f her life living with me. it was still a struggle to take care of all my mom's bills. we were able to do it no complaint, it was an honor, but you know what it did? we had to lie to my mom and tell her, no honey, this is all covered by your medicare and this is all covered by the sale of your home, which it wasn't. do you know any parent who wants to be a burden for their children? do you know anybody? >> this debate is here to stay. it looks like the president is winning, even with a week-long romney/ryan offensive, it's president obama topping the issue with medicare with swing state voters. the new polls taken before missouri republican put the republican party in the center of a firestorm, a controversy the president weighed in on once again last night. while the president's campaign is delivering a new ad featuring the democrat ecparty as not so secret weapon. take a look. >> this election to me is about which candidate is more likely

to return us to full employment. this is a clear choice. >> in just a few minutes i'm going to be joined by peter brown, assistant director of the quinnipiac center to dive deeper into the numbers. nia malika henderson is here chris cofin analysis j.p. frers, and it's great to have you all three here. chris, i want to start with you. first, president obama stirring theport over akin last night, saying quote, this is an individual who sits on the house committee on science and technology, but somehow missed science clack, but its representative of a desire to go backward instead of forward and to fight fights we thought were settled 20 or 30 years ago. chris, how long do you think democrats can ride the akin issue as we ramp up to the convention and beyond? >> well i don't see it so much

as the akin issue, as kind of the difference -- the fundamental difference between republicans and democrats on women's issues. i think on that you have to hammer that point in whether you're talking about education or whether you're talking about planned parenthood funding or talking about choice. what akin does is provide a much more emotional argument and, you know his remarks, you know they're so outrageous that i think he aliens yates mott rats and independents clearly even members of his own party. so i think you keep highlighting it until either the republicans force him out or -- i'm not sure when it stops. >> akin saying he's not going anywhere anytime soon. j.p. was asked about his own pro-life record. i want everybody to take a listen. >> i'm proud of my record. mitt romney is going to be the president and the president sets policy. his policy has exceptions for rape incest and life of the

mother. i'm comfortable with it it's a good step in the right direction. >> he can't dodge these questions forever. he'll need to explain what he meant. they have sponsored a multitude of bills in their dozen years together, being congressman on the hill and also the issue of what they were trying to do in redefining rape. isn't that something he needs to just own up on? he says he doesn't want to duck the big issues. >> well i think that -- we're talking about it right now, as chris points out, this is an issue of great concern to women, but i think trying to define women's issues as being strictly about being pro-choice versus pro-life, being about, you know how we define rape all these things are sort of just trying to narrow down on a certain bunch of issues when a wider range of issues are women's issues, jobs economy, small business owners these also affect women. when we're trying to pigeonhole paul ryan into talking more and more about rape we're getting

away from the issues defines this election. it's not a dodge, it's not because i don't want to talk about abortion. i'm pro-life but, you know the issues defining this election don't have anything to do with what we're talking about now. >> you think we need to pivot on this issue and hit paul ryan on the fact that he voted against the lily ledbetter act? >> he's willing to allow exceptions in the case of rape and incent and life of the mother. that's a perfectly reasonable stance. >> but he wasn't -- that wasn't his stance. his stance has never been an exception for any case. he's saying because mitt romney believes they can make an exception in a case of rape, he good go and defer to mitt romney being at the top of the ticket. >> what i'm saying is that the majority of people who are pro-life understand it's an incrementalist movement. as you get further into the issue and try to remove

exemptions for abortion policy you're going to lose a lot of people. so people are willing to xrol on this sort of thing. >> nia malika out with a new ad in which she is mentioning todd akin. take a look at this. >> have you heard this? a republican running for u.s. senate in missouri actually said a woman who is raped won't get pregnant. listen. >> if it's a legitimate rape the female body has a way to shoot that down. >> this can't be happening in 2012 right? >> do you think this issue is going to go viral, keep spreading to republicans in state races across the country where, you know like clair mccaskill it wasn't going to be so easy, now things are tighter. >> of course scott brown was one of the first republicans to come out and call for akin to get out of this race but i think whether or not akin gets out of this race it will continue to

