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it's the biggest release of war secrets in u.s. history. today the military says it could put the lives of american service members in real jeopardy. plus rally the vote. president obama continues his whirlwind campaign while polls show the democrats could be losing a key bloc of voters. smoke signals. a cigarette appears to be named after the president. but is it? good morning. welcome to msnbc saturday. i'm alex witt. let's get to what's happening right now. that group behind the wikileaks is speaking out this morning defending their release of secret documents from the iraq war. >> we believe having received these wikileaks was justified in releasing them. >> wikileaks posted the files online on how u.s. forces did not follow up on credible

evidence of prisoner abuse by iraqi forces. jim miklaszewski again from washington. the pentagon, i know they've been outspoken as to how they feel about this. what are they saying this morning? >> essentially they've condemned the wikileaks release of these 400,000 documents saying that these battlefield reports reveal battlefield tactics and procedures and techniques of u.s. military that could be exploited by the enemy forces so that in future battles, this could be used against them. and probably you hear the fire alarm going off in the background. i'm assuming at this point it's a test. so we'll just keep going. what they're saying is that this is an issue in protecting forces in the field. perhaps even an issue of protecting national security at the same time. now, in regard to the abuse of prisoners, pentagon officials insist that the u.s. military --

well, perhaps they didn't intervene all the time, did report it up to the chain of the command of the iraqi security forces. but quite frankly, there's no evidence that that happened and there's no evidence that the iraqi security forces actually followed up. so this could be a problem in trying to explain away the lack of intervention. apparent lack of intervention by u.s. military forces in those situations. >> on the heels of that, i just hope there's no intervention by firefighters where you are, mik, my goodness. >> i think we're okay. >> well, thank you very much for reporting throughout this morning on all this breaking news developing from last night through this morning. as always, thanks. >> all right. some developing news out of afghanistan. suicide bombers dressed in bu a burqas and police uniforms attacked today. there were no casualties among u.n. staff. good evening your time. ali, this was launched in an area usually a place where

insurgents are less active. what was it about this location that made it attractive to the taliban? >> that's right. that you say this is rel tevly speaking in afghanistan a fairly peaceful place. it's in the western province of herat. but it also could have been a soft target. there are many many troops there, not many nato troops there. when the compound was attacked it was only protected by afghan troops there. it is a fairly soft target. it comes at a time when peace talks are on the horizon there. there's a hardline faction of the taliban that don't want these peace talks to go ahead. so they're probably making a statement here. the taliban are strong in the east and the south of afghanistan. they're not so prevalent in the western area, but now they're showing their force here. they're showing that they're spreading their wings in a war that's getting increasingly more violent especially over the last couple of years. >> thankfully, ali, there were no u.n. casualties.

but this has got the raise security concerns because attackers made it inside that compound. >> well, the attackers did get inside the compound. they tried to get in the compound initially by firing a rocket at the entrance. they couldn't get in. three of the attackers got out of this car that was laden with explosives, then one of them droeb the car into the entrance, blew himself up in the entrance, paving the way for the other three to go in. the other three got involved in a firefight. we're getting mixed reports as to whether they blew themselves up or whether they were shot by afghan security forces, but they did get inside. thankfully as you said, no u.n. personal were hit. but this was the most brazen attack on a u.n. compound since october 2009 when the taliban here attacked a u.n. guest house just down the road from where we are and killed five u.n. foreign workers causing the u.n. to dramatically cut down their staff here. they're a threat, especially in

a place where, as you said, there isn't a lot of taliban. >> ali, thank you for that live report. we appreciate it, from kabul. a big rally planned in minnesota today as president obama hits the campaign trail. it follows an event in nevada where he campaigned for harry reid. mike viqueira is traveling with the president and he joins us from las vegas. good morning, mike. >> good morning. the president is going to be leaving las vegas this morning heading to minnesota. he's got another one of those big rallies on tap. this one for mark dayton. this kngd concludes this four- five-state swing he began in oregon. big rally there for the democratic candidate for governor. then on to washington, another big rally on the campus of washington. for patty murray, another endangered senate democratic candidate, this time for the senate, then he headed to california. raising money, $2.5 million in the course of just 24 hours. another big rally. this one in favor of jerry brown

