roin our area and in deother parts of the country.day are the results a rebuke of the president? we'll hear from both sides. "money break," white house counselor kellyanne conway makes a pitch for the gop tax plan. the white house calls it, "a financial boost for the average american." today, nbc 10's lauren mayk goes one on one with conway, asking the questions that touch your wallet. eight and one, do i have to say anything else? nah, today, former eagle great barrett brooks and his sports psychologist join us to discuss how the birds stay focused during this bye week. plus, how the philly fandom impacts the athletes. male announcer: "nbc 10 @ issue" starts now. rosemary: a lot to talk about on this sunday. good morning, i'm rosemary connors for "nbc 10 @ issue." we begin with decision 2017. democrats win the governor's mansion in new jersey

and virginia, sweep the major races in philadelphia, and make historic gains in republican-heavy delaware county. ♪ rosemary: democrat phil murphy, as you just saw, jumped for joy as he took the stage tuesday after the garden state elected him as the next governor. murphy will replace republican chris christie. he defeated current lieutenant governor kim guadagno. all: larry, larry, larry, larry, larry! rosemary: in philadelphia, larry krasner is the city's newly elected district attorney. krasner, a civil rights and defense attorney, beat republican beth grossman. and in delaware county, it was an historic election night. democrats beat out republican incumbents for two delaware county council seats. the last time a democrat served on the county council was in 1980. democrats also had historic wins in several key races in bucks county. joining me now, democratic political insider, teresa lundy. lundy runs her own firm, tml communications.

she was name 1 of the 17 young people shaping philly politics by digital news organization "philly pen." also joining the discussion is joe watkins. watkins is a republican political analyst most often seen on msnbc. he was a white house aide under president george w. bush, and ran as the republican candidate for lieutenant governor of pennsylvania in 2009. thank you both for being with us. joe watkins: thanks, rosemary. teresa lundy: thank you. rosemary: all right, so let's start in new jersey, talk about the governor's race there. i have to wonder, was that really an anti-trump movement, or an anti-christie movement, in terms of christie's administration, the bridgegate scandal, the beachgate scandal? what's your take on it, joe? joe: well, democrats are certainly energized in new jersey. i mean, new jersey's a blue state, so make no doubt about it, the fact that chris christie was able to win and win two terms as a republican governor was really quite a feat. it's a blue state, it's a democrat state, and so, democrats were really, i think, energized to come out and vote, and they showed up in big numbers.

i mean, the margin by which phil murphy beat kim guadagno was pretty significant. she was a good candidate. he was also, well-funded, and he had a strong message. he was able to play on a lot of the dissatisfaction with chris christie. chris christie's numbers have been down of late, and he played on that pretty heavily. but turnout was very strong, and you saw the result. rosemary: and, teresa, going into the race, murphy was leading guadagno by double digits in terms of the polls. teresa: absolutely, and so, where democrats, or where we are, is not only just excited, but we are refreshed, right? and it was time for something different. it was time for something new, and i think a lot of what the campaign did was really exercise the message, right? it wasn't more so attack, and it was more so, "look, what have you done since the beginning?" and i think once you start puttin' someone's record out there and you really start actually talking to them as a person, like, "what have you done while in this position?" and yes, politics was in the midst of it,

but i think, at the end of the day, we saw exactly what new jersey had to offer, and honestly, i think it's gonna be something to look forward to in the next election. rosemary: i think too you have to wonder for voters out there, whenever there's a whiff of corruption--and certainly, with chris christie, he was never charged in the bridgegate scandal, but people who worked for him were. whenever there's a whiff of that out there, voters do not like that, using your position for something other than serving the people. joe: well, absolutely not. i mean, and that gave them reason, i think, and phil murphy played on it. certainly, his commercials linked kim guadagno. i don't think she had anything to do with it. she wasn't anywhere near that, but-- rosemary: and not charged, obviously, not related to that trial. joe: but nonetheless, he was able to successfully link her to that and use that as the impetus for people to come out and vote. terry made a-- teresa made a good point, and she kind of hits on how voters are feeling, not only in new jersey, but in pennsylvania, and virginia, and all over delaware, which is the old janice jackson song, janet jackson song, "what have you done for me lately?"

