. >> let's get behind these startling new numbers tonight with cornell belcher, he worked for the obama campaign, and our senior analyst david gergen who has advised democratic and republican presidents. i'll go to the wall and i want to break down some of the numbers. it's truly stunning especially when you look at how things have played out over the course-the-obama presidency. this is the overall approval rating. how is he handles his job as president. back at the beginning of 2009, very high numbers. drops down. drops down. here we are now 43% in our new poll out tonight, that's a low for the president of the united states. 43% of americans approve of his handling, which means the majority of americans disapprove. that's one way to look at it. how is he handling the economy? we know that is the top issue in the country right now. again, watch this drop. drop more. and drop even a bit more. 36% approve of his economy. that is not a low, he was just below that a few weeks ago, but it's trouble for any incumbent. this is another new low for the president of the united states. is he a s

cornell belcher to you first. as the democrat who would be helping this democrat, an incumbent seek re-election, when you combine overall approval rating down, economic approval rating down, leadership, strong and decisive leader, managing, the american people, their grade of this president right now does not suggest he'd get four more years. >> well, two things, and let me put this in context, you know, his numbers aren't poor alone. when you look at sort of the congressional job approval numbers, those numbers have gone down, too, with the 30s now with republicans taking over into the teens as well. and approval or disapproval doesn't necessarily immediately equate to support. you know, my mother, for example, if i ask her, is the president doing a great job on the economy, when she looks around at the neighborhood and she looks at gas prices, not so much, but does she support the president? absolutely she does. another thing in that poll that you didn't point out when you asked questions about sort of does he c

let's continue the conversation with ed rollins, john avila, cornell belcher.s safe to say, that, a, people view her as the secretary of state and she's not involved in all this politics stuff making people sick to their stomach? >> that's exactly right. go back two years ago. hillary clinton was so divisive and her negatives were so high. something that hardly ever happens in politics when you have a negative view of a candidate, that negative view get flipped around. that's happened with hillary clinton because she's done such a spectacular job. >> was he just having fun? he said she would be the best candidate. bill clinton objected. he was just causing trouble. >> he didn't turn down the opportunity to accept my suggestion that hillary ought to run. >> he made it pretty clear she's not going to. >> i said it tongue in cheek. i think he could tell that. but i just think the democrats ought to have as much fun on their side as we are on ours. >> he's having fun there, ed. but to cornell's point, she was the polarizing one in 2008 everybody said. >> it's all a

appreciate you having it, cornell belcher, ari fleisher, thank you. programming note, we're announcing the arizona republican party and cnn will co-host a gop presidential debate december 1st in arizona, october 18th in las vegas, 8:00 p.m. eastern, right here on cnn. let's see if herman cain gets questions on that. >>> still ahead, an exclusive look inside the italian prison where amanda knox has spent the last four years. >>> also, testimony from michael jackson's doctor's trial. new details about paris jackson's heartbreaking reaction to seeing her father the day he died. an accident doesn't have to slow you down. with better car replacement available only with liberty mutual auto insurance, if your car's totaled, we give you the money for a car one model year newer. to learn more, visit us today. responsibility. what's your policy? this is t kind ruck that has it all. ♪ gue thameans youan dit all. it's thevseason of doing now combine the all-star editn discount with oer offers for a tal value of $6,000. or quifieduys can get 0% apr for 60 mont plu

appreciate you having it, cornell belcher, ari fleisher, thank you. programming note, we're announcing the arizona republican party and cnn will co-host a gop presidential debate december 1st in arizona, october 18th in it las vegas, 8:00 p.m. eastern right here on cnn. let's see if herman cain gets questions on that. >>> still ahead, an exclusive look inside the italian prison where amanda knox has spent the last four years. >>> also, testimony from michael jackson's doctor's trial. new details about paris jackson's heartbreaking reaction to seeing her father the day he died. >>> up close tonight, an exclusive look at amanda knox behind bars in italy. matthew chance has a rare look inside the prison. more in a moment. >>> first, what happened in court today as knox's appeal case nears the end. one of knox's lawyers says the only option is to clear her of guilt of the murder of meredith kercher because of alleged mistakes in the investigation. i says dna was contaminated and knox wasn't allowed a translator and was discouraged from getting a lawyer. t

cornell belcher and erick erickson are still with us., erin burnett whose new program premieres monday night. erin, let me start with you. you're in new york tonight. some money people on wall street and new jersey, they say we need this guy and still think he might listen to us. will he? >> well, you know, it's amazing, they really want him to run. john, it started this summer at some of the conferences i was at. it's continued in recent days with big ceos of big banks and big media companies who said, i'm a lifelong democrat and i'm going to vote for chris christie and i'd give him money. first of all, would they really do it or are they just talking? as you've talked about, it's pretty hard when your whole m.o. is being an honest, genuine guy who says what he means and means what he says to be so clear and then go back on your word. it just doesn't seem like chris christie. >> i think you're right in that he is a straight-shooter and that's how he wants to be remembered and he says no, no, no. and yet, erick, he gives this speech at t

