We'll start with the elections. So much at stake, and so much uncertainty. Will the Democrats lose the House? How many Senate seats will Republicans take? And how will the Tea Party affect the outcome?
Yes, yes, we've all read the thumb-sucker spin pieces analyzing how a divided Congress might be to Pres. Obama's advantage, and how the Republicans are hoping the Tea Partiers lose, and blah blah blah blah blah.
The truth is many of the people who were energized and optimistic by the Barack Obama campaign two years ago - are anything but that today. The politics of change turned out to be the politics of the same. Meet the new boss, same as the old boss, to quote Pete Townshend. That is how many of those who were lifted high by the Obama candidacy feel today. And who can blame them?
The big muckity mucks who thought they were Kings Of The Universe with their gazillion-dollar bonuses, found out that their dirty socks smell just like everyone else's. And so taxpayers bailed them out. Now, they're back to thinking their socks don't stink, and they're making more than ever while the rest of us who bailed them out are living in a recession-era mentality. People who could spend, aren't spending. And those who can't, are trying to save their homes.
It's hard to imagine people getting fired up and ready to go just by seeing their President on the stump, sans the tie, with his shirtsleeves rolled up, and preaching his message of change. I see it with my own kids, who were so energized two years ago, and who don't talk much about politics these days. What they do see is their parents - and the parents of their friends - a bit more anxious about money.
The saving grace for Democrats tomorrow might be that Republicans, except for their harangue against the Dems, have been criticized for offering not much more than anger against government. And anger, to paraphrase one candidate for statewide office in New York, is not a strategy.
Tonight, the candidates hit the road for one last night of campaigning, and we'll be with them, at 11.
We're also following the cargo terror story, with packages from Yemen under scrutiny - and, in most cases, not getting accepted for delivery to the U.S. There are some reports that this will extend to Somalia. And word this weekend that a young woman - an engineering student - had been detained in Yemen because her name and address were on the "from" part of the packages that were attempted to be shipped to the synagogues in Chicago. Yeah, right. Just what Al Qaeda would do - put the terrorist's name and address on the return part of the package. She has since been released - the victim of an identity theft.
We'll have the latest on the terror plot, at 11.
And - in keeping with the aforementioned torment about the economy - we have the story of one couple that found themselves nearly $100,000 in debt. Credit card debt. They had relied on plastic to live, and they were faced with huge interest payments that sapped their monthly earnings. So they turned their finances over to a credit counselor and now, four years later, they've gone from a bad example of how to drown in debt, to a great example of how to get out of it. Josh Einiger reports on the couple and the lessons learned, and offers tips of how to get out of debt.
We'll also have any breaking news of the night, plus Lee Goldberg's AccuWeather forecast, and Scott Clark with the night's sports. I hope you can join Liz Cho and me, tonight at 11.
