we will help them doing some of their own work for them and we will walk through this controversial book. we will let you hear from the president. it's in his own words. and here's to help things off, our studio audience, many of whom you recognize. thank you for being here. let me start with a show of hands d we all agree in the campaign the top issue is going to be the economy? does anyone disagree? you disagree? >> no, agree. >> economy, okay, we all agree. second biggest issue, national security? disagree, michelle? everybody grease national security. third biggest issue, obama's record, right? as president. because that brings us to those that would be critical of going back and maybe trying to understand the president a little better. what motivates him? what does his thought process come from? why did he never show up a pragmatic side, a trianglelation, say, bill

clinton, the end of welfare as we know it, the era of big government is over. i would think the president for personal purposes might want to do that. so that leads us to this question. eric rush i want to start with you. you broke the story on the reverend jeremiah wright. we have this book. why is this important? >> well, i think it's important because you can extrapolate from the sorts of thoughts that he had during his formative year, early adulthood, the people he associated with, and you extrapolate out to the kinds of decisions he's made as president, how it's affected the economy, how we get along with each other. every facet of our society seems to have to have affected by things you can look it, going all the way back to the trinity, the united church of christ, for example, reverend wright, the people he hung out with in college, in his

own words, and the sorts of policies he has now. >> here's a fair question. do we all agree, does anyone think the media in 2008 up until today has done a good job vetting the president? anybody think that? nobody. >> of course, the media fell in love with barack obama. part of the left wing establishment media wanted barack obama desperately to be president and that's what we got. we got a glossing over of his record at the same time we got a delving into john mccain's record who served this recorded a anywhere abably and everybody new. now in 2012 when you ask these types of questions everyone in the mainstream media is going to take what are you talking about? of course we already know these things and they will try to triangle late against these questions being asked. >> and you are demonized because of the citizens united case. >> to be fair that's one of the reasons we have this series called the vetting, and one of the reasons we is it, to be

fair, the mccain campaign, one. response; to lay out your agenda, what you intend to do and to vet the candidates. and the mccain campaign systemically failed. they talk about that. they did not take him on anything that happened before he was a state senator in illinois. the president was never vetted in 2008 and that's one of the reasons -- >> sarah palin interesting thought it was a mistake. >> big mistake. >> now mitt romney came out and said, for example, that the issue of jeremiah wright is off the table. >> i think he was right on that. i think that's an issue that ought to be dealt with by commentators, pressure should be put on the media. >> in other words, that's your job, hannity? >> absolutely. and another rain i think romney shouldn't handle it is because the reality is as bad as the

relationship with the reverend wright was, he has not governed as president as a candidate of black liberation theology. i mean -- >> which is black socialism. >> cornell west is a follower of black theology and he hates obama. he feels he betrayed him. and what obama does very well, he's a performance artist. >> that's what the book is about. i have many identities. i'm the first jewish president, i'm the first environmentalist president. >> hang on. this brings us to the point, let's go to some of the book which we are going to be enter speakersing throughout the program tonight. first i think, which is foremost important, the president says in his own words that he stands by the stories in the book. in other words, which he their rates often himself. listen to this. >> i cannot honestly say that

the voice in the book is not mine. that i would tell the story much differently today than i did ten years ago, even if certain passages have proven to be inconvenient politically, the grist for political comment tear and oppositional research. >> that's his comments about the book. now let's start with imagine if mitt romney was on tape admitting that he attended school sparingly. he was drinking heavily, and did drug enthusiastically. let's imagine for a minute this is mitt romney saying this. >> i pent the last two years of high school in a daze. locking away the question that life seemed insistent on imposing. i kept playing basketball, attended classes sparingly, drank heavily and tried discussion enthusiastic. it didn't matter if you smoked reefer in the sparkling new van or in the dorm room with a brother you are met on the gym or on the beach with a couple

