for two sides, northern virginia and the rest of the state. we have tide water, south side and roanoke with a strong republican bases. mr. obama would have to win convincingly in northern virginia. >> he needs to crush romney in northern virginia. a simple win would be a victory for romney. romney wants to keep it close, obama has to destroy romney in the turnout in northern virginia. >> reporter: mayer says obama will carry the black voters in virginia but it will hinge on turnout. >> virginia is a night to have win for obama. things could change. if republicans are serious about wisconsin andmy michigan and those numbers start to close, it will be obama desperate to win virginia. >> reporter: president obama won virginia in 2008. the first democrat in 45 years. since mayer says virginia has been in the back pocket of the republicans, this will be the first time we really see a full presidential race with political ads and so forth go head to head in the commonwealth. i'm sue rae chin for 9news now. >>> this weekend washington welcomes in le

with two sides, northern virginia and the rest of the state. we have tide water, south side, and roanoke with a strong republican base. mr. obama would have to win convincingly in northern virginia. >> he doesn't need to win northern virginia. he needs to crush romney in northern virginia. a simple win would be a victory for romney. romney wants to keep it close. obama has to destroy romney in the vote turnout in northern virginia. >> reporter: mayor says obama will carry black voters in virginia, but it will hinge on voter turnout. >> virginia is more of a necessary win for romney and a nice-to-have win for obama at this point. now, things could change. if republicans are serious about wisconsin and michigan and those numbers start to close, then it will be obama that is desperate to win virginia. >> reporter: president obama won virginia in 2008, the first democrat in 45 years and since lyndon johnson claimed a victory. since mayor says virginia has been in the back pocket of the republicans, this will be the first time we really see a full

the united states government officials contacted the commonwealth of virginia regarding its indian positivepu. the state registrar will advise no indian tribes in virginia. despite the response, federal government officials visited tribes and conducted interviews and photographed people, places and things substantiating their existence. they supported the fact that indian tribes endured over time. they provided funding for transportation to attend high school in oklahoma. in addition to oklahoma, the commonwealth paid for indians to attend schools in other states. additionally the government provided funding for indians to attend school. at one hand, we were acknowledged by both the federal and state government. the most telling testimony of the current system, in 1999, the head of the bia, the indian tribal delegation, many of those people assembled on that day would not live long enough to get federal recognition through the administrative process. that proved prophetic. we have buried many chiefs since then. the administrative process for people in the southeast has been very low. several

the democratic part of the state were growing and becoming more influential in the state. if virginia was not exactly cobalt blue by the time of the obama election, it was trending to a bluey shade of purple. barack obama wins it really big in 2008. and then, since then, virginia has been through kind of a big reversal. the electoral equivalent of whiplash. in 2009 virginia elected an anti-abortion activist governor, bob mcdonnell. a guy who drop what he was doing in the mid-30s so he could go to path robinson's university. he wrote a graduate thesis on how government should design public policy to punish homosexuals and fornicators. hey, that's me. he spent his time cosponsoring 30 bill ls. and in 2009 virginia elected him governor. the same year if 2009 virginia picked this guy as governor. he spent his first years in office suing the federal government over health reform. how did that work out? he also designed a new and more modest version of virginia's official state seal. then virginia elected a legislature that passed a bill requiring a medically unnecessary vaginal probe ultra

now, the virginia state lawmakers, they plan to introduce the bill, aimed at protecting your rights to the privacies. the republican delegate, they said that under his bill, police would need a warrant before using the drones and they would have to destroy any images here, acquired by drones, unless they are a part of the authorized investigations. in other news, jeans dunning was found dead in his home this morning in south carolina. he's a former sheriff of alexandria. his wife, nancy, was killed more than eight years ago. her death remains an open homicide investigation. the authorities in south carolina, they say that james dunning appears to have died in their sleep and the death was not seen suspicious. >>> the fbi and the state police, they are both joining in on the investigation into the virginia reporter's suspicious death. anded to, the focus of that investigation turned to prince william county. >> reporter: i'm peggy fox where the search warrant has been filed in a mysterious county murder. it happened in gainesville where they seized a white t- shirt, a blackberry cell ph

