pelosi residence in san francisco and violently assaulted paul pelosi. he was taken to the hospital where he is receiving medical care and is expected to make a full recovery, thank goodness. the suspect is in custody. authorities are investigating a motive. as i said, speaker pelosi was not in san francisco at the time. jonathan lemire, we've been digging into this, making phone calls. what else do we know here? >> we don't know a ton more yet, but we have a statement from the speaker's office. i'll read it. this is from drew hamel, spokesman for speaker pelosi. "early this morning, an assailant broke into the pelosi residence in san francisco and violently assault pld pelosi. the assailant is in custody and the motivation for the attack is under investigation. mr. pelosi was taken to the hospital where he is receiving excellent medical care and expected to make a full recover. the speaker was not in san francisco at the time. the speaker and her family are grateful for first responders and medical professionals and

request privacy at this time." >> my god. >> both prominent figures in the news. we do not know the motivation for this attack. we know nothing about the assailant just yet. this all just happened in the last few minutes. we're grateful that mr. pelosi seems, per the statement, like he's going to make a recovery. but certainly a terrible tragedy. we'll try to figure out more about the assailant and what caused this attack. >> mika, we don't have a motive. we'll be very cautious about that right now. but there is a suspect in custody so we'll learn that very quickly, it would seem, whether this was an act of street crime, a burglary or break-in or something worse remains to be seen. but, again, speaker pelosi's husband, paul pelosi, was beat on the point he had to be taken to the hospital. >> oh, my god. >> he is going to make a recovery. speaker pelosi was not there. this all taking place inside their home in san francisco.

>> and obviously no connection -- we don't know what the motivation was, but it's hard not to keep in mind that nancy pelosi's life was threatened during the january 6th attack on the capitol when people invaded the people's house. now a violent attack inside her home. we'll be following this story and bring the very latest details. as you said, willie, the suspect in custody, that should be helping to getting more information soon. we'll bring it to you as soon as we get it. president biden traveled to upstate new york yesterday telling voters what he's done to improve the economy and warning what will happen if republicans come to power. nbc news senior white house correspondent kelly o'donnell has the details. >> reporter: a hot mic picked up democrats' midterm election pressure. senate leader chuck schumer laid out key races that could decide party control, including that face-off where democrat john

fetterman's stroke recovery was on display against republican mehmet oz. president biden gesturing with fingers crossed, the president seizing on an unexpected positive sign. >> great economic report today. the gdp report. things are looking good. >> reporter: a surprise rebound. the u.s. economy grew from july to september. the nation's gross domestic product posting 2.6% growth after shrinking in the first half of this year. fueled by consumer spending, exports, and a strong job market. the president in syracuse, new york, urged voters to reject a republican takeover of congress. >> they're determined to cut social security and medicare and willing to take down the economy over it. >> reporter: while republicans blame the president and democrats for soaring inflation. >> if you're tired of having a 401(k) that the democrats have created a 201, we have a better

plan. >> reporter: higher costs are a daily stress. >> we're hanging on by a thread. by a thread. instead of paying the whole light bill, i may have to just put something down on it so the kids can get what they need. >> reporter: and for home owners, a new sting -- rates for 30-year mortgages topped 7% for the first time in two decades, the result of the federal reserve raising interest rates to counter inflation. >> nbc's kelly o'donnell with that report. and former president barack obama is campaigning this week in cree three key states. tomorrow he'll be in michigan and wisconsin. today he's going to georgia where he will join senator raphael warnock and gubernatorial nominee stacey abrams at an event in atlanta. joining us now from atlanta, nbc news senior national political reporter sahil kapur. tell us about the event and really the strategy and the

democratic message. >> reporter: president obama is scheduled to rally in atlanta later this evening. he will be with senator raphael warnock and candidate for governor stacey abrams. his singular goal according to an obama adviser i spoke to is to get out the vote, to mobilize democrats in this area for these key races. now, he is likely to touch on a number of messages. of course there's the question of threats to democracy. that looms large. it's on the minds of voters in georgia. he'll talk about that. the unique stakes of the 2020 election. but also another factor he thinks is critical as far as voters are concerned, the idea that democrats do best in his view, in president obama's view, when voters believe that democrats have their backs. he'll talk about the economy, the cost of live, various things that the democratic-controlled congress has done despite narrow majorities to try to improve people's lives. a few things he's likely to

