captioning sponsored by macneil/lehrer productions >> woodruff: good evening. i'm judy woodruff. the economy lost 95,000 jobs last month and the unemployment rate has now topped 9.5% for 14 months straight. >> brown: and i'm jeffrey brown. on the newshour tonight, ray suarez gets a breakdown of today's jobs report, the last before the midterm elections. >> woodruff: then, margaret warner examines china's angry reaction to the award of the nobel peace prize to an imprisoned chinese dissident. >> brown: spencer michels reports on the face-off in california between former

ebay chief meg whitman and former governor jerry brown. >> the california governor's race is setting records but the enanswered question is whether either of the candidates can fix what ails this state's economy. >> woodruff: from chile, jonathan miller of independent television news has the latest on the efforts to rescue the trapped miners as early as next tuesday. >> brown: mark shields and david brooks offer their weekly analysis. >> woodruff: and we close with the story of a composer, a virtuoso violinist, and the pulitzer-prize winning music they create. ♪ >> woodruff: that's all ahead on tonight's newshour. major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by:

and with the ongoing support of these institutions and foundations. and... this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> woodruff: the unemployment rate in the u.s. stayed stuck at 9.6% in september. the labor department reported that today. it said the private sector added 64,000 jobs, but that was more than offset by layoffs of nearly 160,000 teachers and other public employees. the result was a net loss of 95,000 jobs.

president obama acknowledged the tough going in the job market, as he appeared at a small business in bladensburg, maryland. >> yes, the trend line in private sector job growth is moving in the right direction. but i'm not interested in trends or figures as much as i am interested in the people behind them. the millions of honest, hardworking americans swept up in the most devastating recession of our lifetimes. >> woodruff: the president charged republicans have opposed efforts to improve things.l but house minority leader john boehner blamed democrats for prolonging the misery. he spoke in westchester, ohio. >> the bottom line is this. to help our economy create jobs we have to stop all of the coming tax hikes and we have to cut spending and to get all of this done, we need to change the congress itself now. there are now >> woodruff: there are now

nearly 15 million people unemployed in the u.s.. ray suarez takes a closer look at the numbers. >> suarez: and here to walk us through what's in the new report is lakshman achuthan, managing director of the economic cycle research institute. lakshman, there is a lot of data in a monthly jobs report what is your overall impression of the numbers and what are the really important points to take out of the monthly report? >> well, i mean the headline number is a big negative. and we certainly would like see that positive. when we look inside the report you do see it's mostly the public sect err job losses, the census workers which are a temporary hire, we saw they have been losing their jobs because the census is wingeding up. but the real problem and a bit of a surprise was the sense of a state and local firings of teachers as you mentioned and other municipal and local government workers where the budgets and the budget deficits are really forcing cuts now that, you know,

some of the temporary measures say from the stimulus are kind of wearing off on those budgets. and so that's definitely kind of a negative headline that we've seen for most of the day. the positive here as you mentioned also is that the private sector all year has continued to add jobs. this means that we remain in an economic recovery, as weak as it is, on the jobs front we remain in a recovery. however, the pace of that recovery has begun to slow. we saw the private sector adding many more jobs in the spring, through late spring and then since then as the overall economy has started to grow slower, throttled back, so has private sector jobs growth. and so what really matters here, and it's an open question, is whether or not this slowdown culminates in a new recession where you'll

have negative private sectors, job growth or job losses again or if the economy can find its footing and have the so-called soft landing. >> what is that throw theeling back as you describe it mean. what does it mean that employers are conclude being the state of the economy? >> well, remember, i mean, the employers, business managers are wary about any slowing in the economy and it has started to slow. you have seen gdp growth begin to slow. sales and other measures of the cos dent economy including jobs growth all slowing since the second quarter and there is that recently muscle memory of the trauma, of the crisis of just a couple of years ago where many businesses didn't survive. so that fear in some sense is holding back hiring. but it's not as though employers actually have to be comfortable in order to hire. they also have to be scared, in a sense, that they're going to lose market share

if they don't hire someone. and you see a bit of a mix when you look at the economy. for example the airlines are beginning to hire people back because they just don't have enough capacity and they're afraid if they don't do it someone else will take that business. >> as we watched the number of jobless increase over the past several years, economists like yourself, often noted that unemployment was a lagging indicator. but just recently it's been pointed out that the recession ended 15 months ago. lagging by how long? >> well, you know, that's an interesting point. it's a roughly coincident indicator, actual

