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ANDERSON COOPER 360 DEGREES
Ike Turner Dead at Age 76; Winners and Losers in Republican Presidential Debate; Bill Clinton Displeased With Hillary's Campaign?
Aired December 12, 2007 - 22:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: We're going to have a lot more about Ike Turner's remarkable and tumultuous life later on, on the program.
Today saw the final Republican debate before the Iowa caucuses. It couldn't have come at a more crucial time for the candidates. Tonight, we will be focusing on what they said and whether or not it jibes with the fact. As always, we're "Keeping Them Honest" with the best political team on TV and a panel of everyday Iowans weighing in with their minute-by-minute reactions to what the candidates were saying. It's a fascinating look.
Also tonight, Drew Peterson, his wife, Stacy, missing, presumed dead. The death of a previous wife now being revisited. Tonight, the latest strange turns in this creepy case, and his sister-in-law speaking out only here on 360 about the man she says is responsible for her Stacy's disappearance.
And, as Larry said, Ike Turner died today. Tonight, we remember the music and the man whose personal demons nearly destroyed him and destroyed those around him.
We begin, though, with the last chance for Republicans to tangle on television before the Iowa caucuses. From now on, they will be fighting it out with local appearances in campaign ads and already a lot of smoke.
As always, we're covering that part of the game, including a new attack on Mitt Romney's religion and the apology. But we're not playing along with their game.
So, tonight as always, we're looking carefully at what is being said, how it fits with the facts, and, most importantly, how all of it squares with voters.
First, CNN's John King with the "Raw Politics."
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Feisty, it was not. This early exchange on taxes providing one of the few mild flash-points.
MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm concerned about the taxes that middle-class families are paying. They're under a lot of pressure. FRED THOMPSON, REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, my goal is to get -- my goal is to get into Mitt Romney's situation, where I don't have to worry about taxes anymore.
(LAUGHTER)
(APPLAUSE)
THOMPSON: But 5 percent...
(CROSSTALK)
(LAUGHTER)
(CROSSTALK)
ROMNEY: ... trying to get into your situation.
(LAUGHTER)
THOMPSON: Five percent -- well, you know, you're getting to be a pretty good actor.
(LAUGHTER)
KING: The prospect for fireworks faded at the outset when the most emotional dividing line of the Republican race was taken off the table.
CAROLYN WASHBURN, EDITOR, "DES MOINES REGISTER": We won't talk a lot about issues like Iraq or immigration.
KING: Congressman Tom Tancredo tried, taking aim at Iowa front- runner Mike Huckabee.
REP. TOM TANCREDO (R-CO), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I have to ask you a question.
WASHBURN: I have to keep moving. I have to keep moving.
TANCREDO: And the question is how are you going to convince America that you have in fact changed your mind on...
WASHBURN: Congressman Paul?
TANCREDO: ... immigration from when you were a governor? That's all I want to know.
WASHBURN: Congressman Paul?
KING: No answer allowed, so few sharp exchanges, but some risky snippets. To farmers in Iowa and elsewhere, this from Senator John McCain.
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R-AZ), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I will also eliminate subsidies on ethanol and other agricultural products. They are an impediment to competition. They're an impediment to free markets. And I believe that subsidies are a mistake.
KING: Absent fireworks, the last GOP debate before Iowa votes in three weeks became a competition to show conservative credentials.
Cutting taxes was popular.
RUDOLPH GIULIANI (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: A flatter tax, a simpler tax that you could file on one page as an option would be a good idea.
KING: Cutting spending, too.
ROMNEY: And the sacrifice that we need from the American people, it's this: It's saying let the programs that don't work go.
WASHBURN: Thank you.
ROMNEY: Don't lobby for them forever.
REP. RON PAUL (R-TX), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We maintain an empire which we can't afford. We have 700 bases overseas. We are in 130 countries.
KING: When the topic turned to improving education, former Senator Fred Thompson took aim at the nation's largest teacher's union.
THOMPSON: The biggest obstacle, in my opinion, is the National Educational Association, the NEA.
KING: Governor Huckabee knows his record on immigration, taxes, and crime faces tough scrutiny in the next 21 days. So, he looked to build goodwill.
MIKE HUCKABEE (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think the first priority of the next president is to be a president of all the United States. We are right now a very polarized country, and that polarized country has led to a paralyzed government.
KING: Along with immigration, another campaign controversy that didn't come up was this Huckabee quote to "The New York Times" magazine when asked about Romney's Mormon faith: "Don't Mormons believe that Jesus and the devil are brothers?"
But, as soon as the debate was done, Huckabee told CNN he had approached his rival.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "THE SITUATION ROOM")
HUCKABEE: I went to Mitt Romney and apologized to him, because I said, I would never try, ever, to try to somehow pick out some point of your faith and make it, you know, an issue.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: John King and CNN contributors Donna Brazile and Bill Bennett join me for more on the debate now.
John, does Mike Huckabee have to try to broaden out his appeal to reach to independents, to reach to people beyond just a religious base?
KING: Anderson, strategically, here in Iowa, he knows, the next three weeks, he's going to be catching a lot of harpoons. So, he's trying to be big, trying to say, I want to end the polarization. I want to end politics as usual, so that, when the rivals come at him, they -- maybe voters will say, isn't that that nice guy who wanted to bring the country together?
