harwood and with tony whose tweet you quoted. you don't have to attack the integrity of the number to attack the substance of the numbers. 114,000 new jobs is nothing to celebrate. it takes 150,000 new jobs every month to absorb new work into the work force. we have 3.4 college graduates this year that need to find jobs and need 150,000 jobs to stosh them and the other people entering the work force. back in 2004 barack obama attacked president bush for a jobs report where 300,000 jobs were created, three times today's jobs. we're celebrating this today, and i think it's unwise. it shows that the expectations are much lower. we have a much lower bar to define success, and i don't think that's good for anyone. i don't think that's good for the american economy or any one of us. >> i wanted to say, look, jack welch was a successful businessman on this subject. he has absolutely no idea what he's talking about. crazy talk like that is a symptom of the disease in our political media culture and a disease of disbelief and polarization

john harwood with senator rubio.oing forward, what do you think this debate represents for next two weeks? how important was this debate in terms of actually moving the needle and changing minds or getting that independent to say here is the person that i trust? >> i don't think that it will have any impact on the next two weeks from changing where this race stands for two reasons. one, the president's base didn't want to hear the president talking as strongly as he did at times on issues like iran, issues like syria. romney, on the other hand, his base wanted to hear more. they wanted him to go out and talk about how the united states needs to lead in the world. and so i think it has no impact on the race. we're in a tight ball game, and we're going to keep it that way. >> no disrespect -- >> they try to connect the dots on the economy -- >> no disrespect, but since i'm an obama guy, i would disagree. they like that he said continue sanctions in iran. they like that he said he didn't want to put soldiers into syria.

john harwood, thung.odd, we'll see you on the daily rundown. >>> coming up, a showdown in last night's massachusetts race. senator scott brown and elizabeth warren face off in their second televised debate. kelly o'donnell joins us with a live report. but first, some say if we fix the housing market, we'll fix the economy. so how close are we to solving the foreclosure crisis? cnbc's david faber and the founder of the online lending company lending tree joins us onset next on "morning joe." ♪ [ male announcer ] how do you turn an entrepreneur's dream... ♪ into a scooter that talks to the cloud? ♪ or turn 30-million artifacts... ♪ into a high-tech masterpiece? ♪ whatever your business challenge, dell has the technology and services to help you solve it. ♪ >>> when the first announced purchases of mortgage back purchases in late 2008, interest rates average above 6%, today they average about 3.5%. lower mortgage rates are one of the reasons for the improvement in the housing market which in turn is benefitt

>> harwood is this big washington and i see all the belt way libs are washington.hi >> harwood is this big washington and i see all the belt way libs are washington.in >> harwood is this big washington and i see all the belt way libs are washington. it's starting to represent to me big government. >> all the more reason you should want them to win so you can beat them in the world series. >> i thought about that. but as long as somebody beats them. i don't want them to go too far. >> well, it's more crushing if you let them get all the way to the world series. >> no, that would mean they got past the reds. so it's okay if they beat st. louis, although last night, didn't look like they were ready to beat st. louis. a lot of home runs. beltran had two. >> i don't really have any thoughts about the nationals. >> washington. harwood loves them. you know. >> so he'd be grouchy if they lose. >> he will be. he will be. he'll be a lot grouchier if somebody else loses, though. >> let's get to the forecast. alex, what you can tell us? >> we have more cool conditions to deal with across a lot of

. >> we will peer over the edge of the looming fiscal cliff when cnbc's john harwood joins us live nextouncer ] humana and walmart have teamed up to bring you a low-priced medicare prescription drug plan. ♪ with a low national plan premium... ♪ ...and copays as low as one dollar... ♪ ...saving on your medicare prescriptions is easy. ♪ so you're free to focus on the things that really matter. call humana at 1-800-808-4003. or go to walmart.com for details. >>> what if we came up with a situation tomorrow, you opened up the newspaper, and there was some conciliation. there was some agreement. it may not be everything that one side would want, somewhere in the middle, maybe even closer to the extreme that you didn't like, but there was some compromise that was laid out. what kind of a stimulus do you think that would provide? >> i'd be a buyer of the market. >> that was goldman sachs ceo lloyd blankfein last week saying that the economy too actually see a boost if congress did its job and came to an agreement, any agreement, really, on the fiscal cliff. if lawmakers don't make a deal, the

