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good afternoon. i'm richie louie in for craig melvin. you're watching msnbc, the place for politics. just 17 days until voters go to the polls to decide whether president obama deserves another term. two days until the ultimate face-off between governor mitt romney and mr. obama. and this time the focus will be overseas. and one in four. that's how many americans say they do not believe in global warming. coming up, we'll talk to bill nye, the science guy, about how these people are impacting presidential politics. president obama and mitt romney are spending the day in debate prep. today the obama campaign released a new tv ad saying mitt romney cannot be trusted on education. >> mitt romney on education. >> all the talk about we need smaller classroom size, look, that's promoted by the teachers unions to hire more teachers. >> president obama has a different view. he believes smaller class sizes and great teachers are a key to a stronger economy and a stronger middle class.

>> vice presidential nominee paul ryan pushing back on the issue of education today while stumping in ohio. he said job train willing be a focus of a reformed education system if mitt romney wins the election. >> we're a lot of people who came out of high school with the great promise of a good career, and those jobs are gone. a lot of those factory jobs have vanished. we've got to make sure that people have the skills they need to get the jobs they want so they can get ahead in life. we need to reform our education system. we need to make sure people get those skills. >> meanwhile, democratic senator john kerry, chairman of the senate foreign relations committee is slamming the republican-led house oversight committee for posting more than 100 pages of unclassified documents related to libya on the internet. the documents reportedly include the names of libyan civilians and local leaders working with the united states, which senator kerry says exposes them to possible danger. the chairman of the house

republican oversight committee darrell issa has accused the president of failing to come clean about the events in libya, saying the american people deserve a full explanation. more on these stories throughout the next hour. stick with us. now, as we mentioned, the presidential candidates are leaving the campaign trail today to prepare for their final face-off at monday night's debate. governor romney just wrapped up his debate prep for the day, and peter alexander is in florida with the latest. what can you tell us about what the governor is doing to prepare for monday's debate? >> reporter: richard, there is always a pretty good indication that debate prep is over and they're heading off to a fundraiser when you hear all the revving engines of the palm beach county sheriff's deputies and others. he is preparing to head off to that fundraiser that we'll have more details on in just a moment. the debate prep lasted for the last couple of hours. it was an a intense study session. we saw as many romney advisers as we've seen at any of the past debate prep sessions many flying in from boston for today's session.

i spoke with rob portman of ohio who is playing the role of barack obama throughout the course of the session. he was in full dress as if this would be a true dress rehearsal for monday's debate. some of the top advisers have insisted they're confident over the course of the three debate there's would be a cumulative effect where they could make their candidate seem like a viable alternative. they think they accomplished that in the first debates. they hope to take advantage of the third debate to draw contrasts on issues, not exclusive to foreign policy, but wider issues like leadership, competence and visions for the future. richard? >> a lot of people looking forward to monday's debate there. also, the governor has some plans tonight. see not necessarily going to call it a night? >> reporter: no, you're right. he is on his way to a fundraiser right now, as we understand. one of the hosts that has been reported is mark liter. he is the man who hosted that fundraiser back in may where the now infamous as they could be

best described 47% comments were first made by mitt romney. this event is taking place at a different private home. the campaign has been keiji about different events throughout the course of the campaign. certainly no different today, giving no details about what exactly will be taking place there. it is closed press. florida is significant, richard. this state is third overall in terms of states where mitt romney has raised money after only california and texas. $19 million the governor has raised here compared to just $14 million for the president. and they're hoping to raise several million more tonight. >> nbc's peter alexander with the latest from daytona beach. "the new york times" reporting that a romney superpac is making a $12 million ad buy in nine states. the states include eight battleground states plus michigan where. is all this money coming from? joining me is nbc news's deputy

political editor. the associated press just ranking the top fundraisers to the obama and romney campaigns. the top fundraiser for the president is jeffrey katzenberg, the film producer and ceo of dreamworks. he has raised $2.5 million. when we look at all that money, what does this say about who is supporting president obama? >> well, we know that the president himself is trying to raise a lot more money from small donors like he tried to do in 2008. but of course that's very difficult when you're running, when the environment is what it is. and the economy being what it is. i think he has leaned a little bit more, we've seen, on some of the hollywood types who have been able to try to bring out some big crowds to some of the events that we have seen. now the president has tried to get some of these guys to maybe donate to some of those superpacs and outside groups, like priorities usa. but really, priorities pales in comparison to what conservative groups have been able to raise.

