it's expected to set off more protests across france. we are watching the developing story. as we get more we will bring it to you. jon: and a good wednesday morning to you, i'm jon scott. jenna: hi, everybody, nothing like getting a lead in about boozers right. jon: interesting name to put on the ballot. jenna: hi, everybody i'm jenna lee, welcome to "happening now." we are in the fox newsroom where we're all over the midterm elections. with six days to go here is how the balance of power is shaping up. jon: in the senate races are incredibly tight. republicans would need to win ten seats to take control of democrats. seven key senate races are too lows to call. jenna: the gop needs to pick up 39 seats for a ma skroert in the house. they predict a republican blowout with democrats losing up to 60 seats and reports say it could go higher. we won't know until maybe after election today. jon: maybe so. ohio always a politically significant state and races there could have a big impact on the balance of power. six house seats occupied by democrats are in danger of flipping. jenna: ted strickland is locked in a toss up race with john cesak. the big guns are now heading to the buckeye state. jon: that's where we'll find the president this weekend. today mr. obama is at the white house trying to rally union support and working to get out the african-american vote. let's get to mike emanuel at the white house. he has the latest for us. what is president obama's pitch to these key groups and how he is reach out today, mike. >> reporter: he's using the phone a lot, calling bloggers today, also calling into a radio show a little later this morning. as you mentioned, reaching out to the labor unions, saying thank you for the work you've done so far. we've got to do everything possible to bring turn out up to 2008 levels, when of course he was reelected. also reaching out to the african-american audience doing a variety of interviews with african-american radio hoes trying to energize that important part of his base. here is a sample of his pitch. >> just because i'm not on the ballot don't assume thisee section -- election isn't important. this is very important as to how we can move over the next couple of years. >> reporter: he will head to charlottesville virginia, to the university of virginia to energize the youth vote and doing some traveling, campaigning over the weekend, jon. jon: there is a war of words underway between the republican leader in the house and the white house, right? >> reporter: that's right. senator mitch mcconnell did an interview with national journal. he said quote the single most important thing we want to achieve is for president obama to be a one-term president. robert gibbs was asked about it at the white house, suggested there would be plenty of time for a presidential campaign, suggested perhaps senator mcconnell himself might to run for president. he said regardless of the outcome next tuesday that he does not believe that the american public wants to be in perpetual campaign mode, that those who are elected to the senate are going to be expected to get things done, at least that is robert gibbs' perspective, jon. jon: thank you. jenna: now to an update on a story we've been watching very closely. california senate candidate fee tpaoez is reportedly upbeat and hopes to return to the campaign trail by the end of this web. she remains in a los angeles hospital at least for this morning. doctors are treating her for an infection related to reconstructive surgery for breast cancer. the 56-year-old carly fiorina is challenging veteran senator box box. carly fiorina underwent surgery for breast cancer back in march of 2009. controversy surrounding a former aid to senate majority leader harry reid, it's a story first reported on foxnews.com. reid's office dismissing his presents secretary for the hispanic media after reports she married a lebanese national to help him evade immigration law. shannon bream is live in washington with this story. it's not just the issue of this so-called sham marriage but who this woman married, right. >> reporter: exactly right. we are talking about a man and the staffer met him in college. she has admitted lying about the marriage during the time she was working for senator reid. he was a subject of interest in a terrorist organization investigation. they questioned him about links to extremist groups. while the links were not established they also were not ruled out. those two are divorced now. she no longer works for senate majority harry reid. here is what his spokesman said. our office was not previously aware of these allegations. the bottom line remains that this story was a desperate measure bi-partisan republicans who slung mud by junior staffers to score points in the waning days of her campaign. jenna: you were speaking with pete h shall ookstra this morning. what did he said. >> reporter: he said in his experience executive agencies bend over backwards to keep key house members informed when things like this happen. harry reid had plenty of access to that information. he thinks it's very likely something like this would have fallen into that category. now he is looking for answers. >> two very simple questions. was the senate informed, and if they were informed, what happened to the information? and if they weren't informed why were they not informed, because someone tried to hide something or protect somebody. >> reporter: he says he holds the executive agencies responsible he says if you're dealing with groups like fbi, cia they should have let harry reid know. jenna: thank you so much for bringing that to us. six days ahead of an election, a story like that one could mean something. jon: in a very tight race that is for sure. jenna: up until election today, again only six days left we are holding our america's asking interactive town hall usa segment. jon: we have got even incredible response from our viewers over the past few weeks. we will be putting your questions to a very spectacular panel in the next hour. jenna: you can twit error use our blog or go to foxnews.com and follow the link that gets you to our show page. you can go ahead and give us your questions there. harris is chatting now. she has a head start. jon: she is always there ahead of us. jenna: harris. >> reporter: right now everybody is talking about reducing the size of the deficit. they have all sorts of things they'd like to suggest to the administration and to the president. why is the administration focusing on raising more money rather than reducing the deficit. that's from chris brown. the live