especially if this is any indication. >> doug luzader live in washington.gic number of 270 electoral votes. president obama and mitt romney both know just one state could make or break their campaign. ainsley earhardt talks about what state will decide it all. >> every vote counts especially in this state. both campaigns will be focused on a handful of states. the first state all eyes will be on is virginia. 14 states in virginia. president owe bam bhauz the only democrat to win since 1980. the race is a dead heat. next north carolina polls close at 7:30 p.m. president obama hasn't campaign there had in weeks. ohio, no republican has ever won the presidency without winning ohio. the biggest prize among the swing states 29 votes. the 2000 recount is still a vif individual memory. romney has a small lead there demonstrating how close this campaign is. there are just four votes at stake in new hampshire. both spending time there during the home stretch. one possible wild card, pennsylvania. if mitt romney wins it's 20 votes it could be difficult for president

doug luzader is live for us. >> those are tough images. these are the latest poll numbers coming out from fox. the race tied up 46 a piece. that tightens slightly even earlier this month. the obama team is hoping that images we saw yesterday with the president acting as commander-in-chief will help boost those numbers. >>> what i can promise you is that the federal government will be working as closely as possible with the state an local officials and we will not quit until this is done. >>> the president will be back on the campaign trail in nevada and wisconsin. mitt romney will be in virginia at the rally yesterday in florida balancing his push for early voters during the poll of storm relief. >> please make sure you go out and vote early. if you have a dollar extra send it to the red cross for our friends that are in harm's way. i love you and i appreciate it and together we we are going to win. >>> both campaigns are battling for the independent voters that are generally favoring romney. when you start looking at individual issues the

doug luzader is live in tampa, florida where the judge extended earledly voting.t coverage starts with kelly wright. he is wlooif in dc with a look at mitt romney's final day on the campaign trail. can it be kelly, finally? >> finally. good morning to you, heather. this is the final count down for both candidates. governor mitt romney is giving everything he has to win the presidency. it is the last full day for the governor. he will spend the day urging people to get out and vote for him. >> president obama asked his supporters to vote for revenge. for revenge. i ask the american people instead to vote for love of country. >> now over the weekend governor romney campaigned in key swing states giving his closing arguments to voters. today he will be in florida where he is in a neck and neck tied race with president obama where he wants new leadership and to restore faith in the american spirit. >> if there is any one who fears the american dream is fading away, is there is any one who wonders if better job and better xhaks are a thing of the past i have a clear un

back to you guys. >> doug luzader thank you so much. we will be watching that all morning long. before you leave the house this morning let's get the first degree weather update with janice dean. one part of the country is really preparing for a messy morning commute and snow on the way for the west coast. >> yes. not only today but through the weekend as a series of storms a parade of storms march toward the west coast. this is typically the rainy season it's not a surprise but it will cause travel delays as we head into the weekend and next week. we want to show you we have a weak low pressure system off the delmarva coast bringing light rain here. nuisance rain is not really going to cause a lot of problems but the west coast. the northeast will get a break but the west is not going to get a break over the next several days you can see rain and mountain snow from the northwest down to southern california and then across the rockies as we head into the weekend. several inches of rain in some cases 4-6 inches of rain and feet of snow as again several systems are going to come i

doug luzader is live with us with more on that. >> staff change coming up from the white house in theesident's second term. this controversy could throw a refrn in the works -- wrench in the works. president obama in burma but it may be a farewell tour for secretary of state hillary clinton. he is the odds on favorite to replace her for the united nations susan rice. he is preparing to block her because in the wake of the attack on the u.s. consulate in libya she misled the nation they say playing down the al qaeda for the attack. over the weekend a debate about where her talking points came from. he knew from the get go this was a terrorist attack. >> i don't know what the democrats and white house are trying to hide. neither what any of them are saying general petraeus and grap said the intelligence community and the entirety signed off on talking points. they went to the administration and when they came back key languages were changed. >> susan rice changed the talking points provided by the intelligence community. >> susan rice would have to be confirmed by the senate. democrats

doug luzader is in washington with more. >> good morning guys.he president has won another four years. that much is clear. does he really have a mandate? house republicans also won on tuesday. with the fiscal cliff rapidly approaching the fundamentals here haven't changed all that much. president obama arrived back along with the first family getting ready to settle in for another term. not much time to celebrate. the fiscal cliff is approaching just down the street at the capitol. they could start hammering the combination of spending cuts and tax hikes. after tuesday does the president really have a mandate to raise taxes on the wealthy something he has pushed for years. senate maorijority leader harry reid says yes. >> this is the message american people sent from all over. that is they are tired of these partisan gridlock. >> republicans look at the impact they have on hiring with the unemployment rate still just shy of 8 percent. house republican speaker john boehner is showing a willingness to raise revenue if it involves simplifying the ta

