peter johnson, jr. sticking around. >> absolutely. >> steve: tomorrow, charlie crist will join us live on the television show and karl rove, so we'll see you then. bill: hey tkpwaoeurbgs thank you. a lot of news on the economy, let's start there and it's breaking right now, 462,000 americans, filing for first time claims last week, that's up from, well, last week, up 13,000, that's 13,000 higher, not good news, but labor departments say the number of people collecting unemployment benefits did fall to a level not seen in two years, so still, the recovery struggles on inch by inch for millions of americans looking for work. more on that in moments. in the meantime, we seat new record last month, news in the foreclosure mess as well, u.s. lenders foreclosed on more than 100,000 homes in september, that's a new monthly record, according to the industry group realitytrak that follows the real estate

market in the u.s. all that mess about foreclosures and halting and halting, and whether to sell a home for so many millions of americans. good morning, i'm bill hemmer, how you doing? >> martha: i'm good, you're seeing the highest monthly number ever for foreclosures in this country, and this comes from attorneys general of all 50 states now, planning an investigation into whether lenders used questionable perhaps illegal tactics to foreclose on homeowners. >> that all is suppose to be done carefully and properly under the law in this country and in fact these affidavits are fraudulent. >> i think we've really got to keep the market moving, we can't let things stall, so the idea of suing or bringing everything to a halt, asking for a moratorium, is not something i'm willing to consider right now. bill: stuart varney is with the fox business network and here to put this in english right now. first on the foreclosure maps, we set a record in september? i thought we were going the other way. >> we're not, we're going

the wrong way, 102,000 here. the bank repo man arrived at 102,000 homes in the month of september, this is not a letter in the mail, saying we may begin foreclosure proceedings. this is transfer of title, from you the homeowner so the -- to the bank or the lender, okay? that's 102,000 homes, taken away from private owners, taken back by the banks. we're on track for a million such repossessions, this calendar year, 2010. now as you move to this foreclosure investigation by the attorneys general who you are quoting just a moment ago, yeah, they don't want to freeze on all the foreclosure processes, but they are going to slow it down with their investigation. and the man who created all those numbers, the guy from realtytrak about the foreclosure of 102,000, he's come up with another number and it's equally dramatic, the foreclosure investigation and the mess in foreclosures will take

30 percent of the homes out of the buy and sell marketplace by the end of the year. bill: well, that screws up everything. >> it does. bill: that really throws the market on its head. >> yes, it does. you've already got an extremely weak buying and selling home market in america. it's extremely weak. you're doing about 4 1/2 million, maybe 4.7 million, sales of existing homes a year. you take 30 percent out of that, you drop below 4 million. that's less than half of what you would get in a really good year in america. bill: all right, what are you seeing on this jobs number this morning? has it gotten -- hasn't gotten better, for sure. >> disappointing, 462,000 new claims, not what you want to see, the number of new claims went up. anything above 450,000 new claims each week is extremely disappointing on the jobs front. bill: stuart, we'll see you, fbn, 9:20. you've got a lot to talk about, too. stuart varney, thanks. martha: for more now, let's get back to the story that has held our attention for a

couple of days now, the underground nightmare for 33 chilean miners ended last night. now, the entire world was watching and waiting for all of this, moment to moment, when the last miner was pulled to safety, after spending 69 days below the earth's surface. watch this. >> [applause] >> mr. supervisor, that's a good shift. you are the last one. that's how a good boss is supposed to be. >> chile! >> ♪ >> ♪

>> ♪ >> [singing chile anthem] >> ♪ >> ♪ >> martha: what a moment for that country and all those families, that president of chile, really putting himself on the world map. he is a worldwide recognized leader now, and an incredible moment, they sang the national anthem there. there are concerns over some of the miners' health. they are all really doing very well, but there are some issues, you know, just in terms of stress from all of this, one of them had pneumonia, but they say they should be able to take care of it in the hospital. is adam housely with us? adam housely in copiapo, chile, there's a press conference about the miners about to get underway. what are you learning this morning?

>> reporter: yeah, martha, great news this morning, the press conference just ended here. the president is going to speak momentarily as well, and everybody is extremely happy with the way the miners are doing, and some will be released this afternoon, and joining us live -- i know we're waiting for the president and will meet him momentarily. but how surprised were you? i know you guys took part in this medical team by staying in touch with the miners from behalf ground but -- above ground but how surprised were you when the miners came in this condition? >> we were surprised when we saw them because they were all well and hydrated and all along the two months they were underground, they had -- when we saw them in the hospital, they were very well, with little problems, all under control. we have said that we can

start with this afternoon, two or three miners. >> you said to me right before we came on, it's a miracle. >> definitely it's a miracle. it's a miracle. and we are very happy. and the others are going to be discharged probably tomorrow. and we hope that the evolution in their homes, also it's going to be okay. >> we will go and meet the president and thank you again, great work as always. >> thank you very much. >> she's been part of this operation for the last two years, in charge of all the medical in the region, and she told me that, you know, these guys came in and so many of them did a great job down below, working with the doctors to ensure their health was great, and right now most of the problems are really just dental problems, martha, it's amazing. martha: we all have those, right? they don't go away! >> and probably they're going to starting tomorrow. >> tell the president we said hello, thanks again. martha, you can hear from that, they're extremely happy here and the medical director, when we asked him a question and the other

medical director, too, he said the same thing, he said this is a miracle here. martha: well, their happiness is contagious. everybody who watches this story, and president pinera, what an amazing achievement for him, his wife said it was like pulling people from the cemetary alive and they are alive and well by all accounts. thank you, adam, and great coverage on your part. bill: three people with iraq good -- people are going to be released today and everybody, tomorrow. the mental health, certainly a concern for doctors, the health minister has promised care for each miner for six months that will continue on an ongoing basis and get this, the miners had been undergoing media training underground to get them ready for the flood of media interest that will follow. they thought of everything, didn't they? hats off. martha: they thought of everything. folks, with the election, we're going to look the a the final flood of money coming in with just 19 days to go. we're watching where the

republican money is going, where the democrat money is going. this is sort of the game of the day and democrats are plan to go direct $2 million now going into tv ads in nevada, as harry reid tries to keep his job there. he's got a battle on his hands against tea party-backed sharron angle. we'll show you the poll numbers we have, you can see it's a very tight race. so the money is moving to reid out of other places where democrats are starting to cut their losses, the a.p. cites the missouri race, the senate race there, a place where that's happening, democrat robin carnahan against roy blunt. tonight they will see a live debate happening in nevada and go head to head in las vegas, sharron angle and harry reid. bill: also we picked up poll numbers revealing how voters in the suburbs feel about the democratic party and president obama. nearly half of suburban americans disapprove of the job he's doing, according to

hosra university's national poll, they gave the president a 42 percent approval rating, 48 percent disapprove, a majority of likely independent swing voters, they are key in the suburbs, now say they favor republicans in the upcoming elections. what are we, 19 days away? two weeks from tuesday. martha. martha: there's a -- there was a heated senate debate last night in north carolina, republican senator richard burr, democrat elaine marshall and libertarian candidate mike beatler, and senator burr took heat from both of his challengers for his bailout vote. check it out: >> senator burr has turned his back on small business. just last week he tried to block a bill on small business and voted against it, exactly what our bankers, our small business, our chamber, all of those folks had been asking for. >> secretary marshall makes another accusation. it's not the first one that she's made in the last three

