good day, everybody. i'm norah o'donnell and contessa brewer laz the day off. we are watching the race coast-to-coast and 18 days to go until the american people go to the polls. it is tense out there from the showdown in las vegas between republican challenger sharron angle and harry reid, in their first and only debate. >> man-up, harry reid, you need to understand that we have a problem with social security. >> her facts are absolutely wrong. president obama takes tough questions from young voters at an mtv town hall and some are wondering if they made the right choice two years ago. >> if the economy does not improve over the the next two years, why should we vote you in. and polls show that the republicans are gaining ground

with the democrats in 58 battleground districts. >> i don't want to sit here. i don't. >> in the meantime, a pretty intense dust-up at "the view" ends up with twof the ladies walking out on bill o'reilly. and with the tea party candidates expected to have favorites, sarah palin begins a three-day swing through california and taking a not so thinly vailed shot at michelle obama. >> you know, when i hear people say that in the campaign they had never been proud of america until that time, i think, haven't they met anybody in uniform yet? >> and alaska candidate joe miller channels the inner old spice guy. >> look at the ballot. now look at him. this is joe miller. now, back to the ballot. you see his name, and now look at her, and now back to the ballot. sadly, she is not on your ballot. >> lots of politics to talk

about today and my guests are republican strategist phil muser and karen finny who is also a msnbc contributor. great to see both of you. all right. lots of stuff going on. phil, let me start with you, what is the republican mood out there? >> i think that the republican mood is cautiously optimistic, and the indicators that we see around the country are pretty good, and the base is energized and motivate and the resources to execute the campaigns in the final 18 days are showing up. i think that we have a lot of good candidates to stand poised to change the political landscape in the country. and the republicans are cautiously optimistic, but it is 18 days and this is the time when candidate matter and people are watching close. so you make one bumble here or, there and it can affect the outcome, and that is whether you are a republican or a democrat. >> karen, let me play for you sarah palin last night in san jose, california. i watched her speech, and she delivered another shot at the president and the stimulus. listen. >> okay. >> still knowing though that what was in that stimulus

package, some of the examples that we have seen, where those dollars have gone are atrocious and now we have the president finally admitting, oh, there is kind of no such thing as a shovel-ready project. yeah, yeah. well, now we know what it was that they were shoveling and it was not asphalt. >> well, she has a way with words. i guess you can say, karen. but what about -- >> oh, good old sarah. >> and what about the interview with peter baker that there is no such thing as shovel-ready projects. >> we all acknowledge some challenges with the stimulus and getting the projects going and getting the jobs create swid part of the reason that the president has been talking about infrastructure package. you know though in the context i think it is very interesting while you have sarah palin traveling around california for a couple of days, neither of the two main republican candidates are going to appear with her, and what does that say about sarah palin's popularity? it is a challenge that some of the tea party candidates are having in the general elections

where you have to appeal to a broader swath of voters in a general election, and you need to figure out how to do that without alienating the tea party voters, and it has been a real challenge. >> what about the xlarnlg that the president has made that a lot of the republicans may be elected because of the outside money if funneled into the election by anonymous donations to sort of suggest that the elections are stolen by big corporate interests on wall street. phil? >> well, i would say that i would just invite the president to keep criticizing karl rove and crossroads, because he is magnifying the work that they are doing to energize the donors to give to the causes. >> you mean that the donations have gone up, phil? >> yes, absolutely. the chamb of commerce had the largest funds raising day last week and money pouring into the doors, because most people think we are going in the wrong direction and by vilifying

people playing by the rules, he is putting them on a pedestal they did not exist on and helping to fund. maybe that is the subterranean strategy to lose the house to get re-elected in 2012. >> well, that is something interesting, karen, that by elevating these groups has helped them to raise a lot of money? >> well, it is great spin, but the facts don't bear it out. if you look at the bloomberg poll from earlier in the week that said that 73% americans are less likely to support a candidate who is poup rted by the anonymous money other than survey of moveon poll that showed dramatically that voters are uncomfortable with the idea that votes can be and members of congress can be bought and paid for by large outside contributors that are anonymously. >> well, these are not just large outside contributors, karen. these are $50 donors pouring into the chamber online. this is -- >> well, phil, what we are really talking about though is millionaires and billionaires giving hundreds of thousands of dollars to try to out spend our

