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 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. go to cymbalta.com hey kev, go to cymbalta.com hey how about a bike ride? you re not my dad ahh!! hey honey, back feels better, little dancing tonight, you and me? dr. scholl s pro inserts relieve different types of lower body pain by treating at the source so you re a whole new you. go pro with dr. scholl s. with the fidelity stock screener, you can try strategies from independent experts and see what criteria they use. such as a 5% yield on dividend-paying stocks. then you can customize the strategies and narrow down to exactly those stocks you want to follow. i m mark allen of fidelity investments. the expert strategies feature is one more innovative reason serious investors are choosing fidelity. now get 200 free trades when you open 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
this is world news and tonight your voice, your vote, tens of millions of americans going to the polls. lining up for hours to choose their president at schools, homes, laundromats, even car dealerships. and even americans in the storm zone doing what it takes to make their voices heard voting by flashlight in the shelters. after this long and tough road, the president appears at the end of his final campaign. we ve made real progress these past four years. the challenger, governor romney fighting for the last vote. that s when you know you ll win. getting ready for this historic night. our abc news political team here and reporting across the nation as tonight it is the vote, the big picture, election day in america. good evening from the crossroads of the world, pulse of the nation, abc news election headquarters in times square on this historic day for democracy after one of the toughest elections ever, americans are choosing a president. and our great abc news team of analysts and experts have taken their posts eager to tell you would won, how and why throughout this evening. and it is your voice, your vote. it will be lighting up our maps here at election headquarters. and we also thank you all day long. you have sent us pictures proving how much you care about this vote and we saw you lining up before dawn in virginia, braving lines, rain in florida, children in tow and even guys with surfboards and bare feet as in chicago a woman who went to the polls while in labor then went on to the hospital. talk about the candidates in these last moments, the two men who have been racing to the finish line spent the day proving determination and stamina and abc s white house correspondent jake tapper starts us off in chicago where the president is with his family waiting for results. jake. reporter: good evening on this exciting night, diane. president obama and his campaign are gurding hem thfls for a long night and the president said this might spill into the morning but he fully expects by tomorrow he will be re-elected. it is out of his hands and in yours. my name is barack obama, you know, the president. reporter: at a chicago campaign field office president obama called volunteers in wisconsin to thank them for their hard work. hi, is this annie? hi, this is barack obama, how are you? [ laughter ] i m doing you know i don t think she knows it s me. reporter: his message has been one of staying the course. forward. painted himself as a warrior for the middle class. are you fired up? all: fired up. are you fired up? reporter: but today another message, an olive branch. i also want to say to governor romney, congratulations on a spirited campaign. reporter: later today joined by scottie pippen and his old friends the president played basketball, an election day superstition. he did not do so the day of the 2008 new hampshire primary and has not repeated that mistake. also not taking anything for granted vice president biden who made a quick stop in must win buckeye battleground ohio. the son of scranton, gave clevelanders part of his folksy charm. running for county council. reporter: it s been an emotional home stretch late last night with his wife in the state that launched his national career, iowa. as you know this is a pretty emotional time for us because this is the final event of my husband s final campaign. reporter: sleep deprived in the battle of his life standing in the freezing cold, the president saw old familiar faces in the crowd of 20,000 before him. to all of you who ve lived and breathed the hard work of change, i want to thank you. reporter: tears streamed down his face. that s the spirit that carried us through the trials and tribulations the last four years. reporter: and now president obama is in a suite at the fairmont hotel. he is waiting for his family, his girls have arrived. they flew here after school with the president s mother-in-law. they ll be watching the returns at the hotel. the president is expected to return to washington, d.c., diane, tomorrow afternoon. diane? okay, jake, thank you so much. and again, we have been following you on social media and so many of you wrote us to tell us about epic lines you encountered at the polls coast to coast. you can see some of them right there in washington, d.c., but people did wait hours and hours to vote and the voting remained in full swing and does now, but it hasn t stopped governor romney from squeezing in a few more campaign stops and abc s david muir was there with him. david? reporter: diane, good evening. can you believe the day is finally here and as you mentioned a frenetic pace for governor romney right up the end he just landed here in boston after stops in ohio and pennsylvania today. they do believe pennsylvania is now in play for the republicans but i got to tell you it all started this morning when he walked into his own polling place in his neighborhood in belmont, massachusetts and was hummed when he saw his name right there for president of the united states. mitt romney and his wife ann back home this morning walking in to cast their vote. a quiet moment side by side after nearly six years of campaigning, two runs for the white house and tonight he is one step away. outside a kiss and then a question about ohio. yeah, i feel great about ohio. thank you. reporter: but not taking that state for granted a last-minute dash today back to ohio. his body man taking this image on the plane proudly wearing this pin and the plane and running mate s plane paul ryan and vice president joe biden s plane in