"nbc10@issue" starts now. >> he's the man who wants to oust pennsylvania senator pat toomey. he came close five years ago. now joe sestak believes he can seal the deal. today we learn where he stands on the issues. >> plus the science doesn't support parents who oppose vaccines but they can't be convinced. now an area psychologist thinks she knows why. we'll tell you about a local push to spread kindness. good morning. i'm keith jones for "nbc10@issue." today we begin with pennsylvania senate race. two democrats want a shot at taking on republican pat toomey in the general election. the first, katy mcginty, former

chief of staff for governor tom wolf. mcginty lost to wolf in the primary when she ran for governor. the second, former u.s. congressman joe sestak. sestak narrowly lost to senator pat toomey in the 2010 election. unless someone else entering the race, two will duke it out in the democratic primary in april of next year. with me now is joe sestak. thank you for joining me. >> good to be with you, keith. >> i really appreciate it. so you trail toomey in the polls right now. how do you manage a campaign against toomey and mcginty at the same time? >> do what i have always done, just focus on people. let them know what i stand for and that i'm willing to address the biggest deficit in america today, which isn't the national debt, keith. it's the trust deficit. people don't trust anymore politicians of either party, republican or democrat. like i was a navy captain of a ship, if the crew trusted you, you could galvanize them and do anything. it's why i did that 422-mile

walk across the state to show i wanted to earn their trust, to do the policy that would help them. >> we're going to talk about that in a bit. last march the fact that it snowed -- >> it was cold. >> let's talk about endorsement first. you were doan%ed by matt cartwright the representative from easton. who else can you count on in this campaign? >> people. i think endorsements are great. i was very proud that matt cartwright did what he did, but i also know this, that the establishment, the party machines on both sides have let us down. walk across that state with me 422 miles. i didn't meet anyone who said what's the machine saying? they know washington, d.c., is broken, and so, therefore, they're looking for someone who will walk in their shoes and be willing when he goes to washington to walk in the people's shoes of pennsylvania and be willing to lose their job over doing what's right for them. >> do you worry at all, former governor ed rendell endorsed mcginty. does that worry you? >> ed is a good guy but no.

ed rendell and the whole party establishment supported senator specter. i had been asked to run against him. i said no a couple times, then i did and they asked me sto step ahead when he switched parties. i did a 67 county tour. it wasn't 422 miles foot by foot but i went to 67 county tours to listen to people before i said, no, i'm going to stay in and we ran and we won at that time. the dna in politics has changed. people don't trust the machine anymore, particularly washington, d.c., so, therefore, if you can earn the people's trust, you can serve them well as a public official that's elected. >> you keep using the word machine here. democratic party leaders, they're irritated with you. why do you think that is? are you just shaking things up? is it not par for the course the way they would like to see it? >> i'm an independent who happens to be a democrat. i really don't believe that it's about party and type. it's about people, and i keep

coming back to that. i understand that in the decades before, perhaps the man, the party, served people first, but i learned during that race against senator specter that people aren't listening to the machine, aren't listening to the party. it has let them down. look at the senate today. i mean, here we have a senator in our state who actually says he cares about veterans, but then he goes down, senator toomey, he actually visited my carrier battle group after voting to send me to war and i was pounding away in iraq with our aircraft. then he came back as a congressman and voted against every department of veterans affairs budget since that time until december. how can you trust someone like that? that's why the machine no longer works. >> so then what would people get voting for you as u.s. senator? >> someone who is willing to be accountable. often you call that trust, but i put out a book after i did my walk called "restoring the american dream." it's not a book that says i grew up in a log cabin, now i'm ready to be president. it's a book that actually said

after i taught at carnegie mellon, cheney university, because the african-american was my best demographic in philadelphia, at penn state, army war college even though avis navy war guy and dickinson and we studied policies and i did 200 events a year for other people across the state and i said these are the policies i stand for. hold my accountable and signed my name as a contract in it for doing this. who is being held accountable for not finding weapons of mass destruction in iraq or for wall street. >> let's talk about the 422 miles you said across the state of pennsylvania. you walked across there in march. we were just talking about how cold that must have been. in fact, you've got a story here in philly, you wake up and there's two to four inches on the ground. >> that's right. i kicked it off i think it was march 4th. held up the combat boots i wore as head of the navy, was on the ground in afghanistan beginning of the conflict, and i said i'm

