Evangelical Leader Admits Contact With Gay Prostitute
WOLF BLITZER, HOST: And to our viewers, you're in THE SITUATION ROOM, where new pictures and information are arriving all the time. Standing by, CNN reporters across the United States and around the world to bring you today's top stories. Happening now, a reverend's confession -- one of the most influential Christian leaders in the Evangelical movement admits contact with an admitted gay male prostitute. The Reverend Ted Haggard says he contacted the man for a massage and even bought some drugs from him. Also, searching for signs in the tea leaves -- four days before the mid-term election, Democrats and Republicans are pouring over polls for any signs of victory. Now, some fresh numbers suggest one party should be encouraged. And an election day nightmare -- could your vote be tampered with? A controversial new documentary about e-voting asks how safe is your vote? I'm Wolf Blitzer from CNN election headquarters in New York. You're in THE SITUATION ROOM. Just four days until the mid-term election and some of the closest races across the country are now getting even tighter. We have some new poll numbers out for you this hour. But first, there are these new developments in that scandal rocking some of the country's most steadfast voters, Evangelical Christians. A leading pastor with national influence is now admitting he contacted a male prostitute for a massage and bought methamphetamine from him. CNN's Jason Carroll is joining us now with more on this scandal and the Reverend Ted Haggard -- Jason.</s>JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And, Wolf, you'll remember that it was "Time" magazine who put Reverend Ted Haggard on its list of 25 most influential Evangelical leaders. Now, Haggard, a married man with five children, is having to explain what type of contact he had with a former male prostitute and for how long.</s>REV. TED HAGGARD, FORMER EVANGELICAL LEADER: And every one of us have demons that are assigned to make us fail.</s>CARROLL (voice-over): The Reverend Ted Haggard -- viewed by followers as a force in the pulpit. But the man known for upholding conservative Christian values is defending himself against allegations he committed the type of sexual acts he's been preaching against. Mike Jones, a former gay prostitute in Denver, says he had sex with Haggard and that Haggard used the drug methamphetamine in his presence on at least a dozen occasions.</s>QUESTION: And have you used meth?</s>HAGGARD: No, I have not.</s>QUESTION: ... your voice.</s>HAGGARD: I did call him.</s>QUESTION: And what did you call him about?</s>HAGGARD: I called him to buy some meth, but I threw it away.</s>QUESTION: And who were you buying the meth for?</s>HAGGARD: No, I was buying it for me, but I never used it.</s>QUESTION: Have you ever used meth before?</s>HAGGARD: No, I have not.</s>QUESTION: So why...</s>HAGGARD: And I did not ever use it with him.</s>QUESTION: And did you ever have sex with him?</s>HAGGARD: No, I did not.</s>QUESTION: And at what point did you decide to throw away the meth?</s>HAGGARD: Right after. I never kept it very long, because it's -- it was wrong. I was tempted, I bought it, but I never used it.</s>QUESTION: And how did you know that he would sell it to you?</s>HAGGARD: He told me about it. I went there for...</s>QUESTION: Because you had that</s>HAGGARD: I went to him for a massage, so -- OK, we're late for our appointment. And so -- but thank you for your work.</s>QUESTION: How did you find him to get a massage from him?</s>HAGGARD: A referral.</s>QUESTION: From?</s>HAGGARD: From the hotel I was staying at.</s>CARROLL: But in an interview with on Wednesday, Haggard denied knowing Mike Jones. Despite the denials, Jones says for the past three years, he had sex with Haggard. Jones says their last encounter was allegedly this past August.</s>MIKE JONES, HAGGARD'S ACCUSER: We continued seeing each other about once a month for that first year there and every time he would phone me, it was from a blocked number, so on my caller I.D. I had no idea who was calling. But it didn't even matter to me, you know? He was just -- we were just hooking up.</s>CARROLL: But Jones says he failed a polygraph test when asked certain details about having sex with Haggard.</s>JONES: I don't understand why I did fail the part about when they asked me if I've had sex with Ted Haggard because that's the reason that he contacted me to begin with.</s>CARROLL: The polygraph administrator said Jones was exhausted and he wanted to redo the test. Haggard says he would not be opposed to an investigation into which one of them is telling the truth.