unemployed people. president obama today. >> the only piece of economic news that folks still looking for work want to hear is you're hired, and everything we do is dedicated to making that happen. >> the impact on the economy and the election with "meet the press" moderating david gregory. and boys will be boys, but will the slur that injury yes brown's aide use against meg whenman turn off women voters? the race for governor just got a whole lot dirtier. plus, note to charlie crist, practice, practice, practice before taking that mound again. that is just not excusable. good day. i'm andrea mitchell live in washington. we're keeping close watch on the white house rose garden where president obama is expected to announce the resignation of jim

jones. also his successor tom donilon. david, this has been expected at some point soon, but when you go back and certainly in bob wo woodwa woodward's reporting, jim jones was never an insider. he was a key adviser and endorsing of barack obama in the campaign and that was a big help with all of his stars, but he never really was an insider. >> he wasn't. and covering this in the bush administration and you covered this, the ins and outs of this every day, looking at the national security team and how this particular team operated, i think it's quite interesting. i don't think we should -- we should underscore how important it was that jim jones and his military background, what he brought to candidate obama. remember, this is a good friend of john mccain's as well. to have him in the administration, to have that relationship with the military mattered at a time when the president wanted to wind down a war in iraq and ramp up a war in

afghanistan. >> marine general. >> right. so you had all of that, but almost from the get-go, this was not a very powerful national security adviser. and what is that role supposed to be about? to broker the national security team. i still have a lot of questions about how this national security team operates and where that center of gravity really is. tom donilon is a known washington insider, made the trains run on time. mentioned as a chief of staff possibility after rahm emanuel leaves, but is he now really the person who brokers disagreement on national security? there's other digs who are very close with the president as well as the specter of secretary clinton and secretary gates who loom large. so i just think it's quite interesting how this will play out as they move forward. >> in fact, dennis mcdonough and others close to barack obama from the senate staff are a lot closer than jim jones certainly in terms of pulling things together. but at the same time you've got these large figures, bob gates,

the defense secretary, bob woodward has reported he has one foot out the door, although he's said that before. hillary clinton, who is outside the inner circle in terms of that close knit obama team, but still a very powerful player within the orbit of foreign policy. >> let's talk about why this matters, not just, you know, kind of the washington inside game. the iraq war, huge disagreements over policy. national security team that is divided, not having somebody who can broker those disagreements and help the president leads to paralysis in policy. it has real impact. and next july the president is going to be in a position where he wants to start bringing troops out of afghanistan. there's a lot of question marks about whether he's going to be able to do that. how is that national security team going to operate? your national security adviser is key to that in terms of bringing in the intelligence agencies, the defense department, state department, and making that national security team actually function properly. a lot of people say that president obama is his own national security adviser, but

in this case he's got somebody who is not going to have the profile that jim jones had but, of course, inside the west wing we know donilon has had a very big profile. >> as we understand the president will be coming in to make these announcements in about two minutes if he's on schedule, but the honest broker, that is the other key part of this role. that's the role that was really perfected -- well, gates had that job himself, bob gates, but some have criticized the bush white house for not letting everybody have their say, for keeping colin powell when he was secretary of state and his anti-iraq war views out of the final debate because of the way dick cheney, the vice president, played a much enhanced role. these are careful balancing acts. there's a personality factor, an

experience factor. military brass has always had a big command. in bob woodward's book, he wrote that bob gates did not think don donilon would work out well. the secretary later told jones that donilon would be a disaster as obama's national security adviser. and as we see the president coming to the podium, let's listen to him make this announcement. you see he's flanked by both men. >> when i took office, i pledged to do whatever was required to protect the american people and restore american leadership in the world. over the past 20 months that's exactly what we've done. during this time i have relied every day on the advice and counsel of my national security adviser, general jim jones. when i talk to jim about taking this job shortly after the election, it was a difficult decision for him.

