ntucky. senate minority leader mitch mcconnell has opened a nine-point lead over the democratic challenger. in georgia, republican david perdue is leading michelle nunn by about four points. but if no candidate receives more than 50% of the vote a runoff will be held in january. the louisiana senate battle could be headed for a runoff. in a hypothetical runoff leading 50% to 45%. and looking at the big picture, republicans and democrats nationally are deadlocked. 46% of likely voters feature a gop-controlled congress, 45% want democrats in control. from kansas georgia, and iowa we have reporters covering the races with less than 48 hours before the voters head to the polls. we'll start in iowa where a new poll -- luke russert with a

welcome back luke. this new "des moines register" poll shows joni ernst with a lead, what do you think he can do at this point to save his chances? >>. >> well, that would come down to turnout. with this new poll it puts joni ernst in the driver's seat. bruce braley desperately needs, he needs the turnout to come through in a big way. democrats have a very good campaign apparatus here on the ground. that's what they're known for. they use it in 2012. but when you look at it even the most optimistic democrats will say our ground game probably gets us three points at most, plus three. so this poll is true those points, you only get three on the ground, it's tough to see a path right now for bruce braley and that's because joni ernst

has been able to play that out so well. and on the issue that republicans normally do poorly on and who cares more about me joni ernst beats him because braley modeled himself as i'm a fighter for you. but to show how important this race is nationally there's been a lot of surrogates here alex. bill clinton did two events. marco rubio, john mccain have been in the last few days. harry reid actually on a conference call with progressive campaign committee really towing those numbers. elizabeth warren backing up harry reid saying he would be a progressive, someone for the minimum wage. trying to appeal to those kind of democrats to get him over the edge. but in an off year election, a seven-point margin i think it's fair to say enthusiasm and momentum is on ernst's side. but you never know. elections are made to be

surprising at the end, alex. >> and they are often very exciting when they are. as you know, luke, the president won both but what do you think that means for 2016? >> well if ernst pulls off a win in 2016, some people will say perhaps republicans are back into play. the democrats have won presidentially here since 1988. however, if ernst does win, she instantly becomes a rock star on the republican side. she's a veteran. she's 44, rather younger, she's a woman. if you think about all the presidential hopefuls that are going to line up to try to get her support. i mean she'll have a line around the block at her campaign headquarters. so one democrat i spoke to on that point was like one of the reasons we obviously want to keep the senate. one reason we'd like to knock out joni ernst. i mean, just think about what she could do when she gets to washington with those credentials on the presidential

level. it'll be a fascinating thing to watch if it happens, alex. >> you bring up a good point, as always. thank you so much. well from iowa we head south to georgia where two close races are grabbing a lot of attention. let's go to atlanta and casey hunt for us. first up to the governor's race. is there any sense of clear momentum? >> hey, alex. i think at this point, it's pretty clear that nathan deal is in pretty good shape heading into his re-election. he's facing of course jason carter, who is the grandson of jimmy carter. and jason carter has performed better than anyone really expected a democrat to be able to perform, especially in this environment, and especially against incumbent. nathan deal did have some ethics issues, but they don't seem to be sticking to him in a major way at the end. and jason carter is getting some support from his grandfather, jimmy carter who has been campaigning across the state. jason himself was in florida yesterday campaigning at the

florida/georgia game. >> okay. that sounds like that was fun. you explained that last hour. i was like why is he in florida. anyway, the other big races here for senate which could end up in a run-off election. how does that work? >> reporter: so -- at this point, if no candidate gets 50% on election day, this is heading to a run-off. not scheduled to take place until january. that's another couple months of hard fighting. and the two candidates here. michelle nunn is one of the best candidates across the senate map this cycle. she's performed really well. and she's really sort of hammered perdue in the final weeks. he's struggled to discuss his sort of outsourcing claims. and the two of them had a debate today if you want to take a listen to the latest jabs. >> just seems to me that this president has said his policies are on the ballot. and in the state of georgia, those failed policies go by the

name of michelle nunn. >> i have a deep and abiding commitment. i've talked about it for the entire came pain forpaign. i believe we can work together to get things done. it's a different approach than the one you have shared in the campaign trail. >> that's what you're hearing from michelle nunn her main argument, even though she's of the party, she's still somebody who represents more bipartisanship. george h.w. bush has become part of the campaign because she worked for his points of light volunteer organization. and so the bushes say they're supporting david perdue but she's been pretty successful in bringing that sort of bipartisan credential to bear here. now, that said republicans do seem to be gaining some strength in the final weeks. and as i've talked to republicans as the early vote totals have come in they're starting to say they're feeling a bit better art this race now than they were a week ago. >> all right. casey hunt. thank you for that. from atlanta, georgia.