running for governor there in california. and barbara boxer, yet another senate democrat who is in trouble. last night a rally at a middle school in las vegas for harry reid. the embattled senate democratic leader, of course, two points behind in the latest poll. a bruising battle here in nevada. if the president can hold those three states for the democrats in the united states senate, washington, california and nevada, then he can hold on to control of his party. the house of representatives, as you well know, in deep trouble now. many expect it to go republican. but if he holds on to the senate there, he's got a toe hold in congress. there is more campaign to go with just ten days left. he'll go to rhode island on monday. then next weekend trips to connecticut, philadelphia, chicago and cleveland, trying to close the deal with voters. see if you can make a difference in some of these senate races and even just hold on in some of these marginal races where it's back and forth, a sea saw battle where there's tasteups. an appearance by the president can help.

they've selected a lot of these districts and states carefully. they go there only when they think they can help the candidate. they do not go when an appearance by the president could damage the candidacy in a lot of these swing districts. the president on the road, he's got more campaigning on tap. so far things look very grim for democrats. but the president not giving up yet, alex. >> mike viqueira from las vegas. coming up, an exclusive interview with rnc chairman michael steele. david gregory will speak with the man leading the "fire pelosi" bus tour. authorities have shut down the beach in california where a 19-year-old surfer was fatally attacked by a shark. lucas ransom and his friend were surfing yesterday when a shark attacked lucas biting off his leg. his friend says lucas cried out for help but then vanished under the surf. he was rescued from the water, but it was too late. >> fire personnel responded and pronounced ransom dead at the

scene. the boogie board was also recovered which had a lark bite taken out of it. >> experts say shark attacks are very rare. only a dozen have been fatal. lindsay lohan will be spending the holidays in rehab after a judge sentenced her to remain in an in-patient facility until january 3rd. that took place in los angeles yesterday after lohan failed a drug test last month. new court documents reveal an interview where lohan said she didn't want to remain at an inpatient center because it would mean a financial hardship and be damaging to her career. o.j. simpson will stay behind bars. the nevada supreme court declined to overturn his convictions. the 63-year-old is serving nine years at a state prison. simpson maintains it was an attempt to retrieve family photos. golf ball-sized hail raining

down near lubbock. those ice chunking hammered the cars on the highway. no photos of people walking the highways there and getting pelted. bill karins is here with more on that. >> we can get more of that today, alex. this is a strong fall system in the middle of the country. thunderstorms are rampant through much of central texas at the time being. we're still watching severe thunderstorms popping up here and there between abilene and now the dallas/wichita falls area. oklahoma city, these storms will be to the east of you about the worst of it you lucked out on. as far as abilene, the storms are pushing off to your east. notice the storms aren't that far from ft. worth. these will move through the dallas/ft. worth metro plex as we go throughout the two to four hours. sometime around 1:00. also to the north of this, strong storms moving through central illinois. a lot of hev rain is likely from chicago, peoria, champaign,

springfield. this area will get drenched this afternoon. now from milwaukee to green bay. a stormy day today, much of the country is looking at storms in the middle and also on the west coast. what a beast of a storm is coming on shore tonight and tomorrow. round one was last night and this morning. right now showers from portland to medford. northern california had much of their rain early this morning in the overnight hours. now that's moving up in to the mountains. there's heavy snowfall up around tahoe today. the top of the ski areas i'm sure are getting some snow. also heavy rain tomorrow. gusty wind. a one-two punch on the west coast. a saturday/sunday event. you won't see sunshine in many areas all weekend long. there's the forecast for today. the one warm spot, the southeast up the mid-atlantic. looks like a nice weekend in the east coast. much of the rest of the country is going to be very stormy. we were talking about snow and snow levels. i just got an e-mail up in maine and they're open for skiing. they're claiming to be the first

resort open in the entire country. >> wow, good for them. i wonder if it will stay stuck in tahoe. that's lower elevation. some of that will melt. >> it is hard for them to stay open. but the intermountain west, boise, they're going to get nailed. even telluride could get some snow this weekend. that time for you. >> thank you very much. and you can always head to weather.koc weather.com for the latest forecasts across this county. don't don't you mcdonald's as one of the burger places having trouble. this man is probably not a big fan of surveillance cameras. >> so, ah, your seat good?