he had just retired from the military, had a wide range of family obligations, but because of his patriotism, his dedication to keeping america safe, we were able to agree that he would serve, but he asked that he would serve for about two years. i am extraordinarily thankful that both he and his wife, diane, agreed to make that additional sacrifice for our country. today, as we approach that two-year mark, i'm announcing jim has decided to step aside as national security adviser late they are month and he will be seceded by his capable deputy tom donilon. the american people owe jim an unbelievable debt of gratitude for a lifetime of service. as a marine in vietnam, he risked his life for our country and was highly decorated for his courage. as commandant of the marine

corps, he led our marines into the 21st century and won widespread admiration within the corps and beyond. as supreme allied commander in europe, he helped the nato al alliance prepare for the new missions of our time, and given the multiple crises that we inherited, jim has drawn on all these experiences as national security adviser. the list of challenges that our country has faced these last two years is daunting. since my administration took office, we have removed nearly 100,000 troops and ended our combat mission in iraq. we refocused on the war against al qaeda and subjected its leadership to relentless pressure. we are pursuing a new strategy that finally devotes the resources we need in the fight against extremism in afghanistan and pakistan. we've reset relations with russia and signed a historic new s.t.a.r.t. treaty, and after years adrift, we have built a broad international coalition to

hold iran accountable and apply unprecedented pressure through tough new sanctions. we have renewed the push for peace in the middle east, chartered a course to secure vulnerable nuclear material, and taken the lead in forging a response at the global level to the economic crisis. and in between we've responded to a range of crises like haiti and the floods now in pakistan that are required from us as leaders in the world. in short, we've spared no effort to keep the american people safe while also repairing old alliances, building new partnerships, and restoring america's leadership in the 21st century. through these challenges jim has always been a steady voice in situation room sessions, daily briefings, and with meetings with foreign leaders. while also representing our country abroad with allies and

partners in every region of the world. at the same time he has led an unprecedented reform of our national security staff here at the white house. reflecting the new challenges of our time, he put new emphasis on cyber security, development, and climate change and made sure that homeland security is fully integrated into our efforts. serving as national security adviser is one of the most difficult jobs in our government, but through it all jim, like the marine he has always been, has been a dedicated public servant and a friend to me. after a lifetime of service, i know this was also an enormous sacrifice for the jones family. many of them are here today and i want to thank them as well. jim, like your father and uncle and generations of jones who served before you, you complete this assignment knowing that

your country is safer and stronger. i thank you, and the american people thank you. >> thank you, mr. president. >> i am also proud to announce that general jones will be seceded by his deputy and one of my closest advisers tom donilon. tom has a wealth of experience that will serve him well in this new assignment. he has served three presidents and been immersed in our national security for decades. over the last two years there's not a single critical national security issue that has not crossed tom's desk. he has helped manage our national security team and the policymaking process and won the respect and admiration of his colleagues in the white house and across the administration. he has a probing intellect and a remarkable work ethic, although it's one that depends on a seemingly limitless quantity of diet coke. tom, however, is not the only valuable member of the donilon team that works here at the

white house. his wife, kathy, who is here, has done an extraordinary job as joe biden's chief of staff. i'm grateful to the donilon family for all the work they've already done for our nation and for agreeing to take on this additional responsibility. we have some huge challenges ahead. we remain a nation at war, and we will not rest in our efforts to disrupt, dismantle, and defeat al qaeda, and above all we are committed to forging the kind of american leadership that can shape the world in the 21st century just as we shaped the world in the 20th, a world of greater peace, a world of growing markets and expanding prosperity, a world of shared security, a world where american leadership enlists the support of old allies and new partners while advancing the values that helped keep us safe and make america a beacon to the world. and that is the kind of american leadership that jim jones has always stood for and the kind of leadership that tom and my

entire national security team will continue to work for in the years to come. so with that i want to once again personally thank jim for his outstanding service and offer the microphone to say a few words. >> thank you, sir. mr. president, thank you very much for your extraordinarily kind words and for your confidence in me these past two years. when we first met just a little over two years ago, i found it impossible to resist your invitation to once again serve the nation and accepted to be your national security adviser. another reason i did so is because i was persuaded that you were willing to take on the hard issues of our time at a very, very difficult moment in our nation's history spanning the difference between two very different centuries, the 21st century and the 20th century, and i have enjoyed this

