>> i voted. to all of you who have not yet early voted, i want everybody to see what an incredibly efficient process this was. >> and this afternoon mitt romney will deliver what his campaign calls a major speech on economic policy. the former governor tries to prove he's the real change candidate. >> given the big challenges we have and the big election we have, it's time for a big change. and paul ryan and i represent a big change for america. we recognize this is a year with a big choice, and that americans want to see big changes and i'm going to bring it to this country. >> let's dig right in joining me is congresswoman debbie wasserman schultz, chair of the dnc, it's great to have you here and i want to begin with the new poll numbers out today, a lot to talk about. let's go to the female vote, the president still leading with women in nevada and colorado but governor romney has tightened what was the several digit lead to single digits in both states.

from your vantage point, what happened to the president's lead with women? >> i think, you know, we've always known that over time that the overall race in really every demographic was going to tighten and we think that the president by the time we reach election day and right now every day is election day in just about every state with women in particular because of the extreme views on women's health of mitt romney and paul ryan that have really come in -- on full display particularly in the last few days that president obama will end up with a double digit lead among women -- >> if these views are so extreme though -- congresswoman if these views are so extreme, why is there a tightening? why wouldn't the president just be storming away? >> well, we've known that this was going to be a tight election all the way through and we've been in the process of standing up most significant, largest grassroots presidential campaign in history, the contrast between president obama and mitt romney on women's issues in particular,

on women's health is very stark, mitt romney has the most extreme views really of any modern times presidential nominee when it comes to women's reproductive health, when it comes to making sure that women have economic equity. he still won't say whether he would sign the lilly ledbetter fair pay act into law. women lose $431,000 over their professional life by not getting equal pay for equal work. it's real money and at the end of the day when women go cast their ballot in the ballot box, president obama will have a double-digit lead with women because of mitt romney's being so out of touch with women's issues. >> as you point out the democrats do continue to hammer governor romney by the comments made by richard mourdock, the obama campaign up with a clock counting the time since mourdock's comments without the governor withdrawing his endorsement, there's no question this issue is truly important. but to really sway women voters

does the president need a stronger economic appeal to those women that are on the fence in these final 11 days? >> well, first of all, it has been three days now since senate candidate richard mourdock in indiana said that the -- that the resulting pregnancy from a rape is -- was intended by god and was a gift from god. and mitt romney hasn't even said himself that he disagrees with that. he's only made that statement through a spokesperson. >> right. andrea salt came out and said they disavow that statement. >> yes. but remember when todd akin made those really extreme comments on legitimate rape, i mean, they thought it was important enough for mitt romney to say so himself. he avoided questions yesterday when asked directly whether he still endorsed richard mourdock, because he does, whether he would pull the ad, he refused to answer that question. it's three days later, mitt romney still has the only candidate for the senate that he has an add-on for is richard mourdock direct to camera, mitt

romney expressing his support for him and he still will not pull his endorsement. mitt romney is extreme on issues important to women. he's extreme when it comes to women's -- with women's economic issues. why won't mitt romney say whether he believes in equal pay for equal work and whether he would sign the lilly ledbetter fair pay act? i mean, this is -- $431,000 over the professional life of a woman means that there are serious economic decisions that women can't make. those are investments that women can't make and so many women -- president obama that was the first bill that he signed into law. president obama knows that when women make economic decisions whether it's which -- what direction their children's education is going to go, whether it's health care, whether it's their overall -- overall household budget, that president obama has had their back. he understands that the issues important to women are education and health care and mitt romney would cut education in the romney-ryan budget. >> really quickly i need to get

in here about what's going in your home state of florida. because early voting starts there saturday. >> tomorrow. >> as we look at the recent polling they've given the governor a three-point lead, romney's political director rich beeson said florida is like an aircraft carrier, once you start turning it, it's hard to stop and it's been turning now for about the last ten days. is florida slipping out of the president's grasp right now? where does florida really stand? >> on the contrary, we have a massive ground game that we're executing in florida. in fact, if you look at the advantage that the republicans typically have when it comes to absentee ballot requests, we've cut their advantage in absentee balloting from more than 230,000 to just 38,000, and 85% reduction. we lapped them in early vote which starts tomorrow, we have a ground game, we have 106 offices open around the state, tens of thousands of door knocks through volunteers and phone calls, so we're going to win florida

