smashed today. we're going to show you a whole lot more of the jump ahead this hour. breaking the sound barrier no big deal for this man. he did it first back in 1947. 65 years ago today. chuck yeager did something appropriate for the anniversary today. he broke the sound barrier again riding in the backseat of an f-15 fighter jet. but i. wait, there's more. i'm going to be talking to him live, general chuck yeager joins me on cnn in just a few minutes. the meningitis outbreak continues to spread. the cdc says these two strains of fungus are part of the outbreak that infected six more people in the last 24 hours. overall 205 cases have been confirmed in 14 states. 15 people have died. the victims received tainted steroid injections commonly given to relieve intense neck and back pain. just ahead we're talking with a family that is grieving. the grandfather is one of those who has died during this outbreak. the state's work is well under way for tuesday's presidential debate at hofstra university. president obama and mitt romney will square off in a town hall style format. our candy crowley is the moderator, and we're going to have have more on that straight ahead. america has lost one of the giants of the u.s. senate. pennsylvania senator arlen specter died today. he represented pennsylvania for 30 years, longer than anyone in the state's history. he was 82 years old. a side of the senator you haven't seen before, stand-up comedian. a wounded teenage activist who stood up to the taliban inspired a huge rally in karachi, pakistan, today. tens of thousands of people gathered to support the 14-year-old malala who blogged about the right of girls to get an education. taliban members tried to assassinate here on tuesday but she's in stable condition. the mosque has extensive damage after the army set fire to it. parts of the mosque date back from the 12th century. meanwhile, opposition forces say another 220 people had been killed across syria. the space shuttle "endeavour" once soared 1223 miles through space. crowds heres as it moved to its retirement home in los angeles. it finally arrived at the california center after crawling 12 miles across l.a. over three days. just 23 days until the election and the presidential candidates are hard to find. we barely got a glimpse of them today, president obama or mitt romney. they are getting ready for tuesday's debate. mark preston is on site at new york's hofstra university. my question is does president obama still have some work to do on tuesday. >> reporter: he does. he has some game changing to do. he had a very lackluster debate two weeks ago. his advisers are at least telling us that he will come with a different game plan. let's listen to what robert gibbs had to stay on "state of the union" this morning. >> he knew when he walked off the stage and he also knew as he watched the tape of that debate that he's got to be more energetic. i think you'll see somebody who is very passionate about the choice our country faces and putting that choice in front of voters. >> reporter: and on the same show this morning on "state of the union," ed gillespie says it comes down to a choice for which way the country, what direction it's going to go into. >> the president can't change his record or policies and that's what this election is about. >> reporter: here, we are, don, a few weeks until election day. the race is tight not only nationally but in the key battleground states. mitt romney has made up quite a bit of ground since his first debate. a lot of people waiting to see what happens on the stage right behind me tuesday night. >> mark preston, thank you very much. candy crowley is host of cnn "state of the union." she's also the moderator of tuesday's presidential debate. it's a true honor for a very deserving journalist. and she has some interesting things to say about the town hall format and how she's preparing for the debate. >> it's interesting. i'm not sure if having interviewed both of them changes how i would approach either of them. i think it's more that i've interviewed both of them. i've interviewed presidents and candidates, so there's an ease there. actually neither one of them scare me in that sense. it is that we are having this other element of the town hall. and so the mixture of all of that and trying to keep that under control and on target and letting the people's voice from the town hall meeting come through. that's the sort of thing that keeps me awake at night, frankly. it's not these two guys. i am hoping that the 25 years that i've covered politics has prepared me and given me the base for this, however, from the minute i knew that i was going to do this, things have become more embedded in my memory. day to da when you're doing a story, you think that's interesting, and you kind of move on to the next thing. but with this, you want to make sure that you're in on the campaign dialogue, that you're in on the policy debate and that you know when they move. campaigns don't move sort of minute by minute. they move incrementally over the months and you have to kind of watch it, so i'm much more, i think, tuned in. >> presidential contenders square off tuesday night in our special coverage. special live coverage will begin here at 7:00 eastern in cnn. a grandfather goes to the doctor in pain. he's given a steroid injection and now he's dead. likely because of this. fungal meningitis. we have an exclusive with a heartbroken family. that's next. and falling to earth and landing in history. a record-setting skydive from 24 miles above ground. the pictures are incredible to see. a kentucky grandfather got a steroid injection to relieve pain, eddie