come around here. i want to thank my guests, matt lauer, al roker, martha stewart, lauren pritchard. tomorrow night, robert downey jr. jimmy fallon happening right now. [ cheers and applause ] ♪ today," decision day. americans head to the polls for a vote that could shift the balance of power in congress. holy sinkhole. an area the size of a basketball court gives way in germany. and san francisco treat. for the first time ever in california's bay area, the giants win the world series. captions paid for by nbc-universal television hello and good morning. welcome to our viewers across the nation, including the pacific time zone. i'm lynn berry.

and today we begin with election day. finally, americans head to the polls today to cast their vote in key midterm races across the country. control of the house and senate are up for grabs. by this time tomorrow, we should know which party will guide legislation for the next two years in congress. nbc's tracie potts is in washington with poor. tracie, good morning. >> reporter: lynn, keep these numbers in mind. 39 and 10. that's how many seats republicans need to gain control of both houses of congress and how many democrats are hoping not to lose. a last-minute push by democrats. >> we need to you get fired up. >> reporter: ignoring the polls. >> i keep looking for this enthusiasm gap the republicans say exist, and i can't find it to save my life. >> reporter: hoping to win undecided voters. >> they're saying to themselves, look, i'm not thrilled with the democrats in congress, but i

really don't want to go way off on the right track. >> reporter: demming made so many automated calls in some area, phone service is jammed. predictions of big losses have republicans feeling confident. >> abelieve obama policy will be repudiated tomorrow at the polls. >> we're feeling very good, very strong. it comes down to getting the vote. >> reporter: the president doing radio interviews in districts with tight races. boehner rallied. >> reporter: voting machines are out. >> everything is ready to go. we're looking forward to the voters coming in. >> reporter: america votes, today, but some of these race, so close it could be well into tomorrow before we get results. lynn? >> well, over the recent months, americans have been swamped with

poll after poll. most showing republicans with the edge in this election. but will that translate into actual votes at the ballot box? with insight on that, we go to joy ann reed, editor with reedreport.com. joy, with a good morning to you, i want to get right to it because we've been talking about all this polling indicating a historic win for the gop, at least in the house. want to take a gander at a prediction? >> well, you know what? i think that democrats have done a decent job because they've been hearing since january that the house was in jeopardy of mitigating those losses by getting out their voters. democrats still lead among registered voters. i think democrats will hold the senate. i think the house is a lot closer. but the democratic party's goal is to take that 39 and make it 46. there are seven house seats that they hope they can win and take it away from republicans to make that threshold higher. >> let's talk about that. how important is the voter turnout here? >> it's really important. most of the potting is based on

models that are on the 2006 percentages. the thought among democrats is they can get those numbers higher. if they can edge them closer to the percentages in 2008, then they can do better. so far, early indications show they're doing a pretty good job of that. >> how soon will we know if this was a gop sweep? or if democrats are able to minimize the damage? >> right. unfortunately, we have to wait. a lot of it depends on the west coast. if patti murray in washington was going to lose. i don't think it's going happen, but if in california the democrats were supposed to lose, that would be a bellwether. if you saw seats something like illinois over closer to the east coast time zone start to go republican, then you would see it's going to be a very bad night. but democrats are hoping they can definitely hold those blue states. >> let's take this hypothetical here. what would a gop-controlled house mean for the country? what would it look like? >> i think for president obama,

it might be a good thing in a sense that republicans would then have some responsibility for governing. the house being more electric body might propose some things that are far out there on the tea party fringe. that actually might help the president, because he'd have someone to play against rather than democrats having all the responsibility. if he had a republican-controlled house and senate, it could be a lot more difficult. i think the president is looking at a lot of investigations and a lot of negativity coming out of at least one body of the congress coming up. >> well, joy ann reed, editor of reedreport.com, we appreciate your perspective and getting up with us early this morning. thanks so much. >> thank you. and just a reminder for all you at home, watch decision 2010 with brian williams, beginning tonight at 9:00, 8:00 central time on your local nbc station and political news all day on msnbc. we'll have much more news coming up and our top story, but first, baseball has a new world champion. here's nbc's fred roggin. >> good morning.

after 53 years in san francisco, the giants are finally world series champs. edgar renteria was named mvp thanks in large part to a three-run homer in the seventh that busted the game wide open. giants win in san francisco. much more on the giants historic victory and postgame reaction coming up in sports. now back to you. now for the all-important national and regional forecast on this election day, here's bill karins with the national forecast. good morning. >> turnout a big deal today. >> absolutely. turnout greatly important, also the weather, as people head to the polls. also that impacts turnout sometimes. >> yeah. actually a study done a couple years ago. slightly favored republicans for lower turnout. democrats root for sunny skies. interesting caveat. a lot of mixed weather around the country. heavy rain down in texas and louisiana heading for mississippi. clear skies through a lot of the great lakes and through new england.

