lapd -- >> you could have jet packs flying into choppers. >> reporter: or even jet packs flying into bat boys. jeanne moos, cnn, new york. >> remember, you can always follow what's going on in "the situation room," i'm on twitter, you can get my tweets at wolfblitzercnn, all one word. "john king usa" starts now. >> good evening, everyone. as opening lines go, i am not a witch is tough to top. it's from christine o'donnell. a risky new campaign ad that is more proof, if we needed any, this is a campaign year like none other in my memory anyway. first, some things that annoy me. as a usual consequence of election, four weeks from today, how you vote will affect the debate over taxes and spending, over the new health care law, illegal immigration, climate change and more. one thing it is not about is whether democrats like putting

people on food stamps. a very smart man who was once speaker of the house is telling republicans to close this year's campaign by drawing a sharp contrast between, and i quote, the democratic party of food stamps and the republican party of paychecks. you deserve better. i'm not here to pick a fight with newt gingrich. democrats are full of foolish diversions and misleading ads to. in 28 days, it will be over. but if the debate is so nasty and at times so foolish, will we have a good sense of what we voted for or just who you voted against? joining us, cnn contributor and senior political columnist of the daily beast.com john avlon. here in republican, former newt gingrich aide rich gailon. and democratic pollster cornell belcher. gloria borger. >> i don't like the idea when you said "it annoys me," you looked at me. >> he's a very smart guy but he likes to throw flames sometimes.

he put out this memo today that says to republicans, i have it too, engage in the tax debate, engage in the size of government debate, amen, let's have that debate. but why this line? you should use this vivid contrast between the tax raising, job killing agenda of the democrats and the low tax agenda of the republicans as a way to reinforce the choice for voters this far. let's have that debate. which future do i want? more food stamps or more paychecks? >> that's classic newt. he has said that in every speech -- you have two futures. let me just say this, though, i won't take a long time, that we had this -- this is the same kind of thing that went on during the debate over welfare reform way, way back when, the title of which was, personal responsibility and work opportunity act of 1996. we are going to make america look like bangladesh, we were told if we pass this thing. it was the same kind of thing. >> i want to add this, i want to just add, newt gingrich just tweeted a short time ago,

speaker pelosi doesn't get it. her party is making people poor and putting them on foot stamps. that's not help. it's harm. now, he's saying the unemployment rate is up. and he can say, if he want, the democratic policies are causing that. but putting people on food stamps? >> i'm old enough to have covered 1994, when newt gingrich had the -- his revolution. i remember talking to newt gingrich, reading memos that he put out, which said, these are the words you need to use to describe the democrats. you're nodding. remember this? corrupt was one of the words, right? >> true. >> it went on and on and on, with words to use, adjective, to use, to describe the democrats. he is good at drawing red lines. that is what he's doing. it's diversion airy in the end of course because the red lines lead you nowhere but that's what he does. that's what he's doing. he wants maybe to be president of the united states. he wants to get a republican majority in the house.

and this is how he's going to do it, one way or another. >> he's crazy like a fox. i mean, rich, you can talk about the economy and talk about unemployment without using food stamps. if you're bringing up food stamps, you're making a specific sort of point. you're miking a cultural point. you're making a cultural point. trying to connect this argument with the economics piece. so what you're doing, talking about food stamps -- it goes back to the whole welfare claim. republicans are good at language like that. it's sort of drawing a picture culturally, typically for the base of their party. i think throwing in food stamps quite frankly -- >> he's not saying to stop giving people who need food stamps food stamps. he's saying we need to create a economy where food stamps are not necessary. >> you can have that conversation without bringing in food stamps. >> from new york, john, come on in. >> it used to be when you're thinking about running for president, you tried to be more responsible. now it seems to be if you're thinking about running for president you try to be more irresponsible. what i think we've got here is a tale of two newts, right?

