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American Morning
Will Debate Tonight Change Election Again?; Martha Stewart Heading to Prison
Aired October 08, 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: The first debate put George Bush and John Kerry in a dead heat. Will the debate tonight change the election again?
Trying to find more victims of terrorist bombings along the Egyptian-Israeli border.
And Martha Stewart heading to the women's prison in Alderson, West Virginia. The town is ready for her.
Plus, something to think about when buying tuna. Is the bright red color because it's fresh or because it's been soaked with chemicals?
All this ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
ANNOUNCER: From the CNN broadcast center in New York, this is AMERICAN MORNING with Soledad O'Brien and Bill Hemmer.
COLLINS: Busy on the streets of New York and a busy morning right here at AMERICAN MORNING.
A lot of international news happening overnight.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: There certainly is.
Yes, we'll get to all that.
Also, debate number two later tonight. Iraq expected to be a major topic again. Well, let's talk about conclusions in the Duelfer report that Iraq did not have WMD. Dan Senor, a coalition spokesperson from Baghdad, back in this country. He spent about 15 months in Iraq. We'll get to Dan in a moment here for his thoughts on that.
COLLINS: Also, a very important economic report coming out in just about 30 minutes from now, the last jobs report, in fact, before the election. It could set the stage for the debate on the economy between the president and John Kerry. So Andy Serwer is going to weigh in on that.
HEMMER: It builds some good drama, does it not?
COLLINS: Yes.
HEMMER: Got a jobs report out in 29 minutes, see how it's played out tonight.
COLLINS: It will be interesting, indeed.
HEMMER: Must see TV again, huh?
Jack's out, right?
COLLINS: He's still out.
HEMMER: Yes. We get him back on Monday.
COLLINS: We do.
HEMMER: You think he slept this week?
COLLINS: Yes.
HEMMER: You know he did.
Andy Borowitz filling in. We'll get to Andy in a moment here.
But first, to Kelly Wallace and the news this hour -- Kelly, good morning.
KELLY WALLACE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.
He's watching every hour of AMERICAN MORNING.
HEMMER: I'm sure.
COLLINS: Every day.
WALLACE: Yes, he is. Yes, he is.
Good morning again, everyone.
We begin in the Middle East, where there is still no claim of responsibility this hour for the deadly bombings in Egypt. At least 26 people were killed in attacks on three tourist resorts filled with vacationing Israelis. A top Israeli official suggests al Qaeda or a Palestinian militant group is behind the blasts. Israel's government had warned against traveling to the Sinai Peninsula due to concerns of possible terrorist attacks.
In Paris, French officials are beefing up security throughout the city. Police say an explosive device was placed under a flag outside the Indonesian embassy. At least 10 people are slightly wounded. Authorities in Jakarta are working with police in Paris to figure out who is behind the attack.
In Iraq, photographs and layouts of schools in six states have been found. The military recovered two computer disks with images from schools in Fort Myers, Florida; Salem, Oregon; Jones County, Georgia; New Jersey; Michigan; and California. Officials say there is no specific threat. The materials may be associated with a person involved with school planning in Iraq. And for the first time, the Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to an African woman. Kenyan environmentalist Wangari Maathai was awarded this year's prize. She founded the green belt movement, which has planted more than 30 million trees across Africa. Maathai was cited for her fight for democracy and women's rights. And her family saying it is a shock. She was in some remote part of Africa, really just working, when the call came in.
COLLINS: Wow!
Yes, wow, how exciting for her.
All right, Kelly Wallace, thanks so much.
WALLACE: Sure.
COLLINS: President Bush and Senator Kerry are in St. Louis preparing for tonight's debate, as you would imagine. We may not hear much from them during the day, but the political air still reverberating from yesterday's parting shots.
We have two campaign reports now from St. Louis.
Frank Buckley is with John Kerry and Suzanne Malveaux is with President Bush.
Let's begin now with Frank -- good morning.
Frank, debate land, USA.
FRANK BUCKLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We are here for you, Heidi.
Once again, those pre-debate jabs coming, and this time once again focusing on the issue that's come to dominate this campaign, the war in Iraq. Almost certainly there will be questions once again about the war in Iraq that will come up during this debate. And yesterday Senator Kerry did his best to try to put President Bush on the defensive about the war leading up to tonight's debate.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
BUCKLEY (voice-over): Senator John Kerry arrived in St. Louis last night already in a fighting mood. Earlier in Colorado, where Kerry prepared for the debate, he described President Bush as in full spin mode about a final report on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction presented to Congress this week.
SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The president of the United States and the vice president of the United States may well be the last two people on the planet who won't face the truth about Iraq. Mr. President, the American people deserve more than spin about this war.
BUCKLEY: Kerry's strong comments came a day after a blistering criticism of Kerry's endless back and forth on the war, as the president put it. Kerry says the WMD report, which indicates Iraq had no weapons stockpiles when coalition forces invaded last year, is evidence Mr. Bush misled Americans about the justification for war.
KERRY: All with the result that the president shifted the focus from the real enemy, al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden, to an enemy that they aggrandized and fictionalized. All put forward with an urgency requiring immediate action.
