state. no republican presidential nominee has won the white house without winning ohio, and that is exactly why romney is there today meeting with factory workers. that new poll just mentioned shows president obama with a 7--point lead in ohio. if romney loses ohio the team says he has to win almost every other swing state. now, this all follows the governor interview with "meet the press" where he appeared to flounder when pushed on specifics regarding his policy proposals. >> you haven't specified where you'd cut loopholes in particular. give me an example a loophole you will close. >> people at the high end, high income tax taxpayers will have fewer deductions and exemptions, those numbers will come down. i say we'll replace obama care, and i'm replacing it with my own plan. >> you keep that as part of the federal plan? >> i'm not getting rid of all of health care reform, of course. >> as romney sat down for that

interview, news came of the bounce for president obama following the democratic national convention. romney pollsters, though, are knocking the bump and in fact in a mem refo referring to as aa s high. joe scarborough is saying what many republicans won't say out loud. >> i'm telling them you will lose if you don't run as a conservative if you don't start telling people what you don't believe, if you believe in anything. >> joining me now michael and msnbc contributor mike tamaski and chris kofenis. i'll start off with you and you have conservative friends for obvious reasons, but here's the deal. you heard joe scarborough say if romney believes in anything, that was what he said at the last tail end, this notion that romney etch-a-sketch back and forth is sticking with him as we are eight weeks away from the general election. it is because he's not giving

specifics. >> well, i disagree with what i heard from "morning joe," and of course i've the got immense respect for him. i think his problem is he's running as a conservative now, not that he won't run as a conservati conservative. he's too conservative and there hasn't been the readjustment that i long anticipated and sign of the mitt romney that was the governor of massachusetts. he has not emerged. this is all about the small gap of people in the center undecided. you don't reach them by being an idea log. >> what joe is referring to is regarding fiscal conservative, meaning the issue with medicare and that the ryan plan, no matter how controversial, was lost. all of the specific details that were allegedly to follow with the naming of ryan as the vp nominee has been lost. joe is not talking about social issues that you you get into but fiscal conservative values. we're not hearing this.

we're not hearing how he would close loopholes. none of the things that david gregory pressed him on sunday. >> i think that's true. i thought as i listened to the interview it was a bit of a reaction to things president can clinton said during the course of the dnc. i couldn't help but think it was mitt romney processing how the peach was well received on taxes and he told david gregory whether he'd maintain deductions for folks well off. he didn't communicate it to the point where people understand what it means. >> you wrote about the president, and at least you believe he should focus on the gop, mitch mcconnell. the president is not on the cap pain trail today, but joe scarborough and others seem to believe it's the republican brand that is dragging down mitt romney. do you buy that at all? >> yes, i do buy that. yeah, i buy it, because romney has spent at least a year and a half or arguably five years since his first run for the

presidency catering to the right wing. and what's up happened we see in states like ohio, tamron, where the president is now apparently substantially ahead and in states that used to be republican states, not that long ago in american history, colorado was a reliably republican state in presidential politics. iowa was a reliably republican state. florida was reliably republican too. ohio most of the time except for clinton. the republican party has essentially if i may priced itself out of the states by going so far to the right and it made them competitive or democratic. these are states republicans used to win and they can't win them. >> what about the notion, yes, you have the branding issue with the republican party. that's no secret. you see that with the polling. but it this team of paul ryan and governor romney does not help itself when situations arise like the one with george step naup loss. let me play this moment. no specifics coming from the man

who wants to be president and his vp. let me play it. >> it's difficult to accept your word if you don't specify which tax loopholes you're willing to close. don't voters have a right to know which loopholes you're going to go after? >> so mitt romney and i based on our experience think the best way to do this is to show the frame oshg, and show the out lines of plans and work with congress to do this. that's how you get it done. >> the other one is -- >> isn't that a secret plan? >> what we don't want is a seek plan. what does that answer tell you? >> that answer tells me what all of us on this segment actually know and what paul ryan actually knows, too. there's no way to make their numbers work without eliminating many deductions and loopholes that the middle class takes advantage of. the home mortgage interest deduction and the health care deduction to name the two biggest ones. there's no way to make their numbers work without fiddling with our eliminating those.

