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On the Story

How much he said-she said is going to play out in Kobe Bryant Case? High-powered Star has taken Center Stage in California's Governor race

Aired August 09, 2003 - 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.


DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Welcome to CNN's ON THE STORY. Our journalists have the inside word on the stories we cover this week. I'm Deborah Feyerick on the story of Kobe Bryant. His day of court and his sexual assault case of he said-she said playing out.
KELLY WALLACE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm Kelly Wallace in Los Angeles on the story of the California recall. A political drama with a high-power star taking center stage.

DANA BASH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: I'm Dana Bash in Crawford, Texas. The president is on his ranch but keeping an eye on politics in California, Iraq, and his reelection bid.

ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN STATE DEPARTMENT CORRESPONDENT: And I'm Andrea Koppel in Washington on the story of Secretary of State Colin Powell's future and questions about whether he will stick around for a second Bush term.

Later, we'll go to CNN's Susan Candiotti on the story of the Episcopal church's openly gay bishop and whether that is driving some followers from the flock.

We'll also listen to the president's weekly radio address at the end of the hour. And we want your comments. Please e-mail us at onthestory@cnn.com.

Now to Kelly Wallace and the California recall race.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER (R), CALIFORNIA GOVERNOR CANDIDATE: It's public interest and that's what I want to fight for. So this is why I'm running for governor of California.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALLACE: That is action super hero and now Republican gubernatorial candidate Arnold Schwarzenegger officially stepping into this California recall frenzy. It is a real-life political drama; many reporters describing it as having more twists and turns than a Hollywood script. No question, Schwarzenegger's entrance into this race has really thrown things into a bit of a tizzy, but there are two things we're all watching behind the scenes right now.

It is just about eight hours -- or rather 10 hours until the filing deadline to find out how many people will actually be on this recall replacement ballot. And behind the scenes, many people are still asking, will any high-power Democrats step into the ring? Right now you have two Democrats on that replacement ballot or hoping to be on that ballot. The question is, Democrats are so concerned that Davis, Governor Gray Davis might not be able to beat this recall. The question is, will another Democrat come forward before this filing deadline?

FEYERICK: Kelly, it seems to me that now that Arnold Schwarzenegger is on the ballot that a lot more people may be turning out, Republican or Democrat, to basically vote to recall Governor Gray Davis and put Arnold on the ballot. Has that changed the ballots a little bit? It's made it more interesting, certainly.

WALLACE: Yes, it certainly has. No question, Deborah, many observers think that many people will go to the polls only because Arnold Schwarzenegger is on the ballot. People who might not have gone to the polls otherwise. There is tremendous anger in the state, Governor Gray Davis is not very popular at all. So a lot of people could go in a protest vote to recall Governor Davis and go ahead and support Arnold Schwarzenegger.

But, again, for the discerning voters, the voters who are concerned about the issues, the state's fiscal problems, education, crime, many of those people are wanting to hear from Arnold Schwarzenegger. And right now he has not provided many specifics. He's starting to get those questions, but right now no specifics yet from this new gubernatorial candidate.

BASH: And Kelly, that's exactly what I wanted to ask you about. I was watching an interview with Kevin Costner on CNN earlier this week who was saying, look, I haven't decided if I'm going to vote for Arnold Schwarzenegger. We're not electing the president of sixth grade here. This isn't really a popularity contest; it's about electing the governor of California, and there are big, big problems.

You've been looking into exactly where he stands on some issues. How flushed out really are they? Do we really know where he stands on the mayor issues?

WALLACE: We really don't, Dana. You know he's a household name, we've been saying, but we really don't know a lot about his political views. Just yesterday he described himself as a fiscal conservative but moderate on social issues.

He's believed to be supportive of gay rights, abortion rights and gun control issues that put him out of step with the conservative mainstream. And so you have conservatives, including Rush Limbaugh, earlier in the week who say Arnold Schwarzenegger is no conservative. But beyond that, what is he going to do about the state's $38 billion budget deficit?

What are his plans, again, for education, for dealing with issues? He says he wants to bring businesses back to the state. How is he going to do it? And he made the rounds on all the morning talk shows, including CNN on Friday, and he was asked for specifics, what are your specifics? Where do you stand on issues such as gay marriage?

The message from Arnold Schwarzenegger, those specifics will come. Observers say if he doesn't provide those specifics soon, his opponents, including Governor Gray Davis, will start providing them for the voters.

KOPPEL: Kelly, it was kind of an odd week for Governor Davis. We know that he must have breathed a sigh of relief when he heard that Senator Feinstein wasn't going to run. But then his own lieutenant governor came forward. How much of a curveball was that?

WALLACE: That was a curveball, Andrea. And you know, insiders say that this lieutenant governor, Cruz Bustamante, and Governor Gray Davis don't really like each other very much. So it wasn't as if a friend was kind of blindsiding his friend the governor. But Governor Davis had been urging Democrats not to step in.

We should remind the voters what's going to happen on October 7th. Voters will decide if Governor Gray Davis should be recalled. If he is, that will be the first time it will happen in the state of California. And then if a majority decide to recall Governor Davis, then the candidate who gets the most votes to replace him becomes the next governor.

Now Davis has been saying to Democrats, don't get into this recall replacement race because you're only legitimizing what he is saying is a right-wipg effort to take back the state House. But Democrats have been watching the polls, Andrea. They are very, very concerned that Davis might not be able to beat the recall, and so Cruz Bustamante, the lieutenant governor, John Garamande (ph), the insurance commissioner in the state, both of them are putting their names on the ballot so that Democrats will have an alternative to choose from.

And again, the question is, will someone even like Senator Dianne Feinstein step in? She has been doing all these interviews and saying, no, no, no, I'm not going to step in. But will Feinstein, as the deadline approaches, change her mind or try a push to be a write- in candidate. Some political observers are not so certain about how this will all turn out.

BASH: Kelly, I just want to go back to the announcement of Arnold Schwarzenegger earlier this week. I was talking to somebody in his campaign and to people in the White House. Nobody, nobody knew that he was going to do this. Really even the people who were closest to him apparently had any idea.

It was really -- the thinking was that Arnold Schwarzenegger wasn't going to run. Can you explain, really, the shockwaves that it sent through the Republican Party there and really through the whole state because it was such a surprise in the way he handled it?

WALLACE: Dana, apparently it was such a surprise that even some of the staffers to Arnold Schwarzenegger were already talking with Richard Riordan, the former mayor of Los Angeles, and his staff, thinking that Riordan would step in because Arnold Schwarzenegger was going to announce on the "The Tonight Show" with Jay Leno that he was not running. And there was some reporting that Richard Riordan felt blindsided biz his friend, Arnold Schwarzenneger's, own announcement.

Schwarzenegger and Riordan were trying to say the next day that is was not the case. And Riordan now is backing Arnold Schwarzenegger. But everyone thought that Arnold Schwarzenegger was not going to step into the race. I mean, our colleagues here in Los Angeles, all political reporters around the country were just completely surprised. You don't get many surprises in anything, including politics these days.

And then there is the sense, Dana, of doing it on "The Tonight Show." You had Arnold Schwarzenegger announcing it on "The Tonight Show," and Friday evening you had Governor Gray Davis on "Real Time With Bill Maher" on HBO answering Arnold Schwarzenegger's entry into this race.

BASH: That's California.

WALLACE: That's California for you, Dana, exactly.

FEYERICK: Kelly, you know the first thing a political opponent will do, as you can tell everybody, is they're going to start digging dirt up on their opponent. And we've heard a couple of rumors about Arnold Schwarzenegger, he may have had some dalliances with other women while he was married. There's also the issue that his dad was a Nazi, though he was born after the war, so that will likely not affect him.

But all of these kind of things, do you think that they're going to be as devastating perhaps to Arnold schwarzenegger as they would to somebody else, to another candidate? And there certainly are plenty of them in the field, including Larry Flynt, including a porn star. I mean, it just can't get more interesting. And, of course, Arnold Coleman -- or, not Arnold Coleman, but the actor who played Arnold on Different Strokes."

But do you think these rumors could ultimately hurt him? Or do you think because he's a celebrity he's going to be able to just brush them off?

WALLACE: Well you raise two good points there. You know we don't know the answer to it. Number one, he has such a high celebrity profile and people love him, fans are flocking him at every move. They just might brush those off.

Also, Arnold Schwarzenegger did something -- kind of a preemptive strike -- on "The Tonight Show" with Jay Leno. Leno brought up, are you ready? This could get dirty, this could get ugly. And he said, "I know my opponent will throw everything at me, that I'm a womanizer."

There was an article in "Premier" magazine a couple of years back about allegations that Arnold Schwarzenegger was an womanizer. So in some ways he was trying to get out front it appears of possible allegations. But you can bet that Democrats and others are digging and digging hard.

Governor Gray Davis is known to run hard and tough and sometimes very negative campaigns. It is going to get dirty. It depends on what is out there. It depends on how Arnold Schwarzenegger responds.

