the district had been a democrat since the 1920's. not this time to the new congressman is 75-year-old former cable-tv executive, bob turner, creator of "the jerry springer show." >> we have had it with an irresponsible fiscal policy that endangers everyone of our social safety networks. we have had it with your treatment of israel. [applause] >> congressman steve israel of new york, who is trying to get democrats elected, is trying to play this one down. >> it is not pretty good about what is going to happen -- not predictive of what is going to happen. >> that is what democrats said after scott round shellacked -- after scott brown at shellacked martha coakley for the seat held by ted kennedy. it republican also one in nevada. what do these elections tell you, charles? "conduct unbecoming of a congressman"? you archimedean bid this is the canary in the coal mine. on the issue of the economy and obama, it is a real message that democrats are in trouble nationwide. >> democrats and republicans are in trouble nationwide. the electorate

that sent a message to the democrats that any republican can beat any democrat in any state. if a republican could win in massachusetts. this sends the same message for the house. but a more specific thing. it is going to cause house democrats to jump ship on obama. one out of every five democratic congressman in the house was elected in the special election where there is no primary they waltz in, 2/3 of the districts are not competitive. they don't worry about republicans. they hardly know there is a republican party. one of those districts was chuck schumer's and anthony weiner. now if a republican wins it is going to terrify those safe democrats. they worry about prime pearce but they don't sweat november. now they have to start sweating it. >> >> sean: to what extent is this a referendum on the president? obama has a 31% approval rating in the district. 56% disapproval in this heavily democratic district. the issues of israel, snubbing of benjamin netanyahu, treatment of israel. the president itself it is a referendum on him and this guy weprin supported the ground zero

some democratic spinners tried to blame yesterday's loss on the weak democratic candidate, but weak democratic candidates like charlie rangel easily win new york city congressional seats in normal times. the republican candidate who took the seat away from the democrats was as weak a republican as new york politics can produce. the now victorious bob turner who has never been elected to public office will take to the republican house of representatives a private sector career that includes having been the head of the production company that created "the jerry springer show." it is doubtful the new springer influence on house republicans will improve much the general tenor of the house of representatives. local new york television was filled today with man and woman on the street, explanations of yesterday's election. they were all minor variations on an anti-obama theme. >> i'm not sure, but i'm really disappointed in obama. i was hoping much more. >> joining me now, democratic congressman from new york, elliot engel. thank you very much for joining me tonight, congressman. >> my pleasure, law

jewish voter in the turner district, traditionally democratic overwhelmingly disapprove of fellow democrathm. they particularly are offended by what they see as bad policies and antiisrael rhetoric and get this. former new york city mayor ed koch, a die -- a dyed in the wool democrat crossed party lines and supported republican turner. >> president obama is a nice guy and i helped elect him and all those things. he threw us under the bus. >>> koch sees the win as proof positive of president obama's mishandling of the united states -- israel relationship. >> question is ed koch right? has president obama thrown israel under the bus? >> pat buchanan and no he hasn't. he has been critical of netanyahu. netanyahu does not like obama and he moves very close to the republicans. but in this district, not only ed koch an orthodox jewish community there and new york daily post and news endorsed turner. this is really in a way an antiobama vote, i think. really sending him a message out there and it is a tremendous victory for republicans and what it says to democratic senate candidates and others i

democrat democrats, we feel terribly about it. i think sometimes something good comes out of something bad and we have to realize that we have got to show why we're democrats, that we believe in creating jobs for working people. we believe in preserving social security and medicare and medicaid. we're not going to toss those away. we're going to stand by our commitments. and we're going to not look to compromise every step of the way. compromise is wonderful if you have a partner to compromise with. but the republicans have shown i think in the debt ceiling debate they're not interested in compromising. they don't want to raise taxes even for people who can afford it. they don't want to close tax loopholes for big corporations. they don't want big oil to pay their fair share. they're protecting the big corporations. i think we need to take that to the american people. i think there was a dissatisfaction. i don't think it was because of a weak candidate that we lost. i think, again, we need to learn from this and if we learn to thi

the democrat by 22 points. chair of the national republican congressional committee, pete sessions, laid the election results at the white house door. saying in a statement: white house press secretary jay carney, traveling with the president to north carolina today, warned against reading too much into the republican victories. but the loss of the heavily democratic new york district came at a time when the president's own numbers are sinking. a bloomberg news poll released today found that only 9% of americans feel confident the economy won't slide back into recession. and nearly three-quarters of the respondents said the country is on the wrong course. the president has been hoping his new jobs plan will help turn around the economy, and put a brake on that growing pessimism. he pitched his job creation proposal for the fourth time in a week. congress, he insisted, must put aside politics to come up with a solution. >> we're in a national emergency. we've been grappling with a crisis for three years and inst

