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Alaska's Tight Race for Senate; McCain Stumps for Brewer in Arizona; Obama Campaigns for Democrats; Woman Arrested in Explosives on Cargo Planes Investigation

Aired October 30, 2010 - 17:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

DANA BASH, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Dana Bash in Bridgeport, Connecticut. This is CNN's BALLOT BOWL, your ticket to every major campaign event, leading up to the midterm elections. For the next hour, we will take you across the nation to show you the candidates, the rallies and the speeches that are shaping today's vote.

JESSICA YELLIN, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Jessica Yellin in Las Vegas. It seems like just about every elected leader, including the president is on the campaign trail today. President Obama is making three stops today. His last one coming up later in Chicago, his hometown, where he's going to give a boost to the democrat who is trying to win his old Senate seat. That is a tight, tight race. We'll also take you to Florida where Democrat Kendrick Meek soldiers on despite recent reports that he came close to dropping out.

And finally, we're going to take you to Arizona where Senator John McCain is campaigning with that state's controversial Governor Jan Brewer and the congressional candidate Ben Quayle, yes, his name might sound familiar, he is the son of former Vice President Dan Quayle. That's all coming up in the hour ahead. But first, I am here in Nevada where there is one of the most closely watched and tightest Senate races in the nation. Democrat Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid faces Sharron Angle, a Tea Party darling and the republican nominee. There in locked in essentially a dead heat. But it turns out, they're not the only people on the ticket here.

There are other candidates on the ticket, including one guy that both sides have pushed to get off, or at least the Republicans have tried very hard to get off the ticket. His name is Scott Ashjian, Scott Ashjian is running as a candidate of the Tea Party of Nevada. Some are concerned that he could draw Tea Party votes away from Sharron Angle and indirectly give a victory to Harry Reid on Tuesday. They pushed to get him off the ballot but it hasn't worked. I spoke to him just a short time ago today and asked him, why he's in this campaign and what he thinks about this race. Here is Scott Ashjian.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SCOTT ASHJIAN, NEVADA SENATE CANDIDATE: They've tried unsuccessfully four times to get me off of the ballot. It hasn't worked.

YELLIN: Why are you in this race?

ASHJIAN: I'm in this race to show that a normal person that's not vetted by the political machine is very difficult to become or to get involved in politics. Unlike what they say, unlike what Palin says or anybody else, it's almost impossible for a person that isn't beholden to one or the other, can get into politics. There is no difference between a democrat or a republican. I told you months ago, and this is proven, all they do is they just take their add and their talking points and give it to the other person and go back...

YELLIN: You're not concerned that because you're in the race, the democrat could win who doesn't share your political beliefs?

ASHJIAN: Well, listen, every republican businessman, even the republican -- 39-year republican TV owner here in town has said that Sharron Angle is a disaster for the State of Nevada. The Sharron Angle would be -- in her words, crazy for Nevada, why would we trade the number one political person for the number 100 that would be in effect even if they'd had no use for Nevada. She lies on her issues. She campaign against issues that she's a part of, I suggest she just not cash her Social Security check or the Federal Government check.

YELLIN: Do you want Reid to win?

ASHJIAN: No. I think that I want to win. But that's probably not likely, but it's important for Nevada that they have a third choice and that we have a strong standing in the poll. If Harry Reid does win, it is what it is. Sharron Angle, if she wins, she wins on fraud.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

YELLIN: All right. Scott Ashjian. Again, there had been some discussion in this town that perhaps Scott Ashjian was on the ticket in deliberately to get Harry Reid elected, he denies it, you heard him say right there, he doesn't want him to win but certainly he is an unusual candidate in this race, and I'll bring you and Dana in Connecticut. I have never quite encountered a candidate just like Scott Ashjian. You can be for the election, he says, he can beat a 10 percent of the vote. But he's not out campaigning, he's at his friend's wrestling match across the street.

BASH: Through osmosis, I don't know. Social media. But Jessica, you've spent so much time in the State of Nevada. It's such a fascinating and so important, it is such an important race. Tell me what you've detected. I have detected the kind of fear in Democrats' voices about Harry Reid and whether he can survive that go to, close to panic. What are you detecting on the ground there about Harry Reid chances of survival?