And, again, it does also depend, Deborah, on some specific questions. He won't be able to dodge specifics about his plan for the state, about various issues, gay rights, abortion rights. Ultimately, he's going to have some answers. And, again, it depends how the voters feel when they go to the polls.

KOPPEL: A couple other candidates that we haven't talked about -- well we heard Deborah mention Gary Coleman's name. I can understand why you'd have difficulty remembering that. But also Arianna Huffington, the Independent candidate. What kind of a shot is she seen to have, Kelly?

WALLACE: Well, you know, it's really hard to say. Right now, Andrea, most political observers believe ultimately this will really be a showdown between Governor Gray Davis and Arnold Schwarzenegger. Arianna Huffington, in fact, was doing a round of interviews, announced earlier in the day on Wednesday that she in fact was going to run and run as an Independent against the Republicans and the Democrats.

And then later in the day you had Arnold Schwarzenegger stepping in. So definitely taking some momentum away from her very own announcement. So, a tough road ahead. She has some name recognition, but nothing, of course, like Arnold Schwarzenegger. Some people, though, might be looking for an alternative, and she says she presents that very alternative to the voters.

BASH: Well, Kelly, the president might be here on his ranch in Crawford, Texas, but he says he's watching the political drama in California play out just like everybody else. But how involved will he be? More on that in two minutes. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I will never arm wrestle Arnold Schwarzenegger. No matter how hard I try, I'll never lift as much weight as he does.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: Ripples of the California recall being felt all the way here in Crawford, Texas. And the president really surprised some of us. We were out at his ranch yesterday; he came out to talk about Iraq. But, of course, the question on the reporters' mind was, what does he think about Arnold.

And he said that he thought that Arnold Schwarzenegger would make a good governor. But in talking to some of the president's political strategists, they say don't read more into this than what he actually said. Like, what did you expect him to say, that he would make a bad governor?

Arnold Schwarzenegger has been somebody very close to his family; he campaigned for the president's father. Remember he was going around and calling the Democratic candidates girlie men in 1992. And so the president does like Arnold Schwarzenegger, but it's not an endorsement in the sense that right now there are any plans for the president to actually go to California and campaign for him.

As a matter of fact, he's going to be in California next week for two stops for two days, but there are no plans for him to be on the stop with Arnold Schwarzenegger, not as of yet.

WALLACE: Dana, I'm curious. What kind of role is the White House playing behind the scenes with all of this? You would think the Bush White House would like nothing more than to see a Republican in the state House here in California, but listening to your reporting all week and others, it sounds like the White House is trying to stay as far and clear from this whole recall frenzy as possible.

BASH: It's true. They really don't know what to make of it. As a matter of fact, I was talking to one of the president's senior political strategists who said, look at the field. It looks like the bar in "Star Wars." How can we possibly jump into this right now?

You know certainly they think Arnold Schwarzenegger would be a good person for the Republican Party. They think that potentially he could bring some people into their column that potentially wouldn't be there. But right now it is so unclear, there is so much unknown that they don't even know really what the political calculus is right now.

They don't know how much it would help or hurt to get involved. And also, in terms of the president's future in California, the president didn't win in the year 2000. As a matter of fact, no Republican presidential candidate has won since 1988 from California. And the Bush White House is absolutely determined to do well in California, take California.

And they're not really sure whether or not having a Republican, like even Arnold Schwarzenegger, as governor would help him. As a matter of fact, there is some thinking still that having Gray Davis or another Democrat as governor, somebody to blame for the state's problems, could actually help the president. So at this point they're sort of sitting back and trying to figure out what is going on. They're certainly in touch with all of the top Republican politicians there, but they're really kind of taking their time in terms of jumping in.

KOPPEL: Well you know, Dana, the president clearly is a wise man, saying that he wouldn't take on Arnold Schwarzenegger in arm wrestling. But how do you explain the fact that this same president goes running in 112 degree heat?

BASH: That's a really good question, Andrea. As a matter of fact, as I make my drive here and others do from Waco all the way to Crawford in our air-conditioned cars listening to the radio announcer telling us that we shouldn't go outside, shouldn't exercise, heat advisories, and then we get here to be briefed on the fact that the president is jogging. As a matter of fact, he has something called the 100-degree club. He even gives out T-shirts to people, really mostly Secret Service agents, who jog with him.

And it's been like 110 degrees here. He has jogged a couple of days. He said yesterday that he actually has one new member of the 100 degree club.

And it was really funny; yesterday the vice president was at his -- was at the president's ranch and we were joking with the president as they were walking back towards the House about his running. And the vice president turned to us and said, "Don't worry. I'm not a member of the 100 degree club." So no jogging for the vice president on this trip.

FEYERICK: You know, Dana, it's interesting. I guess the president had a physical this week and all the specifics are laid out in all the newspapers. I think I figured out a reason why a woman would not want to be president, because they have the weight, they've got everything else that people don't exactly want to share with the whole world.

But anyway, in terms of what the president is doing there, the working vacation, how much of it is work and how much of it is purely vacation? And when he sort of trots out his whole cabinet, what is the implication there?

BASH: Well, this is the third summer that the president has come down here. Kelly was here when she was with the White House for a couple of those summers. So she knows that the White House does a very good job of saying that this is the western White House. They even have a sign in our little briefing room that says so, that makes sure to tell us that he gets his daily briefings.

He certainly has the capability to have teleconference from the ranch, secure teleconference with all of his top national security aids. So he definitely is involved. He had two major meetings here this week.

He had Secretary Powell and his deputy. And then he had on Friday a meeting with his military planners and his defense secretary. So he does a lot of that.

However, he also really likes to be here to work on his ranch. He clears brush; he clears cedar. He's got his chain saw he works on. He jogs.

So he really does use this time to detox, as it were. But next week he's going to be traveling out of the state. He's going to go to California, as I said, and make some other trips.

WALLACE: Dana, I don't necessarily miss the heat in Crawford, but I always enjoyed going there. I think reporters, we all complained about spending August in Crawford, Texas, but it's such a lovely place and it's nice to get away from Washington. But, Dana, I wanted to ask you one other political story you've been following, which is Condoleezza Rice, the president's national security adviser, her name has been mentioned a possible California gubernatorial candidate, maybe even someone who could be on the vice presidential ticket, a presidential candidate down the road. Is Condoleezza Rice considering, down the road, to head into political office?

BASH: It's a very good question. And it's really funny; timing is absolutely everything. She has been -- there's been a lot of speculation about, as you said, her going back to California and running for office. She is still a resident there, she's still a 10- year professor at Stanford. She has been (UNINTELLIGIBLE) before she started working for then Governor George W. Bush.

But this week she -- by the way, she's been here in Crawford with the president all week. And this week she went down to Dallas to make a speech, and she was asked about her political future. And she made it pretty clear that she wasn't sure this is something that's in it for her.

As a matter of fact, she said that it takes a particular breed of person to run for office. I don't know if that was a euphemism for needing a screw loose to want to (UNINTELLIGIBLE) through that, but she made it pretty clear that she wanted to close the door a little bit. She definitely left it a little bit open; there's no question about that. But in the immediate future she said that she is going to vote secret ballot just like everybody else is on October 7th. She wouldn't say who she was voting for.

KOPPEL: Dana, I think you just alluded to it when you mentioned the president heading out to California next week, but what is on the docket? We know he has done an awful lot of fund-raising so far this summer. What is left for the remainder of summer and the fall?

BASH: More fund-raising. As a matter of fact, the president is going to have a meeting here -- he has this annually -- with some donors. It's a donor thank-you event. It's closed to the press; we won't see very much of it. But that is on the president's agenda.

The president is actually going to make six fund-raising trips while he's here in Crawford. He's going to make trips from here, I should say, around the country to raise more money for his re- election. But he's also going to make some trips on Monday.

He's going to go to Arizona and Denver. He's going to tout his environmental policy. He's also going to do that in California. So he's got some things on his docket besides fund-raising. He's sort of doing a mix of fund-raising, vacationing, and throwing in some policy here and there, too.

KOPPEL: Yes. And how do you explain part of his vacation clearing brush on his farm? I don't know about that.

BASH: He loves it. Andrea, he loves it.

KOPPEL: That's my question. Why would anybody love that? I could understand if they had to, but...

BASH: Maybe he'll invite us and give us a taste of it to see what it's like.

KOPPEL: OK.

Well, from presidential policy and politics to U.S. efforts in other hot spots, a new question about Secretary of State Colin Powell's future in the Bush administration. I'm on that story when we come right back.

ANNOUNCER: Andrea Koppel is CNN's State Department correspondent. She joined CNN in 1993. She's a former CNN Beijing bureau chief and Tokyo correspondent.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COLIN POWELL, SECRETARY OF STATE: This is all speculation with no basis or fact. There's no basis for this story to begin with, and we're doing our jobs together.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOPPEL: Secretary of State Colin Powell responding to news reports this week that he plans to leave the Bush administration even if the president wins a second term. Welcome back, we're ON THE STORY.

