the most respected businessman turned politician mike bloomberg has just endorsed the president. you make of that move? >> what was interesting was one of the reasons mayor bloomberg cited, which was climate change. looking at the devastating impact of the storm sandy -- >> due mean that nonsensical, mumbo jumbo, nonsense that isn't believable. >> we will remember when mitt romney joked, actually joked, about rising ocean levels and the president's desire to do something about it during his speech in tampa. and so i think mike bloomberg is taking that quite seriously, and even though this isn't been an issue unfortunately in this campaign and even though i think the president cares about this, wants to do something about it, he's been sort of beat back by obstructionistic congress on this front, mike bloomberg sees it as a serious matter. it's a reminder in these closing days when we get focused on firewalls and gaffes and nongaffes, what comes on tuesday has a lot to do with the future of this nation and the future of the world, quite frankly, because the nights is such unit such

alex cwagner, so mike bloomberg somehow finally made up his mind.veryone is focused on the climate change. in that article he mentions the pez's position on abortion and the health care law. so this isn't just this week. this is something that mayor bloomberg has been thinking about for some time and it is coming as the president finished the bromance tour with chris christie. it is a good week for the president. >> when you read the mayor's reasons, what was he waiting for. there wasn't a single thing that he was in line for? >> it seems to me that he is someone who has a large conception on his role on american national affairs and an early endorsement would not preserve that. the mayor's people say there is off the recoorecord reporters ae time. if you look at the economists the center right conservative publication, what you see is that the president's record is who he is and how he has governed and it meets with the approval of the board and people like mike bloomberg. it is the polar opposite that has been painted by on the right for so long.

thanks for being there today. >>> and will the marathon controversy have any impact on mike bloomberg and also on his endorsement of president obama, that's next. plus, the networks of nbc, universal are hosting a benefit, a concert for victims of hurricane sandy. hosted by the "today" show's matt lauer with performances including bruce springsteen and bon jovi and billy joel and many others. money will all be donated to the red cross and starts at 8:00 eastern on the networks of nbc including msnbc. [ fishing rod casting line, marching band playing ] [ male announcer ] the rhythm of life. [ whistle blowing ] where do you hear that beat? campbell's healthy request soup lets you hear it... in your heart. [ basketball bouncing ] heart healthy. great taste. mmm... [ male announcer ] sounds good. it's amazing what soup can do. >>> with new york city mayor michael bloomberg under fire for green lighting the marathon, is his endorsement going to help or hurt the president? will it make any difference at all? joining me is former pennsylvania governor and msnbc political analyst ed rendell a

mike bloomberg criticizes mr. romney specifically for flip-flopping and dropping his previous positions on climate change then says, "this issue is too important. we need determined leadership at the national level." in other words, i don't think we're going to get determined leadership from mitt romney. i think he has taken occasionally attractive positions, but leadership, no. speaking to you from new york city, this storm and its aftermath, this externality to the big election is a big enough deal that it is not surprising it's having an effect on the election. its exact effect i think is still unknown. i am, i think, its exact effect could not have been foretold. i'm not sure we know exactly where it's going to end up, but there's been an important, important development in the race post-debate. that endorsement today by mayor michael bloomberg following that endorsement from colin powell and that image, right there, these images that we have seen of president obama and new jersey republican governor chris chr

here i give him more credit, mike bloomberg, who i happen to like personally.hink he does follow very constructive, middle of the road instincts on this thing. my thought. >> he's trying to put himself and he's been trying to position himself for a long time as kind of a centrist arbiter. he set up a super pac to set up centrist politicians and moderate politicians. he cares a lot about this issue in particular, climate change, and the other issues where he is basically a social liberal on questions like abortion and gay marriage. he got a phone call this morning from vice president biden who he likes personally a great deal, personally he likes vice president biden more than he likes president obama, but he had a conversation with vice president biden who asked for an endorsement. this was not an endorsement long in the making. people had been asking questions about the fact that he trashed president obama pretty harshly in "the new york times" and the atlantic -- >> very harshly. >> -- if he was doing something savvy trying to set this up. he hadn't planned t

