he has a hot show lined up for you now. cnn "nursing home" continues with the man from new york city. take it away, doc. >> you have a great afternoon, my friend, tony. thank you very much, for the next two hours today and every weekday, i'll guide you through the maze of information coming your way. together we will learn what's going on at home and around the world. you'll get access to folks who can best explain what it means today and the impacts beyond today. we'll showcase the best ideas and n innovation, fill an fhelp toy and innovation. let's get started. caught in a texas tornado, with debris flying and the camera rolling. and the storm system is still on the move. we're on the lookout for more dangerous weather this hour. a big idea that had fans cheering -- using the sun's energy to power pro-sports and stadiums. and baseball's cinderella team, the texas rangers, going

from bankruptcy to the big show. first, the midterm elections. voting day eight days from now. a week from tomorrow. today we're going outside the beltway to tackle a question that has an impact on all of us. does this election matter? i know, i know -- a lot of you are probably saying what are you talking about. admit it -- some of you have asked. does it matter? some of you it doesn't, you haven't registered, you haven't shown any indication of wanting to vote. it's obvious here. obviously it matters. matters to the president, for instance, as you can see from this map this i'm going to show you. he's hard on the campaign trail today. he's making a stop in rhode island. the first lady will be on the stump in seattle and san francisco. and vice president joe biden is in florida. matters to the president. matters to republicans. fighting like crazy to gain control of the house and capture as many seats in the senate as possible. can't help but mention the real phenomenon of this campaign, the tea party movement. but back to the question -- let's go back to our question

for a second, does it matter? when all the stump speeches are done, all the name-calling and mudslinging is over, almost $3 billion will have been spent in election ads, does it really matter? if the gop does indeed capture the house -- never mind the senate -- if it captures the how to, wi -- house, tell make a difference? is gridlock good or bad? what about key issues like the economy markets, houses, jobs? what about taxes and health care? are we likely to see any significant change? well, joining us now with their take on this election and its importance, cnn senior political analyst gloria borger is in our washington constitute. from memphis, mark scapegoota, founder of the tea party, a key movement. thank you very much for being with us. al gore wh gloria, let's starts with you. let's start with what people think. if we have poll numbers. i only know anecdotally from

what i've heard from people. if you are not a member of the tea party movement or maybe a conservative republican or somebody who's mad about something or maybe a very liberal voter who's worried about the outcome of losing the house, does most of the middle of america care? >> you know, it's interesting. midterm elections that are not in a presidential year, ali, don't generally get a tremendous turnou turnout because people are not as naturally motivated as they are when they are voting for president of the united states. having said that, what we're seeing in this country -- we asked voters, do you think the country is headed in the right direction, or do you think it's on the wrong track? and by a 2-1 margin people tend that the country is headed in the wrong direction. and that makes people think, you know what, i think i got to get out there and vote because what i think this is turning into, ali, is a yes or no election. >> yeah. >> you vote yes if you want -- if you want barack obama and the democrats to continue what

they're doing. and you vote no if you don't like the direction or if, in fact, you think maybe we need to put the brakes on. so comes down to yes or no. and people when they're angrier tend to turn out more. >> okay. let's talk to mark for a second. mark, i'm going to lump you in with the tea party movement for the moment because you -- you are one of those disparate people who were involved in it. and now you guys have your moment in the sun, to some degree. you will have great influence on this election. may be that you continue to have influence in future elections. it may than this is as good as it gets, we don't know. but if you -- if the movement that the tea party has pushed ahead does meet with some success in this election and the gop takes the house of representatives and is influenced heavily by the tea party, what in your opinion changes? i asked that question on facebook. before you answer, mark, i'm going to give you a couple of responses. let me tell you what -- on twitter actually, reginald walter said, it will mean the

repeal of health care, the repeal of tax cuts. seems that the gop wants to repeal and doesn't have a plan to replace or improve. there's one thought. the other one, and i think this is from bret. this is from facebook. bret is saying -- he's expressing an opinion. he thinks that the government should repeal health care, halt stimulus moneys from being spent, eliminate most government agencies that don't work, halt all adding of bogus laws to liths ones. if they can't stand on their own two feet, they shouldn't be law. eliminate all handouts or at least use some accountability measures to get people to get off their lazy cans. mark? you heard that before? is that going to happen? >> boy. i'll tell you, ali, i agree gloria. first of all, there's a lot of animation here. i mean, people in the heartland are really interested in this election. we have about 60,000 early registered voters already in shelby county, for instance. 55% are republican voters. they're very interested. i don't think anybody -- and this morning i was at a campaign meeting. no one has any unrealistic expectations about what a

republican congress can do. what they can do is begin to exemplify one in the budgeting process and, two, in their pledge the intents tenttent to. >> mark, exemplify doesn't get my a job. it doesn't make my home go up. doesn't change the taxes that i pay. but some people are going to vote for republicans and tea party-backed candidates because there's an implication out there that if you guys win, the world's going to change a little bit, and maybe get better for me. >> absolutely. first of all, i mean, the very fundamental issue, the republican congress will determine a budget, which is a good start since we haven't had one for a year. secondly, that will establish the priorities. third, i think there will be less regulation, consistency to forestall regulation which will allow business to have certainty. fourth, they will defund areas of government that they can defund without a presidential override or presidential veto. fourth, i think at the end of the day they can also begin to address in the longer term what

the republican government is going to do as a governance body. and more importantly, i think ultimately explaining to people that they're going to listen to them. people prosecute us fr people are frustrated. it's not only having a magic wand and changing the way government -- >> you think people need to feel listened to. gloria, he used the words "certainty," does a mixed house -- does a republican house and a democratic senate maybe and a democratic president, is that more certainty or less certainty? >> well, it -- you know, it honestly depends on how people behave. first of all, you have to ask a question about barack obama. does he behave more like jimmy carter? or does he behave more like bill clinton? and don't forget, bill clinton passed westervill eed welfare r a year but he did it. then it depends on the republican party. there's going to be a big split in the republican party. i'm sure mark will acknowledge this. there's going to be some

republicans from the tea party who say i'm not going to vote for any spending bill. i'm going to vote -- i'm going to start great deauerrilla warf enforce amend in health care reform, for example. there may be some republicans who say go slower, we can't do that. so it depends on how the republicans behave, how the president behaves. i'll tell you one thing, though, people want congress and the president to start governing this country together. and i'm not sure that's going to be possible. >> okay. so there's a great -- i want to take a quick break. i want you both to come back. you're so good at this. thank you. i want you, mark, to pick that conversation up about governing together. we have two parties that aren't working together. and we might have a republican party made up of two parts. [ female announcer ] it's endless shrimp at red lobster.

