Return to Transcripts main page
American Morning
President Campaigns; America Votes 2006; The Iraq Effect; Missing Soldier Search; Minding Your Business
Aired November 03, 2006 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Embroiled in scandal, a top evangelical minister in front of the White House accused of cheating on his wife with a gay prostitute. We'll hear from the minister and his accuser ahead.
BOB FRANKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Bob Franken in Columbus, Ohio. If you think the election has been intense thus far, wait till you see this weekend.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAEL J. FOX, ACTOR: To me, it's still not -- it still has nothing to do with the topic. I mean, he'd have to take it up, like I said, with the other million and a half Americans who have Parkinson's and how they feel.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
S. O'BRIEN: Michael J. Fox is speaking out. Did Rush Limbaugh cross the line by taking on Fox's politics?
And a divine discovery in New Jersey. Letters to God appear on a beach. Those stories and much more ahead on this AMERICAN MORNING.
Good morning. Welcome, everybody. It is Friday, November 3rd. I'm Soledad O'Brien reporting from Washington, D.C. Miles is in New York this morning. Thanks very much for being with us.
Good morning, Miles.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, Soledad.
I'm Miles O'Brien here in New York.
We begin in Colorado and a political bombshell likely to send ripples through races all across the nation. A leading evangelical Christian pastor at the forefront of the crusade against same-sex marriage steps down from the pulpit amid allegations of an long-term sexual affair with another man. The Reverend Ted Haggard resigning as president of the powerful National Association of Evangelicals, which represents 30 million American Christians. He has also left his post as pastor of the New Life Church in Colorado Springs while the church panel investigates charges he had a three-year affair with a male escort and that he used methamphetamine during their sexual encounters. Reverend Haggard, married with five children, denies the allegations. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REV. TED HAGGARD, NEW LIFE CHURCH: I've never said that I'm perfect, but I haven't had sex with a man in Denver. And I've been faithful to my wife. I've never had a gay relationship with anybody and I'm steady with my wife, I'm faithful to my wife, and so I don't know if this is election year politics or if this has to do with the marriage amendment or what it is.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
M. O'BRIEN: The man making the accusation, 49-year-old Mike Jones. He says Haggard paid him for sex and they secretly met about once a month for three years. He says Haggard's stand against gay marriage prompted him to come forward.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MIKE JONES, ACCUSER: It's been hard for me because, emotionally, I just don't want to destroy someone. But this story needs to be out because it's so wrong. People may look at me and what I've done as immoral, but I think I had to do the moral thing in my mind, and that is, expose someone who is preaching one thing but doing the opposite behind everybody's backs.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
M. O'BRIEN: Despite the Reverend Haggard's public denial, the pastor who's running the church now, Reverend Ross Parsley, says Haggard did make an admission of indiscretion.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REV. ROSS PARSLEY, INTERIM SENIOR PASTOR, NEW LIFE CHURCH: That there has been some admission of indiscretion, not admission to all of the material that has been discussed, but there is an admission of some guilt and that's what we're working with with the outside overseers who are working with Pastor Ted and his family to investigate what's happened here.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
M. O'BRIEN: The allegations come as voters in Colorado and seven other states prepare to weigh in on amendments that would ban gay marriage.
Republicans in Pennsylvania facing yet another sex scandal this morning. Allegations Republican Congressman Don Sherwood agreed to pay $500,000 to an ex-mistress he is accused of abusing. Sherwood, who is married, admits the woman was his mistress, but denies the abuse charges. He's not revealing the terms of the settlement of her $5.5 million lawsuit, but apparently money was withheld until after the election as an incentive to keep her quiet.
S. O'BRIEN: President Bush is going all out for the final weekend of campaigning before the midterm elections on Tuesday, trying to help his party keep the majority in Congress. White House correspondent Elaine Quijano is in Elko, Nevada, this morning. She's traveling with the president.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's his last push for the '06 campaign and President Bush is targeting the party faithful, heading to friendly territory, places like Montana and here in rural Nevada, with a back-to-basics GOP message that Republicans will keep taxes low and keep Americans safe. Now from now until Election Day, the president will be visiting states that he won back in 2004, including today, a visit to Missouri and Iowa, and then tomorrow a stop in Colorado.
Absent, though, from the president's campaign itinerary, states where the president's approval rating is now in the 30s and the unpopularity of the Iraq war might hurt vulnerable Republican candidates. Still, President Bush remains optimistic that his party will hold on to both the House and the Senate this year.
Elaine Quijano, CNN, traveling with the president in Elko, Nevada.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
S. O'BRIEN: And voters unhappy with the current state of politics are defecting from both parties. It's estimated there will be 3 percent more independent voters on Tuesday than four years ago. American University is reporting that 17 percent of voters now call themselves independents, 37 percent say they're Democrats, 31 percent Republicans and 15 percent are unclassified.
With the House and the Senate still in play, both parties are pushing hard for votes in the campaign's final weekend. AMERICAN MORNING's Bob Franken live for us in Columbus, Ohio.
Good morning, Bob.
