Previewing Tonight's Vice Presidential Debate; Latest Developments With Mount Saint Helens
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. From the CNN Global Headquarters here in Atlanta, I'm Betty Nguyen in for Carol Costello. Now in the news, two men a breath away from the presidency. It's their first and only campaign debate. Vice presidential candidates John Edwards and Dick Cheney go head to head tonight in Cleveland. The stakes could be high amid a presidential race that seems to be a dead heat. Meanwhile, Mount Saint Helens doesn't have much company this morning. Authorities have closed off an eight mile radius around the cranky volcano, which has been spewing steam and ash. Scientists warn a larger eruption could be in the works. This is just a taste of what some people in Colorado saw bearing down on them. There were reports of almost a dozen tornadoes after a string of thunderstorms hit northeast of Denver. No reports of injuries, though. And let's talk about those tornadoes -- Chad, are more in store today?</s>CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Could be. Probably New Mexico. Yes, that one there was only just a couple of miles from, actually, the airport, way out there, Denver International. It used to be Stapleton and then they moved it way out of town, way east of town. It takes you almost an hour to go from downtown to the airport now. And so it really wasn't as close to Denver, maybe, as it looked. But obviously they had pictures of that. That was pretty amazing. That tornado actually was attached to the cloud, even though it looked like it was just a dust devil.</s>NGUYEN: Twenty-eight days to go before the national election and the two men who could be a heartbeat away from the Oval Office are heading for a showdown. Who do you think will do a better job in tonight's vice presidential debate? A CNN/"USA Today"/Gallup poll taken over the weekend asked more than 1,000 registered and likely voters and it seems they're about evenly split -- 42 percent picked John Edwards, 40 percent Dick Cheney; 15 percent just aren't sure. The poll has an error margin of plus or minus 3 percentage points. Well, one thing is for sure, tonight's debate will feature a big contrast in styles. CNN's senior political correspondent Candy Crowley has a preview.</s>CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SR. POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It may not prove pivotal. It will almost surely be pretty darned interesting. The silver tongued southerner who sugarcoats his attack dog role with a smile and a drawl.</s>SEN. JOHN EDWARDS (D-NC), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This president needs to get out of fantasy land and come back to reality.</s>CROWLEY: Versus the unflappable westerner who pivots from avuncular to acid without changing tone.</s>DICK CHENEY, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: John Kerry gives every indication that his repeated efforts to cast and recast and redefine the war on terror.</s>CROWLEY: Cheney is the elder by a dozen years, the more experienced by decades. Former White House chief of staff, former congressman, former secretary of defense, boardroom big shot of Halliburton in the Clinton years, and, arguably, the most powerful vice president in history. Edwards is a first term senator fresh off a career as a successful personal injury trial lawyer.</s>EDWARDS: My leadership would come from out here in the real world.</s>CROWLEY: Edwards hopes to counter Cheney's experience with energy, Cheney's gravitas with the common touch and an ability to move voters in much the same way he surely moved juries.</s>EDWARDS: Somewhere in America a mother sits at her kitchen table. She can't sleep because she's worried. She can't pay her bills.</s>CROWLEY: Edwards was named "People" magazine's sexiest politician. Cheney was not, duly noted with a humor that reinforced the experience gap.</s>CHENEY: Senator Edwards -- I shouldn't call him John, I don't know him that well -- but Senator Edwards, of course, it is alleged got his job because he's charming, sexy, good looking and has great hair. I said, how do you think I got the job? Why do they laugh when I say that?</s>CROWLEY: Cheney and Edwards arrive at the debate with polar opposite challenges. For all his gravitas, Cheney needs to guard against being too dark.</s>CHENEY: Because if we make the wrong choice then the danger is that we'll get hit again.</s>CROWLEY: And for all his charm, Edwards cannot be seen as too light.</s>EDWARDS: I've come to the conclusion that what George Bush really believes is he believes that he's like Ken Lay and America's his Enron.</s>CROWLEY: Now, about vice presidential debates...</s>SEN. LLOYD BENTSEN (D), FORMER VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Senator, I served with Jack Kennedy. I knew Jack Kennedy. Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine. Senator, you're no Jack Kennedy.