we have mark mckinnon, mayor brown, and matt miller.e of the biggest stories we're seeing from this new round of polling is the fact that americans feel more confident in the president when it comes to his handling of the economy basically tied now in a dpaed he dead heat with mitt romney. do we owe that to the convention speech of bill clinton? was that a moment of change for the president? >> i think it contributed substantially. i think the public had been waiting for somebody to compare the condition of mr. obama with reference to the economy and the condition of his opponent with reference to the economy. mr. clinton did that. but more importantly, the president did it himself. he acknowledged that we have to get away from the dream world of change and hope and we have to get to the real world of how we can do it. and, in fact, the public responded. when he talked about what he did with the auto industry, what he talked about how he handled the whole business of whether or not banks would have resources to do what they needed to do

mark mckinnon is going to ask him to break down the battle.a path to enter "the war room" health matters to all of us. that's why lysol has started a mission for health. with new mom programs, lysol healthy habits initiatives in schools and disaster relief efforts. when you use lysol at home, you'll know you're a part of something bigger. for healthy tips and more, visit lysol.com/missionforhealth. >> jennifer: from the presidential horse race to the race for senate where the republicans actually need only a net gain of four seats to wrestle back control from the democrats so coming to us tonight from boston to break down a few of the really interesting senate races is mark mckinnon, a cofounder of no labels, a former campaign advisor to george w. bush. welcome back inside "the war room." >> hey, thank you, governor. let me just say as one republican who is a big fan of your speech at the convention. you microwaved the joint. it was something to watch. it was terrific. >> jennifer: they may not let you back into the republican party after you

mark mckinnon, your take. >> well, yeah.hat demands restraint and caution in such a volatile situation. i think what's interesting, willie, is that when you look at what's happening in libya and egypt and stack that up with what's happened with netanyahu in israel over the last couple of days, suddenly foreign policy is taking front and center in our public policy and potentially in our politics. and it could become very important in the campaign. when we all thought that foreign policy was going to be sort of an afterthought. >> you know, one of the things that fascinates me about political campaigns and the presidency is we don't ever know the america that the president is going to face when he comes in. and the irony is is they can campaign on a completely different platform. i mean, when you consider bush was the education president, right? he never expected to be the war president. obama was the hope and change president. and he found himself the president of a ruined economy. so you never know. and that's really why, i

. >> i want to bring in mark mckinnon, dailybeast.com contributor. great to see you, mark. good morning. >> good morning, chris. >> i'm sure you know, you were mentioned in that politico piece. the comparison was stewart stevens, this romney adviser, is doing three jobs. quote, it would be as if george w. bush had run for president in 2000 with one person playing the roles of karl rove, mark mckinnon and michael gerson. is stewart stevens the problem. is this all on mitt romney since his campaign says he's making all the decisions? >> well, i remember very clearly september of 2000, we called it black september in the bush campaign. we were down by three points. all the guns started shooting at us. everybody wanted me fired because the ads were terrible and the campaign was going down the drain. they wanted all our heads. it was a lot of talk of internal dissension. and then a couple of weeks later due to the debates and a number of other external factors within the campaign because the campaign didn't panic, we were able to right the ship. i think it's way too early to be

republican mark mckinnon who served for bush and will be joining us later writes that the romney tape reveals say deeply cynical man. i honestly don't know what romney can do to win support from the voters he needs to gain a majority. i thought the debates would be an opportunity but he has dug his hole so deeply now, i don't know if he can pull himself out. in today's "wall street journal" the editorial board rights surely a man as smart as the former ceo of bain capital can give a better speech on taxes and dependency than he delivered at that fundraiser. if he can't, he'll lose and he'll deserve to. it's starting to get lonely out there for republicans supporting mitt romney. >> we're the ones supporting romney and the guys that were all in at the beginning say -- romney is the only guy who's electable. now they're bailing on him. and you know all they're doing is trying to protect their own reputations. they think everybody else sees romney as stupid so they've got to say so too to make sure they're not looked at the same way people are supposedly looking at romney. i've never met

