we listened to you. we heard your point. as i said before, we increased aids funding. if you want to have a conversation later about how we can increase it even more, it's a conversation i'm happy to have. but what i want to do is talk about what's coming up -- i want us to talk about what's at stake in this election because the people that potentially will take over if we don't focus on this election, i promise you will cut aids funding. welcome to "morning joe." great to have you was. joe scar borrow with you along with mika brzezinski. tina brown of the daily beast and mark halprin with msnbc and

"time" and willie geist. the founder, as jon meacham says t founder and publisher and host of "way too early." john writes in a critique every morning. >> that's great. we have a big show today. we're going to be running back and forth to places. president bill clinton will be on the show later this morning. and we have a lot to talk about this morning. >> we do. you go first. >> we saw "waiting for superman" yesterday. actually the story dovetails nicely with the newark story today that's in the news. but wow. you walk out of it feeling really twisted up and angry. >> willie, we were all there, and i knew how it was going to end. people were telling me about the lottery for these poor kids trying to get into good schools and the parents, and even

knowing how it was going to end just everybody broke down crying at the end. you just sat there knowing you were watching a personal tragedy unfold. >> in your own country, in our world. >> thinking about that all night after we saw it. the metaphor of the lottery balls, the fact that a child's education rests on a ball being plucked out of a bin is so outrageous, you have to see this movie. >> i work very hard, as you know. >> you do. >> because i'm naturally sort of an energetic guy. i stay calm. i learned that you try not to cast moral aspersions in politics because people can throw it right back at you. mark halprin, walking out of the movie theater, there was really no other choice after watching "waiting for superman" but to

see in starkest terms how immoral the education establishment has been over the past generation and immoral is not a word you can scrub the transcripts on this show, i do not assign morality to political differences for the most part. there's no way you can look at these poor children, these at-risk children, whether in the bronx or south central l.a. or any point in between, and see grownups and politicians keeping them from a good education. this is immoral. >> the one area in all the issues and challenges the country faces, the one area where the obama white house and republicans are in sync about radical change are in education. the administration has really done a lot surprisingly for democrats to try to change the status quo, secretary duncan and the president. the movie is troubling and a call to action. luckily this is one issue where

both parties see the solutions in the same way. >> tina, it is the most important issue if you're talking about the long-term health of this country. >> absolutely. >> our schools are crumbling. >> it's so frightening really how the eroding education system is affecting america's place in the world, competitiveness, ability to handle the changes confronting us, the need to be a knowledge economy, all these things we're headed for. and yet we're now having this education system which is just slipping, slipping, slipping. >> terrible scores. >> terrible scores. i admire very much what michelle ree has been doing in washington. she's clearly facing -- i don't know whether she'll stay, but she has fought so hard in the public school area. >> that's one of the most depressing parts of the movie where michelle fights like hell to figure out a way to reward good teachers, and it horrified the d.c. teachers union so much, she even gave -- you can keep

making what you make. >> we're not going to threaten your job. >> if you want to go that track, go that track. but for teachers that want to be rewarded for doing better by children in the worst school system in america, we're going to give you a bonus. the teachers union in washington, d.c. in an act of cowardess and hatefulness decided that their own selfish narrow interests were more important than those children trapped in acostia and across washington, d.c. >> it was either selfishness or worried about oneself or, even worse potentially tharks don't think they can do it. i don't know what's worse. >> they're hiding bad teachers. in washington, d.c. -- >> it's not anti the kids. that's what's so sad. none of it is about the kids. >> none of it is about the kids. that's what is immoral. >> that's what it comes down to. >> we'll have a new mayor in

washington. hopefully he will continue reform. we'll also have a bunch of new governors. governors play a bigger role in education in the states than the president does. let's hope these new governors see the opportunity to try to build up the reforms. >> governor cuomo is a shoo-in -- wait. >> there's a little problem with that. >> cuomo is in which is unstoppable suffers a blow is the lead in "the new york times" today. narrower lead in poll, endorsement by mayor. >> paladino. >> they have this guy that none of us really know behind the unstoppable cuomo, just six points behind. >> this guy did come from -- he's a wealthy buffalo businessman. rude dpi julianne know isn't sure he'll endorse him. the republican establishment is freaked out he's their nominee. a cautious campaign in a big republican year, a guy with a lot of money and anti

establishment message could be a problem for cuomo. >> cuomo has run from the media for a year, refuses to give interviews, but he has a press conference and looks a little on edge. >> he had a press conference accepting the endorsement of michael bloomberg. the whole tone of his voice and trying to say he understands the anger, he is going to have to come out and be more aggressive and assertive. again, a rich guy capturing that message of anger in a republican year like this could be a problem. >> don't you think in a way -- i've thought all along that cuomo was a kind of accident about to happen in the way he was handling this campaign. this whole sort of statuesque, i'm hiding from the press, i'm just doing my job while behind the scenes. i'm talking to all the press on the record, off the record all the time. i'm simply not going to open my mouth and have a boomerang sound bite, he has been behaving like the heir apparent for the last year. i don't think that ever works. it generates a kind of shove at

the end. everybody is rooting for an upset. i think he needs to be jostled around a bit even for his own candidacy. he needs to be jostled. >> let's get a look at a couple of the other things going on. he's definitely being jostled. back to the theme of schools, "the new york times" this morning -- >> by the way, we don't want to bury the lead here. this is not why we brought it up. we have "education nation" sunday night talking about "waiting for superman." davis guggenheim. >> a remarkable film. we'll be having people on both sides of this debate sitting face to face for a full hour. jeffrey cannon is a rock star. >> dynamite. >> we've got colin powell the next day. it's going to be a big, big event. of course, his wife who is -- >> she's amazing. she's really in charge. >> i know she is. that's why i said it that way.

>> you should salute when you say that. "the new york times" this morning reports that facebook founder and chief executive mark zuckerberg will donate $100 million to the troubled public school system in newark, new jersey. according to the times, zuckerberg will announce the gift on "the oprah winfrey show." guess who is going to be there? i'm a little jealous? new jersey governor chris christie, also new york mayor cory booker will be there. spokes people for oprah and facebook would not confirm the report despite being under new jersey state control for 15 years, newark schools have among the state's lowest test scores and graduation rates. the $100 million donation would be 1/8 of newark's district entire annual operating budget of $800 million. >> how great is that? in a time of budget cuts for this to come through. some people say, well, he has a

movie coming out. it doesn't matter me. >> i don't care why people give money. i just want them to do it. >> especially right now. >> you look at the kids this money is going to help. >> it's fantastic. >> look at the kids. it is a remarkable gift. i don't care who is giving it or why they're giving it. they need to be saluted. >> i think zuckerberg has done something great. >> you know what? let's match it dollar for dollar. >> the dogs weren't good yesterday. >> you have to tip your cap to cory booker, the dynamic young mayor of newark. he built a relationship with mark zuckerberg. a lot of people is saying why is mark zuckerberg from california donating to newark, new jersey. cory booker got $100 million for his city. >> we have cory booker coming to our new orleans inknow investigator's conference that the daily beast sputing on. we also have as our headliner general mcchrystal who, as we saw today, has been cleared of

charges, october 21st to the 23rd. >> like blago. innocent of all charges. i'm moving on with news notes. it's known to be his biggest donation. >> good for zuckerberg. i don't know much about him. but great job. after a year and a half being labeled the party of no by democrats, house republicans will unveil the ideas they pursue if they win a majority of congress this november. the pledge focuses on six areas, jobs and the economy, spending, health care, reforming congress and national security. to create jobs, they propose making the bush tax cuts permanent and giving tax deduction for small businesses equal to 20% of the business income. to reduce the deficit, they would cut federal spending to, quote, pre stimulus, pre bailout levels with the exception of spending on national security. they advocate repealing the new health care law and replacing it with other reform measures such as buying insurance across state

lines. among the measures to reform congress, they would require the constitutional authority for all new bills, the explained. politico also reports that today's pledge to america will include affirmations of the party's stance on social issues like their support for what they call traditional marriage. would you like to comment? >> yeah. this document is actually thin on social issues. they talk about traditional marriage generally. they talk about not funding abortion, no federal funding of abortion which is -- both of these things are majority issues in america. it's already caused a split from conservatives. the "the national review" rich laury says, the pledge commits republicans to working toward a broad conservative agenda that if implemented would make the

federal -- more accountable and america more prosperous. others say it's direct direct with some stuff i like, but like brussels sprouts and butter, i like the butter, not the prus sells prouds. it's best spoefk en of today and never again as if it did not happen. it is best forgotten. >> saturday never going to happen? >> i think a lot of these ideas, i talked to one of the young guns yesterday about it and mark halperin. >> they changed their tactics from saying no to promising no. >> they're coming up with ideas. >> details they lay out are details most americans will support. one i really like as a small government conservative, it barbed bush and democrats barbed bush for reckless spending and high def sits. call the democrat's bluff and say we're going to take spending

back to where it was the last year of bush and freeze it for five years. that will balance the budget, by the way, if we have 2% to 3% growth. that's in effect what they're doing. >> it's not a bad document in terms of politics. they needed to come up with something to not just be the party of no. i think this place holds to get them through the election. there's not much in here that will actually be a working document to work with the democratic president. and so i'm not sure how meaningful it is for governance. >> bill clinton who we're interviewing today is still referring to the contract with america which, by the way, over 50% of democrats in the house supported with a contract on america. when we passed it -- when we talked about it, nobody said any of that would pass. and guess what? we passed about 70% of it. >> out of the house, but not into law. >> no. into law, the big three, tax cuts, reforming welfare and balancing the budget all passed. and when bill clinton wrote his

memoirs, those were the big accomplishments he wrote about, not what he did from '93 to '94. >> there's very little in here that's comparable to that. >> they're talking about cutting spending. >> intellectual debt is one of the stories in the republican party. >> in this case, let's look at the details. from what i heard they're talking about cutting spending in a dramatic way that democrats will never talk about and cutting taxes. if they have the debate on those two issues and they talk about entitlements. we'll see. >> all right. up next an exclusive -- >> if they win the house, it's not barack obama's city anymore. they'll have to sit and negotiate. >> that may be good in some ways. up next, the one major senate race where a good number of voters may choose none of the above. a little later, elizabeth warren will be here.

we'll talk about her new role and what she plans to do for consumer financial protection and look forward to seeing her. she'll be right here onset. first, bill karins with a check on the forecast. >> bill clinton at 8:00? >> bill clinton at 8:00. bill karins right now. >> which one are you looking forward to? >> you, sweetheart. yesterday summer went out with a bang, 95 in d.c. 90 in philly, broke the record for the most 90-degree days ever in one year in philadelphia. we may sneak in one more tomorrow. we had the horrible thunderstorms last night. you could see the path. one went from pennsylvania through new jersey and new york city. another from pittsburgh north of the baltimore area. these storms around d.c. were big, too. a lot of downed trees and power outages in the region. those storms are now gone. today will be quieter, still hot in d.c. at 890. nice in boston and hartford. tomorrow up around 90 for the entire region. probably one of the last hot

days of the year. frachts for today, rest of the country, traveling from kansas city to chicago, later tonight pretty strong thunderstorms are likely to cause airport delays. look at the temperatures still in atlanta. that's why they call it hotlanta. 93 today. you're watching "morning joe" brewed by starbucks. [ male announcer ] it's ram truck season. and the 60-day handshake lives on, that five-finger bond that communicates trust, honor, follow-through, and follow-up. it's a promise that says go ahead and buy a ram 1500 or a heavy duty without a payment for 60 days. and if it doesn't do everything you ask it to do... bring it back.

