top of the hour, i'm jim sciutto. we're following several major

stories this morning. the last jobs report out just this morning. just before the midterms showing the u.s. economy added 261,000 jobs in october. and the economy and inflation major concerns for voters with the elections now just four days away. so far across 46 states, more than 30 million americans have already cast their vote in early voting. this weekend several notable names are hitting the campaign trail. including a joint rally with president biden and former president obama in the crucial state and it is tight there of pennsylvania. former president trump, he'll be in florida. and new this morning, details about trump's own political ambitions for the next election. cnn has learned he's eyeing the third week of november for a 2024 announcement. our reporters and correspondents and analysts standing by to bring you all of the headlines. let's begin with kristin holmes about trump's 2024 plans. talk about what the next

election is going to look like? what do we know. >> and the former president has been focused very closely on the next one. 2024. and we have learned that trump and his team are eyeing the third week in november for a possible presidential announcement. this will be the week after midterms. and it is an pimportant timing note because it could give him the time to capitalize on republican wins which is something his team is expected but also come days after his younger daughter's tiffany's wedding at mar-a-lago. we have long reported that trump has been eyeing this two-week period between the midterms and thanksgiving for a potential announcement. we're told monday, november 14th is a day, they are still looking for travel plans and venues but this is the firmest we've seen of them eyeing a whole week here, the week of november 14th for that presidential run. >> less than two years after january 6.

thank you so much. overnight in wisconsin, ron johnson, he's taking a page out of trump playbook saying he will not commit to accepting the midterm election results. we're seeing this more and more. omar jimenez is on the trail in madison, wisconsin. tell us what the senator said. >> reporter: so you're four days out to the election. and all of the candidates are in the final stop bus tours to try to get as many votes as possible and this is came at one of ron johnson's stops in wis wheconsi where he was asked point blank if he would accept the election and he didn't out right say yes. instead he said this. >> i sure hope i can. but i can't predict what the democrats might have planned. we're not trying to do anything to gain partisan advantage. we're just doing whatever we can to restore confidence. it seems like in the past a lot of attempt on the parts of

democrats to make it easy to cheat. we want to make it easy to vote but hard to cheat. >> it is unclear what he means by what democrats have planned but over in milwaukee a now former deputy elections official was fired after it was announced yesterday that she allegedly obtained military ballots for fake voters through a state run website and sent them to a republican state lawmaker. that lawmaker then turned it over to law enforcement. and while the specific motive isn't know, the executive director said she believe that's this person was trying to point out that you could go on to a public site and make up someone and still get a ballot. now obviously no votes were effected. this doesn't effect the november 8th election. but the state elections commissioner put out a statement, the damage caused by this action is damage to public confidence. while this case will receive a lot of attention, the fact remains that election fraud is extremely rare and whether it does occur, it is quickly

discovered and there are consequences. and the milwaukee county district attorney's office does expect to file charges as early as today and the former deputy attorneys official, or the former deputy official's attorney, told me they don't plan to litigate this in the media, but instead in the courtroom. jim. >> thank you. now to a libertarian candidate in a three way race is telling them to cast their ballots for the republican blake masters instead. kyung lah is in phoenix. do we have a sense of the numbers backing for the libertarian candidate and what impact this could have on the case? >> reporter: according to state polls, very low single-digits and in some polls he was barely registering. so the cams say, look, it is probably not going to shift things that much but in the very same breath, what they will tell

you is that every single shift matters. today's job report, that is something that republican nominee blake masters is looking at. he's closing a message on the state of the economy. democratic senator mark kelly really trying to avoid directly talking about the economy other than how he hopes to address it. instead attacking masters as being too dangerous for arizona. take a listen. >> blake masters has some beliefs that are just dangerous for arizonans. he wants to cut taxes for big corporations that are hiking up prices and has said that he would privatize social security. >> we have a wide open southern border. moderate don'ts like that. we have 13% inflation in maricopa county. i think the most important thing by far to voters are inflation and crime and the border.

