so team obama, take heed. unleash the crackin'. let bill chill in the swing states and soon we'll be paraphrasing another literary master. the bell tolls for thee, mitt. [ bells tolling ] >> jennifer: the obama team has finally released

they thought they would be in a much worse place. >> andrea, it would be hard for the obama team to match the excitement generated four years ago. is there some fear that romney's suggestion that there might be disappointment among obama voters? suggestion that that might have hit a nerve. >> reporter: it might have hit a nerve and some democrats worry that the obama campaign can be too confident. they have to win a state like this one, north carolina. the president only won this by 14,000 votes last time. right now he and mitt romney are tied. they need to drive up the women's vote. the unemployment rate in north carolina is 9.6%. the romney forces are outspending the obama teams by two to one here. and perhaps it is best captured by a woman who came to me a couple of days ago. she approached me and said what do you think about all of this. i asked her what she thought. she said my late husband is a republican. i voted for obama. i was leaning towards mitt romney because i'm worried about this economy, but now i'm really worried about the republicans, her words, pushing down on the glass

obama and... i approve this message. >>> on this sunday night, high stakes. team obama unleashes a full-court press on the road to the convention. tonight chuck todd and andrea mitchell on what the president needs to do. >>> new evacuations in the gulf. the storm is gone but tonight the danger isn't over. >>> deadly smer in one of america's biggest cities. how residents are fighting to take back the streets. >>> they're going for gold once again tonight in london with kate middleton there cheering them on. >>> and in the doghouse. good dogs, bad behavior and pet owners around the world adding their canine criminals to the lineup. >>> from nbc news world head quarters in new york, this is "nbc nightly news" with lester holt. >>> good evening. president obama is on the campaign trail tonight hitting states that are sure to be hotly contested and sharpening the attacks and talking points that are likely to frame this week's democratic convention in charlotte. that will include the charge that mitt romney and republicans are pushing failed economic policies of the pas

obama remains very popular. >> i think she has been an ambassador for her husband, and i see them as a team. >> reporter: mayor castro kicks off the convention with his keynote address. president obama used the 2004 keynote to launch himself into the national spotlight. and republicans have no intention of leaving that are you better off question alone. we're told that paul ryan's going to continue the attack, campaigning today in ohio and iowa. terrell? >> susan mcginnis in charlotte starting us off this morning. susan, thank you so much. and we will carry live coverage tonight of the democratic national convention, including first lady michelle obama's speech beginning at 10:00 p.m. eastern right here on cbs. >>> the democrats unveiled their party platform, and it's the polar opposite of the republicans. the document that same-sex marriage and abortion rights and also calls for higher taxes on wealthier americans. delegates will officially adopt that platform today. >>> the chairman of the california democratic party is backing off statements he made monday in ant view with san francisco'

it seems to me nat obama team really coined this guy early. president obama said he looks like the guy who fired you. and then they went on the bain run. and then there was this war on women, which is taken into effect. i mean, every step of the way romney has been on the defensive. >> you and have i talked about this before. he lost the summer, he lost the conventions, he lost the month of september and he can't afford to lose the debates. the obama people were very smart, went out there right away with the bain ads. he defined romney. he had no defense. his only defense was i made free enterprise. he suddenly became the opposite of what ronald reagan was to those reagan democrats. rightly or wrongly those reagan democrats thought romney had understood them, had come from a family a lot like theirs and cared about them. it's okay to be rich. it's not okay to be the candidate of the rich, for the rich, by the rim. >> there are big moments in everybody's campaign. and romney's 47% remark may be his. and todd akin is at the center. ♪ [ male annou

after the obama team spent last week trying to answer the old reagan question, "are you better off now than you were four years ago?" clinton gave them last night an answer that people could remember. the republican logic he said was, "we left him a total mess. he hasn't cleaned it up fast enough, so fire him and put us back." no wonder my friend brit hume over at fox said, "if i were ever in trouble, i'd want bill clinton to defend me." time and again last night, clinton laid out president obama's positions better, perhaps, than the obama team has been able to do over four years. so maybe they weren't best buds before, but i sense the beginning of a beautiful friendship. as my colleague john dickerson observed, the president hugged clinton so hard after that speech last night, he looked like he was trying to burp him. >> pelley: bob, thanks very much. last week we brought you a series of interviews here with mitt romney and his wife, anne. well, next week we'll have president obama right here on the cbs evening news. >> there was a remarkable momenh the pledge of allegiance led by gab

