everyone. it all began april 20 with a fiery explosion in the gulf of mexico. 11 oil workers were killed when that b.p. well blew. crude gushed out for nearly three months, contaminating beaches and destroying wetlands. today, a presidential commission said the explosion could have been prevented if cement used to seal that well had held firm. and the panel says b.p. and its contractor, halliburton, had been warned the cement could fail. mark strassmann has been covering this story i from the very beginning, and, mark, this is a really serious finding. >> reporter: very serious finding, katie, because it answers what b.p. and halliburton knew and when they knew it. this report makes clear these companies saw red flags signaling trouble and ignored them. five weeks before the deepwater horizon exploded on april 20, b.p. and halliburton knew something was potentially very wrong. that's the damning allegation from government investigators who outline a pattern of failed safety tests and noncommunication. specifically, on march 8, halliburton notified b.p. the cement mix to seal the well failed a critical test for stability. investigators say neither acted upon the data. halliburton and perhaps b.p. should have considered redesigning the mix. instead, b.p. ordered halliburton to seal the well. the cement failed. oil and gas entered the well. the explosion killed 11 workers and more than 200 million gallons leaked into the gulf. this report suggests what one worker's widow maintained-- the disaster was preventable. >> from day one, he deemed this hole a well from hell. >> reporter: in fact, before the explosion, halliburton actually tested the cement mix at least four times. the first three times it failed. the last time it passed but b.p. never knew that because halliburton never told them. critics are outraged. >> b.p. and halliburton knew that the cement was not going to work. this is like building a car with brakes that you know are going to fail. >> reporter: investigators also independently retested a similar cement formula. it also proved unstable. the federal report concludes bad cement was not the explosion's sole cause, but good cement would have prevented it. halliburton officials told us they're studying the report and will respond later. b.p. had no comment. katie. >> couric: mark strassmann. mark, thank you. now turning to campaign 20. it's just five days now, and the midterm elections and this will go down as the year of the angry voter. our latest cbs news/"new york times" poll find more than four out of five likely voters disapprove of the way congress is handling its job. and that spells trouble with a capital t. for the majority democrats. chip reid is our chief white house correspondent. chip, voters are mad at all incumbents, so mad they're more than willing to give political neophytes a shot this time. >> reporter: well, katie, voters are mad at both parties, but democrats are in charge, so the vast majority of that anger is directed at them. among american voters, the level of disdain towards congress is now so high, many just want to throw the bums out. in fact, 59% of likely voters say they're even willing to vote for someone with little experience, according to the cbs news/"new york times" poll. it's the kind of anger that has ignited the tea party movement and driven many independent voters who put president obama over the top in 2008 to abandoned the democratic party. but there's one group that still stands behind the president it's democratic base. so his strategy in the final days is to plead with them to get to the polls as he did last night on the "daily show." but even with this supposedly friendly audience, when he invoked his old mantra, "yes, we can," some rolled their eyes. >> i think what i would say is yes, we can, but... ( laughter ) it is not-- but it is not going to-- it's not going to happen overnight. >> reporter: it became awkward when the president tried to defend his former economic adviser and evoked memories of president george w. bush. >> and in fairness, larry summers did a heck of a job trying to figure out how to... ( laughter ) >> you don't want to use that phrase, dude. >> reporter: with his focus on young voters, the president has hit a string of college campuses. tomorrow the final three-day swing takes him from the of virginia too temple university in philadelphia and after stops in connecticut and chicago, he'll finish up sunday with a rally at cleveland state university. with control of congress at stake, vice president biden is campaigning nonstop. this weekend hitting iowa, massachusetts, and ohio. the first lady has also been hitting the trail with events monday in philadelphia and las vegas. and bill clinton has been campaigning continuously, even stopping in southern states where president obama may not be welcomed. now the white house says they still think democrats can keep control of the house, but every objective political analyst i've talked to says it's a lost cause. katie? >> couric: chip reid reporting from the white house tonight. congressional correspondent nancy cordes is here in new york tonight. nancy, what are some of the races we should be watching to see how that voter discontent plays out? >> reporter: katie, what we're seeing is the district where's democrats are in the most trouble are clustered in the suburbs of big cities like philadelphia, columbus, ohio, orlando, denver. it's really a nationwide phenomenon where you've got moderate independent suburb an voters who swung towards the democrats in 2006 and 2008 when they were unhappy with president bush and with the war in iraq, but this year, they're angry about the economy, worried about their mortgages and their jobs, so those districts are back in play. here's a perfect example. pennsylvania's eighth district, buck's county, outside philadelphia. it's a mix of suburbs and farm country, where democrat patrick murphy, who is an iraq war veteran, beat this man in 2006, mike fitzpatrick, with less than 1% of the vote. this year, it's a rematch. they're duking it out over tax cuts, over health care, and it's expected to be one of the tightest races in the country. another perfect example, colorado's fourth district, northeast of denver, congresswoman betsy