autograph back. the latest trend is mascots eating people. >> whoa! >> reporter: at football games. at basketball games. that's mackerel jordan gulping down a guy. there's even a facebook page, mascots eating people. you can watch them spit out the shoes. these days the basketball court has become a food court for mascots. who knew a pretty cheerleader could cause acid reflex. jeanne moos, new york. >> i'm wolf blitzer in "the >> i'm wolf blitzer in "the situation room." -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com i'm jessica yellin. we will check in with john king on the debate in massachusetts in a little bit. but first, tonight's biggest story, is the tea party elitist

or populist. >> the tea party is not a pop down operation. it's ground up. inspiring, real people, not politicos, not inside the beltway professionals come out and stand up. >> but if the tea party really is populist and not elitist, where's the money coming from? here to dig into that, democratic pollster belcher and john avalon -- that's not john, that's joe johns. and john avalon contributor for thedailybeast.com. okay, gentlemen, first to you, cornell, let me ask you, real people, not politicos is what sarah palin says. is that an effective message? >> it an effective message.

there's real questions about where the money comes have and the consultants that are tied to this established, old-time republican operatives. it's interesting to sort of see, you know, are they using the anger and frustration of so many of these people for their own political gain for the establishment. >> joe, you're nodding. yeah, this is for me, a work in progress because i've sort of been looking into the financial funding. the spokesperson for opensecrets.org is on the record saying their money comes from things like health care professional, believe it or not, which is fascinating. from, you know, financial concerns, retirees, and one of the big questions, of course, is how much charles and david cook, the big conservative funders, are actually putting into that. it's not clear to me, i mean, i don't know that. so it's sort of dribs and drabs. >> first of all, i think we have our new york guest joining us,

john avalon and erick erickson joining us. hi, guys. i hope you can see this, but let's take a look at some of the different groups that have tried to influence the tea party. i think we have a graphic of that. there's the tea party express. tea party patriots, freedomworks and of course, the republican party. all of whom, one way or another, through money or organizing, say they're helping to influence the tea party. erick erickson, is that the proof that is this is a corporate and not a grassroots movement? >> that's one of the dumb evidently stories out there. these aren't kay street lobbyists. these aren't hacks out there. these are average americans out there. yes, some of these groups are involved. yes, they help them get permits to protest. yes, they help raise money for buss to get them to washington, d.c. but at the end of the day, these are average people giving up vacation time to go to washington or new york or

atlanta or austin, texas, to protest and complain about the direction of the government. >> i get that, can i press you on this, it seems to me, one thing that doesn't always break through to the public when they talk about the tea party, is there's a difference between the grassroots level among the people getting on buss that you're talking about, and what dick armey's group is trying to, influence it from above? >> you know, a lot of these upper-tier groups like freedomworks, i'm a big fan of. at the end of the day, they largely driven by the volunteers on the ground. freedomworks doesn't have the money to control it. they have handpicked, picking candidates in the states. >> to me, whether or not you got a group of people who are angry about what's going on economically in this country you know, going to empower a group of republicans, who quite frankly never met a big special interest, corporate interest

they never liked. >> let me bring bill clinton into this conversation. and john avalon, i'll give you a chance. this is what former president clinton had to say about the tea party today. listen to this. >> in their purist form, the tea partiers are saying, i've been let down by big business and big government. the funders of the tea party movement, tend to be pretty far right extremists who want -- their goal is to destroy the power of government to mediate the power of corporations. >> so, john, avalon, again, he said to take down the power of government and essentially increase the power, his point, of corporations. does he have a point? >> i agree with him on the first point. it's about anger in government and big business. bill clinton is one of the smartest strategists out there, especially on the democratic side. these groups that are funding the tea party movement, it's important to appreciate that