</s>HAGGARD: We are not hesitant at all with an independent group asking the questions of -- what did you say his name was?</s>QUESTION: Mike.</s>HAGGARD: Mike. And hearing them and then investigating it and then deciding what I should -- what should be done with me.</s>CARROLL: The day after Wednesday's interview, Haggard temporarily stepped aside as senior pastor at the New Life Church in Colorado Springs. He also resigned as president of the National Association of Evangelicals, a group representing 45,000 churches nationwide. Church officials are conducting their own investigation with Haggard's cooperation.</s>ROSS PARSLEY, ACTING SENIOR PASTOR: There has been some admission of indiscretion, not admission to all of the material that has been discussed. But there is an admission of some guilt.</s>CARROLL: The larger question is will this have any effect on the election? There are two ballot initiatives in Colorado dealing with same- sex marriage. Political analysts seem to believe that a scandal like this isn't going to affect whether conservative Christians show up at the polls in Colorado or elsewhere. But they say it does chip away at the credibility of the conservative leadership -- Wolf.</s>BLITZER: And Jones says he did decide to go public with this information because he wanted to try to influence that vote, is that right?</s>CARROLL: That is true. He did say that he wanted to come forward because of the hypocrisy of you've got one man who's preaching one thing, but allegedly doing something else.</s>BLITZER: All right, Jason, thanks very much. We're going to stay on top of this story for our viewers. With only four days until the mid-term elections, the campaigning right now nonstop. As they hopscotch from speech to fund-raiser to late night rally, some candidates have some very surprising new polls to consider right now. Take a look at these eye-opening results from a new Reuters/Zogby survey of Senate races. First, three states that were thought to be safely Republican -- in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island -- Democratic candidates have built significant leads. Tuesday may be the end of the road for Republican Senators Mike DeWine of Ohio, Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania and Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island. Three other states that, by conventional wisdom, should be safely Republican, are now neck-and-neck, even though Democrats seem ahead in Missouri, Montana and Virginia. These results are within the poll's sampling error, which is plus or minus four points. These three states could still go, clearly, either way. Take a look at Tennessee, a state the Democrats considered a possible pick up. Representative Bob Corker seems, though, to be pulling away right now from Democratic Congressman Harold Ford, Jr. We're also watching other news that's happening now, including the political calculus of who's up, who's down and who could end up down and out. There's one race that Republicans thought was in the bag, but that Democrats now think is perhaps in play. CNN's Ted Rowlands is joining us in Phoenix. He has more -- Ted.</s>TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, a few weeks ago, Jon Kyl's Senate seat was considered a lock for Republicans. But now, it looks like this race is going to go down to the wire.</s>ROWLANDS (voice-over): Jon Kyl's Senate seat wasn't supposed to be one of those considered vulnerable for a possible Democratic take over. For months, the three term Arizona senator had been way up in the polls. But a few weeks ago, his lead started to shrink. It's now down to single digits.</s>PROFESSOR BRUCE MERRILL, ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY: I don't think anybody here really thought the Republicans were going to be seriously challenged.</s>ROWLANDS: Arizona pollster Bruce Merrill says in talking to voters, the shift in the polls isn't necessarily about Jon Kyl as much as it is about dissatisfaction with incumbents in general and the White House.</s>MERRILL: Eighty-five percent of the comments weren't for the Democratic candidate, they were against -- against the war, against Bush, against the administration, against the scandals.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Because Jon Kyl votes for what George Bush wants.</s>ROWLANDS: With new momentum, Kyl's opponent, Jim Pederson, is trying to link Kyl to President Bush in a last minute flurry of television ads. And the Democratic Party is pouring money and campaign support into the race, including a previously unscheduled visit this week from Bill Clinton.