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tv   CNN Newsroom  CNN  November 2, 2014 12:00pm-1:01pm PST

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screening of athletes going back 50 years. critics of the settlement say it's shameful. >> it draws a lot of parallels to the cigarettemakers and the tobacco industry. >> reporter: the president of the national college players association says the settlement doesn't do nearly enough to protect players. >> they have known for quite a while the problems associated with concussions and how they should be managed. sitting back doing nothing and cashing in on lucrative tv revenues and ticket sales, at the very least, if it's not illegal it's definitely immoral. >> and adrian arrington won't get any of the $75 million from the settlement as none of that money goes directly to players. much more ahead in "the cnn newsroom" and it starts right now. straight ahead on cnn,
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candidates run out of time before voters head to the polls. midterm madness is in full swing and we have you covered across the country. and someone who has had contact with ebola patient craig spencer, dr. craig spencer in new york, is being asked to step up monitoring. plus, la virginia continues to threaten dozens of homes in hawaii destroying everything in its path. we are live on the ground there. hello, everyone. i'm fredericka whit nooeld. just two days are left before tuesday's vote. it's an election with a lot at stake. republicans could become the majority party in the u.s. senate for the first time in nearly a decade. they need just six seats to win a majority and three of those
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seats are considered sure wins at this point. that leaves just three competitive races for the gop to win to take control of the u.s. senate. nbc maris poll shows republicans making gains in three key southern states. here's the picture in georgia. david perdue leading michelle nunn 48% to 44%. in kentucky, senate minority leader mitch mcconnell has a nine-point lead over alison lundergan grimes. and in louisiana, democratic senator mary landrieu leading with 44% of the vote that is not enough to keep off a runoff against bill cassidy. will the power shift by tuesday? by most accounts, a handful of races will determine if republicans take control there. georgia is one of those states. a new nbc/marist poll indicates
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david perdue is leading michelle nunn in the race for the senate by four points. that's within the margin of error. so nick valencia in atlanta this afternoon. nick, you have been following the georgia senate and the governor's race. so does any familiarity with these names, nunn, perdue, carter, all big political family names, are the names resonating with voters? >> reporter: well, we talked about that to parishioners here at the grady pine baptist church. there's a huge outreach from the baptist church. you have jason carter, the grandson of former president jimmy carter and michelle nunn, a democratic candidate the daughter of georgia senator sam nunn. they represent the names and know who they are, but that doesn't equate to the candidates or what they stand for. all eyes among the parishioner
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and beyond, it has implications beyond georgia. when looking at this race, nine between her and the republican candidate, you're seeing a chance for the democrats to hold on the to the senate. a win by michelle nunn could keep this in the hands of the democrats, and that's very important to obama's administration with the house in control of republicans. this really has larger implications on whether michelle nunn continues. >> did i mention, the 50% could lead to a runoff to extend this midterm election until january 6 to show in the power of the senate stays in the hands of e
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the -- >> any guesses only soft of the swing in either direction? >> reporter: it's voter outreach as that is the big message here especially at this one. it's called soul to the polls. the pastor here is the messenger of this early message. and trying to find out how he's suck we are excited with the slate of office candidates and a church cannot open divorce democrat or republican, but it's no secret that most of us are indeed supporting people that will benefit the african-american agenda
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lifestyle. >> reporter: and it is areas like this here in de kalb county that the democratic base is really counting on. this speaks to their message. they're going after the young vote and the single mother vote i gave you. the democratic candidates are hoping this means victory for them after tuesday. thank you. one of the fiercest battles is taking place in new hampshire. jean shaheen is fighting to keep his seat from former senators. >> reporter: she was in kentucky and louisiana yesterday and iowa earlier this vote.
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she's face iing off against sco brown, a former massachusetts senator who has moved up here to new hampshire to try to win a seat in the senate. i would ask not to -- >> it is -- you opened your hearts and equal pay. women are so key to democrats, not just here in new hampshire but across the country. polls show although.