>> conservatives on the other side here. number one on mitt romney list is sheldon adelson, the owner of the las vegas sands casino empire which has been named so often a throughout this campaign. he has raised $34 million so far. how is the romney campaign using that money? >> well, not just raise $34 million. he has donated himself personally with his wife and daughter, something like $25 million of that money. so that is a ton of cash coming from one person. and a, you know, look. the fact is this has been one of the campaigns where we're on pace for a billion dollars in fundraising, or in ad spending. so we're at about $840 million now. and it's just a wash from both sides. >> you know, when you say $1 billion. we're saying it could be a billion dollars. and now that we're getting close to it, it's very much a reality here. a billion dollars. it's really hard to put one's arms around that. >> right. and that's just for tv and radio ads, local and national and on

cable. that is just a ton of money. and most of it being spent in three places. ohio, florida, and virginia. and ohio, watch this week. we've been saying for a while now that florida is the top spender at about $168 million while ohio is right behind it now, closed the gap in the last week. ohio within the next few days is going to be the top spending state. if you think about per capita what that means. >> oh, boy. >> i mean toledo is not miami. >> right. >> as far as a media market goes. florida is traditionally a very expensive tv state. ohio not so much. >> yeah, yeah, really good point there's. and also involved is michigan part of the ad buys now? >> not really. michigan is much, much further down. only $13 million has been spent in michigan as compared to some of the other states. but mitt romney because he was born there has continuously felt like he should have a chance there. but they haven't spent -- his

campaign hasn't spent any money there at all. they have relied on restore our future to try to see if the needle will move. so far not as much movement as they would like. >> all right. thank you so much. great stuff. >> thanks, richard. less than two days from the final showdown between governor romney and barack obama. both are forced to face off with a lot of questions behind it. the pugh show on september 11th, the president's lead on foreign policy has dropped 11 points. one foreign policy expert is now saying he is not expecting to have his own questions answered at monday's debate. he joins me right now, james trobe, contributing writer for foreign policy magazine and "the new york times" magazine. very good day to you. >> thank you, richard. good to be here. >> so give me your thoughts here. we just said you don't expect the questions that you have to be answered. why is that? we do have 90 minutes here. >> they've got to talk about something, obviously.

>> right. >> if you look at the last debate where they thought there would be half foreign policy and half domestic. and the only foreign policy question was libya. i think people who actually have followed this libya thing find it incredibly display maiing. while there are some very important questions about libya, like should the united states have intervened? is it good thing? how do we feel about the consequences of democracy in the arab world? that's not what anyone is talking about. mitt romney is saying when did you say terrorist and what did you mean by the word terrorist? the underlying question is it's very confusing. it seems it was spontaneous act a, though carried out by an organization that has very ill will towards the u.s. >> one of the arguments the romney campaign might be making is the romney administration, this is indicative of a foreign apparatus, the way foreign affairs has been undertaken in the last four years. that is what they might be saying. >> right. their underlying arguments would be a couple. specifically on the arab world. that would say obama says we have won the war against

terrorism. we haven't. now that's a real problem for obama, because i think he would have said a couple of months ago when obama had a one-sentence answer to everything, we killed osama bin laden, that would have kind of ended the conversation. now it doesn't. that's a problem for him. >> how should they structure these ideas, which are not necessarily an everyday conversation for most voters? and issues that need to be at the front in the next 90 minutes of this debate. >> well, look, there are a couple of things i think obama is going to say. in a way, because people are in such a sour mood about the world, they're angry, they're fearful, one of his strongest suits is i have removed america's vulnerability. i'm winding down the war in afghanistan. i've wound down the war in iraq. that's already, that's been a strong suit for him. it continues to be. >> that's one. >> but the hardest question is when people say have you made us safer, and his answer has long been yes, have i gone after terrorism and afghanistan and pakistan.

