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The Situation Room
Election '06
Aired October 30, 2006 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks very much, Lou. And to our viewers, you're in THE SITUATION ROOM where for the next two hours new pictures and information are arriving all the time.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: And standing by we've got CNN reporters all across the country and around the world to bring you tonight's top stories.
BLITZER: And Paula, happening right now, the battle for Congress only eight days away. Will it be a referendum and an unpopular president out campaigning tonight.
ZAHN: That's a good question to ask and we're going to ponder that. Also, on the trail of Michael J. Fox, now playing up his role in this midterm election. Can the actor deliver a victory for Democrats with his very personal campaign for stem cell research?
BLITZER: And you'll remember this, Lynne Cheney, she got all fired up in that interview I did with her on Friday, now as promised, we're fact-checking some of her more provocative claims.
From our Election Headquarters here in New York, I'm Wolf Blitzer.
ZAHN: And I'm Paula Zahn. Welcome, you're in THE SITUATION ROOM.
And we are back. Eight days from now America votes. This is where we will follow every last campaign twist and turn until the people have spoken and the results are in no matter what time of the night that comes.
BLITZER: And as we kick off our big lead up to the election only eight days away, we're going to be on the air tonight for the next two hours. President Bush is on the road making a new push for his party, but his travels are limited because he's led Republicans to a risky place where control of the House and maybe the United States Senate could slip through their fingers.
We have correspondents all across the campaign trail tonight. First let's go to our chief national correspondent, John King. He's on the battleground -- in the battleground state of Tennessee. John?
JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: And Wolf, eight days from now President Bush will learn a lot about the tone and the tenor of his final two years in office. Will he keep the Republican majorities in Congress and be able to advance his domestic agenda or will he have to deal with a Congress with one or two chambers controlled by the opposition Democrats, so Mr. Bush obviously incredibly high stakes in this election, but in this midterm campaign not as big of a hands-on role for the president than he had in the last one.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KING (voice-over): Anti-abortion conservative is a label Congressman Geoff Davis wears proudly part of his closing theme in a re-election campaign that is too close for comfort.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE)
KING: The fourth congressional district a mix of small town and rural conservative one of three Republican-held seats at risk in Kentucky because of doubts about Iraq and frustration with Washington.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I would say certainly some perception issues related to the national environment, but the great thing, our race is a local race.
KING: Translation, don't look for the president here in the final days.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think that he could probably be more useful in other districts to help some other candidates. We have got a great operation on the ground.
KING: Democrat Ken Lucas suggest a Bush visit likely would hurt Davis.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Bush traditionally has been very popular in this district. For the first time our polls have shown that his negatives are higher than his positives.
KING (on camera): There's another competitive congressional race just across the Ohio River in Cincinnati, Ohio second congressional district, there as in the Republican held seat here on the Kentucky side Mr. Bush carried more than 60 percent of the vote in 2000 and again in 2004. But this year, things are very different.
(voice-over): A week before the 2002 midterm elections, Mr. Bush had a whopping 67 percent approval rating. One week out this cycle only 37 percent of Americans approve how Mr. Bush is doing his job. And nearly six in ten disapprove.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: (INAUDIBLE)
KING: It's not Mr. Bush is sitting this campaign out. He has raised nearly $200 million including a Davis event back in May.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have a leader who is willing to lead from the front, who says what he means. Means what he says.
(APPLAUSE)
KING: But rallies like this on Monday in Georgia are much more rare. In 2002, the president visited 16 states in the final week, Kentucky among them. This year there are seven states on his final push schedule. There's more to be added for Sunday and Monday.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KING: Now one of the reasons some of these Republican candidates in these hotly contested races don't want the president in their districts is because they're trying to run on local issues. They're trying to talk about taxes and schools. They're trying to talk, Wolf, about anything but Iraq. As we traveled today though we saw one of the reasons Mr. Bush is not so welcome.
This is Kentucky. We began our day in Kentucky, the "Courier- Journal" headline, attacks kill 23 Iraqi policemen. As we made our way south into Tennessee pick up "The Tennessean," Iraq ideas multiply as battles intensify. The candidates know if the president who took the country to war in Iraq, comes to their district they will be dealing with Iraq in the days before Election Day. They prefer to talk, Wolf, about anything but.
BLITZER: So Iraq is clearly emerging as the dominant issue only eight days away from this election, John?
KING: No doubt about it. And you see that (INAUDIBLE). We are here in Tennessee, for example, a very hotly contested Senate race. Laura Bush will be here tomorrow. John McCain will be here in the days ahead. I asked the Republican candidate, Bob Corker, tonight why not President Bush. He said he was here raising money for me in the past. We don't need him in the last few days. We think we're doing OK. One of the reasons is when the president comes, he feels compelled in his public speeches to talk about the Iraq war. The candidates would prefer that not happen, at least not where they are.
BLITZER: All right, John, thanks very much. John reporting from Tennessee. Paula?
ZAHN: And Wolf, part of any modern campaign is the war room, a high pressure operation that monitors media critics and responds with a rapid fire public relations blitz. Now Republicans and Democrats both use war rooms. Now the Pentagon is launching its own media war for that. We go to Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr.