>> brown: still to come on the newshour: the nobel peace prize for a chinese dissident; the race for governor in california; the coming rescue attempt of the miners in chile; shields and brooks; and a composer and violinist make award-winning music. but first, the other news of the day. here's hari sreenivasan in our newsroom. >> sreenivasan: the jobs report fueled a new rally on wall street. stocks moved higher on hopes the federal reserve will take new action to stimulate the economy. the dow jones industrial average gained nearly 58 points to close above 11,000 for the first time in five months. the nasdaq rose 18 points to close near 2,402. for the week, the dow gained 1.6%; the nasdaq rose 1.3%. the foreclosure mess got worse today. bank of america, the nation's largest, expanded a week-old freeze on selling foreclosed homes to all 50 states. the bank is reviewing thousands of cases over concerns that employees signed legal documents without reading them.

and pnc financial services group halted foreclosure sales in 23 states that handle the process through courts. it's the fourth major lender to do so. retired general james jones is stepping down as national security adviser. the announcement today was the latest high-level departure in the obama white house. the general's departure had been expected, and president obama made it official this afternoon. >> serving as national security adviser is one of the most difficult jobs in our government. but through it all, jim, like the marine he has always been, has been a dedicated public servant and a friend to me. >> sreenivasan: the former commandant of the u.s. marine corps has served as national security chief for nearly two years. in that position, he worked on winding down the u.s. combat mission in iraq, and on the decision to send more troops to afghanistan.

he'll be replaced by his top deputy, tom donilon. >> he has served three presidents and been immersed in our national security for decades. over the last two years, there's not a single critical national security issue that has not crossed tom's desk. >> sreenivasan: donilon is shown as deeply skeptical of the troop surge in afghanistan in bob woodward's new book, "obama's wars." it also quotes defense secretary robert gates as saying donilon would be "a disaster" as national security advisor. but today, gates said he looks forward to working with donilon. >> i have and have had a very productive and very good working relationship with tom donilon, contrary to what you may have read. and i look forward to continuing to work with him. >> sreenivasan: today's news follows last week's resignation by chief of staff rahm emmanuel to run for mayor of chicago. two top economic advisers-- christina romer and lawrence summers-- resigned earlier. in northern afghanistan today, a powerful bomb killed at least 20 people, including a provincial governor. it exploded inside a packed

mosque as worshippers were attending friday prayers. in addition to the dead, more than 35 others were wounded. and in the south, nato reported three of its soldiers were killed in separate attacks. that makes 19 so far in october. after a year-long investigation, a senate committee says the u.s. military's reliance on 26,000 private security guards in afghanistan is aiding the taliban. it found that, too often, contractors unwittingly hire afghans with ties to the taliban. the report also said pentagon oversight has been lacking. the death toll from the toxic sludge spill in hungary rose to seven today. clean-up crews found two more bodies as they worked in three villages that bore the brunt of the deluge. the sludge reached the danube river yesterday, but hungarian officials insisted today the toxins have been greatly diluted. >> ( translated ): we didn't say that the red mud is not dangerous; it is dangerous material. but in our opinion, the main danger comes from high alkalinity, from the caustic nature of the material, and the level of metals that are precipitated into the water is very low.

we can say that the danger they pose is very little. >> sreenivasan: on the other hand, greenpeace reported the danger is not over. it said lab tests taken from sludge samples showed high levels of arsenic and mercury. >> we don't understand what the authorities say-- that it's not dangerous, it's safe. what all details show us, it's a dangerous material outside and the level of such elements are really high. >> sreenivasan: the hungarian government said today the spill totaled 184 million gallons. that's nearly as large as the gulf oil spill. abbott laboratories agreed today to take its diet pill meridia off the market in the u.s. and canada. regulators sought the move after studies found increased risk of heart attack and stroke in heart patients using the drug. an estimated 100,000 americans take meridia. earlier this week, pfizer confirmed it recalled 190,000 bottles of its cholesterol drug lipitor last august. it had several reports of a

musty odor in some bottles. california finally has a state budget, 100 days after its fiscal year began. the state assembly approved a spending plan overnight, and the state senate followed suit early today. supporters said it would help close a $19 billion deficit. opponents said it used rosy forecasts and accounting tricks to push back the state's day of reckoning. those are some of the day's major stories. now, back to jeff. >> brown: and we turn to the nobel peace prize, and anger from china as it was awarded today to a jailed dissident. we begin with a report from angus walker of independent television news in beijing.

