NY Gov. Worries About Future Storms

Gov. Andrew Cuomo with Diane Sawyer. Image: ABC News.

ABC News' Eric Noll reports:

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo described the scene in Lower Manhattan and at the World Trade Center Memorial Monday night as 'frightening,' but said today that things were looking much better and that the city would quickly come back from Hurricane Sandy.

'It was all dark because [Con Edison] had turned off the power. And the water. The Hudson River was just a few hundred yards to the right from us. It had come over the banks. ' And was filling this site [at the World Trade Center Memorial] at such a rate and from every direction,' he said today. 'You were just wondering when it was going to stop. ' We could not have taken much more of the flow that we were getting last night.'

Cuomo said officials feared for the memorial, its underground museum and the city's other underground infrastructure such as its subway tunnels. He said that at one point Monday night, they even wondered whether the rushing waters would collapse the entire World Trade Center site.

'The way New York was designed, we're not in a part of the country that deals with floods or [is] designed to deal with floods,' he said. 'We have a lot of infrastructure under the ground that gets filled up. The subway tunnels have all flooded. Some of the subway stations, the water is up to the ceiling.'

Cuomo said officials did not know when the power would be completely restored. He said the subway tunnels would have to be pumped first because much of Con Edison's equipment was located there. He estimated that would take a couple of days.

The New York governor told ABC News that he agreed with former Vice President Al Gore, who  said in a blog post earlier today that Hurricane Sandy was a symptom of a larger climate crisis

'I believe he's right,' Cuomo said. 'I said kiddingly the other day, 'We have a 100-year flood every two years now.' These situations never happened or if they happened, they were never going to happen again. ' I think at this point it's undeniable that we have a higher frequency of these extreme weather situations, and we're going to have to deal with it.'

 

 

Fires Rage in New Jersey Shore Town

A New Jersey shore town that suffered severe damage during superstorm Sandy is fighting a huge fire this morning after an apparent gas-main explosion.

The cut-off barrier island of Mantoloking, N.J., was beset by a large cluster of flames and smaller fires that quickly spread across the island, WABC-TV reported.

Video shows several structures burned to the ground. The exact size of the fire is unclear.

Authorities believe a gas main might have exploded and quickly spread across the island, WABC reported. The small town of Mantoloking sits between the Atlantic Ocean and the Barnegat Bay.

There were no firefighters at the scene because they were unable to cross the storm-damaged roads at the Mantoloking Bridge, the fire department in Bricktown, N.J., confirmed to ABC News.

Fire officials said they are figuring out how to get to the scene this morning.

Several homes were destroyed and continued to burn, but it is unclear whether the homes were destroyed by the fire or explosion, or before it, WABC reported.

Sandy destroyed about 14 homes in the town, according to The Associated Press.

Christie Vows NJ, After 'Unfathomable' Damage, Will Rebuild

Residents along the East Coast are beginning to pick up the pieces after the deadly superstorm Sandy devastated the most densely populated region in the country, with New Jersey experiencing "unthinkable" damage to its coastline as homes were swept from their foundations and amusement park rides were washed into the ocean.

President Obama will arrive in New Jersey this afternoon to survey the damage with New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie. President Obama declared parts of New Jersey, along with parts of New York, a major disaster area, which would allow federal funding for storm-related repairs.

More than eight million people are still without power across 17 states and Sandy is now being blamed for at least 51 deaths in the U.S. and two people missing, according to The Associated Press.

Hurricane Sandy: Full Coverage

Hundreds of thousands of people who had to evacuate their homes are left wondering what ' if anything ' was left. For those residents living on the New Jersey coastline, Christie described the damage as "unfathomable" and "unthinkable."

"The boardwalk we walked on together this summer greeting residents, talking to those business owners, it's gone," Christie said at a Tuesday evening press conference after surveying the damage.

Images from around the storm-affected areas depicted scenes reminiscent of big-budget disaster movies. In Atlantic City, N.J., a gaping hole remained where once a stretch of boardwalk sat by the sea.

"It won't be same. It will be different because many of the iconic things that made it what it was are not gone and washed into the ocean," Christie said.

Christie said that he plans on speaking to Obama about getting Army Corps of Engineers into the state to begin rebuilding as soon as possible, especially the Jersey Shore.

"As a kid who was born and raised in this state and who spent a lot of time over my life, both my childhood and my adult life, at the Jersey Shore. We'll rebuild it. No question in my mind we'll rebuild it."

Seaside Heights, a city synonymous with fun, is now submerged underwater with destruction as far as the eye can see. Homes, cars and amusement park rides litter the coastline and the ocean. Timothy Husar took a picture of the submerged rollercoaster in Seaside Park that went viral on social media.

"When the tide gets really high, it's completely underwater," Husar said.

Husar said that the high tides and strong winds also pushed debris from other coastline cities toward Seaside.

"Throughout the ocean you see the northerly or southerly winds pushing debris that we suspect is from Atlantic City and the Wildwood area up towards our docks," he said.

Boat rescues continued along the storm-ravaged shore Tuesday night for those residents who did not heed the warnings and mandatory evacuation orders.

With chest pains, Tom Moriarty was taken to Atlantic City's hospital. His daughter remains at his flooded home in Brigantine, N.J.

"She said everything was fine and that if worse comes to worse, she and her boyfriend, were going to go into the attic," Moriarty said.

The number of power outages topped 1.9 million customers in New Jersey and half a million in New York City, and approached another million on New York's Long Island.

Nearly 4,000 utility workers from all areas of the country are rushing to New York to help turn on the power after much of lower Manhattan plunged into darkness and dimmed the famous skyline.

"You should not expect the vast bulk of those people that do not have service today to get service much before the weekend," Mayor Michael Bloomberg said during a Tuesday press conference.

All bridges and tunnels have reopened with the Holland Tunnel and Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel the only exceptions. Officials hoped to have power restored to New York in two to three days and aim to have the subways running by the weekend, Bloomberg said.

Faced with the chance of not having power for days, looting has become a problem in the Coney Island section of Brooklyn, N.Y., Tuesday night.

More than 100 police officers stood on corners or cruised in cars to guard a strip of vandalized stores and a damaged bank, to the relief of shaken residents.

"We're feeling OK, but at first we felt worried," 12-year-old Oleg Kharitmov told the AP as he walked his dog with his parents by the bank. "I'm pretty happy that the cops are here."

Massive Losses Likely From Hurricane Sandy

Morning Business Memo

The multi-billion dollar insurance losses from Hurricane Sandy could be larger than anyone expected before the massive storm blew ashore. It may take weeks to assess the damage from widespread flooding and destruction in the east. More than ten states have been directly affected. The National Flood Insurance Program will step in to pay for some of the damage. Preliminary estimates are that Sandy will be a lot more expensive than last year's Hurricane Irene, which according to one finding cost nearly $16 billion. The worst damage came from Hurricane Katrina in 2005. It cost $108 billion and caused 1,200 deaths.

Stock trading is closed for a second straight day. Bond trading will also be closed. It is the first time since 1888 that the exchange will have been closed for two consecutive days because of weather.

Transportation is at a standstill in the Northeast. Airlines grounded thousands more flights today, stranding travelers as far away as Europe and Asia. Amtrak says it's canceled all service today in the Northeast because of high winds and heavy rains. Cargo container operations were suspended in the normally busy ports of New York and northern New Jersey.

Many large companies have postponed the release of their quarterly earnings reports. Before the approach of Hurricane Sandy the Conference Board delayed the release of its October Consumer Confidence survey. The Labor Department says it still plans to release the monthly jobs survey on Friday. That will be the last employment report before next week's election.

Japanese cars are still the most reliable brands on the road, according to Consumer Reports. Toyota's Scion, Lexus and Toyota brands took the top three spots and the Toyota Prius C, a subcompact hybrid, got the best overall score in the magazine's annual reliability survey. Mazda, Subaru, Honda and Acura were close behind. The rankings attempt to predict the reliability of 2013 model-year vehicles based on surveys of Consumer Reports' readers. This year, 800,000 people submitted information on 1.2 million vehicles from the 2010 to 2012 model years.

The rankings are important for auto companies, since Americans frequently cite Consumer Reports as a main source of car-buying advice. Ford and Lincoln, once top performers, plummeted to the bottom of this year's rankings because of persistent problems with touch screens and bumpy transmissions. Ford was also hurt because three normally reliable models ' the Ford Escape, Ford Fusion and Lincoln MKZ ' are all new for 2013, so Consumer Reports couldn't predict their reliability. Also near the bottom were Chrysler Group's Chrysler, Dodge and Ram brands, which have been getting a fast makeover since partnering with Italy's Fiat three years ago. Consumer Reports says models with more features and more powerful engines, like the V-8 versions of the Chrysler 300 and Jeep Grand Cherokee ' had the most issues. The best-performing U.S. brand was Cadillac, from General Motors.

Richard Davies Business Correspondent ABC NEWS Radio ABCNews.com twitter.com/daviesabc

Losses Estimated at $45 Billion

Andrew Burton/Getty Images

With about one-fifth of the U.S. affected directly by Hurricane Sandy, tragic human loss reached 69 in the Caribbean, and U.S. economic losses could range around $35 billion to $45 billion.

However, those losses in consumer and business spending as much of the East Coast shuts down for safety reasons, will not likely be permanent economic losses, said Peter Morici, former chief economist with the U.S. International Trade Commission.

Read More: ABC News' coverage of Hurricane Sandy

In fact, there could be a net gain in U.S. GDP two years from now due to a boost in employment and activity for rebuilding efforts. The U.S. economy grew at an annualized rate of 2 percent in the third quarter, according to an initial estimate by the Commerce Department released last week.

Morici said the $12 billion in estimated consumer and business spending losses are actually delayed or displaced, depending on how essential many of the items are.

'People are going to buy clothing anyway,' he said.

In Washington, D.C., yesterday, Morici said few people were out on the streets as most of the federal government shut down.  The New York Stock Exchange and other financial markets temporarily shut down to protect workers from traveling and working in affected areas.

While brick and mortar stores are shutting down, Morici said the reconstruction will likely add jobs after the hurricane hits.

'People would make purchases they wouldn't normally make because of repairs,' he said.

Because the U.S. employment situation is in a precarious situation, with a 7.8 percent national unemployment rate, there will likely be additional spending in construction and related sectors.  Morici said there could be $15 billion to $20 billion in new direct private spending.

As a result, the economic benefit from reconstruction could range from $27 billion to $36 billion after a multiplier effect in the economy.

'We'll see people able to work who were not working,' he said. 'If the country was in full employment, it would be a different thing.'

Morici said early estimates of Hurricane Irene's direct damage in August 2011 were in the range of $7 billion. But Hurricane Irene's damages totaled $15 billion to $20 billion.

Hurricane Sandy is likely to have a greater economic affect, with at least two days of lost commercial activity.

Superstorm Sandy: Live Updates

9:51 AM EDT:  Sewage at a rate of 2 million gallons  per hour is spilling the into the main stem of the Little Patuxent River in Savage, Md. State officials say a power outage at a water reclamation plant is responsible.