i've deeply damaged al qaeda. but now when you see the chaos in the middle east, you say well, it's moved. it's moved to yemen. it's moved to malli. there is not an easy answer. >> economically, you got the eurozone, germany, france, spain, greece, those issues. >> right. >> those who are leading the eurozone. you've got asia there is concerns over there about terrorism. that's where a big portion of the military investment is being shifted to. you've got the economy out of china. how are these all going to be put together and communicated to viewers in a nice cogent, simple manner. >> i'll say this. romney in a way has an easier job to do. here is what he is going to say. things are bad out there. they're bad in the middle east. they're bad in iran. why? it's because america is weak. what does it mean? it's because obama is irresolute. because obama won't spend enough money on the pentagon. now, is that legitimate? no. i think because we have an

incredibly difficult adverse world we face there are no easy answers to that but you don't want to be the incumbent president saying that. you want to say no, that's not true. so i think obama probably has to pull the camera back a little bit and say now wait a minute. we went in on the side. we helped force mubarak of egypt, hosni mubarak, to step down. we joined this intervention in libya. is that a good thing? yes, it is. does it require patience from us? is it going to be difficult? yes, it does. those are much harder things to say than we're week, we're irresolute, we've got to spend more money. so in a way, even though i think the merits on obama's side, it's very easy now. it wasn't a few months ago for romney to mount an effective rhetorical attack on obama's foreign policy. >> we have the issue of the road map to peace. we'll see how that is brought up in monday's debate too. >> no good answer on that, right? >> james, we should talk for 30 minutes on this. oh we obviously could. james traub, thank you so much

for your time today. roberts makes his endorsement in the presidential case, plus the earth is warming. the climate clash that has been this campaign's big secret. [ lisa ] my name's lisa, and chantix helped me quit. i honestly loved smoking, and i honestly didn't think i would ever quit. [ male announcer ] along with support, chantix is proven to help people quit smoking. it reduces the urge to smoke. it put me at ease that you could smoke on the first week. [ male announcer ] some people had changes in behavior, thinking or mood, hostility, agitation, depressed mood and suicidal thoughts or actions while taking or after stopping chantix. if you notice any of these stop taking chantix and call your doctor right away. tell your doctor about any history of depression or other mental health problems, which could get worse while taking chantix. don't take chantix if you've had a serious allergic or skin reaction to it. if you develop these stop taking chantix

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one issue that has not come up in any of the debates, and probably will not come up on monday night, and that's climate change. environmental groups have criticized both candidates in recent days for sidestepping the topic in the last debate when they bragged about big energy source, oil, gas, and coal.

>> we have increased oil production to the highest levels in 16 years. natural gas production is the highest it's been in decades. we have seen increases in coal production and coal employment. >> this has not been mr. oil or mr. gas or mr. coal. i'll get america and north america energy independent. i'll do it by more drilling, more permits and licenses. >> for scientific perspective on the politics offal all of this, i'm joined by bill nye, of course, the science guy. maybe we should start with this. we would just set up our segment by saying how they did not necessarily support, is it perhaps because in this election when it comes to the issues of the environment, it doesn't resonate anymore with voters as the way it might have four years ago? is it a shift altogether? >> this is a great question. we all hope it shifts back.

just the republican strategy has been to introduce doubt. now the idea of scientific uncertainty plus or minus is one thing. but to say the whole thing is not true is -- was wrong. so what is a guy supposed to do? you look at the tree rings. you count the width of tree rings, you measure the width of tree rings. you look at bubbles trapped in cores of ice from greenland and arctic ca. and you create the famous hockey stiff graph where we see the world has been this warm and now it's suddenly getting warmer faster than we can deal with. getting warm very, very fast. >> so your point is it's not a shift in what we understand to be affecting the environment. it is at the moment still from your perspective happening. we're still seeing an impact of pollution to the environment? >> oh, it's stronger all the

