Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by lincoln financial committed to helping you take charge of your financial future. And with the ongoing support of these institutions this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. And by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. Woodruff reports are just beginning to trickle in tonight, but already its clear, Hurricane Matthew has sent longsuffering haiti even deeper into misery. Theres word of at least seven dead and widespread wreckage. This is matthew pray for us woodruff its one of the fiercest caribbean storms in years, and its powerful core roared over the southwestern tip of haiti before dawn, with winds of 145 miles an hour. Emergency officials reported major damage trees were torn out of the ground, and roads and bridges were under water. Forecasters had said the storm would dump as much as 40 inches of rain on the poorest country in the americas. A reporter from the miami herald spoke via skype, from portauprince, the haitian capital. Water is beginning to rise. Theres one major bridge that connects the capital with the north. Police basically blocked traffic from using that bridge because its now become a dangerous situation. Woodruff after crossing haiti, the Hurricanes Center moved on, during the day, on a path to strike eastern cuba tonight, not far from the u. S. Naval base at guantanamo bay. Its approach sent people fleeing across the region as winds and rain built in intensity. translated last night was terrible, the waves were enormous, to the point where i thought they were going to enter the house. They were very big; they were worse than now. Woodruff overnight, the slowmoving matthew is set to barrel through the eastern bahamas. Its projected to head toward florida at the end of the week, and push its way up the east coast over the weekend. Today Florida Governor rick scott was out telling people to start getting ready without delay. Once this storm comes, we cannot put our First Responders in harms way. You must leave before its too late. You can rebuild a home, you can rebuild a business, you cannot rebuild a life. Woodruff hurricane watches are now up for the southeast parts of florida. And for the very latest on matthew, we turn to the National Hurricane center. I spoke with its director, rick knabb, in miami just a short time ago. Rick knabb, welcome. First of all, where is this storm right now . Right now Hurricane Matthew is centered in between haiti and eastern cuba, will clip the eastern tip of cuba this evening. Then it will be headed toward the bahamas. Its still going to be impacting haiti and cuba for many, many hours to come. Its not just a point on a map. Its a pretty big and powerful hurricane, a category four. Its not just about wind either. Heavy rainfall, likely flash floods and mud slides affecting haiti and the dominican republic, and that can spread into east everybody cuba and then the bahamas. Hurricane warning for the entire length of the bahamas. Theyre going to be impacted starting tomorrow. Woodruff you said its a powerful storm. Compared to other hurricane, how do you describe it . It is similar to many other past major hurricanes that are category three or stronger on our fivetier hurricane wind scale. And matthews sustain winds are 140mph. So those are the maximum winds, but the tropical stormforce winds can extend out to almost 200 miles from the center. So its a big and powerful system. And what were really concerned about is a large number of folks in the bahamas being impacted, but then were forecasting this turn to the northwest and florida, georgia, south carolina, North Carolina are all threatened with florida being first, hurricane watches in effect for portions of the southeast coast of florida. We had to extend that further south to include broward county, the Fort Lauderdale area here at 5 00 p. M. Woodruff so what are you able to determine in terms of how strong its going to stay . Its not going to interact with land enough to significantly weaken it. Its good that its not spending too much time over eastern cuba tonight. And then as its over the bahamas, thats mostly a water environment. The islands there probably not going to cause it to weaken. The waters are very warm. The atmosphere conditions still conducive for it to remain major hurricane for the next few days. And that means its not impossible for a major hurricane to make landfall somewhere in the state of florida this week, and its also possible for hurricanes to directly or indirectly impact georgia, south carolina, and North Carolina. So weve been talking to Emergency Managers in all of these areas today, and we urge folks to pay attention, do whatever their local officials are telling them to do. And here in south florida where we live, today and tomorrow and tomorrow night is the time left to prepare before the weather starts going downhill down here on thursday morning. Woodruff and, rick knabb, when is the next alert youre going to be issuing . We issue full updates with a complete new forecast every six hours. That will happen at 11 00 p. M. Eastern time tonight. We do issue intermediate public advisories every three hoursing between to update on the intensity and on the position as we continue to fly Hurricane Hunter aircraft into and around the hurricane. But the next complete forecast and major changes that we would potentially communicate with watches and warnings will happen again at 11 00 p. M. And then again at 5 00 a. M. So people on the east coast of the u. S. , dont tune out. And take preliminary preparations so you know what youre going to do if watches and warnings are