push to break the national effort to curb union rights. we'll talk to afl-cio president richard trumpka. battle of the sexes. herman cain will hold a press conference today to battle the latest harassment claims after joking about it last night. >> at least it was not one of the many that have the first name anonymous. >> and close encounter of the nonpolitical kind. an asteroid as big as an aircraft carrier is about to make its closest flyby over earth in 200 years. good day. i'm andrea mitchell live in washington. welcome to super tuesday. 12 months to go and counting. msnbc contributor and managing editor of post politics.com, chris cillizza joins us with the daily fix, a year out. we've looked at the polls. what we're seeing now is that republican voters have mitt romney and herman cain basically tied with newt gingrich a close third and rick perry is the news falling way behind.

>> let me first say i'm very excited because i love election days. and so we have an election day. we're 12 months away. we're actually about 60 days away from the iowa caucuses on january 3rd. to your point, this race is still incredibly slow to develop. it looks like we have a top tier at the moment that is mitt romney. that's no news. he's been in the top tier throughout. and herman cain. you know, i think the herman cain, the allegations, the press conference, sharon bialek coming out yesterday with her allegations have overshadowed another huge story line which is rick perry is nowhere. this is a guy who in august was at 38% in the 2012 hypothetical matchup. he's at 10%. that's the same territory as ron paul, below newt gingrich. can rick perry come back? he's got the money. we've always assumed that meant he had a chance. but you know, did his first impression -- was it so lasting,

so negative with a lot of voters who were excited about him that he can't fix the problem? i think that's an emerging story line. >> chris cillizza, 12 months out and less than two months from iowa and we'll talk to you later about all the other implications. thanks so much. chris cillizza with our daily fix. and the question of when life begins is being put to a vote in mississippi. the so-called personhood amendment could trigger a legal battle over everything from abortion to birth control. pete williams has more. >> if it passes, it would be the toughest anti-abortion law in the nation by far. not merely restricting access, but outlawing it. the initiative would change the state's definition of a person, someone entitled to legal protection to include, quote, every human being from the moment of fertilization. advocates say medical science has come a long way since the

u.s. supreme court decided roe v. wade 38 years ago. they say it makes sense now to define life as the moment of conception. >> the technology that has advanced today demands that we change our minds. >> reporter: while some doctors in the state favor the proposal, many are against it. the state medical society declined to support it saying it could make it a crime for doctors who try to save a mother endangered by a problem pregnancy. opponents say it would out law not only abortion but morning after pills and some other forms of birth control and would discourage in vitro fertilization by banning the destruction of leftover embryos. advocates for women's rights vow to challenge it in court. >> this is an extreme measure to take away their rights to make decisions for themselves about using contraception, access to abortion services and fertility services. >> polls show the state closely

divided. it's so broadly worded, it's confusing. >> there's no question that the wording down here is what concerns people, not the idea that life begins at conception but that the wording of it is. >> and pete is live for us at the supreme court. pete, this eventually could end up at the supreme court if it passes. what are the legal implications of this vote down the road? >> well, clearly the people wanting this to pass in mississippi today hope that it will get here. they want this to be the vehicle to ask the supreme court to revisit roe v. wade. but it may not make it all the way here. here's the reason, andrea. it does seem a fair guess that if this does pass, the lower courts will put it on hold because it is so clearly at odds with the roe v. wade decision. the supreme court said there has to be a right of access to abortion. this state constitution would cut that off in mississippi. but no one should assume if the lower courts strike it down that the supreme court would take the case. the best guess here is that there are still five votes on the supreme court, including

anthony kennedy to stay with the core holding of roe v. wade. there's no indcation that the supreme court is itching once again to revisit roe v. wade and possibly overturn that ruling. so if the lower courts do strike it down, it may not make it here. >> pete williams who has made it there on a gorgeous fall day at the supreme court. thank you for helping us out with this. and the personhood amendment is only one of three mississippi ballot issues in the spotlight today. one would require residents to show a government-issued photo i.d. before being allowed to vote. another would put an end to the government's right to take private property by eminent domain and transfer it to others. and, of course, that's on top of the governor's race pitting republican lieutenant governor phil brian against democrat johnny dupri. the election is to replace haley barbour who is term limited. governor barbour joins me now. you have a lot on the ballot in mississippi. it's really a key test vote today on a lot of issues.