mention, clean energy, jobs, high-tech jobs in georgia as a result of things like the inflation reduction act, the chips act that president biden signed into law. we'll talk about the first gun safety legislation that was passed in about 30 years, something that obama himself failed to do when he was president during his two terms as well. and he'll present this as a choice of between what the democrats are trying to do and a republican agenda that this adviser described as cutting taxes for the wealthy, impeaching president biden, and chasing wild conspiracy theories. i would expect that to be the flavor of president obama's remarks later today as he lays out this contrast for voters, you know, and tries to get them to show up here in georgia in this crucial competitive battleground state. >> you also have new reporting about how democratic strategists are agonizing over what they see

as headwinds in the closing stretch of the campaign. what did you find out? >> reporter: the fear is that political gravity is setting in. that's the word a number of democrats use. democratic candidates for months have been kind of levitaing far above president biden's approval rating. that tends to be at least in past midterm elections for a president's party, a recipe for disaster. but they've done remarkably well in the polls despite worries about the economy, and now the fear, the anxiety among many democrats is can they pull off one final act of levitation in these last 11 days before the election? president biden's approval rating with independents and our nbc news poll is 37%. that's not a great place to be, and a lot of democratic candidates have to highlight that contrast, make it a choice between the two parties they believe to ultimately pull this off. there's also somewhat of a fear that the polls might be

understating republicans' strength again as they did in 2020. everyone is flying a little blind on this. the 2020 election was a big polling miss. it was for a variety of reasons. it wasn't a covid moment, which is unlike anything we've ever seen. and the last midterm election democrats know the polls were pretty accurate. that's where they are now. they have their work cut out for them in the last 11 days. they have a little bit of something going for them, the fact that they've nominated flawed candidates. the supreme court decision overturning abortion rights. it will be a fascinating final stretch. >> sahil kapur live from atlanta covering that air-tight senate race. thanks so much. let's bring in executive editor of "the recount" and co-host of showtime's "the circus," mr. john ham. good to see you. i suspect what you heard from sahil out covering across the country these races right now

where democrats do feel some of the laws of political gravity setting in, most of them will tell you, some on tv, but all off the air that the house is gone, it's just a question of by how many seats they will lose the house, democrats will. but it's the senate where their focus is, particularly in the state of pennsylvania where they believe they absolutely have to win. >> yeah, willie. that's all great, and i think sahil is talking about a thing that's been escalating in volume over the course -- it's come on fast, right, i would say in the course of the last two week where is the alarm bells and the cries of despair among a lot of democrats who are seeing data in their private polling in these races that are alarming them. up until ten days work the weeks ago, nobody thought there would be anything described as a red wave in this election. people had conceded for a long time the house was likely to be republican but they felt hopeful about the senate and statewide

races. i don't want to say they're abandoning hope on those fronts, but when you look at president obama, and we used to talk about his travel schedule, it raised eyes he was going to michigan where gretchen whitmer had been leading by double digits and all of a sudden that race is tightening up and races down ballot from her, secretary of state, attorney general. when the president decides to go to a state, his time is very valuable and it's usually -- he doesn't waste time in state where is races are out of reach for republicans or safely in the hands of democrats. and, you know, someone pointed out the other day that gretchen whittmer has been over 50 in that race, hovered at 49, even with a large lead over dixon, so people are starting to get worried about that race and patty murray in washington state. healthy, high, single-digit lead but she's been below 50 for a while. if the wave turns out to be big,

those are the kind of seats where people could get washed out to sea that no one thought would be possible, had been possible even a few weeks ago. i think that is what we're seeing out there. that doesn't mean those things are going to come to pass, but it definitely means republicans not spinning this but democrats concerned across the board if you work on a race in a nondeep blue state. and even democrats in new york, a very deep blue state, people are concerned about turnout in the state of new york, worried about the governor, a bunch of congressional races in new york. that's the kind of stuff that has the feelings for a lot of people of a potential kind of disast they're people did not think as i said was possible as we headed into the fall. >> president biden was in new york state yesterday in part to try to help fellow democrats. >> indeed. >> we just played sound from schumer talking to president biden on the tarmac there over the din of the air force one

engines and gave an assessment on a couple races. we've all known georgia would be close. who's up a play or two likely bound for a runoff? my attention was in nevada, where he sid things are turning around there, paraphrasing. he seems s to be alone in that assessment. democrats are worried about nevada. you've been there. and arizona is getting tight too. >> yes. first of all, schumer who i covered for a vor long time, leader schumer, if you have data that suggests the nevada race is getting better for democrats, i would love to see it. you have my number. give me a call. democrats have been concerned about the governor's race and the senate race for week. of the triumvirate of the key senate races in the end of three big ones -- georgia, nevada, and pennsylvania -- it was the one that democrats were most pessimistic about and had been