candidates and i get that, but instead, you are looking on the democratic side, we are looking at individual donations and strong contributions. look, again, some may say it is not a good strategy. i think it is a good strategy and working and norah, as you pointed out in the top of the hour, in 58 very key house races, democrats are closing the gap, so something is going on there, phil. >> we shall see. and that is part of the base focusing as we close in here, but any race that is 50-50 at the end of the day, the intensity vantage on the right is victory for republicans and loss for democrats, so -- >> well, the intensity on the right has predominantly been in the primary season and that is the civil war within your party and not the energy of the democrats. >> well, we have to table that one and see what happens, karen, but i will put my chips down on a lot of the tea party candidates that you are worried about winning, including sharron angle in nevada and rubio in florida and probably -- from your standpoint here, that would be a lot of fun, i suppose.

>> this has been a good debate, both of you, and i like setting what is going on and 18 days to go, and phil musser and karen finny, thank you for coming on. >> and coming out of the debate is john harwood who joins me live from san diego, and i know you are talking about the california politics out there, but i want to get to you about the state next door, in nevada, the debate last night, and john, a lot of people said there was a lot of cringe-worthy moments in the debate, and who does it benefit? >> well, i think that if you have a debate that is seen of something of a standoff and neither candidate really outshines dramatically the other, that is good for sharron angle, because she is trying to show that she is capable of competing with harry reid, and democrats are counting on the fact that nevadans at the end of the day are going to say, we may be unhappy with how things are going, but we know this guy, and he is there with us, and this republican candidate is wacky and not ready for prime time.

neither candidate was all that great last night, although, i must say that the bite you played earlier where sharron angle says man-up on social security that is true for the congress, but how do you man-up and go to privatization or some sort of tax increase? that is the question before the whole country, and it is going to come on the table soon after this election. >> yeah, let's play that bite where she essentially tells him to man-up, because it deals with social security and then i want to talk about the substance behind this. let's listen. >> man-up, harry reid. you need to understand that we have a problem with social security. what we need to do is to keep our promises to the senior citizens by putting the money back in the trust fund and going forward allowing our workers to have the option of a personalized social security retirement plan that becomes an asset to them, just like your thrift saving plan is a asset

for you. it is good enough for you, it should be good enough for the rest of us. >> well, john, isn't this the point of the debate that reid failed on a number of different ways, by failing to sort of point out that while she wants to privatize social security that, that would make people's social security subject to the ups and downs of the stock market and he never was able to land that blow. >> well, right. well, two things about it. first oflt all, it would make people's benefits subject to the up and down of the stock market and secondly, if you opt out and go to private accounts that takes the money that is used to pay the benefits right now under the system that works, and you have to have a way to fill that gap. george bush tried to man-up on this one, as you remember, norah in the second term, and nobody in congress wanted to man-up the way he did and now the democrats are hitting the republicans for privatization, but they have not put forward their plan and the president has a deficit commission coming up after the

election, but either way, whether it is privatization or whether you talk about curbing benefits and means testing and raising the retirement age and raising taxes, it is unfavorable choices and things that politicians don't like to do and that is why for so long it has not gotten done. >> if you had to score it today, would you say advantage angle? >> well, advantage angle from the debate last night, but i suspect in the end when you have a familiar face like harry reid, you have to presume some advantage for him and i don't know how to quantify it, but it is a republican year, and if sharron angle wins, that will tell you that the wave is robust and the republicans will have the house, and who knows what happens in the senate. it is doing to be very close. >> all right. john harwood, good to see you out there. thanks so much. the fed is ready to act to boost the economy and federal reserve chairman ben bernanke said that the reserve bank is ready to take steps to boost the economy with fed reserves.