lovelace, and now he's dead. he was really healthy, walked three miles a day, taught sunday school and worked full time as a judge. he's 1 of 15 that died. elizabeth cohen talked with his heartbroken family. >> lord give us the strength to go forward. >> reporter: something's missing in the lovelace house. five generations gather in mourning. >> i lost all i've got. >> reporter: eddie lovelace, husband, father, grandfather, great grandfather, sunday school teacher at his church and a circuit court in albany, dead, a suspected case of fungal meningitis. >> what do you miss? >> he was the center of our universe as a family. >> reporter: judge eddie lovelace was a healthy 78-year-old man, worked full-time, walked three miles a day. when in the middle of september, he started feeling dizzy and slurring his speech. >> he didn't get to finish his sunday school lesson, and that individual was a long-time member of his sunday school. he said he had never witnessed that happen before. >> he was in the kitchen and he said, my legs don't work right. he said there's something wrong with my legs. >> reporter: lovelace, had had a stroke. but tolders at vanderbilt hospital told his daughter, a nurse, it was one of the strangest strokes they'd seen. >> they couldn't give me any explanation. they told me that a stroke that occurred in this area of the brain was usually seen by prolonged uncontrolled hypertension, which he did not have. no. >> reporter: lovelace died five days after being admitted to the hospital. >> it was a nightmare. >> reporter: later the doctors put it together. lovelace had been in a car accident and received three injections with steroids for back and neck pain. the medicine was made by the new england compounding center. after his death, these injections were recalled because of fungal contamination which can cause strokes. now all his family can do is remember the grandfather who let his granddaughter play with barbies behind the bench while he heard court cases. >> what kind of man was your dad? >> he was the most intelligent man that i ever met. his memory was uncanny. if you needed advice irregard also of what the subject was, you could always take his and trust it. >> reporter: his family looks back and asks why. >> the decisions to save money, the decisions not to regulate drugs, decisions not to oversee these facilities. those decisions affect lives every day. and if different decisions had been made at certain points along the way, my father would be here today. >> your father just went in for really a routine procedure. >> he did. he went there for pain relief. he went there to get help. >> and he got? >> death. >> elizabeth cohen, cnn, albany, kentucky. >> thanks, elizabeth. arlen specter died today. it was after a long battle with cancer. a personal story from one of his close advisers straight ahead. president obama and mitt romney, round two. why will this one be any different than any first one? i talked to will cain and lz began sd granderson about it. the town hall format will be a better venue for president obama. i asked him why. >> because he'll be able to have the audience there to gauge. he'll be able to understand a little bit more about the energy level that he has. he'll be able to understand the way he answers the questions has a more immediate impact on the audience and perhaps the nation. >> it's like a performer. he can vibe off the audience. do you agree with that? >> absolutely. >> i totally but for a little bit different reason. i was reading a review of the 2008 town hall debate that senator john mccain had with barack obama, and here are the words they used to describe it. it was dispassionate. i don't know how high his bar is on getting up his energy. the town hall format lowers the bar. that confrontational aspect becomes more sensitive. people feel that, and i don't think they like head to head as much. it's more about connecting. >> that was tom brokaw's debate. back in 2008, right? he talked about that on doing a town haul type debate this morning on "meet the press" and he said it's very tough and he said something like, i'm paraphrasing, my condolences to candy because it was a tough debate to do. let's talk about joe biden. let's go back to last week's debate. we knew "saturday night live" would have some fun, and it didn't disappoint. take a look. >> first of all, i want to thank center college for hosting us this evening. >> oh, boy. here we go. oh, man. >> four years ago president obama made a promise that he would bring down unemployment below 6%. >> oh, this guy, i mean -- >> that's funny. they were dead on. i have to say. do you think this is going to be old news by tuesday, lz? >> well, it's old news now. once you've been "snl'd," it's pretty much out of the news cycle. >> oh, come on, sarah palin -- sar czar palin and tina fey, you still can't get enough of that. i still watch the clips. >> i mean in terms of the way people view the debate. not necessarily the future debates. >> no, i totally disagree. i totally disagree. i know you didn't want to ask me this, don. you said it just now. we used to view debates through the prism of when they happen. our impressions and then the spin room afterwards but now we have this forever called the internet where things are mashed up and parodparodied. you're kidding yourself if you don't think that parity doesn't impact how people view this. >> good or bad, guess who people are talking about. they are talking about joe biden. right? and there are people who thought he was sort of a caricature of himself, but i think that most people kind of think the way -- he offered the best defense of joe biden that