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Obama and Romney in Debate Preps; Worldwide Support for Malala; Taliban's Vow to Kill Teen; Source: Arms Sent to Syria Aiding Jihadists; American Hoops Star Beloved in Iran; How to Moderate a Town Hall; Family Angry over Meningitis Death
Aired October 15, 2012 - 14:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: And let's jump right in, shall we.
President Obama, Mitt Romney, both lying low, both cramming for tomorrow night's town hall debate. These are live pictures outside that debate site. You see the sign. It is happening at Hofstra University. The president playing catch-up. And they will be debating one another inside this hall. This is Hempstead, New York. We have a correspondent right there. So stand by for that as we catch you up on where we are today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PAUL RYAN (R), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We haven't dedicated our electoral votes since 1984 to the Republican nominee. It is time we change that. Let's make sure --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Paul Ryan campaigned this morning in his home state of Wisconsin, talked up the Packers, talked up Mitt Romney, and reminded supporters that Wisconsin has developed a habit of voting Democratic. We will talk about how Wisconsin may prove crucial here.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We have Republicans trying to redefine rape.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Trying to force women to undergo invasive ultrasounds.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Scarlett Johansson fronting this new ad geared toward women. Actress Kelly Washington and Eva Longoria also appear in the pro-Obama spot produced by moveon.org.
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ROBERT GIBBS, OBAMA CAMPAIGN ADVISER: He's got to be more energetic. I think you'll see somebody who is very passionate about the --
(END VIDEO CLIP) BALDWIN: Looking ahead to tomorrow night's debate, the president's supporters are looking for a little more oomph. Team Obama has set up camp in Williamsburg, Virginia. There's the president with some pizza, stopping by to thank volunteers.
And within just these past couple of hours, we have adjusted our CNN poll of polls. Let me show that to you now. And as you will see here in a second, there we go, as of this moment, it is showing a one-point lead for Mitt Romney. But take a look at this one. "Washington Post"/ABC, they have a new poll out as well. The poll, three-point lead for Obama. We're going to look at some of the states here in just a moment.
But first, as promised, CNN's Jim Acosta is standing by for us now. This is Romney's home base of Boston, Massachusetts.
And, Jim, we have talked, you know, the pressure on the president for this debate tomorrow night. What about Romney? I mean he was clearly the victor of the first debate. Is he preparing for a more aggressive Barack Obama, one who will, you know, certainly be looking to even the score?
JIM ACOSTA, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: I think so, Brooke. You know, you heard Rob Portman, who is Mitt Romney's chief sparring partner, say on one of the Sunday talk show yesterday that the president will come out swinging. I think that's an indication that they are preparing for that scenario to emerge at the debate tomorrow night.
You know, one other thing that has emerged out of these debate preparations, although it's not very much, Brooke. I have to tell you, these two candidates are competitive when it comes to just about everything, including just how little they're saying to reporters about how these debate preparations are going on. But I will tell you that there is some conversation going on I think on this -- on both campaigns, inside both campaigns, as to how this will go on tomorrow evening in this town hall style format. As you know, because it's a town hall style format, there will be people in the audience who will be asking questions of both candidates.
And, Brooke, I have to tell you, in the last 24 hours, there have been some reports out there that both campaigns have been raising concerns about this format and whether or not our moderator, CNN's Candy Crowley, will be able to ask follow-up questions. And apparently there has been some discussion going on inside both campaigns about some of this. I talked to one senior campaign adviser who said they're going to be prepared for whatever happens, no matter the scenario, whether or not there are follow-up questions from the moderator or not. But that just goes to show you how intense these preparations are and how high the stakes are right now because of the polls. This race is essentially deadlocked, not only nationally, but in several key battleground states. So it just goes to show you why they're paying attention to the very fine details of this one (ph).
BALDWIN: Sure. I mean certainly the stakes are very, very high for both candidates. But I will say, you know, obviously all of us supporting Candy Crowley. And she's a smart cookie and she's obviously studying up, as any of these previous moderators have dating all the way back.
ACOSTA: That's right.
BALDWIN: Nothing is different from this format as any town hall debates in the past.