in 2007, he has his book, "real change." talking about bringing broad coalitions. reminding people when he passed welfare reform it was with 99 democratic votes. now he's talking about secular socialism. he's talking about kenyan anti-colonial attitude in the white house. this is fearmongering, pray to the base, divisive stuff. it's beneath him -- >> this is tea party for him. >> it is fearmongering. about a cultural thing. >> it is gingrich driving the discussion which he loves to do -- >> let me let you in on a little fact of life. john king grew up on food stamps. what does it have to do with the taxes and spending debate? it didn't make my parents democrat or republican, it made my dad want to go out and find a job when he didn't have one. >> he's not saying you should have been denied food stamps. what he's saying is we need to create an economy where fewer people have to be on it. i don't think there's anything wrong with that. >> that's not what he's saying. he's speaking in code --

>> it is an example of loaded rhetoric, to drive a debate and get a discussion. my point about this, and newt's a brilliant guy, is to say there are a lot of big issues in this election and when you do things like this, i tonight think we end up litigating the issues till the day after the election, we know what it is the people actually wanted. i want to give you one more example. trust me people out there, if you're saying, there they go, picking on republicans, we have plenty of democratic examples. we will get to them -- >> right after -- >> now, we'll get to them, i promise you, as soon as tomorrow. this one came up yesterday. you know, there was a liberal progressive rally on the mall this past weekend. glenn beck compared the pictures to his rally in august. he's absolutely right when he says he had more people there. then he took issue with people there. there were a lot of labor union people there, a lot of civil rights activists there. some people there with the socialist party of america and the communist party of america and glenn beck took issue. >> does it matter that our president and our congress is

running our country with the advice and the counsel and the aid of support of the communist party usa? does it matter? i say yes. >> i say if a few people came to a rally and there's no evidence they're advising the president. >> there's an old saying in politics that no matter how good your cause there are people who agree with you that you wish didn't and i think -- >> right, and, you know, it's the same thing as if the tea party rallies -- you see some people who carry racist sign, et cetera, and they don't represent the majority of tea party followers. think that's pretty well documented. so it's ridiculous. >> it's more than that, it's offensive. >> yes. >> i covered that rally. >> that too. >> i covered extremes on both sides and i like beating them up. i think that's important to play offense from the center. there's a world difference to say, hey, look at the folks on the left-wing fringe at this rally and try to make the logical leap that communists are advising the white house.

that's, again, just fearmongering. we got to draw a sharp line and say absolutely not. >> it's not just offensive, it's more than that, it's strategic. they're making a strategic decision to try to draw this. the food stamps, the communists, the socialists. you can see where the strategic line they're trying to draw to get people to think this way. it's strategy. someone's thinking about this. this is not happening by accident. >> we've got 28 days to go, whatever it is, and every vote counts. both sides are from this point on are going to say things that are solely designed to turn out their base because it's a midterm election. >> can i just say when the democrats wanted to take over the congress, they portrayed the republicans as extreme as they could possibly portray them? i remember the language -- >> culture of corruption. >> extremists, et cetera. they also took a page from newt gingrich in 1984. >> talked about privatizing social security, eliminating medicare. >> exactly, now it's the other way. >> cultural corruption was very strategic as well because guess what, when we looked at our

polling inside, guess where republicans had advantages? on values, ethic, keeping the country safe. however, if they're corrupt, they cannot keep the country safe and they're not -- they're not the party of values. >> you put it in the starkest possible terms. that's what you do. >> what we need to do is stand up against the extremists wherever you see them. and to do a better job of trying to stop the politics of incitement we're in now because it leads to something ugly. >> abramoff -- >> it's easier to make the conversation when you've got abramoff and all those people tied to the republican party than it is say, communists. >> time-out. we'll call a truce on this one here. now we're going to look forward and look at what's on the air waves. we started the show with this line "i am not a witch." it is just one line in one new provocative tv ad. we'll break it down when we come back.

