we did get word from the state department a short time ago, a travel alert officially issued for americans traveling in europe. a travel alert just to be alert, be aware of your surroundings, and to be vigilant. also recommend that you register with the embassy, the u.s. government, before heading out to europe. thank you for being here with us. want to hand this thing over to candy crowley. >> there are two ways to get your supporters to the polls, there's the conventional method -- >> hello, wisconsin! >> -- hold a big rally with thousands of screaming fans, as the president did in madison, wisconsin. or you can assault your base like the vice president did accusing the faithful of whining. >> so those who don't get -- didn't get everything they wanted, it's time to just buck up here. >> and this is the president during an interview with

"rolling stone." the idea that we've got a lack of enthusiasm in the democratic base that people are sitting on their hands complaining, is just irresponsible. republicans are dealing with their own inner turmoil, as some tea party-backed republicans faller and senate seats may be slipping beyond the party's grasp. this election season the word "unsettled" comes to mind. today, 30 days to the midterms. with the heads of the two senatorial election committee, republican senator john cornyn. >> the american people have gotten very tired of being lectured to as opposed to being listened to. >> and democratic senator robert menendez. >> dems are going to have a lot more votes in the united states senate that people think. >> then, deciphering al qaeda's latest terror plot with pakistan's embassy, husain haqqani. >> pakistan and the united states remain allies and we are allies with some disagreement.

>> making sense of the political jumble on the home front with donna brazile and ed gillespie. i'm candy crowley and this is "state of the union." a month ago, republicans thought they'd win joe biden's old senate seat in delaware but a tea party candidate beat the favorite in the primary and it it's looking like the seat will stay democratic. hard to find anybody these days thinks a republican takeover in the senate will happen. this is an anything can happen election cycle. in west virginia a republican has a shot to win the senate seat of the late robert byrd, a seat held by the legendary democrat for 51 years. both parties are pouring money into the state. here to break down the hot races and more, republican senator john cornyn of texas and democratic senator robert menendez of new jersey. thank you both for being here. let's start out, i was told the last time we talked, at least in this forum was june.

start starting with you senator cornyn, what is different in the political landscape from join? >> primaries are over, september 14th we had our last contested republican primary, and all of the enthusiasm you see is going to be directed toward turning out vote and providing checks and balances to government that many people see as out of control when it comings to spending and debt, and of course, high joblessness, and the administration seemingly confused about how to get america back to work. so there's a lot of enthusiasm, and it's all directed toward the administration, the democratic majority, and restoring those checks and balances that people feel are so necessary to the safety and security. >> senator menendez, can you look at anything in the economy or elsewhere that tells you the dynamic in june running heavily against the democrats has changed? >> well, certainly, candy if we see the generic ballot, that's closing dra mmatically a host o

our candidates senate republican senatorial committee has targeted -- >> why do you think it's closing, if i could just ask? >> i think people are beginning in the last 30 days, when they really hone in on the election, looking at the defenses. i look at "the new york times" poll that says that who is more likely to fight for the middle class by a 55-33 margin, the answer is democrats. and so that middle class understands who got us into this economic mess, the republicans and the eight years of the bush economic policies, who's trying to turn it around, who fights for them, versus who fights for the special interests every day in the united states senate. our republican colleagues have used the filibuster to stand up for big oil, big business, big insurance, and they understand that's not on their side. >> let me tell you something, senator menendez but one of your colleagues on the republican side of the aisle, senator jim

deminute has a political action committee of his own with money in it, he's going to spend it running ads against majority leader harry reid, against senator bennett in colorado, against senator feingold in wisconsin. do you have a problem with at all? >> well, look, you know, the bottom line is, at least his money's disclosed. the real problem i have is with the $34 million of undisclosed, unknown, shadowy money spent largely by corporate america all on the republican side against those and other candidates, and they tip the scales dramatically to the republican side. so i understand why republicans stand up for big oil, big business, big insurance, because it's paying off notice millions of dollars of ads against democrats. >> senator cornyn, i have a specific question for you. but go ahead and respond to