time. when i was doing the science guy show, the parts per million of carbon dioxide in the air was in the 380s. now it's 392. and this is one of the famous -- >> what does that mean by the way, bill? >> say again? >> what does the 380 to 392 mean? >> 392 parts per million of carbon dioxide. it's not just that's it high, it's the rate at which it is getting bigger. it's the rate. >> right. got it. >> so here is the challenge for you journalists. every industrialized country in the world has a climate change policy. this is a foreign policy issue. so i challenge you guys. i implore you guys. i'm respectfully asking you guys to ask the candidates one question about climate change on monday. it's not going to take all night. just one question. but the strategy on the other side, the conservative side has been to introduce doubt. and this is one of the famous

luntz memos are the only hope with the republican party is to introduce the idea that there is doubt about climate change. but in the scientific community, there is no doubt. the evidence is overwhelming. >> and what you're really talking about when you're looking at this being a foreign policy issue is there are these treaties that cross the world, and they have to sign off and they move towards those objectives in a concerted way. you know, there is also the issue of economic concerns. you know there is that tension between environmental concerns and economic concerns. and these are tough times. not only in the united states, but all across the country. but this the united states, for instance, in ohio where it's a very key state, fracking, the extraction of natural gas. increasingly important there in fact, an "nbc nightly news," they reported that over the next two years, a thousand new wells could be drilled in eastern ohio, adding tens of thousand was of new jobs there. so how might we balance these concerns, environmental and the

economic ones? >> well, this takes planning and thoughtful planning. my argument is natural gas could be the so-called bridge fuel to take us from fossil fuels to a completely renewable future whereas mining coal and burning coal is not forward thinking. i know many people are employed in those industries. but we're talking about -- we're not talking about especially long-term planning. we're talking about what i would call medium-term planning, decades, not centuries. so the concern is for any progressives and environmentalists and the scientific community is that this production of duty has confused voters. and the strange thing is the candidates on the other side have embraced this idea. people who you would think very well educated people who would recognize it for what it is and let go of it, move on from it.

>> americans are making their -- americans are making their own decisions. there is a pugh poll that showed 26% saying there is no global warming. 19% saying global warming is occurring, but it's natural and not caused by human. 42% saying it's caused by humans. we'll see how that all works thought the end. >> my hajj to you remains. ask one question. >> all right. my challenge is to come on back and talk about this later on. >> thanks very much. >> bill nye, good to see you. up next, clint eastwood's daughter plans to vote, and her father may not be so happy with her choice here. you're watching msnbc. in america today we're running out of a vital resource we need to compete on the global stage. what we need are people prepared for the careers of our new economy. by 2025 we could have 20 million jobs without enough college graduates to fill them. that's why at devry university, we're teaming up with companies like cisco

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let mitt romney buy the keys to the white house and let the special interests write our nation's energy plan behind closed doors like it did in the previous administration that old saw didn't work then, and it won't work now. clint eastwood might be supporting mitt romney for president, but not his 19-year-old reality star daughter francesca eastwood. quote, i happen not to be voting for the same man, but i love that my dad stands up for what he believes in, and shares. the onion is weighing in on the presidential election, and has an endorsement of their own. drum roll, please. former senator and presidential candidate john edwards. yes, that one. among their reason, what they call his trial by fire in facing adversity, and of course his extramarital affair with a younger woman. that's all in jest. today's top stories may be next. what may be a key clue in the murder of a 10-year-old colorado girl. they may have had a key impact on the race, but is this

any way to run a presidential race? is it time for a change in these candidate face-offs? you're watching msnbc, the place for politics. ♪ [ male announcer ] this is sheldon, whose long dy setting up the news starts with arthritis pain and a choice. take tylenol or take aleve, the #1 recommended pain reliever by orthopedic doctors. just two aleve can keep pain away all day. back to the news. [ female announcer ] sometimes a good deal

