not even with bush/mccain. you have two solid guys, not the party's best, but equally matched contenders. well financed, able to go autoeach other for a few months. the president is in a vulnerable position. >> think of it as a rocky film, seven, eight or night. >> this is not just the new jobs thing, but the fundamental charge against social security. i was listening to the rundown and listening to them say hey, look, they are not just looking at it the way it needs to be defined. there shouldn't be social security. if it landed, doesn't he have a had time coming back saying i do believe in social security. there's been a hard time so far. the way the democrats handled it is to link romney to perry and say they are identical. in terms of private accounts, they are identical in terms of social security. >> they have been doing your job for you? >> yeah. we are going out for a drink. >> send us more e-mails. >> keep the e-mail account from romney and perry and perry on romney. have a great weekend. welcome back

i mean, not even really with bush/mccain. you have two solid guys, maybe not the party's best, but equally matched contenders. well financed. able to go at each other for a few months. the president is in a terribly vulnerable position saying how did he get so blessed to have this thing going on. >> one of the old thomas akins painting of the two boxes, fists with no boxing gloves pounding each other until they're bleeding all over the place. >> think of a rocky film, 7, 8, 9. >> here's romney going after perry not just on this new jobs thing that they jumped on today, but his fundamental charge against -- fundamental essential charge against the existence of social security. i was listening to rundown this morning on this network and listening to one of these guys say look, they're not just against social security as it needs to be refined they're against it institutionally. if they level that charge that landed, doesn't perry have a hard time coming back and say no, i really do believe in social security? >> he's had a very

i mean, not even really with bush/mccain. you really have two solid guys, well, maybe not the party's best, but very equally matched contenders. well financed, able to go at each other for a few months. the president is, you know, in a terribly vulnerable position saying, how did he get so blessed to have this sort of thing going on. >> so the old paintings, with fists and no boxing gloves, beating each other until they're bleeding all over the place. >> think of a "rocky" film. >> cut me! >> exactly. there are fewer winner-take-all states. so if you come in second in one of these primaries, you will still collect votes, or delegates. so that will keep both of them in the race for as long as they can keep on standing. so if there's no knockout blow early on, this could go on for a long time. >> well, i was at a briefing with the president where he was like, he had quoted, but i got the sense coming out of that briefing that this is the white house, let them do this. >> well, i think right now, they're not engaging, which is t

bush as john mccain. can he run against george wuch bush and the economy. he gave an interview on the tom joyner show saying george bush left us with trillion dollar in deficit it's been hard to dig out. will that work in november 2012 is that where they go? >> polls show that more americans blame bush than obama. even at this date. >> it's a remarkable thing. 51-31. >> the issue for obama is he doesn't have to blame bush. he can connect bush through the republican congress that's happening right now to the nominee next year. he can say it's not just about bush, it's about the paul ryan plan. it's about what these candidates have been saying. they don't have a plan for jobs. the plans they do have are austerity measures that hurt growth and run on that. >> we're back in some ways is 2012 a referendum or a choice? for obama to win or at least have a better chance of winning it needs to be a choice between him and the republican nominees and ideas. >> they would all agree with that. democrats in town and the campaign and the white house all believe it's going

among the other leaders are mark mckenna, someone who worked on the bush mccain campaign.former comptroller general of the united states, david walker, also an independent. what's amazing is all of these people rally because of the powers of the idea, recognition of the hyper partisanship was really polarizing our country and bringing it to paralysis. the deficits and debt ceiling debate coming incredibly dysfunctional debate that brought our country to the brink of default and lead to a downgrade cited by both s&p and ben bernanke is a political crisis exceeded a fiscal crisis confirmed the sense there is a problem in our politics right now. is the problem and that's the impulse behind the labels. what the label is trying to do is really focused not on campaigns, but on governing, trying to create an online army to help provide support to those folks in congress and the senate who want to reach across the aisle. right now that's the most dangerous place because all you do son of taking buckshot out of both sides. you reach across the aisle in your basic taxi because peopl

