>> reporter: the president is on day two of his tour through swing states north carolina and virginia. republicans say he's acting more like a candidate than a president. >> is that appropriate on the taxpayer's dime since it is clearly campaigning and, i must say again, i've never seen an uglier bus than the canadian one he's traveling around on a canadian bus touting american jobs. >> reporter: jobs are on the minds of voters. >> i have a daughter that's been out of a job for a year. she just went back to work. we're optimistic that things are turning around a bit here. >> reporter: something else voters want turned around, how lawmake lawmakers seem more concerned about fighting than bringing people together. >> let's work together for the country. >> reporter: a new poll shows 64% of americans blame the federal government for the poor economy. just 30% blame financial institutions. analysts say that's not surprising. >> if we could have gotten the

budget deal and the rest, we would not have anything like the problem where is having with our economy. it ain't wall street, it's washington. >> let's bring in cnbc chief washington correspondent, john harwood. the president has increased the attitude against the gop. we heard that in some of the sound bites there. what's the strategy now? >> the strategy, having lost the inside game in washington with republicans is to go try to play the outside game, put public pressure on them to take up his jobs bill. if not in whole, in some of the parts. the president has had some success over the summer in moving public opinion, but it didn't translate into getting what he wanted on capitol hill. now he's trying to go in a much more aggressive and feistier way, calling out republicans, hoping that the heat from those unemployed and anxious average americans that you heard from in that set-up piece will force republicans go along. you can tell from the republican response that they're feeling some of that pressure.

>> speaking of which, senator mitch mcconnell this morning firing back at the president. >> well, the states got another bailout. the unemployment rate didn't budge, and now the president is riding around on a bus saying if they don't get another one, teachers, police and firefighters will lose their jobs again. >> so that's the other side here, john. every-day americans might listen to both sides and say how much more will we see of this in-fighting? >> they will hear a lot more of that in-fighting. the strategy by democrats in bringing up the money for teachers and first responders is they know republicans are against it, as you heard from mitch mcconnell. they believe they got strong support from the public, so they're trying to put maximum pressure on. later they will try to get to elements of the president's plan like the payroll tax cut that republicans like better. that may be where you have a deal before there's a deal, president obama wants to inflikt as much political pain as he can on republicans what republicans can do is say, hey, remember

that stimulus we passed in 2092? it didn't do much good. >> john, also, so the president on the road making these statements. senator mcquacain making a callt saying this is a campaign trip. he is visiting these two states. why is that happening? >> north carolina and virginia is where the president broke through. they believe given the demographic changes in those states, they can sustain some of the political progress, but it's not easy because the conservativism that governed before is still present and still a potential danger for the president. he is trying to appeal to college-educated voters in the large metropolitan areas, in the suburbs, you see that both in north carolina and virginia. the president can lose some of the states he won in 2008 but he

can't lose all of them. some like indiana will be difficult to win, ohio will be difficult to win. these are two where the president is making a play. >> chief washington correspondent, john harwood, thank you very much. the unemployment rate is 9.8% in wyoming. john barrasso joins us. thank you for your time today. the first bill talking about jobs that will be broken out from that original bill that the president wanted that will be introduced in the senate, it will be to save or create what the white house are saying are 400,000 jobs at a cost of $35 billion. what is your thought on that? will you support that? >> richard, you know, the president said that all of the republicans voted against the jobs plan last week. what he forgot to mention is the number of democrats also voted against it. and harry reid blocked two times an opportunity for the senate to

vote on the president's original jobs plan, the one he said take it or leave it. so, i'm looking for a way to work together to make it easier and cheaper for the private sector to create jobs in this country. that's what we need to do. even msnbc harold ford jr. in an editorial yesterday in the "washington post" said we ought to have a moratorium on regulations. they are hurting jobs. i heard about it this past weekend in wyoming. >> let's get to some of the parts that the original bill will be broken up to at the moment. the democrats will introduce each one, one by one which you're familiar with. i want to get your thoughts in terms of the ones that you might support. if you would, if you could say yes, no, or i don't know as of yet right now. the first part will be the payroll tax cut, which john harwood said would get a pretty large support across the aisle here. >> i support making that permanent, not just temporary. and doing it in a way with overall tax reform. so, absolutely. >> what about tax breaks for

