jail to be fingerprinted. 15,000 workers won't get back pay after the shutdown, and i'm talking to one of those forgotten workers. in today's office politics, chris matthews. we talk whether it's better to be loved or feared as a politician. and the legal fight over a deadbeat dad declared dead almost two decades ago, now he wants to reverse his status but a judge won't let him. hello, everyone. it's high noon in the east, 9:00 a.m. in the west. first up, that massive manhunt in florida for two escaped inmates serving sentences for murder. authorities are asking the public for help and offering $10,000 each for information leading to the capture of these twos dangerous fugitives they say walked out through prison gates. sarah is joining me now from orlando. this is one heck of a story with regard to the investigation, how could these two guys waltz

through the gates and let's talk about the fact they managed to keep up the ruse, they got fingerprinted and photographed at another jail hundreds of miles away? >> that is correct, alex. these guys were nothing if not committed. they relied on this forged paperwork to be released from the prison about 300 miles away. they made it up here to orlando, their hometown where they went to have their photographs taken and their fingerprints taken, as well at the local jail here. now, they were keeping in line with what they would have been required to do had they been legitimately released. keep in mind at this point in time, according to the paperwork, they had been legitimately released and not going to regster as felons, have the fingerprints and photographs taken. that would have raised red flags. >> okay. but who was signing those documents? and why were there no red flags? >> well, who was signing those documents it turned out we don't

know who that was quite yet, who helped them and assisted them in these forgeries. who supposedly signed them ranged from prosecutors to judge belvin perry. he was the judge on the casey anthony trial. we talked to him about a half hour ago. he said he wondered if the notoriety from this case and having those courthouse documents all over the internet from that trial may have given the forgers access to his signature. he has a couple theories on who may have had the knowledge to pull this off. >> hmm. okay. what about authorities? do you think they might be making some changes to their verification system to prevent this from happening again? >> i think that's fair to say. they've already begun making changes as of now. a judge is now required to verify each and every release in hopes of avoiding this ever happening again in the future. >> okay. nbc's sarah dal lof with the latest. thanks. let's go to front page politics. new today, president obama is

not wasting time outlining his goals following the government shutdown and debt ceiling battle with republicans. >> the way business is done in washington has to change. now that these clouds of crisis and unsrnt have left it, we need to focus on what the majority of americans sent us here to do, grow the economy, create good jobs, strengthen the middle class, lay the foundation for broad-based prosperity and get our fiscal house in order for the hong hall. >> the president is highlighting out three key areas, a budget, immigration reform and a farm bill days after the government shutdown triggered by the fight over the president's signature health care law. now republicans are offering this response today delivered by virginia attorney general ken cuccinelli. >> president obama's ideas are deeply flawed and the implementation of this law has been a national embarrassment. let me be plain. the law that the carries the president's name is the hallmark of a reckless federal government that has lost its way.

>> hillary clinton will be outstumping today for cuccinelli's democratic opponent terry mcauliffe. it's going to be her first public campaign appearance since stepping down as secretary of state. at the same time, a federal judge has rejected an effort to restore more than 38,000 names to virginia's voter rolls. the virginia democratic party says those names wrinkles possibly purged by mistake. the judge said the evidence did not convince anyone was disenfranchised. joining me bob casey from pennsylvania. it's nice to see you. as we look at these three key items he wants passed, he wants a comprehensive budget, immigration reform and farm bill, what's the likelihood in your mind any of these will get passed? >> i think there's a higher likelihood on the farm bill. immigration reform should be the subject of likely passage, but it's held up in the house. the senate came together with a

bipartisan immigration bill. look, if you're sitting in the house and you happen to be in the republican caucus and you're really focused on fiscal responsibility and the deficit, you should get on board and help pass the immigration bill. it's one of the greatest deficit reducers we have available to us right now. so i would hope that as people begin to focus on the number one issue that the american people ask us to work on and that's jobs and the economy and strengthening the middle class, that they would come together with democrats to pass immigration, pass a farm bill and focus on jobs. >> okay. you didn't mention a comprehensive budget. what's likelihood of that getting passed? >> that's happening, alex, as you know or will be happening i should say as a result of the bipartisan agreement. so you have the budget committees in both houses working together now to do that. they've got a lot of work to do and they've got between now and the middle of december to come to an agreement. and that will go on, but i think

for them but also for the rest of us who aren't on those two budget committees recent we've got to focus on jobs as they're doing the work of forging a bipartisan budget. >> so as a result of the agreement, the government now remains funded till january 15th. debt ceiling extended through february 7th. senator ted cruz is not ruling out another government shutdown. is there a democratic strategy to keep temperatures from heating up too much there in the hallowed halls of congress and get something done. >> i think, alex, there is a bipartisan consensus now that a government shutdown is a bad idea. he sa the good news is republicans share that. i know a few senators and house members will say they're going to threaten a shutdown again. but i don't think they're going to prevail in that. what i worry about though is you still have republicans not ruling out, even if they rule out no more shutdowns or if they rule out a shut down i should say, they're not ruling out

playing political games with the full faith and credit of the united states on the question of paying our bills with the debt ceiling. so i would hope that they could take a two-part pledge, maybe three-part. number one, no more government shutdowns. number two, let's not play games with the full faith and credit of the united states and number three, let's come together and reach bipartisan agreements to create a stronger middle class by creating jobs. >> i want to get back to immigration reform because we heard congressman raul labrador who said this about immigration reform. "after the way the president acted where he would refuse to talk to the speaker of the house, they're not going to get immigration reform. it's done." is that what you're hearing from your colleagues on the other side of the aisle? and what's your reaction to that? >> well, it's not what i'm hearing in the senate because in the senate, republicans joined democrats. remember that gang of eight, four democrats, four republicans in the senate who represented a

broad spectrum of american politics, they came together and hammered out a tough bipartisan and i think comprehensive and it will be effective immigration bill. so i would hope that members of the house on the republican side would have a different attitude than it was expressed in that statement. >> may i just ask you how frustrating that is when you see the senate, the body of the senate being able to do things and be effective and then you punt to the house for their turn to tackle things and things get stuck in a quagmire? how frustrating is that? >> well, it's terribly frustrating. look, both sides have to do more to work together. no question about that. if we're going to start saying someone didn't talk to another person the last couple weeks, we're not going to work together, it doesn't sound like we're adults. we've got to have a people who recognize that families every day of the week and businesses every day of the week can't walk out the door and shut the lights out because they're not getting

their way. we've got to figure out more and better ways. i think what you saw the last week was republicans, even conservatives even some tea party conservatives were saying we can't do this again. we can't shut the government down. we may disagree but we've got to have a functioning government and pay our bills. >> i do want to ask you one question before i let you go on that tragic story in florida, two girls facing charges after the suicide of 12-year-old rebecca sedwick after she was verbally abused and cyber bullied. you're an author of the senate's leading anti-bullying bill. what can you propose to stop this kind of tragedy from happening again? >> i have bipartisan legislationing with senator kirk of illinois. that's good it's bipartisan called the safe schools improvement act. it is not a magic wand. it would not eliminate all of these tragedies upon passage but it would say this to schools. you got to have a code of conduct if you want federal money. you've got to keep records and you've got to enforce the rules