we now go to ohio. that's where the polls there open just a few minutes ago for the only sunday of early voting in this election. and that by the way, is the first in the state since 2004. in september, the supreme court upheld ohio's controversial changes to early voting cutting that period from 35 to 28 days ending weekday voting at 5:00 p.m. and doing away with the so-called golden week when ohioans could register and vote on the same day. how are the changes being felt at the polls? joining me from cleveland, ohio zachary. what are you hearing from the voters about how exactly these laws are affecting them? >> well, they say they are going to have an effect. i've just come from the antioch baptist church where they're gearing up for a big souls to the polls drive. a lot of churches do where they after services take voters to vote on mass. and they say these changes, especially the cuts to evening voting during the week will make it harder for a lot of voters in their community to get to the

polls. if you work evenings you don't necessarily have the freedom to take that off. now, having said that they have the vans lined up outside the church. they're all ready to go. they're gearing up for a big push, but they do say pretty candidly, this will impact the ability to turn out. and the other thing that will impact it, frankly, is just a level of apathy right now. the governor is cruising to re-election. his opponent, his democratic opponents run a pretty ineffective campaign. they say there's a lot of people that still don't understand the importance of midterms as opposed to presidential elections in their community. that's the mood on the ground. >> yeah. as you know zachary, you've got the "a.p." is there an estimate on the number of voters that have been affected by the new laws? >> there's no official estimate.

and the -- actually the absentee balloting that's come in is pretty -- it's been a pretty large absentee voting. so republicans are pointing to that to say hey, despite these cuts, people are still able to vote. but, you know that's not what you hear when you talk to community leaders, especially in the african-american community. you know this sunday the only sunday of early voting republicans tried to cut that, too. the only reason we still have that one is because of a court decision that preserved that. so this -- and they'll continue to try to get rid of that too. this is not going away. >> yeah. and the supreme court has not yet ruled on the merits of these new laws in ohio. it's only decided they can go into effect for the midterms. is there an indication which way the court is leaning once it does pick it up? >> i think that's hard to say. there'll be a full trial next year. you know given the supreme court we have, which to put it

mildly has not been friendly to voting rights. i don't think advocates are -- if they were to speak honestly are super hopeful they're going to get these cuts reversed in time for 2016. i think democrats and voting rights advocates are planning to have this same restricted system of voting in place for 2016 when, of course ohio figures to be, once again, one of the most pivotal states if not the most pivotal. >> okay. thank you so much zachary roth. appreciate that. in just a moment msnbc political analyst on the potential impact the republican senate will have on the white house agenda. and on tuesday night, msnbc is the place for the midterm election. join rachel maddow and chris matthews with insightful analysis. still ahead, the unfolding disaster of the virgin galactic ship there. the search for what went wrong and what impact will it have on the future of commercial space travel? callahan's?

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two days before the midterm elections. it's a nail biter. and the battle for control of the senate a "new york times" analysis gives the republicans a 70% chance of winning the six seats needed to seize the august body. the gop lost control in the 109th congress from 2005 to '07 with 55 seats. but history may be on the side of democrats. since 1998 democrats have won 13 of 16 senate and governors races decided by one percentage point or less. who is going to win the senate? well, jonathan alter is going to join me in a moment. and later, kristen welker shows us what might happen to the republican's agenda if republicans win. joining me now, nbc news correspondent kelly o'donnell in

overland, park. i guess you moved around a bit. a welcome. let's look at the latest numbers. they show quite a contest there. a one-point lead over pat roberts. but roberts for his part pulling out all the stops. this washington clown car of big names. to include, chris christie mitt romney, maybe the one that hurts the most, though, bob dole. >> reporter: well, let me get the geography out of the way, first, alex. we are in overland park but the neighborhood we're in is called shawnee mission. as far as the clown car comment. it's one of the moments that depends on who hears it. the point that greg orman, an independent is trying to make if you're bringing so many of the establishment members of the republican party, big names from mitt romney to chris christie to john mccain, you know everybody big in the party has come out for pat roberts. and to be in kansas this close to the election is unusual in