bush bush and john mccain.r of no labels an organization dedicated to putting party labels aside in politics. we are not doing that tonight. this is the republican debate. >> of course not. >> i want you to listen or watch the following. here are some of rick perry's most talked about comments in the last month starting with criticism of ben bernanke. let's all listen to rick perry. >> if this guy prints more money, between now and the election, i don't know what you all will do to him in iowa, but we would treat him pretty ugly down in texas. i mean, printing more money to play politics at this particular time in american history is almost treasonous in my opinion. i do believe that the issue of global warming has been politicized. i think there are a substantial number of scientists who have manipulated data so that they will have dollars rolling into their projects. you know, it's a theory that is out there. it's got some gaps in it. but in texas we teach both creationism and evolution in our schools. >> ask

obama seemed more orderly than mccain after the financial meltdown. bush seemed more orderly.er they are really going to want somebody like chris christie who is rambunctious and big and not exactly orderly, i'm not convinced. i think the republicans should be pretty happy with romney. he has become a very good campaigner and he seems pretty safe and orderly which i think is probably what the country is going to want. >> woodruff: you are saying these voters right now who may be excited about chris christie or herman cain which, as mark said, he's gotten a little attention. he won the florida straw poll last week, that they will eventually gravitate -- >> well, i'm saying they should. the perception is that obama moved the country sharply to the left and they want somebody that will shake things up and move it just as sharply to the right. and romney doesn't send off those i'm going to move the country in a radically disruptive direction the way trump does, the way herman cain does, the way chris christie. >> the hermannator. >> takes the hermannator to think that obama has mo

bush and john mccain as well as co-founder of no labels, an ganization dedicated to putting party labels aside and politics, mark mckinnon. welcome to all of you. happend of summer. that's what this means, as i said, and the challenges that awt us as we get into fall are pretty steep. here's the context of the debate we're having in politics and in the economy. the unemployment numbers that came out in august have kept unemployment at 9.1% and no job growth in august, a pretty bleak headline. and these are the projections that the white house has released, keeping unemployment at 9% through the election year. they project it comes down to 7.8% 2014. something caught my eye this weekend. howard rosen from the peterson institute of international economics in "the new york times" yesterday, he said "this is not just a jobless recovery, it's a recovery-less recovery." tom friedman, the book is "that used to be us." it talks about what's holding america back. it talks about fears of america's decline. with that backdrop, what is the major point in the framing of this boo >> well, david, what

bush and senior adviser to mccain/palin campaign. the secret to her novel "18 acres" is called "it's classified." and in "it's classified." nicolle wallace, thank you so much for joining us tonight. did i give away too much there? >> it's perfect. >> joining us tonight, steve schmidt, senior campaign strategist of the mccain/palin campaign. manager of arnold schwarzenegger's '06 re-election campaign and former assistant to president george w. bush. thanks for being here. >> how did you do this? two of us here to pick on? one wasn't fair. >> one of us is going to be struck by lightning at the end of this discussion. i can tell you. yeah, having two republicans here and on the night that chris christie might stop saying, no, i feel like i'm sort of crossing fingers. i don't know what's going to happen. on chris christie, he's about to start his speech at the reagan library. the word on the street, which is usually wrong, is that this is the day he stops saying no. even if he doesn't explicitly say yes. would chris christie joining the

bush and senator john mccain during his presidential campaign. thank you so much for your time. >> absolutely had a great article today and the reasons you believe the republicans should pass this bill. what is your thought process here now? but it's good politics and a policy for the republicans to embrace part of this proposal from the president. to get it passed as quickly as possible. the republicans were flushed with victories over the last couple of years by obstructing the programs, but in this case and hear some of that from the republicans and encouraged to see a lot of them including the republican leadership acknowledging that they have to embrace part of the program. there is a lot to embrace. the tax cuts for small business and i think they are all good ideas. i think there is a lot there to that republicans can embrace and pass. they are not the obstructionists and working with the president to get something passed. they can go on to the bigger issues. she's thoert term tax cuts don't do much to create the jobs or reduce uncertainty

