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CNN Wolf Blitzer Reports

Ballot Disputes in Florida, Ohio; Did Russian Troops Help Smuggle Missing Explosives From Iraq to Syria?; Sprinsteen Campaigns With Kerry

Aired October 28, 2004 - 17:00   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.


WOLF BLITZER, HOST: Happening now, escalating fears of an election day perfect storm. Despite the lessons of 2000, the passage of new laws and the billions, yes, billions of dollars spent on election reform in the United States. There are already serious balloting disputes emerging in Florida, Ohio, and elsewhere. And we still have five days before the election. Stand by for hard news on WOLF BLITZER REPORTS.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(voice-over): Missing explosives. Did Russian troops help smuggle from Iraq to Syria? The Pentagon is puzzled.

Star power, the Boss opens for Kerry, while Bush turns to a four star and a movie star.

Arafat ailing. Doctors order an airlift abroad. After Arafat, chaos or compromise?

Forget about the float.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: People that live paycheck to paycheck are going to have trouble covering their rent and other bills.

BLITZER: What a new banking law means for your checkbook.

ANNOUNCER: This is WOLF BLITZER REPORTS for Thursday, October 28, 2004.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: With only days left in the contentious and closely watched race for the White House, there are growing signs of problems that could lead to a repeat of the 2000 election confusion, or, perhaps, even worse. We have reporters in two key battleground states where ballot battles already are brewing. Our national correspondent Susan Candiotti is in Miami, Joe Johns is in Columbus, Ohio. But let's begin with CNN's Brian Todd. He's monitoring developments from Washington -- Brian.

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, some of the problems we're hearing about now may seem like background noise as we watch the candidates make their stretch runs. But there have already been serious challenges involving ballots that could explode into the news cycle by this time next week.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(voice-over): Still a few days out, and already we're seeing dozens of legal battles and other disputes over election ballot minutia that can make your head spin. Problems abound in several states. In Florida they're again going through some big headaches. Absentee ballots not getting to some voters or not coming back in time. Concerns over electronic voting machines, not generating paper records that would need to be checked in a post-election recount. Problems again cropping up in the state's most populous counties.

DAVID CARDWELL, ELECTIONS LAWYER: The curse of the Bambino was erased last night. I think we got the curse of Broward and hopefully we'll get over it.

TODD: But Florida is not alone this time. One of your better examples of this confusion, ballot battles in the Buckeye State.

KEN BLACKWELL (R), OHIO SECRETARY OF STATE: In Ohio the ground rules are set.

TODD: The Ohio secretary of state, a Republican, has just won a legal fight over so-called provisional ballots. These are ballots enabling people to vote even if a bureaucratic mistake has prevented their name from showing up on a registry. The secretary of state wanted these ballots to be cast and counted only in a given voter's home precinct. Democrats felt that hurt low income and younger voters who they say tend to move more often. The Democratic position that voters with provisional ballots should be able to vote and have their ballots counted anywhere in their home county was rejected by a federal appeals court.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The objective there is to make it as easy to vote for all legal registered voters, but to also protect against widespread voter fraud.

TODD: After the fiasco in 2000, Congress tried to help, passing the Help America Vote Act. That law mandated provisional ballots and called for upgrades like electronic voting, but many people close to the process are now saying that law has created more problems than it solved.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(on camera): And now the U.S. Justice Department is jumping in to try to head off some of those problems. Tomorrow Justice officials will unveil a plan to send nearly 1,100 people to serve as election monitors in potential troubled spots all over the country -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Brian Todd in Washington. Thank you very much. There are other problems in Ohio, on top of the one Brian just mentioned. A massive increase in voter registration is threatening to overwhelm election officials in the Buckeye State. CNN's Joe Johns is monitoring developments from Columbus -- Joe. JOE JOHNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, 700,000 new registrations in Ohio alone. Republicans are leading an aggressive effort to try to weed out voters they don't think are legit.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(voice-over): With tens of thousands of newly registered voters challenged by Ohio Republicans before the election, the system is already showing signs of confusion. In some smaller counties hearings to verify the residency of voters began Thursday, but in six other counties, including two of the largest, which encompassed Cleveland and Columbus, challenged voters showed up for hearings, only to find they had been halted the day before by a federal judge.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Your right to vote has been challenged by a qualified elector.

JOHNS: The Ohio Republican party says it filed its challenges after sending letters to newly registered voters returned as undeliverable.

MARK WEAVER, OHIO GOP ELECTION ATTORNEY: Here in Ohio we regularly send out mailers to new registrants saying welcome to being a voter. Please vote for our candidates. This time when we sent out those new mailers, we had thousands, trayloads coming back saying, no such person lives here.

JOHNS: The Democrats argue, undeliverable mail doesn't necessarily mean a person's registration should be thrown out, that there may be innocent reasons.

MYRON MARLIN, DEMOCRATIC PARTY SPOKESMAN: It suggests that somebody who might be serving in the military, many of these cases, have -- have addresses here in Ohio that are just simply addresses of record, but not places where they receive mail. It suggests that people might not have a mailbox, but instead a post office box. It suggests that people may have been living in a dorm room and didn't have their right dorm room number down, so lots of students have been attacked. It suggests that maybe somebody moved from one part of the county to the next.

CHRISTOPHER SMITH, CHALLENGED VOTER: Then also on the letter...

JOHNS: Case in point, Christopher Smith of Vexley (ph). He changed addresses here in September and somebody misspelled his new street name in the elections computer. His registration was challenged.

SMITH: However I feel it's my right to vote. I want to vote. And you're not going to (UNINTELLIGIBLE) me up just because I moved.

JOHNS: This leaves local election officials scrambling and hoping to be prepared for Tuesday.

MATTHEW DAMSCHROEDER, FRANKLIN CO. ELECTION BOARD: Coming out of the year 2000 there's a lot of confusion anyway, and I think this just goes to further add to that confusion.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(on camera): Neither side is letting go on this right now. The judge's original ruling in this case only applied to six counties, Democrats are now asking for that ruling to apply to the entire state. The Republican attorney general in Ohio has filed an appeal. He's also asking for a stay, and now there is another case alleging that those thousands of people who are being hired essentially to camp out at the polls and challenge voters may intimidate African-Americans. That case was supposed to be in court today in Cincinnati -- Wolf.

BLITZER: All right, my head is beginning to spin already. Joe Johns in Columbus, Ohio. Thank you very much.

Meanwhile, Florida's worst fears may be realized. A repeat of the debacle of four years ago that threw the election into chaos and legal limbo. Our national correspondent Susan Candiotti is in Miami with a look at the problems threatening this election -- Susan.

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Wolf. Yes, we have new information on a sticky issue that first arose yesterday about what happened to 57,000 absentee ballots in the Fort Lauderdale area.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(on camera): Where, oh, where are the wayward absentee ballots? Broward County, Florida election officials working the phones to find out.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I believe that we're on top of this situation.

CANDIOTTI: Election workers are said to be calling all 57,000 voters who requested absentee ballots sent but apparently not received earlier this month. A message will detail what each voter should do if they did not receive a ballot. Out of state voters will be overnighted a ballot if theirs did not arrive in the mail, the Postal Service to deliver the rest. It denies its employees are responsible for the missing ballots, and calls any allegations to that effect insulting. Election officials unable to account for the missing ballots insist there is no evidence of wrongdoing, yet an investigation continues.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm not sorry that the absentee ballots were lost, and the reason I say that is because some of those ballots, which were called to our attention, have been received in our office. So I think that was probably more of a delay than the fact that the ballots were lost.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(voice-over): Now to the south in Miami today, Republicans holding a news conference to announce potentially explosive new allegations allegedly involving voter fraud. They are alleging that 925 convicted felons have already either already cast their votes in an early voting process or have asked for an absentee ballot. Now, a law enforcement official tells CNN that they have just received this list from the Republicans, and are just beginning to look into it. As you know, earlier this year, Florida election officials were red-faced when they put out a voter purge list that was riddled with errors.

BLITZER: Susan Candiotti in Miami who is going to be very busy in these coming days. Thank you very much, Susan. And to our viewers, here's your chance to weigh in on this story. Our web question of the day is this. Are you confident in the voting system in place in your precinct? You can vote right now. Go to CNN.com/wolf. We'll have the results for you later this hour.

