Return to Transcripts main page
American Morning
The Bush Campaign; Presidential Polling; Latest in the Scott Peterson Trial
Aired October 12, 2004 - 9:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Is it news or is it worthy. An anti-Kerry documentary scheduled to air on 62 stations across the country. Democrats say it's illegal.
Crackdown across Iraq. U.S. forces going after terrorists. But did an airstrike in Fallujah hit the right people?
And after four months of prosecution witnesses, the defense in the Scott Peterson trial gets its turn on this AMERICAN MORNING.
ANNOUNCER: From the CNN Broadcast Center in New York, this is AMERICAN MORNING with Bill Hemmer and Soledad O'Brien.
HEMMER: Beautiful day here in the Northeast, 48 degrees outside. Good morning. Welcome back. Nine o'clock here in New York City. I'm Bill Hemmer.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Heidi Collins, in for Soledad today.
Stem cell research an important issue for many Americans. But will it become a decisive issue after the death of Christopher Reeve? We're going to look at how both campaigns could be helped and hurt by the actor's death.
HEMMER: Also this hour, the spot in L.A. where Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated now in the way of progress for the city's schools. There's a big debate, too, about this, and millions of dollars on the line. You might be a bit surprised about which side on the debate RFK's son is taking. We'll get a report on that this hour.
COLLINS: Jack Cafferty is here now.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: What do they want to do, tear that hotel down?
HEMMER: And make some room.
CAFFERTY: Yes? And somebody wants to keep it as a historical -- OK.
Are we safer or more vulnerable because of the war in Iraq? There are reports now that have been given to the U.N. that buildings full of materials that could be used to manufacture nuclear weapons have vanished. Nobody knows who took them, nobody knows where they are. Nada. So, am@cnn.com. Safer or more vulnerable as a result of the war in Iraq?
HEMMER: Got it. Thank you, Jack.
Straight away to Kelly Wallace, looking at the news this hour.
Kelly, good morning. News on al Qaeda.
KELLY WALLACE, CNN ANCHOR: Absolutely. Good morning to you. Good morning, everyone.
We are beginning with questions about the United States' treatment of al Qaeda suspects. According to the group Human Rights Watch, at least 11 suspects are being held at undisclosed locations without access to their families or protection of the law. Among them is Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, considered one of the masterminds behind the September 11 attacks. Asked about the report, a CIA spokesman declined to comment.
In Iraq, some concerns over missing nuclear equipment. A spokesperson for a U.N. nuclear atomic watchdog told CNN just hours ago some equipment which could be used in a nuclear weapons program has been systematically disappearing from Iraq since the U.S. invasion. Officials worry the materials could fall into the wrong hands. We'll have much more on Iraq, including today's assault on terror leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi coming up.
And the state of Washington will hold an 18-year-old financially responsible for a 16,000 acre wildfire. Washington State's forest service will Bill the man $10 million for the cost of fighting the wildfire in August.
Officials say he started the fire by driving an off-road vehicle and sparking the blaze. The wildfire burned thousands of acres and destroyed one home.
That's a quick look at the headlines. Back to Bill and Heidi.
HEMMER: And that gives you an idea about how dry the ground is out there, too.
WALLACE: Absolutely.
HEMMER: Kelly, thanks for that.
Let's start this hour again. President Bush getting ready for tomorrow night's final campaign debate. First, though, a rally in Colorado Springs and a Republican fund-raiser. Then he settles in for the debate at Arizona State University, the third and final one for this season.
Suzanne Malveaux starts our coverage this hour.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): President Bush out West, armed with a fresh attack line handed to him by his opponent.
GEORGE W. BUSH (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Just this weekend, Senator Kerry talked of reducing terrorism to "nuisance," and compared it to prostitution and illegal gambling. See, I couldn't disagree more.
MALVEAUX: The Bush camp is seizing on a line taken from a Kerry interview in "The New York Times" magazine. Kerry aides say their candidate's comments are being taken out of context. But the Republicans see it as one last opportunity to slam Kerry on the war on terror before Wednesday's debate turns voters' attention back to domestic issues.
RICHARD CHENEY, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This is all part of a pre-9/11 mindset, and it is a view we cannot go back to.
MALVEAUX: That message is the one the president is pounding this week in the second-tier battleground states in the West. And there could be a significant twist in the election's outcome riding on the voters in Colorado.
If voters approve an initiative there, it could get rid of the current electoral votes formula, where winner takes all. Instead, candidates would split the state's electoral votes based on the proportion they win of the popular vote. If that system had been in place in the 2000 election, Al Gore would have picked up three of Colorado's electoral votes and won the election.
JULIE BROWN, MAKE YOUR VOTE COUNT: It's a much fairer and more accurate reflection of the will of the people.
MALVEAUX (on camera): President Bush is testing his attack lines on Kerry before friendly audiences here in Colorado, and later when he travels to Arizona, a state that Kerry camp has largely given up on. But Wednesday's third and final debate will be a chance for President Bush to test his message before the voters at large.
Suzanne Malveaux, CNN, Colorado Springs, Colorado.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: A new CNN/"USA Today"/Gallup poll indicates the presidential horserace still neck and neck. Senior political analyst Bill Schneider is in Washington now to break down the numbers for us.