50 a published manifesto call force democracy and human rights. >> i think the one party is important. despite the threat of nonprison sentences another dissidents spoke out publicly today. >> what is the charter, who is liu xiaobo.

>> as far as the people know this. it is the start of change. >> on china's main domestic tv channel no mention of a chinese nobel winner. officially liu xiaobo's prize is being described as an obscenity. >> margaret warner takes the story from there. >> warner: two weeks >> warner: two weeks ago, beijing had publicly warned the nobel committee against awarding the prize to liu xiaobo. today, the foreign ministry reacted angrily to the news, saying the nobel committee had honored "a criminal sentenced for violating chinese law." president obama issued a written statement calling for the 54- year-old liu's release. he saluted liu as "an eloquent and courageous spokesman for the advance of universal values through peaceful and non-violent means." for more on today's winner, and beijing's reaction, we're joined by orville schell, director of the asia society's center on u.s.-china relations.

professor schell, welcome back to the program. let's start with liu xiaobo. tell us a little more about him. would you agree with the committee that he is the foremost human rights activist in china? >> well, he certainly has been very tenacious. ever since 1989. he also has been rather consistent in his message which is that china needs to have slow, incremental and peaceful democratic change if it's going to continue to develop. and continue to be a contender in the world. of course some of his predictions seem somewhat belied by the fact that china has done quite nicely with authoritarian capitalism. but his point is in the future political reform will have to go arm in arm with economic reform. >> warner: he didn't start out as a democracy advocate. he started out as a writer and a professor. >> he was a professor at beijing normal university. and he was on a fellowship at columbia if 1989 when the

demonstrations in teen mean square broke out-- tiananmen square broke out and he went back and played a prominent role particularly in the very last days of the demonúations before the people's liberation army came in. he started a hunger strike with three other prominent figures, one rock star, to try to both encourage the students to leave and also, i think, to discourage the army from coming in. and he was imprisoned after that as well. >> warner: now let's fast forward to this charter '08 document. there were many intellectuals involved in writing that and in signing that. yet he was singled out for this very harsh prison term last december. why? why does the regime see him as particularly, i don't know, threatening? >> well, i think what is unique, has been unique about him is that he has not chosen to go the economic route to go into business, to get wealthy to do science or to go abroad. he sort of stuck to his guns on this notion of political

reform which the party i think is also in favor of. but on its own own schedule. liu xiaobo tended to be one of these canons loose on the deck as far as they were concerned, agitating outside of the control of the party. and indeed trying to organize other intellectuals which is exactly the most fearful prospect for the party. because they remembered so vividly and with no small degree of anxiety what happened in 1989. so this charter o 80-- '08 really was a list of all the different kinds of rights that chinese should expect to get as the reform movement went forward and i think the party just felt in its quest for stability and its fear of the unstable, sort of fracture points in chinese society today, that this sort of independence was too threatening. >> warner: are there many-- does he have many fellow dissidents in china who are still active like this? >> well, one would have to say that the tradition of may 4th and june 4th in 1989

which i think it's fair to say liu xiaobo was a part of and continued, is not particularly robust at this time. and part of that reason is because having opened the economic door, most people have gone there. there you can express yourself, get rich, keep quiet free. this whole new dimensions of life's advancement. whereas in the political realm if is a situation where you get in trouble quickly. >> warner: explain the disconnect. china has been riding high, it's been throwing its economic and military weight around and yet they go out on a limb two weeks ago and publicly and privately warn the committee not to give this prize. and then they react very strongly today against it. what explains that? >> well, you know, i think china and the chinese communist party and its leaders have a very deep yearning to regain for china the measure of respect which

they felt it lost beginning with the opium war 150 years ago. and one measure of this respect that's eluded them is a nobel prize. the dali lama was sort of chinese, got it. a novelist who lived in france got it. but was not very warmly disposed towards the party. so this has been a tremendous kind of goal. and something that they have not been able to get. and now china gets it, the party gets it and who is it. it's someone they disagree with, someone they've accused of being a criminal, someone they've locked up. and i think it's a very bitter pill to swallow. and i fear that even though it may be justified and one knows the history of liu xiaobo, i'm not certain but that it won't have a very untoward effect in terms of china becoming more