obama gets a lift. clinton gets impersonated and grand home gets the holy spirit. when it does not fit anywhere else, we put it in the viewfinder. >> teamal with voters on the campaign trail. >> i do think that the secret service allowing a guy at a size to lift up the president--that's kind of-- >> what about bill clinton? do you think he could get elected today for president? >> you know, if the constitution were in his way. >> we're here to nominate a president, i've got one in mind. >> unfortunately, barack obama defeated her four years ago. luckcally--luckcally bill had another option. >> of course i'm talking about me. bill clinton jk. although, let's face it. who would stop me. i'm back, baby. >> now, now, you know i can't. i already served my two terms. no i get what you're saying, man, but just--the constitution is what it--oh, you mean, oh, okay. >> how about former michigan governor jennifer granholm energy's speech. oh, my god. she was working that crowd like an evangelist. [ cheering ] [ cheering usa ] >> he trotted out the same wild claim that republicans have been working for years to disprove. >> i'm the president. [appl

the obama team. >> well, we love all the polls we can get, we're certainly glad to have every data point that we can put in the hopper, but we don't have real good polling yet on these states, and certainly rasmussen has some stuff that indicates otherwise. we're right now waiting to see how big obama's bounce is, if it's real, what states it occurred in. but i would tell you this, and this is something we've talked about many, many times. in a re-election effort, it comes down to this: do you want to keep the guy you've got, and is the other guy plausible? for this race it's very clear, and the democrats have all but ceded this point, that americans do want a change. they're not happy with president obama's leadership on the economy which is the most important issue -- megyn: well -- i'm sorry, you wrote an interesting power play piece today talking about this very point, talking about how the president's message has to different than george w. bush's was for three reasons. number one, president oba

i think you couldn't write a better script for the obama team. >> you would be hard pressed and therea reason for it. when a candidate fits his negative stereotype and locks in that all of the efforts he makes to undo it just don't work. i think there is a second component and that is that he is selecting as his running mate, paul ryan. likeable guy, but someone who is passionate about deconstructing programs for the 47%. >> what are do you think are romney's campaign to respond to all of this. have they done a good job? >> one of the most miserable responses i have seen in years of politics. he comes out and said i stand by it basically. number one, that's bad. as he tried to move away from it, he ended up stumbling all over the place. the other day he was talking about showing empathy by doing health care reform in massachusetts which reinforced the fact that if that's empathy, barack obama showed it for the whole country. >> you think the president uses the phrase 47% to box romney in in the first debate? >> a little bit, but he has to be careful. obama doesn't want 47%. he wants 5

what the obama team is saying is that the president is so weak, that even with a supposedly divided republican behind him, mitt romney is still tied with barack obama. they ought to think that one through. bill: hey, joe, what is he talking about? >> well, bill, i think it's, it's an overreaction to what he was saying. my own view, we're in a convention context here. whenever you have these tough primaries that mitt romney was through, went through, you got to pull the party together. newt gingrich said bad things about you in the campaign. you attacked each other. you have to worry about things like putting newt gingrich. when will he speak at the convention? for two reasons, one, to pull his supporters in. and two, to show the unity that the party has become unified, much like, one of the big critical moments in the 2008 democratic convention was hillary clinton and barack obama. how was that split going to come together. republicans had to worry about those kind of things at their convention. no the in a big way but they had to do that. bill: joe, you were with us in tampa. >> yeah. bill: d

obama." let's talk about if this in fact is what team obama is reduced to. they can't run on their own economy so they are essentially saying pay no attention to the obama economy, but check out the clinton economy from 20 years ago. is that about right? >> monica, no surprise. i completely disagree with you. we don't hide from our presidents, we showcase them there is a reason for that the fact is bill clinton in addition to remaining incredibly popular both men and women, whites, people of color, across all age groups, a lot of the republicans, a lot of independents, a lot of moderates like him a lot. they liked his economic record which created 26 million jobs and they understood that bill clinton's vision of shared prosperity is the same vision that barack obama has which is why barack obama is trying to get back to the clinton economic policies, including that of fair tax rates where everybody contributes their fair share and everybody reasons the benefits instead of an approach of romney/ryan where the winner takes all and at the top do better and bett

rising star, young mayor of san antonio and from a more established star, first lady, michelle obama. our team is in place for all of it including the largest fleet

obama -- sorry, team romney. n the romneys'not so big mo, plus examine what's actually factually happening with welfare and we'll discuss how race factors into the gop's criticism of the president's policy. >>> and the obama doctrine. former assistant secretary of state p.j. crowley and foreign policy's susan glasser evaluate the president's foreign policy resume four years later, when "now" starts in a mere 180 seconds. when the doctor told me that i could smoke for the first week... i'm like...yeah, ok... little did i know that one week later i wasn't smoking. [ male announcer ] along with support, chantix is proven to help people quit smoking. it reduces the urge to smoke. some people had changes in behavior, thinking or mood, hostility, agitation, depressed mood and suicidal thoughts or actions while taking or after stopping chantix. if you notice any of these stop taking chantix and call your doctor right away. tell your doctor about any history of depression or other mental health problems, which could get w

