Cocaine. And double train trouble for one woman trying to avoid police. Good morning. Im mara schiavocampo. Time is growing short this morning to reach a deal. Were now less than 20 hours away from a key treasury deadline. If an agreement is not reached the nation could default on its bills. My expectation is it does get solved, but we dont have a lot of time and so what im suggesting to the congressional leaders is lets not do any posturing. Lets not try to save face. Lets not worry about politics, do whats right, open the government and make sure were paying our bills. The house tuesday abandoned a lastditch effort to pass its own legislation. There have been no decisions about what exactly we will do. But were going to continue to work with our members on both sides of the aisle to try to make sure that theres no issue of default and to get our government reopened. Some are placing the blame on john boehner. Its about the psychology of one man and whether hes willing to put at risk the speakership by cobbling together a deal that will get democrats andrepublicans and ultimately make a decision as to whether he is going to abandon the tea party or whether he is going to collapse the global economy. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi says defaulting would be stupid. You could shut down government and that is a bad thing and you could have a shutdown for 15 days as it has been and thats a bad thing but you undermine the full faith and credit of the United States of america, thats a very hard thing to get back. Right now any likelihood of a deal appears to be in the hands of the senate. Mo majority lead ler harry reid says they are close to lifting the debt ceiling. Confident we can reach it this week and avert a catastrophic default on the nations bills. Nbcs tracie potts is in washington with more. Tracie, good morning. What are we hearing about reports that one major u. S. Credit agency could downgrade the nations Credit Rating . Reporter well, apparently those reports are true, mara, that fitch is considering putting the u. S. On a negative watch. It doesnt mean well be automatically downgraded and its not really related to the health of our economy. Its related to this political impasse over how we go forward from here. Now, you heard harry reid soundingoptimistic about coming up with a solution, but keep in mind harry reid and his democrats in the senate are only half of the solution where things really fell apart here were in the house of representatives where Tea Party Conservatives simply insist they are not going along with anything until health care is on the table, until health care is dealt with and thats where this whole thing seems to have fallen apart. So where do we go from here . Its possible that the senate could come up with something last minute and pass it and when it gets to the house it would then be up to republican speaker john boehner. Hed have to use democratic vote ignoring Tea Party Members of his own party, hed need some democrats to get something passed today and save the country from default. Mara. All right, tracie potts in washington, thanks. In florida, two girls are charged in a frightening cyberbullying case that turned deadly. Police say 12yearold Rebecca Sedwick couldnt take it anymore and killed herself last month after nearly a year of ugly taunts including one that read drink bleach and die. Now, two girls are charged as juveniles in connection with her suicide. The 12 and 14yearold are facing felony aggravated stalking charges and released to their parents under house arrest. A guilty plea from bob filner. The former staying mayor pleaded guilty to a felony for putting ail woman in a headlock and two 2 misdemeanors. One for kissing another against her will and for grab the behind of a third woman. Driven from office after Sexual Harassment allegations from 17 women, the 71yearold previously said he was the victim of a lynch mob and would be vindicated under the plea deal. He will be sentenced to three months of home confinement and three years of probation. In newtown, connecticut, special restrictions have been put in place before demolition crews begin tearing down the site of that Tragic School shooting. In a move to protect the families of the 26 massacred inside the school, workers will be required to sign a confidentiality agreement. Newtown official s drew up the contract to bar crews from taking photos and video along with discussing the work site. A new school will be built after the current structure is completely demolished. Given the gridlock in washington it might seem like the country is heavily divided along party lines but people are not as red and blue as you might think according to a new study from nbc news and esquire magazine. Chuck todd reports. Reporter a new nbc news Esquire Survey finds we all could use a pair of 3d glasses because theres a growing Political Center that doesnt fit into the forced political stereotypes of the past. In fact, a majority, 51 of the country actually falls in the middle lane of american politics. The hard left lane is just 21 . And the hard right lane is only slightly bigger at 28 . The center is as diverse