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Sandusky Sentenced 30-60 years; Weather Delays Space Extreme Jump; Congress is Key; The Bird is the Word; Sandusky's Attorneys to Appeal Sentencing

Aired October 09, 2012 - 10:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now, Jerry Sandusky in court likely on his way to a lifetime in prison, but the convicted child rapist says he's the victim. Hear it for yourself in a stunning jailhouse recording.

Could you do this? Jump from a helium balloon from the edge of space? One daredevil hoping to make that jump today 120,000 feet up.

The race for the White House is pumping millions into our economy, but that might not be as important as who wins control of Congress.

And a truck drives right into a California liquor store and a store worker is trapped in the rubble. We'll tell you how the story played out.

NEWSROOM starts now. And good morning. Thank you so much for joining us. I'm Carol Costello.

Right now one of the most reviled men in the country faces sentencing. Hearing now underway for convicted child rapist Jerry Sandusky. The former assistant football coach at Penn State faces up to life in prison for 45 counts of child sex abuse. A jury found he sexually abused 10 boys over a 15-year period. Some of those victims and Sandusky himself will address the judge during this morning's proceedings.

But the most startling -- development may have come just hours ago. Sandusky released an audio recording from jail saying he's the victim.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JERRY SANDUSKY, CONVICTED CHILD RAPIST: They can take away my life. They can make me out as a monster. They can treat me as a monster, but they can't take away my heart. In my heart, I know I did not do these alleged, disgusting acts.

My wife has been my only sex partner and that was after marriage. Our love continues. A young man who is dramatic, a veteran accuser and always sought attention started everything. He was joined by a well- orchestrated effort of the media, investigators, the system, Penn State, psychologists, civil attorneys and other accusers. They won.

I've wondered what they really won. (END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: We're covering all the angles. Susan Candiotti outside the courthouse and veteran lawyer, prosecutor, criminal defense attorney, Paul Callan, will have more on the audio tapes.

Let's begin with you, Susan. Bring us up to date.

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Carol, we can only imagine how painful it must be for the victims of Jerry Sandusky to hear him speak in court, and I wonder whether they had an opportunity last night when that audio tape was released to hear what he has to say, to hear him blaming the media, investigators, even the victims themselves for what happened to him, saying that it was their fault and not his.

And even saying at one point that maybe he could be a candle in the wind, in his words, by somehow helping other victims of abuse. Now that's hard to comprehend exactly what he meant by that, but I'll tell you something, defense attorneys are saying Jerry Sandusky had every right to make that tape because, after all, they said, he is facing the rest of his life dying behind bars. Now if he wants to say it, let him.

Well, that doesn't hold much water with at least one civil attorney representing one of the victims. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEFFREY FRITZ, ATTORNEY FOR SANDUSKY VICTIM NUMBER 4: I don't know what the strategy is, other than an animal who's about to be placed in a cage and fighting out, and lashing out. And Jerry Sandusky is in denial that he committed any crimes, which is typical for a serial pedophile, especially somebody who's as notorious as Jerry Sandusky.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CANDIOTTI: You know, because of the tight restrictions in court right now, Carol, we don't know exactly what is happening at this hour because once you're in, you can't come out until the whole thing is over with, but here is the order in which things are supposed to be happening. Jerry Sandusky was supposed to speak first, and he was going to make a statement. Then there was supposed to be letters read into the record, if not read into the record, put into the record by his wife and his adult children.

And then perhaps the most dramatic moment of all, when victims have an opportunity, some of them, to face Jerry Sandusky directly, the man a jury found guilty of attacking them, of raping them, of assaulting them, and look him in the eye and say -- and say what -- say their piece, and we know from some of their lawyers that some of them intend to say how angry they are and to urge the judge to say this is the pain that I suffered, please take that into consideration when you sentence this man.

And finally, that's when we'll learn what the sentence is, when Judge Cleland says how many years Jerry Sandusky will spend. But we all know it will be the rest of his life in jail -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Susan Candiotti reporting live for us this morning.

Now to more of those audio tapes from Jerry Sandusky. Here he says his wife of 45 years remains loyal by his side.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SANDUSKY: We must fight unfairness and inconsistency and dishonesty. People need to be portrayed for who they really are. We have not been complainers. When we couldn't have kids, we adopted. When we didn't have time to prepare for a trial we still gave it our best. We will fight for another chance. We have given many second chances and now we'll ask for one.