let's talk about personhood first. you expressed some discomfort. you talked about some kinds of pregnancies which could become a real problem here where surgeons would have to deal with it. what about the legal ramifications of this? and why are you supporting it? >> well, it does concern me. i think that it is unnecessarily ambiguous. it could have said life begins at conception, period. i don't understand why it has cloning in it. cloning is already illegal in mississippi. and then it mentions, or the equivalent thereof. does that mean in vitro infertilization? i was assured by physicians that there is no question that doctors would have the right to take -- to do an abortion if the life of the mother was at risk as with an ectopic pregnancy, where the, say, the fertilized

egg implanted in the fallopian tube because you'd be talking about two lives then. frankly, i wish they had taken this up with the legislature. this is one of the most pro-life states in the country. there are many pro-life voters who are concerned about this. i ended up voting for it because i do believe life begins at conception. but i think there are a lot of other pro-life voters who won't. therefore, it's not going to be a very good test. and the people in colorado who wrote this and imported it into mississippi because we are such a pro-life state would have been better to try to get our legislature to pass it because i think they would have ironed out the wrinkles and then passed it overwhelmingly. >> now let me ask you more broadly about the republican race a year out. the nbc news/"wall street journal" poll has mitt romney at 28. newt gingrich coming up from behind at 13. and ron paul at 10. rick perry down at 10. first of all, rick perry. he's really collapsed in the polling. do you still see him as a viable

candidate? >> i do. i think very mistaken to think that rick perry's rocky start and he sort of stumbled out of the gates means that he doesn't have a chance to win the nomination. i think he does. governor of a very large state with an outstanding record. he's got to recover from his stumbles, but i think that's doable. what these allegations with herman cain, what the facts turn out to be, got to have more to do with herman cain's viability than anything. and i noticed one of your people on tv, i think it was chris, said that this is a slowly developing race. and i think it is. the news media wants it to develop a heck of a lot faster than the republican voters do. a lot of candidates who had outstanding records in what they've done, but are not very well known, andrea. that the average republican voter knows little about at the start. so they are trying to learn about them. and i think that explains why you see these fights for people in the polls.

mitt romney on the other hand, who is the best known, has kind of set where he is and, frankly, that people are trying the other brands first. they feel like, i already know something about romney. let me learn about these others. >> one of the brands, you mentioned herman cain. one of the things you said to national review online about the allegations is if there is any substance to the claims if the american people believe that somebody abused women, they are not going to elect him or her president. if this were taken as being true and people believe it's true, then i don't think that can be overcome. and you've advocated for him getting out the facts. he brushed back -- he's had several opportunities right away. go ahead, sir. >> the other thing, you did mention that i said is, we have no idea of what the truth of this is. >> right. >> you know, the question was, if it is true. okay. but we don't know that it's true. and there are millions and millions of voters who right now don't believe it's true. >> well, but the other thing that you said was that he should

get the information out. he is having a press conference today. i don't know if he's following your advice. he could have gotten the information out 10, 11 days ago when he was first -- well, even before that, 20 days ago when he first heard about the politico and other reporters looking into it. but that said if he gets it all out this afternoon at his news conference at 5:00 eastern, and if people continue to believe him, is he a viable candidate? >> well, you just put a bunch of ifs in that question. >> sure. >> but if he gets all the cards on the table face up. and then if people are comfortable with him and that these allegations are either unfounded or they are based on conduct that is not abusive, but maybe was wrongly suggestive, but depending on what people believe the facts are, that will determine the viability. i think it is smart for him to do what he didn't do at the beginning, and that's get everything out. get all the facts in front of

people. otherwise, he's got to have this continuing distraction. and barack obama has got to just be as happy as he can be that all the air time for the last week or so in american politics, none of it has been about jobs, the economy, obama's policies, the record that he's made. because obama can't run on his record. but if all the press coverage is about herman cain did this, said that, then that's to obama's benefit. >> and just circling back briefly to mitt romney, eric erickson wrote about romney. mitt romney is not the george w. bush of 2012. he's the harriet miers of 2012. only conservative because a few conservative grand pooh-bahs tell us he's conservative. his campaign will be a disaster for conservatives as he takes the gop down with him and burns up what it means to be a conservative in the process. do you agree or disagree?