also clear skies through much of the west. and lingering frontal boundary in the pacific northwest. a lot of races that will be interesting on the west coast. california, a lot of big votes today, also washington state. this little frontal boundary for the most part will sit over washington state. you won't have a lot of sunshine, but the heavier rain are done with. interesting thing is actually near record highs today. this high pressure will pump the warm air into southern california through arizona today. some areas could be near 90 degrees. that's very strange for the beginning of november. you can see we still have a couple showers moving along interstate 90 here at high elevations outside of seattle. for the most part, the rain pall is just about done. the forecast for today, partly cloud fri portland northward through washington state. look how warm it's going to be. beautiful, too, from vegas to phoenix, l.a., san dag so going to be warm. even san francisco, 75, above average. sacramento and the valley, california, probably some of the best weather in the entire country. that's a look at your tuesday formperatures today.

well, election day looks nice. one state i didn't mention with an interesting forecast. i'll get to that. happens to be our furthest north states. >> bill, look forward to that. wall street holds its breath for today's election, and political robocalls come up the works. your early morning business headlines are straight ahead. plus, courteney cox finally has her say on her separation from husband david arquette. you're watching "early today."

>> good morning, and welcome back to "early today." i'm lynn berry. here are some of your top

headlines this morning -- intelligence officials say they intercepted three suspicious packages in september they now believe were sent to the u.s. as a dry run for last week's failed bomb plots. those shipments bound for chicago appear to be sent by the yemeni group al qaeda. checking logistics of the american cargo system. the military's don't ask, don't tell policy on gay service members will remain in effect for now while the government challenges a judge's ruling declaring the law unconstitutional. that development comes after a federal appeals court extended its freeze on a lower court order yesterday, halting enforcement of the policy. meanwhile, that same federal appeals court is hearing arguments over arizona's request to enforce it's controversial immigration law. yesterday, the three-judge panel signaled it was ready to toss out one provision that criminalizes the failure to show papers for lawful residency in the u.s.

the number of gulf residents receiving compensation for this summer's bp oil disaster has suddenly risen dramatically. some 20,000 were rejected last month. kenneth feinberg who heads the $20 billion fund says many claims are lacking crucial details while others are being investigated for potential fraud. authorities in germany are monitoring a dangerous sinkhole the size of a basketball court that opened up this week swallowing a car and still growing. >> and now here's an early look at how wall street will kick off the day. the dow opens at 11,124 after adding 6 points yesterday. the s&p edged up one point. the nasdaq fell two. taking a look at overseas trading this morning, in tokyo the nikkei gained 5 points, while in hong kong, the hang seng rose 18. as predicted, it was a choppy start to wall street on monday. stocks soared early on news that u.s. manufacturing grew at its fastest pace in five months, but

the broader markets gave up gains as uncertainty set in over the fed's two-day policy meeting and today's midterm elections. overseas -- sales of toyota vehicles in china fell 6% last month, marking the automaker's first decline there in 18 months. back in the states -- gm's initial public offering later this month will reportedly shrink the government's majority stake in the automaker down to an estimated 35% for a total of $10.6 billion ipo. wilmington trust corporation, founded by the famed dupont family, is being sold for a song to m & t bank for about half what the shares were worth last week. findly -- political robocalls can be annoying, but last week they were down right disruptive. comca comcast, perspective owner of his network, was forced to apologize to users in new england for disrupted service. it appears so many of the recorded messages were going out, they clogged up the lines and temporarily knocked out service to some.

gives you an idea how tense this election season has been. no moss in minnesota and the colts turn the tables on texas. plus, from willie mays to barry bonds, the giants have never managed to bring a world championship home to san francisco -- until now. your early morning sports headlines are straight ahead. and we have some stormy weather in the deep south. your election day forecast is coming up. you're watching "early today." i'm among 30,000 employees who used to work for hp.

i was supposed to retire there. carly fiorina changed all that. [ cheri ] fiorina laid off 30,000 people. and she shipped our jobs to china. and india. i had to pack my bags and i was out the door that night. we even had to train our replacements. she didn't need 5 corporate jets. [ farrell ] one hundred million for herself. fiorina never cared about our jobs. not then and not now. [ boxer ] i'm barbara boxer and i approve this message.

good morning. if you're just waking up, this is "early today." and in sports, as we told you earlier, the san francisco giants have won their first world series since moving to the bay area. here's nbc's fred roggin with an early look at all your sports headlines. good morning. the san francisco giants were a team of self-described castoffs and misfits built around young pitching. they made the playoffs on the final day of the regular season, and now that ragtag bunch are world champions. tim lincecum blew them away with his fastball, allowed one run. aloud one run. struck out over eight innings. clint lee matched lincecum pitch for pitch until the seventh. edgar renteria had the game-winning hit in the seventh.

