on this sunday night, the final 48 hours in the race for president. a frantic final push on the campaign trail, obama and romney making a mad dash through the swing states. meantime, tempers flare. tonight a final poll on where this race stands and how sandy could impact the election. plus the new big storm closing in threatening to disrupt a massive recovery operation. and making a difference, the marathon may be off, but the race is on to help some of the hardest hit victims of the storm. from our election home, nightly news begins now. good evening. in just over 48 from now, the first polling places here on the east coast will close in the presidential election. the final countdown is on and the gut check moment has arrived for president obama and governor romney as they make the crucial decisions as to where and how to marshall their resources into places they can still make a difference. and tonight, we re about to release the results of our time poll in this race, a last-minute snapshot that could give both camps a reason for hope and anxiety. and how the hurricane sandy disaster has affected this race. let s start with our political director and chief white house correspondent chuck todd who s just below me here on democracy plaza. let s get right to the numbers, the president with a very narrow lead, 48% to 47%. this is almost last close presidential election we had which is when president bush also had a 48% to 47% lead. among early voters, president obama with a seven-point advantage here. four in ten voters may vote early this year. and in the battle ground states, the president s got a four-point lead and that s within the margin of error. in the northea let me show you where there may be a sandy effect, and that is the idea of which candidate has better leadership qualities. a week earlier, governor romney led the polls, but now you see president obama leads. in the middle class, the president leads by n k11, value versus the economy. and watching the exhausting travel schedule has been like watching a pair of prize fighters in the 12th round. let s get right out on to the campaign trail, along with kristen welker with the president in cincinnati. reporter: good evening to you lester. president obama campaigns here in must-win ohio tonight with music legend stevy wonder kicking thing off. with this race too close to call, president obama is enlisting his biggest su egest s and supporters to help him close this deal. president obama in the final sprint of this deadlocked race, stopping first in concord, new hampshire today. let s go get them, new hampshire. and then to hollywood, florida. are you fired up? reporter: mr. obama will travel several thousand miles, stopping in ohio, colorado, wisconsin. today the president enlisted one of the most high profile democrats to fire up voters. former president bill clinton. president obama even borrowing president clinton s campaign song. president clinton slammed romney. he s tying himself into knots saying he didn t oppose what he didn t oppose. reporter: and obama we know what change looks like and he ain t it. reporter: and president obama confused the former presidents. that ad th that. that ad that you have seen that president clinton bankrupted the auto industry so that china could buy it. we re in commanding position, but our big challenge new is to make sure that we execute and get our vote out. reporter: michelle obama will join the president in iowa for his final event tomorrow night. kristen welker, nbc news, traveling with the president in cincinnati, ohio. meantime tonight mitt romney is barrelling through a few states of his own. reporter: anticipating a dramatic finale two more days. two more days and we can get to work rebuilding our country. reporter: mitt romney this weekend is racing through eight events in seven states. we have got to change course because unless we do, we may be looking at another recession. let s make sure we get everyone out to vote on tuesday. reporter: governor romney s carefully crafted final pitch that he would be a bipartisan leader. and he has this new line don t boo, vote. voting is the best revenge. they asked their supporters to vote for revenge. for revenge. instead i ask the american people to vote for love of country. reporter: and while upbeat, mr. romney made this acknowledgement. if the president were to be re-elected. boo! it s possible. but not likely. reporter: this afternoon, new jersey governor chris christie who praised president obama s leadership in the aftermath of hurricane sandy, said he s still voting for mitt romney. i am voting for mitt romney, but that doesn t mean that i can t turn to president obama and say thank you. reporter: romney advisors are projecting confidence and claiming a more enthusiastic base. there s a gap on the side of republicans. reporter: late saturday mrs. romney rallied supporters in cleveland. i m feeling it r you feeling it? reporter: i m peter alexander traveling with governor romney in pennsylvania. i want to first talk to you about those numbers, about the leadership question, saying that president obama may have gotten a sandy bounce. is there anything that romney can do in that case or does he have to be on the sidelines? he is on the sidelineses, there s no question about it. in talking to the president today, they maintain that their zeta is unchanged. he would win bagsd on the reality is chris christie is now having to go out of his way to say he s still voting for mitt romney. he did provide him a boost. mitt romney needs to lead, let s face it the country is starved for it at the moment which is why i think it resonates. they both really have reason to be confident now, don t they? they have reason to be confident because you saw our poll, it s deadlocked, neck and neck. now it s whether they get their supporters to the polls, this very sophisticated report that the president has had years to vote on. building for mitt romney, perhaps stalled a bit when attention was taken off of him during sandy and during the recovery, whether that passion can be reignited and in his closing message, reaching out to moderates, reaching out to bipartisanship whether that ignites people and gets them to the polls. and your thoughts quickly on president clinton s appearance on the campaign trail. having covered bill and hillary clinton, this is the anniversary of bill clinton s 92 race. you can see him absolutely energized and igniting these crowds, he s the closer for barack obama. they have got to get young people and might norities out t vote. in florida, anger and frustration today in miami where voters lined up to cast absentee ballots after being cut off from the early voting deadline yesterday. what happened there and other potential election problems. reporter: frustrated voters juice the miami-dade election office this afternoon. they had come after the county announced it would open its doors to provide an accept absentee ballots today. but so many voters showed up that election officials were overwhelmed. they shut their doors and then decided to reopen. the democratic party ensued to extend early voters after some voters were stuck on line for hours. i have waited five hours now. reporter: election officials are bracing for lots of potential voting problems on tuesday, especiallily in the key battleground states n ohio, experts say because of confusion over new absentee ballot rules, more than 200,000 voters may be forced to cast provisional ballots that won t be counted until ten days after election day. there s a realistic chance that we will not know which candidate won the election in ohio. reporter: citizen groups like tea to vote, a tea party offshoot who says it s trained more than a million poll watchers to look out for voter fraud. liberal activist groups are saying they re employing their own poll watchers. we will be watching the poll watchers to make sure they are not acting as bullies. reporter: meanwhile hurricane sandy s devastation has swamped election plans in the northeast. officials are faced with flooded buildings and power outages are besieged. actually the timing of the storm was horrible for us respecting people s ability to get to the polls. reporter: this weekend the state announced it will let voters displaced by sandy e-mail or fax their ballots in. and military trucks may be deployed as backup polling stations. all these issues could lead to an election storm that leads to confusion and even chaos at the polls on tuesday. we want to let you know that brian williams and our entire political team will be with you every step of the way on election night. our coverage begins at 7:00, 6 central on tuesday night. amid the long lines for gas and the long wait for power, a new crisis emerges after sandy, where will people live during the long recovery. and another storm, taking aim at some of the hardest hit areas. imagine you, with less 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an account. we re back now with a long road to recovery facing thousands of families hit hard by superstorm sandy. in addition to the immediate needs of food and gas, there s a new emerging crisis. where are they all going to live in the weeks and months ahead? nbc s michelle franzen is on the jersey shore tonight. reporter: good evening, lester, aside from our light this neighborhood is in darkness. an hour earlier thanks to the time change and also an early cold night for residents hunkering down in their homes, those still without power. now tonight, new jersey s governor says fema has extended public assistance for all 21 counties in the state a big step as officials here and in new york try to overcome a challenge. in the blue collar fishing towns of highlands, new jersey amber moskowitz is surrounded by debris. we re safe, but it killed us, we lost all our pictures and memories. what we re worried about right now is that it s so cold they can t stay? their homes. the reality of not know what s next has set in. look at that, i don t know how that s going to be repaired. reporter: today homeland security secretary janet napolitano toured neighborhoods. our goal is to get people out of the shelters now as quickly as possible into something more stable, more satisfying. reporter: meanwhile the crisis at the pump continues, with drivers lining up at the pump to fill up and rationing in place in new jersey until supply can catch up with demand. part of the gas thing is that people are worried it s going to run out, it s not going to run out. in new york city, ferry sciee back online for tomorrow s commute. but for thousands still without power a crisis is emerging. one of the great fears we have with cold weather coming we have to make sure that people can stay warm and among the hardest hit, the rockaways in staten island. governmetonight the first ma donation from pepsico and walmart. reporter: in staten island, victims waited five days before help arrived. please start going door to door and ask some of the owners if they need anything. reporter: in queens more than 100 homes burned to the ground in a raging file fueled by sandy, a church service offered comforting words and a new determination. we don t have any crystal balls that will tell us how breezy point will be rebuilt. do not abandon your hope because only hope sustains us. reporter: volunteers and military teams continue to travel across the country to help in the recovery effort. the latest, 400 marines helping out in staten island. there is another big storm headed toward the region. we re joined tonight by w channel meteorologist kelly cass. this is the last thing we need in the northeast, and remember all those protective dunes have been washed away by sandy so obviously we have some store fronts and residential areas that could be hit with another storm. we ll be dealing with a lot of rain and very windy conditions. it s going to start off on the southeast coast, affecting basically election day. that nor easter co-moves up the coast, very strong winds traveling up the northeast and those winds will be sustained between 25 and 30 miles an hour, but gusting as high as 50 miles an hour. we could be looking at two to three inches of rainfall. coastal flooding is a huge concern. right now it looks like ohio will be clear, back to you, lester. kelly, thank you and we re back in a moment with some of the other day s news.