but it is official the retirees won't get a cost of living next year for the second year. in retail sales increased for the third month providing relief over concerns of consumer spending in an already fragile economy. you can look at the markets now, the dow is down 11,000 but only 66 points down, and the standard and poors is 1172 and nasdaq up to 17. and jim cantore is in vermont where snow is in the forecast. jim, snow! wow. >> what a big change. we were in the 60s yesterday, and the wet snow is starting to accumulate here at 3,000 feet on up. as a matter of fact killington, vermont, is reporting nine new inches of snow on the ground on the top of the mountain, and you can see, we are past peak here. and the understory is that the

ferns are changing color here and with the fresh leaves down here and especially the ones you can see on the trees behind me underneath the chair lift are going to be blown off, because we will get winds 20 to 30 miles an hour and we are hearing reports of wind damage in downeast maine and in natick, massachusetts, a suburb of boston and even up to platsburg, new york, where they have high winds. we expect the snow levels to drop on down as you can see from the radar/satellite combination, you will site, but we are not through with it, because the wind is expanding here and that means the chance for more trees to lose the leaves and also come down in the process, especially in southern new england, because they are peaking there, and they have a lot of green there. so that is more of a tree canopy to catch the wind and fall on the powerlines. so we are getting those reports, and hopefully not too many more, but i am afraid as the winds pick up, we will see more. >> it makes me excited for ski

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in san diego, california, the search continues for the killer of a young college student. 100 people showed up for the a vigil last night to honor diana gonzalez. the 19-year-old was found dead inside of a men's restaurant on the campus of a san diego city college thursday. police are trying to find the husband. the couple has a 9-year-old daughter together. and a boy is credited for saving his grandmother's life after quick thinking after she got sick. we have this great story. >> my grandmother can't walk, and then she said her head was

hurting. i could not get my mom, so i called 911. >> reporter: van says he was scared. >> i was feeling nervous, because i never been on the phone with 911. >> reporter: especially for his grandmother. >> because she is really old. >> reporter: but listen, you'd never be able to tell. van answered every question. >> okay. what is going on there? >> my granny can't walk. >> reporter: and if he didn't know the answer. ly i will be right back. and then he remained calm. >> they put him in that bed thing and put my grammy on it. >> well, the grand mother is being treated in a area hospital and will be fine. good work, van. and police say that they have never seen a robbery attempt like it. they arrested a man in a moss suit trying to break into a portland museum. after tripping an alarm, a

police dog searching the woods nearby bit a large shrub which then screamed, yay! -- and it was not the tree, but the man in the moss suit. weird. and look at the babies flying right out of the building. believe it or not, it is an annual ritual in india. please don't try this at home. all right. first a look at what is hot on the web. three men accused of killing 17 people on commuter trains are expected to face trial in russia. investigators claim that the men poisoned the men with cognac and tranquilizers before robbing them and 17 people ended up dying over a three-year period. and a 69-year-old man who was just released from prison in new jersey may be heading back after police say he tried to rob a bank in new york city with a steak knife. john stoleritz served time behind bars for robbing banks,

and he had been released from prison one day before. and teen heartthrob justin bieber is making fun of tochl brady's hair. ♪ putting up like a tractor ♪ as a matter of fact you are a slacker ♪ ♪ and hello mr. bla di ♪ and tell him to leave his hair to the guy who singing baby ♪ >> he might want to pick on somebody his own size. >> and what is next for chilean miners? a photo-op? that is coming up next. one month, five years after you do retire? ♪ client comes in and they have a box. and inside that box is their financial life. people wake up and realize i better start doing something. we open up that box. we organize it. and we make decisions.

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try zegerid otc. it's the first 24-hour treatment with two active ingredients: prescription-strength medicine plus a protective ingredient so it's effectively absorbed. for 24-hour relief, try dual-ingredient zegerid otc. and the answer to the question that you are dying the know, what is next for 33 chilean miners? the men all posed together for a photo-op and sporting shades and

