rushes relief to eight symptoms of a full blown cold including your stuffy nose. (breath of relief) oh, what a relief it is. thanks. anytime. this sunday, the election season. sidetracked again, this time by two issues, one the ebola virus reaches new york city. do we need to quarantine health workers returning from west africa? is it time for a travel ban completely from all the effected countries? the home ground terror threat. another lone wolf attack in canada's parliament. that brutal hatchet attack on police officers in new york. is the threat from islamist extremists increasing, or are all these mental did i disturbed copycats? meeting the voters. >> i want to comment. >> my report from my road trip, part one. numbers showing the race to

control the senate is on a knife's edge. is our democracy being bought and sold? >> we have outsourced the funding of campaigns to this tiny fraction of the 1%. >> more than ever, billionaires trying to buy elections. finally, what if children talked back to their parents as if they were politicians. >> did you eat the cookies? >> i'm deeply upset by this question. >> i'm chuck todd. joining me to provide analysis are luke russert, carolyn ryan and dan balls. chief correspondent for the washington post. welcome to sunday. it's "meet the press." good morning. nine days go until election day. this morning we have new polls from six states that hopefully will tell us something about which way the wind is blowing and which party is going to control the senate and what the next two years might look like. i've been on the road meeting

the voters moin road trip spending the week in the midwest in my where is chuck bus covering battles in three states. we dropped in on kansas. the senate fight in iowa. and then the battle for governor in wisconsin that i feel like has been going on continuously for four years. before we get to the polls and all of the big races, two big stories caused major concern for many. of course, it commanded our attention. terror by the shooting in canadian parliament building in ott with a with. and the new york city doctor who contracted ebola after returning from west africa where he was treating ebola patients. let's start with ebola. this week the virus came to the country's biggest city. when craig spencer, a new york doctor who had been treating ebola patients, while working for doctors without borders in guinea, tested positive for the disease nine days after leaving west africa. the situation in west africa remains dire with the world

health organization announcing the number of ebola cases has now passed 10,000. there was encouraging news with dallas nurse nina pham becoming the latest to recover from it the disease receiving a hug from the president. >> if any politicians are calling for a travel money. in new york, new jersey, illinois and now florida have ordered quarantines for any health workers returning from west africa who have had direct contact with ebola patients. those quarantine orders have been criticized by casey hickocks who was held after returning from sierra leone before testing negative for the virus. she called the experience frightening and suggested other health workers could be deterred from traveling to west africa to tackle ebola. i'm joined from sophie, the u.s. executive director of doctors without borders. thank you for coming on "meet the press."

>> good morning. >> let me start with the new ordered taking place in new york, new jersey, illinois and florida. are you already finding that you have doctors and other healthcare workers backing out of volunteer trips to the affected areas. >> you know, frankly speaking, we are totally confused about these orders, because we have been -- we have put in place over the past few months protocols that are based on known medical science and accepted. and those protocols have been strictly followed by our staff. they consist of self-monitoring, very strict self-monitoring. we ask our volunteers coming back from west africa to monitor their temperature twice a day during 21 days, to continue their malaria prophylaxis and

more importantly we recommend that they report symptoms as soon as they realize that they exist. this is actually the protocol that our colleague craig has strictly followed this week. >> you believe that dr. spencer did not put any new yorkers in harm's way? >> well, what we know from medical science is that a person who does not present symptoms is very unlikely to transmit the disease. even though the disease can only be transmitted through the exchange of body fluids. so it's actually impossible that

a person living, in the same building, than an infected person who does not present symptoms could be at risk of being infected with ebola. >> is there any new protocol you can add to reassure the american public? >> we're working on trying to strengthen the monitoring, of course, of our field workers. but we are also very confused about are going to be the recommendations by the states. we're still strictly following the guidelines of public health institutions in the u.s. and working at increasing -- strengthening ours. we are more -- we are very much concerned about the health condition of our colleague. we're very sensitive to and understanding of the anxiety that ebola triggered. but more importantly, we are very much concerned about the situation in west africa where the outbreak is still out of control. quarantine measures against an aid worker could give a sense

but it's important to tackle it there. >> thank you for your time and perspective this morning. i appreciate it. >> thank you, chuck. the u.s. ambassador to the u.n. is traveling to the effected countries in west africa. she landed in guinea this morning. my colleague of nbc news is traveling with her and asked her yesterday whether quarantining healthcare workers is a good idea? >> all of us need to make clear what these health workers mean to us and how much we value their service, how much we value their contribution. we need to encourage more. we need many more than are going. and we need to find a way that when they come home they are treated like conquering heroes and not with the stigma they are now.