as it relates to bullying across the board. that would help enormously to hold schools more accountable, but alex, you know better than i, even in the absence of legislation or even with a bill passed, a lot of this gets back to what happens not just in a school but with parents. parents have a much greater responsibility and a lot of them aren't fulfilling it. you've got to meet this problem at that level, and when you think about bullying, this is the ultimate betrayal. isn't it? when society says we're going to send you to a school where you can learn, but it's a place where often young people are victimized, and becaus of technology, that assault follows them through the night on the internet and otherwise. we've got to figure out a way to have parents and teachers and schools and communities say we're not going to tolerate bullying any longer and not going to excuse it when it happens. >> i'm glad the you're on that in capitol hill. i'm on it here at the end of my

microphone. bob casey of pennsylvania, thank you, sir. >> thanks, alex. >> now to the weather. we've got a taste of winter in the midwest. snow fell in western kansas friday. wyoming saul five inches. how much snow is there for skiing in kansas? i don't know, dylan. >> it's not so much the snow, it's the mountains you're missing >> exactly. >> yeah. it is very cold. we have hard frooz warnings and frost advisories all through the plain states. an end to the growing season because of the cold air. up in minneapolis, only 42 degrees. it is going to get progressively colder throughout the next couple days. minneapolis should only top out a few degrees warmer than where it's at right now 46 degrees. chicago a high of only 54. 67 in new york city. nice fall continues in the northeast. it is hot across florida. and here's what we have going on. we have three cold fronts, one down near florida where it is producing some thunderstorms, especially later on this

afternoon. a second one through the ohio river valley producing all that rain out ahead of it, even creating some clouds and showers across the mid-atlantic stretching down into the gulf coast states. the third cold front up near minneapolis right now, that's the one that's going to cool things down significantly as we go throughout the next couple days. the heavy rain that moved throughout new orleans is finally moving eastward and the rain is lightning up as it moves through ohio, as well. it's still raining and either way, it is still going to be rather chilly through the midwest and upper plains today. even tomorrow, as well. some of that colder air will settle into the northeast. to marginally top out in the mid 60s, still not too bad. eventually the middle of next week, high temperatures perhaps only in the low to mid 50s, even in the northeast. so the cold air's coming as we finish off october. >> so it is fall after all. okay, thank you very much. dylan dreyer. after the shutdown, the story of one small business and how employees are trying to recover. and a little hero.

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the republicans are saying they got nothing out of the deal. that's not true. the republicans got eight years of hillary. so that's. >> well, the president is pushing ahead full force with his agenda calling on congress to work with him to pass three major items, a budget, immigration reform and a farm bill. but can be he get it done? joining me now senior washington correspondent anna palmer and white house reporter for the washington post david nakamura. hi, guys. david, in your latest article you write about the democrats renewed push for an immigration reform bill. there appears to be two options going forward for the gop. they don't want to give democrats another victory or they pass legislation and show

look, we can get things done here. do you have any bet which option they'll follow? >> i think the calculation of those people who want immigration reform democrats and other advocates is that the pressures have not changed on the republican party from last year. you saw a record number of latina voters support democratic candidates from the president and throughout state races. that's only going to be a growing percentage of the voting bloc in future elections. that's the pressure that continues to be and that republican leaders understand. the problem is the rank and file still doesn't believe in granting this path to citizenship. the president keeps pushing for it. there's a sense that if we keep up the pressure, that you know, speaker boehner and other who's see they might need to move this off the table in future elections might go forward. the question is, how do both sides come out of this debate over the shutdown. there's some who think it would be hard for baner to go forward on immigration when he took a big loss in the public eye. that's the question going forward. there's a narrow window again in

ernest early next year. that's the window you see them really pushing on immigrationing >> here's what is senator gutierrez told msnbc about immigration passing. >> where and when do you see an opening for immigration to be taken up here? >> before christmas of this year. >> david says there's a small window before christmas. is this wishful thinking or a real possibility? >> i think that's very optimistic thinking. given what we've just gone through in terms of how high the tension is and frustrated both sides and both parties are. it is very unlikely they can thread the needle in the house and try to get those 40 or so republicans and maybe even more in the house that really don't see this as a viable legislative option. they want to go back and still continue talking about obama care and other things and trying to kind of work with democrats on this issue is not a high priority. >> okay. switching gears here, hillary clinton will be campaigning today in virginia on behalf of

terry mcauliffe. her first public campaign appearance since stepping down as secretary of state in february. is this fueling speculation about a possible presidential run? david? >> yes, absolutely. i mine, this is obviously something talked about. it's not going anywhere. the more she goes out in the public eye, we saw her being feted by a punch it of hollywood celebrities, something that was about her. anytime anything like this happens, it's going to fuel speculation. terry mcauliffe is a long-time ally of the clintons. they would say this is something for him. she's obviously a big figure who will motivate democrats to come out to the polls in november when he's up for the gubernatorial race. each time she can test the water, get a sense of how she plays, as well, but i think the clintons would say it's still early right now for us to be talking like that. >> voter turnout will be particularly key for the democrats. latest poll shows mcauliffe

ahead of cuccinelli. however, a federal judge rejected an effort to restore 40,000 names to virginia's rolls. how important does that make hillary clinton's appearance for the mcauliffe campaign? >> anytime hillary clinton creates a lot of buzz and ex-sitement and gets the democratic base and has grown in her popularity since being -- since her term in government. so i think she's going to add some fire to him. and he's going to need it. while he's still ahead, it's tight. in virginia, there's a lot of areas that aren't necessarily pro-democratic. he's trying to do everything, pull ought owl the stops the election. >> ann na, david, see you again soon. the damage done to small businesses from the shutdown. a restaurant chef tells me his story coming up. first, why is a song about chinese food garnered 9 million hits? the story behind a new viral video next.

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so you can. minding your teen's use off smart phones, tech watch now. a new harris survey shows 43% of parents say they occasionally monitor how their children are using their smart phones. as far as tracking their children's location with a smartphone, 22% of parents say their child's aware they're doing it. 10% say they do it secretly. they are cities you'd like to call your home or like to visit. new york is the top american city on the reputation institute's new annual ranks, but the big apple ranked 21st in the world, though that's 18 places higher than last year. the survey includes culture, economy and security. and the city that scores the highest in the sydney, toronto

ranked second, stockholm third. amid all the debt talk vis-a-vis the government shutdown, credit card issuers are writing off charges from consumers considered dead beats. according to wall street cheat street.com, the state with the highest percentage of unpaid credit card debt is arizona where about 5.75% of charges are being written off. nevada second with 5.7% it, followed by florida 5.50% deadbeat loans. kandi crush is still the top app. the apple store making about $650 a day from the users advancing to new levels. women 25 to 55 really into the game ♪ i love chinese food, you know that it's true ♪ >> the los angeles times says this may be the most annoying song ever. it's called "chinese food," and the video has almost ten million views since its release on monday. it's eerily similar to --

