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CNN Saturday Morning News

Analysis of Last Night's Presidential Debate; $700 Billion Bailout Plan Still in the Works;

Aired September 27, 2008 - 09:00   ET

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

BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everybody, from the CNN Center in Atlanta, I'm Betty Nguyen. This is CNN SATURDAY MORNING.
After the big debate last night which, T.J., you had really a front row seat for that.

T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: If you want to call sitting on the floor with the students, you know, front row seat to watch the debate last night, well that's exactly where I watched it, with a lot of the students who of course were so excited to have this debate here. The debate that almost wasn't. But yes, those RSVPs were honored and both candidates did show up.

On the campus of Ole Miss, a beautiful campus that was really transformed yesterday, really a festive atmosphere. Really turned into almost a county fair, if you will, out here on the grove is what they call it. But just a -- the whole place was transformed and a beautiful site for the debate last night. They were so excited to have it. And it did take place. And so, we finally saw these two candidates one-on-one on the same stage, talking about foreign policy, which is what this debate was supposed to be about.

Of course, we couldn't have it without talking about the economy. We'll be talking about that and what happened last night, all the highlights with Dana Bash and Suzanne Malveaux who have been here with me all morning and will stay here with me to talk about this campaign and where we go from here, Betty.

NGUYEN: Yes, we're also talking about the economy, as you mentioned, because that $700 billion package is still in the works this morning. We're thinking that maybe we'll have an answer to it, an actual plan perhaps by tomorrow. They were working until about 2:00 a.m. Eastern time this morning, those congressional leaders. So, we'll see what they come up with.

And as you mentioned though, T.J., last night the economy obviously was something that the candidates wanted to talk about, it's something that you can't escape in this election.

HOLMES: All right. Well, yes, if you did miss it, that first face-to-face, shame on you. Everybody has been building up to this moment that we saw last night, the debate between the two candidates. And of course, the topic -- topic number one, issue number one for everybody and these two contenders is the same for you and me and everybody right now, this country's financial crisis.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I put forward a series of proposals that make sure that we protect taxpayers as we engage in this important rescue effort. Number one, we've got to make sure that we've got oversight over this whole process. $700 billion potentially is a lot of money.

Number two, we've got to make sure that taxpayers, when they are putting their money at risk, have the possibility of getting that money back and gains if the market and when the market returns.

Number three, we've got to make sure that none of that money is going to pad CEO bank accounts or to promote golden parachutes. And number four, we've got to make sure that we're helping homeowners because the root problem here has to do with the foreclosures that are taking place all across the country.

Now, we also have to recognize that this is a final verdict on eight years of failed economic policies promoted by George Bush, supported by Senator McCain. A theory that basically says that we can shred regulations and consumer protections and give more and more to the most and somehow prosperity will trickle down.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Well, John McCain as well talked about what a financial bailout package should include. Take a listen to him now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This package has transparency in it. It has to have accountability and oversight. It has to have options for loans to failing businesses rather than the government taking over those loans. We have to -- it has to have a package with a number of other essential elements to it.

And, yes, I went back to Washington, and I met with my Republicans in the House of Representatives, and they weren't part of the negotiations, and I understand that. And it was the House Republicans that decided that they would be part of the solution of this problem.

But I want to emphasize one point to all Americans tonight, this isn't the beginning of the end of this crisis. This is the end of the beginning. If we come out with a package that will keep these institutions stable and we've got a lot of work to do. And we've got to create jobs, and one of the areas, of course, is to eliminate our dependence on foreign oil.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: So, everybody wondering this morning, and depending on who you talk to, they'll let you know how that debate went and who did the best. Let's take a look though at a CNN opinion research corporation poll of people who did watch the debate. Fifty-one percent say Obama did the best job, 38 percent gave the nod to McCain. As to who would be best to handle the economy, again Obama is out front and in a major way. Fifty-eight percent say it will be Obama, 37 percent say McCain.

Now, again, we need to stress here that more Democrats than Republicans watched last night's debate, so numbers -- hey, you take them how you want to take them.

CNN's Dana Bash and Suzanne Malveaux have been racking up a lot of frequent flier miles keeping up with these two gentlemen for quite some time. You're like, somebody just get elected already so we can go home. No, thank you all for being here with us.

