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On the Story
A look Upcoming Republican National Convention; In Russia more Alarming Evidence in the Crash of two Passenger Planes
Aired August 28, 2004 - 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.
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. I'm Betty Nguyen. Here's a look at stories "Now in the News."
More rallies on the streets of New York today ahead of the GOP convention. This time, the issue is abortion. Supporters of abortion rights are planning a rally and a march to City Hall in just about two hours. A major rally against abortion is also planned. The convention kicks off on Monday.
Someone working at a high level in the Pentagon may have been spying for Israel. Sources say the FBI has been investigating for months and reportedly has evidence. Israel is denying any involvement, saying it would never harm U.S. ties.
Now to Russia. More alarming evidence in the crash of two passenger planes. Security officials have found traces of explosives in the second of the doomed jets. They earlier discovered similar traces in the other plane. The airliners crashed within minutes of each other on Tuesday.
Only sporadic gunfire reported this morning as U.S. Marines patrol the Iraqi city of Najaf. A peace agreement is holding so far in the war-shattered city after a deal with militants was brokered by Iraq's grand ayatollah. Meanwhile, Najaf residents are cleaning up and trying to return to normal.
That's a look at the headlines "Now in the News." I'm Betty Nguyen here at CNN in Atlanta.
ON THE STORY in New York begins right now.
JUDY WOODRUFF, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to CNN's ON THE STORY, where our journalists have the inside word on the stories we're covering. I'm Judy Woodruff, along with my colleagues in New York this week, on the story of how President Bush, Republicans and this city are preparing for next week.
CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SR. POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm Candy Crowley, ON THE STORY of the game plan for the president and the Republican Party here in New York, and signals we'll be seeing of campaigns to come.
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: I'm Jeanne Meserve, ON THE STORY of how security here in New York is tight, tight, tight on guard against demonstrators and terrorists.
KELLY WALLACE, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm Kelly Wallace, overlooking Madison Square Garden, ON THE STORY of why the war -- that's Vietnam, not Iraq -- continues to rile up the debate at the airwaves.
DANA BASH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: I'm Dana Bash, ON THE STORY of President Bush and his pre-convention battleground tour, and the special guest he's bringing along with him.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN FINANCIAL CORRESPONDENT: And I'm Christine Romans, ON THE STORY of conflicting claims about jobs and the economy, and whether New York gains or loses when Republicans come to town. I welcome our visitors to New York and here to our CNNFN studio.
Right now, straight to Judy Woodruff and convention countdown.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We've made much progress. I'm here to tell you I'm ready for the job. I'm ready to accomplish more for the American people.
(APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WOODRUFF: That was President Bush on the campaign trail in New Mexico this week. He's visiting contested states and making his way here to New York. How he is received here, what he says, what message the party presents will determine how this long campaign plays out.
WALLACE: Judy, you've been around, all around this fabulous city, talking to Republicans. Privately, how are they feeling about their position going into their convention this week?
WOODRUFF: Well, Kelly, this has been a nail-biter of a year, considering the fact that the Republican Party is the incumbent party. They've got their man in the White House. But we know that the war in Iraq, we know the economy have been -- both have been issues that have made them wonder seriously whether this president can get reelected. But right now, coming into this convention, the last week of August 2004, they are feeling cautiously optimistic.
They know this is still going to be a close election. They're watching the polls. But they are seeing an up-tick in the president's numbers in some very important questions.
For example, when people are asked who is a strong and decisive leader, George Bush is pulling away from John Kerry by 20 points right now. People are saying they think George Bush would be a stronger leader. So Republicans have reason to feel pretty good going into their convention.
CROWLEY: Judy, how -- what do they expect to see? I mean, what do they want to see? Do you get any sense of, you know, they really want the president to go out and punch? Do they really want the -- what do they want?
WOODRUFF: I think what they want is simply -- and I don't mean to be sarcastic -- they want to win. They want to win, whatever it takes. And that's the convention you're going to see.
They feel good about having nailed down their base, the conservative base of the party. What they know they need to do, what the people around George -- George Bush know they need to do is present an image that is appealing to the Independents and the persuadable voters out there, people who haven't quite made up their minds. And that's why you're going to see the more moderate face of the party.
You're going to see John McCain. You're going to see Arnold Schwarzenegger. You're going to see Rudy Giuliani this week.
We're going to be talking about that through the hour. But this party realizes that it can't win just by appealing to conservatives. That's why you're going to see more moderates at the speakers' podium.
BASH: Judy, it's interesting. I was talking to a conservative activist who said, you know, "It's really weird that the person I'm going to rely on for my red meat is Zell Miller, a Democrat." And it just sort of begs the question as to whether or not -- you talked about them being energized -- whether or not there will be some kind of -- maybe -- maybe it won't be as energized as perhaps they should be because there won't be any true conservatives up on the podium, besides, of course, the president and the vice president.
WOODRUFF: Well, they've named -- they've put a -- they've got a few of the more conservative members of the Senate up there. But again, I mean, this is a week that is all about the -- the -- getting the momentum to get them into the fall campaign. And they know that, again, that they're going to have the president speaking to them on Thursday night.
He's going to be giving them the charge going into the fall. He's going to be talking about the next administration, if he's reelected. But they also know that, you know, that they're going to be listening to -- to moderates, people like Giuliani and Schwarzenegger, who they don't agree with on everything.
The three -- the three men I just mentioned, McCain, Giuliani and Schwarzenegger, all have different views from most members of this party, most delegates at this convention when it comes to abortion. They all disagree.
On gay rights they all disagree. I should McCain agrees on abortion, but Schwarzenegger and Giuliani disagree. So, you know -- but they're willing to listen to that, because they want to win.
ROMANS: The president keeps saying that he is an optimist, and you must be optimistic about the economy, and that things are starting to move in the right direction, although he inherited what he says, you know, a terrible situation for the economy. Will we hear much about that this week? He does try to be optimistic. So will he say that things are going well and try to get, you know, the swing -- the swing voters to believe him that things are getting better?
WOODRUFF: I think we're going to hear more from the president and from others that jobs have picked up. Yes, there's been a down- tick in the last month or so. And it's not that they're going to ignore that. But they're going to focus on the positive.
They're going to say, no, we haven't completely turned the corner. We've got to create more jobs. We know Americans are suffering. We're aware of those poverty numbers out there. But we think our policies are working.
We think our tax cuts are working. We want more tax cuts. And, you know, this is -- this is a president -- you're not going to see him depart from his orthodoxy this week.
WALLACE: Judy, what are they saying, Republicans, about coming to what is really enemy territory for the GOP, New York City? Registered Democrats outnumbering registered Republicans more five to one. So why are they here?
WOODRUFF: You know, the polls are showing -- Kelly, you're right, the polls of New Yorkers this week have shown that a lot of them are a little -- they're not quite sure what to make of these Republicans. You're right, this city is largely Democratic. The state is largely Democratic.
But you know what? I don't think the delegates care. They're here to nominate George Bush to a second term.
I think they -- you know, they figure, you know, we'll tolerate this maybe less than loving environment. But I don't think they're bothered by that. They know New York is a great town. They can go out and they can have their gatherings.
They're going to hold their convention under very tight security. We're going to talk about that in a few minutes.
I don't think it's going to bother them. The city right now, as far as I can tell, is showing a very open and hospitable face to these Republicans.
WALLACE: And we are definitely, Judy, going to talk about the security situation. Unprecedented security here in the Big Apple. We are back on that, the security story. Jeanne Meserve coming to you from Madison Square Garden right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RAY KELLY, NEW YORK POLICE COMMISSIONER: We have to be concerned about a terrorist event. That's our number one job, to protect the city. (END VIDEO CLIP)
MESERVE: New York Police Commissioner Ray Kelly, his force 37,000 strong. The principal player here, but there are also state and local partners in this effort. Of course, they're on the lookout for terrorists, but they will certainly deal with demonstrators as well.
WOODRUFF: Jeanne, you know, we heard a lot, we saw a great deal about the security at the Democratic convention in Boston. How is new York different? Clearly, the geography of the city, it's a much bigger place to deal with. But what's -- what is the overview, the overlay of what they're dealing with here?
MESERVE: Well, first tell me -- let me tell you about what's sort of surprising about what's happening here near the site this morning. There was a security sweep last night by the Secret Service intended, of course, to make sure there was nothing dangerous here. But this morning, there seems to be inconsistency about what sort of access they're allowing.
Credentials aren't always being checked. Bags are not always being checked. People are bringing in cups of coffee, boxes of pastries, all sorts of things.
In Boston, none of that was allowed. We were put through magnetometers. Things were very carefully screened. We weren't allowed even to bring a cup of tea because they were afraid that might be something dangerous.
So some inconsistencies there. But, of course, this is just the beginning. Things are going to ramp up considerably over the next couple of days before the convention begins.
But getting back to the -- to what you raised, we're seeing many of the same pieces that we saw in Boston. We're just seeing them at a larger scale, because this is such a large event, such a large city, five million people here.
Penn Station behind me sees 600,000 people a day go through the station. That's equivalent to the population of the city of Boston. So a much larger operation here.
WALLACE: And, Jeanne, of course the security issues, when we talk about demonstrations, many big demonstrations expected this weekend, you were out, we know, talking to some demonstrators last night. What are you hearing from people about why they are here, and how are the security officials handling those protesters?
MESERVE: Well, last night there was a massive bicycle demonstration. Thousands of people on bicycles streamed right past Madison Square Garden. They've gone throughout the city, tied up some traffic.
They were quite peaceful, from what I could see. They were -- a lot of them were affiliated with a group called Critical Mass, which tries to make city streets safer for bicyclists. But, clearly, there was an anti-Bush message last night as well. We heard a lot of chanting. We saw signs and T-shirts and so forth.
