and one of the finest governors in this country, ted strickland. and first lady frances strickland.ee and all the members of the congressional delegation. [unintelligible] marcia fudge, of course. is marcia here? we love marcia, i love marcia. that is my girl. [applause] we were acknowledging those folks that were in the crowd. marcia is going to do a great job. but joe biden and diei have been traveling all across the country. there are a lot of places where we're doing a lot of great work. but there are very few places where we are doing as much good work as we were doing right here in ohio. and cleveland, in just tw of days, you've got the chance -- >> yes, we can! yes, we can! yes, we can! yes, we can! yes, we can! yes, we can! yes, we can! >> i cannot hear you.

governor strickland is still on the bubble.p us understand the difference between these two races. >> well, it's very interesting because in both races you have former republican congressmen john kasich and our apparently senator-elect rob portman. on the democratic side you have the incumbent side strickland. two democrats who have very similar... the races couldn't be more different. rob portman has had a 20-plus point lead in almost every poll in the recent polling results that we've seen. so it wasn't a surprise when i heard you project rob portman as the winner but the strickland race is a dead heat in most polls. it's within the margin of error. in fact we've even seen experts who were saying that they are expecting a recount to come out of this. it is that close. ted strickland has gained back on john kasich who was leading by 17 points in one poll a couple weeks ago. >> woodruff: we know that ohio has had a difficult time with the economy, like the rest of the country but probably more pronounced in some ways. what have

in the first lady frances strickland.] we are here for ted and lee and all the members of the congressional delegation. [crowd murmuring] marcia was not on the list. is she here? we love her. she is just not here, that is all. that is my girl. we were knowledge and those in the crowd, but we love her. she will do a great job. joe biden and dime -- i have been traveling all across the country. there are a lot of places where we are doing a lot of great things. there are very few places where we are doing as much good work as we are doing right here in ohio. cleveland, in just two days you have the chance. [crowd chanting "yes we can."] [cheers and applause] >> i cannot hear you. did you just say, "yes we can"? [crowd chanting] in two days, you have a chance toffect the state for years to come just a kid in 2008. you can confi conventional wisdom, the scale was dumb that says you cannot oveome the cynicism in our policy. you cannot overcome all the special interest and their money. you cannot tackle the biggest challenges i

john kasich the republican is up by 2% over ted strickland. we'll check back in on that race later tonight. in the senate wisconsin's russ feingold handed a defeat tonight. ron johnson will become the next senator of wisconsin. then in illinois, al ly giannoulias is in a very tight race. the democrat is trailing republican mark kirk by just about 1%. finally in colorado, we see a little bit of a gap emerging here with i think 22% of the precincts reporting if i read that correctly. michael bennett at 50% over republican and tea party supported canned dade ken buck. those are some of the latest results that we have. we'll try to keep you up to date later in the hour. >> lehrer: here with me now are shields and brooks. syndicated columnist mark shields, "new york times" columnist david brooks. mark, is it just my imagination or are there more close races this time? if so, why are they so? is that a reflection of just how divided the country is? is that going too far? >> i don't know if it's an indication of just how divided it is but.... >> lehr

democrat ted strickland governor ted strickland under john kasich by 2% right there and then we're going to florida now. a couple of races we're starting to see a little bit of a pulp away. republican rick scott up by about 5% over democrat sink. to the illinois goff... goff inner's race there. pat quinn is leading now by almost 10%. over republican bill brady. gwen, back to you. >> ifill: and that's the newshour for tonight. i'm gwen ifill. r>> lehrer: i'm jim leer. we'll see you online for a special web cast starting in a few minutes at 10:00 p.m. eastern time. and again here later tonight for a pbs newshour election special at 11:00 p.m. eastern. and of course on the newshour tomorrow night. for now, thank you and good night. major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: and with the ongoing support of these institutions and foundations. and... this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. rer productions captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org