got the mirrors all adjusted? you can see everything ok? just stay off the freeways, all right?

i don't want you going out on those yet. and leave your phone in your purse, i don't want you texting. >> daddy... ok! ok, here you go. be careful. >> thanks dad. >> and call me--but not while you're driving. we knew this day was coming. that's why we bought a subaru.

first he was caught on camera, then by police. this surveillance video by a detroit area restaurant shows a man stealing a canister to help children with leukemia. how bad is that? thanks to the video, someone

recognized him and called police. the container had about $60 in it. it is the final stretch of the midterm race. right now it's all about the money. in first half of this month national republicans brought in 6.2 million for senate candidates. that edged out the democrats who raised 5.7 million. that's just a fraction of the massive amounts of cash that secret donors are now pushing into the pain. by some estimates $3 billion. let's bring in peter fenn and also with us here republican strategist ron christie. ron is the tore of the new book "acting white." we'll have you come on and talk about that, that sounds good. peter, if you write a book, you're welcome, too. and thank you, ron, for stepping in because karen had a heck of a time getting to the station there in washington. it is clear that the election has opened all the floodgates for a huge amount of secret donations.

are you concerned about the outsized influence that secret donors would then have over the political process? >> i'm not, alex. you can look at the campaign finance rules that we had put in place the last couple of years. et is perfectly legal for organizations such as the u.s. chamber of commerce and other entities that are out there to put money in campaigns that is perfectly legal that they don't are to disclose the donors. the reason is true for what we've seen coming out of the white house and some of the democrats, they want the chamber to reveal the donor list. it's not required. and i think they want to intimidate some of the voters and suppress the turnout. so as long as it's legal and under the color of law, i don't have a problem with it. >> i'll pick up with what the unions are doing with you, peter, because the recent "wall street journal" report says that that large union group known as afscme is the biggest spending and even is even outpacing karl rove's group and that's significant. aren't both sides taking advantage of this?

>> they are taking advantage of the general funds that they can now spend. but you know what afscme stands for, you know what they're all about. as run says, you know what the chamber is all about, too. you don't know about americans for truth or americans for prosperity or americans for whatever. the difficulty with this is, as the swift boat folks are back. in fact, they came up with a report yesterday that one of the leading donor foss the swift boat groups that went after john kerry in '04 has given $7 million to influence these elections. somehow got leaked out. but i think one of things -- and we talked about it last week, alex. i think you've got to have transparency here. i think folks who are donating to campaigns and candidates and groups should be made public. >> i want to know what ron thinks about that, transparency. >> i absolutely agree with

transparency. the federal law right now if you're contributing to a candidate and you give more than $200 you have to disclose your name and occupation and address. in full transparency, the american people deserve to know who is funneling and fueling campaigns. but at the same time under the campaign finance statutes on the books, it is perfectly legal for americans coming together at the chamber and others not to disclose certain financial contributions. perhaps that's a debate we should take up in washington. >> i want to propose this question. some suggestions that democrats are actually blaming president obama for lack of big money funds coming in here. and there was one major fund-raiser for president clinton who says that obama has not been encouraging about big money. that has put a damper on it. but when you're in a fight for your life you should use whatever you can as long as it's legal. do you think there's any truth to that? >> i think he has had a little trouble. but you know why he's had trouble, alex, is because they had the legislation to crack down on wall street. a lot of those donors were to be