assignment immensely because of this willingness to engage these difficult issues and to do the right thing for the country, and i believe that where we are today in the global playing field and how the united states is held in the esteem of the rest of the world is an accomplishment that i, frankly, find astonishing in such a short period of time and, mr. president, we owe all of this to your leadership, and i thank you for letting me be a part of it. i would also like to emphasize that i have thoroughly enjoyed work with the vice president, and i would like to also mention that the first lady and dr. biden have been an inspiration to all military families and men and women in the armed forces of the united states by the work they continually do to make them feel loved and appreciated in all that they do. none of this could have been possible, none of these achievements could have been

possible without my teammate and friend tom d. we scratched out a vision for how we might best help the 44th president of the united states in fulfilling his demanding duties with regard to national security. we did it on a piece of paper not far from here, and for the last two years it's been just a rare privilege to be working side by side is tom as the national security staff for the 21st century and for the 44th president came to life. tom has been an extraordinary ally. he is one of the hardest working human beings i have ever seen, and my only advice that i could give him is when he becomes the national security adviser, he finds himself a deputy just like he was to me, and i think his family will appreciate that quite a bit. so, tom, i do thank you. i admire you.

you have been -- the work that you have done has enabled me to do other things that are also hopefully important, but you have been the man that kept the trains running on time and your energy and your dedication is without equal and i thank you, and i wish you all the best. thank you, tom. [ applause ] >> i would also be remiss -- >> at the white house as the new national security adviser is going to be tom donilon as jim jones steps down. i'm here with david gregory and jonathan archer in chicago and -- new york, not chicago. >> close enough. >> let's talk, jonathan, about the promise and some of the things you have written in the past. i was referencing that in bob woodward's reporting donilon was opposed by robert gates but we should point out the defense

secretary has said something very different in more recent months and, in fact, today. so this was his reaction today. >> i have thoroughly enjoyed working with general jones, and i have and have had a very productive and very good working relationship with tom donilon, contrary to what you may have read. >> so we put that out there, but one fact is that i do know that general jones had some leanings towards james cartwright, the vice chairman of the joint chiefs, to replace him, but donilon is clearly the man and this is a very tight circle. >> and jonathan knows this as well. part of the pageantry of washington is to look at an event like this and you see the

pleasantries being exchanged, but behind that is the brutal reality of what goes on inside washington. the fact is jim jones had a rocky tenure and he had some big disagreements and there was a lot of leaks that went on early on about how infective he was and he was outside of the circle. that doesn't happen by accident, and it doesn't happen from people who are working far away from him. so this was a rough and tumble world that he was operating in and had some difficulties, and this is a national security team that's had some disagreements. that's not unusual, by the way, because the issues are complex and the stakes are high, and i think you can look at the obama foreign policy thus far and say they certainly have accomplished some of the things they set out to do. they've gone into new areas, and there's been a fair amount of continuity between this administration and the previous administration with some very difficult issues on their plate. >> exactly. and the biggest difficult issue on their plate today, gentlemen, is the economy and the new jobs report. jonathan archer, now joining us

is mark zandi, an economist who has advised republican and democratic white houses. let's talk about the numbers, 9.6% the unemployment rate but a net loss of 95,000 jobs. jonathan, first to you, and to mark, there is no improvement in sight and this is the last big jobs number before the election. so what is the political fallout. >> well, it certainly doesn't help the democrats in the midterms. most of those job losses you mentioned, i think about 78,000 of them, are the census workers who have been laid off now that their census work has been completed, and there is, you know, marginal, very marginal improvement in a number of sectors, but not enough to give people confidence that things are getting better quickly enough. so essentially what's happened over the last 18 months, andrea, is that we've stopped the bleeding. you know, we were losing 740,000 jobs a month in january of 2009

when barack obama took office. so we're much better off than we were in 2009, but not nearly well enough off to satisfy the very understandable concerns of the american people. >> mark zandi, is there anything at all that this administration can do to turn this around, not only politically, but more importantly for the 14.8 million people who were unemployed and millions more who are under employed? >> well, i think the most immediate thing they could do is nail down the tax code. i do think there's a great deal of uncertainty with respect to what our tax rates are going to be on january 1st, and i think that is having a chilling effect. and i think, you know, after the election hopefully everyone comes together and we settle on this. i think that would be important. and there are things the federal reserve can do and appears to be contemplating, providing some more upon tear stimulus, get

