northern ohio, especially cleveland and toledo, will go very heavily for president obama. cincinnati, where i am sitting right now, will go heavily for mitt romney. what we need to watch on election night is columbus, where franklin county is, because we've been seeing the romney campaign campaign very heavily in central ohio in and around columbus. we're going to see president obama go there on friday. that's the area that could make up the difference come election night. >> okay. james peterson, last thought here. there is a pattern now of real dishonesty on the part of the romney campaign ads. they're out there saying that romney's been accused of outlawing birth control, contraception. nobody's ever accused him of that. they've said that he's not supporting the right of women to have it covered in their health plans. why are they putting out these desperate ads like jeep's going to china and women are under attack for buying birth control pills? i mean, it's an absurdity. who would be so uninformed as to believe these ads? >> well, chris, that's a different question. t

some showers, even some rolling thunder through northern ohio. that warm front may have a little bit of rain as it passes through pennsylvania and areas to our north tomorrow morning. we will be on the south side of the warm front tomorrow and it will be mild. in oakland -- 50 in downtown baltimore. 39 degrees at wrigley. with clear skies and calm winds, the chill will set in overnight. as soon as the sun comes up, the wind starts turning to the south. you can see the mild air sitting to the south and southwest of us. these were actual temperatures. 72 degrees in st. louis. 60 degrees in cincinnati. high pressure moves through and keeps the skies sunday. there may be some clouds in the morning. showers headed for new england, drawing in the warmer air. the nice weather will last until monday at least. tomorrow, morning clouds, afternoon sun, mild temperatures. picture-perfect november weather here. on monday, we will see the showers start pressing towards the mountains, most likely not reaching baltimore until tuesday. for saturday, 59 to 64 degr

one hand northern ohio people like the fracking message, we'll get the natural gas out, turn northern ohio into an oil field. on the other hand a lot of people are in the tourist business and people in the automobile industry has a dislike for romney. he's trying to meet as many ohioans to shake away the axlerod image of him. >> we saw live pictures of mitt romney and paul ryan hopping in that suv en route to the appearance which we will take here any minute now. i wanted to point that out to viewer. i want to point out to you, we've seen long lines, i'm probably about to get in one in two hours to vote myself. it's worth pointing out, voter participation is on the upswing in america, which is great. look back in 1996, 51% turned out. participation went up in 2000. went up in 2004. went up in 2008. up to 63%. so, you know, while we hear americans gr s all of the money involved, six races. the past election cycle the ads which many people are griping about, the length of the campaign season, all of that, is it just people are complaining all way to the polls? it's a good thing. >> well

he's going there to the cleveland area, which is northern ohio. normally a democratic stronghold. o, does that suggest to you that he's underperforming in an area with noncollege educated whites which he will need in order to win ohio? >> if you suggest to me that they feel very good about the republican party for ohio, and that they have seen moves particularly throughout the month of october of swing voters, of independents, various groups that makes them think they can cut down obama's margin in cleveland and northeast ohio, as far as pennsylvania is concerned, i have thought for quite a while that pennsylvania was available. southwest pennsylvania, coal country is very anti-obama, including union members there. the marcellus shale in northeast pennsylvania is an area of energy growth. those voters see romney as a much more pro-energy person. so the question is again, can they hold the margin in philadelphia down and expand the republican vote in northeast and southwest. i think it's a very logical play. now, whether they succeed or not, these states are close. this election is

piece, tied in colorado as well. >> which is why the governor is going to ohio today, going to northern ohioa which is covered in southern ohio. so the pennsylvania visit is not so much about pennsylvania. it's a little bit about getting both media markets at the top and bottom of ohio. >> how common is it guys to campaign on election day and how effective is it. >> al gore in 2000. he went all around this country campaigning until the last minute. george bush took that day off and the day before largely off. >> it's more a sign i'm coming more important than i'm here. you want to say, here look at me. i'm pulling out every stop to make sure i'm out here campaigning. you go through the same kind of effort to get out the door and vote. >> voting is about emotion, right, and how you feel about candidates. it's also a science. i'm particularly obsessed with the early vote. it says a lot about how america is changing. we complain we have to wait in lines to vote. by tonight, we could have -- cbs estimates almost four in ten people in america will have already voted. if you look state by state, n

