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CNN Saturday Morning News

Hurricane Sandy Threatening U.S. East Coast; Presidential Race Tightens; President Holds Leads in Swing State Polls; Women's Vote Crucial to Presidential Election; Interview with Graham Nash

Aired October 27, 2012 - 10:00   ET

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

CHRISTI PAUL, CNN ANCHOR: From CNN world headquarters in Atlanta, this is CNN SATURDAY MORNING.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Looks like it's going to be a pretty bad storm.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL: Sandy is barreling north. It could leave millions of people without power and the damage to the campaigns could be catastrophic.

Of the 50 states electing the president, these are the states that could swing either way. All morning we're putting the undecided states of America in focus. Take a load off

He's a music legend stirring controversy over his latest cause. Graham Nash explains why he's defending the alleged WikiLeaks informer.

Rise and shine, take a nice deep breath because you've made it to Saturday. Good morning, everyone. I'm Christi Paul in for Randi Kaye. So glad to have your company. It's 10:00 on the east coast, 7:00 on the west.

I want to begin with hurricane Sandy, which has regained strength. One area that's really starting to feel the effects is the coast of North Carolina. And that's where we have George Howell. And in the last couple of hours, have you seen conditions change there, George?

GEORGE HOWELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Christi, good morning. We're starting to feel a little bit of the rainfall from this system. A lot of that rainfall has remained offshore, but here where we are along the outer banks, we are in position to feel those first bands as they move closer to shore.

Also the winds are picking up out here. The winds have been right around 10 to 20 miles per hour, not too bad, but that situation will change. And the best evidence of that -- just take a look out there. You can see what's happening there on the waters, getting rougher and rougher as the storm moves closer to us.

Right now, this area remains under a tropical storm warning and a flash flood watch, and we also know that 40 counties here in North Carolina along the eastern side have all declared states of emergency, just keeping an eye on what happens as the storm moves in.

PAUL: And I understand you have some video of people surfing, and this was just a little while ago. Is that right?

HOWELL: You know, the thing about that, it's just not the safest thing to do. People are out there doing it. The thing with this storm, as it moves in, we're talking about winds, Christi, that can get up to 50, 60, 70 miles per hour. You just don't want to get caught off guard out there with that. So you see the video of that happening -- not the safest practice. You do see some people there along the beach, in fact. As the weather gets worse this will not be the place to be.

PAUL: That's a live picture there, some folks walking on the beach. Walking on the beach is one thing. Actually getting in the water is an entirely different animal. George, you and the crew stay safe there, OK?

HOWELL: Thank you.

PAUL: It's a little indicative of what they're experiencing there, as you can see the breakup, our camera kind of going in and out a little bit. That's the first time that's happened, so it shows us how conditions there are deteriorating a little bit.

Let's bring in Alexandra Steele, because we just saw North Carolina and what it's like there. What about everybody else?

ALEXANDRA STEELE, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Christi, whether you're in the outer banks like he is or in upstate New York, you're going to feel the effects of that. The swath of that, it is massive in the expansiveness. Tropical storm force winds expanding 440 miles out from the center.

So here it is, hurricane Sandy off the coast, this entire frame from the gulf all the way to the central Atlantic seeing the swath of this thing. The diameter of it is huge. Right now, it is off the coast of Florida. As we said, a hurricane, and it is a category 1. Typically this time of year when we have a hurricane or tropical development in this area, we see it move, of course, with the jet stream, and it moves north and northeast and then fishes out to sea.

What's happening with this one? What's so different about it? Why is it not just going east? Because this area of high pressure has developed. You see that. And this area of high pressure with the clock wise flow around it is pushing it back and back westward. So what we're seeing here is a powerful hybrid of a storm developing. It's got the moisture from the tropical entity. It's got the energy from this area of low pressure, which in essence is almost like a nor'easter in the winter.