be an issue. as much as reps or even democrats want to say, well these issues aren't front and center for american voters, it's really about the economy, i think this is a campaign that would be about medicare about abortion, about education. if you look at those polls, in many ways obama has sort of fought this thing to a draw in terms of the economy. so now all of these cultural issues are rearing their heads. kell can see from romney's campaign as well they want to talk about some of these issues -- identity politics guns and religion so i think this idea that it's just going to be about the economy, it's proven that that's not really going to be the case. i think for adin it's such a visceral comment that he made such a memorable thing, even if he gets out of the this race even if people can identify him as a missouri candidate, they will identify him with the rep party. i think democrats will try to mar the republican brand, and you'll see that over and over again, and when the democrats

pick up their convention in september. >> one thing that's getting a lot of play today is the new obama ad featuring president bill clinton. take a look at this. >> president obama has a plan to rebuilt america from the ground up investing in innovation education and job training. it only works if there is a strong middle class. that's what happened when i was president. we had need to keep going with his plan. >> so the president looking good there. i want to ask you about this because while the republicans are kind of on their heels on social issues and the republicans would like to be talking about the economy now, we have president clinton coming out and reminding people what it was like and the fact that he supports president obama, and maybe after the president gets reelected, the people on the hill will take their fingers off the throats of the american economy and let things bubble up over the next four years. >> listen you watch that ad you come to one conclusion --

he's still got it. he's good at communicating not just a message, but kind of tapping into what elections are about. elections are about whether it's a reelection campaign or not, they're always about tomorrow. when you hear that ad what you not only hear is an incredible afternoon, bur you're a vision for the future something you cannot really heard of any substance. i think this is a really powerful message. you will see president clinton out there a lot, but forget about him saying it. it's the word that are more powerful. >> he's a pretty darn good messenger. >> thank you. thank you all. nine states have the power to decide this year's presidential election new polls showing mitt romney narrowing 9 gap on two of them holding steady in a third, the state of ohio joining me now as promised

is peter brown, the assistant director of the quinnipiac polls institute. your poll was taken largely before the todd akin -- it wasn't good news for mitt romney on the subject of medicare. the president has the advantage on medicare and while paul ryan has said this is a debate they encourage, they think they can win, when we look at what the voters field in these three states, they field that qualified -- the voters that are qualified for medicare that this was extremely important, correct? >> yes, we found several things. quinn pillia and the times and cbs news found that voters think the large amount of money we spend on medicare is well worth it. that's number one. they prefer the current model over any changes, but what is interesting is that 1 in 10 said she would go for major changes to help the budget problem, and another 5 in 10 roughly said

they would go to minor changes. those are undefined, minor and major, but in that way, there is some room that might be interpreted by the republicans as an opportunity to talk about what they want to do to medicare. >> all right. so mid romney has also closed in on the president in the southern state of florida, as we know florida is going to be the host in tampa to the gop convention coming up. let's talk more though about the senior population because your poll also shows people in florida favoring the president on medicare. if that is the case thoughs peopler, why isn't the president doing better as a whole in the state of florida. >> because florida is a state slightly redder than the rest of the country. if the country is in a dead heat or the president has a small lead which you know nationally which appears to be the case florida is a little more republican than the country. the fact is if the president is up three or four nationally as he is in some polls nationally there's two in florida. that's generally that kind of differential. four years ago the president won

florida more narrowly than the rest of the country. what you see is a gradation. look at the national numbers. in some states you can see to the left or to the right of the country. florida is to the right of the country. if the president is ahead three or four nationally being ahead in florida, that kind of makes sense. >> so as we always say, the road to pennsylvania avenue always has to go through ohio. as we look at the numbers for the buckeye state, the numbers are unchanged with the president maintaining his advantage. what do you think is helping the president keep the edge in ohio? >> ironically what's helping the president keep the edge is the ohio economy. ohio's unemployment rate is 7.2% last time i checked. that's a full point better than the national average. here's a question for your readers. which was the last time the unemployment rate in ohio was a point better than the unemployment rate. it's been decades, so in ohio

it's more different for romney and the republicans to use the idea that the economy's in bad shape because of the president's policies. in ohio the republicans say it's in good shape because of the governor john kasich who happens to republican. whether or not that's true voters in ohio are less upset about the economy, because their economy is doing better than most of the rest of the country. >> and most of it is tied to the auto bailout. >> it's two things the auto bailout and the energy development. there's controversy about fracking, but that's -- that's a growth in jobs to ohio also. there's aung irony here. john kasich whose numbers used to be really bad in ohio as governor, is now in pretty good shape, and in good shape, because voters think he has done a good job, and that economy is helping the president of the united states get reelected. >> peter brown of the quinnipiac, thank you, sir. appreciate it. >> my pleasure. republicans are not the only