>> in the studio is dr. anthony fauci who successfully treated nina pham. welcome back to "meet the press." >> good to be with you. >> the issue of quarantines, we now have new york, new jersey, illinois, three airports there, newark, j.f.k., o'hare that do receive passengers from the impacted countries, they are doing mandatory quarantines. good idea? >> the first thing we need to do is make sure the primary goal is to protect the american people. but there are ways to do that that may not have go that far. >> they have gone too far? >> i don't want to be criticizing what the decision that was made. but we have to be careful there are unintended consequences. the best way to stop this epidemic is to help the people in west africa. we do that by sending people over there, not only from the u.s. but from other places. we need to treat them -- they

are heros. the idea we are -- there are other ways to protect. there's monitoring. there's direct monitoring. there's active monitoring. we don't necessarily need to do that. >> the governors of virginia and georgia where dulles airport is and, of course, atlanta, which receives people from the effected areas, they are probably going to wake up this morning feeling the pressure to do the same things that the governors of new york, new jersey and illinois, what's your advice? >> go with the science. that's what we're trying to do. go with the science. >> the science is? >> the science tells us that people who are not sick, if you do not come into contact with body fluid, if someone comes back from wherever, liberia, and they are well, they are no danger to anyone. that is for sure. >> dr. spencer was well for a week. >> right. he was well for a week. but we're not saying just leave them off. you monitor them. you can monitor them in multiple

ways. you don't have to put them in a confined place. you monitor them. you take their temperature. you take this -- remember, dr. spencer was not sick at the time that he was going around. we keep saying it over and over again, chuck. you have to come into direct contact with body fluids. the risk to the general public is vanishingly small. >> apparently, according to the governor, the federal government is considering something more -- something more stringent. what are you considering? >> certain types of monitoring. you have to strat identify risk. there are people at some low risk and no risk. i'm talking about the healthcare workers. >> all healthcare workers? >> all healthcare workers. you fashion what do you with them according to the risk. one of the ways you can mitigate against this issue is by monitoring different types of monitoring. you don't necessarily have to -- >> how do you make sure it's mandatory? thank goodness dr. spencer was doing it.

>> there are ways to ratchet that up. there's pos receive monitoring. take your temperature. if anything goes wrong, you report it. there's active where you report it to someone and then there's direct active where someone comes in and actually takes your temperature. that's all short of quarantine. >> okay. dr. anthony fauci, thanks for coming back. >> good to be with you, chuck. busy week. i want to turn to home grown terror. officials say that a lone wolf attacker, self-radicalized with no official ties to a terror group, is more likely to happen and more difficult to stab than a coordinated 9/11-style attack. we have seen recent examples. monday, near montreal, a man deliberately hit two members of the military with his car. they describe it as a extremist. wednesday, a convert to islam on the canadian government's watch list kills a guard on parliament hill and is killed with police

shortly after. thursday, in new york, a self-radicalized muslim attacks a group of four nypd officers with a hatchet and injured two police officers. the police call it a terrorist attack. last week, three teenage girls from colorado get on a plane to europe hoping to join isis. they are arrested in germany and returned home. joining me now are michael leiter and arselon iftacar. senior editor from islamic month lichlt i want to tackle this in two ways. michael, let me start with you. are all these terrorist attacks, islamic terrorism in your -- in the way you would classify them, or are these mentally deranged people glomming on to an ideology to make their attack seem more relevant? >> i'm not sure there's a difference between those two categories. they are politically motivated. people who are doing this in the

name of al qaeda or isis. in many cases, these individuals are ones who have had a crisis in their life who are mentally ill and they attach themselves to some ideology. in this case, that's being driven to them and this is, to me, terrorist attacks. >> how do you deal with it? how do you stop it? is this more surveillance? conspiracies, you are good at breaking up. once one person talks to somebody, you got them. >> it's what we built up over the past ten years. it's great you talked with anthony fauci. it's the same thing. looking at risk in different areas. high end, we're good at it. the small-scale lone wolves, it's harder. we don't have the resources to cover all of them. what we have to do is mitigate it the best we can. but not overreact. because this isn't in the scheme of risks that we see as a society, this isn't really a life and death matter for the entire nation. >> what is the role of the american muslim community in this?

