can't get it turned around in three years, he said, then i'm looking at a one-term proposition. he's failed. it's been three years and he's out. on the campaign trail, all eyes turn to sarah palin's labor day weekend plans. iowa, then new hampshire. will she finally enter the race? and a new threat brews in the gulf. tropical storm warnings are up from mississippi to texas. louisiana has already declared a state of emergency. it's going to be a wet labor day weekend for gulf coast residents. good day. we start with wall street where markets are sinking following this morning's disappointing jobs report. although the official august unemployment rate stayed at 9 .1% when you combine that with people who settled for part time work or stopped looking for work, the real unemployment rate bumped up slightly to 16.2%. we are joined by john harwood

who's cnbc's chief washington correspondent. john? sorry, i guess we don't have john. let me bump to mark our chief economist at moody's analytics. let's start with where this market puts the economy. what does this tell us? are we in danger of a double dip or is there something, are there bright spots that can be taken from the report this morning? >> reporter: well, i think it indicates that the economy's very close to going back into recession. so-called double dip. i don't think businesses have started to increase their layoffs yet. that would be a recession. that certainly have frozen. they stopped hiring that's why the job numbers are come grinding to a halt. that's not sustainable. that's not something that we can live with for very long. unless confidence stabilizes, unless businesses get their

groove back, we will be back in recession, we are haver very close. >> i feel like we focus on the policy a lot. you mentioned the perception, confidence in individuals and in companies. how much does that factor into this prolonged slump that people just don't feel good? >> i think that's key. generally confidence reflects economic conditions. unemployment, inflation, what's going on in the stock market, house prices. at points in time, certain points in time the causality gets reversed and confidence drives things. i think one of those very tricky times people are very ver nous on edge. they are very close to pulling back and this threatens to all become very self-fulfilling. confidence at this point is key. it's the most vital determinant of how things are going to go over the next few months, few quarts. >> mark, stick with us mpl we're going to bing bring in john harwood. we've got you this time, i know.

john, you've heard what mark just had to say. i can see your picture. you're right there at the white house. not a good day for them, correct? >> reporter: definitely not a good day. i think chris, it's going to strengthen the determination of the white house and the president specifically to go big in this jobs report whether or not the republican congress geez along with him. they're not expecting the republican congress to go along. i think the president having seen the evidents of the negotiation over the debt ceiling over budget cuts earlier, feeling backed into a corner by that. seeing the fall out in confidence from the downgrade by s&p and the general perception of the political process is not up to that. the answer is to fight and fight for a bigger proposal that will be framed significantly in terms of tax cuts to make it hard for republicans to oppose him and then the fight will be on both this fall on capitol hill and next year on the campaign trail. >> and mark, if there is as john

predicts, i think rightly, if there is going to be this big political fight, where president obama is not going to take a tone of conciliatory tone, but a more combative tone, what does that do? obviously the way the debt ceiling fight played out did not help the jobs picture in august. what does that do going forward if we see continued infighting infighting. >> i think the most important thing that policymakers need to do is to follow through on the debt ceiling deal. we have a supercommittee that's supposed to come forward with a proposal and congress and the administration have to come together by the end of the year and come up -- that confidence we were talking about will be completely undermined and we'll be in recession. whatever the president does he has to do it in a way that it doesn't unnerve people. that's going to be pretty tricky. >> thank you so much for joining

us. >> less than an hour after this mornings's job report was leased, the president's republican opponents came out swinging. mitt romney led the charge. >> we stand at a threshold of profound economic misery as a nation. four more years of the same extremely misguided policies could be disastrous. >> matt mcdonald is an economic strategist and a partner with the republican aligned firm hamilton place strategies. matt, thank you for joining me. i rely on your wisdom about jobs reports. you make me sound smart on the economy. this is not the report the obama administration wanted. we saw lots of republican candidates have come out with this isn't enough. the thing i'm fascinated with politics just ano isn't usually enough at the president level. do republican candidates need to go beyond president obama's doing poorly look at this job's report? >> i think we're in a different

spot this time. when you're this far out from the election the burden on the challenger, the burden on the republicans in this case is not to come out with policy specific proposals. the weird thing about what we're seeing now is that the economic forecasts going forward just yesterday omb at the white house released their projections going forward. what we're seeing is that the economy is projected to be a year from now exactly where it is today. >> right. >> right. treading water which is not good politically. >> exactly. mitt romney and the other republicans can go out there and say four more years of this knowing that the dye is cast. >> it's not going to drop before 2012. let's say matt mcdonald is now the senior economics advisor to a presidential campaign. john huntsman has a plan. give me two or three things you tell them that they should propose that could work. that's the hard thing. president obama it's not for lack of trying. he's tried to make the economy