long-term interest rates down, get homeowners to refinance and make it easier for them to buy a home and car and some appliances. b but, you know, policy makers are running out of options. the federal funds rate target is zero, and we have a $1.4 trillion budget deficit. it is increasingly difficult for policy makers to respond. >> ki just add in, i think part of the equation here politically is also a substantive point, which is an administration that's got a poor relationship with the business community in this country only fueling the uncertainty that mark is talking about over the tax code, about other policy changes down the line, and the reality is that if you look at unemployment, we are in a recovery, but the recovery seems to be sort of standing still, and what tools do policy makers have to accelerate that to try to spur private sector growth is i think the big question that's hanging out there. >> thanks to mark zandi for that

analysis and david and jonathan, you are both experts on illinois and you have a big debate on "meet the press" on sunday with the illinois senate race. >> i would defer to mr. alter for the expertise on illinois. this senate race is much tighter than people thought it would be between giannoulias and kirk. it is the president's former senate seat. we kick off our senate debate series on sunday. giannoulias and kirk. >> and jonathan, in terms of the outlook there for that candidate who is either a washingtonian or a chicagoan, he's running for mayor and he's had a little bit of a rough patch in his welcome home. >> don't count rahm emanuel out though. >> i would be the last person to count him out. we all watched him for too many years. >> there ar number of people in chicago who are saying that he's

going to have a hard time and that everything he's done in washington counts for little, if anything, in chicago. but he does have an important backer, one barack obama, who still has tremendous popularity in chicago, and he also has this work ethic. we were talking earlier about tom donilon, who is very close to rahm emanuel, they are both fiends for work. sometimes in a short campaign, the person who makes the most effort, gets the most done, is on top. >> jonathan alter, david gregory, thank you so very much. look forward to the debate on sunday. up next year, reaction to president obama's security team shake up with congresswoman jane harman. and jerry brown says i'm sorry, but are women voters willing to forgive and forget? and "vanity fair" introducing us to the real john mccain. send me your thoughts. you can find me on twitter at

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a change at the top of the white house national security team as the united states is facing a terror alert abroad and more conflict with an uncertain ally, pakistan. more drone attacks reported today there. california congresswoman jane harman chairs the homeland security subcommittee on intelligence and is here with us now. talk about the national security team because jim jones, a stellar career as a marine commander, as the nato supreme commander. he had diplomatic credentials and military credentials but he never meshed in the inner circle. he never really was described as being the inside player that perhaps he needed to be. >> well, i'm not sure he was the inside player. that's an outside game and an inside game. i think he played the outside

game brilliantly and was very helpful to this president. i know he is just back from russia. we have reset our relations with russia and i have a feeling he was part of that. when efforts the supreme allied commander in europe he was widely and highly respected throughout europe and i think he still is and i think touches of grace and an effort to reorganize the national security council that he accomplished during two years. i'm obviously very fond of him, an old friend and ied a m ed aa. i admire donilon, too. he's been masterful at running the deputies throughout this administration. now he's going to be tested because he's going to be a principal. i think going forward there needs to be some changes. i'm quite skeptical of our afghanistan policy, and changing that is going to take some work and finesse and i think we need an increased focus, as i have said many times, on pakistan,

yemen, and on home grown terror in our country. this warning in europe is part of the problem that we face, and, by the way, i would offer some free advice. i wish the administration were not more specific about the warning because we don't have that information, but more specific to tourists traveling in europe now about what to do. >> it is confusing. >> it is confusing. and i have been trying to help my daughter as she navigates through europe, know what to look for and what to do, and that is the test. that's what we need to do in terms of communicating information. >> you touched on donilon has a stellar reputation having worked with secretary christopher at the state department i know and have known him for many, many years. but he has to prove himself to the military because part of that job is collecting information but being able to make those judgments as to when the president is getting good advice and not or else bringing everyone into the room and letting them slug it out. >> right. and, again, there have been different models. the kissinger model is the type

