hello, thank you for joining us, i'm j.c. hayward. election day is just one day away. here's a live look at president obama. he is speaking at a rally in madison, wish -- wisconsin. his republican challenger mitt

romney is in lynchburg, virginia for a ral lie that is going to take place there in about 30 minutes. danielle nottingham reports on both candidates, making a final push to win over votes. >> mitt romney kicked off his last campaign day in florida, where voters will help award the biggest battleground prize. >> we can begin a better tomorrow, tomorrow. with the help of the people in florida, that is exactly what is going to happen. >> reporter: the republican nominee is on a final tear through the states that will decide who wins the white house. >> i need iowa. cleveland really does rock, you know that? >> reporter: president obama is spending the final hours of the campaign in wisconsin, iowa and ohio. and he is using star power to push supporters to the polls. today bruce springsteen joins the president on the campaign trail.

>> you know where i stand. you know i tell the truth. >> reporter: the latest polls show the white house race is tied nationally. but in the swing states, the president appears to have a slht edge. pollsterbelieve the president is closer to the 270 electoral votes needed to win. that means he has to capture fewer toss ups for governor romney to take the election. romney aides dispute that claim and say their supporters have surged to the polls. >> i need your vote. i neat your help. >> reporter: an estimated four out of ten voters will have cast their ballots early. both president obama and mitt romney are counting on a big election day turnout. danielle nottingham, cbs news, the white house. states affected by superstorm sandy are struggling to make sure all their residents get a chance to vote. new york has assigned 143,000 people to new polling places.

new jersey is allowing voters to e-mail and faction ballots. -- and fax ballots. and the national guard is setting up mobile voting booths in disaster areas. it turns out more than 5 2,000 residents in dc voted early for this election. that is more than 10% of the district's registered voters. and it is more than double the number of early voters in the september 2010 primary. wusa is appealing a fcc decision, requiring this station to let pro and the life independent candidate randall terry buy commercial time. fcc rules require stations to give reasonable access to the ads of candidates for federal office. terry is on the presidential ballot in west virginia, but not in maryland, virginia or the district. in its brief to the fcc, wusa art its signal does not reach

west virginia, and therefore it should not be required to run terry's ads. the commission ruled that wusa's signal reaches enough in west virginia to meet the requirement. 9news viewed the six commercials on terry's campaign site as of last week. all were too graphic to be shown in the newscast, with images of aborted fetuses or beheadings in the middle east. in a statement, wusa said we disagree with the decision by the fcc staff to require us to broadcast advertisements for mr. terry, who is not running for office in washington, d.c., maryland or virginia. we will be asking the fcc to reconsider its decision. we have continuing coverage of the upcoming national and local elections on our website. just go to wusa9.com, then click on the campaign 2012 banner at the top of our home page.

dc council member mary chai is holding a here on signs from traffic cameras. dc mayor has moved to reduce fines for violators caught speeding up to 10 miles over the speed limit to $50 instead of the current $75. for those going 11-15 miles per hour over the limit, fines would drop to $125. however, those going faster than that would get $300 tickets instead of the current $250 tickets. despite today's council hearing the mayor's administrative changes to the speed camera policy do not require council approval, and they are scheduled to go into effect starting today. one week after superstorm sandy devastated parts of the east coast, many are still struggling without power. they have flooded homes, gasoline shortages and frigid

temperatures. allison is in staten side, new york with information from there. -- staten island, new york with information from there. >> reporter: commuters had a chaotic commute into manhattan this morning. many were going back to work for the first time since sandy battered the city. many homes in new york and new jersey remainder without power. a nor'easter is expected to bring high winds and heavy rains to the area on wednesday. the hardest hit neighborhoods in staten island are trying to prepare for the worst while they begin to clean up. i'm standing on the foundations of a home picked up by the storm and swept away. it landed half a mile from here. the structure behind me is the second floor of a neighbor's home. pedro crier ray escaped the storm using a neighbor's roof as a life raft. >> reporter: you floated out of here on your neighbor's roof? with your bullfrog? >> it was safe. >> reporter: as many as 40

