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On the Story
Can U.S. Military Cope with Attacks in Iraq; Million Youth March in Brooklyn, New York
Aired September 06, 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.
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Welcome to CNN's ON THE STORY, where our journalists have the inside word on the stories we covered this week. I'm Barbara Starr, on the story of violent attacks in Iraq and how they have fired up the debate at home over how the United States military can cope.
DANA BASH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: I'm Dana Bash, on the story of how President Bush, feeling political heat on Iraq, decides to speak to the nation this weekend.
MARIA HINOJOSA, CNN URBAN AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: I'm Maria Hinojosa, on the streets of Brooklyn, on the story of what's billed as the Million Youth March, and on the story of the importance of minority voters next year.
JOSIE BURKE, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: I'm Jose Burke in Queens, at the U.S. Open, on the story of the heartthrob and the heartache that finally made this a tournament to remember for something other than the weather.
KELLY WALLACE, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm Kelly Wallace in Los Angeles, on the story of the California recall, how the candidates are showing just how they'll perform in this political sprint.
KATHLEEN HAYS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And I'm Kathleen Hays, on the story of how jobs and paychecks may be topic one in the national political debate. We're going to talk about all these stories.
We'll also see how New York and Washington are preparing for next week's anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. And we'll listen to the president's weekly radio address at the end of the hour.
Now we're going to go to Barbara Starr.
STARR: But now we're going to first pause and we're going to go to Baghdad, where Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is wrapping up his trip to Iraq and is about to speak to reporters. Let's listen in.
(INTERUPTED BY A LIVE EVENT)
STARR: Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Bremer, the head of the Coalition Provisional Authority, and General Ricardo Sanchez, the top U.S. military commander in Iraq, finishing up a press conference there today in Baghdad as Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld finishes his second trip to Iraq after the war. And by all accounts, no news. That's exactly the way Don Rumsfeld wants it, holding very firm to the lines that the administration has had, emphasizing the successes in Iraq.
BASH: That's definitely what struck me, Barbara, because what we're hearing from the administration, from the Bush administration, and more specifically from some Republicans who have just come home from their congressional districts after August recess, was that the good news that they believe is out there is not getting out. So to hear Donald Rumsfeld tick off the fact that schools are opening, the fact that there's a free press, that is the message that the administration is trying to get out there.
HAYS: He sure looks tired, though. And I know he's traveling, but you can't help but think that besides being jet lagged and traveling all over the place that this is something weighing on his shoulders. And these are tough questions that many times you wonder if he has an answer.
It was very telling when he was asked, "If you could go back six months and do anything different," he went back 20 years, he went back 10 years. I think he really avoided that question, and is it because he wouldn't do anything different or because it's just a very, very tough question to answer now?
STARR: Well, because I think they're facing a lot of problems. As Congress comes back to town, they will be on the Hill next week testifying about this, asking for more money, trying to defend their position. And clearly, what he didn't want to talk about was the weapons of mass destruction, the ongoing violence in Iraq, some of the rise of the militia groups. Although Paul Bremer said they are authorized, clearly there is a real concern about these militia groups. So no news, but that's what Don Rumsfeld wants.
WALLACE: And Barbara, many, many more questions on the Iraq debate. But we are going to turn the corner here, looking ahead to the political storm washing all over California. That is the recall. I'm on the story on that subject after this break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER (R), CALIFORNIA GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE: Well, this guy owes me bacon now. I mean, there's no two ways about it, because, I mean, you can't just have eggs without bacon. But this is just all part of the free speech.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WALLACE: And the movie star turned political candidate showing off his sense of humor. This after he took an egg -- he was pelted by an egg during an appearance earlier this week. That is the same day he was heavily criticized for skipping the first of these debates in this California recall race.
Welcome back to ON THE STORY. A big question, lots of people have been asking all week, did Arnold Schwarzenegger lose some ground for skipping that debate? Political observers say they just don't know, because they say this race will be decided on who can get enough voters to the polls one month from tomorrow. And right now, they are pulling out all the big players to try and get voters to the polls.
HAYS: Well, Kelly, and of course for Arnold, one of the big players he's got is right here at home with him, Maria Shriver, you know, part of the Kennedy dynasty. And we're hearing that she's now going to take a very active role in his campaign.
WALLACE: Exactly, Kathleen. Campaign aides say she's going to be playing what they call a dual role in this campaign. Number one, she will be going out, starting Monday, to speak on behalf of her husband. She was out just yesterday for a kickoff at their campaign headquarters.
But she's also going to be trying to increase voter registration. And she has also been playing a key role behind the scenes when it comes to strategy, what her husband does, what he says. She can be very important getting Republicans and Democrats, but also getting women voters to the polls. And there were some protests outside the Schwarzenegger headquarters yesterday, some women activists, who were demonstrating, saying that some of Schwarzenegger statements over the past several years show that he has no respect for women.