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once the bureau roe examined the data, they declared the recession ended. or as meagan kelly put it -- >> some economists in cambridge, massachusetts decided the le session ended in june of '09. >> what? way? why would you say cam bridge

massachusetts? it's more like cambridge, massachusetts. pack your car. for god's sakes you work in hand hat tan. rockefeller, i can't believe -- >> according to experts the recession is over. i want to know is it really over or just pulling a leno? that's what i want to know. oh, my goodness. >> just move on. >> "the washington times" eager to present a united front, the gop congressional committee said

they'll put financial and political muscle behind the tame tea party candidates who knocked off their hand picked republicans in the primary. >> the obama inner circle about to break open. rahm emanuel and david axelrod are among those likely to leave in a white house chief stuff, rahm to run for mayor of chicago. and axelrod to run in 2012. also "the washington post," psychologists in chile are rushing the prepare the trapped miners for the sudden fame. they're optimistic they'll be freed within a month. a dozen documents are already in production. >> "los angeles times," nevada is the only state that allows resident to vote "none of the above" if they aren't satisfied with any of the candidates. that option could be a decisive factor in the close contest

between harry reid and sharron angle. reid's camp says driving voters to vote none is not part of his strategy, but he has benefited from it before. in 1998 he won by just 400 votes while more than 8,000 people voted for none of the above. >> it should be the title for the last three years. >> let's do a book called "none of the above." >> isn't it something that harry reid, he's just not been a popular guy in that state, and yet he keeps squeaking by. he's the majority of the senate. and he says some really stupid things about african-americans and hispanics and women. >> and pets. >> pets. >> i would love him see if the opposition candidate was in any way credible. i think he's past his sell-by date in everything. >> oh, tina. that's just mean.

did she just say that? >> i did just say that. >> the milk has curdaled. >> like the apple juicy had with my daughter. >> one guy ripe and getting ready for the pick sglg you can squeeze him. >> editor and chief of politico, john harris. >> i'm ripe for the picking. >> it's called a terrible tv segue. that's what that is. >> ttt. >> we'll be talking to president clinton later in the show. he's been out a lot lately. and quick to offer advice to not just democrats but to the president. >> willie, you will find him in fine form. he is really valuable, very relaxed, in good spirits. he says, look, i'm done with politics. this is not what i do anymore. in fact, you push the buttons. he is happy to talk at length about politics, specifically what democrats need to do. i spoke with him yesterday at the clinton global initiative, he's got very strong opinions

about what democrats are doing wrong and specifically what president obama needs to do better. clinton is incredibly concerned about how independents are fleeing the democratic party. he says that's the key to this election. somehow in the next month they have to get independent voters back. he says president obama should acknowledge openly that people are upset with him. he said it was a good thing on cnbc when the woman said i'm getting tired of defending you. >> except he didn't handle it right. >> obama didn't handle it? >> no. when he stopped her and said, as i was saying, everyone is suffering right now. the trouble is everybody isn't suffering. you look around the regency hotel or anywhere in packed manhattan restaurants, they're not suffering. at the initiative i spoke to clinton as well. he's so great about -- as an explainer and always comes up with a way to put down anything

but in a very pithy way. he said what irritates him is only when it comes to the economy and jobs and health care are we a faith-based nation. he said if it's sports, hollywood, everybody wants to know the blow-by-blow. everybody wants to know the details. the big things, it's like, oh, they're all wants talking about that. which i thought was a great observation. >> john, as you know, today is the six-month anniversary of the passage of health care reform. >> we're celebrating. did you get a cupcake? >> canyon of heroes, amazing. >> i think they have a ticker tape parade. >> let's do the canyon of heros today. >> what are the democrats doing today? >> what are they doing today? >> we heard it was going to be big. >> there will be no balloons and flyers. that was one of the predictions on health care. there were many, many that just

turned out flat wrong. remember it was pass it and it will get more popular the moment we pass it. that was not true. there was supposed to be a big argument about health care and whether or not it should be repealed or whether democrats were going to defend it. instead what they're trying to do is simply change the subject. >> because republicans are trying to change the plan. >> it's only because nobody has ever understood it all the way through. that was the problem. >> everything takes so long. >> no democrat wants to talk about health care. >> they don't want to talk about it because they promised to put 31 million more people on and cut costs. everybody knew all along those two items didn't add up. >> if they ever come true, they haven't come true yet in a demonstrable way that matters to voters. >> are you surprised they're making a big deal today about the six-month anniversary of snings if they want to change the subject -- >> they can't decide whether to embrace it, make a big deal of it and avoid it. most candidates in the most competitive districts are changing the subject.

>> indecision when you're in trouble is always the winning ticket. what side of the road do i go to? >> they have plenty of fun to go out with the other side. if i were there, i would stay away from health care and after the utter wackiness of what's happening on the other side. >> john harris, thank you so much. >> still ahead jon stewart returns to o'reilly telling o'reilly he's a left-winger. an update on the guy in red spandex who ran onto the field during the phillies game. he's out of jail. look at the other clothes he had when he was released from jail. yes, those are also his parents picking him up. great story. ♪

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♪ [ upbeat instrumental ] [ rattling ] [ gasps ] [ rattling ] [ laughing ] [ announcer ] close enough just isn't good enough. - if your car is in an accident, - [ laughing continues ] make sure it's repaired with the right replacement parts. take the scary out of life with travelers. call or click now for an agent or quote. live look at the sun coming up over washington, capitol hill. 6:33 on the east coast. welcome back to "morning joe." quick look at the notes. journalist bob woodward's new book "obama's wars" claims

president obama pushed military advisors for an exit plan out of afghanistan, never got one and finally developed his own strategy. senior white house officials seem pleased by the portrayed press. press secretary robert gibbs said, i think the book portrays a thoughtful vigorous policy process that led us to the strategy to get us to the best chance of after achieving our objectives and goals. forbes is out with the list of the 400 people richest in the u.s. microsoft's bill gates remains at the top of the list for the 17th year in a row with an estimated wealth of $54 billion. rounding out the top three, warren buffett and oracle chief larry ellison. interestingly facebook ceo mark zucker burg didn't qualify as a billionaire ranked higher than apple's steve jobs. doing a lot of good with that money. let's look at sports.

red hot phillies looking for their tenth straight win continuing the home series against the braves. funny moment in the seventh inning. phillies starter roy oswalt wanted a new ball, lobs it from the plate, wanted one from tum. he drills martin prado. only contact the braves made all night. oswalt and company held them to one hit. 8th inning ibanez scores jayson werth. that's all the phillies needed. they've won ten straight games in philadelphia, six games up on the atlanta braves. >> unbelievable how that has changed. >> they're hot, started slow and getting back. >> ais atlanta going to win the wildcard? >> they're a half game up from san francisco. >> exciting the last couple weeks. >> get bobby cox in the play-offs for his last season. >> rays, it looked like a

single. a.j. burnett goes around the bat. burnett only went three innings because of a two-hour rain delay. skies cleared and stadium emptied out. after the rain delay it was all rays. top of the seventh inning carl crawford, a solo home run puts the rays up 4-2. the very next batter is longoria. he goes deep as well into the half-empty seats. rays go on to win 7-2, now just a game and a half behind the yankees. the final game is tonight. cc sabathia and david price. should be a good one. back to the national league, in the west division, three teams battling for the title there. san francisco with a half game lead coming into the games yesterday taking on the cubs at wrigley. bottom of the third fukudome mow of the cubs, a home run to right puts chicago up 1-0. takes it to the top of the ninth inning. cubs closer marmol gets guillen swinging to end the game. cubs bin 2-0 over the giants.

that means the padres have a chance to leapfrog into first place in the west if they can beat the dodgers. tejada's 300th career home run helps the bad rays beat the dodgers 3-1. in the nl west with the giants' loss and the padres' win, san diego a half game win. very tight for the division and the wildcard. >> that's great. >> exciting in national league. let's go back to philly. on tuesday we showed you this moment in the phillies-braves game where a fan wearing a full body red spandex suit ran onto the field and was tripped by braves outfielder matt diaz. well, he was arrested, of course, thrown into the tank in philly, didn't get out until yesterday. turns out he's a 17-year-old kid being released from jail. >> why is he still wearing that? >> that's all he had. >> look at the dad. >> his parents picking him up.

>> his parents picking him up at juvey wearing a full body suit. he's kind of proud of it. that's a proud day for a dad, isn't it? you'd hate to be that kid. father apologized and said he will take appropriate disciplinary action within the walls of his home. >> we were talking front page of "the new york times," talking about the tight race in new york with andrew cuomo. quinnipiac has another new poll out, just out on gillibrand, the senator. we'll do that next. some really -- let me put it this way, i don't know the name of the person running against gillibrand. you're not going to believe how close it is. >> it could be the guy in the red spandex. >> i'd vote for him. >> up next, new poll results hot off the presses. we'll get to those from three key swing states. the results when we come back.

