Filipino Hostage Released; 'Today's Talker'
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: Released from his captors after days of tense negotiations, the Filipino hostage in Iraq is set free. It's Tuesday, July 20, and this is DAYBREAK. Well, good morning to you from the CNN global headquarters in Atlanta. I'm Betty Nguyen in for Carol Costello. Now in the news, a Filipino truck driver held hostage for nearly two weeks in Iraq is now waiting to go home. Angelo de la Cruz has been released by his captors and is at the Philippine embassy in Baghdad. His release comes one day after the Philippine government pulled its last troops out of Iraq. President Bush is spending most of the day on the campaign trail. After a morning meeting with economic advisers, he heads to Cedar Rapids, Iowa, for a re-election rally. Later, he'll attend another rally just outside Saint Louis. And on the Democratic side, presidential candidates are lying low today -- or the presidential candidate. Senator John Kerry is in Nantucket, Massachusetts and has no public events scheduled. His running mate, John Edwards, is in Washington for the day. And in just a few hours, music mogul Sean P. "Diddy" Combs is expected to take the microphone to announce more details about his national voter registration drive. Combs has said the goal of his Citizen Change drive is to register at least two million young voters. People are returning to their homes in Southern California. Weekend wildfires forced the evacuation of more than 1,600 houses in Santa Clarita. Residents have returned to all but 350 of those homes. Firefighters have been able to surround the Santa Clarita fire, which is now about 45-percent contained. Keeping you informed, CNN, the most trusted name in news.</s>NGUYEN: Let's get more now on the Filipino truck driver who has been released in Iraq. Angelo de la Cruz is at the Philippine embassy in Baghdad, and CNN's Matthew Chance joins us from Baghdad with more on the release. Hi -- Matthew.</s>MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Thanks, Betty. And he spent the last two weeks with the threat of brutal execution hanging over him. But now, Angelo de la Cruz is a free man. He's in the custody of Filipino diplomats, and he's on his way home via the United Arab Emirates, where we're told he will be receiving medical checks. But this release came at quite a high price. It comes just a day after the Filipino government ordered out and actually evacuated out, withdrew out its 51-strong contingent of humanitarian troops that had been working as part of the coalition here in Iraq. The fate of the hostage depended on that, and his hostage-takers said that they would decapitate him, behead him, if those troops were not withdrawn. The United States, as well as the Iraqi interim government, has been expressing its concern. The U.S. working very hard behind the scenes before this withdrawal took place to get the Filipino government to change its mind, concern that it may send the wrong message to hostage-taking groups in the future. The interim Iraqi government also expressing its concerns, saying it sets a bad precedent. But this has become such a hot political issue in the Philippines itself, the fate of Angelo de la Cruz, that the government decided clearly that it didn't have any choice. And the two countries, Iraq and the U.S., are having to respect that decision now.</s>NGUYEN: Matthew Chance in Baghdad this morning, thank you. Samuel Berger, the national security adviser in the Clinton administration, is in trouble this morning. It's the result of preparations he made for an appearance in March before the commission investigating the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Berger is under a federal criminal investigation for allegedly taking classified documents and handwritten notes from a national archive screening room. Berger released a statement, saying -- quote -- that he "inadvertently took a few documents." He goes on -- quoting here: "I also took my notes on the documents reviewed. When I was informed by the archives there were documents missing, I immediately returned everything I had, except for a few documents that apparently I had accidentally discarded." Well, what does America think? Today we look at politics, obesity and even a notable moment in outer space. And for a look at some opinions, let's join Gallup Poll editor-in-chief Frank Newport this morning. Frank, we want to start with politics, and both candidates have been trying to court minority voters. How are their efforts working out so far?</s>FRANK NEWPORT, GALLUP POLL EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Well, let's show you the data. We just finished our Gallup's annual update on minority views of the world, including politics. And we can break out the projected vote. This is through June for Bush or for Kerry by non-Hispanic whites. Bush is ahead there. Among blacks, overwhelmingly they will support Kerry. That's not a surprise. It's very rare that a Republican candidate will get a lot of the black vote. It may explain why Bush did not show up at the NAACP convention a week or two ago. But among Hispanics, it still tilts to Kerry, but you'll notice the 38 percent of Hispanics nationwide already say they would vote for Bush. That's why Bush, indeed, has been out there looking at the Hispanic vote in a state like Florida, where he recently was eating at a Cuban restaurant, trying to get the Hispanic vote.</s>NGUYEN: Allan Greenspan, he testifies on Capitol Hill today on the state of the economy. Are Americans starting to become more positive about the economy?</s>NEWPORT: Well, it's kind of interesting. Yes, consumer confidence is going up a little in our Gallup measures. But overwhelmingly, Americans do expect to see more interest rate increase and more inflation. You can see, in fact, 78 percent in our recent update said they expect within the next six months interest rates to go up. Inflation a little lower at 62 percent. That could be bad news. Americans may be worried about it. In fact, those are higher numbers. Fifty-eight percent say there will be growth and 46 percent say the stock market will go up. So, look at these in context. What are Americans expecting most out of the economy? Increased interest rates. And, again, that may be dampening some of their optimism about the economy.</s>NGUYEN: Very interesting. We've also reported about the problems with obesity in American society, and last week the government decided to start classifying obesity as a disease. What does your polling show about that issue?</s>NEWPORT: Well, we just asked exactly that question. Overwhelmingly, Americans say nonsense. It's not a disease. It is an issue of personal eating style and choosing the wrong foods. See the numbers there? Seventy-five percent say it's a lifestyle choice. Only 21 percent say it's a disease. So, the public totally disagrees with the government on this. By the way, Betty, even those who are overweight are no more likely to say it's a disease than those who claim their weight is about right.</s>NGUYEN: And finally, Frank, today marks the 35th anniversary of Neil Armstrong's first steps on the moon. We know President Bush wants to return to the moon. But are Americans willing to pay for it?</s>NEWPORT: Well, Americans like the idea. All of the polling shows by Gallup that if you just say if you would go back to Mars and the moon with humans, yes. Americans say good idea. We're in favor of it. But the question we asked: What about spending billions and billions, as Carl Sagan once said about doing it? Only 31 percent say yes. So the bottom line here, Betty, is, great concept to send humans back into space. The idea is where is the money going to come from?</s>NGUYEN: Absolutely. It's all about the money. Frank Newport, thank you very much. There is still more to come here on DAYBREAK, so please stick around.