they pump up the tea party movement. if the tea party movement wasn't a genuine uprising, these folks' money wouldn't make any difference. of course on the other side with unions and other liberal organizations try to pump them up. that needs to be taken into account. >> john, also in "the new york times" poll says half of americans don't have an opinion of tea party movement. clearly, they're not watching cable news, right? >> that's right. >> what's going to change that? is palin's message going to break through, do you think? >> yeah, you know, it's a work in progress, again. and the more you learn about it the more you can draw an opinion. for example, one of the guys who is sort of behind the scenes right now, tea party express is a guy named sal russo, spent some time on the phone talking to him today. very interesting character. you would think because this guy's running it, he's sort of a

grassroots individual. this is a guy who was with round reagan for a long time and then broke out to go to ross perot but then has always been extremely conservative and extremely inside with the republican party. so that's the kind of thing you'll find. it's different pieces here. different pieces there. and you can't always just take one thing and make a conclusion about it. >> what does this mean, cornell? >> and for my friend erick, one of the interesting things over the course of time, they are grassroots and angry at the establishment, both republican and democrat. you see it eat up that. >> that's a perfect segue. erick, listen to this one, in palin's ad, she make no, sir mention of the republican party, you know. she doesn't say i'm a republican or this is republican. and somehow said the tea party is causing a civil war in the gop. limp to what glenn beck said on

his radio show last week. >> everyone today in the media is going to say, well, the republicans are in civil war. and the republicans. and in way, it's true. except it's not brother against brother. here's what it is. it's establishment versus the people. it is the elites versus the people. that's the civil war here. >> all right, erick, is that true. or is that just the spin they want to put on it? >> no, that's absolutely true when you look around the country, with the big race in kentucky with trey grayson being defeated utah, bob bennett being thrown out, florida, charlie crist versus mark rubio. the ris goes on and on. you got grassroots republicans throwing out what they deemed the republican pigs. there is an uprising and it's headed to washington.

frankly, i think the establishment republicans if they don't get what's going on, and there's no sign that they really do, they're go to come in trouble after november. >> john, your take on that is it really an uprising of the people? >> look, i think there's no question there has been an anti-elite, anti-establishment uprising. look at the tale of the tape. that's a fact. there are other fault lines under this as well. a lot of tea party candidates are hard-core social conservatives. there's a tension there. i think one thing that the republicans should understand that's consistent is that there is a lot of anger and resentment against the overspending that occurred by the republicans had when they were in power during the bush era. if that's a message of establishment that can unite the tea party movement. >> fun discussion to all of you gentlemen, thanks very much. i think it's one we'll keep having until the election and beyond. coming up, my next guest is on the tea party's hit list.

she's taking on republican christine o'donnell in delaware. we'll go one-on-one with candidate chris koons. i'm filling in for john king tonight because he's moderating the debate in boston. >> how do you do things, when you came to office, you promised -- in 2008 i quit venture capital to follow my passion for food. i saw a gap in the market for a fresh culinary brand and launched behindtheburner.com. we create and broadcast content and then distribute it across tv, the web, and via mobile. i even use the web to get paid.

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household name yet, but he has suddenly gotten a much better chance of becoming delaware's next u.s. senator. he's the democrat running against christine o'donnell. here's something else, coons has degrees in chemistry, politics, law and religion. the last two from yale university. he studied in kenya. worked as a lawyer for the company that makes gor-tex. he's also won local elections. right now, he's the county executive of new castle, delaware's largest county. and he's here to go one-on-one with us. mr. coons, thank you for being eye us. >> thank you for a chance to be with you, jessica. >> first of all, for much of the year, prognosticators didn't think you have had a chance to win. now you're the odds on favorite

not only on the right but on the left. i bet you're getting a lot more calls returned? >> frankly, this is the same race today as it was two months ago. my wife annie and i have been hearing the same thing. folks are frustrated, they're anxious, they're angry. and they want to know what my plan is to get our economy back on track to restore manufacturing in the company. to deal with the deficit and spending. many that's what i'm focused on. i do have a different candidate running against me after the primary than the one i expected but it's still about delaware's needs. >> you have sparkling credentials, including you're a national debate champion. now, you're running against a woman who has dabbled in witchcraft in her youth. we talked and heard a lot about it. is witchcraft relevant? >> i don't think so. i think it's up to the voters in delaware to decide when they go into the booth six weeks from now which of many things they've