the widespread damage up and down the east coast and neighboring states added to the problem. the people who normally would be in virginianot here because they are working. >> more than 200 members of the guard have been called in to virginia. the state now has 7 confirmed fatalities due to friday's severe weather. this is a repeated story like you said, mike, doing it all over again. >> the atmosphere is charged up. we got the cool pockets coming out of canada. that interacts with the humidity. we will talk about that in the seven-day forecast. this is downtown, city cam showing us that the skies are clearing after the storms. we got a pretty shot and a nice looking afternoon going forward. couple of scattered showers from dundalk, lake shore, cross over the chesapeake, rock hall, a few showers, not a big deal. 73 in town. towards the eastern shore 73, salisbury. see the clouds exiting stage right. we will get sunshine to go to work today allowing for temperatures to get in to the 90s. see the heat around 80 degrees, dc, down towards norfolk and eastern carolina, 75, 73:80s towards the center portion. the heat backed up

the house. now, in january 1870, virginia was readmitted to the united states. so this house eventually went back to the city of richmond. of course, the federal army left. the city got it back and the city in the later part of that year, 1870, sold everything in this house and then turned it into a school. this was a school for 20 years. that's when it suffered damage. not during the war, not during the u.s. army occupation, but when this was a school. the city wanted to tear it down after about 20 years of being a school and replace it with a new building, but it was safe from demolition by a group of women here in town. a group that had originally formed as the hollywood memorial association preserving confederate graves in hollywood's cemetery here in richmond. these ladies kind of reformed into the confederate memorial literary society and they took over the house. and they fixed it up and they opened this building as a museum in 1896. now, it didn't look like this then. in 1896 when is this opened it was the confederate museum. you walked around, each room

virginia? >> it's the big swing state, virginia, ohio, florida, they're the swing states they're spending a lot of money, pretty much tied in the polls. obama leads in virginia more than other states to be clear. the key thing in virginia and why obama has an advantage is unemployment there is 5.6%, unemployment nationally is 8.2%. so romney's argument about the economy not improving is hard to sell in virginia because of those numbers. therefore, obama has a really strong advantage in virginia. >> molly, you just posted literally about an hour ago another article for "the atlantic," your title "why obama may be safe in virginia". >> it's exactly what perry was saying. i would only add to that part of the reason the economic and employment picture is so good in virgin virginia, not only do they have jobs but with the government, the federal government in northern virginia and a huge proportion of the work force is milita military. both of those are people essentially getting paychecks from the united states government. when they hear romney talking about cutting spending, cutting the cope of go

it was just south of the virginia state capitol in a building that is still there today. in fact, today that building is the federal court of appeals for the 4th circuit. during the war that building housed jefferson davis' executive office everybody the confederate state department and the confederate treasury department. a very important building for the confederate government and davis spent a great deal of time there, but also a lot of time here working. davis worked a great deal. davis was what we today might call a micromanager or/and a workaholic and an insomniac. he worked long, hard hours almost every single day of this war. now, jefferson davis, as i mentioned earlier, went to the u.s. military academy at west point. that wasn't really his idea. his brother arranged that for him. davis, at the time, seemed to be leaning more towards a career in the law. but his brother was extremely influential in his life, in fact, after their father had died when davis was a teenager, his brother, who was about 20 years older than he was, almost took over as his father figure.

but south of the virginia state line, through most of the evening as the storm begins to fizzle out it's located over manassas, virginia fallen below severe limits and that's about the only storm on the map right now. however, the moisture levels exceedingly high. sticky conditions out there and as a result, still feeling likeover 100 in frederick and more than 100 in the inner harbor and almost 100 in annapolis. it's a steam bath of a night with tropical humidity. nothing more than stray storm. we will talk about how the heat will change in the next 7 days. it's coming up. >> with temperatures as high as 100 you can bet tomorrow will be dangerous. so that's why health department has extended the current code red heat alert for the state. that means health official think the heat and humidity is going to be high enough to cause heat stroke and heat exhaustion. so be very careful and because of that heat tomorrow, cooling centers will be open again today many we caught up with the folks at on york road. a place where folks can take a break in the air conditioner and try to beat the heat w

