on our broadcast tonight, storm warning out of nowhere, an enormous threat for millions, potentially along the entire east coast, from a new late-season hurricane, exploding in intensity and en route in just days. the blitz on the campaign trail with just 12 days to go. we're with the romney campaign in battleground ohio, and we're just off air force one after a solid day of flying coast to coast. the scan explosive allegations against the popular television host. the scandal that has viewers in great britain stunned. and over-caffeinated, what is in the stuff millions of us buy, and why sometimes it is impossible to know amid the questions about safety. nightly news begins now. good evening, and while we are in the middle of covering

whirlwind election campaign, tonight, something else deserves our immediate attention at the top of the broadcast. while the calendar may tell us we're days away from halloween and the november election, for that matter, it is still hurricane season. and hurricane sandy has experienced what forecasters are calling a stunning increase in size and in intensity. this late-season storm has already caused flooding in jamaica, damage in cuba, and haiti, and because it has the potential to affect more than 50 million americans along the east coast population centers, if it indeed combines with another storm and makes u.s. landfall as is now considered likely, it deserves our attention. we begin our coverage with meteorologist jim cantore on singer island in florida, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, brian, this is a forerunner of what we're dealing with along the area, we have been using

words like hybrid, a winter storm, let's lay it out. first of all, the cone, friday it looks like it will be closer to florida, we'll deal with waves, heavy rain, all up and down the beaches, expect erosion saturday, sunday moving north, notice still, an 80 miles an hour category one hurricane, monday, tuesday, the big day as the storm has a chance to come inland as a very powerful storm, where the wind field will spread out hundreds of miles, with big-time areas to be hit. let's paint the areas, scenario number one, the center of the storm, this represents iso bars, lines of constant pressure, more wind, the smaller circle, around ocean city is where the storm comes to shore, huge erosion to the jersey shore, possible

flooding in new york city, lower manhattan in the battery, right where i was for irene, major power problems, flooding and surge, damage and power losses narragansett, buzzard's bay, but regardless, both scenarios here mean major disruptions for transportation, and commerce, major losses of power, power damage, and brian, really both of the scenarios paint a multi-million or even billion disaster, we have to keep a close eye on this as it will affect, as you mentioned, millions of people. >> jim, there don't seem to be good options here, we'll watch the weather as we just begin the coverage of the storm as it makes its way up the east coast. now as we mentioned, the furious campaigning for the office, just 12 days to go, new polling, the marist poll in colorado, showing a dead heat

with romney and obama at 48, and nevada, obama has a slight lead, over romney, 50-47 right now then the state of ohio, peter alexander traveling with the romney campaign in defiance, ohio, good evening peter. >> reporter: brian, good evening to you, these days the "o" in ohio could be optimism, this is the most confident mitt romney we've seen all year, and despite the polls showing the race is neck and neck, romney is telling the crowds that he will win. weaving his way from cincinnati to the town of defiance, romney claimed the opponent's theme of change four years ago. >> these challenges are big challenges, this election, therefore, is a big choice, and america wants to see big changes and we'll bring big changes to get america stronger again. >> reporter: seeking an edge in the battle of ideas, governor romney said president obama's

campaign lacks vision. >> the obama campaign doesn't have a plan, the obama campaign is slipping because he is talking about smaller and smaller things. despite the fact america has such huge challenges. >> reporter: both campaigns are claiming the momentum, avoiding the risk of losing any potential votes. in this new memo, the ohio state director said the race is a dead heat with romney on a fast track. the aides say they have a stronger ground game, insisting supporters have knocked on 20 times as many doors as at this time in 2008. >> i want you to know how optimistic i am. this is about to get real good. >> reporter: still, it could go on well past november 6th. in ohio, state law dictates that provisional ballots from people who don't return absentee ballots won't be counted until november 17th, possibly leaving the nation in suspension.

there were questions about the republican senator who made controversial remarks about rape. several republicans have distanced themselves from mourdock, including john mccain, who later reversed course, his spokesperson writing that john mccain is glad mr. mourdock apologized, and in an interview in rolling stone magazine, they talked about young voters, the marks some have interpreted as a dig at candidates, saying kids can look at a guy and say well, that is a bs'er, i can tell. >> reporter: and to give you an idea on how much it has to do with the state of ohio, romney heads to ohio, back here this weekend, his running mate, paul ryan will hold eight events here in this state. >> peter alexander, tonight in defiance, ohio.

