we're going to turn out in cuyahoga county, the largest number of votes for governor romney than any her county in the the state of ohio. >> is he right about those numbers? >> i don't know what he's talkinging about, but that's been part of the narrative of this campaign. we like to be grounded in reality. and we have at this point, our board of elections, we have over 290,000 absentee ballots returns and looking at where we were in 2008, we're up on those numbers and early voting is in person is pretty much about 5, 6,000. we're down a little bit in the early voting because as i said, we had four days of remnants of the hurricane last week. which certainly had an impact. >> almost out of time, but i want to get a quick comment about there have been concerns for things like voter suppression, this lawsuit now that is in court today. 600 lawyers just in cuyahoga county election lawyers. could this go beyond wednesday morning? >> i know from reading stu garson's, media, pretty cynical tactic. we heard president obama say it when he said vote for revenge. for what? the bush years. that'

>>shepard: the analysts say 250,000 in cuyahoga county which could belong to the president, and if thatelongs to the president, ohio belongs to the president. do you buy that? >>guest: well, the president may win key august county but the margin will be smaller than last time around and it will noting 250,000 margin. we can see that from the early voting. there are few democrats voting early. 17,000 fewer ballots voted early by democrats this time than 2008 and we have 12,000 more republican early ballots cast than four years ago. so you are looking at a 29,000 vote swing and you take that out across the state it is 300,000 vote swing or more in the state of ohio that makes up the difference. >>shepard: to both of you this time, two different plans, two different ways of approaching the ground game. if we could, start but, i understand that the president's ground game office has been open since well before the president was the president. some of them. >>guest: well, that, this ground game has been in effect, probably, shep, for a year and a half. remember, we had senate bill 5 which be

deployed monitors into cuyahoga county as well as the justice department we're very happy to announce as also deployed official federal monitors into total counted to look into this issue an issue that concerns the bottom line here is that we have to make sure we do everything to prevent any obstacles to full voter participation in cuyahoga county about the state of ohio and any place else for that matter but i think it's very. interesting why is it that all of these glitches happen in minority communities and have for decades and have for decades and why before he has and which led to in miami the one thousand los black voters votes i mean i think that we have to really make sure that the election protection effort that we're part of and that that whole coalition that we keep our eyes on every single jurisdiction because what's happening is that people are being told they even though they registered that they are not only registration this that's been the problem in ohio and it's happened in franklin county as happened in cuyahoga county were suddenly people who registered are not be

in the end, will you both be watching the cleveland area, cuyahoga county on the list? >> and the columbus area where we are right now, which is one of the swing counties here. a very, very important. but the bottom line is turnout. if the obama/sherrod brown organization can bring out the vote, they can win this state. but, you know, a lot fewer people voted here in 2010 and the republicans ran the table in ohio. so unless some of those 2008 voters come out again, the ones who stayed home in 2010, obama could have some trouble. they've got to come back to the polls. the indications are they will, but we don't know for sure. >> and the that is the whole point of the obama turnout operation that has been in place now for four years. the state director, greg schultz, has been on the ground in ohio since the last campaign, the last presidential campaign in 20308, putting together this big network of 2008 voters. they're doing a pretty good job and they're feeling very good about this state. going back to the point about sandy, the local tv coverage that we've seen here has

we don't have the touch screens in cuyahoga county. so whether or not the electricity is there or not, those votes will be countied. jane platen is the cons ument professional and i trust her judgment. we're not talking about some politician in columbus who wants to suppress the vote, we're talking about a professional cares that every vote is county zbld you're giving us new information here tonight. there are 17 locations. the board has been unable to reach by telephone. the with 14 of those in cleveland. you're saying that that has been remedied has taken place on that? >> it has been remediesed. i talked to director jane plat ten tonight. in cleveland proper itself every single polling location has its electricity restored. we will be ready, ed, on election day. >> the $64 question. is president obama going to win the state of ohio? >> he is going to win, ed. we're going to deliver. they talked about the use of the word "revenge." . but all of us get caught up from time to time. but the president has heart-soul agreement and that is