>> well, i agree that mitt romney is not as conserve of a as eric ericsson. but he's a lot more conservative than barack obama. and i think that if he is our nominee, conservatives will unite behind mitt romney basra back obbarack obama is the grea uniter of lots of independents and moderates who think our country is going in the wrong direction at warp speed and they know we've got to change the direction of this country. even if it means electing a president who is not as conservative as i am or not as conservative as that voter may be. >> any regrets that you didn't get into this? >> not really. you know, i've lived my life, andrea. make a decision and don't look back. >> okay. and after this election that takes place because you're term limited. you could be re-elected for life

in mississippi if you -- if there were some other law. what's next for haley barbour? >> well, my wife thinks it would be interested if i go to work for money. the concept that we haven't undertaken in the last eight years. i asked marsha in 2002 when i was thinking about running for governor. i asked what do you think about a 90% pay cut? i am going to do everything i can to make sure we have a new republican president. and i'm not going to take any money for doing that. but i automatic the other part of my time i'll have to work for money. >> okay. well, he'll be out on the job market soon. thank you very much, governor. good to see you. >> thank you, andrea. and mad as hell. how can president obama win over an angry electorate. susan page and mark halperin coming up. and the battle over union rights in ohio with afl-cio president rich trumpka. send me your

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president obama still has strong support from his base, but our nbc news/"wall street journal" poll shows there are troubling signs for the obama campaign in the middle of the country. especially with independent voters. susan page is washington bureau chief for "usa today" and mark halperin is an msnbc senior political analyst and editor in large of "time" magazine and joins us from chicago where mark, i understand you've been meeting with people in the obama campaign. so let's go to you first. what is their concern or level of concern about our polling and the other polling which shows that he is losing independent

voters? >> they are concerned about it, but i find them on balance to be relatively optimistic. they see in their likely republican opponent mitt romney or any of the other republicans someone who will be on the wrong side of issues like medicare and taxing the wealthy if you believe the public opinion polls, which they do. they see strong support from hispanic voters and path to 270 electoral votes, even if they don't do as well with independent voters as they did last time, when they did very well. >> all the polling is showing the president, even though he's winning in these matchups has soft support among some of the most important parts of his constituency. >> that's right. and big problems with places where democrats usually do pretty well. in those big industrial states in the rust belt. >> michigan, pennsylvania. >> right, ohio. these are states that winning democratic presidential candidates usually carry and count on carrying. president obama is not in very good shape in those states and has a problem connect with the

voters that three years ago were voting for hillary clinton over him when he managed to win the nomination. they have several pathways to get to 270 votes but they are relying on some states that haven't always been part of the democratic coalition, like the states in the mountain west and even some southern states like north carolina and virginia. >> some of the matchups from our polling, first of all, the president is upside down. the disapproval -- high disapproval among key demographics. 56% disapproval from independents. when you look at romney versus obama if one were to assume that romney has the best chances of being the nominee. romney 47%, obama, 34%. mark, those some are troubling signs. i know that there is an antidote to that and romney has his own problems among his base. but that's a steep climb. >> well, they are certainly troubling signs in the poll. it's the best poll in the

country. you can cherry pick certain things out and say the president has a real challenge. but he is winning in the head-to-heads. and given the economy, given some of the underlying weaknesses he has there, the fact that he's winning in the head-to-heads against all the republicans, including mitt romney is an encouraging sign for them. and what they see as a nominating process that is still playing out and in which mitt romney is being moved further to the right on a range of issues, that will matter a lot to independent voters n hispanic voters. another key group. so they don't see no danger out there. but as i say, i find them surprisingly confident in the end when they make a dhirks can talk about parts of the president's record and parts of romney's positions from the past and from this campaign and, like i said, i think they can win that. not as easily as they won last time but with a comfortable enough margin that this is not an absolute nail-biter. >> now we've only got seconds left. but to both of you veteran bill clinton watchers, what impact will the former president have

with these implied criticisms of the obama record? first to you, susan. >> could be helpful with those voters we were talking about. i know people in the white house worry about the contrast of this president that presided over boom times giving advice to his successor who seems to be struggling. that is not very helpful to president obama. >> mark halperin, this is classic clinton. >> it's a book he cares a lot about so he's out there selling it. i think he'll be a help to barack obama and joe biden. he'll be out on the trail, help them raise money and this little flap over the stuff in the book won't matter to those swing voters. bill clinton will make clear, barack obama versus a republican -- >> and all those folks at the chicago headquarters will grin and bear it and in the white house. mark halperin, susan page, always great to have you with us. can herman cain weather the latest claims.