This is a computer projection of the rain coming up the coast, potentially about 10 inches. Look on the backside of this down the Appalachians. How about 10 to 20 inches of snow? Power outages will be huge as well. And airport delays, whether we see them, which we most likely will, even closures, from Boston to New York, Washington, as far west as Cincinnati. And 30 and 40-mile-per-hour gusts, so we're looking at five days of some very tough travel.

PAUL: Thank you for the heads up, Alexandra Steele, we appreciate it.

Now, this storm is already having an impact on the presidential campaigns, particularly in some key swing states. Both Vice President Joe Biden and Mitt Romney have cancelled campaign rallies in Virginia beach that were scheduled for this weekend. The Obama campaign says Biden's schedule was changed so police and emergency crews could stay focused on helping people with that storm.

First lady Michelle Obama as well cancelled a campaign rally. This was in another critical swing state, in New Hampshire. It was scheduled for next week at the University of New Hampshire campus in Durham, but that campus is closing for that storm.

Sandy's political ramifications don't stop there either. Take a look at this picture that we put together for you. It shows some of the campaign layers hitting the east coast. So as we mentioned, campaign events across the country being delayed or cancelled already. We've told you to expect huge travel delays as well. Alexandra just mentioned that. In addition to impacting millions of travelers, though, the campaigns may have to make some last-minute maneuvering themselves.

And finally, a major storm hitting the most densely populated section of the country could certainly die verge local and national media coverage, which of course means less visibility for those candidates.

Wait, there's more. There are also fears that the storm could prevent some people from voting altogether. Edison Electric Institute warns customers that Sandy could knock out power for seven to 10 days, and that could include Election Day. Power outages could affect electronic voting, certainly, while flooding and extensive damage could keep people from making it to the polls in the first place. So forecasts show wind alone could cause about $3.2 billion in damage.

Now, power or not, anyone who's been able to cast their vote early doesn't have to worry about electronic voting, obviously. CNN political editor Paul Steinhauser joining me now live from Pensacola, Florida. That's one of the critical swing states. Paul, is that one of the reasons that you're there, because early voting kicks off today in the sunshine state, I'm assuming?

PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN POLITICAL EDITOR: Exactly. Mitt Romney here for three campaign events, including the one behind me in Pensacola. But yes, early voting kicks off today in Florida. Eight days of early voting in Florida, that's a little less than four years ago. The legislature here in Florida shortened the early voting time period. But we start eight days through next Saturday. And coming with that, a brand-new campaign commercial from the Obama campaign playing here and some other crucial early voting states that talks to early voters. Take a listen, Christi.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In here it's just you. No ads, no debates, just you. So think about this. Mitt Romney's plan rolls back regulations on the banks that crashed our economy. Medicare voucherized.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STEINHAUSER: I think it's fair to say that four years ago early voting helped then Senator Obama win the White House. The same thing is being said this year, that a lot of voters will come early and vote before Election Day.

Take a look at this. This is our new poll out in Ohio. Among those voting early, you can see the president has a big advantage there, 58 percent to 39 percent. On those who say they are going to vote on election day, Mitt Romney has the advantage. The Romney campaign says they're doing much better than John McCain's campaign did four years ago with early voters. Christi?

PAUL: Just getting back to Florida real quickly, you mentioned Mitt Romney's events there, one exactly where you are at the moment. But what is he going to be focusing on specifically in Florida? Who is he targeting?

STEINHAUSER: He's going to be targeting early voters for sure, but also he's going to be targeting those remaining undecided voters. Also one of the other missions today is to kind of excite the base, the Republicans and conservatives here in Florida and get them out to the polls. He's going to be joined in all three stops by Senator Marco Rubio, the freshman senator here, a very popular Republican.

He's also going to talk about the economy, Christi. That's really his wheelhouse. Yesterday's GDP report was pretty favorable. The Obama campaign saying this is proof that the economy is starting to rebound, but Mitt Romney in a big speech in Iowa on the economy said just the opposite.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MITT ROMNEY, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Today we received, by the way, the latest round of discouraging economic news. Last quarter, our economy grew at just two percent. After the stimulus was passed, the White House promised that the economy would be growing at 4.3 percent, over twice as fast. Slow economic growth means slow job growth and declining take home pay. That's what four years of President Obama's policies have produced. Americans are ready for change, for growth, for jobs, for more take-home pay, and we're going to bring it to them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STEINHAUSER: You're hearing Mitt Romney say that word "change" a lot lately. Ten days until Election Day.