to shield their eyes from the bright light and maybe preparation for the new-found celebrity status. kerry sanders is live in copiapo, chile, and how are they doing? they are getting a lot of offers. >> well, they are getting a lot of attention, and they are doing remarkably well. here at the hospital, three of the miners have already left, and 30 remain here, and the doctors say that all are doing well. one has a little bit of pneumonia that is not life-threatening and the other has dental problems for not having access to the toothbrush for the first 17 days, but aside from that, everybody is doing great, and thrilled and there is a lot of attention, and of course, there is one miner who doesn't really appreciate the attention he is getting and that is yonni barrios who is coming out of the mine and into the armings of his mistrezs and not his wife. that is going to play off for the offers of the telling of the story, and the menning a greeld

while they were out there, they would sell their story collectively, including that soap opera on the side to movie producers and whatever television program wanted the buy it. they are hoping for $20 million. what about that fame? well, look at the girls outside waiting to see jimmy sanchez. he the new justin bieber here and 19-year-old miner, and think are hoping to get a glimpse of him. he is the new famous miner to the tiger beat set here, and then there is this, and this was just shocking to me. this is jose henriquez who is on the phone talking here, and the television microphone in hand with one of the family members while he is discussing a new contract, a new contract to go to another mine and continue on with his profession. a huge shock to me. now, of the remaining 30 who are here in the hospital, most will be leaving. the doctor who was working with

them, the whole time while they were down below came by to visit them, and kind of had a funny comment about their conditions now, mental conditions right now as they are inside waiting to leave. this is dr. jeane ragmanoli. >> they are more anxious to get out of the hospital than they were from the mine. so, there you go. i think that we might see all but maybe those two and the maybe the one with the pneumonia get out of the hospital today. norah? >> yeah, they want to go back home and get back to their lives and their families or their mistre mistresses. kerry sanders, fabulous reporting. thank you so much. >> thank you. and topping off the hot shots, the happiest place on earth turns ugly and it is caught on camera. witnesses say that a park guest got mad when the disney bus driver told him that he and his family could not get on board, because the bus was already full. well, the disney officials are reviewing a tape of the scuffle.

a witness describes how the man shoved the baby toward the driver who handed the baby to mother while witnesses watched as the man got more physical with the driver, himself. well, the driver is now on paid leave as everybody investigates this bus stop. and barbie is joining in the battle against breast cancer. a custom design doll wearing a 1 carat pink diamond necklace is going on the auction block. she may fetch $35,000 making her the most expensive barbie ever. all benefits will go to the breast cancer foundation, and it is for a good cause. there is a saying that you don't throw the baby out with the bathwater, but how about off of a building? you are watching a religious ritual taking place in india. the babies are tossed from the ledge six-feet high on to a blanket. no babies are apparently hurt

during this ritual which is believed to improve the babies' health and stamina. this is not pediatrician recommended here in the united states. but this tradition is more than two centuries old and it has gotten a bit safer since then when the babies were tossed from, they say, 400 feet high. all right. the justice department is appealing a court ruling to put an end to the military ruling of "don't ask, don't tell" policy, but for now, what does it mean for the gay troops serving in the military? and how do other countries deal with tissue? and why the pope says that the first lay. >> dave: ofrance carla bruni is not welcomed at the vatican. ♪ stay away ♪ stay away ...as well as motorcycle insurance... gecko: oh...sorry, technical difficulties. boss: uh...what about this? gecko: what's this one do? gecko: um...maybe that one. ♪ dance music boss: ok, let's keep rolling. we're on motorcycle insurance.

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welcome back to msnbc, i'm norah o'donnell filling in for contessa brewer. vice president joe biden and president obama are campaigning together in delaware to make sure that biden's democratic seat stays in democratic hands.

and another suspect was arrested in new york for the anti-gay attack in new york. he apparently wrapped a chain around the victim's neck. and authorities trying to figure oupt new strategies of how to search for the man who was am ledllegedly killed bin t gulf. and the "don't ask, don't tell" case is under appeal, and at the same time the pentagon says it will comply with the court order to stop enforcing the policy that bars gays and lesbians from serving openly in the military. jim krzyzewski is at the pentagon, and tell us what this means for the active members of the military who are gay. >> well, unofficially pentagon and military officials are telling the gays and lesbians already serving in the military,