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responsibility. what's your policy? herman cain said he wouldn't talk any more about the sexual harassment accusations. you wouldn't know it from his schedule these days. on late night television he didn't address the substance of the issues but did defend himself by invoking his wife gloria. >> you know what she said to me when i called her? she said, the things that that woman described, she said, that doesn't even sound like you, and i've known you for 45 years. my own wife said that i wouldn't do anything as silly as what that lady was talking about. >> now there's a defense. at 5:00 eastern, he is expected to hold a news conference and respond to the latest allegations. jonathan martin is a senior political reporter for politico. and, of course, broke the story in the first place.

jonathan, the latest accuser, the one woman who was -- who came out, bialek, she was on the "today" show. let's take a look at sharon bialek responding today about the question about all of the cain camp's accusations that she does not have credibility. >> is your coming forward a part of any kind of financial motivation? >> absolutely not. and you know what? i had spoken to gloria about this before. there's no -- there were no skeletons in my closet. >> also important to know she could have sold her story. she has has financial difficulty. >> point taken. >> she wants to just tell the truth. >> that, of course, was sharon bialek and celebrity attorney gloria allred on the "today" show with ann curry. how does this play out today? what do you expect to come from herman cain at his news conference? they've been issuing statements attacking miss bialek's credibility all day. >> the latest statement we've got from the cain campaign is a

pretty detailed indictment of her character. and they cite chapter and verse from the cook county court records about her challenges, even a paternity suit. so i think that sets the stage for similar kind of accusations for mr. cain during his news conference at 5:00 eastern today out in arizona. what's going to be interesting is after he does this, i assume he'll have a prepared statement. the questions that he gets, how does he respond to the questions about what exactly did happen that evening? did he upgrade her suite? what was a married man doing, you know, upgrading this woman's suite going out to dinner with her, being in a car with her afterwards. so there are questions about this, but also questions about the other women that have also emerged in this that have yet to be answered. so what i'm curious about is the q&a part of today's news conference. >> how he handles it especially

given the way he's handled questions until now and even officially with you when you first asked him about these questions. jonathan martin. to be continued. and the union fight in ohio. will it be labor's last stand? afl-cio president rick trumpka next here. ay -- well... 'cause i could pay a little at a time... that would work. actually we do -- the kids would just be like, "no way, awesome!" we -- we do! all that! layaway baby! [ male announcer ] layaway's back for christmas in our toys, electronics, and jewelry departments. is the pain reliever orthopedic doctors recommend most for arthritis pain, think again. and take aleve. it's the one doctors recommend most for arthritis pain... two pills can last all day. ♪ [ cellphone rings ] cut! [ monica ] i have a small part in a big movie. i thought we'd be on location for 3 days, it's been 3 weeks. so, i used my citi simplicity card to pick up a few things.

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who will be in the running to replace former democratic congressman david wu. wu left congress after allegations of a sexual encounter with a teenage girl. in addition, that state is rolling out its ipad voting system for the first time aimed at hope disabled residents who might have problems marking their paper ballot. in from the tea feature occupy wall street, more and more americans see themselves as part of a populist movement. so what are the implications for 2012 in the general election? bob shrum is a democratic strategist and former republican congressman vin weber is a special adviser to the romney campaign. both join us now. bob shrum, first to you, you see and you have called for more populism. you've been talk bing for the president to be more progressive and reaching out to the mood in the country. but can it go too far. could it turn against the white house, especially with what we're seeing with occupy wall street with him being blamed by a lot of people for the problems

that we're experiencing? >> yeah, i don't see him being blamed at all for occupy wall street. what in my columns on the week.com, what i've argued is that the president has to pose a fundamental choice. he has to say, i'm fighting for you. he has to ask people who is on your side. now if you go down the issues, for example, whether or not we should have a tax increase on the wealthiest americans, that's about two-thirds of the country agrees with him. that we should protect medicare instead of voucherizing it as romney and paul ryan want to do. then we should protect social security, protect education and have long-term deficit reduction and long-term investment in job creation. he's on the right side. and that's the reason i think despite the approval numbers in your polling, you see him leading romney by six points and every other republican by much more. >> but at the same time, vin weber, what we're seeing is mitt romney, your favorite candidate, still not able to break out of 24, 25, 27%.