BURKE: Kelly, if we can't qualify how much, if anything, Arnold Schwarzenegger lost by not participating in the debate, can we qualify in any if any of those guys who did and the woman who did won anything?
WALLACE: Terrific question, Josie. Yes, some people say that one of the key winners of that debate, the Republican. The other Republican candidate, Republican state Senator Tom McClintock, many people think he showed a great command of the issues and that he solidified his support with conservative voters.
The reason this is important, McClintock is trailing Schwarzenegger in the polls. But many Republicans are talking about the need to get McClintock out of the race so that these Republicans don't go ahead and split the vote. And then if Governor Gray Davis is, in fact, recalled, well then you could have a scenario where the Republicans are splitting the vote and the Democrat, Lieutenant Governor Cruz Bustamante, the major Democrat on the ballot, could become the winner.
Another thing a lot of people think that all these candidates benefited just a little. They are not getting as much publicity as Arnold Schwarzenegger, so they benefited by being on the stage, talking for an hour and a half. It was covered across the state. They believe they got some extra publicity that they have not been getting in this race.
STARR: And Kelly, it appears that Governor Davis has got a strategy himself this week. Changing his views on a couple of key issues, especially driver's licenses in California. WALLACE: He did. He signed a bill last night, Barbara, to basically -- a new law that would allow undocumented illegal immigrants to obtain driver's licenses. Now, this is something he had been against in the past, but then said he would, in fact, sign this bill.
He did it. He's being criticized. Some Republicans think he's trying to cater to Hispanic voters. But the reason this is so interesting is Arnold Schwarzenegger, who is an immigrant himself, has been talking about this. He says if he became governor, he would go ahead and rescind that law.
BURKE: Kelly, thank you so much for getting up very early to join us. What is up for you the rest of the weekend?
WALLACE: Well, besides some sleep, Josie, we will be watching this weekend. We didn't mention, but Governor Davis is getting some big ammunition. Howard Dean, the Democratic presidential hopeful, will be out on his behalf later today. Arnold Schwarzenegger has events.
Many will be appearing tomorrow at the Mexican Independence Day parade. So we're watching as these candidates try to get those voters to the polls.
BURKE: All right. Well, keep your running shoes on. We're going to move from this political sprint of the California recall to the very slow going of the sports world here at the U.S. Open and the raindrops on tennis courts that frustrated players and spectators for days. We're back on that story in just a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANDY RODDICK, TENNIS PLAYER: I've been a little bit more laid back and have a lot more fun.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURKE: Andy Roddick's new attitude has certainly served him well here at this year's U.S. Open. Welcome back to ON THE STORY from Queens at the United States Tennis Center.
This has to be one of the strangest tournaments ever, but it still has a chance to be one of the best tournaments ever. And a lot of that has to do with Andy Roddick. And that's because for years now American men's tennis has been looking for the guy who can replace Andre Agassi and who can replace Pete Sampras up at the top of that food chain.
They said for years it's going to be Andy Roddick. Well, he just turned 21 a week ago. And now he's just one win away from his first ever Grand Slam final. And there's a chance he could play and Andre Agassi, and that would certainly be a match for the ages. The past and the present of American men's tennis against, maybe, just maybe, the future of American men's tennis.
BASH: Josie, I want to ask you about women's tennis. There are two women who are missing from the U.S. Open this year, and that of course is Serena and Venus Williams. What affect is that having on the women's tennis tournament there?
BURKE: Well, it certainly has given this tournament a different feel. One reason has to do with the weather. We talked about at the beginning, you know, four straight days of rain, everything got juggled around.
But these two women have won here each of the last four years. One or the other has won this tournament. The last time a woman not named Williams won here at the U.S. Open was 1998, when Lindsay Davenport won.
It's made it a lot more wide open. But it's funny, even with all of the -- the fact that we don't have the two Williams, we still have an all-something final tonight. And it's an all-Belgium final, with Kim Clijsters going up against Justine Henin. So it probably attracted a few more viewers, if they stayed up late, especially to watch that match last night when Jennifer Capriati lost to Justine Henin, because maybe people don't feel like it's a foregone conclusion already, there's some suspense there.
HAYS: Josie, tell us about that match. You were there, you stayed up and watched it. I read the press accounts this morning. It was an amazing, dramatic event.
BURKE: It sort of gives you the chills just thinking about it now, again, because it did have so much drama. It happened so late at night. Jennifer Capriati has this unbelievable story.
She's been on the tennis stage for virtually half her life. She's 27 years old. She burst on to the scene as a professional when she was 14.
She's had the highs, she's had the lows. And now she's come back and she was trying to win her first U.S. Open title ever. She had this match in her hands over and over and over again, and she said she just lost focus and let it slip away. Three sets, tie-breaker in the third set. And to say she was devastated at the end would be an understatement.
STARR: Well, now we're going to take a little bit of a turn. Kathleen, we're going to talk about the economy, we're going to -- that's big money and that's big news this week, not great news.