we don't have the touch screens in cuyahoga county.er or not the electricity is there or not, those votes will be counted. jane platen is the cons mat professional and i trust her judgment. we're not talking about some politician in columbus who wants to suppress the vote, we're talking about a professional who cares that every vote is counted. we're going to do it, ed. >> senator turner, you're giving us new information here tonight. there are 17 locations the board has been unable to reach by telephone with 14 of those in cleveland. you're saying that that has been remedied? >> it has been remedied. i talked to director jane platen tonight. in cleveland proper itself every single polling location has its electricity restored. we will be ready, ed, on election day. >> the $64 question. is president obama going to win the state of ohio? >> he is going to win, ed. we're going to deliver. you know, they talked about the use of the word revenge," but, you know, all of us get caught up from time to time. but the president has heart-soul ag

hurricane sandy flooded parts of cuyahoga county. at least 50,000 people still do not have power this day. and if the storm damage doesn't stop voters, the long lines that are developing just might keep them away. it doesn't sound good, does it? senator rob portman had to wait in line today. some waited longer than an hour to vote. one called and said that the line was so long, she just walked away. the lines are long in florida as well. more than 2,000 people cast ballots at this nearby lab near daytona beach on the first day of early voting on wednesday. polls in south florida are reporting a, what, four-hour wait? the ballot in florida is a monster. it is about 12 pages long. the league of women voters asks the governor of the state, rick scott, to extend early voting hours. and what do you think he said? well, the republican said no. rick scott told reporters, i want everybody to get out and vote, but early voting ends saturday night. make no mistake, democrats have been fighting successfully against unfair voter i.d. laws and pu

cuyahoga county, ohio has been famous for that. indiana, gary, that's one that likes to hold out until, you know, how many votes do you have? how many votes do you need? >> bret: paint the picture for somebody just tuning in. where is this race right now? michael barone looking at it. >> this is a very close race. we are looking at early poll closing states like virginia, florida, which most of the state closes at 7:00 the central time zone portion at 8:00. very close to ohio. looks to be very close. so we are call celebrating our exit -- callally calibrating -- >> megyn: is there anything we should be reading into the fact that these states are so close. virginia is close. probably ohio will wind up being -- this early in the evening should would he be reading anything into that? >> brit: i don't think so. i will say this about it. given the conditions in the country, given the fact that we do not have a robust recovery four years after barack obama was inaugurated or elected and given the fact that, you know, we have had difficul

this is cuyahoga county, cleveland 2008, 70-30 barack obama wins. margin here was 258,000 in one county alone. president obama won the state by 260,000 votes. as a democrat you can turn the entire state in that county in northern ohio. will that happen this year? we are about to find out. martha, see you in a moment. pgh jenna yes we are. thank you bill. with the polls just opening both campaigns are making a last-minute pitch to voters. on fox & friends this morning senior obama adviser robert gibbs offering a reminder of what his team sees as a source of many of the problems. >> we inherited a tremendous mess. we inherited 800,000 jobs lost in a month, the very first month the president got the jobs report. every one of those statistics has gotten better in the past couple of years, because, look, we fell into a huge and massive hole in this economy. are we where we want to be? no. we've got more work to do because the hole that we are digging out of, the economic devastation that greeted this president when he walked into the oval office was deep

that would indicate that president obama is actually increasing his lead here in cuyahoga county. i should also point out provisional ballots. there is a concern now that the number of them being used, especially in this county, may be on the rise. i was just talking to jayne planton, director of the county board of elections. there were two, maybe three precincts towards the end of the day that ran out of provisional ballots. they had to send more over there. there have been reports of them being used frequently. the problem we know if this race is close here in the state of ohio, those ballots could make all the difference. the problem, though, they aren't counted for 11 days. when they come in, they will be handled by the people right behind me. >> reporter: all right. marty, of course, wolf, as we have heard, this again from sources, secretary of state's office told me earlier they would not be surprised to see provisional ballots in this state of anywhere between 200,000 and 250,000. again, if your margin is narrower than that, then those ballots could really matter here in oh

