Return to Transcripts main page
CNN 10
What Makes A Battleground State? An Expedition That`s Documenting Peculiar Creatures and Their Ecosystems on the African Continent. Aired 4- 4:10a ET
Aired October 24, 2024 - 04:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
COY WIRE, CNN 10 ANCHOR: Hey everyone, welcome to CNN 10. I`m Coy Wire. Happy Friday eve. It`s Thursday, October 24th. We`re exactly one week away
from Halloween, and let`s just say my costume this year is something. I have been told by my four-year-old and six-year-old daughters that I will
be the Queen of Hearts, so please keep me in your thoughts.
All right, big show for you today. We`re going to start with the upcoming presidential election. Now just 12 days away, and with early voting already
underway, all eyes are on the swing states that could decide the winner.
So what`s a swing state? Well, in a presidential election, a swing state or battleground state is one that could be won by either Republicans or
Democrats because the voters there don`t regularly lean to one party over the other. And with the electoral college being a winner-take-all system in
most states, the candidate that wins a state can be decided by margins as small as hundreds of votes.
With all the power swing states hold over deciding a presidential election, candidates end up spending a lot of time and money campaigning in them in
an effort to sway voters off the fence and win crucial electoral college votes.
This year, both Donald Trump and Kamala Harris have invested time in states like Arizona, an historically Republican-leaning state that handed Trump a
victory in 2016, but swayed in favor of the Democrats, delivering Biden a narrow win in 2020.
In 2016, Pennsylvania broke a trend of voting Democratic when it went to Donald Trump, but PA turned around to elect Joe Biden for president four
years later.
Another famous battleground state? Florida. It was crucial in deciding the contentious 2000 election, but let`s hear from CNN`s Phil Mattingly on
Florida`s perceived importance this time around.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CHIEF DOMESTIC CORRESPONDENT: Florida, Florida, Florida. Nothing solidified the electoral importance of the state of
Florida like those three words on late, great Tim Russert`s dry erase board at about 1 a.m. the morning after Election Day in 2000. Nothing, that is,
except for the seismic events that transpired in the state in the weeks that followed.
A tenth of a percentage point, 537 votes, separated George W. Bush from Al Gore in the state that for the next 16 years became an intensely contested
presidential battleground. 2004, George W. Bush holding on to it. 2008, Barack Obama putting it into Democratic hands, holding on to it just
narrowly in 2012.
What about today? Well, Florida is a swing state no more. Let`s just look back to the last election. 2022, Marco Rubio reelected to the U.S. Senate
by 16 points. Ron DeSantis reelected to the governor`s mansion by 19 points. Republicans captured a super majority in the state legislature.
What happened? Well, let`s start here. Voter registration. As far back as the 1970s, the number of registered Democrats in the state handily
outnumbered Republicans. By 2021, Republicans caught up and then flipped the script entirely. That`s in part a powerful and well-run state party
operation in full effect. But it`s also a shift fueled by two groups, older white voters, a cornerstone of the GOP base.
Ever hear the term snowboard snowbirds? Well, the migration, it`s very real. Florida, actually, if you pull back, it is one of the oldest states
in the nation where you see dark purple. That is an older population, 27% of the population in Florida over the age of 60.
Second, and this is critical as we go into this cycle. Once considered a Democratic pillar, Hispanic voters, they`re not monolithic. And in Florida,
more conservative Latino voters, Cuban-Americans in particular, have changed the face of the southern part of the state.
Take 2020 when Donald Trump won the state by 370,000 votes. Now, compare the exit polls when it comes to the Latino vote in Florida. National, 65%
went to Biden. In Florida, 53%. Yes, Biden won a majority. That`s a dramatic divergence.
If you really want to know whether or not a swing state is a swing state anymore, what you really need to do is look at where the campaigns are
spending money.
In the state of Florida, this is what`s being spent right now. Democrats, about $2 million. Republicans, about $1 million. Yeah, let`s tick up a
little bit to the neighbor to the north. That`s Georgia. Yeah, that`s a battleground. What`s the spending there? $133 million for Democrats.
Republicans, $108 million.