9:47 AM EDT: Watch Live, Pa Gov. Tom  Corbett press conference.

9:35 AM EDT: Most Amtrak train service in the Northeast remains suspended.

9:16 AM EDT: Lower Manhattan 'Before and After' Hurricane Sandy.

9:06 AM EDT: High Tide at the Battery in New York City.

9:00 AM EDT: Over 15, 773 flights have been cancelled as a result of Sandy. Delta and Jet Blue plan to resume flights to Washington, D.C. airports sometime today. All four New York City area airports remain closed.

7: 55 AM EDT: Con Edison is reporting 684,000 customers without power in the New York City area.

7:21 AM EDT: The storm surge moved a 170-foot-long tanker to land in Staten Island, New York.

7:13 AM EDT: The Associated Press is reporting that Sandy is responsible for 17 deaths in seven states.

6:55 AM EDT: A spokesperson for NYU Medical Center tells WABC's Stacey Sager that the hospital is still assessing the outage and its cause(s). The hospital has eight different generators, including at least one on a higher floor. They do not think they all went out but if in fact some are still working, it is not enough to power the whole hospital.

John Minchillo/AP Photo

6:33 AM EDT: A spokesperson for Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency tells ABC News's Matthew Jaffe that a second person has died from the storm.

6:13 AM EDT: Atlantic City has a boil water advisory for all residents and all shelters are filled to capacity.

6:02 AM EDT: President Obama has signed disaster declarations for New York and New Jersey.

5:49 AM EDT: A levee was breached overnight in Bergen County, N.J., according to Bergen County OEM PIO, Gina Jeanne Beratta. Minor injuries have been reported and rescue efforts are underway. Beratta says that hundred of people will need to be rescued.

5:00 AM EDT: PSE&G tells WABC that New Jersey has more than 2.3 million power outages.

3:44 AM EDT: FDNY says over 50 homes have been destroyed by the Breezy Point fire. It has been upgraded to a six-alarm fire. As of last count, there were 198 firefighters on the scene.

3:37 AM EDT: The FDNY now says 15 buildings are on fire in the Rockaways.  Fire officials say the fire is difficult to fight because of heavy winds and the houses are close together. No people have been pulled out of houses and 145 firefighters are working the scene.

3:05 AM EDT: Nearly five million without power after Hurricane Sandy. New Jersey has been the hardest hit with more than 1.9 million without power.

1:55 AM EDT: MTA Chairman Joe Lhota said that seven subway tunnels under the East River flooded during the storm. It is not yet known when service will be restored. The Hugh L. Carey Tunnel (aka Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel) is flooded and the Queens Midtown Tunnel also took on water, Lhota said in a statement.

1:45 AM EDT: More than 10 houses are on fire in Breezy Point, Queens and the western end of the Rockaway peninsula, according to the FDNY. The FDNY has more than 100 firefighters on the scene but are having trouble reaching the fires because of the flooding. No reports of any injuries at this time.

1:17 AM EDT: ABC News' Jim DuBreuil sent this photo of a fire in the Breezy Point section of Brooklyn, N.Y.

ABC

1:00 AM EDT: At least 13 deaths in the U.S. blamed on Sandy, according to the Associated Press.

12:45 AM EDT: CLICK HERE for the full story on the evacuation at NYU Medical Center.

WABC

12:24 AM EDT: Sloan Kettering Hospital spokesman Chris Hickey confirmed to ABC News' Gitika Ahuja that it is receiving 26 adult patients from NYU, at their request. Hickey said she didn't know whether they had been admitted yet or what their conditions were.

12:22 AM EDT: Parts of lower Manhattan lose power after explosion at power station.

12:07 AM EDT: About 200 patients have been moved out of NYU Medical Center by private ambulances with assistance from the fire department.

All US Exchanges Close Before Sandy

All major U.S. stock and options exchanges will remain closed Monday with Hurricane Sandy nearing landfall on the East Coast, the first unplanned shutdown since September 2001.

There had been plans to allow electronic trading to go forward Monday on the New York Stock Exchange, but with all mass transit shut down in and out of Manhattan, the risks were determined to be too great.

The Nasdaq and the CME Group in Chicago will also close. CME Group's Nymex headquarters and New York trading floor are located in a mandatory evacuation zone in Manhattan. Its New York trading floor will be closed, but electronic markets were functioning.

Benchmark oil for December delivery fell 61 cents to $85.67 a barrel.

The New York Stock Exchange could remain closed Tuesday as well, depending on the severity of the storm. If that should occur, it would be the first time since 1888 that the weather caused a two-day shutdown.

The cause then was a blizzard that left drifts as high as 40 feet in the streets of New York City.

On Monday, areas around the Financial District were part of a mandatory evacuation zone, with the storm surge from Sandy expected to push waters into portion of lower Manhattan.

Dow Jones industrial futures slid 90 points to 12,955. The broader S&P futures gave up 10.3 points to 1,397.30. Nasdaq futures fell 22.50 points to 2,636.50.

Some companies are also postponing quarterly earnings reports scheduled for release early this week. So far, that includes Pfizer Inc. and Thomson Reuters.

Burger King reported on schedule, and said its third-quarter net income fell 83 percent as revenue was hurt by the stronger dollar. Adjusted results topped expectations, however.

The Commerce Department also released its monthly consumers spending report Monday.

Consumer spending increased 0.8 percent in September. That followed a 0.5 percent gain in August and was the best showing since February. Personal income rose 0.4 percent, an improvement from a slight 0.1 percent gain in August and the best gain since March.

It's a closely watched indicator as consumer spending drives about 70 percent of the nation's economic activity.

NYC Nanny Not Herself Before Killings

Friends and relatives of Yoselyn Ortega, the New York City nanny accused of stabbing two young children to death, said she appeared to be struggling emotionally and financially recently. Few, though, could offer any explanation for what might have caused her to attack the children.

"She snapped," the nanny's sister, Celia Ortega, told The New York Post. "We don't understand what happened to her mind."

Yoselyn Ortega, 50, remained hospitalized Saturday from self-inflicted stab wounds, including a deep gash to her throat.

Police said Marina Krim, the Manhattan mother who employed Ortega, returned to her Upper West Side apartment Thursday to find two of her children, ages 2 and 6, dead of knife wounds and the nanny stabbing herself with the blade.

Yoselyn Ortega's motive remains a mystery, even to those who knew her, but a picture of a life in distress has begun to emerge in the days since the killing.

"Apparently over the last month she was not herself," said police department spokesman Paul Browne.

But relatives in Ortega's native Dominican Republic said they were shocked by the allegations.

Miladys Ortega, the nanny's older sister in the Caribbean nation, told The Associated Press on Saturday that her sister "loved those children." She said the family felt the nanny was "unable to do that."

"Yoselyn is fair, loving, loving with those children. She loved them," Ortega said at the family home in Santiago de los Caballeros, about 150 miles north of the capital, Santo Domingo. She spoke as she prepared to attend Mass after visiting the grave of their mother.

She said the Krims had visited the Dominican Republic last February with Yoselyn and stayed at her home in a middle-class district of Santiago.

"Those children were here," Miladys Ortega said tearfully. "They were happy, running, playing."

She said Yoselyn is the youngest of six siblings, most of whom live in the United States. Her sister emigrated to the United States in the early 1980s after graduating from accounting studies at Santa Ana College in Santiago.

Yoselyn Ortega worked as the manager of a print shop in Manhattan, until she separated from the father of her child. She returned to Santiago for a while, but then went back to the U.S., her sister said.

Miladys Ortega said that when her sister got back to New York, she couldn't find an accounting job and decided to work as a nanny because she loves children.

During her last conversations with Yoselyn, her sister didn't say anything that seemed unusual.

"Yoselyn always was a normal person. When she was a child, she played, always played a lot. We would go into the countryside," she said. "As an adult, she dedicated herself to working. She was always working."

Juan Pozo, a 67-year-old car service driver who formerly rented a room from the Ortega family, told The New York Times that the nanny's sister told him Friday that she had "felt like she was losing her mind" lately, and had recently been taken by relatives to visit a psychologist.

Police said they were unaware of any significant history of psychological problems for Ortega, but were investigating whether she had recently sought treatment.

Neighbor Ruben Rivas told reporters she seemed to have suddenly aged in recent weeks and had lost weight. Other friends said that while she was paid well by her domestic employers, Kevin and Marina Krim, and seemed happy with her job, she had suffered a financial setback when she had to give up an apartment she had rented in the Bronx, and recently moved back in with her sister.

William Krim, grandfather to the slain children, told the Times he wasn't aware of any conflicts between the family and the nanny.

"We're just the most stunned people in the world. I mean, they treated this woman so well," he said.

Hurricane Sandy to Put 50M People at Risk

Residents up and down the East Coast are preparing for what forecasters predict could be the worst storm in two generations as Hurricane Sandy is strengthening, putting 50 million people at risk.

The eye of Sandy is forecast to make landfall late Monday night in Atlantic City, N.J., bringing with it life-threatening storm surges, forceful winds and rainfall that could cripple transportation and leave millions without power. But the force of the storm was already evident as powerful winds and high seas already began lashing the coast Sunday night.

The size and power of the storm are almost without equal as several systems will combine to wreak havok on a large section of the nation -- from North Carolina to New England as far west as the Great Lakes.

Hurricane Sandy: Live Storm Tracker

Hurricane Sandy's maximum sustained winds increased to 85 mph overnight. As of 5 a.m., Sandy was centered about 385 miles southeast of New York City, and moving north at 15 mph, according to the National Hurricane Center.

On the East Coast, a storm surge is expected along a 600-mile stretch of the Atlantic along with rainfall in places of 6 to 10 inches and even more, and waves 20 to 25 feet are possible on the south side of Lake Michigan Monday night into Wednesday.

"We want to prepare people for the worst," New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said Sunday, warning that some residents could be without power for more than a week.

As of 6 a.m. today, Jersey Central Power and Light was reporting 4,671 customers without power in northern New Jersey, according to ABC News' New York station WABC-TV.

Christie urged people in the path of Hurricane Sandy to "remain calm and listen to instructions."

Hurricane Sandy: Live Updates

A wind gust of 64 mph was recorded just south of Wilmington, N.C., shortly before 5 a.m. today. The highest rainfall total recorded was almost six inches in Dare County, N.C.

Tens of thousands of people in coastal areas have been ordered to evacuate their homes before Hurricane Sandy pounds the eastern third of the United States.

States of emergency were declared from North Carolina to Connecticut. Coastal communities in Delaware were ordered to evacuate by 8 p.m. Sunday night, and all non-emergency vehicles were ordered to stay off the state's roads beginning at 5 a.m. Monday.

"While the predicted track of Hurricane Sandy has shifted a number of times over the last 24 hours, it has become clear that the state will be affected by high winds, heavy rainfall, and flooding, especially along the coastline for a several day period," Delaware Gov. Jack Markell said. "These factors, along with the potential for power outages, have convinced me that the prudent thing to do is have people leave most of our coastal communities."

