capturing more and more oil, there's more of it spewing into the water right now, and the millions of gallons already in the gulf are on the move and seeping into whatever they come in contact with. the spill area has widened. it stretched out. just yesterday we got confirmation of those deep water plumes of oil we can't see from the surface. and confirmation today of something we heard in louisiana last week ourselves, that the oil is stretching far into the marsh now, as far as 20 miles. tonight, those floating booms are back in the news. people are also being told to avoid the water on certain beaches. we begin our coverage from the gulf tonight with nbc's kerry sanders. he's in grand terre, louisiana, good evening. >> reporter: brian, i'm on one of louisiana's barrier islands. it comes to this. they are vacuuming up the oil. they like to say that it's cajun ingenuity. with the equipment in place, if it stopped leaking right now, it would still take more than 60 years to get it all. three super vacuums are now sucking up 100 gallons of oil an hour. 50 days ago this was one of those so-called crazy ideas phoned into bp. louisiana governor bobby jindal said if this is a war the dark crude coming ashore is the first wave of attack. >> we've got to be winning this war using technology like this. fighting the oil as soon as we see it. >> reporter: are you winning a battle right now? >> absolutely. we are going to win this war. are we there yet? no. >> reporter: the governor says they are now ready to try just about anything, including something as simple as a pom-pom. these are called snare booms. when the oil hits it, it sticks right to these pom-poms. the 100 plus miles of louisiana barrier islands are the last perimeter, the final line before the oil soaks the marshes. but it may already be too late. early this morning, a team of scientists from cornell university discovered dark crude 20 miles into the marsh. >> the oil is making it past the barrier islands up into the marshland here. you're still seeing fresh oil. >> reporter: and there, this oil-coated pelican. >> it's one bird and he'll live if you get out here. >> reporter: then a white pelican. then these laughing gulls eating in those oil-soaked waters. >> the life they are feeding on, the filicrabs, insects, they'll be killed off. >> reporter: in the last 24 hours, more than 300 birds have been rescued near venice alone. state and federal wildlife officials are on the water from sun up to sundown looking for more. kerry sanders, nbc news, east grand terre, island. >> reporter: i'm anne thompson. along louisiana's coast, the situation is now so dire, it brings grown men to tears. >> it's scary. >> reporter: this is the last catch of shrimp dominick mine will sell to this port sulfur seafood processor. it's shutting down today and dominick is pulling in his nets. >> fixing to lose something we had for a long time. got all this money invested in a boat, and don't know what we are going to do with it. >> reporter: day 51 and more sheen dulls a prime shrimping location. porpoises swim in slow motion and pelicans desperately try to clean the oil from their feathers. a mile beneath the gulf where the oil still gushes, bp says it's having some success capturing 15,000 barrels tuesday with the containment cap. >> 15,000 barrels that is not being spilled we don't have to clean up that, won't impact the shoreline or the gulf of mexico. we'll be adding additional capacity. >> reporter: today the government told bp to have plans for that extra capacity ready in 72 hours. how much oil is flowing remains a mystery. >> i'm not going to declare victory on anything until i have absolute numbers. i think we all had estimates. some people were disappointed when they were changed, so show me the numbers. >> reporter: on the gulf, the battle goes on. two shame p boats drag boom to guide oil onto a navy vessel. >> we had a good day. 250 gallons. it was black crude oil. >> reporter: we saw no one attending to the soiled boom. the numbers are impressive. more than 2 million feet of hard boom and 2.5 million feet of absorbant boom have been put in the water, but they are a meager defense against the relentless oil. an enemy altering the coast and the many lives dependent on it. anne thompson, nbc news, venice, louisiana. >> reporter: i'm mark potter in gulf shores, alabama. all along the alabama coast, red flags and health warnings have been posted, urging swimmers to stay out of the oil to avoid oil-related chemicals. elizabeth cummings vacationing from georgia is disappointed. her kids can no longer play in the surf. >> i'll probably spend most of my time at the pool rather than the ocean. >> reporter: cleanup crews have been out all day in the sweltering heat, picking up tar balls and streaks of oil found on miles of tourist beaches. in orange, floating oil can be seen on the sea wall. having don't past the skimmer boats and booms