ones heading to tampa. tropical storm isaac barreling down, going right into the gulf of mexico. bill karins says there's no way tampa is not going to get hit. plus the cdc say it could be the worst outbreak ever see of the west nile virus. over 1100 cases all across the map. what you need to know to protect yourself, straight ahead. plus things are getting hot for prince harry, the third in line has some explaining to do about his naked antics in vegas, and not just to his grandma, the queen. yeah, he had a good time. have you seen the pictures? do you think that harry has embarrassed the royal family or was he just being harry? tweet me on that. let's talk about it. ♪ [ male announcer ] introducing new dentyne split to fit pack. it splits in to two smaller sleeker packs that fit almost anywhere so you can take them everywhere. dentyne split to fit. practice safe breath. whoa, look at all those toys. insuring

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new update this hour on tropical storm isaac gaining strength in the caribbean. the projected path has this straight for southern florida. with tampa in its sights florida governor rick scott has activated a state of emergency. >> isaac is a unique storm in this regard. it has the po tinkally to threaten a -- >> a lot of eyes on this to figure it out. joining me bill karins. something you said on "the daily rundown" is now front page on the huffington post that they'll have a hit. >> will tampa get the direct brunt? but i can't see any scenario where they don't get some rain some wind in the outer bands. all the models are in pretty good agreement monday night and tuesday morning would be the

areas at most risk. let me give you the breakdown. the national hurricanes center has a new forecast. this was an 11:00 a.m. the next one will be 5:00 p.m. east coast time. the storm itself pretty weak. it's a huge storm, but as far as east to west north to south, but it's not as intense yet. so as far as what the forecast is it has to goefr haiti, the mountainous areas of cuba and come off the coast sometime sunday. that will be the critical time. where will the storm come off the cube ooh and at what intensity form the water temperatures are boiling warm over the florida. it's not where you want to see a storm. as far as the specifics,atetty s s thatt inc d atyme enseec has e, it's slightly shifted west. >> they need contingency plans, and i think we do for "morning

joe." we're supposed to have an outdoor bar. >> the convinceention center is down by the water. >> thank you, bill. tampa's mayor is going to talk about the contingency plans on "news nation" with tamron hall. . two more deaths are being reported in texas. if confirmed that would be the toll to 38. and at least 41 have died. 47 states in all have seen the virus show up in people birds or mosquitos, and houston has become the second big texas city to begin spraying insecticides. we have an expert from the university hospital case medical center in cleveland. good to have you with us doctor. a lot of people are paying

attention to this as we've been saying, this is the worst we have ever seen in this country. human cases have been reported in 38 states. explain why we are seeing such severity this year around? what do you think is driving this? >> i don't understand we understand exactly why this year has been such an aggressive year. we've only seen this virus in our country now for about ten years, though so we still don't have a lot of understanding of exactly how this virus spreads, what makes it worse, what makes it better. but certainly based on the numbers where we have seen to this point in august this is going to be a very, very severe year for west nile virus, and may be one of the worst years we have ever seen. why? a lot of people think it may be because of the very dry and mild winter we had, followed by a very dry and mild -- i'm sorry -- a very hot summer. it would be those kinds of weather effects that have caused this to be much more aggressive.

>> 80% of these infected will not show symptoms. what are the warnings signs? i want i actually think that's a good thing. the vast majority of people who get infected with this virus will not have any disease whatsoever. that's a reassuring thing from a physician's standpoint. no fevers, no headaches. 80% of the people, no problems whatsoever. in the remainder, of the people who do have disease, their disease is not severe. it's still, you know -- it still can be tough. they can have fevers very, very bad body aches, but it's in a small percentage of people less than 1% who will actually develop severe disease where the brain itself becomes affected. >> so the peak season though for west nile estimated from mid-august through september. the cases have skyrocketed just

60% in the last week. what should we expect in the coming month? >> we're going to expect it to go up. based on the trajectory we have seen thus far it will go up very, very high. there's a delay when people get infected to when they develop disease, and then come to the point where they're actually reported to the state health departments and the federal and things like that. so there's going to be a two-week delay. so every week from here through september we'll see more and more cases go up and up and up. >> doctor appreciate you taking the time out. >> very good to talk to you, thomas. a lost decade for the middle class. ten years gone by nothing to show for it. we're going to explain more about that, the shrinking middle class. what happens in vegas doesn't always stay in vegas. just ask prince harry. he's back home trying to explain his new photo flap, and not just to the queen. you may be muddling through allergies.

