we have mark halperin and steve schmidt. the host of msnbc's "hardball," chris matthews, everybody. we also have contributor to "newsweek" and the daily beast and co-founder of no labels, mark mckinnon who was with us at the 92nd street "y" last night getting wasted. >> just getting hammered. >> it was embarrassing. >> chris, i have a lot to ask. >> congratulations. i love this room. i keep thinking how great this is to be here. >> it is. it's so exciting. the crowd's great, too. and as i was saying in the break, this is the america that my mother warned me about if barack obama got re-elected. socialism and republicans forced to sit up in the balcony. there are four republicans. and they're sitting up there. it's going to be okay, mom, i promise. >> this is what paul ryan promised two days ago, two days ago was the fall of the western world. >> yeah. >> the end of the judeo-christian tradition, of all that we care about. pretty frightening. >> i love after anything that passes that the other side doesn't like, tonight, free

. >> here is steve schmidt breaking down the election problems last week in a bite that sent rush limbaughterror. better off running against the real president obama as opposed to the sinister pretend president obama, and the total lack of credibility with some of this stuff i think is just absolutely repellent to the middle of the electorate. and then when you look at the demographics, who is rush limbaugh talking to? he is talking to a demographic that's white, 65-plus, and rural. that's not what the country looks like anymore. so you have these talk radio hosts making millions and millions and millions of dollars a year, driving a message of complete and total ludicrous nonsense into the electorate, a lot of it poisonous. >> here is rush responding to that little gem right there from steve schmidt. >> you got to get a view of the republican party that is not right out of my dream journal. what, folks, did i or any of you have to do with the republican primary? did not murphy get the candidate he wanted? all these consultants -- do you realize they get rich no matter who wins or loses? l

steve schmidt is here live, next. 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 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, financial. which party is currently predicted to win a majority in the senate? the republicans? would you make a bet on that? no. are you chicken? a short word that's a tall order. up your game. up the ante. and if you stumble, you get back up. up isn't easy, and we ought to know. we're in the business of up. everyday delta flies a quarter of million people while investing billions improving everything from booking to baggage claim. we're raising the bar on flying and tomorrow we will up it yet again. that's the sound of car insurance companies these days. here a cheap, there a cheap, everywhere a cheap... you get it. so, what if instead of just a cheap c

steve schmidt, the romney people, very dejected by this poll.eard them in the past couple weeks being dejected. "the des moines register," they know their state. their polls are accurate. >> absolutely. that doesn't inspire a lot of confidence on the republican side. you know, i think that republicans understand that iowa is a tough state for us. >> all right. let's go to florida. romney has the advantage there, polling six points ahead in a new "tampa bay times"/"miami herald" poll. in new hampshire, a wmur poll has the race tied at 47%-47%. >> steve, what about that? >> when you see an incumbent president at 47% tied, that indicates to me that that state could well wind up in the mitt romney column. >> let's go to another state. and the big question, mika, is whether this poll is an outlier. >> or something's going on here. 47%-47% tied. in pennsylvania according to a "tribune-review" poll, pennsylvania has naught gone republican since 1988. >> david gregory, they say this is a republican-leaning poll, a republican-leaning newspaper and this p

steve schmidt, what do you think? this is one more move towards maybe not needing ohio. >> this is another state whenp& you look at the numbers in colorado see the impacti mitt romney in a very bad way in that state. republicans had high hopes in colorado. >> we're getting all of this now and we still haven't heard from virginia yet and we haven't heard from nevada. so he can roll it up even further. 7<-Ñ could get up potentially to over 300. >> republicans were not very bullish going intoevada tonight. he does have a path over howard fineman who is in other command post. >> f the third debate which the president did pretty sell rod, who areundecideds? well there are a lot all overtry. i sa specific. he saidwomen, profe colorado. and in that case, chris, they weased on abortion anissues. these are voters libertarian on economics. business women and so forth but also libertarian in terms of ntrolling their own lives and own bodies and so forth. w generally i'd like i'm a reporter and an analyst and i thiunderstating de