paul ryan has a plan to do that. >> john harwood? >> governor engler, i just want to ask you about two economic issues. one national and one of home state importance to you. one is, we got a lower unemployment number that came out after the debate in denver and the obama team points to some evidence that the economy, while still weak, is moving in the right direction. there's some good signs. president obama also was criticized by democrats for not thumping some of the things that they believe had gone well like the auto bailout. what would you advise joe biden to say and paul ryan to respond, if joe biden raises the issue about hey, we saved detroit, we saved the auto industry, which as you know your successor, governor snider, agreed with president obama on? >> i think a lot of people felt including president bush who started some of that in motion you had to do things to get the auto industry back on a solid footing and there was a clear debate about when the bankruptcy had to occur. there really wasn't in the bailout sort of a ig

let's goat john harwood. your take, john? >> maria, look, i'm always reluctant to call somebody a winner of a debate. you can't prove it. you got to wait and see what polls will show over the next few day, but the story of this debate is president obama coming back very strongly from the denver performance. that's what television viewers saw that was much more engaged, aggressive president who showed passion, who went after mitt romney, who got lucky having the final response and got to go back hard at mitt romney on the 47% after mitt romney said he was going to support all 100% of the american people, that was a good opportunity for the president. both candidates were a little hot tonight at various points. you could tell that they felt the stakes because they were not letting candy crowley control thins at times and candy was having to push back on that. i think it's also true that more of this debate was conducted on president obama's turf in part because he was aggressive and partly because there were questions about imm

cnbc's own john harwood has the latest. good evening, john. >> good evening, larry. mitt romney tried to build on his successful debate last week by talking foreign policy today and attacking president obama as simply not someone leading. >> i know the president hopes for a safer, freer, and more prosperous middle east allied with us. i share this hope. hope is not a strategy. >> we don't know if that line is going to work, but we know from new polls out today he's made significant headway since the debate. puts a lot of pressure on the vice presidential debate later this week. we'll talk about it at athe bottom of the hour. >> we will see you later on that very topic. also this evening, one battleground state, michigan, will vote on a state constitutional amendment to allowing collective bargaining, unlimited wage increases, and unchecked union power. michigan's governor rick snyder says how it will disrupt his state. they paid hundreds of thousands to a chicago consulting firm for training sessions where employees chant and i quote our forefathers were illegal immi

cnbc chief correspondent john harwood said the number one rule for candidates is be memorable. that sarah palin said can i call you joe because she kept calling him in debate rehearse sal obiden. she said that on the air referring to obiden. obviously a mistake. what else is on your list? >> can i call you tamron? >> you can call me what you want. >> reporter: all right. look. i think what joe biden's got to do tonight is try to arrest some of this momentum that the republican ticket accumulated in last week's debate, avoid any problem from getting worse. he's got the experience advantage of course over paul ryan but paul ryan is somebody who's very fluent in policy and i think what both guys want to do since they both have a possibility of running for president themselves some day is avoid the kind of catastrophic moment that somebody like dan quale had against lloyd benson when he did the i have more experience than jack kennedy when he was running for president and lloyd benson says, you're no jack kennedy. >> right. as the story goes, quale was warned not to make that compa

joining me today, cnbc chief washington correspondent john harwood of "the new york times," "time" magazine white house correspondent michael scherer in the flesh on the set, and msnbc contributor, sam stein of "the huffington post", and politico senior white house reporter, glenn thrush. a tale of two messages, the romney campaign is pushing the theory that they're in the lead, down the stretch. with an e-mail this morning read, we're feeling the momentum. the president is playing like he's behind and fighting for every vote. after a red eye flight from l.a. the president was up early for a rally in tampa and delivered doughnuts to firefighters by 7:30 this morning. obama the underdog versus romney the ascent dant is the dominant narrative on the trail. >> patrol this in my voice is getting hoarse. have to keep on keeping on. >> we're going to win november 6th. >> we're going to pull an all-nighter. no sleep. >> we've had a number of debates lately. you know they have really propelled our campaign. >> i believe in you. i need you to keep believing in me. >> the obama campaign is slipping.