that, as i'm sure you want to. >> if you like the way the country's going now, if you like -- if you live in nevada, you like 14.4% unemployment where 70% of the home mortgages are ununder water i guess the message from majority leader reid and senator menendez is stay the course. i think, instead of that, people say, we're willing to listen to republicans and independents are coming our way, 2 out of every 3 of them, because they want to provide checks and balances, they want us to stop the runway spending, the unsustainable debt stwheshg wa and they want to put america back to work and they see the american policies of the last year and a half being an impediment to job creation in america. >> so, getting back to the question i wanted to ask you, which is about senator deminue mint, if they're a betting person, when you return to washington in january, be a kind of demint wing inside the

republican party on the senate side, a party within a party. so when you look at that, how is that going to work? because you may get some candidates here who want to get rid or who want social security privati privatized, some have said they want to lower the minimum wage, things like that. how is that going to work insigh the party? are those things you can sign on to? >> well some of those are, of course, democratic talking points, trying to scare people, and of course the candidates where those issues have been raises have explained themselves. i'm not going to relitigate them here. let me say when it comes to restoring checks and balances, that's what we're going to see, and a rot of candidates that senator men nendez and democrat have tried to scare people about are taking mainstream positions and what they feel is what is really extreme is what's coming out of washington, with double-dij it's unemployment, runaway spending and debt and that's what they want us check, and that's what we will do, and

i think we'll be unified. >> do you think inside the republican party those just sets up another wing that you're going to have to deal with, a division within the party? >> not at all. i think the, by and large, the tea party movement has been constructive and helpful. it's helped reorient us to our limited government principles and one that believes in the free enterprise system rather than bigger and bigger government and higher and higher taxes and more regulation, which are job killers. so i think it's been do constructive. now that the primaries are observe, we're unified and focuses on our democratic friends on november 2nd, and i think they're going to be surprised with the enthusiasm and intensity of the vote go into novemb2nd. >> i am not scaring anybody unless when you use a candidate's own words they may be scary. when sharron angle says it's not my job to help create jobs in

nevada, when ken buck questions the constitutionality of social security and wants to end medicare, when ron johnson in wisconsin wants to drill in the great lakes, those aren't my words. those are their words. when christine o'donnell has positions that are clearly out of the mainstream, which we didn't known even know about in her interest in witchcraft until 30-something days ago, that's are their words. the candidates, the problem for the republicans, these candidates are out of the mainstream of where their general electorate is. >> let me ask you both to stand by. we do want to note that christine o'donnell was not interested in witchcraft until 30 days ago, it was something she said in high school. did come out 30 days ago. but hang on a second. we'll be right back. much more with senators cornyn and men nen does.

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we are back with republican senator john cornyn, not to be confused with former senator jon corzine from new jersey, my apologizes. also with us democratic senator robert menendez. i appreciate you both being here. let me ask you, first, about a couple of things that you all have done or said over time. senator menendez, when you -- two days before you left town, you introduced major immigration reforming, which republicans have said this is cynical, we're not going to pass it in two days, this was a blatant appeal for the latino vote. why is it not that? >> first after all, senator hatch introduced legislation, a different time of legislation on immigration at the same time, and he's a republican. i introduced it because if we're going to have any opportunity toe, for example, consider the

possibility of lame duck movement on it, where a lot of senators are retiring and might be willing to look at the issue, you need something to jump off from, if we're going to go into it in the early part of the next congress, you need something to have as a foundation. and what i introduced had a series of republican initiatives in it, as an invitation to bring my republican colleagues to the discussion and engage them on a critical issue of the country, both in its national security, it's national economy, how we deal with people in this country who are undocumented. >> senator cornyn, you got a lot of attention recently for going and speaking to the log cabin republicans, a gay constituency in the republican party, also received an award there. do you think that the republican party needs to be more welcoming to minorities, as well as to the gay and lesbian community?