gop strong holds in ohio had been counted and still a large number of votes in the subsqushs and northern ohio, the big cities where there are strong democrat there. so more democrat and that's why ohio was kaldz even though we didn't a 100% of the vote counseled. . >> we do have some more swing states to look at. new hampshire went to president obama tonight. also to virginia, a states that wasn't called until just an hour or so ago and let's take a look at the total there. you can see president obama winning in virginia. now let's move to north carolina, the only one to mor tonight. and it was very close in north carolina. 51% to 49. one state and that is florida. i have some information to give to you later on, but take a look. still close to call. florida with 29 votes. the only state outstanding at this point. >> all right. thank you. we want to go back to boston. she's at mitt romney's head quarters tonight. rita. >> juliee, i can't tell you what a contrast. look behind me where everyone has gone home here. just about an hour ago you heard mitt romney appear alone on stage to con seed th

he landed in mentor, ohio, that's northern ohio. in terms. closing argument, it's the same, basically the same stump speech but with that last final frenzy, that last bit of energy now that boston these candidates are giving it with just three days to go. let's go over the president's schedule. he started in ohio. they are in milwaukee at this point waiting for the president. he's airborne heading in that direction towards wisconsin. iowa and virginia. he end up in virginia and northern virginia tonight. i'll be out there accompanied by the dave matthews band. i'm looking forward to it. tomorrow sunday in new hampshire. florida. ohio. back to ohio and colorado. monday wisconsin, guess where, ohio after that. and then iowa before he finishes up in chicago where he will spend election eve. ohio we should mention nbc news and the marist organization yesterday put out their poll for ohio has the president up six. a whopping margin compared to what we've seen in the past. our poll even has the president up two in florida. so the obama team certain

>> the electricity is still out in pockets of northern ohio, the cleveland area.as checking earlier and there are 40,000 to 50,000 homes. my power just went on last night. and the cleveland proper still doesn't have lights. they're hoping to have all this resolved on monday. but there is concern about polling stations on tuesday. >> jennifer: hopefully everybody is up on tuesday. i'm sure the campaigns are looking at that, but i'm sure people are too given how much attention ohio has had in this election. there has been this early voting surge for. president obama has captured 59% of early vote. do you have a sense of that on the ground? >> well, here here where it's overwhelmingly democratic, yes we have the sense that it's doing well. every public poll shows the president leading mitt romney by a substantial margin in the early vote. one thing that i will say about the romney campaign, the republicans more in general they learned from their mistakes four years ago. they've been out since may you know gathering data, trying to connect with people. they boast thei

in northern ohio where unions stronger and the auto bailout is more popular, mitt romney plays up his experience working across the aisle as governor of massachusetts and the president will flex his muscles. look for that speech today. >>shepard: what is the campaigning saying about why they went to wisconsin? >>reporter: an important senate race and a battleground state, and the former hhs secretary beating tommy thompson and keeping the senate in democratic hands is important to avoid total gridlock. but even in mississippi he saves punches for romney. >> in this campaign mitt romney has tried to repackage the same old bad ideas and make them out to be new ideas. and try to convince you he is all about change, that the bad old ideas are change. we know what change looks like. >>reporter: this is a battle of the band, kid rock will place for mitt romney and the boss and jay-z here for the president. >>shepard: the nominees have been fighting it out for months and there is a battle behind-the-scenes building entire armies of lawyers thousands upon thousands of lawyers who are set to s

but still it wasn't enough because northern ohio came out in numbers that were unprecedented. look, obama lost 10 million votes nationally. i am shocked. 3 million fewer republicans voted for mitt romney than john mccain. >> it is because of the moderate label he was tagged with. it was because white women in our area watched those commercials. in cuyahoga county, they registered 140,000 more traditional democratic voters. there were prosirchghts in kihoch hoga that voted 114-3 for obam a. precincts in cincinnati, 328-1 for obama. >> sean: it was like two states. >> if the same number of african-americans in ohio voted in 2012 and 2008, romney would have won the state. >> sean: it was so close, virginia, ohio, florida. there have to be adjustments. but you don't compromise your principles. they have to do a better job of messaging. it has to be the right candidate and a united party. >> i dolled one thing. abortion -- right to life. it is hispanic issues, getting on the ballot-- >>> but we can't haved to akin say something as dumb as he did. >> sean: billy can you thinkham, th