It will take more than our effort. Justice will have be more than just a word, fairness be more than just a dream. It will take others, somebody apolitical with the courage to listen to think about take the unfairness, to have the guts to stand up and the take the road less traveled.

I ask for the strength to handle everything and the willingness to surrender only to god regardless of the outcome.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Paul Callan is a criminal defense attorney and former prosecutor, a CNN contributor, he joins us now from New York.

What -- when you listen to those tapes in their entirety, Jerry Sandusky says that he didn't have time to set up an adequate defense. Could this just be a maneuver to make a case for an appeal?

PAUL CALLAN, CNN LEGAL CONTRIBUTOR: Well, this is all part, I think, of an orchestrated plan to do exactly that, and I think what he's trying to do is he's trying to fight this on two levels. One is this tape is meant to appeal to the public and try to create sympathy for him. Now I think it's going to backfire, but certainly in his own mind I think he's saying he was the victim of an unfair prosecution, of victims who were trying to make money.

You know, Susan Candiotti was talking about him being a candle in the wind. Now that one I don't get. Candles in the wind get snuffed out and blown out, and he's going to get a taste of that, I'm sure, from the judge a little bit later this morning.

So he's trying to get the public on his side so that the appellate court will be more sympathetic to the arguments that are going to be made before them to reverse that conviction and send it back for a new trial.

COSTELLO: So you've been a prosecutor, you're also a defense attorney. When you started listening to these audio tapes, did you just shake your head and say, what is up with that?

CALLAN: You know, I got to tell you, you know, I was here at CNN last night when the story broke. It was kind of exciting, you know, that breaking news stuff. They said you've got to listen to this tape. I'm listening to the tape and I'm saying, this must be a prank by college students, you know, to fool the networks and get us to air this stuff. But we've got to be very careful about this. It has to be a prank. He couldn't have done this. The day before sentencing.

And, of course, the more I listened to it, boy, it's his voice, and he's dead serious, and it was Jerry Sandusky.

I think it's a strategic mistake. I think it's going to backfire with the judge. I mean, he really -- he attacks the judge for forcing them to trial too quickly. He attacks the victims in the case by saying they're part of a massive conspiracy against him, and he paints himself as a victim, even though he's been convicted of abusing 10 boys over a 15-year period, 45 counts.

It's not very persuasive, and I don't think it's a good strategy, but for whatever reason this is the world view of Jerry Sandusky at this point in time.

COSTELLO: Well, we'll see what happens later on this morning. Paul Callan, thanks, as always.

CALLAN: OK. Nice being with you.

COSTELLO: Before we break -- thank you, Paul.

Before we break away from the Sandusky sentencing, just a reminder, we're covering it from all angles. We have crews inside the courtroom awaiting the judge's decision. Outside the courtroom we'll have the latest reaction for you, and, of course, we'll return -- we'll return live as soon as anything develops.

All right. On to something fun and good. The waiting is the hardest part. Weather now delaying a daredevil's plan to jump from 120,000 feet up. Felix Baumgartner wants to become the first skydiver to break the sound barrier. Red Bull is sponsoring the jump.

Now once Baumgartner jumps from his capsule on the edge of space, he'll quickly reach 700 miles an hour. Now to put this in perspective, Baumgartner will be traveling faster than a Boeing 747 airliner. Almost 23 miles above the earth. That's how fast he's going to be falling. A traditional skydiver goes about 120 miles per hour.

Brian Todd joins me now from Roswell, New Mexico, the site of the jump.

So it's definite now? There is a delay?

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: There is a delay, Carol, but they still are in a window where they think they could launch this thing. They think that the launch could come off probably no earlier than about 11:30 a.m. local time, 1:30 p.m. Eastern Time. It could go another -- they could delay it maybe a little bit beyond that, but probably not much because of the duration it would take and then the darkness factor setting in for later when he lands.

So still in a holding pattern with the weather, but it could come off today. So we're going to wait and see if those winds at about 700 or 800 feet die down as they thought it might. So with the sun coming up, they think they might see more optimum conditions for launch. And we're going to wait and see what the meteorologist here says.

You mentioned interestingly that he's going to be going more than 690 miles an hour, closer maybe to 700, maybe even as high as 720 miles an hour. The only other person to even approach that speed outside a vehicle is the man whose record Felix Baumgartner is going to be trying to break, that is retired Air Force Colonel Joe Kittinger.