you know the obama team has got to be watching that but hang on that's a nine. (laughter) totally different integer, i do not see that coming. now let's compare that with last week's numbers, 14 and 3. so obviously toes have changed. one is higher, someone lower, not sure which, i'm just eyeballing this at this point. not sure what it means. of course, if you're talking internet communal links, these days right now you're talking about cloud computing. okay, there's the cloud. obviously that's just a metaphor. the actual cloud much larger and in the sky. okay. (laughter) let's check out tonight's big number. okay. 11,394.5. holy (bleep)! that's a decimal! (cheers and applause) who knows? who knows? who knows what it could mean? the number of the people at the convention, my bar bill, the height of everyone in charlotte added together then divided by five, we will have full team coverage on this. our top minds, chinese guys, the whole deal. i promise you more on this number as i have to fill time. (laughter) we'll be righ everybody, thank you so much, folks. (che

we'll talk more about the gallup numbers later and as our team points out, it may have obama feeling confident after struggling this weekend to answer the question are you better off now than you were four years ago. team obama trying to get on one message, one accord, as they head into their convention. >> are we better off today than we were four years ago when president obama was elected? >> absolutely. by any measure, the country has moved forward over the past four years. >> america is better off today than they left us when they left. let me just sum it up this way, folks. you want to know whether we're better off, i have a little bumper sticker for you, osama bin laden is dead and general motors is alive! >> so the big push to answer this question comes after the romney campaign pushed maryland governor martin o'maley's response this weekend as an admission by democrats that things are not better. >> can you honestly say that people are better off today than they were four years ago? >> no, but that's not the question of this election. >> now, the governor later back tracked sa

in ohio particularly the obama team has pushed the auto rescue, there are a lot of jobs in ohio that were saved by that, and they see that as one of the reasons he's doing so well. the romney team is pushing energy and they still see a vulnerability with coal, for example, but the polls are showing that the auto issue is helping obama certainly more than this energy issue seems to be helping romney. >> it feels like when we look at the number of things both structurally and in terms of the campaign, a real rhee election for president obama is in certain ways overdetermined by the models. it's not the absolute level of economic suffering, it's where, you know, how people feel about how things are going, it's about things moving in the right direction. you have an incumbent versus someone not a current office holder. there's a lot of things that overdetermine the likelihood of president obama winning re-election. on the other hand, we have very serious voter suppression efforts in key states and i think, you know, this goes back to your point that the obama campaign is certainly not eve

it reinforces the character of the obama team has work very hard to sell to voters in swing states, which is this is a very wealthy person who looks out for and things first and foremost about himself and his wealthy friends, so that is why it is so hurtful to his campaign because it played into the narrative president obama was trying to drive into the campaign. tavis: we have seen a lot of politicians who have gone to 60 minutes to try to set the record straight. mr. romney has done that. now did you get a chance to see it, and what did you make about his appearance? >> he is trying to restart a conversation about the economy that is focused on barack obama. he was supposed to be doing the same thing but got sidetracked and badly by this video. he will be ablepresident to get over this. he has to hope that is not the majority of people. the fact that a majority of people do not approve of how barack obama has handled the economy, but ultimately those people will say i am done with a guy who is currently in office. let's give the other guy a chance. the interview he has done and he is go

. >> for the first time in four months the obama team pulled ahead of the romney campaign bringing in$114 million until august to the romney campaign's $111 million. >>> quite a stir this morning with latest class. pole dancing for kids. the instructor says the classes are about fitness and fun and not about sex. she says children get a excellent cardiovascular workout. they have four students signed up. she expects more kids will get on board because it's fun. >>> a plane crashed in to a junk yard, two people on board were killed. flames shot up as high as 50 feet in the air. a number of firefighters and a helicopter helped to put out the flames. >>> nicaragua tallest volcano has been shooting gas and ash for 2.5 miles high in to the sky. crews are trying to figure out whether or not they should evacuate 20,000 people living near the volcano. people living near there saw flames high in the air. >>> time for a check of the forecast. it was perfect out there this weekend. >> gorgeous. let's see if we can keep it going, especially for

can team obama not just keep the lead with each from shrinking in the weeks ahead but get that enthusiasm among both groups? a lot depends on how things go here. leading the charge this evening, the best saleswoman the president has, first lady michelle. expect mrs. obama to champion her husband's record, especially what he's done for women and working moms. and the other big speaker tonight. somebody you don't know yet but you will. san tan yoantonio mayor. the young latino from texas. from within and without the lone star state. from charlotte, tuesday, september 4, 2012. i'm chuck todd this is "the daily rundown." dnc vice chair is with us and my first reads of the morning. the democrats kick off their three-day convention tonight with their most direct appeal to two voting groups crucial to the president's re-election chances. women and latinos. preparing for her speech, mrs. obama arrived yesterday. she'll address delegates tonight and doing what she's been doing on the campaign trail for her husband. touting her husband's record on issues. >> this election, ladies, is a choice about