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the philippines. the shutdown is behind us but the business of tallying losses continues. while employees get some back pay many private business owners and their staff are o on the losing end of the crisis including restaurants like the 150-year-old cliff house in san francisco. that shutdown hit their bottom line like a financial sledge hammer. joining me is kevin webber who is executive chef at cliff house. kevin, with a welcome to you, i want to ask you how this was effected. the restaurant is privately owned. it's not federally funded. why did the cliff house have to close? >> we're on parkland. the mandate came down that all concessionares must close and cease operations. >> what happened during the shutdown? >> we have about 175 employees and the first couple of days we

tried to stay open but the government shut us down. the owners decided the financial crisis was too much on the bottom line and on the employees so we reopened for two days and then we were shutdown again until they finally signed the papers and we reopened on saturday. >> okay. the financial toll overall, is there anyway to make up the losses for you? >> no, we survived fires, floods, earthquakes and we will survive this. it's unfortunate, though. you know, we have insurance that's loss of revenue but it doesn't cover this because the insurance company calls the government a nonevent. so they're not going to reimburse us for anything. our food, our legal fees, our vacation time we're paying, it's all a loss. >> what about the emotional toll on you and your fellow employees? >> well, that's been the hardest part because we lost several employees. they just couldn't afford the uncertainty of waiting. they had to use vacation time that they were saving for special occasions.

they -- some employees have not been able to find apartments because they can't get verification and they can't make the appointments with the apartment building. so it's really been a very serious effect in it's long-term. i just had a employee give notice yesterday because he found a job and he'll lose his benefits. we have benefits, profit sharing, vacation, et cetera. and at his new job he has to start at ground zero. i don't think that anyone in washington has to wait a year before they get a paid vacation. >> yeah, kevin, you guys looking ahead to january 15th and thinking what if this happens again? >> there is a level of uncertainty but like i say we're very resilient. san francisco is very resilient. we are open and greeting guests enthusiastically and we will just tighten the belts a little bit and pray for the best. >> this is a restaurant that is a century and a half hold. >> right. >> can you remember another time in the restaurant's long history that you've heard about that you

were forced to remain closed that long? >> no it just hasn't happened. we've had earthquakes, fires and floods but we always managed to open within 24 to 48 hours. at least certain parts of it. this was the first full closure. i have been there in 37 years and it's the first time i've experienced it. >> well, kevin webber, good luck with that and cliff house has an extraordinary reputation. >> come on out for dinner, all right? >> i'll do that. thank you so much. all told, the economic impact of the government shutdown is estimated at $24 billion. so what is congress doing to make sure it doesn't happen again and what will be the political impact on them? joining me now, republican congressman, member of the financial services committee from north carolina. thank you for joining me. i'm glad you're here. i want to point out that you, sir, were one of only 87 republicans that voted in favor of the deal. what made you break with the majority of your party and how difficult was that decision? >> well, i voted, alex, to restore our government. i fell it was the important

thing to do. during the summer, i had a number of town hall meetings and at those times i stated, you know, that trying to go after obama care was a worthy effort but one that was really an ill fated strategy. that's mr. obama's signature legislation. he has his name on it. notwithstanding the many problems with it and the deficiencies. in k income premiums are going up 2 to 300%. loss of jobs, companies are not hiring. full time people, the cost of it. the congressional budget office says it's unsustainable in terms of the cost. so it was certainly a worthy goal but given the democrat commitment toward this legislation and this being the legacy of the president, it was going to be an enormous challenge and i didn't feel like it was going to be achievable. so, you know, it's important in keeping our government running. there's many businesses effected. our national security is effected. i'm chairman of the

congressional task force on terrorism and unconventional warfa warfare. it effects the funding for cia, border security, homeland security, other interests that we have. our enemies, they're relentless. they're not sleeping or waiting, they're not on a shutdown. >> no, we were talking about that during the 16-daybreak a b. it sounds like you were able to see the forest through the trees but did you hear kevin webber? what do you say to people like that that are left with changes now to their businesses? >> and frankly the greater challenge truly is really the impact obama care has had an extraordinary impact on businesses. companies don't want to hire. they don't know the cost and what they're seeing thus far is very scary. >> but, sir, with all due respect -- sir, that is some what intangible at this point. it's yet to be implemented. >> it's very tangible. >> but what we do know is

tangible is what happened in the last 16 days. people's paychecks have been effected. people are leaving jobs looking for something more stable if they can find something. what do you say to those people that were so adversely effected. >> i think there's terrible down sides. i couldn't agree with you more but i do think the reality of what's happened with obama care has already set in. i talked to businesses every day. you have major, major companies who are not hiring. they are actually down sizing -- they're staying under that threshold of 30 hours. they don't want to be affected by the requirements and costs of obama care. this is pervasive and throughout the country. that was a concern of a lot of folks. >> absolutely, it was. but with regard to ultimately being worth it, what happened that the gop instigated this economic shutdown of the government, was it worth it? >> well, as i said earlier, this

summer, i said at a number of town halls it was a worthy objective but mr. obama is fully committed to obama care and we had to recognize that politically. there was an effort made to try to dismantle it. i voted 15 times against it. i don't believe in it. but i did not feel like this strategy was going to work. >> what did you do the other 25 or 26 times it came up for a vote. >> frankly when we came back this shutdown could have ended 10 days ago or more. there were only two issues on the table that would have ended the shutdown early yerl and that was the subsidy for member of congress. i released mine. i don't take my salary. i donate it. but the other issue was related to businesses that there's 1100 corporations and they have gotten a pass. they don't have to pay any type of fee. individuals, now have that

commitment. they don't get a delay. i thought that was only fair. so just those two issues would have been addressed and agreed to by the democrats we could have ended this shutdown about ten days ago. >> can you look in your crystal ball, sir and let me know what's going to happen come january 15th? if we're going to go through this all over again? >> well, i hope clear minds prevail. i think there has to be a recognition that we have a $17 trillion debt. $60 trillion of unfunded mandates and we have to address the date. the president has been strangely silent. i didn't hear it at his inauguration or state of the union when he came to meet with the republicans, frankly, when he showed up we stood and clapped. he's the president of the united states but he didn't want to talk about the debt and said deficits aren't the concern to him. the debt is the overriding concern in this country. if you talked to the budget writing for mr. obama or budget writer for mr. clinton or to paul ryan, they're all telling you the same thing. unless we get our spending

addressed, we are on a trajectory where we are going to collapse like greece. this is the pervasive issue of this country and we have to address it. >> republican congressman from north carolina. thank you for your time. appreciate it. >> thank you, good to be with you. >> we invite you to watch "meet the press" tomorrow, david gregory's guest will be jack lew who will be talking about the threat a near default had on the nation's economy. black monday, 26 years ago today stock markets around the world crashed. it started in hong kong and spread to europe and then to the u.s. the dow losing 508 points. here's part of mike jensen's report in 1987. >> a sense of disbelief. >> panic. everyone is going crazy. >> what's going to happen to the country if it does crash. >> reporter: five years ago when the bull market began the dow stood at 776. it rose steadily peeking at 2722

two months ago. then in the last two weeks, a collapse. the dow losing more than 860 points in just five trading days during that period. >> other notable crashes since then october 1997 trig erd by financial turmoil in asia. september 2001 following the terrorist attacks and september 2008 brought on by the banking crisis. the dow lost 429 points in six minutes falling 680 points. and dow closed friday up at 15,400. next, chris matthews and office politics. chris tells me the one winner in the debt show down countdown but first a white knuckle walk in china to show you. the man dubbed china's prince of tightrope walking made his way across the wires suspended 330 feet above the great wall. neither wore a safety harness. they only used balancing polls.

