Hurricane sandy is starting to look like a perfect storm, as berman was predicting, from new england to virginia and as far inland as ohio. Everyone is being warned to prepare to take action because of a rare and complex atmospheric setup. Sandy could collide with the east coast early next week as a super storm. Sandy has already done plenty of damage. 11 people are dead in cuba. The hurricane ripping roofs off some homes and flattening others. Sandy killed one person in jamaica, 10 more people in haiti. That is 22 people total killed by this storm already. Heavy rains from the storms outer bands causing flooding as well. Even though its several days away, the sand bagging has already started as far north as new jersey. Meteorologist rob marciano is tracking sandys every move, joiping us live from the extreme Weather Center in atlanta. What is the latest on this . Still a category 1 storm as you mentioned, deadly affects across the caribbean islands, battering the bahamas right now. About 150 miles or so east of miami, about 480 miles south of charleston, South Carolina. Movement is northwesterly at 13 miles an hour and this thing is beginning to evolve into something larger than a hurricane. The wind field is changing. This is an extraordinary storm for this time of year. This time of year we start to get the impacts of what you typically would see in a falllike storm. That will give it the extra punch weve been talking about the past couple of days and things are starting to come together. Florida, youre getting the impacts first, of course. Up and down i95, along the beaches especially. Bigtime waves. From ft. Lauderdale, this is yesterday, late yesterday with winds driving sideways, certainly looks like a hurricane. The center of this thing still at this point over a couple hundred miles offshore. You get the idea of what kind of impacts we see even when youre nowhere near the storm. This will continue for several days from the cos, across the georgia coast, the South Carolina coast, North Carolina coast as well. Lets go over the forecast track for the National Hurricane center. Tonight it goes northerly and northeasterly and almost mimics the coastline of the u. S. , makes a northeasterly turn, saturday night into sunday. It will be well offshore. Theyll get peppered by big waves, 30 foot waves possibly. Tides are already unusually high because this is the full moon. You get that with the storm surge, almost disastrous coastal flooding up and down the east coast. Here is the track as far as what kind of landfall we expect. Monday night into tuesday morning, potentially wednesday if it goes further to the right anywhere from Cape Hatteras to boston under the gun here, keeping it as a category 1. The wind field is going to be so large it doesnt matter where you actually see landfall. We say that when hurricanes come on shore but this one really the wind field is going to be so large, especially to the east. Its going to affect hundreds of miles of coastline and tens of millions of people. These are the spaghetti models. Each line represents one computer model. Weve been showing you the past couple of days, most have been going out to sea. Yesterday they were about half and half. Now nearly all of them bring them back to the northeast. An extraordinary setup, one we certainly havent seen in my lifetime. We compare it to the perfect storm of 1991. Guys, this is going to be worse, because this one is coming onshore. That one didnt even come on shore and it had disastrous effects. Oh, my gosh, rob, 30 to 40 foot waves. I know youll continue to monitor this for us. Stay with cnn for the latest track of Hurricane Sandy throughout the day and over the weekend, folks, we have this covered. Were tracking it like no one else can with meteorologists and reporters spread across the east coast. That is a big story. To president ial politics and the battle for the battlegrounds. President obama waking up in the white house this morning, following two days of virtual barack around the clock campaigning in eight states. Mitt romney swarming the swing states as well, ohio yesterday and again today. He will also be in iowa for what his Campaign Calls a significant economic speech today. The latest cnn poll of polls has mitt romney 48 , president obama at 47 . Thats pretty much a dead heat 11 days out. Also three new swing state polls shows how tight this race is. In nevada, president obama up 5047, according to a new nbc news wall street journal poll. Same poll has the race tied in colorado. All of these virtual ties with just 11 days to go. Cnn political director mark preston live. What do these campaigns have going on today . It doesnt mean he stopped campaigning. In fact, today he will do 10 interviews, seven of them with local affiliates in the battleground states. Well get the names of those affiliates later on today. Mtv, doing about a 20, 25minute interview with mtv later this afternoon which just goes to show that barack obama is really trying to shore up his base, part of his base, of course, are the young voters. Mitt romney is in i with wau. He he will be delivering an economic speech, probably what has been the strongest part of his campaign is talking about the economy. 11 days to go. He will deliver that speech in iowa which, of course, is a state that is critical for him. Right now he is losing to barack obama in that state. A little bit later in the evening he will be joined by paul ryan at a rally. A lot going on in the campaign trail, lot of surrogates out certainly in the battleground states and we are now in the sprint. A lot of people may have been sleeping last night a controversy bubbled up, involving the endorsement colin powell gave to barack obama. Its the second time powell has endorsed obama. Its what a romney surrogate said about that thats making news. Yeah, john. This is john sununu, former governor of New Hampshire. Often people would say he is very outspoken. He has gotten himself in trouble before by saying some things and has had to walk them back. Certainly this is not something the Romney Campaign wants to deal with. Lets just listen to what he will to say about this especially adoresment last night on piers morgan. Frankly, when you take a look at colin powell you have to wonder if thats an endorsement based on issues or whether hes got a slightly different reason for preferring president obama. What reason would that be . Well, i think when you have somebody of your own race that youre proud of being president of the United States, i applaud colin for standing with him. And there you have john sununu, former governor of New Hampshire, top romney surrogate making controversial comments. He did try to walk them back quickly after those comments were made. Lets take a quick look at what he said. They release d a statement. Colin powell is a friend. I respect the endorsement decision he made. I do not doubt that it was based on anything but his support of the president s policies. Piers morgans question was whether colin powell should leave the party and i dont think he should. I do know the governor and i do not think he is a racist. I do think that we need to note that. This is certainly a controversy that the Romney Campaign does not want to deal with 11 days before the election. Awfully quick to walk it back after it happened. This type, the Obama Campaign and video they put out stars lenadunham known as creator of hbos girls show. What is it about this ad that has people up in arms . Slightly ties together the first time you vote to the first time you lose your virginity. Lets go to the video. It says it all. Your first time shouldnt be with just anybody. You want to do it with a great guy. It should be with a guy with beautiful someone who really cares about and understands women. A guy who cares whether you get health insurance, specifically whether you get birth control. The consequences are huge. My first time voting was wonderful. It was a line in the sand. I was a girl. Now im a woman. I pulled back the curtain and voted for barack obama. Two controversies that are bubbling up 11 days before election day. What a day. How to begin the morning when talking about sex and race this early in the morning in the president ial campaign. I hope my kids arent watching. All right. Mark preston, thanks very much. 11 more days of this to go. Very good point. Next hour of early start well be talking about polls and politics. Margaret hoover and richard socarides. They mix it up almost every morning. It will be fun to talk about this. Yes. A suicide bomb in afghanistan has killed 40 people, including fellow officers and children. Dozens of others were injured. Interior Ministry Spokesman says the bomber struck right after morning prayers. Pakistani teen Malala Yousafzai have been reunited with her parents. Gun shot wound to the head inflicted by the taliban. She has become the symbol of courage around the world by risking her life for equal opportunity for education for girls. Current Deputy Commissioner adam silver will take over as the new nba commissioner. Stern has presided over a period of unprecedented growth. Michael jordan, shaquille oneal, kobe bryant all became superstars during his time as commissioner. It is really the end of an era. Giants have taken the first two games. Can you believe this . It is unbelievable. Madison baumgartner struggled but pitched shutout innings. The infield actually was a double play hit. Prince fielder tries to score from first base on a delmon young double down the line. Prince fielder you will see shortly not a small man, a rather large man, not fleet afoot. He was thrown out at the plate. That may have cost the tigers the game. A lot of them wonder if the Third Base Coach should have waved him home. I would say no. It is 11 minutes past the hour. It is impossible to understand how anyone could kill a child. It is unthinkable to comprehend coming home to find your two children stabbed to death in your own home. It happened. It happened in an upscale new york city neighborhood. We have that story, coming up next. Well, hes not very handsome to look at [ sighs ] oh, hes shaggy and he eats like a hog [ male announcer ] the volkswagen jetta. Available with advanced keyless technology. Control everything from your pocket, purse, or wherever. Thats the power of german engineering. That dirty, old eggsuckin dog thats the power of german engineering. The wheels of progress. Seems they havent been moving much lately. But things are starting to turn around because of Business People like you. And regions is here to help. With the experience and service to keep things rolling. From Business Loans to cash management, we want to be your partner moving forward. So switch to regions. And lets get going. Together. 