i'm randi kaye. 7:00 on the east coast, 4:00 a.m. on the west. we're learning much more about the end of the line for general petraeus. he stepped down as cia director two days ago after admitting to having an extramarital affair. now we know from a u.s. official that the affair came to light during an investigation into e-mails sent by petraeus's biographer paula broadwell. we also have a better timeline. james clapper was informed tuesday evening. the president was told thursday, hours before his face-to-face meeting with general petraeus. there are still questions about why congressional leaders weren't told until friday. but let's get back to general petraeus. an official tells cnn that james clapper encouraged petraeus to step down after learning of the affair. joining me now is rejeve from

i'm randi kaye. so glad you're with us. we start this morning with the presidential election just two days away. president obama and mitt romney seem to be squeezing every last frequent flyer mile out of this campaign. they've got a combined 16 stops in eight states before heading home, and we'll be there for all of it. our correspondents are spread across the states to bring you all the up-to-date developments, so be sure to keep it right here. the flurry of activity means it's a close race, right? you could say that? take a look here. it shows likely voters evenly split, 48% to 48%. here's what voters said if they had a favorable impression of the candidates. president obama, 54%, and you see it there, mitt romney, 53%. the last time we saw numbers like this, an incumbent without a sizeable lead was 1992 when george h.w. bush lost to bill clinton. >>> it has been a hairied pace for the correspondents as welt. political correspondent paul steinhauser joins us from his home base in washington. yesterday you were in pennsylv

i'm randi kaye. >> i'm victor blackwell. thanks for starting your morning with us. >>> the emphasis on the election took a back seat brought on by superstorm sandy. both candidates put the talking points in their back pocket. but now with just three days left, the candidates are back on the trail with the talking points at the ready. we also have our correspondents spread out throughout the battleground states to bring you more on the election and the final push for both candidates. >>> let's step away from the map and let's get to the message for a moment. paul steinhauser is live in harrisburg, pennsylvania. paul, really a flurry of activity and travel for president obama and governor romney. what is their message for these final three days? >> victor, it's interesting, both of them have the same message. change. they're saying it in different ways. you're hearing a lot about change as they crisscross the campaign trail in the final days. both were talking about the message yesterday, last night in ohio. take a listen. >>

i'm randi kaye. >> i'm victor blackwell. thank you for starting your morning with us. >> we begin in tahrir square this morning where hundreds of protesters have been arrested during anti-government dmem k. demonstrations angry with their president over his new power grab. >> opposition leaders say he is now more powerful than former president hosni mubarak ever was. this week, leaders around the world praised him for brokering a cease fire between israel and hamas. . >> more now on his new powers and the anger it spurred. >> if anyone thought egyptians were tired or weary of protesting after two years of demonstrations, all you had to do was look at cairo's tahrir square on friday and it was clear that's not the case. the demonstrators appeared to be as determined as ever and this time they're going after their current president. outrage, clashes, and anguish in tahrir. thousands of angry egyptians back in a public square that has become the arab world's emblem for the democratic right to protest. this was where egyptians d

i'm randi kaye. we start with new details on the scandal that led to the resignation of cia director general david petraeus. >> the woman who wrote the biography was sending harassing emails to another woman close to the cia director that prompted the fbi to investigate. also we know from that source that the investigation led to the discovery of e-mails between broadwell and petraeus that indicated the affair. more details are coming out about the timeline of events and when u.s. officials were notified of the circumstances of this investigation. the fbi informed the director of national intelligence james clapper about the investigation on tuesday night, election night. just as some polls were beginning to close. that director clapper as a friend, colleague, fellow officer and admirer urged petraeus to step down from his position. we know as well from that intelligence source that director clapper informed the white house about the investigation on wednesday and then on thursday the director and --

