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CNN Live Sunday
Mad Dash For Presidential Finish Line; Fifteen People Killed in Tikrit Hotel Explosion; Palestinian Officials Say Arafat Improving; Bin Laden's Videotape Reminder that He is Still Alive and On the Run.
Aired October 31, 2004 - 16:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: The candidates in high gear, crisscrossing the battleground states in a final frenzied plea for votes.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Tell them if they want a safer America, a stronger America and a better America (INAUDIBLE) to vote for me and Dick Cheney.
SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: To be one America, not just red states and blue states but red, white and blue for every single American. We're going to get the job done. Help make this happen.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: Also, preparing for an all-out assault in Falluja. What U.S. troops are doing to get ready for a major offensive.
Hello and welcome to CNN LIVE SUNDAY. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. All of that and more after a check of the headlines.
A developing story in Iraq -- police and emergency crews are on the scene of a deadly explosion at a hotel in Tikrit. U.S. military says 15 people are dead, several others wounded.
A drastic shortage leads to drastic action. Fearing a flu pandemic, the World Health Organization has called for an unprecedented meeting of flu vaccine makers and world leaders to deal with what could be a particularly deadly year for the flu.
Some heavy hitters go to bat for John Kerry. Fresh from their World Series win, the Boston Red Sox management endorsed Kerry at a rally last hour in New Hampshire.
We begin with a mad dash for the finish line in the presidential race. John Kerry is rallying voters in New Hampshire today. President Bush is stumping in Florida. We have CNN crews covering the travels of both leading candidates. Let's begin with our Frank Buckley. He's with Kerry's campaign in Manchester -- Frank?
FRANK BUCKLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Fredricka. Senator Kerry just wrapping up his remarks here in Manchester before about 12 to 13,000 people. Senator Kerry here also, as you just noted, to receive the endorsement of the Boston Red Sox organization.
New Hampshire is the state that went to George Bush in 2000 by one point. Senator Kerry hoping to take it away this year as he continues his last minute campaigning, hoping to rally supporters like these here and to convince the undecided voters to vote for him.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(voice-over): Senator John Kerry went to church twice on the Sunday before the election, Catholic mass and Baptist services in Dayton, Ohio.
KERRY: What you do unto the least among us you do unto the Lord himself and that it seems to me is the way we ought to call on ourselves to think about the choices that are in front of us as citizens of this extraordinary country of ours.
BUCKLEY: On Saturday, Kerry hopped across the Midwest, the comeback kid from this year's Iowa caucuses coming back to Des Moines.
KERRY: In three days, this election ends, and it is in your hands.
BUCKLEY: He fired up the faithful in Iowa and worked a canvassing operation in Appleton, Wisconsin. The push this weekend making sure supporters in tight battleground states turn out on Tuesday and defining a choice for undecided.
KERRY: This is not about me, not about George Bush, about two different visions of how we achieve what we need to achieve in this country. Every time he's had a choice, his choice has been for the powerful.
BUCKLEY: The pictures meant to convey that Kerry's the man for the middle class buying a round at a local bar, tossing a football on the side of the road.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(on camera): From here, Senator Kerry is headed to Florida. On Monday and Tuesday, he'll be in Florida, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Ohio -- Fredricka?
WHITFIELD: Frank Buckley in New Hampshire for now with the Kerry camp.
Meantime President Bush has spent most of the day in the battleground state of Florida. Our Dana Bash is in Gainesville where Bush is holding a rally there -- Dana?
DANA BASH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Fredricka.
Well, the president should be here momentarily. You are right. He has four stops, actually altogether in four cities in Florida today. The president started in Miami and, like John Kerry, he also spent the last Sunday before Election Day at church. Now the president is Protestant but he went to a Catholic mass.
Catholics are about 25 percent or a quarter of the voters here in Florida just like it is nationwide and the president has been courting that voting bloc aggressively. As a matter of fact, unlike John Kerry's mass, the president was not for cameras but we know reporters were inside, that the monsignor made clear that to thank the president for his support for banning partial birth abortion.
That is something that the president noted a couple of times later, that John Kerry opposed and also some parishioners got some pamphlets noting that the president supports most of the church's position on things like stem cell research, on abortion, on gay marriage, also noting that Senator Kerry, a Catholic, did not answer the question.
So, that is just one bit of the campaigning the president is doing for Catholics. Later in Coral Gables, the president was courting some of the Cuban voters there, making it clear that he is giving the requisite anti-Castro line there. But also, just like John Kerry, the president and his aides know as much as they are courting their faithful, as much as they need them to get out to vote, they are going to max out and they need the undecideds to come his way and his line, time and time again is that he believes he is somebody that voters can trust.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BUSH: If you are a voter who believes that the president of the United States should say what he means and do what he says and keep his word, I ask you, come stand with me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BASH: Now that is the president's refrain. Again, this is the state of Florida, 27 electoral votes that are very important to the president and his team. Seemingly even more important as you look at other key battleground states like, for example, Pennsylvania, a state that the president lost last time but has worked very, very hard to win this time around.
It's looking more and more likely for John Kerry there. That is why the president's team understands that winning here in Florida is absolutely essential at this point.
WHITFIELD: Dana, as a backup just in case President Bush isn't winning one of those three big battleground states, I understand his folks are saying, Andy Card in particular saying that they are focusing on the states like Wisconsin and Minnesota just in case.
BASH: Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, they all equal 27 electoral votes. That's the same number as Florida and you're right. The president has been there constantly. He will be back there in those states this week.
Obviously, he has been there consistently and they are hoping that all three of those blue states, they have gone for Democrats for many cycles, at least three presidential elections, that they can turn those around. Iowa is looking better for the president this time, unclear about Wisconsin and Minnesota.
WHITFIELD: All right. Dana Bash in Gainesville, Florida, preceding President Bush scheduled rally to take place about an hour from now. Thanks so much.
Aside from the candidates, the running mates are also spending part of their time in Ohio, home to 20 very important electoral votes. Vice President Dick Cheney told supporters in Swanton that Kerry has turned his back on U.S. troops in an effort to get ahead. Later today, he heads to Hawaii, which is emerging as a late comer to the battleground category.
John Edwards is campaigning in Pennsylvania and Ohio today. At this hour, Edwards is expected to go door to door in Columbus.
Stay with CNN for more election 2004 coverage. Tonight, "CNN PRESENTS: AMERICA VOTES." Aaron Brown hosts this live special with more on the candidates, the polls and he'll also have some analysis. That's tonight at 8:00 p.m. Eastern.
And right after that, 9:00 p.m. Eastern, join CNN's Larry King for an election preview as the candidates head into the final day of campaigning.
As we mentioned earlier, 15 people have been killed in an explosion at a hotel in Tikrit. The blast wasn't the only instance of violence in Iraq today, however. Japan confirms a headless body found in Baghdad is that of a Japanese hostage. An al Qaeda linked group threatened to kill the man unless Japan pulled its troops out of Iraq. Japan refused.
Iraqi National Guardsmen appear to be the targets of two attacks near Baghdad. In one incident, insurgents ambushed a car killing two Iraqi National Guardsmen, brothers inside. Later, police found the burnt bodies of two other National Guardsmen in a nearby neighborhood.
With the violence only getting worse, Iraq's interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi warned today that his patience is running thin. His comment was directed towards insurgents in Falluja. The U.S. is threatening to launch an all-out assault on the rebel stronghold in hopes of quelling the insurgency before the scheduled January elections.
Preparations are intensifying for the possible assault on the epicenter of Iraq's resistance war. CNN's Karl Penhaul, who is embedded with the First Battalion Third Marines shows us how the troops are getting ready for what promises to be a very tough battle.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This one's a drill. These Marine gunners are trying to stay sharp. They know the fight for Falluja is brewing. Long range artillery is likely to play a major role as U.S. tacticians plan to use all weapons available for a fast, decisive assault. In this desert camp near the rebel stronghold, the question is no longer if, but when the battle will begin.
LT. COL. MICHAEL RAMOS, U.S. MARINE CORPS: We don't know exactly when it's coming. We know it's coming soon.
PENHAUL: And as Lieutenant Colonel Ramos and his men study models of Falluja in a sandbox, they take stock of the challenges.
RAMOS: The Falluja area is urban. It's got complex terrain. It has difficult avenues of approach. It has very zealous fighters.
PENHAUL: If the order comes, these men will head into the fray aboard light armored vehicles. Down here in the gun turret, this crew has hung a lucky charm picked up during deployment in Japan. They call it their turret god, or the god of accurate rounds. Closer to his thermal gun sights and even closer to his heart, Lance Corporal Nathan Medinger keeps a photo of his young wife Amber.
