Afghans Vote under Threat of Attack
HOLMES: Well, 21 past the hour. Let's give you a look at some of the stories that are making headlines this morning. Alaska's Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski is attempting to do what's only been done once before in U.S. history, and that is, win a U.S. Senate seat as a write-in candidate. Murkowski is the incumbent; she's forced to take now this unlikely route for re-election after she lost in the state's GOP primary to a Tea Party backed candidate. Also, two California families have reached a settlement with Toyota following a crash that killed four family members. The victims died when the Lexus sedan they were riding in accelerated uncontrollably and crashed in San Diego, this was last year. An investigation revealed the accelerator pedal probably became trapped by an incorrectly installed floor mat. The amount of the settlement no revealed. The family attorney did say Toyota did not admit liability. Also, recently freed American hiker, Sarah Shourd, is expected to speak in a few moments before she gets on a plane in imam headed back to the U.S. What you are looking at here is a gathering of reporters at the airport, a lounge there. This is a live look. We are expecting her to speak in just a short time. Of course, she was freed after being held in Iran for over a year. She is expected to come out, be introduced by a family member and make a short statement but not expected to take any questions just yet. We will keep a close eye on this. When that happens, we will bring that to you live. Well, the voting is over. The counting now needs to begin in Afghanistan's fourth national election. Afghans cast ballots for hundreds of parliamentary seats under the threat of attack by Taliban militants. I want to head now live to CNN's Ivan Watson; he's live for us in Kabul. Ivan, always good to have you. The Taliban said they wanted to keep people away with the threat of violence. Did that work?</s>IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, we did see here in Kabul lines, long lines of women and men going to the polls to cast their ballots. I have to say, these people braved an earthquake that struck this city before dawn this morning -- 6.3 magnitude. They braved threats from the Taliban, a series of grenade and rocket attacks across the country and widespread allegations coming from some of the 2,500 plus candidates for parliament themselves that there was fraud at the polls. We did see a number of arguments breaking out at some of the polling stations here between people accusing each other of cheating, of using false documents to vote. More disturbingly, there were a number of security incidents, at least 160, according to the United Nations, across the country. At least 12 civilians killed in what Afghan officials say were Taliban-related clashes. I asked one candidate whether he thought this was a good day for democracy. Take a listen to what he had to say, T.J.</s>ABDUL QADER ZAZAI WATANDOST, PARLIAMENTARY CANDIDATE: Yes, it is a good day for democracy. But unfortunately, in Afghanistan, it is not a good democratic</s>WATSON: And T.J., despite the fact that many Afghans admitted, yes, our elections are not perfect, many said they were going to go to the polls despite that to try to vote for people that they trust in hopes that maybe this country could get a little more peaceful and certainly a lot more prosperous --</s>T.J. HOLMES: Did you know that was going to be my follow-up. You kind of hit on there -- remind us all what's at stake in these elections.</s>WATSON: Well, I mean this is a country that's faced 30 years of war. It is being supported by 150,000 international troops. The raging Taliban insurgency is worse now than ever since it was overthrown some nine years ago. The people here are voting for 249 parliament members in the Afghan parliament and for many of these people, the parliament members are their only real chance to reach out to the Afghan president, Hamid Karzai. Many observers I talk to here say he and his government, their credibility is at an all-time low here in Afghanistan --</s>T.J. HOLMES: All right. Ivan Watson for us in Kabul. Ivan always good to have you. Thank you so much. For the first time in nearly 100 years, Virginia may put a woman to death. We'll tell you about her crime and why her lawyers say she needs to be spared. It's 26 minutes past the hour.