because, number one, florida voters understand on the economy, when it comes to rebuilding the economy from the middle-class out, on medicare, they don't want mitt romney's plan to turn medicare into a voucher system, on immigration, hispanic voters believe that mitt romney is the most extreme candidate for president on immigration that we've ever seen in modern times. so, for all of those three reasons where we have a significant turnout from latino voters from seniors, from women and from people concerned about the economy who want this economy to move forward, not backward, florida's going to stick with president obama and that's going to be in the win column for him on election day. >> both sides making aggressive points on where florida will go and both sides want it really badly, we shall see. congress woman debbie wasserman schultz, good to see you. >> you, too, thomas, good to see you. >> i want to bring in our political panel, democratic strategist chris cofinis, msnbc contributor and republican

strategist susan del fino. i want to start with you, chris, because campaign fund-raising is poised to pass $2 billion, "b," that mark, the president caulk talking about campaign spending and i want to play it for everybody in his interview with brian williams that aired on rock center, take a look. >> the amount of money being spent in my campaign and mr. romney's campaign and the super pacs out there is ridiculous. >> so, there's been a lot of speculation, chris, about a big ad bomb from the governor. could that overcome the president's ground game in those key swing states? >> you know, i was reading about this notion of the romney campaign going up big in the last few days. here's the problem with that kind of a strategy if it is their strategy you have a smaller and smaller percentage of voters who are going to make the difference, meaning, they're going to change their minds one way or the other and so even if you're trying to, you know, influence them by putting up an

enormous amount of money into ads, the idea that you're going to actually change their minds with such little amount of time left it just doesn't make sense because you need in order to actually do that you need to actually have the ads showing repetitively for weeks on end. so, i'm not sure it's a smart strategy. i don't think it compensates for the ground game that the obama campaign has. it's a very strange strategy on the romney campaign to wait until the last week to go up big. >> i think people across the country would say the ads are repetitive enough already, so how could they get more? susan, one thing governor romney has failed to answer the questions to him about indiana senate candidate mourdock, i'll show you how he avoided the reporters yesterday. take a look. >> which way are we going? >> do you disavow mourdock's comments? >> thank you.

>> governor, did you disavow the mourdock comments? >> not for a lack of trying those reporters getting bnothin. why not come out and say it's ludicrous and saying he doesn't support it? >> his spokesperson came out and said he disavowed it. >> he came out on this thing rape is rape and there's no question about it, it is a crime and that's a fact. >> i happen to agree with you, thomas, i think he should come out on this. i think it's an important thing for him to do because you can't have these distractions this close to election day. if they are going to have a big strategy on their ad game, if they're going to work on their ground game they cannot be deflected by having this as a problem for them and they do need to address it. i happen to agree that governor romney should come out and say something on his own. they should probably pull the ads, too, there's a reason why

you don't have candidates do these kind of commercials because you never know what's going to happen. >> because they taped the commercial and then they had the debate and then this happens. >> exactly. it happens on both sides all the time, that's why they are always very wary to do those types of things, but it looks like the story is going to continue. i think they thought it could have stopped in its tracks so close to election day, but it doesn't look like it's going to so they have to address it. >> all right, victoria, women, they are not the only critical group out there that the obama campaign is looking at. the president himself admitted this week that latinos are truly pivotal to his re-election bid and the obama campaign national field director is touting these numbers. voter registration in north carolina of latinos up 28% and nevada, and colorado, and north carolina latinos make up a bigger percentage in all three states.

