jobs plan doesn't create jobs, deficit plan doesn't reduce the deficit. and economists at "the new york times" put it this morning, there's no jobs plan. it's just a snow job on the american people. a snow job. virginia, you've heard of the new deal, you've heard of the square deal, the fair deal, mitt romney is trying to give you a sketchy deal. a sketchy deal. and it's really just a one-point plan, not a five-point plan. one point -- folks at the very top, play by a different set of rules than all of you. if -- listen -- don't boo, vote. if had he offered you that deal when he was in corporate finance, you wouldn't give him a dime. why would you give him your

vote? this same philosophy that's been squeezing the middle class family for more than a decade, the same philosophy that got us into this mess, we can't go back to that. i've met too many good americans who worked so hard, show so much resilience, so much resolve. we have been fighting our way back from some of the same policies he's advocating we have been there, we have tried it. we can't go back. we are moving forward. that's why i'm running for a second term as president of the united states. now i believe that the biggest issue in this election is, how do we rebuild a strong middle class and provide ladders for opportunity for all those who want to get in the middle class, willing to work hard, willing to take responsibility? are we going to make sure we're

a country where everybody gets a fair shot and everybody is doing their fair share and everybody is playing by the same rules. so, the economy is the dominant issue. but, i want everybody to understand that that's not the only place where governor romney's offering you a sketchy deal. it's bad enough my opponent wants to take us back to the failed economic policies of the past. when it comes to issues critical to women, the right to make your own decision about your health, ir the right to be treated fairly and equally in the work place -- >> that was president obama speaking in fairfax, virginia, making his gas caste to the ladies. this is friday, october 19th, and this is "now."

>> joining me today, jonathan chait of new york magazine, co-host of squawk box andrew ross sorkin of the "new york times" host of the eupon muss weekend show "msnbc's melissa harris perry of" melissa hey ris perry show and the always busy ben smith. for a few hours last night the ruthless bitter campaign was on ice. two nights after this -- >> not true, governor romney. >> how much did you cut them? >> there were a bunch of oil company -- >> i had a question and the question was how much you'll get them by. you'll get your chance in a moment and i'm still speaking. >> there was this. >> a campaign can require a lot of wardrobe changes. blue jeans perhaps in the morning, suits for a lunch fund-raiser, sport coat for dinner, but it's nice to finally relax and to wear what ann and i

wear around the house. >> used to love walking through central park, loved to go to old yankee stadium, the house that ruth built, although he really did not build that. i hope everybody's -- aware of that. governor romney and president obama shared the stage in new york city. the light hearted night included plenty of self-deprecation. >> people seem to be very curious as to how we prepare for the debates. let me tell you what i do, first refrain from alcohol for 65 years before the debate. second, find the biggest available straw man and then just mercily attack it. big bird didn't even see it coming. >> of course, the economy is on everybody's minds. the unemployment rate is at its lowest level since i took office. i don't have a joke here. i just thought it would be useful to remind everybody. that the unemployment rate is at the lowest it's been since i

took office. >> unlike tuesday night's slug fest the jabs last night were playful. >> after my to foreign trip in 2008, i was attacked as a celebrity because i was so popular with our allies overseas. and i have to say i'm impressed with how well governor romney has avoided that problem. >> there have been some awkward moments like when the president pulled pope benedict aside to share some advice on how to deal with his critics. he said look, holy father, whatever the problem is, just blame it on pope john paul ii. >> earlier in the day, across town, president obama sat down for an interview with jon stewart but it wasn't all wise cracks and one liners, especially when the conversation turned to libya. >> you would admit it was not the optimal response, at least to the american people, as far as us all being on the same page. >> here's what i'll say. >> yeah. >> if four americans get killed it's not optimal and we're going to fix it.

>> right. >> and all -- >> all of it. >> and what happens during the course of a presidency is, that, you know, the government is a big operation, at any given time something screws up and you make sure that you find out what's broken and you fix it. >> despite mitt romney's factual fail on center stage tuesday night conservatives still believe it remains an opening for them to exploit at monday's foreign policy debate. this morning in the "wall street journal" there are three op-eds about the president's handling of the benghazi attack and one douglas feith writes -- how does libya play out on monday? it will depend as much on romney's questions as the president's answers. jonathan to you first in terms of the libya question, after that moment at the debate this week, there was some talk out there that romney had sort of neutralized it or obama had basically neutralized the issue

