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... AND IT ALL COMES DOWN TO THIS

You have heard the polls, the predictions, the paid political commercials,  the speeches.  You have listened to the analysis.  And you'll have to listen for at least 2 more days.  Then, it will be up to you.  Control of the U.S. House and Senate could be determined by the results in a handful of very close races.  Democrats and Republicans appear to be engaged in a series of battles that resemble a World Wrestling "Smackdown".

Now, it's the home stretch.  The President continued to campaign in key states today.  NBC's Kelly O'Donnell is traveling with the President and she'll have the latest tonight from Crawford, Texas.

MSNBC's Chris Matthews will play "Hardball" with us tonight, giving us his view of the upcoming election.

Also tonight, the view from Iraq.  NBC's Jane Arraf has the latest on preparations for tomorrow's verdict in the trial of Saddam Hussein.

Plus, a group of newspapers, catering to the military, will print an editorial Monday calling for the resignation of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.  NBC's Rosiland Jordan has that story.

NBC's Pete Williams will show us exclusive video of the man who was sentenced to life in prison for his role in Al Qaeda... Zacarias Moussaoui.

When Congressman Mark Foley resigned in light of the Congressional Page scandal, political observers predicted Democrats would take over his seat in the House.  But now Republicans are saying, not so fast.  NBC's Mark Potter reports.

And In Depth tonight, the scandal surrounding the Rev. Ted Haggard, what it means for his church and his future.

It's all coming up tonight.  We hope you'll join us.

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A Busy Friday

The opening graphic on the lower third of the screen during our story on the midterm elections tonight will tell the story: THE HOME STRETCH. This is crunch time. We'll look at the races that are getting the attention these days and we'll look at the plans the Democrats are putting together (remember what the President said about celebrating in the end zone?) just in case Tuesday night goes their way... in a big way. We'll also cover the story involving Rev. Haggard that has gone off like a bomb in the evangelical Christian community. We'll have the dramatic story of this day from the Middle East, and since this is Friday: our Making a Difference segment airs tonight... a truly beautiful installment. We'll also read from a few viewer e-mails tonight, which I must say have taken a decided turn toward the nasty, angry and vitriolic. We touched on my personal favorites on last night's broadcast: those who have unmasked our role in the conspiracy to get Harold Ford Jr. elected to the U.S. Senate by locating last night's remote broadcast from Memphis! I'm in the process of selecting tonight's "readings" and there is no shortage of raw material to choose from.

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Early Nightly is up

Brian has been in non-stop meetings this afternoon, preparing for NBC network coverage of Decision 2006 next Tuesday. So Chief White House Correspondent David Gregory does the vlog honors, previewing a couple of the stories we're working on. Brian will offer a more detailed rundown in an hour or so.

For now, click here or on the image to watch Early Nightly.

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How 'The Heart Gallery' was born

Editor's note: Tonight's "Making a Difference" segment tells the story of "The Heart Gallery." We asked founder Diane Granito, who you'll meet in the report by NBC's John Larson, to join us as a guest blogger and tell you more about the idea she helped launch in 2001.

Five years ago, as a foster and adoptive parent recruiter for the New Mexico Children, Youth & Families Department (CYFD), I had the honor of developing an idea from photographer (and adoptive mother) Cathy Maier Callanan: having talented photographers create inspiring portraits of older children and sibling groups who were freed for adoption. At the time, social services agencies like CYFD had to use whatever images of the children they could get, and most were as inspiring as a driver’s license photo. With the support of CYFD, I approached Lisa Bronowicz at the Gerald Peters Gallery in Santa Fe about hosting an exhibit of these art-quality portraits.

That's how "The Heart Gallery," as I dubbed it, was born. More than 1,200 people attended that first opening, Randy Travis serenaded the crowd, and connections were made that night leading to the adoption of six Heart Gallery children. We all knew we were on to something special, though what was to come has exceeded our wildest dreams.

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Decision 2006: It's the war...