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Paula, the Pentagon has begun what they call a new rapid response operation to respond quickly to stories in the news media that they believe are either critical of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld or the war in Iraq. Now the operation is similar to political boiler rooms that we have all seen in campaigns where they mount a very rapid response to any assertions out in public that those campaigns don't like.
Here in the Pentagon they're calling it actually a "bullpen". They say it is not being started up right now because of the growing criticism of the war. That this is something that they intended to do for some time. The Pentagon won't say how many people are involved or what the operation is going to cost. It was confirmed however by officials that some of the employees will actually be political appointees who will run the new operation.
Defense Secretary Rumsfeld of course has been very critical of the news media for some time. Believing that there is too much focus on what he calls "the bad news" coming out of Iraq not enough focus on the good news. And he is also been very concerned, he says, about the use of the Internet and videos by groups like al Qaeda, something that he doesn't believe the U.S. government is really prepared to deal with. So this new operation will reach out to some new media. Those involved in everything from pod-casting to YouTube. Paula?
ZAHN: I guess we'll just have to wait, Barbara, to see how effective that is. Thanks so much. Wolf?
BLITZER: Thank you, Paula. On Friday when the vice president's wife was in THE SITUATION ROOM, we told you we would follow up on a novel she wrote many, many years ago, a novel, which has become a hot topic in the Virginia Senate race right now. Democrat Jim Webb under fire for passages in his own novels said Lynne Cheney's book contained lesbian love scenes. We reported Friday on the content of Webb's books. Now we're going to do the same thing for Mrs. Cheney's novel, which is out of print and hard to find.
Let's go to Mary Snow. She's watching this story. Mary?
MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, we were able to purchase a rare copy of Lynne Cheney's book. And to give you an idea of just how popular it is, when it came out in 1981, it was priced at $2.50. At last check there were five copies selling on the Internet one with a price tag of $1,500. Prices have gone up in the last few days after it was mentioned in a campaign controversy.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SNOW (voice-over): Lynne Cheney's 1981 book "Sisters" surfaced as a political issue in Virginia's heated Senate race last week. Here's how it came about. First, Republican Virginia Senator George Allen complained about sexual references written in the novel by his opponent Democrat Jim Webb. Webb on Friday fired back with this.
JIM WEBB (D), VIRGINIA SENATE CANDIDATE: We can go and read Lynne Cheney's lesbian love scenes if you want to you know get graphic on stuff.
SNOW: Friday in THE SITUATION ROOM, Lynne Cheney responded.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Jim Webb is full of baloney. I have never written anything sexually explicit.
BLITZER: You had written a book entitled "Sisters".
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I did write a book entitled...
BLITZER: It did have lesbian characters...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This -- no, not necessarily.
SNOW: But passages from the book would appear to indicate otherwise. One reads, "The women who embraced in the wagon were Adam and Eve crossing a dark cathedral state -- no, Eve and Eve, loving one another as they would not be able to once they ate of the fruit and knew themselves as they truly were." And in letters between two women, "Let us go away together, away from the anger and the imperatives of mean. And then we shall go to bed, our bed, my dearest girl. How I long to see you again, to hold you, to kiss you a thousand times."
One feminist literary critic takes issue with both Jim Webb's description of the book and Lynne Cheney's.
PROF. ELAINE SHOWALTER, PRINCETON UNIVERSITY: I don't think it's fair to say that there are lesbian love scenes, it has a strong subplot about a lesbian romance. And in fact the title "Sisters" suggest this.
SNOW: The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee described the book as being about brothels and attempted rapes. When Mrs. Cheney was asked about that...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Actually that is full of lies. It is not -- it's just -- it's absolutely not true.
(CROSSTALK)
SNOW: The book does reference prostitution, describes one attempted rape and mentions a character's rape in 19th Century Wyoming. The book is not officially listed in Mrs. Cheney's White House biography and it's out of print. Some consider the book ahead of its time.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A novel is not the same as politics. The writer's imagination ought to be free and this is quite a free willing book.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SNOW: Now we contacted Mrs. Cheney's office for a follow-up. Her spokeswoman gave us this statement. Quote, "To suggest there is any comparison between anything Mrs. Cheney has ever written and Jim Webb's sexist, x-rated prose, is simply false. It's disappointing that CNN feels obliged to defend Democratic talking points -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Thanks very much, Mary for that. And we'd like to make it clear that CNN is not defending talking points on either side. Certainly if you saw our SITUATION ROOM interview Mrs. Cheney pulled no punches in that appearance. Now her husband was among those paying close attention as he told FOX News earlier today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) RICHARD B. CHENEY, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I thought it was great. We refer to it around the house as the slap down. And she was -- she was very tough. But she was very accurate and very aggressive. And of course, she was in the business for a while. There was a time on that network when she used to host the show they had on for a long time called "CROSSFIRE" on Sundays for a couple of years. So she spoke her mind and I thought it was perfectly appropriate.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: Good to know, Paula, that the vice president of the United States is watching his wife on television. I would have only assumed that he would have been a keen observer as he always was when she used to co-host "CROSSFIRE" Sunday...
