into "baby love" by the great norah o'donnell. i'm not a witch, i'm nothing. >> now that that's settled, what is the real likelihood o'donnell would win in delaware. also, the incredibly shrinking female factor. why these mid-terms might mean fewer women in congress. we kick off our special series, "back in business" finding a job is hard, even harder when you are over 40. we will have expert advice.

tuesday, october 5th, 2010. i'm savannah guthrie. >> and i'm chuck todd. its 20 days until the mid-term elections. we will begin in pakistan where a u.s. missile strike has reportedly killed a number of germans. they investigate a possible link between westerners and suspected terror plots in europe. stephanie gosk is live in london with the latest. any new intelligence on a specific threat to some of these european cities? >> good morning, chuck and savannah. still, nothing specific. that's why this remains a terror alert and not a terror warning. u.s. officials reminding people they are not telling them to cancel their trips to european but they are telling them to be cautious. it is worth pointing out. you talk about the drone attack yesterday in pakistan. there has been no confirmed connection between the drone attacks and that region of

pakistan and the recent terror alert. u.s. officials tell nbc news that the multiple streams of information that led them to declare this terror alert included the fact that europeans have been traveling to that area of pakistan to receive training and that a number of them have returned to europe to launch what they fear might be mumbai style attacks in big cities around europe. there is some other news this morning out of france. a number of arrests, including three men arrested with alleged connections to islamic extremism. nine others arrested and accused of trafficking arms and explosives. chuck and savannah. >> stephanie gosk, monitoring from lon ton this morning. in pakistan, a small bomb went off. the latest in a growing number of attacks on international convoys trying to get supplies to u.s. troops. officials are worried the convoys have become sitting

ducks for the pakistan. john, tell us about this larger problem but let's start with the news. what happened this morning? >> reporter: well, it was a small bomb, savannah, a small bomb attack on one of the tankers that's been sitting there. they are practically sitting ducks sitting in pakistan now with the closing of the torcum crossing since last thursday. today's attack did not result in the huge fires we have seen the last several days. this was at least the fifth attack on a nato fuel tanker headed to afghanistan. the secretary general of nato, andrew rasmussen has now apologized for the killing of three nato -- the attack that killed three pakistani soldiers last week. that was the cat li catalyst fo recent attacks.

the nato attacks, the nato attacks that sparked all this are different from the drone attacks that have reallily been increasing. the drone attacks are controlled by the cia. those really have been stepped up and continue to go, continue to happen as you just talked to stephanie about. there was the recent attack that killed the german nationals of afghan and turkish dissent. once again, another report about war in an odd way breaking out in the pakistan side of the border. john yang in kabul, thanks very much. >> it didn't have the fireworks some might have expected. there was still plenty of barbs traded last night when connecticut attorney general richard blumentha and mark mcmahon got into it. there did soom to be some pre-debate posturing?

>> absolutely. it wasn't a total smackdown. there were a couple of verbal pile drives and also some drop kicks that we did see. they were over resent tv ads that the candidates have released in this senate contest. in one recent ad, richard blum enthal accused linda mcmahon and she accused him of past statements about his military record. >> let me say the first thing that is false an incorrect in this ad is that i would consider reducing the minimum wage. that's a lie. you know that's a lie. i never said it. it's in your ad.

you back. we were trying to make this a smackdown free zone. you went with the pile driver. >> i don't know this wrestling terminology. i didn't even recognize it. >> all right, mark. thanks very much. >> thanks, mark. >> he was speechless after that. he was afraid you would yell at him again. we are just 20 minutes from the opening bell. we want to check in with cnbc. we find here in washington, fortune's most powerful women conference. becky, what will be driving the markets today? >> you know, savannah, it can looks like we are seeing a big rebound. the futures are up about 80, 85 points above fair value. this comes after a significant

last for the dow yesterday, things are kind of looking ahead to some of data for today. gold prices, we should point out, are back at record highs, ones again. they touched 1,329.60 an ounce. there was a story about how wealthy individuals are buying gold not only by the bar but they are buying it at this point by the ton. that could have been something that is pushing gold prices higher. we got surprising news from the bank of japan. it came out and said it was going to be lowering rates once begin. they were only at 0.1%. now, they are at 0 to 0.1%. it is stunning to hear they are going to be keeping them that low. they plan on keeping lats at those levels until deflation ends. that has been doing some things to the en. good news for exporters. at this point, the yen is off its lowest levels. it is something japan has been looking at for some time. we mentioned there is data today