we re back now with some of the day s other news. in pittsburgh, a boy was killed when he fell about 14 feet into an enclosure at a zoo and was mauled by a pack of wild dogs. zoo officials entered the enclosure and used tranquilizer darts, but it was too late to save the boy. there was a big blast right in the heart of damascus, a car bomb went off near one of the city s largest hotels. when we come back here on this sunday night, the marathon is off, but that doesn t stop thousands from putting on their running shoes today making a difference on the path to recovery. that s why dentures require special care. make polident® part of your daily routine. polident s unique microclean formula cleanses gently. it releases antimicrobial agents, including active oxygen, to kill ninety-nine-point-nine percent of odor causing bacteria and reduce plaque. for a cleaner, fresher, brighter denture, use polident® everyday. this has been medifacts for polident®. get coricidin hbp. the number one pharmacist recommended cold brand designed for people with high blood pressure. and the only one i use to relieve my cold symptoms without raising my blood pressure. coricidin hbp. if you re a man with low testosterone, you should know that axiron is here. the only underarm treatment for low t. that s right, the one you apply to the underarm. axiron is not for use in women or anyone younger than 18. axiron can transfer to others through direct contact. women, especially those who are or who may become pregnant, and children should avoid contact where axiron is applied as unexpected signs of puberty in children or changes in body hair or increased acne in women may occur. report these signs and symptoms to your doctor if they occur. tell your doctor about all medical conditions and medications. do not use if you have prostate or breast cancer. serious side effects could include increased risk of prostate cancer; worsening prostate symptoms; decreased sperm count; ankle, feet, or body swelling; enlarged or painful breasts; problems breathing while sleeping; and blood clots in the legs. common side effects include skin redness or irritation where applied, increased red blood cell count, headache, diarrhea, vomiting, and increase in psa. see your doctor, and for a 30-day free trial, go to axiron.com. the view here in democracy pla plaza, finally when they cancelled the new york marathon, many found themselves with nothing to do after the storm. many felt they could make a difference in the lives of those hardest hit. reporter: after the staten island ferry, it felt like the marathon. 600 garbage bags, if everybody can take a garbage bag. 1,000 runners suddenly with time on their hands were ready to deliver supplies. this is the boat that could have taken them over to the starting line this morning. instead they re going to statten island to help, they re man thonners, they have a lot of energy. the father-daughter team from the west coast, they were relieved when the race was cancelled. i didn t think could have felt good about it knowing that all these people were cold and carrying all they own on their backs. so they were running. baby wipes, batteries. flashlights whatever people need. there was anger in this community last week when michael bloomberg said the race would go on, especially with food, water and generators were piled up for the race, not the residents. now the runners delivered those same supplies and lended a has been where it was needed. i m glad the run was cancelled and they re just able to lend a helping hand. in some ways canceling it did the same thing. that s nbc nightly news for this sunday. up next, football night in america, followed by sunday night football, the cowboys take on the falcons. i m lester holt reporting from democracy plaza here in new york. for all of us here at nbc news, good night.
mason: good evening, for those of you just joining us, this is a special expanded edition, i m anthony mason. scott pelley had been reporting from the new jersey shore but the hurricane has knocked out our link to him. hurricane sandy is about to make landfall near atlantic city, but the impact of this storm is being felt all along the east coast. the governors of 14 states from north carolina to maine have declared states of emergency. let s get the latest now from cbs news hurricane consultant david bernard. david? good evening, anthony. a lot of trouble up and down the east coast tonight. sandy is basically not a drop cam system anymore, but the effects are all going to be the same. let s start with where the storm is right now and, again, we are looking at very strong waves occurring all across ptions of the jersey and also long island sound. notice just offshore we re seeing some of these wave heights still indicated near 45 feet, maybe higher. and even though the storm is here, anthony, it s still pushing a lot of water in from the east and southeast. in fact, i was looking at some of the tide gauges in just the last few moments and places like the battery and even further east along the long island south and south along the jersey shore, those tides are reaching their highest levels of the day as we are nearing high tide in the next couple of hours. mason: david, we ve talked about the storm surge. how does it work? when we talk about storm surge, we re talking about a lot of components that go into it. i was just mentioning high tide. so on a normal day you have your tide ranges, you have your low tide and you have your high tides. when a storm is going on, we have to also factor in the surge. the surge is not like a tsunami, it s a gradual buildup of water that comes along with the center of the storm and it pushes into the coastline. so we have the sea level, the tide, and the surge. and what happens is if it comes in at high tide like tonight, you have to add the high tide to the amount of the surge and when you do that, that equals the total storm tides. so when we talk about water levels in long island sound and along the jersey shore could be anywhere from six to as much as 12 feet, that s what we re talking about, the storm tide, and that s how much water potentially you could expect at ground level. so if you know you re at sea level and obviously the storm tide would equal exactly what amount of water you could have your n your house. mason: david, how long is the worst of this supposed to last? that s the problem. right now the storm is moving at a pretty good clip. it looks like that low pressure center is going to slow down. so we re going to talk about on shore winds continuing probably for the next 24 to likely 48 hours. here s the satellite picture in the center of the storm right here. but look how the wind going counterclockwise around it are continuing to feed a lot of water, not only in the long island sound but also into the jersey shore and the track is going to be something like that. so we re going to continue with these on shore winds at least for the next day and probably for the next couple of days right here in south florida and the miami area. we still have large ocean swells that are causing coastal flooding here up and down the coastline and sandy went by several days ago. mason: david bernard, thanks, david. flooding along the new jersey shore has cut some communities off from the mainland. you know conditions are bed when rescue crews can t even get around. elaine quijano has our report. reporter: pounding surf and rising water along the jersey shore had officials worried early in point pleasant, beach. it s completely underwater. i m not going to chance taking this vehicle into it. reporter: by noon, the water was already so high even experienced rescuers had to turn around. you can see how deep it is. reporter: kyle grace with the city s emergency management team had a blunt warning for anyone who ignored the order to leave. they have to realize if it gets really bad here we can not come in and get them. so if you can get out now; get out now. reporter: authorities here know how deadly storms can be. last year, tropical storm irene swept two people out to sea. people need to learn from that and listen to us and get away from the ocean, get away from where the tidal flooding is going to happen. reporter: one person who was on the beach after the evacuation order was mike koen. what are you doing here? i came over here to check one of the complexes that i manage. i m setting my pumps up and leaving right now. mason: you expect high winds, heavy rain and flooding from a hurricane, but here s what makes sandy so unusual. it s bringing snow to the appalachians. anna werner is in elkins, west virginia. reporter: the national weather service issued blizzard warnings for more than 14 counties across the appalachian mountains as hurricane sandy hit a blanket of cold air. west virginia s governor earl ray tomblin declared a state of emergency as the snow began to fall. we re getting ready for the winter snow. reporter: the snow shoe mountain resort was one of the first to see the snow. four inches now could grow to a possibly two feet by tomorrow. some roads are treacherous already. our friend s car doesn t have the greatest tires and they ve done spunking around on the road one time so i decided to come get them. reporter: you ll do better. yeah. reporter: you got a four-wheel drive. reporter: i think so. reporter: travis ray is with the state s department of transportation. it s going to be very difficult. there s going to be guys out there in midnight and zero visibility conditions that are going to have to work and we have a very dependable work force but they re not ideal conditions for people to be out in but we re going to be out there