they like especially what they're seeing in cuyahoga county, ohio, that's where cleveland is.t's a democratic stronghold and it was the turnout in cuyahoga that helped him carry the state in 2008. they're looking for it again tonight, wolf. >> thanks much. we'll check back with both of you but let's check in with anderson now. >> thanks very much. we are obviously checking in with our reporters counting down the first results from ohio which could be the decider in this election. as you know, no republican has been elected president without winning the state of ohio. we've got correspondents across the state. first let's check in with erin burnett in columbus. erin? >> reporter: approximate all right, anderson, i'm standing outside the statehouse here in columbus, ohio. will we know the winner tonight? in a few moments, the polls are going to close and we'll get our furs briefing from the secretary of state here in ohio who some say could be the most important man tonight, collection night. jon husted, will he be the man that ends up deciding this election? we have reporters a

we are ready in cuyahoga county. the secretary of suppression, make no mistake about it. >> senator, what about flashlights and paper ballots? does that kind of contingency plan inspire confidence? these are somewhat a primitive back-up system. are they in place and do you believe they can be affordable? >> i'm happy to report there are only three polling places without electricity. i am confident because she is confident that they will be restored. here in cuyahoga county, we already use paper ballots. so whether or not the electricity is there or not, jane platen is the confident professional and i trust her judgment. >> senator, you're giving us some new information here tonight. there are 17 locations the board has been unable to reach by telephone with 14 of those in cleveland. you're saying that is a remedy? >> i talked to director james platen tonight. but she says all but three in greater cleveland. in cleveland proper itself, every single polling location has its electricity restored. we will be ready, ed, o

. >> bob: i don't know why he chose cuyahoga county. what they're probably trying to do is minimize votes in cuyahoga county. as andrea pointed out to me, suburban counties around it, have been republican, and obama did very well there. again, question what happened last time around. i think obama will hold off enough but not -- i mean he will be there, but it will be within a point. >> andrea: people are asking is pennsylvania the new ohio? >> eric: we'll get there in a second. hang on to that thought. greg, you and i take care of florida. want to go first? >> greg: i want to talk about pennsylvania. >> eric: hold the thought. >> greg: bill clinton is in philly. did you hear what he said to the crowd there? he said who wants a president who will knowingly and repeatedly tell you something that isn't true? apparently he is running again. who knew it? he's testing the waters. did he do it third term? are we talking about florida? florida is tight. you know what it is? it's getting your blood test results. the action is quick, takes a wee

. >> well, cuyahoga county. there are 12,000 votes off of early voting from where they were in 2008. now if that's a micro kochl for the state, what does it mean? >> well, early voting favored obama and ohio in 2008. mccain won the state on election day. obama carried the state comfortable bli, but not on election someday. >> here is romney today in iowa talking about people getting handouts. >> paul and i have not promised you a bigger check from the government. and we haven't promised to take from some people to redistribute to you. >> your response. is this another last ditch effort to appeal to sentiment? >> at this point even a dog whistle doesn't breakthrough. there's too much white noise out there. what matters at this point is the ground game. it's can you find the right people? the republican playbook is they have the intensity. there are enough people who hate the president that they will show up anyway. you're seeing two very different philosophies of how you get people to go out and vote. the obama c

