, florida, florida. this state goes goes way and this state that way. how do you get to 270 votes in the white house. part of the planning did not include the state of florida. it was widely believed, i think, frankly, by both campaigns that florida would go to governor romney. 29 electoral votes. w it's very much in play and as close as any state in the nation. amy stoddard, if you do not win florida what is your path to the white house if you are romney. >> i don't think there is a path unless he picks up minnesota and something unheard of. we're looking at a path that will require, virginia, ohio, florida and probably colorado. >> there is no florida. >> if he loses florida i don't know how he will make up the numbers. he would have to win -- it doesn't look ke he in in iowa or nevada. they look like obama states. that's a very steep path. he needs virginia, ohio, colorado and probably minnesota. everything left. i don't think iowa and nevada will be romney. >> it's drawing into an inside strait. the

florida. but thanks to foreign buyers coming back in, the housing market has stablized faster than in the rest of florida, and prices are actually on the rise again. that has helped bring up the unemployment rate, while still in south florida above the national average, it has been dropping faster than other places in florida. the interstate 4 corridor which runs route through the center of florida through orlando is really key for the election both for turnout of new immigrants for the democrats as well as democrats switching over and voting for the republican ticket for governor romney. >> susan: speaking of immigrants, we've been talking a lot about economic issues, the unemployment rate, housing. how important was immigration for the florida voters? >> extremely important. the only conversation both had on immigration was based here in south florida on spanish tv. you've got a second and third generation families of immigrant here in south florida, newer immigrants are in central florida.

georgia beat florida. and they are all still sitting there licking their chops thinking about what might be. >> todd: and rooting for usc. >> brad: and lane kiffin. something strange about that. seven degrees of separation of some kind. final 30 seconds. it's going to be a big, big win and i'm sure it's going to be a cold one for will muschamp, as his team was 7-6 last year. they are only 3-5 in the s.e.c. and now they will be 11-1-7 . 7-1 with a blemish to georgia. we were kidding around with him the other day. measuring for a first down with a helmet off. we look at the bcs standings now. notre dame and usc at 8:00 on abc, about 45 minutes from now. alabama a winner over auburn. a shutout in the iron bowl. georgia 42-10 on georgia tech and florida by 17 here in the waning moments of this game and oregon beat oregon state in corvallis. >> todd: you mentioned will muschamp in rivalry games. he hasn't beaten georgia. he is 0-2 against georgia. he lost to florida state last year, but he evens up that slate.

let's look at florida right now. we have real votes coming in from florida. want to update you on what we know. 28% of the vote is in. the president maintaining a slight advantage. 51% to 48%. 63,000 vote advantage for the president. 1,200,000 to 1,100,000-plus for mitt romney. we have reporters standing by in that battleground state of florida, drew griffin and john zarelia. let's go to john first. what are you seeing in rivera beach? i'm not sure john is hearing me. we'll go back to drew griffin. what are you seeing in jacksonville? >> reporter: john, this is duval county, traditionally a republican county, wolf. and let me give you some background. in 2000 bush beat gore by 17%. 2004, bush beats kerry by 16%. in 2008, john mccain won here, but won by less than 1%. now tonight we have 44% of the votes in. that's early voting, and absentee ballots that have been counted. and it is razor-thin close. it is 50.4 for mitt romney. to 48.83 for barack obama. now, that is a razor-thin margin. somewhat similar to what they had in the final results in the last electi

senator martinez, you're in florida. i want to start in florida.omney campaign with some bravado were going to win by double digit. what say you? >> i was just listening to stephanie cutter continue to spin things, particularly in nor da. let me tell you, we now have the reality of early voting. the democrats are trying to figure out if we are up where we were four years ago. in fact early voting is going tremendously well among hispanics. we're actually leading. i think it's a terrific bit of news and i think we're beginning to see a trend here and i think romney is closing strong. i think it carries into the midwest. >> i know there's a lot of comparisons to say 2012 not like the 2008. is the better comparison 2004? your feelings on the ground there, is it a very -- were both parties seen energized as similar levels? is that the sense you're getting on the ground? i'm just curious. >> there was a vibrancy, rallies were huge and the numbers were incredible. romney was here last saturday and he had rallies over 10,000 people in three places. that's

