the first poll with the first evidence of the shaky debate performances hurting the campaign of texas. governor rick perry. also a warning sign for sarah palin. plus, a shocking astrauss tea in syria. a woman is returned to her family by syrian security forces, beheaded and mutilated. but we begin with breaking news in washington. it looks like there will not be a government shutdown after all. you may say a lucky break with federal disaster money. kate has the details. it's complicated. it's a little messy. tell us, what is happening right now? >> bottom line is this. the senate -- senate democrats, senate republican leaders have been able to reach an agreement to avert a government shutdown. that's the big headline for most

of our viewers. they were able to do this after all of this discussion and all of this fight over specifically inclusion of fema funding. additional fema funding of in the short-term resolution. what is happening right now, john, is there is going to be a series of two votes, actually. and it's a clean or simple and this basically is the measure that everyone basically agreed to. funding fema as well as not shutting down the government and it strips away all of the obstacles that had really been holding up the agreement to this point. the second measure that they will be voting on is actually -- here's the confusing part. a one-week extension. one-week short-term spending extension. and the purpose of this is simply the house is out this week, as you well know. if they can't get members back in time, or they can't get an agreement to pass it very quickly. they will need that one-week of

funding to avert the government shutdown and get the house back in time to vote on this measure. john? >> what changed? this morning into the afternoon we were told that you still had this partisan showdown. the democrats and republicans, everybody said yes. we want to give fema more money but there was a big debate over whether you had to cut other spending to get that money. what whanged? >> reporter: plain and simply, fema announced today that they had enough funding. they are able to stretch the funding in their federal disaster relief fund to make it through the end of this week. that's different than earlier predictions. fema had said that they might run out of funding at the beginning of this week, which would be a problem. the reason why, the key is that they can make it through this week. at the end of this week is the end of this year. the battle over whether to pay for the fema funding or not pay for additional fema funding all had to do with fema funding for the current fiscal year, '11.

if they can get through this week t. removes the big obstacle on the table. >> for now. for now. kate on capitol hill. thank you. >> thank you. >> this is one of the things that we know drives you crazy. you watch debates at home in washington and you think it's sand box at best. a shutdown averted for now. it plays out at a time when you watch washington. it's pretty clear. it's pretty clear. you don't think much of this town. how is the u.s. being governed? 81% of americans are dissatisfied. dissatisfied with the way that the country is being governored. 19% say that they are satisfied. the historic high for discontent with the way that the government is being run. how about the united states congress? 69% of you say that you have not very much or none at all on the question of trust and confidence in the congress. look at that. 7 in 10 americans say that they have not very much trust or no trust at all in the latest branch of government. 69%. that has a very dim view of its

government. let's go straight to the source. one of the republicans who came to washington promising to change the culture of this town, senator rand paul of kentucky. senator paul, we averted a shutdown for tonight. how much does this weigh on you? i know you came here saying that we're not going to spend any more money. how much does it weigh when you look at the american people look at washington and see a daycare center? >> reporter: well, i'm sort of perplexed because the democrats held this up because they said we don't want to offset the spending. in other words, the democrats are insisting that we borrow the money for fema. and i don't think anybody in america thinks that we can perpetuate these debts and continue these annual deficits and the trillions of dollars. so i think most people will say, gosh, why could we cut duplicate spending or cut foreign aid or welfare that we're spending? i think the american people are ready for us to offset what we're doing and have cuts and

not add to the debt. >> i think the big question about that, most polls show that people are very upset about the deficit. they want it dealt with. i want to show another graphic to our viewers and talk about what we were talking about in the sense of this fema fight. $3.65 billion. this is the entire united states federal budget up here. you see where most of the money goes. discretionary spending, social security, fema, how much is fema? look at that tiny slice. this was a huge fight. senator paul, you were wondering, if it came to it, to of the united states government shut down over this tiny little sli ver. is it that important to you. >> reporter: the government is willing to shut down government if we don't borrow that amount of money. every program you can say it's only tiny little money. but if you can't cut 100 million here or offset 3 billion there, we're never going to budget the deficit. you have to look at small amounts and it should be a