Bill, good morning.
WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SR. POLITICAL ANALYST: Good morning, Heidi.
COLLINS: This newest poll now is showing John Kerry with 49 percent, President Bush with 48 percent among likely voters. We're looking at the numbers now. If you could, read those tea leaves. What do you see in these numbers? A lot of people are going to say, well, you know, they're extremely close.
SCHNEIDER: Extremely close. It doesn't look like anyone has a real advantage. But there has been over the past month a trend slowly building in John Kerry's favor.
In mid-September, Bush was 14 points ahead among likely voters. Late September, five. After the first debate, it was a dead heat. Now Kerry's one point up.
Kerry has gained nine points over the last month. Bush has lost six. So while it's too close to call, we have seen a trend for Kerry.
COLLINS: What about the president's approval rating now? Let's look at that number. We're seeing 47 percent, which is lower than we've seen in our polls as of late. What does that mean for a guy running for re-election? Going to happen in three weeks.
SCHNEIDER: Yes. It means there's some trouble. With an approval rating below 50 percent, it means most voters aren't prepared to re-elect him. Forty-seven percent is a problem. What it points to is a very close election, where the president really cannot feel very secure.
COLLINS: Historically, though, other presidents, have they sat below 50 percent and still been re-elected at that point?
SCHNEIDER: Oh, I don't think so. I think the last one might have been Harry Truman in 1948. But below 50 percent, you have a problem.
COLLINS: All right. Another thing that jumped out at us, this honest and trustworthy number. Want to look at those numbers.
Forty-four percent now saying that Kerry is honest and trustworthy. That's up from October, last we checked. And 42 percent saying that Bush is honest and trustworthy, down from previously. Another trend here?
SCHNEIDER: That's right. There's a trend in which more people are critical of Bush's honesty.
You know, the Duelfer report, the Iraq Survey Group came out last week and said there were no weapons of mass destruction, no weapons program. There may have been an intent to build those weapons at some point. President Bush in the debate refused to name any mistakes or to admit he had done anything in particular wrong.
You know, one other trend we're seeing in the poll that relates to that is we asked people, did President Bush "deliberately mislead the American public about whether Iraq had weapons of mass destruction?" Back in June of 2003, 31 percent felt he had deliberately misled them. Now it's almost half, 47 percent. So you're seeing that number creeping up over the past year. COLLINS: Not all good news, though, for Kerry. People are concerned about the tax issue and the possibility that he would raise taxes.
SCHNEIDER: That's right. The tax issue is a big problem.
Take a look at this. Almost half the voters say they believe if Kerry wins the election their own taxes would go up. Now, Kerry took the pledge at the debate the other night when he said he will not raise taxes on anyone making less than $200,000 a year.
So the only people whose taxes would go up under his administration, if it passes Congress, would be about two percent, the wealthiest two percent of taxpayers. But 48 percent, my goodness, that's a lot more than make 200,000 a year.
The president has made some headway in arguing he's going to raise taxes on just the rich, but if he's going to pay for all the programs he wants, he's going to have to raise taxes on a lot more people. And that's become a real problem for Kerry going into the domestic issues debate.
COLLINS: All right. Well, if we were to ask you to do a poll of polls, obviously there have been, you know, five polls out since the debate. Where does our poll fit in with the rest?
SCHNEIDER: Well, you're right. There have been five polls since Friday night's debate.
Now, three, including ours, show Kerry slightly ahead. Two show Bush slightly ahead. Every one of those polls, every one of them is within the margin of error.
If you average them, here's where you come out: Kerry 47, Bush 47. In other words, we could be facing a very long election night this year. The last one, you may recall, lasted five weeks.
COLLINS: Yes. That was a long night. Five weeks. No kidding.
All right. Bill Schneider, thanks for that.
SCHNEIDER: Sure.
COLLINS: The presidential candidates debate for the third and final time tomorrow in Tempe, Arizona. And CNN's prime-time coverage will begin at 7:00 p.m. Eastern Time.
HEMMER: About nine minutes past the hour now. From Iraq today, a mine exploded in Basra, the southern part of the country near the compound housing the -- the U.S. and British consulates there. No casualties reported as a result.
Also, U.S. airstrikes today hit targets in Fallujah, including a restaurant the coalition says was a meeting place for terrorists loyal to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. The owner of the restaurant says four of his employees were inside when that restaurant was hit. Also, U.S. warplanes have been making daily bombing runs in Fallujah in recent weeks, targeting safe houses and other locations linked to Zarqawi.
Also, Iraqi security forces launching raids on seven mosques in Ramadi. That's west of Baghdad, also in the Sunni Triangle. This follows two days of clashes in the town of Ramadi. The mosques are believed to be used by insurgents to stage attacks from those mosques.
COLLINS: Want to take a moment to check on the weather now. And Chad Myers is standing by at the CNN Center with the very latest on the forecast.
(WEATHER REPORT)
COLLINS: All right, Chad. Thank you.
Still to come now, doctors say it's the hottest thing going in birth control. And Dr. Gupta is going to tell us why so many women are clamoring for Seasonale.
HEMMER: Also in a moment here, a piece of political history could be, well, history soon. Why the Ambassador Hotel where RFK was shot and killed may have to make way for progress. We'll get to that.
