john avlon, great to see you. >> exactly. >> thank you, sir.n working some long hours down there. john avlon joining us live. you can also watch the president's speech right here live on cnn. we're going to begin our final night of dnc coverage at 7:00 with the lovely and talented wolf blitzer and anderson cooper. make sure you tune in. i was spotting, but i had already gone through menopause. these symptoms may be nothing... but they could be early warning signs of a gynecologic cancer, such as cervical, ovarian, or uterine cancer. feeling bloated for no reason. that's what i remember. seeing my doctor probably saved my life. warning signs are not the same for everyone. if you think something's wrong... see your doctor. ask about gynecologic cancer. and get the inside knowledge. there's natural gas under my town. it's a game changer. ♪ it means cleaner, cheaper american-made energy. but we've got to be careful how we get it. design the wells to be safe. thousands of jobs. use the most advanced technology to protect our water. billions in the e

joosk, john avlon, we can never forget we're in the middle of a presidential election.een criticizing the president for weak leadership in the middle east. did this speech show strong leadership? >> i think it did. this was a speech that was very much about a statement of principle. it was a vision speech and the president addressed not only all the things that are going on in the world from libya to syria but by framing the speech with a tribute to ambassador stevens he lead out a vision of american principles that can resonate around the globe. i think this is one of those speeches that could last because he did delineate the conflicts around the world as one being between those who would build and knows who would destroy. the people who use hate and division to try to define humanity. in that case it was a larger rallying cry that could resonate beyond our own election across borders. it was a strong speech by the president. >> ambassador, i just want to ask you one more question, i mean, the president did talk about iran, but he didn't dwell on it. most of his speec

. >> john avlon, what about the fact of what he said, that 47% of the people won't vote for him anyway>> he's setting up this narrative that there's this obama entitlement army and there are two americans. people who are never going to vote for us any way and there's this we feefl compassion and we know we're with the other guy. when you telegraph that's the vision of america you've got and you already come across as ouch touch and as a member of the super rich, this is not the reset the romney campaign wanted. >> aaron, also stands out, when it says, they think they are victims. when you look at the fact that over half of the folks, they're elderly. also, some of the people who don't pay, they're students. when you make that kind of comment, you're denigrating fellow americans. what about the woman who told michelle obama she had four kids in the military, she supported the president. is she a victim, a moocher? the problem mitt romney here is you're basically saying to the rest of you, you're utterly irrelevant, i don't care about you. i won't focus on you. >> of course, people who d

john avlon is with me, david frum, former speech writer for george w.ll burton, cofounder super pac for president obama priorities usa. great to see you. appreciate it. john avlon, who's the winner from this? >> change the rules, you change the game. the obama campaign's been focused on high voter outreach. the romney camp says they're responding in kind. the fact romney and republicans have done better with older voters might give them an edge stereo typically on early voting. folks that don't feel like leaving home. but when they tell reporters they're not targeting a specific demographic, that does give a warning sign. you have to be highly targeted. it's not just election day, it's election weeks. and so right now is voting day, every lost vote the romney campaign has is not a good turnout for their model. >> how important is this early voting for you when you make that decision on where to spend money? >> early voting is pretty important and when you consider the fact that this places like north carolina, people are voting and can vote every day an

joining me now is john avlon. listen to mrs. obama over the weekend. >> we cannot let anyone discourage us from casting our ballots. we cannot make anyone make it feel unwelcome in the voting booth. it's up to us to make sure that in every election, every voice is heard and every vote is counted. that means making sure our laws preserve that right. monitoring the polls to make sure every eligible voter can exercise that right. >> so john, so many new laws. so many different requirements now. poll workers are going to have a field day trying to figure out what it all means. is there the potential for chaos at the polls come november? >> is there the potential? absolutely. we're changing the rules. that leads to a degree of uncertainty. people who haven't had to show id befo i.d. before in certain states will have to do so. some folks may be afraid of that. we have a tortured history of voting rights in this country. laws strike an emotional button. we have instances in the past of voter fraud. the fact that this has happened in s

. >>> for more analysis, we're joined by john avlon, senior correspondent for the daily beast. back in july, romney said he never paid less than 13%. this tax return proves that. is this case closed now? >> the romney campaign wants to put this behind them. but the issue was fading from view. now, it's back on the front pages. they had a lousy week. they figured they'd double down and get it all out there. but the real issue becomes this 14% rate on $14 million. that's so much less than what many middle class folks make as a percentage of their income and a tax rate. that does raise issues. we're about this big fight of 35 or 39 at the top right. and mitt romney is paying 14%, that's a fundamental problem that slaps people not adding up. >> his campaign wants to turn the conversation to the u.s. economy. 45 days left in this campaign. what does he need to do? >> he needs to stop having a lot of self-inflicted wounds. he's had a lousy week. two resets, both by self-inflicted wounds. he has a strong case to make by focusing on hope and change that hasn't panned out. focusing on t

. >> and john avlon, let me bring you in here. separate from this conversation, let's just say you were going to get rid of all the loopholes for the wealthiest americans. how is that going to happen? some of these are not going to be reasonable to get rid of, and that's why the math doesn't work. >> and of course, that's the reality we've seen with this divide and dysfunctional congress, we can't get anything through. let alone a comprehensive reform. we've seen this before. 1986, reagan worked with democratic congress. and the only way you can lower rates, but you've got the close loopholes and that can help generate some revenue. part of the problem here is this is a political document. mitt romney wasn't initially campaigning on a 20% tax cut. that came during the primaries, he was getting moved on by the right, so he came up with a new plan. >> he felt pushed to get a new plan. >> absolutely. he's had also to be consistent, he said it had to be revenue neutral, so he's in a box. bottom line. a serious plan requires specifics,