so the connection to columbus was the idea that there was perhaps some way columbus knew about the vikings sailed here. there was a map that was proved 0 to be a fraud that was something columbus had. so there is no evidence that columbus knew about the vikings or their root to north america, and he certainly came entirely different way. certainly didn't follow the vikings' course. brendan and the sailing the irish -- much more in the realm of legend. there is no evidence to justify that. it really does sit more in the realm of the old wife's tale. >> host: kenneth, in your most recent, don't know much about american presidents, 600 pages or so you give grades to each of the presidents. are those your assessments? >> guest: they are my assessments after what i did was study the views of presidents by historians and academics from the very first one back in he 1960s, up until very recently with such things that's wall street journal and c-span is very excellent surveys of presidential schorl -- scholars. so i tried to map how the presidents had been viewed throughout history. bring to bear

columbus thought, that's unusual. columbus then goes on to write that this gate made me realize that the water is coming from a very high place and i began to think that the world is not spherical, the pear-shaped. i stopped right there and i said, wait a minute, they told us that columbus proved the world is round and here he is in his own words say in the is pear-shaped, he then goes onto say, this high point on the earth, where the water comes down is like a woman's, highest and closest to heaven. they didn't tell me that in seventh grade. i'm sure i would've taken notes. but perhaps when you read history or geography and you get it in the sense of the people who've lived through it and this is one of the thing i do in my book is to include these historic voices, american voices, voices of geography, races of the president. it becomes alive, human can a meaningful. it's not just that long list of speeches. indeed, columbus started an era of discovery and exploration that transformed the whole world. it's difficult

we're in columbus, ohio. just hours away from election day. it is cold here, but people are hot, they're ready to go. "outfront" tonight, robert gibbs from the obama campaign and florida senator and romney supporter, marco rubio. why it all comes down to this state. plus, the man who's being called the most important person in this election. he joins me live and an "outfront" investigation into the never ending gas lines in the northeast following sandy. the gas lines didn't have to happen. something could have been done to prevent them, so why wasn't it? let's go "outfront." tonight, dead heat. election day is just five hours away and the candidates are using every last minute they've got. our latest cnn poll of polls today shows president obama ahead by one point. 49 to 48 for mitt romney and it could all come down to this state where i am tonight. ohio. both campaigns made stops here today. mitt romney's campaign just announced he will make a stop here tomorrow as well. now, each man spent the day crisscrossing the united states, trying to

unlove hugh before columbus charles blackwell, .r] this mail read, norman brown and families speaking icahn never unlove you. in addition to borrow a phrase to collaborate with the ancestors also collaborate literally this afternoon with some of the people that have intersected my life and who sciatic of intersected since this is a lifetime achievement award award, a letter to the editor which coincidentally and maybe ironically the only african-american newspaper in the country edited by european america who was also a protege of mine. [laughter] i sent some strains and imploded and as the letter to the editor. feedback this was an e-mail. day other day, the third world drew one of the founders of the columbus foundation/american book award phoned to tell me why i was given the lifetime achievement. congratulations on your latest in successes and achievement. 700 page special issue drum voices review and training three generations of writers. i had not see that that quite that way but now they think of it as of december 1st, this w

recognized by the before columbus foundation.other translators, sister, jack foley says gunnar winegard the translator sister is poised on borders between memory and imagination. it shape shifts and shimmers, conjured. clinton says of a shared childhood. in times past the book is in homage in celebration of the brilliant literary sister, catherine washburn. the author causes a collage of memories, dream fragment, reflections on girlhood. not memoir, the poetic fiction. and her task to tango with her sister does not engage us in the philosophical question in memoriam. she does not tell us it's better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all. what she does is circle around her. comiskey and all sorts of angles, but never escaping it. her book is heartbreaking because it brings us to precisely the point of what a book cannot do to make her sister be again. and yet and yet from her book also does precisely what a boat can do, bring her brilliant taunt his sister before us in all her living glory. and the thickness of he

tough choice there for columbus voters. and if the polls are any indication, america is split down the middle in our new poll. the president just edges romney 48% to 47% among likely voters. well within the margin of error. another look at polls confirms this race is pretty tight. with that in mind, the final day of campaigning is a whirlwind tour. mitt romney is at his second event in virginia today. and he said real change will begin with his victory tomorrow. >> the question of this election comes down to this. do you want four more years of the last four years? or do you want real change? >> virginia of course a state that mitt romney desperately wanted to have locked up months ago. the old dominion very tight. but it is far from the only tossup state and it was at a massive 18,000 strong rally at madison, wisconsin, that the president fought to defend his mantle of change you can believe in in stark contrast to the shifty change of expedience. >> i said i'd end the war in iraq. and i ended it. i said i'd pass health ca