And, yes, beyond Iowa, he needs to reach out to independents, beyond the evangelical base, which doesn't exist in other states, like it does here in Iowa and in South Carolina. So, he's trying to be a bigger figure, a larger figure, just as many people around the country are saying, who is this guy Mike Huckabee?
COOPER: Bill, what is he doing right, Mike Huckabee?
BILL BENNETT, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Well, he's hitting a nice tone. People like his agreeableness. He doesn't hit talking points. He goes for the homey aphorism, which sells at this point and I think will continue to.
I have to say, I have a little hesitation here he wants to be a uniter and a bringer of harmony, when he's put a grenade on Mitt Romney's door the other day with the comment on Mormonism, which we will all read about in "The New York Times," I guess, on Sunday.
COOPER: And which I guess he's now -- he apologized today to Mitt Romney for.
BENNETT: Yes, after it blew up, he apologized.
(CROSSTALK)
BENNETT: That's correct. But it's still there.
And -- but we will see. I think he is going to have to cash in a little bit on policy and on foreign policy particularly. It's not enough to talk about the golden rule and again to go to the bromide. So, he has to do that.
But he sounds different. He's the non-politician. Every election, there's romance in the race. And the romance is with Huckabee this time, a little bit like it is with Obama on the Democrat side.
COOPER: Romance and politics.
(LAUGHTER)
COOPER: Donna -- Donna, Mitt Romney led the pack in Iowa for months. Now, all of a sudden, after spending gazillions of dollars, he's in the fight of his life with Mike Huckabee, a guy who has spent -- you know, who's asking for gas money for his bus, apparently.
Let's play a little bit of what Governor Romney had to say today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROMNEY: I'm going to build on the same foundation Ronald Reagan built. We're not going to get the White House nor strengthen America unless we can pull together the coalition of conservatives and conservative thought that has made us successful as a party. And that's social conservatives. It's also economic conservatives. And foreign policy and defense conservatives.
Those three together form the three legs of the Republican stool that allowed Ronald Reagan to get elected and allowed our party to have strength over the last several decades.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: In terms of the politics of it all, if -- if Huckabee's doing the right moves right now, what has Romney been doing wrong?
DONNA BRAZILE, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, first of all, Mr. Romney didn't -- couldn't make any mistakes today.
I thought he gave a great performance. He -- he was able to articulate his vision. He was able to lay out a little bit about where he stands on education, on health care, energy, and, of course, the economy. He seemed very presidential in addressing those issues.
He connected much better than he did in the previous debate. But he didn't have an opportunity to go after Mike Huckabee on immigration, on some of the other social conservative issues that perhaps could have laid the foundation for a mini-surge for Mr. Romney.
Overall, I thought Mr. Huckabee did very well during this debate. But this was not a forum or the type of debate where the candidates could really engage each other on the big issues.
COOPER: John King, Rudy Giuliani was asked about reports his administration hid billing records for his visits for his then girlfriend Judith Nathan.
Take a look at how he handled that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RUDOLPH GIULIANI (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The reality is that all that information was available and known to people, known six years ago.
And I would make sure that government was transparent. My government in New York City was so transparent that they knew every single thing I did almost every time I did.
So, I would be extremely... (LAUGHTER)
GIULIANI: ... I would be extremely open. I'm used to it. I'm used to being analyzed. I haven't had a perfect life. I wish I had. And I do the best that I can to learn from my mistakes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: This is the kind of thing, obviously, the media, especially in New York, pays a lot of attention to. Do you hear it out on the campaign trail? I mean, is this actually taking a toll on Giuliani?
KING: Well, there was some laughter there about the idea that everybody in New York knew what he was doing. And by that meaning that he was having an affair when he was the mayor of New York City. If there is a voter out there who won't vote for Rudy Giuliani because he is on his third marriage, that voter already knows that information, Anderson.
But, on the question of why was police spending, security spending being funded by the accounts for the office with peoples with disabilities, or the New York Loft Board, Mayor Giuliani says those questions were answered six years ago.
But his administration -- his staff has still not been able to explain to us in the last couple of weeks why those -- why that spending was accounted for in those obscure accounts. They say they don't know. They promise to go back and get answers. We haven't got those answers yet.
So, on the question of competence of government, transparency of government, Mayor Giuliani is likely to face some more questions until his staff comes back and says, we looked into this and here are the answers.
COOPER: Donna, this is the last Republican debate before the Iowa caucuses. I guess, in a little more than a week, people kind of go into Christmas mode.
You're a veteran of campaigns. What -- what -- I mean, at this point, are people's minds made up? How crucial are these next few weeks? And what do campaigns try to do now to change the state of the race? Or do the attack ads come out now?
BRAZILE: Oh, no question. They will try to run attack ads up until Christmas Eve.
But, look, this is a very difficult political season for any campaign operative. You want to get as much mail out there before the Christmas season really kick off, which is in about another week.
You also want to get on the phones. You want to really line up your support, make sure that you have your buses, get people really motivated to come out on a cold wintry night. This is going to be a tough time to get people to pay attention, while they're trying to get their Christmas fits under the tree and their other gifts. It's going to be a tough time for the candidates to really break through.
COOPER: Bill, you talk to a lot of people on your radio show every morning. Do -- do people buy these attack ads?
I mean, Mitt Romney has -- has an ad now in which he attacks Huckabee on -- you know, for his support of immigration -- or immigration in schools policy, basically saying Mike Huckabee is weak on immigration.