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>> if you want to come tuesday night, president won the election in 2012. so if you see the balance carried and democrats are unform unformer. >> tune in to cnn for all your election results at 5:00 p.m. an accused cop killer is in custody after 48 days on the run, but why was he so cut up and bloodied when arrested? the reason, next.
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all right, new details on the arrest of eric frein. his face is cut and bloodied and scratched up. now we have learned some of the reasons why. alexandria field is joining me with details. what went down during this capture according to officials? >> there was so much trepidation about what would happen when authorities finally confronted frein. they searched for him for nearly seven weeks and were concerned he was preparing for confrontation with law enforcement officers. no law enforcement officers were hurt when he was finally captured. what we are hearing now is frein was forced to the ground but chest down looking up at them. that was against law enforcement protocol. they don't want a suspect to have eyes on them, so a little bit of the blood and cuts you are seeing in the photo happened
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when he was forced to put his face down on the ground. we are also hearing from one of the u.s. marshalls who closed in on him about the moments leading up to this very long awaited capture. >> i caught movement in this area. it was high grass, weeds. when i first saw him, i was like, what is this guy doing in the field by himself? for a split second, i didn't think it was him but then we had a sixth sense, i guess. i knew it was him. he turned towards me, i identified myself as law enforcement and told him to get on the grown. he proned out. he kept a distance of five feet away. i said, who are you and what is your name? he said eric frein. >> he's accused at the ambush at the police barracks. brian dixon was killed and law enforcement officers say when they captured frein and took him into custody, they used dixon's handcuffs and he was brought back in dixon's squad car to the
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barracks. our midterm coverage rolls on. next, we ask two political experts to call what they believe are the three most important races. but first, cnn's richard quest looks into the future of communications. how will we all connect? here's our series "tomorrow transformed." it all started with one call as the way we communicate turned to technology. >> hear my voice. >> reporter: then we cut the cord moving from wire to wireless. then in south korea one of the most connected countries in the world messaging apps rule the roost. >> when you use cucao talk, it
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is easy to send icons. >> reporter: today we can see the world's emotions through technology but there's no need to speak to anyone, but is this communicating? or is it just noise? personally, i think the best way of communicating is to meet in person and talk, but kakao talk means being connected 24 hours a day, so it's a vital supplement to face-to-face communication. >> reporter: today we are more connected than ever challenging the impact we have on the world tomorrow. so far, users communicate person to person by sending gifts or playing games with each other. in the future, that connection will expand from not only person to person but also person to object, person to information and online to offline. >> it's had a massive impact for the positive. wherever people are, family and friends around the globe, we can
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now just pull out our phones, so it really has opened up the world. [ female announcer ] we help make secure financial tomorrows a reality
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all right, in the midterm elections iowa is critical. that's the word from senate majority leader harry reid. the latest "des moines register" poll shows republican joni ernst urging to a seven-point lead over the democrat bruce braley. joining me is our political analyst, ron brownstein and larry sabado. larry, how devastating would a democratic loss be in this iowa senate race? >> well, fredricka, i thought this was one seat they would be able to save, but it doesn't look that way now. for several weeks my sight, the crystal ball had that race leaning to republican joni ernst. i'm not sure she's ahead seven
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points. i think it's probably closer than that, a couple points perhaps, but she does have the edge and it would certainly hurt democratic prospects of holding on to the senate. >> and ron? >> yeah, well, i agree with larry. this is the widest lead we have seen in polling consistent with polling showing her consistently ahead. look, this is one of the states where president obama's weakness has allowed republicans to expand the playing field. with or without a deterioration in his approval rating. democrats will have a hard time in the red states on the ballot this year, but the low approval ratings for the president have allowed the republicans to expand the playing field into iowa, colorado, new hampshire and the democrats did not initially expect and have to defend to make the task of holding the senate much more complex. >> then we asked both of you to give your three most important midterm elections in your view, which are they? so ron, what are the three? >> well, for me, colorado is a state i've had my eye on all