there are clearly people self-radicalizing, maybe newcomers into the islamic community, wherever it's happening, what's the role of the leadership in the islamic communities to identify perhaps people that are joining, converting but not for the right reasons? >> i think it's important to keep in mind when you talk about groups like isis, that we're not talking about the x men or transformers. we're not dealing with wolverines. or optimus prime. we're dealing with loner idiots sitting in their tighty whities in their mother's basement playing call of duty on their xbox who are disengaged from the rest of the community. if you look at the shooter in ottawa, he was thrown out of a mosque similar to the boston marathon bombing suspects. in terms of community policing, the muslim community in the united states and canada has done a remarkable job. i agree that a lot of what we

will see are these self-radicalized loners. what a lot of experts refer to as the new jihadi cool. i would bet all the money that isis never heard of michael before. >> i understand that. is this a media issue? does it become the more attention attacks like this get, does it end up serving perversely to convince more of these mentally deranged folks to say, i'm going to use this perverted ideology as a way to get more attention for my attack in. >> whenever american muslims or arabs are impugned after an attack like this, it happens to further the agenda of these organizations to say, see, america is at war with muslims. the fact of the matter is that there are over 7 million american muslims who live here peacefully. five out of the last 12 nobel peace prize winners. sad sly, when you look at the

nafty, in terms of muslims, it's always negative, extremist that we're dealing with. that's with a we have to push back against. >> the social media issue, you have monitored it. it's been a helpful tool on surveillance. now it's a recruitment tool in some form or another. what is the best way to deal with it. >> this is the biggest change between isis and previous elements of al qaeda. >> it wasn't social media as much. >> this isis is using social media. it's going after jihad cool. it's not something the u.s. government has been good at. we have to monitor. we have to engage. the partnerships between state

and local officials and muslim communities have to change from what we have done over the past ten years. >> what's something that changes? >> it's all about building trust. right? there's been a lot of surveillance whether fbi, whether other agencies, in the american muslim community, putting -- >> there's distrust? >> there's a lot of distrust. to build that trust, letting people know that community policing is part of american law enforcement. >> do we have enough muslim fbi agents? >> no. we don't have enough fbi agents who understand islam. we don't have enough people in government doing counterterrorism who understand 15 to 29-year-olds. they are disengaged. this is the group likely to be most likely. it's not say no to drugs. it has to be deep engagement. >> you gave us a lot to think about. the panel is here. luke russert nia henderson, dan balls. it's the politics of all of this, these two issues. nine days from the midterms. dan, you were on the road. i've been on the road. how much did you find ebola and the terror threat coming up in conversations with voters? >> only a little bit. i think these are sort of back of the mind issues. these are not playing significantly in these races. and yet it's part of the kind

of -- it adds to the unease out there. it adds to the question of, are things working? why aren't they working better? am i safe? is my family safe? i think that's where it fits into the larger narrative of this campaign. >> whether it comes to the ebola quarantines, you can't help but wonder, when you saw the governors of illinois and florida both in tight re-election races, they see what others did and they think we better not let our opponents somehow out ebola us. >> one thing that was jarring and a little bit unsettling in new york, you had governor cuomo come out with the mayor and seem to be quite confident about how things with were going in new york. the next day, with governor chris christie say it's not

enough. it generates anxiety over this. we will see more and more states and it's confusing to the public and to healthcare workers. >> you know, politics obviously is impacting the way these guys are acting. you can't help but wonder if they would be moving like this so erratically if the election weren't nine days away. >> i think that's right. i think particularly with a certain segment of voters, women, this is playing quite a bit. there was a focus group of walmart moms and they are worried about ebola more than isis, the idea is that ebola is here, isis is over there. certainly i think these folks who are thinking about politics now and also thinking about 2016, a moving swiftly, allay certain fears and to look -- obama was criticized for not acting quickly enough. >> they want to look like, look at us? >> exactly. >> luke, talking to both parties -- i found the same thing that dan did. ebola and isis are there but it isn't the front of mind issue in