how big of a factor is that playing into 2012? >> it's a huge factor because even though we've seen latinos consistently support the president we don't know if the support is going to translate into turnout. regrettably latinos don't turn out in the rates we would like to see them turn out. the other issue is that even though conventionally latinos care about immigration, and that's the driving issue, the truth is it's about the economy. it's also immigration but latinos were the hardest hit during the recession seeing their wealth disappear at 66%, and up until this month, thomas, latino unemployment was in the double digits, so latinos are supporting the president but they still have the nagging economic concern which i think keeps one ear open towards romney campaign. >> all right, i'll ask both of you to susan and to chris, and i want to show it to everybody, this romney surrogate we've all seen out there throughout this primary season and, you know, into the general is former new hampshire governor john sununu and he made some eyebrow raising

comments about race and the endorsement of colin powell to president obama. take a look. >> when you take a look at colin powell, you have to wonder whether that's an endorsement based on issues or whether he's got a slightly different reason for preferring president obama. >> what reason would that be? >> well, i think when you have somebody of your own race that you're proud of beef iing presi of the united states, i applaud colin for standing with him. >> governor sununu said colin powell is a friend and i respect the endorsement decision that he made and i do not doubt that it was based on anything but his support of the president's policies. okay, this stuff is like feathers to the wind, you say it, it's out there. i've made the remark. well, he's black, so that's why he's supporting him. susan? >> it's a complete unforced error for team romney. there's no reason this should even become an issue. the only way that general colin powell's endorsement would have

made huge news is if he changed his endorsement to romney. the fact that he stayed with president obama really isn't a lot of news. so, then you add making the endorsement more weighted than it should be. and making this fumble. it's very unfortunate for the romney team right now. >> and, chris, what do you say about this? this comes on the heels of the donald trump birther stuff getting more heat and now sununu coming out and playing the race card. >> i imagine the romney campaign thinks with friends like this, who needs enemies. let's be honest, you know, between sununu, trump, mourdock, you know, it feeds -- >> akin. >> akin. it feeds into the narrative. absolutely. it feeds into this their tave and this reality that a lot of voters sit there and look at the republicans and they look at romney and they say, we're not sure we can support him and then they look to the people around him and say we definitely are not sure we can support him. he just adds this real i think uncertainty about what governor

romney would bring into power if he became president when you have people like this who are close advisers or surrogates or supporters and they're saying what are basically, let's put it bluntly, crazy things, it just is not a good thing for the romney campaign and it i think makes people really uneasy. >> especially -- especially as they were becoming more and more comfortable with governor romney throughout the debate process as they were getting to know him, a lot of the early negatives didn't work on him. so, as he's getting this momentum and people are becoming comfortable with him to see these kind of controversies by people who are trying to help him is pretty problematic. >> victoria, i'll give you the last word. >> i think it's unstrategic, because at this point you're trying to reach out to independents and independents don't like these extremist views either in terms of abortion or race. many of the independent voters who romney is trying to reach voted for president obama in 2008 and race wasn't an issue so

trying to make this reachover is going to be counterproductive and hurt him and like we said earlier with friends like that who needs the democrats. >> sometimes i wonder is it 1912 or 2012. our power panel, thanks so much. >> thanks, thomas. >> thank you. we are keeping very close watch on hurricane sandy, the cat 2 storm is headed straight for the u.s. and we'll tell you all about that. plus, 2000 all over again? could one candidate win the popular vote and another win the electoral college? pollster stan greenberg will break down the numbers for you. and we want to know what you think, what's more important to your vote, the economy or social issues? tweet me, or find me on facebook. no, no, no, stop! humans -- one day, we're coming up with the theory of relativity, the next... stop, stop, stop! my car! not so much. but that's okay. you're covered with great ideas like optional better car replacement

from liberty mutual insurance. total your car, and we give you the money to buy one a model year newer. learn about it at libertymutual.com. liberty mutual insurance. responsibility -- what's your policy?

bp has paid overthe people of bp twenty-threeitment to the gulf. billion dollars to help those affected and to cover cleanup costs. today, the beaches and gulf are open, and many areas are reporting their best tourism seasons in years. and bp's also committed to america. we support nearly 250,000 jobs and invest more here than anywhere else. we're working to fuel america for generations to come. our commitment has never been stronger.

