americans. >> today both candidates are in florida. president obama hitting miami and tampa. mitt romney has just one event in sarasota. but the pace of his campaign is about to change a lot. more appearances, fewer fund-raisers. next week he'll take a bus tour through ohio with his running mate paul ryan. let me bring in susan page and "washington post" columnist dana milbank. good morning. >> good morning, chris. >> good morning. >> let's talk about this change in tone, susan. mitt romney sounded very different i think last night than he did with fox news just a day ago when he was standing by his comments. what's going on here? >> well, i think he felt the need to do a little damage control and repair after those 47% comments. of course, he was speaking yesterday before univision which is an audience that maybe wanted to hear a more moderate tone. it's late in the day to be changing the tone of your message.

we're past not only the primaries but past political conventions which is the point where maybe you've got a slightly more open field to try to tweak what your message is. >> the way he's going to do it is going to change as well, dana. he wants to get out there more. it's like he took a page out of peggy noonan's column yesterday. fewer fund-raisers, morallies. what's the thought behind that? >> the problem is there's too many thoughts behind it. we're sort of up to mitt romney 8.0, and i keep trying to update the software and my laptop is crashing there have been so many versions of mitt romney at this point. the problem is he has multiple and competing things he needs to do now. he needs to walk away from the 47% thing. he needs to establish who he is again. he needs to establish specifically what his policies are. but most likely what he's going to be doing is lashing out because that's what he's done in the past when he's been backed into a corner this way. so i'm not sure we're going to get any sort of a coherent, cohesive line for him. this is certainly the time when

you do less fund-raising and you start to do more events out there. that part isn't surprising. it's not clear to me they've settled on a specific message to take this home to november. >> one main republican adviser told politico, we're going to look back at this as the week he got his act together or the beginning of the end. susan, is this a tipping point pour the romney campaign? >> i do think this period, two weeks after political conventions may well turn out to be the point where this campaign got defined and settled. while there's still vulnerabilities for president obama, you have to say this has been a good period for him. his people feel a little better about the economy. democrats have regained some enthusiasm. it's not that there's no time left for mitt romney to turn things around, we're going to have those three debates in october. but the clock is really ticking toward election day in a serious way. >> i guess a key question here and charles blow wrote about this today in "the new york

times," dana, is whether or not people think this is kind of a gaff or whether or not they think this is a true indicator of who he is. quote, there is no amount of backtracking and truth bending that can make this right. it's just wrong. it's not just the patently false implication that half the country is parasitic, it's not just the bleak view that they wallow in victimization. it's also his other dismissal of this group. my job is not to worry about those people. is that maybe the line in all that was in that videotape that is going to be most difficult to him to move forward from? >> sure. and the reason this is difficult is because this wasn't an isolated thing where it came out -- like this was out of left field or something. it's against the backdrop against so many other things in which he's saying, i like to be able to fire people, talking about his own days at bain capital.

so he's also had this image of being the rich guy who in his words doesn't care about the very poor, is not concerned about the very poor. this reenforces that idea. it's very difficult whether it's mitt romney or whether back in previous election, whether it's al gore or john kerry to get over these impressions once they're created. this is not saying it can't be done. it's going to be a close election because of the way the country is structured. it appears it's already tipped. he needs something else fundamentally to alter the course of the election at this point. >> maybe one portion of this tip is this "usa today"/gallup poll says the video of mitt romney, 28%, it's less likely they'll vote for him. on the "today" show ed gillispie was saying last week was a bad week for barack obama, but what does the campaign do when they look at a number like that in that poll? >> these are independents sand

three out of ten saying less likely. that's twice as many independents as say it makes them more likely to support him. and in these states like ohio and florida and virginia that we think are going to be so close, you know, you get 29% of independents leaning one way. that's a number that can matter. i think it's hard to -- you do see governor romney making the argument that what he was talking about was a debate over the size and roll of the federal government. that's a debate on which he might have some standing with the american people. a lot of americans think the government has gotten too big and too intrusive. you look at the particular words, especially the sentence you pointed out, chris, it's not my job to worry about those people. that is i think something we'll hear over and over again from his opponents. >> hold on susan and dana. i want to bring in congressman chris van hollen. >> good morning, chris. >> we'll talk more about mitt romney in a second. the debates seem to loom even