earlier this morning we were in tampa, florida with president obama in the middle of 24 hours worth of non-stop travel from one end of this country to the other. when the news arrived, the president received a sudden endorsement from a big name who had endorsed him last time around, retired secretary of state general colin powell. he did it on live morning television >> i also saw the president get us out of one war, start to get us out of the second war and didn't get us into any new wars. and finally, i think the actions he has taken with respect to protecting us from terrorism have been very, very solid, so i think we ought to keep on the track we are on. >> general powell started off his endorsement, as you saw there, with praise on the economy and health care. the president's day was a fog of flights, motorcades and appearances. and rallies it goes on until 11:00 tonight until he returns home. in the middle of his first and second landings on air force

one, as we approached virginia where he was met by crowds, we sat down with him for the third interview, beginning with the topics of the endorsement. >> general powell is somebody who during the course of these four years has come in occasionally, given me advice. he is somebody who i think, people recognize as you know, having just a steady amount of knowledge, both foreign and domestic. and he has been terrific on all counts over the last four years, so for him to provide a full endorsement like that means a lot. >> mr. president, the subject of rape has been in the public discourse during the campaign year more than any time i can remember during american public life. you were asked about it last night, you have inserted a line in your speech, i noted about women's health. is that as far as you're

comfortable going right now? >> well, no, let me be very clear. these attempts to re-define rape in some way make no sense to me, and i don't think they make sense to the vast majority of women across the country. but more broadly, i think what these episodes point to is the fact that you don't want politicians, the majority of them male, making a series of decisions about women's health care issues. you know, i'm very proud of my track record when it comes to having confidence that women can make their own decisions. you know, that is what i believe. that is how i govern, and those are the kinds of supreme court you know, choices that i have made in two remarkable women, sonia sotomayor and elena kagan and i think that it is important for women to have confidence

that their president knows this is a set of decisions for them to make in consultations with their families. their clergy, it is not something that politicians need to get involved in. >> if you could fix either the electoral college or the fact that we're going to spend a billion electing a president, and lord knows what cancer cure that might have started us down the road on, which would you do most urgently if you had unlimited powers? >> well, i think that is an easy choice, i think the amount of money that is being spent in my campaign, and mr. romney's campaign, and the super pacs that are out there, is ridiculous. and i as you will recall, when the citizen's united decision came out i took a fairly unusual step of saying that this was bad for our democracy in the state of the union speech. i continue to believe that. there is no reason why i believe we can interpret the

constitution in a way that allows us, with some common sense, you know, restrictions on the amount of money spent and the manner in which it is spent. because you know, for us to have folks writing ten million dollar checks, undisclosed, having huge sway in this election. and just the sheer amount of waste, that could be used more profitably in other areas, doesn't make much sense. so this is an issue that, in a second term, i will raise. >> part of our conversation with the president just as we were -- prior to landing in richmond today, we should also note once again we have asked for the chance to spend similar time with the romney campaign. our 24-hour travels with the president were for a special coverage of -- special package of coverage on tonight's "rock center" broadcast right here at

10, 9:00 central time and the president traveled to his home state in illinois, and chicago to vote, to be the first president to take advantage of early voting. overseas tonight, great britain, a growing scandal involving a household name shocking the public. turns out a trusted television star may have been one of britain's worst pedophiles with a secret life that apparently lasted for years. the story tonight from nbc's kier simmons in london. >> reporter: for years, he was at the heart of the british institution, the bbc. jimmy savile was a national icon, the dick clark of britain. he hosted some of the country's most popular shows, including for children. he ran charities and was even knighted by the queen. but today it was announced that 300 victims say when they were children, savile abused them, many appearing on his tv show.

dee coles was 14 >> we were taken by him on a couple of occasions, and made to do sexual acts. >> reporter: he died last year, and as the bbc prepared a tribute program, the journalists quickly dropped an investigation, it took a rival network to uncover it, to determine that a pedophile may have been involved. and protected by britain's public broadcaster, shocking the prime minister >> the allegations and what seems to have happened were completely appalling. >> reporter: now some of the bbc's best known journalists are questioning the very institution they work for. >> normally we report the news rather than being the news. >> reporter: the former boss of the bbc, mark thompson, was hired by the new york times to become its chief executive. there is no evidence he knew about savile, but he may have to head back from new york to defend the suggestion of a

cover-up. >> if i can help with the questions i will do so. >> reporter: for the british, the bbc is a source of national pride, funded by taxes paid by every family. now it appears the trusted institution may have turned away while children were abused, kier simmons, nbc news, london. and still ahead tonight for us, the buzz surrounding the product so many people buy to keep going and why that may be the wrong thing for some. and later, a second act for baby boomers, ready to do what they really enjoy.