now going to walk across the state foot by foot. i walked 12 or 14 miles, slept overnight at an african-american church, woke up the next day and there was all this snow. bundled up -- >> it was cold. >> it was something. walking four or five mountains as you get into franklin and other counties is really something. look, part of this was because of my daughter. as you know, i only got into politics because my then 4-year-old, thnow 14-year-old daughter, had brain cancer, and this nation saved her with the wonderful health care plan we had in the military. she penned something and was reading "to kill a mockingbird" and pointed out to me how this narrator of the book, scout, another precocious young girl, said you can't know a man until you stand in his shoes and walk around in them. that's what that walk was about, to earn trust of people, to be -- not to have them agree with me all the time, just like

i don't ask the machine or people, but so they know where i stand but that i understand their hopes and challenges. >> does her strength through that struggle, through what she endured, does that still motivate you today? >> it is everything. it's the only reason i entered politics. i was an i independent for 31 years in the military and then she was saved. it was a pay back tour. i never dreamed of being in politics. no, this pay back is what it's still all about. you don't know what it's like, maybe some do, that you walk out and there walter reed after the first brain operation they said we couldn't get it. we were able to go to children's, to take her to boston. i fought for the affordable care act so everyone has the tuned i did. she's it. >> i talk about the campaign she's inspiring right now. some reports are saying you're having trouble or are slow to

raise campaign money. what sets you apart from katy mcginn at this. >> we have as much money than any other democrat running against an incumbent. it's all not about money. i basically took a step back because i wanted to be the candidate who would actually be out amongst the people. that's why i did the walk. i still believe in grassroots and that's different than a lot of other people. now with the book, i go into like erie or i go into wayne and i do a chapter from the book. i walk 0.422 miles with 30 of my supporters and then we do small businesses. why aren't they creating only half as many jobs today as they did 25 years ago? if you can get the small businesses working again, give them access to the mother's milk, capital to start up, and relief some regulatory burden on them then we can get the jobs we need. i think i want to be known for as i was for captain of a ship or an admiral is going down to

the mess decks after the planes came home from iraq and i'd sit down there and chat with them to listen to them. that's how i intend to be a senator also. >> what do you think will be different this time around here against pat toomey? >> well, i think pat toomey now has demonstrated that he's willing to vote against the interests of pennsylvanians. for example, he said we needed transportation bill, but he led the filibuster of the transportation bill and then said to the tea party, we did something constructive today. we killed it. he voted against every veterans administration bill. you know, he visited my aircraft carrier as i mentioned, but he also said we should care about the veterans' suicide rate but then he voted against the standalone mental health and benefits bill and then paycheck fairness act for women where they make about 70 to 92 cents on the dollar as a guy. seven times he's voted against women to stop that bill from going through. i think it's wrong to say one thing in pennsylvania but then vote a different way against the interests down there.

i want people to know as i have in my book that here is where i stand. i can do no other and i want them to listen to what i have to say, but then i need to listen to them to say do i have it right? once we come to an agreement, that's how i'll vote in washington. >> all right. u.s. congressman -- former u.s. congressman -- >> great to be with you. >> joe sestak. thank you for joining us. we really appreciate your time. next on "nbc10@issue," why aren't some parents in our area vaccinating their children even when the science says it's safe? a local psychologist thinks she knows why and get this. it has something to do with baseball. >> this is "nbc10@issue."