most pessimistic about. again, it does not mean it's destined to be a loss. margin of error race, could go either way. but if you polled 100 best-informed democrats you know in the political class about what's going on, they old say they've been worried about nevada more than georgia and pennsylvania, which they thought until this week they were the most hopeful about. not saying that's completely gone away. so i don't know what chuck schumer is referring to other than there is a propensity, and i don't want to accuse him of this, but one of the problems being president of the united states when your popularity is on the line in a midterm election like this, where everybody looks at joe biden and says the fate of the democratic party rises and falls with his approval ratings, the problem of being president is even people who should be your peers and should be able to tell you hard truths sometimes have a propensity to keep your spirits up and tell you things more in

the vein of what you want to hear rather than what you need to hear. i can't get inside chuck schumer's held and why he said what he said, but if it's true, democrats looking better in nevada, and as he seemed to suggest georgia was another race he felt comfortable about, if those things are true, halts off to chuck schumer for having prescience. >> let's go to arizona. joining us live from phoenix, nbc news correspondent vaughn hillyard. we mentioned earlier that for the first time ever outgoing republican congresswoman liz cheney has publicly endorsed a democratic house candidate. cheney officially endorsed two-term michigan congresswoman elissa slotkin this week with a campaign announcing the two congresswomen will host a joint rally next tuesday in lansing. and cheney is not stopping there. vaughn, you have the latest on the first ad buy for cheney's new back.

>> reporter: this is the first media buy after wyoming. this is the next act for liz cheney. not only slotkin and that competitive house district in michigan, but in arizona. beginning today, a new 30-second ad is hitting the airwaves in which she is targeting the republican candidacies of kari lake and mark finchem. take a listen. >> i don't know that i have ever voted far democrat, but if i lived in arizona i absolutely would. you have a candidate for governor, kari lake, secretary of state, mark finchem, both of whom have said they will only honor the results of an election if they agree with it. if you care about the survival of our republic, we cannot give people power who will not honor elections. we must have elected officials who honor that responsibility. >> reporter: liz cheney was here in the state just earlier this month when she was addressing

the crowd at the mccain institute down the road in tempe, but this is her next act, putting the money where the mouth is here in terms of trying to boost the democratic candidaies of the candidates for governor and secretary of state against those election-denying republicans backed by donald trump. willie? >> and part of the story you're watching there in arizona, as well, vaughn, is this voter intimidation or ballot box watching i guess, depending on your point of view. there's going to be a ruling from a judge today on that. what exactly is going on around the ballot boxes there in arizona? >> reporter: right. this ruling that is expected to come down from a federal judge here today is going to be significant because i would's going to hit at the heart of whether any of the individuals who have actually been engaged in these acts at these dropboxs are able to do so going forward or whether the court determines it was a form of voter intimidation but also hit at the heart of to what extent are individuals who urge these folks

to come out and be these watchers or vigilantes, to what extent are those folk who is urge them come out, are they liable and able to encourage people to take part in that process. this is more than a few individuals who are rolling up to the drop boxes and watching these voters here, but this is a movement with roots that are deep. we're talking about back in the spring. prominent republicans in the state of arizona urging these folks to get ready to take these actions. take a listen. >> these people waiting in the dark hours of arizona nights -- what brings you out tonight? -- are part of an effort by conservatives to watch, critics say intimidate, voters as they drop early ballots into drop boxes. >> i suspect there's been stuff going on for years and years. >> reporter: those suspicions prompted by comments like this. >> we'll sleep by those boxes. we won't this election be stolen. >> reporter: kari lake back in

may at a legislative hearing where witnesses tried to cast doubt on joe biden's win in the state in 2020 among claims by allegations of fraud by so-called mule who is supposedly stuffed ballots in drop boxes. arizona's republican secretary of state mark finchem praising the group at the time. >> automatic of the people who have contributed to this effort, they are american heroes because they are saving the republic from itself. >> reporter: but the republican attorney general this month referred it to the fbi and the irs, his office writing that the group has, quote, not provided us any information, evidence of election fraud in arizona. at the same time, arizona's secretary of state's office has referred to six incidents of potential voter intimidation in these parking lots to the fbi for investigation. some individuals have been armed and masked. >> they're going to have people parked out there watching you and they're going to follow you

to your car and get your license plate. >> reporter: what does intimidation mean? >> there's no objective it is for intimidation, but it's been the combination of a number of different circumstances come together and create an overall feeling that makes the voter deterred from wanting to vote. >> reporter: lake on thursday now urging those watching the drop boxes to not cover their faces. >> i don't like masks. if you're going to do something like that, you should show your face. >> it's an environment that ties up my resources where we want to make sure that people can vote safely and this democracy carries on as it should. >> reporter: donald trump has posted photos and videos of new unfounded claims we these dropbox watchers and another repost including the exact adrgsz of one of those maricopa county drop boxes. again, this network of conspiracy theories stemming from the 2020 election and the idea of mules stuffing these ballot drop boxes is now