markey was swept into office in that democratic wave two years ago. she's the first democrat from this district in almost four decades. but the consensus is she's one of the most vulnerable democrats this time around, katie. >> couric: nancy cordes, nancy, thanks. the battle for the house will be decided by dozens of critical contests, races that could go either way. the republicans need a net gain of 39 seats to take control, and at least 77 democratic seats are vulnerable. about a third of them are in the south where in this election year, even many conservative democrats are feeling the heat. once again, here's mark strassmann. >> reporter: roy heron is running for congress. in his ads, he's a tennessee country conservative. ♪ roy heron, tennessee country boy. he'll save our jobs and guns. ♪ >> reporter: his anti-tax, pro- life, n.r.a. endorsed. >> oh, thank you. >> reporter: but he's also a southern democrat. >> hey, brother. >> reporter: another one polls show losing next tuesday. his republican opponent, stephen fincher, has beat up heron because he's a democrat. like barack obama and nancy pelosi. >> this is the party of san francisco and chicago. and that-- that doesn't represent the eighth district. >> reporter: for democrats, traditionally safe districts like this are a firewall that's crumbling. lose these seats and they're much more likely to lose control of the house. cbs news shows in 11 southern congressional races, traditionally democratic seats, republican challengers are leading. four other races are toss-ups. other experts expect even more of a republican blowout in the south, led by independent and moderate voters. >> they intensely dislike what the obama administration is doing, and what their democratic congressman might do if he or she were re-elected. >> reporter: larry bennett is a tennessee democrat voting straight republican. and why? >> because i feel like it's time that we took our country back. >> reporter: in a panic, some democratic house incumbents sound more like republicans. alabama's bobby bright wants nancy pelosi voted out as speaker. mississippi's gene taylor now says he actually voted for john mccain, not barack obama. and in tennessee, roy heron insists he's no liberal democrat, either. >> my opponent wants to run against-- i told him he ought to man up and run against a country boy from dresden, tennessee. >> reporter: so far, no luck, and next tuesday, this district could have its first republican congressman in more than a century. part of a republican wave rippling across the south. mark strassmann, cbs news, jackson, tennessee. >> couric: in a hand full of hotly competitive races, tea partiers are running as third party candidates, and sharyl attkisson reports, democrats are doing what they can to help them, hoping they'll siphon votes away from the republican. >> reporter: never, perhaps, have there been stranger political bedfellows. in nevada, a pro-harry reid group-- the senate's lead democrat-- promotes a little- known tea party candidate running against read. illinois democrat alexi giannoulias is running for senate, yet funding ads propping up his libertarian opponent. and in pennsylvania, democratic house candidate bryan lentz awkwardly admits to helping an opponent collect petition signatures to get on the ballot. >> if somebody's already made the decision to run, i didn't think that-- quote, unquote-- helping with the process of signature petitions was improper. >> the goal being what? >> reporter: there are examples across the country, democrats spending time and money to help out competition. no, they're not crazy. it's actually a well-thought-out maneuver to increase the democrats' odds. when harry reid supporters promote the little-known tea party candidate, it stands to siphon vote from the more popular tea party republican sharron angle, thus, helping reid. democrat lentz helps a third party opponent to siphon voteses from republican pat meehan. democrat giannoulias helps a long-shot libertarian to try to take votes from republican opponent kirk. some democrats openly disclose their efforts, but for othersment ties are hard to fi find. you'd think this flyer was put out by conservatives. it calls iowa's republican candidate for governor terry brandstat, liberal, like clinton and nancy pelosi. but it's the democratic go governors association behind the ad hoping to split republican votes. >> couric: a few choice words for the president may have cost one candidate dealer. here's tonight's campaign 2010 hot sheet. bashing the president can, apparently, backfire, especially if you're a democrat. earlier this week, frank caprio, who is running for governor of rhode island, said mr. obama could "shove it" after learning he wouldn't get a presidential endorsement. since then, caprio's lost 12 points in the polls and he's now running third. truth may be the biggest casualty of the 2010 campaign. the st. petersburg times examined hundreds of ads and found most are barely true. the paper says there may be a grain of truth, but overall, many are exaggerated, twisted, or distorted. what can we expect if the g.o.p. retakes the house? the man who would become speaker says forget about compromise on one big issue. john boehner wants to roll back the healthcare overhaul. in a radio interview, he said. finally, a look ahead to 2012. "entertainment tonight's" mary hart visited sarah palin in alaska and asked her if she's planning to run for president? >> for me, mary, it's going to entail a discussion with my family, a real-- a real close look at the lay of the land, and to consider whether it-- there are those with that commonsense conservative pro-constitution passion. if there's nobody else to do it, then of course i would believe that we should do this. >> couric: and still ahead here on the "cbs evening news," a new way to screen for colon cancer may be on the horizon. but coming up next, these documents are used to repossess homes. but good luck trying to read them. >> couric: it's an epidemic and it's spreading. more and more americans are losing their homes to foreclosure. 