. >> linda killian is here, she's also the author of "the swing vote: the untapped power of independentsnow if you heard that debate we were having, but what did you make of president obama's speech, more pitch to the base or middle? >> i think bill clinton was fantastic in the way that he talked to independent swing voters. he talked about the deficit. he talked about, gee, we want to get along. he quoted ronald reagan and turned it on the republicans. he teed it up for barack obama, and barack obama whiffed. when it comes to the independent swing voters. i think it was totally about exciting the base, but i don't understand why he couldn't do both. excite the base and talk about specific ways we're going to get out of this economic hole. bill clinton did that, i thought, very successfully. >> yeah. linda, i actually don't agree with that framing. i think it was much more broadly pitched, but even if it was pitched to the base. nate silver was writing that 35% of voters nationwide identified as democrats and 30% at republicans. democrats have an advantage there to energize their people.

journalist linda killian is a senior scholar from the wid roo wilson foundation.ace may be decided by about 19 people in iowa and ohio. is this going to come down to purely the debates? >> it is a few more than 19, but yes. it is the swing voters. it's going to come out -- turn out, obviously, of the bases are important. but the four states that i talk about in the swing vote, ohio, new hampshire, colorado, and virginia, you just talked about a couple of them. they are incredibly key. and the kind of voters that haven't made up their minds yet are the voters i talk about. young voters in colorado. under 35, registered as independent in the higher percentage in any other age group. they are surprisingly persuadable this time around. they turned out in very high numbers for obama last time around. but they are struggling economically. america-first democrat, conservative male, working class and middle class democrats, incredibly key in ohio. the anti-union efforts in ohio by republicans, you heard -- this is why you heard so much about the auto bailout at the democr

there's a quote i'd like to read from you a piece in the daily beast by linda killian and get you to comment. massachusetts, the home of kennedy dynasty, the only one to vote for george mcgovern rebels in the uber-liberal reputations. while democrats hold most of the elected offices that matter, the paradox is most don't seem comfortable electing women to statewide office. what are your thoughts? why does this happen? >> this is a pet topic of mine. i don't disagree in any way. we elected one woman to congress in recent history. for a variety of reasons i think to a large extent it's cultural. it's a very sort of old-fashioned irish catholic, you know, sort of patriarchal kind of establishment here. it's very much you sort of work your way up through the last congressman's office, and then you get appointed and everyone rallies around to put you into the seat next. that tends to be from man to man. i think that's changing a lot now, but we aren't seeing it move up the offices as quickly as in other states. i think it is changing. i think there are a lot of perceptions, and it certain