you have people like bevan dufty, david chiu, even john avalon's common john campos, and ross mirkarimi, all had indicated an interest. so you have people on the board who want to run for mayor. do they go for the caretaker mayor, or do they put those interests aside and best themselves with a politician that has a good chance of being elected? with that dilemma in front of them, we saw what happened. they could not put their egos aside. they generally would with the caretaker mayor. that person would pose no threat of running against them. >> when the board met next week on november 23, the clerk of the board proposed a process for nomination for mayor, which the board debated, amended, and eventually passed. >> a board member read the nominated may not produce pig in the discussion or vote on the competitor nominees. if the nominee of a board member nominee has been withdrawn, the board member may no longer have a conflict and could return to the room and to dissipate. >> basically, a process that i am proposing is one in which, one, would maximize per dissipation. members of the boar

john avalon from new york. >> reporter: thank you. >>> herman cain says if he's elected he will bring says america is too uptight. e we'll have more in the next hour at the cnn "newsroom." >>> there's an alarming number of college grads struggling to repay their loans, causing the default rate to soar. our alison kosik is going to explain how bad the situation is when we go live to her at the new york stock exchange. i know what works differently than many other allergy medications. omnaris. omnaris, to the nose. did you know nasal symptoms like congestion can be caused by allergic inflammation? omnaris relieves your symptoms by fighting inflammation. side effects may include headache, nose bleed, and sore throat. got allergy symptoms out of my way. now life's a picnic. [ man ] omnaris. ask your doctor. battling nasal allergy symptoms? omnaris combats the cause. get omnaris for only $11 at omnaris.com. requires more than wishful thinking. it requires determination and decisive action. i go to e-trade and get unbiased analyst ratings and 24/7 help from award-winning customer support to

there are going to be some folks stuck in a no obama mode, to de deny him a victory. >> john avalon, thank you. >>> there will be a debate hosted with the republican candidates. this is in tampa. it's the site of the 2012 republican national convention. tune in for the cnn tea party on monday at 8:00 eastern. >>> rick perry may be the current frontrunner on the national stage, but he is getting a lot of push back about his role in the controversial death penalty case in texas. >>> rick perry got some big applause last night at the republican debate for refusing to apologize for his stance on the death penalty. >> in the state of texas if you come in our state and kill one of our children or kill a police officer, you are involved with another crime and you kill one of our citizens, you will face the ultimate justice in the state of texas. and that is you will be executed. >> what do you make of that? our ed lavendara reports. >> texas governor rick perry signed off on one execution. >> willingham was a monster. >> reporter: just before willingham's death, a natalie known fire expert

john avalon is the senior columnist. is the pressure on for republicans to get onboard? speech played well with swing voters. this was not another inspirational speech from president obama, and it was a policy speech, and it was based on everything in it has had bipartisan support in the past. and that is key to tell republicans, support this and if not you are playing games. there were a lot of ideas. there is not going to be unanimity like this, but the infrastructure bill, it got applause. >> and john mccain and eric cantor were more open to adopting some measures, but not all. could there still be an ugly battle around the corner? >> an ugly battle in this congress in this washington? where did you get that crazy idea? the fact that john mccain, and eric cantor, and john boehner for that matter opened the door to saying we can work with this. that's a big deal in the environme environment. and that's because these plans are bipartisan. and you know, the idea of cutting corporate taxes and closing loopholes and creating insecentives for hiring, and the are issues repu

john avalon with me and dana. e, he thinks there's now political pressure on the republicans to do something after a tough summer but he is speaking as somebody just looking at the public opinion poll, the overall approval rating is down. the ratings on the economy is down. does he have the standing on the issue now to swing the political tide? >> well, you know, john, everything in politics is compared to what proposition and as bad as the poll numbers, the republicans in congress poll numbers are worse. i think people feel the you are sen ji on the economy. swing and independent voters in particular. when the president put forth a plan that's bipartisan policy proposals he was speaking to them. it's tough to write it off as stimulus, too. they want to see washington take action and means putting the partisanship aside. how cynical does it look for republicans to oppose tax cuts simply because they come from president obama? i think there's an obligation to act. >> and help us out on that, dana, in the sense i was

finally she is here today with her husband, john avalon of newsweek and the daily beast among others including cnn as well as her parents, andrew and genie hoover. andrew is herbert hoover's grandson. i would like to welcome you all today. [applause] among her many goals in life two arkie at present. as i noted before they align quite well with the kinds of things we care about at the reagan foundation. the first involves brand relevance. if you are a follower of the reagan foundation library our mission is what we stand for. you can't help but have noticed in the last couple years that we have bent over backwards to furnace the image and legacy of ronald reagan. into the minds of americans. we have taken the opportunity in the centennial to reach millions of americans and remind them not just what ronald reagan was as a man but more importantly what he stood for. so i am here to report the reagan brand is in great shape. most recent reagan survey revealed he is the most admired president among all americans. [applause] margaret too is sunni mission. she faces a different but related

