tonight, it's crunch time. the whirlwind final hours for hillary clinton and donald trump. the campaign nearly over, the polls soon to open. both sides barn storming battlegrounds with rallies past midnight. and after a marathon campaign, it all comes down to this, the math hand? also tonight, securing the election. intelligence sources tell nbc news, it's all hands on deck. an unprecedented plan, top secret facilities, security locations underground. and a massive show of force in new york city, where team clinton, team trump, and the eyes of the world will converge. we have it all covered. our team is in place. "nightly news" begins

world headquarters in new york, this is "nbc nightly news" with lester holt. good evening from the nbc news election center. tomorrow, we lekt a president. for many, it can't come soon enough after a campaign that has repeatedly turned modern history on its head. as he near the 11th hour of the race, our latest polling puts hillary clinton ahead in a four-way race with 47%. donald trump at 41. handful of states. and tonight barely 24 hours before the first poll closings, and with the electoral map still in flux, clinton and trump are on the move, making their closing arguments and planning big, late-night finishes. we have expanded coverage of the state of the race on this election eve. we start with nbc's andrea mitchell in philadelphia and the clinton campaign. andrea, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, lester.

months until the very last moment clouded by her choice to use personal e-mails. but now hillary clinton clearly feels she's on the verge of going where no woman has ever gone. hillary clinton heading out for the final campaign sprint, chasing a prize she's pursued for years. her last chance to connect with americans, with a closing argument she acknowledges needs to erase many voters' nagging doubts. >> i think i have some work to do to bring the country together. >> can you do that? >> yes, absolutely. i love this country and i believe in our people and i do believe we'll bring the country together. >> reporter: a negative campaign, she's going positive, boosted by the fbi's director decisions to end the e-mail review. her campaign saying it would remind voters of the controversy. rushing off my

today. >> we're on a good track. >> reporter: starting in pennsylvania where she needs suburban republican women and a big turn-out of minorities in cities like pittsburgh. tomorrow we face the test of our time, will we be coming together as a nation or splitting further apart? >> reporter: and trying to hold michigan, traditionally democratic, but whether clinton aides tell nbc news, they worry the trade issue could help trump flip a blue state. tonight, appealing to undecided voters. >> i know gone back and forth, you've thought about what to do, but let me say this, let me say this. this election is basically between division and unity. >> reporter: also trying to pull clinton over the finish line, president obama who crushed her white house hopes eight years ago and is now her strongest salesmen. >> whatever credibility i've earned after eight years as president,

because i am absolutely confident that when she is president, this country will be in good hands. >> reporter: tonight clinton making a personal appeal, a two-minute tv ad in primetime, hoping to reach as many as 20 million people. >> i want to be a president for all americans, not just those who support me in this election. for everyone. >> reporter: and she's firing up celebrity wattage in these closing days. beyonce and jay-z, katy perry, and lebron james. and tonight independence hall, hillary clinton will be joined by the president obama and first lady michelle. >> meantime, donald trump is barn storming battleground states, hitting five battlegrounds on this final day of campaigning, rallying his supporters one last time and conditioning to go

nbc's katy tur has the very latest on the trump trail. >> reporter: donald trump is trying to close the deal. >> this is it, this is it. good luck, get out there. i did my thing, i mean, i worked. >> reporter: during this last sprint, every second counts. trump hitting nine cities in nine cities over the weekend. today alone, in florida, north carolina, pennsylvania, new >> nice head of hair, i'll say that. >> reporter: this morning in sar so the a almost giddy. >> is there any place more fun to be than a trump rally? right? >> reporter: the campaign, like their candidate, is feeling good. over the past week and a half, the race tightening, so dramatically, even his seasoned aides were surprised. buoyed by nine days of innuendo after the fbi revived its investigation into hillary clinton. >> i would bet anything, some of osthe e-mails are so

beyond classified. >> reporter: the fbi closed that investigation again sunday afternoon, but so far no correction from trump. >> they went through 650,000 e-mails in eight days. yeah, right. >> reporter: only hours left and trump still hasn't released his taxes. hasn't quashed perceived conflicts of interest between himself and his company should he win, and hasn't been cleared of fraud charges against his university. then there's ce would govern. nbc news has learned trump won't talk transition because he doesn't want to jinx his chances but his staff is, posturing behind the scenes, and talking about newt gingrich as secretary of state, judy giuliani as attorney general, reince breeb us as chief of staff. officially trump denies these names are under consideration. one thing is certain, though, whatever does happen, politics will not be the same. >> there is every possibility that the

be a fight over the soul of this party over the next four years. >> reporter: in these final hours, donald trump has repeatedly said that he will do well among african americans and latinos by simply saying he will. tomorrow, his strategy will be put to the test, but tonight he is not done yet. he'll be in manchester, new hampshire, in a couple hours, and he will end his night in grand rapids, michigan, his 510th day of campaigning. lester? >> katy tur, thank you. chuck todd, nbc news political director and moderator of "meet the press." i've seen you at that board all day. i'm fascinating to know what you're looking at, focusing on for tomorrow. >> to figure out how states are going, you want to look at certain demographics groups. among all white voters, this was a fascinating fact here. donald trump was leading hillary clinton, but only by 15 points, which is actually less than mitt romney 2012. mitt romney, of course, did not win the presidency.