PAUL: Paul Steinhauser, so glad you're there to walk us through it. Thank you so much.

We're just getting started on the presidential race. Coming up, what state is really going to have the biggest impact? And what voting group is being misrepresented? We'll get that for you.

Plus, a musical legend makes a public show of support for a soldier surrounded by controversy. Graham Nash joins me live.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAUL: Just 10 days to go until Election Day. And handful of states that are still in play here are the swing states, or as we are calling them, the undecided states of America, kind of their own country there. That's been our focus this morning, from Florida to Ohio to New Hampshire. I want to bring in a CNN contributor, Maria Cardona, and Amy Holmes, anchor of "Real News" on "The Blaze." Maria, if you had to pick one state as the most critical, which would it be?

MARIA CARDONA, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: It's so important, because obviously everybody is talking about Ohio. And I do think that if the president wins Ohio, it will be almost impossible for Mitt Romney to win the White House.

But I also think that a lot of the swing states in the southwest, like Nevada and Colorado, will be critical if the president doesn't win Ohio because he does have an easier path to 270 than Mitt Romney. And I think that the big thing that people are missing and pollsters are missing is the Latino vote. And I think that we need to add at least three to four percentage points to President Obama's numbers nationally, and especially in the swing states in the southwest, because they are not gathering the strength of the Latino vote out there.

PAUL: We're going to talk a little bit more about that in a moment, because you're right about that. Amy Holmes, pick a state for me first.

AMY HOLMES, "THE BLAZE": I've got to agree with Maria that Ohio is the state. It's the conventional wisdom, no Republican president has won the presidency without Ohio. I'll be honest with you, your producers asked me to look at the electoral map last night. I watch BBC detective shows, like a lot of Americans. I think we're looking at this race nationally and we're looking at national trends. I think it's very telling that the president of the United States was the first sitting president to cast his vote early in person. I think that President Obama is looking at his own numbers and is seeing that the tide is shifting against him and a very big part of the president's strategy is to get that early voting out now in favor before November 6 before his support is eroding even further.

PAUL: Where is his support? I guess I should say let's talk about the women's vote when we talk about eroding numbers. Polls have shown Mitt Romney has basically neutralized the advantage President Obama enjoyed back in 2008. Do you think we'll see that? Will that be reflective on Election Day? Amy?

HOLMES: If I could jump in, yes. I don't believe the poll that shows that Mitt Romney has closed that gender gap. It also shows that President Obama is up one with men, which is just very contrary to historical trends. But you do see the female vote eroding for President Obama.

If you look at the election results, in 2008, President Obama was up 13 points among women, but by the mid-term, women were voting evenly between the GOP and Democrats. And as we discussed on this show many times, the female vote is not monolithic. If you look it a by age group, you see that young women are more likely to vote Democratic, while older, and particularly married women are more likely to vote for the GOP.

PAUL: Maria, let's get back to the impact of the Latino vote, because it may not be getting accurate attention. How much bigger do you think it's really going to be than what is projected?

CARDONA: I think quite a bit bigger. In fact, what we're seeing is that Latinos are going to come out in record numbers this year. In every poll that we have seen of Latino voters, President Obama is above 70 percent, and Mitt Romney does not break 23 percent. And you have Republican pollsters saying that if Mitt Romney doesn't get at least 38 percent, something that his own campaign is saying, of the Latino vote, there's no way that he can win.

Let's look back to see what happened in 2010. In 2010, people had Harry Reid on par with Sharron Angle going into Election Day, and he ended up beating her by five to seven points. And why was that? Because all of the pollsters were missing the Latino support that Harry Reid had. And I think that that is absolutely going to be the case, especially in these southwestern states. And I think you need to add at least four percentage points nationally and in these states to President Obama's numbers. I think it's going to be part of his firewall along with the women's vote.

