>> i am mark halperin, and i am john heilemann. and this is a real fan with all due respect to charlie crisp. >> tonight's on the show, hillary clinton is a show-stopper. michelle nunn is on a roll, and pat roberts isn't a de fratus of e of miss manners. he was pounded grilled and seared by members of congress that this thing is getting out of control. >> it's not a drill. people's lives are at stake,

and the response so far has been unacceptable. >> we don't wait until the bullets start flying to figure out whether our war plan is going to work. >> don't you think we ought to restrict travel dogs? >> meanwhile, senator ted cruze told john allen that the white house's ebola policy was being driven by political correctness. he said congress should reconvene and vote on a travel ban. the vast majority of them represents. mark, do you think we are now in a phase of full-on, full-out fearmongering, or whether these are responsible reactions to what is happening? >> john, i stand second to no person i know in being critical of congress when they do fearmonger and demigod. what i think is they are trying to whip the branch into shape

corresponding to public opinion. i think the administration is getting criticism and over-sight from congress. most of it is fine and good for the public. >> i am all for over-sight and i am all for criticizing the administration when necessary, but it is still the case that ebola is unlikely to have ebola become a pandemic in the united states. flu is worse. it is starting to worry me a little bit that fearmongering is very much on the rise. although americans are jittery about the separate of ebola, it is not like they are in panic mode. it is not like the country is going to hell in a hand basket or anything. >> 58% of americans say they think things in the world are going to "hell in a hand basket." that was a question. >> that actually was the kuo in that fox news poll.

it is hard to believe. last night thousands of people packed a room in louisville, kentucky to listen to a speech by hillary clinton. it was clear who the real star was. >> it is time to unleash the potential of kentucky. give you a chance to have somebody who cares about you, who will live and breathe and work for you every single day knowing that she, with her race, her intelligence, her commitment will make a difference in your lives. there is no limit to what you can achieve together. >> mark, hillary clinton in fire engine red and fully on fire up there. do you think she has her groove back now that she is out of the campaign trail? >> fired up and ready to go. short term, she is going to be a great surrogate in the midterm. she can go to states that the president can't. you wrote about that in

bloomberg politics a few days ago. republicans who fear her as a presidential candidate better fear her talking to white working class voters. if she gets them, she will be very hard to beat if she runs for president. >> that is the first time i have seen hillary clinton since the spring of 2008 look like a real on fire candidate. it bode search well for her. moving on, our senator race to watch tonight is in georgia where even republicans concede it is a close contest between michelle nunn and david period. nunn says her opponent is guilty of o.t.a. sourcing. >> david period perdue is defending his career. >> he acknowledged he spent movies his career moving u.s. jobs overseas. >> the diem critic senatorial campaign committee is putting $1 million into this race because they believe it is

working. it is looking like a place where the diems can steal one from the g.o.p. what do you think? >> nunn has turned out to be a good first-time candidate. perdue has made mistakes. african registration in the state is up. this may be the diems pick up and it may save the senate majority for them. >> a few weeks ago, the case was the democratic party hasn't put much money in the race. now they are putting the money into georgia. some of it is going on the air and into turn out in atlanta. if they get a heavy african-american turn out in atlanta, she could well win this race. >> i have talked to republicans who do worry about it. in if perdue could be a strong republican, he should win, but she is a good candidate. i have been super impressed with her in her debates and ads. she is a stronger candidate thanner dad was.

>> you mentioned kansas. that is another race we want to look at. almost everyone last night was watching the royals sweep the orioles, which means they probably missed this senate exchange. each candidate was asked to say something nice about each other. >> i appreciate senator's roberts' service to our country and his service in the marines. every time i have had an opportunity to talk privately with the senator, he has been a gentleman with a great sense of humor. >> semper fi greg. marines take the hill. i would say that you are a very well-dressed opponent. i admire your accumulation of wealth. i have a little question about how you got there from here, but i think that is the american dream. >> not the classiest response in the world by senator roberts. i admire you are very well dressed. do you think pat roberts is feeling the heat out there in kansas? >> his performance last night

wasn't perfect in that debate, but he is coming back. i think orman made a mistake in talking about abortion in a way that mix him look different. ebay the radiologists are in there helping roberts. i think roberts is now back in front in this race. won't definitely win, but stronger position right now. >> moving on, finally, maybe the most surreal moment in the midterm elections so far. any time charlie cristhian makes a personal appearance, he brings a fan with him. his fan is so famous, it has its own twitter account. last night the actual fan took center stage at the debate between he and rick scott. >> somehow there is a fan there, and for that reason, ladies and gentlemen i am being told that governor scott -- really -- will not join us

for this debate. >> mark, i have seen a lot of weird things covering politics. that was weird. who do you think began-gozi is worse for? >> i am not sure whether voters are going to care for elites. it is worse for scott. >> you will admit it is one of thed odder things you have seen in a long time right? >> it is pretty odd, although i have been a fan of charlie christ's fan a long time >> coming up, the rands of time. mark halperin's interview with senator paul when we come back. ♪

