we want to bring in our cbs news political analyst john dickerson and democratic strategist jamal simmons who are both in washington. jamal, let me start with you. our latest poll also found that 82% of people who voted for barack obama in 2008 approve of how he's handling the job. while that sounds encouraging, chip reported there's definitely an enthusiasm gap this year. do you think this will come down to turnout for the democrats, and how is it going in that department, jamal? >> reporter: you know, the poll also said that 69% of voters say they'll definitely vote in this election so there's a kind of mixed message coming from some of those numbers. at the same time, katie, democrats are feeling very good. they feel like if you look at the early vote returns, you're starting to see some strong response and voters are starting to figure out if republicans win, they're going to cut 21% out of education and borrow $700 billion from the chinese to give tax cuts to rich people and most voters don't want to do that. >> couric: conversely, john, just 39% of independents who voted for preside

we want to welcome to the broadcast now democratic strategist jamal simmons and welcome back dan bartlett, who was communications director for president george w. bush. jamal and dan are cbs news political analysts. so let me just ask you very simply: how did they do at last night's debate? jamal, first you. >> it's pretty clear sharron angle came out of the block punching. she really pushed harry reid into a corner but i think he punched back. the boxer analogy that everyone talks about with harry reid. you know, i think the issues he talked about with sharron ang rl going to be the things that decide this debate. things like social security and privatizing social security which i think a lot of people in nevada would have a problem with >> couric: dan, what did you think? >> well, katie, you imagine that republicans all across the country are kind of holding their breath last night to make sure that sharron angle didn't make a huge gaffe so the bar was low. so she made it over that bar and so i think most people felt for that reason that she probably succeeded last night. but the fact t

we'll get analysis from cbs news consultant jamal simmons. i'll have final thoughts on severeid, who brought what some today would consider a novel approach to news analysis. he actually thought before he spoke. but first, obama and the left on "face the nation." captioning sponsored by cbs "face the nation" with cbs news chief washington correspondent bob schieffer. and now, from washington, bob schieffer. >> schieffer: and good morning again. we want to begin this morning with some breaking news that has happened since your sunday newspaper came out. the state department this morning issued a travel alert to americans about potential terrorist threats in europe and urges all u.s. citizens to be extra vigilant when they are in public places in europe. tourist spots, transportation hubs, and so forth. u.s. and european security experts have been concerned for the last week or so that terrorists may be plotting attacks in europe similar to the 2008 attack in mumbai, india. this is one step below warning americans not to travel to specific plac

host: jamal simmons, thank you for being here. coming up next, we turn our attention to the value-added tax. we will stick to the national retail foundation who recently did a report on the negative impacts of a value added tax. first, a campaign 2010 update. today, we focus on the west virginia senate race. the two candidates left by the late robert byrd had a debate last night. joe mentioned faced off against mr. racy for the republican candidacy. >> i hate to inform my opponent but mr. obama's name will not be on the ballot. it will be me. my record has been clear. i have worked hard. working to bring all sides together. the bottom line is, when this much money has been spent against me trying to scare people -- that i would do things that i have never done, and i would but someone control may -- me. >> the reason we are concerned about what president obama has done, if you are in business, it is virtually impossible to make a business plan right now. when you look at obamacare, we have not made decisions on the bush tax cuts,

they have a so-called political analyst, jamal simmons.see if this sounds like fair, balanced and objective cbs reporting. >> you look around the country not just christine o'donnell but sharron angle in nevada, in ohio, dressed as a nazi for the weekend. these democrat -- these candidates are making democrats look good in comparison. >> sean: i didn't see anyone rebutting those comments. >> there wasn't a conservative, there wasn't a republican on there, only democrats. they put him on. she did say he's a democrat. no he's not. first of all that's not political analysis, that's spin. political analysis would tell you the truth. that's not truth that is nothing but political spin. this guy is a political operative of the democratic party. what she doesn't tell he worked for bill clinton. i worked for al gore. he worked for barack obama in 2008 this guy is a party hack spinning for cbs news on national television. they call it news. >> sean: it is amazing. i identify myself as a conservative, registered conservative. seems some in the media

host: jamal simmons is our guest, democratic strategist, talking about african-american turnout. what is your involvement in camping 2010? guest: spending a lot of time with people like you. my day job is i work for a lot of foundations that do communications around health care and criminal justice policies and things like that. i spent a lot of time in democratic politics. i have been chief of staff on the hill. interesting, there is a stir in the paper about what is happening in the south. most of my career i worked with seven politicians, whether bill clinton, al gore, a westley clark. so, i have a good sense and feel about how this works on the ground. in the south, you pretty much do have to have kind of a message. people are pretty conservative. even when they are democratic voters, the care a lot about faith, about family, people look out for their neighbors. sometimes these big messages about big business and other things that happening don't mean as much to someone. so you have to have a candidate that can connect to the voters. host: the story he is referring to is the