in the '97 series with the marlins and does it again 14 years later. brian wilson struck out nelson cruz. the giants are world series champs for the first time since 1954 when they were actually the new york giants. but this title is for san francisco. giants over the rangers, 3-1, to win the world series. >> a lot of people have been waiting a long time for this day to see giants win this. and to have a guy like renteria, a guy that's been around for ages, doing it in florida, not in san francisco. it's beautiful. >> you can't describe it. i mean, it's why you play the game as a little kid, hoping to one day be in that situation and get the last out in the world series. it's unreal. >> you have to fear this team because they're capable of doing exactly what we did, shut down one of the best teams in all of baseball. >> that's right! in football, the randy moss experiment is officially over in minnesota. the vikings have waived the pro bowl wide receiver.

moss announced that he would no longer take questions from the media and criticized the vikings coaching staff. the guys that have teams to play for, peyton manning threw a pair of touchdowns, colts win easily, 31-17. that's your early look at sports on "early today." i'm fred roggin. "early today" sports is brought to you by, touch of gray. get rid of some gray. never all. well, the end of marriage number three for actor charlie sheen. your early morning entertainment headlines are straight ahead. plus, sifting through your halloween candy for the best stuff is a time-honored tradition. but one group of kids found a real treasure. you're watching "early today." welcome back on this

election day. a more interesting race up in alaska. they have reported in anchorage, one to two inches early today then it will stop. june oh rainy weather. one of the areas weather could impact the turnout. as far as hawaii goes, no reason not to stroll outside your door of the polling place. temperatures as usual. beautiful in the mid80s. on the west coast, some of the warmest air in the country in southern california. near 92 in l.a. all the polling people will need air conditions. 72 in medford and the pick northwest, your forecast is looking okay. maybe a stray shower this morning and getting better

through this afternoon. well if you're watching us on knvo right now in yakama, washington, unique works of 50 artists from around central washington at the larsen gallery artist exhibition. that's your pacific event of the day, lynn. >> bill, thanks so much. now here's a look at this morning's headlines in entertainment. after his recent new york hotel rampage with a porn actress, charlie sheen is divorcing. according to "people," both sheen and brook muller filed petitions sunday. she wants full custody and he wants joint custody. sadly, actress/singer lily allen has suffered a miscarriage. she and her boyfriend call it a deeply distressing time. finally, courtney cox opened up about her separation from actor david arquette saying she doesn't know what's going to happen, but stresses, quote,

it's not like we're getting divorced. she's leaning on best friend jennifer aniston saying, quote, we just have fun, laugh, it's great we're inseparable. what are girlfriends for, right? and this comes to us from washington, d.c., where in nearby arlington a drop in the bucket almost meant losing a wealth of cherished memories. carolyn lost her husband recently and she thought she lost a wedding ring, too. a young trick-or-treater and parents who found the ring in their bucket returned with the shiny treat in hand. that's just plain old lucky. >> very lucky. if you're a little kid, thought someone threw it in like a dime or a fake ring. >> like jack in a boxx, a real ring. i'm lynn berry, and this is "early today," just your first stop of the day today on your nbc station.

that volcano in indonesia has erupted for the tenth time in a week. now scientists warn the eruptions could continue for weeks to come. hot ash spewed thousands of feet in the air forcing residents to flee their homes. officials are warning villagers to take cover at the eruption continues to grow. the area is still recovering from previous eruptions and a deadly tsunami. well it might look spooky, but one festival in mexico is not meant to scare. mexico's traditional day of the dead festival kicked off with a parade. paying tribute to the dead.

these aren't times for mourning. the events, which include food and music, are seen as a type of celebration. a team of divers may have discovered an explosive piece of history. beneath the new york harbor, divers found what they believe to be 2,000 small shells and other ammunitions from world war ii. specialists think the shells landed in the water during a military accident in the 1950s. munitions were found near an old military fort. divers are hoping to uncover more, but, bill it looks like we're going to have to suspend that scuba trip we had for the new york harbor. >> not anything in the new york harbor. dirty visibility. amazing they found that. >> it's not like the caribbean down there. shocker. time now for an early look at some of the stories we'll follow throughout the day here on nbc. as we've been telling you all morning, election day is finally here. and if you haven't already, it is time to head out to the polls and cast your ballot. among the highly anticipated ballot initiative this election day, a proposition that would make california the first state

to legalize the sale of marijuana for personal use. pot is now legal in california for medicinal purposes. and in rhode island, voters will decide on changing the name from the state of rhode island and providence to simply the name of rhode island. some are concern about the word plantation because the reminder of slavery. all day long, you can stay on top of the very latest developments in those stories and others as they break on msnbc. and tonight be sure to watch brian williams with nbc "nightly news." and, finally, here's a look at what's coming up later this morning on the "today" show. from the power of sarah palin to the president's final push, today break downed key races to watch, and actor robert downey jr. stops by to talk about his new cross country comedy. now keep it on this channel for continuing local news, weather, sports and more. i'm lynn berry. thanks for watching "early today," just your first stop of the day today on your nbc station. have a good one.

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