hey, guess what we're having jen psaki on the show.rd because i brought sushi today. [ bell chimes ] [ applause ] >> stephanie: mitt romney says the debate is not about winning. >> oh. [ applause ] >> stephanie: that's because he is going to lose. >> all right. take care then. bye-bye. >> the lakes. the end of the lakes. pancakes. >> stephanie: yeah, he is just going to be shouting objects at that point. all right. the president. >> obama: who is going to put the most points on the board? [ cheers ] >> obama: no, no, governor romney, he is a good debater. i'm just okay. >> consider your expectations lowered. >> stephanie: all right. >> how low can you go? >> stephanie: karen in virginia you are on the "stephanie miller show." hi karen. >> hi, miss stephanie. how are you. >> stephanie: good. okay. >> caller: it is pouring down rain here in virginia. cantor's tears because wayne powell came out swinging in that debate. ♪ let's hear it for the boy ♪ >> caller: he started out swinging and all you could see was cantor just -- you could tell

jen psaki with the obama campaign is going to join us and pop star mica. >> october 16th, a tuesday, "starting point" begins right now. >> morning, welcome, everybody. "starting point" this morning is the rematch. in just about 14 hours president obama, mitt romney, will square off in the second presidential debate. it's going to take place here. the debate hall on the campus of long island's hofstra university. going to be a town hall-style event, moderated by our very own candy crowley. candidates taking direct questions from a group of uncommitted voters. cnn's dan lothian is live for us at hofstra this morning. dan, good morning. >> good morning. and you talked about those uncommitted voters. about 80 of them will be in the audience, and from that group they'll be the ones asking the questions based on the coin toss governor mitt romney will get the first question. now, as you know, the president will be working very hard to try and recover from that first debate performance. he spent the last three days in williamsburg, virginia, preparing, prepping for this debate, surrounded b

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from team obama, we'll be speaking with martin o'malley and campaign spokeswoman, jen psaki. plus, obama's former economic adviser, austan goolsbee. first, though, a look at the instant reaction from the debate in the cnn/orc poll, of debate watchers taken right after the debate, 67% say they think romney won. 25% only thought the president won. cnn's dana bash joins us this morning to go over some of the hits and some of the misses. good morning. >> good morning. well, i'm here in new york, so maybe we should talk about what happens, how you get to carnegie hall, practice, practice, practice. and is that clearly is what helped the mitt romney. he spent a lot of time practicing, really for the past month doing these mock debates. and when it comes to the president, he was rusty. right out of the gate, it was clear. mitt romney came to play. >> the president has a view very similar to the view he had when he ran four years ago. that a bigger government, spending more, taxing more, regulating more. if you will, trickle-down government, would work. a >> reporter: president obama

and joining me now is jen psaki traveling press secretary for the obama campaign. thanks so very much. >> thank you for having me. >> this has changed everybody's calculus as david gregory and i were discussing, things were frozen in place because of the storm understandably. how do you make up for the time you have lost campaigning? >> well, you can never, you know, factor in mother nature. she's always unpredictable. the president's been doing over the last couple days what people elected him to do which is to serve as the commander in chief and manage the country in a a state of crisis. in this case it's hurricane sandy. now, there are two realities going on. the president will remain focused, day in and day out on making sure people have the information and resources they need across the country in places where the storm has impacted them, but we're also six days out from an election so he'll be back out on the trail tomorrow. i expect his schedule and remarks will reflect that balance. >> detroit news poll showing a very, very tight race there in michigan. tha

we have jen psaki on earlier and she said this about the gender gap and mr. >> this issue this week with senator -- with mr. mourdock has reminded women of what's at stake in the electric. it's perplexing to us for days the romney campaign has gone into hiding to avoid answering questions on this issue because mitt romney is up on the air with an ad for this candidate. >> we'll go around the table here but, liz, how long can the obama campaign keep this alive? >> well, they'll try to keep it alive right up until the end. i think what they're saying is the same thing we're saying in polls, a narrowing of the advantage that president obama has with women and the more that they feel that, you know, they can ink flame the issue of whether or not romney sticks by mourdock, whether that -- in keeping abortion and rape in the front of this campaign is -- the more they can do it, the more they think they can try to grow that gap again. but it's -- it could be a real problem for romney in the long run if he doesn't answer this, because at this point he's letting the o