LANCE CORPORAL NATHAN MEDINGER, U.S. MARINE CORPS: I put it in there so she is always looking at me, I guess, watching over me.
PENHAUL: Tanks are gearing up, too. They may not be ideally suited to close quarters urban warfare. This company's commander says they have been developing new tactics and studying the lessons of Grozny, Chechnya, in 1994 when Chechen rebels destroyed a Russian tank column in narrow streets. He doesn't plan a repeat of that scenario in Falluja.
UNIDENTIFIED SOLDIER: Our tanks will be the punching card (INAUDIBLE).
PENHAUL: Once the guns are greased and the bullets are counted, Marines have time to turn their minds away from war but it's only momentary. Night is about to fall and with it grows the threat of insurgent mortar attacks.
Karl Penhaul, CNN, near Falluja.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: Day three now for hospitalized Yasser Arafat. Find out what doctors are saying about the Palestinian leader's condition. That story straight ahead.
Up next, how many surprises could crop up for the 2004 election? We'll tell you about a constitutional scenario that could land John Edwards in the White House.
Plus this...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Was Teresa here? She was. How do you know?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: John, I always remember a woman's perfume. Once I get that scent I do not lose it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: Oh, we'll stretch your political funny bone coming up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: Voter registration in several battleground states has increased dramatically since the 2000 election. In Nevada, it's up nearly 22 percent. Florida has seen an increase of nearly 18 percent. In New Mexico, it's risen 12.2 percent. There's a seven percent increase for Iowa, and in Pennsylvania, it climbed 6.9 percent.
Along with the influx of new voters, other issues could monkey up the works on Election Day. According to the "Cleveland Plain Dealer," Florida and Ohio have something else in common besides being battleground states. Thousands of people registered to vote in Ohio and they also happen to be registered to vote in Florida. They could vote twice undetected by using absentee ballots. The Justice Department has been asked to investigate.
A Federal judge is expected to rule tomorrow on how to handle challenges to voter registration in Ohio. The decision is expected to affect Republican voter registration challenges in 62 of Ohio's 88 counties.
A lot of Americans are skeptical about the election being decided Tuesday because of several possible scenarios, but none of them is likely to be as bizarre as the ones our senior political analyst Bill Schneider has come up with.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BILL SCHNEIDER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's getting pretty scary out there and not just because it's Halloween. Think of all the scary scenarios we could end up with on Election Day.
Remember the 2000 Florida recount? That horror show lasted five weeks. This year, we could have a lot of Floridas, states with close results and disputed vote counts. With millions of newly registered voters, we're hearing some wild charges about registration fraud.
C. BOYDEN GRAY, FMR. BUSH WHITE HOUSE COUNSEL: According (ph) to the NAACP got an assistant to hand out crack cocaine in return for registrations.
SCHNEIDER: Both sides have armies of lawyers ready to fire lawsuits at each other.
DAVID BOIES, GORE 2000 CAMPAIGN ATTORNEY: I think when you have as many lawyers that are involved on both sides, there's a danger that they all try to find something to do.
SCHNEIDER: Now that's scary. Want to hear something even scarier? There are many ways the electoral vote could end up in a tie, 269 for Kerry, 269 for Bush. Then what? Then the election goes to the House of Representatives in January, the new House to be elected Tuesday. Here is the spooky part. Every state gets one vote, 53 representatives from California, one vote, a single member of Congress from Vermont, one vote.
It's likely that most states will continue to have more Republicans than Democrats in the House next year, so Bush would probably win. But consider the spectacle of a president being elected by politicians instead of the people. The new Senate would elect the vice president, one vote per senator.
There's a chance the Democrats could end up with a majority in the Senate. Imagine President Bush and Vice President John Edwards. Not only that, but if several states end up with equal numbers of Democrats and Republicans in the House, those states might abstain from casting the presidential vote. It's possible neither Bush nor Kerry could get the required 26 votes in the House.
Then what? Then the new vice president elected by the Senate becomes acting president. He'd get to act in his own horror movie.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: Both fun and scary to consider on this Halloween day. Bill, but how plausible really are some of these scenarios particularly seeing a president and a vice president of different parties in the end?
SCHNEIDER (on camera): Anything could happen. How plausible was the scenario in 2000 where Florida was about as close as you could possibly get to a perfect tie. This is no less plausible than that.
WHITFIELD: All right. Well, for now, the real threats that I think a lot of these or these two leading candidates are worrying about are the battleground states. They are making and spending a lot of time in Florida and Ohio in particular. Of the big three, Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania, it really does seem to be rather neck and neck.
SCHNEIDER: Yes, that's right. It's neck and neck in all three of those states and in many other battleground states. There's been a rule of thumb that if any candidate carries two of those three big battleground states, each with at least 20 electoral votes, that candidate is likely to be president, Bush carried Ohio and Florida last time. He's in the White House.
If Kerry carries Ohio and Pennsylvania, the betting would be he's on his way to the White House. But there are still provisional scenarios. Suppose Bush loses Ohio? He could make it up in other battleground states. Minnesota and Wisconsin have 10 electoral votes each. Add them together, they are the size of Ohio. So, you can get some other places where the president and his campaign are trying to make up for a possible loss in Ohio. It gets very complicated.
WHITFIELD: And so while they all do seem to focus on these battleground states including Wisconsin, Minnesota as you just described, are we finding these candidates Bush and Kerry are crafting their messages based on the desires of the voting constituency in these states. Are we hearing, instead, more of the same just in different, just with different backdrops?
SCHNEIDER: I think you are hearing pretty much the same thing around the country. Now it's mostly about the war on terrorism since the Osama videotape came out. That's refocused attention to that war with Kerry arguing the videotape proves that we never got Osama, that he's still out there and Bush talking about how he'd be more resolute he thinks on the war on terror.
And that has really put the war on terror back as the central focus of this campaign and it's been the theme they've been using - certainly the Bush campaign has been pushing all along. Kerry trying to get some domestic issues in there talking about how many jobs each state has lost and how much pressure middle class voters are under.
WHITFIELD: All right. Bill Schneider, thanks so much. We'll be hearing and seeing a lot more of you over the next few days, scary or not, right.
SCHNEIDER: Exactly.
WHITFIELD: All right. Thanks a lot and happy Halloween.
Opponents of Pakistan's president now are launching a new kind of assault on his regime. Still to come, the propaganda war that wants to make a victim of a crucial U.S. ally.
And up next, new details on Yasser Arafat's medical condition.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: News around the world now. The United Nations is calling for the immediate release of three U.N. election workers in Afghanistan. Militants holding the trio are demanding the release of prisoners and a U.N. withdrawal from Afghanistan altogether. They are threatening to kill the hostages in three days if their demands are not met.
More defiance from Iran. The Iranian parliament unanimously approved a resolution today to continue its uranium enrichment activities. The passage was followed by several lawmakers shouting death to America. Iran has long maintained its nuclear program is intended for peaceful purposes.
And a power outage forced Kuwait to halt oil production today at three refineries. The blackout will set back production by 930,000 barrels of oil for the day.
Palestinian officials say Yasser Arafat is showing signs of improvement. They say the Palestinian leader read telegrams from well-wishers, ate cereal and drank tea today after three days of treatment at a Paris hospital. While the cause of his illness is still unknown, images of a pale and weak leader are sparking concerns that the era of Arafat may be nearing an end.
CNN's Matthew Chance takes a look at what that could mean for Palestinians.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): His image still hangs over the (INAUDIBLE) compound in Ramallah, but Yasser Arafat always the fighter, may be waging his final battle. These are uncertain times for Palestinians who have known only him as leader. People like the el Ayan (ph) family, four generations of refugees in Ramallah, all fiercely loyal, they told me, to their ailing president.
Like us, President Arafat has always dreamt of an independent state, says Fatia (ph). If something should happen to him, God forbid, our dreams, even our cause could be lost.
Across the west bank and Gaza, the national anthem of the would- be Palestinian state begins each school day. Even these teenagers are acutely aware of the importance of their own national symbols and ask anyone, Yasser Arafat is the most important symbol of all.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON (through translator): Despite the siege around him did he not leave the (INAUDIBLE), his headquarters. He stood in defiance against the occupation. He only left because of his illness.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON (through translator): He tried to do everything he could for his people. He was staunch in his resistance to Israel. But did he not achieve independence because the occupation was so severe.