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continuing our conversation. we're going to talk about why voting matters. we're going to do it later on. there's a different set of reasons about why you should get out and vote regardless of what you think about the political system or who you support. does this election matter? obviously if you thought the election mattered, we'd have higher turnout, and you'd know why you needed to vote. i want to get down to this question that people are asking. does this election matter, and if so, how? who will it change? how tell change the things? cnn analyst gloria boerjer in our studio. from memphis, mark scota, founder of the memphis tea party

movement. let's go to facebook. you know what your job is. before you answer, brenda says -- absolutely nothing will happen for the next two years as the gridlock will tighten. it doesn't matter what i would like to see done. linda on facebook says -- the republicans will finally be equally accountable for failure. all they have been doing for the last two years is halting progress and blaming the dems. if they run half of congress, they will have to take ownership for our country's problems. you said earlier, mark, that -- a democratic win -- a republican win in the house of representatives will give some certainty to the political situation. tell me if that is good or bad. there will be gridlock, we know that. we've had a partisan congress even with one party in control. will only get more partisan next. >> well, let me say this. first of all, this whole idea of gridlock in the current congress is nonsense. i mean, we have had a house that passed immediately cap and trade. we have an epa that wants to

enact legislation to support cap and trade. we passed the obama health care bill. we passed the financial reform act. the fact of the matter is there's been no gridlock. there's been a runover the opposition -- run over the opposition positions on a lot of issues which is why people are animated. why 55% to 60% of the early vote is republican right now. i think the truth of the matter is that the republicans, if elected and governed as they've suggested in the pledge, will do a few things. one, they'll be able to restrain elements of the epa trying to legislate when they have no authority to do so. two, they'll be able to restrict funding to obama care and, indeed, to hiring those 16,000 irs agents. and supporting the states in their legal challenges to bicycle care, which i think is the most -- obama care, which i think is the most immediate opportunity to overturn. it three, no regulatory changes in the financial reform act. for the first time in history we have passed a bill that institutionalizes never to be revoked an agency within the financial reform acta. i mean, this is ant threat will

do what we believe as republicans. >> gloria? >> the president, it's going to be a very interesting situation if they do win the house. it depends by what majority, boy the way. don't forget, the president and the democrats are not going to give up here. the president had a veto pen, which he can use. there can be,a we we as we wereg about, guerrilla warfare on reform. i doubt there would be a repeal because the president could veto that. and i don't know where the votes would be. there are some people, ali, who believe that gridlock might be a decent thing for right now. while you work a bunch of -- a bunch of things out. we have a tendency in this country when we swing in one direction, we correct ourselves, right? >> right. right. >> that's i think what the public might be saying. but i do think there's a danger here on the republican side because if they do win a majority, they have to actually look like they can govern. >> yep. >> and by the way, christine romans will be with us in a moment, and she's going to argue

that the run-up we've seen in the stock market is because markets like gridlock actually. thank you to both of you for such a great discussion. gloria, we always rely on you for that. mark, i appreciate you coming in here and giving us some clear perspective on where people from the movement in which you're involved in are seeing this. mark skoda with the memphis tea party, founder. gloria borger, senior political analyst. while they've been talking about it, elections are eight days away. will the results, will the outcome make a difference to your wallet? what is in store for things like health care, taxes, spending, housing, jobs? i'm going to tell you about it.

elections are eight days

away. police -- people, no police involved. that's the great thing about this election. they go through usually without the help of police. people are worried about how the outcome might have an impact on their money. what can these elections actually to for the thing that matters most to you, your economy? when i say "your economy," i mean jobs, markets, the value of your home, credit, taxes, to some degree health care. christine romans, my co-host at "your money," is here with me. we just finished a conversation with gloria and -- gloria borger and mark skota where we were talking about the possibility of gridlock. and you saying to me that this market's in part have been forageaing ahead because they think there's going to be gridlock and markets like that. that is certainty to markets more so than the last couple of years. >> the first thing i learned covering markets when i was a reporter at the chicago mercantile board of trade, i

heard gridlock is good. when washington can't screw something up, we get very happy. now what people are telling me in the market, one of the reasons it's above 11,000, one of the reasons is the sand has been shifting for two years. now regulation, new ideas, stimulus, house it's going to be implemented -- >> some of them are good. some ideas are good. but it's change. >> right. and when they can just -- on just absorb what's happened for the last couple of years, that could be a good thing for the business community. and that certainty will help. corporate proviritz returning, too. a lot confidence can come in. maybe the ground's not going to shift. they it k figucan figure out wo you pass the laws and then have to write the regulations. agencies start to do it. >> ultimately the things that our viewers are immediately concerned about, and some are small business owners so that is of concern. jobs, markets continuing to go higher because that's their retirement investment. >> right. >> and the value of your home. will a -- a republican-controlled house of representatives fundamentally change those three things? >> the things that you and i feel will not change right away. they won't change november 3 or

january 3 or -- these things take time. >> right. >> there's a bigger economy. and i think sometimes in washington they like to think -- they like to think that they have more of this under control than they really do. >> they don't. nor does the president. >> they can do more harm than good, many people say. but it's going to take some time. i think the only thing that will really change is a feeling that voters are going to have. right now, everything is out of their control. everything is out of your control. >> right. >> when you walk out of that ballot box, you -- >> you control something. >> you can say, i did something. i could control this one thing that i did. and that was the vote that i cast. >> you think there are things that are going to happen to improve the economy, the federal reserve may actually have more power over that than -- than the government does. >> if there's going to be another stimulus, it's going to be federal reserve stimulus in the very near term. we know there could be some changes on taxes. maybe tax cuts would be extended for everyone instead of just high earningers. >> right. >> you look at health care. there's going to be a lot of talk about -- what do they call, it repeal and replace, what republicans are saying. >> right. >> maybe what -- if they could repeal it in the house, is there

any expectation of it passing in the senate? >> not if the republicans aren't controlling the senate. >> right. and how do you -- that's a difficult -- that's more i think -- i don't know. i think that's more -- symbolic, the whole health care discussion. government spending. look, republicans always say they want to spend less money. >> right. >> but there's also real concern that cutting back on spending could hurt the economy. republicans say that too -- >> because consumers weren't spending. >> republicans say they want to cut back spending, but how, where, when, without hurting the economy. still a big discussion there. capdand trade, something -- cap and trade, something we've talked about many times. >> they call job-killing policies. they're clear on the fact they don't like that. >> it could struggle. that could struggle. >> already doesn't have a clear road ahead of it. >> right. >> that could continue to struggle. talk to me about social security. >> social security. >> social security. >> social security, this is something at the core this fiscal commission that the president has embarked top try to figure out how to fix some of our deficit problems.

cdo analysis -- cbo analysis, congressional budget office analysis, fascinating showing if they run 500 simulations, the younger you are, most likely the less you're going to see back from social security. something that makes progressive economists crazy because they say it's not fair to cut the benefits. under all of these different cbo simulations, somebody born in the 1940s, born in the '60s would get -- >> wow, look at how this drops. >> yeah. look, by the time you get to the -- >> this is if they don't fix it. if they don't do something to fix social security, meaning that it doesn't bring in more than it takes out. gives out. >> right. that's something that feeds into there discussion of do you raise the retirement age. look at what's happening in france, talking about raising the retirement age. >> from 60 to 62. >> do you cut benefits, index benefits to how much money, do means testing -- lots of things being discussed. people get very angry -- >> that graphic was a clear view that we all have to be agreed on one thing. it's not working and need to be fixed. >> and you can look at the congressional budget office web

site, see how they've run it differently and see how the older you are, the safer you are. the younger you are, the more you need to think about saving in other ways. >> the congressional budget office, i know it sound nerdy because christine says things like that. but you should check it out. they do good stuff. thank you. good to see you. >> takes one to know one, ali. >> it does. we will spend the week together. christine and i are here together every day at this time and we're on "your money" saturdays at 1:00 p.m. and sundays at 3:00 p.m. eastern. and christine has authored a great book called "smart is the new rich." if you can't afford it, put it down. it's on book shelves right now. you really should give it a read. "smart is the new rich." the bob will help with that. 125 mile-per-hour winds tearing buildings apart in front of him. this guy kept the camera rolling. check this out. as a tornado roared. chad talks us through this amazing footage. [ male announcer ] the financial headlines

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just before the break, i was showing fascinating footage from texas. somebody who was videotaping a tornado didn't stop, by the way, when it looked like it was upon him. let's go to chad in the severe weather center to tell us about that weather and about the video. chad? >> an emergency manager for the county out there, literally being a storm spotter. and the storm was right there to his left. and it went all the way across the street. let's go to it because it's better than looking at me. the video here, amazing. here he is. eric meyers. spelled the same -- no relation. going across here in -- i'm going to stop talking so you can hear him. we are in the tornado!

