myself very much in that we, we can be civil and even cordial. when so much matters to share an evening that not necessarily decides the fate of this world. i say this as someone who thinks that this election could. thanks for joining us. "politicsnation" with al sharpton starts right now. >> thanks, chris. and thanks to you for tuning in. i'm coming to you live tonight from philadelphia. tonight's lead, undercover boss. we know mitt romney is the candidate for the 1%. his tax plan is a handout to ceos, to the people in the quiet rooms. his policies are geared towards those who are most well off. we know that. but now we are learning something else and it raises the question of whether he and some prominent ceos are trying to scare workers in this election. in a newly surfaced conference call to a business group, mr. romney spent many minutes

criticizing president obama. then, he is heard urging employers to tell their workers how to vote. >> i hope you make it very clear to your employees what you believe is in the best interest of your enterprise and therefore their job and their future in the upcoming elections. >> what is in the best interest of their job? and after everything i just told you, you know what that means. romney went on to say this. >> whether you agree with me or president obama or whatever your political view, i hope -- i hope you pass those along to your employees. nothing illegal about you talking to your employees about what you believe is best for the business. because i think that will figure in to their election decision. their voting decision. >> nothing illegal? but was it proper?

governor romney knew the audience he was speaking to. the conference call was organized by the national federation of independent business. 98% of their political donations have been to republicans. only 2% to democrats. which way did he think the ceos would tell their employees to vote? this call took place in june but it has no urgency given what we've seen lately. the billionaire comp service sent out a mailer to 45,000 employees saying, quote, may suffer the consequences if the koch preferred candidates don't win and then there were the miners in ohio who were forced to attend a rally and actually lost money because of the event. constant pressure that, if you don't contribute to republican candidates, your job's at stake.

constant pressure. wow. i wonder what mr. romney think. >> i'll tell you, you've got a great boss. he runs a great operation here and he -- >> yeah! >> where are you, bob? there he is. >> a round of applause for the man pressuring his employees. he's almost as good as the ceo of the florida time share company who just builds himself americas largest house but he argues, quote, i will have no choice to reduce the size of this company if obama wins. oh, poor mr. billionaire. and what about the softwear ceo who says i don't want to hear any complaints regarding the fallout if we don't elect a new president. what fallout would that be? this is just more of the blatant intimidation that we've seen again and again in this

election. an anonymous billboards posted in minority communities, billions poured into the race by secret donors. why is this happening? well, just look at this picture. the wealthy have taken nearly all of the income gains in the last 30 years while the bottom has just hobbled along. of course, the 1% wants to perpetuate this. they are circling the wagons to protect this lopsided status quo. but threatening employees? pretty ugly stuff that has no place in this election. joining me now, dana milbank, columnist for "the washington post." thank you both for your time tonight. >> thank you, reverend. >> dana, let me go to you first. governor romney wanted bosses to tell their employees which way to vote and it sounds like they are doing it. >> uh-huh.

well, it does, reverend. and you can see how he was wording it very carefully because he knew what the letter of the law is in terms of what they can do and, once again, we have a case of where the scandal is not something that illegal has been done but the scandal is what is perfectly legal to do, just as it is legal to have your money in the cayman islands or in swiss bank accounts or in bermuda. this is another case where people will take away the perception that this whole game is a bit rigged in favor of those who are in power and they can have sort of a nod and a wink and that's how things are done and it presents one more bit of evidence that that that sort of thing can occur during a romney presidency. so it could be of some political damage to him at this point. >> jared, it's not illegal but is it proper and it sounds almost like coded language.

>> i think it very much sounds like that and i think the legality gets you into gray areas pretty quickly. you picked up the very same two words in that statement that i actually felt a chill when i heard it read when mitt romney said their job, their job could be at risk. there's nothing illegal about that but, of course, it is illegal to tell an employee, you either vote for candidate x or you're fired. that does cross the line. but when you go up to the line and i've talked to lawyers this afternoon about this, when they say, it will be best for your job, our industry, our firm if x wins instead of y, unfortunately that's legal and the coercion dynamics within the workplace are such that to say it's improper is actually way too polite. the power dynamics at play here are, i think, really quite dark and i'll say one further thing. as that slide you showed earlier

suggested, you know, workers have actually suffered a lot from the fact that the benefits of growth have aeluded them for decades. >> and i would think that there is a big difference between someone campaigning, a candidate or surrogate saying this will help your jobs and your employers saying that to you. how do you get around the inference, dana, when an employer is talking to his employees, you are reading into what he is talking about as directly affecting you, not a broad social or political kind of commentary. >> right. this isn't that unfamiliar because typically it's done not in terms of who you are voting for but who you are contributing money to. so there's often incorporations, a subtle or not so subtle pressure to make these contributions to the company pact.