CHANCE: Despite all his failings, his ambiguity towards violence, his failure in the eyes of many not to seize opportunities for peace, Yasser Arafat for millions of Palestinians remains a national icon. But his poor health is focusing minds on what comes next. One man here told me, now is not the time to be sad. Now is the time to think how to fill his place.
But Yasser Arafat won't be easily replaced. With no clear successor, a chaotic struggle for power may follow the Arafat era. For a people exhausted by war and bereft of hope, Palestinian pitched against Palestinian is now a real fear.
Matthew Chance, CNN, Ramallah.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: In this country, this election season, Ohio, Florida, and Pennsylvania seem to be getting most of the attention, so why is Al Gore stumping for John Kerry thousands of miles away in Hawaii?
After the break, surprise swing states you probably haven't even thought about. Politics and the pulpit. Find out what some preachers are saying about this year's presidential race.
And we'll go behind the scenes as a top media mogul tries to get out the vote.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: Bottom of the hour.
Now in the news -- violence in the hometown of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. The U.S. military says insurgents fired a rocket at a hotel in Tikrit today killing 15 Iraqi civilians. Eight others were wounded in that attack.
The growing threat of a flu outbreak causes the world health organization to call an unprecedented summit. Vaccine companies and health officials from the U.S. and other large countries will attend it on November 11. Officials are especially worried about the bird flu mutating and spreading more easily from person to person.
A new poll shows most California voters favor a stem cell research measure on the ballot. The sealed poll finds likely voters favor the proposition, 54 percent to 37 percent. The measure would allow the state to borrow $3 million to fund stem cell studies.
And it's not a scientific predictor of the presidential election, but the Washington Redskins lost to the Green Bay Packers today. If history is any indicator, President Bush could be in trouble on Tuesday. That's because in each presidential election since 1936 the incumbent has won if the Redskins won their final home game just before the election.
Well, President Bush is fighting hard for Florida's 27 electoral votes. It's attending rallies in Gainesville, Miami and Tampa today. Bush told supporters a presidents role is not to follow the path of polls but to lead with conviction and conscience. He said his first term has thought him how best to lead the country.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BUSH: The American president must lead with clarity and purpose. As presidents from Lincoln to Roosevelt to Reagan so clearly demonstrated a president must not shift with the wind. The president has to make tough decisions and stand by them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: Democratic rival John Kerry is heading to Florida later on. Right now he's complaining in New Hampshire with just four electoral votes at stake some might consider it an unlikely battleground. But Kerry knows those votes are highly prized. He is telling voters it is time to put a little common sense back into the White House.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KERRY: Let me ask you plain and simple are you ready to put common sense back into the leadership of this nation? Are you ready to put mainstream values back into the decisions that affect the lives of average Americans of those struggling to get in the middle class? Are you ready to put America back to work?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: Well, it turns out the October surprise may be the startling number of states that have moved into the undecided column. Several states that historically go one way or the other are up for grabs now. Among them New Hampshire, Nevada and even Hawaii. So what is going on?
Here to explain it all from New York is CNN political editor John Mercurio. Good to see you John.
JOHN MERCURIO, CNN POLITICAL EDITOR: Good to see you.
WHITFIELD: All right, Hawaii, Nevada, New Hampshire what happened?
MERCURIO: West Virginia. I think we weren't expecting in this election was that the battleground would actually expand at the end of the election. We thought it was going to shrink. It is shrinking in some ways. But yes, we saw we're going to see Dick Cheney tonight in the battleground state of Hawaii. We're seeing polls in Arkansas that show a single digit lead by President Bush.
There was actually a dead heat earlier this week. I think a lot of it has to do with the fact there's some different polling methodology going on. We're not really sure that all these polls are accurate. Hawaii was a dead heat in 2000. Al Gore ended up winning it by 18 points. So I think we have to take all of it with a little bit of a grain of salt.
WHITFIELD: So, polling may be one reason. Could increased voter registration be another?
MERCURIO: Absolutely. I mean we're seeing in this election more voter interest, more voter registration than we have seen in decades. We have -- CNN did a poll last week that showed that 86 percent of voters are paying attention to this race, 84 percent plan to vote.
Now whether they actually show up on Election Day is another thing. But that's double digits ahead of where they were four years ago, eight years ago. Very, very, interesting.
WHITFIELD: And I know you just cautioned the polls may be iffy in some respects. But so far some of the polls have indicated that Ohio and Pennsylvania seem to go favorably well for John Kerry, which would mean then that the president is trying to focus on some other places. What states does he really need to nail to make sure he comes close to the 270 electoral votes or gets to 270 electoral votes?
MERCURIO: Well, if John Kerry on Election Day walks away with Pennsylvania and Ohio, President Bush obviously needs to win Florida. He needs to win states like Wisconsin. Iowa, hopefully New Hampshire but he's going to also, I think, need to dig into some Democratic battleground states like Michigan, where he's been campaigning eventually because polls show it very tight.
States like Oregon where the polls could close in. President Bush has a little bit easier, I think in the electoral college because he doesn't need to win all three, Florida, Pennsylvania, and Ohio, that burden I think falls more on John Kerry than it does on the president.
WHITFIELD: And even though the Kerry camp is rather cautious but they are optimistic about Ohio and Pennsylvania, they haven't lost the sight that they do need to still concentrate on some other states in order to get 270 electoral votes. Which one is my...
MERCURIO: Well you know it is sort of the same battleground we are talking about. They have been focusing a lot on Minnesota, a state that Al Gore won in 2000 but John Kerry is really been struggling to maintain a lead in this year.
New Hampshire, a state that President Bush won in 2000, now shows John Kerry with a slight lead as you mentioned he is up there campaigning today. Just four electoral votes in that small state but a very, very important state nonetheless.
WHITFIELD: And it certainly could make a difference.
MERCURIO: Absolutely.
WHITFIELD: Stranger things have happened. We all know that right? All right John Mercurio, thanks so much, in New York.
MERCURIO: Thank you.
WHITFIELD: Well for the best daily briefing on politics don't miss the Morning Grind. Go to cnn.com/grind for all the latest political news.
Religion and politics is an issue that has thrust its way into the heart of the presidential race. This election year it's been driven by several controversial social issues such as stem cell research and gay marriage as well as the candidate's own personal faith.
CNN's Sara Dorsey has the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Please, go and get your vote on.
SARA DORSEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Religious is a hot button issue in the upcoming campaign. The candidates have embraced it and talked openly about it. Many churchgoers have also been getting a spoonful of politics straight from the pulpit.
REV. RANDY MICKLER, MT. BETHEL METHODIST CHURCH: Where is Jesus and the family values debate? I don't think there's any question as to where he is. He is certainly not a moderate, never has been a moderate.
DORSEY (on camera): Some say all the talk of politics at places of worship is a breech of the separation between church and state. Others say it is simply applying the word to every day life. A poll released this year shows more Americans actually support churches talking politics. When asked should churches express views on political matters 51 percent said it's OK, 44 percent said no to churches flexing their political muscle. Some pastors disagree.
MICKLER: I hope I sway them on Christian principles that is my job.
DORSEY: Pastor Aaron Parker says in his sermons he addresses problematic situations in society. Both men say explaining the issues rather than supporting a specific the candidate is a key.
REV. AARON PARKER, ZION HILL BAPTIST CHURCH: We certainly don't take political sides. To be sure. We encourage people to participate in the political process.
DORSEY: Do the chosen issues lean more toward one candidate or the other? Both pastors say in their churches no. But what is the congregation hearing? Do they tell you who to vote for?
FAYE ADAMS-TAYLOR, CHURCHGOER: No, no, they don't, surprising though but we get hints.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I just hear a whole lot of vote what your heart says and vote what your faith says.
DORSEY: Both candidates hope their name is the one religious faithful pick come Tuesday. Sara Dorsey, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: Another topic at the forefront of this presidential race and he's a crucial ally in the U.S. war on terror but now Pakistan's president may be facing some increasing heat at home. After the break exclusive details on a new tribal campaign to get Musharraf.
And still to come, they put their lives on the line in World War II. Now some veterans are finally getting the chance to make their dreams come true.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: Osama bin Laden's latest videotape is a stark reminder that the world's number one terrorist is still alive and on the run. Another videotape obtained exclusively by CNN suggests the hunt for al Qaeda militants is becoming more dangerous and challenging.
