these numbers have been described as symbolic by a syrian-kurdish political party the democratic union party. it's not expected that the numbers themselves will make a difference. except that they carry weapons. that is the key thing. the syrian kurdish fighters have been saying for allow that they need more heavy weapons. cannons, machine guns, and mortars. that will make a difference, particularly as the other side the islamic state, is said to be reinforcing its contingent in kobani. >> littered is -- where does kobani fit in to the conflict in syria and iraq? >> kobani here is one of many flashpoints between the islamic state group and the kurds. we have these flashpoints here represented by the gun sign. they go right down through southeastern iraq. right down to baquba, eastern iraq. you have to look at this as part of a broader front between i.s. and the kurds. what is important is, although it is not in the media so much, is the battle going on around al hasaka between islamic militants and syrian kurds. you have militants allied with bashar al-assad, there is territorial conti

his political party group, the democratic union party, which goes by its kurdish acronym pyd is at wardh the islamic state in iraqanding the lavante. he has been appealing to the world for weapons. the pyd is being asked to make concessions. one is giving up some power to other syrian kurdish factions that are allied to turkey? >> without political conditions, they don't want to do it with the political conditions, this doesn't mean help. it means something else. we don't like to change the add miles per hourstration we have because we would like shaffering, not changing, not collapsing it. >> in northern iraq, which itself is at war with isil. they are political rivals. so far, there is no common ground. >> salih's opponents wants him to meet certain conditions. if the pyd wants to be part of the international coalition against isil, conditions they say have also been demanded by washington. >> they could be the only fighting force on the ground. there needs to be a joint command. they need to work with the syrian opposition. they need to end their times with the syrian regime and turk

his political party group, the democratic union party is at war with the islamic state of iraq and levant. he has been appealing to the world for weapons. first, the pyd is asked to make concessions. one of them is giving up power to other syrian kurdish satisfactions. without political conditions, they want to do it with political conditions. it doesn't mean help, it means something else. we don't like somebody to change the project. to change the administration that we have, because we would like sharing, not changing, not collapsing with. >> muslim is in the hope for meetings organised with the government. it itself is at war with i.s.i.l. so far there is no common ground. >> his opponents want him to reach certain conditions if the pyd wants him to be part of the coalition against i.s.i.l. >> translation: they can't be the only fighting force on the command. there needs to be a joint comment. they need to end their times with the syrian regime. turkey should not be the enemy. >> the pyd has been at war with i.s.i.l. it could be defeated and lose more kurdish territory in syria, and th

the democratic union party, pyd, is at war with the islamic state of iraq and levant. he has been appealing to the world for weapons, first the pyd is asked to make concessions. one of them is giving up power to other syrian kurdish factions allied to turkey. >> without political conditions, if they want to do it with political conditions, it doesn't mean help, it means something else. sob to change the process, to change the administration. we would like sharing, not changing or collapsing. >> they are in the hope of meetings with the kurd stan government with iraq. which, itself, is at war with i.s.i.l. they are rivals. there is no common ground so far. >> his opponents want him to meet conditions. if the pyd wants to be part of the international coalition, conditions that have been demanded by washington. >> translation: they can't be the only fighting force. there needs to be a joint command and work with the syrian opposition, they need to end their time with the syrian regime, and turkey should not be their enemy. >> the pye has been at war with is ail and kobane

that exist between the kurdish president, in northern iraq, and the syrian kurdish people in the democratic union, which is affiliated to the p.k.k. in turkey. >> the iraqi army says it plans now to capitalize on the gains, to push into i.s.i.l. held territory. with so much currently held by i.s.i.l., there's much to reclaim >>> well, the deposed egyptian president mohamed mursi issued a statement from prison saying that he considers the counter regime of abdul fatah al-sisi null and void, saying: staying in egypt, and president abdul fatah al-sisi says his country faces a threat to his existence on the people he called terrorists. no one claimed responsibility for the attacks in the sinai. they declared a 3-month state of emergency in the north, and the center of the sip eyed. there has been a spate of same time attacks in the sinai this year. all five soldiers on board were killed. the following month a suicide bomber detonated his explosives on a bus bound for israel. four were killed. fighters in the sinai fired mortar runs in the capital, killing seven and one soldier. the attacks have been

