women can make those decisions themselves. >> on the road with nbc's brian williams. how does the president feel about his republican challenger? >> so reports that especially observations that watching the two of you, you don't appear to like each other very much. you appear to tolerate each other because you have to. >> i don't -- i don't think that any relationship between me and mitt romney is different from previous presidential campaigns. >> governor romney barnstorming today in, where else, ohio. he's got three stops in the buckeye state as the latest poll shows him trailing obama by five points. >> go out there and find some people, bring them to the polls. by the way if someone doesn't have a ride to the polls, help them get to the polls. we need to make sure ohio is going to send a message loud and clear, we want real change, we want big change, we're ready.

this is our time. >> and obama trying to explain donald trump telling leno how that storied rivalry really began. >> this all dates back to when we were growing up together in kenya. >> yeah. we had, you know, constant run-ins on the soccer field. you know he wasn't very good. >> right. >> resented it. >> yeah, yeah. >> good day, i'm andrea mitchell live in washington. and we're following all of the action in a presidential contest that is basically tied. today, the candidates are scrambling. a big name makes an anticipated endorsement. talking about republicans and rhetoric about rape. joining me now for our daily fix, chris cillizza, manager editor of postpolitics.com and writer ruth marcus. breaking news, "the washington post" put up its editorial, not

too surprisingly, i think, it is for president obama. >> it is for president obama. >> why? you're a part of the process. >> i'm part of the process. we endorsed president obama four years ago after having a lot of discussions about the relative merits of senator mccain and senator obama. we expressed some disappointment with some of the things that the president failed to get done during his first term, but we also saw a bunch of achievements, health care, achievement, getting the economy stabilized, somewhat stabilized, an achievement, and fundamentally looking forward to a second term, we just have more hope to use obama word, in the president's capacity to tackle the really difficult choices facing the country, specifically on the debt, than we do in governor romney whose tax plan has been a big mystery to us. >> ruth and chris, brian williams has been on that nonstop travel with the

president and asked president obama about seeking a second term. >> recent poll 4% of voters said they'd like a first term like the second, 62% of voters said they would expect major changes in a second obama term. would you be prepared to enact truly major changes? >> well, brian, you know, if you think about that question, i'm -- i'd like to meet the 4%. we went through the worst crisis in our lifetimes. we had the stock market freeze up, tank, financial market freeze up, small businesses couldn't get financing. we lost 800,000 jobs the month that i took office. so of course people want to make sure that we continue with the progress that we've started to see with the housing market, finally starting to strengthen, with the auto industry back, with job growth over the last 31

months, actually outpacing the previous recovery. >> and today the "time" magazine poll of ohio likely voters has president obama at 49, mitt romney at 44. chris cillizza, this tightness in ohio, is it going to be affected by any of these other events that have happened elsewhere on the national stage, or is ohio really more about people and their economy and how they view these two leaders? >> well, andrea, i wish i knew. if i did i would be placing a large bet one way or the other. >> something we don't do. >> i don't know. you know, i would say, i think, in ohio what we've seen is the president built a lead over the summer and the early fall months on the popularity of the auto bailout, on the fact that the unemployment rate was below the national average. those two things remain true. now, ohio is a state that has

been incredibly closely divided. president obama won in 2008, won in ohio 226,000 votes out of 5.6 million cast. the margin for error for him in that state or for either candidate in that state is very small. i think he's ahead today. i don't think it's as much as he was ahead two weeks ago. he's ahead by two, maybe three points. being ahead there is critically important to him and it's more detriment toll mitt romney. barack obama can be re-elected without pinning ohio, andrea. mitt romney, it's very difficult to see a path to beating barack obama to 270 electoral votes without the state of ohio. that's why they're spending so much time and money there. >> colin powell it would have been real news if he failed to reendorse president obama. >> right. >> but this is what he had to say on cbs this morning. >> it's a moving target. one day he has a certain strong view about staying in