transcending the 2020 election and now the focal point of these network of operations that are attempting to watch in their eyes voters, others allege voter intimidation at these dropboxs with 12 days to go, willie. >> scary to watch and a lot grounded in that popular film about mules that was based in a conspiracy theory itself. vun hilliard from phoenix. thanks for your reporting. joining us the democratic attorney general of the state of michigan, dana nestle. she is running for re-election. attorney general, thank for being with us this morning. i'm curious as you watched vaughn's piece from the state of arizona if any of that rings true to you in michigan, where in the 2020 election there were a lot of people working hard to overturn the results of the vote in your state. how concerned are you about the vote in 11 days there? >> well, incredibly concerned. in fact, the republican candidate for secretary of state just filed a lawsuit against the

city of detroit recirculaing all of those false claims from 2,000 mules, essentially attempting to invalidate the absentee voting ability of the city of detroit. we're talking about hundreds of thousands of people who would be disenfranchised from the ability to vote in the event this lawsuit is successful, and in addition it seeks to disqualify all of the wayne county bench, so essentially the judges that the city of detroit elected to oversee these matters, they're trying to disqualify. this is not just any random person. this isn't someone from the trump campaign. this is the individual who is seeking to be the chief elections officer in the state of michigan who is trying to subvert the vote of the biggest city, the most populous city, in the state of michigan. so it's incredibly concerning. and, you know, we have election deniers in all our major

offices, right, running for governor, running for secretary of state, and running for my position, the republican nominee to be attorney general, who himself brought some of these fraudulent lawsuits. i look at this and would say now to people in the state of detroit, your voter matters, your vote counts, but not if these republicans are elected and put into these incredibly influential positions of authority. if they are, then honestly your vote may never count again. it's incredibly serious. >> i could not agree with you more. and that's why this next question to me is very troubling. i completely understand how serious this is, and i hear the intensity in your voice and i hear it from a lot of other people who love this country, seeing it really being pulled apart at the seams literally, you know, up and down ballot and

in these key positions in our politics. yet let's talk about the voters in detroit and the suburbs of detroit. how to thread the needle. ultimately, this is in their hands, and how can you make the connection to have them care as much as you or i do about the strength of our democracy, how that actually impacts the things that they're worried about? is it possible for you to make that connection? >> i've been screaming it from the rooftops now not just this year but obviously since all of this occurred in 2020. yeah, sometimes i feel like i'm screaming into the wind. but honestly, you know, i think people should know and appreciate that while some of these economic issues obviously are very serious and they are important, you know, gas prices and inflation and all the rest of it, those matter deeply, but

first of all, they're not, you know, purely american issues, they're global issues, but in addition during the course of our last times, inflation will go up and will go down. gas prices will go up and go down. but once we lose the fundamental right to vote, we will never get it back again and it will impact every other area of our lives for not just the people of the state of michigan but for all americans. so people have to get out and vote like their democracy depends upon it, because it literally does. >> michigan attorney general dana nessel, thank you very much for coming on the show this morning. and there are still 11 days from the midterms now, and there have already been 100 lawsuits filed. that's the most before an election in u.s. history. more on that. and plus the cdc issues a new warning over the flu. why health officials say getting the yearly vaccine right now is

more important than in the years past.

i love san francisco, but i'm working overtime to stay here. now is not the time to raise taxes. i'm voting no on propositions m and o, because the cost of everything is going up. san francisco collects more tax revenue than nearly any city in america. but our streets are dirty and public safety is not getting better. i'm working hard to live within my budget. the city should too. join me in voting no on m and o. now is not the time to raise taxes in san francisco. vote no on m and o.

we return to the breaking news we got just in moments ago that the husband of house speaker nancy pelosi, paul pelosi, was violently attacked inside his home in san francisco. the speaker's office released a statement this morning saying a person broke into the pelosi residence in san francisco and violently assaulted paul pelosi. he was taken to the hospital where he is receiving medical care and is expected to make a full recovery. the suspect is in custody, authorities now investigating a motive. speaker pelosi was not in san francisco at the time. again, her 82-year-old husband, paul pelosi, violently assaulted inside his own home. nbc news capitol hill correspondent allie raffa follow the story for us. what more have we learned?