A few months ago I spoke to Kittinger and I asked him basically what it was like to go that fast. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TODD: Can you tell the average Joe out there what it's like to go 600-plus miles an hour? With nothing but a suit on?

COL. JOE KITTINGER, HOLDS CURRENT WORLD RECORD: There's nowhere you can tell how fast you're going because there's no visual cues.

TODD: Right.

KITTINGER: The only way you know you're going fast is you've got enough (INAUDIBLE) that's unwinding real fast and you know you're going down in a hurry, but the force on the body remains the same.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TODD: And to clarify, Joe Kittinger, when he made that jump in 1960, he went about 614 miles an hour. Felix Baumgartner is supposed to go about 690 plus, between 690 and maybe as fast as 710, 720 miles an hour and he'll be breaking the speed of sound if and when he does that -- Carol.

COSTELLO: That's just insane. It's -- I get what he's talking about, though. You don't have any visual cues. It's like flying in an airplane and you go look out the window.

TODD: Yes.

COSTELLO: You know, you can't -- you can't feel how fast you're going because of that.

TODD: That's right.

COSTELLO: So if this try is canceled today, Brian, when is the next attempt?

TODD: Well, the meteorologist Don Day told us that if it does not go today, he said the conditions do not look as favorable tomorrow. So they are looking at Thursday as a more probable go-day for the mission if it's not launched today. COSTELLO: Brian Todd, thanks so much. We'll get back to you, if the jump goes off. Thank you so much.

TODD: All right.

COSTELLO: On to sports now, baseball's wildcard winners, they're going on the road with a split of their two playoff series. The Baltimore Orioles evened their series with the Yankees taking a streak to win last night. Mark Reynolds came through again. He went opposite field to knock in the winning round. The Yankees scored to make it closer but Jim Johnson came in and he earned a save for the birds. Game three tomorrow night in the Bronx.

St. Louis Cardinals and Washington National series is also knotted at one. The Cards smacked the Nats 12-4. Carlos Beltran hit two of the four St. Louis home runs. Beltran now has the highest postseason slugging percentage in baseball history. The Nationals host game three of the series tomorrow afternoon.

Wall Street's money men and women say forget the presidential race. Watch for the battles in Congress.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: It is 15 minutes past the hour. Checking our top stories.

Jerry Sandusky in court today for sentencing. He could get life in prison. The former Penn assistant coach and some of his victims expected to address the judge. Sandusky was found guilty of 45 criminal counts. Of course, we'll bring you the sentence when it happens.

Justice may be getting closer for a grieving widow who says her husband was killed on a lake that straddles the U.S./Mexico border. She calls an arrest in the two-year-old case a complete out-of-the- blue shock. Investigators say this man, a suspected Mexican drug cartel leader, is linked to the killing on Falcon Lake. The victim's body has never been found.

In money news, Wal-Mart and American Express are teaming up. They're launching a new prepaid card as an alternative to checking accounts and debit cards. They're calling it Bluebird. It will have no monthly, annual, or overdraft fees and no minimum balance. You can use it at the ATM and make deposit with your smartphones.

In California where an incredible crash is caught on camera. A truck smashes into a liquor store trapping the owner of that store underneath the rubble, and then the driver -- the driver sped off. Police watched the surveillance video and in just a few hours they caught up with that hit-and-run driver. He is now under arrest.

A new poll shows Romney edging ahead of President Obama after last week's debate, as both candidates head to the key battleground state of Ohio today. President Obama holds a rally in Ohio State University in Columbus this afternoon, and Mitt Romney will campaign in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, tonight, that's near Cleveland. That new Pew Research poll shows Romney ahead of Obama 49 to 45 percent, but Romney's advantage is within the survey's sampling error.

And while most Americans will be focused on the presidential election on November 6th, Wall Street will be looking more closely at the congressional races.

Alison Kosik is at the New York Stock Exchange to explain. Good morning.

ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. The way Wall Street sees it, forget about the presidential election. Economists say it's the congressional election that's more important.

Look what this CNN Money survey found. It found that 60 percent of analysts say whoever wins control of Congress is going to have a bigger impact on stocks. Compare that to 40 percent who say the next president will have a bigger impact. And it's all because of the fiscal cliff. And we've heard the warnings time and time again. You know we could go into a recession if Congress sits on its hands and does nothing, unemployment can go higher. One analyst calls the fiscal cliff a ticking time bomb at this point.