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are you happy? i'm happy. i'm happy. i'm happy. i'm happy. i'm happy. happy. happy. happy. happy. (together) happy. i love logistics. and here is a quick look at some of the top stories making news now. a smallwood and pendant. this is recovered as police investigate the killing of jessica ridgeway. they're saying it could help identify the person responsible for her death. jessica was kidnapped as she walked to school and was later found dismembered. banana boat sunscreen is recalling its spray-on ultra mist buzz of a fire risk. it occurs when a user gets too close to an open flame. the mist apparently does not dry quickly enough. the company says at least five people have been burned in such instances. it's been an interesting couple of weeks. it's been a difficult couple of

weeks. for me, for my family, for my friends, for this foundation. >> lance armstrong last night at the 15th anniversary celebration of his live strong foundation. the crowd of 1700 gave him a standing ovation. armstrong stepping down wednesday as chairman of the charity he founded in an effort to ward off damage caused by doping charges against him. president obama and mitt romney are huddling with advisers right now, preparing for monday's third and final presidential debate there has been a lot of focus on not just the candidates, but the role of the moderators and debate rules as well. do the rules need to be changed? well, ari melber, msnbc contributor behind the story on this. >> reporter: thanks. everybody knows debates are pretty important. the first one revived the romney campaign, and the second was obama's best night since sinking al green at the apollo. but if they have such an impact

on our democratic process, i want to ask why are they so undemocratic. the debates are run by a private unelected commission funded by private corporations like anheuser-busch and southwest airlines. it's controlled by a board of politicos. not a single member of the board on the screen represents the public or the press. it's also 80% male. until last week, it hadn't picked a woman to moderate a presidential debate this 20 years. but i think the biggest problem is the board oversees negotiations with the campaigns to create the debate rules, and they're kept secret. now just stop and think about that. the fundamental rules for one of the most pivotal events in our democracy are kept completely secret from you, the voters, by a bunch of self-interested politicians and business elites. it's not transparent, and it's not logical. remember when jim lehrer said this at the first debate? >> governor romney, do you have a question you would like to ask the president directly about something he just said? >> now, nobody knew it at the time, but lehrer was actually

breaking the rules. those kind of direct questions are banned. both candidates answered sort of awkwardly, because they were trying to avoid an infraction. now today we know that. but only because the secret rules leaked after candy crowley said she planned to ask follow-up questions in that second debate, which is another rule violation. so today if you like, you can find a 21-page copy of the rules on the internet. but you still will not find them on the commission's website, even after this leak. this commission is so allergic to transparency, that it's just pretending the rules are not available. i think that's a picture of elite entitlement. the commission doesn't work for you and it doesn't bother pretending to be open, let alone accountable. so look, we should reform the commission to put citizens and journalists in charge and mandate real transparency. and if the commission resists, i think we should start from scratch and replace it. that is one benefit of an unelected body. they don't have any claim to legitimacy in the first place. richard? >> all right. so we're used to this concept

here, ari. if the corporate board, if the group that has been brought together to do something and they're not doing it well, you toss them out and put in new people. >> bingo. >> who would you put on it? >> the first thing i would do is come up with a system to put citizens on it, people who care about the race, who are leaders in their community or otherwise legitimate, who can win some sort of internet or public race and will report back to everyone so that at least on the transparency side, at least they can say this is what we negotiated. here are the rules. whether you like them or not in democracy you still have to know what we're talking about first, right? >> absolutely, absolutely. ari, i want to bring in the rest of our brain trust on this saturday to join you. christina, political editor for pbs news hour and the chief congressional correspondent for the washington examiner. i'm betting the two of you have no thoughts on this issue at all. christina, i want to start with you. a really well put together piece and commentary there by ari

melber. what do you think should be done with this debate commission? should they just be scratched all together? >> it's an interesting thought. i certainly thing that citizens often ask better questions than journalists because journalists have a different intention. they're trying to ma make news. they're more familiar with what the candidates have said previously. they're trying to bring up a different topic or answer in a different way, where as a citizen genuinely wants to know the answer to a question. and one suggestion might be if the candidate on stage doesn't answer that question, the citizens should get a chance to say actually, i don't think you answered my question. i'm going to go ahead and ask that again. the problem with this is of course the candidates that. >> like the way the commission is structured. they've been doing this for many years. they like being able to set the rules behind closed doors. so that's where to be able to have any sort of fundamental change you would need the candidates to go off. and it goes to similar arguments about taking money out of politics, or the fact that you vote on a tuesday out of politics. so these are things that you could make it a lot more small d democratic, but will that ever be signed off on the powers that

