he lost the moderates in the middle in places like ohio, in places like florida where he just couldn'tord to. and i think it's a triumph of an actual campaign against pure cynicism and lies. and i think that is a huge victory for the american people, i really do. ( crowd cheering ) >> stephen: thank you so much for joining me. >> thank you. >> stephen: please come again. >> will do. >> stephen: and please tell your liberal friends i will see them in hell. andrew sullivan.kuvouno.;ááááj/ >> stephen: welcome back, everybody. ( crowd cheering ) you know, in addition to the presidential race, tonight the leadership of congress could change hands. or in the case of senate minority leader mitch mcconnell, amphibious flippers. they only need to pick up four seats and they'll seize control. with that in mind, let's take a look at some of the key races. the colbert report can now conform former governor angus king has won, making the first senate seat ever held by a burger king menu item. ( laughter ) and folks, this is true. this king is an independent. you can say good-bye to bipartisan grid

he lost the moderates in the middle in places like ohio, in places like florida where he just couldn'tord to. and i think it's a triumph of an actual campaign against pure cynicism and lies. and i think that is a huge victory for the american people, i really do. [crowd cheering] >> stephen: thank you so much for joining me. >> thank you. >> stephen: please come again. >> will do. >> stephen: and please tell your liberal friends i will see them in [bleep] andrew ♪ ♪ everybody. [crowd cheering] you know, in addition to the presidential race, tonight the leadership of congress could change hands. or in the case of senate minority leader mitch mcconnell, amphibians. they only need to pick up four seats and they'll seize control. with that in mind let's take a look at some of the key races. the colbert report can now inform former governor angus king has won making the first senate seat ever held by a burger king menu item. [laughter] and folks, this is true. this king is an independent. you say good-bye to bipartisan grid lock and say hello to tri partisan grid lock. through you with melt

vote for i merely i think it's two thirds sure a lot as a rule of thumb for the democrats in a place like ohio it's a very different state you have a very different demographic you have ever going to get older and certainly a more traditional american demographic i think mitt romney didn't help himself by certainly by choosing a running mate in a sense running on kind of libertarian principles choosing someone like paul ryan who is known to the world as someone who wants to cut budgets and reform medicare and things like that i think he probably could have done a lot better with those people by not even touching those issues and running on some kind of populist things that make sense i think immigration reform is probably the chief amongst those now richard let's talk about what obama promised four years ago a change of hope a lot with critics say he's failed to live up to the expectations that do you think his current motto forward will be easier to live up to. well i think it might be easier to live up to it's even more vague and ambiguous and ridiculous i think you know demographics aside a

that is why you see obama doing well in places like ohio. host: we are being joined by tim ryan from the youngstown area. we will go to john on the republican line. caller: good morning. i am calling to ask you if you are familiar with the ballots that are, they are having trouble with them switching over when they are voting for mitt romney, and at the end come a check mark is that over on the democratic side? are you familiar with them? there has been a couple of programs of it. and one of them is right here in columbus, ohio. where they have had a few. i will not say a gaggle of them, but quite a few. and then i heard you earlier on the dollar fight workers, that you and senator brown -- on the delphi workers. you were interviewing the delphi workers. they say they have no pension are not getting any pension. this spin sounds like it is coming from you there a little bit. host: tim ryan? guest: it is a tough situation with the delphi salary folks. we have been working on it along time. my former coach's and family members who were in that

in places like ohio. twice what romney has. they've been running -- chris: lawyers in cleveland. >> and may not have been able to win a lot of the message wars but on the ground they are really swamping the mitt romney campaign. chris: -- >> both b's. i think the president didn't have much vision for the future in his campaign. tell us enough about what he wants to do in the next four years. until late in the game. mitt romney never told us who he was. chris: let's go to the other colgate right here. grade inflation taking over colgate right now? two b's for these candidates? >> well, i'll give them both c pluses, ok? and here's the reason. i think this has been one of the least satisfying, most -- >> right. >> draining and dispiriting campaigns i've ever covered. and i've covered a lot of of them. and the reason is there's no list of a driving dream from either side it doesn't seem to me. this is every bit as much of a slog and a ground war and sort of battle in which everybody -- chris: so well said. >> everybody is attacking