COLLINS: And next, lawyers for Scott Peterson open their case today. They're expected to focus on the age of Peterson's unborn child. Why is it significant? We'll take a look ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: It's been four months since attorney Mark Geragos declared Scott Peterson stone-cold innocent during his opening statement. Well, today, Geragos gets to follow up as the defense begins its case in the double murder trial.
Former San Mateo County prosecutor Dean Johnson joins us now from Redwood City, California, with a preview.
So, give it to us, Dean. What do you think is going to happen in that courtroom today?
DEAN JOHNSON, FMR. SAN MATEO COUNTY PROSECUTOR: Well, ultimately, this defense is going to come down to a battle of experts. Mark Geragos set himself a very high bar. He said he was going to prove Scott Peterson innocent.
There's one way he can do that. If he can convince this jury that Conner Peterson, Scott's unborn child, lived beyond December the 24th, that fateful Christmas Eve day, then Scott Peterson could not have committed this murder. And he'll -- and Geragos will be able to say that we have proved Scott Peterson innocent even though we haven't proved anyone else guilty.
COLLINS: You know, earlier today on the show we heard it's going to be all about just that, facts and evidence, and creating that ever- important reasonable doubt. Is that not the crux of what he's going to be doing? JOHNSON: That's exactly right. And he can turn to prosecution evidence.
Some of the prosecution's own experts have suggested that Conner Peterson may have lived beyond December 24th. Geragos is expected to bolster that with the testimony of his own top forensic experts, and then say, ladies and gentlemen, if you have any doubt about the gestational age of Conner Peterson, you must decide that in favor of Scott Peterson's innocence. That's a very powerful argument, a very simple argument in a case where this jury is longing for simplicity, longing for some fact that they can hang on to.
COLLINS: Something else, though, to talk about, I think, Dean. You know, just days after Laci and Conner's body washed ashore, Scott Peterson was actually arrested by the U.S. -- in the U.S.-Mexico border there. His hair was bleached, carrying lots of cash. We remember this when it happened.
How credible is the defense going to be on that? How will they explain it?
JOHNSON: I'm not sure that the defense is going to spend a lot of time talking about Scott Peterson's behavior, though it is bizarre. The facts are what they are.
Scott Peterson was near the border. He did have in his car what he had. They're not going to refute that. They're simply going to say you've misinterpreted, that this was not Scott Peterson fleeing from the police, or fleeing because of any consciousness of guilt. He was simply fleeing from an onslaught by the media.
COLLINS: All right. So we know he's not going to take the stand, right? You still think that's the case?
JOHNSON: I will take betting money from anyone that Scott Peterson will never take the stand in that courtroom. He's not credible. The jury has heard many, many lies from this man. And he doesn't really know any facts that can add to the defense.
COLLINS: Dean Johnson, thanks so much, as always, as the defense begins its case today in the Scott Peterson trial.
JOHNSON: Thank you, Heidi.
COLLINS: Appreciate it -- Bill.
HEMMER: About 17 minutes past the hour now. An historic L.A. hotel is at the center of a major controversy. Soon, the once lavish Ambassador Hotel, home to the stars and the location of a very dark day in American history, may be torn down.
Thelma Gutierrez explains why.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
THELMA GUTIERREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In its heyday, the Ambassador was a grand hotel.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Judy Garland, to Lena Horne, Barbra Streisand...
GUTIERREZ: A beacon for stars and politicians.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Every president from Hoover to Nixon stayed in the hotel.
GUTIERREZ: And in 1968, one presidential candidate was murdered here.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Here we are near the area where Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated. It's behind these doors.
GUTIERREZ: But the Ambassador Hotel, since 1921, a witness to history, could soon become history itself.
ROY ROMER, LAUSD SUPERINTENDENT: You take the tower down and the old ballroom building down...
GUTIERREZ: In its place, a new $318 million K through 12 school complex for inner city children who are currently bused far away.
JOSE HUIZAR, LAUSD PRESIDENT: We bus 3,800 students to parts of the city about an hour away, two hours away, because we do not have space.
GUTIERREZ: This is where the controversy begins. The Los Angeles Conservancy wants the hotel preserved, converted into a school.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The building works very well for educational purposes.
ROMER: It just doesn't work.
GUTIERREZ: The superintendent of the Los Angeles unified school district, which owns the 23-acre site, says preservation is just too expensive.
ROMER: It would cost us roughly another $100 million. We can't afford that.
GUTIERREZ: So Superintendent Roy Romer came up with a plan to save parts of the building.
ROMER: The view, we can save the coconut grove, we can save the coffee shop, we can save the roof of the ballroom.
GUTIERREZ: The cost of the Romer plan? An extra $15 million. But even that plan is drawing fire.
MAXWELL KENNEDY, ROBERT KENNEDY'S SON: It's absolutely inappropriate.
GUTIERREZ: Maxwell Kennedy is Robert Kennedy's son.
KENNEDY: This is a photograph of my father breaking bread with Cesar Chavez.
GUTIERREZ: Kennedy says the last thing his father would have wanted was to spend any education money on preservation.
