♪ what did we learn on the show tonight, craig? ♪ >> yeah-ha-ha-ha!

[laughter] craig: that was a little freaky actually when the skull went on fire and laughed like that. what's a come and a go. read just a little bit more to me in arnold schwarzenegger's voice. geoff: all right. chapter two. arrrrgh -- maria! [laughter] that's end. craig: good night, everybody. good night.

>> two weeks from now, we'll be counting votes. >> with the final debate over and done, the presidential candidates today roared into the final stretch, each one hammering home their basic theme for the rest of the campaign. what is it? well, gary nurenberg knows.

gary? >> reporter anita and derek, it seemed today for both candidates, last night's debate was just a ticket to punch and then move on. today each man returned to the message he wants to define the last days of the campaign. >> we have cut taxes in the middle class. we'll cut taxes for small business. we're going to make it easier for businesses to grow. >> reporter: for mitt romney, that message is the sluggish economy. >> four more years like the last four years will continue to have a president playing hide-and-seek, trying to find a plan to get the economy going and to create jobs. >> reporter: the obama campaign tuesday released a 20-page plan for manufacturing energy and education. >> my plan will actually move america forward. it's not just a sales job. >> reporter: but the main obama campaign message tuesday is that mitt romney is hiding his true beliefs for political purposes. >> you know what? that's not leadership that you can trust. >> there's no more serious issue in a presidential

campaign than trust. trust matters. >> reporter: with the polls closed, we could be facing a long night in two weeks. >> it is so close. we may wind up seeing one candidate win the popular vote, another win the electoral vote. >> reporter: there's a word for that, yikes. it has happened before, relatively recently, 2,000, when al gore won the popular vote by half a million votes and george bush the electoral vote and therefore the election. >> a tough night that was indeed. will the state of virginia pick our next president? it sure will play a critical role. that is why we sent andrea mccarren crisscrossing the old dominion taking the pulse of the voters. today she's moved on to the central part of the state. >> reporter: we're here in one of the commonwealth key battle grounds. in 2008 after deke caidst of voting for -- decades of voting for republicans, the people here voted for obama, the first time a democrat won the state

since lyndon johnson in 1964. here, as it is across the state, key groups could make a difference this election, including students and evangelicals. ♪ ♪ >> reporter: bruce springsteen brought his music, a message. >> i'm thankful g.m. is still making cars. [ cheers & applause. >> what would i write about? i would be out of business. >> reporter: and a fervent call to action. >> vote, vote, vote now. >> reporter: the target was students in charlottesville. >> it's been great. it started a lot of great political discussions, a lot of people watching the debates with how close it is. if it wasn't this close there wouldn't be as much of an active political conversation about it. >> reporter: 65 miles south in lynchburg is liberty university, the largest christian university in the

world and the largest private school in the commonwealth. >> one of the things that is so exciting for myself as a young person is to see that my vote actually counts. so many times in life, we think maybe, maybe not. but this election we know that our vote counts. >> reporter: liberty launched a massive voter registration drive, urging its students to vote in this presidential election. that's nearly 13,000 residential students and 84,000 students online. >> i believe that liberty university's community of registered voters, voting for biblical values, may well make the difference in which direction virginia goes and where virginia goes may well be the next president of the united states. >> reporter: school administrators say liberty doesn't tell its students which candidate to support. still, mitt romney was liberty's commencement speaker last spring. >> reporter: back here, there's a demographic split. in the western part of the

county, it's predominantly white, affluent and conservative. the eastern end is more diverse with a growing black population that's largely democratic. in two weeks we'll learn whether high voter turnout in either end of the county makes a difference in who is elected president. andrea mccarren, 9 news. >> a senate candidate from indiana made quite a statement tonight. take a listen to what richard mordock had to say about women who get pregnant as a result of rape. >> i came to realize life is a gift from god, even when life begins in the horrible situation of rape, that is it something god intended to happen. >> he made that comment during a debate. you may remember a few months ago, missouri senate candidate todd akin made headlines when he said women don't get pregnant from what he called legitimate rape. things were shaking in costa rica this evening. a 6.6 earthquake hit the pacific coast of costa rica.