Here is CNN's Nic Robertson.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): From Pakistan's troubled south Waszeron (ph) province, a highly-produced Jihad-y video, the first of its kind from the tribal region bordering Afghanistan. It delivers an unambiguous message: kill Pakistani president per investigate Musharraf. The video shows what it claims to be the American bombing of a religious gathering in the south Waszeron (ph) on the 9th of September. The same day Pakistani officials say they bombed an al Qaeda training camp in the same area. CNN cannot verify all the material. Indeed, the U.S. bomber seems to be from another time and place completely.
As the propaganda video continues, bodies are shown littering the ground. And addressing a crowd of tribesmen the religious leader Malone Asudean (ph) claims that women and children were killed. My brothers, he shouts, it's the conspiracy of the Jews and Christians to collide the people against the army. A few weeks later in the capital of Islamabad where he represents south Waszeron (ph) in Pakistan national assembly he explains the Musharraf (ph) is doing all this because the Americans have told him to and he does it to make them happy.
He claims to have welcomed the Pakistani army when it began its first ever crackdown in the semiautonomous tribal region almost a year ago. But as the combined hammer and anvil hunt for Osama bin Laden with U.S. forces on the Afghan side of the border grew he said he saw injustice. Now Pakistani officials are seeing an increasingly organized resistance.
That goes well beyond the new propaganda video. So far, at least 171 Pakistani soldiers have been killed. Many by roadside bombs. The Pakistani army does claim some successes in Waszeron (ph). More than 200 Jihadists captured or killed, they say, including foreign fighters.
ROBERTSON (on camera): What is startling about this propaganda video is not that it threatens the life of one of the United States biggest allies in the hunt for Osama bin Laden, after all, President Musharraf has already survived three assassination attempts in the last year and a half. But in the very area where the hunt for the al Qaeda leader is most critical the battle is getting measurably tougher.
Nic Robertson, CNN, Islamabad, Pakistan.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: All right. Not long from now, "CNN Live Sunday" continues with Carol Lin.
CAROL LIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We have a lot going on. Tonight at 6:00 we're going to be going behind the scenes of the "Saturday Night Live Political Special" every year, we're just talking about some of our favorite moments like the dancing Janet Renos and anyway we're going to go behind the scene there is.
And also at 10:00 tonight we have a segment called "Hot Topic" which is a real hot button issue. I was talking with our military intelligence analyst Ken Robinson who was saying more U.N. workers now kidnapped in Afghanistan now. He's saying if the media outlets completely stop airing this videotape you will immediately see these kidnappings stop. He saying we have a huge influence on that. We're going to debate that point. Obviously self-censorship is not only the best in a democracy. But he's saying in this case it could save lives.
WHITFIELD: Oh, interesting. All right, we will be tuning in for that hot topic and more. Thanks so much Carol.
Well, star power and the final push to get out the vote. Coming up, the man behind the message Vote or Die, and what he's doing to encourage young people in the presidential elections.
Also, late night comics get their final jazz at the candidates before the election. Our weekly late night laughs coming up.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hi, everybody. It is the last day of October. Let's get a look at the cold and flu report for this Sunday. The states that are highlighted in green indicate the reports of flu and cold. Utah, California, Texas, and the state of Florida, much of Michigan, both the upper Peninsula and lower Peninsula, New York and also Pennsylvania, those states not reporting Oklahoma and Jersey. The rest of the states indeed fairly healthy. Hope you are feeling well and have a happy Halloween.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: Hip hop artist Sean "P. Diddy" Combs has been crisscrossing the country encouraging young people and minorities in the nations inner cities to vote. His belief that the urban youth vote could become the "x" factor in the upcoming presidential election.
CNN's Jason Bellini has that story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JASON BELLINI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Imagine what it would be like with Sean Combs (INAUDIBLE) running for president.
SEAN COMBS: Compliments of Diddy coming through.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Unlike Air Force One, after hours we seven mimosas.
BELLINI: Six cities, three days, (INAUDIBLE) tried to make the swing states, get out the urban youth vote. Or every bit as bling, bling as the actual presidential campaign.
COMBS: Bling, bling.
BELLINI: Mary J. Blige at his side.
MARY J. BLIGE, HIP HOP SOUL PERFORMER: This is how they keep new your place with fear. Right now, the only thing you should be fearing is fear itself.
BELLINI: Photo ops. COMBS: Ask your questions.
BELLINI: (INAUDIBLE) staffers. And above all else, a slogan. Vote or die.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you don't vote, who is going to die?
COMBS: If they don't vote am I going to come and get them. No I am not going to come and get you, I will gas up and I got you talking about it.
BELLINI: Puffy tells his audiences they could be the margin of victory on November 2.
COMBS: You are the x factor that hasn't been polled because they to afraid to come in your communities.
BELLINI: Critics call vote or die a disinformation campaign.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It implies if you vote for President Bush you are going to die. And that's the wrong message. It's a lie. It is not true.
BELLINI: Puffy won't say who he's voting for.
COMBS: I'm disappointed in both candidates.
BELLINI: He has running mates who do.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is very public knowledge that I'm voting for John Kerry and John Edwards.
COMBS: You know we are out on the campaign trail. It's rough out here. Ain't a lot of good five-star cuisine places.
BELLINI: Life is hard on the campaign trail. A little less so when it is...
Jason Bellini, CNN, Cleveland.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: Anti-Bush filmmaker Michael Moore will have cameras rolling at polling places on Tuesday. But he isn't working on a new documentary. The director of "Fahrenheit 9/11" says hundreds of cameras will watch for attempts to suppress voter turn-out in Florida and Ohio, particularly, 1200 camera men, filmmakers and videographers will be working at polling places especially in minority communities. Moore has plans as well to visit the two battleground states on Election Day.
A campaign as contentious as this one could probably use a few more laughs. So here are some political late night laughs from Bill Maher, "Saturday Night Live," and "The Daily Show."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Five leading politicians took to the morning shows. Bill Clinton and George W. Bush stopped by "Good Morning America" for a chat. While John Kerry and Dick Cheney paid a visit to the "Today Show." Meanwhile, Ralph Nader also paid a visit to the "Today Show."
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Was Teresa here?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She was, how do you know?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: John, I always remember a woman's perfume. Once I get that scent, I do not lose it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Americans know Osama bin Laden does not pick our president. The Supreme Court does.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Handicap this election.
BUSH: Well, I'm probably the wrong person to speak to.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I see, well, is there somebody higher up in the administration?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: According to an Internet costume certainly Halloween masks have predicted the outcome in the last six presidential elections this year the winner so far is President Bush masks although the Kerry mask is still doing well.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: Coming up next --
(SINGING)
WHITFIELD: Making dreams come true for America's greatest generation.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: There's an old song titled "When I Grow Too Old to Dream." But does aging mean youthful hopes just fade. CNN's Rhonda Grayson reports some seniors are finding ways to make their dreams come true.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JACK LAMB, WORLD WAR II VETERAN: Well, I was on the ship that got sunk. I was in the water for -- I forgot now, nine, ten hours, something like that.
RHONDA GRAYSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Jack Lamb spent 17 hours on a raft after his ship was torpedoed by Germans off the coast of Bermuda during World War II. While Jerry Donner was stationed in the Philippines as an air traffic controller and some unstable towers. JERRY DONNER: When you climbed up that thing, with a wind, oh you and get sea sick just working up there. The tower would keep moving.
GRAYSON: These veterans and residents of the Elmquat (ph) Nursing Home also share the love of music and a dream of being on the radio. Enter Second Wind Dreams. An organization that fulfills the wishes of seniors who are living in nursing homes and assisted living.
P.K. BELVILLE, CEO, SECOND WIND DREAMERS: Frequently they are kind of told by society to not dream. You are too old to do these things and you are to old to get out and do this and that. So we try to bring out the youngster in all of them.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Our special guests are Jerry and Jack. That is right just want to say hi to you guys. How you doing?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Fine.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Say hi, Jerry. Hi, Jerry.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Jerry is a cut up. Jerry should have my job. By the time he leaves the station today I'm out of here. I'm going home with these folks.
GRAYSON: With the help of an Atlanta area radio hosts Randy and Spiff Jack and Jerry's dream was about to come true.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So, Jerry, you used to play with Frank Sinatra as a drummer is that what I was --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes I played drums and I played with Sinatra and mostly all of the good yes the big bands and the big entertainers, too.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You are the one that made him good.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, yes sure.
SNIFF, RANDY & SNIFF: What a great opportunity to allow someone to, you know, fulfill their dreams and it doesn't take much out of our time to do it and very easy to do. You saw the reaction. So I mean how great is that?
GRAYSON: Dreams delayed perhaps but not forgotten.