larger and more important. i know you're helping vice president biden prep for the debates. you'll be playing paul ryan. weeks ago we heard the vice president had already spent 60 hours studying and preparing. is he going to kick your butt in these mock debates? >> i'm sure he'll kick my butt. obviously all the candidates are preparing. we know that paul ryan has been preparing. we know the president and mitt romney have been preparing. people want to make a good presentation. look, i know the way paul ryan likes to present his arguments. the vice president, as you know, is very familiar with the key issues. i hope i can help him get a sense of how paul ryan likes to present it. >> to a more serious point, do you think they have taken on an even more important role than they might have, say, just a month ago or so. and where do you put them in sort of this last 48, 49 days.

how important are they? >> i think they're very important. this is an opportunity for the american people to really see the choices before them. i believe after the debates when the choices become even more clear the president will do even better because, if you look at the romney-ryan approach -- and we saw it revealed in the tape that romney had, and even in his comments since then -- his idea of growing the economy is to give people like him, like mitt romney, very wealthy people, another round of tax breaks, but at the expense of everybody else. apparently he doesn't feel 47% of americans are paying enough federal taxes, even though those people alone they pay a higher effective federal tax rate than mitt romney. and so the big issue is how we grow the economy. the president wants to grow the economy from the middle out and the bottom up because we know that the romney strategy of trickle-down economics, giving folks like him another tax break

and somehow it's going to help everybody else, we know that failed. we've tried it. we've been there. >> as you know, in the last couple days what the romney campaign and what others have been saying is the truth about how barack obama wants to deal with the economy is really made clear in these comments made about 14 years ago when then state senator obama was doing a conference on city government and policy in chicago and he was talking about government efficiency. let's listen. >> i think the trick is figuring out how do we structure government systems that pool resources and hence facilitate some redistribution, because i actually believe in redistribution, at least at a certain level to make sure that everybody has got a shot. >> the romney campaign says, as you know, congressman, this is the real concern for the american people, that barack obama believes in redistribution. your response. >> this is a total red herring.

historically we have had a progressive tax system where we ask folks at the very top to pay a little bit more. that began to change under the bush administration where they gave people like mitt romney these big tax breaks, and the end result was not growing the economy. the end result was we lost jobs. the only thing that went up was the deficit. what the president has said is we need to invest in the middle class. we do need to invest in our kid's education. we do need to invest in our infrastructure in order to be competitive so everybody can do well. we used to have a progressive tax system to do that. mitt romney actually wants people with lower and middle incomes to pick up a bigger share of the cost in exchange forgiving him another break. and bain capital -- we know that doesn't work. that's why i'm confident as this choice becomes even clearer and as mitt romney continues to fresh out his proposals, people are going to begin to run away.

he is totally out of touch, and the reaction of the last decade shows us that trickle-koun economics, the idea that giving mitt romney another tax break will help the economy and everybody else just doesn't work. the president's approach is a 21st century version of what bill clinton did. let's invest in the middle and we'll reduce our deficit in a balanced way. >> let me ask you before i let you go, you want to give us a little clue on how debate preps are going? >> we've had a number of discussions and we're obviously going back and forth with respect to the arguments. >> no mock debates yet? >> they will be coming very soon. make no mistake. paul ryan is also used to a lot of this jousting. hopefully i can can be helpful since i know how he presents those arguments. the choice is going to be very clear in this election and the base will help sharpen that

choice. >> let's go back to the redistribution question, the obama campaign saying that mitt romney is trying to change the subject. let me play a little mash-up. i should tell you dana and susan, this is just from the last 24 hours. >> he said some years ago something which we're hearing about today on the internet. he said he believes in redistribution. >> just a tape came out a couple of days ago with the president saying, yes, he believes in redistribution. i don't. >> president obama said that he believes in redistribution. >> it seems to be, dana, playing to the base. but does this argument help them with the voters that are undecided. >> i think in a vacuum it would, chris, if there weren't all these other overriding issues going on here. i think the american public will