hawaiian kids who spent their time on the beach and look for an excuse to brawl. show of hands. how many think that's important? you are half-hearted. go ahead. >> it's as important as mitt romney bullying a kid when he was 14 years old. obama was a little bit older. both things are of limited use. it's an interesting part of his history, it's something he says he's gotten beyond. he has said so long ago. it's an interesting part of who he is. >> dr. king? >> we've all done things in our past, but the remorse or i really wish i hadn't done that, that was a mistake, i'm all grown up now and i'm ready to lead this country responsibly and i want to build family, i want to build marriage, i want to protect everybody, the young and the old and the elderly, that's what i would really like to here. but to say i did all this and so now i just want to do some more things that are in the same pattern, that's what bothers me. >> it's interesting because when

he would go on the comedy she's and he would say did you inhale and he would say that was the point, jay. >> here's the thing we have to realize about this. i agree that the issue is not the top issue. that's clear. >> we all agree on that. >> right. but it's the evolution of the human being. we all do things when we are young. we evolve as we become adults. does obama evolve from irresponsible behavior as to responsible govern answer as president. we are seeing he's acting as president as he was in his formative year and you look at that as a policy point of view. and my a question is stop getting into the raw argument. don't let them lead us into the top -- you asked about the top issues. stay on those issues if you are romney. let the commentators and those of us that are responsible to talk to america about the other issues. >> here's what is fascinating to me. when i first played that tape, he's been president almost four years. do you know how many people told

me they had never heard it? never heard it. real quick, pam. >> this is one insignificant piece of a puzzle that we know about since 2008. my obama book i wrote in 2008. the background, indonesia growing up in jakarta, the school records where his religion was islam, what shapes him, and the abandoned man of israel. this is all of a piece. >> this is interesting. if the american people haven't heard this, we have to ask ourselves works a republican ever get that passed? all right. i promise we are going to have plenty of time. we will do more of these segments and coming up more from the obama autobiography, we will play the clips who he admits surrounding himself with throughout his life, his closer inner circle, and then later you hear from the president how he industries how race relations helps shape his world view. that's our our special edition

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>> welcome back. along with our studio audience we are taking you inside the president's autobiography, dreams from my father. it's a useful tool in discover who helped shame barack obama into the man he is today because it gives us a close look at his inner circle. our future president told us about the process he used to select his friends while growing

up on page 100. listen to this. >> to avoid being mistaken for such a sellout, i chose any friends carefully. more politically active black students, the foreign students, thechy can punk rock performance poets. >> punk rock performance poets? that's good to know. here's the author, editorial page editor at the washington paper and mr. garyty is with us. what do you make of that? >> i think it's very interesting. just prior to that you are seeing the story of the young barack through his sort of father-son relationship with a radical and his place in a world as black man, begins to read some radical, communist authors, people like richard wright,

hughes, ellison, and this college his chief concern is not being viewed as a sellout and that's how he formed those friendships. and after that he talks about how they would grind their cigarettes into the carpet because they were kind of sticking it to the man, fighting oppression. >> this is how he described attended socialist conferences and other conference while at college. >> political discussions ever the kind that at once had once seemed purposeful came to take on what i i tend the at the union i don't know the is affairs in harlem and brooklyn in the summers. few of the diversion new york this to offer like going to size indicating at rock fellow center. >> let me play devil's advocate. admitted drug use in high school and he's talking about socialist influences. that's early.

but didn't this also continue, isn't that what, you know, black liberation theology is about? then it's bern dean drn, bill ayerss, where did it end? where it it change. >> a lot of people pronounce it, but obama is look for a mentor. he's abandoned by both parents, raised by his grandparents. he has this difficult event early in his life he gets the feeling his grandparents on his maternal side will never really understand his experience so he keeps looking for someone to fill the vacuum. he goes to frank davis, he goes to these people and finds each one of them wanting. the messages from some of them are pretty radical, pretty disturb, pretty negative on american life he is growing up. this is the 70s and 80s. this is not some tower multiuous terrible time in life. and he goes from mentor to mentor, almost mentor shopping, and at then of the book he comes to jeremiah wright.