i'm randi kaye. it is 10:00 on the east coast, 7:00 a.m. on the west. we start in gaza this hour, as people there have to fear death from above. israeli war planes have been relentless in their attacks on targets in gaza. they are hunting rocket launchers, but dozens of civilians have been killed as a result. the latest round of this conflict started wednesday, and there is no end in sight. sarah sidener is in gaza city for us. what are you seeing at this hour? are you hearing or seeing any air strikes? >> reporter: we're hearing drones above, but just five minutes before we started this show, we saw rockets coming out of central gaza, literally a few hundred yards away from us. we could see the rockets going up into the air, and they were sort of white, and then they would disappear and they were pointed, of course, towards israel. usually when that happens, you see that happening and then you hear the sound of planes above shortly after. and then usually that area is pounded in air strikes. we have

randi kaye. >> and i'm victor blackwell. 8:00 on the east coast and 5:00 out west. thanks for starting your day with us. starting with some sad news from the entertainment world. as we've been following this morning, the death of larry hagman. his family says at 81 years old he died of complications from cancer. >> you have dishonored my daddy's name and everything he stood for. maybe you and bobby can live with this, but i can't. >> that's the character he's best known for. the j.r. ewing character from "dallas," one of the best known tv characters of the last 30 years really. d "dallas" was a long running hit in the '70s and '80s and you may remember him as major nelson from "i dream of jean any." barbara eden said i had the pleasure of watching the texas tornado that was larry hagman. can i honestly say that we've lot not just a great actor, not just a television icon, but an element of pure americana. much more on larry hagman later in the hour. >>> black friday has come and gone, but the nat

i'm randi kaye. overnight protesters clashed with security forces. this was the scene in. cnn's reza sayah is live this morning. how far are they actually spreading now? >> randi, the protests seem to be spreading. according to the interior ministry starting last night and continuing on to terrell morning hours, there were protests, demonstrations in the northern city. according to the government officials, they tried to attack the offices of the muslim breerhood and that's when you had clashes between the muslim brotherhood and their supporters and anti-mohamed morsi protesters. there were a number of injuries there. also reports of demonstrations in the city of as yut. i'm going to carefully step aside and have a live look at what the square looks light now. i would say a few thousand people still here and we're continuing see the clashes between the protesters and police this morning. this morning there was fire to try to disperse crowds. why this is taking place in the square, there are a number of moves and decisions being made by opposing factions to apply pressure on

and randi kaye is live in woodbridge, virginia. good morning, randi. >> good morning, john. we're in prince william county, and virginia likes to think of itself this year as the new ohio. and they mean business. we have seen a steady stream of folks here coming to vote. probably a couple hundred right now. there are 2600 registered voters for the precinct that we're at. they don't have any early voting here in virginia so they are coming out today. a couple things that we're watching are the demographics. it's the old virginia versus the new virginia. the old virginia is republican. religious. white working class. the new virginia is diverse and more urban. that's who helped get obama elected, winning by about 6% back in 2008. we'll also be watching the economy. the economy is fairly robust. 5.2% unemployment. housing prices are going up. the jobs are coming back. mitt romney having a hard time making that same argument. against obama that he has failed in terms of the economy here in the state ofva. and, of course, we'll be watching the senate race, a marquee race, $53 mil

i'm randi kaye. glad you're with us. on the swing states as both candidates make their final push. in the aftermath of super storm sandy, gas rationing starts in new jersey today in an effort to cut down on those long lines at the gas station. plus, during this tragedy, a man has become a much-needed angel to one new jersey community. >>> just three days to go until election day and the presidential candidates are launching a weekend battleground blitz to win over undecided voters. today, president obama campaigns in ohio, wisconsin, iowa, and virginia. mitt romney stumps in new hampshire, iowa, and colorado. their running mates are also going nonstop. vice president joe biden in colorado today, and paul ryan in pennsylvania, virginia, florida, and ohio. ohio could be the biggest battleground of the election, and the race there is tight. a just released cnn-orc poll shows obama ahead by just three points, well within the margin of error. an nbc "wall street journal" marist poll shows a wider gap with obama leading by six

