And is it happening where you live . Tigers versus giants. Its happening tonight. Well talk to two of their former pitching greats. Jack morris, i love him. Tropical storm watches up for the southeast coast of florida and maybe impacts across the entire east coast. Forecast coming up. Newsroom starts right now. Good morning to you. Thank you so much for joining us. Im carol costello. We begin with new revelations that could cast a large shadow on the president ial race 13 days before the election. They involve the deadly attack on the u. S. Consulate in libya and new questions about what the white house knew and when it knew it. As you might remember, the Obama Administration has been under fire for being slow to label the militarylike siege an act of terrorism. Four americans died in that attack, including the u. S. Ambassador to libya, christopher stevens. Heres the latest. Cnn has obtained government emails showing that just two hours just two hours after the attack, both the fbi and the state department were told that anise llamaist group was taking credit. Here is one of those emails. Embassy tripol ireports the group claimed responsibility on facebook and twitter and has called for an attack on Embassy Tripoli. The chairman of the House Intelligence Committee. This is clearly a place where they had wanted to have some terrorist success on the compound. What you saw in emails in that real time was a real description. If you notice, there was no talk of demonstrations or other things. It was clearly very early identified with a terrorist affiliate. Zain verjee covers the state department for us. She joins us now from london. First question, how accurate is intelligence moments after an attack like this, in spite of those emails . Intelligence experts will tell you, carol, in an event like that, of an attack or any kind of disaster situation, youre often going to get a lot of mixed reports coming in. What they say is that they analyze it, pass it along but they treat it very, very cautiously. Thats the first thing to understand about a situation like this. Because you never really sure, but what these emails actually shed light on is that theres a cloer i clear indication that the white house was aware that there was a connection to terrorism. That is the doozy of my next question. Give us a sense of how this type of intelligence, including the emails, are passed along to the president. How many details would he have known, and then the Vice President , too . Its likely that both the president and the Vice President would have been briefed. Now whether or not they saw the specific emails, the specific times they came in, thats a question mark. And thats probably unlikely. They probably would have been kept briefed and in the time that this information was coming through. Now if you look at one of the emails stamped 6 07 eastern time. On that particular email, the white house situation rooms address is on it. Theres a subject line that says update two, Ansar Al Sharia claims responsibility for the benghazi attack. At that moment there was a clear indication in one of those emails and its likely the president would have been briefed. All of this is so significant right now. Firstly, it sheds light on what happened in benghazi, but its also become part of this very volatile, political debate. The question thats going to be asked all day today and at the white house is why did you not come out and say that there was a clear link to terrorism that was planned when you knew two hours, and these emails are proof rather than come up with the video story, saying it was triggered by an antiislam video. I want to underscore, too, cautiousness in a situation like that may have been what were on their minds. Its already started, zain, t too. In light of this new information, everybody is wondering, will mitt romney pounce . When will all the president s men and women say about what they knew when . We already know what obamas u. S. Ambassador to the United Nations said five days after the attack. Putting together the best information that we have available to us today. Our Current Assessment is that what happened in benghazi was, in fact, initially a spontaneous reaction to what had just transpired hours before in cairo, almost a copycat of the demonstrations against our facility in cairo, which were prompted, of course, by the video. All right. Whats the white house saying today . Chief White House CorrespondentJessica Yellin joins us by phone from davenport, iowa. The white house has responded. Whr they saying . Reporter they are telling me this is not, as you describe it an intelligence assessment at all. What it is is reporting from the ground by people there at the state department center, explaining what theyre getting information on as it comes in. Ansar al sharia took credit on its Facebook Page that was publicly available. So they passed that on in an email saying that Ansar Al Sharia is taking credit on its Facebook Page. Then they subsequently deny ied responsibility in a statement that they also were forwarded. Only that email and that information came across obviously. And so there is all sorts of conflicting information that comes in, in the moments and hours after this kind of attack. And the president isnt going out with the kind of open information that comes in from this kind of source, which is not an intelligence report, but bases what he said on the actual intelligence reports, which are analyzed and decided by intelligence professionals and that theyre two very different things. And that they maintain that they were being truthful and forthright with the public based on what he was getting from the Intelligence Community and intelligence professionals, carol. Im sure much more will come out on this subject matter later in the day. Jessica yellin, reporting live