FRANKEN: Good morning, Soledad.
Yes, they are pouring millions of dollars, thousands of volunteers into winning states, but they're selected states.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SEN. MIKE DEWINE, (R) OHIO: All right. Good day.
FRANKEN, (voice over): In some cases, they're taking money from one pocket and putting it into others. Republicans withholding resources, for instance, from Ohio Senator Mike DeWine, who has fallen behind. By contrast, both sides are sparing no expense in Missouri's Senate race where incumbent Jim Talent is in a fight truly too close to call.
In Montana, where the GOP's Conrad Burns is in a battle for his political life, President Bush tried to help Thursday. In Virginia, where the incumbent George Allen is still neck and neck with the Democrat, in spite of one campaign blunder after another. And Tennessee, where the crucial race is sometimes clouded by the issue of race.
And in the battle for the House, Democrats need 15 seats to take control, and they're spreading their wealth and hopes to a growing number of districts, as many as 60, now gearing up for a final push, including this one here in Ohio, a genuine toss-up.
REP. DEBORAH PRICE, (R) OHIO: I'm Deborah Pryce and this is my message.
MARY JO KILROY, (D) CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE: I'm Mary Jo Kilroy. That's where I stand and why I approve this message.
FRANKEN: But this goes way beyond the TV ads. Here, there, and everywhere, the ground war is spreading.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, thanks again. We appreciate your support. And you have a good day.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is a Democratic household.
FRANKEN: Supporters of Democratic candidates, like Mary Jo Kilroy here, are going door to door trying to keep step with the Republicans and their highly successful 72-hour program to get out the vote.
KILROY: All of us together can counteract this 72-hour program the Republicans are always bragging about.
PRYCE: We'll need you another couple nights.
FRANKEN: It has made a big difference for GOP candidates across the country, like Deborah Pryce.
PRYCE: We have the mechanism on the ground. We have it all locked and loaded. We just need to get the people to do the job.
FRANKEN: Much of that job is done out of sight in direct mail centers and in phone banks.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hello, my name is Dan. I'm a volunteer calling on behalf of . . .
FRANKEN: They're calling from both parties.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Could we count on you for some volunteer time to help elect Mary Jo?
FRANKEN: And one of the most interesting races of all is the one taking place in the West Palm Beach, Florida, district that used to be a lock for the GOP's Mark Foley. The same Mark Foley whose email scandal is causing problems for Republicans everywhere. A nearly $2 million GOP cash infusion on behalf of the right in replacement seems to have paid off. Incredibly, it's now a toss-up. (END VIDEOTAPE)
FRANKEN: And throughout the country, the get out the vote machinery is roaring to the finish line. It's machinery that is made up of a huge number of human parts out there trying to make sure that there is no voter unturned.
Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: Bob Franken for us this morning.
Thank you, Bob.
All the day's political news is available on the cnn.com news ticker any time, day or night. Just go to cnn.com/ticker.
Let's send it back to Miles in New York.
M. O'BRIEN: All right, thank you, Soledad. See you in just a minute.
Happening this morning.
A government website that reportedly shows how to build an Adam bomb now shut down. The site was set up by the Bush administration before the Iraq War to use the Internet to gather evidence about the dangers posed by Saddam Hussein and to show satellite photos of Iraq's nuclear sites. But according to "The New York Times," the site also contained details of Iraq's secret nuclear research. One expert called it a cookbook for making a nuclear bomb.
The Pentagon reportedly ready to strike North Korea's nuclear program if it gets the word from the president. Unnamed defense officials telling "The Washington Times" the U.S. is ready with commando raids and missile attacks on North Korean nuclear sites if it becomes necessary. The report says plans have been stepped up since North Korea's nuclear test last month.
In Gaza, an Israeli air strike on a car kills four Hamas members. Palestinian security forces say the four were killed as they were traveling just outside Gaza City. And in the town of Beit Hanoun, the roof of a mosque where some militants hold up collapsed after intense fire from Israeli forces. Witnesses say about 60 gunmen escaped from the collapsed mosque.
A 24-year-old South Carolina man charged with the murders of three people this morning. Police say Charles Gamble (ph) stabbed his 19-year-old ex-girlfriend to death. They also say Gamble fatally shot two other men. The victims' bodies were found in a drainage pipe near an apartment complex where the woman lived.
And in Virginia, a sheriff and 12 of his current and former deputies from Henry County in trouble. Sheriff H.F. Cassell (ph) is among 18 people arrested as part of a federal drug and money laundering operation. A federal grand jury indictment alleges the suspects conspired to distribute illegal drugs. Coming up in the program, seeking a motive. Two workers shot and wounded outside their office. Police say it was not a random attack. So what was the motive?
Also a fugitive roundup. Thousands of dangerous criminals off the streets and back in jail. We'll look at a massive operation to make America safer.
And holy water. How did hundreds of letters to God end up off the coast of New Jersey? That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
S. O'BRIEN: Welcome back, everybody. A look at the day's top stories.
An evangelical minister, an ally of the White House, is accused of cheating on his wife with a gay prostitute. Pastor Ted Haggard denies it. He's resigned, though, as president of the National Association of Evangelicals.