YELLIN: There was a lot of excitement and optimism right before the debate that happened here about what it is, 10 days, two weeks ago. After the debate, there became increasing anxiety here, in a sense, Sharron Angle dusting to be creeping up in the polls here in Nevada. And she has that enormous work shots, she just got a flood of money coming in that dwarfed with Harry Reid had been able to get. And so, now Democrats are really looking to their get out the vote efforts to lock this up for Reid. There are so far according to the early vote, 17,000 more Democrats that have voted here in Nevada than Republicans. But there are more Democrats registered. So, it's early voting has ended. It's now all about get out the vote and this is what's happening across the country, massive efforts to get every single, possible voter out, because some of these races could be decided by as few as a thousand votes, Dana. And I'm sure you're hearing this too that lawyers are being stationed in some states in advance of the election in case there are recounts. So, it could be a tight one.

BASH: Those dreaded recounts for sure. And you know, the thing about Nevada and the thing about that race is that obviously, it's huge because we're talking about the democratic leader in the Senate, the Senate majority leader. But it is also fascinating because these two candidates, the two leading candidates, Harry Reid and Sharron Angle, voters don't love either of them. And there is this phenomenon that people may not know about outside of Nevada, that there actually is a space on the ballot where you can vote for none of the above. And people I talked to say, well, maybe none of the above is going to win more than Harry Reid.

YELLIN: Wouldn't that be amazing if none of the above won for U.S. Senate one day? It won't happen this year for sure but that would be quite the state. We're not quite there yet.

All right. We're going to take a quick break here on BALLOT BOWL. We're going to have some ballot saved but on the other side of the break, we're going to bring you more political events from around the nation. So, stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BASH: Welcome back to CNN's BALLOT BOWL where we are monitoring and bringing to you campaign events that are going on all across the country in this final weekend of campaigning before the very monumental and consequential elections on Tuesday going on across the country. Now, the great thing about covering politics is that especially in a year like this, is that you should expect the unexpected. Well, something happened today that wasn't really political but was definitely unexpected and it was Bill Clinton campaigning in Ohio for freshman Congressman John Boccieri, whose wife was expecting their fifth baby. In fact, I talked to him about this. The baby was due on Election Day, Tuesday. Well, you know, you can't expect -- you can't plan when babies are going to come. And turns out, it happened while Bill Clinton was there. Listen to what Bill Clinton said. Listen to this comment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL CLINTON (D), FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We don't have the highest high school graduation rate in America. We rank 11th. But Ohio has cut its dropout rate among the kids most at risk.

(APPLAUSE)

CLINTON: We have...

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: His wife is having a baby. He has to leave.

CLINTON: The baby is now being born. Tell him goodbye. (APPLAUSE)

You know what? We have both sets of parents were here, the grand parents. You'd be amazed how many times I take a picture with a very pregnant woman and she immediately gives birth like that. I would like some credit for your fifth grandchild being born into the world.

(APPLAUSE)

We got another democrat. I wish we could register that baby before it's too late.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: You saw there John Boccieri actually kissed the democratic Governor Ted Strickland and jump off the stage. It was because he had to leave because his wife went into labor. I mean, Jessica, wow, what a moment. And to have Bill Clinton there and to make some interesting remarks there was -- I'm kind of speechless about that.

YELLIN: Unusual. I know. I guess Bill Clinton is saying he's the baby whisperer. How many pregnant women he hugs and they'll go into labors, pretty funny. I have a feeling that's going to be some very useful video for the Boccieri campaign that will get replayed a lot before Election Day. So, Bill Clinton did a -- there. And of course, we wish him and even his wife God speed and good luck in the labor, which she must be going through right now.

Turning from Ohio, which is where Bill Clinton was, to Alaska, to state we were talking about earlier. Our own Drew Griffin is on the ground there because this is where one of the most closely watched Senate races is taking place. Sarah Palin of course has played a role. She swooped in and endorsed one candidate, one republican during the primary, Joe Miller, the Tea Party candidate, and he went on to trounce the incumbent Senator Lisa Murkowski. It was a real upset and there's always been a belief that the Murkowski's and Palin's had tensions between those two political families in Alaska.