sit tight and don't make a move, because there is so much uncertainty in the near term about what this all means. now, the pentagon and the military officials, the white house, justice department, they were all caught flat-footed by this federal court order earlier this week that simply ordered the military to quit enforcing "don't ask, don't tell" nationwide, worldwide actually. so it was just not until yesterday that the pentagon announced that they were going to seek a stay of that injunction, and if that does not work, they want to work towards an eventual repeal of any kind of ruling that would tie the hands of the military in terms of enforcing "don't ask, don't tell." the problem for the military here right now is if gays or lesbians step forward and openly declare they are such, and this ruling is overturned, they then would be subject to very ouster of "don't ask, don't tell" that was in place before the injunction was laid down by this

judge, norah. >> so it is kind of in limbo. so when is the pentagon's review is due, and when will congress act on this? >> the review is december 1st, and that is intended by secretary gates, the defense secretary to figure out how to implement the repeal of "don't ask, don't tell," and not if, but when. that is complicated, because there are all sorts of issues not the least of which are social issues and interacting with families and then of course the benefits package that may be afforded to a gay or lesbian's partner, and that could raise some real controversy up on capitol hill, norah. >> well, thank you, mick. many who oppose don"don't a don't tell" point to many other countries around the world who let gays and lesbians serve openly in their militaries. for that i am joined by professor from columbia university.

let's talk about what it means for gay service members and sit tight, an wait until this is decided with the review, and congress and the courts kind of settling all of this, but let me ask you this, what about the service members currently in the process of being dismissed? >> well, at present, as your correspondent correctly said the situation is very much in flux. so that the department of defense has actually issued a memo that was yesterday afternoon saying that at present they are abiding by the stay that judge -- sorry, by the order, the injunction that judge phillips has issued which means at present those discharges are temporarily halted. and the emphasis here is of course on temporary. >> right. >> if this injunction gets stayed and i would suspect that at some point it will be either by judge phillips, herself, or else on appeal by a higher

court, then those discharges, s essentially kick in again, and even though the department of defense is abiding by the injunction at present, once the stay, i should say if, but once the stay is imposed on this injunction then those injunctions may start again. >> and you are said that in 30 countries including the nato allies gays are allowed to serve openly in the military. we have a map of those countries. how is it that the u.s. is so far behind many of these other countries? >> well, that's a very good question. the situation in those other countries and how those other countries who are at a certain point all had this ban is not like "don't ask, don't tell," but imt w-- but it was an outright ban so if you were gay or lesbian, you were not allowed

to serve in the military, bawl -- but all of these countries as my research bears out, this ban was through military regulations and not through parliamentary act or congressional act as it is in this country, so that the process of actually repealing those military regulations is actually simpler, and more straight forward than what we have here in the united states. so, i will give you for example, the netherlands -- sorry, go ahead. >> i was going to say, professor gle glensy, we are out of time, and you have done great research on this. >> thank you very much. and there has not been a black candidate in the republican house of representatives, and this year we have two nominees. here is one of them, and let's look at the ad. >> violence at the borders and out of control spending, corrupt

politicians, and that is just the first two years of change. >> i am joined by ryan frazier, a candidate for congress. ryan, good to see you and thank you for joining us. >> thanks for having me, norah. >> black republicans running are scarce, but we rate your district lean, but you are a republican, so tell me what the state of your race is there? >> well, a swing district, and many consider the 7th congressional district of colorado to be bellwether district, and for republicans a majority maker and in other words, it is the type of districts that would very well lead to a republican majority next january. this district is highly competitive. it was remitted by a republican four years ago. it is represented by a democrat today, and we have a great opportunity to win it back. the most recent public polling shows that we are pulling ahead of the democratic opponent by one point and moving in the right direction against

independent voters in this district who will ultimately decide who is the representative. >> mr. frazier, if there is a republican wave to help you win in that district which is held by ed perlmudder, but there is also you and tim scott in south carolina who the republicans feel confident will win there, and so we are talking about three african-americans who have a pretty good shot of winning a seat in the u.s. house. so why are there so few black republicans? >> well, i think that because there are many reasons. i think that republicans have not always done a good enough job in terms of engaging not only blacks, but hispanics in the respective communities to talk about the issues they care about. and norah, it is not rocket science. it is talking about things like the economy and how to get people back to work and how you create jobs through providing businesses and environment where they have the confidence to invest and talking about how to