perfectly frank, mad as hell. and they haven't contributed to obama or the democrats this time whereas they had some of them last time. and i think you got to go with the policy here. you know, i mean, i think it's the right policy. and if you're not going to raise the money because of it, tough luck. >> it all considered democrats have gotten outplayed in the money game, peter? >> i think so. look, i think the republicans and these shadow groups that ron and i were talking about, not the chamber so much although they spent a lot, but some of the shadow groups are putting huge amounts of money into races and making them real contests now. i think that's one of the problems that we got -- look, there's no reason for democrats to whine. hey, we've had money, we've not had money. it goes back and forth. the basic point though i would make and ron's right about it, after the election, we ought to sit down and there should not be

these 501-c category where you don't have to make your donors public. >> since you guys are agreeing on something, we're going to end it right there. peter fenn and author ron christie. let's show his book again. "acting white, the curious history of a racial slur." a new brand of cigarettes is hitting the mark in several states. it has a ring to it. they're called the bama's and they have an oval ring around them. the makers say it is all about business. >> it's edgy, easy to remember, packaging is atrackive and it's a good smoke. to help sell the brand? you can say whatever you want to say. >> he says the o around that name is just a flavor circle. so far no plans to send a box to the president. a hollywood star in big trouble with the law, but we're not talking about lindsay lohan.

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the stock market was up and down all last week, but in the end all indices ended up being positive for the third straight week. analysts say it was a good week for wall street. what does that mean for main street? vera gibbons is here to explain all that. wall street down on the dow, 14 point on friday, yet for the whole week, up. >> still up above 11000, so that's good. earnings reports have been relatively healthy. what kept the market down on friday was concerns about profit growth. you have the g-20 finance ministers talking about currency, trying to resolve those differences. a little bit of anxiety in the air pushing the market down agent bit. >> how about the consumers? hour they holding up? >> not so good. you mentioned the spending for halloween. candy korks costumes, beyond

that we're not feeling so good. a new survey out that's showing we're pessimistic when it comes to home values, incomes and future situation in the economy. our outlook isn't all that great. in fact, 92% say the economy, they feel it is fair or poor right now. >> how do you think that's playing out with the way people are eating out, restaurants down. >> we're not eating out but we're going to mcdonald's. very good numbers from mcdonald's beating estimates. this is a company that's done it right. they have stuff that people want. they have the new products, frappes, the coffee, people like that, the smoothies. and they like the price point. >> the dollar menu. >> that's been very, very successful. they want to go in there and spend one dollar. >> cheeseburger, one dollar. >> different things on the dollar menu. that's keeping people coming back for more. >> what about credit cards? something about a makeover? >> there's new changes.

credit card companies are trying to be different now. credit cards that double as debit cards. one of the more interesting is this new card coming out from citibank where you can choose whether you want to pay for a purchase using credit or use rewards. high tech card coming up, two different buttons. you choose which one before you make your purchase. if you want to use points, you can do that. a little confusing but people will like it because they do have the options. consumers like that. they're going to try it out next month, see how it goes. you have to monitor your pointp. some may expire. >> america's one step closer to sending civilians into space with the completion of the first runway at the world's first commercial space port. it marked the milestone in the southern new mexico desert. the vision of billionaire richard branson.

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it's msnbc saturday. i'm alex witt. here are your fast five headlines. president obama heads to minnesota to wrap up his campaign swing. he'll lead a rally this afternoon for the democratic candidate for governor. the president led a rally last night for harry reid. overseas now, typhoon megi is walloping parts of china forcing 300,000 people to evacuate their homes. in italy protesters shot fireworks at police in demonstrations over a garbage dump near naples. the protesters are angry about the plans to open yet another landfill. refinery workers in france are striking over the retirement age from 60 to 62. that measure was approved yesterday.