companies that hire new workers. >> the program that deals with the wounded warriors, people who are wounded worarriors, we needo find a way to do that. >> so you support that. extend 100% business expensing. >> there's a component about 3% component with government contracts that i support. there are things we can do together. >> got a tweak there. >> free trade agreements are very important that we just passed in a bipartisan way last week. those are important. you need to find out how we will pay for a number of these things. >> that's a big question. >> when we look at last week, friday, the white house has said, okay, the class act isn't going to work. to me that's been a ponzi scheme, it's smoke and mirrors, accounting gimmicks that the president touted as one of the ways that the health care law was going to be affordable. i have great concerns about the accounting that comes out of this administration. >> so, now the white house at this moment saying they're not going to give up on it.

>> well, that's what the white house has said, the secretary of health and human services said it is unsustainable. the health care law is unraveling. it's falling apart. it's imploding. this is just the most recent part. you have the 1099 forms, now this so-called class act, the long-term care. the president had said, oh, this is an $86 billion savings towards the deficit. now they say, i'm sorry, we were wrong. in spite of the fact that even democrats in the senate, when this was being forced through, said this was a ponzi scheme that, you know, bernie madoff would be proud of. we have to be responsible in the ways that we're actually going to pay for things, not just increasing this debt of $14 trillion where we owe so much money, lots of it to people overseas. >> senator, let's finish where we start here. we were mentioning some of the part that's original jobs bill would be broken up to. also the national infrastructure bank, tax credits for hiring unemployed veterans, also

refinancing mortgages at low interest rates. all of these are part of the ideas that came out of that. now, the president's strategy at the moment is to show how some republicans are going back on items that they supported before. and we were just going through six of them in our conversation today. how will republicans answer to that criticism? >> the question is how are you going to pay for these? are you going pay for them by adding to the debt or accounting gimmicks? because we know the first stimulus package didn't work. the president said if you pass this first stimulus, that it would keep unemployment rate lower than 8%. in fact, we have 1.5 million more americans out of work now than when it was passed. so, again, we're talking about significant amounts of government spending, and i'm not sure it's going to work. people in this country want to go back to work. and we know that what this administration is doing with its policies are making it harder and more expensive. >> senator john barrasso, thank

you for your time. >> thanks for having me. if it's tuesday, it means it's time for another gop presidential debate. they meet tonight in nevada, only talk of jobs and the economy may have to share time with more headline-grabbing fair like 9-9-9 and the nevada caucus. joining us is joe watkins, as well as democratic strategist david goodfriend. good day to both of you. >> thank you. >> let's start with this, joe. cnn has a new poll out. you've seen the data on it. herman cain and mitt romney in a statistical tie. when you look at the numbers here, who do you think is in the hot seat at the moment? with cain's comments about the electrified border fence, and 9-9-9 which received more scrutiny as of late, is he the one in the hot seat tonight. >> of course people will be shooting at herman cain, he did so well in the polls. that's but he's laser focused on

who the audience is. he is tailoring his comments to a republican primary audience. he's getting great marks. that's why he shot ahead of the others, even though he has less money. >> is that who everyone will be shooting at. >> most of them will be shooting at herman cain, though mitt romney remains the front-runner. if he is smart, what he does is stick to his game plan of talking about how he puts 14 million unemployed americans back to work and not giving the opposition anything that can be a campaign commercial in the fall. >> david, when we look at romney, joe saying he's the front-runner at the moment. many would agree with that. he scored points with the gop establishment in previous debates, but you look at the numbers, it's not translating to clear leadership in the polls what does he need to do tonight? >> well we are witnessing a bonafied civil war within the republican party. and herman cain right now is the jefferson davis, that's an interesting analogy. >> that's white an analogy. >> so, what do we see?

