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Countdown to Election Day; Sniper Case Expands Beyond D.C.; Campaign Shows Off Power of Latino Voters

Aired November 02, 2002 - 10:00   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.


CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SR. POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Welcome to CNN's SATURDAY EDITION, where our journalists have the inside scoop on the stories we have covered all week. I'm Candy Crowley.
The countdown to Election Day, the tightest and the toughest races.

PATTY DAVIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Patty Davis. The sniper case and how it's expanding both in and beyond the Washington, D.C., area.

KATE SNOW, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm Kate Snow. How the election will determine who controls Congress, and are we in for another long night on Tuesday?

MARIA HINOJOSA, CNN URBAIN AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: I'm Maria Hinojosa. How the campaign shows off the new power of Latino voters.

SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN FINANCIAL NEWS CORRESPONDENT: I'm Susan Lisovicz In New York, where investors aren't talking about the outcome of the midterm elections on Tuesday. They're talking about what happens on Wednesday when the Federal Reserve meets on interest rates.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: And I'm Suzanne Malveaux. What's at stake for President Bush after non-stop campaigning in this election?

We'll be talking about all of these stories, and we'll listen to the president's weekly radio address at the end of the hour. But first, a check on what's making headlines at this hour.

(NEWSBREAK)

CROWLEY: Well, when I was covering the Bush campaign at a parallel time about two years ago, he would go from state to state saying, "It's voting time in Arkansas. It's voting time in Tennessee." Well, it's voting time in America.

I really can't remember a time, and I won't tell you how long I've been doing this, that it's been this exciting. And I can tell that just from the phone calls. You will call someone in a given hour on the Republican side, "How are things going"? "Things are going great. Oh my God, we're up, we're up, we're up." You call the next hour, and they're angry. I mean, it is that tight, that they go from sort of hour to hour. And they're not really sure what race to focus on, because you know what? They've had to focus on them all.

SNOW: And there is so much at stake here, Candy. Talk about Minnesota a little bit, because I know you've been following that very closely. That's one of those races, with Wellstone's death, that is getting so much focus right now.

CROWLEY: Wow, it has. And a lot of focus on Walter Mondale, much to the chagrin of the Coleman's campaign. I'll tell you, I got some calls from Republicans saying, "OK, so, you know, you all now have spent, you know, 20 minutes on Walter Mondale. Could you mention that Norm Coleman's running?" So, you know, this is tough for Norm Coleman.

But I'll tell you one thing that really helped Republicans a lot, and that's that much-criticized memorial for Paul Wellstone, which turned at the end into, really, a political rally. And what that did was sort of give Republicans some grace to go back to the campaign. They'll sort of point out that when Mel Carnahan died two years ago in Missouri and he was running against John Ashcroft, John Ashcroft after the funeral went right up with campaign ads, and Missourians didn't like it. They said, "Oh, he's not respecting the memory." But that was a very somber funeral for Mel Carnahan. This was different. And Republicans think, in a certain way, that pep rally gave Norm Coleman some running ground.

MALVEAUX: Candy, that really was so political. I mean, even Vice President Dick Cheney who -- his staffers had called and asked if he could participate, if at least he could show up to express his condolences, and the family declined and said, "No, thank you." I mean, it really was, to a certain extent, when you talk with them, an embarrassment because they wanted to extend that. But I mean, the family was saying, "Look, we're worried about the security." And also I think they took offense to some Republicans the day before who were already campaigning.

CROWLEY: Yes. It's just been -- you know, it's sort of a who went first.

You know what? Within three hours, I would say, of the plane crash which killed Paul Wellstone and his wife and his daughter and others that were on that plane, you were hearing the Democrats go, you know, "Walter Mondale, Walter Mondale would be really good."

It was, you know, I think -- I thought it was a little bit overboard for the Democrats to complain about it so publicly. They had, after all, been out there talking about, "We're going to put Mondale out there." So there's enough blame to go around.

HINOJOSA: Candy, it's Maria here. I'm just wondering how much has the discussion come up about, can Mondale be as progressive as Wellstone was? I mean, he's really got to carry this torch not only for Wellstone, but the entire country that's looking at this progressive, really liberal voice that's gone now. CROWLEY: Well, I hate to sort of be the cynic here, but at this point it's not about that. You know, we're in the last -- I mean, it's a five-day campaign for Mondale. All they want is that seat, OK.

Mondale is a liberal. He was even that when the L word was a bad word. He's certainly not as progressive as Paul Wellstone. But, you know, Paul Wellstone was in a really touch race, and there was no real certainty that he was going to be reelected. And while in his death, his value and his stature has risen, the fact of the matter is that Minnesota has changed since they first elected him and it wasn't a certainty that he was going to get elected.

LISOVICZ: You know, Candy, it's Susan in New York. You know, a lot of times when you see the untimely death of a candidate -- and we realize that Paul Wellstone was in this neck-and-neck race -- you have a tremendous sympathy vote. That's why you see a lot of widows, for instance, replace their husbands in their seat.

How much of a sympathy vote is there? And the fact that Walter Mondale, who was such an established figure in Minnesota, how much will that carry him?

CROWLEY: Well, that's certainly Norm Coleman's problem. He's running against a memory and an icon here, OK.

Look, Republicans will point out a couple of differences. The first thing is Mel Carnahan's name in Missouri, when he was elected as the first dead man ever elected to the Senate, his name was still on the ballot. Paul Wellstone's name is not on the ballot, which is why they need a Walter Mondale. They needed somebody with a name. So there is a difference there.

But there is no doubt that people go to the polls and want some way to express their sympathy. This was an awful thing. On the other hand, you know, did they anger the Republican base, did they anger independents, which is really much more apropos to this discussion, when they had that big rally? And did that make them want to go out and vote for Norm Coleman?

So, you know, yes, there will be some sympathy. The question is whether there will also be some sympathy for Norm Coleman who has been doing this for 18 months and says, "Here's my agenda."

SNOW: Candy, it's not just Minnesota too.

CROWLEY: Right.

SNOW: I mean, we're talking, what, six really, really close races in the Senate now. The Senate being held by one seat by the Democrats.

I mean, what do you think is the -- what are the other races that we should be keeping our eyes on?

CROWLEY: Oh, man. How long do we have?

(LAUGHTER)

Well, look, there are just so many great races out there, you know. I feel like Patton in that movie, "I love it, God help me, I love it," you know, because there's...

(LAUGHTER)

... just so -- but, you know, South Dakota, where you have a hand-picked candidate by President Bush running against a Democrat in Tom Daschle's home state. Really close; can't pick it.

Missouri, Mel Carnahan's widow Jean Carnahan is up against a man named Jim Talent, also picked by the White House.

You know, on and on. Arkansas, New Hampshire, even Texas, you know, may look in play. Republicans say, "Forget it, it's not." But again, here's -- let me offer my first cliche of the day, at least I think it's my first -- turn-out, who's going to show up.

DAVIS: Well, speaking of Carnahan, why is Jean Carnahan having so much trouble in Missouri?

CROWLEY: You know, when I talk to people, and this is Democrats, they say, "If you want a classic textbook case of who has run the best campaign in this country, give it to Jim Talent." He's run a great race. He really has. I mean, he started out -- he's been to every county. He's a name. He ran for governor, and so he's known in the state. He's gone into urban areas. He has advertised in urban areas. He's advertised on black radio. So he has been everywhere, and he's run a great campaign.

SNOW: He's been slamming her on homeland security, right? I mean, he's had some ads saying that she didn't do enough for national security.

CROWLEY: He has. But again, this is dependent on, you know, where he's been, how many people he can bring out. He has been slamming her, and I'll tell you, in the debates, a lot of people thought she put in a weak performance. This is the woman's first politician job. But, you know, she's learned a lot because her husband was a long-time politico, and we all know the wives are in there every bit as much, or the spouses are there every bit as much.

But she has come across and he has tried to paint her ever so gently as someone that doesn't have the experience. It's sort of one of the first races where the guy from the outside says, "I've got more experience than the incumbent," and it's true.

DAVIS: Thanks, Candy.

We'll be talking much more about the election, what it will mean for the president, for Congress and for the national agenda. Up next, we'll talk about the other big story of the past weeks, the Washington area sniper, and how the case has expanded in recent days, as CNN's SATURDAY EDITION continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN ASHCROFT, U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: There are already people who are saying that they don't think the ultimate penalties ought to be available, whether they're editorialists or others who don't believe in the death penalty. I believe that the ultimate sanction ought to be available here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DAVIS: Attorney General John Ashcroft talking Tuesday about the death penalty and how it should be available in the case of the Washington sniper suspect, John Allen Muhammad, the target of a 20- count federal complaint.

Welcome back to CNN's SATURDAY EDITION.

New hints this week that the case may be much wider and much more complicated to prosecute than we thought just a few days ago. In fact, just last night, Washington area police coming out and saying yet another shooting in this area, a liquor store clerk in the Hillandale section of Silver Spring, now connected to this sniper shooting, two full weeks before we believed that the sniper spree began.