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my colleague and host of msnbc's hardball christ matthews. chris tells me me who came out the big winner and what he thinks abts senator ted cruz of texas. but first i asked chris whether the gop will continue going after obama care. >> oh, yeah. they're going to keep doing this. this is their unifying call to arms and i just think it's asking them -- it's like in the reagan era, i have written about it. if you tried to get rid of reagan's tax cuts that was a call to arms because he was going to fight for the tax cuts. they were why he was there. >> the white house said there's no winners in this fight. everybody has lost. >> there's one winner, i think. mitch mcconnell. he is a conservative republican

running in a tough primary. he'll win that primary and on the way to winning it he will have said enough of this. and i think that was the adult voice in the room. >> what has happened to john boehner? is it the tea party? i mean, as a politician? >> well, i was once at an event when he expressed himself in this. i don't think he has a lot of respect for the wild crazies in his party. he is a traditional conservative republican. a business guy and comes from a business family. and midwestern. you can't be more republican than a midwestern business person. that's the essence of the republican party. it's not a right wing party. and reagan, although he was from the right, governed as a conservative republican. he didn't act as a right winger. unfortunately, because of the anger in this country of the last ten years, 30 or 40 guys have gotten into the house from the hardest right and they're not leaving. >> you've heard it said so often in the last 16 days that really if john boehner would stand up

to these guys instead of worrying so much about keeping his job as a speaker things would be fine. do you agree on that? >> the critical problem is if he gives up on them then he doesn't have a real majority. if he gives up 30 people, that takes him down to around 200. he can't govern with 200 votes. he needs 217 votes. rationally he should have done what i said. we're going to find a way to cut spending and do good stuff in this debt ceiling and i'm going to bring democrats on board and get it done. that would have been smart. the government would have run the way it used to run. you run bringing in people from the other party. >> does the white house has any reason to spike the football, so to speak? >> they survived and here he is again with the crazy right making him look like better than a victim. making him look like some what of a good guy in the whole fight. but not the strong good guy. i don't think he has done what

ronald reagan did which is the strike -- when reagan broke that strike they heard that in moscow. this guy is for real. and you have to at some point, he says fear is better than love. and people don't fear obama. that's a problem. >> we just love you chris. that's all it is. >> thank you. >> so 2014 elections -- >> tough for the democrats. >> really? tough for the democrats? >> the 6th year is always tough. >> but on the heels of all of this? >> i think they have a better chance after these two weeks of holding the senate but there's still tough races. kay hagan is great in north carolina. mark pryor. mary andrew from louisiana. these are southern senators that have to reflect the culture of their states. >> ted cruz. can you really figure him out? >> he is the guy that doesn't belong in the senate by the

terms of the senate. now, there maybe a new rule out there. joe mccarthy broke the rules for four or five years and he was popular and everybody was afraid of him. but it's not a good career move. it works in the short run. it can be great in the short run. it's not a long-term career plan. now if he wants to be this fire brand for three or four years, maybe less and run for president, it may be a smart move. he's not going to be welcome in the senate. he seems to hate everybody there. it seems to be reciprocated. that's his call. he's entitled. the voters wanted him. they got him. last week he was pointing the finger after the big defeat after his fellow republicans. >> yeah. >> what's that about? >> he started it. >> it's his fault. he chose to identify the fight early on as we must destroy obama care and we're going to use -- >> and then he punks. >> he is what he is and the voters are entitled to decide whether they like him or not.

>> tomorrow at this time chris will share stories from his new book and take a look at the start of his career in washington. >> hilary clinton in the spotlight. why she is hitting the road today. saw her first day of school. (little girl) bye bye! made a best friend forever. the back seat of my subaru is where she grew up. what? (announcer) the two-thousand-fourteen subaru forester. (girl) what? (announcer) built to be there for your family. love. it's what makes a subaru, a subaru. with 0-calorie monk fruit in the raw. it's made with the natural, vine-ripened sweetness of fruit, so you can serve up deliciously sweet treats without all the sugar. raw natural sweetness, raw natural success. ♪ without all the sugar.

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more changes for facebook. they're relaxing rules for teenage users. 13 to 17-year-olds can share their updates videos and photos with anyone. not just their friends and friends of friends like a former policy. it's an attempt to compete with other sites like instagram and twitter that already allow open sharing for teens. do you agree with facebook's new policies relaxing the policy rules for teens. no one that cares about young people should agree with that. lawrence says i disagree with facebook. it seems that on every hand someone is undermining parents

authority with teens. as with everything else in cyber space but especially social networks we choose to be there. it's our responsibility to guard policy. loosening strings will be a too late issue when a kid follows the wrong person and facebook gets sued. keep talking to me everyone. i'll get to more of your tweets later on. this is an interesting one. he may have been a dead beat dad but he's not dead unless legally dead counts. donald e. miller jr. was declared deceased in 1994 after he mysteriously disappeared. but he didn't die. he drifted down to florida and georgia mostly. now he is back and wants to get a driver's license and reactivate his social security card so he can work but it's not that easy to come back to life in ohio. faith joins me now. this is a bizarre set of circumstances here. first of all, have the courts ever seen anything like this?

>> people are declared dead every year by the federal governments and in many cases it's accidental or a mistake. for example in this case, the government is going to look at this case closely because the wife had her husband declared legally dead. there's a presumption of death statute and she was able to have him declared dead to get benefits for her and her children t. problem is he owed tens of thousands of dollars in back child support when he disappeared. the government is going to look at this and if they don't find there's any fraud or fault on her part, she isn't going to have to pay back any benefits she received but her husband on the other hand, he is going to have real issues. >> so it's interesting, we can see the reasoning why he was declared dead and if it is legit and there's no fraud, you can understand a mom trying to get money to help a dead beat dad or his estate if you will or the government helping out there.

however, can a judge now really look him in the face and say, sorry, pal, you're dead. >> absolutely he can under the law. here's what he's going to do. whenever someone is declared dead and they find out they've been declared dead and they're actually arrive, legal issues are created here. they have to go in and address this in a piece mill fashion. they have to go in with many forms of i.d. they have to show up in person to various government agencies to try to address this. it's not easy. people have had to do it for years they tried to send in their tax returns to the irs and it will come back to them rejected because they have technically been declared dead. >> so what is the strategy for coming back to life? at least legally. this is weird. there's probably not a lot of people this applies to but seriously. >> there's cases like this. again, you have to show up to various government agencies with various forms of i.d. and try to get those agencies to recognize you again. but the judge is not going to do

it from the bench. now this guy, i actually think he is pretty brazen because he shows up now after having disappeared for more than 20 years. he's going to owe back child support. you don't get to disappear and then show up again and say hey i've been absent for awhile but i like a driver's license now and be off the hook for thousands of dollars of unpaid child support. he created more problems for himself and he'll be continuing to have a living nightmare. >> i'm curious how one even drifts off the grid for two decades. >> right. that's one of the issues. when you look at this statute there's a number of factors the court will consider before you can have someone declared legally dead. it has to be a long-term unexplained absence coupled with the fact that no one is hearing from you. your wife, your children have had zero contact with you for a number of years so there's a number of factors before you can go in and have someone declared dead because it's a very serious legal step and for example, in this case, when a person is

actually alive, it creates a lot of issues for them if they actually want to go and have a driver's license or social security number. you can't get a mortgage or a loan or anything like that if you're declared dead by the federal government. >> just a strange conversation but i thank you for it, nonetheless, we appreciate it. so bangladesh under cover. a reporter that got hired at a sweat shop and had a 9-year-old girl for a boss. i love having a free checked bag

