contributor and "the washington post" columnist, former san francisco mayor willie brown, and mark mckinnon daily beast contributor and cofounder of no labels. he worked on senator john mccain's '08 campaign as well as both of president george w. bush's campaigns. it is great to have you here. mark, i'll start with you. you wrote in the daily beast today there is still time left for romney to turn this one around. nbc's first read points out there are a lot of comparisons to what we're seeing present day to '04. we remind everybody the bush-kerry matchup. you know the race all too well. kerry won october at least after the debate. can romney do the same thing at this point? >> sure he can. i do remember well what we called black september in the 2000 campaign very similar circumstances. we came out of the convention down three points and all the guns were leveled at us and everybody was saying the campaign staff and consultants should be fired. i am familiar with the condition. now it's -- i think romney really compounded the problem with the tape this week. what we're seeing is an increasi

mark mckinnon is going to ask him to break down the battle.a path to enter "the war room" health matters to all of us. that's why lysol has started a mission for health. with new mom programs, lysol healthy habits initiatives in schools and disaster relief efforts. when you use lysol at home, you'll know you're a part of something bigger. for healthy tips and more, visit lysol.com/missionforhealth. >> jennifer: from the presidential horse race to the race for senate where the republicans actually need only a net gain of four seats to wrestle back control from the democrats so coming to us tonight from boston to break down a few of the really interesting senate races is mark mckinnon, a cofounder of no labels, a former campaign advisor to george w. bush. welcome back inside "the war room." >> hey, thank you, governor. let me just say as one republican who is a big fan of your speech at the convention. you microwaved the joint. it was something to watch. it was terrific. >> jennifer: they may not let you back into the republican party after you

mark mckinnon. mark? >> we've got the purple pen going this morning.nd the black scarf. >> looking good. >> what is that? >> he always wears one. it's just a matter of what color it's going to be. >> mark, you're a bold, brave man. >> it's a cross between a bolo and a tie. it's what the gauchos wear, donny. >> it makes sense. >> it's the next big thing. >> boy, we have a lot to talk about this morning. andrea, we want to get to you in a moment. we have so much to work through. begin with two big stories developing overseas. one in egypt, another in libya, both involving violent protests against the united states. at the u.s. consulate in benghazi, libya's second largest city, at least one american staff member was killed after gunmen stormed the compound and burned it down. we've got some amateur video here into nbc news from the scene. if you listen, you can hear gunshots going off in the background. witnesses say the attackers were armed with automatic rifles, rpgs. libyan forces stationed there said to have little to stop the violence. >>> in neighb

joining me now mark mckinnon, chief adviser for george bush, and jonathan capeheart opinion writer forington post." >> mark, i've read what you have to say about mitt romney, i understand your shock at what you've heard from him. there's nothing from what he said at that fundraiser that i can link to the previous two republicans presidents, george w. bush or george h.w. bush when speaking about similar matters. can you find any connection between what george w. bush used to say about compassionate conservatism, what george h.w. bush used to say about thousand points of light? >> no. and it was those ideas that compassionate conservatism that drew independent conservatives like me at the time to the republican party. interestingly, in his response on fox yesterday when he was trying to walk all this back, he kept talking about those people. i never heard the words those people from george w. bush or george h.w. bush or ronald reagan or bill clinton. those are the kinds of things that cause some concern. >> let's listen to george w. bush in 2002 talking how he believes people, everyone r

. >> i want to bring in mark mckinnon, dailybeast.com contributor. great to see you, mark. good morning. >> good morning, chris. >> i'm sure you know, you were mentioned in that politico piece. the comparison was stewart stevens, this romney adviser, is doing three jobs. quote, it would be as if george w. bush had run for president in 2000 with one person playing the roles of karl rove, mark mckinnon and michael gerson. is stewart stevens the problem. is this all on mitt romney since his campaign says he's making all the decisions? >> well, i remember very clearly september of 2000, we called it black september in the bush campaign. we were down by three points. all the guns started shooting at us. everybody wanted me fired because the ads were terrible and the campaign was going down the drain. they wanted all our heads. it was a lot of talk of internal dissension. and then a couple of weeks later due to the debates and a number of other external factors within the campaign because the campaign didn't panic, we were able to right the ship. i think it's way too early to be

