ho alcindor: repairing surfboards, and ping for a big blue wave.er shop in southern cali fired up new democrat, with a deeply personal motivation. >> well, i dated a man who was similar to trump. he wasery wealthy. he was a big bully. it was his highway or the byway. and so trump rinds me of that type of person. i mean, angry, do what he wants with women. he says it's okay to grab women without their permission. and that's just incredibly offensive to me. >> alcindor: she grew up with staunchly conservative parents, and two decades ago, moved to orange county. for most of her life, she was one of the 400,000 independent voters in this longtime republican stronghold. then came president trump's surprise win. >> i was just appalled, what ieppened. i couldn't bel a man like aump was elected. >>lcindor: she's now working to oust her representative in the 48th district, republican congressman dana roher. she's knocked on hundreds of doors to help democrat harley rouda beat the 30-year accumbent. polls show the ris a virtual ise. >> thi neck and neck rac

yamiche alcindor has this report. >> alcindor: a democrat in trump country, and some voters consideringeap of faith. at bridge day, in fayetteville,i west vira, tens of thousands of people came out to watch base jumpers, and talk about a surprisingly competitive race. democratic state senatorichard ojeda and state delegate carol miller, a repuican, are fighting to win a seat inou congress once t to be solidly red. in 2016, donald trump beat hillary clinton in this district by 42%. >> we're going nothing but thean filthy ricthe dirt poor. >> alcindor: but ojeda, a 24- year army veteran, has managed to make is race a nail biter. >> i'm a umwa man, we need you. >> alcindor: miller, a businesswoman who owns several car dealerships and bison farm, declined to be interviewed. but in ads like this, sheio stressed her cn with the president. >> a woman that works very hard for you, carol miller. >> alcindor: at bridge day, that endorsement seemed to carry significt weight. >> it would be carol miller and that's a vote for mr. nald trump. that's m entire reason for voting for her. >> alcindor: ot

she s people through there. >> alcindor: like ojeda, roby is a veteran. they disagree on politics. >> he's making basically the usual politician promises. i'ogoing to this, i'm going do that, i'm going to do this. how? severance tax? i mean how are you going to pay for all these grand ideas? >> alcindor: polls show only single-digits separating ojeda and miller. democratic strategist mike plante says this race shou send a message ahead of 2020. >> democrats forgot how to tell a compelling narrative along with the data. you look at trump's message. you know make america great again very simple very compelling aspirational towardsi t like hell and let your constituents know that's what you're doing. >> that's what i believe in, ssat's why i'll die a democrat. >> alcindor: in lehan two weeks, west virginians will have an answer as to whether ucat strategy seds. for the pbs newshour, i'mci yamiche or in fayetteville, west virginia. >> woodruff: let's move beyond west virginia for a look at this momentn american politics with the analysis of shields and brooks

a man's life is shattered. >> alcindor: last night, in southhaven, mississippi, mr.mp went after christine blassa ford. sh kavanaugh sexual assaulted her in hh school. the president made fun of ford's senate testimony last week with his own, sometimes inaccurate version, of her memory lapses. >> how did you get home? i don't remember. how did you get there? i don't remember. where is the place? i don't remember how many years ago was it? i don't know. i don't know. (cheering) >> alcindor: the president had previously called ford a "very credible witness." after last night, ford's lawyer tweeted that the president's words were "vicious, vile and soulless." this morning, senate democrats took up e cry: >> president trump's outright mockery of a sexual assault survivorriddled as it was with falsehoods, was reprehensible. >> it was outrageous. there's no other way to describe it. >> alcindor: the attack played ecpecially poorly with unded republicans, including alaska's lisa mllkowski. she ed the remarks "unacceptable." wht top presidential aides, like ite house counselo

lisa desjardins, yamiche alcindor following this kavanaugh story. thank you both.in the day's other the confirmed number of dead in indonesia's earthquake and tsunami rose again, to more than 400. some 70,000 people remained homeless, as aid slowly trickled in. jonathan miller of indendent television news, reports. >> reporter: people are trying to put their lives back together again. but when your home has been t'ushed and splintered, as thoughbeen trampled by giants, it's hard to know where to start. age tsunami left little to salv outside assistance is now getting in, food and, earth-movers, petrol-tankers, now coming down the - battered coastal strip into palu. we went the other way, to donggala, close to the quake's epicentre. the fishing port took a bashing. only around 50 people died here, 20 still missing. near the harbor, 33 houses wer consumed by the raging sea; there are several dead bodies still in there so close was this place to the epicenter, the first of several waves hit within a minute of the quake. six members of rainaldi's family died, including

white house correspondent yamiche alcindor begins our coverage. alcindor: mourners began lining up hours before the first of the day's funerals. they came to honor cecil and hovid rosenthal, intellectually disabled brothers,ere among the 11 people killed on saturday at "tree of life" synagogue. >> i found a photo album with pictures from my bar mitzvah, that's when it hit me because even though it was a happy occasion i knew that like in that chapel where i had my bar mitzvah... that that's maybe where people spent their final moments and. that's why i'm here today because their lives were not in vain and this is a time for people to put aside their differences, find common ground and heal as a community. like america unocal said he did not want mr. trump to come to squirrel hill. d the ongoing rhetoric st the nastiness and name-calling and putting somebody down, it's just like playground politics, if you will, and there needs to be decency and humanity and bringing people together, and he has notmonstrated that in word or in action. >>>> reporter

