jeb bush, maybe one of his -- >> craig fugate a republican would not work for george w.h after katrina. but when obama called him he said yes because they were serious about professionalizing -- >> there's the door. >> two guys, governor bush and governor christie, both could run for flpresident in 2016, taking different approaches to the image they're putting forward in the last few days of the campaign. you know they both of them have been not totally sole on the notion that romney was going to win for most of the time. privately both -- >> is that what's happening? >> i think both of them are looking, to some extent, what comes next. i'm not saying they don't want governor romney to win this election but both skap ceptical his chances for a year and a half. governor christie, not taking anything away from -- i think he was genuinely star struck to be on marine one, but he needs to get re-elected. he has a tough re-election battle. you can't be on the wrong side of president obama in the disaster situation if you're going to win re-election in a blue state in a year fr

i want to thank craig fugate.e people behind it but craig lives and breathes this stuff, may shrink -- making sure we're providing help. i want to thank all of the personal responders who have been involved in this process, the firefighters, the folks who are in here shuttling out people who were supposed to get the hell out and did not. you have helped save a lot of lives and property. one thing you learn in these tragedies is the first responders, i keep in all -- keep in mind in their homes are under water and yet they make those personal sacrifices to help other people. we appreciate that. i'm going to make a couple of comments. number one, our hearts go out to the families who have lost loved ones. it is true that because of preparation, the loss of life was kept lower than it might have been. for those individual families, obviously their world has been torn apart. we need to make sure that everybody who has lost a loved one knows they are in our thoughts and prayers. four of those like the people i had a ch

and that was -- it was fugate and two aides and jack lou. >> when more some of the right bash christieoing this, christie is getting angrier and angrier. he will lash out. >> good governing and good politics. ta taking care of people in your state. >> i agree with you on number one, colorado. florida over virginia, there will be defeat on that. >> look, this is like be saying the onion is very thin. all of these states are very close. it's not like new hampshire is a ten-point race and colorado is a two-point race. this is up one, down one, up two, down two. the point being, a few weeks ago it seemed florida, virginia, romney's going to win those. but it's not -- we'll get the data, there's no data that has come out of florida or virginia that says that romney has put these away. he spent yesterday in florida and today in virginia. >> new hampshire looks like -- >> i haven't spotted two and three. >> romney has to make up 2 1/2 points in florida and seven points in virginia. that's from the '08 numbers. and some people say there's more african-americans and hispanics in florida. true.

more demands nor disaster aid relief, i would like to praise the president's fema administration bum fugate who used to work for governor bush in florida, governor chris in florida. >> why adopt you and the rest. panel praise andrew? >> i do. i commend him. >> was he letter perfect? >> yes. >> why did he choose to defend the probability, if that's wt it is, on the who climate change? he's lived through it. >> he wants to run for president. >> there's 20 feet of water -- >> as he put it, these 100 years storms are coming every two years. it's the new normal, and he unders as the governor of a state that's there vulnerable, how do you handle the infrastructure? >> who gets resources, all that? that's what it's all about, john the transfer of pour to federal governments from federal governments government to global institutions. >> every time you get a disaster, they say hey, we can solve it but we'll need more money and more power. >> what about andrew? >> what can the democratic party do for andrew? >> andrew is going to be a real player. >> is and dry eligible to -- andrew eligible to becom

fugate, and saw in the immediate aftermath as well as during these storms the personal courage of our emergency responders. the city of millford's fire department that performed 13 water rescues, the national guard supported 73 assistance missions, our governor responding with his excellent leadership, 18 state agencies, the red cross, the united way all coming together including our utility linesmen and repair crews that worked tirelessly to restore critical electric powers to homes and businesses. and yet i want to make clear that utility workers on the ground and in the field were once again heroes, but the utility managers -- management of the overall storm response was regrettably lacking in some regions, although better than last year. it was still inadequate in key respects and areas. and my many conversations with elected officials around the state indicated clearly that utilities need to better communicate with local authorities on the location and allocation of repair and tree removal crews in their communities. too often municipal leaders and emergency response crews were l