But let me switch gears, because I was reading up this morning, Jim, on these three specific states. And we now have these, you know, these three swing state polls. So let me take you first, poll of polls, in Virginia. Obama up one. Florida now showing a three-point lead for Mitt Romney there. And, finally, Ohio, a three-point lead for Obama.
Jim, generally speaking, things are looking up for Mitt Romney. But perhaps we should point out that the oddsmakers seem to think Romney has to sweep these three states, specifically these three states, Virginia, Florida and Ohio --
ACOSTA: Right.
BALDWIN: You know, got to run the table. Is that the case? A must-win all three to win November 6th?
ACOSTA: Forgive me, Brooke, for holding my ear piece like this. I'm just having a real tough time hearing you right now with the audio coming in.
But with respect to those three states, I mean, those are the three states that everybody is focusing on right now, Ohio and Florida and Virginia. Those three states could very well determine the outcome of this election. And basically what's going on here, Brooke, is that all three of those states were won by the president the last time around. And so you have both campaigns going through all of these different scenarios with the battleground map, you know, pulling one state out, putting two states back in.
You heard Rob Portman on one of the Sunday talk shows yesterday saying that -- you know, reminding everybody that no Republican has gone on to win the presidency without winning Ohio. That is why you had Paul Ryan in his home state of Wisconsin earlier this morning, because if they do lose -- if the Romney campaign does lose two out of the three, it becomes incredibly difficult to put together the 270 electoral votes that they need to win this election.
And so, yes, I mean, the fact that these battleground state polls are deadlocked in our CNN poll of polls and that national poll of polls number just indicates how very tight this race is, and how very important this debate is tomorrow night, which explains why the campaigns are being very secretive, being very quiet right now about their preparations. And also being, frankly, very interested almost to the minutia as to how these rules are going to be applied in the debate tomorrow night, whether they'll be follow-up questions from Candy, whether there won't be follow-up questions from Candy. All of that is in the discussion right now because the stakes are just so high right now.
BALDWIN: All right, Jim Acosta in Boston. Jim, thank you. I want to continue sort of part of the point Jim was making. We promised we'd take you to the scene of tomorrow night's debate. CNN's Candy Crowley will host the thing. It starts at 9:00 tomorrow night Eastern Time.
Paul Steinhauser, let me go to you, our political editor, there in Hempstead, New York, and on the campus of Hofstra University. And, Paul, let's just, you know, start at the beginning. In terms of, you know, the rules, the format of this town hall, from what I understand, this is the very same kind of format as we have seen in, you know, town halls past. Is that correct?
PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN POLITICAL EDITOR: It sure is. So here's the deal. You're going to have the two candidates in there. Obviously you're going to have Candy Crowley, the moderator, obviously. You're also going to have about 80 people in the audience, in the town hall part of the audience. And these 80 people are all undecided voters. They were chosen by Gallup. And they are going to be able to ask questions. We're going to see about 12 to 15 questions from the audience members. So that's kind of how it's going to work.
And, you know, the key here, Brooke, is less about scoring points against your opponent, Romney versus Obama, or Obama versus Romney, it's more about connecting with the town hall audience members, the ones that are asking the candidates the questions and, of course, connecting at home. That's why the format is different and that's why it is going to be a different dynamic tomorrow night. So, Brooke, we're looking forward to an interesting, interesting debate. Yes, a showdown, but really is more about connecting with the audience.
One other thing. Jim Acosta was saying it's an important debate. It sure is. And here's another sign of how important it is. They've got coffee thermoses here. We didn't get these in the last two debates.
BALDWIN: Nice.
STEINHAUSER: We're getting them today, Brooke.
BALDWIN: Some Hofstra shwag (ph).
STEINHAUSER: Yes.
BALDWIN: Very nice. Bring me back one, Paul Steinhauser.
STEINHAUSER: I sure will.
BALDWIN: Thank you so much. Have fun in New York.
And, as we mentioned, round two for President Obama and Mitt Romney, tomorrow night. Our special live coverage begins right here on CNN 7:00 Eastern.
