Live Blog from the Anchor Desk 10/3/08
For what’s in the program take a look at tonight’s Evening Buzz.
Don’t forget to watch Erica Hill’s webcast during the commercials. LINK TO WEBCAST
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We’ll start posting comments at 10p ET and stop at 11p ET.
ON THE RADAR: Monday
Lisa Ort
AC360° Producer
The Supreme Court term begins…and other stories on our radar:
MESSENGER FLY BY: The Messenger spacecraft is scheduled to fly by Mercury. It will be just 125 miles above the surface and will take 1,278 pictures and array of other data from the planet.
SUPREME COURT TERM BEGINS: The 2008-2009 term of the Supreme Court is scheduled to begin. They will hear oral arguments in a case concerning Altria Group and fraudulent misrepresentations, a case concerning unions and service fees for collective bargaining, and a case concerning credit card fees and arbitration.
PRECIOUS DOE MURDER TRIAL: The trial is expected to begin for Harrell Johnson. Johnson is charged with the murder of his step-daughter Erica Green. Her body was found in 2001 and remained unidentified for four years, leading police to name her Precious Doe.
CHILD HEALTH DAY: Annual day to promote the health of children, by Presidential proclamation since 1928.
O.J. deliberations resume
[cnn-photo-caption image=http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2008/images/10/03/oj.deliberations.jpg caption="A courtroom video monitor during closing arguments in the O.J. Simpson trial on Thursday in Las Vegas."]
5:36p PT
Ted Rowlands
CNN Correspondent
After 8 hours of deliberation and working through lunch the OJ Simpson jury has told the judge they want to continue. According to Clark County Courts Administration Spokesman Michael Sommermeyer jurors can continue working into the night if they wish. "We're bringing in dinner" Sommemeyer told a group of reporters outside the courtroom.
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4:04p PT
Paul Vercammen
CNN Senior Producer
The jury in the O.J. Simpson armed robbery and kidnapping trial is back deliberating, after asking a question of Judge Jackie Glass.
"The jury did want to ask the judge a question. a procedural question," said court spokesman Michael Sommermeyer.
"The judge told the jurors to refer back to their jury instructions."
Evening buzz: Sizing up the bailout; scoring the V.P. debate
[cnn-photo-caption image=http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2008/images/10/03/bailoutbailout.copy.jpg caption="President Bush signs the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008"]
Cate Vojdik
AC360° Writer
House lawmakers held their noses and swallowed a bitter pill today, approving a revised bailout bill, 263-171. Less than two hours later, President Bush signed the measure into law. The plan allows the Treasury Secretary to buy as much as $700 billion in troubled assets. It’s designed to kick-start lending by unfreezing credit markets – but will it work? We’ll spend a lot of time talking about that tonight. We’ll also look at how the bill’s supporters sweetened the deal to get the votes they needed. Just four days ago, the House rejected the original bill. Did lawmakers put lipstick on a pig? John McCain and Barack Obama gave their spin on the trail today. We’ll hear what they had to say.
Tonight’s other big story is the vice presidential debate, which turned out to be a blockbuster. An estimated 70 million people watched – the biggest audience ever for a V.P. debate. Did it change the race? Which candidate came out ahead? And who strayed from the truth the most? The best political team on television weighs in.
We’re curious about your take on last night’s debate and the bailout. Let us know what you think. See you at 10 p.m. eastern.
Sarah Palin's Dallas fundraiser
[cnn-photo-caption image=http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2008/images/10/03/palin.fundraiser.jpg caption="Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin before boarding her campaign plane in Dallas. " width=292 height=320]
Kate Zernike
The New York Times
Palin called the debate "fun," but expressed some frustration with only being able to give 90 second answers, kept up her blaming of "the mainstream media," called Obama and Biden too liberal and "out of the mainstream." And talked, again, of shakin' up Washington DC. She also told her own story about the events here in Texas leading up to the birth of Trig five months ago.
Guests had paid $1,000 a plate, or up to $57,000 for bundlers, to attend the fundraiser. About 1,000 people - many tables seemed to be predominantly women - ate chicken salads and pecan pie and sipped at iced tea in a hotel ballroom at the Fairmont Hotel in Dallas. While Palin snapped pictures with donors backstage, her parents, Sally and Chuck Heath, and her three youngest children mingled with guests in the hallway outside the ballroom. Sally cuddled baby Trig as donors looked on cooing.
Beat 360° 10/3/08
Ready for today's Beat 360°?
Everyday we post a picture – and you provide the caption and our staff will join in too.
Tune in every night at 10p ET to see if you are our favorite!
Here is 'Beat 360°’ pic of the day:
Democratic vice presidential candidate Sen. Joe Biden and Republican vice presidential candidate Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin shake hands at the conclusion of the vice presidential debate at Washington University in St. Louis, Thursday.
Have fun with it. We're looking forward to your captions!
Make sure to include your name, city, state (or country) so we can post your comment.
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When you win ‘Beat 360°’ not only do you get on-air prime-time name recognition (complete with bragging rights over all your friends, family, and jealous competitors), but you get a “I Won the Beat 360° Challenge” T-shirt!