we are looking forward to. it is pretty important numbers, the ism nonmanufacturing number. that means we are going to be looking at the entire section of the economy that is the service sector. service as a sector makes up about 80% of the economy. this number is a key one to watch. it is expected to rise today. it surprised the markets last week by dropping. it also will tell us a little bit about what to expect from the jobs number on friday. that could be what's driving the market today. >> all right. becky quick here at the business women's conference here in washington but with a check on what to expect on the markets. thanks very much. coming up, campaign 2010, it is getting ugly out there. >> you will probably see a lot of me on the front page saying -- >> fed up, former members of congress are banding together with a message for candidates

and current members of congress, grow up. plus, the man who admitted to trying to set off a bomb in times square, he heads to court to learn his fate today. first, a look ahead at the president's schedule. you are watching "the daily rundown" on msnbc. ♪ for he's a jolly good fellow ♪ the meeting's tomorrow in dallas ♪ ♪ we need to finish those projections ♪ ♪ then output the final presentations ♪ ♪ sally, i'm gonna need 40 copies, obviously collated ♪

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thaesz that's a sampling of a nasty campaign season. >> that has members of congress telling candidates to ditch the partisanship and start working together. they have all signed an unprecedented letter saying it is time to halt this sorry state of afirfairs. with us, former congressmen, john and dan clickman. let's read a portion of the letter and talk about it. let me start. congress appears gripped by zero-sum game partisanship. the goal often seems to be more to devastate the other side than to find common ground to solve problems. the divisive and mean-spirited way debate often occurs inside congress is encouraged and repeated outsite. members that far exceed the bounds of respectful discourse

are not viewed with shame but are lionized and treated as celebrity, rewarded with cable television appearances and enlisted as magnets for campaign fund-raisers. mr. porter, let's start with you. how did you get the idea to do this letter and what are you hoping it accomplishes? >> the u.s. association of former members of congress had a symposium. part of that was on civility and respect. david skaggs was on that panel. i said to myself, we can't just leave this here. we got together with david and we put together this letter. we got help in writing it. david did a lot of the work writing it. the association helped us gather together the signatures of the 130 members that have signed on. >> congressman glickman, when i talk to members of congress off the record, they will all acknowledge this problem. individually, they will say, i can't believe this is the way

this has become. sometimes it is tempting to call these folks out. behind the scenes, they will say, you guys are right. in public, they will say, nothing. >> well, i think most members of congress, republicans and democrats, would prefer not to conduct their activities with a coarseness and hostility and meanness that we have seen come about. there are a lot of causes to it. i think that the amount of money in politics has something to do with it. there is so much more money poring in. there is so much more opportunity for mean and nasty ads. it is a little bit of man bites dog theory. if a dog bites man, no press attention. man bites dog, it does. that's usually people using outrageous language to get attention fr attention for a lot of reasons. some of it affects the coarseness of our society. we have no filters. we tend to say anything we want. politics is not separate from

that kip nd of thing. it is unfortunate. >> congressman porter, there seems to be know backlash, at least no the at the voting booth. let's face it. those nasty ads work. that's why candidates use them. what can be done to stop what seems to be a pretty vicious cycle. >> leadership can change this. people standing up and saying in leadership positions that this has got to stop. we have serious problems in america, very serious problems. jobs in the economy, losing our leads in science and technology, terrorism, war. you could go on and on. >> do you think this is part of the discontent and anger we see in the electorate? >> yes, inattention to getting the job done for the american people. what did you get elected for? to go and have battle with the enemy on the other side of the i'll aisle. you are elected to get these

problems addressed. they are not being addressed. >> i go back to this. individually, every member of congress, like a well-trained lab bra door. they know how to behave but you get them together in a pack and they act like wild animals. that's what it seems like you see in congress. individually, they will tell you these things. they will agree. it needs to come from leadership. who? him, him or her. nobody else seems to be standing up and saying, me. nobody is having their own bullworth moment here. >> it is true that being civil and conciliatory and working compromise is not viewed as strength in many parts of american society. it is viewed as weakness. that's unfortunate because our system is built on compromise and consensus. it is true we have serious problems in our society, which means people have strong difference of opinion. we are not calling for the elimination of partisanship. you need to have differences of opinion. what we are saying, as leaders, not just from congressional

leaders, the clernlggy, business leaders, labor leaders, people that have a voice that people listen to, ought to stand up and say, this is not right. this is hurting america. it is making our government and our system less effective than it needs to be. >> congress has been a heated place. politics has been an ugly business for a long, long time. do you really think it is worse now? >> it is far worse. now, the other side is the enemy, not your colleagues that happen to disagree with you. part of the reason is that we have congressional districts in normal elections where 80% of the time, the primary is the election. it is usually the people ta vote in the primaries are the most liberal democrats. >> the jerry man der issue. >> they don't want to be a party identified. they don't want to say i want a republican or democratic ballot.