they just can't possibly say athat because they can't possibly win an election if they say it. >> chris, let me bring you in. the romney pole ster came out with a statement regarding ohio and this bump that the president has received. don't get too worked up about the latest polling. while some voters feel a sugar high from the conventions, the basic structure of the race has not changed significantly. the reality, the obama economy will reassert itself as the ultimate downfall of the obama presidency, and mitt romney will win this race. that's from neil newhouse. let me get your reaction to that statement, chris. is this a sugar high? i know you'll say no, so let's go on from there. >> when you write memos like on a campaign, you're losing. it's that simple. here's the problem i have. listen, i'm offended by the romney campaign not as a democrat but an operative. this is a campaign making one mistake after another. you saw that on the sunday shows. the notion that you're not going to give any specifics, not one. you can't come up with one

loophole? it's not a trick question. the notice you go into the debates, which is the next kind of defining moment in this election, and mitt romney i can guarantee is one of the first questions. governor romney, what's the loophole that you're going to cut? give us some specifics. he hedges on that and he's politically dead. it's that simple. you cannot survive in this media age with this kind of strategy. it's bizarre to me how the romney campaign, the operative, the advisers don't understand this. they're making their candidates and themtsz look foolish. >> but the assertion in the note, we still have to deal with the economy. you had the jobs report, romney did not get the traction, perhaps the campaign thought they would get this weekend. he was pressed more on his policy and his plans. nevertheless, chris, you still have the economy and we can't say it enough two more jobs reports. however people choose to process it. the economy will not be healed before election day. >> listen, i'm not going to sit there and start measuring drapes and no democrat should.

there's a lot of time to go in the election, and i've seen too many elections as we have where things can turn quickly. i don't think this race is any different. i think the problem is you have a romney campaign trying to put all the blame on president obama. it's clear that voters don't buy that. if you look at the polls it's obvious that they share a lot of blame to president bush and the fact president obama has to deal with an enormous disaster. so the problem ends up becoming for the romney campaign this is chis. it's not just a referendum, and you have to have a competing vision that voters are appealing to and that's attractive to them. it's not. >> let me bring in michael, because i halet me ask you, evee is saying the debates. this is what we need to focus on now. last week it was mitt romney's opportunity to show us who he is and tell his story and ann romney will get up there. we keep having milestone moments here. nonetheless, with the economy still suffering, slow growth, a

number of things, why do you believe that mitt romney is now behind in ohio, no republican nominees has ever won the white house. he would have to as i said earlier win every other state. nine states were looking at these swing states here. why is he still in the deficit situation. >> it's hard to believe there's something new. there's some new revelation in this campaign, because frankly i think most americans have been overwhelmed, especially those in the swing states with the microtargeting and all of the information from a 24/7 news bubble. i don't think it's the debates, plural. i think it's the first debate. mitt romney needs a strong showing in the first debate where all of a sudden this thing may get away from him. >> speaking of this thing getting away from him. so much thought was given talk-wise about the money in this campaign, and now for the first time the obama team is outraced slightly. the romney camp, has money been the factor that so many thought it would be at this point.

>> it hasn't so far, but it may be between now and november. it's true he outraised romney this month, but that's just money to the campaign. the super-pacs on the republican side have more money than the super-pacs on the democratic side. the negative television advertising will tilt heavily republican. one question that this campaign might answer that a lot of people have been asking is is there is a saturation point to that kind of negative advertising? i guess we'll find out. >> thank you. i don't have a nickname for you, so c.k., thank you very much. >> i'll take that. developing news out of chicago. just within the past few hours negotiators back at the bargaining table over the strike affecting nearly 400,000 students. mayor rahm emanuel calls it a strike of chous. ed rendell says this is a lousy time politically for this to be happening.

why this union battle is now being watched nationally. plus -- >> i will not take god out of the name of our platform. i will not take god off our coins, and i will not take god out of my heart. >> so is mitt romney running to the right? it worked in the primary, but what's behind this apparent new strategy that even included an appearance with pat robertson over the weekend. it's in the first three big topics. join our conversation on twitter. let us know what you think. that's your "news nation" twitter page and my twitter page is at tamron hall. [ male announcer ] when a major hospital wanted to provide better employee benefits while balancing the company's bottom line, their very first word was... [ to the tune of "lullaby and good night" ] ♪ af-lac