the democratic union party, pyd, is at war with the islamic state of iraq and levant. he has been appealing to the world for weapons, first the pyd is asked to make concessions. one is giving up power to other syrian kurdish factions that are allied to tuckey. without political conditions, this is - doesn't mean help. it means something else. we don't like somebody - i mean, we don't like to share and change the project we have, to change the administration we have, because we would like share, not changing or collapsing. moscow is in the hopes for meetings organised by the kurdish government which itself is at war with i.s.i.l. they are political rivals, so far there is no common ground. his opponents want him to meet certain conditions if the pyd wants to be part of the international coalition against i.s.i.l. conditions demanded by washington. >> they can't be the only fighting force on the ground. there needs to be a joint command and work with the syrian opposition and ept their times with the syrian regime. turkey should not be the enemy. >> the pyd has been at w

one of them is polling in second place, the candidate for the democratic union, made up of two matters that mermed. and this man served a one-year term. there were four other can't dates including his former ally from the movement without fear party, and indigenous leader. we take a closer look at bolivia's strong economy, how it is affecting the election. >> reporter: this is santa cruz, the powerful capital. the president evo morales. it's a place where protests were replaced by mass construction. this is bolivia's first major mall, next to the hard rock cafe, the last thing one might expect in what has long been south america's porest country. thanks to the commodity prices, bolivia is enjoying the highest economic growth history, and the pos territory, explainings the general manager. >> i feel a different atmosphere. you notice more interagreeings. it is relations in general that are improving. there's less tension. at a small rally we ran into one of the four candidates. he concedes the santa cruz business community is mored in in making money than overthrowing the government. >>

differences that exist between the kurdish president in northern iraq, and the syrian kurdish or the democratic union party, which is closely affiliated to the p.k.k. in turkey. back, the iraqi army plans to capitalize n on gains to push further into i.s.i.l.-held territory. with so much being held by i.s.i.l. there is much to reclaim >>> there's ongoing fighting near tripoli in lebanon between the army and gunman believed to be loyal to i.s.i.l. six soldiers and two civilians have been killed. tripoli has been divided between supporters of bashar al-assad and rebels. stephanie dekker has more from beirut. >> reporter: it's been tense in the northern city of tripoli, with the army fighting armed men. the center on the old suit of the city. it's no stranger to the spillover in lebanon. there are two neighbourhoods. they have och fought together. it's been quiet for the last few months. the recent flare-up gives you complex. an apartment was raided on thursday, at dawn. they arrested a man believed to be a main recruiter for i.s.i.l. in lebanon. we sat with a military commander. we received a statement

. >> the kurdish democratic union party is for us equal to the pkk. it is a terror organization. it would be wrong for the united states, with homes -- with whom we are friends and allies, to talk openly, and for us to say yes to supplying arms to a terrorist organization. >> the pkk and other affiliated terror groups are on the u.s. authorities' lists. >> now as we've seen, aiding the kurds of kobane is a sensitive subject for turkey. barack obama informed the turkish president, recep tayyip erdogan, in advance of the weapons drop. in a sign of some compromise turkey announced they would send facilitating actors. we are joined by our international affairs editor. turkey is increasingly isolated in recent weeks. perhaps that explains why they did not get that seat on the united nations security council last week. it is all the pressure from the u.s. and the global world putting pressure on ankara. does that explain this about-face? >> they have the barrel of the gun when it at them, so to speak, from washington, notably -- there'll of a gun pointed at them, so to speak -- the bar

. >> sbroem losing fwhim battleground states today, and in fact if you read the denver post and the union leader, democrats quote in the union leader, democrats are beclowning themselves on this issue, and in fact, when debbie went to wisconsin to say to the world that, you know, scottwalker is giving the back of his hand to women. she had to apologize because then the next day the wall street journal took debbie to task for her words, and actually defended scott walker. the fact is this issue is backfiring on the democrats, and we're actually, we're actually going -- >> go ahead. >> issue after issue, and i remember in the autopsy that was done -- >> he did an autopsy after the 2012 debate. >> exactly. where he said that it wasn't the principles of the republican party that was the problem, it was that they needed to speak more nicely to groups like women and african americans and hispanic americans, and just one second, and so then just a couple weeks ago, he did another speech about republican principles, and continued to -- >> okay. >> this is like a card trick that you've seen ten times. >> bottom lin