The economy, spent 40 minutes on it last night. And here we go. This was supposed to be the part and some of the polls we see, Obama, a lot of people think he would do better with the economy. And he is about to start stressing this point, already the morning after, we have new ads to talk about.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, they're already announcing a new ad they're putting on the air. It's called "Zero." And essentially what it says 90 minutes of the debate, he mentioned -- McCain mentioned the middle class zero times.

I mean, this is something that they believe they really have a winning issue on. He had a very good week leading into the debate, obviously, the polls showing it. One of those numbers in the CNN poll showing that 62 percent say that Obama was the one who talked more about the issues that matter to them. And McCain, it was something like 32 percent.

I mean, he has been dogged, at least they've been trying to paint him as someone who's elitist, who is out of touch. Clearly, at least people who were watching the debate saw this as somebody who they could connect with, at least when it came to these economic issues.

HOLMES: And McCain has been trying here -- and he was trying to look like, by saying, hey, this is so important, I am going to hold off. I'm not going to come here to Oxford. He came. We still don't have a package in place, but he is trying to now go back to work and trying to get something pounded out still on this bailout.

DANA BASH, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: He flew back to Washington last night. He didn't stay here. He's back there. We expect him to probably go to his day job on Capitol Hill at some point today. You know, the reality is he hasn't been involved in these direct negotiations. He's been working around the edges, talking to his fellow Republicans, trying to sort of figure out a way to physically get them back to the negotiating table.

But with regard to the economy and the specific issue that the Obama campaign thinks that he connected more, I mean the reality is you know these candidates do the greatest job connecting to voters, especially at this time, which is kind of remarkable. However, McCain definitely has an issue with that. They seem to know that.

He started out in his conversation saying, I hurt, people hurt, but then he kind of veered off into where they feel that he is best, with regard to the economy and that is not so much talking about the issues of the economy, but more talking about the fact that his approach to spending and approach to economic policy is about reform.

HOLMES: Are they happy with how this whole thing played out? With him going back to Washington, of course, everybody thought it was -- well, so many just though it was pure politics. But is the McCain campaign happy with how he came across? Do they think he came out looking like he swooped in there and tried the save the day and is really worried about doing his day job? You're kind of shaking your head there.

BASH: You know what? I think the best way to answer that is tell you how desperate they were for him to get down here and have this debate.

HOLMES: Wow.

BASH: You know, he obviously made this kind of surprising -- very surprising move in the middle of the week last week in New York saying, I'm suspending my campaign, I'm going back. But once kind of reality set in and you know, the fact that he was going back into -- the biggest partisan squabble I have seen on Capitol Hill. I have been covering him a long time that this maybe wasn't the best idea for him. They thought, you know what? We need to get him out of that and we need to get him back to a place where he's more comfortable, a debate.

HOLMES: Yes, the Obama campaign -

MALVEAUX: It was a gift to the Obama campaign. Because was obviously -- I mean, it wasn't the best scenario for McCain. I mean this really was a sense for the Obama campaign that said, look, he seems to be all over the map, all over the place, geographically, politically, there's a lack of focus here. and that Obama simply said, look, you know, I'm going to get two things done at once.

That's very possible. It's what you need to do as president. It was something a message that resonated with a lot of people, in talking with people here. And we were here for 48 hours kind of in the midst of this kind of crisis. What is going to happen here? And I spoke to a lot of Republicans, a lot of McCain supporters who said, look, this is bad manners. This is a place where manners matter here.

HOLMES: It does.

MALVEAUX: This is not good for him. We support the guy but this is not the right move.

BASH: Good news for John McCain, Mississippi is not in play.

MALVEAUX: Yes, that's true.

BASH: But I will say that I think it's an important point to make that the story is not over yet. We don't know how this is going to play out for John McCain, until we see what happens on Capitol Hill. How this bailout package looks and feel and sounds where the votes are?

HOLMES: Yes. All right. Ladies, Dana Bash, Suzanne Malveaux, so glad I have you both here with me this morning. Thank you so much. We got plenty more to talk about. Don't take off in your rental cars just yet.