hear redistribution and they'll think he'll share the wealth, joe the plumber, socialism, whatever and, of course, not pause and think well, we've had a redistributive system for the last century, if not more. the problem is this is sort of -- the problem for romney is this is just a little bit of a murmur when he's got a much larger problem. this is a tape from the spring that is causing him trouble. not a tape when he was in his mid 30s. >> not, susan, completely different from anything we've heard him say before when you look at it in context. >> actually, when you look at both these comments in their full context, it is an argument we're having in this campaign, it's just like with slightly less candid or slightly different language. this is a debate about what we want the government to do. these two candidates do have different visions. i do think the romney campaign is trying very hard to both change the subject and also to play a little offense rather than just playing defense on the

issue of what these candidates have said in these tapes. one from may, one from 1998, that are just now coming to light. >> susan page, dana milbank, great to see both of you. thank you. new census data being released showing good signs for the economy. more people are moving into new homes, up 25% from last year. more young adults, parents rejoice, are leaving their parent's homes. that's up just .5%. births are only down 1%. that's the smallest drop since 2008. analysts say this is evidence of a recovery although there's still a risk of falling back into a recession. tonight our guest, thomas sargent. nobel laureate in economics, and one of the most cited economists in the world. professor sargent, can you tell me what cd rates will be in two years? no. if he can't, no one can. that's why ally has a raise your rate cd.

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developing now, the house committee on government reform holding a hearing on the report on that botched gun trafficking case known as fast and furious. it's a 471-page report that's a

scathing criticism of dysfunctional atf agents and prosecutors in arizona. but it also absolves attorney general eric holder who many republicans tried to blame for the scandal. joining me now democratic congressman adam schiff of california and republican congressman patrick meehan of pennsylvania. good morning. congressman meehan, let me start with you, you voted for coop tempt citation against eric holder. at the time you said, quote, a dissem attic effort to deflect attention away from the decision and determinations made at the highest level of the department of justice. what would you say to attorney general holder who, since this report came out, those who were so quick to make baseless accusations. >> my accusations went to the highest levels of the department. of justice, not eric holdr in specific. the information in this report

confirms the same. there was clear information that was available to those who have to make decisions at the highest levels of the department of justice. there was discussion not only of gun running, but the implications on a past case, and the failure to ask the appropriate questions on this particular case as well that went to the highest levels of the criminal division and a specific identification in the report itself about the failure of these individuals to report to attorney general holder and the real question i have as a result of that is what kind of expectations does the attorney general have on the people who are reporting the him and have a responsibility to make sure that he's not left unaware of what's going on in his department. >> congressman schiff, the report is a critique of many of eric holder's, sort of inner circle. does the buck stop at the top. >> the buck always stops at the tochlt the attorney general has taken responsibility. we shouldn't overlook the fact that the whole republican investigative theory that the

attorney general authorized this, he knew about this, this was some conspiracy to accelerate gun violence in mexico to justify gun control at home, all of that has been completely debunked by the inspector general in a very thorough investigation. we shouldn't loose sight of that. the attorney general has taken steps, two of the top people implicated in the report have already left, former acting head of the atf is gone, former assistant deputy ag is gone. more than a dozen others referred for disciplinary proceedings. most important, the attorney general, not just after the report, but months ago, many months ago took steps to make sure this kind of policy was never allowed at the local level. that was ultimately the ig's conclusion, was this was a locally driven and flawed tactic. >> in fact, congressman meehan, among others, darrell issa said eric holder didn't take appropriate action for a year and a half. this report says he did move

swiftly to stop the tactics once he learned of him. there was so much criticism of the attorney general. is he owed an apology. >> what i look at is the recognition that the top leadership became aware of these tactics during the course of an investigation from a previous effort that was done and not only failed to hold those accountable for those tactics but encouraged the people in that area. they sent prosecutors from washington down the try to see if they could resurrect the very case in which they identified gun walking as being part of it. in my mind this is the kind of message that comes from main justice which says atf, go ahead. i am surprised at the inability to have dealt with this issue when they first became aware. there was no prosecution that was done by the time this matter had come to the administration, the new administration reviewed this, lanny brewer traveled down to new mexico. the attorney general and the department of homeland security secretary went to mexico and talked about the importance of