no immediate reports of how much damage was done. it took place in 38 miles from the town of liberia. new information on the meningitis outbreak and the compounding pharmacy thought to be the source of all of this. the state of massachusetts is launching a criminal investigation. safety inspectors say they turned up a slew of problems at the facility, including specks of fungus found in steroid medication, dirty floor mats, laboratory equipment not tested and drugs shipped before they were tested for contamination. the governor promises a crackdown on these facilities. >> the pharmacy board will immediately start periodic, unannounced inspections of compounding pharmacies that prepare steer rile injectable -- sterile injectable medication. they will be inspected at least annually and more frequently in the case of a substantiated complaint. >> reporter: the new england

compounding center said it's cooperating with investigators. more than 300 people across the country have become sick and 23 died from the meningitis outbreak. a woman who crashed into a squad car and tried to run over an officer is behind bars but she led police on quite the chase from walter reed national medical center up to rockville. 27-year-old angela cobold of manassas was spotted making a turn at walter reed this morning. while she was stuck in traffic, department of defense officers approached her. they say she was eating what appeared to be a bar of soap. she saw the cops, took off, ran into a car. eventually she returned to walter reed. there an officer stopped her. when she refused to put down her window, he broke her rear window with his baton. that's when she backed into his cruiser and took off again. she came across another officer and drove at him. that officer fired at her.

she was not hit. she eventually crashed her car and was arrested. a woman is groped in falls church and police are wondering if it's the same guy who's responsible for five other such incidents last month. the victim was pushing a baby stroller in the area of south mabel avenue in gibson street last friday when a man came up from behind and grabbed her buttocks. fairfax county police continue to look for information. jerry sandusky is spending his first night in prison. earlier he was transferred from jail. he will first undergo an assessment to determine which of the 25 male prisons in pennsylvania will house the former penn state assistant football coach permanently. he was convicted in june of sexually assaulting ten boys. he's been sentenced to at least 30 years behind bars. we've got an update on the murder of a pregnant new york woman whose body was found next to a note that mentions one of the d.c. snipers. that victim's boyfriend has now been named a person of interest. they were supposed to get

married last sunday, despite the fact he is still married to another woman. a note was found. it said a pregnant woman would be murdered every month until malvo is set free. it's ten years since malvo and mohammed were arrested for the deadly shooting spree. you lose your job because you didn't want to lose your life. >> it happened to an assistant manager at an arby's in ohio. she was closing down a restaurant when a man armed with a knife came in and demanded money. she pushed the man away, jumped out of the drive-thru window to escape. >> i pushed him away. i'm like i'm not going to die tonight. >> what was the reason for the termination? >> they said that i was not supposed to be alone in the store. >> she was fired from her job for repeatedly violating the after-hours policy. she wasn't supposed to be in the store alone that night. backup again, that doesn't seem like that was under her

control. well, you want an ipad, but can't afford one? today apple unveiled a cheaper solution. it's called the ipad mini. the screen just under 8 inches. that's about the same as amazon's kindle and google's nexus 7. at $329 it is more expensive than both of them. apple describes it as thin as a pencil and light as a pad of paper, but ultra fast, buyerless and ten hours of battery life. it hits stores november 2nd, but you can preorder it starting on friday. next time you get in a cab, hope you get this driver. out of thousands across the nation, he's been chosen for an award of the what he does that set him apart from everybody else. do you think d.c. is hip? we hit the streets tonight. wait until you hear what people are saying about our town. i'm meteorologist topper. 78 today. here's your wakeup weather. sunglasses, 53 to 63 at 5:00.

low 50s and low 60s at 7:00. by 9:00, most of us back up around 70. we'll come back on how warm it will get on wednesday and if tropical storm sandy becomes a hurricane and is heading our way over the weekend. topper's forecast is ahead. here's tonight's fact from save the facts usa.org. introducing smooth sensations cream cheese spread from the laughing cow. it's rich, indulgent and 45 calories. mmm it's so good -- it practically sells itself. cut, cut. sells itself? i've poured myself into this commercial. ♪ don't be boring ♪ indulge in the morning ya! [ squeaking ]

yay! [ female announcer ] introducing smooth sensations cream cheese spread from the laughing cow. have you laughed today?