john harwood our chief washington correspondent. steve, for you, is the economy little by little better than we're giving it credit for? >> it is for the moment. i'm a little bit concerned about making a broader call because of what's been the seasonality to the data. remember we were gang busters in january, february and march and i thought -- then we went into this dip. we're definitely coming out of this swoon of the springtime and the summer. but whether or not it is here to stay, i'm thrice burned here and i'm not ready to say this is going to be permanent but it is definitely true, some key consumer indicators from sentiment to retail sales and housing have turned in a meaningful way and they will hopefully begin to make a little bit more serious progress. >> yet the economy is growing slower, isn't it, than it was in 2010, than it was at a comparable time in 2011. >> but i would caution you on that. because of this better incoming data, we've been ratcheting up gdp outlook for the third quarter. the big missing link right her

let's bring john harwood in. john? >> congressman paul, as carl mentioned, you had a rapport with mitt romney. when we talked a few weeks ago, you said you weren't going to fully endorse mitt romney at the republican convention because you didn't fully support him. what i'm wondering is, is there anything you can say tonight that would cause you to do that? are you ultimately looking at these two guys as not that much different on the core issues that are important to you? >> well, i'm always looking. i'm always open but i'm not that optimistic. because his foreign policy was the policy that disturbed me the most. he was much more aggressive on where the troops should be and what we should do overseas. that didn't interfere with us having a decent rapport with each other and talking to each other with friends. but the foreign policy, if he changed it i would be wow that's wonderful. maybe i should reconsider. if he came out and said not only do we need to audit the fed, we need to stop from monetizing our debt and bein

we'll check in live with john harwood next up. xt up.: every president inherits few have faced so many. four years later... our enemies have been brought to justice. our heroes are coming home. assembly lines are humming again. there are still challenges to meet. children to educate. a middle class to rebuild. but the last thing we should do is turn back now. president obama: i'm barack obama and... i approve this message. as part of a heart healthy diet. that's true. ...but you still have to go to the gym. ♪ the one and only, cheerios >>> one hour and 15 minutes until the start of the third and final presidential debate. all right. cnbc's chief washington correspondent john harwood, he joins us now live from the debate site in boca raton, florida. all right, john. several people were saying this is president obama's custard's last stand. he's got to deliver big time if he's going to win this race. >> reporter: well, i wouldn't think of it that way, larry. i think we've got a very, very even race with obama having a slight edge in battle

join you go is john harwood in washington and larry kudlow in new york. john, i'm going to start with you. both campaigns having to alter what they are doing because of hurricane sandy. >> reporter: no question. president obama came back to the white house. he ditched his events in florida today and then in wisconsin tomorrow. mitt romney's done the same thing, cancelling events tonight and tomorrow. it's a difficult situation for candidates. of course, they both rin tinsley competitive. they want to win. president obama said i'm not thinking about the election. of course, he is thinking about the election all the time, so are his people. they know that or they believe that they have an advantage in battleground states and that perhaps the freezing of attention to the campaign will benefit them with a limited time to go. on the other hand, mitt romney can point to national polls and say i've gotten the upper hand since the first debate, so we will see whether the ground games get affected by this. obama's generally considered to have the more extensive an

still with us john harwood, sara fangen, adviser at george w. keith is a democratic strategist. sara, what are you expecting tonight is. >> i'm expecting for mitt romney to come out and repeat the performance he had in the last debate. i also think if you're mitt romney, what you really want to see asked tonight by one of these undecided voters, is mr. president, do you agree with hillary clinton, is hillary clinton responsible, for the attacks, the lapse of security in benghazi. i would like to see how he answers that question. i think she put him in a very vulnerable position heading into this debate. >> by taking full responsibility sh. >> well, by taking responsibility and putting him in the position where he now has to basically say, you know, perhaps yes, she's responsible. and he's going to stand before the american people tonight and not essentially man up for what occurred in benghazi. keith is laughing. >> because yeah, i don't think this is the issue the american people are focused on tonight. i think they're focused on the issue of j