of all the people in his life, jeremiah stands out as the most normal, stable voice of them all, kind of surprising, shocking. >> jeremiah said he was never a big church-goer, this was about political ambition for him and now feels barack obama abandoned everything. he's not liberal enough, he's not left enough for jeremiah wright. >> now he tells us. there are interviews back in his state senator days, chicago state senator days obama talks about attending church every week, week in and week out and then the jeremiah wright videos came out you know how it is with young kids, it's hard to get to church every week, i missed a bunch. and probably the most i will straytive is obama tolduous a straight face he never her the videos we have seen about the god damn messages of jeremiah wright but also said he never heard him say anything controversy.

this isn't a guy that turns it on and off, obama is coming, everybody on their best behaver. >> he said he's like family to me. and he appears to praise malcolm xs autobiography in this clip. listen to this. >> only malcolm x autobiography seemed to offer something different. his self criation spoke to me. blunt poetry of his words. us unadorned insistence on respect in a new order. and marshall and its discipline. forged through a sheer force of will. all the other tough is it, the talk of blue eyed devils and apocalypse was incidental -- -- >> he points out he seemed to have some diversion evolving from white blue-eyed devils. what is he embracing in that quote? he seems to be talking about,

you know, the controversial side that he embraced as well. am i hearing it right? >> that is certainly how it sounds to me. even if obama does not share the idea that white people were evil or anything like that, you know, it is a little bit ambiguous in that quote, as you point out. but it is interesting that these controversial authors form obama's sense early on of justice, for example, of his personal philosophy, his personal ideas of what is right and what is wrong. those are things, to some degree, as you read the entirety of dreams from my father, that carries on. you see that, you know, he's bringing part of that along with him. >> you know, it's interesting. you know, there's so many different views on it. again, it's part after fabric we around getting from the media. guys, good to see you. we will hear more from you later. also media mash is back as we

look how the press has tried to cover up the most outrageous themes in this book. and it's race and how it has impacted his upbringing. you will hear the president's controversial statements on that topic in his own words coming up on this edition of hannity. wake up! that's good morning, veggie style. hmmm. fohalf the calories plus vgie nutrition. could've had a v8.

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>> >> tonight i am joined by a studio audience of political commentators, authors and the like to discuss the president's own autobiography that's been basically ignored bit mainstream immediate your since it's publication. perhaps the most controversial portions of the book comes when the future president discusses race, and the role it had on his upbringing and one of the people he's turned to throughout his life is the reverend wright. he quotes him on page 93. >> in this world, a world where cruise ships throw away more food in a way than most residents of port-au-prince see in a year, and a wheat's world need runs a world of appear path think in another hemisphere, that's the world on which it sits. >> our two men studied at great length the life of barack obama, radio talk show host david web and eric rush, who is the person

who broke wide open the jeremiah wright story. i have listened to this, i have read this over and over again. i don't think most americans, i guarantee you, there are many people for the first time tonight hearing the voice of barack obama talking about white folks agreed running a world in need. what should they think of that? >> well, i think that they should become a little bit more curious about obama's so-called faith, the black liberation theology. for example, i look at that as something that is used as -- it's a device to keep black americans perpetually out of synch with mainstream america, victimized, resentful and so forth. when we came out with this story on reverend wright and reverend wright came on and chastised us for nothing knowing anything about james cohen, so we went out and read that. if the americans were to read

james, they would recoil in terror. >> you wrote the story. i interviewed you, and then interviewed reverend wright, maybe it was a day or two later. >> the very next night. >> the next night, and he was excoriating me because he said if we take the black value system and every time we replaced the word black with white, what would people think. but you broke that story out. you are excoriated for exposing this. you still are. >> definitely. because it goes against that sort of racial orthodoxy that they are trying to promote. you know, it's part of -- it's just part of the consultal vulcanization that the political left trys to do. it's what they are doing in the black community. there are other ways they go after folks, students, gays, latinos in different ways but it's been very, very effective as we can see. >> what do you think about this,