. >> this is the line outside of the cuyahoga county board of elections.ople waited as much as two hours to cast their votes. >> how long have you been waiting in line? >> it seems like forever. >> two hours, two 1/2 2 1/2 hours. >> voting is a fundamental right. it shouldn't change based on which party is in power. joining me now are two lawmakers who have been standing up for voting rights, marcia fudge and fredricka wilson. >> thank you, reverend al. >> congresswoman fudge, let me start with you. are these long lines another form of voter suppression, in your opinion? >> oh, i certainly think that they are. let me say this, reverend al. i'm happy to see the long lines because that says to me all of the dirty tricks that have been pulled by our secretary of state are not working and our people are determined to vote no matter what it takes. >> you know, congresswoman fredricka wilson, down in your district i was there for operation eliminate with curry and other networks. long lineses from the first day of early voting, you were there helping to lead the

. >> cuyahoga county, i was talking to state senator nina turner. they are 12,000 votes off of where they were for 2008. that's a microcause sem for the state. what does it mean? >> early voting has favored obama. in ohio in 2008, mccain actually won on election day. >> yeah. >> obama carried the state comfortably but not on election day. so they have to go into election day with a good lead in the early voting or they won't make it. >> here's romney today in iowa talking about people getting handouts. >> paul and i have not promised you bigger check from the govern in the and we haven't promised to take some people to redistribute to you. >> richard, is this another last ditch effort to appeal to white resentment? >> honestly, at this point, even a dog whistle doesn't break through. what matters is the ground came. the republican playbook is, they have the intensity. there are enough people who hate the president that they will show up anyway. you are seeing two different philosophies of how you get people to go out and vote. the obama campaign is

just over 70% of the votes in now and early indication of trouble for the president were two counties, cuyahoga which includes cleveland and also franklin county which includes columbus, ohio, where i am where he racked up large margins and also racking up large margins but thele vote count was down by a total of 50,000 or more. if you figure that the president would get about 60% of those votes, that say lot of votes he is not getting that he otherwise had gotten four years ago, so right now we're looking at a very tight race basically tied with about 30% of the vote still to go. i should note that hamilton county, that key county in the southwestern part of the state, right now the president is doing very well there with early results in, but there's still a lot more votes to be counted down there in hamilton county, george. >> so bring us up to date now, george, on the electoral votes then take us to florida. let's keep -- >> we see the electoral votes in so far, 244 for president obama, 203 for governor romney. that means that president obama needs 26 more electoral votes to get to 270. obv

wins the presidency tonight and we're talking about some of the largest counties in that state cuyahoga county franklin county and cleveland and so forth. and yet i seem to be one of the very few people myself along with bob bitrate just in the good folks at the free press dot org who broke this story we seem to be the only ones who are alarmed about this and you know i don't understand that if you go back to two thousand and two tom i know you're familiar with this the the infamous software patch i was writing about it i was i was writing by and by the way i just there's a great piece in harper's right now about about this and i think that that's a that's great that we push back on brad friedman brad thanks for the great work you're doing thanks for being with us tonight. always great to be with you guys thanks for having and check out brad blog dot com for brad's work and we will be back with more our to election coverage in just a moment but we want to have an give you an update on the electoral college count as we move closer but really really quick i want to tell you i claire mccaskill ha

jenna: right. >> northeast ohio, particularly cuyahoga county. was 266,053 ballots cast. entering some point yesterday, the total was 303,743. jenna: wow. >> so that would seem to be in the president's favor. that's his county up there, he kneads to win -- he needs to win big there, he usually does well. better than romney in early voting, polls suggested way more had voted for obama than romney. but there's another number that, or there's another factor to consider which is for the first time all 88 counties, so every registered voter, was offered the chance to vote early through the mail. that was not the case in '08. so you're seeing a large number of votes cast in republican counties early that weren't cast in '08. so you take a look at that, and you say, okay, romney has clearly cut into obama's advantage in early voting, and republicans typically vote more on election day, and so obama's in trouble. and that may be true, but then you have to go back again and think, well, who has more of a reliable voting bloc in and numbers show us that tr

