who are you this week at the debate. >> sam stein, the playing down expectations game gets funnier everyut did mitt romney go too far? can you with paul ryan play down expectations too low when you start to say and create the impression, he's so inexperienced, he's never had any debates. maybe had he a debate in high school. somewhere around there you're going too far? >> he could have gone farther, i guess. if he stays upright, i will be puzzling surprised. last week we were mocking chris christie for setting absurd expectations for mitt romney which he met. it's tough to see what works in expectation setting and what doesn't. the expectations for the subsequent debates are measurably low. i mean, obama can just show up, throw a few zingers out there and i think people will be generally happy on the progressive side of the aisle. >> let's listen to joe biden talking about his debate last week. >> all of the debates are tough but i'm looking forward to it, i really am. the thing about congressman ryan is he's been straightforward up to everything until now, all of the significant changes

sam stein, e.j. dionne on romney's style versus the president's substance. >> i like pbs. i love big bird. >> david k. johnston on romney's huge tax lie. james hoffa of the teamsters on romney's 108 on his feelings for the american middle class. and ohio state senator nina turner on what last night's debate means for the buckeye state. good to have you with us tonight, folks. thanks for watching. if it were just only a game, right? the presidential debate last night was ugly. it was an ugly night because the truth left the building. it took a beating. give mitt romney credit, though. he was an all-american liar last night. and the president seemed to leave his best material, his best game at home. for millions of americans, it was extremely hard to watch mitt romney lie the way he did and get away with it. >> first of all, i don't have a $5 trillion tax cut. i don't have a tax cut of the scale that you're talking about. my view is we ought to provide tax relief to people in the middle class. >> the l

poor sam stein, in a 6:00 a.m. show, has written down, like, three pages of very neat single-spaced notes. it makes me sad. >> go home, sam. >> it makes me sad for the future generation. sam, we need to get you together with john heilemann. >> but that 2002 debate was fascinating. i can see why he's writing those numbers. >> go ahead, sam. come on. >> how about those cross-tabs? >> go ahead. go ahead. what do you got there? >> i've got to compose myself. this is interesting. 57% -- i can't even speak -- 57% of respondents said the country is moving in the right direction, 39% said in the wrong direction. this is just two weeks ago. i honestly don't get why all of a sudden people are so optimistic about the economy. it happened in a flash. and people are just -- >> they don't care about where it is. they care about where it's headed. >> the bill clinton speech. >> i think, yeah, because certainly the metrics haven't changed much. things haven't gotten a great deal better. but i think bill clinton was able to set a pr

sam stein, in terms of the george w.ush legacy, this is the guy as you know we discussed with john, he's the one that like the republican party has been so -- such a converted effort not to mention and yet, when it comes down to actual policies, mitt romney in some ways a continuation of the george w. bush legacy. is this something the democrats can ride through november 6th. >> your question was so good it left mark speechless there. >> i lost the audio there. i got it back. >> no just give credit to alex. such a good question. you know, bush has not -- as you noted in the beginning bush has really been sort of absent from the discussion and for large reasons for both candidates because mitt romney obviously doesn't want to have that linger over his candidacy and obama has said -- obama has tried to avoid the notion he's blaming his problems on his predecessor. last night's question was probably the first sustained time that i can remember in this campaign where it actually came into focus and i thought, you know, obama

sam stein and jonathan cape heart will join me. and arnold schwarzenegger in the rewrite tonight. . >>> the problem we've had is not everybody knows all the specification we've put out there. not everybody knows these plans, our five-point plan for a stronger middle class. >> of course no one knows the specifics of mitt romney and paul ryan's tax plan because they haven't given any specifics. even fox news chris wallace wants more details on how the romney/ryan tax plan would actually work. >> well, how much would it cost? >> it's revenue neutral. >> we'll get to the deductions, but the cut in tax rates. >> the cut in tax rates is lower all americans' tax rates by 20%. >> how much does that cost. >> it's revenue neutral. >> it's not revenue neutral unless you take away from the deduction. the first half lowering the tax rates, does that cost $5 trillion? >> no. i won't get into a baseline argument with you because that's what a lot of this is about. >> you haven't given me the math. >> well, i don't have the -- it would take me too