priority. should we be spending this money overseas in foreign aid or welfare, build our bridges here in our country, and it's something that i actually agreed with the president. i got to ride on air force one with him recently and he's mentioned that. we have to be concerned as a priority right now. >> how much does this come up with members on the ballot and i asked the question in the context of this. we have a new poll out tonight and again we can tell our viewers, the government shutdown has been averted. but who would you blame in republicans in congress, 47%. president obama, 33%. are there jitters in the republican ranks that the image of the party is taking a hit in the middle of all this? >> well, i think you could also poll and ask people whether or not they should add more debt or offset debt. it's not whether we should shut

it down. and american people are bumping up about deadlines. it looks like poor planning and is circus up here. we're always up against deadlines. i'm up here day after day not voting, sitting around and having no debate and then the deadline comes and it's hurry up or the government shuts down. how come we didn't have this debate last week or the week before or the week before that? everything comes to a deadline, i think, because of poor leadership and poor planning in this place. >> i don't think i would disagree with you on that and i think that can be, at times, a by partisan disease. one of your republican colleagues said this. the gridlock this partisanship is disgusting. with economic instability around the world, it's unacceptable for congress to add more uncertainty in the marketplace while threatening another government shutdown. governor brown is up for re-election. maybe that's a little bit about

his re-election campaign as well. we've already seen the united states credit rating downgraded. you saw the poll numbers that i just showed you. is there any effort to get the republicans and democrats in a room to say, let's get back to passing a real budget? let's get back to looking so we can figure out what we're doing here? >> reporter: well, many of us on the republican side have pointed out that it's been over 900 days that the senate has had a budget. so we are pushing to go through the process in a normal fashion and i think and it has to do with them having too much debt. that's our problem. we are following on the heals of europe because we have an enormous amount of debt. i agree with admiral mullin when he says it's the number one threat to our security is our debt. every time we have a new spending program, it's got to be offset by cuts in other places

and that's the only responsible way for a legislature to react is to prioritize spending. for example, on the highway fund, squirrel sanctuary wies a flower beds and our bridges are crumbling. can we not fix our bridges and put off the beautification projects for a while? i am more than willing to work with the president on that. >> rand paul, thank you for your time and i hope the super committee gets about its business. we'll keep in touch with you as that plays out. we'll see you again, sir. >> thank you. still ahead, a new poll reflects that the rick perry boom may have peaked already. how far a syria regime will go to stamp out demands for democracy.

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after months of brutal atros stees in syria, the bloody determination to hold power. her crime? her brother was a pro democracy activist. she disappeared after leaving to get groceries.

she was returned by security forces beheaded and dismembered. amnesty international calls her death an outrage. human rights calls it appalling. and the regime, on the word this latest crime surfaced, they asked the world to believe that syria is under attack by armed thugs and is trying to keep the peace. >> translator: syria exercises is the responsibility to protect its citizens and is going to secure their safety and stability. >> that doesn't match the accounts of the woman. >> zena carried by dozens of women in the city. protesting her slaughter and chanting for the downfall of the regime. her crime, her older brother was

an activist well-known for leading demonstrations. for months he had been avading the authorities. the family says that the security effortses demanded her in exchange. on september 10th, muhammed was injured. then she was returned dead. >> gunshots were being aimed at protesters for more rights. then, of course, there's this. a man on his knees in front of an army tank, unarmed, and massacred. the images, months of them now, don't lie. and yet we are asked to believe this. >> syria provided our region

with a model of peace for co-existence. a model which deserves to be emulated. >> here's our question. is there anything that the international community can do to push president assad to stop this. joining me is journalist and middle east analyst, robin wright, the an author. when you see the pictures, the procession, the horrible story of this woman killed, mutilated, by security forces and then you see the foreign minister saying, the world has it wrong. we are protecting our people against armed thugs, i don't know what the right term to use. it's fantasy land, parallel, universe. it would be laughable except for the bloody stakes.

