fellow republican congressman called corrupt? and in her last year at ebay, whitman paid herself $120 million right before the company laid off 10% of it's workers. we're choosing a governor, shouldn't character matter? on our broadcast tonight, one week to go, mid-term election madness in full swing and here in california, a health scare may affect a close race between two powerful women. the bomb! that's what they're calling the storm system ripping up a part of our country tonight. an unusually severe day and night for millions of americans. taking on bullies. the urgent need for a crackdown because the problem has gotten so bad for so many young people in this country. and women's nations. so many powerful women in one place today. and we'll bring you a highly-emotional moment from that gathering. "the nightly news" begins

now. captions paid for by nbc-universal television good evening. election day! now one week away, here's the math. republicans need 39 seats in the house 10 in the senate to switch control and it's getting rough out that. because there's so much on the line, so much at stake in these mid-term elections, candidates are going all out and getting tired. nerves are frayed and tempers are flaring. in a moment of veteran who may be in trouble and a health scare in a big race in this state, but our political team starting off tonight with chuck todd who is looking at this election from washington. chuck, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, brian. let's break out the nbc news app. here's where the house stands right now. this is our race for the gavel between nancy pelosi and john boehner. democrats with 205 seats. look what happens if they get

50. it gives them 228 republicans and it would give john boehner the specificer's gavel. for the senate map, a much bigger playing field. republicans need ten seats. at this point, concentrate on all those blue states on my map here. republicans need ten of the 12 at this point, to pull this off. they feel good about seven of them but four in particular, they still want to get but they're struggling with. out west, washington, california, nevada, and then there's west virginia. republicans got to win three of those four to get control and the democrats have to hold two of those four to keep control. you were talking about the raw emotions. with a week out, they're everywhere on the campaign trail. just watch. >> reporter: the nastiness of the kentucky senate race spilled over to supporters outside the campaign's final senate debate on monday night. tim profit, a rand paul

volunteer, has since apologized. for stomp k on the head of a move-on activist. the paul campaign has since stripped profit of all his duties. the actual debate between paul and jack conway was more subdued. >> people are tired of career politicians. they want an outsider. they want someone new. >> reporter: conway said paul's views are the issue. >> my opponent questioned fundamental provisions of the civil rights act of 1964. that's on the record. i don't think you can run from that. he's running from his own words. >> reporter: supporters and candidates are showing signs of strain. even the president, here he is last night. >> because of you, there are folks, small businesses right here in new hampshire that can keep their doors opened. 123450 actually he was in rhode island. but voters also are exhausted. >> there's one ad after another ad after another ad after another ad, opposing candidates. it's truly outrageous.

>> reporter: in fact, more money is being spept on tv ads this election season than ever been. an estimated $3 billion by election day. that's $300 million more than 2008 and $600 million more than 2006. >> i think we continue to see record spending year-over-year. tv ads are the way campaigns are won and lost. they're here to stay. and the phenomenon of early voting? the commander-in-chief himself, illinois resident, barack obama, the president, he voted today in illinois. two of the closest races in the country, the illinois governor and senate, his old senate seat. brian? >> chuck todd, watching it all from washington tonight. chuck, thanks. as we mentioned, there was a big development here today in the california senate race. one of the big races we'll be watching closely on election night. the republican candidate, former hewlett packard carly fiorina was hospitalized today. this was a sudden bit of news

today? >> sudden and bad timing. she was hospitalized with an infection related to reconstructive surgery she had after breast cancer. her campaign says she'll return to the trail soon but it comes at a tough time. the two candidates for senate are locked in a fierce race that both parties are watching closely. >> what's with the hair? >> reporter: when she announced her candidacy, she had just finished chemotherapy for breast cancer months before. today, a scare, she was hospitalized with an infection from reconstructive surgery over the summer. the campaign said in a statement, she remains cancer-free but the timing for her is not good. >> anything that takes a campaign off focus is going to have an impact. >> reporter: the former ceo of hewlett-packard is giving barbara boxer the race of her life and if she wins the call would have gone out from california to washington, a conservative candidate against

the health care law, same-sex marriage and abortion, potentially prevailing in a state where there are far more registered democrats than republicans. >> are you more conservative than californians? >> there's lots of disagreement and lots of varied views on the social issues. what virtually every voter in california agrees on, is that we need jobs. >> reporter: she touts her business experience saying she made tough decisions to keep hp profitable. but she was forced out by the company's board and boxer has slammed her for cutting jobs. >> she laid off 30,000 people and she shipped our jobs to china. >> she didn't need five corporate jets. >> reporter: boxer's campaign has embraced the obama agenda, the stimulus, health care law and wall street reform. boxer has been in congress for three decades. >> could you say "senator" instead of ma'am? >> 28 years in washington and boxer works hard for a title. >> reporter: boxer, true to her

