while president obama turns his focus to young voters, headlining a town hall today on mtv. and when you rock the vote, you never know just what you're gonna get. >> mr. president, the world is dying to know, is it boxers or briefs. >> usually briefs. >> tmi. plus, unfinished business. after three and a half turbulent years, outgoing d.c. public schools chancellor michelle reed will be joining us to talk about the challenges that she is leaving behind. and good day. i'm andrea mitchell live in washington. we are beginning in delaware where the second senate debit in 24 hours is now under way in wilmington right now. last night, tea party favorite christine o'donnell used her first debate with democrat chris cons to try to show that she is not the person caricatured on

"saturday night live" or old clips that have subjected her to ridicule. >> this election cycle should not be about comments i made on a comedy show over a decade and a half ago. this election cycle should be about what is important to the people of delaware. >> these aren't just random statements on some late-night tv show. these are relevant to her service in the united states senate what sort of judges she would confirm what sort of issues she would take up. >> chuck todd is nbc news political director and co-host of the daily run down right here on msnbc. chuck, this was fascinating television, i have to tell you. i could not stop watching this. i know this is not one of the senate races that's very close. the polling, i think, has been about 15 points. what was your response in watching the way she handled it, because whatever you say about her facts, she came across she came through the screen. >> sure, she popped through the screen, but boy, unless you had the bar really low, i think the gaps when it came to foreign -- some basics on foreign policy

and the supreme court, i think, to me, that's surprising in this respect. when you are supposedly this passionate about politics and about an ideology, then you really know a lot of things particularly about process, so particularly about a -- so, i'm really surprised to hear any conservative candidate not know a supreme courtç ruling that ty are not -- that they are upset about, that they are not very familiar w i mean, it's always frankly one of those things that is sort of part of the core of the conservative movement is the focus on the judiciary and the focus on judges. so, that kind of surprised me. so, in general, i would say, you know, if you have the barlow, she may have exceeded it but i would say barely. you feel like, wow this is not somebody who is really immersed in the issues of today. >> this is one of those examples that you were referring to, when she was asked a question that's almost exactly the same as the

question asked of sarah palin by katie couric this is the question about recent supreme court decisions that she opposed. let's watch with. >> so, what opinions of late that have some from our high court do you most object to? >> oh, gosh, give me a specific one, i'm sorry. >> actually, i can't because the -- i need to you tell me which ones you object to. >> um, i'm very sorry, right off the top of my head. i know there are a lot but i will put it up on my website. >> so that's exactly what you were pointing out, on the other side of the race, chris coons, not widely known, he was the county executive from newcastle, but he really was impressive. he had a couple of things he had to hand until terms of fact checking her and dealing with a comic piece he had written in college but this is a guy with several degrees and he seemed to really know his stuff.

>> forget the degrees a minute, let's just talk about the fact you are running for the united states senate, you to would assume on the basics, her afghanistan answer was certainly in -- shall we say interesting, she talked about the russians and that's expect about the war in afghanistan. and so it just -- most people that run for the united states senate it is because it is something they have been thinking about for years, they are very immersed in the process, so, when you hear them struggle on some basic tenets, and i think it hurt her credibility and this idea that she was running for the united states senate rather than she ended up, i think, making the coons' point, you seem to be all you want to do is run forç office, you know, sort of the different part of what -- she is trying to run for any office, win something versus this dream or push to be in the united states senate and think about the big issues of the day, but let's remember, there are a lot -- this is really not fair to so many other senate races out there, as many as 17 others

that are closer than this one. we know it's got intriguing personality here, but certainly 17 others that are closer. >> chuck, just very briefly, peter baker did an interview with the president, which is in the "new york times" sunday magazine, a lot of people in democratic circles are asking what was the president thinking of, doing an interview seemed to be talking about the mistakes he made. this is not the way you fire up the voters before an election. >> this is interesting. i guess the only thing i would say, maybe he is trying to get the postmortem out of the way before the election. this is the type of interview you would expect the president to be giving, say, two days after the election, you know, and we are -- the entire press corps and the white house apparatus is leaving for india three days after the election. so maybe the white house feels as if they need to get some of this stuff out now, because he is going to be overseas for ten days during the postmortem