white folk's agreed runs a world in need. president said that and most of the country never heard about that in 2007 and in 2008. and then the president says that he didn't know that jeremiah wright was controversial when he's quoting him. >> sean, we have to start from some simple point. let's be rational about this. the president is the smartest man in the room according to the left. he's so intellectual, he got to harvard, columbia, and all of this mixed together. if he's that intelligent, where does choice, and you are talking about govern answer earlier to some degree, where does that come into it? we are about the same age, president obama and i. and this president had choices to make. i had choices to make as a young man about those same times in the 80s. i saw all the things he saw. we had a similar timeline. i come from other mixed-race family. he said he used drugs as a way to relate with his identity. i come from a family that taught

me not about racism but working together as a family and a community and not as a part of something value. american values. >> american values or church values with brothers and sisters in christ, right? >> and when we get to that point we are being taught things whether by our parents, our influences, whether jeremiah wright or anybody else, at some point we have to make a choice. i made a different choice than barack obama. he made a choice. we have to stop saying he's a product of how he was brought up. we have to stop making the excuses and accepting them. >> though he chose who to hang out with. what he was inspired by, and he said he will be inspired by and fortified by listening to take place of jeremiah wright when he was on on the road. he talks about white folks and talks about them being cruel. here it is. >> that's just how white folks will do you. it wasn't merely the cruelty involved, i was learning that

black people could be mean and then some. it was a particular brand of arrogance, an obtuseness in the otherwise same people that brought forth our bitter laughter. it was as if whites didn't know they were being cruel in the first place or at least thought you deserving of their scorn. >> this goes along with what i am talking about. the difference between choices and presenting things. obama made a choice. i made a different choice because i chose not to think of white as white but of one race human and different ethnicities. i have an irish step father, i have scottish black, i thinklish, everything mixed into my family. but yet my family didn't teach me that but at some point i decided this was a good value system and i had the influences. look, i worked around rock & roll bands and night clubs, i saw stars and i was living the life people would love to have but i made choices along the way, and that's important. eric. >> this is also why reverend wright and liberation theology

appealed to him because not only did it have that race angle, but liberation theology in itself has its roots in marxism. >> marxism, socialism, social justice. >> which is exactly what, you know, his paradigm. he's never really thought of himself as an american. he sort of thinks of himself as this -- >> do you really believe that? you don't think he views himself -- >> i think he considers himself sort of in, you know, a child of the world who needs to teach america -- >> bring us together? >> no, teach america a lesson, basically. >> wow. >> that's a victimology that comes out from obama. you have to divide. you have to have people in groups and sectors to achieve equal outcome rather than okay wallry risk and reward. >> thank for coming. we will show how the need yeah covered up things in the past.

and later our cameras took to the streets of new york city to see if the average american is aware of some of the bizarre details in the president autobiography. for example, here's a sneak-peek. >> that's amazing. >> that's amazing. >> that's horrible, as well. didn't know that. again, why? what's the point? then we turned the page, creating the rx hybrid. ♪ now we've turned the page again with the all-new rx f sport. ♪ this is the next chapter for the rx and the next chapter for lexus. see your lexus dealer.

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>> welcome to the special edition of media mash as we continue to vet the president and his autobiography. as we've been reporting tonight. the press has been very quick to attack mitt romney for the treatment of his dog, for his wife to be a stay-at-home mom and the allegation eggs once bullied a kid in high school in 1965. but as we are about to show you, those same standards do not apply to president obama. here is brent brazel.