So, Drew Griffin, I want to bring you into this conversation and ask you a little bit about the latest status of this race and the write-in candidacy. Lisa Murkowski can only win in this three way race between the Murkowski, Miller the republican, McAdams the democrat. If people get her name written in on the ballot and she won an important victory in this.

DREW GRIFFIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, the elect (INAUDIBLE) what I'm calling a cheche (ph), you asked for who is a write-in candidate. They will give you that sheet of paper. Well, (video gap).

They went to the Alaska Supreme Court, the Alaska Supreme called said, no, it's OK. The poll workers can aid those voters who ask for who's the write-in candidates. You know, spell their names right or write in ballots. They can hand out a sheet and they can view that sheet. A local talk show host then decided everybody was qualified, who is a Joe Miller supporter, run down to the elections division and become a write-in candidate. ( INAUDIBLE), 161 people are write-in candidates for the U.S. Senate seat here in Alaska. I think we can show you on the Alaska -- Web site, this list of long (INAUDIBLE), who can I vote for in the write-in, you know, they're not on the ballot but who's a write-in candidate? I think you'll going to get Lisa Murkowski's name. (INAUDIBLE).

You know, part of this, I think Jessica has just raised the awareness of the write-in candidacy, isn't it, will play towards Murkowski's advantage because it's getting such a big deal. It's like (INAUDIBLE) these bracelets with name on (INAUDIBLE), and why this so important between Murkowski, Miller the republican candidate -- they're 37, 37 -- Democrats still think they have a chance. But you look at numbers, it doesn't seem to make sense. The Murkowski (INAUDIBLE), if they can just peel off some of those Democrats who most likely voted for a democrat if it was between Lisa Murkowski and Scott McAdams (INAUDIBLE). But now realized, there is no (INAUDIBLE), if they can peel off those votes, then they could possibly take this away from Miller (INAUDIBLE) on the ballot.

YELLIN: OK. Drew, I want to point out that this poll was taken, ended October 19th and the Democrats on the ground there quite convinced that the dynamic there has shifted in recent days and then, they have their own internal polling that has shown that Scott McAdams, the democrat has surged there. We are not using that polling on the air because it is democratic polling but they are quite convinced that the dynamic has shifted. In fact, CNN's poll has come out. And it's one of the reasons Democrats have decided at this late hour to go in and pour money into this state because they feel that Democrat Scott McAdams could be the winner of the beneficiary of this sort of intransigence fight between Murkowski and Joe Miller. So, they're very hopeful that something go shipped in the final days but I just wanted to ask you a little bit about the role Sarah Palin has played, because she has been the figure looming over this whole drama, hasn't she?

GRIFFIN: Yes. She really is, in terms of Joe Miller's (INAUDIBLE), godmother of Joe Miller, there she is, honestly, the most powerful and most polarizing person here. Which is why I think you have this -- Democrats think there is a potential that they might stand a chance, because so many people -- Sarah Palin has polarized so many people, love her or hate her, that they feel if we can hate Joe Miller, right? And steal Joe Miller's votes just by the fact that he's got his arm around Palin. Now, that (INAUDIBLE) Joe Miller is my candidate as Sarah Palin, so I'm going to vote for her but the latest stumbles, which is why the Democrats may think they have (INAUDIBLE) had some bad press this week. He had to (INAUDIBLE), that he lied about it. And that record was released just a couple of days ago. It's gotten big headlines here and it's questioned his credibility. He was asked in a debate just a few days ago. He tried to explain what's going on.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE MILLER (R), ALASKA SENATE CANDIDATE: You first have to understand that everything that's in that file is not accurate. And I think another thing you need to understand is, I think what needs to be questioned is we're now over a year after I left that position. And in fact, that was the situation at the time, why wasn't it raised then? All right. My view of it is well, and I think does the purposes of all disclosure. The bureau has a back up system, all of e-mails on that system were backed up. And so, again, I think this is an effort to play I think, a political card at a time to again get Alaskans focused off the issues at this point in time. I mean, we've seen that concerted effort throughout this campaign of raising things that are not related to the issues.