these races. they are engaged in what the issues are. you talk to democrats and they say, these two stories, it delays the chance for the democrat to make the localized closing argument that they want to make, while republicans who are trying to make a national argument, they can fit it in. >> right. i would argue that t ties the democrat to a president obama more directly. one thing we have seen throughout the midterms and the strategy of republicans is to create this culture of incompetence around the obama administration. you have seen that in the polling. some polls show the competence around bush during katrina. it was an issue there. you are seeing that play out in the midterms. it delays local argument and it puts these democrats directly in the same boat as president obama. it's a tough thing for them to be at. you saw the cdc response better in new york after dallas. >> in six months when we talk about 100,000 ebola cases in west africa, competency of the

world will come up. we will be back. meeting the voters who hope to give incumbents a black eye. i will report back from my bus trip. we have our new polls from the key battleground statements. we'll be right back. callahan's? ehh, i mean get away, like, away away. road trip? double wings, extra ranch. feels good to mix it up. the all-new, fuel-efficient volkswagen golf tdi clean diesel. up to 594 miles of adventure in every tank. ♪ every now and then i get a little bit hungry ♪ ♪ and there's nothing good around ♪ ♪ turn around, barry ♪ i finally found the right snack ♪ [ female announcer ] fiber one. ♪ introducingound the right snack ♪ a pm pain reliever that dares to work

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polls have made it clear, the american voter is not satisfied with anything or anybody in power, personally in washington. the wild card in this election is how the frustrated voters

will express themselves once they walk into the voting booth. this week i have been on the road to meet the voters. whether it's kansas, iowa or wisconsin, it's becoming clear that the close races are going to be decided by how voters come down on the question of this, punishing one party without rewarding the other. on the first day of our meet the voters tour, we rolled through the heartland, kansas city. home of world series baseball and a senate race across the state line in kansas that could shake the nation. 46-year-old independent greg orman has made himself into a credible alternative against pat roberts. >> we declare our independence. independence from both political parties. >> he hasn't closed the deal yet with voters. it's a sentiment we heard over and over again at vfw posts. >> in some cases i would like to get rid of all the incumbents. i think that would do more to harm what we have going on. >> i'm of the mentality if they

have been there a couple years, they are career politicians. >> you are the -- i'm done with everybody. >> if they don't have the guts to put term limits in, i will do it myself at the voting booth. >> heard your speech. i did not hear specifics, anything about immigration, healthcare, tax reform. >> i think we have spent a lot of time in this campaign defining what we think is wrong with america and what we think we need to do to solve the problems. to get to that spot, we have to fix the dysfunction in washington. >> in iowa, another race, the party that wins this race will likely control the u.s. senate next year. republican joni earnst is trying to become the first woman elected to congress there. >> i feel more of a duty as a female. >> a fact not lost on some of the students at iowa state we sat down with. >> a lot of times it's hard for older men to understand what is

important to women. >> if you can find the word republican, i will pay you five bucks. i don't see it. that tells you something. it's a reminder of what kind of state this is. >> mother, soldier, conservative. >> she hopes to benefit from the fact her first name isn't congressman. what could be holding her back is some of her very conservative positions, including support for something called personhood which in some cases would grant all unborn human beings with equal protections. the personhood thing was a mistake? >> it's not. i do believe in life. i will never say that's a mistake because, again, i am someone who is always going to promote life. >> her opponent is trying to convince voters she's too conservative. millennials could be the difference and the millions of dollars spent on the ad war may not reach them. >> a lot of us aren't watching tv. a lot of us are on our phones and online. >> heading north, wisconsin. four years of a hard core

political battle. republican governor scott walker is fighting for his job for the third time in four years. democrat mary burke is hoping voters are worn-out from being the most polarized state in the nation. unfair? >> i think it's fair. unfortunately, but it's not who we are here in wisconsin. >> mary burke is trying to capitalize on that sentiment. former president clinton campaigned with burke the day we talked to her. she's one of the few democrats who wants the current president by her side. >> why are you comfortable having president obama here. >> it's going to be tight. turnout is important. i welcome the president here. >> reach out wisconsin, a group bitterly divided over walker, meet every month to move past the washington-style dysfunction. conservatives listening to liberals. >> you understand the person and why they believe that as opposed to just demonizing for the political belief. >> and liberals listening to conservatives. >> make friends with the person

