on our broadcast tonight, countdown underway. freedom may be just hours away for those trapped miners. the rescue is set to begin but there are no guarantees. . beat the clock. the democrats fanning out, pulling out all the stops to stave off defeat on election day, now just three weeks away. on the brink. actor and activist george clooney gives our own ann curry a first-hand look at a nation torn apart by civil war with women on the front lines. and something missing. if you've been on the highway alongside a car without a driver, you weren't seeing things. in fact, we found the company driving this outfit. "nightly news" begins now. captions paid for by nbc-universal television

good evening. they've been called 33 living miracles and the time can now be measured in hours until the capsule arrives in their underground home, and the first man ventures slowly toward the surface. that will leave 32 men behind, then that number, if everything goes well, will dwindle to one and then zero. and if it works, it will be the most intricate and successful underground rescue ever attempted. the world's attention is about to be focused on a small round mineshaft in south america and our own kerry sanders is there for the countdown and starts us off from chile tonight. hey, kerry, good evening. >> reporter: brian, a sign that the men are almost free, the single camera that will focus on the hole as each man comes out is now being put into place. today, teams here conducted a

test. the escape capsule traveled 20 feet inside the steel pipe without a problem, so they went a step further and sent it down the shaft within feet of the trapped miners. >> we didn't send it down because we can't risk that somebody can jump in. >> reporter: his good mood reveals the level of confidence here. the only reason the rescues are not under way is because some of the equipment is still being anchored into a concrete slab. [ bell rings ] celebrations began saturday when the shaft to the men was completed. an american team drilled down a half mile through some of the hardest rock on earth. >> we're just so happy we did have the chance to come down here and having the chance to come down here and make a difference with our technology. we're very thankful for that and extremely happy that it actually worked. >> reporter: soon, the escape pod connected to the ski chair lift cable will be hooked up to a heavy duty wench. the capsule travels down the

shaft for the first 183 feet inside that steel reinforcing pipe. past that, driven by gravity, it slides down the rock walls 1,857 feet through slight s turns. the trip up is expected to make no more than 15 minutes. with the steel pipes welded in place and glasses to shield their eyes from the bright sun, now headed down this afternoon, the miners started a special liquid diet, the same potassium enhanced drinks astronauts take before liftoff. the doctor says the 33 men are good to go. one miner has been jogging five miles a day. on average, the men have lost 20 pounds. >> health issues are also, and psychologically they are perfect to go. >> reporter: who comes up first? a list has been compiled but it remains a secret tonight. we do know the miners were fighting amongst themselves not

to be first, but to be last, a sign of the brotherhood they've forged over the last 68 days. brian? >> let's hope. from the scene, kerry sanders reporting tonight, starting us off from chile. another countdown under way tonight across this country to election day. just three weeks from tomorrow, the president running hard tonight to try to keep the democrats from losing too many seats in congress. our chief white house correspondent chuck todd with us tonight with a look at where things stand. chuck, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, brian. look, election day inching ever so close and the white house is still searching for a message that's going to resonate, now with the president focusing all of his efforts on trying to get democratic voters to the polls. that means a lot of time in big cities like philadelphia sunday and miami tonight. with just three weeks left, democratic control of congress is tenuous. and that's why the president flew to miami to help save one house seat. republicans need 39 seats to win control of the house. ten seats to do the same in the

senate. and democrats are engaging in trench political warfare. where it will help deploy the president to fire up his base like sunday in philadelphia. >> they're counting on young people staying home and union members staying home and black folks staying home. >> reporter: and in places like kentucky where president obama is unpopular, sent former president bill clinton. >> but you can't be played. >> reporter: some democratic candidates are trying to appeal to republicans more directly. >> and i'll repeal the bad parts of obama care. >> reporter: like west virginia governor joe mansion, who uses a rifle shot to take aim at white house policies. meanwhile, the president has struggled to find an attack on republicans that works. in august, he focused on former president george bush. >> they don't have a single idea that's different from george bush's ideas, not one. >> reporter: but the bush line didn't resonate, so in september he shifted gears. >> you put it in d. when you want to go backwards, what do you do? you put it in r. >> reporter: and now his focus