as a talking point for republicans. that does not seem to be the case as much. i wonder what you make the president's handling thus far and his discussion with jon stewart as far as benghazi and how the administration handled it? >> >> in the debate he gave his most tonally forceful answer but also kind of avoided the specifics of the charge a little bit. that's what romney is going to try to hit him on at the foreign policy debate. what he's going to hit romney on is i think trying to tie him back to the bush administration, bush administration foreign policy, you know, apparatus which is a good thing to had hit him on. you have doug talking about strategic misjudgments, sort of doug's middle game name. >> that's a long middle name. >> it's wordy but he can fairly tie him into this whole crew that's basically his same foreign policy advisers, right? >> he can. and we will talk a little -- in a second about the president's foreign policy.

melissa, in terms of how the debate has played out this week, after the first debate it was, you know, self- -- the president's self-emulated, romney won hands down. a collective sense that the president had done significantly better, maybe not the rolled down gates pulled down over the romney gates many hoped. peggy noonan writes that -- what do you make of that? is the president not winning the post-debate week? >> he's president. so that means that his role as the president, as the person actually governing, is always going to overshadow sort of whether it's the playfulness of the al smith dinner or the performative aspects of the debate. let me be clear i think that's good. you know, maybe it's not good at

this particular moment for this particular campaign, but the fact is that the kind of theatrics we see in debating, while interesting and fun and enjoyable for us to sort of have a little bit of political theater have little to do with governing and so because the challenger is not currently running a government anywhere or even running a business anywhere, that sort of, you know, week and a half after that debate became all romney because that's all we had romney doing. president obama is governing the country. that means we're going to have a focus on this. that said, i think that there is -- it's a slippery slope for the republicans who took us into the war in iraq, based on false hoods and where the number of american lives, the number of foreign lives and the amount of money spent after years and years of clear deception, compared to what a -- appears to be the mishandling of a tough situation early on, by this administration, and within two

weeks, the language was different and we didn't spend any billions of dollars in going down the wrong path. >> i guess the question, how much does a campaign play into this? i understand and i take what you're saying in terms of why we're focusing on this, but there's increased scrutiny here because we're in a campaign -- go ahead. >> i was going to say, to me the counterintuitive point is romney looked at that moment that he lost on that point, right, candy crowley calls him out, but the counterintuitive point is that we're still talking about that and that it's fired up the conservative base, right? this whole group that hates obama, sees this point, latches on to it and here we are on a friday and this is still the conversation. in a way i think it's bounced back on him. >> but the bounce back on -- >> on obama. >> but the base can't win an election -- >> even though i remember looking at him and saying wow, you won that point, today i would say i'm not sure he won that point. >> firing up the base doesn't win the election in a jenle.

>> that is like the core depressing story of this campaign, right? you say something false and how you drive your mess ajd and cause a conversation. that's what obama did all summer claiming romney had killed this guy and then -- >> well, okay. >> super pac sort of walked it back. >> okay. i don't know that we're going to say obama all summer long said that romney killed -- obama's super pac. >> sharp mischaracterizations i would say on both sides of the -- >> the key message they drove with an overstatement. and that's how you do it. and romney at one point took obama outrageously out of context to drive conversation. >> i'm not saying it's a good thing. it's a bad thing. >> the binders is a good example of that. binders is something where romney was trying to say an admiral thing, left out candidates and became this theme -- >> he was also not telling truth about that moment so even beyond the question of whether or not that he had binders full of women or the names of women candidates for office, the point was that those binders were given to him by nonpartisan

group of women before he became -- it wasn't some great affirmative action position on his point, although i wish it had been, we could hit him on affirmative action. >> the administration has not handled this in a transparent fashion. there's been a lot of mixed messaging and really important thing, the assassination of an american ambassador, foreign policy is an important thing and i think look, there's been a lot of talk about how the left has or has not given the president a free pass on a number of foreign policy and national security concerns. the president talked about guantanamo last night with jon stewart, let's hear what he had to say. >> there's some things that we haven't gotten done. i still want to close guantanamo. we haven't been able to get that through congress. let's go back in time, jonathan. to what happened around the closing of gitmo or the attempted steps, the steps the administration took to try to close gitmo. "washington post" reporting in april of 2011 --

