a sudden blast of snow where you might not expect it. nearly a foot falls in a matter of hours in one u.s. state. a tragic end to halloween night. now the search is on for the driver somewhere in and around l.a. who left three teenagers dead. at any moment, we expect a news conference on that space rocket crash in the california desert. we'll bring it to you live. what have investigators already learned? reunion, one of the most heart-warming moments to emerge after weeks and even months of ebola fears. welcome to "weekends with alex witt." breaking news at this hour, any moment now, the ntsb officials will be holding a press conference at the scene of yesterday's virgin galactic spaceshiptwo crash in mojave, california. that aircraft broke apart in the sky killing one pilot and

injuring the other. richard branson, the billionaire founder of virgin, is expected to be on the scene today, too. joining me from mojave, california, is jacob rascon. who's expected to speak at this news conference? >> reporter: as promised, the ntsb is here. they'll probably be here for a few days. they're here to look into exactly what went wrong. also expected on site today, richard branson himself here to be with the team and looking into what kind of a setback that will be to the program in general. friday's test flight was the first since january. it was meant to test a new engine and full mixture, what was supposed to happen was spaceshiptwo would be carried up to about 45,000 feet and then would separate from the mothership, a rocket would then propel it even higher and it would be in suborbit before gliding back to earth. it appears what happened

yesterday is that at the moment of separation, only minutes after there was some sort of explosion. one of the pilots, we're told, was able to parachute out in time but was badly injured. his injuries are described as moderate to major. the other pilot was not able to make it out alive. there are several debris fields within a two to three-mile area. they're working on securing that debris field yesterday. as promised, the ntsb is here today. richard branson, as i said, will also be here looking into what went wrong. as for the program itself, the ceo of virgin galactic said yesterday that they owe it to the pilots who were flying to keep moving forward. and that is what they will do. and, again, any minute -- when they come up here, the ntsb, we'll bring it to you. >> jacob, how long have the ntsb officials been there on the scene and given that this accident just happened less than 24 hours ago, how much are they able to learn so far? >> reporter: i know.

they got here -- they said they were going to get here about 7:30. we saw them show up about half an hour ago. but they could have gotten in last night. but what they're going to do is provide probably a briefing on what they expect to be doing today. they're going to go out to the site, what they're going to be looking at, what sort of things they're looking for. >> jacob rascon, thanks so much. earlier today, i talked with captain mark kelly and asked him what drives test pilots to take such incredible risks. >> they're exciting jobs, they're challenging jobs. and there are a lot of people out there that like a challenge. and for a pilot, one of the greatest challenges is to test a new vehicle. and in this case, test a vehicle that's going to go into space. space shuttle only flew 135 flights. there were no prior test flights before the first flight fts-1. for me, being a test pilot and

having the opportunity to fly the space shuttle was an incredible experience. so these guys that are climbing in spaceshiptwo, this might be the highlight of their career, to have this opportunity. and they've prepared incredibly for this. and the engineering team behind those folks is really top notch. virgin galactic can figure this out and they can recover from this. they can move on. it's a little bit of a setback for the time line. but there's nothing here that they're trying to do that is impossible. so i'm optimistic. >> that was part of my conversation there with captain mark kelly. we'll keep our cameras and eyes and ears on that particular news conference by the ntsb in the mojave desert. once that gets under way, we'll be moenitoring it and bring you the latest. police in southern california are searching for several men suspected in a hit-and-run accident which turned halloween tragic last night. three 13-year-old girls were

killed as they were out trick-or-treating. those girls, including twin sisters, were struck by a car in a crosswalk outside an elementary school in santa ana about 30 miles outside of los angeles. joining me now with more, nbc's joe fryer who's in l.a. the car was abandoned near the scene do they have any idea who the driver was? >> reporter: at this point, still not sure who the driver is and possibly one or two passengers seen getting out of the car and abandoning that car with the driver. so they are still searching at this time. of course, they are trying to figure out who's responsible for hitting and killing these three trick-or-treaters, three teenage girls, all 13 years old, who were hit near an elementary school last night. it was in santa ana, california. that's in orange county, about 30 miles south of los angeles. police do believe the suv was going at a high rate of speed. they want to try and figure out who these folks are. that vehicle, the suv, was found

not too far from the scene, about 800 yards away. but by that point, the suspect and possibly one or two passengers had fled. they are still searching for the person. the vehicle had significant front-end damage. no one was inside when they found that vehicle. that's why police are trying to get anyone's help possible. it's unclear at this point if they were able to check the registration on the vehicle, if it matched the possible suspect's or if that has not led them to any clues yet. we hope to learn more throughout the day. as you mentioned, the vicks, three 13-year-old girls, two of them were twins. neighbors say the third girl was friends with them. they lived in the neighborhood where this accident happened. so word spread quickly through this tight-knit neighborhood. friends and relatives were notified fairly quickly and there was a good deal of grieving at the scene late last night. >> i can't even stand this story. do you know, joe, in the case of the twin girls, were they the only children in that family? i'm just thinking as a parent. i can't even stand this news. >> we don't know at this point

if they were the only kids. i did read a report in "l.a. times" that said one person had shown up at the scene after the accident who was identified by neighbors as an older sibling which leads us to believe they may have had other siblings. but not sure at this point. >> the whole thing is just horrific. joe, thank you so much. let's go to the weather. heavy snow hitting north carolina right now. it is all because of an intense upper level storm and the weather channel's mike seidel has more on the unusual winter weather from sugar mountain, north carolina. >> reporter: typically on the 1st of november, we'd be talking about wind and snow and cold like this in north dakota. but we're in north carolina, believe it or not. and it's been snowing and blowing since about midnight last night. so far, about 6 inches on the ground here. south of here in the smoky mountains, in tennessee, there's 17 inches of snow. the roads there in the national park are shut down. they've had i-40 shut down at

the tennessee/north carolina line because of the snow and the wind. we're here at the ski resort at sugar mountain, 5,300 feet at the top. although the lifts aren't rolling right now, they'll likely be on tomorrow morning at 8:00 a.m.. 22 degrees right now. and the windchill is only 4 above zero. and we've had snow earlier than we've seen on record in south carolina. columbia, south carolina, did that this morning. lexington, south carolina, 4.5 inches of snow. outside of greenville, south carolina, reports of thunder snow. and 26,000 customers are without power. again, wild weather across the mountains of north carolina and tennessee. will tame down later on tonight. but many areas in the southeast and down south will see frost or freezing temperatures sunday morning. but then a nice recovery to more typical early november weather with temperatures in many spots back in the 60s by the early

part of next week. alex, back to you. >> i hope you're getting paid extra today, thank you, mike. in other news, at least 50 people are dead in the latest mass execution by isis militants in iraq. the victims were tribesmen and women from the village north of ramadi. "the washington post" reports this morning that justice department officials say it is highly unlikely that ferguson, missouri, police officer darren wilson will face federal civil rights charges in the shooting death of michael brown. the paper writes, the d.o.j. is reluctant to acknowledge it does not have a case because tensions are so high right now. while the grand jury continues to consider possible criminal charges. a d.o.j. spokesman said the case is still open saying, quote, this is an irresponsible report by "the washington post" based on idle speculation. and tech giant amazon just released a new report on diversity at the company. turns out it's overwhelmingly

