making news on this thursday, october 14th. >> mission accomplished. chile and the world celebrate the miners' safe return. so, what's next for the men who endured so much? we talk to one, an abc news exclusive. and the secret weapon. the first lady on the campaign trail. can her popularity make a difference for the democrats? and family tree. guess who is related to the commander in chief.

and good morning, everyone. for the 33 rescued miners, this is the first morning they are all free. >> they were lifted up, one by one, over the course of a remarkable day, greeted by cheers and hugs and a global sigh of relief. >> just after midnight, the last man was pulled to the surface above the san jose mine. it was the final act of a months'-long drama. >> diana alvear was there and joins us now. good morning, diana. >> reporter: vinita and rob, good morning. after the planning and the preparation and the precautions and the test runs, it's amazing to be able to say that all 33 of those miners are finally free after more than 2 months underground. less than 24 hours after it started, the rescue was complete. meticulously planned and precisely executed. >> we have experienced a night that we will never forget. full of emotion. full of joy. >> reporter: it was tuesday,

just after midnight local time, that the first miner emerged. he embraced his wife and son. but avalos would have to wait for 23 others to be pulled to freedom. the world watched as the fenix delivered the 33 miners. the oldest, 63-year-old mario gomez. the youngest, 19-year-old jimmy sanchez. then, there's ariel ticona. he watched the birth of his baby girl a mile underground. finally, luis urzua was pulled out. the world celebrated, having witnessed a true miracle. and we heard that some of the freed miners might be leaving the hospital as early as today. it's a testament to their

surprising good health, considering everything they had to go through. vinita? rob? >> our thanks to diana alvear. it looks like all of the miners are together at the hospital, at least for now. the chilean government has promised to care for them for at least six months, until each of them has readjusted. finding a way to stay together will be part of that prosetsz. people all over the country had their eyes glued to the television all day, watching the events unfold all day. people were watching and cheering, as each miner was lifted to the surface. president obama says the unity and the resolve of the chilean people have inspired the world. later in this half hour, the first interview with any of the miners. and then, on "good morning america," we will hear from the doctor who has been looking after the men, since they were discovered alive. and now, to the battle of the midterm elections. delaware's senate candidates who want joe biden's old seat, faced off on a nationally-televised

debate. tea party-backed republican, christine o dponl, claimed her opponent was a marxist. o'donnell trails in the polls. but has raised $3 million from around the country. and the democratic party has dispatched what some call the secret weapon, the first lady, to the campaign trail, for the first time in two years. she's even appearing with candidates who politely declined an invite from her husband. emily schmidt is live in washington this morning with more. hi, emily. >> reporter: hi, rob. good morning, to you. the first lady hasn't given a stump speech since her husband was running for president. now, she is in demand, on a campaign swing that will take her right up until the november election. michelle obama is hitting the trail for democrats battling for their political lives. but there's no tough talk from the first lady. >> my children are the center of my world. >> reporter: the first lady is asking for patience from voters who wanted change.

>> many of us came into this expecting to see all of the change we talked about happen, all at once, right away. but the truth is, it is going to take a longer time to dig ourselves out of this hole, than any of us would like. >> reporter: voters in eight, key states will hear that message over the next three weeks. today, colorado. wednesday, it was ill and wisconsin. >> other people say, the one i really want to meet is michelle obama. >> reporter: senator russ feingold skipped a fund-raiser with the president this fall. what's different about the first lady? >> do you think she's a greater asset than the president? >> the president's number one. she's a close second. >> reporter: but the numbers tell a different story. the first lady's favorability rating, 68%. her husband, 50%. she is especially popular with suburban women voters. >> she seems so down to earth. >> reporter: tickets for fund-raisers with the firth lady can bring in as much as