for us. Another day, another explosive p controversy. This representative saying life is a gift from god even if that life begin with his rape. I believe life begins at conception. The only time i think abortion is okay is when it will save the mother. Even when life begins in that horrible situation of rape it is something that god intended to happen. After the debate, mourdock backed off the comments and said rape is a horrible thing and people are twisting his words. The people who are twisting his words are absurd and sick. Even so his comments erupted online. Democrats quick to pounce. Dont you know it, mitt romney endorsed Richard Mourdock for senate just a couple of days aago. This fall im endorsing Richard Mourdock for senate. Made government more accountable. As senator, richard will be the 51st vote to repeal and replace governmentrun health care. Our senior Congressional Correspondent dana bash is in new york this morning. Democrats say romney should denounce mourdock. Will he . Its unclear if this will happen at this point. He certainly did distance himself from mourdock. I can show you a quote from the Romney Campaign. Andrea saul says governor romney disagrees with Richard Mourdock as comments and they do not reflect his views. They dont, because the governor does believe there should be an exception for rape when it comes to abortion. The other reason they put that out is women are pretty much the number one target of both campaigns in these couple of weeks and the last thing the Romney Campaign wants is distraction in a state that was like a gimme. When it comes to mourdock in particular, you remember what happened with todd ackin about rape and the Republican Party came down on him like a hammer and tried to push him out. That is not happening in this case. Primarily because they are very different kinds of comments. That is a point i heard from republicans this morning. It is a point that the head of the committee trying to reflect as well. Ill read what he said. As well. To try to construe his words as anything other than a restachlt of that belief is irresponsible and ridiculous. In fact, rather than condemning him for his position, as some in his party have, i commend congressman donnelly for his support of life. Congressman donnelly is the democrat running for senate in indiana, somebody who is antiabortion and even supported the socalled akin amendment back in congress. It is a different kind of issue and is he not being thrown under the bus as todd akin did, because republicans believe he truly did just not speak correctly about something that many, many republicans believe in, which is there should not be exception for rape when it comes to abortion. Dana bash, reporting live from new york this morning. President ial marathon is now a sprint to the finish as barack obama and mitt romney crisscross the country, trying to persuade voters they are the best choice for america and its getting nasty. This is about trust. There is no more serious issue in a president ial campaign than trust. The person who leads this country, youve got to have some confidence that he or she means what he or she says. That if they tell you theyre going to do something or that this is what they believe, that theyre going to actually try to do it. Look at the Obama Campaign. Its reduced to talking about smaller and smaller things. Theyre talking about saving characters on sesame street. Theyre talking about silly word games. Day in and day out theres one it can after the other and attacks on us, that does not make an agenda for the future. Okay. So ponder this. Something elusive, mythical and never realized could actually happen. An electoral tie. Wouldnt that be awful . John avalon is the senior Political Columnist for newsweek, daily beast. That meeps we could wake up the day after and endure the agony of no one winning. Say it aint so. Reporter oh, it could be so. Its unlikely, but tess possible the morning after the election, our Long National nightmare would not be over, that this would go on, in fact, until december 17th when the Electoral College meets. This is a nightmare scenario, but it is possible. 269269, both candidates deadlocked, neither reaching that magical 272 electoral vote mark. There are ways it could happen. Not only states splitting their electoral vote but, for example, if president obama were to win states like virginia, but romney were to win florida and ohio, mathematically, it could happen. Then it would be decided the election would be decided both by members of the Electoral College and the house of representatives. Remember, right now tess controlled by republicans. So all of a sudden, this would get ugly fast. And its only happened once before in our country in 1824, corrupt barrigain that elected John Quincy Adams president. It has happened. It is unlikely, but, boy, would it be ugly. Its like thinking about it makes my head explode. There are other more fun ways of picking the president. Spirit halloween, the nations largest seasonal halloween retailer says obama will win the election because, frankly, the obama halloween mask is outselling the romney magazine mask and then the coffee cup poll at 7eleven. These are silly polls, but, i dont know, history they are the opposite of scientific. I think thats fair to say. If your looking for some underlying indicator besides who make makes a better halloween mask, president obama has been, to some extent, a pop culture president. Figure of pop culture fascinati fascination. That was certainly true in 2008, and it continues. Mitt romneys argument has been less about the transformation of him as president as it is of kicking president obama out of office. Im not concerned how these 7eleven cups and halloween masks might edge toward but its a fun measure. We have to brighten up this election because