Turning now to an issue that's dominated the campaign, at least in recent days, those 380 tons of high explosives missing from the facility in Iraq. Two newspaper articles today cited a senior Pentagon official as suggesting Russia may have helped smuggle the material from Iraq into Syria. The Pentagon was caught short by those comments. Let's go live to our senior Pentagon correspondent, Jamie McIntyre -- Jamie.

JAMIE MCINTYRE, SR. PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, caught short is one way to put it, very surprised would be another. The Pentagon insists that it has no intelligence at this point which would support the statement made by John Shaw, a deputy undersecretary of defense, who told "The Washington Times" and made similar comments to the "Financial Times" as that quote: "It was almost certain that the Russians had removed high explosive material that was missing from the al Qa Qaa facility.

Now I have talked to some very senior officials here at the Pentagon and not one of them believes that this is the case or says that there is any information to back it up. In fact, Defense Secretary Rumsfeld in a radio interview he just recorded a short time ago, said, quote: "I have no information on that and cannot validate it even slightly."

Pentagon spokesman Larry Di Rita said, again, that there's no -- he's aware of no intelligence to support the idea that Russians had gone in and taken out the explosives. He said that Mr. Shaw does not speak on behalf of the Pentagon, and that they are looking into what basis he thought he had to make those comments -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Jamie McIntyre with the latest on that front, thank you, Jamie, at the Pentagon.

Ad exposed, is someone playing doctor with a Bush campaign commercial? New calls for the controversial spot to be pulled off the airwaves.

Also ahead: Bruce Springsteen enters the battle. Will his star power give Kerry a boost? We have reports from both campaigns in key battleground states. That's coming up.

Yasser Arafat's health, does this smiling picture tell the true story of the Palestinian leader's condition? Our senior international correspondent Christiane Amanpour will join us live from Ramallah on the West Bank with late developments.

Plus this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: People that live paycheck to paycheck are going to have trouble covering their rent and other bills that they get every month.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: It's called Check 21, a new law effective today. Find out why it could cause many people to bounce more checks. This is information you need to know if you write checks. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Just five days until the election and the Democratic presidential candidate, John Kerry, is showing no sign of letting up his attacks on President Bush over those tons of missing explosives in Iraq. Kerry is in Ohio and Wisconsin today. And as CNN national correspondent Frank Buckley reports, he's fueling his campaign with some star power.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN, THE BOSS: Ladies and gentlemen, the next president of the United States, John Kerry.

FRANK BUCKLEY, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Bruce Springsteen was the warm-up act for Senator John Kerry before a huge crowd that rivalled any Springsteen concert.

KERRY: When George Bush heard that "The Boss" was playing with me and going to be with me today, he thought they meant Dick Cheney.

BUCKLEY: Kerry, in a good mood after his hometown baseball team won the World Series. Kerry hopeful a Massachusetts senator would win the world series of politics.

KERRY: About a year ago when things weren't going so well in my campaign, somebody called a radio talk show and they said -- thinking they were just cutting me right to the quick, they said, John Kerry won't be president until the Red Sox win the World Series. Well, we're on our way! We're on our way!

BUCKLEY: But off came the hat and the gloves as Kerry hit President Bush on Iraq and the missing explosives for the fourth straight day. Kerry responding to the president who said that the senator couldn't be commander in chief because he jumps to conclusions without knowing the facts.

KERRY: They're not where they're supposed to be. You were warned to guard them. You didn't guard them. They're not secure. And guess what? according to George Bush's own words, he shouldn't be our commander in chief, and I couldn't agree more. BUCKLEY: The Kerry campaign also went after Bush surrogate Rudy Giuliani after he said this to NBC's Matt Lauer.

RUDY GIULIANI (R), FMR. NYC MAYOR: No matter how you try to blame it on the president, the actual responsibility for it really would be for the troops that were there. Did they search carefully enough, didn't they search carefully enough?

BUCKLEY: The Kerry campaign saying that was an example of a, quote, "excuse presidency where the buck stops anyplace but the Oval Office." The bush campaign claimed Kerry was distorting Giuliani's comments.

(on camera): The back and forth on the missing explosives could continue right up to Election Day as Senator Kerry tries to use the issue as a metaphor for what he claims is the president's mishandling of the war in Iraq and the war on terror.

Frank Buckley, CNN, Madison, Wisconsin.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: President Bush's answering Kerry's allegation about the missing Iraqi explosives and lobbing a few attacks of his own as he campaigns in battleground states. Our White House correspondent Dana Bash is with the Bush campaign.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DANA BASH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A closing argument, a speech about leadership.

BUSH: The senator's willingness to trade principle for political convenience makes it clear that John Kerry is the wrong man for the wrong job at the wrong time.

BASH: The president's rhetoric perhaps the harshest to date, asking what the senator's, quote, "lack of conviction" would mean?

BUSH: That if you make things uncomfortable, if you stir up trouble, John Kerry will back off, and that's a very dangerous signal to send during this time.

BASH: Mr. Bush is also trying to defend against Kerry's relentless attacks he's responsible for missing explosives in Iraq. Kerry aides hope it's going to sway undecideds skeptical about the war.

BUSH: Senator Kerry will say anything to get elected.

BASH: Bush aides say the senator is jumping to conclusions on unsubstantiated information. And at a midday stop in Ohio, they called in Tommy Franks, the general who commanded the Iraq war, to defend the president.

GEN. TOMMY FRANKS, U.S. ARMY (RET.): We do not yet have all the facts about 380 tons of munitions in Iraq, and he is a president who will look at you and say, we don't yet have the facts, but we will get the facts, George W. Bush.

BASH: The president's retaliations aimed at what his campaign calls the senator's biggest weak spots. When asked if John Kerry changes issues for political reasons, 65 percent said yes, only 36 percent said the same of the president.

If leadership is your theme, you can't just talk down your opponent without talking up your own. For this president, that means evoking 9/11. Here in unusually lofty terms.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I've learned to expect the unexpected. Because history can deliver sudden horror from a soft autumn sky.

BASH: Team Bush is following the classic final day's playbook, create the aura of a winner. A new theme song, packed in Rocket's (ph) crowds, even confetti. But as much as the Bush campaign wants to appear confident, the president's razor sharp rhetoric may be an indication there is concern that Senator Kerry's attacks on his leadership may be sticking. Dana Bash, CNN, West Lake, Ohio.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Our polls of polls averaging recent major national polls remains unchanged today. It continues to show President Bush leading John Kerry 49 percent to 47 percent in polls taken between October 21 and October 26. That's well within the sampling error.

Don't forget election day is less than a week away, five days, specifically. CNN's entire election team will be right here in New York City broadcasting live from the Nasdaq Market site right in the heart of Times Square. We'll use all the latest technology of the world's largest stock market to bring you details about every candidate and every race as you've never seen it before. Election day, less than one week away. We won't stop until this election is decided.

Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's health continues to dominate the news today. Next we'll go live to Ramallah on the West Bank for an update on his condition and treatment possibilities.

Also ahead.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How are you going to sell it to the public? How are you going to get Congress to vote (UNINTELLIGIBLE)?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Rising prices at the pump. Why some experts say a hefty gasoline tax could also (UNINTELLIGIBLE) solve the nation's problem.

Plus, positive news for people still in need of the flu vaccine. Details just released a short time ago. We'll have them for you.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Welcome back. Election under scrutiny. Why international monitors are now coming to the United States to watch all of us vote. We'll have details.

First, though, a quick check of other stories now in the news.

An Iraqi militant group claims on its website that it's killed 11 members of the Iraqi national guard, beheading one and shooting the rest. The website contains images of the killings, along with a message to Iraqi soldiers and police, warning them not to support the Americans or the interim Iraqi government.

A study in the British medical journal, "The Lancet" puts the death toll in Iraq much higher than previously thought. Researchers from Johns Hopkins University, Columbia University, and an Iraqi university now estimate 100,000 people have died in the 18 months since the United States invaded the country. The number is based on household surveys done mainly by Iraqi doctors.

In its latest move to ease the flu vaccine shortage here in the United States, the government says it's taking steps to acquire 5 million doses of vaccine from foreign manufacturers. It also says 300,000 doses originally earmarked for federal workers and the U.S. military will now be redirected.

Keeping you informed. CNN, the most trusted name in news.