LISOVICZ: You know, Patty -- Susan in New York. You know, as if the shootings in the Washington area weren't bad enough, we've been hearing confirmed cases now linked to the sniper in both Alabama and Louisiana.

How wide do investigators think this case could actually go?

DAVIS: Well, police all over the country looking to see were these men in their area, are there any links anywhere else in the country? It's frightening to think about what these people might have done in different areas of the country.

You're right, Susan, Alabama, they're charged in the shooting death of a liquor store clerk there, in fact. And also in Louisiana now they're tied to another killing, because the Bushmaster rifle that they used in the Washington, D.C., area now linked to that.

Also, they're suspects in a case in Washington state. Twenty- one-year-old Kenya Cook, in that instance, was shot, but it was with a .45-caliber semi-automatic handgun.

HINOJOSA: But here's the thing. You know, I mean, everybody is still talking about why. And when you think -- what you're hearing is that they're not cooperating. And I just -- it's like, did these guys sit down and say, "OK, if we ever get caught, we're not going to say a word ever, nothing"?

DAVIS: We know they're not talking to investigators. At least we heard that Muhammad was talking a bit; Malvo not talking at all. In fact, Malvo tried to escape at one point while he was in interrogation, wiggled out of his handcuffs, climbed into the ductwork, but were able to keep him from getting away.

But there's a lot of second-guessing going on here. And in fact, you know, did people see the blue Caprice? Did police ignore signs of the blue Caprice? And there's also questions about a phone call that came in to the, not the sniper hotline, but to Rockville police, they believe by one of the snipers, during that sniper shooting spree.

CROWLEY: Hey, Patty, it's Candy...

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

ROCKVILLE POLICE PHONE OPERATOR: Rockville City Police, (inaudible). This line is recorded.

JOHN ALLEN MUHAMMED: Good morning. Don't say anything, just listen. We're the people that are causing the killing in your area. Look on the Tarot card. It says, "Call me God. Do not release to press." We have called you three times before, trying to set up negotiations. We have gotten no response. People have died.

ROCKVILLE POLICE PHONE OPERATOR: Sir, I need you to...

(CROSSTALK)

ROCKVILLE POLICE PHONE OPERATOR: ... Montgomery County Police hotline. We're not investigating the crime. Would you like the number?

(END AUDIO CLIP)

DAVIS: FBI Director Robert Mueller said no disciplinary action is necessary in that investigation. The FBI is currently conducting a review.

But what investigators are telling us, at least, that this points to perhaps their motive being extortion. Remember that in two of the notes left, they had said they wanted $10 million to stop the killings.

SNOW: How on Earth -- I mean, I'm sorry. I know it's a really tough job for law enforcement, and I know that they had thousands of calls coming in. But what are they saying about that phone call?

DAVIS: Right. Well, they're saying that they don't believe any disciplinary action -- that actually, that she did what she was supposed to do in this case. The sniper hotline was the one that was handling this.

But it certainly raises the question, what if, what if she had dealt with that more directly? And, you know, in one of those phone calls actually that the FBI did get, one of the snipers, the sniper suspects, said, "Well, because you have dropped our phone calls six times, five people had to die." So it does raise a lot of questions.

CROWLEY: Hey, Patty, it's Candy. Let me just ask you -- I mean, first let me reveal that I got phone calls from people going, "Hey, you know about those snipers," and it was clearly kids. But they've got to have had a lot of this sort of stuff. I mean, as bizarre as it seems, you know, looking at that stuff, didn't they get a lot of that business? And also, why don't they have caller ID? That's what I don't get. Did she not, like, write down a number somewhere?

DAVIS: Tens of thousands of leads. They got tens of thousands of leads. And that's maybe...

CROWLEY: But threats specifically, that sort of thing.

DAVIS: ... made this even more difficult.

CROWLEY: Yeah. I mean, don't they get people calling up pretending to be the sniper? I mean that sort of thing. That's why I think it's not quite as bizarre as it seems that she said, oh, listen, can I connect you to so-and-so?

DAVIS: Well, they had to sift through all of these -- you know, thousands and thousands of phone calls. And it's now been revealed, at least the calls into the sniper hotline, not all of them recorded. So that's something that the FBI is looking over very carefully.

SNOW: From crime and punishment, we're going to move back to politics, turning back to the looming election. And have you -- how have -- do you have to be brave or foolish -- I can get this out, sorry -- to predict who will control the Senate? We're going to talk about who's going to control Congress when all of the votes are counted, when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: Presenting the further adventures of Chad and Dimples.

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: Remember Florida?

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: Oh yes.

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: If we don't break free, this vote won't count.

(WHISTLES)

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: Hey voters!

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: Whew, another close call.

ANNOUNCER: Make sure your vote counts. Check your ballot for chads and dimples.

UNIDENTIFIED ACTORS: Don't leave us hanging.

(END VIDEO CLIP) SNOW: That is really a public service announcement running in Cook County, Illinois, around Chicago, reminding voters there to be careful with those darn punch cards.

Welcome back to CNN's SATURDAY EDITION.

Remember two years ago -- who could forget -- all those fine words about the confusion over the ballots and how 2000 would never happen again and how there would never be the kind of recounts that we saw in 2000 because everyone was going to go switch over their machinery, get rid of the darn punch card ballot?

Well, guess what? There are still punch cards in a lot of states out there. In fact, most Americans are Tuesday are going to be voting the same old way they always have. In fact, 1 percent of voters are going to vote with a pencil and paper. I mean, there are still places where that's the way you vote. Lever machines are still out there.

There are some new ATM machines going in, place like Georgia, Florida and Maryland. But even those, there are some worries that they may not be the fix that everybody thought they were going to be.

DAVIS: I'd be petrified if I had to vote by a chad, by hanging chad there.

(LAUGHTER)

HINOJOSA: Well, I mean, the problem is, is that it's almost like it's back on the voter. You know, it's like it's your fault that there were problems.

SNOW: Well, but it is partly, I mean, one thing...

HINOJOSA: But when you're in there, you're just like, OK, let me hit it again and keep -- I mean, what...

SNOW: There was actually a story about in I think it was Los Angeles County, they ran a public service for the primary there, telling people to be careful about punching your ballot. They use punch cards there, too. And they said, "Be careful. Make sure the stylus goes all the way through." They had a rash of people breaking the styluses because they were pushing so hard to make sure that their vote would count.

(LAUGHTER)

MALVEAUX: I mean, in Florida, though, we found all these -- this high-tech stuff going on in the primaries. And it seemed as if, I mean, the problem wasn't the machinery, but people just didn't know how to work the machine.

SNOW: It's training. It's not just the voters. It's the poll workers too. And what happened on primary night in September in Florida also happened here in Montgomery County, Maryland, which was that the actual poll workers, you know, mostly volunteers, a lot of seniors, they didn't know how to use the new equipment or, in some cases, how to shut it down at the end of the night. You know, you have to take out a card and give that to the voting official headquarters. And there was a lot of confusion about procedures and process.

So there have been a lot of changes made out there, I'm told, sort of around the edges, in terms of procedures and trying to make sure that things run more smoothly. But there are a lot of analysts that are really unsure about whether things are going to go well on Tuesday night.

Candy?

CROWLEY: Kate, part of the problem is, I think, that the machinery -- and you know what? You're darned if you and do darned if you don't, because there are some people that say, "We may be praying to bring back the punch ballots when they send all of these people in there that don't know how to work a computer." And I voted in Montgomery County, and it was pretty darn straight. I mean, the ATM machine was harder. But, you know, it scares people, so you've got this sort of generational gap. But beyond that, a lot of these mechanisms were not set up for so close a race. I mean, remember in the past, you know, there were landslides and there were this. And now the country is, like, evenly divided, counties are evenly divided, precincts are evenly divided. And we're just not set up to than exact. I mean, that's the plain truth.

SNOW: Exactly. And it's absolutely the other point that people who watched voting reform, election reform, have made to me, is that, "Look, we're in an atmosphere now where Florida, you know, got everybody's attention, and we are all watching now, not just us, but the parties."

The Democratic Party has trained 10,000 lawyers who happen to -- these are lawyers who happen to live out in, you know, wherever, in Helena, Montana, or you know, upstate New York. These are people that live there anyway who are Democrats who want to help on election night. Ten thousand of them, though, are ready to go, to go to the polling places and be on call and, you know, if there's a problem, there's a lawyer there. And Republicans have lawyers, too.

HINOJOSA: But here's what I want to know. I mean, we're all fascinated with the election, with the intricacies of the voting machines and all of that. But on a national scale, and I guess this is as much for you, Kate, as it is for you, Candy, I mean, are you really feeling that the electorate is revved up?

I kind of -- when I travel, I'm getting a sense of people who are just overwhelmed, exhausted, glad that they're alive, glad that they have a job, not clear that they're going to be able to do anything really in terms of changing their lives with this election. Is that what you're sensing?

CROWLEY: Maria, let me say, you know, in New York, you don't have -- look, midterms there's always low turn-out. We don't expect it will be that much different. There are not that many great races in New York, you know, really close races. But I expect that you will see great turn-out in Florida. I expect you'll see a great turn-out in Texas and Missouri and Minnesota, in places where there are very hot races. Twas ever thus.