(SINGING)
GRAYSON: Rhonda Grayson, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: And that is going to do it for us. "NEXT@CNN" is straight ahead. Here is Daniel Sieberg with a preview.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired October 31, 2004 - 16:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: The candidates in high gear, crisscrossing the battleground states in a final frenzied plea for votes.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Tell them if they want a safer America, a stronger America and a better America (INAUDIBLE) to vote for me and Dick Cheney.
SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: To be one America, not just red states and blue states but red, white and blue for every single American. We're going to get the job done. Help make this happen.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: Also, preparing for an all-out assault in Falluja. What U.S. troops are doing to get ready for a major offensive.
Hello and welcome to CNN LIVE SUNDAY. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. All of that and more after a check of the headlines.
A developing story in Iraq -- police and emergency crews are on the scene of a deadly explosion at a hotel in Tikrit. U.S. military says 15 people are dead, several others wounded.
A drastic shortage leads to drastic action. Fearing a flu pandemic, the World Health Organization has called for an unprecedented meeting of flu vaccine makers and world leaders to deal with what could be a particularly deadly year for the flu.
Some heavy hitters go to bat for John Kerry. Fresh from their World Series win, the Boston Red Sox management endorsed Kerry at a rally last hour in New Hampshire.
We begin with a mad dash for the finish line in the presidential race. John Kerry is rallying voters in New Hampshire today. President Bush is stumping in Florida. We have CNN crews covering the travels of both leading candidates. Let's begin with our Frank Buckley. He's with Kerry's campaign in Manchester -- Frank?
FRANK BUCKLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Fredricka. Senator Kerry just wrapping up his remarks here in Manchester before about 12 to 13,000 people. Senator Kerry here also, as you just noted, to receive the endorsement of the Boston Red Sox organization.
New Hampshire is the state that went to George Bush in 2000 by one point. Senator Kerry hoping to take it away this year as he continues his last minute campaigning, hoping to rally supporters like these here and to convince the undecided voters to vote for him.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(voice-over): Senator John Kerry went to church twice on the Sunday before the election, Catholic mass and Baptist services in Dayton, Ohio.
KERRY: What you do unto the least among us you do unto the Lord himself and that it seems to me is the way we ought to call on ourselves to think about the choices that are in front of us as citizens of this extraordinary country of ours.
BUCKLEY: On Saturday, Kerry hopped across the Midwest, the comeback kid from this year's Iowa caucuses coming back to Des Moines.
KERRY: In three days, this election ends, and it is in your hands.
BUCKLEY: He fired up the faithful in Iowa and worked a canvassing operation in Appleton, Wisconsin. The push this weekend making sure supporters in tight battleground states turn out on Tuesday and defining a choice for undecided.
KERRY: This is not about me, not about George Bush, about two different visions of how we achieve what we need to achieve in this country. Every time he's had a choice, his choice has been for the powerful.
BUCKLEY: The pictures meant to convey that Kerry's the man for the middle class buying a round at a local bar, tossing a football on the side of the road.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(on camera): From here, Senator Kerry is headed to Florida. On Monday and Tuesday, he'll be in Florida, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Ohio -- Fredricka?
WHITFIELD: Frank Buckley in New Hampshire for now with the Kerry camp.
Meantime President Bush has spent most of the day in the battleground state of Florida. Our Dana Bash is in Gainesville where Bush is holding a rally there -- Dana?
DANA BASH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Fredricka.
Well, the president should be here momentarily. You are right. He has four stops, actually altogether in four cities in Florida today. The president started in Miami and, like John Kerry, he also spent the last Sunday before Election Day at church. Now the president is Protestant but he went to a Catholic mass.
Catholics are about 25 percent or a quarter of the voters here in Florida just like it is nationwide and the president has been courting that voting bloc aggressively. As a matter of fact, unlike John Kerry's mass, the president was not for cameras but we know reporters were inside, that the monsignor made clear that to thank the president for his support for banning partial birth abortion.
That is something that the president noted a couple of times later, that John Kerry opposed and also some parishioners got some pamphlets noting that the president supports most of the church's position on things like stem cell research, on abortion, on gay marriage, also noting that Senator Kerry, a Catholic, did not answer the question.
So, that is just one bit of the campaigning the president is doing for Catholics. Later in Coral Gables, the president was courting some of the Cuban voters there, making it clear that he is giving the requisite anti-Castro line there. But also, just like John Kerry, the president and his aides know as much as they are courting their faithful, as much as they need them to get out to vote, they are going to max out and they need the undecideds to come his way and his line, time and time again is that he believes he is somebody that voters can trust.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BUSH: If you are a voter who believes that the president of the United States should say what he means and do what he says and keep his word, I ask you, come stand with me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BASH: Now that is the president's refrain. Again, this is the state of Florida, 27 electoral votes that are very important to the president and his team. Seemingly even more important as you look at other key battleground states like, for example, Pennsylvania, a state that the president lost last time but has worked very, very hard to win this time around.
It's looking more and more likely for John Kerry there. That is why the president's team understands that winning here in Florida is absolutely essential at this point.
WHITFIELD: Dana, as a backup just in case President Bush isn't winning one of those three big battleground states, I understand his folks are saying, Andy Card in particular saying that they are focusing on the states like Wisconsin and Minnesota just in case.
BASH: Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, they all equal 27 electoral votes. That's the same number as Florida and you're right. The president has been there constantly. He will be back there in those states this week.
Obviously, he has been there consistently and they are hoping that all three of those blue states, they have gone for Democrats for many cycles, at least three presidential elections, that they can turn those around. Iowa is looking better for the president this time, unclear about Wisconsin and Minnesota.
WHITFIELD: All right. Dana Bash in Gainesville, Florida, preceding President Bush scheduled rally to take place about an hour from now. Thanks so much.
Aside from the candidates, the running mates are also spending part of their time in Ohio, home to 20 very important electoral votes. Vice President Dick Cheney told supporters in Swanton that Kerry has turned his back on U.S. troops in an effort to get ahead. Later today, he heads to Hawaii, which is emerging as a late comer to the battleground category.
John Edwards is campaigning in Pennsylvania and Ohio today. At this hour, Edwards is expected to go door to door in Columbus.
Stay with CNN for more election 2004 coverage. Tonight, "CNN PRESENTS: AMERICA VOTES." Aaron Brown hosts this live special with more on the candidates, the polls and he'll also have some analysis. That's tonight at 8:00 p.m. Eastern.
And right after that, 9:00 p.m. Eastern, join CNN's Larry King for an election preview as the candidates head into the final day of campaigning.
As we mentioned earlier, 15 people have been killed in an explosion at a hotel in Tikrit. The blast wasn't the only instance of violence in Iraq today, however. Japan confirms a headless body found in Baghdad is that of a Japanese hostage. An al Qaeda linked group threatened to kill the man unless Japan pulled its troops out of Iraq. Japan refused.
Iraqi National Guardsmen appear to be the targets of two attacks near Baghdad. In one incident, insurgents ambushed a car killing two Iraqi National Guardsmen, brothers inside. Later, police found the burnt bodies of two other National Guardsmen in a nearby neighborhood.
With the violence only getting worse, Iraq's interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi warned today that his patience is running thin. His comment was directed towards insurgents in Falluja. The U.S. is threatening to launch an all-out assault on the rebel stronghold in hopes of quelling the insurgency before the scheduled January elections.
Preparations are intensifying for the possible assault on the epicenter of Iraq's resistance war. CNN's Karl Penhaul, who is embedded with the First Battalion Third Marines shows us how the troops are getting ready for what promises to be a very tough battle.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This one's a drill. These Marine gunners are trying to stay sharp. They know the fight for Falluja is brewing. Long range artillery is likely to play a major role as U.S. tacticians plan to use all weapons available for a fast, decisive assault. In this desert camp near the rebel stronghold, the question is no longer if, but when the battle will begin.
LT. COL. MICHAEL RAMOS, U.S. MARINE CORPS: We don't know exactly when it's coming. We know it's coming soon.
PENHAUL: And as Lieutenant Colonel Ramos and his men study models of Falluja in a sandbox, they take stock of the challenges.
RAMOS: The Falluja area is urban. It's got complex terrain. It has difficult avenues of approach. It has very zealous fighters.
PENHAUL: If the order comes, these men will head into the fray aboard light armored vehicles. Down here in the gun turret, this crew has hung a lucky charm picked up during deployment in Japan. They call it their turret god, or the god of accurate rounds. Closer to his thermal gun sights and even closer to his heart, Lance Corporal Nathan Medinger keeps a photo of his young wife Amber.