afghanistan but then on monday night he agrees with the withdrawal. the same thing in iraq. on almost every issue discussed monday night, governor romney agreed with the president with some nuances but this is a different set of foreign policy views than he had earlier in the campaign. my concern, which i've expressed previously in a public way, is that sometimes i don't sense that he has thought through these issues as thoroughly as he should have. >> so colin powell making the point that mitt romney in the debate was, according to most foreign policy experts, all of the newspapers, was softening his stance. and partly we were told, from strategists, an appeal to women voters, undecided women voters war weary. >> don't want to kill their way out of it. >> as he said, artfully or inartfully, take your pick, we don't want to kill our way out of it. but the women's vote is affected

by the richard mourdock controversy or could be affected, we should say. governor romney asked about this, ignored the question on the stump. this is ace race that had been re, very tight already. richard mourdock, you know, memberbly was the tea party supported deeply conservative candidate in indiana who defeated dick lugar who failed to campaign, didn't even have a home address. that was a rough primary. and now you've got mourdock on the ropes but it's playing into the national race as well. >> it sure is, because the republican party and various candidates keep tripping themselves up on this very emotional issue of abortion. and i have to say, i thought what mourdock said was beyond stupid. it was actually cruel to think. if you think it's god's will that the baby's created as the pregnancy results from rape you have to think it was god's will

you be raped and that's not my -- it's not a theological program, that's not my idea of religion. i do have to say it underscores the real intellectual problem that republican party and anti-abortion movement has with abortion. if you believe the fetus' life from the moment of conception, then it's particularly intellectually coherent. you're not going to say it's go's will, because that's offensive but it's intellectu intellectually coherent say you oppose rape in all circumstances when they put in these exceptions in order to appeal to women, you can see that governor romney is running an ad on that now. he's not an extremist on abortion. that's when they get into these difficulties. >> and chris cillizza, speaking of ads, there is the ad that is still on the air in indiana. let's show you a bit of it, because mitt romney say he disagrees with what mourdock said, is still up with his ad they only taped this week

endorsing richard mourdock. let's watch. >> this fall, i'm supporting richard mourdock for senate. as state treasurer richard worked with governor daniels to balance the budget and make government more account pittsburgh. as senator, richard will be the 51st vote to repeal and replace governor-run health care. richard will help stop the liberal reid/pelosi agenda. i hope you'll join me in supporting richard mourdock. >> we should point out in an interview with cnn john mccain said he would not support richard mourdock. he went beyond where the other candidates was willing to go. he disavowed mourdock but they put out a statement from mccain's office he taped that without seeing mourdock's news conferen conference. mccain is back on board. how big a problem is this for the republicans? >> well, andrea, i may disagree a little bit here with ruth. i think it's a big problem for

richard mourdock. that's a cover of the indianapolis star, a big problem in a state race for richard mourdock. i don't see -- i've been wrong many types -- i don't see how voters in ohio, virginia, florida, colorado, or nevada, somehow see that mitt romney is in an ad for richard mourdock being some validation that mitt romney, who has said he disagrees and with what richard mourdock said on rape, validation of mitt romney. i just -- i don't see that. i think it's bad for richard mourdock. it's something mitt romney would not have to deal with. but i don't think the race gets decided on the margins based on what richard mourdock said in indiana. >> with the democrats' perspective on all of this, the latest developments in the race, whether or not that issue can be nationalized, florida congresswoman, democratic chair, debbie wasserman schultz. congresswoman thank you for joining us. what about the mourdock controversy?

there's a new advertisement from the obama team trying to nationalize it. is this local to indiana? >> no, i think this is deeply concerning to women because it shows just how deeply embedded the extremism is on women's health in the republican party. you have mitt romney and paul ryan and richard mourdock and todd akin who are essentially two sets of twins when it comes to issues related to women's health. mitt romney, like you said, has cut an ad, this is the only candidate in the country that he has done an ad for. he's endorsed richard mourdock and now he won't even say two days has passed, since richard mourdock has said that the pregnancy resulting from a rape was intended by god and was a gift from god and mitt romney is avoiding directly saying himself, he's only -- he's only said this through a spokesperson that he done agree with the views. he still endorses him. and won't pull the ad. paul ryan, his running mate,