I spoke to a couple of those -- Secretary Powell, as most principals do, has a staff meeting every morning. And bright and early Monday morning I spoke to a couple of those who were in this meeting. Secretary Powell brought up this "Washington Post" story which said, as we laid out there, that he would leave at the end of this administration, along with his chief deputy, Richard Armitage.

And what Secretary Powell said to his staff was, look, I don't have a problem with this. You know, people can take shots at me, but don't bring my wife into this. He really felt it was hitting below the belt.

Glenn Kessler, the reporter who laid out the story, said that that Alma Powell wanted her husband to leave because it really was -- being in the public spotlight is not her favorite thing. The fact of the matter is this hit a never with the State Department. You never -- in fact, I've covered the beat now for five years. I can't really remember having had a statement issued from the State Department denying a story in the printed press.

Usually it would come up at the briefing and they would bat it down there. But this really touched a nerve at the State Department. And, in fact, I know in Crawford, as well, Dana, it touched a nerve there.

BASH: Absolutely. And you know we had the same reaction. We got an on-the-record statement from the White House, as well, denying it, which also never happens. But what was really interesting was at the beginning of the week we knew that Secretary Powell and his deputy, Richard Armitage, would be coming to the ranch to visit the president.

We were told absolutely no coverage, we wouldn't be seeing them at all. Maybe we'd get a photo release at best. Then all of a sudden, Wednesday morning, when they were here, we were told, oh, they're going to lunch at the Coffee Station, which is the only place to have lunch in town in Crawford. And they showed up, they were as close as can be.

You just saw the picture just now, kind of shoulder to shoulder. And they were talking and answering questions about this. Really trying to send a signal, you know, maybe a picture tells a thousand words that they are really tight. And, Andrea, it seems to me that this is something that the secretary of state would not want out there because no one wants to be a lame duck with 17 months to go.

KOPPEL: Well that is certainly part of it. It's not just that Secretary Powell has a lot of issues on his agenda: North Korea, Iraq, Afghanistan, Liberia, issues that he needs to be effective on and wants to continue to be effective on. But also for President Bush.

We're about to enter the election season. Secretary Powell is the lone moderate in the National Security Council right now. And there's not just concern within the White House, but there is concern amongst the American people and overseas that if Secretary Powell is gone and replaced by -- and a couple of the candidates we have been talking about this week, one of them National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, the other, Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz, at least Paul Wolfowitz is not seen as a moderate voice. Condoleezza Rice is seen as somebody who could sort of sway in either direction, but not seen as Secretary Powell, who has really been the one swimming upstream and often seen as being sort of the lone man out.

It is a very frustrating position, which is perhaps among the reasons that Secretary Powell would leave at the end of this administration, but not necessarily the only one. This is a man who has also held just about every powerful office in the city, with the exception of president. And he really wants to go back into the private life.

FEYERICK: You know, ultimately, the secretary of state, the public does not elect the secretary of state. They elect the president. And my understanding is that it's a lot to ask somebody to serve in an administration possibly for eight years when it's 24/7, there's no no let up.

You can see perhaps why Powell's wife would not want to do it for four more years. Because, as a matter of fact, wasn't she the one who ultimately was saying, or was credited for having him not run for president, either? So how does that work?

KOPPEL: Well, there were any number of rumors and speculation out there as to why Secretary Powell decided not to throw his hat in the ring either in previous elections or perhaps in the future for president. But the bottom line is that Secretary Powell felt that reporters had stepped over the line.

I have to tell you, Glenn Kessler is an excellent reporter with "The Washington Post". And I know that he has tremendous sources. And you have to wonder about the reaction, the overreaction almost to this story.

This was a story that I believe folks out in Crawford were calling a summer squall. They were chalking it up to the fact that this is August. Reporters need to dig around, and maybe stories that they wouldn't necessarily put on the front page in January they are doing so in August.

But nevertheless, this is a story that has potential political ripples for the Bush team. If Secretary Powell is seen as somebody who is already taking his name off the ballot, even though he's not officially on the ballot, but he is somebody more popular than the president of the United States when you ask the American people. Recent polls show that he has higher numbers than anybody else in the Bush cabinet, including Mr. Bush himself.

WALLACE: Andrea, I have to ask you -- you know, I have been away from Washington for a little while, but we all know that behind the story there has to be something to it. As you said, Glenn Kessler is a great reporter. There have been a number of stories, of course, about the tensions between the State Department and the White House.

You had columnist Maureen Dow (ph) in "The New York Times" talking about the neocons, the neoconservatives in the Bush administration now trying to seek regime change in the State department. So tell us, what is really, though, going on behind the scenes?

Is there some tension? Because even when you saw President Bush and Secretary Powell in Crawford, they dodged the question about whether Powell will actually be at the State Department in 2005, if there is a new second Bush administration.

KOPPEL: There is -- Kelly, there is absolutely no question when you ask anybody in the State Department. There is a feeling -- even though more morale is much better, I can tell you now, than it was under the previous administration, Secretary Powell is seen as somebody who has really boosted the public morale of both civil servants and foreign service officers. He is really seen as a leader.

But they also know that on a number of policy decisions Secretary Powell has not persevered. The one sort of glimmer right now is North Korea. Secretary Powell has been pushing multilateral talks and we may see those talks later this month or early September with the North. But on other issues like Iraq, he did persuade the president to go to the United Nations, but then when push came to shove, the U.S. went it alone with a coalition of the willing. So there is a feeling in the State Department of isolation, that it is not really in the know on a lot of issues, and that it is not necessarily the State Department's point of view that is persevering.

One question that's out there, of course, is this Israeli security fence. And I know that that was in the news this past week, as to whether or not the State Department was going to push this, force it down Israel's -- you know, Israel's throat.

FEYERICK: OK. Well, we're going to say good-bye to Dana Bash so she can get out of the 110 degree Texas heat and get some air- conditioning. Thanks for being here. What is on the agenda for you for the rest of today?

BASH: Well, we have got a lot of high rollers rolling into town to go to the president's barbecue to thank the high donors to his campaign. So we're going to be following that. There is also a press conference from an advocacy group of public citizens. They're coming to the small town of Crawford to have a conference about the president and his fund-raising and how they don't think that's such a good idea.

We'll be following all that, Deborah.

FEYERICK: Well, great. Have fun at the barbecue.

Next, the legal case that everyone is talking about, good or bad. L.A. Lakers basketball player Kobe Bryant accused of sexual assault. The NBA star has his first day in court. I'm ON THE STORY when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FEYERICK: Kobe Bryant is the next story that we're going to be moving on to. The only two words that he spoke in a Colorado court were "No, sir." And that's when the judge asked him whether he objected delaying a preliminary hearing 60 days, as compared to the normal 30 days. He was in the court, of course, to hear the sexual assault charge against him read, but he waived that right.

Welcome back. I'm Deborah Feyerick ON THE STORY. We are also joined by our colleague, Susan Candiotti, in Miami -- hi there, Susan.

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Deborah.

The first thing I wanted to know, and I realize it's very early on, but what are the chances of this case going all the way to trial versus there being some sort of plea negotiations to get this down to a lesser charge or making this go away all together?

FEYERICK: There was a lot of talk about that this week. Initially, actually, the district attorney had charged Bryant with two things. First of all, the sexual assault, but also falsely imprisoning somebody. That would be the young lady, of course. He dropped that lesser charge which amounts to a misdemeanor. This way it will give a jury no option. They will have to go for the whole thing; that is, the sexual assault charge.

Also, whether in fact right now the young lady can say, you know, this is too much, I never counted on this, I never expected this kind of media attention. Well, now that the charges have been filed, it is likely this thing will go all the way to court. You cannot just dismiss the charges.

The young woman could refuse to testify. That certainly would make it a lot more difficult because there would be no cross examination. But, again, because the charges are there, they stick and it will go to trial. The question is when.

Kobe Bryant did delay his preliminary hearing. Usually a defendant has the right to hear evidence against him within a 30-day period, but his lawyer said, it's OK, we can do it October 9th. That would be the start, effectively, of the basketball season.

WALLACE: Deborah, we know, of course, the judge is trying to seal all the documents in this case and keep a gag order in place. So it's making reporting this story, obviously for you and your colleagues, very difficult. I'm just wondering, though, any sense of what you're picking up privately in your conversations with your sources about the evidence in this case?

You've heard some friends quoted as saying, once people see the evidence, the physical evidence, other evidence, they will see, these friends of the alleged victim, that Kobe Bryant did, in fact, commit a crime on that night.

FEYERICK: There is evidence. There's going to be evidence. Kobe Bryant as much as admitted that, saying he did have relations with the woman, consensual sex with the woman, though. He never used the word "sex". He always used the word "adultery;" he made the mistake of adultery.

The kind of evidence that you're looking at would include DNA evidence, for example, semen, blood. But it would also include something like if there were bruises or scratches or anything that looks like there was a sign of a struggle. The defense attorneys are really going to go for a consent defense. They're going to make this look as if this was consensual and then perhaps the woman changed her mind.

