so much that hopeful assessment this morning sharing with us former ambassador to afghanistan marcus potts all ahead of those polls on saturday they appreciate it thank you very. in baseball the boston red sox have knocked out the houston astros to reach their first war series since twenty thirteen the red sox secured their place in baseball's prestigious season decider by beating the defending champions for one they will face either the los angeles dodgers or the milwaukee brewers and the showpiece of bent where they will be chasing a fourth title in fifteen years their manager said that he was proud to be in charge of a such a storied team. it is special. in every aspect not only as a manager of or as an investor individual. just to manage his team everybody knows the history of the city and you know history has positive sides and negative sides and for me as a minority to be a manager in boston you know it doesn't mean a challenge you know people have been great with us. time football superstar lena messi is helping build a new children's cancer center in barcelona the largest of its ki

let's get more on saturday's elections in afghanistan i'm joined now by marcus potts sold the german government's special envoy to afghanistan and pakistan and a former german ambassador to afghanistan ambassador welcome this morning thank you . looking at the security situation is it possible to conduct a poll in this climate of violence i think so. while there one third of the polling stations cannot open but to put it in a positive way two thirds can open and i think that elections can be held. to midway i feel a sense of hope on your side perhaps i mean i have heard that there has been hope because there is this new generation of younger politicians you know really out with this push to fight corruption to encourage democratization do you think that a stable afghanistan can be achieved in the future i mean seventeen years of war now in this country it's truly about the fire didn't have open mike went to the top i mean you have to be optimistic and they are very optimistic signs as well as the said young young women and men actually want to be members of parliament and they want t

"today in the bay's" tracie potts is following all of the development. tracie? >> hi marcus and kris, good morning, everyone. those developments are really going to come to light in about two and a half hours, it's a test vote followed by 30 hours of back-and-forth debate between democrats and republicans leading up to what we believe could be a final vote on this nomination as early as tomorrow afternoon. more protesters are expected at the capitol today, as the senate takes a test vote this morning on judge brett kavanaugh's supreme court nomination. >> they turned their back on america's women. >> reporter: a simple majority wins. three republicans and one democrat remain undecided after viewing the fbi's interviews on alleged sexual misconduct. republicans released a summary overnight, their conclusion? >> none of the allegations have been corroborated. >> reporter: democrats want to see white house instructions to the fbi. >> we believe it greatly constrained the investigation from the get-go. >> to put it bluntly, it smacks of a whitewash, even a coverup. >> reporter:

let's bring in tracie potts in washington who is following all of these developments. tracie? >> hi, marcus. good morning, everyone. the biden package discovered at a mail facility in delaware that's been shut down is one authorities thought was in the system somewhere. they just didn't know where it was. now they pinpointed that. as for de niro, take a look. we just got a photo of what that one looks like and what tipped off authorities there. this was at a restaurant owned by de niro. one of the overnight workers who wasn't there but he was at home watching the news coverage about this remembered, you know, we got something like that a day or two ago. he called police and, sure enough, it was very similar. same return address. sources tell us and everything. now, that brings to nine the total of these packages that have been mailed to president obama, hillary clinton and other prominent, high-profile democrats and people who wiare supporters of democrats or people who have been critical of president trump. that is where this investigation has landed. it has also resulted in the evacuation

potts is live from capitol hill. both parties are saying they are ready for this fight. >> and in fact, marcus, both parties are saying the fight that's already happened is going to energize their voters going into november's election but there's another block of voters not democrats, not republicans, that could have a big influence here. >> on behalf of our nation, i want to apologize -- >> reporter: a rare apology as justice brett kavanaugh takes the ninth seat on the u.s. supreme court. >> what happened to the kavanaugh family violates every notion of fairness, decency and due process. >> the senate confirmation process was contentious and emotional. that process is over. my focus now is to be the best justice i can be. >> reporter: republicans say defending kavanaugh energized their voters. president trump's hitting the road this week to keep the fire hot in four key races. >> we finally discovered the one thing that would fire up the republican base and we didn't think of it. >> there's a lot at stake. >> reporter: democrats were already fired up. >> november is coming! >> reporter: but experts predict gender, no