white and male. 63% of its employees and 75% of its managers are men. inside the u.s., 60% of amazon workers are white as are 71% of the managers. the tech giant says it's working to bring more women and minorities into the fold. it is the moment a lot of people have been waiting for, dallas nurse nina pham recently declared ebola-free, reunited with her dog bentley. nbc news correspondent kristen dahlgren joins me with more. big smiles about this story. when did it happen? >> reporter: it happened this morning. after more than three weeks apart, nina pham and her beloved king charles spaniel are finally together again. workers gathered to say good-bye to the pup. despite his fans, bentley clearly missed his mom and pham returned the sentiment. >> i feel like bentley reentering my life is yet another reminder of hope and

encouragement for me moving forward and if you willing my life to its fullest with my best friend at my side again. >> reporter: it's been a whirlwind week for pham who got to visit the white house after being declared ebola-free. and pham says she's already preparing for bentley's second birthday party later this month. bentley's care in quarantine didn't come cheap. a dallas spokesperson say taxpayers spent tens of thousands of dollars to care for bentley. but donations and grants should cover much of the cost, especially after everyone sees that video. >> i know, we are a nation of pet lovers. thanks so much, kristen dahlgren. we're going to take you back to mojave, california, where the ntsb is beginning their news conference on the virgin galactic plane crash. let's take a listen. >> i intend to have a press conference later today after the people have started the

investigative process to reveal what we have learned thus far. and i will intend to do that regularly to keep everyone apprised of the information that we have gleaned in our investigative process. so please check the website, ntsb.gov and our twitter feed, @ntsb to find out exactly when and where that first press conference today will occur. so having just arrived this morning, we don't have any substantive information yet. but if you have any process questions, i'd be happy to take them. thank you for coming to cover this event. >> how different is this event [ inaudible ] -- >> the question is, how different is this investigation from the typical investigation that the ntsb does? this has many similarities and some differences. it has some of both for us. >> what are some of the differences? >> some of the differences is that this was a space launch vehicle and this would be the -- we participated in the launches of the "challenger" and the

"columbia". but this will be the first time we have been in the lead of a space launch that involved persons on board. >> is there a black box in this vehicle? >> the question is, is there a black box in this vehicle? i'm not sure of that yet. we'll find that out probably today. any further questions? >> what altitude did this mishap occurred? >> the altitude of the mishap, i don't know that information yet. we'll find that out very quickly because this was a -- this was a test flight. and test flights are typically very well-documented in terms of data. and we may get some video feed. we may have lots of evidence that will help us with the investigative process. and we appreciate that. that will make our job simpler and make us able to find out not only what happened but also more importantly why it happened so we can make recommendations to try to prevent it from happening again. >> do you know if you have any [ inaudible ] --

>> the question is, do we have any telemetry? and we don't know that yet. we have somewhere between 13 and 15 investigators. >> is that a standard size for -- >> the size depends on the complexity of the mission. because this has new peaks for us, we want to make sure we covered all of the bases. thank you very much for coming. we'll have our press conference this afternoon. thank you. >> when we were told that richard branson would be coming to that podium, he clearly isn't doing that right now. you were listening to the ntsb acting director who said they have about a dozen ntsb investigators on scene to try to figure out the complexities of what has happened. but it is an interesting and a unique position for the ntsb to be in. it is the first time they're taking the lead on a crash of

this sort. this was a space launched accident. they don't have the telemetry. they just got on scene within this last hour. they'll have a news conference later on today and put together as many of the nuts and bolts and what's happened. but this is an investigation that will certainly take a lot more than just this day to come to a conclusion as to what happened. we'll stay on top of the news and we'll bring it to you as we get it. down to the last days of campaigning before the midterm elections. and steve kornacki will join me to talk about how it could all come down to kansas. ent, will you outlive your money? uhhh. no, that can't happen. that's the thing, you don't know how long it has to last. everyone has retirement questions. so ameriprise created the exclusive.. confident retirement approach. now you and your ameripise advisor can get the real answers you need.

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there were two dueling issues i noticed on the road. the frustration and dysfunction of washington.

and i think people looked at it from their own political points of view who they blamed for the dysfunction. and the second is the uneven economic recovery. >> that was nbc's chuck todd appearing on "up" with steve kornacki. three days until the midterm elections. as we enter the final weekend of campaigning, at least seven senate races are within three points or less. let me bring in steve kornacki, most of "up" by the same name there. with a welcome to you, first of all, big picture, steve, how do you think this is going to play out tuesday? >> well, let's take a look. we have the big board here. let's put it to use and pull up the senate battleground map. you mentioned those seven states where it's particularly close. but we have a battleground here, the states in yellow we're considering the senate battleground. that's ten, a total of ten of them where there is at least some degree of suspense heading into tuesday about what's going to happen. the red and the blue are states where one party clearly has an advantage over the other.

in this battleground we're talking about, seven of these ten are states that some control. three are seats that republicans control. this is all about two different magic numbers to keep in mind as these results come in tuesday night. the republicans, their numbers, 51. if they want to get control of the senate, they need to get to 51 seats. from this battleground we've identified, they'd need to win six of those yellow states to get to the 51. for the democrats, they start with 43. add in two independents because right now that's bernie sanders and king who are already in the senate and caucus with them, which gives them 45. if they can get to 50, joe biden is the vice president would break any tie in the senate. the democrats need 50 at their magic number, republicans, 51. >> talk about kansas. that one seems to be really close. >> yeah. kansas, close. it's one of the most fun races this year. you don't see this too often.

taking a look at the numbers in kansas, you see the average of the polls right now in kansas. it shows that greg orman, he's an independent, there's no democrat in this race. the democrat dropped out. democrats are betting on orman here, leading pat roberts less than one point. pat roberts, the republican, has closed this gap. if we were showing you this a couple of weeks ago, orman would have been ahead by a much more substantial margin. roberts has rallied republican voters and telling them basically, you may not like me that much, but you don't want to have a democratic senate. you want a republican senate. if that's what you want, you have to be with me. he's brought his numbers back up. but it's not enough to move ahead of orman. looking a real nail-biter in kansas. >> do we have a sense with whom orman would caucus if he's elected? >> the democratic bet is it would be with them. they think it will be with them. the republican fear is it will be with democrats. they've spent this campaign

treating orman as a democrat telling voters, don't blooif him when he says his mind isn't made up. he will be with the democrats. the issue is if the republicans are already over the top by the time it comes time for greg orman to decide, people say, he'll probably join the republicans anyway because he wants to be with the majority party. if his vote is decisive and the difference between the democratic senate and a republican senate, he's the wild card here. whatever calculation he decides to make -- obviously most people are expecting it's more likely to be democratic than republican. but he could surprise people. >> absolutely. georgia and the deciding factor there and how much you think that one's going to go to a run-off. >> that's the key question. we can look inside georgia, pull up the polling average there. david perdue, the republican, 0.3 percentage points separating nun from perdue. but he's stepped in on the issue of outsourcing from his business background. georgia, the state right now,

the recession lingering more in georgia than in any other state. so those comments have hurt him there. you don't see in this chart right here, there's a libertarian candidate getting about 3% or 4% of the vote. if that candidate keeps both of these candidates under 50%, there's a run-off in this race. but here's the twist on the run-off because of a court ruling, federal elections in georgia, you have to wait a real long time for a run-off. the run-off wouldn't be held until january 6th, 2015. to give you a sense of how far out that is, the new senate, the one elected this coming tuesday, will convene on january 3rd. so this, this race could still be unresolved when the senate is seated next year. >> talk about the president as well. he hasn't been invited to campaign in a number of these battleground states we're talking about. nationally speaking, how hard is that to manage for the party overall? >> yeah. it's interesting. he's not been -- in senate battleground states, the president basically absent.