>> his last comment you heard, we are in the tornado. >> wow. >> yes, he was. and look at the deb row flying. and this is what i want people to recognize. that people really don't get sucked up by a tornado and dropped in kansas. the debris hurts people. kills people. >> right. >> more than, say, the suction or the pressure change. and then we move you to rice, texas, from ktxa. another piece of video here. we know that this can't happen with straight-line winds unless the house was under construction or whatever. so the tornado did tear through this town. and there were even tornadoes east of here. there were tornadoes down into central and western alabama last night. and now that weather has kind of slid farther to the east. i want to take you to what's going on now, ali. the weather was texas, this was the whole cold front. this is cold air trying to push away the warm air of summer. in the spring we think of severe weather because it's the warm air trying to push back the cold air of winter. so we do get two severe weather

seasons. one in the spring, one in the fall, but the one in the spring is certainly more significant with more tornadoes by a factor of about 20 or so. we had a couple tornado watches. now we only have one for north part of florida. and the severe thunderstorm watches for the carolinas, which means there could be wind damage. there could be hail. but so far none of those storms are spinning. >> strikes me for first time if history, i dodged the weather. being in new york. >> yeah. you're in good shape up there. >> all right. good to you. we'll talk to you later in the show. chad miers in our severe weather center. a tight race in a state known for shady politics. we're checking in with illinois voters. don lemon hits the institution known for pastrami and politics.

all week we're going to be rolling through the midwest ahead of midterm elections. candidates have been cramming their views for months. we want to sample voter appetites. don lemon is back in a town he went a lot of time in. he's busy at manny's deli. what are you getting, pastrami? >> you caught me in the middle of my order, ali. you want to help me out? i like the spaghetti. i know everybody talks about the corned beef at manny's. i used to come here a lot. i'm not a big sandwich person, not huge. i like this, and the i like the stuffed grown peppers. i'm not sure if you -- should i try the stuffed green peppers? >> you should. that looks good. >> that's -- yeah, rory hooks me up every time i come here. you know -- i had one of those mornings where everything was late, the plane, everything delayed. so look at that. look at that. >> you need to eat. i don't want to interrupt you or anything. >> does that look awesome? >> that looks sweet.

any politics get in the way of your lunch? >> you got all -- oh, yeah. we're going to talk politics. look at this corned beef. awesome. right? mm that looks good. show them here, chris. listen, we came out here because we want to talk to voters. this is what they're doing for their lunch break here. they're at manny's. manny's has been here since the 1940s on the southwest side of chicago. if you get a piece of apple pie with it, they call it the -- or the cherry pie, they call it the special presidential right there. >> nice. >> all right. i'll come back and grab my ticket, all right? then i'll pay you. all right. come this way, chris. we got our food here. we're going to walk over and talk to some ladies. they visited here. how long have you been here in chicago? they're from -- they're from indiana. and they invited new come finish up with them. they had -- they're having dessert now. but they're from -- from indianapolis, right? we're kind of talking to them, ali, about how contentious the election has been, what's going on. all the sb -- they're a church group. >> that's right.

>> reporter: you came to manny's because you love it, and you're here on a church trip. >> absolutely. >> reporter: what's your name? >> betty mcfarland. >> reporter: you're sick this back and forth? >> i am. >> reporter: why? >> because says you mentioned, everything has been so contentious and mean-spirited, and the issues have not been discussed. those kinds of issues that are affecting people in general. and you get so caught up in what this person or that person is doing and not what that person needs to do for the country. >> reporter: yeah. you talked about all the negative ads that you've been seeing where you are. it's evan bayh's old seat. what do you think of that? >> i'm tired of it. it's a bunch of baloney. you know, tell the truth as the truth is. and don't try to pacify it. >> reporter: yeah. >> and they're just going all around it, and not saying the truth. >> reporter: yeah. and ali, one thing they've been saying, as well, is they think

people are scared. they think a lot of this outrage is fear. do you think it's warranted? all of this outrage that you've been hearing? >> i don't think it's warranted at all. i think the fear factor is losing control. losing control of the party that they're with, and right now we see people just backstabbing other people just so that they can make that party look bad. and we -- we don't want it. what we want is the issues. we're former teachers, some of us. and we just -- we just want to see what's real. we want to know what's going to happen with our school systems, we want to know what's going to happen with health and all the issues. >> reporter: yeah. >> not the backstabbing. >> reporter: one thing i found interesting because we'd been talking so much about the divide, the tea party, about republicans, about democrats, but race. and i thought it was interesting they had these lady here in a very diverse group of women, and you said you do that on purpose. that's what the rest of the country should be like, right? >> diverse? yeah. yeah, definitely. had to be all mixed and all -- i

don't know. >> reporter: what's the lesson here for voters? for people watching. for the politicians watching,for the people who are yelling back and forth at each other. what's the lesson? >> just stop it and listen to each other. talk about what matters and go for that. and -- so we can trust people again and get to real relationships and know who the voters are and who the politicians are. >> reporter: all right. >> is it too late to get them on the ballot, don? is it too late to get them on the ballot? we want to talk about the issues, what's the future of our schools and health care? they should run. listen to each other. >> reporter: they said you should run. is it too late to get you on the ballot? >> yeah. a little too late. >> reporter: they're retired. you heard them say they're retired schoolteachers. i think they'd be great on the ballot. you know what, speaking of contentious, you know the president's old senate seat is up for grabs here with mark kirk and then alexi giannoulias, and that seat could go to a republican. i left my paper over there, but the papers this morning are showing, oh, there's -- mark kirk has a small lead now. there's been a lot of back and

forth at the dates and yelling at each other. we're going to talk about that when we come to you next. we'll find people in illinois, from chicago, and find out what they think about that particular election. in the meantime, i'm going to have my bell pepper and spaghetti. these ladies are going to have dessert. >> love seeing you back this chicago. you love it. that's a city you and i love equally. >> reporter: i love being back. >> i know. enjoy your lunch. >> reporter: chicago, da bears. >> tell everybody hello for us. we'll be back to you in a while. don lemon at manny's in chicago. another story that we've been covering, ever since that january earthquake in haiti, there have been fears. sanjay talked about them way back then. fears of a cholera outbreak. now, sadly, it is happening. paula newton is there. we'll talk with her next. my mother froze everything.

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okay. i want to take you globe trekking to haiti. since the january earthquake there have been fears of a coloare outbreak. 1.3 million people still living in tent camps. by the way, you can get cholera even if you're not there. let me show you some of the -- the details about cholera. it's a bacterial infection of the intestine. it's -- it's spread through water and food that's contaminated with that bacteria. often because water is not clean or people are using drinking water that others have used for -- for human waste. what it does, it causes severe diarrhea and vomiting, and it can lead to dehydration and death, sometimes within hours. that's the problem with it. let's go to haiti now, to st. mark, near st. mark, haiti, where cnn's paula newton joins me on the phone. what's the latest?