doug luzader is live with more on that. >>> that's the big question what will the unemployment rate be? this is what economists are expecting 7.9 percent. if that's the case that is a slight increase over last month. both of these guys are preparing for that it will depend on the overall size. >> i think it's a confidence game when people go to the poll on tuesday. they are going to ask themselves do i feel good about the future? do i feel good about barack obama moving forward or is mitt romney right we are not moving forward we are moving in the right direction. >> the president address ago crowd in colorado yesterday and say he carried four years ago where the unemployment rate is worse than the national average making the case for continuing a strong government role. >> today there are thousands of workers building long lasting batteries and solar technology and wind turbines all across the country. jobs that weren't there four years ago. >> mitt romney meantime in virginia where the unemployment rate is lower than the national average. he ridiculed the president for his plan to cr

doug luzader has the poll numbers. recover this is where the race stands right now. fox news poll has it tied up 46% apiece, slightly tighter than just a few weeks ago. >> the obama team is hoping that image as like this will count for something, the president taking charge in the wake of superstorm sandy, touring the damage in new jersey. it didn't hurt that one of his strongest critic, new jersey governor chris christie, lavished him with praise. >> it has been a great working relationship to make sure that we're doing the jobs that people elected us to do. i cannot thank the president enough for his personal concern and compassion for our state and for the people of our state. >> what i can promise you is that the federal government will be working as closely as possible with the state and local officials and we will not quit until this is done. >> reporter: and the president will be back on the trail today in nevada, colorado and wisconsin. mitt romney will be in virginia after rallies yesterday in florida balancing his push for early voters with a call for storm

doug luzader is live for us in washington with more. good morning, doug. >> good morning, guys.committees in congress are going to start holding hearings on this to try to find out what really happened at the u.s. consulate in benghazi september 11th. president obama and his first real press conference in months yesterday defended his actions. >> my orders to my national security team were do whatever we need to do to make sure they are safe. >> but the time line of events that night is still not entirely clear. several republicans in congress are calling for watergate styl hearings. much of the republican anger here has been focused on susan rice the u.s. ambassador to the united nations. on five sunday talk shows after the attack she preetedly blamed those attacks on a protest over an anti muslim quifilm not a coordinated terrorist assault. she could be the next secretary of state the president defended her as he lashed out after republicans. >> to go after a u.n. ambassador nothing to do with benghazi and was giving information based on the intelligence she received and bee s

doug luzader joins us with the latest. >> what we are learning now is the affair between david petraeusula broadwell may have been something of a known secret and something the fbi may have known about for months there. may be questions about whether broadwell may have disseminated classified information in recent months as well. the fbi has been looking into this case for quite sometime. it began with threatening e-mails sent by broadwell to the petraeus family friend kelly not romantically linked to petraeus. they released this statement we and our family have been friends with general petraeus for over five years. we respect his and his familiar lace privacy and want the same for us and our three children. all of this raises questions of timing. was this information all held until after the leblgs to protect the president? the white house says no but some lawmakers felt blind sided. >> then when these questions came up i obviously tack took t action myself to try to find out and then informed by vice-chairman and i talked to the director twice. this is very hard stuff. plus petraeus

as doug luzader reports now, they'll ask if his testimony matches other top officials'. >> reporter: this is all going to be behind closed doors ns about his personal life, today the questions are going to focus on the benghazi attack and specifically whether the petraeus version of events matches what we heard again and again from u.s. ambassador to the united nations susan rice in the aftermath. former cia director david petraeus has been here on capitol hill time and time again. but today before the senate and house intelligence committee is shrouded in secrecy. he may have a blow by blow attack on what happened in benghazi, libya, that led to the death of four americans, including the u.s. ambassador. >> director petraeus went to the people, as i understood it, that were involved. so the opportunity to get his views, i think are very -- is very important. >> reporter: this comes after a day of hearings yesterday into the benghazi attack. most closed to the public, but one was open. and much of the focus is on u.s. ambassador to the u.n. susan rice, who back in september appeared