strickland is pro-choice and his opponent is pro-life.were not as common as they were four years ago. on economic issues, they are far apart. >> national and statewide polls have the republican head by a slim margin. what are you learning about the get-out-the-vote efforts for those who have not already voted? >> it is probably unprecedented for a midterm election. the ohio party likes to point out there are largest party in the country and have amassed a big get-out-the-vote effort throughout the state. they are hindered by some scandals in the cleveland area involving a local democratic party there and that may be why you see a push in that area with the president's visit and some other things. there a local party has been crippled by the scandals that have rippled through cai hope the county, where cleveland is located. -- tie hogan county. the republican hails from the central ohio, which is a split area between democrats and republicans. it is likely that his presence on the ticket will help republican candidates. for strickland to w

for me as i have often run the national mall as tom strickland has often run the national mall, i think it is a stain on our nation's capital that our front yard really did not have a recycling initiative to make sure that the thousands, in fact, millions -- it has to be millions of bottles that are frankly discarded here. we're simply going into the landfills of america. that will no longer be the case and it will no longer be the case because we frankly said that we were going to change it. and as you -- some of it saw it wasn't done on the fourth of july because i went out and i counted the recycling bins because we didn't have them all up and now we have them all and for that i want to thank the national park service and coca-cola and tom strickland for making it happen. give them a round of applause. [applause] >> finally, as chip and sally well know and the national mall trust, the record of decision is a pathway forward. but there's a lot that has to be done. there are critical issues that have to be made and there are resources that will have to be invested into this front yard

>> ken strickland, senate prosecutor for nbc news.ally appreciate it. >> you're welcome. >> i should mention two other senators' comments that should be on the record. senator uhdal said although the plan is for the senate to ad jaurn in the lame duck session he personally would be happy to stay through christmas eve working on this. it should be noted that the washington blade, a good gay paper out of d.c. today is reporting gash quoting the stone wall democratic club of southern nevada. their communications director saying activists in favor of repealing don't ask, don't tell met with staffers from senator john ensign's office today. republican senator ensign of nevada. they say his regional representative on military issues, a staffer assured them that john ensign too would be willing to vote to repeal don't ask, don't tell. we've been trying to get confirmation of that being reported in the washington blade. interesting. >>> joining us in studio is someone who knows the ins and outside of the studio, my friend lawrence o'donnell.

so does ted strickland, the outgoing governor understands that. >> before we let you go, i want to ask earmarks. >> you got $84 million in earmarks that you sponsored or co-sponsored. are you going to continue to do that, or is the pressure coming now from republicans and mitch mcconnell's decision to say no more? >> i don't know what they're going to do in reality. what i want to do is continue to work with rob portman as i did with george voinovich. >> they have udahl and the democratic caucus so far. i assume governor mansion will be with them, but if these new democrats coming in are with them, do you see any pressure, or do you think -- >> i also know what doing the right thing is about, and earmarks, so long they're transparent and dp through the process, they help hospitals, they help clinics, they help educational establishments. they can be a good thing for our country, and mitch mcconnell knows that. he did it for years. i think that debate will go on, but basically the republicans are using it because they don't realliment to deal with the suggest -- the real budget issues t

i'd like to also thank secretary salazar, assistant secretary strickland, and peggy o'dell. he served as the park's superintendent for the majority of the time that the plan was being crafted. she had a major degree of input in what was in the plan. the trust is honored to be the national service partner in the business and envisionary project. this is a terrific day. the secretary of state earlier, he said be careful what you ask for, chip, you might get a job. i want to acknowledge the 30,000 people that director mentioned that participated in providing input into the mall plan. their input was invaluable in helping craft the final plan. now we'll give a specific thanks to susan. susan will you stand up please? come on. susan. [applause] [applause] >> susan was the project manager for the team that put together the national mall plan. she and her associates put in yoman's effort. did you see all of the organizations that had to be consulted? 17 organizations. i want to thank her for developing the plan, but more importantly, finally getting it approved. thank you. american

