Producer Harriet Taylor, photographer Svein Schwab and Molly Line on the media riser outside the debate hall.

By Molly Line

We are “Singing in the Rain” in Music City!

A sweet southern gal next to me just said, “Whew. We’re fix’n to get one.”

Sure enough- the skies opened up and here comes the rain. The downpour is not likely to dampen spirits here at Belmont University. The school is ready to host the first presidential debate in Tennessee history.

The stage is set and the stars tonight will be “real people” — Tennessee’s own will ask the questions during tonight’s town hall debate. Undecided voters will form a circle around Sen. McCain and Sen. Obama tonight, firing questions in fast order. It’s an intimate setting, one that will force the two candidates into close quarters. In recent days both sides have stepped up attacks.

Now we wait in suspense — Will McCain “take the gloves off”? How will Obama — who is so well known for sweeping oratory and drawing crowds — fare in this smaller venue?

Fred Thompson and Alan Meshberg

Molly Line and Producer Harriet Taylor

1995: O.J. Simpson holds up his hands before the jury after putting on a new pair of gloves similar to the infamous bloody gloves during his double-murder trial in Los Angeles. (AP)

By Donald Fair, producer

On Oct. 2, 1995, the jury in the O.J. Simpson murder case reached its decision in a Los Angeles criminal court. On Oct. 3, 1995, the verdict was announced. The jury had deliberated for three hours, finding Simpson not guilty.

Now, a Las Vegas jury will makes its own history in the present Simpson case, involving robbery and kidnapping charges.

The jury in this case is made up of nine women and three men. Ten are white. Two are Hispanic. Of the six alternate jurors, two are black.

After hearing nearly a month of testimony in Las Vegas, this jury gets the case Thursday.

This jury has been a very hard-working group of people. Having watched the jury closely on the first and last day of testimony, they all were engaged in the process. Many have filled notebooks with a great deal of scribbling. They have followed the back and forth between the judge and the lawyers, and Wednesday, during a particularly trying period for all parties, the jury was amused by the number of sidebar conferences that took place in front of the judge.

Judge Jackie Glass, after prosecution and defense have asked their questions, has allowed the jurors to submit written questions for witnesses. They are sent to the judge, looked at by the lawyers and the judge has read the questions. Two jurors in particular have submitted questions almost every time. According to those who have been in the courtroom for most of the process, the jurors’ questions have been tough and to the point.

Court sources say the jury is getting along outside the courtroom as well. In fact, they have two large jigsaw puzzles going in their break room.

And Judge Glass imposed a “blind alternate” rule. This meant that the jurors didn’t know who was an alternate and who was an actual juror. They find out now, when the case goes to the “real” jury. The alternates are in the unique position of having to listen to the case but not participate in the end, in the deliberation. They do get to deliberate if there is a problem with one of the original 12. The idea for the “blind alternate” rule is to keep all 18 people in the box engaged in the process.

AP: Chad Pergram and House Minority Leader John Boehner

By Chad Pergram

What if you went to the baseball park every day and the same team won every day?

Boring.

That’s what usually happens in the House of Representatives. And when I come through the Congressional turnstile each day, I know which team is going to win: the majority party.

See, a determined majority in the House can always win. It doesn’t matter if Democrats or Republicans are in charge. The majority can always win. It’s routine.

In the House, the rule is you don’t bring a bill to the floor unless you know you have the votes to pass it.

That’s why I looked forward to taking my seat in the Congressional bleachers for Monday’s “game” on the financial rescue package. No one really knew if Democrats and Republicans could cobble together a coalition to approve the critical measure.

The outcome was worth the price of admission.

Lots of issues come and go here on Capitol Hill. But I have never seen a piece of legislation where the stakes were so high, the outcome so unclear and lawmakers so vexed about what to do.

Politicians are notorious for breaking campaign promises. But here’s the one they break most often: Running commercials promising to go to Washington to take tough votes.