weeks. the truth is that the bill that we passed by all accounts will have very little f. any, effect on the creation of jobs. >> i'm happy that senator burr is concerned about t.a.r.p., jr., but i should point out he should go to the t.a.r.p. he can't talk about being a fiscal conserve ti and focusing on things like t.a.r.p., bailing out the wall street banks and favoring corporate welfare. martha: we interesting, burr went on to defend that vote, he said the money was needed at that moment to shore up the financial system. bill: the morning of november 3rd, we're going to be sitting here. martha: we'll be sitting here, bill. bill: who knows! who knows what's going to come our way. this is one of those elections that you think about, man, anything can happen. martha: it's very exciting and the people are about to put their will into action and vote the way they think this country is headed. bill: talking about foreclosures, the economy, all this has an impact and bad news for folks putting money into pension plans,

there are new reports you may not see a dime. talk about that. martha: and a year after the president passed the signature stimulus plan to get the country out of this hole, he's backtracking on comments he made about those shovel-ready projects. do you remember that? we're going to find out what he is saying now, what it really means. listen to this: >> we are seeing shovels hit the ground. >> make sure that shovel-ready actually means shovel-ready. >> shovels will soon be moving earth, and trucks will sooning movingne month, fi concrete.v

bill: question for you on a thursday morning, how do you find shovel -- define shovel ready? president obama telling "the new york times" there is, quote, no such thing as shovel ready projects, which is a bit of an about face you could say from what americans had been told for the past two four-months. remember these statements? >> there are almost 100 shovel ready transportation

projects already approved in colorado. >> shovels are breaking ground and cranes dot the sky. >> shovels will soon be moving earth and trucks will soon be pouring concrete. bill: so what now? losing our religion author, and author of the daily column. and kirsten powers, how you doing? cranes dot the sky and shovels will soon be moving earth. >> must have what salute nated -- hallucinated all that. it is a rare admission on the part of the president that he's made a mistake if this story turns out the way i think it will. that's a huge about face from the past two years of tone deaf arrogance and stubbornness that is now becoming dangerous as the election gets near. bill: why would he make a comment like this? if you consider it an about

face, why do it now, kirsten? >> i really don't know and i think the thing that's frustrating about it, it's not like this information was not knowable at the time. there were actually quite a few people, including liberals, saying exactly this, that there really isn't such a thing as a shovel ready project. now, maybe you can find a few here and there, but overall, you can't have an entire stimulus predicated on that idea, because things just don't move that quickly. and you had even at the time some liberals saying, you know, let's do something that's a little more target ed than what the white house has come up with. so for him to now say oh, i just discovered this doesn't really make sense to me. bill: what -- >> what does that do to americans and voters, what do it do to faith in government, what do it does -- does it do to trust in this administration? you're three weeks from an election and i read "the new york times" article yesterday, it's lengthy, it's in depth, the writer sat down for an hour in the

oval office, and it sounded like the president was trying to field independents and say i get it now, it will be different after november. >> it's a weird -- the timing is weird. it's a come to jesus moment and frankly it should have happened maybe six months ago. this close to the election, it's not only a mill calculation, you know, voters don't want to be reminded, frankly, of your missteps, you know, if they're looking to get democrats aeupbtd -- continuants but it's also -- it's a little insincere, it looks like an election tactic when you're just three weeks, as you said, 19 days away from the election. bill: you're right about that, everything is in the prism of politics. one more point on all of this, kir sister. i think for the most part, myself included, two years ago, when they passed the stimulus, that's what i thought it was going toward, i thought every street in america was going to be repaved. it's far from it. >> no. well, the thing is, i don't think the president when he said this in the interview,

i'm going to just guess that he wasn't saying the stimulus didn't work. i think he still would argue that the stimulus worked. i think he was saying well, this part of it didn't work, but the way the stimulus was designed, as you know, is for it to come out in launches over many years, and so it wasn't all supposed to happen immediately. bill: but now you've got a push for more stimulus spending. what's the chance of that happening? >> that's right. i mean, more infrastructure spending. and frankly, for all of the hype about obama's intellectualism, he's not a very good student of history. we had the wpa out of the new deal in the '30s and '40s that might have put people to work for a minute but it wasn't long term job growth. bill: thank you, kirsten, last word next time, i apologize, we're out of time. kirsten powell, thank you. nineteen past, martha. martha: let's go overseas for a moment, iran's president pays a very provocative visit to a neighbor of israel, from

lebanon. he's about to add fuel to the fire and we are live in the middle east. bill: i'm here skyping on my computer, telling the world what i'm up to, what i'm doing, and an earthquake will catch you folks off guard. did you hear this guy? roll it. >> in the state play -- we just had an earthquake!

bill: so you have a significant earthquake rattling oklahoma, 4.3 quake, as a matter of fact, 6 miles easter norman, oklahoma, you know what they do there, martha, they play football, one of the strongest ever record that state to be felt in kansas. what else do they do there? they play football! one video blogger was taping a college sports football

picks when this happened here. roll this. >> all right, ladies and gentlemen, it's time now for my picks. let's go ahead and begin with a thursday night game of the big 12, kansas state playing -- we just had an earthquake! >> [laughter] >> we just had an earthquake! >> bill: did he take the over or the under? did he say oklahoma, kansas? this is surveillance video, saw it outside thelandra mat, several people say they were sleeping when they got a rude awakening they did not expect. >> i thought somebody broke into the house, because it awoke me totally out of my sleep and the bed shook. >> i went out the building and was checking but there was -- but there was nothing there. bill: there were no injuries but it's the talk of the town in oklahoma, which topped the football game this weekend! >> martha: all right. so more serious matters now,

he says that israel should be wiped off the map. he's been very clear about his feelings about israel. and now the leader of a country that's suspected of building nuclear weapons is right across from israeli's border, the president of iran, mahmoud ahmadinejad, in lebanon to show solidarity with hezbollah, a group linked to a -- labeled a terrorist group by the united states. both the u.s. and israel are calling this trip, quote, provocative. we've got team fox coverage on both sides of the border, lee land vitter on the israeli side, first to rita ninan, streaming live from lebanon for us. what kind of welcome is he getting on the lebanon side of the border rina? >> that's certainly an understatement, the rally is just about 12 minutes away, the music, you can hear it, it's picked up here in the town of bint jibeil, this is between israeli forces and

hezbollah during the 2006 war and was pretty much totaled from the air, and iran rebuilt this entire village and that's why mahmoud ahmadinejad is supported so strong here. at aualy last night he made a point of reemphasizing to his supporters in beirut there is nothing israel can do to tear down the iran-lebanese, palestinian, syrian access that has been access -- that has been form, and they don't like to see iran meddling in lebanon and that's what this is about, to show israel that iran -- they are right at the better, two or 3 miles and an israeli politician said ahmadinejad's security is tight. martha: what a story, re. na, thank you very much. let's get reaction from the israeli side of the border now with le land vitter. leeland. >> martha, security here has