KENNEDY: My father felt above all that the most important thing you can do for society is to educate the youth. And so to take the money that's been set aside to educate the poorest people in this community and to spend it on preserving a building is exactly, I think, what he would not have wanted.
LINDA DISHMAN, L.A. CONSERVANCY: Our view is that the site belongs to many more people than just the Kennedy family.
GUTIERREZ: If the Romer plan passes, the school complex would open in 2008.
Thelma Gutierrez, CNN, Los Angeles.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HEMMER: Now 20 minutes past the hour. In a moment, the death of Christopher Reeve has pushed stem cell research back into the political spotlight. But which man has the most to gain from the issue? We'll look at that when we continue in a moment on this AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: As we look to the election three weeks from today, David Letterman having a bit of fun last night on the "Late Show," talking about Afghanistan, the elections there, and of course these elections here in 21 days. Here's the "Late Show" now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVID LETTERMAN, HOST, "LATE SHOW WITH DAVID LETTERMAN": Here's big news, and this is serious stuff. On Friday, elections -- free elections were held in Afghanistan. That's pretty good. Already, though, there are charges of fraud in Broward and Dade counties.
(LAUGHTER)
LETTERMAN: I don't know how that happened. Why would...
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: Lame?
CAFFERTY: It's not funny. Lame. Yes, his writers that make millions could do better than that.
HEMMER: Maybe we pulled the wrong one.
CAFFERTY: No, it was the right one.
HEMMER: No?
CAFFERTY: Should have done something about the donkeys carrying the ballots.
HEMMER: Have those pictures been...
(CROSSTALK)
CAFFERTY: I'm telling Letterman's writers what material to do.
HEMMER: So the pictures from Afghanistan have been unbelievable.
CAFFERTY: I know, they were great.
COLLINS: Yes.
HEMMER: What are you talking (ph) about, my man?
CAFFERTY: Not nearly enough.
The International Atomic Energy agency yesterday reported to the U.N. Security Council -- this is a little scary -- equipment and materials that could be used to make nuclear weapons are disappearing, vanishing from Iraq. Entire buildings full of the stuff gone, nobody knows where. Nobody knows who took it. It's just gone.
The two candidates diametrically opposed on the issue of whether going to war with Iraq made the U.S. any safer. That's our question this morning. Is the United States safer or more vulnerable as a result of going to war with Iraq? Lots of mail today.
Ernie in New Brunswick, Canada: "A no-brainer, Jack. America was hot on the trail of bin Laden when Bush took the country down a bloody, dead-end road in Iraq. Any time we give the terrorists another sanctuary and breeding ground, such as Iraq has become, the peril can only escalate."
Jeanne in Eagle, Idaho: "President Bush did not make America less safe. Terrorism made America less safe. This is a new century, and terrorism has brought a new kind of war to our doorstep. Only a fool would stand by without resistance."
Renee in Gas City, Indiana -- Gas City, Indiana.
COLLINS: OK. Don't make fun.
CAFFERTY: You have to make fun of a place called Gas City, Indiana.
HEMMER: Keep going.
CAFFERTY: Renee lives there, and she writes: "I don't feel any difference in my daily life now since 9/11. I don't feel safer. I feel the same as I did before September 11th. I would reason that we have not had to sacrifice anything in our daily lives like those in World War II."
That's from Renee in Gas City...
HEMMER: Gas City, Indiana.
CAFFERTY: I usually work alone in these segments.
(LAUGHTER)
HEMMER: You just cost yourself dinner in Chicago, buddy.
CAFFERTY: See, I blew it before we even got to town.
HEMMER: My gosh.
CAFFERTY: Linda in Glen Morgan, West Virginia: "The terrorists hate us for supporting Israel. If we go home and let them destroy Israel, then they will think that we're cowards and they have the freedom to attack us anywhere, like our own backyard. They will always hate us unless we can educate their children about what freedom means."
We'll do one more batch of these.
HEMMER: You touched a nerve today, didn't you? You got a big response.
CAFFERTY: Yes. Well, it's an emotional subject. And this thing about these materials that could be used, I mean, who's guarding the chicken coop over there?
COLLINS: Well, yes, and they're required, too, by the U.N. to -- if they move any of these materials, they have to contact them and let them know that they have done so, which they have not done.
CAFFERTY: Well, it's a little, yes, unnerving.
COLLINS: Unnerving, indeed.
All right. Jack, thank you.
CAFFERTY: Sure.
COLLINS: In California now, pumpkin growers went for glory. All trying to produce the best pumpkin in the land. I think this might be it.
The winner, a gargantuan gourd -- yes, gargantuan gourd -- I think we have writers here, too -- that tipped the scales at 1,229 pounds. Its grower, a retired Washington State firefighter. He wins $5 for each winning pound of pumpkin.
So our math says that's a total of $6,145. That's not too shabby for growing a pumpkin.
HEMMER: Wow. COLLINS: You know?
HEMMER: I'm not going to carve that thing. It would take a month.
COLLINS: Yes, this is true.
All right, then. Still to come this morning: A new birth control pill has become incredibly popular because of how it fools Mother Nature. But is it safe? Dr. Sanjay Gupta is going to help us out with this one.