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with some developing news out of chicago where representatives for thousands of striking teachers are now back at the bargaining table.

they're trying to hammer out a deal with the city school district over salaries and job protection. chicago has the nation's third largest school system. the walk-out follows months of tense talks between the union and mayor rahm emanuel. one time with union loyalty and collective bargaining had major issues, and they said the strike is affecting thousands of children and their families. >> 400,000 kids, 200 sthou thousand plus families trying to figure out what to do with their kid this morning, and think about the children. they're not in school. we want them in school. the basic message is get back to the table, sit at that table and stay there until it's done. get these kids back in school tomorrow. that ought to be the message. >> let's join us with phil rogers live from chicago from wmaq. what's the latest right now? >> reporter: the latest is they are negotiating here in downtown chicago, but there are no signs of progress yet. this is one of those odd strikes

where money is really not the issue. the biggest issue in this teacher's strike by 26,000 instructors involves teacher evaluations. they are objecting to an evaluation system which they say would eventually lead to the elimination to thousands of teaching positions over the course of the next three or four years due to faulty evaluations. they claim they are unfair and based too much on student testing. now, at the same time this all comes on the heels of mayor rahm emanuel, the former white house chief of staff under president obama implementing a new, longer school day. he obtained that by going to the general assembly in illinois and passed legislation and tried to get a longer school day and got it passed. he's been at loggerheads with the teachers frankly ever since. teachers walked off the job at 6:30 this morning.

everyone was vowing to be back at the bargaining table at 10:00, but 10:00 came and went with everyone there but the president of the chicago teachers union. she finally showed up at about 11:30, and so the negotiations frankly tamron have been going on for about the last hour. in the meantime mitt romney weighed in on this today. he said that teachers were turning their backs on the school children, and he accused president obama of siding with the teachers. so nothing goes unscathed in the presidential election. even the teachers in chicago. >> phil, thank you very much. mayor rahm emanuel has suspended his fund-raising for super-pacs say he put politics ahead of the needs of children. as phil rogers mentioned, governor romney out with with a statement saying he has chosen

his side in this fight. obviously, this is no longer just about chicago. >> of course not. this is actually an issue we've been seeing nationwide, especially with teacher evaluations and emphasis on standardized testing and how much those tests are going into how a teacher is evaulluated an how that affects their tenure and how long they're in schools. >> the teachers here and other places say this is unfair. what do they cite as a reason these evaluations aren't fair to them. >> it's actually unclear how they're getting numbers on how many teachers will actually lose their jobs based on these evaluations, but they say that welfare for teacher evaluations and standardized testing nationwide, teachers say it's not 100% up to them how a student does on a standardized test, because their scores don't take into account other factors like student poverty or homelessness. >> we heard ed rendell, a democrat saysing this a terrible

time and we know his place in standing with the president and the union. we know how much union members have supported democrats. >> right. it's a tough time, because also you're detracting attention away from mayor emmanuel's focus on the campaign as well as the fact he was one barack obama's chief of staff. it's at a time when labor is a huge issue in the campaign. >> as labor has seen with scott walker and other republican leaders feeling that they were under siege as well, we saw what happened in wisconsin. now you have the democratic mayor tied with the presidentns. >> absolutely. >> thank you very much. greatly appreciate you coming on. thank you. >> thank you. punting problems. congress is back in session. after a five-week vacation, will lawmakers live up to the nation's low expectation of them getting nothing done before the election? plus, republican congressman joe walsh aattacks sandra flip for her speak at the dnc.

