[Kiran Chetry, Cnn Anchor:] Breaking news. Barack Obama leaves the campaign trail. A family emergency with 14 days until America picks a president. And just in to CNN. Brand new video as anti-Palin protesters nearly get mowed down by her motorcade on the "Most Politics in the Morning."
[Chetry:] And good morning. Thanks so much for being with us on this Tuesday, October 21st. I'm Kiran Chetry.
[John Roberts, Cnn Anchor:] I'm John Roberts. Good morning to you. A lot of activity out there on the campaign trail. My goodness.
[Chetry:] Absolutely.
[Roberts:] Wow. We'll be showing you a little bit more of that coming up. First, though, new this morning. Growing optimism that credit is loosening giving markets across the globe a shot of confidence. The Dow adding 413 points yesterday. That helped investors recoup some $500 billion in value. Overseas, Japan was up three percent. Hong Kong down slightly. But right now in Europe where trading is underway, the markets there in positive territory. Looks like it could be a good day today. Right now, FBI agents are conducting an investigation after threatening letters were sent to nine Chase banks. Six of them were in Denver, three in Oklahoma. Some of the letters contained white powder. Bank employees were examined by medical workers at the scene as a precaution. Officials say initial tests showed that the substance does not appear to be dangerous. And as voters get ready to head to the polls again today in Florida, election officials are kicking it into high gear. More machines will be added across the state to handle the early voting crowds after lines wrapped around the block yesterday. In some sites the wait time was up to three hours. Some computer glitches were reported in a few voting spots.
[Chetry:] Well, now to the "Most Politics in the Morning." Barack Obama will be leaving the campaign trail to be with his seriously ill grandmother in Hawaii. There's just 14 days to go in the presidential race. Events scheduled for Thursday and Friday in Wisconsin and Iowa have been canceled. Obama is expected to resume campaigning Saturday. Meantime, CNN's latest poll of polls shows Obama leading John McCain by seven points, 51 percent to 44 percent. Both candidates are sharpening their attacks in the campaign's final days. Obama holds another rally in battleground Florida today. Meanwhile, Suzanne Malveaux is live in Palm Beach, Florida, with more on the campaigning. Hey there, Suzanne.
[Suzanne Malveaux, Cnn White House Correspondent:] Hey, good morning, Kiran. Well, as you mentioned, some sad news for Barack Obama. He is going to be temporarily leaving the campaign trail for about a day and a half, heading back to Hawaii. That is where he's visiting with his gravely ill grandmother, Madelyn Dunham. She's 85 years old. Doing a documentary about Obama, I had a chance to meet some of the relatives, his sister Maya. And she told me that Obama is very close to her. His grandmother, grandfather raised him for part of the time when he was a teenager in Honolulu. Obviously, this is something that has a great deal of impact. He calls her "toot." That's short for tutu, Hawaiian for grandmother, because she never wanted to be called grandmother. So, this is something that, obviously, he is going to do later in the week. But in the meantime, he is still focused on Florida. As you know, Florida very competitive and it really is a key state for a win.
[Malveaux:] With just two weeks left, Barack Obama's secret weapon, former rival Hillary Clinton.
[Sen. Hillary Clinton , New York:] You can vote today, tomorrow, the next day and begin our march to take our country back.
[Malveaux:] Once fierce opponents now in a rare appearance together in Florida, the state that gave Clinton a win in their unsanctioned primary.
[Clinton:] Tell them Hillary sent you to vote for Barack Obama.
[Malveaux:] In the battleground state of Florida where presidential ambitions have rested on hanging chads, early voting began. New Democratic voters out-register Republicans 2-1 here, and Obama needs everyone of them.
[Sen. Barack Obama , Presidential Candidate:] I want you to go vote. Don't don't wait until November 4th.
[Malveaux:] Here the financial crisis has been devastating. Forty-four thousand homes in foreclosure, the second highest rate in the country behind California. Obama is making the case his financial plan will benefit them, the working class. John McCain's, the rich.
[Obama:] No tax. That's my commitment to you. You can take that to the bank.
[Malveaux:] Despite supporting the federal government's biggest intervention in the financial markets since the Great Depression, McCain is accusing Obama of going one step further, promoting a system of government control over private industry or socialism.
[Obama:] It is true that I want to roll back the Bush tax cuts on the very wealthiest Americans and go back to the rate that they paid under Bill Clinton. John McCain called that socialism.
[Malveaux:] Obama also mocked McCain's running mate, Sarah Palin, for saying if she had a magic wand she'd prefer not to use the automated calls her campaign is being criticized for.
