end game. with just over a week to go before elections, both parties prepare a powerful push. powerful tornadoes wreak havoc on residents in morn texas. and up in smoke. more than 100 pounds make smoke. those stories and more are

straight ahead. this is "first look" on msnbc. we begin this morning with party predictions. political leaders from on sides of the aisle are promising victory on election night. recent polls show republicans closing in on control of the house. but democratic leaders are vowing to hold their ground. nbc's tracie potts joins us from washington with details. >> good morning. this is the last full week of campaigning before the election. you can expect to hear more republicans hammering away at democrats. more democrats, quite frankly, hammering away at themselves, making sure members of the party get out to vote. and more tea partiers trying to shake up washington. alaska's tea party candidate won

the nomination for senate. but is now apologizing for misusing government computers. >> it was a mistake i made. i was suspended for three days. or received a dock for three days' pay. and learned from that. >> you're demonstrating the lack of fitness for the office. >> reporter: that's lisa murkowski. she's trying to get a wrin-in. >> reporter: in florida, another three-way senate race. the big issue, how to create jobs. >> number one, you need to cut taxes. >> i want the middle-class to get that tax cut. >> reporter: everywhere you look, polls predict republican wins. a possible house takeover and gains in the senate. >> if this wave continues the way it's going, it has been the last few weeks, especially, i think you can see the senate, as

well. >> reporter: but democrats insist, the tide is turning. >> what democrats tend to specialize in is the ground game. the turnout. the more people that turnout, the better we do. >> reporter: but turnout is all over the place so far with early voting. some areas predict that they're going to have slow turnout. and have actually seen that so far. but in other areas, they already say they have doubled their turnout from 2006. >> okay. tracie potts in washington, thank you. and more than nine months after haiti was ravaged by a massive earthquake, there are fears the situation there could become even worse in the wake of that disaster. health authorities are now scrambling to contain a cholera outbreak. more from our british broadcasting partner, i.n.t. >> reporter: cholera thrives on deprivation. and haiti is the ideal breeding grown.

it's executived a heavy toll. but just 70 miles south lies the capital, port-au-prince. of its population of 2 million, more than half are forced to live in the dreadful squalor of the refugee ramps. five cases of cholera have been detected here. >> that is the nightmare that all aid workers have been frightened could occur. and given the lack of hygiene and the close proximities, if cholera were to hit, it would be catastrophic. >> reporter: more than 250 people have so far died from the disease. more than 3,000 others have been infected. according to the u.n., 3,000 doses of antibiotics are already in the country to treat the sick. aid agencies are doing their best to distribute bottled water.

this filthy river is the course of the disease. cholera is waterborne and rarely passes directly between humans. but it causes violent diary diarrh diarrhea. haiti's president visited one of the affected areas. as health officials said they believed the cholera outbreak may be stabilizing. but there is a sense of spreading panic in haiti. people here have learned that cholera can kill with alarming speed. meanwhile, two scientific papers conclude the fault originally blamed for january's quake was not the real source. and pressure in that fault continues to build. and could cause another earthquake. seismic experts say it was an unseen fault that caused the

earthquake. back here in the states, tornadoes tore across north texas sunday evening. video shot frighteningly close to one funnel cloud, shows a twister cutting a path across interstate 25. that's near dallas. it tore a roof off of an elementary school in rice, texas. and caused damage to homes. at least four people are hospitalized with minor injuries. and wild weather is affecting other nations, as well, as hurricane richard made landfall in belize. the hurricane, which has been downgraded brought winds of 90 miles per hour, as the storm downed trees and power lines and cut off all power in the central american nation. belize city, home to one-third of the population with about 100,000 inhabitants. more on richard's path. here's a look at other news going on around america today. in pennsylvania, more than 150

teens paddled down the river in philadelphia's ninth annual dragon boat festival. each boat has about 20 paddlers and a drummer to deep everyone in sync. according to festival organizers, it is the world's fastest growing water sport. with halloween a few days away, there is one blowout sale that families could not resist. all-you-can-carry pumpkins for $19.99. visitors to the patch walk a steady course, taking home as many pumpkins as they can carry. they're not the only ones getting in on the halloween spirit. pouches got dressed up at the