But do I think in general people just can't wait to go to the polls Tuesday? No. Do I think they probably should be? Yes, probably.

SNOW: Yes, and we should probably make that point, too, that the more the media talks about how, you know, oh, the races are already over and the turn-out is going to be low, it can become a self- fulfilling prophecy. And you know, nobody wants to suggest that Americans shouldn't get out there and vote.

DAVIS: But does it appear that the Republicans have a lock on the House?

SNOW: It does. I mean, I've been talking to Democrats until I'm blue in the face over the last few days, strategists, Democrats here in Washington. And they, you know, they start out the conversation by saying, "No, we could still win back the House." And they'll even -- they'll gladly sit down with you.

Dick Gephardt was on a plane the other day with some reporters -- not me, I'm not traveling much these days, but there were some other reporters -- and he was mapping out, you know, "OK, we could win this one and this one, and we pick up this one and this one." And they can make the numbers work, the Democrats can.

But privately, they will concede -- everyone, except maybe one person I've talked to over the last few days, has conceded that it doesn't look like it's within their reach to get the House back, which is a very big deal, because they had really hoped to have Dick Gephardt be the new speaker of the House.

CROWLEY: And part of the problem too, Kate, is that, you know -- it sounds like the whole House is up for grabs. But you and I know it's not.

SNOW: Exactly.

CROWLEY: I mean, we are down to maybe eight, 14, 24 seats that might...

SNOW: Twenty...

CROWLEY: ... be competitive.

SNOW: Yes.

CROWLEY: And when you break it down to which ones lean this way and which ones lean that way, you're at about eight to 14. And Democrats would have to win pretty darn near all of them. Just statistically, the odds are against the Democrats. If you're just going to bet on straight odds, you'd probably have to bet on the Republicans just because of the mathematics. SNOW: And why it...

CROWLEY: But, you know, emotion is different.

SNOW: One big reason for why that is, is because remember this year we had a census and there was this thing called redistricting where every state legislature got to sort of redrawn the lines of their maps for their congressional districts based on new population figures.

In most states, that's a very partisan thing. It's very much controlled by the parties and they make sure that those incumbents, you know, who already have a -- you know, they already have a hold on power because they're already in office -- they redrew the maps to make it even better for the incumbents. So in most races, the incumbents have a pretty easy time winning their seat back.

MALVEAUX: Well, we'll roll down Pennsylvania Avenue, from Capitol Hill to the White House. George Bush has invested heavily in the election, raising money, campaigning, making phone calls for this big turnout. What's at stake and what's at risk for him and more, when CNN's SATURDAY EDITION comes back. But first, let's check the top stories in our news alert.

(NEWSBREAK)

SNOW: Still ahead on CNN's SATURDAY EDITION, pocketbook issues and Election Day, as consumer confidence goes down and stocks go up. How Latino voters will show their strength on Tuesday, and what's at stake for President Bush. Plus, the president's weekly radio address, all coming up on CNN's SATURDAY EDITION.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It doesn't matter to me whether you're a Republican, Democrat or independent, you have an obligation. So I'm here to urge you all to do your duty and to go to your coffee shops and your houses of worship, community centers, and urge your fellow citizens to do their duty, as well.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: A get-out-and-vote call from the man they are calling the "campaigner in chief." He's not on the ballot, but he's definitely after votes. And after tagging along with the president this week, I can vouch for what a sprint he is running to Election Day.

I tell you, it is a grueling schedule, absolutely amazing. I mean, they give you these statistics, they talk about 15 states in five days, 17 cities. We're all wondering, how many airplane meals does that mean, you know? Fifty-something, hundreds of them? I mean, you get up at 2 in the morning, you're at Andrews Air Force Base at 4 o'clock, you're flying nonstop. And it is happening so quickly that he is doing these rallies, these campaign "get out the vote" rallies. Really, at the airport in these airport hangars, we are not going anywhere. We are simply at the airport.

DAVIS: So how much sleep does that mean you're getting covering him?

MALVEAUX: You know, I have to say about three hours, four hours a night. It is absolutely amazing. You say, well, if the president can do it, you know, I guess, you know, we can do it, too.

HINOJOSA: But, Suzanne, the message that the president is stumping, it's basically pretty much the same message from place to place to place to place, which, I mean, of course, is just -- must be...

MALVEAUX: Absolutely. But yes, I mean, it's kind of hard to pay attention, because you realize, OK, well, I've heard this before.

But what is really amazing is that it sounds like a Campaign 2004 for President Bush. It has all of the markings. It sounds that way. It feels that way. He gets out there, and the host candidate who happens to be there, introduces the president, they take their seat. And then he gets up there, speaks for about 30 minutes or so, you know, to the applause of everyone. And he essentially goes through the agenda, talking about what he would like to see in 2004.

The administration feels as if the Democratically controlled Senate has blocked much of his legislative agenda. They want to make sure that they have got Democrats and -- well, they've got Republicans dominating both the House and the Senate.

LISOVICZ: You know, Suzanne, I've been intrigued by the lengths, I mean the literal lengths, to what some Republican candidates will do, that they will drive for hundreds of miles just so they can hop on Air Force One with the president and get that all-important photo op, or even better, live videotape for the evening news where they descend the steps of Air Force One with the president.

Are you seeing a lot of that?

MALVEAUX: Well, absolutely. It's amazing the kind of excitement that comes from these candidates and their audiences.

But I have to tell you, statistically and historically, it really does not make that much of a difference when you look at the voting percentages if the president attends your rally or supports you. It's just a blip.

DAVIS: Well, so why bother, then? Why is the president bothering?

MALVEAUX: Well, here is what's interesting. In Pennsylvania, I mean, there was a candidate, Congressman George W. Gekas. And the president gets out there and he says, "Hey, you know, support George W., and I mean both of them." I mean, this is about George W. Bush as well. It is not just about the...

HINOJOSA: Well, what about Iraq? What about Iraq? How much is -- I read in one place that they actually had kept anti-war protesters way far away from the president so he couldn't see it.

How much is that playing into what you're seeing?

MALVEAUX: You know, honestly not very much, because -- I mean, we've seen protesters; there are not a lot of protesters. Of course, as always, they keep them far from the event itself. And now the fact that, you know, we are literally at the airport, I mean, you don't see anyone at all.

But what's really interesting it that is not only the president, but we are seeing the first lady out there has done five trips. She's heading to all of these different states in the next couple of days. The vice president, his wife Lynne Cheney. We even have the advisers from the president, Mary Matalin and Karen Hughes. They call it the Thelma and Louise tour, that are out there just canvassing the area.

But they are very serious. They want a win this, not only for the Republicans, but for Bush as well.

SNOW: But they've got to be doing this at least a little bit because they're worried.

MALVEAUX: Well, they're actually -- they're optimistic that they'll control the House, that they'll keep that lead, although maybe not all six seats. The Senate, still up for grabs.

HINOJOSA: Well, moving from there to one particular segment, which is one thing that's playing out in the campaign, is the new importance of the Latino vote and in places and races where you might not expect it. We'll talk about that when CNN's SATURDAY EDITION comes back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(POLITICAL ACTIVISTS CHANTING IN SPANISH)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HINOJOSA: What's this, a New York governor, a Republican governor, pumping up his amigos?

Well, welcome back to CNN's SATURDAY EDITION.

Both Governor Pataki and his Democratic challenger, Carl McCall, are fresh evidence this week that Latino voters are in demand.

And I've got to tell you, there you are in the South Bronx with a Republican governor campaigning, and you've got members of one of the most -- considered one of the most radical unions, 1199, health care workers, stomping for him, chanting for him. The salsa is blaring out.

You've got Carl McCall, the Democrat, in a little event with South Bronx priests. And they're praying, and it's just like the roles are reversed. Usually, it's the Republicans that might be hanging out with the churchgoers. Very interesting race, what's happening in New York.

CROWLEY: Hey, Maria, it's Candy. That sort of brings up, I think, the main point about the Latino vote. We've seen a lot of polls that say, yes, more Latinos are registered Democratic, but it's really a vote that's up for grabs. And I think your anecdote there sort of shows it.

And I also think of Texas. How do you see it coming into play with -- you've got a Latino running for governor, Sanchez. I'm told there is very heavy early voting down in the valley area where there's a lot of Latino vote. How does it play out? It doesn't necessarily play out Democratic or does it?

HINOJOSA: You know what, Candy, when you talk to Latino political analysts, none of them really are saying that it is that the Latino vote is totally up for grabs. I think what we're looking at is really the complexity or the maturity of the Latino vote.

That there's a sense that somehow you could generalize before that they're all Democrats. Well, it's not that way necessarily across the country. What you're seeing in New York is Latinos voting for a Republican. But what you're seeing in Florida, you're seeing more Latinos -- the vote there is getting interesting because you're getting less of the Cuban-American -- they're getting older. The younger Cuban-Americans perhaps a little bit more liberal. So you've got Florida where you've got Latinos going more Democratic.

So you can't generalize. Even in California...