>> reporter: willie, a lot more questions than we have answers at this point. our team really has all hands on deck reaching out to all of our sources trying to get more information on this attack. as you mentioned, this statement coming out from a spokesperson for house speaker nancy pelosi shortly before 9:00 a.m. this morning saying that her 82-year-old husband, paul pelosi, was violently attacked at their san francisco home. we do know that speaker pelosi was not home at the time. whether she planned to be was up in the air. to read you a little more of the statement, we know the assailant is now in custody. there is now an investigation as to the motivation of this suspect. and, you know, this comes at a very critical time. of course, we're less than two weeks from the election. there are so many questions surrounding whether this was politically motivated, whether speaker pelosi could have been the target of this attack. we've been hearing for months

now lawmakers warn of the threats of violence, especially in the wake of the fbi search of trump's mar-a-lago home in august, an uptick in violence, in threats. we have some statistics from u.s. capitol police as well that violent threats -- there's been an uptick in violent threats. there are a lot of questions still remaining. we're expecting to find out more in the next few hours. that is definitely something -- you know, an undertone at work for looking into whether this was possibly politically motivated with less than two weeks before the midterm elections, willie. >> yeah. again, we don't know that. we don't know the motive or who the suspect is. we do know he's in custody, he or she is in custody, so we should have a motive fairly quickly here. allie raffa, we'll let you get back to your sources. mika, again, paul pelosi is 82 years old and he was home, violently assaulted inside his home. the pelosi's home, by the way, in san francisco, has been the

target of attacks previously, most recently in january of 2021 but nothing like this where someone went inside the home. >> yeah. no. home invasion. we'll find out was it security that intervened or how they got the suspect in custody. a lot of questions. he's expected to make a full recovery. he's in the hospital. that i guess is at least the good news here. but this is pretty horrific. we'll wait for more answers on this. 11 days away from the midterm and the legal challenges tied to them are piling up in the courts. more than 100 lawsuits have been files do far. that's the most before an election in u.s. history. the lawsuits largely filed by republicans target mail-in and early voting, voter access and several other rolls. democrats have similar efforts under way, but their legal efforts largely focus on making voting easier and helping those denied a chance to vote. joining us, founder of democracy

docket and partner at elias law group, mark elias. his firm is lit gaiting roughly 40 cases in 19 states connected to the upcoming midterm elections. i guess what can you tell us about why there are so many, what the allegations are here, and how connected is it to the big lie politics? >> yeah. just to give you the latest numbers, as of this morning there have been 156 lawsuits filed this year. >> wow. >> all of these lawsuits, regardless of where they're filed or by who, 57 of them are anti-voting lawsuits, and about 40 in ongoing litigation right now nation wild is by people trying to make it harder to vote. it's all big-lie linked. it's all about preventing people from voting by mail, increasing the ability to challenge voters' ability to vote at all, or in

case of arizona, a case my firm is involved in, stalking people who are trying to vote illegally. it is a scourge on democracy and something we all need to pay close attention to the days before the election. >> marc, it's john heilemann here. given the number of lawsuits you're looking at, it's clear this is part of a coordinated strategy on the part of the republican party, right? i guess my question is, you do yeoman's work out there fighting this battle, but is the democratic party and the forces on team democracy i'll say with a nod to the democratic party, but anybody who cares and free and fair elections and the right to vote, are they or we, those who care about democracy, are we as organized as the anti-democratic forces are and as well funded and kind of orchestrated in our pushback as we need to be in order to make sure that these other efforts don't succeed? >> i mean, we're trying to be, and i think we've made a lot of great strides.

you're right though in that one of the big story lines i think is we've always assumed that it was going to be the forces of pro democracy that were going to be going to court and helping election officials do their job. what we saw starting in 2021 is we see now a constellation of right-wing organizations that have come up. you know, bill barr set up one. steven miller set one up. leonard leo funds at least one if not a number of them. we've seen this constellation of very well funded organizations on the other side working with the republican party, and i think that will be a lesson we take away from this. we need a larger effort than we perhaps needed before donald trump lost in 2020. >> so many of these races are so close. the united states senate level with the balance of power hanging there right in front of

us. you could see, not only could you see, but they've sate someone like blake masters or herschel walker or dr. oz losing by a narrow margin saying i don't respect the results, i don't acknowledge victory, kari lake another one in arizona. we saw a preview of this movie with donald trump. we're still dealing with it. what would that look like in a midterm election to have a slew of candidate who is lost by a narrow margin saying i do not concede defeat, i do not recognize your win? >> i think we have to expect that that's going to happen. a few things about that. the first is in 2020 what we saw was a candidate who lost by not a narrow margin, and i suspect that that's really what we may see is not just candidates who lose by a point but candidate who is lose by five points on the republican side. and the thing to watch, and you all watch mitch mcconnell and