doug luzader joins us live from washington with more. hi, doug. >> ainsley good morning.s leaders are pleading with the white house to come up with some kind of a deal to assert spending cuts as part of the big fiscal cliff. no deal in sight yet. take a look at what happened on capitol hill yesterday. naked protestors stormed the office of house speaker john boehner. they are protesting cuts in healthcare they say but shows how any kind of spend wiing cut are nearly impossible these days and they are warming for the president's call to raise tax revenue. many democrats are emboldened since the election refusing to talk about any specific cuts to federal spending. >>> president obama and democrats ran on a promise of bush tax rates. president obama didn't hide that last year of the campaign every place he went that's what he talked about. americans when they voted raised their voices and supported our pledge congress acted in accordance with the will of the people. >>> there's a debate of how to raise taxes. if government spending isn't paired back in some way republicans

doug luzader is live in washington with more on that. >>> good morning, guys.ou give that to mitt romney at this point still not enough to veet magic number 270 in the electoral college. mitt romney appeared to thank his supporters and tell them he had conceded the race. >>> i just called president obama to congratulate him his supporters and campaign deserves congratulations as well but particularly the president, first lady and their daughters. this is a time of great challenge and i pray the president is successful in guiding our nation. >>> it has been a long road. he took time to thank paul ryan his running mate. >> i want to thank paul ryan for all he has done for our campaign. and for the country. besides my wife ann, paul is the best choice i have ever made. because of his hard work and commitment to principal we will continue to contribute for the good of our nation. >> we will see more of paul ryan he was re-elected to congress last night. back to you guys. >> patti ann? >> after months of campaigning balance of power in congress little change this mo

doug luzader joins us with more. >>> it it will be one thing after another.president put press conferences on hold during the course of the election. issue after issue has been piling up not the least of which this strange web of scandal involving the now former cia director david petraeus. also one of the nation's top generals the top commander in afghanistan general john allen had a number of offender. he had e-mails he sent to a petraeus family friend this woman jill kelley. he did get backing from the pentagon. >> no one should lead to any conclusions here. general allen is doing an excellent job in leading the forces. he has my continued confidence. >> one prominent conservative is questioning the conduct of the fbi in both of these cases. >> let me begin with general allen who i think has been smeared by an fbi investigation that got out of control. the allenes knew the kellies in tampa for a couple of years. more than half of the e-mails involved mrs. allen or mrs. kelly they are dealing with various arrangements. >> there are some who see this as a bi

doug luzader joins us live. >> this cast of characters is growing. general john allen head of u.s. forces in afghanistan. he is accused of ensgaging in an inappropriate e-mail exchange with this woman. this is jill kelly a liaison at the air force base in florida. she is also coincidentally the same woman who is said to have received harassing e-mails from this woman who had an affair with petraeus. we know stepped down as cia director late last week. office as far as general allen is concerned he is not only the top u.s. commander in afghanistan he was slated to take over as head of european command and nato services in europe. that is a promotion that has been put on hold because of the allegations. leon pineda was traveling over night to australia. the spokesman con if i recalled the investigation. >>> today the secretary directed that the matter be referred to the inspector general of the department of defense for investigation and it is now in the hands of the department of the inspector general. this shines a briert spotlight on investigations

doug luzader joins us live with the latest. >> some republicans may be willing to seed some ground onaxes but will the president budge on his top tax rates must go up. the state of the fiscal cliff negotiation may really ride on that point. now at a white house briefing they need to double down on the long held belief households with income above 250,000 dollars must pay a higher rate. they are open to higher taxes but they are pushing the idea of eliminating deductions for high income earners. >> we will continue to wait on the president and hope he has what it takes to bring people together and forge a compromise. if he does we will get there and if he doesn't, we won't. >>> it's that simple. >> president obama is going to meet with the carefully selected group of business leaders to get their input. how the republicans will do the s same. there will be little room for compromise. >> they once again urged the senate to pick up the house passed bill extending the hacks breaks for millionaires and billionaires. as president the senate has considered this bill. we jeekted it on a bipar

. >> doug luzader has more on the economic crisis. >> good morning. it is a looming crisis.t warns if we reach the fiscal cliff at the end of the year that combination of tax hikes and spending cuts. it could begin to shrink. obviously that's not good news for any one. the president will emerge for the first real comments since the election. he will no doubt talk about congress and the looming fiscal cliff with the combination of tax hikes and spending cuts. the president's former chief economic advisor paints a pretty grim picture. >> the election is over. go look at the report. it shows if you go off the fiscal cliff the economy goes into recession if at the beginn of 2013 s. it is not a small matter. i think we have to address it. >> it will all come down to these two men. the president expected to draw a line in the sand insisting on a massive tax hike for wealthy americans and republican house speaker john boehner open to raising taxes but in other ways. he told abc news tax rates should remain where they are. >> raising taxes on small business people is the wrong presc