controlling, more tight, more steeped in its old victim culture that really needs to get out of, and i think wants to get out of. >> warner: orville schell, thank you so much. >> pleasure. >> woodruff: and to politics. much of the midterm election focus has been on the battle to control congress. but voters in 37 states also will choose their governors on november 2. newshour correspondent spencer michels takes a look at the race for california's top job between the state's attorney general, jerry brown, and the former head of ebay, meg whitman. it's part of our "vote 2010" coverage. >> reporter: while california boasts the largest economy in the nation, these are rough times in the golden state. unemployment hovers above 12%. the state budget is perpetually way out of balance, the

legislature is at odds with itself and with governor arnold schwarzenegger. yet two candidates are battling fiercely for the dubious honor of governing and fixing this troubled state, a job some think is nearly impossible. the republican is meg whitman, 56-year-old former head of ebay, and a billionaire who has spent more than $121 million of her own money, more than any self- funded candidate in history, providing her detractors with an issue. >> california, be aware. meg whitman doesn't care. >> reporter: at a pre-debate rally in davis, the california nurses association, a labor union, mocked her lavish campaign. >> i am your royal highness, queen meg. >> reporter: whitman has flooded the air with waves of commercials to introduce herself to 17 million voters in a state where democrats have a 13% voter registration edge over republicans.

>> who says, if elected, he'll ask voters for even more new taxes? jerry brown. >> reporter: but her free- spending campaign has become a target of her democratic opponent, former governor jerry brown. >> at the end of the day, people have enough sense to tell what's real from what's manipulated. and i present to you a real contrast. i'm not an advertisement, i'm a real person. you know what you're getting when you see me. ( applause ) >> reporter: whitman makes no apologies for her spending. >> i don't think you can buy elections. i think voters are too smart for that. what you can do is get your message out. and you know, people are really beginning to understand that i am focused on creating jobs and getting government spending under control. >> reporter: but for all the money whitman has spent, she hasn't been able to inoculate

herself from a campaign crisis that erupted last week. nicky diaz santillan, whitman's former housekeeper of nine years-- and an illegal immigrant -- accused her former boss of knowing of her undocumented status and mistreating her. >> i want the people who clean houses and do the jobs that the others don't want to do to be treated with respect and dignity. >> reporter: whitman, who had been running ads saying she was "tough as nails" on immigration, and demanding penalties for employers who hire illegals, says she fired diaz santillan as soon as she learned of her status in 2009. >> as soon as we found that she was an illegal immigrant, we did what we had to do as an employer was to let her go. >> reporter: at the site of california's first spanish language debate in fresno, demonstrators held brooms and other cleaning supplies to show solidarity with diaz santillan. >> hey, hey, it's not okay

to throw a human being away. >> reporter: at his campaign headquarters in oakland, brown said the controversy raised deeper questions. >> there's also a question of values-- how do you treat people? and this raises the larger question of the underground economy. there is a group of people, numbered in the millions, who are being exploited and who are vulnerable and our laws should protect. and if i'm governor, i'll do precisely that. >> reporter: today, brown had a campaign crisis of his own when "the los angeles times" released audio of brown aides referring to whitman as a "whore," accusing her of cutting a deal with police unions, exempting them from her proposed pensions reforms. whitman's campaign called the word an insult to women. brown's campaign apologized. when he was first elected governor in 1974, he was the state's youngest to hold the office.

if he were to win this fall, he would be its oldest. at 72, brown is one of five former governors nationwide trying to make a comeback. >> you know, i used to be governor, by the way, before some of you folks were born. and you know, as soon as i left the governorship, things started going downhill. >> reporter: "sacramento bee" columnist dan walters has been watching california governors since jerry brown's first term. >> even though he is 72, i still think of him in many ways like i did then, as kind of a kid and as a... kind of a precocious child, kind of a perpetual college sophomore, you know, always flitting from thing to thing to thing. and he's all excited about one thing one day, and all excited about something else the next day. >> reporter: so far, brown has raised $33 million, although independent groups, mostly labor, have ponied up an additional $14 million. now with the election a month away, brown's commercials-- mostly attacking whitman-- have just started hitting the air. >> meet the real meg whitman. serving on the board of goldman