you are most afraid to make friends with. >> there you have it. a fascinating way for that man to p end. let me bring in senators chuck shumer from new york, rob portman from ohio. you guys are obviously knee deep in the election. you are part of the nsrt. number two in the leadership. let's start with south dakota -- we will start with iowa, bruce braley at 46%, the republican there, at 49%, joni. colorado, a close race. mark udall, 45%. look at this one in kansas. the independent still holding the lead. a month ago a ten-point lead now it's down to one. some surprised in the south, closer races in places going in different directions. north carolina, kay hagan in a

dead heat with thom tillis. they believe hagan holds the lead. things are closing in arkansas giving tom cotton just a two-point edge over mark pryor, 45, 43. some people thought this would be put away by now. then there is south dakota. there was chatter that maybe the race was making an unusual result. that's not the case. mike rounds is way out in front, double digit lead there. you guys are the ones on the defensive here. we are nine days out. how do you hole the senate? >> i think we will hold the senate. i know all the pundits are days

republicans will take the senate, democrats will prove the pundits wrong on election day when we keep the senate. three reasons. first and foremost, economic issues predominate. ebola is in the news, isis is in the news. but the average voter, every poll shows far and away cares most about economic issues. they tend to be for democrats when economic issues like minimum wage, equal pay for women, not sending jobs overseas dominate. we have a better ground game. you can add two to three points -- >> minute number? >> for each of those races, every one of the races. if it's 44, 43, we're probably ahead. third, as the race gets down to the final moments, the voters focus on the two candidates, not on a national referendum. when the two candidates are compared, almost inevitably we do better. economic issues, better ground game, better candidates will put us over the top november. >> why is he wrong? why do you believe he's wrong? >> it's not the pundits saying

the republicans are going to get the majority, it's the voters. your polls show it. >> it's tight. >> it's tight but the voter intensity is on our side. saw with early voting in iowa, republicans are winning. that's never happened before. all the polls show that this is going to be a good year for republicans. it's a good environment for us. luke talked about the incompetence that some people feel about the obama administration. that's catching up to them. people are asked what do you think about the president. you know what they said? he gets less than 40% approval in all those states. when the president goes on national tv and says, this is about me, these are my policies, all my policies are on the ballot, when he further says, all the candidates trying to distance themselves, they vote with me and they want to vote with me, it's a national election. republicans have great candidates. we have the enthusiasm on our side. people are looking for a change. they don't want the status quo. a change is -- >> i let you go long on the first question. keep it tighter here when we go over these things. why do 51 democrats matter more

than 51 republicans? what will matter in the next four years? >> is it does matter. two words, supreme court. >> it's about judges? >> not all. but you asked one reason. supreme court. the money that's cascading into our system. if the supreme court continues to be the way it is and there's a vacancy and they buttress that, we will be subject to these few people just dominating the elections for decades to come. the supreme court on voting rights make a huge difference. the supreme court on women's issues make a huge difference. supreme court. >> what's the real difference for the last two years of the obama administration with 51 republican snz getting stuff done. >> really? i just -- there's a lot of skepticism that anything will get done. >> the only way things get done is we change the majority. if you do what we are doing, we will have discuss function that we have now.

nothing is getting done. we aren't doing budgets. we aren't helping people get jobs. i had a jobs fair in ohio and ran into people who are working part-time two or three jobs, been out of work for months. >> john kasic claims you are doing well right now. >> washington needs to pass stuff. if you get a republican majority, it wim get the president to the table and we will begin to solve some of these big problems. that's what people want to see. >> i want -- >> number one issue in your polling is the gridlock in washington. if you want to change things, vote for republicans. >> created by republicans in the senate and house. they create gridlock then blame the president for it. >> let me stop you there. >> you can -- >> everything we do -- >> hang on. guys. senators. speaking of who is in charge, i want to play you something here about how candidates feel about mitch mcconnell and harry reid. take a listen. >> if you were elected and if he is re-elected, will you support mitch mcconnell as the leader of the republicans in the u.s. senate? >> that was a yes or no. my answer is no. >> is harry reid the best person to lead the senate democrats, yes or no? >> i think we can perhaps do better in both parties moving

forward. >> i have nearly a dozen democrats -- a dozen democrats who are saying, you know what, i would like somebody else different than harry reid. is harry reid bigger than the majority? greg orman says he will not be with the democrats if mary reed is the senate majority leader. what say you? >> i say that harry reid will run for majority leader and he will win with an overwhelming -- probably very close to a majority vote. >> senator mcconnell, i'm hearing the same thing from republicans, he's not out of the woods. he can't put his race away. there are -- greg orman will not sit with the republicans if mitch mcconnell is in charge. is one man bigger than the potential majority for the republicans. >> no. but i think mitch will win in kentucky. you said that she had disqualified herself, her opponent by saying she wouldn't