a state both sides want to win. it s been a race to the finish traveling 15,000 miles in 4 days. overnight on my iphone capturing this moment, the romney plane pulling into this columbus, ohio, hangar and soon after we were all back on the plane. we re headed to new hampshire. headed to new hampshire where his candidacy began for a rally lasting past midnight. this is where our campaign began. you got it started a year and a half ago. reporter: we were standing right there as he worked his last rope line as a candidate but now to us for that giant bear hug. if anyone is revealing the rigors, it is ann overcome last night by the support. i m so moved. so emotional to have this kind of reception from ohio, a state that is going to make the next president of the united states. [ cheers ] reporter: in the final hours romney is sticking to his playbook. it s all coming together today. reporter: all about the economy, pushing his vision of lower taxes and working on his ipad on tonight s speech and one more stop, pennsylvania, once considered a long shot now they believe within reach and unexpected moment in pittsburgh, a parking garage filled with supporters. the governor with his hand to his heart and a wave telling abc news afterwards. that s how know you re going to win. reporter: i can tell you, diane, right here in the hall they re beginning to gather at the romney victory party. they re hoping a few hours from now later here in evening and i can tell you the governor, his wife ann and five sons are holding at the westin hotel and the speech he was working on on his ipad, it s 1100 words long and asked if he had two versions. he said, diane, he has one and it s a victory speech. all right, david. but tell me again, he s going to be watching with his family right there? reporter: yes, the five sons are all here. the big number i ve got to get for you, how many grandchildren. as you know that number is much larger. we will track that down as the evening goes on. they re waiting in the hotel right next door. good luck with all those grandchildren. now i want to bring in the co-anchor, george stephanopoulos, right here, so, george, we have the first window on to what people are saying as they come out of the polls. i saw a surprise in the first window. when we asked people where they think the country is going on the right track or in the wrong direction, a year ago 77% thought we were on the wrong track even as late as august it was 69%. today, down to 52%. pretty dramatic increase in optimism over the last several weeks and asked them about the candidates and the economy. president obama has a small advantage, you see it right down in front of us, 52-44% on empathy being in touch but overall trust to handle the economy it flips a little and governor romney has a slight advantage over president obama, 50%-47%. different views on the candidates and the economy. so i m calculating, your first campaign, 1988. that s right. a little over 25 years ago. so what s the most important thing you ll be watching? i m looking at three things, the first one is a number, 74%. that was the share of the electorate four years ago in 2008. down every year. if that goes up, that is good news for governor romney. if it continues to go down that will be good news for president obama. the second thing i ll be looking at is a state, early state, virginia, the polls closed there at 7:00. governor romney has to win that state to be in the hunt for 270 electoral votes. if he doesn t, president obama does, he will be on his way to victory and finally going to be looking at an issue. that is the issue of the auto bailout. big dramatic action. president obama took early on. many jobs across the industrial midwest, president obama s fire wall, ohio and wisconsin and michigan were dependent on the auto industry. if you see a favorable ritting for that that s good news for the president. we will be right here bringing everybody the big news tonight. because it is a once in a generation election. a changing america election and rarely have the stakes been higher and not just because the white house is up for grabs so is control of the senate and abc s jonathan karl, our veteran capitol hill correspondent is here and we ask in the three places he ll be watching tonight, the states also voting by the way on some pretty far-ranging things. we ll get to that in a moment. jon. that s the other big battle is the battle for control of the u.s. senate so very early in the night i m going to be looking at two senate seats especially. the first one up in massachusetts, this is scott brown against elizabeth warren. the most expensive race in the country. the most high profile. it has been a bitter race. if republican scott brown loses in massachusetts, the republicans have a much harder time to win control of the senate. the other one also early in the night is going to be in the state of indiana, this is richard mourdock running against donny. they controlled it for 36 years. should have been a slam dunk but he made controversial comments on rape and abortion now it s at risk for republicans. if they lose both of those it will be virtually impossible to win control of the senate. my third one is actually a house seat. all 435 members up. that s in minnesota, michele bachmann running for re-election, of course, a year ago she was a front runner to run for president now fighting for her political life for her own district in minnesota. the states putting up referendum some wide-ranging things. what s number one you ll be looking at. we could have legalized marijuana in three states at the end of the night. that s what i ll be looking at. real possibility. it s a possibility. [ laughter ] all right. i m going to see you later. we ll talk later. put you down for a talk. you re going to be with us, of course, all this evening. jon, george, the abc news political team standing by, analysts and experts ready to roll as your voice, your vote rolls in starting at 7:00 p.m. eastern. coming up next here, election day in the storm zone, the amazing ways americans are making their voices heard against all odds. i ve been a superintendent for 30 some years at many different park service units across the united states. the only time i ve ever had a break is when i was on maternity leave. i have retired from doing this one thing that i loved. now, i m going to be able to have the time to explore something different. it s like another chapter.