sachs, whitman was caught reaping millions from insider stock deals. >> reporter: supporters of each candidate have latched onto negative slogans to deride the opposition. >> "no more reruns." >> "you can't buy our votes." >> reporter: as passionate as the supporters of each candidate are, californians in general are profoundly pessimistic about the state's economy and regard it as their top issue. a new field poll shows only 29% expect the economy to improve next year. the new governor may not be able to solve those problems-- economic or structural-- says "sacramento bee" columnist dan walters. >> first of all, the governor doesn't run the government. as arnold schwarzenegger found out, he has an awful lot less power than he did... than somebody might think he does. california is fundamentally ungovernable because it's such a

complicated state. and the structure of government that was invented in the 18th century was adopted in the 19th century is not really terribly well suited to the 21st century. and i think, until we change those structures, that any governor is kind of doomed to failure of a sort. >> reporter: both candidates differentiate themselves from schwarzenegger, who is now unpopular. >> governor schwarzenegger has done some pretty good things, but he came at it from the private sector. he had not studied california, as i have. and i feel. now, at this point in my life, everything that i have done has prepared me for this undertaking. >> i have an entirely different background than governor schwarzenegger. i've been in business for 30 years. i've run very large organizations. my experience in silicon valley, i think, is highly relevant, because what we need is a healthy dose of managerial expertise from a place that knows how to use technology to do things differently. >> reporter: whitman's silicon valley experience has been the hallmark of her campaign, at

scripted events like this town hall in san jose, where cisco systems ceo john chambers asked her why she is running. >> what in your heart told you to do this? because it is brutal and as a friend, i worry. >> every day, the first question people ask me is, why in the world would you subject yourself and your family to this? and the reason is, because i care about california. and where goes california, goes the country. >> reporter: in this election, california has bucked the national trend-- president obama has not been the focus of whitman's campaign, and the tea parties have played only a small roll. whitman, who is pro-choice, has had to convince conservative republicans to get out and vote for her. >> i think a perfect conservative probably wouldn't be the best choice for california, considering we are a blue state and traditionally vote democrat. but i think she's the best choice. >> reporter: but solar industry exec jim peterson thinks brown's the best choice.

>> jerry's the real deal. jerry brown, as long as i can remember, has supported renewable, sustainable and clean energy. >> reporter: independent polls show brown with a 4 or 5 point lead over whitman. one more debate is scheduled and a host of dueling commercials are on tap. the outcome could well depend on turnout, the wildcard in this close race. >> brown: next, a day of excitement and mounting drama in chile, where 33 miners have been trapped since august 5. chilean authorities are working on three different rescue plans, but have focused most hopes on the one they call "plan b". but there were some hitches today. jonathan miller of independent television news is on the scene at the san jose mine. >> in the dusty hills of the desert, one of the most high-risk high stakes re res-- rescue operations

everundertaken is at its most critical stage. on the phone i asked a worker at the drill head how things are. tense was all he said. at the plan b drill they're very close now. risk reduction, the only thing that matters. 33 men's lives in the balance. >> no one wants the eagerness to get the miners out to compromise their safety. in other words, the rescue chief isn't taking any chances. overnight the drilling on plan b, that is the fastest rig here, has stopped because it was decided they wanted to change to a smaller drill bit to go down the last 40 meters. that will be more accurate and easier to control from half a mile up here on the surface. alberta says he spoke to his brother dario by video link just yesterday. he says his face looked strained. the delay is a blow to the anxious families who thought the drill would have broken through by now. >> we were very frustrated because we weren't expecting that. but we will continue with

faith and believing that god is with us. we trust the rescue team. they are professionals. we have waited more than 60 days and we can wait a little bit longer. >> breaking through is one thing. next they must decide whether to insert a steel pipe into the curved shaft to aid the ascent of the escape cap actual. doing so entails more high risk but without it the capsule could get permanently jammedáp on jagged rocks, what a choice. >> late last night it was a very different scene in camp hope, home to the miners relatives. it's 400 meters from the drill head and 700 meters above their entombed loved once. a midnight vigil which they had hoped would be the last before the drill broke through. there was prayer and song and contemplation.