Do people buy that, or -- or do people see -- see this as just candidates trying to manipulate them?
BENNETT: Well, you know, the conventional wisdom is they buy the attack ads.
I didn't think this was much of an attack ad. I don't think it makes much of an impression. I'm not sure it's that good an ad. It starts by praising Huckabee and then gets him on the -- on the immigration issue.
I think, just as much as that, I think lift is important now. And against the conventional wisdom, Anderson, I have got to tell you, I think -- I think Oprah Winfrey did a great, great thing for Barack Obama. We wonder who Oprah is going to endorse on our side, because somebody could use that same kind of lift.
Culture -- the politics -- politics feeds off culture. And, again -- I know you laughed at it when I said it, but people, at -- particularly at this stage, before you get down to the nitty-gritty, you know, want to kind of fall for somebody. And people are falling for Obama. They're falling a little bit for Huckabee. And that makes a big difference early on.
COOPER: Well, it reminds -- well, it reminds me of those bumper stickers in the last race. What was it, like dated -- dated Dean, married Kerry, or something?
(LAUGHTER)
BRAZILE: That's right.
BENNETT: It's a little bit like that.
BRAZILE: That's correct.
BENNETT: It's a little bit like that, yes.
COOPER: People want romance, good old-fashioned romance. Good to know.
Bill Bennett, thank you.
Donna Brazile, good to talk to you.
And, John King, thanks.
BRAZILE: Thank you.
COOPER: Well, Alan Keyes, remember him? You might have caught a glimpse of him in one of the cutaways. He was one of the debaters this afternoon.
You might not have known he was even running this time around, but he is. He's just not showing up on the national polls. So, why was he allowed to debate today? The answer in tonight's "Raw Data."
The sponsor of the debate, Iowa Public TV, says Keyes met the criteria to be in the debate. And you might wonder what that standard is. It's an FEC statement of candidacy, having an Iowa campaign staffer, an Iowa campaign office as of October 1, and registering -- registering at least at 1 percent in the October "Des Moines Register" poll.
By the way, that's why, tomorrow, you won't see Dennis Kucinich and Mike Gravel when the Democrats face off.
More ahead -- Tom Foreman keeping the candidates honest on what they said today on stage. Did the facts jibe with the rhetoric? Also, how undecided Republicans reacted. Did any change their minds? More important, with the caucuses almost here, did any of the candidates actually close the deal?
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER (voice-over): They were selling.
ROMNEY: Good jobs.
REP. RON PAUL (R-TX), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Preserve liberty.
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R-AZ), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Fix Medicare.
COOPER: The question is, who was buying? Space-age dial-testing technology reveals voters' reactions minute by minute, and some of it might surprise you.
Later, does this look like a man who's worried about his missing wife, or suspected in the death of another wife, or feared by yet another wife?
DREW PETERSON, HUSBAND OF MISSING WOMAN: I'm a suspect officially, but I think I was a suspect from the beginning.
COOPER: New puzzle pieces in the strange saga of Drew Peterson. And get this. Now he wants your money to pay for his defense -- tonight on 360.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: The GOP candidates debating in Iowa, now with 100 percent more Alan Keyes. Their answers today sharply limited by the moderator and the clock. It was a tight format. And, for the most part, the candidates stuck to it.
The question, though, do short answers also mean factually correct answers?
CNN's Tom Foreman tonight is "Keeping Them Honest."
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Anderson, the candidates generally stuck to the facts, but, "Keeping Them Honest," some of what they said should be put into context.
Energy was a hot topic. John McCain says he has a plan for America to quit using foreign oil.
MCCAIN: And we will, in five years, become oil-independent.
FOREMAN: But the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research says, no way. Sixty percent of our oil is imported. We haven't built a new refinery in a long time. So, even if we found enough replacement oil here, we could not process it. We could cut consumption and push alternative fuels. But, the institute says, all of that would still not produce oil independence so quickly.
Mitt Romney criticized the government for having too many different programs addressing the same problems.
ROMNEY: We have 13 different programs to prevent teenage pregnancy. Well, they're obviously not working real well and we can probably cut it down to one or two that are making a difference.
FOREMAN: Here's the context on that. The United States does have one of the highest teen pregnancy rates in the industrialized world. But teen pregnancies have fallen dramatically over the past two decades. And some say government education programs were one big reason.
Rudy Giuliani says, by promoting the alternative of adoption, he significantly reduced the number of abortions in New York City while he was mayor.
GIULIANI: I would like to see limitations on abortion. I have brought those about in New York City. We reduced abortion. We increased adoptions by 135 percent.
FOREMAN: According to the Guttmacher Institute, which studies such things, in Giuliani's New York, abortions did decline 18 percent. But, nationwide, they dropped 13 percent in the same time. So, abortions were pretty much going down everywhere -- Anderson.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Interesting stuff -- Tom Foreman "Keeping Them Honest."
So, what did potential caucus-goers actually think of today's debate? Joe Johns is covering that for us tonight -- Joe.
JOE JOHNS, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Anderson, as an instant test of what worked and what did not work during the debate, 21 registered Republicans, undecided Republicans from Iowa, selected by CNN to listen to the debate and register their views with meters. When the line on the screen went up, that meant approval. When it went down, that meant disapproval.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHNS (voice-over): Overall impressions of the CNN dial meter focus group suggested they had watched a debate that was, in a word, a little flat. More than one person said, expectations for top-tier candidates were not met.