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: We'll leave it there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

YELLIN: All right. That was Joe Miller, republican candidate for the U.S. Senate from Alaska in one of the nation's hottest races and an unusual one with the Incumbent Lisa Murkowski running as a write-in candidate. And the Democrats convinced that their once long shot candidate Scott McAdams now has a real chance of winning. We will all keep our eyes on that race. And we will be back with more on the political races and political events from around the country on BALLOT BOWL after this break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

YELLIN: Welcome back to BALLOT BOWL here on CNN where we've been bringing you live political events from around the country. Coming up, we will have John McCain, Senator John McCain stumping in Arizona with the governor there who is in what has become a tight race, Governor Jan Brewer. That is coming up. But I'm joined first by Dana Bash who is in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Hey, Dana.

BASH: Hey, Jessica. I want to bring in our senior political analyst, Gloria Borger and our good friend who is in New York, getting ready for a special from our headquarters, election headquarters in New York which starts at the top of the hour. Hey, Gloria.

GLORIA BORGER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: I miss you guys.

BASH: So, look, we've been out here, we've been watching all of this frenzy going on -- we miss you too. We've been watching this frenzy going on with President Obama, with John McCain, with John Boehner. You name him or her, they're out there.

BORGER: Yes.

BASH: And the question is, at this point in the game, we know why they're doing it, it's all about getting out the vote.

BORGER: Sure.

BASH: But, you know, does it really make a difference in this stage of the game? What do you think, Gloria?

BORGER: You know, I think if the president can get big audiences in place where there are narrow races or they feel that they really need to get out that vote to get an extra one percent, two percent, sure. But in the large picture, I think the cake is already baked. I think, the narrative is already here. And the folks who are more enthused to get out there and vote are the folks who are going to be voting no, right? And they're the folks who are upset with Barack Obama and with the democratic Congress. And so, I think those voters kind of already know what they're going to do. So, it doesn't hurt for the president certainly to get out there. It doesn't hurt for John McCain to get out there in close races. Does that sound like 2008, John McCain, Barack Obama? But in the end, in the end, I think people have already by and large made up their minds. If you look at undecided voters, race by race, there aren't a lot of them.

YELLIN: Gloria, it's Jessica. I know you've been speaking with some senior Republicans, and I'm wondering your prediction, let's say, if the House at least goes to the Republicans and so the president is dealing with a new political reality. What are we looking at? What should we expect next?

BORGER: It's interesting. I spoke with Senator Mitch McConnell on Friday who is the leader in the Senate of the Republicans. And on the record, he wanted to make it very clear that they're not going to be high fiving each other when this election is over. They're going to be humble. They're going to be full of humility and anxious to get to work. They just don't want to have the American public believe that they're gloating in any way, shape or form. And the loner picture as you both know really well is that they believe this is just one step. And that the next step of course is capturing the presidency in 2012. And so, they've got a lot of work to do.

YELLIN: Can I just ask you...

BORGER: They have to behave. Yes.

YELLIN: Can I just ask you, you know, that's a lot of posturing. You know, they want to know that we're humble and John Boehner's team has said, oh, we're not going to be celebrating election night, we'll be gathering election night. We all understand like everybody else -- that the question is, if they want to recapture the presidency in 2012, which McConnell said, it's his main goal, do they believe that they need to compromise or make any deals with the president between now and then to prove that they're ready to want to govern?

BORGER: Yes, they do. They understand that. The question is whether their caucuses are going to understand that, because they're going to have a lot of new members, particularly in the House, who have -- are not politically experienced, who have come promising certain things that are the holy grail to them, such as cutting the budget, reducing the deficit. And, so I think what the Republicans are talking about now, Jess, is trying to get something right away on the budget, OK? And say they have an across-the-board reduction of say two percent or something on trade that they can agree with Barack Obama about, something on education that they can agree with Barack Obama about. Suddenly, and of course, wasn't that way for the last couple of years, suddenly you're going to find Republicans, at least in the leadership, a bit more willing to sit and talk with Democrats about the art of the doable. Maybe they won't use the word "compromise," that's a dirty word in some parts of the Republican Party. But they will talk about getting things done because they have to prove they can govern, right? YELLIN: You're right. And Gloria, I agree that there could be compromises on some very specific issues, the ones that you mentioned.

