,, the too close to call sin city showdown. the too-close-to-call nevada senate race gets even hotter. >> man up harry reid, you need to understand that we have a problem. new-found freedom. chile's national heroes get used to a new life above ground. and daytime dynamite. sparks fly when bill o'reilly pays a visit to "the view." this is the "cbs morning news" for friday, october 15th, 2010.

good morning, everybody. thank you for joining us. i'm kendis gibson in today for betty when. we're going to begin with politics and the nevada senate race, a contest that may be the most striking example of the dynamics driving campaign 2010. a little-known outsider taking on the democratic establishment. tea party candidate sharron angle running neck and neck with the most powerful democrat in the senate, majority leader harry reid. last night, they debated for the first and last time. joel brown is in washington with more. good morning, joel. >> kendis, good morning to you. no knock-out blows in vegas last night but you're right this debate in nevada really crystallizes what the campaign 2010 has turned into, the tea party has even the senate's most powerful democrat on the ropes. it was a feisty face-off in one of the nation's tightest senate races. at last night's debate in nevada

republican sharron angle traded swipes with senate majority leader harry reid painting him as the ultimate insider. >> i live in a middle-class neighborhood in reno, nevada nart reid lives in the ritz-carlton in washington, d.c. >> reporter: the veteran shot back calling his tea party-backed rival extreme. >> my opponent favors big banks, against wall street reform. >> reporter: with so many senate seats up for grabs, the nevada contest is considered especially important. reid holds the most powerful position in the senate and he's been a driving force behind president obama's policies. leading up to their first and only debate, both candidates were pouring money into attack ads. >> introducing sharron angle crazy juice. >> harry reid, the best friend an illegal alien ever had. >> reporter: on stage, they

disagreed on just about everything from immigration and federal spending to president obama's new health care law. >> we passed health insurance reform because we had no choice. >> obama-care is destroying our economy. >> reporter: the sin city showdown couldn't come at a more critical time. early voting in nevada begins tomorrow. a harry reid loss could prove the most embarrassing defeat in what's going to be a down year for democrats. kendis, the latest polling out of nevada gives sharron angle a two-point lead over the senate majority leader. >> very tight race there. joel brown reporting from washington, d.c. thank you. health care particularly president obama's health care reform law is one of the hotly debated issues on the campaign trail. florida's attorney general is praising a federal court ruling allowing a challenge to the law to be heard in court. 20 states are part of the suit. among the issues, the constitutionality of requiring states to expand medicaid or penalize people who don't buy insurance. for the second year in a row, the federal deficit is projected to pass one trillion dollars.

an official announcement is expected later today. the congressional budget office projects the deficit for 2010, the fiscal year that ended just last month totals $1.29 trillion. the 2009 deficit of $1.4 trillion was the highest on record. the majority of chilean miners rescued after 69 days trapped underground are expected to go home today. three of the miners left the hospital thursday. miner carlos mommani, the fourth freed got a hero's welcome when he arrived home. the men have been inundated with requests for interviews and offers of everything from jobs to vacations. the government has so far made sure each miner has a bank account only he can operate. >> reporter: the 33 rescued miners saw their new-found fame sprawled across the headlines. still wearing protective sunglasses, the miners read chilean newspapers in the copiapo hospital where doctors examined them.

they also met with the president, sebastian pinero, who promised to improve worker safety. he said, we will never again allow workers in our country to work in such unsafe and inhumane conditions. doctors say all the miners remained tense after their subterranean ordeal. some received dental care and treated for skin conditions. they are being released once medical exams are complete. >> from the psychological viewpoint, they are going to receive extra support at least for the next six months. >> reporter: family and friends packed up tents and supplies at camp hope grateful their long vigil is over. the mining minister says there's a lesson in this for everyone. >> from the miners, we -- the world have learned that you have fight until the end. you never can give up. >> reporter: in the coming weeks the men will have to decide whether they'll return to the mines. something most of the relatives are dead set against.

the american jet skier believed shot and killed by mexican pirates may have been a victim of mistaken identity. a texas newspaper reports the search for david hartley has been indefinitely suspended while mexican officials consider new strategies. a u.s. consulate official says hartley and his wife may have been mistaken for drug runners. a federal grank in buffalo, new york has indicted a canadian sports doctor linked to high-profile athletes in this country. the new five-count indictment charges galea made more than 100 trips across the border to treat athletes. yankee player alex rodriguez is one of the athletes who says he was treated by galea but did not receive performance-enhancing drugs. we turn now to the "cbs moneywatch." investors in asia headed for exits this morning. ashley morrison is in new york with more. ashley, good morning. >> good morning to you, kendis.