ZAHN: It was a riveting interview.
BLITZER: Very good interview...
ZAHN: You both were at the top of your game. I hate to use the word game like you were playing a game, but it was very interesting to watch.
BLITZER: (INAUDIBLE)
ZAHN: I don't know -- did he get slapped down?
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: I didn't get to see the whole thing. I saw...
ZAHN: Well then you're just going to have to go home...
CAFFERTY: ... THE SITUATION ROOM...
ZAHN: ... and watch it tonight.
CAFFERTY: Yes, I have a TiVo at home. I'm going to watch it this weekend.
BLITZER: He's going to study it carefully.
CAFFERTY: Here's some real comforting news. In Iraq it is very likely they're killing us with our own guns. The United States spent $133 million to buy weapons for the Iraqi security forces. That's about 370,000 weapons, mostly semiautomatic pistols, assault rifles, machine guns and rocket-propelled grenade launches. Well guess what?
Thousands of them are missing. It's not going to be easy to find them because the Defense Department only bothered to register the serial numbers of about three percent of the weapons. And as any viewer of "CSI Miami" knows you can't trace a gun if you don't know the serial number. It's been widely reported that the Iraqi security forces have been infiltrated by the death squads and the militias.
Gee, you don't suppose they could have made off with all those unregistered weapons, do you. Here is the question -- who do you suppose has the thousands of missing U.S. weapons in Iraq? E-mail your thoughts to CaffertyFile@CNN.com or go to CNN.com/CaffertyFile. Makes you want to pay your taxes on time, doesn't it? Registered three percent of the weapons they sent over there, recorded the serial numbers.
BLITZER: This inspector general that's looking at all the money spent, the billions, hundreds of billions of dollars now, he's doing an excellent job by the way coming up with these reports. And there are going to be a lot more I'm told over the next several months.
CAFFERTY: Well we'll see if he keeps his job. You know sometimes when you start reporting the truth people have a way of disappearing in this country.
ZAHN: I haven't worked with you in many years since we were joined at the hip on the morning...
CAFFERTY: We were both much younger then.
(LAUGHTER)
ZAHN: Do you ever answer...
(LAUGHTER)
ZAHN: I don't know about -- you are.
CAFFERTY: What's that?
ZAHN: Do you ever answer your own questions that you post?
CAFFERTY: No.
ZAHN: No.
CAFFERTY: No.
ZAHN: You let them do all the work out there.
CAFFERTY: We're just here to...
ZAHN: Stoke the audience.
CAFFERTY: Stoke the fires, yes.
BLITZER: And he does an excellent job at that as well, very good job. Thanks very much, Jack.
CAFFERTY: Sure.
BLITZER: We'll have you back. And still to come tonight, war and politics. We'll find out why one leading Republican says she wouldn't have voted to approve the war if she knew then what she knows now. Unusual candor from a politician up for reelection. ZAHN: Plus, the race factor in some of the closest and meanest Senate contests, former presidential candidate Al Sharpton casts a critical eye on ads and counterattacks.
BLITZER: He's always outspoken. And the Michael J. Fox factor, the actor-turned-activist works to tip the balance of power in Washington. Live from CNN's Election Headquarters in New York, you are in THE SITUATION ROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Welcome back to a special edition of THE SITUATION ROOM only eight days until Americans go to the polls to determine who will control the United States Senate and House of Representatives. I'm Wolf Blitzer. Paula Zahn is with us at CNN's Election Headquarters here in New York and a lovely headquarters, Paula, you have here.
ZAHN: It's kind of fun to show this off to you. Welcome, Wolf. Of course, as you all know out there, the war in Iraq is the major factor in this election for many, many voters. The escalating wave of bombings, at least six today like this one, in a bustling Baghdad market. And the deaths of more than 100 American troops this month alone is even changing the minds of staunch supporters of the war including Republican Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison who joins us tonight from Houston.
Good of you to join us. Up until recently, Senator, you have been one of the president's strongest supporters of his policies in Iraq until just about a week or so ago when you had this to say. Quote, "If I had known then what I know now about the weapons of mass destruction, which was a key reason I voted to go in there, I would not vote to go into Iraq the way we did." Why make this admission now? Why not months ago? Why not a year ago?
SEN. KAY BAILEY HUTCHISON (R), TEXAS: Well, first of all let me say that the rest of my statement was not included in "The Washington Post" and that is that the president would not have asked us to go into Iraq if he had thought there were not weapons of mass destruction. I haven't changed my position. We thought there were weapons of mass destruction. All of the intelligence that the president had, Great Britain had, Democrats and Republicans had was that there were weapons of mass destruction. And the president was trying to protect our country from another 9/11 with a weapon of mass destruction.
ZAHN: Your opponent in a race that people don't think is so hotly contested had suggested that you would not have voted to go to war if you had bothered to read deeper Senate intelligence briefings papers.