i've heard. listen. >> the fact of the matter is he dominated him. people can talk about joe biden, but what i think people like about him is he's authentic. the one thing about joe biden is you believed what he was telling you. the only thing we really now now about mitt romney that's unchanging is that he wants to be president of the united states of america. >> the criticism of this guy, when you said he was rude. i don't understand that. as long as he didn't talk about -- >> really? >> he didn't call them out of their name, call them a cuss word, talk about their mother. that's what people do when they are having a conversation whether it's someone on the right or left. mitt romney was very aggressive in the presidential debate and some people said it was bordering on rude. but guess what, he won that debate. you may think that joe biden was rude but that's all part of the process. what's wrong with that when you're in a debate? >> well, people are rude. i mean, so you drew a correlation of how people are in real life and people are rude in real life as well, don. that's not necessarily a net positive. i will say this. look, to the opinion from "meet the press," joe biden did dominate the debate but what he did by doing that, he motivated both bases, the left and the right. how that rudeness might have played off with independents. i want to say one more thing that i think we might be confused about what the word "authentic" means. i believe he is authentic. i'll see the same guy i saw in that debate. that doesn't mean unimpeachable. it doesn't mean truthful. authentic and truthful are not interchangeable. so when he carried it on to say that they believe what joe biden says, i'm not sure that's a connection. they believe he is that guy. that doesn't mean they believe everything he said. >> i am thankful to them. arlen specter has died. he had overcome several serious illnesses over the past 20 year, but he lost his battle with non-hodgkins limb foymphoma tod. he was 82 years old. earlier i spoke with someone who worked closely with him for many years. >> well, he's somebody who was incredibly principled and one of the smartest people out there in terms of knowing constitutional law. a couple anecdotes real quick. he never in the entire time that while i was working with him and before and after that, i've never heard of him reading a speech on the senate floor. he always spoke from a few notes extemporaneously. he did the same thing when he was chairing and normally chairmen will have a big opening statement. he would do that. it was off the cuff but it was with a lot of preparation. and he did not want to be known as somebody scripted so he was somebody who was very proud of the fact he worked on his own statements. the other anecdote that i'll give you is a lot of people don't know he was behind closed doors as well as in public one of the funniest people you'd ever come across. >> coming up, senator arlen specter was known for being a fighter, but he did have a softer side. in the form of stand-up comedy. later on in the hour a different side of the longtime senator. i'm probably telling you something you know. zombies are everywhere. on the tv, in the streets, everywhere, and i'm going to talk to one of the guys you can blame this all on next. you don't have to be in front of a television to watch cnn. can you stay connected or do it on your cell phone or from your computer at work. go to cnn.com/tv. 0ñ@ñfñ it may be farfetched, but don't dare call this fiction. zombies have taken over our world literally going well beyond the movie screen. the walking dead has returned for a third season. and, yes, if you're following my twitter feed, you know i'm obsessed. it's even in the political arena. it's not even safe there anymore. nancy pelosi's republican challenger john dennis released this ad that has her directing blood-coated zombies to perform a sacrifice. what about the road sign hackings that are becoming so common in cities across the country. warning, zombies ahead. i talked about this with max brooks, son of actor and director mel brooks about the fascination of zombies and the people who study them. >> zombies are big. they are a mega problem. it's not like one werewolf you can run away from. if it's a giant shark, just don't go in the water, but zombies are a pandemic, so to speak, and i think we've been facing since 9/11, just one massive global problem after the other. so i think that's sort of on everybody's brain right now. >> how did the 1968 film "night of the living dead" resurrect the interest in zombies? >> that changed everything. george romero did for zombies what was done for other things. it was one dude raised by the dark arts and did your laundry. but george romero made it a plague flesh-eating pandemic which we now know as zombies. >> the cdc has jumped on board warning people to be prepared for the zombie apocalypse. i mean, they admit it's tongue in cheek but zombies don't really exist so why do this campaign, max? >> it's very smart. it's actually getting kids preparing for natural disasters without realizing it. i live in southern california and what the cdc is essentially tricking kids into being prepared for anything. >> i've told you in the commercial break that i went to the set of "the walking dead." they wouldn't make me a zombie. i don't think you'll make me a zombie but i know another of your books, "world war z" is being made into a movie starring brad pitt. maybe there's hope for me. >> yes. >> it's required reading for several colleges including the u.s. naval war college. my question is why do college students need to be aware of zombies? >> well, i think