Including stats whiz nate silver of fivethirtyeight. We have a first look at his exclusive analysis of the midterm elections. But we begin oversees with malaysia air flight 370. As we come on the air this morning, the search for wreckage is intensifying. Focusing on this area where satellites spotted what might be debris. But two weeks in, what happened to flight 370 is a mystery. We all want answers. We have complete coverage of the search for answers, beginning with abc david wright who just stepped off a search plane out scanning those waters. David joins us now from pearce air base in australia. Reporter good morning. We spent ten hours aboard the plane, coming back empty handed. The crew had high hopes, the assigned search area adjusted because of the chinese satellite image. A few radar contacts, but no visual confirmation of anything significant except for a whale. Visibility was very poor because of lowlying clouds. Today the french provided investigators with what they say is another satellite photo showing possible debris. That will keep the search going. This vast stretch of sea in one of the most remote parts of the planet is now the focus of worldwide attention. State of the art planes have poured over a region of water bigger t bigger than texas. Coming back empty handed for five days. And yesterday, a malaysian official was handed an urgent message. The news i just received is that the Chinese Ambassador received satellite image of floating objects in the southern corridor. And they will be sending ships to verify. Reporter that image shows what appears to be a large object floating in the water. Measuring about 74 by 43 feet. A chinese satellite took the picture march 18th. The location . About 75 miles southwest of the materials spotted in the australian satellite image released last week. Could it be the same debris . The two images look very similar, both size and shape. But the important thing is to get someone there to determine what is this thing. Is it airplane part or not. Reporter we boarded this australian p3 orion, one of more than half a dozen search planes trying to answer that question. On the surface of the water, a growing number of naval vessels. One with a remote sub from australia, and a merchant vessel and a chinese ice breaker on the way. If they manage to confirm wreckage on the surface. The scene here, far deeper than where the titanic sank. On average, 14,000 feet, in some parts, 30,000 feet. Too deep for a submarine to go. For the families still searching for answers, it is agonizing. As the wife of the chief steward told abcs bob woodruff. If its in the ocean, it brings us closure. But at the back of our mind we hope they say a hijacking and all that, its somewhere. Then theres hope that hes still alive. Reporter i cant stress enough how remote this search area is. You spend twice as much time traveling to and from as you do there searching. But this australian crew we were with today, like the americans we were with last week are determined to provide some answers. Martha th martha. Our thanks to david. Straight to commander William Marks of the seventy fleet which is leading the american portion of the search. Commander marks is aboard the uss blue ridge. Lets talk about the new Satellite Photos. The french have new Satellite Photos this morning. Three areas were looking at. Do you know how close they are together and what that will mean for your portion of the search . I have not seen the french imagery yet. I have seen what australia and china reported. They are really big chunks of radar return. So if that is the case, thats a positive. I could tell you the radar on our p8 and on the p3 boat, theyre very advanced radars. So what well do is fly at an altitude of about 5,000 feet. That maximizes our radar search over a swath of about 10 to 20 miles on each side of our flight path. With that radar looking down on the surface of the water, can see an object as small as the size of a basketball. And how long can this search last . We work very closely with our international partners. And we just take it day by day. Well have to see how long as a group, decide we can keep going and how long long were requested to go. What i tell people is, this is like looking for something somewhere between new york and california. You just dont know where. Our thanks to commander marks. Lets bring in abcs david curley and abc news contributor colonel steve ganyard, an aviation accident investigator. Both have been on the story from the start. Thanks for joining us. Start with you, steve. You look at the vast search area and it reminds me how small the search area was for air france. They had debris within five days, and then it took two years. But this area is so huge. It is. The good news is, if you remember earlier in the week, we were looking at 2 million square miles. So the socalled good news is were down to a search area the size of the state of texas. You reference the air france mishap because of the similarities. In that mishap, probably looking at something the size of connecticut. Still a daunting, daunting search area. And if we find the debris, if that is actually debris from the airplane, it doesnt mean were going do find the airplane. Thats right. I think we ought to think of this as two separate search areas. Were looking for things on top of the water that still may be floating. But where the airplane went into the water is some 350 to 700 miles away. Even if we do find this debris, i dont think its going to help us find the airplane that could be 700 miles away at the bottom of the ocean. Because of the currents and the place the plane went in. David, but if they do find debris, if they just find the debris from the airplane, can that give us any clues . Big clues. We dont have many clues. If you pick up a piece of wreckage, you can tell whether or not there was a fire. The forensic folks can tell how it hit the water. Straight nose down, skip