and on this big day in america we ask all of you to give us three words, and here s a photo of three words. take a look. we loved it. we the people coming up after people are showing you voting here right now. we the people turning out even in the shelters showing a unity that is strengthening family as cross the storm zone even in the darkness and the cold. images that poured in to us all day long from our voting our voting colleagues, our voting americans in the shelters and the tents with their flashlights, family suffering after sandy a. as you know vo n unbroken to vote. linsey davis tells us what they re facing tonight. reporter: without power, but not power-less. in some of the areas most devastated by hurricane sandy, we saw images like this of the victims, eager to show with everything they lost, they still have a voice. in rockaway park, queens, when the generators ran out of gas, voters had to cast ballots in the dark. some new jersey voters climbed into winnebagos to cast their ballots. overwhelmed by applications, state officials there extended the deadline for casting votes by e-mail until friday. hard-hit staten island residents are still trying to catch their breath. did you get a chance to vote today? vote. no. look at this. who s got time to vote? reporter: now with the added burden of another storm on the way, expected to hit tomorrow night, this devastated coastline is in the bull s-eye of a nor easter bringing rain, high winds, coastal flooding, even snow to an already battered region. we could have some snow on the ground and certainly snow on the trees. that makes the trees that already have their bases flooded more likely to fall over. this is the new york city police department. reporter: new york city is prepping again urging residents in the lowest lying areas to move out of the storm s path ago as parks, playgrounds and beaches are expected to close for 24 hours beginning at noon tomorrow. new jersey officials are watching the path of the storm closely. just when i thought i was going to start to get some more sleep we re going to get the nor easter and i think it s going to be all hands on deck again. how much more can we take? reporter: at the peak of the power outages, more than 8.5 million people were without power. today, close to a million are still in the dark. and now the fear is that those who just got their power back may lose it again. why does it always happen we get creamed with a storm and then two days later there s another storm? reporter: elinda restaina, a mother of seven, is trying to work fast to salvage what she can before the next round of rain and wind. you can take our home but you can t take our heart. reporter: linsey davis, abc news, staten island. thank you, linsey. all of us at abc want to make sure help is on the way for those families and thanks to your extraordinary generosity, all of you and the abc family coming together for a day of giving, listen to this. we have raised more than $17 million to help families suffering in the storm zone and, by the way, it is not too late to help. the phone lines are still open, call 1-800-help-now or go to our website, abcnews.com and thanks to all of you for your incredible generosity. coming up, something to make everyone smile on this election day. we asked which song plays into your head as you go to the polls? an election day playlist. you gave it to us today. born in the usa born in the usa born in the usa i was in the ambulance and i was told to call my next of kin. at 33 years old, i was having a heart attack. now i m on a bayer aspirin regimen. [ male announcer ] be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. i didn t know this could happen so young. take control, talk to your doctor. i didn t know this could happen so young. sometimes life can be well, a little uncomfortable. but when it s hard or hurts to go to the bathroom, there s dulcolax stool softener. dulcolax stool softener doesn t make you go, it just makes it easier to go. dulcolax stool softener. make yourself comfortable. did you know dentures are ten times softer than natural teeth and can be easily scratched? they may also have surface pores, where odor-causing bacteria can grow. 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®. use polident® everyday. why they re always there to talk. i love you, james. don t you love me? i m a robot. i know. i know you re a robot! but there s more in you than just circuits and wires! uhhh. (cries) a machine can t give you what a person can. that s why ally has knowledgeable people there for you, night and day. ally bank. your money needs an ally. we loved hearing from you all day on twitter, on facebook and e-mails. so many of you telling us that as you cast your vote, you never forgot that it s a kind of celebration of democracy with its very own soundtrack so we asked you tell us which song was playing in your head as you went in the voting booth. i feel good o say can you see by the dawn s early light devil with the blue dress on i saw all this red. let s get it on marion gay. quite a difference four years made every minute every hour born in the usa i was born in the usa like springsteen said baby i was born to run we ve only just begun god bless america land that i love stand beside her and guide her through the night by the light from above and coming up, as the abc news political team is assembling josh elliott will take you behind the scenes at abc s election headquarters. ete. me. thinking my only option was the