also because zombies are a global problem. i think in a way it's a great way of explore iing globalization, which is a dirty word in an isolationist country like the united states. for the first time you have college students talking about global problems in an exciting way. it's not boring economics or global trade. it's talking about zombies. so it's a great way of studying all these global problems in an entertaining, fun way. >> can you help me out? >> don, i went to the set of "world war z," i couldn't even get made up into a zombie so good luck to us both. >> there's actually a facebook page that says don lemon wants to be a zombie. it's a petition. i was going to send it to "the walking dead" folks. i'll send it to your folks as well. i have to ask you another funny question. why do they move so slow? are there any fast zombies that can catch you? >> yeah. there's been the fast zombie craze since the movie "28 days later." but for me, i like the slow zombies because it gives me time to think about how many ways i can die. i'm naturally a neurotic guy so i let that neurosis go when i'm being chased by a thousand slow zombies. it's like the tortoise and the hare, but this time the hare gets eaten. >> give us some tips to survive. >> the main one is take a deep breath and think. don't panic. your brain is your greatest weapon. you can think of tactics but you can't do any of that if you're completely submerged in panic. >> max brooks, thank you very much. talk about your leap of faith. a jump from 24 miles up. it's amazing and takes your breath away. we've got it for you, next. [ male announcer ] break the grip of back or arthritis pain with odor free aspercreme. powerful medicine relieves pain fast, with no odor. so all you notice is relief. aspercreme. half past the hour. right now let's take a look at your headlines. a meningitis outbreak continues to spread. the cdc says these two strains of fungus are part of the outbreak. it has infected 205 people in 14 states. 15 people have died. victims received tainted steroid injections commonly give ton relieve intense neck and back pain. they are working on the stage for tuesday night's presidential debate. at hofstra university, this time it's a town hall style format. president obama's aides say he will be ready and energized. mitt romney's aides say he can change his approach but he can't change his record. america has lost one of the giants of the u.s. senate. arlen specter died today after a long battle with cancer. specter represented pennsylvania in the senate for 30 years. president obama said specter was "fiercely independent, never putting party or ideology ahead of the people he was chosen to serve." arlen specter was 82 years old. and just ahead this hour, a side of the former senator you may not have seen before, stand-up comedian. the space shuttle "endeavour" once soared 123 million miles through space. today crowds cheered. "endeavour" final arrived at the california science center after a 12-mile trip across l.a. over 3 days. a dedicated daredevil achieved an amazing feat today. he zoomed faster than the speed of sound and wasn't in an air plain. here is cnn's brian todd with the story. >> reporter: with a heart-pounding hop into the stratosphere, felix baumgartner makes history. he's 24 miles up, higher than anyone before him. during free fall he spun for a few harrowing minutes. >> i started spinning so violent. it spun me around and i was trying to find out how to stop this. i was putting one arm out. it didn't work. then putting another arm out but you're always late because at that speed when you travel at that speed with that suit and it's pressurized you don't feel the air at all. >> reporter: in those first seconds he broke another record. no one had ever gone through the sound barrier outside a vehicle. baumgartner reached a speed of more than 700 miles an hour, well past the speed of sound. free fall lasted 4:19. before his parachute opened. that's sort of the record for the longest free fall in history. after he safely touched down, the man known as fearless felix was hailed as an aerospace pioneer. >> there and done. >> it's hard to realize what happened because there's still so many emotions. i had tears in my eyes coming back a couple of times because you're sitting there and you thought about that moment so many times. how it would feel and look like. and this is way bigger than i anticipated. >> reporter: this mission had been five years in the planning. in baumgartner's ear during the acent colonel joe kitinger, the record he broke. he jumped from 102,000 feet in 1960. i interviewed baumgartner and kitinger earlier this year. >> are you jealous of felix? that he's going to break your record? >> no. i'm delighted. i'm delighted he's going to do it. he's advancing science, and he'll do a great job. >> reporter: they're hoping this jump will show them if astronauts, space tourists or high altitude for any extended period outside a vehicle if there's a malfunction. his high pressure suit could be the next generation suit for future missions. what will he do next? he says he wants to pursue an occupation as a helicopter rescue pilot. might be a bit of a letdown. brian todd, cnn, washington. >> all right, brian, felix baumgartner may have set a few new aviation records, but the granddaddy of all aviation records made a little news himself. major general chuck yeager broke the sound barrier again at 89. now, that's quite a feat. i'll talk with him right here live next. upside down. >> hi. >> hi. you know, i can save you 15% today if you open up a charge card account with us. >> you just read my mind. >> announcer: just one little piece of information and they can open bogus accounts, stealing your credit, your money and ruining your reputation. that's why you need lifelock to relentlessly protect what matters most... 