100 new. 100 mmm. Wow, that is mmm. Its so mmm you might not believe its a hundred calories. New yoplait greek 100. It is so good. Welcome back. 15 minutes past the hour. A mother comes home to the unthinkable, two of her three children stabbed to death in their manhattan bathtub, a nanny in a pool of blood nearby with a kitchen knife by her side. Childrens father was reportedly away on business. Deborah feyerick is following all the developments for us. Police believe that the nanny killed the children before stabbing herself. What this is just unthinkable, unheard of. Everybody is nervous about Something Like this. Oh, yeah. What do you know . This has sent shock waves through new york city. Parents across the city, holding their kids even more tightly. Some cases theyre looking over their shoulder and asking could their nanny snap . This is really what this is abo about, a young mom, 38 years old, comes home, with her middle child, 3 years old. Theyve gone for swimming lessons. She walks into her home. The home is dark. Shes surprised. Its 5 30 in the evening, the kids are usually getting ready for dinner, having their baths. No sign of anything. She goes downstairs and says did my children leave with the nanny . Doorman says no. She goes back up in the bathroom, she finds blood everywhere. The two children, 2yearold little boy leo, 6yearold little girl, lucia, stabbed to death, the nanny on the floor. She apparently has a knife by her side. She has stabbed herself repeatedly in the neck. Police are saying they do believe that the wounds were self inflicted, that after the nanny snapped somehow she became deranged, killed the children, then tried to kill herself. A neighbor heard these blodchilling screams coming from the apartment and called 911. Thats when police arrived. The mother is in a complete state of shock. She was taken to the hospital as well, described as being beyond comprehensible right now. She is in such a state of trauma. Of course. The nanny here, i was reading that the mom kept a blog and they had visited the nannys home i think it was dominican republic, spent time with her family. This is somebody they really knew . Reports say that the mom had stayed home, but after the birth of the young son, they decided to hire a nanny. They veted the nanny, did a background check, criminal check. Usually all this happens in new york city. They went and spent time with the nanny. Seems like family. In the dominican republic. They felt close to her. This wasnt negligence. This wasnt a situation where the parents werent doing due diligen diligence. In fact, they were. And the mother was very hands on. As you say, there was this blog. She posted pictures just a couple of hours earlier of the little boy just saying, what a joy and delight he was. So this was really, everyone in this city is going to be talking about this because you dont know. When you leave your children with somebody else, whether it be a nanny, babysitter, theres always that question, are your children safe and are the caretakers doing the right thing . Its frightening, really terrifying. We talked about this earlier. Just really quickly, any chance that Something Else could have possibly happened here, that it was not the nanny . We pressed the police on that question last night. They believe that the wounds are self inflicted. The nanny has been arrested. No charges have been filed. Shes in Critical Condition right now. The father imagine landing at an airport to be told that two of your children zblsh by pol e police, right . Two of your children have been killed. Its tragic. Deborah feyerick, thank you so much for that report. What a shocking story. It is 18 minutes after the hour right now. There is other big news. Hurricane sandy, battering the bahamas, haiti, jamaica, cubea setting its sights on the east coast of the u. S. 21 people across the craribbean have already been killed and everyone from new england to virginia now being warned to prepare. Look at that. Because of this. Sandy could blend with a winter storm and reach the east coast as a super storm early next week. This is a very serious storm, guys. Stay with cnn. Well give you all the latest as it develops throughout the day and the weekend. Rob was saying in his lifetime he has never seen anything like this. American Airlines Says it will hire 2,500 new pilots over the next five years, to staff domestic and international routes. 1,500 of the new hires will replace pilots who are retiring. The Parent Company file for the record bankruptcy protection in november. The airline has been battling with its pilots union over efforts to cut labor costs. Check out these pictures of humanoid robots that will compete in a challenge, at stake millions of dollars of funding. It was laumplged by darpa, Defense Advanced Research agency, required the robots drive a car, travel through rubble, climb ladders, among other tasks. The idea they have is to develop robots to help in disaster scenarios. 20 minutes past the hour. Lets get an early read making national had had lines. Shades of 2000. Tampa bay times reports 27,000 absentee ballots in palm beach county, florida, cant be digitally scanned. Really . Really. Election officials are duplicating the markings from the bad ballots on to new ones in order to record the votes. Some are already questioning, of course, the accuracy. Come on, palm beach. That was the home of the butterfly ballots in 2000. Get your act together. From marblehead patch in massachusetts, bullying victim at Marblehead High School decided to fight back after hearing a nasty remark on her pigtails. She asked students to show up wearing pig tails the next day at school to send a message. Within 24 hours, the facebook page, pigtails 4 peace had more than 500 fans. Thats awesome. The craze is spreading and now parents are posting pictures of themselves wearing pigtails. Everyone has her back. Had i known, i would have had you wear pigtails. Had i could, i would, in support of her. Microsoft taking a chance, releasing a dramatically different operating system in a few hours. Well have more on windows 8. People are talking about this, coming up. 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Your boa [ garth ] thors Small Business earns double miles on every purchase, every day ahh, the new fabrics, put it on my spark card. [ garth ] why settle for less . The spiked heels are working. Wait [ garth ] great businesses deserve the most rewards [ male announcer ] the spark Business Card from capital one. Choose unlimited rewards with double miles or 2 cash back on every purchase, every day whats in your wallet . [ cheers and applause ] minding your business, u. S. Stock futures are down sharply this morning. European and asian markets are down as well. Driving factor here, weak corporate earnings. Including apple. Its very unusual for the tech giant. Some numbers we crunched from its earnings report, apple sold more than 292,000 iphones per day last quarter and more than 151,000 ipads per day. So looking forward, ceo tim cook said on a Conference Call with investors he expects record sales next quarter, of course, during the holiday season. Later this morning a big update on the health of the overall u. S. Gdp, expecting the economy grew at a rate of 1. 7 over the last three months, improvement from the Second Quarter but frankly still not great. Today, windows 8 is hitting store shelves. Microsofts new operating system that works on both pcs and touch screen devices. Its supposed to be drastically different. It is. From the windows you see on pcs now. Big gamble for microsoft. The system hasnt changed much since 1995. If you dont like change youre not going to like this. Window windows alone brought in more than 18 billion in sales last year. Windows on its own could rank among the 150 u. S. Largest companies by revenue. You can see how different it is, with the tiles there. Tremendously. People are talking about that. 25 minutes after the hour now. U. S. War ships armed with lasers that could blow up missiles and aircraft. If it sounds like part of the next blockbuster movie, its not. This is real. Well explain later this hour on cnn. Chances are, youre not made of money, so dont overpay for motorcycle insurance. Geico, see how much you could save. Its hard to see opportunity in todays challenging environment. Unless you have the right perspective. Bny mellon Wealth Management has the vision and experience to look beyond the obvious. Well uncover opportunities, find hidden risk, and make success a reality. Bny mellon Wealth Management ready or not, forecasters say Hurricane Sandy is probably headed right for the east coast. Neck and neck. President obama, mitt romney. This thing pretty much all tied up with just over a week to go. The underdogs triumph again. Can you believe it . The giants just two wins away from upsetting the heavily favored tigers. I was shocked when i woke up this morning, shock. Shock and thrilled, to be honest. But thats okay. Well, welcome back to early start. Thanks for being with us. Im zoraida sambolin. And im john berman. Millions of americans from new england to virginia are bracing for a potential super storm. Hurricane sandy is serious, already killed 21 people in haiti, jamaica and cuba and is setting her sights on the east coast of the u. S. Take a look at the storm from space. Sandy is packing sustained winds of 90 miles an hour. And its look iing more and mor likely that the northeast will be in harms way. This is supposed to happen early next week. Meteorologist rob marciano is tracking the hurricane from the extreme Weather Center in atlanta. This is super serious. You said youve never seen anything like this in your lifetime . No. You take a large hurricane like th this. Its getting bigger, even though the winds are down to 80 miles an hour, the wind field is getting bigger, canopy well over 1,000 miles. Then you combine it with this extraordinarily strong cold front and deep trough coming across the u. S. , almost winterlike air, a lot of jet Stream Energy with that. When this storm is going to start to weaken, as it goes to the north, as they typically do, the jet stream is going to give it some energy and blow this thing up. Thats what we havent seen. When we show you these computer model models, what were seeing now, a couple of days out, is typically what we see 12, 13 days out and we blow it off. Now it looks like its happening. Its movement is northwesterly at 13 miles an hour. Theyre feeling the effects here in