[Fredericka Whitfield, Cnn Anchor:] An anti smoking campaign in Utah originally endorsed by all groups hits a snag. Is it too gay, too violent? Answers coming up. And do you get paid overtime? Starting Monday you might not. And that's just one issue John Edwards hit on the campaign trail today. Hello and welcome to CNN LIVE SATURDAY. I'm Fredericka Whitfield. In 30 minutes, "DOLLAR SIGNS." Today, the other costs of college. You know about tuition and books, but what about those transportation costs, food, or the cost of being Greek? Call us at 1- 800-807-2620 or e-mail your questions to dollarsigns@cnn.com. "DOLLAR SIGNS" starts in half an hour. But first, here are the headlines. A gymnastics controversy at the Olympics. American Paul Hamm keeps his gold medal in the mens all around final, but South Korea is challenging that decision. Three judges were suspended for a scoring mistake by the International Gymnastic Federation. Several grenade explosions rock Bangladesh. It happened during an opposition party rally. Police say the former prime minister was the target. She escaped serious injury. Others were not so lucky. 18 people were killed and hundreds more injured. And nine days later, Florida continues cleaning up after Hurricane Charley. The official death toll was now up to 25. And emergency officials say more than 241,000 residents are still without power. We'll have more on Charley in about 15 minutes. Keeping you informed, CNN, the most trusted name in news. New overtime rules go into effect across the nation on Monday. And depending on your politics, it's either a great move for the economy or a terrible change for workers. The Democrats and some public policy groups say millions of American workers will lose the right to overtime pay under the new system. Vice presidential candidate John Edwards offered the Democrat's position at a rally in Norfolk, Virginia. He said the new rules are nothing but a pay cut for those who can't afford it.
[Sen. John Edwards , Vice Presidential Candidate:] That's exactly what this is, is cutting they're changing the overtime rules to eliminate people's overtime is a pay cut. We ought to raise the minimum wage in America. And we ought to get rid of these new overtime rules.
[Whitfield:] The new labor rules had been sought by business groups for decades. They say the changes will make life better for working Americans. But as CNN'S Denise Belgrave reports, some of those potentially affected are not so sure.
[Denise Belgrave, Cnn Correspondent:] Americans work on average 49 hours a week. Many of them relying on overtime pay to help bridge the gap. Michelle Spheres-Sevy is someone of them, but she believes she's on the losing end of the government's new labor deal.
[Michelle Spears-sevy, Registered Nurse:] Most of us don't mind working some overtime from time to time. A little extra Christmas money or downpayment on braces. But to do it without the overtime pay would, in my opinion, be unreasonable.
[Belgrave:] Spheres-Sevy is a registered nurse. And she's concerned that her position could fall into the category of professional. That would mean she's ineligible to get paid for those extra hours. And she believes her industry will be among the hardest hit. And she's not alone.
[Richard Trumka, Afl-cio:] The changes that they're about to make will hurt people. 6 million people roughly will lose overtime. Nurses are among those.
[Belgrave:] But the Department of Labor says that 1.3 million workers will now gain overtime rights and that the rules don't necessarily mean nurses will lose the extra cash.
[Unidentified Female:] You know, we've got a big nursing shortage in this country. And so, I would think that even if it were the case that some nurses moved into a salaried position, their employers are very likely to pay them overtime.
[Belgrave:] Georgia Nurse's Association president Linda Easterly doesn't buy it.
[Linda Easterly, Georgia Nurses Assn:] Unfortunately in the time crunches we are with healthcare costs increasing every day and facilities having to look at cutting costs in any way, shape, form they can to make ends meet, one of the areas they always are looking at are employee costs, what it costs them to have those nurses or any other healthcare worker in the facility providing patient care. And long-term, these are there are enough loopholes in this law that will allow the facilities to be more creative than they've ever been before, particularly when you're looking at the overtime.
[Belgrave:] Spheres-Sevy says she's not clear on the finer points of the new rules. And figuring out who falls into which category is enough to make her reach for the aspirin. [on camera]: This ream of paper is 500 sheets. And the new Fair Labor and Standards Act is approximately 500 pages long. So it's not surprising that employers and employees alike are uncertain about what this all means for the future. Denise Belgrave, CNN, Americus, Georgia.
