making news on this monday, october 25th. tornado terror. caught in a 12er as multiple storms touch down in texas, tearing apart homes and schools. eight more days to the midterms with more signs pointing to republican victories. are the democrats already looking past their big defeat? and a mysterious death this weekend of a world class swimmer. was the seawater too warm to survive? and good morning, everyone. thanks for being with us. we begin this monday with a developing story out of texas where several tornadoes have caused what is being described as significant damage, the worst of it was reported in rice,

texas, about 45 miles south of dallas. >> one person got an up close and personal look at the storms. check it out. >> we are in a tornado! it's a tornado! we are in the tornado! we are in the tornado! >> winds from re re estimated to be up to 117 miles per hour. the national weather service will be in the area today to see the damage and determine the exact strength of those winds. >> that was dramatic video there. the police said undetermined number of injuries have been caused. schools and athletic facilities were also severely damright nea. right nearby, freight cars were nearly blown off their tracks. we'll have much more. all of this, later on "good morning america." switching gears to the midterm elections just eight days away. and for the first time, abc news is estimating that the republicans may take the u.s. senate, as well as the house. >> the president is busy trying to prevent that tidal wave of change.

s deidt has details from washington. hi, emily. >> reporter: vinita and rob, good morning to you. president obama is going to focus on small business but today it's back to political business. he is doing all he can trying to keep republicans from winning as many seats next week. democrats' biggest name heads to the nation's smallest state today. president obama campaigns in rhode island, a traditional party stronghold, asking democrats to turn out on election day. >> in 2008, you said, yes, we can. in 2010, you've got to say, yes, we can. >> let's go out there and win this election. >> reporter: democrats across the country are pushing to get out the votes. bill clinton made his 104th stop on the campaign trail sunday night. >> i think there are three things that matter to your future. where are we now? what are we going to do now? and who should do it? >> reporter: democratic national chairman tim kaine insists his party will hold on to the house. >> we've got work to do but we

think we can do it. >> reporter: but political analysts, even the cover of "newsweek" thinks it's unlikely to change. the republican party chief thinks his party will take the house and potentially the senate. >> i think you're going to see a wave, an unprecedented wave on election day that's going to surprise a lot of people. >> reporter: over the weekend, michael steele appeared with sarah palin at a gop rally in florida, where palin cautioned republicans don't take momentum for granted. >> it ain't over 'til it's over, these last ten days. we can't be thinking that we got it in the bag. >> rhode island will host president obama today. michael steele will be there, as well as massachusetts republican senator scott brown, a sign of this competitive and now very crowded campaign trail. vinita and rob? >> emily, the latest numbers now put the senate, of course, in the grasp of the gop takeover. the president campaigned for senators last week but he's not the only obama on the campaign trail. >> rob, that's right. we know michelle obama is going

to begin a three-day campaign swing out west. today, she's going to be campaigning for patty murray. also senator barbara boxer. these are the same candidates that her husband was campaigning for last week. really showing that the democrats are pulling out all the stops. trying to hold on to those senate seats and control of the senate at large. rob and vinita. >> a closer will be busy as well. emily schmidt in washington, thank you. our political team is crunching the numbers and we'll have the latest election estimates later on "good morning america." in other news now, opening statements are expected today in the chandra leavy murder trial. a jury of 12 women and 4 men were chosen last week to hear the case against ingmar guandique. leared nine years ago, suspicion had centered on then-congressman gary condit. he did admit to having a relationship with levy, but denied having anything to do with her murder. and authorities are identifying some human remains

they believe to be that of a student. antinette keller, the freshman known as toni, has not been seen since october 14th. while the investigation continues, school officials say campus security is being beefed up. >> our students will see more police officers on campus. and we've also gone, if you will, have a 24-hour lockdown within our residence halls. so only residents will be allowed to enter the halls and using their card access. >> devastating because we don't want nothing to happen to anybody on campus. >> a student who talked to keller before she went missing said she was going to take a walk in a nature preserve. authorities say some items recovered with those remains are consistent with her belongings. public health experts are racing to prevent the even more widespread cholera outbreak in haiti. 250 people have died from the deese in rural areas away from the capital. our dr. richard besser is in haiti where he says the threat

is very grave. >> reporter: i've investigated cholera outbreaks around the world. i don't think they've seen anything yet. the cholera gets into the water system here in port-au-prince, they're going to have a real nightmare scenario to deal with. >> officials are most worried about the disease spreading to camps where more than 1 million earthquake survivors live in terrible conditions. 10,000 residents of belize hunker down in churches and schools as hurricane richard batters their tiny country, most of them wooden, tin-roof homes which are no match. the homes are no match for the 90-mile-an-hour winds as richard bears down. the storm is expected to lose strength as it pushes into guatemala and mexico. and there is an ominous warning about indonesia's volcano. thousands of residents could be in danger. 2006, two people died when gas and rock fragmown down the mountain. families in oregon are enjoying the first snow dump of the season. heavy snow blanketed mt. hood a