he's in michigan this week where the democrats will win by about 20%. he has been used in governors races, some competitive governors races. i want to show you why. his home state of illinois, there's a barnburner of a governors race going on. pat quinn tied with bruce rauner. this was a razor-thin race in 2010. what you're seeing, the story of illinois, it's all red. there are 102 counties in illinois. 98 of them in that election in 2010 voted republican. pat quinn became the governor because he was able to win this one big. this is cook county. this is chicago. this is cook county and three much smaller counties down state. he won four counties total in the entire state. what that translates into, as many as an amazing set of

statistics. he won by 123 votes in a small county, 166 in a small county, 1,300 in another one and then 500,000 in cook county, all of that sea of red out there was against the democrats and against pat quinn. but because of one county where chicago is, because he won it so overwhelmingly, he was able to offset all those losses and barely win. so the calculation that the quinn campaign is making here is, president obama, where is he extremely popular in this country? chicago. cook county, illinois, his home stays. even if the suburbs who have sort of turned on obama a bit don't like him coming in, they say, we're losing the suburbs, we need this kind of number out of cook county. and president obama can get us that kind of number. so they're bringing him in there to do that. that's why. >> clearly, steve, you own the information and the telestratte. you're good with that. thanks so much. be sure to watch steve every

week, including tomorrow morning, 8:00 a.m. eastern here on msnbc. what does life look like when it gets back to normal in one small town? an awful lot like halloween. up next, how the capture of a suspected cop killer allowed these kids to enjoy their trick-or-treating. s perfect. you know what? plenty of guys have this issue, not just getting an erection, but keeping it. well, viagra helps guys with ed get and keep an erection. and you only take it when you need it. good to know, right? if ed is stopping what you started... ask you doctor about viagra. [ male announcer ] ask your doctor if your heart is healthy enough for sex. do not take viagra if you take nitrates for chest pain; it may cause an unsafe drop in blood pressure. side effects include headache, flushing, upset stomach and abnormal vision. to avoid long-term injury, seek immediate medical help for an erection lasting more than four hours. stop taking viagra and call your doctor right away

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pennsylvania is breathing easier now that fugitive eric frein is in custody. one trooper was killed, another wounded. u.s. marshals captured frein in an abandoned airplane hangar. sarah dallof joins me with more from blooming grove, pennsylvania. the kids were able to get out there and enjoy halloween after his capture. >> reporter: they were, alex. halloween up until he was captured had been canceled for safety concerns but it was reinstated just in time. kids able to go trick-or-treating and the annual parade able to go down main

street. it wasn't just the holiday. it was this fear, this unease hanging over residents' shoulders during these 48 days. we had schools canceled. residents were asked not to leave their home. throughout pike and monroe counties today, the word here hearing is relief. >> people have to get on with their lives. i was just glad the whole thing was over. i didn't like what was happening to people or how people were acting. >> it was putting a lot of stress on the kids because they're afraid to go to school. they kept closing school all the time. >> reporter: and there's a huge outpouring of support for the men and women of law enforcement who gave so many hours during these 48 days searching for eric frein. in fact, there's posters, banners and signs throughout the city all reading "thank you." one right across the street here at the police barracks says, way to go, psp. >> sarah dallof, thank you so much. how climate change may play a role in tuesday's election, that's coming your way after a

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welcome back to "weekends with alex witt." slow and steady but still dangerous. hawaii's kilauea volcano continues to erupt today. lava creeping to the nearby town of pahoa. no mandatory evacuation order has been put in place yet. nbc's hallie jackson joins me now. >> reporter: here's the latest from the leading edge of the lava flow here in pahoa. it's essentially stalled. almost no flow activity over the last 24 hours or so. so the lava right now, the front edge of it is still about 480 feet back from the street behind me here. you can see where the roadblock is. national guard members making sure that access is limited to this road. if folks who live here have to get out, they want to make sure they can do that easily and without a lot of people or cars blocking their paths even though a lot of people have shown up to pahoa to see this natural wonder for themselves. the lava is about a half mile

back from the area's main highway. that's the next critical piece of infrastructure that will be affected. officials have constructed a couple of alternate roads. they're finished two and are working on a third, keeping a close eye on that. that's the next key thing that might be impacted by this lava. at this point, there's still a fair amount of activity upslope from the leading edge. things like breakouts. no mandatory evacuations yet. but they're staying in close contact with folks to keep them abreast of where the lava is and where it's headed. rain won't stop the lava flow. it's simply too powerful. >> about 2,000-plus degrees fahrenheit. thanks for that. a new talking point for republicans is raising eyebrows on the campaign trail. they're claiming they're not scientists when they are confronted with questions about climate change. joining me now is kate shepard, environment and energy editor for "the huffington post." i want to play you some sound of

republicans avoiding the issue of climate change. here it is. >> i'm not a scientist. i'm interested in protecting kentucky's economy. >> i'm not qualified to debate the science over climate change. >> i'm not a scientist. we're going to make sure we take care of our environment. >> i don't know the science behind climate change. i can't say one way or another what is the direct impact. >> i'm not qualified, i don't know. why are they doing this? >> i think this is a really interesting evolution, if you will, on this issue. in the past, republicans would say, i don't think climate change is happening. then they say, it's happening but we don't know if human activity is causing it. sol i'm not a scientist is this new development that they're able to sort of skirt the question as to if it's happening and who's causing it and talk about the policy issues underlying it. it's an artful dance around the science that they're trying to

do here. >> and i can understand that they don't want to go specifically on record so they can be targeted. but do you think there is a political downside to avoiding this issue? >> absolutely. if you look across the country, voters care about this issue. it's not their number one issue. but a lot of voters care about climate change and think we should address it and are looking for candidates who will. i think they don't appreciate it when a candidate sidesteps the issue like this. it will be really important in the future that they figure out a better answer than that. >> do you think, then, this is just some sort of an election season strategy? do you think they're going to be more concrete with perhaps their contrarian thoughts or however you want to characterize that after election day? >> i think what we're seeing here is a response to the fact that young voters, african-american and latino voters, women voters, they all care about this issue. and candidates are responding to that. they know they have to shift. this is beginning to shift in that direction. and i think we'll see people in

the party who are coming around to sort of more reasonable positions on the science going forward. >> do you have any concerns that while they're avoiding the topic now, it means they're going to try to avoid further debate or discussion? >> well, if the republicans take over the senate, i'm sure the epa's carbon rules will be something they go after in legislation. but this is sort of, i think, opening a talking point for them to avoid the science part of it but still go after the regulations. >> do you think this strategy they're using somewhat lessens the importance of climate change as sort of a political issue? >> no, i don't think it solves the problem for them. i think this is -- they're going to be continuing to be asked about this. i think this is not going to be a winning strategy for them going forward. but we'll see. >> yes, we will. kate, thank you so much. up next, billions of dollars are being spent to woo voters for the midterm elections. but will all of that money really pay off? [ high-pitched ] nailed it!