thanks. >> take care. >> it's kind of depressing playing radio for free europe knowing that sam steinasn't alive when r.e.m. wrote that song. what year do you figure nervous? >> '81. >> it was '81. >> sam is in graduate school. >> straight ahead nbc news political director chuck todd, and editor of "newsweek" and "the daily beast," tina brown. keep it right here on "morning joe." ♪ [ male announcer ] how do you make 70,000 trades a second... ♪ reach one customer at a time? ♪ or help doctors turn billions of bytes of shared information... ♪ into a fifth anniversary of remission? ♪ whatever your business challenge, dell has the technology and services to help you solve it. >>> i had a different reaction to that first debate than a lot of people did. i mean, i thought -- i thought, wow. here's old moderate mitt. where you been, boy? i missed you all these last two years. now, the problem with this deal is the deal was made by severe conservative men. that was how he described himself for two whole years until three or four days before the debate. they all got together and said, hey, man,

sam stein, there are a lot of narratives out there on the campaign trail. is it possible -- at the end of the day, i don't know, i have so many questions about the poll numbers, we talk about them all of the time. i'm not convinced of any accuracies. in terms of -- i say that and we're going to talk about them -- but in terms of, you know, romney has a lot to gain by saying the wind is at our sails. >> sure. >> qualifies him to be a contender. obama, obviously, has a lot of gain in terms of getting people to the bat lol boxes if they think there's a problem. >> sure. these are reflection of strategies. romney calculated a shift to the middle, abrupt shift to the middle towards the end of the campaign and ride the momentum nationally to overcome the president's advantage across the board. the obama campaign long held those is much like when they're fighting hillary clinton in 2008 primaries a game of numbers, a mathematical enterprise and so long as he's winning ohio, nevada, wisconsin hi wins. and we're starting to see now in the polls, and there's eight da

that's a wonderful shot of sam stein with his lovely sister joining him today. on, welcome, you want to be on the show? >> i'd love to. >> you'd be better than sam. >> what time is your first class today? >> 8:00? >> sam's got socks on today. >> and david gregory next. [ female announcer ] want to spend less and retire with more? at e-trade, our free online tools and retirement specialists can help you build a personalized plan and execute it with a wide range of low cost investments. get a great plan and low cost investments at e-trade. ♪ into a high-tech masterpiece? whatever your business challenge, dell has the technology and services to help you solve it. [ male announcer ] from our nation's networks... ♪ ...to our city streets... ♪ ...to skies around the world... ♪ ...northrop grumman's security solutions are invisibly at work, protecting people's lives... [ soldier ] move out! [ male announcer ] ...without their even knowing it. that's the value of performance. northrop grumman. ♪ >>> a lot of people were saying last week's vice presidential debate was a d

sam stein and harold ford jr. are still with us.viser to the romney campaign, dan senor. >> good to be with you. >> dan, mika's in a bad mood. >> why are you in a bad mood? >> it's been a rough week. >> oh, come on. >> her candidate fell asleep in the campaign. he needs to get him some no-doze. >> her candidate didn't have a very good story to tell when he got up there. >> thank god your candidate's going to do a foreign policy speech. >> i mean, you know -- >> that's cold. your brother works for him. >> tough. >> one of mitt romney's advisers said it's not that president obama had a particularly bad night, he's had a bad four years. so it's not surprising when he's up there on the stage for an hour and a half with no spinmayspi spinmeisters, with no one to intercede on his behalf. >> i know you think the last four years have been all sunshine. let me ask you, first of all, dan, and i'm dead serious here. i'd love to go behind the scenes and take our viewers behind the scenes. what were you guys thinking? you guys had been prepping

alice and sam stein thank you for joining me tonight. and thank you for giving us your wisdom on this. >>> coming up, debunking the conspiracy theorists. >>> mitt romney wants you to think he can leave the numbers up to the states like he did in massachusetts. i'm going to show you the math and then talk with the guy who did that math for governor romney. that's coming up. pella universis businesses are trying to come back from rough economic times. employees are being forced to do more with less. and the need for capable leaders is greater than ever. when you see these problems do you take a step back, or do you want to dive right in? with a degree in business from capella university, you'll have the knowledge to go further in your career than you ever thought possible. let's get started at capella.edu and these come together, one thing you can depend on is that these will come together. delicious and wholesome. some combinations were just meant to be. tomato soup from campbell's. it's amazing what soup can do. j.d. power and associates