offshore. throughout the area tempers are flaring over the spoiled beaches here and a feeling that bp is not compensating the residents for their losses. >> don't nickel and dime these people and that is exactly what you're doing to all of us. >> reporter: at a town hall meeting today, a bp official faced a room full of anger. >> out of 84 phone calls, i talked to someone four times who transferred me to a voice mail. >> you can call me 24/7, i will be here until this incident is over. >> reporter: alabama governor bob reilly says he wants a fleet of skimmer boats right offshore and urges tourists to support the economy. >> go to a seafood restaurant. come down here and that would probably help this area as much as anything else anyone could do. >> reporter: reilly says the beaches are being cleaned as fast as possible. mark potter, nbc news, gulf shores, alabama. >> reporter: this is tom costello in washington, where the frustration from the gulf washed across capitol hill today. >> we are tired of being dumped on in the gulf. >> reporter: anger from residence, despair from fishermen. >> please do not allow my dream and that of many others, including my two sons, to vanish. >> reporter: confusion from members of both parties looking for basic information. like how much oil is still spewing into the gulf? 12, 19, 25,000 barrels a day? >> i'd like to get a better picture about the flow, how much is coming out. >> reporter: that's still not clear, said the interior secretary, reluctant to rely on bp's numbers. >> we will get to that right number because the american people need to know it. >> reporter: and are the dispersants making a bad situation worse? >> you've now basically diluted it and dispensed it into the entire body of water in the gulf of mexico. how ever are you going to clean that up? >> reporter: what about the lack of preparedness for a deep water disaster? >> how is it possible that fire truck was not built before we had the fire? >> reporter: from a third generation of cousteau, a sobering assessment. >> this is a defining moment for our oceans. >> reporter: a six-month ban on all deep water drilling is meant to allow a safety and environmental review. one louisiana senator told nbc the review can't last long. with small businesses and thousands of gulf area jobs on the line. >> if that pause lasts longer than 30 days, 60 days, maybe 90 days, what happens is you put this industry at great peril. >> reporter: through six hours of testimony, the one constant on capitol hill today was frustration, that answers to the worst environmental disaster in this country's history are still so hard to come by. tom costello, nbc news, washington. >> our thanks to the members of our team covering this relentlessly depressing story. while this crisis in the gulf continues to spill all over the gulf, back at the white house in washington, it was the other fronts on other problems that required the president's attention today. two contentious issues, the fallout from israel's deadly raid on an aid ship bound for gaza last week, and how to keep the pressure on iran over its expanding nuclear program. our chief white house correspondent chuck todd was there to cover it for us. good evening, chuck. >> reporter: good evening, brian. today's action by the united nations, a 12-2 security council vote to impose new sanctions for iran producing its own enriched uranium is being touted at the white house as the biggest diplomatic achievement of this young obama presidency. it was months in the making. president obama delivered on his promise to rally the international community to punish iran for what the white house says is its continued pursuit of nuclear weapons. >> this resolution will put in place the toughest sanctions ever faced by the iranian government. it sends an unmistakable message about the international community's commitment to stopping the spread of nuclear weapons. >> reporter: it's not the first time iran's been punished. since 2006, the united nations passed four sets of resolutions targeting the country over its nuclear program. today's new tougher sanctions include limiting iran's ability to acquire new conventional weapons. requiring increased inspections on suspicious cargo, and measures to make it harder for iran's financial institutions, including its central bank, to participate in the global economy. two prominent american allies, brazil and turkey voted against the new round of sanctions. two iranian allies, russia and china supported the sanctions, and the president singled them out. the courting of russia and china has been an ongoing project for this president. the president alluded to one hopeful outcome, that these create internal pressure within iran where anti-government factions had some success. >> saturday will mark one year from the day an election captivated the attention of the world. >> reporter: iran was not the only middle east issue on the