right now on "andrea mitchell reports," tracking sandy. the east braces for a hit as the hybrid hurricane winter storm threatens to wreak havoc on the nation's most densely populated region days before election day. mitt romney makes his case. the republican nominee in battleground iowa where minutes from now he will deliver what his campaign calls a major speech on the economy. and in ohio, thursday romney borrowed a page from president obama's 2008 playbook calling himself the candidate of change. >> this is a time when america faces big challenges. we have a big election and we want a president who will actually bring big changes and i will and he won't. >> hello, everybody. hello. so exciting. >> getting out the vote, president obama in chicago to cast his early ballot and

encourage voters to do the same. >> all across the country we're seeing a lot of early voting. it means you don't have to, you know, figure out whether you need to take time off work, figure out how to pick up the kids, and still cast your ballot. if something happens on election day. >> and don't be late, first lady michele obama shares her unique strategy for getting people to the polls with jimmy kimmel. >> election day, election day. up and adam. let's go. it's election day. come on, let's go. get your shoes on. up up. >> all right. okay. >> time to vote. you can do it. >> okay. i'm going. >> out the door, out the door. >> and eat some carrots. >> in truth that's not a bad method. i'm chris cizilla live in washington in for andrea mitchell. we begin with hurricane sandy, as the storm barrels towards the east coast. it's expected to cause major coastal flooding, widespread

winds and power outages. the weather channel's brian norcross joins me. this is a rapidly and always changing situation. what's the latest. >> the latest is, chris, we don't see any reason we will not have a storm of a breadth and depth we've never seen across the northeast because of its size. not the intensity, although it will be strong, but the size is spectacular. take a look first of all at the track. here's where the center of sandy is expected to go as it moves to the north here out of the bahamas and brings that tropical moisture up to the north with it and then goes by the carolinas with effects in the carolinas here, saturday and sunday, so there's sunday morning, southeast of wilmington and then it makes the turn late sunday and into early monday so that the center comes ashore monday into early tuesday somewhere between the tiedwater, virginia, and towards long island. the center comes ashore, but the

winds associated with this will be just massive and extend out from that center 400 plus miles so we're talking about a storm 800 miles or so across and that would include all of the northeastern u.s. so we have an alert issued for everybody from north carolina on up through new england and people as far north as maine, as far west as ohio need to be aware from the impacts but i think that the major impacts for most people not right at the coast, the coast is a different story and really could be more significant, most people inland it's the power outages from this expansive long-lasting windstorm on a scale that we have never seen in our record books actually and that's why we are so concerned. and at the coast we may very well need to have some evacuations, people need to be aware. >> brian, thanks for the update. it's going to be a busy week and weekend, thanks for keeping us in mind. >> okay. >> with the presidential

election right around the corner, it's still anybody's guess as to which candidate will cross the finish line first. and new nbc battleground polls in two swing states show us how close it's probably going to be on election night. two of the best, nbc's dough minico and luke russert join me to talk. dom, i want to talk quickly, we heard from brian talking about 800 mile wide storm, widespread power outages. we are 11 days from the election, if this economies ashore it will be 8 or 7 days from the election, we are not meteorologists here but everything has an impact. where do we go as it relates to this storm is. >> we know living in this area the kind of power outages and issues we've dealt with here just locally and if you wind up having something like that that's that close to the election, i think some of the fears is are they able to get people to the polls if it lasts, if the power outages take place and can you get the polls open,

up and running. there could be complications for that. >> and people have their power out and there's damage, does voting become a secondary concern, livelihood ver does -- >> you do. the other thing i would say, one thing is, the president in a natural disaster potential situation has to be the president, the last week of the campaign, it's a hard -- >> does that help or hurt? this is a political scientists dream. >> remarkable thing that happens. we spend years planning for these things and something like this happens. dom, i want to talk about the polls you put out last night. nevada, colorado. two of the seven or eight or nine swing states left. nevada first. obama 50, romney 47. colorado, obama 48, romney 48, among likely voters in both cases. what do those tell us other than it's close? >> nevada and colorado are similar but different in the way nevada is friendlier turf for president obama. you see the hispanic vote is larger and a wider margin.