>> i would also add, the proliferation of money. when i first ran in 1970, it was $100,000. today, it's $3 million, $4 million and $5 million. plus, there are people spending money no one knows who is contributing. that means there is a lot more opportunities to get hateful talk on the airways. >> two folks that were great gentlemen when you served in congress. john porter from illinois, dan clickman from kansas. it's a midwest culture. we need more midwesterners. >> we have to take some of the blame. >> we all need to dial it down, politicians and the media. up next in today's decision 2010, the political ad that carl paladino hopes will get everyone's mind off of this scene. >> i'll take you out, buddy. >> how are you going to do that? >> watch. >> that could have been exhibit a for our last discussion.

first, let's do our washington speak. threat stream, we have heard that phrase a lot as u.s. officials have warned about the possibility of a terror attack in european capitals. well, threat stream is intel speak for serious terrorism threats from a particular group or aimed at a specific target. the latest threat stream appears to be coming from pakistan, possibly from european militants who have trained there. >> if you have washington speak or government speak or intel speak you would like us to clarify, send us an e-mail, daily rundown on msnbc.com. we'll be right back. ( baby cooing ) our first grandson. he sees you. ( laughing ) ( speaking korean )

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it is produced of fred davis of demon sheet fame. take a look. >> i'm not a pitch. i'm nothing you have heard. i'm you. none of us are perfect but none of us can be happy with what we see all around us, politicians who think spending, trading favors and back room deals are the way to stay in office. i'll go to washington and do what you would do. >> there you go. some have pointed out, she is wearing a dark outfit. it is a dark background, sort of an odd background choice to go with the message of, "i'm not a pitch" owe donald and democrat, chris coonce debate a week from today. that should be an interesting matchup. moving on to new york, another candidate who is facing a major revamp. the tea party backed candidate, carl paladino is trying to undo

this loose candidate. he is out with a new ad. >> this campaign is not about my family. it is not about divorces or affairs. it is about who has a plan to restore prosperity and economic growth to new york state. i'm a builder. i know we can rebuild new york and get our state back on the road to a strong economy. >> not every day you hear a candidate this early on having to say, this race is not about divorces or affairs. there is 2010 in a nutshell. finally, today, no races move faster than the west virginia senate race. democrat joe manchin is getting hammered. two new ads linking him to president obama. >> obama is messing things up, spending money we don't have. stimulus, obamacare. joe manchin supported it all.

when he is with obama, he turns into whatever obama wants. >> savannah, that is one of the ways that they think they can pull this off, by trying to separate manchin, if you like him as governor, don't elect him to the accept nat becausenate. we have seen popular governors, 2% or 3%, if they vote that way, that could make the difference. >> attention, noisy chip bag haters. sun chips has heard you loud and clear. judgment day for the man who admitted to trying to set off a bomb in the middle of times square. progress has promised as the supreme court hits a milestone with three women on the bench. why the november election could mean fewer women in congress than even now. first, today's trivia question. which member of congress has described himself as "rush

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a quick look. >> there is a sentencing for faisal shahzad, the pakistani man who admitted he tried to set off a bomb in times square. he faces a mandatory life sentence. we will have more on the charges and how the prosecutors got the defendant to plea. the supreme court will tackle the question of privacy. at issue, how much personal information the government can demand in background checks before granting employees access to federal facilities like nasa labs. president obama and jill biden are participating in the

community summit today to draw attention to schools the administration calls critical to training america's future workers. the president will speak this afternoon. other stories making headlines. just got tougher for cars to earn a five-star safety rating from the u.s. government. the government is updating its system for crash testing and grading in you cars. they include adding side poll crash tests. the justice department is suing the company's three biggest credit card companies for anti-competitive practices. a proposed settle manyment has been reached with master card and visa but american express plans to fight the charges. they say they are close to rescuing the 33 trapped miners. they could be freed by the middle of the month. they predicted the men could be as free as early as this weekend. the engineer overseeing that operation is not committing to a timetable.

