poll they're neck in neck. why so tight? >> thomas, this is all about the anti-incumbent mood out there. patty murray has been in the senate since 1992. a low key popular member. the original mom in ten nis shoes as she calls herself. ordinarily would not necessarily be in such a tight race. now face iing a long time. well known republican. she's in the fight for her life. in this election cycle, no incumbent is safe. >> mark, the president will be westing for a while. it's been deemed the western firewall. why is it so critical for democrats to maintain position in the west? >> let's look at the math in the snap. the one chamber the democrats are wanting to hold with the likelihood they will lose the house. of the ten seats they would need to pick up, they would first of all have to win all the seats that they are expected to win. then there are three tossup states. and four states that should go democratic but could go republican in the cycle. of those seven states, four are o out west. nevada, colorado, washington, california. that's why the president is spending the last ten days really focussed in that area. >> i don't want to look too far ahead, but i have to. because you are a political genius. and i have you on the show. so talk about the new washington, what it will look like after the midterms. are there meetings about how to deal with new reality on capitol hill? >> well, the voters have to vote. we can't necessarily prejudge that. but mitch mccome had dialogues with tea party candidates who may be arriving in washington. if the republicans don't control the senate, it's going to be a different landscape for mcconnell in his caucus with the new more radical tea party party candidates arriving. on the house side, john boehner, in line to be speaker of the house if the republicans take back the house, we've been joking as the witness protection plan. we haven't seen him. we know he's made commitments in his pledge to america about what he's going to do. beyond that, we don't know much. >> there are "b" and "c" plans being floated around. >> the one thing we know is that the democrats are not going to have the majorities they've had in the first two years where, although very controversial, they got big things done. health care, stimulus. financial regulation. i think from now on it's going to be the best hope in washington is that it's going to be singles and doubles, small pieces of legislation, the nightmare scenario is total gridlock after the midterms. >> great to have you with us today. appreciate it. >> sure. >> here's the catch word of the week "extreme." that's the line republicans are using. wh it's working is another story. listen to how often it is used. >> this is an extreme idea. what she's talking about is extreme. >> the alternative to harry reid is extreme. it's extreme. >> ken buck. he's too extreme for colorado. >> carly fiorina, just too extreme for california. >> the extreme candidate that is so far out of touch. >> the extreme candidates that are actually taking advantage of the extreme fringe of the tea party. >> richard wolffe is nbc news political analyst. don't you love it when they use the deep voices? so i want to start with you. why is extreme the most popular insult these days? >> because the focus grouped it to death. if they're extreme, i must be normal or the other person must be normal. it's a relative measure at a time when we don't know what the benchmarks are anymore. this is a volatile, political situation where the mainstream is moving. it's shifting. what's normal in this environment when the president is a socialist or a fascist and the other side don't belong to the republican party. the rmts were successful at branding john kerry. it works. >> your poll is showing 15% of democratic voters saying they're voting to ensure rigt wing candidates are not elected to congress. 14% said they vote for a democrat to avoid an extreme right wing candidates. so are the candidates a reflection of the nation's mood? >> our poll shows that argument is not getting traction when you say the candidates are extreme. when you look into their data from the poll, it shows the argument that some of the democrats are making about the fact that many want to abolish the tea party spending and begin a path to privatizing social security. that begins to have some traction with voters. so when you just say there are tea party extremists, that doesn't work so much. when you get into real policy issues and talk about the positions some of them take, then the democrats vn able to move the numbers a bit. >> do you agree? is the extreme title of labeling, the message from the dems that it's a day late and a dollar short to job let voters out there? >> if we're talking policies, yeah. this is about driving people out where they don't normally vote. getting democrats out whether through scare tactics or telling them everything is in jeopardy. it is. if they lose control of the house, the president won't do anything. there's a motivational factor here, whether accurate or not. whether it affects people who are unemployed, that's not the issue. it's getting people to vote. >> has the administration in both your opinions had enough time to turn itself around, or is this born straight out of the recession? >> well, the economy remains very fragile and joblessness is pervasive and stubborn. it doesn't look from what the experts are telling us it's going to improve. so americans are very worried. the administration may have done a better job, and you can see president obama conceding this at explaining why the policies may eventually bring jobs back and stabilize the economy and bring growth in the coming years. in our own polls voter optimism is so far down. it's a troubling sign for president obama and the