PAUL: So Amy, what should Romney be focusing on? Should he even reap out to Latinos at this point with so little time?

HOLMES: Of course, he should be reaching out to all voters, and that's where he's foe cushion his message. I think it's interesting that you see that the president's campaign message is entirely negative. It's attacking his challenger. Whereas Mitt Romney is trying to broaden his support by talking about the economy, and that's the number one issue for voters going to the poll.

I think it's also interesting that Mitt Romney is expanding those battleground states. We're seeing more and more states being added to contestable states, including Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Colorado, Nevada, maybe even Iowa, maybe even Michigan. So Mitt Romney is actually expanding the field on which he's playing, while President Obama is going negative and basically just trying to create the firewall Maria discussed earlier to be able to ensure his presidency.

PAUL: Maria Cardona and Amy Holmes, thank you so much. Great conversation this morning.

CARDONA: Thank you.

HOLMES: Thank you.

PAUL: Take care.

A level playing field in the workplace -- women want it. Studies say it's still not happening. We're going to dig deeper into an issue that's been front and center in the campaigns in recent weeks.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAUL: Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has been released from the hospital after getting into a car crash in Las Vegas. The accident happened when vehicles in his motorcade crashed with a civilian vehicle. The 72-year-old Democrat suffered rib and hip contusions, but we're told he is in good condition.

The gender pay gap is very real and still very wide. With women having the voting power to swing this presidential election, it's an issue that really resonates on the political stage. CNN's Athena Jones has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BARACK OBAMA, (D) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We can choose to turn the clock back 50 years for women --

ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Women, they are key to winning the White House.

OBAMA: Or in this election you can stand up for the principle that America includes everybody. We're all created equal.

JONES: While most polls show the president leads among women voters, some suggest that lead may be tightening.

ROMNEY: Why is it that there are 3.6 million more women in poverty today than when the president took office?

JONES: More women than men voted in 2008, and issues important to women have been front and center in 2012 from abortion and contraception to equal pay.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: In what new ways do you intend to rectify the inequalities in the workplace?

JONES: The candidates failed to address that question head on in the second debate, instead offering generalities.

OBAMA: Women are increasingly the breadwinners in the family. This is not just a women's issue. This is a family issue, this is a middle class issue.

JONES: And one phrase that quickly took on a life of its own.

ROMNEY: They brought us whole binders full of women.

JONES: Still, there's evidence the pay gap is real. A new study shows female college graduates earn just 82 cents for every dollar their male counterparts make their first year out of college. CHRISTIANNA CORBETT, AAUW: The pay gap has real implications for women. It could add up to over a half million dollars over a lifetime.

JONES: Even when career choice and hours worked were taken into account, men still earned seven percent more than women in the same field a year after graduating, suggesting discrimination is still a problem in the workplace. Georgetown senior Bethany Imondi is worried about what the gap could mean for her as she tries to pay off more than $20,000 in student debt.

BETHANY IMONDI, STUDENT: As a woman, these statistics say that I'll have a much more difficult time. And I think that's something that will stay in the back of my mind.

JONES: Among the recommendation to women trying to close the gap, learn something about negotiating. Studies show men are more likely than women to push for a higher salary. Still, study co-author Christiane Corbit says that won't solve everything if women are offered less from the start. She says employers and lawmakers need to increase salary transparency and strengthen laws, and the candidates should pay more attention to the issue.

CORBETT: In this election, it's all about jobs in the economy. But for women, it's actually not just about getting a job, but it's about getting a job with fair and honest pay.

JONES: With just days to go in the 2012 campaign, time is running out for equal pay to get equal play.