andrea, has said that it doesn't matter what -- how a life was -- pregnancy was conceived. the method of conception doesn't matter. todd akin said there was something called legitimate rape and richard mourdock said that the pregnancy's from rape are a gift from god. two sets of twins that really women i think all across the country are deeply disturbed about mitt romney's views on women's health. remember, mitt romney also said that when it comes to abortion, he would be delighted to sign a total ban on abortion. the extremism is beyond comprehension. >> congresswoman, but at the same time, you've got all of these issues, yet the gender gap is narrowing, the advantage that the president's always enjoyed with women, and this could be the key to a race that is so close that it duplicates the sort of florida nightmare for democrats 2000.

in fact the obama campaign has this new ad trying to remind the faithful of what happened back then with bush v. gore. let's watch. >> 537 the number of votes that changed the course of american history. >> florida is too close to call. >> the difference between what was and what could have been? so this year, if you're thinking that your vote doesn't count, that it won't matter, well, back then there were probably at least 537 people who felt the same way. make your voice heard. vote. >> i'm barack obama and i approve this message. >> it may not come to that, but let's hope, just for the country's sake, but why has it come to this close a race with all of the advantages of incumbency? why are the people who are so passionate about hope and change not sole on the president at this stage? >> that member of 537 vote difference gave me flashback

nightmares i was in the midst, just gotten elected to the state senate in 2000. we're out there making sure, you know, having set up and established the large effort most dynamic grassroots presidential campaign ever waged. while mitt romney has a handful of billionaires trying to buy him the white house, we're making sure we use every tool at our disposal through early voting, absentee casting and door knocks and canvassing to turn out the votes and help people understand the election is critical and every vote counts. weep knew it would narrow and that's we're put together a campaign that we're executing now to carry barack obama back to the white house on the shoulders of our people-powered campaign. we've maid progress. people are enthusiastic. president obama enjoys overwhelming support from women. from latinos, from middle class voters and from independents, and he is going to win this

election because people know that we can't go backwards, as mitt romney has proposed, to economic policies that crashed our economy. we can't turn medicare into a voucher system. we can't have a president who would veto the dream act and thinks we should have 12 million undocumented immigrants self-deport. we can't have a candidate become president like mitt romney who hasek treatment views on women's health. >> let's me ask you about what's going on with florida. senator nelson according to democrats whom i talked to in the last 24 hours, say that connie mack, whom you see on the screen, has risen unexpected to them because bill nelson, senator, did badly in his debates. are you going to lose your senate seat there? zplo zplo. >> no bill nelson will win the election. he's been ahead of connie mack who is extremely conservative and that does not have the policy chops or the experience to earn the support of florida

voters. bill nelson has been a steady hand, has a steady hand of leadership, fought for the middle class, a known quantity in florida and he'll be re-elected and i think re-elected easily. >> congressman moran had to fire his son for getting trapped in a sting operation and seeming to indicate with james o'keeffe, sort of sting operator in the past, that he would at least consider some sort of voter fraud operation. we don't know exactly what went down, obviously with something like this, but the congressman has taken rather quick action and his son, who is a campaign manager or staff member, has been pushed out. any comment on that? >> well, obviously, jim, i served with jim moran, served with him on the appropriations committee, an incredible public servant. this was an isolated incident,

unindefensible, and that's why they took quick action to have his son step out of the campaign and made sure they repudiated that conversation and action. what's deeply concerning the republican party through the rnc contracted with a firm in four stated has been found to be engaging in voter registration fraud in my state, virginia, deep seeded voter registration fraud and after they learned the firm had a previous track record with voter registration fraud they kept contracting with the same firm. we jettisoned isolated incident likes that are unacceptable because we oppose voter fraud and encourage making sure that more people have an opportunity to vote. republicans have engaged in nothing but voter suppression and continue to be willing to work with firms that have the notoriety of being engaged in voter registration fraud. that's another example of how clear the difference is in the choice that we face in this election. >> democratic national chair, debbie wasserman schultz. thank you very much. thanks congresswoman.