"a" aggressive model with a very strong national security adviser. the condi rice model was a type "c" model. she was much more forthcoming as secretary of state than he was in the post preceding that. she's been criticized because she let strong voices in the administration like the secretary of defense run over her and even run over the then-secretary of state colin powell. >> and the vice president being in the white house didn't help. >> right. so the president is ultimately responsible. the buck stops at his desk, and he needs to design a white house staff that serves him best. he's going to have a lot of fresh tests after this endless election, and i would hope that tom donilon and the crowd around him and pete rouse will offer the best support bobble. >> in afghanistan now a report that a we are not even vetting

the guards who are guarding military institutions that they have connections to the taliban. what's going on with that? >> well, the afghanistan story is very troubling at 100 levels, and the layers of corruption are stunning, but here we have an acquisition of a security team that goes through various layers, at least this according to the levin report from the senate which was released yesterday, levin the chairman of the senate armed services committee, that a security team that at that lowest level had some people affiliated with the taliban guarding our troops in our bases. i think yesterday this problem has to be fixed, and i would hope we would replace those folks immediately with nato troops. >> jane harman, as always, it's great to see you. thanks so much. i know you're going home on the campaign trail, but -- >> tomorrow. it's an interesting time in california as people have said,

but i predict blue, blue up and down the ticket. it's a blue state and we're all working very hard at it and i'll be proud of that victory in november. >> and you finally have a budget. a state budget. >> a state budget. yes, we do. >> not a federal budget, but a state budget. >> what? no, not yet. >> thank you very much. >> thank you, andrea. speaking of california, in a private conversation inadvertently caught on voice mail, an associate of california's gubernatorial candidate jerry brown described his republican opponent meg whitman in less than flattering terms. give a listen. >> i've been warned that if i crack down on pensions i will be, that they'll go whitman and that's where they'll go because [ inaudible ]. they know whitman will give em, will cut them a deal but i won't. [ inaudible ]. >> what about saying that she's a [ bleep ]. >> well, i'm going to use that.

>> jean cummings, assistant managing editor of politico. it's salty language said the brown camp and there was an apology, but what's the impact especially with women voters. >> i wouldn't call that salty language, i would call that filthy language and offensive language. i think this is going to hurt brown. i think that it illustrates that maybe he's got people around him that don't reflect the kind of values that he's campaigning on out on the campaign trail, and that kind of hypocrisy always hurts a candidate. it's really late in the game. that works to whitman's advantage. the one upside for brown is that it didn't come out of his own mouth. >> of course, this was just at the time when despite all of the money that women have spent, well over $100 million, brown was coming up because of this controversy over the allegations that she was aware that her housekeeper of nine years was

not documented. so this raise the hypocrisy level with whitman because she had been so strong against the whole question of undocumented workers. so this is a really volatile situation. this could be a game-changer. >> it certainly could be, andrea. i agree with you. it reminds me a little bit about virginia when former senator allen used the term macaca and in that case though, he said it. that's why i think the one thing that helps brown is that it's not his voice. he didn't say it and he didn't repeat it and we're not quite sure what his reaction was to it is because it's too bgarbled. but it hurts him at a critical point in the campaign. he was breaking out a lead. it looked like he was starting to have the momentum. this knocks her domestic worker problem off the front page for a little while. that had really stalled her

campaign. it definitely could have an impact. you are right. >> we'll see to see what happens. at least they didn't use the "s" word. thanks so much. and coming up next, who is the real john mccain? "vanity fair's" todd purdum joins us. and when it comes to teens and their education, see what one documentary reveals. >> because i want to do premed, i know it's going to be a lot of studying, so it's not going to be as much fun. >> i'm going to join a sorority which obviously you're going to party a lot and have some fun. oh no, no! i just parked here aond ago! give me a brk, will you? (announcer dr. scholl's masg gel soles with t different gels for softness and support... ...are outrageously comfortable. ...on second thought, i think i'll walk... (announcer) are u gellin'? dr. scholl