also been very tight. this is the border road, we had guys with machine guns driving up and down the road, overhead, israeli spy drones, you can see the border with all the barbed wire. we're going to go above the fence where the spy drones are keeping an eye on. here's a lebanese village, getting ready to ahmadinejad. you can see the poster and we're going to translate the arabic to yes we can, a popular political saying. this is the guy who says he wants to wipe are israel off the map, here when a -- here is repo replica with iranian money, a statement by iran, also hezbollah flags up here. of course, hezbollah is controlled and armed by the iranians and there is a feeling here on the israeli side, expressed by defense department officials who said ahmadinejad is here inspecting his troops, and the concern is that if there is a third lebanon war, we saw one in 2006, this third war which would be controlled by the iranians

and then produced by hezbollah, would be much bloodier and much worse than anything this border experienced in 2006, martha. martha: talk about provocative, the sign on top of that hill is something. lee land, thank you very much, lee land vitter on the israeli side of that border. bill: so many say it's inevitable, not just when but if -- not just if but when. >> and details on a -- new this morning, secretary of state hillary clinton, what she says about this case. martha: and mud throwing in a huge debate, christine o'donnell answering controversial questions about her past, the fiery debate between o'donnell and coons. >> you said you didn't want to have to talk about comments you made years ago about witchcraft and stuff like that but in this commercial that's widely

seen you begin the commercial with i am not a witch. what were you thinking?

martha: a look at some of the other headlines making news this hour, weather manage in effect for much of the east coast, there is a noreaster forming off the coast of north carolina, going make its way north. it is expected to bring strong winds, large hail and heavy rains to parts of maryland, all the way up to the coast of massachusetts. a search is underway in

north carolina for ten-year-old zahra claire baker, investigators are draining a pond and using dogs to search wooded areas. zahra, who has bone cancer, was reported missing over the weekend and it's being treated as a homicide, her stepmother is accused of trying to throw investigators off with a fake ransom note. bill: 9:33, a big debate in delaware, christine o'donnell making her debut in the debate, scoringo squaring off with crist coons over jobs and the economy and health care, all those issues came up and so too did some issues about o'donnell's past: >> this election cycle should not be about comments i made on a comedy show over a decade and a half ago, this election cycle should be about what is important to the people of delaware. >> ms. o'donnell has experience at running for office but not at really running anything bill: so they are there on hope and

james rosen is live in delaware. she's trailing by 16 points in the latest polling we have. was there a sense she had to really bring it against coons last night and did she? >> reporter: there was that sense, and she did bring it but how effective it was will be up to the voters to decide. in the 90 minute exchange, christine o'donnell went on the offensive multiple times against her democratic opponent, new castle executive chris coons, accusing him at one point of having a familiar he by -- family business that's profited from the stimulus, of cutting a tax exemption for low income seniors and disabled people. there were multiple charges going back and forth, at one point coons accusing miss o'donnell she doesn't understand how bonds work, that in defense of the aaa bond rating. in all, in their respective manners, christine o'donnell came off like the approachable girl in high school, cheerful, optimistic, not always sure

of himself, chris coons, in his dower upside, looks like the dad on the "that '70s" show. bill: she made an intriguing statement that she's still fighting the republican party. what was said, james? >> reporter: yeah, she said during the debate i had to fight my party to get this nomination and be on this debate stage and to some extent i'm still fighting my party. it was a mystifying statement and when i had the interviewed with christine o'donnell as a boisterous irish pub where she had a post debate reception afterwards, i asked her what she meant about that. >> they are running ads, the democratic campaign is running ads, the republican party on the state level and on the national level -- [inaudible comments]

>> >> reporter: now, the hotel dupont where the candidates are set to debate yet again shortly after noon today eastern time is also the setting, as you can see, from the shot with our cameraman greg irsky for the beatles impersonation group rain. i couldn't resist point thank out. when christine o'donnell says on you, it echos i am a walrus. martha: exactly. bill: come together, right now! thank you james. enjoy your time in wilmington, delaware. martha. martha: you can always find a way to work in a beatles reference. who knew that about him. let's bring in richard socoretes, a consultant to president clinton. always good to see you. what did you think about this debate and christine o'donnell and how she's trying to defend herself in a situation with not a lot of help from republican? >> i think she did pretty

good. i think they both did pretty good. it was a very fivey exchange, i think she showed herself to be an outsider, that's what she wants to do, i think he showed himself to be enormously competent. he is well liked in delaware, he's been around a long time, people in delaware know him, he's way ahead. she, you know, had a lot more riding on it because she had to change the dynamic, she had to outperform, because she's behind. i'm not sure she was able to do that. she got tripped up a little bit on that question about the supreme court, they asked her to name a supreme court decision she disagreed with, which was the same question sarah palin got stumped on and you got to think you would be prepared for that. she couldn't name one. but i suspect that's probably because the supreme court, there aren't a lot of decisions that conservatives don't like on the supreme court because it's very conservative these days. martha: richard, i want to talk to you about the rest of what's going on on on the campaign trail, for democrats in particular and

mitchell obama is setting off the sidelines, hitting the campaign trail, white house bringing out the big guns, they've got everybody from former president clinton to president obama, of course, joe biden is out there trying to help keep control of congress and during a radio conference, mrs. obama made a religious reference on behalf her husband, she said everybody i know in our communities are praying for us, every day we feel that and let me tell listeners that it is theo toe means the world to us to know there are prayer circles and people who want to keep the spirits clean around us. richard, i guess you could read into that, there's a lot said about whether the obamas go to church, what church they go there. is there more there, is she trying to reach out to the christian community? >> i thought it was a beautiful reference. i think that's what we would all wish for everybody, what everybody would wish for the person in charge of our safety and security. i think it was a sincere and beautiful reference.

but the thing about michelle obama, she's the most popular democrat there is right now, and she's virtually untouchable. i mean, you can't criticize her. she's gone out there and saying -- she calls herself a mom in chief, she talks about her girls, she talks about this election in terms of what it means for our future going forward. i mean, people, elections should be about the future, and she's the only person talking about it, and i think she's doing it very effectively. i mean, she and bill clinton are going to be there criss-crossing the country. martha: i hear -- i hear you. i'm just wondering how much it helps. you look at the dynamics, democrats in a lot of trouble and she speaks about her husband in a personal way and basically says look, if folks are wondering if this magic can last, we need to get that magic back for him and the support we had for him before, i'm completely paraphrasing her, but -- >> you're doing a pretty good job of it! >> martha: how much does that make a difference out there right now. >> right, and she calls him barack, right, she persons

him. -- personalizes him. >> martha: wouldn't expect her to call him mr. president. >> it's less than two weeks to go and what the democrats are trying to do and the republicans are trying to do, what the democrats are trying to do is rally the base and her being out there really says to people who really cared about them, who really believed in them when they ran in 2008, you know, we're just getting started, stick with us, stick with the future. i mean, the amazing thing about michelle obama is she was off to a rocky start in the 2008 campaign and when she was first lady and people thought she might be, you know, a hinderance to the president. martha: well, she disappeared in all honesty, richard. you know, she has done a lot of traditional first lady things, the gardening, the school, the obesity. >> it's worked for her. it's worked for her. she's gotten great advice on how to position herself, and it has really worked for her. she's enormously popular and she's doing what any popular first lady would do, out campaigning for the

democrats. martha: americans like to like the first lady and we always see usually better approval numbers for the first lady but -- and sometimes better than for their husband. >> maybe not with hillary clinton. >> yes, we'll save that for another day because we need to talk about that in the future, richard. thank you. bill: quick check of the markets, the dow, trailing right now. i guess we're even, investors reacting to the jobless numbers. look at that, we're up over 11,000 on the dow 30. did you get in on that? check it out. i guess it's safe to log on this weekend and check it out and see where you're going, because you're making money at least this week. pension plans are broke. some in the billions of dollars. are you affected, and how do the states dig out of this giant hole which is as deep as that mine in chile at the moment? more on that martha. martha: more out of pocket medical costs are coming your way, folks. this is information you need to know. major changes in health care, and why you might need

a doctor's note the next time you go to the pharmacy to pick up some regular stuff that you usually buy over the counter.