whoever wins there x you sort of watch the dominos fall in places like ohio or colorado. >> started in harts location, obama 23, romney 9. can mitt romney recover from that? that's the question everyone will be asking today. >> just like a good sporting event. early lead. >> had to start early with the punditry. we have six hours of morning joe head. get comfortable with your purple ties. >>> still ahead, special edition of "way too early"ment more serious weather headed across the northeast to a region that can't afford any more of it. bill karins has details and your election day forecast next. also, senator scott brown looking to fend off a challenge from elizabeth warren in the state of massachusetts. just one of the many close races playing out for control of the u.s. senate. "way too early" coming back to democracy plaza on msnbc. >> i was in the lincoln room a moment ago and saw a full sculpture of abraham lincoln and i get a catch in my throat as i see him. >> what lincoln said was that through our government, we should do together what we cannot do as well for ourselves. ♪ ♪ ♪

sometime after that when some challenges are made in places like ohio? , we're not going to have a new president. we'll have the same president again. i think on election night, i think the president once ohio, there may be some hanky pankey at the polls close, but i think the president wins ohio comfortingly enough, because of medicare, the auto rescue. the president wins comfortly enough that you won't be up all night counting votes. >> david axelrod told me two or three points. >> pretty smart. still got his mustache. >> i also caught up with josh mendel. >> it's very close. i think a lot of it is going to come down to independent voters. a lot of it's anecdotal, just talking to friends i know. they tell me it's a strong organization, there's not the energy there was four years ago. >> over the weekend, we're seeing huge, long lines of early voters. republicans are counting on a big showing on election day. how are you going to accomplish that? >> when i ran for the legislature, i served in a district that was two to one. i knocked on -- doors. >> appr

if you look in states that matter, places like ohio where the economy has gotten substantially betternd they can pinpoint why. they can point to that auto bailout. if you're in michigan or ohio you can point to that reason why, and that reason why has barack obama's name on it. >> if you listen to the little clips we played, it seems as though barack obama is energized -- >> that's apparent. >> mitt romney is going through the motions. >> let's go to the facts here we have on the table. i love the atmospherics. that's why i wanted to start with this. let's go to this peaking question. dick nixon, richard nixon, he was a smart politician as they go, and he used to believe -- he didn't want to the run all out. you're exhausted by election day. he said you have to peak at the right time. he almost caught kennedy. he was three days late. three more days he might have caught him. humphrey almost caught nixon in '68. these elections go through rhythms. >> mitt romney peaked exactly where john kerry peaked in 2004, the first debate. they both had a first great debate, got a great bounce, and

but continue to this day in places like ohio and florida america has been a liberal nation since our founding as george washington noted in a seven hundred ninety six letter to alexander hamilton if the nation could successfully educate all of our people quote sentiments of more liberality in the general policy of the country would result from it and of quote from george washington the result over time was that we ended up with a national policy of free education for all george washington took us liberal and we've been moving that way ever since and so with this massive progressive victory in two thousand and twelve when more democrats than republicans even got votes for the house of representatives the democratic party is the crossroads. will they return to the liberal roots of thomas jefferson the founder of the party and its standard bearers like f.d.r. and j.f.k. or will they take the third way of discredited conserve a downs like ben nelson blanche lincoln and erskine bowles at the end of his second term in office f.d.r. faced this exact same problem with his party he wanted to

