captioning sponsored by macneil/lehrer productions >> ifill: go evening. i'm gwen ifill. more than half a billion eggs in 22 states have been recalled after an outbreak of salmonella. >> brown: and i'm jeffrey brown. on the newshour tonight, we talk to food safety expert caroline smith dewaal and journalist elizabeth weese about the latest on the investigation and how to prevent future contamination. >> ifill: then special correspondent saima mohsin reports from pakistan's swat valley about the humanitarian crisis caused by the massive floods, and daniel wordsworth of the american refugee committee assesses the aid effort. >> brown: we preview key contests in tomorrow's primary elections in florida and arizona.

>> ifill: we get an update from santiago, chile, on the rescue efforts for 33 miners, trapped but alive after 17 days. >> brown: and photographer mario tama offers images of new orleans taken in the five years since hurricane katrina. >> ifill: that's all ahead on tonight's newshour. >> the people, the resilience of this city has been something that's been incredibly inspirational to me. major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by:

and with the ongoing support of these institutions and foundations. and... this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you.

>> brown: the largest egg recall in recent history continued to spread today, as the head of the food and drug administration called for new tools to help her agency enforce safety laws and prevent future problems. the nationwide outbreak of salmonella poisoning from contaminated eggs, including at least 1300 cases, began in may. investigators have linked the disease outbreak to two massive farms in iowa which in turn have ties to businessman austin jack de coster. he owns wright county egg and has financial and other associations with hillendale farms, the other firm cited in the recall. over the last 15 years, his operations have been fined millions of dollars for major violations of health, immigration and workplace safety standards. one of his companies was cited just this past spring for animal cruelty at a farm in maine.

it was not until this outbreak that the hen houses in iowa were inspected by the food and drug administration. until a new law went into effect in early july, the fda did not have authority to conduct such inspections. >> this is the first major food safety issue that i'm aware of sorb... associated with his company. >> brown: on abc this morning fda commissioner margaret hamburg pushed for further legislation now pending in congress that would empower her agency to get out in front of cases like this. >> there is an opportunity through this ledge ration to extend our authority , resources and other important tools to do traceback of products, to make sure the companies have the appropriate preventive measures in place and to enable us to review records in a routine way. >> brown: eggs are sold under an array of brand names but come from fewer and fewer

farms says patty, a consumer watchdog. >> sometimes the companies have lots of brands to make it look like there's more operators than there really are. so that's y you're seeing all of these brands in this recall. >> brown: cases of salmonella poisoning spreading, lawsuits are beginning to be filed. bacteria can cause vomiting and flu-like symptoms but it can lead to more serious health problems and in rare cases death. none has been reported thus far. this attorney has sued decoster on behalf of a young girl. >> she was hospitalized for a period of three or four days and incurred significant in the tens of thousands of dollars in medical expenses. >> brown: a spokesperson for decoster's company said the firm has worked quickly in the past to correct issue raised about its farms and intends to work with the fda in a, quote, forthright manner. and turn to two people who watch food safety closely. caroline smith dewaal is with

the center for science in the public interest, a consumer watchdog group. elizabeth weese covers these issues for "usa today." neither the f.d.a. commissioner, nor a representative from the egg industry, was able to join us tonight. caroline smith, dewaal, the particular farms seem to have been pinpointed but what about the actual source or cause of the contamination? what do we know so far? >> well, the investigation is still ongoing. but salmonella is a strain of salmonella that actually infects the inside of the egg. over the years we've known for a long time that salmonella can get on the outside of the egg just in the hen houses, but they've created systems of washing the eggs which have really addressed this. this particular strain of salmonella actually gets into the ovary and from there it seeds the individual eggs as they're being laid. >> brown: what does that mean in terms of how one investigates the actual source of this? and who does the investigating? >> in this instance it's the fda that does the

investigation. they said today in a conference call that one of the things they're looking at is where these hens actually came from. it was interesting, the fda said today that they now know that when you buy eggs a company buys chicks from one company they're brought back to the farm. they're raised up as pullets. they start laying around four or five months. then they have the rest of their laying life. what's interesting is the fda announced that they know that the chicks didn't have salmon ella. they came from a certified farm. fda the investigating the pullet farm owned by wright eggs to see if those pullets had this. they're looking at the feed because feed is another way it can come in. it can come into the hen house from rodents, from insects. this appears to be a pretty large outbreak. perhaps it was something that was coming in in all the hens that were coming into the laying house. >> brown: before we go back and look at how this happened

