access? support for their causes? they're paying to get someone elected. why are they paying to get them elected? it's a question we have to ask again and again. we could get the money. it's not something we like the sound of. that's "hardball" for now. thanks for being with us. >> the "the ed show" starts right now. >> welcome to the "the ed show" i'm in for ed schultz. today in ohio, mitt romney took a poke at the president and the president responded with a thundering counter punch. this is "the ed show" and as ed would say, let's get to work. >> i don't believe that giving someone like mr. romney another huge tax cut is worth ending the guarantee of basic security that we have provided the elderly and sick and those actively working for work. >> the president lays out his vision for america and dismantels the romney approach. >> there's nothing new, just what bill clinton has called the

same ideas they have tried before except on steroids. >> the speeches today were epic. we will have the fallout. >> talk is cheap, action speaks very loud. the talk is cheap. >> talk may be cheap but political ads cost money, you'll not believe the new numbers from sheldon adelson and the koch brothers. and the country is still said to be waiting for our first black president. we will have the debate tonight. today in cleveland, ohio, the president took up the fight for a second term in a way he has never done before. he said that the election was going to be about the economy and challenged anyone who wanted to return to the failed policies of the past to vote for mitt romney. the president portrayed the election as a chance to break a stale mate. >> what is holding us back is a stale mate in washington between two fundamentally different

views of which direction america should take. your vote will finally determine the path that we take as a nation. not just tomorrow but for years to come. >> he did not dispute the economy is still in need of deep help. but he advanced the argument further. >> the debate in this election is not about whether we need to grow faster or whether we need to create more jobs, or whether we need to pay down our debt, the debate in the election is how we grow faster. and how we create more jobs and how we pay down our debt. >> the romney campaign anticipated the launch of the president's new speech, so the romney campaign bus circled and honked at the location of the president's speech according to cbs news, the childish act you would except from a high school bully. and in cincinnati, ohio, he

delivered his own speech. >> he has been president for three and a half years. and talk is cheap and if you want to see the results of his economic policies, look around ohio and the country and you'll see a lot of people are hurting and a lot of people have had tough times and the policies the president put in place did not make america create more jobs. >> of course, govern romney's claim about jobs is false. there's been 27 consecutive months of private sector job growth and while romney may have anticipated president obama's speech, the president anticipated romney's speech as well. president obama said that the represent plan was simple, more tax cuts for the richest americans. >> if you agree with the approach i just described, if you want to give the policies of the last decade another try then

you should vote for mr. romney. you should vote for his allies in congress. you should take them at their word and they will take america down this path. and mr. romney is qualified to deliver on that plan. >> govern romney tried to stress his love of job creators. >> i want to make america once again, the most attractive place in the world for job creators, and it's not just because i love job creators, it's because i love jobs. i want more good jobs for the american people and i want such good competition for workers that salaries and wages go up so people make more money, i want to help the middle class of america. >> president obama said top down economics had failed and that the middle class was the true engine of economic growth. >> i have a vision for america, you cannot bring down the debt without a strong and growing

economy. and you cannot have a strong and growing economy without a strong and growing middle class. [ applause ] >> this has to be our north star. >> romney trotted out a favorite of the republicans, a vow to the keystone pipeline. >> he we will get the approval for the pipeline from canada and if i have to build it myself we will get the oil to america. >> he also trotted out a long list of distorgzs, that the stimulus did not work and that it hurt the coal industry and job growth. the president answered all those things. he also answered a prediction about what the opponents will try to do. >> the other side will spend over a billion dollars on ads that will tell you the economy is bad and that it's all my fault. that i can't fix it because i think government is always the

answer or because i did not make a lot of money in the private sector and don't understand it or because i'm in over my head or because i think that everything and everyone is doing just fine. that is what the scary voice in the ads will say. >> that is what the scary voices are saying, if it's a stark choice between two competing visions of how to take america forward, the president still appears to have the public on his side. 3-1/2 years into the presidency 68% of americans say former president bush deserves a great deal of blame for the economy. get your cell phones out, i want to know what you think, whose vision is better for america. text a for president obama, and b for romney so 622639.