host: jamal simmons is our guest, democratic strategist, talking about african-american turnout. what is your involvement in camping 2010? guest: spending a lot of time with people like you. my day job is i work for a lot of foundations that do communications around health care and criminal justice policies and things like that. i spent a lot of time in democratic politics. i have been chief of staff on the hill. interesting, there is a stir in the paper about what is happening in the south. most of my career i worked with seven politicians, whether bill clinton, al gore, a westley clark. so, i have a good sense and feel about how this works on the ground. in the south, you pretty much do have to have kind of a message. people are pretty conservative. even when they are democratic voters, the care a lot about faith, about family, people look out for their neighbors. sometimes these big messages about big business and other things that happening don't mean as much to someone. so you have to have a candidate that can connect to the voters. host: the story he is referring to is the

they have a so-called political analyst, jamal simmons.is sounds like fair, balanced and objective cbs reporting. >> you look around the country not just christine o'donnell but sharron angle in nevada, in ohio, dressed as a nazi for the weekend. these democrat -- these candidates are making democrats look good in comparison. >> sean: i didn't see anyone rebutting those comments. >> there wasn't a conservative, there wasn't a republican on there, only democrats. they put him on. she did say he's a democrat. no he's not. first of all that's not political analysis, that's spin. political analysis would tell you the truth. that's not truth that is nothing but political spin. this guy is a political operative of the democratic party. what she doesn't tell he worked for bill clinton. i worked for al gore. he worked for barack obama in 2008 this guy is a party hack spinning for cbs news on national television. they call it news. >> sean: it is amazing. i identify myself as a conservative, registered conservative. seems some in the media are shoc

. >> coming up this hour, democratic strategist and cbs news political analyst jamal simmons will talkbout african- american voters in the midterm election. afte t

both political camps over the next three weeks we turn to our political analyst dan bartlett and jamal simmons. welcome to the program, both of you. >> thank you. >> good morning. >> dan, the democrats appear to be changing their game plan to an extent. they are basically taking on the republicans as opposed to touting their own measures. is this something you think is going to work? >> well, i think it's a reality that the public right now is not really behind what they are selling. when you have a bad jobs report like we saw yesterday, they do want to change the subject. and if -- in politics, if you can't increase your own numbers what you've got to try to do is bring your opponents' numbers down your level. so you will see the campaign get nasty down the stretch. they are going to try to put the focus on the republicans and the attack. but when the president of the united states is calling out a political adviser's name, consultant, karl rove, i think it demonstrates the level of frustration and, quite frankly, bit of desperation in the democratic camp down the stretch. >> jamal, speaking

in washington jamal simmons, democratic strategist. in austin texas, dan bartlett a republican strategist. good morning guys. >> hey, harry. >> this is where it gets interesting. two weeks to go. people start to say interesting things. lots of money pouring in. negative ads all over the place. dan, let me start with you. from the mainstream republican standpoint, are the tea party candidates an asset or a liability? >> i think regardless of the comments of christine o'donnell, other slip-ups by the young candidates particularly in the senate race where is the pressure is on the profiles of the candidates really come under intense scrutiny i still think that net-net the tea party movement, the activism the intensity will help particularly in the house of representatives. it would be the difference in why i believe the republicans will take over the house. you are right, though. these gaffes these candidate that is don't have as much experience will probably be a good part of the reason why republicans will probably come up a little bit

jamal simmons will talk about african-american voters on the midterm elections. after that, the national retail federation on the recent report on the value added tax. then fawned johnson of the national journal. "washington journal" each morning at 7:00 a.m. eastern. later in the morning from london, british prime minister david cameron well outlined steps -- cuts in his country's defense budget. that is like that to 30 p.m. eastern. >> saturdays, landmark supreme court cases on scene -- c-span radio. >> they said that they would wear a black armband to express their views which they had with regard to the war in vietnam. >> tinker v. des moines independent community school district. hear the argument saturday at 6:00 p.m. eastern on c-span radio, in washington, d.c. on the radio, a nationwide on ex-im radio, and online at c-span.org. >> now debate for arizona's fifth congressional district. harry mitchell and his republican challenger david zweig card participated in the debate last week. they met at the civic county chambers. it was moderated by robert leger.

simmons our new cbs news consultant on the democratic side. of course dan bartlett, former president bush's old communications director. he handles the republican side for us here at cbs news. so jamalcome. >> good morning. >> schieffer: well, you heard the discussion here. what do you think about these reports that it looks like republicans are going to take the house and while they may not take the senate they might come very close. is that... do democrats think that's possible? >> of course it's possible. but if you take a look at what's happening on the ground you don't see that. people have been paying a lot of attention to the national polls. even if you look at the national polls "newsweek" has one out today that has a tie with democrats maybe a little bit ahead. the same thing with gallup, politico, a bunch of them have the polls closing. why is that happening? because if you look at a state like ohio where governor strickland has been running behind as much as double digits in ohio for two months his opponent was airing ads by himself. now he's airing ads in ohio. he's down by four points. if you look at places like california with barbara boxer she's ahead of carly fiorina