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we're taking you right now to richard branson, the owner and founder of virgin galactic airways. let's take a listen to what he has to say about that dramatic crash yesterday in the mojave desert. >> we are determined to find out what went wrong and are working with the authorities to get that information. it is too early for me to add any details of the investigation at this stage. we've always known that commercial space travel is an incredibly hard project. we've been undertaking a comprehensive testing program for many years and safety has always been our number one priority. this is the biggest test program ever carried out in commercial aviation history, precisely to ensure that this never happens to the public. the bravery of test pilots generally cannot be overstated. nobody underestimates the risks involved in space travel.

commander chris hatfield is amongst those who sent moving notes of support in which he highlighted the nature of space projects. he wrote, as a former test pilot, crashes and sadly even deaths were frequent. it is a known part of the business. little solace but reality, pushing the bounds of knowledge and possibility comes with unavoidable risk. in testing the boundaries of human capabilities and technologies, we are standing on the shoulders of -- yesterday we fell short. we'll now comprehensively assess the results of the crash and are determined to learn from this and move forward together as a group of friends and a company. we've been touched by the overwhelming support coming not just from the space community but the world at large. if i could hug every single

person who's sent messages of love, hope and understanding over the past several days, i would. the space community sticks together and there have been touching messages of solidarity from nasa, even from the international space station, xprize, our customers, the media, the virgin family and many, many thousands of people all over the world, inspired by the vision of commercial space travel. of all the moving words shared with us, a quote from the astronaut, lisa nowak stood out, of course risk is part of space flight. we accept some of that to achieve greater goals in exploration and find out more about ourselves and about the universe. we do understand the risks involved and we're not going to push on blindly. to do so would be an insult to all those affected by this tragedy.

we're going to learn from what went wrong, discover how we can improve safety and performance and then move forward together. i truly believe that humanity's greatest achievements come out of our greatest pain. this team is a group of the bravest, the brightest, the most determined and the most resilient of people. we are determined to honor the bravery of the pilots and the teams here by learning from this tragedy. only then can we move forward, united behind a collective desire to push the boundaries of human endeavor. thank you very much. >> is it fair to say the dream lives on? >> it's fair to say that all 400 engineers who work here and i think most people in the world

would love to see the dream living on. as i say that we owe it to our test pilots to find out exactly what went wrong and once we've found out what went wrong, if we can overcome it, we'll make absolutely certain that the dream lives on. >> [ inaudible question ]. >> the ntsb will be doing regular press conferences over the next month. i'm not allowed to comment at all on any aspect of the spacecraft, the rockets and anything to do with it. it's the ntsb that will be commenting. and to be honest, i find it slightly irresponsible that people who know nothing about what they're saying can be saying things before the ntsb makes their comments. >> can you tell us about the pilot who died and the one survivor?

notified the family members yet -- >> somebody later on will give you more details on that. >> [ inaudible question ]. >> no, the pilot worked for scaled, not for virgin galactic. and i never met him. >> what's the future of virgin galactic right now? >> we would love to finish what we started some years ago. i think pretty well all our astronauts would love us to finish it, would love to go to space. i think millions of people in the world would love one day to have the chance to go to space. and this is the start of a long program. i've spoken before of once we got this program off the ground of offering point-to-point

travel. in the early days of aviation, there were incidents and then aviation became very safe. in the early days of commercial space travel, there have been incidents. and then we hope that one day, the test pilots will enable people to be able to go to space safely. and that is our wish and desire. >> richard, what's your message to those who have paid the seats, who wanted to be on those journeys? what's your message to them today? after what they've seen over the last 24 hours? >> we have had numerous messages of support from the people who -- the astronauts who signed up to go with us. we even had somebody sign up specifically to become an astronaut yesterday in support of the program. so i think that they've been patient to date. i think most of them will be patient longer. we may lose one or two. but it didn't look like it.

anybody who ever wanted a refund would be able to get a refund. we haven't used the money. we decided -- we've always decided it's best not to use the money. it just gave us the confidence to do the program knowing these people were so committed. >> [ inaudible question ]. >> i'm afraid -- thank you very much for being here. i'm being pulled away to go and see the 400 people who work here. thank you very much for your time. >> so there you are, the founder and owner of virgin galactic airways, the notable richard branson, expressing some cautious optimism about the dream living on and his intent to bring space travel in a low orbit form to tourists around the world, to go forward as long as the investigation finds out

what happened yesterday and is able to allow the company to correct that problem before moving forward. again, cautious optimism there. but clearly the passion that he has and the heartfelt sense of appreciation for the bravery of test pilots throughout history as well as through this extraordinary program that he's putting out there. he certainly demonstrated that. we'll stay on top of that. as we get more information about the investigation and its results, we'll bring it to you here on msnbc. coming up, we'll get the strong reaction to that viral video that was aimed at raising awareness about harassment. we're going to talk to the woman in the video about what she experienced and the threats she's gotten since it was posted just a short while ago. luminous collection. renews surface cells to even skin tone. in just two weeks, see pearlescent, luminous skin. regenerist luminous. olay. your best beautiful. i will always be brilliant, never dull.

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we'll be making sure voters are going into the voting booth asking themselves, which party has my back? i frankly think that democrats who have fought for opportunity at every turn are going to be

the answer to that question. >> that was deputy communications director of the dnc lily adams a little earlier on the show. the midterms are three days away. as americans prepare to head to the polls, many have already cast a ballot. early votes have soared across 15 million across 30 states. joining me now, msnbc.com's senior editor beth fouhy and emily cohn. beth, first to you, what is the conventional -- >> in all the years i've been covering campaigns, there's a strong feeling about what's going to happen the following tuesday. generally speaking, republicans are probably going to have a good night. but the polling is so close in all these states and all these states with competitive senate races.

most are red states. one would assume the republicans would be running away with the campaigns because of the president's relatively low popularity. and yet in most of these states, you see democrats still holding their own within the margin of error and all the polling. i think we can say it's probably going to be a pretty good night for republicans but i think democrats will have some surprises going in their favor. >> emily, "the washington post" has this new article i'm looking at about the flood of political ads, including these two -- here they are. >> i'm joni ernst, i grew up castrating hogs on an iowa farm so when i get to washington, i'll know how to cut pork. >> mitch mcconnell wants you to think i'm barack obama. mitch thought duke basketballs were uk or who's attacking me on goal? >> political advertising is expected to reach $2.4 billion.

how much of an impact do you think this is going to have on these close races? >> when you have so much money on the air waves and you have some of these markets, they're so oversaturated, that you can't advertise anywhere. you have to have an ad that cuts through. in iowa, we didn't think it was going to go republicans' way. bruce braley was raising money and thought he was going to just coast through. and that's certainly not happening. and it all started with that ad about the cutting pork. it got joni ernst noticed. same with alison lundergan grimes. her holding the gun in that shot was saying, i'm not the national democratic party. i'm a different democrat. >> speaking of the democrats, beth, there's a vulnerable democratic senator, mary landrieu of louisiana, defending

the comments she told to nbc's chuck todd. >> to be honest with you, the south hasn't always been the friendliest place for african-americans. it's been a difficult time for the president to present himself in a very positive light as a leader. it's not always been a good place for women to be able to present ourselves. it's more of a conservative place. so we've had to work a little bit harder on that. but the people trust me, i believe. really, they do, to trust me to do the right thing for the state. >> this latest poll shows senator landrieu seven points behind her republican challenger. beth, talk about the dynamic at play in that state. the landrieu name is a popular and widely known one. how will these comments play out? >> it's a popular name in louisiana. but everybody's sick of incumbents and people who have been in politics for a long time. the landrieu name might cut a little bit against her in louisiana right now. but she made the controversial comments to suggest the