>> reporter: well, we're hearing that a little to the north of st. marc is the majority of the cases came from the rural area. a lot using water from the river. the key thing is if this outbreak is to be contained, for people to stop using contaminated water. i'm at a local well that is not clean but is being treated. and i can tell you, people are getting their water, issue thth washing themselves. they're heeding the advice of the government to make sure it doesn't spread. i left the hospital. i was happy to report that they had a much better evening. they didn't have as many deaths. still chaotic, i have to tell you. still heartbreaking, but not as bad as when i arrived. ali? >> obviously during the earthquake we were all worried about the response. it was hampered by the fact that infrastructure had been destroyed. how is the response to this cholera outbreak? >> reporter: i think by every measure, and i was speaking to peel from the centers for disease control everywhere, they say the haitian government should be congratulated. they have a lot of people puming

away. there are dozens of aid organizations, the u.n., the u.s., the who, everybody pulling in the same direction. they immediately decided they were going to make up isolation units. we just saw one for the coloare treatment. they have sonation -- cholera treatment. they have sanitation centers. there is more infrastructure than there would have been. that's not to say, when you look at the tent cities, it's not tough to figure out how something like cholera would spread very quickly if indeed they did have an outbreak there. >> but not in port-au-prince yet, in any significant way? and is there -- is there confident that it's not going to get to port-au-prince? >> reporter: they're not confident. they say the opposite. it's inevitable. the point is the magnitude. they do not believe the magnitude will be that significant. first thing, they say less than 1% will die. and they will not see people who are violently will cholera. they are hoping that will happen that people as soon as they are sick will goat treatmeet to tre centers, get the treatment and stay in ice las vegas asolationr

in a few days. i was speaking with the haitian health american familister, he told me he is -- health minister, he told me he is sure the situation is not escalating, but they will not say the outbreak won't reach the capital. in fact, they say it most legal will. but in small numbers, not the crisis, the heartbreaking crisis that we have seen in this region in the last few days. >> good to talk you to, paula. thank you very much. you'll keep us posted. this paula newton, joining us from near st. marc in haiti. actor sean penn, by the way, will join "a.c. 360" to tonight that talk about his humanitarian efforts in haiti. "anderson cooper 360" here on cnn tonight. today's "big i" is about an energy-saving idea that will have sports fans cheering. hear about how your favorite sport is cutting down energy usage. [ male announcer ] gout's root cause is high uric acid.

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today's "big i," big idea. today it's about sports and solar panels. didn't know if they went together. first let's talk about solar panels and your home. harnessing the power of the sun to power your home. there are two uses for solar energy. you can convert solar energy into heat and/or electricity. with heat you can heat water and also heat parts of homes or busine businesses. you can convert it into electricity using solar cells on buildings or full solar power plants. there are drawbacks, obviously. sunlight is not constant. it depend on location, time of day, time of year, and the weather you typically get. we don't really have good ways of storing large amounts of electricity. it's hard to depend on a non-constant source of electricity. also requires a large surface area to get enough solar energy to make it worth the money. so the larger the area, the more

power you're going to be able to harvest from the sun. this all seems quite logical. let's think about your typical city skyline. what type of building normally has the largest roof in a city? typically it's a stadium or an arena. look at it from the air. that's what you see. and there are two guys pushing for more solar panels on stumts. they're here with me -- skums. they're here with me live. gary bettman, commissioner for the national hockey league. alan hirshkowitz, senior scientist for the natural resources defense council. gentlemen, thank you very much for joining us. alan, let's start with you, this is something that our viewers will think is obvious. there's -- there are stadiums and arenas around the country, around the continent that have space that have clear lines of sight to the sun. what are you trying to get them to do? >> well, businesses pay millions, hundreds of millions of dollars collectively every year to affiliate with professional sports. more people, twice as many people pay attention to professional sports in the

united states as pay attention to science. so by getting the message out that renewable energy is something that could help national security issues, help us reduce dependence on foreign oil, help us deal with global warming, by using professional sports as the message, i mean, literally hundreds of millions of people pay attention to professional sports. >> that makes sense. >> getting the staple center has solar panels on them, there are seven stadiums and arenas. the national hockey league and major league baseball and nfl and the nba have all distributed solar guides to all teams throughout the country. educating stadium owners, arena operators, team owners, about the possibility for installing solar at their arenas. sports is iconic, people pay attention to sports. if they're not paying attention to science, if they're not paying attention to the science of global warming, maybe they'll pay attention to the marketplace. again, the supply chain of professional sports, the coakes pepsis, fords, chevys.

every industry meets at a hockey game. by having the league embrace solar it's sending an importance message. and perhaps most importantly it's saying that this is not a political statement. >> yeah. >> say what you want about the national hockey league or the nba, but one thing we could assure you, our viewers, is they're not political. >> i agree. a -- it gets to everybody. gary, what can the nhl do? >> we can raise consciousness, make people more aware. it's good business. and in our case in particular, we don't like seeing the ice melt. that's not good for our game. so many of our players learn to play outdoors in rinks and frozen ponds. and we think we have an obligation and responsibility to focus people on the importance of renewable energy. >> that's a two-part thing for the nhl. the carbon footprint can be lowered, at the same time you can use hockey stars to make this a sexy topic amongst hockey fans. >> well, as with so many important causes, sports, as alan said, can be a great

vehicle for raising awareness. but in our case in particular, we think it's the right thing to do for the environment. and making our clubs aware through the solar panel guide book as to what the opportunities are, it's good business in addition to everything else. >> and as a response, any of the stadiums or teams said hey, we can do this? is the guide book telling you how to retrofit your stadium or arena? >> we have two in l.a., staples, pepsi center denver, colorado. this is, again, our chance to tell our clubs how to go about doing this and why it makes sense. >> but ultimately, these are privately owned organizations. they're going to have to make that decision. allen, is it viable, is it feasible to do a big rit row fit to get a stadium to at least generate some of their electricity through solar? >> yeah. there's no question that it's feasible. and there are subsidy programs. it's important to remember people talk about solar not necessarily being

cost-competitive with fossil fuels which is something we have to get off of. the united states and countries around the world literally subsidize to the tune of hundreds of billions of dollars every year the extraction and use of fossil fuels. so it's not a level playing field. this is -- >> is that going to make -- is that going to have one of these teams or a stadium owner say it's worth my while? because that politics that you're discussing is sort of outside the business planning of a hockey team. >> fortunately, there are many subsidies. there's subsidies at the local level, state level and federal level to help teams and businesses in general install solar. and in some cases it's not difficult to find a sponsor. the boston red sox, to use an example from a different league, installed 28 solar panels on its first base line and had their energy supplier national grid pay for it as a sponsorship. the same thing went on with the staples center. it got subsidies from the state and federal government to help pay for the installation of solar there. so it's important that we

invest -- subsidies are essentially investments by the government. we should invest in clean energy, green jobs paying clean energies. >> good to talk to you. we'll have to do another show, allen, if you want to talk more about this. you're welcome to come back. surnl scientist with the national resources defense council and gary bettman with the national hockey league. good discussion. let's hope we can get some of that sun into our stadiums and arenas. find out ways to use solar energy in your personal life. head to my blog cnn.com/ali. vice president joe biden has been a busy campaigner for the democrats. he is hitting a milestone today. on in life are simple. [ thunder rumbles ] not complicated. ♪ complete. ♪