The analyst says that stocks are going to be under pressure until we get an idea of what Congress is going to do. This is so important to the market because the fiscal cliff, it affects the taxes you pay, the taxes corporations pay, it affects how much money is taken out of your paychecks. That impacts how much we spend, and it impacts, of course, whether or not companies are going to hire.

Now at the moment, Carol, polls are showing that Republicans could hold on to the House, but the Senate, oh, the Senate is a wildcard. It can go either way. And that's why analysts say, you know what, the Senate is really the most important race of all. Even above who wins president -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Alison Kosik reporting live from the New York Stock Exchange.

"Talk Back" question for you today, do you believe in life after death? And why? Facebook.com/CarolCNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Now is your chance to "Talk Back" on one of the stories of the day. The question for you this morning, do you believe in life after death? And why?

There's a fascinating article in the latest issue of "Newsweek" about the possibility of life after death. It caught our attention because most of us want to believe there's deeper meaning to life and something out there for us after we die.

The latest theory comes from Dr. Eben Alexander, a neurosurgeon who called himself a Christian in name only until he contracted meningitis and had his own near-death experience. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: After seven days of virtual brain death, Alexander emerged from the coma. Miraculously within a month, he was back to normal, but something happened to him while he was away.

DR. EBEN ALEXANDER, NEUROSURGEON: I had no body awareness, I had no arms, legs, or anything, but I was aware I was a speck on a butterfly wing. Absolutely beautiful butterfly. I was there with that beautiful, warm awareness of the divine, which was clearly what we would call god in this place outside the universe.

Basically I recall the whole multiverse being out in front of me. It was very clear that love was a huge part of the constituent of that whole multiverse.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: It comes at a time when many Americans are becoming less religious. In a Pew Research study nearly 20 percent of Americans, one in five, said they had no religious affiliation compared to nearly 15 percent five years ago.

Still, the article struck a chord, which says to us, despite what the polls say, most people are looking for answers about the afterlife. So the "Talk Back" question today: Do you believe in life after death? And why? Facebook.com/CarolCNN. Facebook.com/CarolCNN. Your responses later this hour.

The Obama campaign is out with a new political ad this morning, and it goes after Mitt Romney, and it features a big, big character. Really big.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

COSTELLO: All right. All morning long we're -- we've been telling you that Jerry Sandusky is in a courthouse awaiting his fate. Well, his fate has come. Let's head to the courthouse now with Susan Candiotti.

What's the sentence?

CANDIOTTI: Carol, Jerry Sandusky will die in jail. As expected, he got a very long sentence. The judge said not less than 30 years, not more than 60 years. Well, Jerry Sandusky is 68 years old, so he will spend the rest of his life in jail. He got credit for time served, the judge said, 112 days, and he will spend the next 10 days in the local jail until they send him to prison.

Now we do know that he spoke for about 13 minutes or so. He went on and on and said these words that included, quote, "I did not do these disgusting acts," and he repeated that sentence time and again. This as the victims also got to hear him and then make their own statements, and we know that they were going to say that they were angry, that they were angry and wanted the judge to really throw the book at him, and that's exactly what the judge did.

Now, Jerry Sandusky is now leaving the courthouse. He is wearing a bulletproof vest. He was in shackles. He's walking out, and then he will be taken to jail and then on to -- eventually to the prison where he will be serving out his sentence, and we'll be getting more color about what happened in court from Jason Carroll who is out of the courthouse.

COSTELLO: Yes, I just wanted to read and make it clear to our audience what exactly happens. So Jerry Sandusky was sentenced to not less than 30 years, not more than 60 years. He got 112 days of credit, and the next 10 days will be in a local jail before he's going on to prison.

We saw live pictures of Jerry Sandusky getting into that police car. I would assume he's back on his way to that local jail before he's transferred to a federal prison.

Is Jason Carroll out of the courthouse yet, Susan? I think he's ready now.

Jason, are you there?

CANDIOTTI: Just something out. That's right, and ready to tell you.

JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I am here, Carol. Just wanted -- just came out of the courthouse just a few moments ago. Just want to give you -- just sort of a sense of what happened as Jerry Sandusky stood up to speak. He became very emotional toward the end of his -- while he was addressing the court.

Let me just read to you some of the quotes I was able to pick up for him. He said at the outset, he said, "I feel the need to talk, not for arrogance, but from my heart. I am filled with emotion and determination. I did not do these disgusting acts."

