Woodruff its Election Night on the pbs newshour. Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by at bae systems, our pride and dedication show in everything we do; from Electronics Systems to intelligence analysis and cyber operations; from combat vehicles and weapons to the maintenance and modernization of ships, aircraft, and critical infrastructure. Knowing our work makes a difference inspires us everyday. Thats bae systems. Thats inspired work. And the william and flora hewlett foundation, helping people build immeasurably better lives. And with the ongoing support of these institutions and. This program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. And by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. Ifill all over the country, americans have been casting ballots today and potentially shaking things up in washington and a number of state capitals. The voting followed the most expensive Midterm Campaign in history with more thanked we begin with a look at how this election day unfolded and whats at stake tonight. After months of campaign ads, pitched appeals and hundreds of candidates debates americans headed to the polls today. In some parts of the country, there were long lines. In others, turnout was lighter, as voters breezed in to elect officials for national, state and local offices. I think that this is what it is all about, to be able to vote and have a voice and hopefully select the people that you think are going to represent the state the most appropriately. It is really going to swing things here in North Carolina as well as across the nation, so i thought of it as a very important election to kind of get out here and make my perspective heard. Ifill up for grabs, one third of the senate and Party Control of that chamber, plus all 435 seats in the house, where republicans are expected to add to their majority. Today, democrats control the senate with 53 seats, plus two independents who vote with them. Republicans hold 45 seats. But the g. O. P. Is hoping to add at least six more tonight, and shift the balance of power. Senate contenders, incumbents and challengers, democrats and republicans cast their ballots early. I think were going to have a good day here in kentucky and hopefully around the country. We need people down in washington that are going to Work Together with folks, that are going to bring people together. The partisan gridlock, enough of that. Ifill in washington, White House Press secretary josh earnest said the election no matter its outcome does not constitute a referendum on president obamas job performance. The fact is the voters, again the voters who pick up the phone for people conducting a poll for cnn indicated that at least a majority of them were not trying to send a message to the president with their vote, that Something Else was driving their decision. Ifill in many cases, that Something Else is the economy, and its been a major factor in making many of the 36 governors races very close. This is also the first election for some states with new voter i. D. Rules and the department of justice and various other groups are monitoring for any irregularities including suppressing and voter fraud. Ifill well begin our deep dive into the election story in detail, after the news summary. Woodruff theres new evidence that Islamic State militants tortured and abused kurdish children in northern syria. Human rights watch announced the findings today. Some 150 teenage boys were kidnapped near the embattled town of kobani, in may. The report says they were beaten with rubber hoses and electrical cords and forced to watch beheading videos. All of the captives have now either escaped or been released. Ifill tensions mounted again today in ukraine, as the government announced its sending more troops to the eastern part of the country. President Petro Poroshenko said the reinforcements will defend key cities against prorussian rebels. Both sides agreed to a cease fire in september, but its been violated, repeatedly, since then. Woodruff in mexico, federal police captured a fugitive former mayor who allegedly ordered an attack on student protesters. 43 of them are missing and feared dead. Early this morning, Jose Luis Abarca and his wifek, were taken by convoy to the mexican attorney generals office, after being arrested in mexico city. Officials said they were giving statements. Parents of the missing students have complained of lack of progress in the investigation. But some of them welcomed news of the arrests. Woodruff investigators say the mayor was in league with a drug gang, whose members killed the students and buried them in mass graves. But so far, no sign of the bodies has turned up. Ifill the head of britains electronic eavesdropping agency is charging that u. S. Social Media Outlets are command and control networks for terror groups. Robert hannigan made the claim in the financial times. He said Islamic State militants use facebook, twitter, and whatsapp to communicate with relative ease. Hannigan says the Tech Companies are in denial about the issue. Woodruff theres word from west africa that thousands of people have broken ebola quarantines in sierra leone to find food. Aid organizations warned today that food deliveries are not reaching many of the remote, cordoned off areas. Those left hungry people to search where they can potentially spreading the virus. Ifill the World Health Organization urged today that a Prescription Drug used to fight drug overdoses be made more widely available. The u. N. Agency said nahloxone could prevent more than 