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[ giggles ] [ male announcer ] with the people who matter most. i love you grandpa! i love you grandma! now you're a real fisherman. [ male announcer ] humana. within the past half hour both the house and senate convened after a five-week summer break. there's a long list including taxes and what to do about the $1.2 trillion in automatic spending cuts. as politico puts in the line today, lawmakers get back to doing nothing. kelly o'donnell joins us live. so kelly is it nothing or just one thing? >> reporter: it's a little of something, but it won't be that all-important list that needs to get down. it's good to see you, tamron. it's been a long time. >> it has been. >> part of what they will do is look at the budget for

preventing a government shutd n shutdown. it will extend it into the new year, so it takes out of the election cycle, but it was present at the senate floor opened today. majority leader harry reid said hello and basically launched into an attack on paul ryan saying ryan math doesn't add up. so while there is work to be done, there's layers and layers of the politics laying out as well. all the house members seeking re-election are up on the ballot in just, you know, less than two months now. there's a lot of politics for them and a third of the senate is up for re-election. we will see a lot of that play out. we will also hear about the against cuts, can they avert that at mautomatic cut. can a deal be worked out? there will be some business of congress, but it's really hard to escape the larger atmosphere of politics and the practical laekdz elections so many face. tamron. >> we'll check in tomorrow.

thanks, kelly. >> good to see you. coming up a romney pollster responds to president obama's post-convention bounce. he says, quote, don't get too worked up about the latest polling. first reid says you can tell from quotes who is ahead in the race. do you agree? it's you're "news nation" gut check. be sure to check out our "news nation" tumbler page. you'll find pictures every single day we update the page. it it's kind of like a photo album. ♪ [ male announcer ] finally, mom's oven-baked tastes straight from the microwave. like oven-roasted chicken in a creamy alfredo sauce. marie callender's new comfort bakes. it's time to savor.

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conservative known for taking controversial positions on a variety of issues. abortion and immigration. romney stood side by side with tell televank list pat robertson. he went to a nascar photo op where he warned the crowd of secularism and referenced the democrat's omission of god from the party platform. language that was later put back in at the request of the president. >> i will not take god out of the name of our platform. i will not take god off our coins, and i will not take god out of my heart. >> joining me now is senior political editor mark murphy. we saw a crowd fired up. pat robertson right behind mitt romney as well applauding his statements. is this a strategy, or what is to be made of the decisions over the weekend? >> the normal formula in a presidential campaign is in the primaries if you're republican

you move to the right and back to the center. if you're a democrat you go left during the primaries and return to the center in the general election. every time we think that mitt romney is trying to make his general election pivot, move to the center, really start talking to independents and swing voters, he does what he did over the weekend where he does seem to kind of embrace more the right. this was actually true with his vice presidential pick. a lot of us thought maybe he would go for former minnesota governor tim pawlenty, and i went to the right with his pick in paul ryan. in some ways you can actually make that he doesn't feel like he has a good feel for his base. it's not 100% behind him, or he thinks this is a base election where he really needs that enthusiastic conservative base. >> to bring up the party platform and that issue which was valid that happened at the dnc. to go on and say that someone was trying to take in god we trust off of our money, jay carney says the president believes as much that god should be taken off the coin as he does

that aliens will attack florida. it's an absurd question to be raised. to go that far. go ahead, mark. >> right, tamron, it is puzzling. it's a thing for him to seize on the party platform, and the democrats were quick to get that language inserted back in. it's another to talk about the coins and the u.s. currency. but tamron i've been chatting with the romney campaign for well over a year. they said our simple strategy of the white house is to talk about the economy, make this into a referendum on the economy on president obama. but as you saw the messages over the weekend, talking with pat robertson, endorsing steve king, bringing up social issues, even today trying to hit president obama on the striking teachers in chicago, and it seems to be anything but the economy. >> all right. let's talk about the president out raising romney. what are the latest numbers there, mark? >> it was almost a tie.

president obama for the first time since april barely beat mitt romney in fund-raising and this is for the campaign, the political parties and their victory funds. it was 114 million on the obama side, and on team romney side it was almost 112 million. what was really striking to me, tamron, this was the most money either side had raised in a single month. but you start to see this obama grassroots army kick up. they reported having 1.1 million donors, that represents a third of all the donors they've had so far this cycle. it suggests that the grassroots army which has been kind of sleeping a little bit is starting to wake up. >> real quick it's interesting where the romney team is or is not spending money right now. >> well, they have a new ad in wisconsin trying to expand the playing field. of course, as you know, we've had wisconsin as a toss-up state on our map for a very, very long time. with the romney camp it still hasn't moved into pennsylvania or michigan yet in a lot of