Lawmakers from both parties don’t like taking tough votes. If they did, they would have clamored for this one. And for legislative engineers, it would prove to be the ultimate challenge: Convince everyone to approve a bill that no one likes yet everyone agrees is necessary. Keep Reading …

REUTERS: FNC Producer Chad Pergram and Roy Blunt (R-MO), Capitol Hill, Sept. 27

By Chad Pergram, Senior Producer, House of Representatives

Teenage pages decked out in dark blue uniforms roam the halls of Congress every day. They serve as messengers to courier bills, the text of amendments and other correspondence between Congressional offices and to the House and Senate floor.

Saturday night, House Minority Whip Roy Blunt (R-MO), Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad (D-ND) and Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-IL) assumed the same roles as the teens. This came as heir fellow lawmakers hunkered down to craft emergency financial legislation designed to stave off the worst fiscal crisis since 1929.

The trio ferried missives and new ideas back and forth between Democratic negotiators huddled in the office of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and the quarters of House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH).

The press hasn’t paid this much attention to Congressional pages since Mark Foley.

A phalanx of reporters accosted each “page”as they strode between the office suites. The scribes mined each trip for a nugget of information or sought a turn of phrase that could convey how the closed-door negotiations were going.

At one point, Kent Conrad wondered aloud how many times he walked back and forth between the offices.

“This is a new exercise regime,” he quipped, joking that the Capitol Physician recommended it to him. “You have to walk briskly.”

Henry Kissinger shuttle diplomacy efforts with the Middle East weren’t as intense as this scene.

A bit later, Roy Blunt emerged from the GOP bunker and walked toward the Speaker’s office, sans jacket. Many in the press wondered if Bunt’s appearance signaled the sides were getting down to the nub.

Blunt then headed back to Boehner’s office. And then he repeated the circuit.

Each time, the Minority Whip carried a slip of paper curled up in his hand. He reminded me of legendary University of Louisville basketball coach Denny Crum who stalked the sidelines with a program rolled up in his clutch.

I asked Blunt if that he toted a different piece of paper each time he made the trip.

“You bet,” Blunt said.

A sign of progress.

Then Rahm Emanuel got into the act. He also lost his sports coat.

“It’s a boy,” Emanuel joked as he navigated the journalistic gauntlet.

Certainly watching this process was as tedious as childbirth. And arguably as painful for the throng of reporters trolling the hallways waiting for lawmakers to spawn a bill from the legislative maternity ward.

The midwifery was not lost on Rep. Ed Pastor (D-AZ). Members of Congress from both sides of the aisle were already dubious about the cost of this bill. And Pastor wondered what legislative offspring his Congressional leaders were midwifing.

“You’re waiting for the delivery and hoping that the baby ain’t that ugly,” Pastor said.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) joined the session around 9:30 pm.

“Will you reach a deal tonight?” hollered one reporter.

“The night doesn’t end for a long time,” Reid responded, drawing a groan.

Reporters and photographers lingered for hours in the Capitol’s Statuary Hall as they scraped for the bill’s details. The arrival of a tray of food from Cosi prompted one lawmaker to exclaim we were going to be there a while. And food and caffeine soon became a central element to this waiting game.

Kent Conrad declared that the Republican pizza was better than the Democratic fare. I tried to bribe him with a mini-Snickers bar to offer up some details. He didn’t accept the Snickers. But the Senator did announce they phoned financier Warren Buffet for advice. He also indicated lawmakers clued-in representatives from the presidential campaigns of both John McCain and Barack Obama.

Meantime, journalists gulped coffee and chomped snacks. TV crews unceremoniously discarded Chinese takeout boxes around the statues of William Jennings Bryan and Robert E. Lee.

The carcass of what had once been a pepperoni pizza lay at the feet of Sam Houston. To satiate the press, Nadeam Elshami, a spokesman to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, brought out a plate of California-produced almonds.

Not to be outdone, Don Stewart, Communications Director to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) offered Hershey’s kisses. Stewart apparently couldn’t locate a paper plate. So he distributed the Kisses in a filter designed for a Mr. Coffee machine.

In between the snacking, TV crews competed for shots as negotiators trekked back and forth.

Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson clearly wasn’t used to being chased by the press every time he ventured onto the Capitol grounds. Finally, with the Secretary safely ensconced in John Boehner’s office, a squadron of U.S. Capitol Police officers instructed the media that they were not to pursue Paulson when he walked to the Speaker’s Office. Six burly officers then formed a protective body cordon around the 6’2” Paulson when they escorted him to the final round of talks.