>> how are we doing tonight? >> let's go back, the president loves to talk about george w. bush. let's look at the media's attack on george w. bush. issue, drug use. >> after side-stepping the question for months, gop presidential frontrunner gorge w bush has issued a limited denial about past drug use saying he has not used illegal drugs in the last seven years. an answer sure to raise more questions today. >> did texas governor george w. bush ever use cocaine or didn't he? the question is dogging his otherwise smooth campaign. >> as for whether bush ever used cocaine or other drugs, his plan to refuse to reply directly to such questions has been modified on the fly as the press and opponents pursue the issue. >> there are 13,000 people perhaps watching this broadcast in prisons in the state of texas who are in prison for either the sale or possession of cocaine. the act of using it is a felony

s it not germane as we near the election for a presidency, is it not germane to know that about someone's background? >> now president obama admits that he drank heavily, did drugs, plural, enthusiastically and even admitted to doing, quote, his words, not mine, a little blow, cocaine. is the media fair? >> sean, it's very simple here. there's one reason and one reason only that george bush did not come out and say i did cocaine. he all but suggested it, all but admitted it but he never used those words for the simple own that had he said those words, you know, and i know, and nobody can deny this, that every single newspaper in america above the fold in creeping headlines would have in bold the next day bush, i did cocaine. they would lead with story after story after story about how george bush did illegal drugs and that would have been the end of his campaign. a few minutes ago you were talk to your guests and you made a good observation.

said the people you talked to have never heard about barack obama doing drugs. here's this statistic that you u are going to love. in 2008, in the primaries, there were 1,365 stories on barack obama. how many stories dealt with his drug as you? >> none is the guess. >> he admitted he did it. not one single story on him. >> all right. >> how is that for a double standard. >> now we have the benefit of being able to go back and compare and contrast. we just showed the media coverage, george w. bush. you heard from charlie gibson, world news tonight, the today show, matt lauer, cbs, meet the press. let's watch the coverage of barack obama, same issue. >> i'm thrilled that i have my mother and my daughter with me tonight. >> hillary clinton's new ad maybe uplifting and positive but a top official with her campaign this week got down into the

gutter, focus on barack obama's teenage experimenttation with drug. something he has never tried to hide. >> the guy used cocaine, and the guy, you know, islamic background. there's a lot of slur others expect to. >> that and you said you turned even to drugs, alcohol. >> right. >> cocaine even because you couldn't find your place in the world. what was that like for you? >> you smoke marijuana and inhaled? >> i did. i did. >> and did a little blow, as you put it, when you could afford it? explain that. >> i mean, i mean it is so transparent, the double standard. >> sean, think about this for a second. first of all, you know, in all those chips there's not a single story still, those are all mentioned and there is not a single story devote today his drug use. think about this for a second. if what hillary clinton did in raising the subject of obama's drug use is getting into the gutter, then what do we say about the press doing it with

george bush? they did dozens upon dozens of story. somehow, is getting into the gutter, if you do it about obama, but it's perfect okay if the media did the exact same thing about bush? >> it's amazing. we have one more example and this is the media coverage. remember the october surprise in 2000, which i would argue had a pretty big impact on the race, and that was the issue and the coverage of the dwi just prior to election day as we may all remember here. >> the reporters were all chattering about this and saying, wait a minute, if he's got this skeleton in his closet, what else is there? and some were saying, remember, he never answered those questions about hard drugs. >> governor bush, as he said later in public, didn't want his daughters to know it. the problem with that explanation, it doesn't quite pass the smell test. >> the bush campaign as continually labeled vice president gore in the past as deceptive. so why don't you think this is legitimate fodder for the

campaign given some of the bombshells that the bush camp has lobbed toward vice president gore? >> right before the campaign. there's an urgency and intensity, a moral indignation there, brent. >> there's a rule of thumb. if it deals with obama or clinton or gore, let's move on, let's move on, let's move on. that's where we got move on. if it deals with romney or bush, it's let's get back into it. and mitt romney, we are talking about something that happened one-half a century ago but we have to cover it. >> by the way, remember, republicans, they flip-flop. but democrats, like the president, they evolve. a very big difference in the coverage. >> they don't just grow, they evolve. >> and the republicans flip-flop. a glaring double standard. and michelle fields, she takes our cameras outside to the streets of new york city to see

