want to move forward. i don't want to go backward. >> a four-day campaign swing last week and this week shs a slew of stops in connecticut, ohio, and illinois. and even a planned pop-in on "the daily show." >> i sue woo to you. it. >> seems to be working. recent polls across the country show republicans, once solid leads, shrinking to nail-biting margins. in pennsylvania, gop candidate p p pattoomoy led sestak for months. but new polls say sestak closed the gap. same story in nevada, kcolorado and kentucky pitting two gop candidates against a lone democrat. >> scott is not ready to lead. joe is not fit to lead. i have been leading this state -- i have been leading this state -- >> i am one of you. warts and all, you've got me. >> reporter: and in california, three-term senator barbara boxer is pulling ahead of republican

challenger carly fiorina by as much as nine points. >> so let me ask you, florida, are you ready to secure our freedoms? are you ready to fight for freedom? >> reporter: but republicans are bringing out the big guns, focusing on riding a wave of voter frustration, ready to grab power on capitol hill. >> i think you're going to see a wave, unprecedented wave, on election day that's going to surprise a lot of people. >> reporter: the outcome, impossible to predict. a third of voters still say they are undecided. and early voting is all over the place. some states giving an edge to republicans. some say more democrats are posting ballots ahead of november 2nd. >> these races are very close. but for this point forward it's all about turnout and ground game. >> and norah o'donnell is political reporter. we're talking about how much pull the president still has. and yet in rhode island you have a candidate to be the governor there, a democrat, livid after radio station tells him that

obama won't endorse him. what do you have on that story, norah? >> that's right. the president tonight is going to rhode island for a dccc fund-raiser. democrat and independent and republican. the president is not endorsing the democrat who has told the president to take his endorsement and shove it. pretty salty language but i don't think we should be too surprised by all of that because the president is not endorsing because link chafy endorsed obama in 2008. he's trying to stay loyal on that. >> the president has a tough campaign schedule ahead of him this week in rhode island, connecticut, ohio, pennsylvania. you have top dnls saying we could pull this out. >> that's right. you have depressed democrats today who were pretty upbeat. tout anything momentum. the chairman saying we are not seeing anything resembling a republican surge. in fact, the democrats say

they're seeing encouraging signs in key senate races. in a memo put out this morning the head of the democratic senate campaign committee bob ben then dez say the democrats haves cast more ballots in west virginia, california, nevada. he said we know that we're targeting more unlikely voters in illinois, wisconsin, in washington. but here's what's really interesting, contessa. in those states, there ought to be more democratic early votes than republican votes. i just talked to a number of republican operatives. california, where the democrats are feeling good because there's that l.a. times poll that shows barbara boxer up nine points. the republicans i talked to say they don't believe it, they're pouring another $3 million into california. they've already put $4.8 million as one republican said to me, we wouldn't be pouring in another $3 million in the last week if they believed that l.a. times poll. and then west virginia, that's a very close race. the democrats saying, yeah, but more democrats have already

voted. of course, there's a lot more democrats in the state of west virginia. remember, obama only has 28% approval rating in that state. that race is very close. both republicans, democrats, still nervous about that outcome. nevada, too, another one that is close. >> are the experts still saying here that the outcome will l. hinge on turnout? >> yeah, turnout. and i think, you know, the early gaming that's going on in reading of the tea leaves are these early votes. and i think in those key states, california, west virginia and nevada where the democrats are saying, yeah, but we've got so many early voting, and they should. it's larger registration. it's going to hinge on in thes in the state of nevada, how they turn out. we've got to wait and see. one other nugget based upon my reporting today. half of nevada will have voted by the end of the week. that will be interesting. >> norah, thank you very much. keeping tabs on it. and eight days to go. my big question today, how much chance is there really to sway voters at this point?