issued for your area later. Woodruff well, i know everyone will be paying very close attention. Rick knabb with the National Hurricane center. We thank you. Thank you, judy. Ifill in the days other news, the way is now clear for the paris Climate Change accord to take effect. European Union Lawmakers gave their endorsement today. The overwhelming vote means the accord has the backing of countries accounting for 55 of global emissions more than enough. translated our vote opens the way to ensuring that the whole agreement can achieve the necessary threshold figures so as to come into worldwide implementation. Ifill the e. U. s Member States are to make the approval official on friday, and present it to the u. N. The paris accord formally takes effect 30 days later. Woodruff theres a new surge in the flow of migrants trying to reach italy, from libya. The Italian Coast Guard reports more than 6,000 people were rescued on monday, alone, as seas calmed for the first time in days. Meanwhile another 1,000 migrants have been brought into ports today. So far, 132,000 have arrived in italy this year. Another 3,000 have died in the attempt. Ifill russia air strikes blasted eastern aleppo in syria again today. But rebels said they repelled a ground assault on the southern part of the city. Just yesterday, the u. S. Suspended direct talks with russia on the conflict. This morning, secretary of state john kerry said that does not mean the Obama Administration is giving up. We will continue, as we have before, to pursue a meaningful, sustainable, enforceable cessation of hostilities throughout the country, and that includes the grounding of syrian and russian combat aircraft in designated areas. And russia knows exactly what it needs to do, in order to get that cessation implemented in a fair and reasonable way. Ifill and moscow announced it has deployed an advanced surfacetoair Missile System in syria for the first time. Woodruff a u. S. Military Service Person was killed by a roadside bomb in afghanistan today. It happened during operations against Islamic State militants in the east. Meanwhile, in the north, Afghan Forces in kunduz regained control of most of the city. The Government Troops drove back taliban militants who attacked a day earlier. It came nearly a year after taliban gunmen held the city for three days. Ifill in economic news, new worries about britains exit from the European Union weighed on wall street. The Dow Jones Industrial average lost 85 points to close at 18,168. The nasdaq fell 11 points, and the s p 500 slipped 10. Woodruff and, three british born scientists who teach in the u. S. Have won this years nobel prize in physics. David thouless, duncan haldane, and Michael Kosterlitz were recognized for their research into rare states of matter. It paved the way for designing new materials for electronics and future quantum computers. Haldane is now a physics professor at princeton. Its a very gratifying recognition of the work. I mean its i dont think one goes into the business for prizes. Youre kind of trying to find neat stuff basically. Everyone wants to find neat stuff. Woodruff the other recipients are affiliated with the university of washington and brown university. Still to come on the newshour donald trump and Hillary Clinton focus on the swing states, as their running mates prepare for tonights debate. What to expect from the only Vice President ial faceoff. Plus, the implications of a deadlocked Supreme Court, and much more. Ifill the Vice President ial nominees step out of the shadows tonight for their lone debate. They are at Longwood College in farmville, virginia for their 90minute face off. Lisa desjardins is there, and begins our coverage. Reporter they previewed the debate site here, less than an hour apart first, republican mike pence, then, democrat tim kaine, scouting out the Longwood University stage ahead of their oneandonly vicepresident ial showdown. For both, its an opportunity to help the ticket, while trying to avoid pitfalls. Consider 1988, when republican dan quayle likened himself to a youthful john f. Kennedy, and drew a famous rebuke from democrat lloyd bentsen. Jack kennedy was a friend of mine. Senator, you are no jack kennedy. applause reporter then, there was 2000, when two experienced politicians and debaters met democrat Joe Lieberman and republican dick cheney. Reporter while this years debate participants were prepping today, their topof theticket running mates were out stumping. Hillary clinton, not far from philadelphia, talked up her proposals to help families, and went after donald trump on the way he talks about women. Think about it. My opponent insulted Miss Universe i mean how do you get more acclaimed than that . But it wasnt good enough. We need to laugh at it, we need to refute it, we need to ignore it and we need to stand up to it. Reporter First Lady Michelle Obama was also campaigning for clinton again, this time in charlotte, North Carolina. Hillary clinton is tough. See, ive watched her. When she gets knocked down, she doesnt complain. She doesnt cry foul. No. She gets right back up. She complains about how ive used the tax laws of this country to my benefit. Then i ask her a simple question why didnt she ever try to change those laws so i couldnt use them . This Morning Campaign manager Kellyanne Conway defended him against a New York Times report that he might have paid no income taxes for 18 years. She insisted he paid plenty in taxes. The fact is this man has paid the fact is, this man has paid hundreds of millions of dollars in taxes, over decades excise taxes, federal payroll taxes, city state and local taxes, real estate