from our election headquarters here on democracy plaza. final push, with less than 24 hours to go, it is down to the wire for president obama and governor romney making their last minute sprints through the battleground states. tonight, the closing arguments and what to watch for as voters go to the polls. also, miry, so many still struggling after hurricane sandy. we'll look at its possible effect on turnout tomorrow. and would you believe the threat from the next storm on the way, a nor'easter threatening for mid-week. the storm, and the election, our coverage, nbc nightly news begins now. good evening, and we can

tell you it is almost over now, after a couple of years and a couple of billion dollars, on the eve of decision 2012, we are very close to knowing the first indications of how this race is going to break. heading into election day, by all accounts this election is a statistical dead heat, the latest national head-to-head has this as a 48-47 race, while state polls vary and while the battleground states call for a lot, you can tell how tight the race is by watching the two campaigns, positively barnstorming the battleground states, battling it out, based on the hope of converts here. all this, while the whole region of the country sits in the dark and watches the profound effects after the natural disaster.

so we begin our election coverage here in democracy plaza in new york, with peter alexander traveling with the romney campaign in columbus, ohio. >> reporter: good evening, to you, brian, the romney campaign has tacked on two last-minute stops for tomorrow, so after governor romney votes in his home-state of massachusetts, he will then fly out to thank volunteers, aides say, a rare move for any candidate on election day. mitt romney today marked the end of a long journey with an optimistic promise. >> tomorrow, we begin a new tomorrow, tomorrow, we begin a better tomorrow, this nation is going to begin to change for the better tomorrow. >> reporter: but with the polls showing the president hanging on to a slight advantage in the campaign's last precious hours, each moment is selected. >> your voices are heard loud and clear, thank you. >> reporter: this is to mark the conservative base.

in rural virginia is, with a sharp critique of president obama >> let me tell you why he fell so short of what he promised. it is because he cared more about a liberal agenda than he did about repairing the economy. and the suburbs of northern virginia, where mr. romney needs to slice into the president's lead to win >> reporter: since saturday, 13 events in several battleground states, including democratic-leaning pennsylvania, that romney advisers claim is now in play. >> we're going to keep america the hope of the earth with your help, pennsylvania. >> reporter: in the final stretch, a deliberate focus on bipartisanship, governor romney saying he could break the gridlock. >> i'll be able to reach democrats and republicans who care more about the country. an increased use of the

teleprompters, to avoid mistakes >> i need your vote, i need your work, walk with me, let's walk together, tomorrow is a new beginning. >> reporter: and brian, even at this late hour, romney advisers remain very confident that they will win this election tomorrow. they dispute polls that show them trailing and cite strength of support among independents and a more enthusiastic base. >> peter alexander, starting us off with the romney campaign, thank you, peter. now over to the obama campaign, his push also rode through ohio today. his final stop in ohio, however. nbc's kristen welker has more. >> reporter: president obama is defending his firewall last stop right here in iowa, a state that holds special meaning and also crucial electoral votes. it is the last push, today, the president traveled more than a

thousand miles through the three midwestern battleground states he sees as critical to the election, from wisconsin. >> are you fired up? to ohio, where he continues to capitalize on the auto bailout. >> i'm proud we saved the auto industry, but i'm even prouder that we're making better cars now. >> reporter: before wrapping the day in iowa. between stops he is conducting ten interviews on board air force one, targeting specific media outlets that include young voters, latinos and young african-americans, at every chance emphasizing the importance of the voters >> we have you come too far to go back now, to let our hearts grow faint, now is the time to keep pushing forward. >> reporter: he is also enlisting high wattage supporters, bill clinton, and bruce springsteen rallying for him.

president obama ran last time as a man of hope and change, and you hear a lot of things about how things are different, things are not different now, it is just realer, crunch time >> reporter: whatever the future holds, this is the president's last day of campaigning ever, a day mixed with nostalgia. he holds his last rally with the first lady, where it all began four years ago, with his first major victory. now obama campaign officials say they are feeling confident today based on their internal polling. once the president wraps the event here in des moines, he will head out to his home town of chicago, to watch the returns, aides say he was playing a game of basketball. and e-mailed former bodyguard reggie, asking to help set up that game.