these kinds of prosecutions. but in a s.e.a.zeal, rather tha taking the atf to account for these tactics, they encouraged thept further by moving forward with the prosecution. >> as you said, congressman schiff, the investigators characterize this gun walking operation as one driven by field agents. they did single out 17 officials. two have already assigned, the others reassigned. but to your colleague's point, does more need to be done and should more have been done? >> i think the attorney general took all the steps that should prudently be taken which was immediately change the policy of the department, make sure things are vetted more carefully, that any tactic like this is disallowed in the future and that's clear and communicated through the department. all those things have been done. we also have to hold people accountable and the attorney general has done that. in fact, each of those people criticized in the report are being referred for disciplinary proceedings or have already been admonished by the attorney

general. i think the attorney general has taken the steps he should. frankly, i think the chairman ought to apology to the attorney general for hurling these unwarranted, unsubstantiated and now completely debunked allegations. >> congressman adam schiff, congressman patrick meehan, thanks to both of you. >> thank you. we are keeping an eye on the house floor right now where members including vice presidential nominee paul ryan are expected to vote on a republican bill that blocks flexibility with state welfare programs. this has been a big gop talking point in this campaign, accusing the president of getting rid of the work requirement for welfare, a claim that fact checkers have debunked. republicans keep saying the president is gutting welfare. others say that's a romney-ryan pr campaign. want to try to crack it? yeah, that's the way to do it! now we need a little bit more...

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to politics now where congressman jesse jackson, junior, is selling his house. he's been on medical leave for months. now he's put his washington, d.c. home on the market to help pay medical bills. the victorian-style home is going for $2.5 million. tim pawlenty is stepping down as a co-chair of the romney campaign. he's the new head of the campaign services roundtable, a lobbying group for banks. in a statement romney wished him well and called him a dear friend. the president tweeted out this picture saying a couple of supporters in the new york state of mind last night, you know, just hanging with beyonce and jay-z. former president bill clinton will be on "the daily show" tonight maybe repricing his role as secretary of explaining stuff. what does michelle obama have on her ipod? ♪ >> heavy d she tells an orlando

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>> romney will make things even tougher, raising taxes by up to $2,000 to give multimillionaires a $250,000 tax break. >> i'll never convince them that they should take some responsibility. >> and mitt romney will never convince us he's on our side. i'm joined by senior strategist to the lieberman and edwards campaigns ted device and former bush secretary -- good morning. >> let me start with this ad on redistribution and some of the clips we've seen. could they have the potential to maybe resonate with swing voters? could it remind them of a slow jobs recovery? >> i don't think they'll resonate. the problem with redistribution for governor romney is he supports policies that will redistribute wealth from the middle class to the wealthiest americans. if they want to make this a big issue, think they they're going to regret it. >> tony, white house secretary

carney say this is is a, quote, desperate effort of a campaign looking to regain its footing. does he have a point? >> i don't think some when you run for president, you're responsible for everything you say and do and how it reflects on you. you don't have to go back 16 years to the redistribution tape. the president said more recently things like we should spread the money around a little bit. romney and ryan have to be focused on growing the economy, talk about growing the pie and not just moving it around. >> why do you think they jumped on this, the romney campaign? >> it's effective. >> don't you think people look at this old grainy video and say, what? >> people love old grainy videos, chris. they always work on commercials. i think it is effective and i think it does feed into a pre-existing view of the way the president views economic policy making. that's why i actually think it is very effective and they can find other examples for it. >> ted, does it play into a

pre-existing view? i assume he's insinuating a negative view? >> i don't think it does. listen, i think they jumped on it for an obvious reason. they're desperate. the romney campaign has not just lost the last couple weeks. they had a terrible convention. the polls are falling. one asset which everybody thought they had which was a lot more money than obama, they don't have. they're falling short of money. i think they're just trying to win a news cycle. they find an old piece of tape. the media tries to be fair. they talked about the romney tape. we'll taug about your tape for a couple days. i think it's very tactical. the problem with the romney campaign is they have a new frame, a new message every week. they've got more frames than the frame department at walmart. until they decide what the frame is, what the message is and delivering it with numbing retch tigs, they won't get it through to voters. >> the other question, tony, is who delivers it. they're not deaf to all the complaints coming from members of congress, from obviously a