kevin mccarthy as closely as win in washington, d.c., but watch to see what they do. when donald trump tested the outcome of 2020, he was largely an island by himself. but my fear is that if a herschel walker or a dr. oz lose by some margin, you will see mitch mcconnell and kevin mccarthy jump into that fray and bring the institutional taps of their conferences and the washington republican elite in with them, and that will make a new stage in the erosion of democracy. >> marc, the other threat, of course, the idea of voter intimidation. in arizona, these groups are watching the polls to keep them safe and some voters say that's making me feel unsafe. i don't want to go. what steps, whether i would's your group or others, can be done to safeguard that part of this increasingly fragile process for americans simply to be able to cast a ballot? >> yeah. so, we're actually -- you

mentioned earlier in the show litigation in arizona. we're waiting on a judge. that's a lawsuit my firm brought on behalf of the alliance group, higher americans and vote latina, great organizations protecting voting. we'll wait on the judge, but we need to be prepared to fight against these suppression tactics in the courts but also in the court of public opinion. we need to make it unacceptable again for neighbors to try to disenfranchise neighbors and frankly for people to disenfranchise people they've never met, they don't know, because they have been lied to by the republican party now for years about what's going on. so i really commend the work you guys do every day and amplify this, but it's incumbent on everyone in the media and in civic life to stand up in the town square and denounce this as not acceptable. >> marc elias, thank you very, very much. we appreciate your coming on the show today. >> thank you. and joining us now, the

co-founder and ceo of all in together, lawrence o'donnell -- lauren leader. i wanted to play interviews with general psaki from western pennsylvania, the town of braddock. a group of parents canvassing for planned parenthood. here's an exchange the canvasser had with a pennsylvania mother of four. >> hi, amanda. . i'm with planned parenthood. i just wanted to make sure you're aware of the candidates running in this election. >> i am. >> okay, you are? josh shapiro is running for governor. the one thing about shapiro that's important, and you have children, he's going to protect the rights of women. >> that's important. >> that's going to be very important. he's going to protect health care. he's also going to protect our abortion rights, which are important as well, because as you know the supreme court struck down roe v. wade. >> yeah.

>> turned it back to the states. >> that's pretty ridiculous. >> what's most important to you as you think about voting? >> as a mother of four children, the jobs -- they say these jobs are out there but they don't want to pay you enough to live off the job. so i'd like there to be more jobs available with the flexibility, you know, to be able to actually work and take care of your family and not having to choose one. i'm in that situation now. i need to go back to work, but i can't afford to pay for child care. >> child care. is that something -- >> you have four kids. >> yeah. >> does that keep you up at night? >> yeah, absolutely. i can't afford it, you know? we're probably living off of maybe $400 a week, you know? which is more than some people make but isn't enough for four kids. you know, and gas, lights. >> thank you. being a mom of four is not easy. >> not the answer you wanted.

thank you. >> tell the kids we said thanks. >> no problem. >> we just amanda, mother of four. tell us about that conversation. >> amanda is not unusual. i see her everywhere i go, mothers who have to stay at home because they can't afford child care. this young lady has two kids in school and two at home, to you can imagine what her life is like juggling four kids and having to feed four kids on $400 a week. it's got to be tough. it really -- and my heart goes out to her. >> so, this interview nails the issue for democrats. there are many things that democrats feel strongly about, but when they have to make a decision between what to do with $400 a week and juggling kids that are banging through the door behind you, it becomes pretty stark. they start voting on the basics. how does that impact the

midterms, do you think? and i think there's a threat to democrats here. >> yeah. we talked about it earlier this summer, that, you know, it's very hard to care about anything else when you're having trouble feeding your kids. you know, i really feel that democrats missed an opportunity all summer to be focusing on this. they also missed an opportunity to focus on some issues like child care and the build back better plan and the very women-centric, family-centric policies many of us were hoping would happen in the first couple years of the administration did not pass. i think you're starting to see the effect of it on voters. part of what our polling and a lot of aggregate polling is showing is that for women it's a complex picture. obviously inflation and the economy is critical, but abortion is still a motivator. it's a motivator in getting folks to register to vote over the summer, and it is an important factor in the way they think about their votes. this is the big "x" factor in the midterm election, is voters