go again. >> the thing is in the challenge that the president faces now between now and the election is there's a lag to policy. whatever they implement today maybe it will have an impact six months from now. maybe voters will only see that impact right before election day if they're lucky. >> we know vetters -- there's a few people that make up their mind at the end. a lot of them make up their point fall. >> the importance for them is to demonstrate that they do have a plan. knowing that whatever they propose is not going to be on the table between now and the election. >> you heard john harwood's report he expects the president to come out and put a plan together and take it to the republicans and say this is on you guys. how likely is that to work. >> for the white house if the

unemployment is still 9% next november, i don't think anybody's going to remember the joint session this coming week. >> it's the biggest deal for the moment. >> that's exactly right. the white house is falling into this trap it almost reminds me of the mccain campaign in 2008 where the world is falling apart around them. and you're forced to resort to near term tactical victories. when in reality for the white house the way to get out of it is the long-term policy that will work. >> a broad strategy. matt mcdonald. thanks for taking time out of your friday. >> thanks, chris. if president obama can't fix the economy before november 2012 what can he do? history may hold the answer. after telling people to get off the beach in the lead up to hurricane irene, new jersey governor chris christie now has a new request. the latest on the east coast storm clean up and tim pact to labor day travel next on "andrea mitchell reports."

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residents in several states continue cleaning up from hurricane irene. close to 900,000 homes and businesses are still without power up and down the east coast. in vermont, fresh rain prompted new flood warnings just as some rose were finally being reopened. and with floodwaters in new jersey slowly receding, the state's governor chris christie has been encouraging tourists to return to the jersey shore. but between hurricane irene and the unsteady economy, the labor day beach weekend may be a bust. nbc's tom costello has more. >> reporter: good afternoon. when we talk about gas prices we've seen a bit of a drop at the pump down 30 cents from their high in may. still up dramatically from a year ago. you look as well at the rough economy and at the recovery from hurricane irene and a lot of

americans are simply staying close to home. much of the south end of the outer banks has been cut off by hurricane irene, on the north end they've been in full clean up mode before this last full weekend of the summer to lure the tourists back to the town of duck, the sander ling resort and spa offered a hurricane deal. >> when guests come in to duck and the northern outer banks they're going to see that we're ready for business and ready to take care of them. >> reporter: message received. the half off rooms were sold out in a heartbeat. >> we brought lots of reading material. we're going to relax, sit on the beach and eat. >> reporter: on this last long summer weekend of the year, the great escape is on. of the 31.5 million americans traveling this labor day weekend only 2.5 million are flying. fewer than last year with airfares up 13% from a year ago. the vast majority are hitting the road at 27.3 million taking

advantage of gas prices that have dropped in recent months. at the pump unleaded is now averaging $3.62 a gallon. down from a high of $3.9 v 98 on may 5th. still almost a full dollar more than a year ago when unleaded averaged $2.67 a gallon. meanwhile, the economy continues to struggle. >> you have some americans who are still financially stressed. people who are living paycheck to paycheck and they don't have a disposable income to travel like they had before the recession. >> reporter: in the lower 48 states californians still pay the most. $3.85 a gallon. >> they're coming down a little. i think they're still high. >> reporter: back in storm battered north carolina a message from the governor. >> i really do want to remind visitors and residents that most of north carolina's coast is open for business. and ready for visitors who are coming for the holiday weekend. >> reporter: so where are gas prices headed? i talked to the folks at

gasbuddy.com. they think in the short-term a bit of a bump up, by thanksgiving we could be paying $3.15 to $3.40 a gallon. conventional wisdom tells us that any incumbent president overseeing aed economy faces a rough road to re-election. the obama mx is banking on some notable exceptions. both f.d.r. and ronald reagan launched successful strategies to win re-election despite unemployment and the current white house has taken notice. michael sheerer writes about it in the latest edition of "time." you're a favorite of mine. people know who follow my twitter feed i love your stuff. you had a big story. a nugget that i was totally fascinated by, there was a meeting, somewhat secret. we didn't know about it in june of sort of the president's a advisors. tell us about it. >> it was a staff retreat.