president's docket today. with israel's confrontation with the gaza flotilla still fresh in everyone's mind, the president sought to calm the diplomatic waters with an announcement of $400 million of new u.s. aid to gaza and the west bank, a move designed to strengthen the leadership of mahmoud abbas. >> i think the whole world noticed the significant improvements we've seen as a consequence of his good administration. >> reporter: back to iran. no one here at the white house believes these new restrictions by the u.n. are tough enough against the country, so you're going to see congress act very quickly with their own tough set of sanctions, perhaps passed in the next few weeks, brian. >> chuck todd at the white house tonight, thanks. in afghanistan tonight, the taliban says its forces shot down a u.s. military helicopter this morning. this has been an especially deadly week for americans in that war. at least 17 americans have been killed in afghanistan this week, including the four killed in this morning's attack on the helicopter. meanwhile, the remains of five u.s. service men killed in afghanistan arrived home today at dover air force base in delaware. when "nightly news" continues in a moment, how last night's election results could be ushering in yet another so-called year of the woman in american politics. politics. so i was e guy who was never oing to have the heart attack. i thought i was invincible. i'm on an aspiriregimen now because i never want to feel that helplessness again. 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[ male announcer ] the star safety system. now standard. because we know, there's nothing more important to you than your safety. all our new safety features are at toyota.com/safety. the biggest primary election night of the year was last night with voters picking candidates for november's general election in 12 states. if there was one message that seemed to come across loud and clear, it's that women were the big winners. nbc's kelly o'donnell has our report. >> reporter: together at a republican victory breakfast today -- >> our winning republican ticket in november. >> reporter: meg whitman and carly fiorini running to be california's next governor and senator. both former ceos and candidates. >> people across the nation are looking west and saying, holy cow. >> reporter: both selling their business experience and executive skills in a state crippled by debt. >> two business women from the real world who have created jobs. >> reporter: both investing their own fortunes. fiorini put more than $5 million into her campaign. whitman poured in more than $70 million. her campaign spent $80 for every vote she got. tuesday's winners have something else in common. >> gender is a very big factor. republican women in particular are able to kind of turn around some of the negative perceptions people have of the republican party. >> reporter: campaigning today in south carolina where political dirty tricks are legends, niki haley topped the republican field for governor after being hit with unsupported accusations of affairs that she denies. >> people love the fact that south carolina showed it was going in a different direction. >> reporter: the conservative tea party movement backs haley and nevada's sharon engle who will take on senate majority leader harry reid. the biggest surprise happened here in arkansas where democratic voters had a chance to fire their senator, but didn't. a sign that voter frustration is not as simple as get rid of the incumbents. senator blanche lincoln won a run-off positions herself as the target of outside special interests. >> the vote of this senator is not for sale and neither is the vote for the people of arkansas. >> reporter: one result from tuesday's contest, fed-up voters in both parties are turning to more women to do the job. kelly o'donnell, nbc news, little rock. when we come back tonight, something parents need to know. g parents need to know. welcome to the world of lovaza, where nature meets science. if you have high cholesterol, high blood pressure or diabetes, you may also have very high triglycerides -- too much fat in the blood. it's a serious medical condition. lovaza, along with diet, effectively lowers very high triglycerides in adults but has not been shown to prevent heart attacks or strokes. lovaza starts with omega-3 fish oil that's then purified and concentrated. it's the only omega-3 medication that's fda-approved. you can't get it at a health food store. lovaza isn't right for everyone. tell your doctor if you're allergic to fish, have other medical conditions and about any medications you're taking, especially those that may increase risk of bleeding. blood tests are needed before and during treatment. in some, ldl or bad cholesterol may increase. possible side effects include burping, infection, flu-like symptoms, upset stomach, and change in sense of taste. ask your doctor about