no new taxes, without voter approval. we have got to pull together not as republicans or as democrats but as californians first. at this stage in my life, i'm prepared to do exactly that. on the broadcast tonight, six days to go until the midterm elections. every vote counts. tonight, the white house fighting for its base and what the cameras caught going on during a debate. the monster storm. it's a history maker, spinning around half the country, and still on the move tonight. deep impact. surprising news this evening for all parents about the hidden toll of high school football. "making a difference" in pictures, in a place still struggling to get back on its feet. and something new in a room we all use. "nightly news" begins now. captions paid for by nbc-universal television

good evening. just six days to go now until what could be a reshaping midterm election all across this country. we've been telling you about a possible shift in power in congress from democrats to republicans. tonight, the democrats have launched a new effort to change those numbers a bit. if they can. the question is, does it amount to trying to hold back an unstoppable tide with very little time left? we have it all covered tonight, beginning with our political director and chief white house correspondent chuck todd in washington. chuck, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, brian. look, the president and the white house are simply in a save what they can mode. and when you look at his weekend schedule, it is all about save some house seats. it starts friday in charlottesville. that's only for a house seat. then he goes to bridgeport, connecticut. again, just up there to try to

save a house seat. philadelphia and cleveland combined, there are about eight democratic held seats there that the president might be able to help with there. then there's chicago. while he's focused on his senate seat and the governor's race, there are about four seats they think they can save for democrats. the democrats, if they're going to lose control, they don't want to lose control badly. the president today is focused on his base on the airwaves. jon stewart fans lining up to see an interview with the president. it's a last-minute media blitz by mr. obama trying to get out the vote. >> welcome to "the daily show." my name is jon stewart, in washington, d.c. >> reporter: white house aides hoping a "daily show" appearance energizes young voters. who helped propel mr. obama into office two years ago. all week, the president in radio interviews has reached out to different parts of his 2008 core support groups. this time it's about rescuing vulnerable democrats in house and senate races. today, he tried to speak to

frustrated moderates via the michael smerconish show. >> people don't want to hear a lot of happy talk, and we shouldn't pretend that we've solved every problem out there. we've got a lot of work to do. but i am very proud of what we've accomplished over the last two years. >> reporter: tuesday's focus, african-americans on reverend al sharpton's show. >> anybody who's concerned about the direction of the country has to understand that this election is just as important as 2008. >> so even though your name is not on the ballot, this is about your agenda and about the progress that we have seen you begin to make over the last 20 odd months. >> absolutely. >> reporter: 10 of the 50 most vulnerable democratic house seats have an african-american population of more than 20%, or about twice the national average. and another 10 of those 50 districts have a high latino population. monday, he spoke to a hispanic office, the president defending his efforts to get comprehensive immigration reform. >> there's no place where the

latino vote doesn't matter. >> reporter: now, the president just wrapped up his interview with jon stewart, brian. i can tell you about two compelling moments about health care and the process there, the president defending the process. jon stewart attacking it. and then jon stewart hitting him for hiring larry summers. at one point, the president said he did a heck of a job. and jon stewart says that may not be a phrase you want to use. brian? >> that's what passes for politics tonight. chuck todd in washington starting off our coverage. chuck, thanks. california republican senate candidate carly fiorina was released from the hospital today after an overnight stay. she was treated for an infection related to the reconstruction surgery she had after she was successfully treated for breast cancer. she's due to resume her campaign schedule tomorrow against the incumbent, senator barbara boxer. also in california, it's been a tense and very nasty race for governor there, which brings us to a moment from a candidate forum at the maria shriver women's conference yesterday.

with the current governor sitting there among them, matt lauer asked democrat jerry brown and republican meg whitman whether they would be willing to tone it down in the homestretch. >> would either of you, or both of you, be willing to make a pledge that you would end the negativity? [ applause ] >> if meg wants to do that, i'll be glad to do that. we can settle a little discussion today and work something out. >> here's what i'll do. i will take down any ads that could even be remotely be construed as a personal attack. but i don't think we can take down the ads that talk about where governor brown stands on the issues. i just think it's not the right thing to do. >> you heard the crowd there. now the brown campaign just today released a tv ad that shows just that exchange, urging whitman and all other candidates to take down negative ads for the remainder of the race.