though new york city residents were left homeless by the storm. schools reopened today. city council speaker christine quinn helped serve breakfast at one public school. >> it is such a big problem that schools don't have heat. >> reporter: in new jersey there were signs the gas crunch is beginning to ease. almost 20 cars were lined up here while the gas station across the street remains closed. the state is still rationing fuel. the state expects most stations will be up and running later this week. allison for cbs news, staten island, new york. america online is coming to the aid of residents devastated by hurricane sandy. volunteers loaded up a tractor trailer full of relief supplies in dulles. water, batteries, diapers and other essentials are on their way to some of the communities hardest hit by the storm . >> the support for this

initiative has been spectacular. local businesses have, as well the wal-mart, the big lots local here in sterling. we got ahold of our shopping list last night and actually gave us 10 and 20% off of all the items that we were purchasing. >> the volunteers intend to distribute the relief supplies in new jersey and long island over the next couple of days. in the meantime, you have been donating a lot of your money to the red cross, after sandy. the agency received nearly $35 million through early friday morning. while the initial outpouring has been strong, the destruction has been huge. and the red cross still needs your help. and helping doesn't get much easier than this. by visiting our facebook page, for everyone who likes wusa 9, we will donate $1 to the american red cross sandy relief

fund. coming up when the news continues, some good news for maryland residents, still digging out from tons of snow, left behind from superstorm sandy. plus investigators in pittsburgh are trying to determine was it the fall, or a pack of wild dogs at a zoo that killed a child over the weekend? we'll be back.

a horrible accident at the pittsburgh zoo may lead to higher railings or fences. yesterday a two-year-old boy fell over a railing, and somehow flipped out of a mesh netting. he landed in the african-american painted dog exhibit. a group of the animals attacked the child. police shot and killed one of the dogs, but at this point, authorities are trying to

determine if the child died from the fall, or the attacking dogs. howard will have our forecast, when we come back.

i have been combing through the day's daily deals and retail websites to find you some deep discounts. here are some of my favorites. a deal to display that holiday picture you plan to take with the family. google offers has a deal with the framing studio in washington, d.c. you pay $49

and you get $200 to use for any custom framing project. it is time to get those pearly whites even pearly whiter. an exam, x-ray and teeth cleaning for $50. this is going to save you $250 with a group-on deal with berkshire family dental in the cathedral section of upper northwest. 901 restaurant and bar has an offer with deal city. pay just $12 and get open bar for two on a friday or saturday night of your choice from 9:00 to 10:00 p.m. or pay $45 and get open bar for you and 14 of your best friends. if you have an offer for our viewers, i would love to hear from you on facebook. i'm jessica doyle, 9news now. there is some good news for residents in far western maryland. garrett county sheriff now says about 95% of the state and county roads are open.

that is after 30 inches of snow. last week, maryland governor o'malley toured the areas hit hard by sandy's blizzard conditions, and nearly all residents now should get their power back on by midnight tonight. that is going to be a little chilly. >> reporter: a lot chilly. lots of 20s out there tonight. then wednesday gets really interesting, in a sense. we are going to have a nor'easter, going to bring us some rain and there are hints some of the rain is going to change to snow across parts of the area later that afternoon and wednesday night. not sure how much we may see stick. better chance after -- dark or late in the afternoon. it is beautiful outside. clouds burned off and we are left with sunshine. it is on the cool side though, temperatures are going to get maybe a few degrees warmer, forecasting a high of 52. with the wind out of the

northwest at 10 miles per hour. then to the evening sunset 5:03. 7:00 p.m. we are at 44 degrees and by 9:00, 42. we will be down in the district tomorrow morning with mid-20s north and west of town. still clouds there western maryland, western virginia and up north of the mason dixon line but we are looking good. temperatures right now still low 40s in cumberland. 45 gaithersburg, 51 in fredericksburg right now as we look outside on our michael and son weather camera. lots of sun here, 49 officially at vague began national, feeling like 44 with a north wind at 14. dry, skin a little chapped? yeah due point is down in the 20s. the air has really, really dried out. cold air in place, especially in the lakes and the northeast. this is important because the storm system is following to the south and making the turn.