as the country and basically fall into four countries. The minivan moderates are in the suburbs. The pickup populists largely live in rural america. The mba centric middle live on the coast, while the most cynical dubbed the whatever man centrists are largely under 40. Culturally, this is a live and let live group. For instance, 52 are okay with legalizing marijuana, but 79 believe government is spending too much money. That was Nbcs Chuck Todd reporting. So just where do you fall on the political spectrum . Find out by taking our interactive quiz on nbcnews. Com, just click the icon that says quiz where do you stand. And now for your first look at business, bert that coombs. Good morning. The futures are pointing to a higher start. On the hopes that Senate Leaders may well be close to finalizing a plan to raise the u. S. Debt ceiling and avoid a possible default. Stocks fell sharply tuesday as two plans in the house failed and fitch put it on review for a possible downgrade. Twitter will price its ipo on november 14th. The company says it will list on the New York Stock Exchange but a filing shows twitter still is not close to being profitable. Nestle moves in on hersheys turf. The Company Plans to roll out a butterfinger Peanut Butter cup next year challenging hersheys top selling reeses brand. Nestle has its first ever Super Bowl Ad to promote the product. Peanut butter wars. Oreos may be addictive as cocaine. A study looked at the Pleasure Centers in the brains of rats and found that oreos activated more neurons than exposure to cocaine or morphine. Toy prices were studied and best deals were during the first two weeks of december. The dodge remembers facing elimination in the National League championship and game four last night st. Louis got a long tworun homer to left field from Matt Holliday and pinch hitter Shane Robinson blasted a home run off the top of the wall and st. Louis beat l. A. , 42 leading the series 31. Game five is this afternoon in l. A. In detroit, the power went out at Comerica Park and delayed the bottom half of the second inning of the tigers red sox game for 16 minutes. Detroit batters had no power against bostons john lackey who only gave up four hits. In the seventh, mike napoli smashed a fastball for the homer and 10 win. The red sox lead 21 with game four tonight in detroit. Well, lebron james says Michael Jordan is the greatest basketball player of all time but james told espn, my goal is to be the best of all time and that means maximizing everything i have. Members of the Washington Capitals posted photos with hats and glasses with dogs and cats. It will support a shelter that places the dog and cats to good ho homes. Robert griffin iii and josh wilson put on a wig to support the fight against breast cancer. Better without the wigs but they seem to like their new dos. Extreme stick shots. They shoot from one whitewater raft to another and amazing bank shot while moving on a zip line. Wednesday weather and someone else who can shoot the basket. Its more creative how they are with doing it. You have to make the shot. Yeah, but theyre all fake. The weather is pretty quiet as we go throughout the day. A few spots, you do need your umbrellas. Its up now through the great lakes bringing light rain out there. One of those areas has gotten drenched has been texas, continues this morning with rain pretty widespread. Now knocking on the door from san antonio to austin through dallas. Also have light rain and showers on that front through ohio today. Pittsburgh, it looks like and buffalo youll need that umbrella the forecast, still mild on the east coast, holding on to one more dry day from florida all the way up to boston. But things are going to change. We got some cold air that will be coming down. This forecast for the end of october looks a lot different than the first half of this month. All indications are a week from today, mara, a big cold palace will be coming down from canada so this may be the weekend to get the Winter Clothes out of the closet and get them ready. Thanks, bill. President obama reveals the coolest thing about being president of the United States. Thats coming up next. [ woman 1 ] why do i cook . Because an empty pan is a blank canvas. [ woman 2 ] to share a moment. [ man 1 ] to remember my grandmother. [ woman 3 ] to show my love. [ woman 4 ] because life needs flavor. [ woman 5 ] to travel the World Without leaving home. [ male announcer ] whatever the reason. Whatever the dish. Make it delicious with swanson. [ woman 1 ] thats why i cook. Make it delicious with swanson. Stick with innovation. Stick with power. Stick with technology. Get the flexcare platinum. New from philips sonicare. Time for your first look at this mornings dish of scrambled politics. Democratic incumbents and challengers are stockpiling cash ahead of next years fight over the senate. At least seven democrats pulled in more than 1 million in the third quarter. In kentucky, Alison Grimes beat out mcconnell and Mary Landrieu doubled the amount of her rifle and kay hagen brought in nearly 2 million more than any of her republican challengers. And on the republican side, liz cheney is giving incumbent