craig fugate said they have several hundred homes available.e on the way right now. new york, and new jersey officials will determine where those houses will be placed. >>> it is a slow road to recovery. more than 600,000 people in new york and new jersey are still in the dark. this is a week and a half after the storm. on long island the power authorities' failure to get the lights turned on in flooded areas has angered new york governor cuomo. >> they were specialized in doing this. and we paid them and we gave them a franchise because they represented themselves as experts at doing this. and they failed. and they should be held accountable for their failure. in the meantime, they should be doing everything humanly possible to improve their performance and get these people out of the pain and the suffering that they've been subjected to. >> long island power authority says they hope to get almost everyone back online by next week. >> we're still without power where i am. i do understand the frustration. lucky enough to have a generator. but s

fugate, and he directed them that there was to be no nonsense.lephone number to call if there were any problems going on and we have our fingers crossed. some of the counties are still doing assessments. the bayfront communities did their assessment yesterday and i expect have an emergency declaration from them. we are trying to slowly get back to normal. host: will there be enough funding to cover the damages? what do you think will happen in terms of what you, as a member of congress, will have to return for the lame-duck session here coming up? guest: that's a question i'm getting frequently and we do not know exactly because we do not know the total related to this storm. some people think it will be second only to katrina and there will be tens of billions of dollars involved in the recovery effort. we know we're working on a continuing resolution that will run until april 1st. whether that will be enough or not, it remains to be seen in. every time there is a disaster on the west coast, an earthquake, a flood, a tornado, we always pull toge

he was tried by chris christie and quite a bit -- and craig fugate. afterwards, they visited a community shelter and spoke with several residents. the president promised residents that the federal government would not forget them, saying they are there for the long haul. >> we are not going to tolerate red tape. it will not tolerate bureaucracy. i have instituted a 15 minute rule on my team. you return everybody's phone call at the did 50 minutes. >> this is our sixth conversation since the weekend. it is been a great working relationship to make sure that we are doing the jobs people inducted us to do. >> this traffic jam is the result of demand for gasoline after the hurricane. motorists were backed up for miles. it waited -- the wait in some areas is an hour if not longer. if you are planning to run in the new york city marathon this weekend, the race is still a go despite widespread damage from sandy, including massive power outages and no subway. organizers are trying to assess how the storm might affect plans including transporting minors to the

president, we thank you and your cabinet, especially secretaries napolitano and donovan and craig fugate unprecedented federal presence and effort. i'd also like to thank or federal officials, senator schumer, senator gillibrand, congressman grim with us today for all the help in securing the necessary funds so that we can rebuild. 17 days ago on october 29th, everything changed for new york. 60 new yorkers lost their lives, tens of thousands saw their homes damaged or destroyed. communities from staten island to lindenpurs were decimated. 17 days ago we felt a new vulnerability for the first time. we have much to do. there is no doubt. we must provide shelter and support in the short term. we must repair thousands of homes and small businesses. we must reknit the fabric of tattered communities. we must rethink and redesign for the long term, because extreme weather as we have learned is the new normal. but we are new yorkers, mr. president. we are tough and resilient, and we will overcome and we will be the better for it. also, mr. president, we take comfort in knowingha

fema director craig fugate will be briefing reporters in a conference call at 11:30. the red cross will participate in that. we'll have that live for you at 11:30 eastern. meanwhile this morning on "washington journal," we were joined by a couple of members of congress impacted by the storm starting with john ryun -- runyan, representative from new jersey. host: new jersey where some of the storm damage happened. joining us on the line is representative john runyan, republican of new jersey, his district contains a lot of the jersey shore. representative runyan, can you tell us about some of the damage in your district and new jersey? guest: i had the opportunity yesterday, thanks for having me on, hi the opportunity yesterday to walk around on the ground. i know the president and governor christi have seen it from the air, but to especially go out and seaside heights and go north, i'm going to do long each island, which is the southern part this afternoon, just to see the devastation. you're talking homes pushed off the beaches. you're talking homes collapsed. when y