be, probably not. >> you know, if aristotle had his way here, susan, there would be no rules, and they would just good at it and stand in the middle of the plaza, and maybe all the viewers throughout would appreciate that more because you would just have the candidates at their rawest point. >> well, that's already been proposed, actually. don't forget during the primary season, newt gingrich proposed the lincoln douglas style debates where both candidates would get up and debate each other without a moderator and just a timer. he wanted to take moderators, the press, everyone who he believed had a bias from both the right or the left out of the picture, just have the two candidates is there. to talk about the issues without any interruptions. and i think you saw a little of that at the first debate when jim lehrer basically stood back and for the most part let the two candidates talk freely about these issues. and a lot of people praised him for that. although he was also criticized for not getting more involved. if you want to remove all bias, first of all, putting the media

in charge is not going to remove the bias. in fact, i think it's going to make it more biased, in my opinion, toward the left. the best bet to get rid of any influence from either side is put two candidates up there with a timer. >>less question before we go to a break. >> susan is talking about bias. my point is the biggest bias is towards the elites, the political elites and the business elites who control this. the next step is first getting people aware and outraged. i think the rules leaking was a significant development. >> yeah. >> i think that we have to look at this from the view of democracy and not just who it helps in the short-run. people have to get outraged. and then you have to have competition. google did try to challenge the commission last cycle. they didn't win. but i think their legitimacy is really eroding. >> thank you, ari, christina, and susan. stick around. we're going to go for a break really quickly. coming up, why some republicans -- also we'll get some developing news involving

congressman jesse jackson jr. and his political future. we'll tell you what it is, and then our brain trust will weigh in on what that means. that's happening right after the break. [ dog 1 ] i am not a vegetarian! yeah, i might have ears like a rabbit... but i want to eat meat! [ male announcer ] iams knows dogs love meat. ...but most dry foods add plant protein, like gluten iams never adds gluten. iams adds 50% more animal protein, [ dog 2 ] look at me! i'm a lean, mean flying machine [ dog 1 ] i am too! woo hoo! [ male announcer ] iams. with 50% more animal protein. [ dog 2 ] i'm an iams dog for life. not a rabbit. woof!

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it's our most innovative altima ever. nissan. innovation that excites. ♪ all right. developing now. congressman jesse jackson jr. is talking to his constituents for the first time since he took a leave of absence from his congressional seat. he is running for reelection for that seat. jackson has released a new robocall to his constituents here saying in part, quote, for the past few months, i've undergone medical treatment to address several serious health issues. and he later adds, quote, for nearly 18 years, i have served the people of the second district. i'm anxious to return to work on your behalf. but at this time it is against medical advice. and wiley always give my all to my constituents, i ask for your continued patience as i work to get back my health, end quote. the chicago "sun-times" points out today that this is

the first time congressman jesse jackson jr. has talked about his health condition to his constituents. let's turn back to the brain trust, christina bellantoni, susan fericcio, and ari melber, msnbc contributor and correspondent for the nation. so really quickly, ari, what is your thought on this? >> well, look, i think it's a difficult one for jesse jackson jr. because in part there has been so little information. there has been reports of him struggling with health and mental issues be. new a campaign obviously, a big benefit of income bansi. some update into the election on what is going on. if it gets into health matters, however he chooses to describe them you, have you to give some kind of long-term prognosis because people have to decide what to do with their vote. if they think you're out years rather than months, they may look elsewhere. >> susan, to his point here, is what he has said here fair and adequate for those of his