the crowd. they're getting ready in hampton, virginia, to hear the president of the united states. i've been pointing out, virginia being a key battleground state. they're all excited in virginia about some of the president's remarks live. we'll see what he has to say especially about his opponent mitt romney. mitt romney is sitting down with our own jim acosta for an interview. that will air at 6:00 p.m. eastern here in "the situation room." but there's other news we're following as well including word of a massacre, another massacre in syria. and demands for an international envoy's removal. lisa sylvester's here. she's monitoring that, some other top stories in "the situation room" right now. so what's going on? >> hi there, wolf. well, the opposition reports syrian regime forces targeted a village and killed over 200 people late last night. opposition says yesterday's death toll was 287 making it the bloodiest day since the uprising began. special envoy kofi annan is ineffective and should be removed. we'll hear from two experts on syria within the next hour. rick santorum will

the storm also hit virginia hard.thousandssof people.... suffered throughh triple diiit heat without power, over the we. weekend.theewinds knocking down power lines and trees.... settled ver the state. virginia's governor described the power outages as the worst non-hurricaae outage in the state's history. it coulddbe days before alllthe powee is killed at least seven people in the state. to help clean up the damage caused by these storms... thrre baltimore city fire companies slated to close over the weekend... will stay open for a few more days. days.megan gilliland is here officals aae using this extra time to argue why hey should stay open permanently. good morning guys,usually... department heads rely on when needed. but with this - storm... no ackup was availabl. available.12::3:04 "baltimore ccunty couudn't end unit in. thing. almost every truck was in use... responding to truck 10 in the ity... it's one of 3 fire companies that was supposed to shut down yesterday.they were eliiinnted in he final budget last week. put weekend storms delayed the inevitable... and city pfficials havv decided to extend opperations until after &pclock is ticking agaii. 13:50:00 "fireepeople, we

the president? >> you can't be everywhere at once. there will be no shortage of mitt romney in virginia. you can commute to the subway to the statemight decide your fate. there is a reason why virginia is a swing state, the shifting nature of the democratic coalition and the number of minority voters have made virginia a competitive state and like colorado a state that embodies a collision of the two coalitions. >> let's talk about the top names for romney including paul ryan, tim pawlenty. >> there is a long history of genyof -- as a woman and a prominent african american republican there are a lot of reasons to put the name in the headlines. we are all looking around after shadows and a lot of focus on rob portman from ohio. republican nominee can't win ohio by himself is. paul ryan is someone who energized the base and sharpen the proposal as the author of the plan to convert medicaid. tim pawlenty is a do no harm pick. i'm looking at it from the outside. i think portman or ryan. and also marco rubio. that seems more secondary. >> hard to believe we are about 3 1/2 months away. clock is ticking and it's getting there. >> you k

while the power was out across much of virginia the push was on on the campaign trail. let's focus on virginia's senate race and how the stateay a pivotal role in the presidential election. fox 5 political analyst mark plotkin is here. good to see you. >> great to be back. >> two former virginia governors are squaring off to succeed retiring senator jim webb, george allen , tim kaine locked in a close race. >> it's dead even and this is so critical and so important for both parties because the republicans control the house. they're four short in the senate and they feel that george allen can come back after losing to jim webb six years ago and this is the battle of the titans between allen and kaine. kaine, allen is going to try to tie to barack obama, say he's just going to be a mouthpiece for obama because he was the dnc chair and the whole united states senate might really depend on who wins this election. >> let me ask you this. in red states like say montana, north dakota, tying the democratic candidate to president obama is kind of gavin with obama not -- a given with obama not necessarily strong in the red states. in

the virginia state police say a car at a box a truck, setting off a chain reaction sending the tractoriler onto its side. one driver as serious but not life-threatening injuries. it took four hours to get all the lanes back open. >> checking in now on the traffic situation with chris andersen. >> we will start with the good news beginning in virginia. on the 95 toward quantico, some delays but nothing unusual and no incidents to report. in maryland, on 270 coming off the beltway delays heading toward montrose and that continues to clarksburg where we had some activity and the weather is also not helping. the leis around the corner continuing into prince george's county. new ericsson reported in college park where and overturn vehicle was in that area. in downtown washington, some flooding near arkansas avenue. >> thank you. still ahead the top consumer complaints ranked by consumers themselves. >> and who will he pick? mitt romney is playing beat the clock w [ male announcer ] where did althe obama stimulus money go? friends, donors campaign supporters special intetere groups where did