</s>BILL CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And lo and behold, as we come down to the final days, he's got a good chance to be your senator if you show up and fight for him these last five days.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He hasn't gone Washington. His experience benefits Arizona.</s>ROWLANDS: Senator Kyl is fighting back with television ads that emphasize his experience and ability to work with Democrats, a message that seems to be directed at Independent voters, who may decide this election.</s>ROWLANDS: And according to the research, Independents here in Arizona right now are leaning two to one Democrat, Wolf. And the number one issue that those Independents are articulating to the pollsters, the same issue that a lot of folks say is number one, the war in Iraq.</s>BLITZER: We'll watch that race closely with you, Ted. Thanks very much. And we're going to show you three more states in this new Reuters/Zogby poll of U.S. Senate races. If these numbers are right, Democrats seem to have three more Senate seats back in the bag, even though once some of them seemed somewhat in jeopardy. Those states are Connecticut. Democratic Senator Joe Lieberman, he's now running, as you know, as an Independent, way ahead. In Maryland, Democrat Ben Cardin seems to be pulling away from Republican Michael Steele, although other polls show it's closer. In New Jersey, Democratic Senator Bob Menendez hoping for election to the U.S. Senate seat he was appointed to fill. Jack Cafferty is watching all of these races, but he's also watching a lot more...</s>JACK CAFFERTY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Listen to this. Congress is going to shut down the federal agency that reports on fraud and waste in Iraq. Congress is going to close the federal agency that reports on fraud and waste in Iraq. The "New York Times" reports this was part of a military authorization bill that President Bush recently signed. Led by a Republican lawyer, this Office of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction has filed more than 300 reports and investigations. They have exposed everything from poor construction work by companies like Halliburton and Bechtel, to the thousands of missing U.S. weapons that were meant for Iraqi security forces. This is all stuff that's pretty damaging to what the administration is trying to accomplish in Iraq. So what happened? Well, the Republicans on the House Armed Services Committee added this provision to shut this office down into a bill during a closed door conference. Lawmakers in both parties now say that they're worried about the loss of oversight and are going to work to reverse the decision. Hold your breath on that. Meanwhile, a committee spokesman says this all has nothing to do with politics or the White House or lobbying by the big contractors like Halliburton and Bechtel. He says the idea is to return to a non- wartime footing and to let the State Department and the Pentagon investigate overseas programs. Now, there's a great idea. A non-wartime footing? Really? Are we there yet? It's only November 3rd. Eleven U.S. soldiers have been killed in Iraq so far this month. And that follows October, which was the fourth bloodiest month for the American military there when 105 of our soldiers died. That's some non-wartime footing, isn't it? Here's the question -- why would Congress shut down the office that's reporting on fraud and waste in Iraq? E-mail your thoughts to caffertyfile@cnn.com or go to cnn.com/caffertyfile.</s>BLITZER: And they've really brought to light a lot of the waste, fraud, abuse -- billions and billions of dollars. They've really done a pretty good job.</s>CAFFERTY: And it's headed up by a Republican lawyer, who's doing what they asked him to do. It's like well, we've got to go to a non- wartime footing now.</s>BLITZER: Stewart Bowen, he's a good guy.</s>CAFFERTY: Yes.</s>BLITZER: We'll stay on top of this story, see what our viewers think, as well.</s>CAFFERTY: I already know.</s>BLITZER: Thanks, Jack, very much.</s>CAFFERTY: OK.</s>BLITZER: Up ahead, four days until the election and President Bush is on a campaign push, trying to sway some of the tightest races toward Republicans. We're going to have details of new additions to his stump speech. You're going to want to hear this. Plus, we heard from Howard Dean last hour. This hour, we'll talk about the latest poll numbers, the tightest races with Republican strategist Mary Matalin. Plus, growing concerns about electronic voting. We're going to show you why critics are sounding the alarm right now and how the makers of the machines are responding. We're live from CNN election headquarters in New York and you're in THE SITUATION ROOM.