david gregory, the moderator of "meet the press" with us. from the "meet the press" studio in washington. david, this past sunday, you took us on kind of a tour of the major races, where this race stands. tonight, let's talk about the effect of this negativity in these races. >> primarily, it is frustration. you hear voters around the country bemoaning the negativity in this campaign. all the more so in the final stretch. well, it's important to remember that that negativity is generated by the campaigns themselves. and why? because if you're in a tight race, if you're an incumbent, the only thing you can do here if you're behind is try to do a personal takedown of your opponent, make this is a fitness to lead issue. that's what you see playing out around the country. this is the best play they have to try to prevail in these races, democrats, republicans or incumbents. look at the map, where we see this playing out. key senate races, alaska, nevada, and kentucky.

we've seen governor's races too, the fallout from the governor's debate in florida. and yes, california. why doesn't meg whitman want to take down those negative ads? because jerry brown has positive ratings. she wants to chip away at that. she can do that with the negativity. you drill down deeper and what do you find? sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. in alaska, lisa murkowski was the republican, now write-in candidate because she lost the primary to joe miller. she said joe is not fit to leave. she's been hitting him hard. they're in a deadlock race. 37-37. but it can be a gamble that doesn't pay off. look what's goi ining on in tha senate race in kentucky. rand paul a five-point favorite. why? because jack conway, hard hitting ad against rand paul, questioning religion, past allegations, things that went on in his youth. it backfired. high negative ratings for conway. this is a double edge sword and we'll see a lot of this in the sprint of the finish. >> david, we'll look for you this sunday on "meet the press"

the last one before the big election. now tonight a closer look at the race for governor in florida, which jumped into the national spotlight this week when cameras caught the democratic candidate doing something during a debate that was not allowed. for his part, the republican candidate in this race already has a ton of baggage of his own from his previous job. our own ron mott has our report from miami. >> reporter: the nationally televised gubernatorial debate in florida featured something decidedly off script. republican rick scott in a tightly contested race against democrat alex sink accused her of cheating after a makeup artist approached her during a commercial break with a text message from a campaign adviser. the message, the attorney who won the suit said alex sink did nothing wrong. tell not to let him keep talking about her. inside baseball, perhaps, but scott couldn't wait to swing for the fences when the debate resumed. >> first, alex, you say you always follow the rules.

the rule was, no one was supposed to give messages during the break and your campaign did with an ipad. >> reporter: wrong device, right to the point. >> did you know the rules? >> reporter: sink tried repeatedly to explain the gaffe. >> i'm a mom. my insingt is, my daughter is in europe, i don't know who this message is from. i glanced at it. i didn't understand even what it was, and i just ignored it. just like i think all of us would do, when somebody taps you on your shoulder, says you have a message here, of course you're going to look. but i couldn't tell you what it said. >> reporter: with so much to talk about in the sunshine state -- >> on a deal that cost florida more than $250 million in pension money. >> reporter: her performance as the state's chief financial officer, his former hospital company paying a record $1.7 billion fine for medicare fraud, not to mention jobs and the economy, this goof rules the chatter six days before the election. >> florida is florida. we always expect the unexpected, but i don't think there's a person in florida that expected this kind of incident to happen

in a statewide debate and now, of course, it's dominating the news. >> reporter: polls show this race is neck and neck. two to three percentage points separating the candidates and a question a lot of folks are asking is whether this slipup will have any impact come tuesday. >> it heats up in florida. ron mott in miami for us tonight. ron, thanks for that. another big story in the news again tonight, the weather. a storm that has covered half of the united states, much of north america for that matter. in size and scope, the storm is a monster. look at that. it would be a category 3 if it was on water. it set a record for intensity and the heart of the storm hasn't moved much. it's still parked right there over northern minnesota. but look at the damage that springs out from it, and then pinwheels around the country. our own tom costello has been following it all from washington. tom, good evening. >> reporter: much of the country feels wind blown tonight, having endured 40 to 60-mile-an-hour