i'd like to hear your thoughts. you can reach me on twitter, contessa brewer. e-mail address is contessa@msnbc.com. friendly fire and prisoner abuse in the latest wikileaks report on the iraq war. 400,000 pages suggest persistent sectarian unrest is worse than ever and illustrates iran's prominent role in backing shiite groups. richard angle joins me now. give me the reaction to the military to some of these shocking claims. >> the reaction is that this was a horrible breach of national security, that whoever stole these documents is effectively engaged in espionage and treason and that this was something that should never have been released. that is the military's approach on this. what happened? a lot of people i think i don't understand what happened. it was ant study. it wasn't a report. it wasn't like the pentagon papers. the internal military database

that kept incident reports, these are little bits of information gathered by soldiers on the field when they react to a particular event, a car bomb, a shooting. all of these notes were stolen and they were stolen and distributed to wikileaks. and wikileaks put them out raw. so if you look at them and -- i've spent the last couple of days looking at these little data points. >> when you say there's no context for accusations like the military turns a blind eye, that u.s. apache helicopters killed u.s. insurgents who were trying to surrender, abuse by british troops against iraqi detainee, british soldiers came under attack from u.s. soldiers, iran supplied chemical weapon to iraqi militias. those nuggets may or may not be true and may or may not have any kind of context to them? >> no, what i'm trying to say is

how have to understand what was released. what was released was lots of flashes of information. if you spend a lot of time looking at these flashes of information, you do paint a point list kind of picture of what t. it was like. it is a picture that was very brutal, very chaotic, where there were abuses by contractors, where there was influence by iran. and this -- if you look at this picture, a lot of these reports were during the worse years of the war, particularly 2006, early 2007. at the same time, the military was saying that things weren't as bad as the media were reporting it, that there were naysayers out there trying to tear down the war effort. internally these documents or these intelligence reports indicate the military knew how bad the situation was. >> joint chiefs chairman admiral mike mullen says now this information released puts lives at risk.

richard, i know you will continue to follow it. thank you. people in the dallas suburb of rice are assessing the damage after a tornado tore through town. it was all caught on camera. the wind ripped off the roof of the building. tornado moved across the interstate. and at one point this same twister actually derailed a freight train. look at that. nbc's jay gray in rice, texas, right now. sq jay, give me a sense of what you're seeing on the ground? >> contessa, amazing video. look at the middle school here. nine weeks old. they had just gotten into this building. already the metal posts bent towards the ground. the awning has been ripped away. you can see what the wind did to the cinder block wall back there. understand it was not a huge storm but left a pass of damage here. just beginning to clean things up right now. >> what are they saying about the experience? the video is utterly shocking. >> to a man and woman, everyone

we talk to in this area will tell you it's amazing that there weren't any serious injuries here. that everyone got out of this thing only losing materials. you talk about that. look at the football field next to the school and you can see that the wind made a run through that field as well. just shredding everything in its pat. but again, everyone here saying that they feel very lucky this morning. they understand there's a lot of work left to be done here but they also understand it could have been much worse, contessa. >> jay gray, thanks for the look around. hurricane made landfall in be belize today as category 1. their homes aren't built to withstand the wind. no injuries or deaths have been reported. richard is now a tropical storm moving across guatemala and southeastern mexico. scientists say they found large amounts of oil on the seafloor in the gulf coast. it's been more than six months since the deepwater horizon explosion, kicking off the worst oil spill in u.s. history. they say most of that oil has

disappeared, but scientists are studying the impact on sea life and they found oil in those samples dug up from the seafloor and about 140-mile radius around the site of the well. does it hurt? because when i get hiccups sometimes, it hurts. >> it hurts a lot. >> remember this girl who just couldn't stop hiccupping? she's making headlines again, but now her problems are a lot bigger. in some places trick or treat might land you in jail. why some towns don't think kids, and i'm using the word kids loosely here, should be going door to door. don't worry, lucky, these new wheat thins crunch stix will save us. [ crunch ] look! [ helicopter noise ] [ grunting ] [ male announcer ] introducing new wheat thins crunch stix.

she made headlines a few years ago for an uncontrollable case of the hiccups and now she's charged with murder. tops our stories far and wide.