flchlt we shorida. We showed you video. Lets show you video in cuba from yesterday. Over 100mileanhour winds, doing damage to that island nation. Infrastructure heavily damaged. These are scenes were going to see even with winds less than that across the northeastern u. S. The rain across florida, what you saw will combine with this front moving across the great lakes. Doesnt look top much right now. Temperature gradient is huge, dramatically colder behind this. The jet stream will infuse some juice into sandy as it gets a little farther north. Here is the forecast track for the National Hurricane center. We get more of a northeasterly movement, almost mimics the coastline of the u. S. Tropical Storm Force Winds across the carolinas. And big waves. Well see 30, 40footers across the carolinas, along long island and maine. Hurricanes, whoa say dont pay much attention to the tracks because it will have wideranging effects. This one especially. It may not have a tight eye as we typically see. It will have a huge, huge wind field. Not only that, its going to stick around for a couple of days. Youre talking about a Long Duration event, guys. These computer models, each line represents a model. Yesterday they were about half and half. Now nearly all of them bring it back into the northeast. Certainly telling you to take action and prepare for this storm coming monday and tuesday. Thank you for the warning. Rob marciano, live in atlanta for us. We have a shocking story out of new york city. New York City Police officer is being held without bail this morning, charged in a bizarre plot to kidnap, rape and torture women, then cook them and eat them. 28yearold officer is accused of accessing a national database, using his patrol car to spy on women he was targeting, also accused of emailing with alleged coconspirators. Death row inmate in ohio who says hes too fat to be executed has lost a round in his battle. He he weighs about 400 pounds. A warden says he he puts 540 pounds of weights on an execution table for two hours and the table held up just fine. He he is scheduled to die by lethal injection in january. 34 minutes after the hour, San Francisco giants are halfway home. They beat the tigers last night 20 to take a 20 lead in the series. The game may have been decided in the second inning here. Prince fielder, you see him rounding third there, thrown out at the plate trying to score from first on a double. This guy is not very fast. The tigers manage just one hit the rest of the way. Game three saturday at comerica park. Who predicted this . Not a lot of people. Tigers were favored here. All adding up to the same thing, race for the white house that is simply too close to call. Theres only a little over a week left. Well take a closer look, coming up. You know were kinda like twins. Tylenol we are . Nyquil stuffy yeah, we both relieve coughs, sneezing, aches, fevers. Tylenol and i relieve nasal congestion. Nyquil stuffy overachiever. Anncr vo tylenol cold multisymptom nighttime relieves nasal congestion. Nyquil cold flu doesnt. And these come together, one thing you can depend on is that these will come together. Delicious and wholesome. Some combinations were just meant to be. Tomato soup from campbells. Its amazing what soup can do. Wanted to provide better Employee Benefits while balancing the companys bottom line, their very first word was. 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Welcome back. 38 minutes past the hour. 11 days to election day. Poll of polls shows the candidates locked in a dead heat. An average of seven surveys across the country. Battleground state poll showing about the same. Showing the candidates tied at 48 in colorado. The president three points ahead of romney in nevada. Virgin virginia, fox news says that mitt romney is on top by two points. Now, all these polls are within the threepoint margin of error so pretty much tied in three swing states in the country. Margaret hoover and former Senior Adviser to president clinton and new york. Com writer, richard socarides. Were looking at the polls. Is there anything that could possibly happen, do you think, that could affect the outcome here now, or will it just come down to the wire . Look, you could begin to conceivably i will couch this by saying im the republican here, supporting mitt romney. But you could see the trend lines continue to increase for mitt romney because that is what has been happening. All the pollsters say dont look at the snapshot of the polls but the trend lines and the trend lines have been increasing for governor romney. However, my democratic opponent will tell you the other side of that coin. Actually, i think the smartest thinkers on this suggest that the trend lines are now in favor of president obama. I mean, we could argue back and forth about this. The truth is, its a very close election. We always knew it was going to be close, down to the wire. The country is divide on a lot of issues. And thank god we only have 11 days left. Can i be an independent arbiter here . There are pollsters that say its flat right now its not trending. Colorado, nevada. With nevada, you have interesting dynamics there, hit very terribly by the housing market. The democrats have taken a lot of effort to register hispanic voters. I am not surprised to see nevada going in obamas direction. Weve got nevada. Thats good. Margaret is giving us nevada. I dont think youre going to get virginia. And colorado, my home state, is a pure tossup. What generally ends up happening in colorado, its a purple state. But in the last few days, its these independent women and suburban women voters that end up tipping the scale. If something happened like another Richard Mourdock or another todd akin, that could tip the scales. Vice versa, if it stays on the economy there was a video overnight that the Obama Campaign put out that is causing some wave withes, mostly with conservatives. Theyre the ones upset about it. It stars lena dunham, the star and creator of the hit series girls. It talks about voting. Lets watch this video. Your first time shouldnt be with just anybody. You want to do it with a great guy. It should be with a guy with beautiful someone who really cares about and understands women. A guy who cares whether you get health insurance, specifically whether you get birth control. The consequences are huge. My first time voting was amazing. It was this line in a sand. Before i was a girl. Now i was a woman. I went to the polling station, pulled back the curtain. I voted for barack obama. So there are a lot of conservatives. Our friend Erick Erickson up in arms, thought this went too far, comparing voting for the first time to the other first time. What do you make of this . Too far . Theres so many analogies one could use to extrapolate this. He said the nice things to you the first time, too, and what did he do for you . Very quick this morning. Its clever. Its cute. Its a little edgy. Obviously its aimed at young people. And i think its all in good humor. No, no. Of course, conservatives, especially social conservatives will say this is deeply inappropriate. Take a joke. Get a life. Take a joke. If you have a sense of humor you can play out the joke. Okay. Lets move on here. One other thing we want to play here, president obama picking up a big endorsement yesterday from secretary of state colin powell. Lets listen to this and then well talk about it. Im not angry about it. I just wish he wouldnt call himself a republican. I love that. That was john mccain. Frankly, when you take a look at colin powell, you have to wonder whether thats an endorsement based on issues or whether hes got a slightly different reason for preferring president obama. What reason would that be . Well, i think when you have somebody of your own race that youre proud of being president of the United States, i applaud colin for standing with him. So thats whats making news today, the reaction from Romney Adviser john sununu. Can i just say this . You asked at the beginning of the segment, what could happen . And its stuff like this that could happen. Anything major. I think that republicans feel like theyre so close, but theyre kind of tripping over each other. And people are saying, you know, kind of things that are a little bit over the line. I mean, i think that clearly senator mccain is angry that colin powell didnt endorse him four years ago, mr. Sununu likes to make news by saying controversial things. But we see these comments about rape and those are going to make big news. The president also called mitt romney a bser yesterday, too. In rolling stone. Who cares . Its totally unpresident ial. He didnt actually say that. He referred generically. The point is, if youre saying these Little Things are going to tip the balance of the race, theyre happening on both sides. In terms of sununu, that is a very unfortunate comment. In terms of president obamas endorsement from colin powell, i think it made a really big difference four years ago. There are a lot of independents and, frankly, republicans who ended up voting for senator obama into being president who were persuaded into that. Four years later a lot of those independents who ended up voting for president obama may not vote for him again and it has nothing to do with the economy or for Colin Powells endorsement of him. Always great to have you here. Well go to margarets home state, colorado, for some Rocky Mountain high. On the ground as both candidates hope to carry that key swing state in order to reach the top of the political mountain. [ male announcer ] when it comes to the financial obstacles military families face, we understand. At usaa, we know military life is different. Weve been there. Thats why every bit of Financial Advice we offer is geared specifically to current and former military members and their families. [ laughs ] dad dad [ applause ] [ male announcer ] life brings obstacles. Usaa brings advice. Call or visit us online. Were ready to help. Playing a lone hand my life begins today fly by night away from here change my life again fly by night, goodbye my dear my ship isnt coming and i just cant pretend oww [ male announcer ] careful, youre no longer invisible in a midsize sedan. The volkswagen passat. Winner of a motor trend midsize sedan comparison. Thats the power of german engineering. At meineke i have options. Like oil changes starting at 19. 