tell people whether she voted for president obama or not. i think he will -- >> i meant that voters might think that at the time. but to go back -- change in leadership is important. >> i think mitch will win. he will be the leader. >> should he be the leader? >> i think he should. here did. >> the two of them shut down the senate. you done believe that in. >> here is the important point. by changing the majority, having the house and senate working together and working with the president, we can solve problems. the biggest problem is jobs and the economy. we need to give it a shot in the arm. let's do tax reform. let's do something on energy. let's approve the keystone pipeline. these things could happen. >> on the issues that matter the most to american people on jobs, racing minimum rage, equal pay, stop sending jobs overseas, helping kids pay for college, the republicans have said no on

each of those. that why we are going to win the election. that's why if they win, there will be gridlock. >> i have to leave it here. >> we want -- >> the voters here think it's going to be gridlock no matter what. that's your real change there. >> time for change. >> senators, thank you both. is or democracy for sale? what are those billions on the big money on the campaigns get for the money? right after this. umm... everyone has retirement questions. so ameriprise created the exclusive confident retirement approach. now you and your ameripise advisor.... can get the real answers you need. start building your confident retirement today.

$2.99 gas was unbelievable, some the gas prices we saw on the road. you have seen some of our road trip this week. i will be back on the road, the second leg of our trip is going to be down south. we will roll into north carolina on monday, then it's georgia, arkansas and finish up with louisiana because we know louisiana is likely to go into election overtime. along the way, i have been doing interviews with candidates and voters as well as posting analysis of each race, take aways from my interviews and what we found out about politics and food from some interesting facebook data. all of it's online. meet the voters website. it's at meetthevoters.nbcnews.com. by the way, if you see us, say hi, honk your horn.

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♪ "here i am. rock you like a hurricane." ♪ fiber one now makes cookies. find them in the cookie aisle. this is charlie. his long day of doing it himself starts with back pain... and a choice. take 4 advil in a day or just 2 aleve for all day relief. honey, you did it! baby laughs! we are america and it would be fair to say we do things bigg we are america and it would be fair to say we do things bigger in this country. that's true when it comes to elections and campaign spending. luke russert is here to talk about this. you have been crunching numbers. this stat is unbelievable. >> remarkably, you could pay for 80 british general election campaigns with what's being

spent on this year's midterms alone. there's concern about the roll money is playing in our politics with some even going as far as to argue our democracy is being bought and sold. 16 years ago the 1998 midterms cost $1.6. this year, $4 billion. outside groups spent $15 million on the '98. this time it's 67 times higher, over $1 billion. this year it will be just as high. that doesn't count so-called dark money whose sources and donors never have to be disclosed or won't be disclosed until well after the election. in the senate battleground states, outside groups are spending more on adds than campaigns and political parties combined. funding the financial arms race, a group of modern day oligarchs. >> on father's day, i was with my family and mitch mcconnell

was with his -- the koch brothers. >> the koch brothers. >> senate republicans are addicted to koch. >> on the right, charles and david koch. the brothers who run koch industries, the second largest company, net worth, $41.9 billion each. americans for press period, just one several koch-backed groups has pledged to spend $125 million. they have offices in more than 30 states. on the left, newcomer tom styer, net worth $1.6 billion. he has donated $58 million in support of candidates can sprong records on climate state. >> a california extreme environmentalist. >> a california billionaire. >> last month they had a wooden arc on wheels across florida where he is focusing his efforts on retiring rick scott. the koch brothers through outside groups with mundane if not agreeable sounding names

like americans for prosperity, freedom partners, concerned veterans for america, and again opportunity are outspend gs him by five to one on ads in the battleground states. in the center, michael bloomberg, net worth $34 billion. he pledged to spend $50 million to support gun control legislation. and became a punching bag for red state democrats. >> mayor bloomberg of new york city ran ads in arkansas criticizing me for standing up for your second amendment rights. >> now he will spend $25 million more backing centrists. >> add others, and we could see an election that costs about $44 a vote. the financial arments race has become so crazy that one campaign reform advocate decide to fight fire with fire.