both: [laughing] joe: you know, that's how voters feel right now, "what have you done for me lately?" you know? [laughing] rosemary: what's the rest of the song? i know it. speaking of virginia, obviously a big race there, one that pundits have been closely watching in our area around the country, ralph northam beating ed gillespie. ed gillespie had a pretty hardline message in terms of being close to donald trump, president trump, but the president came out saying, "oh, no, he did not embrace my messaging and embrace my platform." joe: well, gillespie--ed's a friend, and i've known him for a long time. i knew him before he worked in the white house for george w. bush. i knew him when he was the republican national committee chairman. did a good job, tried to broaden the party, tried to make sure that the party was more inclusive, broaden people of color, african americans and latinos, into the party. had a lot of good ideas as the rnc chair. he ran unsuccessfully for the us senate a couple of years ago, came pretty close, had a very close race. this time, not as close. and why? because his embrace of some of the trump message,

whether he wanted to or needed to, as he thought, i think he did, at the end of the race, certainly impacted him in those northern virginia suburbs. so, in those counties, like loudoun county, where trump lost big in 2016, unfortunately for ed gillespie, he lost even bigger. rosemary: but people turned out. joe: they did, they turned out, they showed up. there was excellent turnout, which usually benefits democrats. when there's excellent turnout, that usually benefits democrats, but there was excellent turnout, and college-educated whites came out in big numbers and handed ed gillespie a defeat. teresa: trump did not get the popular vote. he got the electoral college, and even in the midst of that, you still had a lot of republicans who were still confused on, in terms of what side of the aisle they wanted to go to. and in terms of getting on local campaigns, a lot of them are like, "all right, let's use the same strategy here and see if it's gonna work," but it's not gonna work, and then it was very evident that it didn't work. rosemary: is this indicative of what we're going to see a year from now? joe: well, it may be kind of a forecast

of what may be to come. you see a number of republican members of congress who have chosen not to run again for office. and in pennsylvania, you've got charlie dent, a long-time congressman from the northern suburbs who chose not to run. and in texas, you've got at least a couple, if not three republican elected officials of congress, members of congress, who have decided not to run again in reelection. in arizona, you have the same thing, republican senator deciding not to run for reelection. and in part, the electorate is still very angry. it's very angry. i mean, unemployment at historical lows, at 4.1%, but wages are flat. a lot of people who are working are working part time for economic reasons. so they're working, but they aren't making the money they used to make, and they're angry. and they have very little tolerance for any kind of nonsense in politics. and so, you might see people get thrown out who you didn't expect to get thrown out in this next cycle. rosemary: well, you bring up nonsense in politics. president trump has not even been in office for a year yet.

so, in terms of what he might accomplish, i think a first-term president gets a little bit of leeway. however, voters, and they've been outspoken about it, have seen dysfunction in washington, in terms of failed attempts to repeal and replace obamacare, what seems like some infighting in the gop party. is this going to be a rebuke of donald trump if democrats sweep the midterms? joe: well, it's hard to say. you have to realize that the map, the senate map, for instance, certainly favors republicans. i mean, there are 34 us senate races in 2018. only nine of them are republican. and of those nine, only two of those are difficult races for republicans. that would be nevada and arizona. and so, the majority are democratic races. and in some of those democrat races, you have democrats who are facing the same wave of anti-establishment fervor, so they may be in trouble. so, the senate is not likely to change hands, but neither is the house. but there may be some significant defeats in different areas around the country in the house. rosemary: i see you nodding your head, teresa.

teresa: yeah, locally, we have to really start to wonder how we are pickin' up engagement, right? so, i mean, in philadelphia alone, we had 156,000 people come out in philadelphia out of 796,000 registered voters, right? so, how can we get that number up in order to start talkin' about that national conversation? i mean, we just had a judicial race in pennsylvania where we had a african american supreme court candidate. we had a first african american superior court candidate who actually won, and it was an entire "slate of eight," that's what the democratic party called it, right? and out of the slate of eight, we had six women who won, and it energized a lot of individuals, right, because this is a 10-year term. so, i call it, "the million-dollar position," right? because every year--but it's something that i believe it woke up a very quiet election, and i'm looking forward to seeing in the next few years what it looks like for the future of women.

rosemary: we'll have to see how it all shakes out. joe watkins, teresa lundy, thank you so much for being with us. thank you for your insight. joe: thanks, rosemary. rosemary: coming up on "nbc 10 @ issue," white house counselor kellyanne conway makes a push for the gop tax plan. we'll explain what's in it for you. plus, the eagles not gonna be on tv today, but never fear, we've got one in the studio. next, we'll talk with a former player about how the team works to keep the momentum going during a bye week.

