doug hoffman. that split on the right would allow bill owens, the democrat to win a district democrats haven't won in more than 100 years. all of the action from t.e.a. party and sarah palin went to hoffman. the republican dropped out and endorsed a democrat. this is a real good battle between for the heart and soul of the republican party. >> hoffman has a slight lead? >> slight lead in the polls but one in five voters still undecided. >> let's talk about a national referendum in these off-year elections ever decide that in new jersey for example. the governor's race between corzine and chris christi. >> new jersey is a great case for incumbents next year. beware. a democratic governor in a democratic state. corzine is fighting for his political life right now. he's tied if you believe the polls with chris christie. and daggett has taken some of the vote away. it's tough to be the unbum want right now with the national climate the way it is there's specific problems in jersey. very high tax rates

he defeated doug hoffman. the republican nominee quit the race last weekend. >>> of course, we are talking politics today. for your views question. richelle is looking at what you had to say. i have been checking it out on our facebook pages, richelle, what are people saying? >> we didn't get any responses, christi. none at all. >> yeah, right. >> we are talking politics, a year since we've had a new president. an overwhelming response and the elections yesterday, how do you think the president is doing, do you think what happened yesterday with two republicans being -- defeating democrats for governorships do you think there is a connection to how president obama is doing? we asked questions. lydia is calling from rhode island. lydia you have the floor. >> caller: i wanted to give my view. i know people are questioning if barack obama is doing his job for the first year. i want people to give him a chance, an opportunity. we came from eight years of bush and it is a very hard job for president obama. so just

democrat bill owens beat conservative doug hoffman. ncluding sarah palin chimed in on this race. they had big problems with hoffman's opponent dede and her views on abortion and same-sex marriage. the gop held its congressional seat since the civil war in 1872. >> wow. my goodness. >> a lot of years. >> that certainly is. all right, richard, thank you. little history. >>> morning, sunshine. will i'm robin meade. time for today's salute to the troops. join me. this salute is from marty collins to her husband james jack cal listens. she wants him to know that she and the entire family are praying for him and that their two dogs dana and huck elleberry miss him so much. >> i'm marty collins from erieville, new york, i would like to salute my husband. i miss you so much. you're the best husband anyone could hope for and my best friend. mom and dad and willie and i and everyone are praying for you and we can't wait until you're home with us. >> if you have somebody in the service and you want to salute them, we'd like to help you. go to cnn.

a third party conservative candidate doug hoffman has a chance to win because the republican nominee abruptly left the race last weekend. gop candidate endorsed democratic opponent billowens. today's special election will fill a seat in republicans hands for decades. >>> new numbers show a slight majority of americans approve how president obama is handling his job. a any cnn opinion research corporation poll finds 54% give him a thumb's up. not as happy how he's handling the economic crisis. 46% approve how he's handling the economy. most americans disagree with how he's handling, iraq, health care, afghanistan, the deficit and immigration. >>> the next story will break your heart. nearly half of all u.s. kids could be on food stamps at some point during their childhood. a new study says 90% of african-american kids and 30% of white kids may get food stamps by the age of 20. the recession could push the alarming numbers even higher. studies say pediatricians should be aware their at risk for malnutrition and other sicknesses linked to poverty. >>> seems everyone is on facebook or my

bill owens is projected to beat doug hoffman. former alaska governor sarah palin chimed in on this race. they had big problems with hoffman's republican opponent dede scozzafava and her views on same sex marriage. she withdrew from the race saturday. the gop held the congressional seat since the civil war, 1872. >> wow. all right, richard, something else. we'll talk to you more later. >>> so a florida man was ready to celebrate winning $166 million on a slot machine from the seminal hard rock casino. they said it was a mistake, the machine spun out of control. its top prize was supposed to be $99,000 and since it was broken they won't even pay him that amount. >> they make you think you won and everybody around you that you won and an hour after it, oh, wow, we have to investigate this and it's probably a malfunction. >> gaming commissioners and the slot machine's programmers are trying to figure out why the machine malfunctioned. the would-be winner is talk iin to a lawyer. >>> two people are accused of stealing up to 1,000 piec

conservative party candidate doug hoffman is battling with democrat bill owens to represent the state's 23rd congressional district. former republican nominee scozzafava dropped out amid conservatives who said she was too moderate. top gop leaders and the republican national committee have put their resources behind hoffman. now you may remember disturbing video of anna nicole smith dressed up as a clown months before she died of a drug overdose. it could become key evidence in the trial of three people accused of giving her those drugs. now watch as smith, who was pregnant at the time, appears to confuse a doll for her unborn child. >> my baby's over there sleeping. >> your baby down there. >> baby down here? >> that one. >> i think i just had a little gas. >> say that again? say it again? >> i think i just -- i think i'm having some gas trouble. >> prosecutors say smith's behavior in the video proves her boyfriend, howard k. stern and her two doctors were keeping her drugged. they showed it at a preliminary hearing last week. defense lawyers say it shouldn't be used as evidence in the

big name republicans like sarah palin are supporting the conservative candidate doug hoffman. >>> one hampshire died after eating meat that may have been contaminated with e coaly. it's not like you can just like for one name however. >> yeah. because you won't see that company's name on the packaging. this is store brand meat, so you've got to be careful. you might have this and wouldn't even know it i. especially, if you live in the northeast and you bought any store brand ground beef and any of these stores. that should tip you off a bit. you really should go and check the meat. health officials say people have gotten sick in massachusetts, maine, connecticut, new hampshire. what to look for, there's the code -- maybe you're driving right now or just can't write it down, you can check the website later on and it's under the looking out for you. you have to scroll down a bit. >>> cit has filed for bankruptcy. it's win of the biggest in u.s. history. don't worry if you've never heard of cit. they're kind of a behind the scenes lender. they lend to more than a million small companies

doug hoffman is battling with bill owens for the 23rd republican district. jeannie scofield's father is backing owens. she backed off from conservatives who said she was too moderate. top gop leaders and the committee have put their resources behind hoffman. >>> new this morning, nearly after of u.s. kids could be on food stamps at some point during childhood. a new study says 90% of african-american kids and 30% of white kids may get food stamps by age 20. it says these kids may be at risk for malnutrition and the recession could push those alarming numbers even higher. the studies in the archives of pediatrics and adolescent medicine. >>> lawmakers want to ban using laptops in cockpits. you remember last month. the pilot of that northwest airlines plane that shot the airport over 150 miles said they were on their laptops when it happened. the chairman of the aviation subcommittee said a bill could be introduced in about a week. other devices like dvd players and mp3 players would also be included. >> yeah, we wouldn't want them to fly the plane or anything

he defeated conservative party candidate doug hoffman. the republican nominee quit the race last weekend. >>>, so of course, we're talking politics. richelle carey is here talking about what you have to say as a viewer. and i know that the phones have been lighting up. people have a lot to say about this. thank you for chiming in. >> they want to know do these local elections mean anything bigger for president obama. some people say there's no connection whatsoever. of course, it kind of depends on which political party you're in whether or not you think it means something. it has been one year since we letted, the people elected barack obama president. we figure it's time to do a check-up. we're kind of leaving this open-ended. we want to know how do you think he's doing as president? do you think things have gotten better, gotten worse? do you think that these elections we just talked about on the states of new jersey, virginia, new york, do you think this is a type of referendum on how president obama is doing, congress is doing? get t