you obviously can't be required to do so. this is something that's not often remarked upon. of course, the republican side will say that this is the sort of thing that goes on within unions, pressuring the workers for financial contributions or for a vote. the amount of money and power the unions have relative to the corporate power to amass financial or mobilize people is, it really can't be compared. >> jared, let me bring in some of the -- something else knew around this question that i really want to make sure that we have time for to you address. >> yep. >> the nonpartisan tax policy senders out with a study on governor romney's latest tax proposal, saying it still doesn't added a up. it says, romney's plan to cap deductions at 25,000 would yield $1.3 trillion. now, that's nowhere near the $5 trillion romney needs for his plan. now, despite this, the romney

team calls the study misleading and deceitful. but the numbers are the numbers. there's nothing misleading or deceitful about the numbers. if his plan only comes to 1.5 trillion. then clearly he's way off 3.5 trillion to be exact from $5 trillion, jared. >> unfortunately, your math will never get you a job with the romney campaign but you're absolutely right. 1.3 is less than 5. so that's correct and the thing that is bothering me about all of this, besides the assembly around the numbers, they are lunching so much. clearly these folks never sat down and thought about whether their plan added up. so they throw out a number. by the way, it was 17,000 in terms of capping deductions and then it went to 25 and all of that's -- again, it's a symbol of a group that has no clue how to make this math add up and you can't make it add up.

there are not enough offsets to pay for the $5 trillion cut full stop. >> dana, what's the politics of this? you throw out a plan, you back it up with 1.3 trillion, which has you 3.5, 3.8 really trillion off. what are the politics of that? are they trying to throw out something to make it look like they have a plan? what's the politics of this? >> i think the assumption is you outline the broad contours and then sort of make it up as it is required. this isn't the first campaign that's ever done this sort of thing. the same thing was done with jobs. they said, well, we're going to create 12 million jobs. how did they get that figure? they looked at where the economy was going and forecast was. why don't we pick out that number and then romney has tried to go back in and sort of backfill it and try to come up with other ways to come up with that 12 million. same thing with the taxes, they

said, look, we're going to cut rates and then we'll fill in the details as we go along here and maybe nobody will ask and then we can sort it out if and when we get elected. >> yeah, but way off, 3.7 trillion, whatever it is. it's way off. dana milbank, jared bernstein, thank you for your time this evening. >> thank you, rev. coming up, did you hear what governor romney's son said he wanted to do to the president of the united states during the debate? it was deeply disrespectful. tonight, the over the line attacks on this president. and stop the freakout. bill campaigns for the president as new poll numbers in key states bring good news. team obama and look who's stumping today. plus, mitt romney is running away from views on women's issues that he held way, way

back earlier this year. today he canceled his appearance on the view and sent his wife instead. just wait until you hear how she deen fended his record on women's rights to choose. they actually think this is going to work? okay. you're watching "politicsnation" on msnbc. ♪ i look at her, and i just want to give her everything. yeah, you -- you know, everything can cost upwards of...[ whistles ] i did not want to think about that. relax, relax, relax. look at me, look at me. three words, dad -- e-trade financial consultants.

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epic. kathleen says, they are two great compassionate bosses. and michael says, springsteen beats clinton eastwood any day. head over to "politicsnation" and "like" us to keep the conversation going long after the show ends. and if you want to post a note for president clinton or bruce springsteen, you can do that, too. maybe new buildings? what about updated equipment? they can help, but recent research shows... ... nothing transforms schools like investing in advanced teacher education. let's build a strong foundation. let's invest in our teachers so they can inspire our students. let's solve this. [ male announcer ] it's time for medicare open enrollment. are you ready?