or the regulations in play caroline smith dewall help consumers at home. in the meanwhile what should they be doing? >> the bottom line for consumers is if you have these recalled eggs in your refrigerator you need to either throw them out or return them to where you bought them. we're not recommending that consumers eat these eggs. generally we advise consumers to eat eggs fully cooked , to make sure that you take special precautions especially with your high-risk consumers, your children, your elderly parents or anyone who is immune compromised. >> brown: because usually the cooking would get rid of it. >> that's right. cooking should get rid of salmonel but occasionally with very highly contaminated eggs, it might come through in a cooked egg or a lightly cooked egg. we recommend that you get rid of these eggs. don't try to cook them . >> brown: elizabeth weise we said the signs of this first go back to may but it didn't

really burst into a major recall until fairly recently. what happened in the meantime? how does the system work or how is it supposed to work? >> well, the way this happens is the centers for disease control is always tracking how many cases of salmonella there are in the country. and about mid may they actually started to see a rise in those numbers. it wasn't even the c.d.c. but the states, minnesota especially which has excellent public health started to see this rise. they were able to go back and say, hey, suddenly we have four times as many cases of this disease as we should , just as part of the general background. they said, okay, what's going on? the easiest way to track back on a big food safety outbreak like this is to look for restaurant clusters because you can find groups people who got sick at a restaurant. you interview what they ate that made them sick. you can backtrack from there, where did the restaurant get that particular food? in this case that's what happened. it was actually... they had

seen it in may and started tracking in june, july. they went to a couple of restaurants that had a number of people sickened, figured out where those eggs came from and were able to get back to the iowa farm. >> brown: caroline smith dewall in that time line she mentioned july. new guidelines came into place in july, right? >> we had been waiting for these regulations for ten years, jeff. these are regulations that had been subject to pilot studies, risk assessments. they were strongly science-based regulations but they had been languishing at the department of health and human services. throughout the entire bush administration. so these regulations finally came on line in july 2010. they were made final a year before the industry had an entire year to comply. the regulations really have three simple parts. the first is that all the chickens, the hens that are brought into the house have to

be from these farms that are certified as s.e.-free. second that you have biosecurity measures to keep those rodents or insects out so that they don't actually contaminate hens once they're already in the barnes. and then most importantly, they have a requirement that all the farms, all the barns actually be tested environmentally for salmonella - e. if it's found they then test the eggs. >> brown: would you expect that to prevent something like this in the future or the idea is to make it less likely. >> it absolutely should prevent these types of outbreaks. at a minimum it should give the farms themselves an early warning that they've got a problem with salmonella -e because where it is found in the eggs they would have to be diverted from the shell egg market. they wouldn't be sold as shell eggs. >> brown: we saw this happen as a consolidation of the egg industry.

we're talking about two farms here but many brands that spread across the nation. >> well, these two farms all tolled were probably responsible for one 1% or less of u.s. egg consumption which is about 77 billion eggs a year. that's still a lot for two farms. we certainly have seen consolidation. you don't just have farmers with, you know, a flock of 20 chickens here and 20 chickens there. you have farms that are producing billions of eggs over the course of a month. the question is whether that consolidation is really a risk factor for salmonella. you'll find people on both sides of that who will argue the case that either having it be at large places where you can actually do really good biocontrol is more safe. you have people who would argue that having many small farms is more safe. i don't think we know the answer to that yet. >> brown: elizabeth, tell us then about what fda commissioner margaret hamburg brought up today. the legislation that sits before congress now.

what would it do? >> well, interestingly because we now have the egg rule in place, it would affect eggs less than other things. the place it's going to be strongest i think is is on leafy greens. we of course had the issue with spinach a couple of years back. what it does is it gives fda more regulatory clout. it gives them the right to do mandatory recalls. at this point fda can only ask for a voluntary recall on the part of food producers. so in general it just gives them a lot more power and it would give them more funding because they're going to be out doing investigations, do testing. testing costs money because people cost money sneef briefly, caroline, does it look like they would come back with a better chance to pass? what's the state of play? >> the legislation is poised to go to the floor of the senate in september. it's urgently needed to address problems like this. it would improve inspections

tremendously by giving them a mandate to inspect high-risk facilities like this much more frequently. >> brown: all right. caroline smith dewaal and elizabeth weise, thank you both very much. >> thank you. >> ifill: still to come on the newshour, the humanitarian crisis in pakistan's swat valley. arizona and florida politics. the miners trapped in chile and post katrina new orleans in photographs. but first, the other news of the day. here's hari sreenivasan in our newsroom. >> sreenivasan: roadside bombs killed five nato soldiers in afghanistan today, including two americans. the attacks were in the north, south, and east of the war-torn country. that followed three separate attacks yesterday that killed four u.s. soldiers. meanwhile, efforts to improve the security situation continue with the training of afghan security forces. the u.s. army general who heads the nato training program said today the process is moving forward, but slowly. >> if somebody says when will the security force have to leave in a particular area, we