there was great resistance also fr from republicans in congress. >> the republicans managed to stoke this terror that they could break through the streets of new york killing people merciless mercilessly. this fear carried the day. it was a low moment for the political system. >> the question is when we talk -- foreign policy is a focus of monday's debate which is worth saying. it's not just that the romney campaign is sort of -- as you point out, done some serious offense/defense -- defense/offense. >> strange game at this point. >> want to make a claim for a reason to have a second term presidency, closing gitmo might be it. >> could work in his favor. >> the one moment you say okay, if, in fact, this is true, had democrats pushing the president

saying look it's electoral suicide, will this president if he wins never faces another election and although, in fact, he's got to lead his party and his party will face it, the next person to run, whether it's biden or whom ever else, will not be held accountable for those sorts of decisions in part because they're so presidential, sort of encapsulated in one person, not the big party decisions. if you want gitmo closed it is a claim for a second term. >> i will say the other -- i mean there are other things embedded in the national security project of this administration that would maybe up-end the progress that closing gitmo would make i point out the drone strikes. obama had five times more drone strikes than bush ordered in his eight years as president, four times more deaths, something we don't discuss a lot, a huge part of the president's counter terrorism operations and i wonder if it will come up at the debate on monday and how he responds. unfortunately, we have to go to break. after we come back, we will discuss the fact that team

romney is jumping off the swing set in north carolina. battlegrounds and democratics next on "now." bob... oh, hey alex. just picking up some, brochures, posters copies of my acceptance speech. great! it's always good to have a backup plan, in case i get hit by a meteor. wow, your hair looks great. didn't realize they did photoshop here. hey, good call on those mugs. can't let 'em see what you're drinking. you know, i'm glad we're both running a nice, clean race. no need to get nasty. here's your "honk if you had an affair with taylor" yard sign. looks good. [ male announcer ] fedex office. now save 50% on banners.

>> we got to name this condition that he's going through. i think -- i think it's called

romney amnesia. >> romney amnesia. that was president obama trying out a new stump line in fairfax, virginia, a few minutes ago. there has been plenty on the trail but behind the scenes the campaigns are starting to drop hints as to which states are in play and which are not. in the lead up to november 6th. while 120,000 people showed up on the first day of early voting in north carolina an increase from 2008, perhaps more telling is the fact that the romney campaign is quietly shifting some of its resources, including its state communications director, out of the state. instead, romney land is beefing up its operation in ohio. the national review reports that with romney aides feeling good about their chances in north carolina, florida and virginia, quote -- want to know which states matter? forget the data, just look at the travel schedule. the campaigns are putting their

best people in the places that matter most. >> i love ohio. it's an old school place. when you were down you were out and your whole economy was threatened, the president had your back. you got to have his back now. >> the romney/ryan ticket is in florida holding a joint evening rally in daytona. this morning florida's second largest newspaper which endorsed barack obama four years ago announced it was switching its support to mitt romney. ben, laws talk about the realities on the ground, the campaign trail. romney shifting its campaign staff in north carolina. a lot of back and forth between the two campaigns about what that means. but ben labolt tweets, interesting that the gop is pulling out of nc the day early vote begins and obama supporters are lined up around the block at polls. romney campaign spokesman michael levot says with the widening polls in north carolina we will continue to allocate resources including key senior staff to other states.

is romney leaving or shifting his strategy north carolina because they feel so strong or they sort of moving out because they think they might not win it? >> there isn't a scenario in which romney wins -- loses north carolina but wins these other states. it's a marginal swing state. he's got to take it for granted essentially at this point. that's part of what they're doing. they didn't quietly pull people out thp they deliberately leaked had this like crazy they were pulling people out to give a sense, they are trying to project this sense, ambiguous in the polls, that they're on the march, they're surging, widening the battlefields, obama is on geographical defense. a narrative they're trying to drive and the way you drive that is pretending to make massive shifts of resources. >> it's worth noting that the president hasn't visited north carolina since the convention. first lady was there a few days ago saying just get five people you know to vote. it is going to be tight. i want to pay some attention to the polls which always confuse me.