he formed the anti super pac super pac. >> we launched the may day pac to rally people to the idea of changing the way elections were funded. we have have had more than 50,000 people contribute. sglm the question is, do voters even care? in 2012 billions spend didn't move the needle that much. >> let me show you this chart. they listed all the different outside groups that have spent on behalf of bruce braley. i have to scroll it. there's a dozen groups on each side. did you find any voters -- they hate the ads. do they care about the outside money? do they vote on it in. >> no. they don't vote on it. they hate the ads, the amount of money being spent. but it's not a voting issue. the interesting thing is, i'm sure you have had the same experience, you talk to the people who are helping to produce the ads and they are as sick as many of the people who are watching them. why are you doing it?

for the reason you said, we can't afford not to because the other side is doing it. >> it's totally -- it feels like the cold war. it is a cold political war. we are going down a road where it's going to destroy the two-party system. >> one of the most interesting statistics that came out of this, a story showing that most of the money, most of the spending is from groups that don't disclose their donors. the original free speech argument was, let's lift the caps but let's have contemporaneous disclosure but that's not the case. >> it's going to drive good candidates from running. >> yeah. the threshold for getting in there is so high now. you had democrats that are complaining about it. but democrats are good at raising this money and coordinating this group on the ground in the different states. >> unbelievable. luke, nice and scary work. right? >> in a moment, sometimes kids say darnedest things.

what if children talked back to us like politicians? >> did you eat the dozen chocolate chip cookies i left on the counter to cool? >> i'm deeply upset by this question. cool? >> i'm deeply upset by this question. >> time for the edge week ahead from comcast business. built for business. i'm andrew ross sorkin. wall street will reaction to the european central bank stress test. the tests are designed to gauge the overall health of europe's financial system. they come at a time with intense uncertainty. wednesday, we will find out whether or not the federal reserve will end its bond buying program when the central bank wraps its two-day meeting. that's your cnbc executive edge. get all your latest business news on cnbc and cnbc.com. een l? no. it's called grid iq.

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you have seen the horse race results in the key senate states which remain close. let's go inside the numbers, because they paint a more complex picture of this campaign and perhaps this will help explain why things haven't broken decisively in either party's direction. first let's start with why senate democrats are in the position that they are in in the first place. president obama is very unpopular. in each of the six states we polled, the president' job rating is below his national

average, never stopping 40% in any of the states we polled. if there were the lone factor affecting this year's midterms we would see a republican advantage in all of the battleground states almost guaranteeing the gop winning back the senate. but it's not. here is why. we asked voters what the most important issue was to them in deciding how they would vote next week. what did we find? two things that aren't going to help any incumbents, republican or democrat. first is more than an issue, it's an atmosphere. voters are most concerned about breaking the partisan gridlock in washington to get things done. what was one of the top two issues in four of the six states, including two big ones, iowa and kansas, where it was the top issue. even in north carolina and arkansas, breaking the gridlock was a close third. folks, take a look at this. in all of these polls, if your name begins with senator or congressman, you aren't popular. out the seven sitting senators and congressmen running for the senate this year in the states

we polled, only two -- two have a favorable rating barely above water, barely. tom cotton and corey gardner. breaking the dig function in washington is trumping the economy in some states, it trumps healthcare in just about every state. this is sure to be the wild card with just ten days to go until this year's elections. they want to punish the democrats without regarding the republicans. they are sitting there wondering what to do. we will be back after this. no, that can't happen. that's the thing, you don't know how long it has to last. everyone has retirement questions. so ameriprise created the exclusive.. confident retirement approach. now you and your ameripise advisor can get the real answers you need. well, knowing gives you confidence. start building your confident retirement today. ring ring!... progresso!

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i've got the panel back here. you just saw all those poll numbers. i want to show -- we know what the republican party's closing argument is. i i've got the panel back here. you just saw all those poll numbers. i want to show -- we know what the republican party's closing argument is.

if you don't know, wait until you see these two ads, one in arkansas, one in north carolina. there's one person who is the star. take a look. >> make no mistake, these policies are on the ballot. every single one of them. >> president obama is right about something, his policies are on the ballot. >> voting 92% of the time with the president. whether you support him or not, doesn't work here in north carolina. it is time for someone to reach across party lines and finally get something done in this country. >> boy, that second ad there, that was her voice narrating an nrsc ad on that same issue. >> that's a powerful ad. the question of the relationship between democrats in the senate and the president right now is fascinating, especially because he seems to be kind of inserting himself and creating more problems for them. i find -- >> you had a great story, the back biting has begun. finger pointing, blame game. democrats blaming the white house for the problems. >> i find the psychology of this most fascinating.