heard about my opponent and about me when making a decision. this really is a job interview. what folks want to know is what experience do you have, what ideas do you have to get us back on track and to get this economy fixed. and are you willing to standing up to the superb interests and try to fix what's wrong with washington. i think at the end of the day, that's what they want to know. >> in a candidates' forum two days after the primary, you repeat a line that you have used on the campaign trail before. we'll talk about. >> for many of us who worked, who voted for change in 2008, we have not yet gotten the change that we hoped and worked for. >> pretty harsh on president obama, didn't get the change you hoped for. if you had been in the senate the last two years, what would you have pressed president obama to do differently? >> well, first, the t.a.r.p. bailout deal i thought was a poorly construct wade to try and put a floor under the collapse of the financial market.

it was hundreds of billions of dollars. it wasn't structured with enough accountability. how it was handled i wouldn't -- >> wow have voted no? >> i'm sorry? >> would you have voted no on t.a.r.p.? >> i would have voted against the bailouts. i do think the obama administration has worked really hard, has delivered progress and delivered a lot of what folks have hoped for. my point in the debate as it has been in other public sets, i think there's one party that has consistently voted no and willing to work with the democrats in congress to find common groundnd acommon sense solutions. so there isn't enough change in terms of how washington works, but that really wasn't intended solely as a slap at the president. >> most voters know very little about you at this point, but one of the few things that has gotten some attention is an article you wrote in college. in it you described yourself as

a bearded marxist. would you explain what that means, are you a marxist? >> no, i'm not, jessica. i hope folks will take the time to actually read the article because it is clearly a tongue in cheek article about how republicans on campus, friends of mine, viewed my transformation from a young republican to a democrat. i am not now nor have i ever been a maximumist in the united states. when we've got real economic problems to tackle, i'm just disappointed that we're spending time talking about the title of an article written in a student newspaper 25 years ago. but i think it is important to speak to it and put it to bed. i'm not a marxist, i've never held marxist ideas. i believe strongly in the free enterprise system and have worked hard in one of delaware weighs most innovative manufacturing firms. >> now, you say you're disappointed isn't the coverage of that. your opponent christine o'donnell is actually getting a lot more negative attention for

things she did in her past than you are. to what do you attribute that? >> well, i think both of us, as you put it, are relatively unknown on the national stage. and my point's been more than a decade on as a pundit on television. there are a lot of clips of things and i'm sure she wishes there weren't files right now. and what matters is what are the ideas for getting the economy back on track, for improving america. for fixing what's wrong with washington. for tackle education, the environment. >> is she qualified to be senator? >> well, i think that's a judgment that delaware's voters are going to have to make. is he certainly doesn't bring to this job interview to the delaware voters the same sets of background and qualifications that i do. what i'm hearing up and down the state, folks are mad, and they want change. they want folks who are willing to work for them and fight for them. at the end of the day, i think

that i've got the skills, the strength and the experience from working the private sector, from balancing a budget in the public sector, from lots of service and exposure in the nonprofit sector to the real human needs of people. i've had the experience of good times and hard times, and i know how to make hard choices that will improve our state and our country. and i'm hopeful on november 2nd, six weeks from now, those are the skills and experience that folks will say qualifies me to be the next senator. >> i want to ask you about harry reid, the democratic majority leader in the interview with "the hill" newspaper twice referred to as his pet. now jim demint is running this ad it your state. >> harry reid calls chris coons his pet. delaware doesn't need a washington career politician's pet. >> i'm sure you'll say you're not on harry reid's leash. what is your relationship with the majority leader? >> well, i met the majority leader, i think, twice.

he called me soon after i stepped you and entered this campaign. he offered me some personal advice and encouragement. he's been someone who has checked in regularly, offered me some encourage innocent, particularly about staying on focus. staying interested in, engaged in, responsive to the real concerns of the working people. i think that was a very unfortunate choice of words on his part and it doesn't really reflect our working relationship or how i would vote if elected to the senate. >> finally, you're going to be back here on cnn october 13th for debate between you and christine o'donnell. we're excited about that. what's one question you'd like our wolf blitzer to ask her? >> what are your ideas for how to get america back on track, to improve manufacturing to restore balance to our budget and to make america competitive again. >> chris coons, thanks for your time. we look forward to talking to you again. >> thank you. and still ahead, political attacks on sarah palin are nothing new but just who's attacking her might surprise

you.