president isn't popular in the south because of his race or that women have a problem in the south. those are really scary comments to be making. and certainly are going to invite some backlash. but she's trying to gin up her base in louisiana to come out for her. and her base are democrats. and democrats in that state are largely going to be african-american and younger women. she's trying to bring those folks out. she has to. >> emily, if the republicans do manage to get control of the senate, do you think that ensures a couple of more years of gridlock in the congress? >> the likely will be slim. mitch mcconnell has to deal with legislation coming from the house side that's not going to be something that a lot of his vulnerable members in 2016 like. just like this cycle where a lot of democrats were running in states that president obama was very unpopular, next time around, a lot of republicans are running in states where democratic presidents do really well. so his caucus, his vulnerable senators are not going to want

to deal with a lot of that house agenda. >> beth and emily, thank you, ladies. teachers are often considered overworked and underpaid. but some jarreeducators in calia are receiving salaries and perks only some can dream of. yogurt tastes best. definitely that one. that one's delicious. it's yoplait! what? i love yoplait! the other one is chobani. really. i like this one better. yoplait wins again! take the taste-off for yourself.

for over 19 million people. [ alex ] transamerica helped provide a lifetime of retirement income. so i can focus on what matters most. [ female announcer ] everyone has a moment when tomorrow becomes real. transamerica. new information in the crash of a pioneering spacecraft how will the tragedy affect civil space travel? arctic blast. a snowy assault comes with record-breaking bone-chilling cold. that's a cat call nightmare. that video featuring a woman being sexually harassed on new york city streets is now triggering threats against her. we'll talk to her about it. three days to go, a renowned expert on u.s. elections makes his bold midterm predictions. and a tearful reunion, a former ebola patient and her lovable bentley.

good day to all of you. welcome to "weekends with alex witt." here's what's happening. breaking news this hour, virgin founder richard branson just spoke a few moments ago at the site of u.s.'s crash of the virgin galactic spaceshiptwo in which one pilot died and the other injured. >> in testing the boundaries of human capabilities and technologies, we are standing on the shoulders of chance. yesterday, we fell short. we will now comprehensively assess the results of the crash and a determined to learn from this and move forward together as a group of friends and a company. >> joining me now from mojave, california, nbc's jacob rascon. we were listening to richard branson along with you, it seemed very poignant. but he's being very cautious

moving ahead. did you get that sense, too? >> reporter: yes, a very somber richard branson, determined to figure out what went wrong. but he said, yesterday, we fell short. he said safety's always been the number one priority. in fact, he had to be rushed away from questions to go speak, he said, to the 300 to 400 employees of virgin galactic who work here in an office warehouse just beyond where we are now. he was very somber in the words that he spoke. he said anybody who bought a ticket who would want a refund would be able to get that refund. he also said that he believes that most who have bought tickets and the engineers will have their full support behind the project. he even said, somebody signed up just yesterday in support of the project. he said, we've always known this was the most difficult project. we have known that there would be risk and in part accepted some of that. but he was very solemn in the

way he spoke about the project. did not comment on the investigation. but as you and i were listening to that, he said, yesterday we fell short, he knew it. he meant it and you knew he meant it when he said they were going to get to the bottom of this and try to overcome it. >> you could feel the somber nature there. you mentioned the investigation. and you had made the point that the ntsb, the acting director of which, spoke at a news conference. were they able to give too much information when they did that newser? >> reporter: no, they were not. they said it was the first of this kind. we knew that, we asked just to make sure. they said, this would be the first time the ntsb would conduct an investigation into a space launch in which there were people on board. something that they have never been the lead on. they have been involved in other space launches. but never like this. they said they had brought 13 to 15 investigators because of the complexity of the crash site and what was involved there.

and as we asked richard branson about the investigation, he said that he would not be able to comment on that but said rest assured, we will get to the bottom of what happened. >> jacob rascon, thank you so much for that. parts of north carolina are getting hammered with several inches of snow and then in chicago, the waves on lake michigan got so high, they flooded streets on lakeshore drive. the weather channel's mark elliot has more on the nation's forecast on the first weekend of november. >> a couple of different stories we're watching today, the main one in the east is the cold. and, again, sunday morning, freeze warnings through much of the deep south. this is a cold air blast that you are definitely going to notice. tomorrow morning, 31 in montgomery. 33 in atlanta. near the freezing line through much of north georgia. monday morning, a little bit of moderation down to the south but still plenty cold and plenty below average as well. still a cold air blast you'll notice. there's been a lot of snow so far. look at this, mt. leconte, 17

inches of snow. 3 to 5 additional inches of snow before this storm system is completely done. into the northeast corridor we go, it's cool here, about 10 degrees below average, in the mid to upper 40s through much of new england. by the time we get into tomorrow, near 40 in burlington, 48 in new york city and snow on its way across the northeast. temperatures cold, snow across northern maine. alex, back to you. >> good for skiers, that's for sure. developing news today, police in southern california are searching for several men suspected in a hit-and-run accident that turned halloween tragic last night. three 13-year-old girls were killed as they were trick-or-treating. those girls including twin sisters were struck by a car in a crosswalk outside on elementary school in santa ana, 30 miles outside of los angeles. joining me now is nbc's joe fryer from los angeles.

i understand police have located a car that was abandoned near the scene. what about a driver? >> reporter: that's what they're searching for at this point. about 800 yards from the scene, police did locate an suv. some witnesses thought they saw a driver, possibly one or two passengers running away from that vehicle. the vehicle did have front-end damage. police are pretty sure that is the vehicle that was used. but they're still trying to find the people responsible. we know today that police are trying to find any surveillance video from businesses in the area that might have either spotted or captured the hit-and-run or perhaps what was happening before or what was happening afterward to try and get a better description of the driver. also the orange county register is reporting that police have been able to trace that suv to a registered owner. they checked the address where that car is registered. the owner has since moved. what's unclear at this point is whether that vehicle was actually driven by the owner. so that's one thing police are trying to figure out.

this all happened just before 7:00 last night. it actually happened in front of an elementary school. the three young trick-or-treaters were struck and killed. police say the vehicle that hit them was going at a high rate of speed. and there were a number of witnesses who saw this. shortly after the accident, they did find that suv with a significant amount of front-end damage. now they're trying to find out who's responsible. as for the victims, two of them, teenagers, twin sisters, the third person, police say, was their friend, also 13 years old. this happened in the neighborhood where the girls live. so people pretty quickly found out about it. and there was a great deal of emotion near the apartment community where they live in the wake of what happened. alex? >> just a devastating story. joe fryer, thank you very much. in other news, "the washington post" reports this morning that justice department officials say it is highly unlikely that ferguson, missouri, police officer darren wilson will face federal civil rights charges in the shooting death of michael brown. the paper writes, the d.o.j. is

reluctant to acknowledge it does not have a case because tensions are so high right now. while a grand jury continues to consider possible criminal charges. a d.o.j. spokesman said, however, the case is still open saying this is an irresponsible report by "the washington post" based on idle speculation. it is the moment a lot of people have been waiting for. dallas nurse nina pham recently declared ebola-free reunited with her dog bentley. kristen dahlgren is joining me now with more. kristen, when did this joyful event happen? >> reporter: hey, alex. it happened this morning after more than three weeks apart. nina pham and her beloved king charles spaniel are finally together again. a crowd of animal services workers gathered to say good-bye to the pup who had become something of a social media star during his 21-day quarantine. despite his fans, bentley clearly missed mom and pham returned the sentiment. >> i feel like bentley reentering my life is yet another reminder of hope and

encouragement for me moving forward and fulfilling my life to its fullest with my best friend at my side again. >> reporter: it's been a whirlwind week for pham who visited the white house just after being declared ebola-free. and there are more good things to come. pham said she's already preparing for bentley's second birthday party later this month. bentley's care and quarantine didn't some cheap. taxpayers have spent tens of thousands of dollars to care for the pup. but the hope is that donations and grants should cover most of the cost. i think the first image a lot of us had of nina pham was that selfie of her and bentley. back together again. >> it's all good. we like that kind of happy news. thank you so much for bringing it to us. despite early voting, a top democratic party leader accuses the gop of trying to keep people from voting on tuesday. a republican response next. and fighting for control. who will win the senate? elections expert larry sabato will tell us. have enough money to live life on your terms?

