and "newshour" political editor david chalian.oll louis, what is it about this district that made it slip last night from democrat to republican? >> well, it's an unusual district, gwen, where president obama won with 55% of the vote, which sounds like a pretty broad margin, but for new york city it's actually pretty close. it's also a district that has a very large immigrant population from the former soviet union, they tend to vote conservatively. there's also a very large con conservative jewish population and they vote very conservatively. so it was always a district that would split its vote. it went for rudy giuliani, the republican, over the decades. it also voted for gore and it voted for obama. so you can never really pin it down and that tension really sort of came to a head in the special election. the republicans carried the day. >> ifill: you know, normally we go back and forth about whether these special elections have any larger national impact. were the issues that brought about this outcome local or national? >> i

for a preview of tonight's faceoff, we turn to "newshour" political editor david chalian. david, we're looking at eight people on the stage but we're really only paying attention tonight to two. >> that's right, mitt romney who was the front-runner and is no longer and rick perry, the governor of texas, who now is the front-runner in this race, has only been in this race for about three and a half weeks, gwen. and the race is shaping up into this two-man race. even michele bachmann's former campaign manager said as such. he's no longer the campaign manager after saying that. but it is true that this dynamic i am so fascinated to watch how romney responds to rick perry as a new front-runner because mitt romney is in a very new role tonight. >> ifill: yeah, because mitt romney has been the front-runner until this week's clutch of poll which is show rick perry vaunting over him. so what does he do with that different role? >> well, the way he had been handling it was to play sort of that rogue strategy that a front-runner likes to play. stay above the fray. he's been keeping

for more now we are joined by our news hour political editor david chalian.lo, david. >> hello, judy. >> woodruff: so is governor christie seriously considering the decision about whether to run? >> there is no doubt he's in a different place now when -- than where he was when he made the remarks about committing suicide. i spoke to someone very familiar with christie's thinking about this today. he's not anywhere closer to get into the race. he still may not end up getting in the raise, but he is in a phase of reconsideration. he is taking to heart the phone calls he's receiving, the entryities he's receiving, and he's doing what candidates who do assess a possible campaign do. he's looking at a potential path to the nomination. it is viable for him? would it be a successful endeavor? there's no indication that he's anywhere closer to deciding to do this, but he is very much listening to these calls for him to get in the race. >> woodruff: and thinking about it. >> and without a doubt thinking about it. >> woodruff: so how do we read, david, the decision he

david chalian, our political editor. thank you. >> thank you. >> brown: still to come on the newshour, labor's future on this labor day. foreign correspondent on three decades of afghanistan at war and an elementary school remembers 9/11. but first the other news of the day. here's hari sreenivasan. >> reporter: labor day got rained out along much of the u.s. gulf keeft by the latest storm to make land fall. at least 16,000 customers were left with no power as the slow- moving system moved inland today with downpours all along its path. people in louisiana near new orleans waited until waded into flooded neighborhoods after tropical storm lee dropped more than 14 inches of rain on them over the weekend. >> i've never seen water come up that high. people are wading through up to their knees. >> feels like katrina but not just as bad. kind of scary. it's a shock. >> sreenivasan: parts of mississippi and alabama got 8-10 inches of rain and the storm also spawned nearly 20 tornadoes. >> i heard the television say tornado war

newshour political editor david chalian is here with the latest. so, headline crisis averted for now. >> crisis averted for now. that's exactly right, jeff. this friday the funding... the end of the fiscal year arrives. there is nothing in place as the beginning of the next fiscal year was to get started on saturday. what they're doing is funding the government for a short term, until november 18, in order to work out all the negotiations for how they want to fund everything for the rest of the year. what was keeping the sort of tied up in knots was the disaster aid for fema funding because fema, the federal emergency management agency, wasn't sure that it was going to be able to make it through this week. >> brown: this is after a very tough summer of natural disasters around the country. >> all around the country. floods, tornadoes, hurricanes. so, of course, that plays very tough politically for a lot of folks to play around with disaster funding because nobody likes to be seen as not on the side of people who are in pain and need aid. >> brown:

on this week's political checklist, political editor david chalian and gwen discuss the president's deficit plan and look ahead to the next g.o.p. presidential candidate debate. we look at a report that estimates the worldwide tab for diseases such as diabetes, cancer and others could reach $47 trillion over the next two decades. all that and more is on our web site, newshour.pbs.org. gwen? >> ifill: and that's the newshour for tonight. on tuesday, we'll look at the push for the u.n. to recognize an independent palestinian state. i'm gwen ifill. >> woodruff: and i'm judy woodruff. we'll see you online and again here tomorrow evening. thank you, and good night. major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: chevron. we may have more in common than you think. and by bnsf railway. and by the alfred p. sloan foundation. supporting science, technology, and improved economic performance and financial literacy in the 21st century. and with the ongoing support of these institutions and foundations. and... this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by co

on this week's political checklist, david chalian talks with gwen and judy about president obama's jobs plan and tonight's tea party debate among g.o.p. candidates in florida. that's on our politics page. plus every monday on our art beat blog, find a weekly poem. today valerie nieman reads from her work. all that and more is on our web site, newshour.pbs.org. gwen? >> ifill: and that's the newshour for tonight. on tuesday, we'll review tonight's tea party presidential debate and provide a first look at jim lehrer's new book on moderating debates. i'm gwen ifill. >> woodruff: and i'm judy woodruff. we'll see you online, and again here tomorrow evening. thank you, and good night. major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: chevron. we may have more in common than you think. bnsf. and by the alfred p. sloan foundation. supporting science, technology, and improved economic performance and financial literacy in the 21st century. and with the ongoing support of these institutions and foundations. and... this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. a