28% in the polling. and so much energy with tea party candidates and other candidates who are -- i mean, the herman cain movement is the latest expression of that. >> i look at that differently because maybe i'm biased, which i am. every other candidate has fallen, collapsed at one point. mitt romney has always held steady and the story is romney is not doing better? i think it's the opposite. i think mitt romney is the one guy in this race that's managed to hold his support throughout. and by the way, both "the wall street journal" and "washington post" surveys have shown that the notion that romney can't rise above this or that he's objectionable to a large swath of the republican electorate is just not true. he's a high second choice among people that are for other candidates and according to "the washington post" has a very small percentage of republicans who say they couldn't vote for him. he's really doing quite well. >> bob shrum, to you, how does the president succeed in a year when three-quarters of americans don't like his economic -- his

economic programs. 76% believe that the economic structure of the country is out of balance. there's a real anger out there. and that is not good for incumbents. >> well, that's right. that's why he can't run a conventional campaign to just go around and blame bush because as al gore once said, elections aren't a reward for past performance. you have to have a future offer for people. he's going to go out there and say here's what i'm fighting for n, by the way if you ask that question about, did they like his economic policies, they don't like the economic results right now. but most of the elements of his jobs plan have overwhelming support. his tax proposals have overwhelming support. and that fundamental issue of who is going to stand up and fight for ordinary hard-working and out of work americans, i think he can do pretty well. by the way, i think vin is right. the real news in this poll, and chris cillizza said it earlier was that rick perry, who was the greatest threat to romney is in terrible trouble. it's not just his numbers if the

horse race. it's the fact that he has very high disapproval among republicans. romney is probably going to win this thing as the remainder man, the one guy who doesn't fall apart during the process. >> does that open the way -- does all the anger and the fact that there is still no buy in by the conservatives to mitt romney, the support for the tea party that we see in the poll, 25%. support for populist movements, does that sort of show the possibility of a third party candidate coming up this spring? >> i agree there's a lot of anger at the extremes of both parties. there's a populist anger on the left that's not satisfied with president obama and a populist anger on the right that seems not to be settled with anybody in the republican field. i think they'll all come home to their respective parties. bob is an expert on this more than i am. it's very difficult to launch a third party effort unless you have somebody that can finance it themselves like ross perot. so i think it's going to be probably an angry, divisive two-party election, but a

two-party election. >> although, bob shrum, a third party candidate, a third candidate with the ralph nader experience, as you know so well, it doesn't have to be a broadly successful movement to hurt one or another of the major party candidates. >> no one knows that better than i do except al gore. look. i think there's a possibility that you'll see ron paul who right now sounds like he won't support romney. decide to go out there and run as a third party candidate. there's going to be a lot of dissatisfaction in the republican -- >> but, bob, he ruled that out pretty decisively on sunday morning. >> i understand that, but depending on where this thing goes, i think this could be -- romney is either going to win this fast go into iowa, win it. go to new hampshire, win it and then i think all the dominos will fall or this could be a protracted process. >> i think that that's right. i will say, of course the romney campaign would like to win it early. unite the party and focus on president obama. but they are organized and prepared for a long, drawn out

campaign, just as bob suggested if it comes to that. mitt romney is better able to fight that kind of a fight than any of the other candidates. >> the good news there is that i get to visit with you, vin weber and you, bob shrum as the months go ahead. >> bob you don't have to be in another studio when i'm around. we get along. >> great to see you, vin. ed thanks, andrea. it's a battle over big labor in ohio as voters decide whether or not to roll back collective bargaining rights for many of the state's unionized workers from police and firefighters to teachers and prison guards. rich trumka is the president of the nation's largest union, the afl-cio and joins me now. well, as the head of the afl-cio, you are -- are you going to be able to roll back that ballot initiative today? >> i feel pretty certain that we're going to do that, andrea. there's a lot of energy on the ground here. the volunteers have been coming out. we did over 7,000 man shifts of