Though under Colorado law, if -- the moment a woman says no, it is no. That is the answer and there's no way out and there's no going back. So that's going to be a bit tricky. But, again, as far as the secret evidence, sure, the media wants it. There is a lot of -- in fact, there are so many journalists and so little news out there in Colorado.

However, it's the kind of thing that there's great interest. And, again, it's a slow, sleepy August, and so the more you can get, the more you have to convey to the public. And also, because Kobe Bryant is such a loved figure in the world of basketball, because his whole image was tied up being the good guy, again, this has sort of thrown something into the fire that perhaps shows that maybe it was all image.

KOPPEL: Deb, we know that Kobe's next day in court is still two months away. For all those media vultures out there, we know we've been following everything twist and turn in this case. What can we expect over the next two months? Where do you see the story going?

FEYERICK: Well, there are going to be a lot of different hearings, you know, just in terms of what kind of evidence can be let in, who is going to be taking the stand, what witnesses will be there. The district attorney will lay out between 90 to 95 percent of his case at this preliminary hearing.

And you're right; everybody want to get some little piece of information that they can sort of put in their paper or broadcast on television. Like I said, too many journalists, too little news. This is -- and I don't want to use the word "ordinary," -- but this is your basic sexual assault case.

Nothing is going to come out that's so oddly surprising, when you look at the context of these kind of assaults, alleged assaults. But, again, it's the kind of thing. There are rumors, did he block the door, for example, when the woman tried to leave, if she tried to leave?

It's those pieces of information that everybody grabs on to, but a lot of rumors that we were hearing out there were all debunked. So we have to be very careful. There is a gag order in place. Nobody has seen a copy of the affidavit, the search warrant affidavit or the arrest warrant affidavit, which would have the kind of information on why he was arrested.

So we've got to be very careful. Again, it's unlikely that anything explosive is going to come out within the context of alleged sexual assaults. But because it's Kobe Bryant it takes on a whole different level.

CANDIOTTI: Well, thanks, Deborah.

From the courtroom now to the church. Episcopalians take a leap of faith on an openly gay bishop. I'm ON THE STORY when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REV. GENE ROBINSON: It's been a long time in coming. It's not so much a dream as a calling from god. And I'm really thrilled.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CANDIOTTI: That's the Reverend Gene Robinson in a conversation with me shortly after being confirmed as the first openly gay bishop in the Episcopal Church, part of the Anglican communion made up of 75 million people. But among Episcopalians in this country, and among many others, there is far from universal approval of this historic move.

Welcome back, I'm Susan Candiotti ON THE STORY.

KOPPEL: Susan, why does it seem as if the Episcopal Church is always ahead of the curve? They were the first to ordain women, now the first to allow an open gay bishop to be ordained. Why is that the case?

CANDIOTTI: Here's why people say that they have taken this move. They keep pointing time and again, people who are proponents of this. They say the way the Episcopal Church is run in the United States, the people of each diocese get to choose their own bishop. And in this case there was a 16-month church before Reverend Gene Robinson was selected by his own diocese in New Hampshire to be bishop.

And the way it goes is, if that's who the people want, that's who the people get. However, once that selection is made, it must be approved by bishops who vote on this. And because his selection came so close to a convention, which is held every three years, there was an opportunity for both two groups to vote on it. One called the House of Deputies, made up of more than 800 clergy and lay people, and then moved on to the House of Bishops, made up of 100 presiding bishops in the United States. And both approved this move.

So this Church is known to many people as one of, according to this move, one of inclusion as opposed to exclusion. But it's not going over well in a lot of areas.

WALLACE: Yes. Speak about the fallout, Susan. What kind of rift is there now in the Church, and are more and more members talking about leaving the Church out of protest about this decision?

CANDIOTTI: Well, that debate started early on, even before the vote took place. People are predicting that there will be a rift, that there will be a serious divide, not only among Episcopalians here in the United States, but this Church is part of that Anglican community worldwide. And there are a lot of people talking about a split in that regard, too, particularly among more conservative areas.

For example, the bishop of Kenya has said that this is going to cause a split because, according to him, it goes completely against scripture. And, in fact, the archbishop of Canterbury, who is the spiritual leader of this Church, or they say the first among equals among the Anglican communion, he is already calling for a special get together, a special communion, as it were, in October so that they can talk about this, people who are having problems with this, before Bishop Gene Robinson elect is consecrated in November.

FEYERICK: And clearly, the people who are against this are going to come out swinging. I mean, we are already beginning to hear some gossip or some rumors about -- some very negative rumors, as a matter of fact, about this man.

CANDIOTTI: Well, there were all kinds of last-minute, let's say allegations, that were made just before the vote, the eve of the vote. And frankly, people raised questions about the timing of that coming so close to his confirmation vote. For example, people came to us Sunday morning, the night before the vote, people who headed up the American Anglican Council, which was the lead opposition group, and they said to us, for example, we came up with some information that with just a few clicks away on a Web site from an organization not that he founded but a chapter of an organization that he helped found which counsels gay lesbian and youth, that a few clicks away on that Web site you reach some pornographic material.

And they said to us, this could be very explosive and we think people need to know about this. We promised that we would look into it, we did. We presented information that it wasn't looking that there was anything to it, because his information was so far away from the original Web site.

In addition, we found out that he had nothing to do with the creation of the Web site, nor did he know, Reverend Gene Robinson, that it even existed. However, once we presented that information, within a short period of time that opposition group took the same information to the bishops themselves and word got out to an independent journalists who did publicize it.

So there was some very questionable moves about how this was handled. And as you might recall, the bishops found what we did, that there was nothing to this allegation.

KOPPEL: Well, we'll be keeping an eye on that story. It's certainly been an exciting week for news.

Our thanks to Susan Candiotti and all of my colleagues. And thank you for watching ON THE STORY. We'll be back next week.

Still ahead, "People in the News" focusing this week on Arnold Schwarzenegger, surprise, surprise, and Kobe Bryant. That's followed at noon Eastern, 9:00 a.m. Pacific by "CNN LIVE SATURDAY". And at 1:00 p.m. Eastern, 10:00 Pacific, "IN THE MONEY" looks at this week's bombing in Indonesia.

Coming up at the top of the hour, a check of the hour's top stories. But first, the president's weekly radio address.

(BEGIN AUDIOTAPE)

BUSH: Good morning.

Friday of this week was the 100th day since the end of major combat operations in Iraq. For America, and our coalition partners, these have been 100 days of steady progress and decisive action against the last holdouts of the former regime. And for the people of Iraq, this has been a period like none other in the country's history, a time of change and rising hopes after decades of tyranny.

Every day we're working to make Iraq more secure. Coalition forces remain on the offensive against the Ba'ath Party loyalists and foreign terrorists who are trying to prevent order and stability. More and more Iraqis are coming forward with specific information as to the whereabouts of these violent thugs, enabling us to carry out raids to ram them up and seize stockpiles of weapons.

We're working with Iraqis to establish a new Iraqi army and a new civil defense corps. In the city of Baghdad, 6,000 Iraqi police are patrolling the streets and protecting citizens. More than 20,000 more police are on duty in other towns and cities across Iraq. Every day Iraq is making progress in rebuilding its economy.

In Baghdad, the banks have opened and other banks will open across the country in the coming months. This fall, new bank notes will be issued, replacing the old ones bearing the former dictator's image. And Iraq's energy industry is once again serving the interests of the Iraqi people. More than a million barrels of crude oil and over two million gallons of gasoline are being produced daily.

Every day, Iraq draws closer to the free and functioning society its people were long denied. We're recovering hundreds of millions of dollars from the old regime and are using those funds to pay civil servants. Teachers, healthcare workers, police and others performing essential services are also receiving salaries from our coalition. In fact, teacher pay is four times higher than under the old regime.

Life is returning to normal for the Iraqi people. Hospitals and universities have opened, and in many places water and other utility services are reaching pre-war levels across Iraq. Nearly all school children have completed their exams, and for the first time in many years a free press is at work in Iraq.

Across that country today, more than 150 newspapers are publishing regularly. Most important of all, the Iraqi people are taking daily steps toward democratic government. The Iraqi Governing Council, whose 25 members represent all of that diverse country, is meeting regularly, naming ministers and drawing up a budget for the country. Soon representatives of the people will begin drafting a new constitution and free elections will follow.

At the local level, all major Iraqi cities and most towns have municipal councils. Freedom is taking hold in that country, as people gain confidence that the former regime is never coming back. One hundred days is not enough time to undo the terrible legacy of Saddam Hussein. There is difficult and dangerous work ahead that requires time and patience. Yet all Americans can be proud of what our military and provisional authorities have achieved in Iraq.

Our country and the nations of the Middle East are now safer. We're keeping our word to the Iraqi people by helping them to make their country an example of democracy and prosperity throughout the region. This long-term undertaking is vital to peace in that region and to the security of the United States. Our coalition and the people of Iraq have made remarkable progress in a short time, and we will complete the great work we have begun.