knows why and get this. oh my gosh, it's the guy from last night. what?! can i jump on your wi-fi? yeah, you can try it. hey! i had a really good time last night. yeah, me too. the only thing is that... the only thing is what? what's the only thing? oh my gosh he's married. he's a kleptomaniac. he's a pyromaniac. he's a total maniac. hey! hey! go back to your wife you sociopath! leave slow internet behind. the 100% fiber optics network is here. get out of the past. get fios. tea? now $79.99 a month. go online or call now. call the verizon center for customers with disabilities at 800.974.6006 tty/v

knows why and get this. 15 years ago measles was eliminated in the u.s., but now the disease is back. some health officials warm it could be an epidemic again. most credible health organizations like the world health organization say

mountains of research prove that vaccines are safe and effective. yet a growing number of people remain skeptical. with me is dr. jessica candorski, a psychology with philadelphia college of oes yo pathic medicine. >> thanks for having me. >> lets get this right off the bat here. you're suggesting that people -- parents namely who don't vaccinate don't do so because of a suspicion that might be similar to, say, a baseball player. >> a little bit. so what we call that is the post hock fallacy in the behavioral signs sciences. what you see is especially with autism, there is the signs of autism tend to occur around the same time parents get their mmr vaccination for their children. you hear lots of stories of parents saying my child was vaccinated and then he showed signs of autism. just because "a" and "b" occur together doesn't necessarily mean "a" caused "b" but we all have a tendency to have that

fallacy in our thinking. it's the same reason baseball players wear the same socks, because i wore these socks and i won the game. so it's very similar. >> "a" plus "b" must equal "c." you're saying there's mountains of research that disqualifies this. >> tons of research. so tens of thousands of kids have been studied and there's been no link found between the mmr vaccine and autism, but the knowledge is not enough. so people communicate through stories, and you have these well-meaning parents who are just motivated by fear. they know a neighbor who maybe thinks that because of the mmr vaccine that they -- their child had autism because it occurred at the same time. but they're not causally related. so we give parents all of this knowledge, but they're working on emotion. they're just trying to protect their children. >> could it be the effectiveness of the vaccines that they've created these issues.

maybe there's this kind of -- they have this outside view they don't need them? >> absolutely. and you saw that with disneyland. so with disneyland there were people who were vaccine hesitant, and they saw an uptick in these parents going and getting their kids vaccinated because they saw the measles and they saw this fear of i don't want my child to get the measles, but we don't see these diseases as much as we see autism, so the fear is i'm nervous that my kid may get autism, i don't want to get a vaccine, but if i see the measles or the mumps, let's say, i may be more motivated. >> isso a lot of parents will think about taking prescription drugs and yet they will be hesitant to get their kids vaccinated. why is there a difference there? why do they think it's better to take prescription drugs and there is that hesitance to have their kids vaccinated. >> i that i because of the powerful notion of story telling. so you hear these stories of

people who are convinced, and these are well-meaning parents who are convinced that their child may have gotten autism from the vaccine. i think it's not so different when it's your child, right? so when it's your child, you're on all emotion, right? you want to protect your kids. they're the most important thing in your life, and your emotion brain is in overdrive, and it's hard to override your emotional brain with reason. >> and what's the solution to this. is it just more education? is it just trying to coax parents into understanding that there's mountains of research here behind this and this is an acceptable thing to do for your child? >> what we know is knowledge alone does not change behavior. >> interesting. >> at all. we do know that a little bit of fear does, so kind of presenting what could happen if your child were to get one of these diseases that this prevents could be helpful and also empathy and story telling. so if you have a vaccine hesitant parent and you're a pediatrician, kind of saying to

them, look, i understand, this person is the most important thing to you and you don't want to do anything to harm them, and i'm a parent, too, and i vaccinate my kids. that would go much further than -- the knowledge is also important, but the emotion, appealing to the emotion would go much further for behavior change. >> no question about it. dr. jessica kendorsky. thank you for joining us. what's the first word that pops in your head when you think of philly. chances are it's not kind. we'll meet the man who wants to change that when we come right back. ♪

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this is "nbc10@issue." what kind of person are you? it's a question that's hard to answer, but scientists decided to take a stab at finding out. yale researchers say that your level of morality is what makes you you. traits like loyalty and kindness. they say even when brain

disorders caused people to lose their memory, others felt they were still the same person they'd always been. it wasn't until the morality changed that they seemed like a different person to friends and family. and being a kind person has its own rewards. research finds kindness can boost your brain power by releasing feel-good endorphins. a university of michigan study found people who practice kindness had a lower risk of dying over a five-year period than those who did not. and a university of pennsylvania study finds you'll feel a happy glow from doing something as simple as writing a thank you note. with me now is jay nathan basel. the executive director of a day of kindness, an attempt to give the city a day to reflect on kindness. we were just talking about this. i think of philly sometimes and i think a lot of outsiders do and they say, well, you threw snow balls at santa claus. stadium for a while there. why do you think a day of