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senator instead of ma'am? it's just a thing. i work so hard to get that title. i'd appreciate it. thank you. >> 28 years in washington and barbara boxer works hard for a title? i'll really go to work to end

the arrogance in washington. i'm carly fiorina and i approve this message. >> i like that better than the sheep. >> what's that? >> i like that better than the sheep. >> i hate that ad. >> the demonic sheep? >> is she fading, fiorina? >> mark, she's not doing as well as other republicans across america, is she? >> no, she's not. both barbara boxer and patty murray, the other democratic incumbent on the west coast are both doing better than a lot of the other democratic incumbents. unclear exactly why. she can win the race but she's not ahead the way other republicans are. >> too many people try to make these races nationwide, washington state and california are one extreme. southern states are another.

wisconsin right in the middle. russ feingold slipping in support. i guess that's tied right now. >> on fiorina, i really didn't like that ad. i thought she came off as a snooty putdown, bitchy woman. it's very unfortunate. that's the last thing you would want to see between two women. for me she never recovered from the sound bite where she referred to barbara boxer's hair where she said, oh, so yesterday. it was a moment of truth to me. >> i want to go through some polls. let's put wisconsin back up, chris, i guess among all voters they're split. likely voters which as you get closer -- mark halperin, politicians look at likely voters. >> they do. democrats are worried about feingold. he is down in this race. >> why? she's remained an independent voice, has he not? >> he has, but he's been there a long time. it's a republican year. that is a state that has had a lot of unemployment problems.

johnson has run a good race he's a businessman, like paladino in new york, a very anti-washington message that says things have to change. feingold has been there a long time. it's not a great year to be a long-time incumbent. >> it's not a great year to be a democrat in new york state. a new quinnipiac poll was released. this was the stunner, barack obama is upside down in the approval ratings in new york state, one of the bluest states, more people disapprove of his performance as president than approve it. that explains this gillibrand number. >> who is her challenger? >> joseph dioguardi. a guy that nobody around here knew. >> former congressman, his daughter was one of the judges on "american idol." >> how long ago was he a congressman? >> maybe a decade. >> pre-'94 unless he slipped in while i was -- >> what do you make of this

number? >> she's only up by six points against a guy that 3/5 of new yorkers don't even know. >> i think he brought us our starbucks this morning and none of us knew him. it just shows that, again, in new york -- we talked about the paladino race, there's a lot of andy incumbent, andy obama, andy democratic feeling. even in places like new york where you think democrats would be safe, it is going to be a challenge. she's not very well defined. and a stronger person in the race against her could really -- >> why don't we just go through the "morning joe" list of potential candidates. >> they've all sat in that chair. >> they sat in that chair. if harold ford had stayed in the race, he would have walked away with it. if dan seen know. >> i think he would have been a strong candidate. >> i call him mr. senator right

now. >> the whole delicate issue of when you run and make that judgment. >> a fine balance. >> such a squeaker in politics. >> of course, mort zuckerman as well. >> let's look at colorado. the times/cnn poll shows that incumbent michael bennett trails republican ken buck by a five-point margin, 49% to 44%. >> here, of course, we heard buck was the tea partier and there was no way he was going to win. he's doing quite well. >> a businessman who is not in the sharron angle mode of extreme statements and positions from the past. michael bennett he's the incumbent, but appointed to the seat. still not very well known. what may save michael bennett is the governor's race where republicans nominated a tea party candidate who is very weak. that poll is not out of line with where that race is. >> again, i'll bring it up. among all voters bennett is

actually ahead. at this point you're not looking at that number. >> nobody should be looking at registered voters. likely voters like with this poll, shows the intensity gap. if everybody voted, it would be one thing. >> the pathetic thing is it takes jon stewart and stephen colbert to make a rally. no one seems to get the sen thrifts out there. it takes two tv comics in a sense to have everybody yelling. >> pennsylvania, open seat in pennsylvania, pat tomb many leads democrat joe sestak 49-44. >> five points. that is something. you say democratic pollsters are keeping a poker face right now. looking at these numbers in the blue states, mark, have to be very nervous. >> they're very nervous. their hope remains to spend the money they have. in a lot of races democrats are sitting on money to try to demonized these republicans and

limb nate nate them. the message voters want to hear is the one republicans in a disciplined way are peddling. change washington, put a check on barack obama, nancy pelosi and harry reid. >> one place where democrats are happy right now. one place, a place that things could have been so different. >> they could be different. in delaware, democratic chris coons leads republicaning opponent christine o'donnell 55% to 39%. >> look at the next number. look at this next number. >> had veteran congressman mike castle and not christine o'donnell been nominated by the republicans, voters today would choose castle over coons by a 55% to 37% margin. >> it is a 20-point swing. >> you said do you want to win? they didn't want to win. >> erick erickson came on yesterday and said he would rather lose. pat buchanon said he would

rather lose as well. i tell you what, a vote, if they want to look at it this way, a vote against harry reid for majority leader is a vote against harry reid. can you imagine if sharron angleal and christine o'donnell had not been selected in those two states -- forget a good candidate, an average candidate in either of those states, and new york, it would be over by now. >> you know what this reminds me of? when the labor party of the left wing went crazy. that slogan was no compromise with the electorate. >> ridiculous. >> the difference, though. let's say that castle had won in delaware and somebody a bit more rational than angle had won in nevada, we would be talking about a republican senate. a lockup. >> we might be. we'd be talking about a lockup. and delaware is probably lost ot this point. but watch west virginia and connecticut. they'll still be in play.

>> they're all dominos. if castle were there, republicans wouldn't have to spend a dime there and they could move it to connecticut. >> and west virginia. >> and to west virginia and to wisconsin. now they're pinned down there, pinned down in nevada in races they should have already put in their winning column. >> still ahead, elizabeth warren will be here. later, former president bill clinton. but first, willie, what do you have next? tina mentioned jon stewart. we'll see jon stewart visiting bill o'reilly last night. they're playing a home and home series. also last night, joaquin phoenix returns to the scene of the crime. 18 months ago he came on bearded and mumbling. cleaned himself up for letterman last night. [ male announcer ] you are a business pro.

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thanks. i got the idea from general mills big g cereals. they put a white check on the top of every box to let people know that their cereals have healthy whole grain, and they're the right choice... (announcer) general mills makes getting whole grain an easy choice. just look for the white check. an easy choice. words alone aren't enough. our job is to listen and find ways to help workers who lost their jobs to the spill. i'm iris cross. we'll keep restoring the jobs, tourist beaches, and businesses impacted by the spill.

we've paid over $400 million in claims and set up a $20 billion independently-run claims fund. i was born in new orleans. my family still lives here. i'm gonna be here until we make this right. time for the news you can't use. jon stewart has been all over the place this week, announcing the big rally he's going to have in washington. on oprah earlier in the week. last night on o'reilly, they have a thing. stewart goes on o'reilly's show. o'reilly will go on stewart's show. >> that's good. >> last night, serious stuff, lighter stuff. bill o'reilly asking jon stewart if he's disappointed in president obama? >> stewart is back.

it's inexplicable but he's here. >> what about hi, jon, great to see you. nice to see you as well. >> you want me to be a phony? >> it hurts my feelings. >> obama remorse. some people who voted for him, as you say velma hart, we voted for the hope and the dream, it ain't happening. do you, jon stewart, have obama remorse? >> i think people feel a disappointment in that there was a sense that, oh, jesus will walk on water. look at that, he's just treading water. >> but did you buy the messiah thing when he was campaigning. >> i don't buy the messiah thing with the messiah thing, let alone with a politician. >> he went on to say he hoped the president was going to change washington and that clearly hasn't happened. >> looked like a good conversation. >> they talked some more, right? >> they talked some more. >> i loved the part i saw on "way too early" about calling o'reilly a liberal. >> let's watch that then. here it is. >> you've been overtaken by a

more extreme version of you. you're like fox 1.0, the beta version. fox 2.0 has jumped over you to an extent i don't think you could dream of and quite frankly you fear. think deep down inside you can't believe what you've unleashed. >> i'm responsible for all this? >> you're not responsible for it. but what you did is you spread out the area, set up your stuff there and these other people just came plowing through. on this network you're left wing. >> kind of funny. >> actually, bill o'reilly in the middle of the health care debate said let's talk about the public option. bill o'reilly, he's done things like this all along. jon stewart is right. bill o'reilly is concerned when glenn beck goes outs and calls the president a racist and a marxist and a this and a that. 1.0. >> good analysis.

>> the voice of reason. >> very interesting. remember february last year, joaquin phoenix. who can forget this appearance? the stuff of legends. >> turned out to be part of a movie. last night joaquin phoenix returned to letterman for the first time. look at him all cleaned up and handsome. >> a huge, big guy. >> a year and a half ago you come out and honestly it's like you slipped and hit your head in the tub. and i knew immediately something ain't right. >> i hope i didn't offend you. >> oh, no, no, no. i'm telling you it was so much fun. it was batting practice, you know what i mean? every one of them was a dinger. >> joaquin phoenix said to letterman, you've interviewed many people so i assumed you'd know a difference between a character and a real person. >> he's doing a documentary.

>> a film called "i'm still here," documentary of a disintegration of a star. >> look who is on deck. >> elizabeth warren and former presidential adviser mark mckinnon will be here in the green room next. my name is vonetta, and i suffer from allergies. [ male announcer ] we asked zyrtec® users what they love about their allergy relief, and what it lets them do. the thing i love most about zyrtec® is that it allows me to be outside. [ male announcer ] we bet you'll love zyrtec®, too -- or it's free. [ vonetta ] it is countdown to marshmallow time. [ woman laughs ]

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mahmoud ahmadinejad is here. he was at the u.n. there was a bizarre scene on yesterday at the u.n. where he addressed the general assembly. did you see this? it's crazy. >> in an effort to change your views of iran as an evil regime and nuclear threat to the entire world, i'm going to do something big. we are going to tehran! you're going to tehran, you are going to tehran and you're going to tehran. welcome back to "morning joe," top of the hour. 7:00 on the east coast. still with us msnbc and "time" magazine political analyst mark halperin. also here, former adviser to president george w. bush, mark mckinnon joining the conversation. and topping that -- >> nothing tops mark mckinnon. >> i'm trying. special advisor to the president

on the consumer financial protection bureau, elizabeth warren. congratulations. >> thank you. >> boy, elizabeth, that was easy. >> that's going to be quite a job for you. >> wow, that was a battle. there were some people on capitol hill that were working very hard to keep you out of that position. >> so be it. >> so be it jedi. >> there's work to be done. i really don't see this as you know republicans versus democrats or liberals versus conservatives. this is about fine print. it's about tricks and traps, about a whole industry that has grown around the notion of, we will pretend to sell you thing at one price, but ha, ha, ha, wait until we have a little transactional -- >> break this down for people. there was a huge fight and your face on the cover of "huffinigton post" for like 12 years, back and forth. >> getting used to it, right? >> most people don't even