>> that's right. except for the tragedy of this young woman, who was 18. and it is too much to tell the audience what she was done. she was beheaded, her arms cut off. she was skinned. so in fact what we know is that now for bashar has crossed the rubicon. and when you hear about the dismemberment of syria, it's a grotesque idea because this regime still believes that it is facing foreign. >> rogue regimes, it becomes an international platform. we can say, my god, show the pictures and prove the foreign minister to be a liar. but what about domestically back home? is this helpful to president assad to have them condemning the united states and the world european? >> i don't think any syrians

have any illusions of what is happening at home. the reality is that this is not the first time it happened. in april a boy went missing from his parents and finally his body was returned and he had also cigarette burns all over his body and at 13 years old, his genitals had also been cut off. syrians are very well aware. what is striking about what is happening in this country, the fact that they continue to turn out in peaceful disobedience against the regime. that's the stronger message that i don't think the foreign minister is convincing anyone at home. >> when we see these latest pictures, the young woman brutally murdered, we've been watching these pictures for months and months and months now. in that procession, the number of women was striking. they believe she's the first

woman killed in captivity. is that anything that could suggest a broader resolve in society and a tipping point, perhaps? >> the thing about syria now is so far the demonstrations and the protests have been peaceful. but i think they will take stock of where they are and it cannot be taken on peacefully. can they stand up? i'm not so sure. does the international community care enough to come to the rest of the syrians? alas, it seems, the verdict is negative. still bashar is protected and shielded by china, russia, brazil, by south africa so i think it tells us something about the cruelty of the international community. >> and the foreign minister clearly understands, robin, for there to be additional

sanctions, others would have to come around the the united states says it needs to protect the syrian people but the very sanctions it has put it n place, the foreign minister insists has done no good. >> it cannot be reconciled without pronouncement about the concern and rights of the syrian people. in defense of the state based the interference in our internal affairs. >> it's that last peace, interference in our internal affairs. that is something that china often complains about when it is criticized. that russia often complains about when it is criticized in the foreign community. >> it's clear that you're not going to see what the

international community did to libya. but the sankss have begun to bite already. you're witnessing a race. can the regime squash the uprising fast enough before it begins paying a real price. the oil sales are already plummeting. letters of international -- letters of credit needed to buy syrian oil. it's a slow squeeze. sankss are never going to turn syria around overnight but can make syria pay a price. it is happening. it may not be enough but it's clearly some action, at least. >> robin wright, appreciate your insight. thank you. >> thank you. still ahead, which republican presidential candidate can brag about being in a dead heat with president obama tonight? and next, dramatic new pictures

of what it was like inside the washington monument. 

welcome back. the senate just passed a bill that would avoid a government shutdown at the end of the week. sarah palin has informed that he may sue taughted the gossip in "the rogue." last month an earthquake hit here in d.c. and the shaking

starts and the security guard looks around and pretty soon, everyone heads downstairs. starting tomorrow, the damage will be assessed. starting next monday, we move to 6:00 p.m. eastern. that's an hour earlier to make room for erin burnett. we start at 6:00 eastern and erin starts at 7:00 as of next month. and, next, what can be controversial about a bake sale? well, plenty. if a price of a cupcake depends on the color of your skin. it has microparticles, enters the bloodstream faster and rushes relief to the site of pain. it's clinically proven to relieve pain twice as fast. new bayer advanced aspirin.

there's an increased diversity bake sale. the goodies, $2. $1 if your asian. 75 cents for blacks and a quarter for native americans. women, get this, get an extra 25 cents off. yes, yes, there's a point. the berkeley college republicans hosting this bake sale say they are trying to call attention to proposed changes in university admission policies which would allow taking an applicants gender into account. shawn lewis is the president. ed hernandez is a state senator and democrat behind this legislation. shawn lewis, i want to start with you. what you are doing is pretty outrageous. i assume that's the point.

