alaska ferries here. i have a responsibility as governor to make sure that the money that the legislature gives me appropriates for me to negotiate a ferry, again-spent widely. vigor alaska said they could get us two ferries built in ketchikan for that total of $120 million. that was appropriated that i actually proposed in my budget to fund those two ferryies. through some touch negotiations the shipyard came through. they do what alaskans do, and they won the bid. it was something that was -- i think it's going to be -- it's just going to set a conerstone on a foundation -- cornerstone for a foundation on alaska having the corner on the maritime industry. a new industry for alaska, but here in ketchikan is where it starts. so i'm excited about those twoer in ferries being built here. that will give the ketchikan shipyard a leg up when the next mainline ferry is built. i helped to secure funding this the its $40 million or $50 million on the first mainline ferry. but let's get the ferries best interests

alaska senate candidate mark begich is one of them. alaska is still a tossup. allen schauffler went to alaska to talk to the peek about issues, real issues that voters are talking about. like the lower 48, alaskans are being bombarded by campaign ads. one of them in particular got a lot of negative attention. allen schauffler has that story. >> from the big it is to the far flung corner of this large state, inescapable. >> alaska get ripped off. dan sullivan didn't stand up for alaskans. >> begich acts like our friend when he wants our vote. >> more than $43 million has already been spent on this campaign. that is $160 plus per eligible voter. the race between incumbent senator democrat mark begich and dan sullivan in this traditionally very red state could tip the balance of power in the u.s. senate. one controversial television ad might have backfired. >> ike mark begich and i approved this spot. >> this spot to a light sentence given a sex offender an offender on the day of his release allegedly committed horrific crimes. >> one of them got out of prison is

alaska ferries here. i have a responsibility as governor to make sure that the money that the legislature gives me appropriates for me to negotiate a ferry, again-spent widely. vigor alaska said they could get us two ferries built in ketchikan for that total of $120 million. that was appropriated that i actually proposed in my budget to fund those two ferryies. through some touch negotiations the shipyard came through. they do what alaskans do, and they won the bid. it was something that was -- i think it's going to be -- it's just going to set a conerstone on a foundation -- cornerstone for a foundation on alaska having the corner on the maritime industry. a new industry for alaska, but here in ketchikan is where it starts. so i'm excited about those twoer in ferries being built here. that will give the ketchikan shipyard a leg up when the next mainline ferry is built. i helped to secure funding this the its $40 million or $50 million on the first mainline ferry. but let's get the ferries best interests

fought for the shipyard, alaska fairies, built by alaskans in alaska. i nailed down the marine highway headquarters system and i loved it when i saw five fairies -- ferries sitting out there. together we brought the cruise ships back. refueling alaska's and ketchikan's small businesses, the fire hall. funding for the bridges, and i know that infrastructure is key to quality of life and economic development. i protected the jobs associated with our timber industry and resource development in the timber industry throughout southeast, including here. supported the fishing industry with state investment and management, marketing and infrastructure. you all know where i stand. and for all alaskans i am the candidate who is optimistic about our future. i see we have a bright future because alaskans know how to grasp opportunity in front of us. i'm running for re-election because of the job of clearing paths for opportunities is not done. that path of opportunity needs to be wider and deep are for us and future generations. we'll drive more economic developmen

and alaska, five days in alaska, alan. >> yes. >> tells what you saw. >> interesting time and place. with healthcare, which is a pocketbook issue, and certainly a consideration for voters. as a healthcare market, alaska is small, isolated and expensive. geographically it is huge, but the far flung population centers, and that's a big part of why healthcare costs so much. we talked to stan, a small business person who owns a restaurant, and he says obamacare is one of the many factors in the already over priced medical care in the last frontier. >> reporter: lunch rush at the oldest steakhouse. stan's family helped open it in the 1950s. and always paid for their employees healthcare. and today those costs are soaring. >> about 16 to $18,000 a month for healthcare for 25 people. >> reporter: with so few employees, club paris is not legally required to provide health insurance under the affordable care act, but they do it anyway, because that's the way stan's dad would have wanted it. coverage has to meet aca standards jfshgs, and the restaurant pays more than $200 thousand dollars a ye

