let's go through them, dean heller, close race in nevada.my thompsonson, george allen craig, neck and neck in virginia. they are real pros trying to keep alive politically and want some real separation as they say in the nfl from this guy, romney. what's going on? >> well, you know, romney is taking all these hits in the last four weeks from his miserable trip to london and clint eastwood and not mentioning the troops in afghanistan, the disaster with the libyan statement and the video i made public earlier this week and the thing is, if he had a real good overarching strategic plan and message that the conservative republican elites here and members of the senate had any -- could see, could discern, i think people would be more willing to stand by him. but he doesn't have a strong rudder. every day it's like he changes strategy. he's going to be more moderate or red meat to the conservative, be an outsider, insider. obama says black, i'll say white today so the campaign is bouncing around like a ping-pong ball being buffeted by winds. witho

shelley berkley supports the dream act and dean heller doesn't. she's tried to cut an issue and he's tried to reach out to latino voters in the ads and other ways of outreach. >> when it comes to looking at the polling or what is suggested as far as this is concerned, what is the story in nevada? >> for pulling polling we have seen a lot of ties in the polls. there's a new one coming out tonight, nbc, it be nice fresh polling information going into the debate. the last caller. a lot of the recent polls that we have seen have been automated or they've been republican or democratic and they shall one candidate up a few points and the other candidate up a few points and basically nobody breaking out in this race yet and in the presidential race, you know, it's still considered a swing state but he has been up a few points in the polls. >> as far as their styles are concerned is their anything to note as far as how they're debating styles go? >> they haven't debated much recently, but berkeley is often called a kind of a very vague politician or, you

host: what did she have to do against dean heller? guest: she is trying to tie getler to paul ryan's bud plan. democrats like to say heller voted for the budget plan twice. he voted for it twice -- that line should probably come up tonight. she may say that he wants to end medicare as we know it and try to time to that. you have seen heller running ill but from romney and ryan -- running a little bit from romney and ryan. we may see that, as well -- we may see that come up as well. so, the dream act. shelley berklery supports the dream act and dean heller does not. host: when it comes to polling as far as this race, what is the story in nevada? guest: for polling? we have seen a lot of ties in the polls. there's a new poll coming out tonight which will be a fresh polling information going into the debate. a lot of recent polls have been automated or republican or democratic polls. they show one candidate up a few points or the other candidate up a few points. nobody breaking out in this race. president obama is still considered -- he

nevada senator dean heller distances himself from mitt romney. embattled senator scott brown would not answer two direct questions from reporters about whether he still even supports mitt romney. what did he do? well, he relies on a statement of o support from a spokeswoman. even romney's running mate is throwing the candidate under the bus. paul ryan said, romney was obviously inarticulate and told a las vegas television station, "i think he would have said it differently." senate gop leaders beat a hasty retreat before answering 47% question from reporters today. >> until those problems are addressed and solved, starting with jobs and spending. >> thank you very much. >> 47%! >> i mean, let's get out of here before they ask if some republicans are running away, and others are basically punching back. senator lindsey graham of south carolina criticized romney's campaign schedule this week. "he needs to be talking about the economy and not in utah. he's not going to get beat because of money. he ought to be running in ohio and florida like he's r

dean heller, close race in nevada. tommy thompson having problems in wisconsin.ople are real pros who are trying to keep alive politically, and they want some real separation as they say in the nfl from this guy, romney. what's going on? >> well, you know, romney's taking all these hits in the last four weeks from his miserable trip to london to clint eastwood and not mentioning the troops in afghanistan, the disaster with the libyan statement. of course, the video that i made public earlier this week. and the thing is if he had a real good overarching strategic plan and message that the conservative republican elites hear and members of the senate had any -- could see, could discern, i think people would be more willing to stand by him, but he doesn't have a strong rudder. every day it's like he changes strategy. he's going to be a little more moderate, a little more red meat to the conservatives, he's going ton an outer, an insider. obama says black, i'm going to say white today. the campaign is sort of like bouncing around like a ping-pong ball. it's being buf