It is one of the worst case scenarios, weapons meant for Syrian rebels ending up in the hands of jihadists. And this one report suggests it's happening.
I'm Brooke Baldwin. The news is now.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He was the center of our universe as a family.
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BALDWIN: A man gets into a car accident, gets steroid injections, and weeks later he's gone. CNN investigates.
Plus, first the Taliban target a teenage girl, and now she's moved out of Pakistan for treatment. The militant promise her family is next.
And an American basketball player once feared Iran, but he accepts a gig there anyway. A gig that changes his life.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: She is the face of a movement much bigger than herself. Malala Yousafzai, that Pakistani school girl who was shot in the head by the Taliban for declaring her right to go to school, has just arrived in Britain for treatment. But as she is there, and clinging on to life, the world is rallying around her. As you see in these pictures, look at these crowds, tens of thousands gathered in Karachi, Pakistan, Sunday. Men, women, children, holding signs that say shame on you, Taliban. School girls in Abu Dhabi sang songs, held pictures of young Malala. Also, former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, he is speaking out as well. He is saying Malala's plight highlights the struggle for education millions of children face.
In addition, former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld took to Twitter. He tweets this. "Today, 3 million plus girls are in Afghan schools. The shooting of Malala Yousafzai should remind us that if the Taliban regain control, they won't be."
The Taliban, who is saying no girls should be educated, have claimed responsibility for the shooting. They have also threatened to go after Malala if she survives. CNN's senior international correspondent, Dan Rivers, is in Birmingham, England, for us.
And, Dan, first off, just how is she?
DAN RIVERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, she's being assessed right now. We've not been given any updates on her condition. She still has not remained -- regained consciousness as far as we're aware. She's been in a medically induced coma since that shooting.
She arrived here earlier on this afternoon at about 4:20 local time. The plane came into the local airport. It's an air ambulance that was provided by the United Arab Emirates and then she was brought by ambulance to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital here in Birmingham, which is a center for the treatment of gunshot wounds. They treat a lot of soldiers from Afghanistan.
The medical director here told us that they have treated every single British battlefield casualty for the last 10 years or so. So they've really got a massive pool of expertise and facilities here to draw on. And now that long process of assessing her condition is getting underway.
One of the first things they're going to do is try and do some imaging on her head and her brain using an MRI scanner to build up a sort of 3-D picture of her head to see exactly what needs to be done.
BALDWIN: Do we know, Dan, as they're assessing her condition, if she has at all suffered permanent brain damage?
RIVERS: We don't know because she has not regained consciousness. I mean they said -- the director told us that, you know, they think there is a chance of her making a good recovery. That they wouldn't have gone to the extraordinary lengths that they have to organize this transfer if they didn't think there was a possibility that she may recover somewhat. We just don't know the extent to which she could recover, but that's what they're doing right now is seeing the extent of the damage to her brain, the damage to her skull, what needs to be reconstructed and what has been permanently damaged as a result of the gunshot.
It's amazing to think she was shot at point blank range, basically, with a 9 millimeter pistol to the head. It's incredible she's alive at all, frankly. And now she's here with some of the world's leading neurosurgeons and specialist who will do everything they can to try and help her recover as fully as possible. But the director told us that this is going to be a process which goes on for weeks or months. So it's going to be quite a long time before we know the outcome of this treatment.
BALDWIN: She sounds like a fighter and she has the whole world rallying around her. Dan Rivers for us in a rainy Birmingham. Dan, thank you.
And let's go next to Islamabad, to Pakistan, where Reza Sayah is standing by where, you know, I know, Reza, you spoke with her many months ago, but in terms of her safety, obviously she is safe right now as she is in Britain in that hospital. But what about her family? From what I understand, the Taliban is now threatening to go after them.
REZA SAYAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the father is with Malala. So he's safe for the time being. But just several days after the shooting, the Taliban said, if Malala survives, we're going to go after her again. We're going to go after her father as well. Now, if there's a strategy behind this Taliban threat, I'm not sure what it is, but it certainly drives home the fact that for the Taliban, no target is off limits, not even a 14-year-old girl.
Brooke.