ways. north carolina, which is a state that most republicans think they will win at the end of the day is more of a battleground state than pennsylvania or michigan, and that should tell you all you need to know about who is favorite right now when it comes to electoral map. >> mark murray, see you tomorrow. thank you. just as in previous presidential elections, it may come down to florida. there are no post-convention florida polls as of yet. before the conventions president obama had a slim lead there. the president was trying to build on that lead during his two-day swing in florida over the weekend, and he took dead aim at the romney/ryan plan pour medicare citing a new study by a harvard professor. >> let them either buy current medicare or to have a private plan. a lot like medicare advantage today. >> that didn't drive down prices governor. >> it sure did. >> that study was conducted by harvard professor cutler.

thank you for joining us, professor. >> pleasure to be with you. >> you conducted the study for the liberal center for american progress action fund. that on itself at the very mention of that has republicans bucking the information from your study. >> well, i think it's predictable when you don't have anything to say about the substance. you attack the messenger, and that's been the general comment whenever people have pointed out that governor romney's tax plans don't add up, that his medicare plans don't add up, that his budget plans don't add up. it's not to address the issues. it's to say obviously the people have it in for me. >> so part of your study concludes on average a man or a woman retiring at age 65 in 2023 would have to pay 59,000 more for health care over the length of that retirement under governor romney's plan. we saw him on "meet the press" on the weekend. do we even know enough about governor romney's plan to assess

just how much people would pay if it is, in fact, to what you say, way more in 59,000 or 59% more? >> congressman ryan passed a medicare plan as part of the house budget earlier this year, and governor romney endorsed that plan and has outlined plans similar to that. this is in many ways what is the sin nop business of what the romney and ryan plans are. what they basically are is saying that the federal government can't handle health costs, and that we need to do is just dump it in the lap of senior citizens. so just say, look, i'm sorry. we can't afford to give you the money that it's going to need to get you health insurance, and you need to come up with $60,000 if you reach medicare age in 2023 or $150,000 if you reach a decade later or up into $200,000 and $300,000 if you reach eligibility after that. that's their solution, to dump

it in the laps of people. >> let me interrupt you because i want to play what mitt romney said on meet the press regarding his medicare plan. let me play it. >> there's no change for anyone who is retired or nearing retirement. it's only dealing with people in their 30s, 20s, 30s, 40 and early 50s. that's the group we're dealing with. the best deal for them is to let them buy current medicare or to have a private plan. a lot like medicare advantage today. i like medicare advantage. >> it didn't drive down prices, governor. >> it sure does. >> what is your response to what romney said, governor romney said? >> he said several things incorrect. the first thing he said is his plan would not affect current seniors. by repealing the affordable care act, he places tens of thousands of dollars of costs people either senior citizens or will be senior citizens in the next few years. second is he has it wrong when he talks about the medicare advantage as the moderator

noted. it hasn't saved money. it gives a lot of people choice, and that's fine for people. it hasn't saved a lot of money. the third thing is that he's -- what he's proposing to give people is not enough to buy what anyone thinks the cost will be. it's fine to say, look, i want to give you choice, but don't use that to sneak under the tent. by the way, that choice comes with $200,000 of cost if you want to buy anything. at least be open with with people. tell them i'm going to give you a voucher amount. it's not enough to cover the cost. you need to save hundreds of thousands of dollars. i don't think i can do it another way. you have to be honest and tell people that. >> we appreciate you coming on talking about your study that the president cited in florida. we know the importance of florida in this election. thank you. now to afghanistan where the taliban has issued a threat vowing to kill or capture prince harry. a spokesperson for the taliban says the group's priority is to

kidnap the prince. but if they cannot they will eliminate him. he began a four-month tour flying apache helicopters in afghanistan last week. u.s. officials handed over formal control of the prison to the afghan government. it's located just outside of kabul holds thousands of taliban and other terror systems. the prison was all the site where hundreds of korans were burned by american forces triggers violent protests we witnessed. this prison transfer comes as the united states prepares to commemorate 9/11 and as the war in afghanistan is an issue in the presidential race. joining me now is evan coleman. we say it's an issue in the presidential race. actually, you know the headline out of the past two weeks. mitt romney did not mention afghanistan in his big speech. his people said he gave the speech the day before right before that. with that said, are you surprised we're not talking about afghanistan more as it relates to it?