BORGER: Right.

YELLIN: But you know this, you both know this. In talking to republican leaders, they firmly believe that the reason why they are doing well and they think that they will do well is because they put their foot down and said no to the president early on and that the message they are getting is to stick to their guns on the big philosophical issues, whether it is spending or taxes. So, it is going to be fascinating, fascinating to watch. Gloria, thank you so much. We're going to see you at the top of the hour for our special. We'll see you back in New York. We're going to take a quick break. We have John McCain and his home state Governor Jan Brewer, they're out campaigning. We're going to get to that and much much more when BALLOT BOWL returns. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JESSICA YELLIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Welcome back to CNN's "BALLOT BOWL" where we bring you live political events from around the country in this, the last weekend before the midterm elections.

One of those events is happening right now. Senator John McCain speaking in Arizona, stumping for his home-state governor, Jan Brewer, live from Arizona.

This is John McCain.

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN, (R), ARIZONA: And could I saw that I thank all of you for supporting this outstanding young future leader of this nation, Ben Quayle. Thank you all for being here on his behalf.

(APPLAUSE)

And I would like to also take a moment to thank a man who I have considered a dear and close friend for many, many years, who I have appreciated in his untiring hard work for the people of Arizona and the principles and philosophy that we all share and hold dear, a true disciple, and a follower of one Barry Goldwater, a great, great legislature. John Shadaq (ph).

John, thank you for --

(APPLAUSE)

With a worthy, worthy qualified successor. Can I just say the governor and I, and Tom Horn (ph) and Doug Dousey (ph) have been traveling around the state -- pardon me? Oh, and Jo Hart fell down a mineshaft.

(LAUGHTER)

How are you, Jo? Glad to see you, Jo. How are you, Jo. Glad to see our mine inspector. (APPLAUSE)

Praise a little late.

(LAUGHTER)

That was a pretty good line.

(LAUGHTER)

Thank you all for being here.

And every place I go I tell the story of the two inmates in the chow line in the state prison. One of them turned to the other and said, the food was a lot better in here when you were governor.

(LAUGHTER)

All right, OK. All right, OK, not funny.

(LAUGHTER)

You know, this may be our last appearance together before election night, and the one thing that Jan is so happy about, she's not going to have to hear that joke again, so.

(LAUGHTER)

So thank all of you for coming.

Look, this is a Seminole election, you know that. You see the polls. You read about it. It's dominating the news, the anger and frustration that the American people have about the direction with which the Obama -- Obama and the administration have led this nation is not tolerated, because next Tuesday, you're going to see a sea change in a wave election that's going to bring America back.

(APPLAUSE)

And my friends, I predict to you now, we will have four-seat pickup in Arizona on Tuesday night.

(APPLAUSE)

I would like to remind you -- I'd like to remind you, this young man, Ben Quayle, next generation of leadership in Arizona and America, came through a very tough primary. He's come through a tough campaign where his opponent has thrown hundreds and hundreds of thousands of dollars in attack ads. I guarantee you he will be a better congressman and a candidate for it because he's going to win.

(APPLAUSE)

Now if I may, if you'll indulge me, I would like to introduce the person that I am most proud of. I have known Governor Jan Brewer for many years. I've had the honor of working and serving with her. And I've seen her do outstanding work for the state of Arizona. But I've never been more proud of her standing up for Arizona against Obama than I am for this governor.

(APPLAUSE)

YELLIN: Senator John McCain in Arizona, stumping for his home-state governor Jan Brewer, who rose to national prominence when she signed into law that controversial immigration law there in Arizona, which is working its way through the courts.

Also at that rally, a name you might recognize, Quayle, it's not Vice President Dan Quayle, but his son, who is running for Congress in that state. He happens to be in a tight race, but obviously getting some big-name support there from John McCain. That is happening in Arizona.