HAYS: Well, and when you talk about losing your focus, I wonder if the Bush administration feels like they're losing their grip on this economy. We saw in August, a month when things were suddenly supposed to be getting better, because we've seen better retail spending, we've seen good surveys from manufacturing, some signs businesses are maybe going to start investing again.
Suddenly a loss of 93,000 jobs. In manufacturing, the 37th month in a row jobs have been lost. And it was 44,000. That's no chump change. Even the services sector, where most of the jobs are produced, lost 67,000 jobs.
The story here, companies are still trying to cost costs. That raises productivity, as we call it, but productivity's becoming a nightmare for American worker because it means jobs are going away.
I want to bring back Maria Hinojosa, who is standing by in Brooklyn, where there's a lot going on. A lot of questions about jobs there, too. Welcome back, Maria.
HINOJOSA: Welcome back. Kathleen, I'm wondering about the tax cut. There's been a lot of discussion about the tax cut and whether or not it's really going to be able to do what the Bush presidency wanted it to do, which is to reinvigorate the economy, when what's happening is that with some of these refunds that people are getting, aren't they just going back and buying things that are made overseas? How does that help the U.S. economy then?
HAYS: You know, Maria, this is going to be a big debate. It's already a debate going into the presidential election.
And what the supply side (ph), the Republicans are saying, is just be a little bit more patient. Greg Mankiw, the new head of the Council of Economic Advisers, said by the turn of the year the economy is going to be growing fast enough that people will have to hire more workers.
Yesterday, the other side of the camp, a former ahead of the Council of Economic Advisers, a Nobel prize-winning economist, Joe Stiglitz, was in our studios in New York and he said, as a lot of Democrats are going to say, this is the mantra, that George Bush gave his wealthy friends a lot of money when he should have given more money back to working people in the form of more relief for long-term unemployed, and maybe even investment tax credit.
BASH: But meanwhile, not only is the Bush administration not backing down on their tax cuts, the president was at three different stops in three different states in the Midwest this week, all talking up the economy. He made it clear not only that he believes that the tax cuts have actually shortened the recession, but also he wants the tax cuts to be permanent, which is going to be another trillion dollars or so into the economy, or taking it away from the -- it will cost about a trillion more dollars.
HAYS: And of course Joe Stiglitz made the Democrats' argument, which is that a bigger deficit means higher tax rates, that's not good for the economy; we should keep them low. I think one thing we should step back and see is that I don't even think of this as a Republican or Democrat problem at this point.
The Clinton administration was big on opening our relations with China. Now everyone is worried about China eating our lunch.
John Snow, the Treasury secretary, was in China this week, trying to get them to let their currency float so that when our dollar falls, our manufacturers can get some kind of benefit from it. The Chinese have their own problems, they're not budging.
But it's going to dog the president, because three million jobs lost while President Bush was in office. If this doesn't start turning around, it's about the worst record for job loss in any president's term since Herbert Hoover. And nobody wants to be compared with Herbert Hoover.
BASH: This is why they're talking up the economy.
HAYS: Absolutely.
BURKE: Kathleen, can you speak at all to how seriously the administration is taking what has now turned into a manufacturing problem?
HAYS: Oh, Josie, that's a very good question. Just this week, the president announced that they want to create a manufacturing czar, an assistant secretary of commerce to focus on manufacturing. When I was on that tour a month or so ago with the three secretaries of the economy out in the Midwest, they were talking about a report on manufacturing that's coming out this fall.
I think it's a very tough question what you do. I asked Don Evans, the commerce secretary at the time, you know, you want to level the playing field. But no matter how level we make the playing field in terms of opening trade, Chinese workers are still going to make a mere fraction of what American workers make per hour. That's going to be the question that has to be addressed, how we deal with that.
Again, I almost pity the Democrats if they win next year because it's a tough question for any administration to deal with.
BASH: Well, Kathleen, of course the president, as we said, did talk about the economy a lot this week. But he's also got international relations on his mind, specifically Iraq. And he is going to address the American people on that tomorrow night. More on that when we come back ON THE STORY right after this.
ANNOUNCER: First lady Laura Bush is in the news this week. What's her story? We'll tell you why she wants to go to Iraq and Afghanistan when ON THE STORY continues.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RUMSFELD: There's no safe, easy middle ground. Either we take this war to the terrorists and fight...
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BASH: And that was Donald Rumsfeld speaking about the war in -- the continued war in Iraq, or finding the peace in Iraq while he is in Baghdad. And that was just one of the attempts by the Bush administration this week to get the good news out on Iraq. We heard it just earlier, once again, this morning. And, you know, we've gotten this news over the month of August, heard about of course the terrorist attacks in Iraq, the almost daily killings of U.S. soldiers there. And the Bush administration back to work, Congress back to work. What they realize is that they have to take control of the message. And that is why...
STARR: And so when the president speaks tomorrow night, when the president speaks to the nation, are we going to hear anything different from the White House?