he says successful candidates here must prove they belong in alaska. >> alaska has a long history of being ruled by outsiders-- some parts it's been the federal government. after all, we were a territory. so there's also bane question, and to some degree, that's true now with the oil industry, about the authenticity of the people who are here and whose interests they are serving. are they really alaskans or are they just here to get the money and lead? >> there's a third character in this race, barack obama, the president is extremely unpopular in alaska. the sullivan camp is working hard to make sure alaskans see begich, and obama as teammates. amanda coyne covers alaska politics on a web site carrying her name. she says obama is an effective foil because he represents unwelcome, outside power. >> you know, we're talking about obama here, but i think that really we have to talk about the democratic party as a whole. if you're relying on oil, as we are in alaska, it can appear the democrats are your enemy. they are distrustful of oil companies. they are distrustful of resource extrac

more issues as you mentioned, david, up in alaska. healthcare, it's really expensive here how much is it costing this restaurant owner? and are people paying attention to the healthcare messages in the senate race advertising? pot is on the ballot, alaska, the next target in the nationwide push by one marijuana advocacy group tore legalization and there are lots of pot smokers in this state. >> mezzew has a pretty good shot 59 passing. it is a concern, though, in some of the smaller villages where leaders have the power to ban alcohol completely but won't have that same power to ban marijuana fully. minimum wage workers, they could get a pay raise in alaska but in a state with 4 or so people right at the bottom of the wage scale and so many living a sub cystentions existence in the wilderness, just how important is it? remember, this is a place where the state pays you every year just to be an alaskan. another ballot mezzew about the this this america, the local fishing industry and environmental groups have fought it for years. alask

one. >> what kind of work are you doing in alaska? now it seems like dan sullivan has pulled into the lead. >> again, big field programs everywhere. -- the planned parenthood action fund is running the largest turnout operation on the ground in alaska of any independent group. we have shipped a bunch of our staff -- they are basically living in alaska. we have hired folks from alaska who are working day and night and talking to people. one of the most difficult places to pull. none of these polls take into account the massive turnout operations that are being built they can't project how much we can or cannot change turnout. it seems reasonable to think 2% is possible in some states. when you look at the data, people say republicans are more enthusiastic -- those are all national data. they are not specific to these

senate, and so, some of our biggest programs are in north carolina, colorado, iowa, new hampshire, alaska, and georgia, florida, and pennsylvania, and wisconsin. >>> i wanted to ask you about north carolina, that seems to be where you spent the bulk of your money, which seems to be why kay, does have a slight advantage. what makes you focus on that state? >>> and what type of ads. >>> yes, north carolina is a great example of where this issue, around women's held, really has changed, over the last few years, and become very prom na nent, in terms of swing voters, and so would he did income, judge that, this year, the elections would be about turnout. and you can't build a field operation, if you start 3 weeks, you can run t.v. ads so we had to get in there early and build out all the offices, in four main counties, and also make sure we were part of the media there. >>> what type of things have you been talking about? >>> well, kay hagan is aais magazine champion for women, and health access, which are related, and tied. so she understands that connection. tom, on the other hand, the moto

until recently, the creatures seemed to be faring better in alaska, but no more. newshour special correspondent katie campbell of kcts-seattle traveled there recently and filed this story. her report is part of the environmental public media project-- earthfix. >> reporter: it's early morning in sitka, alaska. the stars have yet to fade from the night sky. a group of scientists are setting out in search of a different kind of star. sea stars, commonly known as starfish, have been vanishing from alaska's shoreline. >> these cracks in the previous years would be full of guys, they're really empty this year. you guys didn't see any last time either did, you? no, back in june? >> reporter: peter raimondi is one of the lead scientists studying an alarming epidemic that's been killing starfish by the millions. raimondi and researcher melissa miner have been conducting intensive surveys of pacific coastal areas, tracking the spread of the disease. >> almost everywhere we've looked in the last year we've seen catastrophic losses of sea stars. >> reporter: raimondi pounds

