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Possible Three Cases of Ebola in Spain; Udall and Gardner Trade Jabs As Cold Race Tightens; U.S. To Ramp Up Airport Ebola Screenings

Aired October 07, 2014 - 07:30   ET

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

JOHN KING, CNN HOST, "INSIDE POLITICS": And Mark Pryor, the Senate candidate, who is in a really tough race. Mark Pryor is a little bit behind right now.

He takes a selfie with the candidate there. You know, anything you can do, I guess, to get your name and your face out there. Jonathan Martin, our "Inside Politics" friend has a great piece about this in "The New York Times" this morning.

And he sent this picture out, Bill Clinton posing with Governor Mike Beebe, I think next to Clinton, the current governor of Arkansas, who is also quite popular with the cheerleaders and the mascots.

The question, Julie Pace, is as Ron says, there's nobody like him. He can generate a crowd. He make an argument, as we saw in the Democratic Convention in the last campaign. Can he change votes is the question.

JULIE PACE, "ASSOCIATED PRESS": That is the big question. Certainly they're hoping in Arkansas. Also Kentucky, he's been on the road for Alison Lundergan-Grimes a couple of times so far. You know, I think the argument that he made is actually very compelling, though.

If you're the White House, you probably cringe a little bit. Because eventually what he's really saying is, you know, Barack Obama is not popular, but you have to put that aside, voters, you have to forget about the fact that he's not popular.

I think that can be effective for people who can say to themselves, I might not like Barack Obama any more. I may have changed my opinions on this White House, but I'm still a Democrat. I still believe in Democratic values. So I can feel comfortable taking this vote for whatever Senate candidate.

RON FOURNIER, "NATIONAL JOURNAL": The Democrat who is most relevant to that race is Mike Beebe, an incredibly effective Democratic governor who all the Democratic candidates are trying to tie themselves to.

KING: The question for me is will we see that in two years when Hillary Clinton is likely running for president? Does he have to step back to let her be presidential or do we get like when we first met in 1991, in early 1992, it was two for the price of one. They backed off from that argument because of popularity questions about her, but we shall see. FOURNIER: We saw them you think all over that in 2008.

KING: There's nobody like him. One of a kind on the trail.

Let's move on. This is not the Kangaroo footage. We are not going to bring that back, but there was a great Senate debate in another critical Senate contest in Colorado.

"Politico's" Manu Raja, who was the moderator. He is one of our friends here on "Inside Politics." Listen to this. Remember last week the president said I'm not on the ballot, but my policies are. His political team thinks that was a mistake. Cory Gardner, the Republican candidate on the right seized on it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REPRESENTATIVE CORY GARDNER (R), COLORADO SENATE CANDIDATE: The policies of this campaign that are on debate right now, the president just said it yesterday -- his policies are on the ballot. That's what we're going to be discussing today. The policies of the president and the fact that Mark Udall has voted with him 99 percent of the time.

SENATOR MARK UDALL (D), COLORADO SENATE CANDIDATE: Congressman Gardner didn't answer the question. He has the 10th most partisan record in the House of Representatives. His record is out of the mainstream and that's the contrast you have in this race.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: This one is a classic, if you will. If you believe in Republican momentum in the mid-term year, Cory Gardner wins. If Mark Udall can get the Obama base, it is one of the states where you do have. If you look at most of the competitive Senate contests, you don't have a large African-American population.

That's the case in Colorado, but you do have a growing Latino population, suburban women. There's pieces of the Obama coalition. The question is, again, can Udall get them to vote?

PACE: Yes, definitely. I mean, Colorado is such an interesting state because it's really become kind of the perfect battleground state in presidential elections, also in midterms.

What you heard Gardner do is pick up on this Obama line about my policies being on the ballot. The reason that makes the Obama political team cringe is because it's the exact counter to what Bill Clinton was trying to do.

It says that if you are voting for Democrats, you are voting for Barack Obama. You are voting for his policies. I think one of the interesting things to watch in Colorado is going to be Hispanic turn- out.