back now with our panel, david gergen, cornell belcher, erick erickson.ere any way, david, the president can get any kind of jobs bill through congress? or is the atmosphere so poisoned right now that any plan is basically dead on arrival? >> you wonder, anderson, whether those 13%, what in the world are they seeing that they like? it's hard to know, isn't it? they just didn't get the word, i guess. look, anderson, i do think there is some prospect of getting a jobs bill through. i think that should be the name of the game tomorrow night and with the republicans. the republicans are paying a price in congress for all the shenanigans that went on before. their popularity, of course, is lower than the president's. so it's in their interest to do something. but i think it's up to the president to in effect invite them, challenge them if you'd like say, look, here are my ideas. come up in ten days with your ideas, let's sit down, let's see if we can't work this out. i think there is that possibility. i think that should be easier than getting the supercommitt

appreciate you having it, cornell belcher, ari fleisher, thank you. programming note, we're announcing the arizona republican party and cnn will co-host a gop presidential debate december 1st in arizona, october 18th in las vegas, 8:00 p.m. eastern, right here on cnn. let's see if herman cain gets questions on that. >>> still ahead, an exclusive look inside the italian prison where amanda knox has spent the last four years. >>> also, testimony from michael jackson's doctor's trial. new details about paris jackson's heartbreaking reaction to seeing her father the day he died. [ male announcer ] every day, thousands of people are choosing advil®. [ regis ] we love to play tennis. and with it comes some aches and pains. and one way to relieve them all is to go right to the advil®. tennis is our game and advil® has become part of our game! [ male announcer ] take action. take advil®. i've got to tell susie ! the vending machine on elm is almost empty. i'm on it, boss. new pony ? sorry ! we are open for business. let's reroute greg to fresno. growing busin

john king, aaron burnett, democratic strategist paul begala, gloriaberger, erica ericson, and cornell belcher and david frum, speech writer for george w. bush. i noticed a tweet, eric, instead of yelling you lie at him. i wish they'd loudly laugh at this farce. this speech is a rehash joke. harsh words. >> i heard it in it january of 2011, february of 2009. we wouldn't have had that speech tonight if the last three speeches had done anything, particularly the first two when the democrats controlled congress and the white house. >> cornell, is this a joke? >> no. but that sort of partisan talk is part of the reason why we're in this problem. look, you know, i'll go back with you on this, eric, the action the president took when we were in a nosedive and losing jobs each month pulled us out of a nosedive. clearly now we need something, a little boost here. what he's asking for is, look, most of these plans, a balance approach to this, and most of the stuff quite frank itly should have bipartisan support for because a lot of this stuff republicans have supported in the past. there's nothing insa

. >> with us tonight, democratic pollster cornell belcher who worked for the 2008 obama campaign, ands. congresswoman and cnn contributor, susan molinari. we get what joe biden is saying here. he's saying, yes, i know we're doing badly in the polls because everyone is focused on the economy. as soon as we can get a republican candidate, we can make it about that republican candidate. in the end, let me start with you, cornell, is it possible for a president who has served one term, to not have his re-election bid be about him and his performance. >> right now, everyone associating with washington is doing badly in the poll compared to sort of the congress, the president not doing half bad in the polls in some of the battleground states, he's running ahead of the republican or even with the republican. i think there has been a lot of piling on about how bad the president is doing in polling and all of washington is doing bad in the polling. you know, i'm from the south. we have a saying, the truth don't care who tell it, it just wants to be told. they don't blame the president for gett

cnn contributor, "newsweek" editor john avila, cnn contributor ed rollins, democratic pollster cornell belcherked for the obama campaign in 2008. as the republican in the group, ed, i want to go to you first. all indications are no, no no, no, no, no, no. but? >> who knows at the end of the day, he has another three or four days to make his decision. there's a lot of pressure on him to run. romney will not get out of the race. he's been running for six years. perry has been running for five, six weeks. he's not going to get out of the race. christie, obviously, is a very strong lead, done very well in new jersey. but there's a lot of thing about him that the conservatives don't know about yet, things like immigration, guns, stuff like that, that will get picked apart if he gets in the race. i can only tell you, having managed christie whitman's race when she was elected, she ran around the country for years, going to be the vice president and had a difficult time get league elected and very difficult time governing. you got to put all that in the portfolio when you look at it hard. >> john whe