MALVEAUX: Got the engine running, T.J.

HOLMES: I know you do. Well, we want to know your thoughts about the debate as well. Tell us which candidate made the best impression on you. E-mail us your thoughts. We will be sharing those. weekends@cnn.com. We'll read those comments in the next several minutes or so -- Betty.

NGUYEN: All right. Thank you, T.J.

You know, banks -- they are on the brink and Congress under pressure this morning to deliver a rescue plan before the financial crisis gets even worse. Right now your lawmakers say that they are, indeed, making progress on that $700 billion bailout plan, and there is word that Republicans are actually forcing a concession on the part of Democrats. Also, Congressman Barney Frank, the top Democratic negotiator says he is confident there will be an agreement by tomorrow.

Our correspondents are all over the story, as you can imagine. Senior correspondent Allan Chernoff is in New York, you see him on the left. Kate Bolduan on Capitol Hill. Kate, let's start with you and of course, those concessions because there are some major sticking points here.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, exactly Betty. And they have been all week, there's no question about that. And that's why just a couple of days ago, leaders came out and said negotiations are stalled right now, but as we've been talking about this morning, we're told that staff members, in staff meetings, they worked until the early hour morning -- the early hours of this morning to get these -- to continue negotiations.

And what we're told by a top Republican aide is that the staff have whittled down the issues, these unresolved issues to about a dozen. And these will be the sticking points, these will be the focus of the discussion when these key lawmakers eventually sit down to really hammer out what they're talking about and where they go from here.

Now, one of those sticking points that we've been talking about all week has been how to finance this bill and that's what we've been talking about quite a bit. The Treasury proposal that came out, they are asking for the government -- for the government to buy up these bad mortgages from these troubled financial institutions.

Well, House Republicans this week, they came out to say simply they cannot allow that. They think that puts taxpayers on the hook for too much. And so they're asking for alternatives to be part of this plan and that could include something along the lines of government-backed insurance plan or something along the lines of loans that require private funding. That will definitely be part of the conversation today, Betty.

NGUYEN: All right. Thank you for that, Kate.

You know, lawmakers, they are logging hours of meetings on this crisis. CNN senior correspondent Allan Chernoff is standing by in New York. And we heard Allan that they worked until 2:00 a.m. Eastern time this morning. So obviously they're trying to find a fix here, but will this big bailout, once it's all said and done, truly be an instant fix?

ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely not. There's no way it can be an instant fix. There's no magic bullet over here. First of all, it's going to take time to put a program in place, even if Congress and the administration were to strike a deal within the next hour. And then it's going to take some time to restore confidence to the lending market. The lending market has been spooked. Credit is very tight. Interest rates have shot up, and the bottom line, economists say, is that we are almost certainly headed for tougher economic times.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD STRASZHEIM, VICE CHMN., ROTH CAPITAL PARTNERS: Well, I think even with the package being approved, there are an awful lot of companies that are nervous now. Lending is difficult to come by. And you'll probably see unemployment up over the next year with or without this package. We are, I think, in for a recession under most any circumstances.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHERNOFF: Bottom line, $700 billion, can't buy us a healthy economy. Betty.

NGUYEN: That is almost -- unfathomable (ph). I mean, how can you imagine that kind of money cannot be the fix that we're all needing at this point? And you make a good -- a really a good point here, saying that you know it's not going to be an instant fix, perhaps it may get worse before it gets better.

CHERNOFF: It's pathetic.

NGUYEN: It is. It's frustrating. All right. Allan, thank you.

So listen to this, you can actually cast your presidential vote early and save some gas while you're at it. Come with us for a ride on a free shuttle bus.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Aloha! I am Reynolds Wolf. Here's a look at your forecast for this weekend. We're going to really focus on parts of the northeast because we got some scattered showers and storms here. Syracuse, right along parts of i-81, a lot of that moisture is going to be pulling its way back over to New York and through much of north New England.

Now, what we can anticipate is some heavy rainfall. There's a chance we can see anywhere from three to eight inches of rainfall, not just the batch of rain arriving from parts of the west, but we have more, a precipitation that's going to be coming in from the tropics, namely from Kyle. Kyle is expected to veer it's to the north, possibly making ? landfall as we get into Sunday and Monday along the extreme eastern border of Maine.