when you move to colorado, i think the president has some real concerns because if you think about it he was up five points the last time in this poll and now he's tied dead even and when you drill inside the numbers, 48/48 but when you go into the denver suburbs which we're all going to look and decided he was up last time now he's down. when you drill down with suburban men versus suburban women the president up 18 points with women a month ago now only up three. with men, romney only up six, now 13. the trajectory in colorado is not good for the president. latinos keeping him in the game. >> luke, i want to talk about this, "the washington post" is conducting a daily tracking poll, 50/47 yesterday, romney, today 49/48. one of the things i hear from the obama team is your likely voter sample and all the samples out there is missing a critical piece of folks and that is young voters.

that they are -- we are counting them as they're not going to vote this time. the obama team clearly is relying on them. tell us what you've been doing a lot of research on this. youth vote now and 2008 and back. >> it's interesting. something that came to the forefront in 2008. nationally, though, the -- it was only a one-point uptick in percentage of the share of the electorate which is 18%. the question for the obama team is will it be that high again. they believe it will be. obviously looks like we're going to have more voters this time than last time. something that's a common factor. where it helped them in 2008 was it flipped a few states in indiana, north carolina, margins were close, helped out, also in pennsylvania and virginia and ohio to get him over the top. he would have been fine without it there but it really put the slam dunk if you will. that's why it's important. this time they have a few issues. number one, what percentage of the electorate is going to be and if you look at how much their margins are over what the candidate has, a very interesting graphic, 2000, al gore 51% of the youth vote, 51%

of the common vote. kerry 54, 48. obama, 68-54. probably won't be that big again, but they're still betting on it being double digits. it's significant. >> i would just -- i think it's so important what you said and i'll let you go. this is not about -- in 2008 obama didn't get more of a percentage, more young people didn't vote. it was 18, it was more unified behind him one of the big misnomers. >> twice as much. >> but if they're counting on the youth vote this time they're in big trouble because in every poll we see in the nbc/"wall street journal" poll the enthusiasm below all the other groups. almost that. >> apathy is the enemy of the obama camp. but they only need specific states. >> luke and dom, thank you, guys. i like how you coordinate. well con. >> italian irish tie day. >> joining me to talk about the youth vote is call pen, actor,

producer and obama campaign co-chair. cal, you're a triple threat, nice title there. you just heard the guys here on the set saying, apathy is your enemy, that enthusiasm among young people is down as compared to enthusiasm among other groups for obama. you've been around college campuses. i can see you're in st. louis. tell me you've been on the ground tell me whether you buy that. the polling certainly bears out there is an enthusiasm gap from '08. >> that's not something i've seen, right. i've been on the ground now 16 plus battleground states meeting with young people, community centers and we're not seeing that. the thing we are seeing is a real difference between 2008 was about promises, what's the president going to do if we elect young people came out in huge numbers and now when having some more rallies, similar events more round tables talking about the successes and asking questions i don't think we're seeing in the media or poll conversations which is how did he make college more affordable, what went to bringing our troops home from iraq, what made him

repeal don't ask, don't tell. why did it take so long. the average age of the senate 63, why did you have a sitting president that was firmly committed to doing this but did it take two and a half years. those are the nuanced conversations we've been welcome to have with these young people sort of firing up them to come out and say here are the stakes, we don't want to see this get rolled back. >> you touch on something that i think is important and in '08 a lot of young people were voting for barack obama the candidate, hope and change. now it's barack obama the incumbent president who inevitably this is true of anyone who has ever been elected ever did not get everything he promised to get done done, whether it's immigration, some of the stuff around global warming important to younger folks. how do you bridge that gap? do you point to what he has done? i assume there's some people disappointed, maybe they don't understand the process of how these things work all that well. they are disappointed by what they voted for and got seemingly, between those two. how do you close it?