know -- break it down for people at home who say i sure do like that nice person from oklahoma. break down what you're doing. >> so there's this new consumer agency, and it's been signed into law. the president, very committed to this. we had a conversation about it. how do you get it started. there were two ways to go. go with nomination and a long period of time where i can't work on it if i'm nominated. >> let's get out of the weeds. how does it protect consumers? >> what it's really about is fixing broken markets. right now we have markets for credit products that just don't work like markets for toasters or markets for cars or markets for other products. here is how they're different. if you want to compare credit cards right now. you put four credit cards in front of you, you can't tell -- >> i've got this credit card. i have absolutely no idea what

the contract is. >> that's the point. >> when you have no idea what the contract is, you don't pick the cheapest one. when you don't pick the cheapest one, it means the market is not competing down on cost. >> if you do your job, how will my life change with this credit card over the next two years? >> if i can succeed, it will be a very simple two-page agreement. you read it once at the beginning when you take this card out, have to look at it maybe once a year, you can lay it down with four other agreements and in other three minutes, you say, oh, that's the cheap one, that's the risky one. >> mark mckinnon, that's an idea whose time has come. >> it does make a lot of sense. >> she's from oklahoma. what do you expect. >> that's right. >> get t. boone talking about her. you're a texas guy. do you still trust her? >> a lot of values coming out of oklahoma. >> there you go, that okey-texan

thing. >> mark, a lot of americans feel disconnected with wad. they voted for hope and change. these are a lot of the things that they expected to happen over the last couple years that just haven't happened. why is there such a huge disconnect between d.c.? just as much or more so if you believe the polls than in 2008. >> that's certainly the case. there's a lot of things happening that they're not aware of. the things that elizabeth is pointing out this morning. there's been some progress that i don't think people realized yesterday, a lot of things happening in health care and in consumer protection that probably won't kick in for -- they're not going to see the effects of this for a while. i think there's some real anger out there that's legitimate. i also think there's frustration about things that haven't happened yet that are going to be happening. we have to wait for the government market to kick in. >> that will kick in, mark halperin, if you look at the polls, after the midterm

elections. right now it looks like republicans are making big gains in swing states everywhere and non-swing states. new york state, the president upside down. >> go back to january when scott brown won the massachusetts senate seat. a lot of what democrats were counting on were things like health care, the financial regulation law, that voters would reward democrats for that. and they're just not. if you turn the clock back, i don't know what the white house would have done differently. they just haven't sold it in a way -- i'm wondering if you think that's part of what you think your responsibility is, not just to do the substance, but to get citizens and voters to understand what the law does and how it can improve their lives. >> the way i see this is a lot of people fought this agency. i mean they fought it tooth and nail. the industry did. they spent literally tens of millions, hundreds of millions of dollars and they said he would kill this agency, and they didn't. there were a lot of folks in political campaigns who were trying to kill this agency. and we finally get this agency

into law, but let's face it. there are a lot of people who still would do it harm. in the industry and on capitol hill. and so part of what i think my job is to talk to the american people because the more they see it as their agency, the more they see that, wait a minute, this is the way the playing field gets leveled, this is how it is that i have a real chance to be able to see what i've got, make reasonable decisions here. then i think this agency is strong. but, boy, i don't kid myself. it's an uphill lift because there are too many people who want to play politics with it and too many people who want to play billions of dollars of money with it and both of them would like this agency to be nothing. >> so i'd love to hear more on that. who are you up against? what are you up against as you try and actually do something with this agency? >> well, you know, we are talking about two things simultaneously. tens of billions of dollars, and people don't want to give that

up. one, we'll leave them nameless for now. one bank recently put out its annual statement, and it said changing and consumer protection cost our shareholders $650 million last quarter. my answer on that one is, no, american families saved $650 million dollars because of this one small change in the law. so that's part of it. but the other part of it is this -- the notion that nobody wants government to work. this is something the consumer agency, the president of the united states is personally deeply committed to. this is the one part i get, i understand. i've talked about this one with him for a very long time. negotiate on other things, go where you have to go in other parts of financial reform. but you protect that consumer agency at all costs.

and so that means i guess by definition, i'm not the political person, but that means there's some people now who automatically hate it just because it has this political -- >> if you the k get transparency on credit card rates, that will go a long way toward connecting with consumers, if you do nothing else. >> trying to connect on something like that is going to be extremely difficult because you've got both sides getting hundreds of millions of dollars from finance -- financial interests. if you're going to run for president of the united states, unless you can bank roll it yourself. hey, barack obama got more money from wall street than anybody before. republicans are going to try to get more there. how do we break free where anything elizabeth tries to do the going to be shot at by people who get a lot of money from wall street? you're looking into this. >> yeah. wall street wants certainty.

we're getting certainty in the market now. look what's happening to the market. i think there's a lot of progress going on. we're moving on. the bill has now got somebody to look after it, to kick it in. >> so how do you drain, though? how do you drain the moneyed interests out of politics? >> there's a bill coming out of committee today, the fair elections act. joe, you had to run for congress. how much time did you spend having to raise money? how much would a typical -- >> i was going to say. i was a little different. >> evan bayh who is leaving the senate -- >> a lot of guys that i know -- evan bayh said you serve for two, raise money for four. the fact is money completely dominates elected officials' lives. they spend 90% of their time raising money. money is a corrupting influence

on congress. no question about it. so what's the answer? get the money out. >> people have been trying to do that forever. >> they have. but which we've got a good idea. there's a way to fund elections, nontaxpayer money comes out of broad paid sales. if you raise $100, you get a four-to-one match. this will equalize the scales, takes the money out of the game and creates a fair playing field so that somebody with a lot of money orman anied interest. >> you get a four-to-one match and agree to limits. >> that's right. >> john mccain agreed to limits. barack obama just barbed him for three or four months because obama had ads up every second. i remember one weekend in virginia, at northern virginia alabama had 200 commercials up in october for every one mccain had up. they were all negative ads.

how do you stop that from happening? >> i don't think it made that much of a difference in the presidential race, first of all. >> 200 to 1? >> john mccain could have had five times as much money and it wouldn't have made a difference. he had an opportunity to get their message out. there's too many people that can't play now and too many people chasing money from unions, corporate interests across the boards. >> this would mean the house, the senate and the president? >> everybody. >> i like four-to-one matches. >> one other point, joe. the money this would cost is half the money we spend on elections and freedom and democracy overseas. let's spend some money here -- >> i guarantee you barack obama has his goal set now a billion dollars in 2012. >> that's going to be run the same way it was before. that's the system as it is.

>> elizabeth, how important is it to get money out of politics from your standpoint, from the fights that you've had in washington? >> for 30 years we have watched a financial services industry that has figured out new ways to squeeze money out of middle class american families. and congress basically has done this during a large part of it. and so it's got to be that this relates to money. b i will say this. we got this agency through at a time when everyone said, you can never do it. all the money is on one side. all the hurt is on the other. you'll never get this through. the industry itself, the industry lobbyist announced on the front of "the new york times," we will kill this agency. yet it went forward because it became just obvious enough this was something that american

families wanted. so to me right now we really are in an epoch battle. i'm with you on where we need to go on money. we're still not there. we're still in the world of you can spend all the money you want. it's gotten worse because you can raise it in other ways, don't have to tell who's got it. >> it's gotten so terrible. we've been talking about new york state, that if something ran against gillibrand, they probably would have run. one of the people talking about running before back in i think it was january or february said, if you run, you could win. the person said i'd have to raise $30 million or $40 million out. i got a calendar out. that means i would have to raise $300,000 a day between now and election time, and that's just obscene. there's no way i could do that -- >> that's right. money is keeping good people out of politics. they're not running because of the money. >> who does the people's business? the kind of folks i worry about, they don't have $300,000 to put into anybody's campaign.

>> $300,000 a day. >> a day. >> can you imagine waking up in morning and saying i have to raise $300,000. i stammered when you asked me. the first time i didn't raise anything. i raised $30,000 over the course of a year and a half and i won my first -- actually i raised $150,000, $200,000. to do that every day is obscene, obscene to represent the people of new york. >> i actually want to add something to this about where we've gone, how unbalanced things are. we talk about the campaign contributions, powerfully important. i'll tell you about other parts of it. it's the lobbying world that never sleeps. even when you're not in eye lex cycle, when it's not about talking just to the specific representatives. it's every single day get up and see if you can find a mistake, see if you can -- let's attack

this, let's do background on that. let's go visit every single senator. let's visit every single representative. let's visit everybody in the media to try to get a message out that will help our clients and will undercut doing the people's business. this is the part that scares me. it's even bigger than you talk about. you talk about the right place to start in dialing it back. but we've got a lot that's in trouble here. >> a long way to go. elizabeth, thank you so much. >> congratulations, i think. >> special assistant to the president. >> good luck. >> you tell us a year or two from now whether we should congratulate you. >> we're happy. >> not for me. i'm fine now. but if you can do that where people hold credit cards and they know actually what the deal is with the institutions that hold those credit cards, you will have done a pretty big thing, right? mark, something that americans will stand up and take note of and say washington actually works for us. >> that's what i'm in there for.

>> elizabeth warren, thank you very much. coming up a little later. former president bill clinton will be on the show. also we'll have the exclusive reveal of "time" magazine's new issue with managing editor rick stengel. >> also, mark mckinnon, we'll go over some of the polls with mark mckinnon and mark halperin. >> chuck todd is here. we'll bring him in. first, is president obama about to lose o key members of his inner circle? we'll ask chuck about that next on "morning joe." [ female announcer ] it can creep up on you. dry skin. that's why there's lubriderm® daily moisture. it contains the same nutrients naturally found in healthy skin. skin absorbs it better and it lasts for 24 hours. later gator. lubriderm. your moisture matched.