of virginia this is just in the state of virginia that's enough to flip the whole. i don't i mean i don't overact big impact i think in the electoral vote yes i do not see a route for victory for mitt romney if he does not win virginia and jon stewart is for that matter because of course you have to talk about states when you're talking about a third party candidate you know new hampshire may actually be in play and that's traditionally a very libertarian state so you could definitely have an impact there as well and in mexico where he was governor made maybe yeah. ok according to a new poll conducted actually not news conducted made by frank wants american gun owners including n.r.a. owners overwhelmingly support control of assault weapons and military style weapons and ammunition eighty seven percent of non n.r.a. gun owners seventy four percent of n.r.a. gun owners approve requiring criminal background checks on gun owners and gun shops similarly a majority of non an array and n.r.a. gun owners think concealed carry pe

the best you can and to have a great career. >> reporter: adrianna rivas wore her penn state t-shirt to work today in alexandria, virginia. she just graduated last year. >> i was really surprised, almost pretty angry about how harsh the ncaa has punished penn state. i think it really punishes the wrong people. >> reporter: the penn state sanctions are the prime topic of conversations at local sports bars and restaurants. >> i believe they took too much out on the players and athletes that want to go to the school and potential athletes coming the the school. $60 million sanction for actions of the coaches and staff of the team shouldn't be taken out on the students or the players on the team. >> sports radio talk show host lavar arrington of 106.7, the fan, who was a penn state linebacker before becoming a redskin today wrote on his blog about the sanctions erasing the team's record from 1998. he said i have no wins as a starter for penn state. it doesn't matter. the sanctions are a necessary step to continue the healing process he wrote. that's the latest from the newsroom. i'm christ gordon, news 4. >> it's been cloudy o

that marks the third straight year virginia has had a surplus. state law dictates where the extra cash goes. most will go to the state's rainy day fund, cleaning up the chesapeake bay, and to maintaining roads. >>> and virginia may not be done raking in the cash just yet. coming up tonight on 9news at 7:00, one lawmaker's gamble to boost higher. we'll have the details at 7:00. >> see you then, derek. still to come on 9news at 6:00, people kicked out of poly acres park head back to their homes, but not for good, we'll tell you why. topper. >> statistically, this is the hottest part of the year. we'll take these numbers. 89 was our high. that's the bargain really. low temperature 73. that's right about average. record 199 and 56. below in the monthly total and about 7 inches below of precipitation for the year. we'll come back and tell you if we'll do anything about that in the form of storms in the next couple of days. >> first, the aclu contacts police in dozens of states about license plate readers. we'll tell you what they are worried about. that's n

president barack obama is back on the campaign trail in a key battle ground state, virginia. tell us what you know about his plans. >> think back to 2008, winning virginia was a huge victory for president obama. he was the first democrat to do it in decades. now he is trying to hang onto the voters and here is his pitch. that's what brought us together was not about a single candidate, it was not about me, it was about us and our desire to make sure that the american dream continues for the next generation and the generation after that and the generation after that. >> a pretty fiery speech. as far as the numbers go in the state of virginia, seems president obama has a slight edge over mitt romney, 47-42%. but it's still close. >> all right, things definitely heating up in the race. we will speak with toreny live for the latest coverage. over to roosevelt leftwich. >>> held lorks hello, i'm roosevelt leftwich. your facebook profile is yours right? you are not the only one looking at your private conversations. why facebook is scanning what you type. should penn state get rid o

