my name is john byrd. i live at 901 elizabeth street. some weeks back, my neighbors showed me drawings of the new development project at 940 elizabeth, immediately adjoining their home, and i was shocked at the size. this proposed building is three stories over a garage, effectively a four story tall monolith of a house sitting in the middle of the block. this is as tall as the one immediately up from it on a hill with a 25% grade. its height and mass are further accentuated by its flat roof. i was disappointed to learn that project developers had refused to show a simple courtesy to their neighbors by extending a light well to ground level. the sponge is the bedroom and bathroom of their neighbors into total darkness. extending the light well could be done with no impact on the proposed toronto. still, the developer -- no impagct on the proposed garage. still, the developer response was to retain a lawyer. the neighbors have asked that the project developers eliminate the fourth floor. i did not know it was legal to build that in a resi

byrd. democratic governor joe manchin is in a tight battle for that seat with republican john raese. congressional correspondent nancy cordes is in west virginia tonight. nancy, manchin got some pretty big attention with that campaign ad heard round the country. >> reporter: that's right, katie. and the governor says he has no regrets about releasing one of the most explosive ads of this election season. west virginias have never seen their governor like this, leveling a rifle at the agenda of his fellow democrat, president obama. >> and i'll take dead aim at the cap and trade bill. >> reporter: don't you think it's a little bit over the top to be firing a gun when you're talking about the president? >> i'm not talking about the president. i'm talking about cap and tradement it's dead on arrival. should be. >> reporter: the ad is a calculated move by man hin who may have earned high marks for his handling of mining disasters. >> the rescue teams are prepared. they're charged up, ready to go. >> reporter: but in ad after

byrd. his mentor, john blankenship. my friends, you know who my mentor is. robert byrd. our people deserve better than what they have seen on the television screen. i hope that my pundit has gotten over the name calling and they will call no more constituents of mine degenerate's as he did the other day. i've always placed our coal miners and cold jobs is number one. our hardworking men and women, those are my top priorities. i will continue to work across party lines as i have done even when my party did not control the congress, more vital today than ever. i will still maintain my seniority to work for west virginia to put our values to work in washington. >> faq, mr. rahall -- thank you, mr. rahall. [applause] we also have a coin toss to see who would take the first question. mr. maynard, you won that honor. let's go right to it. infrastructure is the foundation for economic growth. in southern west virginia we continue to suffer from lack of highways, both paid and technological, along with the need for basic water and sewer systems. how do you plan is a member of co

byrd. his mentor, john blankenship. my friends, you know who my mentor is. robert byrd. our people deserve better than what they have seen on the television screen. i hope that my pundit has gotten ov the name calling and they will call no more cstituents of mine degenerate's as he did the other day. i've always placed our coal miners and cold js is number one. our hardworking men and women, those are my top priorities. i will continue to work across pay lines as i have done even when my party did not control the congress, more vital today than ever. i will still maintain my seniority to work for west virginia to put our values to work in washington. >> faq, mr. rahall -- thank you, mr. rahall. [applause] we also have a coin toss to see who uld take the first question. mr. maynard, you won that honor. let's go right to it. infrastructure is the foundation for economic growth. in southern west virginia we continue to suffer from lack of highways, both paid and technological, along with the need for basicater and sewer systems. how do you plan is a member of congress to ob

the latest survey shows republican john reese leading democratic governor joe 48 to 46%. 4% run decided. the winner will finish the term of the late robert byrd. >>> with four weeks until the election the campaign rhetoric is heating up. democrats are returning to their home surf and they are hoping for a shift in momentum away from the republicans. nancy has more from captiol hill [ no audio ] >> take that off the table. >> reporter: former world wrestling ceo linda man and blumenthal faced off on her stand over the minimum wage. >> when she was asked by reporters about the minimum wage and whether to cut it. she said she would have to look at it. >> reporter: just hours before the debate mcmahonn released a kneads about his misrepresentation of his million service. >> would you lie about serving in a war? >> we have learned something very important since the days i have served in vietnam. >> bloomen haul did, again and again. >> the fact of the matter is i take accountability for minis takes. my opponent has not done so. >> in delaware, senate candidate and tea party favorite christine o'donnell is fighting the past that has been haunting h

the survey shows that john racey is leading joe mansion 48% to 46%. 4% remain undecided. the winner will finish the term of the late robert byrd>>> today christine o'donnell goes on the offensive. she will air a television add addressing witchcraft. in ' 99 she said she dabbled in witchcraft. in the new ad that comes out she says she is not a witch and adds none of us are perfect. she is trailing chris cools by 15 points. >>> it is 6:19. >>> next in sports a blowout in monday night football. >>> and haynesworth talked about his strong performance on sunday. hear what he has to say about himself in three minutes. when haynesworth feels like it is he is a great football player. sunday was one of the games for bill al. he had four tackles and induced two key holding call an the most disruptive game of the year. when we pointed that out to albert he couldn't resist taking a stab at the redskins coaching staff. >> the more i play the better i get. if you leave me on the field longer, i can cause more havoc. >> let me say the more he plays like, this the more he will play. that was, by far, albert's best gym since i have been here.