vial and syringe dad used. and me. discovering once-daily levemir® flexpen. flexpen® is prefilled. doesn t need refrigeration for up to 42 days. no drawing from a vial. dial the exact dose. inject by pushing a button. flexpen® is insulin delivery. my way. levemir® (insulin detemir [rdna origin] injection) is a long-acting insulin used to control high blood sugar in adults and children with diabetes and is not recommended to treat diabetic ketoacidosis. do not use levemir® if you are allergic to any of its ingredients. the most common side effect is low blood sugar, which may cause symptoms such as sweating, shakiness, confusion, and headache. severe low blood sugar can be serious and life threatening. ask your healthcare provider about alcohol use, operating machinery, or driving. other possible side effects include injection site reactions. tell your healthcare provider about all medicines you take and all of your medical conditions. get medical help right away if you experience serious allergic reactions, such as body rash, trouble with breathing, fast heartbeat, or sweating. with flexpen®. say good night to vial and syringe. ask your doctor about levemir® flexpen. covered by 90% of insurance plans, including medicare. find your co-pay at myflexpen.com. looking for a better place to put your cash? here s one you may not have thought of fidelity. now you don t have to go to a bank to get the things you want from a bank, like no-fee atms, all over the world. free checkwriting and mobile deposits. now depositing a check is as easy as taking a picture. free online bill payments. a highly acclaimed credit card with 2% cash back into your fidelity account. open a fidelity cash management account today and discover another reason serious investors are choosing fidelity. i got your campbell s chunky soup. mom? who s mom? i m the giants mascot. the giants don t have a mascot! ohhh! eat up! new jammin jerk chicken soup has tasty pieces of chicken with rice and beans. hmmm. for giant hunger! thanks mom! see ya! whoaa.oops! mom? i m ok. grandma? hi sweetie! she operates the head. [ male announcer ] campbell s chunky soup. it fills you up right. we are counting down, just minutes away from the first polls closing. we are all gathering here, so we asked abc s josh elliott to give a kind of backstage tour of abc s election headquarters. that s right, diane. we are in the nerve center of our election headquarters at abc news and what a nerve center it is. we do want to show you where we will be parsing all the information tonight as it become as valuable as we elect a new president. here to my left the insiders, matthew dowd, nicolle wallace, donna brazile, george will and barbara walters will tell us what it means when a state turns one way, what it might mean four years from now. to the right of our set we also have our insiders desk. remember, there are many key house and senate races still to be decided and they will be parsed and synthesized, as well. the banks of seats, we have our analysis desk and ballot watch team. the analysis desk is really the first point of entry for the raw information, the exit poll numbers that will become the real numbers that you will see and then you see the ballot watch team led by pierre thomas looking for any irregularities at voting and polling stations around the country and that flows to our twin pillars of rome as george and diane will then bring it to you and as you can see here technology will play a part, the information will spring from the floor. this huge l.e.d. screen, in fact, george with a touch screen in front of him has the ability to tell us when a state turns and maybe why it did. county by county parsing it for you as best as we can. obviously technology will be a star and to that end social media which has had an impact on this election unlike any other will have a place with us, as well. this is our social media corner, you see. a touch screen and katie couric will be with us tonight monitoring what you are talking about on facebook and on twitter as we have all come to see history tonight, as our president will be re-elected or the republicans will have taken back the white house and we do hope you joins at abc news till the very last, diane. we thank you. and our election 2012 coverage will begin right now. george stephanopoulos, the powerhouse political team standing by. we will be here with the latest minute-by-minute results as they come in and see you after a short break. good afternoon, i m cheryl jennings with this abc 7 news election update. all eyes on prop 30, education funding measure, supporters greeted the governor as he arrived to vote in the oakland hills. it would boost sales tax a quarter percent, increasing taxes on individuals that earn more than $250,000 a year. the governor says if it fails, california schools will be in big trouble. prop 30 opposers say it will drive business out of california. election officials divided into two locations pushing some vote dwrorz a precinct down the street. san francisco s big ush yu is proposition f which wants the cities to transition away from hetch hetchy as a primary water source. in richmond supporters say measure n will help fight childhood obesity. you still have four hours to vote in the bay area when polls close tonight at 8:00. abc 7 news will be live with the first returns and you can get realtime results at abc 7 news.com also, live updates at facebook.com/abc 7 news and through twitter. our next update is in less than 30 minutes.
