i'm sick of it. >> beyond the screaming, the problem with our politics and with washington in this election year as seen by bill bradley, author of the book, "we can all do better." from nbc news in washington, "meet the press" with david gregory. >> if you needed a reminder about how important the economy was we got it on friday. worst day for the stock market in 2012 after the jobs report came out. how did it play over the weekend? not well if you are in chicago and running the obama campaign. 69,000 jobs lost, questions over the economy lagging and fears over what is going on in europe. that ask where the debate is as we move forward. here with me this morning democratic governor of massachusetts and author of the

book, "faith and a dream" deval patrick. and john kasich. >> it is about the economy. let's look at the record here. we are looking at economic record of president obama. here is the jobless rate. up and down we go. now it's going back up in terms of the unemployment rate. 8.2% for may. here is perhaps the most daunting chart if you look at three straight months where we see this decline in job creation. february looking better and march, april and may not many jobs being created. governor patrick is the president because of the economy the under dog again? >> isn't it funny we talk about the economy with unemployment rate in political terms first without talking about the impact for the families.

job gain is always good news. we are never going to have the rate of job gains that we need until the congress passes the jobs bills that the president has put before them. >> we know that that is the silver bullet how? >> we need to talk about that because i know from my business experience and my government experience that investment is what creates jobs. in massachusetts we are investing in education, innovation and infrastructure. that is how we moved from 47th in job creation to a national leader today. we turned around from income decline when governor romney was in office to gain today. >> the numbers that just came out frighten me because i believe we are going to see in all probability some unemployment increases in ohio. we are down to 7.4% from 9.1 which is great. these job numbers are terrible.

i agree with deval when he says it is about families. if you don't get families to work -- >> this is a debate in the campaign about who has the chops to turn the economy around. >> here is the problem. when you have uncertainty that people face today. when you are talking about higher taxes and have this enormous debt and overregulate. if you are a small business person you can't deal with uncertainty so you sit on the sidelines. a big company sits on the sidelines. the talk about higher income taxes and highest debt we have seen in our history which leads us to conclude that means higher taxes. you have an e.p.a. that is overly zel zalozealous. you have obama care that nobody knows what the rules are.

you have dodd frank. >> where is the confidence. >> >> i think there is a certain amount of uncertainty. that comes in part because of the plans the president puts before the congress get ignored. those are plans we know work. the business community is facing higher taxes because they understand that is part of the solution to dealing with the deficit. we can't get the congress to act. what we have is a congress which has decided there is a political advantage in stymieing this president and putting ideology ahead of the country. >> in 1997 i was one of the chief architects of the balanced budget. we didn't raise taxes. we cut capital gains. we balanced the budget and paid down the largest amount of debt in history.

we were running huge surpluses. raising taxes is not the problem with congress. frankly the whole city is functional. and the executive is not leading. i'm an executive in ohio i can't blame the legislature for things not getting done. i have to accept responsibility. i have led. we have gone from 48th in the country in job creation to number six. we have created over 70,000 jobs. you have to lead. here is what i think the problem is, you being a businessman. i don't think they know what they want to do. some temporary jobs bill, the stimulus that didn't work. they need to say we are not going to raise taxes. we might close some loopholes. we should bring down the rates. we are not going to kill investment. we are going to stream line our regulations and have certainty. >> part of the debate is who has the skills to turn the economy around. you are saying the congress has

to do the job. you are not talking about the president's record. you have been dispatched to go after romney's record in massachusetts. the unemployment rate dropped while he was governor but he was 47th in job creation. not good enough? >> no executive in government can do their job without the partnership of a legislature. the president needs that partnership here. the president has bucked the trend. he has turned job losses into job gains. no one including the president believes these job gains are coming fast enough but it is clear he bucked the train as opposed to mitt romney who drove the train. doesn't mean he was a failure as a governor. we were out of recession when he came to power and he trailed the country. >> can i just -- help me

understand the logic here. there was a recession. massachusetts came out of that with anemic job creation. the unemployment rate did fall. you are saying in president obama's case that that is his calling card that that is a success. >> in point of fact when governor romney was governor of massachusetts incomes were declining in massachusetts while they were increasing across the country. that we were behind 47 or 46 other states in job creation at a time when the economy was growing. >> how do you look at this? >> the difference is that governor romney was following a trend of relatively good economic conditions in the country at a time very different from now where president obama has turned that trend and we are getting job creation where we were getting job loss. >> when he took over he was 51st. when he left he was 30th in the