That is a look at your forecast. We're going to have a lot more coming up in roughly 60 seconds. You're watching CNN SATURDAY MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: We'll turn to Syria now where a car reportedly loaded with 440 pounds of explosives blew up in southern Damascus early this morning. 17 people dead, another dozen wounded. This happened near a government intelligence building. So, those developments still coming in to us on that.

Also, Senator Ted Kennedy back home this morning after an emergency trip to the hospital. Kennedy, who as many of you know, is battling brain cancer, and had what's being called a mild seizure yesterday at his home in Hyannisport, Massachusetts. Doctors say it was caused by a switch actually in his medication.

And Betty, as we heard McCain last night at the beginning of some of his remarks, made a comment about his good friend who he's been serving with a long time in the senate, Senator Kennedy. So certainly everybody is looking for him to make a good recovery, want him to be all right.

NGUYEN: Absolutely. He got home in time to watch that debate. So, interesting what he thought of it and if there was a clear winner.

All right. 38 days to go, that's it, T.J., can you believe it? After all of this, the election may seem like a long way off but really it's not. In 31 states, listen to this, voters can cast their ballots early for any reason.

And one of those states is Ohio. Starting next week, hundreds of Oberlin college students will take advantage of those free bus rides to go and vote. And Andrew Watiker is helping organize that effort and joins us now live from Cleveland. Andrew, let's talk about this effort to get these students on these free bus rides. Because I understand back in 2004, there were long lines. People stood in line maybe up to seven hours to cast their vote.

Was that really what sparked these bus rides, to kind of avoid that this time around?

ANDREW WATIKER, OBERLIN COLLEGE JUNIOR: Yes. Our goal is to make sure as many students as possible can vote. And having five, six, seven-hour lines dissuades students from being able to vote because they have to go to class. They have papers to write. They have jobs to go to.

NGUYEN: Yes, you don't want to fail your class but you definitely want to take your duty, step up to it and vote.

WATIKER: And as well as community members in town who share the same voting precincts with the students. We want to make sure they can vote as well. And it's not really fair to them to have to wait five, six hours.

NGUYEN: Got you. All right.

WATIKER Go ahead. Sorry.

NGUYEN: So I was going to say, this is really interesting. Because you know, it's one thing to put this opportunity out there for students, but it's another within the first 24 hours you had 500 students sign up. Were you kind of surprise by how many people were willing to take you up on that offer?

WATIKER: Not really surprised because Oberlin has a history of being very politically active, and we know a lot of students want to come out and vote. So we're glad we can give them the opportunity. We're glad students are going to turn out. And we're glad people are going on the Web site and signing up to vote.

NGUYEN: And this is a non-partisan effort. How diverse are the students there who have signed up for these rides? I mean, you've seen people from all sides here?

WATIKER: Yes. There are a lot of Democrats but we also have Republicans going as well. This is not about, you know, getting people out to vote for Democrats or getting people out to vote for Republicans. This is about turning out people to vote, period, and making sure they get their ballots counted.

NGUYEN: Yes. Oberlin College is footing the bill for these free rides. Would you say that's quite an important investment on the part of the college, or a way to really, as I mentioned earlier, step up to the importance of making sure that people cast their vote in this election?

WATIKER: Yes, it's definitely important. And we greatly appreciate what the college has done for us. We also know it's a good investment, too, in terms of community relations because it helps us show that we're good citizens of Oberlin and we're doing our part to make sure that town residents can vote as well.

NGUYEN: All right. So if you vote early -- are you going to take one of those bus rides and go vote early?

WATIKER: Yes, I will be going on Friday.

NGUYEN: So if you do that, what are you going to do on election day?

WATIKER: I'll probably be involved in making sure that people who were not able to make the bus are able to get their votes counted on election day. We've had issues with running out of provisional ballots at some precincts in Oberlin, as well as we're still going to have lines in certain areas. So I want to make sure that students know how to vote on election day and people don't get turned away at the polls.

NGUYEN: Well, good to hear. You are definitely invested in this one. Andrew Watiker, thanks so much for joining us today. We appreciate it.