MALVEAUX: It's not a national trend?

HINOJOSA: It's not really a national trend. I mean, the national trend is that you've got candidates that have spent $9 million on Spanish language ads this time around, which is record- breaking. And the issue is, well, OK, why are they doing Spanish- language ads?

MALVEAUX: Is it effective? Does that work?

HINOJOSA: Well, it depends on who you talk to, but most analysts say that Latinos who are voting are voting in English. They're getting their news from the English-language media. They're reading English-language newspapers. But that the issue of spending $9 million to talk to these voters in Spanish is an issue of respect. It's showing that you understand them. It's really more like, "We want you to know that we know that you know that this is important to you."

Does it really reflect in the polls? Not entirely. But interestingly, you've got in New York an independent conservative, Galisano, who spent $3 million, more than the Republican or the Democrat. His numbers shot up in one week by like 30 points just with his Spanish-language ads.

So it's, you know, it's -- no one knows quite yet.

LISOVICZ: So what effect will the elections have on the economy and the stock market? We'll tackle that issue next when SATURDAY EDITION continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS)

TERRY MCAULIFFE, DNC CHAIRMAN: Are you better off today than you were two years ago? The answer for millions upon millions of Americans is no, and that's why they'll be voting for Democrats.

BUSH: One of the high hurdles is our economy. Anytime people are looking for work and they can't find work means we got a problem in America.

(END VIDEO CLIPS)

LISOVICZ: Everybody is talking about how close some of those midterm elections will be on Tuesday. Investors are holding their breath too, but not about what happens on Tuesday. It's what happens on Wednesday when the Federal Reserve meets on interest rates.

The Fed hasn't done anything on interest rates since last December. It has a lot to consider. We've got consumer sentiment report earlier this week, lowest levels since -- in nine years. And remember, consumer spending accounts for two-thirds of what happens in the economy.

Pretty much done with corporate reporting for the quarter. No bombshells, but everybody ratcheted down their expectations pretty low.

Finally, we had a huge rally in the month of October. Who knew? One of best that ever happened. So are we at the end of the bear market? Could it be?

It's a lot for the Fed to consider, and the Federal Reserve will give its answer on Wednesday.

HINOJOSA: Susan, it's Maria here in D.C. I want to ask you -- we're just kind of switching over here. There was this big headline about this Microsoft decision, another Microsoft decision. And for those of us who are not on top of the Microsoft issue, bring it for us, kind of on the base. And what does it mean in terms of people when we go shopping and we're buying computers, will we see anything different or not?

LISOVICZ: Yes, I mean, you know, in a nutshell, it's a huge victory for Microsoft because it could have been hit with far tougher penalties than what was originally imposed. Remember, a couple of years ago a federal judge ordered that the company be split into two.

Yes, Microsoft will have to change its practices. That means its competitors with software will have easier access to Microsoft. When you buy a computer, you won't only have to have Microsoft operation software in your computer. Is it better for the consumer? Sure, more choice is always better for the consumer.

But it's not good enough, as far as its competitors are concerned. You already have Sun Microsystems saying that it's going to file a multi, multi-million dollar lawsuit.

AOL-Time Warner, the parent company of this network, says that what happened yesterday with the judge's decision really makes a weak settlement stronger. So it depends on who you talk to.

But yes, it's ultimately better for the consumer that the 800- pound gorilla that is Microsoft is restrained a little bit.

DAVIS: Well, so getting back to the economy and politics -- and we can bring in our political reporters here -- is anybody going to pay on Election Day for that drop in consumer confidence for the economy not doing so well?

SNOW: Not as much as the Democrats were hoping, I think. And Candy can pick up on this, too. I mean, I think...

CROWLEY: Yes, I think you're right, absolutely not as much as the Democrats would like. Because what the polls also show is they don't necessarily blame George Bush, which is a really sort of interesting thing.

And remember, this is -- here we are three days before an election, and it's the first time the economy's ever kind of moved anything like a headline. I mean, we've gone through, you know, the war on Iraq and then the sniper. And so, Democrats try as they might, and they tried mightily, couldn't get that economy out there.

And just now we're hearing the, you know, were you better off than you were two years ago and that kind of thing. But it doesn't play as well as they thought it might. And they haven't got a whole -- much time left to push it out there.

MALVEAUX: Candy, this is Suzanne. I mean, clearly the Bush administration really knows that as well, because we have seen the president go out there and just kind of as a preemptive strike, if you will, actually talk about the economy and say, "Yes, well, you know, take a look at the tax cut here, the, you know, $1.3 trillion tax cut or terrorism insurance. It's not our fault that the economy is the way it is." But certainly they don't feel as if they are really going to be paying for it in the midterm elections.

DAVIS: Susan, does Wall Street care? Does Wall Street -- are they watching the elections?

LISOVICZ: They are watching it, and they don't really care actually. (LAUGHTER)

You know, what Wall Street likes most of all is gridlock, and you have that now. Having said that, there is a call for blood, given the wave of corporate scandals that we've seen. So the Republican Party, which is traditionally seen as the more hands-off, let business do what business wants to do, has to be more proactive.

I mean, both parties know that their constituents want blood. They have lost money. They've lost their -- part of their or, in some cases, all of their retirement savings, so they definitely want action. I'm sure you're hearing that.

And we are seeing that, perhaps not as quickly as some constituents want, but we did have Andrew Fastow indicted on Thursday. And it was nearly 80 counts, which is, from my view, highly unusual. And that just shows the severity of the charges that he's implicated with, but also the earnestness which the Department of Justice wants to prosecute this case.

CROWLEY: Susan, you touched on this a bit, but that's -- you know, we've talked a lot about the investor vote, you know, because so many people have 401(k)s and they saw them go down. Democrats hoped that that would bring some -- bring them some more votes. We don't see any sign of that in the polling.

LISOVICZ: No, we don't. But, you know, I think that there are a whole lot of issues, quite frankly, that, you know, are on their minds as well.

And, you know, I mean, basically what voters care most about is their jobs. And if their candidates can address their jobs and keeping their local economy sound or propping it up, that's something that really matters to them.

SNOW: Susan, thanks.

That's our SATURDAY EDITION for this weekend. My thanks to all of my colleagues.

Just ahead a news alert, CNN's People in the News with Melissa Etheridge and Celine Dion. But first, the president's weekly radio address.

(BEGIN AUDIOTAPE)

BUSH: Good morning.

The federal courts play a central role in American justice, protecting the innocent, punishing the guilty and upholding the rule of law.

Yet our federal courts today are in crisis. The judicial confirmation process does not work as it should. Nominees are too often mistreated, votes are delayed, hearings are denied, and dozens of federal judgeships sit empty, endangering the quality of justice in America.

Since coming into office I have sent to the Senate 32 nominees for the Federal Courts of Appeals. These nominees are men and women with experience, intelligence, character and bipartisan home-state support. They represent the mainstream of American law and American values, yet the Senate has confirmed only 14 of these 32 nominees.

As of this week, 15 of my appeals court nominees will have been forced to wait over a year for a hearing, which is more than under the previous nine presidents combined. There is no good reason why any nominee should endure a year, a year and a half or more, without the courtesy of an up or down floor vote.

Whatever the explanation, we clearly have a poisoned atmosphere in which well-qualified nominees are neither voted up nor voted down. They're just left in limbo. If this situation persists and judicial vacancies go unfulfilled, the federal courts will be unable to act in a timely manner to enforce the criminal laws, the environmental laws, and the civil rights laws that affect the lives of every American. The judicial crisis is the result of a broken system, and we have a duty to repair it. I want to work with the Senate to fashion a new approach to filling federal court vacancies, a bipartisan approach that would apply now and in the future.

This week I have offered four proposals to break the log jam in Washington and bring the federal courts to full strength.

First, I call on federal judges to notify the president of their intention to retire at least a year in advance, whenever possible, because the nomination and confirmation of a federal judge is a lengthy process. Judges who retire without advanced notice can unintentionally create a judicial vacancy for many months.

Second, I propose that presidents submit a nomination to the Senate within 180 days of receiving notice of a federal court vacancy or intended retirement. This will continue but speed up the process of obtaining recommendations and evaluations from home-state senators and others while leaving ample time for presidents to choose nominees of the highest quality.

Third, I called on the Senate Judiciary Committee to commit to holding a hearing within 90 days of receiving a nomination. A firm deadline is the best way to ensure that judicial nominees are promptly considered. And 90 days is more than enough time for the committee to conduct necessary research before holding a hearing, as Democrat senators have recognized in the past.

Finally, I called on the full Senate to commit to an up or down floor vote on each nominee no later than 180 days after the nomination is submitted. This is a very generous period of time that will allow all senators to evaluate nominees and have their votes counted.

My proposals are fair to all parties and would apply regardless of who is president or which party controls the Senate.

The current state of affairs is not merely another round of political wrangling. It is a disturbing failure to meet a responsibility under the Constitution, and it is harming the administration of justice in America. Our country deserves better, the process can work better, and we can make it better. The Constitution has given us a shared duty, and we must meet that duty together.

Thank you for listening.