There were arrests last night. It is illegal in the city of New York to be on a bicycle in a procession without a permit. It's illegal to ride more than two abreast. It's illegal, of course, to obstruct emergency vehicles.
So using those laws and regulations, the New York City police did arrested 264 people. But that's just the beginning.
People are expecting perhaps hundreds of thousands of demonstrators here in New York over the next week. The New York City Police Department claims that it is ready. It says that it can process thousands of arrests if those become necessary.
CROWLEY: You know, Jeanne, New York is always sort of a different universe for journalists, even when they aren't times like this. The cops seem to be tougher, the journalists seem to be more rugged. A lot of, you know, sort of elbowing.
When you talk to the local police, what is their general attitude at this point? I know -- I felt like when we were in Boston it was sort of, "OK, everybody, let's take a deep breath." How do you feel when you compare kind of the attitude of local law enforcement here as to Boston?
MESERVE: Well, certainly the reputation of the New York City police is quite different. They're headed up by a former Marine, Ray Kelly. And people say they have a much more sort of no-nonsense, hard-nosed attitude. They deal with demonstrators all the time.
I talked to Ray Kelly and some other people in his department this week. What they tell me is they welcome expression of free speech. And if people play by the rules, if they're peaceable, there won't be any problem.
But, they make it clear, if anybody gets out of line, if they see any sort of unlawful behavior, they will move in. They will make arrests very quickly. The whole strategy here is to try to isolate the troublemakers and try to take them into custody, take them out of the mix just as quickly as they possibly can.
BASH: You know, Jeanne, there obviously is always a lot of competition for conventions and for big events like this within and among big cities. Is it your sense, given what you see here, given what you saw in Boston, that perhaps that might be changing, that the costs really might be worse than the benefit?
MESERVE: You know, it's a really interesting question. Yesterday, Michael Bloomberg, the mayor of New York, upped the estimate on how much security here was going to cost. They're getting $50 million from the federal government to defray security costs. But now Bloomberg says they may need $15 million or $20 million more to cover the cost of what's happening here. And it does raise questions about whether cities are going to want these kinds of events. As you know, there's always been intense competition because cities have believed that there's going to be a great economic benefit and a heightening of profile by hosting these events. But, clearly, this changes the entire equation, and makes you wonder if cities will want to host these. And it also makes you wonder if security considerations won't be brought in earlier in the process, if perhaps there will be consultations with the Department of Homeland Security, with the U.S. Secret Service that handles these national special security events in advance to figure out which cities might be most appropriate, which cities might already have some infrastructure in place for dealing with these kinds of events.
ROMANS: Jeanne, you know, New Yorkers being New Yorkers, a lot of them are just getting out of town, as I think also happened in -- in Boston. And one of the ironies is that some of the financial firms are actually going to start using their contingency floors or contingency offices out in New Jersey, or on Long Island. So they're going to run through -- run through that. But, you know, it will be interesting to see if actually Wall Street and the economy is affected simply because so many people are saying, "You know what, we'll be back after Labor Day."
MESERVE: That's exactly right. I mean, in the city of Boston, I know they did some kind of analysis after the convention. They discovered that the economic boom was a fraction of what they expected.
But there also is that question of productivity. Is it -- is it reduced significantly because so many bail, so many people say, "I don't want to deal with the hassle. I'm just going to get out of town."
CROWLEY: Jeanne, we know you and Judy both need to get back out and on your stories for today. So thanks very much to both of you for joining us.
From keeping the peace on the streets, to scoring some points inside the Garden, what does President Bush need to achieve this week at the convention? And some tips for viewers on window-shopping for '08. I'm back on that story after this.
ANNOUNCER: Candy Crowley is CNN's senior political correspondent. She's been with the network since 1987. The National Press Foundation honored her with a 1998 Dirksen Award for distinguished reporting on Congress. She received the 1997 Joan Shorenstein Barone Award for excellence in journalism for coverage of the Bob Dole presidential campaign.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BUSH: I think we ought to be debating who best to be leading this country in the war against terror. And that's what I continue to try to convince the American people of. (END VIDEO CLIP)
CROWLEY: President Bush in Texas Monday, trying to convince the American people that security, the safety of the American people is what this convention and indeed this election is about. And each piece of that package will be here in New York next week, pointing toward the aim of, of course, winning the election.
Welcome back. We are ON THE STORY.
BASH: Candy, I talked to a Republican this week who said the number one goal here is for it to be the anti-Houston, meaning it is going to be exactly opposite of what we saw at President Bush's father's second convention, with Pat Buchanan essentially hijacking the entire thing. This is going to be very much about President Bush and about what he's done in the past four years and what he's going to do in the next four.
CROWLEY: Right. And what he did in 2000 as well at his convention.
I mean, it is not only, let's not have the conservatives out there scaring people. It is also about not being the Democratic convention of '04. That is, this is not going to be -- certainly, you'll hear some of his accomplishments in -- in the past four years, but what everybody agrees and what the president is talking about at this point is agenda, agenda, pushing it forward, as you know.
Here's what's been the one rap on the president, has been, well, what would you do with the next four years? I mean, what do you have in mind? So we are expecting, at least, that they will indeed get to the -- get to the meat of things, what's going to happen over the next four years.
They're hoping that will be a contrast to what we saw at the Democratic convention, which was a lot of talk about John Kerry. Although, you know, different sets of -- of requirements here. John Kerry wanted to introduce himself to the American people. George Bush has to talk about what's going to come up next, because he doesn't need to introduce himself.
WALLACE: Candy, though, isn't one man likely to get in the way of all the attention being on President Bush? And that one man Arnold Schwarzenegger?
CROWLEY: You know, it's very funny. I've talked to a lot of Republicans, and they say, "You know what? The biggest show in town is still Arnold Schwarzenegger."
I mean, let's face it, this is a Hollywood actor. Not that many of those come to the Republican convention.
BASH: No.
CROWLEY: This is the governor of California. I mean -- you know, which has been pretty Democratic of late. And he has an "R" by his name. So, they're -- you know, they're really excited about -- about Schwarzenegger coming.
And also, just he's kind of a hard presence to ignore at this point. I mean -- and he's sort of larger than life. I mean, obviously, the president is what people come for, that Thursday night.
But where Arnold's going and what he's saying, and he also has that -- a very fine line to walk because, in California, I think his approval rating is something like 65 percent or something. It's very high among Democrats and Republicans, who really don't see him as a Democrat or a Republican.
BASH: Right.
CROWLEY: Here he shows up on the national stage supporting a Republican president. There really is a divisive figure in California, which is heavily Democratic at this point. So he's got to kind of walk that line because he does want to support the president, he does support the president, but he doesn't want to get those 65 percent of the people who think in California that he's a, you know, really bipartisan figure upset.
ROMANS: You know, he is major star power in New York. But there's also major star power in Rudy Giuliani, who is really a hero around here. And John McCain, for political junkies, John McCain is also a huge star. Both of these people will also be sharing the limelight this week.
CROWLEY: Prime-timers.
ROMANS: Yes.
CROWLEY: Yes, they're great. They're great.
I mean, you know, when you look at prime-time, and you see Rudy Giuliani, John McCain, Pataki, people like that, I immediately think, because it's my job, '08, '08. I see all of those people, that these are really kind of the kickoff.
Now, it would be for Arnold if he weren't, you know, excluded via the Constitution because he was born outside the United States. But very definitely -- and it gets back to what Dana was saying, which is, they want not so much to convince Californians that, oh, we have Arnold Schwarzenegger, but this is about Stark County, Ohio. This is about the swing voters who can't quite make up their minds and really can look up at the TV screens and say, "Well, John McCain, I like John McCain. And he's supporting George Bush."
"And Rudy Giuliani, he was so great at the -- you know, after 9/11, and strong. And I really like him. Arnold Schwarzenegger?"
And so, I mean, it's all sort of aimed at the swing voter that's trying to, you know, kind of figure it out. And this, you know, sometimes is the push they need. And that's who's in prime-time.
BASH: You know what's really interesting, Candy? Is the other way they think that they can get those people from Stark County, Ohio, is just a basic issue of style. That they feel that the president just has a style where he can talk from his gut, where he can talk like a person who they would maybe sit down with, and that he has something -- he has that...
CROWLEY: With better words.
BASH: ... as an asset -- as an asset, that they just think John Kerry simply doesn't have. So you're going to see as much -- them pushing as much about the president's style as they are about substantively what he's saying.
CROWLEY: It's the comfortable in his own skin thing...
BASH: Right.
CROWLEY: ... that really made him stand out in 2000. It is as well. I mean, I think when you see these people -- and Judy touched on it -- these are people -- I mean, Schwarzenegger, he does have some policy differences with the president, certainly on social issues. John McCain, we all know, has had a lot of differences with the president.
And -- but they like that in some ways. Yes, you can disagree with me, but look, you can still be for me. So there's kind of like walking proof.
BASH: They think that appeals to the swing voters who aren't a hundred percent sure about President Bush.
CROWLEY: Absolutely. Right. It's sort of -- they're like the walking example of, yes, they disagree with me, but they still support me on the big things.
WALLACE: Candy, of course, you covered George W. Bush during the 2000 election. You've been watching him this year. How much is he a guy who really loves the pressure to increase and really show his stuff when he has the most pressure on him?
CROWLEY: Dana and I were talking about this actually before the show. And it's really true.
I think over the last week, all of a sudden they've just lit this fire. And it is very much what we -- what they learned about when he was governor of Texas and what we learned in 2000 is, this is -- this is a game horse. This is -- this is a guy who, when the game is on, you know, he'll hit the home run in the bottom inning of the -- you know, of a tied game. But boy, when it -- you know, when you're kind of just coasting along is when he kind of is not at his best.
