[Miles O'brien, Cnn Anchor:] Campaign countdown. An all-out blitz to get your vote. Kerry keys on women and Bush pushes his war on terrorism. We're covering the campaign trail every step of the way.
[Fredricka Whitfield, Cnn Anchor:] Does Al Gore have what it takes to help John Kerry win Florida? The Democrats are sending him.
[O'brien:] It's an amazing performance. Comedian Jamie Foxx gets serious to play Ray Charles. This hour, the LIVE FROM interview with the man who just might be an Oscar contender for this performance. From the CNN Center in Atlanta, I'm Miles O'Brien.
[Whitfield:] And I'm Fredricka Whitfield, in for Kyra Phillips. This hour of CNN's LIVE FROM begins right now. Topping this hour, take nothing for granted, but shoot for the stars with a flat-out appeal to working women and a foray west. John Kerry is rewriting conventional Democratic strategy with a week and a half to go. We go straight away to CNN's Kelly Wallace in Milwaukee for the details Kelly.
[Kelly Wallace, Cnn National Correspondent:] Fredricka, coming to you from a very spirited campus here in Milwaukee, the campus of the University of Wisconsin. You will hear some chanting and cheering. Mostly Kerry-Edwards supporters, but a handful of Bush-Cheney supporters on hand. It really all comes down to simple math, if you think about it. Republicans tend to do better with male voters than Democrats. So Democrats need to do better with women if they are to win election in November. That is all was all on the mind of Senator John Kerry earlier today. And he got a little help. Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg, daughter of president John F. Kennedy, she came here and said that her mother told her, if it were not for Wisconsin, John F. Kennedy would never have become president. And she called on the people of Wisconsin to do the same for Senator Kerry. Now, the senator in his remarks said that he would fight for equal pay for women. He would also call for a hike in the minimum wage. And he had some very tough talk for the Bush White House, accusing the president and his advisers of being out of touch.
[Sen. John Kerry , Presidential Candidate:] No matter how tough it gets, no one in the White House seems to be listening. The women I meet, they don't expect the government to do their jobs for them. But they do want leaders who are on their side as they try to do their jobs. They want somebody to be able to empower them, to facilitate, to be able to make the playing field fair.
[Wallace:] And the Bush-Cheney team reacting, saying the senator had a whole slew of inaccuracies in his speech. The sense is of how important this is for John Kerry is when you look at the numbers. According to sort of an average of the polls done over the last 48 hours, Senator Kerry has about a seven-point lead with women voters over President Bush. If you look at how Al Gore did in 2000, he had an 11-point advantage with women voters, compared to President Bush. So clearly, the Kerry campaign trying to do more and more when it comes to reaching out to women voters. And Fredricka, as you said, from here, Senator Kerry heading out West to Nevada and Colorado, two states that went for George W. Bush in 2000, but two states the Kerry campaign thinks could be very competitive for the Democrats this time around Fredricka.
[Whitfield:] Well, Kelly, we hear verbally from John Kerry he's trying to appeal to the women voters. But visually, the latest images of him hunting, certainly he's trying to appeal to a lot of men, particularly the gun rights advocates. Is that strategy working?
[Wallace:] It is hard to tell, really. The question is certainly the goal was definitely to reach out to men, particularly men in rural America, hunters, gun owners. Some seven million hunters live in battleground states. And trying to fight against attacks coming from the National rifle Association that he'd be a threat to the second amendment. It is not clear if these images in these final days will really pay off. But clearly, the Democrats are trying to learn from what some believe were mistakes, Fredricka, in 2000. Some political observers believe if Al Gore did a better job connecting with men, particularly gun owners, he might be president today Fredricka.
[Whitfield:] All right. Kelly Wallace, thanks so much Miles.
[O'brien:] George W. Bush travel plans tried and true. The biggest of the battleground states, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Florida. Bang, bang, bang. There you see the president live, Canton, Ohio. He hasn't been to Ohio in three weeks. Interesting. We're going to figure out why that is all by checking with our political people along the way today. He'll be talking about health care and medical malpractice reform. Earlier today, in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, the topic was taxes.