the gallup seven day tracking poll has mitt romney at 52%, the president at 45%. some numbers from our folks here at nbc news/"wall street journal" and marist have in iowa and wisconsin obama up 51%, romney 43%. wisconsin 51% for obama 45% for romney. andrew, you're a numbers man. >> i'm a nate silver guy. >> aren't we all. >> nate, i think they might have moved his numbers down slightly on obama but still at 66% and i think he thinks that north carolina goes to him. >> to obama. >> to obama. i think if you're obama you spend all your time in ohio, harden that up and call it a day. >> you keep sending the first lady down to snk income. the north carolina question is certainly about what's going to happen at the presidential level but part of what is sad, the end of bev purdue decided not to seek re-election. i went to college in north carolina, grad school in north

carolina, deep love for the state and distressed at the fact that she was the thin blue line between what was going on with that republican legislature and so, you know, part of what they need to do there is to continue to make sure that there's a democratic presence, not only in -- for this particular presidential election but in a much broader sense. >> let's talk about sort of the demographics and, you know, the one -- one of the things the president has done is opened up a lot of states that were heretofore solidly red and turned them shades of purple. anyway. >> she has the dress on. >> right. >> i have a sordid shade of purple. >> you have the tie. >> i have the tie. >> you've done great writing on the white vote and a lot of attention, a couple of key pieces of data that show that mitt romney is winning white voters bay lot which doesn't come as a necessarily huge surprise. >> knot not at all. >> 2122 points. >> right. >> ahead of the president. the strategy as ron brownstein would have it is --

right now, obama among white voters is 36 to 39%. that's a lot. that's a lot of money -- >> with undecideds sitting out there. >> mitt romney, we're looking at maybe 60% of the white vote for mitt romney and then 80% of all minorities for the president. >> yeah. >> talk to us in terms of the strategy and the long-term strategy for the republican party does not seem to be one of reaching out to all colors and all faces of these united states, but -- >> right. >> let's talk about this. >> the percentage of the white vote that the republicans need to win is just rising and rising every election cycle. right now it's at about reagan levels. romney needs to win the white vote by the same level that reagan won in his landslide election to win. we're close to that level. and that number will keep going higher and higher. that's why i think you're seeing the roster of swing states change. right. new mexico was won by bush

in '04, contested in '08 and this time around the republicans are not contesting it. arizona is just out of reach for the democrats. it will become in reach pretty soon and i think you know, maybe 20 years it will be a democratic state. >> which is -- there was some talk in, you know, election cycles from not too too many election cycles from now, maybe texas will be a state where democrats -- >> but on the other hand, missouri, arkansas, west virginia are gone. >> they're gone and not coming back. >> right. >> i mean, i think, you know, republican party is right to be kind of panicky about this. these parties are flexible and there are obvious paths to fixing it. is president romney gets done comprehensive immigration reform and an enormous amount of political pressure to do that if he wants to get reelected. >> worth noting, andrew ross is sorkin in terms of money in this race, i thought this was interesting, from an obama campaign aide this is reported in play book this morning --

we were talking before this show began, not you and i but me and the various advisers i keep and talking about the menu -- >> am i not part of the kitchen? >> we have to make that happen. >> get a slot. >> we'll get you a chair. that there's been so much money pumped into this race, and then on the super pac level, there was a breakdown of republican be or conservatives super pac donors in the shelden adelson has given $34 million to this race. the numbers are staggering. the question is, when it's all said and done if mitt romney is not in the white house, will there be a circling of the wagons, reassessment which is to say did we spend our money wisely, spent wisely. >> i would argue what's happening this week in terms of some of the money going to obama, is a bit of a circling of the wagons. there are people who have didie decided -- this started two or three months ago, wall street people, we've been bashing the president, we have to hedge our bets a little bit and some of

the money you're seeing is coming from wall street which may sound surprising to you. >> wow. >> but i think there's an element of man, this thing is tight w he made our bet with the other guy and don't know where we're going, let's see what happens. >> principles. >> judgments. >> 1%ers. >> but also, it's wall street cash coming in that's one thing, there's been a lot of concern about enthusiasm from democrats for the president. he came out punching, swinging on tuesday. >> by the way, they lost all week too. >> right. >> >> more than anything it was -- that was the momentum moment. partisans were watching that debate, particularly democratic partisans were watching for the show. come on president obama, give us the show. he gave it to, you know, gave it to folks, probably at his best certainly in a national debate that we've seen the president in. he had a kind of looseness. and we're seeing it even today on the stump again. he's got a kind of enthusiasm. >> rom knee shah.

>> something tells me we'll hear that word and the word sketchy, sketchy. >> many times. >> sketchy romamnesia. >> thank you to melissa harris perry. >> whatever. >> do not miss melissa this weekend and every weekend on her show right here on msnbc at 10:00 eastern time. always wonderful to have you on set. >> thanks. >> coming up, pot shots, personal attacks and campaign cash hauls. we are not talking about the presidential race. we're talking about the heated battle to control the senate. my celebrity doppelganger luke russert joins us just ahead.