period where a lot of this back and forth is -- normally would be a time for it to come out, but you are right, andrea, it was certainly eyebrow-raising to a lot of democrats that are out there right now, wondering why is the president saying this now about shovel-ready projects or how -- >> conceding defeat, conceding mistakes. it is strange. >> awkward timing, postmortem, before the -- before the call of death. i mean, ew. >> i don't know. check back with the communications team there. >> yeah. >> okay. chuck todd, thank you very much, get in out of the rain. thanks for being there and join chuck and savannah weekday mornings at 9:00 eastern for the daily run down. and now to our schools, education nation suffering a major setback in the battle for reform right here in the district of columbia. the nation's capital, at the polls for the d.c.'s mayor, the public schools chancellor will step down in two weeks. during her three and a half

years on the job, she became a reform and joins us now. great to see you, chancellor. >> nice to see you. >> i know this is a very tur by lent time and micked emotion, i wanted to focus ahead on what's going to happen here once you are no longer chancellor, i know your deputy is taking over and there is an effort by the incoming presumptive mayor but there are a number of issues, i want to put them up on our own blackboard, a number of questions that are out there. first, what's going to happen to your very controversial program to deal with minimally effective teachers? there is going to come a crunch time by next summer, i think where more than 700 teachers who have not been passing these tests are going to either have to be retained or fired. >> that is right. so according to our new evaluation tool, which is called impact, we rate teachers in terms of their effectiveness and last summer, we actually moved a lot of ineffective teachers out. another about 750 educators were rated as minimally effective. those educate verse this school

year to improve their practice and if they don't, then they will also be subject to termination. so i think one of the sort of flags along the wake the mile post people are looking at is what is going to happen to the 750 educators. >> now, another thing for parents and citizens here in d.c. to look at is the expanded use of standardized tests in evaluating teachers. initially you in the lower grades, you wanted to expand them to other fields and to all the grades eventually from k to 12. >> that's right. we have -- as part of our evaluation tool, we have a metric where we look at how much the students have actually learned in a given academic year and in order to do that effectively, you have to have testing at more grade levels and in more subject areas so one of the things that we have planned beginning this year and on through the next few years is expanding the testing coverage. >> the third thing we were focused on is expanding the use of chart expublic charters.

how -- you know, how do you think that will proceed, because that is another thing that the teachers union, which poured $1 million, as has been widely reported, $1 million into the incoming mayor's campaign, many people feel to defeat you and the mayor based on these reforms, is the teachers' union going to roll over andç let th happen? >> one of the things we wanted to do is for the district to gain chartering authority. i'm a huge fan of effective charter schools, i think we should have more of them and we should allow those most effective to go to scale so that there are more spots in those schools for the kids and families who want them and certainly, that will be another tough call to make, because you're right you can the teachers unions nationally and in general are not in favor of the charter school movement, certainly not in favor of expanding charter schools aggressively. so, that will be another bellwether as to whether or not the reforms are going to continue aggressively to or not.

there are a couple of other things, expanding specs education and improving secondary education. that final thing is a big goal of yours because the secondary schools, the high schools have not gotten the real focus that the elementary schools v. >> that's right. and it is just harder with high schools to -- >> issues? >> absolutely. and you have got kids in high schools who, for many, many years have been done a disservice through their elementary and middle school days so they are coming into high school several grade levels behind where they need to be, so, yes, a tremendous amount of progress still has to be made and a lot of actions still have to be taken to improve the quality of our secondary schools in the district. >> and just to go over, you know, your own report card. math proficiency scores have gone up, improvement from 27 to 34% in math, reading pro-fish shen she scores 29 to 43% and the enrollment has gone up. >> yeah.

last year, we stemmed the tide of children moving out of the district this the year first year in 41 years in the district of columbia, we had an increase in the number of students that were attending d.c. public schools and we are very proud of that because we do think that it showed that people were gaping more faith and confidence in what we are doing and willing to put their children in our care. i think our programs at our schools are much improved, they still have a long way to go, to your previous points, but think there's some good momentum happening now in the city. >> you are going to be -- you are still going to be -- you are going to be joining twitter? >> yes. >> you are going to beç available? you are going to be edngaged in conversation and hope as part of education nation, you will visit often. >> i will try, definitely. >> up next on andrea mitchell reports, house majority whip claims clyburn and the battle until vegas, a preview of

tonight's big debate you can the first only debate between harry reid and sharron angle. send me your thoughts, you can find me on mitchell reports. this is andrea mitchell reports, only on msnbc. [ male announcer ] opportunity