sfl sfl >> reporter: take a look at "the new york times" siena vol, there is a 6 percentage point spread between the two candidates. but something else to point out is that this poll was conducted eight to ten days ago. conditions are changing rapidly. almost day by day. it is impossible to know, especially with independent voters, who might decide at the very last minute which way this race is going to go. the two campaigns telling me they think it will be a nail biter until the very end. >> and the tracking polls, not fantastic. kyung lah, good to have you there in phoenix. thank you so much. oprah winfrey is publicly endorsing john fetterman. despite her role in helping make the republican candidate memez oz a celebrity doctor. >> if i lived in pennsylvania, i would already cast my vote for john fetterman for many reasons. >> fetterman, one of several

democratic candidates who have made abortion rights a central issue in their campaigns but recent polling show as s aborti behind economy as the top factor for and this is key for likely voters. chris cillizza joins me now. he has a piece on cnn.com titled did democrat place a losing bet on abortion. what does the numbers show on this issue? >> let me give you two numbers. 214 million. that is how much money democrats are spent in october on ads featuring abortion. it is by far the most money they've spent. it is about 45% of all of the ads they've run. second number, 15%. in our cnn poll this week, the economic was the number one issue with 51% of the vote. abortion, 15%. second and way behind it. and think it is worth having the conversation that democrats in the summer and into the early fall really thought that aborg was going to be the issue that

would break the traditional as peck of this election which this should be good for republicans. first midterm of a president's term tends to be bad for his party. democrats put a big bet on abortion and i'm not totally sure that it is going to pay off. it is the economy stupid, again. >> chris cillizza, great to have you breaking down the numbers. thank you so much. >> join me now to discuss, ron johnson. thank you for joining us this morning. first to the point of chris cillizza, i wonder if you share the view that that issue, while it was talked about a lot but also seemed to be moving elections during the summer, that that is faded as a decisive or impactful issue during the midterms. >> yeah, i wouldn't say faded. i would say democrats have gotten as much as they could out of that issue and things like

threats to democracy and concerns about gun violence. that energized the democratic base and kept them in the game despite this very tough economic climate which compounds the effect that chris was talking about, the first midterm being bad. but it is not a silver bullet. it doesn't completely erase all of the head winds. it does hold a lot of the white-collar voters who also facing heavy inflation. but the idea it could completely override everything else, i don't think anybody thought that from the beginning. >> you make the point that the u.s. senate will come down to voters who disapprove of biden, now polling in the low 40s in terms after approval. but also disapprove of their republican candidate for state office. look at for instance a state like georgia where herschel walker is polling far behind governor kemp. historically have we seen voters do that, split their ballot in effect? >> not as much recently, right.

you have democratic candidates who are running even or ahead in this late polling in states where joe biden's approval rating is down somewhere around 40% or sometimes even lower. and we just have very little precedent for that in the 21st century. we have very few candidates winning statewide senate races in states where their own party's approval is that low. the wrinkle is here that is giving democrats an opportunity, is that a significant share of voters who are negative on biden's performance, particularly on the economy, also hold unfavorable views about the specific republican nominees who they view as unqualified for extreme or not sharing their values on issues like abortion and others. and so the critical question in a number of these states, pennsylvania, arizona, georgia, even new hampshire, nevada certainly is how many of these double negative voters can

democrats win. because they have to run ahead of biden's approval and we have not seen much in elections over last 20, even 30 years. >> we've been watching live pictures of herschel walker, a senate candidate in georgia who falls under the category of low favorable ratings. ron brown sstein, we'll talk to you more in the coming days. >> thank you, jim. still to come. mass layoffs to twitter after elon musk took over the company. some employees fighting back. they're suing. plus it is the jobs number the white house was hoping for. could this mean the fed's rate hikes are working. and later putting airline seat sizes to the test as fight over safety versus comfort heads now to the faa. just buy any footlong in the app, and get one free. free monsters, free bosses, any footlong for free! this guy loves a great offer. so l let's see some hustle!

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this morning, a tough time for twitter employees who will find out via email if they still have a job by the end of today. owner elon musk begins making mass layoffs today. he's notifying workers by email. in response several twitter employees have filed a class-action lawsuit alleging their violation of the worker adjustment and retraining act known as the warren act. i want to bring in adrianne, a employee litigator for her perspective company. thank you. >> good morning. >> the way the warren act works, if they have more than 100 employees, twitter has more than 60 employees and it doesn't

appear to be given -- well 100 employees and not giving 60 days in this lawsuit. so do they have a case in this lawsuit. >> well you've generally stated what the requirements are of the law. there are certainly exceptions that would exempt a company from making those types of specific notices. but it is a bit concerning that these employees are being gib just a few days notice that their employment is ending. also worth mentioning is the fact that many states have their own version of the law that you just mentioned and sometimes those requirements, like in california, could be even more onnorous and expect even more from an employer and many employees have given less than a week, just a handful of days. >> does that in your view, have state and federal laws and i imagine workers will do their best to take advantage of those, that this is not going to be so cut and dry.