byrd's seat, a seat in jeopardy. >>reporter: west virginia has not been friendly to president obama. hillary clinton beat him in the primary there, and john mccain won in 2008 against obama, so, now the governor has to distance himself as he is with health care but he is in a tough spot distancing himself so much from the president it will attract national coverage and the other guy almost knocked off jay rockefeller in 1980. >>neil: and his approval numbers, they like his job at governor but they are making a party statement here. >>reporter: when people go to the polls they will have president obama on their mind and that is the problem for a lot of the democrats especially in red states like west virginia and the west virginia is now red it has not had a republican senator in over 50 years. so, they are looking to buck that trend and if you look at the trend in the polling the last few weeks especially in that race, it is a trouble spot for manchin. >>neil: handy cap in four weeks? >>reporter: senate republicans will pick up eight seats. i don't think they will department not enough for a majority. conventional wisdom it is a done deal

john raese. the f you like business men, elect me. >> this is also robert byrd's seat which is the longest, you know, person to hold a senate seat in the history of the country and not quite a gimme but a gimme for the democrats. >> popular guy. long time serving. the byrd coat tails don't exist anymore. >> all right. let's look at the senate then. talk about how many seats are really up for grabs and you can see here are the democrats in charge. here are the republicans in the minority. how many are we talking about? magic number is ten. there are no republican senate seats really in danger but 13 democratic seats in danger so republicans have to take ten of those. they have about six or seven kind of that they can count on. those last three quite tough. some of these democratic senate seats looking better for democrats. >> then let's look at the house then, too. this is -- here undo my drawing. sorry. how many seats? here's the big, blue democratic majority. and the republicans in the minority. what kind of numbers are we talking about here? >> magic number in the house is 39 seats republicans hav

deadlocked. 44% to joe manchin, the democratic governor, 44% for john raese, this is a seat that was held for the democrats for almost 60 years robert byrd. look at wisconsin, another troubling place for democrats. russ feingold, the incumbent democratic senator there, he is trailing now 52% to 44% to ron johnson, who is the republican nominee and also backed by a lot of people in the tea party movement. quickly, washington state, where patty murray, democrat is running for re-election. poll numbers suggest she is eight points ahead of rossi, the problem nominee. a tight race. we will follow these states between now and election date, just 19 days away. >> it's coming up quickly, isn't it. more political news at the top of the hour. >>> legalizing marijuana, a lot of folks are for it, a lot of against it. the issue sparked a lot of debate on cnn nps new prime tire show "parker spitzer." >> i've been convinced by people in law enforcement and the judicial system that we can really allocate our resources in much better ways than arresting people for simple possession of marijuana. in 2008, for example, in california, there were 60,000 arre

byrd's seat. west virginia is once again a toss-up. >> it really is. we saw johnsey opening up a six point lead. governor manchin is doing everything he can to distance himself from the president, almost denying he knows him. he's open to repealing parts of the health care law. he took a shot at the cap and trade bill. one of the reasons? 64% of voters in west virginia believe that cap and trade bill will cost jobs in their state. if manchin is able to distance himself from the president, he'll win this. if not, if people think he's going to go to washington and be part of the democratic majority, then racy will come out on top. >> california, the senate race incumbent democrat barbara boxer defending against republican challenger carly fiorina. in this race, it remain has toss-up. >> that's right. boxer up by 3 points just under the 50% mark. she's been potentially vulnerable a lot of times in her career. carly fiorina putting on a very strong fight for this seat. has been trailing consistently, but very closely. what we see is both candidates viewed favorably by

other senate changes, west virginia, i guess watched john raese gain, against joe manchin in the special election to remace the late senator robert byrdchanged quite a bit. >> it sure has and the reason is. raese is not running against joe manchin, he's running against barack obama and mentions his name every chance it gets and joe manchin was the dream candidate for democrats and is a governor with a 69% job approval rating. and the reason he's struggling, barack obama has a 69% disapproval rating. >> gregg: let's move to the connecticut senate race, blumenthal versus linda mcmahaon. he's gaining. >> this is a race, good news for the democrats and bounced back and forth between solid democrat and leaning democrat for the last few weeks and now this is a race the democrats don't want to think about and want to believe it is put away. but, they are nervous because, linda mcmahaon is spending a lot of money on hard-hitting campaign ads. >> julie: how do americans feel about the government and whether it has enough, too much or too little power over the economy? >> 53% say it has too much influence over the economy. only 20% say not enou

