julie kirtz has more. >> reporter: this is a high profile contest.the race for obama former senate seat and a loss for democrats would be symbolic. the latest numbers show a tight battle in obama's home state. republican mark kirk up a point in the real clear politics average against the democrat alexi giannoulias. they faced off on nbc with giannoulias charging that kirk's claim of being a fiscal hawk and military record aren't true. >> this race is different. kirk says she a fiscal hawk. the congressman has told real whoppers in the campaign, but that may be the biggest one of all. >> it's ironic to oppose my record on fiscal conservative. the tribune asked him to name a spending bill he would vote to cut. he couldn't name one. as they said when they endorsed me it was painful to watch. >> reporter: character has been a theme of the race. it came up today as you heard kirk accusing his opponent family bank of making loans to the mob. giannoulias says his family bank didn't know the extent of the criminal activity and says kirk's charge is offensive

they wrapped up a few moments ago. >> jamie: julie kirtz with the latest on the straw poll. good to see you. thank you so much. >> rick: election are about the numbers. here at fox news we have been crumpling them hard. what we've seen so far is the biggest number of voters are the moderates, those who don't want to go too far to the right or too far to the left. what does it mean for candidates? we have two strategists. good to see you both. andrew, looking at the polls. it's not just the conservatives who are upset with the president. out seems to me moderates are as well. maybe it won't be too tough to get the moderate vote. >> at the end of the day, a famous democrat once said all politics is local. the more republicans make it about the pocketbook, they'll understood. the independents will move to the republican side and the moderate. >> hope for the democrats is the more conservative republican candidates backed by the tea party will move to be too conservative for moderates. what do you think about that? >> that is the hope. but what angela said to me as the democrat

julie. >> julie kirtz, thank you. >> pirates seizing two ships in less than 24 hours off the coast of a freight ship was taken this morning east of the kenyan city of mombassa. and captured in the same area, 17 crew members are on board. it isn't known how many people are on the ship. that was the latest target. they're currently holding 19 vessels. fears an outbreak will turn into an epidemic in haiti and brand new created-- >> haiti a cholera outbreak killing more than 250 people. doctors diagnosing thousands more with the disease. and the outbreak is mainly contained to rural areas. but health officials fear the disease would soon spread, through the capital of port-au-prince where many remain homeless sense january's earthquake. france, gas stations around pair rest are running dry. nationwide streaks are blockading the country's 12 oil refineries. demonstrators are protesting friday's vote by france's parliament to raise the retirement age to 62. polls show president sarkozy's popularity hitting new lows since the strike started. china, the storm that killed dozens of people in t

>> shannon: julie kirtz, thank you very much. governor and democrat david paterson said this weekend that the tea party movement is a good thing for democracy. he said the movement is bringing people who aren't interested in government back into the process. paterson is still backing democrat andrew cuomo over karl palladino in the new york governor's race. >>> questions about the status of meg whitman's former house keeper are shaking up the former governor's race. illegal immigration was the focus of the debate between the candidates. she maintains she didn't know the employee was illegal and says she is willing to take a polygraph to prove it. joining us is kirsten powers and todd harris. great to see you both this morning. >> hi, shannon. >> good morning. >> shannon: any surprise that we would get something like this popping up in october? >> i'm not surprised at all. the fact is that meg whitman has been making serious inroads with california's latino and hispanic voting bloc and so no one should be surprised four weeks out

julie kirtz has more from washington. the chairs of the republican and democratic senate campaign committee both predicting this'll do well on november 2nd, but not agreeing on much else. the democratic supporters rallying in washington as the crucial mid terms near. democratic leaders predicting they'll retain their majority in the senate, but are likely to lose some seats in the crucial congressional election. >> the mid determine election, history the president and his party going back to the civil war means the president's parties loses seats, but the difference between a tsunami and losing some seats is the suggestion that they can take over the majority. that will not happen. >> helped in part by the tea party movement the chair of the g.o.p. senate campaign committee predicts 12 senate seats are within his party's reach saying this will be a wave election, lowering his earlier prediction of an election night tsunami, the g.o.p. >> this is going to be a wave election and it's going to be a referendum on the policies

julie kirtz live from washington with the latest. e state department officials telling me a few minutes ago, the travel alert issued today is not unique. yet, the state department officials and intelligence experts cannot recall a broad calve alert like this for all of -- broad travel alert for all of europe. the state department spokeswoman nicole thompson would not name specific cities or locations in europe. just that the u.s. is arming americans with information about a potential terror plot in europe. when the british government, by the way, updated its travel advice this morning, it singled out france and germany. raising the threat of terrorism to high from general. in the u.k. from washington, the state department, the alert does say this. "current information suggests that al-qaeda and affiliated organizations continue to planter -- plan terror attacks." some have spoken about the heightped threat condition. the alert warns american in europe that terrorists may attack using a variety of technique and weapon. in the words of