He then went on to speak about his past, he spoke about his wife, Dottie, saying, "I told Dottie," using those sports reference, "that this is the day that we're in the fourth quarter." He said this is the time when you find out who your friends are in the fourth quarter, those who will stand by you. He said, "I'd like to believe they know me the most. They continue to stand by me."

He became very emotional at the conclusion while he was addressing the court. He had been criticized throughout the proceeding even today. He was criticized for smirking his way through things. He said that -- basically saying that he was smiling through the pain and he started tearing up and he said, "This is what my family does. We smile when things get tough."

Some of the other emotional moments, as you can imagine, were some of the victims themselves, when they stood up and they addressed the court. For instance victim number six, that's how he was identified. He spoke to Jerry, spoke to the court. He said "That night you told me you were the tickle monster so you could touch my 11-year-old body. I realize now just how much you manipulated me." At that point Jerry just looked stone faced. I looked over at his family they were looking down as the victims stood up.

Victim number five then addressed the court saying, "The sentence will never erase what he did to me. It will never make me whole. He must pay for his crimes, take into account the tears, the pain, the private anguish." Victim number five did not look at Jerry, who was seated just a few feet away from -- just a few feet away from him.

But what I found interesting was victim number four, I remember when victim number four testified. He was one of the more feisty victims who took the stand, and he was feisty even today. He looked directly at Jerry Sandusky not once, Carol, but several times while he gave his victim impact statement. He said, quote, "I want you to know, I do not forgive you. I don't know if I ever can forgive you."

Lots of emotion in the courtroom today, Carol. That's for sure.

COSTELLO: So Jason Carroll and Susan Candiotti, standby. I want to bring in Paul Callan our legal analyst. Paul, we had heard that the judge might sentence Jerry Sandusky up to 400 years in prison. He comes back with a sentence not less than 30 years, not more than 60. Is this because of Jerry Sandusky's age?

CALLAN: Yes, I think that's an important factor. The judge is undoubtedly looking at the fact that even a 30-year sentence will probably mean that Jerry Sandusky will die in prison. And you know, these sentences, these consecutive sentences which could have added up to over 400 years, while technically it might be a legal sentence, when an appellate court is looking at the case, it looks like a vindictive judge as opposed to a judge who is trying to be fair and reasonable in his approach to the case.

So I think it sort of strengthens the hand of the judge in having the conviction upheld by doing this kind of a sentence as opposed to one of those off the books, huge numbers.

COSTELLO: And I want to go back to Jason Carroll. I know that Jerry Sandusky's wife Dottie was in the courtroom. She's remained loyal to him, by his side. What was her reaction?

CARROLL: Well it was very interesting to see how she would respond to a lot of this and emotionally she held it together and she wasn't the only one who was there. Several of Jerry Sandusky's children, grown children, were also in the courtroom. E.J., he was there, his daughter Kara, she as there as well. Some interesting points though about -- about the sentencing itself because the judge made it very clear when he addressed the court, he said, look, the law allows me to sentence you to hundreds of years if I could, but he felt as though that was too esoteric.

He said, he wanted to make sure that Jerry was sentenced to something that -- that wasn't so "abstract" using the judge's words, something that he could understand and given that Jerry is 68 years old, that's why he in fact, ended up sentencing him to no less than 30 years which is effectively a life sentence. COSTELLO: Yes. And Paul Callan, I guess the appeals process will now begin.

CALLAN: Yes, it will and, you know, they've raised some interesting claims on appeal. They're saying that they were rushed into this trial. The trial did go very, very quickly. I mean, the last indictment was in December of 2011. They were picking a jury in June. That's a real fast track on a complicated case.

And, you know, they're also saying that the prosecutor made an improper reference to the fact that Sandusky didn't tell his story properly, which meant his Fifth Amendment rights were violated, and they've got a few arguments to put on the board on appeal, whether an appellate court will go along is another decision.

COSTELLO: Yes just -- just to give viewers an idea of what you're seeing that was Jerry Sandusky's wife, Dottie, getting into that car. She now driving away, destination unknown. Of course, her husband got into a police vehicle earlier as he left the courtroom. He's off probably to local jail and then at some point he'll be transferred to federal prison.

Jason Carroll, the victims in this case -- I mean, I know one of the victims plans to write a book about this, but no other victim that I can think of has -- has shown his face.

