in a critical place like ohio, i would argue that romney should have had almost as many offices as president obama in order to put in thiz column for sure. >> some will vote for romney because they're so angry at the president. i don't think they would be described as independent voters. those people you are describing would likely be far right or leaning strongly to the right if they have that kind of visceral anger where it's simply voting against obama. are those the undecided independents we're talking about in the last 12 days? >> there are people that do not need to be called by the romney campaign. any don't need their door knocked on. they might not be republican. they might be independents that change their vote. they could have supported bush and were sick of the bush years and thought obama was this po post-partisan figure and he didn't out to be and the economy isn't where he thought it would. they're excited to vote for romney because they want to beat the president. >> he followed him on the blitz of the battleground states and asked the president about the national polls showi

certainly when you're talking about places like ohio and some of other swings states, i don't think romneyhink this is a question of character. for those undecided voters who are trying to figure out how they want to make up their mind, often character is an issue. here is a guy that will not take a position and will certainly not disassociate himself from people like mourdock the way he didn't from rush limbaugh when he referred to sandra fluke as a slu t. when he didn't disassociate himself even last night from the obnoxious comments that john sununu made about colin powell. here is a guy who is -- does not have the courage to stand up and take action based on what he says his convictions are in the same way he wouldn't stand up to obama when he had criticized him for the entire campaign on his foreign policy. then he stood next to him eye to eye and backed down on virtually every issue. this is a guy with a character challenge. >> this man has very limited moral fiber, doesn't he, when it comes to these matters? >> well, i think what was most telling about the bs comment in "rolling sto

states, and in part because the obama campaign has done a pretty good trashing mitt romney in places like ohiobut one thing we've seen since the presidential debate is a rising tied lifts all boats. romney has come up across the board f he can keep it going nationally, he will also keep it going in the swing states. >> the head of poll, they said they stopped polling in florida, north carolina and florida because they think the tied has moved so strong toward romney in those states they think romney is going to win those states. are you there yet? do you agree with that. >> i might buy that for north carolina and 1/2. i don't yet buy that for virginia. i think it's still incredibly close in virginia right now. >> what do you think the shape of the electorate is going to be? you raise that point and it's a very interesting one. will it be like 2008 or is it going to be like 2004, which was an even break between democratic republicans, or are we talking about some kind of average in between? >> that, of course, is the question of the moment, paul. i think the best guess is somewhere between the

the people in places like ohio, which could be the crucial -- >> a big deal. >> they hear let detroit go bankrupt and they think, hang on a second. then they see obama win with his bailout. they get their jobs back. unemployment in ohio is way lower than it is in the rest of the country. and they say yeah, i'm going to vote for this guy. if that's what gets obama home, wasn't that one op-ed piece a disaster? >> he put it in the wrong place, with the wrong headline. because it was very thoughtful. now, let me tell you a little bit more about that. in the delphi bankruptcy, which was part of the same thing, guess what the obama administration did. they gave the pension benefits to union employees and cut the throats of 20,000 non-union retirees. so that's got to be told in ohio because there's a lot of non-union people who are smashed. >> is the problem, should he have had a question mark rather like your tweet about the jobs numbers? is it down to a question mark? >> hold it. you don't have a thing to do with the headlines in america. the headline goes in by the newspaper. and the "tim

. >> and in places like ohio, democrats have done well in early voting.are you worried about the vote because you don't have the worry voting there? >> i'm a new hampshire democrat. i'm always worried about the vote. >> all right, raymond buckley, thank you very much, chairman of the new hampshire democratic party. >>> coming up in our next hour, another undecided state of america, ohio. 18 electoral votes that have the potential to shake up this race. christi. >>> this story moved so many people. a teenage girl shot in the head by the taliban now in a british hospital. more on her progress and also talk about a very special visitor who is coming to check up on her. stay close. >>> mortgage rates maintain record lows this week. take a look. wait for it... wait for it... [ dog ] you know, i just don't think i should have to wait for it! who do you think i am, quicken loans? ♪ at quicken loans, we won't make you wait for it. our efficient, online system allows us to get you through your home loan process fast. which means you'll never have to beg for a quic