we see a virtual dead heat in the polls, when republicans should be coalescing around a front-runner. all of this goes to president obama. here's why. by necessity, because of the primary states and how they line up, mitt romney will have to answer to the tea partiers that herman cain speaks to now. every time he does that, he's just giving another bullet for the president to use against him if he turns out to be the nominee in the general election. we see the drama playing out in washington where republicans in congress are going to be forced to vote no over and over and over again. they will vote know. we know that they don't want the economy to improve. it won't help them in the political ends. so they'll vote no, no, no. >> remember, this is a bill the democrats didn't approve. >> let's step away from the jobs bill and those issues. i want to stick to the debate tonight. you brought up the issue of tea party support. joe, perry doesn't do well in

dedad deba debates. he was tea-supported candidate, but he can't stand down at this level, so if he doesn't do well he still has to participate in these debates. what does he need do to have a win here? >> he has nowhere to go but up. as long as he's engaged, come prepared to talk about the economy and how he will put people back to work like dehe d in texas, he may shoot up in the polls. he is a well-financed candidate, and has a great organization. i wouldn't count rick perry out yet. >> david, in the poll, all are running behind somebody else, no one and no opinion. if you add that up, that's about 10%. that 10%, are they in danger at this point? is bachmann pretty much gone? >> i think so. we have not seen the first vote cast yet, though. let's go back to other republican primaries. remember when phil graham from

texas started his campaign for president. he had a huge war chest. he was from a big state, a lot of fanfare. then the guy just petered out. and by the same token, we remember when barack obama was 30 points behind hillary clinton, and we all know how that story ended. i would be unwise to get on tv and tell you i know what will happen. i have no idea. >> neither can anybody else. >> i couldn't get you, i tried. i couldn't get you on that one. >> here's a prediction for you. >> go ahead. >> you are going to see this internal warfare continue through south carolina, through florida, and it's going to be brutal on the republican party. >> all right. we got to go right now. thank you both. great conversation, david and joe. >> thank you very much, richard. all right. as we mentioned, jon huntsman will not be at the gop debate tonight but he will be talking with andrea mitchell today. "andrea mitchell reports" at 1:00 p.m. eastern. do not miss ta. the parents of missing baby lisa hire a high-profile defense attorney. details ahead.

plus a man makes the smart choice to not drive while drunk, but you got to see on surveillance tape, because we have who he picked up as his designated driver instead. first a look at what's happening on wall street at the moment. the numbers are looking pretty good today. still mid 11,000, it's looking pretty good. my doctor told me calcium is best absorbed in small continuous amounts. only one calcium supplement does that in one daily dose. citracal slow release... continuously releases calcium plus d for the efficient absorption my body needs. citracal.

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breaking news in maryland. police tell the associated press they believe they found the remains of a missing boy whose mother was found dead last week. 11-year-old william mcquain's mother was killed in her home last week in germantown, maryland. the remains were discovered today in a wooded area.

the high-profile lawyer representing the family of a missing baby is slamming reports that his clients are not cooperating with investigators. baby lisa has been missing from kansas city, missouri since october 4th. police just released a statement saying "clearly the parts level of cooperation has not been what it needs to be to help find this child. should they change their minds, our door is always open." but the lawyer says the fact that lisa's mom admits to drinking the night lisa disappeared shows the family is being completely open. peter alexander joins me now from missouri with more. hello, peter, what's the latest? >> reporter: good day to you from kansas city. investigators tell me they received hundreds of tips, not just this country but from across the globe, as far away as barbados and england. the latest twist came in kansas city with the announcement that they are hiring a criminal defense attorney, his name is joe tacapina, his past

high-profile clients include joran van der sloot. he insists his clients here are innocent and have done nothing wrong, and say it's touch to cooperate when investigators are accusing you of murder. >> she is a mother who in a high state of trauma, who trembles every day and cries. if her recollection sometimes is not what it should be regarding certain times, events, i don't think we can be too harsh on that -- that inconsistency, if it, in fact, an inconsistency. >> reporter: there are also inconsistencies about debra bradley, lisa mother's mother's. she said he was drunk and blacked out. she doesn't remember shutting off the light or if she checked

on her at 10:30 before going to bed. she told me she checked the clock and it was 6:40 p.m. the last time she saw her daughter in the crib. there were four new searches yesterday, investigators will not say if they found anything new, but there are still no suspects. richard? >> peter alexander, appreciate that. police in arizona say a 5-year-old girl missing since last tuesday was likely kidnapped. she was last seen by her three siblings at the grandmother's home. the siblings had been removed from the grandmother's care, police say they have no suspects, but if jesse just wandered off they would have found her by now. rick perry admitting debating is not his strong suit. what he is doing ahead of tonight's match-up. and they say everything they do in texas is done bigger, that includes dust storms, too.