to serve the public. reporter: the most critical problem here may be if the power goes out. companies are already warning the outages could be widespread as trees buckle under the early snow and fall on power lines. now, anthony, for as much snow as is coming down here now, state officials say the next 24 hours are going to be the worst. national guard is on standby and power crews and extra highway crews are on alert to cope with whatever damage happens here over the next couple of days. mason: anna, what can you tell us about any power outages inland there? reporter: well, we do know that a few thousand customers are without power in the region but, in fact, just ten minutes nag the town of elkins right here behind me, the lights in the entire town flickered twice then the whole town went dark. some of them have come back on, but many of the businesses here appear to be without power as we speak. mason: anna werner, thanks, anna. as we mentioned, we lost our satellite connection to scott pelley but we have him on the phone now from allenhurst, new jersey. scott, you lost power where you are. what can you tell us about the conditions where you are now? pelley: anthony, well, to tell you the truth, i m watching a (inaudible) a refrigerator floating by in the sea right now. it s a remarkable sight here in allenhurst. the ocean is crashing over a sea wall. i m about 15 feet above the beach at the sea wall and the waves are crashing over the top of the sea wall pretty routinely now. there s quite a bit of debris in the water and like i said, i just watched a couple of refrigerators float by. we re seeing a lot of wood, lumber in the water. obviously structures have been destroyed by the waves and seeing the debris going by right now. the winds at this moment are about 69 miles an hour according to the weather service, gusting up a little bit higher than that. but mostly the story here, anthony, as david bernard was saying earlier, it s the water. we are looking at mountainous waves, impossible to judge how tall they are. but they are crashing on to the shore here and now vaulting over this 15-foot sea wall which has been here protecting allenhurst for quite some time. the city itself, this city, is largely dry except for the rain. we re not seeing massive flooding here at all. but certainly the waves are threatening the lower lying areas of new jersey all up and down the coast here. so a very significant storm, not a great deal of rain. winds about 69 to 75 miles an hour which would make it a category one hurricane and the sea rising and rising as the storm comes on shore. anthony? mason: scott, as we mentioned, one of the casualties of the hurricane was one of our live signals from scott in allenhurst, new jersey. today washington, d.c. could have been called washington, c.d. as in closed down. wyatt andrews is there. wyatt? reporter: anthony, washington, d.c. is 120 miles from the atlantic coastline from where scott is reporting and yet hurricane-force winds are still expected here. the threat of wind and flooding shut down most of the nation s capital today and will again tomorrow. fear of hurricane sandy emptied the streets of washington. more than 200,000 nonemergency federal workers were told to stay home. schools were closed. the entire subway system was closed. the executive branch was mostly closed. congress was already on recess. only the supreme court was fully on the job, hearing two cases one on wiretapping, the other on copyright limitations, but the court and the rest of the government will be closed on tuesday. the number-one concern tonight is the danger from the wind. the weather service issued an unusual high-wind warning for washington and baltimore and is forecasting hurricane-force gusts of 75 miles per hour tonight. almost six million people live in the washington region and the threat of downed trees and lost electric power is extreme. hundreds of utility repair trucks and crew from outside the area have been brought in and prepositioned, but can only begin the repair work after the storm subsides. the power company serving the washington region say that 100,000 homes are already without power and that s before these heavy hurricane-force winds bebe again slamming this region later tonight. anthony? mason: wyatt, when does it look like the capital will be open for business again? reporter: just before we came out here, the federal government announced yet again federal employees here and there are 300,000 of them, roughly 100,000 are emergency workers-ers they re being asko stay home again tomorrow so wednesday at the earlers. mason: thanks, wyatt. in new york city, a construction crane snapped today in the high winds and was left dangling 75 stories above the street. it s a precarious situation and john miller has been looking into it. john? reporter: anthony, i m just back there from the scene and what you have there was hard to believe when you saw it. you have a crane that is at the top of a 90 story building in the process of being built. this is on west 57th street just down the street from our broadcast center here and this is the street that is home to carnegie hall, the iconic russian tea roomhe steinway piano factory and all of it s been evacuated because the boom on that crane snapped off and is hanging over the street. now, authorities say if the rest of it breaks loose it could fall at such a velocity and hit with such an impact it could pierce the pavement, it could hit gas lines, water mains, steam lines and cause real disaster. so it s not a disaster yet, it s kind o a disaster waiting to happen. they re hoping that it won t, that they can tie steel cables to that boom, reattach it to the building, wait until after the storm passes and then dismantle it and take it down in a million pieces. but right now a main thoroughfare is shut down, a precarious situation still unfolding as the storm approaches. mason: and i assume they don t want to send anyone up there to try to secure it. no, that was part of the discussion. that boom is still attached to the cables that run to the crane housing and they re hoping that all of that will hold it. in the meantime, they re just counting on the evacuation to keep everybody safe. mason: but the worst of the wind are still to come. that s right. mason: john miller, thanks. to the east of new york city, long island is getting hit with a storm surge. streets are flooded and more than 525,000 homes and businesses have lost power. michelle miller is in sag harbor. reporter: by noon, sandy s storm surge had already wiped out the laser-thin beach in sag harbor. police chief tom fabiano was stunned. how far did the beach go out? probably about 100 feet. reporter: there s nothing left. no, there s nothing left here. there s a playground behind us and in all the years i ve been here i ve never seen it come up to the road or anything like that. reporter: flooding is the chief s main concern but he says winds are proving just as dangerous. strong wes stripped boats off their moorings and well-rooted trees were toppled. there is a voluntary evacuation order in low-lying areas here. have you ever seen it this bad? no, i haven t. i ve been here 35 years doing this job. and this is not even the worst of it. reporter: at this bar across the street from te harbor the power was already out but people were trying to squeeze in a last-minute meal. it s pretty impressive to watch what s going on outside from here. you have to be concerned and careful. you have to stay awa from the hysteria, too. reporter: anthony, the corner bar and every other business here is shut down tonight and three quarters of this town are without power. a few peoplere milling on the streets, millingbout, but most of the people are heeding the warning from the police chief to buckle up and ride out this storm. mason: michelle millner sag harbor, thank you, michelle. further west, jim aelrod is in downtown maattan at t tip of m a what s tt there? reporter: anthousny, j with the last hour the rain has startedo intensify, the wind has picked up. you can hear a sound as the wind whips through the skyscrapers of lower manhattan that sound like a jet engine and it seems as though new york is really about to feel the full force of hurricane sandy. the big concern is the water right over my shoulder. all eyes are on the sea wall. if that water comes up over the sea wall and works its way into the electricity generating equipment that s in lower manhattan and into the subway stations in lower manhattan there could be very serious implications. anthony? mason: jim axelrod, thanks, jim. that was dramatic rescue at sea aboard a ship you may recognize from the movies. and two presidential campaigns are derailed by a hurricane. that s ju,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