Sandy is expected to bring potentially life-threatening storm surges on the coast, ranging from several feet to potentially as high as 11 feet in the Long Island Sound area of New York, said Rick Knabb, director of the National Hurricane Center.

Hurricane Sandy: Full Coverage

Sandy will meet up with cold front coming from the northwest and a high pressure system from Greenland, fueling it with enough energy to make it more powerful than the so-called "Perfect Storm" in 1991, meteorologists say.

"The size of the storm is going to carve a pretty large swath of bad weather," Knabb said. "This is not just a coastal event."

The first rainfall from the megastorm already began to hit the coast of Virginia, Delaware and New Jersey Sunday night and forecasters warn it could bring inland flooding around Maryland and Pennsylvania. A blizzard warning was issued for portions of West Virginia, where Sandy could bring up to two feet of snow.

US Superstorm Threat Launches Mass Evacuations

Forget distinctions like tropical storm or hurricane. Don't get fixated on a particular track. Wherever it hits, the rare behemoth storm inexorably gathering in the eastern U.S. will afflict a third of the country with sheets of rain, high winds and heavy snow, say officials who warned millions in coastal areas to get out of the way.

"We're looking at impact of greater than 50 to 60 million people," said Louis Uccellini, head of environmental prediction for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

As Hurricane Sandy barreled north from the Caribbean ' where it left nearly five dozen dead ' to meet two other powerful winter storms, experts said it didn't matter how strong the storm was when it hit land: The rare hybrid storm that follows will cause havoc over 800 miles from the East Coast to the Great Lakes.

"This is not a coastal threat alone," said Craig Fugate, director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. "This is a very large area."

President Barack Obama was monitoring the storm and working with state and locals governments to make sure they get the resources needed to prepare, administration officials said.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie declared a state of emergency Saturday as hundreds of coastal residents started moving inland and the state was set to close its casinos. New York's governor was considering shutting down the subways to avoid flooding and half a dozen states warned residents to prepare for several days of lost power.

Sandy weakened briefly to a tropical storm Saturday but was soon back up to Category 1 strength, packing 75 mph winds. It was about 275 miles south-southeast of Cape Hatteras, N.C., and moving northeast at 14 mph as of 2 a.m. Sunday. Forecasters said the storm was spreading tropical storm conditions across the coastline of North Carolina, and they were expected to move up the mid-Atlantic coastline late Sunday. Experts said the storm was most likely to hit the southern New Jersey coastline by late Monday or early Tuesday.

Governors from North Carolina, where heavy rain was expected Sunday, to Connecticut declared states of emergency. Delaware ordered mandatory evacuations for coastal communities by 8 p.m. Sunday.

Christie, who was widely criticized for not interrupting a family vacation in Florida while a snowstorm pummeled the state in 2010, broke off campaigning for Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney in North Carolina on Friday to return home.

"I can be as cynical as anyone," Christie said in a bit of understatement Saturday. "But when the storm comes, if it's as bad as they're predicting, you're going to wish you weren't as cynical as you otherwise might have been."

The storm forced the presidential campaign to juggle schedules. Romney scrapped plans to campaign Sunday in the swing state of Virginia and switched his schedule for the day to Ohio. First lady Michelle Obama canceled an appearance in New Hampshire for Tuesday, and Obama moved a planned Monday departure for Florida to Sunday night to beat the storm. He canceled appearances in Northern Virginia on Monday and Colorado on Tuesday.

In Ship Bottom, just north of Atlantic City, Alice and Giovanni Stockton-Rossini spent Saturday packing clothing in the backyard of their home, a few hundred yards from the ocean on Long Beach Island. Their neighborhood was under a voluntary evacuation order, but they didn't need to be forced.

DA: Friend Planned $50K Kidnapping, but Baby Died

A family friend hoped to hold a baby girl hostage to get $50,000 from her software-engineer parents but instead killed her and her grandmother in a botched kidnapping, according to police in a Philadelphia suburb.

Raghunandan "Raghu" Yandamuri, 26, knew the infant's parents both had good jobs, and he crafted a ransom note threatening to kill their daughter if they did not leave the money at a local supermarket, police said in an affidavit filed Friday.

"It's up to you to decide, do you want your 1-year-old or five months of your income?" the lengthy, typed note said.

The plot unraveled when he dropped the baby as he juggled her and a kitchen knife and struggled with her paternal grandmother, who was watching 10-month-old Saanvi Venna on Monday during a six-month visit from India, the affidavit said.

The grandmother, 61-year-old Satyavathi Venna, was fatally stabbed and suffered defensive wounds. The suspect told police he put a handkerchief in the baby's mouth to quiet her, then wrapped a towel around her head and put her in a suitcase when he left the sixth-floor apartment, according to the affidavit.

The ransom note called the parents by their family nicknames, leading police to focus on friends and acquaintances, Montgomery County District Attorney Risa Ferman said. The parents were never again contacted for money as the search for the missing infant stretched through the week.

"We had been hopeful that Saanvi was still alive," Ferman said Friday. "Tragically, that is not the case."

Authorities instead found the infant in a bloody white dress beneath a bench near the sauna of the fitness center at the sprawling apartment complex where Yandamuri and the victims lived.

Yandamuri had been interviewed Thursday as police canvassed the family's friends. He told police that he had printed nearly 200 missing-child posters at work, distributed them and attended a vigil for the baby. But he later detailed the botched crime to police and said he had stolen jewelry, some of which he threw in the nearby Schuylkill River, the affidavit said.

A throng of people jeered at him, shouting "Hang him!" and other taunts, as he was led into court Friday afternoon in a bulletproof vest.

Yandamuri was being held without bail on two counts of murder, kidnapping, robbery and other charges pending a preliminary hearing set next week. He does not have a lawyer and did not enter a plea at a brief arraignment Friday. He told a judge he is not a U.S. citizen and was given time to make a private call to the Indian consulate.

The baby's father, Venkata Konda Siva Venna, and mother, Chenchu Latha Punuru, moved to the United States from India in February 2007 and moved into the apartment in June. Satyavathi Venna arrived from India in July and was scheduled to return home in January.

She opened the door to Yandamuri on Monday morning to see he was armed with a kitchen knife, authorities said. She retreated to the kitchen, while he picked up the baby from the couch, the affidavit said.

Benghazi: Obama Begs Off Answering Whether Americans Were Denied Help

In an interview with a Denver TV reporter Friday, President Obama twice refused to answer questions as to whether the Americans under siege in Benghazi, Libya on September 11, 2012, were denied requests for help, saying he's waiting for the results of investigations before making any conclusions about what went wrong.

After being asked about possible denials of requests for aid, and whether it's fair to tell Americans that what happened is under investigation and won't be released until after the election, the president said, 'the election has nothing to do with four brave Americans getting killed and us wanting to find out exactly what happened. These are folks who served under me who I had sent to some very dangerous places. Nobody wants to find out more what happened than I do.'

President Obama told KUSA-TV's Kyle Clarke large that 'we want to make sure we get it right, particularly because I have made a commitment to the families impacted as well as to the American people, we're going to bring those folks to justice. So, we're going to gather all the facts, find out exactly what happened, and make sure that it doesn't happen again but we're also going to make sure that we bring to justice those who carried out these attacks.'

Clark pressed again.

'Were they denied requests for help during the attack?' he asked.

'Well, we are finding out exactly what happened,' the president again said. 'I can tell you, as I've said over the last couple of months since this happened, the minute I found out what was happening, I gave three very clear directives. Number one, make sure that we are securing our personnel and doing whatever we need to. Number two, we're going to investigate exactly what happened so that it doesn't happen again. Number three, find out who did this so we can bring them to justice. And I guarantee you that everyone in the state department, our military, the CIA, you name it, had number one priority making sure that people were safe. These were our folks and we're going to find out exactly what happened, but what we're also going to do it make sure that we are identifying those who carried out these terrible attacks.'

Earlier today, Fox News' Jennifer Griffin reported that CIA agents in the second U.S. compound in Benghazi were denied requests for help.

In response, CIA spokesperson Jennifer Youngblood said, 'We can say with confidence that the Agency reacted quickly to aid our colleagues during that terrible evening in Benghazi. Moreover, no one at any level in the CIA told anybody not to help those in need; claims to the contrary are simply inaccurate. In fact, it is important to remember how many lives were saved by courageous Americans who put their own safety at risk that night-and that some of those selfless Americans gave their lives in the effort to rescue their comrades.'

-Jake Tapper

Approaching Megastorm Threatens East Coast

Douglas Jumper choked up as he described the long, slow recovery in his central Pennsylvania town from last year's historic flooding caused by Hurricane Irene and the remnants of Tropical Storm Lee ' and contemplated the possibility of yet more damage from an approaching storm.

"I'm tired. I am tired," Jumper, who turned 58 on Saturday, said through tears. "We don't need this again."

Jumper's town of Bloomsburg, and much of the Eastern Seaboard, was in the path of a rare behemoth storm barreling north from the Caribbean. Hurricane Sandy ' upgraded again Saturday just hours after forecasters said it had weakened to a tropical storm ' was expected to make landfall early Tuesday near the Delaware coast, then hit two winter weather systems as it moves inland. That is expected to create a hybrid monster storm that could bring nearly a foot of rain, high winds and up to 2 feet of snow.

Experts said the storm could be wider and stronger than Irene, which caused more than $15 billion in damage, and could rival the worst East Coast storm on record. On Saturday morning, forecasters said hurricane-force winds of 75 mph could be felt 100 miles away from the storm's center.

Jumper's first floor took on nearly 5 feet of water last year, and he was busy Friday moving items from his wood shop to higher ground. Across the street, Patrick and Heather Peters pulled into the driveway with a kerosene heater, 12 gallons of water, paper plates, batteries, flashlights and the last lantern on Wal-Mart's shelf.

"I'm not screwing around this time," Heather Peters said.

Up and down the coast, people were cautioned to be prepared for days without electricity. Jersey Shore beach towns began issuing voluntary evacuations and protecting boardwalks. Atlantic City casinos made contingency plans to close, and officials advised residents of flood-prone areas to stay with family or be ready to leave. Several governors declared states of emergency. Airlines said to expect cancellations and waived change fees for passengers who want to reschedule.

"Be forewarned," Connecticut Gov. Dannel P. Malloy. "Assume that you will be in the midst of flooding conditions, the likes of which you may not have seen at any of the major storms that have occurred over the last 30 years."

At a Home Depot in Freeport, on New York's Long Island, Bob Notheis bought sawhorses to put his furniture on inside his home.

"I'm just worried about how bad it's going to be with the tidal surge," he said. "Irene was kind of rough on me and I'm just trying to prepare."

After Irene left millions without power, utilities were taking no chances and were lining up extra crews and tree-trimmers. Wind threatened to topple power lines, and trees that still have leaves could be weighed down by snow and fall over if the weight becomes too much.

