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CNN Saturday Morning News
Democrats, Republicans Bring Out Heavy Hitters in Campaign's Final Weeks; U.S. Foreclosures Unfold at Record Pace; President Obama, Palin Stumping Today; Law Relaxed for Crack Cocaine Offenses; Rapper Ordered to Prison; Miners' Financial Fortunes; First National Siesta Championship in Spain; Countdown to Election Day; Exploiting Foreclosure Loopholes
Aired October 16, 2010 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning.
Blackout in New York. The lights aren't necessarily out. Rather, one particular channel is. And it could keep millions of sports fans from seeing playoff baseball and NFL football this weekend.
T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Also, there's been a major change in drug- sentencing guidelines that many argued discriminated against African- Americans for years.
Hello to you all. Good morning. CNN SATURDAY MORNING here. Six a.m. here where we sit in Atlanta, Georgia. It's 5 a.m. in Fayetteville, Arkansas.
I am T.J. Holmes. And look at what we were able to drag down from D.C., Reynolds.
BOLDUAN: Look at what the cat dragged in.
REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: There you go.
HOLMES: People, we'll reintroduce you all to Kate. She's spent a lot of time with us.
BOLDUAN: You've all forgotten me.
HOLMES: No, we haven't. But you haven't been here with us in quite some time.
BOLDUAN: Good morning, lovelies. Thanks for having me, guys.
HOLMES: Did we need company?
WOLF: We do need company. I mean, let's be honest. I mean, for our viewers who have been tuning in over the last couple of weeks, it's been kind of like the locker room, a dudes' locker room here..
We need a female...
BOLDUAN: There's a lot of this kind of (INAUDIBLE). WOLF: Absolutely. There really has been. And we need some elegance here, and someone who's got...
BOLDUAN: They picked the wrong person, obviously, for that but...
WOLF: They're - you're here.
BOLDUAN: Anyway.
WOLF: It's good to see.
BOLDUAN: (INAUDIBLE)
HOLMES: Well, we've got a lot going on this morning.
BOLDUAN: We do.
HOLMES: Reynolds and I are going to be talking throughout the morning about something near and dear to us. We're taking a little road trip after the show today. We'll get into that in a bit (ph).
BOLDUAN: Also coming up in the next 90 minutes, cashing in on a dramatic rescue. From chocolate to sexual-enhancement items.
Sorry. Good morning. It's 6 a.m.
I'll have more on how the Chilean miners are posed to - poised to make some serious money from their two-month ordeal.
HOLMES: Also, take a look at this. This might be painful. We're talking about Botox. Painful to get those injections, some say. But now, Botox has been approved as a treatment to relieve a particular kind of pain. We'll explain that.
Also, you remember, Reynolds, Kate, all of us, how excited we were to get our driver's license.
BOLDUAN: Yes.
HOLMES: Was that a big moment for us all?
BOLDUAN: It was a huge moment.
WOLF: Best ever. Best ever.
HOLMES: Best ever?
BOLDUAN: Best ever.
WOLF: Yes. Good times. To be honest, I shouldn't have had my driver's license till I was about 30, but yes, it was good - good stuff.
(LAUGHTER)
HOLMES: Well, a young man, a teenager, immediately after he got his driver's license, a really embarrassing moment. He already has a driving record.
WOLF: What?
HOLMES: We'll explain.
BOLDUAN: You'll have to stick around to find out, right here, Reynolds.
WOLF: Good times.
HOLMES: All right.
But also this morning, we of course, the place for politics, here at CNN. We got a little more than two weeks left until those midterm elections. And President Obama and also former President Clinton, they are both out on the campaign trail rallying, also raising some money for the Democratic Party.
Republicans bringing out their heavy hitters as well, like Sarah Palin, RNC Chairman Michael Steele - they're both campaigning on the West Coast.
BOLDUAN: Mm-hmm.
And - but let's begin though with President Obama. He's campaigning for an old friend in Massachusetts today, Democratic Governor Deval Patrick. Deval Patrick is in a tight race with Republican rival Charles Baker. President Obama here is trying to energize Democratic voters with his visit, but some pundits are questioning the tactic, really.
A recent poll showed 56 percent of independent voters in the state have an unfavorable view of the president.
And now to the West Coast. Another Democratic heavy hitter is stumping for votes. Former President Bill Clinton is on the campaign trail. He was at a rally backing his former political rival in California Friday night. He and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jerry Brown actually embraced. Many did not think they would, but they did, at a rally in Los Angeles.
Both men praised each other at the rally. There was no love lost, though, between these two men in 1992, when Clinton beat Brown in the Democratic presidential primary. Brown is in a tight race for California governor with former eBay CEO Meg Whitman.
Whitman has funded her campaign with - get this - more than $119 million of her own money. Clinton told the crowd the election is all about them.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BILL CLINTON (D), FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This is your (INAUDIBLE). You need to know: where are we now, what are we going to do, who's more likely to do it? Nothing else really matters.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
CLINTON: OK, so...
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Well, the Republicans had their heavy hitters out there as well, and one of the biggest heavy hitters and certainly playing a major role during this campaign season is the former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin. She's going to be out, along with the RNC Chairman Michael Steele. They'll actually be out on the campaign trail together, expected to speak at a Republican rally in Anaheim, California. That's supposed to happen tonight.
Meanwhile, yesterday, former Governor Palin, she endorsed - all but endorsed the GOP gubernatorial Meg Whitman. Well, she did it kind of on the sly. Didn't even have to say her name.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SARAH PALIN (R), FORMER GOVERNOR OF ALASKA: Your next governor will have to make tough choices about spending cuts, and certainly she will be working in a bipartisan manner....
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Yes. She. It's pretty easy to figure out who it - she is.
Well, we are hitting the road here, once again, here at CNN with the Election Express. And we are coming to your town. There's a good chance we are.
I'm hitting the road starting Monday - Charlotte, North Carolina, coming to see you. Columbia, South Carolina, coming to see you as well. Macon, Georgia - we'll be making our way to you on Wednesday.
Thursday, we'll see you folks in Jacksonville, Florida. Then we are hitting Tampa on Friday.
So what I want you to do right now, before I even get to your town , let me know what it is you want me to talk about. Maybe who I need to go see. What restaurant I need to go eat at. What local brewery I need to hang out in.
Whatever it may be - OK, skip the brewery part. But let me know what's happening in your town. And really, we might able to stop by and tell some of those stories, specifically, that you want us to tell. Again, I am at tjholmescnn on Twitter. Also, tjholmescnn on Facebook as well. Let us know.
We're going to have a whole lot more political news coming your way at the bottom of the hour.
And also, a reminder, if you're away from your TV, need a political fix, go to our website, CNNPolitics.com.
BOLDUAN: You all know this, especially if you have children in the house: Halloween is just around the corner. And that my have been inspired - that may have inspired one would-be thief during a suspected burglary attempt.
HOLMES: Yes, dressed up as a tree. There he is. We'll explain this a little more.
But he was trying to rob a museum, police say. They said they found the guy hiding in the woods after an alarm sounded. We'll talk about that a little more.
Reynolds, what are you going to be for Halloween?
WOLF: A tree? He looks like a green Wookie. That's the weirdest thing I've ever seen. My gosh.
Coming up, we're going to take a look at your forecast. We're going to find out if it's going to be some of - kind of a trick or a treat for some people.
Plus, a look at your college-football forecast. A lot of incredible games today. We're going to touch all the bases coming up in a few moments.
You're watching CNN SATURDAY MORNING. Green Wookies. Green.