that's coming from jen psaki. a zinger there. recent polls show that romney closing the gap. should it be a wake-up call for the president, the campaign that mitt romney thinks that the fight over foreign policy is one he's willing to take on? >> you know, i think we'll have to wait and see what governor romney says before we determine that. foreign policy, there's a lot to say that sounds great in rhetoric and platitudes and hearing plenty of governor romney and really about the approach and the policy and just in the previews i have heard a lot of the rhetoric is a little bit different but the underlying policies are very similar. i mean, the kinds of things i think the governor will recommend sound like things that are already happening and continuously hearing governor talk he doesn't seem to understand or speak to, you know, with china. it is not just currency manipulation and trade to worry about or deal with china on. it's also china involved in what's happening in the middle east. they're involved in other parts of the world so these relationships are very -- they're

we'll let him run his own race and we're going to run our own race. >> jen psaki joining us this morning jen. >> thank you. >> you bet. >>> john berman, other stories making news today. >>> police in westminster, colorado, have released home video of jessica ridgeway, in hopes that someone who has seen the 11-year-old will come forward. her backpack was found six miles from her house. they got off to a late start on their search because her mother works nights and police say she slept through a call from officials after jessica was reported absent from class. >>> alleged sexual abuse, names released by a lawyer who represents more than 100 alleged victims. according to his files, many have never been reported to police or never faced criminal charges. >>> police in pittsburgh have arrested a 15-year-old boy for a vicious, apparently unprovoked attack on a teacher that was captured on a security camera. the tape shows the 50-year-old teacher walking by a group of people when he suddenly is punched and knocked unconscious. the suspect has now been charged with assault. >>> and the father o

jen psaki joins us. you. >> good morning, soledad. >> a lot of focus has been taken off the campaign trail as the president focuses on the devastation of superstorm sandy and governor romney, as well, not really campaigning. sort of dealing with the storm aftermath. are you worried when you see some of the those poll numbers, where you see virginia and florida neck and neck? >> the president is out there, doing exactly what the american people elected him to do, which is to manage the country in a state of crisis. for this week, that's hurricane sandy. you've seen him over the past couple of days hunker down in the white house, making calls to mayors and governors, getting briefed by his team. he will be touring the damage with governor christie today. this is a time where politics takes a backseat. on the polls, this race is going to be close. we've always believed that. i will say we're leading or tied in virtually every battleground state. that's one of the reasons the romney team is so desperately lo

i'll ask his campaign's press secretary, jen psaki. she's standing by live. and why is the space shuttle moving through the streets of los angeles? [ whistle blowing ] where do you hear that beat? campbell's healthy request soup lets you hear it... in your heart. [ basketball bouncing ] heart healthy. great taste. mmm... male announcer ] sounds good. it's amazing what soup can do. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] its lightweight construction makes it nimble... ♪ ♪ its road gripping performance makes it a cadillac. introducing the all-new cadillac xts. available with advanced haldex all-wheel drive. [ engine revving ] it's bringing the future forward. [ female announcer ] research suggests cell health plays a key role throughout our lives. one a day women's 50+ is a complete multivitamin designed for women's health concerns as we age. it has more of 7 antioxidants to support cell health. one a day 50+. >>> there's no doubt we saw more verbal fireworks in the vice presidential debate last night than during last week's showdown between mitt romney and barack obama. lo

jen psaki with the obama campaign.egory with "meet the press" and tom brokaw next on "andrea mitchell reports." our abundant natural gas is already saving us money, producing cleaner electricity, putting us to work here in america and supporting wind and solar. though all energy development comes with some risk, we're committed to safely and responsibly producing natural gas. it's not a dream. america's natural gas... putting us in control of our energy future, now. to volunteer to help those in need. when a twinge of back pain surprises him. morning starts in high spirits, but there's a growing pain in his lower back. as lines grow longer, his pain continues to linger. but after a long day of helping others, he gets some helpful advice. just two aleve have the strength to keep back pain away all day. today, jason chose aleve. just two pills for all day pain relief. try aleve d for strong, all day long sinus and headache relief. >>> right now on "andrea mitchell reports" eyewitness view. president obama expected to arr

. >> that's from the democratic party, president obama's campaign spokeswoman, jen psaki added fuel to the fire. she said, "the president felt those comments were outrageous and demeaning to women. this is an issue where mitt romney is starring in an ad for this senator, and it is perplexing that he would not demand to have that ad taken down." of course, looking at this from the other side, it would be very awkward if mr. romney did demand to have that ad taken down, since the policy stance on this issue that mr. mourdock has is the exact same policy stance held by the man mr. romney chose as his vice presidential running mate, paul ryan. and it is moments like these, it is days like this on the campaign trail when it is never more clear that this is not the next -- this is not the next national election after 2008. this is the next national election after 2010, which is the election where the republican party not only did great, importantly, in terms of understanding republican party politics, they ran five different candidates for the united states senate that year, who blew through