BALDWIN: Reza, what about the Pakistani government? I mean is this not a moment where they can take this opportunity and stand up, stand up against the Taliban?
SAYAH: Well, some people are describing it as such, as a potential turning point for the governments in their fight against militancy. Others are concerned that this opportunity is going to fade away. But here's what I can tell you. Never in my stay here have I seen this type of intense and widespread anger aimed at the Taliban. Here's a glimpse at the fury, some people we spoke with.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We don't want Taliban anymore in Pakistan. And after the Malala incident, this is about time that people of Pakistan stand up.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The masses that you can see here, in these people, they are condemning the acts of Taliban.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SAYAH: Now, the outrage is obviously there, but many say the key is the government. What will they do? Will they bolster their counterinsurgency, counterterrorism, go after these militants and also win hearts and minds by building schools and giving people here the most basic needs. It's a monster task and many of the critics of this government say they can't do it. Others say if they're going to do it, this is an opportunity.
BALDWIN: Has anyone been arrested in connection with this, Reza?
SAYAH: A lot of people detained, Brooke. But when you ask the top military spokesperson if the gunman has been arrested, he wouldn't say. Obviously a lot of pressure on the government to get these culprits. Not just because they went after a teenager, but how they did it. Here's a graphic description of how Malala was shot. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAJ. GEN. ASIM SALEEM BAJWA, PAKISTANI ARMY SPOKESPERSON: She got hit on the left side behind the forehead. And then --
SAYAH: So she got hit directly in the head?
BAJWA: Yes. She got hit in -- hit in the head. And then it traveled through here, through the neck and went behind the shoulder and rested just next to the backbone.
SAYAH: Was this a point blank shot?
BAJWA: It was a point blank shot, yes.
SAYAH: Are you surprised that she is even alive today?
BAJWA: Yes. Everyone is surprised that she is alive today.
SAYAH: So was it a small caliber gun?
BAJWA: Yes, I think it was 9 mm probably.
SAYAH: Have you ever seen someone get shot in the head with a 9 millimeter and survive?
BAJWA: Such cases are very rare.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SAYAH: A 14-year-old girl was shot directly in the head, Brooke, and somehow, some way, she's still alive. Just incredible.
BALDWIN: It's incredible but it's absolutely reprehensible as well. Reza Sayah, thank you so much for staying on this story. So much interest, I know, globally. If you are interested in honoring and supporting Malala and her fight for girls' education in Pakistan, you can. Go to cnn.com/impact to get more information.
And it's that moment where there is absolutely no turning back at all, jumping out of a capsule. This gives me butterflies watching it over again. Twenty-four miles above the earth, plummeting toward the ground. Hear what Fearless Felix has to say about this.
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BALDWIN: He called it, quote, "standing on top of the world." Austrian daredevil Felix Baumgartner is now living to tell exactly how he completed this dive from the stratosphere 24 miles up.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FELIX BAUMGARTNER (voice-over): Sometimes you have to get up really high to see how small you are. I'm going home now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Baumgartner broke the sound barrier traveling more than 830 miles per hour and landed on his feet in Roswell, New Mexico. Just look at this. He went three times higher than the cruising altitude of an airliner. And stay with me, because at the end of next hour, we will relive this heart-thumping experience through the words of Fearless Felix himself.
From a fearless stunt to fearless politics. I want to take a moment to remember Arlen Specter. The gruff, independent, long time senator from Pennsylvania lost his battle against non-Hodgkin's lymphoma Sunday at the age of 82.
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ARLEN SPECTER, FORMER SENATOR FROM PENNSYLVANIA: That's (ph) Congress should try to stop the Supreme Court from further eroding --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: The senator spent more than 30 years in the U.S. Senate, most of the time as a moderate, reach across the aisle kind of Republican. But when his centrist view lost favor with the GOP, Specter switched parties. Listen as he makes that announcement.