>> that twitter is going to be in the courtroom for sometime defending these cuts, these moves? >> well, it does seem like there is the potential for this type of litigation to spring up in different areas. i mean, what was filed in san francisco yesterday was filed as a class-action. so it is purporting all of the employees that may have been ip pacted but when they make claims under the state specific laws you could have a situation develop where employees spring up in different states based on different statutes and it could become very complicated. >> so when i hear class-action lawsuit, i often think, well is there a settlement here. if the employees know that the job is not coming back but there are some legal protections. could it be in both sides interest to come to an agreement where there is some compensation or greater compensation that

they would be offered initially? >> it is usually always in both sides interest to come together and reach some sort of compromise. a company as public as twitter doesn't want to be mired down in this type of litigation. the employees obviously want some resolution and peace so they could move forward. and as you noted, the jobs are not likely to come back. so knowing that the plemploymen relationship is over, it is in everyone's interest to find a resolution. >> thank you so much for helping us understand all of this. >> thanks. thanks for having me. well there is a new treatment to prevent rsv in infants approved in europe and may also soon be coming to the u.s. it is the first of the kind to protect all infants in the first year. it is given in a single dose tto infants at time of the birth or before the start of the rsv season. elizabeth cohen has the details

now. it is a good option here. so how does this treatment work and how well does it work? >> reporter: so, jim, it is a monoclonal antibody. we think about our baby's getting vaccination. a vaccination teaches the body how to make antibodies and it gives those antibodies to the baby. and so let's take a look at there new drug. so as you mentioned, it is a single dose. which is unusual. a single dose given at birth or just before rsv season. it protected 77% against rsv hospitalizations. pretty much every child gets rsv, you want to make sure they don't end up in a hospital. and it could be in the u.s. by the 2023-2024 rsv season. in other words next year. they've already applied to the fda for permission to do that. i don't know if you know anyone whose child who has had rsv but it is terrifying, my dear friend's baby and my nephew both

ends up in the hospital and it is terrifying in the intensive care unit. your previously healthy baby is fine and the next in the intensive care unit. and it is very scary. and if this works and could be given to babies, it is amazing. >> elizabeth cohen, thank you so much for sharing. >> yes. thank you. coming up, marty walsh will join us live to discuss the latest jobs numbers and more. that is next. say hello to your fafairy godmother alice and long lasting gain scent beads. try spriring daydream, part of our irirresistible scent collection. research shows that people remember ads with young people having a good time. so to help you remember that liberty mutual customizes your home insurance, here's a pool party. look what i ought! liberty mutual! they customize your home insurance... so you only pay r what you need! ♪young people having a good time with insurance.♪

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paul pelosi out of the hospital now and recuperating at home. six days after he was violent wly attacked in his home with a hammer. nancy pelosi thanked the staff for cared for her husband and asked for privacy. paul pelosi needed surgery for a skull fracture. he is expected to make a full recovery. dr. sanjay gupta explains how surgeons would deal with that kind of injury. >> we talk about a skull fracture, obviously the bone is broken, it could bend and sort of inward. i think part of the reason that the doctors would be so optimistic is because they would do scans trying to determine if there was bleeding under the bone on top of the brain. or even within the brain itself. and those scans didn't seem to show those types of concerns. so, again, as significant as the injury was, the fact that it

made him unconscious for a period of time, he was able to recover quickly even before the operation and i think it bodes well going forward. >> the san francisco judge is expected to set a date today for a preliminary hearing and bail hearing for the alleged attacker pictured there. the last jobs report before midterm elections shows what some have called a mixed bag. employers are still hiring, the economy added 261,000 jobs more than economists had forecast. the unemployment rate did tick up slightly to 3.7% however, the biden administration looking for a just right mix in this report. did they get it? let's bring in marty walsh to join us. mr. secretary, thanks for taking the time this morning. >> thanks for having me today, jim. >> so first to the numbers. it showed a slowing as cared with september. a bit higher than economists had forecast. but begin that there is a lag effect at times with how

