[Sen. John Kerry , Presidential Candidate:] I can make America safer than President Bush has made us.
[George W. Bush, President Of The United States:] I believe I'm going to win because the American people know I know how to lead.
[Carol Costello, Cnn Anchor:] Face to face, Bush and Kerry square off as the nation watches. It is Friday, October 1. This is DAYBREAK. And good morning to you. From the CNN Global Headquarters in Atlanta, I'm Carol Costello. Now in the news...
[Jane Arraf, Cnn Correspondent:] Just a little example of what's going on here.
[Costello:] Oh, and you can hear it in the background, gunmen in the alleys, on the rooftops, a major offensive going on right now in the streets of Samarra near a famous mosque. Jane Arraf is there embedded with the 1st Infantry Division. She says dozens of insurgents have been killed. And we'll hear more from Jane in 10 minutes. It's back on the road for the presidential candidates after last night's debate. President Bush heads to the critical state of Pennsylvania for a rally this morning in Allentown, and then later it's on to New Hampshire. Senator John Kerry is staying in the Sunshine State. He's got an afternoon rally in Tampa and one later tonight in Kissimmee. Britain's Tony Blair is undergoing a non-surgical heart procedure this morning. The prime minister has a recurring heart murmur. Before going to the hospital, Mr. Blair announced that he'll seek a third term as prime minister, but will not seek a fourth. To the forecast center. Chad has the day off. Rob Marciano is here good morning.
[Rob Marciano, Cnn Meteorologist:] Hi. Is a murmur serious, because I think I have a murmur somewhere?
[Costello:] I have one.
[Marciano:] OK, so...
[Costello:] Usually it's not serious, but we're going to have Christy Feig in later to explain.
[Marciano:] But it's more serious if you're a world leader, I suppose. They take it more seriously.
[Costello:] Well, everything is more serious when you're a world leader.
[Marciano:] I've got you.
[Costello:] Debate number one now history. Both candidates were given plenty of chances to plead their case before the voters, but will either one get a bump from their performance? We get more on the style and the substance from CNN's Dan Lothian.
[Dan Lothian, Cnn Correspondent:] In their first face-off in Florida, Senator John Kerry accused the president of diverting his attention from the real war on terror by going into Iraq.
[Kerry:] The president just talked about Iraq as a center of the war on terror. Iraq was not even close to the center of the war on terror before the president invaded it. This president has made, I regret to say, a colossal error of judgment.
[Lothian:] President Bush responded by portraying Kerry as a candidate trying to have it both ways.
[Bush:] First of all, what my opponent wants you to forget is that he voted to authorize the use of force and now says it's the wrong war at the wrong time at the wrong place. I don't see how you can lead this country to succeed in Iraq if you say wrong war, wrong time, wrong place.
[Lothian:] It's a phrase the president would use repeatedly, attempting to show how Kerry's mixed message would send the wrong message to world leaders. Kerry did acknowledge making mistakes, but gave a defense.
[Kerry:] When I talked about the $87 billion, I made a mistake in how I talked about the war. But the president made a mistake in invading Iraq. Which is worse?
[Lothian:] As both campaigns worked their war rooms, sending out rapid fire responses and fact checks, and as hundreds of people protested outside, two interesting moments from the candidates. First, after Kerry gave a laundry list of how he would deal with homeland security, President Bush saw an opening.
[Bush:] I don't think we want to get to how he's going to pay for all these promises. It's like a huge tax gap and anyway, that's for another debate.
[Lothian:] Then when the president seemed to imply that Iraq attacked the U.S., Senator Kerry pounced on it.
[Kerry:] Saddam Hussein didn't attack us. Osama bin Laden attacked us. Al Qaeda attacked us.
[Lothian:] Even though the president at times seemed to be frustrated, no one appeared to land fatal blows in this first round. Dan Lothian, CNN, Coral Gables, Florida.
[Costello:] Of course, the debate was watched with great interest across the globe. We have two reports, one from Hong Kong and our Mike Chinoy, and from Britain we have Walter Rodgers there. Walt let's start with you.
[Walter Rodgers, Cnn Correspondent:] Carol, because of the early hour here, CNN brought in a representative group of Europeans, fed them bagels and lox and blueberry muffins, sat them down and then we showed them the debate. It was very interesting. I walked in afterwards and I said how many of you thought George Bush won the debate? No hands went up. How many of you thought John Kerry won the debate? All the hands went up. Overwhelming unanimous. You asked them who they think will win the election, however, everybody thinks Bush will win the election. One British fellow said Kerry had competence, Bush had confidence. And I think the president, out of sheer rigidity and stolidity, sold some Europeans on the fact that he is going to stay the course and stick in Iraq come hell or high water. And that seems to have swayed some minds in Europe, even if Europeans don't agree with the president Carol.
[Costello:] Fascinating. Walt Rodgers live from London this morning. Let's head to Hong Kong now and Mike Chinoy to see what they're thinking there good morning, Mike.
[Mike Chinoy, Cnn Correspondent:] Good morning, Carol. Well, it was interesting, apart from Iraq, North Korea was one of the biggest and most important parts of this debate. North Korea's nuclear program in the past two years accelerating very dramatically while no weapons of mass destruction were found in Iraq. The North has now declared itself a nuclear power. But Senator Kerry and President Bush differ very sharply over whether the U.S. should talk to North Korea to get them to end their nuclear program.
[Kerry:] For two years, this administration didn't talk at all to North Korea. While they didn't talk at all, the fuel rods came out, the inspectors were kicked out, the television cameras were kicked out and today there are four to seven nuclear weapons in the hands of North Korea. That happened on this president's watch. Now that, I think, is one of the most serious sort of reversals or mixed messages that you could possibly send.
[Chinoy:] North Korea has signaled a willingness to put its whole nuclear weapons program on the table if the U.S. agrees to direct negotiations. But President Bush says that's a bad idea.
[Bush:] I can't tell you how big a mistake I think that is, to have bilateral talks with North Korea. It's precisely what Kim Jong Il wants. It'll cause the six party talks to evaporate and it means that China is no longer involved in convincing, along with us, for Kim Jong Il to get rid of his weapons. It's a big mistake to do that.
[Chinoy:] But at the moment, those six party talks are going nowhere. In fact, the North Koreans have indicated they're not going to attend the next scheduled round. And the North does have a strong card to play because as long as Washington refuses to deal directly, it can go on making nukes Carol.
[Costello:] Fascinating. Mike Chinoy live from Hong Kong this morning. Thank you. Explosions and the crackle of automatic weapons echoed through the streets of Samarra this morning. U.S. and Iraqi troops are fighting their way block by block, street by street, through the city north of Baghdad. So far, they've killed 94 Iraqi insurgents. CNN's Jane Arraf is there. She's actually embedded with the 1st Infantry Division. We had hoped to get her live, but she taped this piece for us just about an hour ago.
[Arraf:] Iraqi security has blown the doors off of this holy shrine, according to U.S. soldiers. We're on the other side of the shrine, behind a wall with some of those soldiers who have been taking fire fire like that. They've been firing back, obviously, but there has been intense gunfire here. This shrine is filled with gunmen. And the shrine itself, one of the holiest in Shia Islam. Two of the 12 imams are buried there. The twelfth imam disappeared there. It's normally full of pilgrims all over the holy sites. It's normally full of Iraqis. Today, it's deserted. Everyone has taken cover as gunfire rings out. U.S. forces have been battling for more than 12 hours now to secure this city in a major push that they say will retake the city from insurgents. Jane Arraf, CNN, reporting from Samarra.