>> julie kirtz live for us in d.c. looking to pull off major attacks. it's amazing he's still alive. doesn't that blow you away? and now he's operational and talking in the tone. joining us right now, dana perino who was press secretary in all those years of pursuit. i'm sure you watched the sunday shows over the weekend and additional shakeup with barack obama's administration. >> yes, not unusual. i mean, you have a white house that's heading into their midterm which is going to be a tough midterm and then they've got their re-election for 2012 coming up. and you have some key staffers that are leaving. you have david axelrod, the senior advisor will go back to chicago. larry summers is leaving. you've had other economic leaders leave and now you've had rahm emanuel leave as chief of staff. they definitely need to regroup and i think that some of the talk you're hearing is just a little bit of figuring out who would be best placed in in order to help him govern in the same way. >> the latest rumor is robert gibbs, th

julie kirtz for that live report. >> time for a conversation. our conversation and condemn something for not having happened but it's still ok to hold it hostage. >> uh-huh. >> ok. >> you remember that question if a tree falls in a forest and there's nobody there to hear it, is there a sound? remember that? >> i have it every day. >> well, if a bill is never written in washington and it does not exist, how can everything in the world be the republicans fault? it's true. it's true. here's robert gibbs talking about, you know, the whole issue of whether or not the democrats would push the tax cuts through before they adjourn, they didn't because the bill didn't exist. here's some give and take on that. >> i think the rhetoric alone from senator mcconnell and others has been the price of -- there's a $700 billion price tag on moving forward. the existence of the bill isn't some great starting line for this debate. >> doesn't he as the president of the united states owe us the obligation, doesn't he have an obligation what he's in for rather than sp

julie kirtz has the top of the news. >> that's right. debate turned into a war of words between rubio and republican turned independent governor charlie crist. the two argued about spending, tax cuts and party loyalty, along with democrat kendrick meek. debated on cnn show "state of the union. "gay marriage may be legal in new hampshire but the state's largest newspaper is refusing to publish gay marriage announcements. two men married yesterday wanted the notice in the paper and the union leader declined. the publisher says the paper isn't anti-gay but believes marriage is between a man and woman. aid workers in haiti feel outbreak of cholera north of port-au-prince is spreading to the capital. they are working to contain the disease. more than 200 people died so far. nearly 2700 are infected. celine dion and her husband welcome twin boys to the family. the boys are premature but healthy. due to deliver next month and the babies weighed over five pounds each. the couple already has a 9-year-old son. congratulations to them. those are th

all right, julie kirtz live in d.c. thank you very much. man, there was a spirited debate last night in florida. the three top guys who want to be the senator down there, went after ooeach other. at one point, charlie crist took a cheap shot at the republican in the race right now. marco rubio. here's this. >> it's the wrong thing wanting to punish teachers, wanting to punish women and wanting to punish seniors by raising the age of eligibility. you haven't drank the kool-aid but too much tea. >> that was a line like when you go in an interview, you want to make sure you get those lines out. he wanted to make sure that he got that line out last night so this sets up to me a huge strategy there. that crist obviously the independent now but going for the independent vote in florida, people who may not feel that comfortable with the tea party. this was a huge shot. >> rubio went on to say i think it's funny to listen to the governor in the positions that he held just six months ago when he was trying to become the biggest conservative in the w

julie kirtz in the d.c. bureau. >> reporter: fiscal conservative wins big at the tea party convention meeting in virginia. several thousand tea party activists gathered in virginia energized about the mid-term in 24 days. chris christie was the favorite. coming in second, sarah palin. speaker of the house newt gingrich, fox news contributor and senator demint. ron paul told fox he hasn't ruled out another white house run. this afternoon, he revved up the tea party crowd with an anti-washington rift, about controlling big government spending. >> today, though, i am pleasantly surprised to find out there are so many of you who really care. and you're sick and tired of what you have in washington, d.c. [ inaudible ] >> christie said to be president you have to want it more than anything else in the world and he said i don't. but the tea party do and they have the clout. they are motivated and they have shaken up the republican party. no g.o.p. presidential hopeful in 2012 can expect to make a go without winning