provide a government that lives within the means and how they provide a congress that is more accountable to the people they represent, and so norah, i think that the more republicans can do to engage in the respective communities will go a long way towards attracting the diversity that will make the republican party bigger and greater and more representative of america. >> yeah, well, it will be amazing to have a black republican in congress, because it is stunning when you think about that we have not had a black republican in congress since 1997, and at that point, only two of them between 1995 and 1997, and that is stunning. let me finally ask you, in your congressional race there, the democratic party says that you have not had a paying job in two years. are you sort of full-time candidate and running on that in terms of the employment? >> it is unfortunate that the democrats want to distract from the real issues. norah, i have been campaigning now to try to win this seat full time. this takes a full-time engagement, and as a husband and

father and someone who has worked in the private sector and military veteran, i have done my part, but this is the way i can do to move america in a better direction and help to grow our economy and get people back to work by providing a new voice to offer new solutions, and while there are those who want to distract from the issues we know what people care about, the economy, fiscal responsibility, and accountability, and that is what i am talking about on the trail. >> all right. ryan frazier, republican, running for congress in colorado. we will be watching on election night. >> please do, norah, and tell your listeners if they want to learn more about the campaign go to frazier for colorado.com. >> there is the plug. thank you, congressman. sarah palin's reality tv show is premiering in a month, and tlc released this trailer for the show. >> oh, gosh! we are somewhere that people dream about. family comes first. it has to be that way. oh, i boy, go upstairs.

this is flipping fun and why can't we be satisfied with tranquili tranquility. i would rather be doing this than in some dumpy political office and rather be out here being free. >> an eight-week television event, sarah palin's alaska. while sarah palin helps kick off tea party candidates, she is going to kick off liberty at the ballot boxes kicking off in reno next week. and virgin galactic is booking reservations to the moon now. sure i'd like to diversify my workforce,

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and topping the world view, nato is providing safe passage to peace talks for a senior taliban leader. general david petraeus who commands nato and u.s. troops in afghanistan described the talks as preliminary while kabul seeks a resolution to the war. and leave your wife at home is the message from the vatican to french president sarkozy. apparently the pope does not want paparazzi shooting pictures of carla bruni with his holiness. are you ready for planning your next vacation? well, for $200,000 you can buy a seat for a vacation out of this world, literally. the white knight two and the spaceship will blast off into space, and get this, 400 people have put down a deposit to go into orbit. >> we are fortunate in life that we have been able to accumulate some money, and i can't think of

a better way to spend it. >> we are the first couple going up into space, so it should be one hell of a ride. >> he is the commercial director of virgin glak tialactic, and y heard that woman, steven, say it is one hell of a ride. when will this take place? >> we have been working on this for six years and happened after the first manned spaceship flew in 2004 and now we have commercial vehicles in the test flight program. we can't cut corners and we are predicated on safety, and richard branson and his kids are going to be the first passengers, so so we won't be cutting any corners on that one. we hope that the customers as you saw them and many others will becomes a troe nautstronau? >> how long is the flight? >> 2 1/2 hours, and you will

have time of zero gravity to float around the cabin and look out at the big windows of the fabulous view of the beautiful earth below you. >> well, it is amazing that nasa is talking about, you know, ending and cutting back and ending the shuttle program. you know, this is still so expensive, $200,000 for a trip. i mean, it really makes it impossible for most people to even think about doing this, but 400 people have already reserved seats? >> they have. and the numbers keep going up everyday. if you look back at the days for the earliest days of commercial aviation, it was the same. the ticket prices have to start expensive for these sorts of thingses if you start a new industry, but if, you know, we are successful which we think we will be, we will be able to bring the prices down in the future, so it is affordable for most people, but we are fortunate to have the early pioneers fortunate and able to put up the money first of all. >> and steven, in all seriousne seriousness, do you have anybody