joining me now is paul begala and cornell belcher., not a lot of great news for key states from the president's campaign. is it as bad as john is saying? >> sure, it is. first off, the iron law of incumbents is the only way to run is to run scared but this president has to run very scared. the data is very bad. there's other data, though, that i would caution you about. stan greenberg, who's a democratic pollster and used to work for president clinton and my buddy carvel, they surveyed the 60 republican house districts that are the battleground districts. they are seeing a collapse for republicans there and a huge shift to democrats if democrats run on a progressive message about medicare, about fighting for the middle class and about actually asking the wealthy and oil companies, special interests to pay their fair share. so the president has a path to victory here. but i think it's the path he's on frankly. i've been thrilled with him these last few weeks. i've been complaining mightily for the last year or so. but i think now he's

upcoming "up front" paul begala, gloria borger, eric erickson and editor of red state.com and cornell belchernd david frum, speech writer for george w. bush and founder of forumforum.com. eric, i noticed a tweet you posted a few minutes ago. you wrote, quote, instead of yelling, you lied at him, i wish they would laugh at this farce. this speech is a rehash joke. tough words. why do you think it's a joke? >> you know, i heard this speech before. i heard it in january 2011. i heard it in january of 2010 and in february of 2009, and, you know, we wouldn't have had this speech tonight had those last three speeches done anything, particularly those first two when the democrats controlled congress and the white house. >> cornell, is this a joke? >> no, but that -- that sort of partisan talk is part of the reason why we're in this problem. look, i'll go back with you on this, eric, and truth of the matter is what the president -- the president's actions that he took when we were in a complete nosedive and losing jobs, you know, each month pulled us out of a nosedive, but clearly we need now somethi

let's talk about cain ace new slice of the pie, ari fleisher and former 2008 obama pollster cornell belcherari, it feels like beef seen this before, republicans being pegged as the straight talker in the race, wins a straw poll, then starts running out of steam. is is it reasonable that herman cain will be any difference? >> i think the third behind perry and romney is a terribly important battle because i think it is very possible one of the two front-runner sz going to stumble. therefore whoever is in third will move p up to second, it could be cain, could be santorum. it's important to keep your eye on. when you watch cain in the debates, what gets through is he comes through as so sensible, so direct spoken, so strong. and the reforms that he proposes are structural. no tinkering in the margins. he really wants to change washington and i think that from a ceo has a lot of appeal to republican primary voters. >> cornell, cain also told wolf he could take a third of african-american votes, basing that on anecdotal evidence. is there any polling that could help make that case? >> first of

to explain just what he means and why. and we thought it best to bring in democratic pollster cornell belcher the obama white house. mr. carville, to you, first. panic, why? i should say at the beginning you've been at the front of two successful presidential campaigns for bill clinton. so, why do you think this democrat needs to panic? >> well, a couple of reasons is panic is a joke here. we have a terrible election in 2010. we had a terrible election night tuesday night. the opposition party in my opinion is totally nuts and the economic numbers keep sliding in the sense of the wrong way. i think that the white house needs to demonstrate to the country that it gets what's going on. the country keeps signaling to the white house that it's looking for something different. i think the white house should supply something different to the rest of the country. the way you start doing that is by holding people accountable. that's what you have to start doing i think. 1994, you mentioned that, a lot of my friends lost their jobs. i lost a consulting contract with the dnc in an awful year in 1994. t

john king, erin burnett, democratic strategist, paul, gloria borger and cornell belcher and david frumm. a lot to talk about. eric, i notice a tweet you posted a few minutes ago, you wrote, quote, instead of yelling, you say i wish they'd laugh at this farce. this speech is a rehash joke. tough words. why do you think it's a joke? >> i heard this speech before. i heard it in january of 2011, i heard it in january of 2010 and february of 2009. you know, we wouldn't have had this speech tonight had those last three speeches done anything, particularly those first two when the democrats controlled congress and athe white house. >> cornell, is this a joke? >> no, but that sort of partisan talk is part of the reason why we're in this problem. look, i'll go back with you on this, erick. the truth of the matter is the president's actions that he took when we were in a complete nosedive and losing jobs, you know, each month pulled us out of a nosedive. but clearly we need now something a little boost here. and what he's asking for is, look, most of these plans, a balanced approach to this and m

. >> cornell belcher, a cnn political analyst calls cain's remarks racist. >> if i came on your show,nderson, and i said, all jewish people are brainwashed, i probably wouldn't be invited back to cnn. what herman cain said was a racist bigoted statement and should be treated like a racist and bigoted person who makes racist and bigoted statements. >> frankly, it's tough to get over the fact some african-americans forced the president to produce his birth certificate. >> -- born august 4, 1961 -- >> republicans say, wait a minute. don't paint us all with the same brush. >> i'm not going to dwell on this topic, but, remember, the question was about people get poisoned about a party. there's presumption in the question also that flows from the fact 90% to 95% of african-americans vote a certain way. when people throw the word racism around that's when i end the conversation. you cannot have an intelligent conversation with those choosing the public square of that. i don't even want to get into that. >> and gaining support in a new fox poll. the "talk back" question for you this morning,