bill: promises are not cheap. in new york state, it's on the hook for $200 billion in retiree health care costs, and new york is not alone. plen of other states have not saved for the future and that is bad news for everyone, as leslie paige will tell you, folksman for citizens against government waste. how you doing? >> how are you doing, bill? bill: doing fine. the numbers are staggering. we need fiscal sobriety, you say, we need to admit we have a problem. >> absolutely. i think we need -- i don't know how many step program we are going to need for this, it may be more than 12, but the first step in any sobriety program and getting sober about the reality of your life is to admit the problem that you

have. and that's the first order of business is to get an accounting of what our true liabilities are. we're talking $3 trillion country wide, if you look at the states together in unfunded pension liabilities. bill: $3 trillion, that's not -- there's not enough to cover $3 trillion in pension plans? >> correct and that does not include the $574 billion in pension liabilities facing states and localities and counties, so it's way more than that. part of the problem is we've also been under -- kind of underestimates what these underlying assets in these pension funds are going to make on the market. they've been making calculations that these assets are going to earn 8 percent. bill: wow. you get into this debate as to whether or not the bonds are going to be cashed in on the pensionings and i think in the past we've seen the way local governments make decisions.

chris christie makes headlines every week on this. >> he's awesome. >> here's what he said three weeks ago, i'll get to you react. >> the system is completely out of control. we are teterring towards insolvency if we don't deal with these long term obligations that the state has. now, i know that there are some public workers who aren't happy about it today but what i tell all of them is you may not like this today but ten years from now when you have a pension to collect and health benefits to collect you're going to be looking for my address to send me a thank you note. this isn't about promises made and kept, this is about special interests, squeezing benefits out of the government and out of the taxpayers that we can no longer afford to pay, and i'm not going to stand for it. bill: i don't think he's making any of that up, do you? >> oh no. bill: take it at face value. how does this end? >> he's a truth teller. let's start with truth telling. even governor schwarzenegger out in california has finally gotten his state lawmakers to do something about their pension liabilities which are going to bankrupt the state, or on the verge of bankrupting

that state. they're very close to bankruptcy and part of that is because the proms made to the states and locals unions. what we have here is over the years, you know, if you look at union negotiations for public sector workers, they've never sat across the table from a robust negotiator on behalf of taxpayer interests. they've always just dictated terms. it's time we push back, but this is just sin it was -- because this is unsustainable. bill: how does it end, do you raise taxes and give 90 percent of your income to the government? >> let's hope not. there's not enough tax income out there. you can't tax the rich people to pay for the liabilities. that's a transfer from people under duress to retirees who are not earning anymore and that's a huge balloon that's coming. bill: do you have a solution leslie? >> the solution is we have to do accounting, we have to go to a defined contribution plan which means there's no defined benefit. you put in a certain amount, and you live with the consequences, 20 years down the road, when you get your benefits back.

but we don't promise you 100 percent, you know. i think this defined benefit problem is part of the problem. we've got to look at what the private sector does. they do defined contribution, 401ks, iras, and that's what we do. bill: and that is where the debate is. in skinectiy new york says it's astronomical, that's just one town, in one part of new york, in one part of the u.s. leslie, i wish i had more time, the computer is cutting us off. to our viewers, if you got a question for leslie, fox news.com/tpherbg's -- "america's newsroom", click on b, twitter, bill hemmer, bya, because you asked, and the questions on this topic, martha, are endless. martha: and tweet martha maccallum as well. meantime, they are fighting for freedom overseas so shouldn't their voices be heard in this election back home? what is really going on with these military absentee

ballots? after this. bill the foreclosure fiasco getting fierce, accusations of fraudulent paperwork. did the banks know what was going on? the plot thickens. we'll explain the developments in a moment.

bill: so the head of washington, d.c.'s public schools now resigning. you might know the name michelle rhee, might recognize her from the movie "waiting for superman", he lighting failures in the u.s. school system. rachelle rhee has been on a two-year campaign to shake up the system, angering unions by pushing for teacher performance evaluations and replacing principals at failing schools, now rhe. says -- rhee says she's ready to pass the torch. >> west way to keep reforms going is to step aside. i'm humbled to have served the very deserving young

people of this city. the thought of not being in this role anymore is heartbreaking, to put it mildly. bill: today rhee says she's going to take a break and spend time with her family. martha: we'll see what happens. all right. well, soldiers, fighting for our country in afghanistan, able to vote and have their voices heard in this election, the justice department is launching an investigation to find out whether or not they are sending absentee ballot necessary time for soldiers. what is this thing about the doj investigation, mike, and what can be done at this point? >> reporter: this is handled by your local jurisdictions, the cooke county board of electsesors city board of elections, both entities say they got the ballots sent off in time. a lot of the arrows are pointed at saint claire county which is where scott air force base is located and the cull pit was --

culprit was a court challenge, they wanted to get on the ballot and delaney didn't want to print the ballots if he had to do that again at the cost of $2 a ballot so he was waiting to hear back from the courts, waiting to hear back from the state and board and missed the deadline. martha: what to do now mike? >> in this modern day with all these wonderful electronics, the ballots can be sent out by fax and by e-mail. they have to come back through some kind of certified post, it can't be a certified post in afghanistan, fedex, whatever, so it does looks like our fighting men and women overseas will have the opportunity to vote. martha: good. glad to hear it. i know our voters have been upset about this story as well so we hope that's what happens. bill: get it going, right? new york state. it's just not right. who's the richest american, martha maccallum? martha: not me. bill: forbes releasing the most health question -- wealthy list, bill gates is one and facebook founder mark zuckerberg has leaped

ahead in the rankings, he's worth more than steve jobs at apple, ranking in at 35, but apple is 300 buck as share now, so -- >> martha: can you imagine, being the second richest man in america? he gave $100 million to a public school system. we like that about him. he was investigating the apparent murder that was to happen on the border between texas and mexico, this man, he was a mexican investigator. then police say the drug cartels sent him a message. his head. delivered in a suitcase to the police. the powder keg on our border, next. bill: what in the world is going on election night? no one knows until the polls close but our next guest has a crystal ball, which way the winds are blowing and two significant changes in two critical elections. we'll get to that. martha: head to our home page, foxnews.com/"america's newsroom", send us an