HUTCHISON: Well, that's absolutely incorrect. Many of us looked at intelligence briefings; we got many intelligence briefings from the CIA, from the Department of Defense, from the Department of State. And to say that we should have looked at Senator Bob Graham's word instead of the president's, and the Defense Department, and Great Britain, and even Russia has said that they thought there were weapons of mass destruction.
Don't forget, Paula that Saddam Hussein had used chemical weapons against his own people. He had also kicked out the weapon inspectors in 1998. So all of that together made the president say I'm going to protect America and I am going to make sure that someone who has the capability to deliver those weapons of mass destruction doesn't have that opportunity.
ZAHN: Some of your colleagues have gone as far as to apologize for their vote. Knowing what they know now, do you feel that you owe voters out there an apology because intelligence was wrong?
HUTCHISON: Absolutely not. No, absolutely not. I think that now is what we ought to be talking about -- what do we do now? We must make sure that we fight and win the war on terror where they are. So they don't come into America and harm Americans ever again. And we must be very tough and not in any way flag in our commitment. I can't think of anything worse than setting a deadline to leave Iraq when Iraq isn't stable yet and turning over that territory to terrorists that works I think would be emboldening them to do more terrorist acts and even give them the revenue stream to do it with the oil fields of Iraq.
ZAHN: But in fact that's exactly what the president had to say after reacting to what many saw as your bombshell when you were talking about the war when you basically said that the idea of a partition is something that should be entertained. And the president said that will absolutely spark more sectarian violence. Does he have it wrong?
HUTCHISON: Well, I believe that it should be an option on the table. I think a short-term, stability would be very helpful. And yes, I know it would be hard to draw the lines. But remember the Iraqi people provided for this in the constitution that they adopted. And the parliament has since enacted the implementation procedures to do it. So they have thought about it as well. And I think if they say no, we don't want to do it. We won't do it. And we can't make their decisions for them. But to say that it should be an option on the table -- yes, I think it should.
ZAHN: And we've got to leave it there tonight. Senator Hutchinson always good to see you.
HUTCHISON: Thank you, Paula.
ZAHN: Thanks for joining us tonight. Wolf?
BLITZER: Thanks, Paula. Still to come tonight in THE SITUATION ROOM, Senator George Allen has been fighting off charges of being racially insensitive or worse. Will that deprive the Virginia Republican of African American votes he's likely to need to stay in office?
And it sounds like an improbable connection, could electronic voting be influenced by Venezuela's very anti-American leader? We'll investigate. We're live at CNN's Election Headquarters in New York and you are in THE SITUATION ROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ZAHN: From CNN's brand new Election Headquarters here in New York, welcome back to a special edition of THE SITUATION ROOM. Let's head over to Wolf now with a story you're going to want to see before you vote next week. Wolf?
BLITZER: It's pretty amazing what is going on, Paula, whether you like it or not there's a good chance you will be voting on an electronic voting machine next week. Well get this, the federal government is now looking into ties between one voting machine manufacturer and the government of the Venezuelan president, Hugo Chavez.
CNN's Brian Todd is looking into the controversy. Brian?
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, like so many other aspects of business this involves a company once completely American owned that was bought out by a company from overseas. But because that parent company has a history with a leader so hostile to the United States, a lot of questions are being raised.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TODD (voice-over): Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has made clear his feelings about his American counterpart.
PRES. HUGO CHAVEZ, VENEZUELA (through translator): Yesterday, the devil came here, right here, right here. And it smells of sulfur still today.
TODD: Now just days before midterm elections questions are being raised by a member of Congress and public interest groups about a voting machine company called Smartmatic linked to Chavez's government, a company that owns a subsidiary that makes electronic voting machines used in 16 states and Washington, D.C. The whole company is owned by Venezuelan Nationals.
CHELLIE PINGREE, COMMON CAUSE: You have got a company that clearly if not now, in the past has had some ties with the Venezuelan government. And people are asking, what does it mean to have foreign ownership of the company that produces the voting machines in this country?
TODD: Last year after winning lucrative contracts from the Venezuelan government, Smartmatic bought an American company called Sequoia, another longtime maker of voting machines. Smartmatic had previously run machines for Venezuela's 2004 elections a vote that returned Hugo Chavez to power. Some outsiders questioned those election results but they were certified by The Carter Center and the Organization of American States. Smartmatic CEO was very clear.
ANTONIO MUGICA, CEO, SMARTMATIC: There is absolutely no foreign government ownership or control over Smartmatic. TODD: But Smartmatic officials acknowledge the Venezuelan government owned nearly a third of the stock in a subsidiary after giving that company a small business loan. But Smartmatic says...
JEFF BIALOS, ATTORNEY FOR SMARTMATIC: The loan was paid off. The government ownership went away.
TODD: Smartmatic officials say they didn't even own that subsidiary until the loan was paid off and the Venezuela government gave up the stock. Smartmatic also says it voluntarily asked the U.S. Treasury Department to review its purchase of the American vote machine company. A Treasury official tells CNN that review is ongoing.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TODD: Venezuela's ambassador to the U.S. tells CNN his government doesn't have anything to do with Smartmatic aside from that contract to handle Venezuela's 2004 elections. Wolf?