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christine o'donnell's stunning win in the republican senate primary in delaware made her a household name nationally. she's a huge tea party favorite. she raised a couple million dollars within hours of that primary victory. the big question would be, when will she spend some of it on television? here's the first act. >> i'm not a witch.

i'm nothing you've heard. i'm you. none of us are perfect. but none of us can be happy with what we see all around us. politicians who think spending, trading favors and back room deals are the way to stay in office. i'll go to washington and do what you'd do. i'm christine o'donnell and i approve this message. i'm you. >> i'm not a witch of course comes from that "politically incorrect" clip from the late '90s where she said she dabbled in witch draft. first, good idea, bad idea? >> whether it's a good idea or not, the production value -- why would you put her in a black dress against a black back room and to say she's not a witch? the only thick missing was a sworded hat and a broom. >> i actually think, we talked about this earlier today on cnn, think she looks like every girl used to look in her high school graduation picture with the string of pearls and the nice,

you know, tame hair and the dark suit. this is all about -- she had to reintroduce herself to the voters in that state because the way she had been introduced the first time was on a broom stick and that doesn't work. >> but this is the problem, really quickly. it's -- do you remember anything from senator craig's presser, except him saying "i'm not gay"? that's what sticks in people's minds. would have been a pretty good ad if they had not opened it up with "i'm a witch" -- "i'm not a witch." in my mind, i'm talking about, are you talking about being a witch? she should have opened up with "i'm you." you never repeat the negative. >> this ad is a "saturday night live" skit. with the sensitive piano in the background and the opening "i'm not a witch." i mean it could not be any more absurd. i don't know who advised her. i'm going three words here --

"worst ad ever." >> i don't get the "i'm you," do you? >> he's a veteran republican ad guy. he did "morning in america" and then "mourning in america." i think everyone's talking about this anyway, why not? the key is, what's the sequel? >> the only people she's got to convince are people in delaware. >> but don't you think it's too obvious, though, when she says "i'm you?" and how do you react to that? >> that's the tea party anti-establishment argument to say all these smart people are going to tell us we need to send smart people to washington it we sent a lot of smart people to washington, look what they've done. >> i think -- i actually think that's really good. the problem is, you open up with talking about "i'm a witch." you can't repeat the negative in your ad -- >> i'm going to do what you do -- means less than nothing. >> what would you do? >> right. >> please. >> yeah. >> we would not know she dabbled in witchcraft were it not for bill maher's old show "politically incorrect." he was on the program last

night. just as we were going off the air, we learned about this new ad and we asked for his reaction. >> wow. i think when you have to start your campaign ad with "i'm not a witch," the battle has been lost. i think she would have been much smarter to ignore that. but, you know, being much smarter is not her strong suit. >> ouch, ouch, ouch. i think bill's in general agreeing with the group. >> he could have just put a period there, he didn't have to get ugly, he's just like newt. >> call it out. just state your opinion, save the other stuff. i've been covering politics for 25 years. i read a lot of polls it i don't think i've ever read a poll that has a question like this -- cal paladino is a loose cannon who doesn't have the temperament to be governor, agree or disagree? >> do i agree? i'm not a new yorker anymore. >> 61% of the people of new york agreed with that statement. 34% disagreed -- >> he could still win, right?

>> like christine o'donnell, he's down double digits. i think he's down more than o'donnell. if you're not familiar, paladino is another candidate who stunned the establishment, won a republican primary for governor in the state of new york. this is -- he has said some nasty things about democratic andrew cuomo who has been happy to return the fire. so much so that paladino has felt compelled to put a lengthy video on his website trying to change the subject away from character issues. let's take a flavor. >> this campaign is not about my family. it's not about divorces or affairs. it's about who has a plan to restore prosperity and economic growth to new york state. we need a debate about who will restore job growth to new york. me or career politician andrew cuomo? >> i am not a witch. >> by the way, i want to cede my time for this to rich so he can talk about production values. >> two minutes long, in the background, when he's talking, making this impassioned plea for