>> remember those environmentally friendly but rather annoyingly loud sun chip bags. frito-lay is quietly disposing of the noisy packaging and returning to the nonrecyclable packaging. >> as al roker said, he got caught sneaking chips. you can't sneak anything with those. we will move on to the sentencing of faisal sha dad, who admitted he tried to detonate a time bomb in times square. nbc's ran allen is live in new york city. so is there any chance that he wouldn't? what's the minimum sentence that is most likely here, ron? >> reporter: there are ten counts. many of those carry mandatory life sentences. some charges carry five years to

30 years. basically, it is a question of how many life sentences is he going to get consecutive or concurrent? that's about it. what i think is most interesting about this case is that here you have an american citizen, a man who was 30 years old who by all appearances was a family man, living in suburban connecticut, a wife and two kids, a good jobs a financial analyst. he, as the prosecutors say in the memorandum was waging his own private war against the united states in september 11th. in his court appearances and questioning and interrogations, he lays out what he tried to do. he has pleaded guilty and made no bones about it. he intended to try and set off the bomb in the heart of times square. he wanted to kill at least 40 people. prosecutors say the bomb they reconstructed would have killed perhaps 100 people or more. it wouldn't have brought down any buildings. it would have killed 100 people or more. again, it is all spelled out in this memorandum in his own words. so, again, if there was ever a case that cried out for a life

sentence, prosecutors say this is it. >> ron allen, in manhattan for us this morning. thanks so much. politics. high-profile women on the ballot from coast to coast, from boxer and fiorina and whitman in california to io have the t out east. >> for the first time in three decades, women could see their numbers drop in congress despite having the most women on the november ballot this year. susan page, washington bureau chief. we always love the counter conventional wisdom story. this was a classic one of them. that is this idea there are going to be fewer women senators come january 2011 and fewer members of congress. >> it is going to be a terrible year for democrats. we know that. women are disproportionately democratic when they serve in congress. house members who are women, 56 are democrats. just 17 or republicans.

of those 56 democratic, 12 of them are in really tough races. if you look at the competitive races with republican challengers, the most competitive democratic held districts, only two of them are republican women. there are a lot running but they are running in districts where they don't have a chance to win. >> is this really a function of just fact that democrats are having a tough year or is there something else going on here that has to do with gender? >> it's not the open sexism that women once faced. voters are more reluctant to vote for women. they see women as a leap, a little bit of a risk. when times are hard, the economy is bad, it is a tougher task for women to get through primaries and get elected in general elections. that's part of it too. >> is a little bit of this sort of that the angry electorate, we have seen branch lincoln almost go down and she is probably going to lose her general election and lisa murkowski

losing a republican primary. is it that issue that women don't channel anger publicly the same way a male candidate does? >> i think that's a subtle point and a smart one. we know women in legislatures tend to be a little more con sill tary. the common ground is mostly hit by missiles from both sides. >> you mentioned that the problem for women in congress is that so many of them are democratic women and as democratic numbers diminish, so too do women's numbers diminish. however, it does seem like we are seeing more republican female candidates. christine o'donnell, we obviously have kelly eye yacht in new hampshire. a woman is going to come out on top one way or another in california. are we seeing more female candidates? >> linda mcmahon would be another one in that would have a chance. if you look at the overall -- the composition of women in

congress may change a little bit. we may have more republicans. the overall numbers, the analysts say there is no question. we are going to see fewer after the mid-term. >> one place we will see an increase is in the governorship. new mexico electing a woman no matter what and in oklahoma. so i guess, yes, we are seeing it in congress. there may be some unintended consequences there, we are seeing a rise in the guf na toral race. >> governors are not the place where you see the same angry force, that wave that washes over you regardless of party that we are going to see in congress. one thing to note. it is not as though women have equal representation in congress. 17%. >> it is absurd when you compare. >> a third of the supreme court is female. most of them got ph.d.s. women at 17% and going down when

you look at the national legislature. >> it does stick out like a sore thumb. susan page. an interesting read. thanks, susan. let's do our trivia. which member of congress has described himself as "rush limbaugh on decaf "? >> the answer, indiana republican congressman, mike pence, who is somebody always very comfortable in front of a camera. i guess that's his way of saying, he can handle this, just a little decaf. our special series back in business. if you are one of the million americans over 40 and out of work, stay tuned. we have expert advice on how you can get back in the game. >> first, let's do the white house soup of the day. over at the mess today, they are serving miso. >> miso not so happy about that. >> miso so unhappy you don't have a new joke. >> what is it, warm dish water? >> i don't know. it has toe foo in it. you are watching the daily rundown only on msnbc.