number of conservative columnists who have been very critical of the campaign, republicans want to see him out there more. they want to do that. they also want to see him in ads more. should they be focusing more on mitt romney, what he's going to do and showing him as presidential rather than hitting on something like this old tape? >> i think it's important for them to do. there's no question about it. i think there is a solid message. you talk about what is a message you want to see repeated every week? we've got more evidence of that this morning with the weekly jobless claims again very high, very elevated. that's going to be repeated. as a tactical matter for the romney campaign, being out in his own voice i think is always a positive. he should be doing more of that. i think they're right to find more opportunities to do that and we're going to see this going back in terms of ad wars between now and when we get to the debates where we're really going to see both candidates in their own voice standing next to each other. that's where the real opportunity for governor romney and frankly for the president,

also, to really make a real change in direction of the campaign. >> i'm curious, ted, if you think that -- we've heard suggestions on this program from some analysts about this, that the ads matter less this year because there's just so many of them and, in fact, those real appearance, those debates will have much more significance. >> i think debates are very important. i think voters do take debates and put it on a higher level and pedestal in terms of the information they receive because it's a real live event than the ads. i say this to somebody who makes ads for a living, i think the ads are having a huge impact on this campaign in the target states, the nine or so states that the two campaigns are targeting. i think what they've done, the obama campaign through the spring and summer has successfully shaped an image of romney and that image is haunting him today and he can't get out of it. >> i'm not surprised, tad, if you're selling ads that's your

view on them. for someone who has had to pay for ads and consumed ads, there's never been an election cycle where the ads matter less. we're never at an election cycle where the debates will matter more. i think this is really one of those where voters are really looking for a credible alternative to the president right now, given the president's economic conditions. they're not going to listen to ads to convince them of that. they're looking for real opportunities. >> if the ads don't matter, it's hard to explain why the president has such a lead in all the battlegrounds right now and such a lead nationally. it's been the ads that have driven this campaign and i think have made the difference. >> tad and tony, thank you so much. u.s. intelligence officials calling the deadly attack on the u.s. consulate in libya terrorism and are looking into whether al qaeda's north african affiliate may be responsible. the director of the terrorism task force says it looks like

the attack was not planned in advance and the groups used protests over the anti-muslim film as an opportunity to stop. suspected theater shooter james holmes is due in court today in colorado. they're trying to get a critical piece of evidence, a notebook sechbt to a psychiatrist, admitted to trial. prosecutors are suspected to ask for ten more charges as well, adding to the 142 already filed in the shooting that left 12 people dead. chik-fil-a is promising to stop giving money to anti-gay groups after its president sparked a nationwide controversy over same-sex marriage this summer. an advocacy group has agreed to change an official company document to say it will not get involved in political or social debates. how is this for a ride? take a look. 20 people stuck 300 feet in the air at a california amusement park. the wind seeker malfunctioned at 4:00 in the afternoon. it take the maintenance crew

more than three hours to manually lower the ride. fortunately no one was hurt. a colorado man is awarded $7 million in the popcorn lung case. wayne watson sued food companies claiming that they failed to warn people the buttery topping could be harmful. he had been inhaling the smell for years. he likes popcorn. the chemical has been linked to health problems. look out for the christmas creep. cnbc amanda drury is here. i'm already getting inundated with ads and cot log. what's going on? >> christmas is literally creeping up on us. all these retailers trying to get a jump start on the holiday shopping season. it's called the christmas creep because it's how retailers are bumping up the day. they start promoting christmas every single year.

