strategist donna brazil is a cnn political contributor. donna, going to be a tough economy for president obama to run on. if the opponent ends up being mitt romney, i don't know if you think that is the case, what weakness could the president point to in romney's economic record? >> there's no question the president can point out mitt romney's record as governor. he was ranked 47 out of 50 states as governor. his job record was so bad he was unable in many ways to use that in his bid back in 2008. i also think that mitt romney's economic plan to get the economy moving again is a prescription for going back to the past policies that pretty much got us in the mess we're in now. what mitt romney and many republicans have gone for right now is tragically is the unemployment rate, economy stalled, but i do believe things will get better and the president will be able to campaign on his vision for the future on an economy that is, albeit not growing jobs as fast as most americans would like them to grow, the economy is showing some signs of life.

i'm done with that issue. >> eric erickson, donna brazile. eric i want to go to you first.stups, questioning of the governor's record. this is conduct as a politician, predates his time as governor to some degree. how significant? >> i don't think it's very significant. i think the media research center today pointed out that "the washington post" in just the last couple of days has written more words on this story than they ever wrote on the jeremiah wright story with his connection to barack obama. this isn't going to be a big story long-term. i mean we know the undisputed facts are rick perry's father painted over this rock and it was a lease that rick perry's father had until '97 when the son took it up. at some point the rock was turned over. some people may have seen it very recently but were not sure and it sounds more like a cheap shot than a legitimate political thing. by the way, texas democrats since 1992 have not used this as an attack on perry. there's a plain just to position here. perry is the guy who the republicans are attacking for wanting to let illegal a

george will, democratic stragest donna brazile, peggy noonan and matthew dowd.eorge s president obama going to rue the day he said that comment about not being better off four years ago? >> i think he will. he's missed some obvious things. one year ago, in the 2010 elections, if you saw barack obama in an ad, you knew it was a republican ad. he's threatening to go around the country, demanding pass this jobs bill now. republicans said, fine, let's vote. harry reid said, not so fast. we don't have democratic votes for the democratic president's own jobs bill. >> let's put up the graphic where we got some of these numbers. the new washington post/abc news poll, shows by a 15% margin that americans now trust president obama more than the congressional republicans to handle jobs. that's a huge jump. >> the best thing that barack obama has going for him is congressional republicans right now, the only place worst than him. the problem is, he's not going to be running against congressional republicans next year in these elections. he'll be running against a new republ

wife" there eli has tried to get peter a speaking spot at the democratic national convention and donna brazileof problems with it. i imagine rahm emanuel sitting across the table and i said, let her go. >> you are tough. one tough lady. >> i looked at eli and i said, that's rahm. >> but that is not acting. how many times have you had that conversation with people trying to get spots? >> a lot. it wasn't acting but a great opportunity. i want to thank the producers and cast. it was great to work with them. i look forward to my next gig. >> how is she as an actress? >> she was terrific. >> thank you. >> better than being a news actress right? >> but i love my colleagues here at cnn and of course abc and other places so i'll stick with it. >> that is art imitating life, david. getting ready for a convention. a lot of people want to have their star. barack obama if not for john kerry in 2004 we might not see him in the white house today. everybody wants those spots and sometimes you have to say no. right? >> sometimes you have to say -- of course the only time anyone remembers is when you say yes.

donna brazil we're having this conversation comparing the tea party to the occupy wall street movement or all of a sudden george will comes out and says you know i wish them ample publicity and long life because they represent the spirit and the intellect of the american love you know i am not sure when george will started caring about the spirit of the intellect of the american left at some level he feels like unless he starts serving up a little less bloody red meat on the conservative menu where he might lose his job so he said serving up the war he can fair i think and that you know as you had mentioned that some have compared the occupy wall street movement to the tea party movement do you think the media is more sympathetic to the tea partiers. well i do i mean i think that there are a lot of people inside the tea party movement that were fooled that are genuinely angry as a government and the corruption that we're seeing for a lot of the same reasons that we're seeing on occupy wall street and all over the country but the tea party that we saw on television was much more like a