and the fdic is taking over seven more banks which makes 139 bank failures in year. a new arms deal will land saudi arabia $60 billion worth of advanced war planes and helicopters and ammunition all courtesy of the united states government. this as the u.s. agreed to sell off f-15 fighter jets and abatchy helicopters over the next 20 years to, quote, enhance saudi arabia's ability to deter and defend threats to its border and oil infrastructure. james, good morning. >> good morning. >> is there a way that the u.s. benefits from this deal that exceeds a $60 billion cash influx of the price tag there? >> well, the u.s. benefits by selling these arms to a very close ally that's involved in containing the rising power of iran as well as combating

al qaeda. saudi arabia is in the middle east a very dangerous neighborhood. not only does it face growing threat from iran but there's a simmering civil war in yemen to its south which could spill over its borders. >> is there any chance in your mind, james, that we might come to regret this decision? if you look what happened in a couple places in iraq. the u.s. sold biological weapons to iraq in the '80s. later invading the country looking to eradicate that program that it did fund. talk about the concerns of something like that happening or is that out of the realm of possibility? >> first of all, i should say the u.s. never sold biological weapons to iraq. in fact, the u.s. did tilt towards iraq in tieren/iraq war. >> but that was for medical research. okay. weapons may be the extreme word. but there was for biological research, there was activity sold there. >> yeah.

unfortunately, scientific establishment did sell some variants of anthrax to iraqi medical researchers who said they needed it for prophylactic research purposes. but that was not known to be activated in a biological weapon. i take your point about -- we did more with iran. the u.s. sold arms to the shah and the revolutionary regime has control of some of those arms, but saudi arabia, today, is much more stable than the shah's iran. there are 4,000 princes sprinkled throughout the establishment and the military. but in the middle east, you cannot depend on anything. there's always the chance of a coup or revolution, but on balance, the risk ot not selling these weapons far outweigh the risk of selling them. >> and the benefit of the $50 billion cash influx, where will

that money go? how might it be spent? >> well, according to some estimates, these arms sales will create about 77,000 jobs spread around 44 states. most of the employment is with boeing company. so it will be a shot in the arm for the u.s. economy, but i thing most important are the security implications. here we have iran driving for nuclear weapons. it is tarting to flex its muscle in the region. this would ensure an important ally not only against iran but helping instability in the persian gulf. >> boeing is another company that will benefit from this, too? >> i think so. >> with the black hawks. okay. james phillips, thank you for joining us from the heritage foundation. a bombshell accusation in the case of a missing oregon boy. court documents say that kyron horman's father believes his estranged wife abducted him and

may have caused, quote, unimaginable harm to his son. kyron was 7 when he disappeared from his school back on june 4th. so far no suspects have been named. terri horman is the last person known to see kyron before he vanished. the boy's father is urging the court not to grant any visitation rights with the couple's 2-year-old daughter. the search for a missing cancer survivor continues in north carolina. zahra baker disappeared. now investigators are combing a landfill. >> about 15 to 20 investigators were out there each day sort of combing the landfill looking for clues. the search did wrap up yesterday. it appears that they may have found some nuggets, some things of what they were looking for. kind of interesting how they traced the area where they were going to set their sites on. what they did was they got with the local garbage company in the

area, they tracked the routes, they figured out the time and the date and the place in the landfill where they dropped the contents. then they started digging from that point until they got to the neighborhood and the area where zahra lived when they figured out the neighbor's trash compared to the parents trash. investigators told me they were looking for a specific piece of evidence, not so much a body. >> can you tell me why is they called off the amber alert? do they think we're past that stage? >> we really are. amber alerts require very specific information, information about a suspect, a vehicle, descriptions, things of that nature. and i think investigators and even the sheriff spoke out to say this, they had enough information to say, you know what? this really isn't an amber alert. this may not even be a stranger abduction. we've shifted this to a homicide investigation. so our team is moving in a new direction. >> part of my discussion with michelle sigona there.