It seems to me, Dana, that he is getting very fired up on the campaign, and back to the George Bush I saw in 2000.
BASH: Yes. He seems -- he seems very -- actually, remarkably comfortable in what he's saying and his style. You know, he always leans over the lectern, but he's really leaning over it, and, you know, sort of hanging out. And he's actually responding to people in the crowd. And he's -- and he just looks and feels a lot more comfortable.
Now, perhaps you and I would feel more comfortable if we said the same thing on the stump 725 times. And, you know, you sort of get used to it. But I -- it's sort of an atmospheric thing as well. He is -- he's sort of getting more fired up.
He's a political junkie. This is much -- you know, he's observing this as much as it is sort of about him.
WALLACE: And the countdown to the convention has certainly seen lots of sniping about something that happened 35 years ago. And also, a debate over these attack ads by these tax-exempt political groups known as 527s. Just take a look at this.
The "Denver Post" political cartoonist, Mike Keefe, he used the recently stolen painting, "The Scream," to say, "I swear, if I see one more 527 ad..." -- well, I'm back on that story in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: Good morning. I'm Betty Nguyen.
In the news, CNN has learned new details of an alleged bomb plot in New York City. Law enforcement sources tell CNN one of the two Brooklyn men arrested is a Pakistani who worked at an Islamic bookstore in Brooklyn. The suspected plot was to blow up the Herald Square subway station, which is about one block from Madison Square Garden. There is no indication the men obtained any explosives, nor were planning an attack around the GOP convention.
The director of the CIA will have greater power to deal with terrorism under a series of new executive orders. In his weekly radio address a short time ago, President Bush said the foreign (ph) new directives aimed to make the U.S. safer.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
BUSH: I have ordered the director of Central Intelligence to ensure that we have common standards and clear accountability measures for intelligence sharing across the agencies of our government. I have established a new information systems council to identify and break down any remaining barriers to the rapid sharing of threat information by America's intelligence agencies, law enforcement agencies, and state and local governments.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
NGUYEN: The executive orders were based on recommendations by the 9/11 Commission.
Well, that's a look at headlines "Now in the News." I'm Betty Nguyen at CNN headquarters here in Atlanta. Now it's back to ON THE STORY.
BASH: Welcome back to ON THE STORY. President Bush is campaigning today in Ohio. And with us now, we have our White House correspondent, or colleague, Suzanne Malveaux, who is out with him.
Suzanne, what's happening there?
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, as you know, of course, this is what the president refers to as fertilizing his grassroots, really reaching out to the base, the party of the base here, really trying to energize folks. About 20,000 here out in Troy, Ohio.
This is going to be a three-stop bus tour throughout the day. First here in Troy, then on to Lima, and then Meigs State Memorial.
Now, what they're doing is essentially going along the I-75 corridor. That is where it is considered the backbone of Republican country out in the state of Ohio. Bush aides say that they are going to focus on what they call echo politics, essentially rally up the base here and then get people to go door to door, people to people, sending out the message, trying to convince those undecided, those swing voters to go in President Bush's direction.
What the president is going to focus on today is all about the economy. Ohio very hit hard over the last three and a half years. But they're going to emphasize a contrast, what they call President Bush's economic policy to Kerry's.
They're going to talk about Kerry raising taxes to those who make more than $200,000. But they're going to say, hey, those $200,000 wage earners are actually small businesses, and that small businesses are big businesses when it comes to Ohio, that they should definitely vote for President Bush if they want to see the kind of recovery that Ohio has seen just recently.
They'll talk about some economic numbers, 3,400 new jobs they say created just last month, an unemployment rate that has dipped slightly down over the last year, emphasizing the positive here. President Bush expected to arrive very shortly.
BASH: Suzanne, thank you so much. Have fun on the bus and with the president in his pre-convention sprint.
And now we're going to go to Kelly Wallace and the ad wars.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When you say that you want to stop all...
BUSH: All of them.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So, I mean...
BUSH: That means that ad, every other ad. Absolutely. I don't think we ought to have 527s. I can't be more plain about it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WALLACE: 527s? Suddenly, everyone from the president on down is talking about 527s, these groups that are supposed to be independent, groups that have been running a flurry of television ads this summer. And now what we've seen, this angry debate over John Kerry's Vietnam record, drowning out all other political talk.
And, of course, welcome back. We're ON THE STORY.
CROWLEY: Kelly, you know, any ad is about moving the electorate one way or the other. Who's winning, who's losing in the whole Swift Boat thing?
WALLACE: Well, you know, Candy, the latest polls seem to show that John Kerry is the one seeing a little bit of damage. Some of his gains after the convention gone away.
One of the maybe more interesting numbers in our own CNN-"USA Today"-Gallup poll, a month ago, some 41 percent saying John Kerry's military service made it more likely they would vote for him. That number dropping 19 points to 22 percent. So right now, the sense is, if anyone's getting hurt, it's John Kerry.
ROMANS: You know, I think it's amazing that the war that we're all talking about is the war in Vietnam, not the war in Iraq. And seriously, it's getting much more play than the war in Iraq.
Also, it seems to me like it's sort of -- it's sort of like an arms race from 20 years ago, where you say, yeah, I think the 527s -- I think the negative campaign and the negative advertising, it's bad, but my opponent's doing it more than I am, so I have to hurry up and catch up. And when we're even, we'll have the same number of nuclear warheads, or negative advertisements, and then it will -- then it will be right somehow.
It's just, everyone hates negative advertising. But apparently it must work, because everybody's doing it.
WALLACE: Well, that's the saddest statement. Right Christine? And it's true.
Negative ads, everyone says they hate them. Allegedly they turn off voters. But they seem to have an impact.
Something interesting here, though. I was talking to a political analyst who was looking at this, saying, "If John Kerry ends up losing in November, we might end up looking at this period of time as the reason, in particular looking at the Democratic convention and questioning whether it was the right strategy to devote all the entire convention to John Kerry's Vietnam record, not just one day."
This analyst saying it's OK if you have all the veterans behind you. But if you don't, you open yourself up. And if you're making your Vietnam biography really the centerpiece of your campaign, well, then if it gets attacked, it could end up hurting you. BASH: And Kelly, you know, talking to folks over at the Bush campaign earlier in the week, they were thrilled. I mean, you know, the more John Kerry is on the defense, the more he's talking about this, the less he's talking about the economy and things that the president really doesn't want to be talking about.
But then as the week went on, there was a connection between one of the president's lawyers and this outside group. He had to resign.
Seemed to maybe shift a little bit. Maybe the Bush campaign doesn't want to necessarily talk about that as much now. Do you get that sense?
WALLACE: Oh, absolutely, Dana. It is so interesting.
You know, the phones are ringing in the early part of the week, e-mails being zapped around. The Republican strategists don't want to say "we're thrilled about this," but you can tell they couldn't be happier about it.
It changed. Some part of it changed when you had former Senator and Vietnam veteran Max Cleland going down to the president's Crawford, Texas, ranch, trying to -- amazing theater, trying to deliver a letter to him.
You had Benjamin Ginsberg, a lawyer for the Bush-Cheney campaign, the lawyer for the Bush team during the Florida recount, resigning because he says he was providing legal advice for this group, the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, saying he didn't want to be a distraction.
So, toward the end of the week, the Kerry team thought that the damage was starting to be on President Bush. You look at even our own polls, some 50 percent, I believe, saying that the president is connected to these negative ads. Certainly, the Kerry team hopes that the page has been turned and the damage will be on the president. But the sense is that the Bush campaign will want to be talking about the Republican convention now, the president's agenda, not these attack ads.
CROWLEY: You know, Kelly, just -- I want to turn the corner here. John Kerry did the appearance on the Jon Stewart show, which is where a lot of young people, particularly -- that particular demographic, new voters, watch. What were the critiques on that? How did he do? What was the general feel after it?
WALLACE: And, Candy, you have seen this before, politician after politician trying to show his or her lighter side. Let's first take a listen to a clip of John Kerry with Jon Stewart.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(APPLAUSE)
JON STEWART, TALK SHOW HOST: Senator Kerry, please. It's been a rough couple of weeks. I've been following -- I watch a lot of the cable news shows, so I understand that apparently you were never in Vietnam.
(LAUGHTER)
SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: That's what I understand, too. But I'm trying to find out what happened.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WALLACE: So, the sense is, it was an opportunity for John Kerry to laugh. It came in the middle of this week where he was facing a lot of questions about his Vietnam record. This was sort of a lighter, looser moment to joke with Jon Stewart about it.
Stewart didn't really fire a lot of tough questions at John Kerry. And again, the hope is, according to the Kerry campaign, that you have these voters who are sort of turned off, or who aren't watching television newscasts, who might not even be watching our own program right now, but are watching Jon Stewart and that they'll see a side of John Kerry that they didn't see before.
BASH: All right, Kelly. Well, we'll see if President Bush is going to appear on one of those shows anytime soon. Everybody holding their breath?
Well, we also -- we just saw Suzanne Malveaux on the campaign trail with President Bush in Ohio. He's making his way to New York. He's got that traditional campaign sprint through the battleground states on his way here. I'll be back on that story in a moment.
And also, as well, we'll talk about why millions of single women choose to stay home on Election Day.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BUSH: Delegates and my fellow citizens, I proudly accept your nomination.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BASH: A look back four years ago to then Republican nominee Governor George W. Bush. Mr. Bush in the past couple of days in the countdown to this convention has campaigned in New Mexico, Thursday, Florida, on Friday, and as we saw today, in Ohio, all up for grabs states this fall.
Welcome back. We're ON THE STORY.
ROMANS: And there's something interesting yesterday in terms of intel. What's going on there?