in the bellwether state of ohio, it's democrat ted strickland against republican john kasich. and in florida, republican rick scott is battling democrat alex sink. president obama is not on the ballot, but he's been campaigning as if he were. and many voters say this election is, as bob mentioned, is a referendum on his presidency. chip reid is at the white house tonight. >> reporter: even on election day, the president was still campaigning. >> if you vote, you get a say in that future. >> reporter: targeting young voters on web sites like youtube and aol.com. >> when you don't vote, you leave the decisions that affect your life up to someone else. >> reporter: and reaching out to minority voters with another series of interviews on urban radio stations, which included some harsh words for republicans: >> reporter: and the president was doing those interviews right into the evening hoping to convince people to vote on their way home from work. katie? >> couric: chip reid. thank you, chip. the highest profile senate race tonight is in nevada where, as we've mentioned, democrat

sergei strickland political columnist newspaper there. reports suggest china's top foreign affairs diplomat could be sent to north korea as early as monday as part of attempts to ease tensions on the peninsula beijing wants an emergency meeting of the six nations involved in north korea disarmament talks south korea says it's not interested in formally resuming talks on the subject at this time tensions have been stowed by the u.s. and south korea holding forty joint military exercises in the yellow sea near the disputed maritime border has reportedly put its surface to surface missiles on alert comes just days after the north claiming it was provoked fired artillery on an island belonging to the south killing for well for more we're joined live by polish akad director of the international center on korea studies. so paul how have south korean leader. policies and attitude towards the north led to a critical state of play sheens between the two. i think that president. has been hostage to his own policies actually it should be he wasn't o

suggests his efforts may fall short and that a republican wave may defeat democratic governor ted strickland and a host of other democratic hopefuls and if that happens here and elsewhere, the man attending this rally tonight-- representative john boehner of ohio-- will be the next speaker of the house. katie? >> couric: dean reynolds, thank you. one of the stranger senate race this is year is in the state of alaska. it's two republicans against a democrat. and john blackstone in anchorage reports this battle could go well past election day. >> reporter: the battle for alaska's senate seat began in earnest when tea party backed republican joe miller defeated incumbent lisa murkowski in the primary. she launched an ambitious write- in campaign. now democrats see some chance their candidate, scott mcadams, could benefit from the republican split. >> this state isn't as hard and fast republican as you might think. >> reporter: ads by supporters of both republicans are now targeting mcadams. >> he's not electable. >> alaska can't afford scott mcadams. >> reporter: suggesting they've started seei

this one was about keeping a governor in office, ohio governor ted strickland. why is that so important? because two years from now when president obama is up for reelection, it would be a huge advantage to have a democrat in the governor's mansion in this vital battleground state. >> mitchell: i understand later in the week the president is going to get out of town in a big way, is that true? >> he sure is. he is going to asia for ten days. so if there are any recounts going on, he will be following the news from overseas. >> mitchell: okay, chip reid with the president in cleveland. thanks a lot. and taking a look at one of the critical contest we're following, republicans are eyeing the open senate seat in the battleground state of pennsylvania. this one is a close one. a new poll shows republican pat toomey is now two points ahead of the democrat, joe sestak. down from a five point lead less than a week ago. elaine quijano has more on this neck-and-neck battle. >> pennsylvania republican pat toomey is relentless on his attacks on president obama and the demo

: declaring victory at his campaign headquarters in ohio, the republican defeating democrat ted stricklande-term democrat losing tonight. let's look at some of the other results. first of all, gov. quinn had 46%. this is a slim margin over brady. in florida, where rick scott, the republican candidate is ahead slightly over democrat alex sink. harry reid is at his campaign headquarters in las vegas. he has been declared the winner over his opponent. we're keeping an eye on his campaign headquarters. when he comes out, we will take it to you live. in the meantime, some of your phone calls. caller: thank you for taking my call. i appreciate it. i am a longtime democrat but i voted republican today because i wanted to send a message. i wanted to send a message to the incumbent politicians that washington is wrong. denise to be a change. i also have a warning for the republicans. i heard a republican politicians say that his mission is to make sure that the president does not get elected again. basically, he is trying to say that his mission is to -- we elected the president to work for us, it