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year. like iowa, they are holding the senate and could lose it, but it is the most revealing state for 2016 with a senate race this year. if republicans can't win in iowa in 2014 with all the advantages they have in the off-year election, it's very hard to imagine them winning a colorado. if they can't win in 2014 with all the advantages they have, it is hard to imagine them winning it in 2016. if they can't win it in 2016, i'm not expecting them to get to 270 electoral votes. it would be positive for the republicans to break through in colorado. the other two i have real quick are kansas, because i think as we're seeing in the other polling today, most of the democratic takeaway opportunities in red states like georgia and kansas look very -- georgia and kentucky look very tough down the stretch. kansas with this independent run, it may be their best way to take away the red seat that republicans hold and give themselves margin to offset the losses. finally, on the governor side, i would pick florida. florida is not only the most significant state that is on the
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ballot for the governors this year with the real race, partially because of the question of whether we'll accept the expansion of medicaid and affect hundreds of thousands of people. but it's a state the republicans have to win back in 2016 with hope of winning back the white house. and if democrats aren't able to win it this year, it would be a sign the changing demography could be hard for the republicans two years from now. >> larry, the top three races you have your eye on? >> well, actually, ron and i overlapped almost precisely. so let me for variety sake just add a few others in. i would say that north carolina's senate race is critical because here's a place the democrats have a chance to hold the line. senator kay hagan is in a tight race with thom snz tillis. they voted for mitt romney in 2012.
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so far hagan has been able to hold off whenever republicans surge to affect the rest of the south l. that hold on tuesday night? if it does, democrats won't have as disastrous a night they would have. if they end up losing north carolina and even new hampshire, then the republicans will be much more secure in the senate. just to mention one key governor's race i would pick, florida. florida is awfully important, not just for presidential races but for everything else. and there you have incumbent republican governor rick scott, a freshman n a tie with former republican governor now democratic nominee charlie crist. crist has a tiny edge there which is most interesting if he wins and deal with a republican legislature. do you think washington gridlock is bad? wait until you see the hall has zee kind. >> good to see you both.
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appreciate your predictions. all right. our midterm election coverage continues with president obama about to take the stage, but will his low approval rating impact his chances at the polls for any of the candidates? we'll discuss. [ male announcer ] over time, you've come to realize... [ starter ] ready! [ starting gun goes off ] [ male announcer ] it's less of a race... yeah! [ male announcer ] and more of a journey. keep going strong. and as you look for a medicare supplement insurance plan... expect the same kind of commitment you demand of yourself. aarp medicare supplement insurance plans insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. go long. of connecting with family and friends. ities... insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. realpad from aarp is now your easy way to share...
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in just two days the balance of power in washington could shift if the gop takes their first senate majority in nearly a decade. today president obama is stumping for democratic candidates in pennsylvania and connecticut. but with the low approval rating, senator rand paul is one of a growing chorus who says the president's up popular policies could hurt democrats. here's cnn's candy crowley. >> i think this election is going to be a referendum on the president. even he acknowledged his policies are indirectly on the ballot and there's a great deal of unhappiness that he feels like he promised beyond things and would be a uniter but not a divider. i called him a month ago and said, mr. president, i'll work with you on criminal justice. i want you to try to help me bring american profit home to create jobs here. he voted for this in 2005. lower the tax rate, bring money home, create jobs, it's a win/win for both parties, but i was disappointed he chose to
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attack american corporations, attack american business instead of saying, i will help you bring jobs home and we'll do it together. >> you are right, certainly there are a lot of circumstances that if you're a democrat you're looking at and thinking, an unpopular president, history is generally against the party that has a president in a midterm that holds the oval office. we're seeing these individual polls, we also see that the democrats had much tougher territory to defend than republicans did. but you feel this is a referendum on the president. what does it say about republicans because a lot of these races, about ten of them, are still pretty darn close, which means those democrats have been able to survive in the worst of environments. >> i think it shows our country is evenly divided and tilts one way and a little bit the other way, but i think that when you have a president and then you have hillary clinton saying the same thing, saying that businesses don't create jobs, a lot of americans are scratching their heads and saying, who do