country. he created tens of thousands of jobs and the unemployment went down. here is what i find really interesting. you have a president who opens up with bain capital attacking on that. now they are trying to attack romney. what is the president for? unemployment has gone up. a half a million americans lost their job. the politics is terrible. when i started in ohio it was terrible. we are getting bipartisan support for our bills. that's called leadership. i don't dislike the president. i have been with him and i like him but i don't understand what the plan is. when you don't have a good record you attack your opponent and try to shift the blame. what the president needs to do is come out and say what we are going to do to repair the economy. he is the guy who was going to unite the country. >> you think congress has a role to play now?

>> of course they do. >> what is the role now? you believe in government intervention in ohio's economy. >> the town's dysfunctional. without leadership from the top what they really need to do is the president and harry reid and john boehner need to put the country first. they have come close to making an agreement. if they closed loopholes and lowered rates instead of talking about class warfare and top 1%. t that is nonsense stuff. it has never worked in american politics. you think i'm happy with the fact that i left washington and the republicans that controlled everything blew the budget up? no. the fact of the matter is i'm not voting for anybody for president who has never been an

executive in business and in government you have to be an executive. you don't run a company from the board of directors. you don't run a government from the legislature. it is up to the president to lead. he has not led effectively. >> i want to agree with some of what john said except the last part. the point about needing the congress to do its role. when john was head of the budget committee he worked with a democratic president and he got stuff done. that was important. that politics we have in the capital today is not a blame game. that is a fact. >> i want to pick up on this point. governor kasich said he wants somebody with the business background and run something, an executive to be president. here is an important moment this week. the former president of the

united states, bill clinton in an interview taking exception as you did on this program with the obama campaign attacking the bain record of governor romney. >> i don't think that we ought to get into the position where we say this is bad work. this is good work. there is no question in terms of getting up and going to the office and basically performing the functions of the office a man who has been governor and had a sterling business career crosses the threshold. >> it seems to under cut one of the big arguments the president has against romney. >> it under cuts the spin. the president never attacked bain. bain is a fine company. >> you are telling me the president agrees that governor romney has a sterling business career. >> governor romney's experience

in creating jobs in the private and public sector is fair game. >> that's not the issue, governor. >> a sterling business career that he brings to the task of turning the economy around. >> he had a terrific career creating wealth. >> in ohio we faced a huge deficit. we balanced the budget. we cut taxes. we stream lined regulation and we are up over 70,000 jobs? why am i for romney? i'm for mitt romney because i'm working with the wind in my face. this unemployment number it means the wind is stronger in my face in ohio. he will fight the budget, cut taxes, provide certainty, stream line regulations. that is what i need in ohio. >> you mention the strength in ohio. a battle ground state,

unemployment numbers then and now. in ohio in the third quarter 9.8%. you see florida, nevada, colorado and virginia. look at the numbers now. you are at 7.4% in ohio. florida down. nevada, colorado and virginia. what you didn't mention and what the president would is that the auto bailout created jobs not just in that sector but in sectors that rely upon it. is there not credit for the president there? >> i'm glad the auto industry -- >> romney would not have bailed them out. >> i'm not here to debate -- >> that's a fact. you said what turned ohio around several things and you did not mention the auto bailout. >> 73,000 jobs created in the last since '11. how many direct in the auto

industry? 1,800. what we have done in ohio is diversified the economy so that we have multiple ways to grow jobs. i am really happy that the auto industry is strong. i'm happy with the suppliers. it's great. you can't say ohio is doing that great just because of that. when you look at other states in the midwest they are not performing like we are. we are the number one in the west and it is because of diversity. >> we have had a similar turn around in massachusetts in the last six years following mitt romney. we followed very similar strategies that john has followed in ohio. the reason why i'm supporting the president is because the partnership with the federal government has been helpful to us, as well. it is not a substitute but government has a role to play and investing in our infrastructure and education is a key role for government. it is something we believe in in