[Whitfield:] Much of the Bush and Kerry campaign messages were overshadowed this week by the controversy over a pair of Republican attack ads. The ads call into question John Kerry's Vietnam service. And independent fact checking group's analysis points of serious inaccuracies in the ads, while the Kerry campaign says they are deliberately misleading. Even as the Kerry campaign was calling on President Bush to disavow the first ad, the political group that issued the first one put out another.
[Sen. John Kerry, Presidential Candidate:] They have personally raped, cut off ears, cut off heads...
[Unidentified Male:] The accusations that John Kerry made against the veterans who served in Vietnam was just devastating.
[Kerry:] Randomly shot at civilians.
[Unidentified Male:] And it hurt me more than any physical wounds I had.
[Kerry:] Cut off limbs, blown up bodies.
[Unidentified Male:] That was part of the torture was to sign a statement that you committed war crimes.
[Whitfield:] In response, the Kerry campaign has now released its own ad.
[Kerry:] I'm John Kerry and I approve this message.
[Unidentified Male:] The people attacking John Kerry's war record are funded by Bush's big money supporters. Listen to someone who was there, the man whose life John Kerry saved. They blew me off the boat. All these Vietcong were shooting at me. I expected I'd be shot when he pulled me out of the river. He risked his life to save mine.
[Whitfield:] Late Friday, the Kerry campaign filed a legal complaint over the ads with the Federal Election Commission. They say that the Bush campaign is involved in an illegally coordinated effort with the Swift Boat group. So where does President Bush stand in all of this controversy? Republican Senator John Mccain has called the first ad "dishonest and dishonorable." But the president and his campaign have been mostly silent so far. CNN's Jill Dougherty is traveling with the president. She joins us live from Crawford, Texas Jill.
[Jill Dougherty, Cnn Correspondent:] Well Fredericka, first, I have to tell you, that this controversy just within the past hour, there have been three developments a statement by John Edwards, an Internet ad, and a statement by the Bush campaign. So the story is not going away. And of course, the controversy in those ads is the allegation that John Kerry, back in Vietnam, lied in order to get his medals. And now, some support coming out for John Kerry from a Navy Swift Boat commander who served with Kerry and was there during that mission back in 1969. And his name is William Rood. He's an editor with "The Chicago Tribune." And he's broken 35 years of silence and saying in an article, "the critics have taken pains to say they're not trying to cast doubts on the merits of what others did, but their version of events has splashed out on all of us. It's gotten harder and harder for those of us who were there to listen to accounts we know to be untrue, especially when they come from people who were not there." Again, that's William Rood, who is with "The Chicago Tribune" and served back in Vietnam at the same time with Kerry. Now meanwhile, the Democratic Vice Presidential candidate John Edwards issued a statement today. He's trying to turn the tables on President Bush and saying it's a moment of truth for the president that he should renounce those ads and as he put it, "step up to the plate, don't talk through a spokesman, and take down those ads." Kind of reminds you of President Reagan, doesn't it? Then the Bush campaign fired back. They weren't taking the bait. They said what we're seeing from the Kerry campaign is false and flailing attacks. And then they said again the president has been the object himself of $63 million in attack ads and that the president wants all of the ads stopped Fredericka?
[Dougherty:] All right, Jill Dougherty in Crawford, Texas. Thanks so much. Paycheck politics are certainly on then minds of the two men running for president as well. The state of the economy can make or break a campaign. Kathleen Hays takes a look at how things are shaping up this year. And paycheck politics are certainly on the minds of the two men running for president as well. The state of the economy can make or break a campaign. CNN Financial News Kathleen Hays takes a look at how things are shaping up this year.
[Kathleen Hays, Cnn Correspondent:] Living paycheck to paycheck or living high on the hog? A national divide so crucial to the outcome of this year's presidential election.
[Unidentified Male:] If I was making more money, it would be much better for me. I'm squeezed. The pay just isn't enough with everything else going up also.