>> you actually illustrated the answer there, which is that for young people, if you're looking at folks under 35, whether they're on the left or right, the things they care about tend to be the same things, right. college affordability, jobs and the economy, civil rights, women's issues. they may disagree on how to get there but talking about what has the president done, accomplished and still not done, right, wanting to continue to tackle comprehensive immigration reform, mentioned energy and the environment, the piece about, for example, raising fuel mileage standards that's great but the president wants to do more. it's sort of context actualizing why do we want a second term and it's because of the things that have been on the radar that have been in the plans that we want to push forward. >> now there was a really i thought fascinating harvard poll, did a poll of young people. we rarely see a poll of just young people. usually a national poll and all young people are also included. so they did this poll and the thing that i was most struck by and i want to read the numbers off for you, they asked young

voters who definitely, definitely plan to vote, in 2008, 66% said they definitely plan to vote. 2012, 48%. now that doesn't say those are young obama voters or young romney voters. >> right. >> but that is a large difference, particularly for a candidate who built a lot, one of the pillars of barack obama's campaign was, young people are going to turn out and they're not just going to turn out, turn out for me. you don't buy that gap? >> no. because i would imagine it doesn't take into account the scores of young people that registered to vote for the if irs time. if they're registering to vote for the first time, they're presumably planning to vote for the first time. those are huge numbers. the voter rolls have been swelling in places like north carolina, ohio, pennsylvania, new hampshire and these are with first-time voters. colorado all of these places have youth vote directors that the president put in there for the campaign. they've done a tremendous job. when you ask these people and i've been partisan to these drives why they're coming up to

the tables, forming these lines to register to vote you'll hear deeply personal stories. my cousin is home from iraq, i'm a sophomore and i got to my junior year because the president doubled the pell grant. i don't think those are measurable when you contrast it with 2008 because those are all first time voters, some 18, 19 and didn't have the chance do that before. >> the reason you're in st. louis, interviewing the president for mtv later today. he's been doing a lot of interviews lately, be did "rolling stone" a lot of late night shows. tell me why and whether it's going to work? obviously "rolling stone" that was not by accident. mtv not by accident. is there still a unified way to reach young people in this fractured social media world? they watch mtv and read "rolling stone" is that still accurate? >> yeah. i think, you know, it's funny when we do these events we talk ain't when young people don't, for example, watch much cable

news or main stream news, they get their news from twitter and we all have friends that rant and rave on facebook walls about the election and what a lot of young people do is respond with a link to, for example, the obama volunteer page or say we can talk until we're blue in the face about someone's comments we disagree with, why not knock on doors and get folks out to vote. you're right the nature of that has been changing over last few years. when you're looking at social media, something as simple as how many follow the president on twitter versus governor romney. it's not a reflection of how folks vote but young people's trends and what they want to get information on and how they're consuming that information. >> and i should clarify, cal, i said in my hayes to get to mtv your interview with the president. obviously mtv will be interviewing. >> i was going to let that slide. >> you would be thrilled. >> i'm do un -- down to interview the boss. >> i was in new hampshire yesterday going to ohio tomorrow, both for the campaign.

i had work here today. made a pit stop on the way between those two. >> this is mtv 5:00 p.m. with president obama. and cal pen, one other thing which is, you have taken a -- this is not a celebrity kind of occasionally dipping into politics. you have suspended a lot of your kind prove feshl acting career -- professional acting career for this in '0 and 2012. why? >> why? well the reason i initially, you know, decided to volunteer for the president in 2007 was because i had buddies over in iraq, friends who were discharged from the military under don't ask, don't tell, you know, friends that -- i had a buddy in community college who had to decide was he going to get eyeglasses to see the board or buy his textbooks. couldn't afford both because he didn't have health care and enough financial aid. this is a guy who hasn't taken federal lobbyist money in his presidential campaign, his background different, opposed from the iraq war. he paid off his college loans in

2004. he gets it. seeing that, going from volunteering to having a chance to work at the white house and come back to volunteer on the campaign again, really is because of that progress because, you know, folks like my friends at the dnc had a chance to tell the story about my buddy kevin who sent me a text and said i get to bring my boyfriend to marines corps training in san diego. that's what change looks like. couldn't be more clear. governor romney wants to take us backwards in terms of lgbt quality, women's issues and the job market and the president and vice president have done a tremendous job of pushing this generation forward. the results of that excite me now. >> cal, thanks for taking the time. mtv interviewing president obama. >> not me with me. >> 5:00 p.m. today. cal pen not in attendance. >> thanks. >> developing now, live pictures from ames, iowa, that is for you political junkies the site of the ames straw poll where mitt romney is going to take the