. >> the virginia state board of a lesson say there are ms. e-mails claiming voters have to register if they have not voted sense of the 2008 general election and not true. the board says voters are not taken off the rolls for not voting. voters asked to check registration status. october 15 is the deadline to register or update your information before the general election. >> temperatures climbing a little bit. 74 degrees. still ahead -- the fed will push to make financial aid forms easier to understand. >> a key pioneer for women and girls in science and space >> time here asking you to donate your suits of through the month of july to men's wearhouse. >> don't know why i was left out. >> the first u.s. woman to fly in space is being praised as a national hero and a role model for young women. sally ride died yesterday of pancreatic cancer, she was 61 years old. she flew on the space shuttle challenger in 1983 when she was 32. >> i had a lot of respect for her. i did not realize that women had options to go into space, to even consider being

>> when we look at the state, it is a swing state. virginia is the epitomy, and it is a microcosm of all of the swing states. it is right on the razor's age age -- edge and you have a very red part of virginia. all of virginia is very red except two key areas, three key areas. one is the tide water area in nor fog and large african-american population and strong support of obama. then you go up into the northern virginia suburbs outside washington, d.c. and those are democrat leading. a lot of government workers and liberals and that business. but where this battle is fought are in the suburbs in richmond and ryko county is very important for campaigns and the exurban counties in metro washington in places like prince william county and places like that. the president flipped those to blue in 2008. if he can keep them blue he will win again. if mitt romney can see them to their prior practices he will win. >> in heavy military areas like virginia beach, hampton, the looming sequestration and the political battle being fought and mitt romney se

the hurricane warning. >> the state of maryland has joined d.c. and the state of virginia in declaring states of emergency. this will enable each jurisdiction to apply for federal disaster relief aid. >>> how are residents in northern virginia coping with all these outages remaining this evening? our surae chinn is live in tysons corner. just how hot is it out this? >> reporter: it is burning hot right now, derek, and folks are trying to find any place that has power and a working air conditioner. the shopping malls are the hotspots right now and the cool place to hang out. tysons corner mall is packed right now and it's a place where a lot of people spent the weekend. >> at night cannot sleep because it's too hot. >> reporter: restless night for this family stuck in a hot home, but now their 3-year-old gets some shut eye in her dad's arms at tysons mall. you've already been here eight hours? >> yes. >> reporter: you spent the entire day here? >> yes. >> reporter: in this corner? >> yeah. >> reporter: on the floor? >> that's right. >> fortunately i got a seat. first i was

the weekend powerful mitt atlantic storm. right now 3 million people still without power. a third of the state of west virginias of emergency tee declared in maryland, west virginia, virginia, ohio and washington, d.c. this is not what new york wanted to hear in its blistering heat. con ed locked out union workers today after contract talks broke down. the utility company is calling in thousands of managers to try to run things. talks lasted just over ten days and expired at midnight. the utility says the union refused a two week contract extension. >>> the four 7th grade boys caught on video taunting a bus monitor were suspended from school and can't ride the because for a year and they will be required to perform 50 hours of community service. >>> election day in mexico and voter there's looking ready to turn back to the future so to speak. the political party that ruled for 70 years before being tossed out in 2000 looks like it is about to take the reins again. fox's william la jeunesse is live with a look at the presidential race there. william? >> reporter: well, shannon, as you said this is a very differ

states. they spent nearly $100 million. that is more than four times the amount that mitt romney's campaign spent at this point in the race. and speaking of battleground states, president obama was in virginia today and he was in centerville for a campaign rally with supporters. he spoke at centreville high school after visits to roanoke and hampton roads yesterday. the president won virginia in 2008 and with the state in d th romney, try to convince voters of who is better on the economy. >> we tried almost exactly what they are proposing and here are the results. we went from surpluses to deficit. we have the sluggish job growth in decades. the average income of middle class families went down. >> mitt romney's communications director for virginia support out a statement after the president's appearance that says in part that president obama admitted today that our country isn't on the right track, yet he is offering more of the same as he seeks a second term. americans want a leader who keeps his word and is more focused on fixing the economy than telling stories. >>> more to come on the news edge, tucker banes has the last check on the forecast. tucker? >> our showers and thunderstorms