congressman steve israel, a fighting democrat for the dnc, and thank you, jen psaki of the obama campaignor die time for the president, and this is "hardball," the place for politics live from hofstra. [ male announcer ] zeebox is the free app that makes tv even better. if your tv were a space captain, zeebox would be an alien, first officer. together they'd become the best star team in the fleet, able to take on anything in the universe. whew. space. space. [ male announcer ] download zeebox free, and let your tv go where it's never gone before. to compete on the global stage. what we need are people prepared for the careers of our new economy. by 2025 we could have 20 million jobs without enough college graduates to fill them. that's why at devry university, we're teaming up with companies like cisco to help make sure everyone's ready with the know how we need for a new tomorrow. [ male announcer ] make sure america's ready. make sure you're ready. at devry.edu/knowhow. ♪ at devry.edu/knowhow. and every day since, two years ago, the people of bp made a commitment to the gulf. we've work

. >> jen psaki, the president isn't the only one who's a good salesman or saleswoman. thank you very much. traveling press secretary. >> thank you, andrea. have a good day. >> see you in hofstra. >>> we'll hear from bob mcdon d mcdonnell coming up next. >>> new hope for the pakistani schoolgirl who was shot for just taking on the taliban. >>> and joining me live tomorrow from hofstra in new york as we preview the next presidential debate. this is "andrea mitchell report" only on msnbc. [ man ] ring ring... progresso this reduced sodium soup says it may help lower cholesterol, how does it work? you just have to eat it as part of your heart healthy diet. step 1. eat the soup. all those veggies and beans, that's what may help lower your cholesterol and -- well that's easy [ male announcer ] progresso. you gotta taste this soup. since then, there's been one wedding, 2 kids, and 43 bottles of olay total effects. so in spite of 185 tantrums 378 pre-dawn starts and a lot of birthdays, caroline still looks amazing. you can challenge what's possible thanks to the trusted perfor

romney senior adviser barbara comstock is in denver and jen psaki, press secretary for the obama campaignas vegas with the president. good to see both of you. nice big smiles. i love this optimism. we're all excited about tomorrow. barbara, let me start with you. there was something politico's chief political columnist wrote today that sort of made me smile and i wanted to get your reaction. roger simons wrote, there are three things mitt romney must do to win the presidential debate on wednesday. unfortunately, nobody knows what they are. do you know what they are? >> well, i think it's going to be talking to the american people about how the middle class has been buried under the higher taxes, the higher regulations and the -- just the job-killing policies for the past four years and how mitt romney can talk straight to the american people about how he has a plan to create jobs, specific things, like in my home state of virginia, he's going to allow us to have exploration off shore with energy so we can have good high-paying jobs. that's something supported by democrat senators like mar

. >> jen psaki see you in denver. >> see you in denver, andrea. >> here to discuss what's at stake formney as well on wednesday night, michael gerson, "washington post" columnist and former speechwriter for george w. bush. you helped prepare president bush in 2000 and 2004 for his debates. what are the particular challenges for the two contenders as you see it today? >> we saw it in 2004 that the president had not involved in debating the whole primary season in the obama scenario. >> mitt romney has been throwing punches and receiving them in over 20 debates. i think that probably helps. if you look at the univision forum that president obama just did, he got fairly softball questions and he had a shaky performance. that should be a wake-up call for the obama team. they must be recommeally focuse this. that is an advantage for romney coming into this. he has the biggest disadvantage as well which is he has ground to make up, has to do something not just play defense, which i think the president can do more of. >> senator mccain who's been there, done that was asked about it today. >>

but jen psaki pushback on all that short time ago. >> that is baloney. that is baloney.ated 5.2 million jobs over 32 months. in the short time today, he will be in iowa laying out what his economic plan is. reporter: the obama camp will have a chance to react. there are a lot of other issues out there, but in the final days, we see it coming back to the economy. let's not forget that next friday we have an unemployment report. jenna: we had an undecided voter in her studio last week, and she said it is all about the economy a new report says by the end of the year, the economy may take a bigger hit regardless about who gets elected. tell us a little bit about that. reporter: is all about the fiscal cliff. everyone has been avoiding talking about it in washington. the bush tax rates expiring. taxes will be going up and in early january, we have the sequestration, which means that we have spending cuts that are kicking in the gives you an idea of the impact it is coming after the election, as much attention as we are paying on the election itself. undecided voters want to