For many years, Yasser Arafat has seemed like an immovable force, and when doctors today urged that he be flown abroad for urgent medical care, he at first refused. But the Palestinian leader, who is said to be seriously ill, has now apparently changed his mind. Our chief international correspondent Christiane Amanpour is over at Arafat's compound in Ramallah on the West Bank. Christiane is joining us now live. Christiane, what's the latest?

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTL. CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, as you said, for the last 40 years, Yasser Arafat has occupied a key position on the world stage for whatever position that he's had, whether it be guerrilla, would-be statesmen blamed for the terrorism in Israel nonetheless symbolizing all the Palestinian hopes and dreams. And therefore, every move on his critical condition is being very, very carefully watched. And throughout this day, it's been a bit of a roller coaster.

At first we were told that he would not be moved. Then we were told for sure that he will be moved. And a helicopter is coming in the early hours of the morning from Jordan into the compound behind me. What's been going on this evening is that basically a fleet of bulldozers and fire trucks from here in Ramallah has been in and out of this compound, mostly clearing away what the Palestinians laid as sort of home defenses to try to prevent the Israelis snatching him. Now they're clearing that away to allow a Jordanian helicopter to land and take him to Amman and then a plane will take him on to Paris for treatment. His own doctors did talk to the press today, basically saying that they need more ability to actually properly test for what ails Yasser Arafat.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. ASHRAF KURDI, ARAFAT'S PERSONAL PHYSICIAN: It's not really hard to diagnose the disease of President Arafat, the problem is in the investigations. There are certain investigations for this disease, which is not possible to do them here. And this is why we advised him to go abroad for further investigation because if we know exactly what is the cause of the platelet deficiency, then the treatment can be very easily.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

AMANPOUR: So the doctors saying that he has a platelet deficiency in the blood. The platelets are what are used to coagulate the blood, and the fear is that with a low platelet count, that could cause internal bleeding. We're told that that has not happened. But that what they need to figure out why this platelet count is low. They deny categorically questions as to whether he has leukemia. They've said, no, they've done those tests and he does not have leukemia.

Palestinian officials inside released pictures of Yasser Arafat today with all the speculation about his condition, pictures showing him conscious, showing him sitting up straight, showing him smiling, and surrounded by members of his medical and security team. Although we do know from reports from inside that he has lapsed in and out of sleep and of memory. In other words sometimes he simply doesn't recognize or remember the people who he's with or various instances and then his memory slowly comes back. So, that's what's been going on. And he's going to be flown out for treatment, Wolf.

BLITZER: Christiane, tell our viewers what's happening behind you. We see a bunch of men mostly mulling around. What's going on?

AMANPOUR: Well, you know, there's been a very large contingent of press and various Palestinian fixtures and others who have been here for the last now more than 24 hours, nearly 48 hours.

But what is also happening is that there area a few Palestinians, not a huge crowd, as you might imagine for this Palestinian president, but a few Palestinians coming and milling around this compound, curious, wanting to know what's happening, wanting to know how he is. Some have told us they've come simply to give support and solidarity, many who have acknowledged essentially that, you know, that the whole situation here has been so bad for everybody over the last several years, that there's no huge amount of outpouring for Yasser Arafat.

But they say he still is our only leader. He still is, as they said, our old father, so many of them have come here to see what's going to happen.

BLITZER: Christiane Amanpour in Ramallah on the West Bank for us -- Christiane, thank you very, very much. The speculation about Arafat's medical condition is raising another often-asked question. What happens after Arafat?

Let's go live to CNN's Guy Raz. He's joining us in Jerusalem -- Guy.

GUY RAZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Indeed, Wolf, much speculation about what might happen if Palestinian President Yasser Arafat becomes unable to carry out his duties as the president of the Palestinian National Authority, also speculation over who might take over the reins of the Palestinian national cause.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RAZ (voice-over): A picture to reassure a Palestinian population on a knife's edge, the message, Yasser Arafat temporary infirm, but firmly in control. His inner circle not even wanting to discuss what might happen if Arafat becomes incapacitated.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Don't even ask this question. Everything is under control. The president is in good health.

RAZ: Qureia has been mentioned as a potential. So has Mahmoud Abbas, the former Palestinian prime minister. But Yasser Arafat has kept a tight grip on power. He's never groomed a successor, never laid out a day-after scenario, who would lead the Palestinian struggle for self-determination.

HANAN ASHRAWI, PALESTINIAN NEGOTIATOR: Fortunately, we don't have a dynasty here. We do have a legal and a political system that is based on institutional work. As the chairman of the PLO executive, of course, it's the Palestinian National Council and the executive who will elect the chairman, should anything happen to President Arafat.

RAZ: The Palestinian national charter does lay out a plan. If the president, in this case Mr. Arafat, becomes incapacitated, power is handed over to the parliamentary speaker. Elections then must be called within 60 days. But increasing chaos on in Gaza and elsewhere in the occupied territories suggests a power struggle could occur.

And if Arafat does become incapacitated, it would call into question Israeli's plan to unilaterally withdraw all of its settlement from Gaza. Israel isn't coordinating the move with the Palestinians, and some officials in Israel have hinted the plan is designed in part to bypass Arafat. A new Palestinian leader would, no doubt, force Israel to follow up on its promise to negotiate with any Palestinian leader except Arafat.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

RAZ: Now, Wolf, central to Israel's foreign policy agenda over the past four years has been its contention that Yasser Arafat is not a negotiating partner for peace. Now, the European Union and the Arab League both reject Israel's stance. The United States, the Bush administration backs it, has also essentially shunned Yasser Arafat. Now, if he does indeed become unable to fulfill his role as the Palestinian Authority president and some type of succession process does take place, gets under way, the pressure would most certainly be on Israel to then resume negotiations with Mr. Arafat's successor and resume those negotiations on bringing about a settlement to the conflict here in the Middle East -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Guy, very quickly, has the Israeli government given the Palestinians an iron-clad guarantee that, if Arafat goes to Paris, leaves the compound, they'll let him come back?

RAZ: Wolf, there hasn't been any iron-clad guarantee, but the Israelis have been somewhat vague on this issue. They have said that he will be allowed to return if it's in conjunction with his medical condition.

In other words, if he's treated in France and then he needs to return to Ramallah and it's a result of his medical treatment, then the Israelis have essentially said, yes, we will allow him to return and we will guarantee that he will be allowed to return safely to his compound in Ramallah -- Wolf.

BLITZER: CNN's Guy Raz in Jerusalem, thank you very much for that report.

Controversial political commercial on the airwaves. Find out why a new Bush TV ad is upsetting some Democrats.

Rising prices at the pump. Does either candidate really have a realistic solution to this problem that affects all of us? We'll take a closer look.

And a look at this dramatic tape, as firefighters come to the rescue of a dog trapped in rising waters. You'll want to see this. That story just ahead.

First, though, let's take another quick check of some other headlines making news around the world.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER (voice-over): A methane mine explosion in Siberia killed 13 people and injured 23 others; 67 miners escaped unharmed. The blast ripped through the mine during repair work.

Foreigners kidnapped. Armed men abducted three U.N. election workers in Afghanistan. The workers were travelling in a clearly marked vehicle U.N. vehicle in the capital, Kabul. A group calling itself the Muslim Army claims responsibility.

Cleric on trial. A militant Islamic cleric accused ahead of heading an al Qaeda-linked group behind the Bali bombings four years ago went on trial today in Indonesia. Abu Bakar Bashir also faces charges stemming from the Marriott Hotel bombings last year. In February, he was sentenced to four years in jail for trying to topple the Indonesian government. Waxy president. A new wax work of George W. Bush is on display at Madame Tussaud's in Britain. Pull a cord from his back and you hear remarks commonly referred to as Bushisms.

And that's our look around the world.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Now back to the presidential campaign. A new Bush/Cheney campaign commercial is raising some eyebrows because of the faces in the background.

CNN's Jeanne Meserve took a closer look. She's joining us now live from Washington.

Jeanne, What's going on?

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, in the Bush ad entitled "Whatever it Takes" and on the Bush/Cheney Web site, there's an image of soldiers apparently listening to President Bush, but look closely, you see the same groups of soldiers several times in the photograph. One soldier even appears to have only half a face.