>> mark, you wanted to look for your guy so you spent some time with senator rand paul.

what are you seeing? he is happy senator brown's campaign. >> in the words of larry david, pretty pretty, pretty good. i did phone banking at the rand headquarters and then an event with students at plithout state university. he was strong and knows how to work a crowd he is still trying to figure out how to be a presidential candidate. he is a great micro manager. listen to him at the phone bank in manchester when he didn't like the way the phone bank technology didn't work. >> what i would do with your software is have that done automatically. after five phone calls it should automatically say no answer and hit your next one so people like me can't see the phones. >> i like a candidate who wants to rewire the software. that was good. later in the day at the university, i got a chance to talk to senator paul. we talked about a bunch of

stuff. i asked him about how the administration is handling ebola. >> senator, thanks for talking with us. we want to talk about ebola. you have said the president has led us down a road and failed to show leadership. specifically what has he done or not done that has not shown leadership? >> from the beginning they haven't been completely forth right with us. they have so wanted to downplay this that they haven't been very accurate in their description of the disease. for example, they say don't worry, it is only transferred through bodily flutes. i am thinking aids. you don't get aids as a cocktail par so my level of alarm goes down. but it really isn't like aids. then they will say in a lower voice, but direct contact can be three feet from somebody. but if you ask any american on the street do you think direct contact is standing three feet from somebody -- because they

so much wanted to downplay that we are in charge and know everything about this, i think they made mistakes in not being accurate in talking about the disease. >> you used the phrase at least once politically correct. what does that mean? >> i am not sure what it means because i am not sure who they are being politically correct to. >> what are you referring to? >> it is an irrational desire to be conventional and not to -- sort of the middle of things without saying something that is bold that people might object to. that is kind of political correctness in a way. >> you are up here campaigning for scott brown. i know what you think republican candidates have going for them wind at the back. what do the diems have going for them keeping races close? >> still the biggest obstacle is demographics. it is a factor in every election.

in con congressional races not so much because they are drawn. but in states and national elections, the biggest on stockle republicans have to being the dominant party, and i think we can win hands-down on policy because frankly things haven't gotten any better under the democrats. there is still massive unemployment. i think we can win on policy once we begin to break down the demographic barriers that really we haven't done a very good job with in the past. >> on the cover of time magged again. it says the most interesting man in politics. does that mean you are more interesting than dick durbin or lamar alexander? >> they are really fascinating guys. i don't know how we got that. look at that picture. most people think do i look handsome? do you look handsome there? >> without my glasses, i could even tell that is him. >> we were joking before, and

in your family you you say there is that germanic blood. >> you hate to criticize a group, but i am part of it. germans are pass tidyuss. one grandparents were really hard working, and the others were more joking around singing songs and reciting poetry. i am afraid i don't have a career in stand-up. >> you told some jokes today to the college kids here, but your speech is a pretty intense each -- speech. is humor a part of politics to you? >> if i can remember a joke or come up with a joke, i like to start with a joke. humor is a great way of engaging people. our young people, they don't watch any news chance. >> we are familiar with that. >> my kids if they want news

are going to get news. they will send me a clip of jon stewart or jimmy kimmel. we need some more conservative comedians. >> you have been thinking about running for president. i have been open about that. you have seen it up close out on the trail with your dad. what is hard about running for president? >> the travel can wear you down and wear you out. i think the fatigue on basically the family and all of that. and i think the break-down between legitimate reporters and everybody else that has a website has made it so hard that there are so many people asking questions. when i read a news report now i am involved with, did you see this guys? it was an objective news report? most of the stuff all over the internet is opinion, and it sells on tv, too. >> why does it make it harder for a candidate? >> because everywhere you go, you are not getting questions there a reporter you are getting questions from an

editorialist. that makes it more difficult. everything becomes a scandalous headline and mostly doesn't represent what is in the body of the material. >> are you familiar with roger mudd's question to ted kennedy? >> why are you running? >> why do you want to be president? >> well, my brother was president, my dad. >> answer the question. assuming you did run why would you want to be president? >> because i am concerned about our country. i think an $18 trillion debt is truly a danger. i don't think the demise of a country is always gradual. i think there is a possibility that you can have a panic run like 2008. >> why can you do it? >> because i can bridge a gap that no other republican has ever bridged, and that is to attract constituencies we haven't had in 8 80 years.