BLITZER: What a story, Brian. Thanks very much, Brian Todd reporting. And just ahead, Paula, we're going to be following other important news from Maryland to Virginia to Tennessee. Racial issues are now marking some very tight Senate races. We're going to talk about it with Reverend Al Sharpton, himself a former presidential candidate.
ZAHN: And of course he's always very muted when he's on TV...
BLITZER: Very shy guy.
ZAHN: Yes, exactly. Plus, Michael J. Fox and the stem cell debate. He is hitting back again today at Rush Limbaugh. We're going to have the details for you. Live from CNN Election Headquarters right here in New York, you're in THE SITUATION ROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ZAHN: From CNN Election Headquarters in New York, you're in the SITUATION ROOM. Happening right now...
BLITZER: Lots happening right now, Paula.
Will race factor into the way you vote in the midterm elections? I'll speak with the Reverend Al Sharpton and I'll ask him if race might tip or hold down the scales in some very close contests.
ZAHN: Also coming up, the fame factor. How might famous faces play a role in the midterms? Well, some awfully big names are addressing some big issues, all to get your attention.
BLITZER: And the cheerleader-in-chief. Some say President Bush rallies Americans today the same way he rallied classmates long, long ago.
I'm Wolf Blitzer. ZAHN: And I'm Paula Zahn, live from CNN Election Headquarters in New York. You're in the SITUATION ROOM.
And we turn now to the hot and often nasty Senate contest in Virginia. Locked in a tight race, Republican Senator George Allen and Democrat Jim Webb, a former Republican. A fair number of African- American voters helped Republican George Allen make it to the State House and then to U.S. Senate. But after a controversial remark, can he count on that help again? Congressional correspondent Dana Bash has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BASH (voice-over): An old friend in from the sidelines. George Allen is hoping a football Hall of Famer can help mend fences with African-Americans.
DAVID "DEACON" JONES, NFL HALL OF FAMER: And I'm just happy that he asked me to come back and say a few nice things to you people about him so you will all vote for him.
BASH: Deacon Jones played for Allen's father, coached for the L.A. Rams and Redskins and has known the senator since he was a teenager. His message isn't exactly subtle.
JONES: So I can spot a bigot a mile away and he's not a bigot .
BASH: An assist of sorts for this.
SEN. GEORGE ALLEN (R), VIRGINIA: So welcome.
Let's give a welcome to Macaca here. Welcome to America and the real world of Virginia.
BASH: That was August. Allen has offered various apologies and explains for what appeared to be a racial slur. But the remark helped erase a double digit lead in the Senate race and will likely cost him voters he's fared better with than many Republicans -- 25 percent of the black vote in his 1993 governor's run-and 19 percent in his 2000 bid for Senate.
His celebrity friend is one element of Allen's late campaign outreach. Tapping into a concern found at black churches is another.
(on camera): Our camera wasn't allowed inside, but Senator Allen played up an issue conservatives hope will appeal to the African- American churchgoers, that is, opposition to same-sex marriage.
ALLEN: And you saw some folks stand up when I said marriage should be between one man and one woman. And so I look at this as a unifying, a bridging issue.
BASH (voice-over): That seems to work with Annie Branch (ph).
ANNIE BRANCH: See, I like Allen for one particular situation, that is, he is against gay, you know, the marriage situation. BASH: Trisha Johnson (ph) and Ethel Wescott (ph) are still undecided, but say their votes won't be swayed by Allen's "Macaca" incident.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I may have said something that someone would take as racist.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Aren't we all just a little bit, you know what I'm saying?
I mean come on.
BASH: William Webster is supporting Democrat Jim Webb, says he can't vote for Allen.
WILLIAM WEBSTER: Not by the remark, but by his whole, you know, background. Not just by one specific thing, but many things. It's time for a change anyway.
BASH: Time for a change anyway, the Democrat slogan ringing across the country, which Republicans like George Allen have barely a week to try to silence.
Dana Bash, CNN, Hampton, Virginia.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: The Virginia Senate race isn't the only campaign with racial issues involved. They're also coming up in the Senate campaigns in Maryland and Tennessee.
We're joined by the Reverend Al Sharpton. He's head of the National Action Network. He himself ran for president all not that long ago.
Reverend Sharpton, thanks for coming in.
REV. AL SHARPTON, NATIONAL ACTION NETWORK: Thank you.
BLITZER: The "Washington Post" wrote this the other day in a profile on George Allen. After noting some comments that he made, controversial comments, they wrote this:
"In his first Senate term, he has taken three civil rights pilgrimages, co-sponsored a resolution apologizing to lynching victims and descendants, and proposed allocating half a billion dollars to historically black colleges. But "macaca" raises a question: has Allen really evolved or did his true nature slip into public view?"
What is your sense?
SHARPTON: I that clearly the statement reflects the policies. He is a loyal Republican. And I think that -- the problem is...