i'm randi kaye. victor blackwell is on assignment today. we start in the middle east where the fuse is running short on the powder keg in israel. this has become a fairly common sight in gaza this week. meanwhile, militants on the other side have fired nearly 200 rockets into israel. israel is massing troops near the border with gaza. they have 30,000 troops there right now and have called up thousands more reservists to be ready. at least 39 people have died in gaza since the operations began, three have been killed in israel from the rocket attacks. meanwhile, world leaders from the united states and the united nations are calling on both sides to call restraint. israel stepped up the campaign. one air strikes leveled a key palestinian government building. it was the cabinet headquarters. our senior international correspondent sara sidner is there. >> around 3:30 this morning. a massive explosion. we know there have been at least four bombardments that have hit gaza. one of them hit the police headquarters. i'm going to move out of the wa

i'm randi kaye. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com >>> we start with new details that led to the resignation of general petraeus. a timeline has now come into focus as well as a new investigation that has brought this to light. >> we now know from a u.s. official that it was a complaint from paula broadwell was sending harassing e-mails to another woman close to the cia director that prompted the fbi to investigate. also we know that the investigation led to the discovery of e-mails between broadwell and petraeus that indicated the affair. now, that second woman hasn't been identified, and the official we spoke with didn't know the nature of that woman's relationship with the former director. but more details are. going out about the timeline of events and when u.s. officials were notified of the circumstances of this investigation. a senior u.s. intelligence official tells the cnn that the fbi informed the director of national intelligence james clapper about the investigation on tuesday night, e

randi kaye profiled another young man who went through so-called reparative therapy with traumatic results. here's his story. >> reporter: when ryan was 13, his mother read his diary and discovered he was gay. that was the beginning of the most painful years of his life. >> for years, i thought that god hated me because i was gay. >> reporter: ryan says his parents were determined to change him. they signed him up for what's called reparative therapy with the national association for research and therapy of homosexuality, otherwise known as n.a.r.t.h. repartive they are therapy aimed at changing sexual orientation has been used for decades as a way to turn potentially gay children straight. >> every day i would hear this is a choice. this can be fixed. >> reporter: did you believe that? >> i never believed that. i know i'm gay just like i know i'm short and i'm half hispanic. i never thought those facts would change. it's part of my core fundamental identity. so the parallel would be sending me to tall camp and saying if you try really hard, one day you can be 6'1". >> reporter: ryan says

randi kaye is live in woodbridge, virginia, where it's still dark. , randi. >> good morning, john. yes, the polls are open. we can see a few people here behind me just starting to file in. they expect about 1,000 people to vote here. they're not just voting for president, of course, they're also voting for the senate. and here is one of the really the marquee races for the senate taking place here in virginia. two former governors battling it out. you have democrat tim kaine and republican george allen. they've really been riding the coattails of president obama and mitt romney appearing on stage with them, and many, many times. now the issue here, though, john, is the fiscal cliff, because george allen the republican has been hammering his opponent, democrat tim kaine and the democrats are failing to reach a debt deal. and he's warning that if the automatic cuts, of course, go into effect, then that will really hit the defense industry here in virginia quite hard. we'll see how that plays out today. but what's interesting is that folks here really be

i'm randi kaye. victor blackwell is on assignment. it is 8:00 on the east coast, 5:00 out west. thanks so much for starting your day with us. we start in the middle east. this has become a fairly common sight in gaza this week. israeli planes have been carrying out air strikes over gaza since wednesday. meanwhile militants on the other side have fired more than 200 rockets into israel. israel is massing troops near the border with gaza. they have got 30,000 troops there now and have 75,000 reservists getting ready. at least 42 people have died since the operation began. meanwhile, world leaders including representatives from the united states and the u.n. are calling on both sides to show restraint, but restraint seems to be in short order right now. our sarah sidner is live in gaza with a bird's eye view of the conflict. are you seeing more air strikes right now? >> reporter: absolutely, and in just the past few minutes we could hear the loud blasts of air strikes all night long into morning, 6:00 or 7:00 in the morning, blast after