it was not announced. the agenda was pretty broad based. pun part of it the presidential historian came in and was asked to address what history tells us about presidents in times of high unemployment. the conclusion was there is no iron law in politics. there are exceptions. the two exceptions that he pointed to if fdr in 1936, ronald reagan in 1984. >> the number that gets thrown around is 7.2% before ronald reagan won his landslide victory. there are differences. the fdr and the reagan comparison are different. let's talk about why. there are no signs of recovery, with reagan and fdr it was. >> that's right. both of them had significant improvement in gdp.

the lesson taken by white house aides it's not that it's going to be easy because the situations are the same. the lesson was that the strategy that was used by both reagan and fdr can be applied in this situation. that's a two-part strategy. you have to convince the american people by next year that there's hope. the second part you have to convince the american people the republican base is going to be worse for them not better. reagan ran in 1984 as much against carter as he did against mondale. when fdr was running in '36 it was just as much about hoover. those races were about the policies of the past.

>> i would point to 2008 barack obama ran as much as george w. bush as john mccain. can he run against george wuch bush and the economy. he gave an interview on the tom joyner show saying george bush left us with trillion dollar in deficit it's been hard to dig out. will that work in november 2012 is that where they go? >> polls show that more americans blame bush than obama. even at this date. >> it's a remarkable thing. 51-31. >> the issue for obama is he doesn't have to blame bush. he can connect bush through the republican congress that's happening right now to the nominee next year. he can say it's not just about bush, it's about the paul ryan plan. it's about what these candidates have been saying. they don't have a plan for jobs. the plans they do have are austerity measures that hurt growth and run on that. >> we're back in some ways is 2012 a referendum or a choice? for obama to win or at least have a better chance of winning

it needs to be a choice between him and the republican nominees and ideas. >> they would all agree with that. democrats in town and the campaign and the white house all believe it's going to be a choice. for it to be a choice, the economy has to improve. if the economy -- people nt aren't going to be thinking about the choice. >> straight referendum. read his story. an excellent read. follow him on twitter. >> @michael sheerer. will she or won't show? sarah palin stirs up a new round of speculation with her labor day weekend plans. the politico briefing is next on "andrea mitchell reports." host: do people use smartphones to do dumb things? man 1: send, that is the weekend. app grapgic: yeah dawg! man 2: allow me to crack...the bubbly! man 1: don't mind if i doozy. man 3: is a gentleman with a brostache invited over to this party?

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she's making it clear if she goes out, she'll do it with a bang. she has planned a labor day voting blitz. she'll be at a tea party event in iowa on sunday and on monday she heads to new hampshire with a late skemged speech to the same group as mitt romney. ben smith is senior reporter for politico. ben we've been talking about sarah palin for a long time. is this is end of the end? >> i would never make a prediction about sarah palin. >> smart man. >> she's an unpredictable character. >> sarah palin will talk about

washington when she hardss a tea party group in weekend. she wants to portray how obama is just another creature of washington. that doesn't sound all that new to me. do you hear anything new in there in terms of palin messaging? >> i've seen that interpreted as veiled criticism particularly of rick perry as a crony capitalism is something his critics say about him. it's at the point no the primary where if you criticize somebody you say it by name. she probably wants to keep her options open. she's going to end upstanding next to one of them and a stage at some point. >> it is amazing. mitt romney gets in trouble for saying he's not a lifetime politician. >> they don't count it as attacks and criticism until you direct them at someone. >> ben, i want to play one other thing. dick cheney the former vice president was on laura

ingraham's radio show. >> you do need to have thick skin. you'll be the subject of a lot of criticism. i've never gotten around the question of her having left the governorship of alaska midterm. i've never heard that adequately explained. >> cheney speaks the truth about the republican field on occasion. i do think that that is a problem for her. she just left midterm. if she's in the race now we're talking about that a lot more than we currently. is that fair? >> for sure. there was a clear way for her to run to the presidency. it was to be a successful governor of alaska and run based on that record. i think the difference between where we were a year ago and now is that republicans who were thinking this a year ago now happily say it now and her popularity is low enough they're not worried about a backlash. >> he's going to be in iowa

first. she was out then in. she's going to be in and speak to this group in iowa. what does that tell us? if anything. she would have to play heavily in iowa were she to run? >> the idea, the palin campaign if you are going by any kind of textbook, she has not would be to come in iowa and make a splash and just live in iowa. go head to head with perry and bachmann and convince conservative iowans that she's the candidate for them. >> do we know -- do we have any inkling what's happening this weekend? do we expect an announcement? do we not expect an announcement. do we have any timetable on when she will say yes i'm in or no i'm out? >> i think the legal timetable, she would have to file papers by tend of the october. that's the only timetable that makes sense. she's hinted that she would decide by the end of september.