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okay. so that song is a perfect segue into our next story. followed by a game of naked billiards, landing pretty harry in hot water. both the queen and the british military left red-faced over a sin city romp in which the redheaded royal was captured in a series of photos so racy not even the mousse muck raking of british tabs will run them. still headlines about the scandal are all over london. >> you know, if he's having a private party in his private suite, room or whatever he can do what he wants to do. not to know that some of his friends are going to stab him in the back. >> i think a bit immature and kind of giving the royal family a bad image. >> i think he knows the status he has and what he needs to represent, so it would be a bit

careless. >> journalist and royal watcher neal joins us. there's serious questions not about the embarrassment but the leak has created, but also about the security risk of what it all means. how is the royal family and the military that he works for reacting to this? >> thomas it's not playing out very well over here. i love the way you described our to be bloid as muck raking. really the reason we've been quiet is the hacking scandal we're too frightened to do anything, but the pictures have filtered through, on a more serious note it may seem high jinks, but given the fact this coming monday is the second instatute of the paralympics in london, he's the ambassador appearing every day, you can imagine the chants from the

stands, can't you? >> this all started easily enough. the race again the american olympian ryan lochte. then it transgressed into this private billiards naked thingamabob in the hotel room. people have done all kinds of crazy things in vegas, they deserve their own privacy in this, but has harry learned a valuable lesson? the praise accused ed -- paparazzi are they learning they'll be fair game as adults in the representation and sometimes the bad press they'll bring to the royal family? a bit of inside having met prince harry myself he's not the brightest bulb in the box, very trusting of people instantly. if you look at the pictures around him, he thinks he's with

friends. look at the eyes of the girls around him. they can't quite believe the look. he's thinking he's popular, because he is nice gentle guy, very trusting of people. he's realized once again he's put himself in a grave situation, because people are thinking he's just the playboy prince. a couple weeks ago we kind of loved him. right now it's gone a bit down. >> those friends really suck those people suck they shouldn't have done that, and i this were think karma is a real you-know-what. thank you, neal. the platform but not mitt romney's platform. is the party having an identity crisis? ron reagan joins me. muss how the president views the election contest in basketball terms. [ male announcer ] 6 years old. then 7. going on 11. in the blink of an eye they're all grown

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he'll outline his plan to make american more energy independent drilling offshore is a major part of that plan and something that t. boone pickens simply doesn't agree with. >> they miss the mark 'they talk about is oil. drill, baby drill. >> yeah. >> they don't mention natural gas, it's all about oil. >> i know he has talked about this in the past on the stimp. >> you make a good point. he's hammered away but rarely does he do it with a lot of detail. it is, of course a big aplains line. one effort he says is critical

but less's brack it down. the romney plan would give states more power, more control to the states over developing energy resources on the federal lands within their borders. he would open more offshore drilling, which could be popular in swing states a sort of jobs perhaps not as much as florida. that's a place where it's often you viewer some of the other components especially it's emphasis on drilling saying i think the quote is we will never reed energy dependants. and better auto mileage, to be fair it does pay very little attention to renewable feels. thomas? >> peter alexander, great to see you, thank you. so is the republican party in the middle of an identity crisis? with less than a week before

they gather for their convention? todd akin and his comment on abortion, rape and pregnancy, have put the spotlight on an ideological split between the party and its current standard bearer. joining me is ron reagan. it's good to have you here. the official platform as we all know, was approved ahead of next week's rnc, calling no a ban on abortions. this is no different than what platform in '04 and '08. we do have mitt romney speaking this week to affiliate wcmh about his own platform and the differences. take a listen. i'm made it clear i am pro-life but i believe there should be exceptions. >> ron, i bring up the fact this is the same platform as '04 and '08. here we are in 2012 mitt romney doing the same thing.