the demonstration, we interviewed factory ceo wong hong ming. >> one particular union initiated the sl factory strikes and also took part in the january 2014 demonstration. the coalition of cambodian apparel workers, democraticon, was launched in 2000. by boldly expressing factory demands to factory management, over ten years it became the largest labor union in cambodia. >> at the time of the demonstration, opposition party members had been boycotting parliament. accusing the ruling party of rigging elections. the demonstrations began attracting laborers and expanded to involve tens of thousands of people. we interviewed a female parliamentaryian who took part in the demonstration. mu sochua has long been working for the rights and safety of female workers and is a member of the cambodia national rescue party. >> the opposition party and labor unions say they did everything for the sake of the workers. but what situation are the workers in now? pav panna was a leader of the workers during the demonstration at the sl factory. she still works there now. >> panna's monthly salary has dropped significantly because factories suffering declines in orders can no longer give workers long-term contracts and can only

the largest donors have been the democratic party and unions for brown. >>> well, election day is fiveeeks away. one of the most talked about races in the country is right here in our own backyard. their one and only debate is this monday night. we will air that debate live right here on nbc bay area. what's the future of silicon valley? we want to hear from you. you can head over to our facebook page and ask a question that you'd like to see answered by the candidates. >> i have to admit i glimpsed at twitter. too many games on. she can't work today. >> your plate is full. >> you can't even imagine. i was trying to write a script for tonight's cast and i was watching the giants. >>> first, we're going to prepare you for a familiar face coming to town on sunday. stanford they have a trip to south bend. we'll have the highlights coming up next in sports. >>> well, when it comes to college football, it doesn't get better than teams battling it out in one of the most well-known stadiums. stanford visiting notre dame. notre dame up three. 23 yards. wow, that one was close. we go to third a

the keystone pipeline. unions give it a thumbs up. thumbs down from the administration. >> i wonder if they are going to vote against democrats. i know a lot of union people. they talk a good game. >> what about west virginia, ohio? they do have, i guess you call blue dog democrat there now. it's not inconceivable. >> if you go to up state new york, it's very poor. one reason it remains poor is andrew cuomo, a democrat, won't allow fracking. that would give us thousands of jobs. yet they don't do it. yet, those union people vote democratic. i have no idea why. >> maybe you can help us out. i agree, issue after issue after issue. this might be the one. someone making $90,000 a year, doing it 20 years and the government takes their job. where are they going to go? >> let's uncomplicate things. coal bankrupt. arch coal and arch energy, stock is down 20%. much because of this administration's ridiculous over the top regulation that literally shut down the coal plants because they were losing money because of the higher costs. after six years, the unions are finding out what we already knew, higher taxes mandate a killed industry. i

or the democratic union party which is closely affiliated to the p.k.k.n turkey. >> reporter: back here the iraqi army plans now to capitalize on its gains, to push further into i.s.i.l.-held territory. but with so much currently being held by i.s.i.l., there is much to reclaim. dominick cain, al jazeera. >>> meanwhile i.s.i.l. has released a new propaganda video featuring a british hostage and shows journalist john kantly reading a scripted message and in the video he criticizes how the u.k. and u.s. deal with hostage situations and how they are water boarded if they escape and he was kidnapped in syria in 2012. the u.s. has identified a marine who died in iraq, lance corporal shaun neil was killed in baghdad and the 19-year-old pictured from southern california is the second american to die as part of the fight against i.s.i.l. the pentagon is investigating. back home they are cleaning up after bad weather in the pacific northwest and our metrologist dave warren has a look at that. >> a lot of wind damage reports from a large storm which moved from the

has confirmed it has for the first time with the main kurdish political party in syria, the kurdish democratic union party, or pyd. the pyd has close ties to the pkk, the militant kurdish group in turkey that turkish forces bombed earlier this week. at least 36 people have been killed and more than 100 wounded in a series of bombings in shiite areas of the iraqi capital of baghdad. shiite leaders have blamed the attack on the islamic state. in israel and the occupied territories, israeli forces have shot dead a palestinian boy in the village of beit liqya. the victim, thirteen-year old bahaa badr, was reportedly shot after a group of youths threw stones at israeli forces who had entered near the israeli separation wall that carves up the occupied west bank. israel says it responded with live fire against a illegal right. according to the defense for --ldren, troops have according to defense for children international, israeli troops and settlers have shot dead at least 10 children in the west bank this year. that's on top of the more than 500 children killed in israel's assault on gaza over the summ