are not as binary on that but there is a lot of anxiety and i wish we focused more seriously on these bread and butter issues for families. >> we're 11 days out. what can democrats do to sort of make up for lost ground on those specific issues? >> right. and by the way, it's important to recognize 15 million people voted as of yesterday, so yes, the election is coming, but we have significant numbers of voters who have gone out to the polls. the early numbers are showing, where the data is available, heavily democrat and heavily female. but it's way too early. democrats missed on the opportunity to hit on the economic issues all summer long. they need to do that now and they need to make a serious commitment to addressing some of these issues. inflation is not something one party can control or manage on their own, and these are complex issues, but issues like child care and affordability, things

like food stamps and other issues that are affecting working families. i think we need to make a very serious commitment on the part of democrats. they need to come out strong on these issues in the next few weeks. it might be a little too little too late. >> lauren leader, thank you very much for coming on with your expertise this morning. we appreciate it. up next, a triple threat of respiratory diseases already wreaking havoc on our nation's hospitals. we'll tell you the new warning from the cdc. before we begin, i'd like to thank our sponsor, liberty mutual. they customize your car insurance, so you only pay for what you need. and by switching, you could even save $652. thank you, liberty mutual. now, contestants ready? go! why? why? only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty.♪

45 past the hour. the so-called tripledemic gripping the nation with cases of covid, the flu, and rsv all on the rise. >> reporter: this morning another troubling sign of virus headaches possibly coming our

way. a new cdc report says this year the flu hit earlier than would have been expected in the precovid era. that warning from the southern hemisphere can help predict what we may experience in the u.s. >> the sequence is out of whack. we don't know once the dust settles what the new sequence will be forit will try to get back to the old sequence. >> reporter: this doctor says pandemic-fueled unpredictability hit his hospital system with another serious illness. >> we are swimming in rsv right now. >> reporter: they normally brace for it in january and february but in late october it's reporting a nearly 50% positivity rate in kids 5 and younger for its northeast ohio hospitals. among those hardest hit, 3-week-old gracelynn, healthy before sneezing and congestion led to trouble breathing. they rushed to the hospital where she's been intubated for almost a week. as a parent sitting here and

watch that, what was -- >> horrific. horrible. no one should have to go through that. >> reporter: her parents warning other families to be vigilant. >> it changes so fast. it's scary. >> you don't want to wait. >> you don't want to wait. >> reporter: battling covid caught this team to adapt more quickly to patient influx, but respiratory viruss are pressuring the health care system nationwide. 75% of america's pediatric hospital beds are full, 98% rhode island, texas 91%, oregon 86% as covid precautions wane bringing us back in contact with other viruses. >> we can see the dark clouds on the horizon that flu is coming. the one thing that you can do that you can't do with rsv, you can get your flu shot. >> nbc's jesse kerch with that report. at 11:00 today, dr. anthony fauci will be answering viewer questions on covid, rsv, and the flu. you can submit your questions by

tweeting using the #msnbcanswers or by emailing. talk@msnbc.com. up next, what do trick-or-treating, thanksgiving, and dunkin' donuts all have in common? donny deutsch will be here to explain ahead in the latest installment of "brand up, brand down." but before the break, willie, what do you have planned for "sunday today"? >> first i'm thinking through the donny deutsch riddle. we'll look forward to that. i'll be looking forward on "sunday today" on nbc, my interview. with comedian and actor hasan minhaj. he has netflix special. he took on the saudi government a few years ago and had a very public feud with them after the

murder of jamal khashoggi. smart and funny guy. "the morning show" on apple tv he starred with reese witherspoon. a great conversation a long time in the making. we were booked to have this conversation on march 13th, 2020, the day the world shut down. we finally got around to it. you'll see it this weekend on nbc on "sunday today." this is art inspired by real stories of bipolar depression. i just couldn't find my way out of it. the lows of bipolar depression can take you to a dark place. latuda could make a real difference in your symptoms. latuda was proven to significantly reduce bipolar depression symptoms. and in clinical studies, had no substantial impact on weight. this is where i want to be. call your doctor about sudden behavior changes or suicidal thoughts. antidepressants can increase these in children and young adults. elderly dementia patients have increased risk of death or stroke. report fever, confusion, stiff or uncontrollable muscle movements, which may be life threatening or permanent. these aren't all the serious side effects. now i'm back where i belong.

