that's the start of tonight's great debate with karen finney. and niger innis.he puzzle. the president of the national weather service employees union put out a tweet. do we have that? nope, but i'll fake it. here's what he said, i'll put it up for you, let me assure you the hard working employees of the nws had nothing to do with the utterly disgusting and disingenuous tweet sent out by noaa management tonight. question to you, niger. why is the president making people in positions of power echo his error? >> because there's another missing piece of the puzzle which is that the national hurricane center issued a number of maps from the 27th of august through the 3rd of september several of which showed that alabama did have a 30% chance, as high, as high as a 30% chance of getting hit by the hurricane and it is based on some of those reports that the president made his estimation. >> karen finney, in point of fact, on the sunday that he made this statement, these were the only available maps that he would have been shown, assuming he looked at anything. >> righ

former clinton white house press secretary joe lockhart and former hillary clinton spokesperson karen finneyjoe, i want to go first to you. we see here now this dead heat really at the top of these polls. we have warren at 22%, biden at 20. but given the 4% range there, they are essentially tied or at least in a dead heat. how important a sign is this for warren? >> well, i think it signifies and memorializes what a good campaign she's been running. she's really been the candidate who has moved. biden started at the top. i'm sure he expected someone to move to be, you know, the co-frontrunner. and she's done that. you know, the one word of caution here, though, is where we are in the calendar, that this race is most analogous to 2004, where you have lots of candidates. and, yes, john kerry went on to win and he won iowa. but estimate in september he was way back in the field. everybody was talking about howard dean. so it is very good news for elizabeth warren. i don't think it's bad news for biden. i think he's holding steady there. it is terrible news for the rest of the field, especially

and karen finney, former senior spokesperson for the hillary clinton campaign. both of you have been in the room planning for debates. let's strategize tonight as to what these candidates need to do. joe, start with joe biden. what does he need to do on the stage? >> he has to show energy, resolve. show why he's the person that can take it to donald trump and defeat him. he's got to define what this race is all about, which is taking on trump. >> how does he do that? >> he's got to be better for the whole debate. he was terrible in the first debate. the second debate, a good first half and then trailed off. people are talking about whether he's lost a step. he needs to come out tonight and from the beginning to the end show energy, resolve. the other candidates don't exist for him. it's about what's at stake for this country and how he can beat donald trump. >> karen, you agree? >> absolutely. at this point neither warren nor biden because they're the front-runners, they should not worry about the others. the others will try to attack them because they'll be loo

with their perspective on the uptick on attacks is david chalian and former senior spokesperson karen finneyd, it does feel like there's the beginning of a shift in the campaign. is this going to be the new reality, these kind of attacks? >> yeah. i mean i think as we get closer to the voting -- and i think we're some 136 days or so from iowa now, you're going to see some of the folks who are not at the very top of the heap taking their shots because time is growing a little short here. obviously there's fluidity in this race, anderson, but this is the time where you really can't leave to chance that voters will just kind of come around to you. you got to make the case why you are the stronger person to be the democratic nominee to go up against donald trump than anyone else in that field, and you can't do that without sort of, you know, squaring off and measuring up against what the other democrats are putting forward. >> karen, was it only a matter of time before this happened? >> absolutely. in the fall, this is really the period where you expect people -- this is what you would see, righ

joining me is karen finney. the. charlie dent is a former republican comment tateor.ee you both. charlie, let's talkthis new reporting. backup plans if the u.s. economy a turn for the worse. how concerned that the president is that he's been touting at being strong. >> i think the president ought to be concerned about the economy. i don't think that most are redirecting any type of recession. but they are predicting a slower economy moving forward in 2020. i think the best thing the president to do to calm markets and also make investors feel better is ceasing and desisting from this multi--front trade war. i just met with two ceos of mid-size manufacturers who are alarmed. this is costing them tens of millions of dollars. it brings about great are uncertainty, unprevious districtability. they can't plan. it's affecting them very negatively. the usmca, this is an incremental change to nafta. the passing of that uncertain at best, probably unlikely. picking on jay powell, he is not the problem. i think the president is going to have to move out from under this trade wa

karen finney, what do you think?ave elizabeth warren number one with the bullet there. >> i think it shows that the fundamentals work, right. elizabeth warren has basically been in iowa, she's been very focused on campaigning, taking questions, taking selfies, doing the basics. >> selfies, quote/unquote. >> selfies. sorry. and i think it is part -- it shows for someone like harris, this is why you are pumping down in iowa for the next couple of months or so. because, look, this is a state, as we know, where voters there, they want to see you. they want to hear from you. you had a huge turnout yesterday. which is again people are interested. they want to know, trying to decide and i sort of say they're dating right now. that's the other thing our poll shows. there's still some time and open. >> a majority are still -- >> open to changing their minds. >> changing minds. exactly. >> you've won iowa. what is the secret? >> well, i mean, plant yourself there and make relationships with the people there and build coalition