thank you, mark whitaker, thanks, eugene. good to see you. >>> and up next, a horrendous medical experiment gone terribly wrong. >>> it is never good also for a politician to be volunteering to take a lie detector test a month before the election. stay with us. >>> and send me your thoughts. you can find me on twitt twitter atmitchellreports. [ rattling ] [ gasps ] [ rattling ] [ laughing ] [ announcer ] close enough just isn't good enough. - if your car is in an accident, - [ laughing continues ] make sure it's repaired with the right replacement parts. take the scary out of life with travelers. call or click now for an agent or quote. you should get some custom fit orthotics. dr. scholl's custom fit orthotic center. it recommends the custom fit orthotic that's best for your feet. and footcare scientists are behind it. you'll get immediate comfort... ... and, you could save a couple hundred bucks. for locations see drscholls.com >>> california politics, you might have thought that meg whitman was running against a celebrity

mark whitaker and former white house communications director. his opening bid for his campaign. here's an excerpt of chicago rahm. >> so, as i prepare to run for mayor, i'm going to spend the next few weeks visiting grocery store, bus stops and hot dog stands. i'm calling this the tell it like it is tour because i want to hear from you, in blunt, chicago terms, what you think about our city. >> i don't want to put anita on the spot yet, but so quickly that he moved into campaign mode, did he move too soon as far as illinois democrats are concerned? there are two big races the democrats are concerned about. the president is overnighting in chicago, focussing on those races this week. >> he has to walk a fine line. i think you saw a bit of a low key, humble rahm there. the fact is, if he wants to win this race, he's got to get going. he's not necessarily the front-runner. there are a lot of other candidates in the field, either declared or undeclared. he's very strong in his home district, but there are other districts that he has to win over. the

let's brick in nbc news washington bureau chief mark whitaker. let's talk about the things happening here. first i want to talk about the huge amount of money being spent particularly by the republican outside groups this year. >> it's true. it's been a factor in the politics for a while. we now have a group called american crossroads, raising a lot of money. he's not diz closclosing the do. some of the developments in the races are showing for all the money these candidates spend, they can get up ended by the surprises. we saw that in california with meg whitman and the allegations she hired an illegal on her domestic -- in her household. she spent a huge amount of money. now she has to spend her time and money defending that. carl paladino taking out commercials to answer charges about unscripted remarks that he's made. for all the money that goes into these things, ultimately it's how the candidates perform on the campaign trail in the unscripted moments that probably ends up making a bigger difference. >> absolutely. something i'm curious if

. >> joining me now, nbc washington news bureau chief, mark whitaker. you see the words. you get the point. jerry brown's camp apologized saying this was is a jumbled conversation. they apologized to meg whitman and anybody who may have been offended. will this have an impact on the already tight race? >> well, it's a big embarrassment for jerry brown. he's been caught red handed talking the way a lot of politicians talk when the microphones or the phone lines aren't open. but we live in an age of technology where it's easier to get caught that way. it's given meg whitman a chance to change the subject from her big scandal, over the housekeeper, possibly illegal who was working for her. but you know, tamron, in all this talk about the words used in the conversation, we also should focus on what that conversation was about, which is who is willing to cut deals with the police -- >> for endorsements. >> to protect them against the cuts that california is going to badly need with a $19 billion budget gap and 12.8% unemployment. >> let me talk about meg whitman's reaction to

but seriously mark whitaker. i want to welcome you to the speaker series. -- >> i am mark whitaker. i want to welcome you to the speaker series. thomas glocer is modestly described on a thomson reuters website as the ceo of the world's leading source of intelligence information for business professionals. it is of particular interest to me as someone in that media business to be talking to someone in the information business that is actually making $13 million a year. >> not personally, i might add. [laughter] >>, came up through the ranks of readers --tom came up through the ranks of reuters. he is a graduate of columbia. he has a law degree from yale. tom is also a loggblogger. i spent the afternoon looking through his blog. wanted to ask some questions based on your recent posts. he has a recent blog on gogol in which he points out that he went back and reread it recently. the central figure goes on around buying up the rights to the dead serfs for tax collecting purposes. he compares this to the subprime schemes, creating an early equivalent of an exotic instrument that was some

mark wiggins. in the middle, elizabeth o'neal. on the right, bill whitaker. this debate will be an entire hour long. we will not take any commercial breaks. it is now time for opening credits. >> we have an important election. forreason i'm running congress is because i watched barack obama assumed the presidency and nancy pelosi become speaker of the house. i watched with great concern that they began it seemed the american dream was in the process of being destroyed. i watched the job killing an agenda. it began to unravel. i watched unemployment go up. i was in number of people on food stamps go up. we took care of the primary issues. i decided to run at that point in time. you are going to hear a lot of attacks. instead of focusing on the issues, my opponent is elected to attack me personally. you hear several things from me. usa he is independent. we have a new website of. you can see how things will turn out. this decision is simple. if you like the direction the country is going, then you should vote for mr. edwards. on the other hand, if you want to r

mark wiggins. in the middle, elizabeth o'neal. on the right, bill whitaker. th debate will be an entire hour long. we will not take any commercial breaks. is now time for opening credits. >> we have an important election. forreason i'm running congress is because i watched barack obama assumed the presidency and nancy pelosi become speaker of the house. americ dream was in the process of being destroyed. i watched the job killing an agenda. it began to unravel. i watched unemployment go up. i was in number of people on food stamps go up. we took care of the primary issues. i decided to run at that point in time. you are going to hear lot of attacks. instead of focusing on the issues, my opponent is elected to attack me personally. you hear several things from me. usa he is independent. we have a new website of. you can see how things will turn out. this decision is simple. if you like the direction the country is going, then you should vote for mr. edwards. on the other hand, if you want to restore the american dream, and i would be umbel to have your vote. t