. >> alcindor: as both sides wait for the f.b.i.'s findings, capitol police have stepped up security for senators, including police escorts. today, police forced reporrs susan collins' office for what they said were safety reasons. all the while, senate debate on the nomination is continuing. majority leader mitch mcconnell said again today he's proceeding >>ward a vote. t's time to put this embarrassing spectacle behind us. the american people are sick of the display that's been put on here in the united states senate in the guise of occonfirmation s.

white house correspondent yamiche alcindor will have a full report, later in the program.d the battle over kavanaugh's confirmation, the supreme court began a new term today, with one seat vacant. the eight sitting justices heard cases in species act and aged discrimination. they hav the case-- and having it re- argued-- once a ninth justice is seated. in indonesia the death toll from friday's earthque and tsunami has reached 844, and oicials fear it could run into the thousands. the powerful qua t drove waves 20 feet tall into the northern city of palu. john irvine of independent television news, is there. ep>> rter: the lorry has reached the end of the road. but then so has the road. this collapse has become a sobering seafront spectacle for the residents of palu. today they turned out in force for what's left of their coast road to bear witns to the and to the destruction wrought from thospunches from land and sea. but this also kept them outdoors and away from homes either destroyed or not trusted any more. rossalyn and i are walking on what remains of her six-foot hig

lisa desjardins, yamiche alcindor, thank you.ll lo at the effect of the kavanaugh decision on the #metoo movement, later in the broadcast. the struggle over the supreme court played out as the jury in a chicago court convicted a white policeman of murdering a black teenager. jason van dyke was found guilty- of secgree murder in the death of laquan mcdonald. the teen was shot multiple times in 2014 confrontation. we'll get the details, and local reaction, after the news summary. t day's other news, job gains in the u.s. slowed in september, but the unemployment rate still fell to a near-50- year low. the labor department says employers added a net of 134,000 jobs, the smallest number in a year, and likely affected by hurricane "florence". the unemployment rate slipped t% that is the lowest it's beence since er of 1969. this year's nobel peace prizeop goes to two who have fought to end sexual violence as a weapon of war. nadia murad is one of 3,000 d yazidi women who were rad tortured by islamic state militants in iraq. denis mukwe

. >> woodruff: lisa joins me now, along with newshour white house correspondent yamiche alcindor.a, as we said, what a dramatic day. tell us a little bit more abo what it was like. when did these yes votes decide and what factorswent into the decision? >> after such a dramatic week, judy, going intth vote, i spoke to several republican leaders who did not know if they had the votes going in.t te lme it happened on healthcare, they lost. it was a big gamble, but, in ts end,u sat in that chamber, i saw lisa murkowski with her head down, looking at her hands. i saw susanollins next to her. the two weren't speaking. they weren't cold to each other but it seeey were probably going to go different ways. so when murkowski announced that no vote, it really sent shockve through the chamber, is he in trouble. then collins was a yes, manchin was a yes, another surprise vote. it was quite a dramatic day, and i think the yes votes were very import look at. collins talked a lot about the homework she did, she went ino a lot of substance. but manchin, he was really truck by his personal time wit

and thank you, charlie sykes and yamiche alcindor.ing up, robert mueller is aggressively investigating trump advisor. this is delicious. roger stone. he's the man who asserted the hillary clinton's campaign chairman john podesta would soon be seeing his time in the barrel just weeks before 0 podesta's hacked e-mails went public. plus the story keeps changing from the saudis about the killing of journalist jamal khashoggi. president trump just weighed in again in a brand-new interview. and trump down in texas today stumping for ted cruz just hours after he told reporters he has no regrets about saying cruz's father was involved in killing president kennedy. i think i'd remember that kind of charge if my dad were accused ever that. >>> let me finish tonight with trump watch. it's about the bad example -- i was with some teachers this weekend -- that he's giving to students of these teachers. they say things like, i can call people bad name. the president does it. how about that? this is "hardball" where the action is. sometimes bipolar

i just channeled it.or >> woodruff: fon this, our white house correspondent yamiche alcindor joins me now. so, yamiche, you were telling me after kanye west's comments, there was a rong reaction, st of it negative. what's behind that? >> well, it was really truly a bizarre moment at the white house and mainlit showed really the extreme change in kanye west's politics. kanye west was a rapper known for his social activism. he was a rapper also known for calling out president trump. he famosausly that president bush didn't care about black people so he was calling out president george w. bush in that instance and he was talking about katrina and the fact there were african americans who didn't feel as thouhe government cared about them after the response to the hurricane. instead, you have kanye west saying he's not only an tspoken supporter of predent trump. it's the fact that he said stuff like slavery is a choice. he's also today, in what was aut 10-mmonologue, he talked about stereotypes used against african americans throughout history. le said at some point, african americans like