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topping the headlines right now on "andrea mitchell reports," chile's health minister says today that some of the 33 miners rescued after ten weeks underground will be able to leave the hospital as soon as today. nearly all the miners are in remarkably good physical health, although they could face emotional and psychological challenges ahead. a storm along the carolina coast is gathering strength and could it could intensify into a powerful nor'easter. forecasters say that heavy rain and strong winds will be spreading over the mid-atlantic and northeast today and tomorrow and we are already feeling it right here in washington. stocks edged slightly lower today after a disappointing jobs report, as the number of people applying for first-time unemployment benefits rose last week. analysts say while the rise was small, it indicates that

companies are still uncertain about the state of the economy and reluctant to hire. focusing on the house, where democrats are hoping for the best and bracing for the worst, congressman james clyburn joins us. thank you so much for joining. u)jt me. >> we have heard all kinds of estimates and a lot of analysis saying as many as 60 or more seats could be lost, that the republicans may make a huge pickup. what are you seeing where you sit in the leadership? >> well, from where i sit, i see it totally different because i have been going around the country, district by district and i'm getting a different report. i know that the headlines that come from this side of the beltway are saying something different, but i just finished a

little tour out in california. i was very satisfied with that. i have -- i am on my way now to minnesota, illinois indiana. from what i'm hearing, our candidates are very upbeat, doing very well t is going to be a close election no question about that we are going to he see tradition play itself out here we know what happens in off-year elections to the party that occupies the white house. so there are some disappointments, but i'm very encouraged by what i see overlll and i do believe we will maintain both the house and the senate. >> both the house and the senate? you have some projections saying some of the veteran house members might also be endangered, peter defazio and john spratt, even john ditch, incredible to think of the dean of the house and others who have

spent 40, 50 years in the house being at risk. you don't see it that way? >> well, sure, all of us at risk. i have an opponent, john spratt has an opponent. i have been spending the morning, john spratt, my hometown of sumter where we share that county. i'm going to be with him later this evening. but those people are upbeat and i will tell you something else i am encouraged by. they dropped $1.2 million against john spratt unnamed sources people parachuting in here, people never been to south carolina, could care less about theseç communities john spratt represent these people turned of you by this, very encouraged what i heard this morning and i think john spratt will survive this, as well as other candidates out there that will

do also, people don't like for total strangers with agendas they don't know about trying to take over their campaigns. >> what do you think about the president doing an interview for the "new york times" sunday magazine? peter baker interviewed the president and he seemed to be conceding defeat. it seems like an unusual strategy to try to fire up enthusiasm on the base. one of his quotations was, he didn't say the well, that was me, we probably spent much more time trying to get the policy right than trying to get the politics right. there is probably a he perverse pritd in my administration and i take responsibility for. this this was blowing from the top that we were going to do the right thing, even if short term, it was unpopular. he seems to be conceding errors along the way and doesn't seem like the tone you would want from the top cheerleader as you are going around the last three weeks of this campaign. >> well, i don't know whether it is all that bad to admit that.

the fact of the matter is a lot of us want to spend more time on politics than policy. but i think the president was absolutely right, that to concentrate on saving from disaster. i don't believe anybody will disagree with the fact that what he inherited is something that demanded his immediate attention and he gave it that. so i think he is to be commended and seeing headlines this morning that the bank bailout, the automobile bailout, all these things worked well, worked even better than people expected. and so, i want to say to the voters out there let's not compare president obama to the almighty or the democrats to the almighty. please compare us to the alternatives and when you start comparing us to the

alternatives, then i think we come out well. we are not perfedemocracy not d perfect it is designed to get everybody participating, find common ground and you cannot find common ground by insisting that all of it be done your way, and so i am very pleased that the president did what he did concentrating on the policy because everything i see indicate that the country is moving in the right direction, maybe not as fast as i would like to see it or some other would like to see it but i tell you what we are moving in the direction we ought to be moving. >> when you are out there on the campaign trail what is the response from black voters in according to an expert on the voting patterns, in as many as 20 districts, the black vote turnout may be decisive. >> that is exactly right. and i really he believe that black is going to be the secret weapon here. that is the unknown to a lot of