PATTY RISINGER, UNDECIDED IOWA VOTER: And I thought that I might like Giuliani a little bit more, and I wasn't as impressed with him.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Were you disappointed with Huckabee?
GREG LASCHEID, UNDECIDED IOWA VOTER: Yes, actually, I was kind of a little bit disappointed with him.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Why? What was it that he said?
LASCHEID: It's not what he said. It's what he didn't say.
JOHNS: Still, former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee was able to connect more than once. One of his highest points in the debate came when he started injecting his personal story.
HUCKABEE: It's a long way from the little rent house I grew up in to this stage. I'm still in awe that this country would afford kids like me the opportunity to be a president. I will try not to forget where I came from and where this country needs to go.
JOHNS: Otherwise, tried-and-true Republican themes to work.
Rudy Giuliani on the issue of fiscal responsibility and taxes:
GIULIANI: And then there are other taxes we should get rid of. We should get rid of the death tax and a whole group of others. But the first one should be the corporate tax.
JOHNS: Fred Thompson seemed to score when he suggested he was telling truth to voters that they wouldn't hear from other candidates on the need to shore up entitlement spending, Social Security and Medicare.
THOMPSON: But I'm going to take a chance on telling the truth to the American people. Our entitlement programs, by 2040 or so, we're going to eat up our entire budget.
JOHNS: John McCain on reforming the tax code: MCCAIN: Nobody understands it. Nobody trusts it. Nobody believes in it. And we have to fix it. And we can't raise taxes, as our Democrat friends want.
JOHNS: And Mitt Romney on keeping markets open:
ROMNEY: So don't put up barriers that keep us from being able to trade. America can compete anywhere in the world. And to remain a superpower, we must compete around the world.
JOHNS: But, compared with some other recent debates, a lot of the candidates' remarks seemed to fall flat. Call it audience debate fatigue or candidate performance. Things that didn't seem to work included challenging the moderator.
Alan Keyes probably got the lowest score of the afternoon after this.
ALAN KEYES (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I would like to address the question of education.
WASHBURN: Go ahead.
KEYES: I don't wish it to pass off...
WASHBURN: Go ahead. Please note that you have 30 seconds.
KEYES: They had a minute. Why do I get 30 seconds?
(LAUGHTER)
(END VIDEOTAPE)
JOHNS: On the other hand, slamming favorite targets did seem to work. Both Romney and Thompson scored by criticizing the National Education Association.
Most of the members of our focus group said they thought Huckabee is the candidate to beat. But this was not a scientific poll -- Anderson.
COOPER: I do find it so fascinating just to see as people are talking their immediate reactions, those -- those lines going up, those lines going down. It's fascinating to see this debate after debate.
JOHNS: Yes. The story of this debate, interestingly enough, was really sort of all of the flat lines.
(CROSSTALK)
JOHNS: People just really weren't connecting with these candidates in a lot of different ways. It's very interesting.
COOPER: Maybe it hearkens back to what Bill Bennett said earlier on the program, which is that candidates -- want a little romance. They want to fall in love. So far, maybe, at least for these undecided voters, they're not falling in love.
Thanks, Joe.
It was cold in Iowa -- very cold -- and icy across the middle of the country. And the big chill in the heartland is far from over.
Gary Tuchman joins us with that and more in a 360 bulletin -- Gary.
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Anderson.
Folks in the center of the nation are still struggling to chop their way out of this week's deadly ice storm. Nearly a million homes and businesses are still without electricity in six states. Utility companies warn, it might be more than a week before power is fully restored. The storm has been blamed for at least 27 deaths.
Chad Myers tells us where this storm is headed next later in the program.
A massive recall of a child vaccine to report tonight -- the drugmaker Merck pulling back a million doses of the vaccine Hib, which prevents meningitis and pneumonia. Testing uncovered contamination at a company factory in Pennsylvania.
And talk about a great hair day, even if it was a guy who has been dead for 27 years. A lock from John Lennon, along with a signed note, sold today for $48,000. It was one of many items of Beatles memorabilia on the block. All the stuff came from the collection of a woman who worked as the band's hairdresser back in the '60s.
And Lennon was a giant, Anderson, but I don't know what you would do with his hair if you buy it.
COOPER: Yes, it's kind of creepy. You would kind of think that should be with his family, not some person who is just kind of paying the money. But...
TUCHMAN: Well, I'm curious. What does Yoko feel about this? I don't think she thinks it's so dignified.
(CROSSTALK)
COOPER: Yes, certainly not.
Gary, stay right there.
When we come back: cats in wigs. That's right. It has come to this. We're not talking about British judges either. It is our "What Were They Thinking?" segment.
Also, "Crime and Punishment" -- Drew Peterson prime suspect in his wife's disappearance. Tonight, only on 360, His sister-in-law speaking out.
Back after a short break. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Gary, now our segment "What Were They Thinking?"
And this one had us all scratching our heads today and our wigs. Just in time for Christmas -- that's right -- almost too bizarre even for this segment -- the wigs from a company calling itself, appropriately, I guess, Kitty Wigs, that's right, at kittywigs.com.
Why you need wigs for your cat, I have no idea. That's sort of a little Paris Hilton wig there. And there's another. That's kind of a blue Naomi Campbell look? I don't know.
Gary, it's kind of weird, though.
(CROSSTALK)
COOPER: Why -- why does anyone need this?