. >> medicare mckinnon worked on the bush campaign which ran this ad showing the candidates consoling/11 victims. >> our president took ashley in his arms and just embraced her, and it was at that moment that we saw ashley's eyes fill up with tears. >> come on, this is the presidency. you're playing this music and we're supposed to vote for this guy because she tears up. >> that's exactly what they did. this ad aired in ohio in late 2004. it was absolutely pivotal. >> it's morning again in america. today more men and women will go to work than ever before in our country's history. >> beckel worked for reagan's opponent at the time. >> i see this ad come on on the television. it's a farmer and son in a beautiful pasture. they put their hands over their hearts. i stood up and put my hand over my heart. the tagline is, re-elect ronald reagan. i said, are you kidding me that? that is blatant, blatant and good. you may think it's corny, but let's face it, you think everything's corny, okay, but if you can get an image like that it really matters. >> ed rollins was reagan's campaign manager

bobby moynihan nasim pedrad jay pharaoh jason sudeikis kenan thompson featuring aidy bryant kate mckinnon musical guest -- mumford & sons and your host -- joseph gordon-levitt. ladies and gentlemen, joseph gordon-levitt. ♪ [ cheers and applause ] >>> thank you. thank you so much. thank you. it is so great to be back here hosting "saturday night live." this year has been so amazing. i've been lucky to be in some really great movies. i have the movie "looper" coming out. in that one, i play a young version of bruce willis, so i guess i'm playing ashton kutcher. i was also in "the dark knight rises." [ cheers and applause ] thank you, thank you. but you know what my favorite superhero movie of the summer was? "magic mike." right? no, seriously. my friend change channing tatum was in that. 'cause you know what my favorite part of "magic mike" was? this part. [ cheers and applause ] ♪ ♪ it's raining men hallelujah it's raining men amen ♪ ♪ i'm gonna go out and let myself get absolutely soaking wet ♪ ♪ it's raining men we've got a great show for you tonight! mumford & sons are here. [ cheers an

coming to us tonight from cambridge, massachusetts is mark mckinnon who is the man who helped stevensak into politics. he is founder of no labels a non-partisan group seeking to solve the nation's problems. mark welcome back into "the war room." >> thank you governor. >> jennifer: so you hired stuart twice to work on the george w. bush campaign. did you ever imagine he would be leading a national campaign? >> not surprised a bit. there are very few people in the business who have been around as long as stuart. i remember when this happened to us in 2000. we were out of the conventions, and we 3 on its down. and everybody thought we should be fired including me. then we went into the debates and flipped the three points and were suddenly all ahead. the notion that stuart would be getting all of these criticism is ridiculous. stuart is a big boy and he can handle this, but he is perfectly capable of running the show. >> jennifer: it is very interesting, because everybody wants to shoot somebody, and a good strategist would be willing to step up and take a bullet. there are a few flubs t

andy samberg jason sudeikis kenan thompson kristen wiig featuring vanessa bayer taran killam kate mckinnon jagger! [ cheers and applause ] [ cheers and applause ] >>> thank you! thank you very much. thank you! thank you. it's wonderful -- it's wonderful -- it's so wonderful to be here. hosting "saturday night live." and you're about to see me do what i do best. stand still and talk. [ cheers and applause ] you know, for a long time i've been mick jagger. because of that, i've met people from all over the world. they always ask me the same questions. so tonight i figured i would use the monologue to answer all those mick jagger frequently asked questions. so let's begin. the first one is, i'm always asked, hey, mick, who's your favorite rolling stone? [ light laughter ] well, that depends. you know, if i'm allowed to pick myself, then i'd say my favorite is obviously me. but if i'm not allowed to pick myself, i'd say, "i don't believe in playing favorites." [ laughter ] the next question that journalists always ask me is, "mick, who is your favorite new group today?" well, obviously, i love

so tonight in "the war room," we're going to do some debate prep with republican strategist mark mckinnondemocratic campaign veteran fowler. it will be a great hour for the political junkies out there right here in "the war room." you gotta tune in. >> eliot: we'll be watching. more "viewpoint" coming right up. online forum with a direct line to eliot spitzer. >>join the debate now. v

