nia-malika, though, there's a lot of finger pointing going on. what do you think? >> there is.aid, there is a lot of finger pointing and this is a party in disarray. you saw over the last many years not only the southern strategy in play but a declining reliance, i think, on a realization that america is a diverse country. we saw a decline of 72%. there was a sign among republicans that this was still reagan's america. 88% of the share of the vote was white americans and that is just not the way that america looks right now. if you went to a romney rally, an obama rally, very different crowds romney rallies, much whiter, older american. in turn, the obama rallies, much more diverse. and i think people are surprised that obama was able to run the table on the strength of african-american voters. 15% in ohio, 20% in virginia. even when you talk to republicans now, they do talk about wanting to make inroads into the latino community but you don't hear them say they want to make inroads into the latino community. nixon did pretty well among african-american. >> affirmative action s

nia-malika, u think? >> there is.id, there is a lot of finger and this is a party in disarray. u last many years not only the southern stregy in play but a reliance, i think, on a realization that america is a diverse country.d we there was a sign among republicans that this was still reagan's america. 88% of the share of e vote was white americans and that is just not the way america looks right now. if you went to a romneyrally, o crowds romney rallies, much whiterc , older american. bama rallies, much more diverse. and i think people are surprised th the table on the strength of y vot. 15% in ohio, 20% in virginia. even when you talk to republicans now, they do talk about wanting to make inroads t community but you don'twant to make community. nixon did pretty well amo african-american. >> affirmative action startedr n joe, let me show you what l.ot today.ple on theight are watch this. >> kelly, you've got bob jindal,ó nikki haley and it's think it will be a fairly reagat night and a conservative one and i thin

with ana marie cox and nia-malika henderson.t, what changes and what stays the same after tuesday night? that's next. [ man ] ring ring... progresso this reduced sodium soup says it may help lower cholesterol, how does it work? you just have to eat it as part of your heart healthy diet. step 1. eat the soup. all those veggies and beans, that's what may help lower your cholesterol and -- well that's easy [ male announcer ] progresso. you gotta taste this soup. >>> in the spotlight, the battle for control of the united states senate. the democrats hold a 53 to 47 majority in the upper chamber and for most of the 2012 the map supported the republicans. they were in a better position for most of the seats they were defending and a number of vulnerable democratic seats in red states. just two days before election day, the democrats appear to be holding their majority, thanks at least in part to two conservative candidates who made rape a campaign issue. democratic congressman joe donnelly has a lead over republican richard mourdock,%

carl, nia-malika, thanks to you. >>> these pictures say it all. some of the hurricane sandy victims still dealing with damage to their homes are being walloped with a nor'easter. it brought wind, snow, and rain to parts of new jersey, connecticut, and new york yesterday. at least 60,000 people who lost power after sandy lost it again when this new storm hit. one part of new jersey got a foot of snow. we've all had those moments. when you lost the thing you can't believe you lost. when what you just bought, just broke. or when you have a little trouble a long way from home... as an american express cardmember you can expect some help. but what you might not expect, is you can get all this with a prepaid card. spends like cash. feels like membership. but between check-ups tartar builds. keep it clean with new listerine® ultraclean™. it's the only mouthwash with a new tartar control formula for a dentist clean feeling. ahhhhhhhh. [ male announcer ] new listerine® ultraclean™. power to your mouth™. this reduced sodium soup says it may help lower chole

msnbc political analyst jonathan alter, columnist for bloomberg view, nia-malika, and goldie taylor,f the goldie taylor project. jonathan, i can begin with you, do we need a full-scale watergate style investigation to discover the truth about the so-called benghazi cover-up? perhaps even the bedroom antics of our top intelligence offer, john mccain, lindsey graham say we do? >> it's so pathetic. why don't -- >> so pathetic? >> yes. they lost the election. they're mad about it. they want to find a way to relitigate it. look, after he got his intelligence briefing, classified intelligence briefing, in the middle of october, mitt romney shut up about this. because when he actually found out, you know, that it was the cia that was giving both the union ambassador, susan rice, and the white house whatever information they had, you didn't hear him talking about it in the third debate. he was asked the first question about it and he didn't say anything. john mccain and lindsey graham know this is much ado about nothing. are there legitimate questions to ask, bureaucratic questions about how

let's bring back in nia malika henderson of the washington post.or joining me. >> thanks, rev. >> starting with you, james, what do you make of the comments? >> i'm not surprised mr. romney made the comments. we should just try to clarify what he's referring to as gift-giving and really ex-prefontaine it for what it is. the things he's talking about are the reformation of different interest rates and policies we have used in terms of privatizing student loans for college students. that's not a gift, by the way. that's us having a better understanding of the ways we should not be privatizing loans for college students. we have to think about the economic impact and think more seriously about what he's referring to as gifts. he talks about free contraceptives to young women. not only do they help diminish abortions but they are used for different health issues for women. it's not just about contraception. putting that as a part of health care is important. young people being able to stay on their parents' health care is not a gift to young people. th

nia-malika henderson and kiki was a senior adviser to hillary clinton's 2008 presidential campaign.r joining me. i think this will be in the back of every -- certainly every washington and capital and political conversation i'm a part of or anybody's a part of, because we know barack obama is president for the next four years, which immediately opens up the mystery can, who's going to be the nominee for next time? it's the way things work. we won't drag on this story. nia-malika, what can you tell us here, the democratic field, andrew cuomo, people like martin o'malley of maryland, governors of new york and maryland. clearly they're in the on-deck circle, do they stand there not knowing how hillary will do? >> i think everyone will wait to see what hillary will do. one big question democrats are doing, as they face this demographic shift, is it a democratic coalition or obama coalition? i think one of the answers to that could certainly be hillary clinton, who could most certainly hold that coalition together. she's widely favored among african-americans, latinos. you remember that

. >> joining me nia-malika henderson. dee dee, you must be amazed by this change in reality here. all those times you had to deal with the press and argue with them over facts and particular things. then here comes the romney people around him, the handlers saying we don't have to deal with the quibbling of what's true or not. what's true isn't relevant. if we can spend millions of dollars saying jeep is going to china. if we can say this guy is getting rid of the work requirement for welfare, it doesn't matter what you pencil necks in washington have to say. >> and what they found out and what the theory that underlines their case here is there's no penalty to pay for playing fast and loose with the facts. you put a point of view on television, you line up information that's not true and there's no penalty to pay for that. it's the end result of a 20 year campaign by the right wing in this country to discredit the mainstream media, the liberal press. so now there is no neutral arbiter in the country who can say this isn't true and that everybody will pay attention to and say this

. >> but nia-malika, what candidate romney is not dealing with, most americans agree, mr. governor christie, said. when you look at a brand new nbc poll, likely voters overwhelmingly say they approve of the president's handling of hurricane sandy. 67% approve. only 16% di disapprove. on top of that, in this brand new poll, majority of americans believe the economy is already turning around. 52% say we are recovering. both of these poll numbers are bad news for the republicans when they only have two days go t. to go. >> that right. very bad news. you heard mitt romney, about six weeks ago, releasing talking points from their campaign. and their thinking was by this date the obama economy would reassert itself in a negative way, but so far you haven't seen that. you have seen robust poll numberes. it is not even necessarily unemployment rates. ticked up to 171,000 jobs created. people look at how many bags of groceries they can buy at piggly wiggly. they look at gas prices. look at whether or not their neighbor is employed. in ohio you see 12% unemployment rate four years a