But also happening soon in Illinois, President Obama will take the stage in Chicago to stump for the man running to fill his shoes in the U.S. Senate, take his old seat in the U.S. Senate. We'll bring you that when President Obama takes the stage. That's all coming up on "BALLOT BOWL." Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

YELLIN: Welcome back to CNN's "BALLOT BOWL" on the final frenzied weekend before the midterms. The balance of power in Washington will be decided in a few short days here on Tuesday.

I'm in Nevada, one of the most closely watched Senate races.

And my colleague, Dana Bash, is in Connecticut, which has another fiercely fought Senate contest -- Dana?

DANA BASH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Jess. President Obama was here for a rally that we showed live here on "BALLOT BOWL" about an hour and a half ago. Senator -- excuse me, President Obama is going to Illinois next to defend his old Senate seat.

That's where our senior White House correspondent, Ed Henry, is.

Ed, you have been traveling with the president as he's campaigned for candidates. This is personal, though.

ED HENRY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Oh, absolutely, Dana. When you talk to senior advisers to this president, they say symbolically this means a lot to him, to make sure that on an election night, even if there are widespread Democratic losses across the country, he does not have to watch his old Senate seat go into Republican hands. They know, number one, symbolically, it will be a big blow. But number two, when you do the math -- and you have done it, Jessica has done it -- the Democrats are in trouble in the Senate, as well. They know, when you talk to top advisers to the president in private, that they're likely to lose control of the House. They've been hoping to have a firewall in the Senate, but when you start doing the math, around the country, there's a lot of seats that suddenly look to be turning ever so slightly against the Democrats. This is why when you look at the president scheduled today, here's there in Connecticut with you earlier, a big Senate race there. Before that, he was in Philadelphia, a big Senate race with Joe Sestak. The Democrat closing in on Republican Pat Toomey in Pennsylvania.

They realize this is all about the Senate right now. The House may be lost. They're still hopeful, but they're focusing on the Senate. You can really feel the pace picking up here. Three cities in one day, and this president is going to come back here to Chicago.

What's interesting about it it's a big crowd. They say all around this park on the south side of Chicago, there are people lined up as far as the eye can see to get in here. The president won't be speaking for quite some time.

What's also interesting is this is just a few blocks from his home on the south side of Chicago. He's going to sleep in his own bed tonight, something he doesn't get to do very often, and he's looking forward to that. Because when he was in Philly earlier, he was really laying it on the line, telling volunteers you've got to get to the polls, I want to see 20,000 doors knocked on in the next couple of days. He wants to see the same here in his home of Chicago -- Dana, Jess?

YELLIN: He sure does want to see that there, because that race, as you well know, is neck and neck. Everybody says it's to close to call and it's personal and symbolic.

Ed, thank you very much.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN NEWS ANCHOR: All right, I'm Fredricka Whitfield in Atlanta. I want to bring you this latest, more on that worldwide investigation involving the terror plot. CNN confirms that one of the targets of the two explosive devices that were found in plane cargo is a Chicago synagogue. It's call Or Chadash.

And the co-president is on the line with us now from Or Chadash. She's Lilli Kornblum out of Chicago.

Lilli, give me an idea when you learned your synagogue was a target of these explosive devices.

LILLI KORNBLUM, CO-PRESIDENT, CONGREGATION OF OR CHADASH: We did not -- as a congregation, we learned late in the evening yesterday. And actually I should be clear that our information did not come from any authorities, but through the rabbi of our host congregation. We do rent space from another congregation and he himself had been informed.

WHITFIELD: And since being informed then that way, what have you done at your synagogue to heighten security or change the behavior of anyone or any activities that ordinarily would take place there?

KORNBLUM: Quite frankly, we're always on fairly heightened alert for a variety of reasons that I'm sure most congregations would be able to empathize with. So we do always have security when we have congregational events. However, last night, the Chicago police in much higher visibility. And we were on a much higher alert for people we didn't know or anybody who might be carrying backpacks, packages, that sort of thing.

WHITFIELD: Why would your synagogue be targeted?

