and now bill clinton is making robo calls for democrat scott mcadams in a last-ditch attempt to pulla win. neal karlinsky reports with the latest from alaska. >> reporter: alaskans like to brag this rugged state is the last untamed territory in the nation. they have the biggest mountains, the coldest weather, and this year -- >> lisa murkowski, she's changed. >> joe is a one-man economic disaster for alaska. >> scott mcadams has only been a registered voter in alaska for ten years. >> reporter: an electoral process that's turned just as renegade as many who live here. it features a previously unknown tea party republican infamous for handcuffing a reporter. a republican senator from alaska's best-known political family who's not even on the ballot. a democrat from nowhere turned possible spoiler. and a state's most famous wild card of all, sarah palin. the amazing thing is, the favorite is the only candidate not officially on the ballot, murkows murkowski. a senator since 2002 and the daughter of a powerful political force here. a 20-year senator turned governor who was finally defea

now democrats see some chance their candidate, scott mcadams, could benefit from the republican split. >> this state isn't as hard and fast republican as you might think. >> reporter: ads by supporters of both republicans are now targeting mcadams. >> he's not electable. >> alaska can't afford scott mcadams. >> reporter: suggesting they've started seeing him as a threat. if the race here is as close as many expect, not only do they have the count the write-in ballots but they have to wait two weeks for absentee ballots to trickle in from across the state. the last frontier could be the last place to declare a winner. katie? >> couric: very interesting race going on in alaska. john blackstone, thank you. this may be remembered as the election in which twitter and other social media really came of age. so what's everyone tweeting about? here's tonight's campaign 2010 hot sheet. this graph appearing on the "new york times" web site tracks tweets about individual candidates. kentucky's rand paul and other tea party candidates such as alaska's joe miller and delaware's christine o'donnell

former president bill clinton has recorded robocalls for scott mcadams. a real nail-biter out here. >>> and to florida, where the tea party candidate is actually the favorite in that race. and john quinones is in miami with that. good morning, john. >> reporter: good morning. and that front-runner is marco rubio. a cuban-american, and a rising star among conservative republicans. he spent the day campaigning all over the state. winding up here in miami, where he took out the trash, telling reporters, you see, not much has changed for me. his opponent, charlie crist, the former republican, now independent, also traveled the state, fueled mostly by red bull. saying regardless of the outcome of the election, he will remain an independent. and democrat kendrick meek, ended his day, campaigning with president clinton, despite reports that clinton tried to get him to withdraw from the race and throw his support to crist, something meek never did. george? >> john, thanks very much. >>> after the election results are in, what happens next? take a look at how thre

scott mcadams could win if too many right in ballots for lease of murkowski are tossed out. >> in additionl of this season's campaign coverage, there is lot more at the c-span video library, including nonfiction authors, the american story from american history tv, and everything we have. since 1987, all three an index that the c-span video library. >> it is time to get your camera rolling for this year's studentcam. make a five-eight minute video on this year's theme, washington, d.c. through mine lenses. you could win the grand prize of $5,000. for complete details, go to studentcam.org. >> our political coverage continues with president obama at a rally in ohio for democratic candidates. after that, a georgia governor's debate with roy barnes, nathan deal, and john monds. later, a california senate debate with barbara boxer and republican carly the arena. -- fiorina. in a few moments was show president obama campaigning in ohio. this will include remarks from ted strickland. first, let it how he began his day -- at a local chicago diner. >> what is that? i feel great. we got a good turn

now, all of this chaos might serve to benefit the democrat here, scott mcadams, if the republican votelit, he could eke out a victory. making matters more interesting, sarah palin reentered the fray this weekend, lashing out at the media, accusing them, as she said, unfairly treating her candidate, joe miller. if this race is close, we might not know the results here for weeks. brian? >> kristen welker, we'll be checking in with you tomorrow night, as well. >>> some big races in california, including the race for senate. lee cowan on duty in los angeles. good evening. >> reporter: here it is all about california's sour economy and it's a race between a career politician and career businesswoman. carly fiorina is trailing in the polls behind senator barbara boxer. although she says she is confident she still may be able to catch this anti-incumbency wave. but it's the exact same dynamic in the governor's race where you have the former ceo of meg whitman trailing behind jerry brown. whitman has spent millions in her own money arguing he has the business experience to fix this mess here.