New York City began precautions for an ominous but still uncertain forecast. No decision had been made on whether any of the city's public transportation outlets would be shut, despite predictions that a sudden shift of the storm's path could cause a surge of 3 to 6 feet in the subways.

The subway system was completely shuttered during Irene, the first such shutdown ever for weather-related reasons. Irene largely missed the city, but struck other areas hard.

Mourdock Rape Remark: GOP on Defense

Indiana Senate candidate Richard Mourdock became the latest Republican to stir up controversy ' and potential trouble for the Romney campaign ' when he said during a debate that "even when life begins in that horrible situation of rape, that is something that God intended to happen."

Mourdock, a tea party-backed conservative Republican, unseated longtime Sen. Richard Lugar after a heated primary campaign. On Sunday, with his general election race tightening, he received Mitt Romney's official support. Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch is the only other candidate Romney has appeared on camera to endorse.

"With so much at stake, I hope you'll join me in supporting Richard Mourdock for U.S. Senate," Romney says in the new web video.

CLICK here to read about President Obama's 48-Hour 'Marathon Extravaganza'

Mourdock made his controversial remarks during a debate with with Rep. Joe Donnelly, a three-term congressman who is also anti-abortion, on Tuesday night. By early this morning, the Democratic National Committee had already edited the Romney endorsement video to include Mourdock's comments from the night before.

Romney spokeswoman Andrea Saul said the candidate "disagrees with Richard Mourdock, and Mr.Mourdock's comments do not reflect Gov. Romney's views." The campaign, though, has no plans to ask him to take down the spot featuring Romney's endorsement.

The Republican presidential nominee supports abortion in cases of rape, incest or when the life of the woman is in danger. His running mate, Rep. Paul Ryan, does not support an exception, and has so far remained silent, referring reporters to the campaign's official statements.

Get more pure politics at ABCNews.com/Politics and a lighter take on the news at OTUSNews.com

This morning, Mourdock tried to put his comment into a less stark context.

"God creates life, and that was my point," he said in a press release. "God does not want rape, and by no means was I suggesting that he does. Rape is a horrible thing, and for anyone to twist my words otherwise is absurd and sick."

At a news conference later he said that his words were "mistook and twisted," and that the uproar is symptomatic of "what's wrong with Washington."

"I believe God controls the universe," Mourdoch told reporters, who asked if he thought pregnancies resulting from rape were God's plan. "I don't believe biology works in an uncontrolled fashion."

New Hampshire Sen. Kelly Ayotte, a popular Republican, has cancelled plans to campaign with Mourdock, who told reporters he had suggested to Ayotte that she put off the trip. Massachusetts Republican Sen. Scott Brown, up for re-election now in the Bay State, has also spoken out against Mourdock.

Obama campaign spokeswoman Jen Psaki called Mourdock's words "outrageous and demeaning to women," then sought to tie them to Romney, whom she said would work with a Republican Congress to promote the idea "that women should not be able to make choices about their own health care."

DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz used the same language to condemn Mourdock's statement, calling it "outrageous and demeaning to women."

"Unfortunately, they've become part and parcel of the modern Republican Party's platform toward women's health, as Congressional Republicans like Paul Ryan have worked to outlaw all abortions and even narrow the definition of rape," Wasserman Schultz said.

The anti-abortion Susan B. Anthony List group backed Murdoch's characterization and has affirmed its support for his candidacy in an email that accuses his opponent, Rep. Joe Donnelly, of twisting the Republican's words.

"Richard Mourdock said that life is always a gift from God, and we couldn't agree more," SBA List President Marjorie Dannenfelser wrote this morning. "To report his statement as an endorsement of rape is either willfully ignorant or malicious."

Texas Sen. John Cornyn, the chairman of the Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee also joined the chorus defending Mourdock.

"Richard and I, along with millions of Americans ' including even [Democratic opponent] Joe Donnelly ' believe that life is a gift from God," Cornyn said. "To try and construe his words as anything other than a restatement of that belief is irresponsible and ridiculous. In fact, rather than condemning him for his position, as some in his party have when it's come to Republicans, I commend Congressman Donnelly for his support of life."

Student Arrested in Jessica Ridgeway Murder

A community college student has been arrested for the abduction, murder and dismemberment of 10-year-old Jessica Ridgeway, Colorado police said today.

Austin Reed Sigg, 17, was arrested on suspicion of two counts of first degree murder, one count of second degree kidnapping and two counts of criminal attempts. Authorities expect he will be formally charged this week.

Sigg is a student at Arapahoe Community College, according to his arrest report.

"Law enforcement received the major break in the Jessica Ridgeway investigation they have been hoping for," the Westminster Police said today. "Late Tuesday evening police received a call that led them to a home near the Ketner Lake Open Space."

After Sigg was contacted in relation to Ridgeway's case, he was handcuffed and taken to the Westminster Police Department for interviewing and booking. He was "cooperative," according to the police report.

The teenager was later taken to Mountain View Detention Facility.

The charges against Sigg are for Ridgeway's death and for the attempted abduction of a jogger in May 2012.

"We notified the Ridgeway family this morning of this arrest and we hope and pray this arrest gives them some measure of closure in dealing with this horrible tragedy and loss they have suffered," Westminster Police Chief Lee Birk said at a news conference today.

Authorities said they could not release much information since Sigg is a juvenile and the affidavits in the case have been sealed under court order.

A woman who said she is Austin Sigg's aunt--reached by phone at Sigg's home number by ABC News--claimed the 17-year-old turned himself in to police.

Police would not comment on the claim at the news conference.

"It certainly was a collaborative effort non-stop, all day and night, but justice for Jessica is a process and this is the beginning of that," Jefferson County District Attorney Scott Storey said.

Sigg is expected to make his first court appearance on Thursday at 8 a.m. in Jefferson County Court.

Jessica Ridgeway vanished on Oct. 5 when she left for school. The fifth-grader never showed up at a nearby park where she was supposed to meet friends for the one-mile walk to her elementary school.

After an extensive search of the area, including knocking on doors and FBI road blocks, Jessica's dismembered body was found on Oct. 10 in an Arvada, Colo., park, miles from where she was abducted.

On Tuesday, authorities said there was a "definitive link" between Ridgeway's case and the attempted abduction of a jogger.

On May 28, at around 1:15 p.m., a 22-year-old woman was running on a trail around Ketner Lake when she said a man tried to grab her from behind, police said. The woman said he tried to put a rag over her mouth that had a chemical smell. She was able to get away and call 911.

WH Pressured on Benghazi Emails

After the White House and State Department downplayed the significance of email alerts sent to national security officials in real-time during the assault on a U.S. consulate in Benghazi last month, top congressional Republicans are pouncing on the email alerts, one of which suggested a known terrorist group claimed credit for the attack in its immediate aftermath.

In light of the emails, Republican Sens. John McCain of Arizona, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire teamed up today to write a letter to question President Obama why his administration "consistently described the attack for days afterward as a spontaneous response to an anti-Islam video."

"These emails make clear that your administration knew within two hours of the attack that it was a terrorist act and that Ansar al-Sharia, a Libyan militant group with links to al Qaeda, had claimed responsibility for it," the trio wrote. "This latest revelation only adds to the confusion surrounding what you and your administration knew about the attacks in Benghazi, when you knew it, and why you responded to those tragic events in the ways that you did."

In a separate statement, Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., the chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security, said the email alerts "undermine any administration claim to have ever believed in good faith that our ambassador and three other American officials were murdered in a 'spontaneous reaction' to a film trailer posted on the Internet.

"I again call upon President Obama to release any intelligence reporting which led his administration to characterize the firebombing of our consulate and the assassination of our ambassador as a spontaneous demonstration against a movie clip," King wrote. "The White House should also release the intelligence analyses which finally convinced them that this was a terrorist attack."

Rep. Tom Price, R-Ga., the chairman of the House Republican Policy Committee, also questioned what the White House and State Department initially knew.

"These emails add to the growing list of serious questions about what top officials from the Obama administration initially knew about the attacks on Americans in Benghazi and about who was responsible just hours after the assault began," Price wrote in a statement. "At the very least, they demand that, on behalf of the American people, we continue to ask why the Obama administration attempted to so adamantly and publicly push an alternative narrative about the attacks for more than two weeks after four Americans were killed. It is a narrative that appears to have been, from almost the very beginning, in doubt."

But Secretary of State Hillary Clinton today disputed any notion that the email alerts should be viewed as conclusive evidence.

"Posting something on Facebook is not, in and of itself, evidence," Clinton told reporters. "I think it just underscores how fluid the reporting was at the time and continued for some time to be."

Clinton reiterated that the State Department's internal investigation is ongoing and is examining all the evidence, "not cherry picking ... one story here or looking at one document there." She called a full investigation the "appropriate approach" before drawing any conclusions about the attack.

Shark Attack Kills California Surfer

A California surfer was killed by a shark while surfing near Surf Beach in Lompoc, Calif., near the Vandenburg Air Force Base, Oct. 23, 2012. In this Oct. 22, 2010 photo, Airmen 1st class Daniel Clark, left, and Staff Sgt. Keri Embry, post a sign warning surfers of a recent shark attack at Vandenburg Air Force Base, Calif. (AP)

A California surfer was mauled and killed by a shark off the Santa Barbara coast today, officials said.

The victim was identified as 39-year-old San Francisco resident Javier Solario.

"The coroner's office has recovered body and will do investigation of where victim was bit, any injuries that were inflicted from that bite," Lt. Erik Raney with the Santa Barbara County sheriff's office said.

The shark moved in for the kill shortly before 11 a.m. PT as Solario was surfing near Surf Beach in Lompoc, Calif., according to the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Office. That is near Vandenberg Air Force Base.

A California surfer was killed by a shark while surfing near Surf Beach in Lompoc, Calif., near the Vandenburg Air Force Base, Oct. 23, 2012. In this Oct. 22, 2010 photo, Airmen 1st class Daniel Clark, left, and Staff Sgt. Keri Embry, post a sign warning surfers of a recent shark attack at Vandenburg Air Force Base, Calif.

A fellow surfer pulled Solario from the water, called 911 and started first aid procedures until the Vandenberg Air Force Base Fire Department arrived, police said.

"He pulled him out of the water and immediately began CPR," Raney said.

Air base spokeswoman Lt. Mary Vasta did not state the cause of death, saying only, "[Paramedics] started CPR and then ceased CPR, and we are not sure why they did that."

But Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Office spokesman Sgt. Marc Williams confirmed he had been bitten by a shark and was pronounced dead at the scene by paramedics.

Williams said a shark expert would try to determine what kind of shark was involved on Wednesday.

"He was a really good surfer. I spent a lot of time with him," friend Nathan Winkles said.

Solario was not affiliated with the air force base.

This incident marks the second fatal shark attack on this beach within the within the past two years. In October 2010, 19-year-old Lucas Ransom was killed when a great white shark appeared out of nowhere and pulled him under.

Wis. Wife Told Court of Husband Fear

The woman allegedly killed by her estranged husband in a Wisconsin spa told a court three days before the shooting that he threatened her for years and she feared he would eventually kill her if they didn't separate.