</s>CROWLEY: Lloyd Bentsen cleaned Dan Quayle's clock that night in October of '88. A month later Quayle was elected vice president of the United States. In fact, no paragraph in history tells of a vice presidential debate turning an election. Still, history books are made for asterisks and campaigns are measured by daily ups and downs. A strong Cheney performance could put a placeholder in the polls until President Bush can redeem himself from a less than stellar first debate and a good showing from John Edwards would put more wind behind John Kerry. Candy Crowley, CNN, Cleveland.</s>NGUYEN: So, we're asking you this morning who's your choice for vice president and why is he the better man? That takes us to our e-mail Question of the Day. Why do you think your V.P. choice will win the debate? Drop us a line at daybreak@cnn.com. It could be a sign of what the nation might see in less than a month from now. Election officials report long lines as voter registration deadlines fell Monday in more than a dozen states. People in Illinois and New Mexico face deadlines today to register. Meantime, Florida officials say they've been flooded with registration forms. And this newly registered voter says she can't wait to cast her ballot.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think it's very important to vote. I want my vote to count. Florida is a swing state. I just moved from Texas and I'm real excited that I get to vote in Florida.</s>NGUYEN: Officials are also busy in Ohio, the site of tonight's V.P. debate. Election boards in Cleveland and Cincinnati have already processed twice the number of registrations as they did in 2000. Well, the rumbling continues in the Northwest. Two more venting episodes at Mount Saint Helens have scientists bracing for what seems like what is inevitable. CNN's Miguel Marquez has more on the ice and fire that could spell the violent return of the volcano.</s>MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Blowing off some steam, magma deep below Mount St. Helens continues pushing skyward. The only question, when it hits the surface, how big will it be?</s>TOM PIERSON, U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY: What we're expecting is a blast of ash that will rise quickly up in the air tens of thousands of feet, form a column, an ash column, and then a big expanding ash cloud that will then drift with the wind.</s>MARQUEZ: Geologists believe the molten rock is new magma from deep down. They believe it's now a half mile, maybe closer, to the surface. They say it is rich in super compressed carbon dioxide gas bubbles, and when the cork pops, it could be explosive.</s>PIERSON: Then if you do that with, you know, billions and billions and billions of bubbles, all at once you form enough -- the equivalent energy of nuclear bombs.</s>MARQUEZ: Geologists say they know what's happening beneath the surface based on what they see above. The dome of the volcano is now deforming, or growing, by the tens, maybe hundreds of feet. Surrounding it, a glacier, 80 million cubic meters of water and ice.</s>PIERSON: Well, the amount of magma coming could easily melt a lot of ice up there.</s>MARQUEZ: If and when the mountain blows its top, it's going to have plenty of company. Rob and Colleen (ph) Grant cut their beach vacation short and aren't going home until they see the lava flow.</s>ROB GRANT, TORNADO WATCHER: We have to call the kids and say it will be a few more days. I don't think they'll mind.</s>MARQUEZ: Geologists don't believe there will be enough magma or enough heat to melt enough glacier ice to cause severe flooding. But they also say it's a volcano. It can do whatever it wants. Miguel Marquez, CNN, near Mount Saint Helens, Washington.</s>NGUYEN: News across America now. Federal investigators are trying to determine what happened when an experienced pilot plunged into the ground. Check out this video. It happened during a weekend air show in New Mexico. Hundreds of people watched as the stunt plane failed to pull up. The pilot was killed. A Maryland man is in jail after workers at his home found a huge amount of child pornography. Prosecutors seized enough videotapes n photographs to fill almost two dozen boxes. Robert Medvee, seen here, is facing 96 child pornography charges. The workers were fixing the house after it had been hit by a tornado which was spawned by hurricane Ivan. Was Scott Peterson trying to hide? Prosecutors presented witnesses who talk about changes Peterson made shortly before his arrest. That included dying his hair blonde and buying a used Mercedes under his mother's name. Peterson's defense says he was just trying to evade the media. Meanwhile, a booming business is being done outside the Santa Maria, California courtroom. Several different T-shirt designs have been popping up during the 19 weeks of the trial. Martha Stewart says she is accustomed to working hard. But is she ready for work in a prison? We'll tell you how she's spending her last few days of freedom in about five minutes. Before America heads to the polls, Afghanistan is holding its own presidential election. How one candidate stands out from all the rest at 32 after the hour. Then, curses, cloning and stem cell research -- is there something written into a California proposal that voters don't know about? We'll try and crack the code on the controversy. That's at 45 after. But right now, here's a look at what else is making news this Tuesday morning.