>> highly democratic district.e has now gone from just pro-democrat, pro-union to anti-union, anti-blue collar. that is what won mat election. this is reminiscent of going back to the mush days. why do you think obama won? an anti-bush vote. now we are seeing the anti-obama vote. if this continues to grow, there is no chance obama will will be reelected, no chance at all. >> it does depend on -- >> sean: look at the polls. polls show he is at the lowest number. president bush in his first term didn't go below 46%. in the economy, 30s. you sold 400 million books. i know you care about your readers. >> of course. >> sean: now people are struggling to go on a family vacation to buy books. >> which i think is shocking, because we have a resident whose wife has spent more money on vacation taking her friends here there and everywhere while people are on the bread line to me that is shocking. i think that vote reflects what the people want. >> sean: i agree. if you are going to martha's vineyard and hang out with the ric

democrats had a hard time getting a good candidate. it's still a wake-up call for democrats. the white house will argue what happened last night in new york is simply that exclamation point on a terrible summer, that they've made the course correction, it's just taking time to sink in. president heads to raleigh, north carolina today to sell that course correction. his jobs plan, which he pitched yesterday in ohio. >> yesterday, there were some republicans quoted in washington saying that even if they agree with the proposals in the american jobs act, they shouldn't pass it because it would give me a win. give me a win? this isn't about giving me a win. this isn't about giving democrats or republicans a win. it's about giving the american people a win. >> a new bloomberg poll this morning shows voters are not convinced the plan will be a win for them. 51-40, americans doubt the president's job bill will bring down the unemployment rate. the president's approval rating on the economy sits at just 33%. as if this weren't enough bad news for the white house, hearings on capitol

curious thing for the democrats.lems with his coalition. major problems with independents who don't believe in his policies anymore. they like him personally and they want him to succeed, but if they throw that away -- i was going to ask about governor perry. >> i'll save the question for another day because where we are on time. steve israel, the chairman of the congressional democratic campaign, he says, snapshot! to jim's point, some special elections mean nothing and some mean more than others. 90 years in the heart of new york city, if the democrats can't win there, ask the labor unions to help him out at the end, so from a candidate perspective, a problem? >> absolutely. you have a chest pain. could be heart attack? could be heartburn. no matter what, cut back on the fats, jog more. there's only one sensible way a party reacts to this. there's only one to run and that's scared. >> is it the president? >> no, it's not the president. it's lots of things. the economy, some local matters that congressman israel tal

why are democrats -- why are most african-americans wrong to vote 90% democrat? >> well, because you're not leveraging the one asset that matters most to the political class. and that is your vote. if i give all my votes to one individual, at some point she will stop listening to me. if you pay no attention to my vote and i have no incentive to pay attention to you, guess what? i'm sitting out here -- >> and voting strategically. even though you don't agree with republicans, give them a little once in a while so they'll play ball with you. >> but make them come to the issues as you see them that's ultimately what elections are about. >> where should they go first? republicans go to your community first or -- >> listen, my first day on the job as chairman, i went to harlem if people ask me, why are you going to harlem, that's where the votes are. >> that's why you succeeded as chairman of the republican party. did they like you doing that? >> some liked it, some didn't. >> when jack kemp comes back, let me know. in spirit. a republican who really wants -- >> not o

so congressional democrats are complaining. why? because all of the personal relationships with republicans have gotten better with the white house, but nothing has come to fruition, if anything, the politics on capitol hill has gotten worse for the white house. and second, the business community, things aren't better. and instead, though, it has irritated the base of the democratic party. the rom axe way of running the white house is a lot different than the daley/plouffe way of running the white house. that you can hear in some of these anonymous quotes. but don't expect the white house to overly panic to what james carville calls for. that's not how president obama works. he doesn't fire staffers, he doesn't overreact. that doesn't mean you won't see people's roles change a little bit. you may see a pete rouse making more phone calls, more visits to capitol hill, and all of the folks inside the west wing who have capitol hill ties to be using those ties more. because clearly the relationships between reid and schumer in this whit

a democrat in a general election. you a sure bet to endorse kaine over allen? you've been open to supporting george allen in other races. >> well, i have never openly supported a republican. however, i am not always supported openly democrats, you're absolutely right. i've talked to governor kaine and as a matter of fact spoke with him just last week. we're going to be continuing to talk. i hope that there will be opportunities for us to make certain that we're all on the same page. we will see. >> so you're not there yet with tim kaine. is that what you're saying? >> i didn't say i wasn't there. i didn't say i was, though, you're right. >> governor wilder, it's always a pleasure to talk with you. thank you, sir. >> thanks, chuck. thank you very much. >>> we'll be right back with our panel for a preview of tonight's gop slugfest. last time it was mitt romney versus rick perry. will tonight be the night that michele bachmann makes a last stand and says, hey, it should be a three-person fight. >>> first, the white house