20,000 deaths a year in the u. S. Alone. The drug can counter the effects of heroin and some heavyduty painkillers in minutes. And, it can now be administered as a nasal spray. Woodruff Minnesota Vikings star Adrian Peterson will avoid jail time in his child abuse case. Peterson pleaded no contest today to a texas charge of misdemeanor reckless assault. He was accused of switching his four year old son with a small tree branch. Peterson initially faced a felony charge, but appeared before a texas court this afternoon and formally accepted the plea deal. Afterwards, expressed his remorse. I truly regret this incident. I stand here and i take full responsibility for my actions. I love my son more than any one of you could even imagine. And im looking forward to and im anxious to continue my relationship with my child. Im just glad this is over. Woodruff peterson has been on paid leave from the vikings under a special exemption from the n. F. L. It wasnt yet clear how the deal would affect his playing status. Ifill a man long sought for pirating material from the music and Movie Industries was arrested today in thailand. Hans fredrik lennart nayuh co founded the filesharing website the pirate bay. Hes already been convicted in sweden of Copyright Infringement and sentenced to a year in prison. He and three associates will also have to pay 6. 5 million in damages. Woodruff major u. S. Banks are joining forces to combat cyber attacks. The wall street journal reports several cybersecurity firms will use money from 16 banks to create faster communication about potential breaches. The move follows attacks last month on Computer Systems at j. P. Morgan chase and other institutions. Ifill the price of oil kept falling around the world today, after saudi arabia cut prices for u. S. Customers. Oil finished near 77 a barrel in new york trading, putting more pressure on Energy Stocks and wall street in general. The Dow Jones Industrial average managed a small gain up 17 points to close near 17,384; but the nasdaq fell 15 points to close at 4,623; and the s p 500 dropped five, to finish at 2,012. Ifill still to come on the newshour. On the ground reports from kentucky and wisconsin. The analysis of mark shields and michael gerson. How money was spent on the campaign trail. Young people weigh in on the negative messaging in campaign ads. Debating what the election could mean for Immigration Reform. And how it could affect efforts to tackle Climate Change. Plus, the possibility for a tie in the senate. Woodruff in one of the three states where polls close in less than an hour, kentucky. Senate republican leader Mitch Mcconnell hopes to prevail over his democratic challenger, Alison Lundergan grimes. And if republicans can pick up those six seats needed to take control of the senate. Mcconnell stands to become the next majority leader. While in wisconsin where polls are still open for a couple hours, all eyes are on the governors race. Republican scott walker rode the g. O. P. Wave to victory in 2010, but was forced into a recall vote after taking on organized labor. If he survives tonight, he may join the short list of those eyeing a run for the white house two years from now. Hari sreenivasan is in our newsroom. Hell be talking with reporters across the country all evening. Sreenivasan we start with the bluegrass state. Renee shaw of Kentucky Educational television joins us from lexington. So the big story, the big race that everyone in the country seems to be focused on is between Mitch Mcconnell and Alison Lundergan grimes. What was that race like today . Reporter well, they have been doing the ground game, as you say, these last 72 hours, hari. They have been out, both of them, in force. There has been a flyer round with the junior senator from kentucky, rand paul. Of course, secretary grimes hases had president clinton in and also Hillary Rodham clinton in on her behalf. Its been a busy last 72 hours. I think mcconnell says his folkfolks have knocked on theire millionth door, and secretary grimes has been going around the state by the dozens in the last few hours. Sreenivasan is it all paying off . Where do the polls have the candidates standing tonight . Well, latest polls show that mcconnell was easing away, that he was enjoying a lead. Now, it was within with the statistical margin of error, and one poll, the survey u. S. A. Poll. But others show him enjoying a doubledingit lead. Many predict mcconnell will be the victor again tonight. Zeal to see upon. The heavy turnout across the state has been reported in several different pockets and its been steady turnout as well. So that could be indicative of a good ground game behalf of secretary grimes or maybe not. Well just have to see who those voters turn out for today. Sreenivasan before they got out the vote on election day they also spent a tremendous amount of money on advertising, a lot of money coming in from outside spending. I think the republicans outspent the democrats here three to two. You saw evidence of that, i assume, on your tv airwaves. No doubt about it. I think if you ask a lot of the voters what theyre lookinged for to most out of this election, and thats november 5, theyll be glad to have their tvs back and their mailboxes free of flyers. It has been an aggressive game on behalf those of these candidates and the superpac many has flowed and the televisions have been commandeer and the radio airwaves as well with advertising. Mitch mcconnell has had an edge. They eased up on the negativity a little bit over the weekend but came back at it dismnd tuesday. Well