supported by the sponsorship/co-sponsorship of legislation during thinks time as congressman, but what is your take of this chasm that remains between the candidate and the party that we have seen over and over again. >> you're right about the -- as the platform on abortion the plank on abortion that never did have an exception for rape or incest, because they assumed the no exception people let's call them the todd akins were really a fringe elements in the republican party, but the republican parties has created a monsz terr. over the last decades it has fomented propagated encouraged up and downered to ignorance. this ignorant monster has reared its ugly head and decided it wants to play around in the laboratory, too. so the news about todd akins and

his miss tieria views, and the ability to somehow murder rape sperm, the things about todd akin is he's not the exception. paul ryan believes the same thing and he's the vice presidential candidate. you can no longer ignore the republican plank and their platform that says no exception for rape or incest because they have a vice presidential candidate who thinking the same thing. >> as you point out with his platform including cuts to medicare and no exceptions and romney's platform saying -- is this confusing for conservatives who want to listen to what they're saying, but feel confused about what their brand really is? >> they ought to be confused. is it the romney or ryan party? those are not the same party, but let me ask you, how often does paul ryan capitulate to the

more progressive-minded people versus how on which does mitt romney capitulate to the ignorant far right. what sort of stance would he take, would he pander to the far right or stick to his guns which he never hat? remember he used to be pro-choice. >> ron railing, as always great to see you, thank you for taking the time for me. now we're getting a new look at the impact of the great recession. minus what they owe shrink from $130,000 in just 2001 to $93,000 in 2010. with the middle class wealth shrinking, no surprise the fight for the middle classes

front and center on the campaign trail. >> but the fact is that everything you have done has focused on how we rebuild the strong middle class. >> families struggling in some respects as they have never before. >> this is a make or break moment for the middle class. >> joe biden said the middle classes in the midst of a recovery. >> jared bernstein, the former chief economic adviser to vice president joe biden. jared, great to have you here but when we think about that and all things being fair how is that possible, occurring the fall of the middle class and its wealth? >> it's a fair question. i think you have to look over the decades of the 2000s. i think one of the things the pugh study focused on is that

that was the first decade in the post world war ii history where middle class incomes, or middle-class net worth, as you showed actually did work even though middle-class incomes haven't been growing as quickly in that period they tended to end up higher at the end of a cycle expansion than at the beginning. that was not the case. then in the 2000 expanding, then of course you hit the great recession, massive losses in particularly housing wealth which is the key component of the middle-class kind of wealth portfolio, and that's how you get that result. so i think what that poll result you cite suggests is that people view president obama's policies as more convivial to the middle class kind of in normal times. while mitt romney is more societied with helps mitt rom in any. >> everybody looks to the president for leadership but how much is congress big banks,

how much are they to blame? >> interestingly the poll we are discussing here put a large part of the blame on congress and then slightly smaller part on the banks. so people do tag congress and the banks. i think right now congress in particular with its -- is clearly not doing anything to help i'm talking about the fiscal cliff. actually if you dig deeper what's really going on here was a uniquely tough labor market for middle-imcome people they just didn't get the opportunities they had in earlier periods. remember these folks don't depend on tax-favored stock dividends and, you know their portfolio returns. they depend on their paychecks. right. they don't live off capital gains. >> exactly. >> do you think if the president gets reelectioned things will open up.

there's been a chokehold, the example of the grand bargain failing last year in terms of the american economy and our budget? >> i think it depends a lot on the congress. it's hard for me to imagine that gridlock magically disappears if the divisions kind of in place right now remain in place next year. it will be tough to achieve, for example, a sustainable fiscal path if congress continues, particularly republicans, who find a pledge to block any new revenues in a deal. we'll have to see how that plays out. >> jared bernstein, thank you, sir. appreciate it. coming up a firsthand account of the raid that killed osama bin laden by a former member of s.e.a.l. team 6 now incog anio. 2,000 americans killed in afghanistan, but there's not much talk about it anymore? why not? we want to talk about to you about it. left a comment on my facebook page or just like it you'll find it on facebook.