coming to us tonight from cambridge, massachusetts is mark mckinnon who is the man who helped stevensak into politics. he is founder of no labels a non-partisan group seeking to solve the nation's problems. mark welcome back into "the war room." >> thank you governor. >> jennifer: so you hired stuart twice to work on the george w. bush campaign. did you ever imagine he would be leading a national campaign? >> not surprised a bit. there are very few people in the business who have been around as long as stuart. i remember when this happened to us in 2000. we were out of the conventions, and we 3 on its down. and everybody thought we should be fired including me. then we went into the debates and flipped the three points and were suddenly all ahead. the notion that stuart would be getting all of these criticism is ridiculous. stuart is a big boy and he can handle this, but he is perfectly capable of running the show. >> jennifer: it is very interesting, because everybody wants to shoot somebody, and a good strategist would be willing to step up and take a bullet. there are a few flubs t

let's bring in mark mckinnon is chris fs. mark, this tape comes out the same day the obama cap pain released a new ad hitting that 47% comment romney made behind closed doors. in this bain capital clip -- we don'knowf itte see the entire tape himself. he's talking about his company and harvesting the profits. not about creating jobs or saving jobs. mark. >> yeah. well, this is another in a sees oveton't make up for a good week or two for the romney campaign. this strikes me as an issue that's deeper and more problematic in some ways because the whole issue of bain and what bain means and the whole concept rivate equity is a debate that thiul -- that should have been had a long time ago in the campaign. i would liked to have seen the romney campaign put that issue forward rather than waiting for it to be taken on later in the campaign wn the don't have an opportunity to talk about job t terms.and what pvate equit rather, they do it late in the campaign in a defensive posture, which is problematic. >> mark, is that the reason th

debate so tonight in "the war room," we're going to do some debate prep with republican strategist mark mckinnondemocratic campaign veteran fowler. it will be a great hour for the political junkies out there right here in "the war room." you gotta tune in. >> eliot: we'll be watching. more "viewpoint" coming right up. online forum with a direct line to eliot spitzer. >>join the debate now. v

here was republican strategist mark mckinnon this morning. >> what we're seeing is an increasing problemhim being able to connect with voters in a sense that he understands and shares their values and concerns. and that gap's widening. >> uber conservative charles krautheimer, who has defended romney in the past, ripped into his comments last night on fox. let's take a look. >> he said these are people who consider themselves victims. now, that's not a very smart thing to say. it's not even accurate. and you don't win an election by disparaging just about half the electorate. simply as a matter of appealing to the electorate, the way he put it was about the worst possible way. >> well, former george w. bush speechwriter, david fromme, wrote this in "the daily beast," today, "mitt romney has just committed the worst presidential gaffe since gerald ford announced in 1976 there was no soviet domination of eastern europe." that's a status to meet. peggy noonan says this, "it's time to admit the romney campaign is an incompetent one. it's not big. it's not brave. it's not thoughtfully tacklin

that's mark mckinnon says how can anyone support a candidate with this vision of the country and davids saying that mitt romney doesn't know much about the country that he inhabits and lost any sense of social compact of this country. that's one variety of criticism. i can't believe we pick this guy. this guy would make a horrible president. a lot of people making that criticism are being derided as not real conservatives. the other variety is not at all id idea logical. they're criticism is he's running bad campaign. when the campaign released more tax information today, alex castellanos said at first i thought this was an april fool's joke. i can't imagine why they would do this. there's 40 days left and you've made more of them about mitt's taxes. the criticism is the back stabbers who are leaking things like there to politico. romney associates are baffled that such a successful corporate leader has created a team with so few lines of authority and account bl accountability. they are trashing their own candidate. the criticism of how mr. romney is campaigning and why he's losing is