BASH: That's a very good question. What I'm told is that we will hear some -- and get some announcements. Unclear how big they will be or small they will be. But the main purpose of this speech by the president is to provide the clarity and sort of understanding of exactly what the mission is right now.
The last time the president spoke before the country in this way, where actually the press secretary asked the networks for network TV time, which is exactly what they've asked for on Sunday night, he was standing under a banner that said "Mission Accomplished." Since then, things have been quite different on the ground, and that is why members of Congress, some of his tough allies came back, they were listening to their constituents during the month of August, and they said, Mr. President, there is good news out there. We're not hearing about it. We're a little bit worried about losing control of this politically, domestically. The audience is the American people, and that's what the White House is saying.
HAYS: Dana, frame this for us. How important is this for George Bush at this point in his term? And he's making that -- not just the pivot. I mean, he's full bore towards the election next year. How big of a speech is this?
BASH: Well, it's big. Obviously, it's very important. The whole concept of a president asking for network TV time on a Sunday night illustrates obviously sort of illustrates how important this is.
HAYS: And his (ph) program, any surprises?
BASH: Unclear about the surprises, but what -- basically what the White House understands they need to do -- and White House officials are saying that actually it was at the end of August when the president was still in Crawford that he was meeting with his national security advisers and he realized that he needed to come back and make a speech. As a matter of fact, although members of Congress were certainly pressuring the president, even his Republican members of Congress in a meeting at the White House this past week, the White House says it wasn't Congress that convinced him to do it.
He had decided to do this back in August. He understands -- the president himself, they say, feels that nobody's really listening in August. He was gone, nobody was really in Washington.
Now is the time, people are back, people are paying attention, the political season is upon us. And as commander in chief, he needs to explain what exactly is going on, what the mission is. Especially, Barbara, now that they have made this strategic move and really shift to go back to the United Nations. And I'm wondering how that feels at the Pentagon, what they think about that?
STARR: Well, the Pentagon, they're just holding on. They're not really going to acknowledge any sort of shift. But, you know, Maria, the question then becomes, in the real world, outside Washington, outside the Pentagon, on the streets that you report on, what people are thinking out there.
HINOJOSA: Well, what we see is that there's a lot of concern here about any number of those issues now. What people want to know here on the streets in Brooklyn has to do with the political power of the African-American community. But we'll coming back to talk about how New York City is preparing for the second anniversary of September 11th.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HINOJOSA: I'm Maria Hinojosa on the streets of Brooklyn for what's billed as the Million Youth March. It may turn out to be more like the thousand youth march. But a lot of what's on people's minds here is not only politics and getting the minority vote involved, but also of course what's going to happen next week, the second anniversary of the September 11th attacks.
Just to give you a sense of what some people are thinking in the city, this was the headline on "The Daily News" just yesterday: "Bush to City: See Ya Later." He will not be here for the second anniversary. And earlier this week, I was at an event that was called together by journalists to talk about September 11th, journalists who felt particularly affected by that. A reporter who almost broke -- who almost lost his life, broke both of his legs was there.
And one of the interesting things I found, there were some family members who were there. And they said they feel like the city, the president, everybody's essentially saying, we're over September 11th, let's forget about it. That was really extraordinary to hear these people talking in this way.
STARR: It's interesting, Maria, because at the Pentagon you get some of the same general tone. The families perhaps a little more involved, still in the grieving process. A lot of other people moving on, but not forgetting.
What about the rest of the city of New York? Of course, the families still deeply effected, but the mayor, the city government, will we see them on September 11th?
HINOJOSA: Well, you're going to have an event that even some family members are concerned about. It's going to be the children who will be in ground zero reading the names of the victims. Some people feel that was inappropriate to bring children in on this.
I think that it really depends who you talk to in this city. There are a lot of people who are still profoundly effected by September 11th. They can't let go, haven't been able to move on. But then there are other people who are ready to move on, ready to say, we've got to keep on living our lives and move on.
So this is a -- it's a divided city in that sense of how people are feeling about September 11th. But a lot of what people call, therapists call anniversary reaction, just a little -- very concerned about what's coming up for next week. So a lot of difficult emotions in this city.
STARR: And Dana, we're not going to see a lot of President Bush in the national grieving process.
BASH: He's going to go to church -- the church across the street from the White House, and he's going to go to Walter Reed to visit some of the wounded soldiers. So he will be out there.
HAYS: Well, it's going to be a very interesting week, which is why a lot of you are going to want to come back and see ON THE STORY for next week. But for now, I want to thank my colleagues.
Thank you for watching ON THE STORY today. We are coming back next week.
Still ahead, "People in the News" focusing this week on Shania Twain and Celine Dion at 12:00 noon Eastern, 9:00 a.m. Pacific, "CNN LIVE SATURDAY". And at 1:00 p.m. Eastern, 10:00 a.m. Pacific, CNN's "IN THE MONEY" takes another look at why stocks go up but the job market doesn't necessarily follow.
Coming up at the top of the hour a "News Alert." But first, the president's weekly radio address.