HOLMES: Like Reynolds mentioned there, a lot of games today. We'll have one particular to talk about.
But before we go - before you go, Reynolds, before Kate you go anywhere, we got a quiz for you to check out. This is kind of an easy one.
BOLDUAN: Listen up.
HOLMES: "Money" magazine....
WOLF: Huh?
BOLDUAN: Mm-hmm.
HOLMES: ...came out, list of highest-paying jobs in America. What is No. 1? Would you say it's, A, an attorney; B, an anesthesiologist; or C, a network-news anchor?
Like I said, this is kind of an easy one because you can automatically eliminate one of those three.
BOLDUAN: Breaking out T.J.'s pay stub.
HOLMES: All right. Seven minutes past the hour.
Kate and I are right back. Don't go anywhere.
(LAUGHTER)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) HOLMES: All right. Nine minutes past the hour now.
Before the break, we asked you this question: What is the highest- paying job in America, according to "Money" magazine? Is it, A, an attorney; B, an anesthesiologist; C, network news anchor?
BOLDUAN: Anyone? Anyone?
HOLMES: Reynolds, always enjoy asking you these.
WOLF: You know, I was actually going to go with B, because I - I know it's not an - an attorney. I know there are a lot of hungry attorneys out there. I know that in terms of network-news anchors, I - I know that's definitely not the case.
BOLDUAN: Yes.
WOLF: So yes, I have to go with B.
BOLDUAN: Well, he also had a little bit of a cheat sheet, reading the TelePrompTer.
It is B, anesthesiologist. These are the doctors who, of course, as you know - if you've had surgery, you know this - who help you stay asleep and stay under during surgery. The average pay, $290,000. Top pay: $339,000.
For more information on the highest-paying jobs - because we all need them - go to money.cnn.com.
HOLMES: To put people to sleep.
BOLDUAN: You - do you want to be awake during surgery?
HOLMES: It - well, it's kind of important. But you could just knock them out. There are other ways to knock people out. I - I know some guys who will do it for free.
BOLDUAN: (INAUDIBLE). This is not the doctor you're going to go to ever.
HOLMES: It's not at all.
Reynolds, we got your Wookie now.
WOLF: You got the Wookie.
(CROSSTALK)
WOLF: Do we have a shot of the Wookie?
(CROSSTALK)
HOLMES: This is actually a burglary suspect. And he was caught while he was in that Wookie outfit - or he was in deep cover, you could say. BOLDUAN: Yes, this man, wearing what's called a "ghillie suit" - a camouflage outfit used by snipers or hunters to blend in with natural surrounding.
Police in Hillsboro, Oregon, believe the man was planning to steal items for a rock and mineral museum and wanted to quote-unquote "blend in with the nearby woods."
But a police dog - this is interesting how they actually caught him - a police dog was called after a security alarm went off at the museum. The dog sniffed him out in the woods and bit him. Thirty-six-year-old Gregory Liascos is now charged with burglary and criminal mischief.
HOLMES: Is that the first place you think about robbing? I'm not at all condoning. But a rock and mineral museum?
BOLDUAN: Maybe they were precious rocks and precious...
WOLF: Oh, it's ripe for a - dude, seriously. I mean, it's ripe, ripe for - for crime.
(CROSSTALK)
WOLF: I mean, if you need some ore, or if you need, like, you know, maybe a good sample of crystal - oh.
BOLDUAN: Are in the market for - for...
(LAUGHTER)
WOLF: Oh absolutely. Yes.
But I mean, if you - if you have to go to the - to the ends where you're so pathetic you had to put on a ghillie suit and get bitten by a dog, isn't that...
BOLDUAN: Maybe he didn't have - maybe he didn't have any black.
WOLF: Maybe so. But maybe - you know, some - sometimes when you're really into geology...
(CROSSTALK)
BOLDUAN: That is definitely a Reynolds Halloween costume.
WOLF: There's no way.
BOLDUAN: Yes way.
WOLF: Mrs. Wolf would never let me back in the - in the house, much less my neighbors would let me back in the neighborhood if I wore that thing.
BOLDUAN: I wonder if it makes noise when he walks, like, shoo (ph), shoo.
WOLF: Exactly.
(CROSSTALK)
WOLF: You know, that - that - that clothing actually would be very suitable in parts of the Northeast though.
(WEATHER REPORT)
BOLDUAN: So a popular rapper - well, he will be returning to prison for violating his parole - his probation, I mean.
HOLMES: He - yes. Just got out of prison not long ago. Got out of a halfway house earlier this year. And in two more weeks, T.I. will be back behind bars.
Thirteen minutes past the hour. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BOLDUAN: A staggering new number has come out about the state of the economy: a record number of foreclosures.
HOLMES: Yes, one in every 139 homeowners received foreclosure filings last quarter.
Josh, there is some good news. You tell us.
BOLDUAN: Please.
JOSH LEVS, CNN CONTIBUTOR: Yes, you know what? It's kind of when you have to trudge through how ugly this is in order to see the good news. But one thing I'm going to tell you guys about, too, is that some states a lot better than others, more equal than others in this scenario.
Let's take a look at what we've been learning in - just in the last couple days about what's happening with homes in America. A key sign of the economy here.
Foreclosures are soaring. Nine hundred thirty thousand foreclosure filings in just the most recent quarter. It's getting close to a million in a single quarter. We've never seen anything this high.
And look at this: bank repossessions - banks taking back people's homes. So just banks and just actual homes that people live in, topping the 100,000 mark in a single quarter. It's huge for this.
Now take a look here. The biggest impacted state, in terms of per capita, number of people - 1 in 29 homes in the state of Nevada are getting these foreclosure filings in the most recent quarter. And if you're going to look at raw numbers, 191,000 homes in California.
And one more thing to show you about the states being impacted here, take - put these states together - California, Florida, Arizona, Illinois, Michigan - just those five states, you have half of the foreclosures in the entire country. But in some places in this country, things are actually a lot, lot better.
Take a look at this map here and let's see if we can zoom in a little bit. The darker red, the worst in the world of foreclosures. And where it's light over here, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, Nebraska, Iowa - it's actually doing pretty well. And they basically skipped the boom. They were never part of the real-estate boom in the first place, so the bust didn't hit them that badly.
If you are someone who is concerned that foreclosure might impact you, there's a bunch of agencies that can help you, a bunch of websites, and I've posted them for you, at Facebook and Twitter, at joshlevscnn. Go ahead and take a look at - at my pages, and what you'll find is some resources. You'll find government resources, private resources - obviously, you'll want to avoid that.
And guys, the good news in all this is that a lot of this is being reduced right now. You have 50 states attorney general that are taking action to make sure this doesn't keep happening. You have some banks out there that have stopped repossessing homes altogether.
And even the group that total this is saying they are not expecting the number to keep going up. They think it'll go down toward the end of the year. So a little bit of good news there, guys.
BOLDUAN: All right.
LEVS: All right. Something.
BOLDUAN: Good news. I'll take it.
LEVS: Something to hold on to.
BOLDUAN: Right now - something to hold on to.
LEVS: I know. I know.
BOLDUAN: Something for your morning coffee.
LEVS: Something. There you go.
HOLMES: Yes, and we actually are going to be talking more about this. Our financial analyst Clyde Anderson (ph) is going to be along here shortly in about - right in about an hour, about 20, 25 past 7:00 East Coast time. He is going to be talking specifically about foreclosures.