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on the campaign trial, hilary clinton getting back into the swing of stumping inches triple play, president obama out lines issues he wants congress to get a move on. shocking, scary, and sad. >> kid courage, a young boy takes on a brazen purse snatcher. surveillance video captures the heroics. opening the purse strings. a violin from the titanic sells

for a record price. good day to all of you. weekend to "weekends with alex witt" where it's 1:00 p.m. in the east and 10:00 p.m. in ta.m west. we start with hilary clinton's first campaign appearance. she is in virginia for terry mcauliffe. we are joined now from falls chushlg virginia where secretary clinton is expected very soon. is this fuelling any speculation about what we might see in the future? lots more stumping for a presidential run? >> hi, alex, well, doesn't it always spark speculation when it's hilary clinton? this is our first chance to see her campaigning since the last time she did it in 2008. we'll get a chance to see has she gotten better at this? one of the knocks on her during

previous campaigns was that then senator obama was better at it than she was. so one of my questions going into this is how much has she improved? and also how do people react to her? just the fact that she is coming and doing this reminds us how different she is from other potential democratic candidates. there are others considered possible candidates like martin o'malley from maryland, for example. those people can go to early primary states sort of underneath the radar and that of course is not the case with hilary. she can redirect our attention to the fact she is a potential front runner basically by snapping her fingers. that's what we're seeing here today. on the flip side it also can dredge up memories of the clintons that are maybe less than savory. terry mcauliffe is a long time friend of the clintons and he was involved in miniscandals when they were in office in previous years when bill clinton was president. so it can be a double edged

sword for her and remind us there's a cast of characters that will come into play should she run down the line. absolutely. as we look at a couple of numbers, notwithstanding what you said about terry mcauliffe himself and you mention the closeness of terry mcauliffe to the clintons in general, why do you think she chose this race to come out and enter the campaign scene? does she feel it's safe? he's up by a considerable amount at this point? >> reporter: i talked to several people close to the clintons and they say it's terry. they mean it's a very close friend to both of them. he stood by them for years. he is a top fund-raiser for them and they are legitimately friends and for her to not come in would be something of a slight. it doesn't hurt that he is winning and also it's important to remember that she is here for a women for terry event. that's where he is going to pull this race out and he needs those women to go to the polls.

that's how she can best help him today. >> as would she need the women to come to the polls for her were she to run for the presidency. okay, casey hunt, thank you so much. new today, senator ted cruz is not backing down after the government shutdown and debt ceiling battle. he is set to speak later this hour at a women's conference in san antonio but a short time ago he did this addressing the texas medical association in austin unleashing new criticism of obama care. >> smart people say just wait, let it collapse on it's own. let it collapse on it's own and republicans will get the political benefit from it collapsing on it's own. i call that theory the bad samaritan theory. just let people hurt so much that finally they have no choice but to vote for you. >> at the same time, president obama's pushing forward wasting no time promoting three major policies today. >> first, we should sit down and

pursue a balanced approach to a responsible budget. second, we should finish the job of fixing our broken immigration system. third we should pass a farm bill. one that america's farmers and ranchers can depend on. >> some local government offices are new jersey are open today. they're accepting marriage applications for same sex couples. they ruled same-sex marriage can begin in the state monday. chris christie supports civil unions. hi guys, good to see you both. >> hi, alex. >> we'll go ladies first. the president is pushing congress to move forward on the three domestic policy fronts. there's a budget and comprehensive immigration reform and new farm bill. are republicans willing to work with the president? >> not yet.

certainly they are ready to capitalize on the failures we have seen out of obama care this week. tle going they are going to hit that full force and try to make the public forget about the government shutdown but the house and senate budget committees which are run by republicans and democrats got together for a breakfast, everyone came out afterward and said they're trying to build consensus and they're ready to work on their relationships in order to produce what could become a long-term budget deal. many of these people were involved in the super committee from a couple of years agatha failed to reach a long-term budget deal but that's where most of washington's focus is going to be over the next couple of months, that's a development out of this deal from last week to reopen the government and raise the debt ceiling that does have a certain amount of promise if paul ryan and patti murray can get it together. >> at the same time, though, the senate conservative group is endorsing senator mitch

mcconnell's primary opponent in kentucky. mcconnell was the one that helped broker the deal with harry reid to help end the mess. chris matthews told me that this gentleman, mcconnell, was the one guy that came out an absolute winner here. so when you look what's happening, can others expect to face what mcconnell is facing in kentucky now? the primary challenges and a lot of backing going to their opponents? >> sure, you'll see a lot of republican establishment figures getting primary challenges. some of them successful in the past. some have failed in the past. but what you saw from mitch mcconnell was he made a decision that the threat of a democrat beating him was more important to address than the threat of a primary challenge. i think he believes he'll win the primary and he needs to focus on grimes, his democratic opponent. her whole -- a lot of what she has been saying is he is unable to make a deal and reach across the aisle and get things done

for fub lick and he-- for the p yet here he is brokering a deal to make sure that the debt limit isn't reached. that will be helpful to him in the campaign. >> certainly more problems for the governments affordable care act website there. cost is soaring and it's taken down overnight and weekends for maintenance. the house scheduled a hearing next week on the matter. what's the latest the white house is saying about all this? >> the white house says it is committed to fixing these problems. obviously the obama administration knows that the stakes are very high because this is president obama's chief domestic achievement. if it doesn't work that's a major failure for his legacy. these websites have been astonishing and very disappointing to supporters of president obama's health care law. i was trying to create an account and buy health insurance, trying to kind of mess with the system and see where the glitches are and it's

very obvious that they have a huge road to climb because there's a lot of errors and they're turning away millions of people that are interested in health coverage. so the white house is saying they're going to do anything they can and they're also reminding users that so far this enrollment period lasts until march. so there's a lot of time for people to come back, hopefully once the problems are fixed. but i think we're going to keep a close eye on it because it remains to be seen what's going to happen. >> i should point out also the spanish language website which was scheduled to open up this next week is not going to be happening on time. >> that's right. >> that's going to be pushed back. jonathan, you got the president's opponents, they're using this and criticizing it big time and also the affordable care act. how big a problem is this for the obama administration? >> i don't think that's going to happen but i think it's a huge problem for the obama

administration. not just remembers but democrats are very concerned about this. republicans are angry because they thought this law was going to fail. democrats were angry because they thought it was going to succeed and now they put their credibility behind the obama administration competently implementeding the health exchanges and they're not seeing it now. they compared the health care.gov site to an iphone. it looks more like a commodore 64 right now. i'm sure a lot of people don't even remember that. but it wouldn't be a good thing in which to build data systems that interact with each other. so this is going to be a problem. we're going to see it coming this week. there's going to be a hearing in the house. we'll see some administration witnesses. probably get poked not just by republicans but also by democrats that want to be able to show their constituents and those that voted for and those that wiped obama care that it can work, it should work, and the problems need to be fixed. i don't think sebelius is likely

