joining me now is chris cillizza, msnbc contributor and managing editor of post politics.com and chuck todd, nbc's chief white house correspondent, political director and host of "the daily rundown." >> abe lincoln behind you. >> let me go to chris cillizza first. >> sure. >> back in washington, talk about the stake as head. what are the two burdens, if you will for the two candidates tonight? >> well, look, i mean i think it is relatively obvious that mitt romney had some momentum coming off of his debate performance last week. i think that what joe biden needs to do is blunt that momentum with a sort of a draw or a perceived victory. i think if he loses the debate in the same way that barack obama lost the debate to mitt romney, we'll see the momentum on the republican side pick up. i would say more broadly, andrea, i don't think people usually make their decisions particularly undecided at this point, they don't make their decision on who the vice president is or how they perform in a debate but they do make their decision on the narrative, momentum, what the race looks and feels li

we're joined now for our daily fix with chris cillizza, msnbc contributor and managing edter of post politics.com and ruth marcus and politico editor in chief, john harris. chris, first to you. your scoring of the debate and what you think the president's strategy was or wasn't going in. >> i don't know what his strategy was, but whatever it was, it wasn't particularly good, andrea. you know, the thing that i was struck by the whole time is optics matter. this is television. how you look, how you present yourself matters. barack obama, honestly, kind of looked like he would have rather have been almost anywhere but there. he looked tired. he looked kind of grim and dower to theic tent he had expression, expressed himself a smirk directed at something that mitt romney said. i don't know if there's any one reason why he wasn't himself, but he very clearly, he certainly wasn't the barack obama of 2008 in terms of the campaign. but he wasn't the barack obama we've got tonight know over the last four years who is a realist about the challenges facing the country, but he's not a pessimist a

joining me now for our daily fix, chris cillizza, manager editor of postpolitics.com and writer ruth marcus. breaking news, "the washington post" put up its editorial, not too surprisingly, i think, it is for president obama. >> it is for president obama. >> why? you're a part of the process. >> i'm part of the process. we endorsed president obama four years ago after having a lot of discussions about the relative merits of senator mccain and senator obama. we expressed some disappointment with some of the things that the president failed to get done during his first term, but we also saw a bunch of achievements, health care, achievement, getting the economy stabilized, somewhat stabilized, an achievement, and fundamentally looking forward to a second term, we just have more hope to use obama word, in the president's capacity to tackle the really difficult choices facing the country, specifically on the debt, than we do in governor romney whose tax plan has been a big mystery to us. >> ruth and chris, brian williams has been on that nonstop travel with the president and asked preside

chris cillizza, thank you. >>> up next, president obama said romney is pushing foreign policies fromhe 1980s, social policy from the '50s, and economic policy from the '20s. their tv viewing habits have a nostalgic bent as well. this is "hardball," the place for politics. new prilosec otc wildberry is the same frequent heartburn treatment as prilosec otc. now with a fancy coating that gives you a burst of wildberry flavor. now why make a flavored heartburn pill? because this is america. and we don't just make things you want, we make things you didn't even know you wanted. like a spoon fork. spray cheese. and jeans made out of sweatpants. so grab yourself some new prilosec otc wildberry. [ male announcer ] one pill each morning. 24 hours. zero heartburn. satisfaction guaranteed or your money back. >>> the final presidential debate. >> yes. >> final, that's it! by the way, who needs more debates to decide? anybody? anybody need like ten more debates to really figure it out? >> latest polls indicate 6% registered voters undecided. undecided. 6% registered voters. make up your mind! >>

joining me chris cillizza of postpolitics.com. the senz both campaigns have the obama campaign thinks they gained some ground out of the debate that mitt romney gave them some openings. mitt romney in their campaign as of yesterday firing off press releases sending out surrogates. they felt they were playing defense. this is president obama today in new hampshire. >> by the way, we want our sons to thrive in math and science and engineering. but we also want our daughters to thrive in those fields, too. we don't have to order up some binders to find qualified, talented, driven, young women who can learn and excel in these fields right now. and when these young women graduate, i want them to receive equal pay for equal work. >> arguments over the economy, the romney campaign, chris, has been saying that this is an economic issue. president obama trying to respond to that today. and then the arguments over abortion and over, you know, contraception, what he said about contraception. the romney camp in the last two weeks come up with