taxes, property taxes. You didnt say income taxes. But you didnt say income taxes. Well, he certainly has, in the years that he made a profit. Like anybody else, he paid income taxes. Reporter meanwhile, libertarian nominee gary johnson tried to make a virtue of his widely criticized lack of basic Foreign Policy knowledge. He suggested it might help prevent wars. You know what . The fact that somebody can dot the is and cross the ts on a foreign leaders geographic location then allows them to put our military in harms way. Reporter for tonight, though, the focus is on the Vice President ial faceoff. And then, its full speed ahead to the second trump, clinton debate, on sunday night. Late tonight we asked Gary Johnsons come pain to respond. And they responded us late tonight saying that gary johnson was not making a serious argument, that he was being tongue in cheek. Back to you. Ifill okay, lisa. Thats an interesting response. Let me ask you about the scene down there in farmville, virginia. Last weekend we worked up to the first president ial debate. There was so much excitement about how much people would be watching, what would happen, what wouldnt happen. Is it fair to say its not exactly the same tonight . I think thats right. But maybe in a good way. It is actually an incredibly relaxed atmosphere. Of all the debates ive covered, ga gwen and judy, ive never been to one with this nice feeling to it, maybe because its two midwesterners, maybe because its the vntdial debate, maybe because people are tired of all the attacks. Flu is an almost casual atmosphere i havent experienced at a debate. In the spin room, i noticed some highrank Trump Campaign officials walking around. No one was noticing, not any reporters. A reporter went up to talk to them, they seemed more at ease in the spin room hours before a debate. A very different atmosphere indeed. Woodruff lisa, is the expectation well hear more tonight about the Vice President ial candidates, the running mates, or about the folks at the top of the ticket . Yes. I think we will hear about both, but i think when you talk to the campaign, they are hoping for a policy debate, but they dont expect one. These two Vice President ial candidates have had a lot theyve had to defendant in the past month and a half, and we expect that to continue tonight. Of course, a lot depends on the questions, but then candidates can turn their questions around. Well see if either one of them goes on the attack tonight. Maybe some policy, but maybe its a case of fasten your seat belt. Its going to be a politely bumpy night, Something Like that. Ifill a politely bumpy night. Well ask you about that later, lisa desjardins. Thank you very much. Ifill as the campaigns prepare for tonights debate, we turned to representatives of both parties to tell us what to expect. We begin with matt schlapp, chairman of the american conservative union. He also served and the political director in the george w. Bush white house. When we talked a short time ago, i began by asking what mike pence needs to accomplish tonight. You know, i think his job, his primary job is to connect with that heart and soul of the republican party, and thats the conservative base. That conservative base is trying to get to know this guy, donald trump, and be comfortable with him. Its mike pences numberone priority to connect with them to, close the deal with them, bring back those conservatives and republicans who are still thinking about who theyre going to vote for on election day. Ifill i have heard more analogies having to do with mike pences role, from cleanup to swiffer, none of them complimentary, all of them about mike pence having to defend donald trump. Is that his principle role tonight . All Vice President s have to be the numberone cheer reeder for the top of the ticket, but i dont think thats what this debate will be about tonight. I think what well have tonight is a very conservative Public Servant against a very liberal Public Servant. In our own ratings, mike pence has a 99 and tim kaine has a 0 . We might have a very solid ideological conversation about what it means to be a conservative and what it means to be a liberal and why one philosophy is the right philosophy in 2016. Ifill mark schlapp, one of the big differences is donald trump will not release his income tax statements but mike pence already has. How do you explain that . I think thats one of kaines strategies to put mike pence on the defense. Im sure mike pence is very ready for this moment, and he will be ready to put tim kaine on the defense for the fact that Hillary Clinton has been involved in scandal after scandal after scandal, and its one of the reasons why the American Voters in all the polls dont find her honest and truft worthy. Its her number one problem that she has to mentioned between now and election day. Ifill i think its fair to say mike pence and donald trump come from opposite ends of the personality spectrum. Do you think their differences help or hurt the trumppence candidacy . I think the difference make for a good tease. Mike pence is a kind of steady midwesterner who comes from kind of a base of an ideological firebrand. He understands the conservative philosophy well. And donald trump is a complete outsider, is a relatively new republican, and he doesnt even talk like poll tightses. He talks like a new york businessman, and together i think trump is reaching out to these blue collar, workingclass americans across the country like the republican has never been able to do before. Weve always had trouble with that bloc, and i think mike pence is able to reach out to those steady conservatives, those li