are we going to go with this revolutionary or that revolutionary? from new york, good night, america. captioned by, closed captioning services, inc. >> geraldo: happy halloween. i'm he going. of all the trick or treating and halloween celebrations across the country the hottest ticket was at the white house with 2,000 kids from five washington elementary schools and from the military along with their parents greeted by the first family at the front door of 1600 pennsylvania avenue. and at a year when the obama man spoke straight and zombie is among the most popular costumes perhaps it is fitting that the president came as himself, dressed in casual weekend attire. the president's mother-in-law came as herself. the first lady was a leep pardons complete with cat ears around along with the daughters they all joined in handing out candy. the obamas passing out goody bags loaded with white house m & ms with the president's signature on them and a sweet butter cookie baked by the white house pastry stop. the biggest thrill according to many of the kids was just meeting the president and his family on halloween. celebrations elsewhere including the flam buoyant, outrageous greenwich parade, the hottest costume, thrill of vintage michael jackson and this kate goss lin. octo mom and her brood also very big. swine flu also making a big appearance this year. the swine flu as well as disgraced windler bernard madoff. if you are not that into halloween or baseball the top story this weekend is probably politics because whether you live in either virginia or new jersey, intense national interest has focused on those two state governors races in the absence of broad congressional elections this year. everyone wants to know how and how much the popularity or lack of it of president obama will impact the vote on tuesday. so far the impact is hard to tell. at least it is mixed. in virginia, the republican candidate for governor, bob mcdonald seems a slam dunk. he leads democrat grey deed by double digits. 54.6% to 40.3% according to the real clear politics consensus. and the black and liberal voters that gave the commonwealth to obama the first democratic presidential candidate to carry virginia in 44 years seem less than fired up ready to go. most observers blame that on the ineffective deed's campaign. that is mcdonough you are look at. in new jersey, deep dissaskatchewan with the democratic incumbent jon corzine on your left. he closed the ones deep gap with christy. this one may turn on voters for the third candidate in the race, a liberal independent who is polling around 12.3%. joining me now, a mystery commentator whose face adorned most cough drops, here he is, the star of his own hit show. >> not any more after this, i'm sure. >> the once and future presidential candidate my friend mike huckabee. looks good on you, though. >> i'm trying to be geraldo rivera tonight. >> arkansas had the largest increase in hispanic population. you will carry your home state for sure. it could do wonders in the northeast and southwest, governor. >> trick or treat. >> let me -- you can resume your look. >> yes, indeed. >> in the new jersey race what generally speaking happens to the voters who say the they are going to vote for the independents in the days leading up to a race as close as this. >> they take away from obviously chris christy. the incumbent has a certain level of car cache. he is very unpopular. even though the reelects are essentially what ordinarily would be in the tank the presence of the independent is causing people who say i don't want corzine to split. >> geraldo: i get it. >> it could end up being corzine not because new jersey loves him and wants him but because the people who don't want him, a far greater majority have split and let him keep the -- >> so he will give the race to the democrats. >> that is exactly right. they are voting for not corzine. new jersey is a very, very blue state. not a sit that is typically going to swing republican. it takes something special. if this were christy and corzine, christy would be running away with it. you have rudy giuliani and jeb bush turned out four christy. and for the third time tomorrow the president of the united states for encore dine. our molly line asked the governor about the unprecedented assist from the white house. >> just one quick question. the president here for a third time. unprecedented visits. do you think in the final days there is a sense of concern on the white house and the national implications of the race. >> this is not a last minute decision. this was part of a plan to work together. we have been partners on turning our economy around and investing in jobs, saying jobs. >> i think it is good for the president, if we win at the end of the day the most important issues that people will consider when they go to the booth are things here in new jersey. f it fires up my base and democrats and people interested in keeping the momentum that president obama has laid down on turning our nation around from the disasterrous eight years of the bush administration, trickle down economics that failed, cost americans seven and a quarter million jobs, i if it fires upe base i think it is great. >> geraldo: corzine's challenge letter tried to minimize the president grass potential impact. here is chris christy. >> he has president obama coming in here on sunday. >> boo! >> unless the president is going to come in here and tell us he is adding a 51st state we can't do worse than we have done under jon corzine and when we put in the common sense reforms we are talking about in four years, new jersey will be back to greatness and we will be much, much better but we have to do it. >> 72 hours to go and we got to get to work because our state is broken. and we have a governor who is just telling us give him four more years and he will do more of the same. we could barely afford the four he has given us. we got to kick him out on tuesday! >> geraldo: if the republican can't win in new jersey in this year, can they ever win. new jersey has the highest property tax. i live in new jersey. probably the worst national reputation. we are the bunt of every joke. the highest property tax. the worst infrastructure in many ways. jon corzine has been extremely undistinguished i think in all fairness to the incumbent governor and chris christy still down from a double digit lead. what is going on? >> still the presence of the independent. if that were not the case this would be a republican victory decisively. >> what about the presence of the president of the united states? >> it is not seeming to