The Bush campaign initially denied that there had been any manipulation, but now concedes that the image was changed from this, a White House photo taken at Fort Drum in July of 2002.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KEN MEHLMAN, BUSH-CHENEY CAMPAIGN MANAGER: In the bottom left- hand corner, the presidential podium blocked some people, and that part of the podium was removed and some pictures of some additional soldiers were put back in.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MESERVE: Mark McKinnon, media adviser to the Bush campaign, says the instructions were to crop the photo, but that an editor with the company that made the ad altered the photo instead. McKinnon says there was no attempt or need to deceive, that the crowd was impressive and real.

But the Kerry campaign pounced, saying: "If they won't tell the truth in an ad, they won't tell the truth about anything else. This doctored commercial is fundamentally dishonest and insults the intelligence of the American people." The statement goes on to say, "Unless George Bush has changed his position on human cloning, it's got to pull this fundamentally dishonest ad immediately."

Well, the Bush campaign is pulling the ad, but says it will air again after the doctored image has been removed -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Jeanne Meserve reporting for us -- thank you, Jeanne, very much.

For years, Americans have traveled abroad to monitor elections. Tuesday, the tables will be turned when international observers from around the world will monitor the U.S. presidential election right here.

Our State Department correspondent Andrea Koppel is live in Washington. She's joining us with details -- Andrea.

ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN STATE DEPARTMENT CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, dozens of international monitors have begun arriving here in Washington and started to get briefings as to how elections may differ state from state. All of them are voluntaries, all very eager to watch the U.S. presidential election process up close and personal, so eager, in fact, they're all paying their own way from countries like Russia, Kazakhstan and Turkey.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KOPPEL (voice-over): As the two candidates head into the homestretch ahead of next week's election...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You punch hole through the card onto the ballot.

KOPPEL: ... 60 parliamentarians from 19 countries in Europe and Central Asia are arriving in the U.S., all volunteers to become the fist international observers ever to monitor a U.S. presidential election.

BARBARA HAERING, CHAIR, OSCE ELECTION MISSION: I do believe this election observation mission can also enhance the confidence of American voters that their vote counts and that this country and these states are trying to improve and reform their election procedures.

KOPPEL: Among the reasons, what happened in Florida during the 2000 presidential election, where thousands of ballots were in dispute.

HAERING: What people realize is really that democracy is an ongoing process, that even a long-established democracy can have to cope with new problems.

KOPPEL: Florida will be among seven states, including Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Ohio, New Mexico, and Washington, D.C., where 10 teams of observers from the OSCE, or Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, will be stationed on Election Day.

HAERING: They will be driving from polling station to polling station, looking if people get free access to the polling stations, looking carefully if the secrecy of voting is guaranteed.

KOPPEL: Conditions many American voters may take for granted, but are in short supply in other countries, like Belarus, where earlier this month, OSCE monitors observed contested presidential elections.

In fact, many of the monitors now in the U.S. themselves come from countries which are still transitioning to democracy.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KOPPEL: The U.S. is itself a member of the OSCE. And it was the State Department that extended the invitation to the monitors to come here to fulfill their mandate of watching free and fair elections, Wolf, but that's a tall order considering that there are 143 million registered American voters and only 60 monitors -- Wolf.

BLITZER: All right, Andrea Koppel reporting from the State Department -- thanks, Andrea, very much.

Gas prices, as we all know, keep on going up and up, as the candidates keep on stumping.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERT EBEL, ENERGY EXPERT, CSIS: I wish both candidates would stop talking about seeking energy independence. It's not doable.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Can either candidate bring about real change that will ease the burden on all of our pocketbooks?

And protecting our wallet, a new law in effect that could cause all of us to bounce some checks unless we're careful. Information we need to know about.

That's coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: In heated exchanges, both George W. Bush and John F. Kerry say they have the right fix for lowering the soaring prices for oil and gas. But can either plan really work?

CNN national security correspondent David Ensor reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID ENSOR, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Gas is over $2 a gallon, oil over $50 a barrel. And the challenger wants voters to remember on whose watch.

SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Right now, oil prices are at an all-time high with no end in sight.

ENSOR: Both the senator and the president offer plans to wean the nation from foreign oil.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Our third goal is to promote oil independence for our country. ENSOR: But neither man, say oil economists, is being straight with the voters.

EBEL: I wish both candidates would stop talking about seeking energy independence. It's not doable.

ENSOR: The president wants to increase supply with a controversial call for oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska.

ROBERT MABRO, OXFORD UNIVERSITY: Even if this is encouraged, what are we going to get, one million barrel a day oil more, two million barrel a day oil more? You know, the United States today imports about 12 million barrel a day.

ENSOR: Senator Kerry stresses reducing demand, raising fuel efficiency on the highways, in factories, harnessing more of the sun and wind.

KERRY: I want America's security to be in the hands of Americans, in our own ingenuity, our own innovation, not the Saudi royal family or others around the world.

MABRO: That's a nice line, but it's meaningless. You have to continue to import for many years to come oil and later gas.

ENSOR: Analyst argue Kerry's proposals, like Bush's, simply do not go far enough to reduce dependence on foreign oil. This SUV- loving nation now imports about 60 percent of its oil needs.

The answer, say many analysts, is dramatically cutting demand with something no politician wants to talk about, a big tax on gasoline.

MABRO: I mean, it's absolutely ridiculous that the tax on gas in the U.S. on gasoline is so low.

EBEL: How are you going to sell it to the public? How are you going to get Congress to vote on a 50 cent gasoline tax?

ENSOR: But a big tax could change the equation, making hybrid cars more desirable, driving innovation and the search for new energy sources. It could reduce the hidden tax, some analysts say, paid now in blood and dollars to keep troops in Iraq and the region stabilizing the oil supply.

MICHAEL KLARE, AUTHOR, "BLOOD AND OIL": It's such a scary topic for people. We all understand, I think, in this country that the day will come when petroleum will be scarce and that we're going to need to change our habits, our driving habits and a lot else, but nobody wants to face that day of reckoning, so we put it out of mind.

ENSOR (on camera): It's scary, and the voters don't want to face it. The candidates know that.

David Ensor, CNN, Washington. (END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: In a moment, your money, why you could face more bounced checks starting today.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Starting today, there's a new federal law in effect that changes the way banks process your checks, and that could cost you.

CNN's Valerie Morris reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

VALERIE MORRIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Check Clearing For the 21st Century Act, called Check 21 for short, will allow banks to go all electronic with the way they process and clear your checks.

LISA FREEMAN, CONSUMER REPORTS MONEY ADVISER: You are no longer going to receive your paper checks back in the mail from your bank. You could request what's called a substitute check. And these checks are proof, legal proof of payment in case there's a dispute about a check that you have written.

MORRIS: Banks expect to save about $3 billion or more each year under the new system. Denny Carreker's company provides technology for check processing.

DENNY CARREKER, CEO, CARREKER: The industry really adds an opportunity to take advantage of digitization of the paper check to drive those costs down, and to improve the services they make available to the bank.

MORRIS: The speedy check clearing process could also help banks detect fraudulent checks sooner.

KAREN GARRETT, ATTORNEY, BRYAN CAVE LLP: If those processing times are reduced to the next day, or the same day ultimately, it's going to be much quicker to stop the fraud from happening before it happens.

MORRIS: But the flip side is, consumer advocates say the new law could be more bounced checks. Check 21 puts the brakes on the float period, which is the window of time from when you write a check, to when it's withdrawn from your account.

FREEMAN: People that live paycheck to paycheck are going to have trouble covering their rent and other bills that they get every month, because the checks that they write are going to immediately be withdrawn.

MORRIS (on camera): Bounced check fees typically range from $15 to $30 per check. The best defense to avoid the charge, actively manage your checking account. Overdraft protection could help, but, remember, you usually pay a fee or must maintain a certain balance for that service.

Valerie Morris, CNN Financial News, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: The results of our Web question of the day, that's coming up.

Plus, up a river, a yellow lab and a dramatic rescue on live television. We'll show you what happened.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Here is how you're weighing in on our Web question of the day. Take a look at this, though, remember, it's not a scientific poll.

They say cats have nine lives, but one Southern California dog has at least two. Bruno was swept down a roaring Southern California storm channel yesterday, as the area was inundated with rain. Swift water rescue crews swooped in by helicopter and after some maneuvering managed to get the 2-year-old yellow Lab into a harness and lift him to safety. Thousands of people watched the rescue on live TV, including Bruno's owner. Marianne Marino's (ph) other dog, Bear, was also swept through the storm channel, was rescued by a firefighter using a ladder. Good for them.