$400,000. and one perk of this campaign swing for the first lady, she got to spend the night at the obama family home in chicago last night. while she's in town, she's going to have a chance to cast an early ballot for the november election. rob? >> emily schmidt. thank you, emily. witnesses at the ft. hood shooting are going to begin testifying about the shooter. manage those, management alonzo lunsford, said the light from a laser-guided weapon soon trained on him. and he closed his eyes before being shot in the head. the hearing will determine if hasan should stand trial. also this morning, hurricane paula is losing steam right now as it brushes by cuba. it's forecast to weaken into a tropical storm. but heavy rain is expected to drench the tobacco-growing farmland. paula grazed mexico's yucatan

peninsula yesterday, without inflingting much damage on its resorts. and now, for a look at this morning's weather around america. paula prompts tropical storm warnings in the florida keys. stormy, meanwhile, from the carolinas to d.c. a drenching afternoon rain in philadelphia and new york. getting up to new england by later tonight. showers in the pacific northwest. >> a wet 61 in seattle. 72 in boise. and 75 in albuquerque. phoenix gets up to 97 degrees. sacramento, 88. mid-70s in kansas city and omaha. and 66 in chicago. 59 in boston. 62 here in new york. and 71 in atlanta. business news is next for this morning. why heating your home may cost you a little more this winter. plus, a flag so big it puts the traditional mafia to shame. and a surprising new study on life expectancy in the u.s. plus, our top story of the

morning.

some positive earnings reports in the u.s. are giving asian stocks are boost this morning. tokyo's nikkei average climbed nearly 2% today. hong kong's hang seng is up in late trading. in london, the ftse opened higher. on wall street, the dow gained 75 points yesterday. the nasdaq index rose 23. the foreclosure crisis in this country is apparently worse than ever. numbers out this morning show

288,000 homes were seized, from july through september. that's more than during any quarter since the housing market began to bust back in 2006. banks are on pace to seize 1.2 million homes this year. however, many foreclosures could be challenged in court, due to allegations of shoddy paperwork. also, households in the northeast can expect heating costs to go up pretty soon. the energy department says the average cost of heating a home will be $24 higher this winter than a year ago. fuel costs are rising. and this winter is expected to be colder than last year. thousands of climbs against a chinese drywall company could soon be settled. the company will repair 300 homes as part of a pilot program. that could pave the way for settlements of all the claims. homeowners have claimed that the defective drywall emitted a bad smell and eroded pipes and wiring. two big names on the web may join forces.

aol is considering buying yahoo!. it's unclear how the companies would combine their services. but reports say the combined company would be in a better position to compete for advertising revenue. and coming up next on this thursday, an exclusive interview with 1 of the 33 rescued miners. he tells us what helped him survive 70 days underground. and rapper to the rescue. how a hip-hop star helped save a life. ♪

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can expect some airport delays along the east coast. boston, new york, philly, washington, charlotte and miami. for 1 of the 33 miners, today is not just his first day of freedom. it is also the day on which his son will be born. >> richard villaroel was the 28th miner to be rescued and the 1st to give an interview about his ordeal. here's abc's john quinones. >> reporter: 27-year-old richard villaroel came out of the shaft, miner 28. when the mine collapsed, his wife was pregnant. and this is the message he sent her when he was down below. to my senora, tell her that i love her a lot and that i'm going to get out soon. and this is what he said moments ago, from the hospital. i never used to pray, he says.

here, i learned to pray. i got closer to god. now, that the worst is over, it's time for the men who were so strong for so many weeks, to admit they were frightened. we didn't want to wait anymore, he says. we were deteriorating. we were skinny. i lost 12 kilos. and i was scared of not getting to know my son, which is what i wanted the most. in a hospital nearby, richard villaroel's son will be born. but tonight, all of chile is celebrating the rebirth of the men they call, the 33. >> john quinones reporting. the miners are now receiving gifts from around the world. trips to greece. ipods from steve jobs. even a trip to graceland for the biggest elvis fan of the group. investigators in north carolina have started draining a pond in their efforts to locate

a missing girl. the pond is near a tree-trimming company where zahra clare baker's father worked. the child was reported missing over the weekend. and police now believe she was, in fact, murdered. her stepmother has been charged with obstruction of justice. federal prosecutors say they have shut down the biggest medicare fraud ring in u.s. history. 73 people were arrested in new york and l.a. in new mexico, georgia and ohio. prosecutors say they are part of a vast armenian gang that cost medicare $164 by stealing the identities of patients and doctors. and by setting up phantom clinics in 25 states. new figures show the nation's crime rate at a record low. violent crime and property crime dropped to the lowest levels since 1973. that's when national recordkeeping began. and look at the last decade. violent crime is down 39%. property crime down 29%. experts attribute smarter

policing and high-tech areas and the targeting of repeat offenders. hispanics living in the u.s. are outliving both whites and blacks. in the first longevity study to look at hispanics as a separate group, researchers found their life expectancy to be 80 years. that's compared to whites, expected to live to the age of 78. blacks to the age of 73. experts say the figures may be due to immigrant hispanics, who tend to be healthiest among their country. president obama's family tree just got more interesting. a few years after finding out he is related to dick cheney, more unlikely relatives are popping up. they're among his harshest critics. ancestry.com says the president and sarah palin are actually tenth cousins. and another tenth cousin of the president is none other than rush limbaugh. the baseball playoffs resume tomorrow night with game one between the yankees and rangers in texas.