christie snap into pragmatic governor mode, and mode much more similar to the way, for example, mike bloombergnducts himself as mayor of the city. sure, his ideological views, but when there is a real crunch and a real need for leadership, he is not going to stand on -- he is not going to lean toward political posturing and certainly is not going at that point to pretend that the federal government has nothing to do with the health and welfare of american society. i think chris christie was communicating something significant in how he worked with the president and singled out the president's -- by the way, singled out fema for administration, fa actuaual iss functioning effectively. that is a big difference. if you have administration that is constantly dumping on the federal government's capability and undermining the ability of agencies to do what they're supposed to do, well, then you're guaranteeing they will be in effect of any need them. we saw that in connection with katrina and normans, and how poorly fema performed. i think it is a striking contrast that now you have a very vociferou

is new york mayor mike bloomberg using hurricane sandy to score political points by endorsing barack obama? rudy giuliani will be our special guest. >> and why are politicians brow beating insurance companies in to how to run their businesses? it eats an attack on free market capitalism. >> a special edition of the "kudlow report" begins right now. >>> sandy, the road to recovery. the cost of sandy's destruction on the rise. gas lines stretch for miles. and so does the traffic jams. billions still without power. food getting scarce. nerves break. how past can we rebuild? tonight we look for answer. plus the markets rally and the reaction of a lifetime days away. this is a special edition of the "kudlow report." >>> hurricane sandy may be over, but tonight many in the northeast remain without basic needs. power, water, gasoline, and the road to recovery looks grim. here's what we know right now. total losses in sandy, now estimated to be $50 a billion. that according to a disaster modeling company. ranking it second only to hurricane katrina. the death toll from hurricane sandy leaves

>> according to new york city mayor mike bloomberg yes, it is by definition, of course, it should. you are supposed to have half as many cars able to get gas on any given day rah cording to this odd/even rashing. but still there are still long lines, there are still some very short tempers out there distribution system refineries to gas stations with no power and if you don't have power in the gas stations, you can't run the pumps. so for the moment, at least, and for a couple of weeks, according to mayor mike bloomberg, this kind of scene you are looking at right there is the new normal. harris, for a lot of people. that is bringing back memories and not very fond ones of the gas shortages and the long lines we saw way back in the 1970s, harris. >> harris: i can tell you six days ago they did this over, governor christie did this over in new jersey. it has helped some. still, there are so many other problems on the east coast. we still have, what, half a million people without electricity? >> yeah. that is the biggest single problem in enough. and according to the new york governo

very animated sign language interpreter for mayor mike bloomberg. hard to keep your eyes on the mayor, isn't it. >> that inspired "saturday night live's" own news interpreter alongside governor chris christie. >> also, i'd like to give a sincere thanks for bred obama on how he handled the election. on election day, i'm voting for mitt romney, but if i had to pick one guy who had my back during a crisis, it would be barack obama. it's amazing. true inspiration. again, i'll be a good soldier, i'll vote for romney, but i'm going to hate it. >> a late-blooming mon narcotic butterfly is my greating later eye today aborted a southwest airlines flight. the monarch was discovered in upstate new york still in its caterpillar state. >> its mates have already flown south and it's much too cold for the butterfly to fly southwest. so southwest agreed to transport the beauty to a botanical garden. >> i'm sure they charged in fees for its wings. >> an arm and a leg. for some of you your local news is next. >> for everyone else, we'll be back with marathon runners.