all right, so it may not be florida but could we be heading to a repeat of the razor thin 2000 election when president bush won the electoral vote even though al gore won the popular vote with president obama leading in most battlegrounds and governor romney ahead in the national vote, we can't rule out that scenario, i want to bring out pollster greenberg. let's start with the battleground of ohio, the most critical state on the map for both campaigns and as we look at the latest polling there it does favor the president the numbers range anywhere from a tie to the president being up by five points as we see in the latette "time" magazine poll, how close is the race in the buckeye state really? >> the race is close but there isn't any doubt that the president is ahead and i think holding his lead, you know, statistically people talk about margin of error but it actually

does not apply. if you do five is your fsurveys and four out of five have him ahead there's a probability he'll carry ohio. and the same thing's true in nevada and the same's true in iowa and these are states key to producing electoral college majorities so i feel pretty comfortable that he'll get there on the ground in the key states. >> how do you think the nation and the elected leaders would respond if governor romney won the popular vote and president obama won the electoral college wouldn't it put more distance between an already divided electora electorate? >> we don't want it to happen but it was a constitutional system. i was there in 2000, a pollster to al gore when we were dealing with that possible divide, but we won both as you know and i was there with john kerry at the end as one of the pollsters and we were watching 60,000 votes difference on having a split electoral college and majority.

it can happen. when it happens is when you get a very big swing usually to, you know, the southern, you know, to the southern deep south states and western states that give very, very big margins to the republicans but not reflected on what's happening in the battleground states in the middle of the country. i do think the president has a national lead, you know, it's close but i do think he has a national, you know, a national lead and there's lots of reasons to be a little suspicious about that national polling this year because of, you know, the automated polling and the cell phone issues that, you know, really do impact which polls are credible. so, i actually think the president's going to, you know, edge it out. and i think i feel much more confident about the electoral college but it's not a small probability. there is some finite probability -- >> what's your gut say? >> my gut says the president, you know, wins the -- nationally and wins the electoral college. >> stan greenberg, great to have you on this morning, i appreciate it. the real october surprise

may be hurricane sandy. what happens to campaign events in florida and virginia with this storm? plus what can you expect if you're bracing for this storm on the eastern coastline? we'll tell you. also, who's going to be impacted, who's going to be spared. we have the very late it model on the storm's path after this. time for the your business entrepreneur of the week. seth carney works boston area renaissance fairs and haunted houses and nightclubs. he hawks from his bone shop cart selling bones, skulls and other items. carney hooks, engaging and sells through performance and mirroring potential customer temperaments, for more watch "your business" sunday mornings at 7:30 on msnbc. [ male announcer ] there are only so many foods

that make kids happy. and even fewer that make moms happy too. with wholesome noodles and bite sized chicken, nothing brings you together like chicken noodle soup from campbell's. it's amazing what soup can do. to volunteer to help those in need. when a twinge of back pain surprises him. morning starts in high spirits, but there's a growing pain in his lower back. as lines grow longer, his pain continues to linger. but after a long day of helping others, he gets some helpful advice.

just two aleve have the strength to keep back pain away all day. today, jason chose aleve. just two pills for all day pain relief. try aleve d for strong, all day long sinus and headache relief. welcome back, everybody. breaking news this hour the latest advisory on hurricane sandy released just moments ago. the cat 1 storm is moving out of the bahamas and moving away from the north. sandy most likely going to evolve into a rare hybrid storm where it strikes the eastern coastline. weather channel's mike seidel is live in florida. bring us up to speed what you're seeing there and the prediction models you are watching for the storm now. >> hey, thomas, first, here this is one of the biggest impact and the only impact really tat we were worried about was this coastal erosion trend from hurricane sandy and i walk up the hill here. we've lost about five or six feet of sand. the wind has backed off a little

bit now but we're still looking at some squalls today and we could still get wind gusts 40 to 45 miles hour an hour, but really it's been a coastal storm, the beach erosion and some wind erosion, but that is it. there's been no power outages. it's a brush-by. the storm now, by the way, due east from here, same latitude, heading north. let's show you the satellite loop and the latest from the hurricane center, category 1, 80 miles an hour maximum sustained winds and it slowed down 6 miles an hour northwest and it will turn north and the weekend here in florida looks pretty good although it will be quite windy especially tomorrow. the sun will come back out. now, from the track up the coast. we've got new models coming in, thomas, the next three hours, the american model and then the european model. the european model takes it south of ocean city, maryland, late monday. the gfss american model is a little bit later in time on tuesday up towards new york city. so, somewhere in that coastal