Zina Haughton, 42, detailed the breakdown of her marriage to Radcliffe Haughton in her testimony at a Milwaukee County Courthouse Thursday during a restraining order hearing.

Haughton allegedly opened fire at the Azana Salon & Spa in Brookfield, Wis., Sunday, shooting seven women and killing three.

"Things have gotten so bad, Rad[cliffe]. I just -- we need to separate. We need a course before you hurt me. Even if it's an accident...I don't want to die. I just don't want to die," Zina Haughton said in courtroom audio obtained by ABC News affiliate WISN.

Radcliffe Haughton blamed his wife for the marital problems, accusing her of infidelity.

"For 20 years, we've fought. He's hit me. He thinks I cheated on him, just the threats have gotten so bad, and like I said, I don't want to die," Zina Haughton said.

"The scariest night of my life -- he ran in the basement, and he came upstairs, and he pulled a gun from behind his pants, and it accidentally went off in between me and my daughter's head, about two inches from both of our heads," Haughton testified.

Police were called to the spa several weeks before the shooting because Haughton allegedly slashed the tires of his wife's car. He was arrested and charged for the incident, and later ordered to turn over all guns in his possession to the sheriff's department.

A judge granted Zina Haughton's request and issued a four-year restraining order following the hearing.

Two days later, Radcliffe Haughton reportedly purchased a new gun and then stormed into his wife's salon Sunday and allegedly opened fire killing his wife and two other women before turning the gun on himself.

Betty Brunner was about to have her hair done by Zina Haughton when her husband barged into the spa. Haughton pleaded with her husband to spare others, according to Brunner.

"She was trying to calm him down. She was de-escalating him. I think she felt responsible for the whole salon," Brunner said. "I think she wanted to protect all of us."

Radcliffe Haughton, a former Marine, wasn't swayed and that's when gunfire erupted shortly after 11 a.m. local time.

"It was riveting. It was just pop, pop, pop. It just never stopped," Brunner said.

About 17 minutes later, the SWAT team surrounded the spa with their guns draw, preparing for a battle. Customers -- some still in robes, others barefoot -- ran out of the spa in a panic, and that's when the SWAT team rescued Brunner.

"I believe there's a reason why I'm here. One of the reasons is to let the world know how brave Zina was. She's responsible for saving a lot of lives. Zina, if you can hear me, thank you, thank you," Brunner said.

After a tense six-hour manhunt, authorities found Haughton's body in a locked section of the spa, where he had apparently shot himself, Brookfield Police Chief Daniel Tushaus said.

Aside from Zina Haughton, the deceased victims were identified Monday as Cary L. Robuck, 35, of Racine; and Maelyn M. Lind, 38, of Oconomowoc.

Four injured women, ranging in age from 22 to 40, were taken to Froedert Hospital. One victim was released from the hospital Monday, while the other three women remained in satisfactory condition, according to Kathy Sieja, hospital spokeswoman.

Meningitis Toll Tops 300

Ten more people have been diagnosed with fungal meningitis in an outbreak linked to tainted steroid injections, health officials reported today.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has increased the tally of cases to 308: 304 cases of fungal meningitis and four cases of joint infections. One of the new cases is in Georgia, the 17th state affected by the outbreak that has killed 23 people.

For a map of cases by state, click here.

The outbreak has been linked to contaminated vials of methylprednisolone acetate, an injectable steroid used to treat back and joint pain. Sealed vials of the steroid, made by the New England Compounding Center in Framingham, Mass., contained exserohilum rostratum, a fungus found in soil and plants. It's unclear how the fungus landed in the sealed vials.

The New England Compounding Center has recalled all its products and shut down operations. Calls to the owners were not immediately returned.

As many as 14,000 patients are thought to have received injections of the suspect steroid.

Seventy-six clinics in 23 states that received methylprednisolone acetate from the recalled lots have been instructed to notify all affected patients. The "potentially contaminated injections were given starting May 21, 2012," according to the CDC.

For a full list of clinics receiving the recalled lots of spinal steroid injections, click here.

Meningitis affects the membranous lining of the brain and spinal cord. Early symptoms of fungal meningitis -- including headache, fever, dizziness, nausea, sensitivity to light, stiff neck, weakness or numbness, slurred speech and pain, and redness or swelling at the injection site -- can take more than a month to appear.

The longest duration from the time of injection to the onset of symptoms in the current outbreak is 42 days, according to the CDC's Dr. Benjamin Park.

"But we want to emphasize that we don't know what the longest will be," he added, stressing that patients who received injections of the recalled drug should stay attuned to the subtle symptoms "for months."

Fungal meningitis is diagnosed through a spinal tap, which draws cerebrospinal fluid from the spine that can be inspected for signs of the disease. Once detected, it can be treated with high doses of intravenous antifungal medications.

Unlike bacterial meningitis, fungal meningitis is not transmitted from person to person and only people who received the steroid injections are thought to be at risk.

Spa Shoot Suspect Wanted Out of Wis.

Radcliffe Haughton had pleaded for help to leave the state before allegedly opening fire at a Wisconsin spa Sunday, shooting seven women and killing three, including his estranged wife.

"Need to get out of Wisconsin, HELP...," he wrote on Facebook Oct. 8, the same day wife Zina Haughton, 42, filed for a restraining order against him.

He asked a day later, "Can anyone help me get out of Wisconsin?"

After a tense six-hour manhunt Sunday, authorities found Haughton's body in a locked section of the Azana Salon & Spa, where he had apparently shot himself, Brookfield Police Chief Daniel Tushaus said.

Aside from Zina Haughton, the deceased victims were identified today as Cary L. Robuck, 35, of Racine; and Maelyn M. Lind, 38, of Oconomowoc.

Four injured women, ranging in age from 22 to 40, were taken to Froedert Hospital. One victim was released from the hospital today, while the other three women remained in satisfactory condition, according to Kathy Sieja, hospital spokeswoman.

Randall Haughton Sr., who shares a name with his son, said this morning that he had spoken to his son recently and invited him to come to his home in Winter Garden, Fla.

"My home was always open for my children to return," the elder Haughton told ABCNews.com.

Police were called to the spa several weeks before the shooting because Haughton allegedly slashed the tires of his wife's car. He was arrested and charged for the incident, and later ordered to turn over all guns in his possession to the sheriff's department.

A judge granted Zina Haughton's request and issued a four-year restraining order Thursday, Tushaus said.

Investigators say they are still unclear why Radcliffe Haughton allegedly snapped, although they say he and his wife had been estranged for some time.

Witnesses say Zina Haughton's daughter, Yasmeen Daniel, 20, also worked in the spa and witnessed the shooting, which unfolded at 11:09 a.m. CST on Sunday.

"She had said her stepfather was in there trying to shoot as many people as he could," said Sallie Konruff, a witness at the scene.

Zina and Radcliffe Haughton have a 13-year-old daughter together, who was living with her father until the shooting, the source said.

It was the second mass shooting to rock the area in recent months, when Wade Michael Page, an Army veteran and white supremacist, killed six people and injured three others before fatally shooting himself at a Sikh temple south of Milwaukee.

For Pandeep Kaleka, the son of slain temple president Satwant Singh Kaleka, the memories are still raw, but he lent his support to victims as a grief counselor Sunday.

"You go to work every day and you don't expect something like that to happen," Kaleka said. "I reassured them it will change your perspective and you will try to get back to a normal routine but you'll always see the visions. The scars will get better but you are going to have to build your life around those scars."

Radcliffe Haughton Sr. apologized to the victims and their families for his son's apparent actions shortly after the incident.

"All I can say is, I want to apologize to the people of Milwaukee who have been hurt. He did not give me any hint of what he would do," Haughton told ABC News affiliate WISN-TV.

Haughton Sr. said his son was a former Marine whom he had not seen since sometime last year but spoke to him on the phone from time to time.

The shooting erupted 11:09 a.m. local time in Brookfield, and shortly after SWAT teams surrounded the spa with their guns drawn, preparing for a gun battle.

Witnesses described screaming women, at least one bleeding, fleeing the spa, with one rolling down a slight hill before police scooped her up and got her out of the area.

Customers -- some still in robes, others barefoot -- ran out of the spa in a panic. John Gosh came face-to-face with the shooter as he tried to escape.

"When the suspect came around the corner, he really looked like a deer in headlights. He didn't expect us to be standing there. He just ducked behind the building," Gosh said.

Chief Tushaus said police rescued up to 12 clients and employees when they first arrived and began a painstaking search of the 9,000-square-foot building that includes two floors. The chief said the building included many treatment rooms, often locked.

"We were expecting an armed encounter," Tushaus said.

A "be on the lookout" alert was issued for Haughton and hours later, a black 2003 Mazda driven by the suspect was recovered outside of Brookfield, but police declined to say where it was found.

Tushaus said police believe the gunman took a taxi to the spa.

Authorities swarmed Haughton's home in the suburb of Brown Deer, and sent in a robot to search the residence, ABC News' affiliate WISN reported.

Death Reports Hit Energy Drink Stock

(Image credit: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Shares of Monster Beverage Corp. (NASDAQ: MNST) fell over 14 percent after the Food and Drug Administration revealed it received reports that five people consumed the energy drink before their deaths in the past year.

Monster stock fell 14.23 percent by the close of regular trading on Monday to $45.73.

Incident reports submitted by doctors and companies revealed that the energy drink was cited in the deaths of five individuals, but they are not considered conclusive until fully investigated by the Food and Drug Administration, Bloomberg reported.

Last week, the family of teenager Anais Fournier of Maryland sued the energy drink company after she died after consuming two cans of the drink.

In December, Fournier, 14, had reportedly consumed two 24-oz. cans of Monster within 24 hours, about 480 milligrams of known caffeine or the equivalent of about a dozen cans of Coca-Cola, according to her family. They say she went into cardiac arrest while watching a movie at home.

According to the autopsy report and the death certificate,  Fournier died from 'cardiac arrhythmia due to caffeine toxicity complicating mitral valve regurgitation in the setting of Ehlers-Danlos syndrome.'  Ehlers-Danlos is a genetic disorder.

Monster is second-highest seller of caffeinated energy drinks behind Red Bull, which had $1.6 billion and $2.9 billion in sales last year, according to research company SymphonyIRI.

Monster Energy provided a statement to ABC News, saying it was 'saddened by the untimely passing' Fournier and 'its sympathies go out to her family.'

'Over the past 16 years Monster has sold more than 8 billion energy drinks which have been safely consumed worldwide,' the statement read. 'Monster does not believe that its beverages are in any way responsible for the death of Ms. Fournier.  Monster is unaware of any fatality anywhere that has been caused by its drinks.  The Fournier family has chosen to file a lawsuit, which Monster intends to vigorously defend and, in light of such pending litigation, Monster's policy is to not comment further.'

ABC News' Lauren Pearle and ESPN's Darren Rovell contributed to this report. 

