my colleague arthur delaney looked into this noted a study that a brown professor did to show they're resonating among working class web voters. the historical legacy is clear. they resonate with a certain audience. that's the audience mitt romney needs to drive to get an election and he's testing the president proposition you can't make it up. he's making it up, and we'll see if it works. >> as the first blog pointed out today, the welfare line of attack has a lot to do. he has to expand the white voters out there. the poll shows romney up by 13 points among white voters generally, but that's one point better than john mccain did in 2008 according to exit polls that year. of course, mccain lost decisive. the argument seems to be in a real politics sort of way as nasty as these ads are, as inaccurate as they could be, they achieve a goal, which is to get the white voter especially the noncollege white voter reallyticked off at obama that he may personally like. he may have gotten past that and said i like the guy personally, but in this ad he's out there screwing up the system and let

my colleague arthur delaney, who looked into this extensively, noted there is a study a brown professords are resonating among working class white voters. they resonate with a certain audience and the audience is the audience mitt romney needs to draw up an election and testing the president's proposition you can't make things up. he is making things up and seeing if it works. >> as the first read blog pointed out today, the welfare line of attack has a lot to do with romney's need to expand his margin was white voters out there. our latest nbc poll shows romney up by 13 points in the -- among white voters generally but margin is one point better than john mccain did in 2008. mccain lost decisively. the argument out there seems to be, james, as nasty as these ads are, inaccurate as they could be, they -- achieve a goal which is to get the white voter especially noncollege white voter really ticked off. really ticked off at obama who he may personally like, even though he's black and they are white, he may have gotten past that and -- i like the guy personally. he is a good family man bu

arthur delaney e is with us from huffington post on the new ipad appear huffington period. go to the calls, arthur, you were saying during the break, so they get this big salary, the pension. they get the health benefits but maybe the real pay-off comes had they leave congress. >> this is the biggest. >> of course they take this stuff with them. right? but then they have an open door to big bucks. right? >> right. like i was telling you, i am not working on a follow-up story: my quest for the only poor former member of congress. so far, i haven't found him. but the idea is -- >> you are not going to. >> nobody who comes to congress and resigns or is voted out becomes poor. you can become a lobbyist or a consultant, which is the same as a lobbyist only you don't have to register is the narrow definition of the law. but basically, members of congress from the moment they get here, they are too big to fail. >> and i mean if you become a lobbyist, you are talking not $175,000. you are talking about what? >> if you are an influential committee chairman or long-serving senator, yo