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so it's time to look, compare... and choose the right plan for you. learn more at 1-800-medicare or medicare.gov. prosecutors charged a woman with kidnapping and false imprisonment saying she locked up four mentally impaired adults in a filthy basement. she was charged today along with her boyfriend. police say they stole social security checks and may have swindled dozens of others. police also found a missing florida teen who disappeared in july. she was linked to the son of one of the suspects. look at this amazing video of a dust storm slamming the town of lubbock, texas yesterday. time-lapse video showing a dust cloud that reached about 8,000 feet high rolling through the city at speeds upwards of 70 miles per hour. the storm produced a wall of

dust that blew roofs off of several businesses and knocked a jumbo jet from fedex on its back wheels. sitting up like that because of the wind. witnesses call 911 after seeing a 9-year-old girl driving her father around in his van. all right. and it was all caught on tape. today's natalie morales has the details for us. >> reporter: at first glance it doesn't look like anything out of the ordinary. a van at a gas station in the middle of the night. but take a look at the driver when she steps out of the vehicle -- she's a child, only four feet tall. inside the gas station, police say the father showed off his designated driver, his 9-year-old daughter. >> she drives us here. 9 years old. in the truck, she drove all the way here. >> reporter: after buying his daughter a candy apple, father and daughter left the gas statio

station. >> 9 years old. we're leaving, she's driving. i'm drunk. >> reporter: when the daughter drove out of the gas station with the father, they were followed by a good samaritan who spotted them. >> is the vehicle staying on the road? >> she's driving pretty good. i can't believe it. >> reporter: police were shocked when they pulled the van over and found the girl driving, sitting in a booster seat. police say she wanted to know why they had been pulled over. >> like most adults, she asked why did you stop me? i was driving good. just incredible. >> reporter: police identified the father as 39-year-old sean w wimer russell, he has been charged with two counts of child abuse and is due back in court today. he is separated from his wife and had the daughter for visitation. she has been returned to her mother. >> police credit the 911 call for makes a difference in this

case. we have been hearing about the top 1% of americans, the richest of the rich. we'll tell who makes up this elite group. and occupy wall street is expanding not only around the globe but in new york city, too. so i took my heartburn pill and some antacids. we're having mexican tonight, so another pill then? unless we eat later, then pill later? if i get a snack now, pill now? skip the snack, pill later... late dinner, pill now? aghh i've got heartburn in my head. [ male announcer ] stop the madness of treating frequent heartburn. it's simple with prilosec otc. one pill a day. twenty-four hours. zero heartburn. no heartburn in the first place. great. [ cat meows ] ♪ [ acoustic guitar: pop ] [ woman ] ♪ i just want to be okay ks ] ♪ be okay, be okay ♪ i just want to be okay today - ♪ i just want to know today - [ whistles ]

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welcome back to msnbc. secretary of state hillary clinton made an unannounced visit to libya today. she offered encouragement and millions of dollars in aid to the transition government. >> the body of par trisha gardado was found in arkansas yesterday. no arrests have been made in that. >> and texas wildfires destroyed at least 1500 homes and killed two people, and a fund-raiser was held yesterday. half of americans now support legalizing marijuana, that's a record high. occupy wall street

demonstrations around the world still riding high on momentum after marking one month since the movement started. occupy boston members hope fed chairman ben bernanke will lend them an ear. the bank is located across from the occupy boston camp in seattle, police arrested eight demonstrators who refused to remove their tents from a city park on monday. city officials are trying to persuade protesters to relocate to city hall plaza. the three american hikers freed after being detained in iran voiced their support to demonstrators. they did that in oakland, california. let's go now live here to michelle kosinski live in london for us. michelle, we were talking about 82 countries jumping on the band wagon yesterday. what's the situation today? >> right. all over the world we saw this, spreading across europe in cities like london, rome where dozens of people were injured after it turned violent. denmark, germany, spreading into asia, australia.