one person -- i haven't heard too much from today is donna brazile, who worked so long for al gore.e about that coming together of all these people over the years and remembering the speech of martin luther king and others on the mall, because it wasn't just him. >> absolutely. yes. many of them now gone, john lewis, the last remaining surviving speaker of that time 48 years ago. joe johns, stick with me a minute. we'll be right back, wrapping up what has been an incredible day on the washington mall. [ male announcer ] for fastidious librarian emily skinner, each day was fueled by thorough preparation for events to come. well somewhere along the way, emily went right on living. but you see, with the help of her raymond james financial advisor, she had planned for every eventuality. which meant she continued to have the means to live on... even at the ripe old age of 187. life well planned. see what a raymond james advisor can do for you. can make it from australia to a u.s. lab to a patient in time for surgery may seem like a trumped-up hollywood premise. ♪ but if you take away the

george will, matthew dowd, donna brazile and jake tapper. a string of foreign policy successes, the latest in libya, is that going to give the president the kind of bump that he needs? >> it won't give him a bump, it will prevent him from sagging. since it fractured in 1960s. this immunized on this issue where it seeses to have sal ensy giving unemployment. >> donna? >> he's made the world a less dangerous place, he's leading on foreign policy the american people may not who gives him credit for all of the things that he's done, but clearly, they're looking for leadership on the economy, but on foreign policy and national security there's no question it will inknock lat him on national security. >> the this election is who's the strong leader? the accumulative effect of this, if he builds on it and shows that i can be a strong leader in this country as well as internationally, it could have an effect. >> but the leadership issue could help? >> only if he adds to it. if there's nothing added to it domestically, then it's going to disappear. >

. >> donna brazile, i saw you chuckling at that. >> i was with dick gephardt that year, but rememberlism and he's a tough, tough, tough customer. i thought rick perry gave a very robust performance tonight. he came clearly more energized. he was ready to take on mitt romney. i don't know if this would help but with $15 million in the bank, he can put together an organization in those states. >> i saw a tweet from erick erickson, where has this rick perry been before. he has actually -- do you think he learned from the past dethe way. if you the last debate, he seemed like almost just trying to get through it. >> the last debate, they were all seated at a table, and a harder environment in which to throw verbal punches at somebody else, i don't know why. when you are standing it is a little easier. he needed to do it got to do some more of it if he wants to be the nominee. >> if he had been as good in the other debates as he was tonight this would be a two two-man ray the fact is he had weak debate performances, i think he came back tonight, much better briefed, he hit hard and it was

donna brazil has described her most recent book, "sister cinema," as insightful and provocative. for those interested in learning more about american politics. the title of her lecture today is "reconstruction lessons -- current u.s. racial politics and the lessons of the civil war." please welcome melissa harris- perry. [applause] >> thank you for that lovely introduction. it is very kind. let me start by telling you a story. i am from the south. i grew up in charlottesville, virginia and richmond, virginia. i went to college and graduate school in north carolina. i live now in new orleans. at some point, maybe six, seven, or even longer months ago, i got the invitation here. it came through the woman who handles my lectures. i heard her say it on the phone. i typed and to my googol -- into my google calendar, "chattanooga lecture." [laughter] this made perfect sense to me because it was about the civil war. it was related to the colonial williamsburg foundation. my daughter started fourth grade yesterday in new orleans. i thought, no big deal. i will pop up to tennessee, give t

. >> let's discuss with our democratic strategist, donna brazile, and david frum.believe the president was born in hawaii. let's move on. >> two hypothesis. one, the guy isn't quick on his feet. he's flustered. not very mentally nimble and doesn't see a clear way out. but the second is more disturbing, which is combined today with the announcement of this new tax plan that doesn't really add up, but that is going to excite a lot of the republican base, perry wants to get back to being the nonromney. the preferred place where people find romney not conservative enough and the combination of the flat tax and this dog whistle on the president, on the president and his place of or gin, which is a way of suggesting i don't think the person of this name and skin color can be a real american. that's an ugly way to play politics and it may be a plan and not just a glitch. >> because he's had several opportunities to say, we got really important issues we got to deal with. we don't have to deal with a long form birth certificate anymore. he sort of sticking by that and i'm