dean heller, close race in nevada. tommy thompson, having problems in wisconsin.eorge allen, neck and neck in virginia. these people are real pros who are trying to keep alive politically, and they want some real separation, as they say in the nfl, from this guy romney. what's going on? >> romney's taking all these hits in the last four weeks from his miserable trip to london, to clint eastwood, and not mentioning the troops in afghanistan, the disaster with the libyan statement, and the video that i made public earlier this week. and the thing is, if he had a real good overarching strategic plan and message that the conservative republican elites here and members of the senate had any -- could see, could discern, i think people would be more willing to stand by him. he doesn't have a strong rudder. every day he changes strategy. he's going to be a little more moderate. he's going to be red meat. he's going to be an outsider. he's going to be an insider. obama says black, i'm going to say white today. the campaign is bouncing around like winds, and without a stron

it twice in the ryan should come out tonight looking for her to say something along the lines of dean heller wants to end medicare as we know it and turn it into a voucher program and basically try to tie him to that. you've also seen heller running a little bit and with romney's comments about the 47%, we saw how he distance himself from that saying that is and how he viewed the world. so he makes it come up as well. they will also likely bring up the treen act that's a pretty big deal in nevada and in the latino population. she has tried to make that an issuer and he has also tried to reach out to latino voters in the house and others ways of outreach. >> when it comes to looking at the polling or at least what suggested as far as this race is concerned, what is the story in nevada? >> for the polling, basically, you know, we have seen a lot of ties in the polls, and tonight actually there is a new poll coming along. nbc, wall street journal poll which will be a nice fresh polling information going into the debate. for a lot of the recent that we have seen have been automated, and they hon

three republicans have rebuked his comments including incumbent scott brown of massachusetts and dean heller of nevada. >> we want to update you on a 7 on your side investigation. verdicts in for three men in a real estate fraud case that is sounding like a movie. a jury found jay shaw guilty of all 13 felony counts of conspiring to steal three condos from right under the nose of real estate executive shirley wong. plees prosecutors say shaw forged documents to transfer properties at one rincon hill to a shell corporation, then took out lone loans on the property. shaw's attorney had no comment. jurors, however, simply said the testimony wasn't believable. >> it just seemed like things were questionable. his demeanor couldn't convince us he was telling the truth in cases. >> there are two other defendants in the case and an attorney and real estate broker cleared of filing false deeds. a tennis instructor found guilty of six counts. and it is the end of a thee year ethic battle to reclaim the property. >> the verdict speaks for itself. justice prevailed and i can move on with my live. >> and

nevada senator, dean heller told "politico," quote . . . >> jennifer: nice.oday, new hampshire republican gubernatorial candidate, said, quote, there's no 47% in new hampshire as far as i'm concerned. and then in north carolina mark meadows said . . . >> jennifer: and they piling on. former virginia congressman tom davis was asked what sort of candidate would make a remark like that? a he told "politico," quote, no one with any political instincts. he needs to be scripted the rest of the campaign he is a ceo, davis said, not a political animal. zing! so romney does have a few supporters, though. >> if you listen to the whole context of what mitt talks about, he -- he is talking about what is happening right now in america, and how more and more people are falling into poverty, more in particular women are falling into poverty, so there is a concern on his part -- >> jennifer: okay. okay. to be fair. it's not just -- just his wife supporting him. there are some really thoughtful and reasonable -- rush limbaugh as well as fox new's sean alan rest of florida, er

that will be very interesting to see the contrast between dean heller who is a milquetoast republican. he doesn't say a lot of incendiary things. he will be tough on berkeley saying she's the most corrupt person he's ever met. berkeley is hitting him on the issue of medicare because he voted for the ryan budget twice. polls are very, very close there. i would give a slight edge to heller. >> eliot: what does it mean that the voters in nevada don't seem to care that she and berkeley is the subject of an ethics investigation? is this par for the course in washington? something about nevada? that is an interesting phenomenon. >> it's vegas, baby, right? it's interesting. i don't know how much information there is on this. remember we pay attention to this all summer, you know. this dropped in july. i don't know how many voters have a lot of information about the details of the ethics investigation. i do think a lot of voters put their hands up and say look, this is partisan politics. when there is an investigation open anymore it is seen through the lens of partisanship. this guy is doin

it's ads from shelly berkeley attacking dean heller, who voted twice for the ryan budget, once in thee in the senate. the first ryan budget that would cut it. what you have there, i thought this made me think this is what's happening. this is a very nationalized race. i think paul ryan's place on the ticket. >> that's it. >> was part of that national ryization. you look at what happened a month ago. i sat down and asked her about this medicare question. >> let's not make any mistake here. there's only one candidate in this race, my opponent who has voted to kill medicare by turning it over to private insurance companies and end guaranteed benefits. i don't think anybody in the state of nevada or the united states wants to continue overpayments to insurance companies but by restricting and ending those oveayments we extended the life of medicare by nine years. >> the interesting thing about your opponent is he voted for the early version of the ryan plan which is the more aggressive which would have turned all of medicare for those under 55 into the voucher program. he voted for the se