Athena Jones, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PAUL: So just a heads up for you if you live in South Carolina, you may be a victim of identity theft. Ahead, the damage from the latest cyber-attack affecting millions of residents and their credits. Stay close.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAUL: It is certainly good to see you on this Saturday. I'm Christi Paul in for Randi Kaye. I want to show you five of the stories that we're really watching for you this morning. First of all, Sandy of course is a hurricane again. It kind of ping-ponged a little bit today, but forecasters are predicting that it will turn into a destructive super-storm that could impact an area from North Carolina all the way up to Maine. Delaware, Virginia, Maryland could get up to a foot of rain from this storm. CNN weather estimates damage from Sandy will be $3.2 billion, and that's just from wind. States of emergency have already been issued in the District of Columbia and at least four other states.

This morning, the leader of Al Qaeda released a new video with a new threat. I want to show here an older video of Ayman al Zawahiri, who is now calling on Muslims worldwide to kidnap westerners. The threat is apparently in retaliation for the imprisonment of a man convicted of plotting the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. The new video is more than two hours long.

For those of you in South Carolina, Social Security information for millions of residents has been stolen in an international cyber- attack. Apparently 3.6 million Social Security numbers, 387,000 credit card numbers may have been breached in an attack that happened earlier this month. Governor Nikki Haley said it was, quote, "not a good day for South Carolina."

A new twist to tell you about in the story of a nanny suspected of killing two children in New York. Police say they now think Nanny Jocelyn Ortega began stabbing herself as the children's mother entered the bathroom and saw the bodies in the bathtub. Police initially thought she had done it before the mother arrived. Both children, ages two and six, had been stabbed repeatedly. The mother had been at a swimming lesson with a third child who was unharmed. Ortega is in critical, but stable condition under police watch right now.

This time last year, he was Italy's prime minister. Now Silvio Berlusconi could be headed to prison. The media magnate was sentenced to four years for tax fraud. The case revolved around payments for broadcast rights to American movies to be shown on TV in Italy. Berlusconi told CNN the verdict was a, quote, "unacceptable political sentence." And he is expected to appeal, by the way.

Hurricane Sandy slowly moving toward the eastern seaboard and making her presence known. Rough seas starting to build along the Carolina coast. Our George Howell is there on the scene. A little closer to the water this time. You're getting brave, George.

HOWELL: Yes. You know, keeping an eye on what's happening out here. Obviously the storm surge is a concern out here. Also when you think back to what happened with Irene, there was concern about flooding on the sound side here of the outer banks. So, you know, this area is prone to flooding. That's something that everyone's keeping a close eye on.

Also the winds out here, Christi, are picking up. They've been right around ten to 25 miles per hour off and on, the rain off and on. But the situation out here will deteriorate as the day goes on. This area remains under a flash flood watch and a tropical storm warning. So people are taking stock of that. They're getting supplies. A lot of people are planning to ride this storm out.

An hour or two earlier we talked about some of the people who hadn't boarded up their windows. And it turns out there's a mix of people there. There are some people who have homes here who don't live here, so those homes have not been boarded up. Some people who plan to ride the storm up. That's what we're seeing here. And some who have left the area, because when you think back to what happened with Irene, Irene was more of a direct hit. People saw a lot of damage in this area. This time they're expecting a lot of wind, a lot of rain, so that's what they're all watching out for.

PAUL: George, thank you so much for giving us a picture of what it looks like right now. We appreciate it. That, of course, the scene on the beach in North Carolina. What can everyone else expect? I want to bring in meteorologist Alexandra Steele. I'm wondering, why is this storm so unusual and so potent.

STEELE: There's a lot of factors. One, it's a massive storm, the sheer size of it. But really, the major aspect, we've got a tropical storm on our hands. Of course, it's a hurricane. But also, we've got moisture with this. But then what will happen, we've got an area of low pressure that will develop north and west of this. These two areas of low pressure will fuse together and become just an incredibly powerful hybrid storm the likes of which we've never seen before in. In 25 years that we've generated these computer models, we've never had this scenario set up.

So here's a look at where it stands right now, the center of circulation off the Florida coast. You can see the size of this circulation goes all the way from the Gulf of Mexico on its western extent to the central Atlantic on its eastern extent. So who's feeling it right now? We're going to talk about where it's going to go. But right now the first wave of rainmaking its way on through the outer banks down through Charleston, South Carolina, the waves beginning to move, the winds beginning to pick up, the first bands of heavy rain coming in.