would somebody else in the outside of alaska try to produce legalization in alaska for marijuana. don't think that's right. >> this is a place where local control is important. a matter of health and safety. >> we are here visiting this little town like many communities in alaska. it's completely dry. no alcohol allowed. so we are here to find out what they think about the possibility of broad legalization of recreational marijuana. >> drinking takes a disproppositionat poll in the native alaskan population. federal studies have shown alcohol related directs nooerm nine times the u.s. average. booze has been banned since the town was founded 42 years ago. it is a local option allowed under state law and used by more than 100 communities. >> alcohol destroys minds and make people do things that they shouldn't do. >> but there is not the same kind of local option built into the proposed pot law. much of the pro-marijuana campaign is built on branding it as safer than alcohol. manikotic leaders would like to make their own decisions about marijuana but legalization supporters have di

alaska is one the those states to watch. great to have you here as always.oining us. >>> all right, in another part of the country the not only healthcare people are worried about. kentucky relies heavily on coal. with coal jobs disappearing people are leaving to find work elsewhere and making some communities feel like ghost towns, libby casey visited one town trying to reinvents itself. 67 towns shutdown. businesses abandoned. it's a common sight in eastern kentucky. but not in whites berg. the town is buck odds and finding there is life after coal with a mix of quirky new small businesses. >> it's just kind of a symbol of where i am. from the coal imagery. my whole family brought up in coal. so that's my way of just paying tribute to that. here we go. i'll start up here, man. >> reporter: john heywood always thought he would seek his fortunate away from his boyhood home of central' layer a he moved to louisville and got a master's degree in fine art. >> one of things my pop always said is that he wanted me to get an education. he didn't want me to go down

alaska for marijuana?reporter: this is a place where local control is important, a matter of health and safety. we're here visiting this little town like many communities in alaska, it's completely dry, no alcohol allowed. we're here to find out what they think of the legalization of marijuana. drinking takes a dispropersian at it toll in the native american populations. alcohol-related deaths are nearly nine times the u.s. average. booze have been banned here for 42 years. >> alcohol destroys minds and makes people do things that they shouldn't do. >> reporter: but there's not the same kind of local option built into the proposed pot law, and much of the promarijuana campaign is built on branding it as safer than alcohol. these leaders would like to be able to make their own decisions about marijuana, but legalization supporters have different ideas. >> i think alaskans understand it is time for this. they are tired of seeing this wasteful policy of prohibition. and they are ready for this. >> reporter: t

alaska is different, remember. oil revenues support the permanent fund which spins off an annual dividend payment which goes to everybody. this year it was $1,884 just for being an alaskan. >> how good is it to get the dividend check? >> so nice. very lucky to get that money now. i can pay some pills. mostly it pays tax. >> another thing that changes the work for wages concept is this wide open territory. there is lots of food out here if you know how to hunt it down but not many jobs. the village of iliignak is 45 miles from a major road. >> they sent a skiff to pick us up. >> he takes us across the lake and delivers us to mayor godshaw, who takes us on tour of the town. i ask her how many jobs are there here? >> i'd say about maybe four that are full time. >> just four. and all of them pay substantially more than the minimum. $12 to $14 an hour. clearly this is a place where getting by often has less to do with paychecks and more to do with distinctly alaskan challenges. >> this year not everyone caught their moo

and the court in alaska threw that out.n the basis, bear in mind, that the fish operators the fisherman had not presented sufficient evidence, there would be harm from the mining. so that was thrown out, and then the fish -- these corporations went to the e.p.a. and said we are worried that something nasty might happen in the future, well, you can understand it, they fear there will be some harm. >> there are other examples of that happening. >> absolutely. the question is whether this is something you need the e.p.a. to resolve. if you could somehow enable the parties to resolve the dispute locally. so maybe just grant those fisherman the right to have an undiminished quality water, to their fish, and if there is a harm done, then they bring a case against the miner. and say look, we demand that you take action to prevent any harm that may results. >> you may have found the solution. >> this would compensate them perhaps in advance. >> it does snot appear they are moving in that direction, maybe they will hear this and thi