. >> reporter: yet democrats now think scott mcadams could pull off an upset. so the party is pouring in money. >> my wife told me i better start wearing a tie so i can look senatorial. >> reporter: for murkowski to win, she needs not only republicans, but also independents and democrats. but history is not on murkowski's side. no write-in candidate has ever won a statewide race here in alaska. and the last person to do it for the u.s. senate was strom thurman in 1954. >> fellow alaskans. >> reporter: yet joe miller has worried many in alaska with his calls for a dramatically smaller federal government. one-third of all jobs in the state are tied to the federal government. and for every dollar the state sends in in taxes, it gets $1.83 back in federal funds... >> let's go. >> reporter: ...even as conservative talk radio show host isn't sure about miller's message. what is alaska without the money coming out of the federal government? >> we're a poor stepchild of the rest of the country. >> reporter: and in this race, alaskans not only need to get out and vote..

according to a lot of observers here she has the lead and then you have the little known democrat scott mcadamsnd he could be the spoiler when all the dust settles and two republicans, according to some possibly cancel each other out he could find himself a seat in the u.s. senate. >> there's a little bit of a tribal war going on between the palin family and murkowski family. >> it is alaska. >> of course but aren't people in alaska proud they launched sarah palin on the national stage despite they might have differences with their parties in this election? >> palin is a little bit of a touchy subject when you talk to people out here. when you're at a palin rally, her diehard supporters want to see her run in 2012 and they're happy to see everything she does. however, when you talk to the average voter on the street, there is a bit of palin fatigue. you hear people talking about the fact she left alaska and gone out on her own to take care of herself and left this state behind. and some people are quite frankly a little sensitive to the fact that palin's name has become synonymous with alaska a

my longshot is that scott mcadams a democrat shoots up the middle between a fight between murkowski and joe miller. let me say this, larry, about the tea party, which is that people talk a lot about the civil war within the republican party, the tea partiers versus the mainstream republicans. the tea party in my view did one really big favor for the republicans. it made their message sound fresher even though it really isn't. it's sort of -- it erased the republicans as being the party of the failed economic policies of george bush, where we had record deficits, where we start this unemployment crisis we're in now. and it made people believe that there was some new offering. now, what we've seen is more of a return to the same but it is wrapped in a different color coat and i think that's helped all republicans significantly in this election. >> larry: we'll return with the panel in a little while, but john king checks in with us right after this. and all my investments, but it's not something that i want to do completely on my own -- i like to discuss my ideas with someone. that's what

republican leaders worry that democrat scott mcadams could win if too many bright in ballots for lisaare tossed out. our political coverage continues with an update on colorado's midterm elections with the " denver post" political editor. on the call from denver by a political reporter. a local race is the subject of a front-page story of "the denver post." the republican candidate and the democratic candidate who replaced ken salazar as the interior secretary. let me ask you about the influx of outside money. colorado has seen a huge amount, almost $30 million in this midterm election. guest: it has been something to behold. anybody in color of watches television has had a front-row seat. it started back in our primary campaign. once the general election season kicked in, supporters for both candidates began to pour lots of money into both races. host: the voting takes place on tuesday, there is early voting in colorado. the governor's race is not -- has not generate as much inrest as expected, why? guest: it generated quite a bit of interest early on when the governor decided not to