And four days till the elections. President Bush is stumping for Republicans in Missouri. Missouri, in fact, is one race where a Republican incumbent could lose his seat to the Democratic challenger. All indications are that Democrats are going to make significant gains on the Republican majority come Tuesday. And the one big reason driving the shift from red to blue seems to be Iraq. CNN's Candy Crowley is taking a look this morning at the Iraq effect.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CANDY CROWLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): Traveling the country this election year, whether district by district or state by state, you will find voters talk about a lot of things -- Social Security, health care, the price of gasoline. But in the end, almost everywhere, they talk about one thing, the war in Iraq. It dominates the political landscape like no other issue has since the Vietnam War in the late '60s.
This does not bode well for Republicans. They have tried to distance themselves from the president. They have tried to change the subject. But voters seem poised to hold Republicans accountable as a proxy for President Bush, who's not on the ballot. The framework for this election really began in the late summer of '04, when, for the first time, the majority of Americans turned sour on the war.
Since then, as the death toll rose and support fell even further, Democrats have become even more aggressive. This will continue up until the end. National Democrats say their last ad beginning to play today will be about the war in Iraq.
Candy Crowley, CNN, Elk Grove Village, Illinois.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
S. O'BRIEN: In Iraq today, lots of activity in the search for that U.S. soldier who's been missing since October 23rd. American forces are now in a so-called dialogue with the Iraqi government. CNN's Michael Ware in Baghdad for us this morning.
Michael, good morning.
Why is the search focusing on Sadr City? Why do they think he might be there?
MICHAEL WARE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, good morning, Soledad.
Well, according to a senior U.S. officer here on the ground that I've been speaking to, he says that U.S. military intelligence has strong intelligence that the missing soldier, Ahmed al-Taie, has been taken by some kind of faction associated with the Mehdi army, loyal to the rebel anti-American cleric here in Iraq, Muqtada al-Sadr. Now, obviously, the military won't go into the specifics of this information, but they are convinced that some element within this anti-American block has taken him. Whether it's from the mainstream of this organization or whether it's a rouge or militant group, we don't know for sure. But just looking at the areas in Baghdad where the search is focused, they are all solely within the strongholds of the Mehdi army.
S. O'BRIEN: Michael, let me ask you a question. Why does the Mehdi army have so much power?
WARE: Well, for a start, it has an enormous power base. I mean, it has this huge pool of people from which to draw from, its constituency. Sadr City is in the northeast corner of the city of Baghdad. It's an enormous slum area, for want of a better term. I mean, the conditions within Sadr City are appalling and there's at least two and a half million people in this quarter.
Now that's almost half the population of Baghdad within this area. The cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and his Mehdi army militia, their control, their influence is absolute. Everyone from old women to children on the street chant pro Muqtada slogans and anti-American slogans. Now this organization also has groups throughout the south.
Now, within the government, they're officially represented. They had 30 seats in parliament. They control four government ministries. And through this bizarre set of circumstances in Iraqi politics, a crack emerged and Muqtada was able to punch through it, helping put the prime minister in power and giving him an on-going sway over the Iraqi prime minister, which he's been using essentially against the Americans.
Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: Michael Ware is in Baghdad for us this morning.
Michael, thank you.
Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: Thank you, Soledad. In Arizona, two people are in a hospital. A former security guard under arrest following a shooting in an office parking lot. Police say Michael Rivera drove into the lot of a Pitney Bowes office. He got out of his car and fired a semiautomatic rifle hitting the two workers. He later surrendered to police. Rivera had recently quit his job as a security guard at the company.
Also in Arizona, investigators are trying to find out who's setting off bombs at a Tucson mall. The latest bomb in a trash can near an outdoor cafe. Police say a similar bomb exploded near a toy store in a mall earlier this week.
A roundup of fugitives. More than 10,000 caught in all, including more than 1,600 sex offenders, all part of what the U.S. marshals are call Operation Falcon III, tracking down fugitives east of the Mississippi. An estimated one million fugitives are on the loose in this country.
The remains of three 9/11 victims have been positively identified. Authorities confirm all three were on the first plane to crash into the World Trade Center in New York City. Officials renewed the search for remains after bones were found in underground drains near Ground Zero last week.
NASA is pushing back its shuttle launches scheduled for next year to use the extra time to service and possibly change the external tanks of two shuttles, Atlantis and Endeavor. The launches now scheduled for March, June and September, each delayed by a few weeks.
Eighteen minutes past the hour. If you're heading out the door, Chad Myers has what you need to know, the traveler's forecast.
Good morning, Chad.
(WEATHER REPORT)
M. O'BRIEN: Three hundred letters to God -- some of them funny, some of them sad, most never opened -- washed up in an Atlantic City, New Jersey, beach the other day. They were actually addressed to the same New Jersey minister who died a couple of years ago. Some date back to 1973. One letter writer asked God to help him win the lottery. Others seek divine help with relatives using drugs, gambling or cheating. One woman expressed anguish over an abortion. The man who found the collection says he's sad these people never had their letters read. So what he doing? Well, he's doing what every good, red blooded American would do, he's putting them up for sale on eBay, hoping his financial prayers will be answered.