But here's the computer model of where this will go. Here comes the area of low pressure moving north. What we're going to see is late Monday night, somewhere between Washington, D.C. and New York City, center circulation moves ashore. North of that is where the worst surge will be. But look what happens. Again, because of this fusing of almost a nor'easter, this area of low pressure, coupled with this tropical storm, which is a hurricane, together we've got cold air -- how about 10 to 20 inches potentially of snow through the spine of the Appalachians. Concurrent, we should see ten inches of rain on the outer banks of North Carolina. So a lot of energy here.

Biggest impacts, the inland flooding. We're going to talk about that all the way from western New York to western and central Pennsylvania. Coastal erosion, power outages will be huge with this. Christi, we talked and already heard about the potential for seven to ten million people to be without power, not for a day or two, but the potential for seven to 10 days. So power outages, of course, flight delays for days potentially from Boston to Washington.

PAUL: I don't think I've ever heard "hurricane" and "snow" in the same sentence, talking about the same event. It just seems so unusual. Alexandra, thank you so much.

Hurricane Sandy, we're getting new numbers about how many lives it claimed in the Caribbean. Forecasters think it could be a historic storm. Once it does hit the northeast, as Alexandra was saying. We're getting estimates for damage and predictions for power outages as well. She talked about that. But Nick Valencia is tracking the storm by those numbers specifically. So how bad does it look?

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: These areas that are potentially going to be affected by hurricane Sandy are poised and prepared for its landfall, but everybody is a little anxious, Christi, as you can imagine.

I spoke to the National Guard and they're saying they had 61,000 personnel scattered up and down the eastern seaboard prepared for hurricane Sandy's landfall. They also have 140 helicopters on standby as well in the event that they have to do some search and rescue operations. Again, a lot of people in the northeast very anxious about this potential landfall.

But as we mentioned, 22 deaths so far. There are some other media agencies reporting as many as 40 deaths, CNN right now going with 22. We spoke to the Puerto Rico police department earlier today, they confirmed a man was victim to some tropical storm conditions there, and as a result of hurricane Sandy has died.

Just to reemphasize, for those of you that are powering through storm, they can expect to be without power. As many as 10 million people expected and estimated to be without power, that stat coming to us from Johns Hopkins University. This is going to be a sustained power outage between seven and 10 days. Maybe up to two weeks that people will be without power. A lot of fears and concerns. We're three day ace way. This thing hasn't even made landfall yet.

PAUL: There's no telling if something could happen. But that whole seven to ten days without power, that makes me wonder if there will be mass exodus from some areas.

VALENCIA: Just to push this ahead, we'll have better numbers and a better idea of what the national hurricane center is predicting at 11:00.

PAUL: All right, thank you, nick.

He is a member of the Rock 'n' Roll hall of fame. But Graham Nash is using his voice for more than singing, supporting the soldier accused of passing classified documents to WikiLeaks. Well, Nash is joining us live.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAUL: Rewrite history? That's what Mitt Romney will have to do if he doesn't take Ohio on Election Day. No Republican has ever won the White House without winning the buckeye state. The race for the state is tight, too, but if there's an edge right now, it belongs to the president. CNN's John King breaks down the numbers for us.

JOHN KING, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: So that's a narrow Ohio lead for the president, but there's yet another poll showing the president holding on to a small, but persistent lead in the key battleground state of Ohio.

Let's take a closer look at just why it's happening. One reason is this. The president gets most Democrats. Governor Romney gets most Republicans. The president at the moment has a narrow lead, but a significant five point lead among independents. There's also an age gap, if you will. If you want to look at the vote in Ohio, likely voters in our poll, those under 50, a big 18-point advantage for the Obama-Biden ticket over Romney-Ryan. This encouraging to the Republicans, their leading among older voters, but they need the margin. Governor Romney would need that margin to be a little bit bigger than six points to expect to carry Ohio on election day.