considered a shoo-in for the senate seat vacated with the death of robert byrd and now is dead-locked the with a business man, whose name is johnnd the republican hitting joe manchin hard on his ties with president obama, and, with a 68% approval rating as governor in the state, they love him as the governor of west virginia, and is doing all he can now to distances himself from the commander-in-chief and to see if that can help him define himself in the senate race, and that is how we start a brand new hour of "america's newsroom," great to have you with us, i'm martha maccallum. bill: good morning, 8 days, huh. martha: 8 more days. bill: talking about -- what will we talk about when it's over. martha: and polls which we love. bill: there will be actually be plenty. ago, joe manchin appearing on fox news sunday over this weekend with chris wallace and he was clear on his ties to the president: >> let me tell you this: i had to inform my opponent that president obama's name will not be on the ballot for u.s. senate in west virginia, it will be joe manchin. the health care reform is far ov overreaching in areas i don't agree wit

byrd, a seat held by the legendary democrat for 51 years. both parties are pouring money into the state. here to break down the hot races and more, republican senator john cornyn of texas and democratic senator robert menendez of new jersey. gentleman, thank you both for being here. let's start out, i was told the last time we talked, at least in this forum, was june. starting with you senator cornyn, what is different now in the political landscape from june? >> well, the primaries are over. september the 14th we had our last contested republican primary and all the enthusiasm you see is going to be directed toward turning out the vote and providing checks and balances to government that many people see as out of control when it comes to spending and debt, and of course, high joblessness, and the administration seemingly confused about how to get america back to work. so there's a lot of enthusiasm, and it's all directed toward the administration, the democratic majority, and restoring those checks and balances that people feel are so necessary to their safety and security. >> senator menendez, can you look at anything in the economy or elsewhere that

byrd held his west virginia senate seat for 51 years, longer than anyone who served in congress. now it's up to governor joe manchin to keep the office against a tough opponent, republican businessman johnt virginia, is mr. manchin. we invited mr. raese but he declined. governor, welcome to "fox news sunday." >> thank you for having me, chris. >> chris: i got to tell you, governor, this is one of the strangest races in the country this year. you have a 68% approval rating from west virginians. as a democrat, you have been endorsed by the senate by the u.s. chamber of commerce and the national rifle association. but let's take a look at the numbers. according to the real clear politics average of recent polls, you are leading your opponent, businessman john raese by 1.5 points, basically a dead heat. in some polls, you're trailing him. question: how come? >> it's a very competitive race. it's a different time. i can't explain it no more can you, chris. but people are starting to look at who has performed in west virginia? who has been here ande fight we west virginia? we brought all sides together. six years ago i became governor and said i thought we could do better. it didn't want poli

byrd. as you look at these three people, listen to a memo from the talent agency, that's right, talent agency, that found these three. quote, we're going for a hickey, blue collar look. johnats, not new, preferably beat up, and trucker hats. a hicky blue collar look? probably not the term a politician should be using to describe the people of his state. the people he wants to appeal too. we should stress this memo is not from the candidate himself but shows the attitude of some of the people at the talent agency who worked behind the scenes on this campaign. these actors are getting paid $400 a day according to the casting memo. you might recognize the ordinary guy in the middle, damian, we found him here working as an extra in a sketch on "saturday night live". we saw his video where he describes himself as an actor, filmmaker, broadcaster and host. oh, and here he is also on "who wants to be a millionaire." by the way, he says on his site that he's got no comment about the west virginia ad but he is still available for work. he has a quote, says let's move on now, and produce together. which actually kind of sounds like a political slogan. let's go back to the ad, the w

byrd passed away. a popular democratic governor is running and democrats thought he's got a fairly high approval rating, he's running against a man who has won before and lost, businessman john lacey. an unapologetic conservative. dana, you talked to them both about the impact of what ron was just talking about, the obama impact. let's listen. >> i think it is -- it has made a big difference in my race, truly has made a difference in my race. >> in what way? >> president obama's not on the ballot. he will not be a u.s. senator, and he's definitely not on the ballot in west virginia. it's me. >> so they might like him personally and they might like what he does here in the state of west virginia but they don't want to send him to washington to emulate what barack obama and -- obviously what they're for. >> does it come down just to that, governor, we like you but we're not sure we should send you to washington? >> it's unbelievable. i cannot tell you how many times i heard that from voters. voters who were standing on a parade route watching him go by, cheering the governor on, saying we love you, telling me we understand that he's done good things for the state, which is act

byrd had. but look at those poll numbers. 44% for joe manchin. he is the democrat running for that seat. 44% as well for johnr poll indicates that the republican challer, johnson, is up 52% to 44%. over feingold. troubling poll there for russ feingold. that's what i got. mark, back to you, man. >>> good news. in massachusetts, governor duval patrick in a new survey shows that he is up seven points s charley baker. cahill has seemed to fade into the back. duval patrick, someone who is very close to president obama. president obama will be in massachusetts on saturday campaigning on behalf of duval patrick. you can see that here on cnn. and sitting right next to me here, steve is putting together our coverage plans for the big rally out in california. as we speak right now, sarah palin, michael steele for the rnc. saturday, ali, sarah palin on cnn. >> it's nice to see the top third of steve's head on tv. he's a good friend of mine. let me ask you this. with the president being out, bill clinton has been out, michelle obama was out, is this making a difference in any of the pollliing? i know you two track this