Coming up, Michael J. Fox, Rush Limbaugh and that controversial political ad. Fox tells CNN's Anderson Cooper why he couldn't care less about Limbaugh's criticism.
Plus, Microsoft reaches a truce with one of its biggest rivals. Andy's got that, "Minding Your Business." Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) S. O'BRIEN: Welcome back. Top stories this morning.
An influential evangelical minister is accused of cheating on his wife with a gay prostitute. Pastor Ted Haggard denies it, but he's resigned as the pastor of his church and as the head of the National Evangelical Association.
In southern California, charges of arson and murder for Raymond Lee Oyler. Investigators say he set the wildfire that killed five firefighters.
Michael J. Fox is dismissing accusations made by radio host Rush Limbaugh. Fox has Parkinson's disease, recently appeared in a campaign commercial for the Missouri Democratic senate candidate, Claire McCaskill. McCaskill supports federal funding for stem cell research. Well, Limbaugh said Fox exaggerated his symptoms in the ad and here's what Fox had to say on "Anderson Cooper 360."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAEL J. FOX, ACTOR/ACTIVIST: Well, you know, I'm fine, yeah, great. You know, to me, it's so not -- it so has nothing to do with the topic. I mean, he would have to take it up, like I said, with the other million and a half Americans who have Parkinson's and how they feel.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Because you feel (INAUDIBLE).
FOX: Yes, I feel it was. But, for me, it's so -- it's a sideline. You know, it's not, it's not dramamine (ph) to the conversation. It's not -- you know, we're talking about curing -- potentially curing the conditions that affect a hundred million Americans and their families. It's not about a radio show.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
S. O'BRIEN: Limbaugh has since apologized for his comments. Still accused Fox, though, of shilling for the Democrats.
Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: Thank you, Soledad.
Microsoft actually backs down off of a, really a long and heated -- well, they're rivals, aren't they?
ANDY SERWER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They are.
M. O'BRIEN: Between Microsoft and Lennox.
SERWER: Arch rivals.
M. O'BRIEN: Arch rivals, you might say. Andy Serwer is here to explain what's going on.
SERWER: Good morning to you, Miles.
I guess a good way to say it is that Microsoft has made peace with an arch rival, but it's also a major competitive threat. So maybe it was sort of forced in to do that. What I'm talking about here is Microsoft signed an agreement with Novell, a rival software company, that makes Linux, so called open-source software. And this competes directly with Microsoft's operating system Windows and Vista software that going to be coming out in a couple months.
Linux is a competitive threat because it's free. It's used by companies and governments around the world. Not so much a consumer product. Not yet so much. These two companies have a long history of bad blood. Several years back, Novell settled for $536 million, a dispute between the two companies. Novell used to make WordPerfect. Remember that old software that got trounced by Microsoft and since been sold?
M. O'BRIEN: Remember that.
SERWER: Interesting. And also another side note, Eric Schmidt used to run Novell. He now runs Google, which is another rival of Microsoft. The tech world kind of small when you think about it.
M. O'BRIEN: It is. Aren't there other versions of Linux out there? Red Hat makes one of them.
SERWER: Yes, HP . . .
M. O'BRIEN: So that doesn't affect that?
SERWER: That's right. But it's sort of a basic platform with different versions of Linux. That's a way to look at it.
Another corporate rogue faces sentencing yesterday. Sanjay Kumar, who was the CEO of a company called C.A., which was Computer Associates, got 12 years in jail and fined $8 million. He perpetrated a $2 billion fraud between 1999 and 2000. He flew to Paris to sign a false agreement. That's how far he took this thing. And introduced a concept called the 35-day month, where sales people would sign things in the couple days in the month that never really existed.
M. O'BRIEN: That sounds like new math to me.
SERWER: It really was pretty interesting stuff.
M. O'BRIEN: All right. What you got next?
SERWER: Coming up, we're going to talk about earnings impact on companies. British Airways with the terror problems over in London. And also the spinach problems on some agriculture companies.
M. O'BRIEN: All right. Thank you, Andy.
SERWER: You're welcome.
M. O'BRIEN: Stay here for one second. SERWER: I will.
M. O'BRIEN: You've got to see this video that's coming into us now. This is live pictures courtesy of our affiliate WABC. They're wrestling doggies in Newark. That it is.
SERWER: What?
M. O'BRIEN: What? Yes. Yes. Take a look. That is a bull. No bull. And how it got loose, we don't know. But I do know this. Take a look at this. Right there. That is a rope, which I believe they have secured around said bull which has gotten lose.
SERWER: This is in Newark, New Jersey?
M. O'BRIEN: This is Newark, New Jersey, people.
SERWER: Cowboy country.