will not have finished building the entire army until october of next year. it doesn't mean in small, isolated pockets that they can't have the lead with coalition enablers supporting them. but to say that they'll be able to do much more before october next year would be stretching it. >> sreenivasan: the u.s. pullout is set to begin in july, 2011, but president obama has said that is dependent on security conditions. this was also a deadly weekend for american forces in iraq. a u.s. soldier died sunday in a rocket attack near basra. it was the first american death since the last u.s. combat brigade withdrew from the country last week. the united nations reported today nearly 200 women were gang-raped in the democratic republic of congo. the rapes happened in an eastern town earlier this month, in an area then controlled by rwandan and congolese rebels. aid groups said the rebels terrorized the town during a four-day siege. nearly all of the rapes that were reported were described as being perpetrated by two to six armed men.

the u.n. mission is still investigating the atrocities. a close vote in australia's national election this weekend means no party has emerged a clear winner, and that the vote count could extend into next week. the incumbent labor government and conservative opposition began competing for the support of independents and green party members. the current labor leader and prime minister, julia gillard, did not reveal what her party was prepared to offer in the confidential negotiations. >> i'm not going to go into these things. our intention is to have both negotiations in good faith with due diligence with respect for the individuals involved. there's intent interest from the australian nation in these discussions, of course. we will be reporting to the australian nation periodically as the discussions occur. >> sreenivasan: no australian government has had to rely on the support of independent

lawmakers to rule since 1943. a federal judge in washington put a temporary stop to government funding of human embryonic st cell research today. the district court ruling was in favor of scientists who contend stem cell research destroys human embryos. the suit was against the national institutes of health, who distribute funding for the research. the obama administration could appeal the decision or rewrite n.i.h. guidelines to comply with u.s. law. the new gulf coast claims facility began operations today, taking over the claims process from oil giant b.p. kenneth feinberg, president obama's choice to administer the claims said the payouts will be more generous than if victims go through e courts. feinberg also stressed it was his idea to include a "no sue" rule for anyone who receives a final settlement from the $20 billion compensation fund. stocks fell on wall street today over concerns the economic recovery is stalling. the dow jones industrial average lost 39 points to close at 10,174. the nasdaq fell 20 points to close above 2159. those are some of the day's major stories.

now, back to gwen. >> ifill: now, the pakistan floods. the waters continue to spread south, while the damage left in the waters' wake to the north create new challenges for an area still coping with fallout from the fighting between the taliban and pakistani government. special correspondent saima mohsin reports from the town of nowshera. >> reporter: these scenes speak volumes about people's desperation. it's one we saw again and again. women and children don't stand a chance. these young eyes have seen too much. fleeing from the taliban, witnessing public beheadings, living through a military operation and yet again ending up displaced in a camp. >> we left all our belongings.

we haven't been given tents. some people have brought canvasess. everyone here is very poor. to have a tent or dishes. no bedding. the kids are so uncomfortable. the scorching heat is getting to us. sometimes we get water from the local administration but nothing else. >> reporter: the families here are stuck in a no man's land. the town was once their safe haven from the taliban. they've been staying here ever since. their i.d.-cards say they're not from this area so they have set up camps in the shadows of the train tracks. the only tents you see here have been saved from the last crisis. >> if you had seen what happened to my house, you would cry. what aid do we get? we sometimes get water. sometimes people come and give us chipatis but it's often old and steal. we spent several days in the mountains fleeing from the water and didn't get one biscuit to eat.

not one biscuit. >> we have to go and buy food from the shops ourselves. we haven't been given a thing to eat but we are very, very poor. nobody is working. i have three young daughters and one son. my son is studying but i had to sell his books. what else must i sell? we're homeless. what else can we do? how can we survive? we can only pray to god. the government hasn't given anything. it's every man for himself here. >> reporter: collapsed houses, schools and shops. the water knew no bounds. flash floods poured through this region at a pun ining pace. when the river burst its banks the water came thrashing through the entire area and through the town that way. local people say it was as high as those rocks behind me and where i'm standing right now. >> we didn't even manage to save our bedding. we spent three days living out