CARROLL: Well you know victim number one is the one that you're referring to who is allegedly going to be writing this book. But you know we're hearing about so many book deals. We've heard that Jerry Sandusky has been writing a lot in prison, has a lot of time on his hands. He's written me, in fact, two letters.

And so we're hearing that perhaps he may write a book as well. Some of the attorneys involved on one side or the other may be penning books as well. So these are just some of the things that we're hearing.

But this -- one other point that struck me in court because a lot has been said, obviously the most recent development on this other than the sentencing is that radio statement that Jerry Sandusky gave, you remember that and I'm sure you've been running it this morning while I was in court.

Well, the judge spoke about that and it was interesting to hear what he said because before he issued his sentence he said you know I listened not only to the impact letters, read those, but I listened to that radio interview as well. And you remember at one point during that interview, during that statement that Jerry Sandusky gave, he talked about what basically amounts to a conspiracy, that he felt as though he was a victim of the courts and -- and victims who had come up and made up these stories, things like that.

And the Judge referred to that, and he was very clear. He said, quote, "All the conspiracy theories" he says that "what flows from underneath that is not only the undeniable" he said, "but the unbelievable". So this -- this is one of the things that the Judge said just before he sentenced Jerry Sandusky.

COSTELLO: OK so Paul Callan, you were right. The judge did take that statement, those audio recordings, into account, and he did not look upon them favorably.

CALLAN: No, he didn't. It backfired on Sandusky, as I thought it would. He's obviously -- you know I got a feeling probably his lawyers probably told him not to do it either. You know, the lawyers are going to get slammed for going along with this, but who knows what happens behind closed doors. Sandusky might have just insisted on leaking this to the college radio station and -- and the lawyers probably said hey it's your life. If that's what you want to do, do it.

COSTELLO: Wow. Paul Callan, Jason Carroll, Susan Candiotti, thank you so much. We're going to take a quick break and we'll be back with much more in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: And just to bring you up to date once again. Moments ago the judge sentenced Jerry Sandusky to not less than 30 years in prison and not more than 60. The judge said he did not sentence him to hundreds of years behind bars because that just wouldn't seem right. Jerry Sandusky is around 68 years old. He will likely die in prison.

These are pictures of Jerry Sandusky leaving the courtroom, getting into that police car, he'll be taken to the local jail where he's been being held and later transferred to a federal facility. Much more on this story in the hours to come on CNN.

Let's talk about politics now, shall we? Now let's talk about the polls. But is it even worth talking about the polls? So you've heard all about the latest Pew poll and it has a huge post debate bump for Romney and not a single Republican is questioning its accuracy.

But hold on, there are two different polls new this morning that show Romney is actually losing momentum. So what's the Obama campaign going to do about it? Unleash Big Bird.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AD NARRATOR: Bernie Madoff, Ken Lay, Dennis Kozlowski, criminals, glutens of greed -- and the evil genius who towered over them? One man has the guts to speak his name.

MITT ROMNEY, (R) PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Big Bird. Big Bird. Big Bird.

BIG BIRD: It's me, Big Bird.

AD NARRATOR: Big, yellow, a menace to our economy. Mitt Romney knows it's not Wall Street you have to worry about; it's "Sesame Street".

ROMNEY: I'm going to stop the subsidy to PBS.

AD NARRATOR: Mitt Romney, taking on our enemies no matter where they nest.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: There you have it.

So let's talk about everything. Jason Johnson is a political science professor at Hiram College in Ohio and the chief political correspondent for Politics365. John Avlon is an Independent and CNN contributor and he does many, many more things, too long to list. Welcome to you both.

JASON JOHNSON, POLITICAL SCIENCE PROFESSOR, HIRAM COLLEGE: Good morning.

COSTELLO: OK.

JOHN AVLON, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Good to see you, Carol.

COSTELLO: So President Obama is arming himself with Big Bird and actually Nickelodeon, too, because apparently defying tradition Mitt Romney refused to answer question from the kids on Nickelodeon's kid pick the President and Mr. Obama did answer questions and that started the war of words. Obama's deputy national press secretary saying quote, "It's no surprise Mr. Romney chose to play hooky. Kids demand details," end quote. Jason, isn't this just silly?

JOHNSON: You know, it isn't silly when you're Mitt Romney because you need to make sure that after you get this post debate boost, that you work it as good as you can and the idea of him looking cold again, the idea of him looking distant again and not connecting with people is not good.