to go though. >> thanks guys. >> take care. >> a police investigation and desperate manhunt is underway in florida for these fugitives that pulled off a brazen prison break. authorities are asking the public for help. they're offering $10,000 for each fugitive and they believe they could be in the orlando area. they managed to submit forged documents reducing prison life sentences to prison authorities and then walked through the gates and get this, they registered as convicted felons in orlando and managed to blend in. florida's department of corrections is revamping the system to prevent this from happening again. an iconic moe mento set a record today. the violin played by the band leader on the titanic as it was sinking went up for auction in england and sold for more than anyone expected. i know the number. have to let you share it. i went, what, when i found out. tell everyone how much it sold

for. >> we did exactly the same thing when the news came in from our crew down in the west of england. it sold for $1.4 million. 1.4 million. that's about three times more than the auctioneers told me yesterday they thought it would go for. just to put that into some kind of context, the next biggest selling item linked to the titanic is a large plan on the ship used when it was sinking. we understand that this violin has gone to a british buyer and that's after about five minutes of bidding which is a long time for an auction and a bit of an indicator in how much interest there was in this piece of memorabilia. >> yeah, a lot of the bidding came over the phone which makes it even more tense and interesting. but can you talk about the condition that the violin is in? we see the pictures but talk about that. is it really good condition?

>> i have firsthand account because i actually held this violin yesterday. >> no. >> incredibly they let me. they let me hold this thing which now sold for $1.4 million and i have to say it's in really good condition. considering it was floating around in a suitcase in the sea water in the north atlantic over a century ago. it has a few cracks in it. it's slightly coming apart. you can't play it anymore but it still looks like it's in great condition. >> yeah. can we just talk a little bit about the romantic, the love story behind this violin? it was given by a fiancee to her fiancee, maria robinson gave it to wallace hartley, right? >> yeah, she gave it to him. it's on the name plate there that you can see. this is really the true love story of the titanic. forget jack and rose in the cameron movie. of course she gave that violin to him but wallace never returned. she did get the violin and his

suitcase back and she kept that suitcase and the violin and all of his possessions in one place. she kept it for the rest of her life. so really there's a romantic story there as well as the one of incredible bravery we have seen in the movies. that's why it's gone for such a large amount. >> well, duncan, thank you for bringing this story to us. it's a good one. appreciate it. diplomatic talks to diffuse iran's nuclear ambitions. is the west making any real progress? [ coughs, sneezes ] but i am so stuffed up, i can't rest. [ male announcer ] nyquil cold and flu liquid gels don't unstuff your nose.

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the new york times is reporting the white house is considering easing sanctions on iran and unfreezing assets if the government halts it's nuclear program. this is following the two days of talks in geneva. in response, a group of republican senators are now pushing for sanctions on iran to be increased.

joining me now, former secretary of state for public affairs and a fellow at george washington universities institute for public diplomacy and public communication. i said that in one breath. >> that's a lot. >> the iranians called the talks good and constructive. the white house found the ir iranian presentation useful. >> it was good but going forward the pub stance is difficult and the politics is also difficult. so a very good first step. certainly four years ago in the aftermath of disputed election of iran, there was paralysis by the iranian government. they couldn't focus four years ago. they're clearly focused now but there's lots of difficulties going forward. >> so the white house isn't denying this new york times article. the plan is speculative at this point. what do you think of unfreezing assets? >> this is a negotiation and you give something and you get

something and this is why the politics of this is very difficult. at some point going forward, you have that kind of inflection point. what kind of transparency in the nuclear program will iran offer? and if that is good enough, what kind of sanctions, relief, as kind of a good will gesture building up trust as the negotiation goes forward. that kind of delicate balance and decisions by both sides will be very, very difficult politically. >> iran's foreign minister told nbc's ann curry in an interview this week that failure is not an option. can we go back to the status quo or are we on a path to either permanent disarmorment or war? >> the shape of an agreement is there and creative minds and technical experts can figure this out. but as you just indicated in the opening, you've got political opponents, you know, who will make this very difficult for multiple sides.

there are many narratives around the nuclear issue in iran within iran, in the region with israel and saudi arabia, here in the united states where if you make progress on a nuclear issue it causing a ripple effect and a review of many fundamental policy decisions that are rooted in decades. so this is where, you know, there are vested interests on all sides that may not want to see this deal succeed. >> can i get your take on this unprecedented move from saudi arabia? they're turning down a seat on the un security counsel. they say it's because of protests of syria and the u.n.'s failure to make progress on palestine but were you surprised by this? >> it is unprecedented. by the same spoken, for this two year appointment on the security counsel, saudi arabia will be confronted with difficult votes from its standpoint on potentially a nuclear deal and some sort of way forward

politically on syria and the prospect of an israeli palestinian agreement. and the king is concerned that as a nonvetoed empowered member of the security counsel he has difficult votes without the influence to be able to shape the outcome of these issues. >> i'm curious, if you were back in the state department how would you play this? saudi arabia is an important ally but the u.s. needs the u.n. right now. >> yeah and perhaps saudi arabia doesn't want to see it between the united states and iran and the king perhaps saw if there's going to be a deal the united states is supporting, it puts saudi arabia in a difficult position. perhaps he wanted to better influence the outcome beyond the security counsel and within the confines of the security counsel. but clearly, the odd thing here is that it pursued the seat and then once it got the vote, then it rejected the seat.

that perhaps suggests that there is a split of opinion as to the value of this position within the saudi government. >> okay. it's always a pleasure. see us again. >> thanks alex. >> caught on tape, a young boy's dramatic struggle with a purse snatcher. what made the boy so brave will melt your heart, next. but with a mortgage. and the furniture's a lot nicer. and suddenly, the most important person in my life is someone i haven't even met yet. who matters most to you says the most about you. at massmutual we're owned by our policyowners, and they matter most to us. as you plan your next step, we'll help you get there. a body at rest tends to stay at rest... while a body in motion tends to stay in motion. staying active can actually ease arthritis symptoms. but if you have arthritis, staying active can be difficult.

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heart pounding moments for one family at a gas station in houston, texas. surveillance video shows a would be robber make a move on what he thought was an unguarded van but little did he know an 8-year-old boy would spring into action. veronica has more. >> you're about to meet the remarkably brave 8-year-old in houston. either he didn't know to be afraid of the robber, or he just didn't care. >> reporter: it all happened in just a few seconds. >> shocking, scary, and sad. >> reporter: early thursday morning jose is on his way to

school when his mom stops at this houston gas station. watch the surveillance video. jose's mom steps out of the car and heads inside. keep your eye on the man with the red cap and white shirt. he sees his opportunity, reaches into jose's car and grabs the mother's purse. >> i blink my eyes and i see him open the car door really fast. i told my sister just stay here, don't do anything. >> reporter: the 8-year-old tries unsuccessfully to hold on to the purse but then jumps out in hot pursuit of the suspect. >> i ran as fast as i can so i reached in and grabbed my mom's black wallet with her credit cards. >> reporter: and all of this with one shoe on and one shoe off. >> i was scared a little bit but i told myself just go with it. >> reporter: police don't recommend anyone chasing after a robber, let alone an 8-year-old but jose says he took the risk to help his family. >> my sister's party was coming up and i wanted her to have her party. and i wanted my mom to get all

of her stuff back. >> reporter: now police say that suspect is still at large. meanwhile, jose is just glad that he could save his sister's party. alex, back to you. >> jose is a rock star. thank you very much veronica. in just a moment, the story of a 9-year-old that runs a sweatshop. a reporter goes undercover to tell the world. uzz: for teaching us that you can't create the future... by clinging to the past. and with that: you're history. instead of looking behind... delta is looking beyond. 80 thousand of us investing billions... in everything from the best experiences below... to the finest comforts above. we're not simply saluting history... we're making it. [ male announcer ] maybe you've already heard what they're saying about the nissan altima. ♪ and we have to admit, that it's all true.