senate could be determined in alaska.didates are locked in a very tight race, and while local issues is being debated. healthcare is being hotly con the rested. alan just came back from alaska and joins us now. allan is a good friend to our show, not regularly here with us, so we're thrilled to have you. what did you learn? >> also, by the way, it's true that those things are there in alaska, great while watching and it's a great cold place. also healthcare, it's expensive everywhere, but no place as badz and alaska. take the story of stan he provides insurance for his 25 employees. he says he is going to keep doing this as long as he can. >> hello. >> reporter: lunch rush at the oldest steakhouse in anchor rage, club paris. stan's family opened it in the 1950s, and always have played for their employees health care. >> about 16 to $18,000 a month for healthcare for 25 people. >> reporter: with so few employees, club paris is not legally required to provide health insurance under the affordable care act, but they do it an

could alaska mess up the ballot next week? >> the pope funds his nose at fundamentalists and a special guest tonight, legendary actress gloria steinum. >>> just over a half an hour ago, an unmanned rocket took off from virginia and e and here's what happened. >> and we have liftoff. emissions with isf. about 108%. >> nobody was injured in the explosion, but there are reports of property damage. the rocket belonged to orbital cyber organization. they have $1.9 billion contract for eight cargo missions through 2016. this was orbitals' third mission to resupply. there are six people currently on board the spaceation and the rocket was carrying 5,000 pounds of equipment for them. none of the supplies on board were urgently needed. hundreds of people were watching from the ground. here's what it looked like six seconds after the response. nasa is characterizing what happened as a catastrophic anomaly, but there's still no word on exactly what went wrong. joining me now on the phone, derrick pits. >> derrick, tell me what kind of ro

one of those states is alaska. spent a week there talking to voters about the issues. >> reporter: john, i'm going to be talking about pot. marijuana is on the ballot in alaska. the last frontier is part of the nationwide push for legalization. there are a lot of pot smoke, in this state, and it has a pretty good chance of passing. >>> and another initiative, the pebble mine, one of the biggest gold and copper mines in america. but fishermen and environmental groups have been fighting for years, and now alaskans will vote on whether the state legislature will have the final say on the project. and now it's a close race, and the ad war is not pretty. more than $42 million spent in the race that could swing the balance of power to the u.s. senate. john. >> make sure that you tune in friday night for a special election report. five days in alaska. it airs 8:30 and 11:30 eastern time. that's our program, and we thank you for watching. next week, we'll focus on the issues. i'm john seigenthaler. have a good night. >>> o

we feel like we have a really good shot in alaska. we did a mega-takeover of all the digital properties in the days and weeks after the republican primaries to let they stood onere these issues. now we have mail, phones, and every other way you can think of to contact people in alaska. not easy to do. they are various spread out. >> what kind of gender gap numbers do you need to see an alaska and north carolina? point to -- can you just speak about that. what you need to see. we are talked about the person who is moving the levers behind the scenes at planned parenthood in terms of our resources and investment. one of the tools that we have developed is a gender cap dashboard. feeding information, look at turnout projections, and feed and other data, and able to estimate how big the gender gap needs to be in a particular race , and how many votes that translates to. we can see if we are a header behind. it has been interesting to watch this. it is somewhere between 11% and 17%. the hired is, the better it is and more likely that we wi

. >> now the alaska public radio network gives an update on the alaska senate race. republican challenger dan sullivan. >> good morning to you. >> good morning. >> the status of this race with three weeks to go. what we know and what his chances of holding onto his seat? >> well, he had momentum early. it seems like an early september he lost the lead pastor read the republican his holding a small but significant lead. 12 pounds, three points, six points depending upon the public to look at. >> the key battlegrounds in alaska heading into the last three weeks of the campaign? where will this race be decided? >> well, the outside money and the campaign seemed to be focused quite a bit on anchorage the hometown of former governor sarah palin's is a conservative area that i think a lot of energy is focused on. and labor has a very big push in the anchorage area for get out the vote. >> to been trying to bring our viewers the local issues plane in the campaign along with the national issues as well. >> problem line is a proposed mine in western alaska. very large. it has