and of itself. because kansas is just typically not a make or break state. so the idea that orman was trying to make is hey, if you've got to bring in all of those big-name surrogates what does it tell you? and so his phrase was washington establishment clown car, zing. that really was considered an offense to bob dole. why? he, of course, was the former senate majority leader former presidential candidate. a son of kansas a kansas icon. and to say anything interpreted as disrespectful to bob dole is questionable in kansas. that's one of the little kind of skirmishes on the campaign trail. there's also been a battle over another beloved figure, and that's the coach at kansas state. the roberts campaign is running an ad that includes bill snyder endorsing pat roberts. organman and others are saying what's going on with that? because the university says they're not supposed to be making endorsements.

that's bubbled up. the biggest issue, two other guys in this race. the president of the united states and the senate majority leader. roberts says if voters want more of those policies vote for greg orman because he would be more likely to align with them. greg orman is saying washington is broken, don't send the same person back after three terms. so it's an interesting race to watch because it's got all of the fault lines of where voters are in terms of their frustrations, but also in terms of who will control the senate? those who say it should be in republican hands that beefs up the argument for pat roberts. even themepeople who are close to him say, may not have been the most dynamic candidate, but on issues, many kansas voters are likely to agree with him. that's how it's playing out. alex? >> thank you, kelly o'donnell in the overland park part of shawnee mission, kansas. while it looks more and more

likely the republicans will take the senate. can president obama break the gridlock with a gop-dominated hill? in a new interview this morning, republican elder statesman james baker offered his advice. >> george h.w. bush faced an all democratic capitol hill. house and senate and got a lot of things done. ronald reagan had a democratic house the entire time he was president. he got a lot of things done. bill clinton -- bill clinton had a republican house at least in for his second term he got a lot of things done. it can be done, but it takes work. you have to -- you have to be willing to schmooze and make a concentrated and concerted effort to achieve compromise with the other side. >> and joining me now, political analyst jonathan alter, a "daily beast" columnist. he's got another hat he wears. we'll talk about that in a

second. james baker says johnen that it's going to take some schmoozing. your thoughts on his ability and desire to do that. >> well, i think he wants to do what it takes to try to get things done. and he will try to step up the schmoozing. he's made mistakes in the past by not building and investing in those personal relationships across the aisle that could yield benefits along the margins. for instance, i think it was a mistake a couple of years ago at the white house correspondents dinner to joke about who would want to have dinner with mitch mcconnell. well, now he's going to need to have dinner with mitch mcconnell. and they will get some things done. but the problem with james baker's analogies is that those republican presidents and bill clinton when he was the president, were dealing with reasonable opposition parties. and today, we have a radical republican party. so joni ernst who is likely to get elected to the senate from iowa.

she believes not in some changes to the environmental protection agency, but in abolishing the environmental protection agency. a senator from oklahoma who will be the new chairman of the environment and public works committee should the republicans take control in all likelihood. he's not somebody who is, you know, a little bit skeptical of climate science. he believes that all the nobel prize winners or all the scientists around the world are engaged in a -- what he calls in the latest book, a conspiracy and a hoax. he believes that the idea that there's climate change is a hoax. this is going to be the new chairman of the senate environment and public works committee. so anybody in -- and on tuesday who is thinking, you know i like cory gardner in colorado, i like tom tillis in north carolina. they need to actually ask themselves. i'm not just buying these guys in my states. i'm buying a climate change

denier who will have a seat of immense power in determining this country's environmental policy. >> it takes two to compromise. and so the opposite side. that's a lot of it, too. it appears the white house is already planning for a defeat. and if you look at the writings of peter baker and michael shear from the "new york times," they say that the administration is working on a new policy agenda. with the quote being without waiting for results on tuesday, few in the white house expect it to go well for mr. obama. top aides have met for weeks to plot the final quarter of his presidency. they're mapping possible compromises with republicans to expand trade overhaul taxes and build roads and bridges. my question to you, jonathan. they've not been able to compromise for six years. so why will they do it now? >> so the reason they might do it now is they know going into 2016 when a lot of republican seats are up, the way the democrats were more vulnerable this time. they know they've got to put some points on the board and not just be the party of no.

if they go into the election they'll probably get beaten by hillary clinton. they need to get some things done. and mitch mcconnell has been clear about this. it is rather astonishing that say, public works, infrastructure projects, rebuilding the country, things that the republicans have been for for many years, they refused to do in the last four years because barack obama was for them. so they had to be against them. but now they will try to build some roads and bridges. possibly do some tax reform. although, i think that's not very likely because when the republican chair of the house writing committee, he got hooted out of town by the other republicans and retired. so i'm not sure that's going to work. immigration reform again, it's very much in their interest. romney only got 29% of the latino vote in 2012. it's very much in the republicans' interest to get that done. but their base is so radical right on that issue. that i'm not sure they're going to be able to compromise.