. >> reporter: craig fugate is the head of fema which distributes the grants. he says the vast majority of grants are helping to make america safer but acknowledges there have been some hard to explain decisions. >> what was happening though we were trying to build preparedness saying each jurisdiction determine what you need to do to get better prepared but we weren't based that upon what are the threats nationally. >> reporter: back in keene, new hampshire, councilman terry clark tried to block the bearcat. >> i thought it was unconscionable and couldn't be part of it. >> reporter: but clark lost the battle. the bearcat arrived in keene just this week, too late for this year's pumpkin festival. fema says the obama administration is pushing to change the rules for the way those grants are distributed, meantime sator coburn's report on the grants is expected to be released next month. >>> we're back in a moment with the sudden outbreak of lotto fever. ♪ gangnam style >>> i promise you we have a good reason for playing this song again and putting it on an endles

i have my guy craig fugate. this is the owner of the marina right here.want to make sure she knows that we're going to immediately make sure she gets the help she needs to get this all back together. all right? >> thank yo

administrator fugate is in new york today meeting with local officials as well as surveying damage and ongoing response and recovery efforts. the president, once again, directed his team to continue to bring all available resources to bear to support our state and local partners and not allow red tape or bury rock see to stand in the way of federal support to be provided. the president will continue to receive updates on the response and recovery efforts from his team. with that, i'll take your questions. jim kunin. >> thanks, jay. welcome to the lame duck session. we just heard the president say essentially two things. one is he's not wedded to every detail of his deficit reduction plan and is willing to compromise. he also insists on raising taxes on a threshold of 250,000 or above. he ran on a vow to increase taxes on the wealthiest to bill clinton era tax rates. that means 35% it to 39.6% for the top rate. is that the president's position now, and would he veto any package that comes back from congress that does not do that? >> the president would veto, as he has said and i and oth

certainly when i traveled with craig fugate doing national services, the earthquake last year, they get it during an exercise environment, but how is that going to differ from reality? but it's permeating down to the local level now. and the next challenge is how do we cross that bridge to truly having community resiliency? how do we leverage faith-based and nongovernmental organizations to carry that message for local, state, and federal leaders? so, i think that's the next challenge going forward. but the messages being delivered from the top down, i think the next piece is how do you now move it horizontally across the community level. >> and in closing, i'm going to go down the panel and ask if there's any closing comments or points that you haven't had the opportunity to make. i think, you know, people are anxious to hear your thoughts on this particular program and on this mission because it is going to take all of us if the big one happens. so, if i can start with you, vice admiral beaman, if there is anything you'd like to impart, sir. >> actually, i have 37 things i'd like to t

craig fugate was the director of the florida division of emergency staff. experience, in 2004, fugate managed the largest federal disaster response in florida history as hurricane's charlie, francis, ivan and gene all pummeled the state in quick succession and he was even a volunteer firefighter and paramedic. you see, brownie, president obama didn't begin preparing for sandy on sunday. he started in 2009 when he appointed a qualified responsive leader to manage fema. jarvis writing for my home site asked this pointed question. if a reporter comes calling with a question for comment, why would you even answer the phone? i thank you for your intervention into public discourse. it is a reminder of the stark and important questions we are facing in this election. pick another bush who will put someone like you for national vulnerability or reelect president obama. one of your famous katrina e-mails you asked, can i quit now? the answer is yes, yes, please, quit now. sincerely, melissa. my doctor told me calcium is efficiently absorbed in small continuous amoun

. >> i thank craig fugate who lives and breathes this stuff.>neil: for many, the rescue efforts have become heck of a joke with folks in the northeast fuming because the help isn't coming. though they are trying. no gas. no food. no power. >> homes being looted. >> the coast guard is not here to help. or the federal government. or the city. >> walk in the streets here, the water is this high. i am wearing waders. >> i don't know what the people are doing patting themselves on their back. i got people on staten island and new jersey and long island, my son lost his house, people are living with no houses over their head, people on staten island crying their eyes out and they don't have water. just be real. these people need help. >> many on staten island say it is the forgotten borough. >> fed up. fed up. this line, that line, what are we in is this america? >> fema just arrived. >> don't have anything anywhere to go. no clothes. >> people still hurting. they still looking for people. >>neil: a lot of people without power. without homes. underwa