>> right. and thank you. i want to say thank you, senator. it's really an honor to sit down and talk with you about this. thank you for inviting me. it's very controversial event and we feel that we are facing a controversial issue. and affirmative action-type debate. it's a very controversial issue and we're facing it with a very controversial event. >> explain why you feel this bill is necessary. >> well, again, thank you, shawn, for being on cnn. i appreciate your ability to express your opinion here in the democratic way. however, the way that you are doing it is insensitive. we need to look at what the true intent, nature of the bill is. and that is to make sure that we have access to diversity in the state of california and that diversity of these campuses reflect the diversity of the state. >> senator, let me stick with you for a minute. what needs to change? you say that i was reading some of the press releases that were sent out. current policy actually

discouraged diversity on campus, college-age applicants for getting in the system. how so? >> well, the proposition 209 was written, the university of california and california state universities cannot use race when recruiting or trying to get qualified applicants. what this bill does and what we specifically did and understanding and know that we do not want to change the constitution or by any means go around it. we very carefully wrote this legislation to allow the universities to be able to consider, for example, race, ethincity, gender, to make sure that it reflects the great state of california. >> shawn, i assume you're not against diversity on campus. do you think the state of california has a problem? >> if the issue is about diversity, why are we only talking about race and gender? why don't we talk about things

such as religion, or ideology? are we suggesting that our campus has a problem, we need to fix that problem, do we have underrepresented groups in those areas? would you suggest that maybe uc berkeley could use a few more college republicans since republican view is pretty far in the minority? do we need more diversity in that way, too? >> does he have a point that once you open this box, you have to fully open the box? >> well, if you look at the bill and the way it's written, other factors as well which could include exactly what he was talking about. it also talks about gender et nis tea. what the bill's main intent is to look at and make sure we have underrepresented minorities. if you look at pre-209 and post-209, if you look at the graphics of the state, the state of california, you have 45%

latino graduated from high school and yet 16% of them are in the uc systems. >> shawn, i want to come back to the provocative nature of this. you're doing this to make a point. you're doing it to highlight anything that is affirmative-action base or quota base. are you worried about backlash? have you received any backlash from groups on campus saying, maybe i understand your point or this is offensive? >> we got hundreds of posts on the page. you're right. we were intending to be controversial. we were hoping it would force students and members of the community to think more critically about a bill, a piece of legislation that would bring in race and treat people differently based on the color of their skin. so the controversy was there. the backlash was surprising. we did on the facebook event, still public, all of the comments are still up.

there are both implicit and explicit threats made to the organizers of the event. one including bringing a baseball bat to the table tomorrow morning and one that really stuck out that people really responded to or were worried about, one person said that, well, remember your faces on campus. pick your fights wisely. there certainly has been backlash and we expected some but we really were not expecting the uncivil and violent reactions that we received. >> help me out. senator, both of you started the conversation by saying hello to each other, by thanking each other and coming out with this issue in a sichl way. when you hear things like that and how can we get the two of you, maybe some other people in a room, can this issue be worked out through nonlegislative issues? is this something that can be

caused by a divide like this? >> well, first of all, let me state very clearly that it totally inappropriate for the threats that this young man has received. what he is doing is exercising his constitutional right. we may both agree to disagree, but he has a right to his opinion and i think these threats and this is the exact reason why we need to have a civil discussion on this debate about et nis tea and race and we should be sitting down and having a calm discussion to make sure that this great university system and this great california state university system has the ability to be able to bring diversity in, to make this state great, continue to be great, and to continue to make sure that we have free and open speech. >> can that discussion happen? can the college republicans invite the professor to the campus and say we disagree on the premise but let's have a conversation? >> if the conversation is about