that basic human need for water be used to turn a profit for the privatization of prisons in places like ohio and arizona it's no longer a question of how can we administer our criminal justice system for the good of society but rather how can we lock up more and more americans to make more money and the privatization of education which can be seen in the push for charter schools of billionaire funded movies promoting that it's no longer a question about how can we educate our kids to be leaders in the new economy but rather how can we shuffle kids in and out of classes in the most profitable way possible. the republican party has been pushing privatization of social security since the thirty's they've been pushing privatization of medicare since the sixty's our food supply is now increasingly dominated by one private corporation monsanto that is peddling genetically modified foods that scientific tests of shown might be effective in some cases are unhealthy in lab animals but are extremely profitable there's a privatisation of parking meters in chicago and toll booths and roadways all over t

we're seeing a lot of forward movement in places like iowa, in ohio, in nevada.n in wisconsin and i think all of that changes the electoral map and gives us an opportunity to pull it off. >> steve, we saw the fear factor ad coming from the obama campaign today. talking about that number of votes that swung florida in 2005. you have a positive narrative coming from romney. we're winning. get on board. look at us. and almost fear factor in the obama campaign. >> yeah. i think what the obama campaign is trying to do is they're trying to motivate the voters who think as of three weeks ago the president looked like he was in good shape and now he's in a close race. we need to get them out to vote. interesting for the past several years i would look at the reports and wonder how the obama campaign could spend $200 to $300 million and not see evidence of it they were registering voters registering places like ohio, florida and virginia and the places that will make a difference in their campaign and now they're trying to get those voters out. >> lois, is it the responsi

people in places like ohio. they hear let detroit go bankrupt and then they see obama win. if that is what gets him home, wasn't that a piece of disaster? >> he put it into the wrong place. >> they gave the pension benefits to union employees and cut the throats of 20,000 non union retirees. that has to be told in ohio. there are a lot of non union people who were smashed. >> was that the problem? is it down to a question mark? >> you don't have a thing to do with the headlines in america. it goes into the newspaper and the times took a very thoughtful article of his. president obama was wrong when he said that is not true. if you read the article it is very clear that he did not say that he did not want to throw him under the bus. >> why didn't you vent the system? you have a safety valve where people can ring the bell, go to a person and get the story out. because you want to have a safety vent in everyone of your offices. >> good to see you. >> great. >> now, when we come back. the man who started october surprise and why he says the president should take his $5 million

. >> they are crisscrossing the country, in critical places like ohio and nevada.ush is on. their pace, relentless. their message is clear and unequivocal in the last two weeks of a titanic presidential campaign. in the final debate, president obama and republican mitt

like ohio where obama has been consistent. the economy is better in ohio than it is around the country. you have the auto bailout that obama put in placeelped that state. could it be that he has a leg up in a state like ohio and a few others like iowa that he doesn't have anywhere else in the country and there are two separate elections? i'm seriously wondering. >> there's a point to what you're making partly because if we go against steve on the numbers we're going to lose. >> who would do that. never. >> there is definitely noise in the national number because there are states in the south and appalacia where obama's numbers are depressed and other states where it's closer. all of that factored into the national numbers doesn't factor into the states. when you just look at ohio which romney has to have, there is a path to victory for romney without ohio, but it is very difficult. obama is still up despite all the volatility and all the movement of last week, obama is still up one to three points depending on the pole in ohio. if obama gets ohio he is basically on the one yard line and romney would have to win wisconsin or nevada and

a place like ohio which is very key, early voter turnout has been up.re already enthusiastic or not enthusiastic about whoever it is they are voting for. i don't think this debate will change anything but, again, if someone screws up, if someone doesn't seem enthusiastic, it could affect enthusiasm and that end up making a difference. >> definitely have to see how it turns out. jason johnson, thank you for coming in early as always. all right. kyra phillips is going to be at the debate in boca raton, florida. look for her reports later on hln. >>> a little girl fighting brain cancer got to mees justin bieber last night. 4-year-old haley roser wasn't sure if it would happen. the hospital was on lockdown after the whole spa shooting but it reopened just in time for her to meet him. a local radio station donated its media passes so haley could meet bieber. she told him he loved him and it was great to see her smile again. justin bieber, it's so sweet to see that smile on her face. he seems like the nicest guy. >> he seems like he does that a lot. >> meetin