i'm randi kaye. >> i'm victor blackwell. it's 8:00 on the east coast, 5:00 out west. thank you for starting your day with us. >> we start with the shocking revelation from the now former cia director, general david petraeus. petraeus resigned from his post citing an extramarital affair. he had met personally with the president thursday to offer his resignation. the president reluctantly accepted friday. the general's affair was actually uncovered during an investigation by the fbi. the fbi's involvement has raised questions with at least one former cia operative. >> i'm not going to, but there are four or five cia directors that i know were carrying on extramarital affairs while they were director. the fbi was never brought in. the office of security was never brought in. it was ignored. it went away quietly. we'll never know about them. so this is absolutely extraordinary. i'm telling you it's more to do than with sex. there's something going on here which i can't explain and i think we're going to find out very soon. >> petraeus took over as cia chief after a long c

yet all of that water has not been able to dampen the spirits of people that live there as randi kayefound out firsthand. >> if ever belmar, new jersey neighborhood needed an angel, they found one. they call him saint michael. his real name is michael irwin. he's been boating people to and from their homes working 12-hour shifts. >> a couple of people needed to get out. a couple of our neighbors got out and their dog. chuck we got out and his dog lucky. there's a couple other people we got out to other families, make sure they are at dry land. >> lucky for his neighbors, he is a surfer and kayaker so he had a wet suit and he is a boy scout so he says he's always prepared. this area is known as the 8th avenue neighborhood and the water we're in right now, this is normally a street, an avenue, is about four feet deep. luckily most of the residents, not all of them, but most of them did evacuate before hurricane sandy even hit. irene mccann evacuated to her son's house, but now she has returned, she needs michael's help to reach her home. >> how much damage is in your house? >> we are pr

i'm randi kaye with cnn. >> no.era out of our property please. >> he's not on your property. >> bye. >> is he here? >> bye. >> in 2006, calkins did tell a local paper he didn't do anything wrong, blaming the coincidences of the missing men on very bad luck. he suggested maybe they ran way. >> if terrance was alive, terrance would have had somebody to contact his mother.

all of the water not able to dampen the spirits of people who live there as randi kaye found out firster this belmar, new jersey, neighborhood needed one, they found one. they call him st. michael. his real name, michael irwin. the last two days, he is boating people two and from their homes, working 12-hour shifts. >> a couple of our neighbors, we got out and their dog, chuck we got out and his dog lucky, and there's a couple other people we have gotten out and other families, make sure they made it to dry land. >> reporter: lucky for his neighbors, michael is a surfer and kayaker, so he had a wet suit, also a boy scout, so he says he's always prepared. this area is known as the eighth avenue neighborhood and the water we're in right now, normally a street, an avenue, about 4 feet deep, so luckily, most of the residents, not all of them, but mote most of them did evacuate before hurricane sandy even hit. irene mccann evacuated to her son's house. but now she's returned, and she needs michael's help to reach her home. >> how much damage is in your home? >> almost to the porch. we have

i'm randi kaye. >> i'm victor blackingwell. stories we're watching. >> three days left until the election, and that means candidates with campaigning hard in the swing states looking for every last vote. president obama has eight stops on his agenda from now until monday, including two separate trips to ohio. myth romney has six states on his travel plans, two stops each in ohio, iowa and colorado. >> it's been taking some voters up to four hours to cast their ballots in florida. you know, that's one of the most crucial swing states. remember, early voting in florida started a week later than it did in 2008 because of a new state law. the republican state legislature reduced the number of early voting days from 14 to 8. there are 29 electoral votes up for grabs in florida. >>> the death toll from sandy has climbed to 106 people, and nearly half of those deaths are in new york. nearly 2.7 people, 2.7 million people are without power for at least another day that. number slowly going down as power crews work feverishly. many peop