>> kristen welker, in the heart of des moines where it will get wild tonight, thank you very much and chuck, you're the keeper of the numbers, you have the last wave of polling before going into this thing, and also, what can you discern about the crazy travel schedule? >> reporter: the president went ohio, wisconsin, and mitt romney hit these four, but let me show you why they chose this path, pretty simple, the fastest way to the 270 electoral votes for the president's ohio, 18, iowa six, and wisconsin, 10, gets him there pretty quick, 277, doesn't need iowa, he could actually lose that, but that would be the fastest way, two of those three including iowa and wisconsin.

well, mitt romney, florida, 29, virginia's 13, throw in new hampshire's four, and of course he needs the 18 in ohio he would like to get. and that would get him right up at the number there, brian, the 270, so the schedule told you everything. >> and the battleground state numbers tell us more, chuck. >> reporter: they do tell you a little more, but there is something else i want to show you about how to watch election night tonight. and that is going to be all the polls that close before 9:00 tomorrow night, look, it is all on the east coast. and we're going to learn something very quickly. are the southern states too close to call by 9:00, brian, or are we calling them for romney fairly quickly? are the industrial states too close to call or are we calling them quickly for oma? that will tell us how the night is going. >> all right, chuck todd with something of a viewer's guide for tomorrow night, we'll see him, across democracy plaza for

us, and here at the studio, david gregory with "meet the press" and andrea mitchell are here. david, i took notes during the report, the romney campaign exceedingly confident. what makes them say that? >> reporter: well, some of it is just argument. some of them argue there is something happening out there that is kind of a gauzy argument to make, about gop, and 2008 is not the comparison, they say. the gop was battered after the candidates, and the condition we see today. and there will be something of a wave that carries governor romney. they also make the argument that romney was not disqualified by president obama, and that was the intention, favorable numbers, about equal to where president obama is. he is very much in this thing, winning by independent voters, they think that pennsylvania is real. that is the case they make. they do realize in the swing states, they are slightly behind. so something has to happen. >> and andrea, what a

fascinating ground game, for us who have been after this for so many years. >> for team obama, they have been working on it for many years, it is all computerized. and i talked to many who did poll watching for years, they say they're not really needed, they have not been pulled out, even got a call. but they are not organizing it the way they are experienced in campaigns. so we see bill clinton going there tonight to philadelphia, two other events there across the state. they say that this is just to not leave anything on the table. but you have to believe they have got to go on some level, a little bit nervous about pennsylvania, and it is hard to understand why. >> i don't think at this point anybody thinks they have any money in the bank. but it is down to the last couple of hours, andrea, david, thank you, much more on this tomorrow night. speaking of voting, there are already troubling scenes from polling places where people are trying to cast their vote early.

our own pete williams is heading up the "making your vote count" team, traveling, and as he tells us tonight, the legal battles in two of the big battleground states are already under way. >> reporter: in florida, legal incidents have already broken out over a form of early voting, picking up and immediately casting absentee ballots in person, going on today in south flood. -- florida >> there has got to be a better system for early voting and for absentee voting. i can't imagine why every one is voting today, on an absentee ballot. >> reporter: on sunday, democrats rushed to federal court after polling places in miami-dade county temporarily shut their doors, then opened again. in ohio, lawyers for the state are battling democrats over what happens when voters don't have the right kind of identification.

late friday, the secretary of state said that voters must cast provisional ballots and show this form showing they proved who they are. no form, says the secretary of state, the vote won't count. the democrats say in the past they were filled out by poll workers, they say it adds to the burden. they challenged the new rule for absentee ballots comparing the signatures on them to what is on file, in the registration records that could be years old. no match, the vote is thrown out. >> all right, pete williams, we'll stay on this tomorrow evening. still ahead, as we continue, after sandy, even though it has been a week families still not able to return to what is left. for many, it is an awful sight when they do return. and many are asked to leave their homes again because of the next storm on the way.

jim cantore of the weather channel will talk us through what may be coming. ♪

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the phone call with the president, the president put bruce springsteen on the phone with the governor. he happens to be his hero, as we saw today what he was campaigning. well, tonight we focus on the north jersey shore, specifically a spot where a lot of us spent our youth, a tiny community of seabright, new jersey, so badly damaged many are getting their first look of what is left. it is where nbc's katy tur is. good evening. >> reporter: good evening, brian, the house behind me is considered to be a five out of five, meaning it needs to be torn down as soon as possible. and in a small town of about 15 hundred people there are about 50 structures that look like they are about a five. today we got a look at the damage as people prepare for yet another storm. a week after the storm, the first real look at seabright, new jersey, and just how destructive sandy's storm surge

was. you can see how high the water was, residents like bob and amy kelly were allowed back in with empty suitcases and garbage bags to recover what they could, as the next storm approaches. >> we don't know when we'll get back in. >> reporter: inside, a rush of emotion as they look at the damage to their three-generation home that they cannot now inhabit. >> danny, and he -- is safe, and that is all that manners. >> reporter: just south, in the devastated mantoloking, now the before and after pictures reveal just how strong sandy was, and there is a dam being built to keep the ocean water out of the bay >> it feels like it is not real. >> reporter: this man points out a familiar place along a littered landscape, of a changed coastline. in atlantic city today, all casinos re-opened. the crowds were small.