joining me now mark mckinnon, chief adviser for george bush, and jonathan capeheart opinion writer fore washington post." >> mark, i've read what you have to say about mitt romney, i understand your shock at what you've heard from him. there's nothing from what he said at that fundraiser that i can link to the previous two republicans presidents, george w. bush or george h.w. bush when speaking about similar matters. can you find any connection between what george w. bush used to say about compassionate conservatism, what george h.w. bush used to say about thousand points of light? >> no. and it was those ideas that compassionate conservatism that drew independent conservatives like me at the time to the republican party. interestingly, in his response on fox yesterday when he was trying to walk all this back, he kept talking about those people. i never heard the words those people from george w. bush or george h.w. bush or ronald reagan or bill clinton. those are the kinds of things that cause some concern. >> let's listen to george w. bush in 2002 talking how he believes people, ever

here was republican strategist mark mckinnon this morning. >> what we're seeing is an increasing problemhim being able to connect with voters in a sense that he understands and shares their values and concerns. and that gap's widening. >> uber conservative charles krautheimer, who has defended romney in the past, ripped into his comments last night on fox. let's take a look. >> he said these are people who consider themselves victims. now, that's not a very smart thing to say. it's not even accurate. and you don't win an election by disparaging just about half the electorate. simply as a matter of appealing to the electorate, the way he put it was about the worst possible way. >> well, former george w. bush speechwriter, david fromme, wrote this in "the daily beast," today, "mitt romney has just committed the worst presidential gaffe since gerald ford announced in 1976 there was no soviet domination of eastern europe." that's a status to meet. peggy noonan says this, "it's time to admit the romney campaign is an incompetent one. it's not big. it's not brave. it's not thoughtfully tacklin

that's mark mckinnon says how can anyone support a candidate with this vision of the country and davids saying that mitt romney doesn't know much about the country that he inhabits and lost any sense of social compact of this country. that's one variety of criticism. i can't believe we pick this guy. this guy would make a horrible president. a lot of people making that criticism are being derided as not real conservatives. the other variety is not at all id idea logical. they're criticism is he's running bad campaign. when the campaign released more tax information today, alex castellanos said at first i thought this was an april fool's joke. i can't imagine why they would do this. there's 40 days left and you've made more of them about mitt's taxes. the criticism is the back stabbers who are leaking things like there to politico. romney associates are baffled that such a successful corporate leader has created a team with so few lines of authority and account bl accountability. they are trashing their own candidate. the criticism of how mr. romney is campaigning and why he's losing is

so first let's start with the commentators mark mckinnon, quote, mitt romney is running out of time.tly what i told you just a little while ago. referring to the video that was leaked about mitt romney's fundraiser in boca raton. it was a moment that certainly revealed something about him. but not what i was hoping for. just the opposite. it reveals a deeply cynical man who sees the country completely divided as two completely different sets of people. finally on weather romney has a chance, he said romney has dug a hole so deeply now i don't know if he can pull himself out. so there is the republican saying this thing might already be over with 50 days to go, and he said, i was hopeful all along. i'm no longer as hopeful. that is stinging. then go to peggy noonan who worked with ronald reagan. the legendary ronald reagan. what does she say? the romney campaign is an incompetent one. the intervention is in order. mitt this isn't working. you can tell the true panic from people running for senate on the republican side who are saying, oh like watch these guys run. quote. now that's no

billy crystal calling those comments quote stupid and arrogant" and mark mckinnon.gly inept presidential campaign. not exactly votes of confidence from the right. this is what they're saying publicly. what do you think they're saying to the campaign aides they're grabbing by the elbows behind the scenes? >> i think unfortunately they ought to keep those comments to those conversations when they're grabbing folks' elbows. sometimes my side is a little too quick to condemn a campaign, which is literally tied in the poll polls. >> what policy are you reading? >> i looked at gallup, which is one of the most respected polling institutions in the country for the last half a century and they show the race even today. on a three day roll. no one will accuse them of being partisan. fair enough there have been other polls that show -- >> more than a dozen polls. >> there have been other polls that show obama on a swell. i'm not going to tell you i think the obama campaign hasn't done a good job over the last three weeks. they have played error-free ball and romney has had err