19-year-old jenner mee and two others over the weekend in st. petersburg. mee and two other suspects robbed him and shot him. me,appeared on qu"today" in 200 >> does it hurt? when i get hiccups sometimes, it hurts. >> it hurts a lot. there's a point sometimes i will burst down and cry. right now it hurts so bad, you can probably tell that. >> her mom blames medication she was put on and also her attitude after being on national televisi television. all three suspects are due in court this afternoon. in california, officials have just reopened a beach that was the site of a deadly shark attack. 19-year-old lucas ransom was body boarding at surf beach when a giant shark mauled his leg. witnesses pulled him to shore but he was pronounced dead at the scene. this morning on "today," his family said he had tried to laugh off the dangers of sharks. >> every surfer kind of has that in the back of your head. and it's in the very far back. you go out there to enjoy life

and celebrate and you don't really think about it. i know -- i know they joked about it but it's something you really joke about. it never really hits home until something like this happens. >> dr. reese halters, we had talked earlier this year about the warmer water bringing fish and especially sharks closer to the east coast. what's happening on the west coast? >> well, the reverse. we've got cooler water here with la nina. and you have to understand, you've got this big crater, that's at least 18 feet long. and the surfer boogie border is flailing around and the shark senses that it's a wounded seal or sea lion and goes for it. as soon as they lock on, it's bony so they want to spit it out but the damage, obviously, was done. >> apparently there's some speculation that the shark was a great white. they sent helicopters out to search for the shark. is that particular shark going

to be a danger again to humans? >> could be, but i mean, you know, these critters move like 50, 60 miles a day. so it's very hard to pinpoint exactly where it is. and you know, they're just trying to make a living like all of us and their living consists of eating. so, you know -- >> is there more danger to people in the water right now in california than normal? >> no, i don't believe so. you know, since the 1920s, we've had about 100 shark incidents, 208 was the last fatality. it doesn't happen often. it's just one of those hazards of going out and enjoying the waves. >> reese halter, good to see you. >> thank you. officials are trying to figure out how a healthy 26-year-old swimmer dropped dead during a race near dubai. fran crippen died saturday in the final leg of an open water 10k world cup race. preliminary reports indicate he died of a heart attack. fellow racers said a high water temperature could have contributed to his death. more cases of cholera in

haiti. how health officials are trying to prevent an outbreak from camps of earthquake survivors. first, a look at the web today. how old overhaul undermine employer health coverage? white house officials say no. but some companies already are contemplating the idea like deloitte center for health solutions. they don't want to be the first to drop benefits but they would be a fast second. sony, walkman, rip, rest in peace. sony announced it would no longer produce the personal cassette player. 220 million were sold worldwide since 1979 but the name will live on for mp3 players. sony walkman, did you know they were still making them? young people are like, what's a sony walkman. people are reading about the top ten haubted houses. one of them is the white house. apparently a lot of famous ghosts spotted there like abraham lincoln, adams, the wife of second president john adams. she's been seen hanging her

laundry in the east room. dolly mahdison has been spotted in the rose garden. andrew jackson has been heard laughing in the rose bedroom. thomas jefferson supposedly plays his violin at the yellow oval room where william henry harrison also has been -- he's been spotted in the attic. and if that's the case, who are you going to call? ♪ ghost busters

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this week begins with another report of a high school student suicide. 14-year-old jamarcus bell was targeted by bullies in indiana, his parents say. last month at least four other teenagers committed suicide, reportedly after being bull lid. in those cases, in anti-gay attacks. charles robbins is the executive director of the trevor project. i know you're taking part of a panel on a national crisis that is bullying. are we just seeing more cases or are we hearing now the publicity

surrounding them more? >> well, you know, it's not that there are more cases of suicides, it's just that there's better reporting of the incidents. and for us at the trevor project, you know, we field over 30,000 calls a year from dispondent gay youth. they're up to four times as likely to attempt suicide than their heterosexual peers. if you come from a rejecting family, that goes up nine times. >> there's been a real effort on the part of some very highly visible adults to tell gay teenagers that it gets better, that if you're experiencing problems, hang on because it gets better. the problem with bullying is that it doesn't just target gay teenagers or teenagers who are perceived to be gay. it targets kids of all different backgrounds and classes and education levels. these schools investing in bullying, the president has announced 12% increase in funding. do anti-bullying programs work? >> well, they do work but they need to be broader. and you're right, i mean, they

affect every student who feels different. the reality is that gay/lesbian, transgend transgender, they're bullied twice as much. we needed caters and students to learn to learn the warning signs of suicide and help somebody who is suicidal. >> do you think those programs are already in place or just to no degree? the parents for this kid i was talking about, jamarcus bell, his parents said they tried to set up the meeting to set up intervention and the meeting fell through. >> tlarts. there are many districts who have robust programs and some don't. there t. reporting of incidents can't go unchecked. you can't be a bystander in bullying. you have to take action, whether you're a parent or even a youth. >> all right. i hope the conversation with this big panel tonight goes well. thank you so much. >> thank you. georgia grandma is facing a felony after jumping a deputy after a court hearing. tops our hot shots. the woman was in court with two