>> we'll see. we will stay tuned. end of september we'll be back talking about this again. don't miss the nbc politico republican debate at the reagan library. it's next wednesday september 7th at 8:00 p.m. eastern moderated by nbc's brian williams and politico's john harris. up next, mitt romney's florida strategy. why using rick perry's recent attack on social security may pay off for romney. on the gulf coast, residents watch and wait. will the storm make this labor day a wash out. we're live in new orleans next on "andrea mitchell reports." [ male announcer ] this is the network.

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perry. >> i don't know if you saw the news this morning, there were no new jobs created in the last month. no new jobs. four more years of the same extremely misguided policies could be disastrous. career politicians got us into this mess and career politicians won't get us out. >> nbc news campaign embed garrett is joining us from tampa. this ams to mitt romney drawing a contrast saying career politicians. how much is his campaign expected to ramp up the contrast with rick perry and beyond. >> it's tough to say. i can tell you what they are talking about. the romney has said all along the first is that starting in september they're going to be a lot more aggressive in terms of campaigning nationally. you saw some of that this week. he was in texas, florida, this

weekend new hampshire. and senator demint's event in south carolina all before the debate. the second is whenever he's asked about rick perry he says there's plenty of time to draw that context. that's one thing i'm looking for is to see what they're talking about in these three debates in the month of september alone. >> three debates in 17 days. not that imexcited or anything. let's talk about this, mitt romney he spent the summer, he spent most of the campaign largely out of the fray. he's kept a low profile campaign swej schedule. he hasn't been everywhere. did he miss an opportunity to cement front runner status? >> i don't think the campaign would see it that way. their view is you really can't win an election in september the year before. but you could probably lose one

if you didn't manage it the right way. their big advantage the they've got money in their corner. his restore our future superpac raised $12 million in the first reporting period. his campaign has continued to raise a lot of money. they see this as a marathon and not necessarily a sprint to win over voters now. >> garrett taking his talents to south beach for us. thanks for joining us. >> thanks, chris. so far the republican candidates have largely avoided face-to-face clashes. but that could all change wednesday when rick perry makes his debut on the national debate stage. paul berga is senior executive editor at "text monthly." rick per vi new to us, but not to you. are you surprised how quickly he's gone to the front of the field? >> not really because the field

was seen and i think correctly so as pretty weak. it didn't have a lot of strong people. romney was the strongest. and perry has the ability to i guess increase our heightened excitement that was lacking in the race. i think people were, there was actually a tremendous anticipation that the perry team played off very well of building this excitement without ever saying a word or without him becoming an official candidate. >> and paul, we're looking everyone's got september 7th next wednesday circled on their calendar, nbc politico debate. the first unveiling of rick perry with everyone else on stage. what do we know about rick perry the debater? >> perry in the last gubernatorial race here in texas in 2010 he refused to debate his

democratic opponent. he used some deal that his opponent had been in in houston as the excuse not to debate him. he demanded that he release his income taxes before perry would debate him. perry essentially ducked the debate with the democrat but he was in with two republicans who are challenging him and he was very uncomfortable. they were both women. cay bailee hutchenson and deborah medina an independent. body language was very hard and he clearly was not enjoying being there. i think anyone who watched the debate would say that. i'm not just criticizing perry. >> to your point, paul, i've heard that from ore people and i covered that campaign. he clearly was not at his best in a campaign he ran quite well. he wasn't his best at that moment. >> i brie. >> let's move on.

i want to talk about this idea is he gaffe prone is he not? we've had the ben bernanke treasonous comment got a lot of mostly negative press for rick perry. the debate, thest it's a big moment. the whole political world will be watching. can perry stay on message? can he knowing that that gaffe story line is out there, can he avoid making it any worse, putting some fuel on that fire? >> i have -- what may be an id owe sin cattic view of that, somehow his gaffes turn out not to be gaffes. when he made his famous comment in texas that we might have to leave the union some day if the federal government kept on behaving like this. cay bailey hitchenson said she'd won that and in fact she lost the election. it roused the strain of texas nationalism. he won't have that working for

him now. it is true that a lot of his bombastic comments are well received by his constituencies. he doesn't worry too much about what the opposition doesn't have to say about him. >> it shows you how sometimes little conventional wisdom actually knows. it's a great point. a democratic pollster said it sounds like and looks like rick perry is running to to be the president of texas not the united states. have you noticed any change in his tone, his approach, the issues he's talking about in this first couple weeks as a decade than in a decade in texas? >> no. jobs is his basic deal. attacks on the federal government, the e.p.a. which he has said he would do away with if he were president. so there's nothing really new here. governor perry is a very strong states' rights conservative. he is going to run that way.