mike enzi a run for his money. She raised 100,000 more than her primary opponent. Governor Chris Christie is a staying consistent in opposing samesex marriage. How he would react to one of his children coming out gay. If my children came to me and said that they were gay, i would grab them and hug them and tell them i loved them. Just like i would do with any of my children who came to me with news that they wanted to give to me that they thought was important enough to open themselves up in that way. But what i would also tell them is that dad believes that marriage is between one man and one woman. The governor is currently appealing a court ruling that found a constitutional right to samesex marriage. His opponent staays hes on the wrong side of history. In an effort to shelf some book books, riley hunt ser is apologizing and hurt everyone around her. President obama is opening up about the coolest part of his job. Its not riding on air force one, living in the white house or even that president ial limo. I think the coolest thing is that if theres somebody interesting whos doing anything, a scientist, sports figure, you know, a writer, anybody in the world, if i want to call them up and talk to them, they will answer my phone call and thats a pretty cool thing. Elton john honored Hillary Clinton last night in an annual event for his aids foundation. She was given the First Founders award. The foundation recognized her for her work to help those affected by hiv and aids. But before that award, mrs. Clinton was in london over the weekend to attend an event at Chatham House and while inside police gave her a parking ticket. It cost about 127. She was reportedly parked in a space costing just 3 bucks an hour but apparently she didnt pay. Thats your mornings dish of scrambled politics and now for our first look at politics im joined by aaron blake, a political reporter for the washington post. Aaron, good morning. Thanks for being here. Good morning, mara. We reported on this new nbc news esquire magazine saying 51 are right in the center. In terms of what were seeing in washington right now, how is it that extreme partisans end up running the show in congress . Its a combination of a lot of things. One is partisan districts and one is the general polarization of american society. I think that even though half of the American Public is more politically moderate and may be considered in the middle, our Politics Today is so polarized that a lot of those people tend to have picked a side and generally vote for one party or another more often than not and a lot of them, frankly, dont vote in primaries, people in the middle tend to be more casual about voting and so the more hard core voters on each side tend to determine who is representing the, you know, basically everybody in a lot of these districts. Now, regardless of how this fight over the budget and the debt ceiling shakes out where do you think john boehner ends up after all this . Will this cost him his speakership . Its not looking good for him right now. Not only has he shown hes not able to handle the hard right wing of his party, hes also shown that hes not able to kind of putting to and piece together a deal with the shutdown now two weeks long. You know, i think that the worst thing for his speakership as far as him being reelected is if hes forced to put through something that the Senate Proposes whether its today or tomorrow that gets very little gop support in the house. Thats the point at which there could be some kind of a conservative revolt and his speakership could come to an end. Either way i dont think he merges from this looking either strong or a good bet for winning speaker again. I dont think you can have both of those things. Quickly, the Million Dollar question, i want your opinion on this. Do you think that congress will pass the debt ceiling deal before the deadline. Its so hard to say right now. I think that there is some optimism as far as what the senate is doing. The problem with what the senate is doing is that in order to kind of get it done by the deadline, they want to pass it through the house first so youve got a situation where the Senate Proposes something. The house passes it then it goes back to the senate which can a very, you know, makes it even more difficult for john boehner so its very difficult at this point. All right, aaron blake with the washington post. Thanks for your time. American hero recognized with the nations highest honor. Plus, the battle between harry belafonte, the estate of Martin Luther king jr. And three important king documents, all coming up next. With new friskies grillers, full of meaty tenders and crunchy bites. Ido more with less with buless energy. Hp is helping ups do just that. Soon, the worlds most intelligent servers, designed by hp, will give ups over twice the performance, using forty percent less energy. Multiply that across over a thousand locations, and theyll provide the same benefit to the environment as over 60,000 trees. Thats a trend we can all get behind. [ male announcer ] eeny, meeny, miny, go. More adventures await in the new sevenpassenger lexus gx. Lease the 2014 gx 460 for 