BASH: Well, you know, it's sort of, I guess, maybe standard or maybe good politics. He's essentially trying to wipe some of the problems that he's had, wipe the slate clean before he gets to -- to New York.
The major issue has been when is he going to implement, how is he going to implement some of the reforms recommended by the 9/11 Commission. Well, this is New York. And there are a lot of families here who really have been pushing him to do that.
So he did what he could. He put out executive orders, implementing some of them. Now, obviously, this is not everything. They have a lot to do -- that they have to do through statute with Congress. But at least it gives him the opportunity to say, look, I'm trying, I'm doing something, I'm listening, I get it.
WALLACE: Dana, we talked about this a little bit earlier, John McCain, the relationship between President Bush and John McCain. The two, of course, campaigned together this week. But it appeared to be a very calculated strategic move by the Bush team to sort of bring in and invoke John McCain and his principles in this whole debate over these so-called attack ads -- or attack ads by these so-called 527 groups.
BASH: You know, Kelly, their relationship is so fascinating, because, you know, obviously they were bitter rivals in 2000. And now, you know, John McCain, as we talked about before, he's somebody that the Bush campaign really needs.
He's been somebody that both sides have really courted. But the president has had him on the stump with him. He's going to have him with him this coming week. He's obviously giving this big speech. He's out with him consistently.
But he's also somebody who was pretty upset about the fact that the president didn't denounce these ads. Because he was coming from the point of view of a Vietnam veteran, somebody who says he doesn't want these wounds reopened from 30 years ago. But he's also a reformer. He's the king of campaign finance reform.
So, the president's move, again, in the same sort of vain of trying to wipe the slate clean before he gets here, called John McCain and said, well, let's just fix this together. So, essentially, changing the subject from John McCain saying, President Bush, denounce these things, to John McCain saying, oh, that's a good idea. Let's work together on this. And it's really tried to deflect the issue.
CROWLEY: In fact, he seemed -- John McCain seemed privately, at least, less upset that George Bush did not denounce the Swift ads once he said, hey, John, let's file suit. You know?
It was a great -- I thought it was sort of a brilliant political strategy. Because what was the headline in "The Post" the next day?
BASH: That was it.
CROWLEY: "McCain and Bush Join Forces, Too." BASH: And the -- and the morning -- and the morning that President Bush made the call, the headline in "The New York Times" was "Senator McCain is Not Yet Happy With What President Bush has Said About These Ads." He still wants him to go further.
Well, after the president made this move, no longer. Not at all. And, apparently, when they had this very brief private conversation, when the president brought this up, when he called John McCain from Air Force One, John McCain didn't even bring up the whole idea that he hasn't denounced them.
ROMANS: Let's talk about Dick Cheney, and let' talk about how the -- the gay marriage, the gay debate might have taken a little shift, a little nuance. What happened there this week?
BASH: Well, it was really remarkable. Dick Cheney was out in Iowa. He was at a town hall meeting.
He was asked question, apparently, according to our colleague, Katherine Berger (ph), who was there in the room, by a woman who wanted -- clearly was not somebody who was -- somebody who was very much anti-gay marriage. You know, essentially what's your position.
Without being specifically asked about the fact that he has a gay daughter, he brought up the fact that he has a gay daughter and stated his position from four years ago. Which is that he doesn't think a constitutional amendment is necessary. He think the states should do their job.
And, essentially, distancing himself -- not only putting himself on the map on this position, which is very much opposed to most social -- all social conservatives, but also distancing himself from the president himself. And it was really interesting to listen to what -- the way the campaign spun it afterwards, which is, first of all, this administration, look how wonderful it is, we have all these different views. But it's the president who makes the decision. It's his policy, which is sort of code for, Dick Cheney isn't president after all, is he?
CROWLEY: Still, but doesn't it -- it fits in with that whole thing. Here's the vice president, he disagrees with the president on a socially conservative issue. But -- but that's OK.
And the idea of kind of softening up -- now, you know, I do not for a moment doubt that Dick Cheney's relationship with his daughter, with his wife is very real, very close. They're a very close family.
BASH: Right. And they're with him on the campaign trail. His daughter is a senior adviser on the -- on the campaign.
CROWLEY: Right. And she was in the room when...
BASH: Right.
CROWLEY: And I remember everyone got all excited about that when it happened. We saw, oh, he talked about his daughter being gay. And I said, "But we've known forever that his daughter was gay." But apparently, this is, if not the first time, at least one of very -- you know, a handful of times he's ever in public said, well, of course, I have a daughter who is gay and we love her.
BASH: And he wasn't specifically asked about her.
CROWLEY: Right. I mean, he just brought it up.
BASH: He was just asked about the issue of gay marriage, and he talked about his daughter being gay. Essentially on his own.
And it is -- certainly there are the observers out there who say that this Dick Cheney, the softer, gentler side of Dick Cheney. He's not the mean -- mean, you know, cold, corporate greed kind of person that the Democrats paint him to be.
But it was also interesting -- you know, you can sort of look at it, certainly the social conservatives are people that certainly do not -- that want a constitutional amendment banning -- banning gay marriage, but there is a conservative sensibility of the idea of, you know what, the Constitution, don't mess with it. Let the states do it.
ROMANS: Let me ask you about all of these women, single women who are not going to vote in this election, the people who just stay home on Election Day. Do you think that a lot of people, a lot of young women, in particular, look at this issue of gay marriage, and they look at the people who are in the White House and have been historically, and they just feel like these are issues that don't pertain to their lives?
BASH: They are. And I -- just briefly, this story is remarkable. There are 22 million single women who didn't vote in 2000. And many of them, according to...
CROWLEY: I think 19 million couldn't find a sitter.
BASH: Yes. Right. Well, they do have kids. They don't have kids. They're too busy. They are turned off by what -- what we were talking about with Kelly...
ROMANS: Right.
BASH: ... the ad wars, the dirty politics. They're completely turned off. And they don't vote.
And this election, where there are so few undecideds, these people can make such a difference. And they're a huge, huge segment of the population just staying home.
ROMANS: All right. And it's the talk of Iraq, the war on terror, homeland security, are very different claims about the health of the U.S. economy and new jobs. I'm back on that story right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KERRY: This is the worst jobs economy, worst jobs presidency we've had since the great depression and Herbert Hoover.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RICHARD CHENEY, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The last 11 consecutive months, we've created jobs. Since last August, about 1.5 million new jobs.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: John Kerry and Dick Cheney drawing starkly different pictures of jobs and the economy. Dig a little deeper, and the job situation, the economy in general, campaign pledges for the future, seem even harder to decipher.
Welcome back. We're ON THE STORY.
WALLACE: I know, Christine. It's so interesting listening to two different perspectives about the economy. But what are the people you talk to on Wall Street saying? More sluggish growth than expected? What are they saying?
ROMANS: They're saying somewhere in the middle of those two sound bites is the truth. It is a tough situation, but it isn't the worst situation in the history of the world. It also isn't as optimistic as the president and White House are trying to paint it. Somewhere in the middle is the truth.
The truth is, 47 states still have higher unemployment rates today than when there was a recession. The truth is, 22 states lost jobs in July. And we thought the jobs were going to be picking up. And the truth is, the census numbers from this week show that there are more people who are poor in this country, that women, head of households, in particular, are really, really having a tough time.
Women still make 76 cents on a man's dollar. And for the first time since 1995, women's wages fell.
So there are some truths out there that -- you're not hearing those in particular, though, out on the campaign trail. That for the past 30 years, some of these trends have been happening. And they're not being improved.
CROWLEY: And it is a long-term trend, right?
ROMANS: Sure.
CROWLEY: I mean -- so, you know, the question is, are there solutions out there? Because my experience has always been that if a politician hasn't got an answer to it, that they don't talk about it. I mean, it's not enough to raise the issue. So how do you get women out of poverty? How do you -- you know, do you go sort of the Democratic way and, you know, do more social services? Do you do more job training? I mean, what -- what are the solutions out there for any of this?
ROMANS: Well, that's what everyone wants to know. And they want to hear their elected officials start to address these things.
Maybe it's one of the reasons why those 22 million American don't vote is because, you know, they are living paycheck to paycheck. They're not insured. You know, they're trying to get their kids educated, into a safe school. And, you know, they're not hearing back from -- from their -- from their politicians to try to fix it, their elected officials.
In the meantime, you've got Greenspan yesterday, who comes out for the fourth time this year and says, ladies and gentlemen, you know, the government is promising more than it can deliver in terms of Medicare and Social Security. In fact, even under the most optimistic scenarios, we're never going to be able to give you what -- what Washington is saying.
BASH: But that's not exactly a news flash, though, right?
ROMANS: It's not a news flash. But it's starting to get dire. And he said...
CROWLEY: But when Alan Greenspan says it, they begin to pay attention.
(CROSSTALK)
ROMANS: But he says there will be painful and abrupt changes in store, that 77 million baby boomers are going to start retiring over the next decade. And they're not going to get -- they're not going to get the benefits that their parents -- that their parents got.
And that he says immediately Congress and politicians have got to start figuring out how to fix this. And it means you're going to have to work longer. You're probably going to have to work longer.
So, you know, plan now. Ladies, we'll be here for the next 16 elections, discussing these issues, unless somebody does something quickly.
WALLACE: Christine, very quickly, so is -- is this convention going to be good economically for New York City or is it going to be a big bust?
ROMANS: If I knew the answer to that -- it looks as though this is going to cost an awful lot of money. In the beginning, we thought that there would be maybe a $200 million boom to the city. And now even the city of New York is saying, well, you know, this might cost more than we thought.
We won't know for sure until it's all over. But it looks as though it's going to be -- it's going to be more on the cost side than the benefit site.
CROWLEY: We are back ON THE STORY after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: Thanks to my colleagues ON THE STORY. We have "People in the News" and convention coverage all this week.