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these are the faces of listerine. the face of millions of germs zapped in seconds. the face of clean. the face of whoa. some are of intensity, others, joy. all are of - ahhhh. listerine. feel the whoa! donny deutsch is back now with brand up, brand down, and wow, we'll start with a major brand down. what do you got? >> well, i don't know what that was. >> that was good. >> was that a sad trombone? kanye, obviously a brand down. he's not coming back. i think he's canceled. i think he should be canceled. i don't want to hear that he's got mental problems. i don't want to hear, oh, he's found god. you do what you say, the things

you said, the hatred towards jews, the anti-semitism, the stoking violence. you're done. and anybody -- any brand or any corporation that ever does business with him again, shame on them. >> wow. okay. moving on to trick or treating, which is kind of a weird transition. brand up or brand down. >> brand down for trick or treating. because of inflation, this is really sobering. 52% of americans in the polls said they will not be giving candy this year. they just don't answer the door or say we're all out. 52% of americans have basically in a poll, have said, we are not giving candy this year, blaming it on inflation. >> good god. >> i know. i got very sad about that. i don't know if they're giving rocks vis-a-vis charlie brown. >> are you one of those people that turns the lights out and hides in the house? >> we have -- i'm not going to give out my address on the air but we are robustly giving out candy. >> the next one is chick-fil-a, and if it's just joe talking,

it's brand up. >> this is a huge brand up. gen z'ers, their favorite brand, chick-fil-a, chipotle. >> brand down for thanksgiving. the price of turkey is up. the price of gravy -- this is a heilemann punch in the gut -- up 26%. so, it's going to cost you a lot more to have your thanksgiving dinner this year. >> we need to get the president to open up the strategic gravy reserve. >> donny, you joked about the olive garden. i have a never-ending pasta pass. >> these are things that i know. yes. >> i know. brand down, dunkin, really? i love a dunkin every morning. >> this is my consumer affairs guy speaking. it used to be -- this, to me,

i'm going to call out dunkin. used to be, for every $40 spent, you get a free drink. now you have to spend $70. >> inflation. two drinks from dunkin and you're going to be at $70. >> i'm an official consumer advocate. >> it's on the set. >> take it off the set. >> even with that change in policy, $70 a week, that's not a problem for this guy. >> i don't know. i would re-examine that, and i love dunkin donuts. >> geez. >> these are just starting to sound like personal grudges you have. >> he's like, tupperware, i find it hard to use those things. >> brand up, donny, overemployment. >> overemployment. i've been a big advocate of the working at home thing is not a good thing for the world. here's an example of employers getting a bit duped. overemployment is the definition of people who are not necessarily working two jobs, working two jobs at the same time from 9:00 to 5:00, 40-hour weeks, charging two companies

for that. this is not freelance. this is a double-dipping thing, and think about it if you're an employer, you're not watching your person all day long on their screen, nor should you, and a lot of people have two full-time jobs. somewhere between 3 to 5%. >> it sounds like a scam is what that sounds like. >> it's a new term. overemployment. >> thanksgiving is down but a place where you put your leftovers, tupperware? >> tupperware, it's not your grandmother's tupperware anymore. it's now in target. it used to be you could only get it at parties. they're trying to hip the brand. on tiktok, if i was the chief marketing officer, i would do a really stunty stuff on tiktok and places like that, and i think it's not -- i think tupperware is on its way back. heilemann is laughing. >> i want to know what your tupperware stunts would be. >> fill it up with gravy. things like that. >> one more. the word, data. >> the word, data. if you say the word data, 30% of americans' brains shut down. >> that's brand up? >> that's brand down for data.

brand down. 56% of people will kind of really pretend they're even listening, but 30% overall, basically, you lose me at the word, data. it's too overwhelming, too confusing, too much, so for all those people that give out data. >> if i say, data, i lose you, but if i say data, i've got you. >> you say, potato. but we're all going to thanksgiving after this. >> the donny deutsch personal grievance list is complete now. >> festivus, really. >> thank you so much, donny. >> love you, buddy. >> mika. >> well, i just -- and this week with my executive producer, alex coursen, yelling at he because he doesn't like my sad trombone. i don't get it. i do my best, willie. that's all i'm going to say. i hope you guys have a great weekend. we'll be watching you, of course, on "sunday today" as always and that does it for us this morning and for this week. jose diaz-balart picks up

msnbc's live coverage after a quick final break. msnbc's live coverage after a quick final break. i'd like to thank our sponsor liberty mutual. they customize your car insurance, so you only pay for what you need. contestants ready? go! only pay for what you need. jingle: liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty.

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♪♪ good morning, 10:00 a.m. eastern, 7:00 a.m. pacific, i'm jose diaz-balart and we begin this very busy hour with breaking news. this morning, a spokesman for house speaker nancy pelosi says her husband, paul pelosi, was violently assaulted in their san francisco home. paul pelosi was taken to the hospital, is expected to make a full recovery. speaker's office said she was not in san francisco at the time of the attack. the assailant is in custody. now, as of right now, motive for the attack is unclear. joining us now with more on this breaking story is