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these people think businesses create? i think there's a philosophical debate in our country with a lot of people saying to themselves, if we don't understand that businesses create jobs or understand that we want american money in businesses to come home and we want to do something constructive, then maybe we need new leadership in the country. so i think people are ready for new leadership. we'll talk more about this with aaron mcpike at the white house, the president is not campaigning in virtually any real competitive races but spending a lot of times in the state where is the democratic candidates in pennsylvania and connecticut are in good shape. explain the strategy here. >> reporter: that's right. we are seeing him about to begin in connecticut and he campaigned in michigan yesterday. he's campaigning in a lot of the deeply blue states that generally should be slam dunks for democrats, at least at this point in time, but what we have been hearing from him on the campaign trail and a few rallies
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he has done in the past week or so is really making a push for female voters. and as the races get closer, that's what the key is there. but by the end of today, we'll have done just seven campaign rallies in this entire election season. and you know that over the last decade he's been a campaign king. simply because a lot of these tight senate races are in states that are generally more favorable to republicans and his presence there on the campaign trail could gavelize republicans to come out to vote, fred. >> erin mcpike at the white house. thank you so much. the nurse who escaped quarantine in two states who now says she's sorry for what she has put her community through. >> i understand that the community has been through a lot in the past week and that i do,
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you know ar, apologize to them. i will not go into town and go into public places. i have had a few friends come to visit me in my home and that's absolutely fantastic. >> after returning from aide work in sierra leone, she was put in quarantine at a newark, new jersey, hospital and put in a tent with only a port-a-potty and sink. after casey went public, the governor of new jersey changed his mind to let her go home to maine. but maine health officials mandate she go into quarantine and it was an order casey defied. a main judge overturned that order on friday. and now she's free to move about just as she pleases. casey hickox's fight has brought up the fight on different quarantine rules for the u.s. troops over civilians. members of the u.s. military must undergo a 21-day quarantine. we'll bring in doctor jerry
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jacks. how different are we talking about the circumstances for u.s. military when they return even though there's going to be apparently no direct contact with ebola patients. they will have to be quarantined and then civilians, it's at the discretion of a state as to whether they should be quarantined. >> well, it's my sense that certainly with military, ing we'll have an awful lot of military folks there. they are primarily not going to be involved in direct patient care, but i think that they are coming back to communities that are not closely knit. there won't be a lot of people there serving in west africa who are involved in patient care or in taking care of people that they would have expertise in being able to understand very
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well their quarantine. and i think that the military has a very different culture than civilians. certainly they would understand command and control. and i think that as far as the 21 days, i think it will be added on to their tour of duty. so if they will be there for six-and-a-half months, they will add the three weeks on. so i think it will be a criteria that they understand when they go. >> and the u.s. military personnel, it would be paid with an argument from the aide workers or those in the community that mean imposing a mandate quarantined would be the people returning to the states without pay. so is the military culture more likely to accept the conditions given that many of them are put in hardship locations and in various tours of duty, even though this isn't necessarily
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considered more duty by going to west africa to help set up the clingics. flu is an understood rick fac r factor. >> i think that they would completely understand the dynamics of just the scatter effect when they come back from west africa. they are going to be paid, which is certainly a big piece of it. so i think that -- and my sense would be that most of these folks are going to be, you know, are going to be excited to go, at least a lot of them. and the ones that might not be so excited will certainly understand that, you know, this is part of what they sign up for and not necessarily more duty but this is a certainly humanitarian crisis and i think most of these guys and girls are
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going to be very excited to participate in something that they feel very strongly about. >> all right, dr. jerry jacks, thank you so much for your time. appreciate it. >> you're welcome. a town in hawaii is on edge. we'll go live to the big island for the latest on the lava flow that is threatening so many people's homes. could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. everybody knows that. well, did you know you that former pro football player ickey woods will celebrate almost anything? unh-uh. number 44... whoooo! forty-four, that's me! get some cold cuts... get some cold cuts... get some cold cuts! whooo! gimme some! geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. whoo! forty-four ladies, that's me! whoo...gonna get some cold cuts today!