the coalition may not be as important as white voters in northern ohio, wisconsin, and pennsylvania.nes who, in fact, ensure the re-election. the broader coalition will be significant but the white voters may be most pivotal. >> let me introduce the crowded table. jeff greenfield, the guru. i should have had you write the trivia question today. you usually have an odd question or two and that was major garrett. jeff, you'll like this one. if romney wins today, what will he have done that hasn't happened since 1928? >> i have no idea. >> a republican will win the white house without a bush. >> steve schmidt? >> those are those in-depth, unknown facts. >> if we assume this is all about white vote versus nonwhite vote then why wasn't mitt romney favored in ohio and pennsylvania earlier when there is this intense older white vote? what happened? >> let detroit go bankrupt. so you have with the auto industry the definition of mitt romney over the spring, over the summer. he's underperforming with the white vote compared to where he is with the rest of the country and that early definition

and they talking about it all over the state, whether you're here in columbus but especially in northern ohio governor romney on thursday night when this really all started. he was in defiance and he made a reference to an article he had read making the claim that jeep was considering moving all manufacturing jobs to china or the jeep's owner, fiat. and almost right away, you were able to find that, well, that's not really what the company has said. and instead of -- >> so what's their strategy? it has been discredited, fact checked and found to be false. even had the companies putting out statements saying it's not true. but they're sticking with it. we're going to hear the president talking about it now. what's the romney campaign strategy? >> well, i mean, you can go back to 2004 and look at karl rove. and the idea is attack the opponent's strength. the auto bailout has been a strength for the president here in ohio. the romney campaign appears to say, look, we're going to go at them. you know, the press will say what they're going to say, but to try to throw some pieces out. >> jen was ju

that's the level of energy that has gone into these northern ohio cities, and, you know, we hear thisl the time, boots on the ground, labor has boots on the ground. the fact of the matter is that in these union towns like akron and toledo and cleveland and youngstown, labor really has put boots on the ground. as i was driving through the near downtown neighborhood, i saw a blue van going by. it was the third baptist church and they had a banner out the window that said souls to the polls. so there's just a palpable energy, you can feel it on the streets, and i think that keeps that obama number up. >> hope those energy -- goes into the executing. thank you. joy reid, has everybody heard her, get out and vote. >>> ten voters in dixville notch, new hampshire, went to the polls last night. i don't think those results tell us anything, by the way. sort of fun to talk about it. this is "hardball" shall the place for politics live from democracy plaza which does matter on election day. we're going to try to stump some political junkies with questions from bing elections. do you know where y

but romney and have a political issue in northern ohio with the political bailout, and he's trying to that. we'll see if it works. >> i want to talk more generally about closing arguments on the economy. here is a chart of unemployment through the obama presidency and that final jobs report at 7.9%. if you're president obama, you like that down slope there, don't you? and that's the argument he's making. 7.9%, though, is still higher than when he came into office. >> the reality is he's made dramatic improvements in the economy and the jobs are going much, of better. i really want to bring up the point about enthusiasm. i campaigned very hard in the 2008 campaign and saw euphoria and excitement. this campaign, we have metrics that there's not only more enthusiasm but more involvement and engagement. you have women coming into campaign headquarters saying i'm here because i want to fight to defend planned parenthood, women's right to choose, equal pay for equal work. i see military folks volunteering saying i'm here to defend my right to serve in the military whether you're gay or not.

guest: it certainly has had an impact in northern ohio.in the city of cleveland and was without electricity from monday to just yesterday. there are still 70,000 folks out. that does not even compared to the problems that new jersey and new york and the eastern sea coast had. i think we've feel pretty lucky. yes, there are some people that are pretty upset because they will not get their electricity back for the first part of the week but in comparison i do not think it will have an impact on the turnout for the election on tuesday. we have been voting in ohio since october 2. we have early voting here. we expect a third to 40% of our votes will be cast before the election day on tuesday. host: where do you stand in terms of republican and democratic turnout in the early voting? guest: in the urban areas, the democrats have been a very good job in turning out their votes. the overall swing is about 14%. the democrats are down a little bit from their level in 2008. we are up a little bit in our key republican counties. overall we feel good