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SPECTER: Prospects for weighing a Republican primary are bleak. I am not prepared to have my 29-year record in the United States Senate decided by the Pennsylvania Republican primary electorate.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: In 2010, he lost the Democratic primary, but did not give up. The former Republican, who once sat on the Warren Commission, supported abortion rights, opposed his party by opposing Robert Bork's bid for the Supreme Court, but supported Clarence Thomas, the Republican who openly criticized his party from impeaching President Clinton took an unexpected career turn.
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SPECTER: I've been in the Senate for 30 years practicing comedy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Yes, Arlen Specter gave comedy a try. Comedy of the stand-up kind. And I had the chance to interview Arlen Specter when he was working the comedy circuit and he used the same 30 years in politics line with me. I mean this was a guy dubbed "snarling Arlen" up on Capitol Hill and he decides to hit the comedy circuit. Here we are talking about exactly that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: I mean I have to ask, more than three decades in Congress, you walk into this open mike night, why?
SPECTER: Well, I've had a lot of experience in comedy. Been a senator for 30 years. But I think humor is very important. It lightens things up. When it lightens up a little bit, you talk to one another. Right now, in the Congress of the United States, Senate and House, nobody talks to each other. So a little humor could help out down there.
BALDWIN: So you're lightening certainly up this comedy club in Pennsylvania. As the former Senate judiciary chair, let me just remind everyone, I mean, I watched -- I watched the show online. And if I may, sir, some of the material is fairly risque. Are you running these jokes past your wife?
SPECTER: Well, all of the risque stories I've told were approved at home by my wife Joan.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: And Arlen Specter's wife of 59 years, Joan, survives him.
Also this. President Obama has ordered flags to fly at half staff tomorrow on all government buildings to honor Senator Arlen Specter.
The ones getting the most lethal aid in Syria reportedly are exactly the ones the U.S. doesn't want to have it. Why? That's next. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: A couple of troubling developments out of Syria I want to tell you about here. First this. More explosions rock the troubled nation amid new accusations from the international community over who is arming the battle and where the arms are ending up.
A CNN source confirms what the "New York Times" first reported this morning that weapons meant to aid the secular opposition in Syria are winding up in the hands of hard line Islamic jihadists.
Also human rights watch released this video of what it says are Russian-made cluster bombs being dropped on Syria's populated areas by the Syrian government. Syria and Russia both denying that claim.
But I want to bring in CNN international's Hala Gorani to talk a little more about this, joining me live from Washington. First, let's just begin with the news just in, these brand-new sanctions against the Assad regime. What do we know?
HALA GORANI, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Right, I -- we can discuss the cluster bombs in a moment because of how dangerous they are after they actually are dropped from planes, but you mentioned these sanctions and they're interesting because they're targeting the Syrian National Airline essentially.
The European Union is saying that Syrian airlines flights are not welcome. They are banned from E.U. airports. Now, this discussion has sparked, of course, the debate over how effective the sanctions truly are because though the Syrian airlines are operated and controlled by the government.
And so therefore could constitute a slap on the race to the Assad regime what you're doing is saying to ordinary Syrians who might want to fly from Syria to an E.U. airport, you can't do that anymore.
And on top of that, Turkey has banned Syrian civilian aircraft from its air space as well. That is another door shut also for ordinary civilians who were up until a few weeks ago able at least to fly in and out of the country from the country's major airports.
The sanctions also affect 28 people that have had their assets frozen in the European Union and they're expanding essentially sanctions that were in place already -- Brooke.
BALDWIN: OK, so this is the ramifications of some of these new sanctions. Number two, back to the report, this video here. We'll replay the video, this human rights watch releasing this video, reporting these Russian-made cluster bombs. Tell me what we're seeing, Hala, as we look at this, and what this may be proving?
GORANI: Well, first of all, I just want to remind our viewers what cluster bombs are. They're illegal in many parts of the world. They're bigger bombs that rain down smaller bomb blitz, so they essentially explode into small tiny bomb bits. They fall on the ground. They do not all detonate. So they constitute a risk to civilians, especially children who sometimes end up finding them on the ground and playing with them. This is a terrible, terrible weapon.
And in some of that amateur video that human rights watch is showing us has used to make some of the determinations it has in this latest report, you see people handling these tiny little bombs.