the democratic party. they don't have the big say right now. who has the big say in the democratic party? the labor unions, sieu. >> i don't think you have to worry. i don't think she'll be the democratic nominee. >> i'm telling you she will govern -- i don't care what's in her brain cells. she started out as a barry goldwater republican, went to law school, met her husband, became a committed liberal. >> sat on the watergate committee. >> she's taken money from goldman sachs. and now she's telling us the world is flat. by the way, that statement is akin to the world is flat. >> all right. so you're saying corporations do hire people? >> that's a fox news alert, according to hillary clinton. and larry fink and lloyd blankfein. >> in this day and age that is a fox news alert. >> but think about how absurd it is she's even saying that. it makes no sense. she read it off the piece of paper. i just want to know what larry fink and lloyd blankfein say about that. >> i'm just trying to think of neighbor of groups and individuals and potential advertisers you alienated in this two-minute segment. >> i don't see

many democrats hoped that many in the field would remain loyal to their former commanding general, george mcclellan. it is one reason he was nominated. but they underestimated the ability of union soldiers to analyze for themselves just what a vote for the democratic peace platform would indicate. basically that everything he fought for was meaningless. most forces had been in a uniform since the first call in 1861. these men knew personally what this war meant and what would happen if it were not fought to its conclusion. they announced with their votes the ownership of the conflict and their belief that union and emancipation were worth the effort. remember, soldiers and a volunteer army are citizen soldiers. most of them thought of themselves as citizens first. a belief in the cause was essential to the union army's fighting prowess. historian joseph allen frank has suggested politics was central to a people's army, which was the armed manifestation of a political ideal. politics created the war. and whether a man was politically sophisticated or naÏve, politics kept him fighting. by the time of the election, the soldiers favored freeing enslaved men and enlisting them. a so

interest as far as spenders and limiting and they are the two biggest groups supporting the democrats and the unions. so this is without a doubt a partisan political effort just to shut up voices that he personally doesn't like and this is exactly what our founders wanted to prevent. [ applause ] >> thank you. we will give you, i know it's not much time, but a minute each at the end. we run a very tight ship here, so we have to stay on askon schedule. we have questions from the audience. some of them look like general questions. if you don't mind answering from there. looking at these for the first time, one question is, did zit zens united allow unlimited donations by unlimited corporations question mark. if not, what is the problem? >> first of all, i got to make it clear that i have not said nor have we said at free speech for people that we want to support the people of unlimited union money in elections. we've made clear in the constitutional amendment we support would equally apply to corporations and to unions. we believe the whole decision of citizens united, which allows unlimited corporate

democrat. apt e anti-slavery. this question of emancipation, how did that effect the union high command. >> good question. stanton got a letter, i want to say? september, he got word that there were several democrats in the highest echelon of union officers who were going to use their influence to try to effect the election and the letter asked stanton to use his remedy to deal with them. essentially dismissing them. i've only found one brigadier general who was dismiss ford opposing emancipation. a guy named james spears. at first he tried to get someone to write an op ed, he was cleared of that, then he wrote one himself. lincoln hand wrote on his file at the national archives now, dismissed. but other than that wab, lincoln was very fair-minded. lincoln wanted a fair vote. he said as much. we have his wortds to that effect. so as far as i know, he didn't get rid of any of those democrats, like when hancock. let me say one thing about butler. butler was a war democrat who moves into the radical republican camp by the end of the war. he was from massachusetts. and butler actually got about 5,000 soldiers

if working-class whites are in a union, they're much more likely to vote democratic. they formed the union because they were democratic of the first place. that theequally true constant political education that unions have for their -- it goes from a third of the country in the 1930's to single digits. that makes a difference. host: we are talking two matthew cooper about his cover piece. "the white vote or co-talking specifically about noncollege whites. -- "the white vote." the financial times this morning had this piece we showed you about the shifting southern states. know what's going on in virginia, north carolina and georgia. guest: absolutely. , virginia wasup never a competitive state. now, it's the most purple of states. it's very competitive. you see an influx of these kind of workers, they tend to lean more obama. that is quick to make a big difference. it has helped a composition of colorado, western states. host: surely in new hampshire. republican. caller: thank you for c-span. i want to shout out for ray to the man who called from massachusetts who wanted ben carson f

