The GOP's chances to seize control of the Senate could hinge on what happens in California and Washington state, according to the New York Times political polling blogger, Nate Silver. In both races, the Democrats hold slight edges. We touch down in Washington, where incumbent Patty Murray is in the fight of her political life against Republican Dino Rossi. Murray was the first woman elected to the Senate in 1992 and is known for bringing home the bacon. Rossi is a former state legislator who narrowly lost the race for governor twice in the past. Jim Brunner of the Seattle Times joins us for a look at the race.

Some hard fought ballot measures are attracting big money ahead of next week's vote. Some of the most hotly contested initiatives include Proposition 23 in California, which would suspend the state's landmark law limiting greenhouse gases and Initiative 1098 in Washington state, which would reduce some taxes but impose an income tax on individuals earning more than $200,000. We'll look at ballot measures around the country with Jennie Drage Bowser, senior fellow at the bi-partisan National Conference of State Legislatures

Even scarier than ghouls and ghosts haunting Halloween parties this year will be people donning orange-tinged tans to portray Snooki from Jersey Shore, or meat-draped dresses in the fashion of Lady Gaga. But many people are going retro, as people flock to stores to get gussied up as Don Draper or Joan Harris from the popular AMC series, Mad Men. We talk to Angela Grube, owner of the vintage clothing store 9th Life in Baltimore, Md. about the trend.

When he was a curator at the Yale University Art Gallery in late 2004, John Marciari came across a painting which had been lying undisturbed in the gallery's basement for decades. Though it had been cataloged as being by an anonymous artist, Marciari became certain that it actually had been painted by the 17th century master Diego Velazquez. After Marciari spent years of painstaking research to verify his findings, he published his discovery in a Spanish journal earlier this year igniting a flurry of excitement in the art world about the possibility of the existence of a previously unknown masterpiece.

Can't get enough of political campaign season? Why not bring political campaigns home with you? We revisit a conversation about political campaign films with Boston Globe Critic Ty Burr, where he gives us some of his favorites including Frank Capra's "State of the Union" and works by Robert Altman.

• Peter Dixon, "Nagog Woods"
• Ahmad Jamal, "Patterns"
• Freddie Hubbard, "Little Sunflower"
• Ashley MacIsaac, "Sleepy Maggie"
• Chicago Symphony Orchestra, "Stravinsky: Four Etudes for Orchestra; IV Madrid"
• Christian McBride, "Theme for Kareem"
• Rolfe Kent “Election (Selections from the original soundtrack)