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CNN Saturday Morning News

Armstrong Stepped Down; Undecideds Wooed by Obama & Romney

Aired October 20, 2012 - 09:00   ET

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

RANDI KAYE, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone. I'm Randi Kaye.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Victor Blackwell. It's 9:00 in the East, 6:00 a.m. out West. Thanks for starting your day with us.

We begin with a controversy surrounding Lance Armstrong. He appeared publicly last night for the first time since the release of a U.S. Anti-Doping Agency report. It detailed what was called overwhelming evidence of Armstrong's involvement in doping as a cyclist. Armstrong addressed supporters last night at anniversary celebration for his Livestrong charity.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LANCE ARMSTRONG, CYCLIST: I am, and I think I can speak on behalf of this entire team behind me, truly humbled by your support. It's been an interesting couple of weeks. It's been a difficult couple of weeks for me, for my family, for my friends, for this foundation. I get asked a lot, people say, man, how you doing? And I say -- and I say this every time. And I mean it. I say, I've been better. But I've also been worse.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Armstrong has repeatedly denied doping allegations. He stepped down as chairman of Livestrong on Wednesday.

KAYE: To Michigan now where police are searching for a gunman they say is randomly targeting people in a shooting spree. Authorities believe the shootings, at least 15 so far across three counties, are connected. No one has been injured. They have set up a multi-agency task force to try and track down the suspected shooter. He's supposedly firing a handgun from his car at drivers. They are looking for a dark older model Chevy Cavalier or a Ford Mustang.

BLACKWELL: To politics now and the countdown to election day, just 17 days left. The vice presidential candidates are the ones on campaign trail today. Paul Ryan will be speaking in Pennsylvania and Ohio. Joe Biden is speaking in Florida. President Obama is at Camp David preparing for Monday's debate. Mitt Romney is doing the same thing. He'll attend a fund-raiser though on the island of Palm Beach in Florida.

More than two million people have already cast their ballots in early voting. 23 states have already started. 11 more start next week. KAYE: And off the coast of Israel a tense situation. Overnight the Israeli Navy stormed a ship headed for Ashadan Port. Passengers say they were trying to break the sea blockade of Gaza that has been in effect since 2007. Everyone aboard was taken into custody.

BLACKWELL: New evidence of security concerns in Libya coming straight from ambassador Chris Stevens before he and three other Americans were killed in the deadly consulate attack. Republican leaders in the House have released the batch of cables and e-mails from the ambassador and other diplomatic security workers.

They say the documents are evidence that the Obama administration ignored a rapidly deteriorating security situation in Libya. Ambassador Stevens wrote this cable in August. "The absence of significant deterrence has contributed to a security vacuum that is being exploited by independent actors. What we have seen are not random crimes of opportunity but rather targeted and discriminate attacks."

But Obama administration officials say the documents don't tell the whole story. Earlier we spoke with democratic Congressman Eliot Engel who is a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee about these documents. He says the consulate attack has become a political football for Republicans.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. ELIOT ENGEL (R), NEW YORK: I really find it interesting that the Republicans are trying to use this for the election when - when Congressman Ryan, my colleague, had a budget which cut $330 million out of diplomatic security which is less than what the administration requested. So, you know, I want to get to the bottom of it, and I want to find out if there were any kind of improprieties, and if there are, heads should roll.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: All right. Let's bring in our intelligence correspondent Suzanne Kelly who has been going through all these documents. Suzanne, good morning. Some of the information we've already known, but what new key details are you finding in these cables and these e-mails?

SUZANNE KELLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we're finding a lot of great detail in terms of what the thinking was behind the scenes in the months, the days and as you mentioned, Victor, even the hours before Ambassador Stevens' death. There was this growing concern about the imbalance between Islamic extremists in the area who were becoming more active and a shrinking U.S. security presence.

Now what we learned from these cables is just sort of a lesson by numbers, if you will. We learned that last July Ambassador Stevens was noting a draw down from 34 U.S. security personnel to 27. Now, this is significant because these are people who are actually trained by the U.S. and they are not reliant on the local police forces which oftentimes don't have the same levels of training, but, again, a month later, keeping those numbers in mind, Ambassador Stevens expected the U.S. security-trained personnel to go down to just seven.

So we started at 34 down to seven. August 2nd, the embassy in Tripoli requested some extra bodyguards to help an 11 extra people. Again what, we've learned from the cables though. There was a real concern about being too reliant on the Libyan police force to help protect the U.S. presence there. One cable even noted "host nation security support is lacking and cannot be depended on to provide a safe and secured environment."

