CBS Evening News (A block) - 2006-11-01

Channel: malgent

Transcript

Language: English (YouTube automatic captions)

[0:00] I'm Katie Couric. Tonight, an apology

[0:02] from Senator Kerry and some sorry news

[0:04] for the Republicans in the battle for

[0:06] Congress. No matter how you vote next

[0:09] Tuesday, will it count? Potential

[0:10] problems with those new electronic

[0:12] voting systems, CBS News investigates.

[0:15] Dealing with menopause the natural way,

[0:18] a famous actress sings the praises of

[0:20] bioidenticals, but are they safe? And

[0:23] easy writer, how far will this author go

[0:26] to sell his romance novels? A love

[0:29] doctor who makes house calls.

[0:32] >> [music]

[0:35] >> This is the CBS Evening News with Katie

[0:39] Couric.

[0:40] >> [music]

[0:42] >> Hi everyone. Democratic Senator John

[0:44] Kerry did today what he said he wouldn't

[0:46] do yesterday. He apologized for a joke

[0:49] he insists was aimed at President Bush,

[0:51] not at American soldiers and the

[0:53] president's education, not theirs. In a

[0:56] written statement, Kerry said, "I

[0:58] personally apologize to you, any service

[1:00] member, family member, or American who

[1:03] was offended." Jim Axelrod is at the

[1:05] White House tonight with more. Jim?

[1:08] >> Well, good evening, Katie. CBS News has

[1:10] learned it was senior Democrats who

[1:12] pressured Senator Kennedy to Senator

[1:14] Kerry to drop the combative tone and

[1:17] apologize. They were very worried about

[1:19] the effect all of this was having on

[1:21] Democratic campaigns headed down the

[1:23] stretch. But Senator Kerry's trip to the

[1:25] woodshed actually started much earlier

[1:27] than that this morning on a radio

[1:29] program where he's used to being greeted

[1:31] warmly.

[1:32] >> Senator John Kerry, good morning,

[1:33] Senator Kerry.

[1:34] >> Good morning, Don Imus. How are you?

[1:35] >> Please, stop it.

[1:37] Stop talking. Go home. Get on the bike,

[1:41] go windsurfing, anything. Stop it.

[1:43] >> On morning radio, Kerry was still

[1:45] insisting he was joking about the

[1:47] president Monday night, not slamming the

[1:49] intelligence of US troops.

[1:51] >> You look, this is a great volunteer

[1:53] army.

[1:54] And the word volunteer army means you

[1:57] have to be smart to get in it.

[1:59] They know that. Everybody knows. You

[2:01] can't get in the military today if

[2:03] you're not capable not smart.

[2:05] >> Mr. Bush answered by radio on Rush

[2:07] Limbaugh. He didn't even mention Kerry

[2:09] by name.

[2:10] >> Anybody who is

[2:13] who's in a position to serve this

[2:14] country ought to understand the

[2:16] consequences of words and our troops

[2:18] deserve the full support. They

[2:21] of people in government.

[2:22] >> But with the Republican National

[2:24] Committee quickly jumping on the

[2:25] controversy [music]

[2:26] with an internet video.

[2:28] >> What Senator Kerry said was

[2:29] inappropriate.

[2:30] >> Democrats were hitting Kerry almost as

[2:32] hard. Take Jim Webb, the Democratic

[2:34] Senate candidate in Virginia.

[2:36] >> John Kerry may have been trying to tell

[2:37] a joke. If so, I know I think he needed

[2:39] to work on his punchline a little bit.

[2:40] >> Or Harold Ford in a tight Senate race in

[2:43] Tennessee. He was quick to call on Kerry

[2:45] to apologize, but his Republican

[2:47] opponent was just as quick to tie Ford

[2:50] and Kerry together.

[2:51] >> And again, they're two peas in a pod. If

[2:53] you if you like John Kerry, you're going

[2:55] to love Harold Ford.