Thanks very much for joining us.

"LOU DOBBS TONIGHT" starts right now.

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


Aired October 28, 2004 - 17:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
WOLF BLITZER, HOST: Happening now, escalating fears of an election day perfect storm. Despite the lessons of 2000, the passage of new laws and the billions, yes, billions of dollars spent on election reform in the United States. There are already serious balloting disputes emerging in Florida, Ohio, and elsewhere. And we still have five days before the election. Stand by for hard news on WOLF BLITZER REPORTS.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(voice-over): Missing explosives. Did Russian troops help smuggle from Iraq to Syria? The Pentagon is puzzled.

Star power, the Boss opens for Kerry, while Bush turns to a four star and a movie star.

Arafat ailing. Doctors order an airlift abroad. After Arafat, chaos or compromise?

Forget about the float.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: People that live paycheck to paycheck are going to have trouble covering their rent and other bills.

BLITZER: What a new banking law means for your checkbook.

ANNOUNCER: This is WOLF BLITZER REPORTS for Thursday, October 28, 2004.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: With only days left in the contentious and closely watched race for the White House, there are growing signs of problems that could lead to a repeat of the 2000 election confusion, or, perhaps, even worse. We have reporters in two key battleground states where ballot battles already are brewing. Our national correspondent Susan Candiotti is in Miami, Joe Johns is in Columbus, Ohio. But let's begin with CNN's Brian Todd. He's monitoring developments from Washington -- Brian.

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, some of the problems we're hearing about now may seem like background noise as we watch the candidates make their stretch runs. But there have already been serious challenges involving ballots that could explode into the news cycle by this time next week.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(voice-over): Still a few days out, and already we're seeing dozens of legal battles and other disputes over election ballot minutia that can make your head spin. Problems abound in several states. In Florida they're again going through some big headaches. Absentee ballots not getting to some voters or not coming back in time. Concerns over electronic voting machines, not generating paper records that would need to be checked in a post-election recount. Problems again cropping up in the state's most populous counties.

DAVID CARDWELL, ELECTIONS LAWYER: The curse of the Bambino was erased last night. I think we got the curse of Broward and hopefully we'll get over it.

TODD: But Florida is not alone this time. One of your better examples of this confusion, ballot battles in the Buckeye State.

KEN BLACKWELL (R), OHIO SECRETARY OF STATE: In Ohio the ground rules are set.

TODD: The Ohio secretary of state, a Republican, has just won a legal fight over so-called provisional ballots. These are ballots enabling people to vote even if a bureaucratic mistake has prevented their name from showing up on a registry. The secretary of state wanted these ballots to be cast and counted only in a given voter's home precinct. Democrats felt that hurt low income and younger voters who they say tend to move more often. The Democratic position that voters with provisional ballots should be able to vote and have their ballots counted anywhere in their home county was rejected by a federal appeals court.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The objective there is to make it as easy to vote for all legal registered voters, but to also protect against widespread voter fraud.

TODD: After the fiasco in 2000, Congress tried to help, passing the Help America Vote Act. That law mandated provisional ballots and called for upgrades like electronic voting, but many people close to the process are now saying that law has created more problems than it solved.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(on camera): And now the U.S. Justice Department is jumping in to try to head off some of those problems. Tomorrow Justice officials will unveil a plan to send nearly 1,100 people to serve as election monitors in potential troubled spots all over the country -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Brian Todd in Washington. Thank you very much. There are other problems in Ohio, on top of the one Brian just mentioned. A massive increase in voter registration is threatening to overwhelm election officials in the Buckeye State. CNN's Joe Johns is monitoring developments from Columbus -- Joe. JOE JOHNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, 700,000 new registrations in Ohio alone. Republicans are leading an aggressive effort to try to weed out voters they don't think are legit.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(voice-over): With tens of thousands of newly registered voters challenged by Ohio Republicans before the election, the system is already showing signs of confusion. In some smaller counties hearings to verify the residency of voters began Thursday, but in six other counties, including two of the largest, which encompassed Cleveland and Columbus, challenged voters showed up for hearings, only to find they had been halted the day before by a federal judge.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Your right to vote has been challenged by a qualified elector.

JOHNS: The Ohio Republican party says it filed its challenges after sending letters to newly registered voters returned as undeliverable.

MARK WEAVER, OHIO GOP ELECTION ATTORNEY: Here in Ohio we regularly send out mailers to new registrants saying welcome to being a voter. Please vote for our candidates. This time when we sent out those new mailers, we had thousands, trayloads coming back saying, no such person lives here.

JOHNS: The Democrats argue, undeliverable mail doesn't necessarily mean a person's registration should be thrown out, that there may be innocent reasons.

MYRON MARLIN, DEMOCRATIC PARTY SPOKESMAN: It suggests that somebody who might be serving in the military, many of these cases, have -- have addresses here in Ohio that are just simply addresses of record, but not places where they receive mail. It suggests that people might not have a mailbox, but instead a post office box. It suggests that people may have been living in a dorm room and didn't have their right dorm room number down, so lots of students have been attacked. It suggests that maybe somebody moved from one part of the county to the next.

CHRISTOPHER SMITH, CHALLENGED VOTER: Then also on the letter...

JOHNS: Case in point, Christopher Smith of Vexley (ph). He changed addresses here in September and somebody misspelled his new street name in the elections computer. His registration was challenged.

SMITH: However I feel it's my right to vote. I want to vote. And you're not going to (UNINTELLIGIBLE) me up just because I moved.

JOHNS: This leaves local election officials scrambling and hoping to be prepared for Tuesday.

MATTHEW DAMSCHROEDER, FRANKLIN CO. ELECTION BOARD: Coming out of the year 2000 there's a lot of confusion anyway, and I think this just goes to further add to that confusion.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(on camera): Neither side is letting go on this right now. The judge's original ruling in this case only applied to six counties, Democrats are now asking for that ruling to apply to the entire state. The Republican attorney general in Ohio has filed an appeal. He's also asking for a stay, and now there is another case alleging that those thousands of people who are being hired essentially to camp out at the polls and challenge voters may intimidate African-Americans. That case was supposed to be in court today in Cincinnati -- Wolf.

BLITZER: All right, my head is beginning to spin already. Joe Johns in Columbus, Ohio. Thank you very much.

Meanwhile, Florida's worst fears may be realized. A repeat of the debacle of four years ago that threw the election into chaos and legal limbo. Our national correspondent Susan Candiotti is in Miami with a look at the problems threatening this election -- Susan.

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Wolf. Yes, we have new information on a sticky issue that first arose yesterday about what happened to 57,000 absentee ballots in the Fort Lauderdale area.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(on camera): Where, oh, where are the wayward absentee ballots? Broward County, Florida election officials working the phones to find out.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I believe that we're on top of this situation.

CANDIOTTI: Election workers are said to be calling all 57,000 voters who requested absentee ballots sent but apparently not received earlier this month. A message will detail what each voter should do if they did not receive a ballot. Out of state voters will be overnighted a ballot if theirs did not arrive in the mail, the Postal Service to deliver the rest. It denies its employees are responsible for the missing ballots, and calls any allegations to that effect insulting. Election officials unable to account for the missing ballots insist there is no evidence of wrongdoing, yet an investigation continues.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm not sorry that the absentee ballots were lost, and the reason I say that is because some of those ballots, which were called to our attention, have been received in our office. So I think that was probably more of a delay than the fact that the ballots were lost.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(voice-over): Now to the south in Miami today, Republicans holding a news conference to announce potentially explosive new allegations allegedly involving voter fraud. They are alleging that 925 convicted felons have already either already cast their votes in an early voting process or have asked for an absentee ballot. Now, a law enforcement official tells CNN that they have just received this list from the Republicans, and are just beginning to look into it. As you know, earlier this year, Florida election officials were red-faced when they put out a voter purge list that was riddled with errors.

BLITZER: Susan Candiotti in Miami who is going to be very busy in these coming days. Thank you very much, Susan. And to our viewers, here's your chance to weigh in on this story. Our web question of the day is this. Are you confident in the voting system in place in your precinct? You can vote right now. Go to CNN.com/wolf. We'll have the results for you later this hour.

