joining me now in washington is dan bolz, the chief correspondent at the "washington post" and we once again pleased to have him here again. dan: thank you. charlie: 60 days and counting. dan: 60 days and counting down. charlie: the first week after labor day. dan: it's an interesting week. the polls look tighter than in august. we had the first semiencounter with the two candidates. charlie: not together. dan: a preview, but not really, they weren't on the stage at the same time. it's a different dynamic. the race after labor day, as much as become before, things become engaged in a different way. we have seen hillary clinton out much more talking to the press that she hasn't been done. charlie: on the plane and elsewhere taking questions. dan: so she is more accessible than she has been. she was getting criticized for that. donald trump is trying to stay scripted and with teleprompters. charlie: is he better on the campaign trail with what he has to do? dan: i think he is. it's a function of the new team that he brought on last month. charlie: anne conway and steve bannon. dan: and d

charlie: dan bolz from the "washington post." ♪ charlie: we turn now to other news, other news than the politics of america and there was plenty of it overseas. president obama made his first trip to laos and final trip to asia before leaving office. not everything went as planned. ian bremer joins me now from new york. he is the president of the lobal risk consultancy eurasia group. glad to have him back on the program. the trip to asia, how would you assess it? ian: the big question is how does the united states get outcomes when its negotiating position globally is deteriorating and obama, yes, towards the end of his term, that's part of it, but it's broader than that. china always makes it hard on the united states to get what t wants, especially in china's backyard and that sparring is get morgue challenging. we saw it. obama leaving ou negotiating position globally is deteriorating and obama,t of of his plane and sort of you could only take one journalist with you to a meeting and all of these things that make the look weak