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March in Brooklyn, New York>
Aired September 6, 2003 - 10:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Welcome to CNN's ON THE STORY, where our journalists have the inside word on the stories we covered this week. I'm Barbara Starr, on the story of violent attacks in Iraq and how they have fired up the debate at home over how the United States military can cope.
DANA BASH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: I'm Dana Bash, on the story of how President Bush, feeling political heat on Iraq, decides to speak to the nation this weekend.
MARIA HINOJOSA, CNN URBAN AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: I'm Maria Hinojosa, on the streets of Brooklyn, on the story of what's billed as the Million Youth March, and on the story of the importance of minority voters next year.
JOSIE BURKE, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: I'm Jose Burke in Queens, at the U.S. Open, on the story of the heartthrob and the heartache that finally made this a tournament to remember for something other than the weather.
KELLY WALLACE, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm Kelly Wallace in Los Angeles, on the story of the California recall, how the candidates are showing just how they'll perform in this political sprint.
KATHLEEN HAYS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And I'm Kathleen Hays, on the story of how jobs and paychecks may be topic one in the national political debate. We're going to talk about all these stories.
We'll also see how New York and Washington are preparing for next week's anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. And we'll listen to the president's weekly radio address at the end of the hour.
Now we're going to go to Barbara Starr.
STARR: But now we're going to first pause and we're going to go to Baghdad, where Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is wrapping up his trip to Iraq and is about to speak to reporters. Let's listen in.
(INTERUPTED BY A LIVE EVENT)
STARR: Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Bremer, the head of the Coalition Provisional Authority, and General Ricardo Sanchez, the top U.S. military commander in Iraq, finishing up a press conference there today in Baghdad as Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld finishes his second trip to Iraq after the war. And by all accounts, no news. That's exactly the way Don Rumsfeld wants it, holding very firm to the lines that the administration has had, emphasizing the successes in Iraq.
BASH: That's definitely what struck me, Barbara, because what we're hearing from the administration, from the Bush administration, and more specifically from some Republicans who have just come home from their congressional districts after August recess, was that the good news that they believe is out there is not getting out. So to hear Donald Rumsfeld tick off the fact that schools are opening, the fact that there's a free press, that is the message that the administration is trying to get out there.
HAYS: He sure looks tired, though. And I know he's traveling, but you can't help but think that besides being jet lagged and traveling all over the place that this is something weighing on his shoulders. And these are tough questions that many times you wonder if he has an answer.
It was very telling when he was asked, "If you could go back six months and do anything different," he went back 20 years, he went back 10 years. I think he really avoided that question, and is it because he wouldn't do anything different or because it's just a very, very tough question to answer now?
STARR: Well, because I think they're facing a lot of problems. As Congress comes back to town, they will be on the Hill next week testifying about this, asking for more money, trying to defend their position. And clearly, what he didn't want to talk about was the weapons of mass destruction, the ongoing violence in Iraq, some of the rise of the militia groups. Although Paul Bremer said they are authorized, clearly there is a real concern about these militia groups. So no news, but that's what Don Rumsfeld wants.
WALLACE: And Barbara, many, many more questions on the Iraq debate. But we are going to turn the corner here, looking ahead to the political storm washing all over California. That is the recall. I'm on the story on that subject after this break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER (R), CALIFORNIA GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE: Well, this guy owes me bacon now. I mean, there's no two ways about it, because, I mean, you can't just have eggs without bacon. But this is just all part of the free speech.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WALLACE: And the movie star turned political candidate showing off his sense of humor. This after he took an egg -- he was pelted by an egg during an appearance earlier this week. That is the same day he was heavily criticized for skipping the first of these debates in this California recall race.
Welcome back to ON THE STORY. A big question, lots of people have been asking all week, did Arnold Schwarzenegger lose some ground for skipping that debate? Political observers say they just don't know, because they say this race will be decided on who can get enough voters to the polls one month from tomorrow. And right now, they are pulling out all the big players to try and get voters to the polls.
HAYS: Well, Kelly, and of course for Arnold, one of the big players he's got is right here at home with him, Maria Shriver, you know, part of the Kennedy dynasty. And we're hearing that she's now going to take a very active role in his campaign.
WALLACE: Exactly, Kathleen. Campaign aides say she's going to be playing what they call a dual role in this campaign. Number one, she will be going out, starting Monday, to speak on behalf of her husband. She was out just yesterday for a kickoff at their campaign headquarters.
But she's also going to be trying to increase voter registration. And she has also been playing a key role behind the scenes when it comes to strategy, what her husband does, what he says. She can be very important getting Republicans and Democrats, but also getting women voters to the polls. And there were some protests outside the Schwarzenegger headquarters yesterday, some women activists, who were demonstrating, saying that some of Schwarzenegger statements over the past several years show that he has no respect for women.
BURKE: Kelly, if we can't qualify how much, if anything, Arnold Schwarzenegger lost by not participating in the debate, can we qualify in any if any of those guys who did and the woman who did won anything?