let's bring in mark mckinnon is chris fs. mark, this tape comes out the same day the obama cap pain released a new ad hitting that 47% comment romney made behind closed doors. in this bain capital clip -- we don'knowf itte see the entire tape himself. he's talking about his company and harvesting the profits. not about creating jobs or saving jobs. mark. >> yeah. well, this is another in a sees oveton't make up for a good week or two for the romney campaign. this strikes me as an issue that's deeper and more problematic in some ways because the whole issue of bain and what bain means and the whole concept rivate equity is a debate that thiul -- that should have been had a long time ago in the campaign. i would liked to have seen the romney campaign put that issue forward rather than waiting for it to be taken on later in the campaign wn the don't have an opportunity to talk about job t terms.and what pvate equit rather, they do it late in the campaign in a defensive posture, which is problematic. >> mark, is that the reason t

bush ad guru republican mark mckinnon writes at the daily beast, quote, how can anyone support a candidate with this kind of vision of the country? i honestly don't know what romney can do to win support from the voters he needs to gain to win a majority. "the new york times" saying today that mitt romney staffers now can no longer hide their annoyance, describing a romney aide cursing loudly at a press event in california. "the times" says mr. romney's grim-faced aides are wondering in low volume, out of the way conversations whether victory is still possible. one person described as a flustered adviser telling "the times" today, quote, that the campaign was turning into is a vulgar, unprintable phrase, which -- a vulgar and unprintable -- i'm guessing that either starts with the word "cluster" or with the word "pig." i'm not going to guess which one. and "the huffington post" sums it up by saying, there is a feeling almost that this thing is in free fall. free fall. free fall usually ends with a thump. it is not getting better for these guys, not yet. those are all quotes from republican

that's mark mckinnon, the george w. say who can support anyone with this view of the country? and another saying mitt romney doesn't know much about the country he inhabits. and that is one variety of republican criticism of mr. romney. a lot of the people who are making that criticism are being derided as not real conservatives by other people on the right. the other variety of criticism is ideological. it's not about there being anything wrong about mr. romney's beliefs or policies, their criticism is just that he's running a bad campaign. when the campaign released more of mitt romney's tax information today, a former romney adviser said at first i thought this was an april fool's joke. there are 49 -- 40 days left and you have just made more of them about mitt's taxes. and they're trashing their own candidate's ability to run a large organization such as a presidential campaign. the criticism of how mr. romney is campaigning and why he's losing has also focused a lot this week on the schedule, on the fact that he's

that was the new "snl" cast member, kate mckinnon, playing here. playing an exasperated ann romney. mitt romney has taken a beating lately, but really would republicans rather have rick perry as their nominee? >> and i will tell you, it's three agencies of government when i get there that are gone, commerce, education, and the -- what's the third one there? let's see. >> you can't name the third one? >> the third agency of government i would do away with education, the -- >> commerce. >> commerce, and let's see, i can't, the third one i can't. sorry. oops. >> that was the quietest oops in history, but, boy, was it funny. here is herman cain. >> 9-9-9 is bold. it expands the base. i have proposed 9-9-9. put it in the 9-9-9 plan. 9-9-9. remember, 9-9-9. my top priority is 9-9-9. jobs, jobs, jobs. >> i think capital punishment may be better than listening to that guy say the number nine. even michele bachmann knew these numbers didn't add up. >> when you take the 9-9-9 plan and you turn it upside down, i think the devil is in the details. >> oh, my god. that's the sign of the beast. wh

joining us is mark mckinnon, former bush and mccain media advisor and alice stewart. she worked with the bush campaign. paul begala, senior advisor to a leading pro-obama super pac and john king. mark, what do you make of this? you wrote a column about this for the daily beast, it will be in tomorrow. i read it. you quote michelle obama at the democratic convention in her speech, she said being president reveals who you are. you say so do campaigns and you're not happy with what's being revealed about mitt romney. how so? what do you think this tape reveals? >> well, there's a lot of us who have been waiting for a long time for some seminal moment for mitt romney to reveal his character and unfortunately, i'm afraid that this tape is exactly what that does but not in the way we had hoped for. it's getting harder to support him, getting harder to defend him. you know, i talked a lot about how i remember in september 2000, things were difficult, the dark days of september, and easy to bounce back, but when you start casting off half the country as victims, that causes a