scott brown in massachusetts, dean heller of nevada, governor of new mexico, linda mcmahon of connecticutn of virginia. all of them have come out and said this isn't my life, i don't agree with mitt romney. that's pretty hard to take, isn't it? >> what we have is a campaign based on class warfare. started by president obama, who has been attacking the rich and wanting to tax the rich so he can redistribution. it's the same president obama who makes class warfare again a part of his campaign when he tells the job creators they can't build it. >> but these people are running for office and distances themselves from governor romney. they're not talking about what barack obama's saying. >> well, they ought to be talking about what's going on in america and the situation that this country has and with all due respect to those folks, they can do what they want. i can't tell them what to do, but i can tell you that what most americans care about is the fact that this president is running a campaign that fails to address the jobs issue. this president's running a class warfare campaign. this pres

linda mcmahon, the candidate from connecticut and dean heller, the republican senator from nevada.poke with him for a fairly long time in the hall of the senate today and he was talking about why he totally disagrees with mitt romney and put it in interesting terms. i want to put up part of his quote. he said i don't write off anybody and went on to say i have five brothers and sisters. my father was an auto mechanic, my mother was a school cook. i have a very different view of the world, meaning different than romney, who subjected of course that 47% of americans are already obama voters and are you know, on the govement dime. he said to me that he believes that the government has a responsibility to have a safety net for people and that is something he said in a very calculated way. because nevada is a neck and neck state and it is a state that he says he believes his fortunes are really tied to mitt romney. >> thank you very much. showing this could be a very different world than some think in a couple of months time. also "outfront," patrick millsips and jonathan prince, a form

republican senator dean heller of nevada and brown of massachusetts say they don't share the view that romney express on the hidden camera video. lindsey graham criticized romney for fundraising in red states instead of stumping in swing states. "he needs to talk about the economy and not in utah. he is in the going to get beat because of money. he ought to run in ohio and florida like running for gor and running for virginia like he is running for sheriff." despite romney rough rhetorical patches, polls show the vast majority of republicans expect to support him. chris christie predicts the controversy over the romney comment about the 47% will subside. >> he wants to empower individuals through sacrifice and opportunity to make it as great as they can be and make america greater. that is what he is talking about. >> but today he talked about obama's remarks years ago to build a better structure, pool resources and redistribution. that will only worsen a culture of dependency. >> bret: carl cameron with the governor in miami. thank you. coming up later, ed henry on the white house res

republicans also have to hold on to the 50-50 ctest in nevada between senator dean heller and shelly they're two contests and one that isaetve all been watchi, beeen elizabeth warren and scott brown. republicans really need to be able to win that so they can actually net elsewhere. >> all right. so one thing, though, when it comes to the todd akin-clare caill race, 're seeing the first mccaskill ad taking him to task aut the legitimate rape comments. let's take a look. >> todd akin said he didn't like social security. on september 3rd, 2011, todd akin said medicar was unconstition. ma16inai he wants to abolish the minimum wage and august 19th todd akin said only some rapes are legitimate. what will he say next? >> so, mark this is the first timehe's usetuthe legitimate rape comment. what strikes you about this ad in general? >> we knew it was coming and came pretty much minutes if not hours after we all knew that todd akin was officially going to remain in the missouri senate contest. the other thi i thinks quite stringentily m maging ads that clare mccaskill could run with the repub

republican website there, moving down the ballot, add some other numbers in the nbc wall street polls, dean hellering berkley by five points in the new hampshire governor race. in north carolina, the republican pulling away over the democrat. and we have melissa harris-perry, and republican strategist and former adviser to chris christie, mike duhane. maggie, start with you. we have all of the debate memos. right now, the only time you can see one side compliment the other is on debate skills. apparently one is lincoln, one is douglas, the other is not. >> one is cicero. my colleague alex burns wrote if either of the guys manages to tie their shoes and make it to the podiums, it will be impressive to the advisers. what we hear out of the camp, my guy is terrible, your guy is the best. it is a tremendous level of expectation setting. i think they're both right and wrong. president obama has done this before, but i think there are legitimate concerns about howl's do. mitt romney has never done it on this stage before, that's a legitimate concern. you're going to continue to hear it for five days. >>