15% of all top retailers have started ads a and holiday campaigns, that's up 11% at the same time in the past two years. by halloween, chris, expect your inbox to be completely and utterly christmas creeped out. next year it's going to be july it will start. >> delete, delete, delete. speaking of the holidays, i want to ask you about the toys "r" us list top toys. >> an annualalysnual list. let me run you through a few things on the top list. dock mcstuff fins, time for your checkup dog, $39.99 based on a disney character. there are the retro toys like fer byes by hasbro, basically from the interactive toy robot.

teenage mutant anyone gentleman turtles. remember i talked to you about this one a couple weeks ago, a new tablet made by toys "r" us for kids. it's $149. >> and it's a parent's way of saying leave my ipad alone. >> it is exactly that. do not touch my ipad again. do not keep on buying all those games. also the other great thing about it is i believe it's gotten hansed safety features which is obviously something that parents are very concerned about when their kids are going online and surfing the net and stuff like that. >> cnbc's mandy drury, thank you. it looks like america's taste in burgers changed. number five, smashburger. number four, a &w, number three, fuddruckers, number two in-n-out, number one is five guys burgers.

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save up to 42% now at rogaine.com. disastrous side effect in your brain. a new study reveals high blood sugar levels can cause your brain to shrink, even among people who don't have diabetes and are on the upper end of the blood sugar lane. areas most affected are those linked to memory and cognitive skills. priority usa is taking aim at mitt romney's candid camera comments using his own words against him in a new ad that will air in florida, ohio and virginia. >> behind these doors mitt romney calls half the american people --

>> there are those who believe they are victims. >> victims? behind these doors middle class families struggle and romney will make things even tougher. >> it's a little reminiscent of 1964 when democrats jumped on a similar comment from republican presidential candidate barry goldwater. check out this vintage political ad. >> in a saturday evening post article dated august 31st, 1963, barry goldwater said, sometimes i think this country would be better off if we could just saw off the east attorney seaboard and let it float out to see. can a man who makes comments like this be expected to serve all the people justly and fairly? >> isn't that fascinating. the obvious difference between then and now is the internet and the enormous dollars for advertising to both mitigate and capitalize on political gaffs. let's talk about it with advertising expert, howard

bragman, vice chairman of reputation.com. it appears if you miss the evening news, you might not really be tuned in to those comments. but now it's crazy. let me just show you this. the romney clip was released on monday afternoon. by 5:00 tuesday it had been seen by 3.5 million people. the latest number, 7:45 this morning, it had more than doubled, 7.1 million hits on that romney clip. if you're in the campaign, how do you get ahead of something that goes viral. >> you're not going to get ahead of something that goes viral. that's the bad news. you can put a redistribution ad outgoing after president obama. but people have a belief in social media and that's neighbor talking to maybe neighbor as opposed to campaign talking to you. people give it a little more cred when their next-door neighbor, their friend on facebook is telling them something. >> all those links, all those retweets and so on make a big

difference. it's still not, though, howard, the most viewed political gaff. let me play you the one that is by far. >> i read most of them again with a great appreciation for the press, for the media. >> like what ones specifically? i'm curious. >> all of them. any of them that have been in front of me overall these years. >> can you name a few? >> i have a vast variety of sources. >> tough gaffs, okay. sarah palin right there, almost 24.5 mill june vus up to this point. mitt romney, as we said, 7.1. the clint eastwood chair, 6.8 million. for the other side, how do you capitalize or do you -- when do you decide when to leave it alone and let it stand? >> i think the romney campaign's problem is not so much there was a gaff, but it was a gaff that reinforced everything that a lot of voters thought about mitt

romney, and mitt romney i think is starting to do the right things now. number one, he's starting to getting a gres sive about redistribution with the president. number two, he's starting to do rallies again. what he's been doing for the last few weeks is fund-raising and debate prep. the debate is going to be really important. but we have an enthusiasm gap. he has to show that people actually support him and believe him. he's got to get out there. the time when earlier this week he wanted to change messages, this was not the message that the romney campaign was looking to change. >> howard bragman, always great to have you here. thank you so much. today's tweet of the day comes from west wing reports. nonwhite house news, just saw that it's national punch day. not sure if that means drinking or getting to beat someone up. on every one of our cards there's a date. a reminder... that before this date, we have to exceed expectations. we have to find new ways to help make life easier,

more convenient and more rewarding. it's the reason why we don't have costumers. we have members. american express. welcome in. i just served my mother-in-law your chicken noodle soup but she loved it so much... i told her it was homemade. everyone tells a little white lie now and then. but now she wants my recipe [ clears his throat ] [ softly ] she's right behind me isn't she? [ male announcer ] progresso. you gotta taste this soup. side by side so you get the same coverage, often for less. that's one smart board. what else does it do, reverse gravity? [ laughs ] [ laughs ] [ whooshing ] tell me about it. why am i not going anywhere? you don't believe hard enough. a smarter way to shop around. now that's progressive. call or click today.