BUCKLEY: And as Senator Kerry worked to put President Bush on the defensive going into tonight's debate, Kerry's running mate, Senator John Edwards, also got in a shot about the president's performance in the first debate.
SEN. JOHN EDWARDS (D-NC), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Call me old-fashioned, but I believe the president of the United States, in order to perform well in a debate, needs to do more than not screw up his face and needs to do more than be able to string a sentence together.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BUCKLEY: So the stage is set for what could be a heated discussion here tonight. I talked to one of Senator Kerry's aides this morning, who said that Senator Kerry has no formal debate practice sessions planned this morning. He'll probably just go over the issues once again, talk to some policy advisers and go through his technical walk through of the debate site at some point. And then he'll spend most of the day relaxing with his wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry -- Heidi.
COLLINS: They certainly need to relax a little bit, take a deep breath before tonight, that's for sure.
All right, Frank Buckley, thank you so much for that.
Though President Bush admits there were no WMDs found, he still contends taking down Saddam Hussein was necessary.
White House correspondent Suzanne Malveaux has more now from the Bush camp.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Despite the administration's own findings that Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction at the time of the U.S. invasion, its principal rationale for going to war, President Bush used selected portions of that report to defend his decision to go after Saddam Hussein.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I believe we were right to take action and America is safer today with Saddam Hussein in prison. He retained the knowledge, the materials, the means and the intent to produce weapons of mass destruction, and he could have passed that knowledge on to our terrorist enemies.
MALVEAUX: As in the past, the president blamed the weapons miscalculation on faulty intelligence. BUSH: At a time of many threats in the world, the intelligence on which the president and members of Congress base their decisions must be better, and it will be.
MALVEAUX: The debate over who is best fit to lead as commander- in-chief in the global war on terror is emerging as the centerpiece of the campaign. At a rally in the battleground state of Wisconsin, Mr. Bush used Kerry's own words from a Senate speech two years ago supporting the war to illustrate what the president calls his opponent's inconsistencies on Iraq.
BUSH: He himself cited the very same intelligence about Saddam's weapons programs as the reason he voted to go to war. Today my opponent tries to say I made up reasons to go to war. Just who is the one trying to mislead the American people?
(END VIDEO TAPE)
MALVEAUX: Now, Bush aides say that part of the president's strategy for the second debate is to use Kerry's own words and his record against him, to pain Kerry's policies as bad for the economy, dangerous to national security. And, Heidi, as you've mentioned before, these important economic numbers, those jobs numbers will be released in about 20 minutes or so. Expect both of the candidates to try to spin those numbers to their advantage.
And as for those grimaces and scowls that the president made last debate, Bush aides saying that the president has watched those tapes of the last debate, he has stepped up his stump speech and he is ready to go -- Heidi.
COLLINS: All right, both of them studying pretty hard for this.
All right, Suzanne Malveaux, thank you.
HEMMER: That CIA report certain to be a topic in tonight's debate. How will it play for both sides?
Dan Senor was the coalition spokesperson in Baghdad.
He is now in San Francisco this morning.
Welcome back, Dan.
Good morning to you.
DAN SENOR, FORMER COALITION SPOKESMAN: Good to be with you, Bill.
HEMMER: Paul Bremer, your former boss, wrote a piece today in the "New York Times" clarifying a report in the "Washington Post" earlier in the week about Saddam Hussein and the role and the decision to go to war.
Before we get to that, Dan, take me back to Monday and Tuesday of this week. Were you surprised at Paul Bremer's comments about the post-war planning for Baghdad?
SENOR: I wasn't surprised by what he had said. He had made these comments before. I was surprised by the extent to which they were blown out of proportion and by the extent to which his remarks were given so much attention, yet a very parsed, very specific section of his remarks were given attention. The broader context was never reported on by the media or by -- or referred to by the critics of the president's Iraq policies.
HEMMER: What did you think of the post-war planning in Iraq?
SENOR: Oh, I thought, look, I remember before the war, Bill, many experts laying out scenarios that were supposed to happen -- civil war; it didn't happen. A humanitarian crisis -- it didn't happen. Mass refugee crisis -- it didn't happen. Health crisis -- didn't happen.
Many of the reasons these big things, big crises, did not occur was because of the prewar planning.
I remember being in a meeting where people were talking about the prospect of one million internally displaced refugees. Never happened. So the planning certainly avoided some of the big crises.
HEMMER: But -- all right.
SENOR: But hold on. But some of the -- there were some things, of course, that did occur, and we have to be realistic about them in this situation that we're in post-war, in between war and peace, stability operations, there are going to be some ambiguous situations that you didn't foresee. You have to be tactically flexible. The important point is not to get rattled like Senator Kerry seems to get every time there's something unforeseen in Iraq or to retreat, it's to stay focused and demonstrate tactical flexibility while remaining focused on your strategic goal.
HEMMER: Let me just come back to your one point about refugees. A million displaced people would have been back in their homes by now if the place was secure enough.
Would you not agree with that?
SENOR: Well, look, I think we have and we had a security problem. The question that Ambassador Bremer raises in this op-ed, and he raised earlier in his comments, were while he thought troops earlier on would have helped, he also recognizes and respects the military's point of view, which an increased troop level presence could have antagonized the indigenous population, the Iraqi population, which doesn't react well to occupation forces.