7:00 eastern on c-span. _ >> next president obama's former campaign manager david plouffe and steve schmidtion. both mr. plouffe and mr. schmidt attended the university of delaware. >> welcome back to the national agenda program. i'm director for the center of political communication. this is the final program of the 2012 presidential election season. i'm very very pleased that all of you are here tonight and i know that's a tribute to our two guest speakers this evening. two years ago in the wake of the shellacking president obama took in the midterm congressional elections, the architect of the president's 2008 victory david plouffe stood on this stage and predicted the electorate voting in 2012 would be more diverse and younger than it was just two years earlier. he talked then about the growing latino electorate and he predicted that the obama campaign in 2012 would have to take advantage of those demographic opportunities. plouffe also predicted on this stage that the american people in 2012 would have had enough of republicans who were like glenn beck, sara palin and rush limbaugh. we

and steve schmidt, i was with him this morning on the set of "morning joe."itt romney is going to win this election. he believes in his gut that that's going to happen, even though his head is telling him something else. he is a partisan figure and he knows as a reasonable man that it's right in this country, the world's greatest democracy, that more people should vote than less. so why certain governors, certain state elected officials would want to put these restrictions in place is a thard thing to get to attorney to notice it's happening in so many places and so many of these officials are republican if not all of them. there is a pattern here and it's a troubling one. >> joy, it is a battleground state republican officials where they know they control the outcome of this election. >> it's disingenuous of anyone to say that it's mythology. it's not mythology, it's tack tacks. if you look at ohio, you have had about 45,000 people that voted earlier this year. despite the fact in ohio you had lines wrapped around the block. why is it fewer? because there's

we have left, as steve schmidt, six, seven senate seats on the table. having been around this for a while. in '72 the democrats went through the same kind of process and again in '80 w '80 everyone talks about the reagan win but in the senate the alliance of the democratic party -- >> it was a slaughter. >> nelson george mcgovern, frank church. they all the party had to hey did so with bill clinton who moved began to reach out up again really president just nine monthsearlier, george bush 41, who had enormous success, they knew how to zero in on the economy and spread the field for the democratic party. >> they need someone and it's not necessarily victory forats to ones who just mentioned &q it. it's not good for the can country. it's ridiculous. national urban league president and ceo the latest on that nor'easter threatening the bill? >>> it's beginning to move in. this is going to be a serious just got nailed by sandy and i'm a little more concerned now with the amounts of snow inland. it looks like is going to hold. so as far as our nor'easter goes

. >> steve schmidt?e 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 of mitt romney by the obama campaign if they go on to win ohio tonight will have paid off big time for them. >> melanie barnes, i just did this via the coalitions we talked about. we're going to go mitt romney. iowa and florida and if you assume this coalition of more younger voters, wisconsin or high growth states, the sort of college educated white folk, that would be north carolina, new hampshire, virginia, wisconsin, nevada, and would leave colorado as the state that would keep us up all night. why isn't that sensible? >>

joining us now is steve schmidt. he is now an msnbc contributor. hanks for being here. >> great to see you, rachel. >> am i reading too much into the leaks? >> i think there's an insatiable appetite for process stories in a close election. there isn't a rift between the two camps. i talked to people inside the campaigns. people are very happy with the performance. of paul ryan. if he goes onto be vice president or if they lose, he has a big future in the republican party. he's going to be a player in republican politics for the next generation. >> how can the campaign both be super happy with him and there be no rift and the campaign be telling politico actually we wanted chris christie? i don't know how the stories come to be. i'm sure somebody is talking to somebody at politico saying we wish it was chris christie. but i have no idea. i doubt very much that's mitt romney's thoughts. he could have picked chris christie. there was no disqualifying reason why he didn't pick chris christie. he went with the first choice. and that was clearly paul ryan

plus republican strategist steve schmidt, presidential historian doris kearns goodwin, nbc's political director and chief white house correspondent chuck todd, and the "washington post's" bob woodward. >> announcer: from nbc news in washington, the world's longest-running television program, this is "meet the press." with david gregory. >> and good sunday morning. the newly re-elected president's message on friday, get back to work. but the focus of that work and on that work is now overshadowed by friday afternoon's resignation of cia director david petraeus, which sent as you know shock waves through washington. new details emerging now this weekend about the fbi investigation that led to the discovery of what officials believe was an extramarital affair between petraeus and his biographer, paula broadwell. and of course so many questions about where this goes from here. joining me now for the latest on this developing story, the "washington post's" bob woodward and our own chief foreign affairs correspondent andrea mitchell who broke the story as i mentioned on friday. so andrea, he