the unions. take a look at afl-cio chief. is this rage really about the workers or the union numbers? democraticegist says this is about the workers. >> so, let me -- >> let me ask you this. start this way. >> all right. >> $15 an hour. to do what? >> it's a liveable wage. >> to do what? job description. >> these are associates. stock shelves, cashier, welcome to wal-mart. real workers who are putting in long hours. the number one job requirement is -- wal-mart is paying $15,000, the average worker makes $15,000 a year. $8,000 less than -- >> stock shelves, sweep up an aisle, may have to cash someone it, 15 bucks an hour. >> just rein -- the ceo makes -- >> you know the first entry level military person makes? when they go into the military -- >> you're comparing apples to oranges. this is a corporation. >> let me -- >> hang on. >> awill you me to toll you, 8.86 -- >> with government benefits. these are hard working individuals. >> getting shot at, to step on a mine -- >> not a democratic republican issue, not even a union issue. >> did i say -- >> you're saying it's a union issue and i'm saying

infuriated conservative house republican leaders who saw the federalization of screeners as a boost to unions, who would organize them, and democratsthose things under a private system and do them better. poussaint: but while the leadership was digging in its heels, public opinion stood firm in favor of federalizing screeners. initial polls by the washington post and time/cnn found overwhelming public support r federal takeover of airport screening. because if you're a member of congress, from the tim you step off a plane when you go back to your congressional district, the people in the cabs, the people in the airport, the people you meet in town meetings, your donors, your friends, your neighbors, you know what they all say is, "hey, what are you going to do about..." fill in the blank. and when they get those kind of issues where everywhere they go and everyone they talk to is saying, "what are you going to do about x?" they come back and say, "wow, guess what, people are really riled up and they want us to do something." and guess what, congress acts. poussaint: despite the clamor for federalizing employees, the republican lead

cnn has learned a state department official met last weekend with representatives of the syrian kurdish democratic union party. those forces have been fighting on the ground in kobani. it is not clear if the united states is prepared to offer military direct assistance to the group. it is a diplomatic avenue open to forces on the ground fighting in syria. i want to bring in nick paton walsh on the ground in syria. good morning, nick. >> reporter: john, a comparatively quiet morning so far. we understand overnight, clashes to the far east of the city and to the south. i have just heard what sounded like exchange of heavy gunfire to the west hill that the kurds took a few days ago. yes, in the last 72 hours, we have known over 50 coalition air strikes that have hit this town. it has been remarkable to observe, the extent of the fire power deployed against the town where a week ago officials were saying it was not that strategically significant. something changed in the u.s. calculatio calculations. the situation changed where the kurds were confident and can hold for now while tv cameras are on that city.

work laws in which the government can't automatically take your union dues out of your paycheck if you're a government worker, as they have more and more embraced those ideas, democrats have become the labor union party, the government labor union party and republicans have become the anti-. as that happened, we see in states like california, the cycle intensifies. >> right. and also, fewer teachers are actually in the unions anymore, which means that they have less dues so yet another reason to try to amp up the situation. chris, thanks so much for the discussion. >> you bet. >>> time for my take now, two simple questions, are teachers unions a good or bad idea for our kids? and do teachers unions really look out for the best interest of our kids or their own? seems to me with the huge amount of spending by unions for the upcoming midterms, the unions want to make sure their candidates win. why? because unfortunately, the education of our children is just one more thing that's become ultrapolitical. the issues you hear coming up time and time again are not about making sure that our kids can't compete with other nations that outpaste us by a long shot in math or sci

unions, demonize teachers and dampen the vote. an expert said that cash from members dues makes the unions a powerful political force. >> they generate a lot of money for democratic or liberal campaigns or against their own opens, from the public employee union members who receive salary from public taxpayer funds, union members don't have much choice. >> among concerns for unions are republican led effort to stop them from automatically deductions dues from teachers paychecks, the fear that educators could resist paying them. and union would not be same political force in the future. future. lou: thank you, mike. america's cost to fight the islamic state in iraq and syria is rising, pentagon spent $424 million on what it calls operation inherent resolve. that is 7.6 million each day for airstrikes and support, some spent as islamic state terrorists, capture airdrop weapons, intended to aid kurdish fighters. fox news national security correspondent jennifer griffin with our report. >> reporter: new images from kobani show massive explosions from airstrikes targeting isis fighters, the defenders, kurdish forces appear to be getting stronger. >> we've worked on bui