As you heard Josh talking, just one in about 140 homeowners in this country are foreclosures. So a lot of you out there, unfortunately - he's got some - some news for you, some important information if you are possibly facing foreclosure.
BOLDUAN: Another story we are watching, which is - this is kind of interesting. Basketball.
HOLMES: You can call it that. Yes, interesting.
BOLDUAN: It's interesting. Basketball not what you would think as kind of a heavily contact sport. No.
HOLMES: Yes, unfortunately, this conjures images of the brawl we saw back - the Detroit Pistons in the back.
BOLDUAN: Yes, how can we forget?
HOLMES: But no, we'll let you know where this one was happening. Like the screen says, it's China. So that gave that away.
But still, this was supposed to be a friendly match, as they call them. You can see here, it was anything but.
Nineteen past the hour. We're right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Well, taking a look now at some of the stories making headlines. We are 22 past the hour.
At least 20 miners have died in China, and at least another 17 are trapped right now after a gas explosion inside a coal miner. This explosion comes after China this week it had closed more than 1,300 small coal mines this year. China has one of the world's deadliest records for miners.
Also, rapper T.I. is going to have to go back to prison, this time for violating his probation. A federal judge sentenced the rapper, whose real name is Clifford Harris - sentenced him yesterday to 11 months, saying he had - quote - "had the limit for second chances."
I interviewed T.I. last spring after his release from prison. Also talked to him before he even went to prison.
Listen to what he had to say to me after getting out about how he was going to change his life.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
T.I., RAPPER: I don't feel the need to - to make any assurance to other. I think that when you - you - you watch me live my life, and you see how I move different than I did before, and you see how I behave different than I did before, I think that - that that in itself will be your assurance.
I mean - I think that's the - that's the main question everybody wants to know. How do we know it's not going to happen again? How do we know - I mean, well, you know, you have to sit and watch and see, you know what I'm saying?
I know it's not going to happen again. But I can't convince you without action.
(END VIDEO CLIP) HOLMES: Well, that was a big part of the hearing yesterday. Harris violated his probation after he was arrested on drug charges in Los Angeles back in Los Angeles. His defense team made the case that he's actually an addict suffering from the disease of addiction, as they put it, and actually needs to go to rehab and not back to prison.
Well, next year, the cosmetic drug Botox - it has been approved to treat now some forms of chronic migraines. The FDA says the drug could be injected every three months around the head and neck area to dull some of those symptoms of migraines. Chronic migraines are defined as those that occur 15 days or more for more than four hours a day. Botox hasn't been shown to work against other forms of headaches.
Twenty-four minutes past the hour. Stay with us here on this CNN SATURDAY MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Well, welcome back to this CNN SATURDAY MORNING. Twenty-five past the hour here now.
You guys will remember the - the "basket brawl." When was that, '05? What year was that? Detroit, Indian Pacers, right?
BOLDUAN: Maybe '05.
WOLF: I believe so, yes.
HOLMES: We remember Ron Artest was in the middle of that; those guys got suspended.
BOLDUAN: That was intense.
HOLMES: OK. Got another one to show you, but this was not in the U.S., if that's the good news, possibly.
But look at this. This was supposed to be what they called a "friendly," between nations. This was not a tournament or anything. They're just - an exhibition.
China...
BOLDUAN: Look at this.
HOLMES: The Chinese team and also the Brazilian team get into it. Apparently, this all came out because of what happened during a hard foul. One of the players got a concussion, actually, after a hard foul. Just kind of set everybody off. And this is what ensued.
BOLDUAN: I mean, it - from the video...
HOLMES: Yes.
BOLDUAN: ...it looks like this went on for quite awhile.
(LAUGHTER) HOLMES: It did.
WOLF: You know, one of the odd things about what we're seeing here is, when - when Dr. James A. Naismith first created basketball by getting a peach basket and hanging it 10 feet up and it became a great sport, people wonder if an American invention will truly be able to keep its - its structure, its beauty. And it's great to see that overseas, it is still a great American sport.
(LAUGHTER)
WOLF: Still playing out as the founders had intended, you know?
BOLDUAN: Exactly, as a brawl.
WOLF: Yes, a good fisticuffs. Good times.
(CROSSTALK)
HOLMES: We're going to move to another sports story. We do - we like sports here a lot.
But this, again - they - we don't just do highlights, necessarily. But this story has to do with a young man out - where is this? Fredericktown, Missouri. His name is Josh Lake. He's a football player there for a high-school football team.
Now, he looks like so many of the other players. You can't tell much different from him. But the young man is deaf.
WOLF: Wow.
HOLMES: And you saw the lady there on the sideline giving him the signals. Her name is Cathy - Cathy Merrill. And she does signs for him. She's actually done it for another player over the years. And she is - kind of make a joke, that you don't expect a middle-aged woman to be in the men's locker room, or the boys locker room.
But take a listen to them.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Not being able to hear your coach's directions, do you ever have a challenge?
CATHY MERRILL, INTERPRETING FOR JOSH LAKE: Well, yes, a little bit. But really, for example, the coach will tell me, head-head (ph), and if I look over at the coach on the sidelines and the team, a lot of times the teams will help me, too, and the coaches, of course. Somebody's always there that I understand who will make the imposition if I'm in the wrong place.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Did we redeem ourselves? A better sports story here now.
BOLDUAN: Definitely.
WOLF: Absolutely. That's a great - and, you know, I could be...
BOLDUAN: The China - the Chinese and the Brazilian basketball teams should be watching this and saying, 'You know what?'
WOLF: Absolutely.
BOLDUAN: 'We should probably get along.'
WOLF: That was very inspiring.
BOLDUAN: Inspiring.
HOLMES: Well - but yes, there she is, on the sidelines. She's just a part of it. She's just a - she's not, you know, a coach or anything, of course. She's just here to help out. And she says most of these young men have come up through their high-school career with a middle- aged white woman in their locker room.
(LAUGHTER)
BOLDUAN: Their record, 5 and 2.
HOLMES: They're doing well right now. So they're doing OK.
WOLF: They're having a good season.
HOLMES: Good one more here.
BOLDUAN: So this is the story that we've talking about.
HOLMES: This is the one you like here. Go ahead.
BOLDUAN: I do. I do like this story.
HOLMES: This is the one you like.
BOLDUAN: OK. So this is kind of - you think of it maybe the instructor, the - the driving instructor maybe handed out the approval a little too early.
Take a look at this video. You see this video sometimes, like, you know, in - in - I don't know, a coffee shop or something.
HOLMES: A random place, yes.
BOLDUAN: Right. Something random, right? No.
This is the interesting part. Bridgeville, Pennsylvania. The guy crashing into the building - he just passed his driving test. Pennsylvania's newest man behind the wheel - he was actually dropping off the instructor who had just given him a passing grade, and clearly forgot the one important rule of, the gas is on the right, the brake is on the left.
HOLMES: Poor kid.
BOLDUAN: Poor kid.
WOLF: A lot of - a lot of questions when you see something like that. Not necessarily for the driver, but for the instructor it - itself. And it's like, you know, did you have him put his - his hands on the steering wheel? Did you have him...
BOLDUAN: Ten and two.
WOLF: Did you have him turn the key?
BOLDUAN: Ten and two.
WOL:F: You know, that - that whole thing about driving, I wonder if that was part of the test. It's bad.
BOLDUAN: Probably very excited, as we were talking about. You remember how excited you were when you got your license.
HOLMES: I wasn't that excited.
(LAUGHTER)
BOLDUAN: But he clearly maybe was a little overly excited. He gets to keep - he gets to keep his license, apparently, which...