monday morning meant back to business for much of the garden state, but not without delays. hundreds waited in lines for trains, buses, and the lines grew longer in the gas lines as the rationing went into effect. and more than 800,000 customers are without power, including hundreds of schools, later, the mayor promised a comeback. >> we'll rebuild it in a smart, sustainable way. >> reporter: in a conference, the governor spoke to the children of new jersey. >> keeping you safe, getting you back to school, making sure you feel like you're taken care of. >> reporter: for bob and amy kelly, rescuing pictures is a priority, memories nearly lost in sandy's flood, they won't risk again in what could be round two later this week. the coastal communities will have a day to prepare for this storm. this town is very nervous because it sits between the river and the ocean. the nor'easters are always bad

here, they almost always flood. they worry that the storm here could devastate what little they have left. >> boy, that is hard to watch, katy tur there in seabright, thank you, and let's bring our friend, jim cantore. with the weather channel, jim, after this storm the last thing we dreamed is we would ask you about a next one, but what is setting up right now? >> we have a storm that could impact, no question about that. several days ago i was at the battery talking to you when the water came up. history was made, this storm, first of all this is not coming through the tropics, this is the storm, it will be energized with the jet stream, causing a lot of impacts such as rain, coastal flooding and possibly snow. first of all, here is tuesday. it won't just show up on tuesday, wednesday, florida could feel the brunt of it, including the thunderstorms throughout the day. i don't think it will be an

issue for virginia, most of the polls will be closed. but here we are into wednesday, the low pressure will track, pretty much up the north north carolina coast, up the jersey coast, and we'll watch how close it is to the cost, because there will be a band of 50-70 miles an hour winds on the western side of that. as if this is not enough, how about changing the rain over to snow possibly as far south as washington, d.c., some of the models actually putting out six to 12 inches. so worse case scenario, we're talking about adding to the power outage woes, the best case scenario, we're talking about prolonging the power to over a million people. >> we can't even imagine, we'll stay in close touch with you, jim, thank you. update next after a break, and making a difference after sandy, tonight, some extraordinary acts of kindness and generosity. t t

the st as we have seen durin

suffering here in new york, sometimes all it takes is one person with a good idea and a good heart to make a lot of lives better and make a difference. we get one man's story tonight from nbc's ann thompson. >> you got to make sure about that bread for tomorrow. today, he is delivering hope >> reporter: 264 packages of cookies and 500 loaves of bread, from his bakery, he heads to the peninsula, his childhood playground devastated by sandy. in line at the houses are those without heat and food. what does the bread mean to you? >> a lot, a lot for the kids, a lot. >> reporter: he knows nobody personally but he knows their story, his giving, he says, comes from a childhood of not having. >> i was also a person for the underdog, i am an underdog myself. >> reporter: today, his compassion is contagious. >> they all need milk.

you know, that can't just not drink milk >> reporter: they delivered cases, one of thousands of new yorkers pitching in to help their neighbors. they know they can't solve all the problems, there is simply just too much. instead, they just want to give people a starting point from which they can rebuild. these cousins are working, combining the resources of three family businesses, they're offering their services for free, via facebook. >> within 20 minutes, half an hour, i had 60, 70, text messages. voice mail >> reporter: jake has no power at his home in pennsylvania, but says he has to be here. >> this stuff is not useful. it is more useful here >> reporter: a day's work that has never been more rewarding. ann thompson, nbc news, rockaway park, new york. and back with more from democracy plaza right after this.

as we take one more look around democracy plaza, one last reminder, we're on the air here at 7 eastern time tomorrow, 4 on the west coast, we'll find out the election results together. right now we're staying put here to offer a second half hour of

special coverage tonight, while most of our nbc stations will be carrying it. if yours is not, you can watch the broadcast streaming live on our website, for now, that is our broadcast on a monday night, thank you for joining us, i'm brian williams, we'll look for you here tomorrow evening. good night. right now at 6:00, multi-million dollar mystery revealed. new details about a controversial political donation. a verdict involving a local principal accused of not reporting seg yxual abuse. "nbc bay area news" starts now. good evening. thanks for joining us. the $11 million mystery has been solved but will it impact the vote. the group has final lie revealward it got the cash. kimberly terry has the new details in ble