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the fundamental difference between the two parties is in this election that democrats are encouraging more people to be a part of the democratic process while republicans continue to sort of throw up barriers at every turn. i feel confident that we at the dnc are running ads in a number of states, in 14 states across the country, to make sure folks know there is an election on tuesday. >> that was part of my conversation a bit earlier today with dnc deputy communications director lily adams. let's get reaction now from the national press secretary for the republican national committee. kirsten, with a welcome to you, how do you respond to what you just heard? >> of course, thanks for having me on. i really like lily. she's very good at her job. but this shows just how desperate the democrats are right now.

we heard a change in their rhetoric over the last couple of weeks. it coincides with what we're seeing on the ground in each of these senate states. it's because they're starting to come our way, we're going to do very well on election day, i think. it's interesting that the exact opposite of what lily said is true. we've been saying for over a year now that our goal as a party is to expand the electorate because we have to as a republican party. we need more voters in our party and not fewer. so we've been spending a lot of time in new communities that we haven't been in for a very long time and really focusing on turning out voters, low propensity voters, people who don't usually vote. we are saying to them, please come out and come vote early. >> okay. democrats have criticized republican-controlled state legislatures for enacting measures they say suppress the voting, that includes eliminating or reducing early voting. now you have 34 states with these voter id laws. but "the new york times" reports

with a five-year investigation by the bush administration back in 2007, it turned up virtually no evidence of any organized effort to skew federal elections. so the question has to be asked, are republicans trying to suppress the vote in any way any place? >> not at all. not at all. we actually, like i said, we want more people to come out and vote. our entire strategy for the midterm elections has been getting low propensity voters to turn out early. i completely disagree with that assessment from the dnc and with your question. >> but why aren't republican state controlled legislatures or republican legislators in general, why are they pushing these voting policies? >> i think that we have to take a look at each state and ask them and ask the governors and ask the state legislatures why that applies in their state. every state has to look at their electorate and what makes the most sense.

i don't think having a blanket conversation about this democrat versus republican is really productive at this point. all i know right now is that we are three days from an election and the republican national committee is working on turning out low propensity voters, people who haven't voted for a long time, out to the polls and turn them out early. >> here's something else from "the times." early voting numbers appear to look good for the democrats in the states of colorado, iowa, georgia and north carolina. voters who sat out back in 2010, these voters are more diverse, democratic usually, they include a pretty strong showing from african-americans. so do you think this may be a challenge posed to the gop? >> actually, i just got out of our meeting where we went state by state and got an assessment from the data that we're getting from each of these battleground states and i think that we feel very good about where things

stand. i think that the democrats, yes, that is their strategy. after election day, i think what we're going to hear from them is they didn't get enough of those voters to go out to the polls that they need. and actually we are cutting into their normal lead with early vote. and actually doing it ourselves because we've changed our strategy. so it's a very interesting dynamic right now. i think we feel very good about where things stand as we head into the polls. normally we're down considerably with early voters at this point. and we're just not seeing that right now. >> not surprisingly democrats will blame republicans for gridlock on capitol hill particularly with the gop holding the house. do you think anything's going to get done if the gop holds both houses? >> i think we have more of a chance of getting something done. the key obstacle for us was harry reid because he was doing barack obama's bidding and obstructing things from going to the president's desk. so i think that that's actually been our central narrative from

the rnc in a lot of these senate campaigns is let's make sure to fire reid. let's make sure to get his obstructionist view of running the senate out of here is we can start having a conversation with the president. and i think at that point -- we'll see what happens on tuesday -- but at that point, this president is going to have to re-evaluate how he starts working with members of congress and with republicans in general, something he has not done in his entire tenure as president. >> speaking of the president's desk, why should the president not use his veto power because republicans did not embrace policies and initiatives that he tried to embrace? is there any common ground anywhere? >> i would certainly hope so. we would like to be at the table. he hasn't been at the table. part of this conversation is a little premature. let's see what happens on tuesday. i think we feel very good about us holding the -- keeping the house and taking back the senate. and we very much look forward to working with the president and trying to figure out how we

start moving things forward, starting to get rid of this stagnant economy, get unemployed americans back to work, things that harry reid and president obama haven't been working with us on. and i think that a lot of these races out there in the midterms have been run against the president's policies. he's going to have to take a real look at tt way he's operated the last six years and come back and sit down at the table with us. >> i'd love to have you back, kirsten, and we'll talk about it on the other side of tuesday. >> thank you. she was the target of cat calls. now she's getting threats. what's life been like for this woman since she was revealed in this sexually harassing video? [ male announcer ] tomcat bait kills up to 12 mice,

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reactions. but some were even worse, threatening her with violence, even rape. joining me now for her side of the story is shoshanna roberts here in studio. thank you for being here. i appreciate the smile on your face. but this has to be worrisome. tell me about these threats. >> people have threatened me, my physical safety, my -- as a result of my religion, my involvement with this video. and i left believe with an inspirational message that i'm passionate about. i'm an actress. i took direction from an inspirational director, in my opinion. >> it was something you did. you were directed. but i'm concerned just for you, your safety. how are you dealing with all this? >> i have support from all f of my friends and family. i'm being told that -- the loved ones that i have are proud of me.

and that speaks volumes. the majority of the feedback is positive. we are getting "thank yous." we are getting "you enlightened me, i wasn't aware of this". >> and people who have said, you are living my life, because this happens to me all the time. talk about how we should handle street harassment and even online harassment, in your experience. >> i'm sharing my story. everyone reacts differently. sometimes i am indifferent. other times, i'm walking down the street on a regular basis interacting with people. it's all situation-specific. you have to read the nonverbal cues. >> you do. some of these videos have come under fire because they have shown the cat callers, if you want to call them that, many of them nonwhite. what is your response to that? was it a certain part of the city you were walking in or this is where you were every day? was it typical? >> i walk all over. i'm a very active person.

i'm in the swing dance community. i do rock climbing. i walk all these places on a typical basis. soho, harlem, midtown. we went to places with a lot of pedestrian traffic. the more people you're around, the more times it happens. yes, it happens all over the world. yes, it's happened to me in pittsburgh, among all places. >> but there are guys out there -- and they're saying, if a simple hello -- some of these guys would say hello or hey -- do you consider that harassment? >> it's all situation-specific. i consider each specific person talking to me differently. one person might say, hi, hello, and they have respect in their voice and other people can use the same exact words but can make it harassing by the tone of their voice. >> say a guy genuinely wants to talk with you.