BLITZER: You can be a loyal Republican and not be a racist. SHARPTON: No, you can certainly be a loyal Republican and not be a racist. But if you are a loyal Republican, you may support policies that are antithetical to African-Americans, and for that matter, most Americans. And I think that's why Allen is in trouble. It's not a word, it's what the word represents: a voting record that clearly has supported the president that has not been good for all people.
This weekend, African-American and Latino and white civil rights leaders met in Chicago. Reverend Jesse Jackson brought us all together to talk about an agenda. What we are talking about is Allen and that...
BLITZER: So you're not concerned about the words as much as the policies that the Republican party stand for, because you're a good Democrat?
SHARPTON: No, I am a good civil rights activist. In -- the Democrats have been a good alternative in the last several years. But when they're wrong, we have taken positions against them. You cannot talk about a race for Senate or president or Congress and not talk about an urban policy about dealing with trade and dealing with unemployment, and dealing with the building of prisons and the closings of schools. The Republicans have failed to deliver on that. That's why Allen is in trouble.
BLITZER: What about -- in Maryland, there is an African- American, the Lieutenant Governor, Michael Steele, running for the U.S. Senate. By all accounts, a relatively close race against Ben Cardin. What do you make of this Republican who happens to be an African-American?
SHARPTON: The interesting thing is that Steele makes my point. Steele is trying to run away from his party. He spent the last couple of weeks distancing himself from his party. The problem with that is if you're on the field with the other team, even if you run the other way, you still have on their uniform and if you score, you score for them. You'll be voting for them to be chair of committees, you'll be voting for them in budget crunches.
So Steele shows what I'm saying, that it's not just what color you are, it's what kind you are. And what we're going to define in '08, coming out of the meeting Jackson put together, is what kind of person we are...
BLITZER: You know, Michael Steele has made a point of telling people, African-American voters in the state of Maryland, you know what, the Democratic party very often has taken you for granted, and if you elect me as an independent-minded thinker, I'm going to be a more reflective representative of what you need.
SHARPTON: The Democrats have in cases taken us for granted. But the question is, the Republicans haven't represented and taken any of our interests at all. So you don't go from a situation that may need renegotiation to a situation that has not been open to you at all.
And if he's independent, he needs to state, I will not vote for Republican chairmen, I will not support the White House on things that are important. He has not made those definitive statements because he's still on their team.
BLITZER: Harold Ford, Jr., a man you know, he's running for U.S. Senate from Tennessee. He was on television over the weekend. And he suggested that very controversial ad about the Playboy mansion and all that, Playboy party, he just suggested it's sleazy as opposed to being racist. Let me play a little clip just to remind our viewers what happened in that ad, which has since been pulled.
(BEGIN VIDEO)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I met Harold at the Playboy party.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The Republican National Committee is responsible for the content of this advertising.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Harold, call me.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I met Harold at the playboy party.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: What do you think of that?
SHARPTON: I think it was clear, the racial overtones there. I think it tried to play on the worst fears of the Old South. And I think that those that put it out were trying to conjure up those feelings.
I think what it really showed is the Republican National Committee that paid for it, that has been saying to African-Americans since that's what you are asking, that we want to reach out...
BLITZER: As Ken Mehlman has tried to reach out.
SHARPTON: But how do you reach out and then, when you get in a crunch, when you're losing, then you reach back into your bag of tricks and play...
(CROSSTALK)
BLITZER: ... explanation, this was an independent expenditure. And as chairman of the Republican party, he could not get involved in controlling where this ad goes and what's in the ad.
SHARPTON: I think the fact of the matter is that if anyone of any party had done this, they would have been condemned. He's got to take the rap here. It is also one of the ugliest things we've seen. And the Republican National Committee should have never engaged the person that did it and that came up with this kind of thinking in the first place.
BLITZER: The Reverend Al Sharpton coming into the SITUATION ROOM.
Thanks very much.
SHARPTON: Thank you, Wolf.
BLITZER: You know, Paula, he's always got something on his mind. Remember during the presidential debates when he was up against all those heavy hitters?
He always did well in those Democratic debates.
ZAHN: He owned them
What's so interesting about that ad, in spite of the fact that the RNC pulled them, you have to imagine it is played hundreds and hundreds of times on local newscasts, national newscasts all across the country.
BLITZER: And I thought Harold Ford Jr. took the high road. He said, you know, I don't want to get into whether it had racist overtones. He says, I just thought it was sleazy.
ZAHN: Way to cut to the chase there. Up ahead tonight, Michael J. Fox makes a very surprising admission about the stem cell research legislation he so passionately supports. Will it have any impact at all on the debate. We're going to show you the very latest.
BLITZER: And with the election now only eight days away, the commander-in-chief is now also the cheerleader in chief. Jeanne Moos standing by to take a closer look at that. Live from CNN Election Headquarters in New York, you're in THE SITUATION ROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ZAHN: And welcome back to our headquarters here in New York and our expanded edition of THE SITUATION ROOM. So impressive that this desk travels with Wolf wherever he goes.
BLITZER: This is a table, Paula, and we brought it all the way in from Washington D.C. here to New York at little expense.