>> thanks, andrea. after his kcross country flight, very tired and hoarse president obama speaking in richmond, virginia. >> hold on. you know we -- >> four more years. four more years, four more years. four more years. four more years. four more years. four more years. >> richmond, i want to explain something. we joke about this, but this goes to a serious issue. the most serious issue of any presidential contest, and that is the issue of trust. trust matters. you know you want to know that whoever is in the oval office is going to fight for you. you want to know that they're not just going to take the

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and as i said at the outset, just talked to mark, we've got to champion small businesses. look at the cloud they see in front of them, just in january, more regulations, higher taxes, a government debt crisis which

threatens destabilized currency, higher interest rates, the future of obama care. 75% of businesses the chamber of commerce surveyed said they're less likely to hire new worker because of obama care for the sake of medicare, for the sake of health care, for the sake of job creation we've got to get rid of obama care. >> paul ryan on stage in bristol, virginia near the tennessee border. ron mott is at that rally and joins plea on the phone. ron, paul ryan's campaign trying to reach out to young people and old and talk about deficit redux, a theme which they believe, the campaign believes he has a lot of credibility. >> reporter: talking about coal as well. they've been hammering away at president obama and his administration for what they call an attack and a war against coal. one of the things that paul ryan talked about, the governor as well, is their five-point plan for restoring america's middle class to prosperity begins with

energy. that's a message that sells well. but what's hard to ignore here, at this rally today, that is about 15, 20 minutes ago a plane flying overhead, we have video, it was caring banner that says romney gop wrong on rape and women. i spoke to one of the senior campaign officials here before paul ryan took the stage and asked if they'd have further comment on the ad that juxtaposes paul ryan to richard mourdock. they will have nothing further to say. they're focused on big issues in the campaign and paul ryan a little while ago before you took a live tape of him, live video of him, made fun of the president's pamphlet released the other day and i'm paraphrasing here, as a sign of desperation he's got a second term agenda. trying to stay on message. we'll have whether these mourdock thing has legs and will carry for a few days. seems like the campaign is going

to ignore any questions about further comments, andrea. >> ron mott on the campaign trail in bristol, thanks very much. and up next, ohio's nightmare ballot scenario. this is "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. i'm only in my 60's... i've got a nice long life ahead. big plans. so when i found out medicare doesn't pay all my medical expenses, i looked at my options. then i got a medicare supplement insurance plan. [ male announcer ] if you're eligible for medicare,

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oh! look at all this garbage! febreze car. eliminates odors for continuous freshness, so you can breathe happy. have you tried this yet? save on febreze car and other innovative products with the october 28th p&g brandsaver. there are growing concerns that ohio this year could hold up the vote counting for a week or more. john yang has been talking deeper to this. you've talked to paul peck the expert resident on this from ohio university. give us the nuts and bolts how this could be complicated, john. >> reporter: it is really complicated. this is you know florida in 2000 held things up because of ballots that were hard to understand, punch cards that didn't get fully punched. in a way this is built -- in ohio this is built into the system. they wanted to make it easier for people to get absentee

ballots. so far this year, about a million and a half voters in ohio have requested absentee ballots and they've got another week they can request absentee ballots. so far only 600,000 have been returned. that's about 800,000 absentee ballots sent out and not returned. if any of those 800,000 voters decide they're not going to vote absentee, vote on election day, maybe they missed the deadline for mailing it back in, for getting it postmarked, they're going to have to cast provisional ballots enwhen they go to the polls records show you've requested absentee ballot, why are you here, they'll get a provisional ballot, they'll have to wait, go through the absentee ballot and see if that ballot is valid, and they don't start counting absentee ballots or provisional ballots until november 17th, 11

days after election day. if this is a tight race a race on election night decided with a margin of only a few hundred thousand votes, you may have to wait until november 17th to find out who wins ohio and its 18 electoral votes and that could be the deciding margin of the entire race. >> john yang, say it isn't so. in 2004 one ohio congressional district made the difference between president john kerry and president george w. bush. thank you very much. coming up the mourdock fallout. will the controversy help democrats hold control of the senate. plus, hurricane sandy a different kind of october surprise. jack, you're a little boring. boring. boring. [ jack ] after lauren broke up with me, i went to the citi private pass page and decided to be...not boring. that's how i met marilyn... giada...