They can explode at any moment. It is extremely dangerous. And there needs to be that information circulated that, you know if you find them, leave them where they are.
But as I said, this is an insidious weapon. It is terribly destructive. In the end, it hurts civilians a lot more than combatants because of the tiny bombs that end up remaining on the ground or buried or buried in a shallow land fill and found by civilians.
They have issues with that that are very frightening for the future of the country as well.
BALDWIN: Absolutely. Hala, thank you so much. We appreciate it. Now this --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Iran --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is complicated.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You love black people too? Everybody in Iran loves black people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: An American basketball player scared to death of Iran goes there to play anyway. And suddenly he finds himself in the middle of this chaotic surprise you have to hear his story next.
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BALDWIN: I have this incredible story to share with you, but first when you hear the word Iran, what do you think? You think nukes? You think Ahmadinejad and you think harsh rhetoric. That's exactly what one American basketball player first thought.
In fact, he was terrified of Iran, but accepted a gig there anyway. And that is when he got a huge surprise. CNN's Nischelle Turner has his story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NISCHELLE TURNER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Even when you know you got game --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Not even breaking a sweat.
TURNER: The game here --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I thought about Iran was hell no.
TURNER: -- gets complicated.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't know what he's talking about.
TURNER: And downright comical for American point guard, Kevin Sheppard, the subject of the new documentary, "The Iran Job."
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You love black people too? Everybody in Iran likes black people. You're my man.
TURNER: After college ball in Florida, Sheppard played on pro teams around the world. Then in 2008, he was one of 13 Americans recruited by the Iranian Super League.
KEVIN SHEPPARD, "THE IRAN JOB": I said to myself, well, if I get there and it is everything like the news said it was, weapons of mass destruction, these people are crazy, they got Bin Laden over here hiding, I'm just going to get on the next plane and come right back home.
TURNER: The 6 foot star joined Iran's only nongovernment sponsored team in the Cultural Center of Shiraz.
SHEPPARD: Here I was in a country where they have all these signs, down wit with USA and USA is the evil one. And then I meet with people and they're, like, yo, I love Kobe Bryant. I love Lebron James. I want to go to America and be a superstar.
TURNER: An American found himself at home and a filmmaker found a story.
TILL SCHAUDER, FILMMAKER, "THE IRAN JOB": I read about the handful of players who do this in Iran and was right away inspired to find somebody who could be our tour guide there.
SHEPPARD: They love Americans, specially black Americans.
SCHAUDER: It struck me that these players could potentially be bridge builders.
TURNER: Bridge building wasn't this player's priority. Winning was.
SHEPPARD: I always try to stay away from politics because I'm just a basketball player, you know.
TURNER: But on his way to practice during the playoffs in 2009 --
SHEPPARD: This long streak, as far as your eyes can see, no turns, just straight, and one side was Hezbollah, which is like their police, their military police, and the other side was green protesters. TURNER: The country's green movement was beginning. Demostrators were protesting the presidential election results and the athlete found himself in the middle of an uprising.
SHEPPARD: I'm caught between basically almost a million people. That's when I said, man, this thing right here isn't no basketball. This right here is starting to get serious.
TURNER: The government quickly swept the protesters off the streets.
SCHAUDER: The people were at the end of the day they were denied, but you can also see that the seed of change already.
SHEPPARD: This story here needs to be told.
TURNER: To get it told, they put footage on crowd funding site "Kick Starter" and raised more than $100,000 online from regular people worldwide to finish the film.
The protesters may have been quieted, but a movie capturing their movement has been made possible by a point guard and a loud voice of the people. Nischelle Turner, CNN, Hollywood.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BALDWIN: Nischelle Turner, thank you for that.
And next, CNN's Candy Crowley, the second woman to moderate a presidential debate solo ever, so who is first, you ask?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CAROLE SIMPSON, MODERATOR, 1992 PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE: My name is Carol Simpson and I will be the moderator for tonight's 90-minute debate.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Carol Simpson, we're talking to her live next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: Our Candy Crowley will be the second woman to moderate a town hall presidential debate. The first was Carol Simpson. She had the challenge of hosting that 1992 town hall that featured the three candidates.