>> do you consider d.c. a hip place to live or is it uncool? >> yeah. it's something you want to think about, or maybe you don't want to think about. debra alfarone found out tonight a lot of people actually do care about it. >> reporter: it all started with this. >> hip. >> reporter: an article saying, quote, the city is not hip and it never will be. ever since on the streets and in some tweets, the hipness debate has raged on. first, when you think of hip as

hipsters. ♪ [ music ] >> reporter: some who organize onesie bar crawls. brooklyn new york wins on that front. >> hip. >> reporter: so to compare -- >> so to compare it to other cities is not what i think we should be doing. >> reporter: she is promoting her hometown hipness in the hippest way on twitter. >> so to compare it to other cities is not what i think we should be doing. >> reporter: to be fair, we reached out to the author. she wasn't available, but in the article she points to one detracting factor, lots of young people here that would be hip work for the government or, quote, the man. >> nonprofit people, everyone's talking about politics, you know. >> that's not hip? >> not hip at all. >> i think it really needs to support the arts more. >> reporter: she moved here, picked columbia heights to live in. he was leaning as d.c. as hip until we read him the definition. >> if we're comparing it to a

place like new york, i think it would be tough to measure up fashion wise. >> reporter: clothes are one thing. night life another. he pointed us towards what some are calling the hip strip, 11th street, and the wonder land ballroom, part dive bar, part restaurant, and all hip. >> i would definitely define hip as someone who's looking for the thing that's not cool yet and they're just -- they're okay in their own skin and willing to do and look the way they want, because it makes them feel good. >> so we ask you what you think. a lot of people have been tweeting me, looks like lauren says don't forget d.c.'s other momentum strengths, fashion and rg3. also a lot of people talking about theater. why is it so hip? no other city has so many smart, interesting, active people. >> that's what we were just talking about off air. smart, active, motivated, in shape, all those good things. >> let's be real. half of us have to wear ties to work. that is not hip. >> one in three right here. >> it is different than other

big cities. >> it's apples and oranges. you want to make sure -- >> we're hipper than atlanta, not as hip as new york. how about this? >> i don't even want to say anything about that. i'm not weighing in. this is for the people at home to tweet me. thanks for getting me in trouble. >> thank you, debra. meantime, quite an honor for one local cabbie. he's been named the best in the country. >> i just feel like i'm helping some parents help their kids. >> he is just a hero at our community. >> now, on any given day, you can find jerome green behind the wheel of a red-top cab, 281. he's been on the job nearly 40 years, and four days a week for the past seven years, green takes time to pick up and drop off kids at their school when their parents can't for one reason or another. he's giving them a head start in the classroom. again, he's not just giving them a ride. he turned his cab into a mobile classroom of sorts. it's respect for others, and a

little bit of kindness. green heads to las vegas later this week to receive his award from the taxicab, limousine association, the best in the nation. so last week a study came out saying men with shaved heads are perceived as more masculine, more dominant and having more leadership potential. derek? yeah, anita. who said that, right? some bald guy? look, i thank michael jordan every day for pioneering that sense of cue ball, cool, but would he shave the famous head if the top of it kept on growing hair? i think not. look, i am totally over the no hair thing now. still, doesn't this photo of me kind of resemble the great gazoo from the flintstones? yeah. we don't catch a break in the popular media either. think about it. superman, good guy, handsome, powers, full head of luxurious

black hair. but his them nemesis, luther lexo rr, bald. harry potter, wizard, nice hairdo. arch enemy, a guy who takes baldness to a whole new level. dominant but surely not sexy. and we all know the guy with the good hair always wins in the end, doesn't he? now, sure, the no hair thing works well if you look like boris kojo. but sadly this guy is a closer model for many of us and he's a tad short in the leadership potential. the only good news is homer simpson's afternoon enemy is his -- archenemy is his boss p whose rocking a hairstyle that looks far, far worse, the ring of death. sometimes it comes with bizarre combover action. let's be real. even michael jordan couldn't make that cool. anita? >> the thing is, you rock the bald look. i've got to say. >> he does a nice job.

he does all right. 78 today. more like mid september. >> it was amazing. >> we are talking still about the tropics. remember hurricane season runs through november. we do have a tropical storm, not a hurricane yet. we're watching closely. let's start with a live look outside. we are looking at temperatures way above average. this is our michael and son live weather cam. 66 still at this hour. dew point's way up in the upper mid-50s. we have clouds around much of the day. winds are calm and pressure is steady as well. 3.08 inches of mercury. another mild start tomorrow. i don't think the kids will need a jacket at the bus stop. there's going to be just enough sun to come through the clouds. you're going to need your sunglasses. there will be glare going on. a bit warmer on wednesday. hard to believe we were 78 today. i think tomorrow we're going to make it into the lower 80s. and more clouds on thursday. >> it will stay dry on thursday but a few more clouds on thursday and even more so as we get into friday.