Turning now to an issue that's dominated the campaign, at least in recent days, those 380 tons of high explosives missing from the facility in Iraq. Two newspaper articles today cited a senior Pentagon official as suggesting Russia may have helped smuggle the material from Iraq into Syria. The Pentagon was caught short by those comments. Let's go live to our senior Pentagon correspondent, Jamie McIntyre -- Jamie.

JAMIE MCINTYRE, SR. PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, caught short is one way to put it, very surprised would be another. The Pentagon insists that it has no intelligence at this point which would support the statement made by John Shaw, a deputy undersecretary of defense, who told "The Washington Times" and made similar comments to the "Financial Times" as that quote: "It was almost certain that the Russians had removed high explosive material that was missing from the al Qa Qaa facility.

Now I have talked to some very senior officials here at the Pentagon and not one of them believes that this is the case or says that there is any information to back it up. In fact, Defense Secretary Rumsfeld in a radio interview he just recorded a short time ago, said, quote: "I have no information on that and cannot validate it even slightly."

Pentagon spokesman Larry Di Rita said, again, that there's no -- he's aware of no intelligence to support the idea that Russians had gone in and taken out the explosives. He said that Mr. Shaw does not speak on behalf of the Pentagon, and that they are looking into what basis he thought he had to make those comments -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Jamie McIntyre with the latest on that front, thank you, Jamie, at the Pentagon.

Ad exposed, is someone playing doctor with a Bush campaign commercial? New calls for the controversial spot to be pulled off the airwaves.

Also ahead: Bruce Springsteen enters the battle. Will his star power give Kerry a boost? We have reports from both campaigns in key battleground states. That's coming up.

Yasser Arafat's health, does this smiling picture tell the true story of the Palestinian leader's condition? Our senior international correspondent Christiane Amanpour will join us live from Ramallah on the West Bank with late developments.

Plus this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: People that live paycheck to paycheck are going to have trouble covering their rent and other bills that they get every month.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: It's called Check 21, a new law effective today. Find out why it could cause many people to bounce more checks. This is information you need to know if you write checks. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Just five days until the election and the Democratic presidential candidate, John Kerry, is showing no sign of letting up his attacks on President Bush over those tons of missing explosives in Iraq. Kerry is in Ohio and Wisconsin today. And as CNN national correspondent Frank Buckley reports, he's fueling his campaign with some star power.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN, THE BOSS: Ladies and gentlemen, the next president of the United States, John Kerry.

FRANK BUCKLEY, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Bruce Springsteen was the warm-up act for Senator John Kerry before a huge crowd that rivalled any Springsteen concert.

KERRY: When George Bush heard that "The Boss" was playing with me and going to be with me today, he thought they meant Dick Cheney.

BUCKLEY: Kerry, in a good mood after his hometown baseball team won the World Series. Kerry hopeful a Massachusetts senator would win the world series of politics.

KERRY: About a year ago when things weren't going so well in my campaign, somebody called a radio talk show and they said -- thinking they were just cutting me right to the quick, they said, John Kerry won't be president until the Red Sox win the World Series. Well, we're on our way! We're on our way!

BUCKLEY: But off came the hat and the gloves as Kerry hit President Bush on Iraq and the missing explosives for the fourth straight day. Kerry responding to the president who said that the senator couldn't be commander in chief because he jumps to conclusions without knowing the facts.

KERRY: They're not where they're supposed to be. You were warned to guard them. You didn't guard them. They're not secure. And guess what? according to George Bush's own words, he shouldn't be our commander in chief, and I couldn't agree more. BUCKLEY: The Kerry campaign also went after Bush surrogate Rudy Giuliani after he said this to NBC's Matt Lauer.

RUDY GIULIANI (R), FMR. NYC MAYOR: No matter how you try to blame it on the president, the actual responsibility for it really would be for the troops that were there. Did they search carefully enough, didn't they search carefully enough?

BUCKLEY: The Kerry campaign saying that was an example of a, quote, "excuse presidency where the buck stops anyplace but the Oval Office." The bush campaign claimed Kerry was distorting Giuliani's comments.

(on camera): The back and forth on the missing explosives could continue right up to Election Day as Senator Kerry tries to use the issue as a metaphor for what he claims is the president's mishandling of the war in Iraq and the war on terror.

Frank Buckley, CNN, Madison, Wisconsin.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: President Bush's answering Kerry's allegation about the missing Iraqi explosives and lobbing a few attacks of his own as he campaigns in battleground states. Our White House correspondent Dana Bash is with the Bush campaign.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DANA BASH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A closing argument, a speech about leadership.

BUSH: The senator's willingness to trade principle for political convenience makes it clear that John Kerry is the wrong man for the wrong job at the wrong time.

BASH: The president's rhetoric perhaps the harshest to date, asking what the senator's, quote, "lack of conviction" would mean?

BUSH: That if you make things uncomfortable, if you stir up trouble, John Kerry will back off, and that's a very dangerous signal to send during this time.

BASH: Mr. Bush is also trying to defend against Kerry's relentless attacks he's responsible for missing explosives in Iraq. Kerry aides hope it's going to sway undecideds skeptical about the war.

BUSH: Senator Kerry will say anything to get elected.

BASH: Bush aides say the senator is jumping to conclusions on unsubstantiated information. And at a midday stop in Ohio, they called in Tommy Franks, the general who commanded the Iraq war, to defend the president.

GEN. TOMMY FRANKS, U.S. ARMY (RET.): We do not yet have all the facts about 380 tons of munitions in Iraq, and he is a president who will look at you and say, we don't yet have the facts, but we will get the facts, George W. Bush.

BASH: The president's retaliations aimed at what his campaign calls the senator's biggest weak spots. When asked if John Kerry changes issues for political reasons, 65 percent said yes, only 36 percent said the same of the president.

If leadership is your theme, you can't just talk down your opponent without talking up your own. For this president, that means evoking 9/11. Here in unusually lofty terms.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I've learned to expect the unexpected. Because history can deliver sudden horror from a soft autumn sky.

BASH: Team Bush is following the classic final day's playbook, create the aura of a winner. A new theme song, packed in Rocket's (ph) crowds, even confetti. But as much as the Bush campaign wants to appear confident, the president's razor sharp rhetoric may be an indication there is concern that Senator Kerry's attacks on his leadership may be sticking. Dana Bash, CNN, West Lake, Ohio.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Our polls of polls averaging recent major national polls remains unchanged today. It continues to show President Bush leading John Kerry 49 percent to 47 percent in polls taken between October 21 and October 26. That's well within the sampling error.

Don't forget election day is less than a week away, five days, specifically. CNN's entire election team will be right here in New York City broadcasting live from the Nasdaq Market site right in the heart of Times Square. We'll use all the latest technology of the world's largest stock market to bring you details about every candidate and every race as you've never seen it before. Election day, less than one week away. We won't stop until this election is decided.

Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's health continues to dominate the news today. Next we'll go live to Ramallah on the West Bank for an update on his condition and treatment possibilities.

Also ahead.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How are you going to sell it to the public? How are you going to get Congress to vote (UNINTELLIGIBLE)?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Rising prices at the pump. Why some experts say a hefty gasoline tax could also (UNINTELLIGIBLE) solve the nation's problem.

Plus, positive news for people still in need of the flu vaccine. Details just released a short time ago. We'll have them for you.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Welcome back. Election under scrutiny. Why international monitors are now coming to the United States to watch all of us vote. We'll have details.

First, though, a quick check of other stories now in the news.

An Iraqi militant group claims on its website that it's killed 11 members of the Iraqi national guard, beheading one and shooting the rest. The website contains images of the killings, along with a message to Iraqi soldiers and police, warning them not to support the Americans or the interim Iraqi government.

A study in the British medical journal, "The Lancet" puts the death toll in Iraq much higher than previously thought. Researchers from Johns Hopkins University, Columbia University, and an Iraqi university now estimate 100,000 people have died in the 18 months since the United States invaded the country. The number is based on household surveys done mainly by Iraqi doctors.

In its latest move to ease the flu vaccine shortage here in the United States, the government says it's taking steps to acquire 5 million doses of vaccine from foreign manufacturers. It also says 300,000 doses originally earmarked for federal workers and the U.S. military will now be redirected.

Keeping you informed. CNN, the most trusted name in news.

For many years, Yasser Arafat has seemed like an immovable force, and when doctors today urged that he be flown abroad for urgent medical care, he at first refused. But the Palestinian leader, who is said to be seriously ill, has now apparently changed his mind. Our chief international correspondent Christiane Amanpour is over at Arafat's compound in Ramallah on the West Bank. Christiane is joining us now live. Christiane, what's the latest?