asian markets fell back this morning after thursday's rally. the nikkei lost nearly 1% and hong kong's hang seng was also lower. today, wall street gets the latest on inflation and retail sales. thursday, stocks broke a four-day winning streak. the dow dipped a point and a half while the nasdaq lost almost six. wall street will sure be listening when fed chair ben bernanke gives a policy speech later this morning in boston. a new round of stimulus measures are expected next month. analysts will be looking for any clues into how much money the central bank will pump into the economy. most experts believe it's not a question of if but when the fed will relaunch programs to jump-start the recovery. the government will make it official today, no cost of living adjustment increase for social security recipients. to make up for it the house is planning to vote next month to give payments of $250 to more than 58 million retirees and veterans. the plan faces opposition in the senate. 401(k) statements will soon get more user friendly under

rules unveiled by the labor department thursday, companies must lay out all fees and other charges in plain language so that different investments can be compared more easily. the new regulations go into effect on january 1st. and mortgage rates hit another low. the average on a 30-year fixed rate is now down to 4.19%. that's a record. the average for a 15-year fixed is now down to 3.62%. tough times for the video game industry. market researchr npd group says u.s. retail sales of hardware, software and accessories fell 8% last month down to $1.2 billion. hardware sales suffered most. verizon wireless will be selling the ipad at stores at the end of this month. the deal breaks at&t's exclusive hold on apple's mobile services. verizon is also expected to start selling apple's iphone early next year. i know that a lot of people will

be excited to at least have a choice in that area kendis. >> i do know a lot of verizon customers waiting for that. ashley, thank you. >> just ahead on the morning news bill o'reilly gets the ladies of "the view" walking. plus sarah palin in her element, a peek at her new reality show. but first, a preview of tonight's "cbs evening news." how a high school drop-out and mother of two became a lawyer to help save her brother. now she's continuing to live her conviction. her story and much more tonight only on the "cbs evening news." this looks just like the tree house i built with my dad. (announcer) it's more than just that great peanut taste, choosing jif is a simple way to show someone how much you care. you made that for me?

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it's accurate to call it the hoover dam bypass it's accurate to call it the hoover dam bypass bridge but doesn't come close to describing the soaring new bridge high over the colorado river just downstream from the 75-year-old dam. the $240 million bridge, which took eight years to build was dedicated thursday and will open

to traffic next week and let cars and trucks bypass the traffic bottleneck at the dam. sarah palin crisscrossing california this week giving speeches support iing republican candidates but in the trailer for her new tv reality series, palin suggests she doesn't even like politics. >> i'd rather be doing this than in some stuffy old political office. i'd rather be out here being free. >> the eight-week alaska travel log series starts in mid-november right after the election. one of the most talked about television moments in a long time, bill o'reilly's appearance thursday on "the view" the conservative commentator made sparks fly when the discussion turned to the islamic center planned for near ground zero. >> let me break this to you, 70% of americans don't want that mosque down there. so, don't give me the "we" bit >> where's that poll. i want to see that poll. >> i'll show you that poll in a minute.

>> americans don't want it there. >> why is that? why aren't we saying. >> because it's inappropriate. >> why is it inappropriate? >> because they killed us on 9/11. >> no! oh, my god! >> muslims didn't kill us on 9/11, is that what you are saying? >> extremists. >> -- i'm telling you, 70% of the country -- >> i don't want to sit here. i don't want to sit here now. >> don't. go. muslims killed us on 9/11. >> joy behar and whoopi goldberg later returned after barbara walters scolded them for walking out and o'reilly for, quote, demeaning a whole religion. remember ines sainz, the mexican reporter who touched off a controversy involving the jets. she complained how she was treated doing an interview in the jets locker room.

she says from now on, she'll conduct interviews elsewhere. straight ahead, your friday morning weather. and in sports, the 25th ranked west virginia mountaineers pull a fast one and put it across for a payback victory. victory. ♪ ♪ ♪