chat is scrolling and rolling nearby. the panel its -- is coming up, it is a rock star cast. i'll pull questions and let you know the good ones coming up. jon: all right, look forward to it harris, thank you. millions of american's dreams shattered in the foreclosure crisis. we've been telling you about a proposal from the chair of the federal deposit insurance corporation. it could include dramatic cuts in mortgage payments for struggling homeowners. sounds good, right? well there are some new questions today about what that could mean for the economy and if the plan is even feasible. james rosen is live in washington. break it down for us, how does this proceed -- proposed solution work. >> reporter: sheila baer says this is a global conclusion to a robo signing scandal. they will be forced to accept less in the short term in the hope of getting more in the long run. speak at a housing conference yesterday she acknowledged they overlooked warning signs in the foreclosure process to deal with the mess in which investigators in all 50 states are now reexamining the paperwork for tens of thousands of foreclosed homes. she spoke of performing triage on the foreclosure process. this she defined as perhaps providing safe harbor relief, if the property is vacant or if the servicer can offer a meaningful payment reduction. say a minimum of 25% and the borrower simply could still not perform on the loan. she also acknowledged her proposed global solution will require buy in from banks, mortgage investors, borrowers and the 50 states attorneys general. she fears the litigation generated by the whole issue could ultimately prove very damaging to our housing markets, jon. jon: there is that whole scandal you mentioned involving the foreclosures on tens of thousands of homes in which the paperwork was dubious if not illegal. does this plan help get us out of that mess? >> reporter: well she said that fdic's research shows that increasing the monthly relief on payments from 10 to 40% or more can cut redefault rates by half. by way of assessing whether this plan will ever get implemented, let me ask this question. when is the last time you saw the 50 states attorneys generals all agree on something. >> my hope is the timing and the need to keep moving forward that this is something that the parties without legislation come together and agree on. there are a lot of different stake holders in this obviously. the state and local officials rightfully so are very interested in protecting their legal requirements as well. i think it will take a lot of communication to try to come up with some global solution. but i hope it does not require legislation. >> reporter: a lot of communication indeed. and also she said this will have to be accompanied by reform in the security industry. jon: thanks, james. jenna: the housing crisis is really tied to unemployment. let's talk a little bit about that now. a new report from moodies not boding well for the jobless. it says u.s. companies are holding onto nearly one trillion dollars in cash. economic uncertainty means they are unwilling to use all that money to grow their businesses or even hire new people. while they have the cash it's simply not trickling down to main street. as the economy stabilizes moody says it's not going to change much. companies will likely spend on things like mergers, acquisitions, big deals rather than new employees. jon: brand-new concerns over drug cartels in mexico after an attack that drove an entire police force to put down their badges and walk off the job. deadly natural disasters hit indonesia. an earthquake, a tsunami and a volcanicee -- volcanic eruption. hundreds are dead. we'll get you a live report from indonesia coming up. t, hon? yep, all day. good thing you're starting here. we compare your progressive direct rate to oer top companies', so you can save money! look! we saved a lot! and quic too. and no more holdinher purse! it's a european shoulder bag. it was a gift. mm-hmm. shopping less and savi more. now, that's progressive. call or click today. but with advair, i'm breathing better. so now, i can join the fun and games withy grandchildren. great news! for people with copd, inuding chronic bronchitis, emphysema, or both, advair helps significantly improve lung function. while nothing can reverse copd, advair is different from most other copd medications because it contains both an anti-inflammatory and a long-acting bronchodilator, working together to help you breathe better. advair won't replace fast-acting hars for sudden symptoms and should not be used more than twice a day. people with copd taking advair may have a higher chance of pneumonia. advair may increase your risk of osteoporosis and some eye problems. tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high blood pressure before taking advair. i had fun today, grandpa. you and me both. if copd is still making it hard to breathe, ask your doctor if including advair will help improve your lung function for better breathing. get your first full prescription free and save on refills. jenna: efforts underway right now in indonesia following three deadly natural disasters. today helicopters are carrying rescue workers and emergency aid to remote areas like the one you're seeing on your screen here that were literally washed away by a tsunami. that giant wave triggered by a powerful earthquake on monday. the death toll is nearing 300 and likely to rise. a second rescue effort is underway after indonesia's most volatile volcano erupted killing dozens of people in that part of the country. on the phone with us is aubrey belford. he's in jakarta. tell us about this, thinks an earthquake and tsunami, t area n to. tell us about the rescue effort there. >> well the earthquake in and tsunami struck in a remote group of islands off the west coast of sumatra. it's been two days since the tsunami happened. only today did rescuers manage to reach some of these areas. so far it's 300 dead in this area and more than 400 are missing. some villages from aerial shots that we've seen have been totally wiped out. all that is left is mud and tree stumps and pools of water. it's really quite severe. jenna: on monday we reported that there was a major earthquake and potentially there was a tsunami warning and then that warning was called off about 45 minutes later. was anyone able to escape? did any of these people have a heads up that this wave was coming. >> from what i heard no one had a heeds up from the tsunami system. those were familiar enough that those that were on land were able to run up into the hills. in speaking to