. >> i am a democrat a proud democrat and i am supporting bob turner. >> democratic seat held for 29 years. >> congressional seat is up for grabs that no one ever thought would be won by a republican. >> until anthony weiner tweeted the self portraits. >> six of 512 reporting it shows republicans 56 percent bob turner against 43 percent. went from blue to red. >> in the end it wasn't close. bob turner comfortably taking the overwhelmingly democratic district anthony weiner, before him geraldine ferraro. they used to call it theirs. not now. >> he is trying to hard to get the jewish vote. >> i want to also acknowledge somebody who i rely on day in, day out one of my dearest friends. joe biden is in the house. >> my jewish mother used to ask one question when people asked her opinion about politics, is it good for the jews? clearly the overwhelmingly jewish voters in last tuesday's special election here in new york said president obama was not good for the jews. were they right? >> i think they were right. if you think about the obama policies his saying we need to go back to the 1967

, the democrat is trailing in a democratic district.he will join me coming up. let me tell you about a very important phone call i made. when i got my medicare card, i realized i needed an aarp... medicare supplement insurance card, too. medicare is one of the great things about turning 65, but it doesn't cover everything. in fact, it only pays up to 80% of your part b expenses. if you're already on or eligible for medicare, call now to find out how an aarp... medicare supplement insurance plan, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company, helps cover some of the medical expenses... not paid by medicare part b. that can save you from paying up to thousands of dollars... out of your own pocket. these are the only medicare supplement insurance plans... exclusively endorsed by aarp. when you call now, you'll get this free information kit... with all you need to enroll. put their trust in aarp medicare supplement insurance. plus you'll get this free guide to understanding medicare. the prices are competitive. i can keep my own doctor. and

and so that one democratic electoral vote from omaha, nebraska, obama was the first democrat to win an electoral vote in nebraska since 1964. that one vote may not have mattered. on election night in 2008. it may have been a curiosity that got chuck todd very adorably excited. in 2012, 2012, that one electoral vote in omaha, nebraska, might just matter. it might be that close. and nebraska republicans know that. and so nebraska republicans are now mobilizing to make sure that blue omaha thing, that one electoral democratic vote from omaha, nebraska, never happens again. and by mobilizing to make sure it never happens again, i don't mean they are redoubling their efforts to make their case to the people of nebraska that nebraskans should vote for republicans and not for democrats. that's not what i mean by mobilizing. what i mean by mobilizing, republicans in nebraska are trying to change the structure of voting in nebraska. change the means by which nebraska conducts its elections so that that structure will benefit the republican party in a partisan way. leadership committee of the re

looks like democrats have a new star. msnbc political analyst, howard fineman. thank you very much for joining us tonight. >> thank you, lawrence. >>> coming up, a "last word" exclusive. emmy award winning actress jane lynch is here to talk politics and "glee." >>> bill o'reilly says president obama just might get him to quit fox news. that's in the "rewrite." >>> still to come tonight, two exclusive interviews. two very different interviews. first up, ralph nader and why he thinks a primary challenge to president obama would be a good thing. i soliciteds we for ralph nader on twitter today and i have never gotten such a negative response for one of our guests. and on twitter today i've never seen such a positive response to one of our guests. jane lynch who will join me later. coffee doesn't have vitamins... unless you want it to. new splenda® essentials™ no calorie sweetener with b vitamins, the first and only one to help support a healthy metabolism. three smart new ways to sweeten. same great taste. new splenda® essen

giving up on the democratic candidate.nce in these things. >> i was going to say we were in this situation in 2005, ohio two was a special democrat -- there was a republican seat in cincinnati. >> yes. >> ultimately you had a bunch of voters who never voted democratic, couldn't do it. that could happen. >> this may be -- it probably has less to do with partisan politics and democrats and republicans than it has to do with washington. is it working, is it not working? and who's more representative of fundamental change? and in a district that's been held by democrats for 88 years the republican comes along and says, i haven't been near any of that stuff. washington doesn't work. stand with me. it's a powerful message and incumbents everywhere should be very, very concerned because it's working across the board in a nonpartisan way. >> in the d triple c is a finely tuned political machine campaign apparatus. we've seen this in special elections in the past. the nrcc is not very good at special elections. they've had a rough