is on republican outside groups taking advantage of a new campaign finance law. >> the american people deserve to know who is trying to sway their elections. >> reporter: analysts aren't convinced this latest attack will work. >> it can energize the base, but as a broad message of appeal to independent voters and swing voters, i just don't think it has the clout. it smells of desperation. >> reporter: then there's the democratic strategy of using controversial statements or background of specific tea party nominees, like new york's carl paladino, to paint the entire republican party as out of the main stream. >> i don't want them to be brainwashed into thinking homosexuality is a valid or successful option. it isn't. >> reporter: paladino on the "today" show, toned down the rhetoric. >> my feelings on homosexuality are unequivocal. i have absolutely no problem with it whatsoever. my only reservation is marriage. >> reporter: analysts say democrats trying to use paladino or others to paint republicans with a broad brush have a very tough sell. >> i just don't think voters are

willing to accept that. voters aren't thrilled with republicans. the problem for democrats is they're not thrilled with democrats either. >> reporter: one way you can measure republican momentum, today is d-day for as many as seven democratic house incumbents, brian, as the party is cutting their losses. what does this mean? money, tv ads and other resources are being moved elsewhere. the first known victim is ohio freshman democrat steve driehaus in cincinnati. he will no longer have national party help. >> chuck todd starting us off politically from the white house tonight. chuck, you mentioned this race, so let's head to florida for a closer look at the senate race. a rough and tumble three-way contest with the democratic candidate currently bringing up the rear. our report on that tonight from nbc's ron mott. >> we have got to move on. >> reporter: in a three-way race, there's the favorite, the underdog, and the other guy. and in florida's senate battle, the other guy seems to be

democratic congressman kendrick meek. >> i don't feel any pressure whatsoever. >> reporter: lagging in the polls behind his opponents, he says he won't drop his bid as some have suggested. >> we have the ability to come from behind and win. we've done it before, we were in this position in the primary. >> reporter: unlike the primary, the challenge in the general election is keeping his base, especially african-americans, from fleeing to governor charlie crist, running as an independent and holding second to republican marko rubio. >> i need you to get out and vote. >> democrats are essentially splitting their support between charlie crist and kendrick meek. as long as that continues, rubio can stay where he is and win in a three-way race. >> tax cuts? hell yes. government in your bedroom? hell no. >> reporter: the governor can only hope his final pitches to voters are much closer to the strike zone than the one he tossed last week before a baseball playoff game. >> the most important thing is to look him in the eye and tell

them the truth that washington is broken. we need to take this opportunity to make history literally and change what's happening in the nation's capital. >> reporter: before he and congressman meek can do that, they have to narrow the wide gap separating them from the front-runner rubio. a tea party favorite attracting more than 40% of likely voters. rubio has parlayed anti-establishment, anti-obama sentiment into a double digit lead in the polls. >> if you like the direction our country is headed, if you think the stimulus is a good idea, if you think obama care is a good idea, if you think this runaway debt is a good idea, then i'm probably not your candidate. >> reporter: though he is a candidate with the numbers to win. ron mott, nbc news, miami. there has been an arrest in last week's deadly sludge spill in hungary. the head of the company responsible will be charged with criminal negligence, could face up to ten years in prison. meanwhile, that cleanup continues as workers race to prevent another spill, because

new cracks appeared this weekend in the wall of the reservoir. some fear it's inevitable that a second spill of some sort could cause another wave of environmental harm. new developments tonight in the story of a british aide worker held captive in afghanistan and killed during a rescue attempt by u.s. special forces. it was first reported that 36-year-old linda norgrove died in the hands of her captors, but she may in fact have been killed by a grenade detonated by her would-be rescuers. sadly, always a risk in a rescue mission like this. we get more tonight from our london bureau. michelle, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, brian. linda norgrove, who worked for an american organization, was kidnapped two weeks ago in afghanistan by insurgents thought to be linked to al qaeda. friday night, u.s. special forces launched a daring rescue operation, but the next day announced that she had been