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martha: new word from the state department the threat to tourists around the globe is still very dangerous and real. the plans for a paramilitary ambush are still active and there is absolutely no reason to rescind the international travel advisories out there, and that is how we get started on a brand new hour of "america's newsroom" this morning, good to have you with us today, i'm martha maccallum. bill: and i'm bill hemmer. we first reported on this a while ago now and there are concerns, centered on the possibility of a small arms assault, similar to the attack in india, remember the 2008 hotel massacre in mumbai. martha: european airports and sight-seeing hot spots considered prime targets in all of this. greg palkot joins us live from london, greg, we heard so much

about this, the feeling was maybe it was dying down a little bit and what are we hearing now. >> reporter: the concern is really there, martha, bill, we are hearing it from the counterterrorism coordinator for the state department, daniel benjamin, in london today, and, his exact words are the situation is the same as the current circumstances, have not changed and they do not warrant any change of the alert, france and other countries are also not downgrading their own terror alerts, and, the state department response might be a response to some more grousing, we are hearing from european intelligence officials, late last week we heard from unnamed figures saying the warnings were nonsensical and exaggerated, and benjamin apparently and the state department and the u.s. says, in fact, not so. he was also quoted as saying, we'll remain in place, should be, in place, for the next 90 days, and so far, it has been in play for two weeks and says, then at that time, there will be a decision, whether to do it or not an he says it is not a ban on travel, just a warning, and, in fact, secretary of state

hillary clinton and secretary of defense americans making their way around europe, this week. martha: you don't know what to do with the warning and you hear, we'll be cautious and travel abroad, but be cautious and what else do we know about threats against other parts of europe. >> reporter: we are getting more details about the alleged plot, a confirmation the german nationals, who were killed in drones strikes in the pakistan-afghanistan border area, a hotbed of al qaeda activity were the ones, according to some sources, that were going to be targeting, german landmarks and they allegedly were killed in that drone attack. there was another drone attack that killed a britton and he was supposed to be the head of a cell going after breitish landmarks and the reason we hear them say there is a warning in place, because there are other terror cells in place in europe in places like france and italy, could be going after the cells,

as the fight against the al qaeda the hot beds continues, more drone attacks in the last 24 hours and more pressure on pakistan to go after the al qaeda cells. martha: you hit it on the head, those who might want to carry it 0 out may still be out there, and may want to carry it out on their own, without the leadership from that area of the world. bill: and we could be on the bring of peace talks, it is possible, in afghanistan? a former president, now head of the nation's high council for peace, saying that he's convinced the taliban is ready to negotiate an end to civil war. current president hamid karzai says he's getting strong international support and hoping to bring more moderate elements to the extremist religious movement. if there is such a thing. into the fold of the afghan government. watch that story. martha? martha: all right, let's go to chile now, a bit happier. there it is still party time and the country bursting into celebration after rescuers saved all 33 miners trapped in the collapsed mine and the crew's

foreman was the last man rescued, now survivors will be monitored to be sure they readjust to life after 69 days under ground and moments from now we'll speak to the author of "the survivors club" real stories from people who have lived against impossible odds, as these 33 certainly did. and we may have insight into what it took -- what does it take to live underground like this. bill: it could blow the lid on the foreclosure fiasco. a new report bankers knew full well that the mortgage melt down was coming, and "the new york times" reporting banks apparently ignored warnings about the impending crisis and simply didn't that he have manpower to cope with the avalanche of defaults across the country. overwhelmed workers sometimes tossing paperwork into the garbage, and hiring people who had no clue what they were doing, that is the report and gary willis, anchor of "the willis report" good morning now, and you talked to people, in

deposition, the robo-signers and what did you learn. >> i look to attorneys who took depositions of robo sirens and they worked with the loan servicers and sign-off on the foreclosure and here's the problem, bill. these people had no real legal training, no mortgage training, they had been formerly walmart employees, waitresses, cleaned houses for a living. and some believe it or not had even been living -- homeless. so, these banks had hired these people without giving them adequate training and didn't know what they were doing and the depositions, they detailed how they signed their names over and over and over again without really going through the paperwork, checking to be sure it was right and everything was there that was supposed to be there. bill: good work if you can get it, i guess. and, this is a serious matter, all kidding aside and i believe they are talking about specific banks, three of them, bank of america, jp morgan, and a third. what is the impact on the music market and the economy?

this could be a big blow, gerri. >> it could be and the reason is, 1 in 4 of the homes sold in the second quarter were foreclosures and if we stop the activity we'll slow down the recovery in the housing market and the house market could take another leg down and it could be bad for the broader economy. for the banks, themselves, they could have as much as $10 billion on the line, if foreclosures are stopped. if there is a moratorium put in place, so many people are suggesting right now. the stakes are pretty darned high, and, especially high for people out there, who own their own home, and may see foreclosures in their own neighborhood. face it, bill, if you have a foreclosure down the street, it hurts the value of your home, as well. bill: neighborhoods across the country, too, that is happening. based on what found, do you believe the banks knew what was going on. >> absolutely. they owned these loan services in many cases and goldman sachs owned lid en and bank of america had its own processor and they

hired these people and knew precisely what was going on and were trying to hide it under a rug for a long time but now, judges and individuals, people who were in foreclosure are fighting back and saying, if you can't prove you own the house and don't have your documentation in order and haven't crossed the ts an dotted the is, i will not give up and i'll fight back. bill: we'll check back with you, on fbn, okay? gary willis. martha: the candidates for senate are letting the attack ads fly out there, a real clear politics average of the recent polls shows barbara boxer has a lead over her challenger, republican carly fiorina, 48% to 44.3%, and william lajeunesse is watching this for us, live in los angeles, hey, william. >> reporter: well, martha, carly fiorina is -- was the first ceo of the top 20 fortune companies,

and boxer spent the last 28 years in congress and now, carly fiorina pulled even in september and boxer hit her over the head with this very effective ad. >> carly fiorina, as ceo, she laid off 30,000 workers. and shipped jobs to china. >> reporter: she cut jobs after a merger but the workforce actually doubled under carly fiorina. >> california lost jobs and carly fiorina tripled her salary. >> reporter: actually her pay declined 15% during the six years at hp. >> what boxer is trying to show, is that carly fiorina is not as nice a person as she comes across in the ads. >> reporter: in response, carly fiorina calls boxer a hypocrite for repeatedly taking campaign cash from firms, that offshore u.s. jackpots. >> this -- she sponsored 600 bio increase government spending in a dozen -- and a dozen to cut night boxer said the stimulus is working.

>> not for me. >> reporter: she says her policies helped save jobs in california, especially, in government. >> maybe the ads work because people pay attention to them. >> reporter: carly fiorina hit boxer twice, once on being arrogant. >> could you say senator instead of ma'am? just a thing, i work so hard to get the title, i would appreciate it, yes, thank you. >> reporter: another for voting against funding for troops' body armor. >> they voted against money to make a political point and there is no political point worth my son's life. >> reporter: boxer says she's not anti-soldier but ain't war. >> she fought to give our veterans the first full combat care center in california. >> reporter: so boxer's criticisms at carly fiorina shipped these jobs overseas, martha, seems to be working, even though boxer refuses to return campaign contributions from companies that did just that, and bottom line, this one will probably go down to the wires. martha: down to the wire. we'll be watching it and we know you will be, too, william, thank you very much. bill: why wait for election,

when you can peer into the crystal ball, larry sabato with at least two key race that's are changing in a significant way. larry is up on that, and, the professor out of virginia. martha: we'll do that here this morning... and it could have been their tomb, physical and mental anguish, like few have ever seen before, how do you survive when the odds are stacked against you? a guy who literally wrote the book. [cheers]. [applause] jaguar platinum coverage is not just a warranty.