country is going but is it that much different than the party that nominated bob dole, john mccain, george bushorge h.w. if you look at the polling in new hampshire, for example, i think perry is fifth. he's not exactly catching on up there. people who are paying attention now are pretty angry. what about the people who start paying attention last minute? i suspect they'll be a little more romney friendly. >> lehrer: i was going to ask you about judy's point, the people who support romney-- at least in orlando it's people who support romney do on the base of his electability. they're running against barack obama. they don't think rick perry can do it. maybe romney can. do you think there's validity to that? >> you feel it in every crowd. they want perry to win, and if they're going to go romney it will not be out of passion. one of the other things going on is how much will debates matter versus commercials. perry came out with a commercial this week which i thought was phenomenally good. it was take the obama mission accomplish speech, i take credit for the economy, and it has perry being ultr

>> the democrats did that with kerry, but the republicans did that with mccain, with bush, with dole.lways do that. >> you get these cycles where you're kind of like -- >> it's amazing about romney, because he wrote obama's first -- >> i met jon huntsman and he was saying the straw polls were basically irrelevant. of course, he would say that. he was saying it's all about new hampshire. look at how the straw polls are conducted and it's less than 3,000 people voting and half the time they've had very interesting ways that they can vote. i think, quite frankly, perhaps we should be looking at this -- >> but do you agree with tim's characterization of the gop field? regardless of the straw poll's credibility, that obama's best strength right now is there is not a formidable challenger? >> i agree, and also, with the fact that gop behaving as they are in congress at the moment, he'll be running against in the truman election strategy of the do-nothing congress. >> the problem that the republicans have is they have lionized ronald reagan so much over the years, they have created this myth

president obama is taking the bush agenda much further than mccain would have. he is normalizing the policies to a large base of democratic supporters that. is what's remarkable. how many people have support for aggressive policies they would have been criticizing with a republican implementing them. >> can you imagine them referring to what happened yesterday in the negative terms? >> he would be out in front chan o chanting usa, usa and act like he was at the world cup or something. >> you spent time yourself and i read your back in detail. it's a fascinating account of democratic movements that are swelling and changing. he thinks most people in yemen would actually have more hate for their period than for him. what's your sense about the way yemenis are going to respond to what's happened within their country? the drone attacks? >> yemenis are absolutely more preoccupied with what's going on in terms of the internal political dynamic and the struggle for the future of this nation. to them, al qaeda and the arabian peninsula is a minor player. i'm not sure th

we were told it would be bush's third term if mccain got elected. 's brother from another mother. and that's certainly no compliment. paul writes, rick perry's 15 minutes were up 14 minutes ago when he first uttered the words social security. and david writes, yes, sir, he's toast and i am happy for it. and doug writes, absolutely, since perry exposed romney has being vulnerable within his own party, the leaders of the establishment republican party are in panic mode now. call are going out to the fat little thug from new jersey. perry is toast. if you want to read more on this, to go my blog. cnn.com/caffertyfile. >> thanks very, very much. >>> to our viewers, you're in the situation room. happening now. his opponents and the pundits. the tv comics. they've been giving him a very hard time. our latest poll shows rick perry has some staying power. on the other hand, there are signs republicans may be shopping around for a 2012 alternative. >>> the taliban has a gruesome new weapon that has taken the lives of several new afghan leaders. called the tur

is senior political analyst david gergen and mark mckinnon, a former adviser to the bush campaign and senator john mccain. he co-founded the non-profit group no labels, dedicated to bipartisan and civil discourse in politics. david gergen, if an executive knew that his company was running out of money and rather than deal with it, instead he goes on vacation, i think most americans would think that executive should get fired. how can congress get away with stuff like this? >> well, the board of trustees of that company would fire the chief executive. and the board of trustees in this country happens to be voters. and they may well do that very same thing come 2012 election. there's so much anti sentiment building up against this congress. and it's not just the house, anderson. the senate, too. you know, a lot of senators had to go home this weekend. they had to go fund raising. they had to build up their coffers. so, they'll come back monday, thank you very much, while everybody's waiting to see not only will the government continue to be funded, but very importantly, whether the federal emergency manage