james, are you looking at florida? >> florida, florida, florida, and florida. once i see florida, i'll look somewhere else. i really don't care about anything else. >> republicans will deconstruct this, a lot of money spent by republicans and democrats on this race. almost $90 million more on the republican side if you count the outside groups and hard dollars raised. republicans will be wondering where that money went? >> let's go back to wolf blitzer. >> still a lot of yellow on the electoral map. states enclose too close to make projections. let's take a look at the votes in florida right now. 87% of the vote is in. the president maintains a slight advantage. 50% to 49%. almost 8 million votes counted already. 46,000-vote advantage. 46,518 vote advantage for the president. 13% of the vote is outstanding. 29 electoral votes at stake. in ohio, more than half of the vote is in. the president maintaining a slight advantage. changing right now, 50% to 48%, the president has an advantage of 85,000 votes, more than 3 million votes have already been counted, 18 elec

of slave labor and your slave labor practices also even though we already knew it republicans in florida have admitted trying to suppress democratic votes in the sunshine state what does this admission mean for the voter suppression efforts nationwide and will anything change in future elections and america is literally falling apart as our infrastructure continues to decay after years of neglect when will congress wake up and provide the infrastructure funding that is sorely needed for the well being not only of our nation but the of the american economy as well. you need to know this one of the most enduring miss we love here in america is that we ended our involvement was slavery after the civil war all our founders people like thomas jefferson who wrote all men are created equal in the declaration of independence but owned slaves himself were tarnished morally imperfect hypocrites in our modern era we tell ourselves we have risen above that we are pure we're no longer tainted by slavery if only it were true recent fires that killed over one hundred workers and bangladeshis sweat shop

florida will not be moved aside by ohio. >> we believe in the power of florida here because florida hasstrated its power. in terms of what i just summarized there, does it strike you in terms of your latest reporting as what's most important to keep an eye on? and what is your latest reporting on the missing absentee ballots and some of these other issues? >> absolutely, rachel. in the last couple hours, i made a couple of phone calls into south florida and discovered everything you said is absolutely accurate with one exception. there's actually one more county. apparently miami dade county is also having issues with people who requested absentee ballots. keep in mind some of these people requested that ballot a month ago. they requested it the beginning of october. and still haven't gotten them. if it's not returned by 7:00 p.m. on election day, tuesday, that doesn't mean postmarked, that means in the office on that day, it won't count. then the next wrinkle is that people who ordered their absentee ballots but decided to show up at a poll and try to vote will be made to vote on provi

in florida, it's the same deal.margin on election night is one half of less percent we'll get a recount in florida, overseen by ken detzner. the other swing state, where there's an automatic recount where the real clear politics shows the difference between the candidates is 0.6%, that state is colorado. the secretary of state is this guy, republican scott gessler. scott gessler made himself famous this year when he tried to stop mailing bat lots to those who normally got them. he tried to kick 4,000 colorado voters off the state voter rolls a few months before election day. he's working on another voter roll purge since then. if there is a recount in colorado, that's the guy in charge. in a way, it is heart warming to see people willing to spend hours upon hours in line in order to vote that. is truly a heartwarming sight and it's heartbreaking because not all people can do that. there are also people who made it through hour one, nad through hour two, maybe made it through hour three but by the time hour four roll

we win florida. president obama will be reelected president of the united states. >> president obama is going to be in florida for the last time before the election day today. i was just in florida. i was doing some canvassing with the national. one of the things i was interested in finding out, and now the a bombing campaign is suggesting that hispanic latino voting might be of 2%. how do think president obama is going to do with hispanics and african-americans? will and make a difference to that ta? >> that will make a key difference. for example, yesterday's in terms of our door-to-door canvassed , we can thi yesterday and reached hundreds of thousands. the turnout in terms of early voting has skewed heavily toward the hispanic and african american voters turning out. what has also backfired on the republicans is that they had an egregiously extreme boater suppression of a past, some of which was tossed out. i feel like the increase in the turnout in hispanic voters is really a direct result of th

