The Ripple Effect of Aqua Buddha
PHILLIPS: Demonstrators still defiant, trash still piling up, and gas stations still drying out. All of this in France in the face of a possible vote in parliament today. Protesters are angry over a plan before the French Senate to raise the retirement age from 60 to 62. Strikes at all 12 of France's refineries have forced a nationwide fuel shortage and union say those strikes will continue. All right, let's talk about a chilling criminal case that's wrapped up in Canada but still leaves a lot of questions. Here's the deal. A Canadian Air Force commander -- we're talking about Colonel Russell Williams, who you see here -- highly decorated, respected and powerful, sentenced to two consecutive life sentences. His crimes, killing two young women, sexually assaulting several others, and a bizarre string of fetish burglaries. Now a nation wonders how such a monster could have been hiding underneath all that honor. We're talking about it with CNN's Paula Newton. She's with us from Ottawa. So, Paula, tell us how Canada is reacting to this.</s>PAULA NEWTON, CNN INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: It's been quite shocking all week long and they've also seen lots of evidence in court. They have seen this man and his confessions in court, and it's difficult to believe. Kyra, this is a man who this country entrusted with its top military secrets. They trusted him to pilot the Queen around Canada on an official visit, and here he is confessing to being a serial murderer. But it was nature of the crimes, too, Kyra. I mean this is a person I spoke to, you know, a couple of his neighbors last week. Neighbors who were with him for 14 years cannot believe it. Premeditated and then he seemed to take such pleasure out of not just the murders but the sexual assaults and torture that he inflicted on this young women. Incredible scenes here in Ottawa where he had actually, in these fetish burglaries, had taken also trophies from these crimes, photographed them, and get this, cataloged them meticulously and hid them in his home -- Kyra.</s>PHILLIPS: Now, he was married, right? Have we heard from his wife? Does he have children? What do we know about his family life?</s>NEWTON: I mean in terms of a family man, he didn't have children. Longtime husband to Mary Elizabeth Harriman, you know, an executive for a charity here in this city. She says in a legal statement only that she had no idea and she was devastated by this. But I say, Kyra, you know, it's making everyone wonder here what is the profile of a serial killer. This was indeed a monster and he confessed to being that type of a monster himself yesterday in court, you know, saying that look, I hope my guilty pleas at least take away some of the pain. But you are talking about a man who sadistically videotaped what he was doing, obviously, because he wanted to be able to retrieve it later and look at it, and this, really, as people are wondering, how does this happen? This is man that on the same day he murdered a woman went back to his home base and startled dealing with military aid to Haiti after the earthquake. Kyra, people are wondering, do we have to look at the profile of serial killer and really cast the net a lot wider than we have been? The only way he was caught, Kyra, was through a police roadblock that had been set up. It just so happened the truck he was driving matched the tire tracks from one of the victims' homes, Jessica Lloyd. And also, it was the escalation. He went from stealing underwear from people's homes in this city, in Ottawa to these very violent scenes, gruesome scenes, a lot of which there was a huge debate here in Canada as to whether we need to know some of these details.</s>PHILLIPS: Paula Newton from Canada. Appreciate it. Voters, you have 11 days to make your decisions now. And we're counting down to the midterm elections for you. One race that's really grabbed our attention and gotten really personal is the Senate rate in Kentucky. Jim Acosta, member of The Best Political Team on Television, joining us live from Louisville now. Hey, Jim.</s>JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Kyra, that's right. And we have been following this race for the past few days here in Kentucky. We got a chance to catch up with Rand Paul and Jack Conway, his Democratic opponent in this race. And one thing we found when we talked to both of these candidates. They do have one thing in common. They are both sick and tired of talking about Aqua Buddha.</s>ACOSTA (voice-over): Kentucky Republican Senate candidate Rand Paul stopped at this factory to talk taxes, but the issue in this Kentucky horse race this week can be summed up in two words. Aqua Buddha.</s>RAND PAUL, REPUBLICAN SENATE CANDIDATE: Do we want to have a religious test in our country?</s>NARRATOR: Why was Rand Paul a member of a secret society that called the Holy Bible a hoax that was banned for mocking Christianity and Christ?</s>ACOSTA: The Aqua Buddha ad run by Democrat Jack Conway accuses Paul accuses Paul of belonging to a group in college that mocked Christianity. The ad cites an anonymous woman who told the "Washington Post" Paul's group had her pray to a false idol named Aqua Buddha. Paul denies it all.</s>PAUL: I've never written or said anything un-Christian in my life. And for him to accuse me of that I think is just inappropriate and he really ought to be ashamed of himself.</s>ACOSTA (on camera): And to set the record straight once and for all, you're saying what was said in that ad is untrue?