mason: the hurricane forced the presidential candidates to suspend their campaigning for a couple days. john dickerson is our political director. john, with just a week until election day, how is this going to affect their campaigns? reporter: well, no candidate wants to look like he s taking political advantage of this cry seusz so with a week before the election this should be a time of frantic political activity but now the campaigns have to pear way back and calibrate every political move. usually at this time the campaigns are trying to hone their message down to a single simple closing argument to punch through the voters. but that s been interrupted and complicated now. both men have canceled a series of campaign events. the president has an official role and his strategists are trying to both highlight that role while at the same time not looking like they re doing so. mitt romney as no official role but by turning his campaign into a relief effort shows he cares and it keeps him in the news at this key time. losing the candidate on the stump is a blow to both campaigns in the battleground states where a candidate visit is an important part of the organization. it gets the candidates message into local media where undecided voters can hear it and candidate events lure voters who can be taken after the rally to vote early or convinced to volunteer for the final get out the vote effort. but while the candidates have suspended their public events for a little bit, the race does still continue. both campaigns were kicking each other under the table today in ohio over the auto bailout, releasing competing television ads and accusations. mason: john, how is this likely to affect the ground organization for both candidates in the key battleground states you were talking about? well, they ll continue fighting it out on the ground while the candidates are not there, but there is this element of without the candidates coming to pay a visit, the campaigns have to rely on surrogates to come and surrogates don t turn out the crowds as much. in some states, the crucial battleground state of virginia and then also perhaps a little bit in north carolina the ground game kind of has to halt in terms of just the fact that the weather is too bad and also because volunteers are busy cleaning up their basements and their front yards and they re not able to get on the phone and call voters to convince them to vote for their candidate. mason: john dickerson, thanks, john. the deadly meningitis outbreak caused by tainted steroid injections has spread to 19 states. rhode island was added to the list today. the number of cases jumped to 347. 25 people have died. another drug-mixing company in massachusetts called infusion resource was ordered to shut down after investigators made a surprise inspection. lights, camera, coast guard. a ship straight out of hollywood
in the 1962 film mutemy on the bounty was at the center of a real-life drama today. the ship was battered by hurricane sandy and sank. the crew had to be rescued. david martin has the story. reporter: coast guard rescue swimmer dan todd was lowered into 18-foot seas 90 miles off the coast of north carolina. he swam to one of two life rafts holding 14 survivors. there s two people remaining in there. reporter: the three masted ship h.m.s. bounty was sailing from connecticut to ship h.m.s. bounty was sailing from connecticut to florida when it foundered. the coast guard homed in on their emergency beacons. what followed was the rescued of 14 souls from vessels pitching so violently that at times they capsized. one after another the crew members, wearing cold-water survival suits and life jackets were pulled aboard in the wildly swinging cage. this one is swinging really bad. reporter: the swimmer remained in the water waiting for the empty cage to be lowered for another rescue. at one point he moved from one raft to the other by dangling beneath the helicopter. trying to stop the wind. i hope i m not swinging dan too much. i stopped him. i think i threw my shoulder out. reporter: as the last survivor was hoisted aboard, the pilot was already making plans to refuel as soon as they landed to head back out and search for two crew members still missing. let s go to cherry point and drop these people off, hot gas and come back. reporter: some survivors suffered injuries but none were life threatening. the body of one of the two missing crew members has now been found. the captain of the h.m.s. bounty is still missing. mason: david, how long can he be likely to survive in those waters, do you think? reporter: the cold water survival gear they were wearing is supposed to enable you to survive for about 15 hours. the ship sank in materially morning hours so those 15 hours are about up. mason: david martin, are about up. mason: david martin, ,,,,,,,,,,,, this is hayden. he s five years old. are about up. mason: david martin, ,,,,that s elizabeth. and that s skyler. and his mom, nancy. they re just a few of the californians who took it on themselves to send you a message about what they need to restore years of cuts to their schools. prop thirty-eight. thirty-eight raises billions in new revenue - bypasses sacramento and sends every k through 12 dollar straight to our local schools. every school. for them. for all of us. vote yes on thirty-eight. mason: updating our top story, sandy is making landfall at the jersey shore near new york city. it s no longer a hurricane but it s still a dangerous storm. 14 states have declared statesor more than a million homes and sisses. flooding is a major concern. new york harbor could see a storm surge of up to 11 feet, enough to flood lower manhattan. gale warnings are up along the great lakes as sandy moves inland and as much as three feet of snow is predicted for the mountains of west virginia. financial markets in new york will be closed again tomorrow as will federal government offices in washington. and airlines have canceled more than 13,000 flights through tomorrow. and that s our special expanded edition of the cbs evening news. stay with this cbs station and cbsnews.com for the latest on the storm. for scott pelley, i m anthony mason. thanks for watching. good night. captioning sponsored by cbs captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
. you re watching cbs-50 eyewitness news in high definition. yeah! a homecoming fit for champions, mobile 5 is live as the bay area welcomes back the world series champs. this is not a time to be stupid. it is a time to save yourself appeared your family. hurricane sandy is speeding watched the east coast and the entire northeast is preparing for damage. we are going to get to complete coverage of the giants homecoming but first it is shaking up to be one of the most destructive storms in modern history. hurricane sandy is slamming the coast. 60million people are in the path. from atlantic city new jersey, paul diano is tracking sandy. she is on land right now. that is the update. we ve had a land falling hurricane in new jersey for the first time in more than two rations. let s get the satellite loop. the storm is unprecedented. there is rain from maine to south carolina. that is how big the storm is. close to the center of the storm, these are the
speed was 137 knots. and the question was whether or not we had the lowest speed that the crew achieved. i will tell you that the speed was significantly below 137 knots and we are not talking about a few knots. we still have to corroborate some information. this was a preliminary read. the 137 knots came from the crew conversation about their approach speed. we need to take a closer look at the raw data on the flight data recorder as well as corroborate that with radar and air traffic information to make sure that we have a very precise speed. again, we are not talking about a few knots here or there. we are talking about a significant amount of speed below 137. if i could ask you to raise your hand to be acknowledged and identify yourself and your outlet that would make this a lot easier. yes, sir. [ inaudible ]. the question is, could we provide additional explanation about the stick shaker activation and the go around. what i shared with you was prior to impact there was a stick shaker that activated. this is both an oral and physical cue to the crew that they are approaching a stall. it s called a stick shaker but there is a yoke that the pilots are holding and that yoke vibrates or shakes and it is telling them that a stall is approaching. that activated four seconds prior to impact. there was a call out for a go around from one of the crew at 1.5 seconds prior to impact. and the call out is communication between the crew that they want to go around. that means they want to not land but apply power and go around and try to land again. that call came 1.5 seconds before impact. yes, ma am. so based on those recordings that you just explained, are you finding preliminary findings pointed to pilot error. are we finding pilot error? what i will tell you is that the ntsb conducts very thorough investigations. we will not reach a determination of probable cause in the first few days that we are on an accident scene. we want to make sure that we gatherer all of the perishable evidence and the facts. we have just been here for a few hours, not even a full day yet. we have preliminary information but we have a lot more work to do. we need to interview the crews and the first responders. we need to validate the raw data on the flight data recorder as well as on air traffic tapes. we ll be working to do that. steve gregory. can you tell us and characterize again at what point did something seem to go wrong? did it seem to go wrong from the data recorderer or from the voice recorder? where did the discrepancy enter first? from the information that we have on the flight data recorder and the cockpit voice recorder where did things begin to go wrong and which one occurred first? what we need to do is corroborate the information on both the flight data recorder and the cockpit voice recorder to overlay that with the crew s position, their spatial position as they are approaching the run way. there is a lot more work that needs to be done. some of the things we are seeing on the flight data recorder are mirroring some of the things that are going on on the cockpit voice recorder. the command for increased throttles or increased power from the engines, we also are seeing a go around request about the same time. yes, ma am. [ inaudible ]. the question was about the two fatalities.