door knocks yesterday. we made over 430,000 phone calls yesterday. the energy is tremendous. and everybody is feeling pretty confident. it's a beautiful day in the state of ohio. so there's no reason for people not to come out to vote. there was a big vote early vote system. so we feel pretty good right now. the workers here have done a tremendous job of saying enough is enough. we're not going to allow you to take away our rights and our ladder into the middle class. >> now the polling suggests that you've got a lot of wind behind you. but polling in an off-year election is notoriously imprecise. what are the implications if labor loses this? let's just talk about all of the setbacks that labor has experienced over this past year. >> i don't think that's going to happen. i think that we're going to have a big victory here today because of working folks in ohio came out to say no to issue two. and it's not just union folks. it's students who were here. it's people from small business that are here. all of them are saying that this

governor's radical agenda has overreached. they don't want him taken away. rights from people. they want him to do what they send him in office to do and that's create jobs and create an economy that really works for everybody and not just the people at the top. >> rich, what is labor going to do for barack obama. he hasn't been enough in your corner, according to many union workers, and with unemployment this high, you are in ohio, in neighboring michigan, as well as pennsylvania. we're showing poll numbers that show there's a new lean toward republican in michigan and pennsylvania. without michigan and pennsylvania, barack obama is not going to get re-elected. >> i didn't hear what you said. i'm sorry about pennsylvania and michigan? >> the fact is that michigan and pennsylvania now are leaning republican, were leaning more republican or in toss-up, depending on which battleground state poll you look at. and the bottom line is that labor is such an important component of a re-election victory for president obama. what are you going to do with

unemployment this high and the lack of enthusiasm for him among your rank and file? >> well, first of all, it's a long way to the election day. and this isn't the end of this fight. this is just the beginning of the fights we have for the next year. we'll have the overreaching by a lot of these governors. the more they overreach in the state, they'll decide which side they're on. they'll decide whether they are on the side of average people and want to create an economy that works for everybody or they're going to decide that they want to be on the side of the rich and do more payback to people like the koch brothers and to the ceos that have contributed a lot. barack obama has stood solidly on the side of job creation and that's what they are looking for, and that's getting traction. we'll get to that fight next year. but right now, we have this fight to fight. we have -- we'll have more right after the first of the year because these governors, republican governors particularly, are going to continue to overreach and try to take things away from workers

instead of creating jobs the way they should. >> rich trumka, thank you very much from the afl krf-cio. tonight, don't miss "the ed show" live from columbus with the latest on the state's vote on senate bill five. the nation's mayors up in arms over the lack of action on jobs. los angeles mayor antonio villaraigosa joining us next. plus, a special election in iowa has become the battleground for the latest fight over same-sex marriage. democrats are trying to hold on to their one seat majority in the statehouse. if they lose, republicans could use it as an opportunity to overturn the state's approval of gay marriage. and the author of arizona's controversial immigration law, state senator russell speers also facing a recall election today. his opponent, jerry lewis, says the measure has unfairly labeled the state as a bastion of intolerance. [ male announcer ] tom's discovering that living healthy can be fun.

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freestyle lite test strips. call or click today. hi, everyone. i'm tamron hall. coming up on "news nation" at 2:00, we continue our super tuesday coverage. herman cain will hold a news conference addressing the series of sexual harassment allegations against him. is cain under pressure from some republicans who say his scandal is hurting the party and potentially helping president obama? our news nation political panel will join us live to talk about that. plus, the president's continued strong support from african-americans. will it make a difference a year from now? i'll also talk with reince priebus. plus a new national debate over abortion rights if a new controversial amendment on what defines a person is passed. i'll talk with ira carmen from salon.com who says this is a moment of truth.