diversity, the question is still, are we only talking about race and gender? on the bill it says race, gender, and other relevant factors. the loose language of the bill is one of the problems that we have with it. it opens a wide door for lawsuits and litigation against the university of california. it doesn't provide infrastructure to guarantee that the factors will be used in overcoming the diversity problems that we face on our campus. and if we're going to look at that issue? what other kind of diversity issues should we have? should we have more ideological representation on campus or a variety of other issues? the reason our sponts to this bill really came out of our student government which decided to endorse this bill and sponsor a phone bank to urge governor brown to pass and sign this bill into law. and we wanted to -- we're very adamant about saying, besh clee, even though it's very liberal, there is not one voice or one opinion. in fact, they would really like to urge governor brown to veto

this bill. >> we will watch this debate as it plays out. thank you guys for coming on and debating it tonight. thank you. when rick perry jumped into the presidential race, his poll numbers, you know this, jumped through the roof. now the numbers are looking a little different. we'll dig into just why, next. it's salonpas. this is the relief i've been looking for. salonpas has 2 powerful pain fighting ingredients that work for up to 12 hours. and my pharmacist told me it's the only otc pain patch approved for sale using the same rigorous clinical testing that's required for prescription pain medications. proven. powerful. safe. salonpas. [ cellphone rings ] cut! [ monica ] i have a small part in a big movie. i thought we'd be on location for 3 days, it's been 3 weeks. so, i used my citi simplicity card to pick up a few things. and i don't have to worry about a late fee.

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breaking news tonight here in washington, the united states senate just passed a new bill to

provide a government shutdown. house republicans will now decide which one to pass. you can see democrats there celebrating the passage and explaining the passage. it's been a debate that has not made most of you proud about how washington does its business. breaking news tonight, it will not be a government shutdown. "anderson cooper 360" is here with a preview. i'm sure anderson is grateful that the government is not going to shut down. john, we're keeping them honest on 360. at 8:00 p.m., selling weapons to kilimanjaroers. they are selling $53 million in weapons, a country whose security forces do this. watch what happens. that was back in february.

the crackdown continues to this day and it's been largely successful. protests have been crushed there. so why is there one set of rules for brutal regimes in syria and another set of rules, including tens and millions of dollars in bahrain? amanda knox back in court today. the lawyer for the murdered woman used strong language in urging the jury not to overturn the conviction. she was called lucifer like and sa tan nick. i never thought i'd put these two up together, george clooney and david gergen. we will tell you about their odd connection. >> i don't know it. i'm sure everybody watching already does. we'll see you in a few minutes, anderson. thanks. tonight, rick perry's performance seems to be

impacting the numbers. at a minimum, his climb has stalled. 30% support among republicans. that's down a couple points a couple weeks ago. mitt romney is second at 22% and former house speaker newt gingrich has climbed to 11%. here's another set of numbers that republicans are talking about tonight. in head to head matchups, perry trails by 5 points. 51 to 46. the former massachusetts governor, romney, is in a statistical dead heat. 49% to 48%. he's the only president who has dropped below 50%. you can be sure team romney will make hay of those numbers. eric eric son sees it differently. he ran the nomination four years ago and yet nearly 8 in ten republicans support someone

else. here's my take. the biggest lesson is, despite all of the talk about putting electability first, perry has stopped climbing, even dipped a bit because as conservatives get a different look, they are out of sync with their views. let's go behind the numbers with eric eric son, republican start gist and from the 2008 campaign, kevin madden and roland martin who is a bit to the left. first, to the simple horse race numbers, perry was doing this and has now done this. in your take and in your conversations with fellow conservatives, as people learn more and more about the record, they get a little pause. >> it's not so much his record, except on immigration. the hpv thing has been overplayed. it's giving people a lot of