Plus, Democrats are fuming now over the new documentary "Stolen Honor," calling it propaganda. How does the broadcaster behind it respond? We'll hear from Sinclair Broadcasting ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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 October 12, 2004 - 9:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Is it news or is it worthy. An anti-Kerry documentary scheduled to air on 62 stations across the country. Democrats say it's illegal.
Crackdown across Iraq. U.S. forces going after terrorists. But did an airstrike in Fallujah hit the right people?
And after four months of prosecution witnesses, the defense in the Scott Peterson trial gets its turn on this AMERICAN MORNING.
ANNOUNCER: From the CNN Broadcast Center in New York, this is AMERICAN MORNING with Bill Hemmer and Soledad O'Brien.
HEMMER: Beautiful day here in the Northeast, 48 degrees outside. Good morning. Welcome back. Nine o'clock here in New York City. I'm Bill Hemmer.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Heidi Collins, in for Soledad today.
Stem cell research an important issue for many Americans. But will it become a decisive issue after the death of Christopher Reeve? We're going to look at how both campaigns could be helped and hurt by the actor's death.
HEMMER: Also this hour, the spot in L.A. where Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated now in the way of progress for the city's schools. There's a big debate, too, about this, and millions of dollars on the line. You might be a bit surprised about which side on the debate RFK's son is taking. We'll get a report on that this hour.
COLLINS: Jack Cafferty is here now.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: What do they want to do, tear that hotel down?
HEMMER: And make some room.
CAFFERTY: Yes? And somebody wants to keep it as a historical -- OK.
Are we safer or more vulnerable because of the war in Iraq? There are reports now that have been given to the U.N. that buildings full of materials that could be used to manufacture nuclear weapons have vanished. Nobody knows who took them, nobody knows where they are. Nada. So, am@cnn.com. Safer or more vulnerable as a result of the war in Iraq?
HEMMER: Got it. Thank you, Jack.
Straight away to Kelly Wallace, looking at the news this hour.
Kelly, good morning. News on al Qaeda.
KELLY WALLACE, CNN ANCHOR: Absolutely. Good morning to you. Good morning, everyone.
We are beginning with questions about the United States' treatment of al Qaeda suspects. According to the group Human Rights Watch, at least 11 suspects are being held at undisclosed locations without access to their families or protection of the law. Among them is Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, considered one of the masterminds behind the September 11 attacks. Asked about the report, a CIA spokesman declined to comment.
In Iraq, some concerns over missing nuclear equipment. A spokesperson for a U.N. nuclear atomic watchdog told CNN just hours ago some equipment which could be used in a nuclear weapons program has been systematically disappearing from Iraq since the U.S. invasion. Officials worry the materials could fall into the wrong hands. We'll have much more on Iraq, including today's assault on terror leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi coming up.
And the state of Washington will hold an 18-year-old financially responsible for a 16,000 acre wildfire. Washington State's forest service will Bill the man $10 million for the cost of fighting the wildfire in August.
Officials say he started the fire by driving an off-road vehicle and sparking the blaze. The wildfire burned thousands of acres and destroyed one home.
That's a quick look at the headlines. Back to Bill and Heidi.
HEMMER: And that gives you an idea about how dry the ground is out there, too.
WALLACE: Absolutely.
HEMMER: Kelly, thanks for that.
Let's start this hour again. President Bush getting ready for tomorrow night's final campaign debate. First, though, a rally in Colorado Springs and a Republican fund-raiser. Then he settles in for the debate at Arizona State University, the third and final one for this season.
Suzanne Malveaux starts our coverage this hour.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): President Bush out West, armed with a fresh attack line handed to him by his opponent.
GEORGE W. BUSH (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Just this weekend, Senator Kerry talked of reducing terrorism to "nuisance," and compared it to prostitution and illegal gambling. See, I couldn't disagree more.
MALVEAUX: The Bush camp is seizing on a line taken from a Kerry interview in "The New York Times" magazine. Kerry aides say their candidate's comments are being taken out of context. But the Republicans see it as one last opportunity to slam Kerry on the war on terror before Wednesday's debate turns voters' attention back to domestic issues.
RICHARD CHENEY, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This is all part of a pre-9/11 mindset, and it is a view we cannot go back to.
MALVEAUX: That message is the one the president is pounding this week in the second-tier battleground states in the West. And there could be a significant twist in the election's outcome riding on the voters in Colorado.
If voters approve an initiative there, it could get rid of the current electoral votes formula, where winner takes all. Instead, candidates would split the state's electoral votes based on the proportion they win of the popular vote. If that system had been in place in the 2000 election, Al Gore would have picked up three of Colorado's electoral votes and won the election.
JULIE BROWN, MAKE YOUR VOTE COUNT: It's a much fairer and more accurate reflection of the will of the people.
MALVEAUX (on camera): President Bush is testing his attack lines on Kerry before friendly audiences here in Colorado, and later when he travels to Arizona, a state that Kerry camp has largely given up on. But Wednesday's third and final debate will be a chance for President Bush to test his message before the voters at large.
Suzanne Malveaux, CNN, Colorado Springs, Colorado.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: A new CNN/"USA Today"/Gallup poll indicates the presidential horserace still neck and neck. Senior political analyst Bill Schneider is in Washington now to break down the numbers for us.
Bill, good morning.
WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SR. POLITICAL ANALYST: Good morning, Heidi.
COLLINS: This newest poll now is showing John Kerry with 49 percent, President Bush with 48 percent among likely voters. We're looking at the numbers now. If you could, read those tea leaves. What do you see in these numbers? A lot of people are going to say, well, you know, they're extremely close.
SCHNEIDER: Extremely close. It doesn't look like anyone has a real advantage. But there has been over the past month a trend slowly building in John Kerry's favor.
In mid-September, Bush was 14 points ahead among likely voters. Late September, five. After the first debate, it was a dead heat. Now Kerry's one point up.
Kerry has gained nine points over the last month. Bush has lost six. So while it's too close to call, we have seen a trend for Kerry.
COLLINS: What about the president's approval rating now? Let's look at that number. We're seeing 47 percent, which is lower than we've seen in our polls as of late. What does that mean for a guy running for re-election? Going to happen in three weeks.
SCHNEIDER: Yes. It means there's some trouble. With an approval rating below 50 percent, it means most voters aren't prepared to re-elect him. Forty-seven percent is a problem. What it points to is a very close election, where the president really cannot feel very secure.
COLLINS: Historically, though, other presidents, have they sat below 50 percent and still been re-elected at that point?
SCHNEIDER: Oh, I don't think so. I think the last one might have been Harry Truman in 1948. But below 50 percent, you have a problem.
COLLINS: All right. Another thing that jumped out at us, this honest and trustworthy number. Want to look at those numbers.
Forty-four percent now saying that Kerry is honest and trustworthy. That's up from October, last we checked. And 42 percent saying that Bush is honest and trustworthy, down from previously. Another trend here?
SCHNEIDER: That's right. There's a trend in which more people are critical of Bush's honesty.
You know, the Duelfer report, the Iraq Survey Group came out last week and said there were no weapons of mass destruction, no weapons program. There may have been an intent to build those weapons at some point. President Bush in the debate refused to name any mistakes or to admit he had done anything in particular wrong.
You know, one other trend we're seeing in the poll that relates to that is we asked people, did President Bush "deliberately mislead the American public about whether Iraq had weapons of mass destruction?" Back in June of 2003, 31 percent felt he had deliberately misled them. Now it's almost half, 47 percent. So you're seeing that number creeping up over the past year. COLLINS: Not all good news, though, for Kerry. People are concerned about the tax issue and the possibility that he would raise taxes.
SCHNEIDER: That's right. The tax issue is a big problem.
Take a look at this. Almost half the voters say they believe if Kerry wins the election their own taxes would go up. Now, Kerry took the pledge at the debate the other night when he said he will not raise taxes on anyone making less than $200,000 a year.
So the only people whose taxes would go up under his administration, if it passes Congress, would be about two percent, the wealthiest two percent of taxpayers. But 48 percent, my goodness, that's a lot more than make 200,000 a year.
The president has made some headway in arguing he's going to raise taxes on just the rich, but if he's going to pay for all the programs he wants, he's going to have to raise taxes on a lot more people. And that's become a real problem for Kerry going into the domestic issues debate.
COLLINS: All right. Well, if we were to ask you to do a poll of polls, obviously there have been, you know, five polls out since the debate. Where does our poll fit in with the rest?
SCHNEIDER: Well, you're right. There have been five polls since Friday night's debate.
Now, three, including ours, show Kerry slightly ahead. Two show Bush slightly ahead. Every one of those polls, every one of them is within the margin of error.
If you average them, here's where you come out: Kerry 47, Bush 47. In other words, we could be facing a very long election night this year. The last one, you may recall, lasted five weeks.
COLLINS: Yes. That was a long night. Five weeks. No kidding.
All right. Bill Schneider, thanks for that.
SCHNEIDER: Sure.
COLLINS: The presidential candidates debate for the third and final time tomorrow in Tempe, Arizona. And CNN's prime-time coverage will begin at 7:00 p.m. Eastern Time.
HEMMER: About nine minutes past the hour now. From Iraq today, a mine exploded in Basra, the southern part of the country near the compound housing the -- the U.S. and British consulates there. No casualties reported as a result.
Also, U.S. airstrikes today hit targets in Fallujah, including a restaurant the coalition says was a meeting place for terrorists loyal to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. The owner of the restaurant says four of his employees were inside when that restaurant was hit. Also, U.S. warplanes have been making daily bombing runs in Fallujah in recent weeks, targeting safe houses and other locations linked to Zarqawi.
Also, Iraqi security forces launching raids on seven mosques in Ramadi. That's west of Baghdad, also in the Sunni Triangle. This follows two days of clashes in the town of Ramadi. The mosques are believed to be used by insurgents to stage attacks from those mosques.
COLLINS: Want to take a moment to check on the weather now. And Chad Myers is standing by at the CNN Center with the very latest on the forecast.
(WEATHER REPORT)
COLLINS: All right, Chad. Thank you.
Still to come now, doctors say it's the hottest thing going in birth control. And Dr. Gupta is going to tell us why so many women are clamoring for Seasonale.
HEMMER: Also in a moment here, a piece of political history could be, well, history soon. Why the Ambassador Hotel where RFK was shot and killed may have to make way for progress. We'll get to that.