HOLMES: Fascinating to me...
WOLF: Unbelievable.
HOLMES: ...that you get to keep your license.
BOLDUAN: It's just a (INAUDIBLE) story.
HOLMES: As soon as he gets it, it gets suspended, possibly.
BOLDUAN: I know his parents are probably angry about the insurance.
But anyway, congratulations. You made it on CNN.
HOLMES: Well, bottom of the hour we're coming up on here now. More of your top stories when we come back in just a second.
Stay with us.
(LAUGHTER)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: ... for a while now (ph). A lot of things have changed since you were here (INAUDIBLE).
BOLDUAN: I know. A lot have.
HOLMES: Yes. I got a notepad. BOLDUAN: It's a very big deal.
Oh, we're back.
HOLMES: Yes.
Hello there, everybody. Thirty-three minutes past the hour here on the CNN SATURDAY MORNING. I'm T.J. Holmes.
BOLDUAN: I'm Kate Bolduan. Thanks for starting your day with us.
HOLMES: Now, to give you a look of some of the stories we are keeping a close eye one, we'll start with the Mexican government now suspending the search for David Hartley, the American, the Texan who went missing.
Hartley's wife - you see her there - said her husband was shot September 30th by Mexican drug pirates. The two were out jet skiing on Falcon Lake that borders the U.S. and Mexico.
This week, a lead investigator in case was actually beheaded. David Hartley's family talked with Mexican authorities on Friday and they have hopes that the search could start up again on Monday.
Also, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says the U.S. is committed to ending Mexican drug violence. She was talking in San Francisco yesterday and she said that drug cartels are acting more like terrorists these days. She said the U.S is helping Mexico create anonymous tip lines, so people can report drug cartels, but the U.S. could do more to help and train Mexican police.
Also, man, some folks up in the northeast are going to have to go without this weekend, at least for their sports on FOX. News Corp. has blacked out some three million Cablevision customers in the New York area because of a dispute over fees.
This could affect - no, it will affect - the National League Championship Series which starts up tonight between the Phillies and the Giants. If you're one of those three million customers, you're not going to get FOX. Also, the NFL, big weekend, as always, on Sunday. Not going to be seeing those games.
Cablevision says that it's now paying News Corp., which FOX Channel, some $70 million for the programming, but they say News Corp. now wants $150 million and they say that is way too much. The government is trying to get them to work out their differences, but, so far, those folks right now don't have FOX.
So we have 17 days to go until one of the most important elections in recent memory - midterm elections, at least. Sarah Palin, President Obama and Clinton, they are out. They're hitting the campaign trail today from Maine to California.
BOLDUAN: They're all over the place. And they're heading out to, of course, help raise money for their parties and to encourage people to get out and vote. Paul Steinhauser, part of "The Best Political Team on Television," has more from the political desk in Washington.
PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN DEPUTY POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Hey, good morning, Kate, T.J. A busy weekend in politics.
Let's start with the president. Barack Obama is heading up to Massachusetts today to help out a friend. I'm talking about Duvall Patrick. He's the governor up there in Massachusetts, and he faces a pretty tough re-election this year, so the president on his way up there today.
What about the Republicans? They're pretty busy as well.
Let's talk about Sarah Palin. The former Alaska governor and, of course, John McCain's running mate back in 2008. She's teaming up today with Michael Steele, the Republican National Committee Chairman. They're going to be in Anaheim, California. They'll be doing a fund raising rally there, and the idea if to raise bucks for - for the Republican Party to help out candidates in the November 2nd election.
This is interesting, because Palin and the Republican National Committee didn't always see eye-to-eye, but they're teaming up today to help raise money.
That's what I got right now. Back to you guys.
HOLMES: All right. Thanks, as always, to our Paul Steinhauser.
We want you to know, we are all over politics here at this network, 17 days to go until Election Day. We are hitting the road once again with the our CNN Election Express. We are trying to see what's on your mind out there as we head into this critical midterm election. I'm aboard, once again, all next week.
And we want to hear from you, because Charlotte, North Carolina, coming to see you on Monday. Columbus, South Carolina, going to holler at you on Tuesday. Wednesday, Macon, Georgia, get out the fine china. Thursday, Jacksonville, Florida, we're going to make a stop by. Then on Friday, we're going to end up in Tampa.
All week on the road, and what I want you to do before we get to your town is send me a message and let me know what we need to be talking about in your town, maybe what neighborhood we need to go to, what politician we need to be going to talk to, or maybe just what restaurant recommendation you might have. Whatever it is, hit us up, Twitter, at TJHolmesCNN, also Facebook/TJHolmesCNN. We want to hear from you.
And, of course, for more political news, we'll have it at the top of the hour, and you know the website. You know where to go, CNNPolitics.com, anytime you want to get your fix.
BOLDUAN: And now, another question from the "Money Magazine", highest paid jobs in America list. Some good news this morning. Highest paying jobs. The first seven jobs on the list are all in the medical field, careers like anesthesiologist, psychiatrist and primary care doctor. So what is number eight? The first non-medical job in the top 10.
OK, here are your choices - A) software architect, B) sales director, project management director. The answer? Well, you're going to have to come back for that one.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: All right. Before the break, Kate asked this question, "What is the first non-medical career on "Money Magazine's" list of highest paying jobs? The first seven jobs all in the medical field, so number eight, what was it, Kate? Was it software engineer, sales director or project management director?
BOLDUAN: Without looking at the answer - I'm not looking -
HOLMES: Oh, please.
BOLDUAN: -- I'm going to say - I didn't actually look. I'm going to say software architect.
HOLMES: Software architect?
BOLDUAN: Sure.
HOLMES: No. It is actually -
BOLDUAN: I'm actually wrong.
HOLMES: -- C.
BOLDUAN: I should have cheated.
HOLMES: A project management director, whose average pay is about $148,000. The top pay around $192,000.
It sounded awfully vague to me, a project management director.
BOLDUAN: Right.
HOLMES: It sounds kind of vague, but I - hey, do your thing out there, no matter how vague it is.
BOLDUAN: The way they explained it to us, since we didn't know, is like every new widget, gizmo you see on a website is probably created by one of those people.
HOLMES: Project - and that make sense.
BOLDUAN: Project management. Correct.
HOLMES: All right. We'll have more quizzes for you throughout the morning. Now, I want to tell you about something else that a lot of people have been working - working at and a lot of people were criticizing for years and years, a sentencing guidelines for people busted with crack cocaine. There are some new guidelines now.
They have now relaxed the law, if you will. It will now take 28 grams of crack cocaine in order to draw the mandatory five-year sentence. That is up from what it used to be, which was just five grams.
BOLDUAN: And now, we'll - what - now it will take 280 grams to trigger the ten-year mandatory sentence. That amount is up from 50 grams.
The new guidelines from the U.S. Sentencing Commission bring prison terms for crack cocaine in line with those for powder cocaine conviction, what many people said should have happened.
HOLMES: Yes, and many people - the big argument here was that a lot of people said it discriminated against African-Americans because overwhelmingly African-Americans were those who were caught with crack cocaine, so they were, in turn, getting higher sentences than people who used cocaine.
BOLDUAN: Which, in effect, is the same problem.
HOLMES: (INAUDIBLE).
BOLDUAN: So another story we've been talking about, I can't get enough of - the miners. Survived 69 days underground, and now, they've become international celebrities.
HOLMES: Yes. They've got all kinds of offers out there, from sunglasses to chocolate, some even being offered sexual enhancements endorsements. We'll tell you how the miners are poised to make more money from their two-month ordeal.