for some sports highlights from tomorrow night, here's steve weissman of espn news. >> good morning. i'm steve weissman, with your espn news update. the miami's big three are down to just one. dwyane wade and lebron james, not in the lineup as the heat visits the hornets. first quarter, you had a whole lot of chris bosh. ensuing hornets possession, how about chris paul. seven points, seven dimes for cp-3. third quarter, heat down three. bosh, trying to do it all. little fadeaway jumper. 20 points in the third quarter. finished with 24. was not enough, as new orleans wins 90-76. time for hockey. sidney crosby and the pens taking on the maple leafs. pens looking for their first win in their new home arena. maple leafs up 3-2. later in the second, crosby looking for his first goal of the year, looking no longer. there it is.

take another look at it. crosby led the league with 51 goals last year. finally gets number one of the season. but the maple leafs hang on to win 4-3. how about this? toronto 3-0, on the season. washington capitals, hosting the islanders. alex ovechkin, three goals in three games so far. also playing in his 400th career nhl game. second period, he's got another goal. that's 273. the fifth-most through 400. we're tied with 1-1. caps on the powerplay. ovechk ovechkin, the shot. nick backstrom, he finds it. take another look. anytime ovechkin shoots, you know it's going to be close. caps win 2-1. they're 3-0, at home. that's a look at your espn news highlights. i'm steve weissman. back to you in new york. rappers are known for their fast-talking ways. and rapper t.i. helped talk down a suicidal man from a roof on

wednesday. >> he heard about the incident on the radio. then, drove to the building to help. he recorded a cell phone video and took it to the man who proved he was really there. the man agreed to come down, in exchange for a few minutes with the hip-hop star. >> changed his own life after his jail time. coming up next, the stories we'll be following today, including president obama trying to win back young voters. and a new proposal to prevent sky-high cell phone overage fees.

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and now, a look ahead to the stories we'll be watching today. chile's health minister says some of the 33 rescued miners may go home from the hospital today, earlier than expected. but many of them are still having trouble sleeping because they simply want to catch up with their families. president obama appeals to young voters in a town hall that will be televised on b.e.t., mtv and other networks. it comes as an associated press poll finds that enthusiasm for the president has cooled. democrats call her their secret weapon on the campaign trail. today, first lady michelle obama stumps in colorado, after a swing in the midwest yesterday. today, candidates debate in several key senate races. one of the most closely-watched will be in nevada, where sharron angle is mounting a challenge to harry reid. and federal regulators propose new rules requiring cell phone companies to alert customers before they hit limits

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and finally, one, last look this morning at those chilean miners whose plight captivated the world. >> they were thrust from obscurity right into the international spotlight. and arrested a collective sigh of relief across the globe. here's abc's elizabeth vargas. >> reporter: when they emerged, one by one, from the darkness, the eyes of the world were upon them. the rescue played live on iran's tv. china's news agency was reporting from the ground. in japan, crowds gathered to watch at the chilean embassy. why do you think this has captured the world's imagination the way it has? >> i don't think we often get stories that end so happily. we're so used to sad endings. this one was people coming out of the earth alive. it's like the resurrection. >> reporter: nations usually as laggerheads, were, for one day, part of the same human family. >> this has captivated the

world's attention. and the tears they shed, after so much time apart, has expressed their own joy and joy of people everywhere. >> reporter: there has been precedence for this attention-grabbing. other dangerous missions, which outcome was not assured. one, the moon landing. >> one small step for man. one giant leap for mankind. >> reporter: in a popular culture, entransed with celebrities, who, before now, had ever heard of mario sepulveda? the second miner to be rescued. and the first to be labeled as a common man. >> translator: i ask personally. don't treat us like artists or journalists. i want them to treat me like mario sepulveda, worker and miner. >> reporter: around the world, these rescued workers and their ordeal caught something emblematic in the daily, universal, human struggle.