he's become a regular surrogate in places like ohio, and people love him there.e speaks to those kind of people in a way the president sometimes has a hard time doing. >> are these guys anecdotes to the crap that's been thrown by people like donald trump saying the president is really from kenya, his ideas are from europe, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. and then you have these two guys, the big dog and the boss, come in and say we are sui generis american like obama is, but they have a special claim on a certain kind of voter. do you see it that way? >> yes, i do. the conventional wisdom, as john has pointed out, is this election will come down to ohio, and ohio comes down to the very kinds of voters we're talking about, working class people that used to be called reagan democrats, now a lot of them are independents, and these people are not necessarily obama's natural constituency, but they are reachable on economic issues, and nobody is better, not barack obama, not joe biden, nobody is better than bill clinton at speaking to folks like this in terms they can un

administration points to the slow recovery but still, nonetheless, a recovery particularly in places like ohioe below the national rate. >> yes. and ohio's economy started to recover before governor casey became governor. our unemployment went down 1.6% in 2010. it went down another 1.7% in the next year and a half. but the fact is, ohio's unemployment rate is coming down. our economy is growing because of what president obama did with the american auto industry. mitt romney said let detroit go bankrupt. the president said, we're going to save this vital industry and ohio is benefitting as a result. >> governor strickland, thank you very much. greatly appreciate your time, sir. we'll be right back. hmmm. let's see if walmart can help you find the same look for less. okay. see? walmart has all these leading eyewear brands and styles. rockstar! really? yeah. oh, wow! oh, black frame looks good on you. yeah? you can get a complete pair starting at just -- $38. really?! and did you know that our glasses come with a free 12-month replacement guarantee? i didn't know walmart had all this. the price

so if the romney campaign is trying to pull some resources from pennsylvania to places like ohio and it stand to reason here it could be even closer in ohio, though? >> i don't think it is. show me the evidence. the fact is that ohioans have been for and with this president. and you talk about the auto industry being a regional issue. but we believe about 80 of 88 counties are in some way involved in the supply chain that enables these auto plants to really function. and that's what's important about this auto industry rescue. it has a broad sweep across all of ohio and michigan and indiana, but ohio particularly has benefitted from the auto have i and mitt romney said let this industry go bankrupt. and the president in the face of criticism stood up, did the right thing, the courageous thing and ohio is benefiting as a result and ohioans won't forget that. p. >> ohio, ohio, ohio. former governor ted strickland from that great state of ohio, thank you so much with the obama re-election campaign. >> it's a wonderful state. >>> ross perot no longer one of the undecided voters. he annou

look at that romney and ryan seem to be enjoying in many of the polls, will soon translate into places like ohio, where they don't appear to be ahead. i don't think he got a mere bounce, romney, out of the first debate. i think he got a surge and it may have faded some but it persists and we see it in the polling. if it continues, he may be on a course to upset the president and win the election. >> i was talking to a top obama advisor this week and he suggested, he didn't say it but suggested, that the southeastern swing states of florida and north carolina and virginia are beginning to move romney and they now have what seems to be their last stand, their final -- this be the obama camp, their final firewall in the midwest, ohio, iowa and wisconsin. >> absolutely. it's ironic because not long ago we talked about how romney was having problems in ohio and maybe should pull out and find another path. now you're hearing talk about whether obama should pull out of florida. there was a piece in the "new york times" about that this weekend. so i think in that sense, the midwest is really where this