that was john harwood. we'll also talk about it thousand.ning us from washington, sarah taylor feygan and penny lee. good to see you both. thanks very much for joining us. what's interesting here, sarah, this was supposed to be a debate. i didn't actually hear much debating on foreign policy. was that the game plan? >> well, i think it was pretty clear to me that mitt romney made a strategic decision to stay as close to the president on foreign policy, to not get labeled as a warmongerer and to really just survive this last debate. he's in pretty strong position. he has momentum. he didn't want to take any risks and do anything that would blunt his progress in the polls. >> sounds a bit timid to me, penny. >> absolutely. i mean, what you want from the next commander in chief is someone who shows that demanding presence, who can actually step into that role to make those tough decisions that need to be made instead of just latching themselves on to the current president. when that 3:00 a.m. phone call comes in, you want somebody who can answe

we'll talk about those topics with john harwood. but if you were watching, as they headed in a 70% -- >> down from 80 the day before. >> right now it's down to about 66% in trade obviously suggesting romney got a big boost. >> mini flash crash. >> among our political guests this morning ready to talk about the road to election today, arianna huffington will be our guest host. huffington "post" obviously has a left bent, but it was declaring romney won the debate. ken duberstein will join us, as well. >> i was reading some of your tweets last night, john, and i liked your tweet. i tell you what i took away from the entire debate because i want to let you say it, but i saw what's possible in a life spent without any alcohol. i saw what i could have possibly been -- i saw how i could have possibly been able to talk if i had all the brain cells that i started with. and that was what i came away with. that i just wish in a maybe i had considered that path maybe of being, you negotiation life of sobriety. anyway, what did you think, john?

john harwood going to join us with a post debate wrap-up.d to the final debate which is monday? >> boca raton. >> that'll be the final debate on monday. are you going down there? >> yeah, i'm going down there. >> you are? >> that's a good place. >> how could i miss it? >> every week, you're pulling all-nighters, you're like a college kid at this point. >> caffeine. >> more coffee. >> i thought you were raising like southern comfort or something. >> no. >> all right. we'll break down the election scenarios and what it means for your portfolio. political forecaster chuck gabriel's going to tell us what stocks are likely to move before and after november 6th and also depending on the outcome. we'll get housing data, housing starts at 8:30 a.m. eastern. economists looking for a 2.4% rise in the september number compared to a 2.3% rise in august and we will kick off a special day of coverage on cnbc. the energy factor in the election. brian shactman will join us from a place we heard about last night, the bakken formation in north dakota. a massi

john harwood is in washington. he has the details. what's he got, john. >> sue, yesterday donald trump was on our air saying he would have a major announcement about the race. it wasn't major at all, turned out just to be another publicity stunt by donald trump appealing to the crackpot fringe of american politics that raises questions about barack obama's americanness. he offers $5 million for the publication of barack obama's passport application records, his college records, he also continued to raise questions about the president's birth certificate which of course has been released. so nothing for anyone to actually pay attention about. the obama campaign said direct your questions to the romney campaign since donald trump works for romney. the romney campaign doesn't want to have anything to do with this either, guys. >> john harwood, thank you very much. >>> shares of facebook seeing their largest one-day gain since its ipo in may after gaining gains in the key mobile advertising space. has the social network finally figured ou

that's where he needs to make some progress. >> john harwood, thanks very much. john is going to join me and others for special coverage throughout tonight. this evening, in my view, romney needs to put obama on defense right at the beginning, take him to the cleaners, right out of the gate, no wasted time, do what john mccain did not get down four years ago. i hate to say that. this is a choice between tax cuts and tax hikes. you need to make that case. now i want to hear from our panelists in the kudlow caucus. former clinton white house aide, keith boykin. rick lazio, former republican congressman from new york. rick lazio, i begin with you, good evening to you. >> hello, larry. >> this is a gigantic audience, the key issue of our time is still the economy and jobs. so far mitt romney has not been able to make the sale. that's what the polls show. that's why this thing is close. why hasn't he and what's he going to do tonight differently than he's done in the past. >> i think he's going to make the contrast with president obama, why expanding the pie is in the