alaska ranks, the only more expensive than anchorage are fairbanks and juneau. >> five days in alaska. that's 8:00 and 11:00. >>> tornado killed one person in arkansas and damaged homes there and louisiana. kevin corriveau is here. cifn. >> that's right tony -- kevin. >> that's right tony. parts of louisiana, so far we have seen six tornadoes go through the region starting this morning. they're really starting to pop up this afternoon especially with the heating of the day as well as we're seeing a lot of wind damage pushing through. a well defined line here making its way through alabama and mississippi down through new orleans. that is going to continue into alabama as well. later on it's going to be parts of georgia. you can see all the damage we're talking about and those red dots right here indicate the tornadoes we are seeing. unfortunately this is going to go on tomorrow as well as into tomorrow evening and you can see the warnings that are in effect right now. it's really into parts of indiana as well as into parts of tennessee that we are seeing the tornado warnings. but wait

one is alaska. allen schauffler spent a week there talking to voters about the issues. >> john, i'll talk about pot. marijuana is on the ballot in daniel lak. the last frontier is the -- in alaska. it is the last froopt ear by a -- frontier by an advocacy book for legalization. there are a lot of pot smokers in this state. another is the pebble mun, one of the biggest cold and copper mines in north america. local fishermen and environmental groups have been fighting about it. and there'll be a vote on whether the legislature will have the final say. and the advertising war in the senate race. it's close, and the ad war is not pretty. more than $42 million spent in the race swinging the balance of power in the u.s. senate. >> make sure you tune in friday night for a special election report - 5 days in alaska. airing 8:30 and 11:30 eastern time. that's the programme. next week we continue the focus on the issues. i'm john seigenthaler. have a good night. >>> on "america tonight", is it too little, too

ten times more than republicans on field operations in the state of alaska. there are 11 gubernatorial races within three percentage points according to the princeton election consortium. along with the senate races within 3 percentage points, this election is the most tightly contested in recent memory, far more than the elections of 2006 or 2010, all of it undercoring the tremendous volatility and the potential for last-minute shifts. nowhere the is the democratic party banks on its turnout

allen reporting for us, our series five days in alaska continues. we are look at how a legal battle over developer and gold mines is playing a role in the tight race, and for other stories right now, let's get you to enes. >> tony, dozens of people injured when a freight train collided with a passenger train, it is not clear what caused the accident. local media reports say at least 44 people before injured several of them critically. the city wanted to know what they were telling the congregations about it, and police in denver warranting parents that some halloween candy could con dane marijuana this year, they released a video show regular are candy looks to the product infused with pot. there's no way for a child, or a parent, to tell yous whether a product is infused or not. >> police say parents should toss any candy that isn't sealed properly. >> all right, appreciate it, thank you. >> bermuda is bracing for a hurricane gonzales, now many tourists are leaving before the airport closes tonight. it comes days just after tropical storm fay. kevi

and joining me now from anchorage, alaska, is a reporter from the alaska news. going into this debate tonight, what will be the key issues in this debate tonight? well, you know, from mark bagich, his campaign theme has been true alaska. so you will probably hear things pretty consistent with what he's being saying over the course of the last few months. you know, he's arguing that he's been sort of independent of the obama administration and harry reid fought for oil and gas development here. constantly working fwr the interest of alaska constituents and then, you know, you'll probably hear from dan sullivan that that's not true, mark bagich was the deciding vote for obama care. he decided with the president 97% of the time in his votes. and that he needs to go so alaska can have a better representative in the senate. >> and you've got ted cruz and mitt romney coming up there to help dan sullivan. that seems to span the entire republican party to extreme right to moderate republican. >> yeah. i think it's a pretty good move for mr. sullivan. he was 234in a real