Good luck to all!
In the debate, what mattered
Program Note:
Sarah Palin and Joe Biden face off on the issues.
Join John King for the best analysis of the Vice Presidential debate!
Biden-Palin Debate
Saturday and Sunday, 9p ET
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John King | BIO
Chief National Correspondent
It was a rude intrusion on the morning-after analysis of the one and only debate between the vice presidential candidates: a new government report showing the US economy lost 159,000 jobs in September – the ninth month in a row of job losses.
Tough economic news just as the House opened debate, for a second time, on a $700 billion rescue plan aimed at stabilizing the financial and credit markets. This time, the House approved the plan, and by Friday afternoon President Bush had signed it into law.
Proof that in the big picture, the face-off between the running mates has a limited shelf life as the dominant political story. But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t matter.
It was a big event for two very different audiences, maybe three.
First: Republicans.
What the Palin-Biden debate really told us
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Carl Bernstein
AC360° Contributor
Who won the Palin-Biden debate? Barack Obama, I suspect.
Who was the big loser? In an historic fortnight that had already underscored his erratic nature, John McCain.
The fact that Palin was able to string her sentences together last night – which she couldn’t manage to do in her unscripted interviews with Katie Couric - shows only how low McCain has strapped his presidential quest.
Sarah Palin’s task was an impossible one: to demonstrate that she is ready to be president of the United States. McCain put her in that impossible position; and her performance — all prep and no depth — demonstrated the bind he has put himself in.
Yes, he “energized the base” with his Hail Mary pick of Palin as a running mate. But he also demonstrated cynical disregard for the requirement of stable governance were he to be elected president, and then - through his incapacitation or death - Palin be called upon to exercise the powers of the presidency.
Just how scary a notion that is went on full display last night: She appeared to lack any semblance of the requisite depth, knowledge, or sense of history we should expect in a president or vice president; then she sought to excuse it by saying, “I’ve only been at this for five weeks.”
The Vice-Presidential-Debate Report Cards
[cnn-photo-caption image=http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2008/images/10/03/viceprez.scorecard.jpg caption="Gov. Sarah Palin and Sen. Joe Biden greet each other before the start of their vice presidential debate Thursday. "]
Mark Halperin
Editor-at-large & Senior analyst, TIME Magazine
The Page, TIME.com
Sarah Palin
Substance:
In a debate of mostly general questions, she chose never to be any more specific than necessary. Had some planned policy points she was keen to make, but such moments were few and fleeting. Benefited from the format, which invited simplicity and avoided confrontation.
Grade: B-
Style:
Chose to look directly at the camera most of the time rather than at Joe Biden, moderator Gwen Ifill or the live audience. Her days of intense rehearsal were apparent, but she was much smoother than in recent media interviews when unspooling canned lines and opinions. Was crisp and calm and kept her folksiness to a few short bursts but effectively unleashed her earthy, relatable charm at choice moments in a winning way.
Grade: B+
Offense:
Kept up a drumbeat of criticism against Barack Obama and, to a lesser extent, Biden — but produced no sound-bite moment and was unable to rattle her opponent. Most dramatically, she charged that the Democratic ticket wants to wave a "white flag of surrender" in Iraq. Firmly hit her campaign's main themes (Obama equals higher taxes and Washington business as usual). Ably brandished the opposition research on Obama's record and promises.
Grade: B
Why Some Women Hate Sarah Palin
[cnn-photo-caption image=http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2008/images/10/03/sarah.palin.hate.jpg]
Belinda Luscombe
Senior Editor, TIME Magazine
Some polls are suggesting that after gaining an initial bump, McCain's campaign is being hobbled by Sarah Palin's vice-presidential candidacy. The voters who are deserting her fastest, some of whom are even calling on her to withdraw, are mostly women.
Ah, women, the consistently, tragically underestimated constituency. What the Democrats learned during the primaries and the Republicans might now be finding out the hard way, I learned at my very academic, well-regarded all-girls high school: that is never to discount the ability of women to open a robust, committed, well-thought-out vat of hatred for another girl.
Women are weapons-grade haters. Hillary Clinton knows it. Palin knows it too. When women get their hate on, they don't just dislike, or find disfavor with, or sort of not really appreciate. They loathe — deeply, richly, sustainingly. I do not say this to disparage my gender; women also love in more or less the same way.
When men disagree, the steps to resolution are reasonably clear and unsophisticated. Acts of physical violence are visited upon one another's person or property, and the whole thing blows over. Women? Nu-unh. We savor the discord. We draw it out. We share our contempt with our friends, like a useful stock tip, or really good salsa. And then we all go hate together: a mutually encouraging group activity for when the book group gets quiet.
The hatred women have for Sarah Palin, and others had for Hillary before her, is not necessarily about politics. Anybody can run the numbers on how many people Palin's pro-life, pro-gun, socially conservative policies will seduce and how many they will alienate. Rather, the test that the McCain campaign failed to put her through was the Abbotsleigh Ladies College test. (Named after my high school. Go, green and gold!). It's a simple three-point pass-fail exam: Will the other girls like her?
Here's why Palin doesn't make the grade:
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