See you next weekend.
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BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. I'm Betty Nguyen. Here's a look at stories "Now in the News."
More rallies on the streets of New York today ahead of the GOP convention. This time, the issue is abortion. Supporters of abortion rights are planning a rally and a march to City Hall in just about two hours. A major rally against abortion is also planned. The convention kicks off on Monday.
Someone working at a high level in the Pentagon may have been spying for Israel. Sources say the FBI has been investigating for months and reportedly has evidence. Israel is denying any involvement, saying it would never harm U.S. ties.
Now to Russia. More alarming evidence in the crash of two passenger planes. Security officials have found traces of explosives in the second of the doomed jets. They earlier discovered similar traces in the other plane. The airliners crashed within minutes of each other on Tuesday.
Only sporadic gunfire reported this morning as U.S. Marines patrol the Iraqi city of Najaf. A peace agreement is holding so far in the war-shattered city after a deal with militants was brokered by Iraq's grand ayatollah. Meanwhile, Najaf residents are cleaning up and trying to return to normal.
That's a look at the headlines "Now in the News." I'm Betty Nguyen here at CNN in Atlanta.
ON THE STORY in New York begins right now.
JUDY WOODRUFF, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to CNN's ON THE STORY, where our journalists have the inside word on the stories we're covering. I'm Judy Woodruff, along with my colleagues in New York this week, on the story of how President Bush, Republicans and this city are preparing for next week.
CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SR. POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm Candy Crowley, ON THE STORY of the game plan for the president and the Republican Party here in New York, and signals we'll be seeing of campaigns to come.
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: I'm Jeanne Meserve, ON THE STORY of how security here in New York is tight, tight, tight on guard against demonstrators and terrorists.
KELLY WALLACE, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm Kelly Wallace, overlooking Madison Square Garden, ON THE STORY of why the war -- that's Vietnam, not Iraq -- continues to rile up the debate at the airwaves.
DANA BASH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: I'm Dana Bash, ON THE STORY of President Bush and his pre-convention battleground tour, and the special guest he's bringing along with him.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN FINANCIAL CORRESPONDENT: And I'm Christine Romans, ON THE STORY of conflicting claims about jobs and the economy, and whether New York gains or loses when Republicans come to town. I welcome our visitors to New York and here to our CNNFN studio.
Right now, straight to Judy Woodruff and convention countdown.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We've made much progress. I'm here to tell you I'm ready for the job. I'm ready to accomplish more for the American people.
(APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WOODRUFF: That was President Bush on the campaign trail in New Mexico this week. He's visiting contested states and making his way here to New York. How he is received here, what he says, what message the party presents will determine how this long campaign plays out.
WALLACE: Judy, you've been around, all around this fabulous city, talking to Republicans. Privately, how are they feeling about their position going into their convention this week?
WOODRUFF: Well, Kelly, this has been a nail-biter of a year, considering the fact that the Republican Party is the incumbent party. They've got their man in the White House. But we know that the war in Iraq, we know the economy have been -- both have been issues that have made them wonder seriously whether this president can get reelected. But right now, coming into this convention, the last week of August 2004, they are feeling cautiously optimistic.
They know this is still going to be a close election. They're watching the polls. But they are seeing an up-tick in the president's numbers in some very important questions.
For example, when people are asked who is a strong and decisive leader, George Bush is pulling away from John Kerry by 20 points right now. People are saying they think George Bush would be a stronger leader. So Republicans have reason to feel pretty good going into their convention.
CROWLEY: Judy, how -- what do they expect to see? I mean, what do they want to see? Do you get any sense of, you know, they really want the president to go out and punch? Do they really want the -- what do they want?
WOODRUFF: I think what they want is simply -- and I don't mean to be sarcastic -- they want to win. They want to win, whatever it takes. And that's the convention you're going to see.
They feel good about having nailed down their base, the conservative base of the party. What they know they need to do, what the people around George -- George Bush know they need to do is present an image that is appealing to the Independents and the persuadable voters out there, people who haven't quite made up their minds. And that's why you're going to see the more moderate face of the party.
You're going to see John McCain. You're going to see Arnold Schwarzenegger. You're going to see Rudy Giuliani this week.
We're going to be talking about that through the hour. But this party realizes that it can't win just by appealing to conservatives. That's why you're going to see more moderates at the speakers' podium.
BASH: Judy, it's interesting. I was talking to a conservative activist who said, you know, "It's really weird that the person I'm going to rely on for my red meat is Zell Miller, a Democrat." And it just sort of begs the question as to whether or not -- you talked about them being energized -- whether or not there will be some kind of -- maybe -- maybe it won't be as energized as perhaps they should be because there won't be any true conservatives up on the podium, besides, of course, the president and the vice president.
WOODRUFF: Well, they've named -- they've put a -- they've got a few of the more conservative members of the Senate up there. But again, I mean, this is a week that is all about the -- the -- getting the momentum to get them into the fall campaign. And they know that, again, that they're going to have the president speaking to them on Thursday night.
He's going to be giving them the charge going into the fall. He's going to be talking about the next administration, if he's reelected. But they also know that, you know, that they're going to be listening to -- to moderates, people like Giuliani and Schwarzenegger, who they don't agree with on everything.
The three -- the three men I just mentioned, McCain, Giuliani and Schwarzenegger, all have different views from most members of this party, most delegates at this convention when it comes to abortion. They all disagree.
On gay rights they all disagree. I should McCain agrees on abortion, but Schwarzenegger and Giuliani disagree. So, you know -- but they're willing to listen to that, because they want to win.
ROMANS: The president keeps saying that he is an optimist, and you must be optimistic about the economy, and that things are starting to move in the right direction, although he inherited what he says, you know, a terrible situation for the economy. Will we hear much about that this week? He does try to be optimistic. So will he say that things are going well and try to get, you know, the swing -- the swing voters to believe him that things are getting better?
WOODRUFF: I think we're going to hear more from the president and from others that jobs have picked up. Yes, there's been a down- tick in the last month or so. And it's not that they're going to ignore that. But they're going to focus on the positive.
They're going to say, no, we haven't completely turned the corner. We've got to create more jobs. We know Americans are suffering. We're aware of those poverty numbers out there. But we think our policies are working.
We think our tax cuts are working. We want more tax cuts. And, you know, this is -- this is a president -- you're not going to see him depart from his orthodoxy this week.
WALLACE: Judy, what are they saying, Republicans, about coming to what is really enemy territory for the GOP, New York City? Registered Democrats outnumbering registered Republicans more five to one. So why are they here?
WOODRUFF: You know, the polls are showing -- Kelly, you're right, the polls of New Yorkers this week have shown that a lot of them are a little -- they're not quite sure what to make of these Republicans. You're right, this city is largely Democratic. The state is largely Democratic.
But you know what? I don't think the delegates care. They're here to nominate George Bush to a second term.
I think they -- you know, they figure, you know, we'll tolerate this maybe less than loving environment. But I don't think they're bothered by that. They know New York is a great town. They can go out and they can have their gatherings.
They're going to hold their convention under very tight security. We're going to talk about that in a few minutes.
I don't think it's going to bother them. The city right now, as far as I can tell, is showing a very open and hospitable face to these Republicans.
WALLACE: And we are definitely, Judy, going to talk about the security situation. Unprecedented security here in the Big Apple. We are back on that, the security story. Jeanne Meserve coming to you from Madison Square Garden right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RAY KELLY, NEW YORK POLICE COMMISSIONER: We have to be concerned about a terrorist event. That's our number one job, to protect the city. (END VIDEO CLIP)
MESERVE: New York Police Commissioner Ray Kelly, his force 37,000 strong. The principal player here, but there are also state and local partners in this effort. Of course, they're on the lookout for terrorists, but they will certainly deal with demonstrators as well.
WOODRUFF: Jeanne, you know, we heard a lot, we saw a great deal about the security at the Democratic convention in Boston. How is new York different? Clearly, the geography of the city, it's a much bigger place to deal with. But what's -- what is the overview, the overlay of what they're dealing with here?
MESERVE: Well, first tell me -- let me tell you about what's sort of surprising about what's happening here near the site this morning. There was a security sweep last night by the Secret Service intended, of course, to make sure there was nothing dangerous here. But this morning, there seems to be inconsistency about what sort of access they're allowing.
Credentials aren't always being checked. Bags are not always being checked. People are bringing in cups of coffee, boxes of pastries, all sorts of things.
In Boston, none of that was allowed. We were put through magnetometers. Things were very carefully screened. We weren't allowed even to bring a cup of tea because they were afraid that might be something dangerous.
So some inconsistencies there. But, of course, this is just the beginning. Things are going to ramp up considerably over the next couple of days before the convention begins.
But getting back to the -- to what you raised, we're seeing many of the same pieces that we saw in Boston. We're just seeing them at a larger scale, because this is such a large event, such a large city, five million people here.
Penn Station behind me sees 600,000 people a day go through the station. That's equivalent to the population of the city of Boston. So a much larger operation here.
WALLACE: And, Jeanne, of course the security issues, when we talk about demonstrations, many big demonstrations expected this weekend, you were out, we know, talking to some demonstrators last night. What are you hearing from people about why they are here, and how are the security officials handling those protesters?
MESERVE: Well, last night there was a massive bicycle demonstration. Thousands of people on bicycles streamed right past Madison Square Garden. They've gone throughout the city, tied up some traffic.
They were quite peaceful, from what I could see. They were -- a lot of them were affiliated with a group called Critical Mass, which tries to make city streets safer for bicyclists. But, clearly, there was an anti-Bush message last night as well. We heard a lot of chanting. We saw signs and T-shirts and so forth.