i'm randi kaye. we begin with the protests in egypt. over night protesters clashed with security forces. this was the scene in dammanhour north of cry row. reza sayah joining us. when can we expect the big one to start? >> reporter: the big one starts tuesday. they're calling for a 1 million main protest on tuesday. that's going to repeat calling for opponents of mr. morsi. but even today there are pro-morsi demonstrated takes place. they're going to be take place in cities outside of cairo. in some of these cities you have anti-morsi protesters as well. we've seen clashes in the early morning hours. they're going to attack the offices of the muslim brotherhood, supporters of the muslim brotherhood. things getting ugly there. the focal point of these anti-government protests remain here in ta rears square. i'm going to step aside to give you a live like look of what tahrir square looks like. most of them peaceful but we're still getting clashes and protests. right below they have set fire to an avis rental car center. you heard what sou

r randi kaye brings us up to date. >> reporter: robert is on the move., he and his team from guardians of rescue are in staten island trying to find, feed and save pets lost or abandoned during super storm sandy. >> we are going to leave you kitty litter. we will leave you dog food and cat food. >> reporter: robert's team has rescued 100 cats so far. he says residents underestimated the amount of water the storm would bring so pets either drowned or ran far from home to escape the rushing water. of those found -- >> many of them are suffering from stress to start. some of the cats had blood in their urine. some had internal injuries. some of them had exterior wounds. we found several cats with sea water in their lungs. >> reporter: it's a big job which is why robert called on his friend hush, a hip-hop artist from detroit. hush is a rapper but he's also an animal lover, who has helped animal rescue efforts in his hometown. hush's contacts in detroit donated nearly 8,000 pounds of dog and cat food. then he drove 12 hours through the night to new york to h

randi kaye, cnn, staten island. >> so many victims, humans and animals. >>> still ahead, new developmentsin a story we reported last night. the man who claimed he had an inappropriate sexual relationship with a man who has been the voice of elmo for nearly three decades is changing his story. retracting his charges. what he now says really happened. >> announcer: you never know when, but thieves can steal your identity and turn your life upside down. >> hi. >> hi. you know, i can save you 15% today if you open up a charge card account with us. >> you just read my mind. >> announcer: just one little piece of information and they can open bogus accounts, stealing your credit, your money and ruining your reputation. that's why you need lifelock to relentlessly protect what matters most... [beeping...] helping stop crooks before your identity is attacked. and now you can have the most comprehensive identity theft protection available today... lifelock ultimate. so for protection you just can't get anywhere else, get lifelock ultimate. >> i didn't know how serious identity theft was until i lo

i'm randi kaye. >> i'm victor blackwell. thanks for starting your morning with us. five stories we're watching this morning. first up, an extra marital affair has ended the career of cia director general david petraeus. he admitted the affair in his resignation letter. after being married for over 37 years, i showed extremely poor judgment by engaging in an extra marital affair. such behavior is unacceptable, both as a husband and as the leader of an organization such as ours. michael morell will step in as acting director and he has been deputy director since may of 2010. more on this later in the hour. >>> turning to the economy now. with just 52 days to reach a deal, president obama is set to meet with congressional leaders to discuss the so-called fiscal cliff. both the president and house speaker boehner said they are open to compromise, but tax hikes on the rich are a sticking point. >>> number three, the teen girl shot in the head by the taliban for trying to go to school in pakistan is now walking and reading and writing and smiling. this is new video of mal

i'm randi kaye. it is 10:00 on the east coast, 7:00 a.m. on the west, and here's where we start this morning. larry hagman's family says he was surrounded by family at the end. the 81-year-old actor died of complications from cancer. he's best known for his iconic portrayal of j.r. ewing in the show "dallas." it's a role that he always called his favorite. peter fonda said goodbye to his friend on twitter, saying hagman brought so much fun to everyone's life. cnn entertainment corresponde m correspondent careen winter joins us. i understand that you are at larry hagman's star on the hollywood walk of fame. are people showing up to pay their respects? >> not yet, but you can bet that will change as the morning continues. we are right next to larry hagman's star. still quite early here, so i'm sure there are many people who are waking up just finding out about the sad news. perhaps they're still unaware. that's very popular strip in hollywood. you can bet things will pick up as the morning continues. but you mentioned some of thely in. some p