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and learn more about the kinds of plans that will be here for you now -- and down the road. i have a lifetime of experience. so i know how important that is. with so many tense senate contests on the docket last night hard to declare one of them great debates. some races are so tense even the candidates would like to ta take a breather.

take former governors george allen and tim kaine. >> thank you and let's give them a round of applause. >> i'm not sure if we can but if we can, let's do it. >> i'm glad that's the last one. >> we will look at some of the other great debates when boat show connoisseur luke russert joins the panel next on "now." look at the boat shoes. two years ago, the people of bp made a commitment to the gulf. bp has paid over twenty-three billion dollars to help those affected and to cover cleanup costs. today, the beaches and gulf are open, and many areas are reporting their best tourism seasons in years. and bp's also committed to america. we support nearly 250,000 jobs and invest more here than anywhere else. we're working to fuel america for generations to come.

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>> tell the truth. >> senate candidates in ohio and wisconsin questioned one another's integrity at two heated debates last night. underscoring just how tight the balance of the power is in the senate. in missouri, senator claire mccaskill and her opponent congressman todd akin met for their second showdown yesterday. no mention of akin's legitimate rape comments, but mccaskill did tear down akin's record on another issue important to female voters. equal pay. >> he supports the boss being able to decide whether or not you get paid less just because you're a woman. and if you look at congressman akin's office, in fact, he is the boss that does that. his women staff make 23.4% less than the men in his office. >> akin's congressional office calls the allegation false. meanwhile, polling data on the race isn't particularly reliable with party driven surveys showing the obvious, mccaskill is leading in democratic surveys and akin has the edge in

republican ones. joining us to make sense of all of this the sage of capitol hill and my celebrity doppelganger. luke russert. >> thank you for joining this pro fest. >> very educated bro fest. >> andrew ross sorkin and bro -- >> someone's got to -- >> a bromance. >> peanut butter and jelly sounded weird when first put together. >> claire mcskas kill and todd akin what's going on in this race. we know that mccaskill outspent akin 6.9 million to 1.6 million from mid july to end of september, proved a fierce opponent. your take on this race. >> what's interesting is the cash on hand, mccaskill has $2.1 million and akin is about $553,000. it's very important as we get towards the election day. it is a rather close race, though. a lot of folks thought after the forcible rape comments this would move in claire mcskas kill's direction. akin from my conversations with operatives there has run this

very much do not let the big bad man in washington take us down, for missouri and us, trying to attach mccaskill with president obama with her early endorsement. at the end of the day without the financial resources that all those super pacs would have brought, that all the other rnc money would have brought, it's an uphill battle for akin. but, it is a state where mitt romney could help him out. we expect this to be a red state. president obama is not very popular there. >> yeah. >> the age-old question, is the minority turnout in the cities help mcskas kill or the anti-obama voters in the rural areas help akin. how many mccaskill romney voters do you have? she needs a fair amount of those. >> to ben's point that missouri is -- states republicans have a tight fisted grip on. vote during a 31 -- 13-minute

speech akin mentioned god 31 times. in 2008, white evangelicals account for 38% of missouri's 2.9 million voters. >> we've had a reporter out there all week and every story is he's out there with the duggar family. >> exactly. >> out there -- >> nothing says white evangelicals as the duggar family. >> that's where he is. he's just trying to say to his base like this is kind of a moment for them to, you know, to show that like these -- this very hardline pro life views ought to be included and that if had he loses they all lose. he's trying to rally that base. >> to use a sports analogy, it's an us against the world mentality, nobody outside of this locker room is giving us a chance. >> this is what we're about in missouri, protecting the evangelical rights. >> what's interesting in terms of the broader trend lines here -- not the broader trend lines. look at the massachusetts race. almost the exact opposite

strategy which is to say, elizabeth warren is trying to paint scott brown as the thing standing in the way of the country being handed to the republicans and their sort of extreme agenda. which is different than the two lines mcskas skill and akin are taking. >> there's truth in that. it's interesting where have the republican money people invested their resources. all in scott brown. they love scott brown. he's their kind of guy. he's with them on the economic issues and he's not a real, you know, social hardliner whereas they've avoided a winnable race in missouri, right? they've had -- had they've invested in this deep blue state of maus chet and avoided the red state of missouri, much more -- >> why is that? >> because scott brown is their kind of guy. >> it feels like the presidential election there. it's -- i mean elizabeth warren is very close in terms of the thinking to obama. >> yeah. >> brown is very close to the thinking of romney. >> they hate warren. they really do hate her. >> i mean nobody -- i mean, to