d daddy s a hero. daddy, can we play ponies? right after we do foldies. tide boost is my tide. what s yours? so if ydead battery,t tire, need a tow or lock your keys in the car, geico s emergency roadside assistance is there 24/7. oh dear, i got a flat tire. hmmm. uh. yeah, can you find a take where it s a bit more dramatic on that last line, yeah? yeah i got it right here. someone help me!!! i have a flat tire!!! well it s good. good for me. what do you think? geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. i m s.e. cupp. the president looking to a new nis fiscal fight. the rest of hasandy aid bill up for a vote. xlees with tax breaks for rum distillers? i need a drunk. i m kry is tal ball. are we turning our kids in to narcissists? a dope. lance armstrong comes clean to the queen of talk but who needed the interview more, lance or oprah? i m shooting straight coming to guns. ready, aim? the cycle is on fire. the house is back and getting serious about the constitution. members spent 1:05 reciting the entire u.s. constitution. it s the basis of our government, of course, but this is only the second time ever the entire document was read aloud in the house. we the people of the united states in order to form a more perfect union no person except a natural-born citizen shall be eligible to the office of president. the powers to all cases of law and equity. full faith and credit given in each state to the public acts. congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed. neither slavery nor involuntary servitude shall exist within the united states. the validity of the public debt of the united states authorized by law shall not be questioned. the right of citizens of the united states to vote shall not be denied on account of race, color or previous condition of servitude. the right of the citizens of the united states to vote shall not be denied on account of sex. the 18th article of the amendment to the constitution of the amendment is hereby repealed. ah, the constitution from those opening lines we the people to the 21st amendment, wahoo! glorious document. i think i heard a clap or two in there about the debt and the nation paying bills and closer and closer to running out of cash to do it. remember, raising the debt ceiling isn t additional spending but allows the government to pay the bills it s already racked up on money it s already spent. today, fitch ratings which sets credit ratings for countries around the world warned the u.s. could lose the aaa rating, the highest there is, if there s not a quote median-term deficit reduction plan put in place. what will it take to get a deal? we start with dan gross. his latest piece is titled obama brinksmanship puts gop in tough spot on debt ceiling. so dan, you write that while you fall off a cliff, you only bump your head in to a ceiling but economically the ceiling has the capacity to deliver far more damage. you are talking like my friend steve kornacki here. what is failing to raise the debt ceiling? why is that going to be catastrophic? well, you know, first of all the stock and bond markets will really go haywire in a way they didn t when we were about to go over the fiscal cliff because government bonds are held by everybody. chinese central bank, japanese central bank, every single bank financial institution out there. so if there s any question over the value of those and they start to decline, these institutions have a great amount of leverage and interconnected with everything else and sort of see what happened in 2008. it s also this issue of, you know, who gets paid? if you start to have to say maybe soldiers get paid but not paying for the fuel or these doctors will get paid, you know, government is a huge force in our economy. like it or not. and the number of companies that would really be affected from walmart to every defense contractor to giant health care companies, if their ability to collect money that is owed to them is then put in doubt, that triggers a whole, you know, range of activities of other people wanting to collect debts from them. sounds really scary. do me a favor, though, and crawl in to president obama s head for me and tell me why you think in 2006 he voted not to raise the debt ceiling and said the fact we re here today to debate raising the debt limit is a sign of leadership failure, the sign the u.s. government can t pay his own bills. what was he thinking there? voting against an increase of the debt kreeling is what you do in the opposition party. oh, okay. in congress. this is going back for the last many years. yeah. all the republicans in the senate voted for increases when bush was in office. they vote against it when obama is in office. and vice versa. the problem or challenges now is the house where republicans don t want to vote for it and we need them, you know, it is sort of a luxury you have when the opposition controls the house. you can vote against it and have