And Ohio is one of the states getting auto bailout, which tends to help the president do better among white, working class voters. Among white men, the president is over 40 percent. You might say well, he's getting beat. If the president is over 40 percent among white men in an industrial state like Ohio, he's likely to carry the state. Watch that number as we get closer to Election Day. If the president can stay above 40 among white men, he's likely going to win Ohio.

And then the question is if the president wins Ohio, can governor Romney defy history and win the White House? No Republican has ever won without the state of Ohio. So if you give this one to the president, the president could actually get over the top just by staying in the Midwest. A win in Wisconsin and a win in Iowa, plus Ohio, changing nothing else in the map would put the president over the top right there.

So let's come back and say is there a scenario for Governor Romney to win. Can he still win the White House? The answer is yes, not impossible. But it is improbable. Governor Romney would have to win Florida and the state of Virginia. He would have to win the state of Colorado, again, nonnegotiable on those for Governor Romney.

And then what happens? Even if he won New Hampshire and even if the Obama campaign said this won't happen because of the Latino vote, but even if Governor Romney won the state of Nevada, he would still have to win one of these Midwestern battlegrounds. This is the most Republican of these Midwestern states, 10 in Wisconsin, Paul Ryan's state, six in Iowa. Governor Romney would have to win one of them under any scenario to get there. If the president is winning Ohio, his team is also confident he'll be winning Wisconsin and most likely Iowa. But as you see, it's not impossible for Governor Romney, but you'd have to say it's improbable.

PAUL: Thank you, John King.

He is a music legend. But Graham Nash is using his star power to shine the spotlight on accused WikiLeaks source Bradley Manning. I'm going to ask him why in a live interview next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAUL: Wikileaks claims it has released more than 100 classified or otherwise restricted files from the United States Department of Defense that relate to U.S. military policies relating to detainees. They say they'll continue to release more documents over the coming months.

One man who made international headlines after he was accused of leaking to the group is Bradley Manning. His trial will not begin until next February, but over his last two years in prison, there are some who have tried to draw up support on Manning's behalf, and they include a music legend who is my guest today. Joining me now from Los Angeles, singer, songwriter and member of the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame, Graham Nash. Thank you for penciling us into your schedule.

GRAHAM NASH, SINGER/SONGWRITER: You're very welcome. And I haven't been to sleep yet, so I'm all right.

PAUL: Why does that not surprise you? You rock 'n' rollers. Last night, I know you did perform at this event that was organized by the Bradley Manning support network and I know it helps raise legal funds on behalf of the accused soldiers, so we're wondering why did you feel the need -- what prompted you to get involved in this?

NASH: I became an American citizen about 30 years ago. I believed that this country was a nation of laws that was supposed to apply equally to everybody. In this country, you're entitled to a speedy trial, and it's usually about 100, 120 days from the day of the arrest. Bradley Manning has been in jail for 900 days. Imagine if that was your son. Imagine being kept in terrible conditions.

And so we're not even applying our own law. I mean, the military code of justice, section 8:13, article 13, no punishment before trial. The United Nations came up with an investigation of this case and decided that, indeed, for at least the first 10 months of his jail time, that Bradley imagine was being tortured. And so, to me, we're either a nation of laws or we're not.

PAUL: There was an op-ed last December that you wrote, and I want to read just part of that to our viewers. You said "Regardless of whether you think Manning is right or wrong, innocent or guilty, hero or villain, saint or sinner, he's a human being and should be treated as such."

So you've mentioned the length of time that he's been in, and the conditions that he's been in. Is there anything else that concerns you most about the way that he's been treated since his arrest in 2010? And how do you know how he's been treated?

NASH: Because it's well-known. I mean, all you have to do is search the web and you can find out exactly how he's being treated. One of the things that -- I mean, I will support the president, I supported him in 2008. My partners David and Steven and I worked very hard to get Obama elected in 2008. And I will support him. And I will vote for him this year. Because I think that the alternatives is a nightmare. However, I do disagree with several things that the president has been stating. I mean --

PAUL: Such as?