he's saying we're not going to get 100% of the democrats in the united states senate but if we democratsto pass it we will. they need 60 votes to pass it in the senate. they're nowhere close if they don't have all the democrats. >> yep. that was less than a ringing endorsement from one of the president's closest allies. and you know you're in a bad situation on the democratic side where you have mitch mcconnell giving you lobbying advice on how best you ought to operate things. i think having spoken to some people on the hill who know about that meeting that while david plouffe and gene sperling, the two people who came up and briefed, you know, made the best case they could, you know, it was not -- it was not a happy -- it was not a happy meeting for the reasons that you said. there are conservative democrats in the senate who don't want to support it because of -- they don't like the idea of a big bill, you know, doesn't sound good. they've had too many big bills from the president, they're worried about it. then you have the progressive caucus on the other side saying no tax cuts at a

that's why most of us are democrats. who in their right mind, african-american, would belong to a party that is as mean-spirited as we see coming out of the republican party. they don't care about poor people. they don't care even about working class people. they don't care about senior citizens. just take a look at the legislation that was unveiled today that came out of the labor, health and human services sub committee where they're talking about taking away the subsidy from the elderly for heating assistance, where they're talking about cutting the pell grant, where they are talking about cutting public broadcasting, where they're talking about pulling the rug out from under the most vulnerable people in our society. who wants to belong to a party like that? and besides, this is a party that he's in that honors and respects a david duke. i understand he's going to be their revered speaker at one of their events. so are we brainwashed or is he brainwashed? >> is he pandering to white republicans? >> you know that he i

as a democratic governor, how would you explain to fellow democrats why the democratic senate led byhe democratic leader harry reid has not brought the president's jobs bill to the floor and essentially dared the republicans to have that debate? >> well, you know, that's the part of politics that is over my head. i spent too many years running restaurants. so i'm probably the wrong person to ask there. my guess is that they're trying to frame the discussion of, you know, why can't we find a compromise in congress and, you know, i think the democrats are trying to, you know, really push the republicans, so much of what is in the jobs bill was earlier supported by various republicans that they -- i think they're trying to bring that out and say, hey, if you want -- you want to cut payroll taxes before, we want to cut it now, let's get it done. >> your state is one of the great laboratories heading into 2012. in 2008, it had been a red state, obama turns it blue. then in 2010, two democratic house seats go republican in your state as part of the big republican wave and we're asking when

president sits in a stronger position with democrats, with his base, than any other previous democraticgery out there is of the weakening of candidate obama. >> it all depends on the angle you look at it. tonight there was a new "new york times"/cbs poll that showed his overall approval rating at 43%. 53% approval rating. groups that helped him get into office in the first place, whether suburban voters, working class voters, minority voters. i don't dispute what david axelrod says. there are a lot of bad statistics for president obama out there as well as the re-election campaign knows. what axelrod says sounds to me a lot like what he was saying in 2010 which is our numbers, whatever they may be, are far better than the republicans' numbers. the re-election campaign is trying to frame this as a choice between the democrats and the republicans. the republicans are going to frame it as a referendum on president obama and whether voters see it as one or the other could ultimately make the difference in whether president obama is re-elected or not. >> the president is in a presidency that

looks like democrats have a new star. political analyst, howard fineman. thank you very much for joining us tonight. >> thank you, lawrence. >>> coming up, a "last word" exclusive. emmy award winning actress jane lynch is here to talk politics and "glee." >>> bill o'reilly says president obama just might get him to quit fox news. that's in the "rewrite." [ female announcer ] so you think your kids are getting enough vegetables? maybe not. v8 v-fusion juice gives them a full serving of vegetables plus a full serving of fruit. but it just tastes like fruit. [ male announcer ] get five dollars in money-saving coupons at v8juice.com. pantene said, "breakage and split ends?" [ female announcer ] try pantene breakage to strength. the pro-v system helps prevent then repair split ends. zero fear of breakage, 100% more strength. pantene. i know what works differently than many other allergy medications. omnaris. omnaris, to the nose. did you know nasal symptoms like congestion can be caused by allergic inflammation? omnaris reliev

