there s great consternation about washington generally. and when things don t go well, everyone tends to get splattered by it. i do think that, you know, the impetus for this is coming from the republican party. the president, you know, seems willing to me to be to do some difficult things and to be very sensible about this. but, you know, i m not sure who s in control of that republican caucus or how they re making decisions. but there seems to be an inexorable pull there that is leading towards a confrontation. and as i said, i think most people are not yet attuned to that. david axelrod there on the politics of today. tomorrow, more of our conversation, including his thoughts on 2012, including how much it will cost and will sarah palin run. but next, will the uprising in the middle east mean you pay more at the pump? that s just ahead.
reporter: to say the campaign is cautious about too much optimism is an understatement. they have been hitting the pavement all day doing get out the vote at seven different stops in addition to the one you saw him at. you talk to political watchers here and everybody thinks it s very, very close. he could get just over 50% of the vote but his number two opponents in his race haran an aggressive campaign after this residency issue was resolved. once the supreme court put that to rest, the campaign has largely turned on rahm emanuel s character and is he what his opponent calls a pathological evader of the truth. his washington ties, et cetera. they stepped up negative attacks. emanuel is focused on a plan to close this debt and his plans for the city. so he s still polling well ahead but no one thinks this one is a certainty. he s expected to come out on top
snowplow drivers so they can t bargain for a middle class life. that s not what they were elected to do. they were elected to create jobs and they have gone too far. we re watching live pictures. this is ohio demonstration here. you say they have gone too far. this is an argument the governor made. they say i have these budget gaps. i have to close them. as we talk in washington, you have to deal with social security and medicare and defense budget because that s where the money is. at the state level they would say public employees union benefits health benefits or pension benefits. here s the average salary of union and nonunion worker. union member works $200 on average a week than a nonuse person. that s private sector workers as well. of course we do. look at the benefits. health care, retirement, a union member about 14.66 an hour toward benefits. nonunion member half that amount goes toward benefits. what s your position to these governors? if you would say let s talk
that who got mus this trouble. reporter: the nation s unemployment rate is stagnant at 9.1%, a labor day with millions not laboring at all. including those workers who are part-time whold like to work full-time and those who have stopped looking for work, the unprovidu unemployed now total 25 million people. tracie potts for us this washington. thanks. in libya, a rebel spokesman says negotiations over the surrender of one of gadhafi s last remaining strong holds have collapsed. and rebels around gadhafi s hometown have say what is evidence of brutal killings. johner vine has more.
40-mile-per-hour wind gusts from what was tropical storm lee. one of the fires killed a 20-year-old woman and her 18-month-old daughter, trapped inside their home. officials say thousands have been evacuated, and an estimated 300 homes have been destroyed. president obama paid a visit to water-weary new jersey, yesterday. visiting parts of the state hit hard last week by hurricane irene s devastating floods. today, the president will be marking labor day, speaking to a group of union workers in detroit, just days before presenting a sweeping economic proposal to congress. nbc s tracie potts joins us from washington with more on this. tracie, good morning to you. reporter: the president says he has a plan and we ll hear more on thursday. today on labor day, he s spending this day with workers in detroit.