julie kirtz is live in washington with the latest details on this one and julie, what do we know so farated new documents? >> well, you know, wikileaks has not said exactly which documents or war logs will be released on the website, but the pentagon is bracing for another massive document dump in the next few days. with a team of 100 or so people ready to review any new leaked documents, looking for names or sensitive information that could compromise, you know, or harm people in iraq that work with the u.s. now shall the new releases according, as you said, nearly 400,000 pages of classified u.s. army documents on the war in iraq and that would make this the single largest military leak in u.s. history, kelly. remember, in july, wikileaks released more than 70,000 pages of material on the war in afghanistan, by the way the wikileaks website had been down for most of today and wikileaks founder has not responded to my e-mails throughout the day, kelly. >> kelly: we appreciate you reaching out to him. it's alarming to hear this kind of report and secretary gates reportedly said that the

julie kirtz will i have in d.c. with developing details this morning. julie, this is kind of strange, i guess if there's one word, it's vague. we don't know a whole lot why this is issued, right. >> that's right. this expected awill earth is down from a travel warning and it's americans travelling to one of the popular tourist destinations and dewe don't have exact timing, from the state department as early as this morning, living in and travelling to western europe to be extra vigilent. new intelligence suggests targets of a potential attack could be embassies, military bases, restaurants, hotels, banks and train sessions. this new development follows news that osama bin laden is directly linked to a planned multi-city plot similar to the mumbai india attack, and we're waiting for the expected alert, but we asked cia and homeland security officials what exactly americans should be looking for. >> well, as we saw in the case of mumbai, they entered seen carrying anything on their backs, explosives as well as ammunition and looking for commando type activ

julie kirtz has more about the intensifying campaigns to win or retain that major political battle grounde republican and democratic senate campaign committees both predicting they'll do well on november 2nd. but, not agreeing on much else. with democratic supporters rallying in washington, as the crucial midterms near, democratic leaders predicting they'll retain their majority in the senate but are likely to lose some seats in the crucial congressional elections. >> midterm election history, the president's party going back to the civil war means the president's party loses seats, but the difference between a tsunami and losing seats is the suggestion they will take over the majority and that will not happen. >> reporter: the g.o.p. senate campaign chairman says 12 seats are within his party's reach and saying it will be a wave election, lowering his earlier prediction of an election-like tsunami for the g.o.p. >> this is going to be a wave election, and it will be a referendum on the policies, unpopular policies coming out of washington, d.c., during the last year-and-a-half. >> in a o

there are pictures and we were expecting the results of a presidential straw poll at any moment, julie kirtzignificant is the straw poll? if at all? >> reporter: it is significant. the tea party organizers in richmond say they'll have the results of the straw poll in a half-hour, and of course, it's an unscientific vote but gives us a look ahead at the huge question, gregg of who will tea party activists throw their weight behind in the race for the republican nomination in 2012 and, really, no g.o.p. presidential hopeful looks as though in 2012, can expect to really make a go without winning some tea party support. we have seen it in the midterms and this isn't your typical political movement and not organized that way and tea party voters are fired up, for the mid terms, and, they are likely to be that way for 2012, so, it does make a difference, and i think the g.o.p. is watching to see who tea party activists will throw their weight behind. >> gregg: i have a pretty good guess, i mean, who do we think will win at least, be at the top of the list. >> reporter: sarah palin is the tea party

. >> julie: julie kirtz, thank you very much.'re efforting the chief of police investigating that disturbing story in washington, the girls that were drugged and taken to the hospital. and we'll get it live and seems just about everyone is making a hot viral video that gets tons of fans on the web. and some of these celebrities are turning their fame into cash: ♪ >> that was-- aim centers. so i can just drop off my car and you'll take care of everything? yep, even the rental. wh if i'm stuck at the office? if you can't come to us, we'll come to you in one of our immediate response vehicles! what if mother won't let me drive? then you probably wouldn't have had an accident in the first place. and we're walkin'! and we're walkin'... making it all a bit easier -- now that's progressive! call or click today. ♪ we need to finish tho projections ♪ ♪ then output the final presentations ♪ ♪ sally, i'm gonna need 40 copies, obviously collated ♪ wht's going on? when we're crunched for time, brad combines office celebrations with official b

let's begin with julie kirtz live in washington, bring us up-to-date. >> reporter: with days to go, the president hits the road again, in these days before the midterms, and, visits to rhode island, pennsylvania and ohio and, slamming the gop, and at the university of minnesota on saturday, stumping for mark dayton, the democrat running for governor, obama continued to attack republicans, arguing, this election is a choice between tax cuts, for the middle class or tax cuts for the wealthy, something we've heard before from him, paraphrasing i didn't ty-- einstein, saying th definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, and expecting the same results and here's what he said about al franken. >> president barack obama: al franken talked about a car being driven into a ditch and he said there were alligators down there, he embellished it. i didn't see the alligators but it is true, the car went into the ditch, we gave the other side the keys back, and, they, i promise you, will have those special interests should itting should the gun. >> reporter: while in minnesota,