95. My money. My choice. My meineke. Welcome back. 48 minutes past the hour. Lets get you uptodate. Hurricane sandy killing 21 people in the caribbean, sets its sights on the east coast of the United States. That storm slamming the bahamas, haiti, jamaica, cuba, threatening homes, flooding a lot of roads. Everyone from maine to virginia being warned. It could devastate the east coast aas a super storm early next week. Star wars is almost here. Seems that way. The navy says its two years away from arming war ships with lasers that could zap incoming missiles and fighter jets. It reportedly costs less than 1. Firing one intercepter missile can cost more than 1 million. Back to politics now. Colorado and its nine electoral votes, crucial to both the Obama Campaign and Romney Campaign, one of eight swing states that could decide the outcome of this election. Cnns Miguel Marquez is going to extremes to take the pulse of colorado voters. This morning, he is in golden, colorado, which many of us know is the home of the coors brewery, located in Jefferson County. I cant wait to see what you have for us this morning. Reporter i did not go to the coors brewing company, unfortunately. Its right down the street from us. We are in Jefferson County. This is the fourth most populous county in the state. Poll showing colorado all locked up. Thats where its been for a long time. We came here to find out why. Here we are, Rocky Mountain high in golden, colorado. This is Jefferson County. Its one of the most competitive counties in this state, both campaigns are working this county very hard. Its because as little as 20,000 or 30,000 votes across the state of colorado could paint this state red or blue. Thats as little as 1 of the overall votes state wide. This is always the scariest bit of this, isnt it . The first step is always the hardest. Reporter spepser has run his business for two years. So this is the office . It is. Reporter not a bad office. I like it. Reporter this year the companys biggest, 3,000 trips, everything from repelling to back country skiing. Its a lot of hard work. Reporter the business expanded, he says, by keeping prices low and taking advantage of coloradoans staying close to home. What do you hope for the next four years . The more people that we can raise the bar for equal pay, the more that we can feel inclusion in this state. Reporter while some have weathered the recession well, colorado continues to struggle. Unemployment rate across the state about 8 . Here in Jefferson County its about 7. 4 , just a little bet r better. This is the new restaurant. This is it. Reporter the nunez family, all ten of them, pitching in on a new venture, a family restaurant. The restaurants draw, authentic cuisine, prepared by gloria nunez, who move d here from mexico city when she was 21. How many recipes are in your head . I dont know. I can never count them. Reporter now at 74 she is known as grandma. I think one of the most important things is the economy to go up a little. Reporter the restaurant is run out of a strip mall. Soon a new building, Liquor License and as many as 15 new employees. This family is still agonizing over which candidate is best for the future. What makes this area so competitive . As you consider the numbers in terms of how the his ppanic population is growing not only here but across the country, we have an important voice. Reporter latinos, Business Owners and residents ready to deliver colorados crucial nine electoral votes. They could decide who takes the white house. Now early voting started here in colorado this past monday. So far, just a slight number of more republicans have returned those ballots than democrats. The thing about colorado, Jefferson County, its evenly split, a third republicans, third democrats and a bit more independents in this state. Thats where the big fight is between these two candidates. Its always come down to the wire here. It looks like it will be that way until election day. Miguel marquez, cant wait to see what you have in store next. Always great to see you. Remember this movie . Bar bearian, warrior, thief. Conan. Its coming back. At least thats what Arnold Schwarzenegger says. Well explain after this quick break. Oh, my. And tastes simply delicious. For those of us with lactose intolerance. Lactaid® milk. The original 100 lactosefree milk. To volunteer to help those in need. When a twinge of back pain surprises him. Morning starts in high spirits, but theres a growing pain in his lower back. As lines grow longer, his pain continues to linger. But after a long day of helping others, he gets some helpful advice. Just two aleve have the strength to keep back pain away all day. Today, jason chose aleve. Just two pills for all day pain relief. Try aleve d for strong, all day long sinus and headache relief. Try aleve d for strong, all day long mike rowe here at a ford tell me fiona, whos having a big tire event . Your ford dealer. Who has 11 major brands to choose from . Your ford dealer. Whos offering a rebate . Your ford dealer. Who has the low price tire guarantee. Affording peace of mind to anyone who might be in the market for a new set of res . Your ford dealer. Im beginning to sense a pattern. Buy four select tires, get a 60 rebate. Use the Ford Service Credit credit card, get 60 more. Thats up to 120. Where did you get that sweater vest . Your ford dealer. 57 minutes after the hour now. John berman with zoraida sambolin. Top trends this morning. Arnold schwarzenegger is set to play conan the barbarian. It has no director and no writer, but talk of a release from 2014. University of arkansas freshman who had her left leg amputated before her first birthday is now showing off her skills as a college cheerleader, cheering for the spirit squad with impeccable moves and zebra print prosthetic leg. She earned her spot on the squad with her talent and gets no special preference. They mostly talked about their kids, especially first daughters sasha and malia and whether they can trick or treat incognito. Can you trick or treat . Yeah. You can . They trick or treat every year. We do a couple of things at halloween much we host thousands of kids from area schools. Right. Who come to north portico and trick or treat. And force vegetables down their throats . No, we dont. Its the worst party ever. There are times of the year when candy is good and halloween is one of those times. They get their stuff and some cookies. Your kids, when they get can candy, do the secret service guys like eat half of every one of them to make sure theyre okay . No. As long as nobody knows its them, which usually they dont know. Early start continues right now. Sandy takes aim. The deadly hurricane looks like its right on track to slam the east coast. We have the latest path of the storm straight ahead. When you take a look at colin powell, you have to wonder whether thats an endorsement based on issues. Top Romney Adviser backtracking after suggesting the president won a big endorsement because of his race. Back together again. Pakistani teen, who has become an International Symbol of courage, reunited with her family in the hospital. Good morning to you. Welcome to early start. Were glad your with us this morning. Im zoraida sambolin. And im john berman. It is 6 00 am in the east. We have a big story this morning about a big storm. Millions sandy from new england to virginia, and as far inland as ohio, everyone being warned to prepare for action. Because of a rare atmospheric condition forecasters fear sandy could slam into the northeast early next week, as a superstorm. Sandy has already inflicted considerable damage. 11 people dead in cuba. The hurricane ripping roofs off some homes and completely flattening others. Sandy has also killed people in jamaica and haiti with heavy rains triggers catastrophic floods. Even though the hurricane is several days away the sandbagging has already started as far north as new jersey. Rob marciano is tracking sandys every move. He joins us from the extreme Weather Center in atlanta. Good morning, guys. This is serious storm now. A lot of our computer models have come into agreement in the last 18 hours. So weve really gone from, you know, wondering to now starting to prepare, and really sound the alarm for this. First things first, sandy, category 1 hurricane, battering the bahamas with 80mileperhour winds. Its begin to be to take a different shape now. Doesnt look like the classic hurricane that we typically see. The further north it goes the less it will look like a hurricane and things will begin to combine with this. What were also seeing is impacts on florida already. Some of the rainfall there. Creating Tropical Storm force conditions here. Some of the video out of Fort Lauderdale yesterday. Big waves rolling in. Beach erosion a huge problem. A lot of sand been wiped off the beaches there. That will continue up the florida coastline, and the carolina coastline for the next couple of days. Thats going to be a big issue and there you see the rainfall across parts of florida continue to roll in. Right now, about 200 miles or so off the coast of miami. About 480 miles south of charleston, North Carolina. And moving in that general direction. Heres your forecast track from the National Hurricane center. Category 1 storm, kind of mimics the coastline of the u. S. Saturday night into sunday morning, its pretty much off the North Carolina coastline. Probably about 100, 150 miles or so. At that point well probably be seeing 30, 40, maybe even 50 foot waves outside of Cape Hatteras. The waves are just going to be monsters. Then we get up towards the northeast. And were getting more confident towards this solution. Somewhere from Cape Hatteras, and really you could include boston and maine in this scenario sandy will make landfall. Its going to be combining some of its energy with a winter storm thats pushing east. Thats why thats what makes this so remarkable. We talk about solutions from our computer models. Each one of these lines represents a computer model and yesterday we had about half of them going out to sea. Now nearly all of them are taking this storm back into the northeast. So were getting much more confident with this solution. Heres one of those computer models. Each one of their lines when theyre tightly packed to the that means weve got some serious wind happening. These winds, and this particular model takes the center right over new york, are so expansive. It doesnt matter if it comes right at your town. Anywhere especially to the east of this town by a couple hundred miles youre going to have impacts that include winds that will be blowing 60, 70 miles an hour, possibly for a couple of days. So widespread power outages. Thats what i think most people have to prepare for, john and zoraida. I dont expect Mass Evacuations but you should prepare your home to potentially be without power for days if you live anywhere across the northeast, especially close to the coastline. Thank you, rob. We cant emphasize this enough. This does sound serious. Please stay with cnn throughout the day. All weekend, next monday. Well keep you up to speed on all the latest with this storm sandy. It is three minutes past the hour. Politics now. With just 11 shopping days left, president obama and mitt romney are doing everything they can to pick up votes in the critical battleground states. The president topped off two days of round the clock campaigning in eight states with a rally in cleveland, ohio, last night. And not to be outdone, mitt romney was Holding Court in cincinnati. Romney returns to ohio tonight for a joint rally with paul ryan. And the latest cnn poll of polls has romney at 48 , president obama at 47 . You know thats a virtual dead heat there. And also three new swing state polls that show how tight this race really is. In nevada, obama is up 50 to romneys 47. According to a new nbc wall street journal poll. Same polling has the race tied in colorado. 