alice and sam stein thank you for joining me tonight. and thank you for giving us your wisdom on this. >>> coming up, debunking the conspiracy theorists. >>> mitt romney wants you to think he can leave the numbers up to the states like he did in massachusetts. i'm going to show you the math and then talk with the guy who did that math for governor romney. that's coming up. boring. borin boring. [ jack ] after lauren broke up with me, i went to the citi private pass page and decided to be...not boring. that's how i met marilyn... giada... really good. yes! [ jack ] ...and alicia. ♪ this girl is on fire [ male announcer ] use any citi card to get the benefits of private pass. more concerts, more events, more experiences. [ jack ] hey, who's boring now? [ male announcer ] get more access with the citi card. [ crowd cheering, mouse clicks ] [ male announcer ] get more access with the citi card. if we want to improve our schools... ...what should we invest in? maybe new buildings? what about updated equipment? they can help, but recent resear

sam stein i think takes it to the next logical line of questioning. let me play what sam said. >> i don't get what we're supposed to choose. yes. strategic possibly but also deceiving. >> ann romney in the interview basically said people accusing her husband of lying, playing bad sportsmanship. when does it become deceiving as opposed to being politically smart move? >> well, let's look at the data we know about this. cnn and orc released a poll this morning saying it's a four-point race in ohio but among women a 22-point gap that president obama's lead over governor romney is 22 points among females. he's got issues. i think this is the response and, tamron, it ties in to something you discussed yesterday which was that politico piece which said that post-conventions, there's a revolt within the romney campaign led by ann romney and eldest son tag and said you have to be more moderate and let the public evaluate you in that context. the specific answer to your question is that among the hardened base of the gop and maybe steve is the exception i thin

>>> joining me today, msnbc contributor sam stein of the "the huffington post," former hillary clinton adviser and deputy new york city mayor howard wolfson, msnbc contributor and queen bee of thegrio.com joy reid and buzz feed editor in chief always busy ben smith. the first presidential debate that hour and a half spectacle of ob fewcation, confusion, triumph and exhaustion may be ancient history by the end of today, maybe. new numbers show the nation's unemployed rate dropped to 7.8%. the lowest number since president obama took office in 2009. while the economy added a relatively modest 114,000 jobs in september, new revisions show that july and august saw a combined increase of 86,000 more jobs than originally reported. needless to say, those numbers put a certain pep back in president obama's step. >> more americans entered the work force, more people are getting jobs. now every month reminds us that we've still got too many of our friends and neighbors looking for work. today's news certainly is not an excuse to try to talk down the economy to score a few political points. it's

donny deutsch and sam stein are still with us.ley. he interviewed president obama for the latest issue of "rolling stone" magazine. very good to have you with us on set. >> thanks for having me. >> let's go back to that shot. t.j., is that a time-lapse shot? is it still dark in washington, d.c.? so when's daylight saving's time end? it better be soon. the kids at the bus stop. is it this weekend? >> i lived there and i didn't realize it. >> it's 7:00 a.m. on the east coast. >> yeah. >> that's armageddon. >> wake up, everybody. >> that's unbelievable. >> dark days. >> i guess we have two weeks until day light saving's time end. you know what? you'd better put miner's hats on your kids when they go to the bus stop. it's dangerous. >> we have 11 days until election day. two swing states the president won in 2008 and is fighting to hang on to. according to the nbc/"wall street journal"/marist poll, in colorado the race is dead even, 48%-48% among likely voters. the president's five-point lead from a month ago is gone. and in nevada, t

joining me now is sam stein.campaign is fearing any kind of no-show voter or third-party voter in any of these battleground states. it really is the get out of vote time for them, isn't it? >> yeah. they're worried about complacency. there is this whole notion of enthusiasm gap or not. now they're basically playing every card in the book and they're saying there's a fear card and this is about as close as they've gotten to invoking george w. bush in this election. but it's an effective tool for a lot of people -- there are actually people, i've talked to voters in some swing states for lethargic about the idea of voting they don't think it makes a difference in their lives. it remind them there are huge convinces. >> they are the most powerful voters on earth. what i would do to live in a swing state. >> you would be bombarded with ads. >> i would pay that price. i was in florida this weekend but i would pay that price to have my vote matter that much. sam, there's early voting indicators that are very strong for