So it's tough to mince words over something that direct. A week before the attack the cable from Benghazi said that police had established a 24/7 presence at the mission in response to a long-standing request, although that leaves a lot of questions as well, Victor. For example, if Libyan police were providing 24/7 at that mission for security, where were they when this attack began?

BLACKWELL: And it adds to the who knew what when question that Chairman Isset (ph) is trying to get to the bottom of and that leads to the most important question in this whole investigation is was there anything that could have been done to prevent the attacks on the consulate?

KELLY: You know, that's what really - politicians on both sides are going through, trying to say yes, no, back and forth, but the details really come into how intelligence is done. Are you able to go through something like this and actually predict whether someone was going to plan an attack against you? That's how you stop something like that from happening. That comes from intelligence.

Are you able to intercept cables, communications? Do you have people working on the inside? They call that human intelligence where they are telling you that people are planning an attack. Those are the kinds of things that would have been far more likely to prevent 9/11.

The security posture would have made it a lot more difficult for the Islamic extremists, the people who launched this attack to be successful, for sure, but the intelligence is the key component when it comes to predicting something like this.

BLACKWELL: Suzanne Kelly, thank you.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

KAYE: With just 17 days until the big election all eyes are focused on battleground states like Ohio and Florida, which, according to new polls are basically split between President Obama and Mitt Romney, and combined Florida and Ohio are worth 47 electoral votes. A pretty big chunk of the 270 a candidate needs to win.

CNN political editor Paul Steinhauser joining me now. So Paul, with the final and very critical debate this Monday night in Boca Raton, how are the candidates preparing to win these tossup states at this point?

PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN POLITICAL EDITOR: This is interesting because you're not going to see President Obama and Mitt Romney really on the campaign trail this weekend. As you mentioned, they are getting ready for final showdown so they are behind closed doors. But it's the surrogates. You mentioned, a few minutes you're going to see the Republican running mate, Paul Ryan, campaigning where? In Ohio today.

And where is vice president Joe Biden for a second straight day he is in Florida. So you know the top guys are off the trail their surrogates and number twos are out there. It's all about campaigning right now. It's all about the TV ads, and especially it's all about the ground game, the get out the vote efforts from both campaigns, Randi.

KAYE: How is it looking in Ohio? What are the polls saying there?

STEINHAUSER: We'll start with Ohio. Take a look at this. This is from Fox News, they put out a poll last night, it was conducted entirely after the debate, and can you see right here a three-point advantage for the president in that battleground state, but that's basically all tied up. It's within the sampling error.

Let's take a look at the unemployment level in Ohio as well, the final state unemployment reports came out yesterday so we're getting a better sense and in Ohio, well, there's Florida, let's do Florida on unemployment. That's fine, 8.6 percent back in January of '09. Where does it stand right now, 8.7 percent. It's slightly down from August but, of course, it's higher than the national average, Randi.

KAYE: Yes, it certainly is and those will probably play. We'll get one more right? One more unemployment report before the - jobs report before the election.

STEINHAUSER: You got it. We got one more national report. These are the last state reports. Listen if we're talking about Florida, let's also talk about our poll in Florida. We also came out with a poll yesterday in Florida and take a look at this. This is about as close as it gets right now in Florida. Mitt Romney at 49 percent among likely voters and the president at 48 percent among likely voters. You can see the numbers from late in August. Again, our poll like the Fox poll was conducted entirely after the last presidential debate which was on Tuesday, of course, Randi.

KAYE: It's so interesting because it really does seem as many times as people say debates don't matter, they seem to have mattered this time around, and we have one more left.

STEINHAUSER: You got it.

All right. Paul, nice to see you. Thank you very much. A key in those swing states will be the uncommitted voters, so with less than three weeks left until election day what are they looking for?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: The polls in several key states are just razor thin, so every vote counts. As many as 10 percent of potential voters are leaning one way, but they say they could change their minds. One of those people is Laura Palmer. She worked in the Bush administration, and now she's not happy with what she's hearing from either side.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LAURA PALMER, UNDECIDED VOTER: I came to D.C. initially for a political appointment at the Department of Labor, and I was there for the last 10 months of the bush administration. On the one hand I was really happy to get to see people working together and collaborating, but, on the other hand, I got to see firsthand what the gridlock that people talk about being in D.C. is.

As someone who has started a business for the first time ever, I think that both candidates see the importance of small business.

You ready?