There were arrests last night. It is illegal in the city of New York to be on a bicycle in a procession without a permit. It's illegal to ride more than two abreast. It's illegal, of course, to obstruct emergency vehicles.
So using those laws and regulations, the New York City police did arrested 264 people. But that's just the beginning.
People are expecting perhaps hundreds of thousands of demonstrators here in New York over the next week. The New York City Police Department claims that it is ready. It says that it can process thousands of arrests if those become necessary.
CROWLEY: You know, Jeanne, New York is always sort of a different universe for journalists, even when they aren't times like this. The cops seem to be tougher, the journalists seem to be more rugged. A lot of, you know, sort of elbowing.
When you talk to the local police, what is their general attitude at this point? I know -- I felt like when we were in Boston it was sort of, "OK, everybody, let's take a deep breath." How do you feel when you compare kind of the attitude of local law enforcement here as to Boston?
MESERVE: Well, certainly the reputation of the New York City police is quite different. They're headed up by a former Marine, Ray Kelly. And people say they have a much more sort of no-nonsense, hard-nosed attitude. They deal with demonstrators all the time.
I talked to Ray Kelly and some other people in his department this week. What they tell me is they welcome expression of free speech. And if people play by the rules, if they're peaceable, there won't be any problem.
But, they make it clear, if anybody gets out of line, if they see any sort of unlawful behavior, they will move in. They will make arrests very quickly. The whole strategy here is to try to isolate the troublemakers and try to take them into custody, take them out of the mix just as quickly as they possibly can.
BASH: You know, Jeanne, there obviously is always a lot of competition for conventions and for big events like this within and among big cities. Is it your sense, given what you see here, given what you saw in Boston, that perhaps that might be changing, that the costs really might be worse than the benefit?
MESERVE: You know, it's a really interesting question. Yesterday, Michael Bloomberg, the mayor of New York, upped the estimate on how much security here was going to cost. They're getting $50 million from the federal government to defray security costs. But now Bloomberg says they may need $15 million or $20 million more to cover the cost of what's happening here. And it does raise questions about whether cities are going to want these kinds of events. As you know, there's always been intense competition because cities have believed that there's going to be a great economic benefit and a heightening of profile by hosting these events. But, clearly, this changes the entire equation, and makes you wonder if cities will want to host these. And it also makes you wonder if security considerations won't be brought in earlier in the process, if perhaps there will be consultations with the Department of Homeland Security, with the U.S. Secret Service that handles these national special security events in advance to figure out which cities might be most appropriate, which cities might already have some infrastructure in place for dealing with these kinds of events.
ROMANS: Jeanne, you know, New Yorkers being New Yorkers, a lot of them are just getting out of town, as I think also happened in -- in Boston. And one of the ironies is that some of the financial firms are actually going to start using their contingency floors or contingency offices out in New Jersey, or on Long Island. So they're going to run through -- run through that. But, you know, it will be interesting to see if actually Wall Street and the economy is affected simply because so many people are saying, "You know what, we'll be back after Labor Day."
MESERVE: That's exactly right. I mean, in the city of Boston, I know they did some kind of analysis after the convention. They discovered that the economic boom was a fraction of what they expected.
But there also is that question of productivity. Is it -- is it reduced significantly because so many bail, so many people say, "I don't want to deal with the hassle. I'm just going to get out of town."
CROWLEY: Jeanne, we know you and Judy both need to get back out and on your stories for today. So thanks very much to both of you for joining us.
From keeping the peace on the streets, to scoring some points inside the Garden, what does President Bush need to achieve this week at the convention? And some tips for viewers on window-shopping for '08. I'm back on that story after this.
ANNOUNCER: Candy Crowley is CNN's senior political correspondent. She's been with the network since 1987. The National Press Foundation honored her with a 1998 Dirksen Award for distinguished reporting on Congress. She received the 1997 Joan Shorenstein Barone Award for excellence in journalism for coverage of the Bob Dole presidential campaign.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BUSH: I think we ought to be debating who best to be leading this country in the war against terror. And that's what I continue to try to convince the American people of. (END VIDEO CLIP)
CROWLEY: President Bush in Texas Monday, trying to convince the American people that security, the safety of the American people is what this convention and indeed this election is about. And each piece of that package will be here in New York next week, pointing toward the aim of, of course, winning the election.
Welcome back. We are ON THE STORY.
BASH: Candy, I talked to a Republican this week who said the number one goal here is for it to be the anti-Houston, meaning it is going to be exactly opposite of what we saw at President Bush's father's second convention, with Pat Buchanan essentially hijacking the entire thing. This is going to be very much about President Bush and about what he's done in the past four years and what he's going to do in the next four.
CROWLEY: Right. And what he did in 2000 as well at his convention.
I mean, it is not only, let's not have the conservatives out there scaring people. It is also about not being the Democratic convention of '04. That is, this is not going to be -- certainly, you'll hear some of his accomplishments in -- in the past four years, but what everybody agrees and what the president is talking about at this point is agenda, agenda, pushing it forward, as you know.
Here's what's been the one rap on the president, has been, well, what would you do with the next four years? I mean, what do you have in mind? So we are expecting, at least, that they will indeed get to the -- get to the meat of things, what's going to happen over the next four years.
They're hoping that will be a contrast to what we saw at the Democratic convention, which was a lot of talk about John Kerry. Although, you know, different sets of -- of requirements here. John Kerry wanted to introduce himself to the American people. George Bush has to talk about what's going to come up next, because he doesn't need to introduce himself.
WALLACE: Candy, though, isn't one man likely to get in the way of all the attention being on President Bush? And that one man Arnold Schwarzenegger?
CROWLEY: You know, it's very funny. I've talked to a lot of Republicans, and they say, "You know what? The biggest show in town is still Arnold Schwarzenegger."
I mean, let's face it, this is a Hollywood actor. Not that many of those come to the Republican convention.
BASH: No.
CROWLEY: This is the governor of California. I mean -- you know, which has been pretty Democratic of late. And he has an "R" by his name. So, they're -- you know, they're really excited about -- about Schwarzenegger coming.
And also, just he's kind of a hard presence to ignore at this point. I mean -- and he's sort of larger than life. I mean, obviously, the president is what people come for, that Thursday night.
But where Arnold's going and what he's saying, and he also has that -- a very fine line to walk because, in California, I think his approval rating is something like 65 percent or something. It's very high among Democrats and Republicans, who really don't see him as a Democrat or a Republican.
BASH: Right.
CROWLEY: Here he shows up on the national stage supporting a Republican president. There really is a divisive figure in California, which is heavily Democratic at this point. So he's got to kind of walk that line because he does want to support the president, he does support the president, but he doesn't want to get those 65 percent of the people who think in California that he's a, you know, really bipartisan figure upset.
ROMANS: You know, he is major star power in New York. But there's also major star power in Rudy Giuliani, who is really a hero around here. And John McCain, for political junkies, John McCain is also a huge star. Both of these people will also be sharing the limelight this week.
CROWLEY: Prime-timers.
ROMANS: Yes.
CROWLEY: Yes, they're great. They're great.
I mean, you know, when you look at prime-time, and you see Rudy Giuliani, John McCain, Pataki, people like that, I immediately think, because it's my job, '08, '08. I see all of those people, that these are really kind of the kickoff.
Now, it would be for Arnold if he weren't, you know, excluded via the Constitution because he was born outside the United States. But very definitely -- and it gets back to what Dana was saying, which is, they want not so much to convince Californians that, oh, we have Arnold Schwarzenegger, but this is about Stark County, Ohio. This is about the swing voters who can't quite make up their minds and really can look up at the TV screens and say, "Well, John McCain, I like John McCain. And he's supporting George Bush."
"And Rudy Giuliani, he was so great at the -- you know, after 9/11, and strong. And I really like him. Arnold Schwarzenegger?"
And so, I mean, it's all sort of aimed at the swing voter that's trying to, you know, kind of figure it out. And this, you know, sometimes is the push they need. And that's who's in prime-time.
BASH: You know what's really interesting, Candy? Is the other way they think that they can get those people from Stark County, Ohio, is just a basic issue of style. That they feel that the president just has a style where he can talk from his gut, where he can talk like a person who they would maybe sit down with, and that he has something -- he has that...
CROWLEY: With better words.
BASH: ... as an asset -- as an asset, that they just think John Kerry simply doesn't have. So you're going to see as much -- them pushing as much about the president's style as they are about substantively what he's saying.
CROWLEY: It's the comfortable in his own skin thing...
BASH: Right.
CROWLEY: ... that really made him stand out in 2000. It is as well. I mean, I think when you see these people -- and Judy touched on it -- these are people -- I mean, Schwarzenegger, he does have some policy differences with the president, certainly on social issues. John McCain, we all know, has had a lot of differences with the president.
And -- but they like that in some ways. Yes, you can disagree with me, but look, you can still be for me. So there's kind of like walking proof.
BASH: They think that appeals to the swing voters who aren't a hundred percent sure about President Bush.
CROWLEY: Absolutely. Right. It's sort of -- they're like the walking example of, yes, they disagree with me, but they still support me on the big things.
WALLACE: Candy, of course, you covered George W. Bush during the 2000 election. You've been watching him this year. How much is he a guy who really loves the pressure to increase and really show his stuff when he has the most pressure on him?
CROWLEY: Dana and I were talking about this actually before the show. And it's really true.
I think over the last week, all of a sudden they've just lit this fire. And it is very much what we -- what they learned about when he was governor of Texas and what we learned in 2000 is, this is -- this is a game horse. This is -- this is a guy who, when the game is on, you know, he'll hit the home run in the bottom inning of the -- you know, of a tied game. But boy, when it -- you know, when you're kind of just coasting along is when he kind of is not at his best.