WALLACE: Terrific question, Josie. Yes, some people say that one of the key winners of that debate, the Republican. The other Republican candidate, Republican state Senator Tom McClintock, many people think he showed a great command of the issues and that he solidified his support with conservative voters.
The reason this is important, McClintock is trailing Schwarzenegger in the polls. But many Republicans are talking about the need to get McClintock out of the race so that these Republicans don't go ahead and split the vote. And then if Governor Gray Davis is, in fact, recalled, well then you could have a scenario where the Republicans are splitting the vote and the Democrat, Lieutenant Governor Cruz Bustamante, the major Democrat on the ballot, could become the winner.
Another thing a lot of people think that all these candidates benefited just a little. They are not getting as much publicity as Arnold Schwarzenegger, so they benefited by being on the stage, talking for an hour and a half. It was covered across the state. They believe they got some extra publicity that they have not been getting in this race.
STARR: And Kelly, it appears that Governor Davis has got a strategy himself this week. Changing his views on a couple of key issues, especially driver's licenses in California. WALLACE: He did. He signed a bill last night, Barbara, to basically -- a new law that would allow undocumented illegal immigrants to obtain driver's licenses. Now, this is something he had been against in the past, but then said he would, in fact, sign this bill.
He did it. He's being criticized. Some Republicans think he's trying to cater to Hispanic voters. But the reason this is so interesting is Arnold Schwarzenegger, who is an immigrant himself, has been talking about this. He says if he became governor, he would go ahead and rescind that law.
BURKE: Kelly, thank you so much for getting up very early to join us. What is up for you the rest of the weekend?
WALLACE: Well, besides some sleep, Josie, we will be watching this weekend. We didn't mention, but Governor Davis is getting some big ammunition. Howard Dean, the Democratic presidential hopeful, will be out on his behalf later today. Arnold Schwarzenegger has events.
Many will be appearing tomorrow at the Mexican Independence Day parade. So we're watching as these candidates try to get those voters to the polls.
BURKE: All right. Well, keep your running shoes on. We're going to move from this political sprint of the California recall to the very slow going of the sports world here at the U.S. Open and the raindrops on tennis courts that frustrated players and spectators for days. We're back on that story in just a moment.
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ANDY RODDICK, TENNIS PLAYER: I've been a little bit more laid back and have a lot more fun.
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BURKE: Andy Roddick's new attitude has certainly served him well here at this year's U.S. Open. Welcome back to ON THE STORY from Queens at the United States Tennis Center.
This has to be one of the strangest tournaments ever, but it still has a chance to be one of the best tournaments ever. And a lot of that has to do with Andy Roddick. And that's because for years now American men's tennis has been looking for the guy who can replace Andre Agassi and who can replace Pete Sampras up at the top of that food chain.
They said for years it's going to be Andy Roddick. Well, he just turned 21 a week ago. And now he's just one win away from his first ever Grand Slam final. And there's a chance he could play and Andre Agassi, and that would certainly be a match for the ages. The past and the present of American men's tennis against, maybe, just maybe, the future of American men's tennis.
BASH: Josie, I want to ask you about women's tennis. There are two women who are missing from the U.S. Open this year, and that of course is Serena and Venus Williams. What affect is that having on the women's tennis tournament there?
BURKE: Well, it certainly has given this tournament a different feel. One reason has to do with the weather. We talked about at the beginning, you know, four straight days of rain, everything got juggled around.
But these two women have won here each of the last four years. One or the other has won this tournament. The last time a woman not named Williams won here at the U.S. Open was 1998, when Lindsay Davenport won.
It's made it a lot more wide open. But it's funny, even with all of the -- the fact that we don't have the two Williams, we still have an all-something final tonight. And it's an all-Belgium final, with Kim Clijsters going up against Justine Henin. So it probably attracted a few more viewers, if they stayed up late, especially to watch that match last night when Jennifer Capriati lost to Justine Henin, because maybe people don't feel like it's a foregone conclusion already, there's some suspense there.
HAYS: Josie, tell us about that match. You were there, you stayed up and watched it. I read the press accounts this morning. It was an amazing, dramatic event.
BURKE: It sort of gives you the chills just thinking about it now, again, because it did have so much drama. It happened so late at night. Jennifer Capriati has this unbelievable story.
She's been on the tennis stage for virtually half her life. She's 27 years old. She burst on to the scene as a professional when she was 14.
She's had the highs, she's had the lows. And now she's come back and she was trying to win her first U.S. Open title ever. She had this match in her hands over and over and over again, and she said she just lost focus and let it slip away. Three sets, tie-breaker in the third set. And to say she was devastated at the end would be an understatement.
STARR: Well, now we're going to take a little bit of a turn. Kathleen, we're going to talk about the economy, we're going to -- that's big money and that's big news this week, not great news.