name, says she expected a battle. >> it's not like i floated down from the ceiling and stayed in one job for 28 years. every six years you have to fight for this. >> reporter: and california is key to democrats. this could be the state where they mount their last stand to keep control of the senate. >> if the wave takes out boxer than the democrats will get wiped out. >> reporter: but ask californians besieged by a relentless ad blitz, you get a sense of campaign fatigue. >> hearing all that stuff you don't know what's true and what's not. >> i would really like to see someone straight out tell the people what they're going to do. >> reporter: the latest "l.a. 250i78s times" says boxer in the last week, the president, vice president, and tonight, the first lady and the national republicans for their part this week put another $3 million in the race and this is a sign they

think their candidate can win. >> a second big california race we'll be watching. savannah, thanks for being here and reporting. it's been said about this election year, no incumbent is truly safe and that's especially true for the man often called "the lion of the house." the most senior representative of the house, john dingle of michigan. a democrat first elected when ike was in the white house now running for his 28th term in congress. our report tonight from nbc's john yang in ann arbor. >> reporter: john dingle brought in the big guns, former president, bill clinton. >> reporter: dingell doesn't usually need help on the closing days of the campaign, but when the year of incumbent being a dirty word, dingell, the longest-serving house member in history is the ultimate target. >> he's not had to face anything like that. >> i'm not a politician.

>> reporter: the republican challenger is a wealthy cardiologist and first-time candidate and he wants to curb out of control federal spending, cut taxes and repeal health care reform and he rarely misses a chance to contrast himself with dingell. >> elected to the congress 55 years ago in 1955. i'm no spring chicken but i wasn't even born yet. >> reporter: and his long congressional career he's helped to craft landmark legislation like medicare and the clean air act and wrote key parts of president obama's health care reform. but his accomplishments and experience have made him a lightning rod for protesters captured on amateur videos posted on youtube. >> there's a wide array of oddballs there that society has never been able to satisfy. >> reporter: they highlight the year he was elected to replace his father. for 77 years, father and son have championed the auto industry in this heavily working-class and democratic district. in only one election has dingell

failed to win more than 60% of the vote. that was in 1994. the year the democrats lost control of congress. dingell seems bemused that his years in congress are being used against him by his heart-doctor opponent. >> would you like to go to a cardiologist without experience? i don't think so. >> john yang, ann arbor, michigan. turning from politics to a huge weather story across the center of the country. the storm is called "a bomb" in the science community for its intensity and the falling barometric pressure at the core. the pressure was the second lowest ever recorded in the united states. churning east, stretching from louisiana all the way north through canada, spawning tornados, unbelievable winds and rain. weather channel meteorologist mike seidel in michigan tonight. mike, i was told in the great lakes, second storm in severity in history, only to the one that

downed the freighter, the edmond fitzgerald? >> that's one for the record books. our pressure is down as low as we've seen in 70 years in many spots. winds have been clocked up at over 60 miles an hour, brian. look at lake michigan. it's churned it up. we're expecting 15-foot seas by tomorrow morning and the wind turned this beach into like a blizzard in fargo, taking the sand and blowing it across the street to beach-front property and providing close calls. the unusually-powerful october storm produced as many as 12 tornados and widespread high winds left behind a trail of damage. >> the tree has fallen on this house here. >> reporter: one woman in a chicago suburb was injured impaled when a tree branch crashed through her windshield. the storm knocked out power to 300,000 from wisconsin to ohio. and snarled travel in the nation's heartland. at o'hare international, airlines cancelled more than 300

flights and some who flew in described white-knuckled landings. >> i thought i was going to die. i can tell you that much. >> seriously. >> i did. >> shaking and wobbling very hard. it's scary. >> reporter: and two planes parked on the ground at another airport in chicago broken by the crushing wind. these winds will not really subside until thursday and, brian, tonight, the first blizzard warning of the season, winds combined with snow producing white-out conditions in north dakota, bismarck but not fargo. back to you. >> violent night of weather for millions of americans. mike seidel, michigan, mike, thanks. glaxosmithkline, has agreed to pay $750 million to settle justice department allegations that the company, for years, sold contaminated and improperly made drugs, including baby ointment and the antidepressant, paxil. they admit it sold drugs of

questionable safety made at a huge plant in puerto rico and admits some were mislabelled in wrong packages. others were made too weak or too strong. the lawsuit was initiated by a company whistle blower, a former manager of quality control. overseas, tariq aziz has been sentenced to death for persecuting enemies of saddam hussein. as saddam's right-hand man and as iraqi foreign minister he was one of the iconic faces of the war. his lawyer says all this is politically motivated. when our broadcast continues in just a moment on a tuesday night, will this work? taking a new stand against bullying in schools. and later, a moving moment a lot of women can relate to here in los angeles today from the first lady of this state. financing their fleet, sharing our expertise, and working with people who are changing the face of business in america. after 25 years in the aviation business, i kind of feel like if you're not having fun at what you do,

