. >> larry: joining us from chicago, arianna huffington, editor in chief of the huffington post. kevin madden, senior advisor to mitt romney's campaign. here in los angeles the actor, author, longtime friend of barack obama. he was active in the campaign. he's one of the stars of "csi: new york." and a former mccain campaign adviser. arianna, how did he do? >> well, of course, he was charming. there was the impassioned rhetoric once in a while. he was at ease. but my concern, larry, is that the speech felt as though he had been focused group tested within an inch of its life. there's a little bit of everything for everyone. the spending freeze, for example, which was clearly something which he felt republicans and independents wanted. well, republicans met it with derision. so much so that the president had to make a caustic remark and say that's how budgets work. so he did not make the middle class the priority that he should have made it. these are the people who are hurting, and they should have been at the forefront of this speech. >> larry: kevin madden, how did you read it?