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one a day men's 50+. welcome back to weekends with alex witt. it's 30 past the hour right now. with the shutdown behind him president obama is wasting no time laying out a three item to-do list for congress. a long-term spending deal on immigration overhaul and a new farm bill. kristen welker is at the white house for us. what will the president take on first and how does he plan to go about it? >> well, alex, good afternoon, i would suspect that president obama is going to take on the immigration fight first. this is something he mapped out

during his first term. one of his goals back then it didn't happen. he identified this as a key priority for his second term. of course it is an incredibly tough slug. this is still an incredibly divided congress he is dealing with. in terms of his strategy, ian gatt i anticipate he will try among advocates and a lot are republican allies like business groups and like faith groups but as you just pointed out, that's not the only thing he'll be work on. he wants to get a farm bill passed as well as a budget. take a listen to what he had to say during his weekly address. >> we won't suddenly agree on everything now that the cloud of crisis has passed but we shouldn't hold back on places where we do agree just because we don't think it's good politics or just because the extremes in our parties don't like compromise. i'll look for willing partners from either party to get important work done. >> alex, the timing is going to

be so important. the president doesn't have a lot of time to get these priorities done, in part, because you have the midterm elections right around the corner and before that you have the budget battles that will come up in just a few months. there's really not a lot of time to get immigration reform done. democrats and the president did seem to emerge in a stronger position after this latest budget battle. so it is possible that they will have some leverage in these upcoming fights, but still, it's hard to see that they're going to get big things done because we saw the battle that they just had over a short-term spending plan. alex. >> okay. kristen at the white house, thank you. thanks. >> an observer of american politics over the last decade or so maybe convinced the u.s. is bitterly divided on the right and left and the two will never meet in the middle. however, a major survey from nbc news and esquire magazine finds that the majority of people are what they call the new american

center. a voting block that seems to break all the stereotypes. joining me is robert who was also the lead for mitt romney's presidential campaign. thank you i was so interested for finding out this new results. as we take a look at all of this, by party, things are pretty much evenly split. you look at about 55% considering themselves moderates. talk about that. were you surprised by this break down? >> yeah, alex, i was. i think the key here is you have a center of the country that's larger, more fluid, more persuadable than a lot of folks thought and the conventional wisdom has always been that the country is polarized and divided. you have red states and blue states but, in fact, you have a majority of the country that falls within the center, 51%. and the other thing that's interesting about the center itself, most people that are in

the center, they don't even consider themselves to be in the center. those party numbers you just threw up, up on the screen there, you've got by 8 points think they they're more democrat than republican and if you look at the ideology of the center, they're about 5 points more conservative than liberal. it's interesting at the center, though, that they don't consider themselves to be in the center. >> yeah. is there anything, as i'm looking at all of these different numbers, that surprises you a lot that you discovered? >> i think a couple of things. one, the first thing, 18 to 29-year-olds for example, the convention wisdom has always been that 18 to 29-year-olds are liberal and overwhelmingly support democratic policies. what's fascinating is you have 59% of 18 to 29-year-olds that fall in that center. so it's still a group that's up for grabs down the road in future elections and campaigns and races and the other one which i think is very

interesting is hispanics. 57% of hispanics across the country that describe themselves in the center. so it's young people and hispanics and that new diversity, what's the changing demographics of america. they're not just because they supported president obama the last presidential election, these are voters that are still up for grabs down the road. >> so i want to look at a couple of specific issues here with you. would be being guns. 34% have a gun in the household but 45% say that background checks are needed. also look at religion there. religion is personally important to 29% but 59% say it should be kept out of politics. so put a candidate to these voters with these believebelief. who is that? >> that's a great question. i'm not sure who that candidate is or what they look at. when you look at one specific issue on guns and religion, there's very few voters across

the country decided they're 100% of the vote on religion or guns and they'll take in all the different issues. that goes back to the center and why it's a persuadable audience and it will go back and forth. religion will play a role in the vote but you also have the economy that will play a role. you have social issues and immigration. there's a ton of different issues pulling the center by the strings and almost a tug of war between the right and the left to see who can get the voters. another thing that's interesting to me, this strong l libertarian center. 54% are saying government shouldn't legislate personal behavior, owning guns, abortion, marriage, marijuana, those kind of topics. they say leave us alone there. do you anticipate that emerging as a legitimate third party that could even win the white house in the near future? >> first, the libertarian thing, i think when you lookat the center specifically, you have hands off.

they want government out of their lives. they're looking at every decision kind of inwardly. how is it going to effect them and their families and they don't want any government involvement in anything and in terms of a third party, i'm skeptical of a third party emerging. if one has not come through yet, you know, i don't see where it's coming from. but i will say, americans right now, you look at the latest nbc news wall street journal poll we did late last week, americans with the shutdown, americans are frustrated. they're angry and they're extraordinarily pessimistic about the direction of the country. >> well, they are that. thanks. it's so interesting. appreciate you bringing it to us. >> thanks, alex. >> four months after the bangladesh factory collapse, the reporter went undercover in a garment sweatshop in the capitol city and emerged with a story of child bosses and back breaking work under horrible conditions all for less than a dollar a

day. >> i worked at a factory for four days. i was a sewing helper there which means trimming the threads out of every piece of cloth. the collar, the cuffs, the back of the shirt. i know it doesn't sound much but it's back breaking. my younger worker who was my boss was nine. it is very shocking to see a very young child there. >> well, she tells the story of the workers like her in a new series of articles under the title the clothes on your back. joining me is her editor. lynn, thank you so much. i was reading this series. the story breaks your heart. she is smart, she is funny. she is tough. but she is 9 years old and she is not unhappy. he doesn't know any better. is her situation uncommon? >> i think her personality is uncommon. she was just a little ray of sunshine and that particularly

broke her heart the whole time she was there. but we found when she and our other reporter was there we saw lot of kids on the streets working in -- some of them in sweatshops, some of them in all alleyways. we met two working for free as apprentices. they're ten years old. their parents cannot afford to keep them in the house anymore so they asked the factory owners to take care of them. that's the story. so it's not uncommon. >> there were a lot of promises made by the retail industry following the factory collapse in april. do you find that anything changed there on the ground? >> i think what we have seen in the last -- i don't know how much has changed on the ground yet. i think getting together all of the retailers in these two accords, one is called the accord for bangladesh and

another is the alliance. it's spirit. 100 retailers signed on to one of the accords. this is the legally binding one. but it's moving a lot slower than the activists thought it would. actually i think it's moving slower than the retailers thought it would. it's -- the other part of it is those people at the plaza have not had any compensation yet from the retailers. well, one retailer has given them compensation but as a group, no. so there's a lot going on that's slowly happening. the concern i think with bangladesh is what happened, while it is the worst garment industry disaster ever, it's not the first in bangladesh and we have had these flurries of, you know, attention and scrutiny on the garment industry there in the past. the factory fires in november and backed as -- i think we counted 1900 deaths since 2006.