So it's a tough balance to strike, Bill. But what we had felt and what the military commanders had felt and what the administration, we were all in agreement on, was the importance of training up Iraqi security forces. Funding from the supplemental that the president asked Congress to pass that Senators Kerry and Edwards voted against, is being used right now to train Iraqi security forces. And that's always been the focus.
HEMMER: This is what the senators, Kerry and Edwards, are saying, though. They're saying that this administration is not being honest with the American people. They say they're not leveling with the realities on the ground in Iraq today. You have 25 plus days to go before the election.
Can you change that perception if you, as a voter, right now have that, buying into the Kerry-Edwards argument?
SENOR: I think President Bush has been clear. He was -- he made statements before the war that it was a tough road ahead, what we were doing in Iraq. We're doing this overall war on terrorism. He has talked frequently while we're making progress, we're making steady progress in Iraq, there are setbacks, there are very difficult days. We've had some, certainly, in the past few days.
So I think the president points to the challenges but doesn't get rattled by the challenges, doesn't dramatically change course and pursue a path of retreat because of the challenges, because those imposing the challenges on us want us to do just that. The terrorists coming into Iraq and trying to wreak havoc are trying to do just that, trying to thwart the path we're on to working with Prime Minister Allawi's government and building a democracy in the heart of a part of the world that has never known it.
HEMMER: All right, Dan, thanks for your time in San Francisco.
SENOR: Good to be with you, Bill.
HEMMER: You got it.
You, too.
We'll talk again, OK?
SENOR: Absolutely.
HEMMER: Our prime time coverage later tonight, 7:00 Eastern time. I'll be with a group of undecided voters back in Columbus, Ohio. The central part of the state may be very critical in this Election 2004. Gauging their debate reactions in real time. We'll have it for you later tonight -- Heidi.
COLLINS: That state might be pretty rainy, though, too, unfortunately.
Chad Myers at the CNN Center now to update us on that area and the rest of the map today -- good morning, Chad, once again.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Heidi.
(WEATHER REPORT) HEMMER: In a moment here, the new jobs numbers coming out in about 15 minutes. What will it mean for tonight's debate? Andy has that in a moment.
COLLINS: Yes, he does.
And too tough or not tough enough -- debating crime and punishment in America as we wrap up our week long series, Getting Off Easy.
HEMMER: Also, Martha Stewart begins life in prison today. We'll take you live to what's known as Camp Cupcake, still to come this hour.
COLLINS: They hate when you call it that.
HEMMER: Oh, yes?
COLLINS: Yes, the inmates.
HEMMER: We'll find out why.
COLLINS: Correct.
HEMMER: Debate coverage later tonight, 7:00 Eastern, prime time, here on CNN.
Back in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Now to our series, Getting Off Easy -- alternative ideas for punishing criminals.
Today's topic, when is prison not the answer and what really works when it comes to crime and punishment?
Here now with some ideas, Malcolm Young, the executive director of The Sentencing Project.
Mr. Young, thanks for being with us this morning.
I know that your organization has been studying for quite some time alternative sentences.
Your thoughts on whether or not prison really ever works.
MALCOLM YOUNG, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, THE SENTENCING PROJECT: Prison is necessary. It has been in almost every society in history and it is today in this country and in every state in the union. There are just some people who have to be secured away from society to protect society and there are people who have done things that are so well planned, so intentionally bad that they have to be punished in the most severe way possibly, and prison is an effective way of imposing punishment.
But...
COLLINS: So then does it matter, from what your answer there, it sounds like it really matters on what the crime was before you decide if you go to one of these more creative alternative punishments.
YOUNG: Well, absolutely, because given that you have to have and use prison and jail, incarceration, the real question is whether it's the most effective way of reducing crime. And in many instances, probably most instances, it's not. There are more effective, cheaper ways of doing what we all want to do, which is to bring crime levels down.
We're here now with this immense population at an immense cost $30 billion to $50 billion a year, depending on what you count, you know, because of slogans like if you do the crime, you've got to do the time.
But we haven't gotten the kind of results.
COLLINS: You also say something very interesting in distinguishing between criminals, if you will. You say that we have to figure out the types of criminals who frighten us and then those who just anger us. And I think you were referring to Martha Stewart there.
YOUNG: Absolutely. Martha Stewart's talents could have been used to help a lot of different people who are less fortunate than her. She could have been brought into contact with people who need the kind of leadership and skills and assistance that she can offer.
The point to be made is that she was sentenced in the federal system, which is the most restrictive and least original in the nation, among all the states. And the judge didn't have the option to sentence her in that way. And the -- her attorneys and advocates didn't have the ability to really put forth a meaningful punitive but constructive sentence that might have benefited other people in society.
So she's just now another tax burden for the rest of us.
COLLINS: All right, Malcolm Young, we certainly appreciate your time this morning so much, executive director for The Sentencing Project.
Once again, Malcolm Young, thank you.
YOUNG: Thank you.
Very nice to be here.
COLLINS: I appreciate it very much.
HEMMER: Thank you, Heidi, for that.
Twenty minutes past the hour.
We want to get to Alderson, West Virginia now. There is news surrounding Martha Stewart.
Deborah Feyerick standing by there -- Deb, what do you have?
DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Bill, we have learned that Martha Stewart is now inside the Alderson prison herein West Virginia. A note posted on her Web site reads: "Dear friends, by the time you read this, I will have reported to a minimum security prison in Alderson, West Virginia to begin serving my five month sentence."
She talks about how her lawyers are continuing her appeal and she also says that while she is away, those are her words, "While I am away, my updates with you will be less frequent."
So Martha Stewart this morning slipped in in the cover of darkness into this prison. Former inmates and prison officials told us earlier that really the only way to try to make it inside is to try to forget about life outside, saying that inmates here don't make friends, they make associates.
Stewart will be taking orders from 6:00 in the morning until 11:00 at night. Right now she's going through the whole processing system. She basically went to this unit, a receiving unit. There she was photographed, fingerprinted, also strip searched. That is something that is routine for every single prisoner who enters. They are searching for contraband.
She's going to be given a list of rules of the things she can and cannot do, how she's expected to behave once she is in there and during her five months stay. There are going to be a lot of rules. She's going to have to have a head count five times every day. She's up at 6:00 in the morning. She's going to have breakfast and then report to work at 8:00. She will be assigned a bunk today. She will also be assigned a job, told what it is she's going to be doing during her six months here.
It's very possible that she could be working in the kitchen. What the officials here try to do is try to tailor any assignments to areas of specialty, if any of the inmates have one. So it's possible that she could be working in the kitchen. She's going to be in time for breakfast and then lunch. For dinner, we have learned, she's going to be having black-eyed peas, baked fish and Jell-O for dessert. Her life radically different now -- Bill.
HEMMER: I'll bet it is.
Deborah, do you know what she did last night on her final night before reporting?
FEYERICK: She was supposed to be going to a party at the Four Seasons. Her publicist got married over the weekend and she was there in the Bahamas and then there was a big wedding reception last night. There was some discussion amongst her P.R. people, should she go, should she not go? There was a sense she wanted to go and they said don't go. And then clearly she flew in either late yesterday or very early this morning, slipping in before 6:00 today.
HEMMER: A heck of a juxtaposition, from the Four Seasons to Alderson there in West Virginia, known as Camp Cupcake.
Yes, Deborah, thanks for that.
On that Web site, by the way, that letter from Martha Stewart concludes by saying: "I am looking forward to being back at work in March and to many brighter days ahead. Sincerely, Martha Stewart."
Deborah, thanks -- Heidi.
COLLINS: Still to come this morning, "The Daily Show's" Jon Stewart on John Kerry, George Bush and spanking. Stay with us here on AMERICAN MORNING, won't you?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: In this election, both candidates have done interviews with Dr. Phil. Why, you ask?
Jon Stewart wondered the same thing last night on his show.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM "THE DAILY SHOW WITH JON STEWART, COURTESY COMEDY CENTRAL)
JON STEWART, HOST: The interview promised to be if not newsworthy, at least very creepy.
DR. PHIL: Up next, how did Kerry feel about spanking his daughters.
STEWART: I hope he's against it. What's up with Dr. Phil and spanking? You remember from last week.
DR. PHIL: Were you all spankers? Did you spank them?
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Not really.
LAURA BUSH, FIRST LADY OF THE UNITED STATES: Not very often.
STEWART: The dude's got a little bit of a spanking thing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HEMMER: Dude, that's what he's got. Jon Stewart. On the cover of "Rolling Stone," by the way, too.
COLLINS: Yes, I've got to tell you.
HEMMER: Props for him.
ANDY BOROWITZ, BOROWITZREPORT.COM: Absolutely.
COLLINS: Wow!
Andy Borowitz, good morning to you. The Question of the Day now.
BOROWITZ: It's good to be here. COLLINS: Yes?
BOROWITZ: Well, today we're talking about our obsession with the way presidential candidates look during a debate. After the first presidential debate between President Bush and John Kerry, it seemed as though all the press could talk about was the president's increasingly ticked off facial expressions and John Kerry's eye robot inspired gestures.
Which leads me to today's question, should the way a candidate looks during a debate really matter?
Sandra from Brookhaven, Mississippi writes: "It is hard to take a politician seriously when their orange glow is causing me to adjust the color on my TV." Hmmm, I wonder who she's talking about.
Mahmood from Plano, Texas writes: "Why not? George Bush's face spoke only one word -- clueless."
Tootsie from Cloverdale, Indiana writes: "Yes. It shows how much control he has on his emotions and if he can be able to communicate with other leaders in different countries."
Richard writes: "When the substance is mostly bull, all that's left is the style."
And finally, Tom from Durham, North Carolina writes: "You'd better hope that candidates' looks matter. Otherwise, we'll watch the debate on radio. Then where will you be?"
HEMMER: We'll be with Howard Stern.
BOROWITZ: Yes, we'll be on the satellite.
COLLINS: Yes.
HEMMER: Satellite.
BOROWITZ: We'll be on the satellite.
COLLINS: Yes, of course, he'll get paid a little more than us but, regardless.
HEMMER: Yes, true.
A break here.
Two minutes away from the jobs report. We'll get to that in a moment. Andy is back to shake down the numbers.