(END AUDIOTAPE)

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com




D.C.; Campaign Shows Off Power of Latino Voters>


Aired November 2, 2002 - 10:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SR. POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Welcome to CNN's SATURDAY EDITION, where our journalists have the inside scoop on the stories we have covered all week. I'm Candy Crowley.
The countdown to Election Day, the tightest and the toughest races.

PATTY DAVIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Patty Davis. The sniper case and how it's expanding both in and beyond the Washington, D.C., area.

KATE SNOW, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm Kate Snow. How the election will determine who controls Congress, and are we in for another long night on Tuesday?

MARIA HINOJOSA, CNN URBAIN AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: I'm Maria Hinojosa. How the campaign shows off the new power of Latino voters.

SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN FINANCIAL NEWS CORRESPONDENT: I'm Susan Lisovicz In New York, where investors aren't talking about the outcome of the midterm elections on Tuesday. They're talking about what happens on Wednesday when the Federal Reserve meets on interest rates.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: And I'm Suzanne Malveaux. What's at stake for President Bush after non-stop campaigning in this election?

We'll be talking about all of these stories, and we'll listen to the president's weekly radio address at the end of the hour. But first, a check on what's making headlines at this hour.

(NEWSBREAK)

CROWLEY: Well, when I was covering the Bush campaign at a parallel time about two years ago, he would go from state to state saying, "It's voting time in Arkansas. It's voting time in Tennessee." Well, it's voting time in America.

I really can't remember a time, and I won't tell you how long I've been doing this, that it's been this exciting. And I can tell that just from the phone calls. You will call someone in a given hour on the Republican side, "How are things going"? "Things are going great. Oh my God, we're up, we're up, we're up." You call the next hour, and they're angry. I mean, it is that tight, that they go from sort of hour to hour. And they're not really sure what race to focus on, because you know what? They've had to focus on them all.

SNOW: And there is so much at stake here, Candy. Talk about Minnesota a little bit, because I know you've been following that very closely. That's one of those races, with Wellstone's death, that is getting so much focus right now.

CROWLEY: Wow, it has. And a lot of focus on Walter Mondale, much to the chagrin of the Coleman's campaign. I'll tell you, I got some calls from Republicans saying, "OK, so, you know, you all now have spent, you know, 20 minutes on Walter Mondale. Could you mention that Norm Coleman's running?" So, you know, this is tough for Norm Coleman.

But I'll tell you one thing that really helped Republicans a lot, and that's that much-criticized memorial for Paul Wellstone, which turned at the end into, really, a political rally. And what that did was sort of give Republicans some grace to go back to the campaign. They'll sort of point out that when Mel Carnahan died two years ago in Missouri and he was running against John Ashcroft, John Ashcroft after the funeral went right up with campaign ads, and Missourians didn't like it. They said, "Oh, he's not respecting the memory." But that was a very somber funeral for Mel Carnahan. This was different. And Republicans think, in a certain way, that pep rally gave Norm Coleman some running ground.

MALVEAUX: Candy, that really was so political. I mean, even Vice President Dick Cheney who -- his staffers had called and asked if he could participate, if at least he could show up to express his condolences, and the family declined and said, "No, thank you." I mean, it really was, to a certain extent, when you talk with them, an embarrassment because they wanted to extend that. But I mean, the family was saying, "Look, we're worried about the security." And also I think they took offense to some Republicans the day before who were already campaigning.

CROWLEY: Yes. It's just been -- you know, it's sort of a who went first.

You know what? Within three hours, I would say, of the plane crash which killed Paul Wellstone and his wife and his daughter and others that were on that plane, you were hearing the Democrats go, you know, "Walter Mondale, Walter Mondale would be really good."

It was, you know, I think -- I thought it was a little bit overboard for the Democrats to complain about it so publicly. They had, after all, been out there talking about, "We're going to put Mondale out there." So there's enough blame to go around.

HINOJOSA: Candy, it's Maria here. I'm just wondering how much has the discussion come up about, can Mondale be as progressive as Wellstone was? I mean, he's really got to carry this torch not only for Wellstone, but the entire country that's looking at this progressive, really liberal voice that's gone now. CROWLEY: Well, I hate to sort of be the cynic here, but at this point it's not about that. You know, we're in the last -- I mean, it's a five-day campaign for Mondale. All they want is that seat, OK.

Mondale is a liberal. He was even that when the L word was a bad word. He's certainly not as progressive as Paul Wellstone. But, you know, Paul Wellstone was in a really touch race, and there was no real certainty that he was going to be reelected. And while in his death, his value and his stature has risen, the fact of the matter is that Minnesota has changed since they first elected him and it wasn't a certainty that he was going to get elected.

LISOVICZ: You know, Candy, it's Susan in New York. You know, a lot of times when you see the untimely death of a candidate -- and we realize that Paul Wellstone was in this neck-and-neck race -- you have a tremendous sympathy vote. That's why you see a lot of widows, for instance, replace their husbands in their seat.

How much of a sympathy vote is there? And the fact that Walter Mondale, who was such an established figure in Minnesota, how much will that carry him?

CROWLEY: Well, that's certainly Norm Coleman's problem. He's running against a memory and an icon here, OK.

Look, Republicans will point out a couple of differences. The first thing is Mel Carnahan's name in Missouri, when he was elected as the first dead man ever elected to the Senate, his name was still on the ballot. Paul Wellstone's name is not on the ballot, which is why they need a Walter Mondale. They needed somebody with a name. So there is a difference there.

But there is no doubt that people go to the polls and want some way to express their sympathy. This was an awful thing. On the other hand, you know, did they anger the Republican base, did they anger independents, which is really much more apropos to this discussion, when they had that big rally? And did that make them want to go out and vote for Norm Coleman?

So, you know, yes, there will be some sympathy. The question is whether there will also be some sympathy for Norm Coleman who has been doing this for 18 months and says, "Here's my agenda."

SNOW: Candy, it's not just Minnesota too.

CROWLEY: Right.

SNOW: I mean, we're talking, what, six really, really close races in the Senate now. The Senate being held by one seat by the Democrats.

I mean, what do you think is the -- what are the other races that we should be keeping our eyes on?

CROWLEY: Oh, man. How long do we have?

(LAUGHTER)

Well, look, there are just so many great races out there, you know. I feel like Patton in that movie, "I love it, God help me, I love it," you know, because there's...

(LAUGHTER)

... just so -- but, you know, South Dakota, where you have a hand-picked candidate by President Bush running against a Democrat in Tom Daschle's home state. Really close; can't pick it.

Missouri, Mel Carnahan's widow Jean Carnahan is up against a man named Jim Talent, also picked by the White House.

You know, on and on. Arkansas, New Hampshire, even Texas, you know, may look in play. Republicans say, "Forget it, it's not." But again, here's -- let me offer my first cliche of the day, at least I think it's my first -- turn-out, who's going to show up.

DAVIS: Well, speaking of Carnahan, why is Jean Carnahan having so much trouble in Missouri?

CROWLEY: You know, when I talk to people, and this is Democrats, they say, "If you want a classic textbook case of who has run the best campaign in this country, give it to Jim Talent." He's run a great race. He really has. I mean, he started out -- he's been to every county. He's a name. He ran for governor, and so he's known in the state. He's gone into urban areas. He has advertised in urban areas. He's advertised on black radio. So he has been everywhere, and he's run a great campaign.

SNOW: He's been slamming her on homeland security, right? I mean, he's had some ads saying that she didn't do enough for national security.

CROWLEY: He has. But again, this is dependent on, you know, where he's been, how many people he can bring out. He has been slamming her, and I'll tell you, in the debates, a lot of people thought she put in a weak performance. This is the woman's first politician job. But, you know, she's learned a lot because her husband was a long-time politico, and we all know the wives are in there every bit as much, or the spouses are there every bit as much.

But she has come across and he has tried to paint her ever so gently as someone that doesn't have the experience. It's sort of one of the first races where the guy from the outside says, "I've got more experience than the incumbent," and it's true.

DAVIS: Thanks, Candy.

We'll be talking much more about the election, what it will mean for the president, for Congress and for the national agenda. Up next, we'll talk about the other big story of the past weeks, the Washington area sniper, and how the case has expanded in recent days, as CNN's SATURDAY EDITION continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN ASHCROFT, U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: There are already people who are saying that they don't think the ultimate penalties ought to be available, whether they're editorialists or others who don't believe in the death penalty. I believe that the ultimate sanction ought to be available here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DAVIS: Attorney General John Ashcroft talking Tuesday about the death penalty and how it should be available in the case of the Washington sniper suspect, John Allen Muhammad, the target of a 20- count federal complaint.

Welcome back to CNN's SATURDAY EDITION.

New hints this week that the case may be much wider and much more complicated to prosecute than we thought just a few days ago. In fact, just last night, Washington area police coming out and saying yet another shooting in this area, a liquor store clerk in the Hillandale section of Silver Spring, now connected to this sniper shooting, two full weeks before we believed that the sniper spree began.

LISOVICZ: You know, Patty -- Susan in New York. You know, as if the shootings in the Washington area weren't bad enough, we've been hearing confirmed cases now linked to the sniper in both Alabama and Louisiana.