2.6 million have been repossessed since the recession began. this year alone, from january through september, more than 800,000 homes were seized. if that pace continues, more than a million homes will be repossessed this year-- a record. and as john blackstone reports, the crisis is now affecting every corner of the country. >> reporter: in the chicago area, eviction notices are up 35% over last year. it happened to the yellow bungalow in the suburbs where beth anne mackie and her family lived for seven years. >> it was a grieving process that was a lengthy one and still continues. >> reporter: america's foreclosure crisis is spreading far from the states like florida and california where it began. in the seattle area, foreclosures are up 71% this year. >> the foreclosure numbers in seattle continue to rise month after month, even in our peak selling seasons which here can be spring and fall. >> reporter: now there's more evidence for just how blatantly the paperwork for the flood of foreclosures has been mishandled. consider this-- legal documents used to seize homes that don't even identify the lender claiming to hold the mortgage. instead, the words "bogus assignee" fill the space where the lender's name should be. in foreclosure after foreclosure the lender's address is listed only as "xs." in some cases the document identifies the lender as bad bene. >> they have foreclosed in the name of bad bene. >> reporter: attorney robert hager who represents homeowners fighting foreclosure, say the paperwork also appears to bear bogus signatures. >> this is how arrogant they are with regard to taking homes. >> reporter: the documents are signed by linda green, but her signature changes dramatically from document to document, and she's identified as the vice president of several different lenders. now, state and federal investigators are looking at the company behind the bogus assignees, lender processing services, l.p.s., which handles mortgage documentation for the 50 biggest banks, blames a small subsidiary for the flawed documents and says they've all been fixed. but for those like beth anne mackie, who have lost their homes during the paperwork mess, questions about fairness and due process remain. >> it's painful to think about. >> reporter: john blackstone, cbs news, san francisco. >> couric: in indiana today, state safety officials began looking into a tragic accident at notre dame. declan sullivan died yesterday when a hydraulic tower he was on fell over in heavy wind. the 20-year-old junior had been working for the football team videotaping practice from 50 feet up. with chilling foresight, he wrote this twitter message as practice began: and just before his death, he wrote... coming up next, the new test that some day could help detect colon cancer more easily. >> couric: in health news, a new test that may one day make screening for colon cancer a lot easier. it detects abnormal d.n.a. in a patient's school stool and can uncover cancerous or precancerous cells. medical correspondent jon lapook is a practicing gastroenterologist. you do colonoscopies all the time. could the new tests replace those? >> reporter: it will not replace colonoscopies but could become a good first screening test. especially for those people who are supposed to get colon screening and never get colon cancer screening. that's about 40% of americans. this is noninvasive. it's just a school test. now, if it's positive you will need a colonoscopy, which if it turns out you have an early cancer or polyp could be life saving. >> couric: when will this be available? >> reporter: it's still very early. at the very earliest not for another two years, so until then, people should still talk to their doctors about getting screened at 50 and earlier if they have either symptoms or family history. >> couric: all right, dr. jon lapook, as always, jon, thank you. an update now on a string of mysterious late-night shootings at military facilities near washington, d.c. late today, the f.b.i. said the same gun was used to shoot at the pentagon and marine corps museum earlier this month, and a recruiting station in virginia on monday night. no one was injured in any of the shootings. investigators don't have a suspect or a motive. we'll be right back. what one bay area city wants you to see. next on cbs 5 >> couric: and we end tonight with two cbs legends. >> book 'em, dano. >> couric: it's one of the most famous catch phrases in tv history from the original "hawaii five-0." the actor who played dano, james macarthur died today. he was the adopted son of actress helen hayes, and playwrite charles macarthur. he was 72. we also lost a good friend of all of us here at cbs news, jimmy wall. he was a television pioneer and a legend in these studios for half a century. ommy was the stage manager on this broadcast. every night, as air time grew closer, it was his job to bring order to the chaos of the newsroom. >> two minutes! two minutes! >> couric: and when the walls stopped shaking, you could hear a pin drop, but behind that booming voice was a gentle man, a man a generation of kids got to see when he persuaded cbs to create an african american character for the "captain kangaroo show." >> i stayed on their case about not having a black performer or black guests on the show because i said, "listen, this is america, and you are dealing with our leaders of tomorrow. they're the children. you have to let them know what america is." >> couric: jimmy, a former vaudevillian, and broadway actor, singer, and dancer, wound up playing the part of the friendly neighbor and teacher mr. baxter. retirement wasn't in jimmy wall's vocabulary. he worked here into his 90s and died last night at 92. our condolences to dolly, jimmy's wife, of 67 years. and that is the "cbs evening news" for tonight. i'm katie couric. thanks for watching, we'll see you tomorrow. good night. captioning sponsored by cbs captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org david harmer wrote an education plan titled "abolish the public schools." he even called our schools "insidious" and "socialism." as families struggle to raise their kids, to provide a good education, harmer bragged, "we can design a plan to dismantle them." david harmer is just too radical. we need jerry mcnerney. protecting local schools from devastating cuts. endorsed for his "independence" by the contra costa times, stockton record, and our local teachers.