snowboarders and sledding yesterday. drivers got stuck in all that snow and had to dig out their cars. >> pretty, though, at the beginning of the season, isn't it? >> yeah. now, for a look into your weather around the country. even more mountain snow out west today. up to 2 feet across the cascades and northern rockies. and look for rain from seattle, to boise and denver. large hail, 70-mile-an-hour winds in the upper midwest in chicago, des moines and st. louis. hail and gusty winds across georgia and south carolina. late-day rain philadelphia, here in new york, and in boston. >> 73 in baltimore, 74 in atlanta. 66 in the twin cities, 70s from omaha to indianapolis. 50s from seattle to salt lake city. and coming up this morning, just-released documents showing new abuse by catholic priests. he was one of the best swimmers of his kind in the world. so why did he die during a race? and saying sayonara to sony's walkman. a sign of the times. sayonara to

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it works...beautifully. neutrogena. more economists are lowering their expectations about the economic recovery. in a recent survey only 54% think the u.s. economy will grow, more than 2% this year. that is down 67% from last quarter. the jobs outlook is getting better, fewer companies plan to shed jobs although few plan to add any either. the bank of america is now admitting it has discovered mistakes in closing documents. "the wall street journal"

reports up to 25 errors were found during a review of several hundred cases since last monday. the problems include, improper paperwork, missing signatures and missing files. but "b" of "a" has not uncovered any problems in foreclosures. a flurry of earnings this week will help determine if we can make it four straight winning weeks. seven members of the dow report results, including exxon, mobile, chevron and microsoft. tokyo's nikkei average fell 0.25%. hong kong's hang seng is im. in london, the ftse opened higher. the nasdaq slipped 10 points. well, the ipod may have changed portable music, but it wouldn't have been possible without the walkman. after 30 years, sony says it

will stop making the walkman. about 200 million have been sold since it was first introduced. >> i remember the days. halloween, of course, is next weekend. moviegoers got in the spirit. a little bit early. a documentary style thriller "paranormal 2" had a huge weekend. nearly $41 million. "jackass 3d" came in third. "red" in third. police you bust a dangerous meth lab inside a freshmitoran dormitory. and brett favre booed by fans in what could be his last time on the field in green bay.

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inches of man-made snow on top of 8 inches of the real stuff. >> more snow makes for a slippery commute in the rockies and cascades, wet as on i-5, 40 and 90. i-35 into des moines. wet on i-75 and 85 in the southeast. >> and if you're flying today, expect delays in seattle, salt lake city, denver, minneapolis, charlotte and atlanta. severe fatigue is now being blamed in the death of a star american swimmer. >> 2012 olympic hopeful fran crippen apparently fell unconscious during the final leg of a race in dubai over the wee. >> fellow swimmers are now insisting the water was too hot. now from abc's lara setrakian. >> reporter: good morning, rob and vinita. organizers near the competition near dubai failed to speculate on fran crippen's cause of

death. the 25-year-old died in the water during an open-water race. >> fran went under with about 1,700 meters to go. they didn't realize it at the time. and two hours later, they found his body. >> reporter: the persian gulf waters were exceptionally warm, as high as 86 degrees. crippen complained that he wasn't feeling well. >> if the water's too warm and too salty, your dehydration levels goes up so much faster. >> reporter: when crippen failed to finish the race, fellow swimmers and a diving team went in search, then found his body. officials here blame the death on extreme exhaustion and said they'd launch an investigation. crippen's body was found two hours after the race. >> he couldn't do enough for anybody. if you wanted a friend, you wanted fran crippen to be your friend. >> reporter: crippen came from a family of champion swimmers. his sister mattie said, he was our hero. vinita and rob. >> and the older sister that lara just mentioned will join us live on "good morning america."

there's a lot of new information to be sorted through in the catholic church's sex abuse scandal. nearly 10,000 pages of previously sealed internal church documents were made public yesterday. they detailed what the diocese of san diego knew about priests, starting decades before any allegations were made. at least one previously unknown case of abuse has already been found. in other news now, three men are expected to be arraigned on charges that they ran a drug lab at a freshman dorm at georgetown university in washington. police say two of the suspects are students, the other was a guest. they apparently were making a drug called dmt. emergency crews responded to the dorm saturday morning after a strange odor was reported. in the nfl it was the first week at which players could be suspended for those violent helmet-to-helmet hits. players seemed to get the message. there were no penalties for illegal hits to the head in 13 games played yesterday. one league official even called

change in players' behavior in one week's time. the world series kicks off this wednesday night. the new national league champions san francisco giants are back home now, after clenching the pennant saturday night. they will take on the texas rangers in the classic. as for nfl action, here's adnan virk at espn news. good morning, last year, brett favre was terrific in s a packers. as a member of the minnesota vikings on sunday, it was a different story in his return to lambeau. favre wasn't nearly as accurate as you take a look at what went down. second quarter, vikings down 14-7. first and goal. adrian peterson. they call him "all day" for a reason. the vikings tied at 14-14. third quarter, green bay down by three. aaron rodgers, greg jennings, touchdown. green bay up 21-17. later in the third, favre. got to make something happen. pump fake, fooled the camera guy but does not fool desmond