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convince voters that he's moderate mitt. who cares about the extreme things i've said day after day during the republican primaries. today he cancelled ed his appearances with the sharp-tongue ladies of "the view" and she kept up with the family traditions of muddying the waters on abortion. >> mitt has always been a pro-life person but ran as a pro-choice. >> a pro-life person but a pro-choice person when he governed? >> will i preserve and protect to honoring my word in that regard. >> doesn't sound pro-life to me. there's a reason ann romney is on "the view "today. her husband needs more women voters in binders or otherwise. so he's hiding from the extreme

position he's taken this year on contraception, on abortion, on equal pay. he's just saying whatever it takes. today vice president biden reminded voters what's at stake. >> if you have any doubt who they will likely appoint to the supreme court of the united states, how much chance do you think roe v. wade will survive after four years of a romney supreme court? >> 19 days until election day when it comes to women's issues, can moderate mitt get away with it? joining me now is terry o'neil, president of the national organization of women and democratic strategist marg margie omara. what is governor romney trying to do with cleaning up all of his extreme views? >> we're actually getting the

word out all across the country that mitt romney is not pro-choice. he is not only anti-choice, he is anti-women. he has a history of personally bullying a woman whose pregnancy was threatening her life. as a mormon, a lay woman bishop, he went to her personally to try to force her not to go through a life-saving abortion. her parents were frantic. her father remembers that to this day. mitt romney is so disrespectful of women that he says now he doesn't even remember the incident. that's how little we matter to him. >> now, margie, i want to show you something that kind of struck me. when ann romney was on "the view" today depending the reproductive rights of women from the romney point of view,

look at this clip and notice how many times she uses the word "choice" in her answer. listen to this. >> women are going to have a choice. it's clear. if you're really -- you really want to make a choice and your choices are about reproductive rights, that's your choice. if they are about economic issues and making a better future for your children and making sure that we have this and that's the beauty of what we have in this country, is being able to have those choices. >> now, am i reading too much in that, margie, or does it seem like she's trying to purposefully keep saying choice, choice, choice so she's saying to women that they are pro-choice in. >> no matter how many times you say pro-choice, the fact remains that mitt romney is pro-life. what ann romney said doesn't sound like anything that paul

ryan was saying during the presidential debate. mitt romney has been all over the place on abortion all over his career. he's inconsistent and on the wrong side of public opinion. national polls show that women favor the president over mitt romney on the issue of abortion and even if abortion is not the biggest vote driver for most women -- and i don't think it is -- on all the other issues mitt romney is also on the wrong side of opinion for women. equal pay, still uncertainty how he feels about lilly ledbetter and where he blames single women for gunfire. mitt romney's on the wrong side of public opinion. >> now, terry, the apportion issues certainly is a hot one and the romney campaign is out with a new ad, trying to pivot to the middle. watch this.

>> turns out romney doesn't oppose contraception at all. in fact, he thinks abortion should be an option in cases of rape, incest, or to save a woman's life. the issue is more concerned but i'm more concerned about the debt that our children will be left with. >> now, but the obama campaign is not going to let them get away with it. they came back with this ad. >> seeing this from mitt romney? then take a look at this. >> if roe v. wade was overturned and congress passed a federal ban and it came to your desk, would you sign it? ban all abortions only if you vote for him. >> terry, quite an interesting couple of ads, wouldn't you think? >> it's absolutely important for women to understand. i'm glad that the obama administration came out with that ad. it's also true that mitt romney is on video talking to mike

huckabee saying, absolutely, he would protect a personhood amount and it was defeated by the mississippi voters last year by a margin of 2-1 and yet paul ryan, mitt romney's running mate, as co-sponsored legislation that would criminalize all abortion. paul ryan doesn't believe that women should even have exceptions in the cases of incest or rape and neither believe that women should be able to protect their own health in deciding whether to carry or to terminate a pregnancy. i think it's a good thing that women are paying attention and that both sides are now addressing this issue and i think that women are not going to be fooled. the reality is, mitt romney will work to overturn roe versus wade, will turn over the access to the full reproduction health

care. >> well, i think you're right. terry o'neill and margie omero, thank you both for your time. >> thank you. coming up, we are still waiting for an apology from governor romney's son. where is governor romney on this? my commentary is coming up. stay with us. and bill clinton and bruce springsteen were out stumping for the president today. but it gets better. we've got new numbers just out. ♪ we take care of everyone ♪ we take care of our own ♪