LANCE CORPORAL NATHAN MEDINGER, U.S. MARINE CORPS: I put it in there so she is always looking at me, I guess, watching over me.
PENHAUL: Tanks are gearing up, too. They may not be ideally suited to close quarters urban warfare. This company's commander says they have been developing new tactics and studying the lessons of Grozny, Chechnya, in 1994 when Chechen rebels destroyed a Russian tank column in narrow streets. He doesn't plan a repeat of that scenario in Falluja.
UNIDENTIFIED SOLDIER: Our tanks will be the punching card (INAUDIBLE).
PENHAUL: Once the guns are greased and the bullets are counted, Marines have time to turn their minds away from war but it's only momentary. Night is about to fall and with it grows the threat of insurgent mortar attacks.
Karl Penhaul, CNN, near Falluja.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: Day three now for hospitalized Yasser Arafat. Find out what doctors are saying about the Palestinian leader's condition. That story straight ahead.
Up next, how many surprises could crop up for the 2004 election? We'll tell you about a constitutional scenario that could land John Edwards in the White House.
Plus this...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Was Teresa here? She was. How do you know?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: John, I always remember a woman's perfume. Once I get that scent I do not lose it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: Oh, we'll stretch your political funny bone coming up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: Voter registration in several battleground states has increased dramatically since the 2000 election. In Nevada, it's up nearly 22 percent. Florida has seen an increase of nearly 18 percent. In New Mexico, it's risen 12.2 percent. There's a seven percent increase for Iowa, and in Pennsylvania, it climbed 6.9 percent.
Along with the influx of new voters, other issues could monkey up the works on Election Day. According to the "Cleveland Plain Dealer," Florida and Ohio have something else in common besides being battleground states. Thousands of people registered to vote in Ohio and they also happen to be registered to vote in Florida. They could vote twice undetected by using absentee ballots. The Justice Department has been asked to investigate.
A Federal judge is expected to rule tomorrow on how to handle challenges to voter registration in Ohio. The decision is expected to affect Republican voter registration challenges in 62 of Ohio's 88 counties.
A lot of Americans are skeptical about the election being decided Tuesday because of several possible scenarios, but none of them is likely to be as bizarre as the ones our senior political analyst Bill Schneider has come up with.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BILL SCHNEIDER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's getting pretty scary out there and not just because it's Halloween. Think of all the scary scenarios we could end up with on Election Day.
Remember the 2000 Florida recount? That horror show lasted five weeks. This year, we could have a lot of Floridas, states with close results and disputed vote counts. With millions of newly registered voters, we're hearing some wild charges about registration fraud.
C. BOYDEN GRAY, FMR. BUSH WHITE HOUSE COUNSEL: According (ph) to the NAACP got an assistant to hand out crack cocaine in return for registrations.
SCHNEIDER: Both sides have armies of lawyers ready to fire lawsuits at each other.
DAVID BOIES, GORE 2000 CAMPAIGN ATTORNEY: I think when you have as many lawyers that are involved on both sides, there's a danger that they all try to find something to do.
SCHNEIDER: Now that's scary. Want to hear something even scarier? There are many ways the electoral vote could end up in a tie, 269 for Kerry, 269 for Bush. Then what? Then the election goes to the House of Representatives in January, the new House to be elected Tuesday. Here is the spooky part. Every state gets one vote, 53 representatives from California, one vote, a single member of Congress from Vermont, one vote.
It's likely that most states will continue to have more Republicans than Democrats in the House next year, so Bush would probably win. But consider the spectacle of a president being elected by politicians instead of the people. The new Senate would elect the vice president, one vote per senator.
There's a chance the Democrats could end up with a majority in the Senate. Imagine President Bush and Vice President John Edwards. Not only that, but if several states end up with equal numbers of Democrats and Republicans in the House, those states might abstain from casting the presidential vote. It's possible neither Bush nor Kerry could get the required 26 votes in the House.
Then what? Then the new vice president elected by the Senate becomes acting president. He'd get to act in his own horror movie.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: Both fun and scary to consider on this Halloween day. Bill, but how plausible really are some of these scenarios particularly seeing a president and a vice president of different parties in the end?
SCHNEIDER (on camera): Anything could happen. How plausible was the scenario in 2000 where Florida was about as close as you could possibly get to a perfect tie. This is no less plausible than that.
WHITFIELD: All right. Well, for now, the real threats that I think a lot of these or these two leading candidates are worrying about are the battleground states. They are making and spending a lot of time in Florida and Ohio in particular. Of the big three, Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania, it really does seem to be rather neck and neck.
SCHNEIDER: Yes, that's right. It's neck and neck in all three of those states and in many other battleground states. There's been a rule of thumb that if any candidate carries two of those three big battleground states, each with at least 20 electoral votes, that candidate is likely to be president, Bush carried Ohio and Florida last time. He's in the White House.
If Kerry carries Ohio and Pennsylvania, the betting would be he's on his way to the White House. But there are still provisional scenarios. Suppose Bush loses Ohio? He could make it up in other battleground states. Minnesota and Wisconsin have 10 electoral votes each. Add them together, they are the size of Ohio. So, you can get some other places where the president and his campaign are trying to make up for a possible loss in Ohio. It gets very complicated.
WHITFIELD: And so while they all do seem to focus on these battleground states including Wisconsin, Minnesota as you just described, are we finding these candidates Bush and Kerry are crafting their messages based on the desires of the voting constituency in these states. Are we hearing, instead, more of the same just in different, just with different backdrops?
SCHNEIDER: I think you are hearing pretty much the same thing around the country. Now it's mostly about the war on terrorism since the Osama videotape came out. That's refocused attention to that war with Kerry arguing the videotape proves that we never got Osama, that he's still out there and Bush talking about how he'd be more resolute he thinks on the war on terror.
And that has really put the war on terror back as the central focus of this campaign and it's been the theme they've been using - certainly the Bush campaign has been pushing all along. Kerry trying to get some domestic issues in there talking about how many jobs each state has lost and how much pressure middle class voters are under.
WHITFIELD: All right. Bill Schneider, thanks so much. We'll be hearing and seeing a lot more of you over the next few days, scary or not, right.
SCHNEIDER: Exactly.
WHITFIELD: All right. Thanks a lot and happy Halloween.
Opponents of Pakistan's president now are launching a new kind of assault on his regime. Still to come, the propaganda war that wants to make a victim of a crucial U.S. ally.
And up next, new details on Yasser Arafat's medical condition.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: News around the world now. The United Nations is calling for the immediate release of three U.N. election workers in Afghanistan. Militants holding the trio are demanding the release of prisoners and a U.N. withdrawal from Afghanistan altogether. They are threatening to kill the hostages in three days if their demands are not met.
More defiance from Iran. The Iranian parliament unanimously approved a resolution today to continue its uranium enrichment activities. The passage was followed by several lawmakers shouting death to America. Iran has long maintained its nuclear program is intended for peaceful purposes.
And a power outage forced Kuwait to halt oil production today at three refineries. The blackout will set back production by 930,000 barrels of oil for the day.
Palestinian officials say Yasser Arafat is showing signs of improvement. They say the Palestinian leader read telegrams from well-wishers, ate cereal and drank tea today after three days of treatment at a Paris hospital. While the cause of his illness is still unknown, images of a pale and weak leader are sparking concerns that the era of Arafat may be nearing an end.
CNN's Matthew Chance takes a look at what that could mean for Palestinians.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): His image still hangs over the (INAUDIBLE) compound in Ramallah, but Yasser Arafat always the fighter, may be waging his final battle. These are uncertain times for Palestinians who have known only him as leader. People like the el Ayan (ph) family, four generations of refugees in Ramallah, all fiercely loyal, they told me, to their ailing president.
Like us, President Arafat has always dreamt of an independent state, says Fatia (ph). If something should happen to him, God forbid, our dreams, even our cause could be lost.
Across the west bank and Gaza, the national anthem of the would- be Palestinian state begins each school day. Even these teenagers are acutely aware of the importance of their own national symbols and ask anyone, Yasser Arafat is the most important symbol of all.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON (through translator): Despite the siege around him did he not leave the (INAUDIBLE), his headquarters. He stood in defiance against the occupation. He only left because of his illness.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON (through translator): He tried to do everything he could for his people. He was staunch in his resistance to Israel. But did he not achieve independence because the occupation was so severe.
CHANCE: Despite all his failings, his ambiguity towards violence, his failure in the eyes of many not to seize opportunities for peace, Yasser Arafat for millions of Palestinians remains a national icon. But his poor health is focusing minds on what comes next. One man here told me, now is not the time to be sad. Now is the time to think how to fill his place.