president obama today declaring a state of emergency in west virginia because of these storms ordering federal aid to supplement state and local response efforts. thee expected to be tough, power out all over that state. cell service spotty. now a fuel shortage. better idea of what is happening in west virginia and what going on with that shortage, governor tomlin joins us in a few minutes. >>> violent storms sneaking up on a minor league became in illinois. the tarp already on the field for a lane delay when the violent winds -- for a rain delay when the violent winds take over >> announcer: winds just took out one of the front office people this is nuts. now the lighting off, i'm scared to have my electronics on. >> harris: look at those people they are getting swept up. that was the voice of aaron morris who was calling the game. of those people still trying to hang on, you could see flashes of lightning and transformers blowing in the distance no report of serious injuries in that. i would call that a miracle. >>> our best storytellers are the people living through what is happening. tonight some of you have sent pictures. a look now at a storm

the small town rural west. in a speech to overflow crowd, mr. obama suggested virginia is too important to concede any part of the state. >> when we win virginia, ve won the election. >> virginia's social conservatives will be a powerful force for romney, but the state's jobless rate is almost three points less than the national average making it less of an advantage for republicans. and just as the healthcare bill inflames the republican base, democrats spurn over republican attempts to repeal it. >> 33 votes to repeal the healthcare bill. all it would take is one vote to make sure that all of you don't see your taxes go up next year. you tell me what would be a better use of time. >> reporter: university of virginia political analyst larry sabato says the state was the bulgaria of the political universe when it was reliably republican. now that it's competitive, it's paris. mr. obama and mr. romney will both be spending a lot of time here. bret? >> bret: wendell goler traveling with the president in hampton, virginia. thank you. as mitt romney referred to with carl cameron, president obama is accused tonight of trying to end welfare reform. as

that's why the president is headed to his second virginia campaign stop of the day. a high school in centreville. it is a vital battleground state. at this stop in glen allen, virginia, where it was pouring rain, obama said mitt romney's top down economic approach just simply won't work. romney is taking a few days off the campaign. so one time rival rick santorum actually showed up on mitt romney's behalf at the opening of a campaign office in greensburg, pennsylvania today. this is another battleground state in santorum's home turf. until today, santorum had not campaigned for romney. this may be the first step in the peace making process following their bitter primary battle. >>> now to houston, texas. people are dealing with the worst flooding in more than two years. rescue crews scrambled to save dozens of people from the flash floods, including some kids from a baseball day camp. the national weather service has extended some of its flood warnings until tomorrow morning. >>> and it's an incredible story of survival. an autistic man surviving three weeks in the utah desert with just the clothes on his back. coming up, hear

the campaign trail. virginia is a battle ground state. we heard from the governor of virginia.ll remain in the spotlight. city officials say they had no choice but to declare bankruptcy. vice mayor of stockton california will tell us what led to the heart breaking vote. >> and team usa will be wearing uniforms made in chin a. and ralph lauren is saying they will change their way in 2014. is this a little too late. should ralph lauren be allowed to produce olympic uniforps anymore? sound off and we'll read your answers in thipped of the show. an ingredient that rks more naturally with your colon than stulant laxatives, for effective relie of constation without cramps. thanks. good morning, students. today we're gonna continue... ♪ wer surge, let it blow your mind. [ male announcer ] for fruits, veggies and natural green tea energy... new v8 v-fusion plus energy. could've had a v8. [ wife ] your dad's really giving him the business... the designated hitter's the best thing to happen to baseball! but it's not the same game! [ wife ] wow, he's really gonna get us a good deal. it's

you have a great movement of slave holders and of the slaves themselves across from the atlantic states and virginia becomes the state exporting slaves in large number. south carolina, many of the great planters in south carolina are buying plantation land from where the indians had been expelled in alabama and mississippi and building huge plantations so that charleston, in many ways, is the richest significant city per kap capita the beginning of the civil war and the richest colony -- county in the united states is adams county, mississippi, which the county seat matches with the mississippi river. this is the western migration for the slaves and for the african-americans. that migration involved more people than moving people across the atlantic and it was also a huge trauma when slaves and families were taken a part and they were taken away from their churches where they're the kind of worship that you can hear in black, american churches is the closest connection to how people lived in the 18th century and it's a tradition that's been carried on for a long time with a hugely strong musical tra