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




Bryant Case? High-powered Star has taken Center Stage in California's Governor race>


Aired August 9, 2003 - 10:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Welcome to CNN's ON THE STORY. Our journalists have the inside word on the stories we cover this week. I'm Deborah Feyerick on the story of Kobe Bryant. His day of court and his sexual assault case of he said-she said playing out.
KELLY WALLACE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm Kelly Wallace in Los Angeles on the story of the California recall. A political drama with a high-power star taking center stage.

DANA BASH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: I'm Dana Bash in Crawford, Texas. The president is on his ranch but keeping an eye on politics in California, Iraq, and his reelection bid.

ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN STATE DEPARTMENT CORRESPONDENT: And I'm Andrea Koppel in Washington on the story of Secretary of State Colin Powell's future and questions about whether he will stick around for a second Bush term.

Later, we'll go to CNN's Susan Candiotti on the story of the Episcopal church's openly gay bishop and whether that is driving some followers from the flock.

We'll also listen to the president's weekly radio address at the end of the hour. And we want your comments. Please e-mail us at onthestory@cnn.com.

Now to Kelly Wallace and the California recall race.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER (R), CALIFORNIA GOVERNOR CANDIDATE: It's public interest and that's what I want to fight for. So this is why I'm running for governor of California.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALLACE: That is action super hero and now Republican gubernatorial candidate Arnold Schwarzenegger officially stepping into this California recall frenzy. It is a real-life political drama; many reporters describing it as having more twists and turns than a Hollywood script. No question, Schwarzenegger's entrance into this race has really thrown things into a bit of a tizzy, but there are two things we're all watching behind the scenes right now.

It is just about eight hours -- or rather 10 hours until the filing deadline to find out how many people will actually be on this recall replacement ballot. And behind the scenes, many people are still asking, will any high-power Democrats step into the ring? Right now you have two Democrats on that replacement ballot or hoping to be on that ballot. The question is, Democrats are so concerned that Davis, Governor Gray Davis might not be able to beat this recall. The question is, will another Democrat come forward before this filing deadline?

FEYERICK: Kelly, it seems to me that now that Arnold Schwarzenegger is on the ballot that a lot more people may be turning out, Republican or Democrat, to basically vote to recall Governor Gray Davis and put Arnold on the ballot. Has that changed the ballots a little bit? It's made it more interesting, certainly.

WALLACE: Yes, it certainly has. No question, Deborah, many observers think that many people will go to the polls only because Arnold Schwarzenegger is on the ballot. People who might not have gone to the polls otherwise. There is tremendous anger in the state, Governor Gray Davis is not very popular at all. So a lot of people could go in a protest vote to recall Governor Davis and go ahead and support Arnold Schwarzenegger.

But, again, for the discerning voters, the voters who are concerned about the issues, the state's fiscal problems, education, crime, many of those people are wanting to hear from Arnold Schwarzenegger. And right now he has not provided many specifics. He's starting to get those questions, but right now no specifics yet from this new gubernatorial candidate.

BASH: And Kelly, that's exactly what I wanted to ask you about. I was watching an interview with Kevin Costner on CNN earlier this week who was saying, look, I haven't decided if I'm going to vote for Arnold Schwarzenegger. We're not electing the president of sixth grade here. This isn't really a popularity contest; it's about electing the governor of California, and there are big, big problems.

You've been looking into exactly where he stands on some issues. How flushed out really are they? Do we really know where he stands on the mayor issues?

WALLACE: We really don't, Dana. You know he's a household name, we've been saying, but we really don't know a lot about his political views. Just yesterday he described himself as a fiscal conservative but moderate on social issues.

He's believed to be supportive of gay rights, abortion rights and gun control issues that put him out of step with the conservative mainstream. And so you have conservatives, including Rush Limbaugh, earlier in the week who say Arnold Schwarzenegger is no conservative. But beyond that, what is he going to do about the state's $38 billion budget deficit?

What are his plans, again, for education, for dealing with issues? He says he wants to bring businesses back to the state. How is he going to do it? And he made the rounds on all the morning talk shows, including CNN on Friday, and he was asked for specifics, what are your specifics? Where do you stand on issues such as gay marriage?

The message from Arnold Schwarzenegger, those specifics will come. Observers say if he doesn't provide those specifics soon, his opponents, including Governor Gray Davis, will start providing them for the voters.

KOPPEL: Kelly, it was kind of an odd week for Governor Davis. We know that he must have breathed a sigh of relief when he heard that Senator Feinstein wasn't going to run. But then his own lieutenant governor came forward. How much of a curveball was that?

WALLACE: That was a curveball, Andrea. And you know, insiders say that this lieutenant governor, Cruz Bustamante, and Governor Gray Davis don't really like each other very much. So it wasn't as if a friend was kind of blindsiding his friend the governor. But Governor Davis had been urging Democrats not to step in.

We should remind the voters what's going to happen on October 7th. Voters will decide if Governor Gray Davis should be recalled. If he is, that will be the first time it will happen in the state of California. And then if a majority decide to recall Governor Davis, then the candidate who gets the most votes to replace him becomes the next governor.

Now Davis has been saying to Democrats, don't get into this recall replacement race because you're only legitimizing what he is saying is a right-wipg effort to take back the state House. But Democrats have been watching the polls, Andrea. They are very, very concerned that Davis might not be able to beat the recall, and so Cruz Bustamante, the lieutenant governor, John Garamande (ph), the insurance commissioner in the state, both of them are putting their names on the ballot so that Democrats will have an alternative to choose from.

And again, the question is, will someone even like Senator Dianne Feinstein step in? She has been doing all these interviews and saying, no, no, no, I'm not going to step in. But will Feinstein, as the deadline approaches, change her mind or try a push to be a write- in candidate. Some political observers are not so certain about how this will all turn out.

BASH: Kelly, I just want to go back to the announcement of Arnold Schwarzenegger earlier this week. I was talking to somebody in his campaign and to people in the White House. Nobody, nobody knew that he was going to do this. Really even the people who were closest to him apparently had any idea.

It was really -- the thinking was that Arnold Schwarzenegger wasn't going to run. Can you explain, really, the shockwaves that it sent through the Republican Party there and really through the whole state because it was such a surprise in the way he handled it?

WALLACE: Dana, apparently it was such a surprise that even some of the staffers to Arnold Schwarzenegger were already talking with Richard Riordan, the former mayor of Los Angeles, and his staff, thinking that Riordan would step in because Arnold Schwarzenegger was going to announce on the "The Tonight Show" with Jay Leno that he was not running. And there was some reporting that Richard Riordan felt blindsided biz his friend, Arnold Schwarzenneger's, own announcement.

Schwarzenegger and Riordan were trying to say the next day that is was not the case. And Riordan now is backing Arnold Schwarzenegger. But everyone thought that Arnold Schwarzenegger was not going to step into the race. I mean, our colleagues here in Los Angeles, all political reporters around the country were just completely surprised. You don't get many surprises in anything, including politics these days.

And then there is the sense, Dana, of doing it on "The Tonight Show." You had Arnold Schwarzenegger announcing it on "The Tonight Show," and Friday evening you had Governor Gray Davis on "Real Time With Bill Maher" on HBO answering Arnold Schwarzenegger's entry into this race.

BASH: That's California.

WALLACE: That's California for you, Dana, exactly.

FEYERICK: Kelly, you know the first thing a political opponent will do, as you can tell everybody, is they're going to start digging dirt up on their opponent. And we've heard a couple of rumors about Arnold Schwarzenegger, he may have had some dalliances with other women while he was married. There's also the issue that his dad was a Nazi, though he was born after the war, so that will likely not affect him.

But all of these kind of things, do you think that they're going to be as devastating perhaps to Arnold schwarzenegger as they would to somebody else, to another candidate? And there certainly are plenty of them in the field, including Larry Flynt, including a porn star. I mean, it just can't get more interesting. And, of course, Arnold Coleman -- or, not Arnold Coleman, but the actor who played Arnold on Different Strokes."

But do you think these rumors could ultimately hurt him? Or do you think because he's a celebrity he's going to be able to just brush them off?

WALLACE: Well you raise two good points there. You know we don't know the answer to it. Number one, he has such a high celebrity profile and people love him, fans are flocking him at every move. They just might brush those off.

Also, Arnold Schwarzenegger did something -- kind of a preemptive strike -- on "The Tonight Show" with Jay Leno. Leno brought up, are you ready? This could get dirty, this could get ugly. And he said, "I know my opponent will throw everything at me, that I'm a womanizer."

There was an article in "Premier" magazine a couple of years back about allegations that Arnold Schwarzenegger was an womanizer. So in some ways he was trying to get out front it appears of possible allegations. But you can bet that Democrats and others are digging and digging hard.

Governor Gray Davis is known to run hard and tough and sometimes very negative campaigns. It is going to get dirty. It depends on what is out there. It depends on how Arnold Schwarzenegger responds.