It's 42 minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Now at forty-three minutes past the hour. Let's take a look at some of the stories making headlines now.
That guy, rapper T.I., is going back to prison. He has two weeks to get things in order before he has to report to prison once again, and yesterday, a federal judge sentenced him, once again, to 11 months for violating terms of his probation relating to a conviction on weapons charges.
His real name is Clifford Harris. He was arrested in September on drug charges out in L.A. He was caught driving around out there with ecstasy and the smell of marijuana in the vehicle. The judge told him - he was trying to tell the judge yesterday at this hearing that he needs treatment, he doesn't need more prison time for a substance abuse issue. I have interviewed T.I. on several occasions now, since he's been going through his legal troubles. And earlier this spring, I sat down with him, and he told me about his proposed change of heart.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
T.I., RAPPER: I don't feel the need to - to make any assurance to others. I think that when you - you watch me live my life and you see how I move different than I did before and you see how I behave different than I did before. I think that that, in itself, will be your assurance.
I mean, I think that's the - that's the main question everybody wants to know. How do we know it's not going to happen again? How do we know? I mean, well, you know, you have to sit and watch and see. You know what I'm saying?
I know it's not going to happen again, but I can't convince you without action.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: And the judge certainly thought - he wasn't convinced yesterday.
And also Botox. It's supposed to be painful, right? That looks painful. To get those injections, supposed to be, right, to keep people beautiful for years and years? Well, as painful as that looks, you can now use Botox to relieve some pain.
The pain we're talking about is migraine pain. The FDA yesterday approved the drug to be used as a possible preventive treatment for chronic migraine sufferers. Great Britain did the same last month. The FDA approval means insurance companies are more likely to pick up the tab for treatments.
Also, your favorite story, the story you just can't get enough of, Kate.
BOLDUAN: That's right.
HOLMES: Chile. All but two now of the 33 miners who were rescued from that mine are out of the hospital. Hope that the remaining two are going to be released tomorrow.
The miners spent, as you know, 69 days trapped underground before their rescue earlier this week. The men are featured guests of a block party today in that - in their honor.
BOLDUAN: And from mining for gold to maybe hitting the jackpot, those rescued miners, they're poised to really cash in big in the coming months, and from those two months of that ordeal that they went through. There are endorsement deals and all kinds of free items being offered to the miners.
CNN's Brian Todd counts the many ways. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Why is this man so happy? Well, he's got a new lease on life, of course, but he also may be looking to what lies ahead.
It appears at least some of these miners might have been charting their future course while they were still trapped. Here is a quote from miner Yonni Barrios in a letter he wrote last week while he was still in the mine. Quote, "If we do this properly, we wouldn't have to work for the rest of our lives."
How much do they stand to gain? According to various media reports, here is what we are looking at. The paper, "The Mail on Sunday" says TV networks are offering up to $400,000 each for the miners to tell their exclusive stories. And, predictably, agents are climbing all over themselves to sign the miners and their families to lucrative book and movie deals.
Also, one Chilean mining tycoon has pledged to give each miner $10,000. The government also is giving them money until they are fully recovered. Now, according to various reports, they've gotten offers to endorse various products - and take a look at some of those right here, including mining equipment, of course, naturally, chocolate bars, clothing, beer and a sexual enhancement vitamin. I'm sure we can't wait to see those commercials.
And some things you wouldn't necessarily figure but are interesting nonetheless according to some published reports are some gifts that these miners have got. The soccer team, Real Madrid, has sent signed jerseys and balls to the - to the miners. Manchester United, one of the most popular soccer teams in the world, has offered expenses paid trips to see that team play for each miner and his family. A local winemaker is offering free wine for a year.
And here is my personal favorite, this is miner Edison Pena. He's a die-hard Elvis Presley fan. He led his fellow miners in Elvis sing- alongs. He's been offered an all expenses paid ticket for two to Graceland courtesy of the Memphis Convention and Visitors Bureau.
I'm Brian Todd, CNN, in Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BOLDUAN: All right. So, from the mines in Chile -
HOLMES: Yes.
BOLDUAN: -- to snoring in Spain. In today's "Morning Passport", we'll take you to Madrid where there's a competition to rescue a Spanish tradition.
HOLMES: In this competition, I wouldn't do so well, actually. Because all you have to do -
BOLDUAN: Why? HOLMES: -- is lie down and go to sleep. I don't do so well. I don't get enough sleep.
BOLDUAN: You're - you're a restless sleeper.
HOLMES: I just don't sleep a lot. I don't know how to sleep. But these folks should know how to and they're competing.
Forty-nine minutes past the hour. We're going to take a quick nap. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: All right. Just about eight minutes to the top of the hour here now.
Nadia Bilchik joins us, our editorial producer, a woman of so many talents around here.
But we love this story, because there's a contest that you can win by sleeping.
NADIA BILCHIK, CNN EDITORIAL PRODUCER: Well, what is it, the Friends of the Siesta Association in Madrid have decided that they want to bring back the siesta. So they were creative. They went to a shopping mall and they said let's have a competition in the middle of the mall and we will allow people to have naps. And the person who can sleep for 20 full minutes wins the competition.
Now, what they do is they check your pulse.
BOLDUAN: Well, are they - oh, OK.
BILCHIK: They check your pulse. And if your pulse says that you are sleeping - and by the way you get extra points if you are snoring, you're in a deep sleep. So the person will win vouchers to the mall. You also get extra point if you have lovely pajamas on. And the idea was let's create winners and let's bring the siesta back.
HOLMES: OK. They take it seriously over there. We don't know anything about the siesta around here, but -
BOLDUAN: But where did the siesta go?
BILCHIK: Well, what happened was -
HOLMES: We all are going to do this (ph).
BILCHIK: -- a siesta which was a two-hour break in the middle of the day during Franco's time, people have two jobs.
BOLDUAN: Right.
BILCHIK: So they often had to have a siesta as a break between the jobs, also very hot in that part of the world.
Now, as globalization has happened and competition has happened, in the cities, they certainly know siesta time.
HOLMES: Yes.
BOLDUAN: Right.
BILCHIK: If you're going to compete (INAUDIBLE) of Europe -
BOLDUAN: (INAUDIBLE), yes.
BILCHIK: -- and also people live much further out. So like they want to go home, by the time they've got home, they have to come straight back. So what's often happening to people is during the two-hour lunch, if they even get a two-hour lunch -
BOLDUAN: Two-hour lunch.
BILCHIK: -- they often go to the mall. They don't nap.
BOLDUAN: (INAUDIBLE).
BILCHIK: That's not happening. But let's talk about the positive effects of taking a 20-minute nap.
BOLDUAN: Please tell me. So I don't think it would work for me. A 20-minute nap, I just feel like I -
BILCHIK: Can you do it?
BOLDUAN: I don't know. I - I don't nap. If I'm out, I'm out. Twenty minutes, I feel like I'll just be more tired.
BILCHIK: Well, the idea is the 20 minutes is refreshing, 40 minutes you get into too deep of sleep. Can you take a little bit of a nap?
HOLMES: Oh, I cannot nap.
BILCHIK: Well, maybe that's something we need to teach you both to do, because I can nap.
BOLDUAN: And look (INAUDIBLE). I get this - I get this couch.
HOLMES: OK. At 7:30, we will nap -
BILCHIK: The idea is -
HOLMES: -- before the 8:00. OK.
BILCHIK: -- (INAUDIBLE), but what it does, it helps you (ph), it refreshes you on a cellular level. Makes you more alert.