48 to 48. And according to a fox news poll in virginia, romney is up, 47 to 45. All of these, of course, are virtual ties. Cnn political director mark preston live in washington. Whoo, that was a lot. What do both campaigns going on today. Theyre trying to get votes, no question about that zoraida. We know president obama is just off the campaign trail after crisscrossing the country trying to rally supporters in the key states. However, he still will be campaigning in many ways. He has 10 interviews scheduled today. Seven of them are with affiliates in these battleground states. The most notable one is with mtv. A live interview later this afternoon with the mtv audience which just goes to show he is trying to shore up his base. An important part of his Political Base are young voters. Meanwhile mitt romney is in iowa delivering an economic speech in a state right now where he does trail barack obama, but talking about a subject that has been in his roundhouse and has been very helpful to his campaign as a successful businessman. He is trying to convince voters that he is the person who can turn the economy around. And mark, theres some controversy surrounding a recent obama endorsement. Former secretary of state colin powell supporting the president , the second time now. But its how one Romney Adviser responding thats actually making news. And this is coming from john sununu, the former governor of New Hampshire, actually happened last night on our air on piers morgan. It was the last question during this interview, and, in fact, piers asked him about the colin powell endorsement. Lets just have a list. And frankly, when you take a look at colin powell you have to wonder if thats an endorsement based on issues or whether hes got a slightly different reason for preferring president obama. What reason would that be . Well, i think when you have somebody of your own race that youre proud of being president of the United States, i applaud colin for standing with him. And there you had john sununu just last night on piers morgan raising the race cord. Which is obviously a very volatile thing to do, certainly with 11 days until election day. He tried to clean it up very quickly afterwards. Lets just show the statement and let me read it to you. Colin powell is a friend and i respect the endorsement decision he made, and i do not doubt that it was based on anything but his support of the president s policies. Piers morgans question was whether colin powell should leave the party and i dont think he should. I should note that i do know the governor very well. He has said controversial statements in the past. I dont think he is a racist. But this is something that is certainly going to play out throughout the day. It will be interesting to see if colin powell is asked about this and asked to weigh in on it. One more thing i want you to weigh on. The Obama Campaign has come under fire for conservatives for a new ad starring lynna dunham, the creators of hbos girls. Whats in the ad thats making republicans so angry . This has to do with the whole effort by the Obama Campaign to try to get another critical part of this base, which is women, to come and support him. And in this video, which is online, she kind of compares her first time voting to ill tell you what. Lets just take a listen and let her say it. Your first time shouldnt be with just anybody. You want to do it with a great guy. It should be with a guy with beautiful, someone really cares about and understands women. A guy who cares whether you get health insurance. Specifically whether you get birth control. The consequences are huge. My first time voting was amazing. It was this line in the sand. Before i was a girl, now i was a woman. I went to the polling station, pulled back the curtain. I voted for barack obama. So there you have this video right there which is clearly skirting the whole idea of the first time having sex. And your first time voting. And of course social conservatives are taking offense to that. And zoraida, you know, what a morning that we can talk about race and sex before 6 30. I got to tell you, only with you, mark preston, live for us in washington, d. C. Thank you. Eight minutes after the hour. Some other headlines right now. Some voting problems, dangling chads, deja vu in florida. It seems 27,000 absentee ballots cant be digitally scanned. Theres some kind of design flaw with the printing down in florida. Election are officials are duplicating the markings from the bad ballots onto new ones in order to record the votes but theyre already facing questions now about the accuracy of the results. And a suicide bombing outside of a mosque in northern afghanistan has killed 40 people. And Afghan Police say that includes fellow officers and children as well. Dozens of others were injured. An interior Ministry Spokesman said the bomber struck right after morning prayers. The teen activist from pakistan who was shot in the head by the taliban is being reunited with her parents in britain. 15yearold Malala Yousafzai is in a Birmingham Hospital recovering. Shes able to stand up now and in stable condition. Malala has become a symbol of courage for risking her life by demanding equal rights for education for girls in pakistan. After the first two games of the world series, the giants, theyre in the drivers seat. Theyre up 20 right now. San francisco pitcher Madison Baumgartner struggled through seven innings but allowed just two hits and struck out eight. Dnt give up any runs. The giants broke a scoreless tie in the seventh on a double play. The infield was not in on that play. Thats pretty controversial right there. But the biggest controversy and the biggest play may have come in the second inning. Detroits Prince Fielder on first base trying to score on a double from young. You see this. Prince fielder not exactly fleet of foot. They waved him home. He was out at the plate. The tigers mustered no offense after that. Clearly a turning point in the game. Detroit now trails 20. And the series returns to detroit tomorrow night. All right. And after almost 30 years on the job, nba commissioner david stern says he is planning to retire. This is in february of 2014. Stern took over in 1984, has presided over a period of unprecedented growth for the league. Larry bird, magic johnson, michael jordan, kobe bryant. Shaquille oneal, all became superstars during sterns time as commissioner. Current Deputy Commissioner will take over. It is ten minutes after the hour. There is just a shocking story here in new york city to tell you about. Its impossible to understand how anyone ever could kill a child, unthinkable to comprehend about coming home and seeing your children stabbed to death in your own home. It happened, it happened in an upscale new york city neighborhood. Possibly by that nanny. We will have the story coming up next. Were lucky, its not every day you find a companion as loyal as a subaru. Love. Its what makes a subaru, a subaru. Ive been a superintendent for 30 some years at many different park Service Units across the United States. The only time ive ever had a break is when i was on maternity leave. I have retired from doing this one thing that i loved. Now, im going to be able to have the time to explore something different. Its like another chapter. At meineke i have options. Like oil changes starting at 19. 95. My money. My choice. My meineke. Welcome back, everyone. A mother comes home to the unthinkable. Finding two of her three children stabbed to death in their manhattan bathtub. And the nanny a pool of blood nearby. Investigators say the nanny killed the kids and tried to kill herself. Deborah feyerick is following developments. What more do we know at this point . The only word that you think of when you think of this particular story is heartbreak. It is always a leap of faith when a parent leaves a child with a babysitter or a nanny or any cavegiver. In this particular case the mom returned home about 5 30. The home was dark. She asked the doorman whether the nanny and children had gone out. When she was told no she went back upstairs in the bathroom, found her children, ages 2yearold leo and 6yearold lucia in the bathtub with multiple stab wounds. The nanny was on the floor, a knife by her side. It appeared she had tried to slit her throat. She is in custody. She is in Critical Condition. No charges have been filed yet. Theres no question, no answer, no explanation as to what caused this nanny to snap. But thats something that police are looking into. Again as you say, john, this unspeakable horror that this mom would come home and find this. And theyre trying to get to the bottom of this. Life in new york city, you know, revolves around caregivers, babysitters, nannies. By all accounts this nanny was fully vetted, very close to the family. What do we know . She was from the dominican republic. The mom, 33yearold marina krim was a stay at home mom, raising her kids. Theres a blog, how happy she was raising these children. When the third child was born, leo, she apparently, the family decided that they were going to bring on a nanny and the nanny was at home while the mom was out taking her third daughter, her middle daughter, to swimming lessons. And so, they had spent time with family in the dominican republic. There wasnt any indication that there was something wrong with this particular woman. So there must have been a horrific moment of terror there. Do police have any clue . Did neighbors hear anything . The neighbors didnt hear anything until the mom came home and all of a sudden they heard these shrieks, these chilling cries from the mom, who was trying to process the information looking at these beloved children, just dripping with blood. So a neighbor called 911 and thats when the police came. The father who is a cnbc executive was away on business. He was met at the airport by police. And he was told that his two children were at the hospital and thats where he was taken where he found his wife and his other daughter, his middle daughter. All right, deborah feyerick, thank you so much for joining us. It is a shocking and heartbreaking story. Thanks. It is 17 minutes past the hour. Lets get you up to date. Hurricane sandy battering the caribbean and now setting its sights on the east coast of the United States. 