COLLINS: And next, lawyers for Scott Peterson open their case today. They're expected to focus on the age of Peterson's unborn child. Why is it significant? We'll take a look ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: It's been four months since attorney Mark Geragos declared Scott Peterson stone-cold innocent during his opening statement. Well, today, Geragos gets to follow up as the defense begins its case in the double murder trial.
Former San Mateo County prosecutor Dean Johnson joins us now from Redwood City, California, with a preview.
So, give it to us, Dean. What do you think is going to happen in that courtroom today?
DEAN JOHNSON, FMR. SAN MATEO COUNTY PROSECUTOR: Well, ultimately, this defense is going to come down to a battle of experts. Mark Geragos set himself a very high bar. He said he was going to prove Scott Peterson innocent.
There's one way he can do that. If he can convince this jury that Conner Peterson, Scott's unborn child, lived beyond December the 24th, that fateful Christmas Eve day, then Scott Peterson could not have committed this murder. And he'll -- and Geragos will be able to say that we have proved Scott Peterson innocent even though we haven't proved anyone else guilty.
COLLINS: You know, earlier today on the show we heard it's going to be all about just that, facts and evidence, and creating that ever- important reasonable doubt. Is that not the crux of what he's going to be doing? JOHNSON: That's exactly right. And he can turn to prosecution evidence.
Some of the prosecution's own experts have suggested that Conner Peterson may have lived beyond December 24th. Geragos is expected to bolster that with the testimony of his own top forensic experts, and then say, ladies and gentlemen, if you have any doubt about the gestational age of Conner Peterson, you must decide that in favor of Scott Peterson's innocence. That's a very powerful argument, a very simple argument in a case where this jury is longing for simplicity, longing for some fact that they can hang on to.
COLLINS: Something else, though, to talk about, I think, Dean. You know, just days after Laci and Conner's body washed ashore, Scott Peterson was actually arrested by the U.S. -- in the U.S.-Mexico border there. His hair was bleached, carrying lots of cash. We remember this when it happened.
How credible is the defense going to be on that? How will they explain it?
JOHNSON: I'm not sure that the defense is going to spend a lot of time talking about Scott Peterson's behavior, though it is bizarre. The facts are what they are.
Scott Peterson was near the border. He did have in his car what he had. They're not going to refute that. They're simply going to say you've misinterpreted, that this was not Scott Peterson fleeing from the police, or fleeing because of any consciousness of guilt. He was simply fleeing from an onslaught by the media.
COLLINS: All right. So we know he's not going to take the stand, right? You still think that's the case?
JOHNSON: I will take betting money from anyone that Scott Peterson will never take the stand in that courtroom. He's not credible. The jury has heard many, many lies from this man. And he doesn't really know any facts that can add to the defense.
COLLINS: Dean Johnson, thanks so much, as always, as the defense begins its case today in the Scott Peterson trial.
JOHNSON: Thank you, Heidi.
COLLINS: Appreciate it -- Bill.
HEMMER: About 17 minutes past the hour now. An historic L.A. hotel is at the center of a major controversy. Soon, the once lavish Ambassador Hotel, home to the stars and the location of a very dark day in American history, may be torn down.
Thelma Gutierrez explains why.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
THELMA GUTIERREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In its heyday, the Ambassador was a grand hotel.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Judy Garland, to Lena Horne, Barbra Streisand...
GUTIERREZ: A beacon for stars and politicians.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Every president from Hoover to Nixon stayed in the hotel.
GUTIERREZ: And in 1968, one presidential candidate was murdered here.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Here we are near the area where Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated. It's behind these doors.
GUTIERREZ: But the Ambassador Hotel, since 1921, a witness to history, could soon become history itself.
ROY ROMER, LAUSD SUPERINTENDENT: You take the tower down and the old ballroom building down...
GUTIERREZ: In its place, a new $318 million K through 12 school complex for inner city children who are currently bused far away.
JOSE HUIZAR, LAUSD PRESIDENT: We bus 3,800 students to parts of the city about an hour away, two hours away, because we do not have space.
GUTIERREZ: This is where the controversy begins. The Los Angeles Conservancy wants the hotel preserved, converted into a school.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The building works very well for educational purposes.
ROMER: It just doesn't work.
GUTIERREZ: The superintendent of the Los Angeles unified school district, which owns the 23-acre site, says preservation is just too expensive.
ROMER: It would cost us roughly another $100 million. We can't afford that.
GUTIERREZ: So Superintendent Roy Romer came up with a plan to save parts of the building.
ROMER: The view, we can save the coconut grove, we can save the coffee shop, we can save the roof of the ballroom.
GUTIERREZ: The cost of the Romer plan? An extra $15 million. But even that plan is drawing fire.
MAXWELL KENNEDY, ROBERT KENNEDY'S SON: It's absolutely inappropriate.
GUTIERREZ: Maxwell Kennedy is Robert Kennedy's son.
KENNEDY: This is a photograph of my father breaking bread with Cesar Chavez.
GUTIERREZ: Kennedy says the last thing his father would have wanted was to spend any education money on preservation.
KENNEDY: My father felt above all that the most important thing you can do for society is to educate the youth. And so to take the money that's been set aside to educate the poorest people in this community and to spend it on preserving a building is exactly, I think, what he would not have wanted.