all right. this is sandy, tropical storm. winds still 50 miles per hour. no change in strength in term of winds since this evening. however, indications are that she is strengthening, will become a category one as it moves across jamaica. that will happen tomorrow afternoon. maybe still even a category one as it moves across eastern cuba, and that would be say early on thursday morning. then moving northward into the bahamas. then it begins a turn. we're becoming more and more confident this will stay offshore, and that's going to keep all the rain and all the wind offshore. it will still kick up pretty good surf along the southeast coast. also in south florida on the atlantic side, we're still talking about tropical storm force winds on thursday and friday and also heavy rain. there's one model i kind of understand where it's going with this. it takes the storm pretty much this same track and then it retro grades it into new england next week. if that were the case, it would give us wind and some showers. so sandy's going to be around

for a while. we'll track her for a while. tonight keep a sprinkle in, 52 to 62. tomorrow morning partly sunny and mild. 50s and 60s. by noon some areas will be in the 70s. by afternoon, partly sunny, even a bit warmer. high temperatures in the low 80s. next three days, 9 weather alert, green, green and green. 82 tomorrow. 75 thursday, a few more clouds. clouds on friday, maybe a sprinkle. not a bad day, low 70s. next seven days. saturday we're still having showers saturday into sunday. these may be a bit overdone. these are not related to sandy. we have a cold front coming through over the weekend. cannot change that. that will lower temperatures into the 50s next monday and tuesday. >> it's october. >> i know. >> all right, thanks. we're going to talk a little rg3, right? >> a little rg3. the guys are off today. there was a bunch of news come out of redskins park. this season up to now has been pretty exciting.

lots to talk about, right? so we polled our viewers, asked you for the top five plays of rg3. we'll have those for you. plus, another area rookie. and another area rookie getting into the rg3 excitement. sports is next.

the arrival of robert griffin, iii and the dmv has win or lose reenergize this redskins fan base. with that, of course, comes a lot of pressure he carries with him each and every week. in an exclusive interview with usa today, rg3 talked about his experience so far. >> you get to play the game you love and get paid to do it, but there's a lot more things that happen off the field and on the field, just with the business aspect of it. so you do have to be mentally tough and just know that it is everything you dreamed of, but it's a lot more than what you dreamed of as well. >> now, of course, there have

been several thrilling moments, ones the redskins love to remember. we asked you to help compile the top five plays. take a look. see if you agree with what we chose. we start, of course, with the birth of griffin, completing his seventh straight pass of the day, 88 yard play when they went into new orleans and upset the saints. what a play. then, of course, you've got griffinning. becomes the new tebowing. >> where about garcon hurt his foot on that play. hasn't been back since. >> pass to henderson, beautifully thrown pass, 68 yards. after the skins up 21-6. he's pumped up. number three on the road against tampa, this two-minute drill to perfection. uses his legs to keep the drive alive. this is before the concussion, obviously. because he hadn't slid. that ended up with the game-

winning field goal that billy cundiff actually made in that game. number two, this scramble was an amazing play and to find white. that was just impressive. if it wasn't for number one, i think that could have been number one. >> fourth and ten when you've got to have it. >> number one, plus this. it's just unbelievable. of course, number one, no surprise. you've got to know what number one s right? >> number one is the run. >> the run. the run. 76 yards. remember, this is coming off that concussion. some people thought he shouldn't have played. >> those people were wrong. >> you guys are not catching me, huh-uh. >> wow. >> of course, the run is going to be hard to top coming the rest of the season. but what we chose were the top five plays. another local pro athlete drinking the rg3 kool-aid as well, bryce harper made enough splash for this season on his own but he's enjoying watching his fellow rookie in action.

he tweeted keep rolling this year. you are fun to watch, buddy. and you know rg3 is known for his socks that he wears. bryce harper drove around for two hours and finally found them. got them. two hours. too bad we don't have baseball. maybe we could see him score on the field.