21 people have already been killed. In haiti, jamaica, and cuba. Everyone there new england to virginia is now being warned to prepare to take action. Because sandy could join up with a winter storm and reach the east coast as a super storm. This is scheduled for early next week. So lets go live to jason wheeler, cnn affiliate Central Florida news 13 in volusia county, florida, this morning. What can you tell us . Right now were in daytona beach. The mainteam here where were at right now and were getting more of a glancing blow from Hurricane Sandy. Still 300 something miles away from us. But still causing havoc here along the Central Florida coast. Along the atlantic here. Usually the water in the Atlantic Ocean is a few hundred feet past us. But its right about high tide right now. The water is being pushed up extremely close to the seawalls here. Weve been seeing this all morning long the water just creeping along this way. This is a low spot area so the water easily gets this area. But goes to show you just how much this wind is pushing these waves. Red flag warnings along the florida coast, meaning its not safe to get out in the water. Its like a washingtoning machine right now. Volusia county warning people to stay out of the water. We actually drive on the beach here, but driving privileges have been suspended at least until sunday, possibly monday, as well, because of the high waves, the high water, these high winds, zoraida. Jason wheeler, affiliate in Central Florida, news 13. Thank you for joining us this morning. 18 minutes after the hour right now. A School Board Member in New Hampshire says he wants to get rid of High School Football in his town. Dr. Paul butler was a retired surgeon, played football himself, but says recent studies have revealed just how dangerous the game can be. Some players and their parents are sticking up for High School Football in that town. Football, unlike hockey, unlike lacrosse, both of which are violent games, football is the one that gets repeated if youre going to look at sports in general, hockey, lacrosse. You cant just pick football because thats whats in the nfl and thats what everybody is talking about now. You really are hearing more and more concerns around the country. Dr. Butler is hoping to put the matter up for a vote pretty soon. Buying a prosthetic arm could soon be like buying a new pair of shoes. You might be able to pick one up in small, medium or large and use it right outside of the box. Heres more in this weeks tech tech technovation. Its like putting a back pack on. Very simple and very fast. Bill taylor tests a new type of prosthetic arm that could give hope to people around the world. Created by a group of engineering students from the university of illinois the arm does not have to be custom made. Its designed to be able to be taken out of the box or off the shelf and fit someone in less than 20 minutes. Their open Socket Technology makes the arm effective and affordable. And the device will cost less than 300. The socket is really the part where weve done our innovation. It uses both rigid plastic pieces, and flexible cloth pieces to enable it to be very easily adjustable. The students found that the nonprofit ipt during their senior year in 2010 to help people who cant afford prosthetics. The vast majority of people who are in need of prosthetic care are living in developing countries. But the key for us will really be partnering with aid organizations to get it out there and in the hands of people who can use it. The group is working with am putt ees in guatemala to test the device. Everyone has the right to have access to prosthetic care. By creating this technology we can allow people to regain independence that they may have lost by losing their limb. Thats pretty cool. Very cool. 20 minutes after the hour now. This does not happen often these days. But apple actually disappointed investors this week. Well have the story coming up. Atmix of energies. Ve the world needs a broader thats why were supplying natural gas to generate cleaner electricity. That has around 50 fewer co2 emissions than coal. And its also why, with our partner in brazil, shell is producing ethanol a biofuel made from renewable sugarcane. A minute, mom lets broaden the Worlds Energy mix. Lets go. Welcome back. 24 minutes past the hour. We are minding your business. U. S. Stock futures are down sharply this morning. A lot of volatility in the markets. Two of the biggest reasons, weak corporate earnings and concerns about growth in the Worlds Largest economy. The u. S. Is included in that and later this morning well find out Third Quarter gdp. Economists expect the economy grew at a rate of 1. 7 . An improvement for the Second Quarter, but still not strong growth. Apple earnings missed analyst expectations for the last quarter. Very unusual for the tech giant. Ceo tim cook says he expects record sales over the holiday season, though. Apple is hoping to get a boost from the new ipad mini unveiled this week. As of today you can go online and preorder that new tinely tablet from apples website. And some relief at the pump. National average gas prices have been falling for 15 Straight Days now. The new National Average for a gallon of regular, 3. 58 a gallon. Aaa says they expect gas prices to drop down to as low as 3. 25 a gallon by thanksgiving. But aaa says gas prices on election day are expected to be the highest ever for a president ial election day. And u. S. Warships armed with lasers, lasers that can blow up missiles and aircraft. If it sounds like part of the next blockbuster movie, it is not, folks. This is real. We will explain later this hour on cnn. And if you are leaving the house right now you can watch us any time on your desk top, mobile phone, cnn. Com tv. President obama theres just no quit in america. And youre seeing that right now. Over five million new jobs. Exports up forty one percent. Home values. Rising. Our auto industry. Back. And our heroes are coming home. Were not there yet, but weve made Real Progress and the. Last thing we should do is turn back now. Heres my plan for the next four years making education and training a national priority; building on our manufacturing boom; boosting americanmade energy; reducing the deficits responsibly by cutting where. We can, and asking the wealthy to pay a little more. And ending the war in afghanistan, so we can. Do some nationbuilding here at home. Thats the right path. So read my plan, compare it to governor romneys. And decide which is better for you. Its an honor to be your president. And im asking for your vote. So together, we can keep moving america forward. Im barack obama and i approve this message. With a vial and syringe. Me, explaining what i was doing at breakfast. And me discovering novolog mix 70 30 flexpen. Flexpen is prefilled with your premix insulin. Dial the exact dose. Inject by pushing a button. No vials, syringes or coolers to carry. Flexpen is insulin delivery my way. Novolog mix 70 30 is an insulin used to control high blood sugar in adults with diabetes. Do not inject if you do not plan to eat within 15 minutes to avoid low blood sugar. Tell your Healthcare Provider about all medicines you take and all of your medical conditions, including if you are pregnant or breastfeeding. Most common side effects include reactions at the injection site, weight gain, swelling of your hands and feet, and vision changes. Other serious side effects include low blood sugar and low potassium in your blood. Get medical help right away if you experience serious allergic reactions, body rash, trouble with breathing, fast heartbeat, sweating, or if you feel faint. I would have started flexpen sooner, but i thought it would cost more. Turns out its covered by my insurance plan. Thanks to flexpen, vial and syringe are just a memory. Ask your doctor about novolog mix 70 30 flexpen, covered by 90 of insurance plans, including medicare. Find your copay at myflexpen. Com. Ready or not, forecasters say Hurricane Sandys likely headed right for the east coast. Neck and neck. President obama, mitt romney, pretty much tied up with just over a week to go. He might be the ultimate underdog. A bigtime College Basketball player with one hand. This is incredible. His inspiring story is now a new movie. He is going to join us today along with the director. Just an incredible story. You wont want to miss it. Bring the kids over to the tv. Welcome back to early start. Im john berman. And im zoraida sambolin. Millions of americans from new england to virginia may soon be staring down what is kohled a superstorm. Hurricane sandy has already killed 21 people in the caribbean and shes got the east coast of the United States squarely in her sights. Shes packing sustained winds of 85 miles per hour, and its looking more and more likely that the northeast will be in harms way and thats going to happen early next week. Meteorologist rob marciano is tracking the hurricane from the extreme Weather Center in atlanta. Rob, youve been telling us you have never seen a storm like this. No, this is so different from other hurricanes that we cover. And other storms that we cover. Usually youve got a fall winter storm scenario. Or you have a hurricane setup. This is going to be a combination of the two and its going to be a Long Duration event once it gets towards the northeast. The storm has winds of 80 miles an hour northwesterly moving at 13 miles an hour. The further north it goes, its going to start to transform into more of a mid latitude type of situation. But its already done some damage. Taking some of the video out of cuba yesterday. With winds there, category 2 strength over 100 miles an hour. Big trees down. Tree limbs, of course, down and power lines down all over. Infrastructure, destroyed across much of eastern cuba. And we may very well see similar situation here Going Forward across the northeast. Because the wind will be so