john avalon made the president that the president probably made a mistake by putting price tag on it. john, one of the problems in real life is things have a price tag and in real life that's what bankrupts an economy. excuse me, john. there's a myth out there if washington just worked together we'd solve all our problems. a lot of americans are concerned out there that washington has been working together and that's why we have this massive debt, this crushing amount of regulations, taxes that kill business and the jobs. remember, the mess we've got today, washington worked together to create so that's what republicans are look what actually works and solves our problems. bipartisanship for pointless purposes won't work. >> the problem is that kind of recitation of partisan talking points, that's the problem. when americans look up and they see washington is dysfunction because of hyperpartisanship, and what the president deserves credit for is trying to put forward a plan that he says -- if the super committee does its job can help take away the cots and roots it in bipartisan propo

your honor, darren, with john avalon. -- you are on, tarin, with john avlon. caller: i would agree with him what he said about corporations, but i disagree with what he said about the third party, to party, that they are too far right extreme. i came from england to america for the reasons a lot of people come to america, and that is opportunity. i think the two-party stands for a lot of centrist in a way because people do want to see a change, whether it is republican or democratic. it just needs to be a difference of opinion. do you know what i'm saying? guest: let me ask the caller a question if he still on the line. no question, trying to improve the economy and deal with the deficit if you believe it is generational theft. that is something that bridges the party rhetoric and independent and centrist. but what about tea party leaders but are not remotely centrist, like michelle bachmann? caller: she's not the leader of the two-party, is she? guest: she has a coalition in the congress caller: yes, but if a new party formed, then there would elect a person.

. >> let's dig deeper with cnn contributor john avalon. ntively hurt the obama administration? >> it sure doesn't help, wolf. you know the power of narrative and politics and you're seeing solyndra sin nynonymous for government waste and crony capitalism. this is a symbol going forward. the staffer at omb was right, this has gotten much worse. optics are much worse today than six months ago, before the second round. half a billion dollars in taxpayer money lost and 1100 people out of work. >> will it undermine the president's latest jobs creation initiative? >> it's going to take a lot of wind ut of the sails because it gives critics a credible argument to make, look if we're putting extra money in to stimulate economy, look at what has worked in the past. it's a shame because these loan beg guarantees are necessary to some extent. you can't say move the country to independence but this wasn't the right way to do it. but clearly more scrutiny, due diligence, it's harder for the administration to say trust us to invest in companies to stimul

aurl that good stuff with cnn's alison kosik and john avalon, a cnn contributor and columnist nor ""newsweek resistance of anything that smacks of stimulus, is the american jobs act doomed? >> no. no. but i think president obama has made its passage a little bit steeper by putting forward a plan to pay for it with either closing loopholes or tax hikes. i think the best way to understand this is it's probably an opening bid. president is not negotiating against himself in this case, trying to set out on initial bid. nobody thinks the bill will get pass ted wholesale anyway. i think the republicans have to have ask, are they considering any loopholes being closed? the president made it a little steeper climb by putting forward this plan to pay for it by tax hikes and loophole close urz. it far are from dead. >> what will this mean for the job the supers committee has for ru reducing debt? >> i'll tell you, one with of the big challenges we've got going forward is the supercommittee is challenge by john boehner and president obama to go bigger than 1.5 trillion they've been mandated to cut. one

. >> ed espinoza, john avalon, thank you for coming on the show. that was a fun discussion. and families of the nearly 3,000 people who tdied on 9/11. plans to build an islamic center and mosque near the world trade center. today it open its doors. my grocery bill isn't wasteful spending. my heart medication isn't some political game. our retirement isn't a simple budget line item. i worked hard. i paid into my medicare. and i earned my social security. now, instead of cutting waste and loopholes, washington wants to cut our benefits. that wasn't the agreement. join the members of aarp and tell washington to stop cuts to our medicare and social security benefits. [♪...] >> male announcer: now, for a limited time, your companion flies free, plus save up to 65%. call 1-800-sandals. condi[ male announcer ] if you're only brushing, add listerine® total care for more complete oral care. ♪ it works in six different ways to restore enamel... strengthen teeth... freshen breath... help prevent cavities... and kill bad breath germs for a whole mouth clean. so go beyond the brush with

topics, three questions and 30 seconds on the clock and playing it maria cardona and david losh and john avalons, todd palin says the new book out about his wife, and i'm quoting here, is full of disgusting lies and innuendo and smears, but it's full of some pretty serious allegations, drug use, cheating on her husband, what do you think, will any of them stick, dana? >> no, i don't think any of these will stick at all. joe mcginnis is the crazy peeper that moved next door to her and looked over her yard for the entire summer. "the new york times" absolutely ravaged this book, the politico, "the atlantic" this is a guy who is a plagiarist who had to settle out of court, he tried to exploit a sexual abuse victim so he could get dirt on sarah palin. i'm more interested in the absolute crumbling character of joe mcginnis than i am the smears and the trumped-up allegations. >> creepy peeper, i'm seeing the title of dana's next book there. maria? >> i don't think any of it will stick, kyra, because sarah palin is a mapping ngnet, she repels attracts. people that like her will be embolden emboldened,