. >> doug luzader joins us with a preview. >> retarryls turned their tanks now to cyber monday hopings seen as a strong retail weekend there are fears, though, that that positive consumer sentiment could be in jeopardy if we reach that fiscal cliff at the end of the year. you take a look at big on-line retarryls like amazon for instance you can hear the hum in the air at their distribution centers as they gear up for what they hope will be the 50th day of the year. president obama helped juice retail members themselves with christmas shopping at a virginia book store. this morning the white house is warning what could happen with retail sales if government spending and massive tax hikes kick in at the end of the year. it's something retailers have already been talking about shoppers are uncertain. >> it's the leading headline of the day. they are definitely thinking of that. >> they are scaling back? >> they are not spending as robustly as they would because they still don't know what's going to happen. >> some republicans have taken a step toward the president since the election show

. >> doug luzader in washington. top 5@5:00. we begin with a fox news alert. overnight a deadly attack near a u.s. base in afghanistan. a man approaching that on foot. the man through grenades and both of the carguards were kill they are afghans as well as 5 civilians. an alarm at the embassy swundzed following the blast. no one claimed responsibility for the attack. >> director of fashionnal intelligence james clapper now changing his story about who moved al qaeda from the talking points from the ghazi terrorist attack that left four americans dead. accordi -- benghazi terrorist attack. he changed the wording before it was passed on to the white house. during the closed door hearings on the attack clapper said he did not know who made the changes. republican chairman of the house intelligence committee mike rogers demanding an immediate explanation. >> lis questioning two men in connection with the blast that leveled two homes in indianapolis and left two people dead. one of them is being linked to this white van that was spotted near the home on the day of

in washington, doug luzader, fox news. >> while david patraeus testifies on the attack in libya, topials are facing numerous questions. demanded an explanation as to why it took so long for the white house to be notified about the fbi investigation. briefed the house intelligence committee yesterday but did not provide an answer. the army has suspended security clearance. >> the mrit storm storm surrounding the cia director, president obama will pause to monitor recovery efforts from super storm sandy. he will meet with families, local officials and first responders. in the wake of that storm, two utility companies say they have received subpoenas from the new york state general. coned and the long island power authority say they are cooperating into their responses to the storm. >> president obama addressing the national fiscal cliff during his news conference at the white house. the president says he is confident an agreement can be reached that would avoid automatic tax hikes and spending cuts. he called for comprehensive deal but that he is not going to budge on the wealthiest 2%

doug luzader reports general john allen, the top u.s.nder in afghanistan, is now under investigation for propose thely sending e-mails -- reportedly sending e-mails to the woman directly linked to the petraeus scandal. >> this is jen john allen, who is in charge of u.s. forces in afghanistan. he's now accused of sending inappropriate e-mails to this woman. this is jill kelley. she's been described as an unpaid social liaison at mcdill air force down in florida. she's kinds of a pivotal person. she's the one who went to the fbi saying she was receiving harassing e-mails from this woman, paul broadwell, who allegedly had an affair with now former cia director david petraeus. general john allen, not only headed u.s. forces in afghanistan, he was slated to take over as head of the u.s. european command and nato forces in europe. the secretary of defense, leon panetta, was traveling overnight to australia. his spokesman confirmed this. >> today, this matter is being referred to -- referred for investigation to the inspector general and is now

martha: doug luzader joins us live with this report from washington. good morning, doug. >> reporter: good morning, guys. at a very basic level this is the store of an affair between general david petraeus and his biographer paula broad well. it gets complicated. there may be national security implication including into the broad investigation into the consulate in benghazi on september 11th. there is no question she would have had prime access to one. key players. she made a couple of public appearances to talk about that. that was at the university of denver, her alma mater last month where she spoke about the benghazi attack. this was came as ci a-team were asking for help but were denied. here is what she said. >> i don't know if a lot of you heard this but the cia annex had taken a couple of libyan militia members prisoner and they think the attack on the consulate was an effort to get the prisoners back. that is still being vetted. >> reporter: that would seemingly contradict what we heard over and over again initially midaway, that the at lack in