constituency right now? >> notice he said he had been in office 18 years. and i think he feels like he is asking them to cut him a little slack. he has been gone for, what four months now? but i think he should level with people about when he plans to return. senator kirk is also representing the state and he is out right now recovering from a stroke. i think constituents that. >> want to know there is a representative there. and it's a struggle. you have great sympathy for the members who are out ill. yet i also very much sympathize with constituents because they're not getting the same level of service that they would get if they had an able-bodied person in congress. >> all right. there from illinois, let's take a step back and back to the national campaign. romney without a new ad. let's look at that first. >> if barack obama is reelected, what will the next four years be like? the debt will grow from $16 trillion to 20 million. two, americans could lose their

employer-sponsored health care. >> romney campaign painting the second term as a mystery, not laying out specifics, is this what will see going forward if the president does not lay out his own details there? >> well, both campaigns are trying to define the other. you can always tell it's going to be an attack ad on the narrater. >> the low serious voice. that. >> focus group every ad. and both campaigns really know the messages that are resonating with the american people. that's why you're hearing the obama campaign focus so much on the middle class, focus on female voters. and that message is people are concerned about the debt. particularly a lot of the independent voters that might have backed the president the first time around that are now not sure. the few elusive undivided voters we keep hearing exist in places. they are very concerned about growing deficit, and particularly women who are looking at their families, that sort of thing. that's why you're continuing to hear the same messages. the ads aren't all that different. the images in them might be a little different. but generally you're hearing the same scary this is what he would

or wouldn't do. >> speaking of which, ari, back to you on this. the criticisms have also been made about governor romney. let's take a look at the cover of the new yorker. this on several inconsistencies in the past there it is right there. when you look at romney here, does he need to get more specific as well in the next two and a half weeks? >> well, romney's biggest problem the t president hit on yesterday is the notion of romnesia, that he is all over the place. >> right. >> any kind of roll out of big ideas now will run into that narrative critique, that he is introducing things late in the game, that he hasn't been in support of in the past. i don't think we're going to see much more specifics coming out of romney as we're going to see him on the attack. and really obviously on monday night, trying to make a better case than he did last time over why he would be a strong leader on the foreign policy stage. the other point to the ad you showed against the president is there has been a lot of talk about a lack of a second agenda. i think that is one of the

pieces of conventional wisdom that doesn't add up when you look closely at it. even republicans would say that this has been one of the largest domestic agenda as of the first term of any recent modern president with health care, financial reform, a large stimulus. a lot of what the president needs to do is carry out those things. most of dodd/frank only went to actual operation ethis year. it's understandable that a president who cares about these policies would say the main thing i'm doing is defending them and enacting them. >> susan, to romney's side then. because ari was talking about president obama's plan based on what he has done in the past and moving forward with that. given what mitt romney has said so far, he's had many years to put together as ideas for his administration should he be elected. what does he need to do to really bring in these undecideds

with very clear plans for the economy and otherwise? >> i think he laid it out pretty well in the first debate. you clearly saw in the poll numbers that people heard an unfiltered version of romney and his vision. it definitely helped him. he has another chance on monday night. these debates get a lot of eyes on them. people are going to get a chance to hear him. again, it's on foreign policy. it has a good chance to equate foreign policy to our nation's economy. and he can turn the equation back on that, even though we are going to be talking about libya and other important things. i think when he does that, he scores points with the viewers. part of the reason, i think obama actually has a hard time talking about a future agenda because the one he has put in place for the past four years haven't resulted in big economic improvements. it's just cut and dry. we haven't seen jobless numbers improve all that much. we haven't seen the economy bounce back all that much. i think people are really hurting out there. thus, it makes it hard for obama to talk about continuing with

those same policies, which is why you hear him with the heavy-duty criticisms and the romnesia and all that stuff. because it is hard for him to talk about his own agenda. if it had been working, it would be a different story. >> perfect, perfects point of view. we're going to talk about romnesia, brain trust. stand by. we're going to have more of you about barack obama coining a new term. he hopes that will catch on with voters as they head to the voting booth. our brain trust pipes in on that. nk coarse facial hair removal has to be painful? challenge that with new olay facial hair removal duo. even coarse, stubborn facial hair gently. plenty of gain, without all that pain... with olay.