civility, a bus goes by. i mean, this guy is sort of waving. i mean, it was just -- he's a billionaire, he could have hired anybody he wanted. he hired, you know, some high school kid with a flip cam. >> it's in the democrat's interest right now to make this negative and personal because the republicans want to nationallyize this campaign, make it about obama and the economy and unemployment and all the rest. >> it's a choice. >> it's a choice, and it's in the democrat's interest, you know, the democrats who ran on hope and all the rest. it's in their interest to turn this into a very negative campaign on a personal level race by race. >> of course i'm going to disagree with that. >> no, you're not. >> no, we are trying to make it about choice but think the broader implication here is, look this is sort of what the tea party has brought you. and here's -- a state like new york and delaware, you can see two candidates, quite frankly, tea party candidates, and if they had not had tea party candidates in there, you'd have competitive races. that's what will stop republicans from having a truly

sea change. >> the sad part is the serious part, which is new york state has some serious challenges to face. we've got candidates that have made themselves caricatures, running as howard beale, then trying to turn into a serious profess professor. it doesn't work that way. the people who get lost in the shuffle are the people in new york who need serious solutions to the problems the state is facing now. >> we'll keep an eye on those races. trust me, rich, we'll have some democratic outrages very soon. rich, gloria, cornell, john, thanks. a lot more to go, including a conversation with bob woodward. he's just written a new book about "obama's wars." and also his thoughts, obama/clinton 2012, really? that's in a minute. then we'll talk to eliot spitzer about the new program at 8:00 tonight. their take on the "i'm not a witch" ad in the delaware senate

race. and bill maher is back with us. last night we talked about christine o'donnell and glenn beck. tonight, his take on the unhappy left wing. of the democratic party. because of one word,

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welcome back. let's check in with joe johns for the latest political news you need to know right now. >> at the white house this afternoon, president obama used an event focusing on community colleges to take a shot at republican tax cut plans. >> that's why i so strongly disagree with the economic plan that was released last week by the republican leaders in congress. which would actually cut education by 20%.

>> 88-year-old george mcgovern, the democratic party's 1972 presidential nominee, presented secretary of state hillary clinton with a world food program award this evening for her efforts to fight global hunger. a new poll by the pew hispanic center showed 65% of latinos planned to support democratic candidates in their local congressional districts while 22% planned to support republicans. compare that to pew's results among all voters, where 47% say they'll support democrats and 44% say they'll support republicans. which is a little different, of course, from the generic ballot we've been reporting on now. >> the pew numbers are renssterred voters, registered voters, we need to be clear about that. wow what a gap between democrats and republicans when you ask latino voters. look at the nevada senate race, colorado, big illinois senate race, races for governor in some of those states. could be a huge issue. the question is how engaged are they in the campaign. let's look at these numbers.

if the democrats -- would love that. here's the numbers. 65% to 22%. latinos, their preference, when asked for, who you going to vote for for congress. here's the issue for the democrats. have you thought quite a lot about the november elections, meaning, are you engaged? only about a third of latino registered voters say they've thought a lot about it. about half of the broader american electorate say they've thought about it. are you certain to vote in november? about half of latino registered voters say they intend to vote in november. so if you have that big drop-off, all that intensity doesn't matter as much. if those latinos do go to the polls, they look at issues a little differently than the broader electorate. education is their number one issue. jobs just behind it. the broader electorate, jobs is, by far, number one. the big question, joe, is that's

a great gap for the democrats. that's why you see the turnoff operation aimed at latinos. that intensity gap, we talked about it in the broader electorate, could be a problem. if they can get that latino turnout out, you've been in those states, that matters. >> it's really fascinating to see how the latino vote goes these days. the thought of george bush making real inroads and now we see where it is. >> at the moment, democratic constituency. thanks, joe. when we come back, one on one with bob woodward. "obama's wars" is his new book.