today it's a bit quieter, but in some places the protesters are vowing to keep the occupaticcup going indefinitely. in london, in the city, the financial district, at last count there were about 150 tens right outside st. paul's cathedral, a touristy area close to the london stock exchange. all of these dozens of people say they will stay there for at least a month, which would coincide with another planned protest about budget cuts. but they might stay longer than that. remember, spain is credited with sort of getting the ball rolling on these protests with young people angry about their lack of job prospects. saying, you know, unemployment there is extremely high, especially among youths. in each city it's taken on a flavor of its own. it's always mixed. the question has long been what are these protests really about? in london, one profit testers said these are groups of people

with divergant political views. it was interesting to see over the weekend, we saw a 40-something-year-old accountant in a suit showing up saying everybody this thenks these protesters are grungy people who don't take showers, but i'm here because i'm concerned about my future, my job and that of my children. >> certainly a diverse group. michel michelle, thank you. in new york, the focus has been called on the top 1%. though they have not had a united message, they zeroed in on that idea. so who are they talking about, the 1%. if this is all the people in the u.s., if you were to focus in, the group that occupy wall street is focusing in on now is the 1%, right there, in the

black and yellow, that one box. up to this point they have been faceless. we have done a little digging and found out who they are the top occupation of the 1 percenters, executive and managers. about 1 in 3 of the folks who are the top 1%. the second group in the top 1% are those of medical background. the medical background includes doctors, as well as those who might be family practitioners. those individuals are also about 1 in 6 of those in the top 1%. now, let's look at the third group. it's financial professionals. now, the financial professionals are the group that the occupy wall street have been focusing on. only about 14% of that 1%, of that top group. lower in the ranking than what occupy wall street occupiers might think. one group not heavily targeted yesterday is congress, but they might be soon with this fact.

media net worth for a member of congress is just over $900,000, with a good number worth hundreds of millions of dollars. curious if you're a 1%? by family income you would have to make over 1.1 million according to 2008 data. 10%ers, you will need 164,000. all the rest are the bottom 90%ers, 31,244. the 1 percenters, no matter who they are, the wealth has pushed the u.s. income equality ranking behind countries like china, russia and iran. let's go over to new york city, and, mara, as we talk about this 1%, the 1 percenters that the occupy wall streeters have been talking about in new york city, how have they started to adjust their strategy? have they moved outside that area. >> it's a good question and it's a question we talk to them about every day in terms of their strategy moving forward. their argument has been that

this is organic this is grassroots. somebody said to me one day it's like water, you just have to let it flow. their logic is that's been working for them thus far, so they will keep allowing it to work that way. what we have seen since the beginning is that outside groups will plan protests, rallies, demonstrations outside groups that have similar interest to occupy wall street groups. then they will join forces. that's what we saw with the labor union rally that was big a few weeks back. today there will be a protest auction at sotheby's, that is not being organized by occupy wall street but they are expecting support from the occupy wall street group. that's the kind of thing we've seen happen and that we expect to see happen which is outside groups with similar interests planning events so they can hop on. another question we have been asking are what do you want? what are your goals? they are holding daily think-tank meetings where they can sit around talk about the

ideas and issues that are most important to them. they have an idea box where people can come by and write on a note card what they think is most important. they are doing this so they can get a better sense of what's important to the people gathered here. this is a group that governses by consensus. nothing gets done or officially issued unless the entire group agrees. so they're trying to get to a point where they can figure out what's important to everyone and determine how to best move forward from there. >> i heard they discuss some of these issues in what is called the general assembly. sometimes they have hundreds or thousands of people there. i can't imagine how challenging that might be. thank you. new hampshire now stands alone as the state with the only unscheduled primary. last night iowa republican party officials voted to hold their state caucuses on january 3rd. they were ridge faultily scheduled for february 6th. the chaos all started late september when florida officials moved the date of their primary to january 31st. what does rick perry need do to