. >> bill: jen psaki, this morning president obama will be campaigning next week in colorado, wisconsin bag. we have already won. where is this -- you know overconfidence? what is the reality? >> oh, god. it's a bluff. i'm 5'10", and you would know that's not true. this is a case of them saying something because they want to push this fake momentum. this absurd momentum story or narrative that is being pushed by the romney team just isn't backed up. >> bill: and i think the media is starting to catch up to this and the reality is the polls either haven't changed or inched up a little bit for the president in the key battleground states. jen, the way i see it is always the case with the big lie if they say it often enough people will believe it. >> right. and hopefully the american people are smarter than that. >> bill: i think they are. jen thank you so much. appreciate it. and the president at the white house today. really busy schedule and i'll tell you all about it when we come back here on the "full court press." >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." ♪ (vo) john fugelsang see

we have jen psaki. she is part of obama for america. 2%, when you think?omy has been through a very tough time over the past several years. the good news is the unemployment rate is at its lowest rate in five years. consumer confidence is at its highest rate in five years. martha: i asked her about about gdp. is 2% good enough? >> we think it needs to be growing faster. the president is the first person to say that. he says nearly everyday on the campaign trail, we have come too far to turn back now. that is why he put out a specific plan. he would love congress to act on that. talking about his plan to create manufacturing jobs, help small businesses. we are ready to do this, we know we need to do more. bill: a lot of people say that plan amounts to nothing. >> i don't know who those people are. private sector economists have analyzed back and say that is not the case. mitt romney has not in the same. [talking over each other] bill: blitz come back to gdp. that is believed to have one at the moment. last quarter our economy grew at 2%. that is less the 5%

jen psaki telling reporters we're not going to be lectured by someone who's been an unmitigated disasterwaters. it's a high bar he would have to jump over to convince them he's prepared to be commander in chief. culminating with paul ryan and vice president facing off for their first and only debate on thursday night. we're joined by tennessee republican congresswoman diane black, a romney supporter and also works with paul ryan on both the house budget and weighs and means committee. on that, i would like to start with numbers here. jobs numbers. a big supporter of your campaign, jack welch, sent out a tweet on friday after the unemployment report came out showing 7.8% unemployment, and jack welch wrote unbelieve jobs numbers. these chicago guys will do anything, can't debate so change the numbers. do you stand by this comment from jack welch? do you think that the white house cooked the numbers in the jobs report? >> well look, we're just going to talk about the facts. there's 23 million americans who are unemployed. they're either looking for a job, they are giving up or underemployed

peter king is going to join us as well, jen psaki from the obama campaign will be joining us.illary clinton now says about the attack on the u.s. consulate in benghazi. and about the cover-up accusations. we'll have a live report this morning from peru where secretary clinton is traveling. and tyra banks. she wants you to know your flaws are okay. zoraida and john, your flaws are okay. tyra has a mission to empower young women. she's been doing that for a long time. she's got a big event coming up. she's going to talk to us about it. she is so impressive in what she does with young women. i love her. >> all i heard was tyra banks. i don't know anything else you said. >> love, love, love. >> tyra banks. she's coming to join us this morning. >> thanks, soledad. >>> serious story now. more issues have been reported with drugs from a massachusetts compounding pharmacy linked to a deadly multistate outbreak of fungal meningitis. the food and drug administration now says two other medicines are linked to illnesses. senior medical correspondent elizabeth cohen joins us now from atlan

. >> jen psaki, thank you. >> good to see you. >> anderson, back to you. >> five minutes away from thethe most important night of this presidential race. let's bring in our analysts and correspondents. john king, as you wait the lastfy milast five minutes, what are you looking for? >> governor romney has to change the dynamic on one single question. which should voters trust swing voters in battleground. voters trust the most? right now they are tied. you can't convince people to change presidents if you are tied on the defining question. you have to beat him by several points. >> it's about undecided people. >> he has to convince the base he is a conservative, he will cut taxes, conservative republican. guess what? that's not enough with the way -- especially in battleground states. in colorado tonight, that state will be decided if most latinos turn out and most evangelicals turn out. that will be decided by suburban women. more moderate than mitt romney. virginia now with the demographic changes not much better. what do people want? their legs are tired. four, five, six, tough years

we'll talk with jen psaki from the obama campaign.." >> all right, fantastic. >>> superstorm sandy brought air and ground traffic to a halt. a grinding halt. two of the three major new york airports are reopening but look at laguardia. closed. still. due to flooding. who knows when, if it will open any time soon. cnn's richard quest has the gloomy traffic picture for us. he is live this morning in atlanta. hey, richard. >> good morning to you, from the cnn center. yes, we have the three major airports still closed, new york, jfk, laguardia, and newark. but as you said, better news about putting a bit of a smile, is that new work is actually going to reopen. kennedy not until lunch time. but newark opens in just ten minutes from now. so hat does that mean? well if you look at the latest explorer, you can see these are jetblue planes. most of them are jetblue. that's jetblue from orlando heading up, because what happened was, the airlines got permission to start bringing the flights in. if you don't bring them in, you can't send them ou