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bill: travellers at the airport could get more freedom in flying, a liquid scanner and scans the liquid inside of a bottle of aluminum can, and the scanners would check your water bottle for liquid explosives. the scientists now trying to get the scan timed down from 15 seconds to one second and if so the machine could be in airports within a few years.

revolutionary. martha: allow them on the plane again, trailing by double digits in the polls but it didn't stop christine o'donnell from fighting back in the delaware heated senate debated, the latest poll puts chris coons ahead in the race by 18 points and the question is can she narrow the gap? let's start with that one well, have a lot to talk to larry sabato today about, because he put out this crystal ball predictions this morning. a lot of interesting stuff in there. larry, good to have you here. good morning, sir. >> thank you, martha. hi. martha: any chance for christine o'donnell in delaware, that you can see? >> no. that was over the night of the primary, when congressman mike castle lost the primary to o'donnell and there is not a major analyst in the country that has not moved that solidly into the democratic category and the democrats are also going to pick up a u.s. house seat in delaware. look, this is a republican year. there is going to be a republican wave. but, remember, in wave years,

look at history. you still have sand bars that are left untouched by the wave and delaware is going to be a democratic sand bar. martha: it makes it clear, why karl rove and others who are very instrumental in the republican party, were upset that castle was not going to be the nominee there, because it could come down to delaware. >> of course. no, look... if that is the one seat that separates the republicans from the majority, you are going to have a lot of republicans, even more upset than they are now. martha: you bet. >> they threw away a senate seat. martha: let's look at these others. west virginia. an interesting one to watch and one that you have changed your call on, today. what are you seeing in west virginia? >> well, i spent a couple days in west virginia, and it is clear that that is no longer leaning democratic. it is a pure toss-up. if you average out the polls, it comes out to dead even. either candidate could win, there's enough time for joe manchin, the democrat, to come

back, he's a popular governor. what is really hurting him, though, is that republican john raese has found a simple, effective line that is, joe manchin is and obama rubber stamp. and he is running as the no-bama and it is obama versus the no-bama in a state that went heavily against obama in the primaries when hillary clinton challenged him and in the general when john mccain won west virginia. martha: that is one senate seat that could make up the ten if it goes for raese and you have it in the toss-up column and used to be likely democrat and now to wisconsin and russ feingold, ron johnson race. what do you see here, larry? >> we moved that from toss-up to leans to republicans. martha: leans republican in wisconsin. >> a big shock to everybody. a big shock, because you have an 18 year democratic incumbent who has been quite popular, russ feingold, but you see, half of

politics is the year your seat comes up. and feingold has had good luck. he has had good democratic years for the most part, well, he's got a republican year, and i always remember, when i thing of wisconsin, i remember the 2000 and 2004 presidential contest, democrats won them, won wisconsin both times, but it was a nearly 50-50 split. wisconsin tends to go in years like this, with the wave, and it looks to me like there is going to be a substantial republican wave, in wisconsin, they are going to win the governorship and a lot of state legislative seats and will probably win the u.s. senate seat. martha: boy, ron johnson came out of nowhere, a business man in wisconsin and now you have the seat leaning republican, for wisconsin, and that is not good news for russ feingold and he's not giving up at this point, but that is your call. let's look at california, we talked about the race. boxer-carly fiorina and there was talk whether or not california would lean towards the corporate executives, meg

whitman and carly fiorina, who have a lot of business experience. which is it going? >> i think boxer will win. we have got that leans democrat. look, here's what is happening, in california. both in the governorship and the senate race. california is so heavily democratic, normally, it is about plus-16, plus-17 democratic, and carly fiorina and also, meg whitman, the gubernatorial candidate for the republicans are narrowing the gap, considerably, the three or four points. but, you know, in politics, it is one vote, or a million, you are still the winner or the loser and, the democrats are very likely to win, i think, bot both the governorship and the senate seat, by not all that much. martha: changes in the crystal ball for west virginia and for wisconsin and we watch what you are doing, very closely and love having you on, larry, good to talk to you this morning, we'll see you soon, before all of this is figured out, i'm sure. and you can take our poll, at the "america's newsroom" page at foxnews.com.

will democrats lose the house? lose both the house and the senate or retain control in both, most prognosticators think congress goes republican but a lot of toss-ups in the senate race and we'll watch those closely. bill: and, moving a few on the meter now. sabato is, we'll see where he is next week, right. martha: we'll see. >> the health care changes are coming, bites way the way, and might soon need a prescription for an over-the-counter medicati medication, marc siegel on that. martha: and his wife said drug runners gunned him down, on a vacation while they were jet skiing near the border of mexico, will the hartley family ever get closure or justice in their case? >> it's a possibility and the family is aware there may not be a body. the family is also aware dhe-- family has been made aware of the possibilities.

bill: the changes to your health care, america, those are coming, did you know starting january 1st you cannot use a flexible spending account. the fsa, to purchase many over-the-counter medication, among them, cold and flu medications. pain relievers. allergy medication. there's a long list, too, in addition to this, dr. marc siegel part of our fox news medical a team and what do you mean you cannot use -- you need a prescription for this? >> add to that, things for insect bites, stomach medications, all -- >> waite. i need a prescription to buy off. >> hemorrhoid cream, you need a prescription to buy anti-itch cream and aspirin, you need a prescription for aspirin and i have to tell you, more and more i'm using over-the-counter

medication and getting more and more comfortable with it, more and more powerful chemicals are available, over-the-counter, and i don't know what my patients are going to do. and i wanted to have that discussion with my patients. where they come into my office and we talk about what they should have, and they use, a health savings account, which is a tax deductible account, to decide what to buy. it is a very smart way of doing medicine, over ten million people in the u.s. are using these flexible savings accounts and it is putting them into direct jeopardy and we are renaming it the unaffordability care act. bill: you can walk in and use cash but using the flexible spending account is where it applies, is that tylenol, arcs leave. >> it is tylenol, aleve, it is all allergy medication and cold medications, stomach medications, prilosec, zantac,

most of the patients get it the counter and that is great, because i don't want to give the higher dose and a lot of times i don't want to give the higher dose and if i need an antibiotic ointment, if someone burns their arm they will not be able to get a burn cream over-the-counter. bill: give me the logic behind it. >> it has to do with getting control. they are nervous, people are overusing them and going in there and trying to get control. and everything is about government control, here. so they think, well, there is too much aspirin used that way and tylenol, and i say, get the doctor more into the equation and not by mandating the prescription by things that don't require... bill: did you see it coming during the health care debate. >> i did. they you a they were clamping down on health savings accounts and everybody during the health care debate, thought hsas would become distinct and if you try to use a health savings account for anything other than medical care, beginning 2011, you are penalized 20% of the total. these things are in terrible jeopardy and they are a