</s>PAUL: Absolutely.</s>ACOSTA: All of it?</s>PAUL: Yes.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey, Jack.</s>ACOSTA (voice-over): But Paul's not the only candidate who's finished with Aqua Buddha.</s>JACK CONWAY, DEMOCRATIC SENATE CANDIDATE: I'm not questioning Rand Paul's faith, I'm questioning his actions.</s>ACOSTA: As we tried to press Conway on the ad and other issues, the Democratic contender fired back.</s>ACOSTA (on camera): I was told we were going to have an interview with you and that's not happening.</s>CONWAY: I'm happy to sit here and answer your questions. I answer --</s>ACOSTA: Is it because of the ad? Is it because you felt like maybe I shouldn't have done this?</s>CONWAY: Have I failed to answer any questions about this ad? Have I failed to go answer for CNN? Have I failed to do it on Matt Lauer? Where's my -- let me finish this -- we're --</s>ACOSTA (voice-over): Conway who opposes the bailout but supports the new health care law is fighting to win in a state where President Obama is deeply unpopular. No surprise then that he prefers former President Bill Clinton.</s>CONWAY: And I'll just wrap up by quoting Bill Clinton. He was in last week and I think he's probably coming back.</s>ACOSTA: Instead of Mr. Obama on the trail.</s>ACOSTA (on camera): Do you want the president to campaign with you here in Kentucky between now and Election Day?</s>CONWAY: Look, this campaign is about me versus Rand Paul.</s>ACOSTA (voice-over): Conway's latest line of attack is that Paul once supported scrapping the income tax in favor of something called the "Fair Tax". It's essentially a 23 percent national sales tax on all purchases. Paul told CNN he's open to it, but not sold on it.</s>PAUL: I've always said that I support any tax reform that lowers taxes on everyone and so that's sort of the rule of thumb that would have to be. And that simplifies the tax code. There are various ways to do that. That might be one of the alternatives.</s>ACOSTA: Now, as for that Aqua Buddha ad, Rand Paul says he is so fired up over that spot he is considering drooping out of the upcoming candidate debate between he and Jack Conway that is scheduled for Monday. And Rand Paul is supposed to have an announcement on that later this afternoon. As for Jack Conway and this issue of whether or not he's going to appear with President Obama, it's pretty safe to say he will not appear with President Obama between now and election day, but he did announce he will have an appearance with former president Bill Clinton the day before the election. That's his show stopper in this campaign, Kyra.</s>PHILLIPS: Jim Acosta, thanks. We have other big stories on the campaign trail to tell you about. Our deputy political director Paul Steinhauser at the CNNpolitics.com desk. Hey, Paul.</s>PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN DEPUTY POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Hey, Kyra. Good morning. Let's talk about this, the battle for Latino and Hispanic voters. The Democratic National Committee saying they're going to put out a brand-new ad between now and election day. It's going to include President Barack Obama in it, television and radio. The idea here, remember, Latinos and Hispanics came out in big numbers in '06 and '08 for the Democrats, and they hope that Latinos and Hispanics will do the same thing again. Univision will run the ad. In it, tthe president will say, help me defend what we started. The president will be speaking in English in the ad, and, of course, it will be translated into Spanish. And I'm going to ask</s>PHILLIPS: Any big name surrogates out on the campaign trail?</s>STEINHAUSER: Yes, the Republican side, too. We keep talking about the president, first lady and the vice president. What about the other side? Well, this is interesting. Mississippi governor Haley Barbour, also chairman of the Republican Governors Association, they just announced he is going to be crisscrossing the country over the next 11 days, helping Republican candidates. And he's also going to be joined by New Jersey governor Chris Christie and Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty. What do all three of those men have in common? Besides wanting to help Republicans this year, all three may -- may, want to run for the White House in 2012. So, we are kind of mixing 2010 and the next race for the White House, Kyra. It starts immediately after this election.</s>PHILLIPS: All right. And Paul, of course, when we don't have you live, and we update every hour, you can always go to CNNpolitics.com. Now, let me ask you a question. You were a skateboarder, right?</s>STEINHAUSER: Yes. Many years ago, and I was pretty average to mediocre.</s>PHILLIPS: Oh, you weren't really good?</s>STEINHAUSER: I fell a lot more than I should probably should have, yes.</s>PHILLIPS: What kind of board did you have?</s>STEINHAUSER: In those days - and I'm going back. I'm old school. It was about this big. It was a Skitch Hitchcock. I think that was the name of it, and it was pretty small.</s>PHILLIPS: Oh, OK, well everybody made fun of me because they didn't know what a GNS skateboard was. That's what I had. So, we're old farts. Terry Kennedy is more hip than we were, let me tell you. And he breaks the mold of professional skateboarders. But his athletic skills are only a small part of his remarkable story. He's joining us live with his story and some moves right after the break.