jonathan alter, a columnist for bloomberg view and democratic strategist julian epstein and john harwoodief washington correspondent and political writer for "the new york times." julian, so, the bureau of labor statistics is now to be lumped in with false memory syndrome, satanic abuse, and the abduction of children byu fos in terms of its accuracy and trustworthy iness? >> we've talked about the archie bunker wing of the waert. now we have the paranoid paranormal wing of the party. this is the same group of people that don't believe in evolution. this is the same group of people that don't believe in climate change. these are the same people who are complaining about the poll numbers being biased, and now they're complaining about a methodology that is very open and transparent and that has been used for decades in terms of computing the employment numbers. and, you know, this is to democrats this is music to our ears. when you start complaining about the polls and you start complaining about employment number methodology, it's a very, very clear sign that the other side is losing the

john harwood, thank you so much.c chief correspondent, chief washington correspondent, specifically, thank you so much. >> you bet. >>> all righty, one politician hoping the gangam style dance, it's really the key to reaching some young voters. wait until you we tell you who it is. >>> and the battle for young voters. the new poll with surprising results about where they stand right now in the presidential race. i don't spend money on gasoline. i am probably going to the gas station about once a month. last time i was at a gas station was about...i would say... two months ago. i very rarely put gas in my chevy volt. i go to the gas station such a small amount that i forget how to put gas in my car. [ male announcer ] and it's not just these owners giving the volt high praise. volt received the j.d. power and associates appeal award two years in a row. ♪ a short word that's a tall order. up your game. up the ante. and if you stumble, you get back up. up isn't easy, and we ought to know. we're in the business of up. ev

john harwood, cnbc chief white house correspondent, and holding it down in new york city, msnbc politicallyst karen finney. john, are you there in the spin room. as you know, the spinning begins before either candidate has spoken. we've seen both parties attempt to deflate expectations. but isn't the biggest challenge for mitt romney, not what he plans to say tonight, but how he explains what he's already said, in particular, his derision for 47% of the people in this country? >> reporter: certainly, martin, he's going to have to address that and try to diffuse that issue. look, this is an incredibly important event in the campaign. tens of millions of people will watch these two guys standing side by side. mitt romney is behind, but behind by three points. he could still win this race. he's got to figureut obama, hel, make credible arguments his economic plan will make the lives of 100% of americans better, and try to establish some connection with the american people he hasn't been able to do on far. it's a tall order. it's not impossible. >> well, thankfully, john, i'm near the departm

john harwood live at the debate site in boca raton, florida. >> reporter: tyler, it is 47%-47% among likely voters which tells you that turnout is going to be everything in this race. one of the functions of these debates is for each candidate to energize their side and pump up turnout. we saw that successful first debate that mitt romney energized republicans in a very major way. president obama did that to some extent among democrats in the second debate. but i want to talk a little bit about what has gotten the two sides to this tie. obama's been leading for the last several months. he had a three-point lead in mid-september but two things have happened to get mitt romney up to 47%. the first thing is he's re-asserted his edge on handling the economy. that was tied in september. now he leads obama 46%-40% on who would be better able to manage the economy. secondly -- this is crucial for tonight -- mitt romney has now pulled essentially even with the president on who could be commander in chief. obama has a lead that's just three percentage points. it was eight points a month ago.

john harwood is in kentucky with the preview.> reporter: michelle, this is going to be a fascinating night between two number twos who might, in the future, be number ones. for right now, they're trying to help their tickets. joe biden, as you mentioned, who arrived in danville. he's now chilling at a supporter's house with his family before going to the debate tonight, has got a lot on the line because democrats were feeling let down by president obama's performance last week. what joe biden has to do is to buck up those democrats, show he's going to be aggressive in going after the republican ticket, and, you know, he has experience in the venue. he debated sarah palin four years ago, although much different then. that was a comparatively genial event. i would expect him to be quite aggressive. from paul ryan's point of view, he's younger, so less experienced, but he's very fluent and skilled on policy. he came across very well in his republican convention speech. so i'd expect him to hold his own. for both side, dan quail told