you know, even the p.p.p., a democratic leaning organization, suggesting some place like ohio is still up for grab. they had it at four. we talked a lot about these polls. and the concern about them. but your take on the battleground states and the state polls in particular. >> yeah. i think we got to approach them with a lot of skepticism. in ohio last week, we had cbs/"new york times" poll saying ten points for obama. and a columbus dispatch poll saying nine points. frank newport the head of the gallup organization had a blog posting that was revealing. he said you have to subject the state polls to the judgment of experience. he said for example, take ohio. the president won there by less than five points last time around. this time around, the poll that said he is winning by ten, does it make sense he would do twice as well, the margin is twice as big this time around than it was in 2008 when everybody is pointing to closer election than in 2008. of course not. it doesn't make sense. take this with the nevada and ohio shifts because of outlier polls. p.p.p. interestingly enough had

re-energized his campaign but what i'll watch are those polls in the key battleground states, places like ohio, virginia, florida, colorado. those have to start closing up for mitt romney, as well. so far they haven't, in fact, there is a new poll out this morning coming out of the university of denver showing barack obama maintains a four-point lead in colorado. >> and it is the battleground states where this race will be won. and lost. >> absolutely. >> very quickly, vice presidential race. any precedent for a vice presidential debate impacting the trajectory of a race? >> not -- probably one of the most serious debate moments ever is that debate moment where lloyd bentson took on dan quayle and said "you're no jack kennedy," but in the end george h.w. bush still won that race. >> george stephanopoulos, thank you very much. great to see you here on the set this morning. george has a big show this morning featuring romney campaign senior adviser ed gillespie and obama campaign senior adviser robert gibbs and also, of course, bill o'reilly, and george will also co-anchor along with diane sawye

if you look at places like ohio where voting started today, the democratic coalition is turning out in force. you are seeing more voting in precincts that went for obama than those who went for mccain. we are seeing people aren inning gauged and showing up to vote. >> if democrats are trailing in party id and if republicans come out big and have a huge turnout, what will that mean for the president and his chances of winning a second term? >> i will say two things on that. going back to the point i made earlier, people are turning out early to vote. look at the battle ground states 1k3* almost always have early voting states. colorado, iowa, florida. the numbers of people are casting votes and they don't match the numbers that we have seen. and more importantly, look, it is a trick that this comes down to a set of states and we talk about how we will win the presidency. if you look across the board we have seen strong democratic registration numbers. in north carolina we added 250,000 new reg straints to the -- reg straints to the polls. the majority of whom live in democratic precinct

poll, that romney and ryan are enjoying in many of the polls, will that soon translate into places like ohioear to be ahead. i don't think he got a mere bounce, romney, out of the first debate. i think he got a surge. it may have faded but it is still persisting and we see it in the following. if it continues, he could be on a course to upset the president and win the election. >>chris: i talked to a top obama advisor this week and he suggested picking on what juan said, that the southeast swing states of florida and north carolina and virginia are moving romney and they now have what seems to be the final firewall in the midwest, ohio, iowa, and wisconsin. >> absolutely. it is ironic because not too long ago, i feel like we will talking about how we were having the problems in ohio and maybe should pull out a path to victory and now we hear talk whether obama should pull out of florida and there was a story in the "new york times" about that, this weekend, so, in that sense, the midwest really is where this is going to be won. although romney just has a path to victory without ohio he would

they can do over the last, you know, less than two weeks now to get two or three points in a place like ohio. that's a lot. what is different in the next two weeks that will get them that extra big bump? >> i think there are a couple of things. certainly the turnout. i'm not going to give you the cliche it comes down to turnout, obviously. all elections turn on which campaign gets more people out to vote. the on the ground machines do matter. we saw it with bush in 2004. so i think that the way that they're able to execute on election day in ohio is very important. beyond that i think that the romney people continue to make their sale, trying to find issues where they can draw a wedge with microtargeted audiences and, of course, hope that maybe some of the modeling is a little off on what it looks like on election day. ath that wouldn't be unheard of for the polls to assume too many of one type of people show up in terms of democrats or republicans and too little of the other show up in terms of democrats or republicans. i think there are a couple of things at play here that make ohio still