[2:57] >> And that may explain why Senator Kerry

[2:59] canceled campaign events in three states

[3:01] today and tomorrow. Or as a Republican

[3:03] campaign official told CBS News, quoting

[3:06] here, "John Kerry has given us what

[3:08] Democrats have had for months, an evil

[3:11] boogeyman. We spent $200 million last

[3:14] time getting people to hate John Kerry.

[3:16] Now we just have to tap right back into

[3:18] that."

[3:19] Katie.

[3:20] >> Jim Axelrod tonight at the White House.

[3:22] Our chief Washington correspondent Bob

[3:23] Schieffer is in New York with me

[3:26] tonight. Bob, has John Kerry been put

[3:27] somewhere with a sock in his mouth by

[3:29] the DNC between or

[3:31] until election day?

[3:32] >> Well, I I heard they sent out a call for

[3:34] duct tape. I don't know what they want

[3:36] for it.

[3:36] >> But how damaging is this?

[3:38] >> Well, it's hard to say. It is certainly

[3:40] changed the conversation. How long this

[3:42] last, we'll find out. But for now, it

[3:45] has got people talking about something

[3:47] besides the war in Iraq.

[3:48] >> And Bob, standby for just a moment

[3:50] because there's a new CBS News New York

[3:52] Times poll out tonight and it's more bad

[3:54] news for the Republicans. 52% of likely

[3:58] voters told us they plan to vote for the

[4:00] Democratic candidate for the House, 34%

[4:02] the Republican. That 18% gap is the

[4:06] biggest since we started asking the

[4:08] question back in 1980. Keep in mind

[4:11] though, this is not a district by

[4:12] district poll, but a snapshot of the

[4:14] popularity of the parties nationwide.

[4:17] But Bob, these are tough numbers for the

[4:19] GOP, aren't they?

[4:20] >> Oh, they really are. And as you look

[4:22] into the poll, it gets worse for

[4:24] Republicans than even the numbers that

[4:26] you just read indicate. When we asked

[4:28] voters why they were planning to vote

[4:31] they are, more than four out of 10 said

[4:34] it was not to put Democrats or

[4:36] Republicans in power, but for something

[4:38] else. And 40% said it was to vote

[4:42] against President Bush. That is just

[4:43] extraordinary. But even worse for the

[4:46] Republicans is the next number. Close

[4:48] races are usually decided by which way

[4:51] the independent vote goes. Well, look at

[4:53] this. Only 23% of the independent voters

[4:57] say they're voting Republican. Half of

[4:59] them, 50% say they are voting

[5:01] Democratic. All that at a time when

[5:04] nearly 60% of the people think the

[5:06] economy is in good shape. Katie, people

[5:09] just usually don't get mad at the

[5:11] president when the economy is good.

[5:13] >> But they are mad about Iraq, and that

[5:15] seems to be the number one issue people

[5:17] care about when they responded in our

[5:19] poll, and they're really really holding

[5:22] the president personally accountable.

[5:24] >> They They are mad about Iraq, and they

[5:26] are blaming the president for it. Look

[5:28] at this just one number. Nearly 70% of

[5:31] the people we questioned believed after

[5:33] all this time the president still has no

[5:36] plan for Iraq. That shows that the

[5:38] feelings are running very high.

[5:40] >> All right, Bob Schieffer, thanks so

[5:42] much, and I look forward to working with

[5:43] you on election night, by the way.

[5:45] >> And something else we learned from our

[5:47] poll, 1/3 of voters are worried their

[5:49] vote next week won't be counted in spite

[5:52] of significant upgrades to the

[5:54] equipment. Four out of five voters will

[5:57] be using some kind of electronic

[5:58] machines. In 33 states, many voters will

[6:01] use touch screens to cast their ballots,

[6:04] but how reliable is the new technology?

[6:07] Here's our Here's our chief

[6:08] investigative correspondent, Armen

[6:10] Keteyian.

[6:12] >> I'm just sliding the card in.

[6:14] And it comes up create and you just hit

[6:16] the button yes.

[6:17] >> Like hundreds of counties, Lehigh in

[6:19] Pennsylvania is retraining its poll

[6:21] workers to run electronic touch screen

[6:23] voting machines.