It seems to me, Dana, that he is getting very fired up on the campaign, and back to the George Bush I saw in 2000.
BASH: Yes. He seems -- he seems very -- actually, remarkably comfortable in what he's saying and his style. You know, he always leans over the lectern, but he's really leaning over it, and, you know, sort of hanging out. And he's actually responding to people in the crowd. And he's -- and he just looks and feels a lot more comfortable.
Now, perhaps you and I would feel more comfortable if we said the same thing on the stump 725 times. And, you know, you sort of get used to it. But I -- it's sort of an atmospheric thing as well. He is -- he's sort of getting more fired up.
He's a political junkie. This is much -- you know, he's observing this as much as it is sort of about him.
WALLACE: And the countdown to the convention has certainly seen lots of sniping about something that happened 35 years ago. And also, a debate over these attack ads by these tax-exempt political groups known as 527s. Just take a look at this.
The "Denver Post" political cartoonist, Mike Keefe, he used the recently stolen painting, "The Scream," to say, "I swear, if I see one more 527 ad..." -- well, I'm back on that story in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: Good morning. I'm Betty Nguyen.
In the news, CNN has learned new details of an alleged bomb plot in New York City. Law enforcement sources tell CNN one of the two Brooklyn men arrested is a Pakistani who worked at an Islamic bookstore in Brooklyn. The suspected plot was to blow up the Herald Square subway station, which is about one block from Madison Square Garden. There is no indication the men obtained any explosives, nor were planning an attack around the GOP convention.
The director of the CIA will have greater power to deal with terrorism under a series of new executive orders. In his weekly radio address a short time ago, President Bush said the foreign (ph) new directives aimed to make the U.S. safer.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
BUSH: I have ordered the director of Central Intelligence to ensure that we have common standards and clear accountability measures for intelligence sharing across the agencies of our government. I have established a new information systems council to identify and break down any remaining barriers to the rapid sharing of threat information by America's intelligence agencies, law enforcement agencies, and state and local governments.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
NGUYEN: The executive orders were based on recommendations by the 9/11 Commission.
Well, that's a look at headlines "Now in the News." I'm Betty Nguyen at CNN headquarters here in Atlanta. Now it's back to ON THE STORY.
BASH: Welcome back to ON THE STORY. President Bush is campaigning today in Ohio. And with us now, we have our White House correspondent, or colleague, Suzanne Malveaux, who is out with him.
Suzanne, what's happening there?
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, as you know, of course, this is what the president refers to as fertilizing his grassroots, really reaching out to the base, the party of the base here, really trying to energize folks. About 20,000 here out in Troy, Ohio.
This is going to be a three-stop bus tour throughout the day. First here in Troy, then on to Lima, and then Meigs State Memorial.
Now, what they're doing is essentially going along the I-75 corridor. That is where it is considered the backbone of Republican country out in the state of Ohio. Bush aides say that they are going to focus on what they call echo politics, essentially rally up the base here and then get people to go door to door, people to people, sending out the message, trying to convince those undecided, those swing voters to go in President Bush's direction.
What the president is going to focus on today is all about the economy. Ohio very hit hard over the last three and a half years. But they're going to emphasize a contrast, what they call President Bush's economic policy to Kerry's.
They're going to talk about Kerry raising taxes to those who make more than $200,000. But they're going to say, hey, those $200,000 wage earners are actually small businesses, and that small businesses are big businesses when it comes to Ohio, that they should definitely vote for President Bush if they want to see the kind of recovery that Ohio has seen just recently.
They'll talk about some economic numbers, 3,400 new jobs they say created just last month, an unemployment rate that has dipped slightly down over the last year, emphasizing the positive here. President Bush expected to arrive very shortly.
BASH: Suzanne, thank you so much. Have fun on the bus and with the president in his pre-convention sprint.
And now we're going to go to Kelly Wallace and the ad wars.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When you say that you want to stop all...
BUSH: All of them.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So, I mean...
BUSH: That means that ad, every other ad. Absolutely. I don't think we ought to have 527s. I can't be more plain about it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WALLACE: 527s? Suddenly, everyone from the president on down is talking about 527s, these groups that are supposed to be independent, groups that have been running a flurry of television ads this summer. And now what we've seen, this angry debate over John Kerry's Vietnam record, drowning out all other political talk.
And, of course, welcome back. We're ON THE STORY.
CROWLEY: Kelly, you know, any ad is about moving the electorate one way or the other. Who's winning, who's losing in the whole Swift Boat thing?
WALLACE: Well, you know, Candy, the latest polls seem to show that John Kerry is the one seeing a little bit of damage. Some of his gains after the convention gone away.
One of the maybe more interesting numbers in our own CNN-"USA Today"-Gallup poll, a month ago, some 41 percent saying John Kerry's military service made it more likely they would vote for him. That number dropping 19 points to 22 percent. So right now, the sense is, if anyone's getting hurt, it's John Kerry.
ROMANS: You know, I think it's amazing that the war that we're all talking about is the war in Vietnam, not the war in Iraq. And seriously, it's getting much more play than the war in Iraq.
Also, it seems to me like it's sort of -- it's sort of like an arms race from 20 years ago, where you say, yeah, I think the 527s -- I think the negative campaign and the negative advertising, it's bad, but my opponent's doing it more than I am, so I have to hurry up and catch up. And when we're even, we'll have the same number of nuclear warheads, or negative advertisements, and then it will -- then it will be right somehow.
It's just, everyone hates negative advertising. But apparently it must work, because everybody's doing it.
WALLACE: Well, that's the saddest statement. Right Christine? And it's true.
Negative ads, everyone says they hate them. Allegedly they turn off voters. But they seem to have an impact.
Something interesting here, though. I was talking to a political analyst who was looking at this, saying, "If John Kerry ends up losing in November, we might end up looking at this period of time as the reason, in particular looking at the Democratic convention and questioning whether it was the right strategy to devote all the entire convention to John Kerry's Vietnam record, not just one day."
This analyst saying it's OK if you have all the veterans behind you. But if you don't, you open yourself up. And if you're making your Vietnam biography really the centerpiece of your campaign, well, then if it gets attacked, it could end up hurting you. BASH: And Kelly, you know, talking to folks over at the Bush campaign earlier in the week, they were thrilled. I mean, you know, the more John Kerry is on the defense, the more he's talking about this, the less he's talking about the economy and things that the president really doesn't want to be talking about.
But then as the week went on, there was a connection between one of the president's lawyers and this outside group. He had to resign.
Seemed to maybe shift a little bit. Maybe the Bush campaign doesn't want to necessarily talk about that as much now. Do you get that sense?
WALLACE: Oh, absolutely, Dana. It is so interesting.
You know, the phones are ringing in the early part of the week, e-mails being zapped around. The Republican strategists don't want to say "we're thrilled about this," but you can tell they couldn't be happier about it.
It changed. Some part of it changed when you had former Senator and Vietnam veteran Max Cleland going down to the president's Crawford, Texas, ranch, trying to -- amazing theater, trying to deliver a letter to him.
You had Benjamin Ginsberg, a lawyer for the Bush-Cheney campaign, the lawyer for the Bush team during the Florida recount, resigning because he says he was providing legal advice for this group, the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, saying he didn't want to be a distraction.
So, toward the end of the week, the Kerry team thought that the damage was starting to be on President Bush. You look at even our own polls, some 50 percent, I believe, saying that the president is connected to these negative ads. Certainly, the Kerry team hopes that the page has been turned and the damage will be on the president. But the sense is that the Bush campaign will want to be talking about the Republican convention now, the president's agenda, not these attack ads.
CROWLEY: You know, Kelly, just -- I want to turn the corner here. John Kerry did the appearance on the Jon Stewart show, which is where a lot of young people, particularly -- that particular demographic, new voters, watch. What were the critiques on that? How did he do? What was the general feel after it?
WALLACE: And, Candy, you have seen this before, politician after politician trying to show his or her lighter side. Let's first take a listen to a clip of John Kerry with Jon Stewart.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(APPLAUSE)
JON STEWART, TALK SHOW HOST: Senator Kerry, please. It's been a rough couple of weeks. I've been following -- I watch a lot of the cable news shows, so I understand that apparently you were never in Vietnam.
(LAUGHTER)
SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: That's what I understand, too. But I'm trying to find out what happened.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WALLACE: So, the sense is, it was an opportunity for John Kerry to laugh. It came in the middle of this week where he was facing a lot of questions about his Vietnam record. This was sort of a lighter, looser moment to joke with Jon Stewart about it.
Stewart didn't really fire a lot of tough questions at John Kerry. And again, the hope is, according to the Kerry campaign, that you have these voters who are sort of turned off, or who aren't watching television newscasts, who might not even be watching our own program right now, but are watching Jon Stewart and that they'll see a side of John Kerry that they didn't see before.
BASH: All right, Kelly. Well, we'll see if President Bush is going to appear on one of those shows anytime soon. Everybody holding their breath?
Well, we also -- we just saw Suzanne Malveaux on the campaign trail with President Bush in Ohio. He's making his way to New York. He's got that traditional campaign sprint through the battleground states on his way here. I'll be back on that story in a moment.
And also, as well, we'll talk about why millions of single women choose to stay home on Election Day.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BUSH: Delegates and my fellow citizens, I proudly accept your nomination.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BASH: A look back four years ago to then Republican nominee Governor George W. Bush. Mr. Bush in the past couple of days in the countdown to this convention has campaigned in New Mexico, Thursday, Florida, on Friday, and as we saw today, in Ohio, all up for grabs states this fall.
Welcome back. We're ON THE STORY.
ROMANS: And there's something interesting yesterday in terms of intel. What's going on there?
BASH: Well, you know, it's sort of, I guess, maybe standard or maybe good politics. He's essentially trying to wipe some of the problems that he's had, wipe the slate clean before he gets to -- to New York.