You had President George H.W. Bush, then Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton, and Ross Perot and Carol Simpson joins me once again, live, from Boston. Carol, welcome back and --
SIMPSON: Hi, Brooke.
BALDWIN: You're absolutely the perfect person to talk to because this is the exact same format, this town hall, you know, when all these undecided voters come together in the audience, they ask the candidates the questions, you did this 20 years ago. My question to you is what is the biggest unknown as moderator in this kind of format?
SIMPSON: Well, because it hadn't been tried before, there were no tapes I could go look at and see how you do this. So I was flying blindly on how to do this debate.
But thought it was a wonderful concept to have real participatory democracy. And have the American voters ask questions of the candidates rather than just a panel of journalists.
So I really am high on the format, but I was afraid that ordinary people would be very afraid to ask their questions. And that they might freeze.
So I had questions on every topic, I knew every candidate's position on every topic. So that in case things stopped, I would be able to keep the program going for 90 minutes.
BALDWIN: You are a prepared journalist. I would have expected nothing less. I would have had my three by five index cards as well. As you prepared, of course, Candy is preparing, I think the phrase she used is she's stuffing her head. She is over preparing. Here she is talking about it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CANDY CROWLEY, HOST, CNN'S "STATE OF THE UNION": With this, you want to make sure you're in on the campaign dialogue, that you're in on the policy debate, that you know when they move, because campaigns don't move sort of minute by minute. They move sort of incrementally over the months and you have to kind of watch it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: You have to watch it. And, Carole, even though the audience is asking the questions, I presume, you know, you, as I know Candy will, had to be up on everything to ask smart follow-ups. How exactly did you prepare for that?
SIMPSON: Just listening to the people. I was telling you earlier that I was scared to death before that debate --
BALDWIN: We were talking at the commercial and I said were you really, really nervous.
SIMPSON: I was really, really nervous. When the red light came on, as I'm sure is in your case, you know you're on TV and it is live and you just go do your job, right.
I am -- I am very concerned about Candy right now because the plot has thickened. There are rumors that the political campaigns and the Commission on Presidential Debates is afraid she's going to veer from the guidelines that have been set down for how this debate should be going.
BALDWIN: Carole, let me put those rumors to rest and just say this is the exact same debate format and, you know, you faced, Tom Brokaw, Charlie Gibson, the town hall where the question comes from the audience, and the moderator has the follow-up.
SIMPSON: Has a follow-up, only if necessary. I was told only if it needs clarification, only if it needs a follow-up. So a lot of times the people themselves would follow-up and I didn't have to.
But Candy gets a chance to pick the questions, I understand, and that she can ask them in the order in which she likes. But there is this rumor that she is planning to ask some of her own questions because she's not allowed to under this format.
BALDWIN: From what I understand that is not -- that is not at all the case. And, guys correct me if I'm incorrect, but, no, I'm correct in saying, no she's not -- she's going along -- that's correct.
She's absolutely following the rules and she will do a phenomenal job at it, but allowing the members of the audience to ask the questions and as you point out, if necessary she'll provide the follow-up.
Let me pivot, though, Carole, because I want to ask about the candidates, specifically, with the town hall format, as you saw firsthand, you know, it can be more conducive to a certain candidate.
A lot of people are saying, this may be -- even though we saw him falter and not win that original debate, this is Barack Obama's wheel house.
SIMPSON: He was somnolent. Our president was, during that debate, but I would have to say he would have the edge in this debate. One of Mitt Romney's problems throughout the campaign season has been does he relate to ordinary people? These are ordinary people.
I think Obama does relate to them well and that he, like Bill Clinton, his new best buddy, is going to be walking up to the people and, you know, touching them and relating to them well. It will be interesting to see if Romney can pull that off and I'm not sure he can.
BALDWIN: He was a strong -- a strong first debate for him. I think there is a lot of pressure on the president and perhaps on Mitt Romney as well to bring it exactly like he did the last time, but this time talking to the Americans and the audience.
We'll be watching. Carole Simpson, I know you'll be watching. You've known Candy for decades.
SIMPSON: I can't wait.