people. but i tell you, if anybody that is showing up to say the opposition, the republicans give them 30, 35% of the african-american vote, i don't believe that for a single moment. and when they tell me that they are only 50% what they were going to be two years ago, i don't believe that either. i am not finding that where i'm going. i'm finding that the african-american vote is, in fact, engaged. they are taking the admonition that came from deval patrick some time ago. they went out two years ago to change the guard in washington. they are going to go out this time to guard those changes. i'm very pleased with that and i think that is what's going to occur. >> all right. majority whip james climb burp from south carolina. thank you very much. thanks for being with us today. and coming up next, first lady michelle obama coming up next, making a pitch for early

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first lady michelle owe'bama voted today in chicago as she tries to encourage voters to cast their ballots early. politico's andy barr joins us now to talk about michelle obama and her campaigning. he she is really the best weapon that they have on the campaign trail. this is her, i think last night in illinois, talking about how they can help president. let's watch, andy. >> something else i told all of you all when i was campaigning. i told you that you had had to have my husband's back. you remember that? i told you that if i were giving him up, you had to have his back

because with my husband can't do this alone. can't do it alone. he needs leaders like alexi right by hid hist side and we need folks like all of you to make that happen. >> of course, that was a fund-raiser or alexy giannoulias, the senate candidate for his seat, in a tough, tough race there in illinois. they could easily lose that seat. how are they utilizing her? has it been too late? should she have been out there earlier? she was reluctant. >> you know if putting her out earlier is much better. she is the best connection they have become to the numbers of 2008. her numbers remain as high as they were before and the fact is she wasn't out in front of some of the other policy positions might be kwooy she is still so popular now and the best draw the democrats have. >> and when we look at where she is going, we see that she is going to be going out west and then there is going to be an event with the president, that's going to be an unusual

convenient. >> that is right, the first since 2008. they are going to be in ohio together this weekend and then she is, you know, talking in colorado and çconnecticut, new york, hitting a a lot of key states. >> okay, andy barr, we are going to be tracking michelle obama later today, in colorado, as you point out. coming up next, the mortgage mess, "mad money's" own jim cramer right here on what the investigations could mean for the economy as a whole. plus, the power of words, a behind-the-scenes look at just how the president writes his speeches or edits the speeches written for him this is andrea mitchell reports, only on msnbc. hey. what are you doing up? i thought i'd take a drive before work. want to come? [ female announcer ] or make his day. yeah. [ female announcer ] maxwell house gives you a rich, full-flavored cup of coffee, so you can be good to the last drop. so i got my nephew to build a website. i hired someone to make my website... five months ago. we are building a website by ourselves.

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united states will do whatever it takes to help hamid karzai make peace with the taliban. secretary of state hillary clinton and secretary of defense robert gates jointly at a nato news conference in brussels today say there is no guarantee it will work but officials tell

nbc news that the u.s. is providing transportation for taliban leaders to meet with the karzai government, although the united states is not participating in those talks. new numbers today that, in fact, more than 100,000 foreclosures last month, a single-month record as attorneys general in all 50 states are launching an investigation as to whether lenders cut donors in the process. jim cramer is host of cnbc's "mad money." good to sigh. what are the risks here as vexes continue for all the obvious reasons but what is the risk in terms of blowing a hole in these banks just as they are beginning to recapitalize themselves? >> you have got it andrea. we were on the cusp of what we thought was a major comeback for bank balance sheets, postfinancial regulation. we finally got through a period, where we understand how banks are going to be able to make ç money, through traditional mortgage loans, maybe loans to