[cheers and applause] >> in the ohio governor race, democratic incumbent ted strickland was defeatedlect kasich. ♪ [cheers and applause] >> guess what? i'm going to be governor of ohio. we want to thank you, ohio, for the confidence you have shown in me tonight. i want to thank my wife. how about this wifi have, huh? and my daughters, anna and -- emma and reece. they joined me on the trail and they were exceptional. they are great, great part of the family. so i went to think of the many supporters, volunteers, and staff who have worked so hard over the past many months. this is all about the team. this team is not going away. you are staying with us all the way through. i needed to have your commitment. we have to do this together and rebuild this state together. [applause] i would think people on both sides of the aisle including my opponent for participating vigorously in ohio's political process. the governor called me. we had a good conversation. he pledged to help in any way that he could. democracy only works when people engage in it. ohio lines have engaged robustly this year

chet culver of iowa, ted strickland of ohio. jon casey, former congressman, beat ted strickland. kasichvernors -- john t. sic beat ted strickland. new governors are sam brownback, rick snyder, mary fallin. do any of those names jump out at you as national figures come 2012, 2016? guest: i think that none really jump out immediately. i think the 2012 group of candidates are kind of set. you never know how any of these folks will distinguish themselves. chris christie in new jersey has been in office for a year and has jumped out in a way that people are talking about him for president. off the top of my head, i do not see any of that now. a lot of them have been around. they have been in politics. sam brownback was in the senate and tried to run for president a couple of years ago. it did not work out too well for him, so we will have to see. host: "washington times" this morning -- "2012 republican dark horses at the starting gate." jindall ofed a louisiana. jim demint, just reelected. alvin green has about 30% of the vote. the candidate who mysteriously appeared. chris christie,

strickland 43%.dave jones is in the lead, jones is a supporter of federal health care reform plan while republican candidate mike belines believes no one should be required to have health insurance, jones ahead 46 to 42%. >>> in the race for states school superintendent, tom torlakson is pulling ahead of his opponent but just slightly. he's running against larry aseves. right now torlakson has 51% of the vote. >>> a number of measures were seriously debated. measure b is losing in the very early runs. it would require city workers to pay for into their pension plans and health care fans. many of the city unions fought it. >>> moving on to measure g, this would change the way nummi operators are set. the city charter requires them to be paid the average of the top two transit systems in the nation. measure g would replace that with collective bargaining and possibly a contract fight. >>> now measure m requires a written policy for community policing and it would override the sit ride measure. the late

strickland 43%.dave jones is in the lead, jones is a supporter of federal health care reform plan while republican candidate mike belines believes no one should be required to have health insurance, jones ahead 46 to 42%. >>> in the race for states school superintendent, tom torlakson is pulling ahead of his opponent but just slightly. he's running against larry aseves. right now torlakson has 51% of the vote. >>> a number of measures were seriously debated. measure b is losing in the very early runs. it would require city workers to pay for into their pension plans and health care fans. many of the city unions fought it. >>> moving on to measure g, this would change the way nummi operators are set. the city charter requires them to be paid the average of the top two transit systems in the nation. measure g would replace that with collective bargaining and possibly a contract fight. >>> now measure m requires a written policy for community policing and it would override the sit ride measure. the late