in the open on this hill. we didn't even get a sip of water. we ended up drinking flood water. >> reporter: now they live in tents amongst the rubble of their homes. here at least they've been provided with shelter and water. but people say it's not enough. >> sometimes we get water and sometimes we simply don't. then we have to head out to get water from far away. sometimes all the way to sulfur. >> sometimes water is delivered after two days. sometimes after three. we have huge issues with not getting water. we are really suffering. >> all of the children are ill and have rashes. nothing is clean. nobody comes to ask if we're okay. if someone does come, everyone gathers hoping they've brought relief supplies. you and your crew have come to ask us how we're doing. haven't you? but nobody else asks if we're okay. >> reporter: it's easy to see how disease is now threatening

an even bigger humanitarian crisis. eye infections, diarrhea and cholera are spreading. food stalls and clean drinking water have been set up above open gutters. raw sewage. people walk to buy the bear essentials. in one official camp we visited a field hospital. there were no doctors or medicines here. noster a rusty roll cuts an old man bandage. hundreds of babies have been born into a very different life from the ones that parents had planned for them. >> we were fleeing the floods. and then she went into labor. we stopped there and the babies were born. >> we were born in the street? >> yes. in the middle of the night. then a stranger cut their cord for us. we arrived here in the morning. >> i have had twins.

there is no food here or milk for them. i wish i could get something to eat so they won't die. i don't have any clothes to put them in. i only have the clothes i'm wearing. if i was eating properly i could breastfeed them. >> reporter: $800 million has now been pledged to pakistan. turning that into cash and aid on the ground is proving slow as it is to convince the world how huge this disaster really is. international aid is coming in we're told repeatedly but we found little in the way of official aid donations to people when we visited these camps. all of them had already been set up. when private donors turn up it's a scene of complete desperation for any kind of food. aid agencies are concerned about the lack of coordination and organization, warning the situation may worsen if this doesn't happen fast. three weeks since the floods hit pakistan they continue to batter the south and leave years of hardship in their wake.

the water has left its mark on the people and this man. >> brown: judy woodruff takes the story from there. >> woodruff: for more on the problems aid groups are facing with relief efforts, we're joined by daniel wordsworth, the president and c.e.o. of the american refugee committee, which has a team on the ground in pakistan. thank you for talking with us. that report from northern pakistan was grim. what is your sense of the relief efforts right now on the ground including in the south where there's new flooding? >> yes, i mean one of the great challenges with this crisis is that this emergency basically spreads the entire length of pakistan. it started in the swat valley but the water has just swept down through that entire country over hundreds and hundreds of miles wiping out entire villages through a number of states. so you see really critical

situations like the ones described on your piece but now you see the situation actually worsening in places in the southern part of pakistan and in punjab. it is desperate there. >> woodruff: why is it so hard to get aid to these people? after one person after another was telling the reporter there they had nothing >> there are a range of challenges there. frankly the international community is really trying to gear up. we're really trying to get out and to find these people and to meet their needs. there are over 20 million people affected by this crisis. they're spread from some of the most rugged terrain in the world in areas that for a number of years have been essentially experiencing open warfare. they're incredibly insecure. the nature of flooding means that you see bridges, you see electricity. you see roads completely destroyed.

infrastructure wiped out. our very ability to get to some of these locations is challenged. our team has been forced to use zodiac craft, small boat to get to clinics. we use donkeys and mules and people walking on feet to get up into these mountains. the way we've managed to reach people to date is we were fortunate that we had existing health clinics and we had existing programs in many of these areas. our staff were able to reach out and provide at least emergency health services. but we really have to expand this effort. i think part of the challenge here has been that much like the flood that has been building, the visibility of this crisis needs to increase. people need to see that this is a huge emergency. people estimate that around pun fifth of their country is covered in flood water. and frankly we just need to get funds moving. this is an expensive business. we need to use helicopters. it's about food. it's about shelter. it's about a whole range of

things. it's just taking time to get them mobilized. >> woodruff: so it's the money that is a big part of the problem and it's just the ability to get the aid to where it's needed? >> yes. and the third point is that these are in conflict areas. these are very insecure areas. they're frankly dangerous for our staff. we're actually trying to provide aid and humanitarian services in very contested regions. it's really the combination of those three things. >> woodruff: is that primarily in the north where you have that more serious security problem? >> that's particularly the security problem is particularly strong in the swat valley and up in the north. a lot of these areas are remote locations, they're rugged. they're tough environments and insecure in themselves. >> woodruff: what sort of support is your organization and other relief organizations what sort of support are you getting from the pakistan government, the pakistan military?