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there are just eight days left until the midterm elections, so we want to get you updated on all the developing stories from the campaign trail. cnn's wolf blitzer part of the best political team on television, the heart and soul of that team. he joins us from washington. you have something about just how busy joe biden has been in this campaign cycle. >> reporter: he's been a very, very busy vice president. now 100 specific campaign events he's attended. he's campaigning for democrats across the country. he's trying to energize that base, get the democrats motivated because as you know, the polls have shown the republicans, the conservatives right now, the tea party activists, they have been so much more energized than the democrats, although he's been trying to change that. he's been in florida a lot. that's a critically important state. more on that in just a moment. but also in new hampshire for

that 100th specific event, even much more busy on the campaign trail than the president himself. speaking of florida, 7:00 p.m. eastern tonight right after "the situation room" our own john king, he will moderate a debate between the two gubernatorial candidates alex sink the democrat, rick scott the republican. it's very close in florida. this is very important for president obama, florida a key battleground state in any presidential election given the number of electoral votes it has. if there's a democratic governor as opposed to a republican governor, that could be very decisive as far as the 2012 presidential contest is concerned. so they're going all out the democrats to help alex sink right now. something else moving on our political ticker and involves christine o'donnell. she's the republican senatorial candidate in delaware facing the democrat chris coons. she gave an interview to david broady correspondent for the christian broadcasting network and spoke out at some length

with the role that god plays in her life, the role that prayer has played and she still firmly believes that prayer will help her come back from behind in all of the polls. some of those polls double digit leads for chris coons and win the contest on november 2nd. it's a fascinating interview. we're going to be speaking to david brody, by the way, in "the situation room" later. we'll go behind the scenes, get more insight in what's going on with christine o'donnell. but that's always an exciting race, as you well know. >> and if you are at least interested in politics, "the situation room" is chock full of it. we'll have another update on this election in the next hour. a touch of that... yup, there's a new head chef in the kitchen. introducing new quaker mix up creations. does your breakfast make you amazing? can be unsettling. but what if there were a different story?

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won their first major league pennant over the weekend knocking out the team that has won the most pennants, the yankees. went down looking. just like that texas makes the world series debut on wednesday. no other team has taken as long to reach the fall classic as the 50-year-old franchise and did it two months after emerging from bankruptcy and brutal battle for control of the club. turns out money isn't everything on the diamond. check this out. the rangers' payroll is $65 million. the yankees, $200 million. as one sports writer put it the yankees spent $65 million on jock straps and confetti. the rangers head west for game one of the series versus the san francisco giants. bengie molina will face his former teammates. he spent half the season as a

giant. so he's going to get a championship ring no matter which team ends up winning. quite a curveball there. i'm ali velshi with you for the next hour. here's what's on the rundown. cnn's don lemon just touched down in chicago and already getting an earful from voters in the final campaign days. he's also getting a mouthful of food. the holidays are coming fast. are the airfare hikes coming as fast? how much will it cost to get home? and a whole new way to make kids smarter. first just eight days until midterm elections. today we're going outside the beltway to tackle a question that has an impact on all of us. namely, does the election matter? and if it does, why? one thing for sure, voters are angry but you always find angry voters at election time. is it from the "throw the bums out" attitude or does it go deeper? so deep as to keep voters away from the poll. we know midterm elections do not attract as many people as

presidential general elections. of course this election matters to democrats up for re-election. look at this map i'm going to show you. president obama hard on the campaign trail today again making a stop in rhode island. first lady on the stump appearing in seattle and san francisco. vice president joe biden is trying to fire up voters in florida. and it matters to republicans who are fighting like crazy to gain control of the house and capture as many seats as possible in the senate. also thick in the fight the real phenomenon of the campaign season, the tea party movement. but let's get back to our original question. when all the stump speeches are done, all the name-calling and mud slinging is over, does this election mat officer what do i mean by that? sometimes it matters because it's politics. it's democracy. it matters that you have regular elections. but is it going to change anything about your life? if the gop does indeed capture the house of representatives, what difference will it make? or is it just going to be more gridlock? and is gridlock a bad thing or good thing? there are some people who think

gridlock makes things better. what about key issues like the economy, your job, the value of your home, your retirement money? what about tax cuts? what about health care? are we going to see any significant changes if there is a change in control in one of the houses of congress or both of the houses of congress? joining us now with their take on the election and its importance, cnn senior political analyst gloria borg ir in our washington stewed yoes. coming from memphis mark skoda, the founder and chairman of the memphis tea party. mark, start with you. you were really very early on involved in the tea party movement. this movement has really found its feet. it's really doing well in this particular election. ultimately, though, what we hear is that we want less government involvement, we want lower taxes, we want a lower deficit. do you have a method by which, if a number of tea party backed candidates are elected they're

actually going to implement some of the changes they have campaigned on and attracted voters on? >> i think it's very interesting. if you look at the fact that michele bachmann established the tea party caucus in congress, we probably have seven or eight tea party candidates who will now join plus the numerous freshmen who have campaigned on tea party values, i think the answer is yes. the interesting thing for me as i talked to leaders around the country there's a pragmatic view settling in. while this election is part of a multi-election year cycle where this year we begin to plow the field and hold the line on spending, interesting look what's happening in europe. uk 500,000 furloughed. 20% cut in budgets. france ups the retirement age with riots throughout france, greece is rioting because of austerity. i think there's a good indicator governments everywhere recognize this model is not working. >> interesting analogy to great britain because in great britain they had an election on this and

changed the -- they changed their prime minister. they changed their parliament. this is sort of a halfway measure. midterm elections are you can change some of the people but not all of the people. what happens in this if a message goes out where the house changes but senate doesn't because of mechanical reasons really and presidency doesn't. what's the mandate? >> reporter: it's interesting because the tea party and the republican party, if they are one and the same -- and that's a question -- understand that the worst thing you can do in politics is to overpromise and underdeliver, right? and if you're promising and mark is promising we want to cut the budget deficit, we want to be fiscally responsible, we want to roll back regulation, if you're promising these things, it's going to be very, very difficult to get all of those things done at once because you do have divided government. and the public is going to hold the republicans as accountable as they are now holding the democrats. so you have to be really, really

careful here because in the end there could be gridlock or they might also decide that it is in their own best interest -- that is, their political survival -- to cut some deals and move incrementally rather than in large ways, because otherwise they won't have anything to show to the american public. >> let's talk about this. are the republican and those republicans backed by the tea party one and the same with the tea party, mark? because you talked about michele bachmann and the tea party caucus in congress. but there may be republicans who don't want to be associated with the tea party and now there's going to be this kind of messed-up thing going on. how's it going to work out? >> i think it is interesting concept. the fact is i don't believe we are out of alignment with the core values of the republican party. i think when you look at what the tea party desires -- fiscal responsibility, smaller government and free markets -- those are core platforms of the republicans. i think the good news about

what's taking place in the cycle besides the fact we're now electing tea party candidates is that we're not only hold them accountable since we now have a voice through the new candidates and the caucus, but also there is no question about the animation within the tea party movement. this movement as i said to my friend the other day, who would have thunk it. last february we kicked this off and in 20 months -- in 20 month it's an extraordinary set of circumstances. and the sophistication, i believe, that has evolved so quickly out of this movement is beginning to take evidence in the polls, in the elections that are occurring. >> let me ask you real quick. pretend mark is not listening. has this movement got legs? is this a phenomenon? >> reporter: yeah. >> or do you think this goes on? >> reporter: i think the movement does have legs because you when talk to the so-called establishment republicans the first thing they will tell is during the bush years they forgot to be fiscally

conservative and they were penalized for it. so they're not going to forget that lesson. but let's ask mark this. they come back. say the republicans control the house. you have a deficit commission reporting. you want to cut the budget. i remember 1994 when newt gingrich came in, new speaker of the house, right, and threatened to shut the government down. and what did that do? that boomeranged for gingrich because he seemed to be overriching. so that's a real issue for the tea party republicans. i don't know what you think about that. >> i think we've matured beyond that. the good thing about the tea party we have a mechanism in place of educating our people. so that's the good news. there's no longer this boomerang effect. i think people will be responsible. the other thing is, i think we'll be able to prioritize where those cuts come in. for instance, today i think even on the drudge report it was reported the top two cuts entertaining in the deficits commission are the interest deduction for houses and the family tax credit.