Also, could this happen again? This is this, what Democrats and Republicans are doing just in case. "Gimme A Minute" tackles that in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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Aired October 8, 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: The first debate put George Bush and John Kerry in a dead heat. Will the debate tonight change the election again?
Trying to find more victims of terrorist bombings along the Egyptian-Israeli border.
And Martha Stewart heading to the women's prison in Alderson, West Virginia. The town is ready for her.
Plus, something to think about when buying tuna. Is the bright red color because it's fresh or because it's been soaked with chemicals?
All this ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
ANNOUNCER: From the CNN broadcast center in New York, this is AMERICAN MORNING with Soledad O'Brien and Bill Hemmer.
COLLINS: Busy on the streets of New York and a busy morning right here at AMERICAN MORNING.
A lot of international news happening overnight.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: There certainly is.
Yes, we'll get to all that.
Also, debate number two later tonight. Iraq expected to be a major topic again. Well, let's talk about conclusions in the Duelfer report that Iraq did not have WMD. Dan Senor, a coalition spokesperson from Baghdad, back in this country. He spent about 15 months in Iraq. We'll get to Dan in a moment here for his thoughts on that.
COLLINS: Also, a very important economic report coming out in just about 30 minutes from now, the last jobs report, in fact, before the election. It could set the stage for the debate on the economy between the president and John Kerry. So Andy Serwer is going to weigh in on that.
HEMMER: It builds some good drama, does it not?
COLLINS: Yes.
HEMMER: Got a jobs report out in 29 minutes, see how it's played out tonight.
COLLINS: It will be interesting, indeed.
HEMMER: Must see TV again, huh?
Jack's out, right?
COLLINS: He's still out.
HEMMER: Yes. We get him back on Monday.
COLLINS: We do.
HEMMER: You think he slept this week?
COLLINS: Yes.
HEMMER: You know he did.
Andy Borowitz filling in. We'll get to Andy in a moment here.
But first, to Kelly Wallace and the news this hour -- Kelly, good morning.
KELLY WALLACE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.
He's watching every hour of AMERICAN MORNING.
HEMMER: I'm sure.
COLLINS: Every day.
WALLACE: Yes, he is. Yes, he is.
Good morning again, everyone.
We begin in the Middle East, where there is still no claim of responsibility this hour for the deadly bombings in Egypt. At least 26 people were killed in attacks on three tourist resorts filled with vacationing Israelis. A top Israeli official suggests al Qaeda or a Palestinian militant group is behind the blasts. Israel's government had warned against traveling to the Sinai Peninsula due to concerns of possible terrorist attacks.
In Paris, French officials are beefing up security throughout the city. Police say an explosive device was placed under a flag outside the Indonesian embassy. At least 10 people are slightly wounded. Authorities in Jakarta are working with police in Paris to figure out who is behind the attack.
In Iraq, photographs and layouts of schools in six states have been found. The military recovered two computer disks with images from schools in Fort Myers, Florida; Salem, Oregon; Jones County, Georgia; New Jersey; Michigan; and California. Officials say there is no specific threat. The materials may be associated with a person involved with school planning in Iraq. And for the first time, the Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to an African woman. Kenyan environmentalist Wangari Maathai was awarded this year's prize. She founded the green belt movement, which has planted more than 30 million trees across Africa. Maathai was cited for her fight for democracy and women's rights. And her family saying it is a shock. She was in some remote part of Africa, really just working, when the call came in.
COLLINS: Wow!
Yes, wow, how exciting for her.
All right, Kelly Wallace, thanks so much.
WALLACE: Sure.
COLLINS: President Bush and Senator Kerry are in St. Louis preparing for tonight's debate, as you would imagine. We may not hear much from them during the day, but the political air still reverberating from yesterday's parting shots.
We have two campaign reports now from St. Louis.
Frank Buckley is with John Kerry and Suzanne Malveaux is with President Bush.
Let's begin now with Frank -- good morning.
Frank, debate land, USA.
FRANK BUCKLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We are here for you, Heidi.
Once again, those pre-debate jabs coming, and this time once again focusing on the issue that's come to dominate this campaign, the war in Iraq. Almost certainly there will be questions once again about the war in Iraq that will come up during this debate. And yesterday Senator Kerry did his best to try to put President Bush on the defensive about the war leading up to tonight's debate.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
BUCKLEY (voice-over): Senator John Kerry arrived in St. Louis last night already in a fighting mood. Earlier in Colorado, where Kerry prepared for the debate, he described President Bush as in full spin mode about a final report on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction presented to Congress this week.
SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The president of the United States and the vice president of the United States may well be the last two people on the planet who won't face the truth about Iraq. Mr. President, the American people deserve more than spin about this war.
BUCKLEY: Kerry's strong comments came a day after a blistering criticism of Kerry's endless back and forth on the war, as the president put it. Kerry says the WMD report, which indicates Iraq had no weapons stockpiles when coalition forces invaded last year, is evidence Mr. Bush misled Americans about the justification for war.
KERRY: All with the result that the president shifted the focus from the real enemy, al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden, to an enemy that they aggrandized and fictionalized. All put forward with an urgency requiring immediate action.
BUCKLEY: And as Senator Kerry worked to put President Bush on the defensive going into tonight's debate, Kerry's running mate, Senator John Edwards, also got in a shot about the president's performance in the first debate.