we go back to florida, virginia, ohio. florida, virginia ohio. it's a same old record and we still don't have results, final results from them. that's what is holding us up to find who will be the president. >> university students are watching the race and other votes closely. deborah is live in berkeley where she has been talking to students tonight about what's important to them. >> reporter: we are looking at a big viewing party. here in the plaza in the heart of campus. hundreds of students watching election results. >> how you doing tonight? >> [inaudible] . >> reporter: organizers have also been urging anyone in the crowd who hasn't voted to make sure and do so and to text friends and remind them to vote. we are now closing in on eight but it's very easy to vote on campus there. are ballot boxes in several of the dorms and what is exciting for many in the crowd is the opportunity to vote for the very first time. >> it was a great way to start off college with the election my freshman year. makes me more interested in politics to start off w

of course florida is also very important. when you look at the polls righ right now -- we're getting ready for the introduction of barack obama. this is a college graduate, she was someone who suffer eed kidn failure and was able to stay on her parents policy after college. it's very popular for a plan that's not overall popular. you look at the polls here in florida, and they're very close, neck and neck. some polls actually have mitt romney ahead, but overall, it looks like a very tight race. so president obama concentrating some of his effort there, but a lot of it there in the midwestern states, particularly in ohio. >> so the president is not taking florida for granted, even though he won florida four years ago, depending on which poll you're looking at, there's a 3%, 4% margin of error between he and mitt romney. what is the last ditch effort that he can give to floridians now. what is it that he could say to those who they be thinking about going republican or who may be undecided there in florida? >> reporter: and tha

technology's come a long way since tim russert famously wrote florida, florida, florida. but what hasn't changed is the path to victory, making the sunshine state our state of the day. >> all that plus the image emblematic of what barack obama wanted from his presidency. it took four years and an act of god to get it. it's thursday and you're in "the cycle." >>> it's another day of slow progress as nearly two dozen states pick up the pieces from sandy. the death toll now stands at more than 80. also rising is the costs. now estimated at north of $60 billion. that's not hard to consider when you look at the incredible damage especially along the new jersey coastline. homes ripped off their foundations. many have simply vanished. carried in full right out to sea. those amazing images continue to pour in. hard to watch and simply hard to believe. nbc's michelle franzen begins our coverage this hour. she's back for us in toms river. michelle is the only reporter to make it into the neighboring community of seaside heights. so tell us, michelle, what you saw there. >> reporter

first in florida.t 60% of the vote is in and the president continues to maintain a slight advantage, 51% to 49%. he's got an advantage of 110,000 votes. look at this, more than five million votes have been counted already. 29 electoral votes in florida. in virginia, approaching a third of the vote now in, mitt romney continuing to maintain his lead in virginia, 55% to 43%. more than a million votes have been counted. mitt romney has an advantage of 143 votes right now. let's take a look at some other votes that are coming in. let's begin in ohio right now. approaching almost 25%, 22% of the vote is in in ohio. the president still maintaining a significant lead. just changed, 57% to 41%. 200,000 plus advantage so far. 22% of the vote is in. ohio, 18 electoral votes are critical. in pennsylvania, very early, barely votes have been counted, only 1%. you see 165 lead for mitt romney over barack obama but it's very early for those 20 electoral votes in pennsylvania. let's go over to john king at the magic w

florida's republican governor is refusing to do, namely to make it possible to vote in florida without enduring a democracy marathon in order to do it. faced with that lawsuit and with the evident problem of voters not being able to vote a few florida counties decided maybe they better do something after all on their own. the counties came up with basically a work do workaround plan. you still could not technically early vote today in most of florida, but around the the city of tampa in pinellas and hillsborough county, you could pick up an over the counter absentee ballot. fill it in there and hand it in right there. you could do that all day in greater tampa. in orange county, which includes orlando, a judge ordered the day of early voting after a bomb scare kept the polls closed there for several hours. the situation in miami-dade county got really kind of nuts today. at least that's how it seems to me. i was watching reporting from miami-dade all day today. it started to feel like farce. after people were still voting, last night, at 1:00 in the morning in miami-dade, miami-dade fi