area, that spread from new york down to the virginia coast is where it comes in, what you need to know is inland there's still going to be a lot of wind. a windstorm one that we haven't seen before like this coming in from the west, a hurricane, anytime of the year let alone here in late october. so, there's going to be millions losing power and north of where that center comes in, thomas, there's going to be a lot of problems. erosion here, this is going to look like a day in the park compared to what we're going to see by tuesday on some of those beaches up north. back to you. >> that really is a wide swath from new york to southern virginia so we'll continue to watch, mike seidel live for us from singer island, florida. thank you. mitt romney plans a major address to talk about why he'll do better than president obama. but is better-than-expected economic growth taking wind out of his sails. we'll talk to the co-hosts of "the cycle" my faves. and we're checking the political pulse in the wild, wild west. we're asking two of the best in

the region where the race in colorado and nevada stands at the moment. discover map has this cool 3d iphone app. they'd be so happy if i could get both. well, you could put them on layaway and pay a little at a time. done, and done! he shoots... he scores!!! touchdown!! [ imitates crowd cheering ] strike! [ male announcer ] shop now. get the hottest toys on your list today, like furby and the itikes discover map... then put it on layaway so you have more time to pay. walmart.

then put it on layaway so you have more time to pay. when you take a closer look... ...at the best schools in the world... ...you see they all have something very interesting in common. they have teachers... ...with a deeper knowledge of their subjects. as a result, their students achieve at a higher level. let's develop more stars in education. let's invest in our teachers... ...so they can inspire our students. let's solve this.

welcome back, everybody. more now on our new polls in the battleground states of colorado and nevada. in colorado it's now a dead heat 48% to 48%. president obama's five-point lead last month, it's gone. in nevada president obama holds a three-point lead versus two points last month. we want to dig deeper into the numbers with nevada political journalist john rolston, host of "rolston reports" our nbc affiliate in las vegas, and the author of the rolston report website and joining us is washington sherry, from "the washington post." key in nevada are polls showing president obama with this lead among the state's large hispanic population, chuck todd reports even republicans feel nevada is so well organized on the democratic side of things it's really going to be hard to overcome the advantage. so, what are you hearing on the ground? >> well, on the ground, thomas,

the democrats are absolutely crushing the republicans in early voting. where i'm sitting right now, clark county in the las vegas area nearly 200,000 people have already voted, might have been a third of the total vote has already been cast and the democrats have about a 36,000-vote lead in ballots returned if you're assuming that most of those are voting for the president, that's a real problem for mitt romney, but those hispanic numbers you mentioned with the 50-point lead which is about what exit polls showed, by the way, in 2008 obama beat john mccain by, that's a real problem, again, for mitt romney. hispanics will be about 15% in the electorate here. the numbers in the nbc poll look about right to me. >> allison, let's talk about the dead heat you're watching in colorado, again, not red, not blue, really purple and, again, our polls showing that president obama with a lead among likely latino voters there. but as we look at this, do you agree with our polling that shows suburban women are the key swing vote in colorado?

>> i do. i also see that the suburban women have actually started to flip towards romney. three nights ago mitt romney and paul ryan had a valley at red rock which is a huge beautiful venue outside of denver. i have never in four years, including last election seen that much republican enthusiasm in colorado. people were there, and everybody i talked to, i worked the crowd for about 45 minutes, loved mitt romney. they didn't just dislike barack obama. and i haven't seen that. i really haven't seen that much this month. and it's changed. people are excited about the candidate. you're seeing him making inroads with suburban women in the poll and i think that's what's making it so close. >> all right. that's a big distinction not just out because they don't like the president but they actually do think that mitt romney is the candidate that they personally like him. john, as we look at the romney political director rich beeson saying that nevada has been the toughest nut to crack and he also points, though, to some hopeful signs including winning

early voting two days in a row in washoe county which includes reno where governor romney was there earlier this week, and he is pinning big hopes on the rural counties, what do you think of that? >> i think all of that is true, thomas, but comparing 2008 which was a landslide wave election especially here in nevada where john mccain essentially abandoned the state and did not campaign here is a fool's errand for republicans, but what they're right about is romney will win by a big margin in rural nevada, that's only about 12%, maybe 15% of the vote. washoe county is a swing county. the registration is about even. the republicans are doing okay up there but not great, thomas. the democrats are keeping it about even. romney has to win washoe county by five to seven points at least i would say to have a chance of winning the state. there's no evidence yet, and, again, we only have six days and 14 days of early voting in the