it's clearly by design in places like ohio and florida where we have these extraordinarily partisan the secretaries of state and governors you know much of the problem in ohio from two thousand and four was solved by two thousand and eight with early voting. under the democratic secretary of state previously jennifer brunner then you have this republican guy come in john hughes dead and cut down on early voting the same thing happened down in florida where they went from eighteen fourteen days of early voting down to eight why because it was too easy to vote previously i think the answer by be yeah apparently it was too easy and they had to make it harder at this just it's absolutely disgraceful it really is i know in a it's crazy to hear some of the excuses that have come out when they talk about the reasons why they needed to do that you know right if you want a whole lot of the mainstream media you may feel there is a real problem in america you may think that undocumented immigrants are flocking to the polls or those sneaky liberals are you know voting multiple times and it made me

i mean of course this is not just new york and new jersey the tri state area but other places like ohio swing states where people were asked for id when they weren't supposed to be asked for id and vice versa you know experimental machines being suggested in ohio the list is very very long we tried all day yesterday to keep up with all of the things being reported and there's just really been a lot of complaints coming from from americans throughout not just to try to state area but throughout the united states and unfortunately once that wind was and it was announced that's it shows over and nobody really talks about that anymore these voter id laws are being implemented in a lot. controversy and speculation that they're intended to suppress a star and a group of voters that many what do you think to what extent do you think these laws have impacted this election being in florida i notice that you know florida was in those one of those states that was subject to these voter id laws but there were other methods of voter suppression the least alleged methods of voter suppression specific

massive advantage in terms of the number of field offices that he had opened up, particularly in places like ohio and florida. since you're in ohio, do you see the effects of that? it's one thing to have the offices. it's another thing to have those offices actually working. are you seeing the buses, the door knocks, the efforts of that ground game? >> absolutely, ashleigh. the headquarters are just one metric. and the real thing is that get out the vote effort. the last bus tour have been going to swing counties talking to the democrat and republican chairs. they are monitoring early voting in particular very intensely. they know which of their supporters have requested early ballots, trying to make sure the potential for what's called provisional ballots are as close as possible. there is a real focus. the phone calls, the door knocking, getting your vote out. this is all about ground game here in the battleground buckeye state. it is very tight, very intense. >> hold that thought on the provisional ballots in ohio. we're going to have a segment on that coming up. just the criticism that's goin

or in the last week that suggested a greater turn-out and enthusiasm for president obama in places like ohiot happen base on what we have seen unless there is some insane turn-out that nobody expects and might be impossible. based on that information -- question is does 2019 look more in terms of the turn-out model like 2008 or 2004? republicans you talk to, romney officials say we don't need turn-out to look like tuar to win. if it's not 2008 and the republicans and conservatives who we expect to turn out actually go to the polls, we're going to win. >> number is d plus 7. in 2008, the democrats, obama got seven points higher more democrats than republicans. if i's d-7, obama wins. d-7-plus, obama will win. if it's d-4, or d.3 for republicans, romney wins. you are right. all about what the actual turn-out is. if it's like 2008 romney peel would agree they will lose. but they don't think that is what it will be. >> so gallup, granddaddy of them all, experienced pollster of them all to do the screen to see who will vote longer than anybody and largest set of questions i asked. they came out t

first of all, in places like ohio. you have ralph reid in there. anyone who thinks ohio is in the bag for obama? you haven't heard from the evangelicals yet. he tells you you're going to wake up in a body bag. at the same time, there may be real undersampling of younger browner voters. when i am in ohio, i'm seeing people, they say, no one's ever called me for a poll, no one's asked my opinion. i have all my friends coming out. there are some x factors here we don't know about. >> we're going to be standing by for our results. tom foreman is taking us inside his virtual u.s. senate. he'll tell you how our lives could change if the balance of power shifts. both there to reveal the campaigns last minute strategies. maybe somewhere around my house. mine's just, right over that way. well you can find out exactly where it is using bing elections. it's a good day for politics. which way do you lean politically? conservative. republican. well, using the bing news selector you can find news from whichever way you lean. (together) social on this side, financ

