N.Y. Democrats in Trouble; The "Fire Pelosi" Tour; Democrats in a Ditch?
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Good Monday morning to you. It's November 1st, beginning of a brand new month, just a day away from the midterm elections now. I'm John Roberts.</s>KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Kiran Chetry. Glad you're with us. Here's a look at the top stories right now. We start in Yemen where officials are promising tighter security in place at all of its airports following the plot to send mail bombs to the U.S. that originated in Yemen. The near catastrophe is raising concerns about cargo on U.S. found passenger flights. Homeland security correspondent, Jeanne Meserve, is working that part of the story.</s>ROBERTS: America votes in just 24 hours. And polls show Democrats could be in for a drabbing, but National Republican Committee chairman, Michael Steele says, it'll still be a GOP victory even if Democrats hold on to the House. We'll ask him why he's playing down expectations when he joins us live at the bottom of the hour.</s>CHETRY: There's also a new poll showing Democrats are in big trouble tomorrow. Did President Obama's weekend campaign blitz do enough to save some key seats with just a day to go? We're going to talk to the man whose job it is to keep the Democrats in power, at least in the House of Representatives.</s>ROBERTS: By this time tomorrow, the American people will be doing the talking -- one more day before the midterm elections. And by the looks of it, the Democrats are in some serious trouble.</s>CHETRY: According to a new CNN opinion research corporation poll, 51 percent of you believe Democrats will lose power in Congress tomorrow, only 63 percent believe they'll hold on to it. In the Senate, 37 of the 100 seats are up for grabs, 18 of those seats belong to Republicans, 19 to Democrats. President Obama is stumping in Ohio. He was trying to catch lightning in a bottle like he did in 2008.</s>BARACK OBAMA, (D) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: I want you to remember this. Don't let anybody tell you this fight isn't worth it. Don't let anybody tell you you're not making a difference. Because of you, somewhere in Ohio there's a small business owner who kept their doors open in the depths of recession. Because of you, there are nearly 100,000 brave men and women who are no longer at war in Iraq, because of you.</s>ROBERTS: "The Best Political Team on Television" is covering every angle for you this morning. Reports ahead from Jim Acosta, Carol Costello, our chief national correspondent John King, and senior Congressional correspondent Dana Bash. Let's begin with Jim Acosta, though. He's live with the latest CNN polling. And quite a shocker when it comes to approval ratings for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Jim.</s>JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, that's right, John. This may be the lead story of all the poll numbers that came out from our CNN polling unit over the weekend. This is a shocking un- favorability number for Nancy Pelosi. Take a look at this -- opinion of house speaker Nancy Pelosi, 53 percent unfavorable, 26 percent favorable. Why is this important? Because these days you're seeing the chairman of the RNC Michael Steele going all over the country wearing "Fire Pelosi t-shirts." Many of the ads running on these hotly contested races for the House all over the country show candidates side-by-side, Democratic candidates side-by-side with Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker of the House, saying candidate x would essentially be a rubber stamp for Nancy Pelosi. So Republicans have personalized these midterm elections, made it very much about the speaker of the House. And that is having an effect on Speaker Pelosi. Traditionally the last couple of speakers who have lost their jobs, Denny Hastert and Newt Gingrich have essentially left the political scene after losing their jobs. And Nancy Pelosi will obviously win her House race out in San Francisco, but she will lose this -- the job as speaker, of course, if the Republicans take charge. So it'll be all eyes on Nancy Pelosi to determine what she's going to do if this avalanche does occur on Tuesday.</s>ROBERTS: Jim, there's so many ways to skin a cat when it comes to polling. You could have registered Democrats, registered Republicans, registered voters. We've got new polls on likely voters, those people who may be inclined to really get out to the polls tomorrow. What do those numbers tell us?</s>ACOSTA: These are titanic-like poll numbers right now for the Republicans. It's pretty extraordinary when you look at the advantage for Republicans right now over Democrats. Among likely voters, 52 percent of Americans prefer the Republican candidate -- this is the generic ballot with no name mentioned -- 42 percent for the Democratic candidate. Those are 1994- style polling numbers for the Republicans. These are the numbers they'd like to see heading into the election. What is behind these numbers? If you get into the weeds of this latest poll from CNN, independents are breaking towards the Republicans. The economy is the top issue for Americans right now. Health care reform, that big divisive issue that the Democrats spent a lot of capital on, ranks nowhere near the top when it comes to issues that concern Americans. So all the polling numbers, all the data leaning in the Republican direction heading into Tuesday, John.</s>ROBERTS: Now, of course, these are all national numbers. And with the exception of the Senate, the other races are pretty much local. So how does that translate? Is it just sort of a general mood of the country?</s>ACOSTA: It is the general mood of the country. And honestly, if you look at President Obama's favorability numbers, he is still holding steady. His numbers have not moved terrible much in the last six months or so. So this is really a referendum on the Democrats at this point, the Democratic Party and members of Congress. And while it is something that you have to look at sort of race-by-race and state-by- state, overall across the country there's just deep dissatisfaction with the Democratic Party right now, and that is translating into a tidal wave-like election for Republicans at this point. All of that could be wrong and the Democrats are saying there's still time to pull it out, but it is looking grim at this point.