and through the flames, holding a carnation senator yendai, daughter of salvador murdered in a coup nearly 40 years ago is here in solidarity. >> this is a countries that's confronted the huge challenge of rescuing the 33 miners and comforting their loved ones but the less ons we must love from this are about the safety of our miners, their treatment and the conditions in which they work. >> the new day has brought fresh complications. and exactly when the 33 will emerge from the darkness into the light remains a question fraught with risk and worry >> woodruff: and to the analysis of shields and brooks-- syndicated columnist mark shields and "new york times" columnist david brooks. >> gentlemen, good to see you both. david i will start with you. go back to the news of the day, the jobs report, the

stock market rally, but it is still pretty bad news. >> yeah, i can never figure out the stock market it is bad news. politically it's bad news. this is the last jobs report before the election. so there is no, going to be no uptick for democrats t will enhance a sense of pessimism. 65% of americans think this is a country in decline. i don't think is right but this will enhance that. but you know just substantively i think there is actually, there is a process that we're going through. we had a couple-- couple decades of big debt. people are beginning to say the savings rate is up to vi. the financial corporations and the finance houses are beginning to store away some money so what we are doing it rebalancing our balance sheets, getting some sort of sustainable debt level in order and that's just going to take a long, long time but the good thing is if you want to look for good things is that wer's going to have a new economy. we're in that birthing-- birthing process where we have more sustainable debt load but are paying are for 20 or 30 years of high debt.

>> woodruff: how do you see the effect on the les elections. >> bad for the democrats who are looking for good news. david is right, it is the last, before the election it is an economy, it has only produced an average 100,000 jobs a month. which is not enough to even meet the population growth, let alone to make any dent in unemployment. and for the 15 million americans who are unemployed, 42% of whom have been unemployed for more than six months it's another blow. >> lehrer: so anything that, is there anything the democrats can say about this to help themselves. >> the only way i think they do it is the way speaker pelosi did which is try and draw between, we're fighting are for the middle class and the other side isn't. and that is the only message that seems to make any sense for democrats at this point. >> this is a global issue. if you look the europe, japan, we're not the only ones facing this problem. the debt crisis went up high all around the world so when

you look at it globally you come to the conclusion that governments can have some affect but there is only so much a president or congress can do. nonetheless, in election after election voters take it out on the party. >> lehrer: another big-- . >> woodruff: another big story, the turnover at the white house, general jim jones leaving as national security advisor to the president, his deputy tom doneolan stepping in. what is the background there was the report that bob gates said to bob wood ward. >> i stayed bias, i mean i know tom had for a long time and like him. i like jim jones. and jim jones was sort of unique this this white house, national security advisor, judy, is a unique position. cabinet officers represent departments. they have other constituencies besides the president. the only constituency the national security advisor has beyond obviously the mandate on national security is to serve the president and so the relationship does matter deeply how close and how comfortable it is. jim jones didn't want the

job, unlike most people in white houses who scheme and dream and plot to get there. he had to be asked to do it. and he, this is the first administration that david can correct me on this since world war ii when neither the president nor vice president has ever worn a military uniform. he was the anomaly in the white house. in 40 years as a marine, come dant of the marine corps, veteran of vietnam. will was a culture, i think, of unease with some. and it began with sniping. there was a lot of sniping at jim jobs and i guess what bothered me the most, i mean the president's decision certainly and tom donolan is an enormously capable guy is that never once with all the sniping going on against jones, most of it from inside the administration did he ever ask the photographer to come in late at night as they are pouring over the plans and-- . >> woodruff: never did the president ask. >> the president did, or the walk between the two of them

at camp david to sort of put the lie to that and say he's my guy and we are close. so i think it was not a relationship that never worked the way that both of them hoped. >> woodruff: does it is a anything about change in policy? >> no, i think this happened a long time ago, in fact. but just not in name. i think for a number of months now the president has gone to donalan first for advice he has trusted him, has a better relationship than with jones. joan has been sort of just sidelined on some issues. and so this, it was just a matter of personal chemistry. and i have to say it was a cultural mismatch for a lot of reasons. one this white house really loves the big intellectual policy debate. and i think jones is tone was not really in sync with a lot of those debates. and i put a little onus on jones. you know, you serve the president. you have to love the guy. you have to be there at the white house all day and all night, basically, saying how i can make that guy's life easier. and i'm not sure he put that focus, how can i serve this one individual. i'm subservient to him.