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developing now, the family of the pakistani teen activist wounded by the taliban has

landed in the uk. and will be making their way to the hospital where malala is recovering later today. outside the hospital in birmingham, england. this is a wonderful news for her she'll have her family around her. tell me how she's doing, what is the latest on malala's condition? >> reporter: hi, andrea. as you mentioned, ten days after mala malala's family put her on a plane and sent her thousands miles away for treatment they'll be joining here at this queen elizabeth hospital. they'll landed in the uk, on a flight from islamabad, her father, mother, two brothers and escorted by police on their way to the hospital to reunite with her and meeting with the teal of doctors who have been overseeing her care to get an update on her care, before they meet with her. the hospital here, queen elizabeth hospital, behind me, was the chosen hospital for her because they have a major trauma

center that specializes in severe gunshot wounds of the kind malala shot over two weeks ago as she left her school. since she's been here, the hospital, because of the enormous interest the girls case, has been providing regular updates on her condition. they say they are pleased with her recovery. we've learned in the last few days she continues to write messages memories of the day of the attack and mettages of thanks for outpouring of support that she's seen. she can stand with the help of others. we learned from the interior minister she's talking for the first time since shot. a special moment happening here later tonight reunited with family and continues on that long path to recovery. andrea? >> thanks so much. we'll wait for updates. hurricane sandy -- hurricane sandy is threatening the east coast with the potential of major impact on the northeast beginning late in the weekend

and into next week. early this morning sandy slammed into southeastern cuba. today, as a category 2 storm and in parts of florida a tropical storm warning with wind gusts 35 to 40 miles an hour. b b joining me now hurricane expert bryan norcross. tell us about the storm. two secenario, both as i understand would make landfall some point in the u.s. yeah, coming into some kind of agreement, unfortunately, andrea, and it does not look good in terms of the agreement. let me get to that in a second. where the storm is now, it's down here in the southern bahamas right there and heading north and going to move past the bahamas. 105 mile an hour hurricane forecast to move off the east coast with fringe effects through florida, up into the carolinas. then we get to late in the weekend. here's sunday, it's off cape hatteras and now moving up and

notice that depending on what forecast you're look agent here, this is a wide area, but it's showing the storm turning to the left and coming ashore. this would be, as far as we can see in the record books unprecedented and a worst-case scenario to have a storm come off the ocean and veer inland like that. let me show you why. i'm going to show you a computer model that we look at. this is the european model that brings the storm ashore noon on monday and bring as shore here. there's new jersey, tip of new jersey, cape may. it's pushing wind and water into that corner between new jersey and long island and all of those discussions we had during hurricane irene about flooding in lower manhattan and damage on long island jersey shore come in to play. farther north talking about new england. in any case effects over the entire northeast part of the u.s. this is going to be just a high-profile, high-threat event,

it looks like that we're talking about well into next week. and we really need to be paying close attention, because this is unprecedented, as best we can tell. >> bryan norcross, not such good news. very worrying. thanks for your expertise. democrats seizing the opportunity to try to link mitt romney to richard mourdock's comments about rape and abortion in the indiana race. republicans insist what women care about most is the economy. >> what he said was crazy, but having said that, this election for president is not about that. >> joining me now is washington senator, washington senator patty murray, who of course chairs the democratic senatorial campaign committee. your job in this election is to make sure that democrats get re-elected and you don't lose control of the senate. richard mourdock could be the gift that keeps on giving in terms of indiana. do you think it has national

implications. >> die think it has national implications. women and men across the country are startled that a number of men seeking the nation's highist office in the u.s. and supported by a republican party nationally have this viewpoint that somehow is framed as god's will, if a woman becomes pregnant, as a result of rape. but more so these men will be voting on these policies when they get to the united states senate. that a woman can't have an abortion if she is a victim of rape or insist. it is seriously a lot of people looking at the republican party and saying who are they and what are they representing and what is going on? and i think that is an issue that is compelling to women. i also think it is an economic issue. when you have congress and a white house who could impact your ability to make your decisions about your own health care. so, yes, this is a motivating