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here is mitt romney beginning a major economic policy speech? aims, iowa. let's listen in. >> it's a little cool and windy today. thank you for being here and bringing me such a warmth of spirit. it's good to be back in iowa. don't think by the way -- don't think this is a last you're going to see of me and paul ryan because -- this state may be the

state to decide what kind of america we're going to have and lives our families are going to have. we're counting on you and the choice you make this november will shape great things, historic things, and those things will determine the most important and intimate things in our lives and the lives of our homes and families and loved ones. it's an election about america and the american family. now all elections matter, of course, but this one matters a great deal. over the years of our nation's history, choices our fellow citizens have made have changed the country's course. there were turning points of defining consequence. we're today at a turning point. our national debt and liabilities threatened to crush our future. our economy struggles under the weight of government and fails to create the essential growth and employment that we need.

the same time emerging powers seek to shape the world and their image. china with its model of au her to tarism and a different way, jihadists with shariah and repreparation and terror for the -- repression for the world. this is an election of consequence. our campaign is about big things because we happen to believe that america faces big challenges. we recognize this is a year with a big choice and the american people want to see big changes. and together we can bring that kind of change, real change, to our country. four years ago candidate obama spoke to the scale of the times. today he shrinks from it, trying to distract our attention from the biggest issues to the smallest. from characters on sesame street and silly word games to

misdirected personal attacks he knows are false. the president's campaign falls far short of the magnitude of these times and the presidency of the last four years has fallen far short of the promises of his last campaign. four years ago, america voted for a post-partisan president. but they've seen the most partisan of political presidents. and a washington is in gridlock because of it. president obama promised to bring us together, but every turn he sought to divide and demonize. he promised to cut the deficit in half but he doubled it. how about his budget. it failed to win a single vote, either republican or democrat in either house of the congress. he said he would reform medicare and social security and save them from pending insolvency, but he shrunk from proposing any solution at all. where are the jobs in where are the 9 million more jobs that president obama promised the stimulus would have created by

now? they're in china, mexico, canada, and countries that have made themselves more attractive for entrepreneurs and business and investment, even as president obama's policies have made it less attractive for them here. and so today, his campaign tries to deflect and detract, to minimize the failures and to make this election about small shiny objects. but this election matters more than that. it matters to your family, it matters to the senior who needs to get an appointment with a medical specialist but is told by one receptionist after another that the doctor isn't taking any new medicare patients, because medicare has been slashed to pay for obama care. it matters to the man from wisconsin i spoke with several days ago, and what we're supposed to be his best work years, he used to have a job at $25 an hour with benefits and now has one at $8 an hour without benefits. it matters because of the college student graduating this spring with 10 to $20,000 in

student debt. who now learns that she'll also be paying for $50,000 in government debt. a burden that will put the american dream beyond the reach of so many. it matters for the child and the failing school, unable to go to the school of his parent's choosing because the teacher union that funds the president's campaigns opposes school choice. the president can't -- the president's campaign slogan is this, forward. but the 23 million americans struggling to find a good job these last four years feel more like backward. we can't afford four more years like the last four years. this election is about big things like the education of our children, the value of our homes, the take home pay from our jobs, the price of the gasoline we pay, we buy, and the choices we have in our health

care. it's also about the big things that determine those things like the growth of the economy, the strength of our military, our dependence on foreign oil, and america's leadership in the world. president obama frequently reminds us that he inherited a economy is not all that he inherited. he also he inherited the most productive and innovative nation in history. he inherited the largest economy in the world. and he inherited a people who have always risen to the occasion regardless of the challenges they face, so long as they've been led by men and women who brought us together, called on our patriotism, and guided a nation with vision and conviction. despite all that he inherited, president obama did not repair

our economy. he did not save medicare and social security, he did not tame the spending and borrowing. he did not reach across the aisle to bring us together. nor did he stand up to china's trade practices or deliver on his promise to remake our relations with the muslim world, anti-americanism and extremism is on the rise. what he inherited wasn't the only problem. what he did with what he inherited made the problem worse. in just four short years, he borrowed $6 trillion nearly, adding almost as much debt held by the public as all prior american presidents combined. he forced through obama care, frightening small business from hiring new employees and adding thousands of dollars to every family's health care bill. he launched an onslaught of new regulations, often to deet light of the biggest -- the delight of the biggest banks and corporations but to the detriment of the small growing