interest rates impact this sort of thing, is the job market slowing and are you concerned that it is slowing significantly enough to lead the country into recession? >> well, i think what we're seeing is a slow stage tran transition and 173,000 jobs in manufacturing combined since the beginning of the pandemic. we're over where we were pre-pandemic. we're seeing in warehousing and trucking 700,000 jobs over. so we're seeing other industries grow. but we're seeing a slow and steady economy moving forward and what i would predict -- well i'm not predicting anything, but hopefully what we see is consistent job growth and continuing strong economy. we have to continue to do everything that we could to bring down the inflationary prices, and no matter how many jobs we've added and how great they are, people are still feeling the struggle at kitchen

table. and the president talked about bringing those costs down. we still have to do por to bring those costs down. >> let's ask you this. because there are members of your own party that are concerned about the pace of interest rate rises they call it in a letter sent on monday to jerome powell, an alarming pace of interest rate hikes and they mentioned specifically the chairman's disturbing warning as they describe it to american families. i believe referencing his comments that the path to a soft landing is narrowing here. set aside the fed itself because i know you don't like to comment on fed decisions here. but what are the rate hikes doing to your department's assessment of the economy? >> well, i mean, i again haven't seen what the impacts are. every month we're seeing more and more jobs added to the economy. we're seeing in different sectors growing and getting stronger. we still haven't seen some of the sectors responding. i mean, the hospitality and

leisure sector is still way below where it was pre-pandemic. i do i don't know if that has any impact. and in education, those numbers have not returned to pre-pandemic levels. so there are certain sectors that haven't returned to pre-pandemic. but the fed is doing what they need to do to fight inflation. we're living in a very interesting time here. if we didn't have inflation, we'd find something else to talk about but it would be great because we're seeing salaries go up for autoemployees and people could get into better opportunities. the president and his administration investing in job training and work force development and apprenticeship. we're seeing a lot of opportunities for the future here for our work force. the one thing is we have to bring the costs down, those inflationary pressures down and it has to be an all of government approach. as you said, the fed does their thing. i don't comment on fed policy and it is not my place but i'm doing everything in my role as

secretary of labor working with the treasury and commerce and transportation to do everything we could to bring pressures and costs down on families. >> despite that mix of numbers an there are, it is a complicated picture, polls consist consistently show that voters trust republicans more than democrats and the democratic party may reflect that in the results. what do you say to voter who may be watching right now who believe that democrats failed to deliver on the economy? >> well, i think you look at where we are in the economy right now. since president biden has taken office, the money in the investments that we're making in our country in infrastructure, in broadband and lead pipes and bringing back manufacturing jobs to the united states of america, this is the things that the past administration talked about and it didn't happen. and we have crumbling roads an bridges and crumbling rails in our country. the president is making

investments into those areas so we have a stronger economy going forward. we're going to be making chips in america over the next five years because we're building manufacturing plants here in the united states that will help us ease pressures. the president took on pharmaceutical companies and in inflation reduction act he won and we're going to bring costs down for insulin drugs and combined with what people pay out of pocket. this story continues to be sold. but this administration has done a lot of work to make sure we help american people. i understand that inflation is the number one issue for a lot of families. and we're doing everything that we can to bring those costs down as well. >> another issue. you were deeply involved in the 11th hour negotiations that averted narrowly a rare strike just last month. that deal now being rejected by one of the unions themselves, others considering the possibility of a rail strike. do you think railroads now to sweeten the deal to avoid the strike or do you want congress to act? >> no, my goal right now is to

get the unions who -- two yunios who have rejected the deal and my job is to get them back to the table and get this thing done. we could avoid any type of rail strike or slowdown in the rail. we have six agreements that have been voted on in the affirmative by unions that have passed it. we have four deals that are still out there and we'll get the results in the next week or so. the members are voting on it. we have two voted down. it is imperative that the companies an the unions stay at table to get that out there. at the end of the day, if we don't have a deal and one of the unions doesn't get to an agreement with the company, then the way that the railroad works is congress will have to take action to avert a strike in our country. i think the best way to do it is by doing it at the bargaining table and not by congress. >> but if need be, congress would have to take action. >> they would have to. that is their responsibility. just like the president has a

power to put in a presidential emergency board to get this negotiation restarted. if it wasn't for president biden, we would have been shut down months ago in this country. forget what i did a month and a half ago, it would have been shut down long before that because both sides couldn't get to any agreement or any conversation. >> we'll be watching closely. marty walsh, appreciate you taking the time this morning. >> thank you. the leader of the oath keepers stewart rhodes takes the stands in his own defense in his own going seditious conspiracy trial. what he's saying there coming up.