. >> john harwood, josh boak, thank you. >> i agree with john harwood, this is a man on a mission and he's determined to get some kind of deal brokered on the fiscal cliff. >>> $29 billion of 7-year notes up for auction. rick santelli's tracking the action from the cme. the bid-to-cover ratio looks weak. what do you think? >> weak, weak, weak. yes, it was seven times weak. i'm giving this auction a d-plus. that's the worst of the three. we went from a solid a-plus to basically a hook yesterday, below average with a plus today. here's the inteshls. yield on these 29 billion 7-years -- 1.267. that's outside the range of the wi. 1.27, bid offered at 1.26. 2.56 bid to cover happens to be a 41-month low on the bid to cover going back to may of '09. rest of the inl ternternals wera bit light. look for the markets to maybe rally a bit according to traders. back to you. >> all right, ricky. thank you very much. >>> well, jimmy buffett said it best -- there ain't no way to reason with hurricane season. it is almost november and the east coast has a significant storm on the way. her name is san

our chief washington correspondent john harwood joins us. >> president obama's campaign hopes it is going to help him for two reasons. one, that he gets to fulfill the role as commander in chief and ahead of the federal government help states that are affected by this, but also because they think they're winning this race in the battlegrounds and that effectively the race is frozen. now governor romney was out in ohio today, campaigning, making some arguments about the auto bailout which has been an issue that's helped president obama in the state of ohio. but the problem for mitt romney and anyone else participating in the campaign right now is all the coverage is drowning out anything that politicians say. we are locked in a very tight race. we had two new polls out this morning, tracking polls. one, the washington post/abc news poll showed mitt romney 49%-brah 49%-barack obama 48%. another poll shows pro seciselye opposite. obama 48%. but they're the same poll. with a margin of error, we have essentially a tie race but the obama team beli

that's where we'll find our john harwood. john, with sports with you, i could go so many places whether it's redskins or nationals. i had a rough night last night. that first -- from the night before where they threw that guy out at third. and then they had to bring up mf-i mean, this thing is like a nightmare for me. and now one game to try to salvage it. how are you feeling sports wise, are you all right? >> i'm hoping the nationals can find their know skroe back again tonight. they have ross detwiler going. he's a left hander, pretty good. and he needs to come through at home where he's pitched a lot better. but i have to say, i didn't hear all of your previous segment, we have a little delay. but let me tell you, you better not come here to my home native state of kentucky and mock anybody's christian values or do all that sexual innuendo stuff because you'll get run out of town. >> i'm from cincinnati. yeah, that wasn't -- i've been away for a while. and i didn't realize that just -- it was just sort of a throw away -- i

john harwood is on the ground in denver. he joins us with the latest nbc news "wall street journal" poll. it looks like things are starting to even out at least a little. is this the bounce that president obama got after the democratic convention coming back down? >> well, i think it's the bounce from the convention and the surge that he got on top of the convention with that 47% video, so there is some good news for romney. not only our national poll, but also in the swing state polls that we do with "the wall street journal" and maris college. take a look at the numbers. first of all, on the national basis. president obama among likely voters leads by three points, 49 to 46. that's down from a five-point edge that he had in our poll just about three weeks ago. if you also look at the nbc "wall street journal" maris swing state polls, he's pulled even with president obama in the state of florida. that's the biggest swing state, 29 electoral votes. if you go then to virginia, he's also pulled within two points in virginia. h

and john harwood will join us with the highlights. among our newsmakers you can we have rob portman at 7:00. he's been playing the role of president obama in mitt romney's debate preparations. then coming up at 8:00, we have senator john kerry. he's been playing mitt romney in the president's debate prep sessions. of course earnings central is still in full swing. before the bell, we will hear from dupont, 3 m, united technologies, and many others. also a topic dominating discussions is the fiscal cliff. the annual meeting of the securities trade group is taking place in new york today. and the looming risk the u.s. economy is sure to be on the agenda of participants. we'll be joined by a few of those this morning. including gary gensler. chet heick will also be joining us. on the lighter side of thing, we'll have a rock star among us this morning. yeah, we mean this literally. not just the rock stars we usually have. john popper of blues travelers will be joining us on set at 8:40 to talk about the business of music. but first, let's