>> i'm not. it's politically unpopular. no candidate wants to get up and say, i'm very aggressive in favor of a continued presence in afghanistan. nobody wants to say that. mitt romney is smart enough to understand that. >> let me talk about the prisba prison. how do we process this? >> we were what happened to abu ghraib in baghdad. it's not good to have prisons in foreign countries. the problem is this. number one, the afghan government has a terrible record in terms of keeping control of the prisons. >> there have been breakouts. >> huge breakouts back a few years ago in kandahar, someone blew a hole in the side of the prison and hundreds, almost 300 high-ranking taliban prisoners just went right out the door. bagram in particular, even when it was under u.s. military control, even high security, a number of very, very

high-ranking al qaeda operatives managed to sneak out of the prison in 2005. one of whom ended up becoming al qaeda's number three, almost exclusively because of the fact because he became famous baz he escaped from bagram prison. this is a prison where there's a history of escapes, there's a problem with the afghan government securing prisons in general. can we really rely on them? i'm not sure we really can. >> there was a report today out of yemen that key al qaeda leaders were killed there. you and i have talked a lot about al qaeda and yemen and other parts of africa. so many talk about afghanistan, rightfully so, because our troops are there, but your eye remains on yemen and africa. >> look at yemen and somalia and syria right now. one of the reasons the u.s. government is reluctant to get involved in syria because of the fear it's the next training ground for jihadists who are opposed to the syrian government but don't like us either.

if you want to see what's going on right now, the future of al qaeda is not really in afghanistan or pakistan anymore. it's in places like somalia, yemen and syria. >> this whole taliban spokesperson saying that they would want to kidnap or kill prince harry. does that come as a surprise to anyone? >> no. the taliban make ridiculous propaganda claims. they regularly claim they shoot down u.s. helicopters when nothing has happened. >> what does it say about them that they have a press person releasing things? >> they're very aware of western media. they're aware by making a statement like this, it will be published foam in a british tabloid. it will get headline news and that's what they're looking to do is get headlines. it's very, very cynical. >> thank you very much, evan. i appreciate you always. right now governor romney is making a stop at the battleground state of ohio, a state no republican has lost and still won the presidency. romney is trailing the president in several polls there.

we will talk more about the trouble in ohio. first, there's a lot going on today on this monday. here's some things we thought you should know. illinois congressman joe walsh is taking on former georgetown law student and women's rights advocate sandra fluke at a campaign event this weekend. the congressman decided to take aim at her appearance at the democratic national convention. >> a 31-year-old, 32-year-old alaw student has been a student for life who gets up there in front of a national audience and tells the american people, i want america to pay for my contraceptives. you're kidding me. go get a job. go get a job, sandra fluke. >> so the video was posted online by the progressive super-pac credo. presidential came pains bring out colorful characters. who can forget joe the plumber.

the breakout star is scott the bus. >> pizza guy and he picked him up and enjoyed his moment in the sfot light. he talked about meeting the president and that hug. >> when he came in, he busted through my front door and says where's scott? from that moment on it seemed like he was a long-lost friend. it was amazing. a great connection. he came over and gave me a hug, and that's when the bear hug happened. i was so caught up in the moment, and it was unbelievable. >> by the way, scott says he's a republican who has voted for the president. some interesting numbers have been crunched from the two recent conventions. at the democratic gathering last week president obama was mentioned by name more than 250 times on just the first time. for the entire republican convention mitt romney was mentioned by name only 213 times. those are the things we just