But Yasser Arafat won't be easily replaced. With no clear successor, a chaotic struggle for power may follow the Arafat era. For a people exhausted by war and bereft of hope, Palestinian pitched against Palestinian is now a real fear.
Matthew Chance, CNN, Ramallah.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: In this country, this election season, Ohio, Florida, and Pennsylvania seem to be getting most of the attention, so why is Al Gore stumping for John Kerry thousands of miles away in Hawaii?
After the break, surprise swing states you probably haven't even thought about. Politics and the pulpit. Find out what some preachers are saying about this year's presidential race.
And we'll go behind the scenes as a top media mogul tries to get out the vote.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: Bottom of the hour.
Now in the news -- violence in the hometown of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. The U.S. military says insurgents fired a rocket at a hotel in Tikrit today killing 15 Iraqi civilians. Eight others were wounded in that attack.
The growing threat of a flu outbreak causes the world health organization to call an unprecedented summit. Vaccine companies and health officials from the U.S. and other large countries will attend it on November 11. Officials are especially worried about the bird flu mutating and spreading more easily from person to person.
A new poll shows most California voters favor a stem cell research measure on the ballot. The sealed poll finds likely voters favor the proposition, 54 percent to 37 percent. The measure would allow the state to borrow $3 million to fund stem cell studies.
And it's not a scientific predictor of the presidential election, but the Washington Redskins lost to the Green Bay Packers today. If history is any indicator, President Bush could be in trouble on Tuesday. That's because in each presidential election since 1936 the incumbent has won if the Redskins won their final home game just before the election.
Well, President Bush is fighting hard for Florida's 27 electoral votes. It's attending rallies in Gainesville, Miami and Tampa today. Bush told supporters a presidents role is not to follow the path of polls but to lead with conviction and conscience. He said his first term has thought him how best to lead the country.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BUSH: The American president must lead with clarity and purpose. As presidents from Lincoln to Roosevelt to Reagan so clearly demonstrated a president must not shift with the wind. The president has to make tough decisions and stand by them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: Democratic rival John Kerry is heading to Florida later on. Right now he's complaining in New Hampshire with just four electoral votes at stake some might consider it an unlikely battleground. But Kerry knows those votes are highly prized. He is telling voters it is time to put a little common sense back into the White House.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KERRY: Let me ask you plain and simple are you ready to put common sense back into the leadership of this nation? Are you ready to put mainstream values back into the decisions that affect the lives of average Americans of those struggling to get in the middle class? Are you ready to put America back to work?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: Well, it turns out the October surprise may be the startling number of states that have moved into the undecided column. Several states that historically go one way or the other are up for grabs now. Among them New Hampshire, Nevada and even Hawaii. So what is going on?
Here to explain it all from New York is CNN political editor John Mercurio. Good to see you John.
JOHN MERCURIO, CNN POLITICAL EDITOR: Good to see you.
WHITFIELD: All right, Hawaii, Nevada, New Hampshire what happened?
MERCURIO: West Virginia. I think we weren't expecting in this election was that the battleground would actually expand at the end of the election. We thought it was going to shrink. It is shrinking in some ways. But yes, we saw we're going to see Dick Cheney tonight in the battleground state of Hawaii. We're seeing polls in Arkansas that show a single digit lead by President Bush.
There was actually a dead heat earlier this week. I think a lot of it has to do with the fact there's some different polling methodology going on. We're not really sure that all these polls are accurate. Hawaii was a dead heat in 2000. Al Gore ended up winning it by 18 points. So I think we have to take all of it with a little bit of a grain of salt.
WHITFIELD: So, polling may be one reason. Could increased voter registration be another?
MERCURIO: Absolutely. I mean we're seeing in this election more voter interest, more voter registration than we have seen in decades. We have -- CNN did a poll last week that showed that 86 percent of voters are paying attention to this race, 84 percent plan to vote.
Now whether they actually show up on Election Day is another thing. But that's double digits ahead of where they were four years ago, eight years ago. Very, very, interesting.
WHITFIELD: And I know you just cautioned the polls may be iffy in some respects. But so far some of the polls have indicated that Ohio and Pennsylvania seem to go favorably well for John Kerry, which would mean then that the president is trying to focus on some other places. What states does he really need to nail to make sure he comes close to the 270 electoral votes or gets to 270 electoral votes?
MERCURIO: Well, if John Kerry on Election Day walks away with Pennsylvania and Ohio, President Bush obviously needs to win Florida. He needs to win states like Wisconsin. Iowa, hopefully New Hampshire but he's going to also, I think, need to dig into some Democratic battleground states like Michigan, where he's been campaigning eventually because polls show it very tight.
States like Oregon where the polls could close in. President Bush has a little bit easier, I think in the electoral college because he doesn't need to win all three, Florida, Pennsylvania, and Ohio, that burden I think falls more on John Kerry than it does on the president.
WHITFIELD: And even though the Kerry camp is rather cautious but they are optimistic about Ohio and Pennsylvania, they haven't lost the sight that they do need to still concentrate on some other states in order to get 270 electoral votes. Which one is my...
MERCURIO: Well you know it is sort of the same battleground we are talking about. They have been focusing a lot on Minnesota, a state that Al Gore won in 2000 but John Kerry is really been struggling to maintain a lead in this year.
New Hampshire, a state that President Bush won in 2000, now shows John Kerry with a slight lead as you mentioned he is up there campaigning today. Just four electoral votes in that small state but a very, very important state nonetheless.
WHITFIELD: And it certainly could make a difference.
MERCURIO: Absolutely.
WHITFIELD: Stranger things have happened. We all know that right? All right John Mercurio, thanks so much, in New York.
MERCURIO: Thank you.
WHITFIELD: Well for the best daily briefing on politics don't miss the Morning Grind. Go to cnn.com/grind for all the latest political news.
Religion and politics is an issue that has thrust its way into the heart of the presidential race. This election year it's been driven by several controversial social issues such as stem cell research and gay marriage as well as the candidate's own personal faith.
CNN's Sara Dorsey has the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Please, go and get your vote on.
SARA DORSEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Religious is a hot button issue in the upcoming campaign. The candidates have embraced it and talked openly about it. Many churchgoers have also been getting a spoonful of politics straight from the pulpit.
REV. RANDY MICKLER, MT. BETHEL METHODIST CHURCH: Where is Jesus and the family values debate? I don't think there's any question as to where he is. He is certainly not a moderate, never has been a moderate.
DORSEY (on camera): Some say all the talk of politics at places of worship is a breech of the separation between church and state. Others say it is simply applying the word to every day life. A poll released this year shows more Americans actually support churches talking politics. When asked should churches express views on political matters 51 percent said it's OK, 44 percent said no to churches flexing their political muscle. Some pastors disagree.
MICKLER: I hope I sway them on Christian principles that is my job.
DORSEY: Pastor Aaron Parker says in his sermons he addresses problematic situations in society. Both men say explaining the issues rather than supporting a specific the candidate is a key.
REV. AARON PARKER, ZION HILL BAPTIST CHURCH: We certainly don't take political sides. To be sure. We encourage people to participate in the political process.
DORSEY: Do the chosen issues lean more toward one candidate or the other? Both pastors say in their churches no. But what is the congregation hearing? Do they tell you who to vote for?
FAYE ADAMS-TAYLOR, CHURCHGOER: No, no, they don't, surprising though but we get hints.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I just hear a whole lot of vote what your heart says and vote what your faith says.
DORSEY: Both candidates hope their name is the one religious faithful pick come Tuesday. Sara Dorsey, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: Another topic at the forefront of this presidential race and he's a crucial ally in the U.S. war on terror but now Pakistan's president may be facing some increasing heat at home. After the break exclusive details on a new tribal campaign to get Musharraf.
And still to come, they put their lives on the line in World War II. Now some veterans are finally getting the chance to make their dreams come true.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: Osama bin Laden's latest videotape is a stark reminder that the world's number one terrorist is still alive and on the run. Another videotape obtained exclusively by CNN suggests the hunt for al Qaeda militants is becoming more dangerous and challenging.
Here is CNN's Nic Robertson.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): From Pakistan's troubled south Waszeron (ph) province, a highly-produced Jihad-y video, the first of its kind from the tribal region bordering Afghanistan. It delivers an unambiguous message: kill Pakistani president per investigate Musharraf. The video shows what it claims to be the American bombing of a religious gathering in the south Waszeron (ph) on the 9th of September. The same day Pakistani officials say they bombed an al Qaeda training camp in the same area. CNN cannot verify all the material. Indeed, the U.S. bomber seems to be from another time and place completely.