issue for many people. >> why do you think that the president has lost support among women and the gender gap is narrowing against him right now in mitt romney's favor for the first time that we've seen this kind of effect? >> well, i don't believe that. i really see a lot of women who are just aghast at where this republican party has gone, including deeply religious women who believe strongly that it should be a woman's own decision, especially in a case of rape or incest about. how horrific can that be? we seen candidates in the country, it's not just indiana with mourdock or akin in missouri. that's a serious impact to women. and andrea, you and i have been talking about this for a long time. a house of representatives elected and had a large group of far right tea party candidates

like the senate candidates who told us they were going to fight for the economy and get jobs again, and whose first agenda and continuing agenda has been to impact a woman's right to make her own health care decisions. >> let me ask you about some other senate races, some that you thought you might win. clearly nebraska, bob kerrey a tough one to hold. you've got some where you are playing from behind, but now bill nelson slipping in florida, did not have a good debate performance. a couple of other tight races. offgot connecticut where speaking of women, linda mcmahon pulling ahead according to some pulls and what is happening in virginia where you've got tim kaine, george alan, neck and neck. are you going to be able to hold on to the senate? >> look, a year and a half ago no one thought we would keep a majority of democrats in the senate. today our candidates are running strong. we have wonderful people running across the country who really understand middle class america and are out there just really expressing the views of most

americans that we need to make sure that our country's strong in the future and the middle class is the key to that. bill nelson in florida is going to win. he's doing well and he will win that race. virginia, tim kaine a wonderful condition is going to win that race. in connecticut, chris murphy pulling ahead. we are going to win in massachusetts with a great candidate, elizabeth warren. and we're going surprise people across the board in red states that no one thought we had a chance, in north dakota with heidi hide camp. with bob kerrey pulling up in the state of nebraska. and i think this is because, as voters get to the point where they're going to have to vote, they are saying, what is the reasonable party here and who is going to take my values as a middle class american and fight for them once we are all in congress after this election. and they see our democratic candidates ask those candidates. >> thank you so muff, senator

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[ male announcer ] alka-seltzer plus liquid gels speeds relief to your worst cold symptoms plus has a decongestant for your stuffy nose. thanks. that's the cold truth! 12 days to go, so little time, both campaigns fighting over women, noncollege educated women juggling families and jobs, many undecided, many who don't have enough jobs. part of the last-minute campaign to keep going after these women, though. joining me now, kiki mclean, former adviser to hillary clinton's presidential campaign and republican strategist phil musser. welcome both. what is the key demographic? we've talked about walmart moms now waitress moms. there's a divide among those college educated women, undecided voters and those are not whether they go for mitt romney or whether they go for barack obama.

>> it's not just that straight a line. as you know, i've worked on the walmart moms for the last year, i've watched a lot of focus groups and walmart moms in that project are by definition a women with a child under 18 and shopped at walmart in the last month. what you see among these women is a desire for details and how it ties to the economy. and so when you look up and say these last two weeks are about the economy, what it means, that's true. and when you hear something like happening in the mourdock campaign you say, women look up and say, what does that mean for me in the long haul? where am i as a women in the economy, trying to manage my family through tough times. >> i think, it's phil, i think you're exactly right. what these rare looking for, specifics and a plan, and that's the lost opportunity for the president and the context of october, which for the three debates, 65 million to 75 million watching and he was

largely absent without a plan. whether you agree or not mitt romney laid out clear five-point plan for the future. talking about thing his would do with a degree of specificity. this has been the election cycle driven by people seeing with their own eyes and the fact that the president missed opportunity to lay out an agendaer to his future is why we see polling that suggests the gender gap almost completed closed. >> i want to jump in here. there is a new interview with rolling stone that has just come online and it's i guess just out where the president was doing an interview with "rolling stone" and doug brinkley, the historian and the editor apparently asked him, as he was leaving the oval office -- follow me here -- he asked him about little kids and how kids react and obama grinned and said i do very well in the key demographic ages 6 to 12, i'm a killer. and they're joking around and the editor thought about lower the voting age and obama said, the president said, you know