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general yeager is not there. all right. we're going to get the connection, and we'll be back right after this break. good news. we've re-established contact with general chuck yeager. we'll bring it to you shortly. a young jewish man got a letter saying he flunked out of dental school. the school he worked so hard to attend, emory university, forced him out because he's jewish. it took 60 years to get an apology for the anti-semitism. i talked with him and began by playing a clip from his documentary. >> we got that dreaded letter and more likely than not our parents would say, what have you done to me? when you began to try to explain what happened, nobody believed you. they just didn't believe -- oh, that's possible. emory? >> my goodness. he joins us now. discrimination didn't stop him. he graduated with honors from the university of tennessee dental school and a very successful career. thank you very much. you went back and interviewed fellow students decades after the discrimination. what motivated you to do that? >> i had retired two years before. the year was 2006. and we attended a conference at emory university where they were celebrating 30 years since the first studies had happened at emory. and it was a great moment. since that time they had many more jewish faculty members and so on, so it was great. >> when i introduced you, you said when you got the letter, you knew you hadn't failed, but you said you weren't so sure. >> no, i don't think and not just me. this is the same story everybody tells. you didn't know. you got a letter when you got home and said either you could come back and repeat or you were out. in my case they told me i couldn't return. there were four jewish boys in my class and within two years we were gone. >> did you suspect something or thought you didn't make the grade? >> no, i didn't. i thought i was doing okay and no one had ever called me in to an office. the dean didn't call me. none of the instructors took me to the side. i've carved all my teeth. they never -- i mean you should have seen -- they'd break your teeth and throw them out the window. i didn't have a rough time. it was a shock, but when i got home, the worst thing was having to tell my parents. >> emory apologized to you and other jewish students. it discriminated against them decades ago. listen to the apology. >> i am sorry, we are sorry. >> how do you feel about it? >> i feel great. emory has been incredible. they really have. i showed -- i spent a long time, maybe four years getting all my documentation. i'm an apple person so i learned how to make movies, imovies in my lessons down there. i came up with a movie and took it to emory and they were shocked. they really were and they said this is not emory. and i said, i know, but it was. they said we have to do something about this. >> do you have advice for anyone who feels discriminated against because as i was telling you on the commercial break, there was a guest on earlier and he had kids with him. and i said, you know, my parents will tell me that's just the way it was and i go, i don't understand, mom and dad. i wonder what things we'll be saying to younger people about that's the way it was and they'll go what were you thinking. what advice do you have? >> things are different now. they're very different. students speak up. we couldn't speak up. there was no way. my father tried to get the dean to revisit this. he wouldn't even see them. others were treated very bad. it was a one-sided thing. you didn't have any option to do that. nowadays, kids have advisers and they don't take anything. >> yeah. but you said they've been great and you feel welcome on the campus now. >> i've been there many times. i live near emory and emory -- i'd never let them define me, even then. i just got and my dad took me over to tennessee. i had been accepted to tennessee and i just chose emory because i had gone there undergraduate and they treated me great at emory before. i went over there. the dean put his hand on my shoulder and he said you're going to do all right. he had my grades from before i had been accepted and showed him my carvings and i did. i did great. >> so it happens but then you move own and you don't let it define you. that's probably the best advice. >> that's the secret. >> you're welcome. >> thank you. i really appreciate it. >> it was on this day, october 14th, 1947 that chuck yeager flew an experimental airplane so fast ha it broke the sound barrier. he's on his phone in las vegas. let's hope the second time is a charm. general jagr, happy anniversary on your historic achievement. how do you feel? >> fine. thank you very much. >> a great, great honor to have you on. we're glad we can hear you. you were in the backseat. were you at the controls when you broke the -- >> it's not my airplane. i was just lucky that they would give me one but make sure he had instructor pilot in the front seat. i fly them from the front seat but that's not my airplane. >> 89 years old. that's so cool that you're doing that. 65 years later, did today's special flight feel any different than the thousands of hours you had flown before? >> yeah, it was fun to me because what i did, i took out an ellis and went down to edwards, which was about 170 miles away and made a sonic boom, went across edwards at about 1.3 mach number and that laid down a pretty good sonic boom on edwards. and i came back and made a little pass