There's a sense that the Hispanic community has a little bit less enthusiasm this time around mostly because Obama is sitting on the sidelines on the executive actions on immigration. Not only do the Hispanic community believe in very strongly, but it would be a motivating factor. Something to bring them to the ballot box and give a stamp of approval to the Democrats.

KING: To that point, Republicans are in a ditch nationally when it comes to the Latino vote. We've seen it in the last two presidential elections. There is one guy that a lot of Republicans think could help them with that.

He is trying to help Cory Gardner in that Senate race to that very same point. Listen to Jeb Bush, listen to Jeb Bush urging Latino voters, to come to the Republican side.

(VIDEO CLIP)

KING: People are going to look at this for two reasons. Jeb Bush's wife is Colombian. His Spanish is damn near perfect. They are going to look at this for two things.

A, does it help Republican candidates this year in the races they use these Spanish language ads? Does it help them a little bit on the margins and is Jeb Bush trying to tell us something about his future?

FOURNIER: I think Jeb Bush understands more than just about any politician in the country, certainly more than any Republican politician. That it's not just about speaking Spanish and certainly not just about putting having Spanish in your ads, that's seen as pandering.

Jeb Bush has a record that appeals to Hispanic voters on education, on bread-and-butter issues like the economy and education with choice. He understands that the Republican Party is in danger of being extinct in our lifetime. If they don't get right on immigration and bread- and-butter issues that appeal to Hispanics.

KING: There's a lot of speculation about him right now because he's more visible. He's been visible in past campaigns, but didn't run for president in the last cycle, but because of 2016 and the crisis among Republicans with the Latino vote.

When you see him, he was in North Carolina ten days ago and then he was in Kansas in a critical Senate race. Now he is cutting these ads, Chamber of Commerce ads that they're airing for Republican candidates. And?

PACE: Well, to be visible in this kind of way in this stage, in the lead-up to a presidential race, leads to you believe that he's at least considering this strongly.

The question, when, about Jeb Bush, though, on immigration, education is even though his policies may appeal to a larger percentage of the country in a general election, can he get through a Republican primary? That's going to be the big challenge.

FOURNIER: Republicans can't win the presidential election unless they take care of immigration. Hispanics won't even listen to them. KING: Right. He has some education issues, Governor Bush feels strongly about as well. We'll see. You talk to people close to him they say he is leaning this way at the moment. We'll see if he stays that way.

And Alisyn, as we get back to New York, Jimmy Fallon making notes of the National's lost a big game, they won last night, but they lost a big game here in D.C. over the weekend. And Jimmy Fallon found it appropriate.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIMMY FALLON, HOST, "THE TONIGHT SHOW": On Saturday, the San Francisco Giants beat the Nationals in Washington after 18 innings, 18 innings, the longest postseason game in baseball history. Proving even in sports it takes forever to get something done in Washington.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: The reason most things are funny, Alisyn, is because they're also true.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN GUEST ANCHOR: Yes, that had more than a germ of truth to it, I believe. John, thanks so much.

Well, airport screenings for Ebola are being considered by President Obama. We will speak with the former head of Los Angeles Airport Security, who has worked through the threats of swine flu and SARS on how to deal with this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to NEW DAY. Three new possible cases of Ebola being monitored in Spain after a nurse assistant was diagnosed with the virus there. Contracted it in Spain.

Now the fight to keep more cases of Ebola out of the United States focuses on our airports. The White House says extra screening is being weighed now. So what new procedures could be put into place, the bigger question, could they actually work?

We want to ask Randy Parsons. He is the director of security for the Port of Long Beach in California and also spent 20 years at the FBI before a tenure at the TSA federal security director for Los Angeles International Airport.

He's up early for us on the west coast. Randy, thanks for joining me. I want to play you a little bit of sound about what the president of the United States said about the Ebola crisis. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: I know that the American people are concerned about the possibility of Ebola outbreak. And Ebola is a very serious disease. The ability of people who are infected to carry that across borders is something that we have to take extremely seriously. As I've said from the start of this outbreak, I consider this to be a top national security priority.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PEREIRA: A top national security priority. Randy, you've had your share of outbreaks, you've had to deal with as the head of LAX. How do you feel about the president's plan and his response to the crisis?