move the numbers. he has been in there now time and again and the numbers for corzine stay the same. one of the things that people misunderstand, the endorsement of an odder or the presence can bring people to that event and can even bring some attention. but it is the candidate that people vote for or vote against and they don't necessarily transfer loyalty. if they did, think about what is going on in virginia. deeds would be on top. barack obama got 57% of the vote in virginia. that was stunning for a democratic to get that. two democrats elected governor in a row there. now, deeds is going to get crushed by probably 14-15 points and obama has been there on his behalf and it hasn't moved the numbers as all. >> geraldo: i agree with the premise generally, governor. in terms of political mechanics you are a master and really understand what goes on. on the other hand, deeds as a candidate has seemed really schmucky. he didn't campaign at all over the summer. he was raising money, he wasn't campaigning. i don't know where he was, on the farm some place eating straw. >> he hasn't been the most effective candidate. but if there was any power that obama could bring to the race, he would have done so. what i'm saying is all the visits to virginia didn't move the numbers for deeds any either. in fact, they started moving downward because people in virginia are not satisfied with the obama policy. >> geraldo: let me ask you this about deeds and about virginia specifically. isn't that the kind of state, the commonwealth of virginia that really is going through a slow demographic evolutionary process and will trend more democratic in the future? isn't that what is looks like, the black and liberal vote with outnumber -- >> it will appear to but i think not necessarily. the republicans made a big mistake in thinking they have move to what i call the mushy middle to get people. the republicans if they all come home can win elections but they have to stand for something and tie together the fiscal conservativism with social conservativism. they are not going to vote for someone who will push for a strong abortion agenda. >> geraldo: you mentioned the mushy middle. later in the program we will talk about what happened in the 23rd congressional district here in upstate new york where a mushy middle of the road republican candidate was crushed and had to withdraw from the race in favor of a conservative party candidate. we will talk more with the governor on the other side of the commercial break. coming up, ann coulter on levi johnston's appearance nude in playboy magazine. and a sobering reminder of the cost of staying in afghanistan. all after this. my digestive system didn't always behave. whatever i did my digestive upsets came back. but then came align. only align contains bifantis, a patented probiotic. it promotes a healthier digestive system helping to restore my natural balance with ongoing probiotic protection. align brings peace to my digestive system and to me. try align and discover a world of digestive peace. obviously it was a sobering reminder of the extraordinary sacrifices that our young men and women in uniform are engaging in every single day and so may shel michelle and ie constantly mindle of the sacrifices and obviously the burden that both our troops and our families bear in any war-time situation is going to bear on how i see these conflicts. >> when the president makes h his decision i think that will be evans department. >> this is not an open-ended never ending commitment. there might have been too much emphasis on the central government and the idea that there could be some kind of nation building that would transform afghanistan overnight. we don't accept that. we don't think that is going to happen. >> geraldo: that obviously the secretary of state hillary clinton who had a bravora performance in afghanistan. at the dover air force base to meet the returning bodies of our fallen heros including three dea agents killed last monday in afghanistan. on that topic this is a fox news alert. we are getting word that any decision on a troop surge for afghanistan will not come, let me repeat that, will not come until after the president leaves on a planned trip to asia on november 11th which also means that the decision will come after the afghan runoff election now scheduled for a week from tomorrow, november 7th. here is the rub, what we don't know is whether there is even going to be a runoff election in afghanistan because the president karzai's rival, dr. abdullah is threatening a boycott of the runoff because of his concerns that the same corrupt officials who stole the last election are still doing the same dirty jobs in the runoff. if there is a boycott by the challenger does that mean that the runoff election is illegitimate and should a boycott by dr. abdullah affect president obama's crucial decision on the troop surge in afghanistan. secretary of state clinton says it does not delegitimatize the election even if abdullah stays home. >> makes it difficult know one of the candidates says he is not going to participate because he doesn't believe in theintegrity of the eat election. >> geraldo: where do we go from here? >> i think the president has to make a decision. the longer he waits and allows this to continue fess territoriesing the more confidence he is giving to the taliban and to al-qaeda in this regard. they will view this as a sign of weakness and every military person with whom i have spoken believes very strongly that. it doesn't necessarily mean that is a sign of weakness but they will perceive it that way. >> geraldo: i thought and i have been saying in the last few days that the president was waiting until after the runoff election to announce his decision but he wanted to wait to see a legitimate government put in place in afghanistan. you are saying that it doesn't matter about the government. >> with or without a legitimate government we are going to win in afghanistan or we are not. we are going to be committed to getting the taliban targets in afghanistan or not. the government would be helpful if it were legitimate but it doesn't preclude the fact that we have serious issues and frankly the bigger issues are in pakistan and i was saying that three years ago and laughed at for it. >> geraldo: nobody is laughing at you now. secretary clinton already gone from the frying pan in pakistan over to israel but had harsh words for the pakistanis during her time in that country about their harassment boring fugitives -- harboring fugitives, al-qaeda and others. here is secretary clinton on that. >> geraldo: do we not have it? well, you know what she said. she said that al-qaeda had safe haven in pakistan since 2002 and she the secretary finds it hard to believe that nobody in the government of pakistan knew where they are and could get them if they really wanted to. it is about time pakistan heard that, that we know that they are full of b.st and they know there has been al-qaeda in their national stair torrey and not like they -- their territory. >> there is a reason they are hesitant to take al-qaeda out and only as long as they act like they don't know where he is. we are still interested in pakistan. what if we get them? the united states loses an extraordinary interest in pakistan. that is one of the most unstable countries on the globe with nuclear capacity. that is frightening and they are not going to walk away from that easily. >> geraldo: and we can't ever lose interest in nuclear armed. >> we can't. >> geraldo: two arkansans in the world series. >> i the three dea agents killed in afghanistan last week. correspondent was with that unit shortly before their deadly encounter. he is next. >> geraldo: while it might seem counter intuitive to all of you of all the commentary since the war began on 9/11 the person with whom i have most consistently agreed it my next guest, my colleague, marine colonel oliver north. you have just come back from afghanistan where you were embedded with the unit the drug enforcement administration with the gis going after the drug ban in the country and we just had a tragedy involving some of the same dea agents. tell me what their mission is. >> their mission is to take the narcotics out as an equation with the taliban. the taliban are today being supported try marely through the opium trade and opium is the number one product grown and exported from afghanistan. dea presence in the country since you and i were there last year. the presence is over five-fold increase. more than 80 agents on the ground. >> geraldo: before we talk about something that ended tragically and very recently describe as we run the footage how exactly they operate. >> they are not wasting their time going after somebody carrying one or two kilos. this is millions of dollars worth of heroin, on pe opium me base and the precursor chemicals. >> they look like soldiers. >> they do. one killed monday night was a u.s. marine reserve major and a dea agent. i never met any better than these guys. >> geraldo: you mentioned a five fold increase in the strength of the dea there, but even that, can that stem this huge tidal flood of dope coming out of that country. >> what it does is it makes the corruption which is, of course, rampant all over afghanistan at every level of government, it takes that and makes them think twice whether they want to continue to do business with the drug dealers. >> do we want to continue to do business with the karzai administration assuming he wins the recount if the allegations of corruption, drug money tainting his government election? >> as you and i know, there is corruption at every level of government throughout. there are as you and i know, very honest, hard working honest afghanis who want the best for their country. what has to happen, just like it happened in colombia, top down you have to start working on the corrupt problem. >> geraldo: and cut down on the demand for this dope which is whack in the world. >> it is. >> what went wrong monday night? >> the operation went flawlessly from planning to excuse. one of the participants, one of the guys i was with a few weeks ago described it to me. he said there was a brisk fire fight on the objective. >> geraldo: brisk fire fight. >> we accomplished our mission and cot detainees and we were on the way back. the first bird lifted off and the second bird struck an obstacle as best anybody could figure. those in the lead forward in the airplane were the ones killed. almost everyone else was wounded. there was a 40 minute gunfight because the insurgents just engaged just a few hundred meters away closed in on the down aircraft and they defended it until the quick reaction force got there to extract them. remarkable courage from the wounded men all on the ground. >> geraldo: set up the dedication piece you have done. >> these are agents i spent a lot of time with and i have seen a lot of guys go. this is the single biggest loss that they experienced in this engagement. the first time the dea has been in a war zone as they are today with such a large number of people. when you spend a lot of time in the field you talk about family and things like that. my heart grieves for them and they should be honored as they are being honored. thank you for putting this on to honor them. >> geraldo: thank you and we will watch the dedication. roll it. >> some say this war is no longer worth the cost. but most of them aren't the ones paying the price. there are men who refuse to think that way. they choose to invest their lives, their youth, their futures in a difficult and dangerous cause because they know what they are doing will make the world a better place. they know they are the right men for the job. in carrying out their missions they for fit the comforts of home and aphoenix of loved ones to go into harm's way. their courage, skill and tenacity rarely make the news but what they do protects us all. we remember special agents chad michaels, forest levy and michael westin not for how they died but for how they dared to live. may their sacrifice be honored by the way we live our lives. we will never forget. >> geraldo: coming up, we will be back live. a great divide is revealed in the republican party as tea party activists and others on the hard right defeat the gop's chosen moderate candidate in a special congressional election here in update, new york. it's right after this. the world could use a little more space by moving 35,000 truckloads of freight each day csx trains give you more room on the highways because the world could use a little more space csx. how tomorrow moves. you're watching america's news headquarters. i'm lauren sivan. cleveland police have arrested a convicted sex offender following the discovery of at least six bodies in his home. 60-year-old anthony seoul was captured earlier in the day. he was wanted on felony rape and assault charges. police found the bodies when they went to his home last thursday with a search warrant. new york city police arrested a man accused of setting a small fire at the 9/11 memorial park. that is a temporary home for the remains of thousands of world trade center victims. the fire burned a wooden bench and me