>> shepard: carl cameron in columbus, ohio, tonight. the president has one more stop tonight before heading home to chicago. and staffers say it will be his last campaign rally ever. if he loses tomorrow, they tell us he will not run again in 2016. but the president said today he does have enough voters on his side to win this one. as long as those voters show up at the polls. ed henry is traveling with the president. he is in des moines tonight. and, ed, a team obama -- the analysts say that team obama is sounding pretty confident even in some cases predicting a blow out. >> that's right. not just the analysts but the advisors themselves. i spoke to david axlerod. david bluff. two of the president's most senior advisors. they think the president could not only win the popular and electoral vote they think he might knock down and win all nine of the remaining battle grounds all across the midwest here like iowa and ohio. that's a bold prediction. we will find out in 24 hours or so whether or not they can back it up. the president on the

hilliard is just outside of columbus. now, frankly county went 59% for obama in 2008. but the gop is putting up a fight here. now, the president has three stops in ohio today. he'll stay here tomorrow in the morning. mitt romney has two, plus the stop in wisconsin. and just by looking at the candidate's itineraries, it tells you b a lot about just how important they think this state is. it's going to be an all-out fight for ohio's 18 electoral votes. it's worth repeating. no republican has ever won the presidency without ohio. just this morning, there was a better than expected jobs report. while the unemployment rate picked up to 7.9%, 171,000 jobs were created. that beats estimates by a strong margin. now, here in ohio, the unemployment rate is lower than the national average. it is 7%. late yesterday, i visited both the romney and obama campaign headquarters in columbus. when i asked people why they're giving their time and what people they're talking to are telling them, the economy is still the central issue in this campaign. >> i think the economy is not doing we

he's here with me and the state capital of columbus.ohn avalon, senior political columnist with "newsweek", the daily beast. rayhan salaam and gloria borger. first we're going to tackle the smarts or not of election day behavior for both men and then we'll tackle when we're going to know and who tonight. that's the gig. and the winner gets a million dollars or mitt romney bet 10,000 in something. governor strickland, today, the decision of mitt romney to go out. he's the challenger. so it would make sense. the president, though, did some interviews, but decided to stay home and play basketball. is that good optics or bad optics? >> i think the president may have touched more people through his calls if the concern is how many voters can you reach during this last few hours of the campaign. but, you know, election days, i think, are very special events and i think every politician deals with them sort of differently. >> it is all about your psyche and your psychology. you heard him say, he has butterflies in his stomach, john avalon, the

>>neil: and jay-z is is in columbus, he, with bruce springsteen. does that translate into more votes? that is anyone's guess. now, democrats need 25 seats to win this back and the polls indicate that at best they could get five, and chris value holen is the top -- chris van hollen is the top ranking democrat. >> we are not giving up taking the the house of representatives. we will watch this to the end. whether it is for the white house or the senate seat or the house seats, the main thing is everyone who wants to participate in this great democracy of ours should get out to vote. do you worry, the tolls are tight and the president could win, hard say, did you in your heart of hearts everyone think you would be in a predicament where the president would be fighting for the last minute for every last vote and this is tight, tight, tight, tight, tight. >> i think it is very tight. it is tight. the president clearly has an edge especially in the battleground states, and as you know, you have been reporting on this for a long-term and who are in a toug

we're at the boat house looking over columbus, ohio.the trains go with by, commerce continues in this country. john avlon joins me. great to see all of you. i want to talk about this issue. you heard the closing arguments from both men, that really is the closing argument for barack obama. mitt romney not so fast, he's going to be making a few campaign stops tomorrow. so let me start with you, hogan. why is mitt romney doing that, does he feel he's behind? does he need to use every single second? >> it's not unprecedented. there still may be folks out there that may be trying to make their mind up. barack obama obviously is going to take the day off, he's going to play some basketball, i think it's his campaign election day ritual, you can't fault him for that, he's done pretty well doing that so far. i think governor romney wants to get out there to make that push to everybody, every voter one last time. he doesn't want to leave any stone unturned. this race is razor thin right now. if there's one thing that could turn somebody at the