julie kirtz with more from washington. >> rick, u.s. intelligence with fox, c.i.a. is significantly expanding its campaign against militants inside pakistan. shifting aerial drones and weapons from the afghan battle front to the border region. saturday's two new deadly drone attacks are believed to be part of this mission with 16 militants reportedly killed in north waziristan by u.s. missile strikes. intelligence officials say in recent months, the u.s. military has loaned predator drones to the c.i.a. to give the agency more fire power. ramped up strikes in september are part of an overall escalation in drone attacks over the last few years. u.s. officials say the targeting of militants is precise and there have been a limited number of civilians killed. but tension between the u.s. and pakistan is extremely high this weekend following a series of cross border attacks by nato helicopter gun ships and in response friday, the pakinstani taliban claimed responsibility for a deadly attack on nato fuel trucks. pakistan responded by shutting down a key border crossing u

. >> julie kirtz is live in washington with details, what do you expect? >> hi, this is the second of four big campaign rally, headlining president obama like the one in madison last month with 17,000 people. the idea try to ignite the democratic fire that got him elected. transfer it to dems in the crucial mid terms and help the party hold onto the house and senate of course. joining the president's day in philly will be vice-president joe biden, a rare joint appearance for them. expect to press for democrats in pennsylvania and the jabs, the weekend on education. >> in congress have their way, we have had a harder time meeting that goal. we've had a harder time offering our kids the best education possible because they'd have cut education by 20%. >> that was the president on saturday. so, 23 days out, obama and biden are eager to close the so-called enthusiasm gap which favors republican voters at this point. back to you. >> thank you, julie. the rest of the headlines. a lot of news happening, if all goes well joyful reunions could begin as early as thu

julie kirtz is live with what he said. >> hi, this is his longest campaign trip as president and back in the white house as you said for a low key sunday and last night at the university ot mark dayton, the democrat running for governor, president obama continued to attack republicans arguing this election is a choice between tax cuts for the middle class for tax cuts for the wealthy, paraphrasing albert einstein, he said the true sign of madness, if you do the same thing over and over again, expect the same results and also paraphrased al franken. here is the president. >> i know that al franken taught me a little about the analogy of a car being driven into the ditch, although i guess al kind of embellished it a little bit. he said there were alligators down there. i didn't see the alligators, but it's true the car went into the ditch. we give the other side the key back and i promise you will have those special interests sitting shotgun. meanwhile, minnesota governor tim pawlenty said he'll decide next spring whether to run for president in 2012. he released a video, bemming obama

i'm going to introduce julie kirtz. >> secret talks are apparently under way.ll be talking about the war in afghanistan. there may be talks now between hamid karz hamid karzai, the guy screen left and the taliban leader. >> all of a sudden, he has two good eyes. >> more on that later. let's get to julie kirtz about that deal in the works. this would be huge. >> this is a big story. taliban representatives and the government of afghan president hamid karzai are in high level talks according to sources quoted in "the washington post" this morning. this development follows meetings you might remember that broke down more than a year ago. the report stresses today the preliminary nature of these new secret negotiations but also the high level status of these talks. now, the taliban has insisted in the past that all foreign troops leave afghanistan first. today's report says the afghan taliban is starting to talk about a possible comprehensive agreement that includes the participation of some taliban members and the draw down of u.s. nato troops on a timeline. now,

julie kirtz is live in the newsroom. julie, what do we know about the anticipated new document? >> the defense department officials say the pentagon is concerned about this impending leak by the wikileaks website could have a database of tactical reports with significant data, unit level reporting, tactical information and things of that nature. the defense department doesn't know exactly and we don't know what they have but they are bracing for another massive document did you believe with a team of hundred people to review the documents. that task force was set up by the pentagon at the july leak of the afghan war log. they are looking for names or sensitive information that could compromise or put u.s. soldiers in danger. impending release is record to be 400,000 pages of classified u.s. army documents on the war in iraq. that would make the single largest military leak in u.s. history. in july, wikileaks founder released 77,000 pages of material on the afghan war. he has not responded to my e-mails or for more information on what is coming. >> gregg: secretary gates, as i un