>> here's what's also interesting. a lot at stake over the next couple of years. judgeships, the possibility of supreme court appointment. you have -- the drums of war banging in both iraq and syria. what does this country look like when this president leaves office? >> well a lot can change in two years. you know i -- i think in terms of the judgeships, that will be a source of great controversy in the senate. >> they can -- potentially. >> for approving judges, and i don't think they'll approve many of obama's unless they're on the more conservative side which they're not likely to be. you'll see tremendous tension on that if there's a supreme court nomination will be a huge battle royale. but i'm not sure this idea that we have going into these midterms that somehow the country is in bad shape. i don't think that really bears scrutiny. and not just because the stock market is, you know, doing well. when obama took office we were

losing close to 1 million jobs a month. and in the period since then we've been gaining jobs. we've had six years of job growth. now, has the recovery been anemic? yes. but is the country in much better shape than it was when obama took office? the facts say yes. so this idea that somehow, you know, he is -- has been you know a failed president, which you see the republicans saying in this campaign. you have 10 million more people who have health insurance. that's a huge social accomplishment. so not many people are looking at the glass half full going into these midterms. but i think when the record is a little clearer, we'll see that you know maybe he wasn't the transformational president that so many people hoped for, but he had a good, solid run. >> i mentioned you wore another hat, and that was the executive producer of "alpha house." so it's out and about. let's look at some of the

highlights. in fact, there's a clip that all the critics are talking about. >> hey, why is the rnc doing this? >> maybe the party finally got the memo about gays or at least lesbians. >> oh, my gosh. i mean can we talk emmy? i'm kidding. that was so fun. >> best supporting actress. >> that was a great time. but it's a fabulous put together. ten episodes right? >> ten episodes in season two. it's just about four republican senators who live together in a man cave. >> yeah. >> on capitol hill. the scene that you just saw is a gay wedding between two republican aides. that is strangely enough sponsored by the rnc because they're trying to get gay votes. they realize the issue is changing so quickly in american politics they want to get on the right side. >> i didn't even tell my

director -- i stole this. this was a prop but it says you know the republican national committee presents julie and kathy. and on the back, republican national committee seal. and so it certainly begged the question, made sense i had that question in the script. it was really fun. thanks for having me. thanks for joining me today, too. >> thanks for taking part. i'm glad you're watching. it's on amazon, we've got to remind people. >> there you go. all good. well, the latest read on overall early voting. then there's trusting your vehicle maintenance to ford service confidence. our expertise, technology, and high quality parts means your peace of mind. it's no wonder last year we sold over three million tires. and during the big tire event, get up to $140 in mail-in rebates on four select tires. ♪ introducing synchrony financial bringing new meaning to the word

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unless you go. i did it. you can too. ♪ ♪ we the midterm election is two days away but electproject.org's early vote tracking indicates roughly 6 million people have cast a ballot. which party is benefitting? the "wall street journal" says democrats have cast almost half of the early ballots. registered republicans, 32%. overall, michael mcdonnellald now projects 90 million people will vote in the midterms, about the same as four years ago.

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welcome back to "weekends with alex witt." president obama is finally out on the campaign trail. nbc's white house correspondent kristen welker is joining me now with the latest. he's not too far from me right now, is he, kristen? >> reporter: left not too long ago. he's heading to campaign for gubernatorial candidates in connecticut and then in pennsylvania. he has largely avoided campaigning for senate candidates with the exception of one stop that he made last night. but there couldn't be more at stake for the president. on tuesday's race. >> a welcome to the president of the united states. >> it's the final push before election day. president obama campaigning in reliablely blue michigan saturday for senate candidate gary peters who is expected to easily beat his opponent. >> when you step into that voting booth, you are making a choice not just about candidates or parties, you're making a