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in hawaii residents are keeping a close eye on a river of lava flowing from the volcano. the eruption began back in june but lately the lava creeped closer to a group of homes. authorities say residents need to stay on alert. martin savage is on the big island of hawaii. what do they consider to be the biggest threat right now? >> reporter: right now they are sort of saying the front of the lava flow, it's about 150 feet wide, is stalled. you can imagine that lava also
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cools and crusts over so it becomes a rock front. the problem is it can build up like a dam and that causes the hot lava that's still coming down to break out, push out from other parts of the lava flow. and that's their real concern right now. they are watching those areas very carefully because they could move around or come from a different direction, not exactly head-on. you have road blocks set up and districtly behind us where we are standing, that area is now inaccessible to local residents. that's where the lava path is now projected to be. some have left, some are staying as it moves slow. they are watching it day by day. >> can you explain how the volcano kind of burps. suddenly there's a little bit of flow and sometimes it stops. it should stay cool and divert into other directions. >> reporter: i have learned a
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lot on volcanos in the past week. there are two types of lava to find here in hawaii. one is the pahoihoi coming down in this ropey kind as opposed to the ahah is that it will flow and stop and flow again it. goes through periods of inflation and deflation. now we are in a period where it has slowed down. however, it can very quickly pick up again and the volume of lava could easily become much greater. >> there could be a false sense of security there with an active volcano. are they still trying to prepare themselves or have an escape route?
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what do they do in situations like this? >> reporter: well, they are. the community is trying to to keep people can do. just look down and see off in the distance, let me get out of the shot, i suppose. you will see search layers of earth, then finally a third of the way up there it looks to be wrapped with heat-resistant material. the idea of the 20 2,000 and the slow advance lets you have time. in other communities in the past, they have moved entire
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buildings. that's how much time the la and the false sense of security is the biggest problem city is there in the big city of hawaii. a group of protesters attacked the u.s. embassy in they rap, well, the interrogations were beaten and tortured. just what happened is coming up. not to be focusing, again, on my moderate my goal was to finally get in shape. to severe chronic plaque psoriasis.
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this week marks the 33rd anniversary of the first brush the united states had with political islam. the iran hostage crisis ignited on november 4th, 1979, when students who followed the iatola stormed the capitol and took hostages. the u.s. embassy still stands but has a new purpose. >> it does, fred. and once the complex was looked at as a symbol of the close relationship the u.s. had with the then shaw palace, now the
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building is a two-story building for the siege and part of iranian culture of museum of sorts. so it has a dual property right now. but still hardliner who worked there at the time is accused of being a spy and overruling the revolutionary system occurring there in 1978. there's a lot of history there but it still serves as a symbol more or less for many older iranians of the generation who fought this cause as a symbol against what they considered to be u.s. imperialism. so it's still there. >> the elder generation probably looks at it with disdain, but probably a lot of the patrons are the younger people and when they go, what are their feelings? do they feel the same way that
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their parents and grandparents felt about what happened in that end see? >> growing up, they are hearing the stories their parents had as they march through the square. this is a part of their history and part of their tradition, but not necessarily part of their >> because again, we're talking about a generation that you have 80 million people in iran of which 70% is under the age of 35. so many of these -- this younger generation was born after the hostage crisis. so for them, then to enjoy what kids all around the world want to enjoy, and they have the same interests. they have the same likes. they are internet savvy, they are very worldly despite the fact we feel they are isolated due to a lot of geopolitical conversations taking place. >> this is like a little history book for them. >> absolutely. they can go, they can tour. they can go to the museum, they can see it. it's not on the social level.
