the message won't be delivered with the usual pomp and circumstance, citing whether kmps the obama campaignrday scrapped plans to hold the speech in the bank of america stadium. in other words, no balloon drop. the move gave republicans an opening to take a jab at the president. a spokesperson for the rnc said, quote, after promising to hold the event at bank of america stadium rain or shine, suddenly team obama is moving inside after questions about enthusiasm for the event. what's the real forecast for the speech in 40% chance of lies and scattered executions. youch. guess those balloons meant a lot to some people. joining the panel now is "time" magazine and msnbc senior political analyst, mark ha halperin. mark? >> only 40%. >> hey, not so bad. let's talk about the president and the expectations here. he's had a team of surrogates to tee it up for him tonight. i guess what is your -- how bullish or bearish are you on him closing the deal as it were tonight and really sort of turning a corner in terms of the narrative of this election? >> they've done remarkably little previewing of the

this will be an hourlong debate b, andred by cbs, kmp "the reno cassette journal. here is the format for the debate. each candidate will get a one minute opening statement. the candidate will then be asked a series of questions. the candidates will each get one minute and a half to respond to the same question. the candidates will receive -- who receive the original question will get one minute to rebut. we will also have closing statements. opening statements have been determined by a coin toss. these are our questioners. >> thank you and i would like to thank the sponsors for hosting our first debate. , the panel members for being here with us. about 50 years ago, i lived in a small town in upstate new york. my father could not make a living so he decided that he would move his >> we drove across country. we were headed for california. we stopped in nevada for the day. we never left. my dad was a waiter. on a waiter's salary, he put food on our table, clothes on our back, and two daughters through college. i am the first person in my family to go to college. i wo

columnist neuman was critical of how defended initial remarks at a news kmps. >> at one point he hade on his face and i thought he looked like richard nixon. >> reporter: arizona senator sidestepped romney's handling of the issue on cnn. >> the whole tick tok back and forth is not something i'm totally aware of or care too much about. >> would you advise him to say that? >> listen, the one thing i don't do because i'm the loser is advise people -- ter: senior r ain. vild cnnn confident that this controversy will blow over. the question though is whether there will be blow back from voters. but that strategist i talked to, wolf, said to romney's criticism of the president highlights as what he described as big differences in this campaign. >> more muted though today. jim acosta, thanks very much. >>> this just coming in to cnn. new polls on the u.s. economy. our chief correspondent john king has a closer look at the numbers. john. >> wolf, let's start with the question that dominated both political conventions. that is a big factor on the campaign trail, are you better off than you we