julie kirtz live in washington, with the latest on the president's day. good morning, julie. >> reporter: hi, eric, 23 days out and the president heads to philly this afternoon to try to rev up those first-time surge voters. who helped elect him in '08, this is the second of 4 big campaign rallies, headlining president obama, like the one in madison, last month, more than 17,000 people, turning out, the idea of course, is to try to reenergize democrats for the november 2nd elections, join the -- joined the president as you said in filmy, vice president joe biden and a pretty rare joints campaign appearance for them in the midterms, and, they have work to document a new poll by the "washington post" and howard -- harvard university highlights the challenge and finds tea party supporters and conservative voters, most energized for the midterms an 22% of democrats are saying they are interested in this election, and, get this, only 17%, of liberal democrats saying they are -- those are the folks, the president will be talking today. in philadelphia, on monday

julie kirtz that's highlights from washington. >> reporter: fireworks notice three-way florida senateepublican turned independent governor charlie crist pushed republican marco rubio to disclose his financial records involving a g.o.p. credit card and he pushed back, calling crist a heckler. >> people want to focus on issues because they are wrong hope to important issues, the country has a $13.5 trillion debt. >> he doesn't want to release them because he doesn't believe in transparency, i created open government in the government's office the first time -- >> i never had a heckler on stage, i always had them... >> the way it is. >> what a -- >> welcome to the nfl. >> kendrick meek sitting in the middle got a word in during the live debate, mostly taking on crist, who has tried to win over democratic voters, since leaving the g.o.p. >> the reason why the governor's argument doesn't really penetrate florida voters is he has been all over the board, first a republican and then became an independent, went down and nominated himself to sit here at this table, at this point. now he wants

julie kirtz joins us live following these developments from washington. lie what do you know. >> reporter: yes, hey, martha, u.s. officials say they are aware of the talks between taliban representatives and the karzai government, to find a way to end the war in afghanistan. this development follows meetings that broke down, you may remember, more than a year ago, but u.s. military and european diplomatic sources say this is not a new effort, right now, between the taliban and the karzai government. the taliban has insisted in the past and are -- all foreign troops leave afghanistan first, officials say the talks do not involve al qaeda and the commander of u.s. forces in afghanistan. now, general david petraeus told our jennifer griffin, last month, that the u.s. is aware of the ongoing talks and that karzai has insisted the taliban accept the afghan constitution and lay down their weapons and cut ties with al qaeda. and stresses the u.s. is not negotiating with the taliban. >> this is completely afghan-led process. the u.s. is very much in the informatio

julie kirtz is live in washington. good to see you.t drone attacks, part of something bigger, perhaps? >> exactly. intelligence sources confirming to us today that the cia is expanding its campaign against militants in pakistan and afghan border region, shifting aerial drones and weapons from the afghan battle front and additional drone attacks are believed to be a part of that mission with 16 militants reportedly killed in north wizerstan, in recent month they've predator and drones to the cia to give the agency more fire power to targeted insurgents in the region and the rammed up strike, the strikes in september are part of an overal escalation in the drone attacks of the last few years, with the cia reportedly average, i think it's five strikes a week in september out from two or three a week. >> now, i'm going to guess, julie, that the pakistanis are not too happy about this. >> precisely, the cia doesn't acknowledge the program which was incidentally started under the bush presidency. pakistan quietly cooperates, the government,

. >> yeah, julie kirtz is live in washington with more, good morning, julie. >> hi, yeah, there's a marchwashington in about an hour or so, and camp david for the weekend and including the family retreat you talked about on sunday with his cabinet members and their kids and no official word from the white house on the activities plan, but the president did use the saturday address to warn americans to what he calls the failed energy policies favored by the president. >> leadership is promising to scrap the incentives, including those underway, even with the jobs and potential that they hold. this doesn't make sense for our economy. >> well, also, today, republicans ten to blast democrats and the president as big government spenders unwilling to extend the bush era tax cuts before the crucial mid terms, here is michigan mcconnell. >> democrats and leaders in washington appear to have other plans with your money. as the president recently said and i'm quoting him directly. >> i've got a whole bunch of better ways to spend that money. >> as you know, president obama and democratic leaders he

kirtz. what are we expecting, julie. >>? today or tomorrow when the pentagon expects the document dump from wikileaks and as you said this could be 400,000 pages related to the iraq war. spokesman for the defense department tells me they're not waiting for wikileaks to act this time. the 120 person task force set up after the wikileaks first big leak in july of the afghan war logs, they're going through the data base to determine how damaging a leak of this could be to the u.s. and officials believe the pending new document dump could contain information about significant acts, unit level action and tactful tactical material from the field in iraq. a letter released to fox news on saturday, defense secretary robert gates rights to carl levin, the chairman of the armed services committee. in an initial assessment by the pentagon concludes that the leak did not compromise any sources or methods, but did pose a potential risk to individuals. so the debate continues on the impact as the pentagon braces for another big leak of cl