>> well actually we try to coordinate with the pakistan government, and we try to work with them to coordinate our response so you have the united nations working with organizations like the american refugee committee who then work alongside of the pakistan government to get these services going. as a humanitarian organization and particularly in these kinds of contested areas we tried to stay very visibly separate from the army. so we haven't been utilizing the helicopters, and we haven't been working alongside of them. >> woodruff: that's because you don't want to be seen as taking sides? >> well, maybe partially that. actually it's more that we have to stay in this region. we have keep working with these people. this flooding is a major crisis, but it's part of a long-term problem that's existing in that region. we need to be there after this flood. we just... we want it to be very clear for everybody involved that we are focused

absolutely on the men, the women and the children who live in these villages. we don't want to get that message , you know, made murky in any way. >> woodruff: because you're worried about the political perceptions? is that what you're saying? >> yes. >> woodruff: and again in terms fund-raising, what is your message to anyone watching who is thinking about whether to provide... to send a contribution or to do something else to try to help? >> well, i know america is an amazingly generous country. the country that's really taken the lead in pakistan when it comes to mobilizing resources has been the u.s. government. we have noticed in the american refugee committee that the american people step up and are remarkably generous. already this year we're seeing a huge outpouring of sympathy and donations for the people affected by the crisis in haiti. but i would really just encourage people that the situation there is desperate. if you have an organization that you're connected with,

please go to their website and just make a contribution. we just need to get resources flowing. we need urgently to provide fresh and clean water so that children aren't affected by derea, so we don't see cholera outbreaks. we have to set up sanitation facilities to keep whatever water is there and keep the environment as healthy as possible. we need to keep these health clinics going. we need to make sure that cholera does not break out. we have to get people into some kind of shelter and some kind of housing. the monsoons aren't stopping now. the rains keep on coming. we need to get people into some kind of dry place. please i'd just ask people again just to be generous. >> woodruff: daniel wordsworth with the american refugee committee. thank you very much. >> thank you. >> ifill: next candidates in four states entered the home stretch today >> ifill: next, candidates in four states entered the home stretch today, with primary contests less than 24 hours away. tuesday's primary voting

promises to be a test of any number of this year's hot-button themes. from policy issues like immigration to the free-spending ways of party outsiders. all come into play in tomorrow's most consequential contest in arizona and florida. democrats in the sunshine state will choose between congressman kendrick meek and real estate investor jeff green for the senate nomination. meek who has pope ened up a ten-point lead in latest polls has won endorsements from president obama and former president clinton. >> we're very, very encouraged by what we're hearing from voters in florida. i'm looking forward to being victorious here on tuesday. >> ifill: but green a first-time candidate has promised an upset. >> i'm going to fight against the culture of corruption and bribery in washington that's caused special interests. i will go to washington and create jobs. i will get results. >> ifill: each has hammered the other on ethics issues. >> meet the real jeff green.

he ran for congress as a california republican. moved to florida two years ago. became a billionaire on wall street . helped fuel the economic meltdown. meek lobbied for big tobacco against children's health care, lobbied against seniors. no wonder an independent elt ethics organization rated meek one of the most crooked candidates. >> ifill: the democratic nominee would face governor charlie crist who is running as an independent and a tea party favorite who is the likely republican nominee mark owe rub yo. two republicans are competing for their party nomination in the race for governor. attorney general bill mccollum and businessman rick scott. together they have spent more than $50 million on tough television ads taking direct aim at each other. >> while you pocketed $300 million by ripping off tax payers as attorney general, i recovered record millions from medicaid fraud. you put profit over principle.

that's wrong. >> did you get burned by bill mccollum? he promised to spend tax dollars wisely. then he spent $280,000 tax payer dollars on chartered aircraft even r personal use. >> ifill: recent polls has given mccollum the edge. in arizona four-term senator john mccain who was his party's presidential tom nominee only two years ago has spent $20 million fending off a challenge from former congressman j.d. heyworth. mccain, who pushed a bipartisan comprehensive immigration bill in 2006 adopted a tougher approach this year, emphasizing border security over legalization. >> we got the right plan? the plan is perfect. you bring troops, state, county and law enforcement together and complete the dang fence. >> ifill: but heyworth who has spent only $3 million on the race focused on attacking mccain for changing positions on issues like immigration. >> complete the dang fence.