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bob woodward has been covering and writing about u.s. presidents since the nixon administration. that's eight presidents over the course of almost 40 years. his latest book is called obama's wars. bob woodward is with us. it's a fascinating book. a lot about the debate about the war strategy. also the mind set and the way the president manages. i want to start by playing some of the audio of your interview with the president and he's talking about how he inherits wars in iraq and afghanistan from george w. bush and now they're his challenge. >> to quote a famous american, war is hell. and, you know, once the -- the dogs of war are unleashed, you don't know where it's going to lead. when i entered into office, we

had two wars taking place. so once you're in, what you're trying to do is to impose clarity on the chaos. >> do you get the sense that they have a sense of clarity or is there still a lot of chaos? >> well, there's still a lot unsettled. and, of course, what that shows, that's part of the long discussion with the president, he just doesn't like war. he wants out of afghanistan. he came up with the strategy last year, i carry it up until the summer, the secret debates in review, and you see that, you know, like gates, the secretary of defense, has one, one and a half feet out the door. the national security council is not really settled down. hillary clinton is kept at a bit of a distance. general petraeus, the afghan commander, is kept at a bit of a distance. there isn't this kind of -- i

mean, it's his word and you wri rightly used it, clarity. what about the troops on the ground, what do they see, what do they expect out of this? i think there's vagueness and indirection that shouldn't be there. >> and so if you asked people within the white house, they look at this book, and they say, this is proof this president says bare it all, let's have a bare-knuckle brawl and i'll make the decision. they say that's a good deliberative process. if you ask a republican, they say they read this book and they see a president whose afghan war strategy is driven by internal democratic politics. who's right? >> you can read it either way. this is something -- it's the beauty of the facts. there is not an attempt on my part to put any spin on it. you know, this is what happened. secret deliberations go on for tens of pages. some of the secret memos? exactly what they're trying to

do. and you see, it's one tough war. i was thinking this is the 16th book i've done and at some point it ends. maybe the last book i do will be entitled it's hard to be president. >> it's hard to be president. i want to talk more about that. first, you mentioned bob gates, the defense secretary. a holdover from the bush administration. a military man. an intelligence man. not that long ago, he got into what i'll call the book reviewing business. let's listen to bob gates. >> there are actually three points i'd like to make. the first is, conflict sells. the second, the relationship among senior officials in this administration is as harmonious as any i've experienced in my time in government. and the third is, i believe this very strongly, presidents are always well served when there is a vigorous and spirited debate over important issues. >> there's a big and spirited

debate over important issues, there's no doubt about that. but to the point he made, the relationship among senior officials is as harmonious as any i've experienced in government. bob gates goes back a long time. is that a fair statement? >> you know, you can compare them. there are scenes in the book where the president is pinging on gates himself saying "i want another option in this strategy." and gates actually says, "yes, mr. president, we owe you another option." they never gave it to him. and the president had to design his own option somewhat based on statements that gates made in secret memos that gates wrote him. >> i spend a lot of time covering the white house. i want you to take your work digging deep on the past three presidents. is this guy, from a management standpoint, a commander in chief standpoint, making big decisions standpoint, is he more like george w. bush or clinton? >> certainly much more like clinton. joke in the clinton white house

is, as you know, is they never made a decision that couldn't be revisited immediately. there was an intellectual rigor to it. it got very emotional. in the case of bush, as you well know, i know he often told me, he said, look, i'm a gut player, not a textbook player. obama's all textbook. somewhat of the law professor in him. the question mark in this is, does he have that x factor, the will to win, the drive? remember, from his campaign, "yes we can." he's not out saying "yes we can" in this war. in fact, what he says is, i'm going to limit it. we're not doing a trillion dollars. we're not doing ten years. >> i'm guessing you don't design the cover. you have biden and clinton side by side. you know the talk in town. a thlot of people think if the president's weak in 2012 he'll have to run with clinton as his