a security camera video will be a key piece of evidence in a case against a georgia grandmother as it shows her getting into a physical confrontation this week with a sheriff's deputy in a juvenile courthouse. yikes. the woman was coming to the aid of her grandson who deputies tried to stop leaving the building. the grandmother faces felon observe instruction. she didn't want to go back to jail and she didn't want more inpatient rehab. but troubled starlet lindsay lohan has been order odd to stay at the betty ford treatment center through the holidays. with all the details on that, senior editor with "in touch weekly." the judge decided to put lindhly back in rehab. >> she voluntarily checked herself in after the whole problem before she was sent to

jail, let out, went to rehab, went back to this hearing. the judge is impressed with her progress. she wrote him a handwritten letter. he seems to thing she's accepted the fact that she's an addict and he says it sounds like she's really making progress there. you're going back to the rehab center until january 3rd. if you can stay clean until the time of the next hearing, she's free and clear. you can put this behind you and move on with your life. all she has to do is make it to february 25th. she'll be in the rehab center specifically january 3rd, past new year's. keeps her safe. she has a pending movie that she'll start filming supposedly come january. so things can turn better for her. >> you think the hollywood industry itself is waiting for her return? >> there's this movie "inferno" about linda lovelace. the director of the movie said they're waiting for her.

they've moved production to los angeles. they want to start filming in january as soon as she does get out. >> let's talk about the wedding bells absent maybe police sirens regarding russell brand and katy perry tying the knot in india. >> russell brand, katy perry in india at a tiger preserve. they're having six days of festivities for their wedding. but there was an issue with news photographers that were following russell around this tiger sanctuary. apparently they're saying that two people from his party, a bodyguard and someone from the wedding party got out of their car, came up to them, assaulted them in their jeep, took the keys and then left this in this tiger sanctuary where tigers roam freely and destroyed their camera. and these are news photographers, ap, reuters, not necessarily paparazzi. >> that jump out of bushes. can i ask you about randy quaid

and his wife. >> they're seeking refugee status in canada because they say that they fear for their lives. friends of theirs like heath ledger and david carradine were murdered they're saying. they need the stay in canada. they're up in canada. the reason they were in custody was there was an arrest warrant out for them. they were supposed to be at a hearing because they were arrested for squatting in a house that they wins owned. an arrest warrant was put out. canadians took them into custody. but they say they're fearing for their lives and they need asylum in canada. >> moving on. just one of those no comment things, right? good to have you. thanks so much. >> thanks. government weather forecasters have looked into their crystal ball and have come up with predictions. but what they see is la nina.

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a chilling prediction about the coming winter. some parts of the u.s. are going to get hit hard. and the storms will be unpredictable. joining me now from san diego is dr. reese halter, biologist from california university. the author of "wild weather, the truth behind global warming." good morning to you. give me a prediction how the winter will look this year. >> it will be a little schizophrenic, as i'm told. we'll have quite a bit of wet

weather in the pacific northwest and the great lakes and the northeast are going to have snow as well as very cold weather, i'm told, in the midwest and over in the atlantic. and of course, from california to carolinas and south, we're going to see a lot of dry conditions, alex. >> okay. what about the la nina effect this time around? what exactly is that and where is that going to play itself out? >> okay. well, la nina is the cooling effect that's coming in from the equatorial and eastern pacific. it's the ocean and it totally affects the weather as we know it. and the interesting thing this week was 69 scientists from 8 countries have very closely looked at the arctic. and we're missing a lot of ice. and that ice is directly correlated, you see, with the cold weather that's predicted to happen in the northeast and the atlantic this year. imagine our old refrigerators. we used to have the freezer on

the top. the freezer on the top is like the arctic. and in the old days, the arkt irk was cold and self-contain. but as the earth is starting to warm up, the cold blobs from the top of our freezer are drifing south. so it's all upside down, alex. >> you know what's interesting? you talk about california to the carolinas being dry. that's going to spark concerns about fires and the like in the winter. >> hugely. and as a matter of fact, the real thing we're looking at is this awful word "drought." lake mead which supplies 25 million people with water from holding back the colorado and 16% of the electricity in l.a. is at an all-time low. as a matter of fact, last sunday it reached -- it reached the lowest point since it was filled in 1937. so -- and the predictions for the next 20 years are very buck