 

 

Presidential Debate: Fact Check and Live Blog

ABC  News is live blogging and fact checking the third and final presidential debate, which is focused on foreign policy, moderated by CBS News anchor Bob Schieffer, and held at Lynn University in Boca Raton, Fla.

Anchored live stream coverage from ABC News Political Director Amy Walter, GMA Weekend anchor Dan Harris and Yahoo! News White House correspondent Olivier Knox kicked of at 8 p.m. ET. Watch it at abcn.ws/live

TV coverage with ABC's Diane Sawyer and George Stephanopoulos kicked off just before the debate starts at 9 p.m. ET.

Fact Check: Romney did suggest post-bankruptcy financing guarantees for auto industry
11:20 p.m. ET

The most contentious moment of the night came during a discussion of the Detroit auto bailout that was begun in the Bush administration and carried on by President Obama.Mitt Romney has long said that he opposed the bailout and he wrote a New York Times Op-Ed in November of 2008 that suggested instead of infusing taxpayer dollars into the industry, it should be taken through a managed bankruptcy.GM and Chrysler eventually did go through a managed bankruptcy, but only after an infusion of $80 billion taxpayer dollars. The Obama administration's former car czar, Steven Rattner, has said that at the time there was no private money willing to go into the auto industry.

But at Monday's debate Romney softened his anti-bailout rhetoric and said his plan actually did call for government guarantees all along.

Obama said it didn't. And the two sparred over the point.

ROMNEY ' My plan to get the industry on its feet when it was in real trouble was not to start writing checks, it was President Bush that wrote the first checks, I disagreed with that. I said these companies need to go through a managed bankruptcy and in that process they can get government help and government guarantees but they need to go thru a bankruptcy to get rid of excess costs and the debt burden that they had built up and fortunately'

OBAMA ' Gov Romney, that is not what you said.

ROMNEY ' You can take a look at the Op/Ed

OBAMA ' Governor Romney you did not say that you would provide governor (sic) help.

ROMNEY ' I am still speaking. I said that we would provide guarantees and that was able to allow these companies to go thru bankruptcy to come out of bankruptcy under no circumstances would I do anything other than to help this industry get on its feet (44). And the idea that has been suggested that I would liquidate the industry' of course not. Of course not.

OBAMA ' Lets check the record

ROMNEY ' That is the height of silliness. I have never said I would liquidate the industry.

OBAMA ' Governor, the people of Detroit don't forget. (cross talk)

ROMNEY ' I want to keep the industry growing and thriving. That is why I have the kind of commitment to make sure that our industry in this country can compete and be successful.

OBAMA ' Look, I think anybody out there can check the record Governor Romney you keep on trying to airbrush history here. You were very clear that you would not provide government assistance to the US auto companies even if they went thru bankruptcy. You said that they could get it in the private market place. That wasn't true They would have gone thru'

ROMNEY -You are wrong Mr President, you are wrong

OBAMA ' I am not wrong

ROMNEY ' People can look that up, you are right.

OBAMA ' People will look it up.

We did. And it turns out that Romney DID in that original Op-Ed, at the very end, say that there should be post-bankruptcy guarantees for financing.

'The federal government should provide guarantees for post-bankruptcy financing and assure car buyers that their warranties are not at risk,' he wrote.

It is not clear if such post-bankruptcy guarantees could have freed up pre-bankruptcy financing. And it is not something Romney has advertised on the campaign trail. But it is accurate.

Skip To'

' Fact Check: Romney did suggest post-bankruptcy financing guarantees for auto industry
' Romney's Education Record in Massachusetts
' A Shrinking Navy?
' Was Obama Silent During Iran's Green Revolution?
' Foreign Policy Gives Way to Education?
' Did Romney Say We Should Still Have Troops in Iraq?
' Romney Before the Debate
' Obama Zinger: 1980s Want Their Foreign Policy Back
' Jake Tapper's Comments on Atmosphere at Last Debate
' Boehner Makes Off-Color Joke About His Last Name
' Romney Opts for Quinoa Burger
' Foreign policy crash course: Libya!, Iran!, Israel, more!
' Why Obama should have an edge on foreign policy
' Obama bear hugger invited to debate

Best Gestures of the Debate
10:55 p.m. ET

Image credit: Rick Wilking/AP Photo

The president putting out a hand to his opponent. Romney showing the size of the problem with his hands. Even Obama shaking the hand of a pint-sized Romney grandson. Take a look back at photos of some of the best gestures of this debate and debates past with ABC's slideshow here.

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Romney's Education Record in Massachusetts
10:42 p.m. ET

ROMNEY: I'm so proud of the state that I had a chance to be governor of. We have every two years tests that look at how well our kids are doing. 4th graders and 8th graders are tested in English and Math. While I was governor, I was proud that our 4th graders came out number one of all states in English. And then also in Math. And our 8th graders, number one in English, and also in Math. First time one state had been number one in all four measures. How do we do that? Well, Republicans and Democrats came together on a bipartisan basis to put in place education principles that focused on having great teachers in the class room. [Obama: 10 years earlier]. And that was what allowed us to become the number one state in the nation. [Obama: But that was 10 years before you took office and then you cut education when you came into office]. The first ' and we kept our schools number one in the nation, they're still number one today. And the principles that we put into place, we also gave kids not just a graduation exam that determined whether they were up to the skills needed to be able to compete, but also if they graduated in the top quarter of their class, they got a four-year tuition free ride at any Massachusetts public institution of higher learning.

OBAMA: That happened before you came into office, Governor.

ROMNEY: No, that was actually mine, Mr. President. You got that fact wrong.

ABC's John R. Parkinson and Jason Ryan report:

Romney served as governor of Massachusetts from 2003 to 2007. It is true that Massachusetts led these areas in Math and English scores for the National Assessment of Educational Progress during different periods of Romney's tenure as governor. The scores remain above the national average.

So how much did Romney have to do with these numbers? When Obama says these achievements were the result of reforms that happened 10 years before Romney took office, he is referencing a 1993 state law that led to the creation of the state accountability system, which became the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System. It also authorized charter schools and invested more money in local school districts with the goal of improving standards for Massachusetts students, and it apparently worked. Trends show statewide results improved in the years leading into Romney's term but did not reach the reach the top of the rankings until Romney took office as governor. Here is a table from the National Center for Education Statistics showing data from 1990 to 2011.

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'Walmart Moms' Not Enthusiastic About Foreign Policy Debate
10:30 p.m. ET

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A Shrinking Navy?
10:23 p.m. ET

ROMNEY: Our Navy is old ' excuse me, our Navy is smaller now than at any time since 1917. The Navy said they needed 313 ships to carry out their mission. We're now at under 285. We're headed down to the low 200s if we go through a sequestration. That's unacceptable to me.The Washington Post gave this claim three Pinocchios.

ABC's Luis Martinez has the facts:

There are currently 285 ships in the Navy's fleet.

A report by Naval History and Heritage Command provides a look at the decrease in the number of Navy ships over the past 50 years since the peak during World War Two.

According to this study in 1917 the U. S. Navy had 245 ships. From that date on until 2003 the Navy maintained more than 300 ships in the fleet. The number of ships in the fleet fell to its lowest point in 2006 when there were 278 ships in the fleet. Since then the number of ships has increased to the current 285.

Beginning in 2011 the US Navy began adding two new submarines a year instead of the one a year it had been buying. The Navy is expected to add two Virginia Class attack submarines a year through fiscal year 2016. Romney aides have said he would like to see three new Virginia attack submarines added per year.

Obama replied:

'But I think Governor Romney maybe hasn't spent enough time looking at how our military works. You mentioned the Navy, for example, and that we have fewer ships than we did in 1916. Well, Governor, we also have fewer horses and bayonets, because the nature of our military's changed. We have these things called aircraft carriers, where planes land on them. We have these ships that go underwater, nuclear submarines.

And so the question is not a game of Battleship, where we're counting slips. It's what are our capabilities. And so when I sit down with the Secretary of the Navy and the Joint Chiefs of Staff, we determine how are we going to be best able to meet all of our defense needs in a way that also keeps faith with our troops, that also makes sure that our veterans have the kind of support that they need when they come home.

And that is not reflected in the kind of budget that you're putting forward because it just doesn't work.

And ABC's Luis Martinez adds that yes, the U.S. military ' both the Army and Marines still use bayonets.

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Fact or Fiction: Obama's Apology Tour
10:17 p.m. ET

ROMNEY: 'The President began what I've called an apology tour of going to various nations in the Middle East and criticizing America. I think they looked at that and saw weakness.'ABC's Matthew Larotonda has the facts:

Independent fact check organizations have poured over the rhetoric of diplomatic apologies repeatedly during this election, and the results have been mostly in opposition. Most recently the governor has brought it into reference of the administration's response to the attack on the U.S. consulate in Libya.

Further back, the idea of an Obama ' apology tour' has been a recurring attack for conservatives for a long time and has its roots in diplomatic travel the president undertook in 2009 shortly after taking office. Romney himself first took up the phrase in 2010 with his book, 'No Apology: The Case for American Greatness,' and has repeated the theme continuously on the campaign trail.

'In his first nine months in office, President Obama has issued apologies and criticisms of America in speeches in France, England, Turkey, and Cairo; at the CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia, the National Archives in Washington, D.C., and the United Nations in New York City,' the book reads in its first chapter.

President Obama never formally regrets American policy during these speeches, rather taking a tone of reciprocal blame at times for diplomatic ties that may have been strained. At other times the president is drawing a distinction between his policies and those of his predecessor, President George W. Bush.

During the 2009 Cairo speech for example, Obama comes close to regretting American actions in Iran during the overthrow of the Shah. But he immediately counters by pointing the finger at subsequent regimes for continued hostility.

'In the middle of the Cold War, the United States played a role in the overthrow of a democratically elected Iranian government,' he said. 'Since the Islamic Revolution, Iran has played a role in acts of hostage-taking and violence against U.S. troops and civilians. This history is well known.'

On his first visit to France, Obama again seemed to take responsibility for declining attitudes toward Americans abroad, for policies that have shown 'arrogance and been dismissive, even derisive.' But on the flip side he immediately derided Europeans for 'casual' and 'insidious' anti-Americanism.

'On both sides of the Atlantic these attitudes have become all too common,' he said. 'They are not wise. They do not represent the truth. They threaten to widen the divide across the Atlantic and leave us more isolated.'

All of these remarks fall short of formally apologizing for American diplomacy, but some of the president's most conciliatory remarks have come regarding the detainees of Guantanamo Bay. At the 2009 National Archives speech on terrorism, Obama said the military prison's use was 'based on fear than foresight,' and that 'it likely created more terrorists around the world than it ever detained.'

 

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Was Obama Silent During Iran's Green Revolution?
9:55 p.m. ET

Romney: When the students took to the streets in Tehran and the people there protested, the Green Revolution occurred for the President to be silent I thought was an enormous mistake.

ABC's Dana Hughes, Sarah Parnass and Serena Marshall have the facts:

Romney has repeatedly accused President Obama of sitting on the sidelines during the protests in Iran that followed a disputed presidential election on June 12, 2009.