grandsons, both facing car theft charges. the grandsons were trying to stop -- they were trying to stop the grandson who is dl in the white from leaving. and then grandma just pounced. now she's charged with felony obstruction -- felony obstruction of an officer. in athens, greece, locals line the streets to watch the demolition of a building in a city center. officials say they will build a park. isn't that all supposed to happen before the olympic there's? it was down to the wire at the jonathan byrd. here's the golfer, tied yesterday with two others. on the fourth extra hole. he won with an ace shot, hole in one. 204 yards away in a pga final. byrd's first win since 2007. look at that guy.

here's the shot once again. hole in one. this is incredible. that's the shot of a lifetime. are you kidding me? and it happed in a pga final. and he doesn't even react, apparently he doesn't realize that he had done. getting to point where we are seeing costumes on every street corner, halloween candy in every store. in some towns teenagers will miss out on all the fun because their town leaders don't want teens ringing doorbells demanding candy. mark eckert is the mayor of bellville, illinois, who banned anyone older than 12 from trick or treating. why, mayor? >> well, we did this about two years ago, 2008, to be exact, after listening to many citizens for a number of years, elderly and single moms, who stated repeatedly that older teens, many of them 6 foot tall and older, would come to the door late at night and it was very scary. and they would just maybe have no costume, just a ski mask on

and they were very frightened. so after listening to this for a couple of seasons, couple of years, we did enact this ordinance. it did several things. stopped the older teens from trick or treating and also set a time limit from 5:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. for trick or treating. >> i know a lot of neighborhoods have the trick or treating hours in place, makes it easier for parents to know when trick-or-treaters are going to be home. in this case, in your town, teen violators could face jail or fines up to $100. are you just taking all the fun out of halloween? >> no. quite honestly, we haven't issued any tickets. we've had very few warnings. i think since we've done this, we've made the statement to the schools and through the media to the parents, et cetera, that trick or treat's designed, in our city, for the younger children. it's also designed not to be where it becomes a scary thing for our seniors or, like i said, for single parents who are home alone with children when big

kids come to the door. many of them came 10:30, 11:00 at night. so we banned this. we made this ordinance. it's been very effective. we've issued no tickets. and really and truthfully, we've had no problems. >> ding dong, they go. you're a teenager, go get a job, go buy your own candy, kid. get with it. mayor, thanks for being with us today. >> thank you. all right. usually doesn't matter what voters wear to the polls on election day, but it will in connecticut next week. plus, a big admission from nfl quarterback brett favre. when i was 16, i was hired as a cashier

at the walmart in marinette, wisconsin. that first job launched my career. since i've been with the company, i've been promoted ten times over the span of 11 years. today, i'm a divisional learning and development manager. we can actually help people develop in their own careers. my job allows me to make a difference in the lives of almost 100,000 associates in the northeast. if you think about it, that's almost 8 times the size of my hometown. my name is nick and i work at walmart. ♪

welcome back to msnbc. i'm contessa brewer. 7.5 magnitude earthquake just hit off indonesia's sumatra island. president obama is back on

the campaign trail today after taking a day off. he'll head to rhode island. brett favre at mitted to leaving voice mail messages for that sideline reporter but said he did not send those explicit photos. minnesota vikings quarterback threw three interceptions against his former team, the green bay packer, yesterday. and, boy, bid he get booed. mexican police investigating a shooting at a drug rehab center in tijuana. details just coming in to us. outcome of a senate race in pennsylvania could be the first sign of a republican wave on election night. and it could be down to the wire. a new poll out today shows republican pat toomey reclaiming his lead from democrat joe sestak. 47% to 42%. last week three separate polls showed a dead heat. and mark murray is nbc news political director. good to see you today. >> listen, i have a new toy i wanted to show off here. i wanted to talk about that