election of 2012. even though it looks bleak now, there's going to be a corner to turn soon. >> richard, your take? >> what the administration, what the democrats need to have done is say how they spent $800 billion in the recovery act. without being able to tell their own story, the other side did it for them. they said the stimulus failed. it's not been a connection about what they've done. never mind what's around the corner. that's a valid point. but they have to talk about the record. they're really not doing that. >> i want to thank you both for coming on this afternoon. appreciate it. >> so the military will immediately go back to enforcing don't ask, don't tell. the controversy policy that bans gays and lesbians for openly serving their country. the decision comes after the fourth circuit court in california granted an emergency stay on a lower court's order to suspend enforcement of the rule. jim is live at the pentagon and joins us now. is this the kind of confusion the pentagon was hoping to avoid by waiting for their own internal report sf. >> absolutely, thomas. in defense secretary robert gates put together the group and said he want ad complete comprehensive report and input from the individual service members. he was trying to avoid this kind of, what has really been a mess over the past week after that california judge took that ruling that put an end temporarily to the enforcement of don't ask, don't tell. the problem is for gays serving in the military or gay rights advocates, the process is far too slow. secretary gates acknowledge once the report is complete and they figure out how to implement don't ask, don't tell, it could be more than a year before they can adequately integrate openly gays in the military. therein lies the problem. >> other than being embarrassing for the administration. what are pebt gone officials telling you about how this affecting the day-to-day operations? >> well, @ not. i never heard a service member anywhere, here in washington or out there in a war zone talk to me ever about gays openly serving in the military. it duds not seem to been an issue for them. the bigger issue is the political pressure the decision by that judge in california put on president obama. he's in a lose-lose situation right now just before the midterm elections. those opposed to the repeal of don't ask, don't tell take obama at his word that he wants to repeal it. but at the same time, those gay rights advocates who want it repealed don't think -- well, he hasn't lived up to his campaign promise to repeal don't ask, don't tell. >> how does the most recent ruling impact recruiting now today? >> well, it shouldn't. after the ruling last week. the pentagon told gay who is wanted to enlist they could do so now, but gay rights advocates had warned from the very beginning that this is a very volatile and fluid situation. once you declare you're openly gay, as long as don't ask, don't tell is in effect, you're not permitted to serve in the militariment now we'ring that open gays still have the opportunity to at least fill out an application to enlist, but the fact of the matter is if they declare they're openly gay now, they're not going to get in the service under the current situation. >> text messaging, video games. are today's teens becoming disconnected from human kind? 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[ gigi ] ...you look fabulous with tones and highlights. nice 'n easy. your right color. with all of this, you would think that we would be raising a new generation of compassionate people. not so fast, there's a new study out of the university of michigan suggesting that is not the case at all and being connected isn't the same thing as actually caring. so is this a glimpse of the futures? she is an assistant professor at the university of michigan. joining us now to talk about this. the headline is students today while constantly aware of their friends and updates are 40% less em pathetic than 1979. that's the biggest decline we've seen in a decade. explain the rational behind this? >> well, first what we did is tracked student's empathy scores for 1979 until now. after 2,000 there's a really sharp decline. it's also a more cognitive one where you think of what another person is feeling. either way, there's a major decline. the question is why. right now we can't answer that. we have some ideas, but we don't know for sure. >> the real issue, though, is what happens when these kids grow up and get into their true adult lives and in working situations, can you learn to be more em pathetic? or is it something that will be you really work on through your life as you're growing up as a kid. ? >> well, right now empathy is seen as a trait, which means it's stable and not changeable. but parts of it i think are changeable. people can learn to develop empathy if they work at it. it's hard work. but if you take time and you actually try to become more em pathetic and care about it, then you can become more empathetic. >> you link the lack of empathy with the rise of narcissism. how do you connect the two with young people today? >> well, the two are linked. at the same time empathy is declining, we're finding rises in narcissism. usually they are high in empathy. they think about themselves a lot. so they have trouble thinking of what others may be feeling. >> do we know what's shaping the children born in the '80s and '90s that would give rise to this is? is it technology in itself or the fact that we're all kids of divorce and we're not learning how to be em pathetic of each other. >> well, we don't know why, but our best guesses are the changes in technology could be influencing their changes in empathy and narcissism. it also could be that's a coincidence or maybe they're using these