choice about two different visions of what america's about. >> with his approval ratings in the low 40s most democrats don't want the president anywhere near them on the campaign trail. in the battleground states of iowa, colorado and north carolina he's he's been noticeably absent. but this election could be do or die as he hits the final stretch of the presidency. >> democrats in the senate have provided this protective shield for president obama for the past six years. if he loses that he's going to have a much harder final two years of his tenure. >> republican and democratic sources say lawmakers and the white house could work to find some modest common ground on pre-k education, minimum wage taxes and trade. mitch mcconnell has already backed off the republican battle cry of repealing obamacare. instead suggesting if he takes the reins, he'll push for smaller fixes. >> i'd like to put the senate

democrats in the position of voting on the most unpopular parts of this law and see if we can put it on the president's desk. >> but, of course the president has veto power. meaning any major changes to his signature health care law are highly unlikely. also unlikely passing big pieces of immigration reform. >> reporter: the bottom line is there is so much frustration with all of washington that there's going to be a lot of pressure for lawmakers and the president to break this gridlock that has gripped this town for so long. alex? >> all right. kristen welker, thank you. and do stay with us because in just a few minutes, we're going to bring you a round table discussion of the key issues driving the midterm elections. and be sure to watch the live coverage of those election returns. join rachel maddow and chris matthews 6:00 eastern tuesday night with analysis from the nation's top political minds. the ntsb says its full investigation of the deadly

virgin galactic disaster could take up to a year. investigators also say the commercial space plane's deadly breakup in the mojave desert happened during friday's flight and not when it hit the ground. it killed one pilot, the other pilot is recovering from injuries after parachuteing from that plane. robert hager is joining me now. and bob, with a welcome to you. the interesting point is the second space disaster in less than a week on tuesday, we saw that unmanned supply rocket explode after it was launching from virginia. so, give me a sense of the impact of these disasters on the commercial space industry, particularly the crash from friday. >> yeah. well, both of them, i mean together. they could have slowed the whole thing down. that's for absolutely sure. i think after each of the space shuttle accidents, "the challenger" and "columbia." it gives you the idea of the study of things. this is really rocket science.

even though that's a space plane, it's a rocket that juices it up into low orbit. so it's different than aeronautics and that rocket science is just terribly dangerous. it always has been. they lose rockets all the time in the experimentation. that goes with the turf. it's a really really dangerous business. >> and richard branson speaking to the bravery of the test pilots. besides that you've got elon musk the ceo of space x, jeff bezos, do you think their plans are now in jeopardy? >> no i mean i think it'll slow the whole thing down for everybody. but i don't think they'll get out of the business. because there's just a lot of interest in it. and clearly the government is happy to have private enterprise into it and really willing to seed a lot of the turf to private enterprise. we need it.

the ideas, as i say, how dangerous the science is. you need a lot of different brains contributing to this. and private enterprise has a role. i think they'll all stay in it yes. >> i want to play you some sound of john goodwin. he's on a list of space tourists for virgin galactic. >> i'm utterly confident of the people in the mojave desert who have been working on this now for the last ten years will rectify the problem and i eventually will fly and i'm totally confident that will be perfectly safe before i do so. richard branson will not allow us to fly until the aircraft is perfectly safe. >> and he made that clear yesterday, as well. but this gentleman seems matter of fact about this process. do you think this incident may scare tourists away from this? >> that's anybody's guess. but here's my hunch. that anybody willing to put $250,000 on the line and do what

they know already even before this accident is a very risky business, i think most people who sign up for that kind of thing is sort of the type of person that's in their blood. i don't think this will discourage them. again, it could slow things down a little bit. but i bet you most of the people who signed up for it will stay in the game. that's my hunch. >> i'm curious, where dough you see the future of this going? you think there's a point where we're flying from new york to dubai in an hour? >> now we're getting into commercial aviation and the application there and there was all this talk, hope, back when they were experimenting with the supersonic aircraft the concord, and it just proved to economically inefficient. i think that kind of thing is years away. always used to talk about an express airplane to go to asia. but it was all premature and experience with the concord showed us that when you put it

into practical application doesn't work. so this other thing. space tourism, that's a whole different thing, tourism. but to do it to get to asia or europe i think that's decades away. >> okay. thank you, my friend. appreciate it. >> nice to talk to you. well tonight, the windy city will hold its breath as he will attempt to cross the chicago river. this latest challenge for the daredevil will be broadcast on the discovery channel at 7:00 p.m. eastern now. we do want to note our city company is producing this broadcast. and nbc's kevin tibbles is joining me now from chicago. i can only imagine what he must be going through in his mind. what's he doing to prepare for this? >> i would like to point out my two feet are on tarra firma. he says he has gone through months of training this is what