the question was about a previous event that occurred where there was another haul loss involving a 777 at heathrow a few years ago and whether or not we evaluated that event and identified similarities with this event. in that event there were specific issues identified. those issues had to do with frozen fuel. this aircraft is equipped with pratt and whitney engines. [ inaudible ] we have not identified any specific similarities with that cause of the heathrow event but it is very early in our investigation. seems like you are hedging against mechanical. the question is, it seems as
from all the entities we are working with. in the back. the first question is we identified the nationality of the victims. with would like to mention that that is not something that the ntsb did. that was provided by other entities. the ntsb does not identify victims. we leave that to the experts in the area, the coroner in this case of the county or the medical examiner in other jurisdictions. the ntsb does not do victim i.d. and we did not do it in this case. i expect we will be on scene for at least a week conducting evidence gathering, interviews and creating factual information. if need be we will be here longer. we tell people it takes 12 to 18 months to complete an investigation. however if we identify any safety issues that we think need immediate attention we have the ability to issue safety recommendations at any time. yes, sir. are there cameras on the run ways and are they always recording? have you seen that footage? i will defer to the airport officials. we have requests any footage recorded on the airport that would record the accident sequence or the after math of the accident. we found in past investigations that the video footage whether it is surveillance or security video or whether it is video provided by the public can be very helpful. and along those lines we do have an opportunity for if anybody has any photos or video that
their landing speed and they failed to engage the auto throttles but they believe they had done it and the power didn t come up, they were monitoring and having an expectation that the auto throttles would put power in to maintain speed. when it didn t happen they had to realize something is wrong. i now have to take manual control and do something. then, again, that is the problem where they didn t perceive any kind of problem until the problem manifested itself about seven seconds out. by the time they took corrective action gravity took over and it was really too late for them to recover. so, are you suggesting that it is possible that the pilots did not realize they were going too slow. they thought they were at one speed but they were actually at a different one? is that what you are suggesting? there is a multitude of probability. that is why the safety board will dissect the cvr to see how the airplane was configured and see if the automation was being used by the crew. typically the pilots will set the airplane up with an auto throttle and in anticipation of the speed the automated system tries to maintain it. the crew didn t monitor and notice it until the last minute. that puts them behind the power curve. by the time they try to take the corrective action and push the power to full power for the go around by the time the engines started to spool up the airplane was settling to the ground. another question here that i think was raised. we learned today or at the end of the day yesterday that the guide path technology was not operational at sfo. the folks from sfo seem to suggest that that in no way shape or form should have played a role in what happened. mention about required systems. based on what you heard from the ntsb is there any suggestion that those systems could have helped prevent this if they would have been functional? i don t get the impression that the glide slope was the problem. it was a visual approach and pilots are trained to dot that without reference to the glide path. but i am concerned about the power being at idle whether thet auto throttles were engaged because the pilot is supposed to keep hands on the throttles for that reason and he is watching the speed decrease. as the speed decreases he starts to push the throttles forward whether the auto throttles do it or not. what does that tell you? i don t like to look back and quarterback what a captain has done or the co pilot. i can tell you that that is very unprofessional to not be in a position to control that aircraft regardless of what the auto pilot is doing. if the plane is not doing what the pilot wants he clicks all of that off and he hand flies that aircraft. does that suggest a question to you, then, why that would not have happened? . possibly inattentiveness. perhaps they were very tired from a ten hour flight and got distracted. maybe something else went on. thank you for your time today. msnbc will continue to follow this story and bring you the latest developments out of san francisco. for now, join the ed show already in progress at the essence festival in new orleans. you see the special psyllium fiber in metamucil actually gels to trap and remove some waste. and that gelling also helps to lower some cholesterol. it even traps some carbs to help maintain healthy blood sugar levels as part of your diet. now that s one super hard working fiber. metamucil. 3 amazing benefits in 1 super fiber. [ whirring ] [ dog barks ]
on our broadcast here tonight from our nbc news election headquarters on democracy plaza, decision day. that means election night soon we get to learn the verdict of a nation. either another term or another president after a long and bitter campaign and a grueling fight to the finish. tonight, what we ll be looking for as the first returns start to come in. and after the storm in the cold, without power after losing so much, they came to cast their ballots. tonight the extraordinary election effort to make sure everyone gets to vote while so much human suffering continues. nightly news this election night, decision 2012 begins now. good evening from our spectacular location here tonight at rockefeller plaza, in the center of new york city, transformed for thevening into democracy plaza. our nbc news election night headquarters. across this country today from the first light of day in montana, americans voted. they voted in temporary tents and by flashlight in the rockaways here in new york, where after all an entire region remains crippled and this will remain another cold, dark night for upwards of a million people. the first polls have already closed. more are closing in the next 30 minutes. people are still lining up to vote tonight in the state that may be the greatest prize of all, ohio. the candidates are spent after an exhaust iing campaign. now it all comes down to tonight. and just after midnight in keeping with a grand american tradition, the people of dixville notch, new hampshire cast the first votes in the nation and voted to a 5/5 tie. the first tie vote in that small town s history. we can only guess what that means for how late we ll be at this tonight. our team is in place all over the country and here in wbr id wbr1380 new york. we want to begin with our white house correspondent kristen welker covering the president in chicago. kristen, good evening. reporter: brian, good evening to you. the obama campaign is energized tonight, but also a bit wistful. after four years in office, the candidate once known for hope and change is counting on voters to stay the course. my name is barack obama, you know, the president? reporter: president obama campaigning tirelessly in the final hours before the polls closed, stopping by a chicago campaign office, to stress the importance of turnout. we have to round up the votes. reporter: since saturday, he s kept up a break neck campaign pace, logging more than 7,000 miles aboard air force /b one. making a dozen stops over eight states and granting 20 interviews to local stations. i hope we have a big turnout in iowa. reporter: after a long fight it came down to a sentimental journey to the packed center of des moines, iowa. i ve come wbr-id wbr1980 back to iowa one more time to ask for your vote. this is where our movement for change began. reporter: and it didn t surprise even veteran aids when the president reached a certain portion of his emotional speech with his voice strained. that shows you what one voice can do. reporter: and teers flowing down his cheech. it was the last event of his last presidential campaign. as you know, this is a pretty emotional time for us, because this is the final event of my husband s final campaign. reporter: today our nbc affiliate in des moines asked the president about his tears. a photographer got a little tear going down your left cheek. was that the cold out there or emotion? you know, probably a mix of both. i have to say that being back in des moines, thinking about all the folks in iowa who had worked so hard on my campaign back in 08 and then to see them still working hard back in 2012, it made me feel deeply moved and honored to have been able to be on this journey. reporter: this final stretch has taken on the feel of a family reunion, with aids from 2008 rejoining, some growing good luck beards, others wearing good luck charms. the president s tradition, a game of basketball with some of his closest friends and advisers. in fact we have a shot of him with one of the folks who played today, former illinois state treasurer. president obama will have dinner with his family tonight at his chicago home before watching election returns with the rest of his team. sports is a superstitious business. kristen welker starting us off. thanks. now to the other side, peter alexander traveling with the romney campaign. and tonight that means headquarters, back home in boston. peter, good evening. reporter: brian, good evening to you. within the last hour, mitt romney just landed back here in boston after wrapping up his final campaign swing. tonight he s going to watch those returns alongside his wife ann and all five of their sons. during that last flight he spoke to reporters and said he was very proud of the campaign, adding, and i quote, we put it all on the field. at the end of an exhausting quest for the white house. mitt romney cast his ballot alongside his wife ann in their home state of massachusetts. his mind was on the midwest. i feel great about ohio. reporter: governor romney went straight from the polls to his campaign plane with paul ryan. i m awed by the spirit and enthusiasm, support, energy, it s just amazing. thank you. reporter: while mr. romney thanks volunteers, later fueling up on fast food. it was a near traffic jam on the tarmac in cleveland. air force two carrying the vice president to a late campaign swing of his own touched down behind the governor s jet. he appeared almost overwhelmed by the reception in a state until now he largely ignored. that s when you know you re going to win. reporter: mr. ronlny said he didn t want to look back with anything other than satisfaction about his campaign. last night the romneys were greeted by a rock star s welcome in new hampshire. a three minute ovation in the state where the former massachusetts governor kicked off this campaign more than 500 days ago. i have a clear and unequivocal message. with the right leadership, america s going