. >> joining me now, nbc news producer ken strickland.t appears thatç harry reid is following up on a promise he made to bring this up for a vote. where do things stand right now? at least for the republicans? >> it's still an uphill battle. there are basically three key things we're going to get to watch to find out whether or not don't ask, don't tell, can in fact be repealed. first and foremost. a report from the pentagon on trying to repeal don't ask, don't tell. that report is due to get to secretary gates, secretary of defense on december 1st. how long does it take to get from secretary gates hand to the public and members of congress? second thing that happened, carl levin, the chairman of the senate armed services committee wants to have hearings on the report. when do those hearings occur, who testifies, and what comes out of the hearings? more importantly, he'll have to have 60 votes to break the filibuster on the underlying bill. it's a defense authorization bill. it's a huge bill, hundreds of pages. the bill by itself, even w

incumbent john chang ahead 52 percent to strickland 40 percent. >> and in the treasurer race here's what we have with 15 percent of the precinct reporting keep in mind at the time secretary of state web site is down t-bill lock year 53 percent over walt percent 40 percent of the vote in the treasurer race. >> and for insurance commissioner. dave jones with 46 percent i inrited my father's '69 norton commando. it's been a dream of mine to restoret. and it's my dream for hito finish it. frank has something great t. th is my dad. isn't that cool? and a very understanding girlfriend. i showed him a wells fargo savings account wi my savings plan. [ frk ] and what it does is it takes a little bit omy money and puts it towards my goal. i want to get all the original pts and do it right. for my dad. there's a couple months in between parts. so, one at a time. [ male announcer ] wells fargo. with you when it's me to save. ♪ ♪ ♪ from the styles you want... ...tohe foods you crave. even your favorite toothpaste. now, the ings you love at target... are even better. save 5% off today and everyy... wh

i want to thank the national park service, coca-cola, and tom strickland for making it happen.applause] finally, as chip and sally well know, the record of decision is a good way forward, but there is a lot that has to be done. there are critical issues that have to be made and critical resources will have to be invested. we have a head start, but with the help of the national trust, we hope to be able to raise the money from the private sector and the kinds of partnerships we see here with coca-cola to make the reality of this decision move forward. for me personally, as i have watched the condition of the mall, it has from a condition that was a very bad condition to one that, maybe i would give a touc -- give it a c grade. we have to get better. whether it is improving the turf on the mall, or whether it is other iconic structures where we need to do more, our work here today is one that will continue on into the future. i am confident that with those of you who are involved in making this happen, we will get it done. i want to make a couple of comments. one of the things th

former congressman john kasich is is running against democratic incumbent ted strickland, a popular governorse with a very tough economy. cbs news political analyst john dickerson in washington is following all these races and john, ohio is particularly important for the white house. >> that's absolutely right. winning a state like new york is great for democrats, but ohio is one of the nine presidential battleground states. strategists from both parties are already looking ahead to the next election because a candidate, if there is a governor of a party in their state it gives them a leg up in terms of organization. of the nine battleground states in play, barack obama won all in 2008 and pennsylvania as you mentioned looks like it will have a republican governor so that means the president has to hope that ohio and florida come through to help him with his next presidential race. >> couric: then let's talk about the fact that many of these winning governors will be redrawing congressional districts, john. >> every 10 years after the census they redraw the districts for the house. the gover

gary strickland, administrator of the national telecommunications and information administration. [applause] now, the achievements of the men and women who are on stage today stand as a testament to the ingenuity, to their zeal for discovery and to the willingness to give of themselves and the sacrifice in order to expand the reach of human understanding. all of us have benefited from their work. the scientists in this room helped develop the semiconductors and microprocessors that have propelled the information age. they've modeled the inner workings of the human mind and the complex processes that shape the earth's climate. they've conducted pioneering research for mathematics to quantum physics into the sometimes strange and unexpected laws that govern our universe. folks here can also claim inventions like the digital camera which has revolutionized photography as all these folks back here will testify. [laughter] as well as super glue which in addition to fascinating children has actually saved lives as a means of sealing wounds. and the men and women we celebrate today have