that is the unemployment rate in the state of virginia. resident obama will get virginia's success? bob mcdonald joins us. good evening, governor. >> nice to be on, thanks. >> greta: with the unemployment rate of 5.6% the envy of many other states, how do we know whether or not the president should get credit with his stimulus bill or whether you should get credit for it or legislature or something else? >> success has a thousand fla failures. we're glad to be down to 5.6% since i became governor down from 7.4. it was a bipartisan accomplishment. we worked together. but i would say if the president stimulus policies and all the other things coming out of washington were working would you see it better nationally. we are over 8.1% for 41 consecutive months. that is not acceptable for the american people. so 5.6% is good, if we had a president mitt romney i think we would be doing a lot better in virginia because the president's policies on debt, regulation, on the energy industry have been harmful to the virginia economy. so we're fighting u

already hitting him on the defense sequestration, and there are a lot of wrinkles to this campaign, a lot of wrinkles to this issue and a lot of wrinkles to the state of virginia. you said president obama won the state in 2008. going back to lbj, it is a state with shifting demographics but still some very staunchly conservative areas. we talk a lot about these collar counties around d.c. and northern virginia, how blue they've become. the tidal area where president obama is visiting today, a lot of strong democratic support but a lot of votes up for grabs there. other areas of va varirginia, t southwestern portion, what they call the south side. the president will be heading to the roanoke mountains later today. still a lot of staunch republican red territory. they're spending a lot of money here already. our vote campaigns lose perhaps more here than any other state in virginia except television ads. you look at all the electoral votes and the nine swing states at first three counts being up for grabs. it all really does come down to virginia if you do it in certain ways. while the president certainly has the upper hand here, i think the politics average in

the 100's. >> 85% of the state of west virginia is out of power right now. >> states of emergency were declared in wbc, -- washington, dc,. >> alan: in colorado, the flames are 30% contained in the waldo canyon fire but now there's a chance of thunderstorms and lightning, which which could trigger more fires so evacuations continue. >> i'm leaving my house for probably the last time. oh, my god. the smoke in the air is so bad. >> nicole frye felt the need to document her evacuation. she made it out of the fire zone safely. >> started going up the hill, would have been the easiest way out, and i just needed to have some footage to show what i saw and the devastation that everybody went through when they were evacuated. >> alan: the waldo canyon fire has been burning for more than a week, and more than 17,000 acres have been destroyed. >> a number of new laws go into effect starting tomorrow, from bullies to babies. ahead, look of some of the new laws designed to better protect us. >> alan: now available for a limited time, foie gras. restaurants are h serving it one last time before the ban gain

let's go ahead with state number 3. virginia. the dominion, falls to number 3 this year, america's top state for business last year has never finished below number 2 until now. virginia scores 1553 out of 2500 points. the biggest drop comes in our infrastructure category, where virginia ranks 33rd. they finished 10th in the category last year. highway improvements have been del delayed and the commute is among the worst in the country. virginia's best category is business friendliness, comes in third. the state's economy remains in the top ten but just barely. its aaa credit rating tainted in august when moody's gave it a negative outlook based on the dependence on the state government. unemployment still low at 5.6%. the top income tax rate, 5 3/4% and corporate rate, 6% and sales tax, 5%. virginia's largest private employer is walmart. the largest industry is agricultural. m . >> reporter: wow, there you go. virginia has fallen. i can hear in the top state, brian and sullivan feeling a little deflated. the state has benefitted so m

to criss-cross the state looking for more support in his re-election. he won that red state of virginiang it blue four years ago, but not taking it for granted this go round. right now he is in glen allen virginia in the rain but as you see the big campaign back drop there still pushing it forward as he tries to make his way toward another four years in office. keep you posted on his campaigning. >>> in massachusetts a prison guard is recovering after being stabbed in the neck with a handmade shank by an inmate. x-rays showing the shank barely missed his spinal cord by centimeters. the manna long with other guards was monitoring 93 inmates at the time of that incident. incredible close call. >>> a terrifying car crash in new jersey captured by traffic cameras set up to catch people running red lights. the car driving towards the camera does just that as you're about to see. wow. after hitting the light and another car and going airborne and crashing right into the median and the pole and you will see it again. the driver suffered minor injuries hard to believe and was arrested for drunk