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTL. CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, as you said, for the last 40 years, Yasser Arafat has occupied a key position on the world stage for whatever position that he's had, whether it be guerrilla, would-be statesmen blamed for the terrorism in Israel nonetheless symbolizing all the Palestinian hopes and dreams. And therefore, every move on his critical condition is being very, very carefully watched. And throughout this day, it's been a bit of a roller coaster.

At first we were told that he would not be moved. Then we were told for sure that he will be moved. And a helicopter is coming in the early hours of the morning from Jordan into the compound behind me. What's been going on this evening is that basically a fleet of bulldozers and fire trucks from here in Ramallah has been in and out of this compound, mostly clearing away what the Palestinians laid as sort of home defenses to try to prevent the Israelis snatching him. Now they're clearing that away to allow a Jordanian helicopter to land and take him to Amman and then a plane will take him on to Paris for treatment. His own doctors did talk to the press today, basically saying that they need more ability to actually properly test for what ails Yasser Arafat.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. ASHRAF KURDI, ARAFAT'S PERSONAL PHYSICIAN: It's not really hard to diagnose the disease of President Arafat, the problem is in the investigations. There are certain investigations for this disease, which is not possible to do them here. And this is why we advised him to go abroad for further investigation because if we know exactly what is the cause of the platelet deficiency, then the treatment can be very easily.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

AMANPOUR: So the doctors saying that he has a platelet deficiency in the blood. The platelets are what are used to coagulate the blood, and the fear is that with a low platelet count, that could cause internal bleeding. We're told that that has not happened. But that what they need to figure out why this platelet count is low. They deny categorically questions as to whether he has leukemia. They've said, no, they've done those tests and he does not have leukemia.

Palestinian officials inside released pictures of Yasser Arafat today with all the speculation about his condition, pictures showing him conscious, showing him sitting up straight, showing him smiling, and surrounded by members of his medical and security team. Although we do know from reports from inside that he has lapsed in and out of sleep and of memory. In other words sometimes he simply doesn't recognize or remember the people who he's with or various instances and then his memory slowly comes back. So, that's what's been going on. And he's going to be flown out for treatment, Wolf.

BLITZER: Christiane, tell our viewers what's happening behind you. We see a bunch of men mostly mulling around. What's going on?

AMANPOUR: Well, you know, there's been a very large contingent of press and various Palestinian fixtures and others who have been here for the last now more than 24 hours, nearly 48 hours.

But what is also happening is that there area a few Palestinians, not a huge crowd, as you might imagine for this Palestinian president, but a few Palestinians coming and milling around this compound, curious, wanting to know what's happening, wanting to know how he is. Some have told us they've come simply to give support and solidarity, many who have acknowledged essentially that, you know, that the whole situation here has been so bad for everybody over the last several years, that there's no huge amount of outpouring for Yasser Arafat.

But they say he still is our only leader. He still is, as they said, our old father, so many of them have come here to see what's going to happen.

BLITZER: Christiane Amanpour in Ramallah on the West Bank for us -- Christiane, thank you very, very much. The speculation about Arafat's medical condition is raising another often-asked question. What happens after Arafat?

Let's go live to CNN's Guy Raz. He's joining us in Jerusalem -- Guy.

GUY RAZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Indeed, Wolf, much speculation about what might happen if Palestinian President Yasser Arafat becomes unable to carry out his duties as the president of the Palestinian National Authority, also speculation over who might take over the reins of the Palestinian national cause.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RAZ (voice-over): A picture to reassure a Palestinian population on a knife's edge, the message, Yasser Arafat temporary infirm, but firmly in control. His inner circle not even wanting to discuss what might happen if Arafat becomes incapacitated.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Don't even ask this question. Everything is under control. The president is in good health.

RAZ: Qureia has been mentioned as a potential. So has Mahmoud Abbas, the former Palestinian prime minister. But Yasser Arafat has kept a tight grip on power. He's never groomed a successor, never laid out a day-after scenario, who would lead the Palestinian struggle for self-determination.

HANAN ASHRAWI, PALESTINIAN NEGOTIATOR: Fortunately, we don't have a dynasty here. We do have a legal and a political system that is based on institutional work. As the chairman of the PLO executive, of course, it's the Palestinian National Council and the executive who will elect the chairman, should anything happen to President Arafat.

RAZ: The Palestinian national charter does lay out a plan. If the president, in this case Mr. Arafat, becomes incapacitated, power is handed over to the parliamentary speaker. Elections then must be called within 60 days. But increasing chaos on in Gaza and elsewhere in the occupied territories suggests a power struggle could occur.

And if Arafat does become incapacitated, it would call into question Israeli's plan to unilaterally withdraw all of its settlement from Gaza. Israel isn't coordinating the move with the Palestinians, and some officials in Israel have hinted the plan is designed in part to bypass Arafat. A new Palestinian leader would, no doubt, force Israel to follow up on its promise to negotiate with any Palestinian leader except Arafat.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

RAZ: Now, Wolf, central to Israel's foreign policy agenda over the past four years has been its contention that Yasser Arafat is not a negotiating partner for peace. Now, the European Union and the Arab League both reject Israel's stance. The United States, the Bush administration backs it, has also essentially shunned Yasser Arafat. Now, if he does indeed become unable to fulfill his role as the Palestinian Authority president and some type of succession process does take place, gets under way, the pressure would most certainly be on Israel to then resume negotiations with Mr. Arafat's successor and resume those negotiations on bringing about a settlement to the conflict here in the Middle East -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Guy, very quickly, has the Israeli government given the Palestinians an iron-clad guarantee that, if Arafat goes to Paris, leaves the compound, they'll let him come back?

RAZ: Wolf, there hasn't been any iron-clad guarantee, but the Israelis have been somewhat vague on this issue. They have said that he will be allowed to return if it's in conjunction with his medical condition.

In other words, if he's treated in France and then he needs to return to Ramallah and it's a result of his medical treatment, then the Israelis have essentially said, yes, we will allow him to return and we will guarantee that he will be allowed to return safely to his compound in Ramallah -- Wolf.

BLITZER: CNN's Guy Raz in Jerusalem, thank you very much for that report.

Controversial political commercial on the airwaves. Find out why a new Bush TV ad is upsetting some Democrats.

Rising prices at the pump. Does either candidate really have a realistic solution to this problem that affects all of us? We'll take a closer look.

And a look at this dramatic tape, as firefighters come to the rescue of a dog trapped in rising waters. You'll want to see this. That story just ahead.

First, though, let's take another quick check of some other headlines making news around the world.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER (voice-over): A methane mine explosion in Siberia killed 13 people and injured 23 others; 67 miners escaped unharmed. The blast ripped through the mine during repair work.

Foreigners kidnapped. Armed men abducted three U.N. election workers in Afghanistan. The workers were travelling in a clearly marked vehicle U.N. vehicle in the capital, Kabul. A group calling itself the Muslim Army claims responsibility.

Cleric on trial. A militant Islamic cleric accused ahead of heading an al Qaeda-linked group behind the Bali bombings four years ago went on trial today in Indonesia. Abu Bakar Bashir also faces charges stemming from the Marriott Hotel bombings last year. In February, he was sentenced to four years in jail for trying to topple the Indonesian government. Waxy president. A new wax work of George W. Bush is on display at Madame Tussaud's in Britain. Pull a cord from his back and you hear remarks commonly referred to as Bushisms.

And that's our look around the world.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Now back to the presidential campaign. A new Bush/Cheney campaign commercial is raising some eyebrows because of the faces in the background.

CNN's Jeanne Meserve took a closer look. She's joining us now live from Washington.

Jeanne, What's going on?

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, in the Bush ad entitled "Whatever it Takes" and on the Bush/Cheney Web site, there's an image of soldiers apparently listening to President Bush, but look closely, you see the same groups of soldiers several times in the photograph. One soldier even appears to have only half a face.

The Bush campaign initially denied that there had been any manipulation, but now concedes that the image was changed from this, a White House photo taken at Fort Drum in July of 2002.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KEN MEHLMAN, BUSH-CHENEY CAMPAIGN MANAGER: In the bottom left- hand corner, the presidential podium blocked some people, and that part of the podium was removed and some pictures of some additional soldiers were put back in.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MESERVE: Mark McKinnon, media adviser to the Bush campaign, says the instructions were to crop the photo, but that an editor with the company that made the ad altered the photo instead. McKinnon says there was no attempt or need to deceive, that the crowd was impressive and real.