these days steve schmidt is at one of the largest political firms.campaign in 2008 he has been on campaigns around the world. and you saw him during the 2012 u.s. campaign. he was campaign manager for the landslide reelection of california governor in 2006. before that a top political advisor in the white house of george w. bush. he attended the university of delaware from 1988 to 1993. david plouffe crossed paths in schmidt in the late 1980's. he completed his political seasons degree and finned two years ago. he has completed two presidential bids. he was appointed as a senior advisor to the president in the white house in 2011. he attended the marks high school before serving in a wide variety of state and national political campaigns. i'm going to ask the two speakers this evening to speak and i had to decide who is going to go first and i decided to use a standard that anyone in this audience could mean and that is whoever has won the most recent presidential election gets to speak first. i think that's the fair enough thing to do so please welc

. >> steve schmidt, you talked about not wanting to hear just conciliation in terms of the concessionpeech, but also wanting to hear that bringing the country together in the message tonight. did you hear it? >> i thought he gave a big speech. he did a great job. he spoke as the president of the united states, not just the head of the democratic party, which he is also. i thought he was eloquent and he was very gracious to mitt romney, to his family and when he talked about and he went through piece. whether you held an obama sign a romney sign your vote counted, it mattered. i thought it was a big moment gracious moment. i thought it was a good speech tonight. >> i would say the only thing that touched me about the speech is him the debate itself and the argument not only something we ought to be proud that we have because people around the world die you something that your country thanks you for. if you weren't out there for me. the biggest political divide is not between democrats and republicans. it's between people who care and people who don't care. it's between people who parti

presidentould have won re-election and democrats would have potentially lost it not been for as steve schmidtack a doodle congress. >> while it's a problem for republicans, no doubt for women it's not just one comment that mourdockwomen, i'm telling you it is real. women felt it. e angry. they were angry it went on and on and on. and so in some of this election is women vote. i'm on the board of pro c in battleground for the first time to women access to abortion a higher -- >> i want to talk about- well but let's go to for 20 years the democrats have been run from the abortion issue trying to get all of a sud the t went too nr one end -- >> don't forget the access to birth control kicked it off too.se issue by the way. >> it was quite sara. >> it wasn't. it'sicanrystrict access to birth really? >> here's the thing. i don't think -- i think democrats are way overreading this. this whole women's thing. this war on picked up some voters election about the economy. and the economy's improve b. points in the last year. unemployment is down. was re-elected. >> i want to change the topic. i want to

won re-election and democrats would have potentially lost senate seats had it not been for as steve schmidtalled it the lack a doodle congress. >> while it's true no doubt were a problem for republicans, no doubt for women it's not just one comment that mourdock said. this war on women, i'm telling you it is real. women felt it. they were angry. they were angry it went on and on and on. and so in some ways those were a culmination of the feelings women were having. you cannot attack our rights. one of the stories of this election is women vote. i'm on the board of pro choice america. we saw in battleground states for the first time to women access to abortion, a higher -- >> i want to talk about -- well, but let's go to for 20 years the democrats have been running away from the abortion issue trying to get closer to sort of -- and all of a sudden because the republican party had some candidates that went too far on one end -- >> don't forget the access to birth control kicked it off too. >> which was a totally false issue by the way. >> it was quite a real issue, sara. come on now. >> it wa

i understand at the operative level, at the level of a steve schmidt.early understand they've got to find a way to move at least a percentage, at least 35% of latino voters back into the persuadable column. their base is hardened in the parts of the country where nothing changed. their guys that were eleked in the deep south were still there. they lost in some swing states like florida and illinois but in the deep parts of the country, their base listens to rush limbaugh. they're not evolving and house republicans are still afraid of being primaried and how they're going to sell that to scared house republicans. >> i have to add something if i may. because a band-aid is not going to work. and adding gonzalez and per rez and juan and maria is not a sustainable solution. i hope what we're seeing as an olive branch is not just a token but we look at the strategic platform of what the party stands for so that it is truly friendly to us brown people. >> let's listen to what david frum said this morning. >> the conservativetor fellowship has been fleeced, exp