TUCHMAN: Well, I think you brought it up before the break, Anderson. I mean, why do British judges need wigs, too?
COOPER: Well...
TUCHMAN: So, maybe the same reason. Maybe it's going to become a tradition. I don't know.
COOPER: Maybe so. I think -- I think it's got to be a joke. But, apparently -- I don't know -- they claim it's real.
Tomorrow on 360 -- oh, actually, you know, that did remind me, though, I think we got -- do we have the Gary Tuchman in wigs picture?
(LAUGHTER)
COOPER: Oh, it's not an actual wig. It's your actual hair from back in the day.
I'm leaving the actual -- I don't know what year it was, but I'm just assuming it's back in the day.
TUCHMAN: I would say -- if you really want to know the year, I would guess that's 1982, if I'm not mistaken.
COOPER: Do you have any memory of the early '80s? Or was...
TUCHMAN: Oh, I have a very good memory of the early -- I liked -- I loved rock 'n' roll.
COOPER: Yes?
TUCHMAN: But I -- I remember it very distinctly. I remember things then better than I do now. I can't remember what happened yesterday.
(LAUGHTER) TUCHMAN: But I remember what happened in 1982 very well.
(LAUGHTER)
COOPER: All right.
(LAUGHTER)
COOPER: Appreciate it, Gary.
Tomorrow on 360: a man's 63-year fight for justice from the U.S. Army.
David Mattingly takes a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This piece of paper was supposed to make things right for Samuel Snow. It's a check from the Pentagon cut for the World War II veteran, a way he thought the military would say, I'm sorry.
But that's not what happened.
(on camera): With that check, is the Army saying that they care what they put you through?
SAMUEL SNOW, WORLD WAR II VETERAN: No. They didn't care.
MATTINGLY (voice-over): Snow is one of two living defendants left from one of the biggest military trials of World War II. Private Samuel Snow spent more than a year in prison for rioting, and was dishonorably discharged. Stripped of any chance for G.I. loans or benefits, he became a career janitor.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: The Army agrees Snow and other convicted soldiers were denied a fair trial, but wait until you see how they they're sorry. We're "Keeping Them Honest" -- tomorrow on 360.
Up next tonight, Stacy Peterson's sister speaking out only on 360.
And straight ahead: Is Bill Clinton miffed at Hillary Clinton's campaign staff? Will new dirt aimed at Barack Obama stick? The Democratic race is getting close and could be getting a whole lot rougher -- details coming up.
And, also, later tonight, Ike Turner, he abused drugs, he abused his wife, Tina, but he also helped create rock 'n' roll. We will look back at the brilliant and troubled life of Ike Turner.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER (voice-over): In "Crime and Punishment" tonight: Drew Peterson wants your help and, it seems, your attention.
The Chicago-area ex-cop suspected of killing his fourth wife has set up his own legal defense fund. He even has a Web site where you can send him money. And he hasn't been charged with anything.
Today, we learned he sent his lawyer to court, hoping to reclaim the items seized by police. And then there's the new allegation by the sister of Stacy Peterson claiming Drew Peterson shot a gun in his home, and she says it came close to hitting Stacy -- a 360 exclusive interview with -- with her sister in a moment.
Meanwhile, other police who know the -- other people who know the Petersons are talking about their relationship and his past.
CNN's Gary Tuchman reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TUCHMAN (voice-over): Drew Peterson's fourth wife, Stacy, gone without a trace.
DREW PETERSON, HUSBAND OF MISSING WOMAN: I'm a suspect officially, but I think I was a suspect from the beginning.
TUCHMAN: His third wife died mysteriously in a bathtub. His second wife divorced him, telling "The Chicago Tribune," he said he could kill her and make it look like an accident.
(on camera): You're married to Drew Peterson's first wife?
DAVE BROWN, HUSBAND OF DREW PETERSON'S FIRST WIFE: That's right.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): And now we're learning about his first marriage from a man who has been married for 26 years to the former Carol Peterson.
(on camera): When she talks to you about her marriage to Drew, I mean, how does she characterize that marriage?
BROWN: Well, it's really been a long time since we have talked about it. It was just -- it was normal, except for, you know, his unfaithfulness, you know. And that's what broke them up. And, you know, otherwise, it was normal. There was no violence of any kind, not even any threatening.
TUCHMAN: That is what passes for good news these days for Drew Peterson, who makes some effort to live a normal life in his suburban Chicago home with his dog and four children. Two from his marriage with missing Stacy and two from his marriage with third wife Kathleen Savio. Her body has been exhumed because of an investigation has reopened into her death.
Pam Bosco was the legal guardian of Stacy Peterson's younger sister, Cassandra, and one of Stacy's closest friends.
(on camera) Stacy knew that his third wife was found dead. Was she ever concerned about that?
PAMELA BOSCO, FRIEND OF STACY PETERSON: She told us that Drew had told her that she was on medication, Kathleen was on medication. And she stood up and got dizzy, and she slipped and hit her head. Stacy at that young naive age, she believed it.
TUCHMAN: Did you ever doubt that story?
BOSCO: Right from the start, when I first heard it, I turned to Cassandra and said, "He killed her."
TUCHMAN (voice-over): Divers have searched the canal system near the Peterson home for a body and evidence. Others have joined in different land searches but so far nothing.
(on camera) What kind of guy is Drew Peterson?
JOEL BRODSKY, PETERSON'S ATTORNEY: Isn't that the $64,000 question?