. >> ...like congressman perriello or governor strickland and you see 19 state legislatures go to the other side, governorships in swing states, the democratic party set back... >> mm-hmm. >> ...what does it feel like? >> it feels bad. ( laughter ) you know, the toughest thing over the last couple of days is seeing really terrific public servants not have the opportunity to serve anymore, at least in the short term. and you mentioned... there are just some terrific members of congress who took really tough votes because they thought it was the right thing, even though they knew this could cause them political problems. with respect to the... the tax cut issue, my goal is to make sure that we don't have a huge spike in taxes for middle-class families. so my goal is to sit down with speaker-elect boehner and mitch mcconnell and harry and nancy sometime in the next few weeks and see where we can move forward in a way that, first of all, does no harm; that extends those tax cuts that are very important for middle-class families, also extends those provisions that are important to encourag

except in the governor's race it was only a two-point margin between the incumbent democrat ted strickland and the challenger the republican challenger who won john kasick. like maine we have a dramatic shift in terms behalf the party has done. the house and the governor's office were both controlled by democrats going into this election. the senate has been long controlled by republicans in ohio. now everything is red. the entire state is red including the u.s. senator we sent to join our democratic u.s. senator who is already there, sherrod brown. >> ifill: who are the voters who drove this shift in wisconsin. >> a different electorate than two or four years ago, older and more conservative. but i think more than anything else it was independent voters which obviously shifted hard to the republican party. and also wisconsin is one of those states where, for example, white blue-collar voters are a majority of the electorate. they have to be part of the coalition for democrats to win. they weren't part of the democratic coalition in this election. democrats lost those voters. as a result t

may run counter to the point i made i thought one of the best campaigns in the country was ted strickland and ohio. i thought he did a lot of things right. he was in a very difficult situation, 400,000 jobs lost in the first four years as governor. the industrial co midwest, very difficult for democrats to win when as was proven here but i thought he did a lot of very good things i thought they prosecuted the case against john quite well in the long run came up short think he ran a pretty credible campaign himself. it wasn't a huge disparity like i would say with harry reid a great campaign. other people and trying to remind myself. i thought scott walker was good in wisconsin. he's the republican. he ran a smart outside campaign, good ads. this goes to show conventional wisdom isn't or smartness isn't all contained within the bounds of washington. he had a firm -- immediate firm didn't do political tv, something i don't forget the name of it but it's like red box or something it made me think of those places you get the disease, something like that. his ads were quite good. he ran a camp

. >> eugene robinson, i would low to have share with you something ohio governor ted strickland saidive to tax cuts. i would like to see the president say i will not borrow money from china in order to give a tax break to people who make over $1 million a year and there by explode the national debt and say it over and over and over. then he added, like they do on fox news. might we hear something similar to that from the president? >> well, i suppose we might. that is one of the kind of ways this issues has to be finessed. it has to be finessed one way, make it $1 million and not $250,000 or whatever. i'm not sure that is the road the president is going down. i think in the end there is a lot of sentiment on the left of the democratic party to hold tough on the line the president drew, $250,000. in the final analysis, the president -- a deal has to be made and if i had to put money down on it, it would be -- they are going to make a deal. maybe with some sort of finesse about $1 million as opposed to $250,000, maybe they can get that. >> richard, tomorrow is the gm offering and perha

he was challenging ted strickland.southern ohio. -- he won strongly in southern ohio. >> [applause] >> sorry to keep you waiting for so long. >> we love you. >> i love you, too. [applause] everyone knows i am very emotional. i love you all. let me begin by congratulating congressman mark kirk. let's have a round of applause. [applause] i just spoke to the congressmen and he'd made a promise to me that he would never forget who he is fighting for. i think he will make a good senator. i think he will make a strong senator. when she is our senator -- he is our senator and he will help a lot of people. congressman, congratulations to you. make us proud as a senator. you ran a great campaign. to all our elected officials, i want to congratulate the congresswoman for her victory tonight. senator durbin fought for me. senator durbin went to war for me. he worked very hard and he believed in me and i can never repay what he did for me and all the struggle that he put into it this campaign. my respect has only quadrupled and i