over the runway and flew back to ellis and landed. i really appreciate the air force giving me a brand-new f-15 to fly. >> do you get a kick out of that sonic boom, creating that sonic boom every time? >> yeah. but you control it by mach number like the f-15 today, we had to keep it about 1.4 mach. and that lays down a pretty good boom. if you want to go up to mach 2, you start breaking glasses and knocking in roofs. >> talk to me a little bit more about flying and being at the controls. this is a more modern plane than last time. how do you compare flying this modern fighter jet to the glamorous glen nis you flew through the sound barrier when you first did it in 1947. >> the x-1 was a rocket and it burned liquid oxygen age alco l alcohol. it had to be dropped from a b-29. it was a research airplane. you couldn't use it for combat or something like that. what it did, it showed us if we're going to operate beyond the speed of sound, we have to have a flying tail on the airplane. a horizontal stabilizer. that's the only way to control the airplane through mach 1 was with the flying tail and it took the british and the french and soviet union five years to find out that trick. and it gave us a quantum jump on the rest of the world. >> i bet you've been showing those young bucks stuff out there. thank you, sir. congratulations to you. we're so proud of you. 89 years old, and you're still at it. tell your wife we said hello. >> hello back. thank you. >> thanks a lot. sorry we had so much trouble getting you. >> that's all right. hey, it's television and we're just honored to have you both on. take it easy. hope to talk to you soon -- >> where are you from, england or australia? >> i'm from here but when you do it again in another 65 year, make sure you come back on. >> sure. >> take care, guys. >> we'll be right back. he was known for his sharp legal mind, but did you know arlen specter wanted to do stand-up? here's cnn's michael shoulder. >> we're so excited to have this next man here. he was a senator for 30 years. round of applause for senator arlen specter. >> reporter: this is not the arlen specter america came to know. >> i've been in the senate for 30 years practicing comedy. >> reporter: it was the man arlen specter was becoming. >> let's go in your office. >> okay. >> this is a comedy session. we're going to develop some material here. >> reporter: after losing his treasured seat in the senate, arlen specter at the age of 80 was aiming to become a stand-up comic. so now you're embarking on this stand-up comedy career. earlier this year specter and i spent time together as he prepared for his next performance. arlen specter's funny? what do you say to those people? >> i say there's something funny in almost everything. >> reporter: specter really does see something funny in everything. >> morning. how are you? >> how are you, doc? >> i know. >> reporter: in fact, our dr. sanjay gupta got a taste of it four years ago when specter was battling cancer for the second time. >> you're probably going to lose more of your hair -- >> i'm going to lose all of my hair. i'm going to be bald as a billiard ball. >> reporter: specter liked to quote churchill to describe his approach to life, never give in. >> how are you feeling, senator? >> not so hot. >> what's bugging you today? >> headache. i was up at 4:00 and couldn't sleep. got my squash partners out at 5:30. played a little squash. >> reporter: anyone who can play squash during a chemo headache cannot be dismissed when he says he wants to do stand-up. we're going to go over the material you're planning to use monday night at caroline's. >> these are possibilities. these are categories. when i was recuperating from hodgkins, the doctors told me to spend some time in a hot tub. so i was in this hot tub luxuriating and in comes ted kennedy. 283 pounds. in his finest. his birthday suit. and like a walrus, he plops into the hot tub, and you know the old story about a rising tide lifts all boats. my head hit the ceiling. newt gingrich, i've known newt a long time. in fact, i've known newt so long, i knew him when he was skinny. i've known newt so long, i knew his first wife. strom thurman said, i have sex almost every night. we almost have sex on monday. we almost have sex on tuesday. i don't know if this is fit for cnn. it reminds me of a comment pat moynihan made about malcolm wallach. >> remind of malcolm wallach. >> he was a senator by wyoming. >> by the way, in the future when i say remind me, it means i don't have a clue. just so you know. >> i thought you knew everything and had made that comment to inform the audience as to who malcolm wallach was. joe biden is a good talker for humor because he talks so much. there's a picture of joe biden and me over here. you know how much it costs to buy a seat in the united states senate? $30 million. so when you pay $30 million for a seat, you like to sit in it. >> specter, the former prosecutor, studied his comedy performances with a critical eye taking careful notes on which punch lines worked and which fell flat. >> you're clearly tuned in to the audience because you were pausing. >> there's a cadence to it. and the audience gets into the cadence. when you pause, they laugh -- if you pause, they laugh again. sometimes they laugh automatically. >> reporter: in the end between his long senate career and his short but determined effort at stand-up comedy, and his multiple battles with life-threatening illness, arlen specter demonstrated a few things about power, the power of sitting down, the power of standing up and the power of never giving in. michael shoulder, cnn. >> well, he died after a long battle with er