LINDA DISHMAN, L.A. CONSERVANCY: Our view is that the site belongs to many more people than just the Kennedy family.
GUTIERREZ: If the Romer plan passes, the school complex would open in 2008.
Thelma Gutierrez, CNN, Los Angeles.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HEMMER: Now 20 minutes past the hour. In a moment, the death of Christopher Reeve has pushed stem cell research back into the political spotlight. But which man has the most to gain from the issue? We'll look at that when we continue in a moment on this AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: As we look to the election three weeks from today, David Letterman having a bit of fun last night on the "Late Show," talking about Afghanistan, the elections there, and of course these elections here in 21 days. Here's the "Late Show" now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVID LETTERMAN, HOST, "LATE SHOW WITH DAVID LETTERMAN": Here's big news, and this is serious stuff. On Friday, elections -- free elections were held in Afghanistan. That's pretty good. Already, though, there are charges of fraud in Broward and Dade counties.
(LAUGHTER)
LETTERMAN: I don't know how that happened. Why would...
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: Lame?
CAFFERTY: It's not funny. Lame. Yes, his writers that make millions could do better than that.
HEMMER: Maybe we pulled the wrong one.
CAFFERTY: No, it was the right one.
HEMMER: No?
CAFFERTY: Should have done something about the donkeys carrying the ballots.
HEMMER: Have those pictures been...
(CROSSTALK)
CAFFERTY: I'm telling Letterman's writers what material to do.
HEMMER: So the pictures from Afghanistan have been unbelievable.
CAFFERTY: I know, they were great.
COLLINS: Yes.
HEMMER: What are you talking (ph) about, my man?
CAFFERTY: Not nearly enough.
The International Atomic Energy agency yesterday reported to the U.N. Security Council -- this is a little scary -- equipment and materials that could be used to make nuclear weapons are disappearing, vanishing from Iraq. Entire buildings full of the stuff gone, nobody knows where. Nobody knows who took it. It's just gone.
The two candidates diametrically opposed on the issue of whether going to war with Iraq made the U.S. any safer. That's our question this morning. Is the United States safer or more vulnerable as a result of going to war with Iraq? Lots of mail today.
Ernie in New Brunswick, Canada: "A no-brainer, Jack. America was hot on the trail of bin Laden when Bush took the country down a bloody, dead-end road in Iraq. Any time we give the terrorists another sanctuary and breeding ground, such as Iraq has become, the peril can only escalate."
Jeanne in Eagle, Idaho: "President Bush did not make America less safe. Terrorism made America less safe. This is a new century, and terrorism has brought a new kind of war to our doorstep. Only a fool would stand by without resistance."
Renee in Gas City, Indiana -- Gas City, Indiana.
COLLINS: OK. Don't make fun.
CAFFERTY: You have to make fun of a place called Gas City, Indiana.
HEMMER: Keep going.
CAFFERTY: Renee lives there, and she writes: "I don't feel any difference in my daily life now since 9/11. I don't feel safer. I feel the same as I did before September 11th. I would reason that we have not had to sacrifice anything in our daily lives like those in World War II."
That's from Renee in Gas City...
HEMMER: Gas City, Indiana.
CAFFERTY: I usually work alone in these segments.
(LAUGHTER)
HEMMER: You just cost yourself dinner in Chicago, buddy.
CAFFERTY: See, I blew it before we even got to town.
HEMMER: My gosh.
CAFFERTY: Linda in Glen Morgan, West Virginia: "The terrorists hate us for supporting Israel. If we go home and let them destroy Israel, then they will think that we're cowards and they have the freedom to attack us anywhere, like our own backyard. They will always hate us unless we can educate their children about what freedom means."
We'll do one more batch of these.
HEMMER: You touched a nerve today, didn't you? You got a big response.
CAFFERTY: Yes. Well, it's an emotional subject. And this thing about these materials that could be used, I mean, who's guarding the chicken coop over there?
COLLINS: Well, yes, and they're required, too, by the U.N. to -- if they move any of these materials, they have to contact them and let them know that they have done so, which they have not done.
CAFFERTY: Well, it's a little, yes, unnerving.
COLLINS: Unnerving, indeed.
All right. Jack, thank you.
CAFFERTY: Sure.
COLLINS: In California now, pumpkin growers went for glory. All trying to produce the best pumpkin in the land. I think this might be it.
The winner, a gargantuan gourd -- yes, gargantuan gourd -- I think we have writers here, too -- that tipped the scales at 1,229 pounds. Its grower, a retired Washington State firefighter. He wins $5 for each winning pound of pumpkin.
So our math says that's a total of $6,145. That's not too shabby for growing a pumpkin.
HEMMER: Wow. COLLINS: You know?
HEMMER: I'm not going to carve that thing. It would take a month.
COLLINS: Yes, this is true.
All right, then. Still to come this morning: A new birth control pill has become incredibly popular because of how it fools Mother Nature. But is it safe? Dr. Sanjay Gupta is going to help us out with this one.
Plus, Democrats are fuming now over the new documentary "Stolen Honor," calling it propaganda. How does the broadcaster behind it respond? We'll hear from Sinclair Broadcasting ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