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right now the leader of the oath keepers is on the stand in the seditious conspiracy trial against him and four other members of the far-right group. stewart rhodes called for a bloody revolution to keep then president donald trump in power. despite his loss in the election. he publicly urged trump to invoke the insurrection act so he could deploy his militia. cnn's sara sidner has been inside of that courtroom. rhodes, the first of the defendants to testify, what is he saying on the stand? >> reporter: um, this are so many things, it is hard to get into. the first ten minutes of him taking the stand, he has choked up at least three times. in front of jury. this is a man, remember, who the defense is clearly trying to

show his soft side or maybe that is what he is trying to show. he's also talked a lot about historical things. asked about 9/11, what that has to do with the attack on the capitol is another thing but he was asked about 9/11 and he started to choke up an cry and talked about colleagues inside of the towers. he talked about himself being a libertarian and having worked for ron paul, that he was really trying to show that this group that he formed, the oath keepers which he formed in 2009, isn't in his words racist or anti-anything, anti-lgbtq. he talked about different areas and places for example he was invited to lexington green where people came together after they were formed and he started to cry on stand talking about the historical issue that or incident that happened at the battle of lexington green. that is where the first shots of the american revolution happened. for those who are unfamiliar.

and so it was sort of meandering, what we heard from him. but he was making some very clear points to the jury, trying to set up that he is showing them that he's not racist, he's telling them that he is not anti-anything. and he talked about going for exam example going to ferguson, missouri, in the death of michael brown, shot by a ferguson, missouri police and there were huge protests after that happened there. he only went there to help protect businesses. he mentioned that they were black businesses. so he's setting the scene personally to show his personal side, to show if you will his soft side. i don't think i have ever seen ste stewart rhodes or talking to him or choked up the way he has on the stand in front of jury. so clearly they're trying to set a scene about who he is personally as they go forward. they have not yet gotten into what happened and before january

6. they haven't talked anything about the plotting or the conspiracy that they they are accused of. they've set the scene for who he is in front of jury. >> we'll see who the impact is. sara sidner, good to have you there. cnn has learned that former president trump could make an announcement about his 2024 plans in the third week of november. last night he teased a crowd at an iowa rally about another white house bid. have a listen. >> i will very, very, very probably do it again. okay. there you go. >> very, very, very, very probably. as sources tell cnn that department of justice officials are discussing whether another run would create the need to see a special counsel into the investigations into the former president.

katelyn polantz has follows this. so running for president under these kind of investigations, so what do we know. >> reporter: that is exactly right. right now we have table setting at the justice department. their in this moment in time where they're not supposed to take steps that to upset the election next week or change anyone's vote. so they're doing a lot behind the scenes. and what evan perez and jeremy herb and i have been able to nail down is what going on behind the scenes are the shifting personnel and there is also high level discussions about what to do about all of these investigations around donald trump specifically the mar-a-lago investigation into the mishandling of federal records, possible national security details, at mar-a-lago after the trump presidency and january 6, what the president and other people were doing after the election to try and block the presidency of joe biden and delay congress from certifying the election. and so the two things, one, you mentioned it, the special council. there is a possibility that the justice department will have

serious needs to want to bring in a special council if trump, if and when he announced a run for president. and then on top of that, there are high level advisers coming in, one with an expertise in national security, one with an expertise in working with cooperators in criminal investigations who have been tapped to help very high level leaders at the justice department navigate the issues that come up with these trump investigations. so a lot of big decisions the attorney general could be making very soon after the election ends. it is already been very busy behind the scenes, jim. >> to say the least. thank thank you katelyn polantz. the faa may be pumping the brakes on airline plans to shrink seats, if you could believe it, even more. the news is coming up.