types of technology to compensate for the fact that they don't have the same connections they used to have. there have been smaller family sizes. there are lot more only children. you have no choice but to learn to take other people's perspectives. especially if other children are around. that could be something. now i think there are ichb creasing pressures for success and economic concerns. a college degree isn't necessarily going to get students as far as it would have several years ago. >> so but the take away, sarah, i mean we know this is happening. we can't define why. but from your position and for parents out there watching this, what would be your advice to them out of this study? how would you treat your own children out of this study? what would you do differently? >> that's a good question. it's something i think about every day. burr i think parntdscan have some sort of an influence. we can make sure we limit screen time in case it is a cause. also we can show them. we the try our best to set a good example in our life. holiday season is coming up. we can start living that day this year. >> these kids, our kids, our nieces, our nephews will be picking out our nursing homes. i want a nice one. i want them em pathetic to me as i get older. >> exactly. >> thanks for joining us today. >> thanks for inviting me. does a doctor quote you on all the reasons why you should or shouldn't you live your life a certain way? how trust wor hawaii are the studies we'll ♪ every day you check the weather, check the time ♪ ♪ check the news online ♪heck the wife, eck the kids ♪ ♪ check your email messages ♪ check the money in the bank ♪ check the gas in the tank ♪ check the flava from your shirt ♪ ♪ make sure your pits don't stank ♪ ♪ check the new hairdo, check the mic one two ♪ ♪ 'cause i'm about to drop some knowledge right on top of you ♪ ♪ you check a lot of things already why not add one more ♪ ♪ that can help your situation for sure ♪ ♪ check your credit score ♪ free-credit-score-dot-com ♪ free-credit-score ♪ you won't regret it at all! ♪ check the legal y'all. >>offer applies with enrollment in triple advantage.® you know, if we had let fedex office print our presentation, they could have shipped it too. saved ourselves the hassle. i'm not too sure about this. look at this. 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[ man ] if it was simply about money, every bank loan would be a guarantee of success. at ge capital, loaning money is the start of the relationship, not the end. i work with polaris every day. at ge capital, we succeed only when they do. whoo! awesome! yes! we've got to get you out of the office more often. ♪ my turn to drive. ♪ my turn to drive. having the right real estate agent on your side is more important than ever. at remax.com, you can find the experts you need, whether you're trying to sell of hoping to buy. nobody sells more real estate than re/max. visit remax.com today. this is your cnbc market wrap. here's a look at how stocks are doing with a little more than 30 minutes left in the trading day. right now we're looking at the dow, which is up about 34 points. the s&p 500 up a little less than two points and the nasdaq in positive territory up about a point. meanwhile, more than 1.5 lexus and toyota vehicles are being recalled because of brake pump problems. it can result in illumination of the brake warning lamp. owners will be notified on how to get their vehicles fixed. fewer people applied for unemployment benefits last week. while the numbers are high, applications for jobless benefits fell, and 85,000 people have applied to delta airlines. they announced they would hire hub and customer service workers. that's it from cnbc first in business worldwide. thomas, back to you. >> hampton, thank you, sir. so the american dream, news this week of the death of barbara billingsly who played on "leave it to beaver" brought back lots of memories of what some used to consider the american dream. a good job. owning a home in a safe neighborhood. but now only 37% of americans think the american economy will get better next year while 26% think it's going to get worse. and 59% say they are pessimistic. one in four people surveyed think they will get a raise. one in five think the value of their home will go up. is the american dream dead or too far out of reach for too many americans steve joins us now to talk about this. steve, i know we say americans are pessimistic, but did you find any positive signs coming out of this survey? >> please don't laugh when i say this, but it hasn't gotten measurably worse in the year. it kind of fell down to a very low level and sort of stayed there. but these numbers are pretty striking. 92% of the public saying they rate the economy as poor or fair. 8% say good or excellent. >> where are they saying the blame should go? who are they saying, okay, the recession is because of this person or this? >> really good question. we asked that. american are very nuanced about it. for the recession they tend to blame president bush. he gets the most blame. the least blame goes to congressional republicans. you can see that on the recession. as you move to unemployment, more of the blame goes to president obama. when it comes to this the deficit, very close between president bush and president obama. in fact, on that issue of the deficit and unemployment. it's pretty much neck and neck americas book it as pretty even. we have a very divided counted on many of the economic issues. >> isn't it amazing? we had on hampton telling us about delta and the fact that a thousand jobs are available. and 85,000 people are applying it goes to show you the situation so many americans are in without a job and the jobs they're trying to go for when they see an area where it's being dev