President Bush Will Do His Campaigning from Washington Today, as Senator Kerry Starts Day in Michigan; 'House Call'
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR:  9: 30 here in Mobile, Alabama, 8:30 actually local time, 9:30 back in New York City. It's going to rain today and through the night, and pretty much all day on Thursday as well. Hurricane Ivan headed toward the coast now, a powerful category-four storm, winds still clocking at 140 miles an hour, and that's sustained winds. You're going to get some gusts much higher than that, expected to make landfall somewhere along the Gulf Coast between Grand Island, Louisiana and Apalachicola, in Florida, south of Tallahassee. A complete forecast in a moment, here live in Mobile. At the end of last week, Florida Governor Jeb Bush was wearing a button. The button said "I survived damn near everything." When you consider Ivan, you consider Charley, you consider Frances, the governor wearing that button with a bit of pride. Here is Heidi Collins, also in New York. Heidi, good morning there.</s>HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: All right, good morning to you once again, Bill. We are also going to look at how the controversy over the president's military service is playing in both campaigns this morning. We'll get to that in a moment. But first, we want to check on the stories now in the news this morning. New details now about the March 11th train bombing in Madrid. Pictures of the actual blast, taken from security cameras, were published in a Spanish newspaper yesterday. Officials now say former Prime Minister Jose Marine Aznar will testify to a commission investigating the attacks. The bombings took place just before national elections May have cost him his job. Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry criticizing President Bush's economic record. Kerry is now speaking before the Detroit Economic Club in Michigan. He says the president offered more excuses than ideas to stem job losses. The Bush administration could be in for another defeat of its overtime rules today. With the election looming, Democratic Senator Tom Harkin says he will force the Appropriations Committee to vote on the pay plan this morning. Last week, the House voted against funding the rules that critics say would cost six million people their overtime pay. A day of gruesome testimony expected in the Scott Peterson murder trial. The jurors will hear details of autopsies performed on the remains of Laci Peterson and the couple's unborn child, Conner. The hearing is set to resume in just a couple of hours from now. Bill, I want to send it back to you now with the latest on Hurricane Ivan.</s>HEMMER: All right, Heidi, we crawl ever so closer hour by hour to the impact. Ivan now a four-letter word, up and down the Gulf Coast here.</s>HEMMER: Already Ivan has been an absolute killer in the Caribbean. Places like Cuba, the Grand Caymans, Jamaica, Grenada. Sixty-eight dead and counting, as Ivan works its way now toward here in the U.S. Much more in a moment. Back to Heidi now in New York.</s>COLLINS: OK, Bill, thanks. President Bush will do his campaigning from Washington today, as Senator John Kerry starts the day in Michigan. Well, much of their agenda their agenda these days, though, seems to include direct criticism of each other. We have two campaign reports now, Dana Bash at the White House and Frank Buckley in Detroit. Good morning, guys. I want to begin at the White House, and you, Dana -- Hello.</s>DANA BASH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Heidi. You know, there's been so much talk about John Kerry's military service in Vietnam versus the president's service at that time in the National Guard, and the president started a speech to the National Guard Convention yesterday, trying to make a point that was hard to miss. He ticked off some names, an impressive lists, lists Jefferson, Lincoln, Madison, Truman, all what he called famous names of people who were in the Guard just like he has.</s>GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Nineteen individuals have served both in the Guard and as president of the United States, and I'm proud to be one of them, I'm proud to be their commander in chief, and I respect and all honor of those who serve in the United States armed forces, active, Guard and Reserve.</s>BASH: Now that was the extent of the president's remarks about his personal time in the National Guard, no allusion at all to controversies surrounding his service, like gaps in his service at the time. Also, no talk about the spike in violence right now in Iraq, where 50,000 National Guard members are actually serving. The president did stick to his formula of attacking John Kerry on what he calls flip-flopping on Iraq, and questioning whether he was fit to be commander in chief. Now the president today, Heidi, has a rare day in Washington, but, of course, with 48 days out, the campaign is still front and center. He is going to have a post here, the Hispanic Heritage Month, a reception for Hispanic Heritage Month that is, a constituency that he has been courting since 2000, since that campaign -- Heidi.</s>COLLINS: Only 48 days, huh?</s>BASH: That's all.</s>COLLINS: All right, Dana, thanks so much for that. I want to turn it over to Frank Buckley now, standing by in Detroit. Frank, good morning to you.