. >>> what's going to happen in the next 24, chris cillizza is back with us. >> come on. >> we're talkingl. we're talking about the baltimore/yankee game at 5:07 and that -- >> the main show that people really care about, nationals/cardinals, i will say i'm rooting heavily for the nationals. my wife was born and raised in st. louis. i just zone the ask her. >> we love your wife for that. we have our thing here. >> yes. >> it's all about natitude. gio gonzalez is pitching. i hope he does better than the seven walks the other night. i saw it in danville, kentucky, went nuts and realized i was at an anheuser-busch venue and that's not such a good thing. >> they're heavily invested in the cardinals success. >> good to see you, chris cillizza. >> good, nats. >>> tamron hall is up next. >> it's torture for a rangers fan to listen to this. >> that's why -- that's not why we did it. >> andrea mitchell, good thing i love you. in our next hour -- >> love you, too. >> vice president joe biden is in wisconsin, home turf, do i have to tell you, of congressman paul ryan. fewer than 24 hours after the s

joe klein, chris cillizza.ea partier and birther steve king showed up for a recent debate with some writing on his hands. his staff said he wasn't actually cheating. he just hadn't washed his hands. my question is from a previous cribbing effort? why does he have handwriting on his hand. you're supposed to use your hand to write, not write on. this is "hardball," the place for politics. ♪ [ male announcer ] jill and her mouth have lived a great life. but she has some dental issues she's not happy about. so i introduced jill to crest pro-health for life. selected for people over 50. pro-health for life is a toothpaste that defends against tender, inflamed gums, sensitivity and weak enamel. conditions people over 50 experience. crest pro-health for life. so jill can keep living the good life. crest. life opens up when you do. humans -- sometimes life trips us up. and sometimes, we trip ourselves up, but that's okay. at liberty mutual insurance we can "untrip" you as you go through your life with personalized poli

joining me for our daily fix, chris cillizza, msnbc contributor and managing editor of post politics.com, and chuck todd, nbc political director, chief white house correspondent and the host of "the daily rundown." welcome, both. first to you, chuck. we're talking about an nbc news/"wall street journal" poll on this last two weeks of the campaign, which is 47-47 among likely voters. >> you can't get any closer than that. it's a tough number, tougher number if you're looking at it from the president's point of view. an incumbent sitting at 47%, a great ground game like the obama team has can make up one or two points, making up three is a lot to make up. what was fascinating about the poll, i could go into it, it's a really muddy picture. i can go into it and pick out five things in it that easily tells you and if i gave it to you and didn't tell you the number you would say obama's winning. then i could pick out three or four things and show it to you and you would say oh, this explains why romney's winning. for instance, the economic indicators are all going in the direction, if i told

chris cillizza, thank you. >>> up next, president obama said romney is pushing foreign policies from0s, social policy from the '50s, and economic policy from the '20s. their tv viewing habits have a nostalgic bent as well. this is "hardball," the place for politics. americans are always ready to work hard for a better future. since ameriprise financial was founded back in 1894, they've been committed to putting clients first. helping generations through tough times. good times. never taking a bailout. there when you need them. helping millions of americans over the centuries. the strength of a global financial leader. the heart of a one-to-one relationship. together for your future. ♪ >>> the final presidential debate. >> yes. >> final, that's it! by the way, who needs more debates to decide? anybody? anybody need like ten more debates to really figure it out? >> latest polls indicate 6% registered voters undecided. undecided. 6% registered voters. make up your mind! >> well, back to "hardball." and with two weeks left in the presidential race, you will see a lot of tv ads, especiall

joe klein, chris cillizza.er and birther steve king showed up for a recent debate with some writing on his hands. his staff said he wasn't actually cheating. he just hadn't washed his hands. my question is from a previous cribbing effort? why does he have handwriting on his hand. you're supposed to use your hand to write, not write on. this is "hardball," the place for politics. [ woman ] ring. ring. progresso. in what world do potatoes, bacon and cheese add up to 100 calories? your world. ♪ [ whispers ] real bacon... creamy cheese... 100 calories... [ chef ] ma'am [ male announcer ] progresso. you gotta taste this soup. 100 calories... [ chef ] ma'am you're not just looking for a by house. eyes you're looking for a place for your life to happen. and every day since, two years ago, the people of bp made a commitment to the gulf. we've worked hard to keep it. bp has paid over twenty-three billion dollars to help people and businesses who were affected, and to cover cleanup costs. today, the beaches and gulf are

chris cillizza? >> absolutely, andrea, no question. couldn't agree more. >> okay.t does it for us. we will see you later tonight. thanks so much, chris. and that's it for our edition of "andrea mitchell reports," debate night tonight. join us tomorrow, live in denver, complete wrap-up of tonight's debate. my colleague, tamron hall, has a look at what's next on news nation. hi, tamron. >> hi, andrea. in our next hour the heat is on and the first question has not even been asked in tonight's debate. conservatives thought they had an a-ha moment with a release of a tape from 2007 only to be counted by a tape releetsd of the "huffington post" of paul ryan. are these tapes fair comparison and how relevant are they tonight? [ woman ] ring. ring. progresso. in what world do potatoes, bacon and cheese add up to 100 calories? your world. ♪ [ whispers ] real bacon... creamy cheese... 100 calories... [ chef ] ma'am [ male announcer ] progresso. you gotta taste this soup. [ male announcer ] you've reached the age where you don't back down from a challenge. this is the age of k