and no one's run that way in american politics in the mind of memory of man right now. we'll see if it works. i think that's what he's going to do. >> is there an authenticity appeal. you may not agree with what i have to say, but you know where i'm coming from? >> yes. i think that's really helped him. i think it's true here that he doesn't get a lot of respect from the political crowd here and he reciprocates their disdain. he real doesn't care what people think. and he is who he is. he's going to do what he's going to do. and i mean, one of the most amazing numbers is there was a poll last week that showed him ahead 40-16 among seniors. 65 plus. what is rick perry going he's

attacking social security. how does that make sense? >> good point, paul. with a beautiful shot of the texas state capitol behind you, thanks for joining us. >> thank you. let's take a look at some of the other stories topping the headlines this afternoon. roger clem mens in the washington, d.c. facing perjury charges. the last time ended in mistrial. joran van der sloot has been charged in first-degree murder in connection with the death of a peruvian college student last year. he faces 30 years if convicted. van der sloot was the prime suspect many the unsolved disappearance of american teenager natalee holloway who vanished in aruba in 2005. northern texas wildfires have now swallowed more than 6,000 homes and are threatening 400 more. governor rick perry is warning residents of water shortages due to the severe drought.

this wall of large grass fire in southwestern oklahoma is forcing more than 60 homes to be evacuated. and hurricane katia is gaining strength across the atlantic. the national hurricane center says it's too early to know if katia will hit land. breaking now, the national weather service has updated that system in the gulf to tropical storm lee. norms is preparing for possible flooding and louisiana governor jindahl has declared a state of emergency. several of the gulfs offshore oil rigs have been evacuated and shut down as the storm approaches. the weather channel's mike sidle joins us from new orleans. >> reporter: good afternoon from new orleans where we just took another squall in the french quarter. it rained very hard only for five or six minutes. we have gusts up over 30 miles per hour. it's moved on through. it's breezy. skies have brightened up down river. all the rain is coming in from the south and east. we can see the squalls coming. we have a tropical storm.

it doesn't really change the overall forecast and the impending impacts here in new orleans. not so much a wind issue it's a rainfall issue. these pumps can only handle an inch an hour the first hour and each successive hour half afternoon inch. fit rain faster it will go into the streets. army corp. keeping an eye on the lev vies. they have a new system in place following katrina. this is not a katrina. we do have to deal with a lot of heavy rain and flood potential is very, very high. certainly on those low lying areas. unlike in new england we don't have elevation. we have sandier soil it can handle more water. when you're talking rainfall totals of ten to 15 minchs that's a lot of rainfall. you can see it in the gulf of mexico. the convection is starting to wrap around the center. now the concern is how strong will it get over the weekend. chris, the thing is it's moving northwest at two miles per hour. it doesn't even get to the coast until late sunday or monday. we've got a long weekend ahead

of us. it could get into a minimal hurricane status category. we'll be here for you all weekend. >> thanks, mike. that's helpful news. i'll add to it seven counties in mississippi. mississippi governor haley barbour has just delaired a state of emergency there. a lot of preparedness going on there. thanks for the reporting. after six months of brutal civil war, the challenge to rebuild libya begins. my name's jeff.

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today's gut check. tlc under fire for an episode of "toddlers and tia ras" that shows a 4-year-old dressing up as dolly parton complete with enhancements. thanks, michael. i saw that episode. even with muammar gadhafi's whereabouts still unknown, the new libyan government has started to rebuild their country. one official said today that five international oil companies have returned to the company to begin the process of bringing libya's lucrative oil business back online. secretary of state hillary clinton and others in the international community met with members of libya's transitional government yesterday. afterwards the secretary was asked about the lockerbie bomber living free in libya. >> the united states has kept open the case concerning the lockerbie bombing. we have raised the investigation with the tnc. we want more information and we

want to have access to those who might have been somehow involved in the planning or execution of the bombing. >> we're joined now by "the washington post" white house reporter scott wilson. scott, i know you know as much if not more about this region than anyone out there. i feel like the question everyone's asking is what's next? the rebels are in control. transitional national government in place, but is this a stable country? >> in a word, it's not. you still do have muammar gadhafi on the loose. it's hard to know where he is. is he hiding in a tribal area that's supportive of him. is he in the city where he's from. that more than threatening the new government it's a distraction. there's always the risk of an uninsurgentsy forming around him if this new government doesn't get control of the country and begin to move it in the right direction as we saw in iraq something very similar happened.