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profile of senator cain, quote, the man who never was. the author todd purdum, national editor of "vanity fair." which is it, is this the john mccain that was the senator, had frac tus relatitious relation w colleagues or was this something that happened in the cauldron of the complain. >> i think his maverick reputation was always somewhat exaggerated because of the spectacular nature of the fights he chose to pick. he fought president bush. you can also say part of it grew out of his personal dislike for president bush. >> is this -- using the word ruthless is a pejorative way of describing a quality that some people would say is the survivor

that -- >> absolutely, and i think he is a survivor and i think there's no doubt about that, and ruthless in politics is not necessarily an insult. politicians are supposed to be -- they're supposed to win. if they win by one vote, it's the only thing that counts. >> the other piece of that is john mccain has always been -- he's been scrappy, and his willingness to take on authority figures, whether it's the republican leadership in the senate or in his own party when it came to george w. bush, that endeared him to reporters in 2000 who like the iconoclast. wasn't it those on the bus, on the straight talk express, who really created the myth of john mccain? >> i think in a way, and it's a myth that everyone wants to believe because all americans love the rebel. we love the rebel persona. we all, certainly reporters, if there's a walter mitty aspect of john mccain, that he did things

we only dream about, he flew planes, survived prison, and lipped off whatever he thought. that's what in our fantasy world people would like to do. >> that's been big issues, the immigration issue and others in this campaign, but some would argue that the real turning point for john mccain came when he conceded to his advisers and gave up his hope, the dream of having joe lieberman as his running mate and accepted sarah palin, love her or not like her, he accepted her after meeting her for three hours. >> it was an irresponsible choice, and he knows it, and he can't confess that it was because sarah palin is now, thanks to him, a hugely prominent figure in the republican party, and he just can't confess that it was a miss stake, but he knows that it was. >> i wanted to share with you because immigration has been such a big part of the drama of john mccain in this election cycle. last night, it was really extraordinary on lance word with lawrence o'donnell. let's watch.

>> lou, she says there are people that she's spoken to who have worked at your home who are illegal. that means you've hired these illegal workers working at your home, doesn't it? if what you're telling her is true. >> i would say that's categorically wrong. it fails logically and straightforward causality. >> lou, you're holding yourself to a completely different standard than the standards that you've held all other american employers to. >> it was really gripping television. basically what she, the reporter, was saying is you can't say just because it was a subcontractor that i have no responsibility because he had on television over and over said that people should be held legally liable for what their subcontractors do in their homes, around their homes, their guardnes gardens. is the fact that john mccain refused to work with barack obama on this and therefore lindsey graham wouldn't, is that

a turning point for this issue, and would you see any chance that after the election there can be a coming together on big questions like this? unless john mccain is part of the action -- >> it's not going to happen. >> there's not -- >> i don't see any chance it could happen because there's been such a diminution in the past. four or five years ago it was pretty close, but people who voted for a comprehensive approach wouldn't do it now. partly it's because the conditions on the border has deteriorated. i don't think that's a place you will see much progress. >> todd purdham with another provocative piece. thank you. >> thank you. do american students have their priorities straight when it comes to getting a good education? >> we'll be right back. interesting grooming.

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i want to ask my republican friends a question here. do you think china is cutting back on education right now? do you think south korea is making it harder for its citizens to get a college

education? those countries aren't playing for second place, and guess what? the united states does not play for second place. >> president obama in maryland on thursday stressing the importance of education for our economic future, but right now the rest of the world is passing america by. students in finland, south korea, india, and china outperforming american kids nearly every subject matter. the disparity between education here and abroad is the focus of the documentary "2 million minut minutes." here with us now is robert compton, executive producer of that film. great to see you. we talked to you as part of education nation about these problems. one of the things you pointed out is that we don't value the math and science skills enough with our children. that if our children have 2 million minutes from adolescence to school, they spend it on very different things than students in it china. >> the 2 million minutes in high school in the u.s., india,

china, south korea is extremely different, and if you spend some time in those schools and time in those cultures, what you find is that those cultures really revere, recognize, and reward ind lek actual and academic achievement and in america it's not clear what we reward, but certainly not academic achieveme achievement. often it's athletic achievement, leisure activities, extracurriculars, all of which have their place, but in the other countries around the world that are beating us, that place is not number one. >> this is from your movie "2 million minutes," an american student talking about her value system. let's watch. >> although i might not score perfect on the s.a.t.s in math and science, i do think that i was brought up to be more rounded in a sense of socially, not taking anything away from the kids in china and india because they do work hard.