killed by a bomb vest worn by a captor. then this morning, the commander of u.s. and international forces in afghanistan, general david petraeus, called the british prime minister to say it's now believed friendly fire, possibly a grenade thrown by one of the participants in the operation, may have been what caused this young woman's death. that prompted many questions here whether there was an initial attempt at a coverup. furthermore, some experts say what stands out most stunningly is a grenade would have been used at all in this type of operation. there's now a joint investigation, both a u.s. and britain vowing to get to the bottom of this, something reiterated by president obama in a phone call to british prime minister david cameron. he also offered his condolences. brian? >> michelle kaczynski following this story in our london bureau tonight. michelle, thanks. we learned today david mcnerney has died. president lyndon johnson awarded him the medal of honor for his actions under fire in vietnam. he came from a family of

warriors and he was among the first 500 advisers sent to southeast asia. later, as a sergeant in march of '67 when his company was overrun by a huge force of north vietnamese, he was forced to take command. he killed several of the enemy and called in artillery to within 65 feet of his own position. despite his own wounds, he crawled across a clearing and climbed a tree under withering fire and in full view of the enemy to mark a landing zone for incoming rescue choppers. placing the medal around his neck, president johnson told him, "you're a good ten." david mcnerney was 79 and his death now leaves 86 living recipients of the medal of honor. when "nightly news" continues in a moment, ann curry just back from a trip from one of the world's most troubled places, along with george clooney, working to help the people there have a better life and future. later, a car that drives itself. could be coming soon to a highway near you. d

george clooney is a world class actor whose off camera private life involves helping people who may never see one of his films, the people of sudan who have suffered through genocide and a long civil war that has cost 2 million lives. sudan is right now at a turning point, and our own ann curry went there with clooney to find out more. >> reporter: we are traveling along the tense border between north and south, and nowhere is that tension greater than here in oil-rich southern sudan. and this place could be ground zero for a coming conflict. what would you do? i would take my kids and get out of here. >> that's what they'll do, especially here, because this is going to be one of the first places that's hit. >> reporter: it was hit just two years ago in an echo of darfur and the 20-year civil war. between the arab muslim north and the largely black christian south. witnesses say arab militiamen

and government soldiers descended, burning, killing, and looting. "i watched as my four nephew's throats were slit," this woman remembers, "while their hands were tide." she survived with her sisters and cousins. now bound together by that massacre and decades of civil war. another is saying, pregnant women were burned to death. old women were raped. this january, the south has a chance to control its own destiny in a vote to secede from sudan, a vote the sudan president said could provoke a more dangerous war. how will you vote in the referendum? they're saying, we all are voting for separation. we may be powerless, but our vote will allow our children to live in freedom. we're now on our way to a camp for people recently forced from their homes by violence between two southern groups, allegedly

fuld by bashir's government. we land in a desperate place. this woman fled her home with eight children. what is your wish for your family's future? "we need separation from the arabs," she says,"so we can be happy." in juba, the capital of southern sudan, excitement of a new nation waiting to be born is met with fear that history may repeat itself. george clooney is here once again leveraging his fame to aid victims of tragedy. the difference this time, he says, the tragedy is preventable. people who are going to watch this are going to think, what are you doing here? what are you, george clooney, doing here? >> if i said to you right now, 100 days from today, 90 days from today, there's going to be an earthquake that 200,000 people are going to be killed, what would you do? well, this isn't a natural disaster, this is man-made. and it can be stopped.