disincentive forover use, because if patients have to pay out-of-pocket, even if it is a tax shelter they know what they are buying. bill: that is interesting. what is your advice, stock up now. >> some of them, same as regular medications, i can to the tell people to stock up now, they will become, they will expire. i'm telling people, call your congressman, and get this law changed so that hsas work, we cannot jeopardize those, that is the only way to keep costs down. you cannot stock up, because, within a year it will expire. bill: first of january, here we go, 2011. >> bad stuff. bad stuff. it is bad stuff. the unaffordability act. bill: marc goinga siegel, thanks that. martha: this is the vice president of chile, talking about the miracle in the mine and the amazing job he and his administration and he's giving credit to all of the people in chile and has been grateful to the u.s. and other countries,

let's listen for a foment: -- for a moment: >>. >> translator:... words of him were emotional when he said, this never is going to happen again. no one can warranty this couldn't be an accident again but we can guarantee the next thing, never in this country, we are going to let bad conditions working of the mines. we're not going to lets bad conditions for the miners and all kinds of chilean workers. so, in the next days, we are going to make an announcement, a new deal with our workers. that means that we have checked all of the laws about the workers, all the standards,

mechanisms, to check our laws, our working laws. that means that we are going to make good and great change, because we are going to, in the chilean culture, the respect for life, safety an dd dignity and health of our workers. this is not just mining. we are searching about many, many other kinds of works, and -- in our country, that is why we are taking about -- the countryside workers, for instance, with pesticides exposure, most of them are transportation workers when they have to drive for 20 hours without having rest. so we're going to take care to

all the workers. we want to create a culture... we wants to create a culture, with respect for life, health, integrity an dd dignity of our workers. martha: all right. that is sebastian pinera, a man now on the world stage, as the president of chile in a way that he really wasn't before, and, you see, scenes of him hugging the workers when they came out of the capsule, he was there, really, through the entire process, and, is getting congratulations from all over the globe, for the way he handled the crisis. that is his comments this morning, talking about, you know, working condition and, the big announcement he says is coming there, they'll make about making sure they are doing everything they can to make sure workers have good conditions. bill: the new president, right? martha: yes. bill: and, will be interesting to see what the ratings are going to be. martha: sky-high! bill: in a moment we'll talk about the will to survive.

we had a quote yesterday we shared with you from the second guy up, who said he was trapped between hell and heaven and had a choice to make between the devil and god and chose god them. survivor story you must hear in a moment. we'll talk about that and another backfire for new york's fiery candidate for governor, carl paladino apologizing for comments about the gay community and trying to mend one fence and lost major support from another side. martha: oops. bill: what about that? [ male announcer ] the vanilla caramel latte from maxwl house international café. the 60 calorie way to stop your world.

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martha: right now, "america's newsroom" the president of the national organization of women has jumped in to the california race for governor. terry o'neill is now reacting to a member of jerry brown's camp, calling meg whitman a name, used to describe a prostitute, and she says anybody who uses that language, should be fired. and, see if that happens and the race for u.s. senate in connecticut is widening, and, a brand new quinnipiac poll shows dick blumehthal holding a double-digit lead over republican linda mcmahaon and orthodox rabibrabbi, pulling hi endorsement for carl paladino, he's upset, for paladino withdrawing his comments, and, the rabbi would like him to clarify his comments on that.

bill: many men who spent 69 days in the darkness below earth said there was a higher power that helped keep them alive. listen here: >>. >> translator: i was with god and i was with the devil. they fought me, but god one. i took the best hand, the hand of god, and i held onto him. i never thought, for one minute, that god wouldn't get me out of there. i always knew. bill: a choice between the devil and god and i chose god. ben sherwood the author of the "new york times" best-selling book "survivors club", and he's my guest out of l.a., hello, ben, you have done a lot of studying, in the area, what is it when it comes to faith, a survivor of a earthquake, or a plane crash, what helps them to pull through. >> in my interviews with survivors all over the world, bill, is that faith is the most powerful and universal of the survival tools. faith is sort of that force

multiplier, as the military calls it. it makes weak people strong, and, it gives people incredible power to persevere. you know, when these miners were first found, 52 days ago, the things they asked for immediately, they wanted toothpaste, and they wanted bibles. and those were immediately sent down to them because they quickly set up sort of a makeshift church under ground where they could pray every day. bill: and hold on to that for strength and you talked to the u.s. navy's top survival expert, about this, too. what has he found, that he shares with you? >> the guy who wrote the navy book, on surviving every imaginable crisis says, and this ills is a surprise to me, the number one survival tool, a guy who trained decades of navy sailors, how to survive in hostile environments... he says the number one survival tool in crisis is the faith in god, the belief i higher power will get you through the challenge, faith

in your fellow man but faith in god, first. bill: and, the men all said that as they came out of the shaft, and you said october 13 is like a birth for them and you said, people, who have survived crashes, for example, get together on those days, to celebrate that birth. >> the plane crash in 1972 that spawned the book, "aalive" and the movie "alive", the 16 survivors came down from the frozen glacier and every september 22nd a gather in uruguay to celebrate their birthday or re-birthday and the celebration has grown from 16 people in that initial celebration, that coming december when they get together in uruguay, there will be more than 100 people, survivors,

their wives, children, grandchildren, it is that sort of unit cohesion, as the military calls it, the group cohesion that is persistent over the course of decades for t uruguay survivors and they predict the same for the 33 in chile and october 13th will be important to them, and they'll celebrate it. bill: i want to get this in, i have seen your interviews and read your books, and explain to your audience, the difference between what a human being has inside themselves when they say i will live through this, as opposed to those who say this is where it ends. >> that optimism, realistic optimism is sort of the magic ingredient, in survival situations, and is not false hope, not i can get through anything but a -- facing the brutal facts of your situation, which these miners clearly did, but, also, keeping hope that they would be rescued and they'll get out, it is realistic optimism that makes the major

difference in survival situations. bill: ben, thanks for coming in, okay? the survivor's club.org is your web site, out of l.a. today, nice to see you, ben. >> nice to see you, bill. bill: timing is everything, check out the latest edition of the fox news family, foxnewslatino.com, perfect for chile, right? what a good day it is, we welcome them to our fox news family and you can check it out on-line, right now. martha: great looking web site, check that out as soon as you get a chance, voting early by absentee ballot is getting more and more popular, i saw this... as the trend grows, so does the concern that this is very vulnerable to fraud in the system. how does the process work? eric sean is looking night and joins us from the new york newsroom. what are the concerns. eric: go to the polls on election day to vote and for many people it may be part of the past. as you said, more americans are voting by absentee ballot, an

estimated 6 million have already voted early. some using absentees. there are other concerns, that the expanded use could encourage voter fraud and there are allegations of wrongdoing, such as faking the ballots in new york, florida, texas, california and elsewhere and some like university of chicago professor john marcanson don't think there is a widespread problem with voter fraud but the increased reliance on absentee ballots could ma... >> you don't know who is filling out the ballot for sure or whether someone is sitting right beside them, saying put this or that candidate down, it is simply outside of the supervision of any public official or of any other voters. eric: in new york, special prosecutors ask for dna from nine public officials, and political operatives, part of an investigation, allegedly, fake ballots there. martha: eric, safeguards are in place, right? what your a they.