i'll bring you the resulting later in the show. brother stein welcome to the show. this was the president's new framing speech, did he move the argument forward to being in favor of his re-election? >> i think i has, but he has a list of things he wants to do to create jobs. the goal of the speech was not to break new ground, it was to try to get him and mr. romney on the same ground politically, there's an argument about what the country needs to do going forward. romney wants to focus on the past, and the obama campaign does not want to have that conversation, they want to talk about the choice for voters and that was the design of the speech, it was to address the progress made to this point and then to ask the question, well, what do we do now? and i think in that respect, the speech was relatively

successful. >> let's talk about choice, president obama stressed that he wanted a mandate to break the stale mate. let's listen. >> not by telling everyone to fend for themselves but by coming together as one american family, all of us pitching in and pulling our own weight, this november you can provide a mandate for the change we need right now. >> now, some were upset with that, that seemed like a successful device. >> in concept it is, but in practice i have to be skeptical, at one point in time in his presidency obama had 60 senators in the senate and the majority in the house of the representative, if there was ever a mandate, that was it. and for it, the country got a lot accomplished. whether it was good or bad is up to you. if he wins that republicans will

fall by the wayside is not true. the mandate is not going to be there. whether it changes obama's governing style is another question. >> how do you rate govern romney's approach, do you think a weak economy gives him a built in advantage? >> yeah, i think there's one premise that he is running and is that is that it's not worked. and to the extent that the economy suffers, he benefits. i'm not saying he is rooting for the economy suffering, but it does help him. if the economy starts to do better, then you'll see the improving poll numbers for obama. that is the nature of the election. three years out of an election, do you trust the path we are on. and he has a tough path to ride in a bad economy and romney has a easier path to ride. >> let's turn to a person who recently withstood a challenge to his own privilege.

govern scott said, he has to have a simple message of why we need to replace the current occupant and why we are better. has romney started to explain why more tax breaks and more regulations are a better plan? >> no, he has not, and that is the problem, there's so many gaps in the platform. i talked to people in the obama world all the time. and part of the process is to eliminate the process of resumes, they want to get on to the specifics of the policy. so, you know, going after bain was perhaps a strategic misstep, they want to say, this is bain, this is what he did in the past, this is what he has done as governor. they feel they can say, in is the romney's prescription for the country, and this is is obama's prescription. they feel that is a battle they

can win. >> thank you, so much. >> take care. >> remember to answer tonight's question at the bottom of the screen. and share your thoughts on twitter. we want to know what you think. the romney campaign is holding up john kasich as a poster boy for republican success, who gets the credit for the declining ohio employment rate. i'll tell you next, stay tuned. [ captain ] our landing time got moved back another hour. [ crowd chatters and groans ] ♪ [ male announcer ] hunger getting to you? ♪ grab a ritz crackerfuls. made with real cheese and whole grain. get hunger before it gets you.

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sending...and receiving. sending...and receiving. [ bob ] i got the tickets. [ male announcer ] and with citibank popmoney, it's even easier to keep sending...and receiving. let me get you back. no, it's on me. i insist. no way. yes way. well let me chip in. [ male announcer ] send money from one bank account to another, with citibank popmoney. easier banking. every step of the way. coming up, republicans try to convince voters in swing states that president obama's plans are not working, but ohio, virginia are benefitting the most from the policies. we will bring you the details. and the obama campaign makes an appeal to african american voters to stand by him, while a writer arguing that we are still waiting for our first black president. share your thoughts with us. we will be right back. tion puts you at 5 times greater risk of stroke.

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the key to a mitt romney victory is convincing americans that they are worse off today than they were four years ago. republicans are hoping that it resonates in swing states that will give one of the candidates the necessary votes. unemployment in ohio is nearly point below the national average and michigan was left for dead four years ago and unemployment has dropped from a high of 14.1% to 8.3% and virginia has one of

the lowest unemployment rates in the country at 5.6%. the romney campaigns answer to this is that all the states in question have republican govern ors. >> anything that has happened in ohio that certainly governor kasich has been helpful to encouraging business in ohio, and it just shows whether it's ohio or new jersey, or indiana, when you have republican governors who encourage business, things are better. >> so, if republican policies are encouraging economic growth in the states what is wrong with the others. nevada, new jersey, and florida, all states with republican governors above the unemployment rate. why aren't these states doing better? maybe it's because a state like virginia benefits from government jobs and military spending and states like michigan and ohio benefit from a industry that was revitalized by