massachusetts. >> you ahave not once come out definitively for the economic record. your main point has been to blame congress. can the president win reelection if he cannot persuade -- >> they should vote for him because of his economic record because it is strong. when you consider what this president has been dealing with, the head winds he has faced just like john and me and turned it around. a quarter of a million jobs lost month after month when he first comes into office and turn it around to job gains is important. what will accelerate that is the plan he has put before the congress. and he has to have those tools. when he has his needed tools, when he has been able to act on his own great things have happened and the auto bailout is a prime example of that. that has been good for ohio and the whole industry. >> i really like him in the

middle of a tornado in ohio he calls me out of the blue and says is there anything i can do to help. he is a fine man. when we talk about the record of the president unemployment has gone up since he has been in office. a half a million people have lost their jobs. how do you say that's a good economic record and we still have uncertainty. we don't know what will happen tomorrow. they do not have a good economic plan. they don't have the experience as executives over time to understand how to make it work. >> one of the strange things is to criticize the president for not doing enough from people who think the government should not do anything at all. i know that is not where you come from but that is a lot of the rhetoric. >> on our trend tracker top stories this morning on the web, number two on the list is the wisconsin governor recall.

this is happening tuesday. you are watching this as a republican and someone who took on collective bargaining unsuccessfully. what is the larger political impact? >> i think the public is recognizing that some of the benefits are out of line. deval has had to deal with it. we didn't get a referendum. you are beginning to see local governments rein in some of the costs. i think it is a matter of balance. i think walker is probably going to win. it's really amazing. he has done a fantastic job. i think he is going to win this. >> in your state elizabeth warren concerned about the issue of her ethnic background being a distraction in the race. you have endorsed her. how has she handled this? >> i have only run for one office two times so i'm an amateur for that kind of thing. i think she is a terrific candidate. she is going to win.

she has a fantastic grass roots organization which is key. she has a strong case to make. at home folks aren't focused on her ethnic background but whether she can be a partner on us. >> and they are folkinged on basketball. >> if he was a great governor the celtics would beat the heat. everybody in ohio is rooting against the heat. >> you don't root for lebron. you hold a grudge. >> i believe in forgiveness. >> i'm going to do my best. >> we're going to leave it there. the political debate continues. we'll end on a handshake. we are going to go inside the numbers and look at key battle ground states and have our political round table to talk about strategy for the fall campaign. senior advisory for the romney campaign, kevin madden, neera

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before we get to our political round table we want to go to the battle grounds and give you a sense of the map and where we think the tossups are. our political team has redone the map. we are focused on new hampshire, virginia, north carolina, florida. ohio. iowa, colorado, nevada in the west. 110 electoral votes up for math. these are all obama states from

four years ago. very tight race. 48 and 46. this is a target of opportunity for governor romney. we move on. you go to iowa. 44 and 44. keep your eye on the midwest here. colorado 46 and 45. this has to be an important hold. you have independent voters and hispanic voters. the obama team wants to hold on to that. we want to talk with it all with my round table. neera tanden. republican strategist is here. kasim reed is here and senior advisory for the mitt romney presidential campaign, kevin madden. welcome to all of you. so kasim reed, mayor reed you see the economic reports. you are down in atlanta but around the country advocating on behalf of this president. was this a low moment for the campaign, a jobs report like this that really put this on the

territory that mitt romney wants to fight on? >> i don't think it will be. we all knew this was going to be tough. when i watched the comments from the governor of ohio i think the slogan that mitt romney rolled out where they misspelled america it should be amnesia. created 4.2 million jobs. folks don't have conversation at all in this debate about the two wars president bush funded and put them on the credit card and not talking about the expansion of health care and the fact that we lost 8 million jobs going into this president's leadership. and to have a conversation without putting those facts on the table is stunning to me. not to add mitt romney's record. everything he said about what a wonderful job he would do because of his experience as an

executive he said in massachusetts. the fact of the matter is it didn't happen in massachusetts. >> that was a point that came up in the debate between the governors. similar circumstances and romney did not deliver as governor, did he. >> governor romney came into office there was a deficit in massachusetts. he wiped away that deficit. we were as governor kasich alluded to before 51st in job creation and advanced the state to 30th. he advanced it 20 places. 40,000 net jobs created. i think what he did was he came in and changed the culture of the way massachusetts was not working. and everything that governor romney has done whether olympics or private sector as a businessman has helped turn around malfunctioning organizations. nothing is as big a malfunctioning organization right now as washington, d.c.

we have to change the way our outlook is and get back to a more optimistic outlook to creating jobs in this country. that is something where the american people have felt let down by president obama. he promised to change the culture of washington and failed on both. >> we saw dueling stunts really. you had the president's campaign and the person of david axelrod talking about the romney record in massachusetts with the failed green energy plan which went belly up even after government intervention. >> romney economics didn't work then and it won't work now. >> you >> is this the campaign debate that americans have been waiting for? is this shedding light for how tough the economy is?