he's done his entire life. obviously, he's a seventh generation member of the flying family, this is what they do he says. of course, here in chicago, a lot of people are asking well okay, this is what they do but why in heaven's name do they do it? that's probably what's going to be bringing thousands of people down to the river banks tonight to look way up, and i'm talking way up to watch nick walenda walk across. you mention he's going to be doing it without a safety net or a harness. the other thing we should point out, the part of his walk's he's going to be doing blindfolded. but one of the things he told us the other day, the rope he'll be walking along is about the diameter of a nickel. now, this is a lot smaller than the 2-inch one he used to go across niagara falls and the grand canyon. he says he's used to walking on

wires like this. says it suits hiss feet and he's very confident. also says he doesn't believe in luck. let's hope he believes in practice. and that's what he's been doing a lot of. and we're also talking about chicago here alex the windy city. wild weather into this weekend. let's hope that the winds remain calm tonight as nick walenda tiptoes right behind me across from skyscraper to skyscraper. >> no shame in postponing. call it off for a little bit. >> i ain't going up there. >> me either. nowhere close. taking measures for the 2014 midterms. what's this election all about? the talking points that may be scoring votes next. (boys screaming) totino's pizza rolls... ready so fast, ...it's scary!

just two days to go until the midterms. and while everyone in washington has a prediction, the question remains, what is this election really about? is it a referendum on the president? the economy?

foreign policy? is it still obamacare? well, joining me now is jimmy williams executive editor of blue nation review.com. and a former spokesperson for president george w. bush. also, victoria an msnbc contributor. and i'm going to reach out to you first. when you talk to people outside the beltway who don't really pay attention to the talking points what are you hearing this election about what it's really about for them. >> it's pretty much a vote on the president. i hate to say that. but it's -- and to not acknowledge that would be to stick your head in the sand and that's not very helpful when it comes to reality. so the bottom line is the president in pretty much every single state is below 50%. and so that's a fact. and these candidates. and to be clear, i mean, when george bush was running, or was president in 2010 the republicans ran away from him. and 2006. and guess what, they got slaughtered. so the bottom line is this is

not the first time it's happened. it's not the last time it's going to happen. but this is very much a vote i think, on the president's agenda and the president's popularity. >> okay. mercedes, your thoughts on the same question. >> sure i agree with jimmy, actually. i think there's this huge dissatisfaction on the president's leadership and his agenda. but i'd also like to add there's an antiincumbent wave. when you look at states like kansas, where it's such a tight race, it makes you also think that you have an electorate that's incredibly grim and angry. they're upset, upset with the direction of this country and where it's going. over 66% of americans believe that. and then they're also upset with the economy. and this is all again, goes back to president obama. but, again, i would like to add that anti-incumbent wave is also influenceing these races. >> and you're there in texas. anything specific to texas that kind of reflects the state of the nation? >> well i'm going to be the odd woman out here and disagree with

both mercedes and jimmy. you know, i think the president sure matters, but it has to do with the individual campaigns and the individual candidates. look at north carolina look at georgia. why are the senate candidates, democratic senate candidates doing so well? comparably speaking given the red nature state of those areas? it's not because of the president. it's because they've run great campaigns and they're really strong candidates. on the flip side look at colorado. udall has run a lackluster campaign and cory gardner has run a near perfect campaign. what has happened in this year compared to 2010 2012? is it republicans have stepped it up? we don't have the todd aiken gaffes we've had previously. and didn't see any of the tea party candidates take away the primary. i think we need to look more at the microlevel. >> the headline in the "washington post" this weekend

says it all. an election about rejection. and that really somewhat reflects what mercedes was saying about incumbents being in trouble here. and he writes if this election is about as much disgust in washington -- do you think that will be evidence in the new congressional class? or does nothing really change in washington? >> well, i mean i keep telling my friends on the democratic side of the aisle, the best thing that could possibly happen to us and frankly to the president is for the republicans to take over the senate. that way they own the house and senate. and it'll be incumbent upon them to actually pass bills and what will they do? which is what they do every single time. they pass crazy right wing legislation and he'll veto it. oh wait that's more stalemate. what we're basically talking about here is a hiccup between now and 2016. that will go into full effect about a year from now, and i think we'll see on both sides the nominees if you will, shaping up. but that's what this is all about. i want to push back for a second, though, on something that mercedes said which is the idea about the economy and the