rosemary: the white house continues to insist that the middle class will benefit from its tax reform plan, but as more details of the plan become available, not everybody is convinced. nbc 10's lauren mayk recently traveled to washington to ask presidential advisor kellyanne conway what the plan means for people right here in our area. lauren mayk: we know that the administration says they wanna make things simpler and they wanna cut taxes for the middle class, but what we don't know is what the individual impact

will be for you, how much it will save or cost you. lauren: you're from new jersey, you know it well. you know that the taxes are higher there. and a lot of folks depend on being able to deduct their state and local income taxes, and there would be some changes affecting them under this plan. so, what do you say to folks who look at this and think, "this might hurt me"? kellyanne conway: so, the state and local deductions, otherwise known as, "salt," are an area of conversation, particularly in the house, and we've had a number of members from new york, new jersey, california, illinois, connecticut. these states all have higher taxes by and large. but these states also need to lobby their state legislatures and their local councils to lower their taxes. this is federal tax that we're talking about, and the tax relief package overall will benefit millions of american households by reducing the sheer percentage of taxes you pay. so, even individuals in new jersey will benefit the way

everybody benefits in that the standard deduction is being doubled. so, you and your spouse would go from $12,000 to $24,000 of 0% tax. your first $24,000 subject to 0% tax. that is a bracket, 0 is a bracket. and we're also really amplifying and increasing the number of americans who will pay 0 tax at all, so those folks will benefit. lauren: let's talk about that standard deduction, because you're saying $24,000. that is a significant increase there. but again, staying in new jersey, i talked to somebody this morning who said he had $30,000 worth of deductions last year, and you've got places like haddonfield, where you're capping their property tax deduction at $10,000. average property tax bill is $14,000. so, what do you say to those people? is there a chance they could end up paying more? kellyanne: i say to them that they're going to benefit in many different ways through the overhaul tax, to look at the entire-- lauren: but they could pay more? kellyanne: that depends on how much they deduct. that depends on how much they pay in taxes. it depends on what their deductions are.

but this is what's most important. i think every state that you're talking about, illinois, california, new york, certainly new jersey, connecticut, these are high tax states in large part because of the state and local taxes they also pay. lauren: the tax policy center recently came out with an analysis and did say that in 2018, under this plan, under the house plan that was released, taxes would go down. however, it's not all equal. why are higher earners getting a bigger break? kellyanne: well, many higher earners are complaining that they're not getting any break at all. many people are saying, "hold on," that the top earners pay the vast majority of taxes in this country, and that they feel like because of all the caps in the income to be able to benefit from some of these deductions and credits, they're not going to, they aren't going to benefit. so, they see it very differently. but look, the president has said from the beginning, he will sign middle class tax relief. the most important component for him is that this benefit the middle class.

lauren: but middle class could be defined differently depending on where you live. in new jersey, for example, middle class might be defined a little bit differently. i know that you're using a median household income of $59,000. in new jersey, the median household income is $72,000. so, it's higher, so it's defined differently. will all middle class taxpayers in states like new jersey--? kellyanne: well, respectfully, every time president obama and others raised our taxes, did anybody make that argument to them? "hey, you shouldn't raise all of our taxes because we make more money, or we make less money. what about the people who don't pay taxes and get, you know, get tax breaks?" so, this all goes back to fairness. lauren: i asked kellyanne conway if the president would release his tax returns so americans could see how all of this would affect him. she told me that he says he will not release them right now because he's under audit and would do so when his lawyers tell him he should. in washington, d.c., i'm lauren mayk, nbc 10 news. rosemary: the white house hopes the final bill will be on the president's desk by christmas.

next, on "nbc 10 @ issue," no eagles today? no problem, we got you covered. former player barrett brooks is in the house to discuss how the players are keeping their heads in the game during bye week.

to their best start since 2004, and fans can barely contain themselves. so, how does a town known for, let's say, extreme behavior, on the field and in the stands, keep it together? this morning, joining me, former eagle offensive linemen barrett brooks, who is now with nbc sports philadelphia, and local sports psychologist, dr. joel fish. dr. fish is the director of the center for sport psychology in philadelphia, and he's worked with many professional athletes. thank you both for being with us. both: thank you. rosemary: all right, so eight and one, pretty big deal. what are the players doing right now in terms of this bye week? we'll start with you, barrett. barrett brooks: well, you know, of course, 8 and 1, let's just soak on that, 8 and 1. rosemary: take it all in. barrett: exactly, you know, and i've been in that position before.

my last team i was with was with the steelers, and at this point, we were 8 and 1 also. and during the bye, i mean, you just go and you wanna get away a little bit. you wanna just take your mind off football because this is what you've been. you've been on this grind for the past 3 months, so you need a little break. take yourself away, get around family a little bit, separate yourself from the rigors of being in a nfl locker room. 'cause you love all your teammates. you love being with 'em, but you still need a little break so you can just relax a little bit and let your body rest a little bit. rosemary: mm-hmm, and dr. fish, i imagine in the counseling that you do, this is what i'm sure you tell them. "take it easy, be introspective, be reflective." dr. joel fish: focus on the moment. embrace the moment. and i don't think it's an accident they're 8 and 1. and as a fan who grew up in this town, wow, how to welcome that too. but i think you see in this team a great combination of young players, veteran players, and they've shown a tendency to be able to stay grounded when things are going well, which is difficult sometimes. just like it's hard to stay grounded when things aren't going well.