running ma ning mate. in all these conversations when you're doing serious research, things like that coming up? >> it's on the table. and some of hillary clinton's advisers see it as a real possibility in 2012. president obama needs some of the women, latinos, retirees, that she did so well with during the 2000 primaries. and so they switch jobs. and not out of the question. the other interesting question is, hillary clinton could run in her own right in 2016. and be younger than ronald reagan when he was elected president. now, you talk to hillary clinton or advisers, they say no, no, there's never a political consideration here, no, no. of course, the answer is, when you point out to them that her clout around the world when she

goes to europe, when she goes to asia, when she goes anywhere, is, in part, not just because she's secretary of state or because she was married to bill clinton, that people see a potential future president in her. >> perhaps another book down the road for bob woodward. appreciate you coming in today. it's a fascinating book. when we come back, today's top political stories. i have asthma. and when my symptoms came back

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everyone who follows politics is debating the wisdom of this ad today. >> i'm not a witch. i'm nothing you've heard.

i'm you. >> among those in the debate, kathleen parker, eliot spitzer. their new program is at the top of the hour. good idea? >> i thought, that's chilling. it's kind of growing on me though. it's sort of like gidget goes to mordor. >> i liked it from the first moment because the whole point is she is mocking the media and everybody else out there saying how ridiculous are they saying that about me? then she says the most important line, i'm going to go to washington and do what you want to do to washington. basically she's saying, i'm real people. >> he doesn't mean a word of that. i mean, eliot's been defending o'donnell and palin -- >> democrats can't wait till they're the candidate -- >> he's having a cable conversion. that's what we call it here. among those weighing in on the ad is a man that many people often call the voice or at least a push on the republican right.

now ad critic rush limbaugh. listen. >> you want to know what i think about it? everybody knows she's not a witch. i mean, come out and say that i'm not a witch -- i mean, how many voters are there in delaware? 70,000? it's a small state. and this is -- look, hbo television show. and a clip she dabbled in witchcra witchcraft, i don't know, it's a little offensive to me. >> what rush is missing is that people who hear this will join her in what she is really saying, which is the establishment voices, the big, bad media, they try to make fun of all of us real folks and i'm going to put it back at them. >> no, they're not. >> she's the last person i'd ever vote for and i don't think she's going to win because i think all her policies are absolutely -- they're just not there. on the other hand, as an ad, i think it might work. >> eliot's a politician obviously so he sees things

differently than the rest of us, which is yes this is effective because it gets this message across. it's actually -- it's weird, okay. >> it is but it's also playing to what she's really saying which is the folks in washington have failed you. i don't care how good they think they are, how smart they are, they don't get it. >> we hear a lot of that -- >> when you have nothing to offer -- >> -- nothing to offer you say. it's a palin-esque, i'm like you, i'm one of you, they think they're smart, look what they have done. >> yeah. >> that's right. >> well, we're going to be burning -- at the stake now. >> it's a dangerous move. it would be nice to get some folks in washington who understood what it meant to run a government and to invest it and to be smart. i'm not sure o'donnell's that person. but you know what, it is clearly the public -- to use the word that kathleen was using earlier, the zeitgiest is going now. >> there's no topic upon which eliot cannot make a speech. >> if you start your first ad, the opening line is "i'm not a witch" i can't wait to see where we go from here.

what do you have on the pro gram tonight? >> we've got a star-studded review coming up. we've got not only christine -- sorry we don't have christine. >> she's going to come in on her broom stick. >> she's going to -- get us into the sweeps. >> there you go. >> well, to be serious for just one moment if we can haul ourselves back from the brink. we have dick armey with us. the figurehead for the tea party movement. >> we have oliver stone which is always a fascinating conversation. this guy's commentary on politics is fascinating. of course he just made the remake of "wall street" so fun to chat with him. >> and doris kearns, good one to talk to us about presidential history and the current status of the obama administration. >> fascinating show. we look forward to it. eliot spitzer, kathleen parker. next, the candidates try to explain statements that, shall we say, got them that a little trouble. getting stuck month.ut sweat every day to make an honest buck...month.