thank you, john harwood. a long day for you yesterday.ey's take on last night's debate is judd gregg, former governor from new hampshire, a cnbc contributor, and former financial adviser to goldman sachs. you're no stranger to debate prep. i wonder if you saw anything lacking in governor romney's prep last night, specifically on benghazi. >> well, i thought that, unfortunately, it was a tag team event there, when both the moderator and the president went after him. i thought the moderator's comments were totally inappropriate. >> you mean candy crowley? >> yeah, i mean, really. it wasn't her job to define what mitt romney was saying. what he said actually was accurate, that the president had not identified this as a terrorist event. he had used the term terrorist in his statement but in a very generic way and that the administration for many days basically maintained this unfortunate position which was that this was a spontaneous demonstration driven by the film that was made when, in fact, there was a lot of folks showing up with grenade

let me bring in john harwood in washington to talk more about the president's comments.n, interesting to see two unlikely politicians very much on the same page on this issue right now. >> exactly. as chris christie said, maria, first and foremost it was two elected officials doing the jobs they were elected to do. so in some sense the president simply performing as citizens would want him to. on the other hand, for all the tens of millions of dollars being spent on television advertising in this final week of the election campaign, it is absolutely priceless for him to be standing there with the keynote speaker at the republican national convention against him. and to have chris christie say the president shows compassion, concern for our state and functioning at a high level. the president emphasized that 15-minute rule. he's going to return phone calls, cut through red tape. all of that can only help the president. don't know how much as he prepares for reelection next week. it can't hurt and will probably do him some good. >> i don't want to be skeptical. but how muc

>> john harwood, thank you very much. we appreciate it. >>> mitt romney's taken his post-debate momentum straight on to team obama turf. this is interesting. obama's lost his hold on florida, virginia and ohio. those number have now gone to romney. romney has now gone behind enemy lines to challenge in michigan and pennsylvania. that's also new. all this comes as the romney rally continues in the latest polls. rasmussen has romney up by one. investors business daily has romney leading obama by five, 49-44. there's the daily tracking poll. with tomorrow night's debate, won't the inevitable paul ryan victory just send team obama over the edge into the looney bin? well, that's kind of the way i see it. but there may be some disagreement. we have karen finney, columnest for "the hill." and kate obenshane. ms. finney, this is the way i look t it. romney is smarter than biden. romney is better informed than biden. romney is younger than biden. and romney is cuter than biden. so i think romney's just going to do great in this de

you've got to keep going. >> john harwood's here. >> john harwood, tell us about the concert last nightdible stuff, huh? >> it was very cool. i don't know, for some reason the nostalgia trip was moving. and the beacon theater is a beautiful facility. i don't know, when they played "southern cross," the place was rocking. >> crosby, stills & nash is unbelievable. a new quinnipiac poll shows chris christie leading 46%-42%. there were polls out earlier this week christie's approval rating way up in the 50s. i tell what you, he'd be a hard guy to beat. i don't think cory booker's going to take that chance. would you agree with me, mark? >> i'd agree. i'd be surprised if he doesn't. >> i don't think he'll take that chance. he plays it safe, and chris christie, i would not want to run against chris christie in new jersey. >> the so-called fiscal cliff, of course, is approaching. and president obama is threatening to block any legislation to avoid the deep spending cuts and tax hikes unless republicans accept his demands to raise tax rates on the wealthiest part of the deal. according to "the

john harwood is in danville, kentucky as candidates and their families gather on stage. what did you think? >> i thought paul ryan did well. i thought he held his own. when the discussion did get to the tax issue, we had a little bit of capsule what happened in this debate. you had paul ryan embracing the across the board tax cut mitt romney is running on. he was pressed by martha, who did an excellent job exactly specifically you do to pay for that tax cut, totally evaded that. what happened was as happened on other issues, joe biden got frustrated. you saw biden, he variously was laughing, smiling, got angry at times. i think there were times at which that demeanor did not serve him well. ryan did not get flustered. did have some republican political strategists who i talked to during the debate thought ryan looked a little bit smug at times. ryan, of course, is young, he has to worry about looking like the junior varsity against the older guy. bottom line, i don't think anybody dominated the debate but i thought ryan did well and i think basically what we've done is s