ZAHN: A huge cost. We rented a cargo plane to bring it. At any rate...
BLITZER: ... No no no, it was driven up.
ZAHN: He's going to earn his pay because the two of us are going to be here until 9:00 through the election time every single day as an expanded part of THE SITUATION ROOM.
BLITZER: It's a lot of fun. And as you know, Paula, 33 U.S. Senate seats are now at stake. They will be elected on next week. But control of the Senate boils down to just nine states by our estimate, where seats could change hands from one party to the other.
ZAHN: And over the next eight days, we're going to be focusing an awful lot of attention, that is, on Rhode Island, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, Tennessee, Ohio, Missouri, and Montana. Not in alphabetical order there. Of those, only the seats in New Jersey and Maryland are currently in Democratic hands. So to win control of the Senate, the Democrats have to hold onto the two seats, then pick up six of the remaining seven.
BLITZER: Not an easy, not an easy challenge by any means. The candidates certainly aware of that. They're keeping a very hectic pace during the final eight days until the election. And the actor Michael J. Fox is scrambling right along with them on his own campaign to sell the idea of embryonic stem cell research.
ZAHN: And our own Deborah Feyerick is here now with more on the story and what he had to say today?
DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well Paula, you know, it's interesting, there are so many hot ballot issues right now that voters are going to have to face. That means increasing minimum wages, eminent domain, gay marriages. Voters having to decide where they stand on these issues. But it's stem cell research, which is on the ballot in only one state that is getting so much attention. And the reason for that, Michael J. Fox.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FEYERICK (voice-over): In Wisconsin --
MICHAEL J. FOX, ACTOR: Governor Doyle has been a champion of stem cell research. He knows the promise it holds.
FEYERICK: And Missouri.
FOX: In Missouri, you can elect Claire McCaskill who shares my hope for cures.
FEYERICK: Celebrity campaigner Michael J. Fox has stayed on message.
FOX: Stem cell research offers hope to millions of Americans with diseases like diabetes, Alzheimer's and Parkinson's.
FEYERICK: The issue of stem cell research is playing big in a handful of governor's races, including Wisconsin races and Iowa, both races where Fox has backed a candidate. The TV legend has also thrown his star power behind Senate hopefuls Ben Cardin in Maryland, Sherrod Brown in Ohio and Claire McCaskill in Missouri, the one state that has a ballot asking voters to decide whether to back research.
Fox, who suffers from Parkinson's disease, is so passionate about the issue, it was surprising to some when he admitted on "ABC's This Week with George Stephanopoulos" that he hadn't actually read the ballot initiative.
FOX: I'm not qualified to speak on the page-to-page content of the initiative, although I'm quite sure that I'll agree with it in spirit. I don't know on full disclosure, I haven't read it and that's why I didn't put myself up for it distinctly.
FEYERICK: Democratic media consultant David Axelrod says it's a non-issue.
DAVID AXELROD, POLITICAL CONSULTANT: I don't think it's unusual for someone to speak on an issue that they've been briefed on without having read chapter and verse of the legislation or the initiative. I think it's true for politicians and it certainly is true here.
FEYERICK: Political watchers say in a year with other big defining issues, most people in the country wouldn't have even paid attention to the ad. But for conservative radio talker, Rush Limbaugh, who last week all but accused Fox of faking his illness.
RUSH LIMBAUGH, TALK SHOW HOST: Somebody shows me I'm wrong about my speculations of either acting or being off the medication, I'll hugely and bigly apologize.
FEYERICK: Fox, campaigning in Ohio today, hit back at his radio critic.
FOX: I'm not supposed to speak with you until my symptoms go away. Or maybe I'm just supposed to go away. But I'm not going to go away.
FEYERICK: During his Ohio campaign stop, Fox eluded to his TV family, the Keatons, who supposedly lived in Columbus.
FOX: And I was recently asked what my character, Alex P. Keaton would think of me campaigning for stem cell research. First, he would be happy I'm wearing a tie. And I think he would tell me I'm doing the right thing because it is the right thing to do. Just as Sherrod Brown...
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FEYERICK: Did acknowledge that some of the opposing candidates support stem cell research, but it's with adult, not embryonic stem cells. And he says he is against human cloning and egg farming. But it's a very powerful issue and one he feels so strongly about. He is counting on the fact that he can connect with people to get them to vote.
ZAHN: And he has a lot of guts to put himself out there.
BLITZER: He certainly does. I applaud his willingness to go out there given the condition he is in to really make a statement, something he passionately believes in.
ZAHN: And thank you. Still ahead tonight, rallying Republicans with the cheerleader in chief, yes, the president trying to whip up the party faithful. Jeanne Moos on that story.
BLITZER: You can rely on Jeanne for something special. And Jack Cafferty, he's wondering who do you suppose has the thousands of missing U.S. weapons in Iraq? Jack standing by with "The Cafferty File." Live from CNN Election Headquarters in New York, you're in THE SITUATION ROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ZAHN: And welcome back. Jack Cafferty back by popular demand.
