correspondent, dana bash, at capitol hill. dana, what is crossing the political ticker right now? >> hi, ali. first, one of the headlines out of the president's press conference that certainly has a lot of impact an the building behind me, and the democrats' quest to keep the majority in both the house and the senate there. and that is the question of the tax cuts that are expiring at the end of the year, specifically the most controversial tax cuts, those for the wealthiest americans, families making $250,000 or more. the president in his press conference said that those tax cuts hold the middle class hostage. but then later he opened the door to compromise on keeping those tax cuts in place. and this is a very tricky issue, politically, on the campaign trail for a lot of democrats. some say absolutely, that is the right way to go. in the words of one democrat i talked to, paris hilton doesn't deserve a tax cut. but there are four democrats -- excuse me, they democrats, one independent, in the senate, already who have said that they do not think that is the right way to go. that those tax cuts should be x