businesses that create two-thirds of our jobs. new business starts, 30-year low because entrepreneurs and investors are sitting on the sidelines, weary from the president's staggering new regulations and proposed massive tax increases. many families can't get mortgages and entrepreneurs can't get loans because of dodd/frank regulations that made it harder for banks to lend. the president invested money in green companies that failed that met his fancy and sometimes owned by his largest campaign contributors. he spent billions of taxpayer dollars on solyndra and tesla and fis ker, which only added to our debt. energy prices are up in part because energy production on federal lands is down. he rejected the keystone pipeline from canada and cut the half drilling permits and leases even as gasoline prices soared to new highs. the problem with the obama

economy is not what he inher inherited. it's with the misguided policies that slowed the recovery and caused millions of americans to endure lengthy unemployment and poverty. that's why 15 million more of our fellow citizens are on food stamps than when president obama took office, 3 million more women are living in poverty, that's why nearly one in six americans today is poor. that's why the economy is stagnant. today we received the latest round of discouraging economic news. last quarter our economy grew at just 2%. after the stimulus was passed the white house promised the economy would be growing at 4.3%, over twice as fast. slow economic growth means slow job growth. and declining take home pay. that's what four years of president obama's policies have produced. americans are ready for change, for growth, for jobs, for more take home pay and we're going to

bring it to him. now you know we've had four presidential and vice presidential debates. and there's nothing with what the president proposed or defended that has any prospect of meeting the challenges of the times. rising taxes will not grow jobs or ignite the economy. in fact, his tax plan has been calculated to destroy 700,000 jobs. a new stimulus, three years after the recession officially ended, that may spare government but it won't stimulate the private sector better than did the stimulus of four years ago. cutting a trillion dollars from the military, would kill jobs and devastate our national defense. this is not the time to double down on trickle down government policies that have failed us. it's time for new, bold changes that measure up to the moment and that can bring america's families the certainty that the future will be better than the past.

>> if paul ryan are elected as your president and vice president we will endeavor with our hearts and energy to restore america instead of more spending, more borrowing from china and higher taxes from washington, we'll renew our faith in the power of free people, pursuing their dreams, we'll start our plan for a stronger middle class, that has five elements and you've heard me talk about them before. one, we're going to act to put america on track to a balanced budget by eliminating unnecessary programs, sending programs back to states where they can be managed with less abuse and less cost and by shrinking the bureaucracy in washington. number two, more of the energy to heat our homes, fill our cars and make our economy grow. we will stop the obama war on coal, the disdain for oil and the effort to crimp natural gas by federal regulation to the very technology that produces it.

we're going to support nuclear and ru newbles but phase out subsidies once an industry is on its feet. rather than investing in electric auto and solar companies we'll invest in science and research to make discoveries that can change our world and by 2020 we will achieve north american energy independence. we'll make trade work for america. we'll open more markets for american agriculture and products and services. and we'll finally hold accountable any nation that doesn't play by the rules. look, i'm going to stand up for the rights and interests of american workers and employers and four, we're going to grow jobs by making america the best place for job creators, for entrepreneurs, for small business, innovators, for manufactureser. updating and reshaping

regulations to encourage growth by lowering tax rates lowering deductions and closing loopholes and making it clear from day one unlike the current administration, we actually like business and the jobs that business creates. >> finally as we create more opportunity we'll make sure our citizens have the skills they need to succeed, training programs shaped by the states where people live and schools will put the interests of our kids and their parents and their teachers above the interests of the teachers unions. look, when we do those five things this economy will come roaring back, create 12 million new jobs in four years, see rising take home pay an get america's economy growing at 4% a year, more than double this year's rate. after all the false promises of recovery and all the waiting, we're finally going to see help for america's middle class. it is about time.