in a place like ohio you have ralph reed in there. anybody that thinks ohio is in the bag for obama, you have ralph reed there. you wake up in a body bag and you can see the people coming in. at the same time, there may be real under sample of younger browner voters. when i am in ohio i am seeing people, nobody ever called me for a poll, asked my opinion and i have all of my friends coming out. there is x factors here we don't know about. >> we're going to stand by for more result from the new poll on how the economy is influencing voters and also tom foreman is taking us inside his virtual u.s. senate and how our lives can change if the balance of power shifts in the senate and both presidential candidates holding battleground state rallies and the reporters are there and the last minute strategies. we'll be right back. >>> a live picture from we'rwith questions fromtump sombing elections.kies do you know where your polling place is? maybe somewhere around my house. mine's just, right over that way. well you can find out exactly where

and particularly in places like ohio, in particular which is a linch pin.ally attracted to scenarios that have never happened before it has never happened before whether you have had an entire welter of polls and they are all off. on the other hand, the point that carl rove made to you is a very good one. a lot of these polls reflect an electorate that which is more democratic than most people think is going to turn out on election day. >> bill: rove is also analyzing votes that have already been cast. he sees a big difference between 12 and 8. >> obama is ahead in many of these key states with early voting but not as far aheads as he was four years ago. that reflects the enthusiasm and intensity level obama voters less than four years ago. if you look at the romney as it exists today not the way it exsixthed a few months ago and at the beginning the tway is now. look at the crowds, all those things, crowds are not a great way. >> bill: antidotal. >> good sign of intensity. there is a lot of the intensity on the republic side. that matters on election day.

have they had a chance especially in a place like ohio where they've seen them in person or been exposedr ads nonstop and phone calls to the home and those kind of things. voter contact make a big difference and they're trying to get them to go to the polls and people want to participate and today they get to do that. >> all right. >> nbc's kelly o'donnell live in columbus, ohio, thank you very much. >> all right. >> carl. >> thank you, carl. >> in back after the election and talk about solutions. >> that's what we have to do. >> it is time to talk solutions just like you said. we have to break the fever of gridlock in washington. >> otherwise, we're in terrible trouble. one way or the other. >> by the way, can i just say you look very, very fashionable walking in. i'm a kaleidoscope. >> reservoir dogs, man. >> i'm a kaleidoscope. >> wow! >> okay. everyone's a little punchy. coming up, no matter which candidate wins tonight, perhaps the biggest issue waiting in the white house is we'll be dealing with the country's looming fiscal cliff. we'll discuss that with dave walker at the msnbc ex

places he's much better to have on the campaign trail than he probably was a month or two ago, right? because everyone likes to have a good jobs news but particularly when you're talking about places like ohio, and wisconsin, you know, that's -- he's more, i think, welcome there than he would have been beforehand. so it certainly is not bad news, put it that way. >> it is not bad news. it would seem to me that that's what people would be talking about in a big way. kelly, thank you for joining us. chris, good to have you on tonight. thanks so much. >>> coming up, you won't believe what steve doocy has to say about tonight's hurricane sandy relief benefit concert. stay tuned. >>> up next, fox and friends tries to politicize a hurricane fund-raiser. we'll have the details. and the big finish, mitt romney makes a play for wisconsin while scott walker tries spin the poll numbers in romney's favor. john nichols has the story from the badger state. listen to my radio show on sirius xm radio channel 127 monday through friday, noon to 3:00 p.m. and follow me on twitter @edshow and like "the ed show" on facebook. >>> welcome back. when faced with disasters like hurricane sandy, americans, you know,