</s>ROBERTS: Jim Acosta this morning. Jim, thanks. Ahead this hour at ten minutes after, Congressman Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, he heads the committee responsible for getting Democrats elected to Congress. And then at 30 minutes after the hour, Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele will join us and we'll have a chance to ask him about the crazy race in Alaska.</s>CHETRY: It'll be interesting to get both of their takes. They don't want to play things up and don't want to throw the towel in. There's a day to go and people have to vote. Ell, to a CNN security watch now. The Yemeni government says that there are new, tighter measurements now in place at all airports in the country. Officials say that every piece of cargo and luggage will now go through extensive searching.</s>ROBERTS: Yemen is responding to the plot to send two mail bombs to the United States. And this morning we're learning that at least one of the explosive devices may have traveled on passenger planes. Investigators believe both packages bear the mark of Al Qaeda bomb maker Ibrahim Hassan al-Seri.</s>CHETRY: Yes, he's believed to be the same person who designed the failed underwear bomb that was found last Christmas on a flight to the U.S. Well, the mail bomb plot reveal some potentially deadly gaps in the screening of air cargo, and the terror scare is raising concerns about the security of cargo on all the U.S.-bound flights. Our Homeland Security Correspondent Jeanne Meserve is live for us in London this morning. This exposed vulnerability, clearly it was caught in time. But the question is, are there more like this out there?</s>JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, they are looking at packages from Yemen, sort of backtracking on things to see if there's any additional threat at this point in time. But they're trying to look forward here. The most recent number we have for screening of inbound cargo is that about 60 percent of it coming to the U.S. is green, which means about 40 percent of it is not. Administration officials are acknowledging the need to do more in the wake of the bomb plot, but it's a tough problem, and experts say we're never going to be able to eliminate the threat 100 percent of the time. Some of the problematic issues -- shipments come from all over the world. So any security regime requires international cooperation. And it is not always easy to get buy-in from other countries. Shipments move from country to country and plane to plane, creating opportunities for tampering. Cargo is sometimes in big pallets or in containers, making screening difficult. Technology has its limitations even when it can be used. X-rays, for instance, wouldn't have detected these PETN bombs. The TSA says incoming flights have to provide cargo manifests prior to arrival in the U.S. And 100 percent of identified high-risk cargo on passenger planes is being screened. TSA administrator John Pistol also says all cargo flying to the U.S. on passenger or cargo planes is held to TSA standards that include specific requirements covering how facilities and cargo is accessed, the vetting of personnel with access to cargo, employee training and cargo screening procedures. But this is a far cry from 100 percent screening of the cargo, and administration officials recognize that this system has to be tightened up. Not just in Yemen, but all around the world. It will be a very difficult and very expensive proposition, Kiran.</s>CHETRY: Absolutely. And the thing that stuck out to me in all of this, even when they were aware of it, it took British officials hours to find what they were talking about. So it just seems you're looking for a needle in a haystack here.</s>MESERVE: That's right. In this specific incident had very good intelligence, and that's what led them to the device. But it does point out the short comings of the current screening capabilities. Now, there is a bipartisan cry erupting from members of Congress to close this gap. Among those saying something must be done, the ranking Republican on the House Homeland Security Committee.</s>REP. PETE KING, (R) NEW YORK: No, I'm not satisfied. The question is, how do we correct it? That's what we have to do. I think we've got to get Congress and the administration and industry itself to sit down and find ways to make cargo planes more secure. They'll probably never be as secure as passenger planes, but we do have to improve the security.</s>MESERVE: And Democrat Ed Markey of Massachusetts is already pledging to introduce legislation to require 100 percent of screening of all cargo on all cargo planes.</s>CHETRY: Jeanne Meserve for us on our terror watch this morning, thanks so much.</s>ROBERTS: Also new this morning, another deadly suspected U.S. drone strike in Pakistan. Intelligence officials in the area say the strike killed five people in northwestern Pakistan, a region where Al Qaeda and Taliban militants are known to be hiding.</s>CHETRY: And another powerful eruption from Indonesia, this volcano. Thousands of people living in relief camps, they had returned to their homes, hoping to check on their homes to see what was left as well as farm animals. At least 31 people have been killed but the volcano in the past week.</s>ROBERTS: An Ohio congressman makes a quick exit during a rally with former president Bill Clinton. Was it something the former president did? Find out.</s>CHETRY: Also, there's a new poll showing Democrats are in big trouble tomorrow. Did President Obama's weekend campaigning blitz do anything to help save some key seats? We'll talk to the man whose job it is to keep them in power about the last-minute push for votes. It's 12 minutes past the hour.