downtown, columbus, ohio. this is the state that could be the place where the next president of the united states is decided. and we have crews everywhere. we want to tell you first off, though, president barack obama and his challenger mitt romney have no space in their schedules today, and why should they? i want you to look at the number on the bottom of your screen. it says, two days. two days is what's left before the election in america. the two candidates and their camps are all over america today. president obama a at functions from new hampshire to colorado, while mitt romney is keeping his attention focused on states further east. they're working late, too. one of the president's events is at 10:30 tonight in aurora, colorado. that is mitt romney and his wife ann at an energetic gop rally this afternoon. that's in cleveland, ohio. he told supporters a slogan used by the president four years ago better applies to him this time around. >> if you believe we can do better, if you believe america should b

>> first, carol, welcome back to columbus, ohio. carol here on the local tv. >> i worked in local television for a long time. i love columbus. >> we remember her well. there is this bitterness in politics today. it didn't use to be this way, i don't think, maybe 20 years ago. some of it is the advent of the 24/7 news cycle. not cnn, certainly, but there are stations out there, networks that do take a very dogmatic stance and just don't want to compromise at all. i think that fuels a lot of it. my good friend, mike, we've had a lot of heated discussions during the election. but we're friends and in the end we know we have to come together. >> when does barack obama need -- how does he need to show leadership? >> one thing i would have done if i were barack obama, every month i would have said i'm going to have a lunch, dinner or something with the opposition leaders, just get together routinely. that would certainly help. he he's going to have a big opportunity with the fiscal cliff coming up in the next month or two. and tess a very

stuart: on the left of the screen that was empty in columbus, ohio. i never looked at those empty streets. it holds a lot of people. they had 18,000, not even close to filling empty seats. charles: also pictures when the president ran the first time, candidate obama like the beatles. it was amazing. the crowd he drew in america and overseas was amazing. stuart: as charles said earlier, past midnight, in new hampshire, five votes for each candidate. dictate the course the country will take, europe, or exceptional america. rally or retreat for stocks. with a romney victory mean a rally or a second term for obama, would that mean a sell-off? election day opening bell next. [ male announcer ] this is steve. he loves risk. but whether he's climbing everest, scuba diving the great barrier reef with sharks, or jumping into the marke he goes with people he trusts, which is why he trades with a company that doesn't nickel and dime him with hidden fees. so he can worry about other things, like what the market is doing and beieing ready, no matter what happens,

i'm in downtown columbus, ohio. i want to show you what thousands and thousands of people did today. it's early voting in columbus, and all over the state of ohio, voters here got one weekend to cast votes ahead of election day, just one weekend. last election, they could vote on five weekends before the election. so, these people bundled up against the cold. i was out there with them today. they waited in very long lines here in columbus. some of them for 2 hours or more, to pick a man to award their state's 18 electoral votes. there's a brand-new poll to show you. a nationwide poll of likely voters who are asked just one question. who do you support for president of the united states? and if you thought the race was close, up until now, take a look at this. 49%, 49%, president obama and mitt romney, nationwide among likely voters. that poll was taken just this weekend by cnn and orc international. three other polls released today show the two candidates tied, as well. talk about nationwide, we have reporter teams

john ame church in columbus, ohio. >> i believe i can fly. yes. >> an energetic mostly african-american congregation in the state that could decide the next president. like black churches across the sunday, this sunday, the flock is literally being driven to vote. it's called souls to the polls. and the pastor is making it a tradition. >> why is it so important to get people out? >> because we cannot afford to deny ourselves the right to vote. we ought to vote. we have done too much, come too far not to vote in this election. >> fired up? all right. >> after the sermon, they climb aboard the church bus. 63-year-old eugenia williams says she's bringing everything she could find at home with her name on it, to prove who she is. >> why are you taking your soul to the poll today? >> it seemed to be an important issue to get there early. that's what the president wanted, and that's just been driven and driven and driven. and i'm lagging, because i didn't go earlier. >> i like the fellowship of my church. it's another family to me. and i just thoug