book that that's happening. he still has a chance. and don't forget independents will make up around a fifth of the electorate maybe a little bit less. if romney can do well among independents he still has a shot here but it's not a great one. >> allison in colorado in 2008 the president was able to win the election by keeping senator john mccain's lead among whites to just 12%. with the latest "washington post"/abc poll showing romney now having the 23-point lead among white voters, is there enough enthusiasm among minority voters? we're talking about the african-american, hispanic populations to offset that defend it? >> well, i don't think we're ever going to know that until election day. the republican and democratic turnout has switched in the last couple days. the democrats were leading turnout on early voting and republicans have caught up in the last few days. i think hispanics are huge part of this population, and a huge part of this voting population, they are more enthusiastic for the president. they are walking precincts, but,

you know, i think suburban women is the key to winning colorado and when you see them tie and you see the actual number has slipped that's why it's so close to the president. the "denver post" had a poll about a week and a half ago that show college educated voters have also flipped for romney. that obama had this group of people by five points about five weeks ago, after the first debate, romney has a five-point lead among college educated voters which shows me those are the people watching the debate, those are people paying attention, listening to the speeches and they are still making up their minds. >> thanks so much for joining me this morning, i appreciate it. >> thank you, thomas. >> thank you. with governor romney poised to give what his campaign is calling a major speech on the economy the new polling numbers give the republicans the advantage on the issue, it's number one in the two swing states that we're talking about today, the economy, this with the final monthly jobs report before the election due out a week from today. joining me is half of msnbc's newest show "the cycle" s.e.

cupp and crystal, romney has been able to flip the script so to speak on the economy, one thing he coaches talking about is big change and the fact that he wants to bring 12 million jobs. moody's has come out to say this is going to happen anyway. the cbo has already predicted this is going to happen anyway over the next four years, they've moderated and adjusted the numbers down a little bit, but this is already on track to happen, so why is mitt romney able to sell the narrative that he's better at the economy if the president has already turned it around and we're just waiting to see it happen? >> well, i think a lot of people would argue that the president's turned the economy around, even though the american electorate likes good economic numbers like that 7.8% jobless number, and the current economic numbers that have come out, i don't think there's a sense that things are great right now. and if you look at some of the other polling, that nbc/"wall street journal" poll from last week showed most people want significant changes, even if obama is re-elected wrrked only

4% want a second term like the first, so i think romney is making the calculation that the economy's bad and people are not going to be dissuaded by president obama's attempts to reinvent a second term with this booklet of a plan that really is just a retread of the first term that has not worked. >> all right, so one thing we've been reading today, crystal, is the new "usa today" op-ed by vice president joe biden, as i w talking to s.e., they are talking jobs, the economy, the economy, the economy, the vice president writes the president has outlined specific achievable steps to continue to create jobs and restoring middle-class security. has the president been specific enough, as s.e. pointed out the pamphlet about the jobs or the aya yayen agenda for the next four years have they lined out an agenda for what they want to do? >> there's been two criticisms

of the president, one is that he hasn't been specific, and the booklet which is quite specific is all things he's already talked about. the reality is that the president has actually been talking about the policies in the booklet. they were a major part of his speech at the dnc, but this booklet was an attempt to address the criticism that he hadn't been providing enough of a picture of what a second term would look like. to s.e.'s point there is a sense that people want a different look in the second term. i happen to think the president did a fantastic job with the hand he was dealt in the first term, but a lot of voters feel like more needs to be done, so this is an attempt to address those criticisms and i think it's an effective closing argument coming into the final stretch. >> as we talk about this final stretch as we mentioned next week on friday the jobs report comes out. the existing number, we'll put it back up there, 7.8% unemployment. s.e., could next week's job report be the october surprise because if it moves just a tentth of a point that's an