blog john harwood of washington d.c. and here's what's coming up tonight on the big picture at the debate wednesday mitt romney valid to bring america's coal industry back to life and do everything he could to promote plain coal one of the most unsafe industries in the world is the time of america will be away from coal and preventing future coal mining tragedies well as peter go to night in tonight's conversations of great minds also the unemployment rate dropped to below eight percent in september for the first time since president obama took office republicans claim the new numbers are being manipulated by the obama administration republicans just mad that their plot to crash the economy has failed i'll ask our panel in tonight's big picture rumble anderson's daily take which you know it's possible to be arrested for trespassing on your own land well it is it's a sign of the corporations are turning america into a third world country. provides conversations with great minds are joined by peter gloss peter is a veteran

back to you. >>> john harwood is in studio tonight. tonight the town hall style event will be held at hofstra university. and our chief washington correspondent john harwood will be there. but first, he's with us onset. first of all, does candy crowley -- does she know what she's allowed to do? is she going to ignore it? >> she can follow up and make sure they answer the questions. >> but they released i think -- someone got it and showed the actual document. it was h-- isn't it nice that both sides agreed on something? they agreed on how to moderate the debate. >> they agree that had they can have the lawyers write letters when they got wind of the idea that candy might interject herself in the town hall at some point because they were worried it would throw the candidates off. candy is taking the attitude i'm not just sitting there. >> why bother having a moderator. >> exactly. >> who picks the questions from the audience? >> candy. >> that's a pretty big role right there. >> yes, but she doesn't know the questions before they ask it

john harwood got a firsthand view of the debate and filed this report from denver. >> the first of three presidential debates here at the university of denver was a strong one for mitt romney. he came out very aggressively in confronting president obama on his record over the last four years, taking on on the president over his failure to reduce the budget deficit, over job creation, over obamacare, over the regulation of wall street and dodd-frank. had some success in pulling the election back from a choice election as president obama wants to be about their visions going forward into a referendum on president obama's record in the first four years. mitt romney looked very comfortable and pleased to be on the stage. he knows that he only has a few weeks left to go to reverse president obama's lead. president obama on the other hand did not always look so pleased to be challenged the way romney was challenging him. he did not make any big mistakes and one of the questions coming out of this debate, as good as republicans feel and as middling as testimonies feel about this performance, di

john harwood will check in from washington. >>> welcome back. a quiet times square before the storm. we'll have a weather channel update in just a few minutes. we'll see whether they know anything that we don't know here at a business channel. i don't know why they would. time for squawk sports as the east coast is preparing for hurricane sandy, i don't know what happened to the giants. giants were in detroit sweeping the tigers. winning four straight games to capture the title. once you beat the reds and come back from two down, then the rest was easy for the giants. in case you missed sunday night football or saturday football, are they -- is kent state a full accredited -- >> now you're going to thrust an ohio school on top of it? >> they don't have video of that. >> i think what you should say to me is how did colorado do against oregon. >> i wouldn't go that low. y picked against your alma mater. >> i know. notre dame by the way, it you watch the first couple -- >> i watched in and out. >> i thought oklahoma was going to beat them badly wit

john harwood, can he? can he win without the buckeye state? >> practically speaking, no. put together enough electoral votes without the 18 of ohio? orv of course, but he's got to win a bunch of states in that scenario where he's not in an advantageous position. he'd have to win, say, wisconsin and nevada and new hampshire, places like that where president obama's held a lead. it's just not likely. his campaign, mitt romney's campaign has told me they need both florida and ohio to get to 270 electoral votes. i think that as rob portman said, you don't want to take that risk. they're not taking that risk. >> earlier in the bod cast here, we talked about "the wall street journal" story. millions of dollars going to sp here in the final few states on advertising in the key battleground states. but there has not been a great deal of discussion about the campaign's respective ground games. talk to me about the air war versus the ground war and who might have a bit of an advantage here if either side does. >> i think, craig, we're getting to the point of the campaign where the