>> yes, write-in got the most votes. 14,000 more than joe miller did and many, many more than scott mcadamse democrat, yes, write-ins is in first place. >> woodruff: so the process of counting still is going to be slow. they don't even begin to look at these write-ins until next week? >> let me explain some of the process. first of all, when we established our election laws, they allowed for a longer period of time for the ballots toç coe in, especially forç rural alasa because at one time, those communities didn't have phones and all the ballots would come into central counting by mail. second, we centralized our election in the state of alaska. counties do not do the counting. it's the state of alaska in various places around the state. and third, our laws are such that we proceed by statute, and the election laws provide that any write-in ballots will be counted after all other ballots because they will only count the write-ins, if write-ins-- whoever the write-ins are-- could win the election. >> woodruff: and there's no doubt about that. let me ask you-- how much doubt is there that

if in fact the alaska senate race with joe miller, if lisa murkowski or scott mcadams the democrat wins that race and joe miller loses, it will be i think a black eye for the tea party and a real setback for sarah palin. i mean he was her candidate. so i think, we probably won't know that until tomorrow. the 18th of november when they start counting the write-in ballots up there. it will be interesting if the senate is hanging in balance on that. >> lehrer: i look forward to talking to you again then. thank you. >> ifill: and the non-election developments of this day. at least 76 iraqis were killed in a bombing blitz aimed at shiites in baghdad. new violence in afghanistan took the lives of three more nato troops. there was no word on their nationalities. mail bombs exploded outside two embassies in athens, greece, but no one was hurt. and in germany, police disarmed a bomb sent from greece to chancellor angela merkel's office. hari sreenivasan is in our news room. >> sreenivasan: let's take a look at first up south carolina governor still a very, very close race. this is republican nic

scott mcadams finished in third place. joe miller or lisa murkowski will be the state senator. i want to talk about the exit polls that we saw last night, and this entire swing, this 60-seat landslide that we saw came after only about a seven-point shift in the electorate. men shifted towards republicans by just nine points, women just by six points across the country. whites were the largest swing. in 2008 only 45% of whites voted for republicans. this year 60% of whites voted for republicans, a 15-point swing. but across the rest of the dem graphics it's pretty even -- demographics, it's pretty even. seven points among white evangelicals, seven points among the non-white evangelicals. a little higher, 11 points among those who live in rural areas. what that really tells you is this thing was across party lines, it was across economic lines, across really all social lines as well. so the landslide here was truly, truly widespread. and it did not help if you opposed president obama. there were a large number of democrats who voted against at least two of the three signature bil

incumbent candidate lisa murkowski, if the republican vote is split, that could help democrat scott mcadams, but the race is also a referendum on sarah palin, she's thrown her support behind miller and helped him take the gop nomination from murkowski this summer. but now polls show miller faltering. >> if murkowski wins, this will be a black eye for sarah palin. >> reporter: sarah palin's national reputation will be bruised by a loss in her home state where it may look like she was too interested in settling old family feuds. >> sarah palin beat lisa murkowski's father, that's how she became governor. >> i'm running against joe miller and scott mcadams and that's my focus. >> reporter: palin has ratcheted up her -- nationally palin's been on the front line in leading the gop attacks on president obama. >> how's that hopey changey stuff working out for you? if there's nobody else to do it, of course i believe we should do this. >> reporter: palin is now fired up about a political article that claims gop leaders are trying to, quote, stop her from running in 2012 because they're afraid she w

joe miller has 35% and scott mcadams with 24%. >>> people in knoxville talking about the one that gotant leap, you're about to see it, over a police car there. it goes on patrol this week in iowa. jane doe flew over the cruiser in a flash. ooh, then dashed away through the suburban neighborhood and escaped right behind the house it looks like. >>> katie couric joins us with a preview of tonight's cbs evening news. >> good morning. if you need a kidney transplant, where you live could determine how long you have to wait. but now, kidney chains are changing that. and saving thousands of lives all across the country. we'll have that story and much more tonight only on the "cbs evening news." now, back to "the early show." >> and nearly four minutes past the hour, a good time to check with dave price on the pla s with another check of your weather on this fine wednesday. >> very nice bunch of people here. you know, what i want to tell you we've got folks from city harvest here, not a progresso commercial but a time to tell you as we head to the holidays, keep in mind this is the time to l