bishop. that's a pick six. green bay up 28-17. fourth quarter, vikes down by four. favre on third and seven, intercepted again. this time by nick collins. with 3:06 to play, though, the vikings still got a shot. fourth and inches. peterson gets plenty. first down. under two minutes to play. fourth and five for the vikings, favre to randy moss on the left side of the field. another first down. and after a personal foul, it's first and 30 for the vikings. how much magic does favre have left at lambeau? he finds harvin in the back of the end zone. touchdown. did brett do it again, one foot in for harvin, second foot out of bounds. that is not a touchdown. last chance for the vikings. fourth and 15. favre blitzed, gets back up. he's got a shot. but it's out of the end zone. too high for randy moss. as brett favre goes down in defeat.

he and rodgers, let's hug it out. green bay wins it 28-24. that does it for the sports update. back to you in new york. remember the candidate for new york governor who stole the show at last week's debate? well, he has left quite an impression. >> that's for sure. retired postal worker jimmy mcmillian emerged as an unlikely star. >> some say i'm an unlikely candidate but it all boils down to one thing. rent, it's too damn high. >> mcmillian also was a battle cry for the poor. >> and "saturday night live" couldn't wait to spoof him down to that bizarre facial hair. >> i will make sure all americans eat breakfast, lunch and dinner. you on a diet, too bad. breakfas and dinner. you're in the car driving around all day? pull over. breakfast, lunch and dinner.

you already ate breakfast, lunch and dinner? i don't care. you're going to eat breakfast, lunch and dinner again. 'cause why? because the rent is too damn high. >> the funny part is he doesn't pay rent. he lives for free in exchange for maintenance work. >> perfect fodder, that's for sure. coming up next, we'll update the morning's top stories, tornadoes tearing through texas. there's extensive damage. and investigators are heading to the scene. the latest on all of that when we come back. 98% of women saw improvement in their skin's natural texture, tone, or clarity. does your makeup do that? neutrogena® cosmetics recommended most by dermatologists. a body at rest tends to stay at rest... while a body in motion tends to stay in motion. staying active can actually ease arthritis symptoms.

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looking into three tornados that caused injuries and damaged several buildings south of dallas. the results of severe weather reported yesterday in arkansas, tennessee and alabama. president obama returns to the campaign trail, this time in rhode island. mr. obama will tour a factory and then attend a democratic fund-raiser in providence. opening statements begin today in the chandra levy trial. incorporate gar kwan ingmar guandique, an illegal immigrant is charged with the murder in 2001. a plea deal could be held for the last westerner held at guantanamo bay. the 24-year-old could face sentence in the death. if there's no deal, his case could be the first wartimes trial under president obama. and the new champs. the texas rangers will travel to california to get ready for the first game of the world series against the san francisco giants. for some of you your local

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the next, san francisco wants to get hosting a political heavyweight today. democratic star that has never run for office arriving to raise money for democrats and a report coming today on what pg&e has done since the san bruno blast to keep something similar from ever happening again. >> most of the rain is over. we'll begin with cool conditions and finally this morning, a real actor, a real-life drama and a script that sounds like a real hollywood movie. >> actor randy quaid and his wife have crossed the border into canada, even though they're

wanted in california. the couple was arrested and is now seeking asylum. here's meg oliver. >> reporter: in "independence day" he battled aliens. now randy quaid and his wife evi seem to be battling another unseen force, a perceived hollywood conspiracy to kill them. the two were in a vancouver courtroom. after being picked up on a u.s. warrant pertaining to vandalism charges. they asked for asylum from the u.s., explaining why in this handwritten note their lawyer showed the press. quote, we are seeking asylum from hollywood star whackers it read. we feel our lives are in danger. >> there's a huge whackiness factor, or they're actually concerned about the hand of justice coming down on them and doing some jail time. >> reporter: apparently, the couple believes someone or a group of people are out to get them. the same people they think killed stars heath ledger and

david carradine. the police have ruled their deaths accidental. it's been a rocky year for the quaids. first, they were arrested for failing to pay their hotel bill in california. then in september, they were arrested on suspicion of burglary. they're due back at a canadian court this thursday after being released on bail. but canada may not want them an unwanted guest just like a character quaid played too long ago. >> truth is, things ain't going too good at all. >> reporter: meg oliver, abc news. >> and we will have much more on the quaids strange legal odd disis he on "good morning america." also on "gma," driving while high on marijuana. as california votes on making pot legal, we take a look at what that could mean from two journalists who got police permission to actually drive while high. >> that is making news on "america this morning." >> you can of course get more on abcnews.com. >> have a great monday .