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as republican senator scott brown slides in the polls in massachusetts, he's clinging to the one thing he thinks he's got going for him. his authenticity. look. he drives a pickup truck. he's a regular joe, just an average guy. but mainly senator brown's not so authentic after all. the boston herald reports the state's republican party is paying homeless people to wear pro-brown t-shirts in boston.

the goal is to win over black voters. the people wearing the shirt get around $8 an hour and at least four of the 20 or so volunteers are homeless. paying homeless people to wear t-shirts for him, not very authentic, senator. and the strategy isn't even paying off. the latest poll shows democrat elizabeth warren ahead of brown by nine points. her biggest lead so far in the race. this whole thing reminds me of something brown said on the campaign trail. >> going to point out who she is, who she really is, and i think it's important for the voters to know. >> did senator brown think we wouldn't point out who he really is? and his latest inauthentic effort to score votes? nice try, senator, but we got you. build a ground-breaking car. good.

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welcome back to "politicsnation," live tonight from the great city of philadelphia. anyone out there freaking out? hear my voice. stop the freakout. we have brand-new nbc polls released moments ago. they showed a president with a big lead in two critical swing states. in iowa, president obama leads mitt romney by eight points. 51% to 43%. an 8-point lead. that margin is exactly the same as it was last month before the debates. and a new poll shows that in wisconsin, president obama leads romney by 6 points. 51% to 45%. that margin is also virtually unchanged from last month. these polls show the

fundamentals of this race are the same as it was a month ago. at its core, it's really about fairness. what's the most fair way to continue to fix the economy? today democrats hammered that home with some of their biggest stuff, the president and vice president, bruce springsteen and former president clinton, all were on the trail today making the case for more fair and more just america. >> in 19 days, you can choose to turn back the clock 50 years for immigran immigrants or gays or women and say we are going to move forward. >> they are not asking for anything. they just want a fair shot. >> it's just better economics

than trickle down and win or take all. >> the nation is -- only can be measured by passion for its weaknesses. ♪ we take care of everyone ♪ we take care of our own >> that was springsteen singing one of his newest songs, we take care of our own. it's a good message for the country and for this election. joining me now is richard wolffe, vice president and executive editor of msnbc and an msnbc political analyst. also joining me, alicia m menendez. thank you both for joining me. >> thank you, rev. >> alicia, big leads in key

states. will this help the democratic freakout? >> i think that compounded with president obama's performance, remember when they laid out the five paths to victory, those numbers really critical coming out of iowa. we also know that the romney campaign is pulling their operation out of north carolina. another path to victory was north carolina. we know that now that they are leaving north carolina. and virginia, the race is razor tight. so there are a virt tea ariety . great news for democrats. >> richard, it seems that not only are we dealing with a lot of celebrities out there, but they are giving real content and substance. president clinton was in ohio today telling voters that president obama saved the auto industry and the economy. listen.

>> when you were down and you were out and your whole economy was threatened, the president had your back. you've got to have his back now. this is not complicated for me. if somebody saved my economy, i'd be for him. >> i might add, richard, former president clinton made these comments in par mma, ohio, wher the number one employer of that city is general motors. to have celebrity and substance, quite a combination. >> right. and we've heard this before, ohio's economy is doing better than the economy as the national as a whole. you've got big regional differences that just happen to be in some of these big battleground states. so when people talk about the overarching economic number or overarching national poll numbers, they are not seeing the important picture here and in some ways it's a good thing, if

people think it's a close race, you get people out, you feel the heat of the decision but the national numbers are being driven. you know, if mitt romney does really great in utah, it doesn't make a blind bit of difference to the actual place that this election is going to be decided and the same goes for the economic number. nationally you've got all sorts of variations. but if it's better than average in ohio, the president is in a better state. >> now, alicia, let's go to ohio for a moment. if you look at the effect of the auto bailout, one in eight jobs tied to the auto industry in ohio. the auto bailout was 155,000 jobs saved in ohio alone. it seems that as we push the numbers and we deal with substance, the president has a real case there and people just look into the substance of the auto bailout alone in ohio.