CAFFERTY: Another day, another disappointment when it comes to the war in Iraq. There's a new report out that Congress has received almost one in every 25 weapons that the U.S. has provided for Iraqi security forces, $133 million worth has gone missing, thousands of them. Nobody knows where they are.
The question is, who do you suppose has the thousands of missing U.S. weapons in Iraq? Eric in Port Orchard, Washington: "Jack, when I was in the marines in the 1960s, it was a big deal if you misplaced your weapon. Well, it isn't today when someone misplaces or can't account for thousands of them. Business as usual? It's a mess."
David in El Paso, Texas: "Bad guys have them, people who want to kill our service members, wreak havoc on the U.S. and the free world. It's time for us to say good-bye to Iraq. Give every damn one of them a gun, let them duke it out themselves, I'm sick of it."
Chris from Plymouth, New Hampshire. "My guess is as good as anybody's, but from the way things have been going in Iraq, I'm worried that the missing weapons are in the hands of anyone other than the coalition forces. I have to wonder if Iraqi government forces should have them anymore than the insurgents. They're not ready either."
Frank writes: "Jack, it's simple. Halliburton has got them. They'll sell them back to the army at a 20 percent markup."
Tatyana in Ohio: "When only three percent of the weapons sent to Iraq are identifiable and the rest are gone and we have a rising insurgency in the country, there's really only one place the weapons could be, in the hands of the insurgents we are trying so hard to stop."
Michael from Columbus, Ohio. "There you go again. Just reporting the missing weapons. What about all the ones we can find? CNN is always focusing on the bad news. We still might find the missing weapons right after we find the missing WMD."
If you didn't see your e-mail here, you can go to CNN.com/CaffertyFile. We post some more of these online. I'm not used to doing this standing up. I don't like it as well. I'm an old man, I should be sitting down.
ZAHN: We do have chairs here. We spent a lot of money on this new set, Jack.
CAFFERTY: They brought the table from Washington, D.C., did you know that?
BLITZER: Major truck.
ZAHN: Wolf's an important guy, cargo plane, whenever Wolf goes.
BLITZER: Do you like this table?
CAFFERTY: I like this table.
BLITZER: Nice table.
ZAHN: If Wolf's up in Nebraska, this is going to follow.
CAFFERTY: We should have like a catered meal at this table with expensive wine.
BLITZER: Afterwards, after the show, 9:00.
ZAHN: Are you paying?
BLITZER: We've still got another hour, Jack.
ZAHN: No way will he pay.
CAFFERTY: Another hour.
ZAHN: You come back.
BLITZER: Don't go anywhere.
CAFFERTY: All right, you get to sit in the next hour. Quit complaining. Still ahead, President Bush, cheerleader in charge of the campaign trail? Find out why he is asking supporters to just say no. You are at CNN's Election Headquarters in THE SITUATION ROOM here in New York.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: President Bush both commander-in-chief and cheerleader in charge of the campaign trail, at least at this time of the year.
ZAHN: Whether candidates want him around or not this at this stage of the campaign, Jeanne Moos has more on that part of the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Multiple choice, just say yes to the true originator of...
BUSH: Just say no.
NANCY REAGAN: Just say no.
BUSH: Just say no.
MOOS: But just because the correct answer is Nancy Reagan.
REAGAN: What will you do if someone offers you drugs?
CROWD: Just say no!
MOOS: Doesn't mean George Bush can't use it at rallies to tweak Democrats for, in his view, being soft on terrorism.
BUSH: When it comes to listening in on the terrorists, what's the Democratic answer? Just say no. When it comes to questioning terrorists what's the Democratic's answer?
CROWD: Just say no.
BUSH: When it comes to trying terrorists what's the Democrats' answer?
CROWD: Just say no.
MOOS: The technique is called call and response and it led up to this punchline.
BUSH: So when the Democrats ask for your vote on November 7th, what's your answer?
CROWD: Just say no.
BUSH: President Bush is once again playing cheerleader. He was head cheerleader at the all-male prep school he attended in Andover, Massachusetts. He never quite excelled as an athlete, but he was a heck of the cheerleader at the all-male school.
And for that, he's paid a price in parody on the Web doing the Iraq cheer.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Give me an I, give me an R, give me 200,000 troops.
MOOS: Mocked by protesters.
CROWD: He says the war on terror will make the world fairer, but we know that he's lying because we see infants dying.
MOOS: There's even a 12-inch action figure of George Bush the cheerleader in a skirt. And he was known to wear one in jest.
(on camera): Go ahead, make fun, but the dean of students at the time reportedly credited George W. with raising school spirit higher than it had ever been, as long as he'd been dean.
(voice-over): One classmate from Andover even compared how George Bush once rallied students with how he rallied the nations with a bullhorn after 9/11. The president's in good company. Both Katie Couric and Meryl Streep were once cheerleaders.
In a political sense, so was Ted Kennedy at the 1988 Democratic convention.
TED KENNEDY: Where was George?
MOOS: Where's George? Well his son is in the White House and pom poms are shaking. But at least the president didn't get tossed, though his party might. BUSH: Just say no.
MOOS: Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
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