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a new survey released today backs it up with numbers and shows bullying is out of control. and now, the federal government is stepping in to try to stop it. our report tonight from our education correspondent rahema ellis. >> reporter: the largest survey yet of high school kids attitudes' and their conduct shows bullies is a disturbing part of their lives. more than 43,300 teenagers, 15 to 18 years old, from public and private schools were surveyed. half of them admitted they had bullied, teased or taunted someone at least once. 47% said they were bullied, teased or taunted at least once in the past year. >> if you looked at bullies in the traditional sense people get called names and you usually get over it. but today, the ability to label people to call them names through -- to reveal their privacy, and kids can't escape it.

there's no refuge. >> reporter: today the department of education took an unprecedented step, sending out a ten-page letter to 15,000 school districts and 5,000 colleges and universities on how to combat bullying. it reminds schools that they could violate civil rights statutes if they fail to adequately address racial, religious, sexual and gender-based harassment. >> experts say bullying today is more harmful than ever because of technology. the harassment can continue long after the school day ends. >> they have the internet in which they can e-mail, communicate. they have social media in which they can post things. not just for their peer group to see but for the world at large. >> reporter: because kids can't escape it the government today reinforcing that schools should no longer accept bullying as simply a part of growing up. rahema ellis, nbc news, new york. the air force tonight is acknowledging a possible mishap involving 50 minuteman nuclear missiles.

on saturd, warrentu air force base in wyoming experienced a 45-minute disruption of power which left airmen at the five launch centers without reliable communication with the 50 missile silos for about 45 minutes. backup communication systems were in place, we're told. u.s. military officials insist that the public was never in any danger. the president never lost his ability to launch an attack. more proof that consumers continue to reward the ford motor company. ford said today it had its sixth profitable quarter in a row and its best third quarter in more than 20 years. ford was the only one of the detroit big three not to declare bankruptcy and not to take a government bailout. on wall street, the dow was up just slightly today. a little over five points. when we come back, remembering a man who believed everybody deserved a few moments of joy. i mean shipping is a hassle. not with priority mail flat rate boxes from the postal service.

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what's the worst thing that can happen? perhaps because far too many of his colleagues go on to become seafood, people around the world were mourning paul, the octopus. he became known for his flawless record in predicting the outcome of world cup games. paul died in his water tank peacefully in his sleep. rare good news on the environment tonight. the world wild live fund is out with a report describing more than 1200 new species discovered in the amazon over the past decade including 216 different amphibians, 55 reptiles, 39 mammals and 16 newly-discovered birds. the list includes a pink river

dolphin and aid bald-headed parrot. the report warns 17% of the amazon has been destroyed by humans in just the past 50 years. we've put all the photos of the new species on our website nightly.msnbc.com. and we mourn a loss tonight of a man who really did make life better by making us laugh. leo cullum drew this for "the new yorker." the first cartoon published after 9/11. woman says to man -- i thought i'd never laugh again and then i saw your jacket. tsa officer to airline passenger, will need to declaw the cat. cullum was a prolific cartoonist for the "the new yorker" and he drew over 800 of them. before that, a veteran of 200 come bat missions as a pilot over vietnam. he later flew for twa for 30 years. he died of cancer and he was 68 years old. when we come back here tonight, the emotional moment here in california earlier today

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all eyes may be on the field. it may be what you don't see that's most important. we have an inside look at world series security and plus days away from the election alyar c a ends up in the hospital. finally from l.a. tonight, we brought the broadcast out here these past two days so we could participate in maria shriver's women's conference.

its seventh year and the last year maria will run it as first lady of this state. there were thousands of women at the main session today. they heard from the first lady, michelle obama, former first lady, laura bush, jill biden and all of the women justices of the supreme court, among others. then it was maria's turn and it turned emotional as she talked about her own mother. the sister of the late president kennedy, eunice shriver. >> so a few months ago when i was at home in hyannis port with my brothers i went to visit my mother's grave for the first time since her funeral. i found myself saying, you know, mommy, this first lady gig is all coming to an end and i'm trying to figure out what to do with the rest of my life. and all of a sudden, i started to sob. weeping so uncontrollably that i couldn't catch my breath.

until i realized i was waiting, waiting for my mother's voice, trying so hard to hear it. and then i remembered sitting there when a dear friend told me, some months before, she said, you know, maria, it's not true that you don't have your mother's wisdom to guide you anymore. she said, you have your mother's wisdom within you. and then i heard a voice and i heard it very clearsly. maria, right now it's okay for you not to know what to do next. now you have a job to do. finish it properly and when it's over, you'll know. when you step out into uncertainty, it's not a disaster. it's not the end of your life. live your life. have the courage to live your life and whatever you decide to do, you know i will always be with you. she would have said, maria, i believe in you.

now, for god's sake, believe in yourself! it's time. and in the meantime, i don't want to hear another yip out of you. >> maria shriver at the women's conference she's run for seven years here in southern california. that's our broadcast for this tuesday night. thank you for being here with us. i'm brian williams reporting tonight from our nbc los angele because this is the international stage it is the world series, it is san francisco. it's an iconic event. >> indeed it is. and people around the world have their eyes trained on the bay area on this eve of the world series. good evening, everyone. >> we have team coverage of the world series which starts in less than 23 hours.