jamal simmons and dan bartlett, thank you both very much for being with us this morning. very insightful, appreciate it. maggie. >> thanks, harry. a story of heroism in the cockpit this weekend a delta flight was forced to make an emergency landing at jfk after landing gear got stuck a. passenger captured the final moments before touchdown on his cell phone. our news correspondent michelle miller has the pictures and the story. >> reporter: the cabin of delta flight 4951 from atlanta was tensely quiet on approach when the pilot uttered this ominous warning. >> brace for impact. >> reporter: the cell phone video shows passengers as they huddled and prayed. the flight attendant warned them to assume the crash position. >> heads down. stay down. >> reporter: the plane operated by delta regional carrier atlantic southeast airlines had only two of its three landing gear deployed. firefighters and rescue crews stood by in fear of the plane exploding into a fireball. this was a call from the crew to the tower. >> rescue one, 64 souls on board and 6,000 pounds of fuel. >> people

happens in november are democrat strategist tonya acker in los angeles and republican strategist dan bartlettn austin, texas. good morning to you both. >> good morning, harry. >> good morning. >> dan, let's talk about this. you got delaware. you got kentucky. you got alaska, utah. one after another after another. are all of the tea party victories good for the republican party? >> well, when you have a situation like with mike castle getting beat in delaware it gives you pause because it's going to be very difficult if not impossible for republicans now to gain that seat in the united states senate. having said that, though, harry, the intensity gap that we are seeing between the two parties this election cycle is mainly being fed by the tea party movement on the republican side so net-net it's still a gain. the prospect of taking over the house of representatives would not happen without this vibrant activity within the tea party so while you have the types of anomalies like we saw last night with mike castle going down, net-net i still think this is a positive thing with a lot of long-term

tanya acker and dan bartlett, we appreciate your time this morning.hank you. >> thanks, harry. >> the latest on sarah shourd the american hiker freed by iran after a year in prison. this morning, she is with her family in the middle east but the two men arrested with her are not likely to follow her. our correspondent, elizabeth palmer is in london with the latest. good morning. >> reporter: good morning. both president obama and secretary of state clinton have publicly thanked the government of the gulf state of ohman, which has emerged as a really key player in securing the release of sarah shourd. in the arms of her family, safely in the capital, sarah shourd's thoughts immediately turned back to iran and the two young americans she left behind in a tehran jail. >> all of my efforts, starting today, are going to go into helping procure the same freedom for my fiance, shane bauer and for my friend josh fattal, because i can't enjoy my freedom without them. >> reporter: the three were traveling companions, on tour in kurdistan where, in july 2009, th

joining us now are two of our cbs news political analysts, dan bartlett in austin, texas and democratic strategist jamal simmons in washington. good morning to you both. if the election were held district by district, who prevails, and if the election were referendum on the president, who prevails? >> i think if it's held district by district democrats have a fighting chance. if it's a referendum how the white house has been communicating or democrats i think democrats will have a tougher night. that's what is so interesting about these polling numbers. people look at these polls but if i'm running a campaign in madison, wisconsin, i care a lot more about how my candidate is doing versus their candidate than what the national mood seems to look like. >> dan, is this election going to be a referendum on the president? >> history tells you that it is, harry. every time a young president in his first term has a midterm election, it always becomes a referendum on that president and with it the numbers that we're seeing both across the country on the economy, his personal approval rating bei