paul and i won't stop there. we'll take responsibility to solve the big problems that everyone agrees can't wait longer. save medicare and social security for current and near retirees and for the generation to come, restore the $716 billion president obama has taken from medicare to pay for his obama. we'll reform health care to provide for those for preexisting conditions and ensure every american has access to health care and replace government choice in health care with consumer choice, bring the dynamics of the marketplace to a sector dominated by government. now these things among others we can only do if we work tirelessly to bridge the divide between the political parties. we're going to meet with

democrat and republican leaders if washington regularly. we're going to look for common ground and shared principles. we'll put the interest of the american people above the interest of the politicians. >> i know something about leading because i've led before. in business, in the olympics, in my state i brought people together to achieve real change. as you know i was elected a republican governor in a state that has a legislature that was 85% democrat. when i came into office we were looking at a multibillion dollar budget gap. but instead of fighting with each other, we came together to solve the problems. we actually cut government spending. we reduced it. we lowered taxes 19 times. defended school choice. worked to make our state business friendly. and our state moved up 20 places in job growth. our schools were ranked number

one in the nation. we turned a $3 billion budget deficit into a $2 billion rainy day fund. i know it because i've seen it. good democrats can come together with good republicans to solve big problems. what we need is leadership to make that happen. >> america is ready for that kind of leadership. paul ryan and i will provide it. our plan for a stronger middle class will create jobs, stop the decline in take home pay, and put america back on the path of prosperity and opportunity and enable us to fulfill our responsibility as the leader of the free world, to promote the principles of peace, we'll help the muslim world combat the spread of extremism, dissuade iran from building a nuclear bomb, build enduring relationships throughout latin america, partner with china and

other nations to build a more stable and peaceful world. look, we face big challenges but we also have big opportunities, new doors have been opened to us, sell our ideas and products around the world. new technologies offer the promise of information and limitless innovation. new ideas are changing lives and hearts and diverse nations and among diverse peoples. if we seize the moment, and rise to the occasion, the century ahead will be an american century. our children will graduate into jobs that are waiting for them. our seniors will be confident that their retirement is the cure. our men and women will have good jobs and good pay and good benefits. and we'll have confidence that our lives are safe and that our livelihoods are secure. what this requires is change. change from the course of the last four years. it requires that we put aside the small and the petty and demand the scale of change we

deserve. we need real change. big change. that time has come. our campaign -- our campaign is about that kind of change. confronting the problems that politicians have avoided for over a decade. revitalizing our competitive economy, modernizing education, restoring our founding principles. this is the kind of change that promises a better future, one shaped by men and women pursuing their dreams in their own unique ways. this election is a choice, a choice between the status quo, going forward with the same policies of the last four years, or instead choosing real change, change that offers promise, promise that the future will be better than the past. if you're ready for that kind of change, if you want this to be a turning point in america's

course, join paul ryan and me. get your friends and family to do the same. and vote now for the kind of leadership that these times demand. i'm counting on iowa. iowa may be the place to decide who the next president is. it may decide whether or not we're going to have real change. i'm counting on you to vote, to get your friends to vote, to work at the polls, to bring people out. we've got to take back america and make sure that we have the kind of change that gets america strong. not just for us but for coming generations. god bless america. god bless iowa, and god bless you. thank you so much. >> that was mitt romney the republican presidential nominee giving what his campaign billed as a major economic speech in ames, iowa. joining me now, to talk about instant analysis to break it down, vin weber, romney campaign economic adviser, democratic

strategist steve, and i want to start with you. was there anything new or specific in that speech? i think i already know the answer but enlighten me. you know more about the economy than i do. >> if there was i missed it. but the tone was interesting because as he has done since the first debate he has been emphasizing the fact he can work across party lines. he talked be about bridging the divide. talked about finding good democrats, good republicans. this is important because right now, this number one issue that's bothering businesses and hoping the economy back is fear of the fiscal cliff. everybody knows you can't solve that on -- that one president or one party can't solve that. so sending that kind of signal i think is a reassuring statement to both to people and business that he's prepared to do what's necessary to get the deal done. the trick is that it takes two parties to do that and it's not a guarantee he will have two parties. >> i would say not just a business, but to the extent there are undecided independent voters out there, they love the idea of the two parties working

together. partisans don't but those folks who haven't made their mind up. vin, the thing i was -- i circled it a bunch of times of romney's speech and wrote it in capitals you know it's important. >> it's important. >> the word change. romney in the last three paragraphs change, this election is a choice between the status quo or choosing real change, ready for that kind of change, he says -- ad libs ready to change america. it's a remarkable turnaround from hope and change the core of barack obama's agenda. can mitt romney sell himself as the change candidate. >> this has been the consistent message of romney throughout this campaign is that the economy is off on the wrong track, the president's direction is the wrong direction and the country has to make a decision to change directions and we're seeing in the polls now, he's being rewarded with a vote of confidence from the voters on that. he has a double-digit lead over the president on who can best handle the economy going forward, this week, those polls have come out and it's all about economic change. i think that message which he has been delivering for well over a year now, couple years

