that the nation has been on brink of this kind of crisis. let's go straight to capitol hill, our congressional current kate bolduan baldwin is standing by. >> the ability to finally fand a way out of this impasse and to avoid this looming government shut down and how this could all come out has to do with the big focus on the fema funding. the additional funding for federal disaster relief that democrats and republicans wanted to put in this short term spending bill. fema came out today to confirm that different from their prior predictions, that fema may be able to stretch their disaster relief funds that are much depleted and could run out, but they said they could stretch the funds through the end of this week. this is different than prior predictions which many had said would be depleted by the beginning of this week. in a statement, i will read you just in part, wolf, quote, estimates from over the weekend indicate the disaster relief fund could be fully exhausted by the end of the week. why i'm focusing on so much of the end of the week, why that is key swb that that is the end of the fiscal year as well. the center of this harsh battle between democrats and republicans and the house and senate could become a moot point. and this is whether or not the disave the are relief funds that were to be added just for the rest of this fiscal year, which is just the rest of this week, should be offset. should be paid for. republicans stood firmly that they should be paid for. d democrats said they should not. this issue might completely go away now that we hear from fema, they could stretch their funds in order to stretch them through this week. congress could just pass, as we say, a clean short term spending bill, wolf, that fema funds can kick in for the next fiscal year. the next deadline date is november 18 and the government along with all this would get the much-needed funding it needs after this friday, wolf? >> we have a brand new poll out just this hour, kate. let me tell what you it shows. it shows that 47% of americans would blame republicans in congress if there were a government shut down, 33% would blame the president, so it is obviously a significant number there. but there's a vote schedule this hour, right? tell us what's going to happen there. >> to not confuse anything any more, which i'm sure i will, there is a vote still schedule for this hour in the senate. the senate pushing back its scheduled recess this week in order to be in town to have a key test vote on a measure that would send a democrat called a compromised measure. a very similar bill to what the house passed as in terms after short term spending bill last week. of course, this might not be such an important issue any more that we now see the possible, you know, emerging way out of this impasse. i will tell you while they have this test vote and top democratic leadership, they are still working to win support around it. it is unclear if it gains the support it needs. there is also, i'm told by a top democratic aid, there is a senate democratic caucus meeting tentatively scheduled for later this evening where they will be talking about the latest estimates and predeckes from fema which could completely change the game here as we could see a break through soon, wolf? >> they better get a break through. no one will be happy if the government shut downs. it'll be a plague on both of their houses, no doubt about that. >> let's move on to the presidential rate. there is new fuel for the rivalry between republicans rick perry and mitt romney. perry holds on to his place at the top of the pack at our brand new cnn poll of republicans with a 7-point lead over romney. but perry is five points behind president obama in a would-be general election match-up. romney does better against the president in our poll of registered voters, trailing by just one point. chief political analyst, gloria, is joining us more with this story. gloria, what are voters saying about the candidate's personal qualities? how important is that compared to some of the other issues? >> well, it's so interesting, wolf. here we are in the middle of an economic crisis facing what possibly could be a double dip recession. two wars currently being waged in iraq and afghanistan. when we ask people, what's the most important thing for your vote for president, personal qualities versus issues, personal qualities won out, wolf. 49 to 43%. which is stunning. but when you look at these candidates, do candidates have the personal qualities a president should have? bring those candidates back up pl you will see that romney and obama are very close. perry trailing and sarah palin, down at 30%. that means that means that 70% of people don't believe she has the qualities a president should have. that includes leadership, stature. so you can see, that there is no stature gap between barack obama and mitt romney. >> and when it comes to the issues, how do these candidates do? forget about the personal qualities, let's talk about substantive issues. >> you want to ask the question of voters, does a candidate care about the issues that you personally care about? we ask, does a candidate agree with you on the issues that you care about? and again, barack obama and mitt romney are tied 46 to 46. wolf, what this shows, if you are a republican primary voter out there and you want to beat barack obama more than anything, you are not quite sure about the candidates, but you want to make sure you have someone who is electable, at this point, in this field, mitt romney stacks up as the most electable candidate against barack obama. and that's what he is trying to sell on the campaign trail. >> gloria is in new york. he she is nominated for an emmy. and you are going to the emmy award tonight. >> i am. >> all of us are hoping you win, gloria. >> thank you. >> emmy-nominated, cnn coo chief political analyst. thank you. >> thanks. president obama with a western swing taking part in a town hall meeting at california headquarters of the professional networking website, linkedin. one person made an pale, please raise my taxes. in mountain view, california, it was relatively calm. i didn't hear a lot of headlines, did you jessica? >> i did not. a very subdued president obama. turning 0u9 whi . he is taking a sharp tone against republican with pretty partisan lines. but at this event, focusing largely on the jobs act, american jobs act, answering questions about unemployment and veteran's employment and the news actually came from someone in the audience, former google executive, who is now retired. he said he made so much