small business but no longer fancy derivatives. you take away the mortgage market, which is what is happening now, you are taking away a third of the profits and what you are doing is causing great transference of money meant for banks going to retailers or going to autos because people are not paying, they are just going to stop paying. >> now, obviously, there are these -- all the problems that we know about with the foreclosures, the robocalls and all the shortcuts that were taken but how do you balance that? the administration seems to be saying let's not have a full moratorium but let's investigate where we need to investigate. is that what they are trying to do? it is kind of a tight rope? >> out of the hands of the president, just like financial regulation where tim geithner didn't want it to go as far as it did they can't put the brakes on this. these are states' attorneys general w you have big bad banks, we hate them anyway, right? and we know there are people who are hurting so we help the people who are being hurt by telling them you don't have to

pay, so you have a lot of people who literally are thinking, you know what, i think i got hurt here, so i'm not gonna pay and you have no authority, no marshal, no sheriff, no bank lending officer who can come after you it is literally a moratorium on having to pay banks, it is just out of the control of the president and of the banks themselves. >> now, what is the risk to the broader economy, just as the housing market was trying to get become on its feet? >> well, i have got to tell you can the housing market was price stabilization year over year was starting to happen in a lot of zip codes. suddenly now, we have a love transactions we thought were in the works take away inventory, they are suspended. there is some thought that maybe unencumbered houses go up in price but very few of those. so, what this does is freeze what look to be a turning market. it is bad for the economy. it also is right in the face of what ben berman ski trying to do keep rates low so you can bore he row at 4.17, which was the

rate yesterday and sudden lynn got this you can borrow but you can't buy.the rate yesterday an lynn got this you can borrow but you can't buy. everything is frozen in a frozen market. you lack confidence to be able to buy. is going to mean, and i didn't think this was going to happen, we are going to have another let down. >> this is all scary stuff. thank you so much. it is. it is scary that is the right word. >> well, we will eat get all of the action from you, don't miss "mad money" with jim cramer weekdays at 6:00 eastern on cnbc and "mad money" at tulane university next tuesday as part of their back to school tour. so, be sure to watch. now, president obama has been hailed as a powerful public speaker both on the campaign trail and in the white house. this is a president deeply involved in rewriting and shaping his speeches alongside chief speechwriter, jon favreau. so just look at how marked up this last september -- this is a draft of president obama's

address to a joint session of congress. remarkable. a former bill clinton speechwriter and special assistant and author of the new book, "power in words, the stories behind barack obama's speeches from the state house to the white house." you really dug behind the scenes. this is a president who is really deeply involved. he is a writer. i mean, a best-selling author. >> best-selling author. >> so why would he not want to be very involved. what is the challenge for a speechwriter snuff been in those shoes. >> is tough to -- the good part of working for somebody who is a terrific speechwriter and speech giver is you will look good, the tough part, they will have a lot of thoughts on what you write. looking at his campaign years, what was clear with barack obama is that he really did care and he wrote a lot of his best rhetoric. and jon favreau, his chief speechwriter during those years and is now, made it clear most of the best stuff came from his boss. >> there is a great bit here in your book, you write, "obama would then send back his

comments through axelrod or reggie love or pick up the phone and call the writer n some case, obama would e-mail comments to the speechwriter from his blackberry or send a document with track changes directly from his laptop. other times, he would grab love's blackberry and beginning with this is barack, hands on." >> hands on. race speech and 2008 democratic convention speech and some of the highlights that people remember from the trace, he had a real hand it in those and he had tracked changes, his own laptop on the road and dig into the microsoft word document and make his changes and send him t. is the one we all remember, it was a turning point. here you write, "he wasn't in the best of spirits," not surprisingly, "he had had a long and emotional day in face of the reverend wright controversy but told favreau this was another obstacle in a long series of many to come. i'm running for president, i have to explain this to people. ? a test and i owe people an explanation." so this is sort of the zen aspect of barack obama.