[George W. Bush, President Of The United States:] The senator voted 10 times to raise taxes on gasoline. All told, during his 20 years in the United States Senate, my opponent has voted to raise taxes 98 times.
[Bush:] That's about five times a year. When he does something that often, he must really enjoy it.
[O'brien:] Now, outside camera range today, Bush signed a cavalcade of tax breaks for corporations and farmers, what's an estimated $136 billion. We'll hear more about a taxing day on the campaign trail from CNN's Dana Bash, and we'll hear from her at the bottom of this hour. A new poll should have the Kerry camp smiling a little bit today. According to The Associated Press's survey of likely voters, 49 percent want John Kerry to be the next president, 46 percent favor Bush. But notice the sampling error, plus or minus 3 percent. You can call that one dead even. Is Saddam Hussein playing a role in the U.S. election? Well, it depends on whom you ask. A new poll looking at the impact of gubernatorial international issues, I should say, finds a huge number of Bush supporters have misperceptions about key points. According to the survey, 20 percent of Bush supporters believe Iraq was directly involved in the 911 attacks, while only 8 percent of Kerry supporters think the same.
[Whitfield:] From Iraq now, a familiar image. The grainy video, a hostage pleading for her life. Margaret Hassan, the kidnapped recently kidnapped director of CARE International in Baghdad seen on videotape broadcast by Al Jazeera Television. She was abducted by an unknown group just this past Tuesday. Hassan is seen sobbing in the video pleading for her life. She appeals to British Prime Minister Tony Blair to withdraw troops from Iraq. On the front lines, more strikes on Falluja. U.S. warplanes hit suspected armed storage sites in the insurgent stronghold. A military spokesman says Marines fired precision-guided bombs at a building after troops spotted crates being moved. The building was destroyed, causing secondary explosions. No word on casualties. Meanwhile, a Sunni cleric warned the Americans against conducting an offensive in that city, saying it would meet with stiff resistance. And more fallout from the Abu Ghraib prison abuse scandal. Another reservist has been ordered to stand trial. He is Specialist Charles Graner, one-time boyfriend of Private Lynndie England, who appeared in the most notorious of the prison photos. Graner will stand trial scheduled for January 7.
[O'brien:] Remember the post-911 intelligence shakeup, including the push to appoint a national intelligence director? Well, it hasn't happened. As you may know, it's bottled up in Congress. That may not be a surprise to you. But let us assure you they are working on it. CNN's Rudi Bakhtiar has the latest on this live from Washington Rudi.
[Rudi Bakhtiar, Cnn Correspondent:] Hi, Miles. Well, they are definitely working on it. Despite two days of marathon talks on Capitol Hill, there is still no deal as Congress is trying to hammer out the differences on reforming the U.S. intelligence community post. You are looking at a live presser right now. That is Peter Hoekstra, the chairman of the conference committee. He says he is going to have an offer on the table this afternoon.
[Rep. Peter Hoekstra , Michigan:] That we do not have full agreement on all areas and recognizing that we still have some very contentious issues, and that we still have some differences to work through.
[Bakhtiar:] In an effort to put a compromised bill on the president's desk before the election, House Republicans have offered a proposal to drop two key provisions on immigration and border security. The first, a deportation provision, which would have given the government power to deport illegal immigrants without an opportunity to plead their case in court. The second is a provision which would have prevented illegal immigrants from using U.S. driver's licenses as a form of I.D. Now, Senate negotiators want the position to have full authority over budget and personnel matters with regard to the national intelligence director. The House negotiators would like to see a weaker version of that post. They are hammering it out. They say that they are going to try to work through the weekend and come up with a decision by Monday. Monday being the key date on this Miles.
[O'brien:] Rudi Bakhtiar in Washington. Thank you very much Fredricka.
[Whitfield:] Well, she doesn't dodge the issues, but conservative columnist Ann Coulter proved she can duck and weave with the best of them. The rest of the story later on LIVE FROM. And baseball fans see red as the Sox and Cardinals get ready to take to the field. We'll get you ready for the big game. And later, William Shatner is ready to boldly go where few men have gone before with billionaire Richard Branson. It sounds ominous doesn't it? Well, it's out of this world. Details later on LIVE FROM.