that guy, had he the best performance over the dow during his term, and that is john calvin coolidge.a gain of 265% for the dow. lot of that related to post world war i building. fdr was close. 195% over his time which is much longer. still, calvin coolidge. >> very cool hat! >> about the only thing cool about him. what's kind after mellow guy from vermont. very frugal. unlike the notoriously frugal john calvin coolidge, this has been the most expensive election of all time. eamon javers has broken down every dollar down to the second. >> good afternoon. since january 1st, 2011 the race for president has racked up quite a bar tab. both candidates' campaigns, their political committees and the top three super pacs on each side have been burning through the cash. combined mega spending has surpassed $1.7 billion. that's billion, with a "b." that's not easy to do over the course of just 21 months. rate of mega spending averages more than $179 million every single month. that's more than $2.6 million in spending every single day. by the hour, more than $109,000 an hour. and moon walking b

followers abide by the teachings of reformer john calvin, who called for a total overhaul of the faith in the 16th century. calvin's teachings are still applied to this day. for the colonists, the bible is the only valid truth. they should strictly adhere to the word of god i live with asceticism, hard work, and religious zeal. this little town lies in the middle of the bible belt. anyone missing church on sunday here must give account to the congregation. at his home, only christian music can be heard playing in the childrens' rooms. radio, television, and internet are taboo. the entire day revolves around just one thing -- the family's faith in god. >> they pray and read from the bible before and after every meal. like all the covenants, they go to church twice on sunday, once in the morning and again in the afternoon. >> it is very important for me that god is there and that i am allowed to live for him. i also want to live in deference to him and i am glad christ died for our sins. then at a life in accordance with god's word -- i know the place is this as strictly adhered to as in

richelle joins me now with her assistant principle and chess coach, john calvin.> you could beat me in three moves so we are not going to play. listen, richelle, you have won four national championships. you are at this moment kind of waiting on college acceptance letters. where, what is chess to you in your life? what is chess? >> chess is my life. that's what chess is. when i was in third grade, chess taught me to be humble. my grandmother, she would always beat me. when i beat other people, it taught me to not brag about it and accept the fact that i am not the best chess player but i'm on my way to being there. now, as a high school senior, chess has taught me to strategize and it's taught me comprehension and it's taught me -- chess resolves around my life. so my success stems from chess, whether academic or after school. >> so accomplishment, humility, strategy, all of those things. that sounds like what a school should be doing and yet i was pulling moo i hair out last night watching the documentary. you kept having to manage with budget cuts and budget cut

john hodgman, everybody, we'll be jdz welcome back, my guest tonight is a staff writing at the new worker. his new book is called dogfight. 2012 presidentate campaign in verse please welcome back to the program calvin mr. trillin always a delight to see you, my friend. >> thank you, you're looking well. >> thank you. >> i have to say something about this book. >> go ahead, say as much as you can possibly say. >> i have many authors on the program, many esteemed pulitzer prize winner, people of great renown. >> right. >> jon: their books are thick. very heavy. and they cause me great trouble during the day getting through them. yours, sir, is a breath of fresh air. >> that's the nicest compliment i've had since i did a book of columns and a friend of mine in florida said they were just the right length to wait out one of those drawbridges. so i really appreciate that. every author looks for that sort of compliment. >> jon: absolutely, here is what else it does. it boldly predicts an election, look, can we get a shot of the cover. okay, obama is smiling, romney is not smiling. biden is incredibly smiling, paul ryan has just been neutered. so let me ask you this: (applause) was there alternate artwork

picture of one of the coolidge sons, john coolidge when he was doing in military training at a camp in massachusetts. there is one here, there we go, his brother, calvin, who spent a summer harvesting tobacco leaves in massachusetts. this is 1923. calvin would later tragically died in the white house areas he got an infection after playing tennis. we didn't have the antibiotics that we have today, and he passed away in the white house. it was a tragic event to the coolidge family, as you might expect. some say that it is the reason that calvin coolidge did not run for reelection. in 1928, he said he chose not to run. and he dropped out of political life at that point. there is a picture here of happier days. the coolidge is were a young family and they lived in northampton, massachusetts. they rented a house, half of the house, duplex, coolidge never owned his own house until after he was president. there is young calvin at the front steps of the house in northampton, massachusetts. you can see it's not a well organized album. it's sort of, i think, the photographs were put in here. here is the photographs that i was looking for. the informal photogra

picture of one of the coolidge signs, john coolidge when he was doing military training at a camp in massachusetts. there is one here of his brother. there we go, calvin has spent the summer harvesting tobacco leaves in massachusetts. this is 1923. calvin would later tragically died in the white house. he got an infection after playing tennis. we didn't have antibiotics that we have today he passed away in the white house. as a tragic event to the coolidge family might expect. some say it's the reason he didn't run for reelection. in 1928 he declared to choose not to run for the presidency and he dropped out of political life at the point. there is a picture here of happier days. the coolidge is as a young family lived in north team then, massachusetts. they rented a house, half of a house, a duplex. coolidge never on his own house until after he was president. there is young calvin. you can see it's not a particularly well organized album. i think the photographs are put in here is grace coolidge decided she wanted to have them shown. here's a photograph of is looking for for, the informal photographs. this is the coolidge family or part of that at t

john coolidge when he was doing military training at a camp in massachusetts. and then there is one here of his brother. there we go, calvin spent the summer harvesting tobacco leaves in massachusetts. this is 1923. calvin would later tragically died in the white house. he got an infection after playing tennis. we didn't have the antibiotics we have today and he passed away in the white house. it was a tragic event for the coolidge family as you might expect. some say it's everything,, coolidge should for reelection. in 1928 he declared i choose not to run for the president be a dropped out of political life at that point. there's a picture here of happier days. coolidge as a young family lived in north hampton, massachusetts. they rented a house. half of the house, a duplex. coolidge never owned his own house until after he was president. there is young calvin at the threats to of north hampton, massachusetts. you can see is not a particularly well organized album. the photographs are put in here as grace coolidge decided she wanted to have them shown. here is the photograph i was looking for comedy and formal photographs