along. There are things they can tell from this. And a lot of the debris inside the fuselage and from the aircraft will have serial numbers on it to prove it came from the 777. And remind us if the black box is found what we can learn from that. Two black boxes. One is a cockpit voice recorder. It recycles every two hours. It was so long, we might hear sounds but no voices. And the flight recorder, about 11 years old. Could have thousands of data points, hundreds or maybe a thousand or more. And what the pilots inputted into the system, what the plane was doing, how the fuel burn was going. It would be a godsend if we could find the flight data recorder. We are entering the third week. We have talked to you almost every day. Today as you sit here, what do you think brought the plane down . Theres not enough evidence. Theres nothing thats happened to suggest anything different in some of the theories we have been talking about for almost two weeks. Everybody believes the marginal evidence suggests there was a deliberate act by somebody in that cockpit. Beyond that, we really dont know anything more and we need more facts, and time is running out. I was thinking, the world is riveted by this mystery. We have all gotten on airplanes, surrendered ourselves to two strangers in a cockpit or watched loves one go out and do the same. Is there something from what we havent learned. The transponder shut off, havent found the black box. Do you think theres anything that will change Going Forward . Whether we find it or not . Its a matter of will. There were suggestions after the france crash to prevent this from happening again. None were implemented. Maybe with a second tragedy, something will happen. Its not the technology, its just a matter of who pays for it. Thanks. And what we find. You have been so great on the story. Now to breaking news from ukraine, Russian Forces opening fire this weekend. Completing a takeover of territory russia now claims is its own. Alex marquardt and his team have been in the middle of it all. And he joins us now with the latest. Alex. Reporter good morning, martha. This says it all, the parliament in crimeas capital waving a huge russian flag. The mysterious Russian Forces in crimea over the last few weeks, no longer hiding their identity. Proudly showing off they and now crimea are russian. It was one of the last major bases in ukrainian control, and the russians wanted it. Firing warning shots and sound grenades, special forces on saturday fanned out across the base. This is a very tense standoff between the Russian Special forces, the ukrainian soldiers who turned their backs on the russians. Refusing to surrender. They may soon not have a choice. Realizing the base was gone, the colonel gave an emotional thanks to his men. Who responded with the national anthem. Crimea is now russia. Ukrainian symbols erased, the russian flag raised. The United States and europe have refused to recognize russias takeover, imposing the toughest sanctions on russia since the cold war and threatening more. The latest white house targets, 20 officials. Including several in president poo putins innermost circle. And russia had sanctions on nine white house officials and members of congress. Putin says thats it, but left the door open for more. As some 20,000 troops mass near the border with eastern ukraine. Fueling fears at the white house that is putins next move. Jonathan karl is with president obama as he watches closely. Reporter good morning. Im here at anders air force base. Soon heading out to europe with president obama. Its sure to be dominated by the crisis in ukraine. They are meeting with the europeans and the group of seven industrialized nations to talk about what further steps they can take to put pressure on russia. Theres real concerns about what putin will do next. Privately, white house officials will acknowledge theres virtually no hope of getting russia to withdraw from crimea. This is about getting putin from going any further. And the big picture here, there has been a fundamental change in u. S. russian relations. Now at the worst point since the cold war and unlikely to improve any time soon, martha. Thanks, jon. Now wondering whats putins next move and how will the west respond . This highstakes faceoff between russian and american president s has a familiar ring. For decades and decades, it was the stuff of nightmares. While we conduct missile drills. Both imagined the planes are fully armed with nuclear weapons. And real. Ordering an air and naval quarantine of cuba. East versus west. Good versus evil. Spy versus spy. A United States air force plane shot down on russian soil. A cold war with the hottest possible weapons at the ready. Massive Nuclear Arsenals to deter through fears of mutually assured destruction. That cold war came to a crashing end more than 20 years ago. But fast forward to today cold war. Cold war. With more than 20,000 Russian Troops on the border of ukraine, and thousands more firmly in control of crimea, it is a sobering reminder that russia remains a formidable foe. I dont want to be alarmist, but the situation is dangerous. Its combustible. President putin has done something we have not seen in europe since 1945, since the end of world war ii. The former vice chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, general James Cartwright has the same concerns. This is worrisome. I cant equate this to anything over the last ten or 15 years. This is serious. It is an infraction and an incursion. But this is not the old cold war. The Nuclear Threat has faded. This is chapter two. The fallout from the shrinking soviet union, the expanse of nato, and the easts tilt toward europe. This is about his vision for russia. This is about his reconstructing the history of the cold war. Its a little bit of trying to reconstruct that, rebuild that, rebuild russias place in the world. Putin himself before the invasion giving George Stephanopoulos