how how howl-o-ween party. we turn to bill for the morning forecast. >> very few. it's that time of year. and next weekend, a lot of big plans for people. first things first. let's get to the forecast for all of us today. first, things first, tornado has been reported on the ground, moving through northern portions or northeast portions of alabama. that's outside of birmingham. here's birmingham, alabama. here's huntsville, up here. this is the tornado warning. this has been on the ground. it's done some damage. a chicken coop has been destroyed. it's heading for rainsville here. and it's this little cell out ahead of the main line. those are usually the culprits overnight. the sirens going off in northern alabama at this time. we mentioned hurricane richard, down to a tropical storm. it was very impressive. it intensified quickly, before landfall. now that it's over land, it's falling apart quickly. this is not a story to be

concerned about along the gulf. this is going to continue to a remnant low over the gulf. it does not look like it's going to regenerate. conditions can be hostile, strong winds over the gulf. we had the tornado yesterday in texas. two days in a row of nasty storms near the dallas area. this did the damage here. under the two "ls" in dallas. there were two other tornadoes on interstate 30. and the blue dots, a lot of wind damage along with hail. that's the green dots, yesterday. severe weather, the last two days. here's a wider view of all of the storming across the country. this is a line of strong storms in alabama. we got a report of that tornado on the ground. out west, an amazing storm over the weekend. we had wind gusts as high as 100 miles per hour, in portions of nevada. look at the cloud cover from this storm system, just a powerful jet stream that sent pacific moisture across the country. this is going to form a huge wind storm in the days ahead.

today, the winds will be the worst throughout the intermountain west and in areas of new mexico. tuesday and wednesday, one of the strongest wind storms we've seen in a long time. we're talking years in the northern plains. the winds could be strong enough on lake michigan for 20-foot waves. you hear of 20-foot waves in the ocean. rare to see that on the great lakes. that's our forecast. not a lot of snow. not a lot of rain. it will be a big wind storm. today's forecast, break it down. the severe weather in alabama. going to head to atlanta through the next couple of hours. some of the rain will move up the east coast. it does not look to be severe. but baltimore, philly, new york, d.c., bring that umbrella with you. and on tuesday, the big story will be the big windmaker here in the country. places like chicago, milwaukee, minneapolis, could have winds up to 60 miles per hour. that could do a little damage. >> 20-foot waves on lake

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welcome back to "first look." here's some of the top stories making news this morning. today, the government is expected to announce for the first time, to force tractor-trailer and heavy-duty pickup trucks to improve fuel efficiency. it would start with models in 2014. the proposal is expected to seek reductions of 20% in fuel consumption. in pakistan, five people were killed by a bomb during morning prayers. there's been no immediate claim of responsibility. but taliban militants in the

past have attacked the shrines. and 19-year-old jennifer, the teenager who couldn't stop hiccupping, has been charged with first-degree felony murder. after the death of a st. petersburg, florida, man, in what's being described as robbery gone wrong. he was attacked by two men and shot. indonesia is warning that its most volatile volcano could erupt at any time. the alert level was raised to its highest level. it last erupted in 2006, killing two people. and explosive activity in greece, as well. but this one was controlled. a building in athens was demolished yesterday with about 150 pounds of explosives. the building was destroyed to make way for a new city square. the dow opens at 11,132,

after falling 14 points on friday. the s&p 500 rose two points. and the nasdaq added 19. looking at overseas trading. in tokyo, the nikkei lost 25 points. but in hong kong, the hang seng rose 110. some investors keep an eye on the road in washington. midterm elections and long awaited word on more stimulus from the fed are more than a week away. that could keep stocks in a holding pattern this week. in the meantime, earnings will roll in from exxon-mobil, ford and microsoft. fresh doubt in the housing sector is on-deck, as well as third-quarter growth of the domestic destruct. overseas, the dollar slid against most world currencies. and meanwhile, japan reported its slowest month of export growth this year. elsewhere, singapore exchange is buying australia's main exchange operator, asx, for