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we listened to you. we heard your point. as i said before, we increased aids funding. if you want to have a conversation later about how we can increase it even more, it's a conversation i'm happy to have.

but what i want to do is talk about what's coming up -- i want us to talk about what's at stake in this election. because the people that potentially will take over if we don't focus on this election, i promise you will cut aids funding. >> a strange thing, isn't it? welcome back to "morning joe." president obama addressing one of many protesters at a democratic fund-raiser right here in new york city. with us nbc news chief white house correspondent chuck todd. maybe "the washington post" saying that axelrod and rahm may be on their way out? >> on one hand, they laid that groundwork and axelrod himself has been laying that groundwork for quite some time. the assumption is at some point at the start of next year you've got to set up your re-election committee. and the assumption has been that -- that is when axelrod

would go over and focus almost solely on that. the question is who fills the role of sort of the chief political liaison now in the white house? do they move david pleth over? does robert gibbs move into that roll as the con sig air. and big burton replaces gibbs? do they bring in somebody else? i sense it will be somebody already in the inner circle that's in the axelrod role as the insider chief political guy. he has been getting a lot more -- it's interesting. a lot of people whisper complaints about axelrod in the democratic party on capitol hill. they throw blame at him saying, hey, you're the message guy. he's off message. >> mark, it's not always so easy being in the white house. is he the one that when you left -- what was your comment to axelrod? >> i said he was getting the

keys to the gates of hell. >> he might agree with you there. >> i tried to talk him into not going in the first place. he's a real servant of democracy. i think he's been doing an admirable job under very tough circumstances. i think there ought to be a two-year limit for anybody that serves in the white house. it's so gruelling and it's tough to keep any perspective. so i think it's in temperature's best interest to try to let people get out and get oxygen to their brains. >> mark halperin, who steps? ? david axelrod e-mailed politico saying he'll be in well into 2011. >> in terms of axelrod, i think the pace of how quickly he needs to go to chicago will depend on how quickly the republican campaigns ramp up. we don't know if by may of next year will the republican president contest be so intense that they think they ought to be matching that in terms of organization.

the president face as big choice for replacing rahm who could be gone in weeks and axelrod. >> you think rahm is going to run? >> absolutely. he needs to get going raising money. the illinois campaign finance laws change in january. big money can be raised this year, not after the first of the year. >> that will do it. >> people have understated the financial advantage he'll have if he runs against the other people. the president faces a general choice in replacing anyone who goes. does he elevate people he's already close to who don't have the same national stature and experience as rahm and david axelrod? or does he bring in essentially outsiders with more stature but who he is less close to. if you look at his pattern of management and personally what he's comfortable with. it's more likely they'll elevate somebody like pete rouse who has no national profile. >> let's move from chicago to chuck todd's favorite subject, new york. chuck loves new york. and front page of "the new york times" -- >> if it happens in new york,

it's more important to everybody else in the world? >> yes. >> you have sold out the folks in the panhandle. >> what's your point? >> the panhandle is home. >> is it home? >> it is. >> do you remember what time zone it's in? >> this parochial interest you have, seriously. >> someone told me one out of nine americans have connections to new york. i love norks. >> we report a snowstorm in new york city and chuck gets mad. >> that means eight out of nine americans do not. >> "the new york times" talking about cuomo's once unstoppable image now stoppable. there have been polls out suggest the race getting closer. quinnipiac has a poll out, i guess six points. gillibrand, also, in a senate race, six points. and barack obama -- this is the most interesting thing. upside down approval rating in new york state. >> here is what i have not

understood about the new york republican party. this was inevitable. >> there's a new york republican party? >> exactly. while i think this quinnipiac poll could very much be an outlier. it could be too tight of a screen. that said, it was inevitable, this national wave, this anti incumbent atmosphere somehow going to be in 49 states but not this one? so they -- the new york republican party i think thought rudy was going to run for governor, thought he was going to do this. after that, all the other pieces would fall into place. they'd get a serious challenger against gillibrand, all this would happen. the giuliani thing didn't happen. they had no plan b, c, d or e. m paladino is not electable, probably too hot for new york. he'll make cuomo look like the reserved statesman in comparison.

i think cuomo is struggling to figuring out how to run against this tide. he's got an insider's name. frankly, i don't envy the position he's in. i tell you, gillibrand on the senate side was 'em nantly beatable with a decent candidate, a b level candidate. republicans always told me the problem they had in recruiting anybody against gillibrand is the fact that if you won, you had to run again in two years because that seat is up in 12. who wants to have two $20 million races back-to-back when the second one is apartmental one that you'll probably lose. >> we'll fly through these and get everybody's comments. fascinating trends going on. let's start with colorado. we had ken buck who after he got elected a lot of people were saying he's a tea partyer and not going to do well. he's up by five points in the latest cnn/time poll. wisconsin, one that surprises me, russ feingold has been an

incumbent for some time, but an independent voice. one of the few people standing up on afghanistan. he's losing by six points to ron johnson, a guy that nobody would have given a chance a month and a half ago. in pennsylvania, if you talk about all voters, sestak is close, but likely voters, pat toomey up five percentage points. delaware, it's not like primary voters weren't warned. chris coons up 55% to 39%. now let's go to never-never land. if delaware had actually elected the guy everybody knew was elected they would be up by 20 percentage points. mark mckinnon, this wasn't really hard. they've got -- we were talking about a candidate who has been bogged down with financial issues, whiitchcraft issues.

everybody in delaware knew if castle got elected, he would win the general. they decided they'd rather lose the seat. >> yeah. it shows how much emotion is involved. it's not a pragmatic decision. it's about emotion and the frustration and sending a message to the establishment. they saw castle as the establishment. >> are you surprised by what's happening in was con? >> i'm really surprised by that. feingold has a reputation of being an independent guy. if there's any race you want to look at to see what's going on, look at wisconsin. >> the new york floridanew york governor's race and the florida governor's race, they'd have two guys that they don't trust as being governors. that could hurt the party's image long term. both of those races are now in play. >> don't miss the mike castle trial balloon yesterday, i could run as a write-in. but the deadline is next week. guess what? i'm going to think about it all

the way up to the deadline. >> if he runs as a write-in, that hurts o'donnell. >> he probably has a better shot at winning a write in than murkowski. >> easier name to spell, fewer letters. >> castle has been state-wide how many times? >> a ton of times. coons would really have to become unelectable. that's the hard part. >> he's harry reid's pet. >> he said he's a clean-shafrn on our capitalist yesterday on "the daily rundown." we'll be right back. [ indistinct conversations ]

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it's been 50 days now since the 33 miners in chile were buried alive. this morning there's hope that the rescue to save them could take place sooner than expected. here is natalie morales. >> reporter: a new day at camp hope, home away from home for the families waiting since august 5th t day their world crumbled with the desert rock into the mine that swallowed their loved ones. rolando gonzalez, or clown rally comes from a mining background and feels it's his duty to help here. >> translator: the kids need happines happiness. >> reporter: life goes on here

as best it can. spirits remain high as they cling to letters from their loved ones brought up almost daily from the mine. nearly a half mile below and for 50 days now, the miners are trying to get on with their subterranean existence. they know getting out safely is as much up to them as it is to their rescuers. they've shown nothing but resilience. even finding their own way to celebrate chile's independence day this past weekend. but good attitudes lnt enough. the key to their survival, daily deliveries thanks to doves through a three-inch shaft that brings them food three times a day, medicine and vitamins. to maintain normal see, they mimic a routine of day and night with lamps. they communicate regularly with their families. ♪ on wednesday the loved ones of

alex vega celebrated his 32nd birthday singing him "happy birthday" through a video hookup. they've even been sent cigarettes and a projector screen allowing them to watch soccer and movies. the men have shifts where they help clear the rock from the drilling. wednesday they recovered part of a drill that became detached. >> so far the miner haves been a help to our operation, giving us tips on what they're seeing down there versus what we're seeing. >> reporter: brandon fisher is among a small team of american drillers racing here to dig a tunnel to the miners. he has experience in mine rescues having helped pull out the nine miners from the 2002 queue creek mine disaster in pennsylvania. we wanted to come down here and do something. late last week their drill known as plan b was the first to break through the chamber where the 33 had been trapped. >> everyone on site started

hugging. it was defining moment. >> reporter: the plan will be to send a bullet-shaped capsule expected to be completed by left week. big enough to pull the men to the surface. for the families keeping a daily vigil here, hope a new day will bring them one day closer to their loved ones. >> natalie morales reporting. thank you, natalie. our exclusive first look at "time" magazine. we'll reveal the cover. coming up in a few minutes, president bill clinton ahead on "morning joe." when i was seventeen, i was not good to my skin.

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rockefeller plaza in new york city. it doesn't look like rockefeller plaza because we're get ready for next week's education nation here at nbc, msnbc and msnbc.com. with us to reveal the cover of "time" magazine, rick stengel, the manager editor at "time." >> good morning. let's get right to it. >> it is a science cover about the new science of what they're calling fetal origins. it's about how the first nine months of life affect us for the rest of our lives. it's not just about don't drink coffee necessarily or smoke if you're pregnant, but how that gestation period, that nine-month period can determine whether we get cancer, whether we're obese, schizophrenic. a whole new science developed in the last 10 or 15 years. it's both wonderful and scary at the same time. >> an amazing cover. that's going to grab a lot of people walking by news stands. >> i hope so. it was the photographer's

girlfriend was pregnant. inside on the table of contents page we have a picture of the baby that emerged a couple months after that picture was taken. >> is this new science? we hear about the importance of eating well, living well, don't smoke obviously when you're pregnant. >> it is new science. about 20 years ago a british scientist realized there was a correlation between low birth weight and heart disease later in life. things like obesity actually don't necessarily come either from genetics or from nurture but, in fact, how much weight the mother gains during pregnancy. there's a fantastic and fascinating study that shows the difference in birth weight between mothers who are obese with their first child and then have had gastric bypass surgery for the second child. those children by the age of three have radically different weights. the first child has a much greater chance of being obese than the second child. we can change the dna endowment

we have by how mothers behave during pregnancy. same thing with children born when the mother is under great stress. they tested israeli women pregnant during the six-day war, those kids have a much higher rate of schizophrenia in later life than children born during peaceful periods. all kinds of things that nobody really knew about before. >> what does this tell us about general itti genetics? >> there's lots of things on how we can affect our dna, what we do during our lifetime that can affect the expression of dna. this is another example of how life in the womb affects the rest of our lives. >> fascinating. >> i'm still -- what you said about the gastric bypass surgery. that means you can pass obesity on -- you can prevent yourself from passing on obesity? >> yes. there was a similar study with

diabetes done among an indian tribe where type ii diabetes is very common. a woman who has type ii diabetes when she has her first child, that child has a greater chance of getting diabetes than her second child after she's been treated for type ii diabetes before the pregnancy. you know, i'm going to inherit this because my mother had it and her mother had it? no. you can change things during the course of your pregnancy. >> a great cover story. can't wait to dig into it. a new issue of "time" magazine. in a few minutes former president bill clinton will be here live. up next, she calls herself a fairy godmother. why warren buffett's sister says she has a better life than her billionaire brother. we'll be right back. [ male announcer ] if you've had a heart attack caused by a completely blocked artery,

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...and trust... an unspoken bond that, while common among men... is exceedingly rare among companies. the ram 60-day handshake. ram. doris buffett, the sister of billionaire warren buffett is the subject of a new biography called "giving it all away" doris joined us on "morning joe" recently to talk about her mission to dole out millions of dollars. >> your foundation has given away $100 million in the last ten years. and you have come from your own story of hardship and debt. so this is personal to you? >> very personal toh.

