john mccain's economic advisor four years ago, douglas holtz- eakin, agreed to fly to tampa to explain this election's agenda. what's the essence of-- im going to use the old gag-- the economic platform of the republican party this time around? >> it's a return to reliance on the private sector, a return to government that's small, contained and knows its role in society. >> reporter: so does that mean shrinking government? >> well, in some cases, it's addition by subtraction, frankly. we've seen an enormous regulatory expansion in the four years of the obama administration. republicans are interested in rolling that back and making it far more benign to the average business. >> reporter: isn't deregulation, lack of regulation, what caused or helped precipitate the crash of '08 to begin with? >> much like the crash of 2008, where there was some under- regulation but also some over- regulation. we forced fannie mae and freddie mac to issue mortgages to people who couldn't afford them. >> reporter: folks argue over fannie and freddie's role in the crash. but a crash there was, and the ho

doug holtz-eakin, thank you for coming on. gerri: you're welcome. gerri: should congress give back back to work? benazir question of the day. log onto gerriwillis.com and i will share the results at the end of the show. there is one lawmaker nobody wants to see get back to work on and that is todd akin. he refuses to bow out of the race amid pressure from gop heavyweights, including mitt romney. he had a 6:00 p.m. deadline to withdraw without a court order. with moral honest, bill kristol. you know, this is shocking to me. what is your reaction? >> i'm not surprised. he said something stupid and offensive. but he won the republican nomination for the senate. and they are supposed to pull the ballot unless there is an actual crime committed or a tragedy in your family or something like that. so it is a case that will be taken to the voters. he will probably be punished by voters for what he said, but that is not the only issue people will vote on. they may decide that they still would prefer him to clair mccaskill. i am a little bit surprised. as a r

adam: douglas holtz-eakin, thank you for joining us. have a great time in tampa, sir. >> thank you.uffering from the worst drought in half a century but new estimates find it may be the most profitable year in history for the farm industry. stunning details are next. at the end of the day it's all about money. ♪ . we have big dreams. one is for a clean, domestic energy future that puts us in control. our abundant natural gas is already saving us money, producing cleaner electricity, putting us to work here in america and supporting wind and solar. though all energy development comes with some risk, we're committed to safely and responsibly producing natural gas. it's not a dream. america's natural gas... putting us in control of our energy future, now. and waiting in line. i don't have to leave my desk and geup and go to the post office anymore. [ male announcer ] with stamps.com, you can print real u.s. postage for all your letters and packages. it gives you the exact amount of postage you need the instant you need it. can you print only stamps? no. first class. priority mail. cert

two sources tell cbs news that eakins real agenda here is to hang tough for now to see if he can generate enough money and support to justify staying in this race. in other words his final decision in not be final. >>> the base of freefall continues it is a signed the social media bubble has burst? a tight squeeze and the big-name airline plenties center seat size to boost the bottom line. >>> to make or break came from the pedal the love little 18 the young star who emerged as the team's secret weapon. with the low clouds and fog but people are still out and about. your wednesday forecast as the news continues. this book continued its free fall on wall street today closing at just over $19 a share and that is barely half of its public offering price. reporter john blackstone shows us face book isn't the only internet company facing a tough markets. >>> three months ago face up employees cheered as founder mark separate launched a social network as a publicly traded company. for a few hours that they face book was valued at more than $100 billion. today is it is worth half that as the bub

vote and the statement could make it worse and democrats are trying to link all ryan to congressman eakinsmorning that they co-sponsored an anti-abortion bill. they responded with a statement saying that governor romney and it disagree with his statement and the deed restriction would not oppose abortion in instances of rape. the tickets will be campaigning in new hampshire. >>> to director of the tom cruise hit movie top gun has committed suicide. the film director and television producer john to a staff of the bridge in san pedro. the witnesses saw happen in a suicide note was later found. to astounding said of his car. his mark with blockbuster films like top gun, days of thunder crimson tide and he was a producer of the hit cbs series the goodwife. he's 68. he is married and has two sons. his father is a big-time hollywood director. >>> the search for a uc-davis student has turned up clues. they found a note pad and a phone in the handwriting up or a mile forest was last seen. she but vanished in june. the search alone american river along sacramento looking for some signs of a teenage

eakin's statement and -- akin's statement and wouldn't oppose abortion in instance of rape. statistics on rape is difficult to generate. several sources estimate about 5% of rapes result in pregnancy. i am ed payne reporting. >> known for hits like top gun and days of thunder and this morning family and friends mourning the loss of director tony scott. police say scott jumped from a bridge in los angeles county and they found a suicide note inside his car that was parked on the bridge. tony scott dead at 68. >>> well, a texas 12-year-old is told he is too big to play football by the mesquite peewee football association. he weighs 297 pounds and stands at 6 foot 1. and that's about the same size of some nfl linebackers. the organization says he exceeds the 135 pound limit for 7th graders. steven harvey invited him to be a guest on his talk show next month. he's going to get a chance to practice with san diego chargers and that's later this week and he is probably bigger than mostf them. >>> a fun day out on water in california actually ended with quite a scare for two boys. 1