anyway, chris cillizza is managing editor of post politics.com and a real good student of politics. and also an msnbc contributor. and joe klein is a veteran like me, a columnist for "time" magazine. joe was active, exciting, overexcited perhaps, laughed a lot, perhaps laughed to ridicule and maybe the ridicule was appropriate. putting it all together, do you agree with me he won? >> oh, yeah, i think he won. i think he gave the other side some talking points with all of his smirking and laughing and so on, although i imagine if you're in the reality-based world, it's kind of tough to just sit there and pout while the guy is, you know -- >> well said. >> -- quoting whoppers. >> what are you supposed to do in this crazy split screen world? what are you supposed to do with your face when the guy three feet from you is saying thins you think are dead wrong? are you supposed to look down like the president did? or do you look up with a jolly face? >> or seriously take notes and shake your head in a disparaging way, but it should be smaller whatever it is than what joe was doing. joe was

jim gary, msnbc contributor and former dnc karen finney and the fix it man himself, chris cillizza, psychological barrier, below 8%. all the political scientists that talk about unemployment rates. they're all going to like hey i told you the 13 keys to this and seven keys to this. in all honestly 8% psychological barrier. >> this is the thing is i've already gotten a million e-mails because i wrote something that said this is good news for obama when he needed good news. saying you have to look at the u 6. look, i understand all of those things. i am not saying i am an economist. you know who else is an economist? the average undecided voter. when they look at this they say, wow. it went down under 8%. is it great? no. if you ask president obama on the day he took office, hey, unemployment is going to be 7.8% the month before you have the secret election is that good, bad, or ugly? he would say that's ugly. but it's all context and perception. in my opinion if the trend line looks like it is moving downward obama can now say the trend line is moving downward. it at least allows him to make the a

chris cillizza thank you. >>> up next, president obama said romney is pushing foreign policies from the980s, social policy from the 'if i was and economic policy from the '20s. their tv viewing habits have a nostalgic bent as well. this is haum, the place for politics. >>> the final presidential debate. >> yes. >> final, that's it! by the way, who needs more debates to decide? anybody? anybody need like ten more debates to really figure it out? >> latest polls indicate 6% registered voters undecided. undecided. 6% registered voters. make up your mind! >> well, back to "hardball." and the two weeks left in the presidential race you will see a lot of tv ads, especially if you live in a swing state like ohio or here in d.c. which is right next to virginia. yahoo! news looked at fcc filings from tv stations to find out which shows most likely to bring you an ad supporting president obama and which is most likely to bring you an ad supporting romney. the cbs sitcom "two broke girls" features two single >> good jobs of the future. jobs of tomorrow. >> jobs come from. >> jobs. >> jobs. >> jobs

thank you very much, chris cillizza. >>> the president is holed up in williamsburg, virginia. general sockey is the traveling press secretary for the obama campaign. >> hi, andrea. >> looks beautiful down there. >> it is. hi there. >> first of all what's the mood inside the debate? how is he doing? >> he's energized. he's focused. he's energized, he's excited to be here. he's excited to get to new york tomorrow. and he's focused on having a good debate tomorrow morning. he's his own worst harshest critic i should say, and he's looked back at the tape from last week. he knows that he can do a better job communicating to the american people the choice and the selection, and i expect he'll do that tomorrow night. >> what about the debate format and the fact that his supporters, certainly the base, want him to be more aggressive and challenging mitt romney. at the same time, he's facing, quote, real americans, whatever that means. so he's got a town hall format. and you've got to project a certain warmth and personability at the same time you have to be tough and aggressive. how d

joining us here, chuck todd, chris cillizza, mark halperin, congressman greg meeks, peter king and mikers, and our foreign policy debate panel, richard engel and bruce rydell. what questions would they ask the candidates? and the biographers weigh in, next on "andrea mitchell reports" live from lynn university. , keys, keys, keys. ♪ well, he's not very handsome ♪ to look at [ sighs ] ♪ oh, he's shaggy ♪ and he eats like a hog [ male announcer ] the volkswagen jetta. available with advanced keyless technology. control everything from your pocket, purse, or wherever. that's the power of german engineering. ♪ that dirty, old egg-suckin' dog ♪ [ male announcer ] it's time for medicare open enrollment. are you ready? time to compare plans and see what's new. you don't have to make changes, but it's good to look. maybe you can find better coverage, save money, or both. and check out the preventive benefits you get after the health care law. ♪ medicare open enrollment. now's the time. visit medicare.gov or call 1-800-medicare. ♪ sven's home security gets the most rewards of any small business