>> well, candy, i'm a social and fiscal conservative, and my record on pro-family provisions or issues is very clear. but i fell it was important to reach out to those who want to try to deal with this runaway administration and majority when it comes to spending and debt and high joblessness. that's something we can agree on. but i would say, to my friend senator menendez, i hope to work with senator menendez on immigration reform but it's a much too important issue to be treated as a political football or jam through a lame duck session. we know there are impending tax increases from the expiration of the temporary tax provisions in 2001 that the democratic party was so divided on they didn't put it up for a vote before the november 2nd election. that adds to the kind of uncertainty that job creators are feeling, which keeps them sitting on their capital and unfortunately keeps our high

unemployment rates too high. >> our final minute -- >> you held us hostage to the fact that the republican leader of the senate, mitch mcconnell everybody wants a perm extension of all of the bush tax cuts, including the top tier, the wealthiest people, that's a $4 trillion expenditure fiscally irresponsible. i don't think it's fair to say that democrats didn't move forward on that issue when, in fact, you all said we won't move forward on what i thought we agreed on, at least the middle class tax cuts, unless you hole them hostage to the wealthiest, that's a $4 trillion expenditure. that's fiscally irresponsible. >> let's plme it to turn to something you won't agree on, you were together both talking about the prospects for your party. i want to play something from both of you. >> some of the republican primaries will lead to a tsunami on november 2nd. >> i simply think that democrats

are going to have a lot more votes in the united states senate than people think. >> senator cornyn, what's a tsunami here? define the terms of that. >> well, i think this is going to be a wave election, and it's going to be a referendum on the policies, the unpopular policies, coming out of washington, d.c. during the last year and a half. of course we've seen where the president has chosen to lecture people and tell them he knows better than they what's good for them and democratic leadership has gone along. now i think we're finding the american people pushing back very hard and that's what i mean by a tsunami. we've got 11, maybe as many as 12 senate races in very close, very close contests. none of our republican incumbents are in any trouble. the only question is, how many seats we're going to pick up. i think we're going to have a good day on november 2nd, i don't know how high or wide that

tsunami will be but it's going to be and significant. >> what does it say to you over the course of last year that you lost the late senator ted kennedy's seat, that he had held for decades, and that you are now seeing the seat of the late robert byrd in jeopardy in west virginia? what does that say to you about the changing electorate? >> this is a volatile cycle who would have thought mcconnell's hand pick candidate would have lost. who would have thought mike castle would not have been the republican nominee? who 32 days ago before that election would have been asking, who is christine o'donnell? so this is a very volatile reality. but you know, when i hear this tsunami, the republicans have been saying they're going to win the triple crown which means as the president's seat in illinois is have a indicated the vice president's seat's in delaware, they're not going to win the triple crown.

we'll be in the majority november 3rd. >> you will lose some seats, will you concede that? >> we're fighting for every seat across the country. the president's party going to back to the civil war means the president's party loses seats. the defense between a tsunami and losing seats united states the suggestion they can take over the majority, that will not happen. thank you both for joining us. i appreciate your time. >> thank you. >> thanks, candy. next, we'll look at growing tensions between the united states and pakistan when it comes to fight against terrorism.

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we now turn to pakistan, a necessary partner the u.s. fight against terrorism. the u.s. sends about $2 billion a year in economic and military

aid to encourage pakistan's cooperation. in may, the relationship seemed on course. >> we've gotten more cooperation and it's been a real sea change in the commitment we've seen from the pakistani government. we want more. we expect more. >> it is far less encouraging now. amid chatter of planned terrorist attacks in western europe, the cia launched a series of don't attacks in war zeer ra stan. as the attacks continue dozens of militants including a top al qaeda commander have been kill. september saw the highest number of u.s. drone attacks in pakistan since the war in afghanistan started in 2001. but the drone assaults, along with a nato helicopter strike that killed three pakistani soldiers, weakens the fragile u.s./pakistan alliance. pakistan's interior minister put bluntly, we will not allow anyone in any case to interfere

in pakistan's territory, and if this continues, we will adopt all the set measures including military action. i assure you we are quite capable of defending our homeland. the pakistan government has temporarily closed a key supply route to afghanistan, most of the supplies for nato and u.s. troops in afghanistan are brought through pakistan. and friday, militants in southern pakistan torched 25 nato trucks carrying fuel for afghanistan. we talked to pack tkistapakista to the united states husain haqqani next.