♪ >> reporter: officials told nbc news of a massive military buildup by the north of tanks and heavy artillery all along the border. and with 90 days now before the vote, this week clooney and other activists are to meet with president obama and also republican senator richard lugar on what more can be done to stop this war, brian. >> i hope everyone listens. thank you for your reporting and welcome back. ann curry. we'll have more on ann's trip on our website, nightly.msnbc.com. and george clooney will join ann tomorrow morning on "today" for a live interview. when we come back here tonight, how is it the earthquake prediction for southern california just got worse?

we learned today the first u.s. government approved human embryonic stem cell study is underway, and a lot of people are watching closely. a patient suffering from paralysis from a spinal cord injury has been injected with millions of stem cells. this trial is only meant to assess the safety of using the stem cells, not the effectiveness of the technique at reversing the paralysis. as if we don't otherwise have enough to worry about these days, scientists are now saying the big one, the major california earthquake that all the experts tell us is inevitable may be bigger than

previous predictions. new research shows the san andreas fault is long overdue for a major shift. that could mean a magnitude of 8.1 quake along the entire 340 miles of the southern section of the fault. scientists can't agree whether this event will happen in our lifetimes or way out into the future. for californians, of course, this was just another day. the new documentary "waiting for superman" has gotten a lot of attention, including here on this broadcast during our series of reports, "education nation." the five children profiled in the film had a better than average day today. they were at the white house invited to a low-key meeting with the president in the oval office. the film shows the struggles these kids and parents go through to try to get a quality education in a sea of failing public schools where they live. the president called the film powerful and heartbreaking. as part of their civics lesson today, they got to watch president obama leave the white house via marine one, a better

than average ride. we have lost a long-time member of the nbc news family. veteran correspondent frank bourgholtzer has died. frank was a pioneer in this business. nbc's first full-time white house correspondent, covering president truman starting in the late 1940s. once he even got him to play the piano on live television. in the '50s and '60s, he saw the world as bureau chief in paris, bonn, vie thenna and then moscow at the height of the cold war. after that, los angeles until his retirement in 1986. he was remembered here today as a renaissance man, elegant but down to earth, an exceptional reporter. frank bourgholtzer was 90 years old. when we come back, the driverless car spotted on some american roads and highways. are they real? well, we found out they are, but are they the future?

finally tonight, a new kind of car from a company better known for its search engine. google is developing a robo car that drives itself. it's very real. it's been spotted on the road by other stunned drivers. in it, the driver becomes just a

passenger along for the ride. but is this really a good idea? our story tonight from nbc's george lewis. >> reporter: over the last year in california, there have been these mysterious sightings on the highway. google's fleet of seven robo cars, able to drive themselves along preprogrammed routes. using a combination of tv cameras, radar sensors and laser beams to detect hazards and obstacles. >> on the roof, you can see a simulator. >> reporter: google's project is headed by stanford university robotics expert sebastien thrun. >> it's exciting to be doing this project, especially at google because it shows that google is taking big bets for the future. >> reporter: in the google tests, there's a human sitting in the drivers seat and a big red kill button in case something goes wrong with the computers. detroit is interested in robo car. two years ago at the consumer electronics show in las vegas,

gm invited reporters along for a test ride. this is very eerie, watching this empty driver state, watching this steering wheel being turned back and forth as we negotiate this course through these cones. google's robotic cars have made down the road from san francisco and made it down the coast from mountain view, california, to santa monica, more than 350 miles. >> so google is trying to bring about a car that is in a much more controlled environment, that is safer. >> reporter: but what does your typical new york cabby think about robotic cars? >> it will cause a lot of accidents. >> reporter: one passenger had a different take. >> i've been in a cab four times today and each time i feel like my life has been in my hands. this way it would really be in my hands. >> reporter: computers don't fall asleep at the wheel or get drunk and google thinks they can make driving a lot safer. george lewis, nbc news, los angeles.

that's our broadcast for this columbus day as we begin a new week here. thank you for being here with us. i'm brian williams. and as always, we hope to see you right back here tomorrow evening. good night. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com right now it is the most important hour of the governor's race and it will take place in just 24 hours at a bay area university. good evening, everyone. i'm jessica aguirre. >> i'm tom sinkovitz. tomorrow night the two candidates battling it out to be the next governor will meet face to face for the final debate of the election and it could be a make or break night for one of the