[Hendricks:] Welcome back. Most Republicans consider voter id laws a legitimate way to prevent voter fraud. Most Democrats see them as attempts as voter suppression, Democratic voter suppression to be specific. But whatever your view, the laws are stirring up political passions all around the country. Don Lemon spoke about it with CNN contributors Lz Granderson and Anna Navarro.
[Don Lemon, Cnn Host, Newsroom:] So, welcome Ana and welcome Lz. Lz, last time we talked about this, you got really passionate, you and Will really went at it. And you were specific saying you weren't going to sugar-coat it. Here's what you said. Listen.
[Lz Granderson, Cnn Contributor:] This is driven by race. I was at the speech last night. I was that dinner last night. I was there last night. And I will tell you, I didn't leave there thinking, oh, I need to vote for Obama because he's black. I left there thinking as an American citizen, we all should be offends that these tactics are being used to curtail our rights, the right that is blacks and whites have died for. You don't have to go all the way back to slavery. Jesse helms used tactics to scare blacks from going back to the polls.
[Will Cain, Cnn Contributor:] It's nothing like this.
[Granderson:] Let me finish. I allowed you to finish. Saying things like, if you go to these polls and you don't have x, y and z documents, you will go to jail. That wasn't a long time ago. You and I, Will, we were in college when that was going on.
[Lemon:] OK. So, as I said, it had to be to be honest, we invited Will to be back. Will is not available. He's traveling. He has something else to do. So, we invited Ana to talked about it. So he's you were very Why are you so passionate about this because it's going on in a number of different states. Pennsylvania now, it's up in the air as to what's going to happen. Why are you so passionate about this?
[Granderson:] Because I love this country. I love what we fought for. I love what we have and I don't want to see it taken away so that a person can win the White House. The thing that really bothers me most by this is the people trying this tactics know the Democrats are going to call them out on it. They knew that going into it. What they're hoping is that enough people in their base despise President Obama so much that they would allow them to do this just so that Romney can get into the White House. Technically, that really bothers me. That's part of the reason why I was so passionate about it with Will. Will is a very rational guy. We're good friends. And I just couldn't believe he was going to sit back and say it was OK for like a quarter of a million in Pennsylvania to be eliminated in this process so that Romney could get into the White House.
[Lemon:] OK. So Ana, you hear what Lz has to say about it. He is says it's about race. It is mostly Republican, except for one, which is Rhode Island. Mostly Republican houses who are asking for these tough voter id laws. What do you make of it? Do you think it's driven by race?
[Ana Navarro, Republican Strategist:] You know, I'm sure there is a racial component to it, Don. You know we live in America 2012. Racism doesn't exist to the level it once did. But I'm not going to say it's been eliminated from our society. Now, I'm a naturalized Latino living in Florida. Florida is one of those state where is these voter changes have occurred. I have to tell you, I don't feel disenfranchised. I think it is a much smaller problem, at least in Florida, than it is being portrayed. What we've seen now is that there's something like 198 voters that have been identified through the mechanisms that should that perhaps should not be voting and the supervisors of elections are getting asked to go through those names. I tell you, you know, Lz is my friend and I respect him. I understand his passion. I love this country, too. But I also understand that the responsibility and right to vote belongs to U.S. citizens. I'm a naturalized one. It's one of the privileges. It's one of the duties that came along with me naturalizing. But I also understand that people who shouldn't be allowed to vote, should not be doing so. I do not agree that showing a picture id is such an onerous thing. I don't know what percentage is affected. I think we need to help the people. And I agree with Lz that there is nothing worse than having to go to a DMV even when you do drive and need to go for purposes of getting a driver's license. That being said, we have to help people get ids if necessary. But we do have to all agree that the right to vote is precious. It's something that many people have fought for, have died for and defending that right to vote means that we all have to agree. And I think we all do, that everybody who is legally allowed vote should be able to do so.
[Granderson:] When you're able to look at your own party and say, you know what? That's not right, call them out on it. The problem right now is we have way too many people within the Republican party who despise President Obama so much that they're going to turn a blind eye and let this process go through even though they know it's not right. What we need the solution begins with saying, we're not going to let you do this now because we see what you're doing and it's not right. There's been a disfranchise voters. There are people in Detroit where I grew up who were born on the east side who had never even been to the west side of the city. I mean, Ana, I love you. But you are talking about picking up tickets at will call. These folks are just riding the bus. They don't have a lot of resources and of opportunities. And what we need are more individuals to stand up to their own parties and in this case it happens to be the GOP and say, that's not right. I want our guy to win. But I want our guy to win fairly.
[Hendricks:] Passionate opinions on that. A lot to talk about. President Obama and Mitt Romney, they go face to face as American voters weigh their choice. The first of three presidential debates will be next Wednesday night. Watch it live on
[Cnn, 7:] 00 eastern and on CNN.com as well. Meanwhile, as the president and Mitt Romney get ready for Wednesday's showdown, we have learned a little inside info on how they're getting ready. Senator John Kerry will play the role of Mitt Romney when Mr. Obama holds his practice sessions. And Ohio senator Rob Portman is portraying the president during Mitt Romney's debate preps, pretty interesting. You know, the Pope's former butler went on trial today back on city also following this. He is accused of stealing secret papers from Pope Benedict XVI and leaking them to an Italian journalist. The butler faces a sentence of up to eight years if convicted. A rival band honored Florida A&M; University suspended marching band today during a halftime show in Atlanta. Southern University in Florida, A&M; are two-long time baton rival. Halftime of this game is traditionally featuring a battle of the bands. Famu's band is suspended after last year's hazing death of a drum major. By the way, southern won the game 21-14.
[Hendricks:] Twenty-four hours without your cell phone. Could you do it?
[Obeidallah:] Right now, I'm in my own world. I'm disconnected.
[Hendricks:] Comedian Dean Obeidallah gave it a shot.
[Lemon:] So, you're out and about, and you are not in front of a television. You can stay connected to CNN. You can. You can pull it up on your cell phone like I do or you can watch it from your computer even at work. Just go to CNN.comTV. Tell them Don lemon sent you.