strong and so long long time frame over a large period of real estate. Here is the rainfall right now across parts of florida. Theyre getting battered with the wind and the waves right now. And from florida through the carolinas, possibly eastern long island, we could see 30 to 40 foot waves before this is done. Heres your forecast from the National Hurricane center. Off the coastline but it will be close enough to get tropical Storm Force Winds for some of this area, and again the waves are going to be huge, especially across the carolinas sunday, a night into monday morning then we turn left towards the northeast coastline and by this time things get a little bit more convoluted. Dont Pay Attention so much. I know we hear that over and over again when it comes to hurricanes, but this is going to have a huge wind field. Especially on the right side of the storm, thats where youre going to have your largest impact. The way this is setting up with that jet Stream Energy coming in, more like a fall and winter type jet, that infuses the storm with juice and thats going to get it to explode as far as its intensity is concerned and its going to be big as well. Youre going to look at this storm potentially spinning in this area for a few days. Forget about the category 1 with this. When youve got trees that have leaves on them still this kind of wind and then rain on top of that, youre talking about trees that are going to come down, power lines are going to be out and the coastal flooding situation as well is going to be huge. Weve got lunar high tide meaning the moon is full right now. Tides are already high. I do anticipate coastal evacuations along the immediate shoreline. All of long island, that probably isnt going to happen. But what folks should start to do is prepare their home for a Long Duration event, potentially being without power for several days. Thats what were looking at here. Hopefully this forecast is wrong. But were getting more confident, many of our computer models now coming into agreement somewhere in that corridor is where this thing will hit monday, tuesday, and wednesday. That is great advice. Stay with rob. Stay with us. Stay with cnn for the latest track of Hurricane Sandy throughout the day, throughout this weekend. Were tracking it like no one else can with meteorologists and reporters spread across the east coast. This one is serious. A new York City Police officer is in big trouble this morning. Federal prosecutors have charged him in a gruesome plot to kidnap, rape, and torture women. Then, cook and eat them. Investigators say officer Gilberto Valle used his patrol car to spy on women he was targeting. The 28yearold cop is accused of accessing a National Crime database to locate potential victims. Hes being held without bail. A death row inmate in ohio who says hes too fat to be executed has lost a round in his battle. Ronald post weighs about 400 pounds. His lawyers say hes closer to 480. A warden says he put 540 pounds of weights on an execution table for two hours and that the table held up just fine. He is scheduled to die by lethal injection in january. A former Heisman Trophy candidate at lsu is facing drug charges. Baton rouge place arrested tyran matthew and three former teammates yesterday. Officers say they found ten bags of marijuana at matthews apartment. College football fans know matthew as the honey badger. Lsu kicked him off the team before the season started reportedly because he failed drug tests. The San Francisco giants halfway home. They beat the tigers last night 20 to take a 20 lead in the world series. This game may have been decided in the second inning. Detroits Prince Fielder, from first, waved home from third. Trying to store. Prince fielder not fast, and he is out at the plate. The tigers managed just one hit the rest of the way. I think you can see how upset Prince Fielder is there. Really upset he was waved home. Should have stooi stayed at third. Not a fast gentleman. Game three is saturday night. The tigers will try to get back in the series then. Can you imagine that . The giants have a special guest at last nights game. Bryan stow is a giants fan. He was viciously beaten outside Dodger Stadium on opening day 2011. You probably remember this. Its believed to be the first ball game he has attended since that attack. It is great to see him back at the game. Seven different polls from across the country all adding up to the exact same thing. A race for the white house that is simply too close to call. Theres just a little over a week left now. Were going to take a much closer look coming up. My name is hunter cannon. Playing sports is just my whole life. Looking back, if it wasnt for shriners hospital, things would just be really, really different. I lost my leg when i was a kid. There was a time when i felt like i wasnt going to be able to walk again. It was a pretty bad accident but shriners showed me who i could be again. They turned my whole life around. They call it love to the rescue and it really works. Hunters life is one of nearly a million changed by donations from people like you. Send your love to the rescue. Donate to shriners hospitals for children today. For the very last time this week Soledad Obrien joins us for a look at what is ahead on starting point. Ahead on starting point this morning, right at the top of the hour, were going to talk about Hurricane Sandy on move heading toward the eastern u. S. Already its done some major damage. At least 21 people now reported killed in the caribbean. Homes have been flattened, flooded. Now she could turn into this superstorm weve been talking about. Were going to track her, bring you the very latest developments on sandy. Plus the pakistani teenage girl shot by the taliban for standing up for womens rights has been reunited with her family for the First Time Since the attack. Were going to update you on the condition of malala straight ahead this morning. President ial candidates, believe it or not, theyre campaigning today. What a shock, right . Theyre vying for your votes. 11 days left until the election. Weve got polls to show you and a controversy over a comment from a top Romney Adviser. Some people say is racially charged. You think . Well talk about that. I love governor sununu. I love the news that he makes each and every day. Plus mayor cory booker is going to join us as well. Right at the top of the hour. Thank you so much, soledad. Talking about the polls, neck and neck pretty much a dead heat. The cnn poll of polls shows it a virtual tie. Mitt romney with a onepoint lead over president obama, 48 to 47 . And brannew battleground state polls are showing exactly the same thing, with a survey from nbc, marist and the wall street journal showing the candidates exactly tied 48 in colorado. And the president just three points ahead of romney in nevada. And in virginia, a fox news poll shows romney, romney is only two points ahead of the president. And within the polls threepoint margin of error. These three states such key battlegrounds. Were joined now by richard socarides, a democratic strategist and cnn contributor and columnist forew yorker. Com. And margaret hoover, also contributor to cnn. Com. They are both great friends of ours. The race all tied up. Locked up nationally. Locked up in the battleground states. Exciting. Can anything change this projectry . Is this just the way its going to be going to election day not knowing who is going to win . The answer is yes but we dont know what its going to be. Anything could happen, and we know that in close elections events at the last minute sometimes alter things. Sometimes alter them a little bit, make them closer but dont change the outcome. But you know, we democrats feel pretty good about where we are right now. I mean it is close, but we think president obama has the slight edge and were feeling pretty good. Margaret i think shes feeling really good, too. I think republicans feel the same way. I think we agree its a very, very close race. Could go either way at this point. Outidentify events can influence the race at the end. Both campaigns, i will say, especially the Romney Campaign, is playing it very safe in these last 11 days. We will see if there is apparently a for example Brian Williams and president obama went on the road together for two days. The Romney Campaign has yet to decide whether theyre going to awill you the press to have that level of access to romney. This is a sign of a guy who thinks hes got some momentum in his direction, and dont want to have any missteps. John sununu not playing it so safe there. John sununu did you know, this is what were going to do. Were going to play that and then talk about sununu. And, frankly, when you take a look at colin powell you have to wonder whether thats an endorsement based on issues or whether hes got a slightly different reason for preferring president obama. What reason would that be . Well, i think when you have somebody of your own race that youre proud of being president of the United States, i applaud colin for standing with him. So margaret you mention missteps. Right . Are these missteps that could affect anything . Look. I think missteps by the candidates are the ones that are most likely to affect things. Clearly john sununu has said something that is clearly offensive to a lot of americans. This is an esteemed general of the United States who served america and americas military very well. He is also secretary of state. He is widely respected by many, many americans. To think that he is picking the president based on the color of his skin and not by any other contributions that he has made or substantive policy contributions is really plus hes a republican. The important thing about the colin powell endorsement is he is a republican, he votes republican, he supported a lot of republican president s and here hes saying, you know, again, that barack obama, in terms of foreign policy, which colin powell has a history of caring about, and in terms of domestic policy, colin powell, you know, is concerned with the direction of the country very generally, he believes that barack obama is the person who will lead us forward. Right. It was big news four years ago, zoraida. I will tell you. I think it really made a difference to a lot of independents who were on the fence but werent ready to vote for senator obama before he was president. Now its less of a news story. People sort of, at least republicans, have long expected that colin powell would still be the sununu video one thing that bubbled up overnight. There was another controversy bubbling up with a video from the Obama Campaign starring lynna dunham, the star of hbos hit series girls asking people to vote, comparing your first vote to your first other thing. Lets watch the video. Your first time shouldnt be with just anybody. You want to do it with a great guy. It should be with a guy with beautiful, someone who really cares about and understands women. A guy who cares whether you get health insurance. Specifically whether you get birth control. The consequences are huge. My first time voting was amazing. It was this line in the sand. Before i was a girl. Now i was a woman. I went to the polling station and pulled back the curtain. I voted for barack obama. Now, a lot of conservatives overnight, including Erick Erickson, Kelly Ann Conway said it is offensive, demeaning to women. I think this is an internet advertisement. I think if you know who lynna dunham is before this ad you are not going to be offended. I will bet you that Erick Erickson did not know before this ad who lynna dunham was. I think he would be offended by the hbo mini series. He would be offended by the show. What this does demonstrate is there is separation on behalf of the Obama Campaign to get millennial voters. The millennial enthusiasm is off. They were a huge part of the enthusiasm. 