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maria car dona, dana lohse, and john avalon, columnist with "newsweek" and "the daily beast."l. there was a huge upset. what does this say about 2012 for president obama? maria? >> i think there's a huge lesson for democrat. of that is, do not send pictures of your private parts on twitter. i think that is the only thing that we can get out of this. voters don't want to see picture of your junk. just don't do it. other than that, there's anything else to gather from this. in 2006, republicans swept every competitive special election and lost the house. in 2010, democrats swept every competitive special election and lost the house. democrats are ready for 2012 with strong challengers who are going to go up against republicans who want to cut medicare, cut social security -- [ buzzer ] >> protect loopholes for the wealthy and protect middle-class families, that's the challenge we're ready to win. >> i think john's smiling over the word "junk." dana, you weigh in. >> i think that there's a tide coming in, and this administration would do best to not only look at the polls, which

. >> let me bring john avalon, one of the cnn contributors, into the conversation. act that democrats and republicans basically don't want to do anything together right now, what do you make of it? >> i think that's a source of enormous amount of frustration in america against washington in general, anger at both parties. anger at the economic situation and the stalemate and the reality of divided government is the only way we can see action on the economy is if they find some bipartisan legislation. the president's obligation in the speech is to define some common ground and the real question is whether republicans are so invested in opposing the president politically that they will turn their back on policy plans they backed in the past. that's one of the many questions that we're going to be see answered during the speech and in the aftermath. but the american people and independent voters in particular are disgusted at the dysfunction in washington. they're angry at the hyperpartisanship and they realize they've got to find a way to work together to break the log

. >> and so, john avalon, it is a fa fascinating political moment. this is the president in the last campaign, when he was elected, people talked about this unraveled grass roots network, the ability to communicate. now he has the bull y pulpit. it's a political backdrop. smart to put the people behind him as he makes the case that we need the money. the question is, when he flips the switch on the grass roots organization, does it have the juice it once had? >> well, it really does become a test of the bully pulpit and let the network atrophy and this really is about doing more than speaking to the political base. the american people are frustrated because they're out of work and frustrated because washington doesn't seem to be working and by putting forward an ambulanced bipartisan plan of things republicans and democrats agreed with on the past, the president is upping the ante and puts pressure on the republicans, as well. can they oppose a plan to create incentives for companies to hire returning gis? there's a cost to that opposition approach,

you were on with john avalon. >> caller: good morning, gentlemen. ut like the third party tea party that they are too far right extreme. i mean, i came from england. i came to america for the reason a lot of people come to america and that's opportunity. i think the tea party stands for a lot of sentries annoyed because people need to see a change, whether it's republican or democrat. it needs to be just a difference of opinion. you know what i'm saying? >> guest: let me ask the caller question it based on the line. no question trying to improve the economy, to a deficit and debt is something that bridges to you party rhetoric and beliefs with republicans, independents and centrists. what did the calder make of the leaders for people like men who are not remotely centrist? >> caller: well, obviously she's not the actual leader of the tea party, issued? >> guest: shootout at the the coalition in congress. >> caller: if the new party formed, obviously people veatch of that person. it's difficult to say he would be the leader. >> guest: i think we do kn

the lights will ease traffic flow from john daly boulevard south to avalon drive. >>> it's been called the place where developers can get help bringing their stwengz to the real world. today at&t opened up its founder development center. the site is at&t's third foundry center. following the ones opened earlier this year in texas and israel. the carrier has high hopes for meeting promising startups in the hot bed of technology. they want to free developers from the hassles of dealing with technology on the back end of its infrastructure such as billing so they can make them work out the network more quickly. >> at&t is making it easy to be able to send bills, make money from advertising and have all that happen with very little effort in an app. >> the foundry innovation center isn't just for software developers. at&t is also working with mobile device and infrastructure vendors as well. >>> santa cruz county supervisors have passed one of california's stiffest bans on plastic grocery bags, unanimously approving a measure that would charge shoppers for paper bags. the measure bans supe

avalon's wife can run for president. john, cornell, ed, thanks for coming in. that's >>to