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>> welcome back. tonight you may have learned a lot that you did not already know about the 44th president of the united states but you are not alone. the daily call is michelle fields took our cameras into the streets of new york city to see just how much the average american knows about the obama autobiography. as you can imagine, some of them, well, were pretty surprise when had they heard. take a look at this. >> have you heard about some of the controversial statements in president obama's "dreams from my father "book. >> i chose my friends carefully. the more politically active

black students, the foreign students, the chicanos -- >> i personally hung out with bad people so i don't think it's that bad of a thing as long as he is not with them today. >> wow,dy not know that. >> i do not respect that. >> i do not agree with that. >> wow. >> yeah, that's pretty deep there. >> doesn't make sense to me at all. why hang out with marxists? what is the point of that. >> in his book he talks about eating dog and i would have to know the circumstances where he was when he ate the dog. >> did you know that president obama said he ate dog and said it's, quote, tough? >> i didn't know that. it's also extraordinary. >> it's awful. >> this is america. it's like little brazil, little korea, its everything all over the place so it's not surprising. >> political discussions. ed kind that once seemed toe intense and purposeful came to

take on the social conferences i sometimes attended at cooper union. >> in his book he also admits to attending socialist conferences when he was in college. >> that's not a good thing. that's probably not where we want to be today. >> what's the reason behind that? what's the motivation behind that? is he interested in that does, does he believe in it, does he embrace it? those are the greater questions. >> it sounds like he's kind of hiding something or maybe he's not being truthful if this is all coming out in a book. >> no, i did not know that. i don't like that. one of the things i -- wow, okay. i should read this book then. >> i kept playing basketball, attended classes sparingly, grave beer heavily and tried drugs enthusiastically. >> in his book he wrote that he would, quote, do a little blow when he could afford it. >> i don't know if i would want somebody leading the country, making big decisions. >> i think that's okay too, as long as he didn't get addict the. >> that's amazing.

that's horrible, as well. >> what do you think about the president having done blow? >> definitely not what the american people want to hear, that's for sure. it's not leadership material by any means. >> in college, that's college. he's not doing it now hopefully. >> i don't know why he would write this. this book, this book seems like a disaster. >> that pretty much sums it up. michelle fields from "the daily caller" is with us. first question. you were out on the streets of new york city and did you hear one person that had heard any of these things before. >> one person heard of him doing marijuana but no one new about the book, no one had read the book. most of the people never heard of the stuff and some didn't believe me but you can't really blame them because this information hasn't been out in the media. they haven't heard about it. and a lot of them are wondering how is it that a man ran in 2008 to be the leader of the free world, the free world, and yet he attended socialist conferences, he hung out with

marxists? >> did people say that to you? literally you can see some of their faces they seemed pretty shocked. >> they were shocked but they never heard about it. why isn't this on every single television? >> and the interesting thing we started the beginning of this program, we said this is not the driving issue in the campaign. it's going to be the economy, foreign, you know, national security and all these other issues. but would any republican ever get away with saying all these things about their background and not be asked exhaust i have questions about these things? >> i think the issue is why don't people know about this? we know all about romney when he was in prep school. why don't we know about obama's time as a community organizer or why don't people know this information? i think that's important. >> one question about the dog and i will ask everybody here, would you have preferred -- how many people would prefer to be the dog shamus who lived or being the dog that was eaten? anybody for the dog that was eat anyone just checking.

that was one of the more humorous thing in the book. thank you, michelle, for doing that. our studio audience will sound off for one final time as this edition of "hannity" continues. thanks for watching fox. [ male announcer ] this is the land of giants. ♪ home of the brave. ♪ it's where fear goes unwelcomed... ♪ and certain men...