is senior political analyst david gergen and mark mckinnon, a former adviser to the bush campaign and senator john mccain. he co-founded the non-profit group no labels, dedicated to bipartisan and civil discourse in politics. david gergen, if an executive knew that his company was running out of money and rather than deal with it, instead he goes on vacation, i think most americans would think that executive should get fired. how can congress get away with stuff like this? >> well, the board of trustees of that company would fire the chief executive. and the board of trustees in this country happens to be voters. and they may well do that very same thing come 2012 election. there's so much anti sentiment building up against this congress. and it's not just the house, anderson. the senate, too. you know, a lot of senators had to go home this weekend. they had to go fund raising. they had to build up their coffers. so, they'll come back monday, thank you very much, while everybody's waiting to see not only will the government continue to be funded, but very importantly, whether the federal emergency manage

is senior political analyst david gergen and mark mckinnon, a former adviser to the bush campaign and senator john mccain. he co-founded the non-profit group no labels, dedicated to bipartisan and civil discourse in politics. david gergen, if an executive knew that his company was running out of money and rather than deal with it, instead he goes on vacation, i think most americans would think that executive should get fired. how can congress get away with stuff like this? >> well, the board of trustees of that company would fire the chief executive. and the board of trustees in this country happens to be voters. and they may well do that very same thing come 2012 election. there's so much anti sentiment building up against this congress. and it's not just the house, anderson. the senate, too. you know, a lot of senators had to go home this weekend. they had to go fund raising. they had to build up their coffers. so, they'll come back monday, thank you very much, while everybody's waiting to see not only will the government continue to be funded, but very importantly, whether the federal emergency manage

in '99 bush went for the governors, mccain went for the senators, the senators weren't big mccain fansher. if the governors did rally, it could be formidable. >> i think that they're not rallying because there's an elect ability issue still out there swirling around him. >> him being rick perry. >> yes, rick perry. he's come out strong, he's a good-looking guy, articulate, seems to know the issues. he's shooting from the hip a bit. no one wants to make the al gore dean misstake and getting out ad become embarrassed. i think everyone's holding back to see what will happen. >> he has a self-destruct button? >> exactly. >> jamal, i've put this question to team obama and they're split. do you want a strong perry as your opponent that comes out and just continues this surge and isn't stopped, or do you want a romney who has to claw his way to the nomination but after going a little too far to the right in their mind to get it? >> you know, at this point, i'm becoming way more worried about mitt romney. mitt romney is running such a disciplined campaign. whenever you see him on television, h

bush, senior adviser to the mcca mccain/palin campaign and the new novel of "it's classified which is wonderful. all of this fuss over chris christie he gave a striking speech and acknowledged on his behalf that reconsidering the decision not to run. what would he bring to the table? >> he's been a very blunt speaking, straight talking leader. he says it like it is and people really appreciate that. i think it's particularly refreshing contrast to what we have coming out of a rather -- white house. people find it refreshing but andrea he's not running, take him at his word, he's not running. it's kind of a political reporter's dream he would so you have something like you have last night in the major league baseball wild card race where you had these people right down to the wire, very exciting and interesting but take him at his word, it's not going to happen. >> there are people close to him who say it may happen but you're telling me and you know this better than anyone because you're inside and talked to all of these people, you do not expect that chris christie -- >> i don't know

the mccain, lindsey graham view, the bush view, the bush-cheney view, is now also not the mainstream of the gop anymore. it's going back to its isolation as pre-9/11 mindset, as they would say. >> it is a compelling and grim piece. frank rich, writer at large for "new york magazine," thank you very much for joining me tonight. >> delighted to be with you. >>> coming up, how corporations pay their ceos more, more than they actually pay in federal taxes. that gets tonight's rewrite. >>> and later, mayor michael bloomberg's hurricane briefings in spanish provoked what has been called the best thing about hurricane irene, the tweets of el bloombito. >>> politicians should be commended, not ridiculed for speaking spanish and english at press conferences, but some spanglish tweets have turned into an internet sensation after michael bloomberg's press conferences on hurricane briefings. >>> and next, how can republicans argue that corporations need tax cuts when some ceos are actually being paid more by their corporations than those corporations pay in federal taxes. that's in the rewrite.