eric: election officials say there are new and tighter controls over the ballots and we got a first hand look at this and security in manchester connecticut where veteran town folk joe guided us through the detailed and pain-staking procedures and points out there are multiple ways to ensure this the integrity of the ballots from having several methods to confirm voter identities to the numbering of each ballot and it is labor-intensive but he says absentee ballot security is a prime goal. >> we not only have a control in the sense of identifying the voter but also we are able to log into our system, and have control in that we know, that ballot number we have issued to the voter, and the date it was issued and, even upon the return. eric: by the way, when they get their ballots in there, they will put in a special fire-proofed secured vault behind a big heavy-metal door in a specially locked cage, to be

sure there is no interference. martha: thank you very much, eric sean. bill: 19 minutes before this hour, u.s. officials saying mexican cartels will do anything to stop investigators from finding out what happened, to david hartley. do police stand a chance againsts these violent cartels? that is next. >> the reason they are killing people is just to lure them away from the investigation, in other words they'll take control over the area, that is all there is to it and anybody who tries to mess with them, tries to take control away from them, they will be taken care of, disposed of. ve a way. ve a way. it's deliciously clever. and they'll be none the wiser. new prego veggie smart sauce gives them 50% of their daily recommended amount of veggies. [laughter] be smart. veggie smart. or annuity over 10 or even 20 years? call imperial structured settlements. the experts at imperial can convert your long-term payout into a lump sum of cash today.

>> i'm jon scott, along with jenna lee, in a couple minutes much more on the rescued miners, health concerns and emotional reaur reunions and disappointing reads on foreclosures and jobless claims, we'll have a closer look. >> a big town hall as well, we are take your understanding questions on the economy and the midterms and today begins our very own live chat on our home page, you can go to

foxnews.com/happeningnow to weigh in and that starts right now, go ahead and go to the web site and also, karl rove joins us, with his new predictions on the midterms, and, we have asteroids, ufos and sharks, a packed show today, we'll see you at the top of the hour. martha: all right, today, secretary of state clinton is telling the u.s. government, saying the u.s. government is doing everything in its power to help find an american man, reportedly shot to death, while jet skiing on a lake along the u.s. border with mexico. tiffany hartley, his wife, says that pirates shot her husband in the head, and, also trained a gun on her before she escaped on her jet ski. hillary clinton's comments are coming on the heels of statements from texas republican ted poe who claims the state department has been dragging their feet on this, eric polston, who has testified

before congress, and is a senior associate at the wilson center, good to have you here today, thank you very much. >> glad to be here. martha: what is your take on the situation, having studied the drug gangs, these cartels, these groups? what do you think happened to david hartley? and why do you think we have not been able to get and answers on where his body is? >> well, you know, it seems all of this evidence points to his being killed, it is very tragic and unfortunate. very sad, obviously for the family. it's not necessarily surprising and it may not even be anything he or his wife did. this is an area of mexico that has been mostly under the control of organized crime for a number of years. and, in the last year, it has become particularly violent, as two of the cartels battle each other. the gulf cartel and the other. and unfortunately it is a sad situation but is not entirely surprising. martha: people have a lot of question and a lot of things

don't add up and one is why the couple would be a target, you know, for these drug cartels. we have seen, you know, people killed in cross-fire and that kind of thing happen, the student tragically killed on a bus and cross-fire, not long ago but to follow these two jet-skis and shoot at these people and shoot the man in the head, is that somewhat uncharacteristic if they are anonymous to the situation? >> well, the thing that happened with organized crime is that it changed from people just controlling particular routes into the u.s. now, they are about controlling territories. and controlling area. and, so, they may have felt threatened, not by anything specific the hartleys were doing, but, somebody unknown to them, and what they considered their territory. martha: i see. >> from their perspective, it could have been somebody from the rival drug cartel. the gulf cartel. there is some speculation that that's come out, it is a case of mistaken identity.

regardless, probably what happened, is they were in the wrong place at the wrong time. and the car until felt threatened by it. martha: we'll see if they get more help from the mexican government and want resolution on all of this and the state department says they have been doing what they can and have been accused of dragging their feet. eric wilson, thank you very much, good to talk to you, sir. >> thank you, glad to be with you. bill: 11 minutes before the hour, they need answers, forget about armageddon, why small space rocks could spell doom for the planet. also, his girlfriend was fed up with him playing video games, instead of finding a job, this guy here and snagged the playstation and took it to work and he did something that, well, let's say it wasn't cool. my mother froze everything.

i was 18 years old before i had my first fresh bun. the invention that i came up with is the hot dog ez bun steamer. steam is the key to a great hot dog. i knew it was going to be a success. the invention was so simple that i knew i needed to protect it. my name is chris schutte and i got my patent, trademark and llc on legalzoom. [ shapiro ] we created legalzoom to help people start their business and launch their dreams. go to legalzoom today and make your business dream a reality. at legalzoom.com, we put the law on your side.

martha: you'll love this one, do you have doubts there is such a thing as videogame addiction? 42-year-old darrell accused of running his girlfriend off the road because she took away his playstation, she was fed in sitting there watching him playing the stupid game, she said, instead of looking for a job and took the pricey console to work, and cops say he then chased her down in his, get this, gold 1996 porsche, rammed her car off the road like something out of a movie, and got his playstation back and he may not need it because of the charges he faces. he may be in the clink and he said, he doesn't know the big deal, he wasn't going to hurt her, wanted the playstation back. bill: may have to sell the gold porsche. marthagive to it her now! bill: an idea, new technology being used to track a shark. researchers at the university of miami, catching an td tagging 2 sharks with gps and apparently

it wasn't done before and phil keating went to check it out, live in our miami bureau, what is happening. >> reporter: the research is greatly understanding our understanding of sharks and their behavior, the thing about it, before gps technology, if you didn't see the dorsal fin in the water you had no idea what the shark was up to. this is how you man handle an 8 foot bull shark! and the doctor does it without getting bit. the university of miami marine scientists tagged 20 bulls and tigers and hammer heads, and, researchers follow their migration and feeding patterns on the internet to better understand the big fish and protect them and scientists say many species declined, 70 to 90% since the 1950s, much due to the shark fin trade, 100 million killed every year. >> in the ocean they help keep

the balance and maintain the health of the ocean and eat the diseased fish and control the behavior of the animals. and, really, like at the top of the food chain. >> reporter: 7-year-old sophie is a second grade shark activist. he raised $2,000, selling shark cookies and lemonade in minneapolis to adopt a shark and will track it now from home and, the doctor endangered himself, putting the bull shark back in, the tail whipped him overboard and fortunately, for him, it didn't stop to eat. >> that's how it's done. bill: i hate it when that happens, bill! truth be known, believe it or not, they are a lot closer to you when you are in the water on the beach, than you realize. even in normally sunny florida. bill: phil, martha... we are going to keep the gps on them and track them that way, phil

keating live in miami. martha: the question of the year, right now, will republicans take control of one or both houses? both sides want to know what will happen, and how it will turn out, let's ask karl rove, shall we, he's coming up in a few minutes. bill: and, ideas, too. baby, almost unbelievable, the baby story that is too wild, simply too wild to miss. >> ♪ ♪ babe, i got you babe ♪ i got you babe...

martha: all right, do you ever have trouble remembering somebody's birthday? this mom and dad should not have this problem, baby number one, eight, eight, 2008, number two, nine, nine, 2009, then guess what happened this month? ten, ten, ten, that is when they had their next baby,