And, again, it does also depend, Deborah, on some specific questions. He won't be able to dodge specifics about his plan for the state, about various issues, gay rights, abortion rights. Ultimately, he's going to have some answers. And, again, it depends how the voters feel when they go to the polls.

KOPPEL: A couple other candidates that we haven't talked about -- well we heard Deborah mention Gary Coleman's name. I can understand why you'd have difficulty remembering that. But also Arianna Huffington, the Independent candidate. What kind of a shot is she seen to have, Kelly?

WALLACE: Well, you know, it's really hard to say. Right now, Andrea, most political observers believe ultimately this will really be a showdown between Governor Gray Davis and Arnold Schwarzenegger. Arianna Huffington, in fact, was doing a round of interviews, announced earlier in the day on Wednesday that she in fact was going to run and run as an Independent against the Republicans and the Democrats.

And then later in the day you had Arnold Schwarzenegger stepping in. So definitely taking some momentum away from her very own announcement. So, a tough road ahead. She has some name recognition, but nothing, of course, like Arnold Schwarzenegger. Some people, though, might be looking for an alternative, and she says she presents that very alternative to the voters.

BASH: Well, Kelly, the president might be here on his ranch in Crawford, Texas, but he says he's watching the political drama in California play out just like everybody else. But how involved will he be? More on that in two minutes. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I will never arm wrestle Arnold Schwarzenegger. No matter how hard I try, I'll never lift as much weight as he does.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: Ripples of the California recall being felt all the way here in Crawford, Texas. And the president really surprised some of us. We were out at his ranch yesterday; he came out to talk about Iraq. But, of course, the question on the reporters' mind was, what does he think about Arnold.

And he said that he thought that Arnold Schwarzenegger would make a good governor. But in talking to some of the president's political strategists, they say don't read more into this than what he actually said. Like, what did you expect him to say, that he would make a bad governor?

Arnold Schwarzenegger has been somebody very close to his family; he campaigned for the president's father. Remember he was going around and calling the Democratic candidates girlie men in 1992. And so the president does like Arnold Schwarzenegger, but it's not an endorsement in the sense that right now there are any plans for the president to actually go to California and campaign for him.

As a matter of fact, he's going to be in California next week for two stops for two days, but there are no plans for him to be on the stop with Arnold Schwarzenegger, not as of yet.

WALLACE: Dana, I'm curious. What kind of role is the White House playing behind the scenes with all of this? You would think the Bush White House would like nothing more than to see a Republican in the state House here in California, but listening to your reporting all week and others, it sounds like the White House is trying to stay as far and clear from this whole recall frenzy as possible.

BASH: It's true. They really don't know what to make of it. As a matter of fact, I was talking to one of the president's senior political strategists who said, look at the field. It looks like the bar in "Star Wars." How can we possibly jump into this right now?

You know certainly they think Arnold Schwarzenegger would be a good person for the Republican Party. They think that potentially he could bring some people into their column that potentially wouldn't be there. But right now it is so unclear, there is so much unknown that they don't even know really what the political calculus is right now.

They don't know how much it would help or hurt to get involved. And also, in terms of the president's future in California, the president didn't win in the year 2000. As a matter of fact, no Republican presidential candidate has won since 1988 from California. And the Bush White House is absolutely determined to do well in California, take California.

And they're not really sure whether or not having a Republican, like even Arnold Schwarzenegger, as governor would help him. As a matter of fact, there is some thinking still that having Gray Davis or another Democrat as governor, somebody to blame for the state's problems, could actually help the president. So at this point they're sort of sitting back and trying to figure out what is going on. They're certainly in touch with all of the top Republican politicians there, but they're really kind of taking their time in terms of jumping in.

KOPPEL: Well you know, Dana, the president clearly is a wise man, saying that he wouldn't take on Arnold Schwarzenegger in arm wrestling. But how do you explain the fact that this same president goes running in 112 degree heat?

BASH: That's a really good question, Andrea. As a matter of fact, as I make my drive here and others do from Waco all the way to Crawford in our air-conditioned cars listening to the radio announcer telling us that we shouldn't go outside, shouldn't exercise, heat advisories, and then we get here to be briefed on the fact that the president is jogging. As a matter of fact, he has something called the 100-degree club. He even gives out T-shirts to people, really mostly Secret Service agents, who jog with him.

And it's been like 110 degrees here. He has jogged a couple of days. He said yesterday that he actually has one new member of the 100 degree club.

And it was really funny; yesterday the vice president was at his -- was at the president's ranch and we were joking with the president as they were walking back towards the House about his running. And the vice president turned to us and said, "Don't worry. I'm not a member of the 100 degree club." So no jogging for the vice president on this trip.

FEYERICK: You know, Dana, it's interesting. I guess the president had a physical this week and all the specifics are laid out in all the newspapers. I think I figured out a reason why a woman would not want to be president, because they have the weight, they've got everything else that people don't exactly want to share with the whole world.

But anyway, in terms of what the president is doing there, the working vacation, how much of it is work and how much of it is purely vacation? And when he sort of trots out his whole cabinet, what is the implication there?

BASH: Well, this is the third summer that the president has come down here. Kelly was here when she was with the White House for a couple of those summers. So she knows that the White House does a very good job of saying that this is the western White House. They even have a sign in our little briefing room that says so, that makes sure to tell us that he gets his daily briefings.

He certainly has the capability to have teleconference from the ranch, secure teleconference with all of his top national security aids. So he definitely is involved. He had two major meetings here this week.

He had Secretary Powell and his deputy. And then he had on Friday a meeting with his military planners and his defense secretary. So he does a lot of that.

However, he also really likes to be here to work on his ranch. He clears brush; he clears cedar. He's got his chain saw he works on. He jogs.

So he really does use this time to detox, as it were. But next week he's going to be traveling out of the state. He's going to go to California, as I said, and make some other trips.

WALLACE: Dana, I don't necessarily miss the heat in Crawford, but I always enjoyed going there. I think reporters, we all complained about spending August in Crawford, Texas, but it's such a lovely place and it's nice to get away from Washington. But, Dana, I wanted to ask you one other political story you've been following, which is Condoleezza Rice, the president's national security adviser, her name has been mentioned a possible California gubernatorial candidate, maybe even someone who could be on the vice presidential ticket, a presidential candidate down the road. Is Condoleezza Rice considering, down the road, to head into political office?

BASH: It's a very good question. And it's really funny; timing is absolutely everything. She has been -- there's been a lot of speculation about, as you said, her going back to California and running for office. She is still a resident there, she's still a 10- year professor at Stanford. She has been (UNINTELLIGIBLE) before she started working for then Governor George W. Bush.

But this week she -- by the way, she's been here in Crawford with the president all week. And this week she went down to Dallas to make a speech, and she was asked about her political future. And she made it pretty clear that she wasn't sure this is something that's in it for her.

As a matter of fact, she said that it takes a particular breed of person to run for office. I don't know if that was a euphemism for needing a screw loose to want to (UNINTELLIGIBLE) through that, but she made it pretty clear that she wanted to close the door a little bit. She definitely left it a little bit open; there's no question about that. But in the immediate future she said that she is going to vote secret ballot just like everybody else is on October 7th. She wouldn't say who she was voting for.

KOPPEL: Dana, I think you just alluded to it when you mentioned the president heading out to California next week, but what is on the docket? We know he has done an awful lot of fund-raising so far this summer. What is left for the remainder of summer and the fall?

BASH: More fund-raising. As a matter of fact, the president is going to have a meeting here -- he has this annually -- with some donors. It's a donor thank-you event. It's closed to the press; we won't see very much of it. But that is on the president's agenda.

The president is actually going to make six fund-raising trips while he's here in Crawford. He's going to make trips from here, I should say, around the country to raise more money for his re- election. But he's also going to make some trips on Monday.

He's going to go to Arizona and Denver. He's going to tout his environmental policy. He's also going to do that in California. So he's got some things on his docket besides fund-raising. He's sort of doing a mix of fund-raising, vacationing, and throwing in some policy here and there, too.

KOPPEL: Yes. And how do you explain part of his vacation clearing brush on his farm? I don't know about that.

BASH: He loves it. Andrea, he loves it.

KOPPEL: That's my question. Why would anybody love that? I could understand if they had to, but...

BASH: Maybe he'll invite us and give us a taste of it to see what it's like.

KOPPEL: OK.

Well, from presidential policy and politics to U.S. efforts in other hot spots, a new question about Secretary of State Colin Powell's future in the Bush administration. I'm on that story when we come right back.

ANNOUNCER: Andrea Koppel is CNN's State Department correspondent. She joined CNN in 1993. She's a former CNN Beijing bureau chief and Tokyo correspondent.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COLIN POWELL, SECRETARY OF STATE: This is all speculation with no basis or fact. There's no basis for this story to begin with, and we're doing our jobs together.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOPPEL: Secretary of State Colin Powell responding to news reports this week that he plans to leave the Bush administration even if the president wins a second term. Welcome back, we're ON THE STORY.