fugate has been on a conference call every single day on emergency response. ray lahood has been coordinating the transfer system, the fema escort aiding the overall risk of. i'm sure there will be requests for infrastructure for people. it is a disaster beyond the least and there has to be a commission to look at ways we can try to prevent this in the future. one of the problems is that a lot of the infrastructure was in the basement of buildings. for example, hospitals and mris come a electrical systems and phone systems in the basement. it is all destroyed with the salt water. the smile, the stench is almost unbelievable as a combination of this type of electric communication systems rotting. pumps are trying to push water out. phenom and the national guard and whether the federal government are moving 200 generators to manhattan and brooklyn and queens to help back up the pumping system to get the water out of institutions and out of our communications network. we have over 700 miles of subway systems they need not to be inspect it after we remove the wate

. >> president obama asked craig fugate from fema to call and ask if we needed help. i assured him, i think, we had everything under control and appreciate the effort. >> saturday, i think i have everything under control. he actually passed on having the president with him in noshg and then, book, this surprise endorsement saying that the role of government is all the more glaring to him now after hurricane sandy. what do you make? >> i don't think that those things are necessarily inconsistent, but there's no question it's a surprise. will it move actual votes where neither candidate is speaking votes, maybe not. the surprise factor on the heel of govern orp christie bear hug not an endorsement of course his elm brags of president obama in the wake was storm is nothing bullet good news. >> also the notion that business men stick together. we have a very wealthy leader of new york city that could have went the side of governor romney, but chose to go a different direction. that's an interesting dynamic as well. >> mayor bloomberg likes to bet on winnerers. he's better

most important thing, and then we're going to get this whole thing set up, so i got my guy, craig fugateaig, this is the owner of the marina right here. i want to make sure that she knows that we're going to immediately make sure that she gets the help she needs to get this all back together. all right? >> thank you. >> well, there we go. i think that's real. it's not politics. it's just human. let's go to john heilemann. look at the maps. we have some maps, both of them are running like mad, where they're heading. look at this, you can tell a lot about the contest as i implied, look where they're going. look where romney is headed. according to nbc's first read, romney was in florida yesterday and virginia today. he'll also hit wisconsin, ohio, new hampshire, and colorado before the election. the president, this is an interesting map for him, he will be in wisconsin, where he is right now, with nevada, colorado, ohio, iowa, virginia, and florida. of course, they're sending their number one surrogates, the vp nominee, out where they're not going. is this the map, centered in ohio, virgin

craig fugate talked on a conference call. >> good morning, everybody.evelopments today, our focus not only on the people who have been impacted by this, but on the ongoing power outages and fuel issues. to increase the amount of product available, secretary napolitano issued a waiver, and i will refer you back to dhs for the details, but significance is it allows those ships that have currently capability of bringing an additional refined product into new york that were prohibited to allow them to come in and begin providing an additional products. is being done with the u.s. department of energy is being done with the u.s. our mental protection agency and other key members to increase the availability of refined products, getting pipelines back to deliveries, and increasing capabilities by the storm. upthe efforts continue. this waiver does allow ships that would otherwise have to bring refined products to new york and add a product. with that, i want to go to additional activities. the disaster assistance website is a mobile-friendly website and we co

heading back on the campaign trail, he will be receiving a briefing from the head of fema, craig fugate as well as his top aides, and he will remain in contact with them while he is traveling here today to wisconsin, also to nevada and colorado and that he will be doing conference call with his local officials from areas where the storm has hit. as you know, air force one is equipped so that he can stay in constant contact while he travels, carol. >> what do you think his tone will be out on the campaign trail today? >> reporter: i think we've seen a little bit of a break, obviously, from a lot of the harsh back and forth. but we're going to start to see it ramping back up. i do know from a campaign source that when president obama comes here to the airport this morning in the 11:00 eastern hour, he will be talking about the storm at the beginning of his remarks, but he's also going to be making his case for why he should be re-elected. we'll be seeing him re-entering into the political fray and certainly we'll be seeing things heating up again going into election day. when you look at