>> ifill: mccain has lately opened a wide polling margin over heyworth. alaska and vermont also hold primaries tomorrow. >> ifill: joining us to take a closer look at what's at stake in florida and arizona are susan macmanus, professor of political science at the university of south florida, and bruce merrill, professor emeritus at arizona state university and longtime political pollster. let's start in florida and arizona, but start talking about the senate race starting in florida. what is the big differences in macmanus that voters are expected to draw between the candidacies of meek and green. >> it looks like it's boiling down to primary voters. and their assessment of which of these candidates is going to be best for democratic candidates all the way up and down the ballot in november. i can tell you truthfully it's been non-stop character assassination for months on end to the point of some are wondering how this is going to affect turnout tomorrow. >> ifill: we've been talking about outsider status all year long and how the outsiders are

the ones with the advantage. why is it that jeff green doesn't seem to have the outsiders's edge? >> part of the reason is because he's been running ads non-stop. people no longer see him as a new face or an outsider. he's more like one in the same of the other politicians. right now floridians say that the number one thing they want to see in their candidates is integrity and frankly they haven't seen a lot of it in these ads because these candidates have bruised each other so badly. >> ifill: in arizona, why is it that john mccain was ever in trouble? he was the party's nominee just two years ago? >> well, that's true. but he has long had a problem in arizona with the right wing of the republican party. basically what's happened this time is he is running against a candidate that is really a very right-wing candidate that has forced the senator to move much more to the right , much more than he's a little bit comfortable with.

>> ifill: did he rescue himself in lots of respects with all of that money he spent, $20 million, compared to j.d. heyworth's $3 million? >> well, there's no question about that. he's ran an effective campaign. john mccain is a very tough campaigner. he's one of the hardest-working campaigners i've ever known. and he has spent $20 million. but it's much like susan said. here in arizona the environment has become so negative with so many negative ads that we're expecting one of the lowest turn jous in the primary we've ever had. that makes it possible for somebody like j.d. to do a little bit better because when you have local turnout in the pry ... primary, the ideologues both of the right wing and the left wing have much more influence in the election. >> ifill: interesting you're both talking about low turnout. susan, i want to turn to the governor's race in florida. are we expecting bill mccollum and rick scott to drive

turnout down because theirs has been a fairly negative campaign? >> i think so. in fact we have the highest percentage of undecideds at this point. it's just really making it very difficult to figure if the polls are accurate or not. in fact, in the last three days or four days we've had three or four polls and they're all over the map on the governor's race. i think it will boil down to the party regulars seeing in mccollum somebody that again will help candidates up and down the ballot or it will be rick scott benefiting from last-minute anger and a rising unemployment rate in the state and his emphasis on jobs. . it's just so uncertain. it too like the senate race has been kick boxing at the head among both of these candidates. it's going to make some people just stay at home. >> ifill: is what we're seeing in these up-and-down polls a more competitive race or are we just seeing that it is a lessen gauging race? which is it? >> well a lot of people are talking about it. the polls are all over the place.

one poll today has scott up by 7 to 9 and another one has mccollum up by 6 to 8. you just really don't know. it's really confusing to people. we started early voting two weeks ago. most people are expecting that the turnout is going to be between 20 and 30. 30 would be high for a primary election. frankly this whole election season has felt like a presidential election year with the intensity beginning in january with the entry of these two wealthy candidates into the senate race and the governor's race . >> ifill: bruce merrill it's interesting in arizona governor jan brewer which we have heard a lot of lately since the immigration bill was made law in arizona she signed it. she doesn't have anybody facing her in her primary. was that always going to be the case? >> no, that was not always going to be the case. to understand arizona politics in this electoral cycle you really do have to understand this immigration reform bill

in arizona. we call it 1070 here. it is literally dominated and changes the entire environment of the state of arizona. three months ago the governor had supported a tax increase that was very unpopular with the right wing. if she had not signed 1070 she would have had no chance to become the republican nominee. since then because of the tremendous media coverage not only in arizona but around the united states and the world, she has been propelled into a very strong position. all of her opponents have withdrawn. she will enter the general election with a sizable 15 to 20% lead over terry goddard. >> ifill: terry goddard is the democratic nominee running against her. >> he'll be the democratic nominee. he is a very popular attorney general here in arizona. he will clearly be the underdog because the political

environment is so supportive of 1070, particularly among the independents, that it's going to be hard for him to really come up with an issue other than the economy which is a rational issue where 1070 is a gutty motional issue. >> ifill: let me ask you both finally, we've heard a lot on the national scene this year about the impact of the so- called tea party. in every state it seems to be different. in florida, let's start with you, susan macmanus, we know that mark owe rub yo is someone who is considered to be the tea party candidate whatever that means. how strong is a factor is that some. >> the tea party is sort of mobilized anger. it's contributed to the enthusiasm gap between republicans and democrats this election season. but the tea party in florida is more of something that people identify with for different reasons and not everyone shows up that identify s with the tea party. but one of the things that is really driving them is the national debt.