really, has -- is resonating with voters. i think it's going to result in a romney victory. >> now to vin's point, steve, in the recent post poll we did ask who do you think can better handle the economy, romney whiz a lead which he didn't have a month ago. joe biden, the president on the campaign trail saying this is a choice election, we agree with mitt romney, it's a choice between what we've done and know he would do which is go back to the policies that don't work. is your side not selling that argument well enough at this point or what explains what romney moving upward on that economic trust argument? >> i think he had a good first debate and he's obviously, you know, we've regained ground since. the speech today had no new ideas in it. didn't have any big ideas. it was a repeat of the bad ideas he's been talking about. what we know is what the real mitt romney believes what is we saw in the videotape from the fund-raiser abouts the 47%. he wants to go back to the bush era economics and, you know, barack obama and joe biden have

got to spend the next 13 days making a strong case for why their vision of the economy is the vision we need for the next four years. >> greg, want to do something quickly because i want to -- there's so much rhetoric flying out. put out an actual number, the gdp came out, up 2% in the most recent quarter. that's up from 1.3% in the quarter prior. a little bit more than we expected, but not booming. can you use your big economic brain and context actualize this for us? what does this mean for -- what does it tell you about the economy. >> more of the same. the economy has been growing around the 2% rate. this is the number one reason obama is struggling. behind all the rhetoric and shift in tone the main message of the romney campaign continues to be the economy will defeat obama why they don't need the specifics. now the irony here i think is buried in the numbers that are coming out all the time you can see the signs of the economy beginning to turn. consumer sentiment is at a

five-year high. the irony will be that if romney wins, it will have -- it will be coming as perhaps the evidence that obama needed that his plans were working was starting to filter in. >> we're still so far out. arguings economics is not a winning proposition. we need to get above 3% gdp growth to get this economy to full employment and we're way off that. >> but to that point we do know that the trend line at least historically matters more than the number, reagan 7.4% unemployment down from 10%, he wins 49 states which you know because you're from minnesota. >> yes. >> i have to go. thanks for joining me. >> thank you. >> up next, candid candidate, the inside story out of rolling stone's interview with president obama. nsulin, so i test... a lot. do you test with this? freestyle lite test strips? i don't see... beep! wow! that didn't take much blood.

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that's the right path. so read my plan, compare it to governor romney's... and decide which is better for you. it's an honor to be your president... and i'm asking for your vote... so together, we can keep moving america forward. i'm barack obama and i approve this message.

which i don't like. so pantene dared me. skip a trim. pantene beautiful lengths. the pro-v keratin protection system, helps prevent breakage and repairs split ends and the program donates $1,000,000 to help woman fighting cancer. so getting longer stronger hair also means i care, that i like! beautiful lengths from pantene. hair so healthy it shines. douglas brinkley's wide ranging interview with the president for "rolling stone"

magazine touched on plenty of serious, important issues. but i'm willing to bet you probably haven't heard about those serious substantive points. joining me now, doug glast brinkley, historian. doug, let's -- i want to get this out of the way. it is a remarkable thing, the piece is long, it is detailed and yet, one word the president uttered as an aside has gottens the attention. are you surprised or did you know when you wrote the piece that might be the thing that would grab folks is. >> i was surprised. when it first came out, the associated press and "the washington post" focused on president talking about the supreme court and affordable care yesterday. even yesterday that hit the blog and had its day of infamy and seems to be repeating today. >> now i want to talk about -- i like the day of infamy. some of the other stuff that's in there. and one of the things i was struck by in the interview is, the level -- i don't want to say