>> joining me here in washington, pakistan's

ambassador to the united states, husain haqqani. thank you so much for being here. i want to ask you, first, about a story that is breaking now, which is attributed to a pakistani official the information, that you have found or think you have found the link of those who are plotting against europe, the plot that we heard about this week, that they are eight germans, two british brothers, who are hiding out in northern waziristan. what can you tell us about this? >> first of all, this is an example of how american pakistani cooperation works. the united states intelligence agencies have picked up information, they picked up chatter, which was shares with pakistani side and the pakistani side is acting on following leads that have been given to pakistan, and that will make europe and the united states safer. so we hope. so beyond that, it's not possible to go into details of intelligence but all i will say is that we are working together

to foil any plot that targets europe, the united states, or for that matter, any other part of the world. >> so you're working actively with u.s. and i'm assuming european officials? >> absolutely. absolutely. the cia shared intelligence to this effect with the pakistani interservices intel zbeps, though the isi's maligned in the media, it's one of the closest clab raters, partners and ally of the u.s. intelligence. in this particular instance, the united states is very happy, i can say this on your show that american officials have told us that the quality of cooperation they have received from the isi is really 100%. >> i guess the problem comes with the u.s. feeling okay, here you've got suspected terrorists in northern waziristan but the pakistani military about l. not go after them, that's why they've had to throw these manless, the drone attacks, into pakistan because pakistan seems

unwilling or unable to go get these suspected terrorists or others. >> i don't think that is the question of unwilling or unable. it's a question of terrain, of geography. sometimes people in the united states think about pakistan and they think that it's all flat land with everything visible, even the drones cannot identify everyone in north waziristan because of the complexity of terrain. the pakistani military has fought effectively in south waziristan, in the last 2 1/2 years we have lost most soldiers and more officers than any other country in fighting terrorism. the only factor about north waziristan the capacity of our military at this particular moment to go in. i think the issues about ability and will, et cetera, are xwee li behind us. pakistan is saying we will take care of our terrorists on our side but we will do it on our

time line. we cannot follow a time line allies set for us, because we are allies, not a satellite. >> sure. but you can understand why the u.s., since there are sort of ongoing threats, as well as ongoing attacks, most of them out of the mountainous region that's so difficult to get to, the only way to stop attacks on u.s. troops, on nato troops, is to go, you know, either cross the boarder or the helicopters or send the drones over because of the difficulty you're talking about. >> the drones and the helicopters are two different things, and i spoke to general petraeus last night. he called me from kabul. i know him when he was centcom commander. he assured me he will resolve the issue over the nato tanker supply line. he understands pakistan has not stopped it as a political retaliation but only to make convoys more secure because of the circumstances. look, what we have in pakistan is a complex political reality.

americans look at their own politics and you covter every week and you can't make sense of it for the ordinary viewer, all politics is local. the local situation in pakistan is the united states is not popular amongst our public. secretary clinton when she went there, twice, she tried to reach out to the pakistani people, ambassador holbrook reaches out, admiral jones and admiral mullen worked hard. but the fact remains an elected government in pakistan is limited by public opinion to the extend of what it can do. people in washington sometimes get all excited, these days because pakistan's the story, therefore every john, joe, jane covers it and tries to cover the complexities of the story in a simplistic way. pakistan is an american ally. america depends on pakistan. we can and do not do everything the americans think we should do because sometimes we don't have the capacity, sometimes we don't have the means. we work those things out and

that is exactly what we are doing right now. minus all of the political noise, the fact remains that we are working together. pakistan will go after all terrorist groups that are on the soil, and we have done it over the last 2 1/2 years and the few groups remaining we will tar get them. we will tar get them with american help, but it will be technical help, it will not be personnel on ground. >> you mentioned the supply line that's been cut off, one of many that are there, but one supply line. a lot of people think this was punitive because unfortunately the three pakistani military members were killed in a helicopter attack from nato. however, you say it's to make them safer. whichever it is, when will that supply line be opened? >> i think the supply line will be open relatively quickly. >> what is that? >> i'll explain it to you. according to general petraeus at pakistan team has arrived to investigate the incident. allies have to reassure each ear