$3.4 million. back in the states, bank of america is acknowledging it has found some mistakes in foreclosure files, as it sifts through more than 100,000 cases for resubmission. gas prices around the country are up more than 5 cents in the last two weeks. the average price for gas in the u.s. is $2.82 a gallon. "the new york times" is reporting a possible deal in the works to buy comscope. and what's in a name? when your name is trump, apparently a lot. lawyers for donald trump recently accused a fund-raising group in new zealand of trademark infringement, for giving out what it calls a trump card, to donate money to charities. trump's lawyers agreed to drop the case. favre falls flat. pittsburgh steals a victory. and always play until you hear the whistle. the redskins won yesterday, thanks to one player who was

consistently in position to make the catch from the other team's quarterback. your first look at sports is straight ahead. of the season to get you in the mood to motor... including classics like, 'thirty one days of ways to save.' 'skidmarks and smokescreens?' 'kiss my resale value.' and the timeless 'make it mine for $199.' celebrate this motor-tober with a new 2011 mini cooper

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drama. but this time, the old gunslinger couldn't pull the striger. we go to green bay. favre hit randy moss from four yards out. the vikings trailed, 28-24. to the fourth. last chance for minnesota. favre well down. got up. aired it out for moss. but he couldn't make the grab. favre simply overthrew him. that was your ball game. the packers won it 28-24. controversial ending to the steelers and dolphins. pittsburgh down two. ben roethlisberger runs towards the end zone but fumbled the ball. they reviewed it close to ten minutes. no touchdown. but who recovered the fumble? the officials couldn't figure it out from the replay. so, they gave it back to pittsburgh, even though it appeared that miami recovered it. the steelers escape south beach. the redskins had a career day against the bears. they picked jay cutler off four times. this time returned 92 yards for

the score. redskins beat the bears 17-14. in san diego, where nothing was going right for the chorjers. philip rivers, met goodman. he thought the play was over. but he was never touched. that's a fumble. his first career catch was also his first career turnover. to the fourth. under 30 seconds to play. chris brown, for the tie, hilts the upright. and the patriots win 23-20. josh freeman scrambled. the bucs rally to beat the rams, 18-17. that's your first look at sports. i'm fred roggin. now, for another quick look at the weather. here's bill karins, with the weather channel forecast. >> there was the tornado in alabama that was on the ground. it's done some damage. it looks like the tornado is slowly beginning to weaken.

the cell itself went across interstate 59. it's going through the northwest corner of georgia. that's where our new tornado warnings have been issued. we'll continue to keep an eye on that. there's been damage done by that tornado. forecast up and down the east coast, had a beautiful weekend. it's a mild morning. d.c., 60 degrees. and the warm air is going to head north. we're going to have a warm period over the next two to three days. it will get windy. we'll see showers and thunderstorms mixed in. right now, there's clouds. light showers popping up over areas of southern new york. as far as what we're going to deal with today, the morning commute is dry. later this afternoon, increasing chance of showers. especially around d.c. and pittsburgh. eventually, philadelphia and new york. the rain won't be heavy. but a chance of showers. hartford, you'll be dry today. your chance of showers will come tonight and into tomorrow. here's tuesday's forecast. look how warm it is. temperatures in the 70s in many

areas of the east. we'll see that chance of showers. the biggest problem weather, we have tornadoes and severe weather in alabama. tomorrow, we'll have a huge wind storm in the northern plains. we don't like to -- we get blamed for hyping storms. this one's not going to need it. this one's going to be, you know, eye-opening for the people that live there. >> okay. bill, thank you. a scary record at the box office. made for next to nothing. you won't believe what one horror movie scared up this weekend. your first look at entertainment is ahead. ♪ ♪ ♪

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welcome back to "first look." time for your first look at entertainment news. fear gripped the box office this weekend, as "paranormal activity 2" set a record. more than doubling its expected take, it earned $41.5 million. passing the previous record holder, last year's "friday the 13th" remake. the sequel being made for $1 million, took in $20 million on friday alone, its opening day. and last night's winner, "jackass 3d." in two weeks, the "jackass" film earned $87 million, outearning its predecessors. "red" held up well this weekend. but got its ten-day total past

$43 million. and the weekend's other debut film, "hereafter," opened with a soft $12 million. but experts think it will have a long run. did you see any of the films? >> i saw the first one "paranormal activity." they make a film for 1 million bucks. it's already $40 million turnaround? >> this is "first look" on msnbc. stay tuned. way too early starts right now. eight days, now, until election day. and everybody was out on the sunday shows, spinning the story. but the polls don't lie, in places like california, florida and alaska, where a write-in candidate has pulled even. can the long, predicted republican wave be slowed a bit by democrats? meanwhile, former presidential candidate, mike