it's chrysler and gm pointed out, jeep which is a chrysler brand and gm also producing autos in northern ohioren't shrinking their production they are expanding it. so the obama campaign believes they have the facts and narrative on their side, talking to senior romney advisers last night they don't regret making the charge but they didn't anticipate the intensity of the obama reaction and the echo chamber that it's created in the free media, the publicity around it. >> that's interesting. let's talk about some of these state polls. they show obama waleed in wisconsin, new hampshire and iowa. and he has a five-point lead in ohio. you've been talk being to team obama, his top officials. what do they make of these numbers? >> i was in chicago two days ago and they are confident about the president's ability to win re-election. that's a normal place for the obama campaign. they are never anything other than superconfident. >> over confident? >> the obama campaign know their voter contacts and if they cho what they know they will win. but if they know is wrong they will lose. if everything we und

chrysler and gm have pointed out, jeep, which is a chrysler brand, and gm, also producing autos in northern ohio, aren't shrinking their production. they're expanding it. the obama campaign believes they have the facts and narrative on their side. talking to senior romney advisers last night, they don't regret making the charge but they did not anticipate the intensity of the obama reaction and the echo chamber it's created and believe it's been a net negative. >> that's interesting. let's talk about these state poll polls. we have new information that show obama with the lead in wisconsin, new hampshire and iowa. he has a five-point lead in ohio. you've been talking to team obama, his top officials. what do they make of these numbers? >> i was in chicago two days ago and they are supernaturally confident. >> supernaturally confident? >> yes. that's a normal place for the obama campaign, never anything other than supernaturally confident. >> overconfident? >> we'll find out. the way i would describe the obama campaign, they know their voter contacts, and if they know what they know they're going

as a democrat you can turn the entire state in that county in northern ohio.at happen this year? we are about to find out. martha, see you in a moment. pgh jenna yes we are. thank you bill. with the polls just opening both campaigns are making a last-minute pitch to voters. on fox & friends this morning senior obama adviser robert gibbs offering a reminder of what his team sees as a source of many of the problems. >> we inherited a tremendous mess. we inherited 800,000 jobs lost in a month, the very first month the president got the jobs report. every one of those statistics has gotten better in the past couple of years, because, look, we fell into a huge and massive hole in this economy. are we where we want to be? no. we've got more work to do because the hole that we are digging out of, the economic devastation that greeted this president when he walked into the oval office was deep and widespread. pgh jenna so brad wood house is the communications director for the democratic national committee. brad, good morning on this election day. >> good morning, happ

in fact, all of northern ohio is ing to be heavily democratic. western ohio, alongside i-75, which leads up to michigan, that's going to be strong republican turnout. and of course we have the rural areas. those are going to be interesting to watch as well. >> one of the things we heard so much in the campaigns is it's a story about unemployment, and especially in ohio. i've pulled up the unemployment numbers, according to the bureau of labor statistics as of september 2012, and on the lower half of the state you see pretty bad unemployment, 9.4% in morgan county, perhaps 11.5% in pe county. it gets a little bit better in the northwest. what's story that the candidates are selling? and is it working? >> well, in appalachian, ohio, where you're seeing a lot of areas of unemployment in southeast ohio, that's been interesting territory because it's coal country. it went for our previous democratic governor ted stricted land very strongly but mitt romney has been courting that very strongly as well. it's a small representation of the overall populatio

it's killed him in northern ohio and has become a firewall for the obama campaign. >> i spoke to somef president obama wins a second term, he immediately joins the league of great presidents. what's your take? >> he has an opportunity to be that because it's hard to do much in four years. but in obama's case, he ate up the oxygen of his first 18 months in office on obama care. affordable care act. if he loses, romney has said he's going to try to disassemble all that. so he loses president obama's main accomplishment. now he still has the killing of osama bin laden and two supreme court justices and one can make a list of things he can celebrate. but losing that big last piece of the progressive movement, which was trumpeted as his huge accomplishment, it won't bode well for president obama in history. >> douglas brinkley, always a pleasure. thank you. >>> office politics is next with tom brokaw. "weekends with alex witt" live from democracy plaza continues right after this. ♪ [ male announcer ] you've reached the age where you don't back down from a challenge. this is the age of know

guest: it certainly has had an impact in northern ohio.lectricity from monday to just yesterday. there are still 70,000 folks out. that does not even compared to the problems that new jersey and new york and the eastern sea coast had. i think we've feel pretty lucky. yes, there are some people that are pretty upset because they will not get their electricity back for the first part of the week but in comparison i do not think it will have an impact on the turnout for the election on tuesday. we have been voting in ohio since october 2. we have early voting here. we expect a third to 40% of our votes will be cast before the election day on tuesday. host: where do you stand in terms of republican and democratic turnout in the early voting? guest: in the urban areas, the democrats have been a very good job in turning out their votes. the overall swing is about 14%. the democrats are down a little bit from their level in 2008. we are up a little bit in our key republican counties. overall we feel good about where we are right now and we will c