win support in tonight's battleground in vegas? he was the candidate republicans agreed with the most a month ago, but today he is number three behind mitt romney and he admitted debates are not his thing. kerry dann covers the perry campaign and joins us from nevada. good day to you. as we look at the perry campaign, as they are now concentrating on the debate tonight what does he need do differently. >> one thing that i think rick perry needs to do is bring energy to his debate performance. his advisers say last week's debate in hanover, new hampshire, wasn't a poor performance for him but critics said he seemed lethargic or he wasn't honing in on his points. he did something immediately after that with college students, and he was very animated. he had a lot of energy. they have to figure out how to

channel that energy into his debate performance tonight. >> as you spent time with the staffers, how have they been preparing differently for tonight's debate? what are they telling you? >> well, they changed their debate strategy preparation strategy before the last debate they had stand-ins for various candidates. one thing that could work in perry's favor is that he's been preparing policy addresses. this is something they rolled out in recent days. on friday in pittsburgh, they did an address based on energy and job creation. they will do another one in a couple weeks. that's something that perry will have at the front of his mind and something they're preparing to have him talk about at length, his jobs record. >> how are they feeling? confident here? >> i think that going into another debate, one thing that the campaign probably wouldn't tell you, but going into this debate, the expectations for perry are not particularly high, because of his -- his debate performances in the past so a solid performance here could do

a lot to boost the confidence of people who want to support him but want to see a strong performance from him tonight. >> our nbc inbed there, carrie dann, thank. an israeli soldier is released after being held captive for five years in exchange for hundreds of palestinian prisoners what this move could mean for mideast peace. and michele bachmann has been losing some support in the race for president, but her supporters say the vase not over yet. [ male announcer ] humana and walmart have teamed up to bring you a low-priced medicare prescription drug plan.

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to a child with spinal cord or brain malformations. after five years, an imprisoned israeli shoulder is back home after a prisoner swap. throngs of palestinians taking to the streets to celebrate the release of 1,000 of their prisoners in exchange for gilad salit's release. the 25-year-old sergeant appeared gaunt and sallow today after a meeting with prime minister netanyahu and an emotional reunion with his parents. john ray has the latest from tel aviv. >> reporter: well, gilad salit is back home with his parents tonight. outside his home, wild celebrations from his neighbors. we got a flavor today that a prisoner exchange is not the same as a peace deal in israel and palestine. we were at one checkpoint awaiting the handover of prisoners, instead it descended into rocks being hurled by

palestinian youths and tear gas fired back by israeli forces. indeed there are many here who say that this deal strengthens the hand of the israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu who has been criticized for being intransigent when it comes to peace and it strengthens the hands of hamas, thetured gilad . it strengthens their hand, and some say this deal today pushes back the cause of peace. >> john, gilad shalit, he was the focus of a long-term conflict in the middle east and israel. >> that's right. this is a soldier whose plight has touched the heart of the nation in a very real way. remember israel has a conscript

army, almost every family sends a son or daughter into the army. the problem they have been wrestling with here is what is the price of one man's freedom? we got the answer today. more than 1,000 palestinian prisoners, even those who support the deal are uncomfortable with that price. >> john ray, thank you for the latest. sidebar now, herman cain's book is burning up the best seller list, in part because herman cain keeps buying so many himself. the cain presidential campaign purchased about $36,000 worth of those books. the campaign is purchasing the books from his motivational speaking company, that is herman cain the candidate is buying the books from herman cain the motivational speaker it could mean campaign contributions are moving from campaign pockets to cain's own pockets. and the president's teleprompter may be missing.

thieves stole a truck, inside, the teleprompter and some presidential seals. the truck has been recovered. the defense department is now investigating that. and its campaign bus trash talk. john mccain says the president's campaign bus is ugly. worse mccain says the president is traveling on a bus made in canada, while touting a jobs bill for americans. did you like john mccain's straight talk campaign bus from 2000? a bit better? some picture there's for you. it's been transformed into michele bachmann's campaign bus. the bus was bought by the secret service. no one mentioned sarah palin's fancy tour bus in that conversation yet. woman: we love ordering sushi, but it was getting expensive. so to save some money... man: looks great, hun... woman: ...and we're not real proud of this. man: no...we're not. woman: we...um... teen: have you guys seen captain stewie and lil' miss neptune? dad: did you look all over the place? under your desk? all around? teen: uh, they're fish, they live in a bowl.

