bob cusack with us the entire hour. g up later. bob and i will get right into the politics of the day. but first -- >> announcer: this is the "full court press." >> other headlines making news on this friday, the commissioner of the nfl actually apologized to the fans yesterday for the poor performance of those replacement referees during the first three weeks of the season. on a conference call with reporters, roger goodell said the games were painful for everyone but "sometimes you have to go through something like that in the shopper terp for the right agreement for the long-term." he admitted monday's bad call in the packers/seahawks game probably helped speed those up. >> ya think? >> bill: he comes out looking worse than anybody. >> he said on the same call, he doesn't think any of the players were ever put into harm's way at all. >> right. >> i don't know how he could say that with a straight face. >> bill: the players don't say that. i heard the ref who made the bad call still says he made the right call. >> beer

and bob cusack, managing editor of the capitol hill newspaper "the hill."ob cusack, the extraordinary media reaction to bill clinton's speech, even leaving aside the subplots about hillary in 2016 says to me journalists missed the guy. >> definitely. there was nostalgia here. the speech was 48 minutes, 15 minutes longer than his 1988 speech that was panned. i thought it was great, but the media reaction was much. he did meander. 48 minutes. a long time. the networks stayed with him, but long. >> had bill clinton gotten off the stage after the first 20, 25 minutes, i think people would have said it was an incredible oration. he went on and on. most pundits gave him a pass for going long. there he goes again, self-indulgent bill clinton, but he's energying. >> we were taking guesses how long it would be. a pool going. i mean, i think you're right. there was a little bit of missing him. h he is the ultimate non-stagecrafted, non-choreographed politician. when we have a race that is very buttoned up, very scripted in a lot of ways. so -- >> jane, can this be th

bob cusack, edward isaac, and katherine rampelt. good afternoon to all of you. katherine, the law still remain intact for state worker, but a win for city, county and school workers. what does the ruling mean for the union movement as a whole? >> there was concern that this could be a press departmecedent states. they're out of cash and very reluctant to raise taxes, so as a result, many voters are hoping that instead public workers will bear the brunt of a lot of the cuts that are needed to balance those budgets. so the concern was that maybe this happening in wisconsin and will spread to other states. but no take looks less likely. >> bob, do you think this ruling will have an impact on other states? >> i think it might. i also think that labor is on the ballot in november. back in the day of the team sister backed president reagan. now romney criticals of unions. reagan. now romney criticals of unions. i think romney probably has to win wisconsin because it looks like his path to victory is through the midwest because the southwest doesn't look as good. i jus

to help us understand and looking ahead here, with sequestration, how to would work, we asked bob cusackging editor of "the hill." bob, welcome back. >> thanks for having me on. >> the white house released some projections late last week. this is sort of the new nugget if you will in the whole story. this is the first time we're seeing specifics of these automatic spending cuts if congress doesn't agree on, you know, how to reduce the debt. i want to begin with the top of the list, that being the military. the military cuts, the dollar figure $7 billion. can we be more specific? who would be pinched? >> it is about 10% of defense discretionary spending. and it wouldn't affect some things. it would affect war funding. but it will not affect the pay that military personnel get or their benefits. but both to defense and on the social side doctors, hospitals, medicare spending, food safety also would be cut, as well as security for embassies. so both sides agree that these cuts would be destructive. that's a word the white house used in this report on friday, the house headed by republicans

bob cusack, managing editor of "the hill." let's get to romney's comment first. the speech last night, how did it play? >> bill i was in the arena. it played very well. brought down the house t was genuine. at the same time very crafted speech didn't mention mitt romney's name. clear contrast she was drawing between the president and mitt romney saying he understands ordinary americans and suggesting that mitt romney does not. bill: back to the romney statement. what are democrats trying to avoid in this national conversation, bob? >> well, every day that we're talking about the economy and the question of are you better off that is a good day for republicans. we're talking about mitt romney's tax returns. democrats are winning. if we're analyzing the economy and ailing economy right now. you look at all the numbers. that is what republicans want to talk about. we didn't hear a lot from michelle obama on that other than we need more work to do and you need to give us a little more time. bill: michelle obama's pleading for more patience. how tough is that as a pol

bob cusack is managing editor of the hill. thanks for joining us. >> thanks for having me. >> i want to begin with this. a lot of speakers at the convention, they seem to go out of their way to say, you know what, president obama he is good guy but he hasn't done the job. listen to this from governor romney? >> america has been patient. americans have supported this president in good faith, but today the time has come to turn the page. today the time has come to put the disappointments of the last four years behind us. >> heather: sound familiar? sounds like republicans will be taking a cue from 2008 and they are the ones talking about change. do you expect this to be the message moving forward? >> absolutely. i think they are going to try to steal the message of change from president obama. if you wanted the stays quo vote for president obama, if you want to turn the page, voted for romney-ryan. this race is a toss-up. republicans don't want to see the entire stage set to president obama in charlotte. they will be trying to m

bob cusack is the managing editor for the hill. good to see you. which candidate would you like to analyze first you pick. >> president obama, he has the lead in ohio and that has picked up. i don't think that is surprising because last week was the worst week for the mitt romney campaign. can romney still win ohio? yes. he's going to have to change the dynamic a little bit. why is ohio so important, the last eleven presidential elections if you win ohio you win the presidency. that's why these two guys are fighting over the state and down the stretch they are going to be in ohio a lot. arthel: let me jump in with specifics here, bob. as you say we already said the president is visiting two state universities there. he's going after the young voters. they put him over-the-top in 08 with a 51% lead over the ka main palin ticket. certainly the president is not taking the ohio voters for granted. this is his 13th visit here this year. will it be a hard sell for the president to keep his supporters on the hook there? >> i mean it's a state that he got

bill: bob cusack, managing editor of "the hill" in charlotte. good morning to you. what does that number tell us? analyze that. >> bill, it is not good news for the president. this is some indication that mitt romney gotten some bounce from his convention. this is what republicans want to talk about. they want to talk about the economy. they don't want to talk about mitt romney's tax return or congressman todd akin. they feel if the debate is on this, that's what the democrats struggle with this week, are you better off now than you were four years ago, this poll gets to that and i think it is quite eye-opening. bill: another number in the poll. 52% say the nation is in worse condition. >> yeah. bill: that is a reflection of right track wrong track as well, is it not? >> it is. and bill, the president is saying that the country is doing better than four years ago, still another work to do but the poll also finds less than one in three believe the nation is in better condition under president obama. so that's the challenge for democrats this week. how is president ob