[Obama:] You really have to work hard to violate Governor Palin's standards on negative campaigning.
[Malveaux:] And, Kiran, we don't expect Obama to necessarily take those digs at Palin today. What he's focusing on is jobs. They're calling this an economic summit and what he's done is he's invited governors from four different states, Republican leaning states to participate in this. Michigan, Ohio, New Mexico and Colorado. All of those states, however, have Democratic governors. And so this is really a push, a big push to try to make some inroads in those states Kiran.
[Chetry:] Suzanne Malveaux for us this morning in Palm Beach. Thanks.
[Roberts:] More now on that story we showed you at the top of the hour. Police in Colorado are trying to track down several people who tried to block Governor Sarah Palin's motorcade. Look at this. A lot of people on the ground there as the motorcade rolls by. It happened last night in Grand Junction as Governor Palin was on her way to speak to supporters. Our affiliate was there, captured the whole thing on tape. Police say the protesters were part of a group called Red Pill. Officers in the motorcade had to drag some of the protesters out of the vehicles way. No reports of any injuries. And Governor Palin on the stump in Nevada today. She is the fastest rising star in the Republican Party with a following said that sometimes surpasses John McCain's at these campaign events. But as the campaign enters the homestretch now, some prominent conservatives are speaking out suggesting that Palin was a mistake. Here's CNN's Ed Henry with that story.
[Ed Henry, Cnn Correspondent:] John, Kiran, Sarah Palin has taken a lot of hits from Republicans back in Washington lately but it's a whole different story out here on the campaign trail.
[Henry:] In the final days out here in battleground states like Colorado, Sarah Palin is treated like a rock star still drawing much bigger crowds than John McCain.
[Gov. Sarah Palin , Vice Presidential Candidate:] Barack Obama calls it spreading the wealth. Joe Biden calls higher taxes patriotic. Joe the plumber said it sounded to him like socialism. And now is not the time to experiment with that.
[Henry:] She's ripping into Barack Obama, and the party faithful is digging her feistiness.
[Unidentified Male:] So I think she's different. She's not the bureaucracy that we've been putting up with and putting up with and putting up with for so long in Washington. She's changed.
[Henry:] It's one of the great unknowns about the final two weeks. Can the Palin factor drive enough conservatives to the polls to offset Obama's gains with independent voters?
[David Gergen, Cnn Senior Political Analyst:] It may well be that there is a there are a group of people out there now find it politically incorrect to be for Sarah Palin in public, but they're going to vote for her in the privacy of the voting booth.
[Henry:] Former Secretary of State Colin Powell is hardly alone among establishment Republicans, however, in believing Palin actually hurts the Republican ticket.
[Gen. Colin Powell, Former Secretary Of State:] I don't believe she's ready to be president of the United States which is the job of the vice president.
[Henry:] Conservative "New York Times" columnist David Brooks has called Palin a cancer on the Republican Party. While former Reagan speechwriter Peggy Noonan wrote in "The Wall Street Journal," "There is little sign that she has the tools, the equipment, the knowledge or the philosophical grounding one hopes for, and expects, in a holder of high office." But there may be a disconnect between elite Republicans and the party faithful.
[Rick Stengel, Managing Editor, "time" Magazine:] I think Sarah Palin is still very popular among the conservative base. There are other conservatives, the conservative intelligencia who have peeled off and think that maybe it was a mistake.
[Henry:] More so than McCain, she has built a fervent following that may show up on Election Day for the Republican ticket.
[Alex Castellanos, Gop Strategist, Cnn Contributor:] Don't underestimate the Palin voter. They're still out there. They're still intense a lot of those voters.
[Palin:] Live from New York it's Saturday Night!
[Henry:] And her solid performance on "Saturday Night Live" suggests that regardless of what happens on Election Day, Palin could be a winner. If McCain pulls out a comeback victory, she'll get plenty of credit. If he loses, she could be the heir apparent in 2012. If McCain falls and Republicans lose more ground in Congress, there'll be a lot of soul searching. Palin could emerge as the woman who tried to save John McCain and now represents the future of the Republican Party John, Kiran.
[Roberts:] Ed Henry reporting for us this morning. Ed, thanks so much. Accusations of tricks and lies happening now to the race in the race to register voters. Why some people say they were duped into re- registering under a different party.
[Chetry:] And momentum is building right now on Capitol Hill for a second stimulus package to boost the economy. Hear what America's top money manager and the president are saying. It's eight minutes after the hour.