it's distaste barack obama has of mitt romney but he's dismissive saying this is a guy who doesn't believe what he says. could you get that from the interview? did the tone and his willingness to say that as bluntly as he said it surprise you? >> the oval office interview took place for 45 minutes october 11th and he was still smarting from denver and his attitude was one of let's go get them. he was coming back and he did do better in the next two debates, much better. yes, i tried to ask him directly about mitt romney and he -- the thing that struck me is how important in the campaign roe versus wade is becoming. basically telling the base and telling women, if mitt romney comes in, look at getting a new supreme court justice which will give five to overturn roe versus wade and that's tracking more. in the spring i thought gay marriage would be debated a lot more but it's roe versus wade and one of the motivating forces for the obama campaign right now

to get women out there to vote, particularly young women. >> i want to ask you, we talked to kal penn, who's in charge of young folks getting them to vote, registered early and we asked them about the enthusiasm gap and in the piece you mentioned yes, we can transfers to no, you won't, basically taking the message focused on obama to one focused on romney. how do you get people enthused about a message like that? how does the president do that? it's harder to get people enthusiastic about what might happen than the promises he made some feel he didn't deliver on. >> i agree with you. that's what you see the president doing in overdrive. he's decided to hit as many -- interview with me, for "rolling ston stone", mtv going on today, trying to reach colleges and young people in iowa with constant, and in ohio. i get the feeling those are the three key states. the president can win those

which looks like he's ahead in the polls, then he's the next president. one of the things with obama care that struck me in the interview was it is like medicaid or medicare or social security and has his name on it and if he gets a second term it will come into play and become part of american history and if he doesn't get re-elected it will very well fade away or only a few parts of it will stay and it dawned on me during this interview just how much this president has at stake. >> now, doug, i cannot let you go because the thing i was most struck by in the piece was, you write seemingly pretty definitively you think hillary rodham clinton, current secretary of state, will be the next democratic presidential candidate whenever that might be. do you know something we do not? >> i don't. i'm having fun with it. the point being for the republicans, if they can't win this with barack obama, you know, with unploinlts at 7.8%, if the unemployment picture gets better and you have hillary

clinton who would close a lot of this help with women voters certainly, but everybody seems to respect her so her so much. republicans have to rethink their message. a lot of pressure has been on president obama but what happens if the republicans lose and one of the things i hope msnbc can answer for mean i've looked into it is how can the republican party keep the tea party inside the tent. i thought ron paul's voice would be heard this fuel and it's been muted. it's worth exploring in the next few days. >> doug brinkley, thank you. 11 days and counting. election day. it is almost here. you're watching "andrea mitchell reports" only on msnbc.

now to a wrap up of the major political stories. i'm joined by susan page and reed wilson. okay.

one thing we've not talked about during the show is richard mourdock and his comment made in a debate in albany, indiana. why didn't they ask him to pull romney's ads to support him. they said it's his decision. >> the democratic committee has the democratic congressman leading that race by seven points, 47 to 40 points. this shows you how much a big earth shaking moment like a dumb comment like that can change a race. >> amazing because the mourdock campaign released something like this 47-47 with two days of polling. >> in a republican state, republican showing a tied race is not a good thing. >> susan? >> look where the democratic senate campaign committee announced today $1.1 million ad buy. it says romney and mike pence

have broken with richard mourdock on this issue which gives voters, republican voters in indiana permission to vote for romney and for pence and then to move over. >> if you were in richard mourdock's campaign that's his decision is not the affirmative vote of confidence you would like. very quickly. barack obama with bryian willias said he's not surprised the race is 47-47. >> the incumbent president should be in a lot of trouble and everything that's gone on in romney's campaign shows he should be in a lot of trouble. >> i think he's surprised at 47-47. he doesn't think governor romney is that good of a candidate. i think he did not expect to be in this situation well below 50 the mark he needs to hit as an incumbent. this is a surprise. not a surprise. it's a close election. at this point out -- >> susan page, reed wilson, thank you. that's it for me. that does it for this edition of

andrea mitchell. never fear, an tremendousa will be back on monday. >> in our next hour governor mitt romney says he's the change candidate representing a quote big change for america. romney just wrapped up what his campaign refers to as a major economic speech. how major was it with 11 days to go? zachary carabell will union me to dig deep into this major speech from a man who said he's the candidate of selection. the gdp rises 2%. is that good news for obama or does it matter? and we have a new interview that michael conducted with the president. we'll play excerpts from the interview. and states of virginia and maryland declare states of emergency. the latest on this big storm. so many people concerned right now.

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