the extent that washington money that mitt romney is anywhere near todd akin it's a week spent talking about legitimate rape and it's just not what they want. >> not to mention the fact there's a lot of criticism against mitt romney for not coming out against extreme elements in his own party where he chose to take his stand was todd akin in missouri. it would look hypocritical to go back on it. interesting thing about brown and warren, brown the latest apology where he said elizabeth warren had paid actors in the asbestos commercials that hurt scott brown's campaign. it's about likability, about being this guy you want at your dinner table. >> wasn't that a bid to make up from his more antagonistic comments and their earlier debate bathe. >> to a degree. if you're running your campaign based on personality, any apology because of a personal attack i think is really hurtful. >> you think it weakens brown, the candidate. >> as a candidate and it just feeds warren's supporters saying this guy is a mean person. that's what they're trying to do. don't get caught up in scott

brown the pick-up truck, he's not fighting for you. that feeds into that whole idea. >> what do we make about this massachusetts race? the ppp poll released wednesday has warren up by nine points which is a considerable lead given where we've been earlier at other times in this election cycle, luke. >> from what i've heard on the ground there, is that they anticipate a huge obama turnout, which is going to end up putting elizabeth warren over the top. scott brown has run a decent race to this point but not a as good a race as they ran in 2010. there have been gaps there and will end up being very dent mental. calling it from here there's a strong chance from both sides that warren is in the lead right now and cruising. >> interesting senate dynamic, i think the gop had a lot of had hope that they might be able to take the upper chamber in this race. >> and it would be helpful to them, but you have connecticut, though, i think that's one we haven't talked about, watch fourth linda mcmahon. >> literally could body slam

you. >> smack down. >> much like -- i think you could probably body slam -- anyway. >> i'm going to supplex ben smith. >> i don't know what a supplex is but that's -- >> thank goodness. >> thank you. thank you to luke russert and his boat shoes. no socks. no socks. >> what happens when there's no women on the panel it becomes a wrestling match. >> that's true. >> your producer, no socks. >> alex started that. >> coming up, emotions were crude during an exchange over oil on tuesday night but while president obama and governor romney engaged in hand to hand over energy, little mention is being made of climate change. chris hayes joins us to discuss on set just ahead. i have a cold... i took dayquil, but i still have a runny nose. [ male announcer ] dayquil doesn't treat that. huh? [ male announcer ] alka-seltzer plus rushes relief to all your worst cold symptoms, plus it relieves your runny nose. [ sighs ] thank you! [ male announcer ] you're welcome. that's the cold truth!

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check out the latest collection of snacks from lean cuisine. creamy spinach artichoke dip, crispy garlic chicken spring rolls. they're this season's must-have accessory. lean cuisine. be culinary chic. there's been at lot of hot air coming from the mouths of republicans when it comes to energy policies these days. on tuesday night, president obama pointed out governor

romney's less than consistent record. >> when i hear governor romney say he's a big coal guy, keep in mind when governor, when you were governor of massachusetts you stood in front of a coal plant and pointed at it and said, this plant kills and took great pride in shutting it down. now suddenly you're a big champion of coal. >> while the candidates debate energy sources we haven't heard much about energy policy. we will discuss why climate change remains off the radar when chris hayes joins us for "up now" next. oh the kids would love this hot wheels wall tracks with monster jumper. i think they're gonna love this, leapfrog leappad2 with games and apps. i say we flip a coin. you mean with your double-headed coin? you know you could put both those things on layaway and pay a little at a time. awesome!! awesome!! high-five? [ mom ] mmm, you and your trick coin... shop now. get the hottest toys on your list today, like leapfrog leappad2 and hot wheels wall tracks...