enough white voters to propel trump? non-college educated voters have been the backbone for trump in this primary. and he's doing better with them than romney did, but by only five points. this will be fine when he does well with other white voters. but he's not. let me show you. this could be key to this election. college-educated white clinton leading, she was leading by ten points. romney won them by 14. a 24-point swing. florida, george, north carolina, a state with big poppingdss of college educated whites, if hillary clinton is winning them by ten points, this is going to become a much bluer map much quicker. >> could be a game-changer.

campaign. give me the inside view, 24 hours before an election. what's going on? are you going on data or gut as to where you need to be? >> you're looking at both. certainly in the 2004 campaign, with george w. bush, we were three points ahead in the final polling averages. we were nervous, but we were feeling good, but you come into this night, it's a long day ahead. all of the action is slowing down. there's not a lot that you can do. you hurry up and wait, wait for the polls to it's as long a day as you could possibly imagine. >> and a long night tomorrow. steve, thank you very much. good to have you here. one of the biggest factors in deciding the election could be the influence of the latino vote. early voting suggests it's an all-time high in the all important battleground state of florida. nbc's gabe gutierrez is in central florida and has a closer look for us. >> let's just talk to these folks who are out and let's see. >> reporter: in the toughest of battlegrounds, the war

community know that their futures, their families, education, health care, jobs, all of that is on the line in 2016. >> reporter: clinton hernandez runs a group called vote my people. for months, the group in central florida, scrambling to energize an underrepresented demographic. long considered a sleeping giant. >> the latino vote in the state of florida has exploded. >> reporter: so far, they've cas a million early and absentee ballot, boosted by puerto ricans fleeing the island's debt crisis. turn-out of latinos is surging in arizona, nevada, and also parts of texas. >> latinos are much like all americans. they vote on different issues and different local issues. >> reporter: despite his controversial comments about mexicans, donald trump insists he's gaining ground. >> we're going to do great with the hispanics.

latinos, hillary clinton leads him by 45%. since winning the white house in 2004, they've lost. >> sometimes i think they've looked at that and decided to do the exact opposite. >> you don't like either candidate? >> really? no. >> reporter: a puerto rican voter, disgusted by trump but skeptical of clinton. stsh on the road to the white house, what was once a sleeping giant is stirring. ngets hi. >> let's turn now to the storm brewing around the fbi director. some republicans are questioning the fbi's claim that agents got through thousands of e-mails, some potentially related to mrs. clinton, in just eight days. it's yet another question frs james comey who found himself widely criticized by democrats and republicans for his actions during the campaign. no matter what happens

with the next president could be strained. we get all the latest from our justice correspondent pete williams. >> okay. >> reporter: the fbi says agents worked 24 hours a day to sort through the e-mails founds on anthony weiner's laptop. >> so sad what's going on. >> reporter: though donald trump and his supporters say it's not possible to go through 650,000 e-mails in eight days. fbi officials say most of the process was automated. step one, check e-mail headers to isolate those sent to or fro huma abedin while hillary clinton was secretary of state. then use a program like this, to delete duplicates. only a small number, the fbi says, had to be individually read. the fbi investigation is over, but fbi director james comey is left with lots of explaining to do. >> hillary clinton is guilty. she knows it, the fbi knows it. >> reporter: donald trump supporters say she should have been prosecuted over the

e-mails without looking at them first. >> the director himself has said he doesn't know whether the e-mails referenced in his letter are significant or not. >> fbi officials say comey wants to give a full accounting of his role in all this, including the decisions he made, which he might do in a couple of weeks, and whatever his own plans, members of congress are eager to pull him up for hearings, but he intends to stay for term, which would mean another seven years. still ahead tonight, on high alert, top secret, underground ops center where u.s. security stands ready to act over heightened concerns over outside interference in america's election. we'll be right back. ?? at walgreens, you're free- free to seize the savings on medicare part d. from one-dollar copays on select plans