i have to thank the chair of the north carolina democratic party. thank you gramm much. -- thank you very much. i am steve care again. i'm the executive officer of the democratic national committee. thank you. i am honored to call myself a ian.lott our staff is becoming a part of this community. we're looking forward to working with all of our neighbors and friends to plan the most successful convention our party has ever had. i am excited to have you here today and celebrate this convention and community. the people of charlotte are a huge part of why we chose to come to charlotte and what will make this convention a huge success. the energy and enthusiasm we feel for the people in this room and across north carolina are the fuel for all of the work we have to do in the next year. we have the mission of carrying out president obama's vision for making this the most open and successful convention in history. this will be about more than just what happens in this arena. this to be more about political meetings. we're going to include americans in way

so democrats are set back by this. it's me of an internal frustration that they just cannot seem to advance tir argument here that they thought they could. >> charlie: but the republican canned death in new york here in the congressional district stressed that was a referendum on the prident, did he not? >> he does stress there was a referendum on the president and it was as though the president was on the ballot himself. democrats will say, look, this district al although it's beend by democrats for nearly a century it's election cycle by election cycle. but the democrats were trying to win this and they were unable to get their voters to the polls. the unions were not performing as strongly as some democrats had hoped so. it's really about enthusiasm here. if you can't get your own voters out in a race where there were just tens of thousands of people voting, it's a problem. >> charlie: what does it say about jewish voters perhaps having some concerns about the presiden >> i think that is at the heart of the discussi

that democrats -- >> it's an 8% gap.e front of the "new york post," wam bam, making it clear that everyone sees it as a referendum on the president. >> what do you think, mike? >> i think this is a sign of the fact that even in places where president obama assumed he was safe, thought he was safe, he has a lot of work to do. now, there are some local issues here. the jewish community unhappiness seems to be a factor. and nate silver also points out that the president underperformed here a little bit in '08. it was not one of his strongest districts. but the point is, the president can't count on anything. the base is not the base. the president has to work even on the people he should already automatically have let alone bring over this big middle. so the president has a lot of work to do. that's why you're going to see him in north carolina, one of the big pick-up states in '08. he's having to start again, also having his convention there in charlotte. >> point out in that nevada district, the rest of the state, and tha

to any organized political party, i'm a democrat. we're pretty independent in our thinking, even when we have a president of our own that we worked hard to elect and will work hard to reelect. but let me get to the bottom line. it's president easy for the republicans to stay on message when the message is do nothing and protect millionaires. did you hear the latest, chuck? a letter from the republican leaders of the house and senate to the federal refuse serve board instructing them not to take any action to lower interest rates in the next two days? that is as one former commissioner said, outrageous, and indefensible. >> do you believe that that is -- do you believe that is an attempt by the republicans to manipulate the federal reserve in some way? >> why else would -- come on, why else would they send the letter? they are trying to put political pressure on them not to lower interest rates. when i go home to illinois, the businesses i meet are struggling to borrow money, to expand their businesses and hire people, lower interest

other democrats are upset with mr. obama's handling of the economy. >> a year or two ago, people were-- who had voted for him, like myself, you sat at the dinner table and all they would say, i'm disappointed." >> reporter: and now? >> now a number of them are saying i'm out raged. >> reporter: the democratic congressional campaign committee was so concerned about this race, they poured half a million dollars into the contest in its final week. >> bob turner lives the high life. >> reporter: but today, democratic house minority leader nancy pelosi said this-- >> it's one election. don't read too much do into it. >> reporter: but what might be toughest for democrats to spin is just 10 months ago democrat anthony weiner won this district by 20 points. the man he beat, bob turner, and, scott, turner's the same republican who won last night. >> pelley: jim, thanks very much. you know, it's been so long, we wondered about the last republican to win that seat, so we cracked the history books and we found that he was andrew p

democrats have to grow up. there's a lot at stake.olls show the president beating romney by six and perry by eight. this is what i think will be the low point of his presidency but i don't think it's helpful, for example, for james carville, who is a friend of mine to suggest the president fire everybody who works for him. he's not going to do it, a, and b, i seem to recall in june or early july of 1992, bill clinton was running at 22% in the polls, third place, behind perot and bush, carville was running the campaign, he didn't panic and he didn't fire himself. >> carville is suggesting everybody else get fired. this was carville on cnn. >> you got to try to change direction here and looks like your same people are doing the same thing over and over again. some people have got to go. and it may be that they got to go unjustly or maybe they doing the best they can under the circumstances, doesn't matter. you got to give people a signal out there that something's not working and you're trying something else. >> so shrum categorized the