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this just into cnn, new jersey officials have identified and interviewed a suspect connected to those online threats elevating the alert around synagogues in new jersey. the fbi identified posts in an online forum frequented by extremists as a credible threat after receiving a tip. that individual told authorities that he is not like jewish people and was very angry but

indicated that he would not do anything harmful. it is unclear at this time what, if any, charges the individual may face. cnn has reached out to the fbi for comment. well economic concerns appear to be having an impact on holiday shopping plans. and an industry forecast said that american families are expected to spend billions more this year than last. but they'll likely be tapping into savings and credit cards accounts. matt egan joins me live now. so more spending but in effect they're going to have to do a lot of it on debt and savings. >> that is right, jim. this holiday shopping season is going to look a little bit different. the national retail federation is projecting sales growth of 6% to 8%. now that is not too shabbych that's roughly in the line with the last ten years but it is a big slowdown from the record of 13.5% last year. and in many ways it makes sense that people might chill out a bit with their spending this year. inflation is obviously very high. we have recession fears and some

companies, especially tech companies have been laying off workers. now i think the good fuse is that the experts are expecting a lot of discounts here. and retailers have a lot of stuff that they need to get rid of, these high inventories. and that does mean discounts. adobe is calling for massive discounts online or commute computers and electronics and toys. and they are offering black-friday like discounts starting in october. but the bad news is paychecks are not keeping up with the cost of living. and so we are expecting debt, people are going to have to dip into savings this holiday season and they're going to have to tap credit cards and neither of those things are sustainable. we have to also remember that right now the federal reserve is rapidly raising interest rates to try to fight inflation and so that has driven up credit card rates to near record highs. there is never a good time to

kari over a credit card balance. but, jim, in a lot of ways, this is probably the worst time to rack up a bunch of credit card debt because you splurged on christmas gifts, you and those rates, they go up quickly. they do not hold back when the overall rates are going up. >> matt egan, thank you so much. >> thanks. well the faa is now considering whether to do something about the shrinking size of seats on commercial planes. we've all seen it. the review comes after the agency received more than 26,000 public comments about seat sizes. with many of them understandably begging for more room. pete muntean has more. >> reporter: luxury is what flying was supposed to be. but these days -- leg room is shrinking. as passengers are getting larger. >> things are definitely getting too small on planes. >> we're dying. and it doesn't matter what airline it is.

>> i can't imagine seats or aisles being smaller than they are today. >> now the federal aviation administration is considering whether to stop airlines from making seats smaller. >> leave everything and come this way. >> reporter: the agency is under a congressional mandate to study whether seat size could slow on evacuation. but in 26,000 public comments, many focused on comfort. >> the more people that you could jam into a plane, the more money you'll make. >> reporter: flyers's rights said they're trying to squeeze out more profit. this week six u.s. senators told the faa to act urgently and not wait for seats to get any smaller. so i decided to put airlines to the test. two things necessarily for this little experiment of our own. a tike and a tape measure. on this united airlines flight, leg room was right at the industry standard, 30 inches. but it all depends on the airline. leg room could get even tighter on ultra low cost carriers.

27 inches is what we saw on this allegiant airlines flights. flyers rights proposed a minimum of 32 inches leg room and seats that are wider, dimensions that would fit 90% of americans. >> that would make a huge difference. >> reporter: in the comment to the noaa, the airline top lobby said it would not compromise on safety but told the government to stay out of regulating passenger comfort. the faa and the department of transportation declined our interview requests. >> their position to date has been how uncomfortable you are is between you and the air carrier. >> reporter: one airline is making changes when to comes to seat size. you might be surprised to learn that spirit airlines said it will increase seat size on some of the new planes that it is buying. thinner seats that will lead to an extra two inches of leg room. clearly something to watch here.

whether or not the faa acts. remember, more space on a plane could mean a more expensive ticket. >> it would be nice to cross your legs every once in a while. pete muntean, thank you sop. and thank you for joining us today. i'm jim sciutto. "at this hour" with koate boldun starts right after a quick break. lactaid is 100% real milk, just without the lactose. tastes great in our iced coffees too. which makes waking up at 5 a.m. to milk the cows a little easier. (moo) mabel saysys for you, it's more like 5:5:15. man: mom, really? because i trust their quality. they were the first to be verified by usp... ...an independent organization that sets strict quality and puritytandards. ...an independent organization nature made. the number one pharmacist recommended vitamin and supplement brand.

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hello, everyone. i'm kate bolduan. "at this hour," the focus is on the economy and politics. a final gut check on the economy before the midterms. a final gut check before the midterms just came in. and a new gut check now for republicans could come the week after the election. as donald trump could announce then that he is running for president again. first, let's get to the