there is something a lot of people buy in the news tonight, consumer reports is out with a new investigation on how much caffeine they put in energy drinks, and why you may not be able to believe what the labels specifically say. our report from nbc's tom costello who has been reporting on the story for some time. >> reporter: the headlines this week have been full of warnings about the caffeine levels in those high energy drinks. now, consumer reports has tested 27 products and found that five of the cans that list caffeine actually had caffeine levels at least 25% higher than what their levels indicated. and 11 of the products don't specify their caffeine levels at all, since they're considered a dietary supplement, they're not required to. >> it is important to understand what you're drinking and if that information is not even available on the product, that

is a problem. >> reporter: among the drinks that don't list the caffeine levels, monster, last year, a teen died after cardiac arrest after drinking two of them in 24 hours, roughly five times the amount recommended for teens. the official cause of death, the toxic amounts of caffeine. while she did have an underlying heart defect, her mom is suing monster. >> she is all i think about, i visit the cemetery every day. >> reporter: monster says they don't believe their products are responsible for any death, and is unaware of any death caused by their products. but the fda confirmed that anise is one of five deaths that could be linked to energy drinks. monster points out the drink contains less caffeine than many high energy drinks, but as

problems have arose, er's are reporting overdoses. >> it is about body weight, a certain amount of that drug could have a different effect than in a large person, an adult. >> reporter: with kids in mind, congress is talking about requiring this drink producer to disclose their real amounts of caffeine. tom costello. and coming up, what happened on a texas highway in the news for high speed.

one of the world's most active volcanos, kilauea, in hawaii, now continuing to rise, providing us with a spectacular new show, the lava numbers continuing to rise spilling over the side. we reported last night about the new highway in texas, with the highest speed limit in the land, didn't take long for the first wreck, single car rollover, resulting in minor injuries, not known if speed was a factor.

there were three instances of vehicles hitting wildlife on the highway, but the sheriff says that was more common. this photo appeared around the country a week ago, emotional and inspiring, showing 93-year-old frank tanabe, a japanese-american world war ii veteran, filling out the application to vote on his death bed. he passed away yesterday, surrounded by family under care in honolulu. his family said he was determined to vote as one last act of being a patriot. up next here tonight, what is old is new again, people turning to the skills of the past for a happier future.

protestors mark a dubious occupy anniversary in oakland. and going to washington, d.c. to find out what congress is doing about child labor in america. finally tonight, a labor of love, a place where people are using their hands to make something new of their lives, by learning some of the oldest skills in the book. our report on this from nbc's chris jansing. >> reporter: the sound coming from the school remind them of an earlier era. the scrape on wood, the notes on a piano.

this trade school has been in boston since it started to train immigrants in 1885. and today, without a computer in sight, they're teaching old-world technique to students looking for a new start. >> they have had another career or they have gotten to another point in their education, where they're about to go out for a career and think i don't really want to do this. >> reporter: erica worked in finance, for a decade when she was laid off. >> a lot of colleagues went to another firm, and i knew that was the wrong answer for me. >> reporter: now, she is using book binding, with plans to use her knowledge to start a business. when this lady lost her job as an architect, she saw furniture-making as a need, but one in constant demand. >> there is always going to be a place for a well-trained, hand craft individual in the world. >> reporter: the school has eight individual training programs that last nine months to three years, from fine jewelry making to hand-crafting violins. tuition is about $20,000 a year

>> in this shop, the beautiful work is sold. 85% of these people will find a job within six months of graduation, and in the first year, make 30-40,000. >> reporter: that is much less than ryan stolz could make as a nurse. >> that is fine by me. >> reporter: he goes by the philosophy, do what you love every day, which may be why the dropout rate is under 5%. >> somehow, they experience what they know is a meaningful activity for them, working with your hands, once you do it you don't want to stop doing it. >> reporter: a simple but profound belief that one's work, a second act in life, should be nothing but first rate, boston. >> and that is our broadcast on this thursday night, thank you for joining us. i'm brian williams, don't forget our special coverage on "rock center" tonight at 10-9 central on this nbc station, we of course hope to see you right back here tomorrow evening. good night.

apple does something it doesn't do all that often. the fallout from sales and the rumor mill. >> reporter: it has been one year since occupy oakland supporters were evicted from frank ogawa plaza. i'm live in oakland with more on how demonstrators are this anniversary. >> and another big night at china basin. game two of the world series. we'll tell you about a special guest at at&t park tonight.