the microphone -- >> thank you. it was excellent. the union high command was very politically diverse. hancock and need were democrats. owever, howard was an abolitionist. butler was a war democrat, assuming anti-slavery. have you found anything on the question of emancipation and how union high the command? >> it is a great question. secretary of war stanton got a letter, i want to say in september, where he got word, that there were several regrets and the highest echelon of union officers who were going to use their influence to try to affect the election, and the letter asked stanton to use his remedy to deal with them. it was essentially dismissing them. i have only found one brigadier general who was dismissed for opposing emancipation, a guy named james spears. at first to try to commission some a to write an op-ed against emancipation. he was acquitted of that. then i think he wrote one himself. lincoln handwrote on his file at ,he national archives now dismissed. other than that, lincoln was very fair-minded, and lincoln wanted a fair vote. he said as much. we have his words to that effect. as far as i know, h

the democrats? >> i think so. and when you look at the whole union issue, again if it's hands on where you are. bruce router is pat quinn's republican opponent, who was a non-politician, never ran before. and if he's in trouble, one reason in the primary, he declared warp on the state's unions. and he basically implied that he was going to move the state toward a right to work if he could, and the unions corrupt, the state establishment is corrupt. and he scared the bajesus out of them. they're not good friends with pat quinn, though he's a democrat because pat quinn has crossed them on a number of issues. but they are energized. and pat quinn is competitive, though bruce ronner has put 40, $50 million into the race, and he's still in it because of the unions, and because they have come together and created these pacts and they have helped pat quinn be exceptive on the money front. in the end, we're looking at $60 million is being spent in illinois, and the union contributions are strong in that area. >> patsy, the one guy, chad quinn, this is the case in a couple of states where the main parti

the incumbent. he's a democrat. he has the backing of the powerful teachers union and favors protecting teacher tenure, perhaps the most hot button issue in the race. his opponent favors changing teacher tenure. he has won endorsements from "san francisco chronicle," "the san jose mercury news," and a handful of hollywood celebrities too. >> i like this guy, tim, your opponent. >> the name is tom. >> tom. >> reporter: advertisements like this one show how unusual the race for the state school's chief is to be. two candidates from the same party, but very different views. the election is november 1st. >>> we first introduced you to a bay area dad to keep students private information private last spring. this dad pointed out sometimes students information actually ends up in the hands of outside companies. >> my first reaction was like, wow, i can't believe they're not protecting this. >> reporter: he is a concerned dad, but he's also a software engineer. he took a good look at educational technology companies used by schools and was alarmed by the amount of unsecured information collected on kids. >> names, e-mail addre

what it basically means is that article 23 of the african union's democratic government stipulates that unless it's constitutional, a president cannot stay on forever which actually means that they were morals against the president and parliament working to amend the constitution to allow him to remain forever. they made it quite clear it's not something which they would support. and there has been -- >> right, my question is what does this mean for compari in the bigger picture. there were protests over economical reasons. what does this all mean for his future? >> what clearly will happen then is that i think this would be a strong message that he cannot carry on, so he would have to make room for a successor or allowing his party to take the necessary steps to find someone else who would be the next can't date for the next elections. it would appear that the attempt to actually amendment the constitution, to allow beyond the stipulated limits has now been aborted. >> ok, michael, thank you very much for joining us from london. >> syria has called turkey, allowing foreign fighters int

the elections. teacher's unions will not give up on democratic control of the senate. they're pouring millions into close races in key states. mike emanuel reports on a political teaching moment. >> reporter: the nation's top teachers unions are on track to spend a fortune on the midterm elections and tv ads and ground game designed to make a difference in sen torl races. >> the real clear politics average of recent polls has democrat incumbent senator kay haygan up barely by 1.2 points. tillis, the speaker of the house in raleigh has been attacked on education funding and responded in a recent debate. >> it's simply false, since 2011, we're spending a billion dollars more a year in education. this year, we provided an average 7% pay increase for teachers. >> teach90% of their money goes towards democratic candidates or against republican candidates. >> reporter: in kansas, republican incumbent sam brownback leads in the clear politics average of polls. >> we have been very focused this term both on united states senate races and gubernatorial elections, but as you know