TUCHMAN: Peterson's attorney says, while he may not have been the most loyal husband to his wives, Peterson is not a killer. As a matter of fact, Peterson is saying Stacy called him to say she's left for another man.
BRODSKY: He thinks if she's anywhere, maybe she's tending bar in Saskatchewan or Nome, Alaska. Or you know, maybe somewhere south, in an island off Cancun or something. But she's not hiding out in the bush, you know, a couple of hundred yards from his house.
DREW PETERSON, SUSPECTED IN WIFE'S DISAPPEARANCE: Am I worried about her and her safety? Yes.
TUCHMAN: If Drew Peterson's denials are true, he would be one of the unluckier husbands in matrimonial history, with wives dying, disappearing and denouncing him. But that's his story, and he's sticking to it.
(voice-over) But he remains a suspect. The only suspect.
Gary Tuchman, Bolingbrook, Illinois.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: And right after the break, Stacy Peterson's sister, Cassandra. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Before the break we told you about the latest in the case of Stacy Peterson. As you know, her husband Drew Peterson is a suspect in her disappearance. Police believe he may have murdered her. Tonight, we're digging deeper.
Joining us for a 360 exclusive interview is the sister of Stacy Peterson, Cassandra Cales, and her legal guardian, Pam Bosco, who as Gary mentioned earlier, is also a good friend of Stacy's.
I appreciate both of you joining us.
Cassandra, your sister, Stacy, told you about an incident when Drew almost shot her. What happened?
CASSANDRA CALES, SISTER OF STACY PETERSON: I was in her bedroom, and she had told me that Drew had gotten off work and he was changing out of his uniform. And he sent her down to the fridge to get a soda. And while she was in the garage getting a soda for him, she heard a bang or a pow. And she didn't know what it was.
And when she returned upstairs to give him his soda, he said that his gun had went off on accident.
COOPER: Did she seem to believe that?
CALES: I don't know. She' -- that's exactly how she told me.
COOPER: Pam, you want to offer a challenge, basically, to Drew Peterson about something that he's been talking about getting investigators in? What do you want to say?
BOSCO: Well, you know, that was all part of his point behind his Web site supposedly, that, you know, part of it was going to go for the defense -- his defense, because he had no money supposedly.
And the other half was going to go to hire a private investigator to find Stacy. And so I put the offer out there, I'll put $10,000 down right now if he puts $10,000 down. And we'll hire a private investigator to go out there and find Stacy.
COOPER: Do you think he'll really do that?
BOSCO: Isn't that the whole point behind the Web site, Drew, is to go out there and find Stacy? So let's do it.
COOPER: Cassandra, what did Stacy say to you ever about her relationship with Drew?
CALES: It was very, like -- it was like a roller closer ride, basically. It was up and down, you know?
COOPER: And Drew is now claiming that Stacy isn't missing, that she actually called him, saying she left him for another man. Did -- I mean, do you buy that at all?
CALES: No, absolutely not.
COOPER: Pam, I mean, did Stacy ever say anything about having a relationship with somebody else?
BOSCO: No, of course not. We always knew her time was completely occupied with her family. She was starting school, so she was making new friends and connecting with old ones. And that's where, obviously, he throws his alibi or whatever, his doubt into the whole public, that she was obviously starting an affair, having an affair with this.
And now Brodsky is saying she was possibly having an affair with the pastor. I mean, it's just nonsense.
COOPER: Cassandra, what do you make -- you know, we see Drew Peterson coming and going. And he seems to be almost -- I don't want to say having fun with it. I don't want to interpret someone else's actions, but playing with, you know, his camera, playing with the cameramen who were out on his lawn.
Does it -- when you see him do all this stuff, what do you think?
CALES: I just feel that he's trying to draw the attention away from finding my sister. So he's just drawing the attention on himself.
COOPER: Pam, a minister in a church that said that Stacy confided in him that she believed Drew had killed his third wife, who's death was first ruled an accident. Did Stacy share anything with you about what she thought had happened to Drew's third wife or with Cassandra?
BOSCO: Again, we always go back to what she had told Cassandra back then. If she ever spoke of it, it was always what Drew had told her, which was that Kathleen was on medication. She stood up, she got dizzy, she hit her head. There was never any thought from her -- or she never expressed anything other than that to us.
COOPER: Pam Bosco and Cassandra, I know it's been a long day and difficult for you to talk. And I appreciate you taking the time to do it. Thank you.
BOSCO: Thank you.
COOPER: Just ahead, Hillary Clinton's slipping lead and signs the campaign could be getting nastier because of it.
Also, a musical legend has died.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(MUSIC)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Influential and infamous, we remember the legacy of Ike Turner.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: It's the Democrats' turn in Iowa tomorrow, their last face-off before caucuses next month. It happens just as startling new poll numbers come out that could affect the direction of the Clinton campaign.
Up close tonight, here is senior political correspondent Candy Crowley.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CANDY CROWLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): That 20-point lead she once had in New Hampshire? Gone completely. Clinton, 31, Obama 30, Edwards and Richardson on down the line, according to the latest CNN/WMUR poll conducted by the University of New Hampshire. Add the tie in Iowa, and it means a jump ball.
TOM VILSACK (D), FORMER IOWA GOVERNOR: I don't know, it's scrum, maybe, to use a different sports analogy. It's anyone's game.
CROWLEY: It means an end to the Clinton inevitability talk, and it means a lot of happy reporters.
