terry martin is over at the spd -- bitter evening for the spd. terry martin is over at the spd. what have you been hearing their? was it the candidate, the spd message, or both? trying to focus on the positive parts of this election result. from their perspective, there are two positive outcomes. one is that they improve their showing by 3 presented -- percentage points. chancellor merkel cannot continue her current coalition. the spd is trying to come to terms with the fact that even 26% -- which is what the projections show now -- that amounts to their second worst election result in postwar history. the party is trying to put a brave face on it, but this was not what they were expecting. aty are in a state of shock the prospect of the christian forming aand the csu majority in parliament. that is a scary prospect for the social democrats. they are considering the possibility of forming a grand coalition if asked to form one by chancellor merkel, if that turns out to be necessary. that is a back burner this evening at the head -- party headquarters. they do not want to specula

. >> all right, our man at the s beattie is terry martin. he is standing by at headquarters for us in berlin. good evening to you. it has been almost a week since the election. why do you think it has taken peer steinbrueck so long to let the country know that he is basically done with frontline politics? >> well, the social democrats in germany are still in a state of shock after that election result on sunday. they were given their second worst election result in the party's history, so i think it takes a bit to digest what they have come up against over the past several months. that election defeat for them was really extremely bitter, so i think peer steinbrueck had to first come to terms with what has happened. he has been consulting, of course, with other party leaders and thinking about his future. we knew before the election that he would not participate as a cabinet member in any government led by chancellor merkel. he made that clear before the election, so the statement today about not being willing to take over any other leadersh

we are joined by our correspondent, terry martin. let's get into these angst numbers in a bit more detail. this survey is really just a bit of fun, but there is some interesting stuff. >> some of the figures are really knows a prize -- that germans are worried about the rising cost of living. everybody is worried about that. they are also particularly concerned this year about natural disasters. there's been quite a bit of flooding in germany in 2013. and they are also concerned about growing old, taking care of themselves when they get old. at a concern and reflected democratic -- demographic shift. what is interesting is what it tells us about how anxieties are shifting. we have one particular indicator that i want to mention, and that is -- are you concerned about your politicians being over challenged? there, we see a 10-percentage- point drop. we do not know why, but it is there. >> is it possible to say that germans are overall loosening up a bit? are they getting less anxious about life? >> overall, we have actually seen a one

this is a day to with secretary terry at the cemetery hegel and martin dempsey which you can see it live right now on c-span. the three were on capitol hill yesterday testifying before the senate foreign relations committee. this is where the senate committee was scheduled to meet this morning at 11:30 a.m. eastern but the committee has delayed its public meeting and instead meeting in private. after senator john mccain an advocate of intervention in syria said he did not support the latest version of the senate resolution to authorize force. the arizona republican said he wants more than cruise missile strikes and other limited action. the committee ad yesterday announced a proposal that would allow no ground troops and limited timeframe of any action to 90 days. we are hearing that members of the senate foreign relations committee could convene here shortly. you can seek reporter starting to gather at the tables in the center of the hearing room. and tell the committee comes in, here are remarks and committee members as he left the private meeting at about 12:30 eastern. >> senator pau