eric shawn there in northern, ohio in medina, martha.he line to vote is growing well before the voting is open. it wraps around the block. they want to make sure their voices are heard. bill: a multitude of ou outcome of votes is expected. karl rove is on standby, he has his map out. he's put his math together and will tell us in a moment what that means, after this. [ male announcer ] if you're eligible for medicare, now is a good time to think about your options. are you looking for a plan that really meets your needs and your budget? as you probably know, medicare only covers about 80% of your part b medical expenses. the rest is up to you. so consider an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. like all standardized medicare supplement plans, they cover some of what medicare doesn't pay. and could save you in out-of-pocket medical costs. call today to request a free decision guide to help you better understand medicare and which aarp medicare supplement plan works best for you. with this

president obama made stops in ohio, wisconsin and iowa. northern virginia bureau chief julie carrie explains how the candidates are spending their final three days on the trail. >> the president's rally was his fourth battleground stop of the day pep travelled to ohio, wisconsin and iowa before wrapping up the day in northern virginia. before mr. obama arrived, there were two warmup acts of sorts for those who waited in the cold. dave matthews and former president bill clinton started things off. it was the president who drew thousands here tonight. and this was part of his final pitch. >> a spirit that says no matter how bad a storm is, we bounce back. no matter how tough times are, we're all in this together. the romney campaign is spending even more of its final days in virginia. today it was paul ryan who headlined rallies for the gop ticket in richmond. with paul showing virginia the closest of battlegrounds, ryan appealed directly for help in turning out the vote. >> when we talk to that friend, relative, neighbor, the light, hope, change in

they do believe there'll be enough of a firewall particularly in northern ohio to get that state acrossline. >> shira, there's a new tampa bay times, bay news, "miami herald" poll mitt romney leading by 6 points. however our poll, the nbc marist poll shows the president leading by two. we're all scratching our heads here. what do you make of these polls and the difference between them? >> well, it's obvious that both campaigns still view it as a battle ground. we can see that by where they put their money. the obama campaign made a renewed effort, i guess you could call it a final push in florida by buying up more ad time there. it's still a highly competitive state. a lot of florida right now is very unpredictable, too. i'll bring up the hispanic vote, for example. this is a population that the president has really worked to turn out. it's a very unpredictable voting block. so we just don't know how that's going to go until election day. >> how about the senate, shira? it currently has 53 dems including two independents that caucus with the democrats, 47 republicans. how confident are

part of the state, across northern ohio where you have many auto-related direct factory plants, the president leads 52% to 45%. some evidence there especially among white blue collar workers the president is doing better than he might have done otherwise without the auto bailout. what was fascinating four years ago when you visited where i am, you knew at this time the race was over because the president then-senator obama was doing so well here. look at our poll numbers here from cincinnati and the southwest part of the state. governor romney ahead 52% to 47% in a region that is absolutely essential to republicans if they are to win a close statewide election here. we visited both campaign headquarters today in the cincinnati area. everyone concedes it is about as tight as it can get. the democrats say it's much tougher, much tighter than it was four years ago. the question though, wolf, is we have that slight lead, yes, within the margin of error. but the president has had a consistent two or three-point lead in just about every ohio poll conducted in re

things, so as we start to see returns coming in from new hampshire and southeast person and northern virginia and in ohio, it will become clear that there is going to be a wide-spread repudiation of the obama administration and form and congressman ryan will, elect the the next president and vice president of the united states. >>chris: what do you predict in 30 seconds? will we know earlier than we thought? >>guest: i am saying that pennsylvania and michigan and minnesota are not past the 270 as mr. axelrod would like to report. >>chris: you predict over 300 electoral votes. >>guest: it will be a big win for governor romney. chris thank you on your first national tv interview. we will see how the turn out battle goes and whether it turns out as well as you think it will be. >>chris: we will drill down on which states are truly undecided and the best chance for each side to get an up expected win. >> vote. vote. ting is the boast revenge. >> he told supporters, vote for revenge. vote for revenge? vote for love of country, that is what i tell you. >>chris: president obama and mitt romney going after each