One state is a battleground. One is not. The money makes clear that this year, that battleground is Georgia. Georgia. Georgia.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WIRE: Pop quiz hot shot.
Located between Zimbabwe and Zambia, what waterfall is the only one included in the seven natural wonders of the world?
Angel Falls, Victoria Falls, Kalambo Falls or Lisbon Falls?
Hail to the victors who said Victoria Falls. The falls in Africa are twice as high and one and a half times wider than Niagara Falls.
This week on Call to Earth, we embark on an epic mission with South African explorer Steve Boyes as part of the Rolex Perpetual Planet Initiative. He`s
on a multi-year expedition across Africa to scientifically document the continent`s massive inland river basins.
Today, Steve visits a remote region in Zambia to meet up with a scientist who`s looking after one of the world`s most peculiar creatures.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
STEVE BOYES, PROJECT LEADER, GREAT SPINE OF AFRICA: Bengweulu means where the water meets the sky in the local language. Beautiful reflections off
the water.
BILL WEIR, CNN CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A vast wetland that stretches for almost 10,000 kilometers. Bengweulu is one of Africa`s most
diverse ecosystems, home to some extraordinary species.
BOYES: I`ve never been here to the Bengweulu swamps before and I`m intrigued. Abundant bird life, thousands, tens of thousands of lechwe. You
can hear the hippos calling, you have the hyenas coming around. This system has a lot to teach us.
WEIR: Call to Earth guest editor Steve Boyes and his expedition team have been joined on the water by ornithologist and conservationist, Margaret
Hirschauer, who has been living in the swamps for three years, studying and rehabilitating one of its most iconic species.
Standing up to five feet tall, with an eight-foot wingspan and a large clog shaped beak that gives them their name, the shoebill is one of the
strangest looking birds on the planet, listed as vulnerable by the IUCN. Bengweulu is the southernmost population remaining in the world, with no
more than 215 individuals surviving in these wetlands.
MAGGIE HIRSCHAUER, SHOEBILL PROGRAM MANAGER, BANGWEULU WETLANDS AFRICAN PARKS: A lot of people say they look quite prehistoric, like dinosaurs.
They have a really sharp, massive hook on the end of their beak, and razor- sharp edges to both the top and bottom of their bills. So they grab these slippery, powerful fish, and then crush their skulls with one or two
chomps.
BOYES: I`m an ornithologist, I`m meant to be an expert, but shoebills leave me lost for words. They do. You just look at it and you go, I don`t know,
extraordinary. Here he goes.
WEIR: Unlike many of the systems Steve has explored in the past, Bengweulu also has an abundance of people, around 60,000 living in the swamps. But
shoebills face the threat of capture to be sold on the illegal exotic pet market. And much of Maggie`s job has been educating and integrating the
local fishing community into the bird`s protection.
HIRSCHAUER: So the main core underpinning of all of this program is the community engagement. We have a nest protection program where fishermen
actually notify us when they find nests. And we then go into the swamps, we verify that nest, and we get data through those reports.
The shoebills typically lay two eggs, not always but typically, and almost always. If they lay two eggs, one of the chicks kills the other. It`s just
competition. We can capitalize on that, and we take one of the eggs or one of the chicks off the nest. We bring it into our facility, and we raise it
without human contact, and then we release them back into Bengweulu.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WIRE: Today`s story getting a 10 out of 10, is a museum that`s the grill deal. The Museum of Barbecue, opening in Kansas City, Missouri next year,
might just give you the meat sweats. Visitors can learn about all the elements of a kick-butt barbecue.
Types of meats, the spices, the woods, the smoke and the sauce. Grill seekers can be treated to interactive exhibits featuring different region
styles. Afterwards, you can butter your briskets and crush some brisket at a barbecue restaurant downstairs.
I do hope to visit that place in all of its gustatory glory. If I don`t, it will be a big missed steak.
Shout-out time now. This one goes to Creswell Middle School in Opelousas, Louisiana. We see you, Tigers. We hope you and everyone watching around the
world have an awesome day. Let`s rise up and do it one more time tomorrow.
I`m Coy Wire and we are CNN 10.
END
