More Government Involvement with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: Morgan, tell us what the situation's like.</s>MORGAN NEILL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Kiran. Well, that's right. This storm has been downgraded to Category 2. You can see here in Havana, we've seen the waves coming in, start to pick up a bit this morning. But the real damage is being done in the east of the country. We've already seen some very dramatic pictures as Ike made its way into Cuba. We saw waves crashing into the city of Baracoa, in the east, waves going as high as five stories high, going over the top of a building there. We've also seen some very heavy flooding. There are people making their way around the city of Baracoa, up to their waist. We saw several defense officials there, making their way through that flooding. Now, this storm is expected to make its way essentially from the eastern extreme of the island, almost to the western extreme, exiting Cuba right here in Havana. And what that means is, there have been evacuations basically throughout the country. The latest we have been able to hear from the government is now getting to be 900,000 people evacuated, according to the government. In addition to that, some 9,000 tourists evacuated in Varadero, the popular beach resort just to the east of here. Now, people in Havana, we should expect to see evacuations happening here throughout the day today, though they have not yet started. The closest evacuations, just to the east of us. People here have however, already been stocking up on food, water, getting ready for the possibility that they could lose power, that they could be stuck in their buildings through possible flooding. Something that they've seen happen just nine days ago when hurricane Gustav ripped through the west of the islands -- Kiran.</s>CHETRY: Morgan Neill, for us in Havana, this morning. Thank you. We want to get an update now on Ike's position. Rob Marciano is tracking the storm from the CNN Weather Center in Atlanta. Tell us a little bit more about where they're expecting it to go, Rob?</s>ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: All right. Well, Kiran, we just got the latest advisory from the National Hurricane Center. It's centered about 20 miles south of Camaguey. It's probably going to touch the coastline of the southern coastline here. And it's heading westerly quite quickly. Still lots of action on the radar. Here is is off the Cuban Met office, the western, northwest side of this thing still getting a lot of rain. We have tropical storm warnings, hurricane watches out in the Florida keys. Obviously, the entire island of Cuba, especially the western side, under hurricane warnings with this thing. They could see 9 to 12-foot surges. You saw those battering waves. This is the worst hurricane to hit this side of Cuba, in probably decades. Here it is, Cat 1, winds down to 100 miles an hour. Cat 2, I should say. Likely to go to Cat 1 before re-emerging in the Gulf of Mexico. How much diminishing, or how much weakening, the island of Cuba has on this storm will determine a lot, how strong it gets when it re-emerges into the Gulf of Mexico. So we expect it to be a Cat 2, maybe Cat 3 by Thursday, or Friday. Could make landfall anywhere in the Gulf Coast from the Florida panhandle, all the way to the Texas/Mexico border, from say, Thursday, to as late as Saturday morning. So, a lot to be determined here. But Cuba is getting hammered right now. Back to you in New York -- Kiran.</s>CHETRY: I want to ask you a quick question about the track, because it looks like it's going to brush by to the west of New Orleans once again. What is the concern, once again, just a week off of Gustav, about what's going on with the levees there?</s>MARCIANO: Well, the concerns are that a lot of levees and canals took a battering from Gustav. Still some people without power. Still some people picking up pieces especially west of New Orleans. So, certainly a grave concern here. It's in the cone of uncertainty here, or at least probability. So that's definitely has people on edge. We'll try to narrow that cone and we will over the next couple ever days -- Kiran.</s>CHETRY: Rob, all right. Thanks.</s>MARCIANO: You got it.</s>CHO: The most politics in the morning now as Barack Obama's lead shrinks to a point in CNN's latest Poll of Polls. He's heading out to key swing states this morning, to try to stop John McCain RNC bounce. Suzanne Malveaux, joining us live from Chicago, this morning. Hey, Suzanne, good morning.</s>SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hi. Good morning, Alina. Well, Barack Obama's here in Chicago. It's the first day of school for his daughters Sasha and Malia. But later he's going to be traveling to Flint, Michigan. He's going to be talking about the economy. The message is very clear from Obama, that he is the stronger candidate when it comes to the financial front. But he is also saying as well, that he believes that John McCain is trying to coax his message of change.