Good girl.

Our country needs to focus on creating policies that courage the type of behavior that we want in creating opportunities in business and to trust the people that are wanting to move forward with taking risks and implementing ideas.

This is Laura Palmer.

In terms of gay rights, the government should promote freedom for individuals. That ranges from whether or not we want to belong to a particular church, to who we decide to live our entire lives with. If we have a president who is going to push really hard in restricting freedom on this front, then that's going to cause me concern.

I think there are a lot of Americans that are like me that are right in the middle. Often we don't really give space for someone's middle ground because there's so much fear and anger that we're projecting.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hello.

PALMER: So by the time a lot of these leaders that may start out with great intentions and lots of courage, by the time they make it into the spotlight a lot of times it's the extremes that are really permeating their field that are affecting their decisions.

I think that both candidates have enormous capacity to campaign from the heart. One of the things that I love to teach clients are these really easy techniques. When you do them, it will be real for you that they work. You know, who can argue with believe in America? Who can argue with hope and faith, but both parties are still spending too much time projecting anger and mischaracterizing each side, and - and that's not helpful. This is your central Meridian. This is your confidence, your belief in yourself. It also helps keep you centered and in your own space.

I would like to see the candidates focus more honestly on solutions. I mean, I still have hope. I still have hope and faith, and I'm still believing in America. I'm going to watch the candidates until the end, and I'll be looking for them to set themselves aside and stand up to lead. (END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: All right. Let's talk about the Lilly Ledbetter fair pay act. It challenges unequal pay. There's been a lot of talk about it lately. It was the first legislation Barack Obama signed as president. It was one of the issues mentioned in this part of the presidential debate this week.

Well, coming up at 10:30 Eastern, Lilly Ledbetter herself will join us to talk more about the candidates and the critical women's vote.

How would you feel if your boss told you who to vote for, or more specifically who not to vote for? Next, corporate CEOs pressure employees not to vote for President Obama or lose their jobs. Is that legal?

KAYE: Hey, Christine, so what's coming up on your show this morning?

CHRISTINE ROMANS, "CNN MONEY": Randi, I'm going to show you six charts, three that mean you should vote for Obama and three that mean you should vote for Mitt Romney, and I'm going to explain exactly what the economic case is for each of those candidates.

I'm also going to talk about a new study that says it might be more of an excuse, this conventional wisdom that you hear about not having skilled workers in this country, and we'll talk about whether American workers really can take the high-skilled manufacturing jobs that are being offered and we'll also going to talk to Gary Benezuk (ph). He's sort of social media darling. He's going to do a makeover for us of a small business, a small business owner who doesn't use social media. Randi, he's going to teach her how to do it, and he says if you're a small business not using social media, Randi, you're a loser.

ROMANS: Wow.

We're going to turn you into a winner.

KAYE: Those are some strong words. You also have Ben Stein coming up, right? He has a new book out.

ROMANS: He does and it's "49 ways to ruin your life in your portfolio." We're going to cover a few of the ways not to ruin your life and portfolio. It's a lot of fun.

KAYE: We're all going to be winners. No doubt.

ROMANS: All right. Christine, thank you. And we'll see you in a few minutes on - "Your Bottom Line."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: So imagine your boss pressuring on who to vote for in the presidential election this year. Well, believe it or not, some corporate CEOs are warning employees that a vote for President Obama could cost them their jobs. Listen to the head of Murray Energy Corporation blame the Obama administration for recent layoffs at his company.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERT MURRAY, CHAIRMAN, MURRAY ENERGY CORP.: President Obama is responsible entirely for the closure of that mine and the loss of those jobs.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAYE: And listen to Governor Mitt Romney encourage company bosses to talk with their employees about their vote.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FORMER GOV. MITT ROMNEY (R-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE (via telephone): There's nothing illegal about you talking to your employees about what you believe is best for the business because I think that will figure in to their - their election decision, their voting decision, and, of course, doing that with your family and your kids as well.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAYE: Let's bring in CNN legal contributor Paul Callan. Paul, good morning.

PAUL CALLAN, CNN LEGAL CONTRIBUTOR: Good morning, Randi.

KAYE: So is Governor Romney right when he says that there's nothing illegal about bosses telling employees basically who to vote for?

CALLAN: Well, he's absolutely right. I have to say, Randi this, thing has stirred up a firestorm, hornet's nest of discussion about is it right for employers to do this, to say, "Hey, you vote for Obama, the economy is going to tank and you're going to lose your job."