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welcome back. let's check in now with joe johns for the latest political news you need to know right now. >> jessica, trouble for illinois congressman jesse jackson jr. today, he announced he's deeply sorry for having disappointed

voters for his relationship with a female. and blocking the defense bill of don't ask, don't tell. the white house confirms larry summers, the top economic adviser will be stepping down from his post. and christine o'donnell's campaign hit back with allegations she illegal spent campaign money, calling them libelous and threatening to sue. certainly, we see those were fighting words when citizens for responsibility & ethics in washington started alleging this is the behavior. still to come, the tea party women, what took them so long for the next generation of strong republican women to emerge. we're going to dive into that. and why did it take an outside group to do that. and bill clinton is saying we're now in an era of fat-free

politics. and the off-beat reporter pete domenic asks how you handle the boss who thinks you're hot.

this year, we've seen the emergence of the headline grabbing conservative women like christine o'donnell, nikki haley and at the same time, congressman michelle blackmon

and the mama grizzly sarah palin, from republican b-listers to political superstars. james carville and mary matalin are here tonight. mary, why did it take an outside group to empower so many conservative women? >> i think it's the times that empower conservative women, what is propelling the grizzly mama is a primal concern which is a political concern this cycle. this is the first generation that thinks that americans can't leave the country well off for their children. you're going inspire mothers, all those women, something in common. they are mothers so there isn't any resistance to women running as republicans. these are women doing anything specific. they don't want go up for hierarchy, they want to work on

issues that affect their kids. >> james, let me ask you if you agree, before christine o'donnell became a household name, there were doubters. the share of the party in delaware said she could not be elected dog kaemp. freed works president matt kibby said she was not able to win the general election. and karl rove had this to say. >> just a lot of nutty things she's been saying. >> sounds like you don't support her, but i will tell you i think -- >> i'm for the republican, but i've got to tell you, we were looking at eight to nine seats in the senate. we're now looking at seven to eight. >> so i've seen male candidates say some pretty nutty things, but they're own party doesn't always take out the trash on them. >> well, this woman's got real issues. she doesn't pass absolute loans facts. she doesn't pay a mortgage. now issues with the campaign. i think the republicans obviously could have done a lot

better. i think they could have done a lot better in nevada. look, this is politics, if you're running for the united states senate, you don't pay team back, it's going to be an issue. >> could it be vitriolic? >> well, if she were a man, i don't think they're ganging up on her because she's a woman. i think they're ganging up on her because she's got a past that doesn't let itself being vetted very well in the united states senate. i'm trying to say it in an elegant way. >> mary, something that rnc co-chair -- >> go ahead. >> the day after karl said that, she raised $1 million in one day. what james doesn't get, maybe a lot of republicans, too, i'm not saying karl because i know he is brilliant. this is not about her. it's not about sharon angle. it's not about sarah palin. this is a much biggerer not anti-incumbent, it's not even

anti-obama. it is what is the scope and size of government. how can we make government work? how can it be transparent? the issues that precipitate in the follow-up orders for obama and the democratic party and what are animating and inspiring, washington does not work anymore. >> if i were running this slate of candidates, i would say it's not about our candidates, it's not about jan brewer, for 18 second, you're going to be governor of arizona and you can't issue an open statement, of course, it's about the candidate. if the country is in the shape it's in, you can't have somebody that can't pay their bills and somebody that can't speak for 18 seconds. of course, it's about candidates. >> this is what the chairman of the rnc once said about women candidates, she said women sometimes need hand-holding or friends to make their decision. going in and recruiting or educating them to get involved, to become a candidate, we give them the tools so they can do it