but the preparation, the attention to detail. i think it's that combination as well as the coaching staff that's allowed the team to handle one day at a time, and go from one week to the next. rosemary: i have to say, i just realized, you're wearing your eagles green today. i'm assuming it's not by mistake. dr. fish: well, sometimes things are by accident, but i think you're seeing more people jump on the bandwagon here. and we're cautious by nature, so, i think at first, maybe 1/3 of the fans were, "wow," but 1/3 of the fans were waiting for the other shoe to drop, 1/3 were waiting for, "yes, but, yes, but." but now, particularly after carolina, after denver, i think you're finding more and more people in philadelphia just buying into this, getting out of their comfort zone and saying, "wow." rosemary: let's go for it. and, barrett, in terms of the fans, what kind of an impact does that have on the players? i mean, philly fans--and hey, i'm from philadelphia too. i grew up in philadelphia. i grew up in a sports family in philly. i mean, the fans can be, to put it lightly,

a little tough when they're not winning, but, you know, behind you 100% when they're really proving themselves on the field. barrett: well, that's the thing. they're behind you 100% regardless of what's goin' on. they're gonna be behind you. but the thing is, we have knowledgeable fans here. this is a knowledgeable fan base. rosemary: it's true. barrett: they understand all sports. you know, they're goin' through a renaissance of sports right now. you look at the flyers, you know, with, you know, provorov and these guys comin' in, patrick comin' in. konecny bein' here. you look at the phillies. the phillies have, you know, an insurgence of young guys come in, cousins, quinn, williams, you know, hoskins. and, you know, look at the sixers. ben has come in and taken over right now. of course, embiid has been here. there's just a resurgent-- of course, we have with the philadelphia eagles, the guy, mr. wentz. join the wentz wagon. and what, you know, as a fan, you lookin' at all this, and, you know, we can't jump on it too fast, but then we think, "this team was built in the trenches." and that's how you win, being built in the trenches. i won my ring because we were good in the trenches, the offensive line and defensive line. these guys are playing well together.

so, they're more based to be successful as opposed to years past. the one thing that they have is experience now that they didn't have before. last year, they won four games, and then they started losing. so, they looked back to that and saw that. also, this year, they had a mini-bye this year when they played on thursday and didn't play till that next sunday, and then they came out and hit the washington redskins kinda like, "uhh," and it took a whole half for them to jump back on it and become the players that they could be and start winnin' again. well, they have things that they've seen before and experienced before. they have veteran players. they're no gonna do that goin' into this bye week. when they come out of this bye week, they'll be ready to roll because they had those experience. and plus, we're playin' in dallas. whenever you play in dallas, you're gonna be hyped. they're not gonna be out there-- it's gonna be electric out there. so, i'm not worried about it. they'll be good off the bye. they'll be ready to roll, and they'll be ready to go out there and play. i mean, i like to choke--that's what you feel when it's dallas. rosemary: we do not encourage violence on that issue, but we understand the metaphor.

we get it, barrett. all right, you know, one thing we haven't talked about yet is personalities. i mean, you talk about the team gelling and flowing, certainly in their prowess on the field. but it seems like you got a lot of good guys workin' together, and you got a good guy in coach doug pederson. dr. fish: well, i think particularly with wentz, and this is looking at it from afar, his maturity, his character, his ability to stay poised when things are going well, as well as when things aren't going well-- rosemary: what about coach pederson? barrett: yeah, he's a guy that, you know, he was an ex-player, so he understands to be in this position. he's had success. he's been around guys like brett favre, in which he can go out and take examples from. dr. fish: i think we're in a renaissance period. it reminds me of the '70s and early '80s when, all of a sudden, the teams peaked. but i think the fan base is beginning to trust pederson and trust the team, and why not us? the astros just broke a streak. the cubs did last year. so, little by little, i think the enthusiasm is building and will continue to build because the trust is there with the coaching staff as well as some of the key players.

barrett: yes, and the fans are doin' the same thing. at this point, everybody's loving everybody. brotherly love, it's definitely hear. husbands are lovin' their wives at this point, you know, brothers are lovin' their sisters, you know, things are great here. the economy is gonna do better because the eagles are playin' better. it's just, everything's just comin' around, and deservedly so, 8 and 1, this team is definitely changin' things in philadelphia. rosemary: we'll have to watch what happens coming out of this bye week. dr. joel fish, barrett brooks, thank you so much for being with us. will you come back and join us later in the season? barrett: no question, i definitely will. rosemary: when the eagles are still winning. dr. fish: that's a deal. rosemary: all right, thank you, guys.

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rosemary: that's it for this edition of "nbc 10 @ issue." thank you for being with us. don't forget to catch eagles day game kickoff tonight following sunday night football right here on nbc 10. have a good one. ♪

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