Going after Big Bird, going after Elmo and ignoring a bunch of kids on Nickelodeon that is not the way to continue on the crest of your bump. So it is not good for Mitt Romney.

COSTELLO: Oh so come on but, John we saw Mitt Romney at an elementary school, he was shaking hands with the kids and he's telling very touching stories on the campaign trail about this 14-year-old for whom he gave the eulogy.

AVLON: Yes. Yes, but -- but continue that momentum. This is an unforced error. I mean if Nickelodeon has a series and asks you to talk to American school kids, you can't say I don't have time for them and still be on the charm offensive. We're trying to show people how human you are.

Look, he's a fantastic father by all accounts. This is a unforced scheduling error, you always make time for America's school kids. If you don't, it's going to reflect badly on you.

COSTELLO: Really? Come on. Really?

JOHNSON: Yes.

AVLON: Yes, no I'm telling you. COSTELLO: Because some people might say, oh my God, why take time out to answer a bunch of kids' questions.

JOHNSON: But the kids matter.

AVLON: Because they matter and their parents vote.

COSTELLO: OK. You guys know more about politics than I do. It's OK.

Let's talk about the polls. There's being a war waged over the polls on Twitter. It goes something like this, my poll is better than your poll, na-na-na-na.

So when taken all together, do national polls really matter, Jason?

JOHNSON: They do matter and they matter even when the Republicans were becoming sort of poll truthers just like they were job truthers last week.

Look, the thing is this. Barack Obama was never going to win the presidential election by eight points. I always thought the original Pew poll was -- was a bit too positive Barack Obama.

But legitimately look, Mitt Romney has done better after doing well in the debate and then that has receded a bit. And so the national polls matter but more importantly as a state polls when we look at Florida, when we look at Ohio, when we look at Virginia, if any of his success from last week's debate trickles into the states, then this could be a whole new race. But so far we haven't seen that in any of the swing states.

COSTELLO: But John, wouldn't you -- wouldn't you venture to guess that the closer we get to election time, the national polls, I'm not talking about the swing state polls, because I agree with you Jason, the national polls will show a race that's neck and neck?

AVLON: Sure absolutely. And remember, I mean Election Day is today in many states there's early voting. This year is different. The only poll that counts isn't just Election Day, it's what people do before.

But -- but Jason is right to the extent that national polls are a broad barometer. What matters is the swing states. If you want to know what's going on, pay attention to them. And I love the way Carol that the professional partisans on both sides whenever they see a poll they don't like, they immediately start, you know, calling foul and going to the sample size. I mean, they are trying to spin their way out of what the polls are showing and nobody thinks that President Obama had a good debate last week.

It's not a surprised that Mitt Romney is going to be making ground, pretty serious ground, in the past week.

COSTELLO: But there are still two more presidential polls to go.

AVLON: Yes. COSTELLO: And you just don't know. That's why I'm saying why even look at the polls right now, Jason?

JOHNSON: Well, because it matters. The horse race coverage matters for partisans, right? Because the Democrats always like to be chicken little and say, oh, my God, the sky is falling, Obama got hammered in the debate last week. And Republicans like to always overestimate how friendly and how nice people actually think Mitt Romney are.

So it matters to the people who are the partisans. It also matters for raising money. Look, Mitt Romney raised a lot of money after the debate last week because he finally demonstrated that hey, maybe this is a real race. So the polls do matter internally in the campaigns.

COSTELLO: OK so I've learned from this conversation that Big Bird could be the decider. John --

AVLON: Don't diss Big Bird. That's one of the big take away.

COSTELLO: I understand. I will never diss Big Bird. Jason Johnson and John Avlon, thanks so much.

JOHNSON: Thank you.

COSTELLO: A reminder for you Vice President Joe Biden and Congressman Paul Ryan preparing to debate each other this Thursday night. CNN's live coverage begins at 7:00 p.m. Eastern.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Jerry Sandusky, the former assistant coach at Penn State, has now been sentenced to no less than 30 years no more than 60 years in prison which likely means he will remain in prison for the rest of his life since he's around 68 years old. Here he is being led from the courthouse just about 15, 20 minutes ago. Hearing really didn't last long, maybe an hour and minutes at the most. Jerry Sandusky put into that police car, taken back to jail, and then at some point he will be transferred to federal prison.