BALDWIN: Cannot wait. Carole Simpson, thank you. We appreciate it.
And as we mentioned, round two here for the president and Mitt Romney tomorrow night, our special live coverage begins 7:00 Eastern, CNN, and cnn.com.
Father, grandfather, circuit court judge, Sunday schoolteacher.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He was the center of our universe.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: The personal side of a suspected case of meningitis.
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BALDWIN: We have been talking about this debate tomorrow night, right, Hofstra University in New York. And you see this packed room here where it says Ohio for Obama. No, we won't be seeing the president. We will be seeing his wife.
The first lady will be speaking here in Ohio as we have been calling it, the mother of all swing states. In fact, as we wait for Michelle Obama to speak, let's throw up this tweet if we have it.
Because we have now learned that Michelle Obama has -- she has voted, she has cast her absentee ballot, there we go, the first lady. And as we await the first lady and you know Ohio is tremendously important, we also are awaiting Mitt Romney's wife, Ann Romney. She, too, will be speaking in a swing state in Pennsylvania and that will also be happening on our watch. We'll listen in for that.
First, the first lady, then Ann Romney, as we count down the hours until tomorrow night and the second presidential debate in New York. Back in just a moment.
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BALDWIN: We have been reporting on this growing meningitis outbreak across the country. Now more than 200 cases reported. Elizabeth Cohen, you've been talking a lot about this and you just now recently met a family, one of the first victims affected by this. How tough stuff.
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: It's just awful. I mean, they're reeling from the loss of this man, the patriarch of this family, a judge in Kentucky. And they're not just sad right now, but they're really angry. So let's take a listen.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Lord give us the strength to go forward.
COHEN (voice-over): Something's missing in the Lovelace house. Five generations gather in mourning.
Eddie Lovelace, husband, father, grandfather, great grandfather, Sunday school teacher at his church, and a circuit court judge in Albany, Kentucky, dead, a suspected case of fungal meningitis.
(on camera): What do you miss?
CHRIS LOVELACE, VICTIM'S SON: He was the center of our universe as a family. COHEN: Judge Eddie Lovelace was a healthy 78-year-old man, worked full-time, walked three miles a day. When in the middle of September, he started feeling dizzy and slurring his speech.
JOYCE LOVELACE, VICTIM'S WIFE: He was in the kitchen and he said, my legs don't work right. He said there's something wrong with my legs.
COHEN: Lovelace had had a stroke. Lovelace died five days after being admitted to the hospital.
JOYCE LOVELACE: It was a nightmare.
COHEN: Later the doctors put it together. Lovelace had been in a car accident and received three injections with steroids for back and neck pain. The medicine he received was likely made by the New England Compounding Center.
After his death, these injections were recalled because of fungal contamination, which can cause strokes. Now all his family can do is remember the devoted public servant, the grandfather who let his granddaughters play with Barbies behind the bench when they were little, while he heard court cases.
(on camera): What kind of a man was your dad?
CHRIS LOVELACE: He was the most intelligent man that I've ever met. His memory was uncanny. If you needed advice, irregardless of what the subject was, you could always take his and trust it.
COHEN (voice-over): His family looks back and asks why.
CHRIS LOVELACE: The decisions to save money, the decisions not to regulate drugs, decisions not to oversee these facilities, those decisions affect lives every day. And if different decisions had been made at certain points along the way, my father would be here today.
COHEN (on camera): I mean, your father just went in for really a very routine procedure.
CHRIS LOVELACE: He did and he went there for pain relief. He went there to get help.
COHEN: And he got --
CHRIS LOVELACE: Death.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BALDWIN: So watching that, one question for you, the judge's son says his father would be alive had this drug been regulated properly. Is that correct?
COHEN: It is really hard to say, but there is no question that there are serious problems with how this drug is regulated, very little federal oversight and even limited state oversight. And now Congress -- members of Congress are saying we need to do something about this. So there is action to try to take care of this problem because these aren't the first people to die from drugs made in compounding pharmacies.
BALDWIN: So sad. More than 200 cases so far. Elizabeth Cohen, thank you so much.