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all right. so we have this just in from pete williams law enforcement is warning that extremists from antigovernment anarchist groups will try to use violence with the aim of disrupting both political conventions. first up next week in tampa, then the week after in charlotte. back in march, a group from new york was planning to go to florida, hoping to close all the area bridges. the bulletin does not mention isaac, but as we see here the bad weather could deter these groups. we'll keep an eye on this and we'll get back to it when we learn more. that's how the u.s. commander in afghanistan is describing efforts by u.s. and coalition force toss crush insurgency in the region but it's coming at a cost. a recent spike in green on blue attacks against u.s. forces one he believes may be related

muslims who observe it. the idea that they will fast during the day plays great strain on them. for this year it was square in the middle of the fighting season. >> that violence marking a somber milestony, the u.s. death show tops 2000. with 80 thousands still fighting on on the ground. joining us live is atiya abawi. give us a wide-screen perspective, the issue as it relates to the war right now. >> they'll still you they're right on track. and are continuing to work --

handing off where they're in the lead, and they expect the whole country will be passed to an afghan lead in 2013 giving them a full year and a half possibly to monitor the progress big made but there's no doubt and no one's denying there's a long -- the taliban themselves say they will continue to fight. the taliban themselves think that they are actually the ones with the winning hand. they insider attacks now bring even a new challenge to u.s. and nato forces here at least 40 fatalities this year by afghan service members turning on their coalition partners a drastic increase from just a few years ago, back in 2007 and 2008 there were only four such incidents and four such fatalities, so lfbly the insider attacks beinging more of a threat to u.s. and nato coalition members here. it has many people wondering

what the next few years will hold. >> atia thank you. generalsh pundits on both of left and right, political observers, have been noticing there's been a lack of intelligent conversation about what's taking place with our military service members, or national interest in afghanistan. take a listen to both sides on the trail. >> i expect the president of the united states to address the nation on a regular basis and explain what's happening, why they're there, what the mission is what the purpose is other presidents have done this. we haven't heard this president do this. >> in the long term we will see fewer u.s. casualties and coalition casualties casualties by sticking to our transition plan and making sure we have the most effective afghan security force possible. but we have to do it in a way that doesn't leave our guys vulnerable. >> general, just to remind everybody, the death toll now, u.s. troops lost over 2,000, just 10 killed in the past 2

weeks and we're still 2 years from getting out of this country. what happens between now and then and the american appetite to even learn and be informed about what's taking place in afghanistan? >> well, we're in a very trickty position obviously. i mean the numbers, remember are 20,000 u.s. killed and wounded. 85,000 u.s. troops we're 800 miles from the ocean. we're in a strategic withdrawal under pressure. we're doing it in an atmosphere in which the american people have written this war off. two- two-thirds of them do not support it. it's been running us $10 billion a month. so i think that the president is in trouble on this position. by the way, the whole notion that we'll transition and leave a successful operative state seems increasingly unlikely. these green-on-blue attacks were not caused by ramadan hunger for god sakes.

we're taking about growing animosity, certainly among the poshtun. >> we have to go we're going to get this report in from pete williams in d.c. but when we talk about the troops that are still there, what's the message that's being sent to them? as you say, that america has lost its appetite for this war? >> well i think they're all keenly aware of it. they're enormously professional. thank got the u.s. marine corps, army infantry special operation, the air power over afghanistan, without which we'd be suffering incredible casualty. so i think the troops understand what's going on here. they have to close this out as effectively as they can. thankfully their courage and dedication will probably avoid disasters disasters. >> general barry mccaffrey, and thanks to nbc's atia reporting from kabul.

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welcome back everybody. want to get you straight to nbc's pete williams, a report about what he's learning about anarchists in the convention, pete? >> this is a bulletin from the fbi and department of homeland security, local law enforcement. it says violent anarchist groups may try to disrupt both conventions. not facility themselves because they're so well secured but areas around them. in march a group in new york was planning to go down there and shut down bridges. the bulletin doesn't say how. it says most of the groups use violence vandalism and that kind of thing. there's been an interest in explosives. >> pete, thanks so much. we'll stay in touch about this one and continue to watch. i think around the conventions they expect this kind of stuff.

that's going to wrap things up with me. pete, thank you. don't go anywhere. [ maou eligle for m thbur f bse th r meresu

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sound ] four days before the republican party gathers in tampa for its presidential nominating convention the talk of the town is not the economy, but rape. all of a sudden that hurricane isn't looking so bad after all. it's thursday august 23rd, and