i can't even imagine. >> the other wild card quickly in alaska, so many fishermen in alaska, this isason in alaska, so a lot of the fishermen in alaska vote absentee by mail, counted on november 19th. >> this is never going to end. that's great because we get to see steve kornacki with that amazing monitor i'm going to steal from you. >> i love this thing. >> you can watch "up with steve kornacki" every saturday and sunday morning at 8 a.m. eastern. >>> kicking off special election coverage, alex wagner will answer your questions on the election. can you tweet at us usi using #msnbcvote and follow along at vote.msnbc.com. they wee bit skeptical. what they do actually is rocket science. but at ge capital we also bring expertise from across ge, like lean process engineers we asked who does what, when, where, and why that step first? ideas for improvement started pouring out. with a little help from us, they actually doubled their output speed. if you just need a loan, just call a bank. at ge capital, we're builders. and what we know... can help you grow. a pet friendly hotel. visit a t

alaska.very large. it has groups in that area and also around the state. both candidates in general are trying to say that federal overreach is a that thing. that is a huge theme we keep hearing in the campaign. how, "i will stand against federal overreach." unusual or took the bold move in supporting the epa in ruling against the mine. it has been called a preemptive veto because it has not applied for permits yet. but he said, no, i support that, because this would be bad for fisheries in western alaska -- western alaska. that appeal to some native groups and commercial fishermen. host: remind voters who didn't sullivan is. what is his background? guest: he has been called the guy with a golden resume. an ivy league education. he worked in the bush white house. he worked in the state department. under condoleezza rice. -- a marine, an active-duty marine. he was alaska's attorney general for a brief time. -- naturalational resources commissioner, a big job in alaska. one of the things the ma

i want your thoughts on alaska. >> this is a race. the democratic incumbent being challenged by dan sullivan and the republican. the republican theory on this race has been very simple all year. and frankly, democrats to be honest get a few drinks in them, they'll tell you the same theory. he won this race in 2008 by 3,700 votes. took two weeks for a winner to be declared. now, what happened in that race in 2008. two things, that was the obama wave of 2008. he obviously didn't carry alaska, but he did better there than most democrats are going to do. this is the high water mark. and then his opponent, ted stevens, the republican incumbent in 2008 was indicted and convicted of corruption charges. >> that's a challenge. >> which if you talk to steven's people which were later overturned. >> right. in terms of the electoral impact, convicted of federal corruption charges a week before the election, it doesn't get much worse than that. and yet, with all of that going against him, only lost that race by 3,700 votes. they say, look, 2014, b

the rand thing in alaska, you go on bloomberg. com/politics, and it is intense.hey are all out there trying to make their mark, and part of it is on the fundraising and the other part is with ads like that. they are all pretty good. >> and number of guys were in new york city yesterday. talk about that. >> coming up this event that was posted by mitt romney, after doing the show. my sense, from talking to people who were at the event was that no one round the ground -- wowed the crowd. jeb bush was not there and he was the favorite of a lot of guys around the country. rupert murdoch was there, and they had a bit of a huddle, so people are wondering what they talked about. >> moving on to the election that is actually happening right now, 2014 not 2016. there are debates tonight in the colorado, georgia, and north carolina races. we will take a look at where that stands. the way we look at it now, is that republicans need to know to six, and they have three in the bag. they're looking for three more. the states on the right we call them the big six. new hampshire

alaska.ery large. it has groups in that area and also around the state. both candidates in general are trying to say that federal overreach is a that thing. that is a huge theme we keep hearing in the campaign. how, "i will stand against federal overreach." unusual or took the bold move in supporting the epa in ruling against the mine. it has been called a preemptive veto because it has not applied for permits yet. but he said, no, i support that, because this would be bad for fisheries in western alaska -- western alaska. that appeal to some native groups and commercial fishermen. host: remind voters who didn't sullivan is. what is his background? guest: he has been called the guy with a golden resume. an ivy league education. he worked in the bush white house. he worked in the state department. under condoleezza rice. -- a marine, an active-duty marine. he was alaska's attorney general for a brief time. -- naturalational resources commissioner, a big job in alaska. one of the things the mar