BOLDUAN: OK.
BILCHIK: Also when you're very tired, you feel like exercising. No. So they said you take a short nap, it allows you to exercise more.
BOLDUAN: Really. BILCHIK: So the idea is - but what's so lovely is here in the middle of the mall, you've got these couches set up and people going are going to sleep.
Now, wait, so you win per round. So there are a couple of rounds. So what happens is - let's say it starts at 1:00, was started on Thursday until the 23rd. So let's say at 1:00 P.M., four people come in to enter the competition, you have to have spent a certain amount of money at the mall to enter the competition. It makes good marketing.
HOLMES: There it is.
BILCHIK: Go into the competition. And then, not only do the people decide who wins based on how much you fell asleep, but then there's a national competition going on where you go into the website and people will vote according to your pajamas, according to your snoring level.
BOLDUAN: Who is the best siesta-er.
BILCHIK: Who is the best the siesta fiesta?
HOLMES: That is interesting. We are going to take you up on it. We might try -
BOLDUAN: We are.
HOLMES: -- to nap when we get off the air. It's next -
BOLDUAN: It's going to be -
HOLMES: -- 7:30 Eastern Time.
BOLDUAN: -- amazing television.
HOLMES: And we're back on at 8:00. Maybe we can get a 20-minute nap in there.
BILCHIK: And then a bowl of lentil soup.
HOLMES: Oh, we did this last week, you and the lentil soup.
BOLDUAN: I love lentil.
HOLMES: Nadia, we appreciate you, as always. Great stuff on the siesta. We'll take you up on it. Thanks so much.
BILCHIK: Thank you.
HOLMES: Well, coming up. Here in the U.S. at least, we are still counting the days until the midterm elections, just 17 days away now.
BOLDUAN: Yes. And some political heavyweights are hitting the road for their party. We'll tell you who's out there campaigning today and why.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) HOLMES: Can you be too disabled to fly? That's apparently why one man was kicked off a U.S. Airways flight. That story, straight ahead.
BOLDUAN: Plus a 50-state investigation into foreclosures. What it could mean to you.
HOLMES: And hello to you all from the CNN Center in Atlanta, Georgia. This is your CNN SATURDAY MORNING. It is 7:00 A.M. where we sit. It's 6:00 A.M. in Fayetteville, Arkansas, wherever you may be, glad you're right here. I'm T.J. Holmes.
BOLDUAN: If you have - if you haven't noticed, it's football day - college football day.
HOLMES: It is.
BOLDUAN: I'm Kate Bolduan. Thanks for starting your day with us, everybody.
So, with a little more than two weeks left until the midterm elections, President Obama and former President Bill Clinton are both rallying and raising money for the Democratic Party. Republicans are also bringing out their heavy political hitters, former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin and RNC Chairman Michael Steele are campaigning on the West Coast.
HOLMES: Let's start here and tell you what President Obama is up to. He's campaigning for an old friend in Massachusetts today, Democratic Governor Duvall Patrick. He's in a tight race with Republican rival Charles Baker. The president is trying to energize Democratic voters there with his visit. But some pundits are questioning the tactic.
A recent poll showed 56 percent of independent voters in the state have an unfavorable view of the president.
On the West Coast now, Democrats are bringing out another heavy hitter. They don't get any heavy-hitting -- any heavier hitting than this, former President Bill Clinton. He's on the campaign trail, at a rally there to back a former political rival, Democratic gubernatorial in California Jerry Brown. They actually embraced at a rally in Los Angeles and praised each other at that rally. You wouldn't have found that back in the day when the two went at it in 1992 for the Democratic presidential primary. We know who won that won.
Brown is in a tight race for California governor with former eBay CEO Meg Whitman. You see her there. Whitman has funded her campaign with more than $190 million of her own cash.
Back to Clinton now. He was talking to the crowd about the election. He said it is all about them.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BILL CLINTON, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: This is your audience. You need to know, where are we now, what are we going to do, who is more likely to do it. Nothing else really matters. OK, so -- (CHEERING)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: That is on the Democratic side. On the Republican side, you can't get any bigger this campaign season as far as big heavy hitters out there than the former Alaska governor, Sarah Palin. She's going to be out and about with the RNC chairman, Michael Steele, today.
BOLDUAN: Yes, it's a busy weekend. Both will speak at a Republican rally in Anaheim, California, this evening. Yesterday, Palin all but endorsed GOP gubernatorial candidate, Meg Whitman, without mentioning her by name. Listen here.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SARAH PALIN (R), FORMER ALASKA GOVERNOR: Your next governor will have to make tough choices about spending cuts and certainly, she will be working in a bipartisan manner.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: And, of course, "The Best Political Team on Television" will be covering the last 17 days up this election. And our Election Express bus is hitting the road again next week, coming to your town, surveying what's on the minds of Americans. I will be aboard a bus, reporting all next week.
So, these are the stops we are going to make. So, please, please, roll out the red carpet for us as we stop by Charlotte, North Carolina, on Monday; Columbus, South Carolina, on Tuesday; Macon, Georgia, on Wednesday; Jacksonville, Florida, on Thursday; and Friday, we're going to wrap up in Tampa.
Please let me know ahead of time what we should be talking about in your town. Also, maybe places to go, things to see. You can hit us up at Twitter, TJHolmesCNN, also Facebook.com/TJHolmesCNN.
BOLDUAN: But, first, another question from "Money" magazine's highest paying jobs in America list.
HOLMES: All right. Lawyers are on the list.
BOLDUAN: Not so surprising.
HOLMES: Number 15 on that list. But there's a list here of these jobs, there's one that makes on average more money than those attorneys. Which would you say? Is it senior sales executives? Is it, B, management consultant? Or is it C, a network meteorologist?
The answer for you right after the break. But, I would guess it could be C, Reynolds.
REYNOLDS WOLF, AMS METEOROLOGIST: I would guess that I would guess that we'd probably need to talk about this after -- well, during the break, after we have a conversation privately without the viewers listening. Yes, we are going to talk about that coming up in just a little bit.
Plus, we're going to talk about your weather across the nation. We have a few delays out there travel wise. Of course, your college football weekend forecast coming right up. See you in a little bit.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: All right. Before the break, we asked you, what job on this list makes on average more than lawyers make -- senior sales executives, management consultant or a network -- a network meteorologist? So, the meteorologist already has the big-time seal of approval, right?
BOLDUAN: Right.
HOLMES: You have to go through a lot in school. And then you get to work for a network? That's got to be huge. I'm going with C.
BOLDUAN: Despite the fact the Reynolds is really close to me right now in proximity, I'm going to have to tell you that the answer is actually A, a senior sales executive. That job comes in at 13, averaging $127,000 a year. Lawyers coming at 15, averaging $118,000 a year.
For more information on the highest-paying jobs, go to Money.CNN.com.
HOLMES: Is that accurate, Reynolds?
WOLF: Well, I mean, what do you mean? Well, absolutely.
I mean, you know, when it comes to attorneys, attorneys really don't need money in the first place. I mean, they really don't eat. They don't need to sleep. They are basically, you know, as long as you get garlic -- actually, I come from a family of attorneys, so I'm allowed to say that.
BOLDUAN: So, you are allowed to say that.
HOLMES: I got an attorney at the house right now.
WOLF: Yes, you do.
HOLMES: Yes. You are scared of her, aren't you?
WOLF: We love our attorneys, we really do.
BOLDUAN: Backtrack.
WOLF: Backtracking into weather.