now we have craig fugate and they are getting it done. >> they purport this theory that the federal government has no role, a limited role. new jersey's been run over with disaster. i mean, they don't have the state resources to recover, at least within the next decade. i mean, the insurance claims alone, i mean, the push on public services, the rebuilding of the schools and people's economies, i mean, the federal government has to play a role. so doesn't this shoot down romney's argument across the board in many respects in this campaign season? >> i think it shoots it down in three ways, on the role of government, you know, if his idea of privatizing fema is not a big issue this weekend, the last weekend of the campaign, i would be very surprised. the second is on infrastructure, you know, the president had a jobs bill that had a lot of infrastructure in it. one of the reason that things went badly in new york were poor infrastructure investments. the republicans have voted against this. abraham lincoln was the original infrastructure man. it's looney toons that the republicans have abandone

. >> president barack obama: i want to thank craig fugate, who lives and breathes this stuff. [applause]. >> neil: you know, i'm hearing all of this glad-handing and back slapping and i have a lot of friends, obviously, family in the metropolitan area around new york, a lot of friends, close ones in staten island and i knew what was going on and i want you to juxtapose these guys high-fiving each other and this. >> fed up! fed up! this line, that line, what are we? is this america? >> no food. >> people trapped here, still. >> don't have anything, anywhere to go. no clothes. >> people are hurting and still looking for people. it is crazy. >> nothing is done here. >> where will you go? you got no gas, nothing. >> 22 years in my home and i lost it. >> neil: who will you believe, officials who say everything is hunky-dory, we're on it, or those who are knee-deep, literally in the middle of it? bobby jindal knows how to handle these crises and has handled more than a few, getting help, troops, immediately to those affected areas. governor jindal joins me now. governor they are not

according to fema director craig fugate, the federal government will reimburse any costs states assumeup and running. while congress does actually have the authority to change the election day, no presidential election in the history of the nation has ever been postponed. joining me now, dorian warren, assistant professor of political science at columbia university and a fellow at the roosevelt institute in new york. dorian, what problems do we see from the storm, first of all? >> so in many places that are devastated by the storm there is no indication that those polling -- those polling places will be open on tuesday, much less -- >> well, in the video we're seeing they don't exist. i mean, there are some coastal polling places no doubt in new jersey and on long island that no longer exist. >> yes. that's right. although new jersey and new york and connecticut are reliably blue states. they're not swing states. >> yeah. it won't affect the electoral college and it won't affect the outcome. it could affect, since the votes favor president obama it could affect the national vote total

. >> we just heard from fema administrator craig fugate giving the latest on recovery efforts in the wake of hurricane sandy. president obama did visit fema earlier today before taking to the campaign trail. turning back to the tough election races and senate and house districts across the country, the senate race in massachusetts teachers senator scott brown, a republican, is in challenger elizabeth warren, a democrat. in the 2010, scott brown won a set -- one a special election for the seat, long held by ted kennedy. this debate comes to us courtesy of wshm tv and was held in springfield on october 10. a final debate was scheduled for october 30 but was canceled because of hurricane sandy. >> good evening. welcome to symphony hall for a debate between scott brown and elizabeth warren. i am honored to be the moderator tonight. we have rules this evening. our audience of more than 2600 guests have agreed to be silent. no interruptions or applause. each candidate has a minute and 30 seconds to answer each question, and 30 seconds for rebuttal. later, each candidate gets one minute for

one focus by one man or woman, this guy, fugate's got to be good. you need like a baseball team, you need a manager, somebody to call the shots. >> and we see with more extreme weather happening in the last few years, it's more necessary to have a national, federalized approach, particularly in the planning and in the research and tracking storms. that can't be done by 50 different states. i thought the president today was very smart when he spoke up in new jersey with governor christie. he thanked the congressional delegation for voting for fema funds. something that, of course, mitt romney -- >> well, anybody -- here's where it happens. the president this afternoon toured that devastation down in jersey with governor chris christie. afterwards, they had some kind words for each other. let's watch. >> pleased to report that he has sprung into action immediately to help get us those things while we were in the car riding together. so i want to thank him for that. he has worked incredibly closely with me since before the storm hit. i think this is ou