so it's not -- this time, the question is its got to stick. that's what people are feeling. >> i know you met 2006 there. this is part of a broader series of things that the toronto star was working on and one real concern is they're very suspect of outsiders and her getting in there, they could not know she was a journalist. what about now? are there concerns that this article is going to get out there? they'll fine out what happened? and that doors will be even further tightly shuttered? >> i don't think so. i'm going to go with the two reporters when they sort of the debriefing when they got back. i don't think so. we were surprised, even though it's tightened up how much access we did get, we were in a number of factories. people are -- the one thing that struck us, everyone who has worked on this series about bangladesh is how open and sort

of individual garment factory owners would be with us. workers would be with us. people speak quite openly about these things. it's sort of the lobby groups and the institutions inside, you know, the political -- well, there's parliament, there's what, i think transparency international says 60% of the members of parliament there has ties to the garment industry. that's high. >> yeah it is high. >> well, lynn, i want to say it's an incredible series and the first of which if anyone wants to look at it, it's the toronto star. the first one aired last friday, the 11th of october. go google search it. it's heartbreaking reading but important. so lynn, thank you very much. i appreciate it. >> thank you very much. >> you're welcome. >> thank you. >> republicans lost a battle but they're winning a war in washington. who says so and why? next in the big three. mine was earned orbiting the moon in 1971.

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it's time for the big three in today's topics winners and losers. madam president and best week worst week. so let's bring in my panel. contributor and columnist and morris reid and susan. hi guys, good to see you. >> hi. >> let's go to winners and losers here. there's a new national journal article titled republicans lost the shutdown battle but they're winning the fiscal war and he says since taking the house back in 2010 nearly everything has gone the republicans way on fiscal policy. they got the bush tax cuts locked in. government spending reduced. also the sequester imposed. so morris, do you agree? are republicans winning the fiscal war? >> i have a bunch of unicorns i'd like to sell him as well. at the end of the day the president showed some leadership. the republicans have shown some leadership and things have moved forward. not at the pace we would like to have seen but things are moving

forward. i don't believe anyone has won or lost a battle because they have shutdown government and created havoc. they caused more harm than good. so they may be inching in the right direction but they're hurting. >> do you have unicorns to sell to the gop members or do you agree? >> he is a good thinking and writer about these topics but i don't think he takes the argument quite far enough. in fact, republicans have been successful in terms of obstruction. in terms of limiting the role of government over the last several years by giving this president a big goose egg on every piece of legislation he would happen to propose. on the other side of that the american people are losing. because of this, you don't have comprehensive immigration. you're having cuts to the snap program that we cannot afford to see. so while the republicans might be winning legislatively and pushing back against the obama administration in terms of their legislative agenda, they're hurting the american people in

the balance and hundreds upon thousands of jobs are being lost. >> on the heels of that, susan, republicans took a massive dive in the polls. so did republicans get anything out of the shutdown and debt ceiling battle? >> i can spin a lot but i can't spin my way out of this as a republican consultant. the truth is our brand took a major hit and what's most important is it took a hit in a way that we used to be known for being responsible. we advocated fiscal responsibility and we have shown to be anything but in this shutdown and the debt ceiling crisis taking it all the way to the limit and there's a lot of work for republicans to do. i mean, there are now several republicans that will be facing challenges from democrats. it may not be enough to lose the majority but it's substantial. >> let's move on to topic two madame president. hilary clinton campaigning today on behalf of terry mcauliffe.

it's her first appearance since stepping down in february. more shades of things to come here, seeing her on a campaign trail for 2016? >> well, just the idea brings a smile to my face, you know, alex. >> all of us. it would be fun to cover her. >> i can talk about this but i think this is the beginning of a process that will lead to her candidacy and hopefully her being the first madame president. >> what do you think susan? >> you have to give her a lot of credit. this is why people respect the clintons politically. she shows a great deal of loyalty but the second is now that the polls widened in the race in virginia she is going into a former red state that's now purple and coming in as there's a huge gender gap. she's going to look strong and the story will come out that she influenced that race. that's to her credit. >> yeah. >> good way to go if you're setting yourself up to run internationally. >> in fact, this is a women for terry event.

we showed the poll numbers. terry mcauliffe is up about 8 points over ken cuccinelli. so when you look at that, is this a safe way to roll out? is that part of what the strategy was for putting her out here for terry mcauliffe. >> hillary clinton and terry mcauliffe are very close friends. i'm not surprised she's in virginia campaigning for him today or any other day. what i am surprised at is that we're having this conversation. the idea that hillary rodham clinton was going to be core natu -- co to be the democratic nominee, i have deep respect for hillary clinton. i hope she runs for president. i think she could be the kind of leadership this country needs. but right now we do have a president and a president who has the legislative agenda for this country. i think we have a much larger conversation to have with that. weather wl or not hillary clinton or joe biden jumps into

the dem nomination over the next year or so, i welcome that conversation. right now we have a lot of fish to fry that already in the pot. >> my producer said we had to talk about this for the next couple minutes. >> i'm happy to talk about it. i'm happy to talk about her and fry those fishes. >> here's another important thing, it is important that she stay relevant politically. and this is a perfect way for her to do that. >> absolutely. >> it makes sense for her. it's three weeks out, less than three weeks out before the election. now she can say she did something in this election cycle and she'll probably go back a little bit and we won't hear more about it politically for another couple of months. it won't stop us from talking about it, of course. >> goldie, if i ask you another question will you answer it or do you want to move on? >> absolutely. i love hillary clinton. >> what do you think the likelihood is that she'll run? i'm only asking you because you

set yourself up. >> our family has been having this conversation about hillary clinton. there are some of us hedging our bets about this. i hope that she has the wherewithal to make this an excellent run for president. i think she has shown herself over recent years, you know, to be the kind of leader this country just might need. i really hope that happens. justice in 2008, we don't know who the democratic nominee will be and i think we need to leave the door open to all comers. >> she's ready to slam it to some people. she put biden under the bus when it comes to national security. >> now we have to go to commercial break. the big three worst and best of the week, next. ? your ford dealer. who's offering a rebate? your ford dealer. who has the low price tire guarantee, affording peace of mind to anyone who might be in the market for a new set of tires? your ford dealer. i'm beginning to sense a pattern. get up to $140 in mail-in rebates when you buy

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back to the big three for the best and worst of the week, we have craig melvin breathing down my neck. what is your pick for best and worst? >> one of week is corey booker who becomes the ninth

african-american u.s. senator who has been elected by popular vote. kudos to corey booker. my loser is jim demint and the heritage foundation. they've lost and they don't know they've lost. >> morris, yours? >> my winner is wall street when washington does its job, the market responds. it responded overwhelmingly. the losers is iraq. the government attacked a refugee camp and have seven people held hostage. i hope obama mentions this when maliki comes to town next week. susan? >> the best goes to the women of the u.s. senate. they showed us the way and got the job. the loser of the week goes to kathleen sebelius. she is on the hot seat. >> thanks so much. goldie taylor, morris reed and

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