it was my understanding al son strickland told us that she thought her group's proposal would be more puts out. i think what the final report for the commission will be will be less aggressive with either the cochairman or what the group has put out, but the truth is once the commission is gone, they disband after december se, these two reports will really lake the mark against which president obama's 2012 budget proposal will be measured, against the proposals that the republicans and the tea partiers who have been complaining about the debt are going to be making. this is an important framework that both groups are laying down. >> terrific. well doane, jeanne, in your piece at cnnmoney.com is titled ". >> "blowing up the tax code." >> terrific work. thank you, jeanne. >> thank you, tony. >>> the saga of the cruise ship "splendor" is over. hugs all around as the ship was towed into san diego thursday. carnival offering free cruises after an engine room fire turned a vacation into a nightmare. a passenger captured the announcement that signaled trouble ahead. >> we have a smoke situat

can strickland is a senate producer for nbc. we have an esteemed group here. hopefully we will share some insight as to how -- as to what we can expect going forward after tuesday's results. i am going to let these guys had the floor. i would like to start out by giving their take away from tuesday party elections and what they think we can expect both in the short term from congress and next year in the next congress and whether or not all of this talk of compromise is a lot of talk or if we will actually see these two sides come together. carl, your thoughts? >> who is up and who's down may seem pretty obvious. i think, in some ways, we already knew the answer to that. democrats had a very tough night in the house and it is still going. our couches 63 losses, i think, as of this afternoon. there are two more to come. that is a monumental change in the house. if you even watched what happened yesterday and what has happened so far today, senator mcconnell gave a speech -- i am sure you all watched it from the heritage foundation -- he talked about wanting a v

whether this is a government takeover of the insurance industry, alex strickland, who is not exactly a major leftist on some issues, has said she thinks the exchanges are one of the best ways to bring real competition to the process. we will see. i am skeptical of the notion that if we just let people buy insurance over state lines everything will be fine. we have this notion that if we just let people buy credit cards over state lines, everything will be just fine. what happened? it was a race to the bottom. everyone went to the state that had all the credit card companies that given the luces regulations. it is why we had an enormous public backlash on credit card reform in the last congress. all of that is a second set of arguments. talking about repeal or repeal and replace puts you in a little bit of a tricky ground. that is why it started with repeal and then it moved to repeal and replace. now it is, "well of course we will keep the popular things. no more pre-existing conditions." how'd you get to a point where there are no more pre-existing conditions unless you vastly expan

strickland has a great machine. this will be really tough. >> the one saving grace for obama is if they can pull out florida and ohio. for get new york. they can get california. >> do you think the gubernatorial race will go democratic? >> if it does go that way, i think obama will be looking for some silver lining. >> we can still count on california. [laughter] >> the simpson told report is due in november. will it be taken seriously and affect anything or will it be another series of commission reports that nobody pays attention to? departure will be important because he was stage- managing it. they will try to massage the outcome of the report to dovetail with the election results to strengthen the president's hand on the state of the union and budget. i do not think it will be able to get anything out of the commission in terms of the bus required for a majority, unless the president quickly moves to take control of it and reaches out to republicans on deficit reduction. i think that will be a big lever em in j

as of last week, kyle told our nbc producer ken strickland on the hill there's no chance this is gettinguck session. we'll be anxious to see if anything happens. the president had a unprompted spontaneous report from european leaders, they're worried about missile defense,nd they said, hey, we support this treaty. we'll see if this gets momentum at the white house. >> their only hope is to turn kyle or can they get enough republicans to pass it in the lame duck without kyle? >> i've heard some people make the analysis that up until recently the white house had been trying to essentially work around kyle, trying to get a path to those 67 votes without him. and then pop realizing they couldn't, had to deal with kyle. on the other hand, some people say the administration just engaged too late. yes, they added that $4 billion on the issue of nuclear forces modernization, but that didn't happen until we were all with the president in asia after the midterms. some have said the president personally engaged too late on this and now is paying the price for it. obviously they've got richard lugar