>> and he stayed up that night until 3:00 in the morning writing, working on it and writing it after jon favreau had stayed up all night as well getting it done. he knew how important that speech was, turning point as president. he said to john afterwards, it was all on the line and he laid it on the line with his speechwriter which you can imagine is a bit of pressure but it was a moment that because he said the right things, because he used the podium in the right way, he was able to turn the election. >> now, what is it about the oval office podium or venue because the most recent speech, august 31, the end of the combat mission in afghanistan, the speech that denoted that transition, not a great speech, didn't get great reviews, is it the content or the location? does he feel more comfortable with a live audience? >> i think he is best in front of a large crowd at a rally. that is where he gets most of his energy and you understand that when you are in solitude in an oval office straight to camera it is harder. also when mario cuomo said this the best, you campaign in

poetry, you govern in prose. it is tough to go out there and give the same speech every single day, whether it is health care or about the war it is hard stuff and of course, politicking lends itself to much different moments and we will see that in the coming weeks the president of how he turns it on. >> as he did when the final days of the health care debate. thank you so much. >> thanks for having me. >> great to have you. great to see you. next time, come on, we will talk about bill clinton. >> you got t those were good speeches. >> those were great speeches, all of them. coming up, harry reid and sharron angle getting ready to rumble in vegas. you are watching andrea mitchell reports.

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it is a wild west showdown between tea party activists and democrats. with us now, ron brown steen, political director of atlantic media and msnbc contributor, chris cillizza, managing editor of postpolitics.com and author of the blog. ron, you were out in neff vad dapped a reporting on the angle/reid fight, big debate tonight. >> mm-hmm. >> it's -- i mean, it's hard to explain. how do you justify $14.3 million in the third quarter? >> it is one of the things that has changed about politics in the time -- the period that you and very been covering it is the capacity of candidates at the ideological vanguard of the party to raise money nationally through the internet and to make these individual races, all the state races, to some extent nationalized, but you have the opportunity to take down the senate majority leader it turbocharges it sharron ngle, a

candidate in both positive and negative ways positioned herself right in the jetstream of kind of that tea party mobilization that is going on, so the benefit of it on the one hand is all this money pouring in. the cost that a substantial portion of the nevada political and civic establishment, including many republicans, are lining up with reid because they find her too much. so there is obvious benefit in this money, more subtle cost. >> the well known republican from a famous republican nevada family, former governor, former senator, now joining reid. the head of mgm mirage, the state senate leader, a lot are with him butç a lot of energy behind the grassroots with her. >> chris, what about the fact they see the chance, sharon angle and the tea party republicans do see a chance to try to get harry reid in the fact is it is dead even in most polls that the stage of the game has got to be really scary for reid. >> well, you know, we saw this back in 2004 when tom daschle and john thune, john thune the

republican, tom daschle, at the time the majority leader we saw a similar dynamic but ron is right, we never -- john thune was a much better candidate than sharoning an had more of a fund raising network and still didn't raise $14.3 million in one quarter. i think angle number is impressive and important but one thing i would say andrea, my guess, we don't have the full report yet, my guess lots of that money did not come from nevada, she has to find ways to use that money, much of which i think came from national sources, spend it in ways that gets her over the against harry reid. i think tonight's debate, i just wrote about it on the fix, most debits aren't important outside the presidential level, i they tonight's is critically important. sharron angle has a low bar to get over. i think people want to fire harry reid, she hasn't cleared it yet. this is the only dough bit, only televised debate and this is her last, best chance to prove to people i can stand up with him, i can be in the senate and i'm not what you've heard. >> and she has not been doing

interviews, this is the only access that anyone will have to ask her questions, see if she is qualified. now let's lock at colorado, the other big western state we are looking at, chris and ron. chris, first to you what are you looking at in colorado with ken buck, michael bennet? michelle obama heading there today. >> this is another race, cracker the primary turned out a tea party guy in ken buck, though he is, i think, a little less of the tea party than a sharon angle or rand paul or christine o'donnell, still the backing of the conservative right in the primary. polling shows this race extremely, extremely, extremely close. michael bennet has struggled because he is both not all that well known bus he was not in politics before he was appoint to this office last year but he does have seine, senator before his name, not a good thing in an election like this some ways, getting the worst of both worlds. buck has been credible. we will see. >> there is a lot of similarity between the two races in that both cases, the testimonies are faced with this small government backlash against theç assertiv

expansive agenda, pursued in washington, particularly among rural voters, they are going to have a lot of trouble in nevada and colorado among rural voters, especially in colorado, the thing that might save bennett, hopefully will save bent, paint buck as an extremist outside the big overall leak tore rat, trending in their direction. the other thing key here which chris touched on what democrats need in both of these cases is a strong turnout machine. the energy is unquestionably on the republican side this year but in both states, nevada and co colorado, something late money might not fix for sharron angle. >> ron brown steen and chris cillizza, thank you both very much. what political story will be making head prints in next 24 hours? well, that's up next with a special guest. be sure to follow the show online at andrea.msnbc.com and twitter at mitchell reports. this is andrea mitchell reports, only on msnbc.