i mean, good gracious, the two worst things you could cut. why don't you cut the department of energy, which has done nothing since its inception and commerce department? >> now we're going down the spin road, mark. you were very good, though, for eight minutes. i like that. >> reporter: but this is the debate, ali. this is the debate. this is the debate that they're going to be having in congress not only between republicans and democrats but among republicans. >> among republicans. in fairness we haven't addressed it but there will be debates between democrats too about the direction they're going in. there will be lots of debates. if you like politics, this was made for you. mark skoda, great to see you as always, founder of the memphis tea party. gloria borger our senior political analyst. thank you for the discussion going on on facebook and twitter about whether this election matters and why. call it a midwest slugfest. with just a week to go illinois senate race is super tight and super testy and for cnn's don lemon, it's super tasty. he's chewing things over with

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okay. all week we are rolling through the midwest ahead of the midterm elections. candidates have been cramming their views down everyone's throats for months so we decided to take a sample of voters' appetites. who better to do that than cnn's don lemon who doesn't give the impression of being a fantastic eater when you look at him but he likes his food and loves chicago. when you combine a love of food and is chicago you end up at n

manny's delly. >> reporter: i'll never have a six pack because i like food too much. an old friend here chief nelson from the chicago fire department. chicago's bravest. he said, what are you doing here, don? i said we're talking about politics. he said in manny's. what did you say about the election? >> like i said, i'll be glad when it's over. it's been long. the commercials bum-wrapping each other with candidates not really talking about the issues. just about what the other guy is not doing. i'm tired of it. >> reporter: who are you here with? someone else from the fire department? >> actually he's not from the fire department. >> reporter: well, go get in line. enjoy your lunch. good to see you. this is an art. can i jump in right here, ma'am? this is an art. look at this guy. show us how you cut that. doesn't that look good, ali velshi? >> wow, look at that. no machine, nothing. >> reporter: all day. and then the same thing when they cut the corned beef.

the corned beef machine goes all day. don't worry, i'm going to get to the voters. talk to me about politics. i'm going to bring you some but i've got to get this because i promised this lady i'm going to talk to her. she's having some lunch. i'm going to have apple pie. she wants a cherry pie and i think someone over there doesn't have a pecan pie. i don't have to hold this because i have one on. i'm going to take this and go eat and talk politics. what do you want to know? >> i want to know whether they think -- the question we've asked today, don, the big question we're trying to get to the got om of is do people think the elections matter and what effect do they have on their lives? >> reporter: look at that. this is pictures of candidate obama comes in here. he came in before the election. also, david axelrod was here last week with rahm emanuel. said they were just sitting here, no cameras, no nothing. come in all the time. alexy giannoulias comes in all the time. he has a table i'm told.

here your pie. thank you, joann. you wanted cherry? >> that's right. >> tom, which one? you don't want anything? i'll eat both of them then. why don't you take the apple, betty? >> i'm full. >> when you guys see all this, you see kirk takes a slide lead, the candidates are worries. this is from the "sun-times." what do you think about that? >> what do i think? the problem is they're not giving u.s. any information of what they're standing for. >> reporter: their platform. >> yes, their platform. all they're doing is bickering back and forth. i don't even like to listen to this stuff on the tv and i don't get a newspaper. >> reporter: ali repeat your question. you wanted to know why it was so important. what was your question in. >> i want to know whether they think the outcome of the election will make a different in their lives. >> reporter: do you think the outcome of these elections are going to make a difference in your life? >> probably so. >> reporter: how so?

>> all depends who gets into office. >> reporter: it depends on who gets into office, who has control of your money, who is in control of what you find important. every table i have to tell you people are talking about the election here, especially the president's old senate seat which would go to a republican. if it does that will be kind of a slap in the face of the democrats, won't it. toss it back to you. >> i think the folks there though -- earlier we had a conversation and this -- we are honing in on something that they are feeling that the candidates are not telling them what they will do about the issues. they're telling them other kind of stuff but not discussing the issues. i think this lady you're next to has made that point very clearly. don, thanks very much for doing that. continue to enjoy your food. that's the second meal i've seen him eating today. there's a website all about making education social. it's a new way for kids and parents to connect and learn. we'll meet a founder of the facebook for social education. -0

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in "chalk talk" today we're looking at a fun way to help students learn more, study harder and make better grades. this is the goal of the website called ninthperiod.com. i've been on it. it's hard to see to sort of get a feel from this one shot but it takes the cool features from social networking sites and makes them work for academics and learning. it's a free service to students, teachers and parents and takes a three-pronged approach to helping students. you can search for classmates, professors, helpful articles about a subject. then you can connect with other students, professors, students in the same classes and you can get tutoring and you can

discover -- the third part is discover. you can find other material and students and professors that other students and professors recommend for your class or your topic. joining me now is the co-founder of 9thperiod.com roderick chambers. you're trying to make studying, the academic side of school cool like the social media sites. kids live on social media and now you want them to use it to get smarter. >> yes indeed. students are very engaged in social media and social networking as well. we know that that is a venue that we can use in order to rope them in and get them more engaged in the learning process. >> all right. so tell me what this -- this model. i sign up. give me an example how someone would use it. >> students, parents and teachers as well can sign up. they can add the classes they're currently taking. then after they add those

classes it's shown students from around the world also taking the same classes able to communicate with them, e-mail them as well as documents and videos that can help them with academic problems. >> so give me an example. >> an example would be a student in georgia, for example, who is taking biology. they would be able to sign on biology as a course and they could find an individual in california that they may be able to ask for study notes or a video even that can help them with their home work or an exam that they have. >> and one of the things that's interesting is for schools that don't want to sort of encourage kids to get involved in meeting up with people or connecting with people that they may not feel secure with, you've got an intranet system so students are only connecting with people in the school if they feel that's necessary. >> we have a school solutions product that schools can purchase that use it on the individual, district or state level. they're able to monitor and control students and give them a safe experience but also allow them to do some of the things that we know students love to do, social networking and social

media. >> does 9thperiod.com, you're also -- just see there, you've got an app for -- you've got an ipod app. you have other ways -- they're on facebook. kids can connect to it that way as well? >> exactly. we want to bring students the educational experience where they are. they're on twitter, facebook, they use the iphone every day, mobile devices. we want to bring our educational experience to those platforms so that they can stay engaged. >> this is sort of community-based thing? are people going to finds out what other people put on? is it monitored or moderated or sort of everybody who says i'm taking this course, here's what i'm reading, this is what helped me in this course? >> we found that the students really monitor it and filter out things that do not belong and are really looking for a resource that can provide a good academic experience for them. so the community does a good job of policing those things. >> is this accessible to anybody? >> yes, anyone can sign up for free in any country.