do you feel someone has the right to do that because they see a pretty girl walking down the street? >> i'm just sharing my story. it's all reading the nonverbal cues. i walk down the street saying hi, hello, they're not saying hello to other people behind me. but it's all -- during the video, i had nonverbal cues that said i didn't want to be talked to. it's just a matter of being aware of your surroundings and seeing if someone is making eye contact with you, if someone is smiling, but then they escalate it so quickly. >> maybe a sense of respecting people's privacy -- >> yes. respect is a big thing. people can approach you with respect or they can approach you without respect and use the same words. >> speaking of the privacy, the privacy of personal space -- i remember that one guy came up to the video and he followed you for five minutes. >> yeah. >> would you have ever considered talking to him? did you say anything -- i don't recall you saying anything to

him. >> i did not say a word. >> that was creepy, that one. >> slightly, yes. i agree with you. but i also think a little of an understatement. just in terms of my reaction. i was scared out of my mind, using words i can't say on air. >> well, that person clearly violated your personal space. >> yeah. everyone has a different sized bubble. the proximity to which you can get in someone's space and approach them with them feeling comfortable, it's different for every person. it might be half a foot for me. it could five feet for someone else. >> yeah. >> unfortunately this brings up memories of sexual assault in my past. and i relive moments of that or i just don't even hear them half the time. >> it's an extraordinary video you bring to us. i certainly appreciate the conversation that you've started for a lot of people who need to

have this conversation. >> i want people to know that it's happening this frequently, even if someone's aware of it, they don't know the frequency. >> best of luck. and take good care of yourself. >> thank you. it is a pay grade for educators that pay surprise you. and one pennsylvania community, ghosts and goblins signals a return to normalcy after a terrifying time. ♪ over 12,000 financial advisors. so, how are things? good, good. nearly $800 billion dollars in assets under care. let me just put this away. how did edward jones get so big? could you teach our kids that trick? by not acting that way.

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apology accepted. i'm watching you soup people. make it progresso or make it yourself welcome back to "weekends with alex witt." it's 32 past the hour. now here stateside, northeast pennsylvania is breathing a sigh of relief, the first weekend of november, they even celebrated halloween as fugitive eric frein is in custody after a manhunt that took nearly two months. >> i can't even explain what i'm feeling right now. this is awesome. we are so proud of our pennsylvania state police, their hard work. >> all the children, we were afraid to go outside. we were afraid to do anything. so this is amazing. we were waiting for this day.

>> u.s. marshals captured frein thursday in an abandoned airplane hangar. nbc's sarah dallof is joining me now with more from blooming grove, pennsylvania. what is law enforcement saying about how this guy was able to evade them for two months? >> reporter: they stress this is an ongoing investigation. but they're beginning to learn more about how he did that. they say he utilized abandoned structures like the airplane hangar and unoccupied homes finding food in those homes in order to survive. he also we know had hidden caches of supplies in the woods. they say it wasn't one of the numerous tips they received in the end but a sweep of the area that finally net t eric frein. he surrendered meekly, they say, put his hands in the air and followed their commands. no shots fired. he was taken into custody in the handcuffs of the plan belonging to the man he killed. he was arraigned on nine counts yesterday morning including

first-degree murder. prosecutors say they're going to seek the death penalty. meanwhile, a community breathing a sigh of relief here, halloween had been canceled out of safety concerns. it was on yesterday. kids trick-or-treating, the annual parade back as scheduled and hunting season back on. this really has had a huge impact on the community here. at times, they weren't able to return to their homes because of roadblocks. other people not allowed to leave their homes as tactical teams swept those areas. this is a long time coming for the people here and a huge outpouring of gratitude to the men and women of law enforcement who put hours in to capture eric frein. >> sarah dallof, thank you so much. let's go to vote 2014. it's on overcast day on capitol hill this afternoon. three days until the midterm elections. at stake is control of the house and the senate and 36 statehouses. joining me with his predictions is larry sabato, good to see

you, my friend. >> great to see you, too, alex. thank you so much. >> let's talk first about the senate question. the big question, really the only question, do the democrats hold onto the majority? >> they have a one in three chance of doing it. i think that one in three chance is the so-called biden majority, that is a 50/50 tied senate with the democratic vice president breaking the tie. two out of three chance, the republicans take the senate. why? because the map is so favorable to them this year with most of the key contests in small, relatively rural republican states. and i think beyond that, just the math. they have so many ways to get to 51. democrats are on the defensive. and it's going to be much more difficult for them to get to 50. they have one advantage. because of biden, they only have to get 50 seats. the republicans have to get 51. >> there are a bunch of races we could talk about.

two in particular are kentucky and colorado that are interesting. give me the outcome of what you expect to see there. >> well, i think mitch mcconnell has always been favored mainly because in kentucky, the president has low 30s approval. and one of the very best indicators of how a senate race is going to turn out, especially in this kind of year, a sixth year itch year is where the is the stands in job approval in any given state. so i would say mcconnell there. and in colorado, it's certainly closer. the edge has to go to the republican, gardner. democrats have hope for two reasons, though. the first is the all-male balloting, which will increase turnout among hispanics, among young people, among those who maybe are not that interested in the election but because they get a ballot at home being a registered voter, it makes it easier for them to vote. and it's also true that

democrats across the country and in colorado and places like iowa in particular have a better "get out the vote" voter id mechanism than the republicans do. >> checking out the house right now, there's no expectation at all that the gop is going to lose the majority. do you expect them to cede any seats to the democrats? >> the democrats will pick up a few seats. there are some exceptions to the rule here and there. overall, we expect republicans to pick up upper single digits. they'll get back to about where they were after the 2010 election. remember, they lost some seats in 2012. alex, this is so critical for people to understand. it's just the eternal theory of surge and decline. a party does well in one election, declines in the next or the next couple. the democrats did extremely well in 2008. declined in 2010, surged again

in 2012, declining in 2014. well, 2016, i'll let other people figure that out. >> i was going to ask you a question about that. don't you want to answer? hang on a second. i want to get to statehouses. 36 governor seats in play. any expected big shifts there, party shifts? >> yes. i don't know if the overall party balance will shift that much. i think it will go a tick or two in one direction or the other. but there's going to be a fair amount of change in governorships. you have 11 close races, more than in the senate where there are nine close races and they're in both parties. i'll be surprised if you don't have five or six incumbents lose. you've had one lose in hawaii in the democratic primary. florida fascinates me. it's very close. it's hard to call it. but i do think crist going into tuesday appears to have a little bit of an edge, maybe some of it was due to fangate, governor

rick scott, the republican, objecting to the fan on the podium there for governor crist at the debate. >> that was funny. >> there are other great ones. pennsylvania, that's another one that democrats will take over, a big state. republicans are going to do well with their incumbents. i think they're going to win in wisconsin. i think they'll win in michigan where they have republican incumbents. so it's going to be a mixed bag. but those races, alex, are actually more important, in my view, than the senate races. >> larry, i was told i have to go. but since i went there. with 2016, you say the midterms aren't an accurate predictor. is that because it's too far out and so much can happen? >> that's part of it. two years is four political lifetimes. think about how much 2010 predicted 2012. most republicans thought president obama was out. we know what's happened. >> okay. larry sabato, thank you for being brief with that last answer. i appreciate that.