WATIKER: Thank you.

NGUYEN: T.J., that's one student who is going to make sure that his vote is counted.

HOLMES: That's one. I bet so many students are so into this election right now. The students here at Ole Miss, which is so excited to have this debate. The energy here has been amazing. They wanted to take this opportunity to really showcase this school but also this state in a lot of ways. A great source of pride for them here. A lot of young people getting involved in the process.

We want to turn now to something kind of history making for China that happened. A Chinese astronaut walked in space for the first time ever. Stick around.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: Well, it's been another week of financial turmoil, another bank closure. This being Washington Mutual. In fact, it was the largest U.S. bank failure ever. So how can you protect your hard-earned cash? Well, here's CNN's personal finance editor Gerri Willis.

GERRI WILLIS, CNN PERSONAL FINANCE EDITOR: Hi, Betty. Given the turmoil in the financial markets over the past couple of weeks, you may be wondering how to protect your money.

Well, first off, figure out what you have in each of your accounts, including savings accounts, checking accounts, CDs or joint accounts. Your money will be protected up to certain limits by the FDIC if your bank fails. Individual accounts are protected up to $100,000. Joint accounts to $200,000. Retirement accounts up to $250,000. You can have more money than you think at one bank as long as you divide your funds up among various ownership categories.

Now, credit unions are insured up to the same limits. And swap out money market accounts if you're worried. Look, last week the U.S. Treasury announced it would insure the holdings of money market mutual funds so don't worry about losing your money but make sure you know what your money market fund is invested in.

If it has a lot of company debt you may want to switch to a money market account that invests in Treasuries. That's the safest bet around. And lots of folks have taken money out of mutual funds but now is not the time to move your money out of the market. Instead, make sure you're diversified. You should have a good mix of stocks, bonds and international holdings.

Coming up on "OPEN HOUSE," our panel of experts takes on your financial questions. Colder months are rolling in and what you can do to prepare your home now, and why women have become a major force in the world of home buying -- Betty.

NGUYEN: All right. Thank you, Gerri.

You know, coming up here, a special live edition of "YOUR MONEY." It's going to take a look at the bailout breakdown. "YOUR MONEY" with CNN's Ali Velshi and Christine Romans airs this afternoon, 1:00 Eastern. Also tomorrow afternoon at 3:00 Eastern.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Hello again, everyone, from the campus of Ole Miss in Oxford, Mississippi, where the big debate did happen last night. The candidates had a lot to say for 90 minutes but a lot of you, the viewers, had a lot to say as well.

Those of you who watched that debate, our Josh Levs has been looking through some of your e-mails that we have been soliciting this morning. What are they saying, Josh?

JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it's interesting. Want to pop it here and give you something from both sides. As you know, we've been getting a lot of i-reports and we've also been doing the e- mails.

Let's get right to this first one and I want to share this with you from Alex. He writes this, "As a lifelong Republican and U.S. marine, I believe last night's debate showed this nation's leadership passing to a new generation. My generation was represented by JFK. This generation is represented by Obama. Destiny is on his side. McCain, I'm sorry to say, looked old -- looked and sounded bitter and defeated, while Obama looked and sounded supportive and optimistic."

But we're not hearing everything on one side. Now, I got Donna Miller who's going to tell us this from (INAUDIBLE) who says, "Hey, our world is getting smaller and more dangerous. McCain clearly showed his leadership and that he has an understanding of the danger and what is required to address them. Obama has not done this," she says. She says, "McCain also impressed me in the financial area when he said he would put a freeze on government spending other than certain strategic areas. Obama's smirks in response to McCain's point made him look immature."

And I tell you, T.J., this is one thing that's really interesting to me. A lot of people weighing in on body language, what kind of poses did they take? Did they look at each other? Did they smile a lot? It's interesting what people are left with after one of these debates. You can keep writing us weekends@cnn.com. We'll share more next hour.

HOLMES: Yes, these things sort of make impressions, yes. They certainly do make impressions, body language at all counts.

We'll have much more here from the campus at Ole Miss where the big debate happened. So Betty, I will see you here shortly.

NGUYEN: Absolutely. First though, "OPEN HOUSE" with Gerri Willis starts right now.