we have students from over 250 academic institutions in 8 different countries. >> roderick chambers, thank you very much for joining us. he's the co-founder of 9thperiod.com. while we're talking about learning about things, the dead sea scrolls are the oldest biblical records ever found and they've stayed in small scholarly circles until now. google is bringing them online. [ heather ] businesses need a reliable financial partner. one who can stay in sync with their moves. my job at ge capital is to get bobcat all the financial and business support they need. we provide financing for every bobcat dealer in north america. together, we've rolled out over 100,000 machines to small businesses all over the country so they too can grow. ♪ ge capital. we're there for bobcat every step of the way. ♪

let's go right to the severe weather center. chad has got some incredible video of what looked like a tornado and is now confirmed was a tornado in texas. chad. >> now confirmed to be 135 miles per hour as an ef-2. and this emergency manager was

less than, i don't know, a city block away with debris literally hitting the car. the storm came across dallas. this is south of dallas. this is rice, texas. navarro county. that was part of a high school as this man, eric meyers was on the interstate seeing this debris flying across. look at this -- look at the sheet metal -- literally parts of the roof, whatever, siding flying across the road and there are cars in front of him. people were trapped in their cars. four people were injured but unbelievably nobody killed with all that stuff flying across the roadway. incredible stuff. you talk about the pictures. there they are. they're out of this world. the storm has moved on by, moved through atlanta. there may be a few more showers and thunderstorms later on today up toward chattanooga. maybe back to atlanta today. but the story here, dave, go ahead and run this for me here. this is i-45. that's the tornado that we saw

right there. and here's the interstate. the man was right there. our report was right there. and there is the high school. there's the track around the high school. the tornado moved right across and right through the buildings. and that's the building that you saw come apart and blow across the roadway. so, boy, some close calls for some folks out there. hey, ali, i know you teased this. i heard you talk about it a little bit. >> let's go "off the radar." >> cnn.com has video and you can get more information. i want to bring it to you and tell you what this is about. the dead sea scrolls will soon be available online. what do we care? well, 30,000 pieces make up -- >> i care. as you may or may not know, my degree is in religion so i care particularly. >> 900 fragments broken down into 30,000 pieces literally are being scanned as we speak and will be online either later this fall into the winter or into the next season. here are the guys that are scanning it. they're not only scanning it with regular light, but the next

picture, they use blue light. they use violet light and all kind of different colors to find pieces and traces of writing that you couldn't see with the naked eye. and they are picking it up. it will be online with google with the dead sea scrolls available not just with the squiggles. but there will be translations. you'll be able to kind of look at all -- even the number -- you can do better than this than i can. but the number of books that are on there are amazing he have september for the book of esther. it seems every book from the ancient hebrew bible is available. is that right? >> yeah. >> tell me more. you know more than i do. >> it's truly incredible. i think it's one of the things you would not have had access to if you weren't an academic and couldn't travel. this is exactly the thing about the internet and these projects that makes this kind of further education accessible to regular people. i love it. i love every part of it. >> why it's important is because now they're never going to have to take the scrolls out of their

compression chamber. >> they don't have to meddle with them. >> they're going to be digitized and done and there for all antiquity. >> thank you for that. chad myers in our severe weather center talking about the scrolls. sings the january earthquake in haiti there has been fears about the cholera outbreak. sadly it's happening now.

time now for "globetrekking." we begin in afghanistan where president hamid karzai is confirming reports his office has received cash from iran. "the new york times" reports that iran has provided millions of dollars and president karzai's chief of staff received a bag stuffed with cash.

confirmed iran provided cash to in his words help the president's office and disperse a. sis tans. he says iran asked for good relations and other things in returns but insists there is nothing wrong with that. >> this is transparent and this is something that i have also discussed with -- even when we were at camp david with president bush. this is nothing hidden. we are grateful for the iranian help in this regard. the united states is doing the same thing. they're providing cash to some of our offices. >> karzai says he's grateful to iran for the help. next to haiti where the death toll from cholera is rising. it's a bacterial infection of the intestine spread through water and food contaminated with the bacteria, causes severe diarrhea and vomiting and can lead to dehydration and death within hours. actor sean penn joins "ac 360" tonight to talk about humanitarian efforts in haiti at

10:00 p.m. tonight here on cnn. let me bring you up to speed with some of the top stories we're following at cnn. two days after a member of the national swimming team died during an open water race. they say the conditions were too hot for racing and organizers should have done more to ensure swimmers 'safety. american fran crippen failed to finish the race and was found in the water two hours later. crippen's sister will be on cnn 3:00 p.m. eastern to talk about the tragedy. the ceo of npr says she's sorry for the way analyst juan williams' dismissal was handled. she says she isn't sorry she fired him but he deserved a face-to-face meeting. a florida girl ho gained notoriety for a bad case of the hiccups in 2007 has been arrested and charged with first degree murder. 19-year-old jennifer mee received national attention for hiccups that went on for weeks and earned the nickname hiccup

girl accused with two others of fatally shooting a man during an armed robbery in st. petersburg, florida. men and women died for the right to vote. your great great grandmother didn't have the right to vote if she was hear in america. why you should vote after the break. about eggland's best egg. now, in addition to the taste and nutrition you and your family love, eggland's best will proudly be displaying its support for susan g. komen for the cure®, the world's largest breast cancer organization, in its promise to end breast cancer forever. eggland's best. better taste. better nutrition. and a greater commitment to what matters. because part of being the best is doing good. ♪

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employ something called universal suffrage. here's the definition. universal suffrage is the extension of the right to vote to all adult citizens. it's been a long, hard road to get universal suffrage here in the united states. black men were allowed to vote for the first time in 1870 with three amendments to the constitution but there were loopholes in the amendment. some southern states found ways around it until the voting rights act of 1965. women weren't allowed to vote until 1920 with the 19th amendment to the constitution known as women's suffrage. men and women died trying to get the right to vote in this country and laid down their lives so american citizens can always be free to vote. let's talk about universal suffrage around the world and start in new zealand, the first major nation to grant the right to vote to men and women in 1893. let's go to south africa. women were granted the right to vote in 1930 but blacks in south

africa weren't allowed to vote until 1994. in kuwait universal suffrage to men and women for the first time in 2005 but there's a catch. men and women must vote in separate polling locations. you aren't allowed to go with your husband or wife to vote. in hong kong they still don't have universal suffrage but it's supposed to come sometime next year. we have universal suffrage in the united states but how do we rank among the world in voter turnout? let's look at this bar graph. this is a voter turnout statd from the group of dem trasy and electoral assistance. we picked 16 to turn out for congress or parliament, midterm-like numbers. look at australia, the second one in. 95% turnout. denmark also ranks very high, 86%. thailand over on the right. we have to pull out to see that a second at 78%. let's look at the three lowest countries in this group. haiti, 28%.

afghanistan, 49%. and guess what, number three, the united states -- actually, it's lower than afghanistan. the u.s. 47%. remember, these are just 16 countries pulled out but we're not looking at that -- we're not looking that good. not even looking at 47% for midterm voter turnout. that's why this is important. what is at stake in these elections? we're talking about your money, the economy. jobs, housing and stock markets. that's part of this election. taxes. we know there's this whole discussion about repealing or extending the bush tax cuts and of corrales health care. some people want to keep it, some want to scrap it. people died for your right to cast your ballot. your great great grand mother living in the united states didn't have the right to vote. there are people in other countries that still can't vote. from the president to the school board. the power that people have to impact every part of your personal and professional life every day, people in congress are making decisions on your behalf.

so whether you're a republican or democrat or independent or a tea party supporter or undecided, go vote. it's not by law an obligation in this country but there are a lot of people who think it should be. to educate yourself on the races and be an informed voter head to cnnpolitics.com. why the democrats say they are encouraged by trends in early voting. we'll give you headlines from the political ticker next. it is who we are and what makes us great. we debate politics. we debate sports. we debate art. and we debate debates. ♪ but when it comes to cars... the debate...is over. the 2011 s-class. mercedes-benz. the best or nothing.

time for "globetrekking." one of the things we are tracking is the increase in cholera deaths in haiti. the death toll is rising. this was a concern because of the access or the lack of access to clean water. so many people are still living in tent city. let me tell you a little bit

about bacteria, the causes and symptoms of cholera. it's a bacterial infection of the intestine which is spread through infected water. generally speaking fed through water that is consumed -- that has had contact with human waste. it gets contaminated with the bacteria and causes severe diarrhea and vomiting and can lead to dehydration and death within hours. paula newton is in haiti for us right now. she's in or near st. marc, haiti. paula, what have you got? >> reporter: we moved up river from where we were in st. marc. it's a rural area where they believe the outbreak and the contamination has been. it's not a good scene here. we're at a village that's still using the river water. i've seen a child up to his ears in the water. they use it not for drinking water. they know better than that but they are still immersed in it. and if they're really going to be able to get a handle on the cholera this needs to stop.