As the propaganda video continues, bodies are shown littering the ground. And addressing a crowd of tribesmen the religious leader Malone Asudean (ph) claims that women and children were killed. My brothers, he shouts, it's the conspiracy of the Jews and Christians to collide the people against the army. A few weeks later in the capital of Islamabad where he represents south Waszeron (ph) in Pakistan national assembly he explains the Musharraf (ph) is doing all this because the Americans have told him to and he does it to make them happy.
He claims to have welcomed the Pakistani army when it began its first ever crackdown in the semiautonomous tribal region almost a year ago. But as the combined hammer and anvil hunt for Osama bin Laden with U.S. forces on the Afghan side of the border grew he said he saw injustice. Now Pakistani officials are seeing an increasingly organized resistance.
That goes well beyond the new propaganda video. So far, at least 171 Pakistani soldiers have been killed. Many by roadside bombs. The Pakistani army does claim some successes in Waszeron (ph). More than 200 Jihadists captured or killed, they say, including foreign fighters.
ROBERTSON (on camera): What is startling about this propaganda video is not that it threatens the life of one of the United States biggest allies in the hunt for Osama bin Laden, after all, President Musharraf has already survived three assassination attempts in the last year and a half. But in the very area where the hunt for the al Qaeda leader is most critical the battle is getting measurably tougher.
Nic Robertson, CNN, Islamabad, Pakistan.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: All right. Not long from now, "CNN Live Sunday" continues with Carol Lin.
CAROL LIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We have a lot going on. Tonight at 6:00 we're going to be going behind the scenes of the "Saturday Night Live Political Special" every year, we're just talking about some of our favorite moments like the dancing Janet Renos and anyway we're going to go behind the scene there is.
And also at 10:00 tonight we have a segment called "Hot Topic" which is a real hot button issue. I was talking with our military intelligence analyst Ken Robinson who was saying more U.N. workers now kidnapped in Afghanistan now. He's saying if the media outlets completely stop airing this videotape you will immediately see these kidnappings stop. He saying we have a huge influence on that. We're going to debate that point. Obviously self-censorship is not only the best in a democracy. But he's saying in this case it could save lives.
WHITFIELD: Oh, interesting. All right, we will be tuning in for that hot topic and more. Thanks so much Carol.
Well, star power and the final push to get out the vote. Coming up, the man behind the message Vote or Die, and what he's doing to encourage young people in the presidential elections.
Also, late night comics get their final jazz at the candidates before the election. Our weekly late night laughs coming up.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hi, everybody. It is the last day of October. Let's get a look at the cold and flu report for this Sunday. The states that are highlighted in green indicate the reports of flu and cold. Utah, California, Texas, and the state of Florida, much of Michigan, both the upper Peninsula and lower Peninsula, New York and also Pennsylvania, those states not reporting Oklahoma and Jersey. The rest of the states indeed fairly healthy. Hope you are feeling well and have a happy Halloween.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: Hip hop artist Sean "P. Diddy" Combs has been crisscrossing the country encouraging young people and minorities in the nations inner cities to vote. His belief that the urban youth vote could become the "x" factor in the upcoming presidential election.
CNN's Jason Bellini has that story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JASON BELLINI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Imagine what it would be like with Sean Combs (INAUDIBLE) running for president.
SEAN COMBS: Compliments of Diddy coming through.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Unlike Air Force One, after hours we seven mimosas.
BELLINI: Six cities, three days, (INAUDIBLE) tried to make the swing states, get out the urban youth vote. Or every bit as bling, bling as the actual presidential campaign.
COMBS: Bling, bling.
BELLINI: Mary J. Blige at his side.
MARY J. BLIGE, HIP HOP SOUL PERFORMER: This is how they keep new your place with fear. Right now, the only thing you should be fearing is fear itself.
BELLINI: Photo ops. COMBS: Ask your questions.
BELLINI: (INAUDIBLE) staffers. And above all else, a slogan. Vote or die.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you don't vote, who is going to die?
COMBS: If they don't vote am I going to come and get them. No I am not going to come and get you, I will gas up and I got you talking about it.
BELLINI: Puffy tells his audiences they could be the margin of victory on November 2.
COMBS: You are the x factor that hasn't been polled because they to afraid to come in your communities.
BELLINI: Critics call vote or die a disinformation campaign.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It implies if you vote for President Bush you are going to die. And that's the wrong message. It's a lie. It is not true.
BELLINI: Puffy won't say who he's voting for.
COMBS: I'm disappointed in both candidates.
BELLINI: He has running mates who do.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is very public knowledge that I'm voting for John Kerry and John Edwards.
COMBS: You know we are out on the campaign trail. It's rough out here. Ain't a lot of good five-star cuisine places.
BELLINI: Life is hard on the campaign trail. A little less so when it is...
Jason Bellini, CNN, Cleveland.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: Anti-Bush filmmaker Michael Moore will have cameras rolling at polling places on Tuesday. But he isn't working on a new documentary. The director of "Fahrenheit 9/11" says hundreds of cameras will watch for attempts to suppress voter turn-out in Florida and Ohio, particularly, 1200 camera men, filmmakers and videographers will be working at polling places especially in minority communities. Moore has plans as well to visit the two battleground states on Election Day.
A campaign as contentious as this one could probably use a few more laughs. So here are some political late night laughs from Bill Maher, "Saturday Night Live," and "The Daily Show."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Five leading politicians took to the morning shows. Bill Clinton and George W. Bush stopped by "Good Morning America" for a chat. While John Kerry and Dick Cheney paid a visit to the "Today Show." Meanwhile, Ralph Nader also paid a visit to the "Today Show."
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Was Teresa here?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She was, how do you know?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: John, I always remember a woman's perfume. Once I get that scent, I do not lose it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Americans know Osama bin Laden does not pick our president. The Supreme Court does.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Handicap this election.
BUSH: Well, I'm probably the wrong person to speak to.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I see, well, is there somebody higher up in the administration?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: According to an Internet costume certainly Halloween masks have predicted the outcome in the last six presidential elections this year the winner so far is President Bush masks although the Kerry mask is still doing well.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: Coming up next --
(SINGING)
WHITFIELD: Making dreams come true for America's greatest generation.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: There's an old song titled "When I Grow Too Old to Dream." But does aging mean youthful hopes just fade. CNN's Rhonda Grayson reports some seniors are finding ways to make their dreams come true.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JACK LAMB, WORLD WAR II VETERAN: Well, I was on the ship that got sunk. I was in the water for -- I forgot now, nine, ten hours, something like that.
RHONDA GRAYSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Jack Lamb spent 17 hours on a raft after his ship was torpedoed by Germans off the coast of Bermuda during World War II. While Jerry Donner was stationed in the Philippines as an air traffic controller and some unstable towers. JERRY DONNER: When you climbed up that thing, with a wind, oh you and get sea sick just working up there. The tower would keep moving.
GRAYSON: These veterans and residents of the Elmquat (ph) Nursing Home also share the love of music and a dream of being on the radio. Enter Second Wind Dreams. An organization that fulfills the wishes of seniors who are living in nursing homes and assisted living.
P.K. BELVILLE, CEO, SECOND WIND DREAMERS: Frequently they are kind of told by society to not dream. You are too old to do these things and you are to old to get out and do this and that. So we try to bring out the youngster in all of them.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Our special guests are Jerry and Jack. That is right just want to say hi to you guys. How you doing?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Fine.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Say hi, Jerry. Hi, Jerry.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Jerry is a cut up. Jerry should have my job. By the time he leaves the station today I'm out of here. I'm going home with these folks.
GRAYSON: With the help of an Atlanta area radio hosts Randy and Spiff Jack and Jerry's dream was about to come true.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So, Jerry, you used to play with Frank Sinatra as a drummer is that what I was --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes I played drums and I played with Sinatra and mostly all of the good yes the big bands and the big entertainers, too.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You are the one that made him good.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, yes sure.
SNIFF, RANDY & SNIFF: What a great opportunity to allow someone to, you know, fulfill their dreams and it doesn't take much out of our time to do it and very easy to do. You saw the reaction. So I mean how great is that?
GRAYSON: Dreams delayed perhaps but not forgotten.
(SINGING)
GRAYSON: Rhonda Grayson, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: And that is going to do it for us. "NEXT@CNN" is straight ahead. Here is Daniel Sieberg with a preview.
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