engaging in this behavior so bad for the country. there s, you know, a long piece in politico where they were talking about, you know, what boehner s doing and manages this, and there s a line there when someone said we may have to let them do a partial government shutdown just to let them get this out of their system before they go on to approve what needs to be done and i think, you know, the challenge of leadership is to tell the people who you are leading that what they want is not realistic or that it doesn t make sense. i think boehner s modus operandi is to do some sort of last-minute deal. i think that s part of the psychology here. that you let these people, you know, they don t want to approve a debt ceiling, didn t come here to approve it and before they ll do it, they have to do something that lets them get that energy out of their system. and unfortunately, that might be the best strategy that he actually has, but you know, overall in terms of the president s and democrats approach, i think the president did a wonderful job and the democrats got a good deal in the fiscal cliff deal and the president s negotiating strategy of not negotiating on the debt ceiling has really put republicans in the corner where they re sort of backing away and saying maybe we can go in another direction but one thing i m concerned about is when i look back at 2010 and the big losses that democrats sustained there, part of the reason was because we ceded the debate to the republicans and allowed them to frame the conversation around the debt and the deficit and if you look at gallup polling, you can see that the debt and the deficit and government dissatisfaction with government which is another strong place for republicans to fight on are rising, are increasing in importance for voters in terms of what they re concerned about so i m concerned and wonder if you think this is right, that democrats may be setting themselves up to be on weak terrain sort to speak in terms of 2014 congressional elections by allowing this debate to be focused on the debt and deficit. people never stop and always in campaign mode and i think with obama the issue is, he has a campaign and wants to get in governing mode and that s why you see the changing of the discussion of the framing and why i think they suffered the losses in 2010 when it wasn t just a matter of issues, they weren t getting their voters out to the polls and i think it s more we saw it last fall when there was a big debate between obama and romney and the sort of democratic and gop view of what we should do with the budget deficit and what we should do with taxes and talked about in great detail and relentlessly. although, if i could we saw how that turned out. that was more about the future of the middle class and traditionally a stronger place for democrats to be. this is still a question about priorities or at least if i m doing the messaging and strategy on this, do you want we have a limited number of resources. we have a fair amount of debt. assume we all want to reduce our deficits and reduce the amount of debt. do we want to do that by cutting social security and medicare and taking these entitlements and the safety net and fundamentally changing it or do we want more cash from individuals and from companies and whether you do that through higher rates or tax reform or getting rid of deductions, you know, that s a debate worth having and i think one that democrats can be in a pretty decent position to win if they talk about it in the right way. dan gross, thanks for coming. thank you. next, developing news this afternoon on the latest sandy aid bill before congress. a house vote is expected tonight but there s plenty of opposition and maybe for good reason. we re spinning as the cycle rolls on for tuesday, january 15th. hey sis, it s so great to see you. you, too! oh, cloudy glasses. you didn t have to come over! actually, honey, i think i did. oh? you did? whoa, ladies, easy. hi. cascade kitchen counselor. we can help avoid this with cascade complete pacs. see, over time, cascade complete pacs fight film buildup two times better than finish quantum. to help leave glasses sparkling shiny! too bad it doesn t work on windows. okay, i m outta here. cascade. the clear choice. some brokerage firms are. but way too many aren t. some of the ones that push mutual funds with their names on them aren t. why? because selling their funds makes them more money. which makes you wonder isn t that a conflict? am i in the best fund for me, or them? search proprietary mutual funds . yikes, it s best for them. then go to e-trade. we ve got over 8,000 mutual funds