to insure these flights? or to insure them? >> well, the spaceships themselves will be insured and the operation insured. we will be asking people under a bit of u.s. legislation designed specifically for this purpose to be flying under their own risk, so they are going to be signing a waiver and informed consent, but we are going to make sure that the hurdle is very, very high in terms of safety. so we are going through a long test flight vehicle with the incredible vehicles built in california. so we will only start when we believe it is safe fluff to start, and that is really important if we are going to start a new industry. >> well, steven, it is amazing to think about that we could all one day take a trip to space. it is amazing. good luck to you guys. steven attenboro. >> hope to see you there. and back to the news. a lot is happening this friday afternoon. the obama administration is likely to announce that the federal deficit stands at $1.29 trillion which is actually --

excuse me, $129 -- wait. let me get this straight. it is going to announce, it is $2.2 trillion which is down $129 billion from last year, but it is still high. and rapper t.i. will be in a courtroom and a judge will decide whether to revoke his probation for drug charges. and bill clinton will be campaigning in california for two democratic candidates, jerry brown and gaven newsome. ♪ california where we started from ♪ back in the 80's, it was really tough for me and my family.

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sarah palin is throwing out punches ahead of the midterm elections. during a speech to the freedom

foundation in san jose last night, the former alaskan governor took shots at comments made by first lady michelle obama. >> you know, when i hear people say or had said in the campaign they had never been proud of america until that time, i think haven't they met anybody in uniform yet? >> of course, mrs. obama never said that, and she did not say she was not proud of the country, but anyway. the vast majority of palin's speech was a critique of president obama's policies and also some jokes about her daughter's appearance on "dancing with the stars." >> and it a fierce political battle in delaware involving everything from taxes to abortion rights and of course witchcraft. in 30 minutes we will see president obama and vice president biden in the second appearance together of the season for democratic candidate chris coons. and mike viqueira is live at the white house. mike, why is the white house

sending the president and the vice president if chris coons is up double-digits? >> well, one obvious reason and one not so obvious reason. the obvious reason of course is because mr. coons and mrs. o'donnell are running for his old seat. joe biden's son did not enter the race for fear of facing mike castle who is popular in delaware and thereafter, speaking of sarah palin, she helped christine o'donnell to vault to the front, and defeat mike castle, and not incidentally dooming republican chances of winning a majority in the senate, because as you point out, she is losing by double-digit, and there is a poll out today, norah that had her losing by 11. that is sort of an outlier, because most of the polls are 18 points she is behind chris coons. another reason why the president is there with vice president biden is that this is one of the few bright spots for democrats

all across the country. they are eager as the white house and democrats to portray republicans in the back pocket of the tea party a group they believe will eventually lead the republican party, the wagon train right off of the cliff. so they want to emphasize this connection, of course, and christine o'donnell, and controversial for a number of reasons and perhaps most famous or infamously because of her claim on the bill maher show she had dabbled in witchcraft, and a claim that launched a thousand references to monte python and the holy grail and the "saturday night live" spoof. so the president there, and he is going to be speaking to the group in support of chris coons, and chris coons, the democrat there who is heavily favored to win on november 2nd, norah. >> and the campaign coffers are sort of hurting, so i guess that the president and the vice president can help raise some big bucks for them. mike viqueira, looking beautiful out there at the white house. >> yes, it is. >> i won't make you do to

weather. but bill karins has already left. i'm norah o'donnell in for contessa brewer, and we will come up with andrea mitchell who will talk with tom daschle next. [ male announcer ] ever have morning pain slow you down? ♪ introducing bayer am, an extra strength pain reliever with alertness aid, specially formulated to fight morning pain and fatigue. ♪ so get up and get goin'! with new bayer am. the morning pain reliever.

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right now on an drdrea mitcl reports the high dangers of the inflation, and how will the struggling economy affect the voting 18 days from now? midterm madness and did fight night in vegas live up to the advanced billing? >> man-up, harry reid, you need to understand that we have a problem with social security. >> with 18 days to go, and harry reid's senate post online, we will talk with former senate majority leader tom daschle, and live this hour president obama and vice president joe biden on the road again and a rare joint appearance in delaware for chris