>>> next, author jonathan white discusses the role of the union army in lincoln's 1864 re-election. the republican challenged the democratic party's pro slavery candidate. ultimately president lincoln earned 80% of the soldiers' votes. the historical society hosted this hour-long event. >> it's really a pleasure to introduce tonight's speaker and to partner with the bryant park coordination so it's always great to come out and see our members and sometime wes have members from the museum as well as members in our chairman's council to come out and support us. jonathan white is a fellow at the -- where he also serves as the university's pre -- and treason in the civil war. he is currently at work on three books, including lincoln's advice for lawyers, the final voyage of the uss monitor during the civil war. please join me in welcoming jonathan w. white. >> thank you so much for having me. can you all hear me okay in the bleacher seats back there? okay. i love having an opportunity to come to new york city. this is actually only my third trip here. i spent two weeks here, though, about eight years ago, i had a fellowship an

i took on the public employee unions, they are a main supporter of the democratic "liberal establishment." and my opponents are the people he came her supporters. the teachers union, i have issues with. why? >> what issue do you have? pushing aggressively teacher performance and evaluations. the state spends more than any other state in the nation per student on education. more than any other state. we are dead middle of the pack in terms of performance. i want to know what teachers perform, what schools perform, the high-performing teachers should get a bonus and a low performing teachers should get help. the high-performing schools should get a bonus and incentive and the lower performing schools should get help. this has caused friction with the teachers union. i understand that. but to make, education is not about the teachers union, it is about the student and we lost that somewhere along the way. so who is the progressive? the person who is willing to take on the union to focus on the student or the person who pledges allegiance to the union? when did progressive mean that i am the

if working-class whites are in a union, they're much more likely to vote democratic. they formed the union because they were democratic of the first place. that theequally true constant political education that unions have for their -- it goes from a third of the country in the 1930's to single digits. that makes a difference. host: we are talking two matthew cooper about his cover piece. "the white vote or co-talking specifically about noncollege whites. -- "the white vote." the financial times this morning had this piece we showed you about the shifting southern states. know what's going on in virginia, north carolina and georgia. guest: absolutely. , virginia wasup never a competitive state. now, it's the most purple of states. it's very competitive. you see an influx of these kind of workers, they tend to lean more obama. that is quick to make a big difference. it has helped a composition of colorado, western states. host: surely in new hampshire. republican. caller: thank you for c-span. i want to shout out for ray to the man who called from massachusetts who wanted ben carson f

if you read the denver post and "union leader," the democrats are beclowning themselves on this issue. in fact, when debbie went to wisconsin to say to the world that, you know, scott walker is giving the back of his hands to women, she had to come back and apologize because then the next day "the wall street journal" took debbie to task for her words and actually defended scott walker. the fact is, this issue is backfiring -- >> congresswoman -- >> -- on the democrats and we're actually -- >> go ahead. >> chris, on issue after issue. i remember rience in the autopsy done by -- >> he's still alive. he did an autopsy after the 2012 defeat. >> exactly. where he said that it wasn't the principles of the republican party that was the problem. it was that they needed to speak more nicely to groups like women and african-americans and hispanic-americans. >> okay. >> just one second. a couple weeks ago rience did another speech about republican principles and continued -- >> this is like a card trick -- >> i want to move on. >> -- in race after race -- >> we have a minute of time. >> third c

interest as far as spenders and limiting and they are the two biggest groups supporting the democrats and the unions. so this is without a doubt a partisan political effort just to shut up voices that he personally doesn't like and this is exactly what our founders wanted to prevent. [ applause ] >> thank you. we will give you, i know it's not much time, but a minute each at the end. we run a very tight ship here, so we have to stay on askon schedule. we have questions from the audience. some of them look like general questions. if you don't mind answering from there. looking at these for the first time, one question is, did zit zens united allow unlimited donations by unlimited corporations question mark. if not, what is the problem? >> first of all, i got to make it clear that i have not said nor have we said at free speech for people that we want to support the people of unlimited union money in elections. we've made clear in the constitutional amendment we support would equally apply to corporations and to unions. we believe the whole decision of citizens united, which allows unlimited corporate