RANDY D. PARSONS, DIRECTOR OF SECURITY, PORT OF LONG BEACH, CALIFORNIA: I think what we're hearing is directly on point. We hear that the government is moving with a sense of urgency, but not necessarily a sense of panic. It does help a little bit. We've been down this road before with H1N1, SARS, so we do have some experience with it.

PEREIRA: A key here with H1N1 and SARS, as you mentioned, is a coordinated effort on behalf of all of the agencies, the administration, and the government, correct?

PARSONS: That's correct, yes.

PEREIRA: So let's talk about this -- go ahead.

PARSONS: I was going to say, what you just mentioned, collaboration, is the key. The key words are collaboration and information. And from past experience those are a couple of areas where we've really improved with some new partners.

Airline security, maritime security, it's been typically focused on explosives and weapons. This is kind of a new playing field for us. We've learned to establish points of contact. That are routine with Centers for Disease Control state and local health officials. So it's a new playing field, but we have some familiarity.

PEREIRA: Give us a sense of that because I think the American public is needing some comfort in knowing that the agencies are well equipped and have a plan in place. You said that in a way this is new territory for us.

We haven't dealt with a disease that is so highly contagious like Ebola. But given what we have learned in the past, give us some insight into how the preparations are.

PARSONS: The preparations have been more robust planning for this kind of event and the plans talk about such things as how do we identify potential problem travelers, whether it's TSA for example, our mission is observe and report. They're not medical professionals.

PEREIRA: No.

PARSONS: But they do have a sense of what might look a little odd at an airport. And if they do, knowing about symptoms is helpful, knowing who to call, is a key and who the response agencies are going to be, and what their protocols are going to be at an airport.

PEREIRA: You talked about the fact that they have to really watch and understand and have a gut feeling about what could appear wrong because when you think about the airport. So much of this relies on self-reporting and you know how we humans can be.

PARSONS: It is, I'll tell you, it's a balancing act and it's not unfamiliar in the airport environment, either. Something like this, it is different from H1N1. And we all know we're global travelers now and what can be brought in to an airport can be pretty scary stuff.

So knowing how to handle travelers and we're the United States. So typically, we don't pluck somebody out of an airport, sequester them, quarantine them and take them into custody.

Sometimes in a situation like and your program mentioned it earlier, some of the busiest airports are international travelers. Health professionals can be pre-staged at those locations to help with triage when reports of potential troubled passengers.

PEREIRA: One final question for you, I'm curious what your stance is on all-out ban for flights coming from West Africa, Dr. Fauci, the head of the NIH a moment ago said that he essentially sees that as counterproductive. It would isolate nations and potentially magnify the problem. Do you agree with him or do you support a ban?

PARSONS: I can tell you it's very difficult to do something like that. Again, for me, that's a medical call and quarantining and banning travel to a specific location. You do have to put that on balance, with as I said, we're global travelers.

People from these countries have already been all over the world. So this is a global issue and a global problem, that we've got to go to our plans, we've got to look at how we drill and we exercise and we've got to implement the things that we know to date.

The other key piece to this and I believe the government is doing this, disseminate information, not just to health professionals and our partner countries, but to the traveling public.

Really it's a fear of the unknown that can have a negative impact. So getting the information that we do have out, as quickly and completely as possible is critical.

PEREIRA: Key to this issue for sure. Randy Parsons, joining us from California. Thank you for your expertise. We appreciate it -- Chris.

PARSONS: Thank you.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Mich, we want to tell about this friendly fire of the worst kind comes from a respected friend. Former CIA director and defense secretary, Leon Panetta, coming at President Obama in his new memoir on key foreign policy decisions. Our Gloria Borger picks his brain, ahead.