How wide do investigators think this case could actually go?

DAVIS: Well, police all over the country looking to see were these men in their area, are there any links anywhere else in the country? It's frightening to think about what these people might have done in different areas of the country.

You're right, Susan, Alabama, they're charged in the shooting death of a liquor store clerk there, in fact. And also in Louisiana now they're tied to another killing, because the Bushmaster rifle that they used in the Washington, D.C., area now linked to that.

Also, they're suspects in a case in Washington state. Twenty- one-year-old Kenya Cook, in that instance, was shot, but it was with a .45-caliber semi-automatic handgun.

HINOJOSA: But here's the thing. You know, I mean, everybody is still talking about why. And when you think -- what you're hearing is that they're not cooperating. And I just -- it's like, did these guys sit down and say, "OK, if we ever get caught, we're not going to say a word ever, nothing"?

DAVIS: We know they're not talking to investigators. At least we heard that Muhammad was talking a bit; Malvo not talking at all. In fact, Malvo tried to escape at one point while he was in interrogation, wiggled out of his handcuffs, climbed into the ductwork, but were able to keep him from getting away.

But there's a lot of second-guessing going on here. And in fact, you know, did people see the blue Caprice? Did police ignore signs of the blue Caprice? And there's also questions about a phone call that came in to the, not the sniper hotline, but to Rockville police, they believe by one of the snipers, during that sniper shooting spree.

CROWLEY: Hey, Patty, it's Candy...

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

ROCKVILLE POLICE PHONE OPERATOR: Rockville City Police, (inaudible). This line is recorded.

JOHN ALLEN MUHAMMED: Good morning. Don't say anything, just listen. We're the people that are causing the killing in your area. Look on the Tarot card. It says, "Call me God. Do not release to press." We have called you three times before, trying to set up negotiations. We have gotten no response. People have died.

ROCKVILLE POLICE PHONE OPERATOR: Sir, I need you to...

(CROSSTALK)

ROCKVILLE POLICE PHONE OPERATOR: ... Montgomery County Police hotline. We're not investigating the crime. Would you like the number?

(END AUDIO CLIP)

DAVIS: FBI Director Robert Mueller said no disciplinary action is necessary in that investigation. The FBI is currently conducting a review.

But what investigators are telling us, at least, that this points to perhaps their motive being extortion. Remember that in two of the notes left, they had said they wanted $10 million to stop the killings.

SNOW: How on Earth -- I mean, I'm sorry. I know it's a really tough job for law enforcement, and I know that they had thousands of calls coming in. But what are they saying about that phone call?

DAVIS: Right. Well, they're saying that they don't believe any disciplinary action -- that actually, that she did what she was supposed to do in this case. The sniper hotline was the one that was handling this.

But it certainly raises the question, what if, what if she had dealt with that more directly? And, you know, in one of those phone calls actually that the FBI did get, one of the snipers, the sniper suspects, said, "Well, because you have dropped our phone calls six times, five people had to die." So it does raise a lot of questions.

CROWLEY: Hey, Patty, it's Candy. Let me just ask you -- I mean, first let me reveal that I got phone calls from people going, "Hey, you know about those snipers," and it was clearly kids. But they've got to have had a lot of this sort of stuff. I mean, as bizarre as it seems, you know, looking at that stuff, didn't they get a lot of that business? And also, why don't they have caller ID? That's what I don't get. Did she not, like, write down a number somewhere?

DAVIS: Tens of thousands of leads. They got tens of thousands of leads. And that's maybe...

CROWLEY: But threats specifically, that sort of thing.

DAVIS: ... made this even more difficult.

CROWLEY: Yeah. I mean, don't they get people calling up pretending to be the sniper? I mean that sort of thing. That's why I think it's not quite as bizarre as it seems that she said, oh, listen, can I connect you to so-and-so?

DAVIS: Well, they had to sift through all of these -- you know, thousands and thousands of phone calls. And it's now been revealed, at least the calls into the sniper hotline, not all of them recorded. So that's something that the FBI is looking over very carefully.

SNOW: From crime and punishment, we're going to move back to politics, turning back to the looming election. And have you -- how have -- do you have to be brave or foolish -- I can get this out, sorry -- to predict who will control the Senate? We're going to talk about who's going to control Congress when all of the votes are counted, when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: Presenting the further adventures of Chad and Dimples.

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: Remember Florida?

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: Oh yes.

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: If we don't break free, this vote won't count.

(WHISTLES)

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: Hey voters!

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: Whew, another close call.

ANNOUNCER: Make sure your vote counts. Check your ballot for chads and dimples.

UNIDENTIFIED ACTORS: Don't leave us hanging.

(END VIDEO CLIP) SNOW: That is really a public service announcement running in Cook County, Illinois, around Chicago, reminding voters there to be careful with those darn punch cards.

Welcome back to CNN's SATURDAY EDITION.

Remember two years ago -- who could forget -- all those fine words about the confusion over the ballots and how 2000 would never happen again and how there would never be the kind of recounts that we saw in 2000 because everyone was going to go switch over their machinery, get rid of the darn punch card ballot?

Well, guess what? There are still punch cards in a lot of states out there. In fact, most Americans are Tuesday are going to be voting the same old way they always have. In fact, 1 percent of voters are going to vote with a pencil and paper. I mean, there are still places where that's the way you vote. Lever machines are still out there.

There are some new ATM machines going in, place like Georgia, Florida and Maryland. But even those, there are some worries that they may not be the fix that everybody thought they were going to be.

DAVIS: I'd be petrified if I had to vote by a chad, by hanging chad there.

(LAUGHTER)

HINOJOSA: Well, I mean, the problem is, is that it's almost like it's back on the voter. You know, it's like it's your fault that there were problems.

SNOW: Well, but it is partly, I mean, one thing...

HINOJOSA: But when you're in there, you're just like, OK, let me hit it again and keep -- I mean, what...

SNOW: There was actually a story about in I think it was Los Angeles County, they ran a public service for the primary there, telling people to be careful about punching your ballot. They use punch cards there, too. And they said, "Be careful. Make sure the stylus goes all the way through." They had a rash of people breaking the styluses because they were pushing so hard to make sure that their vote would count.

(LAUGHTER)

MALVEAUX: I mean, in Florida, though, we found all these -- this high-tech stuff going on in the primaries. And it seemed as if, I mean, the problem wasn't the machinery, but people just didn't know how to work the machine.

SNOW: It's training. It's not just the voters. It's the poll workers too. And what happened on primary night in September in Florida also happened here in Montgomery County, Maryland, which was that the actual poll workers, you know, mostly volunteers, a lot of seniors, they didn't know how to use the new equipment or, in some cases, how to shut it down at the end of the night. You know, you have to take out a card and give that to the voting official headquarters. And there was a lot of confusion about procedures and process.

So there have been a lot of changes made out there, I'm told, sort of around the edges, in terms of procedures and trying to make sure that things run more smoothly. But there are a lot of analysts that are really unsure about whether things are going to go well on Tuesday night.

Candy?

CROWLEY: Kate, part of the problem is, I think, that the machinery -- and you know what? You're darned if you and do darned if you don't, because there are some people that say, "We may be praying to bring back the punch ballots when they send all of these people in there that don't know how to work a computer." And I voted in Montgomery County, and it was pretty darn straight. I mean, the ATM machine was harder. But, you know, it scares people, so you've got this sort of generational gap. But beyond that, a lot of these mechanisms were not set up for so close a race. I mean, remember in the past, you know, there were landslides and there were this. And now the country is, like, evenly divided, counties are evenly divided, precincts are evenly divided. And we're just not set up to than exact. I mean, that's the plain truth.

SNOW: Exactly. And it's absolutely the other point that people who watched voting reform, election reform, have made to me, is that, "Look, we're in an atmosphere now where Florida, you know, got everybody's attention, and we are all watching now, not just us, but the parties."

The Democratic Party has trained 10,000 lawyers who happen to -- these are lawyers who happen to live out in, you know, wherever, in Helena, Montana, or you know, upstate New York. These are people that live there anyway who are Democrats who want to help on election night. Ten thousand of them, though, are ready to go, to go to the polling places and be on call and, you know, if there's a problem, there's a lawyer there. And Republicans have lawyers, too.

HINOJOSA: But here's what I want to know. I mean, we're all fascinated with the election, with the intricacies of the voting machines and all of that. But on a national scale, and I guess this is as much for you, Kate, as it is for you, Candy, I mean, are you really feeling that the electorate is revved up?

I kind of -- when I travel, I'm getting a sense of people who are just overwhelmed, exhausted, glad that they're alive, glad that they have a job, not clear that they're going to be able to do anything really in terms of changing their lives with this election. Is that what you're sensing?

CROWLEY: Maria, let me say, you know, in New York, you don't have -- look, midterms there's always low turn-out. We don't expect it will be that much different. There are not that many great races in New York, you know, really close races. But I expect that you will see great turn-out in Florida. I expect you'll see a great turn-out in Texas and Missouri and Minnesota, in places where there are very hot races. Twas ever thus.