pause. what is giving more pause than anything, is the third debate performance. i suspect the polling was done starting the friday and saturday, sunday after the debate, had it gone on a little longer, although obviously you couldn't because of the calendar, perry's numbers would have been down even further. his debate was horrible and people are willing to give him one more chance to get it right and move on to someone else. >> i want to shoi, before i bring kevin and roland into the conversation, governor romney and his wife. they were out in michigan over the weekend and i'm going to call this, no disrespect to anybody intended, al gore liked. >> you want a better kiss than that? we're not going to do an al gore moment. >> we bring that out not just because it's cute video, kevin, you saw the horserace numbers that perry, romney -- if you

break it down there's a gender gap. among men, 35% of republican men say perry. 18% say romney. among women, 26% say romney and 22% say perry. why do we have a gender gap? >> well, as people start to learn more and more about governor perry, some of the issues that are not very helpful to him with women voters have come to the forefront. mainly for the hpv vaccine. mothers with daughters that were forced with an inocculation, they may see that as something that they don't agree with and will reject. i think that there's a point where governor romney -- many have gravitated over to him because the overall issue has been the economy. and moms, dads, all people who are young really want this economy fixed. and his electability has been very apparent and he's gained

with many voters the republican party. >> you're chuckling a bit, my friend. >> yes. because, look, clearly it doesn't help. he talked about the hpv issue. while you have republicans not happy with the immigration stance, that is exactly what is going to be appealing to latino voters, especially in the western states. so when you talk about colorado, new mexico, arizona, nevada, that's going to be critical. republicans are sitting here upset by it. this is a guy from texas. texas is a lot different from georgia, tennessee, alabama, mississippi, louisiana when it comes to latinos. because at the end of the day, if you just dist hispanic voters, you stand to lose the west and you're guaranteed that president obama will win the election. >> so roland is saying that if you look at governor -- >> i disagree on that. the suburban voters that win presidential race, philadelphia,

columbus, jefferson county out in colorado, they are turned off about his rhetoric and calling social security unconstitutional. i also think that governor perry's position on the immigration issue is not a consensus issue. he's at odds with not only republicans but many independents and democrats when it comes to illegal aliens. >> so there's no perfect k5 candidate. >> there's never a perfect candidate. >> there's a bigger issue there. >> go ahead. >> there's a bigger issue there. we have now had a series of -- i've lost track of the debates that we've had. at first you had tim pawlenty and michele bachmann bumping heads and then everyone knocking on rick perry. one of the advantages thus far is that people have ignored them in the debates going for other people. it hasn't come up yet.

that's an achilles hill for him. when it starts coming up, we're going to be in november, december, january where people pay attention and i like mitt romney, but he's been on basically every side of every modern issue in american history. >> they have focused on it. i think the difference now is that he's much more accustomed to understanding that these attacks are coming and very crisp and clean answers and demanded the issues that they care about. >> i'm going to ask all of you guys, before we go to break, some numbers that don't need commentary because they speak for themselves. we asked about governor palin. she peaked in our poll in august, 16% of republicans want d her to be the nominee. she's now at 7%. it's a safe bet that republicans are beginning to think that she's not running and we're going to look elsewhere for candidates governor palin, if y looking at those number, if you have a decision to make, i think your voters would like you to

make it. up next president obama's blunt advice to some of his closest political allies. i know you're worried about making your savings last and having enough income when you retire. that's why i'm here -- to help come up with a plan and get you on the right path. i have more than a thousand fidelity experts working with me so that i can work one-on-one with you. it's your green line. but i'll be there every step of the way. call or come in and talk with us today.

president obama's on the west coast tonight, part of a swing out that way to raise some money and to promote his economic ideas. among his events today was a town hall organized with a help of the social network linkedin. presidents don't get asked this every day. >> i don't have a job, but

that's because i've been lucky enough to live in silicon valley for a while and work for a small start-up company down the street here that did quite well. so i'm unemployed by choice. my question is, would you please raise my taxes? >> that smart start-up down the road was google, by the way. he did quite well there. that gentleman is a millionaire, if you didn't figure that out this is saturday night at a congressional black caucus din are. and the president has a question for some who have been critical of his agenda. >> take off your bedroom slippers, put on your matching shoes, take it off. stop complaining, stop grumbling, stop crying. we are going to press on. we've got work to do. cbc, god bless you and god bless the united states of america. >> let's pick it up there.