We got some okay video of Paulson. But frankly, FOX pulled off the video coup of the night.

I keep a set of binoculars in my booth on the third floor of the Capitol. I grabbed them because at night, you can look from the House wing of the building and see through the windows of Speaker’s Office and Minority Leader’s office at the center of the building.

Shooting through the window and into one in Boehner’s office, FOX cameraman Rick Suddeth managed to grab a phenomenal shot of Paulson, sitting on a couch in the middle of the negotiations.

Still, Paulson wasn’t the only one perturbed by the press barrage.

After the principals announced the tentative deal around 12:30 am et, House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D-MA) said he was pleased he wouldn’t have to tolerate the incessant questions of reporters much longer.

Lightning-fast with a quip, Frank drew a laugh when he remarked that the time was coming when he “won’t have to speak to any of the people who are here.”

Reporters still pursued Frank about specifics in the agreement. And the Congressman remained mum as he boarded a Capitol elevator to leave for the night.

“This is where the needs of your profession and mine diverge,” Frank said.

By Eric Shawn

They filled the plaza across the street from the United Nations as in years past. But, with the controversy over the absence of Sarah Palin and Hillary Clinton, and with the Iran atomic bomb seemingly ticking even closer, there is a new sense of urgency here. The thousands of protesters holding signs that say “NO TO IRAN” or sporting buttons with Iran President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s face crossed out know that time is on Iran’s side.

There is more consensus among these thousands of strangers than in the vaunted Security Council, where Iran continues to brazenly flout, ignore, ridicule and divide the forum that supposedly ensures and enforces international peace and security. There is an electricity in the air here, and although the protestors are angry at their own rally’s organizers for bouncing Mrs. Palin, her and Mrs. Clinton’s words ring out in their absence. What Palin would have said had she been here is on the front page of “The New York Sun”, declaring “He Must Be Stopped.” She wrote that the “world must awake to the threat this man poses to all of us. He will share his hateful agenda with the world. Our task is to focus the world on what can be done to stop him.”

Mrs. Clinton echoed very similar demands, saying the Iranian President will use his speech before the General Assembly tomorrow as a platform for “hateful propaganda,” and that the world “should not, cannot, must not permit Iran to build or acquire nuclear weapons.” These are the sentiments of those here.

One would hope the sentiments echoed here will be heart, particularly in Moscow, which just this week decided that it would not support another resolution against Iran. This is a shame, those here say, and exposes the progress Iran has achieved. Mrs. Palin notes that U.S. intelligence believes Iran may have enough nuclear material to produce a bomb within a year.  The sad legacy of the U.N. Security Council remains its failed mission to do what the voices across the street are demanding: To Stop Iran Now!

Judging by the Security Council track record, perhaps the next rally should be held in Red Square so Mr. Putin can hear the united voices for himself.

by Michelle Maskaly

11:50 PM  History was made!  What an exciting night!  And you couldn’t have asked for a better ending!  Jeter the last Yankee at bat, Mariano trowing the last pitch and a Yankee win!  And all 10 minutes before my birthday–no one can top this present! Ha!

11:36 PM  Mariano Rivera is on the mound and the crowd is on their feet in the top of the 9th. This could very well be the end of it for Yankee Stadium if Baltimore doesn’t score.

The crowd is screaming “Let’s Go Yankees!”

10:57 PM 7th inning stretch!

The grounds crew just took one final “sweep” of Yankee Stadium to the tune of “YMCA” and the crowd is going nuts. There are just as many camera flashes going off as there were for when Jeter stepped up to the plate.

Jeter, by the way, just blew the chance at a Grand Slam so it looks like I am be wrong on who will hit the last homerun here.

While I’m typing Joba Chamberlain just ran out to the mound and my ears are hurting from the screaming — but I guess that goes well with the fact my voice from yelling was gone by the 4th inning…..

10:21 PM Jose Molina just hit a homerun right in front of us!

The ball landed on the net that covers the fans and chaos broke out — but a classy security guard got it and gave it to the guy who first had his hand on it. Nice job.

So now, will Molina be the last Yankee to hit a homerun here?