on their own. does that say something about the attitude of women candidates? >> no, what it says, it is that women don't get up in the morning and are full of themselves like males. >> james, you happen to agree with that, right? >> look, i think hillary clinton is eminently qualified. in california, a lot of women like that get up every day very well -- very articulate. a lot tougher than most of the men, if not all of the men that i know in american politics. luke at the kind of job that she's doing as secretary of state. if you have -- if you're a certain kind of woman, and you don't have the background or you don't have the record, well, yeah, people are going to do it. it's not a gender thing. >> well, it is a choice thing. some woman choose to focus on and have the premier responsibility for their kids. >> isn't a coincidence, when

there's a tea party movement, you suddenly see the emergence of women on the republican side, so many of them? >> no, i don't think it's a coincidence. i think it's direct result of these women who take care of their family budgets, who look to the future, who are very practical, who don't want to be in power. they really have had it up to here. and they're willing to do something they don't normally do which is put themselves out there and sacrifice. >> and american politics, nancy pelosi who didn't run for office until she was 48 years old and raised five kids. she didn't run until her youngest was a senior in high school. that's something that you can admire somebody for. by the way, she's had a pretty successful political career. i get it that these women can come in and make a difference, of course, they can. but you can't come in if you don't have a set of policies or your background is such that it's not conducive to being a united states senator. >> i want to play something that family research council president tony perkins said

about sarah palin. listen to this. >> well, i think she's a great spokesman. i think that she challenges the status quo. she says what a lot of people think. but, you know, a lot of people sometimes realize we shouldn't say everything we think. and that, maybe it is that she is more of a cheerleader and one who rallies conservatives together. as opposed to maybe being their top choice. >> before we ask you about that, i want to put up facts we gathered which is how many face bob followers sarah palin has, versus tony perkins. she has more than 2 million. he what 5,700. you get the idea. mary, is this about ego? some of these people are threatened? >> tony perkins is very successful at what he does. i don't think it's an ego thing.

it's anybody who wants to get in the news just has to say sarah palin or glenn beck. so it's a pretty tried and true tactic. but i bet in a couple days, he's going to take his own advice and not say -- >> do you think he's going to take it back. >> look -- i would like to say something -- but, yeah he should follow his own advice and not say everything that he thinks. i guarantee you that just irates sarah palin to no end. you got a certain role. we throw the stick, you fetch the stick and bring it back to us. i think mama grizzly is going to -- >> come roaring backy. >> well, you can't set a blame on that. i think that a lot of smart republicans, i'm sitting right here next to one, are sort of like why don't you try to get into -- comment on your family values and coalition because you're really going to irritate

her. >> it mama ain't happy, nobody ain't happy. >> we heard it first, if he takes it back, we'll remember it. >> you're back in the next segment so don't go anywhere. we do need to take a quick break. when we do wum contact, bill clinton's advice to president obama. also, john king is moderating the massachusetts debate in washington. let's listen in. >> i'd keep them in after-school programs that gives them jobs. most of them hasn't been restored. we have an epidemic of violence going on in our low-income.

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we keep seeing reports that democrats are debating whether she should go after the tea

party. bill clinton isn't waiting. listen to this. >> i think we should just play it straight. if they got a tea party opponent who says something weird like the guy running for senator from alaska says unemployment compensation is unconstitutional, or the man running for senator from arkansas who says we should have a 23% increase across the board snef inco instead of income taxes or the guy running who says denver with the united states. do you miss him -- >> no. >> james, we're back with james carville, mary matalin. gloria borger. james, should the democratic party adopt the strategy and go after the tea party? >> making a point he actually went more after the funding than the tea party members and he was going after the candidates but