who has to stop complaining? >> that's a very good question. the reality is when you look at unemployment at 27% in terms of essentially young folks. actually 40%. it's a huge number. black men as well. so look, as a return on investment, african-americans made it perfectly clear when president obama was elected 96% of the vote. people say hey, he can't do certain things. wait for the second term. no second term is guaranteed. it's a question of this administration recognizes that there are some issues with these -- if you look at "the washington post" last week, those numbers have been falling. the administration says that's okay. things will work out. he needs a dramatic turnout in virginia, in georgia, in north carolina and in florida and those critical states in order for him to win re-election. he has to shore that base up. >> pleat add ohio and michigan. >> and pennsylvania. >> i want to show our republican

friends some numbers here so see what they think of the difference here. this is approval ratings versus favorability rating. like anything, it's down from where he started in 2009, but 53% of americans have favorable view of president obama meaning they like him. majority of americans like him. this is his job approval rating. 45%. you have a gap right there. kevin madden, when you see the president of the road, number one, he's talking, you know -- roland's right about rally debates, but when he talks about the economic plan he's trying to move those closer together. will voters in november in a close election say, i like him, so i'll vote for him, or does it come down thoiz favorability, we like him, or his job approval rating? >> those numbers down there, that 45% shows me -- and the fact that his personal attributes still remain above sea level, that this is not personal. this is a performance-based judgment that people are making. right now the performance has to do with the economy. so all of the talk where the

president's trying to position himself and wants people to see him as a fighter, they want to see him as somebody that's fighting for the people versus the powerful, almost like the gore campaign in 2000, that's not going to be enough. the only thing to help this president is his performance, whether he can turn around the economy. where he goes wrong on policy is he's still not putting together the policy prescriptions he needs to put the economy in the right direction. >> when he makes that point about policy prescriptions, is that a rfr ren dumb? it is time now for the republicans to be more details more contrast or should she worry about their own race? >> the republicans to a degree have the benefit of time in that as long as there are so many candidates and it's clo close among several of them and numbers are going up and down, the many ds can kind of try to paint the republicans with a broad brush but it won't work in the jebl election. i throw out the name leon jaworski, the watergate

prosecutor who said that reagan would lead us into nuclear war. and when reagan got the nomination, jaworski became the head of democrats for reagan. jimmy carter had higher personal approval ratings than reagan in 1980 and still lost. >> what jumps out is about ann richards losing to george w. bush in that election. very popular governor. you look at those critical issues. people say we really like her. but he was able to focus on critical issues and talk about leadership. so what president obama has to recognize is people do want to see the level of action, and so the question is will he maintain this attitude and also will we see people on wall street held accountable for their actions as long as people say, we didn't see any result from people who screwed the economy up, they're going to hold him accountable. he has to deal with it. >> i would agree with roland and i would probably agree with the obama campaign that tells you this is going to be a choice. but fundamentally it will be a

contest for the future. the problem for obama right now is he's being judged harshly on the results that people have seen so far. they're not as willing to trust him that the future looks any brighter with his continued policies and his lack of leadership. >> john -- >> go ahead. >> well, roland mentioned ann richards. paul begala has said several times that after she lost she called bill clinton and told him it's not what he's done for the country but what he's going to do for the country and they've got to believe him. we're at a tipping point where republicans believe barack obama and what he's going to do. >> that's an interesting point. if you watch whether the president's going, he's got the map in mind just like all of us do. >> we're working on the same map. >> we're all working on the same map. 50 states and they're complicated. we move back an hour to 6:00 p.m. eastern next monday night. we'll be here at 7:00 for the rest of the week. that's all for us. "anderson cooper 360" starts right now.