money that he wants the president as you said, to make him pay more in taxes. listen to this question. >> i don't have a job. but that's because i've been lucky enough to live in silicon valley for a while. and work for a small start-up down the street here, that did quite well. so i'm unemployed by choice. my question is, would you please raise my taxes? [ applause ] >> that small start-up is called google. the president went on to say, look, i remember back in the days when eventually bill clinton was president and taxes were higher and the rich got richer. the president also, he shied away wolf from making the same points he made at a fund-raiser which, were if we follow the republicans plan which is to keep taxes where they are, that could be crippling for the future of the nation. he did not say that in pup lick here today wolf. >> nothing stopping him from make writing a check to the ugs treasury. he can write a check. >> you are also getting, jessica, new information on president's very active schedule out there on the west coast. fund-raising. >> that's right. the president has a total of seven fund-raising stops here and the campaign is going to rake in a lot of money while he's out here. democratic sources tell cnn that the campaign s has been telling their top bunders to expect a total of $55 million to be brought in, all told this quarter. as you know, the quarter is about to wrap up. 55 million is a lot less than the 86 million they brought in last time around. some of the reasons for the drop are partly because it is harder to raise money overall during summer. but also during debt deal negotiations it was hard to get fund-raising done. some part of that i'm told was because donors didn't want to write checks. they were so turned off by what they saw in washington. some of it because the president couldn't leave town to attend fund-raisers. and once he proposed the jobs act, that buffet rule, those have helped people start giving money. nothing helps democrats give like seeing republicans debate. they say that started people writing checks too, wolf. >> very busy out there fund-raising. even they he doesn't have a democratic challenger, he is working hard it raise as much money as he can for the general election campaign. he will have a ton of money, even if he doesn't get as much this quarter as he would have liked. jessica, thanks very much. donald trump once predicted mitt romney would lose the presidential race. does he still feel that after meeting with romney today? my interview with donald trump is coming up this hour. i'll ask congresswoman maxine waters about her negative reaction it president obama when he told african-american law makers to stop complaining. ♪ [ multiple snds ng melodic tune ] ♪ [ malennounc ] at northrop grumman, makthworld a feplace. th's value performance. northr gruan. o we are the tomorrow makers. we're making tomorrows like clockwork. ♪ for all the different things our customers planned for. like a college education. or, the perfect wedding. ♪ ♪ i love ya, tomorrow! [ male announcer ] we're making them a better financial future. what can we make with you? transamerica. transform tomorrow. jack cafferty is here. he has the track, jack? >> it appears rick perry may be all hat and no cattle. the pretend cowboy, george w. bush, and watching perry's most recent debate performance, looks like he got his boots stuck in his mouth. the texas governor may be fading 0u9 as quickly as he shot to the polls last month. the signs of trouble are stacking up everywhere around him. beginning with mitt romney closing the gap on the national polls. although perry is still at the top of the pack, romney polls stronger against president obama. and on the state level, perry is losing one straw poll race after another. in florida, businessman herman cain pulled a surprise landslide victory. his win in florida topped perry and romney combined. perry was expected to win the florida straw poll at the start of the weekend. but his performance put him at a distant second. in michigan, straw poll, perry finishing second, this time to romney, a native of michigan. perry placed a distance sec to paul in the california straw poll. these straw polls don't mean a lot. they are just mock elections. they don't necessarily reflect how the primaries will go. but if you are the republican front-runner, there is an expectation you win some of them within an advisor to jon huntsman campaign suggests it is increasingly clear that perry can't perform, saying he has a case of elec ti le dysfunction. perry's people say romney who has been in the question a lot longer, here is the question: are rick perry's 15 minutes up? go to our post on the situation rooms facebook page. pretty clever, electile dysfunction. >> clever. is that a word? >> i don't know and i don't want to know. >> thank you. president obama is hoping his time isn't up when it comes to rallying support from a key voting block. we're talking about african-americans. but with unemployment and poverty among blacks, that may be easier said than done. listen to what the president had to say at the congressional dinner saturday night. >> i don't have time to complain. i'm going to press on. i expect all of you to march with me and press on. take off your bedroom slippers. put on your marching shoes. shake it off. stop complaining. stop grumbling. stop crying. we are going to press on. we've got work to do. >> let's talk about that with democratic congresswoman maxine waters of california. i think he is complaining about you, among others, right? >> i don't think so. >> because you've been complaining that he hasn't been doing enough lately. you've been making statements along those lines. >> no. wolf, i don't complain. i work. as a matter of fact, the black caucus have been hard at work. we travelled to five states. we took up leping people to get jobs. >> that was exactly when he was in iowa meeting with largely white groups, right? >> that is part of the time. >> do you remember what you said at the time? >> yes. first of all, the audience in detroit said to us, why don't you do something? why don't you make the president do something? they were really at us and i raised the question, are you ready, for a conversation about how you feel? and we are now into that conversation. yes, we want to see the president. more in african-american communities but the work that we did is what caused the conversation it take place. we focus on what needs are and the president heard us. because the president heard us he was saying african-american and black for the first time in the