Murkowski Launches Write-In Campaign; United Kingdom's Papal Visit
T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, top of the hour. Live picture here now Pope Benedict XVI on his U.K. visit. He's wrapping up a mass. We have been watching this for the past couple of hours here. But one of his public events he's having on day-three of a four-day trip of the UK. The first official state visit of a pope ever to Great Britain. The pope hasn't changed his very busy schedule despite the arrest of six men who are suspected in a possible terror plot. We'll go back there live for you, tell you more about this historic trip, coming up. Plus, the debate continues on Capitol Hill. What to do about the tax cuts for the middle class. Will they happen? Will they not? Will those making more than $250,000 get an extended tax cut as well? Coming up, we'll tell you how the tax cuts break down and impact you. Not just the back and forth in the debate, but we're going to show you specifically, if you make so much money, how much you stand to lose. How much you stand to gain with these tax cuts. That's coming up for you. From the CNN Center, this is your CNN SATURDAY MORNING. It's 7:00 a.m. where I am in Atlanta, Georgia; 6:00 a.m. in Fayetteville, Arkansas. I'm T.J. Holmes. Glad you're right here with me. Also, a big shake-up on the political scene once again. Can you spell Murkowski? Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski hopes her supporters can certainly spell it as she now launches a write-in campaign to try to keep her job. She lost, you may remember, the Republican primary to a Tea Party-backed candidate Joe Miller. Sarah Palin had endorsed Miller. She's now calling Murkowski's latest move a futile effort on her part. A Tea Party spokesman said in effect, the people of Alaska have already fired Murkowski, but Murkowski is calling on Alaskans who didn't vote on the primary to turn out for her next month.</s>SEN. LISA MURKOWSKI (R), ALASKA: I will be the first one to admit to you that in the primary campaign, we made some mistakes. We talked about ourselves. We talked about me a lot. But we didn't educate Alaskans about the extremist views that were held by Mr. Miller. And when he swung, I didn't swing back. Well, ladies and gentlemen, friends and supporters, the gloves are off.</s>MURKOWSKI: I'm fighting for Alaska.</s>HOLMES: Well, fighting words right there. However, she has a really uphill climb here because write-in campaigns almost never work and they're a little tricky there in Alaska as well given a couple of factors, including the fact that her name is Murkowski. Someone would have to write that name out. As well as writing it out, they would have to fill in the oval next to the name. So, you'd to know the rules going in. Also, if you don't spell it out correctly or it's not clear exactly who you were trying to write in, that ballot could be disqualified, even though the state official has said that "Lisa M." as a write-in might be OK. But historically speaking here, on write-in candidates, the only other senator who has been ever won in a write-in candidacy has been Strom Thurmond. That was in South Carolina back in 1954. I want to turn back now to the live picture we were showing you here at the top of the hour of Pope Benedict. He's just wrapping up a mass there at Westminster Cathedral in London. You see him greeting the crowd and the crowd greeting him with some applause here. He's just wrapping this mass. This is the third day of a four-day trip to the U.K. This is the first ever official state visit. The Pope has visited the U.K. before, but at the invitation of the church. We saw John Paul II visit Great Britain back in 1982. So, that was some time ago. But this -- this visit is a state visit. This came at the invitation of the queen. Of course, she's the head of state. The Pope here, the head of state as well as -- as well as being the head of the Catholic Church. But I'm going to go and keep this picture up while I bring in our Phil Black. Phil, I'm not sure if you're able, or how far you are, or where you are, if you can see this picture or hear this picture. But it seems like he has stepped out here and greeted enthusiastically by the crowd there. And like you said, there was some speculation on what crowds he would draw on this visit. But has that been the kind of reaction to him, a lot of enthusiastic support for this -- for this Pope?