because you have president obama who is this politicians, wanted to be a transcendent politician. now he's unable to absorb the fact that he's unpopular. he keeps pushing himself out there. all presidents have egos. they tend to be oversized but surprisingly fragile. that's part of what we are seeing. >> the problems republicans are having closing the sale -- you found this on the road -- is that they are not trusted as change agents. they have sold the argument that, president obama and democrats, they are gumming things up. but they are not buying the republicans -- the republicans know it. the ad was not paid for not about the the national -- they changed their name to nrsc. their name had three words that are very unpopular, national, republican and senatorial. they realized they couldn't have that.

how do republicans close the gap? >> they close it with the ad that you just put on the air, which is to bring it back to president obama. we have talked about this all year long, that the national atmosphere in a midterm election, the president's on line. he has been a drag on democrats all through this campaign. there have been things that have gotten in the way of that for republicans that has made it more difficult, one is their bad brand and questions about them. in the end, they will want to try to nationalize this around obama. >> luke, closing argument for the democrats. did they mess up by distancing themselves too much from obama where they made this even too effective? >> i think in the individual state races, it's probably better to try and be as independent as you can. looking into the poll, what i found fascinating, the two issues, job creation and breaking the gridlock. republicans overwhelmingly do better on job creation. democrats do better on breaking the gridlock.

>> they are in trouble. washington dysfunction voters, they have a shot. >> in terms of playing the up the independence, if you want to break the gridlock, that's what you do. >> i want to sort of have a little lighter moment here. it's a little depressing. i want you to see this. yesterday they asked what if kids started using political talking points politicians use to talk back to their parents? that got us thinking. we took the liberty of borrowing the idea, added pictures and sound. here now is our version of what kids would sound like if they talked like politicians, script courtesy of the des moines register. >> billy! >> good morning mother. let me say how great it is to be in the kitchen. am i to understand you have have a question? >> i do. did you eat the cookies? >> i'm sorry. could you repeat that question? >> did you eat the dozen chocolate chip cookies i left on the counter to cool? >> i'm deeply upset by this question. i would like to think that we had built the kind of relationship where such questions would not be necessary. >> well, it is.

when i left the kitchen there were a dozen cookies cooling on the counter. now they are gone. did you eat them? >> that's not the question. you know who is behind this, don't you? koch brothers. >> the brothers who run koch industries? >> no, jimmy and jumbo rogers. twin brothers who live on koch street. >> tans -- answer the question, billy. did you eat the cookies? >> i have answered that question. >> you didn't say anything. >> that is my answer. >> your answer is no answer? >> i have no control how you choose to interpret my answers. isn't it high time we put the past behind us and looked forward to the future? what's for supper? >> we did it in an absurd way because that's what -- do the elections officials know that's how they sound when they do these crazy evasions? you make us all ask the same question four or five times. it's like that bad skit out of austin powers, ask me three times and finally will farrell's character will answer the question.

>> your answer is no answer at all. >> mm-hmm. >> whoever wins, come november or january, whenever this will be decided, they are going to be facing a very frustrated public, a public that doesn't really believe that they can make a difference and break the gridlock. how they are able to convince the public otherwise will be a big task. >> dan, that sets the environment for 2016. that's what is here is distrust of politicians. it's we made fun of it and mocked it, but that's the environment. >> it is. one of the big questions is, which of these candidates who want to run for president in 2016 has a way to get past where we are today. they will talk about it. but is anybody really going to be able to do it in. >> i don't know. that's all for today. i will get back on my bus. we will be in new york in our election studio with three days to go until the midterms. for now, if it's sunday, it's "meet the press."

i absolutely have no second thoughts about it. i think this is a policy that will become a national policy sooner than later. >> i don't want to be directly criticizing the decision that was made. we have to be careful that there are unintended consequences. >> unintended consequences. concern this afternoon over mandatory quarantines for ebola and workers returning from west africa with some states taking matters into their own hands. meanwhile a nurse who was in mandatory quarantine, even after testing negative for ebola slamming authorities for the way she's being treated in new jersey. in the grips of isis. a new york times front page report gives us a chilling account of oh life as