Just moments ago from the courthouse, Sandusky's attorney, Joe Amendola spoke. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE AMENDOLA, ATTORNEY FOR JERRY SANDUSKY: Here is the issue, folks. We're going to challenge the fact that we needed more time to prepare adequately Jerry's defense. Here is the fundamental issue. Under our constitution, both federally and in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, we have specific clauses that talk about due process.

The Sixth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution which applies to Pennsylvania and the other 49 states, through the 14th Amendment and through Article I Section 9 of our state constitution, the law says each and every one of us as citizens, and even non-citizens for that matter, are entitled to due press of law. Now, due process of law is more than just showing up at court, having an attorney who can ask good questions and having your day in court and the court then decides or a jury decides your guilt and innocence. It also includes the concept of being able to properly and adequately prepare your defense before you show up in court.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: So we've heard this before. In fact, we heard it in the audio tape recordings that Jerry Sandusky made while in jail and released to a campus radio station. Our legal analyst Paul Callan is here to parse this out for us.

Does Joe Amendola have a good case?

CALLAN: Well, it's actually a very unusual claim, you know. In most states the U.S. Constitution guarantees you the right to a speedy trial. It doesn't say anything about a slow trial. So usually defendants are coming in saying "You violated my right to a speedy trial."

Amendola makes -- I think he makes an argument that certainly the court will look at. In a very complex case, you certainly have to give the defense time to prepare. Now, his strongest argument is that the second indictment in this case was handed down in December of 2011. They were picking a jury by June, and there was a lot that had gone on in terms of motions in front of the court and trying to interview witnesses, and they were constantly telling the judge, we're not ready, we're not ready.

But the case went to trial, and it did go very, very quickly. Usually a case like this, you wouldn't expect to see it tried for over a year because of its complexity. So he will get an audience before the court. I really doubt that it will be reversed though on that basis.

COSTELLO: All right. Thank you, Paul. Before we button up this segment, I want to read a statement from Penn State's president, Rodney Erickson. He said the following, let's see, "Our thoughts today," he says, "as they have been for the last year go out to the victims of Jerry Sandusky's abuse. While today's sentence cannot erase what has happened, hopefully it will provide comfort to those affected by these horrible events and help them continue down the road to recovery." That statement by the Penn State president, Rodney Erickson.

We're going to take a quick break. We'll be back with much more.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Bumps and bruises seem almost inevitable when it comes to kids so being prepared is key. Dr. Travis Stork, host of "The Doctors" has some medical must-haves for the home in today's "Daily Dose".

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) DR. TRAVIS STORK, HOST, "THE DOCTORS": As an ER doctor I'm acutely aware of how easy it is to injury ourselves; how easy it is for our kids to injure themselves. So always a kit on hand. I recommend some of the premade first aid kits. American Red Cross has a bunch of kits available. That's what I have.

On top of that, if you're going to piecemeal it together, make sure you have a good set of bandages, compression wraps, you're going to want ice packs, a good set of scissors or shears and make sure you also have things like antihistamines, pain relievers, and if your child suffers from severe allergies, an EpiPen can be truly life saving because I have seen anaphylactic reactions in kids and the only thing that can in many cases save them is an EpiPen.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Our "Talk Back" question this morning: Do you believe in life after death and why? Your responses next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: "Talk Back" question today: Do you believe in life after death and why? Great, great responses today -- thank you.

This from Nancy: "Yes, I believe in life after death. This world is only a place of testing and preparation."

From Rob: "I do not believe in life after death. When you die, that's it, it's all over. You have only one shot at this life, so make the best of it."

And from Mark: "Sometimes we think so much about what happens when our life is over, it gets in the way of the life we're living."

Thank you so much for responding to that question today. I appreciate it. Facebook.com/CarolCNN if you'd like to continue the conversation.

An update on our skydiver, Felix Baumgartner. You know he wants to jump from the edge of space. He's going to fall at 700 miles per hour and attempt to a set new record for falling faster than the speed of sound. We're told that his balloon is being unloaded. It takes an hour to unfold, and then it takes an hour to inflate. Now, they haven't said the launch is a complete go because the weather is still iffy, but the mere fact they're unloading this balloon and loading it up is a good sign that Felix will get to make his jump. Of course, we'll keep you posted.

Thanks for joining me today. I'm Carol Costello.

CNN NEWSROOM continues right now with Ashleigh Banfield.