see if that affects who voters support. We know the turnout is heavy so perhaps it doesnt suppress the vote as conventionally you would think. Sreenivasan while it is two names grimes and mcconnell on the ballot, president obama seems to have played an outside role in this. Yes, hes the ghost candidate, full, hari. As you know, Mitch Mcconnell, from the gate right before the primary, and especially during and after, has really connected secretary grimes to president obama and his slowing afns that kentucky needs mcconnell but obama needs crimes, and that resonated throughout, even though secretary grimes tried to say we need to get the millionaire whos had a 30year record in washington that is not serving kentucky the way you like and who was pretty ubpopular, that doesnt resonate as much as the connection to the president and its something she had a hard time overcoming. And well see if she was aicial to reclaim her own narrative tonight. Sreenivasan all right renee shaw of Kentucky Educational television joining us from lexington, thanks so much. Thank you, my pleasure. Sreenivasan its not only senate thats capturing a lot of attention. For the latest on the governors race in wisconsin between republican incumbant scott walker. And democratic challenger mary burke. We turn to Frederica Freyberg of Wisconsin Public television in madison. So, lets talk about this race. What was the mood like on the ground . The mood like on the ground throughout the campaign or the mood like on the ground today, the last day before the polls close tonight at eight am . Sreenivasan exactly. Lets talk a little bit about the turnout here. Did people come out, especially in the big cities, for this race, that got so much National Attention . Well, we are being told were reading along with the live blog postings throughout the day that milwaukee, city of milwaukee Election Officials are reporting what they regard to be high turnout. Theyre saying the turnout is somewhat like the last president ial race, somewhere around 70 . That would be very high turnout. Dane county is reporting high turnout. Theyre saying as high as 90 . The city of green bay is also reporting high turnout. Now, that could change as the evening wears on and the polls close and perhaps those numbers slow down. But mary burke in particular needs that kind of turnout because scott walker comes in to this Election Night before the polls close with some energy because the latest Marquette University law School Last Week put him up seven point among likely voters over mary burke. Now, registered voters were still about even in that poll, and thats considered kind of a Gold Standard poll in wisconsin, very accurate historically. But so among registered voters about even. Thats why she needs that turnout in milwaukee and in madison, the two Democratic Base cities of size in this state. Sreenivasan before tonight, were there National Issues that brought these voters out at the numbers youre talking about or was this a local election and local issues . Well, you know, i really do believe even though this race has the eyes of the nation on it because of scott walker and bloomberg describing him as having altered the boundaries of republican ambition, even though the National Eyes are on wisconsin, this really was a race about wisconsin issues, about jobs, about the economy, about a number of other issues regarding, you know, scott walkers fouryear tenure here as governor. And so, again, the nation is watching, but wisconsin is also keenly interested in its local state issues. Sreenivasan all right, and finally, i want to ask, wisconsin also has been in the news because of the voter i. D. Laws and the Supreme Court suspending any implementation of them. Have there been any voter i. D. Related issues that have come up at the polls today . We have not heard of any. The Government Accountability board here, the Election Officials for the state have said there have not been any issues or problems. However, it has been suggested that perhaps theres confusion among voters because it was less than a month ago that the u. S. Supreme court kind of put the halt to our voter i. D. Law, and so some voters may really not even know that they dont need their i. D. To vote. But in fact, the polls are still open here. They do not need a photo i. D. To vote. Sreenivasan Frederica Freyberg of Wisconsin Public television in madison, thanks so much. Thank you. Sreenivasan all right, gwen, back to you. Ifill thank you, hari. Ifill thanks, hari. Theres a lot at stake and a lot to keep our eyes on this Election Night. Here to help us make sense of it all, for the long haul, shields and gerson. Thats syndicated columnist mark shields. And Washington Post columnist michael gerson. So, michael gerson, whats your canary in the coal mine tonight what, are you watching for . Im watching for whether republicans can win away games. Its not enough to win republicanleaderring voters in republicanleaning states in a republican year. Thats enough to get the senate. The question is whether they can win in purple states. That has implications for 2016. You know, places like iowa and colorado and ifill North Carolina. North carolina, New Hampshire. These are places that you need to win that show that you can expand your coalition. So thats what im looking for. I think theyll have a good evening. The question is whether they have a swell or a wave, and those states will determine a wave. Woodruff what about you, mark, what are you looking for. I think michael makes good sense as usual. The i think the blue