. >> "saturday night live's" kate mckinnon and bill hater having some fun there.gues nicely into today's trail mix. more interesting health news about the texas governor who apparently suffers from insomnia. there's a new e-book. that says if viewers saw this book when he appeared to go blank during the republican presidential debate. >> it's three agencies of government when i get there that are gone. commerce, education, and the -- what's the third one there? let's see. >> i would do away with education, the -- commerce -- commerce -- and let's see -- i can't. the third one, i can't, sorry. oops. >> that's okay. governor. the book says that perry went virtually sleepless during much of his campaign which of course as you probably remember ended early in 2012. mitt romney making for a pricey event last night in l.a. about 1500 tickets were sold, ranging from $1,000, to $50,000. comedian dennis miller, producer david foster and actor gary sinese among the attendees. and you remember joe biden's great pumpkin we showed to you? a the giant squash got some first-clas

. >> let me bring in mark mckinnon. we'll bring you into this conversation. i want to start with something that newt gingrich said this morning on "morning joe." mark, let me play that. >> everybody i talk to agrees he's had two and a half very tough weeks, and i do agree. i think they started with the clinton speech, and then they got compoundeded by all the ot stuff that happened. the person in the cross hairs in the next ten days is mitt romney. >> let me ask you about your thought of where the campaign is right now, and if he's in the cross hairs feeling the heat, is he the kind of guy that stomach bems and withers, or is he the candidate to take that as i'm hitting rock bottom and i'm going to start to climb up? >> well, i mean, mitt romney has shown a lot of resolve through the primaries, and he bounced back from a lot of bad periods. i remember well in september of 2000 we called it black september and we were down 3 to 5 points. it wasn't until the dethe baits we turned things around. there's opportunity here for sure, but what the romney campaign has

when you look at fellow republicans, bill crystal calls romney's comments stupid and arrogant, mark mckinnonvery cynical view. and then romney goes on telemundo last night praising his campaign. >> i have a terrific campaign. my senior campaign people work extraordinarily well together. i work well with them. our campaign is doing well. >> so, no changes in your campaign? >> no, i've got a good team. >> i mean, accept what you're saying he could turn it around in seven weeks, he first has to not be in denial and see he has a problem. >> i agree. >> these are not just gaffes. when your father ran in '08, he didn't have any of this stuff. this guy is in denial. >> all campaigns have problems. to be on a campaign is in the midst of chaos. i agree with tad, what he said earlier. governor romney has to look at who these leakers are, people being disloyal and he must get rid of them immediately because that will be the fatality in his campaign unless he gets rid of them. >> he also needs to gets a good mirror because a lot of what he's facing he caused. a lot of these wounds are self-inflicted. >>

so tonight in "the war room," we're going to do some debate prep with republican strategist mark mckinnonratic campaign veteran fowler. it will be a great hour for the political junkies out there right here in "the war room." you gotta tune in. >> eliot: we'll beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee our conversation is with you the viewer because we're independent. >>here's how you can connect with "viewpoint with eliot spitzer." >>questions, of course, need to be answered. >>we will not settle for the easy answers. >> eliot: when the only apparent consistency is the does not, well documented well representation of facts, you have a problem which is why mittt romney is shrinking. over the course of this campaign, he's dproan smaller. he and those around him should have realized by now that one is not elected president either as an empty vessel devoid of substance or by merely using a pea shooter to fling petty insults based on words taken out of context. the latest silliness from romney world is the effort to diminish president obama by claiming that when he characterized the upheavals and disrup