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in new york, cloudy, 59. miami, mostly cloudy, 82. chicago, sunny and 60. denver, sunny, as well. 80. in l.a., sunny and 79. and time now for a check of the national forecast. the latest satellite picture shows thick rain clouds in the northeast, clear skies stretch from the east to the west coast. and tropical rains are moving away from southern florida. later today, strong storms are on the move through new england. sunny skies all throughout the south and cooler to the north, especially in the northeast and northern plains. we're going to turn to sports now, where we begin with college football. and west virginia against south florida. the 25th ranked mountaineers lost this matchup last year but not this time. the 31-yard t.d. pass made it 10-0. check this out the hook-and-ladder play with a lateral flip and 9-yard touchdown. the mountaineers went on to win it 20-6. to baseball and the start of the league championship series,

the a.l. west champion texas rangers host the wild card new york yankees tonight in arlington. yanks' ace cc sabathia, 21-7 in the regular season takes on the rangers' c.j. wilson, a 15-game winner. in the national league, it will be two of baseball's best pitchers in game one tomorrow night. san francisco ace tim lens come goes against the phillies' roy halladay who threw a no-hitter to start the playoffs. the giants arrived in philadelphia last night and will spend today getting ready to take on the defending league champions. and when we return, another look at this morning's top stories and the faulty foreclosure crisis. disturbing details about shoddy paperwork. ♪ triple-chocolate-swirl brownie? ♪ [ sk sampler ] crunchy, berry, nutty, chocolatey goodness? [ female announcer ] when watching your weight, the more options you have, the more likely you are to stay on track.

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on the on the "cbs morning news," here's a look at today's weather. the northeast will see heavy rains, gusty winds, coastal flooding and rain/snow mixture for higher elevations thanks to a nor'easter. the rest of the country will see sunny skies and cooler air.

here's another look at this morning's top stories. those rescued miners in chile started going home. most are expected to be released from the hospital today. last night, the senate candidates in nevada held their first and only debate. republican challenger and tea party favorite sharron angle is running neck and neck with democratic senate leader harry reid. major bank stocks will try to recover today from big losses amid a growing crisis involving faulty foreclosures. thursday shares of citigroup fell at least 4% and chase dropped nearly 3%. this after shocking new details about the mishandling of foreclosure paperwork. kelly cobiella has more. when donny thomas fell two months behind on his mortgage in 2008, he tried to reach his lender to make a deal. >> that's when default was

put -- knocked on my door. that's when i said i had -- they said 30 days to move out or something. >> reporter: the lender foreclosed, repossessed and resold thomas's home in three months. his attorneys believe it's another case in a growing stack of foreclosures pushed through by so-called robo signers. the lawyers interviewed 150, among them out-of-work beauticians walmart clerks and fast-food workers given impressive titles but with little or no experience. hired to sign paperwork as fast as they could. >> they are signing false affidavits. they are signing affidavits that would say things like every allegation in the complaint is true and they never saw the complaint. some of them had no idea what a complaint was. >> reporter: in one deposition, wells fargo employee xee moua said she would sign three to five hundred documents a day. paperwork that stated she examined all books, records, and documents in each foreclosure and had personal knowledge of the money owed.

when questioned, she admitted the only thing she examined was her own name and title. vice president of loan documentation. moua is a college drop-out who worked for a home decor company and had two weeks of training at wells fargo. david stern runs florida largest foreclosure firm endorsed by fannie mae and freddie mac. a former parallel says they were forced to forge signatures, change dates and use the wrong social security numbers to finish paperwork under the threat of losing their jobs. in a sworn statement she says all they cared about was getting the file out. there were a lot of young kids working up there who really didn't pay attention to what they were doing. mortgages would get placed in different files. they would get thrown out. stern's attorney denies the claim and says the employee is disgruntled. wells fargo told us their foreclosure affidavits are accurate and they will

take corrective action with any employee who does not follow procedure. this morning on "the early show," we'll talk with matt damon and clint eastwood. i'm kendis gibson and this is the "cbs morning news. i needed more customers, so i got my nephew to build a website. i hired someone to make my website... five months ago. we are building a website by ourselves. announcer: there's an easier way. create your own small-business site with intuit websites. just choose a style that fits your business and customize, publish and get found in three easy steps. sweet. all from just $4.99 a month, get a 30-day free trial at intuit.com. [ male announcer ] at ragu, our mission is to pack two servings of vegetables into every half-cup of healthy, delicious sauce. new ragu has the taste your family will love. ragu. feed our kids well.

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>> [low audio] we'll take a look at the first doppler weather radar, we have no more rain, taking a look at the day part, we have the wind coming in here, we'll have the temperatures in the upper 40s for the next few hours. 64 at lunch and 61 this evening. and in the news, it's back to the drug board. the teachers vote down a new proposed contract. what happens next. >> the airport gets a horrible

ranking for putting planes in the sky. >> >> and it's not a seinfeld fold -- "seinfeld" episode. a mother is pulled away from her baby because of a poppy seed bagel. ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

it's friday! . >> and the middle of the month. well, it's