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we've got a -- we've got to name this condition that he is going through. i think -- i think it's called romnesia. that's what it's called. i think that's what he is going through. i'm not -- i'm not a medical doctor. but i do want to good over some of the symptoms with you.

because i want to make sure nobody else catches it. >> all right. the president out with a new line of attack about romney's changing positions. the brain trust is back. we're going to get their thoughts on it, christina, susan, as well as ari. susan, to you first here. the president using romnesia, this on the heels of a couple other noteworthy catchphrases. why does this work? you could just see the response in the background. is he using this to charge up the base? >> oh, absolutely. and it's great for social media. it's great on twitter, everyone talking about it. it's a funny line. it had everybody laughing, and it also brings up one of romney's main weaknesses from the time he became a candidate which is he has changed and shifted his position to fit whatever political mood he was in. that's the claim being made by democrats now. and that was certainly part of the argument made by people who didn't want him to become the republican nominee. but i think it's less, you know, effective really. he can fire up his base. but i don't know if it's going to win over any of the independent voters who are

really look agent the economy and what obama's plans are to help fix things going forward. i do think, you know, it gets the crowd fired up. it's a nice catchphrase. and i'm not sure it's going to accomplish much more than that, though. >> christina, what is your thought on this? the president has been using these sort of devices very frequently in the last month or so. >> well, there is a lot of things he has been using. he is definitely trying to test that. and it's completely all about the base. just to go back to what we were talking about before the break. i do have to point out that one of the things the president likes to do is run against congress and say the republicans have been blocking him in congress. so it's harder for him to talk about a second term agenda in that, because if anything it's going to be a smaller margin of democrats being in charge in the senate. that might make it even harder for him to pass an agenda. so he can't necessarily talk about both messages. romnesia is really about trying to define romney, again, as someone who doesn't have a core. you've heard a lot of that from the president campaign, he doesn't have anything central that the he believes in.

that's what voters consistently tell pollsters, that they like him better than mitt romney, even though romney has been doing better in that sense. it's trying to whittle him down and make him less likable. >> you talked about the battle of the meme. you're saying romney is losing. >> what i'm saying he is winning in total traffic, but losing in the direction of the attacks. >> right. >> so there was all this talk about women -- binders full of women. and now we have the romnesia, which i think is getting good play on social media. i think the point here is people have watched the debates. people have heard a lot about the candidates. you to find other ways to break through. and things that are sticky. a meme is basically anything you want to pass on like a slogan or a joke that is just easy to share. some of those things is hurt romney more. in some ways unfairly. i point out in my article that what romney was saying about hiring qualified women and trying to review that with that

in mind is a good thing. he just said it in such an awkward way that that basically became a meme and a sticky thing for everyone to share. the thing about romnesia is i do think it goes beyond the base, because the punch line speaks to the fact that mitt romney has three positions on everything, and that is something people are familiar with. jay leno, who doesn't work for the obama campaign, has made similar jokes. the one thing it could be a ftd, it could be a fox transmitted disease because you have this right wing echo chamber who says first he wasn't conservative enough, now he is great. it looks like more of a joke to say a guy who said so strongly he is pro-choice now, is pro-life. you don't have to be a political expert to say that doesn't add up. >> ari melber, christina bellantoni, thank you so much. susan ferrechio. our brain trust today. you guys have a great day that will do it for this saturday afternoon. join me back here again tomorrow at 3:00 p.m. eastern. i'll be joined by former u.n. secretary kofi annan to talk

about the situation in the middle east ahead of monday adds presidential debate focused on foreign policy. also be tour scheuer to tune in to "meet the press." thanks for being with us today. . now with a fancy coating that gives you a burst of wildberry flavor. now why make a flavored heartburn pill? because this is america. and we don't just make things you want, we make things you didn't even know you wanted. like a spoon fork. spray cheese. and jeans made out of sweatpants. so grab yourself some new prilosec otc wildberry. [ male announcer ] one pill each morning. 24 hours. zero heartburn. satisfaction guaranteed or your money back.