[Hays:] Wages are barely keeping up with inflation, growing on average at a mere 2.5 percent rate in the first two quarters of this year. That's the worst showing since the early '80s, a performance some say could help John Kerry win the White House.
[Peter Orszag, Sr. Fellow Brookings Inst:] The fact that wages and salaries are so sluggish, and again, the smallest share of the economy since 1929 is reflected in the fact that people do not think that President Bush is doing a good job stewarding the economy.
[Hays:] But wages are just part of family income. People also make money on stock market investments or if they sell their house for a tidy profit. [on camera]: And when taxes are cut, that also puts more money in people's pockets, good jobs, good investments and the benefits of recent tax cuts. These folks may be more likely to vote for President Bush.
[William Beach, The Heritage Foundation:] The really good news for George Bush is this election cycle is that disposable personal income is growing in excess of 2.5 percent. And no president running for re- election has ever failed to win re-election when disposable income was growing at or above 2.5 percent.
[Hays:] And then there are some people who may not be swayed for either candidate by fatter incomes or skinnier paychecks.
[Unidentified Female:] I don't think the president has a whole lot to do with the economics anyway.
[Hays:] Kathleen Hays, CNN Financial News, New York.
[Whitfield:] Well, the conflict in Iraqi is one of the reasons oil prices are continuing to rise. Friday, the benchmark futures price of crude oil broke through the $49 a barrel mark for the first time ever before closing at just under $48. Joining me now from Washington is CNNfn's Ali Velshi. And Ali, everybody wants to know how much this is going to cost them once they start heating their homes this winter.
[Ali Velshi, Cnnfn Correspondent:] And that's the point. Right now, we think of transportation. We think of cars as the big driver, because nobody drives cars as much as Americans do. And that's what happens. This is hitting people in their pocketbooks when they go and fill up a gallon of gas a tank of gas. But according to AAA, the average car has a 15 gallon tank. And really, compared to one year ago today, it's a 12 percent increase in the price of gas. That's about $3 per fill, not the kind of thing that necessarily makes you change your way of spending. Now think about your home heating oil. By winter, if we are still seeing this kind of oil, the increase in heating your home could be $300 or $350 more for the average home. That is going to hit people where it counts. And here's what one expert had to say about that.
[Peter Beutel, Oil Analyst:] Well, they're already paying more for gasoline. As heating oil customers start to get their bills for this coming winter, they're going to find they'll be paying anything from $350 to potentially as much as $600 more for the heating season.
[Velshi:] And that, Fredericka is going to make some decisions about how to spend your money. If enough Americans cut back, they stop spending, the companies that sell them goods stop spending. Maybe they start laying people off. And then there's more people out there who are not spending. And that's what triggers all of this talk about an oil recession. Here's a fact, Fredericka. In the last 50 years, every time oil has had a severe spike, it's been followed by a recession. So economists are actually kind of worried about this.
[Whitfield:] And if the crude oil price per barrel seems to be fluctuating and nearing that $50 mark, how soon then, over the next few weeks or months might we start seeing it translating, you know, in the pumps at the gas stations?
[Velshi:] Yes, well usually, there's a little bit of lag. The issue here is that of all the dangers we talked about, the output from Iraq, the fact that China uses more oil, and that there's doubtful things going on in Russia with their oil producers, there's an element of the price of oil that is speculative. It's just traders who are making money on this, thinking that there'll be more uncertainty. So it's hard to tell. There are a bunch of things coming together to cause oil to be this expensive. We're going to have to watch this over the next month or so and see whether it pulls back a little bit. If it's still there by wintertime and it's a cold winter, Fredericka, it's really going to be tough on Americans.
[Whitfield:] All right, Ali Velshi, thanks very much from Washington. Post Charley, eight days later, we'll have a live report from Punta Gorda, as Florida tries to move beyond the devastation. And from books to food, it all adds up. Coming up in about 15 minutes, "DOLLAR SIGNS," planning and paying for all those little college extras. Just e-mail your questions to dollarsigns@cnn.com. Or call us at 1-800-807-2620. We'll be right back.