i think -- florida's a hard one. >> it's going to depend on the hispanic vote in florida. i think that will be the deciding factor if the president will take florida. >> grateful to you both. thank you for being here on "bbc news." appreciate your thoughts. that's it from the aquarium, a lot more from us here in tampa throughout the day, but now back to washington, where i suspect it's not quite as warm as it is here, jane. >> thanks for making that point, john, thank you very much. he's quite right of course. alongside me, listening to that interview is a political scientist who has written books about early voting, so we have plenty to chew over, and i'll be talking here in just a moment. let's just remind ourselves what we can gleen so fast, the past few weeks, the race for the white house has been described as neck and neck. been described as a phrase i have vowed not to use, but here it is already, too close to call. how many times will we say that? and it can barely split the pair. the bbc's poll of polls, president obama, as you see, just a fraction ahead of mitt ro

here we go again with florida, florida, florida. it's always something, isn't it in. >> a lot of people knew it would be that way. >> how it would be that way, that part still had a question mark. thanks so much. >>> meantime, in florida, president obama is likely to make his last campaign stop there just two days before election day in florida. he'll be in hollywood, and you can see the crowd awaiting his arrival. you'll see him in just 20 minutes or so from now. and when he does, we'll take that live. customer erin swenson bought from us online today. so, i'm happy. sales go up... i'm happy. it went out today... i'm happy. what if she's not home? (together) she won't be happy. use ups! she can get a text alert, reroute... even reschedule her package. it's ups my choice. are you happy? i'm happy. i'm happy. i'm happy. i'm happy. i'm happy. happy. happy. happy. happy. (together) happy. i love logistics. ffor help finding a plan that's right for you, give unitedhealthcare a call today. >>> it's the final stretch of campaigning leadin

i'm from florida. post devastation period, what you want to do is see the feds, state, local officials working together, getting your issues solved. and that's what they did. we've had a couple of big changes in this election. first debate, stopped obama's momentum. second game changer was sandy. it ended up being our october surprise. >> what about the confusion? you heard a few minutes ago about a new polling station and how that's a school and that's also a place where they're putting people up and also going to be polling stations. does that ultimately potentially hurt the election? >> you're dealing with states, new york, new jersey, connecticut, the ones that were the hardest hit which are not up for grabs. >> the u.s. senate. >> it could affect the senate race in connecticut. really, these are states where president obama should be able to win with a large margin. one state where the media market bleeds into is pennsylvania. so much in new jersey was hit by the hurricane. the president's visit t

here in florida we're going to move forward. you know we've been through this dark day you know we've we've you know we know what's going on it's but do you really think that governor scott is going to back down i mean he got this abysmal popularity rating or approval rating and yet he is still saying for example he's not going to take medicaid money for the state because he doesn't want to help fund obamacare and therefore he's just going to let poor people die in the state of florida you know why is it not a giant leap to think that he would also continue his election rigging efforts. well if i could move the perspective possibly from the governor to our legislature we are hearing more positive sounds that they are this year we have salute new leadership now in place and they have spoken just in these very early few days of just picking up you know there there are a throne there talking the talk that we like to hear which is greater ethics election report saying that what we saw in florida this election was not acceptable that

florida. >> eric: florida -- put the graphic up one more time. understand something about florida. is interesting. the panhandle which is an earlier time zone so you have two different time zones in florida. also florida breaks down this way. the southern part of florida is typically a democrat win. from the mid-state down, i-4 corridor that cuts the state in half. south of it, democrats. north of the i-4 corridor is typically republican. keep an eye on it and a lot of people sit along there. tampa, orlando, some areas on the east coast of florida where they are getting a good sense of where florida is going to go. >> greg: mascot to disney world, are they forced to vote in character or vote as themselves? >> andrea: they can't vote in character, wouldn't it be -- >> greg: you don't need i.d. >> andrea: family saw mini mouse voting a certain way. forever be democrat or -- >> greg: goofy? >> andrea: je with have goofy. it's vice president of the united states. >> bob: not fair. >> andrea: florida, people forget obama only beat mccain by three points in florida. that was at his best