lovaza, the prescription that starts in the sea. but finding healthy food that tastes good is torturous. your father is suffering. ♪ [ male announcer ] honey nut cheerios cereal tastes great and can help lower cholesterol. bee happy. bee healthy. i'm in pain... bee happy. bee healthy. copd doesn't just make it hard to breathe... it makes it hard to do a lot of things. and i'm a guy who likes to go exploring ... get my hands dirty... and try new things. so i asked my doctor if spiriva could help me breathe better. spiriva is the only once-daily inhaled maintenance treatment for both forms of 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between teenager driver car accidents and the time when school starts. in their study, the accident rate among teenage drivers was 40% higher in one community where high school started at 7:20 in the morning, as compared to crash rates in a neighboring community where high school started more than an hour later at 8:40 a.m. the government is out tonight with its annual report on the cost of raising a child from birth to age 17. for a middle-income family, a baby born in '09 to feed, clothe, shelter, keep healthy, to entertain that child, it will cost $222,360. remember, that is just till age 17. those costs don't include four years of college. an amazing archaeological find just being reported on tonight. the oldest leather shoe ever discovered. carbon dating has pegged it back to 5,500 years ago, dating back 1,000 years before the pyramids. the lace-up model was found perfectly preserved in a cave in armenia. it looks like shoes made and worn in europe throughout the 1950s. when we 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[ male announcer ] ask your doctor about adding onglyza. extra help. extra control. you may be eligible to pay $10 a month with the onglyza value card program. swing and a miss. >> try to think of the last time reality matched media hype in this day and age, and come to think of it, it happened last night in washington. 21-year-old pitcher stephen strasberg made the most widely-anticipated baseball debut of the modern era. he turned it on, routinely throwing 100 mile-an-hour fastballs, ending the night with 14 strikeouts, no walks in the victory against the pirates. he throws extreme heat, a nasty curve and a 90 mile-an-hour changeup. if he stays healthy, baseball is going to be really great again in washington. then there's the game that hasn't exactly been america's past time even as the rest of the world embraced it. soccer has never really had that across-the-board mass appeal here. suburban 4-year-olds play it traveling in clumps around the field. it's huge among some older age groups. as big sports go, we are still a big football, baseball, basketball country, so a lot of people were surprised to learn starting on friday, when 32 nations, including the u.s., compete for soccer's top prize, the world cup, with more than a billion people watching, it turns out more tickets have been sold here than anywhere else outside the host country which is south africa. our own ian williams is there. >> reporter: this just might be a team that surprises the world. bringing the world's favorite sport to america as never before. >> whether it's gutsiness, grittiness, that american thing, they've got it. i think that's why the u.s. has a chance to do well this tournament. >> reporter: america's never shared the world's love of soccer, though you would never have thought that by the team send-off to south africa. the biggest cheer for landon donovan, the veteran who has become the international face of u.s. soccer. >> we developed a confidence, a way of playing that we are comfortable with. >> reporter: a determination instilled by a new coach bob bradley, who has rebuilt the team, bringing focus and discipline, making bold decisions on young, new recruits. >> when everybody is committed the right way, we can play with top teams. >> reporter: and they are no longer intimidated by soccer's giants. 17 of the 23 squads play in europe, seven in england, giving them a good measure of the talented, but temperamental english team they'll play saturday. in the last world cup showdown in 1950, the u.s. beat england, then known as the king of soccer by 1-0. it was one of the biggest upsets in soccer history. >> they are still explaining it. it's the raspberry seed in their wisdom tooth. >> it's cool to look back in history, but also good to make history. hopefully we can do that. >> reporter: if there is one thing sportswriters agree on is that the u.s. team shouldn't be underestimated. they have the ability to surprise. with enormous local support in the stands, encouraged by blasts of the horns, america's team has met its moment. ian williams, nbc news, victoria, south africa. >> raspberry seed in the wisdom tooth. thank you for being with us. i'm brian williams. we hope to see you back here tomorrow evening. good night.