robert wright will square off with former cbo director douglas holtz-eakin.terview with paul ryan is coming up soon. [ male announcer ] count the number of buttons in your car. now count the number of buttons on your tablet. isn't it time the automobile advanced? introducing cue in the all-new cadillac xts. the simplicity of a tablet has come to your car. ♪ the all-new cadillac xts has arrived. and it's bringing the future forward. these are sandra's "homemade" yummy, scrumptious bars. hmm? i just wanted you to eat more fiber. chewy, oatie, gooeyness... and fraudulence. i'm in deep, babe. you certainly are. [ male announcer ] fiber one. >>> welcome back to "the kudlow report." i'm larry kudlow. in this half hour, mitt romney unveils his energy plan. in it he's advocating north american energy independence by 2020. drill, drill, drill. of course democrats wasted no time in blasting him. plus, investors see if america doesn't deal with the fiscal cliff we are headed into a recession. i think stocks are already discounting this bad news. first up, the congressio

jim steel is co-author of "betrayal of the american dream," doug holtz-eakin joins us and john avalon. great to see all of you. i really appreciate it. doug, this is a tough order for mitt romney. it's not that things are great or anywhere where they need to be, but they're getting a little bit better and the polls seem to be getting a little bit worse when you look at it from mitt romney's perspective. >> well, i think the key is that today's report might have looked good for the topline jobs number, but if you dig inside it, we did see another 150,000 people give up looking for jobs entirely. we did see more people get unemployed. and for those who had jobs, we saw hours of work flat and weekly earnings of production workers actually fall. so the important thing to remember is that the majority of americans have jobs. and for them, the key is income growth, a better standard of living. we haven't seen that in this recovery. disposable incomes grow very slowly. and today's report is another report like that. >> jim, when doug raises that point, it brings me to you, your book, "the be

with us right now as douglas holtz-eakin, former congressional budget office director who works in these and joins us from washington d.c.. good to see you. federal reserve -- a new chief. what he really be -- maybe it would be a woman. would it be any different than what ben bernanke has done? >> the big calls have been qe2, operation twist and the promise of further quantitative easing. those are judgment calls where the profession has been divided. no one questions ben bernanke's expertise or motives. many people disagree with the policies that have been done so you could expect under a new federal reserve chairman to see those calls go another direction and less of the very aggressive fed action we have seen in recent years. dagen: because the federal reserve -- whether you're admitted or not is highly politicized in a way that because if unemployment is north of 8% or we are in the middle of a financial crisis the fed even if not told directly is expected to do something. with anybody in the past have been doing anything different than what we saw? do you see what i am saying? >>

you have economist and former director of the congressional budget office, douglas holtz-eakin. you will ask him tough questions. >> these numbers like this? they're all tough. ashley: lou, thanks so much. all right it is 45 minutes past the hour. as we do every 15 minutes we head down to the floor of the new york stock exchange with our very own lauren simonetti. cigarette-makers getting good news. really? >> a split decision for the cigarette-makers today. we have lorillard down and reynolds american up. the news is that a u.s. appeals court ruled that cigarette companies do not need to comply with new rules requiring that large, graphic image on a cigarette box showing what smoking can do to you and some of them cite that is violation of the first amendment. so there is possibility because of this, split decision, that the appeals court that the supreme court would take this matter up. but that is how we're looking at stocks of cigarette-makers today. back to you. ashley: interesting stuff. lauren, thank you very much. lori: what is tops on the republican national convention

director douglas holz eakin have demonstrated that in virtually every instance the implementation ofa v.a.t. inexorably led to increased spending and expansion of government. make no mistake, the current administration and my democrat friends know only one way of engaging in fiscal reform: broaden the base. and every middle-income family in america should know that they will get hit with higher taxes to pay for the democrat goal of ever-kpapbgd government control -- expanding government control over our economy, over our lives and over your paychecks. the contention that implementing a v.a.t. would make our government more fiscally responsible is a dog that just won't hunt. the purpose of a v.a.t. would not be to shore up deficits and pay down debts but to expand the government into new areas backed by an all new source of funding. once again i'm quite certain that virtually all of my democratic colleagues would publicly deny that their phantom budget includes a v.a.t. for now they want us to ignore the v.a.t. behind the curtain and listen as the great and powerful oz proclaims every