if they kill the personnel of the other side, it was xwauz be of war and not any deliberate action. americans assured us it was because of that. we'll investigate it joinly on the security side we can take the risk of letting done vois pass when people are enraged. we are working that issue. i do not expect this blockade to continue for too long. it's not a blockade. it's just a temporary suspension of the convoys moving through. the other route in pakistan is still open. and 70% of nato supplies go through pakistan to afghanistan. the problem, candy, and don't mean to be offensive is the 24/7 news cycle. everybody needs a headline. the convoy stopped. it's a story until it gets open. i think we live with it we live beyond it the alliance will endure. >> do you think it will happen

in the next week? >> i think it will happen in less than a week. >> up next, donna brazile and ed gillespie tell us what to watch for in the final weeks of the campaign season. everything you need to stretch out on long trips. residence inn. ♪ everything you need to stay balanced on long trips. residence inn. 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. with acceptpay from american express open, we now invoice advertisers and receive payments digitally. and i get paid on average three weeks faster.

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and the cause of freedom. how... is the word that makes all the difference. we need directions to go to... pearblossom highway? it's just outside of lancaster. sure, i can download directions for you now. we got it. thank you very much! check it out. i can like, see everything that's going on with the car. here's the gas level. i can check on the oil. i can unlock it from anywhere. i've received a signal there was a crash. some guy just cut me off. i'll get an ambulance to you right away. safely connecting you in ways you never thought possible. onstar. live on. 30 days from the election, but thursday it felt like it was all over. there was republican leader john boehner laying out what he would do as speaker of the house. >> let's do away with the idea

of comprehensive spending bills. congress should also review its internal committee structure, the text of all bills should be published online for at least three days. we need to do something about earmarks. we can't keep kicking the can down the road, we're running out of road. >> while the man who would like to be speaker pitched his party's agenda, the democratic national committee released an ad using the prospects of a boehner-controlled house to scare democrats to the polls. >> he's been in washington for decades. he knows how the game works. he created the game. and he's taken millions from special interests. and now, john boehner wants to talk about reforming congress? now that's funny. >> all this fuss over a man most people couldn't pick out of a lineup. 55% of voters are unsure how they feel about the mine north leader. up next, two people we know have an opinion about john boehner, donna brazile and ed gillespie. i'm hungry. what's for dinner?

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joining me now from washington, democratic strategist and cnn political contributor, donna brazile, and former rnc chairman and former white house counselor, ed gillespie. welcome, both. >> thank you. >> an op-ed by thomas friedman in "the new york times" today and i wanted to read you a little bit of it and get your reaction. there going to be a serious third party candidate in 2012, with a serious political movement behind him or her -- one definitely big enough to impact the election's outcome and says the parties don't clean up their act xwabecause they're terrible. third party? >> i won't be surprise there

would be a third party candidate who emerges. but i think if republicans gain control of the house, and they don't do the things that they're saying they're going to do in the course of this campaign, we could certainly open up the potential for tea party candidates and others to not run in republican primaries or run as republicans but to run as third party. i'm not sure if friedman was talking about someone trying to run up the middle but -- >> yes, he called it -- i can remember, but, yes, talking about centrists, there's no room anymore. >> yeah. >> he also talked, donna, about the -- said he was floored by the anger out there at both parties in washington in general. you're out there a lot. >> candy, there's no question at some point we will have a serious third party candidate who will have a lot of money to spend because ed and i both understand that to get on ballot in some of the states require you to have a lot of money and a lot of zbrgrassroots support. we might see someone emerge, but

we face a very difficult choice in this coming election season. democrats are clearly out there trying to harness this anger to talk about solutions. you know, here are the problems we inherited, here are some of the things we're trying to do make life better. republicans, on the other hand, put out their pledge to america which democrats have labeled as more of the same. but i think this in in interim period independents are feeling isolated. they want to support one of these two parties, the democrats and republicans, but they feel like the republicans are not listen, the democrats are not listening. that's a small hole for somebody to fill in the vacuum. >> the independents have moved largely into the republican column. i think you're going to see big intensity and strong turnout from republicans but watch post election surveys. the lion's share by a big margin of self-identified candidates will be voting for republicans. >> i think they're stalling, ed. look across the country this