winds, rain, tornadoes, and setting records along the way. never in recorded u.s. history have they seen barometric pressures this low, never! cutting across much of the country's midsection today, a trail of destruction. injuries but no deaths. in north carolina, mobile homes were torn apart, houses shredded, trees uprooted. in illinois, back-to-back tornadoes. >> right behind that tornado, when it was on the ground, there was a smaller one probably 300 to 500 feet behind it. but it did not touch the ground. >> reporter: and an entire barn blown away. >> my wife called me up and said the barn blew down. >> reporter: in suburban chicago, a massive tree crashed through helen miller's car, impaling her on a limb. she survived. >> it fell just below the lungs, but just above the stomach. so effectively it only punctured some fat and some muscle tissue. >> reporter: both wisconsin and minnesota set all-time record

barometric pressure lows. that set up a condition meteorologists cl a weather bomb. >> gusting over 40 to 60 miles an hour, across the northern plains and spreading into the great lake states. >> reporter: helping feed 400 severe wind events and a string of tornadoes across the northern plains and midwest states. in total, more than 24 tornadoes. the weather channel's mike seidel is on lake michigan. >> for the second day in a row, we've been hammered by 50- to 60-mile-an-hour wind gusts. reconfiguring the entire beach. this dune wasn't even here yesterday morning. >> reporter: tornadoes also ripped through communities in tennessee and alabama. >> horrifying, honestly. it was just scary. >> reporter: and the bad weather continued through the day. atlanta was in the eye of the storm through much of the afternoon. in washington, a driving rain midday. while out west, snow in salt lake. a taste of a season to come. it's all led to hundreds of flight cancellations and delays

of one to two hours from minneapolis to chicago. atlanta all the way up to the east coast. the good news is a colder front is moving through. by tomorrow, brian, the worst should be over. >> but first, a second straight wild night for millions of americans. tom costello in washington. tom, as always, thanks. when our broadcast continues in just a moment, a new look at a dangerous injury among high school football players, raising new concern among parents. and later, an artist raising awareness about a crucial health issue and making a difference in a place that needs it. l

we have more tonight on a story that's been getting a lot of attention these past few weeks, those direct helmet-to-helmet collisions on the football field. tonight, there's new research on high school football players suggesting that some young players can have serious damage done even without officially suffering what is called a concussion. sports illustrated has this story on its cover this week. our chief science correspondent

robert bazell has the story. >> reporter: a typical high school matchup in central indiana. jefferson and zionsville. but for some jefferson players, the helmets are unique. wired by purdue university's biomedical engineering department to measure the exact impact to their heads. it turns out to be far more than experts assumed. conventional wisdom had been that a hit more than 80 times the force of gravity, 80 gs, caused a concussion. >> the first practice, we were observing, we were finding almost all of the players were taking hits at 80 to 120 gs relatively regularly. >> reporter: even when they don't cause concussions, the hits affect the brain. scans of those hit the most show abnormalities. and those players also had increased difficulty on standard mental tests. >> we are finding changes in brain function, even though these individual players aren't exhibiting outward symptoms.

>> reporter: the good news is that the brain scans and testing return to normal within nine months, but the research still raises two critical questions. will the brain changes affect the student's academic ability and will they have problems later in life? the scientists say they don't have enough research to provide the answers. brandon, a senior at jefferson who volunteered for the study and had brain changes, says he has no intention of slowing down. >> since i'm smaller, i got a guy like 6'7" going up against me, huge, i just head butt him. doesn't hurt me any. >> reporter: but his father is a bit more concerned. >> i know brandon goes helmet to helmet, not intentionally, but it happens. your brain is something you can't replace. >> reporter: the researchers say there is no cause for alarm. but a need for further study of a sport that's getting rougher even at the high school level. robert bazell, nbc news, new york. when we come back here tonight, thoughts from someone

who has had it with the security hassle at u.s. airports. it's just one dishonest smear

after another. and another.