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the key piece here is for mitt romney to make sure he can connect with the american people. >> if you thought we had a gender gap, this might move into a gender canyon. >> you have to get down to the 18th paragraph to hear that maybe something is false and misleading. >> it's going to get ugly on both sides because a lot is at stake. >> "the cycle" weekdays at 3:00 on msnbc. followed by martin bashir. forbes is out with the highly anticipated list of

richest americans. here to talk about the forks 400 is the editor of forks magazine, ed randall. what's the total net worth of the folks on the cover? >> $126 billion cover which we think might be the richest photograph ever taken. they were all in one room. there was no photo shop magic. >> that's fascinating. talk about an exclusive club. >> it was fun. even when bill gates and warren buffett are looking around. they were like, this is pretty cool. >> let me show you the list of the top side. as you said, bill gates, warren buffett. >> everybody in the top ten are up from last year. >> and what's it take these days to get on the list. >> a mere $1.1 billion. you can be a billionaire and still not be on the forbes 400.

>> what did it used to be? it had to be significantly lower than that. >> this is the 30th anniversary. 1982 it was $75 million. even if you go back 20 years to 1992, it was $265 million. we've taken a quantum leap especially in the last ten years. we had a big boom in the late 2000s. now we're at the highest level ever. the highest number to get on and the biggest aggregate net worth, $1.7 trillion for the top 400. >> it does play into the political conversation, the have and have nots, clearly the rich are getting richer. they have money for politics. obviously the coke brothers, charles and david well known in republican politics. michael bloomberg who spent a lot of money on his own campaign. sheldon aid elson initially for newt gingrich. george soros has been pretty quiet. warren buffett said he wouldn't donate to super pacs. he wants to take a stand about

that. do most of these super wealthy try to get their politics out of it or simply support both sides? >> we did a study in 2010. it came out of the forbes 400, about 15% more giving to the gop and we're doing a study again and we'll have that in the next issue. but we think that will even slide a little more towards the gop. it's not as unbalanced as you might think. right now what we are seeing is a lot of the ultra rich democrats, the peter lewis's and george soroses are saying i'm taking a stand and i'm not going to give to super pacs where like the koch brothers are saying i'm going to give in massive ways. while the overall giving has been even, right now we're seeing a divergence on super pacs. >> mitt romney talks about how he built his own wealth. he certainly had the advantage of growing up in those circles.

how many of these billionaires are from inherited money? how many truly self made? >> it's pretty amazing that if you want to look at why the american economic system is still the best in the world, look at the forbes 400, 70% of the forbes 400, the richest people in america are self made. you wouldn't see that in europe. you see it in dynamic economies where, you know, you can be a entrepreneur and it doesn't matter what you inherit. the richest people are those who built it themselves. we're seeing more and more younger people. we have a half dozen people in their 20s on this list. we have dozens of people self made in their 30s on this list. it's really an amazing phenomenon. it's much different than it was 30 years ago. >> fascinating to read. randall lane, great to see you. thanks. >> that's going to wrap up this edition of "jansing & co." topping the agenda next

hour, mitt romney hits the reset button, claiming his campaign is all about the 100%. with 47 days to go will the remarks about the 47% resonate more in the voters? we have reverend joe watkins, carol finney and jackie kucinich joining me. can mitt romney make a difference in key battleground states like florida? obama campaign co-chair eva longoria joins me to talk about that. marking the one-year anniversary of the military's reversal of the don't ask don't tell policy, we'll explore that in the next hour. and what it means for me. woman 2: i'm tired of the negative ads and political spin. that won't help me decide. man 2: i earned my medicare and social security. and i deserve some answers. anncr: where do the candidates stand on issues that... affect seniors today and in the future? find out with the aarp voters' guide at earnedasay.org

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