you can see it coming from illinois and kentucky and moving into tennessee. this thing is going to travel across the south by tonight and tomorrow. by wednesday it is going to merge off the south carolina coast and that area of low pressure is going to head north toward us. this is a computer projection. no real problems today or tomorrow. in fact tomorrow, we may see a few clouds late so your election day weather looks good here. but tomorrow night into wednesday morning is when we see moisture approach in the south and east. as moisture comes in into this borderline cold air, this computer projection wants to generate snow. that is the blue. is that started in the middle of the afternoon and this is at midnight, there will be several inches, potentially if this verifies. this is not set in stone but clearly something we are going to watch. tonight a cold night, mid-20s in the suburbs, about 34 in town and tomorrow, election day, sunny with a high around the

50-degree mark. so no weather excuses for not voting tomorrow. tonight 34. tomorrow about 50. wrens we are going yellow right now for the nor'easter. if it looks like snow is going to be more of a problem, that yellow may change to red and maybe go into a severe weather alert situation there. we'll have to watch it for wednesday night. thursday morning anything we have will be coming to an end. thursday near 50 and look at that nice warm up. by the weekend, we should be well up in the 60s. j.c., back to you. er one million children in america experience homelessness each year. but in the dc area, one organization is serving children of homeless families. by providing and enriching daycare -- an enriching daycare center. today i salute bright beginnings. bright beginnings is the home

away from home for loretta jones's two children. four-year-old frederick and three-year-old gwendolyn, they have all lived in transitional housing. >> bright beginnings provides the stability for these children and their families. the children have a safe place. >> i have comfortable leaving them here so i can pursue my dreams of going back to school and getting into the computer program. >> the 26-year-old enrolled her preschoolers after a social worker told her about bright beginnings. >> i was hesitant at first. i was an overprotective mom. but i came and they made me feel at home. >> reporter: bright beginnings offers free services for youngsters from six weeks to five years old. >> with my daughter, she is normally bossy. but now she is learning leadership skills, versus being bossy. my son does have a behavior

problem but we are working on it together. >> the center teaches social skills to children so they will be ready for kindergarten. >> our teachers are dedicated. they are individuals who want to work with this population. they are well educated, they could work in any educational setting, but they choose bright beginnings. >> for mothers, the center offers parenting classes. >> they are teaching me patience. >> the center is so successful, that there is a wait list of almost 200 youngsters. >> oh the need is tremendous. we just don't have the space. >> bright beginnings currently serves 86 children. if you would like to learn how to donate or volunteer, go to j.c. hayward.com. we'll be right back.

today i am one-on-one with a special individual, debby lewis. debby lewis is an individual that is being honored by the arthritis foundation, because she has worked with them over the years, and so the organization has decided to honor her. and you have arthritis, is that correct? >> yes. >> i was diagnosed at the age of 20 with rheumatoid arthritis. >> and all my joints. >> arthritis affects approximately 300,000 children and 50 million americans. >> oh i see. >> i have had it for quite awhile. >> but you have done such great work with the organization, i'm delayed to say there is a special program being held this thursday. it is called purses with power. 575 seventh street northwest.

ladies, if you would like to get a designer purse for little or nothing, come out to this fundraiser, because all the money is helping the arthritis foundation. >> yes. >> it is a great event, it is the first one if washington, d.c. it is a wonderful event to get your girlfriends together, come out to a -- do a little socializing, networking, shopping, and help spread the word about arthritis. >> all of these purses were donated by women to help the organization. fabulous, fabulous purses. >> yes the purses were donated by the manufacturers or stores. they are brand new, high-end item. the event, it is a wonderful evening. we are having cocktails, food, there will be makeup consultants. >> oh, great. >> photo booth.

it should be a wonderful event. >> and it begins at 6:30 at hey worth show room at ferrall place. come out and help the arts -- arthritis foundation and get a fabulous purse for a steal. >> right. >> congratulations to you. thank you for being with us. come back and visit us at 5:00.