what he does that's very smart is, saying, well, activists out there trying to do something. you notice in the part that you showed, look, if they're candidates say something really dumb like the guy in alaska. although they're unconstitutional, he's now far from it. >> he doesn't want to make the tea party seem cooky. >> he says, i'm going to play it straight then he distorts everything. >> well, we did -- >> well, on the phone conversation -- >> we fact-checked what he said and what he said was mostly true, for example he said this about joe miller. unemployment is unconstitutional, we have the sound bite. >> the unemployment compensation, got it, first of all, it's not constitutional a

authorized. i do not favor the extension. >> okay. that's pretty clear. >> are you concerned that this extremist label could stick? >> no i'm not at all. because if you ask the american people, they think expanding and extending unemployment benefits over 99 weeks, doesn't have a dilatory effect on job hunting, there's no data supports otherwise. so you could call this extreme positions but right now, half of america is saying, obama has extreme positions and 10% more people say that sarah palin better represents their views. >> there's no saying in the art of war, when they add advance and they retreat, they're trying to lead you. and this is what he's do he's sort of attacking the leadership. but he's saying how wonderful the rank and file is. because the people who are the rank and file are the ones he wants to lead which is probably never going to happen at this stage. clearly it's a tactic and a pretty good one, too. >> but he also said, what the

democrats ought to do is say, give us a couple more years. it took us eight years to get into the ditch, as barack obama likes to say. give us, as bill clinton put it, give us half as much time to get out of it as they took to get into it, all right? smart, too. >> yeah, this is to lead up to the cei, handy comes out, you know, it's a campaign -- the cgi's very, very important to him. >> the clinton initiative is big. >> yes, it's huge. and i think he strikes me, i hope i see him thursday, but he strikes me as a man who's having a pretty good time right now. >> let me ask, because this is what he has said about sarah palin and sort of the environment we're in. it's a provocative comment. this is from today. >> i do think she say resilient character. and we may be entering sort of a period in politics that is sort

of fact-free where the experience in government say negative. >> okay, gloria. >> oops. >> resilient character, experience as a negative, not exactly a ringing endorsement of her. i think it's about as -- it's one of the most negative things, you know, politics are afraid to criticize sarah palin because she's so popular out there. >> republican politicians. democrats aren't afraid at all. >> democrats don't want to attack her either, right? she's a popular woman. she has a big following. >> this is an indictment of the media. in other words, this is a fact-free error of politics, we're not going to ride them on it and no unelse is going to check. >> there's a poll that came out this week, 67% of americans say they're far more informed? >> more informed?

>> more informed. they can validate their news, this san election cycle that people get the facts. it's something way bigger than the candidates. >> james, you used to give advice to the president. listen to the advice that the president is giving to president obama? >> my advice is answer it 21 months, say give us two years, that's half as much time as you gave us. and then say, throw us out if we're not better. and then talk about what we're going to do, who's more likely to do it. treat the american people with respect. -x tell them what you're going to do, who's more likely to do it. if it's a choice we can win. if a referendum, you can do it. >> do you agree? >> yeah, i do. if you look at the averages now, republicans are actually slipping now. >> president clinton is the person to make the case? >> i think president clinton can

make it more effectively in some ways than president obama. president clinton says some of the things that are working is more of a validation of a third party. if president clinton says, because he was president, says do it like this, i think sometimes another person is better to carry some of these messages. i think that president obama can come in, and say, look, as president clinton was saying. it took us eight years to dig us into the deepest hole we've been in to. it's more or less he's being himself aggrandized or attacked. he can use him or a shield as they go forward. we'll see. >> it's really hard for obama to go out and say, hey, look, look at all of these great things i did. people look at him and say, why don't we have more jobs? it's pretty simple. he's handicapped in that way. >> and the message is so hard. the message right now in the midterm is, look, things would

have been worse if they had stayed in charge. >> right. >> trying to tell people things would have been worse doesn't make them feel any better. >> particularly when the facts are this, we have lost more jobs than the beginning of the obama recovery than we have gained. the season of the recovery is over. and the upshot is we've lost more jobs than gained. >> but he's grown more jobs than there were in the bush -- >> let me ask you this one last thing because we've learned that michelle obama is going to hit the campaign trail and she's really going to take a full swing in the midterm season. do you think that's going to make a big difference? >> yes, because they have a real problem with dropoff voters, and she has not alienated them the way he has by transforming washington. >> what do you mean dropoff voters? >> young people. democrats, republicans. they've made the difference. they're falling off voters.