i'm just turning to the person i was always meant to be. i have the opportunity to do the things that really fit my nature and interests and i'm having a ball. for somebody 82, this is quite a statement, don't you think? >> i love it. >> it is quite a statement. when did you decide to give it all away? >> i always knew i would. when i came into this inheritance after going through the bumpy times, this is what i wanted to do. so i was ready to go when my mother died and the inheritance started coming in. it came in in stages. i was all set and knew what i wanted to do. >> doris, we live in a society that demonizes people in prison. and yet, you've spent so much time working with people behind bars. how did you make that decision? >> well, we had at one time, we h had what we call sun beams. and they would alert us to problems in their own area and we would -- we were able to act very quickly, which most all foundations don't do. and we do.

so we had a sun beam at mercy college up the river from here. and she was doing some work, and they had a problem because some of the men who were enrolled in the college program put on by mercy college were being transferred to a medium-security prison, which is everybody's fondest wish. but there was no educational program there. and they had written or gotten in touch with the governor at the time and everybody because they didn't want to leave. that is an unusual thing. >> that's not usual. >> yeah. so the sun beam wrote me and we provide the funds for a summer session so they could have the best of all worlds. and they invited me to come up to the graduation. so i went and i was totally unprepared for what i saw and felt and smelled and knew and it was redemption. and people talk about that, but i've never run into it before. but it was a stunning thing. it really was.

you can't come out the same as when you came in. and the proof is in the pudding. because the national recidivism rate hovers around 63%. and of the men who have gone through the program, serve their time, gotten their degree while they're in prison, it's zero. >> your organization is unique in the fact that most organizations will give their money to groups. but you give straight to individuals. why did you make that choice? and how do you screen the the individuals asking for help? >> well, i'll start with the first question. and i think most of my life -- a lot of my life anyhow, i was looking for a fairy godmother that never showed up. and i can be that person now. and we can help people change their lives. we have 1,500 women who are battered, domestic violence. and now they have a college education, they're going on -- one went on to the school of finance and others went on to nyu, law school.

their lives are transformed and their children's lives. they'll never fall into that pattern because it's learned behavior. and i probably have a stack of letters almost to the ceiling here from these women and they're eloquent and touching. and they're grateful beyond -- somebody who doesn't even know them will help them. and when we help them, we help them. we don't give them $250 and say go for it. we get their locks changed, we get help for their children. they haven't had good physical care naturally. and the wives, we had three die. so we do everything it takes to make them -- and they respond like gang busters. and they're like the prisoners in that they want to learn. you don't have to convince them. they know it's their way out, the only way unless they want to go back to the old way. so the the professors for the prisons -- i'm going back to that. they write me letters and say someone talked me into this and i didn't want to do. and as a matter of fact, i made the course harder for the people in the prison. and i have done a 180 for the

following five reasons. it's the difference between having people who want that and see it as their way out. they're great. >> you said something in here. and by the way, she's way ahead of us. >> i know. >> no, because you say your ambition is for your last check to bounce. well, we do that right now. >> i know. >> we don't have to wait until we're on our death bed to bounce it. we're bouncing them every day here. but it is such a unique perspective. and we had your younger brother warren buffett on with his son and they were talking. and it always fascinates people that he still lives in the same house he bought in the early 1960s. how has your interaction with him and everything else shaped not only the decisions he's made through the years but the decisions you've made through the years? >> well, he's finally catching on. we have a wonderful relationship. better than it's ever been because we're both involved in the same thing. and when he made the statement

about the billionaires all -- you know. you may have noticed or maybe you didn't, but i did. he mentioned me. well, he's really nice about it, but he's said on many occasions that he feels that our father whom we adored would be prouder of me than him. >> why is that? >> well -- you have to ask him. i think just that he doesn't know anybody that spends the time on it like i do. i mean, i'll brick easily 11 to 12 hours a day. it's a highly personal thing. and everybody who works with me approaches it the same way. we're not some distant -- living in some place that has 18 stories -- we're at home, i'm in my bedroom with stuff all around. >> all over. >> all over the floor. >> isn't it nice that her brother is gracious to her? >> i think so. >> would your brother be that gracious to you? >> my brothers? >> probably not. >> it takes time. >> it takes time.

>> they have to evolve as men. >> yes, that's true. >> takes much longer, doris. >> yes, it does. >> doris buffett, thank you so much. more "morning joe" when we come back. [ male announcer ] you are a business pro.

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hey, welcome to "morning joe", we've been telling you

live from the clinton global initiative. and now it is time to introdu introduce -- >> it's time. >> the former president of the united states. this is very exciting. >> well -- >> and you know, it's every time you're in a president's midst. >> yeah. >> for me, today -- >> joe, joe, it's just terry. >> i feel like i'm driving a car. >> i'm not the former president? you know, i've always wanted -- big old seal in front of me. i've always wanted that. >> this is embarrassing. >> so here you are. >> the warm-up act. >> did you ask the president to wait five minutes so you could sell some more cars? >> he's out -- >> you sold hannity a car, you sold me a car in the morning. >> shawn hannity, after i explained to him that green is not some crazy thing, he said that i'm going to buy one of your cars. >> that's really nice. j >> let's talk about the clinton

global initiative. i won't put it to the president this way. but a former president of the united states said he was basically the one that was pushing the hardest on doing great things across the world. i would guess that this operation would disagree? >> yeah. listen, you never wanted to get into tit for tat, but this president, former president bill clinton, our commitment's now $63 billion, over 300 million individuals' lives are affected by what the clinton global initiative does. everyone will leave here, you've got commitments. teams of people follow up, lots of commitments are being made to help people all over the world. it's great. >> how do you help? break it down for people that are watching it that hear about cgi all the time but don't know anything. >> what is it? how can they get involved? >> i can tell you, recently president clinton went to africa, tanzania, malawi, maternity hospitals where there'd been no maternity

hospitals for women at all. malawi, now with the clinton global initiative with the projects there, we went to a place in tanzania where they have forests new, gives people opportunity to make money, pediatric aids clinics throughout the world. goes to places where people don't have hope and gives them hope and makes their lives better. but the goal is to make them self-sufficient, to better themselves. it's not like they just get money. >> you don't just write a check? >> no. gives them opportunity to -- >> engage. >> this year's focus is helping women and children, to give them opportunities in education, give them opportunities to be a small business person. >> right. >> these are the action. modern technology access. some of those we need to work on at home too. you've gotten good pledges so far. i'm looking at google which has helped out with $1 million for

pakistan flood recovery, which is an incredible story in itself. >> richard holbrook telling us the extend of the damage there, mind boggling. >> i think pakistan for a lot of different reasons, i think a flood is different. >> not as many deaths, 1,500, 1,600 deaths. but it's staggering. >> proctor and g prok procter a >> they don't have access to clean water at all. so they're going do donate all these packets and help people. but to go to these companies and see on the ground what president clinton has done and the support of all of these. we have over 1,000 people here this year. it was sold out again. people clambering to come to say i want to help. but the other thing about the foundation. it's careful about how it spends its money. it is the number one rating on

efficiency of spending money. it goes to help people. doesn't go for administrative costs. to invest money here at cgi, it's going to help the people. >> while we have terry here, these polls we have this morning. i want to pick his brain. i know you want to sell green cars -- >> we bought the car. say no more. i think i'm going to buy one too. >> i want to ask you this. we're seeing polls that did show democrats even in trouble in new york state. it's the front page of the "new york times" today. gillibrand is only three points ahead. down by six among likely voters. is something happening out there? is it accelerating the democrats' concerns? >> people are frustrated. they have a right to be. they don't see the government working for them. they don't see us being fiscally

responsible. and i've said this for the last few months. the democrats have got to get up, they've got to defend what we've done. health care. whether you like it or not, it's a signature issue that the democrats passed six months ago. >> it's health care's sixth month birthday today. >> you did it. stand up, why should people vote for you? be proud of it, you did it, here are the benefits you get for it. >> they're not getting the benefits right now, that's the issue. >> explain to what was done. but today is a big day. a lot of things being implemented today. you keep your children until age 26, pre-existing conditions. a lot of them come in today. but talk about what you did -- >> let's talk about the guy that this initiative is named after. i've always said to democrats -- and to be honest with you, i'm not sure why they haven't followed my advice. because it's pretty good advice. when in doubt, ask a simple question.

wwbd. what would bubba do. what would bill clinton do? why was he frozen out from this white house for a year or so? year and a half? it was baffling because he wouldn't have had this blind spot on jobs. >> i don't know frozen out is the right word. when a new administration comes in, they have their mandate, they won the election, and come in with the things they talk about. i know that the president has been -- president clinton has been down to see president obama several times. >> they're talking a lot more now than they were for the first year to year and a half. >> and president clinton always talked we have to unleash this $3 trillion in capital in the banks with just sitting there. but businesses need certainty. i'm in a business to create 3,000 to 5,000 jobs, i've got to know what the capital gains will be. we need some certainty because you can't spend money if you don't know what your costs are going to be. and that's one of the biggest hang-ups. we've got to get certainty about what the costs are going to be.

but president clinton, 22 million new jobs. i remind you we had four budgets that were balanced. >> by the way, that's the first time -- and i always say this about republicans in congress. but republicans in congress and president clinton balanced the budget four years in a row. the first time that happened since the 1920s. another reason why the obama administration should talk to him, and another reason is republicans may take control of the house. they need to talk to president clinton to figure out how you get things done when you have two people -- two sides clashing. >> the real friction. >> what's the secret? what do you think the secret was to his success in dealing with the republican congress and getting things done? >> at the end of the the day, we've all got to work together. lay out a goal, lay out your marker. i believe in the green technologies. because i do believe those are the jobs for the the future. you look at what our saudi arabia and look at what south korea, and look at what china is doing today in these areas, they are moving so far at warp speed

to move ahead of us. china announced the other day they want to be number one in the world in electric cars. why are we not in america making those? why are we not making the wind blades. why aren't we doing this here? >> just a little business -- but you've actually bought a chinese company and you're bringing it to the united states. >> went to china in may. i saw a little car when i was walking around london with my engineers for my other cars. saw this little car, i said, sir, i am not a car-jacker, but can i give you $100? he said sure. bought the company a couple months later. moving the the entire operation to the united states. >> that's a great story. >> we'll be selling them to europe. they're already sold in europe. we'll expand and sell them all over the world. >> we want to go to the factory. >> you've got to come to the plant. >> let us know when you open the plant, we'll go down.