pennsylvania senate race right here. now, here's -- here we go. we're going to the senate race. pennsylvania. let me pull it up. and there we're seeing it. the lead here, joe sestak, 42%. the amazing thing about this is that he has been trailing behind pat toomey for quite a number of months. and now it looks like the race tightening up. to what so do you attribute the movement? >> one of the reasons is that democrats are coming back home. they have a substantial voter registration against republicans. remember barack obama won the state by 10 plus percentage points in 2008. this environment is a republican leaning environment. that seems to be benefiting toomey. this is as to-up, increasingly competitive. toomey's might have a fingernail's advantage. >> let's move to the west coast now. this california news has been really incredible. the l.a. times poll has barbara

boxer now showing 50% and carly fiorina at 42%. carly fiorina has spent a lot of money on this race. boxer has been neck and neck. where is the movement coming from here? >> this is the democratic firewall. they're hoping that they're able to win in washington state and also california to keep control of the united states senate. it seems that that west coast fire wall is working for democrats. republicans are complaining about that new poll that shows barbara boxer with a significant single digit lead over carly fiorina. there's no doubt that barbara boxer has the advantage right now. republicans feel much better about this senate contest, boxer versus fiorina, than gubernatorial contest with whitman. >> in colorado we're watching now this race to be senator, you've got the republican ken buck, the most recent reuters poll has him at 48% against michael bennet.

michelle obama come paining for bennet. and buck compared homosexuality with alcoholism, saying that it's a choice. which one is going to come out on top here on election day? >> i have no idea. this is a pure toss-up race. in addition to pennsylvania, illinois, great race in nevada. those are about as close as we're getting to 50/50 contests. we're going to have to stay up very late on election night, i think. >> are you jealous i got to play with the toy instead of you? >> i am very jealous and i hope to be able to borrow one of those gadgets very, very soon. >> i'm sure that will be the case. mark, thank you. big candidates are using the home stretch to bring their opponents' personal issues into the spotlight, arguing when it comes to the campaign, nothing is off limits. now, take a look at the candidates fighting to be fm's newest senator. charlie crist repeated his attacks last night on marco rube bow for using a party credit card for expenses.

>> i've gone well beyond the point of disclosure. people want to focus on these issues because they're wrong on the important issues. this country has a $13.5 trillion debt. >> i created the open government in the governor's office. >> rubeo says he paid those bills himself. she has been famously tight lipped about her past, only recently answering to charges that she used campaign cash to pay for home expenses. in alaska the privacy argument just doesn't cut it. a judge ordered the release of senate candidate joe miller's personnel file when he worked as a government attorney. several publications sued for the release after the former mayor of fairbanks said miller left just before he was going to be fired for ethics issues. >> it is true. during lunch hour i did get on computers and participated in a private poll for about five minutes.

it was a mistake i made. i was suspended for three days, or received a dock of three days' pay. i learned from that. >> dan abrams is nbc's chief legal analyst and author of "man down." when we're talking here, dan, about privacy issues, on what is the judge basing his decision? >> this is not a classic privacy case where a private individual is being asked for certain documents or if a company is being asked for documents about a private figure. what makes this case hard, and i think why the judge ruled the way he did against miller, is first of all, miller was working for the government. and there were ethics questions. and you heard miller there just confirm after the judge's ruling, which was going to release these documents, that, yes, he did have an ethics problem while he was a government attorney. so i don't think this was a particularly strong privacy argument that miller had. >> okay. let me ask you, if you're apply for a job and your new employer

wants to check why you left the old job and they call up and say, hey, why did cones t tetes brewer leave her job, there are privacy issues there. old employers would be reluctant to give away too many private details of your employment. >> i think that employers are actually more nervous about being sued for slander based on what they say about you than they are about actually releasing documents. yes, there are certain documents that are private and under federal law, there are protections for employees, federal employees that don't allow the disclosure of certain kinds of documents. but in this case what the judge did is he did a balancing test. basically, he weighed what are the privacy interests of the individual versus what the public interest in having this release. i think in this particular case it wasn't that close. now, you point out, what about a private individual, then it might get closer. it might get closer if someone, particularly something sensitive, medical issues,

issues like that, more likely to protect those kinds of records. >> you're saying because joe miller has now become a candidate for office, that makes him a public figure not a private citizen? >> and, also, though, they didn't release certain documents. they didn't release all of his personnel records. there are certain records which the court ruled were subject to privacy. and as a result, i think that the judge did a good job of balancing it here. >> dan, thanks. nice to see you. a deadly cholera outbreak is spreading quickly in earthquake rav valued haiti. more than 250 people killed, another 3,000 have been sickened by the disease. health officials are racing against the clock to keep the disease from reaching camps where earthquake survivors live. nancy snyderman is on the phone now in haiti. what are you seeing on the ground, nancy? >> reporter: right now i'm in a rural part of haiti, about 2 1/2 hours north of port-au-prince. i went to where we believe the epi center of the cholera outbreak originated.