I spoke to a couple of those -- Secretary Powell, as most principals do, has a staff meeting every morning. And bright and early Monday morning I spoke to a couple of those who were in this meeting. Secretary Powell brought up this "Washington Post" story which said, as we laid out there, that he would leave at the end of this administration, along with his chief deputy, Richard Armitage.

And what Secretary Powell said to his staff was, look, I don't have a problem with this. You know, people can take shots at me, but don't bring my wife into this. He really felt it was hitting below the belt.

Glenn Kessler, the reporter who laid out the story, said that that Alma Powell wanted her husband to leave because it really was -- being in the public spotlight is not her favorite thing. The fact of the matter is this hit a never with the State Department. You never -- in fact, I've covered the beat now for five years. I can't really remember having had a statement issued from the State Department denying a story in the printed press.

Usually it would come up at the briefing and they would bat it down there. But this really touched a nerve at the State Department. And, in fact, I know in Crawford, as well, Dana, it touched a nerve there.

BASH: Absolutely. And you know we had the same reaction. We got an on-the-record statement from the White House, as well, denying it, which also never happens. But what was really interesting was at the beginning of the week we knew that Secretary Powell and his deputy, Richard Armitage, would be coming to the ranch to visit the president.

We were told absolutely no coverage, we wouldn't be seeing them at all. Maybe we'd get a photo release at best. Then all of a sudden, Wednesday morning, when they were here, we were told, oh, they're going to lunch at the Coffee Station, which is the only place to have lunch in town in Crawford. And they showed up, they were as close as can be.

You just saw the picture just now, kind of shoulder to shoulder. And they were talking and answering questions about this. Really trying to send a signal, you know, maybe a picture tells a thousand words that they are really tight. And, Andrea, it seems to me that this is something that the secretary of state would not want out there because no one wants to be a lame duck with 17 months to go.

KOPPEL: Well that is certainly part of it. It's not just that Secretary Powell has a lot of issues on his agenda: North Korea, Iraq, Afghanistan, Liberia, issues that he needs to be effective on and wants to continue to be effective on. But also for President Bush.

We're about to enter the election season. Secretary Powell is the lone moderate in the National Security Council right now. And there's not just concern within the White House, but there is concern amongst the American people and overseas that if Secretary Powell is gone and replaced by -- and a couple of the candidates we have been talking about this week, one of them National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, the other, Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz, at least Paul Wolfowitz is not seen as a moderate voice. Condoleezza Rice is seen as somebody who could sort of sway in either direction, but not seen as Secretary Powell, who has really been the one swimming upstream and often seen as being sort of the lone man out.

It is a very frustrating position, which is perhaps among the reasons that Secretary Powell would leave at the end of this administration, but not necessarily the only one. This is a man who has also held just about every powerful office in the city, with the exception of president. And he really wants to go back into the private life.

FEYERICK: You know, ultimately, the secretary of state, the public does not elect the secretary of state. They elect the president. And my understanding is that it's a lot to ask somebody to serve in an administration possibly for eight years when it's 24/7, there's no no let up.

You can see perhaps why Powell's wife would not want to do it for four more years. Because, as a matter of fact, wasn't she the one who ultimately was saying, or was credited for having him not run for president, either? So how does that work?

KOPPEL: Well, there were any number of rumors and speculation out there as to why Secretary Powell decided not to throw his hat in the ring either in previous elections or perhaps in the future for president. But the bottom line is that Secretary Powell felt that reporters had stepped over the line.

I have to tell you, Glenn Kessler is an excellent reporter with "The Washington Post". And I know that he has tremendous sources. And you have to wonder about the reaction, the overreaction almost to this story.

This was a story that I believe folks out in Crawford were calling a summer squall. They were chalking it up to the fact that this is August. Reporters need to dig around, and maybe stories that they wouldn't necessarily put on the front page in January they are doing so in August.

But nevertheless, this is a story that has potential political ripples for the Bush team. If Secretary Powell is seen as somebody who is already taking his name off the ballot, even though he's not officially on the ballot, but he is somebody more popular than the president of the United States when you ask the American people. Recent polls show that he has higher numbers than anybody else in the Bush cabinet, including Mr. Bush himself.

WALLACE: Andrea, I have to ask you -- you know, I have been away from Washington for a little while, but we all know that behind the story there has to be something to it. As you said, Glenn Kessler is a great reporter. There have been a number of stories, of course, about the tensions between the State Department and the White House.

You had columnist Maureen Dow (ph) in "The New York Times" talking about the neocons, the neoconservatives in the Bush administration now trying to seek regime change in the State department. So tell us, what is really, though, going on behind the scenes?

Is there some tension? Because even when you saw President Bush and Secretary Powell in Crawford, they dodged the question about whether Powell will actually be at the State Department in 2005, if there is a new second Bush administration.

KOPPEL: There is -- Kelly, there is absolutely no question when you ask anybody in the State Department. There is a feeling -- even though more morale is much better, I can tell you now, than it was under the previous administration, Secretary Powell is seen as somebody who has really boosted the public morale of both civil servants and foreign service officers. He is really seen as a leader.

But they also know that on a number of policy decisions Secretary Powell has not persevered. The one sort of glimmer right now is North Korea. Secretary Powell has been pushing multilateral talks and we may see those talks later this month or early September with the North. But on other issues like Iraq, he did persuade the president to go to the United Nations, but then when push came to shove, the U.S. went it alone with a coalition of the willing. So there is a feeling in the State Department of isolation, that it is not really in the know on a lot of issues, and that it is not necessarily the State Department's point of view that is persevering.

One question that's out there, of course, is this Israeli security fence. And I know that that was in the news this past week, as to whether or not the State Department was going to push this, force it down Israel's -- you know, Israel's throat.

FEYERICK: OK. Well, we're going to say good-bye to Dana Bash so she can get out of the 110 degree Texas heat and get some air- conditioning. Thanks for being here. What is on the agenda for you for the rest of today?

BASH: Well, we have got a lot of high rollers rolling into town to go to the president's barbecue to thank the high donors to his campaign. So we're going to be following that. There is also a press conference from an advocacy group of public citizens. They're coming to the small town of Crawford to have a conference about the president and his fund-raising and how they don't think that's such a good idea.

We'll be following all that, Deborah.

FEYERICK: Well, great. Have fun at the barbecue.

Next, the legal case that everyone is talking about, good or bad. L.A. Lakers basketball player Kobe Bryant accused of sexual assault. The NBA star has his first day in court. I'm ON THE STORY when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FEYERICK: Kobe Bryant is the next story that we're going to be moving on to. The only two words that he spoke in a Colorado court were "No, sir." And that's when the judge asked him whether he objected delaying a preliminary hearing 60 days, as compared to the normal 30 days. He was in the court, of course, to hear the sexual assault charge against him read, but he waived that right.

Welcome back. I'm Deborah Feyerick ON THE STORY. We are also joined by our colleague, Susan Candiotti, in Miami -- hi there, Susan.

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Deborah.

The first thing I wanted to know, and I realize it's very early on, but what are the chances of this case going all the way to trial versus there being some sort of plea negotiations to get this down to a lesser charge or making this go away all together?

FEYERICK: There was a lot of talk about that this week. Initially, actually, the district attorney had charged Bryant with two things. First of all, the sexual assault, but also falsely imprisoning somebody. That would be the young lady, of course. He dropped that lesser charge which amounts to a misdemeanor. This way it will give a jury no option. They will have to go for the whole thing; that is, the sexual assault charge.

Also, whether in fact right now the young lady can say, you know, this is too much, I never counted on this, I never expected this kind of media attention. Well, now that the charges have been filed, it is likely this thing will go all the way to court. You cannot just dismiss the charges.

The young woman could refuse to testify. That certainly would make it a lot more difficult because there would be no cross examination. But, again, because the charges are there, they stick and it will go to trial. The question is when.

Kobe Bryant did delay his preliminary hearing. Usually a defendant has the right to hear evidence against him within a 30-day period, but his lawyer said, it's OK, we can do it October 9th. That would be the start, effectively, of the basketball season.

WALLACE: Deborah, we know, of course, the judge is trying to seal all the documents in this case and keep a gag order in place. So it's making reporting this story, obviously for you and your colleagues, very difficult. I'm just wondering, though, any sense of what you're picking up privately in your conversations with your sources about the evidence in this case?

You've heard some friends quoted as saying, once people see the evidence, the physical evidence, other evidence, they will see, these friends of the alleged victim, that Kobe Bryant did, in fact, commit a crime on that night.

FEYERICK: There is evidence. There's going to be evidence. Kobe Bryant as much as admitted that, saying he did have relations with the woman, consensual sex with the woman, though. He never used the word "sex". He always used the word "adultery;" he made the mistake of adultery.

The kind of evidence that you're looking at would include DNA evidence, for example, semen, blood. But it would also include something like if there were bruises or scratches or anything that looks like there was a sign of a struggle. The defense attorneys are really going to go for a consent defense. They're going to make this look as if this was consensual and then perhaps the woman changed her mind.