we we have obviously multigenerations in florida. we have a lot of people, boomers and seniors that are very concerned about the economy and the future for their children and grandchildren. so the tea party grabbing on to the national debt issue has really helped bring fiscal conservatives into the forefront and forced candidates on both sides of the aisle to adjust to that message. >> ifill: let me briefly ask bruce about the same thing. is the tea party a factor in arizona? >> it really isn't a big party factor because what's happened here is that they have not taken a position either with j.d. heyworth or with the senator. so basically the tea partyers in arizona are just kind of the traditional, more libertarian conservative states rights republicans. they haven't been very focused or very organized. so i don't see the tea party movement as a big factor in this election. >> ifill: we'll be staying up late and watching for results

from both florida and arizona. thank you both very much. >> thank you. >> brown: now, a remarkable story of survival in a collapsed gold and copper mine in chile, but one with much drama still to unfold. we begin with this report narrated by rohit kachroo of independent television news. >> reporter: moments after the breakthrough when a message from underdog confirmed that the men were alive after 17 days , hope came from a hand- written note scrolled on a scrap of paper. then held aloft by the chilean president. "all 33 of us are fine" it read. search teams bored a hole 1700 meters underground. eventually a camera revealed a glimpse of one of the men. he had lost weight but he was well.

he seemed to be smiling. when the drills were hoisted to earth, letters from underground were attached. but this was no s.o.s. i am sure we will survive, one of the miners confidently wrote. it led to celebrations across chile, a nation which had watched seven attempts to save the miners, all failed. many were already mourning, unaware that beneath them the men had dug a channel to an underground water supply. the daughter of one of the trapped miners said, when he comes out i'll tell him a million times that i love him. but it may be a long wait. though food and water can now be passed down the cavity building a hole large enough to actually rescue the men may take until christmas.

their faces have been seen but will not be seen in person for some time. their wait will be long and uncomfortable. but they're alive. >> brown: a short time ago i >> brown: a short time ago i spoke with bloomberg reporter matt craze in santiago. matt craze, welcome. what more can you tell us about how these men survived so long already? >> well, when they were down in this area, they were close to a refuge where they had some food supplies. and also some water. they were able to obtain more water supplies from basically some ventilation areas and drill areas, even from drilling equipment. that seems to be at this stage, although we have very little information what has kept them going. >> brown: what can you tell us out the plan to get food and supplies to them? how will that actually work? >> well today the rescue team

sent some rehydration drinks in a kind of cylinder that fits into this drill hole that they brought into the mountain yesterday. and they're really just checking these guys' tolerance to, you know, to being able to eat food, proper food, but right now they're just... they're just assessing their state of health. the miners have actually contacted the rescue workers today . they have an intercom which was sent in the cylinder. they said they're all healthy but very hungry. >> brown: it's remarkable to hear the talk about a possible rescue but not until christmas. they're talking about four months. tell us about what's known about the difficulties of drilling the hole to rescue them and how that will proceed. >> sure. well there's only one real entry into the mine.

and the problem is that there's been a huge rock slide within that underground mine. the mining minister said even today that there should have been alternative safety access to this mine. and so really at the moment the only feasible plan on the table is to bore a hole into the ground about 60 centimeters wide which is just enough for a human to fit into. but this is a very slow process. the drill only works at a rate of about 20 meters a day. that's why they have this estimate which is, you know, anything from between two to four months. >> brown: what about the stress, the psychological demands of being down there that long? what can or might be done to alleviate that? >> well, we've had a lot of psychologists on tv today in

chile discussing the, you know, the different effects, that the length of this stay would bring to the miners. right now they haven't actually told them how long the rescue effort is going to take. the man in charge of the rescue effort thought it was more appropriate to tell them at a later stage. so they're really working on a whole plan to approach this side of things. however, today the miners were very optimistic. they even did a very kind of soccer chant today. they seem in good spirits right now at least. >> brown: incredible. in the meantime i understand that chile's president talked about overhauling the mining supervision regime there. just give us a little feel of how... of this industry. how important is it? how safe has it traditionally been? >>

chile's copper-mining industry is hugely important for the country. it's the biggest export by far. chile produces about a third of the world's copper. there are very different levels of safety between the large-scale mining companies where you're talking about companies such as freeport , big foreign mining companies that generally employ very stringent safety standards which comply with international, you know, the best international practices. you do have a lot of this very small-scale mining as well in chile especially when the prices of metals go higher, they tend to suddenly spring up again. sometimes you do have questionable mining standards with the small-scale activity. that's precisely the area which the government said it's really going to get tougher with. and apply new criteria to.