the mccain, lindsey graham view, the bush view, the bush-cheney view, is now also not the mainstreamgop anymore. it's going back to its isolation as pre-9/11 mindset, as they would say. >> it is a compelling and grim piece. frank rich, writer at large for "new york magazine," thank you very much for joining me tonight. >> delighted to be with you. >>> coming up, how corporations pay their ceos more, more than they actually pay in federal taxes. that gets tonight's rewrite. >>> and later, mayor michael bloomberg's hurricane briefings in spanish provoked what has been called the best thing about hurricane irene, the tweets of el bloombito. [ ticking ] [ grunts ] we are! got it. [ male announcer ] don't be the last to know. get it faster with 4g. it's the network of possibilities. at&t. when you switch your car insurance to esurance. i could save 'em 522 smackers. you talkin' dough? bread. benjamins? scratch. greenbacks. moolah. cheddar... simoleons! don't try to out-save me. [ female announcer ] any way you say it, $522 is the average amount saved by people who switched to esurance. 52

governor romney, somebody who a few years back i think you might find closer to senator mccain and then president bushr kennedy now just about every day a press release saying immigration imitation saying that rick perry is just the same as barack obama, just the same as this democratic governor or this democratic mayor. >> bottom line is, romney is wrong on this one. this is the future of america. and perry is right on this one. i'm going to agree with perry on other things, but on this one, he's right. >> if you go to a tea party vote, there was a tea party group, they're standing up, they still make the case they're coming across the border by the tens of thousands. so how do these guys stand up to them? >> that's the job of your network, to tell the truth. your job is to inform the american public what's really going on. and the truth of the matter is the number of people crossing the border has gone down to the minh muss number of people and in fact it is going in the other direction and we're getting hurt. and i would argue it is romney and perry and whom ever's job to lead from the front, to te

the mccain, lindsey graham view, the bush view, the bush-cheney view, is now also not the mainstreammore. it's going back to its isolation as pre-9/11 mindset, as they would say. >> it is a compelling and grim piece. frank rich, writer at large for "new york magazine," thank you very much for joining me tonight. >> delighted to be with you. >>> coming up, how corporations pay their ceos more, more than they actually pay in federal taxes. that gets tonight's rewrite. >>> and later, michael bloomberg's hurricane briefings in spanish provoked what has been called the best thing about hurricane irene, the tweets of elve bloombito. these nasal allergies are spoiling our picnic. i know what works differently than many other allergy medications. omnaris. omnaris, to the nose. did you know nasal symptoms like congestion can be caused by allergic inflammation? omnaris relieves your symptoms by fighting inflammation. side effects may include headache, nose bleed, and sore throat. got allergy symptoms out of my way. now life's a picnic. [ man ] omnaris. ask your doctor. battling nasal allergy s

then jk swohn mccain who was fo before he was against it. george w. bush republican terms, on immigration. now the governor of texas. what's going on? >> sure, i mean, part of it is that's how they become governor in border states or senator in border states. the fact is that in those states you have large, important parts of the electorate who do have a clear understanding about just how difficult the immigration issue is. if you're living in texas, you understand sort of how ridiculous the notion of the wall is. if you're living in arizona, you have a lot of clarity about sort of what immigration issues are. now, it also, of course, leads to things like sb-1070 in arizona where you have these kind of, you know, aggressive responses over and against it. but it's part of how they become statewide leaders in these border states. >> and there are some business practicalities to this. i mean, it's not just all from the heart. there's a certain amount of corporate and business interest that says to these people, these office holders in those states, come on, l