18 of the electorate last time. They voted two to one for barack obama. This time theres only 48 of millennials say that theyre going to vote. Yes, barack obama is winning, but by less of a margin. Way closer margins than four years ago. And so this is clearly a play to get the kids riled up. Oh, my gosh. This time next week one more week. We have 11 days left. All next week. Thank you. Margaret hoofer, richard socarides, thank you so much. 45 minutes past the hour. Some 8 Million People have already voted early and if you are one of them, we would like to hear from you. In our project voter graph we are asking viewers to send in a picture of themselves and tell us who they voted for and why they voted early. Be creative. Take a picture of yourself in front of your house, your business, your family, perhaps. Something that defines who you are and where you live. And all this week and leading up to election day well showcase our votergraphs on the show. To submit your votergraph head to our blog, cnn. Com earlystart. 46 minutes after the hour. Want to get you up to date on the headlines. Hurricane sandy, setting its sight on the east coast after killing 21 people in the caribbean. The storm battering the bahamas, haiti, jamaica and cuba, flattening homes and flooding roads. Everyone from new england to virginia now being warned to prepare for action. Why . Because sandy could merge with a winter storm and reach the east coast as a devastating superstorm early next week. Star wars is almost here. The navy says its two years away from army warships with lasers that can zap incoming missiles and fighter jets. And zapping apparently is cheap. A shot from laser reportedly costs less than a buck. Firing one interceptor missile can cost more than a million dollars. I knew i was learning by watching star wars. Those 10,000 times. Its a tale of dogged determination that transcends sports. The young man with one hand playing division one College Basketball. His story has inspired a new movie, long shot. Kevin law and director Martin Franklin join us live coming up. [ owner ] i need to expand to meet the needs of my growing business. But how am i going to fund it . And i have to find a way to manage my cash flow better. [ female announcer ] our wells fargo bankers are here to listen, offer guidance and provide you with options tailored to your business. Weve loaned more money to Small Businesses than any other bank for ten years running. So come talk to us to see how we can help. Wells fargo. Together well go far. Keys, keys, keys, keys, keys. Well, hes not very handsome to look at [ sighs ] oh, hes shaggy and he eats like a hog [ male announcer ] the volkswagen jetta. Available with advanced keyless technology. Control everything from your pocket, purse, or wherever. Thats the power of german engineering. That dirty, old eggsuckin dog thats the power of german engineering. One is for a clean, wedomestic Energy Future that puts us in control. Our abundant natural gas is already saving us money, producing cleaner electricity, putting us to work here in america and supporting wind and solar. Though all Energy Development comes with some risk, were committed to safely and responsibly producing natural gas. Its not a dream. Americas natural gas. Putting us in control of our Energy Future, now. I think it would be very difficult to play basketball with just one arm. In a way thats remarkable. This is incredible. At 19 years old our next guest made basketball history overcoming obstacles. Jordan, bird and magic could never even imagine. Now 22 years old, kevin lau is the first person in the United States to play division i basketball with only one hand. He was born missing most of his left arm. But that hasnt stopped him on or off the court. His story is featured in a brandnew documentary longshot. And joining us now is lau and the director of the film franklin martin. Thank you so much, gentlemen, for coming in this morning. I really appreciate it. So kevin, the film starts with you visiting your fathers grave. He tied of leukemia when he were just 10 years old and you say that he was really tough on you growing up. You had a very tense relationship at the time of his death. So coming to terms with his death was really especially hard for you. I want to play a moment in a film from your mom. Hospice was there, it was at the end. Kevin wouldnt touch him so i put my hand in his dads arm and kevin put my hand on top of my hand and that was the last that he had of his dad. So you say that eventually you came to understand why your father pushed you so hard. And you had this really difficult relationship. Why why the why was the relationship so difficult . Well, i think its hard for any 10yearold to lose their father, parent in general. He was tough on me. I mean, it was cancer actually. He got cancer. He was diagnosed when i was 7 and he was terminal. And so he knew he only had x amount of years on this planet to teach me, my brother and sister, you know, how to deal with the world. So he did the best he could with the time he had. Your dad actually introduced you to sports. Not necessarily to basketball. After he died your mom continued to support you and shes the one who pushed basketball. The film shows how she reached out to a local coach when you were in middle school. Lets watch this. Taller than most people in that age range, and he was very interested. I didnt tell him he had one arm. She calls me up and tells me i got a 69 kid, greatest kid, would love to play basketball. When we saw him im like oh, my gosh. This kid only has one arm. Oh, well, no problem. 69, we can teach him something. Really . No problem. I cannot believe your mother did this. But this man truly inspired you, didnt he . He did. He actually was cut from the seventh grade team. So he put me on board. It was the first year i ever tried out for basketball. Played baseball, football and soccer prior to that. Hes the first coach to step up and actually, you know, give me the opportunity to play. Most people in the film all we hear is no way, this could never be done, he will never play division one. You need both of your hands. Not by a long shot. But this was the first person who really believed that you could do it. Its true. And you know what it is . My goal was to set out and change that. I feel like i did. So franklin, how did you come across kevin . I dont know if you know, it comes across quickly in the film, but the coach of a rival school from across town, in his own town, there was no one to work with him. So his mom literally thats why she kind of gave him that 69, but she didnt tell him one arm. Its unbelievable that a guy from another area ends up coaching against him in high school and kind of created a how did you find out about him . I found out about him through the coach at a youth event that neither one of us were supposed to be there. I was asked to coach a team going to las vegas in the middle of summer. Im not a big vegas in the middle of summer, especially with my 16yearold so i kept saying no. At the last second i said ill go. I drive down to vegas, at the same time hes in San Francisco, he doesnt want to go, coach mcknight drags him out last second, puts him in the van, so one guy from San Francisco come in, another guy from l. A. To vegas, and theres 500 teams. We drew each other. So we had to play against each other and thats when i met coach mcknight. He said i got this kid. All right, of course. So kevin obviously you made it, right . But by the skin of your teeth. Right . Several occasions, yeah. And so whats next for you now . Well, i graduated college in three years, so i still have a year left of eligibility to play. One of the things i noticed in the film is youre also on excellent student on top of that. Wasnt always the case. What do you want people to take away interest this film . Never give up on your dreams. You were telling me your son wants to play division i basketball. Dont listen to the negatives. You just everyone has their own obstacles to overcome and take them as blessings rather than, you know, curses. So i have to tell you, its an absolute joy. Congratulations to you. Appreciate that so much. To your mom, your grandmother, everybody in here. Its an incredible film. Kevin laue, franklin martin, thank you both were coming. And todays best advice still coming up. The wheels of progress. Seems they havent been moving much lately. But things are starting to turn around because of Business People like you. And regions is here to help. With the experience and service to keep things rolling. From Business Loans to cash management, we want to be your partner moving forward. So switch to regions. And lets get going. Together. Winding down as always, we wrap it up with best advice. Todays comes from robert gibbs. The best advice i ever received, i think the reason most successful people are successful is theyre never, ever afraid to fail. Theyre never afraid to take on a challenge, because somehow they might not accomplish that challenge. Unless you take that challenge on, unless you strive to do better, and be better youll never attain it. So never, ever be afraid to fail. Going to go out and fail several times today, no doubt. That is all. Im john berman. And im zoraida sambolin. Starting point starts right now. Our starting point this morning, Hurricane Sandy on the move. Its barreling towards the United States afte