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one of the thing we see in this time of history is the slogans that you say death to america. just to be clear, it's never been against the american people. it's always been against the policy that america has had toward the iranians, so just, you know, it's the people want to enjoy the same kinds of freedoms that people elsewhere -- everywhere do. >> it is fascinating. incredible and that it still stands, but i guess it's being received in so many different ways as you just kind of spell out. thanks so much. appreciate that. cnn's anthony bourdain made some discoveries of his own in iran recently. it's a place he's been trying to get access to for a very long time and finally he got in. ♪
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>> i am so confused. it wasn't supposed to be like this. of all the places, of all the countries, all the years of traveling, it's here in iran that i'm greeted most warmly by total strangers. the other stuff is there, the iran we've read about, heard about, seen in the news. but this, this i wasn't prepared for. ♪ >> wow. lots of incredible discoveries in iran. see the entire episode, parts unknown tonight 9:00 eastern right here on cnn. coming up next, cnn exclusive look at the record number of migrants trying to make it to the u.s. don't miss this rare look at the crisis. lilly. she pretty much lives in her favorite princess dress.
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the u.s. coast guard is seeing a record number of migrants trying to make it to the u.s. they found about 640 migrants last month off miami. at least four of them had died. in a cnn exclusive, our reporter went along with the coast guard to get a firsthand look at the crisis. >> we got eyes on them. >> a dramatic scene plays out in the florida straits. >> i got them. >> a united states coast guard plane spots this small boat
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packed with 29 cubans, including several women and at least one young boy. the boat is taking on water. >> the norvel is coming on scene. >> yet when the coast guard cutter arrives to help, the group's leader refuses to cooperate when the boat arrives to help. the group gives up and gives in. joining the growing number of migrants rescued while making this dangerous and sometimes deadly journey to the u.s. >> we've been seeing the highest migration levels that we've seen from cuba and haiti the past five years. >> roughly 10,000 have been found in this area just this past year. the biggest spike, cubans who's numbers have doubled sips the government lifted travel restrictions in 2012. >> you have to be pretty desperate to go in open water and try to make it. it's very dangerous. >> most of it is economic.
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they are looking for a better way of life. this person is the commanding officer of the norvel. >> this is the front line of coast guard operations. this is where the action happens. >> we wanted to get a firsthand look at the action. we spent a few days on board and what we saw was sobering. a few hours into our journey, the boat takes on ten migrants. the lights of the u.s. shine in the distance. this is the closest this group will get. >> one more. >> a doctor is concerned the last one may be suicidal, refusing to eat after telling the coast guard this was his ninth attempt to reach america. >> so you see, they have put the man on the stretcher, on the cutter safely. it doesn't appear that he's responding at this point. it's unclear what they are going to do with him. we know that the remaining nine
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migrants are all in the same area on this boat and will probably be here until the process runs its course. >> in the early morning hours, another group of cuban migrants is found barely moving, idling in what appears to be the middle of nowhere. each one is given a life vest before being transferred to the cutter. their small boat is filled with gasoline and shot up with a 50 caliber machine gun. a fire sinks the tiny boat. on the cutter, the migrants wear tyvec suits to stay dry. they are given red beans and rice to eat twice a day and a rubber mat to sleep on. some interact with coast guard members like ronald garcia, a cuban american himself. >> it's difficult to see the situation that they are in. >> in all, we saw about 80 cuban
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migrants in just four days with the coast guard. all of them with desperation in their eyes. for most, their search for a new life over at least for now. >> of the 80 migrants we saw, 29 cubans who were found on a u.s. territory were actually allowed to stay in the u.s. because of a longstanding policy that only applies to cubans. most migrants who are found at sea, regardless of their country of origin are usually sent back. cnn, miami beach. hello, again, i'm frederica whitfield, in less than 48 hours, americans head to the polls. the stage is set for a dramatic election night. republicans could become the majority party in the u.s. senate for the first time in nearly a