government spending. >> is there not credit for the president there? >> david, david, look, the fact is we are thrilled with the auto jobs -- >> romney would not have bailed them out. romney would not have bailed them out. >> i'm not here to debate. >> it's a fact, is it not, governor, you said that the things that turned ohio around, and one of them was the auto bailout. >> if governors like kasich gave credit where credit was due, it would under mine a case that romney is putting out. >> does mitt romney have a problem going into states like ohio and michigan, and arguing that the economy is bad because, you know, you are pitching against the republican governors that are there and overlooking their work if you are trying make a larger argument about obama's failure. >> this is a big problem for romney, he had a lot of good news lately. obama did not have the greatest

month or last six weeks. because the auto bail outs were successful, they produced results, when they did, not just in michigan but in northern ohio, it changed the frame work there, it effected the employment rate and the psychology of the state. ohio will still be close. it often goes republican, obama does noot have -- does not have to have it but if he does, he is well on his way to the votes necessary. >> the romney campaign said that things are better in states with republican governors. so, when he makes that argument, when he comes up to saying that look, this is is what is going to happen as a result of the republican genius, how does he use it to his advantage? how does he say, i can give a plus to the republican governors and take a whack at obama? you have to figure out how that can occur.

>> i do in the think he is actually all that worried about the nuances of the appeals, his basic message is fire the guy. you know? are you better offer than you were four years ago, if not, fire obama. and his -- in some ways his task is easier than the presidents. he has to make a more complicated appeal and frame the issue in ways that take a little more skill. and that is what he started to try to do in the speech today, i don't think i he did it in -- i don't think he did it in a great way. the task for romney is easier, a lot of people are still hurting. that is what makes the challenge for the president so significant, the recovery has been anemic, even if those states. >> let's talk about that, you were not a fan of president obama's speech either, because you thought he droned on a bit, that he lost his central thread, that he weaved throughout the

speech. give us the insight on that. >> i thought on substance, in terms of teeing up the choice that the country faces, he was right. it's important to lay down a marker that this is what would happen to america if mitt romney were elected. but retoreically, it's a speech, it did not have enough lines that linger in the mind. you know, there are very few people that are watching during day, they are busy at work, if they are unemployed trying to find a job, so the way they absorb information in a campaign is through soundbites and this president, unfortunately is allergic to soundbites and today is a good example of how that hurt him. so everyone tonight should have the same message coming out of that speech, and they don't. they are all over the place. different news accounts pick up on different ideas. they should all be on the same thing if his message discipline

was what it needed to be. >> let's listen to a portion of the speech. >> recovering from the8 has bee business but it's not enough. our economy will not be truly healthy until we reverse that much longer and pro found erosion of middle class jobs and middle class incomes. >> tell us what bothered you about that messaging and secondly, given your idea of the speech as a device, people will say, i'm not getting in that, because what survives at the end of the day may not be a unified set of soundbites but the message got across? >> can you remember what he just said, was there a line that lingers even five seconds later? it was a okay soundbite. he had one soundbite that was

effective. it was when he said this election is about how to create jobs he used that word, "how" three or four times. it's a "how" election, there's a huge gap on how romney gets the jobs, through tax cuts and deregulation, which we tried before and it utterly failed and obama's version in the jobs bill which has more potential to help the middle class. that message needs to be framed in a way that resonated and that is what is lacking. >> all right, thank you so much. coming up, governor rick scott explains why poll workers thought he was dead and he got vote anyway, he thinks it's a funny story, we will tell you why minorities in the state are not laughing. and a new ad that is starting african american viewers, what does glenn beck think about that? we will tell you. those surprising little things she does