bring the economy back all those things have underscored this general perception especially in places like ohio, wisconsin, iowa where the unemployment rate is lower than the national average and economic recovery is tied directly to some of these policies the president put in place. the romney message isn't resonating. he's on the wrong message. he's hoping for gloom and doom. the rest of us are betting for a strong u.s. economy. we're seeing that going in the right direction. governor romney's strategy is failing. >> how can you say that when the polls show governor romney is leading. >> i'm looking at ohio. where the president is expanding his lead. i'm looking at wisconsin where mitt romney, his running mate is from wisconsin the guy has never led in wisconsin not once. so if you look at the key states, national polls mean nothing to me. nothing. look at the key states you'll see why mitt romney's strategy of economic gloom and doom is failing. >> ann, oil bring you in -- >> there's republican policies in place in virginia and wisconsin and ohio. >> absolutely. they are all republican gover

improving economic numbers, problem as it were, on the republican side, in places like florida and especially in places like ohio, does that change the type of argument they need to make about change? about why mitt romney is the guy who should be trusted to do things differently than barack obama? since under barack obama things are getting better? >> they are hitting a dead end there. kasich basically said things are on the upswing in ohio. to keep it going you need to change leadership in washington. that's a strange, kind of incoherent message. it's true if you look at the numbers in ohio and to an extent in wisconsin. certainly in ohio. if you look nationally at where obama has been bleeding support, with whites, especially white guys, not as much in ohio. not nearly as dramatic. you can definitely link that to the economy there, to the bailout there, and i can think it's a small example, the 1988 election. bush versus dukakis, a sea of red on the electoral map. bush won coast to coast. there were three states in the upper midwest, an ocean of red that went democratic. iowa, minnesota and wisconsin. it was

. >> if you look at a place like ohio and the number of offices and the people they have in place, forle, to do the get out the vote, obama is way ahead of mitt romney. so i'm wondering, do you think that the republicans have misspent their money? >> well, i think it's all about deciding undecideds. you know, we talk a lot about there not being very many of them, but what we have is a group of people who decide who they like after a debate or after a particularly effective ad and undecide again. all of the advertising is really focused on trying to get that last impression, that lasting impression before the election comes around and they have to cast their ballots. >> here's some other fascinating statistics. most saturated markets for advertising, kind of surprised me, green bay is number one. madison, wisconsin, number five. there's a new poll out, karen, i'm sure you saw it this morning. president obama has lost its 11-point lead from a month ago. this is now a statistical tie. nbc has a new poll coming out tonight. we'll see what that number says. is wisconsin really vulnerable no

go get them there and if you know people in other states and places like ohio, colorado, virginia -- you need to call them on the phone and great thing about being from florida, everybody knows somebody from somewhere else. i don't want to wake up wednesday morning to the bad news that we almost did it i want to wake up wednesday morning that the republican majority took over the senate and republican majority -- [applause] that a republican majority remains in the house. [applause] and that mitt romney is the president-elect for the united states. [applause] and so, -- i want, i am going to show you a short video of what is happening in america so that you know you are not in this alone. we are 10 days away from the most important election that we have ever seen and we are going to win. god bless you and: >> they are breaking away and we'll get the latest on the path of hurricane sandy. maria molena has an update on the powerful storms path and where it is heading. and it is it and so it is a large storm. and it is in the northeast and for today we are feeling the impact of the trop

can mitt romney move the polls in a place like ohio? where before the debate, our nbc news maris poll showed the president up eight in a state where president obama's message seems to be the jobs numbers. that's working. improving car sales. car sales up. stock market up. does he have to win, for example, ohio? mitt romney, to win the presidency. can he move the number there is? >> well, i think on an overall question, i would agree with all of you that this is going to be an incredibly close election. i thought that the polls were closing before the debate. the debate certainly helped close them even further. i think you are going to see this come down to a ground game, the traditional door to door person by person ground game. as far as whether you can win without ohio, you know, i think you can. i think obviously doing well out west and colorado and nevada. >> but extremely, extremely difficult, yes? >> well, certainly. of course, it makes it tougher but i think if you look at the polls as of late in ohio they tighten. i don't think