the others are in alaska. not the list where you want all the top spots >>> allen schauffler reporting. we'll see allen back tomorrow to baulk about the ballot over minimum age. our special airs friday night >>> storms tore through the heart of the country, spotting tornados, leaving communities reeling. dangerous weather on the way. meteorologi meteorologist kevin corriveau is here to tell us more about it. i want to take you here and show you what happened. to monroe in louisiana. we saw a bit of damage, wind damage, structural damage. a lot of people lost power and are without power in this area. across the border they are dealing with a similar situation where thousands of people - trees came down, thousands lost their power. we are looking in the area, not just arkansas, but 12 tornado came across the region. here, notice that the thunder storms have not lost much intensity as we have gone into the evening hours. storms are continuing to move through alabama into georgia, and we think it will be a severe

all in alaska of course. >> allen reporting coming up at 6:00 p.m.astern, part two of five days in alaska, a look at the issue of minimum wage there, voters will decide next month if it should be raised with everything in that state it's unique and interesting debate. a lot of other stories making news, maria is here with those. >> a ten-year-old boy in pennsylvania has been charged as an a adult, accused of killing an elderly woman. when they saw the bus weaving in and out of lanes on the highway. >> my heart is mounding. >> pounding. >> what happened. >> she almost hit the van next to us. >> okay, i am honestly shaking at this mountain. >> the driver failed to aubrietia test after police pulled her over, they found four bottles of painkillers and blood pressure medication in her purse. tornadoes and damaging winds still posing a threat as the severe line of storms heads into the carolinas. illinois sheds and dumpsters were thrown around, holding traffic lights were bent in half, and roofs were ripped off. and american airlines flight made an emerge

allen schauffler spent a week in alaska and sent this report. >> it will be a wild election in alaska. there are measures to be voted on. what is going to draw attention is the senate race, the incumbent challenge said by dan sullivan, and depending on the voting, by the time we get the ball adds in alaska, it could be a moot point or an important seat in the battle for control in the u.s. senate. how important is underlined by the money that both sides pumped into the race, $43 million. >> cherry is a long-term writer. alaskas are aware, and they could be in the spot line. >> we could be the swing state and decide things, and the fact that because of the way the elections work up here, i think 20-25% of the votes will not be counted for various reasons. people say we have no election night, unless it's a one-sided election. it will be a week or so. >> we may have to wait a bit. the incumbent again. senator mark, a close race. dan sullivan is the challenger. he's trying to win his first office. we'll take a closer look at that next week. more issues for lavkans to consider. health car

alaska. . status, teresa go, what to know about mark chances of holding onto the seat? --guest:n.org he had he had momentum early. it seems like early september, he lost the lead. the republican, dan sullivan, is holding a small but significant lead. , six points, depending on the poll that you look at. host: what will be the key battlegrounds you look at? where will the race be decided? the outside money and the campaign seem to be focused on anchorage. the hometown of the former governor of sarah palin is a where i thinkrea a lot of the energies are focused on. bigr is trying to have a push. host: we have been trying to bring our viewers local issues as well as national issues as well. what is pebble mine? mine in proposed western alaska. very large. it has groups in that area and also around the state. both candidates in general are trying to say that federal overreach is a that thing. that is a huge theme we keep hearing in the campaign. how, "i will stand against federal overreach." unus

alaska.less, i think what is interesting is you can see sort of a separation beginning to open here. the most stunning result you showed of course as you pointed out was kansas where orman, the so-called independent who is a closet democrat was in front. i have always thought that he couldn't keep that up, the reason is he has to act like a cameleon and pretend he is on the fence. he could go either way. he is obviously a democrat. you can't pretend for a month. the other two races that are wydening and really interesting are cotton in arkansas and the race in colorado, gardner and udall. if those are are spreading, trending republican, it's going to be a big republican night. >> let me put this on the board. south dakota, there is a new poll out today, it's being called on the ground an outlier. but, take a look at this. independent larry pressler 32%. mike brown the republican is expected to run away with this. looking like is he polling very bad. this is not being said to be the best of po