speech. when he was talking about complaining, we don't know who he was talking to. he couldn't have been talking to the black caucus. we have been working very hard. >> i think he was complaining but he was talking about corn el west has been talking about him, as you know. and remarks that you have made, and other white house officials have said, why is maxine waters complaining so much? doesn't she realize he wants to improve the economy. >> maxine waters does not complain. maxine waters does two things. public policy and organizing. i don't go around complaining so i don't think he was talking to us or the people in that room. the people in that room for the most part are people who came out of civil rights movement, who marched and worked hard and have been doing if t for years. we are pleased the president is now focused and he made a speech, the likes of which he had not made before, where he talked about african-americans and the fact that blacks were unemployed. >> nearly three years into his presidency, until now he hasn't addressed concerns of poverty in the african-american community. >> there has been no focus at all. >> no focus, what do you mean by that? >> you know and radio stations and television stations have been talking about the high unemployment rate. 40 to 50% of african-american youth. no, we have not heard the president focus on that or talk about that, despite the fact it is getting worse and worse. i expect this unemployment may go up as high as 20% in the african-american community but we will support the american jobs act. well support this president. we think we help him with this base constituency. we believe that the work that we have done will help him to begin to know how he must target, to those communities most in need. whether it is the urban community or rural community. you have to put the resources where the problems are, where the need is. we think we have gotten him focussed to do that. >> after two and half, three years -- >> we finally got him to focus, yes. >> so you will take off your slippers and get out there and march with him? >> i've never owned a pair of bedroom slippers. anyone who knows maxine waters knows i'm a fighter. i came to washington with that identity. >> but he brought you into this process, you and others members of the congressional black caucus to address these issues? >> well actually we started with the jobs fairs that we were doing. we said basically we can't sit here in washington, d.c. and simply do one minute and five minutes. we have to get out there, first of all, let the people know that we feel their pain and we understand the desperation in these communities. and once we were out there, into these town hall meetings, they let us know that they truly are in pain. and so, we have the job fairs where we connected them with employers from all over the country. and we brought the message back to washington, d.c. and this president got it. i mean, he was at that black caucus talking about african-american unemployment because of the work that we did. >> the corn et wefl and ralph nader throw out the possibility of them running to challenge the president for the democratic nomination. not necessarily thinking they are going to win, they are not going to win. but to force them to focus more on these issues instead of becoming more moderate it get more in line with the so-called progressive or liberal views. is that a good idea? >> the black caucus doesn't know anything about that. we are involved with the work we do as public policy makers. we are involved with whatever influence we have with focus on the issue isz of concern to our communities. so we don't know, i haven't heard the discussion. and we support this president. and we want him to get the best out of his constituency, that base constituency, that gives him so much support. we think we are helping him with the work that we do. >> so you're not complaining, you're not grumbling, you're not crying, he is not talking about you. >> maxine waters didn't cry. maxine waters works. >> thank you so much for coming in. >> thank you. >> amazing images from the washington monument p.m. a rare earthquake here in washington was hitting. we have the video ahead. what officials are now saying about the damage sustained. plus -- will pakistan work against the key network the country is suspected of supporting. we have details of that as well. [ woman ] my grocery bill isn't wasteful spending. [ woman ] my heart medication isn't some political game. [ man ] our retirement isn't a simple budget line item. [ man ] i worked hard. i paid into my medicare. [ man ] and i earned my social security. [ woman ] now, instead of cutting waste and loopholes, washington wants to cut our benefits? that wasn't the agreement. [ male announcer ] join the members of aarp and tell washington to stop cuts to our medicare and social security benefits. you can add mitt romney to the list of republican contenders trying to cozy up to donald trump. it is fresh news that tv clebity is try to influence the campaign after deciding ton run himself. stand by for my interview with donald trump. that's coming up, including his impression of romney, the rest of the gop field, including perry. right now i wall bring in brian todd. he is taking a closer look at the candidates. they all seem to be the can dates eager to have that photo op with donald trump. even though in this case, there was no photo op. >> the media buzz they get from the appearances and experience from the tea party scoconstitue. to president obama he is a corn val barker. to republican like met romney, he is a must-see. romney is the latest gop hopeful so seek an audience with trump. a trump aid says they got along. talking about jobs, the deficit, china. it was a meeting the democrats tooker issusly enough to counter with a web video. >> what did the american people have to say with those returning to the same failed policies that created our challenges? >> if i -- >> if i -- >> their connection might seem natural. both wealthy businessmen who tried to pummel president obama over the economy. in the spring, trump wasn't complimentary about romney's business skills. >> he would close companies, get rid of jobs. my net worth is many, many, many times mitt romney. >> that is about the same time trump predicted romney would lose this race. all under the bridge now, as romney follows rick perry. michele bachmann, one-time candidate mike huckabee and sarah palin as stars with high profile meetinges with trump. >> why is he a necessary stop for so many of them? they have to latch on to