>> i want to see the cars coming out. >> but we all should be doing this. we should be building the wind blades and turbines here. we have to have incentives for these new technologies. whoever can get the fuel cell technology is going to capture energy for the next 25 years. >> do you think he should go take the cuffs off clinton? >> yeah, the president was coming to talk and he said, let me sell a couple of cars. >> no, i saw the president before i came out here. i said this is my action, the morning show. >> okay. president bill clinton will be here any minute now. also, joining the conversation, tom brokaw when we come back.

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that yogurt in it? >> welcome back to "morning joe." this is very nice of terry. >> yes, it was. >> he uncuffed the president, he sold a couple more electric cars. >> he bound him with the duct tape, it was a little weird. >> it was embarrassing, then let former president bill clinton come with us. he's, of course, the founder of the clinton global initiative. we walked into this hotel, it's the first time we've been over here. it's just remarkable. it is remarkable how much this initiative has grown. >> i was quite surprised. i didn't know last year when we had it, we were bottoming out in economic downturn. but we had a good year. and this year we have 100 more people who actually paid to come and to give. >> it is recession proof.

you are encouraging people in the worst of economic times to remember those overseas. >> and here. >> and here. >> and here at home. i ask all of our members to take another look about what we could do in other countries and in america to target a lot of these commitments they make to creating jobs and opportunity. and a lot of them have. it's been interesting. >> could you break it down? because people hear so much about cgi. they know what's going on in new york. but could you break it down for people across america? what's the big idea? what does this initiative do that other initiatives don't? >> the big idea is that there's been an explosion of an old, old american idea. that there's always a limit to what the private sector can produce and the government can provide. and in that gap, citizens should take action and try to heal the

breeches in our society, in america, and around the world. also, if you are not -- if you don't have to produce a profit for shareholders tomorrow and you're not bound by all the government rules, you can take some chances to try to do things faster, cheaper, better. and if you're really good, then the model can -- you can either partner with a private sector, partner with the government or hand it off. so we -- this all started in america before the constitution was ratified when benjamin franklin organized the first volunteer fire department in philadelphia. now, fast forward 200 years. all these intelligent and sometimes wealthy people and representing successful businesses, they meet around the world. and they have these talk fests. they talk about all these problems. nobody asked anybody to do anything. we said, why don't we meet at the opening of the the u.n.? we'll invite people from poor countries who can't afford to

come and places in america who can't afford to come, we'll pay their way. and everyone will all commit to do something. that was a simple idea. and we'll pick the tough issues. the economic, energy, health, education, good governance issues around the world. and that's how we started. and this year we talk about how can we involve girls and women fully in the economic and educational life of their countries? how can we use technology better for people at all income levels? how can we find market-based solutions? those are sustainable. how can you make something -- we were just joking with terry. he went to china and bought a one hybrid car company and one electric car company, moved them to virginia. they're going to have manufacturing jobs there, sell these cars all over the world. we need to do more of that. and so -- this is our sixth year, this will be the first year we've had 300 commitments. and we'll wind up -- they're

worth about $63 billion. >> you know, it's a unifying concept too. >> yeah. >> because you speak to the small government conservative in me -- conservatives have always complained that government can't do everything. that the government can't -- it's kennedy-esque. you're saying, we're minding the gap. we're not expecting the federal government to do everything, we're expecting you to help. >> yeah, but if we do something better and cheaper that they're doing, then they can do it our way without fear of being attacked for taking a risk. but this is true all around the world. for example, a lot of -- we have a working group now that started before the earthquake on haiti. it's headed by a businessman who has got a big piece of the cell phone market in haiti. but anybody can be part of it, including everybody else who is in his competitors. and just people from outside who are interested. and we look at all of these

issues. sometimes we partner with the government, sometimes we partner with the private sector. we just try to do what works. it's interesting because yesterday laura bush and two of her daughters were on one of our panels. we asked republicans, democrats, conservatives, liberals. this is not a left/right thing, this is right/wrong. does it work? do it. if it doesn't -- >> i like the formula you described. not left/right, right/wrong. and people could apply beyond the clinton global initiative, could apply in washington. >> i think so too. i think what we ought to talk about -- i urged my fellow democrats the to tell the american people that the country wasn't back to work, nobody was happy. but according to all the numbers, the recession bottomed out and it was job time, show time. so the only real issue in this election should be what -- what

is each party going to offer to get the country moving again? which idea is most likely to work? what are we going to do? who is more likely to do it? and i believe they should say give us two more years to do this. if it doesn't work, throw it all out. we're in a deep hole, couldn't get going in time. that's what i think we ought to all be willing to be judged by what does or does not empower other people. >> i talked to you about this before. we go out and give speeches across the country. and sometimes to progressive crowds, and i always start with -- when i ran in '94, i couldn't stand bill clinton's image on tv. i came up to washington, d.c. and i go through this, and then as i explain the story away -- well, he didn't really like us that much either. but look at what we accomplished together. look at what we learned.

i learned so much from those five years, and they were tough, tough years for you and for hillary and for a lot of people. terry was talking about this. we balanced the budget, four years. for four years, first time it happened since the 1920s. reformed welfare, created 22 million new jobs. and those were two sides that didn't exactly love each other. could you explain to washington, d.c. on both sides how did you do that? how did you rise above it? how did everybody learn to work together even if they fought each other? >> first of all, you've got to know the difference between something that's real and something that's show. i remember one day senator lott was on one of these sunday morning shows. and he called me a spoiled brat or something like that. and our -- one of our guys in the staff says, you know what

trent lott said? i said don't worry about that. let me tell you what happened. trent lott agreed to be on a sunday morning show before he thought about it. he was exhausted all weekend. because we've been working long hours. he got up early in a bad mood and somebody goaded him and he took the bait. and that's all. and i called lott and he said, oh, my god -- and i called to tell you i've already forgotten about this. i said you shouldn't have done this show you were too tired. he said, that's exactly what happened. that's what happens when you know somebody as a person as well as a political opponent. when you cut at people with little slack and you realize that doesn't have anything to do with the job. and you get the job done. newt gingrich and i spoke for him. we talked about the fights and then we talked about what we achieved. that's what i think we have to do. we've got to get back into --

we're all hired hands here. >> right. >> and it's a good thing to have a philosophy. i could give you -- if you look at the stuff we're debating here, i could give you a more conservative and more liberal position about how to deliver health care in haiti or reset up the schools or promote economic growth. but in the end, what matters is half the kids have never been to school. do they go to school or not? they never had a health care system at all, will they have one? they don't have a government that functions, 17% of the government was killed on earthquake day, are they going to have one? and that's somehow we need to drive our political debate toward that. >> we seem to be losing ground. you brought up newt gingrich. i've talked to your wife and to you and others about what i learned. that you can disagree without being disagreeable. i made a lot of mistakes in the

1990s, i think a lot of people did. but you brought up newt gingrich. here's a guy that should know better, and yet he's going out there, comparing one of the great religions of the world to naziism. kathleen sebelius to stalin. it's really disappointing that in some ways we seem to be losing ground. >> well, but i think part of that is we saw what happened in these republican primaries. you might want to run for president. and frankly, it's a version of what he did in '94 as opposed to what he later came to do after we had the huge fight over the government shutdown and we all calmed down and went to work. and i think at least i know he knows better. >> doesn't that make it worse? >> i think it does make it worse, actually. >> that's what expresses me about it. he's such a bright guy and he's got -- >> but he's being rewarded for it -- >> sees the pay off. let me ask you about the economy. how would you characterize the

state of our economy right now and the direction it's moving in and how this administration is handling it both on a communications level and on policy? >> i think the policy is better than the communication. but here's the problem. and this happened -- this is one of our problems in '94. in the last three periods of economic slowdown and recovery -- and this is the toughest one since world war ii. there has been a prolonged period of what you might call jobless recovery that is the stock market picks up, the economists say the recession ended last june. nobody feels that. and there are two reasons. the jobless recovery and more than 10% of our people are living in homes that are worthless. a lot of people have lost their homes and their life savings. so people don't feel it. there's also a limit to how much government stimulus you can do.

either politically or economically. the actual stimulus directed towards creating jobs was rather small compared to the economic shrinkage. the shrinkage was about $3 trillion. the stimulus that was devoted creating jobs was only 1/3 of the stimulus, the rest of it was tax cuts so people could go to the grocery store and keep the corner grocer open. that part of the stimulus is going to create more people in electric cars and solar. >> more terry mcculloughs? >> there is a republican and democrat position on the three big issues here, but we're not getting it. there are three issues. number one, okay. if it's job time, where are the jobs going to be?

we know that the three areas of job growth based on every advanced country in the world what we can do. are going to be small business, bringing back manufacturing, and clean energy. both efficiency and new technologies. number two, okay. if there's no stimulus, where's the investment going to come to create those jobs? we know the answer to that too. banks have $1.8 trillion in cash uncommitted to loans. that's $18 trillion in loans they could make. very considerable ratio. and we know american corporations have $1.2 trillion in the bank that they don't want to spend overseas. they want to spend it here, they're not doing it. there's been almost no debate on this by either party. and so -- we know there's big potential to get overseas investment here because this is still viewed, believe it or not, as a good market. that's why interest rates are zero even after all this spending. that is, there's no activity here. but there's lots of money.

so second important thing is, how are we going to get the banks to loan? how are we going to get the corporations to spend? neither party has talked much about the second. the democrats have offered some loan guarantees in the energy area, some in the first, that has gotten some lending going. but that needs to be discussed. in the first area, the new jobs is the president's proposal to let small businesses write off their expenses better, a good or bad idea. you actually have to -- the good news is, you have to invest money and expand your business to get it. the bad news is, you don't give people money on the front end and maybe they're scared and they don't. that's worth debating. the same thing is true on their manufacturing proposal. is it a good idea or bad idea to make the research and experiment of tax credit permanent? i think it's a fabulous idea. because more and more you look

all over the world, people want to put their manufacturing jobs where they're doing the research so they can do it all the time, 24/7. and the green energy debate. the third big issue was reveal to the american people or not depending on which in the last unemployment rate. the last unemployment report said for the first time in my lifetime -- and i'm not young. in my lifetime. we are coming out of a recession, but job openings are going up twice as fast as new hires. and yet, we can all cite cases that we know about where somebody opened a job and 400 people showed up. how could this be? because people aren't -- don't have the job skills for the jobs that are open. so here's the most important thing. if we were hiring -- since last june when economists said the shrinkage stopped. between there and now, if we'd been hiring people just on the

jobs where people are trying to hire. that is, we could get those jobs this morning after this tv show's over. if we were doing that at the same rate we were in '93, '94, '95, there would be 5 million more people at work. this unemployment rate would be 6.9% not 9.6%. we would be in a different world not just economically, but emotionally as a country. how do we train people quickly, quickly for that? i have my theory. but the point is -- these are the three things that matter. that's what they should be talking about. and in every case, there's a more conservative and more liberal position that would be worth hearing from. >> there's a difference. let me ask you a constitutional question. because sitting here listening to you talk, i know there are a lot of people who are opinion leaders and shapers that watch this show. they're just sitting there thinking, why can't he run for president in a couple of years? does it make -- >> there's a little -- >> does it make sense?