Though under Colorado law, if -- the moment a woman says no, it is no. That is the answer and there's no way out and there's no going back. So that's going to be a bit tricky. But, again, as far as the secret evidence, sure, the media wants it. There is a lot of -- in fact, there are so many journalists and so little news out there in Colorado.

However, it's the kind of thing that there's great interest. And, again, it's a slow, sleepy August, and so the more you can get, the more you have to convey to the public. And also, because Kobe Bryant is such a loved figure in the world of basketball, because his whole image was tied up being the good guy, again, this has sort of thrown something into the fire that perhaps shows that maybe it was all image.

KOPPEL: Deb, we know that Kobe's next day in court is still two months away. For all those media vultures out there, we know we've been following everything twist and turn in this case. What can we expect over the next two months? Where do you see the story going?

FEYERICK: Well, there are going to be a lot of different hearings, you know, just in terms of what kind of evidence can be let in, who is going to be taking the stand, what witnesses will be there. The district attorney will lay out between 90 to 95 percent of his case at this preliminary hearing.

And you're right; everybody want to get some little piece of information that they can sort of put in their paper or broadcast on television. Like I said, too many journalists, too little news. This is -- and I don't want to use the word "ordinary," -- but this is your basic sexual assault case.

Nothing is going to come out that's so oddly surprising, when you look at the context of these kind of assaults, alleged assaults. But, again, it's the kind of thing. There are rumors, did he block the door, for example, when the woman tried to leave, if she tried to leave?

It's those pieces of information that everybody grabs on to, but a lot of rumors that we were hearing out there were all debunked. So we have to be very careful. There is a gag order in place. Nobody has seen a copy of the affidavit, the search warrant affidavit or the arrest warrant affidavit, which would have the kind of information on why he was arrested.

So we've got to be very careful. Again, it's unlikely that anything explosive is going to come out within the context of alleged sexual assaults. But because it's Kobe Bryant it takes on a whole different level.

CANDIOTTI: Well, thanks, Deborah.

From the courtroom now to the church. Episcopalians take a leap of faith on an openly gay bishop. I'm ON THE STORY when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REV. GENE ROBINSON: It's been a long time in coming. It's not so much a dream as a calling from god. And I'm really thrilled.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CANDIOTTI: That's the Reverend Gene Robinson in a conversation with me shortly after being confirmed as the first openly gay bishop in the Episcopal Church, part of the Anglican communion made up of 75 million people. But among Episcopalians in this country, and among many others, there is far from universal approval of this historic move.

Welcome back, I'm Susan Candiotti ON THE STORY.

KOPPEL: Susan, why does it seem as if the Episcopal Church is always ahead of the curve? They were the first to ordain women, now the first to allow an open gay bishop to be ordained. Why is that the case?

CANDIOTTI: Here's why people say that they have taken this move. They keep pointing time and again, people who are proponents of this. They say the way the Episcopal Church is run in the United States, the people of each diocese get to choose their own bishop. And in this case there was a 16-month church before Reverend Gene Robinson was selected by his own diocese in New Hampshire to be bishop.

And the way it goes is, if that's who the people want, that's who the people get. However, once that selection is made, it must be approved by bishops who vote on this. And because his selection came so close to a convention, which is held every three years, there was an opportunity for both two groups to vote on it. One called the House of Deputies, made up of more than 800 clergy and lay people, and then moved on to the House of Bishops, made up of 100 presiding bishops in the United States. And both approved this move.

So this Church is known to many people as one of, according to this move, one of inclusion as opposed to exclusion. But it's not going over well in a lot of areas.

WALLACE: Yes. Speak about the fallout, Susan. What kind of rift is there now in the Church, and are more and more members talking about leaving the Church out of protest about this decision?

CANDIOTTI: Well, that debate started early on, even before the vote took place. People are predicting that there will be a rift, that there will be a serious divide, not only among Episcopalians here in the United States, but this Church is part of that Anglican community worldwide. And there are a lot of people talking about a split in that regard, too, particularly among more conservative areas.

For example, the bishop of Kenya has said that this is going to cause a split because, according to him, it goes completely against scripture. And, in fact, the archbishop of Canterbury, who is the spiritual leader of this Church, or they say the first among equals among the Anglican communion, he is already calling for a special get together, a special communion, as it were, in October so that they can talk about this, people who are having problems with this, before Bishop Gene Robinson elect is consecrated in November.

FEYERICK: And clearly, the people who are against this are going to come out swinging. I mean, we are already beginning to hear some gossip or some rumors about -- some very negative rumors, as a matter of fact, about this man.

CANDIOTTI: Well, there were all kinds of last-minute, let's say allegations, that were made just before the vote, the eve of the vote. And frankly, people raised questions about the timing of that coming so close to his confirmation vote. For example, people came to us Sunday morning, the night before the vote, people who headed up the American Anglican Council, which was the lead opposition group, and they said to us, for example, we came up with some information that with just a few clicks away on a Web site from an organization not that he founded but a chapter of an organization that he helped found which counsels gay lesbian and youth, that a few clicks away on that Web site you reach some pornographic material.

And they said to us, this could be very explosive and we think people need to know about this. We promised that we would look into it, we did. We presented information that it wasn't looking that there was anything to it, because his information was so far away from the original Web site.

In addition, we found out that he had nothing to do with the creation of the Web site, nor did he know, Reverend Gene Robinson, that it even existed. However, once we presented that information, within a short period of time that opposition group took the same information to the bishops themselves and word got out to an independent journalists who did publicize it.

So there was some very questionable moves about how this was handled. And as you might recall, the bishops found what we did, that there was nothing to this allegation.

KOPPEL: Well, we'll be keeping an eye on that story. It's certainly been an exciting week for news.

Our thanks to Susan Candiotti and all of my colleagues. And thank you for watching ON THE STORY. We'll be back next week.

Still ahead, "People in the News" focusing this week on Arnold Schwarzenegger, surprise, surprise, and Kobe Bryant. That's followed at noon Eastern, 9:00 a.m. Pacific by "CNN LIVE SATURDAY". And at 1:00 p.m. Eastern, 10:00 Pacific, "IN THE MONEY" looks at this week's bombing in Indonesia.

Coming up at the top of the hour, a check of the hour's top stories. But first, the president's weekly radio address.

(BEGIN AUDIOTAPE)

BUSH: Good morning.

Friday of this week was the 100th day since the end of major combat operations in Iraq. For America, and our coalition partners, these have been 100 days of steady progress and decisive action against the last holdouts of the former regime. And for the people of Iraq, this has been a period like none other in the country's history, a time of change and rising hopes after decades of tyranny.

Every day we're working to make Iraq more secure. Coalition forces remain on the offensive against the Ba'ath Party loyalists and foreign terrorists who are trying to prevent order and stability. More and more Iraqis are coming forward with specific information as to the whereabouts of these violent thugs, enabling us to carry out raids to ram them up and seize stockpiles of weapons.

We're working with Iraqis to establish a new Iraqi army and a new civil defense corps. In the city of Baghdad, 6,000 Iraqi police are patrolling the streets and protecting citizens. More than 20,000 more police are on duty in other towns and cities across Iraq. Every day Iraq is making progress in rebuilding its economy.

In Baghdad, the banks have opened and other banks will open across the country in the coming months. This fall, new bank notes will be issued, replacing the old ones bearing the former dictator's image. And Iraq's energy industry is once again serving the interests of the Iraqi people. More than a million barrels of crude oil and over two million gallons of gasoline are being produced daily.

Every day, Iraq draws closer to the free and functioning society its people were long denied. We're recovering hundreds of millions of dollars from the old regime and are using those funds to pay civil servants. Teachers, healthcare workers, police and others performing essential services are also receiving salaries from our coalition. In fact, teacher pay is four times higher than under the old regime.

Life is returning to normal for the Iraqi people. Hospitals and universities have opened, and in many places water and other utility services are reaching pre-war levels across Iraq. Nearly all school children have completed their exams, and for the first time in many years a free press is at work in Iraq.

Across that country today, more than 150 newspapers are publishing regularly. Most important of all, the Iraqi people are taking daily steps toward democratic government. The Iraqi Governing Council, whose 25 members represent all of that diverse country, is meeting regularly, naming ministers and drawing up a budget for the country. Soon representatives of the people will begin drafting a new constitution and free elections will follow.

At the local level, all major Iraqi cities and most towns have municipal councils. Freedom is taking hold in that country, as people gain confidence that the former regime is never coming back. One hundred days is not enough time to undo the terrible legacy of Saddam Hussein. There is difficult and dangerous work ahead that requires time and patience. Yet all Americans can be proud of what our military and provisional authorities have achieved in Iraq.

Our country and the nations of the Middle East are now safer. We're keeping our word to the Iraqi people by helping them to make their country an example of democracy and prosperity throughout the region. This long-term undertaking is vital to peace in that region and to the security of the United States. Our coalition and the people of Iraq have made remarkable progress in a short time, and we will complete the great work we have begun.

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




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