the src forces the union 15,000 members to pay healthcare premiums. the crc called the move cowardly and disrespectful. the union filed for an injunction. >>> the 13th congressional district has been held by allison schwartz a democrat who gave up her seat to run for governor. now two new faces are vying for the job. vernon odem has are a look at the candidates. >> reporter: this 13th congressional district is evenly divided between northeast philadelphia and montgomery county. the democrats have an overwhelming voting registration here. >> i want to say thank you to each and every one of you. brendan boil said it's to generate maximum turnout. boyle is counting on his heavy support from labor union to generate that turnout. >> i believe the fact that the minimum wage is lower today than at any point since the late 19 40s is a disgrace. >> reporter: the gop nominee is businessman d ed cock, a retired air force colonel. he maintains small business the road to economic recovery. >> right now the president co-sign the keystone pipeline bill it's ready to go, it's past epa, it would create jobs. >> reporter: as the campaign goes into the stretch, both candidates are going door to door seeking voter turnout and volunteer

the u.s. is not at all prepared. >>> 6:34 right now. president obama will be in new jersey today to help democrats campaign this november. the president is traveling to uniondemocratic senatorial campaign committee. and the first lady will also be in the region today. michelle obama is headlining an event in pennsylvania for gubernatorial candidate tom wolf. nbc 10's monique braxton is live in cedarbrook, where the first lady will be rallying voters today. monique, tell us more. >> reporter: tracy in less than three hours, the doors will open at the dorothy emanuel center to the public. in the past half hour or so, secret service, white house staffers and philadelphia police have arrived. first lady michelle obama will encourage voters to choose fellow democrat tom wolf as pennsylvania's next governor. her campaign stop comes just a few days after the high-profile visit by secretary and former first lady hillary clinton. the republicans are also pulling out all the stops. last week, new jersey governor chris christie came to town to stump for incumbent tom corbett. with less than three weeks until election day, we've talked to a political analyst and voter

interest as far as spenders and limiting, and they are the two biggest groups supporting the democrats and the unions. so this is without a doubt a partisan political effort just to shut up voices that he personally doesn't like. and this is exactly what our founders wanted to prevent. >> thank you. we will give you, i know it's not much time, but a minute each at the end. runs a very tight ship here. we have to stay on schedule. we have questions from the audience. i have not seen these. i don't know if they're directed some of them look like they're just general questions. if you don't mind answering from there. and i'm just, like i say, looking at these for the first time. one question is, did citizens united allow donations by unions/corporations question mark, if not, what is the problem? >> well, first of all, i've got to make clear that i have not said nor have we said free speech for people that we want to support the idea of unlimited union money in elections. we've made clear and the constitutional amendment we support would equally apply to corporations and unions. we believe the whole dec

>> caller: the word conservative, and union together. i am a democrat. i was brought up in the 1950's when my father took me to union meetings. i learned about why these people thought they needed to form a union. it was to help the working class people be able to survive. and this man matt is putting the word conservative together. my 95-year-old mother is the most conservative woman you can meet but when you put it together with the word union and other words it isn't working out. >> guest: i am the first chairman of the union to be born after it was founded. it was named after i was born. you are right, though. the concept of unitty isn't owned by the democrats or the left. -- unity -- it is as a word that conservatives can embrace and we do. i am confidant conservatives will come together in 2014 and i am feeling more confidant we will have great success in november and i do believe conservatives have a great place in taking back the senate and i think we will pull together in 2016. i think it will be an open presidential system on the republican side

>> reporter: the race in michigan will come down to turnout. will democrats and the unionpendents and moderates that voted four years ago for him? theç polls have snyder just ahd if just slightly moving michigan as one state to watch come election day november 4. >> woodruff: election day 2014 is just three weeks fromç tomorrow. so where do we stand? are republicans closer to taking back the senate? will democrats hold on? and will we even know the outcome on election night? joining us are two of the best politics watchers around, amy walter of the cook political report, and dan balz of "the washington post." welcome back to you both. we have been talking for weeks and months, amy, about the effect president obama is going to have. at this point, mid-october, could bit determineddive? >> it absolutely could be and usually is. recommends isç usually on the person in the white house and the president's numbers are stuck in the low 40s and if you look at the states that determine control of the senate he's in the 30s even in the states he carried back in 2012,ç so this is