M. O'BRIEN: Yes, cowboy -- it's well-known urban cowboy country. And they're corralled him. It's just a matter now of kind of bringing the bull in. Apparently the bull tried to bolt over an air conditioning unit to get away. No such luck. And we're still not clear where the bull came from.
SERWER: That's the big question.
S. O'BRIEN: Is it true the bull's name is Winkle?
M. O'BRIEN: What, Winkle the bull?
S. O'BRIEN: Yes, I read the bull's name is Winkle the bull. I'm not kidding.
M. O'BRIEN: Winkle?
S. O'BRIEN: Yes.
SERWER: That's so cute.
M. O'BRIEN: Winkle, Winkle little bull, here now . . .
S. O'BRIEN: Now I've tied you to a tree.
M. O'BRIEN: You're now headed to the meat-packing factory, Mr. Winkle.
S. O'BRIEN: Oh.
M. O'BRIEN: Could be a zoo animal. I don't -- do we know? We don't know yet, but we're going to get to the bottom of this thing.
SERWER: I really couldn't guess.
M. O'BRIEN: And that will be no bull for sure.
All right, stories we're following for you now.
Iraq is still the top issue for voters with just four days until the elections. How will the war affect the vote? We'll go live to Washington.
Plus, a New York City actress is found dead in her office by her husband. The mystery surrounding her death ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
M. O'BRIEN: A top evangelical minister and a friend of the White House on the defensive. He's denying accusations he cheated on his wife with a gay prostitute, but the pastor taking over for him says there's been an admission of indiscretion.
S. O'BRIEN: Oops. The U.S. government pulls a plug on its Web sites -- one of the Web sites that may have offered a recipe for a nuclear bomb.
M. O'BRIEN: And will the war in Iraq really be on the minds of voters when they head to the polls in four days? We'll take a closer look at that and more on this AMERICAN MORNING.
Good morning to you, Friday, November 3rd.
From New York, I'm Miles O'Brien.
S. O'BRIEN: And I'm Soledad O'Brien, reporting from Washington, D.C., this morning.
Thanks for being with us.
M. O'BRIEN: Back with you in a moment, Soledad.
It's a political bombshell likely to send ripples through races all across the nation. A leading evangelical Christian pastor at the forefront of the crusade against same-sex marriage steps down from the pulpit amid allegations of a long-term sexual affair with another man.
The Reverend Ted Haggard resigning as president of the powerful National Association of Evangelicals which represents 30 million American Christians. He has also left his post as pastor of the New Life Church in Colorado Springs while a church panel investigates charges he had an affair three years long with a male escort and that he used methamphetamine during their sexual encounters. The Reverend Haggard, married with five children, denies the allegations.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REV. TED HAGGARD, NEW LIFE CHURCH: I've never said that I'm perfect, but I haven't had sex with a man in Denver, and I've been faithful to my wife. I've never had a gay relationship with anybody, and I'm steady with my wife, I'm faithful to my wife. And so I don't know if this is election year politics or if this has to do with the marriage amendment or what it is.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
M. O'BRIEN: The man making the accusation, 49-year-old Mike Jones. Now, he says Haggard paid him for sex and they secretly met about once a month for three years. He says Haggard's stand against gay marriage prompted him to come forward.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MIKE JONES, ACCUSER: It's been hard for me because emotionally, I just don't want to destroy someone, but this story needs to be out because it's so wrong. People may look at me and what I've done as immoral, but I think I had to do the moral thing in my mind, and that is expose someone who is preaching one thing but doing the opposite behind everybody's backs.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
M. O'BRIEN: Now, despite the Reverend Haggard's public denial, the pastor who is now running the church, Reverend Ross Parsley, says Haggard did make an admission.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REV. ROSS PARSLEY, INTERIM SR. PASTOR, NEW LIFE CHURCH: That there has been some admission of indiscretion. Not admission to all of the material that has been discussed, but there is an admission of some guilt. And that's what we're working with the outside overseers who are working with Pastor Ted and his family to investigate what's happened here.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
M. O'BRIEN: The allegations come as voters in Colorado and seven other states prepare to weigh in on amendments that would ban gay marriage.
S. O'BRIEN: Four days left until Election Day. The big factor for voters is sure to be the war in Iraq.
CNN's Sumi Das is live for us in Washington, D.C.
Hey, Sumi. Good morning.
SUMI DAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Soledad.
Well, as Election Day looms, candidates' messages are clear, but so are voters' concerns. The conflict thousands of miles away at the forefront.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAS (voice over): In the final days before elections, Republicans have a question for Democrats about the war on terrorism.
TONY SNOW, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: How are you going to win? They've said no to everything, but they haven't said yes to anything. And Americans have to ask themselves, if this is the dominant issue, why won't Democrats talk about it? Why won't they tell you what their plan is?
DAS: President Bush's answer: the Democrats have no strategy to win.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: On this crucial issue facing the country, they don't have a plan for victory. And I want to remind our fellow citizens, harsh criticism and second guessing is not a plan!
DAS: Yet on the campaign trail, Democrats are saying how they'd change the course.