>> i think americans want a real debate on the policies. and i think that should be a debate the president welcomes. essentially the president has put forward a real proposal to create jobs. the problem with mitt romney is that it is not just where he stood but where he stands now. his policies has really double downed on the policies of the bush administration. he is calling for massive tax cuts. we know that has not worked. i think the challenge for mitt romney is also some of the debates become an issue. you go to solydra on thursday and we find out a company like that that he funded is going belly up. the argument is not about the policies that we are pursuing and we should have a debate on this. it is the case that mitt romney is proposing solutions that have

failed before. >> we can go it for tat here. be more counter intuitive about this. if you are president obama do you see a need to go more at your record? i think the exchange with kasich and patrick is interesting. the auto bailout has helped ohio. it is not something that governor kasich wants to talk about but the obama campaign knows that is true. >> let's talk about the politics. political malpractice is for the guy with the 8% unemployment rate to attack the guy with the 4.7 unemployment rate in massachusetts. i think the obama campaign is looking like the campaign that is trying too hard. it's the wrong kind of success. it's mitt romney creates profits. he doesn't create jobs. and i think what that is doing is lessoning the president. making him look very political. he is only not able to fix the

economy but throwing rocks at people who say they have an idea. ultimately, this president has to say, look, i'm going to take you to a better moses. shooting the other guy who says i have a great idea, shooting him in the leg ultimately lessons the president. i was surprised to see david axelrod out there, the front man for the government shouldn't be the political guy. it should be somebody of stature. should have been a businessman or a governor. it is all politics all the time and i think it is costing the obama administration. >> i would say i think this election will be about who has the best vision for the country going forward. i think that is an area where the president -- that is a debate the president should embrace. i think we spend a lot of time on the records and looking at mitt romney's record because he

has made it a center piece. i think the issue for both candidates is what you will do to move the economy forward. it is not just a criticism but what you are going to do. i think it should be welcome ground. mitt romney hasn't talked about his policies in the last few weeks, only criticizing the president. if the president has a debate about the policies that mitt romney supports which are not just the policy of the bush administration but far to the right of those. >> do you have a problem with going after bain capital where surrogates have not stuck to the script, notably president clinton who is talking about a sterling business record for governor romney. >> i don't have a problem at all. i have been amazed by it. the fact of the matter is we know about bain capital because of senator ted kennedy. he was locked in a race in 1994 on his first forainto politics.

ted kennedy ended up beating the bark off of him and the center piece of his assault was bain. this has been used in gubernatorial elections and the republican primary. so for democrats to be having the conversation whether this is fair game -- >> but you asked me my opinion. you had some other folks opinion. at the exact same time democrats have been asking the democrat to fight with one hand behind its back. mitt romney is in nevada with donald trump. lets ted nugent make remarks about the country and doesn't say anything. he lets rush limbaugh speak about a woman in georgetown law. we spent eight days -- >> i don't think it is true it hasn't been covered. >> we just had mayor reed talking about something in 1994 that democrats are still talking about in 2012. we have neera practically

imploring the president to talk about the future and provide visions for the country. if we had a president who had a record to run on he would do so. governor romney has talked acutely about what he would do to move the country forward. the reason governor romney is in the race is to fix the economy. he has made that very clear. we don't know what president obama would do on a second term. here we are five weeks away from him asking for a job. >> how does mitt romney differ from george bush? his big proposal is the ryan budget which is slash medicare and medicaid for 30 million people to lose health insurance. that is to the right of where george bush was. >> it is going to be president obama and governor romney. >> hold on. i can tell you how he differs