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production of oil on government land is down 14% and gas 9%. >> it's not true. >> absolutely true. there's to question but that the people recognize we have not produced more oil and -- >> that was governor romney challenging president obama earlier this week on domestic oil and gas production. but it appears romney's claims aren't entirely accurate.

according to the energy information administration oil production is at the highest level since the beginning of the century. the question of where it's coming from however is a far more complicated one to answer. government studies show oil production on federal lands increased from 2008 to 2010, but then dropped as romney claimed about 14% in large part because of the moratorium after the gulf oil spill. esen when the disaster is taken in account, during the first three years of the obama administration oil production rose by about 13%. lost in this debate over who plans to drill more is a much bigger concern, which is climate change. here to energetic discuss energy with us is msnbc's chris hayes host of "up with chris hayes" for a segment we like to call up now. >> let's do it. >> let's do it. the night of that debate, i believe you said this discussion around energy is talking about cancer without talking about smoking. >> talking about smoking without

cancer. >> the point is i felt you're having this debate about energy. one of the people believes climate change -- accepts the scientific consensus and wants to do something about it, stated that, and defending an energy policy crafted with that guiding it in part, not wholly, but in part. it's very hard to defend that record if you don't talk about that part of your belief system or that part of the actual empirical data. if you landed from mars and looked at our policy towards dough paco and didn't know it caused canner why are they picking on this industry, are they trying to drive these people out of business. no, actually it's public policy done because tens of thousands of people year die from this product. you can't make sense of energy policy without climate in the background. >> and yet, i would love to hear perfect's thoughts we don't talk about -- global warming was talking about and was a bipartisan issue. >> john mcclain had a climate plan in 2008.

>> newt gingrich and nancy pelosi sat on a couch together, thats has never happened again, talking about climate reform. people attribute the lack of a discussion around energy -- >> it's a jobs story. >> and people are so nervous about talking about it on either side. there are republicans that want to tualk about it but they can'. i think obama knows right now, it will not poll well. if he's out there talking up climate change, romney is going to say hey, you're not the jobs president. that's the issue. >> it's both a partisan and geographic issue. republicans inside their party even the ones that probably don't want to take the internal flack inside their party for saying that climate change is real, at the same time democrat, there's a bunch of democrats in coal states who don't want go there. what you would expect would be a bipartisan coalition around it and that's what there was for a while with democrats from states like arizona, john mccake, w ca who didn't have any domestic reason to care and democrats

from ohio who would be scared about it. >> that's dissolved. >> i mean one other thing the fossil fuel industry. opposition to it didn't just spring up. there was hundreds of millions of dollars have been spent because frankly the amount of money on the line, the only historical analog in terms of the fossil fuel industry is the sum total value that the slaves represented in the civil war. that is the analogy you have to go back to. think about the current present value of the fossil fuel reserves on the books, the last time that much wealth was at stake when the south fought the civil war. >> nobody suggested they dump the oil in the gulf. >> bill mcgibbons says if you do the math, one-fifth, four out of every five btus in the ground have to stay there. that's trillions of dollars of wealth. >> so we were talking before the segment started and jonathan, what can -- if the president is elected for a second term what does this mean in terms of energy reform and climate change and attention paid to the fact

that it's getting warmer? >> i have no reporting but he does have powerful regulatory tools. the epa can regulate carbon emissions and be the policy or use that as the stick to force congress to do something that's less harmful to the energy industry but make progress on it. >> it would be nice maybe if he gave a shout out to that possibility on the stump. >> i will agree with ben and aaron and say if i were david axelrod advising the president i would be giving him the advice he's getting if this election comes down to southeastern ohio and we have someone from the mining union from that part of the country on our show tomorrow, you know, that's what they're thinking about and i'm not sure the political advice is the wrong advice. >> chris hayes and his scintillating and talented panel, wow. just reaching -- >> you don't know who they are. >> they're going to be great. >> we know who one is. >> we have an intense scintillation screen. >> tomorrow, tune in for more. thank you jonathan, andrew, chris and ben. chris see tomorrow and sunday

right here on "up" at 8:00 eastern. and andrew can next be seen on his daily cnbc show "squawk box". >> thank you for that. >> you're welcome. that's all for now, see you back here monday at noon when i'm joined by richard wolffe, john heilemann and mr. sunday morning himself hugo lin gren. find us at facebook.com/now with alex. andrea mitchell reports is next. happy friday, andrea. >> same to you. thanks so much. coming up, campaigning and comedy, we'll check in with the campaigns before monday's final debate. texas senator kay littl bailey hutchenson and rachel maddow and ambassador nicolas burns chris cizilla and mark murray, right here next. apital one, olaf's pizza palace gets the most rewards of any small business credit card! pizza!!!!! [ garth ] olaf's small business earns 2% cash back on every purchase, every day! helium delivery. put it on my spark card! [ pop! ]

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