and as far as mike bloomberg goes, viewish voters are important in ohio and jewish business voters, they look at somebody like a mike bloomberg and that gives them more of a comfort level with president obama. >> i think that's true. they've been driving all around and watching some of the local campaigns, one of the things we'll hear president obama talk about today are gm's reaction to mitt romney and this ad that his campaign has been running. >> that's critical. >> it is critical. and local tv and local newspapers in this state, especially in the northern parts where president obama needs to do really well have been pounding mitt romney for that essentially false ad that has been debunked widely and now that chrysler and gm and their executives have come out against mitt romney, that's been a really big problem for mitt romney. >> and they're adding jobs, they're even adding jobs at the honda plant. in the end, will you both be watching the cleveland area, cuyahoga county on the list? >> and the columbus area where we are right now, which is one of the swing counties here. a very, ve

thousand and eleven several thousand people were gathered there wide awake why because mayor mike bloomberg had declared that his own personal army his words the n.y.p.d. constituting the seventh largest army in the world would have victor occupy wall street and these thousands were there not just in solidarity they were in their arms with an idea some cardboard signs in an urgency to protect the young movement and many of them were prepared to go to jail trying to hold the space i had already gone to jail once since all of this started as an organizer with the october two thousand and eleven coalition i had been in washington d.c. in the early days of the movement and you can see me here after suggesting repeatedly i had met inside the hart senate office building that we find other uses for the money we lavish on our homicidal bull geo political china shop and the foreign policy i was given to do not pass go go directly to jail card and in a few days i would be arrested again this time for protesting corporate personhood on the steps of the supreme court. that it would occupy movement all

mayor mike bloomberg moments ago issued a statement canceling sunday's race, saying: "n.b.r.'s" ruben ramirez joins us with the latest. ruben, the mayor was pointing to the economic stimulus and the emotional lift this race would give new york. so what gives? >> at's right, tom. just a lot of people taking to facebook and attting calls into the galernor's office, sources in the governor's office, telling me they were getting thousands of angry phone calls aberut the race still being run. and saying a lot ofe those refurces should have been diverted or should be diverted to helping those that are still affected by the devastation that sandy has caused here in the city. the race was scheduled to be n on sunday. but it looks now that there are a lot of disappointed runners that will be here in the city least this weekend. a lot of those runners coming from overseas. and timely being able to get some of the flights into town. earlier today we were at the expo center. for a lot of those people picking up their race numbers, excited about the marathon, but clearly disappointed this

does mike bloomberg seem a little less appealing in terms of outer borough votes. >> we've already seent. with christine quinn at his side and two potential rivals who will try to become the mayor they announced $5 million to rebuild schools and hospitals. the third candidate bill thompson said he didn't like it. he felt it was inadequate, he's siding himself with those who are beginning to complain. >> eliot: i'm spoiling because billy thompson who can promise more without needing to provide it. billy is a friend--they're all friends, but easier to promise in that context. >> i think people need to understand what it's like to be without heat and hot water for three weeks. it is devastating. and well, the storm is moving on, we'll move on to something else, just think what it might be like to be living out there. >> eliot: it's destroyed lives families and cataclysmic. errol louis inside city hole, and mark jacobson, contributor editor of new york magazine. thank you for joining us. how did the republicans losososososososososososososososososososososososososososososososos >> eliot: tax

this is actually about times that new yorkers, mike bloomberg like he deserves it. >> this was mistaken his part. big events or like oscars or like your y are rehab when problems arise? >> not a bad idea. at least make the decision before today. i'm their shur there were hundreds that arrived in new york today and turned on their phones. the race i came over here just got cancelled. >> greg: there was a huge group of runners from some country but they were blocking the crosswalks. you know what this really is it's a war between the endomorph is won. ectomorphs are the skinny people. >> we both 17 magazine. body types. >> they are taking over. we have won a victory. chunky freaks like me. you ran a marathon? >> so this is where the venom is coming from? i won't turn the tables. you are a weight lifter. what does that entail. >> not anymore. >> i did one marathon about ten years ago let's use that. all you do is work out all day and pose in front of a mirror. marathoning every day of the week, the only people that wear tighter clothing is people that weight lift. >> when i was weights i