inroad, if it ticks upward, it's an inroad for the president to lose ground. >> absolutely. or to gain ground. i've been saying for almost a year, for all the story lines it will come down to how you feel going into the voting booth. do you feel richer? do you feel poorer? do you feel confident about the state of the economy? so, if we get a good unemployment number, a good jobs report on the friday before that tuesday, i think that's a huge boon to the president, and conversely if that number's bad, i think romney probably has this sewn up. i really think that is the number that matters. >> if you were an obama strategist, what would you say about the jobs report that comes out on friday? >> i wish we agreed with that, but if we look over the course of the campaign, we've had good jobs numbers and bad jobs numbers and it hasn't really seemed to move the needle. i think most people have a sense of how they feel about the economy and the unless of right track, wrong track have been moving in the right direction.

the numbers have been moving in the right direction, but on the flip side sort of strangely and against that mitt romney has been gaining in how voters perceive his ability to handle the economy, so those are the kind of two competing trends there. >> i think it's like a nascar race the last one to cross the finish is the one that matters, not the one who leads the race for the whole time, so i think this is the one that make move the needle. >> it's a marathon, and while we talk about the economy being the number one issue certainly women's issues have come up, mourdock in indiana, do you think that will weigh down mitt romney? he's not come out to personally disavow this? his campaign spokesperson, communications person did come out and say he doesn't stand by this. but he hasn't come out. he's avoided reporters' questions on it. it's really crazy stuff, some gray-faced men with $2 haircuts. >> which is a great line. but, you know, the whole year the narrative of the war on women has been effective as a talking point, and it certainly

set the scene for a great dnc, but it didn't work on the ground, if you look at the first argument on contraception, rick santorum was up in the polls during that conversation and as you mentioned, mitt romney's been gaining in the polls since akin and since mourdock, so i don't really know that it's going to cut through the clutter and clutter is the economy. >> but a talking point to me seems more like something that is really off the beaten track that doesn't exist, these men like walsh, akin, mourdock, they've come out to say all of these things that have created the firestorm that accompany it -- >> they create the firestorm -- >> they didn't say these things. they came out of their own mouths. >> but when the media pays more attention to a story like mourdock than a story like libya, you know the priorities are a little backwards. >> and you're saying on this? >> here's what i would say about all of this to address your point about whether it matters

or not, you know, we had a long period with akin, with the contraception conversation where that was at the front of the news and it did drive a huge gender gap and over the course of the conventions, the dnc in particular there was a lot of talk about women's choice and women's health. during the debates there was very little of that and that's why we've seen the gender gap close somewhat in my view. so, now that we have mourdock making these comments, it's reminding a lot of women, a lot of suburban women about how far to the extreme mitt romney and his party are and i think it does sow a lot of discomfort about putting him in the presidency. >> we shall see, it's 11 days to go. >> we're good. we're good. >> you can always come down here and hang out with me at 11:00 a.m. anytime you want. thanks, you can catch "the cycle" weekdays at 3:00.

we bring you back with some other important stories topping the news. a suicide bomber killed at least

36 people outside a mosque in afghanistan, 30 others were injured after gathering to mark the start of the holiday of the eid. a car bomb exploded in syria's capital despite a four-day cease-fire, the syrian army and opposition forces promised to observe the truce during the muslim holiday. and back in the u.s. a new report says the looming fiscal cliff is more costly than expected. the national association of manufacturers said the threat of automatic spending cuts and tax increases has cost 1 million jobs. let me give you the 411 on rule number one of service 101 when you deliver david and brian's baby, your job is complete, you get your job and your money, and everybody goes separate ways. >> i'm sorry, baby, this baby isn't part of us, even though i may feel that way i'm just a storage unit with legs. >> beautifully said, goldie. >> that is the new hit nbc sitcom "the new normal" displaying a humorous take on

modern american families. a recent headline from "the boston globe" reveals when mitt romney was governor of massachusetts he rejected new birth certificates for gay parents and ordered a legal review for each child they claimed to be theirs. meanwhile, voters in four states have their say on election day for ballot initiatives to legalize marriage equality in the states of washington, minnesota, maryland and maine, the president supports those initiatives, mitt romney is opposed and supports doma. joining me now is the executive editor of the -- executive director, excuse me, of the family equality council. jen, it's great to have you here and i want to dig deeper, mitt romney and this report from "the boston globe," the governor rejected creating accurate birth certificates for gay parents in massachusetts where marriage equality has been legalized over the last nine years this despite a department of public health lawyer saying the places that those kids at an unfair advantage in the long run, though, the romney campaign has