senator dean heller running for re-election in a tough race in nevada, likewise saying, he does not view the world the same way mitt romney does. linda mcmahon, the wrestling mogul who is running for senate in connecticut. she says she disagrees with mr. romney. mark meadows, running for congress as a republican in north carolina, says that he is different from mitt romney. lamontagne, running in new hampshire, promising not to be a partisan -- is promising not to be a partisan governor in the style of mr. romney and his 47% speech. but here's maybe the biggest panic button that there is on the republican side right now. it's from the "huffington post" today. a republican operative working on congressional races, quote, warned that in key swing states, mitt romney's support and internal polling is well below that of republican candidates in districts where the presidential nominee needs to get big support to have a chance at winning. this is the quote from the republican operative. "he is just well under all of our other guys," this republican said, "i'm very concerned." think about what

. >> nevada senator dean heller tried to distance himself from mr. romney's comments. scott brown the senator from massachusetts, mitt romney's -- where he lives now, also doing the same. and in the case of mr. romney, he isn't backing away from the assertion that there is too much of a dependency state. though he has backed away from the idea that 47% of the folks who don't pay income taxes consider themselves victims and who are owed sort of government entitlement. none the less, mr. romney very aggressively going after mr. obama for the dependency society, watch. >> the question of this campaign is not who cares about the poor and the middle class. i do. he does. the question is who can help the poor and the middle class. i can and he can't. >> pollsterring in new polls today suggesting in battleground states mr. obama a bit of an edge. the associated press and gallup poll nationally it's still a dead even virtual tie, shep? >> shepard: carl cameron in south florida with the romney camp. the white house says the romney campaign is trying to distract voters fundraise

scott brown linda mcmahon dean heller from nevada, susan collins, bill christoph.iling on. >> those who do pay income tax most of them do pay a higher percentage of their income tax than mitt romney does say at 13.9%. they're paying 15% or higher percentage income tax. >> bill: plus they're paying other taxes as well. and other taxes which he is probably not paying anyway because we don't know because of how little he's released. >> bill: all the president said -- happened to be on letterman was mitt romney may say that but i've learned as president, when you're in the position like this, you have to represent all americans. 100% of americans. you can't say this 50% of americans are trash are bums and i'm not even going to try to get their vote. which is what mitt romney said. >> mitt romney said -- i can't worry -- i don't worry -- i don't even worry about those people. i can't worry about them. he said something like that. and this isn't the first time he's said it because previously said i'm not concerned at all about the very poor. he said this twice and then i

you have dean heller in nevada, tight race says i just don't view the world the same way as governortt brown has a big debate tonight with elizabeth warren. elsd that's not the view he had of the world here. we talked about four gop candidates distancing themselves from romney. the list goes on and on here. you know this game better than anyone else. how confident are you that democrats -- i don't want to use the word capitalize because it seems exploitive, but in the end draw a line between the republican party leader, the nominee, and the entire democratic party who don't subscribe to this same view? >> no, there's no question. p if you're out there and you're republican and you're in a blue or purple state like nevada, you've got to draw some distinctions and make it clear that you don't agree with the front-runner and your ticket. the presidential election, if let's say president obama carries the state, that doesn't guarantee that the democratic senate candidate wins. but it makes it a lot harder for a republican to buck the trend. if president obama wins some states like wiscon

it's also republican dean heller in nevada saying about mitt romney, quote, i just don't view the worlde same way he does. it's also republican linda mann in connecticut, i disagree with romney's insinuation. it's linda lingl in hawaii, i'm not responsible for the comments of mitt romney, i don't agree with his characterization. it's not fair. before his debate tonight scott brown of massachusetts was one of the first senate candidates to say he was running against mitt romney saying earlier this week, that's not the way i view the world. it's amazing, right? i mean, all of these republican senate candidates are now trying to tell voters, despite whom my party is running for president, please vote for me anyway. i do not agree with that guy. i have nothing to do with him, he is wrong, but vote for me anyway. it's a remarkable thing to try to claim, right? these are republicans runs against mitt romney in 2012, telling voters vote for me, i know i'm a republican, but i hate that guy, too. vote for me to have a republican majority in the senate because i hate that republican presidential