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welcome back. let's check in with joe johns for more of the latest political news you need to know right now. >> moveon.org is asking the justice department to investigate allegations that foreign corporations are kicking in some of the $75 million the u.s. chamber of commerce is spending this election cycle. a new commercial for kentucky u.s. senate candidate rand paul features the voice of a president obama impersonator talking about democratic nominee jack conway. >> i need conway in washington because i know i can count on conway to vote on more spending and debt, bigger government and higher taxes. >> that doesn't sound like the president. the real obama makes an appearance in a new campaign video for senator barbara boxer. >> that is a -- >> in wisconsin, democratic senator russ feingold got in trouble for an ad in which he accuses republicans of holding victory celebrations too early

in the game. the national football league objected to his use of game video without permission. the connecticut senate candidate's debate, republican linda mcmahon tried to clarify her stand on the minimum wage. >> i would never advocate lowering or reducing the minimum wage and that's not what i said. i said we need to take a look at whether or not we need to increase the minimum wage. >> meanwhile, democratic richard blumenthal apologized again for exaggerating his vietnam veteran era military service. >> on a few occasions, out of hundreds, when i commented on it, i described it inaccurately and i regret it, i take full responsibility for it. it was not intentional. but that is no excuse. >> now, this is one thing that has just followed him and followed him and followed him, you know, the credibility question. once you say something like that, it's very hard to take

back in front of the voters. >> dana bash is with us now. linda mcmahon launched an ad before the debate going right at him on the vietnam thing, trying to rattle him a little bit. she's trailing in the polls. a losing candidate comes up with a whack attack ad. >> absolutely. it was a pretty tough ad. the whole grainy-faced thing, him looking down at the end. there's no question about it. very interesting race in connecticut. this is a race that's one of those that should not have been a race at al i mean, it's a blue state. >> the minimum wage debate, you mentioned, she was at a small business event where she's opened the door to maybe a bad economy. then she's try to say, no, no, no, i did not suggest lowering the minimum wage. at one point, said, that's a low, that's a lie. the rhetoric in that one got tight. in that race, we'll let the candidates hash it out. if you look across the country, the tea party, now republican nominee joe milner being an an sharon aron angle in nevada has talked about this.

to a degree, i think rand paul in kentucky, talking about it's time for the federal government not to regulate these thing, leave these decisions up to the state. you're just back from west virginia. the business man and republican candidate for senate who has a fair shot at the moment against a popular democratic governor, you put the question to him. john racy. >> should there be minimum wage or not? >> absolutely not. franklin delano roosevelt put it in during the depression. it didn't work during the depression, it doesn't work now. >> he's clear about it. he's one of two or three who are absolutely hardcore, no minimum wage. democrats are trying to pick up on themes that some republicans talk about and try to make it widespread. this is one that you hear the unions and other democratic strategists really trying to push other candidates to hit the republican opponents on. that's what i think we saw last night in connecticut. >> west virginia is one of only five states with 17% poverty or

higher. it's a state where people are really hurting. it's just hard to see how that helps him in the state of west virginia. >> except this is an interesting year. the whole idea of the reach of government, the power of government, it will be fascinating. it will be fascinating to see who wins. before i let you guys go tonight, without introduction, the republican leader, perhaps future speaker of the house john boehner. >> i'll come in, and he'll say, oh, boehner, you're almost as dark as me. >> is that what he says to you? >> listen, we talk about golf. we'll talk about our skin color. we have a nice relationship. the problem we have is that when we talk to each other there's no connection. you know, i have 11 brothers and sisters. my dad owned a bar. i was a small business guy long before i got into this business. and when i talk about the real world, it doesn't seem to register. >> isn't that amazing? he can turn a question about skin color into the talking