in ohio we have governor strickland another big advocate for public education. governors races across the country from california to colorado to florida and texas. these races are going to be critical. education is funded 93% at state and local level so whoever is in the state house will have a huge amount of decision making. host: is there an approach or idea among the governors running for re-election or the new candidates that excites the n.e.a. particularly? guest: when we look at the ones that we are supporting, we know that they understand class size. we may hear from people at the local level and they are under tremendous pressure with state budgets falling and federal government not being able to fund some of the programs they are under pressure to fund them. they talk about early childhood education. i hear governor o'malley talk about green schools and teaching students the skills they ned for 21st century jobs. we have to do it now so when they graduate we are giving them the tools they need. host: milford, connecticut. independent line. caller: i wan

may run counter to the point i made i thought one of the best campaigns in the country was ted strickland and ohio. i thought he did a lot of things right. he was in a very difficult situation, 400,000 jobs lost in the first four years as governor. the industrial co midwest, very difficult for democrats to win when as was proven here but i thought he did a lot of very good things i thought they prosecuted the case against john quite well in the long run came up short think he ran a pretty credible campaign himself. it wasn't a huge disparity like i would say with harry reid a great campaign. other people and trying to remind myself. i thought scott walker was good in wisconsin. he's the republican. he ran a smart outside campaign, good ads. this goes to show conventional wisdom isn't or smartness isn't all contained within the bounds of washington. he had a firm -- immediate firm didn't do political tv, something i don't forget the name of it but it's like red box or something it made me think of those places you get the disease, something like that. his ads were quite good. he ran a camp

may run counter to the point i made i thought one of the best campaigns in the country was ted stricklandnd ohio. i thought he did a lot of things right. he was in a very difficult situation, 400,000 jobs lost in the first four years as governor. the industrial co midwest, very difficult for democrats to win when as was proven here but i thought he did a lot of very good things i thought they prosecuted the case against john quite well in the long run came up short think he ran a pretty credible campaign himself. it wasn't a huge disparity like i would say with harry reid a great campaign. other people and trying to remind myself. i thought scott walker was good in wisconsin. he's the republican. he ran a smart outside campaign, good ads. this goes to show conventional wisdom isn't or smartness isn't all contained within the bounds of washington. he had a firm -- immediate firm didn't do political tv, something i don't forget the name of it but it's like red box or something it made me think of those places you get the disease, something like that. his ads were quite good. he ran a campai

may run counter to the point i made i thought one of the best campaigns in the country was ted stricklandhought he did a lot of things right. he was in a very difficult situation, 400,000 jobs lost in the first four years as governor. the industrial co midwest, very difficult for democrats to win when as was proven here but i thought he did a lot of very good things i thought they prosecuted the case against john quite well in the long run came up short think he ran a pretty credible campaign himself. it wasn't a huge disparity like i would say with harry reid a great campaign. other people and trying to remind myself. i thought scott walker was good in wisconsin. he's the republican. he ran a smart outside campaign, good ads. this goes to show conventional wisdom isn't or smartness isn't all contained within the bounds of washington. he had a firm -- immediate firm didn't do political tv, something i don't forget the name of it but it's like red box or something it made me think of those places you get the disease, something like that. his ads were quite good. he ran a campaign the brown

karl post of the "new york times" and emily pierce and ken strickland of msnbc.president obama had a cabinet meeting and mentioned the fact he scheduled a meeting with congressional leaders. that is set for november 18. participants include house republican leader john boehner and mitch mcconnell. speaker nancy pelosi and harry reid will be there. here's a couple minutes of the president. >> hello, everybody. i just want to make a few quick remarks to expand on some things that i said yesterday. obviously, tuesday was a big election. i congratulated the republicans and consoled some of our democratic friends about the results, and it's clear that the voters sent a message which is they want us to focus on the economy and jobs and moving this country forward. they are concerned about making sure that taxpayer money is not wasted, and they want a change of tone here in washington where the two parties are coming together and focusing on the people's business versus foreign political appointments. i just had a meeting with my cabinet and key staff to let them know w