weekend you see in kentucky the race narrows between conway and paul -- rand paul. in connecticut the race has narrowed. i think independents are taking a look at tea party extremists and saying not on my watch. i think democrats have an opportunity to not only ralry their base but 0 to go out to independents and say when we talk office, they are hemorrhaging 800,000 jobs a month. >> the democrats going we're on the right track, you don't want to give it back to these people who cause all of the problems and the republicans saying compounded the problem. >> the message is dissident from voters are. wrong track numbers, vast majority of americans believe the country's on the wrong track when republicans say, and note rightly, that this president, this administration, has increased the debt more in 18

month than president bush did in it's a years when you note we're going to have the largest tax increase in american history hit our economy when we're trying to create jobs going to hammer small inbusiness owners. with congress having left town and leave that hanging out there, that uncertainty that is part of the job killing agenda of this democratic congress, this administration, i think they're going to pay a price for it. >> specifically on the expiration of the bush tax cuts, which comes january 1 or december 31st, it could play earth way. you could -- the democrats, you know, can go out and say, hey, listen, those republicans blocked us again because they want to give tax cuts to the rich. but i've also heard people say, donna, no, it's like here's congress, they can't -- they don't have the guts to go ahead and take a vote on this. if that's what they believe they should have taken a vote. >> the republicans passed a tax program, they passed it with the

premise that they would expire come 2011. so the tax cuts will expire at the end of the year, unless congress come back in the lame duck session and decide to do something about extending it for the middle class. taxes are at their low nest 60 years. when president obama took office $1.3 billion in debt. a debt that president bush did not have when he took office, president bush inherited a surplus from president clinton and vice president gore. we keep rehashing the past, we talk about if we go back to the -- >> are the democrats doing that? >> because the republicans are coming out of the wilderness fueled by this anger of about 15%, 20% of the american people, but what have they learned? what have they done over the last 18 months on capitol hill to show the american people we care about your jobs, we care about your future, we care about education, we care about inf infratrinfr infrastructu

infrastructure, the only thing they care about is winning the next election. >> republicans are put forward a positive alternative to the democratic agenda, whether on stimulus, heal care, energy policy the budget, and the fact is that the republicans have put forward this pledge to america, we just saw the clip from mine north leader boehner, talking about if republicans take control what are reforms they're going to enact in terms of the house of representatives, allowing people to read bills before they're voted on, allowing for amendments and floor debating. donna and i came up through the house it would be nice to see a legitimate vote instead of bringing a 2,000 page on the floor and making members vote up or down. >> they didn't add earmarks because republicans are going back to past policies that led us down the road of fiscal uncertainty. >> they did say he would do earmarks. let's me face you toward the white house now, the exit's of rahm emanuel, the inrim appointment of pete rouse.

what's our signal here? what are we to take away from the replacement for romg rahm emanuel. >> i wish rahm the best. he's trying to serve the people of illinois. -- chicago, illinois. i think it's a gift to president obama. this will be an opportunitier to the president to have fresh, new team which fresh thinking to focus on jobs, the economy,ismenting health care reform bill, implementing the wall street reform bill. this will give the president an opportunity to start the second half of his first term with more energetic players on the bench. >> you know, it's -- i think there's an opportunity misses here but i understand why. i don't know pete rouse, by all accounts he's a good guy and will be a good chief of staff. i guess they're trying to get him to stay perm, not just interim. but i think they would have benefitted fr benefitted from bringing someone from outside the circle rather than within. i understand a tumultuous period, if my projection is

right and republicans gain control of the house and we have major gains in the senate, it's understandable that they wouldn't want to manage that transition from an external perspective. >> let plea ask you about something we heard at the beginning of the show, and that is vice president biden sort of taking out after the progressives saying they're whining and they need to buck up, get out there and you hear the president say is irresponsible to sit at home. is that a way to win voters and influence people? >> if you attended the rally, that's inspiring. that's the way to inspire progressives and middle of the road americans. they want to know what you're planning to help them and their family and communities. i understand tough love is important in this business, it's a strategy to try to motivate them. you know what democrats are motivated? they're motivated by seeing the