from george bush and so can bill clinton whom we just saw on tape. this president is telling the american people that the biggest problem we have is other americans holding the economy back. and bill clinton was a new business democrat. he wanted to grow the economy. the president's job bill clinton thought was to grow it for everybody and not just redistribute what americans have. the biggest flip that is hurting barack obama is a split in the democratic party. hillary clinton is still running. >> here is the problem for governor romney. he has to create distance from a republican party in trouble. he has to create new opportunities for the coalition of youngs, hispanics and women. he has to do that with the vision for the economy that is different than how it is going with the other guy. >> all you have to do, i think

is look at the world around you and describe it. that is what you are going to see mitt romney and new republicans do. how do we grow the economy? the old way, send our money to washington and try to grow it top down or take money out of slow government and put it in the american people's pockets and invest and grow the economy naturally and organicly. there is a new republican agenda. >> what is the bold economic idea that you would like president obama to run on? you are in a big city. you see the impact of the economy every day. what is the big idea he ought to be running on? >> making sure he gets the congress to pass the infrastructure investments we have been talking about for more than two years that republicans and democrats have traditionally agreed upon and get the country moving again.

we know that infrastructure generates jobs. and facts have to matter in this election. alex referenced mitt romney's 4.7 unemployment. the president had to deal with the worst economy in 80 years. he had much tougher challenges than mitt romney ever had. and the fact of the matter is 40 months in to barack obama's presidency jobs were created in massachusetts. 40 months in mitt romney's term as governor 6,000 jobs were created. >> we had a trillion dollar stimulus put into infrastructure and we haven't seen the growth. we are not going to tax our way to prosperity or spend our way to prosperity. we have to put into place the policies to let us have long term growth. this is a president who run up

trillion dollar deficits every year in office. the president keeps referring to the congress. i think governor kasich made the point that presidents have to lead. he has mastered the pageantry. >> there is a contrast. governor romney is talking about 6% unemployment if he gets into power of president. you can't know that anymore than the president can know based on the stimulus. >> but you can have the optimism about your policies. >> what does that mean? >> i think the problem for president obama is his campaign message has devolved down to this is as good as it gets which leaves mitt romney i think a tremendous opportunity to be moses and say follow me. we can do better. >> i know there is disagreement about that point. i want to cover some other topics around the table a little more quickly. first one is gop veep stakes.

this caught my eye from the wall street journal piece this week talking about the buzz around portman from ohio. the case for ohio is simple. if the goal is to avoid a palin-like experience portman is the palin of 2012. little chance he would hurt the ticket and only a slim chance he would commit a distracting gaff. is this where you see romney going? going the other direction from a game change moment? >> i think romney would be picking the guy with the suitcase with no handle. you want the spot light on barack obama and his economic failure. portman has a problem, george bush. i think somebody to watch would be bobby jindal who is vetted and out there and has a terrific record. at the end of the day you don't want the vice presidential

choice to draw the spot light. >> do you see him as formidable? >> bobby jindal? >> no, portman. >> i think either portman or ryan allows democrats to make a strong argument about the economic past or future. i think both of those would be very interesting for democrats and allow a lot of clotter. >> i always say that you are smart to ask and i would be very dumb to answer. >> we have a rich tradition recently of people answering. >> i have a tradition of avoiding those questions. i think it will be a lens to look at governor romney the type of decision he makes. this will be his first decision as potential president. >> when will he make it? >> we can rule out donald trump. >> can we? next up the items on our list and that is bush back at the white house.

the portrait unveiling. this is a rare moment of bipartisanship in washington. listen to the former president with this president. >> i am also pleased, mr. president, that when you are wandering these hauls as you wrestle with tough decisions you will be able to gaze at this portrait and ask, what would george do? >> if only we had a few more moments like that here in washington the place might work better. >> we are going to need more of that to move the country forward. >> this is how he covered with president clinton came back you see similar moments of great humor. this is a rare and exclusive club. >> there is a certain generosity of spirit to george bush that does seem to be missing in our politics today. >> one thing that we really do miss is president bush had a lot of leadership on immigration issues and really spoke out to

have an open tent for latinos. i think it will be a big challenge with mitt romney. >> i get along with him just fine. >> our last item and that is john edwards. a second act for him. the trial wound up this week. a mistrial most counts and acquittal on one. >> this is the last thing i'm going to say. i don't think god's through with me. i believe he thinks there are still good things i can do. >> is there a second act here? >> i hope not. i think that john edwards should do really good things outside the spot light and really not call on any attention for himself for anything. >> he doesn't have a second run in him? >> god may not be through with him but the american people. >> absolutely. >> mitt romney, the image of romney coming down with the