But the president was not entirely silent. Three days after the election, Obama said in a press avail:

'I want to start off by being very clear that it is up to Iranians to make decisions about who Iran's leaders will be; that we respect Iranian sovereignty and want to avoid the United States being the issue inside of Iran, which sometimes the United States can be a handy political football ' or discussions with the United States.

Having said all that, I am deeply troubled by the violence that I've been seeing on television. I think that the democratic process ' free speech, the ability of people to peacefully dissent ' all those are universal values and need to be respected. And whenever I see violence perpetrated on people who are peacefully dissenting, and whenever the American people see that, I think they're, rightfully, troubled.
My understanding is, is that the Iranian government says that they are going to look into irregularities that have taken place. We weren't on the ground, we did not have observers there, we did not have international observers on hand, so I can't state definitively one way or another what happened with respect to the election.'

It wasn't until 8 days later when Obama held a press conference on June 23, 2009 that he strongly spoke out:

'The United States and the international community have been appalled and outraged by the threats, the beatings, and imprisonments of the last few days. I strongly condemn these unjust actions, and I join with the American people in mourning each and every innocent life that is lost. I've made it clear that the United States respects the sovereignty of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and is not interfering with Iran's affairs. But we must also bear witness to the courage and the dignity of the Iranian people, and to a remarkable opening within Iranian society. And we deplore the violence against innocent civilians anywhere that it takes place.'

Secretary Clinton clarified the Obama Administration's actions in an interview with CNN's Fareed Zakaria on 8/9/09.

Clinton said that the Obama administration was trying to balance leaving the revolution in the hands of the protesters with intervening behind the scenes.

'We knew that, if we stepped in too soon, too hard, the attention might very well shift and the leadership would try to use us to unify the country against the protesters,' Clinton said. 'Now, behind the scenes, we were doing a lot, as you know. One of our young people in the State Department got twittered, you know, 'Keep going,' despite the fact that they had planned for a technical shutdown. So, we were doing a lot to really empower the protesters without getting in the way. And we're continuing to speak out and support the opposition.'

The request by the member of the State Department that Clinton referenced spurred criticism for the administration. Technology and social movement researcher Evgeny Morozov wrote in his book, 'The Net Delusion,' that because of this incident, Iranian officials came to see the Internet as a way for the West to infiltrate Iran and may have led to the arrests of Iranian bloggers.

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Romney's Recommendations on Libya
9:54 p.m. ET

OBAMA: To the governor's credit you supported us going into Libya and the coalition that we organized but when it came time to making sure that Kaddafi didn't stay in power, that he was captured, Governor your suggestion was that this was mission creep, that this was mission muddle. Imagine if we had pulled out at that time.ABC's Serena Marshall and Chris Good have the facts:Obama is referring to Romney's op-ed titled 'Mission Middle' posted at Nationalreview.com on April 21. He wrote that he had supported President Obama's 'specific, limited mission,' which he said the president had defined 'as humanitarian: We would enforce a no-fly zone to prevent Libyan forces from bombing civilians. I support that.'

But noting that President Obama had joined UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown and French President Nicolas Sarkozy in an op-ed that said 'to succeed, Qaddafi must go and go for good,' Romney attacked the president, saying, '(i)t is apparent that our military is engaged in much more than enforcing a no-fly zone. What we are watching in real time is another example of mission creep and mission muddle.'

Later, after Qaddafi's death Romney aide Eric Fehrnstrom said: 'Mitt Romney supported the initial humanitarian mission-as articulated by President Obama-to enforce a no-fly zone. As the mission went on, however, it became clear that President Obama had no idea about his intentions in Libya and that's when Mitt warned against mission muddle and mission creep. The fall from power and subsequent death of Qaddafi brings to end a brutal chapter in Libya's history-but that does not validate the president's approach to Libya. The credit goes to the people of Libya.'

Romney supported involvement, but he criticized the multilateral approach in a March 21, 2011 interview with Hugh Hewitt, saying 'we're following the French into Libya' and suggesting Obama delegated U.S. foreign policy to the U.N.

HH: What is your reaction to President Obama's announcement of air strikes on Libya?
MR: Well, first, I support military action in Libya. I support our troops there and the mission that they've been given. But let me also note that thus far, the President has been unable to construct a foreign policy, any foreign policy. I think it's fair to ask, you know, what is it that explains the absence of any discernable foreign policy from the president of the United States? And I believe that it flows from his fundamental disbelief in American exceptionalism. In the President's world, all nations have common interests, the lines between good an evil are blurred, America's history merits apology. And without a compass to guide him in our increasingly turbulent world, he's tentative, indecisive, timid and nuanced. And as a result, I think, he says, for instance, he's committed to our success in Afghanistan unless it means commitment beyond 2011. He stands with our ally, Israel, but condemns its settlement policy even more forcefully than he condemns Hamas' rockets. And he calls for the removal of Muammar Gaddafi, but then conditions our action on the directions we get from the Arab League and the United Nations.

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Foreign Policy Gives Way to Education?
9:48 p.m. ET

How did a debate about foreign policy turn into a discussion of education policy and deficits?

ABC's Devin Dwyer points out Obama campaign aides say their internal polling/focus-grouping finds small class sizes and teacher hiring is a hugely salient issue for women and swing voters in key states.

The president made a point to raise those issues tonight making a clear play for those voters.

Also worth noting that Obama right now has education-focused TV ads. ' hitting Romney on teacher hires and class sizes ' running in six battlegrounds (launched 10/18).

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Romney Channels Ahmadinejad
9:40 p.m. ET

ABC's Michael Falcone reports: This already provoking a lot of chatter ' Mitt Romney paraphrased a quote from Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in order to show how the growing U.S. debt is weakening the U.S. at home and abroad.

Here's the Ahmadinejad quote Romney was referring to, per the Jerusalem Post:

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad predicted the impending downfall of the 'US empire,' blaming the collapse on a combination of the country's massive debt and its loss of legitimacy within the international community, Iran's official news agency IRNA reported Thursday.
'How long can a government with a $16 trillion foreign debt remain a world power?' he asked at a press conference with Kuwaiti media personnel. 'The Americans have injected their paper wealth into the world economy and today the aftermaths and negative effects of their pseudo-wealth have plagued them.'
He added: 'An empire, or a government, remains in power so long as the people under its power support it, but today the Americans have acted in a way that the world nations do not like them at all, and therefore, their international legitimacy is annihilated.'

Some prominent liberal voices have already pounced on the example Romney used:

@PaulBegala: Romney quotes Ahmadinejad on US debt. Really? Is that who he turns to for wisdom?

@ariannahuff: Romney citing Ahmadinejad on US economic policy. There must be better sources.

Some conservatives, however, liked it:

@hughhewitt: Romney projecting peace as our goal and requiring strength and a strong economy. Great citation to Ahmadinejad taunt on debt#debate

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Did Romney Say We Should Still Have Troops in Iraq?
9:36 p.m. ET

Obama: Just a few weeks ago you said you think we should have more troops in Iraq right now and the challenge we have, I know you have not been in a position to actually execute foreign policy, but every time you have offered an opinion you have been wrong.

ABC's Luis Martinez has the facts:

It is true that Mitt Romney was critical of President Obama's decision to pull combat troops out of Iraq. And on Oct. 8th, during a foreign policy speech he delivered at the Virginia Military Institute, Romney said the pullout from Iraq was too abrupt .

'In Iraq, the costly gains made by our troops are being eroded by rising violence, a resurgent Al-Qaeda, the weakening of democracy in Baghdad, and the rising influence of Iran. And yet, America's ability to influence events for the better in Iraq has been undermined by the abrupt withdrawal of our entire troop presence. The President tried'and failed'to secure a responsible and gradual drawdown that would have better secured our gains,' Romney said at VMI.

Read the transcript of Romney's VMI speech. .

Romney's speech does not specifically say he would prefer to still have American combat troops still in Iraq. But it does clearly imply the president's pullout was too fast.
He was critical of the president while the pullout was occurring too. At a November 11, 2011 roundtable meeting with veterans in South Carolina, Romney criticized the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq was a mistake.

'You probably know that it is my view that the withdrawal of all of our troops from Iraq by the end of this year is an enormous mistake and a failing by the Obama administration. Secretary Panetta and others had indicated they were working to put in place a Status of Forces Agreement to maintain our presence there, so that we could most effectively transition to the Iraqi military and Iraqi security forces providing security for their country,' Romney said.

'The precipitous withdrawal is unfortunate. It's more than unfortunate. I think it's tragic. It puts at risk many of the victories that were hard-won by the men and women who have served there. I hope the risk is not realized. I hope instead that the Iraqis are able to pick up the baton, and despite the fact that we will have walked away on a too-rapid basis.'

It is also true that the Obama administration actually wanted to keep troops in the country for a while longer.

In October the talks between the U.S. and Iraq intended to extend the U.S. military presence in Iraq beyond the pullout date of December 2011 collapsed. President Obama announced that all U.S. troops would pull out by the end of 2011. Gen. Dempsey told the Senate Armed Services Committee on December 15, 2011 that the U.S. was seeking to keep 3,000 American troops beyond the pullout date. He said that the proposals had originally started with keeping 16,000 U.S. troops in Iraq, then was revised downward to 10,000. Dempsey told Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., that no U.S. military commander had recommended a complete U.S. withdrawal from Iraq.

The last combat troops left Iraq in December of 2011. Read more about the pullout here.

How many troops would Romney have kept in Iraq if the talks with that country had been successful?

According to the Mother Jones transcript of the video of his secret May 17 47% speech Romney said:

'And the American people are not concentrated at all on China, on Russia, Iran, Iraq. This president's failure to put in place a status forces agreement allowing 10-20,000 troops to stay in Iraq? Unthinkable!'

This number is consistent with what Romney said back in December, 2011 on an appearance on Fox and Friends Romney said he would have sought a deal that would have kept between 10 and 30,000 US troops in Iraq beyond 2011.

'Well, first of all if I were president, I would have carried out the status of forces agreement that was long anticipated that actually Secretary Panetta, President Obama, Secretary of Defense indicated he wanted to have as well, which would have allowed to us have somewhere between 10 and 30,000 troops in Iraq,' Romney said.

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Romney Would Reduce Foreign Aid
9:15 p.m. ET

Romney said he wants to help countries in the Mideast to foster development.

But it would not be through direct aid.

Here's a line from his website: 'Reduce Foreign Aid ' Savings: $100 Million. Stop borrowing money from countries that oppose America's interests in order to give it back to them in the form of foreign aid.'

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Obama Zinger: 1980s Want Their Foreign Policy Back
9:10 p.m. ET

Romney: Russia I indicated is a geo-political foe not a ' Obama: Our number 1 geo-political foe Romney: Excuse me. It's a geo-political foe and I said in the same paragraph and I said in the same paragraph and I said Iran is the greatest national security threat we face. Russia does continue to battle us in the UN time and time again. I have clear eyes on this. I'm not going to wear rose-colored glasses when it comes to Russia or Mr. Putin and I'm certainly not going to say to him I'll give you more flexibility after the election.  After the election he'll get more backbone.