HAYS: Well, and when you talk about losing your focus, I wonder if the Bush administration feels like they're losing their grip on this economy. We saw in August, a month when things were suddenly supposed to be getting better, because we've seen better retail spending, we've seen good surveys from manufacturing, some signs businesses are maybe going to start investing again.
Suddenly a loss of 93,000 jobs. In manufacturing, the 37th month in a row jobs have been lost. And it was 44,000. That's no chump change. Even the services sector, where most of the jobs are produced, lost 67,000 jobs.
The story here, companies are still trying to cost costs. That raises productivity, as we call it, but productivity's becoming a nightmare for American worker because it means jobs are going away.
I want to bring back Maria Hinojosa, who is standing by in Brooklyn, where there's a lot going on. A lot of questions about jobs there, too. Welcome back, Maria.
HINOJOSA: Welcome back. Kathleen, I'm wondering about the tax cut. There's been a lot of discussion about the tax cut and whether or not it's really going to be able to do what the Bush presidency wanted it to do, which is to reinvigorate the economy, when what's happening is that with some of these refunds that people are getting, aren't they just going back and buying things that are made overseas? How does that help the U.S. economy then?
HAYS: You know, Maria, this is going to be a big debate. It's already a debate going into the presidential election.
And what the supply side (ph), the Republicans are saying, is just be a little bit more patient. Greg Mankiw, the new head of the Council of Economic Advisers, said by the turn of the year the economy is going to be growing fast enough that people will have to hire more workers.
Yesterday, the other side of the camp, a former ahead of the Council of Economic Advisers, a Nobel prize-winning economist, Joe Stiglitz, was in our studios in New York and he said, as a lot of Democrats are going to say, this is the mantra, that George Bush gave his wealthy friends a lot of money when he should have given more money back to working people in the form of more relief for long-term unemployed, and maybe even investment tax credit.
BASH: But meanwhile, not only is the Bush administration not backing down on their tax cuts, the president was at three different stops in three different states in the Midwest this week, all talking up the economy. He made it clear not only that he believes that the tax cuts have actually shortened the recession, but also he wants the tax cuts to be permanent, which is going to be another trillion dollars or so into the economy, or taking it away from the -- it will cost about a trillion more dollars.
HAYS: And of course Joe Stiglitz made the Democrats' argument, which is that a bigger deficit means higher tax rates, that's not good for the economy; we should keep them low. I think one thing we should step back and see is that I don't even think of this as a Republican or Democrat problem at this point.
The Clinton administration was big on opening our relations with China. Now everyone is worried about China eating our lunch.
John Snow, the Treasury secretary, was in China this week, trying to get them to let their currency float so that when our dollar falls, our manufacturers can get some kind of benefit from it. The Chinese have their own problems, they're not budging.
But it's going to dog the president, because three million jobs lost while President Bush was in office. If this doesn't start turning around, it's about the worst record for job loss in any president's term since Herbert Hoover. And nobody wants to be compared with Herbert Hoover.
BASH: This is why they're talking up the economy.
HAYS: Absolutely.
BURKE: Kathleen, can you speak at all to how seriously the administration is taking what has now turned into a manufacturing problem?
HAYS: Oh, Josie, that's a very good question. Just this week, the president announced that they want to create a manufacturing czar, an assistant secretary of commerce to focus on manufacturing. When I was on that tour a month or so ago with the three secretaries of the economy out in the Midwest, they were talking about a report on manufacturing that's coming out this fall.
I think it's a very tough question what you do. I asked Don Evans, the commerce secretary at the time, you know, you want to level the playing field. But no matter how level we make the playing field in terms of opening trade, Chinese workers are still going to make a mere fraction of what American workers make per hour. That's going to be the question that has to be addressed, how we deal with that.
Again, I almost pity the Democrats if they win next year because it's a tough question for any administration to deal with.
BASH: Well, Kathleen, of course the president, as we said, did talk about the economy a lot this week. But he's also got international relations on his mind, specifically Iraq. And he is going to address the American people on that tomorrow night. More on that when we come back ON THE STORY right after this.
ANNOUNCER: First lady Laura Bush is in the news this week. What's her story? We'll tell you why she wants to go to Iraq and Afghanistan when ON THE STORY continues.
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RUMSFELD: There's no safe, easy middle ground. Either we take this war to the terrorists and fight...
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BASH: And that was Donald Rumsfeld speaking about the war in -- the continued war in Iraq, or finding the peace in Iraq while he is in Baghdad. And that was just one of the attempts by the Bush administration this week to get the good news out on Iraq. We heard it just earlier, once again, this morning. And, you know, we've gotten this news over the month of August, heard about of course the terrorist attacks in Iraq, the almost daily killings of U.S. soldiers there. And the Bush administration back to work, Congress back to work. What they realize is that they have to take control of the message. And that is why...
STARR: And so when the president speaks tomorrow night, when the president speaks to the nation, are we going to hear anything different from the White House?