joining us, the democratic strategist, donna brazile and the republican strategist, alex castellanos. have worked on presidential campaigns. like it or not, tonight is rick perry's last chance to get his momentum back on track. >> if it's not his last chance, he's on life support. it's very close to that, wolf. i would say the good thing for these guys is they run against each other, so one has to win. yes, he has demonstrated remarkable weakness. republicans know one thing about barack obama. he's not very good at being president, but he's good at wanting to be president. romney may not be up to that task. >> lost the race in texas. why is it so hard to go from unbeatable in texas and all of a sudden, very beatable in this race for the nomination. >> it looks as though he wasn't prepared for the first couple of debates. he didn't know the issues. he was unsteady on his feet. he has an opportunity tonight to prove himself. raised $15 million. put together an incredible organization in some of the key early states, so if he can prove tonight he's on top of the issues, he can really tak

joining us, donna brazile and david frum of the frum forum.com.en days his campaign has been alerted that this was on the way. they didn't respond, really. they could have gotten ahead of this story instead of trying to catch up. what's going on here? >> the amateurishness of the cain organization should not lead it a conclusion that cain did something very bad. he may be a victim of the fact that he is not running a normal presidential campaign. he is not ready for prime time. that doesn't make him guilty of anything serious. it is important to understand that companies settle claims all the time for reasons other than thinking they did something wrong. especially with the amounts of money here, that is said to be in the five figures. so i did research today. in the world of sexual harassment litigation, those are not big figures. >> as ken vogel said, from 10,000 to a hundred,000. they might have done this just to move along. >> anyone with sexual harassment, is a very serious charge, it is a serious incident. it is discrimination in the workpla

donna brazile and will cane. guy webs thanks very much for coming in.tegy, will? you see rick perry slamming mitt romney in this web ad? >> yeah. i definitely -- it would definitely be effective. looking with the one thing, major thing that mitt romney is susceptible for, that he can be attacked for, is unprincipled. he has been on both sides of the abortion debate, both sides of the tax debate. i think an ad like rick perry put together can be very effective. >> sheer what the romney campaigns communications director said, donna, in response. i will put it on on the screen. rick per i have a desperate candidate who will say and do anything to prop up his sinking campaign. what do you think? >> look wib think it is effective as well. in large part because there's a lot of conservatives out there that are still worried about whether or not mitt romney is a true believer. they are worried that if wince the nomination or presidency he might flip-flop again. i think it is effective strategy for rick perry who is down in the polls trying to rebuild momentum

. >> let's talk about this with you are cnn contributor, donna brazile and cnn contributor alex.u make for his explanation, he was just joking, though at the time, if you look at the video, crowd reaction. didn't sound like a joke. people weren't laughing, they were applauding. >> with herman cain, he is always joking. was there a little germ of truth in the joke? i think there was. think think is part of the education of herman cain, wolf. there is a difference in being at the back of the pack and all of a sudden you are a potential front-runner. when people look at you as president and not just minor league candidate, you have to watch what you say. he is learning that. >> do you buy, donna, his kpla nation he was simply joking? >> no, i don't, wolf. as you know, in the republican debates, we all hear ridiculous arguments about critical issues. we saw the audience laugh when one of the candidates talks about the uninsured. we also saw of course, wolf, one of the debates, mocking gay soldier and laughing when there was discussion about the number of executions in texas. this is

. >> donna brazile, your thought? >> i thought it was a fiery debate, anderson.s to win the republican nomination. they appeal to their base. herman cane who is the front runner and many of the republican polls came in to defend his 9-9-9 plan. he did it by not giving us the adding and subtraction is of it the fruit bowl, vegetable bowl, apples and oranges. rick perry, who i thought had a lot to do tonight came in ready to defend his policies. he was more robust than ever before and i think going into what i call the preseason, when voters are ready to choose a champion on republican side, this is going to become a three-man race. >> gloria, for you, gloria, what were some of the key moments tonight? >> well, first of all, starting out with all the attacks on herman cain on 9-9-9. one thing i learn wend people were attacking herman cain is why voters like him. he responded to all the attacks with a lot of good humor, talked about apples and oranges an awful lot, anderson, but he really acquitted himself well. the interesting attack was from rick santorum on mitt