The major issue has been when is he going to implement, how is he going to implement some of the reforms recommended by the 9/11 Commission. Well, this is New York. And there are a lot of families here who really have been pushing him to do that.
So he did what he could. He put out executive orders, implementing some of them. Now, obviously, this is not everything. They have a lot to do -- that they have to do through statute with Congress. But at least it gives him the opportunity to say, look, I'm trying, I'm doing something, I'm listening, I get it.
WALLACE: Dana, we talked about this a little bit earlier, John McCain, the relationship between President Bush and John McCain. The two, of course, campaigned together this week. But it appeared to be a very calculated strategic move by the Bush team to sort of bring in and invoke John McCain and his principles in this whole debate over these so-called attack ads -- or attack ads by these so-called 527 groups.
BASH: You know, Kelly, their relationship is so fascinating, because, you know, obviously they were bitter rivals in 2000. And now, you know, John McCain, as we talked about before, he's somebody that the Bush campaign really needs.
He's been somebody that both sides have really courted. But the president has had him on the stump with him. He's going to have him with him this coming week. He's obviously giving this big speech. He's out with him consistently.
But he's also somebody who was pretty upset about the fact that the president didn't denounce these ads. Because he was coming from the point of view of a Vietnam veteran, somebody who says he doesn't want these wounds reopened from 30 years ago. But he's also a reformer. He's the king of campaign finance reform.
So, the president's move, again, in the same sort of vain of trying to wipe the slate clean before he gets here, called John McCain and said, well, let's just fix this together. So, essentially, changing the subject from John McCain saying, President Bush, denounce these things, to John McCain saying, oh, that's a good idea. Let's work together on this. And it's really tried to deflect the issue.
CROWLEY: In fact, he seemed -- John McCain seemed privately, at least, less upset that George Bush did not denounce the Swift ads once he said, hey, John, let's file suit. You know?
It was a great -- I thought it was sort of a brilliant political strategy. Because what was the headline in "The Post" the next day?
BASH: That was it.
CROWLEY: "McCain and Bush Join Forces, Too." BASH: And the -- and the morning -- and the morning that President Bush made the call, the headline in "The New York Times" was "Senator McCain is Not Yet Happy With What President Bush has Said About These Ads." He still wants him to go further.
Well, after the president made this move, no longer. Not at all. And, apparently, when they had this very brief private conversation, when the president brought this up, when he called John McCain from Air Force One, John McCain didn't even bring up the whole idea that he hasn't denounced them.
ROMANS: Let's talk about Dick Cheney, and let' talk about how the -- the gay marriage, the gay debate might have taken a little shift, a little nuance. What happened there this week?
BASH: Well, it was really remarkable. Dick Cheney was out in Iowa. He was at a town hall meeting.
He was asked question, apparently, according to our colleague, Katherine Berger (ph), who was there in the room, by a woman who wanted -- clearly was not somebody who was -- somebody who was very much anti-gay marriage. You know, essentially what's your position.
Without being specifically asked about the fact that he has a gay daughter, he brought up the fact that he has a gay daughter and stated his position from four years ago. Which is that he doesn't think a constitutional amendment is necessary. He think the states should do their job.
And, essentially, distancing himself -- not only putting himself on the map on this position, which is very much opposed to most social -- all social conservatives, but also distancing himself from the president himself. And it was really interesting to listen to what -- the way the campaign spun it afterwards, which is, first of all, this administration, look how wonderful it is, we have all these different views. But it's the president who makes the decision. It's his policy, which is sort of code for, Dick Cheney isn't president after all, is he?
CROWLEY: Still, but doesn't it -- it fits in with that whole thing. Here's the vice president, he disagrees with the president on a socially conservative issue. But -- but that's OK.
And the idea of kind of softening up -- now, you know, I do not for a moment doubt that Dick Cheney's relationship with his daughter, with his wife is very real, very close. They're a very close family.
BASH: Right. And they're with him on the campaign trail. His daughter is a senior adviser on the -- on the campaign.
CROWLEY: Right. And she was in the room when...
BASH: Right.
CROWLEY: And I remember everyone got all excited about that when it happened. We saw, oh, he talked about his daughter being gay. And I said, "But we've known forever that his daughter was gay." But apparently, this is, if not the first time, at least one of very -- you know, a handful of times he's ever in public said, well, of course, I have a daughter who is gay and we love her.
BASH: And he wasn't specifically asked about her.
CROWLEY: Right. I mean, he just brought it up.
BASH: He was just asked about the issue of gay marriage, and he talked about his daughter being gay. Essentially on his own.
And it is -- certainly there are the observers out there who say that this Dick Cheney, the softer, gentler side of Dick Cheney. He's not the mean -- mean, you know, cold, corporate greed kind of person that the Democrats paint him to be.
But it was also interesting -- you know, you can sort of look at it, certainly the social conservatives are people that certainly do not -- that want a constitutional amendment banning -- banning gay marriage, but there is a conservative sensibility of the idea of, you know what, the Constitution, don't mess with it. Let the states do it.
ROMANS: Let me ask you about all of these women, single women who are not going to vote in this election, the people who just stay home on Election Day. Do you think that a lot of people, a lot of young women, in particular, look at this issue of gay marriage, and they look at the people who are in the White House and have been historically, and they just feel like these are issues that don't pertain to their lives?
BASH: They are. And I -- just briefly, this story is remarkable. There are 22 million single women who didn't vote in 2000. And many of them, according to...
CROWLEY: I think 19 million couldn't find a sitter.
BASH: Yes. Right. Well, they do have kids. They don't have kids. They're too busy. They are turned off by what -- what we were talking about with Kelly...
ROMANS: Right.
BASH: ... the ad wars, the dirty politics. They're completely turned off. And they don't vote.
And this election, where there are so few undecideds, these people can make such a difference. And they're a huge, huge segment of the population just staying home.
ROMANS: All right. And it's the talk of Iraq, the war on terror, homeland security, are very different claims about the health of the U.S. economy and new jobs. I'm back on that story right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KERRY: This is the worst jobs economy, worst jobs presidency we've had since the great depression and Herbert Hoover.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RICHARD CHENEY, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The last 11 consecutive months, we've created jobs. Since last August, about 1.5 million new jobs.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: John Kerry and Dick Cheney drawing starkly different pictures of jobs and the economy. Dig a little deeper, and the job situation, the economy in general, campaign pledges for the future, seem even harder to decipher.
Welcome back. We're ON THE STORY.
WALLACE: I know, Christine. It's so interesting listening to two different perspectives about the economy. But what are the people you talk to on Wall Street saying? More sluggish growth than expected? What are they saying?
ROMANS: They're saying somewhere in the middle of those two sound bites is the truth. It is a tough situation, but it isn't the worst situation in the history of the world. It also isn't as optimistic as the president and White House are trying to paint it. Somewhere in the middle is the truth.
The truth is, 47 states still have higher unemployment rates today than when there was a recession. The truth is, 22 states lost jobs in July. And we thought the jobs were going to be picking up. And the truth is, the census numbers from this week show that there are more people who are poor in this country, that women, head of households, in particular, are really, really having a tough time.
Women still make 76 cents on a man's dollar. And for the first time since 1995, women's wages fell.
So there are some truths out there that -- you're not hearing those in particular, though, out on the campaign trail. That for the past 30 years, some of these trends have been happening. And they're not being improved.
CROWLEY: And it is a long-term trend, right?
ROMANS: Sure.
CROWLEY: I mean -- so, you know, the question is, are there solutions out there? Because my experience has always been that if a politician hasn't got an answer to it, that they don't talk about it. I mean, it's not enough to raise the issue. So how do you get women out of poverty? How do you -- you know, do you go sort of the Democratic way and, you know, do more social services? Do you do more job training? I mean, what -- what are the solutions out there for any of this?
ROMANS: Well, that's what everyone wants to know. And they want to hear their elected officials start to address these things.
Maybe it's one of the reasons why those 22 million American don't vote is because, you know, they are living paycheck to paycheck. They're not insured. You know, they're trying to get their kids educated, into a safe school. And, you know, they're not hearing back from -- from their -- from their politicians to try to fix it, their elected officials.
In the meantime, you've got Greenspan yesterday, who comes out for the fourth time this year and says, ladies and gentlemen, you know, the government is promising more than it can deliver in terms of Medicare and Social Security. In fact, even under the most optimistic scenarios, we're never going to be able to give you what -- what Washington is saying.
BASH: But that's not exactly a news flash, though, right?
ROMANS: It's not a news flash. But it's starting to get dire. And he said...
CROWLEY: But when Alan Greenspan says it, they begin to pay attention.
(CROSSTALK)
ROMANS: But he says there will be painful and abrupt changes in store, that 77 million baby boomers are going to start retiring over the next decade. And they're not going to get -- they're not going to get the benefits that their parents -- that their parents got.
And that he says immediately Congress and politicians have got to start figuring out how to fix this. And it means you're going to have to work longer. You're probably going to have to work longer.
So, you know, plan now. Ladies, we'll be here for the next 16 elections, discussing these issues, unless somebody does something quickly.
WALLACE: Christine, very quickly, so is -- is this convention going to be good economically for New York City or is it going to be a big bust?
ROMANS: If I knew the answer to that -- it looks as though this is going to cost an awful lot of money. In the beginning, we thought that there would be maybe a $200 million boom to the city. And now even the city of New York is saying, well, you know, this might cost more than we thought.
We won't know for sure until it's all over. But it looks as though it's going to be -- it's going to be more on the cost side than the benefit site.
CROWLEY: We are back ON THE STORY after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: Thanks to my colleagues ON THE STORY. We have "People in the News" and convention coverage all this week.
See you next weekend.
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