NASH: Which military judge will go against the commander in chief when the commander in chief, Obama, declared publicly on television that Bradley Manning had broken the law? Who is going to go against the commander in chief? Come on. Let's get real here.

PAUL: Well, I know -- you bring up a point that leads me right into my next question. His case heads to court in February. How confident are you that he can get a fair trial?

NASH: There's not going to be a fair trial here. PAUL: Let me ask you this. Why won't there be a fair trial, because there may be a lot of people like you who support him?

NASH: Do you think that being tortured for 10 months is going to result in a fair trial, a fair trial by military judges, who will not go against the opinion of their commander in chief? Does this sound fair to you?

PAUL: Graham Nash brings up some very interesting points. And we appreciate so much you taking the time to be with us, Graham. Thank you very much.

NASH: You're very welcome.

PAUL: Sure. Take good care.

Moving on to something that obviously is a little lighter, political zingers, courtesy of those who do it best. Some of the best lines from the late night comedians coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAUL: You know what the height of election season also means besides all the political talk? A season goldmine for comedians. Here are the funniest late night laughs from this week, starting with Jimmy Fallon on Mitt Romney's rumored beauty routine.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIMMY FALLON, LATE NIGHT TALK SHOW HOST: A source close Romney just revealed that he gets a spray tan before major campaign events. I guess that explains Romney's new secret service code name "The Mittuation."

(LAUGHTER)

FALLON: Yesterday Obama visited the swing state of Ohio for the 17th time. People there are so used to seeing him that now when he shows up they're like, oh, hi -- oh.

(LAUGHTER)

DAVID LETTERMAN, LATE NIGHT TALK SHOW HOST: Donald Trump called President Obama and said I'll give you $5 million if you can release your college records and your passport. Here's $5 million, release your college records and your passport. And I said hey, Don, I'll give you $5 million if you release that thing on your head.

(LAUGHTER)

JAY LENO, HOST, "THE TONIGHT SHOW": Experts say the entire 2012 election could come down to just eight states. The states are confusion, dismay, depression, apathy, shock, disbelief, despair, and anxiety.

(LAUGHTER) (END VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL: All right, we're going to switch gears here. There's been a lot of ping-ponging today. Sandy is back to a hurricane again. Forecasters are predicting that it's going to turn into a destructive super-storm that could impact an area from North Carolina all the way up to Maine. Delaware, Virginia, Maryland could get up to a foot of rain from this storm. CNN weather estimates damage from Sandy will be $2.3 billion. That's just from the wind. States of emergency have already been issued in the District of Columbia and at least four states. So any minute now we're expecting to get an update from Sandy on the National Weather Service.

Nick Valencia has been tracking some of the numbers all day. And the thing is, what an update you have on the death toll.

VALENCIA: Yes, just a tragic update to something already we've been focusing on all morning, the tropical storm turning into a hurricane, downgrading, coming back. Now we're hearing of more deaths located in the Caribbean. We had reported earlier this hour, 22 deaths. That number now up to 42. Our international desk spoke to the Civil Protection Agency in Haiti. They say there 29 Haitians have lost their lives as a result of hurricane Sandy. So our death toll now stands at 42.

These Sustained winds of about 75 miles per hour, a category 1 hurricane. It's very intense conditions for those that are in these areas that have been affected by it. And 61,000 National Guard troops spread up and down the seaboard. They've only deployed to locations that have declared states of emergency, places like D.C., Pennsylvania, New York, Maryland. So they're in those areas right now. They also have helicopters on standby in the event that they need to conduct some search and rescue operations.

Lots of anxiety. George Howell was in North Carolina, you saw the heavy winds that he was being battered by there. And 40 counties declaring states of emergency up and down that eastern corridor, Interstate 95. We're not out of this just yet. We're three days away from landfall.

PAUL: Thank you so much for the numbers. We appreciate it.

Stick around with us. We have much more ahead in the next hour of CNN SATURDAY MORNING, which starts right now.