it's not a stable country. as you said, in paris the international community's meeting. they're freeing up money that they've frozen. the libyan assets that they've frozen. hope to get some of that money back to them to begin quickly rebuilding and demonstrating to the people that this six months of really difficult fighting was worthwhile. >> so it feels like we're moving on two tracks. we have money being unfrozen the government setting themselves up. the other tlak is the search for gadhafi. how much -- i don't want to draw a too fast comparison, how much is this like what we saw in iraq where many people didn't feel a sense of closure until we found saddam hussein. how important is it to this white house and the international community to find muammar gadhafi and to bring him to justice? >> i think what you'll hear is that it's not that important in the grand scheme of things. what's most important is getting the country moving in the right direction. but it is -- it is important. the longer gadhafi's at large

just as the longer saddam hussein was at large doubts were raised in the people's minds. is there a possibility he'll come back? what will happen? why can't this country find one person? it raises questions of competency, questions of who's going to be in charge? the right word is closure. it will bring an important closure and ability for the country to move on. mostly the people and the public trusting in who's leading them now. >> scott, let's talk about that other track which is the setting up of the new transitional national council and the new government. what is -- what do you believe from your expertise what have they done well so far and what's the biggest challenge facing them as we go forward? >> i think what they've done well is very early on had a very strong diplomatic outreach. they were in the eastern part of the country in the city of benghazi, but were receiving foreign visitors including u.s.

representatives throughout this fighting and formed relationships that they're going to make it much easier for them to do what they've done this week. go to paris and meet with world leaders and be seen as known quantities. that said, the tnc is a big group of people. there's fears about what kind of islamist influence might be among them. influence of islamist fighters who fought against the united states and afghanistan being part of some of the troops loyal to them. but i think they're off on the right track in terms of leaders people who are freezing up the assets, and knowing that the oil companies are coming in to demonstrate as much as possible consistency with those groups in terms of doing business in libya and respecting western governments. >> washington post white house reporter scott wilson. thanks e es for joining me. >> thank you, chris. and what political headlines will be making headlines in the next 24 hours?

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so, which political story will make headlines in the next 24 hours? msnbc contributor jonathan capehart is in an editorial writer for the "washington post" and the best-dressed man in washington. and johnthan, we are talking sarah palin -- >> wait, you left out one thing, your understudy in the next 24 segment, and this is great fun for me. we are talking about sarah palin and what on earth she is going to be saying in iowa at a tea party event. people are wondering what she is going to say there and whether she will give a nod as to whether she is jumping into the race for president or continuing to toy around with the idea. and then on sunday, mitt romney is going to be in new hampshire for a tea party event of his own and starting what first read put out on the calendar which is a jam-packed september. and then labor day is when it all happens. you have palin back on the scene

in new hampshire for a tea party event and then in south carolina, jim demint who is a tea party member in the senate and a very powerful person in the senate is going to have bachmann, cain, gingrich, ron paul, perry and romney all at his tea party forum there in south carolina. >> so, it is a political junkie's veritable dream, jonathan. >> yes. >> and is there, jonathan, i have a question -- >> yes. >> -- tomorrow, sarah palin, yes? no? maybe? any idea? i keep asking everybody on it. >> well, i have not talked to the anybody in the palin world, but i have been writing since april of 2010, she is not running for president, and she will not run for president. when you look at her through the prism of a star, she is phenomenal and we see how brilliant she is every time she pops up on the scene, but when you look at her through the political prism as everyone is talking the political fortunes are diminishing by the day. >> jonathan capehart, thank you

for joining me and keeping the next 24 seat warm. >> absolutely. >> i'm chris cillizza and that does it for this edition of the "andrea mitchell reports." next week on the show, 2012 republican candidate jon huntsman joins us live just hours before the msnbc politico debatet ta reagan library. michael smerconish is in for tamron hall with a look at "newsnation." michael? >> thank you, chris. in the next hour we are keeping an eye out for the stock market following that dismal jobs report. and can the president lay out a plan to turn it around? and tropical storm lee formed to the gulf of mexico and louisiana has already declared a state of emergency as the gulf coast braces for up to 20 inches of rain. "newsnation" is minutes away. ♪ in here, pets never get lost. ♪ in here, every continent fits in one room.

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