bone dry, alex. >> that's not very good. >> no. >> we saw colossal snow in the mid-atlantic region and up to new england last year. are we going to see that again or no? >> yeah. yes, we are. there's a good chance of that. and you know, the weather is really wild. we're having higher highs, lower lows and mega amounts of water. get this. last year in arkansas, they had the most amount of rain since 1895 since they've been keeping records. and yet now the state, 25% of the state, alex, is in severe drought. >> wow. okay. dr. reese halter, we appreciate you sharing that with us. author of "wild weather." thanks so much, reese. >> thank you. >> president obama this week has been courting women voters, but are democrats really in danger of losing that key?

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a new poll this week democrats losing ground with a new voting bloc. pew research center reports 49% support republicans and only 43% support democrats. leading up to the midterms nearly six in ten women had planned to vote for the democrats. holly bailee from yahoo! news and she joins us in studio. >> good morning. >> what do you think the democrats did to lose this female advantage? >> i think it's one word, the economy. women only focus on social issues and the election but the fact is many women are out there in the job arena earning money and, you know, there was a report last week that the white house issued that found that women are the soul bread winners in their family their

unemployment rate is nearing 14% which is huge. the average is o10% nationally. that's a big deal. i think democrats and that's the white house is very nervous about this. we said over the last week them sort of trying to again push towards women because of these polls. >> so, ookay, it's about the economy. i'll ask you if that will play into everything else, as well. we talk about the president having reached out to minority voters, black voters, hispanic voters and the youth vote out there. how do you think the economy is playing into that? is he fairing better in those voting blocs? >> i think we've seen a lot of numbers from the youth vote. the main concern the white house has is that youth voters are not going to turn out in the way that they did. >> it's not a presidential race. >> think what you're seeing the record 2008 election was voters coming out for obama and what we have seen the white house do is turn up that enthusiasm among

youth voters and also a similar push for black voters, but the fact is the white house is sort of becoming aware of this problem on women late in the game. last week we saw president obama do a backyard meet and greet with women, but, you know, it's now just over a week before election day and i think the big concern is that they sort of went to this too late. >> the question with regard to the youth vote, do you think that two years ago it was all about being history making, it was a game changer to put a black man into the white house. it was that it was idealism and all that appealed to the youth and now we talk about the economy, you have a lot of the youth trying to get out there and the job market and not a lot oout there for them. >> every event president obama does especially where he'srapher ta talking to average voters. my kid just graduated from college this year and he and she is still looking for a job. >> you would think michelle obama would be appeal, she

appeals to mom and chief all across the board out there. has she been used effectively? >> hard to say. the white house has to have her appeal to mothers and women. the events she's doing is questionable. she's a good fund-raiser for the republican party so she has been doing money events but not big rallies like we've seen the president been doing lately. >> what about in 2008 with 56% of the women supporting barack obama compared to the 48% who volted for john mccain. is this a referendum on the overall job the president is doing? >> i think it's part of it, but i also think republicans to give them credit they have been doing a lot to push out to women voters. if you think back just two months ago sarah palin issued a video for her political action committee really trying to not only build up her own brand but really trying to appeal towards

women. we have a lot of republican women on the ballot this year. i think that's part of it. republicans have really in contrast to previous elections really been trying to get republican voters. >> thanks for joining us. >> thank you. that's a wrap, everyone. stay with us, headline updates and breaking news as it happens. up next "future earth, journey to the end of the world." wake up with me tomorrow at 8:00 a.m. eastern time. we'll see you then.ling ] [ gasps ] [ rattling ] [ laughing ] [ announcer ] close enough just isn't good enough. - if your car is in an accident, - [ laughing continues ] make sure it's repaired with the right replacement parts. take the scary out of life with travelers. call or click now for an agent or quote.

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