bush and john mccain. he puts party labels aside in politics. welcome to all of you. happy end of summer. that's what this means and the challenges that await us as we get into the fall from steep. here is the context of this debate we are having in politics and the debate about the economy. the unemployment numbers out in august kept unemployment at 9.1%. no job growth in august. these are the predictions the white house released, keeping unemployment at 9% through the election year. it comes down to 7.8% by 2014. something caught my eye, howard from the peterson institute, he said this is not just a jobless recovery. it's a recoveryless recovery. tom friedman, the book is, "that used to be us." it talks about what's holding america back and the fear of america's decline. with that backdrop, what is the point in the framing of the book? >> what we are basically arguing is we have had good news and bad news. the bad news is this problem didn't start in 2008. this problem, in our view, started at the end of the cold war. there is a way out if we understand where we are

director of the congressional budget office, an economist, was an economist for both of the bush white houses and the mccainntial campaign four years ago. all right. so you know generally most of the specifics, if not all specifics, was the president has in mind. give us your immediate reaction, doug. >> i think from a purely policy perspective, this is very disappointing. the president's own commission, the bowles-simpson commission, a solution our country has largely a spending problem and proposed social security reforms and other entitlement reforms that are missing from the president's proposal. he's got only modest changes in medica medicare. on the tax side, if you want to talk about revenue you need serious tax reform. the president's proposals make our taxes more not less complicated and the buffett tax doesn't address the greatest inequality. those people that have jobs and those that don't have job. it's a disappointing set of proposals and unfortunately a gimmicky feel. they count stuff that's already been done in the debt ceiling deal. counting on war savings. over $1 trillion. that's already g

new hampshire poll coming out and bradley going 30 to 15% against al gore or john mccain going from 2 to 17% against bush of life. it is amazing how new hampshire voters snowball it. >> it can snowball. huntsman has based so much of his campaign of attracting independent debs which there are many in new hampshire. >> it's the one place. >> it is the one place his campaign fits. i don't know that it fits well enough to so the snowball affect we have seen in the past. huntsman is not where the republican electorate is right now and i think that applies to many conservatives in new hampshire. >> huntsmans problem is so if he catches romney, so what? he still hasn't caught perry. >> that's the rieng. i don't know if this is possible but if romney and huntsman are fighting for votes in new hampshire maybe there is room for someone else to come in and spoil it for romney. >> one of the games -- we know florida will be a big decisive primary that perry and romney have to play in but they may split up the states and say, romney might say you can have iowa and south carolina and i will take new hampshire and neva

bush over the years. they are holding on the sidelines. some of the mccain donors have not jumped in with anyone yet. getting a lot of calls from folks with the big money. >> woodruff: aren't those the very same republicans who mitt romney is appealing to in >> they are. there's no doubt about that. and mitt romney has strong ties to wall street and those money folks, too, that fuel campaigns. i will say i think that this christie rumor mill of speculation is a big flashing warning sign for mitt romney. we've seen it before. a lot of people wooed haley barbour or mitch daniels into the race, then wooing rick perry into the race, now wooing governor christie into the race. that means that they're not coalescing around mitt romney. that may be a big trouble sign around him. >> woodruff: you wering the me this also has an interesting effect on governor perry, who had his difficulties last week. >> right. he is now out of the spotlight, and he could pretty much send a nice thank you card to governor christie for taking the heat off of him because he's been trying the clean up this mess he left behind in

. >> geraldford, bob dole, john mccain, george h.w. bush, ronald reagan. even george h.w.ime. >> you look at the republican field, apart from romney who could you put forward as a credible candidate with a chance of winning. >> that's what i'm saying. they don't exist. >> jon huntsman at 2% and he will stay at 2%. but the former chinese ambassador could make a very good run in a general election but that won't happen. >> on a purely superficial note i was talking to some republicans this past weekend and talking about perry's performance. >> where were you? >> a telephone call. >> i was going to say. holy cow. >> partly because of rick perry's performance mitt romney quote looks presidential. it sounds silly but matters to people. he stands up there and he looks like the adult on the stage. they also said -- it wasn't just gail collins saying this. perry was quote palinesque meaning some of his answers appeared to be word salad. >> if rick perry ends up with a debt, romney should retire it. if it weren't for perry's entry, and romney was just thrashing michele bachmann, we