and a large river in haiti and it looks like the bacteria came from this river and is probably in some of the rice patddies nearby. this is a rural epidemic. people in port-au-prince, infections, are likely people who left the country to go down into the city. the real goal now is to treat the infected people and to get to the water source, fix the problem and keep this epidemic from getting worse. >> do they have the medical teams they need on the ground to address the situation? >> everyone is assured me that they have the supplies they need. the ivs, the oral rehydration kits and the antibiotics. in the past there's been a concern about having enough doctors to get to places. but every place we've been to today, very small rural hospitals and the larger hospitals, there are real international physician contingents helping the haitian doctors. so i think right now it is

primarily getting people to wash their hands, clean up the drinking water, and then a country that's so poor, people are ill, getting them to medical help as fast as possible. >> nancy, thank you so much for filling us in. appreciate it. voters in connecticut could head for a smack-down if they show up to the polls wearing wwe gear. the secretary of state says the wwe is synonymous with linda mcmahon. mcmahon is facing democrat richard bloom eebloomenthal and served as ceo as the wwe. it's no different from democrats wearing union tirks shirts or buttons and they call it voter intimidati intimidation. say good-bye to the flu for good. medical breakthrough, just ahead. first, the smartest city in the united states. number five, denver, colorado. "daily beast" ranks, its iq, 167.70.

number four, raleigh-durham, north carolina. the areas of san francisco, oakland, san jose, california, ranked number three. that's the drop from number two last year. and number two this year, hartford, connecticut. the smart esther, well, boston, you should feel proud. iq, come on, 176.68. i'm skeptical. the least smart city, las vegas. sorry. i do a lot of different kinds of exercise,

but basically, i'm a runner. last year. (oof). i had a bum knee that needed surgery. but it got complicated, because i had an old injury. so i wanted a doctor who had done this before. and unitedhealthcare's database helped me find a surgeon. you know you can't have great legs, if you don't have good knees. we're 78,000 people looking out for 70 million americans. that's health in numbers. unitedhealthcare. sure ii just wish that all of the important information was gathered together in one place. [ printer whirs ] done. ♪ thanks.

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during check-up, pediatricians should start asking kids about how much time they spen spend in front of the tv and on the computer. they link successive screen time with attention problems, obesity and sleep and eating disorders. experts say pediatricians should pay attention to kids' media habits and ask whether kids have access to tv or the internet in their bedrooms. a deadly bombing at a shrine in pakistan top ours world view. it exploded at the gain gate of a shrine in pakistan during morning prayers. five people were killed in the attack. strikes and protests continue to plague france as workers demonstrate against the

government's plans to raise the retirement age from 60 to 62. the workers are vowing to fight until the government changes its position. evacuations are under way in indonesia as a volcano rumbles and spews ash. mt. merapi is going to raise the alert status to the highest level. flu season is right around the corner but a team of researchers at brigham young university hope they have the solution for stopping the animal virus -- the annual virus, rather. professor david from byu is here via skype. >> pleased to be with you. >> what did you find out? >> well, we've been working hard on the structure for a channel in the flu that could be a target for drugs, it could be like the achili's heel. >> does this mean an anti-viral drug used to treat the flu or a vaccine? >> the first one, the anti-viral drug. and the hope would be that we

could replace one that used to be used up until about five years ago with a new drug that would work with the current version of the flu. >> what's that mean in a practical way of speaking for people who start feeling those aches and pains and a fever coming on? >> well, the hope would be that if such a drug -- when such a drug is found that we could get the drug into their hands quickly and not wait for a vaccine. the vaccine takes a few weeks for it to work. >> i know what you're trying to do is block these proteins that stops the flu then from reproducing. how long do you think it might be feasible until we see something like this on the market? >> oh, it might take us a few years, contessa, before we can really find the right drug, but we're making good progress now. and with our newest structures that have been released we hope that the process will speed up. the competition is really hot. >> i'm sure. will it work on any other viruses other than the flu? >> no, but hiv has a similar