My bet is that Mr. November, who will not be playing in the playoffs this year, will not disappoint and take that distinction later in the game. However my friends next to me disagree — John says Molina and Scott says Nady.

Who do you think it will be?!

9:36 PM - Johnny Damon just hit a three-run home run and the crowd is re-energized! Everyone was down, Damon gets up to bat and I turn to the guy next to me and say, “No worries, he’ll hit a homerun.” Everyone laughed at me.

With a one run lead — who is laughing now buddy!

But, now it begs the question - will a former Red Sox player be the Yankee who hits the last homerun in this stadium’s history?

9:22 PM The energy around the bleachers is starting to fade a bit now because it’s top of the third and the Yanks are losing 2-0. People are actually starting to check football scores on their BlackBerry.

But I’m still excited — afterall my favorite Yankees pitcher, Andy Pettitte, is on the mound!

8:26 PM - We are shoulder to shoulder here listening to Bruce Springstein’s ‘Glory Days’ in the bleachers waiting for the second inning to start and the large board in the outfield flashes a sign reading, “Theft or attempted theft of stadium property is a crime violators will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”

Ooooppppsssss! I guess my friend Matt shouldn’t have taken some dirt from the warning track.

7:29 PM- The special pre-game ceremony started with a tribute to the Opening Day team of 1923.

Fans are on their feet while names of the past are being read and actors portraying them take the field and stand in a line in center field.

Former Yankee greats, such as Dave Winfield - a crowd favorite - are taking the field and running to their respective positions.

There are so many flashes from cameras going off that the stadium looks like a light show!

Mrs. Rizzuto just took the field -representing her husband - to a thunderous applause.

7:09 PM- In line for a pretzel we just met Lily Casas, 24, and her boyfriend Kenny Sanchez, 26, from L.A. It was during the All-Star Game a few months ago they realized this was the last season for Yankee Stadium and decided “we got to go.”

They bought tickets on StubHub and booked their flight right away.

“We decided if we are going to go, we were going all out and for the last game,” Sanchez said. “I love baseball. This is unbelievable.”

Neither of them are Yankees fans, but for today, they said, “everyone is a Yankee fan.”

6:48 PM - After six hours we are finally in Monument Park! Although at this point they’ve stopped letting people on the field. For me its finally hit this is it - the last game in a ballpark that contains so much history. If these walls could talk….

Baltimore is taking batting practice right behind us and a girl in front of us just got hit in the arm with a ball.

A version of ‘New York, New York’ is blaring from the speakers - what perfect choice!

5:17 PM-They’ve extended the time it will be open to accommodate the large number of people, but are not allowing field access anymore because batting practice is starting.

People are starting to get restless.

4:45 PM- Four hours after the stadium opened for the final time, we are still waiting on the line to get into Monument Park and take a walk on the field.

Fans are slowly filing to their seats, but many are still waiting on the line.The Jumbotron, just above the bleachers in right center field, is showing video clips of historic moments at Yankee Stadium and pre-recorded clips and comments from player, past and present.

Several Yankees took the field to warm up, but batting practice, scheduled to start at 4 p.m., seems to have been delayed.

Here is a photo of a guy behind us who has also been waiting on line.

2:18 PM- It’s about seven hours before the first pitch of the final Yankees game at the ‘house that Ruth built’ is thrown.

Outside the stadium the streets are lined with shirts, hats and anything else you can think of marked with Yankees logo.

Joba Chamberlain’s Dad is posing for pictures with fans outside Gate 2.

Walking into the stadium for the last time brings mixed emotions as they hand you a magnetic blue pennant with the dates ‘April 18, 1923 - September 21, 2008′ and a picture of the stadium. It almost feels like a funeral.

Gates opened about an hour ago and the stadium is already a sea of pinstripes. We are on line to get into Monument Park — a line that winds up the stairs to to the top of the stadium all the way back down again.

By Mayer Dubinsky, FNC Camerman

We spent the past two days on Galveston Island shooting video and live shots documenting the aftermath of Hurricane Ike. The road to recovery is well underway but there’s a long road ahead for the tough Texans who call the area home. Houston and many other towns inland are also heavily affected with many areas still in the dark and lots of clean up ahead.