MIKE GLOVER, ASSOCIATED PRESS: I have never seen an election quite this wide open. I've never seen an election with this much doubt.
CROWLEY: It means the beginning of stories about turmoil in the campaign. "They all want to kill each other," a source told the "New York Daily News." The story describes an agitated, unhappy Bill Clinton blaming his wife's staff for her downslide.
Obsessed, maybe, said a source, but the former president is calm. He knows better than anyone about the ups and downs of a campaign.
It's the never let them see you sweat approach. There was this non-denial denial from Clinton's campaign chair. "The president is thrilled to be helping his wife. Stories like these are distractions, but our experienced team isn't fazed."
OK, just say they're feeling the pressure. I can't believe, said a Clintonite, that you're not doing a story about the surge in the Democratic Party of an untested, unelectable candidate.
SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D-IL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We have a chance.
CROWLEY: That would be Barack Obama. Clinton advisors complain his record has not been as thoroughly examined as hers.
VILSACK: This is a candidate who's been road-tested, who's been under the microscope now for the last 15 years and has withstood that -- that examination. That goes to the issue of electability.
CROWLEY: Clinton's New Hampshire co-chairman went jugular in an interview with "The Washington Post," arguing that Obama's previous drug use would be a boon to Republicans. "It'll be 'when was the last time? Did you ever give drugs to anyone? Did you sell them to anyone?'"
Obama's campaign manager called the talk "an increasingly desperate effort to slow her slide in the polls."
This is going to make for one interesting debate when Democrats gather for a final Iowa face-off tomorrow.
(on camera) Still the Democrats are in a bit of a bind, particularly the front-runners. The closeness of the race calls for going after one another. But the calendar, just three weeks before the Iowa caucuses, suggests that now is the time to remind voters of why they should vote for you, rather than why they should vote against your opponent.
Candy Crowley, CNN, Des Moines.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Now, as you heard a bit earlier, when I was talking to Bill Bennett today, he said something interesting about the presidential race. He said people want romance. They want to fall for somebody.
I wrote about our conversation on the 360 blog. Got me thinking. We don't normally associate romance with politics. But hey, we do want courtship, to some degree, the feeling of a candidate understanding us.
"On the Radar," we've got some feedback from the 360 blog.
Christina in Windner, Pennsylvania, says, "My heart and vote are already taken, sort of. Things were much better, in my opinion, when Bill Clinton was president so I'm voting for Hillary."
But Barbara of Culver City, California, writes, "Let's just say my candidate and I are in an uncommitted relationship. If someone better comes along, my person is history."
Now, Barbara. Oh, Barbara.
Well, Holly in Florida -- Holly in Florida says, "I just don't want to fall in love too quickly and then find out they aren't going to be the nominee. That would break my heart."
I know. Love is tough. There you go.
Thanks to all of you who shared your thoughts on the blog. Check it out any time: CNN.com/360. I've actually been keeping my new year's pledge to blog every day. It's not even New Year's yet. Again, CNN.com/360. Look for the link to the blog.
Here's John Roberts with what's coming up tomorrow on "AMERICAN MORNING" -- John.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN ROBERTS, CO-HOST, "AMERICAN MORNING": Thanks, Anderson.
Wake up to the most news in the morning, including a potential breakthrough in the treatment for cancer. The inventor isn't a researcher. He didn't go to med school. When he was diagnosed himself, he turned a lifelong passion for radio into a potential new weapon in the war on cancer. We'll meet him and see how it works, tomorrow on "AMERICAN MORNING," beginning at 6 a.m. Eastern -- Anderson.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Sounds cool, John. Thanks.
Up next on 360, icy, deadly conditions in the heartland, and the storm is on the move tonight. CNN meteorologist Chad Myers is tracking it for us. He gives us the latest live.
And remembering Ike Turner, legendary musician who had a rocky marriage, to say the least, with Tina Turner. His personal demons and his musical hits. We look back when 360 continues.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(MUSIC: "Proud Mary")
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(MUSIC: "Proud Mary")
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: "Proud Mary," performed by -- who else? -- Ike and Tina Turner. Today we learned that Ike Turner died. He was 76 years old.
He has a dual legacy. Part of it will be for his groundbreaking role in helping create rock 'n' roll, but a big part of it will also be for his personal demons and his brutal relationship with his ex- wife.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER (voice-over): The look, the voice, unmistakable. Ike Turner earlier this year tried to set the record straight about himself.
IKE TURNER, MUSICIAN: I think to know me is great. But if you don't know me, I think you're missing out.
COOPER: Over a career spanning six decades, America did get to know him, for better and worse.
Born in Mississippi in 1931, as a child Turner was captivated by the sounds of boogie-woogie and rhythm and blues. His first instrument, a piano, and it's with the piano that he left his mark in 1951 with "Rocket 88." Many consider it the first rock 'n' roll song ever made.
More fame followed when he met a teenage girl. Her name was Anna Mae Bullock. Soon they married and became Ike and Tina Turner.
TINA TURNER, MUSICIAN: Ike was very good to me when I first started my career. I was in high school and started to sing weekends with him, and we were close friends. We had a very fun life in some kind of way.
COOPER: The fun didn't last. Onstage, she had the spotlight. But standing in the back, he had the control.
Their music was groundbreaking, fusing soul, funk and rock into a new sound. But in their personal lives, Tina Turner says Ike abused her emotionally and physically, with vicious beatings like the one depicted in the film based on her autobiography, "What's Love Got to Do With It?"