>> thanks a lot, alex. >> joining me with more on this is the political reporter for "the new york times." nick, welcome. how does what you're seeing compare to larry's crystal ball predictions? >> i could hear the interview. i don't have a crystal ball the way larry does. but i'm saying a lot of the same things he is. there are some fascinating senate races in this cycle. there are so many close ones. and what's most surprising to me -- we can talk about it some more -- if democrats have a chance of holding the senate, it's going to run through kansas and georgia where it was hard to believe they would even have a chance six months or a year ago. >> interestingly yesterday you tweeted that republicans have a good shot at capturing more blue territory, especially in new england. why? >> it's a great question. what we saw in 2010 and 2012 to some extent was republicans making big gains in these old industrial and kind of

strongholds for democrats in the midwest, the union strongholds of the midwest. and what we see now is a return to the pattern in the northeast that held for a long time, which is that a moderate republican can win a statewide race there. it was true for a long time. it seemed maybe that in the last couple of cycles the northeast was going to become kind of like the south, a one-party area, as far as statewide offices. but we're seeing now in massachusetts, in maine and rhode island some pretty good chances for republicans to take or hold some of those governors mansions. as larry was saying before, it's hugely important. state government controls a lot of politics -- sorry a lot of policy and services. they are the farm team for presidential candidates in most cycles. so a party that is doing well in holding governors offices is going to have a lot of sway and ability to make their vision felt at the state level and thus around the country for all kinds of people.

>> i know that larry didn't think these elections will be a proxy vote for 2016. but with regard to the senate, do you think that perhaps -- especially in the real battleground states like colorado and kansas that we were talking about, do you think they may be? >> it's an important thing here, a lot of the senate races in this cycle, as we had said before, are in red territory. so there's a huge question about the majority. but also more long term, if democrats in some of these red states can hold on for this cycle, they've got six more years to go. and in the next cycle, 2012, democrats expect to have hillary clinton on the ticket and a very strong candidate, the map is going to be a lot better for them. it will be mostly on territory that they have a better chance of winning or holding senate seats in. and the same goes to some extent for the house. in this cycle for the republicans, it's about can we take this one cycle that's really good for us and run the score up because we're going to

be on defense in 2016 if we don't have the best candidate to go against hillary clinton. >> how much are you surprised by what's going on in the senate race in georgia, nun and perdue? typically it's a red state. but they're predicting it's not going to be decided maybe till january. and you've got the nunn name. this is a pedigree name in that state. what are you thinking about that state? >> she's raised a lot of money. she's been a very good candidate and she has that name recognition. and this is also a state -- georgia was won by bill clinton in his first campaign. it is in the south, it is a red state. but it's also a metropolitan state. a diverse state. a growing state. there's a lot of immigration into the state. it's changing rapidly. the question is, will that influx, especially of hispanic voters, and will the rapid political organization of the state's black voters in the last year or two be enough to carry her over the edge? she has to get to that 50% to

avoid the run-off. and it's not clear if she can get there. >> might not happen till january -- >> and then imagine if that's the vote that makes the difference, we could be waiting until january. >> good grief. nick, we'll be talking again with you. thank you so much. >> of course. >> be sure to watch the best election coverage in the business tuesday night right here on msnbc. we'll be joined by a team of reporters across the country with the returns and analysis for you. what's in a can of del monte green beans? ( ♪ ) grown in america. picked and packed at the peak of ripeness. with no artificial ingredients. del monte. bursting with life.

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a recent study found that journalism is the third least trusted industry in america. not likely to help that image is the new film, night crawler. jake is a freelance camera man who prowls the streets finding the crimes and accidents that will lead to the next morning's news. >> i'm starting a tv news business. >> you. >> i film breaking stories. there was a fatal carjacking this morning. >> i want what you promised me. i want something people can't trust away from. >> 911, what's your emergency? >> we want all of this. >> oh, my god! >> joining me now here in studio is the screen writer and director. i'm glad you're here. >> i am, too.

>> congratulations because you know this was supposed to be number one at the box office this weekend. >> that's what we're hoping. we don't have confirmation. >> it's got a 93% approval rating with viewers, including mine. i was spell bound by the whole thing. i've worked in l.a. local news and found this to be a dark but, you know, kind of real assessment of local news, especially if it bleeds it leads mentality. >> i covered this story, the videographers who go out at night and film crimes and crashes, sell it to stations in the morning. it led me to an exploration of news in los angeles. there is this understanding that sometimes stations are selling fear for ratings. in los angeles, it's urban crime creeping into the sur you shall -- suburbs, which has its own feel to it. >> you know, you talk about the perspective in los angeles. interestingly, the video perspective -- i'm a l.a. girl and look at the beauty shots.

that's not what you showed here from a director's point of view. >> i wanted to show a energy of los angeles, wild and untamed. feels like man is there in an n impermanent way. we tried to capture los angeles in a way that shows that the city is against the forest or desert and goes on for miles of nothi nothingness. i feel we've colonized the area rather than civilized it. >> talking about uncivilized and trying to behave as if civilized, jake, he looked obsessed or possessed or something. talk about the casting of him and the role that he played and how well he pulled it off. >> phenomenal. he was at the top of the list of people i wanted. i was blessed to have him sign on board. we worked closely together creatively and rehearsed a lot. it was his idea to lose 25 to 30

pounds for the part. he had an image of a coyote, roaming around and always hungry. it gave him an interesting physical look and an energy of wanting to consume everything around him. it was great for the character. >> i know you've written screenplays before, but first time director. how tough was that, or is it a good thing to be the director when you've written it? >> it's great because you get a chance to get your vision out. as a first-time director, everything is new and everyone knows more than you do about every department. i had to admit that i know what i know and know what i don't do. i had to hire talented people and listen to them at times. >> people may not know you are married to rene rousso, a star of the film. you can't say she doesn't have integrity because she's doing what is required to survive. >> she does a wonderful job in the part. she brought a vulnerability to

the character that wasn't on the page. i empathize with the news director's plight. the ratings are generated by graphic dramatic stories, and there's some indictment for local television news. i would hope the net is cast wider for the images. if i'm faced with an in-depth story about social security going bankrupt or a car chase, i'd watch the car dhachase. >> what's it like to direct your wife? is there pillow talk at home? >> we work closely. she reads my screenplay. it was a continuation of our n constant collaboration. it was great to have your wife there at work. >> i loved the film. i'm not living in los angeles doing local news anymore, but have you heard from locals there? are they, like, it's not real or

don't want it to be a real representation? >> every local in the film was a local in los angeles. they sense it was something that's being done, but they always imagined it was the other station doing it and not theirs. no some ways, i think they were glad to have it looked at. a lot of people going into journalism want to do a good job. if something like this can bring up the topic, they like that. >> i don't want to tell people of the pivotal stuff in the film, but it's pretty unbelievable what this character does when he goes into that house, shall we say it like that? >> right. >> was there any truth -- did you get a kerrbit of truth from that, or was that your imagination? >> there was no truth in that. one of the people told me, one night i was driving down and a pickup stalled.

i filmed three cars plow into it instead of call the police. i said, i understand where this can go. >> good luck with it. thanks for joining me. i'll see you back here tomorrow at noon eastern. "caught on camera" is next. cutting edge research, and state of the art facilities. and you pay no taxes for ten years. from biotech in brooklyn, to next gen energy in binghamton, to manufacturing in buffalo... startup-ny has new businesses popping up across the state. see how startup-ny can help your business grow at startup.ny.gov

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