ohio and florida. latest nbc news "wall street journal" m.arist poll shows president obama holding on a six-point lead among likely voters in the buckeye state. meanwhile in florida an creamily tight race there two points separating the candidates with the president ahead in the sunshine states 49 to 47%. so much of this race, of course, depends on these two states. ohio and florida. for some insight i want to bring in our nbc news deputy political editor. let's start with ohio good friend. if mitt romney can't win in ohio what would his path to 270, what would his path to victory have to look like. >> makes it very narrow for mitt romney. if president obama wins ohio he's at 261 electoral votes based on our battleground map. if mitt romney gets virginia and florida he's stuck to 248. new hampshire where he owns a home but the president probably a finger on the scale now we're at 261-261 and we've been talking all along about the midwest and importance of ohio, wisconsin and iowa and the necessity for

he represented florida's 19th district for seven terms. now a president of the s daniel abraham center for peace. thank you so much for joining us inside "the war room." >> thank you for having me. >> jennifer: you bet. so what are you hearing? >> i was in florida over the weekend, and there is a palpable change. there is no doubt about that. the south floridians were very impressed with the president's knowledge and credibility on foreign affairs, especially his strong statements on his steadfast support for israel, all were very significant in terms of increasing the excitement on the democratic side, and there's a palpable feeling of momentum for the president in florida, and one of the big stories on election tonight will be the come-from-behind victory for the president in florida. >> jennifer: so are you saying the third debate really helped to solidify particularly the jewish vote in florida? >> no doubt particularly the president's very strong statements on israel, his recitation of his visit to israel, where we visited one of the

the florida democratic party has filed a request for a temporary restraining order against the floridatary of state and three county election supervisors. they want an order saying it's okay to allow absentee voting to continue today because the lines in south florida were so incredibly long yesterday, which was supposed to be the last day of early voting. but here's the thing. democratic sources tell us that several counties, we don't know how many, including palm beach, hillsborough, orange, leon along with miami-dade and broward, already saying they're allowing absentee voting right now. so it looks like they're basically trying to get the court to go along with them in what looks like a work-around. the problem is the state legislature also revealed a number of early voting days and the secretary of state has already refused to extend them. so it could be a fight. >> oh, my goodness, this is two days before election day so it's already getting kind of hairy. thank you so much, joe johns. >>> we're expecting mitt romney to speak in cleveland any minute now. i'll bring that to you li

another key state to watch, florida, florida, florida. the most recent polling average showed mitt romney is holding an advantage leading about 50-48. with 29 electoral votes at stake it is a must-win for romney in his path to 270. and it's a state president obama won in 2008. to explain romney's path to victory in florida, we're join the by senator marco rubio. i'm just doing the average of the real clear politics center. actually, your man's up 1.5%. that's all it is, 49.7 versus 48.2. if you can't win florida, pack up and go home, what's your take? >> well, 1.5% in florida as blowout. let's hope it's that much. we feel good about florida, we really do. i mean, as i said, the best way i can put it is i'd rather be us than them. there's a lot of the reasons why we feel good about florida. because the early voting advantage the democrats built up in 2008 isn't there this time around. it's about half, less than half what was they had going in. last year, 2008, going into election day. that manifests -- that's evidence of a lack of enthusia

charlie crist knew florida and he knew florida politics right down to the last rescued sea turtle.hortly crist was a moderate republican and a proud member of the reality-based community as a republican. as florida governors go, governor crist was popular. he carried approval ratings of over 50%. but then something happened to florida governor charlie crist. something happened to his career. in february of 2009, in the worst of the economic crisis with the nation shedding hundreds of thousands of jobs, charlie crist hugged the democratic president, he hugged president obama at an event in fort meyers and said that president obama's economic stimulus plan was going to be good for florida and good for the country. a few months after that, he announced instead of running for governor, he was going to make a bid for the senate. at the time the idea was to keep a republican in that senate seat. charlie crist was popular so he presumably could do that. he could hold that seat for the party. he jumped into the republican primary only to find he was running there against florida house spea