kids have good instincts they look at either guy and say, well, that's a bser, i can tell. i cleaned it up. i don't know how this plays but it seems this is the president unvarnished and "rolling stone" had it on the record and put it up. >> that's clearly a moment talking about what happens in the world that isn't the high intensity stakes of politics. my 10-year-old asked about the 47% because he's heard it and learned it. but that's a moment of the president showing his humor and affection for kids and that's a great moment. >> let me interrupt. brian williams with the president, traveling with him for two days, is on the phone. you asked the president how he feels about mitt romney and he tried to say, you know in these kind of context -- contests that rivals, of course feel some friction but that doesn't really obtain to a personal anamous.

>> he's used the barely veiled term that he considers mitt romney a pitch man. you know these two are going at. you're going to want their travel miles at the end of this 12-day period. certainly where air force one is concerned. >> and your travel miles as well. he sounded a little hoors today. i don't know how you both hold up, but brian, this is nonstop frantic campaigning. obviously, they feel they have a lot of cashing up to do. what about the crowds. you were out four years ago. how do you compare the enthusiasm level? >> it's not '08 in any category you can name. the candidate is different. he's an incumbent running for his job. the crowds are different. the country is vastly different, gone through kind of an economic shock to the system. and so i think that the contrast

is useful. these crowds that romney has gathered, especially a late night crowd in colorado, it's a contrast. the obama campaign is going after that base doggedly because they know it's about the battlegrounds and they know suddenly they have an uphill fight in some of the them they weren't expecting. >> and they keep telling us about their advantage in organization. they were out there months and months earlier in terms of opening offices and frankly spending a lot of money on the ground game. but you have to have that basic enthusiasm. i know that, you know, i don't see the yard signs and the basic passion. it is a re-election race, and what you say is that is a different situation? >> right. they're frankly hoping to get by in some places. they also have the advantage of not having had a grinding, brutal primary process and all the damage that can inflict on a party. mitt romney, the survivor,

emerg emerged. if you believe the national polls, we've seen the numbers. >> and just finally, where is your next stop? >> we are there. richmond, virginia, at some point here. i have to get back to new york and go to work. >> and we will see that, of course, brian. thanks for calling in. we will, of course, be watching brianle wi williams exclusive interview tonight with president obama on "rock center" on 10: 10:00/9 central on nbc and "nightly news" before that. we'll be right back. i'm only in my 60's... i've got a nice long life ahead.

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democrats have been saying they've got a big advantage with early voting. phil is still with us. you say the republicans are building on that. >> one of the big things you've heard a lot about the obama machine and the black box chas the obama machine, but here are the facts. we heard about richmond, and early voting is down 18% in richmond county, in arlington county down 16%. by contrast, republicans are focused on turning out lower

propensity voters and moving up the scale. we feel really comfortable about where we are in terms of growing the share is because romney message is resonating and we continue to persuade the independents that are hard to flush. >> that does it for us for this edition of "andrea mitchell reports." tamron hall as a look at what's next. >> in the next hour there is grinding it out and grounding it out. that's what both campaigns are doing right now. we size up the ground game in a few key states. plus, why the new "time" magazine poll shows the president up by five points in ohio. had joe scarborough saying this. >> i would say five points looks more like a mountain than a mole hill. >> mountain and a mole hill. we're going to take a look at that poll. also, more on what joe had to say. we have the latest from senator john mccain. first he said he was going to pull his endorsement of richard murdoch if muhe doesn't apologi.

later mccain said never mind. what's going on with the gop response to this latest crisis for them. the gut economic is colin powell's endorsement of president obama. will it make a difference to you? we're going to chime in on that one. in vessel, crafted with care by a talented blonde from sweden. ♪ smooth, rich, never bitter, gevalia. with a vial and syringe. me, explaining what i was doing at breakfast. and me discovering novolog mix 70/30 flexpen. flexpen is pre-filled with your pre-mix insulin.

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