los angeles has an unemployment rate of more than 12%. but mayor antonio villaraigosa has a new proposal to try to get people back to work. i spoke with the mayor earlier today about one of his newest ideas, cutting taxes for auto dealers in l.a. >> well, we've lost about 95 dealers over the last 30 or so years. and what this would do is provide an incentive to bring some of them back. we think that we've got to be competitive with the region and that's one way to do it. we're also doing a lot to beef up and modernize our airports, spending about $4 billion at that airport. more than a billion dollars at the port. we're focused on job creation, on leveling the playing field and putting people back to work. and as you know, we've passed a half penny sales tax that will generate $40 billion over a 30-year period of time to double the size of our rail system and

invest in our infrastructure. >> i know you support business tax holidays, let's say start with the auto dealers. but according to most economic models these are short-term fixes, that in the long term they don't really create jobs, don't really bring business back. >> well, that's why we are investing more than $44 billion, 40,000 jobs at the airport. we're focused on the long term and the short term because we recognize that if cities don't roll up their sleeves and put -- make the effort to create jobs with washington doing so little, we don't have a lot to work with. >> speaking of washington doing so little, in our latest nbc news/"wall street journal" poll, exactly a year out from election day, three-quarters, 74% of americans, those polled, do not believe that the president is living up to expectations on the economy. he's fallen short. >> well, look.

when you have an unemployment rate as high as it is, when so many people are out of work, when millions have lost their home due to foreclosure, people are going to be upset. they have a right to be. the president knows that. that's why he put forth a common sense jobs agenda. that's why he's working across the aisle to try to create the jobs that we need to put people back to work and get the economy going again. but it takes two to tango and two dance. and unfortunately, every time the president makes a proposal, there hasn't been a lot of support on the other side. >> what do you think of bill clinton's criticism in his new book that the president should not have proposed what he did. he should have in fact, gone for the debt ceiling early when he had, you know, democrats controlling both houses in congress. that he should have been much more force before the midterm elections. do you thing president has created some of his own problems? >> well, i got to hear some of the president's interview this

morning. and i didn't see him as critical as that. >> well, the book is somewhat critical. >> i haven't had an opportunity to read it. but i will say this. look. a lot of mistakes are made in the made in the course of being a leader and particularly the leader of the nation in the free world and a very complicated one. i think the president would own up to things he might do differently, but the president has done a good job given how partisan the congress is divided with republicans in charge of the house. it's been very difficult to get things that even ronald reagan and republicans over the last 50 years have supported. that's what's made this particularly difficult. >> we have to leave it there. thank you so much. great to see you from los angeles. >> thank you.

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from real people... 5-year price-lock guarantees... consistently fast speeds... and more ways to customize your technology. ♪ >> which political story will be making headlines in the next hour. political junkie chris joins us again. >> it's true. >> the next 24 hours, chris christie hitting the trail for mitt romney. the first time out as a surrogate. >> the first time since a surprise endorsement given how early it was. they will be in new hampshire and going to a debate watch party which of course allows me

to plug msnbc's sister network, cnbc hosting another presidential debate tomorrow night. it matters for mitt romney and there not a lot of endorsements that matter. chris cristy is a big presence and he will get huge coverage in new hampshire. we are talking about him on a well-regarded national cable television show. this guy is a significant figure and helps romney. maybe helps romney on the tea party end where he needs the help and needs to convince the people he may not be the first choice, but he's the best choice. >> thanks so much. we will be in michigan. that does it for us. tomorrow we are on the road in michigan ahead of the debate with michigan party chairman and democratic party chairman debbie wassermann schultz. tamron has a look at what's next on this super tuesday.

>> it is a super one. thank you very much. in our next hour, herman cain will hold a news conference and take questions on the sexual harassment allegations against him. our "news nation" panel will weigh in on what cain needs to say to get himself out of the desperate situation. from one candidate to another, is it over for rick perry. new indication that perry could be in political quick sand. people in mississippi are casting votes in two big races amount of battle over abortion and a voter id law and both could have big implications nationally. "news nation" is minutes away. come with a cough that stays even after i treat... [ male announcer ] truth is, most sinus formulas don't treat a cough. really? [ male announcer ] alka-seltzer plus sinus liquid gels fights sinus symptoms plus cough. you're good. [ male announcer ] thanks. that's the cold truth!

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for a hot dog cart. my mother said, "well, maybe we ought to buy this hot dog cart and set it up someplace." so my parents went to bank of america. they met with the branch manager and they said, "look, we've got this little hot dog cart, and it's on a really good corner. let's see if we can buy the property." and the branch manager said, "all right, i will take a chance with the two of you." and we've been loyal to bank of america for the last 71 years. >> right now on "news nation," cain's strategy 24 hours ever a woman accuse said him of sexual harassment and touching her, they are using that woman's troubled financial past as a reason for why she came