Hey, we're going to love our weather around the nation. We've got one area where the weather might be a little bit dicey this morning in parts of New England. But it's going to last through midday and that system is going to move out into the Atlantic. Looks like a pretty good day coast-to-coast.
BOLDUAN: Really?
WOLF: Yes. So, what I'm going to say, see you later. That's the reason why we're number three of the list in terms of the money.
(LAUGHTER)
WOLF: But let's take a minute and show you what we have nationwide. Chicago going to 72 degrees with the mix of sunshine and clouds. The clouds you might see are going to be kind of wispy. They're going to be, not really the big, thick cumuli-nimbus kind of clouds. But they're going to come in around early the midmorning. By the afternoon, things will clear out, 72 the expected high.
Dallas, 86 degrees; a beautiful day up by Dealey Plaza; in Los Angeles, 73 degrees, go along the coast, you might see a little bit of that marine layer, but that should be gone, I imagine, by 11:00 local time; 85 in Miami, showers perhaps roll to the south and the Keys.
And as we fast-forward your forecast for tomorrow, it looks like it's going to be pretty nice for you, still in parts of the Southwest. That dominant area of high pressure is just going to be nailed to the ground. It's going to be phenomenal conditions.
Boston 65 degrees for your high; Missoula, 54 tomorrow; San Francisco at 65; and Houston, 85.
We do have a few delays out here to talk about. Very quickly, let me get to these. And you're going to be seeing a little bit of a back up at LaGuardia, ground delays about a minute, a minute 40, wishful thinking, try one hour and 40 minutes, nearly two hours.
In Las Vegas, we've got a delay, 45 minutes in McCarran. At Sky Harbor Airport, about 25-minute delay. That is improving, and by the time we get to midday, it should be very nice there, no issues whatsoever in terms of your travel.
We've got something else coming up very soon. We're going to be taking a sneak peek at your college football forecast. A lot of huge epic games out there, every weekend in college football is fun. The weather should be picture perfect. More on that coming up in just a few moments.
HOLMES: Epic, I like that word, Reynolds.
WOLF: You bet.
HOLMES: All right. Reynolds, thanks, buddy. Talk to you here shortly.
Ten minutes past the hour now.
A story we want to share with you. A man was called too disabled to fly.
BOLDUAN: Yes, U.S. Airways pulled him off a flight for what it called safety reasons. A man uses a wheelchair. He has cerebral palsy, but he has flown for 20 years in his role as a motivational speaker. The airline, U.S. Airways, said he couldn't help himself or others if there was an emergency on the plane. But the passenger says it airline is just plain wrong.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHNNIE TUITEL, MOTIVATIONAL SPEAKER: I immediately thought something was up with my family. I let them take me off the plane. This is a flat-out issue of civil rights.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BOLDUAN: He has traveled nearly half a million miles in 20 years and no airline previously has ever taken him off a plane. This is the first time.
HOLMES: He is now looking into his legal options --
BOLDUAN: Yes.
HOLMES: -- to take this up.
Well, coming up, we've got something that's being called now a medical breakthrough.
BOLDUAN: Yes. The military is putting finishing touches on a test that could help soldiers recover from brain injuries. Don't want to miss that.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Fourteen minutes past the hour now here on the CNN SATURDAY MORNING.
A potential medical breakthrough, one that offers hope of people suffering from some form of brain injury. Military medical researchers say developed a test that can detect if someone has suffered a concussion or mild traumatic brain injury. Military doctors believe they have a breakthrough in detecting such injuries.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRIG. GEN. RICHARD THOMAS, ASST. SURGEON GENERAL: It's huge because for the longest time, today, we have such a difficult time because both post-traumatic stress and traumatic brain injury share many of the same symptoms. To have a test like this, a biomarker that would allow us to tell with some degree of certainly whether an individual has TBI is huge.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: If more research confirms the accuracy of this test, it could also be used on people who are injured on a football field, on a car accident or any other situations where there is a potential head injury. BOLDUAN: So, in a little more than two weeks, the balance of power in our nation capital could undergo a major overhaul. The stakes are high in these midterm elections. We don't have to tell you that at this point. Even higher, though, due -- even higher than the usual number of races that are going on.
JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes.
(CROSSTALK)
BOLDUAN: Explain this, Josh.
LEVS: I mean, basically, you have a few of things that come together, right?
BOLDUAN: Right.
LEVS: You have a bunch of incumbents who are leaving.
BOLDUAN: Right.
LEVS: You have incumbents who are in trouble. What you also have is a raw number of elections that's higher than we're used to seeing. This is very unusual for us.
BOLDUAN: The math makes it.
LEVS: Straight up.
BOLDUAN: Yes.
LEVS: A ton of elections this year. This is from our election center, you've seen this very cool, at CNN.com/Politics.
Let's zoom in here. Everywhere that there's color is an open race in the Senate. And what we have this year in the Senate, 37 races instead of the usual 34 because of a handful of special elections going on, Delaware and New York and West Virginia.
Let me do this. I have some cool graphics for you here. I want to show how this is all shaking out. We're going to start off with the Senate. What's up in the Senate right here.
The incumbents who are up for re-election, you have 12 Democrats that are up for reelection, and 11 Republican incumbents up for reelection. And over here, open seats in the Senate, 23 Democrats, 20 Republicans.
Now, let's jump over to the House. Obviously, House seats are up every two years. But look at this: 230 Democrat seats are up for re- election this year, incumbents up for reelection. A hundred and fifty-six Republicans up.
And over here, if you're going to take a look at the number of open seats, you have pretty much even numbers there.
So, what you are seeing here is a huge number of Democratic seats that are open in that way. Now, what I want to do is jump you over to this election center because we really do have exceptional information here.
It talks you through every kind of race that we got going. Let's zoom back into the map. This is the map that we have going forward in the Senate. But we can also take you over to the map that we have going forward in the House. And it talks you through what is happening in your state.
So, if you want any specifics of what's going on anywhere, all the way into your own district, just click on your state, it will break it down for you. You'll get back to the main map, it talks through what's happening in, how contested the races are, and the top issues in your state.
One more thing to show you here: the governor's races. Let's zoom in one more time. We have more governor's races than usual, too, because of a special election out in Utah.
So, this year, you have all of these states here that are in color having governor spots open for re-election as well. And that is why we are seeing just in terms of raw straight up numbers a huge number of elections this year. So, again, all these things coming together, all these elections, some of incumbents who are in trouble, a lot of incumbents who are living, which is why we can always tell you the balance of power up of any election, this year really is exceptionally big.
And, guys, coming up next hour, I'm going to show you the new CNN app for your smartphone. If you have a phone that gets app on it, it gives all the latest political information wherever you are 24/7. We'll have a little fun with that next hour.
BOLDUAN: All right. Good breakdown. Thanks, Josh.
LEVS: You got it, guys.
HOLMES: Well, a new report showing foreclosures hit a record high last month.
BOLDUAN: Yes. We'll explain what you can do if you are in that situation.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Nineteen minutes past the hour now.
Home foreclosures are at a record high, but there's allegations some banks may have taken shortcuts to get people out.
BOLDUAN: Fifty state attorneys general are now investigating and many of the nation's top lenders have suspended foreclosures.
But as CNN's Allan Chernoff reports, there are still many questions surrounding the entire process.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: T.J., the biggest mortgage lenders in the country jointly owned a company that allows them to manufacture documents they need to foreclosure on homeowners. Now, if the paperwork were entirely accurate, that would be OK. But the fact is, some of the details in some of these documents are made up, allowing banks to expedite foreclosure.