>> let's turn to sam stein and also joan walsh. joan, let's go to you first. this is where the bs meets the reality when it comes to mitt romney and what he really wants to do with fema. this puts the candidate in a tight spot, doesn't it? >> well, yes, of course, it does, ed. this moment really reminds me of that moment in 2008 when john mccain had his crazy reaction to the economic crash and wanted to suspend his campaign and go back to washington and looked like he doesn't understand what was at stake. mitt romney looked ridiculous at that rally today. he was talking about cleaning up a football field of rubbish. and i think it's civilly when you can't play politics. right now, we're having a debate over the future of our society. and things like this disaster relief are really quite pertinent. so it's not that he can't campaign, but go out there and take questions about what you want to do with fema. go out and there and defend your me first, devolve to the states attitude. but he's scared and e he won't do it. >> this storm really seems to have taken the

sam stein, if it's way too early -- go ahead. if it's way too early, what time is it? >> "morning joe" and i think right now it's time for chuck todd. did i guess? >>> front and center. mitt romney marches into battleground virginia to outline his foreign policy vision. if he gets into the white house, we know he'll offer a rhetorical contrast to president obama, but how much space is there on policy? and is this an official break from the bush doctrine? also, the biden ryan debate in kentucky. will the vice president avoid any quote bumps in the road as the president described his own performance over the weekend and how will paul ryan perform on the biggest stage of his career. plus, you say tomato. i say electoral. find out how some trade decisions could affect the election in some key states. good morning, it's monday, october 8th, 2012. i'm chuck todd. i know some of you are celebrating as if this is some federal holiday. there is no day off when it's 29 days until the november election. if mitt romney is going to be president of the united states, then next week,

>> let's turn to sam stein, political reporter for "the huffington post and joan walsh, the author of "what's wrong with white people." what mitt romney wants to do with fema. this puts the candidate in a pretty tight spot, doesn't it? >> well, yes, of course it does, ed. i mean this moment really reminds me of that moment in 2008 when john mccain had his crazy reaction to the economic crash and wanted to suspend his campaign and go back to washington and really looked like he didn't understand what was at stake or what was going on. mitt romney looked ridiculous at that rally today. i mean he was talking about cleaning up -- one time he had to clean up a football field of rubbish and comparing that to disaster relief and i'm not somebody -- i think it's kind of silly when we say we can't play politics at this moment. there's always politics and right now we're having an election. we're having a debate over the future of our society and things like disaster relief are really quite pertinent, so it's not that he can't to me it's not that he can't campaign but go out there and take ques

pacific when joined by sam stein, matt, and nia malika henderson and mr.g hugo lindhgren. find us at facebook.com/now with alex. "andrea mitchell reports" is next. good afternoon to you, andrea. >> i love your nat attitude. thanks. we're going to do it. coming up what did the administration know and when did they know it? the attack in benghazi playing center stage in danville and we hear from secretary of state hillary clinton. we'll hear from the campaigns, romney senior adviser tim talon, debbie wasserman schultz and david gregory, chris cizilla and our all star panel. my conversation with actor director ben affleck about "argo" next on "andrea mitchell reports." >>> right now on "andrea mitchell reports" the day after the danville. the number twos clashed early and often on foreign policy a

pacific joined by john harwood, "the huffington post" sam stein and "time's" michael scherer. at facebook.com/now with alex. "andrea mitchell reports" is next live from philly. good afternoon, andrea. >> good afternoon alex. coming up next, the campaign enters the final stretch. both candidates are crisscro crisscrossing the country. bo biden, the vice president's son joining me and team romney distances himself from rape and abortion made by end yant na republican candidate richard malala. teamster's president james hoffa on the critical vote in ohio. "andrea mitchell reports" right here next. staying active can actually ease arthritis symptoms. but if you have arthritis, staying active can be difficult. prescription celebrex can help relieve arthritis pain so your body can stay in motion. because just one 200mg celebrex a day can provide 24 hour relief for many with arthritis pain and inflammation. plus, in clinical studies, celebrex is proven to improve daily physical function so moving is easier. celebrex can be taken with or without food. and it's not a narcotic. you and

joining me today, msnbc contributor sam stein of "the huffington post," benjamin wallace wells of "new making his debut on the set here at 30 rock. the intrepid maggie haberman of politico joins us. and "new york times" magaz