But do I think in general people just can't wait to go to the polls Tuesday? No. Do I think they probably should be? Yes, probably.

SNOW: Yes, and we should probably make that point, too, that the more the media talks about how, you know, oh, the races are already over and the turn-out is going to be low, it can become a self- fulfilling prophecy. And you know, nobody wants to suggest that Americans shouldn't get out there and vote.

DAVIS: But does it appear that the Republicans have a lock on the House?

SNOW: It does. I mean, I've been talking to Democrats until I'm blue in the face over the last few days, strategists, Democrats here in Washington. And they, you know, they start out the conversation by saying, "No, we could still win back the House." And they'll even -- they'll gladly sit down with you.

Dick Gephardt was on a plane the other day with some reporters -- not me, I'm not traveling much these days, but there were some other reporters -- and he was mapping out, you know, "OK, we could win this one and this one, and we pick up this one and this one." And they can make the numbers work, the Democrats can.

But privately, they will concede -- everyone, except maybe one person I've talked to over the last few days, has conceded that it doesn't look like it's within their reach to get the House back, which is a very big deal, because they had really hoped to have Dick Gephardt be the new speaker of the House.

CROWLEY: And part of the problem too, Kate, is that, you know -- it sounds like the whole House is up for grabs. But you and I know it's not.

SNOW: Exactly.

CROWLEY: I mean, we are down to maybe eight, 14, 24 seats that might...

SNOW: Twenty...

CROWLEY: ... be competitive.

SNOW: Yes.

CROWLEY: And when you break it down to which ones lean this way and which ones lean that way, you're at about eight to 14. And Democrats would have to win pretty darn near all of them. Just statistically, the odds are against the Democrats. If you're just going to bet on straight odds, you'd probably have to bet on the Republicans just because of the mathematics. SNOW: And why it...

CROWLEY: But, you know, emotion is different.

SNOW: One big reason for why that is, is because remember this year we had a census and there was this thing called redistricting where every state legislature got to sort of redrawn the lines of their maps for their congressional districts based on new population figures.

In most states, that's a very partisan thing. It's very much controlled by the parties and they make sure that those incumbents, you know, who already have a -- you know, they already have a hold on power because they're already in office -- they redrew the maps to make it even better for the incumbents. So in most races, the incumbents have a pretty easy time winning their seat back.

MALVEAUX: Well, we'll roll down Pennsylvania Avenue, from Capitol Hill to the White House. George Bush has invested heavily in the election, raising money, campaigning, making phone calls for this big turnout. What's at stake and what's at risk for him and more, when CNN's SATURDAY EDITION comes back. But first, let's check the top stories in our news alert.

(NEWSBREAK)

SNOW: Still ahead on CNN's SATURDAY EDITION, pocketbook issues and Election Day, as consumer confidence goes down and stocks go up. How Latino voters will show their strength on Tuesday, and what's at stake for President Bush. Plus, the president's weekly radio address, all coming up on CNN's SATURDAY EDITION.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It doesn't matter to me whether you're a Republican, Democrat or independent, you have an obligation. So I'm here to urge you all to do your duty and to go to your coffee shops and your houses of worship, community centers, and urge your fellow citizens to do their duty, as well.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: A get-out-and-vote call from the man they are calling the "campaigner in chief." He's not on the ballot, but he's definitely after votes. And after tagging along with the president this week, I can vouch for what a sprint he is running to Election Day.

I tell you, it is a grueling schedule, absolutely amazing. I mean, they give you these statistics, they talk about 15 states in five days, 17 cities. We're all wondering, how many airplane meals does that mean, you know? Fifty-something, hundreds of them? I mean, you get up at 2 in the morning, you're at Andrews Air Force Base at 4 o'clock, you're flying nonstop. And it is happening so quickly that he is doing these rallies, these campaign "get out the vote" rallies. Really, at the airport in these airport hangars, we are not going anywhere. We are simply at the airport.

DAVIS: So how much sleep does that mean you're getting covering him?

MALVEAUX: You know, I have to say about three hours, four hours a night. It is absolutely amazing. You say, well, if the president can do it, you know, I guess, you know, we can do it, too.

HINOJOSA: But, Suzanne, the message that the president is stumping, it's basically pretty much the same message from place to place to place to place, which, I mean, of course, is just -- must be...

MALVEAUX: Absolutely. But yes, I mean, it's kind of hard to pay attention, because you realize, OK, well, I've heard this before.

But what is really amazing is that it sounds like a Campaign 2004 for President Bush. It has all of the markings. It sounds that way. It feels that way. He gets out there, and the host candidate who happens to be there, introduces the president, they take their seat. And then he gets up there, speaks for about 30 minutes or so, you know, to the applause of everyone. And he essentially goes through the agenda, talking about what he would like to see in 2004.

The administration feels as if the Democratically controlled Senate has blocked much of his legislative agenda. They want to make sure that they have got Democrats and -- well, they've got Republicans dominating both the House and the Senate.

LISOVICZ: You know, Suzanne, I've been intrigued by the lengths, I mean the literal lengths, to what some Republican candidates will do, that they will drive for hundreds of miles just so they can hop on Air Force One with the president and get that all-important photo op, or even better, live videotape for the evening news where they descend the steps of Air Force One with the president.

Are you seeing a lot of that?

MALVEAUX: Well, absolutely. It's amazing the kind of excitement that comes from these candidates and their audiences.

But I have to tell you, statistically and historically, it really does not make that much of a difference when you look at the voting percentages if the president attends your rally or supports you. It's just a blip.

DAVIS: Well, so why bother, then? Why is the president bothering?

MALVEAUX: Well, here is what's interesting. In Pennsylvania, I mean, there was a candidate, Congressman George W. Gekas. And the president gets out there and he says, "Hey, you know, support George W., and I mean both of them." I mean, this is about George W. Bush as well. It is not just about the...

HINOJOSA: Well, what about Iraq? What about Iraq? How much is -- I read in one place that they actually had kept anti-war protesters way far away from the president so he couldn't see it.

How much is that playing into what you're seeing?

MALVEAUX: You know, honestly not very much, because -- I mean, we've seen protesters; there are not a lot of protesters. Of course, as always, they keep them far from the event itself. And now the fact that, you know, we are literally at the airport, I mean, you don't see anyone at all.

But what's really interesting it that is not only the president, but we are seeing the first lady out there has done five trips. She's heading to all of these different states in the next couple of days. The vice president, his wife Lynne Cheney. We even have the advisers from the president, Mary Matalin and Karen Hughes. They call it the Thelma and Louise tour, that are out there just canvassing the area.

But they are very serious. They want a win this, not only for the Republicans, but for Bush as well.

SNOW: But they've got to be doing this at least a little bit because they're worried.

MALVEAUX: Well, they're actually -- they're optimistic that they'll control the House, that they'll keep that lead, although maybe not all six seats. The Senate, still up for grabs.

HINOJOSA: Well, moving from there to one particular segment, which is one thing that's playing out in the campaign, is the new importance of the Latino vote and in places and races where you might not expect it. We'll talk about that when CNN's SATURDAY EDITION comes back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(POLITICAL ACTIVISTS CHANTING IN SPANISH)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HINOJOSA: What's this, a New York governor, a Republican governor, pumping up his amigos?

Well, welcome back to CNN's SATURDAY EDITION.

Both Governor Pataki and his Democratic challenger, Carl McCall, are fresh evidence this week that Latino voters are in demand.

And I've got to tell you, there you are in the South Bronx with a Republican governor campaigning, and you've got members of one of the most -- considered one of the most radical unions, 1199, health care workers, stomping for him, chanting for him. The salsa is blaring out.

You've got Carl McCall, the Democrat, in a little event with South Bronx priests. And they're praying, and it's just like the roles are reversed. Usually, it's the Republicans that might be hanging out with the churchgoers. Very interesting race, what's happening in New York.

CROWLEY: Hey, Maria, it's Candy. That sort of brings up, I think, the main point about the Latino vote. We've seen a lot of polls that say, yes, more Latinos are registered Democratic, but it's really a vote that's up for grabs. And I think your anecdote there sort of shows it.

And I also think of Texas. How do you see it coming into play with -- you've got a Latino running for governor, Sanchez. I'm told there is very heavy early voting down in the valley area where there's a lot of Latino vote. How does it play out? It doesn't necessarily play out Democratic or does it?

HINOJOSA: You know what, Candy, when you talk to Latino political analysts, none of them really are saying that it is that the Latino vote is totally up for grabs. I think what we're looking at is really the complexity or the maturity of the Latino vote.

That there's a sense that somehow you could generalize before that they're all Democrats. Well, it's not that way necessarily across the country. What you're seeing in New York is Latinos voting for a Republican. But what you're seeing in Florida, you're seeing more Latinos -- the vote there is getting interesting because you're getting less of the Cuban-American -- they're getting older. The younger Cuban-Americans perhaps a little bit more liberal. So you've got Florida where you've got Latinos going more Democratic.

So you can't generalize. Even in California...

MALVEAUX: It's not a national trend?