has 38 percent of the votes, incumbent lisa murkowski has 37 percent of the votes, and democrat scott mcadamsas a quarter of the votes but the likely game changer is the 15,000 write-in ballots that are still being hand counted out there. we see lisa murkowski's name on the board because we know what she has so far, 89 percent of the vote has been going to lisa murkowski, certainly leaning her direction right now. rick: an ohio man is facing arraignment in a bizarre kidnapping case out of ohio. police say that they found a 13-year-old girl bound and gagged in the basement of matthew hopman, about 10 miles away from the girl's house in the town of mount mount vernon, in the central part of the state, meanwhile, investigators desperately searching for the girl's fally and a family friend. steve brown is live in chicago. what do we know about the rest of this family? reporter error we don't know anything at this particular time, on police still consider them missing, that is a missing persons case, and they are currently searching an area here hopman's home, noun as foundation park. this is an a

unfortunate scott mcadams, a democrat, still hanging behind in third place. sarah palin, well, she's back, at least back on late-night television. tina fey was the guest of david letterman last night, andy astor, can you still do a mean sarah? >> issues access as he these days, all her mama grizzlies are winning. [laughter] >> and they are busting through. busting through the glass ceiling. [laughter] >> the mama grizzlies are going to washington and they're going to blitz their picnic table, dave. and they're going to go through that garbage. [applause] >> they're going to have to tie your food to a treat. >> sort of like dana carvey will always be daddy bush. she will always be sarah palin. and, finally, people get back to your calls, john bennett again yesterday telling diane sawyer that barack obama just doesn't get it. americans re-tee eight, or repudiate, depending on how you say it, his policies. here is boehner. >> there seems to be something out on the part of the president and other democrat leaders. the message -- >> no. john boehner, award is demo

some thoughts that to the set rakowski is writing campaign it would wind up putting scott mcadams onlieve peer but that is not the case. it is very successful right now and here is a live look from alaska. the art scene that they're scared to be some sort of victory speech coming up on these numbers as these numbers are not finalized yet but a big surprise here as she is your head in the race. at its nevada and it appears that she has wine and there is both ankles. what a night a has been for the tea party it is the key party by my accounts want more than a dozen seats of representatives and they won three send seeds and it has been quite the back for the tea party. >> it's a big slap because their families have been at it for years and of course the tea party supported him and he did that as well. it is interesting about the way things are unfolding and we have tom for the state assembly. let us check again and the newsroom with the latest on local measures. catherine >> i'm gay we are looking at across the county and this is a tax measure were nell is ahead at this point. this is i

lisa murkowski with 40% or 41%, followed by joe miller, 34%, to end scott mcadams, the democrat, 24% but they will start counting november 18 and it will take three days. lisa rakowski said to cnn she thinks she has won this race. go to california. carly fiorina is not conceding this race. but look at the projected winner. senator boxer, democrat, the incumbents, going to return it looks like for another term. she has 52% to the vote to carly fiorina's 42%. quite a wide margin. as carrie budoff brown said, not sure what carly fiorina is waiting for. in the washington senate race, this is still not called. 60% of the -- votes were counted. patty murray, the democrat incumbent, 50%, dino rossi, about 50%. they will start counting again this morning, about 1.4 million of the 2.4 million ballots were counted last night. all of this information can be found on our website, c- span.org. host: smiley, texas. james on the independent line. caller: well, i am an old man and i did not get much sleep last night. i stayed up and watched the e elections. i am truly an independent. i don't like th