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beyond the candidates themlv twists and turns, there is another reason why this election is unprecedented. the security operation on election day, aimed especially at a potential cyber attack, will be like nothing the government has ever mounted. we get more on this tonight from our senior investigative correspondent, cynthia mcfadden. >> reporter: at 6:00 this morning, a high level intelligence official told nbc

nerves are at the frenzy level as the federal government gears up to protect the country on election eve. it's all hands on deck, says a second official. multiple officials say concern is so high, for the first time in conjunction with an election in several top-secret facilities, including underground bunkers little rock this newly refurbished one located somewhere on the east coast, hundreds of federal employees, including th cyber experts are monitoring incoming intelligence to react to any threat to the federal government's communication and command systems. this morning, former nato commander admiral james stavridis discussed the type of russian threat he was concerned about, from a dump of false documents, to an attack on the u.s. power grid. >> there's maybe a 1 in 3 chance of this happening, but it's not insignificant. >> reporter: the scope of government readiness is unprecedented, including the six national cyber centers

operation centers. including here in new york, where both candidates will host what they hope are victory celebrations. new york police department and counter-surveillance teams are already at work. 5,000 uniformed officers on the detail. comparable to the pope's visit. it's the first time since 1944 that both candidates are from the same place. it too was new york. the candidates, roosevelt, and dewy. but unlike 1944, the cy and won't ever be put back in. cynthia mcfadden, nbc news, new york. we're back in a moment with some of the day's other news, including the latest on the earthquake that struck in the middle of the country. impressive linda. it seems age isn't slowing you down. but your immune system weakens as you get older increasing the risk for me, the shingles virus.

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we're back now with some of the day's other news. janet reno, the history-making first female attorney general of the united states, who served under president bill clinton, has died. reno's justice department oversaw a number of headline-grabbing cases, including the 1993 world trade center bombing and the 1995 oklahoma ci but she was criticized for her handling of the 1993 waco siege, and the elian gonzalez battle in 2000. reno was diagnosed with parkinson's in office and died due to complications from the sdeeds. she was 78. officials in oklahoma said yesterday's powerful 5.0 earthquake damaged 50 buildings.

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will the presidency. we've returned to pem berville, ohio, whose county picked 23 of the last 29 presidential winners. bob runs the family meat market. >> where's the beaf? >> reporter: a year ago, he was frustrated because he didn't hear much about where candidates stood on the issues. >> i have not made a decision yet, by any stretch. >> reporter: about you a campaign filled with hostility and name calling has left him worn out and dem moralized. >> at my age, i'm shocked that our country has gotten to this point. >> reporter: as the people of this town prepare to mark their x, there's a lot of trepidation. >> how are you feeling on the eve of the election? >> very anxious. nervous. >> reporter: last year, diane hopkins was leaning democrat. >> reporter: but tomorrow, she says, she will vote republican. >> i believe in what he brings to the table. which is a lot

know enough about him. >> reporter: todd sheets owns the general store. >> you're hearing a lot of people say that, you know, they're not excited about either candidate. that's kinda sad. >> reporter: and if trump wins? >> continue on. >> reporter: here, what people want most of all is to get past the angry shouts and get back to their everyday peaceful lives. >> the good part of this, come wednesday morning, the sun is candidate wins or loses, it's gonna be okay. >> reporter: kevin tibbles, nbc news, pem berville, ohio. that's going to do it for us on this monday night. a reminder, our election coverage begins tomorrow at 7:00 p.m. eastern, 4:00 pacific. we hope you'll join us for decision night in america. for some of you, we'll continue with a second half hour of this broadcast. for others, it will be available live streaming on our website.

news, thank you for watching and goodnight. now at six. a trio of fires in eastern iowa burn a house, a camper and a facility used for police evidence. we're learning the full extent of the flames tonight. sinking sun tearing apart an area street. "tony wasn't just good at this job, he was great at this job." a fallen officer is remembered by hundreds of his counterparts today -- less than a week after a deadly ambush in iowa kills two men who worked as police officers. "you're watching kwwl, we've got you covered. this is the news at six." good evening everyone, i'm ron steele.

one day after smoke billowed into the sky in cedar falls -- police are starting to get a very clear picture of the toll the fire took on the building. here's a look at the charred aftermath today -- fire crews say nothing is salvageable from the city-owned building used for police storage. today -- we're learning about the evidence and other police items that were essentially eliminated in the fire -- as much more than a storage building was lost to the flames. kwwl's elizabeth amanieh is live falls. elizabeth. amanda -- a complete loss- that's what cedar falls police tell me. and with that- a number of important items being stored as long term evidence-now long gone. cedar falls firefighters using drone video to get a better look at the extensive damage inside a police storage unit. area where the fire may have started, and just some of the items in the building." the firefighters say they're still