republicans measure the drapes, knowing they're going to come up short if the republicans win this fall. >> there's a lot of frustration in the white house and they're lashing out everywhere, lashing out at republicans, by john boehner by name, the president himself is, lashing out at the professional left. >> congress. >> congress, pundits. you flow, it's a tough situation when you're in a situation where 30 days out from election the majority of voter have rejected your agenda. they think you're off on the wrong track and around 46% approval rating it's understandable. >> the highest approval rating of anyone. >> not on the ballot and all of that. he's got plenty of time to make it up. i've got a brief time left but i want to hear your predictions on how many house seats go to republicans. they need a magic 39. >> first of all i think we've made too much about the republicans making a lot of gain. i think the democrats will hold on to the house, hold on to the senate. history suggests that we'll lose

seats, some seats are red districts that democrats and won in '06 and '08. we will retaken a great many. >> i think a minimum of 145. i think republicans will recapture close. we'll be close notice is that the. probably a net gain of eight governorships is ten legislative chambers that flip from democrat to republican. a very big wave election. >> in my personal opinion, it's going to be a really exciting one. ed gillespie, donna brazile, thank you so much. up next -- a check of today's top headlines and then, coness comes throug for a big constituency, tv watchers.

time for a check of today's top stories. the u.s. state department has issued a travel alert for u.s. citizens in europe. the alert is based on information that suggests that al qaeda and affiliated organizations continue to plan terrorist attacks in european cities.

european governments have also stepped up security to guard against a terrorist attack. the afghan government has formally banned eight private security firms including the company formerly called blackwater. at a press conference sunday a spokesman for president hamid karzai said the security firms have handed over their weapons and they will be prevented from operating inside the country. also in afghanistan, government officials say a nato air strike targeting a taliban meeting in helmand province killed at least 17 people, including some taliban commanders, and three civilians. nato says they are still investigating the report of civilian casualties. iran's intelligence minister said authorities have arrested nuclear spies in connection with the damaging worm that infected computers in its nuclear program. tehran has insisted its nuclear program has not been compromised by the virus. iran's president is calling for u.s. leaders to be "buried"

in response to threats of a military attack on their nuclear program. president mahmoud ahmadinejad used a deeply offensive insult directed at the united states in his speech today. u.s. officials say that a military option is on the table, but have not directly threatened iran with a military strike. california's gubernatorial debate aimed at latino voters turned into an angry exchange last night when republican meg whitman accused democrat jerry brown of orchestrating the scandal over her former housekeeper who is in the country illegally. >> jerry, you know you should be ashamed. you and your surrogates, put her deportation at risk. you put her out there and you should be ashamed for sacrificing nicky diaz on the a altar of your political ambitions. >> don't run for governor if you can't say hey i made a mistake.

>> a cnn/"time" opinion research poll done before the housekeeper story came to light showed brown leading by nine points. those are your top stories here on "state of the union." up next congress didn't vote on the tax cuts but something did get done before leaving town. hi. we're ready to switch our car insurance to progressive. today just seemed like a great day to save. oh, it's not just today. with our free loyalty program, you earn great stuff like accident forgiveness and bigger discounts just by staying with us. oh! ooh! so, what you're saying is,

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personal pricing now on brakes. tell us what you want to pay. we do our best to make that work. deal! my money. my choice. my meineke. congress left town this week without dealing with the bush tax cuts which expire at the end of december and without doing budget business for fiscal year 2011, which started last friday. everybody blamed politics and each other. >> the minority strategy has been obvious for some time. it's to legislate as little as possible. >> i think the one thing we can clearly say about our friends on the other side of the aisle, they have a unified desire to leave town. >> but it was not a total bust. the senate had a unanimous vote, let's say that again, a

unanimous senate vote on an issue that strikes a chord in one of the biggest voting blocs in the country. ever gone to sleep to the news only to be blapsed off the coach by an ad? >> wow! that's a low price! >> i know. >> wee! wee, wee, wee! >> omnaris! >> the best car insurance rates online g to the general and save some time! >> 21 of the last 25 quarterly reports from the fcc listed loud tv commercials as a top complaint, which brings us to that crowd-pleasing senate vote for the commercial advertisement loudness mitigation act better known as c.a.l.m. >> wow, that's a low price! >> when the bill is signed ads will be banned from being loulder than the tv program they are interrupting. cosponer charles schumer noted "it's about time we turned down the volume on loud