because listening to you talk right now. you've always been known as the brightest, first in class, however you want to put it. but you had the ability over the past decade to go around the world, start this initiative, understand issues -- you understood issues better than anybody in washington when you were president. but to go around the world for a decade, have all of this knowledge, and i'm just wondering not for you, but doesn't it make sense for this country to say, okay, let a guy serve or a woman serve for eight years. then they can take a term or two off. but then if they have something to give back to america in the terms of leadership, give them that opportunity. this seems so short-sided just because republicans were upset that fdr was president for four terms. >> well, that's what i believe the rule should be. but it isn't what it is.

i think if i were writing the rules -- i think there was a very strong argument for telling -- for saying you shouldn't serve three terms in a row. people get relaxed, there's too much opportunity for people -- even if not for corruption, bad things happening for the taxpayers. the same crowd being in all the time. but if you want to -- with the life expectancy being so long and people being alert until they're in their 70s and sometimes in their 80s. look at paul volcker, mid-80s. you know, he might as well be 40 years old in some ways. i think there's an argument for that. and if we change the constitution, it shouldn't apply to me. that is, it shouldn't apply to anybody who served, it should be all forward-looking. but that's kind of what i think it should be. >> i'll let you ask about jimmy carter. >> not going to do that, are you? >> i'm curious, your answer on the economy, it was not short.

and it's very, very difficult to sort of wrap your arms around and explain. you did a great job, i understood it, and you analyzed back in terms of how we could've done better. i'd love the short answer, but i'd like to more know if you can understand how this white house might have a very difficult communicating a clear message on this very convoluted issue and what they can do better. >> well, first of all, the republicans have now given us their plan. and they've been pretty straightforward all along. they said if you vote for us, we want to repeal health care, we want to repeal financial oversight, we want to repeal the student loan reform. we want to begin to privatize social security, medicare. and whatever other things they've said. and other things they said here. i think that the democrats ought to put on one card no more than five and no fewer than three things that will be their priorities.

we still got a chance here. we've got 30 days to have an honest debate. we ought to do it. so far this election has been about stuff that's not going to affect people's lives very much. at least not directly. >> not now. >> secondly, look, i know how easy it is to lose control of the debate. it happened to me in '93 and '94. remember the gift newt gingrich gave people in '94. he believed with that contract for america you should nationalize the the midterm elections. so i think that the president and the democrats -- even at this late date should do this as an opportunity and an obligation to say, all right, they've organized their national plan. here's what ours is. if you hire us for two more years, here's what we're going to do. >> shouldn't part of that plan also be something that you did along with republicans? balancing the budget.

moving toward a balanced budget. following what germany and france has been doing. that hasn't been part of this democratic party. it was part of the clinton democratic party. >> not quite fair. let's remember what happened. they have a position which i think is probably accurate that if you tried to balance the budget today, it might be actually impossible. that is, there is so little economic activity, that if you contracted the economy further by contracting spending, unless you knew on the front end based on the understanding with the banks and corporations, there was going to be some huge influx of new investment, it could backfire. they are heading this commission. they're going to issue a report. what i think the report will say is -- as soon as the economy

begins to reflect job growth and private investment, the public spending net public spending has to go down. and we've got to move immediately back to a balanced budget. but see, they've got to put that out. i don't think most americans know about this bipartisan deficit reduction committee. i don't think most americans know that the democrats really have a commitment to implement recommendations. and when they're going to start reducing it. and we need to tell people that. that ought to be a part of the democratic program. that's the fourth element. we ought to talk about the jobs, the money, the training, and the deficit reduction. >> right. let's finish this. and i'm going to be positive, don't worry. >> are you? >> i'm not going to go after jimmy carter again. i'm going to frame it this way. we want to end on a positive note. >> okay. >> a certain former president said that he was the most superior ex-president because he was the one involved day in and

day out in doing things across the globe. interesting timing considering this is going on right now. so i'm going to frame this in a positive way for you. what are you the most proud of for the clinton global initiative? what have you done through the years? and what do you hope to do through the years that will continue making this world a better place? >> well, first let me say -- i've known president carter for 35 years, i worked for him in 1976. i don't know that i ever met anybody who did more to develop themselves and the ability that god gave them and at 86 he's still out there hitting it every day. as far as i'm concerned he's entitled to whatever opinion he wants. it's not going to affect me. i still admire him very much. but here's the deal -- the thing i'm most proud about this clinton global initiative that we've created an international network of people without regard of their politics or what they do in life or how much money

they have or don't have. including the webcasting of this to people who are going to make $10 commitments to buy water packets, to save lives. we've given other people the chance to meet and talk and do. i think we need to get in the doing business. i think -- you think about all the the time we spent in politics, joe, debating two things. what are we going to do? how much money are we going to spend? we almost never talked about the third question. how are we going to do it? to turn our good intentions into changes. it's the world's greatest how network. it's touched people all over the world. and i'm also proud of the fact that my own foundation tries to do that with aids, malaria, help to people in poor areas of america. i just -- you know, the fact that 2/3 of all the kids in the world who are alive who have aids get medicine from our

foundation. it proves you can do things faster, cheaper, better if you think about it. >> the world's greatest how network. and congratulations on chelsea's wedding. what a proud, proud father. >> oh, my god. >> it was a great shot of you, hillary, and chelsea. >> for us it was a seminal day. we always thought being chelsea's parents was our most important job. and to see your child grown and in a fundamental way marriage is a statement that a big part of your life's job was done okay. and we're very proud and happy for her. and i like my son-in-law, which is a pretty good deal. and i'm sure it's a good deal for him. it's pretty miserable if your n in-laws don't like you. >> thanks for showing up finally. >> thank you for the clinton global initiative and sparing us from -- >> you made us put terry on the air for 15 minutes. you owe me. >> it's too bad terry has no

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hey, welcome back. we're here at the clinton global initiative. great interview with clinton. >> yes, interesting. >> hi, how you doing? nice to see you. >> show style, joe. >> so let's bring out right now the the clinton initiative, nbc news' tom brokaw. thank you for being here. >> you know, this gathering, which is remarkable. president clinton has timed it with the u.n. general assembly. you get people like us here from the press and various folks, it does remind me of opening day of junior high.

>> seventh grade -- >> everyone trying to find out who is the most popular. how do i get to the good table in the cafeteria? >> or some of us standing by the wall. >> and president clinton, speaking of what people are wearing, complimented you on the tie. >> i think he thought for an older guy, i can get up and tie my tie in the morning. >> you go around to so many of these initiatives, what's special about the clinton global initiative? >> well, i think the idea that he pulled so many different interests together. i mean, i remember two years ago being here with sarah palin and john mccain who opened, i think this morning at that time. and the whole underlying theme is that there are a lot of jobs out there for all of us. and we've got to get involved in them. it doesn't have big partisan overtones, you know. he obviously has his interests. he talked a lot today about haiti. but he also brings in the business community. and it's this public/private partnership, which i believe, by the way is going to be a big

part of the theme of the future about how you get corporations and private interests working with the public sector. >> yeah. >> that's going on, as well at the municipal level. i heard rich daly talking about chicago and having the federal government send the money to us. we know how to take care of it at the local level. let us do that. there's a paradigm shift underway here. and this is a part of it. >> yeah. there's been obviously good reaction -- even in this economy to nations coming in. google has pledged $1 million for pakistan procter and gamble 2 million packets of water purification. what happens here at this event besides it feeling like seventh grade? >> well, what happens here is they come and sign pledges. >> so there's more money being made. >> there's a follow through from the staff. for example, last night i

introduced the president -- president clinton to the new ceo of the mayo clinic. and i had been unaware of this that the mayo clinic has signed on for his global cancer initiative on making more countries tobacco free because tobacco is the single greatest threat to health care in the world. and the may owe clinic has stepped up on that and wants to be a part of that campaign. what i find as i go across the country and around the world for that matter -- the best ideas are bubbling from the ground up. and people are finding ways to make things work. you have mark zuckerburg today from facebook giving $100 million to newark to take control of the newark schools. i was with bill gates yesterday, we were doing a profile of his m.e.t. he's spending $500 million to make better teachers in america because bill and melinda have come to the conclusion that's the real key to advancing education in this country.

>> you know, before we go, bill clinton off camera had wonderful things to say about you. talking about what a great journalist you were, how fair you were to all sides. talked about the shrillness. what do we need to do as a country to pull things back to the middle to even where you have two sides fighting -- >> i'm not sure -- >> i'm still a small government conservative. the president is still a progressive in many areas. but we seem to in washington and in america lost the ability to talk to each other. >> a couple of factors. i hear about this a lot, joe, as i go around the country. first of all, the internet is a game-changer. it's lit up the country often in mischievous ways. but what i say to audiences and to anybody who asks me about this casually.

you've got to be more proactive as a news consumer. it's not just up to us. there was a time where you could be a couch potato. you picked up the newspaper, watched walter cronkite at the end of the day and caught the "today" show in the morning. now there are all of these choices out there. but you have to apply the same kind of intelligence and skepticism to where you get your news as you do to say buying a new appliance or a car or even something as small as a new suit. you do a little consumer education. got to do the same thing when it comes to news. there are a lot of very fair voices that are still out there, but they tend to get lost in the confusion. >> are you going to come back on "morning joe" soon? we miss you. >> well, there's a long commute from montana to new york. >> thank you very much. and "morning joe" continues

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tomorrow on "morning joe," oliver stone, oscar winning actress mira sorvino and nick clegg. and don't forget about our special on townhall on education.

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welcome back to "morning joe." it's time to talk about what we learned today. mika, i'll tell you what i learned listening to bill clinton. >> yeah. >> there are a lot of democrats out there listening he could run for president again in 2012. >> well, as we learned from bill clinton, he thinks there actually should be an ability for a president to serve a third term. >> a third term. >> not consecutive. >> and he's right. take a couple years off and then run again. that makes sense. what did you learn? >> i learned president clinton was remarkably gracious when asked by you, joe, about president carter's superiority complex. >> he's bill clinton. >> it was vintage. >> he's great at that vintage -- >> i want to know what he really