President Bush's Iraq policy has dominated this political season with candidates on both sides arguing about what to do next. Should the U.S. put Iraq's leaders on a timetable for securing and governing their country or just encourage them to meet "benchmarks", should U.S. troops get out now or should it be a phased withdrawal? As Republicans and Democrats alike lay out their plans, many Americans just want to know - are we winning? And is victory even possible?

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Walking in Memphis

...or more accurately, driving to our live location. We will remote the broadcast from Memphis tonight. We just interviewed Congressman Ford, and NBC News spent yesterday with the Corker campaign. This race is a lot of things -- dirty, personal, important. We'll look at all aspects tonight.

It's axiomatic that an unusual story rears its head when we travel. Today is no exception. See: Tom Cruise. From Iraq, we have an important piece from Richard Engel tonight. He has been embedded with U.S. troops once again. Tim Russert will join us to talk politics, and there's a lot of it. In health news, we will talk about chronic fatigue syndrome.

As this is being written by BlackBerry, and as time is short and I have one more interview to conduct, at this point I have to say: please join us for tonight's broadcast from Memphis.

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Paying tribute to the King

A quick trip to Graceland turned out to be a bigger bonding experience than we'd expected, as we stood and gazed at a running loop from the King's 1973 "Aloha from Hawaii" concert on our very own NBC television network. And maybe just a little more humbling, too, since more people watched that concert than watched man land on the moon, apparently. This we were told by our escort, Elvis Presley Enterprises' Kevin Kern, while we all reminded each other that there was no cable or Internet competing for our viewers 33 years ago. A Memphis native and gracious host, Kevin saw us to our rental cars and headed off to vote. Early voting in Tennessee ends today. We look forward to returning the favor to Kevin by having him join us on the Nightly News set tonight.

Editor's note: Producer Subrata De promises a photo from Graceland later. Elizabeth is with Team Brian in Memphis tonight. She and the NBC News Political Unit blog daily at www.FirstRead.MSNBC.com.

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Early Nightly is up

The broadcast originates tonight from Memphis, Tenn., where Brian will report on the Senate race between Democratic Congressman Harold Ford and Republican Bob Corker, who most recently was the mayor of Chattanooga. I'm told some of the team just visited Graceland, and promises a photo or two later this afternoon.

With Brian on assignment, Robert Bazell handles Early Nightly today, which is focused on the story he'll report tonight, about women with chronic fatigue.

Click here or on the image to watch.

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You say Missour-ah, I say Missour-ee

As the election looms we've all heard about states deemed crucial by the pundits, such as Pennsylvania, Ohio, Kentucky and Montana. But right at the top of the list is Missouri, or is it Missourah? I'd like to wade into the the pronunciation debate of my old stomping grounds because it appears to be nearly universally accepted by many talking heads on television that the state name is pronounced "Missour-ah." I beg to disagree. I grew up in a small river town named Alton and I crossed the Mississippi and the Missouri rivers every school day for eight years to attend schools in St. Louis. And during all those years the predominant pronunciation that I heard for both the river and the state was Missour-ee. I knew that folks in downstate Missouri and more rural areas used Missour-ah, but they also tended to have the softer southern dialect that lended itself to that type of pronunciation.

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What's at stake in the House?

Editor's note: Producer Mike Viqueira, who covers the House of Representatives for NBC News, contributed the following to our sister blog First Read. It's too good not to post here, as well. But just a reminder that you can get your political blog fix any time at www.FirstRead.MSNBC.com.

Let's be clear about what is at stake here on Tuesday. When you're talking about holding the majority in the U.S. House, you're talking about being in utter control of everything from how, when, and what is actually debated on the floor of the chamber to what is served for lunch in the cafeteria.

"The job of the minority is to make a quorum and to draw its pay." Words spoken by House Speaker Thomas Reed in 1890 that perfectly describe the sweeping hegemony of the majority party -- and emasculation of the minority -- that is as evident today as it was 116 years ago. The majority here controls every step of the process, and when you control the process, you control the substance.

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