</s>FRANK BUCKLEY, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, Heidi. Here, Senator Kerry is speaking to the Detroit Economic Club in what a senior strategist calls an indictment of Bush economic policies. With Hurricane Ivan bearing down on the Gulf Coast, it's really the last opportunity for Senator Kerry to get significant news coverage during the upcoming 24-hour news cycle. The Kerry campaign officials believe that they have set the news agenda, getting the free media over the past few days and setting the agenda in this presidential campaign. They're very happy about that, as they continue to try to eat away at President Bush's lead in the national polls.</s>BUCKLEY (voice-over): Senator John Kerry was in Toledo, Ohio to talk about rising health care costs. But first, he went after President Bush on Iraq, following the president's speech to the National Guard Association.</s>SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The president stood up, down and you know, talked to the National Guard, and just glosses over Iraq as if everything is just fine. But you know and I know, Americans know and the world knows, because all you have to do is see it on the evening news or read the newspapers, that the situation in Iraq is worse, not better.</s>BUCKLEY: Iraq out of the way, Kerry got back to his message of the day.</s>KERRY: They had a choice of allowing Medicare to bulk purchase drugs to lower the cost to the American taxpayer and the seniors. Did they choose that? No. They chose to put $139 billion windfall profit in the drug companies, and they stiffed the American taxpayer and the seniors of this country.</s>BUCKLEY: Earlier in Milwaukee, Kerry used a series of charts to show how in each year the Bush administration, according to its own figures, Medicare costs are eating into more of the Social Security benefits of the average senior.</s>KERRY: The out-of-pocket expenses of Medicare have now gone up to 37.2 percent by 2006.</s>BUCKLEY: Today Kerry is in another Midwestern battleground state, Michigan, where he began his visit with a trip to Steve's Soul Food Restaurant, and where a new CNN/"USA Today"/Gallup poll shows him with a six-point lead over President Bush among likely voters, and a seven-point lead among registered voters here.</s>BUCKLEY: And Senator Kerry speaking now before the Detroit Economic Club. He is calling President Bush the "excuses president," saying that President Bush has made more excuses than he has created jobs. Job losses considered by the campaign to be an issue with great resonance here, especially in the Midwestern battleground states -- Heidi.</s>COLLINS: And a battle it is. All right, Frank Buckley, thanks so much for that, live from Detroit this morning. A panel of FDA advisers say antidepressants can trigger a suicidal reaction in children and teens. And they're calling for the strongest possible warning labels. Dr. Sanjay Gupta joining us now with details. Seen some really unbelievable reports over the last couple of days.</s>DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SR. MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Unbelievable reports. Very contentious issue. Lots of people talking about it. More than a million children take anti-depressant medications. A lot of these medications originally designed to treat depression in adults. A lot of people taking a closer look at this; finding a couple of things. One, that the medications may not work that well for children, first of all. And two, it may increase their likelihood of suicidal behavior.</s>DR. THOMAS LAUGHREN, FDA: Out of 100 patients treated -- this is short-term now, short-term treatment -- you can expect that two or three out of that 100 will have some excess of suicidality.</s>GUPTA: So, an FDA advisory committee now talking about specific recommendations. Again, this is an advisory committee. The FDA will have to make the final decision. What they're talking about specifically, though, black warning labels -- these are called black box warning labels. You'll see these on boxes of anti-depressant medication -- also a pamphlet with warning signs. This is an unusual step, Heidi. Only about 30 to 40 medications out there that actually have one of these pamphlets that come in with the warning sign, as well. They're also talking about a parental consent form. Basically, a higher standard by which...</s>COLLINS: ... this pamphlet will come once you get the drugs from the pharmacy -- they'll be in the bag, right?</s>GUPTA: That's right. I mean, it's more stuff to read, but it's going to talk specifically about the studies, specifically about the increased likelihood of suicidal behavior.</s>COLLINS: So, how do these drugs end up going from depression to suicide? Quickly.</s>GUPTA: You know, it's interesting, because the disease itself, depression, can be linked to suicide. So, it's been a real battle for people to try and distinguish between the two. The way they think it works is that if you are severely depressed, you take the medication, it may make you feel well enough to feel suicidal -- you know, where you have enough energy to actually commit -- carry out a suicide. No one has committed suicide on these drugs, children-wise, but they think about it a lot.</s>COLLINS: All right. Dr. Sanjay Gupta, thanks so much for that.</s>GUPTA: Thank you.</s>COLLINS: Still to come this morning, we will go back to Bill in Alabama as he keeps a close eye on Ivan and its move toward the U.S. Plus, some lighter news in "90-Second Pop." Find out why "American Idol's" Simon Cowell -- this guy here -- may have to face a judge tougher than even himself. Stay with us on AMERICAN MORNING.