HINOJOSA: It's not really a national trend. I mean, the national trend is that you've got candidates that have spent $9 million on Spanish language ads this time around, which is record- breaking. And the issue is, well, OK, why are they doing Spanish- language ads?

MALVEAUX: Is it effective? Does that work?

HINOJOSA: Well, it depends on who you talk to, but most analysts say that Latinos who are voting are voting in English. They're getting their news from the English-language media. They're reading English-language newspapers. But that the issue of spending $9 million to talk to these voters in Spanish is an issue of respect. It's showing that you understand them. It's really more like, "We want you to know that we know that you know that this is important to you."

Does it really reflect in the polls? Not entirely. But interestingly, you've got in New York an independent conservative, Galisano, who spent $3 million, more than the Republican or the Democrat. His numbers shot up in one week by like 30 points just with his Spanish-language ads.

So it's, you know, it's -- no one knows quite yet.

LISOVICZ: So what effect will the elections have on the economy and the stock market? We'll tackle that issue next when SATURDAY EDITION continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS)

TERRY MCAULIFFE, DNC CHAIRMAN: Are you better off today than you were two years ago? The answer for millions upon millions of Americans is no, and that's why they'll be voting for Democrats.

BUSH: One of the high hurdles is our economy. Anytime people are looking for work and they can't find work means we got a problem in America.

(END VIDEO CLIPS)

LISOVICZ: Everybody is talking about how close some of those midterm elections will be on Tuesday. Investors are holding their breath too, but not about what happens on Tuesday. It's what happens on Wednesday when the Federal Reserve meets on interest rates.

The Fed hasn't done anything on interest rates since last December. It has a lot to consider. We've got consumer sentiment report earlier this week, lowest levels since -- in nine years. And remember, consumer spending accounts for two-thirds of what happens in the economy.

Pretty much done with corporate reporting for the quarter. No bombshells, but everybody ratcheted down their expectations pretty low.

Finally, we had a huge rally in the month of October. Who knew? One of best that ever happened. So are we at the end of the bear market? Could it be?

It's a lot for the Fed to consider, and the Federal Reserve will give its answer on Wednesday.

HINOJOSA: Susan, it's Maria here in D.C. I want to ask you -- we're just kind of switching over here. There was this big headline about this Microsoft decision, another Microsoft decision. And for those of us who are not on top of the Microsoft issue, bring it for us, kind of on the base. And what does it mean in terms of people when we go shopping and we're buying computers, will we see anything different or not?

LISOVICZ: Yes, I mean, you know, in a nutshell, it's a huge victory for Microsoft because it could have been hit with far tougher penalties than what was originally imposed. Remember, a couple of years ago a federal judge ordered that the company be split into two.

Yes, Microsoft will have to change its practices. That means its competitors with software will have easier access to Microsoft. When you buy a computer, you won't only have to have Microsoft operation software in your computer. Is it better for the consumer? Sure, more choice is always better for the consumer.

But it's not good enough, as far as its competitors are concerned. You already have Sun Microsystems saying that it's going to file a multi, multi-million dollar lawsuit.

AOL-Time Warner, the parent company of this network, says that what happened yesterday with the judge's decision really makes a weak settlement stronger. So it depends on who you talk to.

But yes, it's ultimately better for the consumer that the 800- pound gorilla that is Microsoft is restrained a little bit.

DAVIS: Well, so getting back to the economy and politics -- and we can bring in our political reporters here -- is anybody going to pay on Election Day for that drop in consumer confidence for the economy not doing so well?

SNOW: Not as much as the Democrats were hoping, I think. And Candy can pick up on this, too. I mean, I think...

CROWLEY: Yes, I think you're right, absolutely not as much as the Democrats would like. Because what the polls also show is they don't necessarily blame George Bush, which is a really sort of interesting thing.

And remember, this is -- here we are three days before an election, and it's the first time the economy's ever kind of moved anything like a headline. I mean, we've gone through, you know, the war on Iraq and then the sniper. And so, Democrats try as they might, and they tried mightily, couldn't get that economy out there.

And just now we're hearing the, you know, were you better off than you were two years ago and that kind of thing. But it doesn't play as well as they thought it might. And they haven't got a whole -- much time left to push it out there.

MALVEAUX: Candy, this is Suzanne. I mean, clearly the Bush administration really knows that as well, because we have seen the president go out there and just kind of as a preemptive strike, if you will, actually talk about the economy and say, "Yes, well, you know, take a look at the tax cut here, the, you know, $1.3 trillion tax cut or terrorism insurance. It's not our fault that the economy is the way it is." But certainly they don't feel as if they are really going to be paying for it in the midterm elections.

DAVIS: Susan, does Wall Street care? Does Wall Street -- are they watching the elections?

LISOVICZ: They are watching it, and they don't really care actually. (LAUGHTER)

You know, what Wall Street likes most of all is gridlock, and you have that now. Having said that, there is a call for blood, given the wave of corporate scandals that we've seen. So the Republican Party, which is traditionally seen as the more hands-off, let business do what business wants to do, has to be more proactive.

I mean, both parties know that their constituents want blood. They have lost money. They've lost their -- part of their or, in some cases, all of their retirement savings, so they definitely want action. I'm sure you're hearing that.

And we are seeing that, perhaps not as quickly as some constituents want, but we did have Andrew Fastow indicted on Thursday. And it was nearly 80 counts, which is, from my view, highly unusual. And that just shows the severity of the charges that he's implicated with, but also the earnestness which the Department of Justice wants to prosecute this case.

CROWLEY: Susan, you touched on this a bit, but that's -- you know, we've talked a lot about the investor vote, you know, because so many people have 401(k)s and they saw them go down. Democrats hoped that that would bring some -- bring them some more votes. We don't see any sign of that in the polling.

LISOVICZ: No, we don't. But, you know, I think that there are a whole lot of issues, quite frankly, that, you know, are on their minds as well.

And, you know, I mean, basically what voters care most about is their jobs. And if their candidates can address their jobs and keeping their local economy sound or propping it up, that's something that really matters to them.

SNOW: Susan, thanks.

That's our SATURDAY EDITION for this weekend. My thanks to all of my colleagues.

Just ahead a news alert, CNN's People in the News with Melissa Etheridge and Celine Dion. But first, the president's weekly radio address.

(BEGIN AUDIOTAPE)

BUSH: Good morning.

The federal courts play a central role in American justice, protecting the innocent, punishing the guilty and upholding the rule of law.

Yet our federal courts today are in crisis. The judicial confirmation process does not work as it should. Nominees are too often mistreated, votes are delayed, hearings are denied, and dozens of federal judgeships sit empty, endangering the quality of justice in America.

Since coming into office I have sent to the Senate 32 nominees for the Federal Courts of Appeals. These nominees are men and women with experience, intelligence, character and bipartisan home-state support. They represent the mainstream of American law and American values, yet the Senate has confirmed only 14 of these 32 nominees.

As of this week, 15 of my appeals court nominees will have been forced to wait over a year for a hearing, which is more than under the previous nine presidents combined. There is no good reason why any nominee should endure a year, a year and a half or more, without the courtesy of an up or down floor vote.

Whatever the explanation, we clearly have a poisoned atmosphere in which well-qualified nominees are neither voted up nor voted down. They're just left in limbo. If this situation persists and judicial vacancies go unfulfilled, the federal courts will be unable to act in a timely manner to enforce the criminal laws, the environmental laws, and the civil rights laws that affect the lives of every American. The judicial crisis is the result of a broken system, and we have a duty to repair it. I want to work with the Senate to fashion a new approach to filling federal court vacancies, a bipartisan approach that would apply now and in the future.

This week I have offered four proposals to break the log jam in Washington and bring the federal courts to full strength.

First, I call on federal judges to notify the president of their intention to retire at least a year in advance, whenever possible, because the nomination and confirmation of a federal judge is a lengthy process. Judges who retire without advanced notice can unintentionally create a judicial vacancy for many months.

Second, I propose that presidents submit a nomination to the Senate within 180 days of receiving notice of a federal court vacancy or intended retirement. This will continue but speed up the process of obtaining recommendations and evaluations from home-state senators and others while leaving ample time for presidents to choose nominees of the highest quality.

Third, I called on the Senate Judiciary Committee to commit to holding a hearing within 90 days of receiving a nomination. A firm deadline is the best way to ensure that judicial nominees are promptly considered. And 90 days is more than enough time for the committee to conduct necessary research before holding a hearing, as Democrat senators have recognized in the past.

Finally, I called on the full Senate to commit to an up or down floor vote on each nominee no later than 180 days after the nomination is submitted. This is a very generous period of time that will allow all senators to evaluate nominees and have their votes counted.

My proposals are fair to all parties and would apply regardless of who is president or which party controls the Senate.

The current state of affairs is not merely another round of political wrangling. It is a disturbing failure to meet a responsibility under the Constitution, and it is harming the administration of justice in America. Our country deserves better, the process can work better, and we can make it better. The Constitution has given us a shared duty, and we must meet that duty together.

Thank you for listening.

(END AUDIOTAPE)

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D.C.; Campaign Shows Off Power of Latino Voters>