But the Kerry campaign pounced, saying: "If they won't tell the truth in an ad, they won't tell the truth about anything else. This doctored commercial is fundamentally dishonest and insults the intelligence of the American people." The statement goes on to say, "Unless George Bush has changed his position on human cloning, it's got to pull this fundamentally dishonest ad immediately."

Well, the Bush campaign is pulling the ad, but says it will air again after the doctored image has been removed -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Jeanne Meserve reporting for us -- thank you, Jeanne, very much.

For years, Americans have traveled abroad to monitor elections. Tuesday, the tables will be turned when international observers from around the world will monitor the U.S. presidential election right here.

Our State Department correspondent Andrea Koppel is live in Washington. She's joining us with details -- Andrea.

ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN STATE DEPARTMENT CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, dozens of international monitors have begun arriving here in Washington and started to get briefings as to how elections may differ state from state. All of them are voluntaries, all very eager to watch the U.S. presidential election process up close and personal, so eager, in fact, they're all paying their own way from countries like Russia, Kazakhstan and Turkey.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KOPPEL (voice-over): As the two candidates head into the homestretch ahead of next week's election...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You punch hole through the card onto the ballot.

KOPPEL: ... 60 parliamentarians from 19 countries in Europe and Central Asia are arriving in the U.S., all volunteers to become the fist international observers ever to monitor a U.S. presidential election.

BARBARA HAERING, CHAIR, OSCE ELECTION MISSION: I do believe this election observation mission can also enhance the confidence of American voters that their vote counts and that this country and these states are trying to improve and reform their election procedures.

KOPPEL: Among the reasons, what happened in Florida during the 2000 presidential election, where thousands of ballots were in dispute.

HAERING: What people realize is really that democracy is an ongoing process, that even a long-established democracy can have to cope with new problems.

KOPPEL: Florida will be among seven states, including Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Ohio, New Mexico, and Washington, D.C., where 10 teams of observers from the OSCE, or Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, will be stationed on Election Day.

HAERING: They will be driving from polling station to polling station, looking if people get free access to the polling stations, looking carefully if the secrecy of voting is guaranteed.

KOPPEL: Conditions many American voters may take for granted, but are in short supply in other countries, like Belarus, where earlier this month, OSCE monitors observed contested presidential elections.

In fact, many of the monitors now in the U.S. themselves come from countries which are still transitioning to democracy.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KOPPEL: The U.S. is itself a member of the OSCE. And it was the State Department that extended the invitation to the monitors to come here to fulfill their mandate of watching free and fair elections, Wolf, but that's a tall order considering that there are 143 million registered American voters and only 60 monitors -- Wolf.

BLITZER: All right, Andrea Koppel reporting from the State Department -- thanks, Andrea, very much.

Gas prices, as we all know, keep on going up and up, as the candidates keep on stumping.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERT EBEL, ENERGY EXPERT, CSIS: I wish both candidates would stop talking about seeking energy independence. It's not doable.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Can either candidate bring about real change that will ease the burden on all of our pocketbooks?

And protecting our wallet, a new law in effect that could cause all of us to bounce some checks unless we're careful. Information we need to know about.

That's coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: In heated exchanges, both George W. Bush and John F. Kerry say they have the right fix for lowering the soaring prices for oil and gas. But can either plan really work?

CNN national security correspondent David Ensor reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID ENSOR, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Gas is over $2 a gallon, oil over $50 a barrel. And the challenger wants voters to remember on whose watch.

SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Right now, oil prices are at an all-time high with no end in sight.

ENSOR: Both the senator and the president offer plans to wean the nation from foreign oil.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Our third goal is to promote oil independence for our country. ENSOR: But neither man, say oil economists, is being straight with the voters.

EBEL: I wish both candidates would stop talking about seeking energy independence. It's not doable.

ENSOR: The president wants to increase supply with a controversial call for oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska.

ROBERT MABRO, OXFORD UNIVERSITY: Even if this is encouraged, what are we going to get, one million barrel a day oil more, two million barrel a day oil more? You know, the United States today imports about 12 million barrel a day.

ENSOR: Senator Kerry stresses reducing demand, raising fuel efficiency on the highways, in factories, harnessing more of the sun and wind.

KERRY: I want America's security to be in the hands of Americans, in our own ingenuity, our own innovation, not the Saudi royal family or others around the world.

MABRO: That's a nice line, but it's meaningless. You have to continue to import for many years to come oil and later gas.

ENSOR: Analyst argue Kerry's proposals, like Bush's, simply do not go far enough to reduce dependence on foreign oil. This SUV- loving nation now imports about 60 percent of its oil needs.

The answer, say many analysts, is dramatically cutting demand with something no politician wants to talk about, a big tax on gasoline.

MABRO: I mean, it's absolutely ridiculous that the tax on gas in the U.S. on gasoline is so low.

EBEL: How are you going to sell it to the public? How are you going to get Congress to vote on a 50 cent gasoline tax?

ENSOR: But a big tax could change the equation, making hybrid cars more desirable, driving innovation and the search for new energy sources. It could reduce the hidden tax, some analysts say, paid now in blood and dollars to keep troops in Iraq and the region stabilizing the oil supply.

MICHAEL KLARE, AUTHOR, "BLOOD AND OIL": It's such a scary topic for people. We all understand, I think, in this country that the day will come when petroleum will be scarce and that we're going to need to change our habits, our driving habits and a lot else, but nobody wants to face that day of reckoning, so we put it out of mind.

ENSOR (on camera): It's scary, and the voters don't want to face it. The candidates know that.

David Ensor, CNN, Washington. (END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: In a moment, your money, why you could face more bounced checks starting today.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Starting today, there's a new federal law in effect that changes the way banks process your checks, and that could cost you.

CNN's Valerie Morris reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

VALERIE MORRIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Check Clearing For the 21st Century Act, called Check 21 for short, will allow banks to go all electronic with the way they process and clear your checks.

LISA FREEMAN, CONSUMER REPORTS MONEY ADVISER: You are no longer going to receive your paper checks back in the mail from your bank. You could request what's called a substitute check. And these checks are proof, legal proof of payment in case there's a dispute about a check that you have written.

MORRIS: Banks expect to save about $3 billion or more each year under the new system. Denny Carreker's company provides technology for check processing.

DENNY CARREKER, CEO, CARREKER: The industry really adds an opportunity to take advantage of digitization of the paper check to drive those costs down, and to improve the services they make available to the bank.

MORRIS: The speedy check clearing process could also help banks detect fraudulent checks sooner.

KAREN GARRETT, ATTORNEY, BRYAN CAVE LLP: If those processing times are reduced to the next day, or the same day ultimately, it's going to be much quicker to stop the fraud from happening before it happens.

MORRIS: But the flip side is, consumer advocates say the new law could be more bounced checks. Check 21 puts the brakes on the float period, which is the window of time from when you write a check, to when it's withdrawn from your account.

FREEMAN: People that live paycheck to paycheck are going to have trouble covering their rent and other bills that they get every month, because the checks that they write are going to immediately be withdrawn.

MORRIS (on camera): Bounced check fees typically range from $15 to $30 per check. The best defense to avoid the charge, actively manage your checking account. Overdraft protection could help, but, remember, you usually pay a fee or must maintain a certain balance for that service.

Valerie Morris, CNN Financial News, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: The results of our Web question of the day, that's coming up.

Plus, up a river, a yellow lab and a dramatic rescue on live television. We'll show you what happened.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Here is how you're weighing in on our Web question of the day. Take a look at this, though, remember, it's not a scientific poll.

They say cats have nine lives, but one Southern California dog has at least two. Bruno was swept down a roaring Southern California storm channel yesterday, as the area was inundated with rain. Swift water rescue crews swooped in by helicopter and after some maneuvering managed to get the 2-year-old yellow Lab into a harness and lift him to safety. Thousands of people watched the rescue on live TV, including Bruno's owner. Marianne Marino's (ph) other dog, Bear, was also swept through the storm channel, was rescued by a firefighter using a ladder. Good for them.

Thanks very much for joining us.

"LOU DOBBS TONIGHT" starts right now.

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