REP. HAROLD FORD JR. (D), TENNESSEE: I've been for Rumsfeld's departure now for almost two years. I'm a believer that a decentralization plan should have been put in place about a year ago.
CLAIRE MCCASKILL (D), MISSOURI SENATE CANDIDATE: Telling the Iraqi government that they have to step up, they're going to have to disarm their militia, they're going to have to quit fighting with one another and come to the political solutions that are really going to move that country forward.
DAS: As Democrats argue that the current Iraq policy has failed, President Bush is attempting to convince voters otherwise.
STEPHEN HESS, THE BROOKINGS INST.: The absolutely most important thing he's trying to accomplish is to sell his policy to the American people, his policy on Iraq, which is the foundation of his administration.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
DAS: Over the next few days, President Bush will be selling that policy hard in key states with tight races. Today's stops, Missouri and Iowa -- Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: Sumi Das for us in Washington, D.C., this morning.
Thanks, Sumi.
And, of course, all the day's political news is available on the CNN.com news ticker any time day or night. Just go to CNN.com/ticker -- Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: Well, they've broken out the lassos in Newark, New Jersey. The Bullwinkle, Winkle the Bull, Bullwinkle, whatever you'd like, moose and squirrel kind of stuff, has been apprehended this morning.
Let's take a look at some pictures which have been fed in recently as -- yes, this is the wilds of Newark, New Jersey. And I want to point out something to you here.
This is -- this is a rope. He has in fact been lassoed, but the bull, how it got there and why it's there and why it was being elusive to authorities all remain questions on our minds this morning. But this is in the midst of Newark, New Jersey. You don't often see a bull.
Now, the bull apparently tried to boat over an air-conditioning unit as it was being pursued by the wranglers, I guess. And right now there just -- there seems to be a bit of a standoff, I guess. The authorities there are waiting for a cattle call -- Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: No, you know, what they do is let the bull tire out, you know. You rope him up.
M. O'BRIEN: Well, he's just standing there. He's resting up now. He's -- you know...
S. O'BRIEN: No, no, because he'll fight against it and then he'll kind of get calmed down, and then they -- then they can take him off.
M. O'BRIEN: He looks pretty mellow right now to me, just kind of hanging there. But...
S. O'BRIEN: Yes. Bulls are usually not that mellow. Looks can be deceiving, Miles, when it comes to bulls.
M. O'BRIEN: Maybe some experts are steering their way there right now.
S. O'BRIEN: Enough. Stop, please.
M. O'BRIEN: I'm sorry. I can't stop.
S. O'BRIEN: Please.
M. O'BRIEN: It's all yours. You've got to take it for now.
S. O'BRIEN: Thank you. Thank you.
Ahead this morning, so long seafood. An alarming new report about the world's fish supply is straight ahead.
And we'll take a look at which party has the edge going into the midterm elections. The signs to watch for this weekend, straight ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
S. O'BRIEN: A look at the day's top stories.
An influential evangelical minister is accused of cheating on his wife with a gay prostitute. Pastor Ted Haggard denies it. He's resigned, though, as the president of the National Association of Evangelicals.
And Pennsylvania Republican Congressman Don Sherwood agrees to pay a former mistress $500,000 to pay out settled claims that she was abused by him.
M. O'BRIEN: Here's a look at what CNN correspondents all around the world are covering today.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm Ben Wedeman in Jerusalem.
At least 25 Palestinians, about half of the militants, have been killed in Gaza since Israel launched its latest operation Wednesday morning. At least one Palestinian woman was killed Friday morning near a mosque in which several dozen gunmen were hiding.
A Hamas radio station had called upon women and children in the town of Beit Hanoun to act as human shields to allow the gunmen to escape. Palestinian sources say Israeli troops fired on the protesters. An army spokesman says they were targeting militants in the crowd.
Israeli forces have now taken over the mosque. Most of the militants got away.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SETH DOANE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Seth Doane in New Delhi.
Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are here in India shooting a new movie, and while they're used to having almost every move captured by the paparazzi, now it appears it's al Qaeda that's watching them. The star couple received death threats from the terrorist organization and a British paper reports that security experts were flown here to India after receiving information the couple may be a target due to the political nature of their film, "A Mighty Heart," chronicling the life of Daniel Pearl, "The Wall Street Journal" reporter slain in Pakistan.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HUGH RIMINTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi. I'm Hugh Riminton in Beijing.
One of the most notorious dictators on earth today, Omar Al- Bashir, of Sudan, is in China for talks with Chinese leaders. He's used the opportunity to hit out at the United States. America backing plans to send U.N. peacekeepers into Darfur, a region of Sudan that has been afflicted by what the United States says is genocide.
The president of Sudan saying there is no way he will allow that American plan, now a U.N. plan, to stand, and he also says while he has the backing of his friend, China, he never will ever give up on that plan.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
M. O'BRIEN: For more on these or any of our top stories, log on to our Web site, CNN.com.
And for more on the weather, stay tuned right now. Chad Myers has that.
Hello, Chad.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Hi, Miles.