just a dishonest politician, trying to hide his record of failure. the real brown plan? more spending on out-of-control state pensions. more favors for the big teachers union, blocking education reform. more job-killing taxes and regulations. more of the same old failure from sacramento. job killer jerry brown. always more taxes, more spending, and more lost jobs. a different stage for a good cause. the actress from "law and order" was at the white house today to mark domestic violence awareness month along with dodgers manager, baseball veteran joe torre, who is a survivor of a violent home himself. both of them now lead foundations dedicated to stopping domestic violence. the folks in charge of security at america's airports are under fire from across the pond. the man in charge of british airways, at a conference in london, he said the uk should

stop kowtowing to every american security measure, like making british passengers take off their shoes or having their laptops screened separately before being allowed on flights to the u.s. the tsa, for its part, simply says it works with all international carriers to ensure passenger safety. the next story is about the environment, so remember that when we tell you the folks at scott paper have come out with what some are billing an environmental breakthrough on a small scale. toilet tissue without the cardboard tube inside. in their promotional video, you can see it, tubeless. so it rolls off unevenly, a bit like an old wagon wheel. and while only in promotional videos, is the toilet tissue always so proudly prominent in the shopping cart. there's a good chance this pretty simple idea could catch on. they are test marketing it at walmart and sam's club stores, mostly in the northeast. there is a rumor fueled

internet fracas going on of some old black and white film dating back to 1928. an irish filmmaker who saw this clip on a dvd extra from "the circus" thinks it's a cell phone. he focused on the woman walking in the background. then came the theory she was a time traveler, in the film talking on a cell phone. of course, no such thing back in '28. one guess is that she's using a kind of early version of a portable big box hearing aid available at the time. we'll take a break. when we come back, one man trying to make a difference in a place that is still struggling months after disaster.

we're back. it's time for our "making a difference" report. tonight, it comes from haiti. a nation with a new public health threat, this cholera outbreak there. it's now killed more than 300 people. it's infected more than 3,000. that's an early count. one big problem is that those who are infected may not recognize the disease, so it's able to spread so quickly. tonight, our chief medical editor dr. nancy snyderman is in

haiti with the story of one man who is using his talents to teach people life-saving information. >> reporter: only 2% of the rubble has been removed since the earthquake. recovery seems to have stagnated and now there's the threat of disease. but there are small signs of hope. among them, the work of jerry moses. >> right now, jerry is probably one of the most followed celebrities in haiti. and he's followed because people walk by his work on every street in the city. >> reporter: well, jerry already had a reputation as a guerrilla artist, it was after the earthquake that his art took on a whole new purpose and social consciousness. his murals address homelessness, prostitution and the importance of hand washing. in a country where the illiteracy rate is 70% and people get much of their information through pictures. there is still considerable fear and misinformation about cholera

in port-au-prince, where 1.3 million people still only have sheets and tarps for shelter. jerry hopes to change this. catholic relief services hired jerry to get the word out in a way the government hasn't been able to. >> this is extremely important. it came at a time where it was extremely necessary to act and act quickly and convey some good hygiene practices to the community and jerry was the right way to go. >> reporter: today's message, clean water can save lives. a message that resonates in a country where access to safe water is still a daily challenge. when people who walk by this now and they see this, what message do you want them to get? >> i want them to be sure that they wash their hands every day after everything that they do. [ inaudible ] >> i see myself as a young artist trying to change the way of a beautiful and big country as ours. and i'm the one who will try to

change it. only god can stop me. >> reporter: one young man looking to the future, hoping to lift a struggling nation from its knees. dr. nancy snyderman, nbc news, port-au-prince, haiti. that's our broadcast for this wednesday night. thank you for being back here with us in new york. i'm brian williams. hope to see you back here tomorrow evening. good night. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com even some of the youngest people in the bay area are feeling the xeemt as one of the premier sporting events of the year gets under way in san francisco. good evening, everyone. >> from the media to throngs of fans in beards and panda ,