KORNBLUM: We at this point are not taking it personally as a synagogue. When there was information that there might have been two packages being delivered, we were looking more in that direction to figure out what we -- we're very, very tiny. We're only about 100 members so it was a little soul searching to figure out why we had come onto the international eye. But now we're starting to get information there may have been more packages, we're starting to believe this might have been just random -- a random selection of various Jewish organizations in Chicago.

WHITFIELD: So as you backtrack and as you try to put the pieces together, has this synagogue ever received anything do in the mail before, any strange phone calls? Has anything preceded this alleged targeted attack?

KORNBLUM: Again, it's a little complicated because we rent space from another congregation that's a little larger than us and had some spare space. So we ourselves have not noticed anything in the last few days. We are hearing that our host congregation did have an increase of hits on their web site coming in from the Middle East.

WHITFIELD: OK. Lilli Kornblum, co-president of Or Chadash in Chicago. Thanks so much for that information.

We'll continue to follow developments throughout the evening as we're getting confirmation now that, among the targeted sites in the U.S. that were to receive any one of these two explosive devices, was indeed that synagogue in Chicago. More information as we get it.

I'm Fredricka Whitfield in Atlanta. More "BALLOT BOWL" after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

YELLIN: This has been a day packed with political events from around the nation. Thank you for watching "BALLOT BOWL." We'll have more "BALLOT BOWL" for you tomorrow, 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. eastern time. We'll bring you the latest candidate rallies from across the nation. So tune in tomorrow.

I'm Jessica Yellen coming to you from Nevada. I toss it now to Dana Bash.

BASH: Thanks, Jess. It was fun spending the last five hours with you on this "BALLOT BOWL." It was really great.

(LAUGHTER)

There is a lot more fun and more information and more substance when it comes to this very important election on Tuesday. Just ahead, at the top of the hour, a special from our Election Center in New York with Wolf Blitzer, Anderson Cooper, John King and everybody else on the best political team on television. Stay tuned for that.

First, we have more information on the latest on the terror threat to the United States and the investigation going on around the world.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(HUMAN FACTOR)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Hello, everyone, I'm Fredricka Whitfield in Atlanta. More political coverage in just a moment. First I want to bring you up to date on the developments involving a world investigation on that failed explosive device situation in cargo planes.

CNN's senior international correspondent, Nic Robertson, has been monitoring this with moving developments, including today, an arrest of a woman in Yemen.

What more do you know?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, the president of Yemen announced that a house was surrounded and a woman was being arrested or was about to be arrested. She's now been detained. She appears to be linked to those packages that were sent off. We heard from the British minister as well, saying he believed and the British believed the targets were, in fact, those cargo transport aircraft, not the synagogues where the packages were mailed to.

We know as well now that the explosive involved in these printer cartridges was PETN, a highly powerful explosive, as much as about seven pounds of it packed into just one of those devices. If you think about it, the amount of explosive that packs into the end of my pen here, six grams, that's about one 500th of what was in that. Six grams is enough to blow a hole in the fuselage of an aircraft -- Fredricka?

WHITFIELD: Nic, what do we know now about screening or trying to sift through any other cargo, whether it be in the U.K. or perhaps even Dubai, since those were the two locations where they found these explosive devices?

ROBERTSON: Well, the immediate effects are that the offices in Yemen where these packages came from have been closed and sealed by Yemeni authorities. That was another thing the Yemeni president said. But the British, for their part, have stopped all cargo flights coming in, direct cargo flights coming in from Yemen to the U.K. They're planning to put in place other procedures as well. That's being worked out at the moment. And other countries are following suit and considering exactly the same very strict and careful measures -- Fredricka?

WHITFIELD: Got you. Thanks so much, Nic Robertson, for the update coming out of London for us. We'll continue to keep you abreast of the developments throughout the evening on this investigation, and as well as more information on the Chicago synagogues believed to be the recipients, the expected recipients of these devices.

Coming up next, we're going to have a special, as we are now just three days away from midterm elections, "AMERICA VOTES 2010." This is a CNN election special coming your way. Of course, the best political team on television bringing it to you from the various locations across the country, all hot spots with hotly contested races that are closely being watched. That special begins right now.