SEN. JOHN EDWARDS (D-NC), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Call me old-fashioned, but I believe the president of the United States, in order to perform well in a debate, needs to do more than not screw up his face and needs to do more than be able to string a sentence together.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BUCKLEY: So the stage is set for what could be a heated discussion here tonight. I talked to one of Senator Kerry's aides this morning, who said that Senator Kerry has no formal debate practice sessions planned this morning. He'll probably just go over the issues once again, talk to some policy advisers and go through his technical walk through of the debate site at some point. And then he'll spend most of the day relaxing with his wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry -- Heidi.
COLLINS: They certainly need to relax a little bit, take a deep breath before tonight, that's for sure.
All right, Frank Buckley, thank you so much for that.
Though President Bush admits there were no WMDs found, he still contends taking down Saddam Hussein was necessary.
White House correspondent Suzanne Malveaux has more now from the Bush camp.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Despite the administration's own findings that Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction at the time of the U.S. invasion, its principal rationale for going to war, President Bush used selected portions of that report to defend his decision to go after Saddam Hussein.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I believe we were right to take action and America is safer today with Saddam Hussein in prison. He retained the knowledge, the materials, the means and the intent to produce weapons of mass destruction, and he could have passed that knowledge on to our terrorist enemies.
MALVEAUX: As in the past, the president blamed the weapons miscalculation on faulty intelligence. BUSH: At a time of many threats in the world, the intelligence on which the president and members of Congress base their decisions must be better, and it will be.
MALVEAUX: The debate over who is best fit to lead as commander- in-chief in the global war on terror is emerging as the centerpiece of the campaign. At a rally in the battleground state of Wisconsin, Mr. Bush used Kerry's own words from a Senate speech two years ago supporting the war to illustrate what the president calls his opponent's inconsistencies on Iraq.
BUSH: He himself cited the very same intelligence about Saddam's weapons programs as the reason he voted to go to war. Today my opponent tries to say I made up reasons to go to war. Just who is the one trying to mislead the American people?
(END VIDEO TAPE)
MALVEAUX: Now, Bush aides say that part of the president's strategy for the second debate is to use Kerry's own words and his record against him, to pain Kerry's policies as bad for the economy, dangerous to national security. And, Heidi, as you've mentioned before, these important economic numbers, those jobs numbers will be released in about 20 minutes or so. Expect both of the candidates to try to spin those numbers to their advantage.
And as for those grimaces and scowls that the president made last debate, Bush aides saying that the president has watched those tapes of the last debate, he has stepped up his stump speech and he is ready to go -- Heidi.
COLLINS: All right, both of them studying pretty hard for this.
All right, Suzanne Malveaux, thank you.
HEMMER: That CIA report certain to be a topic in tonight's debate. How will it play for both sides?
Dan Senor was the coalition spokesperson in Baghdad.
He is now in San Francisco this morning.
Welcome back, Dan.
Good morning to you.
DAN SENOR, FORMER COALITION SPOKESMAN: Good to be with you, Bill.
HEMMER: Paul Bremer, your former boss, wrote a piece today in the "New York Times" clarifying a report in the "Washington Post" earlier in the week about Saddam Hussein and the role and the decision to go to war.
Before we get to that, Dan, take me back to Monday and Tuesday of this week. Were you surprised at Paul Bremer's comments about the post-war planning for Baghdad?
SENOR: I wasn't surprised by what he had said. He had made these comments before. I was surprised by the extent to which they were blown out of proportion and by the extent to which his remarks were given so much attention, yet a very parsed, very specific section of his remarks were given attention. The broader context was never reported on by the media or by -- or referred to by the critics of the president's Iraq policies.
HEMMER: What did you think of the post-war planning in Iraq?
SENOR: Oh, I thought, look, I remember before the war, Bill, many experts laying out scenarios that were supposed to happen -- civil war; it didn't happen. A humanitarian crisis -- it didn't happen. Mass refugee crisis -- it didn't happen. Health crisis -- didn't happen.
Many of the reasons these big things, big crises, did not occur was because of the prewar planning.
I remember being in a meeting where people were talking about the prospect of one million internally displaced refugees. Never happened. So the planning certainly avoided some of the big crises.
HEMMER: But -- all right.
SENOR: But hold on. But some of the -- there were some things, of course, that did occur, and we have to be realistic about them in this situation that we're in post-war, in between war and peace, stability operations, there are going to be some ambiguous situations that you didn't foresee. You have to be tactically flexible. The important point is not to get rattled like Senator Kerry seems to get every time there's something unforeseen in Iraq or to retreat, it's to stay focused and demonstrate tactical flexibility while remaining focused on your strategic goal.
HEMMER: Let me just come back to your one point about refugees. A million displaced people would have been back in their homes by now if the place was secure enough.
Would you not agree with that?
SENOR: Well, look, I think we have and we had a security problem. The question that Ambassador Bremer raises in this op-ed, and he raised earlier in his comments, were while he thought troops earlier on would have helped, he also recognizes and respects the military's point of view, which an increased troop level presence could have antagonized the indigenous population, the Iraqi population, which doesn't react well to occupation forces.