ANGELA BASSETT, ACTRESS: Baby, please!
COOPER: Last April Ike Turner denied his ex-wife's allegations of violence.
I. TURNER: I think that in a movie you have to have a villain and you have to have somebody clean. I have never said anything wrong about Tina.
COOPER: After their breakup, both Turners continued to turn out hits, through Tina overshadowed her husband. His life became marred by drug abuse and run-ins with the police.
In recent years there was a turnaround for Ike and praise for his influence on a new generation of musicians. Turner was also touring again and winning awards. More than 50 years after his first album, Ike Turner won a Grammy in 2007 for who would be his final recording, "Rising with the Blues."
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: While many are talking about Ike Turner, his former wife is not. In a statement, Tina Turner's publicist said, quote, "Tina has not seen or spoken to Ike in 35 years. There has been no relationship there. There will be no further comment."
We'll have more of Ike and Tina's music in a moment. Some other headlines, though, first. Gary Tuchman joins us with the "360 News and Business Bulletin" -- Gary.
TUCHMAN: Anderson, hello.
An update on a storm that slammed into the nation's heartland. Lots of snow shoveling and icy conditions in Iowa and at least six other states. Tonight, nearly one million homes and businesses are still in the dark. In Oklahoma, it could be up to 10 days before everyone has power restored. Very dangerous hardship in the cold.
The nasty weather is headed for the northeast. Let's get details now from CNN meteorologist Chad Myers -- Chad. CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Gary, all day we've been watching a rain event really develop into Oklahoma, and Arkansas, parts of Texas. Well, this rain is going to try to make its way up into New York state tonight and into tomorrow. Well, it's not going to be in the form of rain. We're going to get a snow event, especially through the Poconos and into the Catskills.
The computer models have been making more and more precip, and most of it's been snow, all day long. Now, this doesn't start until about noon tomorrow, and it goes all the way through midnight.
But if the computer models are literally one degree colder tomorrow than they are right now, this purple area, which is eight inches of snow everywhere, will be very, very close to New York City.
Right now New York City is a rain, snow, slushy mess. One degree colder, it's a snowy mess.
Tune into "AMERICAN MORNING" tomorrow for the very latest. You'll want to hear about it.
TUCHMAN: Thank you, Chad.
Here in Atlanta, 70 degrees today.
Turning to Wall Street now, a roller-coaster ride for stocks, a day after big losses when the Fed slashed interest rates but not as much as some wanted. But today the closing bell, all markets posted slight gains. The Dow added 41 to finish at 14,473. The NASDAQ jumped 18, and the S&P rose eight points.
Anderson, back to you.
COOPER: Gary, in a moment we're going to have a special tribute to Ike and Tina Turner. The 360 crew actually dancing to -- there you go.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(MUSIC: "PROUD MARY")
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER:
COOPER: Yes, yes. There you go. That's right. It's like "Soul Train."
Stay right there. Up next, we'll also have a traffic cop with some bold moves. That is our Shot of the Day, as well as the dancing you just saw.
TUCHMAN: You guys should be doing that.
COOPER: Well, we were. They were doing it. And more of the music of Ike and Tina Turner in a moment. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Gary, time for "The Shot of the Day."
You know, you expect police officers to write tickets, keep the peace, that sort of thing. But a traffic cop in Rhode Island takes the job to a whole different level. Check it out.
His name is Tony Lapore. He's the dancing cop. He comes out of retirement every December to strut his stuff on the streets of Providence, Rhode Island. He looks a little bit like the Swedish chef, Muppet, on "Sesame Street." Am I imagining that?
Anyway, it is a holiday tradition, no disrespect intended. Tony's been doing this for more than 20 years, and it has become something everyone loves to watch.
But I got to tell you, he cannot compete with the 360 crew. Because before this broadcast -- you might not know this Gary -- they actually have a dance-off before each nightly broadcast. And tonight it's all in tribute to the music of Ike and Tina Turner.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(MUSIC: "Proud Mary")
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Yes, that's Bob and Frank and Kevin. That was the dance-off. We have it every day. So you know, any time you're up here, Gary, come in right before. We do it, like, right after "LARRY KING" hit. And going on the air.
TUCHMAN: I'm looking forward to seeing that in person. I want to say one thing, a non-controversial statement here, Anderson.
COOPER: Yes.
TUCHMAN: Those are great guys. They're great television professionals, and I will leave it at that.
COOPER: All right. Very good. Gary, thanks for your help.
It is almost party time. You need to start thinking about where you're going to be spending your New Year's Eve. And we hope it's with us. I will be out in Times Square yet again. This is, like, our fourth or fifth year doing it now, bringing the party there home to you. That's right. There's the cheesy picture of me.
We also want you to share your party us with us. Go to CNN.com/iParty. Send us pictures, share a message, and we will try to use it on New Year's Eve live. And if you're having a great party on New Year's Eve, you've got to send it to us. We'll put the picture up. As long as it's, you know, simple, clean and you know, not too -- I don't know what. Actually, even if it's not clean we'll probably put it up. Straight ahead, the GOP boogie in Iowa. One last debate before the caucuses, keeping the candidates honest. And seeing what undecided Iowans thought of what they heard, beat by beat with our patented dial testing techno-wizardry.
That and more tonight on 360. Stick around.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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