trump plane in the background this week. was this much more cost than worth to raise money with donald trump with the birther nonsense? >> i think people are focused on that. as a campaign you try to ask yourself the question what really matters to the american people. i think it is an absolute distraction. i think it is important that the governor has made it very clear that he disagrees with donald trump on that issue. he is focused on talking about the economy. that is what people are very animated about out there. it's a distraction. >> i think it does speak to a bigger character issue. if you can't stand up to donald trump or rush limbaugh when he is attacking, that is really wrong and just step away from it. it raises questions about the president. >> talking about that is one that the american people grow more and more frustrated about the process. >> because donald trump --

>> we talk about the economy and growth and versus what is constantly what divides us. >> donald trump is divided. >> a much more stronger way than he has. >> i think when the economic house is on fire you want to see your president putting out that fire. and all the obama campaign seems to be doing is talking about donald trump and whether it's other peripheral issues that may be important. the house is burning down. let me leave it there. the debate will continue. thanks to all of you. coming up more on what ails washington and what's wrong with our politics in this election year. here for a special conversation i will spend a few minutes with author of the new book, "we can all do better," former senator bill bradley will join me for a few minutes right after this break. [ male announcer ] at northern trust, we understand

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world is. how are we going to get middle income people making more money. the median income in 2010 was the same it was in 1996. that is what it should be about. >> what should government be doing? is there anything prescriptive that you see that a chief executive could be doing now to fix what appears to be another down slide or worst that it is stagnant growth? >> that is one of the reasons i wrote the book was to give people hope that we can deal with our problems. the private sector nonfinancial corporations have $1.8 trillion on their books in cash and liquid assets. if 20% of that was used to hire people the unemployment rate would be 5%. we asked ceos why don't you do that they said because of uncertainty and there is no demand. you address the uncertainty with

the massive infrastructure program. immediately what you do is say if you hire another worker the government will pay 30% of that as long as you don't lay off a worker. do that for two years. limit it at $50 billion. not a taxpayer dollar would be spent unless a job was created. do that and then get the private sector hiring with the deficit reduction and massive infrastructure. >> you write in the book something that caught my eye which was about what people so dislike about politics in washington right now. this is from the book. you talk about voters are tired of seeing their presidents appear at fund raisers and hedge their bets and compromise their believes to raise campaign money. the people are tired of being taken for granted. they yearn for leaders who will level with them and not pander to them. do you see your party, your president in the democratic party leveling with the american

people? what should he be saying or doing that would require sacrifice that would really take on the party? >> i think that he is leveling more than republicans are because he is being honest about taxes. we are not going to reduce the deficit a sufficient amount unless we deal with entitlements, defense and taxes. i think we need to step back and say we need a more comprehensive program to deal with middle class income and most important we need a very specific effort to eliminate or reduce the role of money in politics. because of the supreme court there were massive amounts of money spent in this presidential campaign and congressional and senatorial campaigns. the result is the people don't get the work done in washington that they want done. in 2009 and 2010 the financial industry contributed $318 million to politics.

health care industry, 145 and the energy industry 75 million. it should not be a surprise that the financial reform bill was watered down and we did not get a public option to private insurance and did not get around to doing an energy bill. the role of money is corrosive and not giving the american people what it wants. >> you blame the president for not opting out or not staying in? >> it's too easy to say it is the president or the congress. that's the old way. we have to realize here that the power rests with the citizens. in the 1830s when the abolitionists started or when suffrage said apwomen ought to have a right to vote or the environmental movement in the 1970s. then we were saying the president or the house doesn't. >> what changes the dynamic? what breaks the cycle in washington? >> i think it takes potentially the way it is done in the past

if we don't have one party wipe the floor with the others which is what i would like to see the democrats do or bipartisanship a third party would shake the system up with an agenda that is the people's agenda. >> thank you so much. >> we are going to continue our discussion during our "meet the press" take two web extra on our website this afternoon. more from bill bradley on that. you can watch on our blog. it is at [ fabric flapping in wind ] ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] at nissan, our ideal is innovation. 5 all-new models over the next 15 months, including a completely reimagined altima.

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