>> well, governor, i would rather be the obama team than romney's team at this point, and i think theye a lot to do in a very short period of time. and i don't think they can waste another day with distractions. the debates are going to be critical. i think there is a huge opportunity there. listen, i have plenty of my own criticism about the there should have been a lot more policy, a lot more specifics, a lot earlier on. but i know that stuff happens, and as we saw last week on foreign policy external events will expose themselves, so there are a few more chapters to play out in my opinion. >> jennifer: yeah, you are right. but you mentioned they should have been more specific about policy. david frum was tweeting today that part of the problem is the policies, and the american people don't like the policies they are putting out there. if you were giving them advice would you tell them to be more specific about these policies? >> yeah, i would. and i -- i -- in some ways my prediction they got in a lot of while for saying out loud a while ago is coming true. when they picked dramatic

was on if -- obama team was on the air, the mitt romney team went downsome republicans think it was a mistake they ceded the ground to the convention. he got a little bounce in the convention, got a little bit of bounce from the oids and now on kibba. gwen: it's a leadership question. >> it's like a game of bumper cars. he keems getting knocked around. guy when you're taking on an incumbent president that's already a tough thing. does he get to set the table for the argument going forward? >> it's remarkable to me that they've conceded the idea that the election was going to be a referendum on the president. david axelrod has been saying since last summer, if they make this a choice election between mitt romney and barack obama they're going to win. gwen: they changed their minds on the day they picked paul ryan. >> it's amazing how willingly they've engaged in a choice election with a candidate they admit the country doesn't know. gwen: sit because they thought that ryan would enhance the popularity of the choice? >> i think they liked the protections o

because it's an attempt at really neutral reporting and there's lots of stuff in there that the obama team and white house have been up to, that they really don't want to focus on. and lots of stuff that republicans have been up to that they don't -- >> i'll come back to this in one second. there was a political story one week ago in which unnamed romney advisers were trashing the campaign itself, trashing stuart stevens who was the strategist. it used to be i had to wait for your book or john heilemann to find out who really hates each other behind the scenes. what do you make of it coming out in real time? >> each campaign there have always been stories like that and resignations. i mean during one of the reagan candidacies he fired his campaign manager, john sears, and put in bill casey. >> i remember that. >> in 1980. 32 years ago. at the time it was covered like this is the end of the reagan candidacy,'ll never be president. there was all of this -- i mean it -- >> i guess it turned out to be wrong. >> it turned out to be wrong. i went into the last two week os testify campaign and ca

let's look at the brand new ad from barack obama's team.we'll slice and dice on the other side. listen. >> he attacked millions of hard-working people making 25, 35, 45,000 dollars a year. they pay social security taxes, state taxes, local taxes, gas, sales, property taxes. romney paid 14% in taxes last year on over $13 million in income. >> the obama team's complaint is romney is ignoring all of the other nonfederal taxes people pay when he's accusing them of not paying taxes. what happens in the second half of the ad? >> they are comparing apples to oranges again. >> they did the same thing they accused the romney team of doing which is ignoring all of the state, local, real estate, sales and other taxes people pay. for the record we checked. what did mitt romney pay according to his 2011 tax returns? here's what he paid in state and local taxes. he paid over 1.3 million dollars in state and local. he paid $214,000 plus in real estate taxes and a whopping $146 in personal property taxes. the point is he did pay the other taxes. the obama

>> well, i am befuddled by the inability of the obama team to state the obvious. came in in 2009, he didn't come in in 2008, no matter what paul ryan thinks. that plant closed in 2008 in janesville. he came in in 2009 where unemployment was spiking up well past 2%, the stock market was bottomless, falling down to 6500, the lowest in more than a decade, and he took it from 6500 to 13,000, how can you not say we're better off? i don't see what's so complicated about this. >> they of course are turning to the unemployment numbers and the fact that people don't feel -- it's a balancing act. >> the fact is that we were in a very scared country in 2009. when w left, we didn't know how deep it was going to go. nobody knew it was going to stop at 6500 with the stock market. it was heading downward. unless he had gotten through that stimulus package in february of 2009, we don't know where we would be. for them to criticize the democrats for leading this country into hell and then come back and claim it isn't heaven is insane. [ inaudible ] it was taking us back from the a