kindness is so necessary in the city of philadelphia? >> well, first, kindness is our birthright here in philadelphia. it's in the name philadelphia. when we think of the name philadelphia, we often think of the city of brotherly love. >> sure. >> and what it really means is be kind to each other, and that was william penn's founding mission when he established the city and the colony was to create a kind environment. he once wrote in his pamphlet "essence of man" that if there be any kindness i can show any fellow creature, let me not defer it, but let me do it now. so that is really the basis behind this entire mission. but it's certainly enspired by the visits of two great leaders, pope francis and then his holiness the dalai lama. pope francis' mission is love. the daily llama's mission is kindness. those unique coincidences of

these two individuals coming to philadelphia, it just fell all into place. >> it's a marriage of two really, really great concepts and ideas, and you want to do this now in october. what's so special about that date in october? of course, it will be right after propose francis arrives in philadelphia, talks to people at the ben franklin parkway. october is significant why, jay? >> well, there's several great dates in october, but october 27th, 1682, that is when william penn establishes the city of philadelphia, and he established this county in the heart of his colony at the time. bucks county to the north, chester county to the south, and right at the heart philadelphia, the city of kindness. >> and why is it so important? i mean, why aren't we kind now? why do you think? >> well, i think we should be kind all the time. >> sure, sure. >> but certainly coming out of these two great events, the dalai lama receiving the liberty

medal on october 26th and then delivering a talk on october 27th on educating the heart for the 21st century, it is -- we find that people find other reasons to propel themselves into certain situations, and if a visit by the pope and a visit by the dalai lama cannot propel people to think a little bit more about kindness, i'm not sure what can. >> exactly, exactly. what kind of support do you have behind you? >> we have wide support from the city, from state representatives. we also have the various tourism organizations of visit philly and the philadelphia convention and visitors bureau. the city has really been quite amazing with their embrace to this idea. >> you know, we've talked about the research here, at least i did, right before we did the interview here. you know, the benefits on kindness, in fact, you can live a little bit longer one of the quotes i had mentioned. why is kindness such an essential thing and how is it

contagious? how can people catch on when they hear about this? >> you know, when we have something negative happen to us, we'll tell ten people. we'll immediately go on to facebook or twitter and share that with the entire world. when something good happens to us, we may tell one, two, or three people. >> sure. >> so we tend to almost circulate within a negative environment. when we shift that to circulating in a positive environment, we change a lot of other people. you can experience this yourself just by walking down the street street. in the city we often walk by people. just smile and say hello to someone. >> that little movement. >> watch how their head will lift up and a smile comes on their face and that transfers to another person. >> pay it forward. thank you, jay nathan basel. kindness is always a good thing. next on "nbc10@issue," you will

have to wait a little longer to take your first sip of that coveted pumpkin spice latte. that's not too kind. we'll explain why when we come right back. this is "nbc10@issue."

this is "nbc10@issue." well, you're going to have to wait a little bit longer for your pumpkin spiced latte from starbucks. the drink won't be released nationwide until september 8th. that's several days after last year's launch date. starbucks hasn't said why it shifted that date back a little bit this year. earlier this week the company did announce it will use real pumpkin in the pumpkin spice latte this year and it will remove the caramel coloring. that's it for "nbc10@issue." thank you so much for joining us. i'm keith jones. join me weekdays at 5:00 p.m. right here on nbc 10. have a great sunday.

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oh my gosh, it's the guy from last night. what?! can i jump on your wi-fi? yeah, you can try it. hey! i had a really good time last night. yeah, me too. the only thing is that... the only thing is what? what's the only thing? oh my gosh he's married. he's a kleptomaniac. he's a pyromaniac. he's a total maniac. hey! hey! go back to your wife you sociopath! leave slow internet behind. the 100% fiber optics network is here. get out of the past. get fios. tea? now $79.99 a month. go online or call now. call the verizon center for customers with disabilities at 800.974.6006 tty/v

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