we're at the boat house looking over columbus, ohio.e trains go with by, commerce continues in this country. john avlon joins me. great to see all of you. i want to talk about this issue. you heard the closing arguments from both men, that really is the closing argument for barack obama. mitt romney not so fast, he's going to be making a few campaign stops tomorrow. so let me start with you, hogan. why is mitt romney doing that, does he feel he's behind? does he need to use every single second? >> it's not unprecedented. there still may be folks out there that may be trying to make their mind up. barack obama obviously is going to take the day off, he's going to play some basketball, i think it's his campaign election day ritual, you can't fault him for that, he's done pretty well doing that so far. i think governor romney wants to get out there to make that push to everybody, every voter one last time. he doesn't want to leave any stone unturned. this race is razor thin right now. if there's one thing that could turn somebody at the la

but i am delighted he is out campaigning and he will be here in columbus in an hour and a half and i will introduce him to a crowd which have been incredible the we had over 30,000 in bucks county and i have not seen anything like the energy and passion and that is what you want. the last couple of days you see it tip one way or other and we have the trend in the polls our way, the momentum our way and i am hopeful we will public him over-the-top. as impose ohio usually so go the country. >> walking is taking a wait-and-see attitude with the dow barely moving. what happens tomorrow is anyone's guess if the president stays in. if president obama or president elect mitt romney is anyone's guess. can you follow your money, tick by tick, also, your tweets, your responses, your own insight region by region competitive county by competitive county and what will be a long night with our best and brightest. the best team pound for pound on media earth. i just made that up. anyway, to those in staten island, fema is a four letter word. do not blame them if they take exception to the st. fema

and steve brown is live in columbus.dent is a proponent of early voting. >> as of friday 1.6 million oh ohioans one in five registered voters in the buckeye state. early voting continued throughout weekend and that number is this going to grow and in franklin county which includes the city of columbus, folks trying to early vote today were in for a pretty long wait. >> i wanted to try to beat the lines, but we couldn't, but we're in another line here. >> you didn't expect this. no, i didn't. pretty crazy. >> i've been waiting for probably about 45 minutes so not too long. >> reporter: and paper absentee ballots are pouring in and will continue to do so. the number of early votes may reach as much as 2 million when it's said and done, shep and this favors the obama campaign, something that both sides agree on. >> shepard: shep, how is the romney camp drivers supporters to the poll? >> well, there's the efforts that the campaign itself is undergoing, but we found out a lot of stuff going on in the state of ohio that's kind

columbus, ohio, is general wesley clark, an obama supporter, former nato supreme allied commander. general, welcome back. >> thank you, piers. >> all the action now is heading to ohio. almost everyone who is anyone is down there, including your good self. the polls are very, very tight, showing very marginal lead for the president in most of the ones i've seen but with the margin of difference, you could almost say it's a tie. how are you seeing it down there on the ground? >> well, there's a lot of emotion, there's just thousands of volunteers out here. there's a ground game. we feel very good about the ground game, by the way. our volunteers are charged up. we've been working this for three and a half years. we knew it would come down to this. we were prepared for it. and we've fought to keep the polls open and make the ground game possible. >> i read yesterday, i think again it was nate silver who said that if romney was to lose ohio, he would have just a 3% chance of winning the election. conversely, if barack obama lost

. >>> back now with jack hanna, the director emeritus of the columbus universe zoo. as you can see, he has brought some more company. a snow leopard. frisky one. >> for me -- you asked about the elephant. this will get about four times this size. they live in the himalayas. they live at altitude. >> when there's so few of them, how do they find another to mate with? >> that's just it. good point. they're solitary cats. when she cycles, there's not enough of them to even find the other cat. >> can they mix-mate with other breeds? >> no, not up there. that's been done before, lion and tiger, but not any other cats that i know of. this tail, you can touch the tail if you want to. the tail gets much bigger, like this thick. up there it's 40, 50 below zero, whatever. wow, that was cool, wasn't it? >> that's very cool. yeah. >> i'm sorry you don't have a hand there.