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welcome back, the guy in charge of the most controversial voter purge in u.s. history said he feels your pain but is going along with the purge anyway. he is leading the effort to get 180,000 potentially ineligible voters off the roles. he is suing the obama administration to get access to a database, the civil rights

groups are suing back to halt the purge, and he revealed on the radio today that he knows what is it is like to get knocked off the voter roles. back in 2006, they thought he was dead. >> a few years ago, when i went to vote, i had to vote provisionally, because they said i passed away. they did allow me to vote. >> he got to cast a ballot and it counted, nice for him, but what about him, this man got a notice he needed to provide his citizenship to the county. he was world war ii and was in the battle of the bulge, there are 2700 names on the purge list and 500 have turned out to the citizens and 140 might be

non-citizens, the state thinks that 50 people illegally cast a ballot, 50, and today the purge gained another champion. senator marco rubio. he is the highest ranking latino official in florida and a potential vp candidate for romney. he supports the purge despite that evidence that latinos are getting targeted. 61% are targets of the purge. senator rubio said today, that i would not characterize it as an effort to purge latinos from the voting roles, it's just a debate about tactics and i'm not familiar with all the waps of how the practice -- of all the ways the program is being put in place. if there's a better way, we should consider. that he is supports the purge he is not sure how it works in his own state. i'm joined by our guest today.

so, ari, is the florida voting purge simply about endorsing or enforcing the law or is this, you know, is there something else to it, something beneath the surface that we are not seeing. >> no, gop election officials have set it's partisan posturing, it's an effort to take people of color off of the voting roles who would support president obama in 2012, and it's an effort to suppress the democratic vote. he has done it since day one, since taking office. this is part of a broader national strategy by republicans to make it harder for obama voters and democratic voters to vote in the election. >> there have been early voting restrictions and he was obsessed with black men with criminal records, why is he so obsessed

with it? >> the first thing that rick scott did is disenfranchise ex-felons that were able to vote, then he made it harder for people to register to vote, for groups of rock the vote to register the voters and he cut short early voting periods. these are things that young voters and minority voters use more than white voters do. they are more likely to register through voter registration drives and more likely to vote early, including on the sunday before the election, when black churches mobilize their constituents. it's no secret what they are doing. they are using the strategies that were used in 2008, and they are blocking them. >> michigan senator is going to sign voter legislation that will result in voter i.d. laws and because of that protests are touched off in the state house, some say it's an attempt of

voter suppression, what do you think, is it the same thing? >> it's the same trend that we saw nationally, the states that flipped from blue to red, the republicans turned around and made it harder for those obama voters to vote. michigan was one of the last hold outs and now they are joining the band wagon. they are making three things, 1, you need a photo i.d., many people do not have those i.d., overwhelmingly the people of color. and they are requiring, making it harder for the league of women voters and others to register voters and they are saying you have to check a box that says you are a u.s. citizen and if you forget to do that your vote may not count. >> it's thinly vailed, can they

get away with it do you think that snyders practice will ultimately be successful? >> well they have a large majority there, there's question whether they have the 2/3 majority that they need there, but snyder has been a very controversial governor, he has gotten around regular order in terms of how he is governoring to push other controversial legislation through. they are trying to do the same thing here, i think it will be challenged, and in the courts and in the court of public opinion, there could be push back, there's not a lot of time between now and election day, so the push back has to tart right now, or -- has to start right now. >> thank you for joining us. >> thank you for having me. >> there's more coming up in the next half hour on the ed show. >> i'm a decision maker, you have to come up and make decisions, you have to have the courage of your own convictions. >> sheldon adelson is a citizen united against barack obama, he may be willing to spend nine figures to defeat the president, that report is next.

>> we have to show the president. we have his back. ♪ >> the obama campaign is reaching out to the black community with a new ad, and the right wing is going crazy over it. >> we are not sure who is paying the backup singers. >> i never heard anything like that, bill. >> and a professor is saying we are still waiting for our first black president. that debate is ahead. an accident doesn't have to slow you down. with better car replacement, if your car is totaled, we give you the money for a car one model year newer. liberty mutual auto insurance. recently, students from 31 countries took part in a science test. the top academic performers surprised some people. so did the country that came in 17th place. let's raise the bar and elevate our academic standards.