its turned so negative. John avlon, thank you. We appreciate that. We have to talk about big bird. He has become big this election season and big business this halloween. Demand for the giant yellow costumes are through the roof after the sesame street character with his mentioned in the debate. They dont expect to have any more before halloween because its big bird costumes are made in china. A Tropical Storm named sandy is getting stronger. Now, thats what i call a test drive. Silverado the most dependable, longest lasting, fullsize pickups on the road. So, what do you think . [ engine revs ] ill take it. [ male announcer ] its chevy truck month. Now during chevy truck month, get 0 apr financing for 60 months or trade up to get the 2012 Chevy Silverado allstar edition with a total value of 8,000. Hurry in before theyre all gone bp has paid overthe people of bp twentythreeitment to the gulf. Billion dollars to help those affected and to cover cleanup costs. Today, the beaches and gulf are open, and many areas are reporting their best tourism seasons in years. And bps also committed to america. We support nearly 250,000 jobs and invest more here than anywhere else. Were working to fuel america for generations to come. Our commitment has never been stronger. I wish my patients could see what i see. That over time, having high cholesterol and any of these risk factors can put them at increased risk for plaque buildup in their arteries. So its even more important to lower their cholesterol, and thats why, when diet and exercise alone arent enough, i prescribe crestor. In a Clinical Trial versus lipitor, crestor got more highrisk patients bad cholesterol to a goal of under 100. [ female announcer ] crestor is not right for everyone. Like people with Liver Disease or women who are nursing, pregnant or may become pregnant. Tell your doctor about other medicines youre taking. Call your doctor right away if you have muscle pain or weakness, feel unusually tired, have loss of appetite, upper belly pain, dark urine or yellowing of skin or eyes. These could be signs of rare but serious side effects. Is your cholesterol at goal . Talk to your doctor about crestor. [ female announcer ] if you cant afford your medication, astrazeneca may be able to help. 18 minutes past the hour. The government agrees to a cease fire for an upcoming holiday. Syrian rebels have also agreed to the quote, principle of a cease fire. Here at home, usair w airwa baggage handler is under arrest, accused of stealing 20,000 worth of new 100 bills that were about being shipped to a federal reserve. 25yearold alex price confessed and led Law Enforcement to the money, which they say was cause stashed in his car. January 2nd, Consumer FinancialProtection Bureau will oversee and regulate the largest u. S. Collection agencies. The bureaus director says the group wants to make sure that 30 million americans facing Debt Collection are fa treated fairly. Bank of america is accused of doing a better job of maintaining foreclosed homes in white neighborhoods than in black and latino neighborhoods. Alison kosik joins us from the New York Stock Exchange. Filed a complaint with the department of housing of urban development. The group is now adding more cities, three more cities to this growing list of places that bank of america is accused of discriminating against. It accuses b of a of taking better care of foreclosed homes in woit neighborhoods compared d with minority ones. What the aalliance said it did to figure this out was did an undercover investigation and found boarded up windows, trash and overgrown grass, aall that stuff was much more common in those minority areas and there were fewer for sale signs up on those properties as well. As i said, the list is really growing of where this is happening. This weeks update added chicago, indianapolis and milwaukee to the list, bringing the total number of cities in the complaint to 13. They include lant atlanta, washington, d. C. , orlando, among others. Carol . Of course, you could see why people would be so upset about this, especially if youre black or latino. Not only because of discrimination. Of course. It brings down your housing value. Oh, sure. It makes it harder for people who live in these areas to sell their homes and its aa health and safety risk when you hear whats happening at some of these homes. Bank of americas failure to take care of and properly maintain these homes are crippling the economy in the hardest hit communities. I want to show you a side by side look at the difference in the white neighborhood and minority neighborhood. We can put that up. There are foreclosed homes in grand rapids, michigan. The one on the left, if we can pull that up there. The one on the left is in the white neighborhood. Nicely manicured lawn there. A for sale sign. The house looks in pretty good condition. The one on the right is from a minority neighborhood. Mold growing on the home, leaves, trash, and no for sale. Aalliances had an entire slide show of these comparisons across the country. Telling the Chicago Tribune we strongly deny their allegations and stand behind our Property Maintenance and marketing practices. Carol . Just makes me sad. I know. Alison kosik, thanks so much. Some trickortreaters in the northeast might need an umbrella for halloween, depending on the track of Tropical Storm sandy, bearing down in jamaica with winds near 70 Miles Per Hour and shes forced forecast to become a hurricane later today before heading toward cuba. After that, things could get very interesting. Meteorologist rob marciano is here to tell us how interesting they could get. Lot of different options, carol. Lets go over the first one, which were most kerped about and certainly most confident with. Serious storm to strike kingston, jamaica. Winds of 70 miles an hour. Satellite im