places he's much better to have on the campaign trail than he probably was a month or two ago, right? because everyone likes to have a good jobs news but particularly when you're talking about places like ohiowisconsin, you know, that's -- he's more, i think, welcome there than he would have been beforehand. so it certainly is not bad news, put it that way. >> it is not bad news. it would seem to me that that's what people would be talking about in a big way. kelly, thank you for joining us. chris, good to have you on tonight. thanks so much. >>> coming up, you won't believe what steve dushy has to say about tonight's hurricane sandy relief benefit concert. stay tuned. if we want to improve our schools... ... what should we invest in? maybe new buildings? what about updated equipment? they can help, but recent research shows... ... nothing transforms schools like investing in advanced teacher education. let's build a strong foundation. let's invest in our teachers so they can inspire our students. let's solve this. >>> up next, fox and friends tries to politicize a hurricane fund-raiser. we'll have the details. and the big finish, mitt romney makes a play for wisconsin while scott walker tr

in key places like ohio, i'm not sure it's going to have an effect. >> greta: and in terms of supportthat is his job. >> he has his race of his own a year from now. new jersey happens in the odd year. corey booker the mayor of new york. >> now that he is chummy with the governor? >> i think politics -- i mean everything is political. i think you have a right, chris christie is doing what is the right for the state of new jersey. so is the president. but in the background of all that there are some ramifications. i'm not sure conservatives in this race are very happy with him right now. they may not forget it in the general election in new jersey. a year from now, there is going to be political ramifications. i'm not sure he is worried about that. >> is it possible for either candidate, president obama or governor romney to win right now without ohio? can either one win without ohio? >> both can. it's a tougher road for romney. romney, if he loses ohio probably has to put some combination of wisconsin and colorado or colorado, iowa and new hampshire, some combination of states. >> gret

if you look in states that matter, places like ohio where the economy has gotten substantially better they can pinpoint why. if you're in michigan or ohio you can point to that reason why, and that reason why has barack obama's name on it. >> if you listen to the little clips we played, it seems as though barack obama is energized -- >> that's apparent. >> mitt romney is going through the motions. >> let's go to the facts here we have on the table. i love the atmospherics. let's go to this peaking question. dick nixon, richard nixon, he was a smart politician as they go, and he used to believe -- he didn't want to the run all out. he said you have to peak at the right time. he almost caught kennedy. he was three days late. three more days he might have caught him. humphrey almost caught nixon in '68. these elections go through rhythms. >> mitt romney peaked exactly where john kerry peaked in 2004, the first debate. they both had a first great debate, got a great bounce, and it dissipated -- >> slowly dissipated. >> -- over the course of the campaign, and they couldn't get the wind bac

first of all, in places like ohio, you've got ralph reed in there. mean, anybody who thinks ohio is in the bag for obama, you have ralph reed in there not heard from the evangelicals in there ralph reed tells you you are going to wake up in a body bag, you wake up in a body bag. you can see these people come in. at the same time there maybe undersampling of younger, browner voters. when i am nee ohio, they say nobody called me for a poll nobody asked my opinion, i have friends coming out. x-factors we don't know b. >> standing by for new results on our poll how the economy is influencing voters and tom foreman taking us inside his virtual u.s. senate. tell us how our live does change if the balance of power shifts in the senate. both presidential candidates holding battleground rallies tonight. our reporters are there to reveal the campaigns' last-minute strategies. we will be right back. if we want to improve our schools... ... what should we invest in? maybe new buildings? what about updated equipment? they can help, but recent research shows... ...

define him in particular with bane that made him very difficult for him to erase obama's lead in places like ohio and iowa and other places. i think wisconsin it was never really in play, pennsylvania was never really in play but you can imagine where it had had that sort of early summer not occurred. had romney had to to make up the likable gap this would have been a much different outcome. >> you would have thought based on how much trouble we had with the economy, mitt romney being the businessman that he is would want him to come in because he can fix the economy. does this election tell you that people obviously are willing to give president obama a chance to finish what he started and that there is some optimism that our economy is on the rebound on the move and moving forward. >> i think so, i mean exit polls show some of that. polls will narrowly moving in the right direction, moving in the wrong direction. i think obama's approval rating are starting to go in the right direction. i do think he had some room whether it's the second stimulus or other job plans. that said i think concerns a