>> brown: briefly before i let you go, it sounds as though this continues to grip the nation there. why not? >> yes, it's just amazing the reaction that it's causing people in santiago yesterday when they announced the discovery of these guys and that they were safe and alive, people, you know, were shouting and tooting their car horns. we even got a congregation of people in the central square which you normally only get for world cup victories and things like that. soccer victories. it's had an amazing effect on people. it's actually quite an emotional experience for anyone who lives here. >> brown: matt craze of bloomberg, thank you very much. >> thanks. >> ifill: finally tonight, new orleans five years after hurricane katrina. as that anniversary arrives this week, we'll report on air and

online on how the city and the region are faring, for better and for worse. we begin our coverage tonight with some images of the city, then and now. they come from getty images photographer mario tama, who has collected many of his photos in a new book titled "coming back: new orleans resurgent." >> i'm a photographer with getty images. i've been photographing new orleans ever since hurricane katrina. i've returned approximately 15 times since the storm to document the aftermath on the recovery. i've been drawn to new orleans for a number of reasons. one of the first reasons is i've traveled to a lot of countries and seen a lot of terrible things. haiti, iraq, afghanistan. but as an american citizen who witnessed my own fellow citizens being abandoned in my own country was probably something more shocking than anything i've seen. i de a deeconnection with e peop. i road on the boats with them. i saw them in the convention

center and i felt an incredible connection and desire to make sure they weren't forgotten. once i started figuring out they were coming back i wanted to come back along with them and follow their progress and see that they weren't forgotten. this man and his wife are a couple that have been an amazing inspiration to me. they road out the storm in the lower 9th ward. they refused to leave when everyone else was evacuated after the storm. they have basically never left since then. they have an incredible faith and spirit. usually when i show up to meet them, they'll play some hymns. they'll read some pieces from the bible or from memory. they'll just talk about how their faith and spirit has carried them through this. it will continue to carry them through in the future. it was about nine months after katrina, i was searching for signs of resurgence and pre-katrina life in new orleans. a woman i had met suggested that i check out a second line parade over on frenchman street.

in the distance i heard this beat and this rhythm. and this beautiful moving procession of people just started pounding up . all of a sudden people seemed to come out of nowhere. within a couple of minutes it was this slowing congregation, this beautiful street party. it was happening in the middle of a formally flooded neighborhood. it was really at that moment that i felt like new orleans was coming back. in the first few second-line parades that i photographed there weren't that many people. maybe 100 or 200 people. now in this photograph in 2009 obviously a lot more residents had returned to the city. this parade consisted of thousands of people. it felt like some kind of street ballet. it was very intense. i didn't want to get in their way but at the same time i really wanted to capture the moment so i just tried to get as close as i could and snap a few pictures and then get out of the way and let them go on down the street. on the fifth-year anniversary of katrina i'm hopeful for the city of new orleans.

aate lot of the city has been rebuilt. however, they've got a very long way to go. the levees still don't provide a proper defense. there's still a lot of the people that have been displaced especially a lot of the poorer residents who simply can't afford to come back. obviously with the oil spill as another blow here , there's a long way to go. new orleans has always historically problems. it's never going to be an ideal, perfect place. the people who live here kind of accept it for its faults and love it for its faults really. katrina has absolutely left its mark on me. the people, the resilience. of this city has been something that has been incredibly inspirational to me. i've seen people have absolutely nothing and people with their homes flooding away and they just were so incredibly determined to come back to their home, to come back to their roots. it's real he'll taught me a

lot about being connected with your area and with your community and with your family. these kinds of roots are what really brought this city back more than anything else. it's not something that i experience very much living in new york, for instance. so i feel really blessed that i've been able to experience what a unique, incredible culture new orleans has to offer. >> ifill: getty images will donate all royalties from the sales of tama's book to the nonprofit organization new schools for new orleans. >> brown: again, the major developments of the day. the head of the food and drug administration called for more authority to help prevent outbreaks like the thousand cases of salmonella poisoning linked to eggs. and floodwaters in pakistan continued to spread to the south, affecting more than 17 million people. the newshour is always online. hari sreenivasan, in our newsroom, previews what's there. hari? >> sreenivasan: we talk politics with gwen and judy in our weekly video feature.

tonight, more on this week's primary races. on the pakistan floods, we have an update from special correspondent jeffrey kaye in islamabad. plus margaret warner is in baghdad as the u.s. ends its combat mission. we'll be collecting your questions and answering as many of them as we can here on the rundown. all that and more is on our web site, newshour.pbs.org. gwen? >> ifill: and that's the newshour for tonight. on tuesday, we'll look at american attitudes toward islam. i'm gwen ifill. >> brown: and i'm jeffrey brown. we'll see you online, and again here tomorrow evening. thank you, and good night. major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> tiny little thing, it's

and with the ongoing support of these institutions and foundations. and... this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. captioning sponsored by macneil/lehrer productions captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org