. >> all right, harold ford, jr.?woman sanchez, good mo morning. >> good morning. >> we heard people say he acted how he did last night, do you take them at their word that it poisons the well and may make it difficult to move and find progress on other issues from either the minimum wage to energy to health care to other issues that are important to the democratic caucus? >> i will tell you that i don't believe that there was ever any intention to really compromise and sit down and try the to work on areas where we can find common ground and i think they look for excuses not to really work with the president on the business that the country needs to get to. >> right. >> you talk about tax reform this year. i sieve on the -- i serve on the ways and means committee, we tried to work with the republican chairman of the committee to try to get it done and it was their side that derailed the attempt and not the democrats. they promise, we want to really work on this and we need more time and the reality is they don't have

p joining me now is heather mcgee, kurt anderson, harold ford jr., and jonathan chate. far another in another time zone. after the sound reaches you, how much faith should democrats put in these tightening races and what is happening specifically in places like colorado and iowa? >> colorado and iowa are probably the two closest places. and if the democrats are going to beat the odds and hold on to the senate, those are the places where they have the best chance to eek it out because they're close enough in the polls that a little bit better attorney skrout or the polls being a little wrong give them their best outside chance of doing this thing. >> but when we talk about the issues that are being debated, there an increasingly narrow set of issues on the right in terms of ebola, isis and the failures of the man in the white house. and yet as rachel maddow points out today in the "washington post," for all the end of the world clamor around this year's elections, you would never guess that the economy is growing at 3.5%, unemployment is below 6%, and gas prices are way,

and harold ford, former democratic congressman from tennessee. let me start with you.curious, what did you make of the statement last night? was that an og lig tore statement? >> i think he summed it up pretty well. the statement was fine. it was unfortunate and perhaps not his intention to have his statements paired right alongside a visual of what was happening there. probably wouldn't have taken questions, but i think the president had to make a statement. as you think about the protests, political leadership, if you believe in peaceful protest, the police have a responsibility to protect peaceful protesters and arrest people who are not. i'm struck by something we talked about, the fact there hasn't been more constructive things talked about on the ground, whether it be the automatic appointment of independent counsel when there's violence with police officers and unarmed minors, talking about the need to train cops better. darren wilson said he would have performed the exact same way if he could do it all over again. perhaps how we're training cops, to deal with c

barnacle and msnbc political analyst and visiting professor at nyu, former democratic congressman harold fordr. and willie and me. we'll get right to the arctic outbreak early. it came early this year. the question is how long will this last. this morning more than 100 schools one minnesota are closed. more than 200 flights have been cancelled after a storm dropped up to a foot of snow. what's the date? there are frigid temperatures moving down from canada and when it's all said and done more than 200 million people will be feeling the freeze. nbc meteorologist bill karins is tracking it. bill? >> st. cloud, minnesota. most snow they've seen in any given day, 13 inches of snow. first snow of the season. some areas got nailed by the snow. we're tracking the cold. a little bit of snow left heading up towards wisconsin. des moines a little bit of snow surprise this morning four. green bay and milwaukee not snowing, still warm but that cold air is on its way. this is the story today as the arctic blast makes its way to dallas, chicago, st. louis, indianapolis this afternoon. here's the current wi

harold ford jr.with carol lee on capitol hill. >> she classes up the act. what are you thinking? >> i think there's going -- >> a day or two out. >> i think it's going to be painful. >> for you? >> perhaps. >> does that mean big republican sweep? >> i'm thinking, i'm thinking. >> let's look at the polls and see what the kids think. >> new polls show the senate may be slipping out of democratic hands. the gap is id woo widening in s where they were trying to hold on and tightening in states that were supposedly safely blue. shaheen is clicking to the lead against brown in new hampshire. hagan of north carolina up just one on republican tillis. the same poll has senator pat roberts catching up to independent greg orman but still trailing. meanwhile, senator mitch mcconnell is expanding his lead and his chances to become majority leader. in iowa, republican joni ernst has opened her lead to seven. democratic braley is trailing downward, even after losing his home congressional district. the balance of p

now to discuss this and balance of power and potential field for 2016 as a result of all of this, harold fordst, eric cantor, giving us a bipartisan version, but, anyway, the democrats this morning can't be too happy. do you look at this as a repudiation, if you will, of the president? >> first of all, good morning, and good morning to my old pal, eric. i think it's hard to disagree with the way that eric described what happened last night, and there's going to be a lot of autopsy and appraisals. main thing is do what you are doing this morning, look ahead. if i were to advise the president, and he'll give remarks later this morning or early afternoon, he has to take responsibility and say all of washington understands the resounding message sent by voters across the country. this is not unusual for voters in midterm and presidential elections to send big, big messages to washington. hopefully they get it. i think the country wants republicans and democrats it work tailgate on all of the issues you have touched on this morning. i was pleased to see mcconnell's message and reid's message last