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obama talking about the ruling of citizens united. the money has been flowing. in recent days he sheldon adelson and his wife donated a staggering ten million to the pro romney super pac, restore our future, they have given a total of $35 million during the 2012 campaign season. he and his wife are worth a cool $25 billion. and that $35 million they have spent so far is just the tip of the iceberg, according to forbes magazine, he said that he will do whatever it takes to defeat president obama and further donations will be limitless and he said that his spending could reach $100 million this election season, the reason he has waged a financial assault on the

president is he believes the president is weak on the economy. he said what scares me is the socialist style economy that we have been dealing with for four years, but the socialist style economy has been very, very good for adelson. he has made $21 billion under the obama administration, that is more than any other american, including facebook pioneer mark zuckerberg. let's bring in keith vogel and ken, i tell you what, if i made that much money under obama, i would be singing his praises so what impact will his money have? >> it's the tip of the iceberg and we will not know the full extent of his giving because he has suggested recently in a interview with a las vegas reporter that he would likely shift the bulk of his giving to

the undisclosed groups, those that are registered under 501 c 4 that allow unlimited donations and do not have to be disclosed and be used in much the same way as disclosed donations to super pacs and those undisclosed donations to these groups is a direct impact of citizens united. the super pacs are more related and caused by another lower court decision that followed citizen's united called "speech now," either way, sheldon adelson and his ilk are taking full advantage of the court decisions. >> the amount of money is leaving the president struggling to keep up. restour our future has raised $56 million, but priorities usa action has raced only $10 million. few democrats are willing to write big checks because thery t

a are, opposed to them in the first place. is the president going to have to say we have to adjust to where the opposition is? >> i'm not sure there's a way around it. when it comes to the super pac money race, to be honest, democrats will lose. republicans have an incredible advantage, they have billionaires in their pockets, if you will, who are ready to spend $100 million, i do not see anyone on the liberal or progressive side with the resources willing to do the same, until that happens we will lose it. what you just have to do is you have to be more aggressive in terms of your message and your operation and these key battlegrounds, but it's really tough, i think, to be honest about what the impact of the super pacs are or will be because we never dealt with it before. >> who would have thought it that obama who raised a record amount of money last time around is now the underdog? >> and if i could add, michael, it's not just that these democrats are opposed to citizens united and the lower

court decisions and the impact that you know, the deluge of the spending that is going on, it's also because the last time they invested this type of money is in 2004, when they tried to defeat president bush, that was unsuccessful, left a bad taste in their mouths. additionally, some of the folks who are the big donors that gave to those efforts in 2004 are not too excited about president obama, in some cases they do not feel he has been sufficiently aggressive on their issues and it's easier to motivate donors generally when you have an incumbent who you are opposed to as opposed to one you want re-elected. >> speaking of the incumbent that you are opposed to, what about the scary voices part of obama's speech, that was sinster talking about these are the voices you'll hear, what about the effectiveness of that to gin

up interest on his side? >> part of the problem for democrats right now in the fundraising side is the small dollar donors that you referenced that fueled president obama's rise and candidacy, they are still there but they are not the powerhouse that we expected them to be. i think what those small dollar donors have got to realize, i think the choices here, you'll see a barrage not just in first tier battleground states. i'm more concerned about second tier battleground states, places like michigan and wisconsin that are not getting the attention yet. but where the super pacs can go in and spend whatever the money is, and there's nobody competing with them, that is where the super pacs can have significant impact and that is where i think that democrat i cic donors and r pac s have to step up their

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. >> up next the obama campaign makes an appeal to the african american community with a new radio ad, we have the tape and the reaction from the right wing and in "the big finish" are we still waiting for the country's first african american president? we will be right back. to use legalzoom for important legal documents. so start your business, protect your family, launch your dreams. at legalzoom.com, we put the law on your side.

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with the presidential campaign heating up, the obama team has released the first national add aimed at african americans, here is part of it. >> we have to show the president we have his back. ♪ we can't afford to spend the next four years going backwards. i'm running to make sure that by the end of the decade, more of our citizens hold a college degree than any other nation on

earth. >> we have got your back. >> excitement remains high for the president in the black community. the president has a sky high job approval rating and easily beats mitt romney in a head to head matchup. but not everyone thinks that the african american community should be singing the president's praises? >> isn't the president the guy that is supposed to be that he is watching our liberty and our life, so nobody comes and kills our family and kills us and scoop us up off the street in the middle of the night. he is not doing either of those things. >> he is one of those scary voices. he goes on to warn about the dangerous message that he is promising. >> listen to the things he is promising. a real leader doesn't snare you

in and suck you in and say, depend on me, depend on me, a leader says you are better than this. you can strive. >> that is the difference between you and me and barack obama, he is a big government guy -- >> come on, say the n word. >> i'm going continue to give you more stuff. >> say it, he is a marxist. >> coming up, one black scholar said we are still waiting for the next african american president. tonight in our survey, i asked you whose economic vision is better for america, stay tuned, you are watching "the ed show" on msnbc.