. >> yesterday, steve schmidt took up the cry against the conservative entertainment complex. >> too many swing voters in the country, when you hear conservative, they think of wombs and wackos. we gave up five u.s. senate seats in the last election cycle by people who were just out there. completely extreme. manifestly unprepared for the offices that they are running for. our elected leaders are scared to death of the conservative entire at the same time complex, the shrill and divisive voices, rejecting the social extremism of the republican party on issue after issue. >> one of the leading lights of the conservative entertainment complex, talk radio host laura ingram told politico blaming talk radio for the problems in the gop elite is hilarious and typical of people who want to continue to get paid to give bad advice to campaigns. right wing anti tax, anti government crusader grover norquist believes there is exactly one person to blame for the republican defeat and it is not rush limbaugh. >> we just had an election, and the house of representatives was committed to keeping taxe

well, republican strategist steve schmidt offered this yesterday on "meet the press." >> to many swingoters in the press when you hear the word conservative now, they think of loons and wackos. >> loons and wackos. let's look at what steve is talking about here. >> president obama once said he wants everybody in america to go to college. what a snob. >> i don't know how much god has to do to get the attention of the politicians. we've had an earthquake, we've had a hurricane. he said, are you going to start listening to me here? >> the third agency of government, i would do away with education, the -- >> commerce. >> commerce and let's see. i can't -- the third one i can't. sorry. oops. >> do you agree with president obama on libya or not? >> okay, libya. >> i've come to understand that all that stuff i was taught about evolution and embryology and big bang theory, all that is lies straight from the pit of hell. >> president obama, quit lying. you know darn well if august 2nd comes and goes there's plenty of money to pay off our debt. you're either in over your head, you don't understa

fellow, maggie haberman, managing editor nancy gibbs and msnbc contributor and mccain 2008 guru steve schmidtquickly on the preparati preparations for contesting the election, they are in place and it looks -- i've had people tell me this is exactly how democrats will do it in florida. this is exactly how it could happen in ohio. how real is all this? >> it is real they are preparing. i'm not sure it will come down as close as everyone thinks it is. a lot of ugliness over the next two days. you've had for weeks both sides preparing their legal arguments for how this could go down. in florida i'm hearing people think it will be closer than, say, ohio. but we'll see. >> let me be a cynic here and this is both a question to bob and steve, and that is how much of this the more attention you give it is a way to motivate voters? >> oh, i think it's a way to motivate voters. but i think it's also real. i think that voter suppression efforts have been in place for the longest time and democrats said we're not going to be blind side ed by it. you want to motivate the voters but they're also afraid peo

plus republican strategist steve schmidt, presidential historian doris kearns goodwin, nbc's politicaland chief white house correspondent chuck todd, and the "washington post's" bob woodward. >> announcer: from nbc news in washington, the world's longest-running television program, this is "meet the press." with david gregory. >> and good sunday morning. the newly re-elected president's message on friday, get back to work. but the focus of that work and on that work is now overshadowed by friday

. >>> finally, last week steve schmidt said on "meet the press" that a lot of swing voters think of theparty as one of loons and wackos. this is a republican talking. mike murphy, another republican strategist, just weighed in on "meet the press." here he is. >> this is an existential crisis for the republican party, and we have to have a brutal discussion about it. we alienate young voters because of gay marriage, we alienate latinos, the fastest growing group in the country, because of our fetish on so-called amnesty, and we've lost our connection to middle class economics. we have an operative class which isn't competent. we have to get a party view of america that's not out of rush limbaugh's dream journal. >> well said. up until election night these experts were predicting a romney victory. they should go down with the ship, the "titanic" in fact, instead of putting on dresses so they can get in the lifeboats. how did that sound? >>> up next, replacing hillary clinton. president obama's choice may come down to john kerry or susan rice. will the president go with the 2004 democratic