pinned up against the wall in the state of florida is the fact that people here in florida are concerned about the economy and the fact that florida has an eight point seven percent unemployment rate compared to that seven point nine percent national unemployment rate it's going to get very very hard for president obama to kind of tout his economic recovery efforts here on the other hand he has made big efforts in terms of having lots of boots on the on the ground here when it comes to campaign volunteers over two hundred thousand volunteers on the obama campaign have been a significant difference in these counties that we're talking about that are very problematic miami dade orange county and others that were mentioned earlier they're kind of still experiencing people lining up at the polls these are the these are the counties that are actually turning out to to vote for president obama like i mentioned earlier he has a significant lead but it's still going to be a while before we find out exactly what's what's going to happen here in florida that they could just kind of comes back down

this is florida. the rules are different here. >> what state leaders now wish they could adopt is what happens in florida stays in florida. >> kerry sanders there, still to come, after the biography is written, what will be the leg legacy from david petraeus? that's ahead. plus, soul searching and lessons learned. we'll talk 20/20 hindsight with the movers of the republican party. that's next on msnbc. ♪ [ male announcer ] the way it moves. the way it cleans. everything about the oral-b power brush is simply revolutionary. oral-b power brushes oscillate, rotate and even pulsate to gently loosen and break up that sticky plaque with more brush movements than manual brushes and even up to 50% more than leading sonic technology brushes for a superior clean. oral-b power brushes. go to oralb.com for the latest offers. oral-b power brushes. music is a universal language. but when i was in an accident... i was worried the health care system spoke a language all its own with unitedhealthcare, i got help that

we win florida, we win this election! >> well, in 2000 the election turned on the state of florida.t was ohio that was the key. in 2008, virginia found itself in the center spotlight. collectively i've been calling them flohva. until florida our new poll has president obama up. ohio we still have the president holding his lead. 51% to 45%. and in a recent poll of likely voters in virginia, the president was up 2 points, a statistical tie and nbc news has it's own coming out tomorrow morning. look at the ad spending in these three states. noern half a billion collectively in the mega states of flohva. they're not just spending money there, they're spending time. the president will have visited the sunshine state 14 times, for mitt romney it's 16. president obama will have made 19 stops in ohio, governor romney will be there 21 times. so let's get to our special panel. adam smith is the political editor, chris booker, wcmh and larry sabado. larry, let me start with you. the state of virginia, last time it was the closest to the country, the national popular vote. it was the one point

it's not quite a microcosm of florida. you're missing the hispanics from south florida. but the margin in hillsborough pretty much comports what the statewide vote. and look, in all purposes of the stlee states we have mentioned, florida is probably the toughest reach for the president. if he can do well in hillsborough, that means it will be a long night and a long night in florida is a good night for president obama. >> fred yang, great to have you with us. we obviously will be here covering all of it. it's going to be a heck of a thing. thanks so much. >>> a lot more coming up in the next half hour. stay with us. >>> if you're tired of being tired, then i ask you to vote for change. help us win this. >> you may be frustrated sometimes by the face of change. guess what, so am i. but you know what i believe. you know where i stand. you know i tell the truth. >> the closing arguments have been made. tonight final thoughts from our mega ultraall-star panel of richard wolffe, howard fineman and eugene robinson on how all of this is going to turn out. >>> and later i'll tel

mitt romney was in florida. even if he loses florida.inned in florida which he cannot win the presidency without. wisconsin, iowa and new hampshire, one thing no one has mentioned, same day registration. barackbarack obama's campaign ny better than doing same day registration. nobody getting better to the polls like they did with early registration. same thing tomorrow big difference. >> bill: i agree with you in new hampshire. it doesn't look like romney is going to pull that one out. iowa. you know, the latest poll out there, dead heat. dead heat always go to the challenger. i would say romney got a good chance there wisconsin, that would be the upset that he needs. thought reason i think mitt romney was in florida because he has to have that. you have to start there. at 7:00 tomorrow the polls close in florida except for the panhandle sliver. if baier and kelly go, obama wins. good night, everybody. let's go over to gossip girls. it's all over right? that's it. lawsuit i don't want to miss gossip girls unless i have absolutely have to