CAMEROTA: We look forward to that. And woe Canada. A patriotic wipeout going viral. What this guy says we could all learn about going down singing.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAMEROTA: As the old adage says, the show must go on, that was certainly the case for one skater in Canada who fell down, whoops.

CUOMO: Whoops.

CAMEROTA: While performing the national anthem on ice. It's not the first time a performer on skates has met the floor. CNN's Jeanne Moos has the highs and the lows.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MOOS, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Mark Donnelly was doing what he always does, singing Canada's national anthem at a hockey game. When he found himself skating on thin carpet. True to his nickname Mr. O'Canada, Mark kept singing, leading some to sing his praises, a lesson in showmanship.

MARK DONNELLY, SINGER/"MR. O'CANADA": The carpets were supposed to be up by the time I started skating around.

MOOS: Did it hurt?

DONNELLY: I landed pretty hard on my left knee.

MOOS: But nothing a little extra strength pain reliever and icing couldn't cure, though, he did have to skip his own hockey league game. He plays goalie. Even his chair almost fell.

DONNELLY: Whoops.

MOOS: As he sat down for our interview, an icy fall hasn't gotten this much attention.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm sorry.

MOOS: Since a Canadian singer messed up the words to the U.S. national anthem, left and then came back to her downfall, twice in recent years we've seen Miss USAs hit the deck. We've seen Jennifer Lawrence trip over traffic cones.

And Conan O'Brien banging his head while racing actress, Teri Hatcher, Conan suffered a concussion. Beyonce caught her heel in her hem and took a dive, but like a diva came up swinging her hair.

Even Lulu Bell, the Camel, fell into the pews at a Christmas pageant rehearsal and when Carmen Elektra went down on the runway, her would- be rescuer also wiped out. Mark thinks there's a message in his mishap.

(on camera): It could have been worse. There could have been a lot more of Mark to fall.

(voice-over): He used to weigh 370 pounds then managed to lose more than half his body weight.

DONNELLY: If I went down, I don't think I would have been coming up.

MOOS: Perseverance in weight loss, perseverance in performance, that's what Mark hopes will be the takeaway from being taken down.

(on camera): Do you have a message for the guy who laid the carpet?

DONNELLY: Thank you.

MOOS: Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CAMEROTA: Great message, perseverance.

PEREIRA: You have to honor the hair.

CUOMO: He did have the business upfront.

PEREIRA: That's not hockey hair. That's just long hair.

CUOMO: It looked like it was up over his ears. Falling is funny, that's what the title of that piece should have been. You don't like it because you don't want people to get hurt. I never saw the video of Conan, that looks scary but falling is funny.

CAMEROTA: And getting back up divine.

PEREIRA: I do it every day.

CAMEROTA: That's terrible.

CUOMO: All right, we'll be talking to you about these new and possible cases of Ebola emerging from Spain, where a nurse was diagnosed with the virus. This comes as the U.S. is now weighing new airport measures to keep Ebola from entering the U.S. again. We're going to bring you the latest on that.

CAMEROTA: And harsh words for President Obama from one of his former top cabinet members. Find out what Leon Panetta has to say about the president's foreign policy in a one-on-one interview you don't want to miss.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CUOMO: Stopping the spread. President Obama announces new steps to keep Ebola out of America. What will these new screenings at the airports be and will they be enough? This as the deadly disease infects someone outside of Africa for the first time. We have the very latest.

CAMEROTA: Speaking out, President Obama's former secretary of defense, Leon Panetta, goes one on one with CNN. What he says the president got wrong on Iraq and Syria and the new criticism he levels at his boss.

PEREIRA: Happening now, ISIS on the verge of taking a key Syrian city, as we learn new details about an American teenager arrested for trying to join the terror group. What was he planning to do?

CUOMO: Your NEW DAY continues right now.

Good morning. Welcome back to NEW DAY. It's Tuesday, October 7th, 8:00 in the east. Joined by Alisyn Camerota. It's good to have you here. And we do have breaking news, three more possible cases of Ebola in Spain. A nurse there, the first person to contract the disease outside of Africa.