the people like steve schmidt, the operatives who do it for a living, totally get it and really understand the party's problems. >> but i've been scouring week le standard, redstate.com and looking it comments, the base reaction, and i do sense that they're not going to get on board. they are not going to accept this man is president. they're still out there with conspiracy theories, the new black panthers stole the election. i'm still hearing that. the elected republicans, they don't respond to the intellectuals and the operatives. they respond to the same base. they are hermetically sealed. where talk radio and fox news is telling them this is not legitimate, he is not legitimate. i fear that they are still going to hold sway over a lot of house republicans. >> that is so smart. i get that from other directions, too. john nichols, that impenetrable rejection front that you hear on the radio, you heard it from rush limbaugh, it could penetrate throughout most of the house republican caucus, talk about it. >> well, i think it's real, and i think we have to understand the republican party i

and yes, that means steve schmidt and michael steele and meghan mccain, who we've been able to bring on board officially here at this network, but also, everybody else on the right, who was willing to come on just as a guest, because you are not afraid to leave the echo chamber. i will not say your name here for fear it will get all your christmas party invitations rescinded from your friends on the right. but you know who you are and i thank you. i'm thankful for c-span. i'm thankful for the election that we just went through. and i'm thankful that it is over. and that it really, really, really, i swear, it really is too soon to start talking about 2016, for a long time, it will be too soon to talk about 2016. i am thankful for that. and for the fact that through this flawed and contested, but ultimately noble system of regular elections and representative democracy, what we have in this country are peaceful transitions of power. i am thankful for all of that. and you know what, i am thankful for the fact that the highest profile person in our entire country other than our president

appearing on msnbc on monday, steve schmidt dismissed concerns of ineligible voters casting ballots andrepublican- backed voter id laws are based on mythology. >> whether you're a democrat or republican, you want everyone eligible to vote to vote. i think all of this step that has transpired over the last two years is in search of a solution to a problem that does not really exist when you look deeply at the question. [indiscernible] part of the mythology and the republican party now there is widespread voter fraud both sides are lawyer to up to the nth degree and a posture back and forth on it but it probably will come down to a lawyer. >> that was a senior advisor to senator john mccain when he was running for president. we are joined by myrna pÉrez, senior counsel at the brennan center in the democracy program at new york university school of law. we're also joined by brentin mock, lead reporter for voting rights watch 2012, a collaboration between the nation magazine and colorlines.com brid. schmidt, i amteve wondering if he is on the switches party affiliation listening to him thes

coverage kicks off tonight at 6:00 eastern with al sharpton, ed schultz, lawrence o'donnell and steve schmidt and more "andrea mitchell reports" coming up next live from democracy plaza ahead on msnbc. humans -- even when we cross our t's and dot our i's, we still run into problems. namely, other humans. which is why, at liberty mutual insurance, auto policies come with new car replacement and accident forgiveness if you qualify. see what else comes standard at libertymutual.com. liberty mutual insurance. responsibility. what's your policy? tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 after that, it's on to germany. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 then tonight, i'm trading 9500 miles away in japan. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 with the new global account from schwab, tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 i hunt down opportunities around the world tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 as if i'm right there. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 and i'm in total control because i can trade tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 directly online in 12 markets in their local currencies. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 i use their global research to get an edge. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 their equity ratings show me how sch

. >> a question for steve schmidt -- what is your opinion of the grover norquist no-tax pledge? >> on the issue of taxes, it is true that we are at a historic low of revenue to g.d.p.. it has to come up. because a country with $16 trillion in debt with republicans -- which republicans and democrats are responsible for has to be fixed. we have to get on to a sustainable economic path. barry goldwater said tax cuts yes, the deficit reduction first. you have to pay the bills. in your personal and public life -- you want to have a prescription drug benefits under medicare, that is great, you have to pay for it. you want two wars? you have to pay for them, too. we should understand something about the republican party over the last and years. it has been a big spending party -- it just does not want to pay for any of the spending. a reset of traditional conservatism requires that we be reality-based on the fiscal condition of the country and understand that the years of profligacy now require increased revenue. the notion that we have hundreds of members of congress bound by a pledge