>> right. because there's a very sharp contrast between the president who saved the auto industry and mitt romney who criticized the president for the bailout at the time. so you're absolutely right. it's a sharp contrast point before these two campaigns and mitt romney can try to demogog and frighten workers and i'm sure we'll see that coming up in the foreign policy debate but it doesn't change the reality that he was on the wrong side of this issue. >> now, richard, you also have to deal with the larger picture in ohio, unemployment dropping from 10.6 in 2009 to 7.2% today, which is lower than even the national unemployment number and vice president biden was out talking about how governor romney's plan would shift jobs overseas. listen to this. >> whatever country you want to pick, go build your factory there, high cheap labor the bain

way. that would create 800,000 jobs abroad. for him it's going to have to be a foreign trip. >> quite a contrast. president arguing jobs he created in ohio in the country, vice president saying romney would shift jobs overseas. >> well, that is the problem of mitt romney saying, trust me, i've got the experience. i know how to do this. what he has experienced in is how to make the best of his money. and that's what capital -- a venture capital does. they are not interested in it creating jobs in this country. they are interested in getting the maximum return of the money and you can't fault him. that's what capitalism is. it's a very hard pivot for him to say, i've done this for myself and i can do it for the

american people because he was never trying to do it for the republican people. this isn't the reagan model, right? in ohio, that's what we are seeing. it's taken a bit longer and it's in such a stronger position than in other battleground states. >> alicia, i need to also bring this up before we run out of time. the youth vote. president obama is ahead significantly. president obama, 55%, mitt romney only 36%. these are voters who are only 18

to 29 years old. >> i think the real question comes about getting those voters to the polling place and it's going to make it more challenging for students to vote. there is a good operation on the ground to vote. they are going to make sure that they have proper gop vote. at the end of the day, it's going to come down to the resources that are put into it and how the campaign mobilizes those voters. >> richard wolffe, alicia menendez, thank you both for your time tonight. still ahead, a story i know a lot of you are talking about. mitt romney's son saying he wanted to, quote, take a swing at the president. where is the outrage on that? plus, they just don't get it. i'll tell you what we all can do

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mitt romney's son wants to take a swing at the president. now he says it was a joke. but it's part of a long ugly pattern from his father's campaign. that's next.

we're back with more disrespect for the president of the united states from the

romney campaign. tag romney, mitt's son, was asked about tuesday's debate. here's what he answered. >> what is it like for you to hear the president of the united states call your dad a liar? >>. >> how do you react to that? >> jump out of the debate stage and take a swing at him. >> take a swing at him? punch the president of the united states? the campaign said he was joking about how frustrating this process can be for family. but where's the apology? it doesn't matter if it was a joke. this is what happens when you have a campaign that's talked loose and ugly about the president for so long. we've seen it from governor romney and a top surrogate. >> no one's ever asked to see my birth certificate. they know that this was the place that we were born and raised. >> he has no idea how the american system functions and we shouldn't be surprised about

that. because he spent his early years in hawaii smoking something, spent the next seven years in indonesia. >> i just don't think the president by his comments suggest an understanding of what it is that makes america a unique nation. >> did you really mean to call barack obama, the president of the united states, lazy? >> yes, he's lazy and disengaged. >> lazy? unamerican? smoking something? this is a pattern. it's a strategy to attract support of the tea party. after the bush and cheney administration, the tea party has had the energy of the republican party. and team romney wanted to catch lightning in a bottle. they needed a way to appeal to the far right so they went ugly and now we have a candidate's son joking about taking a swing at the president. this is the president of the united states that we're talking about. we must respect the office no matter what your politics.