channel in it that may also one day be blocked. >> professor david dusath, good luck. >> thank you. boy, we have a lot going on this monday. in about three hours the three candidates running for the u.s. senate seat in ralaska will hol a second debate. in four hours, president brm will be in road eye lahode isla. this is his first visit to that state as president. rachel maddow's documentary about a murder of an abortion doctor george tiller. it airs right here on msnbc. what can i get ya? i'd like one of those desserts and some coffee. sure, decaf or regular? - regular. - cake or pie? - pie. - apple or cherry? cherry. oil or cream?

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eight days to go and number of races democrats are catching up to republicans are widening their leads. but a third of voters remain undecide i'd. we've been talking online about

how candidates use that time to shore up support. just got this e-mail in from joseph sheridan. there's plenty of rooms for minds to be influenced and nobody does it better than barack obama. then this one from clinton hancock. he writes, americans want to be patronized. they want ooze ease toy so understand rhetoric and bumper sticker slogans. give them that and you get their support. paul heimsath says, most polls rely on landlines. most young and poor people have these things called cellular phones. they don't get polled. i love hearing from you. you can reach me on twitter or facebook. twitter.com/contessa.com. the democrats want to swing their election their way. they scheduled rallies targeting minority voters who were key to president obama winning in '08. the president also had the backing of young people thattier.

and right now, 2 7% of voters younger than 30 say they will definitely be voting. when you breakdown the numbers even more, 32% of young black voters say they'll definitely vote. 31% of white voters, but only 17% of young hispanic voters say they will definitely be at the polls next week. reverend jesse jackson is here. i mentioned these rallies scheduled around the country here. what does it take to get people who may not be as engaged this election to turn up and to vote on tuesday? >> you know, a long time, big rallies on campus because students tended not to vote. now the 18-year-old has the right to vote. certainly you can actually vote on the campus where you attend school. say, for example, you are a university of southern california but you live in new york, you can vote where you attend school. so on-site same day registration in wisconsin, minnesota, also have big impact. you you see the impact of the --

of the early voting and 18-year-old voting and voting on campus. so a huge rally of thousands translates into a lot of votes immediately. >> this is a crucial group for democrats because young people tend to be more liberal, they tend to vote democratic. i'm speaking very generally, of cour course. but they also are less likely to actually show up no matter what their intentions are. >> well, when president barack obama raised the pell grant, for example, speaking directly to tell. if you at a grant in college, guaranteed a job, still on your parents insurance until you're 26, that's directly to them. and so by providing and youth used to have to get their money from the lender can now get it from the government, owner exploration. republicans want bankers to control that money. banks are getting free money and charging fees. when you go to these huge campus rallies it translates into right

now votes on that campus. >> and, jesse, let me ask you, too, about the minority block because, again, these were people who there were a lot of first time voters out there vote for barack obama, they were motivated, they wanted to see that change in the white house. in this election and, again, you're holding the rallies but you're looking at groups of people who could be the pivotal difference between republicans having control in congress and the democrats having control. what do you say to them? >> they're more black voters than tea parties. there's more coffee in the pot than there is tea in the cup. whenever those voters vote in big numbers, in strategic states, they're the whole difference. when i ran and got 2 million new voters and voted in '86, democrats regained their congress. in north carolina, florida, louisiana -- >> what's your prediction on turnout then? >> i think the turnout is going to be greater than projected.

the voters i see an emergence of energy among young voters, campus and black voters in strategic states. >> reverend, it's been a while. good to see you. >> thank you, contessa. don't forget, teleamundo. that's where the hispanic community is getting more information on the elections. if you're interested, check that out. that wraps up this hour for me. i'm con cess a brewer. i will see you back here tomorrow noon eastern, 9:00 a.m. out west. then just seven days until the mid terps andterm midterms. i'm going mark murray about where we could see a real shocker. andrea mitchell is up next. she's talking to nicolle wallace. it's a medicare prescription drug plan that saves you an average of over $450 a year, with monthly plan premiums less than $15 and copays as low as $2.

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