so first let's start with the commentators mark mckinnon, quote, mitt romney is running out of time.tly what i told you just a little while ago. referring to the video that was leaked about mitt romney's fundraiser in boca raton. it was a moment that certainly revealed something about him. but not what i was hoping for. just the opposite. it reveals a deeply cynical man who sees the country completely divided as two completely different sets of people. finally on weather romney has a chance, he said romney has dug a hole so deeply now i don't know if he can pull himself out. so there is the republican saying this thing might already be over with 50 days to go, and he said, i was hopeful all along. i'm no longer as hopeful. that is stinging. then go to peggy noonan who worked with ronald reagan. the legendary ronald reagan. what does she say? the romney campaign is an incompetent one. the intervention is in order. mitt this isn't working. you can tell the true panic from people running for senate on the republican side who are saying, oh like watch these guys run. quote. now that's no

mark mckinnon and steve mcmahon. s go to you because you worked on the republican side over the years. i want to ask you, i was stunned -- first of all, it looked like the only group in that poll this sunday that is with romney are people over 65. if the only people in this country that could vote were under 65 he'd get swamped. you're laughing but it's an amazing situation to be in, to only own the old people. your thoughts and is that one reason why they're advertising to try to get some demos as we call them in this business? >> at least i have a reliable demographic, i can count on those folks to come out anyway. chris, i just remember in 2000 about this same time we called that month black september because we came out of that convention pretty strong and then gore had a really good convention, we were down suddenly three points. suddenly all the guns turned at us. everybody wanted me fired because the ads were terrible. >> okay. your guy, w., pulled it out in the debates. of course that's why you won. that isn't

billy crystal calling those comments quote stupid and arrogant" and mark mckinnon.gly inept presidential campaign. not exactly votes of confidence from the right. this is what they're saying publicly. what do you think they're saying to the campaign aides they're grabbing by the elbows behind the scenes? >> i think unfortunately they ought to keep those comments to those conversations when they're grabbing folks' elbows. sometimes my side is a little too quick to condemn a campaign, which is literally tied in the poll polls. >> what policy are you reading? >> i looked at gallup, which is one of the most respected polling institutions in the country for the last half a century and they show the race even today. on a three day roll. no one will accuse them of being partisan. fair enough there have been other polls that show -- >> more than a dozen polls. >> there have been other polls that show obama on a swell. i'm not going to tell you i think the obama campaign hasn't done a good job over the last three weeks. they have played error-free ball and romney has had err

bush ad guru republican mark mckinnon writes at the daily beast, quote, how can anyone support a candidate with this kind of vision of the country? i honestly don't know what romney can do to win support from the voters he needs to gain to win a majority. "the new york times" saying today that mitt romney staffers now can no longer hide their annoyance, describing a romney aide cursing loudly at a press event in california. "the times" says mr. romney's grim-faced aides are wondering in low volume, out of the way conversations whether victory is still possible. one person described as a flustered adviser telling "the times" today, quote, that the campaign was turning into is a vulgar, unprintable phrase, which -- a vulgar and unprintable -- i'm guessing that either starts with the word "cluster" or with the word "pig." i'm not going to guess which one. and "the huffington post" sums it up by saying, there is a feeling almost that this thing is in free fall. free fall. free fall usually ends with a thump. it is not getting better for these guys, not yet. those are all quotes from republican

joining us is mark mckinnon, former bush and mccain media advisor and alice stewart. she worked with the bush campaign. paul begala, senior advisor to a leading pro-obama super pac and john king. mark, what do you make of this? you wrote a column about this for the daily beast, it will be in tomorrow. i read it. you quote michelle obama at the democratic convention in her speech, she said being president reveals who you are. you say so do campaigns and you're not happy with what's being revealed about mitt romney. how so? what do you think this tape reveals? >> well, there's a lot of us who have been waiting for a long time for some seminal moment for mitt romney to reveal his character and unfortunately, i'm afraid that this tape is exactly what that does but not in the way we had hoped for. it's getting harder to support him, getting harder to defend him. you know, i talked a lot about how i remember in september 2000, things were difficult, the dark days of september, and easy to bounce back, but when you start casting off half the country as victims, that causes a

that's mark mckinnon, the george w. say who can support anyone with this view of the country? and another saying mitt romney doesn't know much about the country he inhabits. and that is one variety of republican criticism of mr. romney. a lot of the people who are making that criticism are being derided as not real conservatives by other people on the right. the other variety of criticism is ideological. it's not about there being anything wrong about mr. romney's beliefs or policies, their criticism is just that he's running a bad campaign. when the campaign released more of mitt romney's tax information today, a former romney adviser said at first i thought this was an april fool's joke. there are 49 -- 40 days left and you have just made more of them about mitt's taxes. and they're trashing their own candidate's ability to run a large organization such as a presidential campaign. the criticism of how mr. romney is campaigning and why he's losing has also focused a lot this week on the schedule, on the fact that he's