doesn't matter how much public education out there the people from the village said this is our only water source. we're not able to stop using it. it's going to be a problem going forward. they had a woman who passed away yesterday, yet they are still in the water, water that is likely contaminated with cholera. >> paula, what's likely to happen beyond this? because this has not been seen in big numbers in the capital city but they're saying there's no doubt that it will happen. the issue is how bad it will be. >> reporter: the challenge is for them to be able to contain it. they're doing the best they can but clearly in the village i'm in they're ignoring the hemt warnings. i think that hear they're going to do what they can. the aid organizations are doing what they can to get clean water to these people and trying to remind them that it's not a good idea to be in this water or at least take precautions when in it. having said that when you get to port awe principles aort-au-pris

more than a million people. if there's an outbreak there it's essential they get treated right away and isolated. that's what the international community continues to prepare for. they have isolation units already set up. they're telling people to continually wash their hands and look for the symptoms and if they get it get treatment right away. >> if you can control it, that helps in terms of being able to control by washing your hands. the problem is as you said people who get it from infected water. that is often beyond their control. if everybody could drink clean water they would probably if they could choose to, they would. thanks very much. now just eight days left until election day. we want to get you updated on all of the developing story from the campaign trail. our friend gloria borger back and part of the best political team on television. she's in washington. the democrats are playing up early voting numbers wisconsin until now have not looked great for them. >> reporter: it's really all about spin at this time. because early voting can be a sign. so you look at the number of registered democrats and registered republicans in each

state and each district that have asked for early voting ballots. but what does that mean? does that mean the voters are more enthusiastic? does it mean they understand now that early voting is available to them and they think it's more convenient? so we really don't know. so the democrats putt out a memo saying this shows we're not seeing anything that resembles a republican surge out there. so i went and called the republicans and i spoke with the senior congressional campaign strategist who rattled off about half a dozen states and said our numbers show that, in fact, our voters are asking for ballots in larger numbers than the democrats. so, you know, ali, you really don't know at this point. i think we're just going to have to wait to count those votes, huh? >> no kidding. >> reporter: how about -- go ahead. >> what's going on in rhode island? >> reporter: oh, this is really interesting. you know, how about this for respect. so you have the president of the united states coming into the state of rhode island, decides he's going to do a fund-raiser

for democrats, a general fund-raiser. but skips endorsing the democratic candidate for governor named frank caprio. now, what's that about? well, seems as if the president remains very, very loyal to lincoln chafee. you may recall he was a republican senator. and he endorsed barack obama for president in 2008. so obama has said, you know what, i think i'm going to stay out of this one. now, my friend and your friend jessica yellin has made some phone calls on this. and a senior democrat said to her -- and i quote -- what they, meaning the white house, forget is that president obama is the leader of the party and sometimes that means supporting your party over your friends. so this is pretty controversial there to go into a state and frank caprio went on the radio and said "the president can take his endorsement and really shove

it." ouch! >> oh, ouch! let's talk about california for a second. more money has gone into that state. >> reporter: late money. >> toward various campaigns but there's money now going into the senate campaign specifically. >> reporter: yeah, there is. it has tightened up a little bit. but still barbara boxer is beating the republican challenger, carly fiorina, by 50-42. the republicans have decided to put $3 million more in that race for carly fiorina. obviously, they think that they can tap into something out there to get their voters out and beat barbara boxer. if they were to do that, ali, that would be a huge, huge upset for the republicans. >> good to see you again. thanks so much gloria borger, senior political analyst. we will continue to bring you updates on any political developments as you watch cnn. if you're flying you probably won't catch a break on

buying a cheap feare. there aren't that many extra seats to be had.

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♪ trouble been doggin' my soul ♪ since the day i was born ♪ worry ♪ oh, worry, worry worry, worry ♪ [ announcer ] when it comes to things you care about, leave nothing to chance. travelers. take the scary out of life. today i'm taking the lead. if you watch this show with any regularity, you know i fly all the time whether i like it or not and this is the time of year when many of you are more likely to fly as well. the news for you and me is not fantastic. airfares are higher than they were last year. in fairness, airfares have been pretty low the last few years.

cnnmoney.com's poppy harlow is here today. you like me travel to other places often on weekends or holidays. how much more are we likely to pay? >> a lot more. 18%. that's what our friend at compare fare.com says. prices are not going down. a few reasons. the airlines have cut capacity. you'll probably notice they're using smaller commuter jets on longer flights. i've noticed that back home to minnesota. also more people are flying this year. that's because they may have put off their vacation, their travel last year. they're all kicking back in and flying this year. bottom line, take a listen to rick. here's what he says you have to do if you want to travel for the holidays. >> you can't procrastinate. every day you wait right now for thanks add $5 to your virtual ticket price. you need to be buying no later than early november for christmas. bottom line there's no incentive to discount. procrass continuation is your worst enemy.

>> my friend here, ali velshi, procrastinated a little bit on buying his ticket. the airlines are doing well. they had great profits last week. they're charging for banks but the tickets are expensive. >> this is what they have to do. a lot of people have said they'd rather see airfares up than being nickel-and-dimed with a bunn of fees. >> he talked about flying on less popular days. so i did a little trick this morning or tried to and thought what is it going to cost to fly home to minneapolis on thanksgiving. returning sunday, almost cost $600, $3589. if i were to leave thanksgiving morning and come back monday, $200 difference. that's my search this morning. a $200 difference. what's interesting -- i know rick told you this too -- if you want to search for airfares, the day you do it matters.

airlines post on monday, today. if you look between tuesday and thursday that's when you'll find the fares. that's crazy $600. >> poppy, it is necessary because you can make a lot of differences. there are tools on the internet which allow you to make decisions. i can go on thursday morning if not traveling so far and you can make it for thanksgiving dinner. >> and don't have to cook. >> great part about showing up anywhere. i just got here. catch all of poppy's stuff on cnnmoney.c cnnmoney.com. it's a treasure trove of information. if you think the political ads have been overly negative so far, wait until you see what is coming in the final week. s who d

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it is time now for the "xyz." the midterm elections just over a week away wisconsin means we're heading into the dirtiest most negative advertising cycle of the campaign. according to campaign media analysis, almost half of all tv and other media campaign ads this election season are negative. one group is front and center. the u.s. chamber of commerce, a tax exempt advocate for american businesses that's come out strongly against president obama's economic reform push and many other things this administration is trying to do. it touts itself as the world's largest business federation fighti fighting for free enterprise in congress. while it 90% of businesses are from across the country it stands accused of channeling money from the other 4% into negative ads somewhat

anonymously. that's because it's hard to know who's funding these. the donors are not disclosed. some donations can be pieced together through tax filings and other public records. for example, "the new york times" says proou dention financial donated $2 million to the chamber's ad campaigns to try to weaken financial reform. $8 million came from a group ever goldman sachs, chevron oil and dutch multinational ensurer to wage a national campaign to put limits on suing big businesses. no doubt similar money is going into individual races by way of expensive issue ads. president obama has accused the chamber of using foreign money to funds ad campaigns and individual races. the chamber denies that but some say it's besides the point. because of the earlier citizens united decision big corporations have almost no real limits on how much they can spend to influence political issues. the u.s. chamber of commerce knows this and is soliciting big business in a big way toun