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developing now mitt romney holding a campaign event in ohio. the republican nominee speaking about factory workers in the northern ohio town of mansfield. his running mate paul ryan will campaign in ohio wednesday. on so will current vice president joe biden. number's peter alexander joins me from mansfield. how are the am romney folks at least processing this poll shows he's done in ohio. >> well, we won't hear comment about it from mitt romney himself who has taken the stage. the number we should focus on is the fact they say even if poll numbers show a slight edge recently for mitt romney -- for

president bahaobama he's below 50% mark. the poll shows he has 51% leading by close to 7 percentage points over mitt romney right now. they say they don't believe these poll numbers. they say that mitt romney just needs to focus on his state and spend more time here. when i asked one voter how about the fact he's spending a lot of time with debate prep. we think that's okay too but the campaign recognizes a little concern with them. blasting the e-mail out to supporters particularly focuses on doenors. the e-mail began by voters saying don't get too worked up, they referred to as a sugar high from the conventions. >> thank you very much. we'll keep an eye of course on governor romney's event in ohio. the mayor of new jersey's capital city is underarrest and tops our look at stories around the "news nation" tonight. he was arrested, and his brother and a supporter this morning after a two-year investigation.

authorities say mack was caught taking bribes as part of an fbi sting. they were offering their condolences to the family of a motorcycle patrolman killed on sunday. the 55-year-old offer was sit by preparing to shot the high when he was hit. the white house says the president's thoughts and prayers with with that officers family. doctors take a tulane university player who broke his spine during a head-to-head tackle on saturday is in stable condition today. but that is too early to tell if he's paralyzed or not. devin walker underwent three hours of surgery to stabilize his spine. he was hurt during saturday's home dame against tulsa. a pollster for the romney camp referred to the president post-convention bounce. you heard peter alexander refer to it. they call it had it a sugar high and said, quote, don't get all worked up about the latest polling. you can tell from quotes who is

ahead in the race. that's interesting. do you agree? it's our "news nation" gut check, and you can join the "news nation" on facebook. we're at facebook.com/newsnation. hmm, it says here that cheerios helps lower cholesterol as part of a heart healthy diet. that's true. ...but you still have to go to the gym. ♪ the one and only, cheerios is now within your grasp with the e-trade 360 investing dashboard. e-trade 360 is the world's first investing homepage that shows you where all your investments are and what they're doing with free streaming quotes, news, analysis

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welcome back. you can join the "news nation" on our twitter page. find it @newsnation. and do you guys want to me to read tweets? i didn't realize that. here's a tweet for you. that came as a surprise to me. i'm going to pick one at random here. oh, boy. let's see. after november joe walsh will be looking for jibe. that is from carolyn snowbird whose avatar is a rainbow. there us it. this is a sampling. time for a "news nation" gut check. several polls show that after the democratic convention. he's now at 50% approval rating

unlike his negative approval from before the dnc. mitt romney by contrast saw a blip in the numbers after the convention in tampa. nbc's first read today notes it's not just in the polls. they believe body language coming from the romney campaign is a sign that they know who is ahead in the race and who is falling behind. the romney pollster neil newhouse tried to play down the convention bounce saying in a memo to reporters, quote, don't get too worked up about the latest polling while some feel a sugar high from the conventions, the basic structure has not changed significantly. here we go. what does your gut tell you. can you tell from the quotes from each side who is ahead in the race. it's interesting. go to facebook.com/newsnation to cast that vote and look at what the "news nation" is saying about friday's gut check. will the job numbers affect your vote. just 8% said yes, 92% said no.

that does it for this edition of "news nation." thanks for joining. tomorrow i'll talk with medal of honor recipient colonel jack yak cobs about the 11th anniversary of 9/11. the cycle is up next. joshua davis knows the frustration of looking for funding after being turned down by multiple lenders, the owner of the gelato fi i can't say co-contacted a community group making loans to small business owners. he got the money he needed and now he's back to focusing on flavor. for more watch your business on sunday mornings at 7:30 on msnbc. ♪ [ acoustic guitar: slow ] [ barks ] ♪ [ upbeat ] [ barks ] beneful playful life is made with energy-packed wholesome grains... and real beef and egg. to help you put more play in your day.

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i'm krystal ball, and in a presidential race that at times has been stranger than fiction, we're looking to hollywood to put it in perspective. take that clint. >> why mitt romney is playing with fire. we could all get burned. this is "the cycle" from monday, september 10th. we're in the homestretch of the election and it appears the president has taken a lead. two tracking polls out in the field every day both show the president is enjoying a post-convention bounce. a top romney pollster said hey, it's a sugar high from the convention. the basic structure has not changed