ABC's Kirit Radia predicted foreign policy towards Russia would be on the table tonight, and from the very beginning he was right.

Less than ten minutes into the debate, President Obama told Romney that the 1980s 'want their foreign policy back,' referencing Romney's earlier comment in an interview with CNN in March, where he called Russia the United States' 'number one geopolitical foe.'

Read more from Kirit here.

But Romney pointed out that though he named Russia as the top geo-political foe, he called Iran the largest security threat.  That's correct.

'Well, I'm saying in terms of a geopolitical opponent, the nation that lines up with the world's worst actors,' Romney said in reference to Russia on CNN on March 26. 'Of course, the greatest threat that the world faces is a nuclear Iran. A nuclear North Korea is already troubling enough.' Read the rest of the transcript from CNN here.

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ABC / Washington Post Poll: Obama ' 49, Romney ' 48
5:00 p.m. ET

Image credit: ABC News | The Washington Post Poll

Mitt Romney carries newfound competitiveness in trust to handle international issues into the final presidential debate, combined with his highest personal popularity of the 2012 campaign. But continued weakness in his perceived economic priorities is keeping the race a close one.

Among other shifts, after last week's second debate, which included a spirited exchange on women in the workplace, the contest now has its largest gender gap of the season ' a 14-point lead for Barack Obama among women, vs. a 12-point advantage for Romney among men.

The result, as in previous ABC News/Washington Post polls since late summer, is essentially a dead heat between the candidates overall. In the first of what will be daily ABC/Post tracking polls for the rest of the contest, 49 percent of likely voters back Obama, 48 percent Romney.

See PDF with full results and charts here.

With tonight's debate focused on foreign policy, the poll, produced for ABC by Langer Research Associates, finds Romney virtually tied with Obama in trust to handle international affairs (49-46 percent, Obama-Romney) and terrorism (47-46 percent), as well as to serve as commander-in-chief of the armed services (48-45 percent). That reflects a shift in Romney's favor; Obama led on terrorism by 11 points as recently as Sept. 29, and on international affairs by 7 points earlier this month.

Read more from ABC pollster Gary Langer.

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Lynn U T-Shirts: 'We've Never Heard of You Either'
8:56p.m. ET

ABC's Jake Tapper tweets: Lynn U. debate shirts have emblazoned on back 'We've never heard of YOU either' ' CPD co chair Fahrenkopf shows off.

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Romney Before the Debate
8:54 p.m. ET

ABC News' Emily Friedman reports:

At the first presidential debate in Denver, Colorado, Romney was photographed playing the game Jenga ' which involves building a tall tower out of small wooden blocks without the structure collapsing. The former Massachusetts governor took a hiatus from Jenga for the second debate.

Tonight, the game is back.

Romney's personal aide Garrett Jackson tweeted a photo of the game being played by three of Romney's grandsons in the hold room backstage at Lynn University.

'The Jenga set is back. Grandkids are loving it,' Jackson tweeted, with a photo.

A subsequent tweet read, 'Romney's having a great time before start of the debate.'

Friedman also adds Ann Romney's green dress with floral skirt is Oscar de La Renta.

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Jake Tapper's Comments on the Atmosphere at the Last Debate
8:49 p.m. ET

This is the smallest arena yet of the four debate halls.

It is a very small crowd ' maybe 300 individuals.

There are some political luminaries in the crowd, including Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C., former Rep. Jane Harman, D-Calif., casino magnate and Republican superdonor Sheldon Adelson, former Florida Gov. Charlie Crist (who is now a Democrat), White House adviser Valerie Jarrett, current GOP Gov. Rick Scott of Florida, Rep. Sander Levin, D-Mich., and more.

All five Romney brothers arrived with their wives.

Adelson, by the way, has a front row balcony street.

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Russia Fact Check: Romney 'Foe or Obama 'Reset?'
8:15 p.m. ET

MOSCOW ' When Mitt Romney steps on the stage tonight in Boca Raton, Fla., to debate foreign policy with President Obama, his challenge will often be to draw a distinction between his proposals and the president's policies. In many areas, notably Iran, their positions are very similar. But one area where the Republican candidate and the president differ sharply is on their view of Russia.

During an interview with CNN in March, Romney called Russia the United States' 'number one geopolitical foe.' But is that a fair characterization, or just campaign trail bluster? Analysts are divided, but most admit there is evidence to support both sides.

Read more from ABC's Kirit Radia.

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Boehner Makes Off-Color Joke About His Last Name
7:36 p.m. ET

ABC's Shush Walshe reports from Durango, Colorado that at a Ryan rally this evening, Speaker of the House John Boehner poked fun at his own last name.

'Twenty-two years ago, I was running for Congress for the first time. And you know, if they can't say your name, they probably aren't going to vote for you. Look at my name: Beaner. Bonner. Boner,' Boehner said.

And the laughs continued when Rep. Paul Ryan took the stage. Read on here..

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What to Look for on Twitter Tonight
7:31 p.m. ET

ABC's Andrew Springer will be monitoring social media trends all night. But he offers this proviso:

REMEMBER: Trends aren't the most important thing in the world. Simply because something is trending doesn't mean it's important' Trending is based on a secret algorithm, primarily around a term's velocity'how fast it rises and how fasts it falls. For us, volume and unique number of tweeters are more important than velocity.

For comparison'.

1. Debate one: 10.3 Million Tweets / 2.4 million unique tweeters ' The most tweeted event in US politics ever.
2. VP Debate: 3.5 million tweets / 956k tweeters
3. Debate two: 7.2 million tweets / 2.2 million tweeters

Data from Twitter/Social Guide Intelligence

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Romney Opts for Quinoa Burger
4:08 p.m. ET

Image credit: @dgjackson/Twitter

ABC's Emily Friedman reports that on the afternoon of the final debate, Mitt Romney chowed down on a veggie burger. The VegeFi from BurgerFi in Delray Beach, Fla. is a quinoa-based burger with white cheddar, lettuce, tomato and a secret sauce made with mayonnaise and 15 other secret ingredients. Romney had Cajun fries and a vanilla milkshake along with his burger.

He ate at the same restaurant ' across the street from his hotel ' for dinner last night. BurgerFi tweeted shortly after his visit last night, 'Gov @MittRomney likes to keep it healthy on the campaign trail. Tonight he ordered a VegeFi Burger 'GreenStyle.' #Election2012'

The campaign said last night that Romney had actually ordered the VegeFi burgers for his wife and his daughter-in-law. He ate a burger.

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Who owns $16 trillion national debt?
4:00 p.m ET

Any debate on foreign affairs should include at least some mention of the U.S. national debt and which foreign countries own it. It has exploded in recent years, first under Preisdent Bush with the wars on Iraq and Afghanistan and then under President Obama with the stimulus meant to kick-start the economy. Click the image below for an infographic look at which countries own the more than $16 trillion national debt.

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Who gets U.S. foreign aid (besides Israel)?
4:00 p.m ET

The United States spends about 1 percent of it's budget on foreign aid ' about $35 billion in 2011. Israel is the largest single recipient. that country got about $3.1 billion in 2011. See where else the money goes by clicking on the image below.

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Why Obama should have an edge
3:00  p.m ET

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Foreign policy crash course: Libya!, Iran!, Syria!
5:20 p.m ET

Image credit: Nasser Nasser/AP Photo

ABC's Abby Phillip has what you need to know about the big foreign policy questions of the day:

Libya: the Benghazi Attack

Perhaps more than any other foreign policy issue, the death of U.S. Ambassador to Libya Christopher Stephens has dominated headlines and has penetrated the consciousness of American voters, who are otherwise preoccupied with their own economic security.

Most recent reports indicate that an amateur anti-Islamic video was not what provoked the attacks, as the administration said originally. But recent reports also indicate that intelligence officials do not believe the attack was pre-planned.

The issue may also be Romney's clearest opportunity to challenge Obama's foreign policy record.

Romney has suggested that the Obama administration, for political reasons, misled the country about what triggered the attacks in Libya. Republicans have also roundly criticized Obama for saying to comedian Jon Stewart that Stevens' death and the deaths of other Americans at the embassy were not 'optimal.

Iran: Nuclear Weapons

Obama and Romney largely agree that Iran must be prevented from obtaining nuclear weapons.

The Obama administration said that it has imposed strenuous sanctions on Iran, including strictly enforcing sanctions that have been in place for decades.

But Romney said in a recent foreign policy speech at the Virginia Military Institute that Obama's foreign policy had 'emboldened' Iran.

Meanwhile, a report in The New York Times over the weekend suggested that Iran had agreed to one-on-one talks with the U.S. about its nuclear plans.

Iranian officials have denied that they have agreed to any talks. Romney is likely to be questioned about his position on one-on-one talks with Iran. When asked about whether he would be open to one-on-one talks with Iran over the weekend, Romney declined to answer.

Israel

Both Obama and Romney will emphasize the importance of the U.S.'s relationship with Israel, and the U.S. commitment to preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.

Romney has staunchly criticized Obama for allowing his relationship with Israeli President Bibi Netanyahu to deteriorate over the course of his presidency.

Romney and Netanyahu are old friends, a friendship dating back to their days at Boston Consulting Group, when they were both business consultants.

Obama's relationship with Netanyahu has been rocked by several public strains in the past four years, including disagreements about Israel's expansion of settlements in the Gaza Strip. Most recently, Obama was criticized by Republicans for not meeting with Netanyahu when both leaders attended the United Nations General Assembly in New York in September, however the two did speak by phone. And in his speech at the U.N. General Assembly, Obama reiterated his commitment to a 'secure Jewish state of Israel and an independent prosperous Palestine.'

Read Abby's full report.

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Obama bear hugger invited to debate
5:35 p.m ET

Image credit: Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP Photo

ABC's Mary Bruce reports: President Obama's campaign has invited Scott Van Duzer, the bear-hugging Florida restaurant owner who gave Obama a lift last month, to be a guest at tonight's presidential debate.

Obama got a friendly boost ' literally ' from Van Duzer when he made a surprise stop at his Ft. Pierce, Fla., restaurant. The pizza shop owner enthusiastically embraced the president, physically lifting him off the ground.

'Look at that!' the president exclaimed when he was back on solid ground. 'Man, are you a powerlifter or what?' Van Duzer, 46, who stands at 6-foot-3 and weighs 260 pounds, later admitted he can bench press 350 pounds.

Van Duzer will be in the audience at Lynn University as Obama and GOP nominee Mitt Romney face off for the third and final time before election day.

A registered Republican, Van Duzer voted for Obama in 2008 and said last month that he plans to do so again in this election.

Read more from ABC's Mary Bruce.

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Buzzy or bust: campaign slogans stump supporters
11:30 p.m ET

ABC's Devin Dwyer has been covering the Obama campaign for more than a year. He has found that the president's supporters aren't always up on the latest campaign slogan. Take a look:

Read more of Devin's report.

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