what is now a haunting hint of what was to come. Translator after the collapse of the soviet union, the society had a negative and pessimistic attitude. We have to pull ourselves together. That resolve to reassert the ways of old, says roger cohen, is why the u. S. And the International Community must keep up the pressure. We have not taken him seriously. The village that president putin understands is a language of force. We are rediscovering that the Nato Alliance remains very important. And president obama has made clear, if the most recent sanctions dont work, there will be more. Russia must know that further escalation will only isolate it further from the International Community. And were joined now by Ukrainian Foreign minister andre. Mr. Foreign minister, thanks for joining us. I want to get right to some news this morning from natos top military commander who says moscow has mobilized a very, very sizable and very, very ready military contingent on the eastern border that could easily go into eastern or southern ukraine. Your reaction and do you think the russians will move in . We are very much concerned about this development and deployment of Russian Troops on our eastern borders. We are ready to respond. And as you know, the Ukrainian Government is trying to use all their peaceful means and diplomatic means to stop russia. But the people are also ready to defend their homeland. And what does that mean . I know we can hear demonstrators behind you where youre standing. What does that mean youre ready to defend the homeland . Militarily . You know what is the spirit of the Ukrainian Army and navy. At this moment when Russian Troops would be invading ukraine from the east regions, from the eastern side from russia, then would be for us difficult to ask people who live in there the ukrainians who live there not to respond on this military invasion. We, as i said, we are trying to use all the diplomatic measures and all the economic, financial and other sanctions, visa sanctions, to stop russians not to do this. Mr. Foreign minister, one week ago you told us on the broadcast that you thought the chances of going to war were quite high. What are the chances this morning . They are growing. We dont know what putin has in his mind and what would be his decision. Thats why this situation is becoming even more explosive than it used to be a week ago. Thank you so much. Mr. Foreign minister, we appreciate your time today. Thank you. Our thanks again to the foreign minister. Coming up in just two minutes, the Great College sports debate. Should the players get paid . The new legal case that could permanently change march madness. Full coverage is next. Plus stats guru nate silver nailed the 2012 president ial election. Now were the first place to see his first projections for the midterms. Will republicans take back the senate . Back in just two minutes. Predicting the future is a pretty difficult thing to do. But, manufacturing in the United States means advanced technology. We learned that Technology Allows us to be craft oriented. No ones losing their job. Theres no beer robot that has suddenly chased them out. The technology is actually creating new jobs. Siemens designed and built the right tools and resources to get the job done. Ido more with less with buless energy. Hp is helping ups do just that. Soon, the worlds most intelligent servers, designed by hp, will give ups over twice the performance, using forty percent less energy. Multiply that across over a thousand locations, and theyll provide the same benefit to the environment as over 60,000 trees. Thats a trend we can all get behind. For a lot of the average kids who are not going to be able to get a pro career, are these schools making sure theyre getting a good education . That theyre actually getting a degree . That if they get injured, their scholarships stick with them . Those are the kinds of things id like to see the ncaa address. President obama speaking to espn tuesday. Colleges are raking in the cash this week from march madness tv contracts and ticket sales. But players see none of it. Thats why some are new calling for athletes to receive paychecks. But would that ruin the foundation of College Sports . Our experts take on the simmering debate after espns tom farrie. Reporter behind the bracketology and excitement of march madness is a multibillion dollar industry. All made possible by Young Athletes playing for their favorite schools. In oklahoma, i was the kid that committed early. Reporter kyle was so good that oklahoma offered him a basketball scholarship in ninth grade. But after a knee injury during practice his freshman year, he lost his scholarship. And with medical bills piling up, he couldnt afford to stay in school. If it was workmans comp, he would have been taken care of for the rest of his life. He would have been able to finish college. Reporter the head of the National CollegePlayers Association is fighting for the right of College Athletes to unionize. I think its very clear that the players who are 18 years old are being taken advantage of in many ways by the multibillion dollar industry will be in a much better situation if they had a union. Reporter huma joined cain colter and took the case to the National Labor relations board, arguing that the services athletes provide schools should grant them protections as employees. The ncaa has not moved on critical issues. We have seen unions that have been very effective. Reporter they are professionals, they perceive College Athletes to be something else. Students and perhaps students first. Ncaa players are professional. They are paid to play. They receive at northwestern a scholarship over 60,000 a year. On the condition they play football. Thats an employeeemployer relationship. Reporter a new abc News Washington post poll showed an even split on allowing College Athletes to create a union. But on paying athletes on top of the scholarships, amer