to come roaring back. reporter: late today after a bitter campaign, mr. romney struck a conciliatory tone. the president has run a strong campaign. i believe he s a good man and wish him well, but it s time for new direction. it s time for a better tomorrow. reporter: from that conversation with reporters tonight, it is clear that governor romney deeply believes he is going to win tonight. so confident apparently, he says he s only written one speech, a victory speech. peter alexander, romney headquarters in boston, where it s going to be a long night. let s fly across the plaza, a location we re going to be checking in with a lot, chuck todd, the keeper of the numbers. so chuck, give us a viewer s guide in effect, a lot of folks tuning in now will be with us the rest of the way out. what to look for tonight? good news for you presidential political junkies, before 9:00, look at how many states in the battlegrounds where the polls will be closed? six of the sort of ten states we ve been eyeing in either direction. the first big one comes up in a few minutes, the state of virginia. there s certain things to watch in the state of virginia. we expect it to be a tight race. if it s a good night for romney, is it something we re able to call by 9:00 or 10:00? is it a good night for the president, does he get it in his column early. i ve done all these scenarios. there s not many romney scenarios that don t include the state of virginia. two others i want to circle here. pennsylvania and north carolina. these are states that democrats believe something that s going to be in the president s column, north carolina something that s going to be in romney s column. what if they re too close to call at 9:00. if pennsylvania s too close to call, good news for romney. if north carolina is, good news for the president. we ll be checking in along the way. thanks a lot. we re joined now by three former nbc news chief white house correspondents, andrea mitchell, david gregory, savannah guthrie, who will be with us the rest of the way, of course. same question to chuck. what are the moments you ll be looking for tonight? the keys to the game here, as it were, two teams, and is obama s defense better than romney s offense? obama s got to protect the midwest tonight, he can do that, the states he won in 2008, ohio, iowa, wisconsin, he gets a second term. is romney s offense better. can he expand the battleground map? if he does that, he has his shot. what does the vote and the voter look like? how white is it? how nonwhite is it? what s the gender gap like, and what about men, white men in particular, for one side or the other. we re going to be paying a lot of attention on that. we got to barnstorm around on air force one for about 24 hours last week. what struck me, it s not 08 and you and i were talking about this before we went on the air, in so many ways. when you think about 2008, that was the night this country elected the first african-american president. four years later, if you look at the data, this is a country more racially divided politically than it has been ever before. the president is winning margins with nonwhites, upwards of 66%, losing whites by 21%. and that fact alone may be determinative of what the electorate looks like tonight. i think about how divided this country is, along racial lines, gender lines and political lines. we know this is going to be an extremely close race no matter what happens. what will that tell us for how we ll govern the next four years. to andrea mitchell, you re covering the senate and house races tonight. there s a lot of closely watched contests? speaking of partisanship, we re going to be watching to see whether the democrats can retain control of the senate. they have more to defend. the republicans have some self-inflicted wounds that they themselves would acknowledge with todd akin and richard murdoch, the candidates who spoke so controversially about rape. we re going to be watching women, 18 of these candidates in both parties in the senate are women. we re watching the house, of course. republicans expected to retain control of the house. what s going to happen to the tea party and the partisanship in the house. andrea mitchell wrapping up our purely political subtext tonight. by this time tomorrow night, this plaza will likely be full of swirling snow from a huge storm that s going to add insult to injury to this region. already for millions of voters here in the northeast, this election day includes such a painful subtext as the suffering from hurricane sandy continues for so many people. ron allen s been covering that, he s across the river from new york city in hard hit hoboken, new jersey. ron, good evening. reporter: good evening to you, brian. this city hall has been the center for relief operations here. today they added voting to the long list of things they re trying to accomplish. for voters in new york and new jersey, still battling the aftermath of the storm, there was frustration and confusion, and a huge problem caused by e-mail voting. election day got off to a chaotic start in communities outside new york city that still don t have power. when voters arrived at polling places that were not ready. it s a disgrace. i ve been here three times, they finally got machines in, now the machines are jammed up. reporter: in manhattan, where the storms effects still linger, the lines were long. in queens, tents were set up outside unusable polling places. shuttle buses carried other voters to alternative sites. throughout the metro area, some who turned out early even used flashlights. any means possible to have their vote counted. that s the only frightening part. there s a lot of people that just don t have positions to come and vote. reporter: registered voters could cast ballots at any polling place. in new jersey, anyone displaced by the storm could vote by e-mail or fax. an unprecedented move that overwhelmed election offices. frustrated voters who could not get ballots vented on social media. voting in new jersey is a disaster, said one tweet. late today the governor made it clear, e-mail voting is limited. you have been displaced from your home because of the storm. get your butt up and go vote at your polling place. reporter: buildings normally used for voting served many rolls. in hoboken, voters lined up at one side of the high school, while on the other side, storm victims lined up for emergency supplies. and many still plan to vote. i m still going to vote. that s not going to change anything. reporter: late today because of that huge backlog, the deadline to vote by e-mail was extended to friday night at 8:00 p.m. even before that move critics were warning of voter fraud. and legal experts say all this will land the state of new jersey in court. brian? ron allen across the way in hoboken tonight, ron? our justice correspondent pete williams has been watching for all reports of irregularities at the polls today. he reports that so far things have gone fairly well for the most part. he ll be part of our election night coverage tonight. however, one incident quickly went viral starting this morning. it happened to a voter in pennsylvania today as he filmed himself pushing the electronic screen, the obama button, the machine checked off romney s name instead. he eventually figured out how to touch a screen in such a way that allowed him to choose the candidate of his choice. he reported the problem to poll workers. when our broadcast continues, this other big story we re following, the continuing suffering from sandy, and how that has led to a vital new mission for the u.s. marines. 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[ male announcer ] it s the power of aspirin plus more in a triple action formula to relieve your tough migraines. new bayer migraine formula. we re back, this was the scene in the far rockaway section of queens in new york city today. hundreds lined up to get food and water from the national guard and nypd. among the items being handed out. blankets from the new york marathon that was cancelled. in one area particularly hard hit, staten island. the problems are piling up. when you have a problem, send in the marines, well, they did, as stephanie gosk found out there today. reporter: marines on patrol. this season thele monday province, it s the storm ravaged streets of long island. 50 marines in a community that need the muscle. especially the merchants. it s a huge job. they said, no problem, we can do it. reporter: a kindergarten teacher can t talk about her home without crying. russian immigrants, they worked for years to save enough money to buy their house. demolition is the only way to save what s left. of course, it s a big help. we can t do it by ourself. reporter: this is the kind of work that is needed all along this block. people are coming by to help out, but they re charging $3,000 to do what these marines are doing in here for free. reporter: in just an hour, the job was done. when i walked through these streets, it s like nothing i ever saw before. these homes were ripped off the foundation, fires, floods, winds. everything damaged this place so bad. reporter: they said at camp lejeune they were getting ready to deploy again to the middle east when they got the call to come to staten eye land. everyone s thankful to be here. reporter: the marines returned to their chopper to fly back to their ship. they will be on the ground here again tomorrow. this debris field behind me is now a 24 hour a day operation. the pile already big is going to get a lot bigger, brian. stephanie, i m sitting here thinking you ve been shot at while covering marines around the world. at least you re in the more hospitable climate of new york. there s this other storm on the way. by this time tomorrow night we could be seeing bands of snow through new york. the problem is the coastline, there are already mandatory evacuations underway in some jersey shore beach communities. the low lying one where the dunes the protection is gone, washed away. jim cantore is with us for an update on the severity of the storm. good evening. it s already coming to fruition, you can see it just off the coast here. these high clouds screaming north to where it s going to be another cold night tonight in new england. and these storm ravaged area. this model is going to give us an idea of what the storm is going to do. possibly tomorrow morning, no precipitation on the coast yet. it won t be long after that, look what happens during the evening brian. we change the rain over to snow, even in new york city, the hard hit jersey shore, across long island as well. the wind, surge and now the snow to add insult to injury. nine days after sandy. unbelievable. we ll talk to you next right back here tomorrow night, jim cantore, thanks. we ll take a break. in a moment, what voters are telling us mattered most to them as they left the polls today. 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[ male announcer ] polident. cleaner, fresher, brighter every day. first big poll closings just minutes away, that includes the state of virginia. our special election night coverage begins just after this break. we ll be with you all night long. this is it in a few minutes. so get comfortable. but for now, that s it for us for nightly news. our special coverage just moments away.