. >> let me bring in mark mckinnon. we'll bring you into this conversation. i want to start with something that newt gingrich said this morning on "morning joe." mark, let me play that. >> everybody i talk to agrees he's had two and a half very tough weeks, and i do agree. i think they started with the clinton speech, and then they got compoundeded by all the ot stuff that happened. the person in the cross hairs in the next ten days is mitt romney. >> let me ask you about your thought of where the campaign is right now, and if he's in the cross hairs feeling the heat, is he the kind of guy that stomach bems and withers, or is he the candidate to take that as i'm hitting rock bottom and i'm going to start to climb up? >> well, i mean, mitt romney has shown a lot of resolve through the primaries, and he bounced back from a lot of bad periods. i remember well in september of 2000 we called it black september and we were down 3 to 5 points. it wasn't until the dethe baits we turned things around. there's opportunity here for sure, but what the romney campaign has

when you look at fellow republicans, bill crystal calls romney's comments stupid and arrogant, mark mckinnonvery cynical view. and then romney goes on telemundo last night praising his campaign. >> i have a terrific campaign. my senior campaign people work extraordinarily well together. i work well with them. our campaign is doing well. >> so, no changes in your campaign? >> no, i've got a good team. >> i mean, accept what you're saying he could turn it around in seven weeks, he first has to not be in denial and see he has a problem. >> i agree. >> these are not just gaffes. when your father ran in '08, he didn't have any of this stuff. this guy is in denial. >> all campaigns have problems. to be on a campaign is in the midst of chaos. i agree with tad, what he said earlier. governor romney has to look at who these leakers are, people being disloyal and he must get rid of them immediately because that will be the fatality in his campaign unless he gets rid of them. >> he also needs to gets a good mirror because a lot of what he's facing he caused. a lot of these wounds are self-inflicted. >>

debate so tonight in "the war room," we're going to do some debate prep with republican strategist mark mckinnonratic campaign veteran fowler. it will be a great hour for the political junkies out there right here in "the war room." you gotta tune in. >> eliot: we'll beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee our conversation is with you the viewer because we're independent. >>here's how you can connect with "viewpoint with eliot spitzer." >>questions, of course, need to be answered. >>we will not settle for the easy answers. >> eliot: when the only apparent consistency is the does not, well documented well representation of facts, you have a problem which is why mittt romney is shrinking. over the course of this campaign, he's dproan smaller. he and those around him should have realized by now that one is not elected president either as an empty vessel devoid of substance or by merely using a pea shooter to fling petty insults based on words taken out of context. the latest silliness from romney world is the effort to diminish president obama by claiming that when he characterized the upheavals and disrup

we've lined up matt miller, former mayor willie brown, and mark mckinnon plus why is the 2012 race looking04 redo? >>> then the bill clinton factor. american economic optimism is on the rise. if the president wins re-election will he owe it all to the explainer in chief? >>> plus are certain pastors advising african-americans to skip this election because neither candidate meets their moral test? the reverend a.r. bernard is going to join me. that and much more in a few minutes. 's a date. a reminder... that before this date, we have to exceed expectations. we have to find new ways to help make life easier, more convenient and more rewarding. it's the reason why we don't have costumers. we have members. american express. welcome in. oh, hey alex. just picking up some, brochures, posters copies of my acceptance speech. great! it's always good to have a backup plan, in case i get hit by a meteor. wow, your hair looks great. didn't realize they did photoshop here. hey, good call on those mugs. can't let 'em see what you're drinking. you know, i'm glad we're both running a nice, clean race. no