</s>MALVEAUX (voice-over): Fighting to hold on his message of change.</s>SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: We need change. But let's be absolutely clear about what change is and is not.</s>MALVEAUX: Slamming John McCain for using his slogans.</s>OBAMA: He says, I'm going to tell those lobbyists that their days of running Washington are over. Who's he going to tell? Is he going to tell his campaign chairman, who's one of the biggest corporate lobbyists in Washington? Who is it that he's going to tell that change is coming? I mean, come on. They must think you're stupid.</s>MALVEAUX: And to John McCain's running mate, he did not call Sarah Palin a liar. But did say her talk of change is misleading.</s>OBAMA: The word means something. You can't just make stuff up.</s>MALVEAUX: The message this week: We're the only ones talking about what voters care about; the economy, rising jobless rates and the mortgage crisis.</s>OBAMA: We have to protect the taxpayers, not bail out the shareholders in management of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. This is a challenging situation that's been festering for a long time.</s>MALVEAUX: Well, you know, there's going to be one day at least in this week when both candidates are going to come together and suspend their campaigns. This is on Thursday. That is the September 11 attacks, the anniversary -- seventh year anniversary. Both of them are going to appear in Ground Zero, essentially to memorialize that day. They say it is a time of unity -- Alina.</s>CHO: And also getting word, Suzanee, as you know that Bill Clinton extending an olive branch, will have a private lunch with Barack Obama on that day in New York, as well. I want to ask you. You mentioned that Barack Obama is heading to Flint, Michigan, later today. Why does Michigan play such a key role in the election?</s>MALVEAUX: Well, you may recall, he didn't even campaign there during the primaries. They were punished because of the primaries being held early. So, his name wasn't even on the ballot. So, obviously he's trying to make up for lost time. The third trip in some nine days. But also, take a look at those job numbers. 84,000 jobs lost in August. Of those, 39,000, the auto industry. Auto industry is very big in the Detroit suburbs. That is all in play here so they believe, hit the economy hard, that message -- obviously they want to win over the swing state and they believe that that is going to be important for him to appear and to make that point -- Alina.</s>CHO: Issue number one, as we're calling it, the economy. Suzanne Malveaux, live in Chicago, for us this morning. Suzanne, always great to see you. Thank you.</s>MALVEAUX: Thanks.</s>CHO: Kiran.</s>CHETRY: One of the big questions about Sarah Palin is whether she has enough foreign policy experience to be vice president. Well, our Zain Verjee caught up with the woman who has a lot of foreign policy experience of her own. That's our Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.</s>ZAIN VERJEE, STATE DEPARTMENT CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Kiran, Secretary of State's Condoleezza Rice was in Libya, to meet with Moammar Gadhafi. While she was here, we asked her to weigh in on the question of Governor Sarah Palin's experience.</s>CONDOLEEZZA RICE, SECRETARY OF STATE: I thought that Sarah Palin gave a terrific speech. And not to get into the politics of it, you know, she's governor of a state here in the United States and she --</s>VERJEE: Does she have enough experience to handle the kind of things that you need to have?</s>RICE: These are decisions that Senator McCain has made. I have great confidence in him. I'm not going to get involved in this political campaign. Because as Secretary of State, I don't do that. But, I thought her speech was wonderful.</s>VERJEE: But, a lot of Republicans are also saying that she just lacks the experience. I mean you can dispatch Vice President Cheney to deal with the Ukraine and Georgia. But Sarah Palin just won't be able to handle it.</s>RICE: There are different kinds of experiences in life that help one to deal with matters of foreign policy.</s>VERJEE: There was a lot of speculation that Secretary Rice herself, could become the Republican vice presidential candidate. But she's always maintained that she just wants to go back to Stanford to teach.</s>CHETRY: Emergency rescue.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is necessary to take action.</s>CHETRY: Ali Velshi looks at what the government takeover of two mortgage giants means to you. You're watching the most news in the morning.