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>> sean: welcome back to this

special edition of "hannity." woe are joined by our >> welcome back. let's start with you. your thoughts on the importance of this. where does it go from here? we have influential people in this room, everybody has a strong voice in the media. where do you think this goes in terms of the campaign? it's not the and he, it's not national security, do you think this begins to resonate? >> i do and i think because he has a record it's important to go back and now see what led him to this type of policy. what shaped this policy that we see now, this big government agenda, where does it come from, where did he learn it? i'm so glad michelle did this. in 2008 when i wrote my book, i would meet people and they had no idea why they were defending this guy. they knew it was cool to do it but they had no idea why. so it's not too late. let's figure out where he came from, what he's about, and how all this policy that's been ein effective, where did he get that from. what is he about? >> and you wrote your book about being a conservative in

new york, and you wrote a book backlash. best-seller but you start in the beginning of the book if i googled your name you are excoriated by people because you are african-american and you are conservative. >> absolutely. and especially when i am on your show. >> it's always my fault. >> but we talk about the importance of vetting obama and how it was not done by the media. it's really important for the american people to do so. when you look at his energy policy, for example, our economy runs on energy. it's the life blood of our economy. he has a war on coal, a war on fossil fuels and it's hurting hardworking americans, harming businesses, energy prices are going up and he talks about he wants to fix things but look what he is doing. his actions and policies are harming the country and people are hurting right now. >> one thing we have never seen, jeffrey lord, american

spectator, we have never seen the evolution. he just keeps doubling down. he's had so many moments where he could have either a sister soldier moment and reject bill mauer's contribution. >> he's not going to go there. >> why? >> he's a committed leftist. the one thing i think is important to understand is if all those stories about romney and the bullying and all these things, it's part of building a narrative about who mitt romney is. just as they tried to do it and did do it with george w bush to some extent. this goes back a long way. they did this to barry gold water in 1964. one. the reasons the polls on the left can't sustain the light of day because as they begin to take old, when lyndon johnson was two years into office, he was thoroughly rebuked because all the things he promised got passed and there was an overwhelming rejection of the great society in 1966. this is why they don't do it. this is why they concentrate on the old stories like that.

>> and to pick up on that point, kerry picket, it's very simple to me, if the president could run on his record, he would run on his record, but he can't. so in other words, and he doesn't seem to have the willingness to acknowledge that it failed. >> right. >> so does the -- what they are adopting in terms of tactics and strategies, does it work? >> of course not. that's why he has to end up creating this whole war on women strategy. that's why he has to come out and say that he's endorsing gay marriage at this point. he has to start firing up his base because he knows that at this point everything is a very tight poll wise between him and romney. he's not even thinking of independents. he's thinking of making sure he can get his base out and get them to the policy. he's more concerned about everyone sitting on the couch. think about it. you had david dinkins who was elected popularly by bringing out his base, and second time he came out for his re-election,

that base didn't come out. he doesn't want to be david-ized at this point. >> or jimmy carterrized. just to wrap up. thank you for being here. you are all influential opinion makers in the country, you do a lot of hard work and research, , and i really appreciate it. how many of you think barack obama is going to win re-election? you do? you do? >> definitely. >> i didn't ask if it is possible. i asked how many think he is going to win? >> do you think the american people know about his record, that the media has vetted his record? do you think the american people know we've lot allies we've had the past position, 40 years. >> but that's why we doing the show, pam. we have 30 seconds. how many of you are pretty confident that mitt romney is going to win this election? confident, confident. i'm with you. you think it's a tossup? you do not think so?

steve, you are an important voice. >> i have to tell you because axelrod and those guys will start defining mitt romney today it will come down to 8 states, 125 counties and 6 million voters and it will be tough. >> thanks to all ever you and all your help. we appreciate you being here and that's all the time we have left this evening. as always, thanks for being with us and i hope you have a great weekend. >> it was almost a hurricane when it slammed ashore. and the danger not over yet. >> we are asking residents to stay indoors. >> we are tracking what is left of tropical storm beyrl. plus a special delivery for astronauts on a historic mission in outerspace. and -- >> these 600 acres are hometo