kitty Hawk 100th year celebration of flight that we saw there. .

O'BRIEN: Well, there sure won't be a mud puddle, I'll tell you that much.

COLLINS: That's true. They were airborne, though, like .8 seconds.

O'BRIEN: Yes. COLLINS: All right, Miles, we'll touch back with you a little bit later on. Thanks so much.

HEMMER: If we can get a break here, about 18 minutes before the hour. In a moment, there are reports that indicate that Star Jones wedding and planning has gotten out of hand.

COLLINS: You think?

HEMMER: That's what the reports say. We'll check in, "90-Second Pop" on the nuptials, in a moment here on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HEMMER: Right out of Hoboken. Any day is a good day when you start it with Frank. "90-Second Pop" on a Wednesday. Say hello this morning to humorist Andy Borowitz.

Andy, good morning to you.

ANDY BOROWITZ, HUMORIST: Good morning.

HEMMER: Author of "The Borowitz Report: The Big Book of Shockers," not to be confused with "shock and awe." Sarah Bernard, contributing editor for "New York" magazine here today.

Sarah, nice to see you.

SARAH BERNARD, CONTRIBUTING EDITOR, "NEW YORK" MAGAZINE: Nice to see you.

HEMMER: And B.J. Sigesmund. Good morning, B.J. Staff editor for "US Weekly."

B.J. SIGESMUND, STAFF EDITOR, "US WEEKLY": Good morning.

HEMMER: Nice to have all three of you. Three great topics, by the way.

Star Jones is getting married. Reports say she's a bride-zilla.

SIGESMUND: Absolutely.

HEMMER: Are the reports true?

BERNARD: Focus groups, everyone says.

SIGESMUND: Like all brides are bride-zillas. She has taken something small and personal and turned it into an oversized event. It started with the proposal, which happened on live television at the NBA All-Star game in front of millions of people. Then she has been documenting everything about this marriage on StarNow.com, talking about it endlessly on "The View" and on her red carpet special.

HEMMER: So she's smart. Good PR, right? This is what I read: 6 makeup artists, 8 hairstylists, 10 mani-pedi stations...

SIGESMUND: Yes.

HEMMER: ... which I did not know before this segment, by the way.

BERNARD: I love hearing you say mani-pedi.

HEMMER: It sounds like AMERICAN MORNING, doesn't it?

SIGESMUND: Exactly. Well, what's come to light is that she wants to do this beauty spa the day of her marriage, the day of her wedding, with her closest friends. And she is selling event sponsorships to this event for $4,500...

BOROWITZ: Oh!

SIGESMUND: ... which she says are great promotional opportunities and great press.

BERNARD: I don't know if anyone has taken them up on that, though. I mean, that's where she really crossed the line. It's one thing to talk about yourself. I don't know about the Web site. But actually trying to get sponsors for your own wedding, I mean...

BOROWITZ: I don't know.

SIGESMUND: You can also...

BOROWITZ: It's really making me re-think the way I redid my bar mitzvah.

HEMMER: I've got $4,500, you mentioned, for an event sponsors, 1,500 to be a product sponsor.

SIGESMUND: Yes.

HEMMER: It sounds like a golf tournament.

SIGESMUND: Well, she says she's going to have Oscar-style gift bags. And you can pay $1,500 for the opportunity to put a product in that gift bag.

HEMMER: Jump on it. All right, the next topic, Sarah, "Wife Swap" is the new demented reality show on ABC.

BERNARD: That's right. It starts tonight.

HEMMER: The critics love this thing. What's the premise?

BERNARD: Well, it's actually, as a lot of these reality shows, it came from a British television show of the same name. So, what happens is you have these two family. In this case, it's one city family, one country family. And the moms swap places. It's pretty straightforward. But what's interesting is a lot of people have sort of criticized this idea, saying it's kind of anti-women's lib or something. But I think it's just the opposite.

Tonight's episode, the city mom, who has three nannies to take care of her three kids, goes to three different gyms every day, spends her day beautifying herself probably to all of the places Star Jones wants to go, and she goes to this woman's house, who is a woodcutter in Pennsylvania. And she is made to be, you know, put to work and run this family. And she realizes how hard it is to be a working mom.

HEMMER: Hard maybe. The participants are miserable. Some of the comments: It was the worst 10 days of my life; I wouldn't do it again...

BERNARD: That's the husband...

HEMMER: ... I was absolutely miserable.

SIGESMUND: Yes.

HEMMER: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) have a great time.

BERNARD: That's was the husband of the, you know, the sort of woodworking husband, who had to deal with this city mom coming in and ruining his life.

SIGESMUND: Well, what happened was the husbands actually learned huge lessons in this. The husband in New York City, the guy with money, was told by the wood-chopping wife, I want you home for dinner every night. I don't want you working late. I want you here at the table. And he was, like, I always prioritize work over my kids during the week. That's my priority. And she just did not hear any of that.

BOROWITZ: By the way, MTV is doing a show sort of like this called "pimp my bride."

BERNARD: That would be good.

HEMMER: We've got to run. Thanks. B.J., Sarah, Andy, good to see you -- Heidi.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COLLINS: Thanks, Bill.