scott mcadams is in third place. sarah palin is back.she is back on late night television. tina fey was the guest of david letterman last night and he asked her something. >> she is extra sassy these days. all of her mama grizzlies are innin'. they are going to go through that garbage. [applause] york or to have to tie your food to a tree. -- you are going to have to tie your food to a tree. host: john painter says the barack obama does not get it. -- john maynard says that barack obama does not give it. >> there seems to be some denial on the part of the president. there is the message that is sent. >> of the board is democratic leaders and the democratic party. if you are speaker, you have to speak the english language, do. >> i am in missouri. >> good morning. >> i do not think that there really is a message. the party in power always loses at midterm elections. it is not a repudiation. >> especially when the economy is bad. the incumbent party always does. >> john boehner is one to act like it is. >it is interesting what people o thi

ballots were counted but contested for the other candidate in the three-way race is democratic scott mcadamsed. the senate returns to session next monday. on tuesday, democrats and republicans will meet in separate locations to elect their leaders for the next two years. during a lame-duck session, senators may consider legislation dealing with alternative fuel cars, wage equality, and modernizing the food and drug demonstration. president obama is in south korea today on the third stop of a four-country visit to asia. he is seeking greater asked -- access for american goods per yesterday he addressed american soldiers and talked about the 37,000 americans killed during the korean war, our security alliance with south korea, and what he has described as the aggression and provocation of north korea. this is about 20 minutes. >> a few other people want to make mention of -- we are so proud and want to thank our outstanding representatives here in the republic of korea. ambassador kathleen stevens and in general cjhhipo sharp, give them a big round of applause. [applause] a former colleague of

incumbents lee said mark caskey who is running as a write-in candidate and republican joe miller and scott mcadams. their wedding on right in boats to be counted and that process began earlier today. -- they are waiting on write-in votes to be counted and that process began earlier today. >> experience american history to be starting saturday at 8:00 a.m. eastern. 48 hours of people and events telling the americans started here historic speeches by national leaders and eyewitness accounts of events that shaped our nation. visit museums, but historical sites, and college campuses as taught history professors and leading historians tell into america's past american history tv, all weekend every weekend on cspan 3. with most election results file and the winners preparing to govern, use the cspan video library to see what the winners set on the campaign trail and during one of the 40 debates cspan covered research, what, and share all free, washington your way. >> last month, the federal deposit insurance corp. posted a conference on housing finance issues. we will hear about how mortgages are packag

the polling is difficult -- and the democrat scott mcadams. the point is difficult. it is hard to figure out how big of a drop there could be from folks who say in a poll won and then write in another name -- one thing and then write in another name. if the right and total comes out on top or within half a percentage point -- write-in total comes out on top or within half the percentage point vote -- it will not even be calculated until the 18th. >> we welcome your phone calls and your comments online. there are a lot of places to watch electron -- election coverage. you will hear from victory -- candidates as they win and lose. we hear from people all over the country, with cameras in the states all over, including arkansas, missouri, california. we are watching some of the most competitive senate and governor's races. we will get your calls in just a moment. let's look at the current senate. there were 60 democratic senators when your book. there are 57 democrats and two independents. looking at the number of races in play, the democrats tried to hold on to the 19

scott mcadams with 25% of the vote and joe miller the republican nominee at 34% of the vote. keep in mind there are a number of write-in candidates and the 34% could be a little deceiving and could be a couple days until we know the official winner in the alaska senate race. in florida, the governor race where alex sink and rick scott are vying to succeed charlie crist who the former republican turning independent losing his bid for the u.s. senate p race and scott ahead 49% to sink's 48%. we're going to your phone calls. first up is jacqueline from fontana, california, democrat's line. good morning. i should say good evening to you in california. caller: hi, how are you? host: fine, thank you. caller: i'm really disturb sod much outside interest money has gone into helping to assist the republicans in getting such a great advantage here, all of china, russia, egypt, brazil, all the money that was funded through the chamber of commerce, it really bothers me to know that they went that far. host: thanks for will caught, calling from california, jerry brown elected as governor,