>> that gets you elected? what about as president? >> because i can work strongly with the other side. some of the ideas i have are strong with progressives as well. i am a big believer that we try to tackle too big of an issue in washington. if we had 100 people in a room and we try to agree on issues if legislation had a thousands pieces to it, we would never get anything done. if it had one piece to it, we would have 10 20, 30 issues we could pass by consensus. the leadership is so malfunctional, and frankly democratic leadership that we can't get anything passed. >> senator thanks for your time. appreciate it. >> thank you. >> mark, you know i think senator paul has been on a real political roll over the last couple of years, but i have not had an opportunity to see him on the trail. give me a sense of whether you

think he has a feel of politics? >> he has done a lot of it. he is good with people. watch him on the rope line and in a photo line, he is not loving it. he is doing it but he is not loving it. what he is good at is he will stand and fight. there have been some things on youtube are where he gets a question there a voter and maybe hasn't stood his ground. but mostly if he gets a hard question he is very good at standing and saying what he thinks. his stump speech is a lot about privacy, a lot about liberty and attacking the president. i think if he is going to do well, it is going to have to get better. but right now, working a room, dealing with the kind of craziness of the trail and giving a speech, he is up in the first tier on those things for sure. and he has proven it by traveling more than anybody else this year and going to different places. new hampshire is a key place. he is very comfortable here. >> that is awesome. fantastic interview. coming up, we have the great

will leech, our correspondent who lives at the intersection of politics and pop culture. he is going to try to explain how his cardinals can escape san francisco without being completely plucked. ♪

>> cinderella has found her glass slipper in kansas city and the royals are world series bound. meanwhile, their opponent could be determined tonight. the great will leech is here now. just as my san francisco giants are about to eliminate his st. louis cardinals, which will lead to an even greater television embarrassment than happened to al hunt when my giants beat his washington nationals. you are wearing the cardinals hat. when they win, you are going to wear the full uniform. are you ready for that? >> yes. i am wearing a cardinals hat now. i have been wanting to wear a cardinals had hat on television

my entire life. i take it off to go on tv. it looks like it may go that way. >> let me ask you first, royals team of destiny, question mark? >> yes. certainly they can't do anything wrong. they have won eight in a row this postseason. they actually won their last three in 1985, the last time they made the postseason. it is really kind of crazy. i talk to royals fans, and they were like we really lost a lot of games this year. i know it looks impossible to beat us right now, but they are built for the postseason in a lot of ways. once you get to the seventh inning if they are ahead they have you beaten. everything is flying their way right now >> the orioles totally collapsed, losing four and the nationals collapsed. beltway baseball looks bad, or is that over stating the case? >> this is a positive season

for both teams. the question is who is actually more hurt by what happened in the postseason? i feel like it is equal because they both ran into these amazing postseason teams. the giants had won eight postseason games in a row. they both ran into this buzz-saw. if there is one that takes it harder, it is probably orioles fans because they have had longer to suffer than nationals fans have. but give the nationals 10 to 15 years and they will go going up. >> i am not going to ask you much about the cardinals and the giants because it is obvious how that is going to turn out. let's assume for the sake of argument that the giants are in the world series against the kansas city royals. what are the politics of that? do we have a coastal elites versus fly-over country heroes? >> i feel it is more like establishment vs. insurgents.

the cardinals are sort of the team that people sick of seeing. >> not me. >> i know. but the giants are a team, they have this thing where this could be the third time in the last six years they have won a world series, all in even years. they have played so many postseason games, and they have bruce bochy, who is basically putting a hall of fame resume together right now. and then you have the royals, and no one on the royals team understands what is happening. people are asking beat reporters, what is their plan, and they were like there is no plan. we have no idea what happened. to see those things converge i feel like it is less about like geography and more history and particularly on the recent side. >> 20 seconds. you have a great piece coming up about brooklyn 99. tell us what that is about? >> it is a very funny show and well done. it is a work place comedy set

at the nypd which is historically the least popular it has ever been. they have good looking wise-cracking young people nypd officers. i argue the show is eventually going to have to acknowledge that cognitive dissidence. >> that is not how the cops actually are. >> no. very nice people. i want no trouble with them. >> fabulous. will you are awesome. i am not going to call you a loser yet. we will get to that soon enough. >> thank you kind of you. >> we will be right back. ♪

>> we are only on television a half hour a day, but we are live 24/7 on bloombergpolitics.com. >> mike bender has a great piece right now, fantastic on the florida governor's race. check it out. >> we have a piece on ben carson's longshot presidential

bid. mark, i highly recommend you read that piece as soon as you get back from new hampshire, the land of live free or die. that is the end for us today. "taking stock" is next. ♪

>> hello, i am pimm fox, than is what i am taking stock of of on thursday, october 16 2014. u.s. stocks reverse course, and the s&p 500 s&p 500 finishes higher. investors like what they heard from jim bullard. he told bloomberg tv that the central bank should consider delaying the end of q.e. meanwhile, european commission president stressed calm amid slower global growth. >> of course we have to take it seriously, but i think there are no reasons for panic or alarm. >> the fight against ebola continues, but in washington,