bush, mr. dick cheney, senator mccain, and barack obama, that america is being attacked because of those thingsa disservice to the population of the united states. this war is not against americans because we are americans. it is motivated by the activities of our government and its allies in the muslim world. israel is an enormous problem for the united states and an enormous motivator for that area. it is not only that. is the support for the saudi police stayed. -- police state. it is our present in the arabian peninsula and military activities in iraq, afghanistan, yemen, and some malia. none of that is to say those policies or actions are wrong. i would vote to change several of them very drastically. unless you understand the motivation of your enemy, you are never going to be able to understand durability, intentions, or the ability to recruit in the coming generations. that is where we are at the moment. you can argue whether we should support the israelis or not support the israelis. that is a legitimate debate. when you think that israel is an enormous burden on u.s. interests and our

his margin of victory over john mccain was three times the margin of victory that george w. bush had over john kerry in the previous election. and the map from the '08 election makes that clear. the republican nominees for president and vice president won their home states, of course. alaska and arizona. they got deep red mostly low population states and that was it. that's all they got. they got the south. minus florida, minus north carolina, minus virginia. even though john mccain did win his home state of arizona he wasn't able to translate that into victory in nevada or new mexico or colorado. barack obama in 2008 won so big, so big that even this happened. >> hey, brian, one more thing, by the way, i'm having fun watching. nebraska, you know -- >> it's your favorite congressional -- >> they split their electoral votes. there's a way to follow it very easily. omaha right here. it's two counties make up the entire congressional district. it is douglas county, obama's up a little bit. and it is sarpy county. obama also up. he has a narrow lead. we could see nebraska for the ver

bush. you better pay attention, will, to those independent voters because you may try to criticize megan mccainway you did, but independent voters will remember those years of president bush. >> certainly, george bush was looked at at times as being a bit extreme. if you look at what's going on with rick perry, there are some who would say he could be viewed as too extreme as well calling social security a ponzi scheme, the hpv mandate for the young girls in texas. i could mention a few more. but is that a risk here, wayne? >> it could be a risk. i would never take issue with roland about anything. but, one thing that the perry people believe on the inside -- one thing they strongly believe is that this is a different kind of year and what people early thought was maybe a problem, this guy looks like george w. bush, may not be a problem in this year his political year consultant dave carney thinks. he thinks that republicans especially in the republican primary want someone who will preach red meat rhetoric, someone who is strong and will not back down from a fight because they see the primary

bush did it, or will he try the kind of flip-flopping that john mccain did to win the republican nominationlast time? joining me know, louis harris. >> thank you for joining me tonight. >> absolutely. >> what is with these border states republicans? let's not forget ronald reagan. he had a very reasonable attitude toward this subject. george w. bush consistently enlightened on immigration. now the government of texas. what is going on? >> that is held they become government in border states. the fact is that in those states, you have a large, important part of the electorate that have a clear understanding of just how difficult the immigration issue is. if you're living in texas, you understand sort of how ridiculous the notion of the wall is. if you're living in arizona, you have a lot of clarity about sort of what immigration issues are. now, it also, of course, leads to things like sb-1070 in arizona where you have these kind of, you know, aggressive responses over and against it. but it's part of how they become statewide leaders in these border states. >> and there are some business pr

bush won the state by over 30 points, mccain by 15 points. and with nelson now polling under 40% in trial heats, tough to see him getting reelected. megyn: it was like the cornhuskers kickback that he was excoriated for during the health care debate, and ben nelson who had been everywhere on cable news, he was always very, very easy to get, he would show up on every channel, after that he's gone underground. i'm not sure if he's even in washington at all. >> his numbers in nebraska, megyn, haven't improved at all. megyn: virginia, your third pick. why? >> that's my oddball, to go along with chris. a state barack obama did win narrowly, the president is now under 40% there, he's losing by seven points to mitt romney. tim cain is facing off -- tim kaine is facing off with george allen. allen is up by two or three points, but kaine is locked at the hip with obama as his former dnc chairman, and given that the economy in the state is in rotten shape, i think people are going to have buyers' neglect vis-a-vis the president. i think that's going to