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all right, now to our special series. back in business about how to find a job at any age. today's focus, baby boomers looking for work. despite decades of on-the-job experience older workers have been especially hard-hit by this recession. more than 2.2 people age 55 or older are unemployed. >> on average, it takes more than 39 weeks for someone over the age of 55 to find a job. longer than any other single age group. here to help, jean chatzky. jean is in washington to participate in the white house's community college summit, which

is focuses on the community college's role to help america's workforce. this is obviously an issue. the baby boom generation, the first one that didn't have protected pensions for everything. suddenly, they saw their 401(k)s drop. they were about to retire and now, they are like, i need to go get a job again. >> or they were displaced from the job they were in. it is very testify, particularly when you haven't been looking. they need to go out and get some skills that the xers and ys have innately. >> is it hard to take a job that doesn't pay as well? >> we have all had to adjust expectations about what sort of salaries are reasonable. for the boomers, it needs to be not pulling money out of the retirement accounts before you

have to. even if you can get a job that pays less than what you were earning before, if it will tide you over for a few years and you can delay delay taking the distributions, you will be in much better shape. >> number one, you have the baby boomers where their resumes scream over 55. how about the reluctance of companies to hire somebody over 55? >> or they think the person will be expensive. that's the other problem for the boomers. i think what boomers need to do first of all is cast a very, very wide net. that means, get off the internet. you know, those of us -- >> get off the internet? >> you say limit the internet. why? >> because people in that slightly older generation tend to think it is the be all and end all of getting a job. they have watched companies like

monster.com grow out of nothing. they think, all i need to do is sit at my computer and that's going to be it. you have to get out an you have to talk to people. you pick up the phone and you go see them and you ask for 15 minutes and you just get yourself in front of people. >> that's so hard to do if you are not feeling great because you haven't had a job in a while. are you supposed to cold cal people? that's a tough piece of advice. >> not necessarily cold call but pick up the phone and call everybody that you worked with in the last job and try to get three names out of every one of those people and then you have a name that says, so-and-so told me to call. can i buy you a cup of coffee? people don't say no to that. everybody knows it is tough out there. if you are feeling unsure of yourself, we were talking before we started with deaging your resume. i think part of the insecurity is, oh, my goodness, do i look 55, do i sound 55? do i need to sound 40 or 30? if your feel like your resume is a little bit old, take the dates

off the resume. very, very few people are going to ask you for them. if you need a little bit of a wardrobe makeover or hair makeover, go out an get that too so you have the confidence to get out there and start knocking on those doors. >> one of your tips is evacuate your skills. what do you mean by that? >> take a look at what your strengths are. think about what industries are hiring and how you can put your skills to use in those industries. so we know, health care, education, technology, those are the places that have the jobs. if you are a lawyer that's been out of work, think about how can you reshape your skills so that you can go into a health care firm and try to apply for one of the jobs that's actually available. >> carefully consider school. what do you mean by that? >> i mean, think about whether you need some additional education. a lot of people are prone to say, i'm going to go back and get another degree. i'm going to go back for a full year. you may not need a full year. that's an expensive proposition when you look at the debt that college students are coming out with. that's why something like

community college, which is the fastest growing segment of our educational system. >> or take a course. >> but just to get a skill, you don't need an extra degree. you don't necessarily need t you don't need it for your resume. you certainly want to be able to say to the people that you are talking to, hey, i know how to do that, that doesn't necessarily require a piece of paper. >> why do you think it has been more difficult for the boomer generation versus other generations? >> because they are competing with younger, cheaper labor. it is the cheaper that's the problem here. when we look at companies that are having a difficult time, they are asking themselves, how can i get what i need to get and pay as little as possible for that? chances are, that's going to be somebody right out of school. >> i guess i go back to this stigma, what do you do, how do you feel with an employer who simply has this built-in stigma about an older worker? this is something we change the culture, change the mind-set. >> that would be nice.