officials those that died were people at sea, fisherman or people on the shore that didn't know there was an earthquake so when the tsunami came they just had no time. jenna: let's talk about the volcano, it's 800 miles away. to put it in perspective from washington d.c. to orlando, florida. not necessarily close but not too far from the area there. what's happening with the volcano, is it still erupting? >> the volcano is still active. the majoree ruplgss were about 24 hours ago now. they are still observing is to see if there is a risk of further eruption there. the last person i spoke to says they really don't know what is going to happen next. that was really quite spectacular last night. we've had at least 29 people killed there. more than ten thousand have actually fled from the slopes of the volcano and are now living in temporary tents. those who didn't leave in time, some of them were injured on the way down and some that didn't leave were actually killed on the slopes of the volcano, including one man who is the spiritual keeper of the volcano who thought that it wouldn't erupt and he turned out to be wrong so him and a number of people died there in the village that was totally destroyed on the volcano's edge. jenna: thank you so much, global radio news correspondent covering the three natural disasters, jon in indonesia, quite a lot to handle. jon: in the midwest the danger continues, a powerful storm tearing through several states, and high winds are still howling today. we'll bring you an update from this disaster zone. >> a cloud hanging down about a half mile wide. it was a tornado. they can call it what they want to, it was a tornado. jon: taking a break from bashing america to team up for a friendly game of soccer. the two world leaders who like to kick the usa are kicking the round ball. competed to save me a boatload of money on my mortgage -- that would be awesome! [sarcastically] sure. like that will happen. don't just think about it. spend 10 minutes at lendingtree d save up to $272 a month. jenna: stories crossing our international desk right now. in the top box big trouble in north mexico after the entire police force in the town of los ramones walks off the child. that's after they storm the headquarters and kill the police dog. in the middle box hundreds of police clarking with protestors, and finally, business and pleasure in iran. bolivian president taking on iranian president bernard madofd ahmadinejad. jon: a fox weather alert on the midwest mess. tornadoes, howling winds and torrential rains tearing across the regions. eight confirmed tornadoes touching down in indiana, one of them caught on surveillance video. you can see it racing across the street in this footage here. it rips off a roof, thousands in northern illinois without power today. just outside chicago homes are damaged. one victim saying there was a whistle and then an explosion of glass. the wild weather also downing trees in ohio spawning at least three tornadoes there. on the phone from laport indiana john sullivan. he saw his neighbor's home destroyed by a funnel cloud. he's a firefighters and the coroner for laport county. it's my understanding as coroner you didn't have to do any work yesterday. >> yes that is correct. my services as medical examiner were not needed. the area here in indiana has had real rough luck with late-season tornadoes in october, if you remember in october of 2001 we were hit very badly by a tornado. we have been very lucky lately, no loss of life, no injuries. jon: you were looking out the window yesterday having a cup of coffee and here comes a tornado and hits your neighbor's house. >> yes, our 911 center put out an advisory that there was possibly a tornado nearby on our pagers. we patrol in the fire trucks, i was driving to the fire station in my vehicle and right in front of me, right at 8:41am which is when they predicted they would hit they were very accurate. there was the tornado grayish-white in color about 200-foot in the air. i'll probably have to call it a funnel cloud because it was in the air. we did have considerable damage to a 200x40-foot shed and a home west of my farm. jon: one elementary school had really frightening moments i understand. >> yes i drive a school bus there also for them and we always go over tornado drills, fire drills and the kids, say, john, why do we have to do this all the time. after that was over i told the principal, i said this is why we do this because everything went like clockwork yesterday. the kids were all right, a little scared maybe crouched over in the hallway with their hands on their head in the tornado position but they were okay. the tornado missed them by about half a mile. they know they dodged the bullet. this is why we have tornado drills and fire drills so that these kids are safe. jon: how is the weather today? >> good, what a difference a day makes. i'm looking outside right now. the sky is blue. we've still got about a 20-mile an hour wind. i understand the national weather service did confirm our funnel cloud as a tornado on an ef1 scale so up to 90-mile an hour winds. so we were hit but we were very lucky. nothing like some other nearby communities here in indiana, or out in tornado alley in kansas, those poor people that get their whole town devastated. we were very lucky. jon: john sullivan, you illustrate what thaeubgs this country great, the town coroner, a firefighter, a school bus driver, it's people like you that make this country greet. i know people will pitch in there and cleanup that mess. >> they sure do. thank you very much for thinking of us. jon: the great news, nobody hurt or killed. >> you're darn right. jenna: in the meantime an iconic house democrat and a powerful committee chairman he usually wins re-election by a landslide. now barney frank is facing a real challenge for the first time in years. we'll tell you about it. on the senate side harry reid fighting for his political life as they look into charges of fraud and early voting. a lot of you are online while you're watching tv, multitasking, a little like john sullivan. jon: that's for sure. jenna: remember fox news is your election headquarters. [ male announcer ] gout's root cause is high uric acid. ♪ if you have gout, high uric acid can lead to more attacks. ♪ to help reduce attacks, lower your uric acid. uloric lowers uric acid levels in adus with gout. it's not for the treatment of high uric acid without a history of gout. uloric reduces uric acid to jon: there's breaking news in what is already the most watched senate battle in the nation, the nevada state attorney