point of the real world? to be fair, to john boehner, the president started this. remember he gave a speech, he gave a roast where he talked about the fact john boehner is a person of color, just not a color we see in the real world. >> this is national politics. it's not teletubbies, no group hug. there's big differences -- >> are we going to get in trouble for talking about teletubbies? last night we talked to bill maher about christine o'donnell and glenn beck. tonight about the democrats. full-time moms... and everyone who is good at something but wants to be great. welcome to kaplan university. the university that's changing the face of education... to undergraduate degrees, graduate degrees... degrees that can give you a leg up... in a tough job market... in any job market... welcome. welcome to kaplan university. call kaplan university now or visit us on-line to take our free learning assessment.

exactly four weeks from election day now, it is an election the republicans are looking forward to and many democrats say they're going to dread this a bit.

here to talk about his expectation, your expectations for this election and beyond, bill maher with us all week. one of the fascinating things, listening to the obama white house, the president, vice president and others trying to tell the liberal base of the party, we know you're mad at us about health care, afghanistan, gitm gitmo, but we need you in november. listen to this appeal from the vice president saying, please vote. >> don't compare me to the almighty, compare me to the alternative. don't compare me to the almighty, compare me to the alternative. this is not your grandfather's republican party. this is the republican tea party. this is the party of repeal and repeat. this is the party who said, trust those big guys, they'll take care of you, they'll have your back on wall street. >> is that a good turnout message, i know you're mad at us about some things, but those guys are way worse?

>> well, yeah, it's at least an attempt. up until a couple weeks ago i didn't hear a peep about the democrats, brag about what you've done. they actually have a rather impressive record of accomplishle ment to run on unlike many other democratic administrations in the past. they problem stopped a depression. just that. if they had just done that, alone, but they never seem to have the guts to make the counterargument. they just throw their hands up when it's apparently too difficult to explain to people. i understand it's very hard to get information into people's heads. but t.a.r.p., take that for an example. i mean, that's what the tea baggers and a lot of americans are so angry about that we bailed out the banks and it cost all this money. well, make the counterargument. tell them it cost us somewhere between $50 billion, which the pentagon loses in the couch every day, and making a profit. we actually could make a profit on it.

the stock market was at 6,000 when obama took over, it's approaching 1,100. if you don't like unemployment at what it is now, a little under 10%. without that and the banks failing it could have been 16% or 18%. and jobs, they're always talking about jobs. that probably saved millions of jobs. so there's lots of things they could brag about. i read the other day in "rolling stone" obama said he listens to rappers like naz and lil' wayne. maybe some of that should rub off. they're always bragging. they should teach him thousand how to do it. >> one of the interesting dynamics, i want to get to the fractures on the right in a minute. there's been an ongoing debate. you have it on your show every week where you have liberals saying we're not happy about thises haven't done enough about that. we're seeing the liberals getting mad the administration is calling them out saying it would be irresponsible, the president's word, for them not to vote. listen to amy goodman of the democracy now program, a leading progressive saying we're fighting but the other guys seem

to shall we say, mute their differences. >> it's interesting. you don't have the conservatives going after the tea party movement. you don't have them saying they're whining. people see all of this. and yet you have the white house attacking progressives all over this country calling them the professional left. calling them the whiners, saying buck up. i think it's progressives who are saying to the president, why don't you buck up? why don't you stand up for what you said you would represent? >> you went through what you say is a pretty impressive record, but when you go through it with people like amy goodman they say, no, i'm sorry, gitmo is still open, we're sending more troops to afghanistan, why didn't he fight for a public option in health care? they have a list, but they say they have a pretty good list, too. >> yeah. look, john, i was the first guy in the media to say obama wasn't living up to what we thought he was going to be. it's our job, especially in the media on