joining me now, melissa harris-perry, host of msnbc. >> good to see you. >> this isn't just a son protecting his father. tagg is a team member of the romney campaign. how does he think it's okay to make a comment like this? >> i just want to say two really important things. what will happen is you and i are being blamed for being whiners. i get that it's tough to be the family member of someone running for office. with a husband in politics and having someone in the public sphere, it's tough. it's frustrating. you feel like bad things are being said about them. but you have a responsibility as an adult. it's one thing if you are a kid, 6, 7, 8 years old and you have bad impulse control but if you're an adult person and you

also have a role within a campaign, then you have a responsibility to conduct yourself in very particular ways and one part of that is that you recognize that the sitting part of the united states has work to do, working with our international allies abroad and that means that you have to protect that office even as you go after the ideas. even as you campaign against someone, you still have a responsibility relative to the office of the american presidency because that person is still the president of all of us. >> well, melissa, i agree that people can be very frustrating on your family, certainly i've dealt with that with my daughters. but if you cannot understand that you are not being in that position, let me tell you why i don't buy the people who will say that we are whining. if the president's daughters had said that about mitt romney, there would be all that we would

hear tonight. if anyone connected with the obama family or the campaign, now, mind you, this person has been called a liar by them. >> right. >> leading up to the debate. he's been called unamerican, smoking -- every insult you can think of. and you and i could not name anyone in the senior staff or family of president obama that jokingly or any other way said they would do something physical to governor romney or wanted to and if they did, the reaction would be not whining. it would be outrage. >> well, and i think if the obama daughters -- they are children. they are girls. tagg romney it an adult and a parent. he's a member of the campaign and is actively campaigning. yes, he has frustrations as a son but that does not -- that's not an indication of what is going on here. also i want to point out, when you say you have to treat the president with respect, that doesn't mean thaw don't offer a good, strong, vigorous critique.

this is a campaign, right? so we fully expect that the other side is going to come with a critique, that they are going to critique the ideas and put forth alternate policies and that is -- i actually think that is a sign of respect. president obama, of course, was taught at the university of chicago. i was on the fact kwul tea for nearly ten years and at the university of chicago the only way that you show respect to someone is by having a good, strong vigorous critique of their ideas but a critique of ideas is fundamentally different than calling someone lazy, suggesting that someone who is the president of the united states is not even a u.s. citizen and then finally in this latest and a playground brawl and the president of the united states. >> and i guess you looked at the debate. it wasn't as if his father wasn't calling the president a

liar. he even accused him of not saying something and where are the republicans that want to see the office respected? >> well, the republicans who want to see the office respected seem to be very quiet and they have been very quiet during the presidency -- nearly the entire presidency. we saw and have mourned the death of allen specter this week and it was a reminder, as we thought about his passing, sort of not only that specter is gone but a whole version of republicanism and not just across the aisle, but respect for the thing that is american governance and the problem is that when you disrespect it, when you take it apart for president obama because you're so unwilling to give him and confer to him the most basic respect, you put all of us as a

country in danger, in threat and in peril, both for who we are as a country domestically as well as the ability of our president to do the work he needs to do with our international allies and foes. >> why do you think this is happening? >>. >> well, i think there's a lot of reasons but up can't actually win ideas to win voters and then you start to win in the playground brawl situations so what we're seeing is you can't win the ee electric. i think part of what we saw in the last debate, president obama really showed up as president obama at his best, you know, in part because he had an opportunity there to engage with ordinary americans who were asking about the things that they matter in their lives and

we need to not forget, this is a president who is a community organizer, a teacher and a state senator. he enjoys being with ordinary people and with sort of americans on the ground and so when they were there to ask those questions, the very best came out in president obama. and i think what you saw was panic. and, look, mitt romney had the debate of his political career in the first debate. he was feeling good and he clearly went in with a great deal of confidence. >> he was on steroids. don't give him too much credit. thank you for your time tonight. and thank you for talking about the swing state. that's why where i am tonight. i've been swinging through the swing states protecting the vote. catch melissa's show, weekends at 10:00 a.m. eastern right here on msnbc. the confusion on voting. it's the latest right wing strategy. we won't let them. next. i'm a conservative investor.

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bruce springsteen stressed the importance of voting. >> voting matters. elections matter. think of the events of the last 12 years and try to convince yourself that they don't. >> the boss is right and that's why i'm here, voter engagement tour. we are working across the state to clear the confusion. they are only 19 days to go. they will keep trying to confuse but we won't let them. billboards here telling latinos you need i.d. and in other states we must confront confusion distortions and voter suppression methods wherever we find it, not just