(WEATHER REPORT)
S. O'BRIEN: All right. Thank you, Chad. That sounds just awful. And we've been feeling it here this morning, too.
Coming up, the midterm election campaigns hit the stretch run. Who's going to control Congress? We'll show you the clues to look for over the weekend.
That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING. We're back in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
M. O'BRIEN: Welcome back. Let's go to the grid, take a look at some of the feeds we are watching this morning.
We've been telling you about the bull on the loose in Newark, New Jersey, incoming 85. There's some tape which fed that a little while ago.
We have since seen that authorities have tried to take a little pull on the bull. The bull named Winkle, we're told, Bullwinkle, and the bull wasn't so happy about being pulled upon. So we're tracking that as some Newark cops get something on their resume that they probably did not expect, a bull collar.
Take a look down there. There's our news source feed. This is how we take care of our affiliates.
We have 800 affiliates all across the nation. News source, a lot of our material that you see on our local affiliates comes out that way.
NASA television still going there on incoming 16.
Take a look at Washington. Look at the White House today.
First of all, the president today making his way to Missouri and Iowa. He's not there right now. And right now it's 49 degrees in Washington, but it is supposed to get very cold tonight, a freeze warning in effect.
Soledad, I hope you brought a parka there.
S. O'BRIEN: I've got to tell you, it's already cold, cold and windy. Not the weather we were hoping for here in D.C.
M. O'BRIEN: No.
S. O'BRIEN: All right. Thank you, Miles.
As we talk about politics now, what should we be looking for in those critical final days before the midterm elections? And will there be any real impact next Tuesday from these new allegations about Ted Haggard?
John Mercurio is a senior editor of "The National Journal's Hotline". He's with us this morning.
Nice to see you in person for a change.
JOHN MERCURIO, SR. EDITOR, "HOTLINE": Good to see you, too.
S. O'BRIEN: Thank you very much.
Let's begin with the Ted Haggard allegations.
MERCURIO: Right.
S. O'BRIEN: Even if nothing is proven to be true, just the allegations so close to the end of the race, to some degree, what kind of impact do they have, do you think?
MERCURIO: You know, I think it's probably going to be minimal. We're in this bubble at this point, and I think the same was true about the Kerry story earlier this week about the troops. It's sort of he said-she said, he said-he said, you know, situation where I don't think ultimately it's going to have that much of an impact.
It could depress some conservatives, some evangelical voters. Haggard did have some connections to the White House, he talked a lot to James Dobson and to some White House officials. So there is a little bit of a -- you know, a political -- some political ramifications.
But I think Democrats are doing extremely well in Colorado, where this would have been a Ground Zero issue already, so I think they were already planning to sweep it. Maybe some marginal impact on some of the -- some of the less competitive congressional races, but it's unlikely.
S. O'BRIEN: And we'll see what else comes out of it certainly.
MERCURIO: Right.
S. O'BRIEN: Let's talk a little bit about what's going to happen over the weekend that we should be watching as we really hit the final stride in this race.
Final tracking polls will come out. What are we looking for?
MERCURIO: Right. I think you're looking not just at the head- to-head numbers, which everybody, of course, if focused on, but also what's right below those numbers. Undecideds, where are undecided voters going in the final days?
I think, for example, In Virginia, the reason you're seeing Jim Webb, the Democratic Senate candidate, so confident, so optimistic, is that right below the head-to-heads, which he leads slightly at this point, are the undecided voters. Most of the undecided voters in that race, according to the polls I've seen, are Democrats, and they're likely either to stay home or to naturally fall back into the Webb camp, which would give him a slight advantage.
S. O'BRIEN: So both really help him a little bit.
MERCURIO: A little bit, yes, going into that.
S. O'BRIEN: The president's schedule, we finally know what it is. Miles was talking about it just a moment ago.
MERCURIO: Right.
S. O'BRIEN: Where's he going to be over the weekend, and what does it signify?
MERCURIO: It signifies that Republicans are very, very worried. The 10 states that he's visiting between now and Election Day are all red states. These are all states that he won in 2004.
S. O'BRIEN: That should be a shoo-in?
MERCURIO: Should be a shoo-in. They shouldn't be so concerned about the Republican candidates in these districts.
He's spending Sunday in western Nebraska. This is a district, a congressional district that hasn't sent a Democrat to Congress since 1958, and yet they're worried about the Republican candidate out there because of this national -- this national wave that I think they're concerned about.
S. O'BRIEN: In the final days, we always watch the spending, where the money's being put, because it signals a lot about what campaigns are at risk and what campaigns they value the most.
MERCURIO: Exactly.
S. O'BRIEN: Where are we seeing the money spent?
MERCURIO: It's being spent in specific districts, probably mostly in the -- sort of the competitive ones we've already seen in the House in Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, and some of the other competitive races. I think what you're probably most concerned about as a Republican at this point is the fact that the Democrats have almost been able, have almost been on par on the spending issue going into this, I think.
S. O'BRIEN: Interesting problem there.
And then, of course, there's, you know, the big finish, how they close the campaign.