[6:25] >> Every office is set at zero for the

[6:28] start of the day.

[6:30] >> Sal Cordaro is a veteran election judge

[6:32] suffering a bit of election anxiety.

[6:34] Nervous because Pennsylvania, like 14

[6:37] other states, does not offer voters a

[6:39] way to see their votes on paper before

[6:42] machines count them.

[6:43] >> What concerns me is after the person

[6:45] voted, I have no way of verifying what

[6:50] that voter did.

[6:51] >> With 1.4 million poll workers now

[6:53] averaging 70 years of age, man, not

[6:56] machine, could hold the key November

[6:59] 7th.

[6:59] >> The concern with new technology is not

[7:01] so much whether the machines work, but

[7:03] whether the people operating them can

[7:05] make them work.

[7:06] >> Concerns in some 180,000 precincts over

[7:09] security and technical support and the

[7:11] paper printout critical in any recount.

[7:14] >> And this comes out. The voter access

[7:16] card is ejected and it's also voided, so

[7:19] you cannot vote again.

[7:20] >> Diebold is the largest supplier of

[7:22] electronic voting machines.

[7:24] >> The absolute control over the election

[7:27] process that a company like Diebold

[7:29] potentially could have from tabulation

[7:32] to the software that's inside to the

[7:34] certification, it's concerning to

[7:37] people.

[7:37] >> It shouldn't be.

[7:39] I'll be blunt. Diebold does not control

[7:40] the elections. We provide the election

[7:42] equipment.

[7:43] >> You said that that these machines are

[7:45] more secure and accurate than the paper

[7:47] machines.

[7:47] >> Correct.

[7:48] >> How? Why?

[7:49] >> You can't lose that information because

[7:52] redundantly stored within the unit and

[7:53] it's encrypted.

[7:54] >> Even if your vote is saved in multiple

[7:56] places, some question the reliability of

[7:58] the machines because vendors choose and

[8:01] pay the labs that test them. Critics say

[8:03] that's like a trial lawyer being able to

[8:06] pick a judge.

[8:07] >> Many voting systems that have been

[8:08] analyzed have met these standards, have

[8:10] been certified, and are totally

[8:12] insecure.

[8:13] >> And election officials admit system

[8:15] errors, computer or human, often go

[8:17] unreported by worried poll workers.

[8:20] >> They don't want their mistakes to be out

[8:22] there in the public forum.

[8:24] >> So next Tuesday may be a referendum not

[8:26] only on who we vote for, but how. Armen

[8:30] Keteyian, CBS News, North Canton, Ohio.

[8:34] >> And now to Iraq edging ever closer to

[8:37] chaos. That assessment is from US

[8:39] Central Command in a classified briefing

[8:41] obtained by the New York Times. It

[8:43] includes a color-coded bar graph with

[8:45] peace at one end, chaos at the other,

[8:48] and an arrow indicating Iraq is very

[8:50] close to chaos. The chart was prepared

[8:53] two weeks ago and CBS News has learned

[8:56] that the current assessment is much the

[8:58] same. Iraq still dangerously close to

[9:01] chaos. Meanwhile, new concerns about

[9:03] Lebanon tonight. The White House accuses

[9:05] Syria, Iran, and Hezbollah of hatching a

[9:08] plan to overthrow the Lebanese

[9:10] government and has told them, "Hands

[9:12] off." Syria denies any such plot. Here

[9:15] at home, flames roared through a hotel

[9:17] in Reno, Nevada overnight. Six people

[9:20] were killed. Dozens of others had to

[9:21] jump to safety. A resident of the hotel

[9:24] is accused of setting the fire and she's

[9:27] been charged with murder.

[9:29] Much more CBS News straight ahead. And

[9:32] coming up next, selling a house in a

[9:34] buyer's market. It takes [music] a

[9:36] little creativity.

[9:38] And later, an alternative treatment for

[9:41] menopause. More women are using it.

[9:43] What's it all about? [music]