</s>PHIL BLACK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, indeed. He hasn't had too much trouble drawing crowds wherever he has gone. Where I'm standing is London's Hyde Park where 80,000 are expected to gather tonight to celebrate a prayer vigil with the Pope. Where he is now: Westminster Cathedral, the Catholic Church's most important house of worship in this country. He has just celebrated mass there and he is now currently greeting and meeting thousands of school children who have traveled to London from across this country to spend a little bit of time with him there. During the mass, though, that finished just a short time ago, he had some interesting words to say about the child sex abuse scandal. It is the first time that he has addressed this issue during the visit here. He spoke of the immense sorrow that he felt, the suffering caused by child abuse, particularly within the church, particularly by the clergy. Take a listen.</s>POPE BENEDICT XVI, CATHOLIC CHURCH: I also acknowledge, with you, the shame and humiliation, which all of us have suffered because of these sins. And I invite you to offer it to the Lord with trust that this chastisement will contribute to the healing of the victims, the purification of the church and the renewal of the age-old commitment to the education and care of young people. I express my gratitude for the efforts being made to address this problem responsibly, and I ask all of you to show your concern for the victims and solidarity with your priests.</s>BLACK: So, some strong words on this most controversial of subjects, but victims' groups have already responded, saying that's all they are, they're just words. They want to see action, particularly with bringing the perpetrators to justice, helping the victims overcome their suffering. And that is why the victims and victims' groups will be among the thousands of people expected to march through London today, protesting the presence of the Pope, and the fact that he is receiving the honor of a full state visit here. Those victims will be among atheist people who opposed the church's position on homosexuality, contraception, abortion -- those sorts of things. As I say, a few thousand of them are supposed to make their presence felt today. But, remember, 80,000 people are expected to be here tonight at London's Hyde Park,</s>T.J. HOLMES: All right. Phil, don't go anywhere just yet. I just want to remind our viewers what they're seeing on the screen on the right there of Phil. You're seeing a live picture at Westminster Cathedral where a mass is just wrapping up. And you heard that the school children there enthusiastically greeting the Pope. He was greeting them. Thousands of them came over to see him. Again, I just want to remind you -- this is a live picture you're seeing of the Pope right now at Westminster Cathedral. One more thing, though, Phil, and you kind of hit on some of these protests that are happening. Security is always a concern where the Pope travels anywhere, but there in particular, there were six arrests of people allegedly involved in a terror plot of some kind. Has that changed the Pope's schedule and do we know if that plot yet was directly linked to the Pope?</s>BLACK: The Pope hasn't changed his schedule, despite the fact that six people have been arrested here for allegedly planning some sort of terror act. They were picked up through the day yesterday. Police have been talking to them, conducting searches across London. They're still in custody and they could be for some time. Police have not confirmed that this is, in fact, connected to the Pope's visit. But it does go to the heart of what is a very complex security operation for guarding the Pope, because he is not just a visiting head of state, which means keeping him away from all possible trouble. He is also the leader of a significant religion who wants to move among, be seen by as many of his flock as possible, and they certainly want to see him. So, police say this has been a challenging security operation, but they have not altered it significantly in light of those arrests,</s>T.J. HOLMES: All right. Phil Black for us -- we certainly appreciate you as we continue to watch this live picture. Again, live at the Westminster Cathedral -- the holy place, as Phil was explaining to us. We're still hearing music, still part of the ceremony here. But a mass is just wrapping up. He is keeping a full schedule. The schedule continues through the afternoon. He has more meetings. And, again, he'll end up at Hyde Park where -- for that prayer vigil that Phil -- that's where Phil is right now, and where Phil explained the Pope is expecting some 80,000 people to show up. We'll continue to follow this visit -- this historic visit of Pope Benedict XVI. Well, we have a couple storms we need to keep a very close eye on. One of them, Karl, is causing some problems in Mexico. The other one Hurricane Igor, a huge category -- what is it now, category two, three? It's been fluctuating. I'd get the meteorologist, the expert, to explain that to us. But wouldn't you know Reynolds Wolf -- he's not here with me. He's right in the path of that huge storm. We'll be checking in with him shortly. Seven minutes past the hour.