BASH: That's a very good question. What I'm told is that we will hear some -- and get some announcements. Unclear how big they will be or small they will be. But the main purpose of this speech by the president is to provide the clarity and sort of understanding of exactly what the mission is right now.
The last time the president spoke before the country in this way, where actually the press secretary asked the networks for network TV time, which is exactly what they've asked for on Sunday night, he was standing under a banner that said "Mission Accomplished." Since then, things have been quite different on the ground, and that is why members of Congress, some of his tough allies came back, they were listening to their constituents during the month of August, and they said, Mr. President, there is good news out there. We're not hearing about it. We're a little bit worried about losing control of this politically, domestically. The audience is the American people, and that's what the White House is saying.
HAYS: Dana, frame this for us. How important is this for George Bush at this point in his term? And he's making that -- not just the pivot. I mean, he's full bore towards the election next year. How big of a speech is this?
BASH: Well, it's big. Obviously, it's very important. The whole concept of a president asking for network TV time on a Sunday night illustrates obviously sort of illustrates how important this is.
HAYS: And his (ph) program, any surprises?
BASH: Unclear about the surprises, but what -- basically what the White House understands they need to do -- and White House officials are saying that actually it was at the end of August when the president was still in Crawford that he was meeting with his national security advisers and he realized that he needed to come back and make a speech. As a matter of fact, although members of Congress were certainly pressuring the president, even his Republican members of Congress in a meeting at the White House this past week, the White House says it wasn't Congress that convinced him to do it.
He had decided to do this back in August. He understands -- the president himself, they say, feels that nobody's really listening in August. He was gone, nobody was really in Washington.
Now is the time, people are back, people are paying attention, the political season is upon us. And as commander in chief, he needs to explain what exactly is going on, what the mission is. Especially, Barbara, now that they have made this strategic move and really shift to go back to the United Nations. And I'm wondering how that feels at the Pentagon, what they think about that?
STARR: Well, the Pentagon, they're just holding on. They're not really going to acknowledge any sort of shift. But, you know, Maria, the question then becomes, in the real world, outside Washington, outside the Pentagon, on the streets that you report on, what people are thinking out there.
HINOJOSA: Well, what we see is that there's a lot of concern here about any number of those issues now. What people want to know here on the streets in Brooklyn has to do with the political power of the African-American community. But we'll coming back to talk about how New York City is preparing for the second anniversary of September 11th.
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HINOJOSA: I'm Maria Hinojosa on the streets of Brooklyn for what's billed as the Million Youth March. It may turn out to be more like the thousand youth march. But a lot of what's on people's minds here is not only politics and getting the minority vote involved, but also of course what's going to happen next week, the second anniversary of the September 11th attacks.
Just to give you a sense of what some people are thinking in the city, this was the headline on "The Daily News" just yesterday: "Bush to City: See Ya Later." He will not be here for the second anniversary. And earlier this week, I was at an event that was called together by journalists to talk about September 11th, journalists who felt particularly affected by that. A reporter who almost broke -- who almost lost his life, broke both of his legs was there.
And one of the interesting things I found, there were some family members who were there. And they said they feel like the city, the president, everybody's essentially saying, we're over September 11th, let's forget about it. That was really extraordinary to hear these people talking in this way.
STARR: It's interesting, Maria, because at the Pentagon you get some of the same general tone. The families perhaps a little more involved, still in the grieving process. A lot of other people moving on, but not forgetting.
What about the rest of the city of New York? Of course, the families still deeply effected, but the mayor, the city government, will we see them on September 11th?
HINOJOSA: Well, you're going to have an event that even some family members are concerned about. It's going to be the children who will be in ground zero reading the names of the victims. Some people feel that was inappropriate to bring children in on this.
I think that it really depends who you talk to in this city. There are a lot of people who are still profoundly effected by September 11th. They can't let go, haven't been able to move on. But then there are other people who are ready to move on, ready to say, we've got to keep on living our lives and move on.
So this is a -- it's a divided city in that sense of how people are feeling about September 11th. But a lot of what people call, therapists call anniversary reaction, just a little -- very concerned about what's coming up for next week. So a lot of difficult emotions in this city.
STARR: And Dana, we're not going to see a lot of President Bush in the national grieving process.
BASH: He's going to go to church -- the church across the street from the White House, and he's going to go to Walter Reed to visit some of the wounded soldiers. So he will be out there.
HAYS: Well, it's going to be a very interesting week, which is why a lot of you are going to want to come back and see ON THE STORY for next week. But for now, I want to thank my colleagues.
Thank you for watching ON THE STORY today. We are coming back next week.
Still ahead, "People in the News" focusing this week on Shania Twain and Celine Dion at 12:00 noon Eastern, 9:00 a.m. Pacific, "CNN LIVE SATURDAY". And at 1:00 p.m. Eastern, 10:00 a.m. Pacific, CNN's "IN THE MONEY" takes another look at why stocks go up but the job market doesn't necessarily follow.
Coming up at the top of the hour a "News Alert." But first, the president's weekly radio address.
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