it is having a face to face conversation with this person and saying, essentially, i have the skills that you need. i know i might not be the package that you thought that you were looking for but give me an opportunity. try me for three months. try me for two months. let's see if we can work this out and throw all of your predispositions out of the window. i think, you know, if we can handle that face on, that will absolutely help. >> jean chatzky, financial editor for the "today" show moonlighting for us. great to have you here in washington with good advice. >> my pleasure. >> our special series, back in business, continues with a look at where the jobs are. we are going to look at which sectors are hiring experienced workers in this economy. >> up next, we are going to reveal which country just elected a clown to congress. it is not this one. swear. >> great. because election day is a month away. >> don't forget, you can follow us at

twitter@chucktodd,@savannah gut guthrie. >> if you have more you want out of this series, please let us know. flashback, president harry truman delivered the first televised presidential address asking americans to refrain from eating meat on tuesdays and poultry on thursdays. why? to help stockpile grain for starving people. can you imagine if a sitting president did that today, the outcry you would hear. >> well be right back. hi. you know, if we had let fedex office print our presentation, they could have shipped it too. saved ourselves the hassle. i'm not too sure about this. look at this. [ security agent ] right. you never kick off with sales figures. kicking off with sales figures!

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before we go, we'll take a dip in the shallow end for some seriously odd expressions of political engagement. first up, naked ambition. the naked cowboy, times square's most famous nearly nude musician, is planning to throw his cowboy hat into the ring for the 2012 presidential race.

get ready, chuck. the naked cowboy -- the naked cowboy -- his real name is robert burke -- will make the announcement in times square tomorrow unless it rains. then he's asking the media to meet him at a nearby bar. now, this is not the cowboy's first time at the rodeo. last year he challenged mayor bloomberg in nextaw york's mayo race. >> is that the bureaucracy? >> being dressed. anyway, it's not that crazy of an idea. voters in brazil just elected a professional clown to congress. francisco silva who goes by a clown name which translates to grumpy, although he looks cheery there, he received more than 1 million votes on sunday. his slogan was, quote, it can't get any worse. you've got to admire the candor. >> i was going to say, a run here in congress, a clown named grumpy, it could really connect. >> the slogan, it can't get any worse. last night on "monday night

football," 20-14, you wake up and find out the pats destroyed the dolphins, 21-14. they seemed to score every which way possible. you have this big kickoff return here. the reason i care about how many different ways the pats scored? because it wasn't tom brady throwing touchdown passes because some of us might have tom brady as a starting quarterback. so instead, the pats' defense and special teams score all these points of which i got none of them because, of course, i'm not starting the pats' defense because any defense that gave up 30 points the week before to the bills wasn't worth starting. and there goes. i went 0 for all of my leagues all thanks to the pats' special teams breaking out. ronny brown not scoring any touchdowns, by the way. and tom brady not being involved in a 41-point victory. >> good thing you fell asleep. >> i was just going to say, it would have stressed me out. you're absolutely right. >> a nightmare. that's it for "the daily rundown." next on msnbc, chris jansing

and company. then at 1:00, "andrea mitchell reports." we'll see you back here tomorrow. have a great day. here are your business travel forecasts on this tuesday. i'm meteorologist bill karins. airports yesterday had significant delays in the east coast, especially the big cities because we had the low clouds, the windy conditions and the showers. some of that today. so possible delays in the new york airport, also in boston. but d.c. and philly and baltimore should be better. also out west, watch out for delays in phoenix and los angeles. boss: and now i'll turn it over to the gecko. gecko: ah, thank you, sir. as we all know, geico has been saving people money on rv, camper and trailer insurance... ...as well as motorcycle insurance...

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sentencing day for the terrorist planning to do this. times square in new york city. is faisal shahzad the new face of terror. president obama, help us. >> a plea to the president, shot dead by mexican pirates while jet skiing on a border lake. decision 2010 and the campaign ads are becoming extremely interesting. >> i'm not a witch. i'm nothing you've heard. i'm you. >> is this an effective way to woo voters? and levi johnston gets hot and heavy in a new music video. was this the proverbial straw that broke bristol palin's back, ending their relationship? joining the discussion today, former congressman j.c.

watts, medal of honor recipient colonel jack jacobs, democratic strategist karen finney, and from the new democrat network, alicia menendez. and good tuesday morning. i'm chris jansing live from msnbc world headquarters in new york city, and this is "jansing & co." with europe under this new terror alert, police in southern france have arrested a dozen people suspected of belonging to an islamic militant network. three men are linked to recruiting fighters for afghanistan. this is just the latest piece of information in what is an overarching story today, terrorism. in fact, right now in a new york city courtroom, we're getting an up-close look at the face of terror. sentencing is getting under way for faisal shahzad, the convicted pakistani american who tried to detonate an improvised bomb in his sport utility vehicle in the heart of new york city's times square. the government's prosecutors plan to show this video.