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if we have more black men in prison, than in our colleges, and universities, than it's time to take the bullet out. if we keep sending our kids to crumbling school buildings and keep fighting the war in iraq, a war that never have been authorized and waged, it's time to take that bullet out. >> that was then presidential candidate barack obama in 2007, referencing a story in which a young woman and her baby survived being shot, the baby was marked with a scar. now according to an african

american scholar, he said that the president has all been abandon the black community, he writes that the president has -- fearing that publically raising issues will under mine the president in the eyes of white voters he has struck a pack with black voters. he has gone out of his way to lift up other minorities, we have accepted his silence on attention to interests to us. let's turn to frederick harris. political science professor and author of those words. and james peterson, director of african american studies and

director of english studies. knowing what obama is up against, the president is up against, in terms of the racial climate, that makes it very curious for him to raise a racial issue, what in that climate do you think was necessary to do to more directly address the issues of african american people? >> i'm fully aware that he is in a double bind, he is working in a nasty environment, but there's something that we have to pay attention to, there's always going to be people out there, they are always periods in history where the right wing, where conservative forces have oppos opposed racial reform. i think we need to recognize that there are issues that need to be raised in black communities, no matter who is in the white house. >> professor peterson, do you agree with this?

do you think that president obama's racial situation on the ground, notwithstanding that he still has to address specifically and creatively, the interest of and concerns of the african american people or is the professor off base here? >> it's a very complicated situation that we are dealing with here and i think there's a big difference between professor harris' washington post piece and the book that the piece comes from. i mean, clearly this president is confronted with a serious set of complex issues. can we rehearse the things he has done for black folk, he has got a nice list of things here including $3 billion for the minority business development agency and $2.5 million to hbcus, and the affordable health care act covers more african americans, he has done some things that are important and powerful for the african american community and then in the context of which the things that you are talking about,

where every racial move that he makes is a political football for the opponents, it puts in to bold relief the things he has done for the african american community are significant at this point in time. >> if you say on the one hand, you have all these programs professor peterson just talked about, have benefitted the african americans without targeting them specifically, but you cannot discount the fact that if he mentions racial -- trayvon martin or skip gates and the cop that mishandled him, that there's a racial climate, how do we ballot and talk about the issues and at the same time understand the fix here? >> it's tricky. and then they are policy analysts who are coming up with this eye of target universalism. you target social possibles in communities that are impacted mostly by unemployment, and by

high levels of poverty, so there needs to be a rethink of what works. so by this targeted universalism, it recognizes the racial dial nynamics of those communities. >> right, but prefer peterson, see in your article, let's play a little bully pulpit here and get more into it. that was not the tone of your article, your article, we are waiting for the first black president, he is not it, and he is leaving us behind, but you are saying he should be stronger in that and your argument is that professor harris is naive, is there a way to talk about both sides? >> i think we have to separate the post piece from the book. which i've been working my way through over the last couple of days. the title of the post piece is

what i think is most offensive, but i think that professor harris is justifying that. i'm not saying he is not black, he is saying he wants to call into question that he has a dycotomy here. it's a fair way of framing it. but i think it's somewhat outdated, right? because we have to move not just towards a targeted universalism, but we have to do a bit of both, we need some coalitions, we need coalitions with the latino community on a number of issues, like voter registration, so we need a more complex set of way of talking and thinking about these things. we are reluctant to give this president his due for the things he has done, that is why i wanted to run down the list, it's not like he has not accomplished nothing for the black community. but we are in a political

environment where we are much more racially charged than we think we are. >> let me ask professor harris. are you giving him his due? or do you think he does not deserve it? >> i think some of the things that he mentioned have been mentioned, i think they are important, but they are not major accomplishments. particularly -- >> so you think he has failed us? >> no, i'll give him a c plus or b minus, i want people to go back and look specifically at the major criminal justice reforms that the president proposed at this speech at howard university in 2007, it was a major bold proposal he put on the table. a federal level racial profiling law. i don't think that the president was -- was -- >> we are going to have to, we are out of time right now, we have to bring peterson and harris back on, sounds like a