declined to comment on this report. is that what people should expect from a romney presidency, look at how he governs massachusetts for how he could govern the country? >> yeah. look, at family equality council what we talk about is advocating for families, and i think you only need to look at the records of these two candidates, ignore the polls, ignore the ads and really look at their records because if you do that, when you go into the voting booth, i think if you're voting for your family, you'll have a really clear choice. i know, you know, when i go into the voting booth i'm going to be thinking about my son, tim, tom, and matthew and saying, who's the best choice for them, for the 2 million kids who are being raised by 1 million lgbt families in the united states today. >> jen, as we look at the research for the four states, the ballot initiatives where marriage equalfy is taking place, is it likely that marriage equality will become a reality in those four states? >> absolutely. i think there is no doubt that

the polls are trending very alle great chances to have positive wins. and i think that's because we're seeing these stories of our families, the connections that we're making with our community and our neighbors, and that's really changing the hearts of people in those four states. so i think you're going to see a win in all four of them. and that means in washington, maryland and maine, we'll see marriage equality for the community and in minnesota they'll be able to beat back this really hurtful, hateful constitutional amendment that just basically tells kids and families who are lgbt in minnesota that they are different and should be treated differently in the constitution. >> right. in minnesota need to vote no and the other three states vote yes. jennifer, executive director, excuse me, i keep saying editor, great to see you. thanks so much. want to get to the question that we asked today because you answered what's more important to your vote, the economy or

social issues. from @max 843. and @kyle jl 89. and then from trey -- plain and sim. it's the come he. keep the comments floating in on facebook or twitter. do you test with this? freestyle lite test strips? i don't see... beep! wow! that didn't take much blood. yeah, and the unique zipwik tab targets the blood and pulls it in. so easy. yep. freestyle lite needs just a third the blood of onetouch ultra. really? so testing is one less thing i have to worry about today. great. call or click today and get strips and a meter free. test easy.

president obama standing by his words no bull about it. time for the poly side bar. the white house is not denying that the president's comments to a "rolling stone" reporter about someone being a b.s. artist referred to mitt romney. president obama said kids have good instincts and look at the other guy and say, well that's a -- ♪

>> rocking out for romney. recognize that guy? rock legend meatloaf threw his endorsement to mitt romney at the govern her's campaign rally in ohio. shouting to the crowd go out and argue with your relatives, talk politics and talk up the gop ticket. and then a rising screen star voicing her support for the president. creator and star of hbo's hit "girls" helped with a new obama ad joking with young voters your first time shouldn't be just with anybody. >> it should be with a guy with beautiful -- someone who cares about and understands women. a guy who cares when you get health insurance and birth control and the consequences and huge, a guy that brought the troops out of iraq. don't want a guy saying i'm at the library studying when really he's not signing the lily ledbetter act. >> that's going to do it for me today. "now" with alex wagner is coming up next. a friday edition right here. good to have you back in new york city, alex. >> good to be back here, just in

time for the storm. >> i know. sandy is coming. >> we, thomas, we are calling b.s. as governor romney gets set to deliver a major speech on the economy, president obama gives a candid assessment of his tenure and the case for government. we'll contrast the candidate's agenda with wes moore, eric baits, joan walsh and ben smith and chris hayes helps us unravel the mysteries of the undecided voter and real talk on detroit and the decline of american cities with filmmakers rachel and heidi and arthur mark. all that when "now" starts in a mere 180 seconds. folks who save hundreds of dollars switching to geico sure are happy. i'd say happier than a slinky on an escalator. get happy. get geico. melons!!! oh yeah!! well that was uncalled for. folks who save hundreds of dollars switching to geico sure are happy. how happy, ronny?

happier than gallagher at a farmers' market. get happy. get geico.

pushing economic equality, health care for all, and running on a message of change. his name, mitt romney. it's friday october 26th and this is "now."