their enthusiasm and their numbers are infinitessimal compared to the enthusiasm of the opposition. none of these are her problems. she can pump them up. be a cheerleader. >> oh, right, she can do it? >> and she's very popular. >> obama's not on the ballot. that's the bottom line. the obama surge voters, where are they? >> we got to wrap it. thanks to all of you. a total treat. thank you. good conversation. joe, you're sticking around for tnt coming up. ahead is bristol palin ripping off her mother? but never finished... to late bloomers... full-time moms... and everyone who is good at something but wants to be great. welcome to kaplan university. the university that's changing the face of education... to undergraduate degrees, graduate degrees... degrees that can give you a leg up... in a tough job market... in any job market... welcome. welcome to kaplan university. call kaplan university now

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disapproving. senator lisa murkowski's write-in campaign in alaska got off to a rocky start when the first campaign ad misspelled her name. it has been fixed. cnn's own john king is moderating tonight's four-way governor debate in massachusetts. governor deval patrick is being challenged by an independent, a green rainbow party candidate and republican chairman ceo, john bacharlie baker. >> some say for the better, all this grassroots energy, some, including a lot of establishment republican politicians look at this movement a bit suspiciously. how about you? does charlie baker consider himself to be a tea party candidate? >> i've always been a big believer in civic engagement. i spent most of my life following politician. my mom's a democrat, my datd's a

republican. i grew up listening to them argue issues across the kitchen table. at the end of the day, i think you grow up fundamentally, that's a good thing. >> finally, mark ballas led bristol palin in a cha-cha performance to "mama told me not to come" on "dancing with the stars." >> do you catch what she's -- she's like wearing her mom's -- she rips it off. can we do instant replay? >> yeah. >> i just love it. >> and you know what, she was good. >> yeah. >> which is whatever, you think, it's a relief, you don't want bristol palin to go through more hard times. >> no you know, dallas rhymes with ballas which makes me think of tom delay. >> was had on "dancing with the stars"? >> yeah. >> i did hear that sarah palin was watching and cheered her on, tweeted out, very proud of my

daughter. i love that, can't get enough of it. thanks, joe. do you think it's okay for your boss to call you hot? that happened to a u.s. senator today. pete on the street gets the take on the street next. cent or more on car insurance? was abe lincoln honest? mary: does this dress make my backside look big? abe: perhaps... save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance?really host: is having a snowball fight with pitching great randy johnson a bad idea? man: yeah, i'm thinking maybe this was a bad idea. i just wish that all of the important information was gathered together in one place. [ printer whirs ] done. ♪ thanks. do you work here?

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rick sanchez is up next. he's here ready to tell us what's ahead at the top of the hour. hey, rick, what you got? >> oh, my, you're not going to believe this story, jessica, i'm already getting literally thousands and house to of tweets on this. this is a pastor who's known all over the united states. has 25,000 people as part of his congregation. has met with many, many presidents. written many books. flies in private jets all over the world. and tonight, it is alleged that he was using the funds from his church to try and coerce young men into having sex with him. it's a heluva story. it's one we're going to be on throughout the beginning of this newscast. back to you. so you could say that harry

reid is kerstin gillibrand's boss. harry reid called another senator the hottest member. pete domenic joins us from new york. what's the word on the street with this? >> jessica, when politicians put their foot in their mouth, it's my job to blow it out of proportion, check it out. >> if you do it in a nice way, i don't think ladies have a problem with that. >> if the guy is a boss, forget you. >> miss, if your boss told you he thought you were hot, how would you take that? would you think it would be inappropriate? >> yes. it's inappropriate. >> you think it's inappropriate? >> at my age, i'd be flattered. but a young woman, i would. >> i'd say thank you. >> if your boss says you're hot, is that inapproprte