i am just going to serve him. i'm not sure he really put that commitment in. >> one point i think has been overlooked, in defense of jim jones. most national security advisors are referees between state and defense. and this administration, to its credit, the secretary of state, hillary clinton, secretary of defense, bob gates and jim jones. national security advise peror all in sync. so that part of the role, you know-- . >> woodruff: it was less of a role. >> there was less, refereesing and not national security advisors have gotten close to the president at the expense of the country. >> woodruff: i want to bring you all back to the midterm elections. they are what, less than three and a half-- three weeks away, whose's counting, david but what is the landscape look like? we've started to hear from some democrats that maybe there's more interest now on the part of democratic voters. dow make anything of that? >> i have looked from a sign of that. there have been stories of democrats closing. and i understand conceptually

why that has been true. if there is any passion yet to be aroused it will be on the democratic side because the republicans are already superpassionate. nd but so far i have seen no evidence of it. if you look in polls in state after state, the big generic polls, which party you prefer, so far i see no evidence of closing. and in fact gal op organization came out with their, what they call their projection of who is actually going to turn out and they have two separate projections but both of their projections which historically have been reasonably accurate show huge republican years, but so far the numbers i see is no sign of a democratic closing. >> woodruff: what do your numbers show. >> the good news is that there is

kbland names as its candidates and campaigns themselves have spent since the first of august. but in the race like in iowa, bruce, democratic congressman safely, a group called america's future comes in to this, 800,000 against him, okay. they may not beat him but they're raising issues like he is building the mosque at ground zero, just never been an issue, never been addressed. just making these charges and whoever wins, we know one thing, and that is that this they could have $800,000 against them the next time. and this money, we don't

know, where it came from and the hypocrisy of the republicans on this issue is astounding. it is truly historic. the republicans have always opposed campaign finance that put limits on contributions, or limits on what a campaign could spend. their antidote, their solution, their one size fits all solution was full, timely and complete disclosure that you could, that sustains would know who was giving to these campaigns and why. now we don't know. >> i guess i would just say the coke brothers say, there is a group of ideaological brothers in the oil business who have given a lot of money. they have been giving a lot of money nor 20 years. so some of these ideaological groups have been giving, giving and giving. now they are riding a wave so it seems to have a bigger impact but i'm less confessed-- convinced it will have an outside impact what it has always been given. >> you want to avoid a primary challenge next time will you please those groups that give the money. >> that has been the history of the last 20 years of american politics.

>> . >> woodruff: we may talk about this on another occasion. >> okay. >> woodruff: but now thank you both, david brooks, mark shields. >> brown: finally tonight-- once, teacher and student; now, composer and violinist making music together. ♪ the last movement of jennifer higdon's violin concerto is titled "fly forward," and violin virtuoso hilary hahn shows why. ♪ higdon set out to write a work specifically for hahn, and when they first met to talk about what it might become, they spoke of musical ideas and a shared desire for something "major" and "substantial." >> we were thinking 30 to 35 minutes, and you think

"substantial music material," so it's not something that's light, but something that feels kind of profound. although that's a hard thing to define, when you really get down to it. >> brown: is that what you meant by "major"? you wanted something important or profound? >> i don't think that's something that you can request... >> brown: that's why i asked. ( laughter ) >> brown: whatever the starting point, it was a highly successful collaboration, yielding a pulitzer prize in music for higdon and a new recording by hahn that also includes the famous violin concerto by tchaikovsky. ♪ it all started years ago here at the curtis institute of music in philadelphia, one of the country's most prestigious conservatories. now 30, hilary hahn first came here, already a gifted player, at age ten, and studied with renowned violinist and teacher, jascha brodsky.