MERCURIO: Yes.
S. O'BRIEN: You say it's a pretty good indication of where they are in the campaign.
MERCURIO: Exactly.
S. O'BRIEN: Why?
MERCURIO: I think you've got to watch how candidates are choosing to close the campaign. If they're doing, as we're seeing in Senate races like in Virginia, like Ohio, like Missouri, like Tennessee, if they're ending on a very negative, negative note, I think what you're seeing at that point is the candidate who -- the campaign that chooses to end on a negative note could be falling behind in the polls, could be a little bit at this point desperate, grasping for straws.
S. O'BRIEN: So if you're desperate, you go negative?
MERCURIO: If you're desperate, you definitely go negative, which, of course, could have a backlash. We've seen that in several races this year.
If you're positive, or if you're feeling good about the campaign, you end on a -- you close on a positive note. You thank the voters for their time and -- you know, you go to the polls on Tuesday.
So confidence equals positive, negative equals -- equals a little bit desperate at this point.
S. O'BRIEN: Days to go. We'll continue to watch it.
"Hotline" senior editor John Mercurio.
Nice to see you.
MERCURIO: Good to see you.
S. O'BRIEN: Thanks for being with us. We appreciate it -- Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: Coming up on the program, a top evangelical leader with ties to the White House under fire amid shocking allegations by a male escort.
We'll have more on that ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
M. O'BRIEN: The British terror arrests and the spinach scare hurting the bottom line for a couple of companies.
Andy Serwer will try to connect those dots for you.
Hello, Andy.
ANDY SERWER, MANAGING EDITOR, "FORTUNE": I'm going to do that. And you know how I'm going to connect them? This is what we say. We're going to say that news stories we've been telling you about over the past couple of weeks have had a big impact on a couple of high- profile companies.
First of all, let's start off with British Airways.
The company reported that its profits fell in the most recent quarter because of the terror alert in Britain in August -- 1,300 flights were canceled, you may remember, in England between August 10th and August 17th, and that hurt their bottom line.
M. O'BRIEN: No liquids, remember that? None of that.
SERWER: Oh, and it scared people away, obviously. Not that big an impact. Bottom line, only about $5 million less than the quarter from the previous year, but they might have had more income other places. So it's hard to measure exactly how big that was.
Chiquita, they make bananas, of course.
M. O'BRIEN: They do.
SERWER: And they have been hurt -- I love this -- bad banana pricing in Europe has hurt their bottom line. But more than that...
M. O'BRIEN: What do you mean by bad banana pricing? They just...
SERWER: Bad for them. In other words.
M. O'BRIEN: They didn't put the stickers on the bananas very well or...
SERWER: No, the bananas -- bananas are pretty cheap in Europe right now.
M. O'BRIEN: Oh, OK.
SERWER: And that means good banana prices for people in Europe...
M. O'BRIEN: It's good for us. Yes.
SERWER: Right, exactly.
M. O'BRIEN: It usually goes that way.
SERWER: That's right.
But besides the bananas, we've got a spinach and salad problem, because Chiquita is also a big producer and seller of pre-packaged salads and spinach. It has a brand called Fresh Express. Now, there were no confirmed illnesses linked to its brand, but, of course, people were scared off of buying these kinds of products. And they lost $96 million in the third quarter.
M. O'BRIEN: Wow.
SERWER: Bananas and salads and spinach.
M. O'BRIEN: That's some real money.
All right. What you got coming up next?
SERWER: Coming up, we have -- this is a really cool story today about Tom Cruise and his new company and his reemergence as a Hollywood force. We'll tell you about that.
M. O'BRIEN: It's quite a second act.
SERWER: Yes, it is.
M. O'BRIEN: All right, Andy. Thank you very much.
SERWER: Thanks, Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: Some of the top stories on CNN.com this morning.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
M. O'BRIEN (voice over): A scary sea change on the horizon. Scientists warning over-fishing could lead to the collapse of almost all seafood populations in the next 40 years. Researchers calling for new marine reserves, tighter controls on pollution, and better rules to stop over-fishing. The four-year study published in the respected journal "Science".
Shakira dominated the Latin Grammy Awards last night in New York City. She's waking up this morning -- or maybe she's still out partying -- with four trophies. Her steamy duet with Alejandro Sans La Tuturo (ph) winning best song.
And you thought your notebook computer was light. Well, get a load of this. Next month, Sony plans to begin selling the world's lightest notebook computer in Japan. Sony's type G Vaio (Ph) weighs in in just under two pounds.
No word when it will ship to our shores. Let's hope the batteries work better this time.
For more on these stories, log on to our Web site, CNN.com.
The next hour of AMERICAN MORNING begins right now.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
M. O'BRIEN: A top evangelical minister on the defensive amid accusations of a gay affair. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HAGGARD: I've never said that I'm perfect, but I haven't had sex with a man in Denver, and I've been faithful to my wife.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JONES: It's been hard for me because emotionally I just don't want to destroy someone, but this story needs to be out because it's so wrong.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