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if you had it to do over again, would you inhale? >> sure, if i could. i tried before. >> well, that, of course, was then governor bill clinton campaigning in 1992, proving how unscripted an mtv town hall can be. president obama will find out for himself at 4:00 this afternoon when he faces a crowd of 250 young peopleç organizedy mtv, b.e.t. and cmt. it's the political story that will be making headlines in the next 24. joining us, melanie barnes, director of the president's policy counsel from the white house. thanks, melanie. >> thanks for having me. >> first of all, why is the president reaching out to young people, i guess, trying to

energize the base? this is the latest effort. there is some risk associated with getting involved with one of these town hall meetings. >> first of all, i think the president loves to go out and talk to young people. and he certainly loves engaging in a town hall format. this is nothing new for us. this is consistent with what he's been doing for the last 24 months. he gives a back to school speech for young people every year. he starts a race to the top commencement challenge. that's the first time when a president has committed to go speak to high school students year after year after year. i was with him when he was at texas a&m. he was recently at the university of wisconsin. he enjoys talking to people in this age group. >> now there's a little fuss being kicked up because backstage.com put out that there was a casting call for members of the audience when they were reaching out for a diverse crowd of young people, 18 years and older.

is this the way you stage one of these events? is that typical? >> well, you look back at the university of wisconsin. there were 20,000 people there. that certainly couldn't be staged. the president seeks out the tough questions because he wants to be responsive. he wants to hear what's on peoples' minds. certainly he wants a crowd full of people coming from all walks of life, all kinds of background backgrounds. >> one of the challenges that you have is young adults don't seem to vote as frequently as democratic party leaders may want. and that's going to be the real change, to inspire young people to vote. >> i remember going all over the country during the 2008 campaign, and there were young people everywhere. and aye been privileged to do that since i've been working in the white house and traveling all over the country again. i see the same thing. the level of enthusiasm and the level of concern.

people haveç real questions. i think the president is seeking the opportunity to respond to those questions. people are starting to feel the benefit of the things he's done for them. whether it's education and the pell grant awards to make it easier to go to college. what we've done with health care to make sure people just graduating can stay on their parent's insurance policy. the work we've done on hiv/aids. the work around energy policies. >> why do you think there's been such a sharp drop. i don't know we don't have much time. but there's a real sharp drop in the president's approval rating among young people. >> people come out of the election. they've been going through a tough time over the last couple of years. but they realize they've got a choice. we can either go forward or we can go backwards. and people will respond to that. >> melody barnes, always great to see you. thank you for coming out in the rain. that does it for this edition of "andrea mitch el reports."

tomorrow on the show, tom daschle talking midterm politics and his book "getting it done." plus the founder and ceo of susan g.komen race for the cure. hey, andrea. we're keeping an eye on a lot of stories, including a record number of americans facing foreclosure. why some lawmakers are silent on this crisis that could cripple the housing market as it tries to recover. and a judge wants her own reality show, so she tapes some of the action in the courtroom. the trouble is, she didn't tell anyone she was doing it, and now she's in hot water. michael smerconish wants to talk about that one. and imagine the shock that this image -- the shock around the world. now the man at the center of this historic moment in american history is selling off one of his most prized possessions. this is msnbc.

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right now on "news nation." foreclosures under investigation in all 50 states, and today new revelations about who signed off on the foreclosures and how little they knew about their job. one employee admitting, i don't know the ins and outs of the loan. plus why some lawmakers in washington are silent on this issue. >> now all 3 # chilean miners are preparing to move on with their lives after their dramatic rescues. is a normal life possible for them at this point? we'll talk with a pennsylvania miner who survived a similar ordeal. what he think is next for them. and young rebels 19 days before the critical midterm elections, and the youth vote seems less of a sure thing for the democrats. the president taking his message to mtv. but can he breakthrough in the land of snooki and reality shows about teen moms. and later big brother watching what you're l