president's leadership. the president's leadership it takes two to tango, by the way, you can't lead people who don't want to be led, first of all. secondly, the economy is humming alongdown. we are not losing almost a million jobs a month. most importantly, corporate profits have never been higher. i'm not buying the idea that the economy isn't doing well. >> what you're saying is it takes two to tango. we were talking about it. if you're going to compromise it takes two. mercedes i want to talk about -- speaking of things that never change senator rand paul said something interesting on "meet the press" this morning. listen to this. >> we should repeal obamacare. i think what made people most unhappy is they lost their freedom of choice. it isn't about the wonky health care policy. it's about whether every american can choose their doctor or choose their insurance policy. when they have made it illegal through obamacare to choose an inexpensive insurance policy, that should be overturned. >> so it's a priority.

>> it is a priority. we will introduce it and try to pass it. >> last spring everyone would have agreed it would be a referendum on oh obamacare. does that play with the average voter? >> there is an impact there on obamacare. there are so many issues that have come up. when you look at foreign policy something you don't think would come up in the midterm election. when you have isis militants taking footholdses in iraq and syria. when you had the ebola crisis, these issues have impacted and the incompetence coming from president obama again reflected in the poll numbers. this brings up interesting issues where americans and women in particular suburban women ask do we feel safer today than six years ago? again, think it goes back to being a referendum on the president. going back to jimmy's point on the economy, we have seen 3.5% growth gdp. for whatever reason americans aren't feeling that way. they are not feeling over 70% of

americans say they are worried about the their children's future. from an economic perspective. >> okay. victoria bottom line. do you think this republican party has any intention of working with the president if they hold the house and senate? >> i think at the marginses. you know jimmy brought it up earlier. they can't go too far because they have the 2016 inside. they do want to make the base happy. they want to show the base they are going to stick it to president obama. at the same time they are thinking hey, 2016 is right around the corner. we need those moderates, those independents if we want to recapture the white house in 2016. they are stuck between a rock and hard place. >> we have to make it a wrap. appreciate it. >> thank you. >> it's the way you might want politics but it niece the fast food business next. it's just you and your honey. the setting is perfect. but then erectile dysfunction happens again.

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there is a new customization trend in fast food. there is one company to thank for it and that's chipotle.

joining me adam chandler from the atlantic whom i have offered apologies to. with the midterm election madness we are going to make it breechlt give it to me in about 45 seconds. we'll talk about it next weekend. a dam, this article is about the customized meals of america. what's the explanation? >> it's great to be talking about this while 26,000 people are -- 60,000 people are running around new york city for the marathon. >> okay. >> basically in the last week or so taco bell releaseded an app which allows people the opportunity to customize meals in ways that haven't been possible before. you can order a taco and throw bacon in it which is what i did. perhaps to my detriment. also mcdonald's is announcing a new program where you can order a value meal and instead of getting fries s, you can order something else. that's happening in southern

california. >> huh. >> basically fast food is on the ropes right now. they are looking to add new thingses to it. >> well it is very cool. we'll have you back to talk about it. that's a wrap now, adam. hank you so must have. as we said, more newses in an hour. synchrony financial partners with over two hundred thousand businesses from fashion retailers to healthcare providers, from jewelers to sporting good stores, to help their customers get what they want and need. banking. loyalty. analytics. synchrony financial. engage with us. ring ring! progresso! i can't believe i'm eating bacon and rich creamy cheese before my sister's wedding well it's only 100 calories, so you'll be ready for that dress uh-huh... you don't love the dress? i love my sister... 40 flavors. 100 calories or less.

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with terrible chest congestion. better take something. theraflu severe cold doesn't treat chest congestion. really? new alka-seltzer plus day powder rushes relief to your worst cold symptoms plus chest congestion. oh, what a relief it is. here we go! this sunday with just 48 hours to go until election day, it's our midterm special. are we looking at a republican senate wave, or can the democrats hang on? we're live from key battleground states, and we have some new polls that may tell us where this race is headed on tuesday. plus, meeting the voters. they had one very clear message for washington. >> stop the bickering. >> meeting the candidates who seem to be getting that message. >> we have to produce results. >> my final report from our battleground road trip. also, 2016 candidates, start your engines. all week the likely contenders from both parties have been