♪= hahn has gone on to build a major performing and recording career... ♪ ... encouraging and playing new works, while also happily holding on to those of the past, like korngold here and tchaikovsky on the recording. >> it's funny, people keep thinking i'm playing the tchaikovsky because everyone else wants to hear it. but i'm actually playing it because i like it. because i like it. ( laughter ) i mean, people do want to hear the pieces they know, but a lot of people want to hear things they don't know. i try to play as many different things as possible, because i feel like it enriches me as a musician if i do that. >> i think your instinct to do that is good, and choral is a good way to approach it. >> brown: jennifer higdon came to curtis in 1994 as a teacher.

she and hahn actually crossed paths in a course on 20th century music. she's now one of the most widely-commissioned and performed contemporary composers. but higdon was no child prodigy. she grew up in a small town in eastern tennessee, taught herself the flute at 15-- old age by curtis standards-- and didn't begin studying composition until college. at home, she says, it was all rock and roll and bluegrass. >> absolutuly no classical music in my household. >> brown: none at all? >> none. >> brown: in fact, i think i read where you said you were the black sheep of the family. >> totally-- the black sheep of the family, and i'm doing the classical and my parents are into rock and roll. >> brown: if you think "violin concerto," there's a well- established and much-loved repertoire, including beethoven, brahms, and yes, tchaikovsky. so how do you write one in the 21st century? >> you kind of have to take a leap of faith.

you start writing, and hope that the ideas will come and you try not to think about the fact that history is sitting on your shoulder, basically. it can be intimidating. because i know hilary and i know hilary's playing, it means that i thought about all the things she does well on her instrument. and she does a lot. >> brown: such as? >> such as being able to make these incredible leaps, interval leaps on the finger board. but also this beautiful sound on her instrument, low down, low in the register, high on the register. so you start thinking about what can i write that will show off this player? >> brown: the members of the old city string quartet, here working on schubert's "death and the maiden," were among the curtis students involved in the earliest rehearsals of the higdon concerto. they say they enjoyed working directly with the composer, and the results. >> it speaks i think to most people right away. some modern music, it's a little like, "oh, that's very

interesting", you know, but it's sort of unsettling." she's actually doing stuff with the language that we really know, but just saying new things. >> she hadn't herself heard it with a live orchestra. she actually changed instrumentations on the spot. and she would hear something live and say, "actually, you know, i think that wasn't what i intended." >> brown: so you guys were sort of the guinea pigs for this piece and it was changing as you go? >> yeah, absolutely. >> brown: jennifer higdon says that teaching young composers how to get the sounds they want is partly about getting past technical roadblocks. but, she says, there's more. >> there's a little bit of psychology and there is also a little bit of sociology. i tell them to go to a concert, watch the audience. that's a great composition tool, figure out when they have stopped listening. you can seehe audience kind of get a little restless. they let go. you've lost them in the performance. >> it's a lot like teaching an interpretation, too, i think, because you don't know as a player if it's coming across the way you are trying to bring it across. you know what you hear in your head. you know what you're trying to do, and sometimes what you want to do overtakes what you are actually hearing.

and a teacher can say, "well, that's not quit coming across, what are you trying to do? or, do it this way or something like that." >> brown: do you worry at all about it being accessible somehow, you know that word that's so charged, "accessible." do you think about that at all? >> i think about it being communicative. it's as if i went into another country and it was important that i got a speech across. if i'm not speaking a language that's going to say something to them, i have a problem. ♪ >> it's been nice with the concerto to read the mail and emails from audience members who are excited. they feel they're witnessing something, because they're seeing a new piece born into the world. and so to me, i'm like, this makes the thousands of hours you spend in solitary confinement working worth it. >> brown: with the recording now done, hilary hahn will perform jennifer higdon's prize-winning violin concerto on tour next year.

>> woodruff: again, the major developments of the day: the economy lost 95,000 jobs last month, and the unemployment rate stayed stuck at 9.6%; the nobel peace prize went to jailed chinese dissident liu xiaobo; and president obama announced james jones is stepping down as national security adviser. and to hari sreenivasan in our newsroom for what's on the newshour online. hari. >> sreenivasan: you can watch another performance by hillary hahn and more of jeff's interview with jennifer higdon on art beat. look for shields and brooks on a feature we call the doubleheader on the rundown news blog ... plus paul solman weighs in on today's jobless numbers on his making sense page. all that and more is on our web site, newshour dot pbs dot org. judy. >> and that's the newshour for tonight. on monday we'll look at what americans know and don't know about religion. i'm judy woodruff. >> and i'm jeffrey brown.

washington week can be seen later this evening on most pbs stations. we'll see you on-line and again here monday evening have. a nice weekend, thank you and good night. >> major funding. for the pbs newshour has been provided by:

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