did they know and when did they know it? questions swirl around the cia and the fbi as we learn more tonight about what happened in the days leading up to the bombshell resignation of cia director david petraeus. money trail. new concerns about whether millions in donations are actually reachin families left shattered by sandy. tonight, our nbc news investigation. moment of crisis at one of the most trusted institutions in the world. explosive allegations against a popular tv star, now a shake-up all the way at the top. reunited, separated during the storm, we re there for the emotional moments when families find the pets they thought were lost forever. and paying tribute to those who served and those who continue to serve. tonight, honoring our nation s heroes on this veterans day. good evening. the fallout from the surprise resignation of cia director david petraeus after admitting to an extramarital affair has taken two tracks tonight. first with the bombshell landing just days after the presidential election, there is a growing course of questions from lawmakers about exactly when petraeus s affair was discovered and who in washington was told about it. then there s the fbi investigation that inadvertently exposed the whole thing. a probe into some harassing e-mails allegedly sent by petraeus s biography, paula broadwell. tonight nbc has learned who the fbi believes was on the receiving end of those e-mails. nbc news white house correspondent kristen welker has been working the story. she joins us now with the latest developments. kristen? reporter: lester, good evening. according to multiple government officials, the woman who made the initial complaint to the fbi is a close family friend of general petraeus, and there is no indication of anything more. now, the details are still murky, and lawmakers are demanding more answers. reporter: according to a senior federal official and close friend of david petraeus, 37-year-old jill kelly complained to fbi agents about being harassed by paula broadwell, david petraeus s biography. a senior u.s. military official says jill kelly is involved in wounded warrior fund-raising in tampa, is married, she and her husband are close family friends. officials say petraeus s downfall started when kelly complained to the fbi that she was receiving intimidated e-mails from broadwell. law enforcement and multiple u.s. officials tell nbc news that those e-mails led to the discovery of others between general petraeus and broadwell and were indicative of an extramarital affair. a senior law enforcement official told nbc news that fbi agents interviewed general petraeus in late october and concluded there was no criminal violation. today, members of congress are asking why the fbi did not inform them or the president sooner. we received no advanced notice. it was like a lightning bolt. i mean, this is something that could have had an effect on national security. i think we should have been told. there is a way to do it. reporter: this comes as we are learning more about the days leading up to petraeus s resignation. house majority leader eric cantor said in late october he was tipped off by the situation. in a statement, cantor said, i was contacted by an fbi employee concerned that sensitive, classified information may have been compromised and made certain director mueller was aware of these serious allegations and the potential risk to our national security. however, the president first learned about the incident on thursday, the day petraeus offered his resignation. a senior law enforcement official says the agent s call to a congressional staffer had no effect on the petraeus/broadwell investigation or the timing of the disclosure. still lawmakers say there are a lot of questions that need to be answered. it seems as we ve gone on for several months, and yet now it appears that they re saying that the fbi didn t realize until election day that general petraeus was involved, it just doesn t add up. reporter: several of petraeus s former aides say broadwell had too much access to the general. she hasn t been shy about sharing details about her relationship with petraeus, and their shared interest in running. ended up being a test for both of us since we both ran pretty quickly. but that was the foundation of our relationship. reporter: now, we have reached out to general petraeus. paula broadwell and jill kelly, so far no response. general petraeus was scheduled to testify on capitol hill this thursday about the attack in benghazi on the u.s. consulate. now, the acting cia director, michael morrell, is expected to testify in his place. that has upset some lawmakers who say petraeus is key to getting answers. lester? kristen welker tonight, thank you. now to the other big story that has consumed washington in the days since the election. the so-called fiscal cliff looming at the end of the year. if democrats and republicans can t come together and agree on a deal to avert it, taxes are going to go up for most americans. we get the latest tonight from nbc s mike viqueira. reporter: today top democrats drew a hard line. it s either higher taxes on the wealthy or the nation goes over the fiscal cliff. if the republicans will not agree with that, we will reach a point at the end of this year where all the tax cuts expire, and we ll start over next year. reporter: this as one influential conservative called on republicans to give ground. let s have a serious debate. don t scream and yell where one person says, you know what? really? the republican party s going to fall on its sword? a bunch of millionaires half of whom voted democratic and half of whom live in hollywood. reporter: but house speaker john boehner rejects any hike in tax rates. instead he would close loopholes in the tax code. raising tax rates will slow down our ability to create the jobs that everyone says they want. reporter: failure to agree by the end of the year would trigger a combination of deep spending cuts and expiring tax cuts. that could mean an estimated $2,000 more in taxes next year for the typical household. the jobless rate soaring to 9.1% by the end of the year. and possibly another recession. boehner and the president were close to a deal last year. the so-called grand bargain. $4 trillion in debt reduction including politically sensitive changes to social security and medicare. many think that blueprint still works. and the real problem is uncontrolled entitlement spending and a government that has grown massively. not just under this administration, under republican administration. reporter: experts warn of serious damage to the economy if the standoff drags on. if three or four weeks from now they re making no progress at all, you re going to see the anxiety and the nervousness growing both in the markets and in corporate boardrooms. it s going to be a rough two months for the u.s. economy. reporter: and lester, as the clock ticks with the two sides still at odds, they ll try to take the first steps towards common ground on friday here at the white house when the president hosts the entire congressional leadership. mick viqueira, thank you. tomorrow marks two weeks since sandy roared ashore here in the northeast, wiping out homes, leaving families with nowhere to go as they try to even think about how to pick up the pieces. a housing crisis that has the feds scrambling to help them. nbc s michelle frandsen is in staten island with more on that. good evening. reporter: good evening. this distribution center is the hub for this darkened neighborhood on staten island where people can come and get a hot meal and also much needed supplies. tonight, more than 120,000 homes and businesses in new york, new jersey and connecticut are still without power two weeks after sandy hit, and thousands of others displaced and in search and in need of housing. patrice sotomayor has spent the day clearing out her staten island home. the water came up to here. reporter: since sandy hit, she has stayed with friends. but with her flooded home now gutted, patrice worries about finding a new home. i m taking it a day at a time. i can t even think long term. reporter: today homeland security secretary janet napolitano returned to staten island for the second time since sandy struck. we know we have more to do. this is going to be here for the long term. and we are here for the long term as well. reporter: one of the biggest needs and questions, where to house the thousands of displaced residents. more than 4,800 displaced residents in new york, new jersey and connecticut are still in shelters tonight. fema is helping pay for temporary housing and says more than 369,000 have applied for individual assistance. and fema has approved more than $455 million of assistance so far. meanwhile, organizations like new york-based architecture for humanity which has helped rebuild communities in haiti and new orleans say the long-term needs for sandy victims are just as great. what we ve noticed is that there are pockets that are very similar to some of the hardest-hit areas after katrina. reporter: the company plans to help rebuild seaside heights, still closed off to residents. back in staten island, patrice says she doesn t know what s next, but she does know what she needs. i need some place to stay permanently. that i can afford to pay once fema help ends. reporter: and this is a community-based center run by volunteers. also fema has set up 55 centers throughout the hardest-hit areas of staten island. michelle frandsen, thank you. meanwhile, the red cross says it s received $117 million in donations to help victims of sandy. and tells us that so far its response has been near flawless. but that s not what we heard in some hard-hit areas of new york city where storm victims claim the country s preeminent disaster relief organization has been missing in action. here s nbc s senior investigative correspondent lisa myers. reporter: two weeks after sandy hit, residents of breezy point, new york, still wonder if more help will ever arrive. we haven t seen red cross at all. red cross hasn t offered any assistance up until yesterday. reporter: carrie lynn allen says she s donated to the red cross before and is very disappointed. they take people s hardworking money to assist people. and then when push comes to shove, they don t assist. reporter: her neighbors also wonder what happened. the red cross, you know, they re normally a wonderful organization, and it s just that they re not here. reporter: ann marie willis coordinates volunteers in the community and rates the red cross performance here poor. they need help with everything from housing to just hold them, say you re going to be okay. you ll get through this. we need everything. and i know the red cross has it. reporter: even in areas with a greater red cross presence like brooklyn, there is criticism. they were all saying too late. way too late. we needed help back then, and now people are sick and people are in trouble. reporter: red cross ceo gail mcgovern defends what she calls a massive relief effort. 