UNIDENTIFIED KID: Oh, man.
CHERNOFF (voice-over): Replique D'Amelio bought her dream home in Wappingers Falls, New York, four years ago. Hard times hit and she fell into default on her mortgage.
This summer, D'Amelio declared bankruptcy, hoping to head off foreclosure.
(on camera): How important is it for you to hold on to this home?
REPLIQUE D'AMELIO, FIGHTING FORECLOSURE: Outside of my children and my family, there's nothing more important.
CHERNOFF (voice-over): The threat of a foreclosure looms from CitiMortgage, a division of Citigroup, even though the company doesn't own Replique D'Amelio's mortgage, Fannie Mae owns it, along with millions of other home loans. Yet, Fannie Mae's name is nowhere to be found on the assignment of mortgage documents CitiMortgage produced in the D'Amelio bankruptcy case. Instead, the document states the mortgage was assigned to CitiMortgage.
D'Amelio's lawyer says the bankers are not following proper legal procedure.
LINDA TIRELI, ATTORNEY OF D'AMELIO: This is an improper assignment of mortgage that's meant to shortcut the system. It's less about the truth and more about how fast to get this property foreclosed on.
D'AMELIO: What did you get wrong?
CHERNOFF: CitiMortgage, which collected D'Amelio's monthly payments as the servicer of the loan says there's no foul play here. It's normal procedure. And Fannie Mae agrees, pointing out this is how it operates all the time.
(on camera): In fact, CitiMortgage owned the D'Amelio loan very briefly, for only a couple months back in 2006. The original lender, Home Loan Center, sold the mortgage to CitiMortgage on November 3rd, 2006. The very day Replique D'Amelio borrowed the money. Less than two months later, CitiMortgage turned around and sold the loan, as an investment to Fannie Mae on January 1st, 2007.
(voice-over): Yet the assignment of mortgage documents stating CitiMortgage still owns D'Amelio's loan is dated June 24th, 2010. That information on the document comes from a Virginia company owned by CitiMortgage, Fannie Mae and other big mortgage players, MERS, Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems. When banks sell mortgages, they use MERS as an electronic repository to keep track of the real owners. MERS has 64 million loans in its data base. If a bank wants to foreclosure, it simply turns to MERS for the necessary documentation, much faster and cheaper than retrieving local title records.
But the MERS papers like those for Replique D'Amelio's home sometimes don't reflect the true status of the mortgage.
PAULA. A. FRANZESE, REAL ESTATE LAW PROFESSOR, SETON HALL: We're seeing forgeries. We are seeing backdatings. We are seeing postdatings, largely because lenders are scrambling to come up with a chain of title that MERS was ill-equipped from its inception to provide.
CHERNOFF (on camera): MERS says it provides clarity, transparency and efficiency to the housing finance market. Indeed, CitiMortgage says it relies on the MERS database to pursue clients who are delinquent on their mortgages.
But this week, JPMorgan Chase said it is no longer using MERS in foreclosures. That in spite of the fact that the bank remains a shareholder in MERS -- T.J.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Thanks to our Allan Chernoff there.
Now, we need to bring in our guy, home-schooler financial analyst Clyde Anderson.
Good to have you here.
CLYDE ANDERSON, FINANCIAL ANALYST: Good to be here.
HOLMES: Man, people are frankly freaked out. They are facing foreclosure. I mean, it's hard not to hyperventilate. What do you do?
ANDERSON: Well, I mean, foreclosure is still foreclosure. If you are facing foreclosure, it means that you are going to lose your house because you are behind in payments.
HOLMES: Yes.
ANDERSON: That's still in that. So, the thing is, they are talking about a foreclosure freeze. They're talking about -- some banks are going to stop selling foreclosed properties. They're going to stop evicting people from the properties. But then at the same time, some people are going to continue selling their properties.
So, it's not saying stop paying your mortgage and don't do anything else. It doesn't mean that.
HOLMES: OK. But that's very important though. If you are facing foreclosure right now, there are some out there -- and it's a possibility your process is going to be delayed at least. It's possible. Do we know the numbers, how many might be affected?
ANDERSON: We don't know. We know in 23 states, most lenders have stopped them. And they stopped them in those 23 states because they're the ones that have the toughest laws. Meaning, you got to go in front of a lawyer or a judge. The judge has to make a decision. But you got to have all your paperwork right. And a lot of times, the paperwork is not right right now. So, they're going to back and trying to get paperwork right.
HOLMES: And remind us more time, how did we get here in the first place? What's the cause of all this?
ANDERSON: Well, the whole thing is that, you know, they started seeing some cases where people are foreclosed unjustly -- meaning, the bank didn't own the home or maybe these people shouldn't have been in foreclosure. They were actually trying to do a loan modification and the bank kind of pushed everything through and got them foreclosed and they really shouldn't have been.
HOLMES: OK. It will be interesting. How will the president play into this? Because the administration actually came out and they said, actually, we don't want this freeze necessarily.
ANDERSON: Right.
HOLMES: A lot of people thought that was odd but it kind of makes sense from the president's standpoint.
ANDERSON: It does. It makes sense. And that make sense from a housing standpoint. You know, already, a freeze is going to hurt the market tremendously because you're talking about maybe taking a huge chunk of inventory off the market. And so, you have no more on these foreclosed properties they have been selling.
Also, on the other side, it's going to help prices going to fall a little bit. So, now, you're going to have a further decrease. They are talking about maybe turning around by spring of next year and we are going to have a freeze almost and it's going to hurt the market.
HOLMES: What about those who are trying to -- who are in the process of buying a foreclosed home. What's for them now?
ANDERSON: It could hurt them as well, because if they stop, and they really are not selling, the banks decide, hey, we're not going to sell these foreclosed properties, it could just leave you stuck. You got this inventory sitting in the neighborhoods, people can't buy it. So, that's going to hurt you as well if you're looking to get a benefit right now from one of these deals.
HOLMES: Well, people, and again, the ones who are concerned or maybe in foreclosure right now, is there a way they can find out? Or are they be alerted by one of these banks that your process is on hold? Will they even do it?
ANDERSON: They need to call. They need to call.
HOLMES: You need to call?
ANDERSON: And you really need to read your documentation thoroughly. That's the thing.
HOLMES: OK.
ANDERSON: A lot of people aren't reading their paperwork, you know? So there's a lot of errors in the paperwork. They've used this automated system that they talked about in the piece with Allen there.
HOLMES: Yes.
ANDERSON: And it's not really working that efficiently. And so, really, they really need to go back and see what your document says. Consult someone, a home counselor, contact HUD and find a HUD-approved counsel or attorney, if you can, and have them read this paperwork that you have.
HOLMES: Anything you can do once you get that notice to stop the foreclosure?
ANDERSON: Well, you can modify, you know? That's something --
HOLMES: Even after you get the foreclosure notice?
(CROSSTALK)
ANDERSON: You still got some time, because a lot of times, they'll stop the modification and there's an opportunity for you to modify or if you can do a short sale, you know? They are really pushing to get these banks to do some of these short sales, when they sell the properties for less than its worth.
HOLMES: Great information this morning. Clyde Anderson, our financial analyst, doing some little home schooling for us. We appreciate you as always.
ANDERSON: My pleasure. Good to be here.
HOLMES: All right. Quick break here. We're going to have more top stories, of course, as we come on to the top of the hour with more live news.
We're going to hand this thing over to "SANJAY GUPTA, M.D." after a quick break.