it's 10,000 acres we have next to the columbus zoo. it's a beautiful creature.ear that noise there? that's purring. >> over 100 meters, if it was this cheetah against usain bolt, who would win? >> you or me? >> usain bolt, the sprinter from the olympics. who would win? >> this guy here. >> he wouldn't get ten feet. when we film it's three cameras. we can't take one. three cameras can't even film the cheetah kill. it's like this and the cat turns at 50 miles an hour like that, hits its prey, it's like a cloud of dust. >> there is no faster animal in the world? >> the peregrine falcon, that's 220 miles an hour. >> in terms of land -- >> that's the fastest in the world. >> it's an amazing, amazing creature. >> again, for you to see that, piers, means a lot to us because now you see the fastest animal in the world, a cheetah. >> i've never been this close to an animal where you feel the power. this isn't really one of the big cats but i can feel the surging power and aggression. >> next time i come, i'll bring a full-grown tiger. >> what makes you believe there will

he's holding rallies in madison, wisconsin, and columbus, ohio and des moines, iowa.s devents in florida, lynchburg and fairfax virginia, in columbus, ohio, and in manchester, new hampshire. wouldn't be a presidential election without some kind of legal snafu in the state of florida. the state's democratic party is now suing to extend early voting hours with voters reporting lines of up to seven hours long at some south florida polling stations. we have cnn reporters all across all of the battleground states this morning to cover this race that appears to be headed for a photo finish. john berman's been following that for us. >> let's start in a state many think will decide this election, ohio. president obama and mitt romney, as you said, both hold rallies there today. the latest cnn/orc poll, has the president with a three-point lead in the buckeye state. cnn's martin savidge is live in cleveland for us this morning. hey, martin. >> good morning, john. let's talk about early voting. because they have been early voting in the state of ohio since october 2nd. we are w

. >> 83 campaign visits to ohio and counting, says the columbus dispatch. from both campaigns this year, a sign of how critical ohio is. but president obama winning 18 electoral college votes could seal up a second term. for republican challenger mitt romney, ohio is do or die. and 1.6 million votes are in, either in person or paper absentees, with early voting continuing through the weekend and monday, that number will grow. both sides say that's an advantage to the obama campaign which expects to win the early vote. >> not getting as much attention are the efforts to assist the romney campaign get out the vote particularly with christian conservatives including roman catholics, a group of home school taught teens canvassing, targeting so-called values voters. >> that's why i encourage you to vote for mitt romney. >> statistics say evangelicals that didn't vote, and we were trying to get votes to those niche groups and making sure that they get out and make their voices heard. >> and even this late in ohio there are still undecides. >> and as they try to a

i will. ( cheers and applause ) >> warner: in late afternoon he rallieded supporters in columbus, the capital of all important ohio. >> we feel good about the nature of the race. i think we're going to win ohio >> warner: do you see a path to victory without winning ohio >> there are numerous paths to victory to get to 270. but like anyone else, we'd rather get there with ohio than without it >> warner: ohio so crucial that romney's running mate paul ryan was there today to too. on the heels of stops in nevada, colorado, and iowa. romney's day won't end until midnight after an election eve rally in manchester, new hampshire. >> woodruff: late monday in a surprise move romney announced he will hit the trail one final time tomorrow touching down on election day in both pennsylvania and ohio. margar talked with romney's communications director, gail gitcho, about the campaign's micro-targeting "get out the vote" effort, called the orca project, named for the killer whale. find that video online. >> ifill: coming up, we'll have much more on the end to the campaign, including the final pus

he and jay-z are at a president obama's rally in columbus, ohio.to begin shortly the entertainment has begun. also, we are waiting for an event for governor romney who has just walked into the room in fairfax county, virginia. virginia is going to be so important in the early going tomorrow night. right now, they are almost as close as you can be in any poll. it is a virtual dead heat. we will know a lot by northern virginia tomorrow. if the president does very well, well, if governor romney does very well in northern virginia, quote have a long night and a very, very close race. but if the president wins overwhelmingly in northern virginia, it could go the other way. understandably, governor romney is campaigning hard in fairfax as the crowd quiets down and he will begin the stump speed with an ad or two. we will listen. >> thank you. >>shepard: let's look at the poll from the state of virginia where they are, governor romney is with his wife of the look at the poll, the latest poll from the state of virginia from the the "wall street journal," pa