>> they certainly do work hard, and, in fact, when you take a look, as you have been pointing out, at the kinds of things that we are proud of when we're in america, when the president goes to a school, he'll sign a basketball. >> secretary of education duncan does that. he'll go to a school, a high school, exhort them to study harder and leave a signed basketball. the president will play a pickup game of basketball and that's not bad, except it signals to children and the signals it's sending is that athletics are really what's fine and important and, yeah, you guys should study really hard but that's not the most important thing. >> how do we make math and science cool? >> well, i think it does start with changing our culture, and culture change requires symbols, rhetoric, role models, recognition, and rewards. the symbols start as something very simple. instead of secretary duncan signing a basketball when he leaves, how about instead of playing basketball, go challenge the number one chess player or

leave a signed robotics kit or something that elevates these academically and intellectually high-achieving students. these are the students who will invent the technologies and companies and the employment of the future. >> all interesting stuff. thank you very much. to be continued. >> thank you very much. >> and what political story will be making headlines in the next 24 hours? but first, tomorrow would have been john lennon's 70th birthday. amazing. people around the world are paying tribute to the legend. the rock and roll hall of fame is honoring the two-time inductee by putting together a time capsule which includes content created and submitted by fans as well as his post-beatles recordings. in new york fans plan to gather at strawberry fields, and google is paying tribute to the former beatle with its first ever

lennon inspired video doodle. hi. you know, if we had let fedex office print our presentation, they could have shipped it too. saved ourselves the hassle. i'm not too sure about this. look at this. [ security agent ] right. you never kick off with sales figures. kicking off with sales figures! i'm yawning. i'm yawning some more. aaaaaaaand... [ snores ] i see your point. yeah. [ snores ] [ male announcer ] we understand.® you need a partner who delivers convenience.

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which political story will be making headlines in the next 24 hours? nbc contributor chris cillizza, managing editor of postpoliti postpolitics.com and author of the fix blog. let's go to wisconsin for debates. >> we have debates everywhere. it's a great time. what better thing to do on a friday night than watch a debate in wisconsin. russ feingold is going against ron johnson. feingold is behind in the race. johnson running as an outsider. he's taken the outsider mantle from feingold. feingold needs to do something to change the conversation. >> what about florida? can charlie crist survive his lousy opening pitch? >> look, i don't want to

criticize, because i won't ever be ask to throw an opening pitch, but i would worry i would throw it that bad. it was terrible. but it was not good. charlie crist needs to be better in the debate tonight. he hasn't done that much, to be honest, ann degree ya, since kendrick meek became the democratic nominee. marco rubio, the former state house speaker of the republican is ahead in this race. kendrick wins over democrats now moving to meek. we thought this would be maybe the marquee race of the cycle. it's turned out to be short of that at this point. >> chris seems to be frozen. he's so afraid to alienate different interest groups that he doesn't know how to be the third party candidate, taking shots at all sides. >> frankly, that's what led to all the problems where he had to leave the republican party in the first place. he wanted to be the most popular governor in the country.

now all the sudden he tried to hedge a lot of things. republican primary voters don't like that. you have to take some positions here. you're not going to win with 6 #% of the vote. charlie crist doesn't seem to have made the calculation. we see him dropping steadily in polls. he's sort of looking like a spoiler at this point. more than a potential winner. >> have a great weekend, chris cillizza. watch the illinois debate here on "meet the press" with david gregory. that does it for us for this edition of "andrea mitchell reports." monday on the show, los angeles mayor, and follow the show online and on twitter. and my colleague tamron hall has a look at what's coming up next. >> hey, andrea. in the next hour the new jobs report and how it could stoke political flames with weeks to go before the midterm. plus a democratic women's group claims a republican takeover of congress would mean a dangerous

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i'm tamron hall. now on msnbc, will it all come to this? the last big unemployment report before the midterm is out. the news is not good for democrats. could the new report intensify voter frustration 25 days before the election? the "washington post" joins us live. and what really happened behind the scenes during the shirley sherrod white house nightmare? new e-mails reveal the moment when the administration realized there was a rush to judgment and leaped to damage control. and the pastor behind a sex scandal has a new billboard getting a lot of attention. plus a lawyer is found in attempt in court for night reciting the pledge of