. >> reporter: jon we're at the cuyahoga county board of elections. ounty has had a troubled past. as you see behind me people are early voting that is continuing. we were here four years ago. again then the story was acorn. remember the scandal dealing with voter registration fraud and example of this guy, freddie johnson, who told us he was registered to vote by acorn 73 times. there have been other issues in the past. missing votes and problems with machines. in 2006, voter cards and voter machine keys were lost. employees who tested the voting machines, they took the machines at home. taxi drivers transported memory cards. they have the votes, to the counted. in 2007, two election officials were convicted of rigging the 2004 presidential election recount. >> you could say there was systemic break down in 2006 of voting process because some of the problems that occurred. but, evaluating the situation as of today in 2012, i think it's fair to say that that systemic breakdown did not reappear, for example in 2010. >> reporter: cuyahoga county official

in fact, they're kind of miffed mitt romney has chosen to campaign in ohio in cuyahoga county insteadson rich hamilton county. i just talked to the hamilton county board of elections director. she expects a great turnout. in fact, she says the turnout has been spectacular so far. in 2008 it was 70%. she expects it to be more than 70%. she's shooting for 73% but then she says she's a glass half full kind of person. i talked to many voters standing in line early this morning at 6:30 a.m. eastern time when the polls opened. the lines were very long. people were excited to vote. one woman said she could not sleep all night long. she tried early voting over the weekend and the lines were too long. she gave up. so she woke up every hour on the hour last night thinking she would miss her chance to vote. she was at least -- i think she was the third person in line, and she did cast her ballot. she said she felt this election was more important than elections past because it was important for people to get involved so we can take care of this massive debt we're currently under. >> carol, your

what do you see -- we have 650 obama lawyers in cuyahoga county being on the lookout for any kind ofonkey business out there. what do you hear? what's coming? >> well, i think -- >> in terms of trouble. >> there may be trouble. i think we are all worried about voter suppression. we're somewhat worried about diebold, about getting the ground game out, but the ground game is excellent, chris. i feel optimistic. it's not a slam dunk, but you're right, senator brown's race should not be close. he's amazing, he's excellent, but they've thrown a lot of money at it and got very cocky after john kasich won the governorship, but the optimistic and positive thing is a year and a half ago the white house -- the campaign was looking for a way to win back the white house without ohio. they were very concerned about ohio. they were looking at the sunbelt as being better than the rust belt. now the rust belt is coming through for the president, and it really is white working class voters who are doing much better for the president, much more behind the president than they are in most other places i

votes were outsourced to chattanooga tennessee and then the vote flipped for bush this time the cuyahoga county vote that would be in cleveland tabulation site went down as well on election night only this time when the servers came back up the votes never flipped president obama's lead held and he went on to win while karl rove and mitt romney watched in slack jawed amazement we know that there was a parade of conservative talking heads in the days before the election predicting a landslide victory for mitt romney is because they lived in a bubble lacking pollster nate silver's facts arithmetic that actually showed the president winning a landslide. could it be that rove's election night freak out was just the result of this say about election day ignorance held by all republicans or was rove genuinely shocked by what he was seen because he knew the fix was in just like in two thousand and four and there was no way president obama was going to win reelection and if that's the case why did his plan to steal the election not work here's where the story gets really interesting just a few days bef

this is cuyahoga county. here. al vote reported in cuyahoga, i want to show you the total vote is. this is what it was in 2008 as you can s5there's over 100,000, if not 150,000 and the level in calling ohio. let's not forget a few other things going on here. see ray areas here? i can pull them up very quickly. as you can see, thelead is holding herean go back here. he's leading in nevada. he's leading iow. actually, he's pulled ahead in virginia, which we haven't had in a while. and it's but he has 22,000 votes. separate them. right now we're extraneous numbers at this point president leads in flor is okay let's say there's something whack cuyahoga and the cuyahoga number don't go the way -- the way ours go. there's colorado, nevada, florida, virginia that are all ever so slightly appe trending towards the president. you'd rather be with these few precinct dyremaining. you'd rather be the president ditto with >> this is kind of a amazing. i will say that this cannot go unremarked trying to get on air the fox newscha