what their struggle was to get used to what you have everyday. reporter: multiple generations of families to a positive event. it s been a week long full of protests and rallies in new york city and times square as well as los angeles and california where rallies were a little more violent blocking the interstate. the verdict has passed but time to move forward to other major issues, stand-your-ground laws and other race issues like racial profiling. jamie: great report. thank you very much. kelly: politicians of all parties have been dealing with race issues since the founding of this country. let s take you back through history how one prominent democrat robert f. kennedy handled a crucial moment back on april 4th, 1968. that was the day that martin luther king was assassinated. what we need is not division, what we need in united states is not hatred. what we need in united states is not violence and lawlessness, but is love and wisdom and compassion toward one another feeling of justice of those that still suffer within our country whether they be white or whether they be black. [ applause ] kelly: he said that time was not to divide the country but bring the country to unity. he was urged not to announce mlk s death but he went ahead anyway but two days later he was also shot to death in los angeles. and it s royal baby fever in great britain. it s sky high has everyone awaits for baby to arrive. all eyes on the london hospital where the duchess is likely to give birth. future king or queen of england so the we. amy kellogg is there and letting us know if anything has happened. it s not any minute but hopefully soon and relieved by the reports that the duchess has left her parents home and has come back to london because the longer she stayed out there, the more likely it was a contingency plan would have to be activated in an emergency for to her give birth out there. the any not any by the press has gone past full term was broken briefly by some imposters who at that lovely evening hour, pulled up to the ward, with drivers and ear pieces and hurried in like a married couple only as the cameras moved after them like a school of fish. they revealed themselves as a publicity stunt. people seem certain that kate will make a great mother begin the interests she has shown in children so far and particularly vulnerable children. she has been known in the past couple of years, very personal attention to some of the sick children. he has said he wants to be the delivery room with his wife. prince philip playing squash when charles was born however the story goes that he quickly high tailed it over to see the queen and presented with flowers and champagne. she wasn t a queen at that
but in later years, her career was marred by controversy. she resigned from the hearst newspapers after sparking an uproar with comments on jews living in israel. the president releasing a statement today, what made helen thomas the dean of the white house press corps was not just the length of her ten ui but her fierce belief that our democracy works best when we ask tough questions and hold our leaders to account. she died at her home in washington. she was 92. jamie: growing concerns this week about the implementation of president obama s healthcare law. falling care act. we have seen lots of changes to it. from the delay of the employer mandate and pushing back to other key parts to the critical supported of unions. does president obama need a new strategy what is rolling out to be his signature plan? let s bring in washington
been much more difficult for him had a lot of these unpopular parts took effect before. now people on the hill that are concerned, he is facing reelection next year and if the employer mandate and other unpopular positions take effect, they are going to have be the ones defend it. so what we re seeing is a real crumbling of support among his own party. the truth about the law in my opinion is starting to come out. jamie: what about the employee mandate. are you hearing or finding that unions are also concerned that one the mandate is in place, employers will perhaps have an incentive to hire lower hour workers, not 40 hour workweek workers. do they have something to lose here? absolutely. i think you put your finger right on it. the big signal that a lot of changes was about to happen, you have seen more and more unions step out and publicly condemn the law and demand changes be made. any time you are talking about democrats, when you get the unions involved and they started pushing democrats around, you know that democrats are in real trouble. you know they are very scared because without the union support, democrats are going to have a real hard time in the election. that is exactly what has happened here. the problem is when president obama delayed the implementation of the penalty for employers who fail to provide insurance, he didn t provide the same delay for individuals. so it s one of these situations where you have basically help coming in president obama and democrats are willing to help big companies but not give it to individuals? it raises questions about the influence of corporate influence and influence of lobbyists in this town. i think it puts president obama in an unfavorable light and puts democrats in a real bind when they are out on the campaign o campaign trail. jamie: appreciate your help today. kelly: we re just getting started. secretary of state john kerry shuttle diplomacy takes off as israel and palestinians agree to new peace talks but the devil is in the details. jamie: plus heartbreaking new information on the plane crash in san francisco. what investigators have found and released. kelly: motor city running on empty and serving as a warning to other cities teetering on the edge. how the bankruptcy is being felt nationwide. if anybody is think 40-year-old trees going