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on august 13th, michele bachmann took the ames straw poll and positioned herself as a

front-runner, two months later she is in the low to single digits. the congresswoman is pressing on. joining us is bachmann campaign press secretary, alice stewart. thanks for joining us right now. >> great to be with you. >> yesterday michele bachmann had a town hall meeting, donald trump appeared via telephone conference on that but there was no endorsement from him at that time. meanwhile. mitt romney is being endorsed by people like chris christie. isn't the gulf of the top tier candidates just that, and congressman bachmann here growing larger? >> endorsements are fantastic. it's great to have endorsements from people like chris christie, but it's more important to have the votes. as you mentioned, august 13th we won the straw poll, which is the first good indicator of how a candidate stands with the open electorate, as opposed to other straw polls have been with a

specific group. since that time we have expanded our operations in iowa. we plan to spend quite a bit of time in iowa. the polls that matter are the iowa straw poll, as we get closer to the caucuses and primaries, we will meter single person that we can michelle will do what she does best, and that is talk politics. she loves to meet people and speak with them. she will do that up through the caucuses and the primaries. you are talking about the poll numbers now, we have people at this point in 2008, we had fred thompson and rudy giuliani leading the polls, and mike huck by was trailing the polls and things quickly turned around. >> let's talk about the money situation. you have to hate it and love it at the same time but you need it for an effective campaign, you know that best. in the last quarter you brought in over $4 million but spent over 6 million. if michele bachmann is the true conservative, why aren't more

true conservatives throwing in the cash to help her. >> we are continuing to meet as many people as we can. as far as fund-raising efforts, we are right on target. we brought in over $4 million in the third quarter, which is critical. certainly more money would be better, what we will do is we have a great team we have committed people, we have teams already in place in iowa, south carolina, new hampshire, and we have the finances we need in order for michele to continue to do what she does best. >> one issue here, when we look at first debate, she came out so strongly, widely praised in her first gop debate what has happened since then? what are you going do differently tonight to try to regain that point? >> well, michele has had tremendous debate performances in each and every debate. the point of the debates is to show the contrast between the candidates. that's what she will do this evening. we released a new jobs and economy framework earlier this

week, real jobs right now. she'll flesh that out. these are ideas that will improve the economy and create jobs this is not a tax plan. this is a framework for improving the economy, which will create an environment for creating jobs. >> we'll see how it works out tonight. best of luck to you tonight. alice stewart, thank you for your time. president obama is on the second leg of his bus tour through two crucial swing states, north carolina and virginia. after leaving north carolina, he is now heading to virginia. later today he will give a speech at a high school. christiris comparisons are being made between this bus tour and the one the president took in august in the midwest. we know you are utilizing some new technology and the signal stays strong, but what's different this time around? >> reporter: richard, that's right.

this bus tour feels a little bit different because it seems like the president is now firmly planted in campaign mode. he's been really hammering congressional republicans. yesterday, today, different spots in north carolina. basically painting them as the party of wall street, big business, lashing out at them for not passing his jobs bill. he, of course, has been pressing congress to now pass a portion of his jobs bill, $35 billion component that he says would put teachers as well as first responders back to work. we are night now in a bus heading to his next campaign stop which will be in emporia, virginia. we have been in north carolina this entire time. both of these are important battleground states, but virginia is particularly interesting. no democrat had won that state since 1964. president obama did it in 2008. he's trying to hold on to that state in 2012 but his approval ratings are dropping there so it

will certainly be a challenge. >> kristen welker, thank you very much. i'm richard lui, thanks for watching. up next "andrea mitchell reports." coming up next, republican presidential candidate jon huntsman joins us live from new hampshire to tell us why he is boycotting tonight's debate in las vegas. and we will talk about herman cain's night in the hot seat. and with president obama bussing to virginia, we will talk with virginia governor bob mcdonald and debbie wasserman shultz. "andrea mitchell reports live" up next.

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