Still to come this morning, one of the most storied stadiums in America has a monster of a new name. Maybe it will scare off opposing teams, huh? Andy Serwer's "Minding Your Business" on that.

Also, beautiful, beautiful shot of the Mojave Desert as the sun comes up this morning. We're waiting for SpaceShipOne to take off. A little bit of a delay due to wind. We'll keep you updated on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) HEMMER: Welcome back, everyone. Candlestick Park gets a new name, and it's kind of scary.

But first check early action on Wall Street. Back with Andy, "Minding Your Business." What's happening down on Wall Street?

ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Well, all kinds of stuff happening on Wall Street. The Dow is down. Let's check out the Big Board right now. We can see it down 13 points. Actually Nasdaq up a little bit. Orbitz, as we mentioned, being bought by Cendant (ph). That stock is flying. It's up over $6 to $27.

GDP for the second quarter came out. Stocks not particularly impressed. Economy growing at 3.3 percent, which is OK, but not a barn burner.

Candlestick Park, used to be called 3Com Park. It's got a new name. It's now going to be called Monster park. But it's not what you think. It's not named after monster.com, the naming rights. It's a small company called Monster Cable Products. The Niners play there, not doing very well.

Anyway, monster.com is delighted with this, over the confusion. It's true.

And you probably heard that the Montreal Expos, according to sources, are going to be moving to Washington D.C. Washington, D.C. gets a new baseball team apparently for the first time since 1971 when Richard Nixon was president; 33 years ago, the hapless Senators moved to Texas, you may remember. The Rangers own the Senators' name. So we don't know what the new team's going to be called.

So we decided to come up with a few names of our own. Check them out. How about the Beltway Blowhards? What the D.C. Filibusters? And how about them D.C. Pork Barrels? The mascot possibilities I think are really good. The Washington W's. That would be subject possibly to change possibly in November, sort of like the A's. And then the Washington Ways and Means. Do you think that's going to work?

HEMMER: Keep working on that.

SERWER: Yes, well, we ran out of room on the screen. But anyway, it's going to be interesting. The Rangers could give the name to the Senators. That looks cozy over there.

JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: I was told by the director to move to the left and get closer to Heidi.

SERWER: Snuggles Cafferty.

CAFFERTY: This is as close as I could get on a family show, do you know what I'm saying.

You happy now?

SERWER: Feelin' the love. Feel the love.

CAFFERTY: What should the restrictions be on cell phones in schools, you ask? Well, Peter in Houston says, "Why are we talking about cell phones in schools when the students can't read, or write or think? In every comparison in education with other nations the United States is close to the bottom, but it's at the top when it comes to per capita spending."

Now with that letter in mind, I read the next one. It's from an 11-year-old girl. I'm not going to use her name, because I don't want to embarrass her. She writes, "I'm an 11-year-old girl. I believe we should have right to carry cell phones in school. We have enough sense to turn them off in class."

That's a two-line sentence. It contained two spelling errors and one punctuation error.

Tom in Alma, West Virginia -- "Give it up, Jack. The damn things are here to stay. The Dick Tracey wrist-phone has arrived. I watched them at class-change the other day, and at least one in four whipped them out, probably in a life or death situation of ordering a pizza."

SERWER: Yes, "Fast Times at Ridgemont High."

COLLINS: You just like the shot.

(CROSSTALK)

HEMMER: What a good looking couple.

(CROSSTALK)

COLLINS: We're Collins and Cafferty. It's a show coming your way soon.

SERWER: Rating are soaring. They're soaring.

(CROSSTALK)

COLLINS: Hey, coming up, we are keeping an eye on something else other than this shot, the launch of SpaceShipOne out of the Mojave Desert. Look at that. Beautiful, huh? Provided the weather cooperates, talking about wind here, CNN will have it for you live. It can't have more than 20 knots of wind, or 20 miles per hour, I should say. Coming up in the next hour with Carol Lin on "CNN LIVE TODAY."

But for now, AMERICAN MORNING will be back in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Here now, Aaron Brown with a preview of what's coming up tonight on "NEWSNIGHT."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) AARON BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Thank you, Heidi. We're in San Francisco tonight. On the menu, what critics are saying about Arnold Schwarzenegger the governor. A quick hint, he's never gotten reviews like this for his films. That, plus the take on immigration and how it's reshaping Silicon Valley, "Morning Papers" and of course everything else that makes "NEWSNIGHT" "NEWSNIGHT," and one thing that doesn't, a Pacific sunset. That's CNN tonight on the road, 10:00 p.m. Eastern, 7:00 Pacific -- Heidi.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: All right, Aaron, thanks so much. Lots of sunrises and sunsets on the show today.

HEMMER: That was nice. See you in Miami tomorrow morning. First debate tomorrow night.

COLLINS: Yes, big time.

SERWER: Have fun.

CAFFERTY: It will be interesting. If the networks don't go by the rules, we might get something. But if everybody agrees to this...

HEMMER: In terms of an interesting story.

CAFFERTY: If everybody agrees to this silly thing that Democrats and Republicans came up with, it's going to be like watching paint dry.

HEMMER: Grab your brush.

CAFFERTY: Get down there and stir it up.

HEMMER: Here's Carol Lin at the CNN Center.

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