5,700 volunteers, hundreds of emergency vehicles serving 4.8 million meals and snacks, shelters, clothing, health services. so what grade would you give the red cross so far? i think that we are near flawless so far in this operation. i m just so proud of everything that we are doing on the ground. it is incredible. one truck offers sandwiches with a blowhorn? it s disgusting. reporter: the red cross also has drawn fire in the past. it was accused of a chaotic and uneven response to katrina. and of being too slow to spend money in haiti. as for sandy, mcgovern says this storm poses unique challenges. the first cold weather hurricane. victims stacked in high-rises. a storm area the size of europe. the red cross promises that 91 cents of every dollar donated will be used to help victims of this storm. mcgovern says she hears the cries for help and is moving as quickly as possible to get as many resources as possible to the hardest-hit areas. lester? please sa meyers, lisa myers. ors are trying to figure out what caused an explosion. the explosion sparked a huge fire, flames shooting into the night sky that damaged or destroyed about three dozen homes. and take a look at the scene in denver. a southwest airlines 737 slid off a snowy taxiway last night during a snowstorm. the jet came to a stop in the grass. none of the 130 passengers or crew members was hurt. still ahead as nbc nightly news continues, the new fallout tonight as one of the most trusted broadcast institutions in the world is now described as being in a near meltdown. millions of tv viewers in shock. and later, we are there for the emotional reunions. families and the pets some worried they d never see again. okay, now here s our holiday gift list. aww, not the mall. well, i ll do the shopping. if you do the shipping. shipping s a hassle. i ll go to the mall. hey. hi. you know, holiday shipping s easy with priority mail flat rate boxes from the postal service. if it fits, it ships anywhere in the country for a low flat rate. yea, i know. oh, you re good. good luck! priority mail flat rate boxes. online pricing starts at $5.15. only from the postal service. we re back with more tonight on a deepening scandal involving one of the world s largest and most respected broadcasters, the bbc. one month after a legendary host was accused of having a long history of child sex abuse, the top official resigned this weekend. we get the latest from nbc s keir simmons in london. reporter: it is a british institution described today as in near meltdown. the terrible crisis which is entirely self-inflicted. reporter: the bbc, watched and trusted by millions, now overwhelmed by scandal, leading to the resignation this weekend of its director general after just 54 days on the job. a broken broadcaster, its leaders admitted today. if you re saying, does the bbc need a thorough structural radical overhaul, then absolutely it does. tonight, historical allegations reporter: for a week the bbc wrongly implicated a senior politician in child sex abuse claims. other networks made the same mistake. but for the bbc, it followed the decision to kill an investigation by the program newsnight of an alleged child abuser in its own ranks. for decades, one of the bbc s star hosts. it really is one of the most serious crises the bbc has ever faced. reporter: there are continuing questions as well about the man who entered a few months ago was the bbc s director general and editor in chief, mark thompson. tomorrow is he scheduled to become the ceo of the new york times. in a statement, thompson said, during my time, i never heard any allegations about jimmy. but nbc has spoken to one journalist who says he informed thompson s personal assistant about the claims. i absolutely said that. i always felt it extraordinary that no senior people within the bbc, including mark thompson as director general, ever addressed this issue. reporter: the bbc disputes his claim, but admits in the report it did call thompson s office. they ve seen public trust stop and his successors step down. now some predict more of thompson s former colleagues may have to resign before this is all over. keir simmons, nbc news, london. there is more ahead on this sunday evening. when we come back, one of the most famous dresses in movie history definitely not in kansas anymore. [ male announcer ] it s time for medicare open enrollment. are you ready? time to compare plans and see what s new. you don t have to make changes, but it s good to look. maybe you can find better coverage, save money, or both. and check out the preventive benefits you get after the health care law. medicare open enrollment. now s the time. visit medicare.gov or call 1-800-medicare. in the middle of all the loss and suffering from hurricane sandy, tonight we take a look at another part of the story that s gotten less attention. the plight of all the animals that became separated from their owners when the big storm hit. nbc s jill rappaport has that story. reporter: survivors of hurricane sandy are holding on to whatever they can find. everything is gone. everything. reporter: all you have left is what s on your back? on my back. reporter: and by your side. despite losing their homes and belongings, these people feel lucky. she s my heart. reporter: she s your heart and soul. yes. reporter: as sandy approa approached, officials in the northeast told residents to evacuate. don t leave your pet at home because you don t know when you can get back. reporter: but some didn t heed the warnings. most people did not think they were going to be gone for this long. they thought they would be back within three days. so they re heartbroken. reporter: animal rescue teams spent days scouring the hardest-hit areas, rescuing thousands of animals. my cat. reporter: in new jersey about 200 pets are in a temporary shelter run by the humane society of the united states. many animals here are accounted for. but since not all evacuation shelters allow pets, it may be some time before their owners can reclaim them. we re going to reunite you in a second. reporter: some are waiting patiently. daddy missed you so much. my baby boy. reporter: others a little less patiently. then there are the four-legged survivors without owners. like max who survived after a tree fell on him. tragically, that tree killed his owner and her friend. we didn t think he was going to make it for the first 48 hours. and then his strength and his will to live just really, really shone through, and now he s going to bring some comfort and joy to the parents who have really lost everything. reporter: the aspca is helping this group of displaced new yorkers and their pets move to an animal-friendly shelter. not having your pet here would be like not having a family member here. we love these guys and each other. reporter: happy reunions after a harrowing ordeal. as people count their blessings in the midst of devastation and loss. jill rappaport, nbc news, new york. the producers of skyfall, the latest james bond movie, might want to rename it windfall. that s because the film generated almost $88 million in its first weekend at theaters here in the u.s. that s a north american record for a james bond film. sales worldwide have already surpassed $500 million. and speaking of windfalls, how about this, the blue gingham dress judy garland wore as dorothy in the wizard of oz sold at auction this weekend in beverly hills for $480,000. and get this. the seller originally paid only $2,000 for it at auction back in 1981. up next tonight, honoring those who served and those who continue to sacrifice so much for their country. i can t afford to ignore our retirement savings, not in this economy. we also have zero free time, and my dad moving in. so we went to fidelity. we looked at our family s goals and some ways to help us get there. they helped me fix my economy, the one in my house. now they re managing my investments for me. and with fidelity, getting back on track was easier than i thought. call or come in today to take control of your personal economy. get one-on-one help from america s retirement leader. with less chronic osteoarthritis pain. imagine living your life with less chronic low back pain. imagine you, with less pain. cymbalta can help. cymbalta is fda-approved to manage chronic musculoskeletal pain. one non-narcotic pill a day, every day, can help reduce this pain. tell your doctor right away if your mood worsens, you have unusual changes in mood or behavior or thoughts of suicide. antidepressants can increase these in children, teens, and young adults. cymbalta is not approved for children under 18. people taking maois or thioridazine or with uncontrolled glaucoma should not take cymbalta. taking it with nsaid pain relievers, aspirin, or blood thinners may increase bleeding risk. severe liver problems, some fatal, were reported. signs include abdominal pain and yellowing skin or eyes. tell your doctor about all your medicines, including those for migraine and while on cymbalta, call right away if you have high fever, confusion and stiff muscles or serious allergic skin reactions like blisters, peeling rash, hives, or mouth sores to address possible life-threatening conditions. talk about your alcohol use, liver disease and before you reduce or stop cymbaa.lt dizziness or fainting may occur upon standing. ask your doctor about cymbalta. imagine you with less pain. cymbalta can help. go to cymbalta.com to learn about a free trial offer. until he got his number. right! the machine showed me my pressure points on my feet, and it gave me my custom number. my arches needed more support. in two minutes, the dr. scholl s foot mapping center showed me my free foot map and my number. i m a 440. that matched up to the dr. scholl s custom fit orthotic inserts with the support i needed. now, i play all day long! my feet. my number. my inserts. go to drscholls.com to find your closest walmart with a foot mapping center. i m a believer! it was on this date, the 11th day of the 11th month 94 years ago, an armistice was signed drawing world war i to a close. sadly, it would not prove to be the war to end all wars. and so with members of the u.s. military serving here at home and overseas, many in conflict, today on this veterans day, we celebrated and honored those who have worn this nation s uniforms and preserved our freedom. aim, fire! each year, on the 11th day of the 11th month, we pause as a nation and as a people to pay tribute to you, the heroes over the generations who have served this country of ours with distinction. [ playing taps ] we have to remember who fought for our country and who gave us our independence and our freedom. it s our veterans. we lose sight of what has been paid as far as the price for our patriotism, then we re lost. i believe in what they do for our country. and support our freedom and defend our country so that we can live free. in this country, we take care of our own. especially our veterans who have served us so bravely and sacrificed so selflessly in our nation. welcome home, daddy. thank you, buddy. we carry on, knowing that our best days always lie ahead. americans expressing gratitude for our veterans on this november 11th. one final note here, earlier in this broadcast we showed a picture of several people including a woman named jill kelley. while showing the photo, we inadvertently zoomed into the portion of the picture which showed kelley s sister on the left. to clear up any confusion, jill kelley is the woman second from the right. and we apologize. that s nbc nightly news for this sunday. brian williams will be here tomorrow. i m lester hou eer holt reporti new york. for all of us here at nbc news, good night.