So it's a tough balance to strike, Bill. But what we had felt and what the military commanders had felt and what the administration, we were all in agreement on, was the importance of training up Iraqi security forces. Funding from the supplemental that the president asked Congress to pass that Senators Kerry and Edwards voted against, is being used right now to train Iraqi security forces. And that's always been the focus.
HEMMER: This is what the senators, Kerry and Edwards, are saying, though. They're saying that this administration is not being honest with the American people. They say they're not leveling with the realities on the ground in Iraq today. You have 25 plus days to go before the election.
Can you change that perception if you, as a voter, right now have that, buying into the Kerry-Edwards argument?
SENOR: I think President Bush has been clear. He was -- he made statements before the war that it was a tough road ahead, what we were doing in Iraq. We're doing this overall war on terrorism. He has talked frequently while we're making progress, we're making steady progress in Iraq, there are setbacks, there are very difficult days. We've had some, certainly, in the past few days.
So I think the president points to the challenges but doesn't get rattled by the challenges, doesn't dramatically change course and pursue a path of retreat because of the challenges, because those imposing the challenges on us want us to do just that. The terrorists coming into Iraq and trying to wreak havoc are trying to do just that, trying to thwart the path we're on to working with Prime Minister Allawi's government and building a democracy in the heart of a part of the world that has never known it.
HEMMER: All right, Dan, thanks for your time in San Francisco.
SENOR: Good to be with you, Bill.
HEMMER: You got it.
You, too.
We'll talk again, OK?
SENOR: Absolutely.
HEMMER: Our prime time coverage later tonight, 7:00 Eastern time. I'll be with a group of undecided voters back in Columbus, Ohio. The central part of the state may be very critical in this Election 2004. Gauging their debate reactions in real time. We'll have it for you later tonight -- Heidi.
COLLINS: That state might be pretty rainy, though, too, unfortunately.
Chad Myers at the CNN Center now to update us on that area and the rest of the map today -- good morning, Chad, once again.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Heidi.
(WEATHER REPORT) HEMMER: In a moment here, the new jobs numbers coming out in about 15 minutes. What will it mean for tonight's debate? Andy has that in a moment.
COLLINS: Yes, he does.
And too tough or not tough enough -- debating crime and punishment in America as we wrap up our week long series, Getting Off Easy.
HEMMER: Also, Martha Stewart begins life in prison today. We'll take you live to what's known as Camp Cupcake, still to come this hour.
COLLINS: They hate when you call it that.
HEMMER: Oh, yes?
COLLINS: Yes, the inmates.
HEMMER: We'll find out why.
COLLINS: Correct.
HEMMER: Debate coverage later tonight, 7:00 Eastern, prime time, here on CNN.
Back in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Now to our series, Getting Off Easy -- alternative ideas for punishing criminals.
Today's topic, when is prison not the answer and what really works when it comes to crime and punishment?
Here now with some ideas, Malcolm Young, the executive director of The Sentencing Project.
Mr. Young, thanks for being with us this morning.
I know that your organization has been studying for quite some time alternative sentences.
Your thoughts on whether or not prison really ever works.
MALCOLM YOUNG, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, THE SENTENCING PROJECT: Prison is necessary. It has been in almost every society in history and it is today in this country and in every state in the union. There are just some people who have to be secured away from society to protect society and there are people who have done things that are so well planned, so intentionally bad that they have to be punished in the most severe way possibly, and prison is an effective way of imposing punishment.
But...
COLLINS: So then does it matter, from what your answer there, it sounds like it really matters on what the crime was before you decide if you go to one of these more creative alternative punishments.
YOUNG: Well, absolutely, because given that you have to have and use prison and jail, incarceration, the real question is whether it's the most effective way of reducing crime. And in many instances, probably most instances, it's not. There are more effective, cheaper ways of doing what we all want to do, which is to bring crime levels down.
We're here now with this immense population at an immense cost $30 billion to $50 billion a year, depending on what you count, you know, because of slogans like if you do the crime, you've got to do the time.
But we haven't gotten the kind of results.
COLLINS: You also say something very interesting in distinguishing between criminals, if you will. You say that we have to figure out the types of criminals who frighten us and then those who just anger us. And I think you were referring to Martha Stewart there.
YOUNG: Absolutely. Martha Stewart's talents could have been used to help a lot of different people who are less fortunate than her. She could have been brought into contact with people who need the kind of leadership and skills and assistance that she can offer.
The point to be made is that she was sentenced in the federal system, which is the most restrictive and least original in the nation, among all the states. And the judge didn't have the option to sentence her in that way. And the -- her attorneys and advocates didn't have the ability to really put forth a meaningful punitive but constructive sentence that might have benefited other people in society.
So she's just now another tax burden for the rest of us.
COLLINS: All right, Malcolm Young, we certainly appreciate your time this morning so much, executive director for The Sentencing Project.
Once again, Malcolm Young, thank you.
YOUNG: Thank you.
Very nice to be here.
COLLINS: I appreciate it very much.
HEMMER: Thank you, Heidi, for that.
Twenty minutes past the hour.
We want to get to Alderson, West Virginia now. There is news surrounding Martha Stewart.
Deborah Feyerick standing by there -- Deb, what do you have?
DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Bill, we have learned that Martha Stewart is now inside the Alderson prison herein West Virginia. A note posted on her Web site reads: "Dear friends, by the time you read this, I will have reported to a minimum security prison in Alderson, West Virginia to begin serving my five month sentence."
She talks about how her lawyers are continuing her appeal and she also says that while she is away, those are her words, "While I am away, my updates with you will be less frequent."
So Martha Stewart this morning slipped in in the cover of darkness into this prison. Former inmates and prison officials told us earlier that really the only way to try to make it inside is to try to forget about life outside, saying that inmates here don't make friends, they make associates.
Stewart will be taking orders from 6:00 in the morning until 11:00 at night. Right now she's going through the whole processing system. She basically went to this unit, a receiving unit. There she was photographed, fingerprinted, also strip searched. That is something that is routine for every single prisoner who enters. They are searching for contraband.
She's going to be given a list of rules of the things she can and cannot do, how she's expected to behave once she is in there and during her five months stay. There are going to be a lot of rules. She's going to have to have a head count five times every day. She's up at 6:00 in the morning. She's going to have breakfast and then report to work at 8:00. She will be assigned a bunk today. She will also be assigned a job, told what it is she's going to be doing during her six months here.
It's very possible that she could be working in the kitchen. What the officials here try to do is try to tailor any assignments to areas of specialty, if any of the inmates have one. So it's possible that she could be working in the kitchen. She's going to be in time for breakfast and then lunch. For dinner, we have learned, she's going to be having black-eyed peas, baked fish and Jell-O for dessert. Her life radically different now -- Bill.
HEMMER: I'll bet it is.
Deborah, do you know what she did last night on her final night before reporting?
FEYERICK: She was supposed to be going to a party at the Four Seasons. Her publicist got married over the weekend and she was there in the Bahamas and then there was a big wedding reception last night. There was some discussion amongst her P.R. people, should she go, should she not go? There was a sense she wanted to go and they said don't go. And then clearly she flew in either late yesterday or very early this morning, slipping in before 6:00 today.
HEMMER: A heck of a juxtaposition, from the Four Seasons to Alderson there in West Virginia, known as Camp Cupcake.
Yes, Deborah, thanks for that.
On that Web site, by the way, that letter from Martha Stewart concludes by saying: "I am looking forward to being back at work in March and to many brighter days ahead. Sincerely, Martha Stewart."
Deborah, thanks -- Heidi.
COLLINS: Still to come this morning, "The Daily Show's" Jon Stewart on John Kerry, George Bush and spanking. Stay with us here on AMERICAN MORNING, won't you?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: In this election, both candidates have done interviews with Dr. Phil. Why, you ask?
Jon Stewart wondered the same thing last night on his show.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM "THE DAILY SHOW WITH JON STEWART, COURTESY COMEDY CENTRAL)
JON STEWART, HOST: The interview promised to be if not newsworthy, at least very creepy.
DR. PHIL: Up next, how did Kerry feel about spanking his daughters.
STEWART: I hope he's against it. What's up with Dr. Phil and spanking? You remember from last week.
DR. PHIL: Were you all spankers? Did you spank them?
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Not really.
LAURA BUSH, FIRST LADY OF THE UNITED STATES: Not very often.
STEWART: The dude's got a little bit of a spanking thing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HEMMER: Dude, that's what he's got. Jon Stewart. On the cover of "Rolling Stone," by the way, too.
COLLINS: Yes, I've got to tell you.
HEMMER: Props for him.
ANDY BOROWITZ, BOROWITZREPORT.COM: Absolutely.
COLLINS: Wow!
Andy Borowitz, good morning to you. The Question of the Day now.
BOROWITZ: It's good to be here. COLLINS: Yes?
BOROWITZ: Well, today we're talking about our obsession with the way presidential candidates look during a debate. After the first presidential debate between President Bush and John Kerry, it seemed as though all the press could talk about was the president's increasingly ticked off facial expressions and John Kerry's eye robot inspired gestures.
Which leads me to today's question, should the way a candidate looks during a debate really matter?
Sandra from Brookhaven, Mississippi writes: "It is hard to take a politician seriously when their orange glow is causing me to adjust the color on my TV." Hmmm, I wonder who she's talking about.
Mahmood from Plano, Texas writes: "Why not? George Bush's face spoke only one word -- clueless."
Tootsie from Cloverdale, Indiana writes: "Yes. It shows how much control he has on his emotions and if he can be able to communicate with other leaders in different countries."
Richard writes: "When the substance is mostly bull, all that's left is the style."
And finally, Tom from Durham, North Carolina writes: "You'd better hope that candidates' looks matter. Otherwise, we'll watch the debate on radio. Then where will you be?"
HEMMER: We'll be with Howard Stern.
BOROWITZ: Yes, we'll be on the satellite.
COLLINS: Yes.
HEMMER: Satellite.
BOROWITZ: We'll be on the satellite.
COLLINS: Yes, of course, he'll get paid a little more than us but, regardless.
HEMMER: Yes, true.
A break here.
Two minutes away from the jobs report. We'll get to that in a moment. Andy is back to shake down the numbers.
Also, could this happen again? This is this, what Democrats and Republicans are doing just in case. "Gimme A Minute" tackles that in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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