>> woodruff: yamiche alcindor in miami for us, thank you. of florida this week toxic algae have poarted to appear again. as lisa desjardin s, it has again shed a spotlight on the enviroent as a political issue. rob spent much time as he can on thef each isouth florida's coast. he likes to say the pier is his home office. in recent month he was forced off the water, this piece of paradise where he moved to enjoy life has been plagued by environmental problems. he showed the wat today. >> this is not what it would look like normally. it would be more of right green when it's churned up with the sand. this is bad. >> and his pictures of it last year. inl forida, a host of water problems are rising as eltion issues. the toxic res tide algae spread from the gulf coast toheim, burning beachgoers eyes and lungs and killing fish, dolphins, sea turtles and manatees by the dozen. "pbs newshour" reported on this rrisis earlier this fall. in othereas of the state, lake okeechobee and on the atlantic coast simy rcid blooms of green blue algae spurrehealt

. >> woodruff: and joining me now is our white house correspondent, yamiche alcindor. so, yamiche, smany people are asking, why is nikki haley doing this now? she saidna persoreason, term limits, but what else do we know wout what's happening here? >> whaknow is that washington was really, really shocked when nikki haley made this announcement. it's because our newshour producers here studied the list of the last 30 years o u.n. ambassadors, and in almost every single case, when that person resigned in the middof a president's term, it's because they were tang another job within the administrotion that. ishe case with nikki haley. i spoke with someone who is close to nikki haley who also helped get her elected in south carolina. that person says she's very politically ambitious in good way and that she would know when to leave, and in this case, she's leavg when th administration's having a good couple weeks. they had brett kavanaugh confirmed. the trade deal went through. you also have the economy doing well. so nikki haley is kind of leaving on this high. there is, o

yamiche alcindor, msnbc contributor, and margaret carlson. thank you to the three of you for helping us analyze this. margaret, what garrett said, the democrats have maybe given republicans a rallying cry to narrow an enthusiasm gap. our viewers get upset when we report that, but the numbers indicate that a month ago republican -- the percentage of democrats who called the midterms very important is now much closer to the number of republicans. there's no democrats who are less enthusiastic, but it seems there are a lot more republicans who are more enthusiastic. >> right. and democrats may hope that since republicans got what they wanted they will rest on their laurels. which humans tend to do. and yes, theirs is increased and democrats stayed the same, but the gap has narrowed. today, though, suggests that there's a lot of enthusiasm on the side that lost. you know, mitch mcconnell said because he wants to pour salt on an open wound, that brett kavanaugh was exonerated. well, half of the country thinks he wasn't investigated properly, and t

. >> woodruff: and lisa joins me now, alo with white house correspondent yamiche alcindor. so, lisa, what do we know about this report? what aresenators saying, and it changing any votes? >> we know the supplemental report itself was something lik 50 pages or so and included interviews of at least ninele pend apparently the f.b.i. reached out to at least a tenth person who may not have spoke ton them. senators are not supposed speak about it, bt the whole kavanaugh file is about this big, is what the senator said. behind closed doors, senators split up the supplemental interviews and passed themne aroundy one. at one point they had staff reading out loud the entire supplemental report. in the end, i did not hear anyte senator indihat what they found in today's report is something substantially new. good news for republicans whopp t mr. kavanaugh, but democrats are claiming this report was stacked in that direction from the get-go. that's their feeling. >> woodruff: yamiche, what's the state at the white house? >> the white house and trump are very happy and want the vot to

. >> woodruff: and lisa joins me now, along with white house correspondent yamiche alcindor. hello to both of you. lisa, at do we know right no about timeling about what when this f.b.i. investigation could nish and when there cod be a final vote on kavanaugh in the senate. >> right. the f.b.i. was given up to one week. that ends friday, to do this investigation. they could finish earlier. some republican senators think they could finish earlier. it could be wednesday, thursday. in the meantime, some key witnesses have not yet been interviewed, in particular christine blasey ford's team o se a letter. they have been trying to get in touch with the f.b.i. they have noheard back. they are concerned that the f.b.i. may not interview her at all. we're not really sure. the f.b.i. is notbviously revealing what their plan is. sometimes key witnesses are interviewe. we have to wait and see how that goes. meanwhile, mitch mcconnell would like to ve this final vote this week. this week means saturdahe f.y.i., anday that would work, because of the senate rules, there is a series of proc

co-creator and executive producer of "the circus" on showtime mark mckinnon, i can't m-- yamiche alcindor and joe meacham. joe, why don't you try to set the scene for us what this will mean for the midterms, what this will mean for democrats and republicans, the senate. i could go on. what does this mean? >> well, we'll hear from our esteemed guests, but a lot of talk, mika, this weekend about how this was going to be different, the supreme court would never be respected again, the supreme court wouldn't be able to work together again. of course, in that swearing in ceremony also justice kagan, justice sotomayor was there. the supreme court will go on and united states congress will go on, the government will continue its business. the only question is who is going to be running it? is it going to be run by mitch mcconnell, is it going to be run by people who did what they did over the past couple of weeks, and then were cheerleaders. that's going to be actually our first story after saying that we were trying to get a justice on the supreme court that was impartial, that was neutral, tha