Now, a lot of employers are saying that to employees, but you know something? Under existing U.S. law that is perfectly legal. It's protected free speech. It's the employer expressing his political opinion, and it's legal, even though a lot of people think, "Hey, it's coercive. The employer has a lot of leverage here that the employee doesn't have."

KAYE: Right.

CALLAN: But Romney I think is technically correct. I think it's bad politics but good law, I have to say.

KAYE: One thing for bosses to suggest to their employees who to vote for, but to pressure them, saying if I lose money here and we go out of business, obviously they are pressuring them in terms of job security, is that legal as well, do you think then?

CALLAN: Oh, it is legal because - I mean, a boss is simply saying, "Hey, listen, in my opinion if you vote for Obama and the Democrats, our business is going to go out of business or we're going to have to downsize," so that's just his expression of opinion.

Now, on the other hand, if a boss said if I find out that you went into the voting booth and voted for Obama you're fired, that could be coercive behavior that might be illegal under federal election law, but just the general talk that they give to the employees, perfectly legal.

KAYE: And in terms of the bosses finding out who their employees actually vote for, I mean, isn't that private though? So I mean, so even if they pressured them they may not know.

CALLAN: They won't know. Of course why we have a secret ballot box in the United States. Nobody knows who you vote for, and, you know, there's another reason that this doesn't come up very much. It's bad business to inject politics into the sale of products. You know, businesses, the only party they are interested in is the green party, and I'm not talking about the environment. About I'm talking about money.

And if you anger 50 percent of your potential consumers by getting too involved in politics you're not going to sell your products. So think most businesses are pretty low key about this sort of things and don't make public speeches to employees or to the public, and that's what I think protects us from this abuse.

KAYE: It certainly can have an impact though on employees thinking it's in their best interest obviously to keep the company open and jobs.

It's an interesting topic.

CALLAN: Yes, And Romney says talk about it. Maybe you are going to lose your job if I don't win. So I mean he thinks it has helped him get votes but I think it's going to hurt them because I think people resent that sort of being pushed around by authority.

KAYE: Yes. Paul Callan, nice to see you. Thank you.

CALLAN: OK. Nice being with you.

KAYE: Mala (INAUDIBLE) she's the brave Pakistani girl who was shot by the Taliban after speaking out for girls, we'll she's in a British hospital this morning and we'll hear what the doctors are saying now about her recovery.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: Checking our top stories now. A tense situation off the coast of Israel. Israeli troops stormed this boat trying to break the sea blockade of Gaza.

BLACKWELL: The boat was carrying humanitarian supplies to the Palestinian territory. Now it was about 30 nautical miles off the coast of Israel when it was stopped and all passengers were taken into custody. KAYE: And we have more now for you on Mala Yousafzai, the 15-year-old Pakistani activist who was shot in the head by the Taliban for speaking out for girls. Well, she is now showing signs of a remarkable recovery. Listen to her doctor.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID ROSSER, MALALA YOUSAFZAI: She's doing very well. In fact, she was standing with some help for the first time this morning when I went in to see her. She's communicating very freely. She's writing.

She has a tracheotomy tube in because her airway was swollen by - by the passing of the bullet so in order to protect her airway she had a tracheotomy tube so she's not able to talk though we have no reason to believe she wouldn't be able to talk once the tube is out which may be in the next few days.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAYE: But doctors also point out that she has a long way to go and is, quote, "not out of the woods yet."

BLACKWELL: New charges of voter fraud in the swing state of Virginia. A campaign worker is accused of throwing voter registration forms into that dumpster that you saw. Colin Small faces 13 counts of voter fraud. Investigators say he worked for a private consulting firm which was contracted by the Republican party to register voters. The sheriff says small throughout eight voter forms and they do not believe this is widespread.

KAYE: Her fight for equal play has changed the paycheck you, your mother and sisters and daughters bring home. Next hour we'll be joined by Lilly Ledbetter, the woman behind the very first piece of legislation President Obama ever signed into law. Her candid take on Romney, abortion and why fewer women are rallying behind the president and we'll dive deeper into abortion and why fewer people are rallying behind the president.

And we'll dive deeper into sensitive diplomatic documents on Libya released by top Republican leaders. Now out in the open, names and all. Inside Ambassador Chris Stevens' prophetic warnings about security.

Well, thanks so much for watching today. I'll see you back here at the top of the hour.

BLACKWELL: It's been a pleasure to have you with us.

"YOUR BOTTOM LINE" starts right now.