499 a month for 27 months. See your lexus dealer. For 499 a onth for 27 months. announcer answer the call of the grill with new friskies grillers, full of meaty tenders and crunchy bites. Now to other stories making news. A woman in utah is lucky to be alive. Fleeing from police when she got stuck on some train tracks then while still inside her car she gets hit not once but twice by an oncoming train. Though she did suffer broken bones she was not serious injured. Theres a new medal of honor recipient. William swenson was recognized for heroic actions in one of the deadliest firefights in afghanistan. You can never allow a Service Member to be taken hostage. Alive or dead. You bring them home and thats what we did. Harry belafonte is suing the estate of dr. Martin luther king jr. At issue, three document, one including a speech he never delivered. Belafonte says they were given to him by kings wife coretta. Kings children say they were taken without their permission. An oarfish was seen here. It doesnt come up all that often and dive more than 3,000 feet. Well, first buzz is just ahead. Were talking morning habits of the supersuccessful and a rogue rue. That will make sense in a moment. The u. S. Defaulted on its debt for the first time during which war war, the war of 1812, the civil war, world war i or world war ii . The answer when first look returns. In checked bag fees. [ delavane ] priority boarding is really important to us. You can just get on the plane and relax. [ julian ] having a card that doesnt charge you foreign transaction fees saves me a ton of money. [ delavane ] we can go to any country and spend money the way we would in the u. S. When i spend money on this card, i can see brazil in my future. [ anthony ] i use the explorer card to earn miles in order to go visit my family, which means a lot to me. Thank you. Thank you. I got this. No, ill get it no, let me get this. Seriously. Hey, let me get it. Ah, uh. I dont want you to pay for this. Its not happening, honey. Let her get it. She got her safe driving bonus check from allstate last week. And its her treat. What about a tip . Oh, heres one. Get an allstate agent. Nice [ female announcer ] switch today and get two safe driving bonus checks a year for driving safely. Only from allstate. Call an allstate agent and get a quote now. Just another way allstate is changing Car Insurance for good. Call an allstate agent and get a quote now. Life could be hectic. As a working mom of two young boys angies list saves me a lot of time. After reading all the reviews i know im making the right choice. Online or on the phone, we help you hire right the first time. With honest reviews on over 720 local services. Keeping up with these two is more than a full time job, and i dont have time for unreliable companies. Angies list definitely saves me time and money. For over 18 years weve helped people take care of the things that matter most. Join today. Will, before the break we asked, the u. S. Defaulted on its debt for the first time during which war, was it the war of 1812, the civil war, world war i or ii. The answer, the war of 1812. They couldnt afford to pay american troops. 197 was the only time when government officials called it a back office glitch. Time for first buzz im joined by richard lui and bill karins. You have secrets. There was a poll of some of the most successful people. What made them successful. They did a lot before 8 00 a. M. Here is five tip, the most successful people did, five was make your day top heavy. That was whatever thing that youre procrastinating the most do it first. Get that over with. Visualizati visualization, heat a Healthy Breakfast and eat with other people. Dont do it by yourself. It helps invigorate your mind. Map out your day and the number one the most successful people do is exercise. So everyone that is out there right now on their stairmaster or treadmill. They are successful. Hats off to you. Ahead of the game, its 5 30. Well, you said dont eat breakfast alone. How many people are up before 8 00. Get a dog. A cat. Talk to yourself. Maybe a sock puppet. Richard . I have to talk about something else. Tel aviv university. They say try athletes can handle more pain. They are tougher than other folks. Duh. Tel aviv university. Thats why i dont do it. Thats because they dont fear pain number one and number two theyre used to repetitive pain overall and can handle heat on their forearm longer than other people in the test. I like the fact they dont fear pain. Its a mental game. Last well leave you with pictures of a rogue rue. A kangaroo in melbourne, australia, that jumped into he hopped into an airport. Went to the pharmacy. He was injured and did get medical treatment. This is first look. Way too early starts right now. Were republicans. We believe in the principles america was built on. Capitalism. Free enterprise, individual initiative. We believe that every american should have the opportunity to succeed. Except for the ones that snuck over the border to take our jobs. We need to ship them the hell out. Sigh far ya, amigos. I think you mean adios. Adios amigos. No, i speak english just like jesus christ. We fight for